Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-08-28
FARMHOUSE HYGIENE.



PRESIDENT OF THE MARYLAND STATE BOARD
OF HEALTH.
Many Of you gentlemen, perhaps, as well
as myself remember when the most popular
Of songs was There is no place like home. "
The sentiment Of this song was one Of the
kind which touches a responsive chord that
makes the whole world akin, and thence rs
popularity.
we'll ordered we'll supplied, and we'll
managed farmers house ought to give az hap
py home as can be found in the civilized
world. Let us consider briefly, here and
now, some few of its most important requi-
sites. II can hardly be happy home unless
a healthy one, and TO make II 30 the farmer
should be aided by the sanitarisn. We may
begin with
THE SITE OF THE HOUSE.
When we select site, let us have dry soil
and an airy situation. II the soil be not dry
it must be made 30 by drainage. There should
be free access of air and light to the dwell
ing.
Soil and ground. water must be taken into
consideration. Surface drainage is easy and
simple but that for ground. water, as the
Germans call it, is effected with considerable
difficulty
Ground-water, for the safety Of the house
or its inhabitants, should be fifteen feet below
the surface. 1T is generally admitted, " says
DIR. DeOhaumont, a scientific Investigator,
that persistently low ground-water, say
fifteen feet or more down, is healthy; that a
persistently high ground water, less than FIVE
feet from the surface, is unhealthy and that
a fluotuating level, especially il the changes
are sudden and violent lie very unhealthy"
IT, unfortunately then, the dwelling house
is constructed where the ground water is
high, the inmates are doomed to bad health
and short life, unless saved by efficient though
expensive drainage. l say expensive drain
age, but even II no in the beginning, the ex-
pense is ultimately compensated by sgrioul-
tural as well AZ by sanitary advantages
1t is hardly necessary TO urge here that q
damp dwelling house, however made so, will
always be prolific in such dread diseases as
consumption, malaria, rheumatism neuralgia
and diphtheria, to say nothing OF the aggra-
walton produced in all other diseases incident
ally occurring. A dry soil, by nature or art
and the free admission of air and light, are
essential TO the healthy and happy home.
Let rue quote illustrative examples Two
brothers in Vermont, of strong and vigorous
stock, and giving equal promise OF long and
vigorous life, married wives corresponding in
promise of future activity. They both had
chosen the healthiest of all osllings-farming.
One of the brothers built his house in An open
and sunny spot, where the soil and sub-soil
were dry. Shade trees and empowering plants
had hard time of it, but the cellar was dry
enough for powder magazine the house in
all its parts was free from every trace Of
dampness and mould there was a crisp and
elastic feel in the air of the dwelling. The
farmer and his family had that vigorous elias
ITCHY that reminds one OF the spring and
strength of steel. Health and sprightly vigor
10 4, -,,I. a,,I -, H.
The farmer and his wife, though past three
score, have yet the look and vigor of middle
life.
THE other brother built his house in a
beautiful and shady nook, where the trees
seemed to stretch their protecting arms in
benedictioD over the modest home Springs
fed by the neighboring hills burst forth past
his house, and others by his barns his yard
was always green in the driest time, for the
life blood Of the hills seemed to burst out all
about him in springs and tiny rivulets But
his ground WAS always wet, the cellar never
dry the walls of the rooms often had a clam
my feel, the clothes widowed in the closets,
and the bread moulded in the pantry. For a
time their native vigor enabled them to bear
up against these depressing influences chill
dren were born of apparent health and prom
ise but these one by one sank into the arms
of the dreamless twin brother of sleep under
the touch of diphtheria, Group and pneumo-
MIA. The mother went into decline and died
of consumption before her fftieth birthday,
and the father, tortured and crippled by
rheumatism, chidless and solitary in that
beautiful home, which ELECTS the praise of
every passer-by, waits and hopes for the
dawning of that day which shall give him
back wife and children, an unbroken family
and an eternal home"
Such is an instance, gentlemen, of philoso-
ply, hygienic philosophy, teaching by exam
pie, and by example of great Significance.
The teachings of the day attribute con-
umption-phthisiS to a low organism, the
bacillus tuberculosis, but il this be a direct
cause, its destructive potency is infinitely
multiplied by foul and damp air, As was abun-
dainty shown by the researches of such scien-
fists as Drs. Bowditch, of Boston, and Bu-
ohsnan, of England, when the bacillus was
as yet unknown.
You may consider it just inference from
what has been said that your house should
not be overshadowed by superfuous trees. It
is we'll TO have few shade or fruit trees near
at hand, but not enough to obstruet air and
light, which are 30 essential to health
You may have grove or forest between
the dwelling and any sluggish water course,
mill dam, or swamp, for the foliage acts rs a
wood should be at such distance as not to
enshroud the dwelling.
While speaking of protection against mala-
ria l may say that the popular opinion in IA
vor of sunhowers has its foundation in fact
To return to the house, you need dry Gel
lar, clean and well aired, and good foundation
wallis which sometimes require to be coated
externally with cement, or still better, with
slate and cement, which, practical builder
informs me, is the best protection against
dampness while it is not expensive The eel
lar should never be a receptacle for any ref
use or decaying matter When the outer walls
require coating of slate the cellar floor
should be covered with cement or concrete :;
otherwise, except in very dry soil, not only
dampness but foul gases or disease germs
may invade your house from the cellar
Your house should have the first floor ee
waited some feet above the ground, with an
ample and airy hall, and rooms proportioned
in size to the probable number of occupants
Crowded and ill-ventilated bed chambers will
cause disease in your family, though you may
have the best site for a house in MARYLAND
A thousand cubic feet-in other words. ten
feet in all dimensions-is the smallest allow
anee for each occupant of a sleeping room
which admits at the same time access OF ex-
ternRl air.
WARMING AND VENTILATION
require great care. In cities furnaces fire.
quently difuse through the house hot but
foul air, brought up from the cellar. In the
country you can have safer arrangements A
good hall stove may temper the air Of the
whole house, and as the hall doors are often
open, fresh air finds constant and ready &C
cess. Then you can have in the adjoining
rooms open fires Of wood or coal or, IL you
must have stoves, l would advise an arrange
ment urged by DIR. Bell, of the SdRitarida