Rural Hygiene. Henry N. Ogden
of being water-tight, they offer no resistance to the entrance of rats, and they soon yield to the pressure of the earth and present that wobbly, uncertain appearance of cellar walls seen in rural districts. Nor should the idea that the interior is to be visible and the exterior invisible blind the builder to the fact that it is far more important to have the outside smooth. If smooth, there are no projecting surfaces for water to collect in, no edges for the frozen earth to cling to and by expansion tear off from the wall. If smooth, the joints in the masonry can be pointed or filled with mortar, and thus a suitable surface for the tar or asphalt is provided.
In Fig. 9 (after Brown) is shown a cellar wall with rough, irregular back, and it is easy to see how water would readily find its way down to one of the projecting stones and then along such a stone, through the wall into the cellar. With such a wall the action of the frost is more severe than with a wall with a smooth back, so that the wall in Fig. 9 is gradually pulled apart by alternate freezings and thawings. Figure 10 (after Brown), on the other hand, shows the cellar wall as it should be with smooth, even exterior, along which the water passes easily, with gravel backing, through which the water escapes to the drainpipe.
Damp courses in walls.
Another important means of keeping moisture from the cellar walls is to provide what is called a damp course at about a level with the top of the cellar floor. Where the soil is naturally damp, and where the cellar wells are not adequately water-proof, a second damp course should be provided at the level of the ground so that moisture from the damp cellar walls may not pass up into the above ground portion, which is naturally dry. These damp courses, in their simplest form, consist in bringing the masonry level around the building, and painting the top surface with liquid coal tar.
Another method is to paint the masonry with liquid asphalt, and then imbed in this paint a thickness of asphalt-covered building paper which is again painted with asphalt. This may be done in the horizontal layer where it could not conveniently be done vertically.
Four different ways used in France for securing dry cellar walls are shown in Fig. 11. The heavy black line represents the damp course, which, when added to the effect of the interwall space, which is shown in all the drawings but the first, and there replaced by a deep drain, insures absolute freedom from all moisture within the cellar. Figure 12 shows sections recommended by Dr. George M. Price, and indicates clearly the location of the damp course.
The cellar floor.
The floor of the cellar, in the same way, must be kept from dampness, and this is best done by covering the cellar floor with a layer of concrete, one part cement, three parts sand, and six parts broken stone; or, one part cement and eight parts gravel may be used. Care should be taken, however, that the gravel does not contain an excess of sand, and it is always well in using gravel for concrete to check the proportion of these two materials. This may be done as follows: Sift the gravel through an ash sieve so that it is free from sand; fill a ten-quart pail even full with the gravel and then pour in water to the top of the pail, keeping account of the amount of water poured in. This volume of water gives the proper amount of sand to use with the gravel for concrete, and if more sand than this was present in the original gravel, it should be sifted out until the proper proportion is reached.
Concrete is not water-tight, and the concrete floor of the cellar must be treated in some way to prevent water or moisture rising through this floor. One method is to cover the concrete thus laid with a denser mixture of cement and sand, put on three fourths of an inch thick, and made by mixing equal parts of sand and cement; or the asphalt layer already referred to in the cellar walls may be carried across the cellar, putting, as before, a paint layer on the concrete, then paper, then another paint layer, making it continuous and without a break from outside to outside. On top of this, to prevent wear and tear, a floor of brick, laid flat, or a two-inch layer of concrete may be laid.
Cellar ventilation.
The great importance of the cellar as that part of the house where, if anywhere, unhealthy conditions exist, justifies this prolonged discussion, and before leaving the subject, ventilation in the cellar should receive a word of encouragement. Too many cellars are damper than need be, are musty and close, full of odors of decaying vegetables and rotting wood, entirely from lack of ventilation. The cellar windows are small and always, closed. The cellar door is seldom opened, and never with the idea of admitting air. The impression on entering such a cellar is of a tomb.
The cellar, even in that part devoted to storing vegetables, needs ventilation as much as the house does, for the cellar air finds its way up into the house, and an unventilated cellar means a house with air deficient in oxygen and overloaded with carbonic acid, a condition which causes pale faces and anæmic bodies. Far better and healthier is it to open all the cellar windows, covering them with coarse netting to keep out animals and with fine netting to keep out insects, and let the disease-killing oxygen and sunlight in. Malaria comes from the cellar, whenever the malarial mosquito can find there a breeding place. The writer has seen many cellars in which mosquitoes were living the year through in entire comfort, utilizing the moisture and warmth of the cellar to enjoy the winter months and up and ready for their mission at the first sign of spring. A cistern in the cellar is objectionable on this account, and if one exists, it should be covered with mosquito netting.
The old-fashioned privy.
Another source of ill-health as well as of temporary discomfort is the typical construction and continued use of an outside closet or privy. The physical shrinking from the use of the ordinary building is most reasonable. As generally constructed, great draughts of air (presumably for ventilation) are continually passing through the small building, and when the temperature of the outside air is at zero, or thereabouts, only the strongest physique can withstand the exposure involved without serious danger of consumption, influenza, and pneumonia, or at least inviting those diseases by reducing the vitality of the body. Two improvements suggest themselves and should be put into effect wherever this primitive construction must continue to be used.
In the first place, the building itself should not be fifty or a hundred feet away from the house, so that every one is exposed to rain, snow, slush, and ice in making the journey thither. But some corner of the woodshed or barn should be utilized or the small building should be moved up by the back door and connected therewith by a roofed passage. The barn location is objectionable if it involves outdoor exposure in going from the house to the barn. A liberal use of earth in the privy vault will eliminate odors, and a water-tight box or bucket makes a frequent removal of the night soil practicable.
In the second place, a small stove ought to be provided to warm the closet in the coldest weather. Then the dislike to suffer from the cold, which leads so many to postpone nature's call, will be avoided, and the consequent digestive disorders which come from constipation and intestinal fermentations prevented.
Cow stables.
In matters of health, aside from ventilation, which is discussed in the next chapter, there is little to be said concerning the other buildings on the farm. Barns for hay are not involved. A few words may profitably be devoted to barns for stock, involving, as they do, by their construction, the health of the stock. One enthusiastic farmer writes that it is possible for farmers to keep their stock at all times under conditions which are an improvement upon the month of June. He believes that the cow stable should be as comfortable