The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-07-13
THE EARTH CLOSET.


OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Details.
In response to numerous inquiries,
the New York Post publishes the fol-
lowing information on the preparation
of earth for. and tho general manage
ment OF, the earth closet:
DRYING THE RARTH.
The earth used in the earth. closet
must be dry-as dry as 1t is possible to
keep it by protection from rain, dew
and mist. However dry 1t may be
made by artificial means, it will absorb
the hygrometriC moisture OF the at
mosphere, which could be excluded
only by hermetical sealing. This
amount of moisture, which is not per-
ceptible to the sight or touch, in no way
lnterferes with its efficiency. But 1t
must be air'dry, or it will not fully &C.
COmplish its purpose.
The best and cheapest drying appa-
ratus is the sun and wind of a summer
day. During drought the parched
surface of naked land Is In precisely
the condition needed for use, and a
years supply may then be taken into a
close outbuilding or dry cellar and
stored until wanted.
Those VINO have not made, or cannot
make this provision, may store damp
earth in q we'll ventilated dry place,
from which mists can be excluded, and
in shorter or longer time, according
to the climate, it will become dry-just
as bread so kept would do. The Wri-
ter has had commode in constant use
for nine months, and nearly all of his
winters supply OF earth has been dried
and redried in a hogshead lying on its
side, its open end-facing the south
being protected from rain and mist by
a close screen OF rough boards leaning
against it. The sun had very little
chance at it, but the wind had, and the
drying has been sufficiently rapid for
such u limited supply as is needed for
one commOde.
at the experimental station OF the
United States Engineers (at Fort
AdamS) there is In use sort or hot bed,
raised "A little from the ground with a
board floor, and provided with nova
BILE sashes battened at the joints. The
earth Is thrown loosely in to depth OF
about six inches. and whenever dry.
ing wind blows the sasheS are raised at
both ends. In damp weather they are
kept close, and when the sun shines,
without there being much wind, they
are raised at the back only enough to
allow the escape OF the moisture evapo-
rated. This plan Is cheap, simple and
perfectly effective.
To dry the earth in a more systematic
way, especially for the supply OF towns
or large lhCLOEleS, IL Will 20 necessary
particularly in winter, to employ the
aid of fire heat. The scale on which
this is to be done must determine the
extent of the appliances for the pur-
pose. Earth enough for the use of a
family may be dried in a shallow box
near the furnace, or the kitchen stove
or range. For the supply OF larger es-
Establishments or for towns, when the
requisite quantity OF earth has not been
stored in the summer, 1t will be we'll to
use drying apparatus similar to one
erected by Mr.. James Waring for the
supply or a number of closets in New
Haven.
This is plate of 1S-inch boiler Iron,
condemned for other use-set on brick
walls high enough to allow small
stove to be placed under il, the pipe or
t1ue running from the stove, which Is
in the front of the space, to an opening
at the rear. The earth is spread upon
the plate few inches deep, and is very
rapidly made ready for use.
RE.DRYING.
In the country, where earth is plenty
and where there Is use on the farm or
in the garden for the manure, 1t will be
best to compost the accumulation of the
closet until required for use, and to
supply the closet with fresh earth; not
because 1t is more effective than that
which has been several times used, but
because 1t is better to have the manure
as bulky as possible for ease of even
distribution. But in towns, and in all
cases IN which the manure has to be
transported to a distance, making 1t
desirable that 1t bo as concentrated as
possible. the same earth should be used
over and over again. 1t has been de-
monstrated that the same earth may be
used six or seven times over, until it
becomes equal to Peruvian guano in
richness without losing its efficiency as
deodoriZer.
Earth owes its deodorizing power to
both its clay and its decomposed Or
ganic matter, and-as in the case OF the
soil of an old garden which has been
heavily manured for many years-the
manure itself, when thoroughly decom-
posed, only adds to the disinfecting
strength OF the earth, by adding to its
humous. In fact, instances are cited
in which the same earth has passed ten
times through the closet, receiving at
each use an addition to its manurial
value. OF course in time the limit will
be passed and the preponderance of or
ganic matter will tell on the effect, so
that it is found in most cases that six
or seven uses are enough to reduce the
deodorizing effect.
When the earth is removed from the
closet or the commode it should be
emptied into barrel, cask or bin,
| in a sheltered but well-ventilateu
place. Here it will so far decompose
| that all traces of paper and of solid
| 1seces will disappear, and it will be to a
considerable extent dried. II should
now be worked over with a shovel or a
rake until its parts are perfectly mixed,
and 1t may then be dried by natural or
artificial means, as circumstances suR-
gest, and prepared for another use.-
Until the decomposition OF the foreign
matters has become complete, it is bet
ter that the mass be kept in compact
body; after that, the more 1t can be
spread the more rapidly will 1t dry.
In the case of fixed closets holding a
three months supply, it Is hardly ne
cessary to resort to any artificial means
of drying. nor even to any manipula-
ton. The accumulation in the vault
or box must be levelled OFF with a rake
from time to time, and this will suf-
fciently mix the earth and faces.
In such cases it would be the best ar.
rangement to have two bins equal in
size to the capacity of the reservoir and
of the vault of the closet. One Of the
binBand the reservoir above the hopper
being filled with sitted dry earth, and
the other bin with freshly collected
earth, we go on and use out the supply
In the reserVOier. In three months II
has all passed into the vault and Is
mixed with fpces, We now fill tie
| reservoir with contents OF the first bin
and put the contents OF the vault in It's
place. When the reservoir is again
empty, the earth that was freshly col
lected and moist six months before is
dry and fit to be sifted into the reser-
Voir, the bin from which IL Is taken be-
ing filled from the vault. When the
reservoir has been again empne6 the
first clearing OF the vault Will have bad
1 ~, Il kNsa