Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-01
Village Improvement.

AlR. EDITOR. lntcFoSI III l-itL1liE!it !!i:i , induced me to pen these few reminders .aa
 suggestions which I hope may not come amis:
 at this season of the year
 Our experience last summer was sad one
 Many cases of sickness in space too confined
 in it's limits not to suggest some local cause,
 proved to us that we had rested too long in inc
 faith that the climatic influences of Litchfield
 would resist any tendency to what in less fa-
 vored places would develop into malaria. We took fright at once, were all on the alert to find out the cause, and remedy it immediately, and were almost impatient when we were told that nothing special could be done till the fol lowing spring. That season has come, the fc- yer patients, with very few exceptions, are well, and we have dropped into the routine of our daily lives, feeling assured that as the last season was exceptionally fever one in every locality, it would have been marvellous had we escaped, and that such a winter as we have just passed through must have destroyed every germ of disease, # any existed
 | But is it well to thus daily? 1t must be | true that in some parts of our village, from years of occupancy and deficient drainage, the soil is surcharged with foul matter needing on- ly the warm showers and hot sunshine peculiar to some seasons to raise it in neisome vapors to threaten the health of the community. It is not only that which is foul to the sight, or vile to the smell, that may contaminate the air -thls decency bids us care for but the gras- ifc vegetation is not able to subdue, and deep un- der it's brilliant grass may ooze deadly pois- on.
 In these days when science so comes to our aid in the common affairs of life, and it is pro- ven that what is waste and poison in one place is a necessity to life and growth in another, why may we not unite in our efforts and by ap- plying the simple remedies common sense would suggest, rid ourselves of these evils? The much talked of sewer, should it be in op- eration, with all it's connecting drains and pipes in perfect order, could not de more than carry its contents to some small stream there te fes- ter in it's shallow or pollute the water drank by cattle and so brought back tous again in anoth- CT form. By all means let us have pure water, the first necessity to health-water that we drink ourselves and that every animal around us slakes his thirst in. If we will drink water from out wells, and would have it pure, we must put beyond d peradventure the possibility of not only the slep drainage, but also the oozings of vaults getting into them by substi- tuting earth closets in their stead. With such possibility before them can any one say vault is nicer than an earth closet? In Man chester, England, the use or the earth or ash closet is made compulsory and if in that thick ly populated city they can be used and their contents removed "without any nuisance to sight or smell the ashes acting as adeodorant'' we surely should be able 10 do it here. EX- perience tells us it can be done.
 Lime should be most freely used. It should be scattered over the ground now sour with fermentation, and in quantities at the outlets of drains. Outbuildings should be white washed inside and out with it, also fences and cellars. Many people consider lime washed cellar necessary to cleanliness and as much a point of their yearly house cleaning as anything else. We all know its purifying pow CT and if it will make our houses more health ful and fertiize the soil while it destroys it's noxious elements why should it not be used freely, by the carload if necessary.
 = And why not plantin places where the soil is rich to rankness, some strong growing annu- als that will feed upon this carbonaceous mat ter and lift it into the air in the form of luxu- riant vegetation instead of unwholesome va DOTS? If we have lost faith in the anti-mala- rial virtues once ascribed to the sun-fower it may be because such virtues are not peculiar to it, but shared alike by all large leaved rank growing plants. Nature herself would fill up these spots with coarse growing weeds if our good taste would allow. If we are not willing to accept her compensations, let us do better
 A garbage cart is a necessity to the village. Do the stores and markets need to advertise their wares by scattering the debris of them along the streets or dumping them down a bank You may recognize the sweepings of a lawyers office among them. During the hot season each day the market garbage and house. hold refuse should be collected and carried off and let it always be remembered that offensive liquids may find an inodorous tomb in the ash barrel and so be carried to interment with the rest of the ''trash,'
 It is pity, but it is true, that to get rid of this decaying matter of ourselves and of every thing around us, is life labor. However thorough we may be at certain seasons, still there must be daily watch and work to pre- serve purity Litchfeld has every natural advantage, and there is no excuse tor us if we do not make it the sweetest, cleanest, most in- vting village in the world There are homes now in it that are models of hygienic purity. Let us unite in our efforts and accomplish this great thing. K.