294 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 



talk at an institute on the subject, that his slop- 

 drain from the house ran by the well, and within 

 ten feet, and that it was built of common drain-tile, 

 and asked if I thought there was any dang-er in 

 drinking the water from the well, under the circum- 

 stances. The slops could run out between every 

 joint in the tiles, and it is only a matter of time 

 when that water will be dangerous to drink. I told 

 him so. If he does not tend to it immediately, I 

 have no faith to believe that Providence will save 

 him. Let us all look to our water supply, and see if 

 we have fairly earned the right to trust in Provi- 

 dence, with an entirely clear conscience. 



One more point in the same line. It has been 

 clearly shown of late, that germs of disease can be 

 carried in ice, and thus get into our drinking-water. 

 To illustrate: Some children died of dijihtheria, as 

 it was called. Several i)hysicians were employed to 

 hunt up the cause. They could find nothing about 

 the house or water or surroundings to cause the 

 disease. They were about to give up when one sug- 

 gested they examine the ice. In it they found the 

 germs of swine plague. They soon found out that 

 some hogs that died of the disease were thrown in- 

 to the stream from which the ice was cut. This 

 was done just before it froze up. In many other 

 cases, disease has been traced directly to impure ice. 

 So one must look out for the ice, now, as much as 

 for the water. T. B. Tbrrv. 



Hudson, O., April, 1887. 



Very good, old friend ; but it seems to me 

 you are in a hurry to drop your subject this 

 time. Your hist point, about disease l)eing 

 contained in the ice, is certainly a most se- 

 rious one, and I felt almost vexed to have 

 you drop it with so few words. I have for 

 years been very sensitive in regard to drink- 

 ing-water ; that is, I do not feel right after 

 drinking certain kinds of water, when I dot" eel 

 right by getting water that Nature seems to 

 say is all right. Not a great many years ago I 

 felt thirsty all the time, but none of the water 

 from any of our wells or cisterns seemed to 

 satisfy my thirst ; that is. if I drank as 

 much as 1 felt like drinking it made me feel 

 worse than if I had not drank at all. I 

 drank milk for a good many days, but Nature 

 seemed to say, " We have had plenty of this 

 stuff ; we want some good pure water." One 

 evening as I was going over the factory after 

 the hands had all gone home, I heard the 

 rain upon the roof, and something seemed 

 to say, " There, that is exactly what I want 

 and have been wanting." I replied, or per- 

 haps reasoned within myself, that the wa- 

 ter from our slate roof over at the house must 

 be just as good, but it tasted, at least faint- 

 ly, of the lime used in making the cistern, 

 and nature seemed to call so strongly for 

 the pure water just coming from the clouds 

 that I got a great big tin dish-pan and set 

 it outdoors until there was enough for a 

 drink. It seemed to fill the bill exactly. In 

 fact, it was so delicioxts that I drank more 

 and more. I decided to test the matter 

 thoroughly by drinking an enormous quan- 

 tity. To my astonishment, no unpleasant 

 results followed. I went to bed and slept 

 soundly. From that day to this I have 

 been in the habit of catching water from 

 the clouds, or melting snow when we have 

 snow, instead of rain, and I really believe I 

 can drink a quart of water distilled from 



Nature's laboratory, and grow fat on it — 

 that is, if anybody can grow fat on pure rain 

 water alone. Soft water from sandstone 

 springs seems to answer the purpose in the 

 same way. I can drink and drink, and it 

 does not seem to make any difference how 

 much I drink, by waiting so as to have an 

 interval between these drinks. Pure soft 

 water seems to act on my system as it does 

 on my face and hands — it washes away the 

 accumulations and debris, as it were. Ilard 

 water from most of the wells, especially 

 from the wells in clay soils, does not answer 

 for me. Nature submits to it for a while, 

 but pretty soon she says, " We have had all 

 of these salts of lime and earthy matter we 

 can dispose of for some time to come ; now 

 give us some pure clean water that does not 

 leave any residue when you lioil it down.'" 



Of course^-I have no right to insist thai 

 soft water, or the fresh water from tiie 

 clouds, is best for every one ; and I am 

 not sure it is always best for me. Some- 

 times when I taste the water from mineral 

 springs, or springs that contain a considera- 

 ble quantity of mineral salts, Nature seems to 

 say, " This is a good thing; let us have quite 

 a little of it." But sooner or later the de- 

 mand comes, clearly and unmistakably, for 

 the soft water from the clouds. Tea and cof- 

 fee cease to fill the bill. Even lemonadeisnot 

 the thing, and back I get again to my favor- 

 ite beverage of rain water caught in a tin 

 pan.* At one time, one of the conductors 

 that brings the water from the slate roof to 

 the cistern became leaky, and I caught a 

 dipperful right where it passed into the cis- 

 tern, but before it had got there. This 

 seemed to till the bill about as well as rain 

 water out of the tin pan; but I imagined 

 that even the slate roof and the tin pipes 

 had given it a slight taint. Suppose, friends, 

 you think of this matter, and experiment 

 for yourselves. I do believe that a natural, 

 unperverted taste is a safer and surer guide 

 than any rules that can be laid down, even 

 by "• big doctors." One wiio feels perfectly 

 stout and well will not. perhaps, need to be 

 so " notional," as some may term it ; and I 

 quite agree with the doctor who said that 

 the danger from impure drinking-water is 

 principally to those whose systems are in a 

 weak condition, and ready to let fevers, etc., 

 find a lodgment. I believe, however, we 

 may keep our systems in a high and healthy 

 tone by being careful about our fo(;d and 

 drink. 



I once used considerable ice (putting it di- 

 rectly into a tank used for drinking-water) 

 that I became satisfied was affecting me in- 

 juriously. Investigation showed that it had 

 been cut from a'pond where cattle drank in 

 the summer time, and where they could 

 stand in the water up to their knees. I 

 know the symptoms of bad water on myself 

 so well, that I think I can tell it almost at 

 once. When I was a boy in my teens there 

 seemed to be a sort of ague and fever hang- 

 ing around me. I studied over the matter 

 until I felt satisfied that the feelings origi- 



*I have often kept rain water, thus cangrht from the clouds, 

 in an unglazed covered stone jar. placed in the cellar. The un- 

 glazed ,iar keeps the water modei'ately cool by evapoiationi 

 and even in the hottest weather in summer I nnd it very pal- 

 atable and refreshing. 



