EDITORIAL. 705 



As an example of the kind of service that may be rendered there 

 may be mentioned the fact that in some States the demonstration 

 agents are supplied with a spray pump and materials for spraying 

 stables and manure piles to keep down the breeding of flies. The 

 demonstrations which they have given have pro\ed instructive in 

 remedying a condition which has too commonly been accepted as 

 inevitable. 



In another State, the keeping of a pig under sanitary conditions 

 with the avoidance of objectionable odors and fly breeding has been 

 demonstrated. By the use of a pen with cement floor and proper 

 conditions for cleanliness the keeping of a pig on a small place or in 

 town is made possible, furnishing a means for garbage disposal, and 

 hence a source of revenue. Already the extension service in many 

 States has been led into numerous features in this held. They de- 

 velop very naturally out of the close contact which demonstration 

 work provides. 



It has already been pointed out that the farmer himself, rather 

 than any external agenc}^, must be the main dependence in a cam- 

 paign of bettering sanitary conditions. Much can be done, however, 

 *to open his eyes and subsequently to point out the way. Thus, it is 

 certain that in many a case needed improvements have been delayed 

 because of the supposed heavy outlay. Not always is it realized that 

 the postponement may necessitate not only more of a direct expense 

 for medical treatment, but sometimes an overwhelming secondary loss 

 through inability to cultivate a crop, to tend live stock, or to transact 

 other important business. It should frequently be possible to con- 

 vince the farmer by actual figures that the cost of relocating a dan- 

 gerous water supply, of screening the house, or of draining a swamp 

 may be manj^ times less than the ultimate ex2')ense incident to an 

 attack of t3q:)hoid or malaria in his family. It should also be a com- 

 paratively simple matter for the sanitary engineer to present to the 

 farmer designs of more or less elaborate water supply, plumbing, 

 and sewage disposal systems well adapted to farm homes, as is now 

 done for stables, silos, and other farm buildings. Some of these may 

 be practicable only for the well-to-do farmer who is able to consider 

 comfort and convenience even at some initial outlay. For the farmer 

 of average means, however, it is possible to point out direct protec- 

 tive methods against disease which he may apply inunediately, such 

 as lining his well, screening windows, destroying fly breeding places 

 and rat harbors, providing for removal of sloi)s, garbage, manure, 

 etc., ventilation, and when circumstances demand it, boiling his drink- 

 ing water. These measures will yield a considerable measure of bene- 

 fit and protection, and will constitute a powerful impetus to lead him 

 to adopt some of the more expensive projects when financially able. 



