CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 101 



purchased at almost any hardware store for a sum not exceeding 

 SI. 50. Such receptacles are water-tight and very serviceable, and 

 when left covered remain free from flies and do not give off disa- 

 greeable odors. To prevent them from becoming unnecessarily foul 

 they should be washed and scalded with boiUng water at frequent 

 intervals. As moisture is the immediate cause of souring, if the 

 garbage be drained and wrapped in paper before being placed in the 

 can it will not smell in hot weather, the can will not become dirty, 

 and will not require emptying more than once or twice a week. 

 This expedient will also prevent the garbage from freezing and 

 sticking to the can in cold weather. 



At many camps, especially those in the South, garbage is collected 

 in open pails in the kitchen and fed to hogs. The latter are often- 

 times allowed to run loose around the camps and even have been seen 

 inside the dining quarters of prisoners. The garbage is thrown into 

 a trough or on the surface of the ground at some convenient spot not 

 far from the kitchen door and left to the hogs to dispose of. Such 

 primitive conditions should be tolerated no longer at any convict 

 camp, and hogs, if kept at all, should be penned securely at a distance 

 not less than one quarter of a mile from the camp. 



Small, open garbage pails in the kitchens scarcely can be avoided, 

 and are not objectionable if the kitchens are screened from flies and 

 the pails emptied and cleaned after each meal. Camps have been 

 seen, however, where the kitchens were not screened and garbage 

 pails were hung at convenient angles on nails outside the kitchen 

 windows. Most of the garbage dumped through the windows would 

 fall into the pails, but some would drop down the sides of the build- 

 ings to the ground. 



At many camps with plenty of vacant land surrounding them 

 garbage is carried once a day to a spot 100 yards or more from the 

 camp and water supply and is buried in shallow trenches. Under 

 these conditions there can be no serious objection to this method of 

 disposal. The trenches should be from 12 to 18 inches in depth and 

 the garbage spread over the bottom in a layer about 2 inches thick 

 and covered with earth immediately. 



Garbage pits are in use at a few camps. They consist usually of 

 a hole about .3 feet wide, 5 feet long, and 4 feet deep. The top is 

 covered first with boards and then with earth, and a small trap door 

 is constructed through which the garbage and slops are dumped. 

 When the camp is moved the space which remains is filled with 

 earth. Garbage pits are not as satisfactory as the shallow trenches 

 already described. They are more liable to pollute the ground water, 

 and their contents may remain in the ground unchanged for long 

 periods of time and be uncovered by animals. They should be 

 avoided whenever better methods of disposal are possible. 



