Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-05-06
Agricultural.



years for the enlightenment of the public in
regard to the causes and means Of prevention
Of malarial diseases but the Importance Of
the subject is by no means so generally
recognized and acted upon as Il should be.
One Of the most frequent sources Of fevers,
dysentery. and diseases of like nature. is
impure water. II is a mistake TO suppose
that the use of contaminated water for drink
ing and domestic purposes is wholly confined
TO thickly settled communities. The family
of the isolated farmer or country villager are
scarcely less liable TO disease from this source
than the inhabitants of the city. An anec-
dote related by distinguished New York
professor we'll illustrates this fact. He says
Last summer, down on the Jersey coast,
found farm house in which il was evident
to an experienced eye that the sewage matter
from the vaults filtered into the we'll
Some Of the city boarders did not seem to
thrive and went away with the seeds of ma
laria and typhoid fever in their systems. 1
said to the good people of the place that they
were poisoning their guests, and got almost
mobbed for my pains Why, they said, their
farm was the healthiest in the country.
Hadn't they and their parents occupied the
place for ninety years and thrived on the
water of that very we'll Did not the oldest
granny in the town live in their family and
drink of that well which suspected? 1t
was hard to convince these people that It was
Just because Uncle Bill and granny had lived
on that spot for almost century that the
well water was unfit TO drink"
1t may take many years to thoroughly sat-
urate large surface of ground with sewage
matter, and nature is so active in her good
work of oxidizing and destroying such mat
ter, or rendering it harmless, that several
generations of usage, under improper condi-
tions, may sometimes fail to contaminate the
well water of farm or village. But bad re-
suits must follow, sooner or later. In the
case above mentioned the cesspool was near
ly one hundred feet away from the well yet
some strong coloring matter put into the
cesspool tinged the well-water within twenty
four hours. OF course, the closer the well is
to the cesspool, barn yard, or other source of
contamination, the greater the danger; but
in some locations and soils, impurities will
penetrate great distance.
The Importance Of guarding against dis
ease from the use of impure water is shown
by reliable statistics published in England,
where the adoption of proper sanitary meas
ures in certain localities was followed by a
uniform and surprising reduction in the an
nual death rate
In this country we have plenty of records
showing the disastrous condition of the wells
and cesspools in many cities and villages, but
we cannot give tables showing the improve
ment in the death rate which followed upon
sanitary reform, because, owing to public
apathy, sanitary reform is seldom undertaken
systematically. When a mans pocket is af-
fected by the condition of his own or his ten
ants wells and drains, then there is reform,
but rarely before. Several painful cases of
death from water poisoning have occurred
within the last few years, which have been
followed by thorough reforms. The seven
students who recently died in Princeton, N.
j., killed by impure water, make it certain
that in one college, at least, knowledge of
the dangers arising from cesspools and wells
has been thoroughly realized.
A few years ago. in Rochester, N. Y, ty-
phoid appeared in many houses with alarm
ing malignity. Some one convinced the city
authorities that the well water-which many
houses still used notwithstanding the fact
that the lake water had been introduced by
pipes-was responsible. Prof. S. A. Latti-
more was appointed to investigate the mat
ter He found that there were fifty persons
suffering from typhoid fever in the city, and
that of those fifty persons, forty-eight drank
well water. Going back in the records of
the death statistics he found that an enor-
nous percentage of deaths from zymotic dis
eases had occurred among persons who drank
well water. He then made an analysis of the
water from several hundred wells and failed
to find one good well in Rochester The wa
ter which was most sparkling and crystalline
was the worst. There was not sample of
well water examined which did not contain
double the quantity of decaying albuminoid
and vegetable matter to be found in good
lake water. 1t is an easy matter for man
owning country house to send a bottle of
his well water to a chemist for examination,
and if he is so unfortunate as to have cess
pool within five hundred feet of his well, let
him put few ounces of some harmless COL
oring matter into it and watch the effect upon
his well water.
1t is not difficult to prevent the contamina-
tion of well water If proper care is exercised
in regard to location and cleanliness. Ordin-
ary earth pirvies may be used when dry earth
or coal ashes is daily added TO the deposit in
sufficient quantities to absorb all moisture
and the entire contents removed every week,
or oftener, during the warm season. Some
persons, instead of using vault, which is al
ways more or less dangerous when the water
supply of the house must come from wells
near, have placed in their privies well-made
tubs, which slide in and out on wooden cleats.
-,
tubs. By opening a door behind the privy
these tubs can be pulled out by handles at
tached to them for that purpose. Once a
week, and oftener In warm weather, they are
pulled out the contents emptied upon a ma
nure heap, and mixed with earth, all odor dis
appearing in few days. No better manure
can be wished for. By using common road
dust or ashes plentifully, such tubs will be
found by no means offensive. In villages a
scavenger can be hired to attend to this mat
ter for dozen families at no great expense.
II regular water closets are preferred, and
owing to the amount of water used such tubs
are impracticabe, the vaults into which sew
age matter runs should be made absolutely
water-tight or the evil of sewer gas will de-
velop. As pipes, connections, traps, etc.,
are all more or less liable to defects which
may fill ones house with noxious gases, the
old-fashioned privy without the old, fashion
ed charnel house beneath it is perhaps the
simplest and safest device which can be
adopted.
Selection Of Seed.
No branch of farm economy exceeds in i'm
portance, or demands the exercise of greater