Part 55
In the course of my inquiries I heard it very generally stated that until five or six years ago 2_s._ 6_d._ might be considered a regular price for a load of “mac,” while 4_s._, 5_s._, or even 6_s._ 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 scavengers “_mac_;” what is yielded by a granite-paved way is always “_mud_.” Mixed mud and “mac” are generally looked upon as useless.
I inquired of one man, connected with a contractor’s wharf, if he could readily distinguish the difference between “mac” and other street or mixed dirts, 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,” he said, “it always looked brighter than other street-dirts, as if all the colour was not ground out of the stone.” He pointed out the different kinds, and his definition seemed 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 of the metropolis--apart from the City, where there is no macadamization requiring notice--it is almost impossible to keep street “mac” and mud distinct, even if the scavengers cared more to do so than is the case at present; for a waggon, or any other vehicle, entering a street paved with blocks of wrought granite from a macadamized road must convey “mac” amongst mud; both “mac” and mud, however, as I have stated, are the most valuable separately.
In a Report on the Supply of Water, Appendix No. III., Mr. Holland, Upper Stamford-street, Waterloo-road, is stated to have said, in reply to a question on the subject:--“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 on to 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 5000 vehicles that daily pass through that great thoroughfare are affected by its condition; and 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.”
In the admixture of street-dirt there is this material difference--the dung, which spoils good “mac,” makes good mud more valuable.
After having treated so fully of the road-produce of “mac,” there seems no necessity to say more about mud than to consider its quantity, its value, and its uses.
In the Haymarket, 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 (Sundays excepted), take the year through. As a farmer or market-gardener will give 3_s._ a load for common street-mud, and cart it away at his own cost, we find that were all this mud sold separately, at the ordinary rate, the yearly receipt for one street alone would be 70_l._ 4_s._ 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 Haymarket 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 Haymarket, it has been positively ascertained, is 1-1/4 load each wet day the year through. Fleet-street, Ludgate-hill, Cheapside, Newgate-street, the “off” parts of St. Paul’s Church-yard, Cornhill, Leadenhall-street, Bishopsgate-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 Haymarket.
Were the Haymarket a mile in length, it would supply, at its present rate of traffic, to the scavenger 6 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 Haymarket is six times in excess of the average streets; and when compared with even “great business” thoroughfares, of a narrow character, such as Watling-street, Bow-lane, Old-change, and other thoroughfares off Cheapside and Cornhill, the produce of the Haymarket is from 10 to 40 per cent. 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 purposing to deal with street-manures--that the 50 miles of the City may be safely calculated as yielding daily 1-1/2 load of street mud per mile. Narrow streets--Thames-street for instance, which is about three-quarters of a mile long--yield from 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 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 adjoining 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:--
Loads. 150 miles of paved streets, yielding 1-1/2 load of street mud per mile 225
200 miles of paved streets, yielding 3/4 load of street mud per mile 150 --- 375
Weekly amount of street mud during the wet season 2,250
Total ditto for six months in the year 58,500 ------ 63,000 loads of street mud, at 3_s._ per load £8775
The great sale for this mud, perhaps nineteen-twentieths, is from the barges. A barge of street-manure, about one-fourth (more or less) “mac,” or rather “mac” mixed with its street proportion of dung, &c., and three-fourths mud, dung, &c., contains from 30 to 40 tons, 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 Regent’s, 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 5_l._ to 6_l._ Calculating its average weight at 35 tons, and its average sale at 5_l._ 10_s._, the price is rather more than 3_s._ a load. “Common street mud,” I have been informed on good authority, “fetches 3_s._ 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 Regent’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.
OF THE SURFACE-WATER OF THE STREETS OF LONDON.
The consideration of what Professor Way has called the “street waters” of the metropolis, is one of as great moment as any of those I have previously treated in my details concerning street refuse, whether “mac,” mud, or dung. Indeed, water enters largely into the composition of the two former substances, while even the street dung is greatly affected by the rain.
The _feeders_ of the street, as regards the street surface-water, are principally the rains. I will first consider the amount of surface-water supplied by the rain descending upon the area of the metropolis: upon the roofs of the houses, and the pavement of the streets and roads.
The depth of rain falling in London in the different months, according to the observations and calculations of the most eminent meteorologists, is as follows:--
----------+----------------------------------------+------------+--------- | Depth of Rain in inches. | Quantity of|Number of +--------------+------------+------------+rain falling| days on Months. |Royal Society,| Howard, | Daniell, | in the | which | according to |according to|according to| different | rain | observation. |observation.|calculation.| seasons. | falls. ----------+--------------+------------+------------+------------+--------- January | 1·56 | 1·907 | 1·483 | | 14·4 February | 1·45 | 1·643 | 0·746 | Winter. | 15·8 March | 1·36 | 1·542 | 1·440 | 5·868 | 12·7 April | 1·55 | 1·719 | 1·786 | | 14·0 May | 1·67 | 2·036 | 1·853 | Spring. | 15·8 June | 1·98 | 1·964 | 1·830 | 4·813 | 11·8 July | 2·44 | 2·592 | 2·516 | | 16·1 August | 2·37 | 2·134 | 1·453 | Summer. | 16·3 September | 2·97 | 1·644 | 2·193 | 6·682 | 12·3 October | 2·46 | 2·872 | 2·073 | | 16·2 November | 2·58 | 2·637 | 2·400 | Autumn. | 15·0 December | 1·65 | 2·489 | 2·426 | 7·441 | 17·7 ----------+--------------+------------+------------+------------+--------- Totals | 24·04 | 25·179 | 22·199 | 24·804 | 178·1 -------------------------+------------+------------+------------+---------
The rainfall in London, according to a ten years’ average of the Royal Society’s observations, amounts to 23 inches; in 1848 it was as high as 28 inches, and in 1847 as low as 15 inches. The depth of rain annually falling near London is stated by Mr. Luke Howard to be, on an average of 23 years (1797-1819), as much as 25·179 inches. Mr. Daniell says that the average annual fall is 23-1/10 inches. The mean of the observations made at Greenwich between the years 1838 and 1849 was 24·84 inches.
The following extract from an account of the “Soft Water Springs of the Surrey Sands,” by the Hon. Wm. Napier, is interesting.
“The amount of rainfall,” says the Author, “is taken from a register kept at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from the year 1818 to 1846.
“The average fall of the last 15 years, during which time the register appears to have been correctly kept, is 22·64 inches. I consider this to be a very low estimate, however, of the average rainfall over the whole district. The fall on the ranges of the Hindhead must considerably exceed this amount, for I find in White’s ‘Selborne,’ a register for ten years at that place; the greatest fall being in 1782, 50·26 inches, the lowest, in 1788, 22·50 inches, and the average of all 37·58 inches. The elevation of the Hindhead is about 800 feet above mean tide.
“With reference to the measurement of rainfall, it is difficult indeed to obtain more than a very approximate idea for a given district of not very great extent; the method of measurement is so uncertain, as liable to be affected by currents of air and evaporation. It is well known that elevated regions attract by condensation more rain than low lands, and yet a rain-gauge placed on the ground will register a greater fall than one placed immediately, and even at a small height, above it.
“M. Arago has shown from 12 years’ observations at Paris, that the average depth of rain on the terrace of the Observatory was 19·88 inches, while 30 yards lower it was 22·21 inches. Dr. Heberden has shown the rainfall on the top of Westminster Cathedral, during a certain period to be only 12·09 inches, and at a lower level on the top of a house in the neighbourhood to be 22·608 inches. This fact has been observed all over the world, and I can only account for it as arising
## partly from the greater amount of condensation the nearer the earth’s
surface, but probably also from currents of air depriving a rain-gauge at a high elevation of its fair share.”
The results of the above observations, as to the yearly quantity of rain falling in the metropolis, may be summed up as follows:--
Inches of Rain falling Annually. Royal Society (average of 20 years) 24·04 Mr. Howard (average of 23 years) 25·179 Professor Daniell 22·199 Dr. Heberden 22·608 ------ Mean 23·506
The “mean mean,” or average of all the averages here given is within a fraction the average of the Royal Society’s Observations for 10 years, and this is the quantity that I shall adopt in my calculations as to the gross volume of rain falling over the entire area of London.
I have shown, by a detail of the respective districts in the Registrar General’s department, that the metropolis contains 74,070 statute acres. Every square inch of this extent, as garden, arable, or pasture ground, or as road or street, or waste place, or house, or inclosed yard or lawn, of course receives its modicum of rain. Each acre comprises 6,272,640 square inches, and we thus find the whole metropolitan area to contain a number of square inches, almost beyond the terms of popular arithmetic, and best expressible in figures.
Area of metropolis in square inches, 464,614,444,800. Now, multiplying these four hundred and sixty four thousand, six hundred and fourteen millions, four hundred and forty-four thousand, eight hundred square inches, by 23, the number of inches of rain falling every year in London, we have the following result:--
Total quantity of rain falling yearly in the metropolis, 10,686,132,230,400 cubic inches.
Then, as a fraction more than 277-1/4 cubic inches of water represent a weight of 10 lbs., and an admeasurement of a gallon, we have the following further results:--
------------------+-----------------------+----------------------- | Weight in pounds | Admeasurement | and tons. | in gallons. ------------------+-----------------------+----------------------- Yearly Rainfall } | 385,399,721,220 lbs., | in the } | or | 38,539,972,122 gals. Metropolis } | 172,053,447 tons. | ------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------
The total quantity of water mechanically supplied every day to the metropolis is said to be in round numbers 55,000,000 gallons, the amount being made up in the following manner:--
DAILY MECHANICAL SUPPLY OF WATER TO METROPOLIS.
Sources of Supply. Average No. of Gallons per day. New River 14,149,315 East London 8,829,462 Chelsea 3,940,730 West Middlesex 3,334,054 Grand Junction 3,532,013 Lambeth 3,077,260 Southwark and Vauxhall 6,313,716 Kent 1,079,311 Hampstead 427,468 Total from Companies 44,383,329 Artesian Wells 8,000,000 Land Spring Pumps 3,000,000 ----------- Total daily 55,383,329
YEARLY MECHANICAL SUPPLY OF WATER.
From Companies 16,200,000,000 gals. „ Artesian Wells 1,920,000,000 „ „ Land Spring Pumps 1,095,000,000 „ -------------- Total yearly 19,215,000,000 „
Hence it would appear that the rain falling in London in the course of the year is _rather more than double that of the entire quantity of water annually supplied to the metropolis by mechanical means_, the rain-water being to the other as 2·005 to 1·000.
Now, in order to ascertain what proportion of the entire volume of rain comes under the denomination of street surface-water, we must first deduct from the gross quantity falling the amount said to be caught, and which, in contradistinction to that mechanically _supplied_ to the houses of the metropolis is termed, “catch.” This is estimated at 1,000,000 gallons per diem, or 365,000,000 gallons yearly.
But we must also subtract from the gross quantity of rain-water that which falls on the roofs as well as on the “back premises” and yards of houses, and is carried off directly to the drains without appearing in the streets. This must be a considerable proportion of the whole, since the streets themselves, allowing them to be ten yards wide on an average, would seem to occupy only about one-tenth part of the entire metropolitan area, so that the rain falling _directly_ upon the public thoroughfares will be but a tithe of the aggregate quantity. But the surface-water of the streets is increased largely by tributary shoots from courts and drainless houses, and hence we may fairly assume the _natural_ supply to be doubled by such means. At this rate the volume of rain-water annually poured into and upon the metropolitan thoroughfares by natural means, will be between five and six thousand millions of gallons, or one hundred times the quantity that is daily supplied to the houses of the metropolis by mechanical agency.
Still only a part of this quantity appears in the form of surface-water, for a considerable portion of it is absorbed by the ground on which it falls--especially in dry weather--serving either to “lay the dust,” or to convert it into mud. Due regard, therefore, being had to all these considerations, we cannot, consistently with that caution which is necessary in all statistical inquiries, estimate the surface-water of the London streets at more than one thousand millions of gallons per annum, or twenty times the daily mechanical supply to the houses of the entire metropolis, and which it has been asserted is sufficient to exhaust a lake covering the area of St. James’s-park, 30 inches in depth.
The quantity of water annually poured upon the streets in the process of what is termed “watering” amounts, according to the returns of the Board of Health, to 275,000,000 gallons per annum! But as this seldom or never assumes the form of street surface-water, it need form no part of the present estimate.
What proportion of the thousand million gallons of “slop dirt” produced annually in the London streets is carried off down the drains, and what proportion is ladled up by the scavengers, I have no means of ascertaining, but that vast quantities run away into the sewers and there form large deposits of mud, everything tends to prove.
Mr. Lovick, on being asked, “How many loads of deposit have been removed in any one week in the Surrey and Kent district? What is the total quantity of deposit removed in any one week in the whole of the metropolitan district?” replied:
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain correctly the quantity removed, owing to the variety of forms of sewers and the ever-varying forms assumed by the deposit from the action of varying volumes of water; but I have had observations made on the rate of accumulation, from which I have been enabled roughly to approximate it. In one week, in the Surrey and Kent district, about 1000 yards were removed. In one week, in the whole of the metropolitan districts, including the Surrey and Kent district, between 4000 and 5000 yards were removed; but in portions of the districts these operations were not in progress.”
It is not here stated of what the deposit consisted, but there is no doubt that “mac” from the streets formed a great portion of it. Neither is it stated what period of time had sufficed for the accumulation; but it is evident enough that such deposits in the course of a year must be very great.
The street surface-water has been analyzed by Professor Way, and found to yield different constituents according to the different pavements from which it has been discharged. The results are as follows:--
“_Examination of Samples of Water from Street Drainage, taken from the Gullies in the Sewers during the rain of 6th May, 1850._
“The waters were all more or less turbid, and some of them gave off very noxious odours, due principally to the escape of sulphuretted hydrogen gas.
“Some of them were alkaline to test-paper, but the majority were neutral.
“The following table exhibits the quantity of matter (both in solution and in solid state) contained in an imperial gallon of each specimen.
“STREET WATERS.
-------+--------------------+----------+---------+-------------------------------- Number | | Quality | Quality | Residue in an Imperial Gallon. of | NAME OF STREET. | of | of +---------+----------+----------- Bottle.| | Paving. |Traffic. |Soluble. |Insoluble.| Both. -------+--------------------+----------+---------+---------+----------+----------- | | | | Grains. | Grains. | Grains. 1 |Duke-street, | | | | | | Manchester-square | Macadam |Middling | 92·80 | 105·95 | 198·75 7 |Foley-street | | | | | | (upper part) | „ | Little | 95·13 | 116·30 | 211·43 5 |Gower-street | Granite |Middling | 126·00 | 168·30 | 294·30 12 |Norton-street | „ | Little | 123·87 | 3·00 | 126·87 3 |Hampstead-road | | | | | | (above the canal) |Ballasted | Great | 96·00 | 84·00 | 180·00 4 |Ferdinand-street | „ |Middling | 44·00 | 48·30 | 92·30 2 |Ferdinand-place | „ | Little | 50·80 | 34·30 | 85·10 10 |Oxford-street | Granite | Great | 276·23 | 537·10 | 813·33 6 | „ | Macadam | „ | 194·62 | 390·30 | 584·92 11 | „ | Wood | „ | 34·00 | 5·00 | 39·00 -------+--------------------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-----------
“The influence of the quality of the paving on the composition of the drainage water,” says Professor Way, “is well seen in the specimens Nos. 10, 6, and 11, all of them from Oxford-street, the traffic being described as ‘Great.’
“The quantity of soluble salts is here found to be greatest from the granite matter from the macadamized road, and very inconsiderable from the wood pavement.
“The same relation between the granite and macadam pavement seems to hold good in the other instances; the granite for any quality of traffic affording more soluble salts to the water than the macadam.
“The ballasted pavement holds a position intermediate between the macadam and the wood, giving more soluble salts than the wood, but less than the macadam.
“The quantity of solid (insoluble) matter in the different samples of water, _which is a measure of the mechanical waste of the different kinds of pavement_, appears also to follow the same relation as that of the soluble salts; that is to say, granite greatest, next macadam, then ballasted, and, lastly, wood pavement, which affords a quantity of solid deposit almost too small to deserve notice.
“The influence of the quality of traffic on the composition of the different specimens of drainage is well marked in nearly all cases; the greatest amount of matter both insoluble and soluble being found in the water obtained from the streets of great traffic.
“The following table shows the composition of the soluble salts of four specimens, two of them being from the granite, and two from the macadam pavement.
“It appears from the table that the granite furnishes little or no magnesia to the water, whilst the quantity from the macadam is considerable.
“On the other hand, the quantity of potash is far greatest in the water derived from the granite.