The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1878-02-23
HEALTHY HOMES FOR rAR1ERs.
se,.ne. Applied to Everyday AnAirs.

HEALTHY HOMES FOR FARHERS
Science Applied to Everyday AnAirs.
The following is the substance of {
lecture by Prof. r. C. Kedzie, of tn,
Michigan Agricultural College, reported
by the Detroit Free Press: g, ilg pc
In opening. Professor Kedzie enlarged
upon the necessity of good health fol
the farmer, and the commercial an6
moral value of that great desideratum
The outdoor life of the farmer, he re-
marked, was conducive to good health,
as were likewise the uniformity of his
hours of labor and repose. But not.
withstanding this, statistics prove that
the lawyer, the minister and. the doctor
were longer lived than the farmer
Without going into all the reasons that
might be assigned for this fact, Profess.
or Kedzie restricted himself to the fed
of the home as related to health. He
made this plea for healthy homes, he
said, especially for the sake of women.
"Man's life is in the field; his days are
spent in the broader, grander and more
diversified life, significantly named 'out-
doors.' 1t was far otherwise with
women. If the house is the scene OF
discomfort, the occasion of ill-health
and dragging disease, there is no escape
for her except in the grave. zoos,
THE SITE FOR A HOUsE aes-4
was very important, and the farmer had
far more opportunity to select suitable
place than the citizen cooped up in a
small lot. He advocated the choosing
of some gentle swell of ground, not a
hill which one must YEARLY climb. The
ground should flow off with a gentle
declinatiOn to the south or southeast,
and afforded cheerful outlook over
some portions of the farm. Swamp and
low ground should be avoided ESPECIALLY
to the southwest and west, because the
prevailing winds would then bring ague
and malarial diseases to the house.
THE GROUND
on which house is built should be free
from stagnant water, both surface-soil
and sub-soil. The elaborate researches
of Pettenskofer of Germany and Bow
ditch and others has demonstrated the
close relation between the prevalence of
consumption and low forms of fever and
the approach of the .water-line to the
surface of the soil. If the soil and SUBJ
soil were not free from stagAant water
to the depth of six feet, make them so
by understanding. You can not afford
not to underdrain if you prize life and
health.
The Professor enlarged on the ques-
ton of aspect and the importance of
studying the relations of the house to
sun and wind. 1t might not be always
possible to arrange this as one would
wish, but when it can the house should
FACE THE SOUTH OR THE SOUTHEAST.
He deprecated the tendency to make
every thing square with the compass or
at right angles, and said, with reference
to the southeastern aspect, that if the
farmer would make gently winding
road lead from the highway to the house,
which is screened from public view by
. few evergreens, he might have his
house front which way he would. The
living. rooms should be on the eastern
side of the house because this receives
the first sunlight in the morning and is
in the shade in the afternoon. In the
summer the mornings are often chilly
and the afternoons very hot. The east
ern rooms will therefore be agreeably
warmed by the sun in the morning and
pleasantly cool in the afternoon. The
eastern side of the house is also shield
ed from violent winds. A clump or
row of eyergreens should be planted
near the house on the southwest and
west sides to break the force Of the CRU
ell southwest winds in the winter.
THE MATERIAL.
A brick house, said Prof. Kedzie, costs
more at the outset, but is more durable
and may cost no more in the long rum
1t is less liable to destruction by fire, is
warmer in winter, and cooler in sum-
mer, and affords better conditions for
health than a house of wood, because
the walls are more permeable by air.
Dry brick and mortar. afford ready
passage for air, but wet brick and NOR
tar arrest its passage, which is one rea-
son why damp walls are unwholesome.
The difference of 20 degrees of tempera-
ture between outdoor and indoor air will
cause the passage of seven cubic feet
nine inches of air each hour through
every square yard of wall surface made
of brick. Each brick, when dry, con-
tains from one-half to three-quarters of
apint of air; if dry brick can hold so
much of air it can permit the air to
slowly breathe through it. A house
built of $4,000 dry brick will absorb an
average of half a pound of water to each
brick from the mOrtar-a quantity equal
to one hundred barrels of water in the
green walls, all of which must evap0rate
before the house is fit to live in For a
long time the windows of such a house
will weep from the condensation, just
as the family will weep if they move in
too soon. With regard to 80
WALL PAPER.
Professor Kedzie said the sizing on the
paper and the sizing used in placing the
paper on the wall prevent almost abso-
lutely the passage of air. A house must
breathe to be healthy, just as truly as
an animal, but a wet wall and a papered
wall is strangled wall. We hear much
of the hygienic value of perforated
buckskit,. It would be Just as sensible
to perforate a wire sieve. Air will pass
through leather, and every garment
must be penetrated and washed by air
to preserve health. The house is only
q huge overcoat. Wood is permeable
by air in the direction of the grain.
Very little sir passes when the siding is
painted. The, air in wooden houses
passes through cracks between the
boards, thus causing disagreeable
draughts. The walls Of house should
breathe, not blow. There is method
of building coming into use which is