188G 



GLEAXINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



57 



a wheelbarrow. It is, I believe, about $7.00. 

 Another is, it is such a splendid implement 

 to have around for a hundred different pur- 

 poses, that it could not well be spared for my 

 sanitary arrangement. You might say, then, 

 that two wheelbarrows should be procured, 

 keeping one for this express purpose. But 

 even $7.00 would be pretty expensive for a 

 good many of us— or, rather, the interest on 

 $7.00, year after year. Another objection to 

 the dry-dust arrangement (and this is the 

 one my wife emphasized) is, that the chil- 

 dren will manage to raise a cloud of dust, be 

 they never so well taught. Then the out- 

 building must be (?«,stoZ as well as washed, 

 or, first you know, your Sunday clothing will 

 show dust-marks. Dust is easily brushed 

 off, it is true ; but it takes time to go after 

 the clothes-brush, and then put it away ex- 

 actly where you found it. Besides, you 

 might not notice the dust, and therefore un- 

 consciously appear among respectable people 

 with more " dust of the earth " visible on 

 your outer person than is desirable. And 

 that reminds me of my text at the head of 

 this chapter. We are made of dust, and to 

 dust we must return ; and in regard to dis- 

 posing of the contents of our closets and 

 outbuildings, I am firmly persuaded that 

 the only right plan is to restore this troiible- 

 some accumulation right back to mother 

 earth, whence it came. It came from the 

 dust of the earth, and it must ultimately go 

 back there. 



I wonder if it occurred to any of you while 

 reading Chapter v., about " The Waters Led 

 Captive," that friend Cole was, whether he 

 knew it or not, opening up an avenue (I guess 

 avenue is the word, is it notV) for the dis- 

 posal, not only of the sewage and soapsuds 

 from our kitchens and laundries, but also 

 for the disposal of the contents of these out- 

 buildings of which I have been talking. Aft- 

 er I had studied the matter over a little it 

 came into my mind that we had arrived to 

 at least one happy solution of a great part of 

 these troubles, and I wrote to him about it. 



Here is his reply : 



Home on the Hillside, ( 

 Weilsville, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1885. j' 

 Friend Eoot:— 



As regards the privy-vault, my own methods tell 

 the story. At the termination of my reservoir 

 trenches above my house, are three successive 

 wells, at different levels, with overflows. These are 

 severally five, six, and eight feet deep, filled with 

 round stone up to the overflow, and as perfectly 

 shing-ied, sodded, capped, and scaled with clay, 

 with surface soil finishing- up, as can be well con- 

 ceived. The water falls into the first, and passes 

 through filters in succession, till from the last, near 

 the bottom, there issues from a pipe an inch stream 



of water, as fine as the best in the world, a flowing 

 well, which supplies the household, and waters all 

 of our horses, cows, etc. (not a large number, but 

 of sufficient intelligence to refuse to drink from 

 anj^ other fountain). The bore of the pipe being 

 only an inch, the water rises in the well and over- 

 flows, running down, passing in constant stream 

 through our privy-vault, and liquidating the solids; 

 the stream moves on into a deep trench across the 

 garden, from which, overflowing through filters, 

 and flowing through surface and percolating 

 through subsoil, my spring brook is reached, the 

 water being perfectly clarified. 



Next spring I begin work to drop all surface 

 washings about the barns, sty, hen-house, etc., into 

 trenches, saving all liquids and solids operating as 

 food for plants, and filtering and completely purify- 

 ing all waters. The rains, dews, and snows are all 

 run through the soil, nor are any at all seen upon 

 the surface; and to this Complexion will it come at 

 last, when ushered in shall be the new heaven and 

 the new earth, with their good time coming. I 

 shall see only its advent here, but shall go where 

 it has been already realized, and I am content. 

 Hoping to meet you there, if not here, I am very 

 truly your friend, A. N. Cole. 



You will notice that friend Cole has al- 

 most unconsciously, as it were, accepted the 

 present condition of things, admitting that 

 the plan followed by most of our institutions 

 is the most feasible plan ; viz., using water 

 as a means of cleansing these places. Here- 

 tofore the question has been. What shall we 

 do with these washings, and sewage in gen- 

 eral? I do not know exactly how large cities 

 dispose of their sewage ; but, I believe, as a 

 rule it is run into the rivers, lakes, or ocean. 

 The town of Pullman, in Illinois, has set an 

 example by utilizing the sewage of that city 

 for raising vegetables ; but I do not know 

 how it is distributed among the growing 

 plants— probably by a system of pipes rmder 

 ground. If any of our readers can give me 

 any more information in regard to the mat- 

 ter, I shall be very glad of it. 



I will now tell you what we have already 

 done in this matter at the Home of the Hon- 

 ey-Bees. In accordance with friend Cole's 

 instructions I have dug a system of under- 

 ground reservoirs. We did it during the 

 mild weather in the latter part of December 

 and first of January. The engraving on the 

 next page will make it plain to you how we 

 constructed them. 



Perhaps I should preface my explanation 

 by saying that stone is so scarce on our 

 ground we are obliged to purchase broken 

 fragments from the quarries at $2.00 a car- 

 load, as I have mentioned before. Well, al- 

 though the stone costs only $2.00, the freight 

 on the carload was $9.00, making in all, per- 

 haps, a dollar for a good two-horse wagon- 

 load of broken stone. Now, as the purpose 



