100 BULLETix 414, r. s. depaetme:n't of ageicultuee. 



ered by planks loosely laid, and these covered with 1 or 2 inches of 

 earth from the excavation. 



In large or permanent camps the problem of disposal is not so 

 simple. For such camps, when they can not be connected with a 

 city or town sewage system, purification of some sort must be pro- 

 vided. This may be effected by a septic tank for the preliminary 

 treatment and ultimate disposal on the surface, by subsurface dis- 

 tribution, or by sand filtration. Such an installation usually will be 

 found to be beyond the skill of the average official in charge of the 

 camp and it will be advisable, in any case, to consult a rehable 

 sanitary engineer. It will be required in so few camps and the 

 details of the construction are of such a technical nature that no 

 attempt will be made to enter into the subject here. It is treated 

 as simply as possible in a previous bulletin of the department.^ The 

 department, through the Ofiice of Pubhc Roads and Rural Engineer- 

 ing, is prepared to give advice based on specific conditions on appli- 

 cation. 



METHODS OF GARBAGE DISPOSAL. 



The following methods of garbage disposal, arranged in order of 

 merit, were found in use in convict camps: (1) Incineration; (2) 

 carting away by farmers; (3) burial; (4) dumping into covered pits; 

 (5) feeding to hogs at the camp; (6) spreading over the surface of 

 the ground. 



The simplest of the foregoing methods is that of having the gar- 

 bage hauled away by farmers, who, as a rule, are glad to take it for its 

 value as hog feed. As it is also a matter of great convenience to the 

 camp authorities to have the garbage removed at regular and fre- 

 quent intervals, this method generally is used whenever the necessary 

 arrangements can be made. Furthermore, if there be proper pro- 

 vision for the sanitary storage of the waste material for the time 

 during which it necessarily must remain at the camp, there can be 

 no objection to it from a sanitary standpoint. But as actually prac- 

 ticed in many of the camps visited the method of storage was very 

 primitive. It was the custom, after each meal, to dump both liquid 

 and soHd garbage into one or two wooden barrels, usually placed 

 from 100 to 200 feet from the main camp structures. Such con- 

 tainers are rarely cleaned or provided with covers and, standing 

 open, their contents rapidly become sour and attract swarms of fhes. 

 The barrels swell and warp and allow the liquid garbage to leak 

 through and saturate the ground; and they rapidly deteriorate, often 

 to the point of falhng apart altogether in the process of dumping. 

 Much better containers, of metal with tight-fitting covers, can be 



1 Bulletin No. 57, U. S. Department of Agriculture: "Water Supply, Plumbing, and Sewage Disposal 

 for Country Homes." Copies of this bulletin may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, 

 Government Printing GflBce, Washington, D. C, at 10 cents a copy. 



