THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



trees. But a country house without any complete 

 system of drainage is lacking in the prime essential 

 — both for decency and for health. The pipes to 

 the cesspool should not be less than five or six 

 inches in diameter, because small pipes will surely 

 be clogged with accumulation of greasy material. 

 On the other hand, very large pipes are not easily 

 flushed, and do not carry waste away with sufiBcienl 

 rapidity. 



The cesspool I have described is, however, ad- 

 visable only for homes that cover several acres. 

 For small homesteads the safest and neatest plan is 

 the earth closet. I append a description of a good 

 closet from the pen of Dr. Julius Nelson, of the New 

 Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. " Shallow 

 pits should be provided, with bottom and sides of 

 brick laid in cement. We have a pit as small as 

 four by four feet and three feet deep, adequate for 

 the needs of a fair-sized family. The closet is to be 

 built in front of this pit, with its rear projection one 

 and one-half feet over the front side of the pit. The 

 remainder of the pit is roofed in by a door hinged to 

 the back of the closet. Everything is to be so 

 tightly closed as to be fly-proof. In the closet should 

 be kept a barrel of earth, or ashes, and a dipper. 



[40] 



