464 



CLEANINGS IN BEP: CULTUllE. 



JUNE 



you will find them weaving woolen ; and 1 

 see no reason why, if this class of men find 

 need of this additional i)rotecti(in, bee-keep- 

 ers and others exposed to tlie direct rays of 

 the sun sliould not liave a similar protec- 

 tion. In regard to the headweai', I presume, 

 friend M., you take a good deal of comfort 

 in that old hat or hats. I like a hat that is 

 light, not unbecoming, porous, one that does 

 liot produce any pressure around tlie crown, 

 alld which will keep its shape, rain or no 

 rain. The bee-keeper's liat, which I like so 

 well, is made of linen ; and when it is oh my 

 head, during a hot day, I can feel the cool 

 breezes circulate through my hair. It iii so 

 light that I scarcely know wlien I have it 

 on ; and for the sake of convenience I wear 

 it all the time, in the office and out of doors. 

 1 notice, also, that the men in the field, 

 those making garden, working among the 

 bees, or piling hunber, are beginning to wear 

 them quite generally arcuiul the Home of 

 the IIoney-Bees. — In this connection I miglit 

 mention that tliose light rubber boots, de- 

 signed for ladies, are just the thing for wad- 

 ing in the grass, and for doing light work 

 among the bees. Yesterday, during tlie 

 rain, when we were locating some bees in 

 the Swamp Apiary, it was raining; and as 

 there was long tall grass and weeds, I should 

 have gotten the bottoms of my pantaloons 

 pretty well soaked had I not worn these 

 light rubber boots. Lest, however, some 

 one may take a notion to order said boots of 

 us, I will say tliat, although we sell almost 

 every thing under the sun, we don't want to 

 have any thing to do with selling boots. 



CARPETS VS. BARE FLOORS. 



FRIEND TERRY CONSIPEltS BOTH SIDES OF THE 

 SUi:.}ECT. 



fRTEND ROOT:— At a number of lanneis' in- 

 stitutes last winter, speakers brought up the 

 question as to wiiether it would not lie bet- 

 ter for our health to abolish carpets from 

 our houses. One of the stronu:cst attaclis on 

 this way of covering- the fioorwas made by an elo 

 quent clerg-yman at the central institute at Colum- 

 bus. I also heard a well-known professor wax elo- 

 quent over bare tloors and rug's, and tell how un- 

 healthl'ul it is to have flooi-s covered with carpets. 

 He was evidently in earnest, as I found, when call- 

 ing' at his ofliee, a bare floor, except that there was 

 a small rug under his chair and talile. But he was 

 a bachelor, and some one else besides his wife had 

 to scrub the floors and shake the rug- almost daily. 



Now let us bring a little plain common sense to 

 bear on this question. Firs-t, which is easier for the 

 Wife— to scrub flooi-s oi- to sweep carpets? I think 

 all will agree with me on the latter. It used to 

 worry me greatly to see my wife mopping and 

 scrubbing the floor in the kitchen of our old house, 

 two or three times a week. Hence when I built a 

 new one, andthe carpenter asked if I wanted a hard- 

 wood floor in the kitchen and pantry, I told him, 

 "No, sir; put in all pine floors." Since then, alt 

 floors have been carpeted, except in a store-room 

 upstairs, and the porch floors. Even the latter I 

 sometimes wish were carpeted, when I see ray wife 

 spending so much time keeping them clean. I 



shouldn't wonder if she woi-ked harder on those 

 four porch floors than on all the cttrpetcd floors in 

 the house. Keeping carj^ets clean is a small job, 

 since we have good carpet-sweepers. Once in 

 a while, to be sure, wife has to go over those with 

 a broom, in the old-fashioned way, and she never 

 gave me any really satisfactory reason for it (T sus- 

 pect it is partly a hankering after the way she was 

 brought up in— mother's way); but usually a light 

 running•■o^•er with the litllo sweeper takes up all 

 dust in sight, and doesn't unnecessaiily stir up 

 what wasn't before in sight, to the discomfort of 

 every one. This machine sweeping is very easy 

 work, partlctilarli' if your correspondent keeps the 

 bearings well oiled. It doesn't take the muscle that 

 it used to, to scrub, and certainly the position oc- 

 cupied while at work is rather more dignified. 



Which is the more comfortable floor to live on"? 

 The bare one, with here and there a rug, perhaps, 

 or the" one nicely covered with a good carpet? 

 Well, for ir.e, home v/ithout carpets would be al- 

 most as bad as without a mother. I presume the 

 advocates oi no carpets would agree with nie pret- 

 ty well in what has been said so faf; but they would 

 bring up the all-important i)oint of healthfulness, 

 and say thsit was to be considered first of all. Well, 

 if carpets arc injurious to our health, perhaps we 

 had better go backward a little in our civilization. 

 Let us see. AVhat is the claim against them? So 

 much dust containing injurious germs. A rug can 

 be rolled up carefully and taken outdoors, and shak- 

 en. Floors can be washed, and no dust raised. Sweep 

 a carpet that has been down for some time, and you 

 fill the room with dust. These particles get into 

 the lungs. They can take care of a moderate quan- 

 tity and work them off, or keep them out; but 

 when they come in too large quantities the door- 

 keepers in the lungs are overpowered. If the 

 germs in this dust are not positivel3' injurious in 

 themselves they may so use up the machinery pro- 

 \ided by nature to ward them ott' that other germs 

 that are injurious and that happen along, or to 

 which one may be accidentally exposed, ai-e able to 

 get a lodgment. This, I believe, is about the 

 ground taken by the scientific opposers of carpets. 

 It seems plausible; but I doubt, practically, wheth- 

 er one needs to abolish carpets on this ground. 

 Now, our homes shf)uld always be kept dry. Fires 

 should begin early in the fall, and be kept up late 

 in the spring. A little, once in a while, during- a 

 cool time in the summer, would be wise. The dust 

 collected under the carpets, so long as it is kept 

 dry, and is not disturbed, will injure no one. The 

 conditions are quite different from what they 

 would be in a damp cellar during warm weather. 

 The greater part of the dust under cari)ets is sim- 

 ply dirt or earth, that has been tracked in. There 

 may bo. and probably will be, under some condi- 

 tions, some injurious matter; but kept dry it is 

 quite harmless, particularly if let alone. When the 

 housewife sweeps, then comes the danger— when 

 the dust is stirred up so as to be floating thickly in 

 the air she breathes. If she will see the matter 

 as it is, and use a sweeper carefully, having- doors 

 and windows open when practical, so the wind can 

 take out the dust necessarily raised, as much as 

 possible, I think she may live to a ripe old age, for 

 all of the dust imbibed. Any way, I would sooner 

 my wife would die of too much dust in the lungs 

 rather than of too much hard work scrubbing- and 

 mopping. I should feel less directly to blame. I 



