52 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



filling the very room in which the family lives with deadly 

 odors. 



I knew a farmer once who suffered fearfully every summer 

 from musquitoes, which deprived him of his needed rest and 

 made his bed a place of torture instead of repose. Musquito 

 bars were unknown, so he used to burn old boots or anything 

 that would make a smudge, to keep off the tormenting insects. 

 He never suspected that he was supporting a grand musquito 

 factory just under his nose, in the drain from his sink. The good 

 Lord sent these musquitoes, that the ignorant farmer was 

 tempted to curse, on purpose to devour the decaying vegetable 

 and animal life from that drain, which would have been poison 

 to that family with every breath they drew. I know of a family 

 in which there has always been a good deal of sickness, fevers 

 and the like. I confidently believe that one cause was the fact 

 that their pig-pen was right close to their kitchen windows, and 

 the chips from their winter stock of wood were allowed to rot by 

 the kitchen door. The family simply invited disease to enter 

 their house. They set traps to catch him. Not half attention 

 enough is paid to cleanliness and health in the matter of house 

 drains. When vvc find more occasion for economy than we do, 

 as yet, we shall utilize all the refuse from our houses. Till that 

 time comes we cannot be too careful to carry all such so deeply 

 into the ground that no noxious gas from them can pollute the 

 air we breathe. God in his goodness has provided an abundance 

 of fresh and pure air, and made the use of it the condition of 

 life and health. It is a sin for us to abuse his gift as we so often 

 'do. It is not wise nor manly to neglect the conditions of health, 

 to invite disease and death to enter our homes, and when he 

 comes charge it all upon Divine Providence. To a considerable 

 extent we have the conditions of health in our keeping. 



Entering the house, the cellar is the first place that claims 

 our attention. The health of the family is materially affected 

 by the condition of the cellar. A cellar that is wet or even 

 damp is unhealthy, a breeder of sickness and disease. How 

 many such cellars there are in which water stands for a consider- 

 able part of the year, or into which it oozes through cracks in 

 the wall whenever there is a rain. Health demands as one of 

 the first conditions in building a house, that it should stand 

 over a dry, ventilated cellar. The difficulty is not confined to 



