The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-08-05
Farm Miscellany.
PURE DRINKING WATER ON THE Farm.

I know very well many farmers will
be satisfied with the headline of this
| article. and with the ~consoling thought
that what is said may apply to some
other mans well and farm, but not
to his. He is likely to think that the
dangers lurking in drinking water are
imaginary ones. But if with the a u
ton given herein I shall have averted
one case of typhoid fever, I shall feel
that the article has served a good pur-
pose. One part of the farmers educa-
ton should result in teaching him how
to take care of himself, and thereby,
or in a similar manner of his family.
If there is any n subject upon which
we are all ignorant, it is that of by
giene and medicine. Unfortunately
the Family physician" is himself
sometimes ignorant upon these very
topics. Especially is this liable to be
true of country physicians whose OPP
portunities may not have been good,
whose environments have operated
against advancement beyond a certain
stage, and whose compensation will
not usually justify the expense re-
quired to keep abreast of the progress
in medicine. 1t is important, there
fore. that the farmer shall guard his
health carefully. He is unable fire.
quently to pay even the small bills
which mis- physician may assess; and
it may be, unable to dispense for a
time only with the services of some
member of his family; an enforced
suspension from duty by sickness.
But the interested man will inquire,
"How am / to help it z" III answer, l
would say, the two principal avoidable
causes of disease are improper drink
ing water and immoderate eating. It
is only the first of these with which
we are now concerned. The one great
danger of contamination of drinking
water is hat of sewage; and the most
dangerous disease likely to develop
thereby, so far as known, is typhoid
fever. It is true that Asiatic cholera
may be distributed as typhoid fever
is; but this disease is so rare in the
country life of the United States that
the source of its spread may be over
looked. There are perhaps other i'll
defined diseases which may be traced
to impure drinking water, diseases
usually marked by diarrhoeal troubles,
with an impoverished condition of
the blood. But if the typhoid fever
were the only disease which could
arise from contaminated drinking wa
ter. it would still certainly pay in dol
lars and cents-leaving out the qUes-
ton of health and life-to see that
the water is pure. The simplest and
most effective way to purify the water
is simply to boil it. Boil it one day,
and allow it to sit over until the next,
in order that the atmosphere may be
reabsorbed. But it is less trouble and
better, to see in the beginning that
the well is properly located away from
the water closet, or the stables, which
are the source of contamination. The
well should be at least sixty-fve yards
from either of the above. IF posi-
BILE, it should be located on a higher
surface level than either of the above.
Although that does not necessarily af-
ford immunity; since the surface
slope is no indication of what direc-
ton the water will take when it gets
beneath the surface. Milk is a fire.
quent dissemination of typhoid fever;
but in most cases. at least, the water
is even then responsible for it. The
water being contaminated. is used to
wash out and rinse out the milk yes
sells; the germs of the disease are thus
left in the vessels and absorbed by the
warm milk. under which favorable
conditions they rapidly multiply. The
disease may in this way be carried
from the country to the town or city.
Certainly there is no more important
consideration connected with the farm
than the question, where shall the
well be located?" A cistern is perhaps
just as dangerous. They so often leak
without the fact being known, or if
known, disregarded-that danger
from them is even more insidious than
from the well. It is not sufficient to
say, Il have been using the water
from that well for twenty years, and
it has not yet brought disease to me
or my family" If improper1v located