Show 2 A sewage farm while tho the problem of how best to bisp dispose se of the tile sewage of great cities Is still 0 unsolved smaller communities have had more than one successful illustration of a speedy and on the whole economical distribution of the main fertilizers of the tho soil soll of these one of the best known is that of the beddington iwago F farm arm belonging belongings to the croydon local board of health croydon don as many of our meaders readers are ard a aware yare tare is a considerable township lying jing some ten miles mile 4 south of london and draining into the f streams which have havo their efi effluence luence i atillie in the thames some borne fifteen years tago iago when the rage fage for Ei suburban burban rest residences began f fo elza elze eiza th ohp dwellers in the tho great metropolis ig croydon assumed proportions ns that made a new drainage system absolutely I 1 imperative the of jand jandon on the banks of the wandle a famous trout stream obtained obtain ed an ap injunction again salts pollution aad thera there was n no 0 choice between incurring heavy chancery penalties ancl and adopting some me means aus ans of ot utilising utilizing util uti lising laing or at all events ren rendering biering innocuous U the output of the sewers chis this has bee been n no uncommon cae case avith towns having no direct connection with a tidal river but croydon Croy cros dorn dori has taken a rather agather uncommon part in iff forwards forwar forwarding df ngan an enlightened view of the best possible remedy rhe rho the dis is fortunate in having anlon among g its residents dr alfred carpenter one of the leading apostles of bf the irrigation theory who has ba ls been most indefatigable in carrying that theory into actual and so faras daras far as croydon ia is concerned into most successful practice wye vve we need not tako take space to describe the tho gradual ogress progress of the sewage farm under S dr r carpenters management mana ement but some facts relative to its present condition are not unlikely to interest many of our readers the beddington farm farin consists of some adras acres of tableland tabio table land originally not very fertile but well adapted from the porous character of the soil sou to the purposes of isem age irrigation it is divided into some half balf dozen or more fields nearly all of which can be irrigated without the necessity for liti ahping and with comparatively little manual labor on the patt pait of the farm servants the district into this area maybe may be estimated as conla conia containing eonia conia ining inin a population of df souls all the sewers connect with a main maln drain leading to tb in a filter house some distance away from the town and where la athams strainers are in use the strainer may be roughly stated as a d kind of mill milr wheel turned by the sewage itself and the revolutions of which nervo nerve erve to remove all hard extraneous amat ter and to set free thib the valuable q por eions of the sewage in the idoni fa nui nun of 0 a thic thick k liquid filhe he solid matter is i collect edat the works wo ks and mixed with ashes is sold to farmers and market gardeners at as gd per yard the liquid sewage when it leaves the strainer passes rapidly along an open sewer to the farm where the stream streaby is 14 so di divert vert ed as enclose bac each hot of the larger fl elds fields the sewer is not liot exactly on a level with the fields for that would lead to lri iri involuntary volun t ry 0 overflows ver particularly when there is much storm water but sluices are fixed at points notkar not oar far separate and by their action the work of irrigation is carried on the there re are sub canals about a fl foot in and about a dozen or of fifteen yards apart stretching from the tho main sewer across the fields and these again a ain aln aie afe ame are fitted with sluices so tha thata tharion tion on being filled ill fil ahe obe ose wage sewage can edn be spread over the whole of ib ahe sol soil the operation is very simple simpie impi e and can be performed by a few out ont outdoor door laborers without any by assistance from steam or horses the overflow is ls permitted te to continue for about tw twelve evo eve hours and then by lowering the height of the main sewer on one side of the field it naturally passes off so much 0 it as has not become amalgamated with the soil soll into the lowered sewer it is far from being purified yet however ev er and is not only too valuable to bo be lost lot but too dirty to 16 be thrown into the river Accor accordingly dirl 9 it is passed over other field less needful of strong chemical treatment and after three or four foul processes of this kind it finally emerges in a crys stream streamy whose purity will bear very favor able comparison with a considers con sidera ble portion of the water supply of london all this has been ascom accomplished in a few hours and in a rup run zigzag zig zag ways of some three or four miles but it is now nov time ilme to say eay some thin thing das as prod products acts of the irrigation arl the beddington F farm arm has a 1 little ittle of alf all ail sorts of agricultural produce within its bounds but the principal crop is italian rye grass of which PO so many as seven or eight eight crops can be grovia grown in a single year yean it jt will be apparent that this possesses a double advantage since it not only secures a considerable revenue but brt ryes a constant rece recep ohp facie for the jerage when the 0 sewera sewers are swollen by storm water they thoy can be let loose on meadows which do not require strong treatment ae or an b n market garden land which might be injured by the more power powerful rui rul sewage one of these rye grass fields was nas laid down last lase autumn and was cut for the fira first time anthe on last month the tho sum suna received heing being xa 7 per abre acre acre the second crop i ing hild and will ve very ry likely realize 12 an acre there ia Is an abundant t demand the surrounding farmers being very gfa glad giad fe ti carry carry away the gnass grasp in their awn carts and as a rule ruie the most of it is gold s old oid and eolis coias consumed umed in jit its fresh state A field of wheat last year produced ed six quarters s six ix bushels to the acre and w with ith the straw stray gave a return of 22 as ad pera per acre cre crp a ploton plot piot of potatoes fetched olg per acre garc and A plot of af rhubarb los loa d per acre gere these are suggestive gest lye iye figures enough and it might be eup eur supposed purposed posed that the croydon local board was ca carrying on f arming farming operations on a very remunerative scale but there is th this i drawback to the profi account that the land is rented at the exorbitant figure of tola an farms being yet in their infancy thero there is ig a not unnatural hostility to ta them in the minus of many people and dr Oar carpenter penter alid and laid his colleagues have havo hild had ta t encounter this thia hostility by paying prohibitive prices for the necessary ceoil to conduct their irrigation deflon operations rations moreover local boards are not as a ruie rule ambi ambitious tidus to become high 0 farmers and that at 6 croydon cares eares more mere to dispose of its sewage without I 1 ut an actual lasic JosiC than tp demonstrate dp the full benedits benefits of theay themy tiie tile system ste int Farmin farming gis gig is with with them thew merely a means to an endi end therefore jt is noi not surprising that the pecuniary aide alde of the question ignot ig not so bright as the scientific side but after all there ney may nay bo be said bald to bo a clear gal gai gain ii for any other othen method of purifying the sewage would be more costly in its outlay auli and much less productive in its income here however and at is as only fair testate to state the fact the cost is greatly reduced by the level character of the country and it must be recognized that if there is a margin of loss that on the farming account where no pumping is is necess arya town which had to go to the expel expense ise lse of ok elaborate til ull be e in f n a vc very I 1 ry much touch less jess encouraging condition we have imm omitted a most important point iu dr di carpenters excellent scheme the opponents of lire Irre irrigation gation dation declare thatis poisons the air ora of a district I 1 well weil thele thedis is sonie some evidence to the contrary at croydon even men in ummer summer t there re is ia no offensive effluvia from the sewers or the land indeed the sewage has hns no ijo tinie tb and become deleterious to health for it is constantly on the move or being absorbed in nature naturel 4 great labora i tory adry a and n d the IU luxuriance xu bance banco of the vegetation nettles especially on an the banks of the stream act as a perfect deodoriser deodorizer deodor iser bf the unhealthy gases abases the tho process propels has been long iong enough in operation ti to show shove its effects and it IL is noticeable that an orphan school on the very border of the farm is one olle of the iest lest of the kind kird in surrey As for the town of croydon ft itself s if the rapid ip increase crease enease of its population ia tion alop testifies to the absence of any general fear the birthrate hirth birth rate of ded beddington in hi 1872 was 18 95 and the death rate these foregoing 0 observations hayo baye been occasioned bya by a visit paid ta to the farm on saturday last jast by about fifty gentlemen interested iu in a question which is 13 rapidly taking first place among the vital questions of th the tho c day dayi among tiie the visitors were earl larl Ifor tescue lescue a sanitary defor reformer m er of a quarter of af a cent standing HenryLee mr henry lee the well known naturalist who as the first of living authorities on has a keen interest in all that concerns tho the purity of our streams and mr the member for who is so well entitled to represent the agriculturists side of the subject dr carpenter courteously instructed the party in every detail of the process and subsequently entertained them at a luncheon where very thing but the champagne was i 1 A N tile tiie direct brodu ct of araga ga tion the breaul was waa cronl elage ew agu age wheat the butcher met meat bild had been fed on sewage meadows the tiie veko vege tables the cream even berries were from sewage plots aad and to crown ail all there were some borne excellent trout taken irom from tilen tiley theyan au dle at tho the tho point where the effluent water of the farm mixes wiell that beautiful sir stream earn the tho appetites had bad been whetted by the fresh breezes of the surrey meadows seemed to have no compunction h as to the source of the tho edibles and nd ibe writer of this as one who enjoyed the feast fear can testify that after two days he exhibits no symptom of poisoning or th digestion indigestion as the results of it glasgow june 19 i r |