SYON OR JERUSALEM?
I have been to Kew Gardens, most lovely for its landscape as well as its plants and single trees, to refresh my memory of the view 'across the river to Syon House Park on which Middlesex county engineers have set envious eyes ; ' they think it ideal for a sewage works. The desire to make a cesspool of Syon (or Sion) is an unfortunate variant on the ambition to " build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land." ; but apart from the spoiling of this supreme view, the incident may serve a purpose by bringing into the open certain radical necessities of urban and rural betterment. There is something to be said for a sewage farm. Refuse sludge is used for productive purposes—and that is something. Though it has no essential bearing on the case I cannot avoid the criticism that most sewage farms are preferred by many birds to any other sanctuaries. All sorts of rarities appear on them from time to time. For example, the spoonbill has been seen more than once on a Berkshire sewage farm. As for snipe, they are legion on a great number.
Previous page
