Sec. 2o.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR UOCSEWIVES. 



411 



troublesome pests of the farm, water ehoiild be near b\-, so that they may 

 cat, drink, and die outside of their holes and hiding-places. Musk-rats, 

 which are often troublcioine pesis ujion some farms bordering creeks or 

 ponds, may be poisoned wiiii arsenic upon pieces of parsnep or sweet ajiple. 

 Gunpowder, flashed in rat-holes, is said to be good to drive them away from 

 the premises. 



459. Disinfectants and the Value of Disinfcctiug.— Xothing conduces more ;o 

 promote tlie health of a family than pure atmosi)here. It can be kept so 

 only in dwellings properly constructed for ventilation. From sitting-ruotn, 

 dining-room, and bed-rooms wo have air flues tliat have a strong draught 

 out of the top of the Iiouse, and the kitclieii is largely furnished witlj venti- 

 lation. In all unventilated rooms of the house, and in sick chambers, odors 

 at times accumulate so as to need disinfecting, wliile cellars, sinks, out- 

 houses, and stables often need it. Coflec roasted in a room, solution of cop- 

 peras sprinkled about, or cloths wet in it and hung up; chlorid of lime 

 moistened, each acts quickly as a disinfectant. The odor of a dead rat can 

 be allaved at once by moistening an ounce of chlorid of lime with a tea- 

 spoonlul of muriatic acid. But no one showld breathe much of the gas it 

 engenders. 



There is a considerable difference between a deodorizer and a disinfectant. 

 Tlie former either merely removes or disguises a foul odor; the latter changes 

 the character of the matter which creates the ctihivia, and prevents it from 

 sending ibrth disease. Fresh slaked lime and charcoal dust are verj' good 

 deodorizers, but their disinfecting powers are not equal to tome of the salts 

 of manganese, which, when they combine with pestilential fluids in sinks 

 and drains, give out at the same time a consideralde quantity of pure oxygen 

 to refresh the atmosplieic. The manganate of soda, or potash, has recently 

 been tried in London with much success in deodorizing and disinfecting the 

 wafer of the river Thames, and its use in our cities during dry weather may 

 be of great benefit. It is applied by dissolving it in warm water, and pour- 

 ing it into the sink or drain to be disinfected. 



M. Ilcrpin, of Paris, in the Journal <lc J'/iarmacu; recommends dried 

 and pulverized plaster of Paris, nii.xed with rather more than one lifth of its 

 weiMit of powdered charcoal, as a cheap and most cfl'ectivo disinl'ecting 

 mixture. It entirely removes the no.xious emanations from decomposing 

 organic mattere, fi.ving the ammonia, and forming a valuable manure. 



Prof. Na^h, of Amiierst College, givis the following fornmla for making 

 what may be termed home-made chlorid of lime: 



"Take one barrel of lime and one bushel of salt, dissolved in a^i littl* 

 water as will dissolve the whole; slako the lime with the water, putting on 

 more water than will dry-slake it, so much that it will form a very thick 

 pa^te; this will not take all the water; pnt on, therefore, a little of Uio 

 renuiinder daily until the lime has taken the whole. The nsult will Ik.- a 

 sort of impure chlorid of lime, but a very powerful deotlorizcr, equally 

 good for all out-door purposes with the article bought at tho ai>wlhccary'«, 



