VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 13, 1907.
NO. 15
Ventilation is  Vital.
The dwellings of early days with their
open fireplace and the many cracks aud
crevices between the logs, not to mention
the open roof through which snow might
sift, let in plenty of pure air. In such
houses our parents and grandparents lived
to old age unvexed by pneumonia, consumption, scarlet fever, diptheria and
other house diseases. But a great change
has come and now our houses are built
substantially air tight, excluding the pure
air.
Pure air when completely dry contains
in 100 parts by volume, 21 parts of oxygen, 79 parts of nitrogen and four one-
hundredths of one part of carbon oxide.
When the same amount of air has been
breathed once its oxygen has been decreased to 15 parts and its carbon dioxide increased to four parts (100 fold). When
breathed twice there are only 12 parts of
oxygen, and the carbon dioxide has increased to IV.. parts (180 fold). This air
which has been breathed contains seriously poisonous substances too minute for
chemical analysis and which can be detected only by the nose, upon coming into a
close room from the open air.
The carbon dioxide is \y_. times as heavy
as air and therefore sinks to the floor and
to the lower rooms. It will not burn,
and is incapable of supporting animal
life; it is exceeding dangerous gas. Its
constant removal is the main object of ventilation.
Breathing 15 times a minute and taking
30 cubic inches of air at each breath, a
man uses 37. cubic feet of air in 24 hours.
If it w<re possible for him to take this
from pure out-or-doors air and then have
the air of each expiration removed entirely from him, as it is done when he is moving about out of doors, then 375 cubic feet
of air would be enough for a man for a day
but when he is in the house the exhaled air
is not removed from him; he breathes it
into other air, with which it mingles, and
from which he must instantly draw another breath; and thus it goes, fifteen times
each minute, 900 times each hour. Then
the amount of foul air to be removed and
of pure air to be supplied must be determined by the number of persons collected
iu the house. Moreover fires, gas and
lamps use up the oxygen of the air and
add carbon dioxide to it, and calculation
must be made for these in arranging the
ventilation. Now the 375 cubic feet of
air which a man uses each day must be
mingled with 20 times 375 cubic feet, or
7.500 cubic feet of pure air to make it fit
for respiration. That is: the air in an
air-tight room ten feet high, 2o feet wide
and 30 feet long would be made unfit for
further respiration after being occupied
by one man for a day.
Twenty-four men could spoil the air in
such a room in one hour, and 50 men in
less than 30 minutes. To breathe it
longer would produce drowsiness, headache and general feeling of disability, and
it would reduce both the physical and mental powers, and also the power of resisting disease. The ill effects may not show
themselves-at once, and may be accordingly overlooked, or considered scientific
fancies by the careless: but they are
there ready to manifest themselves nevertheless.
In order to have air to breathe in a
fairly pure state every person should have
for his permanent allowance at least. 1,000
cubic feet—that is a room ten feet square
and ten feet high—with arrangements for
ventilation sufficient to remove each min
ute, five cubic feet of air and to supply
five cubic feet of fresh air. At this rate
a family of six would need a two story
house 20x30 feet with ventilation sufficient to supply 30 cubic feet of air each
minute. Just as we breathe without
thinking abont breathing, so the ventilation of a house and of a sleeping room
should be so arranged that the moving of
the air will require no personal care or
attention.
Houses can be built in this way, and
houses that have been built without ventilation cau generally be readjusted so as
to secure satisfactory ventilation.     But in
sues of the body a large quantity of oxygen for use during the coming day. But
if a man sleeps in a room where the oxygen supply is insufficient, the tired feeling
can not be satisfied and the man rises in
the morning unrested, still tired, and unfit
for the day's labor, and dreading to undertake it.
There is nothing cheaper than out-of-
doors air. Why then can we not have
enough of it to satisfy our full needs?
Why then do so many die untimely deaths
for need of pure air? Naught but ignorance or parsimony or carelessness stand in
the way.
Farm  Home of J.  H.  Biddle, Benton County Ind.
neither case can this be accomplished without much thought, nor without some additional cost.
First, every occupied room should have
a steady flow of fresh air.
Second, from every room there should
be an equal flow of impure air.
The fresh air would better be warmed before it enters the rooms, by passing
over a heated surface; this heated surface may be a hot-air furnace, or pipes or
radiators heated by steam or hot water.
Each of these three ways requires a special construction, ami these should be carefully studied before putting in a heating
system.
In the days of open houses and fireplaces pulmonary and tubercular diseases
were almost unknown in Illinois. The old
fashioned fire-place will never be surpassed
by any other device for veatiation. We
have gradually changed our whole life in
a generation and we have not learned to
live in safety.
There is every reason to believe that
those who live in thoro ventilated houses
and whose other living and foo_ are thoroly hygenic, are entirely free from danger
of attacks of any of these much dreaded
diseases.
But there are other effects of breathing
bad air but little less serious. First, living in a vitiated air actually reduces the
bodily strength so that men have lessened
physical power to perform their daily
work. It also reduces their mental
power so that they lack vim and courage.
A main purpose of sleep is that there
may be stored up in the blood and the tis-
Plant Food  Required.
Edltora Indiana  Parmer:
Will you please give in the Farmer the
amount of plant food taken from the soil
by crops, especially wheat, oats and corn?
I had it' but got it misplaced, so you will
oblige me by publishing it.
Dupont. W. F. H.
—You cnn make yonr own calculation,
from the' following, as to how mnch of the
principal ingredients would be required
per ncre: Of 1000 pounds each: wheat
takes from the soil, nitrogen 20.8 lbs.:
potash Ti.;! lbs., phosphoric acid 7.9 lbs.
Oats takes from the soil, nitrogen 19.2
lbs.; potash 4.4 lbs.; phosphoric acid G.2
lbs. Corn takes from the soil, nitrogen
16 lbs.; potash 13.7 lbs.; phosphoric acid
5.9 lbs.
For a 05 bushel corn crop you need
about 04 pounds of nitrogen, 54.8 of potash and 23.6 of phosphoric acid. Wheat
and oats are nearly alike in their demand
for nitrogen; corn requires nearly three
times as mnch potash as oats, and two
and one-half times as much as wheat.
The mistake most often made in spraying is in not doing it soon enough. Get
a spray calendar and commence work
right away. It is none too early to get
after scab and mildew. A spray calendar may be had by applying to the State
experiment station.
Plant a few acres of some early variety
of dent corn to be used for early feeding.
This corn ripens in August or first of
September, and is in the best condition
to cut np and put into shock.
Points of Law Interest to Farmers
In a prosecution for preforming ordi-
aary labor on Sunday, it was decided in
Massachusetts that it was no defense to
»uc_ a prosecution that the person believed that the seventh day of the week should
be observed as the Sabbath, and tliat he
did in fact refrain from labor and secular
business on that date, and that he believed
that he was authorized to work on the first
day of the week, provided he did not disturb others.—Commonwealth v. Kirshen,
i.Mass.I -SO N. K. 2.
County commissioners are not liable for
damages sustained by one whose horse
took fright at a pile of stone which the
commissioners had collected and deposited
by the roadside, for tne purpose of repairing the road or bridge, there being no defect either in the road or bridge, which
contributed to the injury.—Ebert v. Pik-
away Co. Commis., (Ohio) 80 N. E. 5.
An insurance company may waive the
proofs of loss required by a policy, in case
of fire. Such waiver will be inferred from
the fact that immediately after the fire
the company sent its adjuster who examined the premises and conditions, and there
upon offered the person insured a certain
amount in full payment of the loss, and on
refusal of the offer, then agreed with him
ou the value of the property wholly destroyed, and further agreed for submission
to appraisers, then named by them of the
toss on the property damaged.—Providence
&c. Ins. Co. v. Wolf, (Ind.) 80 N. E. 26.
The provisions of a fire insurance policy
for submission of loss to appraisers may
be waived, after the parties have agreed to
an appraisal and appraisers have been appointed, by conduct on tbe part of either
the company or the insured, evidencing an
intention to defeat the object of the appraisal, or to put the other party to unnecessary expense for the purpose of
coercing an unjust settlement.—Providence
&c. Ins. Co. v. Wolf, (Ind.) 80 N. E. 26.
Where the employe* of a railroad company, in repairing a railroad fence, took off
a gate at a farm crossing, merely set it
across the opening over night, the foreman
promising the farmer that it would be securely fastened, but on failure to fasten
the gate and by reason of the gate being
so carelessly set, the company was liable
for the valne of a colt which escaped
through the opening and was killed.—Baltimore &c. R. Co. v. Zollman. (Ind.) 80 N.
E. 40.
Where a tenant for a term of years
holds over, after the expiration of the
term stipulated in the lease, without any
new contract, the landlord may treat him
either as a trespasser or as a renter; but
if the landlord accepts rent after the expiration of sueh terms he then elects to
treat such tenant as a tenant from yea:*;
to year ,on the same terms as provided in
the original lease.^Eppstein v. Kuhn, (111)
80 N. E. 80.
•A deed which is absolute in form may
be shown that it was intended by the parties to be a mortgage; but the evidence to
establish such purpose must be clear and
convincing.—Reich v. Cochran, 192 N. Y.
S. 827.
A railroad is liable for the value of
horses killed by it. where the evidence
showed that the horses entered on the
track through a defective right of way
fence.—Missouri &c. R. Co., v. Cassinoba,
(Tex.) 99 S. W. 888.
 ■   m   »—i	
A measure has been introduced, and
will in nil probability pass the Legislature
of Texas, requiring all'locomotives to be
equipped  with  electric  headlghts.