Report on the means of deodorizing and utilizing the sewage of towns : addressed to the Rt. Hon. the President of the General Board of Health / by Henry Austin.

  • Austin, Henry, 1809 or 1810-1861
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the means of deodorizing and utilizing the sewage of towns : addressed to the Rt. Hon. the President of the General Board of Health / by Henry Austin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    127/134 (page 105)
    Some new carriage gutters were cut, and a good deal of labour was bestowed on reducing the size of the old gutters, which have been diminished from 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep to ] foot 9 inches wide by 1 foot deep. (They are still larger than is desirable.) Taking all these circumstances into consideration, I am of opinion that water-meadows similarly situated might be completely laid out at an expense not exceeding 11 per acre. The annual expense of cleaning them, or of cutting fresh gutters by the side of the old ones, may be taken at Is. an acre ; and for these very low sums the land may be as fully, and more fully, benefited than by the old system, under which the cost could not be taken at less than 47. or 51. an acre ; while the annual expense of cleaning the gutters amounted to fully 2s. an acre, or double the sum now required. As an instance of the advantage of this system of water- ing, where only a limited supply of water can be obtained, I may mention that my steward has recently availed himself of Mr. Ellis's services in laying out two meadows of about 15 acres in extent, which are watered from a pond estimated to contain something like 50 hogsheads. In this case the water is carried along a level ridge by a carriage gutter, in which two breaks and sharp turns (as above described) occur When it is desired, to water the first part of the meadow a stop is put at the first break, and the water overflows and is caught by the level gutters below. To water the second part of the meadow, the stop is put at the second break, and the water, therefore, runs out of the first part of the carriage gutter, and fills the second till it overflows. To water the third part, the stops are removed, and the water runs, without overflowing, into the third portion of the carrier, whence it is distributed over the ground below. Stafford H. Northcote. Pynes, Exeter, June 29, 1852.