56 
Report of the Judges on the 
tanks, the floors of which slope to both ends, are placed the 
suction-pipes attached to a Tangye's special pump fixed in 
a temporary shed in a convenient position with reference to 
the tanks. This pump lifts the semi-fluid deposit from the 
tanks into a series of elevated wooden troughs, which are fixed 
upon poles at a considerable altitude at the site of the works, 
but having a good fall to the ground to which it is desired 
to convey the liquid sludge. In these troughs the sludge flows, 
or it is assisted by men who walk in them, and who are provided 
with poles to which is fitted a disc, with which they push the 
sludge forward as they move down the trough. The bulk of 
the deposit from the roughing-tanks is lifted by a " Jacob's 
ladder," worked by steam-power, and the matter is conveyed 
into the elevated troughs for conveyance on to the land ; the 
remainder, which largely consists of road-drift from the streets 
and roads, is removed bj means of a steam-crane. The sewage 
farm, therefore, is not only required to deal with the liquid 
sewage, but is also used for the disposal of the sewage-sludge. 
The whole farm up to the present time has received one dressing 
of sludge, and some portions are now receiving a second 
dressing. About 500 tons of moist sludge are raised every 
day and passed on to the land, and fifty-four acres of land are 
required every year for its reception. The land is prepared 
for this purpose by raising small embankments so as to divide 
it into a series of small tanks into which the sludge is run in 
succession, and, after it has consolidated, in the course of a 
few weeks it is dug into the land to a depth of 2 feet. When 
ready to dig into the land, it forms a deposit of about 12 inches 
in depth. Experiments made by us show that the liquid sludge 
as conveyed by the troughs to the land in August contained 
415'8 per cent, of water when compared with the dry matter 
present in it, or each 100 parts of the sludge contained 80'62 
of water and 19"38 of dry matter; and when ready to dig into 
the land the moisture had so far diminished that it was found 
to contain but 91*4 per cent, of water, or each 100 parts of 
the sludge contained 47'65 of water and 52"35 of dry matter. 
Three other samples of the Birmingham sewage-sludge sent to 
us in November were found to contain as follows : — 
Fi7'st Sample from the roughing-tanks contained 617 per cent, 
of its weight of water when compared with the dry solid matter 
in the sample. 
Second Scanplc of sludge from the ordinary subsidence-tanks 
contained 677 per cent, of water, and 
Tldrd Sample of sludge from the land before it is dug in was 
found to contain 177 per cent, of water, when similarly^ compared 
with that in the dry solid matter in the sample. 
