30 FARM HOMES, IN-DOORS AND OUT-DOORS. 



old-fashioned privy ; old-fashioned, because in ever new 

 first-class, scientifically builded house it has given place to 

 something better. This nuisance is too philosophically 

 endured. It is by no means a necessary evil, and there is 

 no virtue in submitting to its existence. We often see 

 heroic attempts to overcome its objectionable features. 

 It is made to stand afar off, but distance in this case lends 

 no enchantment, and the long walks back and forth in 

 all sorts of weather, and the noisome condition of the 

 building itself, are often serious exposures to aged people 

 and delicate children. Sometimes it is brought nearer, 

 taken under the house-roof, curtained and carpeted, and 

 then we have " sewer gas " all the year round, and in the 

 summer months a nuisance that more or less contaminates 

 the whole house. 



The best way to overcome this evil is to adopt the dry- 

 earth or ashes system. Because some of the first closets 

 manufactured on this principle proved rather unsatisfac- 

 tory, no one should be prejudiced against the system 

 itself, which is finding wide and wider acceptance 

 through improved and perfected machinery. 



In the use of dry earth or ashes, one is as effectual as 

 the other, the only difference being that double the 

 quantity of ash is required. Both, if properly used, have 

 power to completely disinfect and obliterate everything 

 that is offensive. To save the small trouble of drying 

 and storing earth for winter use, it might be well to use 

 ashes through the cold months, but the ease with which 

 earth can be had in the country, and the excellent fertil- 

 izing purpose to which it can be put after it has per- 

 formed its office of disinfectant, make it the most desirable. 



The " earth closets " sold by dealers are needlessly ex- 

 pensive, I think, ranging in prices from the $5 pail up to 

 the $-10 cabinet elaborately finished in walnut. Beyond 

 $10 and $12 they vary in value merely in regard to finish, 

 and a man with any gift for planning and joining boards 



