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.