49© 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1908 



these 



ous seasons of the year, and 

 have found in this well- 

 settled neighborhood, with 

 some of the homes only six 

 hundred feet from the 

 works, no disposition what- 

 ever to complain. Entering 

 the grounds, I wandered 

 along the winding roads, in 

 and out among the luxuri- 

 ant verdure, with foliage 

 and flowering plants taste- 

 fully arranged along the 

 border of the roads and 

 paths, these reinforced by 

 shrubs, and the whole 

 backed by masses of ever- 

 greens and maples. Here 

 and there a vista disclosed 

 some noble horsechestnuts 

 with their crowning glory 

 of leaves, or a lofty elm 

 brushing the sky. It is a 

 regular park. In fact it is 

 often used by the public 

 school, which by the way is 

 only two blocks distant, 

 whose teachers take their 

 classes over to 

 grounds for lessons 

 in nature study. 



Here and there 

 I had caught 

 glimpses, through 

 the trees, of an ivy- 

 covered building 

 surrounded by 

 shrubs and bushes, 

 and at the next turn 

 in the road came 

 full upon it. What 

 a surprise to dis- 

 cover that this is 

 the much-maligned 

 disposal works! It 

 is just such a revela- 

 tion to every new- 

 comer to find such a 

 discrepancy between 

 the appearance of 

 the place and the 

 use to which it is 

 put. A traveler, 

 passing on the rail- 

 road, was over- 

 heard asking his 

 neighbor, "What is 

 that red building 

 with the square 

 ponds about it?' - 

 "Oh," was the re- 

 ply, "that's the fish 

 hatchery." In fact, 

 had he but known 

 it, in s t e a d of a 

 breeder of life it 

 was a lowly disposer 

 of waste material. 

 Is it necessary, then, 



A turn in the drive 





An ivy covered building in the trees 



Carting off the dried " sludge 



for such an institution to be 

 ugly? "Why not have it 

 beautiful?" said the com- 

 missioner, who was himself 

 interested in landscape gar- 

 dening, and so when the 

 grounds were laid out he 

 was given free rein. And 

 here were the astonishing 

 results. In place of the un- 

 sightly thing with the 

 dreadful suggestions that 

 had been anticipated, there 

 grew up a thing of beauty, 

 a very park. Naturally this 

 helps greatly to minimize 

 its unpleasant features and 

 has been a great factor in 

 overcoming the ungrounded 

 prejudices. 



Of course I was inter- 

 ested in the practical work- 

 ing of the scheme. The 

 process is known as the 

 method of sewage purifica- 

 tion by chemical precipita- 

 tion. Here is the sewage as 

 it comes in from the city to 

 be treated. It is much less 

 offensive than I had 

 imagined, for it had 

 not had time to de- 

 compose. As this 

 flows along in an 

 open channel, a mix- 

 ture of lime and 

 copperas is added by 

 means of a simple 

 machine, and this 

 precipitates, in solid 

 form, the organic 

 matter in the water. 

 Passing on into a 

 series of large vats, 

 the heavy precipi- 

 tate that was 

 formed carries 

 down the finer par- 

 ticles in the water to 

 the bottom, and the 

 water flows slowly 

 off (cleared of over 

 fifty per cent, of its 

 organic matter) out 

 into the Sound. This 

 effluent, which even 

 in the hot summer is 

 odorless and clear, 

 with but little ten- 

 dency toward fur- 

 ther decomposition, 

 the experts told us, 

 may be safely 

 turned into a river 

 or lake, or even into 

 tidewater, unless 

 the body of water 

 serves as a public 

 water supply. Then 



