The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1569 
Things  To  Think  About 
Health  Notes 
“How  the  Other  Half  Lives” 
Here  is  another  true  incident  which, 
will  show  some  of  the  troubles  and  dis¬ 
appointments  of  American  farm  life. 
What  a  story  an  expert  novelist  could 
tell  if  he  were  to  take  some  of  the  actual 
records  which  come  to  us  from  day  to 
day. 
We  are  obliged  to  move  as  the  farm 
we  live  on  has  been  sold,  and  we  have 
no  idea  where  or  when  we  can  move,  but 
it  will  be  before  Spring.  We  have  lived 
here  some  time,  and  I  have  a  number  of 
very  nice  shrubs,  also  two  quince  bushes, 
that  I  wish  to  take  with  me.  Will  they 
be  all  right  in  the  Spring  if  taken  up  be¬ 
fore  the  ground  freezes,  and  put  them  in 
some  sand  in  the  cellar  until  Spring?  We 
came  here  with  the  understanding  that 
we  were  to  stay  permanently,  my  hus¬ 
band’s  father  owns  the  farm,  and  we 
have  put  a  good  many  improvements  on 
it.  lie  had  a  chance  to  sell  to  foreigners 
for  more  than  anyone  would  give  around 
here,  so  we  must  get  out.  We  had  no 
papers  drawn  up  in  any  way,  but  he 
was  too  old  to  work,  so  we  have  been 
here  eight  years,  working  it  tor  him.  Now 
we  chn  get  off  the  farm,  he  does  not  care 
where.  So  as  you  see  I  am  anxious  to 
take  with  me  the  plants  I  have  cared 
for.  as  they  have  become  so  nice  and 
thrifty.  H.  M.  A. 
It  was  a  mistake  to  take  the  farm, 
without  some  legal  document  which  pro¬ 
vided  against  just  such  a  tragedy.  Such 
papers  should  be  made  out  even  when 
close  friends  or  relatives  are  involved. 
Never  take  chances  on  losing  the  home 
by  neglecting  to  sign  proper  papers.  The 
shrubs  and  trees  can  be  kept  over  in  the 
way  you  mention,  but  we  fear  that  the 
law  will  not  permit  you  to  remove  such 
things  without  full  consent  of  the  owner. 
They  are  really  a  part  of  the  real  estate, 
as  it  would  be  held  that  they  are  firmly 
attached  to  the  soil.  We  know  just  how 
you  feel  in  the  matter,  but  it  will  not  be 
legal  to  remove  these  shrubs  without  the 
owner’s  consent. 
A  Hopeful  Back-to-the-Lander 
I  notice  on  page  1500  what  H.  B.  Hugo 
has  to  say  about  The  It.  N.-Y.  being  pes¬ 
simistic  as  to  back-to-landing.  I  think  I 
can  give  some  real  facts  that  will  be  of 
benefit  to  someone,  as  I  have  had  consid¬ 
erable  experience.  I  was  born  and  raised 
on  a  farm,  where  I  remained  until  1893, 
when  I  went  into  the  service  ;  was  sent  to 
foreign  lands  for  nearly  three  years. 
When  I  returned  to  the  U.  S.  A.  I  went 
to  blacksmithing,  railroading,  plumbing, 
engineer,  and  last,  and  the  worst,  auto 
repairing,  which  nearly  ended  my  troubles 
on  this  earth  by  gas  poisoning.  It  was 
then  that  I  decided  to  go  back  to  the 
land.  .  I  purchased  a  farm  in  Western 
New  Y’ork  that  was  pretty  badly  run 
down  ;  a  very  poor  dairy  ;  and  now,  after 
three  years  of  struggle  I  have  been 
praised  for  my  fine  herd  of  dairy  cattle 
and  fine  flock  of  R.  I.  Red  poultry,  and  I 
am  now  on  the  road  to  success.  I  did  not 
get  it  out  of  books,  but  through  the 
knowledge  gained  while  on  the  farm  pre¬ 
vious  to  1898,  and  keeping  my  shoulder 
to  the  wheel,  but  if  the  city  man  thinks 
he  can  come  out  to  the  farm,  scatter  a 
few  seeds  and  sit  in  the  shade  and  watch 
his  crops  grow  into  money  (as  I  have 
heard  many  city  people  say),  they  would 
better  stay  in  the  city  and  not  give  money 
to  a  crooked  real  estate  man.  A.  c. 
New  York. 
A  Good  Reading  'Mission 
The  thought  often  comes  to  me  as  I 
enjoy  my  own  home  opportunities  for 
reading  of  various  sorts — how  many  in 
less  favored  sections  than  our  own  are 
without  and  yet  wanting  such  privileges ! 
The  books  and  magazines  and  papers 
we  have  in  such  variety  (on  our  table 
just  now  are  10  different  magazines)  are 
rare  visitors  in  many  a  Southern  and 
Western  home.  There  are  no  means  for 
subscription  to  periodicals,  and  no  libra¬ 
ries  within  reach.  Here  a  surplus,  and 
there  a  dearth  of  good  reading — and  yet 
a  simple  means  exists  for  contributing  to 
the  need  of  these  bookless  home  from  our 
abundance!  In  our  own  home  we  have 
for  years  been  in  the  way  of  “passing  on” 
current  magazines  and  papers,  and  also 
books,  either  to  neighbors,  or  by  mail  to 
those,  sometimes  in  distant  States,  of 
whom  we  have  heard  as  wanting  reading 
matter,  but  having  little  of  their  own, 
and  finding  but  little  in  their  isolated 
communities  to  enjoy. 
Perhaps  many  of  the  readers  of  The 
R.  N.-Y.  may  be  interested  to  offer  some 
of  their  surplus  books  and  magazines  for 
the  use  of  those  in  The  R.  N.-Y.  family 
or  outside  of  it,  who  are  wanting  good 
reading  for  its  instruction  and  enter¬ 
tainment,  but  are  not  supplied  with  it. 
The  question  is  this:  The  current  papers 
and  magazines  we  subscribe  for,  after 
reading  these,  shall  we  put  them  on  the 
shelf,  or  into  the  attic,  or  sell  for  a  few 
cents  per  hundred  pounds  to  the  rag 
man,  or  shall  we  (or  the  older  children) 
give  a  little  thought  and  time  and  postage 
to  pass  them  on  to  some  who  have  our 
own  taste  and  appreciation  of  reading, 
but  lack  our  means  for  it?  We  have 
found  much  pleasure  in  sending  on  our 
own  over-read  magazines,  and  have  so 
made  many  good  friends  “by  mail.” 
From  a  Southern  .home  where  books  had 
been  sent  we  heard  that  the  neighbors 
would  “walk  miles  to  get  them  in  their 
turn,”  and  an  encyclopedia,  much  de¬ 
sired,  was  procured  in  our  village  for  one 
not  unknown  to  readers  of  The  R.  N.-Y. 
as  correspondent. 
Lately  we  have  found  a  center  of  co¬ 
operation  in  this  friendly  mission  of 
book-forwarding  in  the  Cheerful  Letter 
Exchange,  25  Beacon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
They  publish  a  little  monthly  paper  “The 
Cheerful  Letter,”  with  lists  of  books,  etc., 
offered  to  be  sent  by  mail,  upon  request, 
and  also  having  many  names  and  ad¬ 
dresses  of  those,  approved  by  the  secre¬ 
tary,  who  ask  for  reading,  with  mention 
of  what  is  most  desired.  Any  interested 
on  either  side  of  this  book-magazine  mis¬ 
sion,  and  wishing  to  see  this  paper  for 
the  service  it  offers,  can  obtain  a  copy, 
without  expense,  upon  request  of  the 
Cheerful  Letter  Exchange,  25  Beacon 
St.,  Boston,  Mass.  E.  F.  dickinson. 
Massachusetts. 
Poison  from  Shoe  Dyes 
News  from  the  Wisconsin  State  Uni¬ 
versity  is  that  two  scientists  of  that  in¬ 
stitution  have  found  shoes  dyed  with  ma¬ 
terials  containing  aniline  or  nitrobenzene 
will  poison  the  wearer  unless  they  are 
allowed  to  dry  at  least  24  hours  before 
being  worn  : 
“A  person  affected  by  such  shoe  dye 
poison  becomes  blue  within  a  few  hours 
after  putting  on  a  pair  of  freshly  dyed 
shoes,  and  the  blueness  is  particularly 
noticeable  at  the  tips  and  finger  nails. 
Gradually  the  whole  face  and  body  as¬ 
sume  a  bluish  or  purplish  hue,  which 
may  be  accompanied  by  nausea,  dizziness 
and  headache,  and  there  is  also  a  general 
physical  weakness.  The  effects  of  the 
poison  gradually  disappear  after  the 
shoes  are  removed  and  in  several  days 
the  skin  assumes  its  normal  color.  That 
some  less  toxic  solvent  could  be  substi¬ 
tuted  for  aniline  or  nitrobenzene,  and  be 
as  satisfactory  is  the  writers’  opinion. 
“The  present  method  of  dyeing  shoes 
is  a  constant  menace  to  public  health. 
There  are  shoe  shining  parlors  which  ad¬ 
vertise  ‘Shoes  dyed  while  you  wait’  and 
there  have  been  reports  of  cases  where 
the  dye  was  applied  to  shoes  while  they 
were  being  worn.  Dyes  containing  ani¬ 
line  of  nitrobenzene  should  be  allowed 
to  dry  at  least  24  hours  before  the  shoes 
are  worn. 
“The  danger  of  such  poisoning  might 
be  reduced  if  the  manufacturers  were 
required  to  place  warning  labels  and 
adequate  directions  upon  the  containers 
in  which  such  dves  are  sold.  The  only 
way  the  present  method  of  dyeing  may 
be  made  safe  and  ‘foolproof’  is  by  re¬ 
moving  the  highly  dangerous  poisons 
which  are  readily  absorbed  through  the 
skin.” 
“No,  Herbert,  I  am  sorry ;  but  I  am 
sure  we  could  not  be  happy  together.  You 
know  I  always  want  my  own  way  in 
everything.”  “But.  my  dear  girl,  you 
could  go  on  wanting  it  after  we  were 
married.” — Boston  Globe, 
Tick  or  Rocky  Mountain  Spotted  Fever 
Will  you  give  a  description  of  the 
disease  known  in  the  West,  and  especially 
in  the  Bitter  Root  Valley,  Missoula, 
Mont.,  as  the  tick  fever  describing  how 
many  days  after  bitten  or  inoculated  be¬ 
fore  the  fever  shows  up,  and  also  how 
long  the  fever  lasts?  Also  just  what  is 
the  government  doing  to  find  a  cure? 
What  losses  are  paid  by  the  government? 
How  many  cases  are  known  to  the  gov 
eminent  as  cured  in  Missoula,  Mont,  last 
year?  I  understand  a  person  can  be  in¬ 
oculated  from  another  or  from  rabbits, 
and  the  disease  show  up  in  24  hours  and 
has  run  through  the  system  in  48  more. 
Is  there  any  truth  in  this?  Does  the 
United  States  government  pay  the  doc¬ 
tors,  also  the  hospital  bills,  of  persons 
said  to  be  bitten  in  Yellowstone  Park? 
H.  G.  S. 
I  am  afraid  that  I  cannot  answer  all 
of  your  questions  about  the  government’s 
activities  in  connection  with  “tick  fever,  ' 
or  Rocky  Mountain  spotted  fever,  though 
both  State  and  federal  investigations 
have  been  carried  on  for  some  years  in  an 
endeavor  to  find  the  cause  and  cure  of 
this  disease.  Spotted  fever,  so  named 
because  of  its  characteristic  rash,  is  a 
disease  of  the  Bitter  Root  Valley  in  Mon¬ 
tana,  the  Snake  River  Valley  of  Idaho, 
and  of  parts  of  Washington,  Oregon, 
California,  Wyoming,  Nevada,  Utah  and 
sections  further  south.  Its  home  is  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  it  holds  sway 
only  in  limited  areas  and  strikes  only 
during  certain  seasons,  Spring  and  early 
Summer  being  the  time  of  its  prevalence. 
Early  settlers  associated  the  disease  with 
the  melting  snows,  while  the  Indians  of 
the  mountains  said  that  evil  spirits  made 
visits  to  certain  valleys  dangerous.  The 
disease  has  been  known  for  at  least  75 
years,  but  not  until  April,  1906,  did  Dr. 
II.  T.  Ricketts  begin  the  brilliant  work 
in  Montana  that  resulted  in  finding,  not 
its  cause  but  the  method  by  which  the 
virus  of  the  disease  was  transmitted  to 
man.  The  State  Department  of  Health 
of  Montana  and  the  United  States  Pub¬ 
lic  Health  Service  have  both  instituted 
investigations  which  are  yet  continued 
and  which  have  probably  given  rise  to 
the  circumstances  of  hospital  care,  etc., 
about  which  you  inquire.  Very  probably, 
the  free  treatment  and  care  of  which  you 
speak  is  only  that  of  hospitals  where  a 
patient  may  be  treated  and  w’here  prop¬ 
erly  qualified  physicians  may  observe  the 
disease. 
Rocky  Mountain  spotted  fever  is  not  a 
contagious  disease,  and  is  not  transmitted 
form  man  to  man.  It  is  transferred 
from  some  of  the  lower  animals  to  man 
through  the  bite  of  a  wood  tick  that  has, 
itself,  become  infected  through  feeding 
upon  ground  squirrels,  chipmunks, 
ground  hogs  and  other  small  wild  ani¬ 
mals,  among  which  the  rabbit  may,  per¬ 
haps,  be  included.  Thei’e  are  several 
species  of  ticks  which  may  convey  the 
disease,  but.  fortunately,  if  takes  time 
to  do  it.  These  ticks  must  remain  at¬ 
tached  to  their  human  host  for  several 
hours  if  infection  is  to  occur,  and  few 
are  given  that  opportunity.  Ricketts 
demonstrated  that  the  wood  tick  was 
capable  of  not  only  infecting  man  but  of 
transmitting  its  infective  power  through 
several  generations  of  its  young. 
The  disease  resembles  typhus  and  ty¬ 
phoid  fevers,  running  a  course  of  from 
three  to  four  weeks  in  cases  that  recover, 
though  it  may  prove  fatal  in  a  week  or 
10  days.  A  striking  peculiarity  is  its 
limitation  to  certain  restricted  areas;  an¬ 
other  is  the  varying  rate  of  mortality.  In 
the  Bitter  Root  Valley,  over  70  per  cent 
of  those  attacked  die,  while  in  other  sec¬ 
tions  the  death  rate  is  less  than  13  per 
cent.  From  three  to  10  days  elapse  be¬ 
tween  the  time  of  being  bitten  and  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  first  symptoms.  There  is 
no  known  cure,  the  disease  being  treated 
“symptomatically,”  as  is  typhus  fever, 
but  experiments  with  serums  offer  hope 
that  the  disease  may  yet  be  controlled  by 
these  agents  in  humans,  as  it  already 
may  be  done  in  some  of  the  lower  animals 
subject  to  it.  Prevention,  by  avoiding 
the  bites  of  wood  ticks  iin  the  regions 
where  the  disease  occurs,  is  still  the  end 
to  be  sought.  m.  b.  d. 
Treatment  for  Diabetes 
In  the  issue  of  November  25,  1922, 
page  1407,  article  on  diabetes  interested 
me,  as  I  have  this  disease  and  would  like 
to  get  cured.  Do  you  know  of  any  posi¬ 
tive  or  complete  cure  for  diabetes,  and  is 
there  any  cure  for  it  without  dieting.- 
I  saw  in  a  paper  one  time  of  a  company 
that  said  they  would  absolutely  guarantee 
to  cure  diabetes  without  dieting,  and 
you  woqld  not  have  to  pay  them  till  you 
were  cured  entirely,  and,  furthermore, 
that  you  could  not  be  cured  by  dieting,  as 
it  weakened  your  system  so  that  it  could 
not  carry  off  the  impurities  of  the  body. 
I  would  like  to  be  cured  so  as  to  be  able 
to  do  a  day’s  work.  r.  s. 
Richfield  Springs,  N.  Y. 
Unfortunately,  there  is  no  “cure”  for 
diabetes,  and  anybody  advertising  a 
“guaranteed  cure”  may  be  put  down  in¬ 
stantly  as  one  of  the  ghouls  ivho  prey 
upon  the  misfortunes  of  the  sick.  There 
has  recently  been  discovered  a  remedy, 
called  insulin,  which  gives  more  promise, 
and  it  is  being  thoroughly  studied  by 
competent  medical  scientists.  It  is  an 
extract  from  the  pancreas,  an  organ  of 
the  body  affected  in  diabetes.  .  While 
much  is  hoped  from  this,  it  is  not  yet 
available  for  general  use,  and  will  not 
be  made  available  until  further  researches 
have  proven  or  disproven  its  value. 
Meanwhile,  no  adult  with  diabetes  need 
give  up  in  despair.  If  he  learns  how  to 
live,  particularly  with  regard  to  diet,  he 
may  hope  for  a  long  and  useful  life. 
There  will  probably  be  many  things  which 
he  cannot  do,  but  there  are  very  few  who 
are  able  to  do  just  what  they  would  like. 
Regulation  of  the  diet,  to  eliminate  the 
sugar-producing  foods,  is  needed,  and  a 
competent  physician  should  be  consulted 
for  directions  as  to  this.  The  degree  of 
health  and  activity  which  a  diabetic  pa¬ 
tient  may  enjoy  depends,  however,  more 
upon  his  attention  to  the  directions  which 
are  given  him  than  upon  the  one  who 
gives  the  directions.  A  patient  sic  • 
give  his  physician  full  co-operation  and 
learn  to  live  as  his  necessities  require. 
Many  of  us  must  be  content  with  what 
we  can  do,.  learning  to  be  patient  with 
our  .  own  limitations  and  happy  in  the 
ability  to  do  part  of  “a  day’s  work.” 
M.  B.  D. 
Toilet  in  Cellar 
What  do  you  think  of  a  toilet  in  the 
cellar  of  a  farmhouse?  Can  it  be  made 
sanitary?  If  a  ventilating  pipe  sh»uld 
be  carried  from  it,  up  through  the  house, 
and  extend  above  the  roof  of  the  dwell¬ 
ing,  would  the  cellar  be  absolutely  whole¬ 
some  without  any  other  precaution  taken, 
so  far  as  the  toilet  was  concerned?  What 
should  be  the  diameter  of  such  a  pipe  in 
order  to  secure  a  perfect  circulation  un¬ 
der  all  conditions?  m.  b. 
West  Cornwall,  Conn. 
You  do  not  say  what  kind  of  toilet  you 
have  in  mind.  It  would  hardly  be  prac¬ 
ticable  to  have  an  ordinary  vault  closet 
in  the  cellar,  though  that  would  not 
necessarily  be  unhealthful.  The  chemi¬ 
cal  closets  are  sometimes  placed  in  the 
cellar,  but  they  have  tight  metal  tanks 
which  do  not  permit  the  escape  of  odors 
and  destroy  the  solid  contents  discharged 
into  them  by  means  of  caustic  fluids  I 
presume  that  this  is  the  kind  of  toilet 
that  you  have  in  mind.  I  think  that 
most  makes  are  provided  with  a  ventilat¬ 
ing  pipe  to  be  carried  above  the  roof  or. 
better,  into  a  used  chimney.  It  is  no* 
the  odor  from  toilets  that  causes  disease, 
but  disease  germs  found  in  the  contents’. 
If  the  contents  are  not  disinfected  by 
caustic  solutions,  or  other  disinfectants 
used,  they  may  cause  disease  by  con¬ 
taminating  food  or  water.  I  see  no  rea¬ 
son  why  a  chemical  closet  should  not  be 
placed  in  the  cellar  of  a  farmhouse,  if 
properly  installed,  ventilated  as  suggested 
above  and  kept  from  leaking.  Some  of 
the  tanks  used  seem  to  be  rather  short¬ 
lived,  however,  and  one  that  did  not  re¬ 
main  absolutely  tight  would  soon  be¬ 
come  an  intolerable  nuisance  in  a  cellar. 
It  might  far  better  be  placed  underground 
outside  the  cellar  wall.  This  does  not 
take  into  consideration  the  rather  un¬ 
pleasant  task  of  pumping  out  a  chemical 
tank  at  needed  intervals,  which,  in  it¬ 
self,  might  make  a  cellar  location  inad¬ 
visable.  m.  B.  D. 
Teacher  of  Hygiene  :  “Why  must 
we  always  be  careful  to  keep  our  homes 
clean  and  neat?”  Little  Girl:  “Because 
company  may  walk  in  at  any  moment.” 
— Judge. 
Tree  Root  Holds  Doicn  Rod; 
In  several  copies  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  I  have  noticed  pictures  of  large  bowlders  each 
claiming  to  be  the  largest.  I  know  of  one  that  lias  them  all  beat,  but  I  had  no 
camera  with  me  to  take  a  picture  of  it,  and  its  position  makes  it  all  the  more  won¬ 
derful  as  it  is  up  on  a  very  high  mountain  in  Southwestern  New  Hampshire.  Near 
the  top  of  Mt.  Monadnoek  is  a  flat  stretch  ;  there  are  a  few  rocks  there  and  this 
very  large  oblong  shaped  bowlder  sits  away  up  on  the  mountain  as  though  some 
mighty  giant  had  placed  it  there.  I  feel  sure  it  is  as  large  or  larger  than  the 
bowlders  shown  so  far.  The  above  is  an  unusual  picture  of  a  rock  and  tree  roots. 
After  seeing  it  I  went  back  five  miles  through  the  woods  for  my  camera  to  take  it. 
This  is  in  the  woods  of  New  Brunswick,  Canada  It  is  a  yellow  birch  tree  and  the 
roots  as  you  will  see  are  holding  the  stone  down  while  in  the  meantime  the  frost 
is  heaving  the  stone  up. — b.  m.  m.,  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 
