 Section 36 of London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 by Henry Mehue. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Henry. It will be seen, on reference to the preceding table, that the quantity of street refuse collected in dry weather throughout the metropolis is between 300 and 400 cartloads daily, or upwards of 100,000 cartloads, the greater portion of which may be termed street dust. The damage occasioned by the street dust arises from its penetrating, before removal, the atmosphere both without and within our houses, and consists in the soiling of wearing apparel, the injury of the stock and trade of shopkeepers, and of household furniture. Washing is of course dependent upon the duration of time in which it is proper in the estimation of the several classes of society to retain wearing apparel upon the person, on the bed, or the table, without what is termed a change. And this duration of time with thousands of both men and women is often determined by the presence or absence of dirt on the garment, and not arbitrarily, as among wealthier people, with whom a clean shirt every morning, and a clean tablecloth every one, two, three, or more days, as may happen, are regarded as things of course, no matter what may be the state of the displaced linen. The Board of Health, in one of their reports, speak very decisively and definitely on this subject. Common observation of the rate at which the skin, linen, and clothes, not to speak of paper, books, prints, and furniture, become dirty in the metropolis, say they, as compared with the time that elapses before a proportionate amount of deterioration and uncleanliness is communicated in the rural districts, will warrant the estimate that full one-half the expense of washing to maintain a passable degree of cleanliness is rendered necessary by the excess of smoke generated in open fires and the excess of dust arising from the imperfect scavenging of the roads and streets. Persons engaged in washing linen on a large scale state that it is dirtied in the crowded parts of the metropolis in one-third the time in which the like degree of uncleanliness would be produced in a rural district, but all attest the fact that linen is more rapidly destroyed by washing than by the wear on the person. The expense of the more rapid destruction of linen must be added to the extra expense of washing. These expenses and inconveniences, the greater portion of which are due to local man administration, occasion an extra expenditure of upwards of two to three millions per annum, exclusive of the injury done to the general health and the medical and other expenses consequent thereon. Here then we find the evil effects of the imperfect scavenging of the metropolis estimated at between two and three million sterling per annum, and this in the mere matter of extra washing and its necessary concomitant extra wear and tear of clothes. As this estimate, however, appears to me to exaggerate the evil beyond all due bounds, I will proceed to adduce a few facts bearing upon the point, and first as to the expense of washing. In order to ascertain as accurately as possible the actual washing expenses of labouring men and their families whose washing was done at home, Mr. John Buller, the honorary secretary to the Association for the Promotion of Baths and Wash Houses, tells us in a report presented to Parliament, quote, that inquiries were made of several hundred families of labouring men, and it was found that taking the wife's labour as worth five shillings a week. The total cost of washing at home, for a man and wife and four children, averaged very closely on two shilling six pints a week, equal to five pints ahead. The cost of coals, soda, soap, starch, blue, and sometimes water was rather less than one-third of the amount. The time occupied was rarely less than two days, and more often extended into a third day, so that the value of the labour was rather more than two-thirds of the amount. The cost of washing to single men among the labouring classes whose washing expenditure might be expected to be on a very low scale, such as hod men and street sweepers, was found to be four pints hapeny ahead. The cost of washing to very small tradesmen could not be safely estimated at much more than six pints ahead a week. It may perhaps, continues a report, be safe to reckon the weekly washing expenses of the poorer half of the inhabitants of the metropolis at not exceeding six pints ahead. But the expenditure for washing rapidly increases as the inquiry ascends into what are called the middle classes. The washing expenses of families in which servants are employed may be considered as double that of the servants, and therefore as ranging from one shilling six pints to five shillings a week ahead. There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining with any exactness the washing expenditure of private families, but the conclusion is that taking the whole population, the washing bills of London are nearly one shilling a week ahead, or five million pounds a year. Of course, adds Mr Buller, I give this as but a rough estimate, and many exceptions may easily be taken to it, but I feel pretty confident that it is not very far from the truth." As I before stated, I am in no way disposed to go to the extent of the calculation here made. It appears to me that in parliamentary investigations by the Agency of Select Committees, or by gentlemen appointed to report on any subject, there is an aptitude to deal with the whole body of the people as if they were earning the wages of well and regularly employed labourers, or even mechanics, to suppose that the starving ballast heaver, the victim of a vicious truck system which condemns him to poverty and drunkenness, or the sweep, or the dustman, or the street-seller, all very numerous classes, expends one shilling a week in his washing, is far beyond the fact. Still less is expended in the washing of these people's children. Even the well-conducted artisan with two clean shirts a week, costing him sixpence, with the washing of stockings and so on, costing a penny or tuppence, does not expend one shilling a week, so that though the washing bills of many ladies and of some gentlemen may average ten shillings weekly, if we consider how few are rich and how many poor, the extra payment seems insufficient to make up the average of the weekly shilling for the washing of all classes. A prosperous and respectable master Greengrocer who was what may be called particular in his dress, as he had been a gentleman's servant, and was now in the habit of waiting upon the wealthy persons in his neighbourhood, told me that the following was the average of his washing bill. He was a bachelor, all his washing was put out, and he considered his expenditure far above the average of his class, as many used no night-shirt, but slept in the shirts they wore during the day, and paid only thruppence, or even less, per shirt to their washing-women, and perhaps and more especially in winter, made one shirt last the week. Two shirts per week, sevenpence, stockings a penny, night-shirt worn two weeks generally, average per week, three farthings, sheets, blankets and other household linens or woolens, tuppence, handkerchiefs a farthing, total elevenpence. My informant was satisfied that he had put his expenditure at the highest. I also ascertained that an industrious wife who was able to attend to her household matters could wash the clothes of a small tradesman's family, for a man his wife and four small children, well, at the following rate, one pound of soap, fourpence apenny or fivepence, soda and starch, apenny, a quarter hundred weight of coals, extra, thruppence apenny, total eightpence apenny, or less than a penny apenny per head. In this calculation it will be seen the cheapest soap is reckoned, and that there is no allowance for the wife's labour. When I pointed out the latter circumstance, my informant said, I look on it that the washing labour is part of the wife's keep or what she gives in return for it, and that as she'd have to be kept if she didn't do it, why, there shouldn't be no mention of it. If she was working for others it would be quite different, but washing is a family matter, that's my way of looking at it. Coke too is often used instead of coals, besides a bit of bacon or potatoes or the tea kettle will have to be boiled, and that's managed along with the hot water for the suds, and would have to be done anyhow, especially in winter. One decent woman, who had five children, all under eight, told me she often sat up half and sometimes the whole night to wash, when busy other ways. She was not in poverty, for she earned a good bit in going out to cook, by a pork butcher. I may further add that a great many single men wash their own clothes. Many of the street sellers in particular do this. So do such of the poor as live in their own rooms, and occasionally the dwellers in the low lodging houses. One street seller of ham sandwiches, whose aprons, sleeves and traycloth were remarkably white, told me that he washed them himself, as well as his shirt and so on, which was a common practice with his class. This washing, his aprons, traycloths, shirts and stockings included, cost him every three weeks, fourpence and a farthing, or fivepence, for one pound of soap, which is less than a penny apenie a week. Among such people it is considered that the washing of a shirt is, as they say, a pennearth of soap, and the stockings in, meaning that a penny outlay for both. But not only does Mr. Buller's estimate exceed the truth, as regards the cost of washing among the poorer classes, but it also errs in the proportion they are said to bear to the other ranks of society. That gentleman speaks of the poorer half of the inhabitants of the Metropolis, as if the rich and poor were equal in numbers. But with all deference it will be found that the ratio between the well-to-do and the needy has one to two. That is to say, the property and income tax returns teachers, there are at least two persons with an income below £150 per annum, to every one having an income above it. Hence the population of London being within a fraction £2,400,000, the numbers of the metropolitan well-to-do and needy would be, respectively, £800,000 and £1,600,000, and allowing the cost of the washing of the former to average £1,000 per head, adults and children, and the washing of the labouring classes to come to tuppence ahead, young and old, the expense of the materials when the work is done at home, average it has been shown about a penny-hypony for each member of the family. We shall then have the following statement. Annual cost of washing for 800,000 people at Tuppence per head per week £2,080,000 Annual cost of washing for 1,600,000 people at Tuppence per head per week £693,333 Total cost of washing of Metropolis £2,773,333 I am convinced, low as the estimate of Tuppence a week is much greater for all whose incomes are under £150 a year from many considerations that the above computation is rather over than under the truth. As for instance Mr Hawes has said concerning the consumption of soap in the Metropolis, quote, careful enquiry has proved that the quantity used is much greater than that indicated by the excise returns but reducing the results obtained by enquiry in uniform proportion. The quantity used by the labouring classes earning from 10 shillings to 30 shillings per week is £10 weight each per annum including every member of the family dividing the population of the Metropolis into three classes one, the wealthy two, the shopkeepers and tradesmen three, labourers and the poor and allowing £15 £10 and £4 weight to each respectively the consumption of the Metropolis will be nearly 200 tonnes per week end quote the cost of each tonne of soap Mr Hawes estimates at £45 Professor Clark however computes a metropolitan consumption of soap at 250 tonnes per week and the cost per tonne at £50 According to the above estimates the total quantity of soap used every year in the Metropolis is 12,000 tonnes and this at £50 per tonne comes to £600,000 Professor Clark reckons the gross consumption of soda in the Metropolis at 250 tonnes per month costing £10 a tonne hence for the year the consumption will be £3,000 costing £30,000 The cost of water according to the same authority is three shillings fourpence per head per annum and this for the whole Metropolis amounts to £400,000 Estimating the cost of the coals used in heating the water to be equal to that of the soap we have for the gross expense of fuel annually consumed in washing £600,000 There are 21,000 laundresses in London and calculating that the wages of these average 10 shillings per week each all the year round the gross sum paid to them would be in round numbers £550,000 Profit of employers say £550,000 add for sundries as starch and so on £50,000 Total cost of washing of Metropolis £2,780,000 Hence it would appear that viewed either by the individual expense of the Great Bulk of Society or else by the aggregate cost of the materials and labour used in cleansing the clothes of the people of London the total sum annually expended in the washing of the Metropolis may be estimated at the outside at £2,000,000 and ¾ sterling per annum or about £1 three shillings fourpence per head and yet though the data for the calculation here given as to the cost of the principal materials used in cleansing the clothes of London are derived from the same report as that in which the expense of the Metropolis in washing is estimated at £5,000,000 per annum the Board of Health do not hesitate in that document to say that quote whatsoever deductions if any may be made from the above estimate it is nevertheless an under estimate for maintaining at the present expense of washing a proper amount of cleanliness in linen end quote according to the Board of Health taking the yearly amount of the washing of the Metropolis at £5,000,000 and assuming the washing to be doubled by street dirt the loss will be £2,500,000 calculating the washing however for reasons above adduced to be only £2,750,000 and to be as much again as it might be under an improved system of scavenging the loss will be £1,375,000 or calculating as a minimum that the remedial loss is less than one half the cost is £1,000,000 hence it would appear that the loss from dust and dirt is really enormous in a work entitled Sanitary Progress being the fifth report of the National Philanthropic Association I find a calculation as to the losses sustained from dust and dirt upon our clothes owing to the increased wear from daily brushing to remove the dust and occasional scraping to remove the mud the loss is estimated at from £3 to £7 per annum for each well-dressed man and woman and £1 for inferiorly dressed persons including their Sunday and holiday clothing I inquired of a West End tailor who previously to his establishment in business had himself been an operative and had had experience both in town and country as to the wear of clothes and I learned from him the following particulars with regard to the clothes of the wealthy classes of those who could always command a carriage in bad weather there are no means of judging as to the loss caused by bad scavengery my informant however obliged me with the following calculations the results of his experience his trade is what I may describe as a medium business between the low slop and the high fashionable trades the garments of which he spoke were those worn by clerks shopmen students, tradesmen town travellers and others not engaged in menial and handicraft labour altogether and after consulting his books relative to town and country customers my informant thought it might be easy to substantiate the following estimate as regards the duration and cost of clothes in town and country among the classes I have specified table showing the comparative cost of clothes worn in town and country quote, original cost £2 10 shillings in town duration 2 years annual cost £1 5 shillings in country duration 3 years annual cost 16 shillings £8 difference of cost 8 shillings £4 waste quote, original cost £15 shillings in town duration 2 and a half years annual cost 6 shillings in country duration 3 years annual cost 5 shillings difference of cost 1 shilling total cost original cost £1 5 shillings in town duration 1 and a quarter years annual cost £1 in the country duration 2 years annual cost 12 shilling 6 pence difference of cost 7 shilling 6 pence total suit original cost £4 10 shillings in town annual cost £2 11 shillings in the country annual cost £1 14 shillings and tuppence difference of cost 16 shillings 10 pence here then it appears that the annual outlay for clothes in town by the classes I have specified is about £2 11 shillings while the annual outlay in the country for the same garments is £1 14 shillings and tuppence the difference of expense being 16 shillings 10 pence per annum I consulted another tailor on the subject and his estimate was a trifle above that of my informant I should remark that the proportion thus induced holds whatever be the number of garments worn in the year or in a series of years for the calculation was made not as to individual garments but as to the general wear evinced by the average outlay as shown in the tradesman's books of the same class of persons in town and country in the calculation given in the publication of the National Philanthropic Association the loss on a well-dressed Londoners clothing arising from excessive dust and dirt is estimated at from £3 to £7 per annum by the above table it will be seen that the clothes which cost £1 14 shillings and tuppence per annum in the cleanliness of a country abode cost £2 11 shillings or within a fraction half as much again in the uncleanliness of a London atmosphere and roads if therefore any London inhabitant of the classes I have specified expend four times £2 11 shillings in his clothes yearly as many do or £10 4 shillings he loses £3 5 shillings and tuppence or 5 shillings 4 pence more than the minimum mentioned in the report alluded to now estimating £2 10 shillings as the yearly tailored bill among the well-to-do boys and men and calculating that one sixth of the metropolitan population that is half of the one third who may be said to belong to the class having incomes above £150 a year spend this sum yearly in clothes we have the following statement aggregate loss upon clothes worn in London £400,000 living in London expend in clothing £2 10 shillings per annum £1 million £400,000 living in better atmospheres in rural parts and with the same stock of clothes expend one third less or £666,666 £13 shillings 4 pence difference £333,333 £6 shillings and 8 pence it would be pushing the inquiry to exceeding minuteness where I to enter into calculations as to the comparative expenses of boots, hats and ladies dresses worn in town and country suffice it that competent persons in each of the vestuary trades have been seen and averages drawn for the accounts of their town customers all things then being duly considered the following conclusion would seem to be warranted by the facts annual cost of clothes to 800,000 of the metropolitan population those belonging to the class who have incomes above £150 per annum at £4 per year each £3,200,000 annual cost of clothes to £1,600,000 annual cost of the same clothes if worn in the country £3,600,000 extra expense annually entailed by dust and dirt of metropolis £1,600,000 totaling £4,800,000 annual cost of the same clothes if worn in the country £3,600,000 extra expense annually entailed by dust and dirt of metropolis £1,200,000 in the above estimate I have included the cost of wear and tear of linen from extra washing when worn in London and this has been stated on the authority of the Board of Health to be double that of linen worn in the country in connection with this subject I may cite the following curious calculation taken from a parliamentary report as to the cost of a working man's new shirt comprising four yards of strong calico material cotton at £6 £1.25 with loss thereupon £8 and a farthing manufacture spinning two pennies and a farthing weaving, thruppings profit, farthing total manufacture, £5 total cost of shirt £13, three farthings bleaching, about a penny farthing total £15 grey, calico £13, three farthings plus nine pennies in making equal to one shilling ten pennies and three farthings bleached £15, plus nine pennies in making equal to two shillings As regards the loss and damage occasioned by the injury to household furniture and decorations and to stocks and trade which is another important consideration connected with this subject I find the following statement in the report of the philanthropic institution quote in a communication with Mr. Mivert respecting the expenses of mud and road dust to him that gentleman stated that the rent of the four houses that the hotel is composed was £896 and that he could not considering the cost of cleaning and servants estimate the expense of repairing the damage done by the dirt and dust carried and blown into these houses at a less annual sum than that of his rent end quote an upholsterer obliged me with the following calculations but so many were the materials and so different the rates of wear or the liability to injury in different materials in his trade that he could only calculate generally the same quality colour and pattern of curtains silk damasks which he had furnished to a house in town and to a country house belonging to the same gentleman looked far fresher and better after five years were in the country than after three in town both windows had a southern aspect but the occupant had to have his windows partially open unless the weather was cold, foggy or rainy it was the same or nearly the same he thought with the carpets on the two places for London dust was highly injurious to all the better qualities of carpets he was satisfied also it was the same generally in upholstery work subjected to town dust I inquired at several west end and city shops and of different descriptions of tradesmen injury done to their shop and shop window goods by the dust but I found none who had made any calculations on the subject all however agreed that the dust was an excessive annoyance and entailed great expense a lady's shoemaker and a bookseller expressed this particularly on the necessity of making the window a sort of small glass house to exclude the dust which after all was not sufficiently excluded all thought or with but one hesitating exception that the estimation as to the loss sustained by the Messers' homes considering the extent of their premises and the richness of the goods displayed in the windows and so on was not in excess I can then but indicate the injury to household furniture and stock in trade as a corroboration of all that has been advanced touching the damaging effects of road dirt of the horse dung of the streets of London quote familiarity with streets of crowded traffic deadens the senses to the perception of their actual condition strangers coming from the country frequently describe the streets of London as smelling of dung like a stable yard end quote such is one of the statements in a report submitted to parliament and there is no reason to doubt the fact every English visitor to a French city for instance must have detected street orders the inhabitants were utterly unconscious in a work which between 20 and 30 years ago was deservedly popular Matthew's diary of an invalid it is mentioned that an English lady complaining of the villainous rankness of the heir in the first French town she entered, Callie if I remember rightly, received the comfortable assurance it is the smell of the continent, ma'am even in Cologne itself the most stinking city of Europe, as it has been termed, the citizens are insensible to the foul airs of their streets, and yet possess great skill in manufacturing perfumed and distilled waters for the toilet, plumbing themselves on the delicacy and discrimination of their nasal organs what we perceive in other cities as strangers, those who visit London detect in our streets that they smell of dung like stable yards it is idle for London denizens because they are unconscious of the fact to deny the existence of any such effluvia I have met with Nightman who have told me that there was nothing particular in the smell of the cesspools they were emptying, they hardly perceived it one man said, why it's like the sort of stuff I've smelt in them ladies smelling bottles an eminent tallow-melter said in the course of his evidence during a sanitary inquiry that the smell from the tallow-melting on his premises was not only healthful and reviving for invalids came to inhale it but agreeable I mention these facts to meet the skepticism which the official assertion as to the stable-like odor of the streets may perhaps provoke when however I state the quantity of horse dung and cattle droppings voided in the streets, all in credulity I doubt not will be removed it has been ascertained says the report of the national philanthropic association that four fifths of the street dirt consist of horse and cattle droppings let us therefore endeavour to arrive at definite notions as to the absolute quantity of this element of street dirt and first as to the number of cattle and horses traversing the streets of London in the course of an inquiry in November 1850 into Smithfield Market I adduced the following results as to the number of cattle entering the metropolis, deriving the information from the experience of Mr. Deputy Hicks confirmed by returns to Parliament by the amount of tolls and further ratified by the opinion of some of the most experienced live salesmen and dead salesmen sellers on commission of live and dead cattle and assistance I had the pleasure of obtaining the return is of the stock annually sold in Smithfield Market and includes not only English but foreign beasts, sheep and calves the latter averaging weekly in 1848 the latest return then published beasts 590 sheep 2470 and calves 248 224,000 horned cattle 1,550,000 sheep 27,300 calves 40,000 pigs total 1,841,300 I may remark that this is not a criterion of the consumption of animal food in the metropolis for there are besides the above the daily supplies from the country to the dead salesmen the preceding return however is the amount for my present purpose which is to show the quantity of cattle manure dropped in London the number of cattle entering the metropolis then are 1,841,300 per annum the number of horses daily traversing the metropolis has been already set forth by a return obtained by Mr Charles Cochran from the stamp and tax office we have seen that there are altogether in London and Westminster of private carriage, job and cart horses 10,022 cab horses 5,692 omnibus horses 5,500 horses daily coming to metropolis 3,000 total number of horses daily in London 24,214 the total here given includes the returns of horses which were either taxed or the property of those who employ them in hackney carriages in the metropolis but the whole of these 24,214 horses are not at work in the streets every day perhaps it might be an approximation to the truth if we reckoned 5,6 of the horses as being worked regularly in the public thoroughfares so that we arrive at the conclusion that 20,000 horses are daily worked in the metropolis and hence we have an aggregate of 7,300,000 horses traversing the streets of London in the 12 month the beasts, sheep calves and pigs driven and conveyed to and from Smithfield are we have seen 1,841,300 in number these added together make up a total of 9,141,300 animals appearing annually in the London thoroughfares the circumstance of Smithfield cattle market being held but twice a week in no way detract from the amount here given for as the gross number of individual cattle coming to that market in the course of the year is given each animal is estimated as appearing only once in the metropolis the next point for consideration is what is the quantity of dung dropped by each of the above animals in the public thoroughfares concerning the quantity of excursions passed by a horse in the course of 24 hours there have been some valuable experiments made by philosophers whose names alone are a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of their researches the following table from Bussingle's experiments is copied from the anal de chimie et de physique table 71 food consumed by and excursions of a horse in 24 hours food hay weight in a fresh state 7,500 grams or 20 pounds oats 2,270 grams or 6 pounds 1 ounce total 9,770 grams or 26 pounds 1 ounce water 16,000 grams or 2 pounds 10 ounces total 25,770 grams or 68 pounds 11 ounces excursions excrements weight in a fresh state 14,250 grams or 38 pounds 2 ounces urine 1,330 grams or 3 pounds 7 ounces total 15,580 grams or 41 pounds 9 ounces here it will be seen that the quantity of solid food given to the horse in the course of the 24 hours amounted only to 26 pounds whereas it is stated in the report of the national philanthropic association on the authority of the veterinary surgeon to the lifeguards that the regulation horse rations in all cavalry regiments of 30 pounds of solid food namely 10 pounds of oats 12 pounds of hay together with 8 pounds of straw for the horse to lie upon and munch at his leisure this quantity of solid food with 5 gallons of water is considered sufficient we are told for all regimental horses who have but little work to perform in comparison with the draft horses of the metropolis many of which consume daily 35 pounds and upwards of solid food with at least 6 gallons of water at a conference held with the secretary and professors of the veterinary college in college street camden town continues the report those gentlemen kindly undertook to institute a series of experiments in this department of equine physiology the subject being one which interested themselves professionally as well as the council of the national philanthropic association the experiments were carefully conducted under the superintendence of professor varnal the food, drink and voidances of several horses kept in stable all day long were separately weighed and measured and the following were the results with an animal of medium size and sound health royal veterinary college September 29th 1849 brown horse of middle size ate in 24 hours of hay 16 pounds oats 10 pounds chaff 4 pounds in all 30 pounds drank of water in 24 hours 6 gallons or 48 pounds total 78 pounds voided in the form of feces 49 pounds allowance for nutrition supply of waste and system perspiration and urine 29 pounds signed george varnal demonstrator of anatomy here we find the excretions to be 11 pounds more than those of the french horse experimented upon by monsieur bossingo but then the solid food given to the english horse was 4 pounds more and the liquid upwards of 7 pounds extra we may then perhaps assume without fear of airing that the excrement voided by horses in the course of 24 hours at the least 45 pounds hence the gross quantity of dung produced by the 7,300,000 horses which traverse the london streets in the course of the 12 month will be 7,300,000 times 45 or 328,500,000 pounds which is upwards of 146,651 tons but these horses cannot be said to be at work above 6 hours each day we must therefore divide the above quantity by 4 and thus we find that there are 36,662 tons of horse dung annually dropped in the streets of london i am informed on good authority that the evacuations of an ox in 24 hours will on the average exceed those of a horse in weight by about a 15th as the ox be disturbed by being driven the excretions will exceed the horses by about a 12th as the oxen are not driven in the streets or detained in the market for so long a period as horses are out at work it may be fair to compute that their droppings are about the same individually as those of the horses hence as there are 224,000 horned cattle yearly brought to london we have 124,000 times 45 pounds weight equal to 10,080,000 pounds or 4,500 tons for the gross quantity of orger dropped by this number of animals in the course of 24 hours so that dividing by 4 as before we find that there are 1,125 tons of orger annually dropped by the horned cattle in the streets of london concerning the sheep I am told that it may be computed that the order of 5 sheep is about equal in weight to that of 2 oxen as regards the other animals it may be said that their droppings are insignificant the pigs and calves being very generally carted to and from the market as indeed are some of the fatter and more valuable sheep and lambs all these facts being taken into consideration I am told by a regular frequenter of smithfield market that it will be best to calculate the droppings of each of the 1,617,300 sheep, calves and pigs yearly coming to the metropolis at about one fourth of those of the horned cattle so that multiplying 1,617,300 by 10 instead of 45 we have 173,000 pounds or 7,220 tons for the weight of order deposited by the entire number of sheep, calves and pigs annually brought to the metropolis and then dividing this by four as usual we find that the droppings of the calves sheep and pigs in the streets of london amount to 1,805 tons per annum now putting together all the items we obtain the following results gross weight of the horse dung and cattle droppings annually deposited in the streets of london horse dung 36,662 tons droppings of horned cattle 1,125 tons droppings of sheep, calves and pigs 1,805 tons total 592 tons hence we perceive that the gross weight of animal excretions dropped in the public thoroughfares of the metropolis is about 40,000 tons per annum or in round numbers 770 tons every weekday say 100 tons a day this I am well aware is a low estimate but it appears to me that the facts will not warrant any other conclusion the board of health who seem to delight in large estimates represent the amount of animal manure deposited in the streets of london at no less than 200,000 tons per annum between the quadrant in regent street and oxford street says the first report on the supply of water to the metropolis a distance of a third of a mile three loads on the average of dirt almost all horse dung are removed daily on an estimate made from the working of the street sweeping machine in one quarter of the city of london which includes lines of considerable traffic the quantity of dung dropped must be upwards of 60 tons or about 20,000 tons per annum and this on a city district which comprises about 120th only of the covered area of the metropolis though within that area there is the greatest proportionate amount of traffic though the data are extremely imperfect it is considered that the horse dung which falls in the streets of the whole metropolis cannot be less than 200,000 tons a year hence although the data is imperfect the board of health do not hesitate to conclude that the gross quantity of horse dung dropped throughout every part of london back streets and all are equal to one half of that let fall in the greatest london thoroughfares according to this estimate all and every of the 24,000 london horses must void in the course of the six hours that they are at work in the streets not less than 51 pounds of excrement which is at the rate of very nearly 200 weight in the course of the day or avoiding all 49 pounds in the 24 hours they must remain out altogether and never return to the stable for rest Mr. Cochran is far less hazardous than the board of health and appears to me to arrive at his result in a more scientific and conclusive manner he goes first to the stamp office to ascertain the number of horses in the metropolis and then requests the professors of the veterinary college to estimate the average quantity of excretions produced by a horse in the course of 24 hours all this accords with the soundest principles of inquiry and stands out in startling contrast with the unphilosophical plan pursued by the board of health who obtained the result of the most crowded thoroughfare and then having this frame an exaggerated estimate for the whole of the metropolis but Mr. Cochran himself appears to me to exceed that just caution which is so necessary in all statistical calculations having ascertained that a horse voids 49 pounds of dung in the course of 24 hours he makes the whole of the 24,214 horses in the metropolis drop 30 pounds daily in the streets so that according to his estimate not only must every horse in London be out every day but he must be at work in the public thoroughfares for very nearly 15 hours out of the 24 the following is the estimate made by Mr. Cochran daily weight of manure deposited in the streets by 24,214 horses multiplied by 30 pounds equal to 726,420 pounds or 324 tonnes 500 weight 100 pounds weekly weight 2270 tonnes 100 weight 28 pounds annual weight 118,043 tonnes 500 weight 500 pounds or carcloads deposited annually valued at 6 shillings multiplied by 118,043 equals 35,412 pounds 19 shillings and 6 pounds it has then been here shown that assuming the number of horses worked daily in the streets of London to be 20,000 and each to be out 6 hours per day which it appears to me is a small that can be fairly reckoned the quantity of horse tongue dropped weekly is about 700 tonnes so that including the horses of the cavalry regiments in London which of course are not comprised in the stamp office returns as well as the animals taken to Smithfield we may perhaps assert that the animal orger let fall in the London streets amounts at the outside to somewhere about 1,000 tonnes weekly 2,000 tonnes per annum the next question becomes what is done with this vast amount of filth the Board of Health is a much better guide upon this point than upon the matter of quantity quote much of the horse tongue dropped in the London streets under ordinary circumstances we are told dries and is pulverised and with the common soil is carried into houses as dust and dirties clothes and furniture the odour arising from the surface evaporation of the streets when they are wet is chiefly from horse tongue susceptible persons often feel this evaporation after partial wetting to be highly oppressive the surface water discharged into sewers from the streets and roofs of houses is found to contain as much filth as the soil water from the house drains end quote here then we perceive that the whole animal manure let fall in the streets is worse than wasted and yet we are assured that it is an article which if properly collected is of considerable value it is says the report of the national philanthropic association an article of agricultural and horticultural commerce which has ever maintained a high value with the farmers and market gardeners wherever conveniently obtainable when these cattle shillings can be collected unmixed in dry weather they bear an acknowledged value by the grazier and root grower there being no other kind of manure which fertilizes the land so bountiously Mr. Marnock curator of the royal botanical society has valued them at from 5 shillings to 10 shillings per load according to the season of the year the united paving board of st. Giles and st. George since the introduction of the street orderly system into their parishes has wisely had it collected in a state separate from all admixture and sold it at highly remunerative prices rendering it the means of considerably lessening the expense of cleansing the streets now assuming the value of the street dropped manure to be 6 shillings per ton when collected free from dirt we have the following statement as to the value of the horse and cattle voidances let fall in the streets of London 52,000 tons of cattle droppings at 6 shillings per ton 15,600 pounds Mr. Cochran who considers the quantity of animal droppings to be much greater attaches of course a greater value to the aggregate quantity his computation is as follows 118,043 tons of cattle droppings 6 shillings per ton 35,412 pounds 19 shillings and 6 pence it seems to me that the calculations of the quantity of horse and cattle dung in the streets are based on such well authenticated and scientific foundations that their accuracy can hardly be disputed unless it be that a higher average may fairly be shown whatever estimate be adopted the worth of street dropped animal manure if properly secured and made properly disposable is great and indisputable most assuredly between 10,000 pounds and 20,000 pounds in value end of section 36 section 37 of London Labour and the London poor volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Henry off street Mack and other mud first of that kind of mud known by the name of Mack the scavengers call mud all that is swept from the granite or wood pavements in contradistinction to Mack which is both scraped and swept on the macadamised roads the mud is usually carted apart from the Mack but some contractors cause their men to shovel every kind of dirt with into the same cart the introduction of Mackadam's system of road making into the streets of London called into existence a new element in what is accounted street refuse until of late years little attention was paid to Mack for it was considered in no way distinct from other kinds of street dirt nor is being likely to possess properties which might adapt it for any other use than that of a component part of agricultural material Mack is found principally on the roads from which it derives its name and is indeed the grinding and pounding of the embedded pieces of granite which are the staple of those roads it is perhaps the most adhesive street dirt known as respects the London specimen of it for the exceeding traffic works and needs it into a paste which is as difficult to remove from the texture of any garment splashed or soiled with it Mack is carted away by the scavengers in great quantities being shoveled in a state of more or less fluidity or solidity according to the weather from the roadside into their carts quantities are also swept with the rain into the drains of the streets and not unfrequently quantities are found deposited in the sewers the following passage from sanitary progress a work before alluded to cites the opinion of Lord Congleton as to the necessity of continually removing the mud from roads I may add that Lord Congleton's work on road making is of high authority and has frequently been appealed to in parliamentary discussions, inquiries and reports on the subject quote The late Lord Congleton, Sir Henry Parnell stated before a committee of the House of Commons in June 1838 a road should be cleansed from time to time so as never to have half an inch of mud upon it and this is particularly necessary to be attended to where the materials are weak for if the surface be not kept clean so as to admit of its becoming dry in the intervals between showers of rain it will be rapidly worn away How truly, as the report is his lordship's opinion verified every day on the macadamized roads in and around London The horse manure and other filth are there allowed to accumulate and to be carried about by the horses and carriage wheels the road is formed into cavities and mud hollows which being wetted by the rain and the constantly plying watering carts retain the same thus not only are vast quantities of offensive mud formed but puddles and pools of water also which water not being allowed to run off to the side gutter by declivity owing to the mud embankments which surround it naturally percolates through the surface of the road dissolving and loosening the soft earthy matrix by which the broken granite is surrounded and fixed The quantity of mac produced is the next consideration and in endeavouring to ascertain this there are no specific data though there are what under other circumstances might be called circumstantial or inferential evidence I have shown both the length of the streets and roads and the proportion which might be pronounced macadamized ways in the metropolis proper but as in the macadamized proportion many thoroughfares cannot be strictly considered as yielding mac I will assume that the roads and streets producing this kind of dirt more or less fully 300 miles in length On the busier macadamized roads in the vicinity of what may be called the interior of London it is common I was told by experienced men in average weather to collect daily two cartloads of what is called mac from every mile of road the mass of such road produce however is mixed though the mac unquestionably predominates it was described to me as mac general dirt and droppings more than the half being mac in wet weather there is at least 20 times more mac than dung scavenged but in dry weather the dung and other street refuse constitute perhaps somewhat less than three fourths of each cartload the mac in dry weather is derived chiefly from the fluid from the watering carts mixing with the dust and so forming a paste capable of being removed by the scraper and the scavenger it may be fair to assume that every mile of the roads in question some of them being of considerable width yields at least one cartload of mac as a daily average Sunday of course accepted an intelligent man who had the management of the mac and other street collections in a contractor's wharf told me that in a load of mac carted from the road to any place of deposit there was I now use his own words a good deal of water for there's great difference he added in the stiffness of the mac on different roads that seem very much the same to look at but that don't signify a hypny piece he said for if the mac is wanted for any purpose and like beef for a little time you see sir the water will dry up and leave the proper stuff I haven't any doubt whatever that two loads a mile are collected in the way you've been told a load in a quarter of the two is mac though after the water is dried up out of it there might not be much more than a load so if you want to calculate what the quantity of mac is by itself I think you had best say one load a mile but it is only in the more frequented approaches to the city or the west end such as the night's bridge road the new road the old Kent road and thoroughfares of similar character as regards the extent of traffic that two loads of refuse are daily collected on the more distant roads beyond the bounds traversed by the omnibuses for instance or beyond the roads resorted to by the market gardeners on their way to the metropolitan green markets the supply of street refuse is hardly a quarter as great one man thought it was a third and another only a sixth of a load a day in quiet places calculating then in order to be within work that the macadamized roads afford daily two loads of dirt per mile and reckoning the great macadamized streets at 100 miles in length we have the following results quantity of street refuse collected from the more frequented macadamized thoroughfares 100 miles two loads per day 200 loads weekly amount 1200 loads yearly amount 62,400 loads proportion of mac in the above 100 miles one load per day 100 loads weekly 600 loads yearly 31,200 loads to this amount must be added the quantity supplied by the more distant and less frequented roads situate within the precincts of the metropolis proper these I will estimate at one eighth less than that of the roads of greater traffic some of the more quiet thoroughfares I should add are not scavenged more than once a week and some less frequently but on some there is considerable traffic quantity of street refuse collected from the less frequented macadamized thoroughfares 1100 miles a quarter load per day 275 loads weekly 1650 loads yearly 85,800 loads the proportion of mac to the gross dirt collected is greater in the more distant roads than what I have already described but to be safe I will adopt the same ratio proportion of mac 1100 miles of road an eighth load per day 137 loads weekly 825 loads yearly 42,900 loads yearly total of the gross quantity of street refuse with the proportionate quantity of mac collected from the macadamized thoroughfares of the metropolis 100 miles of macadamized roads 62,400 cart loads of street refuse 31,200 loads of mac 1100 miles Ditto 85,800 cart loads of street refuse 42,900 cart loads total 148,200 loads of street refuse 74,100 loads of mac thus upwards of 74,000 cart loads of mac are at a low computation annually scraped and swept from the metropolitan thoroughfares so far as to the quantity of mac collected and now as to its uses mac or macadam says one of Mr. Cochran's reports is a grand prize to the scavenging contractor who finds ready vent and a high price for it among the builders and brick makers those who paid for the road and their surveyors possibly know nothing of its value or of their own loss by its removal from the road they consider it in the light of dirt offensive dirt and are glad to pay the scavenger for carrying it away when the broom comes the scavengers men take care to go deep enough and many of them are moreover instructed to keep the mac as free from admixture with foreign substances as possible for though cattle dung be valuable enough in itself the mac loses its value to the builder and brick maker by being mixed with it indeed both are valuable for their respective uses if kept separate not otherwise on my first making enquiries as to the uses and value of mac I was frequently told that it was utterly valueless and that great trouble and expense were incurred in merely getting rid of it that this is the case with many contractors is doubtlessly the fact for now unless the mac or rather the general road dirt be ordered or a market for it be assured it must be got rid of without a remuneration even when the contractor can shoot the mac in his own yard and keep it there for a customer there is the cost of reloading and recarting a cost which a customer requiring to use it at any distance may not choose to incur great quantities of mac therefore are wasted and more would be wasted where there places to waste it in let me therefore before speaking of the uses and sale of it point out some of the reasons for this wasting of the mac with other street dirt in the first place the weight of a cartload of street refuse of any kind is usually estimated at a ton but I am assured that the weight of a cartload of stiff mac is a ton and a quarter at the least and this weight becomes so trying to a scavenger's horse as the day's work advances that the contractor to spare the animal is often glad to get rid of the mac in any manner and without any remuneration thousands of loads of mac or rather of mixed street dirt have for this and other reasons been thrown away and no small quantity has been thrown down the gully holes to find its way into that main metropolitan sewer the Thames of this matter however I shall have to speak here after there is no doubt that it is common for contractors to represent the mac they collect as being utterly valueless and indeed an encumbrance the mixed mac as I have said may be so some contractors urge especially in their bargains with the parish board that all kinds of street dirt are not only worthless but expensive to be got rid of five or six years ago this was urged very strenuously for then there was what was accounted a combination among the contractors the south west district of St. Pancras until within the last six years received from the contractor for the public £100 for the years aggregation of street and house dirt since then however they have had to pay him £500 for removing it notwithstanding the reluctance of some of the contractors to give information on this or indeed any subject connected with their trade I have ascertained from indubitable authority that mac is disposed of in the following manner some but this is mostly the mixed kind is got rid of in any manner it has even been diluted with water so as to be driven down the drains some is mixed with the general street orger about a quarter of mac I was told to three quarters of dung and street mud and shipped off in barges as manure some is given to builders when they require it for the foundations of any edifices that are handy or rather it is carted dither for a nominal price such as a trifle as beer money for the men some however is sold for the same purpose the contractors alleging that the charge is merely for cartage some again is given away or sold with the like allegation for purposes of levelling of filling up cavities or repairing unevenness in any ground where improvements are being carried on and finally some is sold to masons plasterers and brickmakers for the purposes of their trade even for such purposes as filling up there must be in the mixed max supplied at least a considerable preponderance of the pure material or there would not be as I heard it expressed a sufficient setting for what was required as a set off to what is sold however I may here state that 30 shillings has been paid for the privilege of depositing a barge load of mixed street dirt in Battersea fields merely to get rid of it the principal use of the unmixed Mac is as a component part of the mortar or lime of the mason in the exterior and of the plasterer in the interior construction of buildings and as an ingredient of the mill in brick grounds the accounts I received of the properties of Mac from the vendors of it were very contradictory one man until lately connected with its sale informed me that as his own experience extended Mac was most in demand among scamping builders and slop brick makers who looked only to what was cheap to a notorious scamper he one morning sent three cartloads of Mac at one shilling alone all to be used in the erection of the skeleton of one not very large house and he believed that when it was used instead of sand with lime it was for inferior work only and was mixed either for masons or plasterers work with bad low priced mortar another man with equal knowledge of the trade however represented Mac as a most valuable article for the builders purposes it was so binding and this he repeated emphatically a working builder told me that Mac was as good as the best sand it made the mortar hang and without either that or sand the line would brittle away Mac may be said to be composed of pulverized granite and rainwater granite is composed of quartz feldspar and mica each in granular crystals hence alumina being clay and Silax a substance which has a strong tendency to enter into combination with the lime of the mortar the pulverizing of granite tends to produce a substance which has necessarily great binding and endurating properties from this reduction of Mac to its elements the best that it possesses quality's highly valuable in promoting the cohesive property of mortar so that where greater attention paid to its collection by the scavenger there would in all probability be an improved demand for the article for I find that it is already used in the prosecution of some of the best masons work on this head I can cite the authority of a gentleman at once a scientific and practical architect who said to me quote by many respectable builders for making mortar the objection to it is that it usually contains much extraneous decaying matter end quote increased care in the collection of the material would perhaps remove this cause of complaint I heard of one West End Builder employing many hands however who had totally or partially discontinued the use of Mac as he had met with some which he considered showed itself brittle in the plastering of walls Mac is pounded and sometimes sifted when required for use and is then mixed and worked up with the lime for mortar in the same way as sand by the brick makers it is mixed with the clay ground and formed into bricks in a similar manner of the proportion sold to builders plasterers and brick makers severally I could learn no precise particulars the general opinion appears to be that Mac is sold most to brick makers and that it would find even a greater sale with them where not brick fields becoming more and more remote I moreover found it universally admitted that Mac was in less demand some said by one half than it was five or six years back such are the uses of Mac and now we come to the question of its value the price of the pure Mac seems from the best information I can procure to have varied considerably it is now generally cheap I did not hear any very sufficing reason advanced to account for the depreciation but one of the contractors expressed an opinion that this was owing to the disturbed state of the trade since the passing of the sanitary bill the contractors for the public scavengery have been prevented shooting any valueless street dirt or dirt not worth carriage in convenient waste places in the habit of doing their yards and dwarfs are generally full so that to avoid committing a nuisance the contractor will not unfrequently sell his Mac at reduced rates and be glad thus to get rid of it to this cause especially Mr. Blank attributed the deterioration in the price of Mac but if he had convenience he told me and any change was made in the present arrangements he would not scruple to store and load for the demands of next summer as a speculation I am of opinion moreover not withstanding what seemed something very like unanimity of opinion on the part of the sellers of Mac that what is given or thrown away is usually if not always mixed or inferior Mac and that what is sold at the lowest rate is only a degree or two better unless indeed it be under the immediate pressure of some of the circumstances I have pointed out as want of room and so on on inquiring the price of Mac I believe the answer of a vendor will almost invariably be found to be a shilling a load a little further inquiry however shows that an extra sum may have to be paid a builder who gave me the information asked a parish contractor the price of Mac the contractor at once offered to supply him with 500 loads at a shilling a load if the Mac were ordered beforehand and could be shot at once but it would be sixpence a mile extra if delivered a mile out of the Mac sellers parish circuit or more than a mile from his yard while if extra care were to be taken in the collection of the Mac it would be tuppence, thruppence fourpence or sixpence a load higher this it must be understood was the price of wet Mac good dry Mac that is to say Mac ready for use is sold to the builder or the brick maker at from two shillings to three shillings the load two shilling sixpence or something very near it being now about an average price it is dried in the contractor's yard by being exposed to the sun or it is sometimes protected from the weather by a shed while being dried more wet Mac would be shot for the trade and kept until dry but for want of room in the contractor's yards and dwarfs for Mac must give way to the more valuable dung and the dust and ashes from the bins the best Mac is sometimes described as country Mac that is to say it is collected from those suburban roads where it is likely to be little mixed with dung and so on a contractor told me that during the last 12 months he had sold 300 loads of Mac he had no account of what he had given away to be rid of it or of what he had sold at nominal prices another contractor I was told by his managing man sold last year about 400 loads but both these parties are in a large way and do not supply the data upon which to found a calculation as to an average yearly sale for though in the metropolis there are according to the list I have given in page 167 of the present volume 63 contracts for cleansing the metropolis without including the more remote suburbs such as Greenwich, Luysham Tutting, Stretton, Ealing Bredford and others still some of the districts contracted for yield no Mac at all from what I consider good authority I may venture upon the following moderate computation as to the quantity of Mac sold last year estimating the number of contracts for cleansing the more central parishes at 35 and adding 20 for all the outlying parishes of metropolis in some of which the supply of road Mac is very fine and by no means scarce it may be accurate enough to state that out of the 55 individual contracts 300 loads of Mac were sold by each in the course of last year this gives 16,500 loads of Mac disposed of per annum it may moreover be a reasonable estimate to consider this Mac wet and dry together as fetching one shilling sixpence a load so that we have for the sum realised the following result 16,500 loads of Mac at one shilling sixpence per load 1,237 pounds 10 shillings it may probably be considered by the contractors that one shilling sixpence is too high an average of price per load if the price be minimised the result will be 16,500 loads of Mac at one shilling per load 825 pounds then if we divide the first estimate among the 55 contractors we find that they receive upwards of 22 pounds each the second estimate gives nearly 15 pounds each I repeat that in this inquiry I can but approximate one gentleman told me he thought the quantity of Mac thus sold in the year was twice 1,600 loads another asserted that it was not 1,000 I am assured however that my calculation does not exceed the truth I have given the full quantity of Mac as nearly I believe as it can be computed to be yielded by the metropolitan thoroughfares the surplus edge after deducting the 1,600 loads sold must be regarded as consisting of mixed and therefore useless of Mac that is to say Mac rendered so thin by continuous wet weather that it is little worth Mac wasted because it is not storable in the contractor's yard and Mac used as a component part of a barge load of manure in the course of my inquiries I heard it very generally stated that until 5 or 6 years ago 2 shilling 6 pounds might be considered a regular price for a load of Mac 5 shillings or even 6 shillings have been paid to one contractor according to his own account for the better kind of this commodity of the mud of the streets the dirt yielded by a macadamized road no matter what the composition is always termed by the scavenger's Mac what is yielded by a granite paved way is always mud mixed mud and Mac are generally looked upon as useless and then inquired of one man connected with a contractor's wharf if he could readily distinguish the difference between Mac and other street or mixed dirt and he told me that he could do so more especially when the stuff was sufficiently dried or set at a glance if Mac was darker it always looked brighter than other street dirt as if all the colour was not ground out of the stone he pointed out the different kinds of definition seem to me not a bad one although it may require a practised eye to make the distinction readily street mud is only partially mud for mud is earthy particles saturated with water and in the composition of the scavenger's street mud are dung general refuse such as straw and vegetable remains and the many things which in poor neighbourhoods are still thrown upon the pavement in the busier thoroughfares it is almost impossible to keep street mac and mud distinct even if the scavenger's cared more to do so than is the case at present for a wagon or any other vehicle entering a street paved with blocks of wrought granite from a macadamised road must convey Mac amongst mud both Mac and mud however as I have stated are the most valuable separately and the most valuable the most important the most important the most valuable separately in a report on the supply of water appendix number three Mr. Holland Upper Stanford Street Waterloo Road is stated to have said in reply to a question on the subject quote suppose the inhabitants of one parish are desirous of having their streets in good order and clean unless the adjoining districts concur a great and unjust expense is imposed upon the cleaner parish because every vehicle which passes from a dirty onto a clean street carries dirt from the former to the latter and renders cleanliness more difficult and expensive the inhabitants of London have an interest in the condition of other streets besides those of their own parish besides the inhabitants of Regent Street for instance all the riders in the 5,000 vehicles that daily pass through that great thoroughfare are affected by its condition the inhabitants of Regent Street who have to bear the cost of keeping that street in good repair and well cleansed for others benefit as well as for their own may fairly feel aggrieved if they do not experience the benefits of good and clean streets when they go into other districts end quote in the admixture of street dirt there is this material difference the dung which spoils good mack makes good mud more valuable after having treated so fully of the road produce of mack there seems no necessity to say more about mud than to consider its quantity, its value and its uses in the hay market which is about an eighth of a mile in length and 18 yards in width a load and a half of street mud is collected daily, Sunday's accepted take the year through as a farmer or market gardener will give three shillings a load for common street mud and cart it away at his own cost we find that where all this mud sold separately at the ordinary rate the yearly receipt of one street alone would be 70 pounds four shillings this public way however furnishes no criterion of the general mud produce of the metropolis we must therefore adopt some other basis for a calculation and I have mentioned the hay market merely to show the great extent of street dirt accruing in a largely frequented locality but to obtain other data is a matter of no small difficulty where returns are not published nor even kept I have however been fortunate enough to obtain the assistance of gentlemen whose public employment has given them the best means of forming an accurate opinion the street mud from the hay market it has been positively ascertained is one and a quarter load on this day, the year through Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill Cheapside, Newgate Street the off parts of St Paul's churchyard Corn Hill, Ledenhall Street Bishop's Gate Street the free bridges with many other places where locomotion never ceases are in proportion to their width as productive of street mud as the hay market where the hay market a mile in length it would supply at its present rate to the scavenger six loads of street mud daily or 36 loads for the scavenger's working week in this yield however I am assured by practical men the hay market is six times in excess of the average streets and when compared with even great business, thoroughfares of a narrow character such as Wattling Street, Bolane Old Change and other thoroughfares of Cheapside and Corn Hill the produce of the hay market is from 10 to 40% in excess I am assured however, and especially by a gentleman who had looked closely into the matter, as he at one time had been engaged in preparing estimates for a projected company proposing to deal with street manures that the 50 miles of the city may be safely calculated as yielding daily one and a half load of street mud per mile narrow streets, Thames Street for instance, which is about three quarters of a mile long, yield from two and a half to three and a half loads daily according to the season but a number of off streets and open places such as Long Alley Alderman's Walk, America Square Monument Yard Bridgewater Square, Austin Friars and the like are either streets without horse thoroughfares or are seldom traversed by vehicles if then we calculate that there are 100 miles of paved streets yielding the city and yielding the same quantity of street mud daily as the above estimate and 200 more miles in the less central parts of the metropolis yielding only half that quantity we find the following daily sum during the wet season 150 miles of paved streets yielding one and a half load of street mud per mile 225 loads 200 miles of paved streets yielding three quarter load of street mud per mile 150 loads total 375 loads weekly amount of street mud during the wet season 2250 loads total ditto for six months in the year 58,500 loads 63,000 loads of street mud at three shellings per load 8,775 pounds the great sale for this mud perhaps 1920's is from the barges a barge of street manure about one fourth more or less mack or rather mack mixed with its street proportion of dung and so on and three fourths mud dung and so on contains from 30 to 40 tonnes or as many loads these manure barges are often to be seen on the Thames but nearly three fourths of them are found on the canals especially the Paddington, the Regents and the Surrey these being the most immediately connected with the interior part of the metropolis a barge load of this manure is usually sold at from five pounds to six pounds calculating its average weight at 35 tonnes and its average sale at five pounds ten shellings the price is rather more than three shellings a load common street mud formed on good authority fetches three shellings per load from the farmer when he himself carts it away the price of the barge load of manure is tolerably uniform for the quality is generally the same some of the best because the cleanest street mud as it is mixed only with horse dung is obtained from the wood streets but this mode of pavement is so circumscribed that the contractors pay no regard to its manure produce as a general rule and mix it carelessly with the rest such at least is the account they themselves give and they generally represent that the street manure is owing to the outlay for cartage and boatage little remunerative to them at the prices they obtain notwithstanding they are paid to remove it from the streets indeed I heard of one contractor who was said to be so dissatisfied with the demand for and the prices fetched by his street manure that he has rented a few acres not far from the region's canal to test the efficacy of street dirt as a fertilizer and to ascertain if to cultivate might not be more profitable than to sell End of section 37