No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 173 



Our bodies are like a house that can be rented for a term of years 

 under the most reasonable conditions. All that is asked of us in 

 return is that the premises should be kept in good repair. Surely 

 the terms are not hard, not difficult to comply with, but light and 

 easy as they are, the penalties attached to non-fultillment are heavy. 



Disease never occurs until the laws of health have been broken 

 somewhere, either by violation of personal or public hygiene. Very 

 often we cannot follow the rules we should, however much we may 

 desire to do so. For instance, pure air is an absolute necessity for 

 health, but we may have little or no control over the air which sur- 

 rounds us and which we must draw into our lungs. We may be 

 powerless to prevent other persons from contaminating the air, 

 thereby striking at the very foundation of health and happiness. 



A supply of pure water in sufficient quantity is a sanitary neces- 

 sity. Without it injury to health inevitably arises, either from too 

 small a quantity or more frequently from the presence of impuri- 

 ties. The germs of typhoid fever often lurk in apparently the 

 purest springs and wells. The water itself is pure, but is contami- 

 nated by the surroundings, drainage from the barn yard, chicken 

 coops, other outbuildings, and pools of stagnant water find their 

 way into the springs and wells. This has been proved by putting 

 salt in suspicious places; in a short time the salt was detected in 

 the water of the well or spring. 



It is seldom we see any provision made to carry off the household 

 waste water. Too often all the cleansing and the family washing 

 is done near or at the water supply, and nothing provided to carry 

 off the waste water; the man of the house should make provision 

 for this, and he little thinks, perhaps does not know, that by utilizing 

 the waste water it can be made a source of considerable profit. 

 Grape vines and trees respond readily to a dose of soap suds. How 

 much better to nourish your trees and vines than to cause ill health 

 and disease by contaminated water. 



The carrying off of rain water so as not to sink into the ground 

 too near the house is a matter of great importance. There should 

 be a hundred feet or more from any avoidable or unavoidable nui- 

 sance to the water supply. It is impossible to over estimate the 

 importance of pure water for the welfare and comfort of man. 

 For the preservation of a proper degree of cleanliness of our bodies, 

 our clothing, our dwellings or the articles with which we have to 

 come in contact, it is indispensable. 



Farm houses are not always built on hygienic principles, but it 

 lies within our power to remedy many of the defects causing us to 

 have impure air from improper drainage. As the air of the cellar, 

 is, so will the air of the house be. A cellar should be well ventilated 

 and made as dry as possible, and daylight and sunlight allowed to 



