74 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



for instance, may be tinged brown or yellow, because it has 

 percolated through vegetable matter, and yet be whole- 

 some, especially to those who are accustomed to its use. 



Place nothing on the same side of the house with the 

 well that can possibly pollute its Avater ; do not rely on the 

 soil acting as a filter to the water before it reaches the well ; 

 if you do, you make a mistake that may prove fatal to one 

 or more of your family. 



Hear what the National Board of Health, of New York, 

 has to say on this subject, after a series of careful experi- 

 ments, and their report, we may add, only confirms the 

 opinion of every sanitarian in the civilized world, and 

 proves that natural soil, w^hile it is a good filter for im- 

 pure air, is worthless where water is concerned : 



* ' From these results it appears that sand interposes 

 absolutely no barrier between wells and the bacterial in- 

 fections from cesspools, cemeteries, etc., lying even at 

 great distances in the lower wet stratum of sand. And 

 it appears probable that a dry gravel, or possibly a dry, 

 very coarse sand interposes no barrier to the free entrance 

 into houses built upon them, of these organisms, which 

 swarm in the ground air around leaky drains," etc. Other 

 experiments have shown that ground air will take up in- 

 fectious germs from water that is disturbed. 



And here, from a physician resident in the State, comes 

 still another warning : 



" If you have a well for household purposes near orange 

 trees, do not fertilize with commercial manures ; such trees 

 should have only cotton seed, tobacco leaf, or pure chem- 

 icals to feed upon. Animal fertilizers of any kind will 

 yield a poison to the water through our porous soils. You 

 can not be too careful, with our light soil, how you contam- 

 inate the surface of the ground about your wells. Bad 

 water is a fruitful source of bowel troubles. Our water 



