The instance cited of the Hackensack Meadows, in New Jersey, is a case in point. Its area is divided among many owners, and, while ninety-nine acres in every hundred are given up to muskrats, mosquitoes, coarse rushes and malaria, the other one acre may belong to the owner of an adjacent farm who values the salt hay which it yields him, and the title to the whole is vested in many individual proprietors, who could never be induced to unite in an improvement for the common benefit. Then again, thanks to the tide that sets back in the Hackensack River, it is able to float an occasional vessel to the unimportant villages at the northern end of the meadows, and the right of navigation can be interfered with only by governmental action. If the Hackensack River proper, that part of it which only serves as an outlet for the drainage of the high land north of the meadows, could be diverted and carried through the hills to the Passaic; or confined within straight elevated banks and made to discharge at high water mark at the line of the Philadelphia Rail-road;—the wash of the highlands, east and west of the meadows, being also carried off at this level,—the bridge of the railroad might be replaced by an earth embankment, less than a quarter of a mile in length, effecting a complete exclusion of the tidal flow from the whole tract.

This being done, a steam-pump, far less formidable than many which are in profitable use in Europe for the same purpose, would empty, and keep empty, the present bed of the river, which would form a capital outlet for the drainage of the whole area. Twenty thousand acres, of the most fertile land, would thus be added to the available area of the State, greatly increasing its wealth, and inducing the settlement of thousands of industrious inhabitants.

As the circumstances under which upland water reaches lands of the class under consideration vary with every locality, no specific directions for the treatment of individual cases can be given within the limits of this chapter; but the problem will rarely be a difficult one.

*The removal of the rain-fall and water of filtration* is the next point to be considered.

So far as the drainage of the land, in detail, is concerned, it is only necessary to say that it may be accomplished, as in the case of any other level land which, from the slight fall that can be allowed the drains, requires close attention and great care in the adjustment of the grades.

The main difficulty is in providing an outlet for the drains. This can only be done by artificial means, as the water must be removed from a level lower than high-water mark,—sometimes lower than low-water.

If it is only required that the outlet be at a point somewhat above the level of ordinary low-water, it will be sufficient to provide a sufficient reservoir, (usually a large open ditch,) to contain the drainage water that is discharged while the tide stands above the floor of the outlet sluice-way, and to provide for its outflow while the level of the tide water is below the point of discharge. This is done by means of sluices having self-acting valves, (or tide-gates,) opening outward, which will be closed by the weight of the water when the tide rises against them, being opened again by the pressure of the water from within, as soon the tide falls below the level of the water inside of the bank.

The gates and sluices may be of wood or iron,—square or round. The best would be galvanized iron pipes and valves; but a square wooden trunk, closed with a heavy oak gate that fits closely against its outer end, and moves freely on its hinges, will answer capitally well, if carefully and strongly made. If the gate is of wood, it will be well to have it lie in a slightly slanting position, so that its own weight will tend to keep it closed when the tide first commences to rise above the floor, and might trickle in, before it had acquired sufficient head to press the gate against the end of the trunk.

As this outlet has to remove, in a short time, all of the water that is delivered by the drains and ditches during several hours, it should, of course, be considerably larger than would be required for a constantly flowing drain from the same area; but the immense gates,—large enough for a canal lock,—which are sometimes used for the drainage of a few acres of marsh, are absurd. Not only are they useless, they are really objectionable, inasmuch as the greater extent of their joints increases the risk of leakage at the time of high water.

The channel for the outflow of the water may sometimes, with advantage, be open to the top of the dyke or dam,—a canal instead of a trunk; but this is rarely the better plan, and is only admissible where the discharge is into a river or small bay, too small for the formation of high waves, as these would be best received on the face of a well sodded, sloping bank.

The height, above absolute low water, at which the outlet should be placed, will depend on the depth of the outlet of the land drain, and the depth of storage room required to receive the drainage water during the higher stages of the tide. Of course, it must not be higher than the floor of the land drain outlet, and, except for the purpose of affording storage room, it need not be lower, although all the drainage will discharge, not only while the tide water is below the bottom of the gate, but as long as it remains lower than the level of the water inside. It is well to place the mouth of the trunk nearly as low as ordinary low-water mark. This will frequently render it necessary to carry a covered drain, of wood or brick, through the mud, out as far as the tide usually recedes,—connected with the valve gate at the outlet of the trunk, by a covered box which will keep rubbish from obstructing it, or interfering with its action.

When the outlet of the land-drains is below low-water mark, it is of course necessary to pump out the drainage water. This is done by steam or by wind, the latter being economical only for small tracts which will not bear the cost of a steam pump. Formerly, this work was done entirely by windmills, but these afford only an uncertain power, and often cause the entire loss of crops which are ready for the harvest, by obstinately refusing to work for days after a heavy rain has deluged the land. In grass land they are tolerably reliable, and on small tracts in cultivation, it is easy, by having a good proportion of open ditches, to afford storage room sufficient for general security; but in the reclaiming of large areas, (and it is with these that the work is most economical,) the steam pump may be regarded as indispensable. It is fast superseding the windmills which, a few years ago, were the sole dependence in Holland and on the English Fens. The magnitude of the pumping machinery on which the agriculture of a large part of Holland depends, is astonishing.

There are such immense areas of salt marsh in the United States which may be tolerably drained by the use of simple valve gates, discharging above low-water mark, that it is not very important to consider the question of pumping, except in cases where owners of small tracts, from which a sufficient tidal outlet could not be secured, (without the concurrence of adjoining proprietors who might refuse to unite in making the improvement,) may find it advisable to erect small pumps for their own use. In such cases, it would generally be most economical to use wind-power, especially if an accessory steam pump be provided for occasional use, in emergency. Certainly, the tidal drainage should first be resorted to, for when the land has once been brought into cultivation, the propriety of introducing steam pumps will become more apparent, and the outlay will be made with more confidence of profitable return, and, in all cases, the tidal outlet should be depended on for the outflow of all water above its level. It would be folly to raise water by expensive means, which can be removed, even periodically, by natural drainage.

When pumps are used, their discharge pipes should pass through the embankment, and deliver the water at low-water mark, so that the engine may have to operate only against the actual height of the tide water. If it delivered above high-water mark, it would work, even at low tide, against a constant head, equal to that of the highest tides.



CHAPTER X. - MALARIAL DISEASES.

So far as remote agricultural districts are concerned, it is not probable that the mere question of health would induce the undertaking of costly drainage operations, although this consideration may operate, in connection with the need for an improved condition of soil, as a strong argument in its favor. As a rule, "the chills" are accepted by farmers, especially at the West, as one of the slight inconveniences attending their residence on rich lands; and it is not proposed, in this work, to urge the evils of this terrible disease, and of "sun pain," or "day neuralgia," as a reason for draining the immense prairies over which they prevail. The diseases exist,—to the incalculable detriment of the people,—and thorough draining would remove them, and would doubtless bring a large average return on the investment;—but the question is, after all, one of capital; and the cost of such draining as would remove fever-and-ague from the bottom lands and prairies of the West, and from the infected agricultural districts at the East, would be more than the agricultural capital of those districts could spare for the purpose.

In the vicinity of cities and towns, however, where more wealth has accumulated, and where the number of persons subjected to the malarial influence is greater, there can be no question as to the propriety of draining, even if nothing but improved health be the object.

Then again, there are immense tracts near the large cities of this country which would be most desirable for residence, were it not that their occupancy, except with certain constant precautions, implies almost inevitable suffering from fever-and-ague, or neuralgia.

Very few neighborhoods within thirty miles of the city of New York are entirely free from these scourges, whose influence has greatly retarded their occupation by those who are seeking country homes; while many, who have braved the dangers of disease in these localities, have had sad cause to regret their temerity.

Probably the most striking instance of the effect of malaria on the growth and settlement of suburban districts, is to be found on Staten Island. Within five miles of the Battery; accessible by the most agreeable and best managed ferry from the city; practically, nearer to Wall street than Murray Hill is; with most charming views of land and water; with a beautifully diversified surface, and an excellent soil; and affording capital opportunities for sea bathing, it should be, (were it not for its sanitary reputation, it inevitably would be,) one vast residence-park. Except on its extreme northern end, and along its higher ridges, it has,—and, unfortunately, it deserves,—a most unenviable reputation for insalubrity. Here and there, on the southern slope also, there are favored places which are unaccountably free from the pest, but, as a rule, it is, during the summer and autumn, unsafe to live there without having constant recourse to preventive medication, or exercising unusual and inconvenient precautions with regard to exposure to mid-day sun and evening dew. There are always to be found attractive residences, which are deserted by their owners, and are offered for sale at absurdly low prices. There are isolated instances of very thorough and very costly draining, which has failed of effect, because so extensive a malarial region cannot be reclaimed by anything short of a systematic improvement of the whole.

It has been estimated that the thorough drainage of the low lands, valleys and ponds of the eastern end of the island, including two miles of the south shore, would at once add $5,000,000 to the market value of the real estate of that section. There can be no question that any radical improvement in this respect would remove the only obstacle to the rapid settlement of the island by those who wish to live in the country, yet need to be near to the business portion of the city. The hope of such improvement being made, however, seems as remote as ever,—although any one at all acquainted with the sources of miasm, in country neighborhoods, can readily see the cause of the difficulty, and the means for its removal are as plainly suggested.

Staten Island is, by no means, alone in this respect. All who know the history of the settlement of the other suburbs of New York are very well aware that those places which are free from fever-and-ague and malarial neuralgia, are extremely rare.

The exact cause of fever-and-ague and other malarial diseases is unknown, but it is demonstrated that, whatever the cause is, it is originated under a combination of circumstances, one of which is undue moisture in the soil. It is not necessary that land should be absolutely marshy to produce the miasm, for this often arises on cold, springy uplands which are quite free from deposits of muck. Thus far, the attention of scientific investigators, given to the consideration of the origin of malarial diseases, has failed to discover any well established facts concerning it; but there have been developed certain theories, which seem to be sustained by such knowledge as exists on the subject.

Dr. Bartlett, in his work on the Fevers of the United States, says:—"The essential, efficient, producing cause of periodical fever,—the poison whose action on the system gives rise to the disease,—is a substance or agent which has received the names of malaria, or marsh miasm. The nature and composition of this poison are wholly unknown to us. Like most other analogous agents, like the contagious principle of small-pox and of typhus, and like the epidemic poison of scarletina and cholera, they are too subtle to be recognized by any of our senses, they are too fugitive to be caught by any of our contrivances.

"As always happens in such cases and under similar circumstances, in the absence of positive knowledge, we have been abundantly supplied with conjecture and speculation; what observation has failed to discover, hypothesis has endeavored and professed to supply. It is quite unnecessary even to enumerate the different substances to which malaria has been referred. Amongst them are all of the chemical products and compounds possible in wet and marshy localities; moisture alone; the products of animal and vegetable decomposition; and invisible living organisms. * * * * Inscrutable, however, as the intimate nature of the substances or agents may be, there are some few of its laws and relations which are very well ascertained. One of these consists in its connection with low, or wet, or marshy localities. This connection is not invariable and exclusive, that is, there are marshy localities which are not malarious, and there are malarious localities which are not marshy; but there is no doubt whatever that it generally exists."

In a report to the United States Sanitary Commission, Dr. Metcalfe states, that all hypotheses, even the most plausible, are entirely unsupported by positive knowledge, and he says:—

"This confession of ignorance still leaves us in possession of certain knowledge concerning malaria, from which much practical good may be derived.

"1st. It affects, by preference, low and moist localities.

"2d. It is almost never developed at a lower temperature than 60 deg. Fahrenheit.

"3d. Its evolution or active agency is checked by a temperature of 32 deg..

"4th. It is most abundant and most virulent as we approach the equator and the sea-coast.

"5th. It has an affinity for dense foliage, which has the power of accumulating it, when lying in the course of winds blowing from malarious localities.

"6th. Forests, or even woods, have the power of obstructing and preventing its transmission, under these circumstances.

"7th. By atmospheric currents it is capable of being transported to considerable distances—probably as far as five miles.

"8th. It may be developed, in previously healthy places, by turning up the soil; as in making excavations for foundations of houses, tracks for railroads, and beds for canals.

"9th. In certain cases it seems to be attracted and absorbed by bodies of water lying in the course of such winds as waft it from the miasmatic source.

"10th. Experience alone can enable us to decide as to the presence or absence of malaria, in any given locality.

"11th. In proportion as countries, previously malarious, are cleared up and thickly settled, periodical fevers disappear—in many instances to be replaced by the typhoid or typhus."

La Roche, in a carefully prepared treatise on "Pneumonia; its Supposed Connection with Autumnal Fevers," recites various theories concerning the mode of action of marsh miasm, and finds them insufficient to account for the phenomena which they produce. He continues as follows:—

"All the above hypotheses failing to account for the effects in question, we are naturally led to the admission that they are produced by the morbific influence of some special agent; and when we take into consideration all the circumstances attending the appearance of febrile diseases, the circumscribed sphere of their prevalence, the suddenness of their attack, the character of their phenomena, etc., we may safely say that there is nothing left but to attribute them to the action of some poison dissolved or suspended in the air of the infected locality; which poison, while doubtless requiring for its development and dissemination a certain degree of heat, and terrestrial and atmospheric moisture, a certain amount of nightly condensation after evaporation, and the presence of fermenting or decomposing materials, cannot be produced by either of these agencies alone, and though indicated by the chemist, betrays its presence by producing on those exposed to its influence the peculiar morbid changes characterizing fever."

He quotes the following from the Researches of Dr. Chadwick:—

"In considering the circumstances external to the residence, which affect the sanitary condition of the population, the importance of a general land-drainage is developed by the inquiries as to the cause of the prevalent diseases, to be of a magnitude of which no conception had been formed at the commencement of the investigation. Its importance is manifested by the severe consequences of its neglect in every part of the country, as well as by its advantages in the increasing salubrity and productiveness wherever the drainage has been skillful and effectual."

La Roche calls attention to these facts:—That the acclimated residents of a malarious locality, while they are less subject than strangers to active fever, show, in their physical and even in their mental organization, evident indications of the ill effects of living in a poisonous atmosphere,—an evil which increases with successive generations, often resulting in a positive deterioration of the race; that the lower animals are affected, though in a less degree than man; that deposits of organic matter which are entirely covered with water, (as at the bottom of a pond,) are not productive of malaria; that this condition of saturation is infinitely preferable to imperfect drainage; that swamps which are shaded from the sun's heat by trees, are not supposed to produce disease; and that marshes which are exposed to constant winds are not especially deleterious to persons living in their immediate vicinity,—while winds frequently carry the emanations of miasmatic districts to points some miles distant, where they produce their worst effects. This latter statement is substantiated by the fact that houses situated some miles to the leeward of low, wet lands, have been especially insalubrious until the windows and doors on the side toward the source of the miasm were closed up, and openings made on the other side,—and thenceforth remained free from the disease, although other houses with openings on the exposed sides continued unhealthy.

The literature relating to periodical fevers contains nothing else so interesting as the very ingenious article of Dr. J. H. Salisbury, on the "Cause of Malarious Fevers," contributed to the "American Journal of Medical Science," for January, 1866. Unfortunately, while there is no evidence to controvert the statements of this article, they do not seem to be honored with the confidence of the profession,—not being regarded as sufficiently authenticated to form a basis for scientific deductions. Dr. Salisbury claims to have discovered the cause of malarial fever in the spores of a very low order of plant, which spores he claims to have invariably detected in the saliva, and in the urine, of fever patients, and in those of no other persons, and which he collected on plates of glass suspended over all marshes and other lands of a malarious character, which he examined, and which he was never able to obtain from lands which were not malarious. Starting from this point, he proceeds, (with circumstantial statements that seem to the unprofessional mind to be sufficient,) to show that the plant producing these spores is always found, in the form of a whitish, green, or brick-colored incrustation, on the surface of fever producing lands; that the spores, when detached from the parent plant, are carried in suspension only in the moist exhalations of wet lands, never rising higher, (usually from 35 to 60 feet,) nor being carried farther, than the humid air itself; that they most accumulate in the upper strata of the fogs, producing more disease on lands slightly elevated above the level of the marsh than at its very edge; that fever-and-ague are never to be found where this plant does not grow; that it may be at once introduced into the healthiest locality by transporting moist earth on which the incrustation is forming; that the plant, being introduced into the human system through the lungs, continues to grow there and causes disease; and that quinia arrests its growth, (as it checks the multiplication of yeast plants in fermentation,) and thus suspends the action of the disease.

Probably it would be impossible to prove that the foregoing theory is correct, though it is not improbable that it contains the germ from which a fuller knowledge of the disease and its causes will be obtained. It is sufficient for the purposes of this work to say that, so far as Dr. Salisbury's opinion is valuable, it is,—like the opinion of all other writers on the subject,—fully in favor of perfect drainage as the one great preventive of all malarial diseases.

The evidence of the effect of drainage in removing the cause of malarial diseases is complete and conclusive. Instances of such improvement in this country are not rare, but they are much less numerous and less conspicuous here than in England, where draining has been much more extensively carried out, and where greater pains have been taken to collect testimony as to its effects.

If there is any fact well established by satisfactory experience, it is that thorough and judicious draining will entirely remove the local source of the miasm which produces these diseases.

The voluminous reports of various Committees of the English Parliament, appointed to investigate sanitary questions, are replete with information concerning experience throughout the whole country, bearing directly on this question.

Dr. Whitley, in his report to the Board of Health, (in 1864,) of an extended tour of observation, says of one town that he examined:—

"Mr. Nicholls, who has been forty years in practice here, and whom I was unable to see at the time of my visit, writes: Intermittent and remittent are greatly on the decline since the improved state of drainage of the town and surrounding district, and more particularly marked is this alteration, since the introduction of the water-works in the place. Although we have occasional outbreaks of intermittent and remittent, with neuralgic attacks, they yield more speedily to remedies, and are not attended by so much enlargement of the liver or spleen as formerly, and dysentery is of rare occurrence."

Dr. Whitley sums up his case as follows:—

"It would appear from the foregoing inquiry, that intermittent and remittent fevers, and their consequences, can no longer be regarded as seriously affecting the health of the population, in many of the districts, in which those diseases were formerly of a formidable character. Thus, in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire, counties in which these diseases were both frequent and severe, all the evidence, except that furnished by the Peterborough Infirmary, and, in a somewhat less degree, in Spaulding, tends to show that they are at the present time, comparatively rare and mild in form."



He mentions similar results from his investigations in other parts of the kingdom, and says:—

"It may, therefore, be safely asserted as regards England generally, that:—

"The diseases which have been made the subject of the present inquiry, have been steadily decreasing, both in frequency and severity, for several years, and this decrease is attributed, in nearly every case, mainly to one cause,—improved land drainage;" again:

"The change of local circumstances, unanimously declared to be the most immediate in influencing the prevalence of malarious diseases, is land drainage;" and again:

"Except in a few cases in which medical men believed that these affections began to decline previously to the improved drainage of the places mentioned, the decrease in all of the districts where extensive drainage has been carried out, was stated to have commenced about the same time, and was unhesitatingly attributed to that cause."

A select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to investigate the condition and sanitary influence of the Thames marshes, reported their minutes of evidence, and their deductions therefrom, in 1854, The following is extracted from their report:

"It appears from the evidence of highly intelligent and eminent gentlemen of the medical profession, residing in the neighborhood of the marshes on both sides of the Thames below London Bridge, that the diseases prevalent in these districts are highly indicative of malarious influences, fever-and-ague being very prevalent; and that the sickness and mortality are greatest in those localities which adjoin imperfectly drained lands, and far exceed the usual average; and that ague and allied disorders frequently extend to the high grounds in the vicinity. In those districts where a partial drainage has been effected, a corresponding improvement in the health of the inhabitants is perceptible."

In the evidence given before the committee, Dr. P. Bossey testified that the malaria from salt marshes varied in intensity, being most active in the morning and in the Summer season. The marshes are sometimes covered by a little fog, usually not more than three feet thick, which is of a very offensive odor, and detrimental to health. Away from the marshes, there is a greater tendency to disease on the side toward which the prevailing winds blow.

Dr. James Stewart testified that the effect of malaria was greatest when very hot weather succeeds heavy rain or floods. He thought that malaria could be carried up a slope, but has never been known to descend, and that, consequently, an intervening hill affords sufficient protection against marsh malaria. He had known cases where the edges of a river were healthy and the uplands malarious.

In Santa Maura and Zante, where he had been stationed with the army, he had observed that the edge of a marsh would be comparatively healthy, while the higher places in the vicinity were exceedingly unhealthy. He thought that there were a great many mixed diseases which began like ague and terminated very differently; those diseases would, no doubt, assume a very different form if they were not produced by the marsh air; many diseases are very difficult to treat, from being of a mixed character beginning like marsh fevers and terminating like inflammatory fevers, or diseases of the chest.

Dr. George Farr testified that rheumatism and tic-doloreux were very common among the ladies who live at the Woolwich Arsenal, near the Thames marshes. Some of these cases were quite incurable, until the patients removed to a purer atmosphere.

W. H. Gall, M. D., thought that the extent to which malaria affected the health of London, must of course be very much a theoretical question; "but it is very remarkable that diseases which are not distinctly miasmatic, do become much more severe in a miasmatic district. Influenzas, which prevailed in England in 1847, were very much more fatal in London and the surrounding parts than they were in the country generally, and influenza and ague poisons are very nearly allied in their effects. Marsh miasms are conveyed, no doubt, a considerable distance. Sufficiently authentic cases are recorded to show that the influence of marsh miasm extends several miles." Other physicians testify to the fact, that near the Thames marshes, the prevalent diseases are all of them of an aguish type, intermittent and remittent, and that they are accompanied with much dysentery. Dr. John Manly said that, when he first went to Barking, he found a great deal of ague, but since the draining, in a population of ten thousand, there are not half-a-dozen cases annually and but very little remittent.

The following Extract is taken from the testimony of Sir Culling Eardly, Bart.:

"Chairman:—I believe you reside at Belvidere, in the parish of Erith?—Yes.—Ch.: Close to these marshes?—Yes.—Ch.: Can you speak from your own knowledge, of the state of these marshes, with regard to public health?—Sir C.: I can speak of some of the results which have been produced in the neighborhood, from the condition of the marshes; the neighborhood is in one continual state of ague. My own house is protected, from the height of its position, and a gentleman's house is less liable to the influence of malaria than the houses of the lower classes. But even in my house we are liable to ague; and to show the extraordinary manner in which the ague operates, in the basement story of this house where my men-servants sleep, we have more than once had bad ague. In the attics of my house, where my maid-servants sleep, we have never had it. Persons are deterred from settling in the neighborhood by the aguish character of the country. Many persons, attracted by the beauty of the locality, wish to come down and settle; but when they find the liability to ague, they are compelled to give up their intention. I may mention that the village of Erith itself, bears marks of the influence of malaria. It is more like one of the desolate towns of Italy, Ferrara, for instance, than a healthy, happy, English village. I do not know whether it is known to the committee, that Erith is the village described in Dickens' Household Words, as Dumble-down-deary, and that it is a most graphic and correct description of the state of the place, attributable to the unhealthy character of the locality."

He also stated that the ague is not confined to the marshes, but extends to the high lands near them.

The General Board of Health, of England, at the close of a voluminous report, publish the following "Conclusions as to the Drainage of Suburban Lands:—

"1. Excess of moisture, even on lands not evidently wet, is a cause of fogs and damps.

"2. Dampness serves as a medium for the conveyance of any decomposing matter that may be evolved, and adds to the injurious effects of such matters in the air:—in other words the excess of moisture may be said to increase or aggravate atmospheric impurities.

"3. The evaporation of the surplus moisture lowers the temperature, produces chills, and creates or aggravates the sudden and injurious changes or fluctuations by which health is injured."

In view of the foregoing opinions as to the cause of malaria, and of the evidence as to the effect of draining in removing the unhealthy condition in which those causes originate, it is not too much to say that,—in addition to the capital effect of draining on the productive capacity of the land,—the most beneficial sanitary results may be confidently expected from the extension of the practice, especially in such localities as are now unsafe, or at least undesirable for residence.

In proportion to the completeness and efficiency of the means for the removal of surplus water from the soil:—in proportion, that is, to the degree in which the improved tile drainage described in these pages is adopted,—will be the completeness of the removal of the causes of disease. So far as the drying of malarious lands is concerned, it is only necessary to construct drains in precisely the same manner as for agricultural improvement.

The removal of the waste of houses, and of other filth, will be considered in the next chapter.



CHAPTER XI. - HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE IN THEIR RELATIONS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

The following is extracted from a report made by the General Board of Health to the British Parliament, concerning the administration of the Public Health Act and the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts from 1848 to 1854.

"Where instances have been favorable for definite observation, as in broad blocks of buildings, the effects of sanitary improvement have been already manifested to an extent greater than could have been anticipated, and than can be readily credited by those who have not paid attention to the subject.

"In one favorable instance, that of between 600 and 700 persons of the working class in the metropolis, during a period of three years, the average rate of mortality has been reduced to between 13 and 14 in 1000. In another instance, for a shorter period, among 500 persons, the mortality has been reduced as low as even 7 in 1000. The average rate of mortality for the whole metropolis being 23 in 1000.

"In another instance, the abolishing of cess-pools and their replacement by water-closets, together with the abolishing of brick drains and their replacement by impermeable and self-cleansing stone-ware pipes, has been attended with an immediate and extraordinary reduction of mortality. Thus, in Lambeth Square, occupied by a superior class of operatives, in the receipt of high wages, the deaths, which in ordinary times were above the general average, or more than 30 in 1000, had risen to a rate of 55 in 1000. By the abolishing of cess-pools, which were within the houses, and the substitution of water-closets, and with the introduction of tubular, self-cleansing house-drains, the mortality has been reduced to 13 in 1000.

"The reduction of the mortality was effected precisely among the same occupants, without any change in their habits whatever."

"Sewers are less important than the House-Drains and Water-Closets, and if not carrying much water, may become cess-pools. In the case of the Square just referred to, when cess-pools and drains of deposit were removed without any alteration whatever in the adjacent sewers, fevers disappeared from house to house, as these receptacles were filled up, and the water-closet apparatus substituted, merely in consequence of the removal of the decomposing matter from beneath the houses to a distant sewer of deposit or open water course.

"If the mortality were at the same rate as in the model dwellings, or in the improved dwellings in Lambeth Square, the annual deaths for the whole of the metropolis would be 25,000 less, and for the whole of England and Wales 170,000 less than the actual deaths.

"If the reduced rate of mortality in these dwellings should continue, and there appears to be no reason to suppose that it will not, the extension to all towns which have been affected, of the improvements which have been applied in these buildings, would raise the average age at death to about forty-eight instead of twenty-nine, the present average age at death of the inhabitants of towns in all England and Wales."

The branch of the Art of Drainage which relates to the removal of the fecal and other refuse wastes of the population of towns, is quite different from that which has been described in the preceding pages, as applicable to the agricultural and sanitary improvement of lands under cultivation, and of suburban districts. Still, the fact that town and house drainage affords a means for the preservation of valuable manures, justifies its discussion in an agricultural work, and "draining for health" would stop far short of completeness were no attention paid to the removal of the cause of diseases, which are far more fatal than those that originate in an undrained condition of the soil.

The extent to which these diseases, (of which typhoid fever is a type,) are prevented by sanitary drainage, is strikingly shown in the extract which commences this chapter. Since the experience to which this report refers, it has been found that the most fatal epidemics of the lower portions of London originated in the choked condition of the street sewers, whose general character, as well as the plan of improvement adopted are described in the following "Extracts from the Report of the Metropolitan Board of Works," made in 1866.

"The main sewers discharged their whole contents direct into the Thames, the majority of them capable of being emptied only at the time of low water; consequently, as the tide rose, the outlets of the sewers were closed, and the sewage was dammed back, and became stagnant; the sewage and impure waters were also constantly flowing from the higher grounds, in some instances during 18 out of the 24 hours, and thus the thick and heavy substances were deposited, which had to be afterwards removed by the costly process of hand labor. During long continued or copious falls of rain, more particularly when these occurred at the time of high water in the river, the closed outlets not having sufficient storage capacity to receive the increased volume of sewage, the houses and premises in the low lying districts, especially on the south side of the river, became flooded by the sewage rising through the house drains, and so continued until the tide had receded sufficiently to afford a vent for the pent-up waters, when the sewage flowed and deposited itself along the banks of the river, evolving gases of a foul and offensive character.

"This state of things had a most injurious effect upon the condition of the Thames; for not only was the sewage carried up the river by the rising tide, at a time when the volume of pure water was at its minimum, and quite insufficient to dilute and disinfect it, but it was brought back again into the heart of the metropolis, there to mix with each day's fresh supply, until the gradual progress towards the sea of many day's accumulation could be plainly discerned; the result being that the portion of the river within the metropolitan district became scarcely less impure and offensive than the foulest of the sewers themselves. * * * * * *

"The Board, by the system they have adopted, have sought to abolish the evils which hitherto existed, by constructing new lines of sewers, laid in a direction at right angles to that of the existing sewers, and a little below their levels, so as to intercept their contents and convey them to an outfall, on the north side of the Thames about 11-1/4 miles, and on the south side about 14 miles, below London Bridge. By this arrangement as large a proportion of the sewage as practicable is carried away by gravitation, and a constant discharge for the remainder is provided by means of pumping. At the outlets, the sewage is delivered into reservoirs situate on the banks of the Thames, and placed at such levels as enable them to discharge into the river at or about the time of high water. The sewage thus becomes not only at once diluted by the large volume of water in the river at the time of high water, but is also carried by the ebb 26 miles below London Bridge, and its return by the following flood-tide within the metropolitan area, is effectually prevented."

The details of this stupendous enterprise are of sufficient interest to justify the introduction here of the "General Statistics of the Works" as reported by the Board.

"A few statistics relative to the works may not prove uninteresting. The first portion of the works was commenced in January 1859, being about five months after the passing of the Act authorising their execution. There are 82 miles of main intercepting sewers in London. In the construction of the works 318,000,000 of bricks, and 880,000 cubic yards of concrete have been used, and 3,500,000 cubic yards of earth excavated. The cost, when completed, will have been about L4,200,000. The total pumping power employed is 2,300 nominal horse power: and if the engines were at full work, night and day, 44,000 tons of coals per annum would be used; but the average consumption is estimated at 20,000 tons. The sewage to be intercepted by the works on the north side of the river, at present amounts to 10,000,000 cubic feet, and on the south side 4,000,000 cubic feet per day; but provision is made for an anticipated increase in these quantities, in addition to the rainfall, amounting to a total of 63,000,000 cubic feet per day, which is equal to a lake of 482 acres, three feet deep, or 15 times as large as the Serpentine in Hyde Park."

A very large portion of the sewage has to be lifted thirty-six feet to the outfall sewer. The works on the north side of the Thames were formally opened, by the Prince of Wales, in April 1865.

In the hope that the immense amount of sewage, for which an escape has been thus provided, might be profitably employed in agriculture, advertisements were inserted in the public journals asking for proposals for carrying out such a scheme; and arrangements were subsequently made for an extension of the works, by private enterprise, by the construction of a culvert nine and a half feet in diameter, and forty miles in length, capable of carrying 12,000,000 cubic feet of sewage per day to the barren sands on the coast of Essex; the intention being to dispose of the liquid to farmers along the line, and to use the surplus for the fertilization of 7000 acres, (to be subsequently increased,) which are to be reclaimed from the sea by embankments and valve sluice-gates.

The estimated cost of this enterprise is about $10,000,000.

The work which has been done, and which is now in contemplation, in England, is suggestive of what might, with advantage, be adopted in the larger cities in America. Especially in New York an improved means of outlet is desirable, and it is doubtful whether the high rate of mortality of that city will be materially reduced before effective measures are devised for removing the vast accumulations of filth, which ebb and flow in many of the larger sewers, with each change of the tide; and which are deposited between the piers along the river-sides.

It would be practicable to construct a main receiving sewer under the river streets, skirting the city, from the vicinity of Bellevue Hospital on the east side, passing near the outer edge of the Battery, and continuing to the high land near 60th street on the west side; having its water level at least twenty feet below the level of the street, and receiving all of the sewage which now flows into the river. At the Battery, this receiving sewer might be connected, by a tunnel, with the Brooklyn shore, its contents being carried to a convenient point south of Fort Hamilton,—where their discharge, (by lifting steam pumps), into the waters of the Lower Bay, would be attended with no inconvenience. The improvement being carried out to this point, it would probably not be long before the advantages to result from the application of the sewage to the sandy soil on the south side of Long Island would be manifest.

The effect of such an improvement on the health of the city,—which is now in constant danger from the putrefying filth of the sewers, (these being little better than covered cess-pools under the streets,)—would, no doubt, equal the improvement that has resulted from similar work in London.

The foregoing relates only to the main outlets for town sewage. The arterial drainage, (the lateral drains of the system,) which receives the waste of the houses and the wash of the streets, is entirely dependent on the outlet sewers, and can be effective only when these are so constructed as to afford a free outfall for the matters that it delivers to them. In many towns, owing to high situation, or to a rapid inclination of surface, the outfall is naturally so good as to require but little attention. In all cases, the manner of constructing the collecting drains is a matter of great importance, and in this work a radical change has been introduced within a few years past.

Formerly, immense conduits of porous brick work, in all cases large enough to be entered to be cleansed, by hand labor, of their accumulated deposits, were considered necessary for the accommodation of the smallest discharge. The consequence of this was, that, especially in sewers carrying but little water, the solid matters contained in the sewage were deposited by the sluggish flow, frequently causing the entire obstruction of the passages. Such drains always required frequent and expensive cleansing by hand, and the decomposition of the filth which they contained produced a most injurious effect on the health of persons living near their connections with the street. The foul liquids with which they were filled, passing through their porous walls, impregnated the earth near them, and sometimes reached to the cellars of adjacent houses, which were in consequence rendered extremely unhealthy. Many such sewers are now in existence, and some such are still being constructed. Not only are they unsatisfactory, they are much more expensive in construction, and require much attention and labor for repairs, and cleansing, than do the stone-ware pipe sewers which are now universally adopted wherever measures are taken to investigate their comparative merits. An example of the difference between the old and modern styles of sewers is found in the drainage of the Westminster School buildings, etc., in London.

The new drainage conveys the house and surface drainage of about two acres on which are fifteen large houses. The whole length of the drain is about three thousand feet, and the entire outlet is through two nine inch pipes. The drainage is perfectly removed, and the pipes are always clean, no foul matters being deposited at any point. This drainage has been adopted as a substitute for an old system of sewerage of which the main was from 4 feet high, by 3 feet 6 inches wide, to 17 feet high and 6 or 7 feet wide. The houses had cess-pools beneath them, which were filled with the accumulations of many years, while the sewers themselves were scarcely less offensive. This condition resulted in a severe epidemic fever of a very fatal character.

An examination instituted to discover the cause of the epidemic resulted in the discovery of the facts set forth above, and there were removed from the drains and cess-pools more than 550 loads of ordure. The evaporating surface of this filth was more than 2000 square yards.

Since the new drainage, not only has there been no recurrence of epidemic fever, but "a greater improvement in the general health of the population has succeeded than might be reasonably expected in a small block of houses, amidst an ill-conditioned district, from which it cannot be completely isolated."

The principle which justifies the use of pipe sewers is precisely that which has been described in recommending small tiles for agricultural drainage,—to wit: that the rapidity of a flow of water, and its power to remove obstacles, is in proportion to its depth as compared with its width. It has been found in practice, that a stream which wends its sluggish way along the bottom of a large brick culvert, when concentrated within the area of a small pipe of regular form, flows much more rapidly, and will carry away even whole bricks, and other substances which were an obstacle to its flow in the larger channel. As an experiment as to the efficacy of small pipes Mr. Hale, the surveyor, who was directed by the General Board of Health of London to make the trial, laid a 12-inch pipe in the bottom of a sewer 5 feet and 6 inches high, and 3 feet and 6 inches wide. The area drained was about 44 acres. He found the velocity of the stream in the pipe to be four and a half times greater than that of the same amount of water in the sewer. The pipe at no time accumulated silt, and the force of the water issuing from the end of the pipe kept the bottom of the sewer perfectly clear for the distance of 12 feet, beyond which point some bricks and stones were deposited, their quantity increasing with the distance from the pipe. He caused sand, pieces of bricks, stones, mud, etc., to be put into the head of the pipe. These were all carried clear through the pipe, but were deposited in the sewer below it.

It has been found by experiment that in a flat bottomed sewer, four feet wide, having a fall of eight inches in one hundred feet, a stream of water one inch depth, runs very sluggishly, while the same water running through a 12-inch pipe, laid on the same inclination, forms a rapid stream, carrying away the heavy silt which was deposited in the broad sewer. As a consequence of this, it has been found, where pipe sewers are used, even on almost imperceptible inclinations, that silt is very rarely deposited, and the waste matters of house and street drainage are carried immediately to the outlet, instead of remaining to ferment and poison the atmosphere of the streets through which they pass. In the rare cases of obstruction which occur, the pipes are very readily cleansed by flushing, at a tithe of the cost of the constant hand-work required in brick sewers.

For the first six or seven hundred feet at the head of a sewer, a six inch pipe will remove all of the house and street drainage, even during a heavy rain fall; and if the inclination is rapid, (say 6 inches to 100 feet,) the acceleration of the flow, caused partly by the constant additions to the water, pipes of this size may be used for considerably greater distances. It has been found by actual trial that it is not necessary to increase the size of the pipe sewer in exact proportion to the amount of drainage that it has to convey, as each addition to the flow, where drainage is admitted from street openings or from houses, accelerates the velocity of the current, pipes discharging even eight times as much when received at intervals along the line as they would take from a full head at the upper end of the sewer.

For a district inhabited by 10,000 persons, a 12-inch pipe would afford a sufficient outlet, unless the amount of road drainage were unusually large, and for the largest sewers, pipes of more than 18 inches diameter are rarely used, these doing the work which, under the old system, was alloted to a sewer 6 feet high and 3 feet broad.

Of course, the connections by which the drainage of roads is admitted to these sewers, must be provided with ample silt-basins, which require frequent cleaning out. In the construction of the sewers, man-holes, built to the surface, are placed at sufficient intervals, and at all points where the course of the sewer changes, so that a light placed at one of these may be seen from the next one;—the contractor being required to lay the sewer so that the light may be thus seen, a straight line both of inclination and direction is secured.

The rules which regulate the laying of land-drains apply with equal force in the making of sewers, that is no part of the pipe should be less perfect, either in material or construction, than that which lies above it; and where the inclination becomes less, in approaching the outlet, silt-basins should be employed, unless the decreased fall is still rapid. The essential point of difference is, that while land drains may be of porous material, and should have open joints for the admission of water, sewer pipes should be of impervious glazed earthen-ware, and their joints should be securely cemented, to prevent the escape of the sewage, which it is their province to remove, not to distribute. Drains from houses, which need not be more than 3 or 4 inches in diameter, should be of the same material, and should discharge with considerable inclination into the pipes, being connected with a curving branch, directing the fluid towards the outlet.

In laying a sewer, it is customary to insert a pipe with a branch opposite each house, or probable site of a house.

It is important that, in towns not supplied with waterworks, measures be taken to prevent the admission of too much solid matter in the drainage of houses. Water being the motive power for the removal of the solid parts of the sewage, unless there be a public supply which can be turned on at pleasure, no house should deliver more solid matter than can be carried away by its refuse waters.

The drainage of houses is one of the chief objects of sewerage.

In addition to the cases cited above of the model lodging houses in Lambeth Square, and of the buildings at Westminster, it may be well to refer to a remarkable epidemic which broke out in the Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1864, which was of so violent and fatal a character as to elicit a special examination by a committee of physicians. The family consisted, (pupils, servants, and all,) of one hundred and twelve persons. Of these, fifty-one were attacked with well-defined typhoid fever during a period of less than three weeks. Of this number thirteen died. The following is extracted from the report of the committee:

"Of the 74 resident pupils heard from, 66 are reported as having had illness of some kind at the close of the school or soon after. This is a proportion of 33/37 or nearly 90 per cent. Of the same 74, fifty-one had typhoid fever, or a proportion of nearly 69 per cent. If all the people in the town, say 8000, had been affected in an equal proportion, more than 7000 would have been ill during these few weeks, and about 5500 of them would have had typhoid fever, and of these over 1375 would have died. If it would be a more just comparison to take the whole family at Maplewood into the account, estimating the number at 112, fifty-six had typhoid fever, or 50 per cent., and of these fifty-six, sixteen died, or over 28.5 per cent. These proportions applied to the whole population of 8000, would give 4000 of typhoid fever in the same time; and of these 1140 would have died. According to the testimony of the practising physicians of Pittsfield, the number of cases of typhoid fever, during this period, aside from those affected by the influences at Maplewood, was small, some physicians not having had any, others had two or three." These cases amounted to but eight, none of which terminated fatally.

The whole secret of this case was proven to have been the retention of the ordure and waste matter from the kitchens and dormitories in privies and vaults, underneath or immediately adjoining the buildings, the odor from these having been offensively perceptible, and under certain atmospheric conditions, having pervaded the whole house.

The committee say "it would be impossible to bring this report within reasonable limits, were we to discuss the various questions connected with the origin and propagation of typhoid fever, although various theoretical views are held as to whether the poison producing the disease is generated in the bodies of the sick, and communicated from them to the well, or whether it is generated in sources exterior to the bodies of fever patients, yet all authorities maintain that a peculiar poison is concerned in its production.

"Those who hold to the doctrine of contagion admit that, to give such contagion efficacy in the production of wide spread results, filth or decaying organic matter is essential; while those who sustain the theory of non-contagion—the production of the poison from sources without the bodies of the sick—contend that it has its entire origin in such filth—in decomposing matter, especially in fermenting sewage, and decaying human excreta.

"The injurious influence of decomposing azotised matter, in either predisposing to or exciting severe disease, and particularly typhoid fever, is universally admitted among high medical authorities."

The committee were of the opinion "that the disease at Maplewood essentially originated in the state of the privies and drainage of the place; the high temperature, and other peculiar atmospheric conditions developing, in the organic material thus exposed, a peculiar poison, which accumulated in sufficient quantity to pervade the whole premises, and operated a sufficient length of time to produce disease in young and susceptible persons. * * * * * * To prevent the poison of typhoid fever when taken into the system, from producing its legitimate effects, except by natural agencies, would require as positive a miracle as to restore a severed head, or arrest the course of the heavenly bodies in their spheres. * * * The lesson for all, for the future, is too obvious to need further pointing out; and the committee cannot doubt that they would hazard little in predicting that the wisdom obtained by this sad experience, will be of value in the future management of this institution, and secure precautions which will forever prevent the recurrence of such a calamity."

The results of all sanitary investigation indicate clearly the vital necessity for the complete and speedy removal from human habitations of all matters which, by their decomposition, may tend to the production of disease, and early measures should be taken by the authorities of all towns, especially those which are at all compactly built, to secure this removal. The means by which this is to be effected are to be found in such a combination of water-supply and sewerage, as will furnish a constant and copious supply of water to dissolve or hold in suspension the whole of the waste matters, and will provide a channel through which they may be carried away from the vicinity of residences. If means for the application of the sewage water to agricultural lands can be provided, a part if not the whole of the cost of the works will be thus returned.

Concerning the details of house drainage, it would be impossible to say much within the limits of this book. The construction of water-closets, soil-pipes, sinks, etc., are too will be understood to need a special description here.

The principal point, (aside from the use of pipes instead of brick-sewers and brick house-drains,) is what is called in London the system of Back Drainage, where only principal main lines of sewers are laid under the streets, all collecting sewers passing through the centres of the blocks in the rear of the houses. Pipes for water supply are disposed in the same manner, as it is chiefly at the rears of houses that water is required, and that drainage is most necessary; and this adjustment saves the cost, the annoyance and the loss of fall, which accompany the use of pipes running under the entire length of each house. Much tearing up of pavements, expensive ditching in hard road-ways, and interference with traffic is avoided, while very much less ditching and piping is necessary, and repairs are made with very little annoyance to the occupants of houses. The accompanying diagrams, (Figs. 48-49,) illustrate the difference between the old system of drainage with brick sewers under the streets, and brick drains under the houses, and pipe sewers under main streets and through the back yards of premises. A measurement of these two methods will show that the lengths of the drains in the new system, are to those of the old, as 1 to 2-1/4;—the fall of the house drains, (these having much less length,) would be 10 times more in the one case than in the other;—the main sewers would have twice the fall, their area would be only 1/30], and their cubic contents only 1/73.

[Fig. 48 - OLD STYLE HOUSE DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE.]

Fig. 48 - OLD STYLE HOUSE DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE.

Experience in England has shown that if the whole cost of water supply and pipe sewers is, with its interest, divided over a period of thirty years,—so that at the end of that time it should all be repaid,—the annual charge would not be greater than the cost of keeping house-drains and cess-pools pools clean. The General Board of Health state that "the expense of cleansing the brick house-drains and cess-pools for four or five years, would pay the expense of properly constructed water-closets and pipe-drains, for the greater number of old premises."

[Fig. 49 - MODERN HOUSE DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE.]

Fig. 49 - MODERN HOUSE DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE.

One of the reports of this body, which has added more than any other organization to the world's knowledge on these subjects, closes with the following:

"Conclusions obtained as to house drainage, and the sewerage and cleansing of the sites of towns."

"That no population living amidst impurities, arising from the putrid emanations from cess-pools, drains and sewers of deposit, can be healthy or free from the attacks of devastating epidemics.

"That as a primary condition of salubrity, no ordure and town refuse can be permitted to remain beneath or near habitations.

"That by no means can remedial operations be so conveniently, economically, inoffensively, and quickly effected as by the removal of all such refuse dissolved or suspended in water.

"That it has been subsequently proved by the operation of draining houses with tubular drains, in upwards of 19,000 cases, and by the trial of more than 200 miles of pipe sewers, that the practice of constructing large brick or stone sewers for general town drainage, which detain matters passing into them in suspension in water, which accumulate deposit, and which are made large enough for men to enter them, and remove the deposit by hand labor, without reference to the area to be drained, has been in ignorance, neglect or perversion of the above recited principles.

"That while sewers so constructed are productive of great injury to the public health, by the diffusion into houses and streets of the noxious products of the decomposing matters contained in them, they are wasteful from the increased expense of their construction and repair, and from the cost of ineffectual efforts to keep them free from deposit.

"That the house-drains, made as they have heretofore been, of absorbent brick or stone, besides detaining substances in suspension, accumulating foul deposit, and being so permeable as to permit the escape of the liquid and gaseous matters, are also false in principle and wasteful in the expense of construction, cleansing and repair.

"That it results from the experience developed in these inquiries, that improved tubular house-drains and sewers of the proper sizes, inclinations, and material, detain and accumulate no deposit, emit no offensive smells, and require no additional supplies of water to keep them clear.

"That the offensive smells proceeding from any works intended for house or town drainage, indicate the fact of the detention and decomposition of ordure, and afford decisive evidence of mal-construction or of ignorant or defective arrangement.

"That the method of removing refuse in suspension in water by properly combined works, is much better than that of collecting it in pits or cess-pools near or underneath houses, emptying it by hand labor, and removing it by carts.

"That it is important for the sake of economy, as well as for the health of the population, that the practice of the removal of refuse in suspension in water, and by combined works, should be applied to all houses, especially those occupied by the poorer classes."

Later investigations of the subject have established two general conclusions applicable to the subject, namely, that:

"In towns all offensive smells from the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, indicate the generation and presence of the causes of insalubrity and of preventable disease, at the same time that they prove defective local administration; and correlatively, that:

"In rural districts all continuous offensive smells from animal and vegetable decomposition, indicate preventable loss of fertilizing matter, loss of money, and bad husbandry."

The principles herein set forth, whether relating to sanitary improvement, to convenience and decency of living, or to the use of waste matters of houses in agricultural improvement, are no less applicable in America than elsewhere; and the more general adoption of improved house drainage and sewerage, and of the use of sewage matters in agriculture, would add to the health and prosperity of its people, and would indicate a great advance in civilization.



INDEX

Absorption and Filtration, 26-39 Angles to be, as far as possible, avoided, 99

Baking of clay soils by evaporation, 30 Barley, 168 Bartlett, Dr., quotation from, 211 Base-line, 145 Boning-rods, (with illustrations), 125-126

Central Park, 74-86 Cess-pools, cause of epidemics, 237 Chadwick, Dr., quotation from, 213 Clay Soils, 75 Clay Soils, Baking of by Evaporation, 30 Clay Soils, Made mellow by draining, 29-30 Clay Soils, Shrinkage of, 28 Clinometer, (illustration), 56 Collars, 84 Connections, 132 Connections (illustrations), 134 Corn, Indian, 162 Cost of draining, 150-153-158 Cotton, 169 Covering and filling, cost of, 157 Covering for the joints of tiles, 132 Covering tiles, 136

Datum-line, 52-104 Denton, J. Bailey, quotation from, 115 Distance between drains, 73 Diseases, malarial, 208 Ditches, cost of digging, 154 Draining, amateur, 47 Draining, indications of the need of, 9 Draining, its effect on farming, 171 Draining, tiles, how made, 174 Draining, tiles, materials for, 174 Draining, tools, (illustration), 114 Draining, what it costs, 150 Draining, will it pay? 161 Draining, when necessary, 7 Drains, Cubic yards of excavation in, 155 Drains, and drained land, care of, 144 Drains, lateral, should be parallel, 99 Drains, how they act, 21 Drains, obstructed, how cleared, 146 Drains, old, how formed, 146 Drains, rate of fall, 90 Drains, their action in the Central Park, 86 Drained Soil, capacity for receiving water of rains, 23 Drainage of dwelling houses, 232 Drought, 37-40

Economy versus cheapness, 152 Engineering and Superintendence, cost of, 153 Engineers, draining, 47 Epidemic at Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, 232 Epidemics caused by cess-pools, 237 Epidemics caused by ordure beneath houses, 238 Evaporation, 33 Evaporation, amount of, 34 Evaporation, effect on temperature, 33-35 Evaporation, heat lost during, 34

Fall, rate of in drains, 77 Fallacies in draining, 62 Fen-lands of England, 193 Fever and Ague, 208 Fever and Ague, exact cause unknown, 210 Filtration and absorption, 26-39 Filling, illustration of—ditch with, furrows, 141 Filling, maul for ramming, (illustration), 138 Filling, scraper for, (illustration), 140 Filling, the ditches, 136 Finishing tools, (illustration), 123 Finishing scoop, 123 Finishing scoop, how used, 126 Foot-pick, (illustration), 156 Four-foot drains, 70

Germination of seeds, 13 Gisborne, Thos., quotations from, 28-31-35-47-66-78-84-93-127 Grading, 124 Grading, cost of, 156 Grade stakes, 103 Grades, computation for, 109 Grades, how to establish, 107 Gratings in Silt-basins, 148

Hackensack meadows, 203 Hay, 168 Heat, amount of lost during evaporation, 34 House drainage, 220 House drainage, back drain system, 235 House drainage bad, indicated by offensive smells, 239

Indications of the need of draining, 9 Injury from standing water in the subsoil, 15 Impervious soil, 31

John Johnson, 164

Land requiring draining, 7 Lateral drains, 61-97 Lateral drains, direction of, 75 Lateral drains, shallow, how connected with deep main, 111 La Roche, quotations from, 213 Levels, how to take for drains, 104 Levelling instrument, (illustration), 52 Levelling rod, (illustration), 53 Location of main drains, 58

Madden, Dr., quotation from, 12 Main drain, 96 Main drain, location of, 58 Malaria 211 Malaria borne by winds, 212-214-219 Malaria conclusions of the General Board of Health of England, 220 Malaria facts concerning, 212 Malaria spread of, prevented by hills, 218 Malarial diseases, evidence of the effect of drainage in removing, 216 Malarial diseases, reports to the British Parliament concerning, 216 Malarial diseases, rheumatism and tic-douloureux, 219 Malarious localities, effects of residence in, 214 Maps, amending the, 142 Maps, description of, (illustrations), 49-50-51-54-98 Maps, importance of, 48 Marking the lines, 116 Mechi, Alderman, quotations from, 29-71 Mellowness or Porosity, 41 Measuring staff (illustration), 124 Metcalf, Dr., quotation from, 211 Movement of water in the ground, 32-64-65 Mortality, rate of reduced by improved house drainage, 222

Neuralgia, 208 New York, suggestions for sewer outlets, 227

Oats, 168 Obstructions, 90 Opening ditches, 122 Outlet, 95 Outlet, how made (with illustrations), 118 Outlet, location of, 58

Parkes, Josiah, quotations from, 36-71-88-178 Porosity, 41 Profile of a drain, (illustration), 106 Profit, instances of, 167-170 Production, amount of increase of, necessary to make draining profitable, 162 Puddling, 8-31-148 Pumping, 206 Pumping, London sewage, 226

Rock, sounding for, 55 Rock, how to collect water from, 60 Roots, depth to which they reach, 40-67 Roots, as a cause of obstruction, 93-148 Rye, 168

Salisbury's, Dr., theory concerning malarious fever, 214 Salt marshes, catch water drains, 201 Salt marshes, construction of embankment, 196 Salt marshes, dyke and ditch, (illustration), 197 Salt marshes, exclusion of the sea, 195 Salt marshes, how formed, 194 Salt marshes, inundations from upland , 201 Salt marshes, location and size of embankment, 195 Salt marshes, management of creeks, 198-200 Salt marshes, management of rivers, 201 Salt marshes, muskrats, 199 Salt marshes, outlet for under drainage, 204-205 Salt marshes, pumping, 206 Salt marshes, rain-fall and filtration, 204 Salt marshes, valve-gates and sluices, 204 Scraper for filling ditches, (illustration), 140 Seeds, germination of, 13 Sewage, use of in agriculture, 226 Sewers, defects of large, 228-238 Sewers, description of the London outfall, 225 Sewers, efficacy of glazed earthern pipes, 229-230-238 Sewers, experiments of Hale on pipe sewers, 230 Sewers, imperfect, 224 Sewers, of brick, defective, 228-235-238 Sewerage, conclusions of General Board of Health, 237 Sewerage, of New York, 227 Shrinkage of clay soils, 28 Sides of ditches in soft land, how braced, (illustration), 124 Silt, 90 Silt, basins, (illustrations), 121-135-136 Silt, basins, how made, 120 Silt, basins, 91-96-134 Silt, in tiles, 144 Sources of the water in the soil, 10 Springs, how to collect the water of, 59-60-141 Staking out the lines, 102 Staten Island, 209 Steam pumps, 206 Stone and tile drains, 142 Sub-mains, 59

Teams used in opening ditches, 122 Temperature, 35-66 Temperature, affected by draining, 36 Tile laying, 127 Tile-pick, (illustration), 131 Tiles, and tile laying, cost of, 157 Tiles, capacity for discharging water, 84-86 Tiles, double-style, 80 Tiles, drain—essential characteristics, 22 Tiles, how made, 174 Tiles, horse-shoe, 78 Tiles, kinds and sizes, 77 Tiles, ordering, 82-101 Tiles, objections to large sizes, 147 Tiles, pipes and collars, 81 Tiles, rapidity with which they receive water, 78 Tiles, sizes of, 81 Tiles, sizes required for different areas, 88 Tiles, should be well formed, 83 Tiles, sole, 80 Tiles, trimming and perforating, 131 Tile making, material for, 174 Tile preparation of earths, 176 Tile rolling and drying, 182 Tile washing the clay, 177 Tobacco, 169 Tools required, 113 Town drainage, conclusions of General Board of Health, 237

Undrained land not reliable for cultivation, 18

Vermin as a cause of obstruction, 93

Water, depth of, 66-70 Water, in the sub-soil, injurious effects of, 15 Water, movement of in the ground, 32-64-65 Water, objections to excess of, 11 Water, the best vehicle for removing ordure, 238 Water, when beneficial and when injurious, 24 Water-courses and brooks, how treated during draining operations, 117 Water-table, 22 Wind-mills, 206 Wheat, 164-167



DRAINING ENGINEERING.

The undersigned is prepared to assume the personal direction of works of Agricultural and Town Drainage, and Water Supply, in any part of the country; or to send advice and information, by letter, for the guidance of others.

Persons sending maps of their land, with contour lines, (see Fig. 8, page 54,) accompanied by such information as can be given in writing, will be furnished with explicit instructions concerning the arrangement and depth of the drains required; kinds and sizes of tiles to be used; management of the work, etc., etc.

The lines of drains will be laid down, on the maps, for the direction of local engineers,—and, when required, the grades will be calculated and noted at the positions of the stakes.

For particulars, address

GEO. E. WARING, JR., P. O. Box 290, NEWPORT, R. I.



THE SMALL FRUIT CULTURIST.

BY

ANDREW S. FULLER.

Beautifully Illustrated.

We have heretofore had no work especially devoted to small fruits, and certainly no treatises anywhere that give the information contained in this. It is to the advantage of special works that the author can say all that he has to say on any subject, and not be restricted as to space, as he must be in those works that cover the culture of all fruits—great and small.

This book covers the whole ground of Propagating Small Fruits, their Culture, Varieties, Packing for Market, etc. While very full on the other fruits, the Currants and Raspberries have been more carefully elaborated than ever before, and in this important part of his book, the author has had the invaluable counsel of Charles Downing. The chapter on gathering and packing the fruit is a valuable one, and in it are figured all the baskets and boxes now in common use. The book is very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and makes an admirable companion to the Grape Culturist, by the same author.

CONTENTS:

CHAP. I. BARBERRY. CHAP. II. STRAWBERRY. CHAP. III. RASPBERRY. CHAP. IV. BLACKBERRY. CHAP. V. DWARF CHERRY. CHAP. VI. CURRANT. CHAP. VII. GOOSEBERRY. CHAP. VIII. CORNELIAN CHERRY. CHAP. IX. CRANBERRY. CHAP. X. HUCKLEBERRY. CHAP. XI. SHEPERDIA. CHAP. XII. PREPARATION FOR GATHERING FRUIT.

Sent post-paid. Price $1.50.



ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New-York.



THE GRAPE CULTURIST

BY

ANDREW S. FULLER.

NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.

THE STANDARD WORK

ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE HARDY GRAPE, AS IT NOT ONLY DISCUSSES PRINCIPLES, BUT

*ILLUSTRATES PRACTICE*.

Every thing is made perfectly plain, and its teachings may be followed upon.

ONE VINE OR A VINEYARD

The following are some of the topics that are treated:

GROWING NEW VARIETIES FROM SEED. PROPAGATION BY SINGLE BUDS OR EYES. PROPAGATING HOUSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT FULLY DESCRIBED. HOW TO GROW. CUTTINGS IN OPEN AIR, AND HOW TO MAKE LAYERS. GRAFTING THE GRAPE—A SIMPLE AND SUCCESSFUL METHOD. HYBRIDIZING AND CROSSING—MODE OF OPERATION. SOIL AND SITUATION—PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. PRUNING, TRAINING, AND TRELLISES—ALL THE SYSTEMS EXPLAINED. GARDEN CULTURE—HOW TO GROW VINES IN A DOOR-YARD. INSECTS, MILDEW, SUN-SCALD, AND OTHER TROUBLES. DESCRIPTION OF THE VALUABLE AND THE DISCARDED VARIETIES.

Sent post-paid. Price $1.50.



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AMERICAN POMOLOGY

APPLES.

By Doct. JOHN A. WARDER,

PRESIDENT OHIO POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY; VICE-PRESIDENT AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

293 ILLUSTRATIONS.

This volume has about 750 pages, the first 375 of which are devoted to the discussion of the general subjects of propagation, nursery culture, selection and planting, cultivation of orchards, care of fruit, insects, and the like; the remainder is occupied with descriptions of apples. With the richness of material at hand, the trouble was to decide what to leave out. It will be found that while the old and standard varieties are not neglected, the new and promising sorts, especially those of the South and West, have prominence. A list of selections for different localities by eminent orchardists is a valuable portion of the volume, while the Analytical Index or Catalogue Raisonne, as the French would say, is the most extended American fruit list ever published, and gives evidence of a fearful amount of labor.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.—INTRODUCTORY. Chapter II.—HISTORY OF THE APPLE. Chapter III.—PROPAGATION. - Buds and Cuttings—Grafting—Budding—The Nursery. Chapter IV.—DWARFING. Chapter V.—DISEASES. Chapter VI.—THE SITE FOR AN ORCHARD. Chapter VII.—PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR AN ORCHARD. Chapter VIII.—SELECTION AND PLANTING. Chapter IX.—CULTURE, Etc. Chapter X.—PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. Chapter XI.—THINNING. Chapter XII.—RIPENING AND PRESERVING FRUITS. Chapter XIII and XIV.—INSECTS. Chapter XV.—CHARACTERS OF FRUITS AND THEIR VALUE—TERMS USED. Chapter XVI.—CLASSIFICATION. - Necessity for—Basis of—Characters—Shape—Its Regularity—Flavor—Color—Their several Values, etc. Description of Apples. Chapter XVII.—FRUIT LISTS—CATALOGUE AND INDEX OF FRUITS.

Sent Post-Paid. Price $3.00.



ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New-York



GARDENING FOR PROFIT

In the Market and Family Garden.

BY PETER HENDERSON.

FINELY ILLUSTRATED.

This is the first work on Market Gardening ever published in this country. Its author is well known as a market gardener of eighteen years' successful experience. In this work he has recorded this experience, and given, without reservation, the methods necessary to the profitable culture of the commercial or

MARKET GARDEN.

It is a work for which there has long been a demand, and one which will commend itself, not only to those who grow vegetables for sale, but to the cultivator of the

FAMILY GARDEN,

to whom it presents methods quite different from the old ones generally practiced. It is an ORIGINAL AND PURELY AMERICAN work, and not made up, as books on gardening too often are, by quotations from foreign authors.

Every thing is made perfectly plain, and the subject treated in all its details, from the selection of the soil to preparing the products for market.

CONTENTS.

Men fitted for the Business of Gardening. The Amount of Capital Required, and Working Force per Acre. Profits of Market Gardening. Location, Situation, and Laying Out. Soils, Drainage, and Preparation. Manures, Implements. Uses and Management of Cold Frames. Formation and Management of Hot-beds. Forcing Pits or Green-houses. Seeds and Seed Raising. How, When, and Where to Sow Seeds. Transplanting, Insects. Packing of Vegetables for Shipping. Preservation of Vegetables in Winter. Vegetables, their Varieties and Cultivation.

In the last chapter, the most valuable kinds are described, and the culture proper to each is given in detail.

Sent post-paid, price $1.50.

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New-York.



THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL ANNUAL

FOR 1870.

A YEAR BOOK

WANTED BY EVERY BODY.

This valuable Year Book has now reached its fourth number. In its general features it follows the plan of the three numbers that have preceded it, and, like them, is beautifully illustrated.

CONTENTS.

Almanac and Calendar for 1870. Agricultural and Kindred Journals. Agricultural and Kindred Books. Prospect and Retrospect. Immigration. Home Markets. Cooeperation among Farmers. Commercial Fertilizers. The Crops and the Weather. Thorough Drainage. Agricultural Exhibitions. Poultry Societies and Shows. Importation of Live Stock. Death of Distinguished Agriculturists. Inventions affecting Agriculture. Novelties in Agricultural Seeds, etc. Oats. Sanford Corn. Potato Fever. Adobe or Earth-wall Building—by E. G. Potter. Potatoes Worth Raising—by Dr. F. M. Hexamer. Yield of Potatoes in 1869. Wheat Hoe. How to Train a Heifer. Care of Hen and Chickens. Cultivation of Root Crops. Kohl Rabi. Dry Earth—the Earth-Closet Principle in the Barn. General Agricultural Matters. Characteristics of Different Breeds of Thoroughbred Stock. Earth-Closets—Success of the System. Progress in Fish Culture. Cold Spring Trout Ponds. Bellows Falls Trout Pond. Montdale Ponds. S. H. Ainsworth's Ponds and Race. Mumford Ponds. Poheganut Trout Ponds. Breeds of Fish. Fish as Farm Stock—by W. Clift. The Stocking of Ponds and Brooks. English Agricultural Implements. Inventions affecting Milk, and Cheese-making—by Gardner B. Weeks. Notes on Veterinary Subjects. Cooeperation in Swine-breeding. Letter from Dr. Calvin Cutter. Steaming Fodder for Milch Cows—by S. M. and D. Wells. The Harvester, Reaper, and Mower—by Isaac W. White. Improvement in Drain Tiles. Farmer's Directory.

*Sent post-paid. Price, fancy paper covers, 50 cents;* *Cloth, 75 cents.*

Either of these Annuals for the three preceding years may be had at the same prices.

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245 Broadway, New-York.



THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL ANNUAL

FOR 1870.

A YEAR BOOK

FOR EVERY HOME.

The fourth number of this beautiful serial is now ready. It contains a popular record of horticultural progress during the past year, with other valuable articles, many of which are illustrated with elegant engravings.

CONTENTS.

Calendars for each Month in the Year. Astronomical Memoranda. Number of Trees, Plants, etc., required to Set an Acre. Hardy and Tender Vegetables. Postage on Horticultural Matter. Tables of Quantities of Seed. The Retinisporas—By JOSIAH HOOPES. Selecting and Saving Seeds—By WM G. COMSTOCK. Inarching the Grapevine—By "Al Fresco." Apples in 1869—with Descriptions of New Varieties—By J. A. WARDER. Pears in 1869—with Notes on some of the Newer Varieties—By P. BARRY. Quinces in 1869. Plums in 1869. Peaches in 1869—New Varieties—By F. R. ELLIOTT. Cherries in 1869—with Notes of New Varieties and Comments on the Nomenclature of Older Sorts. Native Grapes in 1869. Notes on the Small Fruits in 1869—By A. S. FULLER. Hardy Trees and Shrubs in 1869. New Roses Tested in 1869—By JOHN SAUL. The American Pomological Society. New and Interesting Bedding and other Plants Tested in 1869—By PETER HENDERSON. New or Noteworthy Vegetables in 1869—By JAS. J. H. GREGORY, and others. Horticultural implements, etc., in 1869. Horticultural and Kindred Journals. Books upon Horticulture and Allied Subjects, published in 1869. List of Nurserymen, Seedsmen, etc.

*Sent post-paid. Price, fancy paper covers, 50 cents;* *Cloth, 75 cents.*

Either of these Annuals for the three preceding years may be had at the same prices.

*ORANGE JUDD & CO.*,

245 Broadway New-York.



[Established in 1842.]

A Good, Cheap, and very Valuable Paper for Every Man, Woman and Child,

IN CITY, VILLAGE and COUNTRY,

THE

AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST,

FOR THE

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD,

*Including a Special Department of Interesting and Instructive Reading for CHILDREN and YOUTH*.

The Agriculturist is a large periodical of Forty-four pages, quarto, not octavo, beautifully printed, and filled with plain, practical, reliable, original matter, including hundreds of beautiful and instructive *Engravings* in every annual volume.

It contains each month a Calendar of Operations to be performed on the *Farm,* in the *Orchard* and *Garden,* in and around the *Dwelling,* etc.

The thousands of hints and suggestions given in every volume are prepared by practical, intelligent *working men,* who know what they talk and write about. The articles are thoroughly edited, and every way reliable.

The *Household Department* is valuable to every Housekeeper, affording very many useful hints and directions calculated to lighten and facilitate in-door work.

The *Department for Children and Youth,* is prepared with special care not only to amuse, but also to inculcate knowledge and sound moral principles.

*Terms.*—The circulation of the American Agriculturist, (*about 150,000*) is so large that it can be furnished at the low price of $1.50 a year; four copies, one year, for $5; ten copies, one year, for $12; twenty or more copies, one year, $1 each; single copies, 15 cents each. An extra copy to the one furnishing a club of ten or twenty.

TRY IT A YEAR.

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*Publishers & Proprietors,*

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FOOTNOTES

1 —Puddling is the kneading or rubbing of clay with water, a process by which it becomes almost impervious, retaining this property until thoroughly dried, when its close union is broken by the shrinking of its parts. Puddled clay remains impervious as long as it is saturated with water, and it does not entirely lose this quality until it has been pulverized in a dry state.

A small proportion of clay is sufficient to injure the porousness of the soil by puddling.—A clay subsoil is puddled by being plowed over when too wet, and the injury is of considerable duration. Rain water collected in hollows of stiff land, by the simple movement given it by the wind, so puddles the surface that it holds the water while the adjacent soil is dry and porous.

The term puddling will often be used in this work, and the reader will understand, from this explanation, the meaning with which it is employed.

2 By leaving a space between the wall and the plastering, this moisture is prevented from being an annoyance, and if the inclosed space is not open from top to bottom, so as to allow a circulation of air, but little vapor will come in contact with the wall, and but an inconsiderable amount will be deposited.

3 The maps in this book are, for convenience, drawn to a scale of 160 feet to the inch.

4 The instrument from which this cut was taken, (as also Fig. 7) was made by Messrs. Blunt & Nichols, Water st., N. Y.

5 The slight deviations caused by carrying the drains around large stones, which are found in cutting the ditches, do not affect the general arrangement of the lines.

6 The low price at which this instrument is sold, $1.50, places it within the reach of all.

7 Except from quite near to the drain, it is not probable that the water in the soil runs laterally towards it.

8 Some of the drains in the Central Park have a fall of only 1 in 1,000, and they work perfectly; but they are large mains, laid with an amount of care, and with certain costly precautions, (including precisely graded wooden floors,) which could hardly be expected in private work.

9 The tile has been said, by great authorities, to be broken by contraction, under some idea that the clay envelops the tile and presses it when it contracts. That is nonsense. The contraction would liberate the tile. Drive a stake into wet clay; and when the clay is dry, observe whether it clasps the stake tighter or has released it, and you will no longer have any doubt whether expansion or contraction breaks the tile. Shrink is a better word than contract.

10 Taking the difference of friction into consideration, 1-1/4 inch pipes have fully twice the discharging capacity of 1-inch pipes.

11 No. 5 was one inch in diameter; No. 4, about 1-1/3 inches.

12 If the springs, when running at their greatest volume, be found to require more than 1-1/4-inch tiles, due allowance must be made for the increase.

13 Owing to the irregularity of the ground, and the necessity for placing some of the drains at narrower intervals, the total length of tile exceeds by nearly 50 per cent. what would be required if it had a uniform slope, and required no collecting drains. It is much greater than will be required in any ordinary case, as a very irregular surface has been adopted here for purposes of illustration.

14 The stakes used may be 18 inches long, and driven one-half of their length into the ground. They should have one side sufficiently smooth to be distinctly marked with red chalk.

15 The depth of 4.13, in Fig. 21, as well as the other depths at the points at which the grade changes, happen to be those found by the computation, as hereafter described, and they are used here for illustration.

16 The figures in this table, as well as in the next preceding one, are adopted for the published profile of drain C, Fig. 21, to avoid confusion. In ordinary cases, the points which are fixed as the basis of the computation are given in round numbers;—for instance, the depth at C3 would be assumed to be 4.10 or 4.20, instead of 4.13. The fractions given in the table, and in Fig. 21, arise from the fact that the decimals are not absolutely correct, being carried out only for two figures.

17 The drains, which are removed a little to one side of the lines of stakes, may be turned toward the basin from a distance of 3 or 4 feet.

18 The foot of the measuring rod should be shod with iron to prevent its being worn to less than the proper length.

19 "Talpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm."

20 When chips of tile, or similar matters, are used to cover openings in the tile-work, it is well to cover them at once with a mortar made of wet clay, which will keep them in place until the ditches are filled.

THE END