DISPOSAL OF EXCEETA 359 



Every effort is made on the farm to conserve both the 

 liquid and solid excrement of cattle, but excepting the fseces 

 there is no attempt to collect that from the horse, probably 

 for the reason that as this animal spends only half its life 

 in the stable, it would be scarcely worth the trouble. The 

 subject is mentioned here not in the interest of the farmer, 

 but in that of the sanitarian, who must remember that 

 though something under 50 lbs. of excreta are produced by 

 a horse in a day, only a portion of this is deposited in the 

 stable. The remainder goes to swell the refuse of our 

 streets, and helps contaminate the air of cities with par- 

 ticles of dried horse faeces. 



Drainage may be surface or subsoil, or a mixture of the 

 two — e.g., within the building the drains may be purely 

 surface, while outside they may empty their contents into 

 the ordinary underground system. 



Surface Drainage. — The advantage of surface drainage 

 from a sanitary point of view is considerable ; there is 

 nothing covered up, the whole can be inspected from end 

 to end, there are no pent-up gases, and there is free 

 dilution with air of the contents of the drain. There is no 

 reason why on farms, which always have to inaugurate a 

 system of their own, surface drains should not be more 

 generally used; they need not offend the eye, and provided 

 storm drainage and soil is kept out of them, so as not to 

 unduly fill or dilute the contents of the liquid manure-tank 

 into which they subsequently empty, there can be no possible 

 exception taken. 



It is seldom perhaps that surface drainage on an ex- 

 tensive scale will be permitted, though it has economy, 

 cleanliness, and freedom from obstruction to recommend 

 it ; further there is nothing to get out of order, no returned 

 gases to deal with, no pipes to become obstructed, but it 

 offends the eye ; we prefer as a rule to carry excreta out 

 of sight, and by so doing introduce a system which is 

 frequently defective and always risky. 



Within buildings like stables and cow- sheds there can be 

 no serious objection to surface drainage, and here it shquld 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



