let the rain and the
daylight in.

As the dairy and offices face the north, so the front of the house--the
portion used for domestic purposes--has a southern aspect, which
experience has proved to be healthy. But at the same time, despite its
compactness and general convenience, there are many defects in the
building--defects chiefly of a sanitary character. It is very doubtful
if there are any drains at all. Even though the soil be naturally dry,
the ground floor is almost always cold and damp. The stone flags are
themselves cold enough, and are often placed upon the bare earth. The
threshold is on a level with the ground outside, and sometimes a step
lower, and in wet weather the water penetrates to the hall. There is
another disadvantage. If the door be left open, which it usually is,
frogs, toads, and creeping things generally, sometimes make their way
in, though ruthlessly swept out again; and an occasional snake from the
long grass at the very door is an unpleasant, though perfectly harmless
visitor. The floor should be raised a foot or so above the level of the
earth, and some provision made against the damp by a layer of concrete
or something of the kind. If not, even if boards be substituted for the
flags, they will soon decay. It often happens that farmhouses upon
meadow land are situated on low ground, which in winter is saturated
with water which stands in the furrows, and makes the footpaths leading
to the house impassable except to water-tight boots. This must, and
undoubtedly does affect the health of the inmates, and hence probably
the prevalence of rheumatism. The site upon which the house stands
should be so drained as to carry off the water. Some soils contract to
an appreciable extent in a continuance of drought, and expand in an
equal degree with wet--a fact apparent to any one who walks across a
field where the soil is clay, in a dry time, when the deep, wide cracks
cannot be overlooked. Alternate swelling and contraction of the earth
under the foundations of a house produce a partial dislocation of the
brickwork, and hence it is common enough to see cracks running up the
walls. Had the site been properly drained, and the earth consequently
always dry, this would not have happened; and it is a matter of
consideration for the landlord, who in time may find it necessary to
shore up a wall with a buttress. The great difference in the temperature
of a drained soil and an undrained one has often been o