Diriaioy of chemistry 



129 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 — 



T.VBLE IV. — Average Nitrogen-content of Rain and Snow. 



(Amount of Nitrogen per acre as Free ;in<l Albiniiuoid Ammonia and as Nitrates 



and Nitrites, 1913-1914.) 



Although the amount of nitrogen furnished by the rain and snow is not very large 

 when considering the up-keep of the soil in this element — in the neighbourhood of 6 

 pounds, per acre, per annum — it is worthy of note that this nitrogen presents itself in 

 forms immediately and directly available for crop use and that the larger amount falls 

 at a season when vegetation is active. It is therefore, a warrantable assumption that 

 the rain, apart from its solvent action in the soil and its many physiological functions, 

 ])lnys an important role in directly assisting the growth of crops by supplying .them 

 with a part of their needed nitrogen. 



THE WATER SUPPLY OF FARM HOMESTEADS. 



Since the establishment of the Dominion Experimental Farms the question of 

 the water supplies of farm homesteads, creameries and cheese factories, and, to a 

 more limited degree, those of rural schools, has received the attention of the Division 

 of Chemistry. Through the various means talvcn we are aware that an interest 

 ha."^ been awakened in the rural water supply, and much good accomplished, but we 

 also feel convinced that there is a necessity to continue the campaign for better 

 water. The evidence at hand supports us in this view, for of the waters sent in for 

 examination a very large proportion, even in these later years of our propaganda, 

 mu.'^t be adjudged as impure, chiefly through the presence of excretal drainage 

 matter. We have reason to believe that farmers as a class are not yet fully alive 

 to the importance of a pure water supply, for the health of themselves and their 

 families, for the thrift of their stock and for the quality and wholesomeness of their 

 daily produce. 



The source of the supply on the larger number of farms is the shallow well, say 

 from 5 to 30 feet deep, which merely collects ' ground water,' the soakage from the 

 surrounding soil. Unless the location is beyond reproach from the sanitary stand- 

 point, this shallow well is a menace — its waters may at any time become a source 

 of danger. When, as is only too frequently the case, we find these wells sunk in the 

 barnyard, or under the barn or stable, or not far from the privy (a most crude 

 and unsanitary affair, as a rule), or near the back door, out of which the household 

 slops may be thrown and near which the garbage heap with all sorts of refuse may be 

 found, then contamination of the water is inevitable and unavoidable. It is quite 

 true that most soils, and more particularly those which are porous and well aerated 

 (gravels and sands), possess filtering and purifying properties,, but the soil surround- 



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