The small brook in the ravine west of the house of Mr. R. H. West, running under the highway south, should be cleared of all vegetable material and other waste and a proper channel made, so that the flow of water would not be impeded. All persons owning property abutting on this stream should be prohibited from throwing or discharging anything into it or upon its banks that will tend to pollute it or make it a nuisance. All buildings upon the west side of it should be required to connect their sewer pipes with the sewer, or drain, in the street on which their west line abuts. The sewer from Railroad Street and its branches, which runs down into a marsh and discharges at a culvert that passes under the railroad, should in order to remove the nuisance which it causes at that point, be carried down through the marsh west toward the river and permission is hereby granted to have it discharge into the river, until such time as by legislation, or otherwise, the river is ordered to be cleared of all pollution. These nuisances should be ordered by you, as a Local Board of Health, to be abated. Sub-section 5, of Section 15, of above mentioned Act, imposes a heavy penalty upon any member of a Local Board who neglects to perform any duty, imposed upon him. Some years ago we were called to inspect another part of your village. We would now renew a recommendation made at that time that you employ a competent engineer to lay out a system of sewers so that when a portion is laid in any street it will be uniform with the whole system, all to be built so that when the time comes that you cannot discharge your sewage into the river, you can, with little expense, run it on to a filter bed. The verbal statement made to us relative to the waste which flows from some manufactory into the brook is not considered in this report, as it was so indefinite, both as to where it entered the brook and its character, that we are not able to express an opinion until we have further information regarding it. In behalf of the State Board of Health, School Directors, Eden, Vt. HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, VT., June 8, 1907. GENTLEMEN :-Having examined three of your school houses, one at Eden Mills and two on the branch road, on my return to Hyde Park, we find that all fall far short of complying with the requirements of the law and the rules and regulations of the State Board of Health. All of these houses should be repaired and improved so as to conform to the standard. The grounds around them should be so large as to give a reasonable playground; where the ground is wet it should be drained or filled in. The privies should be located outside of the woodshed, at least twenty feet from the house; there should be two for each house, separated by a high wooden fence; dry earth should be used daily to absorb all liquids and odors; they should be cleaned every month. No more pupils should be accommodated in each house than have 250 cubic feet of air space and 20 square feet of floor space for each pupil. The windows must be numerous and large enough to represent one-fourth of the floor space. Thirty cubic feet per minute of pure air for each pupil should be supplied by your heating apparatus, whether it be a furnace under the school room, or a jacketed stove, as described in the rules and regulations of the Board, which circular is attached to and made a part of this report. The seats should all be new and adjustable and as described in Section q of the attached regulations. All these buildings should have new floors, in fact a new interior renovation. Before attempting to repair these three houses, we would advise that you consider if it would not be more economical, as well as add to the efficiency of your schools, to select a suitable site and erect a new two or three room building which would meet all requirements of better accommodation of pupils and their sanitary surroundings. It would, we believe, be less expensive to run. It is certain that you have come to the time when you will have to do something, as these buildings are unfit to longer use for school purposes. In behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. H. W. BACON, M. D., Health Officer of Eden, Eden Mills, Vt. DEAR DOCTOR:-Your inquiry with regard to seats in school houses referred to in my report of June 8 is at hand. I would say that the requirement is for new seats in all those houses. Yours truly, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary. H. D. RYDER, ESQ., Bellows Falls, Vt. DEAR SIR-A careful examination of the sewage from the houses on the east side of Saxton's River street, at North West minster, was made yesterday. The surface water that accumulates on this street and is taken by a large tile down the bank back of those houses should be cared for by the town by extending it so as to have it discharge into the river; this, however, does not come strictly under our supervision. The problem of the disposal of the sewage from the houses is of another character, coming directly before our board, under the sanitary code. The discharge from all of the houses that empty their sewage on to the surface of the bank, whether upon their own or on land of others, produces an unsanitary condition which, in some instances, has become a nuisance and, in all cases, must ultimately become such. The owners of these houses, if they will unite for the purpose, can provide against this result by establishing what is known as the "Waring, or Sub-Surface Irrigation System," which is described and illustrated by a figure showing the method of construction in the first ten pages of the accompanying pamphlet. This system can be installed on the side hill back of these houses, or upon the meadow below. We believe this offers the most satisfactory and cheapest method of caring for this sewage. If the waste from these dwellings is allowed to pollute the bank as it now does, it will be necessary to require each householder to remove the nuisance he is creating by the method in use. All of which is respectfully submitted in behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, VT., July 1, 1907. C. F. DALTON, M. D., Burlington, Vt. DEAR DOCTOR:-The attention of this Board having been called to a condition of affairs said to exist in the neighborhood of King and Church streets, owned by the Consumers' Ice Co. and Hagar Bros. and having inspected the premises, we would report as follows: There is stagnant and foul water in an open basement of a tenement owned by the Consumers' Ice Company and to the south of said tenement on land said to be owned by Hagar Brothers. This stagnant water contains organic matter undergoing decomposition as evidenced by the gases bubbling out of it. There are three families living in the tenement mentioned. This water is a nuisance injurious to the public health and should be abated at once. As to the method of abating this nuisance. It is proposed as soon as practical to drain this water off into a public sewer. This is a proper permanent method of accomplishing this abatement; meantime, however, this nuisance may do serious damage to the health of the neighboring tenants. We would recommend that the situation be promptly relieved by filling all the ground covered by this stagnant water with ashes or sand. Under present weather conditions this proposed measure seems necessary. Respectfully submitted, In behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, Vr., July 5, 1907. Local Board of Health, Windsor, Vt., J. D. BREWSTER, M. D., Secretary. DEAR DOCTOR:-An examination has been made of the manure heap near the cow barn of the State Prison of which complaint has been made and which the Local Board of Health of Windsor declared to be a nuisance and ordered to be removed. The State Board approves your finding and order in this case. In behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, VT., July 6, 1907. H. B. CHAMBERLAIN, President Brattleboro Aqueduct Company, Brattleboro, Vt. DEAR SIR: The water of the Brattleboro Aqueduct Co., of which I understand you are the president, is in a filthy condition, some days much more so than others; it is roily and, on some occasions, tastes and smells bad. I do not think the springs and pipes have been cleaned out for several years. I think that surface water gains access to the pipes, possibly through the blind ditches which, I understand, were laid to take water from the swampy places into the main pipe. If cattle get into the swamp treading around and leaving their droppings, and water from this source gets into the pipes, this may be a cause of its contamination. A thorough examination of the whole line from the Thurber place down should be made and the general conditions improved, so that these sources of pollution would be prevented. In behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, Vr., July 5, 1907. Local Board of Health, South Royalton, Vt., E. J. FISH, M. D., Secretary. DEAR DOCTOR:-We have this day examined the cess pool, with the pipes which take the sewage into the ground in its vicinity, into which the sewage of C. P. Tarble and E. J. Hewett is discharged. It appears that sewage has been discharging through a pipe said to have been placed near the top of it for the purpose of ventilation. The sewage thus discharged runs directly into the brook, thus polluting the water that the cess pool was built to protect. This pipe should be removed and the opening closed up. All surface and rain water from the roofs of houses should be excluded from said cess pool. A ventilating pipe of galvanized iron should be put into the top of the cess pool, carried just under the ground to the fence and thence up into the air at least twenty feet. In behalf of the State Board of Health, HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer. BRATTLEBORO, VT., July 13, 1907. Local Board of Health, Barton, Vt., M. F. PRIME, M. D., Secretary and Executive Officer. GENTLEMEN :-Having examined the sanitary state of Lake Street we found much surface water in the ditches beside the street, also that all the sewage from the dwelling houses on the street was being discharged into the same open ditch, all of this finding its way into the lake, causing a nuisance near the boat houses in summer and polluting the water of the lake, from I which ice is cut in winter. The pollution of the water, the nuisance, both at the boat houses and in the ditches, should be abated. From the highest point south, where the surface water runs both north and south, we are informed that a sewer, or drain, takes all the waste water and sewage, discharging it into the lake. That should not continue. The system of subsoil or downward filtration should be provided. (See descrip |