The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-14 00:00:00

rally add their opinion, that this vast amount of
manure should be so dealt with as to produce the
greatest possible relief for the heavily-taxed rate-
payers of the metropolis, and to secure for the nation
the largest addition to the home supplies of food.
At Edinburgh the experiment is made, in a mea-
sure, for the sewage is applied to the soil, but it is
given away to the farmers, free of all charge, so
that the profit to be derived from its sale at the stan-
dard price of guano is altogether lost. Even follow-
ing this method, the populace are indirectly gainers,
since £3O per annum is obtained for the
grass grown on land not previously worth 2s. 6d.
per acre, representing, of course, an immensely in-
creased value in the produce, and consequent benefit
to the consumer; but there is no reason why the
utilisation of the metropolitan sewage should not
be made to answer both ends, and to lighten the
ratepayers of a little of their load. The mode of
application followed at Edinburgh is the same as
on Mr. LAWES'S grounds at Rugby, where the
sewage is poured in large quantities from open
carriers over grass exclusively, as much as 20,000
tons per acre being applied annually by the Edin.
burgh arrangements, and 6,000 tons by Mr. LAWES.
The other plan consists of moderate dressings,
applied by hose and jet to all descriptions
of crops, and this appears to be by far
the most satisfactory, as the excessive application of
sewage has been found by Mr SOMES to destroy the
finer grasses, and that the grass grown by means
of these large dressings is not good for milk, and
will not feed bullocks when used alone. On the
contrary, from the experiments made by the Earl
of ESSE% at Cashiobury, Mr MILES, M.P., near
Bristol, and Mr Alderman MECIII at Tiptree Hall,
it appears that the more moderate application of
sewage by hose and jet produces nothing but bones
ficent results. The committee append to their re-.
port a very valuable and interesting letter from
Baron LIEBIG on the matter, in which that great
master of practical chemistry explains very clearly
the action of sewage, and shows bow necessary it is
to guard against the mistakes which ignorance might
commit. He shows how sewage, from its deficiency
in certain constituents is apt, after greatly stimu-
lating the soil, to impoverish it, unless, like
stable manure, it contains all the elements neces-
sary to the soil. Sewage contains ammonia, po-
tash, and phosphoric acid, but the latter in much
smaller proportions, so that in a soil Rhich is
rich in phosphoric acid sewage will have a good
effect, since the soil itself supplies what is want-
ting ; but "as in each successive crop a certain
quantity of phosphoric acid is abstracted, the
total qaantity in the soil is, by continual appli-
cation of sewage, gradually diminishing every
year, and a time must arrive when the phospho-
ric acid is insufficient for further crops, and
sewage ceases to yroduce its former effects."
There are therefore two things to be done;
first, to make the' fact clearly understood
that sewage, if used exclusively, will answer
only for the time, and secondly, that for each crop
the composition of sewage ought to be corrected
according to the nature of the soil. Baron LIEBIG
expresses himself most emphatically regarding the
benefit to be derived from the proper application of
sewage, and it is his earnest conviction of this that
makes him so anxious that no blunder in its employ-
ment should prejudice the former against its use.
The course recommended by the committee of the
Common Council is undoubtedly the proper one to
pursue, for the question is a national one, and should
be carried out in a thorough and comprehensive
manner, superior to all loeal rejudices or difficulties,
and this can only be done by the agency of a duly
qualified representative of metropolitan interests.