Report of the Judges on the 
is conveyed down by the sewers. The machinery for the ex- 
traction of the solids from the Norwood sewage is placed upon 
the upper end of the sewage farm, and that for the removal of 
the solids from the sewage of Croydon proper is situated at a 
place called Brimstone Barn, which was formerly the site of 
large sewage tanks, in which the sewage was treated with a 
view to purification, and is between the town and the farm. 
The volume of sewage passing daily on to this farm varies 
immensely. During the past year, in addition to the extra- 
ordinary wet season, large quantities of subsoil-water have been 
passed into the sewers by reason of the construction of new 
sewers within the water-line of the district, the water from the 
sewer trenches being admitted into the sewers as they are con- 
structed. These new sewer operations have more than doubled 
the volume of the sewage in the sewers of Croydon during the 
past year, and in the twelve months from October 1878 to the 
end of September 1879, 12,557,790 tons of sewage were passed 
on to the farm from both outfall sewers, an amount equivalent 
to a depth of 388'5 inches on the 320 acres actually irrigated, 
in addition to the local rainfall, which was 33*4 inches during 
the same period — the actual quantity of sewage applied per 
acre at Croydon being seven times greater than that applied per 
acre at Leamington during the same period. The whole con- 
tents of the sewers at Croydon are at all periods discharged on 
to the farm, there being no storm-water outlets by which any 
portion of the water from the sewers can escape at any point 
into the adjacent streams. The Croydon sewage farm is an 
exception in this respect to the other sewage farms which have 
been inspected, as it deals completely with the whole sewage of 
the place in all weathers. It should be observed that a large 
portion of the rain falling on the streets of Croydon is not 
admitted into the sewers, but is conveyed away direct to the 
natural water-courses of the district. 
The soil of the farm is well adapted for the purpose of sewage 
treatment. It is a light soil, resting on a gravel subsoil, con- 
sisting of a light gravel drift overlying the Woolwich and 
Reading beds of the Tertiary formation. The farm is admirably 
adapted for irrigation, both from the character of its soil and 
the gradient of the slopes. Experiments have been made upon 
seven samples of soil from this farm. A sample of light peaty 
soil absorbed 103 '0 per cent, of its weight of water, while the 
subsoil from the same field was found to be a heavy marl, 
absorbing 25"9 per cent, of its weight of water. A sample of 
gravelly surface-soil was found to absorb 48'5 per cent, of its 
weight of water, and another sample of very similar soil from 
another field absorbed 49 '7 per cent, of its weight of water. 
The subsoil of gravel from under this latter sample absorbed 
