George Barr McCutcheon - "Jane Cable"

Rafael Sabatini - "The Lion's Skin"

Charles James Fox - "A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second"

Horace Walpole - "The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home




_Salt and Water_.--All animals except poultry require salt, and all,
free supplies of fresh water.

_Light_.--Stables, or places where any kind of animals are confined,
should have plenty of light. Windows are not more important in a house
than in a barn. The _sun_ should come in freely; and if it shines
directly upon the stock, all the better. When beeves and sheep are
fattening very rapidly, the exclusion of the light makes them more
quiet, and fatten faster; but their state is an unnatural and hardly a
healthy one.

_Exercise_ in the open air is important for breeding animals. It
is especially necessary for horses of all kinds. Cows need very little
and swine none, unless kept for breeding.

_Breeding_,--Always use thorough-bred males, and improvement is certain.

_Horses_.--The care which horses require varies with the circumstances
in which the owner is placed, and the uses to which they are put. In
general, if kept stabled, they should be fed with good upland hay,
almost as much as they will eat; and if absent from the stable, and at
work most of the day, they should have all they will eat of hay,
together with four to eight quarts of oats or an equal weight of other
grain or meal. Barley is good for horses, and so is dry corn. Corn-meal
put upon cut hay, wet and well-mixed, is good, steady feed, if not in
too large quantities. Four quarts a day may be fed unmixed with other
grain; but if the horse be hard worked and needs more, mix the meal with
wheat bran, or linseed oil-cake meal, or use corn and oats ground
together; carrots are especially wholesome. A quart of linseed oil-cake
meal, daily, is an excellent occasional addition to a horse's food, when
carrots can not be had. It gives a lustre to his coat, and brings the
new coat of hair out in the spring. A stabled horse needs daily
exercise, as much as to trot three miles. Where a horse is traveling, it
is well to give him six quarts of oats in the morning, four at noon, and
six at night.

Thorough grooming is indispensable to the health of horses. Especial
care should be taken of the legs and fetlocks, that no dirt remain to
cause that distressing disease, _grease_ or _scratches_, which results
from filthy fetlocks and standing in dirty stables. When a horse comes
in from work on muddy roads with dirty legs, they should be immediately
cleaned, the dirt brushed off, then rubbed with straw; then, if very
dirty, washed clean and rubbed dry with a piece of sacking. A horse
should never stand in a draught of cold air, if he can not turn and put
his back to it. If sweaty or warm from work, he should be blanketed, if
he is to stand a minute in the winter air. If put at once into the
stable, he should be stripped and rubbed down with straw actively for
five minutes or more, and then blanketed. The blanket must be removed in
an hour, and the horse given water and feed, if it is the usual time. It
will not hurt him to eat hay when hot, unless he be thoroughly
exhausted, when all food should be withheld for a while.

It is very comforting to a tired horse, when he is too hot to drink,
to sponge out his mouth with cool water. A horse should never drink
when very hot, nor be turned into a yard to "cool off," even in summer,
neither should he be turned out to pasture before he is quite cool.

_Cows_.--Gentle but firm treatment will make a cow easy to milk
and to handle in every way. If stabled or yarded, cows should have
access to water at all times, or have it frequently offered to them.
Clover hay is probably the best steady food for milk cows. Cornstalks
cut up, thoroughly soaked with water for half a day, and then sprinkled
with corn or oil-cake meal is perhaps unsurpassed as good winter food
for milk cows. The amount of meal may vary. With plenty of oil-meal,
there is little danger of feeding too much, as that is loosening to
the bowels and a safe nutritious article. Corn-meal alone, in large
quantities, is too heating. Roots should, if possible, form part of
the diet of a milch cow, especially before and soon after calving;
feed well before this period, yet not to make the cow very fat; but
it is better to err in that way than to have her "come in" thin. Take
the calf away from the mother as soon as it stands tip, and the
separation will worry neither dam nor young. This is always best,
unless the calf is to be kept with the cow. The calf will soon learn
to drink its food, if two fingers be held in its mouth. Let it have
all the first drawn milk for three days as soon as milked; after this,
skimmed milk warmed to blood heat. Soon a little fine scalded meal may
be mixed with the milk; and it will, at three to five weeks old, nibble
hay and grass. It is well also to keep a box containing some dry
wheat-bran and fine corn-meal mixed in the calf-pen, so that calves
may take as much as they like.

In milking, put the fingers around the teat close to the bag; then
firmly close the forefingers of each hand alternately, immediately
squeezing with the other fingers. The forefingers prevent the milk
flowing back into the bag, while the others press it out. Sit with the
left knee close to the right hind leg of the cow, the head pressed
against her flank, the left hand always ready to ward off a blow from
her feet, which the gentlest cow may give almost without knowing it,
if her tender teats be cut by long nails, or if a wart be hurt, or her
bag be tender. She must be stripped dry every time she is milked, or
she will dry up; and if she gives much milk, it pays to milk three
times a day, as nearly eight hours apart as possible. Never stop while
milking till done, as this will cause the cow to stop giving milk.

To tether a cow, tie her by one hind leg, making the rope fast above
the fetlock joint, and protecting the limb with a piece of an old
bootleg or similar thing. The knot must be one that will not slip;
regular fetters of iron bound with leather are much better.

A cow should go unmilked two months before calving, and her milk should
not be used by the family till four days after that time.

_Swine_.--The filthy state of hog-pens is allowed on account of
the amount of manure they will make by working over all sorts of
vegetable matter, spoiled hay, weeds, etc., etc. This is unhealthy for
the family near and also for the animal. The hog is, naturally, a
cleanly animal, and if given a chance he will keep himself very neat
and clean. Breeding sows should have the range of a small pasture, and
be regularly fed. They need fresh water constantly, and often suffer
for lack of it when they have liquid swill, which they do not like to
drink. All hogs should have a warm, dry, well-littered pen to lie in,
away from flies and disturbance of any kind. They are fond of charcoal,
and it is worth while frequently to throw a few handfuls where they
can get at it. It has a very beneficial effect on the appetite,
regulates the tone of the stomach and digestive organs, and can not
do any harm. Pigs ought always to be well fed and kept growing fast;
and when being fattened, they should be penned always, the herd being
sorted so that all may have an equal chance. It is well to feed soft
corn in the ear; but hard corn should always be ground and cooked for
pigs.

_Sheep_.--In the winter, sheep need deep, well-littered, dry
sheds, dry yards, and hay, wheat, or oat straw, as much as they will
eat. They should be kept gaining by grain regularly fed to them, and
so distributed that each gets its share. Corn, either whole or ground,
or oil-cake meal, or both, are used for fattening sheep. They will
easily surfeit themselves on any grain except oil-meal, which is very
safe feed for them, and usually economical. Strong sheep will often
drive the weaker ones away, and so get more than their share of food
and make themselves sick. This must be guarded against, and the flock
sorted, keeping the weaker and stronger apart.

Sheep are very useful in clearing land of brush and certain weeds,
which they gnaw down, and kill. To accomplish this, the land must be
overstocked, and it is best not to keep sheep on short pasturage more
than a few weeks at a time; but if they are returned after a few days,
it will serve as good a purpose as if they were to be kept on all the
time. Sheep at pasture must be restrained by good fences, or they will
be a great nuisance. Dog-proof hedge fences of Osage orange are to
be highly recommended, wherever this plant will grow. Mutton sheep
will generally pay better to raise than merinos, but they need more
care.

_Poultry_.--Few objects of labor are more remunerative than poultry,
raised on a moderate scale. _Turkeys_, when young, need great care; some
animal food, dry, warm quarters, and must be kept out of the wet grass,
and kept in when it rains. As soon as fledged, they become very hardy,
and, with free range, will almost take care of themselves. _Geese_ need
water and good grass pasture. _Ducks_ do very well without water to swim
in, if they have all they need to drink. They will lay a great many eggs
if kept shut in a pen until say eight o'clock in the morning. If let out
earlier, they wander away, and will hide their nests, and lay only about
as many eggs as they can cover. It is best to set duck's eggs under
hens, and to keep young ducks shut up in a dry roomy pen for four weeks,
at least. _Fowls_ need light, warm, dry quarters in winter, plenty of
feed, but not too much. They relish animal food, and ought to have some
frequently to make them lay. Pork or beef scrap-cake can be bought for
two to three cents a pound, and is very good for them. Any kind of grain
is good for poultry. Nothing is better than wheat screenings. Early
hatched chickens must be kept in a warm, dry, sunny room, with plenty of
gravel, and the hen should have no more than eight or nine chickens to
brood; though in summer, one hen will take good care of fifteen. Little,
chickens, turkeys, and ducks need frequent feeding, and must have their
water changed often. It is well to grease the body of the hen and the
heads of the chicks with lard, in order to prevent their becoming
lousy.

Hens set about twenty days, and should be well fed and watered. Cold
or damp weather is bad for young fowls, and when they have been chilled,
pepper-corns are a good remedy, in addition to the warmth of an
inclosed dry place.

The most absorbing part of the "Woman's question" of the present time
is the remedy for the varied sufferings of women who are widows or
unmarried, and without means of support. As yet, few are aware how
many sources of lucrative enterprise and industry lie open to woman
in the employments directly connected with the family state. A woman
can invest capital in the dairy and qualify herself to superintend a
dairy farm as well as a man. And if she has no capital of her own, if
well trained for this business, she can find those who have capital
ready to furnish--an investment that well managed will become
profitable. And, too, the raising of poultry, of dogs, and of sheep
are all within the reach of a woman with proper abilities and training
for this business. So that if a woman chooses, she can find employment
both interesting and profitable in studying the care of domestic
animals.

_Bees_.--But one of the most profitable as well as interesting
kinds of business for a woman is the care of bees. In a recent
agricultural report, it is stated that one lady bought four hives for
ten dollars, and in five years she was offered one thousand five hundred
dollars for her stock, and refused it as not enough. In addition to
this increase of her capital, in one of these five years she sold
twenty-two hives and four hundred and twenty pounds of honey. It is
also stated that in five years one man, from six colonies of bees to
start with, cleared eight thousand pounds of honey and one hundred and
fifty-four colonies of bees.

The raising of bees and their management is so curious and as yet
unknown an art in most parts of our country, that any directions or
advice will be omitted in this volume, as requiring too much space,
and largely set forth and illustrated in the second part. When properly
instructed, almost any woman in the city, as easily as in the country,
can manage bees, and make more profit than in any other method demanding
so little time and labor. But in the modes ordinarily practiced, few
can make any great profit in this employment.

It is hoped a time is at hand when every woman will be trained to some
employment by which she can secure to herself an independent home and
means to support a family, in case she does not marry, or is left a
widow, with herself and a family to support.




XXXV.

EARTH-CLOSETS.


In some particulars, the Chinese are in advance of our own nation in
neatness, economy, and healthful domestic arrangements. In China, nota
particle of manure is wasted, and all that with us is sent off in
drains and sewers from water-closets and privies, is collected in a
neat manner and used for manure. This is one reason that the compact
and close packing of inhabitants in their cities is practicable, and
it also accounts for the enormous yields of some of their crops.

The earth-closet is an invention which relieves the most disagreeable
item in domestic labor, and prevents the disagreeable and unhealthful
effluvium which is almost inevitable in all family residences, The
general principle of construction is somewhat like that of a
water-closet, except that in place of water is used dried earth. The
resulting compost is without disagreeable odor, and is the richest
species of manure. The expense of its construction and use is no greater
than that of the common water-closet; indeed, when the outlays for
plumber's work, the almost inevitable troubles and disorders of
water-pipes in a house, and the constant stream of petty repairs
consequent upon careless construction or use of water-works are
considered, the earth-closet is in itself much cheaper, besides being
an accumulator of valuable matter.

To give a clear idea of its principles, mode of fabrication, and use,
we can not do better than to take advantage of the permission given
by Mr. George E. Waring, Jr., of Newport, R. I., author of an admirable
pamphlet on the subject, published in 1868 by "The Tribune Association"
of New-York. Mr. Waring was formerly Agricultural Engineer of the
New-York Central Park, and has given much attention to sanitary and
agricultural engineering, having published several valuable works
bearing in the same general direction. He is now consulting director
of "The Earth-Closet Company," Hartford, Ct., which manufactures the
apparatus and all things appertaining to it--any part which might be
needed to complete a home-built structure. But with generous and no
less judicious freedom, they are endeavoring to extend the knowledge
of this wholesome and economical process of domestic sanitary
engineering as widely as possible, and so allow us to present the
following instructions for those who may desire to construct their own
apparatus.

In the brief introduction to his pamphlet, Mr. Waring says:

"It is sufficiently understood, by all who have given the least thought
to the subject, that the waste of the most vital elements of the soil's
fertility, through our present practice of treating human excrement
as a thing that is to be hurried into the sea, or buried in underground
vaults, or in some other way put out of sight and out of reach, is
full of danger to our future prosperity.

"Our bodies have come out of our fertile fields; our prosperity is
based on the production and the exchange of the earth's fruits; and
all our industry has its foundation in arts and interests connected
with, or dependent on, a successful agriculture.

"Liebig asserts that the greatness of the Roman empire was sapped by
the _Cloaca Maxima_, through which the entire sewage of Rome was
washed into the Tiber. The yearly decrease of productive power in the
older grain regions of the West, and the increasing demand for manures
in the Atlantic States, sufficiently prove that our own country is no
exception to the rule that has established its sway over Europe.

"The large class who will fail to feel the force of the agricultural
reasons in favor of the reform which this pamphlet is written to uphold,
will realize, more clearly than farmers will, the importance of
protecting dwellings against the gravest annoyance, the most fertile
source of disease, and the most certain vehicle of contagion."

Nevertheless, Mr. Waring thinks that the agricultural argument is no
mean or unimportant one, and says:

"The importance of any plan by which the excrement of our bodies may
be returned to our fields is in a measure shown in the following extract
from an article that I furnished for the _American Agricultural Annual_
for 1868.

"The average population of New York City--including its temporary
visitors--is probably not less than 1,000,000. This population consumes
food equivalent to at least 30,000,000 bushels of corn in a year.
Excepting the small proportion that is stored up in the bodies of the
growing young, which is fully offset by that contained in the bodies
of the dead, the constituents of the food are returned to the air by
the lungs and skin, or are voided as excrement. That which goes to the
air was originally taken from the air by vegetation, and will be so
taken again: here is no waste. The excrement contains all that was
furnished by the mineral elements of the soil oil which the food was
produced. This all passes into the sewers, and is washed into the sea.
Its loss to the present generation is complete."

... "30,000,000 bushels of corn contain, among other minerals, nearly
7000 tons of phosphoric acid, and this amount is annually lost in the
wasted night-soil of New-York City. [Footnote: Other mineral
constituents of food--important ones, too--are washed away in even
greater quantities through the same channels; but this element is the
best for illustration, because its effect in manure is the most
striking, even so small a dressing as twenty pounds per acre, producing
a marked effect on all cereal crops. Ammonia, too, which is so important
that it is usual in England to estimate the value of manure in exact
proportion to its supply of this element, is largely yielded by human
excrement.]

"Practically the human excrement of the whole country is nearly all
so disposed of as to be lost to the soil. The present population of
the United States is not far from 35,000,000. On the basis of the above
calculation, their annual food contains 200,000 tons of phosphoric
acid, being the amount contained in about 900,000 tons of bones, which,
at the price of the best flour of bone, (for manure,) would be worth
over $50,000,000. It would be a moderate estimate to say that the other
constituents of food are of at least equal value with the other
constituents of the bone, and to assume $50,000,000 as the money value
of the wasted night-soil of the United States every year.

"In another view, the importance of this waste can not be estimated
in money. Money values apply, rather, to the products of labor and to
the exchange of these products. The waste of fertilizing matter reaches
farther than the destruction or exchange of products: it lessens the
ability to produce.

"If mill-streams were failing year by year, and steam were yearly
losing force, and the ability of men to labor were yearly growing less,
the doom of our prosperity would not be more plainly written, than if
this slow but certain impoverishment of our soil were sure to continue.

.... "But the good time is coming, when (as now in China and Japan)
men must accept the fact that the soil is not a warehouse to be
plundered--only a factory to be worked. Then they will save their raw
material, instead of wasting it, and, aided by nature's wonderful laws,
will weave over and over again the fabric by which we live and prosper.
Men will build up as fast as men destroy; old matters will be reproduced
in new forms, and, as the decaying forests feed the growing wood, so
will all consumed food yield food again."

With the above brief extract, we shall cease using marks of quotation,
as the following information and statements are appropriated bodily,
either directly or with mere modifications for brevity, from the little
pamphlet of Mr. Waring.

The earth-closet is the invention of the Rev. Henry Moule, of Fordington
Vicarage, Dorsetshire, England.

It is based on the power of clay, and the decomposed organic matter
found in the soil, to absorb and retain all offensive odors and all
fertilizing matters; and it consists, essentially, of a mechanical
contrivance (attached to the ordinary seat) for measuring out and
discharging into the vault or pan below a sufficient quantity of sifted
dry earth to entirely cover the solid ordure and to absorb the urine.

The discharge of earth is effected by an ordinary pull-up similar to
that used in the water-closet, or (in the self-acting apparatus) by
the rising of the seat when the weight of the person is removed.

The vault or pan under the seat is so arranged that the accumulation
may be removed at pleasure.

From the moment when the earth is discharged, and the evacuation is
covered, all offensive exhalation entirely ceases. Under certain
circumstances, there may be, at times, a slight odor as of guano mixed
with earth; but this is so trifling and so local, that a commode
arranged on this plan may, without the least annoyance, be kept in use
in any room.

This statement is made as the result of personal experience. Mr. Waring
says:

"I have in constant use in a room in my house an earth-closet commode;
and even when the pan is entirely full, with the accumulation of a
week's use, visitors examining it invariably say, with some surprise,
'You don't mean that this particular one has been used!'"


HOW TO MAKE AN EARTH-CLOSET.

The principle on which the earth-closet is based is as free to all as
is the earth itself, and any person may adopt his own method of applying
it. All that is necessary is to have a supply of coarsely sifted
sun-dried earth with which to cover the bottom of the vessel to be
used, and after use to cover the deposit. A small box of earth, and
a tin scoop are sufficient to prevent the gravest annoyance of the
sickroom. But, of course, for constant use, it is desirable to have
a more convenient apparatus--something which requires less care, and
is less troublesome in many ways.

To this end, the patent invention of Mr. Moule is applicable. This
comprises a tight receptacle under the seat, a reservoir for storing
dry earth, and an apparatus to measure out the requisite quantity, and
throw it upon the deposit.

[Illustration: Fig. 67.]

The arrangement at the mechanism is shown in Fig. 67. A hopper-shaded
reservoir, made of galvanized iron, is supported by a framework at the
back of the seat, which rests on the framework _a_, _a_. Connected with
the handle at the right-hand side, there is an iron lever, which
operates a movable box at the bottom of the reservoir, and causes it to
discharge its contents directly under the seat. When the handle is
dropped, the box returns to its position, and is immediately filled
preparatory to another use.

The hopper-shaped reservoir is supported by two pivots, and has a
slight rocking or vibrating motion imparted to it by each lifting of
the lever. This prevents the earth from becoming clogged, and insures
its regular delivery.

[Illustration: Fig. 68 THE "PULL-UP" APPARATUS.]

The construction is more clearly shown in Fig. 68.

In this figure, A is the vibrating hopper for holding the earth. Its
capacity may be increased to any desired extent by building above it
a straight-sized box of any height. It is not unusual, in fixed privies,
to make this reservoir large enough to hold a supply for several months.
As the earth is dry, there is no occasion for the use of any thing
better than common pine boards in making this addition to the reservoir.

B is one side of the wooden, frame by which the hopper is supported
and it may be made of one inch pine or spruce.

C is a box of lacquered or galvanized iron, without either top or
bottom. It moves on two pivots, one of winch is shown on its exposed
side. In its present position, its upper end opens into the hopper,
and its lower end is dosed by the stationary board over which it stands.
When the handle is pulled up, the lever, which is connected with the
box, jerks it rapidly up, so that its back side closes the opening of
the reservoir, and its bottom opens to the front. In its movement it
discharges its contents of earth forward under the seat. When the
handle is dropped, the box returns to its natural position, and is
charged again.

D is one of the pivots--a corresponding one being on the other side--by
which the hopper is supported, and on which it vibrates.

_a_, _a_, _a_, _a_, _a_, _a_, are the parts of the framework, the
dimensions of which in feet and inches are given.