Vol. XXIII. No. 6.] 



POPULAE SOIEN"CE NEWS. 



87 



^on^e, Earnj, ainl Garden. 



THE DOMESTIC WATER-SUPPLY. 



The matter of securing a pure and whole- 

 some suppU' of water, is one that is constantly 

 receiving more and more attention. In the 

 larger cities, water-works are usually provided, 

 which furnish an ahundant supply, and, in 

 the majority of cases, of excellent quality. 

 In the country and smaller towns, each house- 

 owner must look out for himself, and the 

 question of the desirabilitv of any given source 

 of water, becomes a very important one. 



The most common sources of a supply of 

 water are from rain-water cisterns, wells, — 

 both common and driven, — springs, running 

 streams, and ponds. In New England, — 

 thanks to the absence of a limestone forma- 

 tion, — the ground-waters are comparativelv 

 soft, and, when not contaminated by drainage, 

 are pure and wholesome. Rain-water falling 

 on the roofs of buildings, and collected in 

 cisterns, is largely used in all parts of the 

 country, and is, of course, of great purity, 

 but the liability of the cisterns, as well as the 

 roofs from which it is collected, to become 

 dirty, renders it more desirable to obtain the 

 domestic supply from some natural source, 

 where the water is constantly exposed to tiie 

 purifying influences of light and air. 



Undoubtedly, the best and safest source of 

 water is from deep springs, which are almost 

 always free from organic impurities. In 

 popidous districts, springs which tlow near 

 the surface of the earth occasif)nally l)ecome 

 contaminated. vSeveral cases of typhoid fever 

 occurred at Lausanne, Switzerland, from the 

 use of water from an infected spring, but 

 such instances are rare. In most cases, the 

 streams of water which gush forth from the 

 hillsides, may be used with assurance of per- 

 fect safety-. A large proportion of the "min- 

 eral springs," which arc so celebrated for 

 tlicir nmncrous cures, prove, upon analvsis, 

 to contain little or no mineral matter what- 

 ever, and their health-giving properties must 

 be attributed to the free use of pure water 

 alone, aided b\- the influence of the imagina- 

 tion. There are thousands of springs in New 

 England, which only need a well-managed 

 "boom" to confer the most remarkable thera- 

 peutic properties upon them. 



Running streams come next in point of 

 desirability, but it is evident that there is a 

 much greater possibility of contamination. 

 In thinly settled districts, a simple inspection 

 will usually show anv danger that may exist 

 from such a cause, and there are many 

 streams of pm-c water among the hills, which, 

 by a little simple engineering, could be made 

 to tlow directly into the kitchens of the farm- 

 houses, and .save the members of the family 

 many tiresome journeys to the well or spring. 

 Lakes and ponds are verj' numerous in 

 New England, and usually contain water of 



good quality. Many of the cities and larger 

 towns derive their supply from such a source. 

 The chief danger is, that, as the commimity 

 grows, dwellings and manufactories will be 

 erected within the watershed of these ponds, 

 and drain their refuse matters into them. 

 There is a mo.st extraordinary indifference 

 and recklessness manifested on this point, 

 and it is almo.st impossible to prevent such 

 contamination, even by legal processes. The 

 city of Boston ha^s had much trouble from 

 this cause, although, as yet, the contamination 

 is not great enough to be a very serious 

 matter. 



The common well is the most tmdesirable 

 source of all. If it is deep enough to strike 

 a living spring of water, and removed from 

 all source of contamination, it ma)' be unob- 

 jectionable, but these conditions are rarely 

 met witli in the country, and, we may say, 

 never in large towns or cities. A well is 

 usually placed near the house for the same 

 reason that the barn-yaril, privy, and sink- 

 drain are, but their existence in the same 

 vicinity is incompatible with a pure and 

 wholesome water-suijply. Some even go so 

 far as to dig the well in the cellar, and we 

 recall the case of a refined and cultured 

 family who actual!}- had both we/l and cess- 

 pool utiderneath their dwelling, and only a 

 short distance apart. Such a barbarous prac- 

 tice is unworthy of a civilized race, but it is 

 to be feared that a large proportion of wells 

 are not much better situated. 



As to pipes for conveying water, no certain 

 rule can be laid down. The majority oi' 

 waters do not, apparently, act upon lead 

 pipes, or else forin an insoluble coating upon 

 them, which prevents further action. In 

 other cases, the action is continuous and rapid, 

 and leatl-poisoning is likely to occiu" in those 

 using the water. Pipes of compoimd metals, 

 — such as tin-lined lead, or galvanized (zinc- 

 covered) iron, — are even more dangerous, 

 and shoidd always be avoided. Iron is per- 

 fectly safe, and only has the disadvantage of 

 sometimes introducing iron-rust into the 

 water, to the injury of clothing that may 

 be washed in it. This, however, is a minor 

 disadvantage, and does not often occur. 



Various patterns of filters are in u.se, very 

 few of which are of any value whatever. 

 They act only as a strainer to remove the 

 coarser impmities, but have no efl'ect ujion 

 the microscopic bacteria, or matters held in 

 solution, which are the most dangerous. A 

 flannel bag is exactly as good a filter as these 

 expensive devices, and possesses the addi- 

 tional advantages of being easily cleaned or 

 renewed. The most cflective filters are those 

 in which a disk of porous stone or earthen- 

 ware forms the filtering material, but it is 

 best to make sure of the original supply of 

 water, rather than to attempt to jjurify it Ijy 

 any such uncertain methods. 



To sum up, we may say that the best source 

 of water-sup])ly is from a deep and unfailing 

 spring ; next to this, running streams, large 

 ponds, rain-water cisterns, and, last of all, 

 deep wells, situated far away from any possi- 

 ble source of impurity. Driven wells are less 

 liable to contamination than open ones, but 

 the same objections apply to them in a lesser 

 degree. Iron pipes are safe imder all condi- 

 tiods, and filters are generally useless. It is 

 often a matter of some trouble and expense to 

 obtain a pure and abundant supply of water, 

 but the benefits it brings will always more 

 than repay the necessary outlay of time and 

 money. 



OUR GRANDMOTHERS' COOKING. 



(JLEANINGS FROM TIIK RECIPE BOOKS OF lOO YEARS 

 AGO. 



Old cookery books seem to bring us much nearer 

 to our dead and gone progenitresses, and sliow us 

 that, though thev did not read much, and could do 

 mighty little in the \yay of spelling, they were sim- 

 pler, and perhaps sweeter, women than their grand- 

 daughters. Thej could scarcely fail to be so, for 

 the mere exercise of the one art, which they prac- 

 ticed as an art, broHight them hour by hour in the 

 most intimate relation \vith nature and her bounties. 

 In the season when green things flourished, hardly 

 a day can haye passed without these good ladies 

 themselves going into their gardens to seek the 

 fagot of sweet herbs which was to imp.irt flavor and 

 fragrance to their "ragoos" and savories, or the 

 marigolds which poor Charles Lamb hated so much 

 when they floated on his mess of Charter House 

 pottage, but which Simple Susan's enemy Barbara 

 found so tempting. The greater part of our grand- 

 mothers' lives must have been spent in culling sim- 

 ples, expressing juices, gathering fruits, and spying 

 out things to pickle. This was not done haphazard. 

 Was there anything that the women of a hundred 

 years ago did not pickle or preserve? They pickled 

 parsley green to cheat grim winter of some of its 

 terrors; they pickled "nasturtions" — and a very ex- 

 cellent pickle thej- make. They pickled the large 

 shoots of elder to imitate "the Indian bamboe." 

 "They put out in the middle of May, and the middle 

 shoots are the most tender." They pickled green 

 walnuts "when they will bear a pin to go into them" 

 — which is also done to this day. They Avere aware, 

 that "the clusters of elder-flowers makes (sic) a deli- 

 cate pickle before it opens," and that to efl'ect this it 

 was only necessary to pour vinegar over them. 

 They also knew that the seeds of elder should be 

 pickled while still green, as a substitute for capers, 

 and that "large cucumbers of the kind called green 

 turley, prepared as mangoes, are excellent, and 

 come sooner into eating." They pickled radish- 

 pods, young artichokes, horse-radish, samphire, 

 marigold flowers, and more things than can well be 

 enumerated. Having pickled nearly every green 

 shoot, stalk, pod, and seed, they began to do the 

 same by plums, apricots, peaches, currants, and 

 grapes. When they set about making jams, no 

 fruit escaped them — they even attacked vegetables. 

 When they made cakes it was the satne. Parsnips, 

 raspberries, etc., were made into cakes, and red 

 beet-root, potatoes, and oranges into biscuits. Wine- 

 making, too, was then a recognized branch of fe- 

 male industry, and every fruit in turn was chosen as 

 a basis, and some flowers and vegetables — notably 

 cowslips and parsnips — were promoted to the same 

 dignity. There is a very pretty recipe for cowslip 

 mead, made of honey, lemons, seven pecks of cow 



