“Household
Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis’s Cookbook”

“Take a new vinegar barrel or an oak tub that has never been used, either a full cask or half size. Stand it
on end raised on brick or stone from the ground. Insert a faucet near the bottom. Make a tight false
bottom 3 or 4 inches from the bottom of the cask. Perforate this with small gimlet holes, and cover it
with a piece of clean white canvas.
“Place on this false bottom a layer of clean pebbles 3 or 4 inches in thickness; next, a layer of clean
washed sand and gravel; then coarsely granulated charcoal about the size of small peas. Charcoal made
from hard maple is the best.
“AŬer putting in a half bushel or so, pound it down firmly. Then put in more until the tub is filled within 1
foot of the top. Add a 3-inch layer of pebbles; and throw over the top a piece of canvas as a strainer. This
canvas strainer can be removed and washed occasionally and the cask can be dumped out, pebbles
cleansed and charcoal renewed every spring and fall, or once a year may be suūicient.
“This filter may be set in the cellar and used only for drinking water. Or it may be used in time of drought
for filtering stagnant water, which would otherwise be unpalatable, for the use of stock. This also makes
a good cider filter for the purpose of making vinegar. The cider should first be passed through cheese
cloth to remove all coarser particles.
“Or a small cheap filter may be made from a flower pot. A fine sponge may be inserted in the hole and
the pot filled about as directed for the above filter. It may be placed in the top of a jar, which will receive
the filtered water.