1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
255 
is necessarily “flat and insipid,” though most of it 
is so. There always should be a decidedly sweet 
taste to light bread from fine white flour. Some¬ 
times this is concealed by too much salt, which 
many of us never add while preparing and cooking 
flour. Sometimes the yeast overpowers all other 
flavors, but usually the sweetness is lost by exces¬ 
sive fermentation which often takes place in the 
effort to have the bread very light. 
Our English neighbors are making a great stir 
about a much needed Bread Reform. They want 
something better than the pale insipid bread of 
their bakeries. The Bread Reform League mem¬ 
bers embrace many well-known influential names. 
They recommend no particular brand of flour, but 
they insist that bread made from wheat, our best 
cereal, shall contain all of the nourishing elements of 
the wheat. Their pamphlets indicate that their 
Graham or coarse bread is no better than what we 
have here. The several companies in this country 
furnish more nutritious flour than that common in 
our markets, better than the ordinary patent and 
straight white flours, and the mixtures called 
“Graham.” Sometimes five bran coats are re¬ 
moved, and sometimes only one. I have tried 
several kinds, and am now in a mood for experi¬ 
menting farther. Habit is strong, and those send¬ 
ing out flour containing elements unfamiliar to the 
consumers of white flour bread, should urge a long 
trial before judgment is pronounced. 
Reading for the People.—Book Clubs. 
N. S. TOWNSHEND, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 
One of the objectionable features of many 
■country homes is the comparative absence of in¬ 
structive books, particularly of the live fresh 
books of the time. In cities and large villages, 
libraries are formed from which persons who are 
unable to purchase books may obtain good reading 
at small expense. In the country the families of 
many hard-working farmers have little oppor¬ 
tunity to see standard works, either literary or 
scientific. Perhaps these families see a weekly 
paper, but such papers are usually devoted to the 
advocacy of special views, or interests, and the 
family that sees only a single paper will be likely 
to illustrate the adage that “ a little learning is a 
dangerous thing.” Entertaining and profitable 
reading is one of the great needs of the country 
and farm life, and therefore any plan by which 
this need can be supplied is worthy of consideration. 
Many years since it was the writer’s fortune to 
live in a rural district, far from city or village 
library; at the same time it was his privilege to en¬ 
joy the benefit of an arrangement for obtaining 
books which was so simple, economical, and satis¬ 
factory, that he gives a sketch of it. The plan was 
not original; other places have had the same ; per¬ 
haps it was not the best that might have been de¬ 
vised; but it answered an excellent purpose. 
In the township of Avon, Lorain Co., Ohio, about 
A. D., 1834, a few neighbors who felt the need of 
other reading for their families than that supplied 
by weekly papers, associated themselves under the 
name of the “Avon Reading Society,” afterwards 
changed to “Avon Book Club.” A president and 
secretary were chosen, terms of membership agreed 
upon, and provision made for annual meetings, 
and the adoption of by-laws. At the outset 17 
persons joined the association, each paid an entrance 
fee of $2, and agreed to pay an annual fee of $1. 
By the rules each member could propose one book 
for purchase; if of general interest, and not too 
expensive, it was approved by vote. When as many 
volumes had been proposed and approved as the 
club numbered members, the secretary, who was 
also treasurer, took the funds and purchased the 
books. Before their distribution the books were cov¬ 
ered with tough paper, and the plan of distribution 
was written upon the cover; sometimes the books 
were covered with muslin when the plan of distribu¬ 
tion was written upon a blank leaf. At the top of 
the cover or page was written, “To be kept 
twenty-one days,” below this three lines half an 
inch apart were ruled from top to bottom near the 
center of the page, dividing it into four spaces, a 
broad one on either side, and two narrow ones be¬ 
tween. In the broad space on the left hand the 
names of members were written, not alphabetically, 
but in the order of their residences from east to 
west, beginning always with the name of the mem¬ 
ber who had proposed the book. The name of the 
secretary appeared twice; first according to his 
residence and again at the bottom, so that all books 
might finally be returned to him. In the second 
space, to the right of each name, the date when the 
book was received was written, in the next space 
the date when forwarded, and in the space to the 
right of the dates remarks were recorded, if the 
hook had been injured or kept too long, for which 
the rules prescribed a small fine. The distribution 
of new hooks was made to all the members upon 
the same" day, to every member one book; after 
three weeks every one forwarded his hook to the 
member whose name was next below, and upon the 
same day he received another book from him whose 
name was next above. These changes were usually 
made on Sunday, for, although the members of the 
club did not all attend the same place of worship, 
the churches they did attend were not far apart. 
The original number of members was found con¬ 
venient because seventeen volumes, each kept three 
weeks, would all come again into the hands of the 
secretary in fifty-one weeks, and be ready for sale 
at the annual meeting. When the number of 
members was less or more than seventeen, no 
serious inconvenience was experienced, for in one 
case the meeting and sale were held sooner, and in 
the other case the meeting was delayed until all the 
books had completed their circuit. The books, after 
being read, were sold within the club to the highest 
bidder, often bringing considerably more than half 
the original cost. If less was offered for a volume 
than one-third its cost the member by whom it had 
been proposed was by the rules expected to take the 
book at one-third the cost. The money derived 
from the sale of books, together with the annual fee 
of $1 from each member, provided funds for the 
purchase of new books, which were proposed, ap¬ 
proved, bought and distributed as already stated. 
If a less sum than usual was received from the sale 
of books, or if more expensive books were to be 
bought, a small assessment made up the deficiency. 
The books bought by the club embraced consider¬ 
able variety, History, Travels, Biography, Poetry, 
Fiction, Agriculture, and Science were all included. 
The most popular books, as well as-those most 
criticised, were likely to be bought; by this course 
the club kept along with the progressive thought of 
the time. In order to learn what books were pub¬ 
lished, and what would be desirable to purchase, 
arrangements were made for receiving catalogues 
from the leading publishers. Some members of the 
club also took quarterlies or monthlies, and had 
the benefit of their reviews and book notices. 
The Avon Book Club with little interruption 
or change ha6 continued in operation to the present 
time, a period of more than forty years. The 
pleasure afforded to old and young from the read¬ 
ing of its books, the value of the information con¬ 
veyed, the mental stimulus supplied to the families 
that shared the benefits of the club for so many 
years, cannot be readily calculated. The books 
sold by the club from year to year have laid the 
foundation of many household libraries. The in¬ 
fluence of the club undoubtedly extended beyond 
the families of its members, although by one of its 
rules the books of the club could not be loaned. 
No result has been more noticeable than the desire 
it excited in the minds of many of the second and 
third generation to obtain better educational equip¬ 
ment than their parents or grand-parents had been 
able to secure. Another effect upon some of the 
young who were directly or indirectly benefited by 
the club will not excite surprise,—many of them 
learned of broader and more profitable fields for 
their activity. Some entered the professions, some 
went to other parts of the State or to other States, 
and became successful business men ; some have 
been identified with the benevolent and educational 
institutions of the State. Some have done service 
I in the Legislature of Ohio and other States, and in 
the Congress of the United States. Some respond¬ 
ed promptly to the call of the country at the out¬ 
break of the Civil AVar, and of these a few whose 
memory is tenderly cherished found rest in soldier 
graves. It must not be inferred that the club lost 
its interest in Agriculture ; as proof that it did not, 
the fact may be stated that two of its members 
have been members of, and one the president of, 
the Ohio State Board of Agriculture. 
Perhaps it will be thought that a readier w r ay to 
supply a community with reading would be to raise 
the necessary funds, and at once establish a good 
library, from which each contributor might draw 
when and what he pleased. Doubtless a good 
library has advantages, but the plan here described 
has the important feature of requiring but little 
money at the outset, so little, indeed, that there is 
probably not a single neighborhood in the whole 
country in which the necessary amount could not 
be raised. This plan has an advantage in inducing 
its members to read more regularly and more broad¬ 
ly than many would if left entirely to taste and in¬ 
clination. Unless some better plan can be sug¬ 
gested for the tens of thousands of country places 
which have no library privileges, the plan above 
described may answer a valuable purpose, and be 
worthy of general adoption throughout the country. 
Barrel Frame “Easy Chairs.” 
AVe have given in past years quite a variety of 
forms of easy chairs, made from barrels, boxes, hol¬ 
lowed logs, etc. In one of our exchanges from al- 
Fig. 1.—THE CHAIR FRAMED. 
most exactly the opposite side of the world (the Il¬ 
lustrated News of Sidney, Australia), we find engrav¬ 
ings of chairs differing a little from any we have 
given, and we change these somewhat to the forms 
here shown in figures 1 and 2. A large barrel or 
small hogshead with iron hoops, is cut to the form 
shown in figure 1, the hoops being first riveted to 
the staves. Strips or cleats nailed on the inside at 
Fig. 2.— THE CHAIR COMPLETE. 
any desired higlit, support the upper barrel head as 
a seat. The barrel is mounted on a frame of two 
pieces of wood with casters underneath. A broader 
firmer base would be formed of three or four 
pieces. The supporting brackets are added in 
front.—Fig. 2 shows how the whole may be uphol¬ 
stered with calico or any other material at small 
cost. All the above work of “ Easy Chair ” making 
may be done home and involve very little expense. 
