Health on the Farm: A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene

by H. F. Harris

In any case this space under the seat is tightly closed, being guarded by doors that open outward, through which the pails or box may be introduced and removed for emptying.

Each privy contains a box in which is placed either wood ashes or dry powdered earth, with a small shovel by which a sufficient quantity of the dust to cover the deposit is thrown into the pail after each evacuation. It is remarkable how completely this shovelful of earth or ashes destroys all disagreeable smell. The privy should be provided with at least two opposite windows, both of which should be thoroughly screened. The entrance should have a door that is closed with a spring, so that it cannot be carelessly or accidentally left open when vacant. At intervals the pails containing the feces are removed, and the contents are carried to a distance and buried.

Another plan that is quite satisfactory where iron pails are used, is to place a quantity of water in the vessels for receiving the feces, and then to pour in a small quantity of kerosene; the latter substance forms a layer over the water that keeps out flies, and does away largely with the disagreeable odors that are likely to emanate.

If any contagious disease exists among those who use such a closet, the fecal material should be carefully sterilized before being removed, as by means of corrosive sublimate, carbolic acid, chlorinated lime, or any one of the many commercial disinfectants containing crysylic acid, all of which may be obtained at any drug store. If carbolic acid or other liquid antiseptics be used the amount by volume should be equal to about five per cent. of the material to be treated; the proportion of corrosive sublimate should be at least 1 to 1,000 where this disinfectant is used. Along with whatever antiseptic is chosen, water should be added in sufficient quantity to permit the whole to be rendered semi-fluid, and the mixture should then be thoroughly stirred, and the chemical left to act for some hours before emptying the receptacle. By far the most satisfactory method of sterilizing infected material, however, is by boiling, since disease-germs are killed by such a temperature in a few moments. Where iron receptacles are used, therefore, the simplest method is to set them upon an open fire in the yard for a little while.

A privy constructed after the manner just described possesses some advantages even over the regulation water-closets that are used in cities, since they are cheaper in original cost, require less repairs, and are uninjured by a freezing temperature. The amount of care required to keep them in proper condition is not excessive, and they are so infinitely superior from a hygienic standpoint to the old-time privy that no sort of comparison is possible.

It should always be remembered that the principal advantages of this closet are that where it is used we are able to collect all of the evacuations, which may then be properly deodorized with soil or ashes, and that it may then be finally disposed of in such a way that it cannot be reached by hogs or other animals; of very great importance also is the screening of the closet, since only in this way is it possible to prevent flies from gaining entrance to the fecal material in the receiving pails.

Water supply.[2]—In the location of houses and schools an eye should always be had to selecting a site where it is possible to obtain good, pure water. To those fortunate dwellers in the mountainous regions of our country this is usually a matter of little difficulty, since it is always possible to find a location in the neighborhood of which the purest spring water may be obtained. In less favored regions the well becomes the main reliance, while cisterns are used in some portions of our country, in which water is collected during the rainy seasons of the year. Of the two, the former is undoubtedly to be preferred, provided a pump be used instead of the old fashioned bucket. The writer is strongly of the opinion that a very large proportion of the contamination to which sources of water-supply are subject comes from the bucket being drunk from or handled by persons with contagious diseases, or from germs being blown into the well with dust, or carried in by means of insects and small animals. It is inconceivable that any appreciable amount of contamination from the surface can reach the underground streams that supply wells in localities that are thinly populated, though it is unquestionably true that a well might be infected as a result of the entrance of surface-water where its top is not properly protected. On the other hand we have in an open well or cistern every facility afforded for the entrance of bacteria.

It is unquestionably of the utmost importance that wells be carefully covered over, and every precaution should be taken to prevent surface-water leaking into them around their edges. In order to comply with these conditions a pump is essential, since it is the only means by which water can be brought to the surface without exposing the contents of the well to contamination. It is likewise of the first importance to have the walls of the well curbed to a sufficient depth to prevent the possibility of seepage from the surface. It is, of course, also quite necessary that the well be of sufficient depth—the lower we go the more likely are we to secure a perfectly pure water. In regions where the water rises to within eight or ten feet, or less, of the surface, the possibility of the well being contaminated during the rainy season by seepage is considerably increased, and the waters of such wells should be used only after analyses have shown that they are pure; where this cannot be done, the water should be boiled before being drunk. Of course, the possibilities of contamination are greatly increased if the locality be thickly inhabited.

As has been before remarked, cisterns are more liable to contamination from the air than are wells, chiefly owing to the fact that they are supplied by water that is conducted into them by gutters from the tops of houses. There is no question that during the dry seasons dust containing many kinds of bacteria is deposited all over the tops of houses and remains there until washed away by the rains. While it is true that the sunlight quickly kills most germs that produce disease a certain number of them would inevitably escape, and having gained entrance to a cistern, would be likely to multiply and later cause trouble. It is thus seen that however pure the rain-water may originally have been—and it is among the purest of all waters—it is likely to become contaminated in the process of collection, and may ultimately in this way become the source of disease. Where any doubt exists as to the purity of such water it should be boiled before use.

Surface-streams also occasionally supply drinking-water in rural districts, and while the use of such waters may not always be attended by danger, their contamination by disease-producing germs is much more to be feared than when they are derived from wells or springs; where streams arise from and keep their course through uninhabited districts the probabilities are strong that their waters are pure and fit for use, but where they run through cultivated fields, and particularly where they pass in the neighborhood of houses, their waters should never be looked upon as being drinkable,—except after being boiled or properly filtered. Inasmuch as adequate filtration is exceedingly difficult to carry out, and requires a somewhat extensive and costly plant, this is, as a rule, not feasible for the dweller in country districts, and boiling, therefore, remains the only satisfactory method of rendering the water fit for use where doubt exists as to its purity.