100 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[July 



increase Hie impurity of the water. Albumi- 

 noid ainriionia is resrarded as indicating a 

 more dangerous condition of water than free 

 ammonia. A water to be considered good 

 should not yield more than .01 part in 100,000 

 of this product ; if the amount exceeds .015, 

 the water sliould Vie condemned for drinking 

 or culinary purposes. By an examination of 

 the table it will be seen that only samples 1, 

 5 and 15 yielded large amounts of albuminoid 

 ammonia. 



Chlorine, which usually occurs in water as 

 a constituent of common salt (sodium chlo- 

 ride), indicates, if it is found in considerable 

 quantities, animal or sewage contamination, 

 for pure inland water contains very little com- 

 mon salt, while sewage is heavily charged with 

 it. The finding, therefore, of much chlorine 

 is a suspicious circumstance ; it is a strong in- 

 dication of the connection of the well with a 

 drain or cesspool. The presence of only a 

 small amount of chlorine— of a quantity not 

 greater than one grain to the gallon— indicates 

 that any organic matter that the water may 

 contain is of vegetable rather than of animal 

 origin. 



The solid matter (matter remaining on evapo- 

 rating the water), which consists of dissolved 

 mineral salts, together with dissolved and sus- 

 pended organic matter, is not regarded as in- 

 dicating a special condition of the water so far 

 as its purity is concerned. The amount of this 

 product, however, is generally found to vary 

 with that of chlorine. It will be seen that 

 this is true of the Lancaster waters. 



The hardiiens, which is generally due to the 

 presence of both lime and magnesia salts, in- 

 dicates the amount of these salts contained in 

 the water. Some of the Lancaster waters 

 were found to owe a considerable part of their 

 hardness to magnesia. Ten degress of hard- 

 ness indicates a hard water. The hardness of 

 river water generally varies from two to six 

 degrees. Most of the Lancaster waters are 

 therefore very hard. 



The presence of nitrates in water indicates 

 the oxidation of nitrogenous organic matter, 

 and since such matter may be derived either 

 from the soil through which the water passes 

 or from sewage, etc., discharge into the well, 

 the finding of nitrates does not afford sufficient 

 data on which to base a conclusion concern- 

 ing the organic quality of the water. 



The waters all reacted alkaline, as do hard 

 waters generally. Sediments were deposited 

 in only a few of the bottles, and the quanti- 

 ties of these, with one exception (No. 20), 

 were very small. The sediment of No. 20 is 

 doubtless fragments of exhausted roots which 

 have been so long subjected to the action of 

 the water that, however much they may have 

 contributed to render it impure previously,can 

 no longer produce any hurtful effects. This 

 water is shown to be one of the best of the 

 Lancaster waters. 



The conclusion is evident from the results 

 of this analysis that most of the Lancaster 

 waters which were examined are up to a hi^h 

 standard of purity ; and that some of theln 

 are remarkably pure ; and it is a fact worthy 

 of notice, as shown by the results, that the 

 common hydrant water is by far the softest, 

 and, so far as organic purity is concerned, one 

 of the best waters of Lancaster. 

 Yours respectfully, 



„ „ TilOS. P. B.\KER. 



State Normal School, Millersville, Pa., June 

 13th, 1884. 



THE KIND OF ICE WE USE. 

 It Can Adulterate Hydrant Water. 



It is a common notion that waterjin freezing 

 becomes pure, and that ice water, therefore, 

 whatever may be the source of the ice, is the 

 purest water that can be used. This, however, 

 is a very erroneous notion, as it may be easily 

 shown that, although water does purify itself 

 considerably in freezing, it may contain, in 

 the form of ice, any organic or inorganic in- 

 gredient that, in the liquid form, it holds in 

 solution or suspension. Ice from hard water, 

 for example, will contain a small quantity of 

 the calcium carbonate in solution in the water, 

 and ice from organically impure water will 

 take up some of the impurities ; suspended 

 matter is simply mechanically caught in the 

 solidifying mass, and appears again when the 

 ice melts. 



The purity of ice depends, therefore, upon 

 the character of the water from which it is 

 obtained. Since ice is now used so abundantly 

 it is highly important that its purity be con- 

 sidered ; indeed the supplying of pure ice is 

 hardly of less importance than the supplying 

 of pure water. An alarming epidemic which 

 appeared in a Western town about two years 

 ago was traced directly to the use of ice taken 

 from a contaminated pond. 



The purity of the water of dams and ponds, 

 from which ice is generally taken, depends 

 greatly upon the character of the water flow- 

 ing into them. Such slowly moving water 

 does not quickly purify itself because of its 

 slow aeration, and when it becomes charged 

 with organic filth the ice which it produces is 

 a very unsafe as well as an undesirable pro- 

 duct. 



The Quality of Lancaster Ice. 



In order to test the organic quality of Lan- 

 caster ice, I obtained through the kindness of 

 Mr. C. A. Heinitsh specimens of the two 

 kinds which constitute the principal ice sup- 

 ply of the city. One specimen was Conestoga 

 ice, and the other pond ice from the pond of 

 the Lancaster Carp Association. I also ex- 

 amined about the same time a specimen of ice 

 obtained from a dam on the Little Conestoga 

 near Groff's mill. 



The Results. 

 The results of the analysis are given in the 

 following table : 



The specimens were broken into small 

 lumps and these were carefully cleansed by 

 washing with clean water, of particles of saw- 

 dust and any other adhering matter, and 

 melted into chemically clean vessels. The 

 Conestoga specimen consisted of both the 

 .solid and porous kind. 



Referring to the standard of purity stated 

 in nay report of an analysis of Lancaster 

 waters contained in the JVew; Era of June 17th, 

 namely, that a water to be considered <jood 

 should not yield more than .01 part of albuni- 

 noid ammonia in 100,000, it will be seen that 

 while the waters produced from these samples 



of ice are of a high degree of purity, they are 

 by no means the best waters. In regard to 

 purity they are inferior to several of the Lan- 

 caster waters examined, including the hydrant 

 water. If this hydrant water is as pure as it 

 was a few weeks ago, it is contaminated con- 

 siderably by mixing it with Lancaster ice. 



The porous ice was found to contain a some- 

 what smaller amount of free ammonia, but a 

 considerably larger amount of albuminoid 

 ammonia, than the solid, and to hold a large 

 amount of sediment. A large amount of sedi- 

 ment was also foimd in the pond ice. I send 

 with this two small vials holding the sedi- 

 ments contained in 300 cubic centimetres 

 (about a good sized tumbler full) of the porous 

 Conestoga ice water and of the pond ice water. 

 This suspended matter is of vegetable origin 

 and consists doubtless mainly of broken stems 

 of plants, etc., swept into the water by the 

 autumn and winter winds. Only a trace of 

 chlorine was found in the specimens examined ; 

 tests were not made for the nitrates. 

 A Word for Lancaster Ice. 



The conclusion based upon this examination 

 is that the Lancaster ice is organically con- 

 sidered of good quality, and is doubtless much 

 better than that furnished in many of the 

 larger cities. It would be much better, how- 

 ever, in using ice, not to be put into the water, 

 etc., which we desire to cool as is so commonly 

 done, but put it around a vessel containing 

 the liquid to be cooled. By so doing any 

 danger from the use of impure ice, and also 

 the disagreeable suspended matter would be 

 avoided. Convenient vessels could easily be 

 made for the use of ice in this way. 



Thomas R. Baker. 



State Normal School, Millersville, June 27. 



EXCERTS. 



It is said that wheat kept sealed in an air- 

 tight receptacle for some length of time will 

 not germinate. 



Mr. McKinstry, of Winnebago City, 

 Minn., says with a dairy of 100 cows he can 

 make 3 per cent, more butter by churning 

 each cow's cream separately. 



Early lambs must be kept growing to 

 bring fancy prices. They will eat when they 

 are from ten to fourteen days old, and there 

 is nothing better for them than whole oats. 

 Place the oats in shallow troughs where the 

 sheep do not run. 



The report of the agricultjral farm at 

 Guelph, Out., shows a gain of 30 per cent, in 

 favor of 2-year-old steers above those fed till 

 three years old. The young beef is claimed 

 to be the cheapest in production and the best 

 in quality. 



In reference to the circulation of the blood 

 in cows that are in full flow of milk, the best 

 authorities agree that the fat is immediately 

 carried to the blood vessels and assumes the 

 shapes of cells, which pass into the milk ducts 

 and mammary glands, the latter being com- 

 posed of an immense number of cavities. 

 These are surrounded by blood vessels, from 

 which the protein of the milk exudes and is 

 absorbed into the interior of the cells through 

 small tubes. These are the fat globules found 

 in cream. These cells are analogous to rennet 

 cells, and while the development is not thor- 

 oughly understood, it is believed that decom- 



