The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-27 00:00:00

TUE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1859.

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panic to save our sewerage, as there now is to waste

We may flatter ourselves that our manufac-
turing productions will bring us food while English
coal and iron last. But in this hope there are two
things which may either, or both of them, deceive

us. We may be superseded by native manufac-
tures in other countries, for as their populations
increase they are vieing with us in producing
themselves what we now send them. It is impossi-
ble to feel sure that we can always command the
markets of the world; and, in proportion to the cost
of food, we shall be less and less able to do so. But
the countries whence we get our supplies of food
will not themselves furnish it in inexhaustible
abundance. In America the seaboard States have
long bean exhausted of their fertility. Virginia is
in great part again a pine forest, and its lands be-
come productive again only by the costly application
of guano. The course of agriculture is westward in
America, because it bas hitherto been of an exhaus-
tive character; and notunfrequently American squat-
ter farmers have grown little more than was needed
by the Eastern States. It is quite among pro-
babilities that the Western States may at no dis-
tant period do more than supply the wants of the
Atlantic States, in addition to their own, and that
the hosts of immigrants from Europe may not only
consume food, but erect manufactories on the other
side of the water.

When, some time back, we adverted to the subject,
we fully acknowledged the real difficulty of the
case—what we may term the mechanical one. We
see that Baron LIEBIG does not overlook it. At
the present price of guano, and with the existing
mechanical means, it will not pay to retain and
utilise our sewage. But no effort has been made
worth notice in that direction. It should be known
what is the desideratum, and when its importance
is understood we shall be surprised if some
plan be not devised which shall seem to us as
simple as railroads and electric telegraphs now
.do. All our public urinals, and all our
conveniences of every similar kind at home
ought to deliver their contents in an undiluted
state to whatever conveyances may be devised as
the means of placing them outside the towns, and
perhaps directly on the fields themselves. A
difficult feat -at first sight, no doubt one
which must probably be partly chemical, by deodo-
risation ; and partly mechanical, by facilitating
domestic conveyance to carts calling at an early
hour. Possibly receptacles beneath the pavements
with sides well glazed, and tops well secured, ac-
cessible to night carts, may be best, or some
other unthought of scheme. Of one thing we can-
not have a shadow of doubt—that if the want be
known and recognised, it will be soon met. Let
the fact be weighed that the sewerage of London,
which now befouls the Thames, would, if properly
applied to our fields, produce sufficient additional
corn for the consumption of London, and let prices
seriously rise, and chemists, mechanics, and engi-
neers will contrive to arrest our sewage before it
has left our houses, and lost half its fertilising
power, and polluted the air of our streets.

deux with very great applause. On the whole the Covent •
garden pantomime has been very successful, and, with the
alterations and curtailments which will doubtless be made,
cannot fail to have a long run.

of the muffled sounds which are generally heard struggling
through the thick pasteboard. A ballet was introduced, in
the course of which M. Espinosa danced with a comic vigour
as surprising as that which he manifested in his " grand
pas de Dervisch." The harlequinade introduced a new clown
to public favour. A d6but of this kind is rarely brought
under our notice. Whatever may be the reason, untried
clowns do not generally put forward an announcement of
their first appearance. Of Mr. Forrest, we have to say that
he is very pliable in his joints, but a little stiff in his
humour. The Harlequin, Mr. Cormack, is one of the nim-
blest we ever saw. The scenery of " Jack the Giant
Killer" is beautiful throughout. The transformation scene,
with its continuous changes, drew down vociferous applause,
and cries for the manager, Mr. Harris, who appeared in
obedience to the call, and bowed his acknowledgments. To
sum up the merits of the Princess's pantomime, it is
sprightly, well mounted, capitally anted, fully supplied
with the materials of laughter, and not too long.