144 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



cement ou the ground, without laying a wall of stone or brick on 

 the inside. Let the hole for the cistern be dug 4| or five feet 

 in diameter, round, or of an elliptical form, and make the sides 

 smooth with a mallet by pounding them. Excavate the bottom 

 so as to make it a little concave, say four or five inches lower at 

 the middle than at the outside. Cover the side and bottom with 

 hydraulic cement, half an inch thick ; and as soon as the mortar 

 is nearly dry apply another coat as thick as the first. The top 

 may be covered with plank, flat stones, or a brick arch, having a 

 manhole in the middle, or near one side. When a cistern is 

 plastered on the ground the cover should be put on before the 

 sides and bottom are plastered. If the earth is soft and there is 

 quicksand in some places, a course of brick or stone may be laid 

 up in cement and afterwards plastered as if it were a wall. Such 

 cisterns should be covered with at least 1^ feet of earth, to exclude 

 frost, as freezing the sides, where the cement is applied to the 

 ground, will usually cause the cistern to leak. Some persons fear 

 that a coat of mortar on the ground will not be durable. If the 

 cement be good such a cistern will last for a hundred years or 

 more. As soon as the mortar is dry the cistern Avill be as firm as 

 a stone jar set in the ground. After the cement has become hard 

 it will not render the water hard. Cisterns should be made iu 

 dry weather, when there is no water veins to encounter. When 

 a large cistern is covered with plank, posts may be placed in the 

 cistern to support the middle of the covering. If a cistern were 

 made beneath a barn, or in a large barn^^ard, to exclude liquid 

 manure, the planks that are used to cover it should be well cov- 

 ered with cement, and after it has dried a coat of pitch should 

 cover the cement. This will make it water-tight. 



Wooden Cisterns. 

 A mechanic who has sufficient skill to joint two boards so as to 

 make a tight joint, may make a w^ooden cistern for a few dollars, 

 which will last a life-time. Saw out the staves about six or seven 

 feet long and four inches wide. The staves can be made of stuff 

 1| inches wide, or 1| inches thick. Every stave should 

 be one-fourth of an inch narrower at the top than at the 

 bottom, so as to make the top of the cistern smaller than the bot- 

 tom. If much otherwise it would not be so convenient to hoop 

 it. Let all the stuff be well seasoned before it is used. Then 

 make the bottom of plank, dressing the edge true, and of a uniform 

 thickness. Dress out the staves by beveling the edges, so that the 



