South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-07-28
Farmers Wells.

Good water is an article of the first i'm.
portance to the health and comfort Of
every household. The fires that burr
within us are constantly producing a thirst
that calls daily for "water, water; ~ but il
from any source the water that we drink
has become impure, our system cannot
long maintain its healthy tone and vigor.
If our daily drink has been polluted and
poisoned by contact with filth and gar.
bage, is it any wonder that our blood be-
comes impregnsted with the germs of dis.
ease. Hence, the necessity for good and
wholesome water to health of the human
family.
All will admit the value of good water,
but it is a fact patent to every one that
there is too much bad water drank-that
the water of many wells is often nothing
but stagnant water-pools in which green
scumn and "wiggle-tails" form the larger
hall. And who has not seen many a hole
called a well filled with a milk colored
fluid yclept water, and in which half a
score OF frogs were playing peep o !" be-
hind chunks of rotted wood or something
else still more Objectionable. Farmersare
too careless about this matter of provld-
ing good water for their families. MANY
a well of good water has been spoiled by
having a duck puddle near it Too often
the pigs are allowed to root a hole right
by the side of the well, which soon be-
comes q cess pool of impurity, tainting the
all around, and which at every rain is car
RED down to be brought back again from
the well IN every bucket of water. Ihave
seen wells, the water of which would actu-
ally taste of tbs contents of an adjacent
mudhole. l have seen wells from which
itwould be difficult to draw a bucket of
water without bringing up afrog.
Is 1t any wonder that such stuff often
generates diseases in the human system?
Is 1t any wonder that water impregnated
with the essence of mudholes filled with
the filth and excreta of pigs, geese and
ducks, should produce a poison virus in
the blood to ssp the foundation of heath.
l assert that no doubt many a death, could
it be traced to its origin, would find its
home in the mudpuddles at the farmers
we'll. Many a farmers wife and farmers
daughter have gone down to the grave
from no other cause than the lack of
wholesome water. And many a doctor
owes a handsome fee to these same mud
puddles.
Friend, have you a mudhole at your
well? Go for it at once. Do not eat or
sleep till it is removed. Take a hoe and
drag out all the mud and filth, and then
fill the hole with dry soil or sand. After
doing this, shut out the pigs and poultry
from the well, and keep them u If the
curb is broken or rotted down, replace
with q new one. After doing this, scrape
away the grass and surface soil around the
well, and replace with a layer of sand and
gravel. If from the character of the land
your well ever fills with water, cut a ditch
six feet deep all around it at the distance
of afew yards, and have an outlet from
this TO take off the water. The water in
the well will not, after this, rise higher
than the bottom of the ditch. If your
water is muddy or impure, throw in peck
of lime to purify it. If animalcule appear
in the water, throw in a half q gallon of
salttomake them settle to the bottom. And
1t is worth while to take some pains 10 fix
up some c~onveniences at YOU well. A
bench to set he bucket on while it is be-
ing filed; a handy and easy way TO get
the water; and a smooth, dry path from
the well to the kitchen-these things will
make so much easier the task of your wife
and daughters. Farmers, do not neglect
your wells a single day longer, but see
that all about them is neat and tidy, and
determine to keepit always so.-Mdryland
Farmer.