588 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



way into the well at or near the surface of the ground ; or, the 

 o-round-water stream supplying the well with water may in its sub- 

 terranean movements, encounter cesspools or seepings from cess- 

 pools, and carry with it soluble and suspended particles, some of 

 which may enter the well. There can be no doubt that a large 

 percentage of the wells are exposed to contamination with refuse 

 matter in the manner described ; and it now remains to gauge the 

 danger to health and life which may be carried in the contam- 

 inating substance. The danger of typhoid fever bacteria entering 

 the water has already been mentioned. These may be washed iu 

 from the surface, or they may pass from cesspools near by through 

 fissures in the ground, passages dug by rats, etc. Whether such 

 bacteria can pass through the pores of a compact, unbroken soil 

 from a cesspool to a well near it is a matter not fully settled. 

 Since, however, the actual condition of the deeper layers of the 

 soil between cesspool and well cannot be known, it becomes im- 

 perative to prevent all pollution of the ground-water current sup- 

 plying wells, by either abolishing the cesspools or else placing 

 them at a considerable distance fi'om all sources of water. 



Besides typhoid fever bacteria, those organisms which cause 

 digestive disturbances and severer troubles, such as diarrhoea, 

 dysentery and possibly other unknown diseases, may be carried 

 into well water. During cholera epidemics, polluted wells might 

 form centres of infection. Eggs of animal parasites may be 

 washed in from the surface. Again, the barn-yard manure, repre- 

 senting the mixed excrement of various animals, may, under cer- 

 tain conditions, be bearers of disease germs, and such excrement 

 should, under no condition, be looked upon as entirely harmless 

 to human beings. 



Besides the protection of ground water near the well from pol- 

 lution emanating from cesspools, etc., the surface of the ground 

 about the well should be kept free from manure, slops and other 

 waste water ; hence the well should not be dug under or close by 

 the house, saturated with manure. It should be surrounded by 

 turf, and not by richly manured, cultivated or irrigated soil. The 

 ground immediately around it should slope gently away from it, 

 and be paved if possible. The waste water from the well should 

 not be allowed to soak into the ground, but should be collected in 

 water-tight receptacles, or else conducted at least twenty-five feet 

 away in open or closed channels which are water-tight. 



It seems to us that this subject is important, and during 

 the past year considerable pains were taken to collect data 

 on this subject, etc. For the full report we must refer you 



