Recollecting that the sewage had to be at once cut off from Dr. Seaton’s “Sewage Marsh,” and its disposal provided for throughout on War Department land, it will be observed that the improvement work had to proceed piecemeal with some extra care and arrangement; but on the whole I am satisfied that the work has been completed with greater efficiency and economy than would have been the case if the sewage had been turned into the river and the whole site handed over to a contractor for two years in the usual course. About the same date (end of 1897) about 13 acres of land was handed over to my management with sewage from the Royal Military and Staff Colleges at Sandhurst, about 8 miles distant from the Camp Farm, and, being somewhat better land to begin with, this part now presents a very pretty example of what a small installation for about 1000 population may accomplish. But it is worked as part and parcel of the Camp Farm, horses being sent out to Sandhurst from Monday to Saturday when required. It is, perhaps, worthy of note that the reform of the Camp Farm was initiated in 1895 by the Secretary of State for War in a Liberal Ministry, and that it has weathered for seven years all the storms of Jingoism and the fashionable crazes for artificial sewage treatment. [Sidenote: Sir Redvers Buller’s period of command at Aldershot.] But whatever may be the rights or wrongs of General Sir Redvers Buller’s quarrel with the Press and the Government, his reputation as a practical agriculturist is undeniable, and while in command at Aldershot it was his custom to stroll over the Camp Farm on a Sunday afternoon, occasionally leaving a message with cowman or bailiff to warn me of anything he found amiss, for which I was very grateful, living as I do ten miles away. I am proud, therefore, to be able to publish the following letter from one who has shown that he is not to be influenced by complaisance to superior or inferior in expressing or modifying his opinions, and he writes as follows:— 17 LOWNDES SQUARE, S.W. _July 14, 1902._ MY DEAR JONES, I am delighted to hear that you are publishing a book about sewage treatment. The sewage farms at Aldershot and the Royal Military College afford ample proof of what a sensible practical man can do. But it is not every one who knows what those farms were before you took charge of them, nor do I think that any one seeing them now could conceive their previous condition. It is to that I can testify; you have turned putrid sewage bogs into fertile fields. You will confer an immense benefit on the country if, by your book, you can only teach sanitary authorities generally that the crux of the whole question is the necessity for practical commonsense measures against sewage stagnation, and if those measures are taken nature will do the work of purification without the assistance of expensive patents or artificial devices.