212 



GLEANINGSSINiBEEuCULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



maturity. We have seen half a dozen berries, 

 perhaps nearly the size of a Cnncoi'i grape. If 

 any of our readers have a bush or bushes of the 

 Crandall bearing crops of fruit, I should be very 

 glad indeed to hear from them. A great many 

 others have reported an experience similar to 

 my own. It has been suggested that some of 

 the plants are non- bearing, so that one needs 

 half a dozen or more in a group to get fruit. 



THE FUEL VALUE OF CORN. 



The Nebraska Experiment Station has been 

 making some experiments in regard to this mat- 

 ter; and, as nearly as I can understand, the 

 result is something like this: When you are 

 offered 13 cts. a bushel for unshelled corn, count- 

 ing 70 lbs to the bushel, and coal is worth $6 50 

 a ton, you can afford to burn the corn instead of 

 buying the coal. The estimate of 1 lb. of coal 

 is that it is equal to 2 lbs. of corn; or, to speak 

 exactly, 1.9 lbs. Even if this be true, it seems 

 almost wicked to burn the corn, especially while 

 millions are starving over on the other side of 

 the world. Just now it looks as if we wanted 

 cheaper methods of transportation as well as 

 more of the missionary spirit to go with it. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



At this date. Mar. 1.5, our crimson clover is a 

 " thing of beauty " and a " joy " to at least one 

 individual. I am glad to say that there are 

 acres of it where we dug our potatoes that are 

 a perfect mat of green. Not a leaf has been 

 iniured, and the clover has made a considera- 

 ble growth since the first of December. There 

 is no question about it, it has grown wonder- 

 fully during the months of December, January, 

 and February. Of course, we are not entirely 

 throueh the winter yet; but from what experi- 

 ence I have had with the plant. I can not for a 

 moment believe that this thick heavy mat is 

 going to be thrown out by the frost. Tho stand 

 is just about the same on our crepk-bottom 

 land, on some that is a little hicher. and clear 

 up on the hillside bv the windmill. I am a little 

 surprised that it should winter with us season 

 after season, when so many other parts of Ohio 

 report failure. Of course, our land is very rich. 

 The seed was put in after digging a crop of 375 

 bushels of potatoes to the acre. The last was 

 sown about the 15th of August, but it looks just 

 about as well at present writing as that put in a 

 month sooner. 



Health Notes. 



WATEKCLOSKTS; DRY-EARTH CLOSETS. ETC.; SOME 



GOOD SUGGESTIONS FOR OtJT-BUILDINGS 



for; RURAL HOMES. 



itfr. Boot;— I was greatly pleased with what you 

 say in regard to closets, in Health Notes, page 868, 

 Dec. 1; and while the water-closet you mention is all 

 right, and perhaps the very best kind that Is used 

 at the present time (and I would strongly urge all 

 who can afford it to use no other kind), there are 

 many persons, especially in rural districts, who 

 can not afford to have a windmill and tank; and the 

 closet yon mention is of no use whatever without 

 water. To this class of persons I should like to de- 

 scribe my plan of closet, as used by myself and fam- 



"!■ 



think it is fully conceded, that, next to the 

 water-closet proper, the dry-earth system is best; 

 and for rural districts or villages, if properly built 

 and rightly used, they are about all that is required. 

 My house, of course, faces the road. In the rear of 

 the house proper Is the kitchen, and in the rear of 

 this is the summer kitchen; immediately in rear of 

 the summer kitchen is a wood or coal shed, and just 



back of and ad,ioining that is the closet, a vacant 

 space of about ;iii feet, and then comes the barn. 

 You will see by this that the closet is far enough 

 away from the lioiise, yet we don't have to go out- 

 side at all to get to it. The closet is boarded and 

 battened up tight, so that not a single crack is left 

 for the least bit of snow or rain to beat in. There 

 is a small window at one end to admit light. A 

 ventilator runs from the under side of the top of 

 the seat up through the roof. As the seat has 

 accommodations for two, a couple of large galvan- 

 ized pails are made to stand under the seat. I for- 

 merly used a drawer in here; but since reading Mr. 

 T. B. Terry's e.vplanations of his closet, in "Our 

 Farming," I have used the pails, which I find to be 

 far belter. Not allowing any of the liquid to soak 

 in as did the boards in the drawer, they can he kept 

 much sweeter. Of course, they have to be emptied 

 of tener; but having the stable so near the closet, it 

 is a very easy job to raise the top of the se it, which 

 is on hinges, and lift out the pails, and empty them 

 into the manure-pile at the stable. It is then drawn 

 away with the manure to the fields. 



The most comfortable part about our closet is, 

 we have the whole of the seat covered with a nice 

 piece of brussels carpet, and I can tell you it is 

 almost a pleasure to go there at any time of the 

 year. A bin at one end holds the absorbent; and 

 after trying all the absorbents I have heard of, such 

 as dry earth, road dust, ashes, lime, etc , 1 have not 

 found any thing so good as dry sawdiiKt. It is clean 

 to handle, absorbs all the liquid, and keeps down 

 the smell better than any thing else I have used. 

 In fact, theie is hardly any smell at all when it is 

 used liberally. 



Having occasion to visit quite a little through the 

 country, I have been amazed at the large number 

 of places where there is scarcely any attention paid 

 to the comfort of such places. In fact, in many 

 places where I have been there has been no closet 

 at all; and at others, the places they did have were 

 veritable death-traps, with cracks open and doors off 

 their hinges, and snow drifted all over every thing, 

 and the owners wonder how it is they catch cold so 

 often. I tell you, I am nearly always glad when I 

 return home from one of those trips, where I can 

 enjov the comforts provided by a little forethought 

 in laying out buildings and surroundings so as to be 

 handy as well as comfortable; and why can not 

 farmer's ;ind bee-keepers have such places when 

 they cost so little compared with doctors' bills and 

 otber "ills " ? 



Of course, every one can not have these places 

 fixed just like the one described above; but. dear 

 reader, can you not improve considerably on the 

 surroundings you now have ? I should like to go on 

 and tell you how, in my eighteen years of married 

 life. I have, through sanitary measures, been able 

 to live and enjoy life with an expenditure of less 

 than fifty dollars for doctors' bills or mei'icine for 

 myself and family. But this is not bee literature, 

 and perhaps yourself and readers would not enjoy 

 it as much as i do. John MvEKB.a 



; . Stratford, Ont.. Can.; 



My good friend, before I got to the end'-'of 

 your excellent article I made up my mind that 

 you lived away up north somewhere; but when 

 1 got through I smiled just a little to find that 

 you are really a Canadian. I do not know why 

 it Is, but it has sometimes seemed to me as 

 though the further one goes south the less at- 

 tention is paid to this matter of tasty and at- 

 tractive as well as convenient closets. When 

 you eet down in P"'lorida— ves, and out in Arizo- 

 na — somi^ very stylish and modern hotels have 

 their closets away off somewhere in the back 

 yard, and not at all in keeping with the other 

 app ointment^ of the hotel. 



You have suggested a very simple way of 

 getting rid of the contents of the galvanized 

 bucket or pail. Whenever it has been suggest- 

 ed that these should be emptied on the garden I 

 have always felt as though it was not quite the 

 thing. Neither the average hired man nor 

 anybody else fancies the job; and, besides, un- 

 less the contents are immediately plowed or 

 spaded under, it is a very unsightly feature 

 around the home. In winter time almost the 



