The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-06-18

PERSPECTIVE VIEW.
amount of money one Is willing to ex-
pend for methods and systems that are
we'll tried and proved. But in the con-
| struction of a country house, a most
| important and veXing problem con-
| fronts the builder. The disposal OF
sewage in the country has caused more
| trouble than all of the other features
of house building and management put
| together; even the near neighborhood
| of running stream into which the
sewage may be discharged does not
afford relief Those who dwell lower
| down on the stream are likely to make
complaint of the communications, and
| they NAV ask relief from the law At
| the present time the main reliance is
upon cesspools, but they are always
| filthy contrivanceS, and serve as con-
slant menace to health. The sewage
matter accommodating for months in the
cesspools putrefies and becomes indie
scribably loathsome. The liquid mat
| fer percolates through the sides and
saturates the soil. AS this is not acces-
sible to the purifying agency of sunlight
| and free oxygen, it loses all the disin-
| fecting qualities of the soil.
Therefore. one has close to his house
| at all times sewage matter in its most
| dangerous form. 1t may seem from
| this that the whole question of sewage
disposal in country houses is absolutely
hopeless of solution, but this is far from
the case. At recent meeting in New
York. Colonel George E. Waring and
| Alexander Potter, both eminent sani-
| tary engineers, delivered brief ad-
| dresses on Country House Sewage
| and the former gentleman has written
an article describing and fully illustrat-
| ing a system for the disposal of liquid
wastes for isolated houses in recent
| issue of ''Shoppell's Modern Houses"
published in New York. Both of theSa
| gentlemen are thoroughly opposed to
| the cesspool system, and advocate the
| daily delivery of sewage onto the sur
| face of the ground. At the first glance
this seems most repugnant to the un-
| initiated. who conceive of sewage as
| the contents of the cesspool after it has
| putrefied. But fresh sewage that is de-
livered upon the surface is absolutely
| inodorOus and inOffensive. According
to the Massachusetts standard it con,
sists of 99S parts of water, one part of
mineral matter, and only one part in
thousand of organic matter. 1t fur
nishes no menace to health when de-
| livered on the surface, but merely en-
| riches the ground and makes it more
productive. 1t is not intended that it
should be constant flow over the same
section Of ground, for in that case the
soil would soon become saturated and
offensive. Two sections of land arc
made available, and the flow is daily
diverted from one to the other, thu"
| giving the soil chance to recuperatn.
1t must not be thought that this system
is merely theoretical. 1t has been in use
with the most satisfactory results. Not
only is it in operation on single es-
| tates, btu it has been tested by large
institutions, by villages and even by
cities. One of the most notable exam
piles is in the case of the town Of
.Iayne, Pennsylvania, where it has
been found to work admirably.
There are certain notifications of the
system that make it more widely ap-
plicable. 1t may be that in a country
estate there is no available section of
land that can be used for sewage drain
age without becoming too conspicuous.
In that case the drainage may be
| through porous agricultural tile drains
laid a few inches below the surface of
| the ground. In case it be impossible
| or inadvisable for any reason to dis
charge the sewage as soon as it is pro-
| duced, a retaining tank may be con-
structed But in any case it should be
| discharged within twenty-fOur hours
before there is any chance of putrefac-
| ton
We illustrate this article with a de.
sign of a house, attractive in appear
ance and suitable for erection in a ter
ritory where the sewers have not been
laid, and where a system of surface
disposal could be adopted to better
advantage than the use of a cesspOOl
General dimensions: Width, includ.
ing dining room, bay and tower projec.
ton, A feet 4 inches; depth, including
veranda, 35 feet 2 inches.
Height of stories: Cellar, feet G
inches; first story, 9 feet; second story,
feet inches; attic, feet
Exterior Materials: Foundation
stone; first and second story walls, ga.
bles and roofs, shingles.
Interior Finish: Three coat plaster
hard white finish. Plaster centers in
hall and principal rooms of first story
Soft wood flooring and trim through.
out. Ash staircase. Panel backs under