AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
89 
in it. save a slight amount of dust washed from 
the air or from the house roof, in its descent. 
li people would all use for drinking and cook¬ 
ing, only rain water caught from clean roofs and 
kept in clean cisterns, it would not only conduce 
to their health, but many cooking and cleansing 
operations would be rendered more certain and 
uniform. But the truth is, we become so ac¬ 
customed to the spice, or flavor of lime, mag¬ 
nesia, &c., in well water, that real “ simon pure” 
wat^r from^he heavens tastes insipid. A habit of 
using pure rain water would soon render it the 
most acceptable drink to be found. 
IMPURE WATER. 
All water having been in contact with the soil, 
whether in the springs, wells, or brooks, contains 
dissolved matter, and also more or less of ma¬ 
terials merely suspended in it. The most common 
impurity held in solution (dissolved) in water is 
lime. We have chemically examined water from 
very many wells and brooks, and never yet found 
any entirely free from lime. 
It is a very singular fact that cold water will 
hold dissolved, nearly twice as much lime, as hot 
water. Hence water may be partially freed from 
lime by boiling it. When heated it loses a part of 
its dissolving power, and a portion of the lime 
settles to the bottom of the containing vessel. 
This accounts for the coating upon tea-kettles in 
many parts of the country where lime abounds in 
the water. In such localities, and indeed in all 
places, we believe it advisable to boil all well or. 
spring water briskly for twenty or thirty minutes, 
and then allow it to cood and settle before using 
for drinking, cooking, or washing. Besides partly 
purifying it from lime, (almost always present as 
we have said) boiling would remove or destroy 
organic matter, so productive of disease, especial¬ 
ly in newer countries. 
Substances held suspended, in water .—By these 
we mean those which are not dissolved, but 
simply held up by the water, so to speak. If 
water remains perfectly quiet for some length of 
lime, such substances will mainly settle to the 
bottom, but the least disturbance again mingles 
them with the water. Hence it is very often ex¬ 
pedient to resort to 
STRAINING OR FILTERING WATER. 
This can be done almost perfectly by passing it 
through a few layers of closely woven flannel, or 
even cotton cloth. But the operation would be 
tedious if performed daily with all water used for 
drinking and cooking. We present two very con¬ 
venient and easily constructed water filterers, the 
first of which we have used for years. 
Fig. 1 is a large barrel or cask. A lower false 
head, l, is fitted in, say 6 or 8 inches from the 
bottom. This is per¬ 
forated with very 
small gimlet holes, 
over which is placed 
a layer, s, of coarse 
clean sand, pre¬ 
viously washed upon 
a fine sieve, to re¬ 
move the finer par¬ 
ticles which would 
otherwise wash 
tnrough the gimlet 
holes. Over this sand is a layer, c, of broken 
charcoal ; above the charcoal is another layer of 
the prepared sand, upon the top of which is ano¬ 
ther false head, u. The space above is filled with 
water, w, which gradually filters down into the 
vacant space, p, entirely freed of its impurities. 
We should add, that when it is impracticable to 
wash Hie sand, a white flannel cloth may be placed 
upon the false head, I, under the sand. Upon 
the right of the filter barrel a glazed stoneware jar, 
r, holding one to two pailfuls, is set its whole 
depth into the ground or cement of the cellar 
bottom. This keeps cool at all times. When 
water is desired for use, it is dipped out of the 
jar, and the stopcock is then turned to fill it up 
again, that the water may be cooled against the 
time it is needed. Such an apparatus can be 
fitted up in a few hours, and it serves admirably 
for purifying water, however brackish or bad pre¬ 
viously. Dark colored swamp water, on passing 
through it, comes out clear, limpid and agreeable. 
Try it, you who are so unfortunate as not to have 
good well water. The upper layer of sand will 
need occasional renewing, and where much bad 
water is passed through, it will be well to fre¬ 
quently renew both sand and charcoal. 
Fig. 2 represents a still better filtering appara¬ 
tus, though one not quite so easily constructed. B 
is a board fitted tight.y 
from top to bottom, say 
six inches to the right 
side of the middle. A 
half circle, o, is cut out 
at the bottom of the 
board, B Another board, 
c, say 15 inches high, is 
fitted in, six inches to the 
left of the middle. A 
bottom piece, pierced 
with very small gimlet 
holes, is placed below the two upright boards, 
say 3 inches above the bottom of the cask. Upon 
this is placed layers of sand, s, s, and coal, c, just 
as described in fig. 1, with a punctured board over 
them. Water, m, is then poured in, and it passes 
through the opening, o, up through the sand and 
coal, and into n. Such an apparatus will last a 
long time, since the sediment separated from the 
impure water will fall down, leaving the filter 
free; while in fig 1, this sediment would require 
frequent removal. A stoneware side vessel for 
cooling the water may be provided for fig. 2, the 
same as in fig. 1. 
Fig. 2 illustrates very well, an excellent mode 
of constructing cisterns to have water always 
pure. The division may be made of brick-work, 
laid in water-lime (hydraulic cement). The filter¬ 
ing layers need occupy but a small space in 
the centre, on one side of the division cell. The 
water from the roof, conducted into m, will filter 
through into n gradually, and except immediately 
after a heavy fall of rain, or after large drafts 
upon the purified portion, the water will 
stand upon a level in both compartments. We 
hardly need dilate upon the advantages of such 
an arrangement. Rain water usually washes 
down considerable quantities of dust, lodged up¬ 
on the roofs of dwellings. The filtered water 
will be found admirable for drinking, cooking, 
and for washing and rinsing clothes clean. 
--—«a<2> esc*.-► - 
Hints for Washing-Day. 
If we can write anything to alleviate the evils 
of the “washing-day,” we shall gladly do so, and 
we think we can. The object of washing is, of 
course, to remove dirt, which has been quaintly 
described as “ matter in a wrong place.” But this 
cleansing operation is dependant entirely upon 
chemical principles, and should be done “scien¬ 
tifically” if needless labor and wear and tear of 
both muscles and fabric would be avoided. We 
obtained a new “patent” wash-tub last Autumn 
which is constructed upon philosophical principles, 
and before discussing other washing topics we 
will describe “ our new wash-tub.” 
Fig. 1 
Fig. 3. 
The great agent in washing is water , but most 
garments to be washed, are chiefly soiled with 
oily materials exuded from the skin, which also 
catch and cement dusty particles. Cold or luke¬ 
warm water does not dissolve grease or oily mat¬ 
ter. Hence we add to the water some dissolver 
of the oily dirt or grease, such as potash, soda, 
lime, &c. Any of the alkalies will dissolve oil or 
grease. To help the memory, we will here say 
that the word PSALM contains the initial letters 
of the principal alkalies, viz., Potash, Seda, Am¬ 
monia, Lime, and Magnesia. The alkalies are ge¬ 
nerally used in the mild form of soaps—as potash 
soap (soft soap,) and soda soap (hard soap.) A 
chapter on soaps is in contemplation. 
But with the use of soaps, much labor in rub¬ 
bing, pounding &c., is often required. Boiling is 
generally resorted to. This is founded upon the 
fact that hot water has a far greater dissolving 
power than cohl water. Now if there could be 
any simple contrivance by which clothing could 
be “ rubbed” while in boiling-hot water, the fill li 
would be removed with half or a quarter pait o 
Fig. 4. 
the labor—and this is just what is done in “ oui 
new wash-tub.” The engravings in this 
column show its construction so plainly as to 
scarcely need explanation. Fig. 3 is the tub 
closed, and in Fig. 4, the lid or upper rubber ia 
raised to show the rubbing apparatus. 
The clothes are put into the tub with a little 
