jim haseltine
Senior Retro Guru
By pure coincidence, this evening time I read part of a history of Charles Dickens in which it was stated that in 1850 when London was a city of some 3 million people, TWENTY THOUSAND tons of manure were cleared from the streets every day. Although in the past I've helped friends muck out their stables, I couldn't believe that figure so did some Googling.
An average horse produces approximately 50 pounds of manure a day (of which 30lbs is dung), so the daily output of 75 horses is approximately a ton, meaning that 20,000 tons would require 1 and a half million horses - so one horse for every 2 people in the city. As heavy goods transport often used teams of up 16 horses (and they'd be big horses, not your 'average'), it's not so unbelievable.
An average horse produces approximately 50 pounds of manure a day (of which 30lbs is dung), so the daily output of 75 horses is approximately a ton, meaning that 20,000 tons would require 1 and a half million horses - so one horse for every 2 people in the city. As heavy goods transport often used teams of up 16 horses (and they'd be big horses, not your 'average'), it's not so unbelievable.
