514 



Reading-Course for Farmers. 



/. ADVICE FROM THE ENGINEER 



By Henry X. Ogden 

 Assistant Professor Sanitary Engineering, Cornell University 



It has been a sad reproach to farmers that they have paid so little 

 attention to the needs of the house in the matter of a water supply. For 

 the needs of the stable, or in order to economize in the regular farm work, 

 every effort has been made to keep up with the times, — to have all the 

 labor-saving machinery of the latest pattern, and to have the stables meet 

 all the requirements of modern hygiene. On the other hand, after a well 

 has been dug somewhere in the yard from which, though at a great ex- 

 pense of toil and exposure, water may be had, the house has been assumed 



to be fully provided for. 

 On some farms the well 

 may be found on the back- 

 porch or in the woodshed, 

 which lessens the exposure 

 but still involves pumping 

 and carrying all the water 

 that is used. Happily, this 

 condition of things is pass- 

 ing away and on the farm, 

 as in the city house, it is 

 now understood that run- 

 ning water in the kitchen 

 sink as well as at the barn, 

 is only reasonable ; and not 

 a fe\v houses have water 

 also up staits in a bath- 

 room provided with all 

 modern fixtures. It is the 

 purpose of this article to 



Fig. 315. — Fixtures in a farm cottage contained in consider the question of 

 a slicd addition to ilie main building. ., „ ii' ^ wr 1 <» 



Farm \\ ater Works 



under five heads; (i) the quantity of water needed in the average house; 



(2) the quality of various sorts of water and their relative value; (3) 



methods and cost of installation; (4) plumbing; (5) methods of disposal 



of the fouled water. 



I. Quantity 



It has been said that the civilization of a community can be estimated 

 by the quantity of soap that it consumes ; and it is almost the same thing to 

 say that the refinement of a household is measured by the amount of 

 water it uses. The poorer and more degraded a household, the less the 



