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farmers being too busy to collect the refuse. Formerly, when
the parish consisted largely of market gardens, the cultivators
of the soil were glad enough to get the manure, by
satisfying the demands of the coachmen and others. Now
that it has to be hauled long distances to suburban farms and
gardens, stable-occupiers, moreover, being at the mercy of the
waggoners, the case is far otherwise, and not unfrequently
payment has to be made to ensure removal, however
irregularly.
The nuisance caused by the accumulation varies in degree
according to the character of the receptacle in which the
refuse is stored. When this is a well-paved and drained
enclosure on the surface of the mews, consisting of a low curb
carrying a moveable iron cage attached to the stable wall by
hooks, air-currents circulating freely through the refuse, and
removal being at once easy and complete, there is little or no
nuisance, either in storage, or in transference to the waggon,
or in conveyance through the streets. Brick receptacles, above
ground, are more or less objectionable, for they are seldom
thoroughly cleared out, short straw, &c. being left at the
bottom. Nuisance is least when the bottom of such receptacles
is on, or slightly above, the level of the surface of the mews,
and provision is made for allowing moisture to drain away.
But when the bottom of the receptacle is below the surface of the
mews, and even though nominal provision has been made for
drainage, nuisance is considerable; rain enters and cannot
escape, as the drain (if any) gets choked ; the result being that
the refuse rots, the receptacle becomes filthy, and the collector
will not incur the defilement attending a perfect clearance.
Sunken Dung Pits.—All of the evils above described
are intensified in a high degree when the receptacle is
entirely underground, being what is called a sunken dungpit—nearly
always undrained, and covered with wooden
flaps. The rain enters these pits, and mere confinement of the
organic matters leads to very rapid putrefaction, the result
being that, after a short detention, serious nuisance arises, to