342 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 13, 189?, 
TOWN REFUSE. 
A scheme of the Corporation of Manchester to purchase 
Rampton Manor Estate, North Notts, for £60,000, as a 
receptacle annually of 20,000 tons of the city’s refuse, com¬ 
posed of fcecal matter, ashes, stable manure, and the detritus 
of the roads, has met with quite the usual amount of opposition. 
The only justifiable objection is the possibility of the spread of 
disease germs in districts through which the trucks laden with 
the refuse pass, and of the contamination of the Trent by the 
drainage water from land dressed with the refuse. Surely, the 
first can be met by the use of proper trucks, and in the second 
the action of soil as a deodoriser appears to have been lost 
sight of—at any rate, by opponents of the scheme. Upon 
the face of it, we might say that with the advanced stage of 
scientific knowledge, and the host of learned professors among 
us, means ought to be forthcom'ng to prevent any possibility 
of harm. But the Inspector of the Local Government Board 
and others engaged in the recent court of inquiry into the 
scheme, appear to hold the opinion of scientific men but lightly. 
The.r view of the matter is evidently just the popular one of 
getting rid of filth at any cost, without thought of its value 
as a fertiliser. They ignore the natural law of give-and-take, 
and of the economical utilisation of waste matter. 
In doing so they have no excuse, for it has been emphatically 
pointed out to them that this huge mass of refuse is a veritable 
gold mine of plant food of soil fertility. Said a correspondent 
during the inquiry, “Richness is thrust upon the Rampton 
estate and spurned. An area of low rates might be converted 
into high rates. Given proper cultivation, town refuse would 
make an Eden of this unfortunate poor clay land. Not con¬ 
sidering the chemical advantage, the ashes work mechanically 
in converting stubborn, adhesive clay into friable loam. The 
Manchester Corporation might turn many honest pennies by 
buying poor estates at £20 per acre, manure them ten years 
with their refuse, and sell them for £40 per acre, and then again 
seek fresh fields and pastures poor.” Quite true, every word 
of it, and yet, strange to say, instead of earnest inquiry and 
strenuous effort to turn this fertiliser and opener up of the 
starved soil to account, the evidence of those who wish to 
prevent it being used, from unreasonable fears of harm to the 
people, is listened to, and it unfortunately appears to have 
sufficent weight to possibly defeat the scheme. 
Nor is this because other evider.ce which we know to be 
entirely reliable was not forthcoming. Dr. Voelcker, consulting 
chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society, has examined the 
soil of the Rampton estate, which he described as being of three 
kinds—stiff, cold, red, marly clay, sandy clay, and, on the low- 
lying part, river silt and sand. He had no doubt the 1100 acres 
of arable land would take 20,000 tons of the manure annually, 
and he thought there could be no limit to the capacity of such 
land to take 20 tons per acre annually. He pointed out that 
from the composition of the manure it could be manipulated 
with forks, it was in no sense liquid ; no chemical change would 
take place in it in transit, and its manurial and mechanical 
act’on would be highly beneticial to the soil. If the manure 
contained impurities the soil would act as a disinfectant. With 
such a supply of manure there could be no necessity for fallows. 
My opinion,” said Dr. Voelcker, “about fallow is that it is a 
waste; there is no reason for fallow at all.” “ Well, now,” said 
the examiner, “ looking to the character of this land and to the 
quantity and character of this manure, do you see any reason 
why the operation should not be a successful farnrng operation ? ” 
“ I see no reason, and I think it is the very thing the land wants,” 
was the answer. We may mention that Dr. Voelcker gave his 
sensible evidence after some “ experienced agriculturists ” had 
said in evidence that the land must be fallow, and that it would 
not take the quantity of manure proposed to be put upon it. He 
said plainly that they were wrong ; we are glad that he did so, 
and wonder at any men accustomed to the cultivation of farm 
crops taking part in a movement to keep such manure off the 
land. 
Talk of depressed agriculturists! why, it seems impossible to 
help them. Here is the Corporation of Manchester with an 
annual output of 67,000 tons of a manurial substance of the very 
best kind for storing soil with ferti'ity, and opening it up for aiv 
circulation and prompt water filtration; yet, instead of the 
neighbouring farmers combining to obtain a regular and full 
supply of it, some of them are found actually to come forward 
and say a fair dressing of it would be hurtful. Are these the 
men who cannot make Lancashire farms answe", and are coming 
south to try their hands on Essex farms ? Surely they are 
incompetent to deal with the Essex clays, for they are clearly 
ignorant of the first principles of agriculture, which in addition 
to soil drainage, insists upon thorough mechanical division and 
a constant replenishment of fertility—plant food in the soil in 
the form of manure. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Unsettled weather has much hindered work of all kind. There is 
still much corn out south of the Trent, some of it yet unreaped. This is 
the case in one or two instances even in Leicestershire, and it is still 
more so in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Beans are a very late crop 
this year, and also very unequal in bulk. In the south we have seen 
some very inferior fields of Bean3, but in the midlands there are some 
excellent crops. Roots are generally good ; Mangolds have now about 
done all the good that is possible, and the sooner the crop is off the land 
the better in every way. Though much rain has fallen there have been 
frequent short spells of fair weather, quite sufficient to dry up the 
surface and render carting an easy matter. Get the Mangold stored 
and protected from frcst at once ; the roots will then be safe, the land 
will be cleared for ploughing, the work will be done briskly and well, 
and the ploughs got upon the land at once. 
These hints really bear upon early autumn tillage. If this had full 
attention at once as the stubbles were cleared corn sowing would be 
forward, so would ploughing generally, and land under late crops could 
be ploughed at once as we have suggested. This of course implies 
always being forward with farm work instead of behindhand, as is so 
generally the case. 
Let all corn stacks be well thatched and trimmed; nothing can be 
worse than to leave stacks of Barley and Oats with ears of corn exposed 
on the sides. This is slovenly and wasteful, and in Barley tends to 
spoil the sample, for corn so exposed becomes much stained, is dark in 
colour, and though there is not much of it there is frequently enough to 
spoil the sample. It is just a trifling matter of detail worthy of attention. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square. London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
Rain. 
1892. 
October. 
£ -T) -I 
So'j 
O C-l 
ce 
iS « 
1:0 c3 U3 
Inchs. 
29-486 
29-721 
29-712 
29-409 
29-393 
29-363 
29-539 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
deg. 
46- 4 
47- 6 
49-2 
47.1 
47- 2 
48- 6 
48-1 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday .. 2 
Monday .. 3 
Tuesday .. 4 
Wednesday 5 
Thursday.. 6 
Friday .. 7 
Saturday .. 8 
deg. 
45-8 
45- 4 
46- 1 
46-7 
46- 9 
47- 4 
45-9 
N.E. 
W. 
W. 
N.W. 
S.E. 
S.W. 
w. 
deg. 
52-6 
51-2 
50-9 
50-6 
50-1 
50-0 
49-8 
deg. 
49-6 
58-2 
58-0 
55- 4 
51-9 
56- 3 
54-8 
deg. 
37-2 
41-0 
41-3 
45-4 
39- 0 
44-3 
40- 8 
deg. 
691 
98-1 
84-4 
83-1 
57-4 
78-0 
91-2 
deg. 
33-6 
37-4 
35- 3 
45-2 
33-2 
40-1 
36- 3 
Inchs. 
0.140 
0.018 
0-451 
0.067 
0.05& 
0.180 
29-518 
47-7 
46-3 
50-7 
54-9 
41-3 
80-2 
37-3 
0 912 
REMARKS. 
2nd.—Almost continuous rain from 7.30 a.m. to 5 p.M.; cloudy night. 
3rd.—Bright sunshine in morning, spots of rain about noon, and occasionally in after¬ 
noon, with sunshine between. 
4th.—Sunny morning, generally cloudy in afternoon, steady rain from 4 P.M. to 8 p.M 1 ., 
and showery after. 
5th.—Overcast and rainy early ; damp morning; bright sunshine after 1 P.M. 
6th. —Overcast morning; occasional spots of rain after 11 A.M., and slight showers in 
evening. 
7th.—Cloudy early ; frequently sunny in morning and after 3 P.M. ; heavy showers 
from 1.30 to 2.30 P.M. 
8th.—Fair, with occasional sunshine, but a shower at noon ; bright night. 
Another wet week, and considerably colder than the previous one.—G. J. Symons. 
