1096 



GLEANIi^'GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug, 15 



I think it is better for me to stay at home and be 

 quiet. I hope to get so well this summer that I shall 

 not be obliged to leave home this winter. I And when 

 a housekeeper has been laid up for nearly a year there 

 are many things to look after, so I am pretty busy- 

 when I wa?it to be. 



A CAUTION FROM A TRAINED NURSE. 



It is really alarming the numerous cases of tubercu- 

 losis that are rapidly developing here. This nurse 

 says, " Our young women are all going to die it they 

 do not change their mode of dress. Such very thin 

 waists, just where there should be protection, and 

 low shoes and thin stockings, are very destructive to 

 health," Mrs. C. D. Gardner. 



Manistee, Mich., July 11. 



Now, although I am not a doctor I wish to 

 take the liberty of suggesting that the hot 

 water, the rubbing, and the animal oil to 

 wind up with, is about all that is essential. 

 The turpentine may, however, have some 

 beneficial property; and while I think of it I 

 wonder if duck oil ( "Indian Runner ducks," 

 of course) would not answer just as well as 

 goose oil. May God help us in this effort to 

 help ourselves along the line of God's pure 

 air, outdoor exercise, pure water, and whole- 

 some food. 



A HINT IN REGARD TO BATHING. 



Some years ago I told you of the wonder- 

 ful benefit I received while at the cabin in 

 the woods in taking frequent shower baths 

 out in the woods; and I have wondered since 

 then why I did not receive a like benefit when 

 I take a bath (once or twice a week before 

 retiring) here at my home in Medina. I 

 think the secret of it is that, while up in the 

 woods, I wore so little clothing that it was 

 no trouble at all to strip off and take an open- 

 air shower-bath back in the woods out of 

 sight when I felt like it; and the times I felt 

 like it were particularly when I was covered 

 with perspiiation from working in the pota- 

 to-field; and I noticed, also, that this perspira- 

 tion often felt sticky or glutinous, especial- 

 ly when it was the first severe exercise out 

 in the sun that I had had for the season. I 

 had an instinctive feeling at the time that, 

 unless this glutinous sticky matter that 

 seemed to cover me from head to foot were 

 washed off immediately it would not all come 

 off. If I sat down in the shade until my 

 body and light clothing became dry, and 

 then took the bath in the evening, even with 

 soap and water, no such exhilaration of feel- 

 ing followed as with the open-air shower 

 bath at the time I was covered with sticky 

 sweat. Please excuse me if I am taking 

 space to make this matter plain, for I deem 

 it an extremely important thing. I remem- 

 ber that, one afternoon, I had planned to go 

 over to neighbor Hilbert's, a mile and a half 

 through the woods, when I had completed 

 a certain piece of work; but bythetimel got 

 through I was so tired that it almost seemed 

 as if 1 could hardly drag one foot after the 

 other; but after taking a good wash in that 

 shower bath, all the weariness and used-up 

 feeling were gone. Not only had sti'ength 

 come back, V)ut exertion seemed so easy I al- 

 most felt as if I could My. I went over to my 

 neighbor's and back again (three miles) 

 without feeling the least bit of fatigue. I 



remarked at the time that, if I had taken some 

 drug or medicine, I should have felt troubled 

 about it, because I could not conceive how 

 such an amount of strength and energy could 

 come without any reaction afterward. My 

 comments on the matter were copied by Dr. 

 Kellogg, of Battle Creek, and he called at- 

 tention to the fact that, in his large medical 

 book, there is a statement that a shower 

 bath is one of the greatest stimulants known, 

 and at the same time, if taken properly, no 

 bad effects ever follow. Now here comes 

 something from the Philadelphia i'Vtrwi Jour- 

 nal which not only indorses but explains the 

 very fact that I have been trying to get be- 

 fore helpless humanity; and the great point 

 summed up is that the very best time in the 

 world to take a bath is when you are cov- 

 ei'ed with perspiration, and while it is stream- 

 ing from every pore. If you are where you 

 can not have access to soap, my opinion is 

 that it does not make very much difference. 

 The glutinous matters that nature throws off 

 will take the place of soap. 



The man who works all day in the hot sun, with per- 

 spiration streaming from every pore, will at night be 

 covered from head to foot with a thin coating of elTete 

 matter, which, if not removed, the absorbents will 

 take right back again and carry back into the body, 

 clogging its delicate machinery and acting as old gum- 

 my oil does on a mowing-machine. If he sleeps at 

 night in the same clothes worn during the day. still 

 more of it will be absorbed. When a man comes in 

 tired from the field, it is a temptation to sit down in 

 the nearest chair or lie on the nearest lounge, until, 

 he learns by experience that this is not the best way 

 to rest. If a room can not be spared for this purpose, 

 a shed or lean-to near the kitchen door, would make a 

 good summer bath-room, where basins, tubs, towels, 

 and soap could always be handy; and a quick bath 

 and rubbing, and clean evening clothes, will make a 

 man much more agreeable to himself and others. Here 

 the soiled working-clothes can hang and air through 

 the night, and the evening clothes through the day- 

 time. 



SELLING SECRETS, ETC. 



The various poultry- journals seem to have 

 encouraged this business of advertising se- 

 crets more than any other class of journals. 

 I have sent the money and got quite a num- 

 ber of them; but the secrets are so absurd, 

 and of so little value, that I have not thought 

 it worth while to give them space here in 

 Gleanings. I will, however, give you one 

 as a sample. It is a fair average of the whole 

 lot. It was sent in by one of our readers 

 who suggested that I get the valuable secret 

 and give it to the rest. Read it, and see if 

 it does not look reasonable that such an ad- 

 vertisement should rake in the dollars from 

 ovir hard-working people: 



TO MAKE HENS LAY EGGS. 



It will make every hen on your farm a steady layer 

 — you can depend on it. It is co/rect in principle, and 

 has for ages been an approved regime for game cocks 

 to give them courage and endurance. 



Ihavef.'und that for which poultry-men have for 

 years been seeking, viz,: something that will cause 

 hens to lay eggs as well in winter as in summer: some- 

 thing that will do the work, not merely claim to do it. 

 The problem of winter egg production is solved The 

 day of unprofiiable hens is past. Poultrymen can 

 now have their hens lay plentifully whenever they de- 

 sire. Nature's secret is out. I have wrested it from 

 her. It took years of close observation, patient 

 thought, and careful experiment, but the results high- 



