310 
[October, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
the waters without the annoyance of travel or the 
discomfort of a watering-place hotel, but surround¬ 
ed by the conveniences of his own home. One of 
the most successful manufacturers of 6ucli artificial 
waters is Mr. Carl Shultz, of the firm of Shultz & 
"Warleer, of this City. Mr. Shultz has brought 
his Well-known chemical knowledge to the produc¬ 
tion of an article of general utility. The waters are 
put up in strong glass fountains, the soda fountain 
in miniature, and the plain carbonic acid (or soda) 
water, or the various mineral waters, can be drawn 
in the room of the patient, in all perfection and 
purity. As usually drawn from tinned copper foun¬ 
tains, there is a danger of metallic impregnation, as 
the tin used for this purpose is most generally adul¬ 
terated with lead. In the apparatus used by Messrs. 
S. & W., there is no possibility that such an impu¬ 
rity can occur. Tile water is liberated from the 
fountain by touching a spring with the finger, and 
may be drawn in any quantity desired. We present 
an engraving of one of these fountains, which are 
really neat, convenient affairs. They are sent 
around to families ready filled, and the bottles are 
called for when empty, or exchanged for others. 
The low price (10 to 15 cents per quart fountain,) 
at which soda and several kinds of mineral waters 
are delivered, is an important consideration, and 
they are worthy the attention of physicians and 
others having occasion to use them. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Water, Hard and Soft. 
The medicinal effects of water are not enough 
considered. Every one knows that there is some 
friction in the kitchen when hard water has to be 
employed for washing, but there is as much fric¬ 
tion in the human frame when it is used constant¬ 
ly for drinking. Medical men, from Hippocrates 
to this day, testify that the habitual use of hard 
water tends to constipate the bowels. The water 
for domestic use in Liverpool, is quite hard, and a 
large proportion of the inhabitants suffer from 
visceral obstructions, a malady which generally 
abates when the sufferers leave the city and go 
where soft water is at command. In the best hy¬ 
dropathic establishments of Europe and this coun¬ 
try, the aim of the physicians is, to get the “ softest 
and purest water.” At the famous Malvern 
institution, where thousands of invalids resort 
annually to drink the healing springs, “ the spring 
water in the highest repute for medicinal quality, 
is a water only remarkable for its purity.” 
Who does not know that horses have an instinc¬ 
tive love of soft water, and refuse that from wells, 
if they can have access to running streams. It is 
the tendency of such water to produce a rough 
coat on horses, as well as to disturb their diges¬ 
tion. In England, where great pains are taken with 
race horses, soft water is often carried for miles 
to the race-course, lest the horses should suffer 
from hard water furnished on the ground. Youatt 
says : “ Instinct or experience has made the horse 
conscious of this (the difference in water,) for he 
will never drink hard water if he has access to soft; 
he will leave the most transparent water of the 
well for a river, although the water may be turbid, 
and even for the muddiest pool.” The same thing 
is true, more or less, with sheep and other stock. 
From this, it is plainly of much importance to 
provide wholesome water for our families and for 
our domestic animals. For home use, where chil¬ 
dren and others suffer from the water in common 
use, a filtering cistern, or one of the various filters 
in market becomes an indispensible article. M. 
[Pure water is desirable, but spring water may 
be as impure as that from wells. All water passing 
through the soil, dissolves out soluble minerals 
or salts. For this reason the water of running 
streams is mineralized. The ordinary filter will 
not remove these dissolved substances : it merely 
takes out the coarser materials. Rain-water is the 
only pure liquid to be depended upon. If caught 
from high, clean roofs, and kept in clean cisterns, 
filtering is unnecessary. The peculiar taste is ow¬ 
ing to the absence of flavoring earthy salts. After 
a little practice, rain water is relished better than 
any well or spring water. We have not used any- 
! thing but cloud-distilled water for years, and now 
well water has a disagreeable mineral taste.—E d.] 
Water-Proof Walks. 
A method of making hard dry walks is coming 
into use in some parts of England, which in cer¬ 
tain circumstances must be excellent. A hard dry 
bottom being prepared, it is coated with about two 
inches of hydraulic mortar, made by mixing togeth¬ 
er about six measures of clean gravel, three meas¬ 
ures of sharp sand, and one measure of good hy¬ 
draulic lime—usually called water-lime. The best 
hydraulic lime in England is called Portland Ce¬ 
ment. Probably a larger proportion of our com¬ 
mon hydraulic lime would be required. Those who 
have not access to sea-sliore gravel, can usually get 
that which will answer, by sifting over any soil 
which contains pebbles and gravel. This will be 
improved by washing it, which can be readily done 
by putting a bushel or so in a barrel, and fill with 
water, stir it well, and pour off' the water rapidly. 
The washing may be repeated two or three times if 
necessary. As the mixture sets quickly, only a few 
bushels should be wet at a time, and this be applied 
at once and smoothed down. The surface should 
be raised in the middle, and slope gently and evenly 
to the sides. The mortar can be applied and 
smoothed with a common shovel. It will thus 
form a hard surface from which water will flow 
off. Unless the walk bed be hard, or thorough¬ 
ly under-drained, so as to be dry to the depth of 12 
or 15.inches, it will heave and crack by freezing in 
winter. A walk like the above will not be expen¬ 
sive, and if well made will last a century, and not 
be troubled with weeds or worms. The same bed¬ 
ding answers admirably for the floors of cellars, 
green-houses, poultry houses, etc. 
“Cheap Thread—One Cent a Spool!” 
On our way home from the Agriculturist Office 
last night, we saw a poor laboring woman exhibit¬ 
ing to her friend a lot of spool thread, which she 
had “ bought very cheap of a ‘street merchant’— 
only one cent a spool.” This morning we visited 
several of the “ street merchants ” who have dis¬ 
played upon the sidewalks, and at the street cor¬ 
ners, large heaps, a bushel or more each, of this 
cheap thread, and we bought a few samples to ex¬ 
amine. Though appearing to be full spools of 
good thread, on measuring the length, the average 
amount on a spool is only 11% yards ! At this rate 
“200 ” yards would cost about 18 cents. The best 
spool cotton thread is retailed now at 8 to 10 cents, 
the spools warranted to contain, and they generally 
do contain, 200 yards. But the worst thing about 
this “ cheap thread ” is, that it has no strength. 
The poor women will find, after spending hours and 
days in using it, that the stitches will break very 
readily, aud before an ordinary garment is worn 
out, almost as much good thread will be needed 
for mending, as would have sufficed to make up the 
garment at first. The truth is, poor thread is very 
dear, even if it be given to a person. The very best 
is cheapest, at any price. We allude to this matter 
now, because that, owing to the present higher 
price of thread, hundreds of thousands of spools 
of poor stuff are being worked into the market— 
often mixed with better sorts. 
Sealing Fruit-Bottles. 
Mrs. C. II. M. Newell, Hampden Co., Mass., 
writes to the Agriculturist: “Among your many 
plans for securing jars of fruit, I find no mention 
of one that I have used several years, and find it 
preferable to any kind of patent fastening, and 
even better than the patty-pan arrangement. Cut 
circular pieces of thick, stout cloth, sufficiently 
large to tic over the jar or can. On these, cover 
with cement a space that will fit the opening, and 
extend over the rim. While tilling the jars, lay the 
cemented covers on the bottom of the stove oven, 
to soften. When the jar is ready, wipe the rim dry, 
and apply the covers, cemeut side down, smooth- 
iug out the wrinkles and tying it with a strong 
string. Afterward cover the top with some of the 
cement thinly spread. A few minutes will show, 
by the depression of the cover, that the contents 
are secure. I think you will find it the cheapest, 
easiest, and most expeditious manner of sealing 
that has come to your notice. Very many use it, 
and all give it their unqualified approval. The ce¬ 
ment I use is made with 1 oz. rosin, 1 oz. gum 
shellac, 1 cubic inch of bees wax : melt these in a tin 
cup, and mix thoroughly; use gentle heat to melt 
or remelt, as great heat may granulate the shellac.” 
Don’t Rock the Baby. 
If all the ultimate consequences of one’s acts are 
to be laid to his charge, the man who invented 
rocking cradles for children, rests under a fearful 
load of responsibility. The down-right murder of 
tens of thousands of infants, and the weakened 
brains of hundreds of thousands of adults, are un¬ 
doubted results of his invention. To rock a child 
in a cradle, or to swing him in a crib, amounts to 
just this : the rapid motion disturbs the natural flow 
of the blood , and produces stupor or drowsiness. Can 
any body suppose for a moment that such an opera¬ 
tion is a healthful one? Every one knows the 
dizzy and often sickening effect of moving rapidly 
in a swing; yet wherein does this differ from the 
motion a child receives when rocked in a cradle ? 
It is equivalent to lying in a ship berth during a 
violent storm, and that sickens nine people out of 
ten. A very gentle, slow motion may sometimes 
be soothing, though always of doubtful expedi¬ 
ency, but to move a cradle as rapidly as the swing 
of a pendulum three feet long, that is once in a 
second, is positive cruelty. We always feel like 
grasping and staying the arm of the mother or 
nurse who, to secure quietude, swings the cradle 
or crib with a rapidity equal to that of a pendulum 
a foot long. If any mother is disposed to laugh at 
our suggestions or consider them whimsical, we 
beg of her to have a bed or cot hung on cords, then 
lie down in it herself, and have some one swing it 
with the same rapidity that she allows the cradle to 
be rocked. What she will experience in both head 
and stomach, is just what the infant, experiences.— 
We insist that this rocking of children is a use¬ 
less habit. If not accustomed to rocking, they will 
go to sleep quite as well when lying quietly, as 
when shaken in a cradle. If they do not, there is 
trouble from sickness, or hunger, or more likely 
from an over-loaded stomach; and though the 
rocking may produce a temporary stupor, the 
trouble is made worse thereafter, by the unnatural 
means taken to produce quiet for the time being. 
Curing Pork Without Brine. 
A subscriber, W. C., of Carbon Co., Pa., sends lo 
his co-readers of the American Agriculturist his 
method of curing pork, which lie lias tried for sev¬ 
eral years with good results, and the plan is now 
adopted by his neighbors, all deeming it superior in 
several respects to the brine method: “For each 
hundred pounds of meat, take 5 lbs. of salt, 1 lb. 
of sugar, and % ounce of saltpeter. Mix the ingre¬ 
dients well, then thoroughly rub both the flesh and 
the skin sides of the pork. I always doth crabbing 
in with the hand, although it might be well to use 
something else in cold weather. The meat should 
be slightly cut from the bones and filled with the 
mixture. After this operation is completed, the 
pork must be layed out on boards for three weeks, 
dropping on the pieces what of the mixture may 
remain. At the expiration of three weeks it is fit for 
the smoke-house.” 
Zinc Vessels Poisonous.— “ S. M.,” asks why 
no notice of zinc milk pans has appeared in the 
American Agriculturist. She thinks “ they are 
