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^Accession :w .84665 Class
WHERE THE SUNLIGHT CANNOT COME, THE DOCTOR MUST."
THE
WEST EWING
IMPROVEMENT
ASSOCIATION
YOU HAVE DECIDEDLY TO LOOK TO YOUR WELLS."
PRICE, 50 CENTS.
rp ORGANIZED
iHE OCT
1878.
WEST EWING
IMPROVEMENT
Proceedings of Anni-
versary Meeting, held in
Ewing Church, Sept. 2d,
1880, and other valuable
matter.
ASSOCIATION.
TRENTON, N. J. !
MACCKELLISH & QUIGLEY, STEAM POWER PRINTERS.
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1880, by the
WEST EWING IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION,
P. O. Address, Greensburg, Mercer Co., N. J.,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING.
ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT.
ADDRESS OF HON. B. G. NORTHROP, OF CONNECTICUT.
ADDRESS OF COL. GEORGE E. WARING, JR., OF RHODE ISLAND.
REPORT ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE WESTERN PART OF EWING
TOWNSHIP, BY COL. GEORGE E. WARING, JR., OF NEWPORT, RHODE
ISLAND.
SYNOPSIS OF SUCH LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AS CONCERN
A RURAL COMMUNITY.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
INDEX.
COMMUNICATIONS, IN REGARD TO
THE WORK OF THE ASSOCIATION,
MAY BE ADDRESSED TO
HARVEY Bow. FISK,
GREENSBURO,
MERCER Co., N. J.,
OR, P. O. Box 235,
NEW YORK, N, Y.
_84665
OUR MOTTO.
"One for All and All for One.'
OUR PRIZES.
I. This Association offers to the resident of Ewing Town-
ship who shall set out and maintain the longest and best
row of trees along the public highway, in conformity with
By-Law II, or the recommendations of Mr. Northrop's
address, a PRIZE OP TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS, pay-
able September 1st, 1881.
II. This Association offers to the Board of School Trustees
of either the Scudder's Falls, Biimingham or Brookville
District, which shall effect the greatest material improve-
ment in or about the school-house of their district, before
July 1st, 1881, a PRIZE OF TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS,
payable on that date, and to be used by the Trustees receiv-
ing it for further improvements of an sesthetic nature.
See, also, By-Law I.
THE
WEST EWING IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
ANNIVERSARY MEETING.
PHONOGRAPHICALLY REPORTED BY GEORGE E. MILES.
The proceedings were opened with prayer by the Rev. S. T.
Lowrie, D.D., after which it was moved that the reading of the
minutes of the last meeting be dispensed with. The motion
was adopted.
The Treasurer, Mr. Charles J. Fisk, then presented his report,
which was adopted.
The Committee on Election of Officers then reported, through
its chairman, the following names for officers of the Association
for the ensuing year :
President A. B. GREEN.
Vice-Presidents WM. A. HOUGH, JOHN H. SCUDDER.
Secretary JOHN V. GREEN.
Treasurer CHAS. J. FISK.
The report was accepted and the officers named were declared
elected.
The President, Mr. A. B. Green, in introducing the first
speaker, spoke as follows :
It may be well to state that the object of this meeting is to
further the cause we are engaged in as an association. The
object for which the Association was established two years ago
is well known, probably, to all. It is to beautify our homes in
6
the neighborhood, and make this township a more pleasant and
desirable place to live in. We have accomplished something in
these last two years. Through our direct influence about two
hundred shade trees have been set out along the roads and side-
walks. We have made a piece of road which we think is a
pattern for the whole county a road which formerly bore the
reputation of being the worst in the place. We have found, in
conferring together, that much yet remains to be done, but we
are assured that, by co-operation, we can do still more. The
setting out of these two hundred trees has beeri done with great
cheerfulness, mostly by people owning the property on which
the trees are planted, and as the work proceeds I suppose
greater interest will be excited. The road I mentioned a
moment ago has cost the township nothing, having been made
by voluntary labor and subscription. It is true that prejudices
have existed in our community, as I suppose they exist in all.
These are a great hindrance to our progress ; but we can over-
come them by union among ourselves and interchange of views
and plans. We are, of course, very tenacious of our own opin-
ions, and think we know a great deal about how this, that and
the other thing ought to be done ; but, after all, we must admit
that our own wisdom cannot be compared to the long experi-
ence of those who have carefully studied and scientifically
investigated the matter. We find ourselves, by frequent com-
parison of views, more and more of a like opinion ; we establish
and improve our social intercourse. One gentleman will be
found to know better than another how to plant a tree, or how
to trim one; another knows better how to plant or trim a
hedge ; some lady possesses a rare flower, or knows precisely
how to raise one, and through our monthly meetings we gain
this varied knowledge and profit by it.
We could name instances where the conditions of health
have been improved, but, inasmuch as we have others with us
who can instruct us on these important topics, we will listen to
them, and we hope, through the dissemination of such ideas, to
see more unite with us, until it becomes the interest and busi-
ness of the entire neighborhood.
I have the honor to introduce to you the Hon. B. G. Nor-
throp, Secretary of the Connecticut State Board of Education.
Address of Hon. B. G. Northrop.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN It seems to me very
fitting that the gentlemen who served so successfully during
the past year should be unanimously re-elected ; and if you
will only tell us how it is that such nicely-made roads as those
you have been completing the past year could be made for four
dollars out of the treasury, we would like to carry the art into
Connecticut, for it certainly costs us a great deal more. I have
been delighted first, in seeing what the plan is, as stated in
the village improvement paper, and then in driving about the
town this afternoon and observing what has actually been
accomplished. I congratulate you on your complete success in
driving out of Ewing the " placard " nuisance, or advertising
fiend ; for I have not seen a single one of those abominations
which in Connecticut are prohibited by law under severe
penalties on any fence, or barn, or board, anywhere in the drive
which it has been my privilege to take. I am very glad to see
that already you have planted so extensively the fine Osage
orange hedge [See Note] perhaps, for this climate, one of the
very best, and one which in future will be a great adornment to
the place ; and that you are starting so grandly in the planting of
trees ; and I am pleased, also, with the statement just made that
nearly all the trees planted have been set out by the farmers who
owned the adjoining land. You are indeed to be congratulated
that such a forward step has been taken in the very important
matter of roads. [See Note.] The road has been, in all ages, the
index of the civilization of any country or community. If we had
no other remains of the civilization and intelligence of the ancient
Roman Empire, its grand, old roads, as they still stand, would
tell us the story ; for they show the highest of all ancient
civilization. If there is progress in any community, the roads
will indicate the fact. I have been glad to see, as at Scudder'^
Falls, so much improvement made around the school-house by
the introduction of that neat hedge of American arbor vita?. It
was cheering to notice that on the lawn at the left side as you
come out (which the children had been requested not to tread
upon), not a foot- fall, or a trace of one, was impressed on that
ground reserved for turf.
I noticed, on the way up from New York City, very beautiful
adornments around many of the railway stations on the line of
8
the Jersey Central. That is one of the improvements which, I
have no doubt, you will incite the railway managers to apply
here. You are doing so much for yourselves that it will be a
very little thing for you to ask the corporation to appropriate
a section of land here and there, at a station which is to become
so important in the future, for the purpose of a park. I was
delighted the other day, traveling along on the Shore line, to
find a beautiful little park at the railway station of Brockton,
New York, on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Road. I
said to the depot agent, "How is this?" He replied, "The
superintendent desires us to improve our grounds." " How
does he communicate that desire to you?" "Well," said the
depot agent, "he sends out a printed circular." I afterward
secured one of these circulars, and it read as follows : " The
depot master is required to occupy his leisure, and the leisure
of the hands, in adorning the grounds, and to see that there is
no rubbish or disfigurement anywhere around the railway
station." As a result, this depot agent had developed that beau-
tiful little park. I counted there two hundred and forty-six
flowers of different kinds, besides some thirty different varieties
of trees. It was a gem. Other railways are beginning to do the
same thing. North Conway and Plymouth, in New Hampshire ;
Stonington and Pomfret, in Connecticut ; Auburn and Kingston,
in Rhode Island, are good illustrations. The Pennsylvania
Central is setting a good example all along "the line for forty
miles west of Philadelphia ; and a little persuasion on the part
of this Association will carry the point with the" railway mana-
gers at this depot.
On conference with friends here, I think it better to have
an off-hand talk with you, and, therefore, throw aside the
written lecture which I had arranged to deliver.
The question has been asked, What has been done in the way
of rural improvement elsewhere? and I say "rural," rather
than " village " improvement. I discard the word " village,"
for in towns where I am working, I want to carry out the idea
that this business concerns everybody in the township, and we
cannot bring about the best results unless we benefit all sections
and all classes, and thus secure the co-operation of every
citizen. I want every one, however distant, to feel that he has
some, however remote, concern in this rural improvement.
What is the history of these associations ?
1. The first rural improvement association, so far as I know,
was formed in New Haven, in 1799, under the lead of James
Hillhouse, the leading subscriber and manager. He called it
the Village Green Association, and secured a subscription of
$1,500. One man, in the generosity of his great heart, subscribed
five gallons of rum as good as gold, according to the theory of
that day. You may be sure it was not benzine, as you cannot,
what you get now. What has been the result of that grand
enterprise? Why, all the majestic elms, nearly, of New Haven
were planted then; and it is due to that Association, started at
that time, that New Haven is known throughout the land and
over the world as the "Elm City," while its beauty, acquired
through these magnificent trees, has attracted great numbers of
wealthy citizens, so that the annual taxes on the property
there attracted by the existence of the great elms exceed by far
all that the elms ever cost.
As far as I can learn, the next volunteer association was
founded about fifty years ago, in Heidelberg. Suffice it to say,
the efforts of that association in rebuilding the old castle, and
repairing the magnificent drive-way up to it, is the secret,
together with the planting their beautiful avenues and parks
with fine trees, of the fact that you find, on an average, eight
hundred English residents there, to say nothing of the hundreds
that flock there from other sources. To name two or three other
European illustrations many of you have seen how attractive
Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden, in Germany, and Interlaken, in
Switzerland, have been made by similar rural adornments. The
Swiss understand making their homes attractive. Out of 485,000
households, about 465,000 in Switzerland are householders. You
cannot match that in America; and there are no people on the
face of this globe, unless it be the Japanese, who love their
country more, and are more devoted to its interests, than are
the Swiss.
More than a century ago, a grand work was accomplished
(though not by a rural improvement association) in a town in
Connecticut, which was a subject of conversation at the dinner-
table to-day, and thus was brought to my mind. It was the
10
town of Stratford. Dr. Samuel Johnson, once rector at Stratford
and afterwards president of Kings College (since the Revolution,
Columbia College), New York City, visiting England and the
estate of Alexander Pope, at Twickenham, was struck with the
beauty of the Syrian willow growing there. The tradition is,
that about a hundred and fifty years ago, an English merchant
doing business in Aleppo and Smyrna, brought the poet a
package of figs incased in a basket of unpeeled osiers. Noticing
that one of the scions penetrating into the moist figs was
budding, Pope carefully planted it. Thence grew the famous
Twickenham willow that became a favorite with the poet, and
finally with the English people. President Johnson brought
scions to Stratford, whence it was widely spread through New
England and New York. This incident intensified the interest
of the Johnson family in tree planting, who took the lead in
this grand work in Stratford. No town of its size on the Shore
Line, between New York and Boston, is adorned with so many
stately, ancient trees as this. Much as this willow was admired
for private grounds, with its long, drooping pendants, it was not
deemed best for public streets, for which the elm, maple, plane,
and other natives were wisely preferred. Now there is nothing
but its broad avenues adorned with noble trees, especially to
distinguish Stratford from any other of a dozen places along the
Shore Line ; but, notwithstanding the nuisance of mosquitoes
(bred in the adjoining salt marshes), Stratford has attracted
many wealthy men, through the exceeding beauty of its streets
and avenues. No one goes there without offering up a sentiment
of thanksgiving to old Dr. Johnson for the controlling influence
he exerted in the beautifying of the town.
But of more recent improvement associations, Stockbridge,
Massachusetts, was the pioneer, and that one was started by
Mary Hopkins, the niece of President Mark Hopkins, of Wil-
liams College. There was no general law of incorporation at
that time, but a special act was passed, and that has been in
operation some twenty-eight years, and what has been the result?
When the association began its work, Stockbridge was a wild,
rugged place. I remember it when, in my boyhood, I traveled
through the Housatonic valley. Now it is, by far, the most
beautiful town in all New England. When Miss Hopkins, now
11
Mrs. J. C. Goodrich, inaugurated this association, (and it may be
a good hint to continue this plan of having an annual festival,)
the idea was adopted of having, on the fourth Wednesday in
August, a gathering of the people from all parts of the town, on
a common platform, without reference to party or denomination,
and that idea has been carried out and kept up to this day. They
claim that nature has always smiled upon them, as she does
upon you this afternoon, and that they have sunny heavens
above them on anniversary day. They have had poems, addresses
and post-prandial speeches, and the re-unions have done them
good, and stirred them to new enterprise and energy.
One of the grandest results of these associations, as it should
ever be, is the promotion of fraternal feeling. In man) 7 country
towns there is needless strife. Such alienations destroy the
charm of country homes. Everything should be done to bind
the people together in the ties of a common interest, and you can
do that in no way so well as by bringing them to work together,
as you are working for yourselves. The beautiful decorations
of this church to-day are profuse beyond what I have ever seen.
1 perceive in each of the slips two or three bouquets, besides the
ferns and other flowers, and these fitting. symbols of the sheaf
of wheat. I say this does you good. It has benefited the ladies
whose labors have accomplished this result. The interests, the
sympathies, the friendly feelings of this whole community, have
been drawn out, and they will be more likely to co-operate in
the good work for improvement; and I feel sure -that this sacred
place, instead of being desecrated, is hallowed by its occupa-
tion at this time, for a purpose so entirely in unison with all the
sacred designs of the church.
I happened to be called upon to give the anniversary address
at the quarter-centennial at Stockbridge, and as the Treasurer
read his report, after giving certain details he said : " Every
acre of land and every homestead in Stockbridge has appreci-
ated by reason of the work of this association." As many of
you know, wealthy men have been attracted thither from far
and near. Meeting a wealthy New York merchant, known to
many of you, up there, one day, I said : " What brought you
here?" "Well, "said he, "I happened to be passing through
Stockbridge, one Summer, and I noticed how neat the streets
12
were, and how the grounds and surroundings of the hoases
were adorned, and I thought a home here would have increased
attractions and a higher value." And so he put up his elegant
mansion there, and the same has been done by many others,
and Stockbridge is full of the homes of wealthy people.
What has their improvement association done there ? They
first looked out for the planting of trees, and after all the streets
were amply supplied, they turned their attention to the side-
walks. Every one agreed there to look out for his own frontage.
I remember driving around the place on one occasion, with the
lady who founded the association, and if anywhere, three, four,
five or six miles away from the center, she found weeds growing
in the road-way, she jogged the memory of the farmer, and the
road was cleaned by those who owned the adjoining property.
That will be the result in Ewing. I noticed, in driving along
to-day, that in a number of roads where you have put out lines
of trees, there are some ugly weeds growing alongside the fence,
It will be a very easy matter to have those cut down once or
twice or thrice a season, and it will add greatly to the beauty of
the place. They look out for that at Stockbridge, and, as one
thing led to another, there soon came along a former son of
Stockbridge, and, seeing what had been done, he said: "I must
have a hand in this," and so he gave them $20,000 for a library.
Another man said, " I will join in this good work, and give them
a library building." So they have there a beautiful library and
reading-room, and keep it in operation. It all springs from the
interest awakened among the whole people, by a village improve-
ment association. I have no time for further details regarding
the work of this enterprising organization. I have talked at
their anniversaries many times. I have found them all aglow
with enthusiasm.
Ten years ago, visiting New Milford, Connecticut, I met there
two young ladies, to whom I said: " You ought to start a rural
improvement association here." They decided to do so, and set
to work. I gave them the plans. They got up a fair that netted
$800, and what has been the result? From a rough, rugged
town, New Milford has been made the most beautiful town in
the State of Connecticut. No town in the country, in the same
limits of time, has made such a complete transformation. There
13
was a wide street, but the carts, crossing in all directions, had
cut the road up. In wet weather a brook ran through the
center; in dry times there was an unseemly line of mud. They
ran a sewer through the whole, leveled the ground, enclosed it,
made concrete sidewalks, and a little ribbon of lawn between
the fences and the sidewalk and between the sidewalk and
gutter. Then came the drive-way on each side, and a parallel-
ogram was formed, and adorned with flowers and trees. I was
in New Milford the other day, and a prominent gentleman
said: "Well, we spend money pretty freely, but nobody grum-
bles." It has not been done from taxation at all ; all is volun-
tary; but no one would go back to the barbaric condition that
existed ten years ago, even were it necessary to spend ten-fold
more. As at Stockbridge, they are appreciating the results in
the rise of real estate and the increased demand for homes and
lands in the town.
Many of you know of the present beauty of Litchfield. Per-
haps some of you saw an article in the New York papers some
time ago, about the beauty of Litchfield. The place was living
on the laurels of the last century, and was going into decay, and
everything was neglected ; but seven years ago they started an
association of this kind. I met, while there, a wealthy gentle-
man from one of our cities. " What led you to come up here,"
said I. " Well," said he, " you would not have got me to come
up here if the old fogy spirit prevailed as it did ten years ago ;
but I found there was a new life and interest here, and it was
worth while to have a Summer home here." And he erected
his stately mansion there, and luxuriates in his delightful home
every Summer. Their boarding-houses and hotels are not
ample enough to accommodate the parties that desire to go
there. Not having the advantage of such sanitary wisdom as
Col. Waring would have given them, the place was desolated,
needlessly, by a terrible fever, a few years ago, simply through
the neglect of drainage. It was the place of all others that
ought to be the healthiest; but those very country towns, where
there is every opportunity of securing the purest water and best
air, sometimes are needlessly ravaged by diphtheria and typhoid
fever and other kindred troubles, which proper care and fore-
sight would prevent.
14
I have in mind a little town in Connecticut Middlebury
with less than eight hundred population, and very scanty
means. I suppose that whole township has not one-tenth of
the valuation of Ewing ; and yet, by getting everybody enlisted
in the cause, and thus, by co-operation, they have improved the
village green, and the farmers have taken hold of the matter,
and said, " We will have no rubbish, no weeds, nothing to dis-
figure our homesteads." You will sometimes go to a village
and find everything neat, in the main, and yet the homes of
some neglectful men will be disfigured by broken cart-wheels,
or piles of lumber or chips, or decaying rubbish of one sort or
another. Everything of that kind is cleared away from that
little village, and, with only a few farmers along the road, they
have agreed to keep it in good condition. I might give many
other details, but have not time for that.
The question asked me since coming here is, how to raise the
funds ? Probably you know better how to answer that question
than I can tell you, because you have among you liberal men
who have already contributed generously to these grand results,
and because the detailed plans must always be determined by
local conditions; but I say, in general
1. Enlist the ladies. Many of our most successful associations
have been started by ladies, and all need their sympathy and
efficient co-operation. I always feel sure of success in any town
where two or three earnest ladies take hold of this matter. This
is woman's special sphere.
2. Interest the youth of the town in this goo'd work. Give
the children something to do in improving the grounds and
surroundings of their homes, if not the road-sides. The New
York " Evening Post " well says : " They, more readily than
anybody else, become interested in such matters, and they may
easily be induced to bring trees from the forest, and to plant
them where they are needed, without cost to anybody, and
without other than willing and eager work. How great the
good is that boys and girls derive from their own active interest in
such things, every attentive observer of youth knows. The edu-
cational effect of such employments and interests, the refining
influence, the aesthetic improvement wrought, the enlargement
of heart and mind which grow, directly and indirectly, out of
15
work of this kind, done by united effort by the boys and girls of
a town, under the stimulus of public approval, are not to be set
down in words or expressed in figures. In any town, where
juvenile enthusiasm is awakened in public improvement, the
schools will accomplish better results, the library will be more
freely and profitably used, there will be less idleness, less
wrong-doing, habits will be better, aspirations higher, the tone
of life stronger. Every such town must improve in intelligence,
taste, public spirit and morality, which is decency of life reduced
to principle, quite as positively as it grows in external beauty.
3. Get subscriptions from the more willing or wealthy resi-
dents.
4. Invite the co-operation of non-resident sons of the town,
whom fortune has favored, who are often glad to gratefully
remember the mother soil that bore them, and thus build a
monument, each for himself, and be henceforth gratefully
recognized as the benefactor of his townsmen and of future
generations. A beautiful village of tasteful, happy homes^
would be a proud monument for any man. There is a rare
luxury in witnessing the fruits of one's benefactions, giving while
living and able to enjoy the rich results, rather than leaving lega-
cies to be lessened or lost in the wrangles of contending heirs.
5. Money may be raised by the annual payment of member-
ship fees, or by life memberships.
6. In some towns, fairs are held to raise money for this
purpose.
7. In some instances, prizes have been offered for tree planting
giving, for example, $75, $50. $40 and $30 for the longest and
best rows of trees by any road-side. Two hundred dollars,
offered in this way, in one town, stimulated an extraordinary
interest in tree planting.
As I have intimated, one of the prime ends which we keep in
view in the fifty or sixty associations which we have in Con-
necticut, is to cultivate public spirit, and foster town pride.
These are sentiments of great influence and great value, and the
want of them is greatly to be deplored, for it indicates a serious
detect of character. The man who does not love to honor and
cherish the town that gave him birth, has no heart in his bosom.
I have in mind a railway king, a millionaire, who never visits
16
the town where he first saw the light, but leaves his old home-
stead to decay, and neglect, and slight ; and his character cor-
responds with his actions. The cold, selfish, sinister soul is
sterile in heroic virtues, but the sentiment which honors one's
homestead and one's town, is noble and ennobling. It is a
prime element of true manhood, and has ever characterized the
greatest and best of men.
I need not say a word on the prospective influence of this
association in promoting public health, when you have secured
the services of a gentleman so thoroughly competent to discuss
this subject. Some of our country towns, naturally favorable
to health and longevity, have suffered fearfully and needlessly
from the ravages of diseases, evidently caused by neglect of
hygienic laws. In many towns, great improvement has been
made in the matter of drainage, removal of waste, and guarding
wells and water supplies from impurities.
Your association, starting so vigorously, will, I am confident,
accomplish grand results in improving the roads and road-sides
and planting trees, not only within your own limits, but in
creating a healthy public sentiment which will extend the good
work through all the approaches to the town. I would like to
have you give an invitation to Trenton to meet you at your
boundary line with a continuous line of trees on every road
that runs towards Trenton; and I believe that, under the
influence of my esteemed friend, the friend and superintendent
of the public schools, Hon. E. A. Apgar, Trenton would accept
the challenge. There are many pretty towns* that give such
challenges, one to another, and carry them out, too. It is easy
enough to accomplish, if you can succeed once in arousing
ambition.
Many of the roads in England and France are made enchant-
ing by these continuous lines of trees. You remember the
story of the two men who laid a wager that each could tell the
prettiest region in England, and they chose an umpire, and
paid him the money. Then each wrote his decision, and, on
handing them over to the umpire, it was found that the choice
of one was the road from Kenilworth to Coventry, and the
other's selection was the road from Coventry to Kenilworth;
and the main attraction of this road was the magnificent trees
17
that shaded the route. Among those trees, some of you will
remember that grand old tree, the Cedar of Lebanon. It is not
of very rapid growth, but it is worth trying, and your children
and children's children will thank you for it. I have no doubt
it may be grown here. It thrives in Philadelphia. My friend
at my right was educated at East Hartford, and he remembers
the grand old avenues of elms there. I can hardly tell you
how magnificent those triple rows of trees are. When the
French forces under Rochambeau were stationed at East Hart-
ford, for their Winter quarters, Rochambeau, according to the
traditions of that day, said: "Now, boys, let's give them a
specimen of French taste." Just at that time MpHHB had
been in the habit of planting trees on the way -sides in France
for hundreds of miles. So the boys set to work and planted
those magnificent elms, which occur at short intervals from
Windsor down through East Hartford to Glastenbury. Grander
ones it would be hard to find. Thanks to Rochambeau.
One of the aims of village improvement should be the making
of sidewalks. There is room for much to be done in that direc-
tion here. Perhaps the gravel is not at hand. The ordinary
coal ashes spread along, the coarser below and the finer on top,
make a very good substitute, and it can very easily and cheaply
be accomplished. [See Note.]
To quicken the intellectual life of the people, is one aim of these
associations. The founding of libraries is an important aid in
this direction. The supply of good books increases the demand.
A taste for books has been awakened in many towns by a
well-selected library, where the improvement has been as
marked in the quality as in the quantity of the books read.
Such a library naturally becomes the pride and treasure of a
town, rendering it a more desirable place of residence and
adding attractions to every intelligent home within its limits.
The formation of book clubs favors the intellectual improvement
of a community. A score or more associate together and agree
each to pay from one to five dollars a year for the purchase of
a sort of circulating library. Sometimes they meet once a
month to discuss and vote upon the books to be purchased,
thus promoting social improvement as well as mental culture.
The books are circulated among the members in rotation, the
2
18
members retaining volumes each a fortnight. At the end of
the year, these books are sold at a low rate, and often to the
members, and the avails used for the purchase of other books.
The books usually selected are- travels, histories, biographies,
popular treatises on science and philosophy, and sometimes
books of choice poetry and romance. Good fellowship, as
well as intellectual improvement, are sometimes promoted by
organizing reading circles. Selections in prose and poetry, often
a play of Shakespeare, the several parts having been previously
assigned, are the subjects of careful study and drill. The social
influence of these weekly circles is sometimes extended by a
reheaMrtWBf -more public character. The support of a village
reading-room, supplied with the leading journals of the day
daily, weekly, monthly or bi-monthly is a good result
accomplished in many towns. A course of lyceum lectures is
sustained by many rural improvement associations, the profits
of which is their " benefit," while the social opportunities thus
opened are clear gain.
An annual festival under the direction of the rural improve-
ment association, tends to deepen public interest in this work,
and to fraternize the whole people of a town. In some towns,
literary exercises, addresses and music fill the programme, and
occasionally, though not commonly, a collation and post-prandial
speeches become another bond of union and fellowship. In the
rigid, and sometimes frigid, state of rural life too often found
among us, we need more heartily to cultivate the social amenities
and learn the art of " turning work into play." The supposed
monotony and dullness of country life drive many to the city.,
It is wise for our farmers to multiply occasions for social
enjoyment. The arbor-day festival may help to counteract the
tendency of rural life to isolation and seclusion, lifting out of
the ruts of a plodding monotony, promoting neighborly feeling
and strengthening social ties. The rural laborers in Switzerland
and Germany socialize far more than American farmers. Their
festive spirit is a strongly-marked feature of their character. It
is manifested in the family, in neighborhood greetings and
meetings, in schools, in rifle feasts, in processions, and various
social gatherings. They have a passion for nature, and love to
frequent their beautiful groves and gardens. This genial spirit
19
is everywhere fostered by music, both vocal and instrumental.
As a result, there is an inexpressible something in the German
character that carries mirthful and happy childhood into old
age, giving an added charm to social life, and lightness and
cheer to sober work.
Among the minor aims of these associations is the providing
of rustic seats under the shades for the comfort of pedestrians.
In the beautiful drive in West Ewing along the Delaware, how
pleasantly would such simple seats suggest neighborly kindness
and courtesy. Also, setting up watering-troughs for horses, at
convenient points, where, from, adjacent hill-sides, never-failing
springs facilitate this improvement; furnishing plans for rural
architecture, and for gates and fences ; in securing hedge-rows
in room of fences; or, better still, in villages, combining to
remove all fences, so that the private grounds seem to unite
with the wayside in one large lawn ; the suggestion of neutral
tints for dwellings and out-houses, in place of the glaring white
formerly so common; arrest of stray cattle, for strolling cattle
usually are, and always ought to be, outlawed; preventing
nuisances one of these is the tearing up the turf fronting a
dwelling-house, by inconsiderate road menders. Painting or
posting advertisements on the rocks or fences by the myriad
nostrum makers is a nuisance in my State prohibited by law,*
and it should be everywhere forbidden. The same may be
said of the encroachments made upon the highway every time
the stone wall or fence boundary is rebuilt. The whole township
should show an interest in preventing such curtailment of its
roadways. A rural improvement association can develop a
public sentiment which will of itself correct these evils without
occasioning any neighborhood strifes or alienations. In this
matter, the interest of one is the interest of all. The motto of the
Swiss Confederacy, " One for all, and all for one," is the true motto
for the several districts, and for all the people of a township.
Reading associations increase the influence of an organization
of this kind very widely, and lectures as well. Its educational
bearing is of the very highest consequence. The taste should
early be cultivated. It should be held to be a religious duty to
love the beautiful in nature, the beautiful in art, still more the
*Heai carefully the law of the State of New Jersey on this matter. ED.
20
beautiful in character ; for all the beauties, utilities and grand-
eurs of nature culminate in the formation of character. In the
very structure of our being, God rebukes the ignorance or indo-
lence that so often dwarfs that noble faculty the love of the
beautiful designed to be an ally of virtue and religion. Your
association here will develop in the minds of your children a
love of flowers, vines, shrubs and trees, all the stronger because
they have helped in planting and cultivating them. In regard
to the superior educational influences of rural scenes and
scenery and occupations, Dr. Bushnell was wont to say : " In
all my reading of history, I do not recollect the name of a truly
great man who spent his early life in a great city." Some one
said to me the other day, "What about Franklin?" To which
I replied : " Franklin grew up in a small village called
Boston." It was but a village at that time; and was not
incorporated as a city till one hundred and eighteen years after
Franklin was born; but would he have been equal to the
achievements which the world has admired, if he had been
reared in a great city like Paris? Would Washington have
been prepared to become the " Father of his Country " if he
had been dandled in the lap of affluence in a great city like
London?
Nature is the great educator; birds, flowers, insects and all
animals are our practical primary teachers. Facts and objects
as best seen in the country are the earliest instruments for devel-
oping the juvenile faculties. In all our history, the country has
proved the great school of mind. Here dwell, and for wise
reasons here God intended should dwell, the great majority of
mankind.
The country sends far more than its proportion of gifted men
to the great centers of influence. It is thus continually enriching
the cities, for towards them are flowing, like their streams, the
material and mental treasures which have their origin in the
mountain springs, and without which the cities would die out.
A writer in one of our popular monthlies disparages farmers
and farming, saying : ' 1 can pick out the farmer and farmer's
boys in any assemblage by their manifest boorishness of looks
and action. Your farmer's boy is awkward and jagged, like the
oak growing in the open lot, while your city youth is trim and
21
graceful like the pine in the forest." After reading that article, I
took a trip to Cape Cod, where a fearful storm had just swept the
coast and where were to be seen many a pine made the sport of
the tempest, but never an oak stirred from its moorings. So
your farmer's boy, trained to industry, to economy of time as
well as money, will breast a thousand storms, any one of which
would upset your tenderly-reared city youth. " It is not in the
great cities, nor in the confined shops of trade, but principally
in agriculture, that the best stock or staple of men is grown.
It is in the open air in communion with the sky, the earth and
all living things that the largest inspiration is drunk in and
the vital energies of a real man constructed." I often advise the
wealthy in our cities to secure Summer homes in the country,
or to send their children, for at least one entire year, to the
country, with its freer sports and wider range for rambles, and,
better still, to give one season to hard work on the farm or in
the shop. The practical skill thus gained in adapting means to
ends, in observing common objects and animals, may compen-
sate for some loss of book learning, and lead one afterward to
pursue text-books with greater zest.
It is the interest of the farmers, of all people on the globe, to
co-operate in the work of rural improvement. In no other
way can you farmers so surely counteract this excessive mania
for the attractions and distractions of city life. We need to
enforce in the school, as well as in the family, the necessity and
dignity of labor, and its vital connection with all human growth
and progress and welfare. The theory that labor is menial,
that the tools of the farm or a trade are badges of servility,
ought to be refuted in our schools. The Hebrews, acting under
divine inspiration, trained up their youth to thoroughly learn
some handicraft. When proclaiming the gospel for all the
world, Paul could, if need be, earn his livelihood by his
trade; and his associates did not dream that they were demean-
ing themselves or their sacred office by resuming their old
business of fishing. Why was it that the Great Teacher, whose
life was designed to be the perfect standard of duty to all men
in all ages, sought out yes, sought out the humble cottage of
the carpenter, and toiled at the carpenter's bench, except that
He might reprobate before the eyes of the world this heathenish
22
notion that labor is servile ? It will do for the Chinese mandarin ,
who lets his nails grow longer than his fingers, to prove that he
does not work because he cannot. I say more should be done
to dignify farm work ; and how can the farmer do this better
than by interesting his boys and girls in the adornment of the
home and the village?
While I feel a grateful pride in the fact that something in the
line of rural adornment has lately been accomplished in all the
towns of Connecticut, especially around the homes and grounds
of our citizens, I do not mean to slacken my efforts till an effi-
cient association is formed in every township. Though this is
no part of my prescribed duties, but only a volunteer avocation
in addition to my proper vocation, my interest in the work
grows with years and results. It is my ambition to do my
utmost to improve the homes and home life of our people, and
help them to realize that the highest privilege and central duty
of life is the creation of happy homes. The multiplied minis-
tries of nature, providence and religion, center in the main-
tenance of happy homes. The higher aim of the industries of
life, whether agricultural, manufacturing or commercial, and
the great end for which government itself is worthy to be sus-
tained, is, that men may live in happy homes. " The hope of
America is the homes of America." You improve the schools
by improving the homes, as truly as you improve the homes by
improving the schools.
It was a very fit thing that, in opening .this meeting, w r e
should unite in a prayer of thanksgiving to God for our happy
homes, and a fit thing to pray, as we did most fervently and
heartily, that we might co-operate in the embellishment of our
homes ; and let me commend to you, my friends, the spirit of
that very appropriate prayer. The hope of Ewing is the
homes of Ewing, and when every citizen is induced to look
out for his own frontage, and his own grounds, this result is, in
the highest degree, secured.
It is a grand fact that modern civilization relates to the
homes of the people, especially to their health, thrift, comfort,
and their intellectual and moral advancement. In former
times, and other lands, men were counted only in the aggregate,
and valued only as they helped to swell the revenues and
23
retinues of kings and nobles. The government was the unit ?
and each individual only added one to the roll of serfs or
soldiers, but with us the individual is the unit, and the govern-
ment is of the people, for the people, and by the people. Every
influence should, therefore, be employed with us to foster home
attachments. On Cape Cod, the other day, I met a widow, who
said to me : " I have not heard from my boy for twelve
months, but I know he hain't spoke ship," and she pointed to
the flowers and shrubs that her boy had helped to plant; and
I knew he had not spoken a ship, for a boy of that kind would
not let an opportunity pass, wherever he might be, to cheer her
with tidings of his safety. Said a man thirty-five years presi-
dent of a New England college : " I never knew a boy go far
astray who devotedly cherished his mother and truly reverenced
his father."
Now, fathers and mothers, i you want to improve your boys,
and make them reverence you, keep your homesteads clean,
and teach the children to cultivate a love for flowers. I think
we have an instance in point in that wonderful people, the Jap-
anese. There are no people on the earth who love flowers as
they do ; no people who cultivate them so universally. Every
one must have flowers in his front yard must, not by imperial
edict, but by what is better, universal public sentiment. If,
possibly, the local conditions in a narrow street do not permit
a plat of flowers, they will then have potted flowers, and the
arrangements in the rear for flowers are ample. Was it not a
striking fact, at the Centennial Exhibition, that the only foreign
bazaar adorned with native flowers and shrubs was the Jap-
anese? and, however the commissioners mourned that they had
suffered greatly by the long passage, they were exquisitely
beautiful, as you well remember. My home has been fragrant,
much of the time the last few years, with bouquets sent by
Japanese students, which is their way of expressing gratitude
for some little favor given. Then, again, the love of flowers is
largely, in my mind, the secret of the wonderful politeness of
the Japanese. No people on the face of this globe, in the
family or in the school, so thoroughly teach the ethics and
aesthetics of etiquette as do the Japanese. The French are also
one of the politest peoples in the world, and the love of flowers
is one of their characteristics.
24
I have been requested to say a word as to what trees to plant.
Your printed programme specifies a list of trees. I would like
to add one or two, while admitting the excellence of those
named. I would add the linden, a magnificent tree and very
hardy, and the common hemlock. Another noble tree which
you have sought to grow is the tulip, and you have failed
because you planted it too large. It has a deep root, and
should be taken from the nursery young. It is a great mistake
to think you are going to gain by planting big trees. If you
plant them large, you must crop them, and a tree never recovers
thoroughly from the beheading process. There will grow up,
perhaps, two limbs and spread out, and then, in a tempest, the
tree splits, and never develops its full beauty. I want to urge,
also, as a very beautiful tree, which you will find growing across
the river in Pennsylvania, at various points, the hickory and
the black walnut. They both need to be planted young, and
with care, the hickory especially. Let me drop a word of
caution not to plant big trees in little yards. While I advo-
cate tree planting most thoroughly, I want to reiterate the old
motto : " Where the sunlight cannot come, the doctor must" Don't
let the old Norway spruce stand so near as to shut out all
sunlight. Your list of trees, recommended for the roadside, justly
includes the elm, which unites the two elements of grace and
grandeur more than any other tree. Michaux calls it " the
most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone." No doubt
its roots extend further into the adjoining fields than those of
any other tree. On this account the hickory, white ash, Norway
maple, mountain ash, and especially the tulip, with its straight
stem, that may be trimmed high, if need be, should be favorites
with the farmers, for the road-side. The tulip is a rapid
grower, and attains large size, and is unsurpassed in the beauty
of its form and foliage.
Of all exotics, I recommend the European larch. You can
get it from Douglas & Sons, at Waukegan, Illinois, for $8 or $9 a
thousand. It is very hardy, has a perfect root, and probably
990 out of every 1,000 will live. They come in perfect condi-
tion. The tree unites three characteristics rapidity of growth,
symmetry of form, and durability of the timber. We are plant-
ing it, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for economical pur-
25
poses, as well as for adornment, I find there is no need here
of reclaiming barren lands, as in a town so fertile you have no
sand banks. Further South, I should have dropped a hint
about reclaiming sand barrens by planting the trees appropriate
for that purpose. The larch is the great timber tree, as well as
ornamental tree, at the present time in Europe.
But I notice that I have overrun my time, and, therefore, I
stop abruptly ; for I would not deprive you of the privilege and
pleasure you have of learning the results of the sanitary survey
of this place, made by so competent a gentleman as Col. Waring.
May I congratulate you on your good fortune in securing such
a survey. If any one has doubted the wisdom of it hitherto, I
think ten years hence he will be thankful to this Association
for this step. I have been surprised again and again, in going
into our country towns, to find in the homes of men who
thought they had everything in perfection, that the sanitary
conditions were imperfect and bad ; that the waste-pipe from
the kitchen sink, for instance, emptied into a cesspool within
six or eight feet of the well, and from it conduits formed in the
course of years, so that the water was contaminated ; and the
most frightful diseases have, within my knowledge, come from
drinking water rendered impure by the sink cesspools, which
people think little of as injuring the health of the home. But
I stop abruptly.
The President then introduced Col. George E. Waring, Jr., of
Newport, R. I.
Address of Col. George B. Waring.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I find myself labor-
ing under a very unaccustomed embarrassment in appearing
before you to-day. It is my misfortune to have been compelled
to practice the gloomy profession of a Sanitary Engineer. I am
seldom called to perform any service except where my labors
are sorely needed. If I am sent for to visit a house, it is more
than likely that the undertaker has been there before me. When
I received the letter of your enthusiastic Mr. Fisk, inviting
me to make a sanitary survey of West Ewing, my first thought
was: "One more unfortunate!" I fully anticipated, judging
from my previous experiences, finding matters so very serious
26
here, and, perhaps, life grown so uncertain, that something
would have to be done immediately, at least to maintain the
price of your lands. I accordingly sent my assistant here to
ferret out the sources of evil in all your houses, and I came yes-
terday myself to drive through your pestilential marshes, and
to investigate your filthy drains. I find, quite to my surprise,
that you have sent for the wrong man. It is no such place.
In more than one respect this is fortunate, because the hour is
getting late, and I shall say very little, for the reason that I
have very little to say.
I have no doubt that in what Mr. Northrop has said, and in
some things that I may say, there may be the suggestion of an
inquiry concerning sanitary matters, which may lead you to
desire further information on that subject. If so, I shall be glad
to answer any inquiries you may make, and to enlighten ) 7 ou,
if I can, on certain points. I beg you to disregard one require-
ment of the programme, which is that you shall put your ques-
tions in writing. I think it altogether unfair that you should
be restricted in your method of inquiry, while I shall enjoy
the more rapid one of answering your questions directly.
I say, frankly, after looking over so much of your town as is
embraced in the province of your Association, that I have found
only one serious source of trouble. A more beautiful and
generally healthy looking section of country than this which
surrounds your church here, I have rarely seen. There are
certain bays at the side of the canal and some of the ditches
running north and south between the canal and the river, that
might be improved, although none of them are so serious as to
require much professional advice. The saw-mill pond, on the
other hand, is in every respect as bad as it could be. It would
take too long for me to enter into a discussion regarding the
causes of malaria, and what it is, at least according to our imper-
fect theories ; but any one who has investigated the condition
of malarious regions must see that there are, toward the upper
end of that pond, conditions of soil such as may be surely
depended upon to produce malaria, if they occur in a country
where malaria exists at all. From what I see of the sources of
supply of that pond, it is evident that when the mill is used the
water must be drawn down very rapidly, and a considerable
27
area of wet bank must be left exposed to the sun and air before
the water again rises to its level. This is one of the most serious
features of the problem. I state the case thus distinctly, because,
fortunately, a short time before I came here, Dr. Lowrie took the
pains to investigate the condition of the whole population within
the immediate neighborhood of that pond. If I remember his
figures correctly, he examined into the condition of the occu-
pants of twenty-three houses, and found only two of those houses
free from cases of chills and fever. While he does not know the
total of population, he says he found fifty-eight cases of chills
and fever. From the examination that my assistant has made
of the rest of the territory, I should say there were, altogether,
not ten cases in the whole remainder of the district. Now the
correction of this difficulty is very simple, if means are provided
for it; but it is absolutely essential, before that land can be
drained and made wholesome, so that the poor people who live
in the neighborhood may escape their chills and fever, that the
dam should be taken down, the mill-right extinguished, and that
land made as sound, in a sanitary sense, as that lying above or
below it. I am informed that there are legal steps which may
be taken, by virtue of recent action of the Legislature, by the
Town Committee as a Board of Health, to remedy defects of this
description ; but that is, of course, the last resort among neigh-
bors, who have associated themselves together, as you have,
in friendly union ; and it happens to be a case, if one can judge
by the appearance of manufacturing establishments, where the
entire value of the mill-right to its owner might be contributed
by the members of the Association, or the inhabitants of the
town, and thus the problem solved by other than extreme legal
measures.
This, as I have said, is the only thing I have seen in the whole
district covered by this Association, that is worthy of serious
comment. We have examined between forty and fifty houses,
and have found in no one of them gross defects such as we too
often find in cities, and which are so marked in their unhealthy
influence, and so much written about in the newspapers. But
it is to be remembered that, if the defects of the country are
not so gross as those of the city, they are sometimes more subtle-
The sanitary rule has never been better formulated than it was
28
by Hippocrates when he prescribed " Pure Air, Pure Water, and
a Pure Soil." I think, if you look about your houses, even here,
you will find that you do not, in all cases, live quite up to the
requirements of this prescription. We have, all of us, more or
less, inherited certain habits of life from our ancestors, who, if
they lived healthily, did so rather through good luck than by
good management, and who developed some habits which it
would be well for their descendants to forget. They had also some
advantages which the weather-strip man, and the carpenter, and
the stove-maker have taken away from us. In the old houses,
however impure the water and soil may have been, there was
abundant opportunity, with the help of the open fire-places and
the broad cracks, to obtain fresh air.
I find that in every house here, but no more than elsewhere,
there is a disregard of the more simple requirements concerning
pure air, pure water, and pure soil. For example, your house-
holders are very largely chargeable with ignorance of, or indiffer-
ance to, the maxim that Mr. Northrop aptly quoted, " Where the
sunlight cannot come, the doctor must." Your trees seem to
me to be too large, too near to the houses, and too close together,
and I sometimes wondered, as I was passing along, whether
there does not run in your veins a strong infusion of the old
New York Dutch blood, which leads to the closing of all your
front shutters from Saturday until Saturday. At all events, if the
population are still in their own homes, they are certainly living with
less direct, pure sunlight than they need and might have by a proper
opening of their windows and shutters.
The cellars of your houses we have found to be generally in
good condition, but, from their construction, and from the char-
acter of their windows and the uses to which they are put, the
idea seems to suggest itself that they are not in such good condi-
tion in Winter time. Your cellars are used, to a considerable
extent, for storing vegetables, and I imagine that in the Winter
time they are a good deal like farm-houses in other States, tightly
closed, pretty musty, not always absolutely dry, and generally
separated from the living rooms by only the board floor, with
no plastering or ceiling underneath.
One habit prevails here, more, I will say, than in New England,
and that is the making use of the back yard as a kitchen sink.
29
Now, if this is done consistently, and faithfully, and intelli-
gently, it is a very good thing. If the house-maid will take
pains, each time, to flirt her water on a new place, so as to let
the old place dry, under the action of the sun and air, it is
certainly as wholesome (though not as tidy) a way of getting
rid of kitchen water as can be devised; but this care is very
seldom taken, and in many places we have noticed that the
water is cast on the same place, and that the land is foul, often
very foul, and leading to the greater or less tainting of the well,
according to its nearness. / should say, that in so far as your
circumstances are suspicious, you have decidedly to look to your wells.
We have seen a good many that are more than suspicious. I would
venture to say, without having made a chemical analysis of the water,
or a microscopical examination of its contents, that it must, in many
cases, be impure, unsafe, and only to be used with risk. There is one
house, for example, in this town, where the well is in the cellar,
and where, outside of it, only thirty feet away, there is a vault,
eight feet deep, full pretty nearly to the top, and located in
soil which I believe would transmit impurities for a consider-
ably greater distance than thirty feet. That is the most extreme
case that we have found, although we have seen a good many
others where the distance is far within the danger line. Now, it
is quite true that you and your ancestors have lived (those who
have lived) under these conditions, and have, nevertheless, had a
lower death rate than many other places, not so favorably situ-
ated as regards soil and exposure.
At this point the speaker was interrupted by the following
question from one of his audience :
Q. Please define what passes beyond the danger line between
the vault and the well?
To which the speaker replied :
That depends entirely upon the means of communication
between them whether the soil is composed of clay, of gravel, or
of rock, with seams running from one to the other. It can only be
determined by using some test, such, for instance, as to put salt
water in the vault and to examine for salt in the well ; but I
should say that there certainly ought to be an interval of more
30
than a hundred feet in such soil as this. It is natural for you
to think that the idea that there is danger in such a case is all
nonsense, and mere theory and "book-farming," for you have
drunk water out of that well ; and you know there isn't a better
well in the State of New Jersey ; your grandfather said there
wasn't a better well anywhere round about. Now, such wells
wells held in just as high estimation have, unfortunately, done
great mischief in the world. One of the greatest outbreaks of
cholera in London was traced entirely to the impurity of a pub-
lic well. The degree of danger is very well illustrated by a
remark made by Mr. Clark, Engineer of the Improve Sewerage
of Boston, who said : " The risk is very slight, but it is a risk
of a terrible danger." I have recently been reading the report of
the Massachusetts Board of Health, which has just appeared,
and in which there is an article on typhoid fever, by a physician
of Massachusetts, where again and again there came, from the
immediate tainting of a farm-house well, an outbreak of the
fever, taking down nearly every person in the house, and result-
ing in one or two or three deaths in each case. The wells had
been in as good condition as yours, but the moment came
when they were in a state to receive and multiply the infection,
and every man drinking the water fell more or less under the
influence of the disease.
Our examination shows, in a few cases, that there are furnaces
in the cellars of the houses for heating your rooms, which take
their cold air from the cellar. It ought not. to be necessary to
go into any long argument to prove that a cellar, used as the
cellar of any ordinary country-house is, for the storage of pro-
visions, which has very little circulation of air, which is full
of dust and impurities, which is more or less the home of rats
and mice and cats and dogs, does not contain exactly the sort
of atmosphere that you want to warm and bring into your living
rooms for your children to breathe during the Winter. I think
any one who has had the experience of such cases, or who has
investigated the effect of furnace-heated houses upon the health
of families, will agree that the fresh air should always be taken
entirely from the outside of the house. It is better still, that it
should not be taken from near the surface of the ground, the
pipe being turned up a few feet to take in a purer air. We
31
have found two, and I think three, cases where drains leading
from the kitchen, emptied into the ground. In one case, where
there were the ordinary plumbing arrangements, the waste of
the whole house passed out through such a drain. We found
such cases where the drains passed within a very few feet of the
wells, being carried by vitrified pipe, with cemented joints, and
supposed to be safe on that account. Now, if the vitrified pipe
is sound, which it generally is, and has good joints, which it
generally has not, it is safe enough. It has been a part of my
work, for many years, to lay these pipes with cement joints,
and I have come to the conclusion, that the one great difficulty
in draining is, to make a tight joint where you are cementing two
pipes together. I have almost given it up in despair. There were
pipes taken up at Memphis the other day, which I had sup-
posed were absolutely perfect, but my assistant informed me
that there was a little stream of water running through in every
case. It was very slight, but if it was passing along through the
ground near a well, the constant dropping into the soil, not
enough perhaps, to go into the well in a stream, but saturating
the soil around it, so that when there is a heavy down-pour of
rain it might be washed in, it would constitute a dangerous con-
dition. The best remedy is, of course, to lay the pipe to some
distance beyond the well, of iron with leaded joints ; but where
the drain already exists, it is a very easy matter to surround
it entirely by a coating of cement concrete that will make it
practically tight. Wherever a drain must pass near a well, I
strongly advise that course of treatment.
I find another memorandum of a house where the vault is
fifteen feet away from the well, is eight feet deep, and is not
emptied until nearly full; the well itself being twenty-three feet
deep. That case, I think, is very serious. In any community of
farmers it would, perhaps, hardly do for a local committee, even
if they were so disposed, to treat the hog-pen question as it is
treated in cities. We all know that it is absolutely necessary to
economical farming and country house-keeping to keep a pig,
but it is really not absolutely necessary to keep pigs quite in the
condition in which some few are kept in this town. I do not
believe the pig is naturally a nasty animal. I don't think he is
particularly fond of wallowing in dirty water if he has any other
32
way of cooling himself. I have seen swine kept in a different
way, and I would modestly commend to the farmers and house-
keepers of this town the suggestion that they learn how pigs may
be kept in such a manner that their presence will not be noticed
from the house or from the road.
Now, I believe I have stated the chief faults I have been able
to find in an examination of nearly every house within this
district; and, as you see, I have almost got a harvest of nothing,
with the exception of the malarious condition about the mill-
pond, due, I believe, entirely to the presence of that pond.
With that exception, there is nothing here that is really a justi-
fication of my presence in West Ewing.
I shall now be very glad, if any members of my audience
choose to ask questions on any sanitary subjects, to answer them
to the best of my ability.
Mr. Edward Fisk. I believe the Secretary has a letter from
Prof. Schanck, of Princeton, stating a number of questions,
which are quite comprehensive.
Col. Waring. I will read the letter :
LENOX, MASS., Aug. 25th, 1880.
MY DEAR SIR : I have not forgotten your request, and only
regret that I cannot be present and contribute questions sug-
gested by the occasion and circumstances. I should seek infor-
mation upon arrangement of grounds, shrubbery, fences, &c.,
and upon water-closet sewerage and cesspool, &c. Thus :
1. What mixture of grass seed is best for lawns ?
2. How often should they be mown ?
3. Are door-yard fences needful in a village ?
4. Which is the best village hedge material Arbor Vitas,
Hemlock, &c?
5. For a village without public sewers, which is to be pre-
ferred, outside privies, or inside earth closets or water closets ?
6. If the latter, how can the efflux be safely disposed of?
7. If a cesspool is uncemented, will it not in time poison the
wells?
8. If cemented, will it not fill every few weeks or months, and
be a constant nuisance ?
9. How should it be trapped and ventilated ?
33
10. What should be done with kitchen slops?
11. Is the Lenox sewerage system applicable to single country
houses?
12. In this case, what length of two-inch distributing pipe
suffices for each person ?
13. May this not freeze up in Winter so as to check distribu-
tion?
14. Typhoid fever and kindred diseases are often clearly
referable to human excrement, especially when moist and damp.
Is the poison introduced through water by stomach, or through
air by lungs ?
15. What disinfectant is the best for ordinary family use ?
16. Relative merits in this respect of air and light, of chlorine,
of carbolic acid and of sulphate of iron, also of dry clay.
These are hints and suggestions only, from which you can
frame questions and call out information.
Yours very truly,
J. S. SCHANCK.
Col. Waring (quoting from letter.) " What mixture of grass
seed is best for lawns?" [See Notes.]
I would respectfully call on my associate.
Mr. Northrop. You are familiar with it.
Col. Waring. Not as familiar as you are. We use Rhode
Island bent grass and white clover, introducing a little blue
grass seed. I think our best lawns have much white clover.
(Reading again from Prof. Schanck's letter.) "How often
should they be mown?"
My answer to that would be, as often as possible.
(Reading again) " Are door-yard fences needful in a village?"
Mr. Northrop. No.
Col. Waring. Are they desirable?
Mr. Northrop. If you can bring the community to agree, I
think they are undesirable. Nothing is more beautiful in a
large village, than the absence of fences, and in a farming com-
munity like this, where you have the matter entirely under con-
trol, it seems to me to promote a sentiment of sociality to have
the fences taken away. At Williamstown, Mass., and that
model^ manufacturing village, Cheney ville, at South Manches-
3
34
ter, Conn., and the St. Johnsbury factory, in Vermont, and in
places where the grounds are thrown together, it adds very
much to the general satisfaction.
Col. Waring. Which is the best village hedge material?
Mr. Northrop. That depends altogether upon the climate.
You cannot give any general direction. There are some places
where the osage orange will not grow. It grows here, and very
beautifully, if properly cut. [See Notes.]
Col. Waring (reading from the letter.) " For a village without
public sewers, which is to be preferred, outside or inside earth
closets, or water closets?"
I should say, where there is land enough about the house
to dispose of liquid waste, and where there is water that can
be pumped to a supply cistern in the house, that a water closet
is much more cleanly and certain of being in good order with-
out extra care, and, therefore, to be preferred. The earth closet
is a possible remedy for all evils ; but an in-door closet requires,
on the part of every person using it, the most constant watch-
fulness and care, or it becomes offensive. I had to do with
the introduction of that improvement in this country, and was
its strongest advocate for a very long time. I have no other
conveniences in my own house, but I have come slowly to the
belief that it is, after all, but a stepping-stone between the old-
fashioned arrangement and the well-constructed and well-
arranged water closet.
Question by one of the audience :
Dr. Lowrie. What is the least distance from the house that
kitchen and other drainage may properly be disposed of?
Col. Waring. I will read Prof. Schanck's question on the same
subject, in conjunction with this: "How can the efflux be
safely disposed of?"
If these matters are to be disposed of by discharging them
into cesspools, I should want to put the cesspool to the far-
thest possible distance the back field of the farm rather than
nearer, for the reason that however well made, and however
tightly secured against escape into drinking-water wells, it is
really a vast retort filled with foul matter and dangerous gases,
which too often find no other means of escape than through the
35
drain to the house. I believe it would be really much better, as
a question of health, if the drainage from the house was deliv-
ered directly upon the surface of the ground within twenty feet
of its back door, bad as this would be, than to have a cesspool at
that point. It would not look so well, but I think it would be
less dangerous. Fortunately, it is not necessary that either one
of these evils should be chosen. A system applicable to every-
PURE(?) WELL WATER, DEFILED BY DRAINAGE FROM THE KITCHEN
SINK AND THE CESSPOOL.
(Prom "The Sanitary Engineer.")
36
thing of a liquid character, growing out of an invention made
by the inventor of an earth closet in 1868, and since developed
by a long experience in England and this country, seems to
offer everything that one may desire, if there is a little land
around the house. Dr. Lowrie asks within what distance the
disposal may take place/ I say, always get as far away as you
conveniently can. All the liquid waste of my own house is
disposed of on a tract of land the first edge of which is about
fifteen feet from my piazza, where we spend the Summer. If I
had more land, I should go farther away ; but with no more land
at my disposal I should not hesitate to repeat the same experi-
ment. This system is in use now in a large number of houses in
New England and New Jersey, particularly in Orange and in
the village of Lenox, from which Prof. Schanck writes, and still
more extensively at the Women's prison, at Sherborn, Mass.,
where there is a very large consumption of water. Its principle
is this: That if foul matters are absorbed by the surface soil
within reach of the roots of vegetation, and within reach of the
atmosphere, the oxygen of which exists in that soil in a state of
condensation, they will be acted upon immediately, and will be
in a short time completely destroyed ; so that if the interval of a
day be left between one wetting and another, the action of the
roots and of the air will keep the soil always perfectly clean.
Suppose we have a drain running down the length of this aisle,
made of ordinary drain tiles, and loosely laid at the joints.
You attempt to run fifty gallons of sewage, through that, and,
if the soil is at all porous, and there is a slight leak at every
joint, by the time it gets to the other end it has nearly or quite
all settled into the ground. Its tendency is to follow the laws
of gravitation and descend in the ground, the soil acting as a
filter and holding all the impurities behind. Immediately there
comes the fresh air, which changes its character or entirely
destroys it and consumes the foul matters left there. Now, if it
is a question of draining a single house, you have your pipe (we
will say a length of twenty-five to fifty feet, according to the
character of the soil and slope of the ground,) for each member
of the household. It may be one line, or a number of lines
branching out from each other, according to the character of the
soil. The liquid is delivered into a Field's Flush Tank. When
37
that becomes full, it discharges its whole contents rapidly into
the drain. Your tank is arranged to become full once in about
two days, so that in every two days there is a rush of water
through the drain ; its foul waters sink into the soil well filtered,
and, by reason of the cleansing action of the air and the roots, the
soil is made ready to receive the next accession. In the case
of a village, the tank, instead of holding enough for a family
for a couple of days, should hold enough for a village a couple
of days. In Lenox, the tank holds three thousand gallons, about,
and the pipes that receive its discharge are about ten thousand
feet in aggregate length. At the prison, the tanks discharge
fifteen thousand gallons at a time, and they discharge alternately
into two sets of drains of ten thousand feet each; but always
working on the same principle, as if you put the water of a single
house into a single straight pipe, from which it leaks out into the
ground of a door-yard.
Now, as to the result, I can only say that I have never heard
of any suspicion of an odor from the surface of the ground
under which this operation is taking place. I have never heard
of a case of sickness being ascribed to it. I have dug down
close to the joints of my own drains, within half an inch of a
wide opening which evidently had been receiving copious dis-
charges, and it was impossible to tell, by smell or sight, any
difference between that earth and earth taken ten feet away. At
the prison, in Massachusetts, our disposal is into artificial drain-
ing ground. The whole tract is drained five feet under ground
with drains twenty feet apart. The water that is discharged
there from the purification of this very foul, black sewage is
simply pure water, which I would compare with the well water
of any farm-house ; at any rate, any village well water, where
villages are conducted as they ordinarily are. By chemical
analysis it is shown to have a little more organic matter than it
ought to have, but it is in such a condition that it is impossible
to detect it by anything except a chemical analysis. It is per-
fectly sweet and clear.
Question. What you stated as the greatest evil in this town,
in a sanitary point of view, was the existence of this mill-
dam. I would like to inquire, first, whether the conditions of
mill-dams generally are such as to generate this miasma or
38
malaria ; and, secondly, whether there is anything special, and
what it is, in the condition of this mill-dam which generates dis-
ease ? You observed that, as a matter of course, it would pro-
duce these malarious effects.
Col. Waring. There is no disadvantage in having a mill-dam,
as a mill-dam, if it is simply a reservoir of pure, deep water.
If it has steep sides, a change up and down in its elevation can
do very little harm ; but if, as in this case, the banks are in
many places very sloping, and the land is saturated with water
for a considerable distance back from its edges, and if, when it
is drawn down, a great width of saturated earth is exposed to
the sun, or if in parts it is so shallow that the sun's heat will
have an effect on the bottom, then the existing conditions are
considered to be dangerous, and I have never known them to
exist in a country where malaria had a foothold at all, without
causing or increasing it.
Question. If there are, then, pools of standing water which
become dried up by drouth, there are similar tendencies ?
Col. Waring. During the time it is passing from the wet to
the dry condition. After the ground is dried to a considerable
depth, I do not suppose that harm continues ; but one of the
greatest factors in the generation of malaria is the alternate
wetting and drying of land that is subject to malarial poison.
Prof. Schanck asks :
u If a cesspool is uncemented, will it not in time poison
wells?"
It certainly will, in the cases of wells near enough to it to
receive its contents unpurified.
" If cemented, will it not in a few months become a nuisance?'*
Yes, if the cement is tight. I imagine that many cesspools
get rid of a large quantity of foul water through the imperfection
of their work.
" How should it be trapped and ventilated ?"
I think, if you have a cesspool, it had better be ventilated as
little as possible. If you have a great seething mass, and give it
ventilation anywhere within the reach of grounds where you
live, there will be great offence from it. I have tried several
times to ventilate a cesspool, but I have been compelled to shut
it off again. I should rather run drain pipes off through the
39
ground, so that if there were any pressure of air it would work
up through the soil, purified in its passage.
Question. Would you ventilate a cesspool by a chimney?
Col. Waring. No. Most of the time, if you have a strong
upward draft, it is all right ; but I never knew a house with
such an arrangement that did not at some time have an offensive
smell. I believe in ventilating the soil pipe most thoroughly,
but not in making it a vent for a foul cesspool. I always run a
soil pipe through the roof of the house, and am very careful to
place it much lower than any chimney near it.
Question. In case you had no ventilation to the cesspool,
what would you depend upon to prevent the circulation of air
to the house?
Col. Waring. I would have a strong trap in the drain leading
to the cesspool ; then have air pipes leading from the cesspool
out into the soil, so that pressure would be relieved that way.
Question. What do you think of running a ventilator
directly into a chimney that is constantly used for a fire a
kitchen chimney?
Col. Waring. I do not like it. The fire is not constantly
burning. It is not burning at night, and I don't think it is
trustworthy. Of course it is better than running into any other
chimney.
Question. What do you think would be the result from that
that the gas might go through from the chimney to the house ?
Col. Waring. I have frequently gone through houses ventilated
in that way, which had been unoccupied for two or three days,
and the stench from the cesspool was all through the house.
Then, frequently, I have found an odor in an upper room
through which the chimney passed, which I could trace from
no other source than the movement of air through the brick
work.
Question. Suppose you run the ventilator right out across
the roof to the chimney ?
Col. Waring. Then you would have danger from the down
draft when your kitchen is cold.
Question. The trap in the closet would not prevent that draft
coming in the house?
Col. Waring. You are ventilating outside of your trap.
40
Question. That is what I said. You said it would be a down
draft into the house. How could it be?
Col Waring. It would be a down draft through the chimney
and out through the stove or fire-place.
Question. What is the width of the lot where you distribute
the waste from the house ?
Col. Waring. The main drain is about sixty feet long, and
there are nine drains about eighteen or twenty feet each. I
have had it in use just ten years. It was put in ten years ago
in November.
Question. Your pipes average about fourteen inches from the
surface ?
Col. Waring. Not more than ten or eleven.
Question. Suppose you have a level surface to distribute it
over, where there is scarcely any fall ?
Col. Waring. You need scarcely any. Two inches in a hun-
dred feet is enough, and you can always get that. Within the
range at which you can place these pipes, you can always get
the fall you need even if you have to put the pipes a little
higher at one end than at the other.
Question. Can it be worked without a flush tank ?
Col. Waring. It can be ; but the trouble is, you always keep
the ground about the upper end of the pipes saturated, and you
have to depend upon the rank vegetation that grows from that
excessive moisture.
Question. You say you have had these drains in use ten
years and have not discovered any unpleasant "odor arising from
the surface ?
Col. Waring. Yes.
Question. Would that probably be the case ten years hence ?
Col. Waring. I don't think there is the least change in the
character of that ground. I think it is exactly the same as it
was before I began to use it. I think the oxidization has
destroyed all the matter. It may have become a little deeper in
color, but, practically, I think it is the same. And the action
of this material is so very slight in its reach that while my
drains are six feet apart, fully four feet of the space between
them shows no effect of the sewerage at all.
Question. What effect has the frost ?
41
Col. Waring. I think it has no effect at all. I have had the
ground frozen three and one-half feet down, and there was no
trouble in my pipes. They have never had any trouble in
Lenox. One great point about it is that it is so cheap and sim-
ple, and so entirely within the hands of any one who wishes to
use it. -If these poor cottagers down by the canal had these
pipes, all they would need would be some place to throw in a
bucket of dirty water and that would be their flush tank. [See
Col. Waring's Report, on page 42, for further details.]
Col. Waring (reading from letter) " What disinfectant is the
best for ordinary family use ?"
Fresh air.
The hour had become too late to discuss all the questions of
Prof. Schanck's letter, and, on motion, the meeting was here
declared adjourned.
THE
WEST EWING IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
REPORT ON THE SANITARY CONDITION
OF THE WESTERN PART OF
EWING TOWNSHIP.
BY COL. GEORGE E. WARING, JR., NEWPORT, R. I.
The examination upon which this report is based, includes
an investigation into the character and condition of between
forty and fifty dwelling-houses, including the disposal of house-
hold wastes and the water supply. No good purpose would be
served by detailing in a public report the enumeration of defects
of private property. Sufficient notes have been taken concern-
ing each place, and notification is given to the respective owners
that on their application, any information which may be desired
beyond that of a general character not included in this report,
will be cheerfully furnished free of charge.
As a whole, the houses average certainly better than is usual
in an agricultural and quarrying district. There is no one of
them which might not be very considerably improved by a
sufficient expenditure. But I am satisfied that in so far as they
or any of them are in a less healthful condition than similar
houses in other parts of the country, their defects are chiefly
due to two causes:
(1) An improper disposal of liquid and solid household filth
including feecal matter with its attendant fouling of the air,
and its contamination of the water supply, and in some cases of
the cellars of the houses. In some instances^the same difficulty
results from the accumulation of the manure of domestic
animals in too close proximity to wells or dwellings.
43
(2) A malarious condition of the site in certain parts of the
town, caused by stagnant bays at the side of the canal; by
standing water in the quarries; and especially by the damming
back of the natural drainage by the dam at Keeler's saw-mill;
this latter being far more important, in my judgment, than all
other defects combined.
It is not worth while, in making recommendations for the
practical improvement of country-houses like those under con-
sideration, to advise the introduction of modern improvements
in the way of water supply and drainage, which it would be in
some cases beyond the means, and in nearly all cases beyond
the inclinations, of the proprietors to adopt. It seems better to
confine ourselves to a few simple, practical improvements within
easy reach of all, which will constitute in every case a simple
and radical improvement over the present conditions, and which
will be as much in the way, at present, as it can reasonably be
hoped to secure.
The improvement of the ventilation, cleanliness, and, where
necessary, of the draining of
CELLARS,
Is certainly very important, and it needs no instruction from
me to teach all householders what they already perfectly well
understand. It must be evident to all that a wet, close, rnusty
cellar, with no access for fresh air during the Winter time, with
accumulations of decaying vegetables and rubbish, is not a
good accompaniment of any inhabited house. It is by no
means necessary tha,t cellars should be so open to cold winds
as to lead to the discomfort of those who live in the rooms
above them. But there should certainly be, at all times of
the year, a sufficient opportunity for the supply of fresh air
to create a sufficient circulation to remove dampness and to
carry away the products of the slight inevitable decomposition
of what it is necessary to keep in them. A few of the houses
within the district are heated by
FURNACES.
These, I believe, with hardly an exception, take their air sup-
ply from the cellar. No matter how well ventilated and how
44
clean a cellar may be, its atmosphere is never fit to be heated
by the furnace and distributed through the house. It is a very
simple, and most important, matter to connect the air supply of
the furnace with the outer air by means of a tight wooden box
which shall exclude the atmosphere of the cellar from the heated
flues.
A CESSPOOL LEACHING INTO A WELL.
(From "The Sanitary Engineer" of July 15, 1879.)
What is not so well understood, or, if understood, is not acted
upon, is the absolute importance of
SUNLIGHT AND FRESH AIR.
Let the sun have free access to the outside of the ivhole house at some
time during the day, and keep shutters and blinds and windows open
except when it is necessary to exclude it. Never mind faded carpets;
they are not so bad as faded cheeks, and these cannot be avoided except
by fresh air and ample daylight.
45
THE DISPOSAL OF HOUSEHOLD WASTES
Is hardly less simple, but it is much less generally under-
stood; and I believe it is safe to say that in nearly every
instance where my examinations have been made, the system
now adopted is particularly bad. There are very few cases
where the well water is not subject to dangerous contamination
by the leachings from privy vaults or cesspools or hog-pens or
barn-yards, or by the settling into the ground of the drainage
from the kitchen sink.
It will be easy, in the matter of hog-pens and barn-yards, to
prevent the leachings of their manure from draining toward the
well, or from sinking into the ground near the well ; and this
certainly should be secured, even at the expense of selecting a
new site for such deposits, and, so far as possible, by protecting
manure from drenching rains. Such protection will be amply
repaid by the saving of fertilizing matter which it will secure.
The specific recommendation that I make is, that in every
case, whether it be a well-appointed farm-house or simply a
laborer's tenement, some means be adopted which will secure
an entire abandonment of privy vaults, and a safe disposal of
liquid household wasts. These are two distinct items of the
work, which may be carried out more or less elaborately accord-
ing to the means and inclinations of the proprietor. I propose to
recommend, in this case, only the simplest and cheapest avail-
able methods.
THE PRIVY
Should be removed from its foundation, its vault should
be entirely cleaned out, its foundation walls should be removed
and the excavation should be continued until clean earth
is exposed at every point. It should then be filled to the sur-
face of the ground with clean earth, and, if it is necessary to use
the same site in future, this should be so rammed in the fill-
ing as to prevent future settling. It will be better, in all cases,
to remove the building at least far enough to secure a sound
foundation. The building should then be set on posts or piers
so that the lower side of its sill shall be at least eighteen inches
above the surface of the ground; suitable steps being constructed
for its approach. Lay on the ground, with cross-stays to hold
46
EARTH-CLOSET PRIVY.
SECTION
SCALE )&>
IDRY EARTH
EARTH BOX
JDISJ
:ARTH BOX wm
OUT
47
them in position, two joists extending at least from the front of
the seat to two feet outside of the building, at the rear.
Make a box of stout planks to rest upon these joists, large
enough to reach well under the seat and high enough barely to
pass the sill easily. Secure a stout handle to this box by which
it may be drawn out over the joists outside when necessary for
emptying. The inside of the box should be well rendered with
hot coal tar quite to the top. This is the receptacle for fsecal
matter. Its bottom should be covered at least to the depth of
one inch with dry earth or ashes. In the house there should be
a second box containing dry earth or screened ashes, and a hand
scoop should be furnished with which to throw it into the box
below. After each use of the privy, rather more than a pint of
this material should be thrown down to cover the dejections and
and to absorb the urine. From time to time it will be necessary
to rake down or level off the accumulations, and when the box
becomes full it should be drawn out and emptied, its contents
being used as manure. This constitutes the cheapest form of
earth closet; and it secures, if care is given to the uniform
covering of the deposits, a perfect suppression of odor, and
entire prevention of injurious decomposition, and a perfectly
healthy and satisfactory condition. The value of the manure
will be quite sufficient to compensate for the slight additional
trouble; and the avoiding of the horrible stench of the usual
country privy will secure the great difference between a brutal
filthiness and civilized decency. Those who desire something
more elaborate and more convenient in its operation, may
address " Earth Closet Company, Hartford, Conn.," for the
mechanical apparatus by which the deposit of earth is made
automatic.
THE DISPOSAL OF KITCHEN SINK WASTE,
Chamber slops and laundry water, is a question which has
engaged the study and ingenuity of the world for many years. I
believe that, so far as isolated country-houses are concerned, it has
been perfectly accomplished by the system known as "sub-sur-
face irrigation," This system is susceptible of much elaboration,
and may be carried out in an expensive manner; but its essential
results may be secured with an expense so trifling that not even
in the smallest tenement-house need its cost be an obstacle to
48
49
its adoption. It is based on the fact that the surface soil
which is within the reach of the roots of grass or other plants,
and of the action of the atmosphere, is a very active destroyer
of organic matter. A cotton rag buried a few inches under the
surface is very soon entirely consumed by this action ; and all
decomposable matter so placed is destroyed by oxidation or
slow combustion as completely, though less rapidly, as when it
is thrown into the fire. In order to make this process continu-
ous, it is necessary that there should be free access of air into the
pores of the soil. In the case of liquid wastes, it is necessary
that the discharge be intermittent, for when a constant small
stream runs into the ground, saturating a small area, the entrance
of the air is prevented and the oxidizing action is retarded.
With even a few hours' interval between the two discharges, the
water settles away into the ground, which acts as a filter, holding
back all of its impurities, and its descent is followed by the
entrance of fresh air, which immediately attacks and destroys
the retained organic matter. If the liquid is thrown on the
top of the ground, it produces in a short time a fuddled condi-
tion of the surface which prevents the free entrance of air. It
is, therefore, desirable to introduce it into the soil below the
surface, allowing it to soak away in so gradual a manner that
no fuddling of the earth can take place. This introduction into
the earth is by the use of common agricultural drain tiles with
open joints, laid not more than ten inches below the surface.
The intermittent action is secured by delivering liquid wastes
into these tiles, not constantly, but from time to time.
In the case of a small tenement-house, where only two or
three pailfuls of waste liquid are produced in the course of the
day, this absorption drain need not be more than forty feet
long. It may be one continuous line of pipe, or it may be
several shorter pipes branching from one main line, according
to the space devoted to the use. It may lie under the grass near a
row of currant bushes, under a grape-vine trellis, under a grass
plat, or elsewhere. Opening into it, there should be a box [See
cut on page 48] large enough to hold a pailful of water; and the
joints of this box, as well as the space around the pipe leading
from it, should be made tight. It may be covered in Winter, as
a protection against frost; but in Summer it will be better that
4
50
it should have a full exposure to the air. A wire cloth or other
screen should be provided at its top to act as a strainer to hold
back coarse matters which might obstruct the pipe. From time
to time, this strainer, which should be movable, can be emptied
into the swill barrel, or its contents may be thrown upon the
manure heap, or buried in the ground. The liquid which passes
the strainer will enter the pipe, leach out into the ground and
be purified. The arrangement described will be quite sufficient
to receive the contents of one or two wash tubs ; but it should
not be connected with the kitchen sink delivering only a small
flow. Whatever is thrown into it should go with a rush, so as to
reach as far as possible through the whole length of the drains.
For houses of larger size, producing a greater amount of waste,
the length of drain should be from one hundred and fifty to
three hundred feet, including all branches, according to the size
of the family and the freedom with which water is used. A
uniform distribution through this length of pipe cannot be
secured by throwing into it a pailful at a time. Some arrange-
ment should be adopted which will retain water to the amount
of a barrelful or more, and which will, when
the tank becomes full, deliver the whole con-
tents suddenly. The apparatus best adapted
for this use is known as " Field's Flush Tank,"
which is made of cast iron, and which is sold
for about thirty dollars, by A. G. Myers, 94
Beekman street, New York,. A much cheaper
arrangement can be made at home, which,
while not having the advantage of the Field
automatic siphon, will secure the same result,
if attention is given to opening and closing its
outlet by hand. The construction of this tank
is shown on page 48. It is made of plank, and
is separated by a grease-catcher, which will pre-
vent congealed grease, floating substances and
heavy matters from passing into the discharging
chamber. It also has a spatter-board, to prevent the disturbance
of the sediment, and a screen to hold back coarse matters. It
is, in fact, a flushing tank with a grease-trap intervening between
it and the source of supply. This interposition of a grease-trap
FIELD'S PATENT
ANNULAR SIPHON
51
is covered by a patent of my own ; but permission is hereby
given to any member of the West Ewing Improvement Associ-
ation to use it, without charge. The size of tank indicated in
the sketch is sufficient for three hundred feet of drain. The
capacity of its second or discharging chamber may be propor-
tionately reduced or increased as the length of drain is made
greater or less. The grease-trap may be attached to any waste-
pipe from the house, or it may be filled by pouring into it the
contents of chamber pails, wash tubs, slop pails, &c. The
grease-trap serves to hold back all obstructing matters. The
outlet of the discharging chamber is closed by a plug of wood,
DESCRIPTION or FIELD'S FLUSH TANK. It is intended to be placed immediately out-
side of the walls of the house, and to receive all of its liquid wastes. It is made
entirely of earthenware or of cast iron. The liquids pass through the grating of the
pan (B), and are discharged through a trap which prevents the contained air of the
tank from escaping. (C) is a socket for a ventilating pipe to carry this contained air to
the top of the house. The tank holds about 20 or 30 gallons. This has no outlet
save through the siphon (D). The outer end of the siphon enters a discharging
trough (F), which is made to turn to the right or left, so that its mouth may be directed
as required to connect the tank with the line of outlet pipes. This trough is of a pecu-
liar shape which assists small quantities of liquid in bringing the siphon into action,
52
or by an India rubber ball; the stopper being attachtd to a
chain, by which it may be lifted whenever the discharging
chamber becomes full. After the chamber has discharged itself,
this outlet should be tightly closed. To make this arrangement
automatic in its working, it is only necessary to substitute for
the plug, the Field's Patent Siphon shown on page 50.
A little judgment will be necessary in adjusting this apparatus
to the lay of the land. If the absorption ground is to be placed
at some distance from the house and it should never be nearer
than fifteen feet to any well from which drinking water is taken
it may be connected with the flush tank by a vitrified pipe
with very securely-cemented joints. These joints should first
be packed with oakum, or with rags, to prevent cement from
running to the inside of the pipe and making rough points
to arrest foreign substances passing through to them, and
they should be covered with a good band of the very best
hydraulic cement the joints not being covered with earth until
it is quite certain that they are absolutely tight. This precau-
tion is especially necessary in passing near a well. The absorp-
tion tiles should be two inches in diameter, and only one foot
long, in order that the joints may be frequent. Their form is
not of much importance, but the best material for the use is
the round pipes with gutter tiles to lay them in, and caps to
instead of merely dribbling over the siphon without charging it as they otherwise
would do, and has a cover which can be removed to give access for cleaning.
When the tank is entirely filled, the pouring in of a fw extra quarts of water,
which is sure to occur at some time during the day, brings the siphon into action, and
it flows copiously until the tank is emptied to the depth below which solid matters
are permitted to accumulate, to be occasionally cleared out on removing the pan (B).
As the sink pipe discharges over the grating of the trapped inlet (B) outside the
house, the connection between the drains and the house is completely broken, and
any entry of foul air from the drain is rendered impossible. The top of the tank is
perfectly closed by means of the water joint around the cover, and the cover is readily
removed when required. The inlet, moreover, forms a basin, which may be used for
throwing down slops outside the house.
When used for the disposal of house slops where no regular system of sewerage exists,
the flush tank enables all house refuse to be removed inoffensively the bed-room
slops being thrown down the basin at the top of the tank outside the house and thus
where earth or other dry closets are used for the excreta, this apparatus supplies a
complete sanitary system of draimige. The concentration of the flow of the sewage
effected by the sudden dischar^< j of the tanks, forces the liquid rapidly along the
pipes, and prevents their being choked. The liquid can thus be distributed over a
sufficient area of ground to give full opportunity for the soil to purify it. The tanks
are ordinarily made to contain 20 or 30 gallons in addition to space for deposit.
53
keep the dirt from entering the joints from above, manufactured
by C. W. Boynton, Woodbridge, N. J. The joints must not be
too tight. If the gutters are not used, the tiles should be laid
on strips of board, for it is now and then necessary to remove
some portion of the drain to clear out accumulations, and either
the gutters or the strips are desirable to secure their being relaid
on the proper grade. The grade or pitch of these drains should
not be too rapid, lest the water flow too much to the far end
PIPES RESTING ON THEIR SHOULDERS.
THE IMPROPER WAY TO LAY THE VITRIFIED PIPE.
and force its way up to the surface of the ground. It has been
found in practice that four inches fall, or, at the utmost, six
inches fall in one hundred feet, is better than anything steeper.
If the land slopes more than this, the tiles should be laid
obliquely across the slope. If the yard or garden where the
disposal is to be made is on the same level with the house, the
tank will have to be built considerably out of ground. If the
ground about the house is higher than that used for disposal, it
PIPES RESTING ON THEIR FULL LENGTH.
THE PROPER WAY TO LAY THE VITRIFIED PIPE.
may be built entirely in the ground. In this latter case, the
cemented pipe will be enough below the surface to prevent its
disturbance by frost. If these joints must be within eighteen
inches or less of the surface of the ground, the course of the
tight part of the drain should be covered with litter during the
Winter season ; and in this case, as well as in that of the one
referred to above, the tank itself should be protected against
54
frost. Its contents will be so warm that a little covering will be
sufficient.
I repeat that I am disposed to confine my general recommen-
dations to these two general improvements. If their general
adoption can be secured, the Association will have accomplished
a result which cannot fail to have the most advantageous influ-
ence upon the health of the community, and, I am disposed to
say, upon the self-respect and comfort of its members.
RATS AND THE TALE THEY TELL.
(From "The Sanitary Engineer" of July 15, 1879.)
THE BAYS AT THE SIDE OF THE CANAL
Or feeder are in many places too shallow. Wherever malaria
has gained a foot-hold, as it certainly has in this vicinity, shal-
low, stagnant water should be avoided. Every pond or bay
should be deep enough to be sufficiently beyond the influence
of the sun's heat to prevent vegetation at the bottom. The
banks of these bays and of all ponds should be steep, and they
should be grassed to the waters edge. If there is any material
55
variation in the level of water in the canal, by which its edges
are made alternately wet and dry, this condition must be over-
come, or the people must accept the fact that they live in the
presence of a source of malaria which they cannot remove.
It may be a great source of malaria or it may be slight. It
certainly is incomparably less than the difficulty caused by
KEELER'S MILL-DAM.
This dam I consider by far the most serious factor, so far as
malaria is concerned, with which we have to deal. Its bad
influence is felt all the way from the mill up to the rear of the
River Bend estate, and as much farther as the wind is capable
of bearing the malarial influence.
The whole question of malaria is imperfectly understood,
and we can reason about it only from ascertained general prin-
ciples ; but some of these are so well demonstrated that no
sanitarian would presume to disregard them. Two different
conditions are acknowledged to be of the very worst character.
They are :
(1) The complete saturation of the ground within a short
distance of the surface, that surface being exposed to the action
of the sun.
(2) The raising and lowering of the levels of bodies of water
so that their shores are alternately wet and dry.
Both of these conditions are secured in the most complete
manner in the case in question. Much of the land bordering
the brook and its enlargements, which constitute Keeler's mill-
pond, and which extend for nearly a mile along the west side
of the canal, is so low as to be completely saturated by the
water of that brook. The supplies of this stream are so insig-
nificant in amount that they can count as very little against the
draft upon the pond when the mill is in operation. The water
is drawn off much more rapidly than it flows in, and it exposes
wide stretches of bank to the action of the sun.
No doubt some difficulty comes from the stagnation of water
in the quarries, and still more, perhaps, from the leaking of the
canal. It is possible, too, that the draining between Keeler's
poncl and the water-power is less effective than it should be.
But all these may be overcome if the dam is removed; and all
56
combined are insignificant as compared with the pond, which,
in my opinion, constitutes a nuisance of such magnitude that
the community cannot safely permit it to continue.
That there results from the sources that I have indicated, a
very serious malarial condition which is producing a disastrous
effect upon the people who live in this vicinity, is fully demon-
strated by an investigation recently made by Rev. Dr. Lowrie.
MILK AND PROVISION ROOM WITH UNTRAPPED SINK.
(From "The Sanitary Engineer.")
This investigation relates to twenty-three families, being all
the households beginning with his own and proceeding up the
Greensburg road, and at the quarries immediately about the
Greensburg railroad station. The inquiries related to chills and
fever during the Spring and Summer up to the middle of July.
At this latter date there were only three households in which
the disease did not exist at the time, and one of these three had
had it in the Spring. The total number of cases was fifty-one.
57
Dr. Lowrie very truly says : " Fifty-one cases of chills and fever
in a total of twenty-three families is the expression of no small
amount of misery."
Obviously there are no means by which the difficulty caused
by the overflowing and saturation of the land by the mill-dam
can be obviated without injury to the water-power. Therefore
the simplest way to overcome it is the best way. The first step
to be taken is to extinguish the mill right, and to remove the
dam entirely, giving the brook for its whole length up to and
through Mr. Fisk's estate a deep, clean and permanent channel.
It would be better even that, wherever practicable, its bed
should be at least four feet below the level of its immediate
banks ; the banks having a slope of two horizontal to one per-
pendicular, and being grassed.
I have been asked to give plans and estimates of the cost of
this work, but I find that it would be impossible to do so even
approximately, without a more careful survey of the ground
than I have been able to make. Certainly the cost need not be
considerable, and it can bear no comparison to the value of the
result to be secured.
NOTES.
The Proper Treatment of Deciduous Hedges, and in partic-
ular of the Maclura or Osage Orange.
I. PREPARATION OF THE HEDGE ROW.
The ground should be in good condition, i. e., dry enough
and mellow enough to raise a good crop of corn. Spouty lands
should be drained ; low, wet places may be filled up by ditching,
on either or both sides, raising an embankment, which should
be fully eight feet wide; This may be done by. the plow alone,
or by using the scraper also, where horses can be worked, other-
wise the spade must be resorted to.
Have your line surveyed before preparing it; find exactly
where you want the hedge to stand, put a tall stake at each end,
and perhaps several between, if it is a long line; plow first out
from the row on both sides [See Fig. 1], then finish by back furrow -
FIG. 1.
ing, so as to leave the row a trifle higher than the surrounding
surface, to throw off standing water. Harrow and roll the ground
well, and set stakes in a straight line with those at the ends, every
five rods. Stretch a line of cotton cord, six inches to one side
of these stakes, for a guide in setting the plants.
II. SETTING THE PLANTS.
This should be done in the Spring. Prepare the plant for
setting, by thinning off all side roots, and cutting back the main
root to about eight inches in length. The plants may be set in
various ways, either by the use of the spade, dibble or trowel.
The plan recommended by Warder, in his " Hedges and Ever-
greens," as being most sure of success and most rapid, is " to stretch
59
a line upon the course of the future hedge, on the mellow and
well-prepared soil ; then a clean spade is pressed deeply into the
ground, the blade being in a vertical direction and close to the
line ; pushing the handle from you, a crack is opened to the
depth of the instrument; into this the little plant is inserted
with the left hand, and retained in its position while the spade
is withdrawn, and until it is turned with its face toward the
operator and again inserted, at a distance of three inches from
the first cut, in such a direction that, when pressed home, the
edge shall reach the point of the first cut, near the place occu-
pied by the root of the plant, where it is to be drawn firmly
toward the operator, to fix the plant in its place. This operation
FIG. 2. SHOWING THE YOUNG PLANT SET IN THE ROW.
is rapid and very simple ; in its first introduction, the blade is to
be perpendicular or vertical, with its back toward you ; in the
second, the handle is to be upright, and the cavity of the blade
should be held toward the digger. The distance may be regu-
lated by the eye, and a little practice will give sufficient accu-
racy."
Avoid two serious errors, viz. : (1) Crowding the row too near
a fence, and (2) setting the plants too close in the row. Five
feet is the least distance which the row should be planted from
a fence, and the plants should not be set closer together than
twelve, and, preferably, eighteen inches.
III. CULTURE DURING THE FIRST YEAR.
For the first year or two the main object is to make good
roots. To that end do not trim the hedge any the first year.
Keep the hedge row clean by frequent cultivation, just as you
would a row of corn, and late in the Fall plow two rather heavy
furrows to the row, forming a ridge about it to protect the roots;
for if the tops be frozen, it is no matter, as they are to be cut
off the following Spring.
60
61
IV. CULTURE DURING THE SECOND AND SUCCEEDING YEARS.
A most important duty in the second Spring is to replace all
dead or sickly plants with new, strong plants, cutting off the
tops of the replants as they are set out.
The culture of the hedge the second season should be care-
fully attended to and the ground frequently stirred with the
plow or cultivator, followed by the hoe when necessary. The
following directions for trimming should be closely followed :
In the Spring of the second year, the whole of the wood is to
be removed, by cutting off at the ground, with the scythe or
mowing machine.
In June of the same year, or so soon as the multitude of
shoots that will have made their appearance have become suffi-
ciently woody to bear the knife, they are to be cut off at four
inches from the ground (See Fig. 3). This will reduce the hedge
to a low level, although the horizontal branches may spread
over one or two feet, or more in width. No disturbance of the
lateral shoots should be allowed, as they are wanted to give
breadth to the future hedge; and unless the bottom is provided at
first, it can never be afterward supplied.
The line d in the illustration shows the place for the cut to be
made in trimming with the scythe in the Spring of the third
year. The Summer pruning should be again performed in June,
and should follow the lines ef and e g of the illustration, for
now we must begin to give the hedge its proper form. The end
view of a properly trimmed hedge should present the appear-
ance of letter A. This shape secures to every leaf and twig the
benefit of all the sunshine, air, rain or dew, that it is possible
for it to receive.
Again, in August, the hedge should be trimmed, being careful
to preserve the pyramidal form. These trimmings need not be
so close as when we were forming the base. Six inches will do
very well.
The trimming of subsequent years should be kept up on the
same principle, being careful to preserve the slope of the sides
which will gradually become more precipitous as years go by,
but which must never be allowed to assume the perpendicular
form. \_Condensed from Warder's "Hedges and Evergreens " pub-
lished by the Orange Judd Company, 245 Broadway, New York.
62
Sidewalks and Roadways. How to Make Them and How
to Take Care of Them.
I. SIDEWALKS.
No one thing has more to do with the comfort of those living
in the country, than sidewalks which are good at ail seasons of
the year.
To overcome occasional sloppiness where the difficulty is not
deep-seated, there is no cheaper nor hetter device than to dress
the surface with coal ashes. Indeed, if these are used to a suffi-
cient thickness, they are practically as good as concrete or the
best gravel. When first applied, they are dusty and unpleasant;
hut the first wetting lays the dust, and they soon settle to a firm
consistency and make a very pleasant walk, with the great
advantage of being entirely barren, and preventing the growth
of weeds and grass.
It is a common impression, that all thoro'ughly good foot-
paths must be dug out to a considerable depth, filled with loose
stones, and dressed at the top with some good finishing material ;
but this is not necessary even for the best work. The great
point is to secure a thorough draining of the sub-stratum, so
that there shall be no rising of ooze-water from below, and so
that the ground shall be free from such saturation as to cause
heaving during frost. This condition may be secured by a suit-
able draining of the ground immediately under the walk, and
by the use of a well-compacted and tightly-bound surface cov-
ering of such form as to shed or turn away rain water. Figure
1 shows the cross-section of a foot-path six feet wide, on slightly
sloping ground, where we have to apprehend an oozing of subsoil
63
water from the land at the highest side. The center of the walk
is slightly crowning, say one inch higher than the sides, so
that rain falling upon it will flow readily toward the grass border
at either side. To prevent the ponding of water at the sides
when the ground is frozen, the surface of the walk at its edges
should be well above the level of the adjoining ground; but it
may be necessary under some circumstances to furnish, here
and there, a channel or surface gutter across the walk, to allow
the accumulation at the higher side to escape. Rarely will deep
gutters at the sides be necessary or desirable. We will assume
that the path in question is to be made over a tenacious clay
soil, with a considerable oozing from the hill-side, the most
unfavorable condition that can be found, especially in cold cli-
mates. The first thing to be secured is the cutting off of the
subsoil water from the hill. This may be done by digging a
trench as narrow as possible six inches will be better than
more, as requiring less filling material to a depth of three feet.
In the bottom of this drain lay a common land-tile drain, with
collars at the joints, if these can be procured, and, if not, with a
bit of paper laid over the joints to prevent the entrance of loose
material, and to hold the pipes in place during construction.
The ditch should then be filled with cinders, gravel, or coarse
sand. If stones are to be used, they should be broken to a
small size not more than one inch in diameter and the loose
bits should be mixed with them in the filling. Very small
interstices will be sufficient to allow water to pass freely through,
while if large stones are used, with large interstices, there will
be danger of a washing in of earth sufficient in time to obstruct
both the stone work and the tile. The smaller the tile, so long
as it is sufficient for its purpose, the better ; for lengths of five
hundred feet or less, an interior diameter of an inch and a
quarter will be sufficient ; from this to one thousand feet, use
an inch and a half bore. If possible, before exceeding this
length, secure an outlet for the water in the road-side gutter or
some other channel of exit. The tile drain, at a depth of three
feet, will remove all subsoil water from under the walk and all
that may be delivered into the loosely-filled trench at its side.
The loose filling of the trench should not be carried nearer than
within six inches of the surface of the ground, and should be
64
covered with fine and well-packed earth to prevent the entrance
of surface water which would soon carry in silt enough to stop
its action. Whatever covering is adopted for the walk itself, it
must be of such a character as to prevent anything like a free
admission of surface water. Concrete will do this perfectly;
and either ashes, or gravel dressed at the top with ashes, if well
raked and rolled at the outset to a smooth surface, will soon
become so bound together as to shed pretty nearly all rain fall-
ing upon it. The difference in cost between a walk made in
this way, and one dug out for its whole width to a depth of two
feet, and filled first with stone and then with gravel and a suit-
able surface dressing, will be very important ; and it is safe to
say that the cheaper will be at least as good and durable as the
more expensive method.
II. KOADWAYS.
The great expense of macadamizing or telfordizing puts these
systems almost out of the reach of small communities. Wher-
ever the original expense can be borne, the subsequent cost of
maintenance will be so slight, and the result generally will be
so satisfactory, as to make it always a good investment. The
circumstances under which these costly forms of construction
may be adopted will be greatly extended if we can overcome the
prevalent American prejudice in favor of wide roadways.
Under most circumstances twenty feet -of roadway will be
ample. This will allow the moving of three vehicles side by
side, and will give a leeway of six feet between two vehicles
passing each other.
On both sides of this roadway, except for the necessary side-
walks, the whole space to the fences should be in well-kept grass,
which is the cheapest to secure, the most economical to maintain,
and the most agreeable to see, of all ground covering.
In considering the width to be given to roadways, it should
be understood that every form of road is more or less costly
to make and keep in order, and that the cost of both items is in
direct proportion to the width. If to the cost of making and
grading an ordinary roadway sixty feet wide, we add the capital
sum whose interest would be necessary to keep this width in
good repair, we shall have an amount that would go far toward
65
the construction and maintenance of a road of the very best
quality only thirty feet wide. Furthermore, while it is impos-
sible to estimate such items exactly, and while the amount thus
saved cannot be controlled for the road-making account, the
saving in the wear and tear of vehicles, and in the team force
needed to move heavy loads, constitutes an important argument
in favor of the best construction. The amount thus saved in
the short streets of villages, where the principal traffic is over
rough country roads, would not be very great, but it would
enable the road authorities of the township to realize the advan-
tage of first-rate roads and the degree to which the narrowing
of the roadAvay cheapens construction. As a result, there would
soon be an extension of the improvement over the more import-
ant highways into the country, where a well-metalled width of
twelve feet would accommodate nearly the whole traffic, and
where the proper application of a cheap system of under-
drainage would make well-metalled roads extremely cheap to
maintain.
In the island of Jersey, there are many excellent roads only
six feet wide. These are provided with frequent little bays or
turn-outs to allow teams to pass each other. Although such
extremely narrow roads are not to be recommended, the differ-
ence in comfort and economy of team-power between these and
the average American dirt road is enormously in their favor.
The widest roads in Jersey, leading from a busy town of thirty
thousand inhabitants into a thickly-settled farming region where
business and pleasure travel is very active, and where " excur-
sion cars" carrying thirty or forty persons are constantly passing,
are only twenty-four feet wide; often only of this width between
the hedge-rows, the road itself being an excellent foot-path for
its whole width. Nowhere else in the world is the rural charm
more perfectly developed than in Jersey, and no element of its
great beauty is so conspicuous and so constantly satisfactory as
its narrow and embowered lanes and roadways.
The great enemy of all roads is excessive moisture ; and the
chief purpose of all methods of improvement is to get rid of this,
or to counteract its effect. As in the case of foot-paths, wher-
ever the porous character of the subsoil, and the absence of
higher-lying wet lands, is such that no accumulation of water
5
66
upon or under the roadway need be feared, the greatest diffi-
culty is at once set aside.
Where such natural drainage is secured, no artificial under-
drainage will be needed. In many more instances, all that
will be required in the way of draining will be to lead away the
sources of wet-weather springs, which break through the road-
bed and cause deep sloughs. Where incomplete or partial artifi-
cial under-draining is needed, the need is absolute ; and whether
~we consider the durability of the road, or the degree to which
its traffic is interfered with by its wet condition, we may be
confident that every dollar spent in well-directed under-drain-
ing will be invested to the very best advantage.
If the trouble is local, here and there in spots, and is obviously
caused by the breaking- up of springs from the road-bed, such
partial work may be adopted as will tap the sources of these
springs, and lead their water harmlessly away. Gisborne, one
of the best agricultural writers of England, put the case tersely
and well when objecting to the system of circumventing
springs he said " Hit him straight in the eye, is as good a maxim
in draining as in pugilism." It is best not- to pass up at the
side of a spring, and so creep around behind it to head off its
water ; but to drive the drain straight -through it, and far enough
beyond it to tap and lead away at a lower level the water which
causes it. These drains, as well as all others intended simply to
remove subsoil water, and not to cut off a weeping stream, are
best made with common drain-tiles laid as before directed, and
covered immediately with well-packed earth." Water enters an
under-drain, not from above, but from below ; that is to say, as
water, from whatever source, fills the subsoil, it rises therein
until it reaches the floor of the drain, when it enters and is led
away, just as water falling into a cask which stands on end
flows off at the under side of the bung-hole when it reaches its
level. Even if the cask be filled to the top with earth, the rain
falling upon it will descend perpendicularly to the bottom, and
will flow off at the bung only when the soil to that level has
become saturated. It will descend through the soil by the
straightest course, and will raise the general level. It will not
violate the laws of gravitation, and run diagonally toward the
point of outlet, as seems to be the general supposition when the
67
perplexing question, "How does water get into the drain?" is
first considered. When we drive a drain through a spring and
into the water-bearing stratum which feeds it, we simply make
it easier for the water to escape by the drain than to keep on at
the higher level, and break out at the surface of the ground.
As in the case of the sidewalks illustrated in Figure 1, in cut-
ting off a continuous weeping or ooze from higher land, it is
best to introduce a vertical filling of porous material through
which the water will descend and enter the drain ; but, except-
ing this single instance, all that we need to do, so
for as subterranean work is concerned, is to fur-
nish an easy and sufficient channel for the removal
of subsoil water.
What constitutes a sufficient drain is something
very much less than what is generally supposed.
In ordinary agricultural drainage, where the lines
of tiles are forty feet apart, a well-laid tile an inch
and a quarter in diameter is sufficient for a length
of one thousand feet that is, it is sufficient to re-
move the water of filtration from an acre of land.
If laid with only an inclination of six inches in
one hundred feet, its delivery will be so rapid as
to amount to more than a heavy, continuous rain-
fall upon this area. In road drainage, the same
rule would hold true; but, as the soil offers a cer-
tain resistance to the rapid descent of water, it is
best to give a means of outlet at smaller inter-
vals ; and for the best work in roads thirty feet
wide or more, three drains could be used with
advantage. In no case, however, need the size of
pipes be larger than above indicated, if the form
of the tiles is true, and if they are. well joined
together at their ends.
Figure 2 shows the cross-section of a country
road thirty feet wide, with three lines of tile-drain
laid at a depth of about three feet below it. Ex-
cept in case of necessity, these drains should have
an inclination of not less than six inches in one
hundred feet. There is no objection to their hav-
68
ing more than this wherever the lay of the land permits or
requires it. They mav^ often have considerably less in case of
need; but, the smaller the rate^of inclination, the greater the
care needed in securing a true grade. The water of these drains
should be collected into a single drain, and led away at inter-
vals of from five hundred to one thousand feet. It may be
delivered into a road-side gutter, or into a collecting under-
drain, according to the requirements of the situation.
The removal of excessive subsoil moisture being secured,
attention should next be given to the surface of the road, which
should be finished with the firmest material at hand with
the common earth of the subsoil where nothing better can be
afforded and which should be brought to a true grade, with
a very slight slope from the center to the edge. For a road
thirty feet wide, the elevation of the center above the level of
the edges should not be more than four or six inches, and the
grade should be made on a straight fine rather than on a curve.
If the road is made as flat as the turning-off of surface-water
will permit, it will be traveled upon in all its parts; while if
it is crowned to a high arch, as is often the case, it will soon be
found that the best place to drive is in the middle of the road,
and foot-tracks and wheel-tracks will soon form slight channels
or ruts which will lead water lengthwise along the road, and
which will cause an undue amount of wear and washing. A
road may be actually flat to the eye, and equally convenient
for travel at every part of its width, and stiU have enough lat-
eral slope to cause water to run off from it.
It is especially desirable that no surface-water flowing from
the road-side (above all, when frost is coming out of the ground
in the Spring) be permitted to run on to the road. This should
be effectively prevented by the formation of sufficient gutters,
with such outlets as will prevent ponding at the sides of the
road. When it is necessary to carry the water of the gutters
from one side of the road to the other, culverts should be pro-
vided; and wherever the slope of the road is sufficient to cause
water to flow along it lengthwise that is, wherever the inclina-
tion is more than about one in fifty there should be frequent
slight depressions from the center diagonally toward the gutters to
69
carry the flow away before it can accumulate sufficiently to form
a washing current.
If it can be done without hauling additional material, it is
always well to raise the road-bed somewhat above the level of
the adjoining land, and this may usually be accomplished by
throwing upon it the subsoil of the gutters. In no case should
surface-soil, sods, or fine road-mud be used for repairs. The most
serious objection to the absurd system of road mending so common in this
country lies in the fact that the annual repairing is little more than
the ploughing up and throwing back upon the roadway of the soft and
unsuitable material which has been washed into the gutters.
It is easy, in the country, to have the grades of all roadways
so regulated as to shed rain-water falling upon them, and to
have them so furnished with side gutters as to prevent water
from the road-side from running on to them. The simplest way
to effect this, and the neatest way, too, is to make gutters outside
of the line of the road, say six inches deep and eight feet wide,
these being at once sodded or sown with grass and grain to give
an early protection against washing ; made on such a shallow
curve, they will afford no obstruction to any system of mowing
that may be adopted, while their great width will give them
sufficient capacity to carry away the water of considerable storms.
The work of construction having been duly attended to, it is no
less important to provide for regular and constant care. Any
rutting that comes of heavy traffic in bad weather should be
obliterated either by raking, or, better still, by filling the ruts
with gravel or ashes. If such work is attended to immediately on
the occasion for it arising, the amount of labor required will be very
slight; for it is especially true with reference to roads, that " a stitch in
time saves nine." If the filling of ruts and wheel-tracks be done
in time, the serious damage that comes from guttering flows of
water lengthwise along the road may be almost entirely avoided.
[Extracts, with permission, from Waring's " Village Improvements
and Farm Villages" published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
Mass. See, also, Gillespie's Roads and Railroads.
70
Lawns Best Mixtures of Grass Seeds.
Charles L. Flint, in nis book entitled " Grasses and Forage
Plants," recommends the following mixtures :
He says : " If the object be to make a permanent lawn, as is
frequently desirable, around or in sight of the farm-house, some-
thing like the following mixture will generally be found to give
satisfactory results :
POUNDS.
Meadow Foxtail 2
Sweet-scented Vernal Grasses 1
Redtop 2
Hard Fescue 3
Sheep's Fescue ..... 1
Meadow Fescue 4
Red Fescue , 2
Italian Rye Grass 3
Perennial Rye Grass 6
Timothy 3
June Grass 4
Rough-stalked Meadow Grass 2
Yellow Oat Grass 1
Perennial Clover 2
Red Clover 2
WhiteClover 6
Total 44
This mixture will resist the effects of our severe droughts
better than those commonly used for lawns. If anything is
omitted from it, the red and perennial clovers, the yellow oat
grass, and a part of the rye grass could best be spared. Red
clover, like other coarse and large-leaved plants, rather mars
the beauty of fine lawns ; though, as it disappears mostly after
the second year, it may be of service in protecting the finer
grasses. Lawns kept frequently mown are of most use as fur-
nishing food for calves and sheep, and are less adapted to sup-
ply the wants of larger animals.
Another mixture for lawns and pleasure grounds, which are
to be often mown or kept short, is recommended by Parnell, as
follows :
71
POUNDS.
Crested Dog's-tail 11
Yellow Oat Grass 8
Hard Fescue 5
Wood Meadow 4
June Grass 2
Rough-stalked Meadow 2
Redtop 4
Whitetop 4
Total 40
Lawns furnished with suitable grasses become much finer
and more velvety, from frequent mowing, than they otherwise
would be. The Lawson's mixture, for lawns frequently mown,
consists mainly of the same species, but in different proportions.
It is as follows :
POUNDS.
Crested Dog's-tail 10
Hard Fescue 4
Slender Fescue , 2
Perennial Rye Grass 10
Wood Meadow Grass , 2
Rough-stalked Meadow 1
Yellow Oat Grass , 1
June Grass 8
White Clover 8
Total 46
A mixture for permanent lawn pastures, or pastures lying in
the vicinity of dwellings or public highways, where the owner
has some regard to fineness and beauty of herbage, should, I
think, be composed of a still larger number of species.
The following is suggested as most likely to secure the end
desired :
POUNDS.
Meadow Foxtail 3
Sweet-scented Vernal 2
Orchard Grass 3
Hard Fescue , 2
Sheep's Fescue 2
Meadow Fescue 2
72
POUNDS.
Italian Rye Grass 3
Perennial Rye Grass 4
Timothy 3
Redtop 3
June Grass 4
Rough-stalked Meadow 3
Yellow Oat Grass 1
Red Clover 2
Perennial Red Clover 2
White Clover 4
Total 43
In all such mixtures the early Spring and the late Autumn
growth, as well as the general luxuriance of the Summer herb-
age, are to be regarded. Grasses, therefore, which are charac-
terized by their early and late growth, become of great value
and importance in the mixture, even though their nutritive
qualities are slight, and though they may be comparatively
valueless as field grasses to be mown for hay."
Factory Adornment.
An important work of rural improvement in many towns,
would be the betterment of the surroundings of their factories.
Too frequently these grounds are disfigured with rubbish, and
made unsightly by neglect. Keep a man in a pig-sty, and he
would become swinish in his habits, but reverse these condi-
tions, and you reverse the results. The influence of flowers,
shrubbery, or neat and cultivated grounds, upon operatives, in
refining their taste and promoting their happiness, I contend is
too often ignored. There is, however, a goodly number of our
most successful manufacturers, who show their, interest in their
hands by making their factory buildings and tenement-houses
inviting, comfortable and healthful, and adorning the surround-
ing grounds.
73
The two model manufacturing villages of America, and, so far
as I have been able to observe, of the world the Cheney Silk
Factory, in South Manchester, Connecticut, and the Fairbanks
Scale Works, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont happily illustrate the
desirableness and results of better provisions for the taste and
comfort of operatives. I do not assume that all factories can
fully adopt the high standard of these remarkable establish-
ments, which are exceptional in their opportunities. There are
serious embarrassments in large manufacturing towns, especially
where the factories are controlled by non-resident owners, more
anxious for dividends than for the comfort and improvement of
their workmen.
In the factories above named, there has evidently been mutual
sympathy and interest between employers and employed. The
senior Governor Fairbanks used to say to his men, " You should
always come to me as to a father." He maintained relations
of kindness with them, visiting the sick, helping the needy,
counseling the erring, encouraging their thrift and enjoining
habits of economy. He taught them that it was their interest
and duty "to lay up something every month." He was a con-
spicuous example at once of strict economy and princely liber-
ality. The fact that so many of the workmen here are " fore-
handed," besides owning their homesteads, is due to his teaching
and example. The worth and dignity of work he illustrated in
theory and practice. His sons worked in the shop and thor-
oughly learned the trade. Of course there is here the happiest
conciliation between labor and capital. It is not strange that
the workmen "hold on." Many have worked in this factory
from twenty to forty years. The liberal provisions for the educa-
tion, improvement, happiness and prosperity of the hands,
explain the absence of discontent, and the uniform good feeling
and harmony which prevail. How to harmonize labor and cap-
ital, is now one of the great questions of the age. Many mil-
lions of money have been lately lost in this country and in Eng-
land, by needless antagonisms between those who should be
partners.
B. G. NORTHROP.
fl A
74
The Lenox System of Sewage, as described by Col. Waring-,
in his "Village Improvements."
" The third system the distribution of sewage through irri-
gation pipes laid at the depth of ten or twelve inches below the
surface of the ground has its efficiency attested by numerous
instances in private grounds. I have adopted this system for
disposing of the sewage of the village of Lenox, Mass., where
there was no other means available short of cutting an outlet,
at great expense, through a considerable elevation. This method
is an extremely simple one, and is available in every instance
where even a small area of land lying slightly below the level
of the outlet is to be commanded. The arrangement of the sub-
irrigation pipes is easily made: Suppose that in land having an
inclination of about one in two hundred, occupied by grass or
other growth, a trench be dug twelve inches deep, that there be
laid upon the bottom of this trench a narrow strip of plank to
insure a uniform grade, and that upon this plank is laid a line
of common agricultural land-drain tiles, say two inches in diam-
eter. However carefully these tiles may be placed, there will
be at their joints a sufficient space for the leaking out of any
liquid they may contain; the tiles being laid either with collars
around the joints, or with bits of paper laid over them, to pre-
vent the rattling in of loose earth during the filling. The exca-
vated earth is to be returned to its place, well compacted, and
covered with its sod. Suppose this drain to have a cross-section
equal to three square inches, and a length of
" It is undoubted," says the same author, " that affections of
the lungs, notably consumption, find their origin in inhaled air
which is laden with organic vapors and particles arising from
the human body." He also attributes bronchial aifections,
" colds," lassitude, head-aches and general dibility largely to
the breathing of impure air.
" Think, too," he continues " of the air of church, theater
and crowded parlor. Go into such from the fresh air an hour
after the company has assembled. How heavy the air with
personal effluvia and rebreathed breath. Pah ! these delicate
women have no thought of what they are doing. Offer such an
one a cup of ditch water ; would she drink it ? Would she
drink it if it contained even a speck ? No. And yet think of
it: in unventilated rooms and crowded assemblies, we inhale
dirty air air which has washed out other lungs than ours, some
of them probably in a state of disease ! Such air contains per-
86
sonal impurities, particles from the lungs, uncleanly odors.
Such air drawn into sensitive lungs lungs which are only
waiting to spring into inflamed conditions creates disease."
* * * * Q O( J gi ves us p ure a i rt i s it not a sin and a shame
that we do not keep it pure? Think, too, of the sick, of the
delicate, of the children who are confined to the house. They
are mainly helpless. For their pure air they are dependent
upon the foresight of others, and it is just as cruel to keep it
from them as it would be to deny them food, and almost as dan-
gerous. Their lives depend upon it. They die for want of it"
One other quotation, and then we are done : " It is a very
common belief that night air is unhealthful ; but, as Florence
Nightingale sensibly remarks, ' we must breathe night air at
night;' and she might have added: if pure night air is shut
out, then we breathe foul night air." * * * * " Statistics show
that where war has slain its thousands, bad night air has slain
its tens of thousands ; then do not fear, but welcome the pure
air of night."
" Better is it," says a wise writer, " to spend money on a sup-
ply of pure air than on carven work and orations."
How to obtain this supply of pure air in the Winter months,
without producing draughts and without causing an undue
waste of fuel, I now propose to state in a few plain words.
Those who desire to study the subject more fully, I refer to the
series of articles on the subject in " The Sanitary Engineer," by
Dr. John S. Billings, U. S. A.
Most country-houses and to those, these rem'arks are intended
more particularly to apply are provided with ample fire-places.
Let the first step taken be to open these, substituting for the
tight fire-board either such screens as are used in windows in
the Summer time ; or, better yet, let the andirons be polished
and placed on the hearth as in " ye olden time." You now
have provided a means of escape for the foul air which is con-
stantly entering the room from lungs and lamps and emanations
from your bodies.
Now, it is necessary to replace this bad air which you have
sent up the chimney, with " good, pure country air." This may
be done, of course, by opening windows or doors, but we all
know that in the cold Winter time this would be, to say the
87
least, very uncomfortable. The cheapest and simplest way to
introduce pure air without causing draughts, is to provide sev-
eral strips of wood one-third of an inch thick, of various widths,
from two to six inches, and long enough to fit the window-frame
under the lower sash. The latter is then raised, and the strip
inserted under it, thus closing the aperture. There will, in this
way, be left between the upper and lower sash a space where
air can enter, which may vary in size with the weather, accord-
ing to the thickness of the strip used. The air coming through
this space is deflected toward the ceiling by the lower sash, and
thus enters the room without any danger of causing a draught
or otherwise annoying the occupants. [Fig, 1.]
\
FTG. 1.
The method just described will be useful at all seasons, when
it is necessary to keep windows and doors closed, especially in
stormy weather in Spring, Summer and Fall, and in the cool,
Fall evenings before the fire is started.
The following suggestions from an article by Rev. Daniel C.
Jacokes, in " Carpentry and Building," for November, 1880, are
admirably adapted for houses mostly heated by stoves and not
provided with open fire-places :
" During cold weather, ventilation should be produced by the
aid of heat. The following rules should be carefully observed
in heating and ventilating :
88
" 1. Conduct, in some convenient manner, out-door air against
a heated surface.
" 2. Conduct the in-door air from the floor into a heated flue.
In this manner a complete circulation of air may be had, and
an abundant supply of pure warm air may be secured ; pro-
FIG. 2.
vided, first, that the ducts be sufficiently large; and, second,
that the dust in the air be not burned by a red-hot surface. If
these rules are observed, the heating and ventilating will be
very economical and satisfactory. Most of the buildings, pub-
89
lie and private, for human use are constructed without any
reference to ventilation; indeed, most of them seem to have
been planned to prevent the possibility of either the light of
the sun or the pure air of heaven entering them. There is, con-
sequently, much difficulty in properly heating or ventilating
them. Those who prefer health to the sight of the changes
necessary in each case to secure such an end, must not object
to see an additional pipe to convey foul air out of the room, and,
also, a pipe to convey the pure outdoor air into it.
" There are many buildings heated by a furnace. In these
the pure outdoor air is properly heated ; but where there is no
preparation for ventilation, this may be secured in the same
manner as when heated by a stove.
" The great majority of houses are heated by stoves. The out-
door air in such cases must be conducted to the surface of the
stove, as illustrated by the following diagrams. These stoves
have various shapes ; whatever they may be, the principles will
here be explained, so that any person may modify the method
so as to secure the result desired. Fig. 2 shows how a sheet-iron
jacket may be fitted to the back of a stove for heating the out-
door air brought within the jacket against the stove. The jacket
is seen at the top of the stove, and is represented by the line
marked D. The jacket should never be more than 4? inches
from the back of the stove, and. should always be closed at the
bottom, so that the air in the room will never be reheated and
breathed over and over again. This should be remembered,
whatever kind or form of jacket is used.
" Fig. 3 illustrates the manner of conducting the outdoor air to
the stove within the jacket for heating.
"A wood stove may be jacketed in the same manner as a coal
stove. In this case the jacket may be fitted to the sides of the
stove very nicely, covering the back of the stove in the same
manner as the coal stove, so that the sheet-iron jacket will be
at an average distance of 4? inches from the back; never more
than this.
"Outdoor air may" also be heated by conducting it within a
jacket around the stove-pipe of a wood or coal stove, as shown
in section in Fig. 4.
" In school-houses, where box stoves are mostly used, a sheet-
90
iron jacket may inclose the stove excepting the front, which
should be left open for the escape of the heated air. The space
between the stove and jacket should be 4 inches not more on
the sides and top ; on the back the jacket may be as wide as the
hole in the floor 6 inches. An opening should be made
through the floor at the back end of the stove near the jacket,
6 by 16 inches, if the jacket is wide enough to cover it. A pipe,
FIG. 3.
the shape of the hole, should be fitted so as to reach a little
above the bottom of the stove, that the air may reach the heated
surface at once. Fig. 3 snows this arrangement.
"Ventilation, according to rule second, should always convey
the indoor air from the floor into a heated flue. If the chimney
is properly constructed, this may be done with little expense or
trouble. Usually, however, this is not the case. The general
rule is to build chimneys very small mostly 4 by 12 or 16
91
inches on the inside. This narrow space will soon be more or
less filled with soot. In such cases ventilation will be difficult,
if not impossible. If the chimney has been constructed with
an apartment for ventilation, it will be sufficient to make an
opening into it at the floor that is, the bottom of the opening
FIG. 4.
must in all cases be exactly even with the top of the floor,
otherwise the ventilation will be imperfect ; this will give good
ventilation. All chimneys should be constructed with an apart-
ment for each story, as shown in Fig, 5, and should be plastered
smooth ; the partition should be made of brick, and built single
92
width, so that it will be four inches thick. This wall will be
constantly heated to keep a continual draft in the ventilating
flue.
" If a chimney is sufficiently large, a 7 or 8-inch stove-pipe
or larger, if possible may be let down inside of the chimney
and turned into the room at the floor by an elbow ; this will
make an efficient ventilator. If there is not sufficient room, or
if for any other cause, as a crooked chimney, this cannot be
done, ventilation may be effected as illustrated in Fig. 6. Take
a pipe one inch smaller in diameter than the supply pipe which
is to conduct the outdoor air to the stove, and carry it into the
chimney if possible, below the entrance of the smoke-pipe.
This plan can be adopted more frequently and at less cost than
any other, as chimneys are generally constructed.
FIG. 5. CONSTRUCTION OP CHIMNEY FOR BOTH SMOKE AND VENTILATION.
D, SMOKE FLUE. A, VENTILATION FLUE FOR FIRST STORY. B, VENTILA-
TION FLUE FOR SECOND STORY. C, VENTILATION FLUE*FOR THIRD STORY.
" In many houses the chimney is so constructed or situated
that the ventilation would not be equal to the work required.
Such an instance would be when the chimney is short, the bot-
tom being near the ceiling in the upper story, with a stove in
each story connected with it. In such cases ventilation would
be hardly possible. To remedy this the following plan may be
adopted : The stove-pipe in the second story may be surrounded
by a much larger pipe ; a 6-inch pipe may be surrounded by a
10-inch pipe; a 7-inch by a 12-inch jacket pipe, and the ventil-
ator may be connected with this surrounding jacket. The stove-
pipe and the jacket are both to be carried into the chimney as
93
one pipe ; the stove-pipe within will so heat the surrounding air
that a strong ventilation will be the result. The ventilator
should enter the jacket at or near its bottom, as seen in Fig. 7.
" This plan, as well as the others recommended, will secure
good heating and ventilation at a very moderate cost. I have
FIG. 6. A METHOD OF VENTILATION WHERE PROPER FLUES HAVE NOT BEEN ,
PROVIDED. S, STOVE PIPE. V, VENTILATOR PIPE, 6 INCHES DIAMETER,
AND OPEN NEAR FLOOR. B, SUPPLY OF OUTDOOR AIR. P, SUPPLY PIPE
(OVAL IN SECTIONS). J, JACKET OF STOVE.
FIG. 7. METHOD OF VENTILATION WHERE FLUE OPENING IS IN SECOND
STORY. B, SUPPLY OF OUTSIDE AIR. V, VENTILATING PIPE. S, STOVE
PIPE. J, JACKET TO STOVE. D, DRUM, LOCATED IN SECOND STORY. X,
JACKET TO STOVE-PIPE, BY WHICH THE AIR WITHDRAWN FROM LOWER
ROOM IS SOMEWHAT HEATED BEFORE ENTERING CHIMNEY FLUE.
95
known it to cost from ten shillings in the simpler forms to ten
dollars by the more complicated forms ; so that healthy and
comfortable homes may be enjoyed by the poor as well as by
the more favored of our fellow-citizens.
" The ventilation of churches, schools and other public build-
ings where large numbers of persons assemble, is of the highest
importance. The general practice is to construct very small
chimneys, which renders it difficult to secure efficient ventila-
tion. In all these cases it would be better to reconstruct them,
making them, say, 16 by 36 inches inside, dividing the space
into two or more apartments, if there is one story to be warmed,
or into three if two stories one for the smoke, the others for
ventilation with an opening into each ventilating flue, always
at the floor. One church has a chimney 16 by 36 inches inside,
divided by putting a 16-inch pipe of heavy sheet iron so as to
make the side flues of equal size ; the pipe is fitted close to the
brick wall to secure it to its place. This is the smoke-pipe, and
it warms the air almost instantly in the foul-air flues at its sides,
making a very powerful ventilator. This church has a base-
ment story, and needs two flues, one for each room. If this
pipe should ever be destroyed, another can be slipped inside of
it and thus renewed. In public buildings which are heated at
intervals this sheet-iron pipe is the best, as it heats the air on
each side at once. In a building constantly heated the best
way would be to build the partitions in the chimney with
brick. The flues should always be plastered smooth. When
this cannot be done, the ventilation must be made in the same
manner as for dwelling-houses, the ventilating pipes being cor-
respondingly large.
" In another church a jacket pipe 16 inches in diameter was
put around a stove-pipe 7 inches in diameter, connected with a
stove all in the room below and carried into the chimney.
The end of the jacket opposite to the chimney was turned up
through the floor by an elbow to receive the foul air of the room
above and discharge it into the chimney. The 7-inch pipe
enters the 16-inch pipe about four feet from the end furthest
from the chimney, and passes through it to the chimney. A
fire in the stove below will warm the foul air in the large pipe,
and thus carry it away into the chimney. This fire must be
96
made as soon as that made in the furnace or other heating
apparatus, and continued as long. This church is finely heated
and ventilated. [See Fig. 8.]
"Another church, which is heated by a furnace, is ventilated
in the following manner: It has a chimney 16 by 36 inches
inside ; to secure good ventilation a hole is made through the
floor near the chimney 16 by 20 inches inside ; a tube is fitted
into this, and reaches down into the room below, near an open-
ing made into the chimney ; an elbow connects the tube with
PIG. 8. A METHOD OP VENTILATING CHURCHES. THE PIPE OF A STOVE IN
THE BASEMENT IS JACKETED THROUGHOUT ITS HORIZONTAL LENGTH, THUS
INDUCING A DRAFT FROM THE OPENING IN THE FLOOR ABOVE CONNECTED
WITH IT. S, STOVE-PIPE. J, JACKET AROUND STOVE-PIPE.
the chimney ; the foul air from the room above passes through
this tube into the chimney below, and this ventilates the
church, giving it pure warm air. The opening into the chimney
is made below the entrance of the smoke-pipe from the fur-
nace, so that the smoke does not enter the ventilating tube.
[See Fig. 9.]
" In all these illustrations the two rules given have been
observed, and may be applied in many other forms : First, con-
97
duct the outdoor air against a heated surface ; second, conduct
the foul air in the room from the floor into a heated flue, and
good heating and ventilating will be secured."
The introduction of fresh air and removal of foul air simul-
taneously is Accomplished in an almost perfect manner by the
stove illustrated in Fig. 10. It has a large drum above the fire, sur-
rounded by a jacket, so arranged that a constant supply of fresh
air may be brought into contact with greatly -expanded surfaces,
which absorb the maximum quantity of heat, and impart it
FIG. 9. VENTILATING A CHURCH BY CONNECTING AN OPENING IN THE FLOOR
WITH THE MAIN CHIMNEY FLUE, MAKING THE CONNECTION BELOW THE
ENTRANCE OF THE FURNACE-PIPE. A, CHIMNEY FLUE. B, VENTILATION
TUBE. C, POSITION OF FURNACE-PIPE.
rapidly to the in-flowing currents thus preventing over-heat-
ing, and at the same time supplying the room with an abundant,
genial and invigorating atmosphere. It will be observed that
two distinct currents pass through the stove. One enters beneath
the grate, ascends to the chamber above, passes over the dia-
phragm therein, and thence goes to the chimney, furnishing the
draft. The other enters under the stove, and becomes heated
by contact with the hot surfaces, and rises through the jacket,
thus compelling a constant circulation through the latter. The
7
98
fire is entirely open, so that a large supply of additional heat is
radiated therefrom. The construction, evidently, is such that
FIG. 10.
there is no opportunity for leakage of the deadly carbonic acid
gas; nor is there any contact of highly-heated plates with^the
air of the room to generate carbonic oxide.
99
By its use the entire atmosphere of any room may be replaced
every fifteen or twenty minutes, with a supply of invigorating,
refreshing out-door air, moderately warmed, and not dried,
parched and devitalized; and the air supplied for breathing
may be rendered as pure and refreshing as the outdoor Summer
air.
And now that we are on the subject of heating, it will be in
place to warn householders against too great heat and too dry
heat. Too much cannot be said to impress on all householders
the great value of keeping all parts of the house halls, and
best rooms, and bed-rooms as well as the kitchen and living
rooms, comfortably warm. Many a doctor's bill, many a bad
cold, might be entirely prevented by attention to this matter.
It should be safe for the children to go anywhere in the house
without danger of catching cold. If our houses were moder-
ately heated throughout and thoroughly ventilated, how much
better it would be for all concerned, than to overheat one or
two rooms in the house and religiously exclude from them
God's pure air.
" Immoderate use of heat during the Winter is the cause of
much illness. The effect upon the general vigor of many hours
daily spent in overwarm rooms is like that of heat upon a figure
in wax. It droops, loses its firmness, and, little by little, will
show absolute outward change. Moreover, one of the positive
results of hot air is, that it paralyzes the action of the heart.
Suppose you were to put your arm in a sling, and make no use
of it for three months; at the end of that time, what would be
its condition ? It would be weak, shrunken, almost powerless ;
only by a system of careful exercise of weeks in duration could
its original vigor be restored.
" Now, when a person indulges in too much artificial heat, this
is what happens to the skin, and, through its collapse, also hap-
pens to the system at large. A person leads a sedentary life in
hot rooms. As Winter deepens, the cold grows more forbid-
ding, the fire more seductive. Fresh air is shut out, the skin
becomes less and less able to resist changes of temperature.
When this person does go out of doors, no matter how much
clothing he may wear, he suffers ; and a cold is almost sure to
result."
100
The danger from overheating will be greatly lessened if a large
pan of water is kept continually evaporating over the stove or
in the air-chamber of the furnace. It is a well-known fact that,
as air becomes heated, its capacity to absorb moisture is greatly
increased; and this moisture, which is naturally supplied in
Summer, it is necessary for us to artificially supply to the arti-
ficial Summer we create within our houses in Winter.
A safe rule w r ould be to wear warmer clothing in Winter, and
keep the temperature of the rooms we live in not higher than
68 Fahrenheit.
In all that has been said above, the requirements of ordinary
country farm houses have been kept in view, and nothing sug-
gested which cannot be effected by a little care and forethought
by the head of the household.
Those who can afford furnaces, or hot water, or steam, I refer
to other and larger treatises, only let me add one word of advice
to those having these apparatuses in use or contemplating their
use, viz. : Be sure the furnace is (1) large enough not to over-
heat the air, in order to properly warm the house ; (2) be sure
there is a large supply of outdoor air to the air-chamber ; (3) be
sure there is an evaporating pan constantly filled in the air-
chamber.
Those having the ventilation and heating of the
SCHOOL- HOUSE
and the church in charge, have a grave responsibility resting on
their shoulders. To them is committed the cdre of others' lives
and health. The school trustees should make it their duty to
often visit the school-house and see that the supply of fresh air
is adequate to the wants of the scholars. In the ordinary
school-houses in Ewing, the air should be changed at least every
nine minutes. This can be easily and safely accomplished by
making in the ceiling at least three apertures one foot wide and
two feet long, carried through the roof, and a foot or two above
it, and fitted with an Emerson Ventilating Cowl, which is
intended to prevent a back draught. These openings are to
remove the foul air. The fresh air can then be supplied by
any of the means mentioned above for houses. The surest
way, however, would be by the use of the open stove with a
101
fresh air inlet, as illustrated above. Whatever stove is used, it
should be so placed that the children need not sit close to it, as
the effect, particularly of sitting with the back to a hot stove, is
very prejudicial to health, resulting often in congestion of the
kidneys and other disorders,
It would be better to have two stoves, with a moderate fire in
each, than one large stove overheated. Where there is a cellar
beneath the building, it would be better to place these stoves in
it, supplying fresh air to them by ducts, and then make as
many as five openings in the floor, one foot by two, through
EMERSON VENTILATING COWL.
which the warmed air will rise into the room. The cellar in this
case should be used for no other purpose (some other place
being provided for the coal and wood), and be kept scrupulously
clean ; and, where wet, made dry by drainage, as shown in the
note on " Drainage for Health." Whatever method is used, the
school-room should be provided with thermometers, say one in
each corner, which the teacher should often consult to see that
the temperature is never above 68 nor below 64.
It should be made the duty of the janitor to see that the
room is thoroughly aired, by having every window and door
opened immediately after the school is closed; and this airing
should continue at least an hour. It should be equally the
duty of the janitor to have the room warm and all the shut-
102
ters open, the sun streaming in, for an hour before bchool
assembles.
The above remarks have been written with a special view to
country district school-houses, and particularly those of Ewing
township, which consist of but one room with accommodations
for about fifty pupils, and an average attendance of a somewhat
less number.
The editor will be glad, at any time, to furnish, free of charge,
to any similar schools in New Jersey, plans and suggestions for
heating and ventilating, where he is given the size of the school-
room (width and depth), and height of ceiling, the average
number of the pupils, and the exposure. These suggestions will
be submitted to the best authorities on the subject, in order that
the result desired may be obtained at the least expense and in
the very best way for the particular case in point.
Let me impress on teachers that the health of the children
committed to their care is of vastly greater concern than the
knowledge they may be able to give them. " Ordinary attention
to these matters, if systematic and constant, will do much
toward lessening the * murder of the innocents,' who so frequently
are the victims of their thoughtless elders." [Revised by Carl
Pfeiffer, Arch.
SYNOPSIS OF SUCH LAWS OF THE STATE
OF NEW JERSEY AS CONCERN A
RURAL COMMUNITY,
COMPILED BY A. G. RICHEY, ESQ.
Mode of Laying- out Public Roads.
When ten or more persons, being freeholders, shall think a
public road necessary in any part of the county, they may
apply to the Court of Common Pleas of the county for the
appointment of six surveyors of the highways to lay out such
road.
Ten days' notice of such application must be first given.
The surveyors of the highway are to meet, at such time and
place as the court shall direct, for the purpose of laying out said
road.
Notice shall be given by advertisement of the time and place
of such meeting.
The surveyors of the highway, when met as aforesaid, shall
view the premises, and may, if they think necessary, lay out
such public road ; and they shall lay the same as it appears to
them to be most for the public and private convenience having
a regard to the best ground for a road and the shortest distance
in such a manner as to do the least injury to private property.
And they shall make a return thereof, with a map of the same,
with the courses and distances, with the time when the overseers
of the highway shall open the same for public use.
The said surveyors shall also make an assessment of the dam-
ages, if any, the owner of any land (other than an applicant for
such road) shall sustain by laying out the same, above the
advantages that will accrue to the owner, which assessment they
must affix to their return, which return, with the assessments,
104
shall be delivered to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of
the county, who is required to record the said return, together
with the map thereof, in a book to be kept for that purpose ;
and every road so laid out and recorded as aforesaid shall be a
lawful highway from the time appointed for opening the same.
That the clerk of any Court of Common Pleas shall not record
the return of the surveyors of the highway until the expiration
of fifteen days after he shall have received the same, so that
any person being aggrieved thereby may, within that time, enter
a caveat with the said clerk against recording the said return,
which shall operate as a supersedeas to further proceedings till
the next court.
At the next court, the persons who have filed the caveat,
may make application to the court for the appointment of six
of the chosen freeholders of the county in which the road shall
have been laid out.
And the court will appoint them and designate the time and
place for their meeting.
Notice of such meeting to be given.
And the chosen freeholders so appointed shall proceed to
view the road so laid out.
And if they or a majority of them shall believe such laying
necessary and useful, they shall certify the same to the court the
term next succeeding their appointment ; and the court there-
upon shall cause the proceedings to be recorded; and their
proceedings shall be binding and conclusive in all cases; but
if they shall believe such laying out to be unnecessary and
injurious, they shall certify the same to the court as aforesaid,
and the proceedings of the surveyors shall then be null and
void.
Law to Prevent the Spread of Canada Thistle.
If any person or persons owning or having the care of any
lands, enclosed or unenclosed, in this State, shall knowingly
permit any Canada thistle to grow up thereon, and suffer the
same to stand until its seeds get ripe, he or they shall, for every
stalk or bunch thereof so suffered to grow up, forfeit and pay a
fine of twenty-five cents; to be sued for and recovered, with
costs, by any person, in his name, before any court of competent
jurisdiction.
105
The Law as to the Construction of Sidewalks.
That it shall be lawful for the inhabitants of any township in
this State, at their annual meeting, to provide for the construc-
tion of sidewalks on the public highway, not exceeding in width
one-fifth on each side of the road of the width thereof, and also
to place posts or railings by the side thereof, which sidewalks
shall be constructed out of any money raised for the repairs of
highways; and the amount so to be expended, and the road or
place where the sidewalks shall be made, shall be determined
by such meeting or by the township committee ; provided, that
this provision shall not apply to any public highway, which
hath been or which shall be hereafter laid out, of a less width
than three rods, except in such place or places where it shall
pass through a city, town, or village.
And it shall be lawful for any person owning or occupying
lands adjoining a public road or highway in any township, city,
or ward, to construct sidewalks on said highway in the manner
hereinbefore provided, contiguous and along the line of said land.
That when a sidewalk shall have been constructed as afore-
said, every person who shall ride or drive a horse or team
thereon, except for the purpose of crossing the same, when
necessary so to do, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five dollars
to the use of the township, to be sued for and recovered by any
person who shall sue for the same.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE FOREGOING ACT.
That the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement,
shall not authorize the construction of sidewalks of a greater
width than five feet on each side of any public road or highway
in this State, which hath been or which shall hereafter be laid
out of a less width than three rods, except in such place or
places where they pass through the cities, towns, or villages of
this State.
As to Working and Maintaining Public Roads.
The township committee who shall be hereafter chosen agree-
abty to law, in the respective townships of this State, or a
majority of such committee, are hereby authorized and directed
to assign and appoint, in writing, to the overseers of the high-
106
ways, respectively, their several limits and divisions of the
highways within such township, for opening, clearing out,
working, amendment and repair, and the said overseers are
hereby commanded to observe and conform themselves to such
assignment.
That it shall be the duty of the said overseers to hire labor-
ers, and also horses, oxen, wagons, ploughs, carts and other
implements to open, clear out, make, work, amend, repair and
keep in good order the highways within their respective limits
and divisions, to make causeways, and to erect such bridges as
can be built by common laborers, and to procure whatever
materials they shall deem necessary to effect the purposes
specified in this section.
That the moneys necessary for defraying the costs, charges
and expenses of opening, clearing out, making, working, amend-
ing, repairing and keeping in good order the highways, and
procuring materials for the same, and also the compensation
allowed for the services of the overseers thereof, shall be granted,
assessed, collected and raised in the manner prescribed by the
act entitled "An act incorporating the inhabitants of townships,
designating their powers and regulating their meetings"; and
it is hereby enjoined upon the said townships, that they be
careful to have money in hand ready to advance sufficient for
the objects and purposes specified in this act.
Law as to Cutting Down Trees Along- Highways.
That no overseer of the highways or other person, except the
owner or owners thereof, shall cut down, willfully injure, or
destroy any fruit, shade or ornamental tree which may have
been or which shall be planted or set out by the owner or pos-
sessor of lands adjoining any highway in this State, and which
shall not extend more than seven feet out from the line of the
road towards the center of the same, unless the township com-
mittee of the township in which such road is situate, or a
majority of such committee, shall first order the cutting down
or destroying of the same.
That if any overseer of the highway or other person shall
offend against the provisions of the preceding section, he, she
or they so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dol-
107
lars for each and every such offence, to be recovered in an action
of debt, with costs of suit, in any court having cognizance
thereof, by any person who may prosecute for the same, within
six months after such offence shall have been committed, pro-
vided that this act shall not prevent any overseer from clearing
out any highways to their full width where they pass through
any wood or forest.
Law Against Girdling Trees Along Highways.
That no tree shall be girdled or killed on the highways, under
the penalty of two dollars, to be recovered by action of debt,
with costs, by the overseer of the highways, in any court of
record having cognizance of that sum, and applied to the work-
ing and repair of the highways ; and if any such tree shall be
girdled or killed in the manner aforesaid, it shall be the duty of
the said overseer forthwith to cut down such tree so girdled or
killed.
That if any person shall girdle or kill any tree standing within
two rods of such highway, the owner or possessor of the land
where the same stands shall, within two years after such girdling
or killing, cut down the said tree; or, on failure thereof, shall
forfeit and pay two dollars, to be recovered and applied in the
manner above set forth.
The Law as to Wheel Carriages.
That all wagons and other wheel carriages of any kind or
description whatever, drawn by one or more horse or horses,
oxen, or other cattle, made and constructed, and all axle-trees
made or repaired from and after the first day of October, A.D.
1874, traveling or passing on or through the roads or highways
within this State, belonging to persons resident therein, shall
run or track on the ground, from center to center of the felloes,
not less than four feet and ten inches, under the penalty of five
dollars, to be recovered from the owner or owners, proprietor or
proprietors of such wagon or other wheel carriage, for each and
every offence, before any one justice of the peace of this State,
where the fact shall be committed, upon the oath or affirmation
of one or more witness or witnesses. Which said fine, when
recovered, shall be paid, one moiety thereof to the overseers of
108
the highways for the township, division, or precinct where the
fact was committed, to be applied toward the repair of the
highways within the same ; and the other moiety to be paid to
the person or persons prosecuting the same to effect ; and the
said overseers are hereby made accountable for all moneys they
may receive in virtue of this act, in the same manner and form
as they are for other fines and forfeitures ; provided, always,
that the above fines shall not be set or levied more than once
upon one journey, and that every information relative to any
breach of this act be made within twenty days after the offence
is committed.
Respecting Railroads and Canals.
Every incorporated company that hath been or hereafter may
be authorized to construct any railroad in this State, shall cause
to be placed on some part of every locomotive engine used by
any such company, a bell of a weight of not less than thirty
pounds, or steam whistle which can be heard distinctly at a
distance of at least three hundred yards from the place where
any such railroad crosses a turnpike road or highway upon the
same level with the said railroad, and such bell shall be kept
ringing, or such whistle shall continue to be blown, until the
engine has crossed such turnpike or highway, or has stopped.
And any railroad company which shall construct any railroad
by virtue of powers granted in their charter by this State, may,
in crossing any public highway, for the purpose of making such
highway cross over or under such railroad at an* easy and suit-
able grade, alter the location of such highway at their own
expense, so far as shall be necessary to make such highway pass
over or under said railroad at such grade, and such alteration
shall be valid and of the same effect as if made by surveyors of
the highway according to law. And all alterations heretofore
made in any public highway in this State, by any such railroad
company, for the purpose and in the manner aforesaid, are
hereby confirmed and made valid as if the same had been made
by the surveyors of the highway according to law.
If any person shall be injured by a locomotive engine, car or
cars while walking, standing or playing on any railroad in this
State, or by jumping on or off a car while in motion, such per-
109
son shall be deemed to have contributed to the injury sustained,
and shall not recover any damages therefor from the company
owning or operating the said railroad ; provided, however, that
this section shall not apply to any person or persons crossing a
railroad at any lawful public or private crossing.
Every railroad company shall cause a board with this inscrip-
tion, " Look out for the locomotive," to be erected and main-
tained wherever the road of such company may be crossed by
any turnpike road or public highway, so as to be easily seen by
travelers.
If any such company shall refuse or neglect to comply with
the foregoing provisions, they shall forfeit for every such refusal
or neglect, the sum of one hundred dollars, to be sued for by
the clerk of any township in which such refusal or neglect shall
occur, for the use of said township, and to be recovered, with
costs, in action of debt in any court having cognizance thereof;
provided, that all complaints of any refusal or neglect to com-
ply with said provisions shall have been made within ten days
thereafter; and, provided further, that nothing herein contained
shall be construed to take away from any individual or individ-
uals any right he, she or they may have to recover damages for
any injury which may be incurred by any refusal or neglect to
comply with the requirements of this act.
If any person shall willfully obliterate, destroy or injure any
such board so as aforesaid erected, he, she or they so offending
shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of twenty dollars, to
be recovered, with costs, by any such railroad company, in an
action of debt before any court having cognizance thereof, for
the use of said company.
The Law as to the Width of Public Roads.
That every public road or highway which shall be hereafter
laid out shall not be more than four rods wide, unless a greater
width shall be specified in the notices and applications for the
same ; nor shall any such road be less than two rods wide, unless
the same be laid out in a village, borough or city, and where,
by reason of buildings or other permanent erections, such road
cannot be, conveniently, laid out of such width.
110
That every private road which shall be hereafter laid out shall
not be more than thirty feet in width, but may be less, at the
discretion of the surveyors.
The Law to Prevent the Defacement of Natural Scenery.
That without the previous consent of the owner, all persons
are hereafter prohibited from advertising their wares or occupa-
tion, by printed notices of the same, on fences or other private
property, or upon cliffs or rocks or other natural objects.
And all persons violating the provisions of the above para-
graph shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars for each offence,
to be recovered before a justice of the peace; the action to be
brought in debt, in the corporate name of the township, borough
or city in which such offence shall be committed ; one-half of
which said fine shall be for the use of the informer or prosecutor
of such action, the other half to the overseer of the poor of the
township, borough or city in which such offence shall have
been committed.
Malicious Mischief.
Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously pull, or throw
down, or in anywise destroy any bridge, whether over any
stream of water or otherwise, under which bridge any highway,
railway or canal shall pass, or do any injury with intent, and
so as thereby to render such bridge, viaduct, or the highway,
railway or canal passing over or under the same, or any part
thereof, dangerous or impassable, shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall be liable to imprisonment at hard labor, not
over one year, or fine, not over two hundred dollars, or both.
As to Certain Crimes.
Whoever shall unlawfully and maliciously destroy or damage
any statue, bust or vase, or any other article or thing kept for
the purpose of art, science or literature, or as an object of curi-
osity in any museum, gallery, cabinet, library or other reposi-
tory, which museum, gallery, cabinet, library or other repository
is open for the admission of the public, or of any considerable
number of persons, to view the same, either by permission of
the proprietor thereof, or by the payment of money before
entering the same; or any picture, statue, monument, or other
Ill
memorial of the dead, or other ornament in any church or other
place of divine worship, or in any building, or in any church-
yard, burial ground, or public garden or ground, or any orna-
ment, railing or fence surrounding such statue or monument,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, being convicted thereof,
shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six
months, or fined two hundred dollars.
Whosoever shall steal or cut, break, root up, or otherwise
destroy or damage, with intent to steal, the whole or any part
of any tree, sapling or shrub, or any underwood or plant, root,
fruit or vegetable production, wheresoever the same may be
growing, or shall steal, or shall cut, break or throw down, with
intent to steal, any fence or any wooden post, pale, wire or rail
set up or used as a fence, or any stile or gate, or any part
thereof, respectively, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
on conviction thereof, shall be liable to be punished as in case
of larceny.
As to Disorderly Persons.
Any person who shall enter the buildings or go upon the
lands belonging to any public school district of this State, or
used and occupied for school purposes, by any public school in
this State, and shall break, injure or deface such building, or
any part thereof, or the fences or out-houses belonging to or
connected with such building or lands, or shall disturb the
exercises of such public school, or molest or give annoyance to
the children attending such school, or any teacher therein, shall
be deemed and adjudged to be a disorderly person, and may be
apprehended in the manner hereinafter described in this act,
and taken before any justice of the peace of the county where
such person may be apprehended. And it shall be the duty of
the said justice to commit such disorderly person, when con-
victed before him by the confession of the offender or by the
oath or affirmation of one or more witnesses, to the county jail
of such county, there to be kept at hard labor for any term not
exceeding thirty days.
An Act to Define and Suppress Tramps.
That the following described persons are hereby declared to
be tramps : All persons who shall come from any place with-
112
out this State, or from any city, county, township, borough or
place in this State, and have no legal settlement in the places
in which they are found, and live idly and without employment,
and refuse to work for the usual and common wages given to
other persons for like work in the place where they then are, or
shall be found going about from door to door, or placing them-
selves in the streets, highways or roads to beg or gather alms,
and can give no reasonable account of themselves or their
business in such places.
That if any person shall be found offending in any county,
city, township, borough or district in this State, against this
act, it shall and may be lawful for any constable or police
officer of such place, and he is hereby enjoined and required,
on notice thereof to him given by any of the inhabitants
thereof, or without such notice, on his own view,, to apprehend
and convey, or cause to be conveyed, such person to a justice of
the peace or other magistrate of such place, who shall examine
such person, and shall commit him or her, being thereof legally
convicted before him, on his own view, or by the confession of
such offenders, or by the oath or affirmation of one or more
credible witnesses, to labor upon any county farm or upon the
streets, roads and highways of any city, township or borough,
or in any house of correction, poor-house, work-house or com-
mon jail, for a term not exceeding six months, and shall forth-
with commit him or her to the custody of the steward, keeper
or superintendent of such county farm, house of correction,
poor-house, work-house or common jail, or to the supervisors or
overseers of the highways, street commissioners, or other officer
or officers having in charge the repairs of any street, road or
highway, or overseers of the poor of the respective township,
borough, county or city wherein such person shall be found, as
in their judgment shall be deemed most expedient.
An Act to Prevent Trespassing with Guns.
If any person or persons shall carry any gun on any land not
his own, and for which the owner pays taxes, or is in his lawful
possession, unless he hath license or permission in writing from
the owner or owners or legal possessor, every such person so
offending, and convicted thereof, either upon the view of any
113
justice of the peace within this State, or by the oath or Affirma-
tion of one or more witnesses, before any justice of the peace
within this State, or by the oath or affirmation of one or more
witnesses, before any justice of the peace of either of the coun-
ties, cities or towns corporate, of this State, in which the offender
may be taken or reside, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit
and pay to the owner of the soil, or bis tenant in possession, the
sum of five dollars, with costs of suit ; which forfeiture may and
shall be sued for and recovered by the owner of the soil or ten-
ant in possession, before any justice of the peace in this State,
for the use of such owner or tenant in possession.
Law to Prevent the Adulteration of Milk.
If any person shall knowingly sell any impure or unwhole-
some milk, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
on conviction thereof, he shall be punished by a fine of not less
than fifty dollars for each and every offence.
And if any person shall adulterate milk with a view of offer-
ing the same for sale, he shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine
of not less than fifty dollars for each and every offence.
The addition of water to milk is hereby declared to be an
adulteration thereof.
Law for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
That any person who shall overdrive, overload, overwork,
cruelly beat or otherwise abuse any living animal, and any per-
son having the charge of any living animal, who inflicts unnec-
essary cruelty upon the same, or fails to provide the same with
proper food, drink or shelter, or protection from the weather,
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for every such
offence, shall, on conviction thereof, be punished, by fine not
exceeding two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the
county jail not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion
of the court.
And any person who shall keep or use any place for the pur-
pose of fighting or baiting any bull, bear, dog, cock, or other
living animal or creature, and every person who shall be pres-
ent ard witness, encourage, aid or assist therein, shall be
114
deeme(} guilty of a misdemeanor, and for every such offence,
shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment at hard labor not
exceeding two years, or both, at the discretion of the court.
And any person who shall use any dog or dogs for the pur-
pose of drawing any cart or other vehicle for business or other
purposes, shall forfeit and pay a fine of one dollar for the first
offence and ten dollars for each subsequent offence such
offender, together with the dog, cart or other vehicle shall be
taken before a justice of the peace or police magistrate, who,
upon being satisfied, shall impose said fine, which said fine, as
soon as imposed, shall have the force and effect of a judgment,
and execution may be immediately issued thereon, and the
articles so seized levied upon and sold to pay and satisfy the
said fine, together with the costs.
That if a maimed, sick, infirm or disabled animal shall be
abandoned to die, by any person, in any public place, such per-
son shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction
thereof shall be punished as provided for in the beginning of
this article. That any person who shall overdrive, overwork,
torture, deprive of necessary sustenance, or cruelly beat or oth-
erwise abuse or kill, any living animal or creature, and every
person who shall be present, and witness, encourage or assist
therein, shall forfeit and pay such sum, not exceeding one hun-
dred dollars, as the court shall determine, to be sued for and
recovered in an action of debt, with costs of suit, by any person,
in the name of " The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals."
An Act for the Preservation of Sheep.
When any person shall sustain damage or injury by reason
of his or her sheep or lambs being killed or wounded by a dog
or dogs, wolf or wolves, it shall be lawful for such person to
take two respectable freeholders of the township wherein such
damage was done, who are in nowise akin to the party so call-
ing them, to view the sheep or lambs so killed or wounded, and
if it shall appear to their satisfaction that the said sheep or
lambs were killed or wounded by a dog or dogs, wolf or wolves,
then the said freeholders shall make a return or certificate
115
thereof in writing, stating the amount of damages such person
may have sustained, which shall in no case exceed five dollars
for one sheep or lamb so killed or wounded, which said certifi-
cate shall entitle the person so injured to the sum stated therein
as the damage sustained, to be paid by the township committee,
in conformity to the provisions made therefor in the fifth sec-
tion of this act. And in case the damage so certified shall
appear to the town committee to be excessive, it shall and may
be lawful for said committee to require the facts stated and the
claim exhibited, to be investigated before them on oath or
affirmation, and shall award payment accordingly. Provided
always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to cases
wherein a recovery of damages can be obtained of the owner or
owners of such dog or dogs as shall have committed the injury.
Protection Against Mad Dogs.
The mayor of any incorporated town in this State, by the
advice and consent of the common council of the town, and the
township clerk of any township in this State, by the advice of
the township committee, are authorized, whenever, in their
opinion, the public safety may require, to issue his proclama-
tion authorizing the destruction of all dogs, male and female,
found running at large within the limits of the town, except
such as shall be properly muzzled with a wire muzzle about the
nose, securely fastened, after one day's public notice by written
or printed hand-bills ; provided, that nothing in said proclama-
tion shall apply to a dog or dogs of a non-resident passing
through the town accompanied by the owner or owners of such
dog or dogs.
An Act to Prevent Spread of Contagious Diseases Amongst
Cattle.
The town committee of each township of this State, upon
notice of the existence of any disease among cattle in their
township, are authorized personally to examine the cases, and if
the symptoms which characterize contagious diseases are exhib-
ited, they shall cause such sick animals to be immediately
removed and kept separate from all other cattle ; and the
remaining cattle of said owner shall be kept isolated from the
116
sick ones, and both they and the sick animals shall be kept dis-
tant at least four hundred feet from the public road, and the
same distance from the premises of all neighbors.
The town committee are also authorized to prohibit the
importation of cattle from other places into or through their
respective township ; and if any one shall import or drive any
cattle into or through any township after the same shall have
been publicly prohibited by the town committee, he shall pay a
fine of one hundred dollars for every bull, ox, steer, cow, heifer
or calf so driven into a township. Any person who shall dis-
pose of any cattle or stock, knowing it to be subject to any con-
tagious disease, shall pay a fine of one hundred dollars for any
such animal sold within the township.
The persons qualified to vote at town meetings are authorized
at their annual meetings to make such provision and allow such
rewards for the destruction of wolves, wild-cats, foxes, crows,
black-birds, and other noxious wild animals and birds, as they
so assembled shall deem necessary or proper.
Destruction of Insectiverous, Small and Harmless Birds.
That it shall not be lawful for any person to wantonly shoot,
entrap for the purpose of killing, or in any other manner destroy
any upland birds whose principal food is insects, comprised in
the families of swallows, fly-catchers, finches, larks, wood-peck-
ers and other species and varieties of land birds of every
description regarded as harmless in their habits, and whose
flesh is unfit for food, excepting the eagle," raven, crow, all
hawks and owls which prey upon other birds, and that it shall
not be lawful for any person to take or destroy the eggs or
young of any of the species of birds which are intended to be
protected by this act.
And if complaint is made, under oath, before any justice of
the peace of this State, of any violation of the foregoing provi-
sions, it shall be the duty of such justice to forthwith issue,
under his hand and seal, a warrant against the person or per-
sons so offending, and the proceedings before the justice shall
be regulated according to the provisions of the act entitled "An
act constituting courts for the trial of small causes."
117
And every person offending against the provisions of this act,
shall, on conviction, be fined in any sum not less than ten or
more than twenty dollars, with costs of suit, in the discretion of
the court before whom such conviction shall be had.
As the school law is published in full in pamphlet form, it
has not been thought worth while to make any extracts there-
from ; but the editor would call attention to that provision of
the law which authorizes the State Superintendent to pay to
any school, which shall raise twenty dollars by subscription for
a library or for philosophical apparatus, a like sum to be used
for the same purpose. Furthermore, so long, after the first year,
as a school raises ten dollars a year for the above purpose, the
State will add a like sum.
The following clipping, from the "Princeton Press 11 of /September llth,
1880, is respectfully
DEDICATED TO THE LADIES.
" The second annual meeting of this Association was held in
the Ewing Church, Thursday afternoon. There was a large
attendance, evincing interest in the Association's work. But that
which showed the deepest interest in the meeting was the evident
labor bestowed on the decoration of the edifice. The audience-
room has a very pleasing appearance of itself, and, as decorated,
it was perfectly beautiful. Crossed sheaves of 'golden grain'
placed against the closed inside blinds, were in the center of each
window, crowned with the national colors ; large vases on each
window-sill were filled with plants and flowers; a spray of
evergreen relieved each side bracket; the book-rack in each
pew was banked with green, interspersed with bouquets and cut
flowers, while a wreath of the same fragrance and beauty was
carried along the top of the dividing line between the rows of
pews. The platform was graced with a variety of rare plants,
and the initials of the Association, in evergreen, formed a back-
ground for the whole. Altogether it has not been our pleasure
to have ever seen more tasteful decorations.
" Hon. A. B. Green, President, presided. Rev. Dr. Lowrie,
pastor of the church, and a member of the society, offered
prayer. Musical selections from Auber, Liszt, Meyerbeer, and
Mendelssohn were played on the piano and organ, of course in
a masterly way, by Prof. Allmuth and Mr. Van Kuren."
CONSTITUTION
OF THE
WEST EWING IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
We, the residents of the township of Ewing, county of Mercer
and State of New Jersey, in order to form an Association to
improve and ornament the public roads and grounds, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for said Association.
ARTICLE I.
This Association shall be called " THE WEST EWING IMPROVE-
MENT ASSOCIATION."
ARTICLE II.
The object of this Association shall be to improve and orna-
ment the public roads and grounds of the township, by plant-
ing and cultivating trees, establishing and maintaining walks,
grading and draining the roadways, providing public drinking
troughs, breaking out paths through the snow, lighting canal
bridges, and generally doing whatever may tend to the improve-
ment of the township as a place of residence.
ARTICLE III.
The officers of this Association shall be a President, two Vice-
Presidents, a Secretary and a Treasurer, who shall constitute the
Executive Committee.
The officers shall be elected at the annual meeting, (except
for the first election, which shall take place October 8th, 1878,)
and shall hold their offices until their successors have been
elected.
ARTICLE IV.
It shall be the duty of the President, and, in his absence, of
the senior Vice-President, to preside at all meetfngs of the
120
Association, and to carry out all orders of the Executive Com-
mittee.
ARTICLE V.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a correct and
careful record of all proceedings of the Association and of the
Executive Committee, in a book suitable for their preservation ;
to give notice of all meetings of the Association and of the
Executive Committee; to make all publications, and to give all
public and private notices ordered by the Executive Committee,
and to attend to all correspondence of the Association.
ARTICLE VI.
It shall be the duty of the .Treasurer to keep the funds of the
Association, and to make such disbursements as may be ordered
by the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VII.
It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to employ
all laborers, make all contracts, expend all moneys, and gener-
ally to direct and superintend all improvements which, in their
discretion, and with the means at their command, will best
serve the public interest.
The Executive Committee shall hold a meeting at least once
a month, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient.
The Executive Committee shall have power to institute pre-
miums to be awarded for planting and protecting ornamental
trees, and for doing such other acts as may seem t*o them worthy
of such encouragement. They shall also encourage frequent
public meetings of the Association, and of citizens generally,
both with a view to maintain an interest in their work, and for
the general encouragement of meeting together for discussion
and amusement.
It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to obtain the
preparation of papers on topics directly bearing on the work of
the Association, which shall be read at the social meetings.
ARTICLE VIII.
Auxiliary to the Executive Committee there shall be sub-
committees of an advisory nature, whose duty it shall be to pro-
121
mote the objects of the Association in their district, by interest-
ing all members of the community in the work, and suggesting
improvements most needed in their immediate neighborhoods.
These committees shall be especially charged with preserving
and carefully providing for the safety of trees planted, and
other improvements effected in their districts. They shall be
composed of two ladies and one gentleman, and shall offer their
suggestions at the social meetings.
These committees shall be appointed by the President of the
Association.
ARTICLE IX.
Three members of the Executive Committee, present at any
meeting, shall constitute a quorum for transacting business, and
a vote of the majority of those present shall be binding on the
Association.
ARTICLE X.
No debt shall be contracted by the Executive Committee
beyond the amount of available funds within their control to
pay it ; and no member of the Association shall be liable for
any debt of the Association beyond the amount of his or her
subscription.
ARTICLE XI.
Every person over fourteen years of age, who shall plant a
tree under the direction of the Executive Committee, and
obligate himself or herself to protect it for three years, or who
shall pay the sum of one dollar annually, shall be a member of
this Association, and every child under fourteen years of age,
who shall pay the sum of twenty-five cents annually, shall be
a member of this Association.
ARTICLE XII.
The payment of ten dollars annually for three years, or twenty-
five dollars in one sum, shall constitute a person a member of
this Association for life.
ARTICLE XIII.
The autograph signatures of all members of the Association
shall be preserved in a book suitable for that purpose.
122
ARTICLE XIV.
An annual meeting of the Association shall be held at such a
place as the Executive Committee may direct, on the fourth
Wednesday of August, at two o'clock P.M. Notice of such
meeting shall be posted at the five most public places in the
district, at least seven days prior to the time of holding said
meeting, and a written notice shall be sent to all non-resident
members. Other meetings of the Association may be called by
the Executive Committee, on due notice being given.
ARTICLE XV.
At the annual meeting, the Executive Committee shall report
the amount of money received during the year, and the source
from which it has been received; the amount of money
expended during the year, and the objects for which it has been
expended ; the number of trees planted at the cost of the Asso-
ciation ; the number planted by individuals, with the location,
the kind of tree and the name of the planter, and generally all
of the acts of the committee. This report shall be entered on
the record of the Association.
ARTICLE XVI.
Any person who shall plant a tree under the direction of the
Executive Committee, and shall protect it for five years, shall
be entitled to have such tree known forever by his or her name.
ARTICLE XVII.
This Constitution may be amended by the Executive Com-
mittee, with the approval of the majority of the members
present, at any annual meeting of the Association, or at any
special meeting, the notice of which shall have been accompanied
by a copy of the proposed amendment, with the statement that
the amendment is to be voted on at such meeting.
BY-LAWS.
I. The Executive Committee shall grant a certificate of merit,
of an artistic design, to such of the school children as shall be
certified by their teachers to have shown special zeal in keeping
the surroundings of the school-houses neat and clean, or in
beautifying them in any way. These certificates to be pre-
sented by the President the committee, or some of them, being
present on the first Wednesday in June, at the morning ses-
sion for Scudder's Falls, and afternoon session for Birmingham
and Brookville.
II. RULES FOR TREE PLANTING.
1. Trees shall be planted on the road side of the line, and at a
distance of four feet therefrom, except in the case of roads two
rods wide and under, when the permission of the property-
holder shall be obtained, to set them one foot from the line, in
the field.
2. The trees shall be set apart a distance of 150 feet, the
opposite rows alternating.
3. The following trees are recommended as best for road
planting, viz. : Sugar Maple, Norway Maple, Elm, White Ash,
Linden, Horse Chestnut, Water Birch, Mountain Ash, and
occasionally a fruit tree.
III. The members of this Association shall, as a body and as
individuals, use their influence to prevent the erection of adver-
tising placards of any description, and to this end mutually
agree to remove or cause to be removed, within ten days from
June 1st, 1879, any such signs on the property of any of them,
whether painted on barns, fences or stones, or nailed or pasted
on trees or fences, or otherwise constructed, except legal notices
and the usual advertisements of church festivals, which latter
shall be allowed to stand for ten days before the date of the
festival.
124
IV. Hereafter any person, upon compliance with Article XI
of the Constitution, may be elected a member of this Associa-
tion, on the nomination of any member whose dues are paid,
and a vote of two-thirds of the members whose dues are paid.
V. No charge shall be made for the patent road-scraper for
private use, by members of the Association. To all others, and
for work on the public roads, the charge shall be five dollars
per day, the Association furnishing a man to work the machine
(whom the Executive Committee shall pay a sum not to exceed
one dollar and a quarter), but no team. In all cases the consent
of the Executive Committee must first be obtained.
LIST OF BOOKS
Which will be found valuable to those interested in Rural and Sanitary
Improvement Associations.
Air and Its Relations to Life, by W. N. Hartley. $1.50.
A Pictorial Guide to Domestic Sanitary Defects, by T. Pridgin Teale,
M.A., Surgeon to the General Infirmary at Leeds. With 55 litho-
graphs. 8vo. $4.
A Treatise on Ventilation, by Lewis W. Leeds. $2.50.
Drainage for Profit and Draining for Health, by George E. Waring,
Jr. $1.50.
Frankland's Water Analysis for Sanitary Purposes. $1.
HasselFs Food and Its Adulterations.
Health and Comfort in House Building, by J. Drysdale, M.D., and
J. W. Hayward, M.D. Second Edition. $3.
Healthy Houses, by Wm. Eassie. $L
Healthy Houses, by Fleming Jenkin, F.R.S., adapted to American
Conditions by George E. Waring, Jr. Harpers' Half- Hour Series. 25
cents.
Heat, as applied to the Useful Arts, for the Use of Engineers, Archi-
tects, etc., by Thomas Box. $5,
House Drainage and Water Service, by James C. Bayles. $3.
Lecture on Water Supply, Sewage and Sewage Utilization, by W. H.
Corfield, M.A. 50 cents.
Parkes' Hygiene, edited by De Chaumont. $6.
Sanitary Engineering, by Baldwin Latham.
Sanitary Engineering, by J. Bailey Denton.
Sanitary Work in Towns and Villages, by Charles Slagg.
The House and Its Surroundings. 40 cents.
The Sanitary Drainage of Houses and Towns, by George E. Waring,
Jr. $2.
Villages and Village Life, by Rev. N. H. Eggleston. $1.75.
Village Improvements and Farm Villages, by Col. George E. War-
ing, Jr. 75 cents.
Wanklyn and Chapman's Water Analysis. $2.50.
Wilson's Hand-Book of Hygiene. $3.
Any of the above books may be obtained at the office of THE SANI-
TARY ENGINEER, 140 William Street, New York. P. 0. Box 3037.
INDEX.
PAGE.
Anniversary Meeting 1
Address of President 1
" " Hon. B. G. Northrop 7
" " Col. Geo. E. Waring 25
Constitution and By-Laws 119
Drainage for Health 77
Factory Adornment 72
Hedges 58
Heating and Ventilation 83
Laws of New Jersey 103
Lawns 70
Lenox System 74
Keport of Col. Geo. E. Waring 42
Cellars 42
Furnace 42
Sunlight and Fresh Air 43
The Privy 45
Disposal of Kitchen Sink Waste 47
Bays at the Side of the Canal 54.
Keeler's Mill-dam 55
Roadways 64
Sidewalks... 62
MYERS' SANITARY DEPOT,
Formerly JENNINGS' SANITARY DEPOT,
94 BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK.
BURKES' STONE LAUNDRY TUBS.
A LOST ART RESTORED. The manufacture of vessels from Cement, after the manner
and style of the ancient Romans, has been successfully accomplished in these Laundry Tubs.
We guarantee them; the longer they are in use the more durable they become.
Send for descriptive circulars of these,, and many other Plumbers' Supplies having for hi?
special object the exclusion of
SEWER QA.S.
A. G. MYERS, 94 BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK.
TO. THE THOUGHTFUL READER I
Every man of education should be interested in sanitary science.
Every good citizen ought to care for questions of public health.
Lastly, every householder and man of family should be concerned about the
health of those around him. i
All these subjects are fully discussed in THE SANITARY ENGINEER, not in a
superficial and temporary way, but by the most competent writers- all experts in
tne several departments of drainage, heating, lighting, ventilatiQn, public and per-
sona] hygiene, which this journal treats.
Among its regular contributors', are Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., C,E., of Newport, R. I.; Edw.
S. Philbrick, C.E., of Boston; Wm. E. Worthen. C.E., and J. J. R. Croes, C.E., of New York, who
write upon Sanitary Engineering subjects. Prof, Henry Morton, President of Stevens Institute,
treats topics connected with physics and chemistry, and during the past year has very fully dis-
cussed the Electric Light, Water Gas and Food Adulteration; while other chemical topics are
treated by Prof. C. F. 'Chandler, of New York, and Prof. E. S. Wood, of Cambridge, Robert
Brings, C*E., of Philadelphia, anil John S, Billings, Surgeon, U. S. A., have in charge Ventilating
and Heating topics. ''School Hygiene" is the specialty of Dr. D. F. Lincoln, of Boston, and Hon.
John D. Philbrick, LL.D., U. S. Commissioner at Vienna and Paris Exhibitions. Prof. Ed w. S.
Wood, of the Harvard Medical School, has discussed Arsenical Poisoning. Dr. Chas. Smart,
U.S.A., has written upon Water Analysis, and E. G. Love, Ph.D., of the School of Mines, upon Gas
Topics. Tenement-House Reform has been treated by Chas. L. Brace and others. In short, alt
subjects are discussed by specialists.
In addition to these contributors, arrangements have recently been made to receive addi-
tional communications from the following gentlemen upon subjects within their special province,
viz.: W. n. Lindley, M. Inst.. C.E.. Frankfort-on-the-Main ; Prof. Henry Robinson, M. Inst, C.E.,
London. Eng; Rtigers Field. }[. fast.. C.E.. London, Eng.; R. P. Spice, M. Inst. r C.E., London.
Eng. ; G. W. Wignpr, F.C.S.. London. Eng.; W. Ea reduced the number of copies, that
the price for First Volume, bound, is now $12; Second Volume, bound, 7; Second Volume,
unbound. So.
p.uestions are solicited from persons seeking information on any of the subjects treated
by this journal, and will be answered through its columns, WITHOUT CHARGE, when they are of
general interest.
Issued on the 1st and loth of each month. Subscription price, $2 per year; $1 for six
months. Published at HO William Street, New York. P. O. Box :3W.
Specimen copies will be sent free on application, if applicants will state their occupation or profession.