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I desire to call the attention of the board to the sanitary condition of most of the small towns, and isolated homes, of the State, which suggests that something be done by this board to remedy these existing evils.

It would seem uncalled for to appeal to this board, were it not for the fact that when epidemic, or contagious diseases, invade small towns, and even isolated country homes, the death rate is usually a large one. Larger towns and cities are, as a rule, provided with modern sanitary improvements, such as sewer systems and water works, which provide for the disposal of sewage, and for the furnishing of an abundant supply of pure water, doing away with the necessity of using water from wells situated on small village lots, where, on a small space of ground, are placed the dwelling, barn, privy and often other necessary and unnecessary buildings, together with the well and cistern, for the family water supply.

Aside from that, every family, be it ever so small and economical, has a certain amount of offal, which, if not the greatest care is exercised in its disposal, accumulates, and in time forms a decomposing mass, filling air and soil with its effluvia, contaminating air and water supply.

This is not all. These little towns have their hotels, restaurants, stores, shops, livery stables, and other business enterprises, where offal of all kinds accumulates and fills streets and alleys.

Is it a wonder that under conditions of this kind, contagious diseases find a fertile soil?

(1)-Of the Committee on Food and Water of the State Board.

Appendix-Disposal of Household Waste.

The question arises: What can the State Board of Health do to better the sanitary condition of our smaller towns and isolated country homes?

The only answer I know of, is: To better educate the people how to dispose of their offal and sewage.

I was very much interested in reading a pamphlet lately on this very important subject, written by Wm. Paul Gerhard, a sanitary engineer of New York City, and entitled "The Disposal of Sewage of Isolated Country Houses," which describes an effective method to dispose of sewage in a cheap manner.

I am of the opinion that the distribution of a sufficient number of these pamphlets to the health physicians of the different local boards would prove a nucleus out of which a plant might grow fruitful, of great benefit to the present and future generations.

Mr. Gerhard, in his book on "The Disposal of Household Waste, "--says: "Taken in its broadest sense, domestic refuse consists of solid garbage, of the liquid and semi-fluid wastes or sewage, and of gaseous impurities.

Solid garbage comprises three kinds of waste material, namely: (1) Animal and vegetable matter; (2) mineral matters; (3) miscel laneous coarse rubbish.

Organic refuse, or kitchen offal, is largely composed of those animal or vegetable parts of food which are removed in preparing it for eating, such as potato parings, husks of certain vegetables, cabbage leaves, fruit peelings, intestines of birds, etc., of portions of food left over after cooking, and food remnants removed from the table, such as meat and fish-bones, waste bits of birds, meat offal, kitchen grease, bones, fat, etc.

The mineral matters consist of the incombustible remains of fuel, such as coal and wood ashes, cinders, clinkers, house dirt, yard sweepings, small rubbish, and of miscellaneous dry refuse matter.

The coarser miscellaneous rubbish consists of a heterogeneous mixture of imaginable things, such as dust, floor sweepings, litter, mud, broken bottles, oyster cans, tin cans, worn-out kitchen utensils, preserve jars, medicine bottles, broken toys, old mattresses, straw, hay, old boots, baskets, pieces of matting, oil cloth, carpet, wall paper, leather, rubber, paper, pieces of cloth, bits of wearing

(1)-Reprinted by permission of the author, Wm. Paul Gerhard.

Appendix-Disposal of Household Waste.

apparel, hoop skirts, towels, napkins, shirts, sheets, stockings, rags, stones, clinkers, brick-bats, plaster, flower-pots, old crockery, broken glass, old iron, scrap tin, bones, hair, sticks, shavings, oyster and clam shells, etc.

House sewage consists of water fouled by use in the household, such as soapy and fatty slop-water, kitchen and laundry wastes, chamber slops, to which are often added solid excreta, urine, the flushing water used in the removal of liquid and solid excrements through a system of plumbing fixtures, etc., stable drainage and manufacturing wastes.

The gaseous impurities comprise air fouled by the process of respiration, by emanations and exudations from the skin and body, by perspiration, by the combustion of fuel, by noxious products incident to most forms of artificial illumination, by the processes of cooking and washing, by exhalations from soiled linen, cast-off clothing, etc., accumulations of decomposing matters of all kinds, and occasionally bad gases originating in the drains, waste-pipes, traps and plumbing fixtures of a house.

The removal of gaseous impurities is accomplished first, by removing all direct sources of bad air, and second, by ventilation; and since this may properly be considered a separate and distinct subject, although of equal importance in domestic sanitation, I shall not touch upon it.

Generally speaking, the solid refuse, the garbage and ashes are either properly disposed of on the premises adjoining habitations, or else they are removed by scavenging. Liquid refuse or slopwater is disposed of on the premises where sufficient space is available, or else it is removed by sewerage. Human excreta are sometimes disposed of on the premises by admixture with garden earth or ashes, or else removed in pails or tubs, all comprising the so-called dry methods of removal.

It is necessary, in order that no nuisance, and no danger to health may arise, to dispose of all waste matters in the most economical, least disagreeable, and safest manner possible.

Isolated Country Habitations.-Household refuse is always generated in the process of housekeeping; in fact it is an unavoidable incident of human life. The oftener and the more regularly the removal of this refuse is accomplished, the nearer do we succeed in maintaining in our homes that cleanliness which is one of the

Appendix-Disposal of Household Waste.

first virtues of the householder. The contents of swill barrels are always more or less subject to rapid fermentation and decomposition, and soon become not only highly offensive, but dangerous to health, particularly during hot weather. Hence, in summer time a daily removal is especially important.

With small cottages, farm-houses, mechanics' and laborers' dwellings, the management of both garbage and sewage is not a difficult matter. Instances are extremely rare where there is not provided sufficient garden space to enable the farmer or laborer to return to the soil as manure the wastes from the household. It matters little whether the plot of ground attached to the house is arable or pasture land, a vegetable or fruit garden, each of these advantageously cultivated by their owner. Moreover, a good and thrifty housewife will soon learn the habit of saving the fat, lard, tallow or grease, either to sell it to the soap-maker, or use it on her own premises in making soap. Much of the meat refusal and other swill can be disposed of as food for household animals, such as dogs and cats. Some of the refuse is taken up with avidity by chickens; finally, one or more swine, kept in cleanly surroundings-for it is mistake to suppose that a pig is by nature not a clean animal-will dispose regularly of much of the remaining swill or kitchen refuse; other parts may, without difficulty, be dried and burned in the kitchen range. Coarser refuse, and many of the matters contained in the above enumeration may be picked out and kept in a dry condition, in an out-house, until some peddling junk-dealer arrives, who will always be glad to remove them.

It appears, therefore, that the garbage question is not at all a troublesome one, requiring only a little intelligence and commonsense management.

Excreta of domestic animals and various other refuse may be dug into the ground, and thus every source of a nuisance can be effectually removed. By a little considerate management of the range and fuel, securing a better combustion, the quantity of ashes and cinders can be kept down to a minimum, and if kept dry and absolutely free from admixture with organic refuse, ashes and cinders may be utilized to improve garden walks or country roads, or to fill up low spots.

The disposal of the liquid sewage in small isolated houses can be equally easily accomplished. Wherever a small garden, a lawn, a

Appendix-Disposal of Household Waste.

grape-vine trellis, or an apple orchard adjoins the house, the sewage may be used with advantage to feed the plants and fruit trees, and to irrigate the soil. The ruling principle should be to keep solid and liquid waste matters as much apart as possible, as this will facilitate the disposal of both. The kitchen water, the soapsuds from washing, chamber slops, urine and other foul water, are easily disposed of by daily distribution in the garden, either by surface or sub-surface irrigation. Both methods are far preferable to the crude methods usually adopted of discharging into an open ditch, or into some neighboring water-course, brook or pond, or of retaining them on the premises by pouring on the surface of the ground in front of the kitchen window, keeping the soil continually moist, and saturating it quickly with putrefying filth, or by storing it in leaching or tight cess-pools, or pouring it into disused wells.

The slops may be collected every day in a tight vessel and carried to the garden and there used to water plants, shrubs or fruit

trees.

Instead of surface irrigation the slop-water may be discharged into one or more lines of absorptive drains, consisting of common agricultural tiles, laid with open joints at a depth of eight to ten inches below the surface. For the smallest cottage fifty feet of tiles are sufficient, laid either in one or several lines, and the amount of tiles should be increased in proportion to the quantity of waste water from the house.

The principal point of importance is that the sewage be applied to the soil while fresh, and before it begins to decompose; that it should be applied in moderate quantities only, to prevent an oversaturation of the soil; that it should be applied on or near the surface, within reach of the oxidizing influence of the air; and finally, that the application be made intermittent, so as to give the soil after each discharge a chance to breathe, as it were, and to allow the solid finer portions to be oxidized and destroyed. An easy method of disposing of slop-water, where the house hás no plumbing fixtures, is to have near the house a hopper, or receiver, made of wood, rustless iron, or better, earthenware, and provided with a strainer and proper cover. From this a pipe may be carried under ground to the absorption tiles. The sewage from the house may be

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