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The Coisii&oner.
IMJGUST 7, 1903.
9
W8W
chops, etc., are now made of paper in
various designs and sizes; napkins,
dolleys, and many pretty, inexpensive
table ornaments, are also shown.
Wooden dishes, of various sizes and
designs, are also to bo had; paper
cake boxes, and other conveniences do
oway with the basket of heavy, break
able dishes which, in former days,
filled the gudewife's picnic hours with
a nightmare of dread, and, only too
often, her home-returning basket with
remnants of cracked, chipped or brok
en china. With care, many of these
paper and wooden dishes may be made
to serve several occasions, and they
aro quite inexpensive.
Farm Saaltatloa
A correspondent, referring to on ar
ticle which appeared under the above
heading in a recent issue of The Com
moner, asks for a method, practical
and inexpensive, by which the evils
epoken of may be remedied, and the
wasted fertilizers saved. As ttr the
house-slops and decomposable garbage,
the question is fairly answerod in an
article entitled "Potting Soil," pub
lished in this department in The Com
moner of June 26. Any one who has
tried this method will attest its prac
tical worth.
For the larger evil, I must quote
from a higher authority on such mat
ters than I profess to be, but I have
gsome knowledge or the value and
availability of the method recommend
ed". It is both practical and inex
pensive, but requires some little reg
ular effort on the part of each mem
ber of the family. Leaving out all
other considerations, the proposed re
form should secure the best efforts of
all sensible men and women, for the
single reason that it will secure relief
from an evil, the tolerance of which
would almost justify Darwin's theory
of our origin.
"While the disinfecting power of the
poll has been known certainly since
the time of Moses, and wo know not
how much earlier, the superiority of
dry earth for this purpose seems not
to be generally known in our day, or,
at least, not much practical use has
CHANGE
Quit Coffee and Got Well.
'A woman's coffee experience is in
teresting. "For two weeks at a time
I have taken no food but skim milk,
for -solid food would ferment and
cause such a pressure of gas and such
distress that I could hardly breatho
ot times, also excrutiating pain and
heart palpitation and all the time I
was so nervoufc ind restless.
"From childhood up I had been a
coffee and tea drinker and for the
3ast 20 years I have been trying dif
ferent physicians, but could get only
temporary relief. Then I read an ar
ticle telling how some one had been
cured by leaving off coffee and drink
ing Postum and it seemed so pleasant
gust to read about good health I de
cided to try Postum in place of coffee.
"I made the change from coffee to
Fostum and such a change there is in
me that I don't feel like the same
person. We all found Postum delic
ious and like it better than coffee.
My health now is wonderfully good.
"As goon as I made the shift from
coffee to Postum I got better and now
all of my troubles are gone. I am
fleshy, my food assimilates, the pres
cure in the chest and palpitation are
all gone, my bowels are regular, have
o more stomach trouble and my
headaches are gone. Remember I did
cot use medicines at all just left off
coffee and drank Postum steadily."
Name given by Postum Co., Battle
Creek, Mich.
Send to the Co. for particulars by
mail of extension of time on the $7,
bOO.OO cooks contest for 735 money
ttizes,
been made of the knowledge In the
form of the earth-closet. Of this, be
sides the stationary closet for use
outside of the houso, or which may be
set up in any unused room or shed,
thero may be a portable form adapted
for use in any bedroom. With closo
attention and a rogular and liberal
use of the dry earth, evory partlclo of
odor may bo prevented. For those
who do not care to go to the expense
of mechanical contrivance, it will bo
all sufficient to have a box of dry,
sifted earth, with a tin scoop with
which to throw down tlio requlsito
quantity of dust after each use. The
earth for use must bo dust-dry, sifted
of its coarser particles and rubbish.
It can be gathered from the roadside,
or plowed ground, and stored in boxes,
barrels, or sheds, taken up during the
hot dry months. Placed under shel
ter, it will remain sufficiently dry
throughout the year. Tho soil may
be sifted, a boxful at a time, as neod
ed, and the earth-closot, intelligently
managed, furnishes a means of dis
posing of offensive excrement without
nuisance, and, apparently, without
detriment to health. Ashea of an
thracite coal are believed to be as good
an absorbent material as earth, and
even soft coal ashes, mixed with an
equal part of earth, may bo used, thus
giving a value to what is now consid
ered a nuisance.
Earth-CIesct Per The Farsa
For this, a houso of any desired size
or pattern may be built, with seat ar
ranged as for an ordinary closet. Be
neath the seat, instead of a vault,
there should be a box, mounted on a
flat truck, with four small wheels, to
which a handle may be hooked by
which it may bo drawn away when
necessary to be emptied. A door
should be made in tho back of the
closet beneath tho seat largo enough
to receive the truck and tho box; this
door should be hung upon hinges at
the top, so it may open upward and be
secured with a hook and staple whilo
open, and by another at tho bottom
when shut. A box of dry, sifted earth
or coal ashes is to bo kept in tho
closet, and a tin scoop, holding about
two quarts (which may be made by
shaping an old tin pail or fruit can
with tinner's shears), provided by
which to handle the soil. A few inches
of dry earth are placed in the bottom
of tho box or receptacle under the
seat, and each time the closet is used
a scoopful from tho dust-box is thrown
over the deposit, completely covering
it When the box is filled it should be
removed, and emptied where it may
be kept quite dry, until used for fer
tilizing purposes. rihe absorbent muse
not be applied fresh to the land. It
should bo first rown Into a bin, or
boxes or barrels, in which it will re
tain moisture long enough for perfect
fermentation. The absence of fetor,
even with prolonged keeping, shows
that the process which goes on in the
mixture is some kind of combination
between the earth and the organic
matter, a sort of disintegration, rather
than of decomposition in the ordinary
sense, as everything, even paper,
becomes incorporated with the soil.
The deposits, when taken from the
closet, should bo thrown into a com
pact heap under shelter, and, if nec
essary, moistened a little, and left to
ferment After a sufficient time, the
heap should be shoveled over, and
left to undergo a second fermentation.
When ready for use, the earth will be
nearly indistinguishable from soil
newly gathered from the field, will be
perfectly clean, free from smell, and
may be kept, carried about and ap
plied whenever and wherever wanted.
The plan is well worth a trial.
The Geed OM Daya
Agriculture, as wo know it, can,
gcarcely be considered to have existed
in tho eighteenth contury in America.
The plow was Httlo used; tho hoe
was the implement of industry; made
at tho plantation smithy, tho blade
was ill-forniod and clumsy, nnd tho
handlo was a sapling with the bark
left on. After a succession of crops
had oxhaustod tho soil tho cows were
sometimes penned upon it. Tho use
and value of manures was llttlo re
garded, and tho barn was sometimes
removed to get It out of tho way of
1'eaps of manure, becauso tho owner
would not go to the expense of remov
ing these accumulations and putting
them on his field.
In Virginia, tho "poor whites," who
had formerly been Indentured ser
vants, were the most lazy, the most
idle, tho most shiftless and worthleps
of men; their habitations were mcro
huts, tho chimneys wero ot logs, as
wore tholr huts, the openings between
tho logs being chinked with clay. The
walls had no plaster, tho windows had
no glass If, indeed, thero wero even
openings dignified by that name and
their furniture was such as they made
themselves. Their grain was thrashed
by driving horses over it in tho open
held; when thoy ground it, they used
a mde pestlo and mortar, or placed It
in tho hollow of one stone and beat
it with another.
Tho Massachusetts farmer who wit
nessed tho rovolutlon plowed his
ground with a wooden plow, sowed his
grain broadcast by hand, and, when
lipe, cut it with tho scytho and
thrashed it on tho barn floor with a
flail. His house was not painted, and
his floor was not carpeted. Light was
furnished by candles of homo manu
facture; cavernous fire-places supplied
the heat, and the smoke, also; tbe
family wore homespun, and, if linen
were wanted, the flax must bo sown,
weeded, pulled, and rotted, broken and
swingled, for all of which processes
nearly a year was required before the
flax was ready for spinning, bleaching
on tho grass and making for wearing.
If woolens wero wanted, sheep wero
sheared, tho wool washed, dyed, spun
and woven, and tho garment made at
homo by hand. These conditions con
tinued after tho republic had been es
tablished, and wero not measurably
ameliorated until the nineteenth cen
tury was well advanced. In many
parts of tho country at tho present
time similar conditions provaiL
The Plebian Potato,
Frank H. Mason, tho American con
sul general at Berlin, has mado a full
and Interesting report to the state de
partment upon "Tho Potato as a
Source of Wealth in Germany." He
shows tho immense increaso in the
growing of this vegetable within tho
last few years and its various uses as
human food, feed for domestic animals
and its alcoholic and starch produc
ing qualities. In 1901 something over
12 per cent of the arable land of the
German empire was planted in pota
toes, and tho crop was valued at ?95,
000.000. Tho potato has had an eventful his
tory since it was discovered by the
Spaniards in tho beginning of tho
sixteenth century and carried by them
from Peru, to Spain.
Like its cousin, the tomato, it was
at first regarded with great suspicion
and was cultivated as a curiosity and
not as an article of food. Sir John
Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake and Sir
Walter Raleigh all carried It to Eng
land, and It was the latter who first
planted it on his Minister estates in
Ireland, where it soon took root and
flourished. There it soon became the
principal article of food for the peas
antry, so easily was it cultivated and
so abundant was its production. From
Ireland it was carried to other parts
of Europe and. early acqulrod tho
name of tho "Irish potato," by which
It is still known, oven In this coun
try, from which It was first taken.
It was Franco that first taught tho
world how to cook tho potato in more
than one way, and it was Frederick
tho Great who introduced it into Prus
sia, whero it has flourished, as Mr.
Mason's roport shows, only a llttlo
less than in Ireland.
As a food tho potato has long
ranked next to wheat as a necessity of
tho table, though It contains but a
sixth of wheat's nutritivo dualities.
But It lias also had Its period of ban-
lsnmcnt In Franco It was long sup
posed to bo the cause of loprosy and
fevers, and it was forbidden to thon
tulferlng from gout, rheumatism and
uiaoetcs. Lately, however, Professor
Moses of Toulouse has come out
strongly in favor of tho potato as an
article or diet. lie declares that it is
not only harmless, but that It Is benefi
cial in kidney diseases on account of
tho water and organic salts contained
in it, forming an alkali which nour
ishes tho person whilo curing the dis
ease. The valuo of tho potato, however,
consists not alono in Its food quali
ties. From it starch, dextrine, suirar
and alcohol are derived in commercial
quantities, particularly starch and al
cohol. Its Importance as a crop for
farmers, therefore, can hardly be over
estimated. Chicago Journal.
The Wiltbank Claim,
It is possible that tho heirs of John
Wiltbank can prove that tho right to
take possession of tho cracked Lib
erty Bell accrued to their ancestors In
1828. The bell wbb cracked, accord
ing to Bradshaw's history of it, In
1824, whilo being rung violently on
the occasion of Lafayette's visit to
this city in that year. It was not
wholly disabled until some months
later, and John Wiltbank was given
the contract of furnishing a new bell.
His bill for casting and putting in
place tho new bell was $1,400, but
councils mado him throw off ?400 in
allowance for the material of tho old
bell, which thereby became his had he
chosen to take possession of it
But It looks as though John Wilt
bank and his descendants have slept
on their rights. Mr. Wiltbank being
more appreciative than councils of
the bell's history and its future valuo
as a relic, refused to destroy it He
left it in the city's possession and for
a long tlmo it was stowed away as
though it was mere junk. Later its
value was recognized and it was
placed in a position far more suitable
for such a relic, and it has been held
in honor ever since.
The Wiltbank claim is, therefore,
stale. Whatever validity it ever had
is certainly outlawed by this time, the
city of Philadelphia having been in
the peaceable and quiet enjoyment of
the cracked bell for three-quarters of
a century without any adverse claim
or ownership having been mado by
John Wiltbank or his heirs. The mo
tive with which tho present suit is
brought, namely, to prevent tho bell
from being harmed by accompanying
junketing councilmen to expositions
once too often, is a most laudable one.
But Philadelphia is jealous of its
rights in the Liberty Bell and will re
sist this rather too ancient claim, re
gardless of the pious motives which
inspire It Philadelphia Press.
AM OLD AND WELL TIUED BE3UCDY.
VXJ. WlKHLOWS SOOTHINO STRUT for CBlldrea
teettilBg atioaia alwayi be tued for c&U4rea while
SeetBlB. It toltm the giuu, allays all paia, care
wlsd eeUe asd 1 tts best remedy for eUrrscea
TweatjT'ave ceatt a lotU. it la Um Daft.
wH
