CHAPTER XXXVII. 



WATER AND ICE) SUPPLY. 

 WATER SUPPLY 



Importance of Pure Water. A great deal of disease 

 in farm homes is directly traceable to infected water. 

 Typhoid fever especially is so frequently caused by pol- 

 luted well water that physicians at once look to this as 

 the probable cause wherever this disease is found to ex- 

 ist. 



Where wells infected with disease germs happen to ex- 

 ist on dairy farms that supply milk to neighboring cities, 

 disease is not limited to the dairyman's own family, but 

 may be spread along the entire milk route. Many typhoid 

 fever epidemics have been positively traced to milk which 

 has become infected through water containing the disease 

 germs. Nowhere is pure water so important, therefore, 

 as upon dairy farms. 



The disease germs usually find their way into the milk 

 through milk vessels which have been washed with in- 

 fected water. The use of such water for washing cows' 

 udders previous to milking may also be the means of in- 

 fecting the milk supply. 



Location of Well. The most satisfactory location for 

 the well is at the dairy house where the coldest water is 

 required and where it will be most convenient. Here the 

 water for both the dairy, the home, and the stock can be 

 pumped with the dairy engine. Further, the well, like 



274 



