S 0 TT T H E H N C IT L T T V A T O . 
7r0 
IS hunid tiUiiiii), ri|ijH!ca!ile lo every soil ciini every 
erojj. juid woiihy ut your ulinosl attenuoii. !tis true that 
■ynd rained land, requ'.rmi: drainage, such as heavy clays 
jsod spridii soil, must undergo that O|ieniiion before iliey 
can dei'ive the benefit of such an apjdication ; but theie. 
are extensive tracts of cliitlks, sands, atid lioi gravels, 
ahuos! j!rayitli^ to oe fertilised by the sewage of our towns 
Aiihough 1 apply my liquified manure on the surface, 
1 tun quite convinced that during the summer season and 
amojigst the gi'ovving erojis, it wott.d be far more a ivajt- 
•Ingeous to apply it subtei-ivineously, as tffeeied by IVlr. 
Wjtkins last year at VVokisigham, and tins ye.ir at Read- 
ing. By this means, tlie openness and lilhtge of the sur- 
face is undistuilied ; the rays of heat and light are em- 
ployed in warming the earth, and evaporating from the 
weaves, the suijterraneun supply of fluids wiiich the plants 
absorb by their roots, and which arise to them by ca[)i!ar- 
?ty. The question is a large <me, involving considerations 
f>f cost, but most certainly production is vastly increased 
,aiid stimulated by the new method. 
"'One important reason for the superiority of liquified 
0 V£r solid manures, is, that water is the great arrester and 
loonveyance of ammonia, that invisible and truant spirit 
■which is ever escaping unseen from reeking dung heaps. 
Jt is this ammonia which dissolves the siltcia of the soil, 
snd makes the kernel of our Wheat, and the lean of our 
iSesh ; and it is for this ammonia theit we so affectionately 
prize unwashed Peruvian guano, or bird’s dung When 
jotj have learned to apply fluid manure to the soil, you 
will find your crops yield as much as they do after the 
sheepfold, and you will get corn as well as straw, that is, 
:jf you do not sow too much seed. 
You must give up all hopes of obtaining town sewage 
is a solid form, for Professor Way’s able paper (which 
©very agriculturist .should read), in the Royal Agricuku- 
jsi Society’s Journal, and other evidences, are conclusive 
that point. I understand upon good authority iliat the 
©ommissioner of sewers have decided that a main tunnel 
<&n the south side of the Thames shall receive the sewage 
©f 1,200,000 people, convey it to Plumstead marshes, 
whence it will be pumped in a reservoir, and at high tide 
pass av/ay with the flood water of the Timmes, that is il 
Sriiish agriculture is insane enough to permit such a 
©ruel waste. 
"‘The question will arise who is to undertake this? 
I?ow, in railroad undertakings we find landed proprietors 
and other interested parties joining with town capitalists, 
and afTording them every iriducement and opportunity to 
(Spen up a country with general benefit. Let the same be 
done with sewage. Depend upon it, without this co-op 
©ration no town capitalists will be so miscalculating as to 
picice tlieir capital at the mercy of local prejudice or neg- 
Itect. It tlierefore remains with agriculture itself to deier- 
SiiBe whether this interesting question shall receive its 
proper solution. But supposing that the new company 
lias laid down its main line of pipes for the country dis- 
Sribution, where will you find the £3 per acre for the net- 
work of iron pipes, &c. requisite on every farm. It ap- 
pears to me that where the capital is required it may be 
readily obtained from the Lands Improvement Company 
m Land Drainage Company, and that the annual charge 
which v/ould liquidate principal and interest in a few 
years would leave a large margin of advantage for both 
Itandlord and tenant. To those who desire to see the 
mode of applying town sewage may be quoted the in- 
stance of G. H. Walker, Esq , who takes the town of Rug- 
hj &c.; — Wovsley, Esq., of Rusholme Park, near Man- 
©hester, who uses the sewage of a neighbouring district. 
In both these cases, steam power is applied, although I 
t>hink Mr. Walker’s pipes of 3-inch diarriCter are hardly 
itarge enough for the diameter of his pumps. 
’' Of course if the London sewage is used, I apprehend 
it wdiHit be puitij-ed ti> elevateb (ii>tfi{ t t e.sc! voirs, whence 
It would flow Irom mein pifies connected with Mnailer 
ones on llie various fin ims, so tiuit they woulb be always 
cliarj^ed with a snlfic.ient pres.siire to cau.-e a jet; this 
Would render umiccess.oy any sieatn engine or tank on 
the fanu. A register oi quantity like a gas meter would 
euiible the com[)fmy to make tin ir periodical cliarge. £ 
annex the following .--tali.^fical accouiit with wbich I have 
been fiivored by Edwin Chadwick, Esq , C.B., our great- 
est authoiity in such matters: 
“ ‘ I'he gross daily quantity of wafer pumped into the 
metropolis was in the year l85d, 4-1 m ilion gallops. It 
may have, been inerea>ed sonawlnU since that time, bull 
should expect thtd it would still be within 5(1 millinji gal- 
lons per diem. 1 proved at that time that about tliree- 
filihs ot the quantity T)uiriped in was wasted on account 
of the intermittent metliods of distribution. The actual 
quantity consumed for domestic purpose.s, or that you 
could estimate for sewage as containing house refuse, or 
house manure in suspension or solution at limes when 
there is no rain applicable as manure, would not e more 
than 20 million gallons per diem. I say house manure, 
because rain and storm waters bring as surface washings, 
dung from the streets and soot and birds dung from the 
roofs of houses. You may judge of the daily.quantity vis- 
ibly by the fact, that 45 million gallons would be delivered 
in 24 hours by a brook 9 feel wide and 3 feet deep, running 
at the rate of 3 feet per second, or a little more than 2 miles 
per hour, and 3 sewers, of 3 leet diameter, and ofa proper 
fall will suffice for the removal (for distribution) of the 
same volume of refuse or soil water. The total weight of 
this annual supply of water is nearly 72 millions of tons. 
The daily cost of raising the whole supply by engine- 
power lOO feet high (for dislriliuiion) would be about X25, 
or £9,000 per annum. Supposing the supply were equally 
distributed, i. e., the 44 millions, it would be about 50 
pails lull for each house, and would weigh about 13 cwt.' 
“Those who doubt the cheapness at which water can 
be raised may be assured by visiting the Croydon Water- 
works, where 050,000 gallons are forced to a mile distant, 
and elevated 150 feet, at a cost of 1 3 !-2 cwt. of dust coal 
per diem of 24 hours. With regard to the mode of egti- 
veyance, it appears to me that our railv/ay lines might be 
availed of to lay down lines of pipes, but of course all 
such questions would be easily arranged by competent 
engineering authorities. Perhaps it will be as well to 
state, that 15 yards of 3-inch iron pipe per acre, will be all 
that is required, or about 5 1-2 cwt of iron per acre: this 
is the quantity on rny farm ; I have 170 acres piped. 
Amongst numerous papers that I have written on this 
sulqect. 1 beg to refer to one under the head Sewage, in 
Blackie^s Cydopoidia of ApricuUnre. The value of Lon- 
don sewage has been variously estimated ; but Professor 
Way, in his usual careful way, has calculated it by its 
animonia at two millions sterling. He has made no valu- 
ation of the water alone; I apprehend that 50 million of 
gallons daily, or 224,000 tons would have, even when un- 
mixed with manure, a considerable irrigating value. 
“ In order to ascertain whether this application of sew- 
age will pay the farmer a profit and leave a sufficient in- 
terest for the capital invested by. a company, let us calcu- 
late 72 million tons of sewage at one penny per ton, 
would, be £300,000. Now, take the pumping or raising 
this quantity at the exaggerated sum of £50,000 annually, 
there would remain £250,000 as interest on the capital in 
vested, which, at six per cent., would be also the exag- 
gerated sum of £4,000,000 sterling. 
“ I have assumed the sum of one penny per ton as re- 
presenting that which would leave the farmer and land- 
lord a very large profit on their pipe investment. I can 
confirm this by ray own practical experience. But ii must 
be obvious to any one who reasons, that as 100 tons of 
