Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1920-01-08

for having drunk its diseaseladen output. In
vestigations made by the United States depart
ment of agriculture indicate that only small
minority of farm-water supplies can be classed
as unqualihedly safe and desirable. On the aver
age three out of four farm wells are located with
In Is feet of back door Of the house and in
the direction Of the barnyard.
That convenience and first cost not safety
have been the deciding factors in such cases is
made evident by the nearness of barnyards mig
pens pastures. fortified fields sink drains priv
les. cesspools and areas rendered insanitary by
chickens, Stops, and other filth Too frequently
the seepage from these and other sources, after
Joining the ground water, moves to wells and
springs impairing the water supply by impurty
and may be grossly poisonous.
Sewage Disposal.
Popular Indifference to the effective disposal
Of sewage has existed so long and so universally
that only within comparatively recent years has
it been realized that this waste product of hui
man life is poisonous and must be kept from the
food and drink of man. From the specific germs
or poison that may be carried in sewage at any
time there may result typhoid fever tuberculo-
sis, hookWorm disease, cholera, dysentery diar-
rhea. or other ailments, and 1t is not improbable
that certain obscure maladies may be traced event
ually to the poisonous effects of drainage from hui
man waste. The poison is invisible to the naked
eye and it may be carried by many agencies by
devious routes, and be unsuspectngly received
into the human body Typhoid fever is peculiarly
u rural disease, and many instances clearly ind-
cate serious neglect of responsibility with regard
to sanitation by people who live in the country
Not to dispose OF sewage promptly invites nu
sance, but not to dispose of sewage Clearly and
completely invites disease. 1t is not enough that
human filth Ia taken SO, Is, 100, or $50 feet
away from q well or spring, that it is
taken merely to lower ground. Given loose or
open subsoil, seamy ledge, or ong-continued pollu-
ton of one plat of ground. the of contamina-
ton is likely to extend and readily NAV reach
quite distant wells, especially at such times IA
well waters are lowered by drought or heavy
pumping Whatever the system of sewage dis
posal it should be entirely and widely sepa
rated from the water supply, and, if possible
the surface of the sewage in any leaky prvy,
vault or cesspool should be lower than the low
est water in any nearby WELL The Cnited
States department of agriculture has prepared
bulletin No. 49, from it's 1916 Yearbook enti-
tied Sewage Disposal on the Farm" which gives
details regarding various types of outhouses sug-
gestions regarding plumbing. cesspools, senuc
tanks. and related subjects. This pamphlet win
be mailed free on request h
Pure Water the Need
One of the first and obvious needs OF Amer,
can farms is pure water supply. From the
standpoint of the housewife, second only in i'm.
poftance to purity, is the installation of water
system in the farm house that will save labor
Continued pumping will not improve water in
well If the sources which feed it are permanent
~ ut fault. Wells cannot be located in all cases
to be wholly free from pollution but the great
est safeguards are clean ground, and as wide SEN
aratons as possible from the probable channels
of impure drainage.
Water for domestic should be clean. lus-
irous. ocorless, coorless, wholesome, soft neither
strongly acid nor alkaline and its temperature
for general farm purposes should be about so de-
grees. These characteristics however, are never
proof of purity, for glass of water may DOS.
sess stem all and yet contain millions of disease
DrnGucii;2 germs.
Ground water is the ideal supply for thu,
farm Any fsrtAer who is about to have a deep
we'll and who is i.:,seran of the depth and qunn
ty quality of fife waite, likely to be encoun-
tered. should describe fully the location and con
dition Of his proiIt I" national or state genlogi-
cal authorities ana ;isk for advice. The use o.
I'll" ~'''o:'' hazel r peach stick ''' '''''i's IN