Scirar/e Farm Competition, 1879. 
6,3 
acreage of the farm at that time was 301 acres, of which not 
more than 240 acres were at any time irrigated with sewage. 
In the year 1871 tlic farm was extended, so that at the present 
time it contains the following areas : — 
A. I!, r. 
Freehold land of the Croydon Loc^^l lioard .. .. fi5 .". 'J 
Leasehold from Dr. Shorthonso 37 2 15 
Mr. Quilter 191 0 27* 
jMr. IJedaingtoii .. .. .. 171 0 19* 
455 2 23 
After the expiration of Mr. Marriage's lease in 1871, the farm 
was let to the Croydon Irrigation and Farming Co., Limited, 
at the full rents paid by the Local Board, together with interest 
on capital expended. In three years this Company lost 7072/., 
when they were relieved of the undertaking on paying a fine oi 
500/., which appears in the accounts of 1874, and this sum, 
together with the back rents and interest paid by the Company, 
makes this year s undertaking appear to have been remunerative. 
Since the stoppage of the Company, the farm has been worked 
by the Croydon Local Board under the charge of a manager. 
Mr. Joseph Parrott is the present manager, with whom an 
arrangement had been made at the time this sewage farm was 
entered in the competition, that he should take over the farm ; 
but this arrangement has not been carried out, and he still con- 
tinues the management for the Local Board. 
Not more than 360 acres of the whole farm are at present 
under sewage irrigation at any time. Having regard to the 
fact that certain crops are not irrigated (such as oats) during 
their period of growth, the area of land to which the sewage is 
actually applied does not exceed 320 acres all the year round. 
The population of the district draining on to this farm is esti- 
mated at ,55,000, so that the sewage of at least 170 persons is 
constantly applied to each acre of land irrigated in the course 
of a year. The quantity of sewage applied in twelve months, 
from October 1878 to September 1879, was equal to a daily 
volume of 140 gallons per head per day of the population. 
The sewage is brought on to the farm at Beddington by two 
outfall sewers ; one from Croydon proper, the other bringing the 
drainage from the southern side of the Norwood Hills. The 
sewage is discharged on to the farm by direct gravitation. Pre- 
viously to the liquid sewage passing on to the land, it is passed 
through JMr. Baldwin Latham's patent sewage extractors, which 
remove the sand, solid faeces, paper, &c. These extractors 
consist of revolving screens, which are actuated by the sewage 
itsell, so as to continuously remove the solid matter as fast as it 
* These areas have been purchased by the Croydon Local Board since the 
inspection of the faim by the Judges. 
