242 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HOETICULTURAL 



home. A prudent man may keep his own premises in a sanitary 

 condition. His neighbors cesspools or privy vaults may dram into 

 his well or spring and poison his drinking water. To avoid such 

 contingencies build on as high land as possible, so all water 

 courses shall flow from the house instead of to it. All out buildings 

 should be far enough from the house that none of the exhalations 

 of the stable can invade the rooms of the house. Damp, foul air 

 from the stable may bear in it germs that will be very apt to gener- 

 ate disease. It is said that diphtheria is a product of the stable, as 

 has been satisfactory proved by its being very prevalent about the 

 stables in some parts of London, while away from them, in other 

 parts of the great city, the people are comparatively free from its 

 ravages. 



This paper will not attempt to give any plan of architecture for 

 the dwelling. It should be roomy and so arranged as to admit plenty 

 of air and sunlight. 



There should be a respectable sized lawn about the house, where 

 shrubbery should be set of variety that would bloom through the 

 season. This can be done with a little care in selecting from the 

 bountiful variety Nature has seen fit to adorn the earth with; for 

 with these gifts of beauty and sweetness Nature has been very prod- 

 igal to man's pleasure; and it is his prerogative to utilize these gifts 

 of Nature for the beauty, pleasure and comfort of his home. 



The lawn is not a waste piece of ground. It makes herding 

 ground for the poultry. These birds are useful in more ways than 

 one. They furnish the table with meat and eggs that are whole- 

 some and toothsome. Most all relish their flesh. No rural home 

 should be without them. A further good, they are great scavengers 

 to destroy insects that are ever preying upon the bloom of the 

 flowers and invade the house. True, sometimes these domestic birds 

 ruffle a plant and try the patience; but they make up for it a hun- 

 dred fold by their destruction to insect life and the luxury they fur- 

 nish the table. 



There should be a due amount of shade trees; but not too close 

 to the house to chafe the building or obstruct air and light. There 

 are no ornamental trees of more beauty than the stately evergreen. 

 The exhalations from their boughs are pleasing to the senses. Not 

 only this, they are said to possess to a high degree antiseptic prop- 

 erties, and destroy disease germs; that those people and cities 

 located among forests of evergreens are comparatively exempt from 

 cholera. If this be true it goes to show that the air, being filled 

 with exhalations of the essential oils, renders it destructive to cholera 

 germs. If destructive to the microbes of cholera, they must be hos- 

 tile to all forms of hostile bacteria. Then in the ornamental ever- 

 green we have a cheap and beautiful antiseptic that should surround 

 all rural homes. 



