1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



719 



very weU to wash it. There has been some 

 dispute as to whether such a filter would entire- 

 ly remove the germs of lyphoid fever, cholera, 

 diphtheria, etc. I am not prepared to state 

 positively that it will do so: but if the water is 

 first boiled and then tilfered, I believe it is 

 <ihsolutelu safe. One objection to boiling is, 

 that it expels the air aiid gives the water a 



flattish tasle. To remedy this, various devices 

 have been brought forward to ivrate drinking- 

 water. One of these is a pump for a cistern or 

 a well, that carries as much air down under 

 the water as it brings water up. After having 

 had quite a few jangles and discords in regard 

 to drinking-water for our factory hands, we 

 finally dug a well some little distance away 

 from the buildings. We reached water at about 

 30 feet, just where we struck the rock. Sec- 

 tions of sewer-pipe. 2 feet across, were then 

 used to curb the sides, cementing each joint 

 with water-lime cement until we came to the 

 top. All the earth taken out of the well was 

 banked around the outside, so as to make a 

 strong slope away from the stone-pipe curbing. 

 This was pounded down so as to prevent, abso- 

 lutely, any surface water from getting through 

 Into the well, even during the very wettest 

 weather and heaviest rains. Then we put in 

 an lerating pump, manufactured by the Van 

 Nett Water-purifier Co., Tiltin, O. Of course, 

 the water is hard; but ever since that pump 

 has been in place I have not heard of a single 

 instance of any one of our hands going to the 

 neighbors for water because they had a notion 

 that it was better than our own. lam quite 

 satisfied that this leratinij; pump gives the 

 water a peculiar clearness and purity. The 

 claim is. that the quantity of oxygen carried 

 down into the water by the buckets oxydizes or 

 decomposes all organic matter, so as to keep 

 the water pure and wholesome. I don't know 

 whether this is sound logic or not. I give it to 

 you as it came to me. I think this is as nice 



water for drinking-water as any /la re? water I 

 ever saw or tasted. 



It is well known, and has been abundantly 

 proven by experiment, that the water of any 

 well or spring, to be nice, must be constantly 

 running water. If a spring is dammed up so 

 that there is not sufficient force to overflow the 

 obstruction, the water becomes dead and stag- 

 nant. Open it out and let it run, and keep the 

 channel clear, and it will soon become clear and 

 pure. It is so with the well. In order to have 

 water nice, you want to keep drawing on the 

 supply constantly. The more water there is 

 drawn out, the better will the water be that is 

 obtained. This illustrates the beautiful text— 

 "Give, and it shall be given unto you." Fix 

 your well so that all your neighbors can take 

 water from it, and you help yourself as well as 

 them. A family once had two wells. One was 

 near the house, and the other was off near the 

 barn. Everybody agreed, however, that the 

 water near the barn was so much nicer than 

 that near the house, that they carried all their 

 drinking-water from the barn well, even though 

 it made quite a little more labor. Finally the 

 pump was broken, and they were obliged to use 

 the water from the house well, close by the 

 door, not only for drinking - water for the 

 family, but to water the horses also. When the 

 pump was finally fixed, lo and behold I the 

 water at the house well was good, and that 

 near the barn bad. All that was needed to 

 m.ake one well better than the other was to let 

 all the horses drink from it. Don't you see? 



In the city, I suppose wells for drinking-water 

 are wisely ruled out; but in the country and 

 country towns they are probably the thing for 

 most of us — that is, because most people do not 

 object to hard water, as I have described; but I 

 would use filters, especially during the hot 

 months when fevers and like maladies prevail. 

 I think, also, that every farmhouse should have 

 its ice-house. It has been proven that blocks 

 of ice, even after freezing, on a pond of impure 

 water, are not wholly free from germs of dis- 

 ease. I myself have tasted water cooled from 

 lun\ps of ice, where the ice was so bad that it 

 would make ine sick to drink the water. Freez- 

 ing is a remedy for certain forms of impurity, 

 but not all. Therefore, if you wish to drink ice 

 water, put the ice in the upper chamber of the 

 filter, and have the water from the ice filtered 

 as well as the other. Of course, it may not be 

 as cold as if the ice were put into the lower re- 

 ceptacle, but I am sure it will be cold enough. 



Recent investigations seem to show that the 

 fevers that afflict us are more due to the water 

 we drink than to any other one cause. At our 

 Ohio Experiment Station, two members of a 

 family were sick with malarial fever. Investi- 

 gation made it quite probable that the fevers 

 were caused by the water from the well. The 

 family moved into another house, simply be- 

 cause of the bad state of the water. With these 

 facts before us, it seems to me there is hardly 

 any other one thing about our homes that so 

 urgently demands the most careful attention as 

 the water w<> drink. You may say filters and 

 such carefully constructed cisterns as I have 

 described are a good deal of expense and 

 bother. My friend, the typhoid or malarial 

 fever is a hundred times more expense and 

 bother; and think what your feelings must be- 

 think of the'remorse that would probably follow 

 you through life if a loved one should be taken 

 away — i)ossibly the mother of the family, just 

 because you had been negligent or careless in 

 regard to this one matter— the water we drink. 

 Then, again, please bear in mind that in no 

 way in the world can you show forth Christ's 

 spirit and teaching to better advantage than in 

 providing plenty of good water for the commu- 



