WATER SUPPLY Water should be brought into the house, and also to the barn whenever possible, by windmill or by a gravity system. Pipes should then be laid to remove the waste water from house and barn, and to dispose of it in such a way as to avoid creating breeding grounds for the bacteria that cause filth diseases. There are important reasons why water should be brought to the barn; but if it is not possible to bring it to both places, the house should have the preference. L. H. Bally says: " The first thing I would now do for the farm home is to put in sanitary water works for the care and comfort of the person. Nothing would so soon lift the home ideals." Every farmhouse should have good kitchen sinks, water closets, and a bathroom. Drinking water should be brought in by pipes. Such a water supply means additional comfort, bet ter health, protection against fire, saving of labor, and a supply of water for garden and lawn.
Various methods are in use, as pumps, gravity from high springs or creeks or tanks on the roof. If the source of supply is a spring, first find out two things: is the spring high enough above the house? Is the quan tity of water sufficient? You can measure the overflow of the spring by pailfuls. The house alone for a fam ily of ten will need about 600 gallons in twenty-four hours. To get this, the spring should flow fast enough to fill a 10-quart pail in five minutes. If the spring is high above the house and near at hand, I-inch pipe may be sufficient; but if the spring is not high, or if the pipe is long, inch pipe is safer and better.
The spring should be dug out, walled up, and covered with wood, brick, stone, or concrete—to be pre ferred in the order mentioned. The pipe may be either iron, lead, wood, or sewer pipe. Sewer pipe costs about six cents a running foot, and I-inch wrought-iron pipe about the same.
If the pressure is high—especially at the lower end—it is safer to use iron. Wood or lead pipe is nowadays rarely used.
A windmill and a tank, piped to convey water both to house and barn, is a good investment. The tank should hold a week's supply, or about 2,000 gallons for the house, arid twice as much for house and barn: say a tank 10 feet across and 6 feet deep. The mill should be at least a 12-footer.
If a gravity water supply or wind mill cannot be had, water should cer tainly be brought to the kitchen sink and also to the bathroom, if any, by means of a small hand force pump. The steps saved and health gained make a convenient water supply a necessity rather than a luxury.
Disposal of Waste Water.—If water is brought into the house, piping must be provided to carry the waste water so far away that it will not seep into the well, or otherwise become a menace to health. Many a house keeper steps to the kitchen door and empties the dish pan by throwing the water as far as she can. Drainpipes from many farmhouses form pools a short distance from the house, whence dirty water is expected to leach into the soil or be taken up by the sun. These spots are natural breeding grounds for the germs of typhoid and other contagious filth diseases. Mos quitoes also breed in these pools, and thence come into the house, bringing through their bites germs of disease, which find their way into the blood. Modern science has traced to such sources many deaths in rural neigh borhoods that should be the most healthy in the world.
These dangers may be prevented by carrying the drainpipes to any run ning stream where the water is not afterwards used.
Cesspool.—The next best device is a cesspool, about 6 feet across and 8 or 10 feet deep, and at least 100 feet from any buildings. Wall this up with stones, but do not cement it. The liquids will leach away into the soil, and the solids can be cleaned out two or three times a year. Care must be taken to locate the cesspool far enough from the well, so that drain age from it will not contaminate drinking water.