378 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



beautiful and attractive, with but a small outlay of money, by a judicious selec- 

 tion aud location of shrubbery and flowers. 



When it can be obtained, the iiousc should stand on a slight elevation, as it 

 is a matter of the first importance to secure good drainage, not only to carry off 

 the natural waters of the soil, but also the waste water and slops from the wash- 

 room and kitchen. Learned sanitarians have fully sot forth the evils of damp 

 cellars aud of dampness retained in the soil around the house. The most over- 

 whelming proofs tliat such a condition engenders disease and death have been 

 set forth by the American Medical Association. A paper read before that body 

 by Dr. Kedzie on ''Drainage in Michigan," viewed in relation to the public 

 health, shows conclusively a very marked decrease in malarial fevers as the 

 result of underdraining. 



Says a recent writer on water supply aud drainage [I licre quote from Prof. 

 W. H. Brewer's address in Eeport of Connecticut State Board of Agriculture 

 for 1875] : " It is often a rather troublesome matter to get well rid of kitchen 

 slops. If we look about farm houses sometimes we find a spout running 

 through the back wall with an ill-smelling puddle back of the house, with flies 

 in abundance, and a rank growth of weeds just on the margin. Sometimes 

 there is a tub under it and periodically the men of the family carry it out into 

 the garden as manure. Sometimes it is conveyed further away by an open gut- 

 ter or by a leaky wooden trough ; but in most cases it partly soaks in the ground 

 beside the foundations or near the house, or partly evaporates, partly oxydizes 

 by the air. In particular conditions of the weather it may get into the well. 

 If underground, the soil pipes are often leaky and the earth all around gets sat- 

 urated. Under any of these conditions such is the purifying action of air and 

 soil that usually there is no actual disease; but all at once, without previous 

 notice, some decay, or ferment, or change may occur, when disease-poison is 

 generated ; then comes fever, or diarrhoea, or dysentery, or some other one of 

 these evils,"' AVhatever you do with your slops do not let them ferment and 

 decay in some dark corner near the house. Usually the best method of getting 

 rid of this nuisance is by a tight drain to carry it off to a proper distance. The 

 drain should be cleansed at intervals by pumping or pouring into it a liberal 

 supply of clean water. 



I have said that in order to secure good drainage a slight elevation should bo 

 chosen as the site for the house. If this cannot be obtained, and especially if 

 the soil is of a clayey nature, begin the cellar wall but little below the surface 

 aud fill in around the house Avith a gravelly soil. 



As regards the material with which it is best to build, much of course must 

 depend upon circumstances. In this State there are but few localities where stone 

 suitable for building purj)osos can be conveniently obtained. In ninety-nine 

 cases out of a hundred where the choice of material becomes a jiractical con- 

 sideration, the choice will lie between wood and brick, or a combination of both. 



Wood is the cheapest, and in most localities much the cheapest, material 

 with which to build; and houses, both beautiful and comfortable, can be con- 

 structed of wood from the top of the cellar wall to the peak of the roof. Brick, 

 however, is preferable on account of greater durability, comfort and beauty. 

 These qualities, it is claimed by many, can be equally well secured at less cost 

 by the balloon franr_^ veneered with brick; that is, lined around the outside 

 of the frame by a f()i;;-inch brick wall. Quite a number of houses are now being 

 built in this way; thev look well and are dry and warm. 



I shall not enter iw.o the details of tiic di'awing of plans and the arrangement 



