After the excreta have been superficially buried plants of the cabbage
tribe are dibbled in as soon as may be. This is often done within three
days, and the cabbages are sure to flourish. Seeds do not flourish
with any certainty, and, although I have seen fair crops of turnips,
peas, onions, &c., when the weather has been favourable, such crops
are liable to fail, while cabbage as a first crop is practically sure
to succeed. I can call to mind a spot in the Andover garden which had
been sown with turnips and radishes as a first crop after manuring.
The produce was Brobdingnagian, but worthless except to dig into the
ground. The development of green head was very great, the roots were
huge and woolly. When the plan of operations which has been described
(daily superficial burial followed by cabbage planting) was commenced,
some ten years ago, many were the prophecies of failure. The practical
men shook their heads and said I never should succeed that way, but
that I was 'bound to store the stuff in a heap to allow it to ripen
before being put on the land.' As a sanitarian one was naturally
anxious to get the excreta below the surface of the ground as soon as
possible, and I now feel confident in stating that the plan I recommend
is the best from the sanitary, agricultural, and financial points of
view. Sanitarily it is the best because there is no delay in the safe
bestowal of the excreta; agriculturally it is best because no ammonia
or other volatile body is given to the air, but all goes to enrich the
land; and financially it is best because it involves moving the dung
once only instead of twice; the same operation that tills the land
serves to cover the dung, and while the excreta are 'ripening' for
other crops the farmer gets a crop of cabbage. After the cabbage crop
the ground is still very rich and will grow everything or anything, to
which the soil and situation are suited, in high perfection.
The garden is in great contrast to an ordinary sewage farm. It is
used as a pleasaunce, and its luxurious herbage and bright colouring
are very beautiful. The ordinary garden crops show great exuberance
of growth, and the summer fruit trees (apples, pears, peaches, and
nectarines) are usually hung with a very bountiful crop of fruit.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.—Garden at Andover.]
The illustration (fig. 15) shows the central green path of the garden,
and although the rich colouring of the tritomas, gladioli, stocks,
phloxes, asters, lobelias, calceolarias, roses, and dahlias, cannot
be reproduced, the illustration will serve to give some idea of the
general luxuriance. The writer claims to have proved (all chemical
analyses to the contrary notwithstanding) that human excreta have a
very high manurial value, and this will be borne out by the picture.
THE 'DRY CATCH'
Seeing that moderate dryness and free access of air are essential for
humification, it becomes necessary so to construct our receptacle that
these ends may be attained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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