The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1910-11-07
Modernizing the
Farmhouse.
BY c. r. Barns, Minnesota Uni
versity Farm.
+ !. i. J. j. i. !. i: !. \ j. j. + !. j. :,

4 + !. + + j. \ !. i. !. \ !. J. !. \ j. \
A large portion of the dissatisfac
tion which stimulates the drift OF
population from the country to the
cities has had it's origin in the in
feriOr comfort and convenience of the
average farmhouse as compared with
the city dwelling. This inferiority has
been, and still is, mainly shown in the
matter of the water supply, heating,
lighting, toilet facilities and the kitch-
en- equipment. This was graphically
set forth by Professor John l.. Coul-
ter, Of the University of Minnesota, in
his address at the Minnesota Conser-
vation Congress, wherein he quotes
the comparison voiced by hundreds of
farmers, in part as follows:
"They have electric lights or gas in
the city; We have the old oil lamp or
talloW candle. They have furnaces in
their houses, and when they get up in
the morning the house is warm and
pleasant; we get up and find every
thing frozen and the house chilled.
They have hot and cold running water
and baths; We must go out to the old
pump, or melt snow and ice, and take
our bath in the dish-pan or wash-tub.
They have toilet facilities and sewers;
We must go out in the cold of winter
to the snowflled privy, and in summer
to the foul-smelling, unsanitary one"
Now, the disparity in comfort be-
tween the average city dwelling and
the average country home has been
greater, of recent years, than it for
merly was. But this has been not SO
much matter of location, but of the
greater readiness of the city dweler
to adopt improvements as they have
appeared-a readiness exhibited, not
because the city man was brighter,
but because, in the centers of popula-
tion, one becomes more quickly famil-
lar with new things, and the spread of
improvements is hastened by exam
pies of their superiority quickly her.
aided on every side. The fact of to-
day is, that the owner of many farm
homes, if not of every such home, can,
If he will, have all the comforts and
conveniences of the city dwelling, and
at little if any greater COST He can
have electric lights, or gas, by the use
of any one of numerous inventions for
supplying isolated dwellings. He can
have a furnace, or what is infinitely
better, hot-Water heating plant, just
as readily as his city brother. (The
adaptability of the hot-water plant to
all sorts of situations, by the way,
could not be better illustrated than by
the fact that each of the street cars
in the Twin Cities is independently
heated by such a plant). The pro-
vision of "hot and cold running wa
ter" and of bathing facilities, is
brought within reach in the country
home by such variety of appliances
in the way of elevated and basement
air-pressure tanks, "baby engines" and
pumps, as will surprise any one who
thinks that farmhouse must longer
dispense with these. The matter of
sewers and drainage, with the toilet
facilities dependent thereon, is, in
some instances, more difficult to han
die; but an inspection of the work
necessary to drain many a private
home in st. Paul will satisfy the farm
er that it costs not a few city dwell
ers more to connect with sewer than
1t would to provide similar drainage
for his country home.
A great many farmers are already
awake to the fact that not the slight
est reason now exists why their homes
should not be equipped with all the
appliances for comfort to be found in
the city home. An illustration is
given, herewith, of a home recently
built by such farmer, Mr.. J. J.
Sprenger, at Zumbro Falls, MINI.