Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-03-14
FAULTS IN AND ABOUT FARM
HOTSES
which Render Them UnwhO1esOmc
and Unhenlthy.

O., read at Farmers Conventional
Trees are frequently placed so as TO com
pletely shade the house, rendering its mir
damp and unwholcsomo from the mould and
decay silently going on, which AZ silently but
as surely extends to the minds and bodies Of
the inmates for in a decaying house there
will be decaying bodies and in such how can
there be anything, so TO speak, but mouldy
and decayng minds2 Put trees near the house
but not 30 near as to prevent the sun, some
time during the day, from shining upon it,
giving it the benefit of its chemistry Let its
light in through the windows, and do not OBJ.
struct it by shrubs. They are for ornament
ing your grounds, and not for burying the
dwelling in seclusion and gloom. Besides,
their beauty is greatly enhanced by placing
them by themselves grouping them artistic
ally in positions away from the house and not
Immediately under the caves. II it is desired
that bare wall should be covered or q door
way porch made shady and attractive, vines
can be used to far better advantage. The sun
can penetrate their light foliage enough to
dry it, and the numerous tendris by which
they cling to their support will absorb mois-
ture rather than harbor it, giving the full OBJ
ject desired by shade-a cool, dry atmosphere.
our-HoUsEs DECIDEDLY TOO NEAH.
The barn, with its cattle-yard, the pig-pen,
the poultry house and the privy often seem to
be striving to show the utmost sooiability for
the kitchen door, filling the air with i'll odors
and the soil with filth and fever germs, to be
carried into the well by every permeating
rain. In this day of general reading it is un-
necessary for me to call attention to the fact
that typhoid fever in the country can in nine
cases out of ten be traced to the use of i'm
pure wellwater, made 80 by the proximity OF
sink drains, cess pools, privy vaults, or the
teachings of manure-heRps. Boards OF health
all over the land are calling attention to these
facts medical journals are filled with such
instances and every physician can recall the
memory of hearths made sad and desolate by
disease which he knows entered by this un-
noticed door. Mind you, farmers, do not
tell you that your wells are all contaminated,
for know that nothing will raise ones re-
sentiment quicker than to tell him his premis-
es are uncleRn but / would advise you to
have an eye to them all the same when you
get home, and if you can view them from the
standpoint that we are now occupying, sweep
them away as you would the murderer or &c.
ducer who was trying to rob you of the fair
members of your family, for pure water is as
necessary to good health as morality is to god.
illness.
In speaking Of the outbuildings let me call
attention TO quite general fault of New Eng
the privy, frequently in the corner of the yard
or garden, in full view of the passers by on
the highway and the men folks" at the barn.
thus completely prohibiting its use by modest.
minded persons, who necessarily wait for the
mantle of darkness to screen them Rs they go
thither, and thus by postponement lay the
foundation for an habitual state of constipR-
ton, which in its turn undermines the diges-
tive organs and brings permanent i'll health.
For obvious reasons this is different in towns
and cities therefore this diseased condition
which is so fearfully prevalent in the women
of the country is scarcely known by their
sisters in the city. For charity's sake, for
decency's sake let this state Of things no
longer exist
DISEASE GERMS IN CELLARS AND BED ROOMS.
Cellars as Il rule are not well drained and
are consequently damp are all more or less
dark, which precludes cleanliness and affords
tue very condition best adapted to the propa-
cation Of diseGso-germs If one will have a
cellar under the house have it thoroughly
drained and its walls and floor cemented, with
an Outside drain around the house to prevent
the saturation of the soil it may in that way
be kept dry The cellar should be partly
above ground to allow of windows to admit
air and light 70 one who contemplates
building house, would say, Have no cellar
at all Drain the spot selected, which should
be if possible on rise of land Sink the
trenches for the foundations, throwing the
earth to the inside. Garry the foundation
well up, ventilate the space between the
ground and the floor, and arrange for a store
room in some convenient extension or ell of
the building where with double walls and
windows as much warmth can be secured as
in q cellar, with saving of 80 per cent in
the construction bill to say nothing of the
use of storing productions in such a place.
The most important room in the house is
not as the first thought might suggest, the
parlor, the kitchen or the sitting-room, where
the leisure time of the family is spent but il
is the room occupied for sleeping, where at
least one-third of the ~ hours should be pass
ed in the non-resistant condition of sleep.
This is the time the system is most prone to
receive disease, for we know that when awake
every function is alert against il and labors to
throw 1t out healthy sleeping-room is an
airy one, where sunlight can be admitted dur
ing the day, lending its healthful influence in
purifying its surfaces and Objects which be-
come contaminated by the breath and exhala-
tons of the occupants 1t should be a room
free from noxous exhalations from the ground
and which can be well ventilated with pure,
external air. For these reasons il should be
located on an upper floor of the house, where
these conditions are more fully realized This
is a teaching of sanitary science that is much
more honored in the breach than in the OBJ
servance. 1t is safe to say that two. thirds of
our farmers when they retire to- night will do
so il a room on the ground floor, on the north
side of the house, and Immediately over the
cellar One window is closely screened and
the bed placed against it, thus precludiag its
use the other opens upon an almost grass
lass Of Trpupd ID II md
by the shade of an apple or other tree, inten-
sitied by the addition of a rRmpant-growing
grapevine, making in summer a capital place
for the boys to dig their bait when they 60
fishing and in winter a reservoir for ice and
cold air, conducive to pneumonia and rheu-
matism. Why not use the best and most
cheerful rooms, instead Of stealing away to
such place, resembling the penance-ceil of
the criminal? The best room in the house
is not too good for the farmer he owns it,
by his day of toll has earned further right
to its comforts and benefits, and firmly be.
lieve that he would not only feel brighter,
happier and stronger for the use of it, but
also that his doctors bill at the end of the
year would be far smaller.
HEATING WITH AIR-TIGHT STOVES.
There are but few farmhouses constructed
so as to be heated by furnace, which is per.
ANPo IN hIAit hAICp tub htONt-uthltI las not
yet given US one that will supply u healthful
atmosphere. A cheap Rir-tight stove is too
often depended upon to heat the sitting room (;
it has the advantage of warming the room
quickly, but at the expense of every particle
of oxygen the room contains The long win
ter evening is passed in this baked and drying
atmosphere, till the brain feels dead and in
ert in consequence. The inventor of the air
tight stove has colossal sin to answer for.
There is large variety of stoves that will
give cosy, attractive appearance to a room
and at the same time fill it with a moist, agree
able heat more akin to the air of summer, and
why the air tight with its baneful properties
has become so popular is more than can un-
derstand. Allow me here to say that warm
ing an upper room with the heated and vitiat-
ed air of the room below it, by means of
register, is false economy. Better bring the
stove-pipe through the ceiling and into
drum, which will utilize the heat that other
wise escapes into the chimney and give tenn
perature adapted to all purposes for which an
upper room Is generally used
Healthful arrangements for the drainage
lighting and heating of a house should never
be objected to on the score of expense. No
argument from me is necessary TO show that
vigorous health is of more importance than
dollars and cents But really these sanitary
measures are far less expensive than the old
way of living. The saving of the expense at