Some years ago while these experiments on converting rubbish into
Manure were in an early stage, I Visited an English farm where at the same tinie "another experiment in extracting value from rubbish was in process. The farm was a 'dairy farm (and incidentally provided grade A milk). All the Manure from the byres was 'conveyed into a metal Cylinder, and a pipe leading from this provided the establish- ment with a certain modicum of light and power. One of the employees cooked his dinner by the gas produced almost automatically from the rubbish heap. There has been little development of this source of power, though experiments continue hopefully. But it was sufficiently proved that almost any rubbish—twigs of trees as well as a straw manure heap—can provide good gas that needs little purification. We live in an electric age, but it is a prophecy which may be Most 'plausibly argued that some day the so-called waste products of farms as of towns may return a good interest in the form of that useful gas once known only under the name of will-o'-the-wisp. It will, indeed, be a triumph to harness that restive fire.
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