230 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



even the best arranged water-closets will be eyitirely unhnoivn^ while 

 the full convenience of having accommodations in the house, and 

 even in the sick-room, may be better and much more cheaply 

 attained by the aid of the earth closet than by that of the water- 

 closet. 



The earth required may be collected during dry weather, and 

 stored during winter under cover, in sufficient quantity for the 

 year's use. The one fact which makes the universal introduc- 

 tion of Moule's earth closet practicable is the ability to use the 

 same earth, over and over again, even as many as ten times. 

 I have a closet now in use in my house which has done constant 

 service for three persons during a year, and the whole amount of 

 earth it has required has been only a little more than four barrels. 



It is claimed, and, so far as my experience enables me to decide, 

 with truth, that there is absolutely no odor in earth which, after 

 being several times used, has again been prepared for the appara- 

 tus. I have used the same earth the third time, and neither by 

 its appearance nor by its odor, can it be distinguished from that 

 freshly taken from the ground. The organic matters of the 

 manure itself, on being decomposed, become an excellent deodor 

 izer, and after being dried and sifted, they cannot be distinguished 

 from the other particles of organic matter in the soil. 



Concerning the value of the manure resulting from the use of 

 the earth closet, the following, which is extracted from a paper 

 furnished by Mr. Moule to the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England, and published in the twenty-fourth volume of their jour- 

 nal, is more definite than any thing else that has appeared : — 



" In the present stage of the working of this system, the diffi- 

 '* culty of ascertaining the value of the manure thus manufac- 

 " tured is very great. The varieties in the earth used, and the 

 " want of exactness in observing the relative weights and propor- 

 " tions of the ' soil,' and of the absorbing earth, as well as in 

 " obtaining a thorough mixing of the two, combine to create this 

 " difficulty ; I therefore prefer to give a few instances of the 

 " practical appHcation of it to the garden and to the field, rather 



