32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



phiti lias the surface drainage, by which sink drains often 

 cross the sidewalks in front of the houses, and discharge in 

 the catch l)asins at the side of the streets. 



The pneumatic system of Capt. Liernur consists of iron 

 pipes connected with the water-closets of the city to be 

 drained. An air-pump creates a vacuum, and simultane- 

 ousl}' all the closets are opened in section after section of the 

 city once a day. The contents are drawn to the mouth of 

 the sewer, and finally deposited on the land. It is very 

 expensive, but has found favor in Amsterdam and two other 

 Dutch cities, where the level of the subsoil water makes it 

 extremely difficult to construct any other system. It is 

 claimed that the system is not only self-supporting, but 

 profitable. 



The Japanese and Chinese have a bucket system, by 

 which all the excrement is saved, and daily taken to scows 

 in the rivers, or carried at the ends of bamboo poles and 

 deposited in large vats to be manufactured into a fertiHzer. 

 A medical friend, who has lived in the city of Tokio, informs 

 me that a servant in his family sold her productions for 

 about eight mills per month. Their horticulture is described 

 as being far superior to anything known in this country, 

 both in amount and beauty of produce. Victor Hugo in 

 " Les Miserables," writes : " Thanks to human fertilization, 

 the earth in China is still as young as in the days of Abraham. 

 Chinese wheat yields one hundred and twenty fold." The 

 immunity which these people enjoy from diphtheria, scarlet 

 fever, and typhoid fever, is probably due to the removal of 

 the waste before decomposition takes place. 



CESSPOOLS. 



Cesspools are employed throughout the civilized world. 

 Some with impervious walls, and emptied as often as filled ; 

 some to overflow into a neighboring sewer ; some with per- 

 vious walls, allowing the liquid to percolate into the surround- 

 ing territory'. They have all been suppressed in the German 

 cities of Dantzic, Berlin and Breslau, and their abandonment 

 is recommended by a commission appointed by the govern- 

 ment of Paris. 



