FARM BUILDINGS. 641 



An immense amount of evil is wrought, year after year, simply through indifference 

 and carelessness in this respect on the part of those having charge of the farm management. 

 Typhoid fever, diphtheria, and the many diseases and ills arising from blood-poisoning are 

 often directly traceable to this source. Ignorant of the origin of the evil, no effort is made 

 to remedy it by the family, but that only resort, the doctor, is usually sent for, who may 

 himself be equally ignorant of sanitary laws, or, if not, may perhaps be too ambitious to 

 secure a patient to point out the real difficulty; consequently pills and powders are administered 

 until the unfortunate victim either dies or eventually recovers, owing to his good fortune in 

 possessing a constitution sufficiently strong to counteract all the unfavorable conditions. In 

 telligent and honest physicians, of which there are many, will investigate in order to 

 ascertain the real and true cause of the evil in such cases, and then point them out, and 

 advise the remedy. 



Those who drink water that has been contaminated or poisoned in any way cannot fail 

 of being injured by it, although there may be cases, and probably are, where persons may 

 live to old age, and continue to use such water without any apparent injury. There are 

 exceptions to every rule. There are persons who may be exposed to the small-pox, or other 

 dangerous and contagious diseases, who may chance to escape taking the infection, but such 

 cases are very rare, and are the exception, rather than the rule. Because one person in a 

 hundred might do it, is no reason why the other ninety -nine should run the risk of exposure. 



It is the positive testimony of the best medical authorities, that many deaths, and a large 

 percentage of sickness, are caused by unsanitary conditions. When vaults are located near 

 wells, the soil may for a time prevent the evil, by filtering the drainage from such sources ; 

 but after the soil has itself become saturated with the poison to a great extent, it cannot purify 

 the water passing through it, hence is the means of conducting it directly into wells that 

 may be located near. By a little care and skill, the evils attending the use of such closets 

 can be avoided. 



They should be so located as to be accessible without going out of doors, if practicable, 

 also hidden from the road. If this is not possible, a high tight fence, thick hedge of ever 

 greens, or grape-vine arbor should be made a shield for the walk, while a rustic frame of 

 lattice- work would screen the entrance, over which some kind of climbling vine might be 

 trained. Such unsightly places can thus easily be rendered other than a blemish to the prem 

 ises at a slight expense, and but little care and laboi. 



The best vaults are those that are cemented at the bottom and sides. A vault should be 

 closed by a door made of heavy plank, and so hung on hinges that it can be readily opened 

 and hooked up out of the way when it is being cleaned out. Gas-tar, or a similar substance, 

 should be used for coating the inside of the door, while the outside should be painted, by 

 which means it is rendered more impervious to moisture. A little dry road dust, muck, or 

 coal ashes thrown in every two or three times a day, will prove a good deodorizer and 

 absorbent. 



A barrel or cask containing this material might stand in the closet, and when farther 

 provided with a long-handled dipper or a small shovel for the purpose, such material could 

 be conveniently thrown into the vault, which would certainly be a cheap and easy way of 

 rendering it inoffensive, and of avoiding the evils that now so commonly attend such places. 

 In this way the liquids are absorbed and prevented from filtering into the soil, while the 

 entire contents are deodorized. No soap-suds or other slops should ever be turned into the 

 vault, but it should be kept as dry as possible, with the absorbents used. 



The Barn. As commonly appropriated, farm barns are used for the protection of 

 stock against inclement weather, the storage of their food, the manufacture and preservation 

 of fertilizing materials, and the storage of farm machinery. Aside from these considerations, 

 the convenience in performing the barn work should also be taken into account in construct- 



