HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY RESIDENCES. 59 



year; also for the prevention of soakage from it into the ground; and 

 the contents should be regularly removed at frequent intervals, and 

 used as suggested, and during the intervals a solution of Copperas as 

 previously mentioned should be thrown into the vault to prevent 

 unpleasant and offensive odors. Comfort as well as health is pro- 

 moted by insisting upon habits of cleanliness and decency in the 

 use of such places, for their condition in many hamlets, and about 

 solitary farmhouses, is often excessively disgusting. Earth-closets 

 have been successfully adopted in many districts, and if they are 

 carefully superintended, and only fine dry earth is chosen, they 

 may be confidently recommended. 



Insufficient Water Many in rural districts are dependent 

 solely on small streams in the neighborhood, which dry up in the 

 summer, and are in numerous cases fouled by privies, slop-water, or 

 other varieties of sewage. The water of ponds is sometimes used, 

 and many houses have a shallow well near the house, and often at a 

 lower level, so that sewage, slop-water, and other refuse soak into it. 

 These things should be remedied by properly constructed cisterns. 

 If it is absolutely necessary to keep water for any number of hours 

 in the house, do not let it remain in the bucket, but keep for the 

 purpose, a large glazed earthenware jar with a cover, or a covered 

 stone jar, and clean it out thoroughly at frequent intervals. It is 

 better not to use any sort of metallic pails for drawing the water, 

 but to keep to the old wooden bucket, and great care should be 

 taken that this bucket is not used for any other purpose than that 

 of drawing water from the well. 



Basements A large proportion of Houses still exist in this 

 country that have no proper basement, but are built simply on the 

 ground. As a natural consequence, when damp exists, the floorings 

 rot, the walls are often more or less wet and sometimes dripping 

 with water, and ague and diarrhea, rheumatism, etc., are the results. 

 If, therefore, the cottage has no proper foundation, use all possible 

 means to obtain a clear space between the earth beneath and the floor- 

 ing of the rooms above. The earth should not be scooped out from 

 below, but you should raise the floor a few inches, and leave open- 

 ings in the walls here and there, so that this space under the floor 

 may have free communication with the outer air. By adopting 

 this simple plan, the woodwork will be preserved, the house kept 

 dry from beneath, and much sickness saved. The openings should 

 be protected by some sort of grating, and had better be opposite 

 each other. But any apertures, however rough, are better than none 

 at all. 



The foregoing remarks are intended only for the use of those 

 compelled to live in tenements in towns, or in rented houses in 

 country districts. And, in such cases, it cannot be expected that 

 the tenant will have much power or control over the construction of, 

 or arrangements around, his dwelling-place. But even under these 

 circumstances, individual energy and forethought and a small 



