THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOO*. 363 



the western or south- western side of your dwelling, ex- 

 cept at a considerable distance from the house ; for the 

 rotting of the fruit, melons, squashes, and other like ar- 

 ticles, in very warm sickly weather, produces a pestilen- 

 tial effluvia ; and the air, which generally blows from the 

 west and the southwest in the sickly months, carries it 

 directly, both day and night, to your dwelling, and more 

 or less sickness is the consequence. And for the same 

 reason, persons settling in a new country should not, for 

 the first three or four years at least, plough any ground 

 on the south or west of their dwellings ; as the new 

 ground, which is rich and highly productive, is filled with 

 small roots, which, upon being ploughed up and exposed 

 to the sun, decompose and rot very fast, and send off a 

 sickly miasma and pestilential effluvia, which invariably 

 produces sickness and frequently death ; while the afflict- 

 ed family have not the most remote idea of the cause, and 

 how easily it might in a great measure be avoided. Hence 

 we frequently see that some families in the country have 

 much sickness in the hot months, while others within a 

 mile of them are healthy. Thus the great difference be- 

 tween the healthy and sickly side of the Illinois and other 

 rivers of the West, particularly those having much bottom 

 or valley ground that is sometimes overflowed. 



Ask any observing person in the neighborhood of Peoria 

 or Peru, Illinois, and they will tell you that the easterly 

 and north-easterly side of the river is very sickly in hot 

 weather ; and why ? because the western wind is blow- 

 ing the miasma of the valley of the stream to its eastern 

 side. 



But it may be asked, Is the ground on the western side 

 of the house in a new country never to be ploughed ? we 

 answer, yes, but not at first. Begin by ploughing for the 

 first three or four years, until you get acclimated, on the 

 easterly or northerly side, and gradually approach the 



