5HTCHELL— EABTH CLOSETS. 
69 
'perfection of tlie earth-closet system. I can see no reason 
why this system cannot be adopted by towns ; it is inex- 
pensive and most efficacious, requiring no better engineer 
than a journeyman carpenter. The earth may be taken in 
-at long intervals and stored like coals, while the cesspools 
may remain unemptied for 3, 6 or 12 months according to 
-their size, or the convenience of the tenant, without causing 
fhe smallest annoyance. With rare exceptions, existing 
water-closets and cesspools are available for the earth me- 
thod, and are readily adopted at a very trifling expense.’’ 
The preceding is extracted from a late Times paper. 
In confirmation of the advantages offered by adopting 
the above system, I would draw attention to the fact that 
the water-closet on my own premises has never been in use 
-for the last ten years, and although the inmates of the 
house are numerous, above twelve, the substitution of the 
dry earth system has, during that time, given entire satis- 
faction ; the deodorising influence is complete, and the re- 
ceptacles are emptied without disgusting those employed. 
This is a matter of great consequence where the laboring 
classes exhibit, as they do here, such repugnance to remov- 
ing night soil, and though last not least, the refuse, being 
inodorous, is a valuable manure, not only for the field far- 
mer, but for the more fastidious florist. Why an applica- 
tion so long before the public and of such value in a sani- 
tary as well as agricultural point of view should have been 
hitherto entirely neglected in this colony, it is difficult to 
understand. We have Liebig’s assurance that the excreta 
from a single individual are sufficient to manure an acre of 
cereals ; if so, the amount furnished by the laborers and 
stock on each estate in this colony would, with anything 
like due economy, suffice for its individual wants, and thus 
