1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUilE. 



253 



which, in comparison with those displays of 

 the English, are very meager indeed; and 

 even the exhibits at our State fairs are rath- 

 er small in comparison with what they ought 

 to be, as a rule. Our friend J. H. Martin, 

 however, whose exhibit we showed on p. 89^ 

 is rather an exception. But the English 

 people are vastly in advance of us in the art 

 of getting up a first-class honey-display ; 

 and even our Canadian neighbors across the 

 line are leaving us rather behind. If there 

 were more of this disposition to show our 

 honey before the masses, and thus utilize 

 one of the best means of advertising, we 

 firmly believe there would then be less cause 

 of complaint over the low price of honey, 

 and less luichaiitableness toward the mid- 

 dlemen, and, at the same time, the press of 

 the countrj would receive a more intimate 

 knowledge' of the manner and method now 

 practiced for producing honey. They would 

 see that it is possible to produce honey by 

 the ton honestly. It would hot only do 

 much toward advertising our products, but 

 do much to counteract the false statements 

 in regard to our favorite pursuit. 



Ernkst. 



OUR CELLARS. 



b'KIHM) TKRRY ON THE VENTILATION OF. 



PKIEND HOOT:— When going around the coun- 

 try in winter, attending farmers' institutes, I 

 am often taiien down cellar to see the pota- 

 toes, you know. Quite possibly I have notic- 

 ed some things that the owners did not. 

 Not always, but in the majority of cases, perhaps, 

 the cellars under our homes are not properly kept, 

 according to the best light we now have. This is 

 my excuse for what follows: 



Vou know very little of the health-giving sun- 

 light, which I have urged the lady readers of 

 (tLkanings to let into their homes, gets into the or- 

 dinary cellar; in fact, we do not want it there, if we 

 store vegetables therein. Potatoes In particular 

 should be kept in the dark. Very often the cellar 

 is damp as well as dark, and it is rarely ventilated. 

 Perhaps it is banked up in the fall, and left closed, 

 so far as doors aad windows are concerned, all 

 winter. Now, we know that sunshine and dryness 

 and ventilation are necessary to make the air in 

 our houses healthful. The air in the cellars having 

 almost none of these, it must be more or less un- 

 healthful. Then, again, probably in the majority 

 of cases, there are some i-otten vegetables to be 

 found therein, or an old pork-barrel with stinking 

 brine in it. Perhaps the ceiling is covered with 

 cobwebs between the joists (I wonder if the ladies 

 know how much cobwebs have to do with hasten- 

 ing decomposition sometimes). In such a cellar 

 you will see mold on the wall, and the air is full of 

 germs, or spores. Let in a ray of sunlight through 

 a small hole in a curtain, and you can see these 

 plainly with the naked eye. Hold a candle under 

 this streak of floating germs, or particles, and in- 

 stantly they are all destroyed above the blaze, 

 whether they are vegetable or animal, and you 

 make a dark spot in the streak of light, as there is 

 nothing there to stop the light, and hence enable 

 us to see it. Now, all will ^gree with me that the 

 air in such a cellar is not such as we ought to 

 breathe. But some one says, " We do not live 



down cellar; what is the difference? We can stand 

 such air for a few moments while we are necessari- 

 ly down there." Well, let us see. What is there 

 between your cellar and the rooms above where 

 you do live? Just a matched-board floor and a car- 

 pet, perhaps, and the stoves have dried the boards 

 so the joints are quite open. This is the way it 

 usually is. Now, in the winter you have flres in 

 your bouses, and these flres take considerable air 

 out of the rooms, particularly if you have grates. 

 Moi'e air must be sucked in. Some will come in 

 around the doors and windows; some will be drawn 

 up through the floor. The tighter the doors and 

 windows, the more will come from the cellar. 

 Come it mtist from some quartet. Then won't you 

 have to breathe it? Do you doubt that the impuri- 

 ties in the air will come through an inch board? 

 At the institute in Marietta, Dr. Carl Leo Mees, of 

 the Ohio University, passed coal gas through a 

 brick. It was brought to one side in a pipe, and 

 collected in a pipe on the other side, and lighted, 

 the brick being covered with a gas-tight substance. 

 Dr. M. told us that air would go through just as 

 easily, and that all injurious germs would go with 

 it, as he could show us. Now, I think all will say 

 that the air would go through a half-open floor 

 more easily than through a brick, and take its im- 

 purities with it. At any rate, our best scientific 

 authorities now tell us that this is the case. 



Again, some persons may say, " We have breath- 

 ed these germs for years, and no harm has come of 

 of it; what is the use of worrying?" As Dr. Mees 

 said, these germs may not of themselves be injuri- 

 ous; but suppose they have found lodgment in 

 your lungs, partially filling up the air-passages, 

 and then pneumonia comes along, and you need 

 every bit of air-space you have got. These " harm- 

 less "germs may then cause your death. Or sup- 

 pose some tramp or peddler brings into your home 

 on his clothes a single germ of an injurious kind 

 that can feed on the germs already in your body. 

 It gets deposited there, and finds a splendid feed- 

 ing-ground all prepared, and multiplies with light- 

 ning-like rapidity, and perhaps within a week an 

 entire family dies, or the larger part of them. We 

 often hear of just such cases. You may say this is 

 theory; but do not facts go to prove it? When dis- 

 ease breaks out, such as diphtheria and scarlet 

 fever, think where they rage worst. As long as 

 scientists teach only what accords with common 

 sense, we had better give heed to their doctrines, 

 even if we do not fully understand or fall in with 

 the germ theory. They do not fully understand it 

 themselves; but they are making rapid strides in 

 that direction. Well, now, practically, what shall 

 we do? In a word, keep the air in your cellars jiMt 

 as pure as you can. Because the cellar is out of 

 sight, do not let it be neglected. Keep it just as 

 clean as any room in the house. There is no other 

 safe way. First of all, make it dry. In selecting 

 a place for a house, always choose a dry piece of 

 land. If the house is already built, do not spare 

 drain-tiles and labor until you have made the cel- 

 lar as dry as possible. Next, plaster it overhead, 

 without fail. Air will not go through mortar near- 

 ly as easily as through a brick. Then put building 

 paper under your carpets instead of straw. Be 

 sure to whitewash your collars all over once In a 

 year or two. Have a cement floor, and keep It 

 clean. If you have reason to suspect there is any 

 thing wrong (It will do no harm any way), fumigate 



