The subject of this address is : Some of the Poisons of the 

 Farmer's Life. 



One of these poisons is the bad air in the dwelling houses, and 

 especially dnring the colder season of the year. In our cold and 

 variable climate, specially acting upon our acutely nervous tem- 

 peraments, we are quite sure to secure animal and artificial heat 

 enough, even if we do it at the expense of purity of the air. If 

 we sleep cold we are sure to wake and, pull on an extra blanket. 

 If we are too cool when we sit down in our houses, the first thin^ 

 is to shut the window. And the patient lungs will endure a won- 

 derful amount of this abuse. Though they fill and empty better 

 when the air has its proper amount of pure oxygen, yet they will 

 pump on harder and harder when the purity of the air is more or 

 less diminished, for they must do their part to supply the neces- 

 sary waste. In this centennial year it is proper to praise anything 

 that is old. Then I\^say hurrah for the old fashioned fireplace, 

 with its big blaze of flame and coals ! Hurrah for the plenty of 

 fresh air which it com2oelled in every house ! Are we to suppose 

 that the young or old people in 1775 suffered any more in their 

 persons from the cold, or were obliged to dress any warmer than 

 we do now ? For the purer and more plentiful the air the greater 



the animal heat. 



Not farmers only, but everybody, iiowadays, make their 

 houses as close from air as possible, build smaller chim- 

 neys, put a red-hot furnace in the cellar, stop up every hole, 

 and have now got to the Yale lock, where there is not even a key- 

 hole tor the air to escape or enter — and with a little effeminacy, 

 the result of increasing luxury everywhere, and too often the del- 

 icate habits of the female portion of the family — but precious little 

 fresh air is admitted to the house from November to April — about 

 one-half of the year. 



And how about the sleeping rooms of many of our 

 farmers? Is it not fair to say that the average New Eng- 

 land farmer and his wife sleep in a bed-room on the lower floor of 

 the house, fifteen feet one way, twelve another, and seven or eight 

 feet " between joints," and opening into the kitchen? Perfect 

 ventilation requires that 3,000 cubic feet of fresh air should be 

 supplied to each person per hour, and sleeping rooms should allow 

 1,000 cubic feet of space to each occupant. Now the bed-room 



