288 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Some one may say that these plants are so small we need have 

 no fear of them, but we must remember that a small enemy is often 

 the hardest to overcome. The traveler who is sick in the wilds of 

 Africa and cannot be moved, is more afraid of an army of traveling 

 ants than he is of a lion or tiger. The lion he can fence out or 

 shoot, but the ants come by millions upon millions. He cannot build 

 a house tight enough to keep them out, and if he kills a few millions, 

 there are plenty left, so that when a small part of the host have 

 taken each a bite, there is nothing left but bare bones. The moth 

 is small, but the people of New England have spent millions of dol- 

 lars in trying to exterminate them. The San Jos6 louse is smaller, 

 but many of us know from experience how hard it is to control. 

 So it is with bacteria; they are small, but terrible. A single case 

 of typhoid fever may be enough to cause a Plymouth epidemic, or 

 such as they had at Butler. 



How, then, can we control the bacteria, and keep our surround- 

 ings in a wholesome, sanitary condition? If we know under what 

 conditions they grow and multiply, and by what means they are de- 

 stroyed, we can, perhaps, solve the problem. Bacteria flourish most 

 abundantly in dark, warm and damp conditions. Therefore light, 

 cold and dry conditions, will retard, or it may be, entirely check 

 their growth. But a better way, where it is possible, is to keep the 

 germs out altogether. 



When the housekeeper wants to keep berries or tomatoes for 

 winter use, she cooks them to kill the bacteria, and seals them in 

 cans or jars to keep them away from fresh contamination. If, how- 

 ever, she wants to can green beans or corn, she must boil them a 

 long time, for heating to boiling point for a few minutes will not 

 kill the germs in these. Grape juice and cider do not need to be 

 boiled to kill the germs in them, but if canned when almost boiling 

 will keep. For the germs of dreaded and contagious diseases like 

 small-pox, diphtheria, etc., disinfectants are used, but most people 

 do not regularly disinfect their houses. And yet in them live germs 

 which are often as fatal as small-pox itself. 



The question of vital importance for us is "where do the germs 

 come from, and how can they be destroyed." Some are found in 

 water. The well is often located near the barnyard or the cess- 

 pool. For a few years the soil may filter out the germs which may 

 come from these sources, but in time channels are worn in the 

 ground, and foul water finds its way into the well. If a case of 

 typhoid fever develops on the farm, the germs are almost sure to 

 get into the well. Slilk pails and wash cloths are rinsed in the 

 water, and thousands of the little plants which produce typhoid 

 fever are left on the surface of the pail to start a fruitful crop at 

 the next milking. Many cases might be cited in which fever has 

 been sown broadcast in communities where the milk is used. But 

 even if no germs gets into the water which will produce a specific 

 disease, it is injurious to the body to be compelled to constantly 

 combat the germs taken into the system. The thought of drinking 

 sewage should be enough to cause every farmer to see that the well 

 is so located and surrounded that no impurities can find their way 

 into it. As the country grows older, the water supply will become 

 more and more polluted, until we reach the point they have reached 



