The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

greater or less extent of decomposition,—the products of
which have escaped in houses and streets, to the pollution
of the air breathed by the inhabitants, and to the loss of
fertilising matter. Now we have ascertained one impor-
tant fact, that the injurious and offensive stage of decompo-
siiion only begins, however, in about four days, bat in the
towns drained :ran the new system of self-cleansing tubular
house drains and tubular sewers,—when they are properly
laid and adjusted to the flow,—there is no deposit, every-
thing is received in cold water which arrests decomposition,
and is immediately received in water from beneath the
sites of bowies in an entirely new condition b-'fore decom
poition can commence. Under ordinary circumstances,
at Rugby for example, where the sewer manure is applied
to one part or the other of the land during three hun-
dred days in the year, it is removed from beneath the site
of the town within an hour, and within another hour it
is in the•soil, and is there, not merely in mechanical suspen-
sion, brit in chemical combination,—in which condition it
is retained through the winter rains, and snows, and
frosts, until it is taken out by the action of vegetation.
The report then read stated, that on the motion of Mr.
Dumas (the celebrated chemist and member of the insti-
tute), a Ruin of money was voted by the municipality for
the execution of trial works for the application of liquified
town manure to the cultivation of various species of
plan's. The manure was taken from the " depotoir," a
general receptacle of the contents of cesspools brought by
carts, an 1 from that receptacle the greater part is con-
veyed to an establishment in the Forest of Bondy, where
lit is chiefly desiccated, and made into " portdrette," for
sale in the solid form as manure. One set or the new trial
works described in the repor+, consisted in the distribution
of liquified manure to 36 of the adjacent farmer, to whom
water- iarts were lent for its application to their land, or
their cropi, in the Flemish method. Another portion of
the trial works consisted in the distribution of the sewer,
or cesspool, manure by mean of subterranean pipes and
tie jet, in the new English method in use for sewerage at
Rugby, at Watford, and at Rushholme, near Manchester,
and at Mr. Mcchi's, and Various farms. A third set of
trials consisted in a systematic application of the sewer
manure to the chief species of commercial plants; in spaces
of ground in which one equal.portion cf each species was
irrigated, and one was left, for comparison, undressed. In
respect to the trials by the farmers, the reporters state
that the quantity distributed was G,t,00 cubic metres, equal
to 7,818 cubic yards, English.
The results on the chief species of culture by the far-
mers, appears from the tables to have been all in various
rates of increase over the culture in the old form by
stable manure ; thus wheat, lowest 25 per cent, of in-
crease, highest 33—average increase 30 ; oats, lowest 20,
highest 25—average 22 ; barley, tried only in one farm,
38 per cent. of increase ; turnips, lowest 25 per cent.,
highest 50, average 44; potatoes, 10, highest 50—average
24.; beet-root, lowest 16, highest 50—average 26.
The produce on the earthwork of the fortifications was,
in the ordinary cultivation, at the rate of '.BOO kilos., or
2 tons 15 cwt. 3111. of hay per hectare; watered with 100
cubic metres or loads of liquified manure, it wan 4,950, or
about 4 tens 17 cwt: 1 qr. 211 b. ; with 200 loads cubic
metres, it was 7,100, about 7 tons; with 250 cubic metres,
8,950, 8 tons 1 i cwt. 1 qr. 151 b. ; with 350, it was 11,300,
or 11 tons 2 cwt. 1 qr. 2216; with 400, it was 12,500, or 12
tons 6 cwt. 81b. ; with 500, it was 12,800, or 15 tens 11
ewt., or iii the highest result the produce stands at 12,800
kilos., or 12 tons 11 cwt. per hectacre, that is, a little over
5 tens per statute acre.
The commissioners state, in conclusion :--Our different
experiments have had but one an 1 the same object,
viz., to introduce in the neighbourhood of Paris amongst
the farmers the use of the valuable town manure, which
is as rich as farm manure, and yet has been hitherto ne-
glected owing to the prejudices against it.
With the view to this, we have engaged a certain num-
bar of farmers to try, according to the Flemish method,
(that is, of the distribution of sewer m allure by the water
carts) some experiments, which we made as easy and in-
expensive as possible. We have changed the meagre grass
of the fortifications into rich herbage. We have applied
this manure to almost all the plants of commerce, and to
market-culture. We have applied it on the new English
method, which is admirably adapted to the distribution of
town manure, not only because it is specially for liquid
manure, bat also, and above all, because it deprives the
distribution of all that is repulsive and embarrassing.
Moreover, we have demonstrate 1, even to the most incre-
dulous, that the fodder obtained from this manure did not
partake of the flavour or smell of the dressing, and that the
milk, &c., was of excellent quality.
Has the expenditure so liberally granted by .the City
given any adequate return ?
In an economical .point of view our experiments have
been of little value. It is not in making additions of
material to the material culture in trying new methods
of application in making such experiments that one'can
realise the advantages or establish the price of the returns.
Moreover, the comparative results at the depot have been
singularly disturbed by two circumstances, viz.. the small-
ness of the squares of ground allotted to the experiment,
and the am moniacal atmosphere, in the midst of which the
plants lived. A space of four metres square was not suffi-
ciently large to prevent a portion of the dressing from going
upon the square that was not intended to he subjected to
the manure.. At the same time those plants whose ariel
respiration is much developed, might derive good from the
vapours brought by the wind from the adjacent receptacles
which might render the dressing almost useless. A true
comparison, however, such as will give exact differential
returns, and also the positive price of the returns, the ex-
ample in fact, which alone will attract numerous followers,
can only be found in the real bnsiness-like carrying on of a
farm. This opinion isnot ours only, it is the opinion of hose
practical men whohave taken a deep interest in our experi-
ments. Nevertheless, essential facts and useful suggestions
have been derived from these trial works. We have sliown
that the manure would be'used immediately if it could be
conveyed conveniently by conduits, boats, or waggons to
where it was required, and the mode of using it wherei ex-
plained. We hare resolved also several essential poll] 'a on
'
the subject as to the time, the amount of manure, an. the
proportion of water required in the irrigation. We ave
shown also a nob lees important question to what cro the
ili
sewer manure is, most applicable. We have for the first
time establiihedin Prance.a specimen of the new method
of liquid manuring by subterranean pipes. We havle de-
monstrated, thanks to this method, and to the manure of
sewers, that 300 hectares of the meagre grass of the fortifi-
cations can be transformed into a rich herbage, capable of
nourishing 1,000 milk cows. We have proved that the
process of vegetation changes so completely this manure,
that no odour or flavour from it is imparted to the plants.
If our experiments hav&Yet left it doubtful if this tt.,nure
is adapted to the cereals, to the farinaceous rlants, and to
some of the commercial plants, we have put beyond doubt
its efficacy when applied to green crops. This has been re-
markably the case with the Italian rye-grass, the crops of
which have exceeded any other grown even in the moat fa-
vourable circumstances, 28,000 kilos. of dry hay per heel are.
New fodder is what France is most deficient in. 1 Cli-

mate, and the system of culture are equally against th
tension of its production. To create around each of
large town, by the well-understood use of the sewer
nure, a belt of fodder, supplying the town and the ad.
iog neighbourhoods, and becoming itself an abundant sc
of animal produce, is a certain means of quickly incrat
the general production of the country, and to place it
level with the deinands of consumption."
Mr. Chadwick—lt may appear to be exorbitant to acept
only the most favourable results, and to reject those which
are least so; but, in respect to the cereals, the favourable re •
suite obtained by the farmers near Paris are confirmed by
the three seats' increasing crops obtained at Rugby by
the application of sewerage alone; last year it was stated
to me by Mr. Walker, to have been at the rate Of 50
bushels per airs. In France, according to Count 'Gas-
parin, extraordinary yields of wheat have been obtained
by the method of irrigation. At Mr. M,chi's, , and
the new lignitied farms in England, the yield has :been
almost invariably one quarter heavier than that obtained
by the highest. of the ordinary culture. In respect to the
increased production obtained upon these trial works at
Paris, which is very satisfactory as far as "they go, it is to
be observed that it is an increase upon a production much
below that which is deemed a very ordinary production in.
England. In the new cultivation, here, for example, tO to
80 tons of grass per acre, or 160 to 200 tons the hectare has
been obtained ; and Mr..Dickenson estimates his yicild of
Italian rye-grass at from 80 to 100 tons the acre, that, is to
say, 200 to 250 tons the hectare ; whereas, as we heive been,
about 85 tons the hectare is by them deemed a maxiiiumn
yield. I venture respectfully to submit that, eith their
climate, they may manure much higher, and that the will
obtain a far superior return. The experience of the fabiers
near Paris, and of farmers in England, as to the aetlica-
bility of liquified town manures to the cereals and some of
the crops referred to, is indeed confirmed by other t.Xneri-
ence within France itself. Thus Monsieur Panlet, a *rioter
who has paid great attention to the subject, states :
"In DAuplaina they spread the town manure npo the
wheat and rye in winter, when the ground is still a ittle
hardened by the frost. In spring they apply it princi ally
to barley, a short time before sowing the seed, and they
prefer a rainy day to spread it ; it is the same for flat and
potatoes." He adds, " If any one has doubts of the aston-
ishing effects produced by the use of town manure, it:. will
be sufficient to dissipate them to traverse the commune of
Bron, as also a part of the canton of Magevx (Isere); The
soil of this district is a thick sand and gravel, and in its
natural state is, at the most, suited to the growth of rye
and saintoin. Formerly a large portion of the land was
always in fallow ; the crops exposed to all the vicissitudes
of the seasons in this ungrateful soil scarcely returned the
outlay expended upon them. Now, by the use of the town
manure, the land has completely changed its character, each
year it bears heavy crops of corn, flax, barley, and potittoe
ss
Instead of the miserable sainfoin which they used to cut
50 years ago, they now, everywhere in these diustorticbtosi,umow
two crops of trefoil, and, when the season has
en-
favourable, an aftermath ; in abort, the ftiiitlitoinv.ation of the
Since the
country has undergone a complette
use of the town manure, the rotair
wnreeovlf:crops is improved,
worked and abun-
fellows have disappeared; th .?
dantly manured,suffices, without difficulty, for the various
produce which they get from it ; wealth has replaced po-
verty. It is .an example fitted to excite the zeal of agri-
culturists in all countries where they neglect the use of
of
manures. The direct method.using manure from dwell-
iug-houses is begin xcellent ; it is far preferable to that
method which begi byconverting these matters into pou-
dreate, a method which ought to be utterly condemned. Let
us hope that the more enlightened agriculturists will employ
these town manures, as being ern more rich in nutritive
elements and abounding in salts. I will only add that the
conclusions of the commissionersin favour of the direct ~.p-plieation
plieation of manures are given in consideration of the con-
ference in a theatre of chemical works, patented processes,
solidifications, and disinfectants, all of which have un-
doubtedly failed there ; and I could not find that the chief
manufacture—that of poudrette, a solidified manure, after
the evaporation and loss of two-thirds of the fertilising
matter, was spoken of otherwise than as by M. Paulet.
Nor, although many of these processes have been re-in-
vented or re-patented in England. At several towns where
works on that principle have been tried, I am informed
that they have been given up—and I have not heard of one 1
instance of success ; and I beg to ask of our secretary, Mr.
Hudson, whether the records of the society present one
authenticated instance of successful application ? [Mr.
Hudson—" I bare not been informed of anyl Rule as
the first applications of sewer manure may havia been, they
have certainly been successful in production.. I said some
time ago, that it might be applied at considerable distances,
at the rate of 2d. per ton. The Earl of Essex informs me
that he applies it at a short distance, about a mile,
for ld. per too. These first trial works at Paris are
deemed there to Le highly important Cl indications, and I

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