118 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 5, 1891; 
is also given to the use of this deservedly popular manure in wet 
weathsr. It is precisely this necessity for wet weather to dissolve 
and wash in the manure that renders surface dressing so specula¬ 
tive. 
In a general way farmers cling to the muck heap because it 
contains all the elements of plant food, or rather all the elements 
■of fertility required by the soil, and also because it may be used 
with such perfect safety that a man cannot well go wrong with it, 
an|i provided he uses enough, results are generally satisfactory ; 
but its action is often provokingly slow, and the cost of its 
manufacture is often heavy. It is for farmers near London and 
other large towns that it proves most profitable, as they can obtain 
it at such a cheap rate and in practically unlimited quantities. But 
it is also precisely for land so favourably situated that liquid 
manure in the guise of sewage should have preference, yet what is 
done with it generally ? Take for example the sewage of most 
towns. In any scheme for its disposal the acquisition of a con¬ 
siderable tract of land by the corporation or local board forms a 
most serious item, as also does the construction of a main sewer 
through or past miles of farm lands by the owners or tenants, of 
which its value as a fertiliser is absolutely ignored. Having 
regard to the outlay involved in the purchase of land for the dis¬ 
posal of the sewage, and that it is so frequently discharged into any 
accessible stream or river, can we doubt that town authorities 
would willingly agree to arrangements for its divergence to farm 
■land at any suitable point ? 
Surely there can be no insuperable difficulty in the way of a 
■cheap arrangement whereby each farm on the line of a main 
aewer might obtain its supply at will, so that the sewage might be 
turned upon any field as it was required, and the flow of sewage 
•either stopped altogether or turned into another channel for other 
portions of the farm, when a field had received enough. Take, for 
example, pasture and meadow land in this month of February. 
'Much experience has shown that this is the best month of all 
the twelve comprised in the year’s span of time for applying 
manure to it. Supply the soil containing the crowd of hungry 
Toots with a rich store of manure, plant food, fertility (any name 
you like to caU it by) during the present month, and you render 
^ full crop of nutritious herbage a certainty. Would any sane man, 
having the option of an unlimited supply of sewage for the pur¬ 
pose, ever squander his means upon the purchase of chemical 
manures, or the purchase of store cattle to consume his crops for 
the manufacture of muck heaps ? Surely not, and yet what is the 
case ? No general effort is made to obtain or apply sewage in the 
■manner we suggest, yet in the few instances where it has been 
-done results show how surely crops of marvellous abundance 
may be had. 
Well says Victor Hugo in “ Les Miscrables : ” “ There is no 
:§uano comparable in fertility to the detritus of a capital. A great 
-city is the most powerful of stercoraries. To employ the city to 
enrich the plain would be a sure success. If our gold is filth, on 
the other hand our filth is gold. We fit out convoys of ships at 
.^reat expense to gather up at the South Pole the droppings of 
.petrels and penguins, and the incalculable element of wealth which 
we have under our own hand we send to sea. All the human and 
•animal manure which the world loses, restored to the land instead 
of being thrown into the water, would suffice to nourish the world.” 
Hear him yet further, for assuredly his language is plain and 
•forcible enough. 
“ These heaps of garbage at the corners of stone blocks, these 
horrid scavengers’ carts, these fetid streams of subterranean slime 
which the pavement hides from you—do you know what all this 
is ? It is the flowering meadow, it is the green grass; it is cattle, it 
is the satisfied low of huge oxen at evening ; it is perfumed hay, it 
is golden corn, it is bread on your table, it is warm blood in your 
veins ; it is health, it is joy, it is life. Thus wills that mysterious 
creation which is transformation on earth and transfiguration in 
heaven. 
“ Put that into the great crucible ; your abundance shall spring 
from it. The nutrition of the plains makes the nourishment of 
man. You have the power to throw away this wealth, and to think 
me ridiculous into the bargain. That will cap the climax of your 
ignorance.” 
Hard hitting this, but the views of the great French author on 
this important subject are as sound as his satire is just. The waste 
of sewage in this country and others is a shame ; it is a disgraceful 
example of reckless extravagance, which nothing can justify. 
Every possible sanitary requirement can be met, due attention 
can be given to the requirements of the most fastidious imagination, 
without further persistence in the suicidal practice of river con¬ 
tamination, with such a fertiliser. 
Why is it that cattle are so often grazed at a loss, that the 
margin of profit on dairy farming is so narrow, that the profits 
derived from farm produce are so low ? Is it not all owing to 
the cost of food, to a low average of crop yield ? Well, in the 
sewage that we waste lies the palliation for very much of this, 
and in our next paper we intend giving proof of it. 
WORK ON THE HOME EARM. 
The land is very soft upon the surface now the thaw has come, 
and we counsel patience and caution about ploughing and corn sowing 
arrears. We shall first put the ploughs upon some old leys of mixed 
seeds left over for a winter bite for store sheep, and upon which folding 
went on all through the frost. All the folded part is now fairly rich 
in fertility, and it will be ploughed and sown with Black Tartarian 
Oats. We intend trying to obtain an exceptionally heavy crop of corn 
on this land, and shall not only use the heaviest sample of seed possible, 
but shall also drill a moderate quantity, about 2 cwt., of chemical 
manure with the seed. We do this because the leys are old, and the 
soil was so low in fertility before the sheep folding that we question if 
the folding has done enough. Our use of chemicals is the best answer 
to our query, as it makes all sure. If the scheme of sewage use given 
in our farm article this week could have been applied to the leys, we 
should have been independent of sheep folds and chemicals, and quite 
certain of a full crop of Oats. Most of the Barley will be sown upon 
land ploughed in autumn and left in ridges all winter, as we like to 
cultivate this fickle though profitable crop under the most favourable 
conditions, one of which is timely sowing, which cannot be done with 
any degree of certainty in soil left unploughed till the time of sowing 
draws nigh. 
Manures for grass land intended for hay or silage should now be 
procured separately from a reliable source and mixed at the home farm. 
The quantity required per acre is quarter hundredweight muriate of 
potash, 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, l^cwt. superphosphate, quarter hundred¬ 
weight steamed bone flour. This should be used before the end of the 
month, as then all risk of a want of rain to dissolve and wash it into the 
soil will be avoided. Where a considerable quantity is used so that 
advantage can be taken of ton rates, the cost should not amount to 
more than £1 per acre for the manure on rail. Very strongly do we 
advise an annual dressing of such manure to all grass land for which 
sheep folding or sewage cannot be had, for the advantage of sustained 
fertility cannot be overrated, and an ample profit upon the outlay 
involved is certain. If used upon pasture withdraw all stock from it 
till it is growing freely, and growth comes quickly and strong so soon 
after the manure is used that an early bite for the dairy cows is a 
certainty. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAT. 
Bain 
1 
U91. 
January. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
0 . 
P 
Qa 
g-aS 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature, 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
la 
8un. 
On 
Rrass 
Sunday.25 
Monday.2(5 
Tuesday .... 27 
Wednesday.. 28 
Thursday.... 29 
Friday .30 
Saturday .... 31 
Inches. 
00.01.3 
80.097 
29.S58 
30.029 
29.919 
30.031 
,30.019 
deg. 
36.9 
4-2.2 
41.1 
46.2 
46.6 
41.9 
46.1 
deg. 
8.5.4 
89.9 
41.6 
41.9 
46.3 
41.1 
45.0 
N.W. 
8 . 
S W. 
8 . 
8. 
s.w. 
s. 
deg. 
82.9 
83.1 
33.8 
85.8 
88.0 
39.3 
39.2 
deg. 
45.7 
48.1 
47.7 
50.1 
46.7 
50.9 
53.0 
deg. 
84.6 
86.3 
40.3 
41.6 
45.7 
36.4 
42.2 
deg. 
6 <.3 
72.4 
67.8 
56.1 
49.6 
76.0 
78.2 
deg. 
29.1 
31.7 
31.3 
40.6 
43.6 
32.6 
35.2 
In. 
O.O'G 
0.255 
0.344 
0.030 
S^D.Oll 
43.4 
42.0 
1 36.0 
49.2 
40.2 
05.6 
35.3 
0.753 
REMARKS. 
SJlh.—Bright sunshine all d.iy; clear night. 
2(lth.—Overcast early; flue and bright from U.SO A.M., slight drizzle at night. 
27th.—Dull and damp throughout. 
2 (ith —Dull and mild morning ; some sunshine in afternoon ; rain In evening and night. 
29th —Mild drizzly morning; wet afteinoou and night. 
80th.—Dull early ; bright sunshine from 10 A M. 
S-St.—Heavy raia early; generally bright after 10 A.M., but spots of rain about 3 P.M.» 
and rain at night, 
A mild week, with a good deal of rain in the second half, but much bright sun¬ 
shine. Temperature above the average, after being below It since the week ending 
November 22nd.—G. J. SYMONS. 
