Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1873 — Draining Quicksands. [ARTICLE]

Draining Quicksands.

The subject of draining quicksands has recently been discussed in the columns of -the New York Tribune. The directions generally given by the correspondents of that paper have-related to the manner of making a sound, artificial bottom on which to lay the draining tiles. Our own experience in the matter has been considerable, and we have never found this necessary. These sands are quick only because they are wet, and if the "water can be withdrawn from them they will form the best floor that it is possible to secure in such land. For laying tiles, the only thing necessary is to deepen the drain very slowly. As soon as the depth of the water is reached, let the drain be opened for that depth its whole length; then, commencing at the lower end, deepen by a single scoopful at a time, in this way drawing off the water slowly, and without at any point going so deep as to have a pressure of water from tile soil at the side. Opened in thi§ way, little by little, there will be no difficulty in securing a good foundation, and in laying a drain m the most slippery quicksands.— American Agriculturist. Jdst Taken his Bitters, —We heard a seedy-looking individual with an alarmingly red nose remark to a brother soaker that he had “just had liis bitters, but lie did not mind taking another nip.’’ His remark suggested a train of reflection. How was it,-we asked ourselves, that the word “bitters” had grown to be a synonym for gin, whisky, rum, and other alcoholic stimulants, to which it was applied indiscriminately. Bitters, we reasoned, suggested the idea of a healthful tonic, not of a poisonous stimulant; something invigorating to the system, not an alcoholic irritant, full of fusel oil, producing present intoxication and ultimate insanity, idiocy, or premature death. Moreover, our" idea of bitters was totally irreconcilable with “gin cocktails,” “rum punches,” and “ brandy smashes,” which, we are informed, are sweetened with gugayaud rendered doubly injurious with essences colored by means of mineral poison. This was bitter-sweet with a vengeance-. We mentioned tiffs problem to a friend. He solved it by exclaiming: “Why, don’t you know that moist of these bitters advertised as remedies are only drams in disguise? Topers know it, if you do not. I most make one exception, however,” he added, “and that’s Dr. Walker’s California Vinegar Bitters; there isn’t a particle of alcohol or fermented liquor in it, and it is the best vegetable tonic and Alterative in America,”