Land-to-Lcmd Sewage - Way
To Meet Fertilizer Shortage?
With a fertilizer shortage
threatening farm production next
year, it is time to take seriously
proposals for using municipal
sewage on our farmlands.
Using sewage to increase crop
yields has been practiced for
centuries in different parts of the
world. And 'today, with our
crowded cities facing the need to
build more more expensive
sewage disposal facilities, we
become more tempted to revert
to old time solutions.
Currently, most American
farmers depend on commercial
fertilizers. But devaluation of the
• PLASTIC SILAGE COVERS
• SILAGE SAVOR
• FLAMELESS GAS BROODERS
• DAIRY & BEEF CATTLE WORMER
• CUSTOM CANVASS WORK
Special Prices on - - ■
• Penstrep and Combiotic Injectables
• Furox Suspension
AARON S. GROFF & SON
Farm & Dairy Store
H.D..!. Ephrata, Pa 17542 (Hinkle town) Phone:ss4-0744
Store Hours 7 A.M. to‘l P.M.
Closed Tues. & Sat. at 5:30 P.M.
dollar and a real or contrived fuel
shortage has cut down on our
fertilizer supply.
Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-
Minn.) talked about the heavy
exports of fertilizers recently. He
remarked that devaluation of the
dollar has made American
products a good buy for foreign
countries. The problem, he said,
is that fertilizer has been leaving
the country at too fast a rate and,
as a result, he predicted a
shortage c' 20 million tons of
grains in next year’s crops.
Commercial fertilizer
production also suffered from
this year’s fuel shortages. These
nitrogen compounds require heat
for production.
The dwindling supply, of
course, has meant increasing
prices for fertilizer. So farmers
are caught in the double evil of
short supply and high production
expenses.
One of the benefits of “sewage
farming” is that more low cost
fertilizer is available. In Penn
sylvania, there have been reports
of a number of farmers who have
taken the intitiative and con
tracted with municipalities to
haul sludge to their fields.
Another benefit proven on
Pennsylvnaia State University
test plots is that fields irrigated
with sewage effluent produced
yields up to twice as great as the
conventional plot dependent on
rainfall for moisture.
A third benefit accrues to the
city dweller whose taxes con
stantly rise to support
sophisticated multi-billion dollar
sewage disposal plants.
Wisconsin state Sen. Douglas
LaFollette, recently presented
the case of land-to-land sewage
very well.
“As a conservationist and a
state senator,” he said, “I want
to suggest a new method of
sewage treatment which curbs
pollution and gives the farmer an
important role in solving this
problem of America’s urban
society.
“I am suggesting land-to-land
sewage - a method of sewage
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 29,1973 —
treatment which eliminates most
pollution due to sewage, incre
ases crop yields, and is more
economical for us all in the long
run.”
LaFollette explained that
under the land-to-land process,
“the sewage from a community
after initial treatment is
gathered in large settling lagoons
from where it is pumped to
fertilize and to irrigate cultivated
fields.”
Resistance to this type of
fertilization is based on fears of
damaging ground water supplies
in nearby areas.
However, LaFollette notes that
widespread use of this method in
Europe since the 19th century
and on the deserts of Israel has
shown that certain soils function
as natural water purifiers.
He claims that in most areas
adequate acreage of suitable land
is available to handle liquid
sewage. In proper soil, he says, a
chemical reaction reduces the
contaminates by 68 to 82 percent
within the first 12 inches of
penetration by the liquid sewage.
And by the time the liquid
reaches the water table, it is
totally purified.
One of the things to be careful
about with this method is the
Foals and weanlings will eat almost anything you feed them
The question is what’s best 7 Now, after two years of intensive
research and field testing, Red Rose has the answer New
Red Rose Foal Foal is formulated specifically to meet the critical
growth requuements of foals and weanlings It encourages eaily,
rapid growth of bone and muscle without unnecessary fattening
Stimulates early maturity and helps correct deficiencies Foal
contains the highest quality protein, calcium, phosphorus and
vitamins A, D and E No supplements needed Later, move your
filly or colt up to Red Rose Super, the complete nutritious ration
Tor yearlings ana full giown animals Cnoose rrom the tuU line
of fresh Red Rose horse feeds Super, Classic, Regular, Foal,
Complete Horse Pellets, Equmader, Free Choice Mmeial
JOHN W StAiCmatt, A SONS
Est 1842 Mills Lancaster, Pa/York, Pa /Circleville 0/
Tampa, Fla /Sanford, N C /Chamblee, Ga
WALTER BINKLEY & SON MARTIN'S FEED MILL
I,,tltz Ephrata,Pa.
BROWN & REA, INC.
Atglen
ELVERSON SUPPLY CO.
Elverson
HENRY E. GARBER
Elizabethtown, Pa
E. MUSSER HEISEY
& SON
R D 2, Mt Joy, Pa
HEISTAND BROS.
Elizabethtown
DAVID B. HURST
Bowmansville
contamination of land by heavy
metals or chemical poisons from
industry. But this can be solved
by forbidding the dumping of
industrial wastes into the sewer
systems of cities.
Projections of costs by plan
ners indicates that construction
of land-to-land sewage plants is
considerably cheaper than ex
panding the chemical methods
now being employed. It has been
estimated that the annual per
capita expense needed for land
to-land sewage to take care of the
needs of a city the size of Chicago
is $47.10 compared to $74.80 for
physical-chemical treatment.
Considering the economies this
system will provide to both
farmers and city dwellers, it
would seem land-to-land_ sewage
treatment merits prime at
tention.
Nellie Ely, a newspaper
reporter, undertook, in 1889, a
trip around the world for her
newspaper to prove the feasi
bility of the adventure record
ed in Jules Verne’s novel,
“Around the World in 80
Days,” and made the trip in
72 days, 6 hours and 11 min
utes.
|Pp »
G. R. MITCHELL, INC.
MUSSER FARMS, INC.
RED ROSE FARM
SERVICE, INC.
N Church St, Quarryville
CHAS. E. SAUDER
& SONS
H. M. STAUFFER
& SONS, INC.
Witmer
+ + +
Ely’s Trip
>r£o
Refton, Pa
MOUNTVILLE
FEED SERVICE
Mountville
Columbia
Terre Hill
21