Morris tribune., 1910-11-18
undermining the
Farmhouse.
BY c. r. Barns, Minnesota Uni
versity Farm.

j. i !. j. + !. !. i: !. + i. 4 !. :. :. \ i
A large portion of the dissatisfac
ton which stimulates the drift OIL
| 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.
walton 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 snOw-f1lled privy, and in summer
to the foul-smelIing, unsanitary one"
Now, the disparity in comfort be-
ho MD
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 dweller
to adopt Improvements as they have
appeared-a readiness exhibited, not
because the city man was brighter,
but because, in the centers of popula-
ton, one becomes more quickly famiI-
lar with new things, and the spread of
improvements is fastened 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 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 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 |
tanks, baby engines" and |
pumps, as will surprise any one who |
thinks that a 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 private
home in ST. Paul will satisfy the farm
er that it costs not a few city dwell |
ers more to connect with a sewer than
it would to provide similar drainage
for his country home.
= 5reat many farmers are already
? Ike 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 a farmer. Mr.. J. J.
Sprenger, at Zumbro Falls, MINI.