Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-02-19

AOOuJ lOiV DOuGlll lllt lI'' ldlll III
Barre, Mass, afterward known as the Els
worth place, located, so to speak, up among
the clouds, where we know the air is fresh
and we believe pure But air we are told
has less influence than water; for if the
water is not healthful one may have all the
fresh winds that blow from the purest alti-
tudes, sickness is sooner or later bound to
prevail. One would naturally suppose
that Il man like Gen. Lee, of Rcyolutiona-
ry fame, whose family originally took up
this farm and owned it for more than a
hundred years, would have been careful as
to the location of the wells and the santa
ton of the farm buildings. But found
here almost the same thing duplicated that
existed on my fathers place, although
am bound to say that the well from which
the water was taken was not exactly under
the sill of the house, but was about p
feet from it and just below the hog-pen in
which hogs had been kept for 30 years
more or less. | suppose hogs are good in
their place and are an essential thing on
| the farm to eat up the refuse. In old times,
very convenient to have the pen near the
house so that the whey and milk could be
easily disposed Of. Hence the hog-pen
used to be hitchcd on to the l. of the
! house, as | fear is too often the case now.
| But at my own farm | had "a greats objec-
| ton to drinking water from well that was
only - feet away from the hog-pen,
and the top of which well was fully two
feet lower than the hog-pen itself, so that
if it did not get the drainage water, it was
likely in extremely wet times to get more
or less of the surface water or wash from
the hog-pen.
But this was not all. The discharge
from one of the sinks in the l. part of the
house was into blind cesspool, and when
| tell you that this cesspool was within 10
feet of and above the well from which
drinking water was drawn you will not be
surprised that sickness of more or less
malignant character was beginning to
break out on this farm Just before bought
it. God only knows where we should
have all been if this state of things had
been continued after it came into my pos
session. | need not tell you that this was
Immediately changed: that every vestige
Of the hog-pen together with the surface
dirt was cleaned away to a considerable
depth, as well as the cesspool itself. As tC
the stones in the cesspool they were dis
gushing sight to behold. They were com
pletely covered with a black filth, while
the earth for some distance around was
saturated with sewage, all Of which wa,
tending toward that ''never-failing well OF
pure water which always exists on every
farm when offered for sale.
The main drain from the house was an
other curiosity. 1t was a square drain, like
those you see in a swamp, stoned up, Will
flat stones on the top, running under par
of the house, turning sharp angle anc
finally discharging by the side OF the roa'
within 20 feet Of the front of the hous'
and the piazza upon which guests were en-
tertaincd in the summer time, Now this
was not so bad because it was the inten
tion always to keep the outlet filled NJ
with dry earth as an absorbent. But il
summer time work would drive on tn,
farm; hay must be- got and crops must b'
hoed and the drain would be neglected
The southwest winds however would blow
and with them would come the fumes o
decaying drainage which would fill TIN
house with anything but a delightful odor
And Just before breakfast is there anythin:
more sickening than the odor from goo'
old-fashioned country sink drain? o
course this was remedied and ii is now car
ried out of the house in a four-inch iroi
: pipe, and then in siX-inch drain pipe &c
mented together, some 1900 or 2OOO fee
away to a cesspool with an overflow on t
the moving, where it entails no eXpens
: or trouble to look after it, where it enriche
the grass and can in no way Contaminat
l the water of any well or be blown bac
u into the house. While | feel safer no'
+ that | know there is no hog-pen or ces'
$ pool within a few feet of the WELL or an
> water left to stagnate under the window
; of my sleeping-room, | should feel bette
{ if could obtain the water from a sprin
/ far removed from my house, away from a
possible contamination. and ! am takin
II steps to see if this cannot be done A
II though | believe ! now have pure wat,
II and good drainage | make it practice
Il use corrosive sublimate every few montl
II in both my city and country home. 1t
e deadly poison but it is the only sure iii
. infectant.
ST According to all authorities the be
, place to discharge house drainage is direc
E. ly on the surface or just under the surfac
o where growing crops can take it up SeN
'e age which is absorbed by vegetation
y out of harms way and there is no bett
he method of irrigation or enrichment, pr
vided it is not allowed to accumulate
/? any one spot to excess 1t should be EN-
IS tied so far away from the house and Il
water supply that any excess which is n
lie taken up by living plants should not be q
Of lowed to permeate to the lower depths al
in contaminate the drinking water. In tn
climate, with six months summer and S
a months winter, there must be provisiC
g. for the winter as well as summer. II
I'd old garden at my Worcester county hon
r. on which the drainage was poured in Il
as summer, was as good a place as could
r. found, because it was almost immediate
d, taken up by growing plants, and was II
st so much in excess as to impart to them a.