By the adoption of the 'dry catch' the weight of material would
be enormously decreased and its daily transference by means of a
proper shovel and travelling receptacle would be found both easy and
economical.
If the material removed be buried superficially every day with a view
to cultivation and production, the land to which it is removed _cannot
be too near to the houses_. This may seem a strong assertion, but I
make it without any hesitation whatever. Should the necessity ever
arise, I feel sure that all the parks and square gardens might be used
in the manner I have indicated for sanitary purposes, not only without
offence, but with a certain great increase in the productiveness of the
ground, always provided that the atmosphere be not too foul (as is the
case in central London) to permit of horticulture or agriculture in any
form.
If the dry catch be used the material is not sloppy and liable to
spill, and thus the great hindrance to its transport is removed.
Finally, the initial expenses and repairs of pails would no longer fall
on the sanitary authority, and the huge cost of lugging about these
absurdly clumsy putrefaction boxes would be at an end.
We have three specimens of municipal pails in the Parkes Museum, and
these vary in weight from 40 lbs. to 50 lbs. The 50-lb. pail, which
is 18 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep, weighs, when filled with
water, 187¼ lbs.
If, by the help of two men, a horse, and a lorry, one has to take, in
addition to the excreta, fifty pounds weight of galvanised iron, or
wood and iron, a mile each way, the expense becomes huge, and anything
like a daily removal is impracticable; but if one has to transport a
pound of solid excrement a few hundred yards only, then the problem is
a very different one.
Any sanitary authority which adopts 'dry method' should endeavour to
arrange for a daily removal. I am no advocate of 'conservancy,' but
would rather see the immediate utilisation of the excreta. It is only
by immediate burial that one gets the full manurial value of them.
The burial must be done with a view to the cultivation of the land.
_It must be superficial._ The excreta must be merely covered with the
earth, no more. Furrows half a spit deep are ample. It is in this way
only that one insures the oxidation of the excrement and the protection
of the wells.
It is the almost universal custom to bury night soil deeply, and I
could quote many instances in which excreta have been buried three or
four feet deep, and have been exhumed some months later unchanged and
still foul. If they be buried deeply, the farmer or gardener gets no
benefit and the wells are endangered. The farmer, be it remembered,
spreads his dung on the surface of the ground, with a maximum exposure
to light and air and then ploughs it in; nothing could be more truly
scientific.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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