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HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY 
An interested man adds the bit of information which 
may inspire others to experiment, possibly with success. 
He says they “have often—in Kansas—tried to pre¬ 
serve figs by canning them but thus far we have failed. 
Had to preserve them in sugar.” 
An affirmative answer must certainly be given to 
the pertinent question: “Do not tooth brushes and 
wash cloths contain microbes?” They certainly do 
unless carefully cleaned. The former should occasion¬ 
ally have a bath in borax water. The latter should be 
well dried daily in the sunshine, if possible, and fre¬ 
quently boiled. There need not and should not be the 
putrid brush and the sour cloth. The sponge is a very 
difficult article to keep sweet and clean by common 
methods. The cloth is certainly much to be preferred 
from the standpoint of cleanness. 
The suggestion is not a bad one that “gloves be 
worn always while shopping.” We may suggest that 
these gloves might well be washable. 
How much healthier our homes would be if we 
would take the advice of Mrs. W. and “do away with 
the unnecessary ornaments, merely dust collectors 
. . . . dispose of them and train the eye to sim¬ 
plicity and healthful emptiness.” Along the same line 
is Miss G’s decision: “I have been very much 
tempted of late to give up my rugs and mattings and 
use carpets, but I feel now that it would be taking a 
backward step.” It would be better, if it were pos¬ 
sible, to do away with the matting which unless the 
