360 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Time was when our country was new, that water from any stream 

 flowing throngli the farm was safely used for domestic purposes. 

 Now some streams are so foul that fishes cannot live in them. Now 

 the unfortunate dwellers in cities are often obliged to use such water 

 but we on the farms should not do so. A spring in a virgin forest 

 may be pure, but any spring is only as pure as its surroundings. It 

 should be built up with cement at least a foot above the surface of the 

 ground to keep out the surface drainage water. At present the all 

 but universal source of our water supply is some form of well. The 

 dug well, is dug just deep enough to get water, laid up with loose 

 stones or bricks, and covered over with planks which dry and warp 

 in the sun and rain, leaving cracks which admit to the well, surface 

 water, dust and filth which may be near. A dug well should be 

 cemented up inside 6 or 8 feet from the top and a cement cover and 

 curb built to protect it. Probably the safest source of water on the 

 farm is a driven well, deep and well cased to protect it. If there is 

 within 100 feet of any source of filth is contamination there is dan- 

 ger to the water. Slop holes, manure piles, and outside open vaults 

 are a menace if near the water supply. 



While seeds of disease are carried into the body by air and water 

 they are also carried by the common house fly. He is called the 

 filthy fly, the typhoid fly. Certain it is he is the most dangerous 

 animal on earth. The more one knows about his habits, the less one 

 likes to speak about him in polite society. He breeds in filth ; he lives 

 in fllth, and, unfortunately, he eats the same kind of food that we 

 do — but we eat at the second table. He flies back and forth from the 

 slop holes, the manure piles, the outside open closet, into our homes 

 where he alights upon the fruit and food prepared for the farmer's 

 family. He is responsible for the spread of many diseases, consump- 

 tion, typhoid, bowel diseases of children, and the list is long. For- 

 tunately he never goes very far from the place where he is born, so 

 if we remove all filth from around our homes we will do away with 

 the pest of the house fly. 



On many farms it is common to find the water supply for the 

 barns either pumped by windmill or engine or piped from distant 

 springs, but no provision is made to supply the house with water, 

 for bath, toilet or kitchen sink. The farmer is willing but he says, 

 and truly, that there is no sewage system in the country, and he can 

 not dispose of his waste water, and what is the use of putting water 

 in the house if he can not take the sewage out beyond the cellar walls. 

 The old style cesspool, made by digging a pit in the ground and 

 stoning it up without cement, is a menace to health and life, and 

 poisons the soil for long distances. If the water supply comee from 

 a well, it may poison that, the leakage from the ill-smelling, disease 

 harboring outside closet may reach the well water. Even if the sur- 

 face of the ground slopes right, that is no reason why under ground 

 the water runs right. So you see our homes must be provided with 

 water supply and not depend upon wells. It will cost $100 more or 

 less to put in a system of plumbing, including hot and cold water in 

 the kitchen sink, the permanent bath and the inside closet. The cost 

 depending upon the size of the house and how much help can be 

 given the plumber. 



