1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



467 



they might be more careful, Two hours' work of 

 a man with a washing-machine, on Monday morn- 

 ing, will help along the week's work in-doors 

 more than twice that time can help along the out- 

 of-doors work. My husband either himself helps 

 ■wash or finds a hand to do it. He says it is 

 cheaper than it would be to hire a girl, provided 

 there was one to be found. No matter how rich 

 a farmer is, he can't hire a girl to do house-work, 

 in this region, for thei-e are none to be had. 

 Therefore, if we are fortunate enough to have 

 daughters of our own, it is our duty to instruct 

 them in all the branches of in-doors farming. And 

 let us not allow the idea to creep into their heads 

 that it is degrading to work, but rather teach 

 them that it is honorable to kiioio liow to work, 

 and to be willing to do it. 



A Northern Vt. Farmer's Wife. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "WHAT MAKES THE "WATER BAD P 

 BY JUDGE FRENCH. 



This inquiry is for the benefit of the rural dis- 

 tricts, and of those who are supplied from wells. 

 It is plain enough what makes Croton and Co- 

 chituate water bad, because do we not all read in 

 the papers, how those great disgusting eels come 

 squirming out of the pipes, leaving, nobody knows 

 how many that have been long past squirming, 

 all along the line, and have we not all seen the 

 monstrous, horrid, and ill-favored creatures rep- 

 resented in shop windows, by those who sell fil- 

 ters, and by other disinterested persons ? O, no ! 

 people who live in the country, do not drink that 

 sortof stuff. And so of cistern water; country-bred 

 people are not to be imposed upon with any of 

 your rain water beverages, filtered and purified 

 though it be, by forty layers of charcoal. Like the 

 true prince in the fairy tale, who could feel a single 

 pea in his bed at the bottom of forty feather beds, 

 they who live in the country are not to be deceived 

 by any substitutes for the pure and sparkling wa- 

 ter of the crystal fountains. 



Nevertheless, we do not unfrequently hear a 

 mild murmur of complaint, as we visit our friends 

 in the country, or call at a neighbor's in the vil- 

 lage. At one time it comes in the form of an 

 apology. "Our water is not so cold as we could 

 wish, the fact is, there is something the matter 

 with our well, and we are obliged to send to Mr. 

 Smith's for water to drink." At another it takes 

 the form of scientific investigation. "What can 

 be the reason of this little disagreeable odor in our 

 ■well-water ? It is so very slight that perhaps you 

 do not observe it." Of course, we had noticed it, 

 and setting down an untasted glass, wondered 

 how any body could drink a drop of it. Wonder- 

 ful is the force of habit J Here is an illustration 

 in point. We mentioned to a farmer's wife, that 

 although turnips fed to cows would give a bad 

 flavor to butter at first, yet after a few days, the 



eff"ect was not observable. "Yes," said she, "our 

 folks tried that last year, and we found that after 

 a few days, there was no bad taste to the butter, 

 but when we came, months afterwards, to use the 

 butter I had put down at the same time, v/e found 

 the turnip taste as bad as ever ; the fact is, we 

 had all got used to the turnip flavor, so that we did 

 not notice it." Yes, wonderfully kind is Nature ! 

 We are informed by a tanner who had been long 

 in the business, that he had not smelt any thing 

 for twenty years, and a lecturer on bees, at Yale, 

 last winter, stated that after being stung a few 

 times by bees, people usually suflfered very little 

 from their sting. Whether habit dulls the sense 

 of pain, or whether the first half-dozen stings op- 

 erate by way of inoculation, let doctors decide. 

 If you wish to learn whether there is a bad taste 

 to water, ask a stranger. Everybody perceives a 

 peculiar quality in water to which he is not ac- 

 customed. 



But to return to our question — What makes the 

 water bad ? Let us deal tenderly with our suff'er- 

 ing friends. Nobody wants to be told plumply 

 that he is daily imbibing the drainage of his 

 vaults, stables and sinks, and pouring out the 

 same delicious compounds to his wife, and chil- 

 dren, and guests ; especially nobody who lives in 

 the country, where they boast of not only pure air 

 and water, but even pure milk. Let us rot add 

 insult to afliliction, by any rudeness in our mode 

 of dealing with a subject so delicate. An inno- 

 cent and respectable man may have an infec- 

 tious disease, but that is no reason why he should 

 be made to acknowledge it in the public streets. 

 His physician will privately and kindly say to 

 him. "The symptoms are plain. Sir, and the reme- 

 dy is simple ; we doctors know very well that 

 every man considers himself an exception to all 

 general laws, that he expects to draw the first 

 prize in the lottery, and to be the last man killed 

 in the battle. Do not trouble me with any pro- 

 testations that it cannot be possible, nor say, 'Is 

 thy servant a dog,' but wash in the Jordan, and 

 be healed." 



A hundred farmers who will read this paper, 

 have been troubled with bad water in their wells. 

 What makes it bad ? Let us reason togeth^ 

 calmly. You will agree that there is some cause. 

 We know that the rain comes clear from the 

 clouds, that is to say, substantially so, and that 

 therefore the impurity which exists in the well- 

 water is in some way acquired in its passage 

 upon or through the earth. The source of the 

 trouble is then to be sought near the well, be- 

 cause even impure water would be filtered by a 

 long passage through almost any kind of earth. 



Whence comes the water which we raise from 

 wells ? Primarily from the clouds. Then it soaks 

 down, and in sandy soils usually rests on clay, 



