TRANSACTIONS OF WARSAW HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 239 



At the meeting in July, raspberry culture was discussed. Mr. Harris 

 stated that on eighteen rods of ground, three hundred and thirty plants 

 were set, which had yielded well, and were uninjured by the extreme 

 cold. This year they had averaged four quarts to the stand, or one thou- 

 sand three hundred and twenty quarts from the plat of ground, which 

 sold at from seventeen to twenty cents per quart. 



Pear culture was also discussed, without eliciting any thing new. 



At the special meeting at Hamilton, in August, the cider question 

 was discussed. It was generally conceded that a good article of cider, 

 free from any deleterious ingredients, could be made. It was the impure, 

 adulterated article, which had prejudiced its use. 



The question of pure water in its relations to health and dietetic use 

 was discussed. Mr. Ringland read an essay on the subject, presenting 

 the views entertained by the hygienic advocates of pure water. The essay 

 maintains that well and spring water are injurious from the fact that inor- 

 ganic substances are held in suspension and solution ; that these irritating 

 substances are fruitful causes of fevers, and in times of epidemic diseases 

 injurious in irritating the delicate organs and tissues of the body. River 

 water, he considered less objectionable ; yet this contained the washings 

 of sloughs, of decayed vegetable and animal matter, offal, etc., which 

 were only partially cleansed out by the currents of the streams. 



The following are the conckuling portions of this interesting esssay : 



" Water is supplied in the purest form in the juices of our fruits and vegetables, and 

 from the clouds. A large portion of our drink should be derived from such fruits and 

 vegetables as compose the natural food of man, and they pursue the wisest course who 

 use abundantly, as regular food, these aqueous substances. There are many examples 

 of human beings living as witnesses of the truth, that these will entirely supply the 

 fluids which the vital economy of the system requires. It is an undisputed fact, that 

 the use of spices, stimulants, salt and fresh meats, make the necessity for far more 

 copious water drinking than a perfectly normal condition of the system would demand. 

 In view of this fact, we must provide a drink, and the only method of obtaining it per- 

 t'ectly pure, is to provide a cistern, well cemented and hardened before using ; running 

 through a filter the rain water that falls when the ground is frozen over in the late fall, 

 winter and early spring. This insures that no poisonous gasses will come in contact 

 with the rain, as it falls, and being pure when it descends it will so remain if cautiously 

 watched. In this cistern should be ])laced a simple chain-])ump, to stir the water and 

 keep it pure ; while at the top sufficient o])ening should be left to insure thorough 

 ventilation. To provide a filter is a very inexpensive task — a box filled with sand, 

 gravel and charcoal, answering eveiy purpose. When the spring comes, simply turn 

 aside the spout and you have the most healthful, delicious, cool and refreshing beverage 

 that human beings need, or can truly enjoy. All those who can provide such drink are 

 bound jjy every consideration of health and morality to do so. 



We venture the assertion, that if every (amily in the land should adopt these recom- 

 mendations, keep the fluids in perfect harmony with the demands of nature, and the 

 external man correspondingly pure by well-timed ablutions, (say once to twice per week) 

 in this same pure soft water, the decrease in the present aggregate of physicians' bills 

 would be, at the smallest estimate, over fifty per cent. Remember that the price of 

 health is obedience to physical law. 



In the discussion which the essay elicited, it was maintained that 

 well and spring water contain the substances of inorganic matter which 

 are essential to the formation of bone and musr le ; that nature had so 



