Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-07-06

Beriin's Irrigation scheme-VnIue
! In Waste Products.
\ number of English cities run cor
/ pOratiOn farms in connection with their
garbage works. diverting there To re-
claim useless land all the material that
cannot be protitably disposed of in 9th
or ways. In still other instances even
the : wage is utilized for this purpose.
and u furnishes some potent facts as
/ 10 IT,, resources of seemingly useless
| land Wien scientifically treated. These
sewa e ;...d other corporation farms Of
fer Il most interesting study of thrift
ana frugality in the management of
natures resources, and the whole sub
| ject is one that will appeal to every
student Of municipal conditions.
Leicester, Liverpool and Nottingham
are the most prominent examples of
English ci,irs which find profit in the
utilization OF the sewage of their com
munities. Leicester uses the sewage
of about 100000 of its population in
this way. The city owns tract of
100 acres adjacent to the limits. 1t is
about 40 feet above the level of the
city, and as the sewage is pumped to
it it is distributed over 1850 of the
LOO acres by system of broad irri-
cation. Under the stimulus of the fer
tiliziEg elements in the sewage the
| farm grows immense crops of all kinds
and supports some l.1OO hullockS and
1GO horses and provides work during
the summer months for about 100 men.
All the other refuse collected in the
city that has any fertiiiIiIg value is
! sold
Livel elpOol operates two sewage farms,
containing 392 acres. The sewage from
Il section of the city having Il popula-
ton of GJ,GUO is diverted to these
farms, and the system used is that of
broad irrigation. The crops grown are
rye. grass and vegetables ana the cost
of maintenance is returned rs $1,000
per annum. No figures are given con-
cCrn.ng the returns. The farms have
been in operation for about - years.
Liverpool operates number of
creamatories for the destruction of
gaIlagc and makes point of saving
all the tia cans and bottles found in
the refuse. The cans bring SO cents
per ton and the bottles cents per
dozen. All refuse having 4 manurial
value is disposed of to the farmers.
The imperial city of Berlin lrrigates
nearly $4,000 acres of land with its
sewage. 1t is sent to the corporation
farms by force pumps and applied to
the land mainly in horizontal bitches,
which allow the sewage to overflow
the entire surface. The irrigated land
is all underdrained. and as the water
filters through the soil it enters the
drainage bitches and finds its way to
the natural water courses. 1t is then
clean and taSteleSS and, it is claimed
entirely innOcuous. As evidence of
this, it is stated that a number Of
ponds are fed from the underdrains
and that various kinds of. fish. includ
ing brook trout, thrive in them and
become n source of revenue to the city.
Most of the land irrigated is cultivated
by the city, and on some of the farms
are located homes for conValescents
from the city hospitals.
The facts as reported from Berlin
regarding this venture are that II has
converted nearly $4,000 acres of for
merly very poor land into rich fields
and garden land, the tilling of which
becomes annually more lucrative. AT
the same time it has made Berlin one
of the cleanest and healthiest commu-
nit M
world. All this was obtained, how
ever. only after immense expense. The
cost of the land included in the present
sewage farms. with the undertaking
and other improvements. was, in round
numbers, $7000,000.
Tie city of Barmen, Germany, hav-
Ing a population of 10000. takes Il
bacl: seat to none Of them in the mat
ter of utilization of "unconSidered
trilcs'' of a city. There the vegetable
refuse is all saved to feed cattle. Tin
cans are melted or made into cheap
toys. These cans. with tin clasps.
cor.s. bottles, old pens, postage stamps
and all the other odds and ends, are
sent there to an institution for cpilep-
Bottles found in good condition are en-
ploycd again. Broken glass is sold to
the class factories at the rate of about
Il cents per 100 pounds. Clean ashes
are used for making mortar and filing
out floor spaces in new buildings. Clean
boiler ashes are all saved and sell read
lily for from so to 20 cents per wagon
load. PAPER waste, old books, letters,
ra~s, ETC.. bring "a cents per 100
pounds and are used in the manufac-
ture of paper. Bones are metamor-
phosed into glue. and old woolen rags,
stockings, etc, into shcddy.
They are q very thrifty people in old
Amsterdam, and nothing having any
commercial value is allowed to escape
them through the medium OF the city
garbage. Old shoes, rags, tin cans ana
iron. zinc. bones, coke and all the other
miscellaneous items that so to make
I'D the garbage in great city are re-
ligiously winnowed out from the other
stuff and made to yield more or less
revenue to the city. 1t is astounding
what vast quantities of each OF tl'e
above items will be collected III the
course of year. OF bones the average
is about 40 tons of old iron, 10 tons;
of tin plate, 154 tons; Of glass 4oo TONS
of leather and old shoes, a tons. Inc
revenue from the above sources ana
the other waste material collected aIo
sold is about 100000 a year. TINS ls
I,,e;ro of tho large sum earned wear