The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

THII SOT MODS OF UTILISING THS SITIAGS OF

Gorm.miss : Although you' bare requested me to
reed this leper on "The bsot mode of milieing the sewage
of towns," there are thole who, doubtlem, will enquire—
" What bus. clergyman to do with such a mutation?"
And my relay to snob an enquiry is simply this—that
from the directions contained in Holy Smiptime, and
from the maniple of the Blamed (Sylmar himself. I
learn that the great and supreme object of aolerffymsn's
if, most be the pminotion of His Master's glory in the
salvation of souls. But from the same sourest I also
learn, that he, certainly no lee. than others, most seek
to do good to the bodies of men—to promote their
temporal welfare—and perhaps, mpscially, to seek to
feed the hungry and to clothe the naked. Now in the
discovery, to which I have been led, of the marvellous
eapiability of dry earth, and of venous subsoils for the
absorption and decsiornittioo of excrementitious and
other offensive matt re, and of their consequent
applicability to the removal of stub matters from OW
premises, our honors, and from crowded Mons—
& means of doing an innalonlable amount of good has
been placed within my reach; sod nothing bet • deep
sense of the obligation to Peek to do that good has
prompted and snataleed me during six or seven yeast
spinal the contempt, the ridkule, the reproach, and
the st-ong dismission of many, in my efforts, lint, to
publish the priottiplin of my proposed system mod the,.,
when no one else would do it, to work out roainly by
the bap, however of another—Mr. /toms White, of
this toes—whet, I think, I may sow eal the perfect ,
appbenicts of Mom principles. The benefits to be derived '
from the dryeorth system nre varied in their kind—they
are sanatory, social, moral, and economical. The subjeot,
however, which you have as igniod me, will limit my
°Serra:ma this evades exclusively to the latter clam
. of benefits. Notwithstanding this, I still feel that I am
within that sphere of duty of which I have before
I spoken; for while seeking, and with great pleasure to
myself, to promote the true interests of agriculturists;
yet, at the same tame, in placing before you a meant of
rendering food and clothing cheaper and more abun-
dant, I am helping to feed the hungry and to cloth*
the naked. In further justification of this, you must
allow me to make another reference to Scripture, and I
do it the more readily bemee the panne I shall quote,
oentaitis within it the basis of all true politicel
moomay, and places agrieulteiv in its proper position.
"Moreover the profit of the earth is hir all ; the king
himself is served by the field"—lforJesiaste• v., 9. But
now to my .übject, on which, for the asks of tiniplifi.
ostoo end of rendering my remark, more practical, I
must place • further limitation. For usher I do this at
the comet, it will be almost ioapossittle that you should
divest your minds of the difaculty, which I believe to
, be insurmountable, of await' of the Immense proper-
ti. of water now neemeary in the ordina-y mode of
, removing the sewage of towns. On the utilisation of
erawage in a liquid form, such, for instance, as that
which the Metropolis purl forth at the rats of from
' 90 to 100 millions of gallons daily, 1 have nothing to
I my, nor do I believe that any one has any thing to say,
that in the true sense of Om word " otilisatioe"
I. either practical or praotioade. I promos
rather to consider the best mode of alining
the excrementitious matter, and the animal and
relatable refuse of houses and towns. For under
the sanatory point of view, these are the great and
general sources of evil ; and if we OAP di•pom of them, wri
shall end it may to deal with the minor and more
special difficulties of facteies, ke.. Whereas, under the
economical point of viser,in them subsumes, of .11,0111
speak, lies so much the larger proportion of the value of
tbseeroge of towns, thet if I can show bow teas can be
seennotinstesd of being wholly or partially wasted,l shall
show to &certainty the beet anode of utilisang that operate-
All other minimum' however of any value may be
secured too. But this way well be a met Sr of sub-
sequent consideration ; and in the of the applica-
tion of my system to say town or village it m-y be •
matter of easy subsequent arrangement. By the ad •ption
of the dry-earth systein. I &snot then and. I will show
you, that all the eamenientitions in tier al our poplin-
lion, whether in town or country, together with all the
anima and vegetable refuse of our houses in •y be
utiliaed. And by Md., I hag to be onden•ood to mesa
that it may be turned to advautem. Or be made •
',mom of profit, and that a profit not merely martial and
local—not just to the company, that at a nominal price
may rent the sewage, nor to the town that supplies it
bet an advsatage and • mares of profit at least to the
country resod. However, in order to institute • mon-
'orison between this and any other system, it oil be
necessary, Gni to be satisfied as to some well founded
eatimete of the mato' of the subsumeso of which lace
speaking, when secured and removed is a Mate
undiloted eat unencumbered by water, and then to
axree on contain requisites in the mode of caving.
removing, and dispoong of them, the existent, or the
abo DOS a which voll render that mode of r• oopod, as •
mode of otili.ing either good or bat Now ma to an
*aunts of the vales of these astuteness, I have met
with none more reasonable in itself, nor maxis on more
simple and common sense data thin that given me by
one of your own moiety, Mr. K. Demon ; and which,
tot% hi. permission, I have inserted in the mooed and
third editioisti of my pamphlet "National Health and
Wraith." That ratieseM is El ehead annually for the
members of • family or the population of • town- Anil
he arrives at it in the following way. He mys that
any intelligent farmer who understands his business
will admit that ale-third of the value of the corn
given to his cattle Foto on to hia ground in the
form of manure •' and 'applying this to the food and
excrements of human beings, (and I suppose be
would include the kitchen warte,) he moons thus :
Take the oversee value of the nest and corn
food of each individual at Sa • bead per week,
or at £5 a year. Thee lasted of ooethird take
only one-fifth of this, as ate average value of the
manure mad* by each persoo, and you have as that
average value El per annum. So that for this town of
Dorcheater the gross produce woad nand for the whole
population at £7,000; and for Citable, • oity of 90,000
inhabitanta, of earth I shell Presently have to Smut.
it would stand 66110,000; while the osmium that might
he saved from the whole population of Great Britain
and Ireland would, if rightly saved, be worth
£30,000,000 sterling eyear. Many, I know, will think
this estimate extravagant li, however, the manure
be saved without water, I am sure that iii. not ex-
travagant. But suppose for one moment that this
value were reduced to one-half or even one-third, and
you estimate it for the whole country at 15 or at 10
milliona ; or for Carlisle at 15 or 10 thousand; or for
Doroheater at 9.9,500 or £2,300, is not the question of
the right mode of saving and utilising thesis substances
a question, relating not merely to the various tows.
aad their immediate vicinities, but to the great
toral intermit as well, mid to the whole country as
affected by that interest? And yet, after a good deal of
study °, Parliamentary inquiry and evidence, I am bold
to meat, that hitherto there has boas absolutely no
reasoemble attempt thus to deal with this question.
Every mode of utilising the sewage of Mono, Mast I
have ems, has been either for too partial, far too limited,
or far too expenaivo ; and the highest idea which them
✓etoremending Mime modes memo to entertain a the
word " utilise is the prevention of obsolete and satire
waste. Eseumbered by the water medium of removal,
and thus compelled to apply the manure in •
liquid form, the sphere of operatics is seeesnarily
smallaa to the vicinity of towns. And if dependent on
the natural low of the sewage water, the area to be
fertilised most either by the nature of the groesd or
by the 1101000 for applying Misnomers, be peening very
limited. While the owners of than ground will be very
aulikelytto give anything like the real value of that,
with which their neighbours in tha town must of
nemesity pot Bet If, as some have proposed, wit re
spoilt to the sewage of London, 11.00aille mutt be had to
pumping this liquid sewage to a great height in ardor to
send it to the higher ground of Bagshot heath, then
the enormous foamless of the water drainage *yawn
will be vastly Sawed, and that at the risk of a
similar difficulty as to the demand. For either as to
ettent or as to price, this demand will, under such
circomitancest almost of neosmity, fall far short of rem.
&ring a prolitalsla return to those, who furnish the
supply. And Ws matter of Impasse, and eves of in.
reining by such new works thy risk of throwing
additional burdens on tha traileunen and labouring
name of our towns, ought to 'wave from our
Legialatare, our Boned of Heal th,our Sanitary Reformers,
and our Engineers far greater coadderation, thaw in my
humble opinion It has hitherto received. It is no
light matter to take hella-year's rental, or one or two
year's rental of a town for public works, and thus add
LI a year to the rent of the poorest cotusen •
then, perhaps, In order to correct the mistake into whirl;
for soma few years men have been running headlong—
that of polluting rivers and streeme—to add something
more, in order to terry out some costly plan for
utiltsing, as they cell it, this liquid sewage. Let me
state then se the first requisite of a good mode of uoing
the, which is at the same time the most offensive and the
most valuable portion of the refum of our towns, that
while improving the sanitary condition and the comfort
of those tower, it should make that refuse a source of
profit, or at all events it should prevent ira
femoral from being a matter of burdensome
expanse. Then, and In order to this, the manure,
so saved and removed, must be of such power
or virtue, and in such • form, and obtainable at
a pries so moderate, that it shall be able, by setting the
iaferior prim against the perhaps inferior power,
to inmost* with foreign and artificial manures, sad so
nornesma • ready gale. And, again, it is requisite that
It shall be as may of transmission to the mort distant
parts of the country, and as easily applicable to the
land, as any of thins manures. If Oben requisites
me be provided there will be no need of my saying that
bill farms and down farms, and farms, that from a dis-
taste mod their corn andfineat to the town, have as
great • claim cis that mamas as the valley below the
Uwe, or the heath in its bessediale vicinity. Those
farms in that ease rill take it, and the towns on their
put will be reedy enough to supply it. AU thie then I
will Iwo premed to show you eta by the drynarth
whim be godly effeeted, sod that is • way the meet
conducive to heath, and desessey, mid emnfork and by
• process of removal far less expenidm than any that
hes Malaria bees devised. It will serve to strengthen
my shatelMmis of the seeemity and the vase of these
several tomplallse, if, before I desesibe the dreeseth
slam, I give yoga by way of ematawia two or three
ieslasem el what is esseidesol • good mode of at
Mho swags of towns. Oleo penes, wise repressri
task • sompieng farmed fee stele* the sewage ol the
Melaspolit, Mates in his wares Were the Ganisdites ad
the Haw 111 Clemmees, that he would diaribete that
sewage ewer 10,000—e& Amass nentleman and he
Wife an wathorifsy In mob sootaafo) says be should
wake 90er 410 theme.-' mess. Was, Wm the tower
teltimalea a the arawmaatilisaa motor, sod of
resinalasi easelehle esholseses begetter
ort Ss. fig. • head, mid add 9, this value
eta ci pubis sod of panne weeks, end Ineshig
Sew yew afassition for cse Post bum the palettes
of the Naanie•—esp, is not Ibis ratan •lit,..whbeh
Z7be wee* mush Ism than ffl/1190.00)0"•90
14191.111ssee 8/60,110, sag rowavoi .9*. wo at
Ray Wane ea hoes boiled ea area—to not

this to want., or at least to plunder, rather
than utile ! Next take the far-beset tea own
near I'd nhorxis, which are irtErated by the immure
of that city. It is perfectly true that the pro-
d,' aof thine meedow, is almmt fabalotcr. The sum of
£4O and even E5O hao been receive I in rent for an
acre, and every acre will carry ten *owe. But what is
the amount and value of the either" given torthis land'
The meson of 300.000 people, worth at the lowelot
prtimaie if properly ss•rd £lon.ooo, ig pour d over
some 260 or IWO acres. Then take Carlisle, which
was place In the Sebednle of the same Act of Perlis-
ment.that plseed this, town of Dotchester uuder the Board
of He.lth. If the crot of their works in ilia city
bears the mime propo.lion to the coil of otos as
that population bear, to the (I hope not, for Mr.
Rawlinson carried them out himself); but if it does,
thon they mu.t have spent on them from 1.110.000 to
1810,010. They at first pollut•-cl their river, as we
pollute ours, thee threetng away Cio,ooo, or if you
pease £lO,OOO, and we £7,000 or £2,300a year. But they
have recently made such a Oen in advance in the way
of utiltstng there sewage, that the chairman of the
Metropolitan Board of Works and his secretary
thought it worth the it while about a fortniyht
since to p trod inspect the mode of utilisation
adinoptedthe todneacrieofbintirhe
this
_paragyrai.pith
implies, I think, something like eatiefaction. But
whet is it? The menage of the population of
7,000 is avowedly thrown away. That of 23.000,
deodoriald by Mr. McDougal'. admirable di-deft-el-
-1 log powder, is poured over AO on, em,otoot.
worth of manure, or if you chapati £BOO worth, raised
' at such • cost, spent on 60 mem !! Is not this again to
sea•to or to squander rather than ter "Unto? Now then
for the *entreat. Water, as von see, does not el, onto-
rise. It rather increases within a few hours the offon-
of
the smell, and itself needa to be deodorised.
Whereas a pint and a half of dry earth or clay, if the
evil be taken at thole and in detail, deodorisea imene-
dietely, and at the same time oneness the value of the
eel • and the hoes; while, lashed of diluting as water
doe., it may Cr cettein sobs told to the value of the
manures as for instaace, when various clays and
silicates shell be used, and afterwards applied in this
mixed ante to our heaths and fiat land.. Next, for the
opplicatioo of the system' no public work, are required.
For if by mons of it, you get rid of the excrement'.
floes matter, and of the kitchen refire, you may then,
without offence or injury, allow the water used in w•sh-
leg to de toned into a osespoth Theo, the cent of the
private works would not be above one-third 01 that in.
Gorr d in the water drainage syetem ; whilst thee xpethe
of maintaining the one in comparison with that of inept,-
ing pipes and et-terns, and repairing closets, would be
as nothirg. Indeed, as 1 will presently show your
both the firth coat of these work', and the oast of keep-
ing them in repair, and the supply of earth and the re.
moral of the soil, might be no tame than a percentage
on the original outlay in the form of rent. Again, it
will perhaps astonish some persons when I semen that
the 'apply of forth or clay for many teens, such for in- I
stance as this town of Dorchester, would he eaaier I
and leas expenaive than the supply of water, I
The heftily of this supply of earth I towns is the
greater from that property of dry earth or tubedl
to which I wish to cell special attention, namely,
it. capability of repeated action in the absorp-
Lion and deodorisation of offensive suletthoes.
For, if after use and removal, it he intimately
mixed with the offensive matter, it is eaelly and in-
offensively dried, and, when dried, it almorba and
deodorise the tenth time as rea 'Ely and effectively as
et the first In the country and in aituati,ms, in
which the manure can at ones be depo-ited in the
earth, this repeated um is unneoeoary. Belt In the
ease of town., in which a manure company would be
formed for the purpose of the supply of earth, 5n.1 of
Ito removal after use, and of in sale when manufactured
into a saleable manure, it will be of the utromt import-
ance to condense this minor* no much as possible, with
a view to tendering it *say of mniage, and of epplica-
tlon to the ground, either in the use of the drill or by
sowing it. Bet -re stating the probable quantity of
earth requird in oaf particular town, I would have
you notice that the value of urine as manure is about
8 or 10 times that of the Rebel fames ; that I
by the adoption tef urinals on this dry earth rystem,
both in public plates, in lame eltablithmenta, mod et
railwaY otation. and in the um .1 a contrives,. of
Mr. White's for the reception of night urine that which
In now to a great extent wasted and hart may, with rat
increase of comfort, and to the greet promotion of de-
cency, be Unmet entirely saved. Now, lint rentindieqg
you that I am perfectly uneeientific and no mos of
laminae and admitting that the estimate. sad plans
of one, who has no little time for these matte in, are open
to much nortifiestlon, let me give you • rough esti-
state of the supply of e.rth and of it. trea•meet. For
all the eircroostenom those toentioDed—for'public acid
▪ i vate places, for the hush and the koolren. for Mat
and for Any-1 +owd trams.e the quantity of dry •trth
per heart at 12 lbs. a day : that is, sum using it to he
used only otos, at two tons • year. T for • popula-
tion such an that or Weymouth, which I think 1414,000,
would in that case he 28,000 tone foe the whole town.
hro„te .t these figure. —I am 'fling to reelects
them. For motoring* d rying-rbed to be maned, which
in to erection ant its operation oniebt he very bleeper-
sive, sod supposing the.arth were used in every ease Ilea
times inatead of acre. this would render the quantity
neoesary f r ne year for 14.000 people only 5,600 t 0..,
And if that earth so prepared by admixture* with the
exeremestitious end other matters, and, (as it might be)
mixed with 1.01•41 other valueble .uhstanoe, were in a
well pulverised elate .old at £3 a ton, there would be •
From value .ttached to it of E 16,800. Take, however,
only two threat; of t hat--say £12,000; and supposing you
have to purchase the all free many of the houses, and
thee your expense. amount to half this sum. or £6,000,
thee a oleo profit might he derived to the company of
£4,000 • ror. And if this ma be done, sod that in a
way more oonducive than any other to the health sad
the comfort the inhabitants, •tyl at the same time
with nun advantage to the adrioulturists of the neigh-
bourhoof —if £12,000 worth of additianal manure
can he thus provided for their land, a manure
•pplicable, with ease, to land in any position, then
I think, gentlemen, this eleaerees to be styled a
mode of utiliaing the sewage of mob • town, and I
venture to think it the host mode. Boom perhaps
inav wonder when.. the serryily 01 earth in to be derived?
Some of the Weymouth people for instance have asked
this of me. There are clays armed that town to ripply
them for centuries, to my nothing of other eubstathes.
Some may he et-gelled at the dilliceolty of the carriage of,.
much earth through the street.. Let such think of the
earrings of coal and of ashes. But, geetlemen, I would
plane before you in os few words as I can a scheme
which hu be.h aufareeled to me for the appliintion of
this system to sooh • town a.! have juM now menti-rned.
Let a company be formed with • capital of 00,000.
Remember, there would be no public works required,
neither at the rest of the inhabitants nor of th he company.
All that the company would require would be first—ware-
houses and drying sheds, and • eta of men and tracks,
and horses, with something of a mill for mire, and
pulserising. Then they would have to supply both for
private houses and large establishments, mad some
other public Owes amen sod urinals, which would he
their own to keep in repair, hat as the pis meter is the
property of the gas coutpauy,and forth. use of which, to.
gether with the removal of all Um offensive matter, the
owner or compeer of the property would pay • per mange
of say 10 or 15 per met on the lest cod. This for •
cottage need not be above hs. • year, and for some of
the largest homes in which oeverel apparatuees would be
required, £5 or L 1 My belief is that the whole mat of
these "myth& worth would not etheed for mob • popula-
tion £13,000 or £15,000. But then, I would propose
that the shores should be so enany,and at to low a flour*,
that the owner or occupier even of a Nie "tight "Ila
one; and that thanes shouldn't lint be taken in a number
pruporteoned to the first outlay on the respective houses
or properties. Now suppeeing the sampany should on
Its capital of £30,000 make, beyond the rental of 10 per
(tent on £15,000, • profit of £B.OOO, that rental would be
Tepsid to the inhabitants At least twice over. Instead
of Um removal, then, of offensive matters being to them
• heavy • burden, it would be a source of profit. This
thee, again, I my, is to utilise—Mom I venture to think
Is the best mode of 'Alining the enraged towns. But
trill the dry earth grew, of which I hart epthen, do
all thet I may ? Or perhaps eonse alp.. will ask What
has been dame by -Mr. White, of whom you have
spoken, in the suhatitotson of earth donne fee
water-Omen I In answering them queetioas I must
be caretal ant to appear to "put" For • Firm
I has been formed foe the manufactue of mete
closets is which I, as patentee, hays of meow some
I intense I may may, however, this mach :—Mr. White
has Divested first a movable close toe sommode, to which
the earth,by intense( • hopper,moved by aleftasghaadls,
like that of • waterele.et. is immediately thrown om
the deposit, so that no offensive smell weep* either at
the time of ore& or in the removal of the pail or
basket into which it falls. This, foe kordtale aged sick
roping, is an immense advantage, void' the water
drainage system cannot provide. & Fee ethools and
ether large estaithalsomots this hopper is made to he
YU-mein& & As arrangemeot eon be made by, wieich
this apparatus eon be mod as • dial shiest in the upper
sterile of homes, without the nitoomity of oirryiar the
earth upstairs; and se I said jest now, a form al
*lnset as a reeeptnele for sight urine ma be placed there
,to the name manner, 4. Mr. Whits hoe invented •
I machine for mixing the contents of these amen
I without offence to any one, either= the premixes,
I or on • lazge seek at the premises of the thethany,
I which I support to be (-ernes]. last y, Mr.
I White ham a slow& on the principle of this meobiata.
I whirl is • kind of screw, which deodorised mixes, and
outs everything to teems at once. This ales he has
made self acting when required, an wid.tion which in
unions, gars/s, railway Malicia*, arid barracks, would oscura.
I without the slightest offence or necilmeMeNie to any
' one, an immediate removal of everything offensive, sad
its immediate meaufactere into manure ready for the
I drill. Of the elleiesey of this you may judo by the
quality of earth brought into thie room, which, ex-
cepting that it has been sifted, 16 just as it earns
from the chest And though it mutates MOTS offensive
=Mier than you perhaps would like to hear of, no that
lilt were sold at £3 a too, I should not fear to put it
by the Ade of • quantity of superphoephme of equal
I value ; yet you may beadle it without the slightest
offense. Bust, gentleman, 1 am tired, Lad I sill tiring
I you, Let me only, in cooolusiort, Rusk you for giving
I nee this opportnaity of making more public • gets=
which 1 have ioareasing reason to upset—for use is
from the fintt—will prone a rasa benefit, not only to
this country but to many other portions of the earth.
In different parte of this *sentry, especially in
the ease of 'shoots, its adoption Se Israel/ tate•.=.
In it, simplest form, and use It, is y
largely adopted in India. is the third edition of
my pamphlet I bare raid that it has been folly itad
nart.eadollp established in more than 200 gaol in that
country. Two days since, bower, In a letter from
Oalentto, I Lariat that in that statement I, or
rather my informant, mode • shahs mistake.
It Ina 200 u and other public Wildfowl to-
=frin wir. the Inspeetor-Oesseral of poll had
to
ied its Introduction. The gaols an yet only SO la
.amber. But it is also baths iatrodamed into all the
barracks there. In Melbourne, dottrel* it is the sub-
** of veers' interest sod inquiry. And • een
of one of your members (Mr. Mill) I. confident that be
shall inteelsee it Into the coloey of Natal. With the
theeption of the bed seeouragemeet alfordedwerheol
three or tsar of the megistraase is this
sod I meet mkt by year member, Mr. Lite, from
the very first, I have hitherto worked wing the great
dleadventege of oppering es "a prophet, without
hoarier is blames neighbourhood.° But sow, through
!pair, thus addressed 110 me by • body eel latelßgeat
femora sad by Mart eppetiodty thee allotead me of
lookias this olatiramaf of aar ponies of 1114 mina.