234 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



in an average neglected country burying ground, 

 and a cheap stone erected at the head of her grave, 

 upon which, through the weeds and brush, you may 

 see inscribed "Sacred to the Memory of Eliza 

 Jane, Wife of John Jones. " A more fitting in- 

 scription would have been "Here Lies the Tired 

 Worn-out Body of Eliza Jane, Wife of John Jones, 

 whose life was crushed out by an Unnecessary 

 System of Farm Living. " 



Insufficient sanitation and the deadly well have 

 given death a rich harvest upon the farm. The 

 author has seen almost whole families swept away 

 by the deadly typhoid fever whose origin was 

 traced to a contaminated or neglected well, or to 

 some cesspool near the farm dwelling. The ex- 

 istence of these death traps are due to ignorance, 

 indifference, or laziness. There is not the slight- 

 est excuse for their existence upon the farm. 



A farmer owes it to his family to furnish them, 

 as well as himself, with plenty of pure water which 

 is the great preventative of disease. A pure water 

 supply upon most farms can only be obtained by 

 the driven or drilled well put down to a sufficient 

 depth to secure water from a stratum which can- 

 not be reached by surface contamination. The 

 open or dug well or the shallow driven or drilled 

 well, are nearly always death traps and should be 

 avoided as a pestilence. The author has seen 

 water drawn from dozens of farm wells that was 

 ill smelling and with a most repulsive taste. 

 These waters were laden with the germs of the 

 most fatal diseases, and yet their owners were 

 making no effort to improve them. That the peo- 

 ple who partook of the water of these wells were 



