THE WATER SUPPLY. 89 



Typhoid fever has thus heen spread on several occasions in 

 London ; and of course the same liability affects the milk 

 consumer on the farm itself. And the health of the live- 

 stock of the farm, as well as of the families resident upon 

 it, is in risk of suffering. The water supply to a farm 

 is of great importance ; and the position of the farm- 

 house and of the farm homestead will often properly be 

 determined by the facilities for a good water supply. And 

 field ponds, where there are no field or fence- side rivulets 

 or springs, are as necessary in the pastures as wells and 

 tanks are for the homestead. 



Throughout the dairy districts the recent change from 

 cheese-making to milk-selling has considerably increased 

 the strain on the water supply, as the temperature of all 

 milk sent by rail must be reduced to about 58 Fahrenheit ; 

 and thus large quantities of cold water are required for use 

 in the refrigerator. In the upland districts of Derbyshire, 

 Staffordshire, and Cheshire, we have in many cases laid on 

 an unfailing supply of pure water to homesteads at a trifling 

 cost. The first point to ascertain is an unfailing source of 

 supply ; this is sometimes obtained by the interception of 

 part of the water of a streamlet, if springs of sufficient 

 volume cannot be found. In the former case a filter 

 "bed, six feet long, four feet wide, and three feet deep 

 made water-tight, can be built of concrete, and the walls 

 skimmed inside with cement. It should either be arched 

 over, leaving a twenty-inch square opening in the centre, 

 or be covered with rough stone flags. The top should be 

 slightly below the bed of the stream or source of supply. 

 The water is admitted through an orifice in the bottom of 

 the tank, rising through a series of layers of gravel and 

 charcoal. The outlet may be somewhat below the top of 



