1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
provided with ample ventilation, and through the 
cracks the pure air finds abundant access, but most 
apartments, if not looked to, will limit the supply of 
oxygen and supply its place with the heavy noxious 
carbonic acid gas, which is the great source of dull 
head aches and sluggishness of mind and body. 
In winter every sleeping room had better be 
a little cool than not be abundantly supplied with 
pure air. One should see to this on going to bed, 
and so adjust the window sash that there will be a 
proper supply of good air all through the night. 
A Handy Toaster.— “W.W.B.,” Unionville, Md., 
sends sketches of 
a Bread Toaster 
which he considers 
the best he has 
used. It is made 
of stout wire; the 
part to hold the 
bread is bent as 
shown in figure 1. 
The ends a, b, be¬ 
ing turned to form rings into which the hooks in 
the handle (fig. 2) fit. The bread is put between 
Fig. 1.— THE BREAD FRAME. 
the wires and is easily reversed by turning the 
handle over half way by an easy twist of the wrist. 
Carrier for Large Jars or Cans. 
Large jars, cans, or kegs, are unwieldy to handle 
when filled, and it is difficult to pour anything out 
of them. The 
French people 
use a very con¬ 
venient carrier 
for the purpose 
of holding and 
tilting such ves¬ 
sels. This con¬ 
sists of a bottom 
board, to which 
are fixed two 
sides partly 
rounded and 
braced, as shown 
in the engravings. (See figs. 1 and 2.) Side pieces 
having a number of holes are fixed to the upright 
posts of the sides. These are for the purpose of 
arranging a strap 
or hand to con¬ 
fine and secure 
the jar at a proper 
bight. The jar, 
can, or keg, is 
placed on the bot¬ 
tom board and 
fastened. When 
it is to be tilted 
to pour out the 
contents, it is 
simply rolled 
over, as shown at 
figure 2, and may 
be drained to the last drop. Kegs may be provided 
with spigots, having the orifice at the end, to be 
closed with a peg; the keg may then be easily 
emptied through the spigot without spilling a drop. 
Family Wastes. 
It is often said, that the wastes of the household 
would fertilize a half-acre garden, if they were 
properly saved, and applied. The statement is un¬ 
doubtedly true, but the if is the most important 
factor in the proposition. As a matter of fact, most 
families in the country, and villages, pay the least 
possible attention to these matters. The sink drain 
usually pours its contents upon the surface of the 
ground, within a few feet of the dwelling, and not 
fifrequently, close by the well. A square rod or 
Fig. 2.—JAR TILTED 
two of garden soil, is fattened, and kept soggy with 
water, and bad odors prevail through the summer. 
If a pear-tree, or grape-vine, happens to be planted 
within reach of this liquid manure, the abundant, 
and perfect fruit, show the value of the riches, that 
are wasted at this point. There is no burial of 
offensive matters, no utilizing thereof for the feed¬ 
ing of the soil, and the sustenance of the house¬ 
hold. All these gross violations of the condi¬ 
tions of health, and of good husbandry as well, 
are justly complained of by our Boards of Health. 
If their Beports could be circulated among those 
who are most needy of their counsels, it might 
remedy the evil. Their teachings should be circu¬ 
lated in the journals that reach these families, and 
secure the needed reform. As a rule, any provision 
for the disposition of fecal matters, that does not 
absorb all odors every day, is defective. The most 
common provision, without a vault for absorbents, 
is a nuisance that ought to be abated, by civil 
enactments, with severe penalties. 
The earth-closet system is effectual, if faithfully 
carried out. It needs, however, more executive 
ability than is ordinarily found in the head of the 
family, even if he be a cultivator of the soil. The 
best arrangement, on the whole, that we have ob¬ 
served, is a vault large enough to contain all these 
wastes for six months of the year, made of stone, 
or brick, and lined with hydraulic cement. This 
effectually prevents all escape of poisonous matters 
into the well; a matter that the head of the house¬ 
hold can afford to secure at any cost. By the occa¬ 
sional use of absorbents, all the fertilizing material 
that falls into the vault is preserved. Offensive 
odors, if they arise, may be corrected by the use of 
Copperas. With such a vault, the gardener has a 
constant fountain of liquid haanure, which may be 
applied to his growing crops through the season. 
The luxuriant growth of vegetables, the splendid 
berries, the purple clusters of the vine, and the 
Fig. 1.—THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE LIFTER. 
ruddy cheeks of the pears, grown under frequent 
applications of liquid manure, will compensate any 
man for the trouble and expense of this vault. 
A Pie Lifter. 
Mr. R. N. Waring, Blair Co., Pa., sends sketches 
and description of a pie lifter. “ It consists of a 
wooden handle about 15 inches long, to which are 
suspended two rectangular claws 5x6 inches, of I in. 
steel (or iron) wire. One of these claws is immov¬ 
able, and is looped near its point of attachment to 
the handle (a, a); these loops admit the ends of the 
claw, as shown in figure 1. In using the lifter, 
the ‘clips’ 6, 6, of the immovable claw are brought 
under and against one side of the plate or article to 
be lifted, then by a twist and a light downward 
and forward motion of the handle, the clips c, c, 
of the movable claw, are brought in position on 
the other side. The second figure shows the lifter 
in place for carrying a pie. If properly made it 
Fig. 2.— THE LIFTER AT WORK, 
will grasp articles within the reach of its claws, 
with firmness. I do not think it is patented. 
B0YS <k (BUMS’ (BdDIL'JMMSo 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
At the beginning of a new year I would say a word t® 
the new boys and girlsby “ new,” I mean those—and 
there is often a large number, who come into onr wide 
family for the first time. For some months past I have 
been trying to talk to the youngsters about some things 
which are seldom taught in ordinary schools, bnt which 
every boy,and girl too,should learn while young.el6e they 
will be obliged to learn them here and there, and some¬ 
times by experience later in life. I do not think that I 
have given any distinct name to the subject of these 
talks. If I should, call it “Natural Philosophy,” or 
“Physics,” either would preventmany of you from read¬ 
ing them, and they would be too high -sounding for these 
familliar talks on common things—there, that’s it! 
“Common Things,” is the very title I want. These 
talks on Common Things, then, began by my trying to 
answera questionabout the Centre of Gravity; thismade 
it necessary to talk about Gravity. As Gravity is exer¬ 
cised by all matter, the late talks have been about Mat¬ 
ter, and its properties. Matter, as has been explained, 
does not mean any particular substance or thing, but ap¬ 
plies to every thing that our senses can tell us about, 
everything that occupies space. The principal proper¬ 
ties of matter, that is hardness , brittleness , elasticity , 
and others, have been described, and now we have come 
to talk 
ABOUT MATTER IN MOTION. 
If asked what Motion is, I think you will not find it 
difficut to answer—“a change of place.” But nothing 
starts into motion or changes place of itself. You hold a. 
marble in your fingers and drop it, the marble starts into- 
motion and falls to the floor; in this case the motion is 
caused by the attraction of the earth, or gravity, which 
has already been described. The marble will remain 
where it fell for any length of time, but by pushing it 
with your fingers, you may send it rolling across the floor. 
You may move in a wagon with rapid motion, and still 
more rapidly in the railroad cars. A bullet shot from a 
gun moves still more rapidly. 
ALL MOTION IS PRODUCED BT FORCE. 
And we may describe a force as whatever causes a 
body to move, or if moving makes it stop. The marble 
falls by the force of gravity; it goes along the floor by the 
forceof your fingers; the wagon goesalong by the force of 
the horse; the railroad train moves by the force of steam 
in the locomotive, and the bullet is put in very rapid mo¬ 
tion by the force of the powder burnt in the rifle. You 
will see from these examples that there are various forms 
of force, but we will not talk about theee now, but 
consider the force as the same, no matter how it is pro¬ 
duced. The marble upon the floor will not start into mo¬ 
tion of itself. This inability of bodies to start into motion 
IS CALLED INERTIA. 
Inertia is a Latin word, and means inactivity. When 
told that inertia describes the fact that a body can not of 
itself start into motion, you can understand that, but 
when told that it also expresses the fact that a body in 
motion can not stop of itself; you will perhaps stop and 
think about if it can be so. Yet it is the fact that a body- 
in motion can no more stop of itself than it can start of 
itself. It requires a force 
to start it, and when once in 
motion it requires an equal 
force to stop it. The marble 
in motion on the floor or the 
bullet from the rifle having 
no power to stop themselves 
would go on forever, were 
they not stopped by other 
forces. The marble is stop¬ 
ped in part by the resistance 
the roughness of the floor 
offers, and in part by the 
resistance offered by the air; 
so the bullet is in pa-t stop¬ 
ped by the resistance of the 
air, and in part by gravity, 
for when the bullet is flying with almost lightning: 
speed, gravity is acting upon it and it is all the while 
falling just as certainly as if it had been merely drop¬ 
ped from the muzzle of the rifle. Those who fire 
AT A LONG RANGE TARGET 
have to take both these influences into account, and to 
overcome the tendency of gravity io bring the bnllet to 
the ground, must aim far above the target in order to hit 
it. The resistance of the air to bodies in motion is shown 
by the arrangement in fig. 1. In this there are two fly¬ 
wheels made of thin brass, a being placed with the vanes 
edgewise, and b with them flat-wise to the air ; d is a 
contrivance for setting them in motion with the same 
force applied to both. The whole is covered by a large- 
bell of glass. When set in motion, which is done by 
Fig. !. 
Fans revolving in a vacuum, 
