80 SANITARY PRIVY. 
HOW TO KEEP A PRIVY SANITARY. 
Tt is necessary not only to build a privy properly but also to keep 
it in proper condition. This involves cleaning out and disposing 
of the excreta in such a way as to prevent all possibility of the spread 
of disease germs from the material. The disagreeable labor involved 
varies according to the kind of privy in use, but is less with the 
L. R. S. privy than with the other types. 
Wrong ways of disposing of night soil—(1) The point can not be 
emphasized too strongly that the use of fresh night soil as fertilizer 
endangers the health and life not only of every person on the farm 
itself, but of all people who handle or who consume the fresh vege- 
tables and fresh milk from such a farm. The custom is forbidden by 
law in some States. 
(2) If the fresh night soil is simply buried, germs of disease may 
later be brought to the surface, and thus infection may be spread. 
Further, the popular idea that all the fly grubs in the night soil are 
killed by burial is not correct, for these grubs can crawl up through 
ws much as 6 feet of sand, reach the surface, develop into flies, and 
carry filth and disease germs to the food. Further, also, if the fresh 
night soil is buried, it may infect the water supply (springs, wells, 
etc.), and thus spread disease. Widespread as is the custom of bury- 
ing fresh excreta, it is a custom which in the light of present-day 
knowledge must be viewed as being far from safe, although when 
done with great care it does decrease the dangers to some extent. 
(3) Mixing night soil with manure is especially dangerous, and feed- 
ing it to chickens and hogs is both filthy and dangerous. 
(4) To leave the night soil on the ground near the privy is de- 
liberately to expose the family and neighbors to sickness. 
(5) In some instances farmers collect the fresh night soil from 
towns and villages, and haul it to their farms, under the impression 
that if it is promptly plowed under it will enrich the land and no 
harm can result. Farmers should thoroughly understand that the 
following of such a practice is attended with great danger, as typhoid 
fever, hookworm disease, and other infections may thereby be intro- 
duced from the town to a healthful farm. 
(6) In some instances, the privy is built over a creek, or the fresh 
excreta are thrown into a stream or lake. Such practices may en- 
danger the lives of persons living downstream. 
The right way to dispose of night soil—Since it is not known, at any 
given time, which members of a community harbor disease germs in 
their intestines, the invariable rule should be adopted to consider all 
fresh night soil as a virulent poison and to dispose of it accordingly. 
The only safe way of disposing of fresh night soil from the style 
of privy shown in figures 6 and 7 is to burn it or disinfect it by means 
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