718 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



in the woods. It is back perhaps 40 rods from 

 the road, and there is a sufficient volume of 

 water to run a hydraulic ram, and send it clear 

 up to the roadside; but it has never been done. 

 The man. who lives right opposite the spring, 

 has been drawing water with wagon and bar- 

 rels, day after day and week after week, to put 

 around "his plum-trees and blackberries. His 

 crop of plums was sold for several hundred dol- 

 lars, and, without doubt, paid him well for 

 drawing water in barrels. But an expenditure 

 of about !?.")().00 would send the water of this 

 spring right up before his door and into his 

 house. There are thousands and thousands of 

 placi-s throughout our land where soft-water 

 springs may be thus utilized. Of course, here 

 and there we tind a person who has done it. 

 Our State of Ohio, some years ago, offered a 

 little by way of encouragement, but nobody 

 seems to have taken advantage of it very much. 



The watering-troughs by the roadside, kept 

 full and running over by means of a pipe from 

 a spring on a little higher ground, are mostly in 

 the hands of some person who has done it at 

 his own expense, just because he happened to 

 be "built that way." May God grant that 

 more and more people may be built after that 

 fashion I 



I know, by talking with other people, that 

 there are others like myself who are hungering 

 and thirsting for pure drinking-water. We 

 have scores of people whose digestion is weak, 

 and whose stomachs seem to be fastidious about 

 water. If it has a woody taste from tlie wooden 

 pump, or a limy taste from tlie cistern, or a 

 roofy taste from the wooden roof, it stirs up an 

 unpleasant feeling in the digestive apparatus. 

 Sometimes I have thought it was a notion. 

 Again, I have tliought that Nature knew what 

 she wanted, and that the craving v/as a right 

 and proper one. Many times I have set a crock 

 out in the rain, and enjoyed hugely drinking 

 the pure water right from the clouds, to my 

 heart's content; but nothing else to be found at 

 any of the wells and cisterns in the neighbor- 

 hood would till the bill. I told you that the 

 nearest real nice spring I knew of to wliere I 

 write is six miles away. Is there no other way 

 than to go all this distance for the delicious soft 

 spring water I love so well ? Yes, I can have it 

 stored up in clean crocks or jugs, and kept in 

 the cooler. But there are two difficulties here. 

 One is, the water that has been standing is not 

 nearly as good as that fresh from a spring. It 

 may be that it lacks aii'. and of this 1 shall 

 speak further on. It is also very apt to become 

 tainted from the cooler. It may be fastidious- 

 ness, and notion, you may say. It may be so. 

 and may be not. But the principal attraction 

 tliat the spring six miles away has, is that a 

 six-mile ride puts me in just the trim to enjoy a 

 drink of spring water. But. wait a little. 



Last week, after riding 3.5 miles it was my 

 great privilege to spend a few hours with one of 

 the Oberlin professors. All round about Ober- 

 lin they have hard well water. I tasted the 

 water from the waterworks; but that, too, con- 

 tained chemicals that I knew would not be safe 

 for me to take. I had been threatened with a 

 fever; and only one who has been there can tell 

 how I longed for some of the pure clear spring 

 water. Now, I have learned by practice to tell 

 by the looks whether the water is hard or soft. 

 Hard water has more or less of a bluish tinge, 

 as seen through a tumbler. Another thing, in 

 hot dry weather it will begin to evaporate 

 around the edges very quickly, and show a 

 faint chalky incrustation. As we sat at the 

 table I noticed a glass of water near me that 

 looked exactly like the spring water I craved. 

 The tumbler was very thin, and the material 

 of it was remarkably clear. I felt so sure that 



I was right, that, as I took the glass in my 

 hand. I said. "This is filtered rain water, is it 

 not?" My hostess smiled and nodded. It was 

 perfect — just as good as that from my favorite 

 springs. Then we commenced talking about 

 the difficulty of keeping it. even in the cooler. 

 Then she mentioned an experience which has 

 been much like our own. She said that, one 

 day, she wished to keep a pailful, and thought 

 that, if she pressed down the tightly fitting tin 

 cover, it certainly could get no taint from the 

 contents of the refrigerator. A ripe muskmelon 

 was part of said contents. A few hours after- 

 ward, on tasting of the contents of the tin pail 

 it was so flavored with muskmelon that it could 

 not be u.sed. On this account it seems best to 

 filter the water only about as fast as you will 

 want it for use. 



Ernest and John have each just completed a 

 nice cistern holding about .50 barrels. Their 

 buildings are covered \vith slate. The water 

 from only half of the roof has heretofore been 

 used. These new cisterns are to be filled from 

 the other half; but after they have been emp- 

 tied and filled a great many times, in order to 

 remove the limy taste from the water, they are 

 to be filled up each winter some time during a 

 long rain, and when the weather is as near the 

 freezing-point as possible. After that, no sum- 

 mer rains are lobe allowed to go into them at all. 

 This fifty barrels of ice-cold water is supposed 

 to be enough to furnish drinking-water through 

 the season, and it is to stay cold and pure; but 

 it is to be HltenMl a-* wanted. I believe this is 

 the only safe way. The delicious springs I have 

 told you about are filtered through great coarse 

 sand rocks. If you put coarse building-sand- 

 stone near the well in a dry time you will find 

 that you can pour pailful after pailful of water 

 on it; and if you put it on slowly it will soak it 

 all up. It is like a sponge. Well, a trough 

 made of this porous stone would make a very 

 nice filter, but the water would be a long while 

 in getting through it. 



I suppose there is no end of filters in the 

 market: but we are just now using one with 

 great satisfaction, illustrated in the cut. 



You will notice in the picture a filter-disk. 

 This is made of a certain kind of natural stone. 

 The whole thing is made of the same kind of 

 stone crockery I have mentioned as being such 

 a nice thing for drinking-utensils. You lift off 

 the stone cover, and pour the water in at the 

 top. It drips slowly through the disk. There 

 are several sizes. The smallest size will filter 

 about 4 gallons a day; the largest, about 12 

 gallons. You may take water that you consider 

 very nice and clear; but place two clear glasses 

 side by side, one filled with filtered water and 

 the other with unfiltered, and you will see a 

 difference very quickly. Again, you may have 

 some water that you consider remarkably pure, 

 and think it is good enough. Brush off the 

 stone surface and wash it clean. Now run 

 through, say, a gallon of your nice pure water. 

 The deposit left upon the surface of the stone 

 will startle you. The pores through the stone, 

 while they are open enough to admit water, 

 are so close that I feel sure they will strain out 

 every particle of vegetable or animal life that 

 so quickly develops and grows in most kinds of 

 water during warm weather. This is one 

 reason why I think the water should be filtered 

 just before it is used. This stone diaphragm is 

 perhaps a little thicker than roofing slate. It 

 rests in a channel, and is fastened around the 

 edges with cement. If it gets broken or worn 

 out, it can be replaced. It should be cleaned 

 every day; and if the water is very impure, 

 twice a day. By lifting off the top and taking 

 a little brush you can wash the stone in a very 

 few minutes. A common whisk broom answers 



