306 ANNUAL RfiPORT OF THE Off. Do„. 



As you will all probably know, it has been determined beyond 

 a doubt that, not only that scourge of the South, yellow fever, but 

 our own dread malaria, is caused by the bite of a mosquito bearing 

 the germs of the disease. It is also known that the typhoid fever 

 germ, which, I believe, can cause infection only by the way of food 

 or drink, is often transferred to the table by the common housetly, 

 which has come in contact with waste from the patient that has not 

 been properly disinfected. Screens are cheap, and with a little care 

 in seeing that they are used to keep insects outside — not inside — 

 they will eliminate this danger. Warfare may also be waged upon 

 these foes by depriving them of their breeding places. The eggs 

 of the housefly are deposited in the manure piles, and at one stage 

 jf their existence the mosquitoes must have stagnant water, be- 

 coming those wrigglers sO' familiar to all. Do away with empty 

 cans, broken dishes, and unfilled pools which, with every rain, form 

 a happy home for innumerable little wrigglers. A pool which cannot 

 be drained or filled may be covered with a thin film of kerosene; 

 this interferes with the breathing of the wrigglers, and, as mos- 

 quitoes do not travel far from their birth-place, will lessen the num- 

 ber of annoyances as well as the danger. 



Another source of disease should be safe-guarded in the sanitary 

 home — the water supply. Remembering that the germ of typhoid 

 fever and many intestinal troubles are carried by impure drinking 

 water. Consider these few questions: Is the drainage of the land 

 toward, or away from the well? Is your well, if a dug well, pro- 

 perly protected from the surface drainage by a water-tight wall 

 and curb? Is your soil of a gravelly, leachy nature? Do you throw 

 dish-water, wash-water, and other slops containing organic matter, 

 near the well, to form a breeding place for the bacteria which may 

 be washed into the well by rains? Are the outhouses provided with 

 water-tight vaults, or otherwise arranged so that there may be no 

 leakage to the well? Can any living animal get into the well? 

 What kind of pump do you use, and are your utensils for water kept 

 properly cleansed? The poetical "old wooden bucket," the "moss- 

 covered bucket," was probably as unsanitary as anything we could 

 imagine. Pure water supply is perhaps one of the most difficult 

 problems, as it certainly is one of the most important. Our bodies 

 are largely composed of water, and it should be freely used each day 

 — outside as well as inside — to secure the best physical well-being. 



Milk should form a part of the diet of the farmer, because it con- 

 tains in a digestible form about 4 per cent, of the nitrogenous 

 material that is needed to form that balanced ration that we con- 

 sider so carefully in feeding our stock, but too often neglect in our 

 own diet. But unless care is taken to have the milk pure, it be- 

 comes a menace to health instead of a beneficial food. 



There is not quite the danger from impure milk on the farm that 

 we have in tbe city, because it does not have to pass through the 

 various stages of transportation and waiting that city milk suffers, 

 but nevertheless there is much room for improvement in the clean- 

 liness and healthfulness of much farm milk. The first thing to be 

 sure of is that there is no disease in the herd, for tuberculosis and 

 other diseases may be passed from cow to man by means of the 

 milk. Then, too, when we think that the milk in the udder is 



