58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



It is evident from what has been said that the sahibrity of 

 our homes is eminently dependent upon good air and good 

 water, and that good air and good water depend upon our 

 own attention to protecting both air and water from exposure 

 to impurities. 



It is a law of nature that " every living thing, be it plant 

 or animal, is injured if its own excretions be allowed to ac- 

 cumulate about it."' — Prof. Vaughan. 



Science has shown how nature has provided for the 

 prompt, successful, and safe disposal of waste material by a 

 proper application of it to the surface of the ground, and how 

 she punishes us for permitting the accumulation of dead 

 organic matter in masses underground, by the development 

 in such masses of products poisonous and dangerous to life. 



There are many other subjects pertaining to farm sanita- 

 tion of which I might speak did not time forbid. Much 

 might be said about the proper location of the house, as to 

 the character of the soil it stands on, the facilities for drain- 

 age, etc. ; also the construction of the farm house, with some 

 pointed remarks about the false economy of little bedrooms. 

 The rooms in which so much of the time of the farmer's 

 family is spent should be large, because in small rooms the 

 air becomes rapidly polluted with the exhalations from their 

 persons. The living rooms should have abundance of sun- 

 shine. 



The subject of milk production is of the highest sanitary 

 import. An eminent sanitarian has said " Milk is a deadly 

 drink." And, on the other hand, it is recognized as the most 

 indispensable of all articles of diet. There is nothing ap- 

 proaching its value as a substitute. And again, it contains 

 more germs than any other natural liquid. It has been the 

 means of spreading many fatal epidemics. Other topics 

 closely associated with the sanitation of the farm' readily occur 

 to mind, but the time forbids more than a bare mention of 

 them. 



Perhaps no part of a farmer's house is more frequently 

 neglected than the cellar. Too often it is damp and the walls 

 are mouldy. It is dark and badly ventilated, may be the re- 

 ceptacle of decaying vegetation, with the resultant noxious 

 gases to invade the rooms above. A word might be said 

 about improved methods of cooking were it not that the 



