New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-10-25


Thames, which carries them some distance
toward the sea, when the rising tide brings
then back again, and so they float eternaiy up
and down in the vicinity Of the City, rendering
the river mass of filth and adding their quota
of e1halations to the proverbial thickness OF
the atmosphere. New-York is happily Tree
from such difficulty. The mighty currents OF
the Hudson and the East River, rapidly bear
away and dissipate whatever is disgOrged into
them, and the consequence is that, in proper
tion to the attention paid TO public cleanliness,
this is one of the healthiest towns in the world.
Still the fact remains that this metropolis
yearly wastes as much of the elements of agri-
cultural production as are annually drawn from
al least one-sixth of all the land under cultiva-
ton in the Empire State. Certainly there can
be no more powerful agency of devastation.
One would say that the time must come
when sucb immense waste would no longer be
suffered, and when some means would De de-
vised of saving this wealth and restoring IL 90
the farmer. In London this is already a SUD-
iect Of earnest discussion. Mr. MEccHI, che
eminent farmer, proposes by steam power TO
TRANSPORT the contents Of the city sewers out
mon the chalks sands, and gravelly barrens
in the neighbOrhood, converting them INTO
gardens. 4 steam engine of a thousand morse
power will, he estimates, yield force Suiic!eht
to drive these precious essences of bread ana
meat out through iron arteries and VEINS con-
Quoting wherever they are wanted In the
vicinity of the town. That no greater power
would be required is plain, from the fact that
apart frcm rain-water, the entire sewage oftae
city might be carried through a conduit OF
four feet diameter.
All. then. that would be necessary would be
to change the sewers, so that instead OF de-
bouching in the Thames they should flow into
some common receptacle where the steamer
CINE could be placed, and whence the dlstrlbu-
ting pipes could start 4 great expense this
would be. no doubt but not SO great as the
original construction of the sewers; while the
increased cleanliness of the City, the puflhca-
ton Of the river aud the air, the value OF the
manure delivered on the spot where it is need
ed would far exceed in both sanitary and pc
cuniary benefits the interest and working
cost of the whole apparatus.
In the capabity of establishing such sys-
tenn Of sewage, London is ahead OF New-lork
We have no land where the contents OF our
l. 1,l,t ri hnf N
Westchester County, which is not only too tar
off but We fear is too rocky ever 10 be raised
to a very high degree of productiyeness. Ii
the sandy soil of Long Island we're within
reach and if agricultural science were adj
vanced enough in this country for our farmers
to understand the advantage of high culture, it
might be advisable for the Corporation serious
ly to inquire into the feasibility of saving from
one to three millions year by changing the
arrangement of the sewers, and carrying thoir
contents cut of the City by steam power. But
as it is, we must wait for the experiment to be
tried in London, and probably q great deal
longer.
But after all, great cities will still be great
evils, ard an epoch must come when they will
10 longer be necessary to the same extent as
now. This will be when Society is sufficiently
advanced, aud so endowed and organized that
life in the country will present the attractions
and advantages which are now the exclusive
possession of the town, in addition 70 those
that belong to rural pursuits and pleasures.
Then these big emporiums will be needed only
as the dtpots of foreign commerce, and the
population now crowded into their overgrown
limits Will be gathered in thousands of friendly
centers of art aud industry, where the long
desired unity between man aud nature and be-
tween man and man will be happily matured
But alas that happy day is still remote,
though to it all the energies and achievements
Of Humanity forever tend