Proceedings of the Farjiers' Club. 431 



decompositiou. This, used as a substitute for water in cities, is the 

 reform he urges. He has proved the arrangement to be entirely 

 inoffensive, and, for several reasons, preferable to the closets no\r in 

 general use. 



The mode of action is the delivery of a small quantity of prepared 

 earth directly upon the deposit. This entirely absorbs all moisture, 

 and deoderizes the offensive material. Sufficient earth for a day's use 

 of an ordinary family may be carried in a coal hod, and Mr. Mechi 

 cites an instance where a cart load and a half served a school of fifty- 

 five boys for six months. The same earth may be dried and used 

 repeatedl}^, each repetition increasing its value as a manure, and, 

 •within certain limits, not lessening its deodorizing qualities. " Its 

 daily removal will be as unobjectionable as though it were coal ashes." 



Mr. Moule thinks that surface soil may be brought to the city and 

 returned to the garden or field from which it was taken, in the same 

 manner as straw for staMes is now brought and returned. Com- 

 panies, says he, will be formed, which will take upon themselves the 

 working expenses, and find at least sufficient profit after paying 

 thirty shillings per ton. The poor might have revenue, and tlie ser- 

 vants of the rich some gratuities, since a much less sum than that 

 named would pay for supplying, removing, and drying the earth. 

 He estimates that if one-fifth of the inhabitants of Great Britain 

 were to adopt this reform, a million tons of manure equal to guano 

 would each year be added to the supply of fertilizers. 



There is certainly no reason this system of "• earth closets " should 

 not prevail both there and in this country. Every landowner, at 

 least, should try the experiment, and thus secure sanitary cleanliness 

 and more abundant harvests. Instead of making reeking cess-pools 

 underground, and trying in vain to neutralize horrid stenches by 

 honey-suckle and sweet-brier, let the receptacle be raised just above 

 the surface, and let dried earth be used. This may be done without 

 trouble in small towns, and by every farmer. The writer is informed 

 that this economy is generally practiced in the prosperous village of 

 Yineland, Xew Jersey, and that the ejecta of an ordinary household 

 is held there to be worth,. on an average, $150 per annum. 



Mr. Moule states that, on account of variations, it is difficult to 

 create an exact standard of value for this compost, but he gives, 

 from his own experience, some examples of practical application. A 

 handful or two of earth which had passed five times through the 

 closet was dissolved in a pail of water, and this mixture being used 



