Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1879 — Look to the Drinking Water. [ARTICLE]

Look to the Drinking Water.

Many of the diseases of domestic Animals are direotiy traceable to the water they are forced to drink. Filthy pools and ponds filled entirely with surface water drained from adjoining fields where stock is pastured, or where rank vegetable matter is rotting, are often the only large and valuable herds of cattle; and it Is no wonder that, under such conditions, anthrax and other malignant diseases abound. In winter the foul liquid

ta, of course, more largely diluted and less impure than in summer; but still the germs of disease are there, ready to be taken Into the system, and perhaps show themselves in some virulent malady the fidlowing season. Knowing from personal observation that there are hundreds and thousands of herds that have ho other source from which to obtain a supply of drinking water than such as these, we are frequently more surprised at the absence of diseases among cattle than at their prevalence. It ought not to require anv great knowledge of the disease of animals to show that impure water is unhealthy and should never be used if it can possibly be avoided. If a farmer cannot obtain that which is pure from ■springs or wells, then he can scarcely do better than to, filter that which is taken from ponds before it is given to his stock, ts h« will not do this, he should cease to oomplain when diseases manifest themselves in his herds, and profits diminish in proportion* There are many farmers who depend upon brooks or springs for watering their cattle, sad when these are convenient to the pasture they answer well enough in summer, but when distant from the barnyard they are inconvenient for use in winter. It is quite common to see oattie let out of the. Stable or barnyard in- winter once a day,- asd driven across a field to water at some stream or pond, the older crowding the younger and all often slipping along with uneven step over the ice ana through the snow to get, a few sips of half-frozen Ent much needed liquid, and then retracing their steps, shivering with cold, to their winter quarters. It is scarcely necessary to say that cattle watered in this way derive little benefit from it, and are frequently injured more than they are benefited. Ice water from an open pond may be better than none, and the animals' thirst may be temporarily relieved by the cold draught, but it would be fat better to have the water close at hand and of a milder temperature than that generally obtained from open streams and ponds during the coldest weather of winter. It would not involve any great expense to bring water from these sources of supply in pipes laid under ground, and then pump it up into troughs when required. Where this is impracticable, wells should be dug or cisterns made of 'sufficient capacity to furnish a good supply. Cisterns can be built very cheaply, even where neither brick nor stone can be had for the walls. In any good dry and firm soil the cement may be spread directly Upon the earth to the depth of two inches, and this will form as good a wall as need be to hold water, and will last for a lifetime unless some accident befalls it. It is not quite so easy to cover such cisterns as when the walls are of brick or stone; but one made of good sound oak timber and plank, or even slabs from the sawmill, will nevertheless last for many years, and when the covering rote away it can be renewed without difficulty. The time saved in having an abundant supply of water at the barn, or in. the cattle yard will more than pay the cost, leaving out of account the danger of injury to cattie in going to a distance for water, and the uncertainty of their getting enough. In many of the older States the small brooks as well as larger rivers are yearly becoming more impure from the filth which is poured into them from bleaching, dyeing, and similar establishments located upon them or in their immediate vicinity. Water from such streams is far from healthy, although it may appear to be pure to the eye, and it Is always safe to avoid such whenever it can be done without too great inconvenience.— N. Y. Sun.