LABOURERS' COTTAGES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR, —As some of your correspondents ate asking for information with reference to the construction of labourers' cottages, you may perhaps like to have a short account of a simple method which I have found successful in overcoming the "sewage difficulty" in some cottages of mine in Essex, where no regular system of sewerage exists. The solid portion of the sewage was readily dealt with by means of earth-closets, and the great difficulty was bow to dispose of the liquid portion, or the sink and scullery slops.. To apply these to the land was evidently the right thing, but how- was this to be done in any way that was self-acting ? Ordinary surface irrigation would require tdo much attention, and sub- irrigation by underground pipes, though more promising, was- open to the great objection that the small amount of sewage would not be able to force itself any distance along the pipes, but would lie in one place, and gradually choke them up. To over- come this difficulty, I devised the "Self-acting Flush Tank." This apparatus consists of a small water-tight tank, placed outside the house to receive the slops, which are admitted by a trapped inlet. The outlet from the tank consists of a syphon so arranged that no discharge takes place until the tank is completely filled with liquid, when the syphon is brought into action and the contents are immediately discharged. The outer end of the syphon is con- nected with the sub-irrigation drains, which consist simply of com- mon two-inch agricultural drain-pipes, laid some 10 or 12 inches below the surface of the gardens of the cottages, so that the liquid can flow out of the joints of the pipes into the soil and feed the vegetation. The concentration of the flow of the sewage effected by the intermittent discharge of the tank forces the liquid rapidly along the pipes, prevents their being choked, and enables the sewage to be distributed over a sufficient area of ground for the earth to purify it, on the principle of "intermittent downward filtration." This arrangement has now been in successful opera- tion for six years. The tanks are cleared out every two or three months, and the drains are taken up and cleared once in every one or two years, which is readily done for a few shilling,. as they are so near the surface. No other attention is required.
The above system is exhibited in action in the sanitary depart- ment of the International Exhibition at South Kensington, where the method of laying the sub-irrigation drains is also shown (Class ix., Section C, No. 5,968, " Field's Patent Self-acting Flush Tank"). The tank there exhibited is constructed entirely of iron, is com- plete in itself, can be fixed by an ordinary workman, and contains- many improvements over the original tanks, the most important one being a contrivance for enabling a very small quantity of water to set the syphon in action. This completely remedies the- only real defect I have found in the original tank, viz., that the small quantities of water used by the cottagers are often not sufficient to set the syphon in action, so that it practically only discharges on washing-day. If any of your correspondents wish for farther information on the subject, I shall be happy to give it —I am, Sir, &c., 5 Cannon Row, Westminster, June 30. ROGERS FIELD.
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