essed to the
smaller matters that have been just alluded to, so that the public
mind might become gradually accustomed to change, and prepared for
greater innovations. Village drainage is notoriously defective.
Anyone who has walked through a village or hamlet must be perfectly
well aware that there is no drainage, from the unpleasant odours
that constantly assail the nostrils. It seems absurd, that with such
an expanse of open country around, and with such an exposure to the
fresh air, such foul substances should be permitted to contaminate
the atmosphere. Each cottager either throws the sewage right into
the road, and allows it to find its way as it can by the same
channel as the rain-water; or, at best, flings it into the ditch at
the back, which parts the garden from the agricultural land. Here it
accumulates and soaks into the soil till the first storm of rain,
which sweeps it away, but at the same time causes an abominable
smell. It is positively unbearable to pass some cottages after a
fresh shower.

Not unfrequently this ditch at the back of the garden runs down to
the stream from which the cottagers draw their water, and the
dipping-place may be close to the junction of the two. In places
where there is a fall--when the cottages are built upon a
slope--there can be little difficulty about drainage; but here steps
in the question of water-supply, for drains of this character
require flushing. The supply of water must, therefore, in such
places, precede the attempt at drainage. The disposal of the sewage,
when collected, offers no difficulty. Its value is well understood,
and it would be welcomed upon agricultural land. In the case of
villages where there is no natural fall, and small hamlets and
outlying cottages, the Moule system should be encouraged, especially
as it affords a valuable product that can be transported to the
allotment garden. A certain amount of most unreasonable prejudice
exists against the introduction of this useful contrivance, which
every means should be used to overcome. Now, most farm-houses stand
apart, and in their own grounds, where any system of sewer is almost
impossible. These are the very places where the Moule plan is
available; and if agriculturists were to employ it, the poor would
quickly learn its advantages. It would, perhaps, be even better than
a public sewer in large villages, for a sewer entails an amount of
supervision, repairs, and must have an outfall, and other
di