Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "ned" contains these words:


snip

Perhaps I should have enclosed 'sheep dip' in quotes.
What I was referring to was the concoction made by soaking sheep
purls in water until a dark green liquid is formed.

That's liquid manure made with sheep shit. Sheep dip, to anyone
rural, is the mix of water and chemicals which sheep are immersed in
to control some diseases; far too toxic to be put on gardens.

The phrase does have 'dual meaning' in some areas. Used colloquially
(in quotes) by some older gardening folk, it refers to sheep purls
'dipped' in water. In my childhood the term was thus used in the
Lothians and later on I heard it used in Buckinghamshire.


snip

At our old house on the mainland, the council sent sewage suction
tankers (not tractors and bowsers)on round trips of up to 70 miles
to
empty septic tanks and take the contents to sewage works. It cost
householders £27.

snip


I hear what you say Janet and I would not dream of questioning your
experience. But, believe me the practice of spreading the contents of
septic tanks on farmland is still current in my neighbourhood. Just as
you assumed from your experience that this no longer occurred, I, from
my experience, thought it to be a more 'widespread' practice than it
apparently is.

--
ned