FAMILY WASTES. [northern Agriculturist.]

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1248, 29 June 1880, Page 3

FAMILY WASTES. [northern Agriculturist. ]

It is often said that the wastes of the household would fertilise a half-acre garden, if they were properly saved and applied. The statement is undoubtedly true, but the "if " is the most important factor in the proposition. As a matter of fact, most families in the country and villages pay the least possible attention to these matters. The sink drain usually pours its contents upon the surface of the ground within a few feet of the dwelling, and not unfrequently close by the well. A square rod or two of garden soil is fattened and kept soggy with water, and bad odours prevail through the summer. If a pear-tree or grape-vine happens to be planted within reach of this liquid manure, the abundant and perfect truth show the value of the riches that are wasted at this point. There is no burial of offensive matters, no utilising thereof for the feeding of the soil and the sustenance of the household. All these gross' violations of the conditions of health, and of good husbandry as well, ai*e justly complained of by our Boards of Health. If their reports could be circulated among those who are most needy of their counsels it might remedy the evil. Their teachings should be circulated in the journals that reach these families and secure the needed reform. As a rule, any provision for the disposition of fcecal matters that does not absorb all odours every day is defective. The most common provision, without a vault for absorbents, is a nuisance that ought to be abated by civil enactments with severe penalties. The earth-closet system is effectual if faithfully earned out. It needs, however, more executive ability than is ordinarily found in the head of the family, even if he be a cultivator of the soil. The best arrangement, on the whole, that we have observed, is a vault large enough to contain all these wastes for six months of the year, made of stone or brick, and lined with hydraulic cement. This effectually prevents all escape of poisonous matters into the well ; a matter that the head of household can afford to secure at any cost. By the occasional use of absorbents, all tne fertilising material that falls into the vault is preserved. Offensive ortlors, if tney arise, may be corrected by the use of copperas. With such a vault, the gardener has a constant fountain of liquid manure, which may be applied to his growing crops through the season. The luxuriant growth of vegetables, the splendid berries, the purple clusters of the vine, and the ruddy cheeks of the pears, grown under frequent applications of liquid manure, will compensate any man for the trouble and expense of this vault.

The way that money is spent. — In the reign of 31 Kings, and in a period of 694 years, the British nation spent 795 millions, being somewhat more than one million a year- and owed 127 millions. In the single reign of George the Third during a period of only 59 years, the nation spent the incredible sum of two thousand three hundred and twenty seven millions, being three times the value of the kingdom, and it owes nearly a thousand millions of public debt which is a greater sum than the value of all the land in England is worth, if every acre were sold at 25 years purchase on the annual rent. A lady recently had a premonition that as soon asTshe printed her first volume of poems she would die. The premonition was fulfilled. We would earnestly call the attention of a large number of poetical young ladies and gentlemen to the fact that things generally happen without any premonition at all. — Courier Journal. To Remove Mildew. — Wet the mildewed place, rub hard soap on it, then scrape chalk on it and lay it in -th& dun. We have tried this a great many times with perfect success. Moth patches may be removed by the following method: — Put into a pint bottle of rum a tablespoonf ul of flour of sulphur or lac sulphur. Apply to the patches once a day, and in two or three wefeks they will Wppfftr,