Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-11-24
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Gales ano Skettbts.
The SUCCESS or THE EXPERIMENT.
FARM AT BEDDISGTON. ENGLAND.

HE Success. OF THE ExPEkIHEN1AL
FARM AT BEDDISGToN. ENGLAND.
How TO get rid Of the sewage Of large
cities and towns is beginning to be ser
ious problem in this country. as it has long
been in Europe. The direct application Of
the sewage D. The soil As fertilizer is. on
the face Of it. the simplest method, wher-
ever sufficient land is available for the
purpose; but there has heen a strong
popular feeling against this method, from
fear tina, the diffusion of sewage over ex-
tensiye areas will give rise 10 emanations
Of the same noxipus character rs those
produced in sewers. and especially to the
propagation OF zymotic diseases; or that
al the least. a nuisance will be created,
leading to the deterioration in value OF adj
Joining property. Another objection
which has been urged is that the health OF
animals pasiured on sewage farms must
suffer IN some way. and their flesh and
milk be therefore rendered more or less
unwholesome. That this objection has any
solid foundation whatever. has yet to be
proved and. though it may be conceded,
as a mere possibility, that the oya OF t1nt1
might be found on the fodder Of sewage
farm, and thus be swallowed by the cattle,
it l. absurd 10 suppose that crude organic
matter can he taken up unchanged into
the vegetable tissues. Last. there is the
apprehension that the soil may be incapa-
Bile Of getting rid Of such "A volume OF
fluid as is employed in irrigation. and
may be converted into fetid swamp All
these objections are completely retuted by
the experience of the local board OF heal h
Of Croydon, nd.-extendin9 over
twenty years-whose sewage farm at Bed
dington is thus described in the London
Medical Times and Gazette: The total
area OF the farm is $40 acres, but of these
only $50 are regularly irrigated. On these
i. poured daily the sewage OF about 3d.
900 persons. averaging in dry weather =
600 900 gallons. but rising. when the ram
fall i added to sometimes twice that v0'-
umc. with no further treatment than Il
coarse straining to separate sticks. rags,
paper and such solid masses. The sewage
is conveyed To every part OF the estate by
a system Of channels and feeders and tun-
nels on to each field in order, fortwelve or
twenty-iour hours at a time. The small
est trenches are damned. at intervals. by
boards. to distribute the flow over the land.
After ha, ing been thus filtered through
one field it is conducted in like manner.to
"A second or Il tnlTu DtioIe IL Is diioWtu w
pass into the river Wandle.
The cilluent water is clear and devoid
Of taste and SMELL and numbers of young
fish NAV be seen in the conduit by which
it leaves the farm. Even in parts actually
submerged 10 the depth of an inch or more.
no odor is perceptible; none anywhere in
fact, save in the neighborhood of and I'M
cleaned ditch, and there not to be compar
ed with the stencil arising from the turn
ing over of an ordinary dunghill.
In short, it may be now taken as proved
that sewage in state of minute subdivis
ion and OF intimate contact with fresh
earth. does not undergo the septic changes
to which it is prone in mass.
The principal crop, as on all sewage
farms is Italian rye-grass, plant whose
powers of absorption are enormous. On
common pastures it yields two crops in n
season; here it is cut seven times. each
crop averaging fifteen TO sixty tons, and
worth e. to CO per acre. 1t is mostly
used rs green fodder, but there is no rea
son why it should not be made into hay,
which would find ready sale. Mangel
wurzel is also largely grown. These
crops are specially suited for sew
age culture. but none need be exclud
ed. and good fields of wheat may now be
seen on land which has not been irrigated
since the corn was sown. The cattle kept
on the farm are fattened for the butcher,
solely on its produce. at the rate of four
head per acre. ordinary pasture support
ing not more than one.
The question of the influence Of sewage
farms on the health of the surrounding
population. has also been conclusively
settled by the farm under consideration.
The population of the adjacent town of
Croydon has risen in the past decade from
So 900 to II 200, and the birth-rate, which
always entails proportionaic mortality,
is unusually high; yet the death-rate of
Croyton has steadily decreased, until for
several wears. it has not exceeded Is per
l00o.-that of London being -. In Bed
dngton it is only Ii in population Of
5000. many of whom unwittingly drink
the etlluent water, as is shown bv the rise
in the nearest wells which follows each
irrigation In the very midst of the farm
stands the orphan asylum. and visitors
bear witness to the healthy appearance of
the girls. l65 in number. About one
death has occurred yearly from phthisis
or tubercular disease; there has not been
fatal case of any zymotc disease.
All opposition in the neighborhood has
been disarmed by experience. and the val
tie of property in Beddington has doubled
in the last ten years, the proximity of the
sewage farm not having deferred the
wealthy citizens OF London from erecting
their villas around Bosom Journal Of
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