104 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



DISPOSAL OF GENERAL CAMP WASTES. 



Metal receptacles with tightly fitting covers should be placed at 

 convenient points about the camp and all waste materials placed in 

 them. They should be emptied once each day and their contents 

 disposed of by burning. The incinerators may be used to good 

 advantage in this connection. Materials not entirely consumed by 

 the fire should be buried. Tin cans always should be placed in the 

 fire and then buried. If left on the surface of the ground with 

 particles of food and moisture adhering to them, they may furnish 

 breeding places for flies and mosquitoes. 



Some one prisoner should be made responsible for the cleanliness 

 of the camp grounds and their surroundings and daily inspection 

 should be made by the camp authorities in order to see that wastes 

 are properly collected and disposed of. 



DISPOSAL OF BATH AND LAUNDRY WASTES. 



Water which has come m contact with the body duriug the process 

 of bathing, and that which has been used in washing dirty clothiag, 

 may contain the germs of any disease with which any person in the 

 camp happens to be afflicted. In spite of this fact, however, it is a 

 common custom to empty bath and laundry wastes on the surface of 

 the ground in the vicuiity of the camp structures, where they cause 

 pollution of the soil and are unsightly and iU-smeUing. Water-tight 

 covered receptacles should be provided for all liquid wastes, which 

 should then be evaporated in the incinerator, or carried 100 yards or 

 more from the camp, poured into shallow trenches, and covered with 

 earth. 



FLIES AND MOSQUITOES. 



In almost all convict camps flies and mosquitoes are present in 

 such numbers as to be a veritable scourge. In general, only rather 

 feeble attempts are made to get rid of them because the actual 

 menace which they present, the conditions under which they breed, 

 and effective methods for their destruction and prevention are under- 

 stood but little by those in charge of camps. 



Flies. 



The danger of the transmission of disease by flies in particular can 

 not be emphasized too strongly. They breed in and feed upon the 

 filth of privies and manm^e piles and carry particles of it on their 

 bodies and legs to kitchens and mess rooms, where they come into 

 contact with and contaminate the food. In this way there is reason 

 to believe that fhes convey infection in such diseases as typhoid fever, 

 cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, smallpox, hook-worm disease, tubercu- 

 losis, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, skin infections, and many 

 others. 



