Abstract
FOLLOWING on the article by Mr. Bransby Williams on the manufacture of fertilizer from urban wastes (NATURE, Sept. 5, p. 299), it is interesting to note that an experiment in rural sanitation is being conducted by Dr. A. T. Westlake on his estate at Sandy Balls, near Fordingbridge. The estate is used as a holiday centre, and a large number of visitors, living in huts, caravans, and tents, pass through it in the course of the year, in addition to a resident population of about forty persons. The Poore method was at first tried, but later Dr. Westlake adopted the Indore composting system of Sir Albert Howard with good results. All the night soil and other refuse on the estate is composted in heaps. There is separation of solids and liquids. By the use of specially dried earth and leaf mould, the collection and handling of the material is rendered efficient, easy, and hygienic. In winter the method so far adopted has been the use of small composting pits. The matured compost is used to manure what was formerly barren ground, but which has now become a healthy and flourishing kitchen garden. Plant disease has been very largely eliminated. It is clear from the experiment that the methods used here might well be tried in other rural communities.
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Utilization of Rural Waste. Nature 150, 543 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150543b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150543b0