314 Our Farming. 



tions. We have a dry gravel walk from kitchen door to earth 

 closet. The building itself is entirely tight, no draft ; tight below 

 as well as above. Yes, and it is carpeted. I think I had better 

 give you a plan of this, as, I assure you, it is neat, complete as 

 one visitor said, civilized. 



Fig. i shows a cross-section of. earth closet at top of seat ; a 

 is the seat which is hung on hinges so as to lift up; bb, on the 

 same level, is the bottom of earth or muck box; c is the door 

 which swings around against muck box. Fig. 2 shows a perpen- 

 dicular section lengthwise through 

 the centre of seat." You will no- 

 tice the earth box /i, which runs 

 clear across from front to rear over 

 b b (Fig. i). The front of this box 

 (g) falls back at the lower part 

 and doesn't come down to bottom, 

 (bb) by some inches, as you will 

 notice. This for convenience in 

 shoveling out the muck. The 

 muck rests on the back part of b, 

 while from the dotted line forward 

 we have a shelf to shovel on. The 

 muck is put in over the top of g 

 with bushel boxes or baskets, 

 filling space h to roof. It will 

 hold thirty to forty bushels, plenty 

 for a year. We fill it once a year 

 during some dry time in the sum- 

 mer. We have enough stored in 

 barrels in the tool house, up stairs, 

 to serve us one year, in case of a 

 very wet season. Dry muck is 

 what we use, and nothing can be 

 better. Dry earth will do, but is 

 heavier. A little fire shovel lies 

 on b, with which we handle the 

 muck. With the peculiar con- 

 struction of h it can all be got 



Fig. 2. 



readily to the very last shovelful ; dd are galvanized iron pails. 

 They are 14^ inches high (seat 15), ten inches in diameter at the 

 bottom, and thirteen at the top. They are made of the best iron, 

 painted besides, and have handles that shut over outside of pails. 

 One can lift the lid a (Fig. i) or e (Fig. 2) readily and take the 

 pails out and empty where desired. The pails are largest at the 

 top for ease of emptying. The floor f goes right across the build- 

 ing, all tight. Size of building is 4^2 x 7 feet. The muck-box 

 arrangement is, so far as I know, original. For the idea of using 

 pails I am indebted to some gentleman who gave his experience 



