17

to cart the sewage right away. But if there is an inde-
pendent water supply the extreme end of the garden can
be laid out for sub-surface irrigation, provided there be
a deep porous
soil. On a stiff clay foundation sewage
experiments close to a house are quite inadmissible. But
supposing the ground to be favorable in its nature, an
earthenware pipe should be laid across it, and from this
there should branch every
three feet a line of draining
pipes. If these can be laid in trenches filled up for half
their depth with fine shingle or coarse sand, it is all the
better. If a length of fifty or sixty feet can be secured for
the drains a very
considerable amount of
sewage can be
poured into them without creating a nuisance. The sur-
face of the soil should be kept as open as possible, prob-
ably the best method being to utilize it for fruit bushes
and to hoe it frequently. The smaller the available
amount of land the
greater must be the care taken in
preparing it. The American experiments referred to
above show that a bed of sand or small pebbles, five feet
thick, can be relied upon to deal with from
20,000 to
100,000 gallons per day over an area of an acre ;
that
is,
at most five square yards are required for each individ-
ual contributing to the sewage. With much less perfect
appliances there should be no difficulty in getting rid of
the liquid from a single dwelling. We should certainly
hesitate in the neighborhood of a house to adopt the
plan
of applying the
sewage to the surface of a sand filter, al-
though it has been demonstrated that a layer of earth
over the sand impairs the nitrifying process. We should
fear lest the numerous insoluble particles caught on the
surface of the filter should become unpleasant in hot
weather, and require to be scraped off at too frequent in-
tervals. The plan of subsoil irrigation avoids this diffi-
culty to a very great extent, but naturally requires a
much extended surface. Since the sewage of a family of
seven persons only amounts to about one-third of the
rainfall on a quarter-acre plot of land, it is not beyond
what the ground can easily deal with, provided that
there is sufficient percolation. A
swamp will not purify
sewage under any
circumstances.
The difficulties that beset the sanitation of the isolated
villa type of residence are not felt
nearly so acutely in
the case of the country mansion or nobleman’s seat.
Here there is always plenty of land available, and usual-
ly there is not the same necessity for limiting the cost of
the works. The essentials are that the treatment shall
entail very
little trouble, and shall give an effluent that
may
be turned into a ditch or stream without
creating
any
nuisance. Where it is absolutely necessary to raise
the sewage, a windmill of the modern, or American,
type may
often be employed advantageously. A
very
awkward piece of work of this kind was recently carried
out by Mr. W. Kaye Parry at the Rathdown Union,
Loughlintown Co., Dublin. In this building the closets
are arranged on the pail system, but there was a large
amount of slop water which was collected in a pond, and
eventually percolated through more adjacent gravel pits
into the river. This water rapidly fermented and be-
came foul to such an extent as to be a cause of complaint
to the neighbors. The building was situated at the foot
of the land connected with it, and hence the sewage
could not be conducted away by gravitation. Mr.
Parry
arranged tivo tanks to receive the
weekly flow of 30,000
gallons, with a pair of steam pumps to deliver the strained
liquid into a distributing tank on the high land. The
pumping is done four times a week, and the sewage is
employed to irrigate eight plots of land, over any of
which it can be directed by sluice valves. Each of the
plots was accurately levelled, and at a depth of four feet
beneath the surface a herring-bone system of agricultural
drains was laid, discharging into a central main drain
connected with an outfall drain. Part of the land is
planted with osiers and
part with Italian
rye grass. The
area of the land is three
acres,
and is more than is actu-
ally required. In this case there is no solid matter in
the
sewage, and even chance particles are carefully
strained
out, so the surface of the land cannot be choked.
A
system which entails the removal of the solid mat-
ter from
sewage cannot be considered altogether satisfac-
tory, since at intervals some one must be exposed to foul
gases
for a considerable time. The continental method
Of emptying cess-pools by means of exhausted drums is
too complicated for private use,
and even it does not al-
ways prevent the escape of effluvia, as most people who
have been out in Paris during the small hours of the
morning are painfully aware. But so long as men can
be found to undertake scavengers’ work at moderate
wages, it is not. likely that owners of
country houses will
greatly concern themselves to deal with the solids of
their sewage automatically. Indeed, it is doubtful
whether it is possible to do so without creating a
greater
average nuisance than that arising from emptying a
catch-pit at intervals. In the five examples of works
described by Mr. Parry in his
paper there is no case in
which the solids were not removed, and if such a skilled
sanitarian
always adopts this course it is good evidence
that it is the best. Nearly all the large towns which are
now attempting the purification of
sewage first affect the
precipitation of the solids They have usually to employ
chemicals for this
purpose,
for the solids are too broken
up by their long passage through the sewers for any sys-
tem of straining to be satisfactory. Such simple devices
as catch chambers or perforated vessels are not then
available. But
given plenty of land at a distance from
dwellings, and suitable
gradients, sewage containing
finely divided solids can be dealt with either by broad
irrigation or by intermittent downward filtration. In
the former case the liquid is distributed by a system of
carriers over land, not specially prepared, and in the lat-
ter case it is utilized as at Rathdown Union. Both these
plans, hpwever, require constant attention to divert the
flow on to fresh areas to allow time for
recuperation.
They are not readily applicable to country houses, and
fortunately they are not generally necessary. Engi-
ne ering.
\I 7E have been shown a sample of the brown stone of
VY the Carolina Brown Stone Company, whose quar-
ries are located at Sanford, Moore county, N. C., on the
Seaboard Air Line Road. The stone is of a beautiful
color and
texture, and we are informed contains 92
per
cent, silica and bears a crushing resistance of 10,000
pounds to the
square inch. This indicates a durable
stone. It will doubtless command a ready sale in this
market. It guarantees prompt delivery, in
any quan-
tity of a uniform, first-class stone. The
company is said
to be a strong one and its
guarantee is substantial.
The company has secured reasonable freight rates to
Atlanta, and from its price-list, which we have seen, we
are of the opinion that the stone is sold at a
remarkably
low price. Mr. V. H. Kreigshaber is the
special agent.
His office is at 26J South Pryor street, Atlanta.
The article on page 215, July issue, on
“
The Relation
of Drawing to General
Education,” should have been
credited to The Compass,
New York.
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244 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.