The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-23
PRACTICAL HINTS
FOR SANITATION
How TO Put the Waste.Plpes 10 Good
Order.
RECIPE FOR THAT OLD SINK.
Other Little Gems of Advice That
May Save Lives and Reduce Doc
tors Bills If They Are Put to Use
by the Housewife in This Season of
General Renovation.
W York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
A powerful disinfectant like copperas
is needed in the spring to clean out the
plumbing and thoroughly purify it. In
almost every house that Is attached to
a system Of sewage there is an outside
drain that is certain to need disinfec-
tion early. For this purpose dissolve
a pound of copperas in six quarts of
boiling water, stirring II thoroughly.
Pour the solution down the drain, be-
ing careful not to spatter 1t, as 1t is a
powerful poison and will permanently
stain everything it touches. Should
any crystals of the copperas remain in
the bottom of the dish it was dissolved
in add more boiling water and dissolve
them. Do not attempt to dissolve the
copperas in any vessel of tin or other
metal. An old whitewash pail or some
wooden dish that will not be used for
any other purpose is the best thing to
mix it in. After dsinfecting the drain
clean it with a whisk, and keep 1t free
from dirt or any foreign substances
that may stop it up. The closets about
the house should be disinfected in the
same way as the drain.
A strong preparation of washing
poured down the drain pipes of the
sink at least once week If any amount
of greasy water passes through it. All
the lodges and inside of the sink should
be scrubbed with whisk kept for the
purpose. 1t is necessary to keep watch
of the floor in the vicinity of the sink,
where bits of food may fall, even if one
is not guilty of the supremely slovenly
Of ha on ri cra there
The garbage pail should be kept out
doors and should be emptied daily, and
washed out after it is emptied so that
there will be no chance for 1t to be-
come foul and odorous. The plan of
burning the garbage is often advo-
Gated, and where there is a small guam
tty this is possible. But in summer,
when melon rinds and fruit and vege-
table peelings accumulate, it is not pos
sble to destroy the mass in the kitchen
stove without serious injury to the
stove and an odor which will pervade
the whole house. A.,
DISPOSING OF REFUSE.
The best way to dispose of this refuse
in the country is to put it in pit each
day, covering it with little earth, and
adding a mixture of lime and washing
soda in equal parts. Properly buried
in this manner the mass becomes
rotted, and in six months or a year
will be the most valuable kind of fer
tilizer for a flower bed or vegetable
garden. Thus nothing is wasted, as it
is in burning. Old bones or refuse of
any kind can be thrown in this pit, and
if properly treated with soda and lime
will all become in time reduced to an
even mass Old Connecticut farmers
saved everything they could for such
compost heap as this, and it enabled
them to exc out a considerable crop
from land that was too often at the
start barren.
Where there are farm animals a
great deal of the waste of kitchen is
valuable food for them. 1t is the waste
that is of no other use that is used in
the compost heap. Such a heap should
be situated at a distance from the
house in some available spot. So valu-
able is this waste for a fertilizer that
small German gardeners in the vicin-
ity of great city gladly call for it,
| ostensibly for the pig" but in reality
for fertilizng their celery beds and
other more valuable vegetables. Flow
ers exhibit wonders of bloom created
by a dressing of this kind properly
mixed with the earth.