52 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Febhuaky, 
A Cottage without a Cesspool. 
The object of this article is to show that a 
complete modern house may be so arranged 
that those two great abominations of the age — 
the cesspool and the sewer — may be entirely 
dispensed with. The house in question is in the 
City of Newport, E. I. To show the character 
of the establishment, we give upon the next page 
a sketch of the house itself; but our business 
is more directly with the diagrams, that show 
how the wastes of the family are disposed of. 
In figure 1 the dotted lines show the plan of 
the house and buildings — the heavy lines show 
the drainage, etc. 2 is a bath-tub, on the 
ground floor, connected by its waste-pipe with 
drain, A. 5 is a slop-hopper, on tho second 
floor, from which all of 
the shij ^ of the sleep- 
ing rooms are carried by 
a waste-pipe to the same 
drain. 3 is the kitchen n. /* 
sink, with a waste-pipe \ ,' 
conducting to tlie same. s \ / 
These three points (2, 5 \/ 
and 3,) are supplied \ y 
with hot and cold \ \ 
water. The drain, A, \ 
runs — not to a cesspool, \ \ 
as is customary — but to \ \ 
a small, cemented cis- \ \ 
tern, 3 feet in diameter, \ 
and 5 feet deep, which \ 
serves the same pur- N \ 
pose as a silt-basin in > 
land drainage(see fig.2). 
The positiom of this cis- 
tern is shown at 6, in fig. 1. It is covered with 
a flag-stone, cemented down. Its outlet is on 
the same level with its inlet, but is furnished 
with one of Boyntou's curved pipes, reaching 
about 10 inches below the surface of the water. 
Any solid particles that may come from the 
house are allowed to settle in the still water of 
the cistern, and once in four or five years it may 
be necessary to clear them out. The grease and 
" scum" will float on top of the water, and can- 
not possibly get into the outlet pipe, which 
takes its supply so far below the surface; conse- 
quently, only purely liquid matter will flow 
out. The outlet pipe from G to 8 (a 3-inch drain- 
pipe) is cemented at the joints, so that all the 
liquid will flow to 8, which is a basin of ce- 
mented brick, 20 inches deep from the surface 
of the ground, and also covered with a stone. 
The drain spoken of enters it 12 inches below 
the surface. The 
=U^jX n drains, B, are com- 
mon land tiles, laid 
12 inches deep, con- 
nected at their 
joints with collars, 
but not cemented. 
The main drain, 10, 
10, is of 2-inch tiles, 
and its laterals of 
l'|,-iuch tiles. The 
laterals are connect- 
ed with the main by 
Boyntou's branches. 
The drain, 9,9, starts 
from the bos at a 
slightly higher level 
than 10, 10,-Now, 
when water is pour- 
ed into any of the 
8 (which stops any sediment that fnsiy have es- 
caped from 6), and flows into 10, 10, and its 
laterals. It leaks through their uncemented 
joints and soaks into the ground, within the 
reach of the roots of the grass. If, from any 
KGbwlard 
X 
r 
1 
% 
Fig. 3.— EARTH-CLOSET. 
waste-pipes, it flows to the cistern, 6, and dis- 
places an equal amount, which flows out 
through the curved pipe, and passes to the box, 
Fig. 1. — PLAN OF GROUNDS AND HOUSE. 
cause, the drain, 10, 10, becomes obstructed, the 
liquid will rise in 8 until it reaches the drain, 
9, 9, and will flow out to the gutter in the 
street. The appearance of water at this point 
is a sure indication that some of the pipes 
10, are out of order, and need examination. 
This provides for all the liquid wastes of the 
house, in such a manner as to preclude the 
possibility of their either breaking through into 
the drinking-water well, or giving out offensive 
or dangerous exhalations. They percolate 
slowly into the soil at a shallow depth, when 
the access of air and the action of roots will 
render them innoxious, — where they will per- 
form only the le- 
gitimate office of 
all feculent matter. 
The solid wastes 
of the family are 
provided for by 
three earth -closets — 
one of which (at 7) 
Fig. 2.— silt cistern. serves as a dirt re- 
ceptacle, securing every thing subject to decom- 
position that is of no useas swill, or otherwise. 
On the main floor of the house, under tho 
main stair-case, and adjoining the bath-room 
(at 1), there is an ordinary "pull-up" Moule's 
earth-closet. Its construction is shown in fig. 
3. The house is an old one, altered over, and 
there was formerly a water-closet in this place. 
As it was not possible to change the location, it 
had to be made to answer the purpose. The 
earth-reservoir — large enough to hold two 
months' supply of dry earth — was built un- 
der the stair-ease, and the receptacle — large 
enough to hold the accumulations of a year or 
more, was made in the cellar, immediately un- 
der the seat. It is simply a brick shaft, about 
2'|» feet square, reaching from the cellar bottom 
to the under side of the main floor of the house, 
the bottom being cemented to prevent leakage. 
An opening at a, 1 foot square, was left in one 
of the sides, for removing the accumulations 
when necessary. This opening is closed with 
bricks, laid III mortar, but 
set on edge, so that they 
maybe knocked out with- 
out disturbing the main 
wall. It would be difficult 
to conceive of a more 
simple earth-closet, and 
no water-closet could be 
more satisfactory in every 
respect. On the second 
floor, over the point mark- 
ed 4, in fig. 1, is another 
earth-closet, opening out 
of a passage-way from the 
back stair-case, and easily 
accessible from the cham- 
bers. This closet is ar- 
ranged as shown in figure 
4. Under the seat there 
is a stationary pail, of gal- 
vanized iron, a, which has 
a hinged bottom, held 
in its place by a weight, 
c. In other respects, its 
mechanism is the same as 
in the closet below. Every 
morning the house-maid raises the handle 
which is connected with the weight, <•, opens 
the bottom of the pail, and allows its contents 
to fall through a galvanized iron pipe (12 inches 
in diameter, and with soldered joints) into a 
vault in the cellar, similar to the one described 
above. While the bottom is open, she throws 
one charge of earth from the hopper, which 
dusts the pipe and the top of the deposit in the 
vault; she then lets the weight down (closing 
the bottom of the pail), throws one charge of 
earth into it, and leaves it 
ready for another day's use. 
Both of the closets de- 
scribed are without direct 
ventilation — only because it 
was impossible to provide 
it — and they are both quite 
in the heart of the house. 
We are unable to conceive 
of any plan by which the in- 
estimable convenience of in- 
door closets could have been 
more satisfactorily arranged. 
The closet at 7, opening 
out of the wood-house, is of 
the simple "cottage" pattern, 
over a brick vault, also ce- 
mented at the bottom. This 
closet is for the use of the 
servants. — The foregoing de- 
scription will make the vari- 
ous arrangements for the 
" earth sewage " of a modern 
house clear to our readers, 
and we commend them to 
their careful consideration 
the following advantages: — 
Fig. 4. — CLOSET. 
as compassing 
1. The luxury and comfort of in-door-closets, 
to which delicate women and invalids can have 
