THE CROYDON SEWAGE FARM.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 7

THE CROYDON SEWAGE FARM.

As the question of sewage is now engaging the attention of our City Council and citizens at the present time, tho following rather lengthy, though instructive, account of a visit to the above farm will probably prove of interest to our readers :—: —

Qu. Saturday (say«> the London Times of the ISfch of June) a large party of gentlemen interested in the solution of the great sewage difficulty, made an inspection of the sewage farm at Becldington, near Croydon, by invitation of Dr Alfred Carpenter, Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Croydon Local Beard of Health. The object was to show that while the partisans of irrigation, of iiitermittant filtration, and of chymicaL precipitation are fighting for their respective systems, 14 years' experience at Croydon shows that the surface-watering of suitable agricnlbural land is a means of perfectly purifying sewage without detriment to the salubrity or the neighbour, hood, and with a possibility of commercial profit upon the undertaking. The sewerage of a population of about 55,000, including excreta from about 20,000 waterclosets and a portion of the rainfall which has not yet been diverted from the drains, is delivered at a point nearly one mile from Waddon station. Here formerly it was detained in settling and filtering tanks to generate a stench and prove an intolerable nuisance and danger : but, these being abandoned, it is now passed in a continuous stream, without delay through one of Mr Baldwin Latham's revolving screens or extractors. This remarkably ingenious machine, kept in motion by the current of sewage itself, which has an extra fall of 2\ ft given it for the purpose, strains out such large floating matters as rags, paper, &c.j though, as the smallest apertures in the screen are three-six-teenths ' of an inch square, all the fine matters in suspension are carried through, to he ultimately deposited as a 'black sedimentary mud party in the open gutters on the farm, but principally among the vegetation and upon the surface of the fields. The quantity of solid stuff collected by the extractor is only some ton and a half per day out of a quantity of sewage amounting to from three to eight or ten million gallons, and when mixed with dry straw and garden refuse from ,the dustbins of the town the stuff is sold at 2s 6dto 3s per ton to market gardeners in the vicinity. The farm consists of nearly 500 acres, 1 of which 450 acres are under irrigation in fields and plots interchangeably according to the crop sown, care being taken to provide a sufficient area of rye-grass for summer flooding, though corn is also grown. Luckily, the natural level of the ground admits of the whole being watered without the expense of pumping ; the turbid, darkcoloured, but not offensively odorous sewer water which flows by gravitation along wide open channels and small gutters as carriers to all parts of the fields, By artificial levelling the surface has been made so even that the flooding is accomplished without, either catchwatop 4raius op alternate ?%« pni Aitow

drains, simply by damming the gutters at intervals along their course until the water has wetted the ground on each side, and this water flows in some cases 300 or 400 yards in a thin sheet over the soil and among the myriad steins of the grasses before finally pouring into the ditch which receives the spent sewage or overflow. It is found from experiments by Mr Latham, the engineer, that about one-third of the total supply passes off the land a°- a in two-thirds being retained by soakao-e or absorbed by the growing plants, or wasted by evaporation. As the soil has a porous subsoil largely composed of gravel, no imdenlraimng has been necessary. On such a stormy day as Saturday the farm did not appear to possess any of the characteristics of a swamp or a marsh, and only occasional whiffs of unpleasant scent could be detected, and this indeed, only close to some of the open channels which, as Dr Carpenter remarked in his peripatetic lecture, have been recently denuded of their concealing borders of nettles. Statistics were adduced to show that a very moderate degree of mortality obtains in the parish of Beddmgton and the hamlet of WaunMon • while an outbreak of typhoid fever at Croydon itself was most conclusively proved to have arisen from an intermittent supply o f drinldngThe sewage is perfectly clarified by passing over and partly through the land, the effluent water being limpid and tasteless ; and a resi dent proprietor, after "having compelled the Local Board to discharge this water in another direction, has now repented of his opposition has paid all expenses of new works, and has gratefully received the purified sewage into his ornamental trout stream, which is a portion of the liver Wandle. Dr HassalTs analysis shows the presence of only such proportions of ammonia and nitrates as may exist in ordinary water, while another analysis made by Dr I'raiudand gives a very favourable result. The visitors had ocular demonstration of th power of the sewage to turn poor or moderat soil into ground, producing luxuriant crops Th rye-grass is yielding immense euttino-s' the young mangold plants are remarkably fine and forward, the corn luxuriant, the cabbage rhu barb, and even water cresses flourishing '• and on f » .la:. la :^ c fie J d of old permanent pasture artificially watered, principally by rainfall water, were seen grazing about 90 cows and other cattle, apparently in a very healthy con dition. J

As to returns from the husbandry, it is to be noted that the Local Board are not professed farmers, and that they have not been able to invest anything like a sufficient capital in the business. Nevertheless, it may fairly be ur««d - that a similar proportion to what is the present production of some portions of the farm mi"ht be realised over the whole. Thus Waddon Field, now under sewage, which is applied to alternate plots for 12 hours at a time/more or less, had wheat last year, and produced six quarters six bushels to the acre ; and, with the straw, gave a return of L 22 3s 9d per acre • The land has had no other manure than sewage for 15 years. It was laid down with rve-^rala in the autumn, and was cut for the first time on the 14th May. The sum received for the cuttmg was L 7 per acre. The second crop is now growing. The plot next the wheat was occupied last year with potatoes, and produced Ll9 per acre. The rye-grass was sown too late and had to be re-sown this spring. The first cuttingrealised L 4 2a per acre. Another plot was wwn with rye-grass in September last: the first cutting, the 24th of April, produced L 7 15s per acre; the second crop, now cutting17f llßfI IB f S & out L12 ,P er acr e- ft is sold at front id to Is 6d per rod to cowkeepers and others who send for it and pay for it as they take it *?W-A*<jfoer field gave a first cutting on the 20th of April, and a second cutting O n the 3rd of June, A portion weighed from this field, m the presence and fop the- information of several agricultursts, during the recent show, gave a produce of m tons per acre. This plot has realized this spring £111 13s 6d. Another the 30th of April, and a second cron is now growing. A portion has been fed off by sheen ( On Keepers-gate Field, the rye-grass s<nm in the autumn of 1873 was cut seven times lasfe year, including one cutting which extended into January of this year, ft was again cut on the 2oth of March, again about the 10th of May, and is now a third time fallino- befnra the scythe. In 1874 nearly 700 tons°of ££?. golds were raised on the farm and half that quantity sold by auction last spring, realized 2os and 26s per ton. A plot of 2h acres of rhubarb has produced L 26 10s per acre. It ig announced that the loss on working the farm was something like L 2 per acre in 1874 which may be considered a very favourable year Tha business would no doubt pay the town of Croydon well were it not that a very hio-h rent ■ swallows up all chance of a profit. The three landlords receive a rent of LlO per acre for land which, 15 years age, let, we believe, for no more than 22s to 26s per acre ; and the sewage treatment is positively, adding largely to tha value of the sou. The explanation is that a portion of the farm may be termed " building land." At a reasonable rent of £4 per acre the sewage farming would be yielding a profit ; but it would take an annual expendi. ture, of, perhaps, £3 per acre to pump tha sewage, and so command a more distant area at a rent about that figure. At the luncheon, provided by Dr Carpenter, and set out in a barn after the storm had 1 blown over the the tent erected for the occasion, the visitors partook of bread and pastry from wheat grown upon the farm, beef from a young heifer which had been two years and a half on the farm, veal from a calf bred on the farm • vegetables, as salad, &c, grown on the farm s trout en Mayonnaise obtained from the river Wandle,' into which the efiiuent water passes j confectionery, made with milk, cream, &c, also from the farm. As might be expected, all were _ pronounced excellent, the beef being especially praised. Among the visitors were gentlemen from several of the Midland and Northern Countieg, from Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and -Japan. Interesting speeches were delivered by Dr Carpenter (who presided) by Earl Fortesque, Lord Derby, and several members of Parliament.

Strangers paying a visit to Dunedin are often at a loss to know which is the best ea* tablishment'lio visit for the purchase of dra* pery and clothing. Herbert, Haynes, and Co. offer special advantages to the public tbaf can be met with nowhere else in the city They keep at all times the largest and beat assorted stock of every class of goods, im» ported direot from' the leading manufacturers and warehousemen at home, which, beink bought entirely upon cash terms, they ,irl enabled to offer goods of such sterling valae as cannot be equalled by any other house in the trade. Every 'article in stock is marked at a fixed price for ready money, from which no abatement is ever made, so that the most inexperienced buy their goods at the same price as the best judges. Their terms are net cash, without discbunt or reduction of *& Wt?4 fr* lll6 * description of their stock wOl b<9 jofcad i» »ay?rti^jneas to the fart