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permitted to accumulate. The non-removal is sometimes
the fault of the coachman, who will not give the refuse away,
the farmers, moreover, being as a rule, unwilling to pay for it.
At certain seasons—e.g., haymaking and harvest time—there
is, no doubt, a difficulty in getting the receptacles cleared,
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 floor 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 cannotescape,
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.
All of the evils are intensified in a high degree when the