FAMILY WASTES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1964, 10 June 1880, Page 4

FAMILY WASTES.

[“ American Agriculturist."]

It is often said that the wastes of the household would fertilise a half-acre garden, if they were properly saved and applied. The statement is undoubtedly true, but the “ if ” is the most important factor in the proposition. As a matter of fact, most families in the country, and villages, pay the least possible attention to these matters. The sink drain usually pours its contents upon the surface of the ground, within a few feet of the dwelling, and, not unfrequently, close by the well. A square rod or two of garden soil is fattened, and kept soggy with water, and bad odours prevail through the summer. If a pear tree or grapevine happens to be planted within reach of this liquid manure, the abundant and perfect fruit show the value of the riches that are wasted at this point. There is no burial of offensive matters, no utilising thereof for the feeding of the soil, and the sustenance of the household. All these gross violations of the conditions of health, and of good husbandry as well, are justly complained of by our Boards of Health. If their reports could be circulated among those who are most needy of their counsels it might remedy the evil. Their teachings should be circulated in the journals that reach these families, and secure the needed reform. As a rule, any provision for the disposition of fecal matters that does not absorb all odors every day is defective. The most common provision, without a vault for absorbents, is a nuisance that ought to be abated by civil enactments with severe penalties. * The earth-closet system is effectual If faithfully carried out. It needs, however, more executive ability than is ordinarily found in the head of the family, even if he be a cultivator of the soil. The best arrangement, on the whole, thtt we have observed, is a vault large enough to contain all these wastes for six months of the year, made of stone or brick, and lined with hydraulic cement. This effectually prevents all escape of poisonous matters into the well; *,matter that the head of the household can afford to secure at any cost. By the occasional use ofabsorbents, all the fertilising material that falls into the vault is preserved. Offensive odors, if they arise, may be corrected by the use of copperas. With such a vault, the gardener has a constant of liquid manure, which may be applied to his growing crops through the season. The luxuriant growth of vegetables, the splendid berries, the purple clusters of the vine, and the ruddy cheeks ot the pears, grown under frequent applications of liquid manure, will compensate any man for the trouble and expense of this vault.