310 Misstniri Ayriciill itral lu [xirl. 



motely located from the kitchen door and too often provided with a 

 pump that "runs down" between trips, or even with a rope and bucket, 

 is too well known to need attention. If some farmers would stop to 

 calculate the number of miles their wives or daughters walk during a 

 year carrying water, often through rain or over ice covered walks, he 

 would secure a result which would go a long way toward awakening 

 him from the lethargy in which he lives. 



One of the most important considerations in supplying water for 

 the farm home is the character of the water supply. The cistern may 

 be perfectly satisfactory if precautions are taken to prevent surface 

 water entering, and a solid cement wall should always be provided to 

 insure pure water. The ordinary dug w^ell may also be satisfactory, 

 but such a well is always questionable. Typhoid and other bacteria 

 may gain entrance through the surface water and instances are all too 

 numerous where this has occurred and the water still have every ap- 

 pearance of wholesomeness. This can usually be prevented by tightly 

 cementing the top ten feet with cement during a dry time, but even 

 with this protection a driven well is always to be preferred. 



AVhere water is secured from a spring or stream there is always 

 a possibility of contamination, although in the case of a good spring 

 the danger is small. ]\Iany instances are on record, however, where 

 springs have been the cause of severe typhoid epidemics, and the com- 

 mon idea that spring water is always pure is erroneous. Too great 

 care cannot be taken in obtaining pure water, therefore, and there is 

 no surer way than to provide a good driven well in which the supply 

 comes from depths of forty feet or over. Because for years we may 

 have used water from some particular dug well without a case of typhoid 

 is no assurance that it will never come. A visitor at the home, who 

 has only recently recovered from this disease, may furnish a pollu- 

 tion for a dug well that has always been perfectly pure. The result 

 may be a loss for which no amount of money or subsequent care can 

 ever atone. Country people are far too careless about the character of 

 the water supply. 



Naturally the first thing that appeals to the average farmer when 

 he once comes to consider the matter of installing water in the house 

 is that of expense. And this is justifiable ; for in spite of all the edi- 

 torials in which our optimistic newspaper and magazine editors indulge, 

 the average farmer must usually be mindful of this phase of the ques- 

 tion. But it does not necessarily mean an expensive plant to give 

 a great many of the conveniences offered, and in this connection I wish 

 to call attention to probably the simplest plan of bringing water to 

 the kitchen. 



