Most so-called “practical” builders will probably sneer at these suggestions. I can assure those of my readers who care to build a healthy home, that the money paid for such preventive measures will be spent for an excellent purpose. The proper construction of healthy foundation walls, and of a cellar, dry and cheerful at all times, is the basis of sanitation in cottage-building. This much accomplished, all remaining requirements are not so difficult to fulfill.
Next to dryness, the most desirable features of a good cellar are, that it is well lighted and perfectly ventilated. Good light in a cellar helps much toward its being kept in a proper condition. As regards the necessity of cellar ventilation, remember that your floors will necessarily have some crevices or shrinkage holes, and through these the cellar air will rise and mingle with the atmosphere of your living and sleeping rooms. Above all other things, do not allow your cellar to be made a sort of gigantic poke-hole for rags, cast-off clothing, old shoes, tin-cans, rotten vegetables, garbage, swill or other offensive matters. See that it is kept at all times free from rats and vermin. Do not tolerate any opening in the cellar floor for the removal of surplus water into foul water drains. Such opening, even if trapped, will be sure to act at times as an inlet for unwelcome sewer air.
The water supply of cottages is derived either from wells, cisterns or springs. Rarely do we find in the case of scattered houses a public supply, delivering water under pressure.
A common sight in the country is a well located close to or adjoining a leaching cesspool or a privy. Such wells are usually sunk to but a limited depth, and the liquid sewage from cesspools soaks through the porous subsoil down to the subterranean water stratum. The danger to health from drinking impure water is now universally acknowledged. Polluted well water is rendered more dangerous by the fact that it often has a bright, sparkling and clear appearance and has, in summer time, a low temperature, making it particularly agreeable to drink. Nothing but a chemical analysis or the microscope reveals its unwholesome condition. It is extremely difficult to fix a limit of minimum distance between a well and a cesspool, or privy, as so many different factors have to be taken into consideration. In rocky ground, especially, there may exist hidden fissures carrying the contents of cesspools a much greater distance than is generally expected.
If there is no leaching cesspool, no privy, nor other cause of soil contamination, in the neighborhood, a well may safely be used. If cesspools must be kept on or near your, or the neighbor’s, lot, or if the ground has previously been saturated with filth, do not sink a well.
A properly built well should have walls made tight and impervious from the level of the ground-water up to the surface, in order to prevent any filtration from the soil surrounding the well. The surface of the ground should be raised somewhat at the well, and graded so as to pitch in all directions away from the well. This will prevent the entrance of surface-washings. The opening of the well must be thoroughly well covered, in order to prevent the falling into the well of vermin and smaller animals, or the washing in of decaying vegetable or organic matter. The following mode of building a well has many advantages over the ordinary way: Excavate down to the water-level, then arch the well over with stones, and place the suction-pipe into the well. Next refill with loose stones, on top of these place coarse gravel, sand, and finally clean earth. Carry the pipe above ground to the suction-pump. A thus built well is very safe against introduction of foreign matter.
The best wells are probably what are called “driven wells” or “Abyssinian” wells. They are constructed as follows: A wrought-iron tube, 1½ to 2 inches diameter, having at its end a steel point perforated with numerous holes, is driven into the ground, which must, of course, be free from stones or boulders, until the ground water is reached. If necessary, several lengths of tubing are screwed together by means of couplings. The upper end of the tube is attached to the pump, and continued suction will soon wash away the sand at the lower end of the pipe, and furnish a stream of clear water.
Wherever a well cannot be sunk, cottages should be supplied with rain water collected from the roof and stored either in tanks placed in the garret, or else in underground cisterns. The latter keep the temperature of the water moderately low throughout the year. Most people, unaccustomed to drink rain water, object to it on account of its flat taste, but if it is carefully collected, properly stored, boiled before use, filtered, cooled with ice and well aerated, it makes an exceedingly wholesome and agreeable drink.