LIQUID.] " I only need to add that, previously to the adoption of the present system of farming, these 40 acres of land were barely sufficient to support eight or nine cows, and would have been well let at a rental of 30s. an acre." The attention now so generally directed to this subject, and the importance attached to it in many quarters, justify this lengthened quotation, and call for some remarks upon it. We have carefully examined two of the instances re ferred to in this report, viz., Port-Dundas and Myremill; and some smaller experiments more cursorily. After doing so we are sorry to say that we have arrived at a very different estimate of this system of manuring from that expressed in the above quotations. We at once, and with pleasure, acknowledge that in so far as concerns the storing up and preparing of the liquid manure, its application to the land, and the production, by means of it, of crops of Italian rye-grass almost surpassing belief in their luxuriance and weight of. produce, Mr Kennedy s experiments have been crowned with complete success. The excellence of this grass as food for live stock, and their relish for it, is also indisputable. Neither do we dispute the statements of those who tell us that manure, when largely diluted with water, and properly applied in the liquid form, is more 345 beneficial to plants than in any other way in which it can. be presented to them. Admitting all this, the question remains, Has it yet been shown that this system can be economically applied to ordinary farms ] Data are still wanting from which to answer this question conclusively, but we shall state some of the reasons which constrain us,, with our present information, to do so in the negative. Supposing an adequate motive power already to exist,, and to be partly employed for other purposes, the capital, that must be invested in providing the tanks and other apparatus necessary for carrying out this system amounts to about 4 per acre over a farm of average extent. If the system be a sound one, the great amount of this outlay can not fairly be urged as an objection to it. The addition of a permanent rent charge of 5s. per acre to an entire farm,, for a benefit which in any one year can be available to but a limited portion of it, is however a serious matter. la each case referred to in the Minutes of Information, the whole annual charge, whether arising from interest on. capital, wear and tear of machinery, or working expenses,, is divided by the whole acreage of the farm. In the first seven cases given in the tabular statement, this mode of calculation is correct, as the whole areas do actually benefit TABLE III. Shmcing Cost, etc., of the Application of Sewerage Waters and Liquid Manures. Name of Place. No. of Eng lish acres. Mode of Application. Cost of Works, and Apparatus. Annual In terest, fec., at 7 pei- cent. Annual Working Expenses. Total Annual Charge per English acre. Observations. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Edinburgh. Craigentinny Meadows. 63 ( Steam-engine, pumps, and )
open gutters and panes, j
2000 150 117 12 4 4 11 f Average rental upwards of I 16 per English acre. High-level Sea Meadows. 38 ( Gravitation, open gutters 1 ( and panes, . . . j 700 52 10 19 17 6 1 18 1 ( Worth about 20 per < English acre ; worthless (. before. Old Meadows. 228 Do. do. 2700 202 10 119 5 1 8 2i ( Maximum rental, 25 per I English acre. Nottinghamshire. The Duke of Portland. Clipstone Meadows. Wiltshire. Wiley Meadows. 300 150 ( Cutehmeadow, gravitation, ) t and open gutters, . . f (Beadwork of ridge and j ^ furrow, gravitation and > 36,000 3000 2700 225 150 52 10 9 10 1 17 { Worth upwards of 12 ; pre viously worth from 3s. to 5s. per acre per annum. ( Four heavy crops of grass per ( annum. Devonshire. The Duke of Bedford. Tavistock Meadows. 90 ( open gutters, . . J / Bead work and catch- < meadows, gravitation > ( and open gutters, . . ) 1183 88 14 6 67 10 1 14 8 C Land more than quadrupled s in value after only 4 years ( irrigation. fi Jc.h / Land not previously worth Pusey Meadows. 100 j Catchmeadow, gravitation, ) ( and open gutters, . . j 445 33 7 6 37 18 4 14 3 ) more than 5s. per acre, j yielding six heavy crops >7 /"Steam-engine, pumps, j V. of grass per annum. jriaSCJ010. Mr Harvey s farm. 508 ) underground iron main 1 j pipes and iron distribut- j 1450 108 15 240 10 13 9 {10 feet thick of grass cut from an acre hi six months. V ing pipes, . . . ) A yrshirf. Myremill farm. 508 1 Steam-engine, pumps, " underground iron mains, I gutta-percha hose, and j 1586 118 J9 162 10 11 1 | 70 tons of grass cut from an ( acre in six months. Canning Park farm. 50 jet pipe, . . J Do. do. 210 15 15 11 10 8J ( 14 J feet of grass cut in seven
mouths.
Leg or DundurT farm. 50 t Gravitation, underground ~) < iron mains, gutta-percha V ( hose, and jet pipe, . . ) 191 14 6 6 3 10 7 1J f 80 stacks per annum ; in
place of 12, as previously.
Staffo rdsh ire. The Duke of Sutherland. /Steam-engine, pumps, " Hanehureh farm near ^ Trentham. ) 83 J underground iron mains, (_ ) gutta-percha hose, and ( 520 13 4 39 1 Q 18 6 13 9} i Tanks constructed sufficient I for 300 acres. 1 jet pipe, . . J Lancashire. ( One dressing of liquid equal Halewood farm. 120 Do. do. 521 12 39 2 5 19 15 2 9 9J < to 25 or 30 tons of farm- (, yard manure per acre. (A fourth crop of grass being Cheshire. weighed, was found equal Lescard farm. 150 Do. do. 672 1 10
- o 8 o
17 11 9 8J to 10 tons per acre. It was the lightest crop cut off tin- same land. Glamorganshire. f Gravitation, underground ( Tanks constructed sufficient Forth Kerry Farm. 50 < iron mains, gutta-percha > 300 22 10 10 13 < for 300 acres. Between 9 ( hose and jet pipe . . j (, and 10 feet of grass cut. each year by the irrigating process. But when we come to those irrigated by machinery, we find that a half or two- fifths only of the land receives the benefits of it in any one year. If the annual charge in this latter class of cases is- divided by the acreage actually irrigated, it becomes evident that the expense is double that of the Pusey meadows, and
I. 44
