Show ON OH THE TER FARM C J blanchard Us U so S geological survey more than 40 per cent of the farm arm wells so BO far examined in this state havo have been found to bo be polluted this Is a significant statement made by th alio director of 0 a state board of health laboratory la in which several thousand well wat waters r a have been beca examined it helps to explain why the death rate from typhoid fever Is greater in the country than in tho the city it Is a popular notion of city folk that a vacation in the country Is a safeguard against all tho the diseases to which tho the llesh Is heir physicians recognize this when they send their patients away from tho the city the country lifo Is unquestionably thol tho ideal deal ono one tho the popular cry back to nature lias a largo large measure or of justification yet thoro there aro are thousands of people who return from such an outing consumed with typhoid foyer fever why my should this bo be true typhoid on an index to water purity A century of experience has shown that tho the typhoid rato rate in any place Is a good index of the purity of the water supply at that place therefore when wo find that the typhoid rate in the tha country to Is higher in the aggregate than in tho the city it can bo be fairly assumed that country water supplies are nut as aa safo safe as city supplies and this in spite of the fact that many of our city w a aro are notoriously bad the state from which tho the above mentioned mony comes Is a typical one so far as its proportion ot of rural pollution Is concerned and that there Is no reason to believe that if ac the matter were investigated in other states tho the conditions of farm wells would bo be in any degree superior in connection with its investigations of the character of water supplies the united states geological survey has noted repeatedly that typhoid fever la Is continuously prevalent in many rural sections in some cases this condition has been maintained tor for so eo many years that it Is accepted by tho the communities as one of tile the ordinary incidents of at life and becomes a matter of general comment only during periods of especial virulence the facts are that there are comparatively few farm wells located at points not subject to local contamination farmers swear by their wefa I 1 it la lo commonly observed that nearly every farmer believes in tho the purity ot of hla his well water vater especially if tho the well has bren in uso use for generations the falt fait that his grandfather believed tho the water to bo puro pure Is sufficient evidence tor for him to defend tho the well even though his bis family bo be devastated yeva stated by br typhoid fever it la Is sometimes tho caso case that a well Is used even after its taste and odor ought to be sufficient clent to demonstrate that it Is polluted A notable instance occurred not long since in which a certain larmer farmer could not uto use the water from his well it if it were drawn up by a pump but it if a i well sweep wore were used and the water taken from the surface no disagreeable features were noted it was found upon examination that tho the sink drain which hall had been in uso use for generations passed close to the tha well and a large part of tho drainage emptied into it this organic matter settled to the hot bot oni oin of tho the well and became putrid whenever tho pump was used the v ater containing this foul matter matternas was irown from tile tho lower part of the well wilo that obtained from the top b aji niofito of c tho the well sweep was ab a bo m r and did not ej yiv Z i av ivl I 1 evince of disagreeable codori S taste ni though it 11 contained in fit a larre large amount of filthy matter tho deplorable plo rable feature of this situation Is that it requires in the majority of bases rases only the exercise of common in the tha selection ot of a point at which a safe veil ell may be sunk the accompanying illustrations show sate safe and unsafe well locations that sho vUiS vilu the improper location to la af conditions which may be I 1 lound re in rural districts it Is III bablo able that typhoid ver will awa in the country as aa long as the habit common of sinking a well in a con lent ent rather than la in a safe place |