620 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



Success pondj in a condition vigorous enouorh (o 

 swim away. We were enabled to do this by till- 

 in/T a very large churn wiih the water of Rockon- 

 Ivoma pond, and putting so lew fishes into it that 

 there was no nrcopsity ofclmnL'inL'" it on liie ro ut. 

 and iilicrvvarils (invuiix sieiuiii\ on a wal!< ilie 

 whole dii^iance, without etop[jing to rofiee^h eiiiier 

 man or horse. In two years these fishes multi- 

 plied so last, and became so numerous, that they 

 might be caught, with the hooU in any part of the 

 water, which is about a mile in circuinlerence." 



CREDIBILITY OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 



From ihc Southern Cultivator. 

 It is in part the vocation ofan agricultural press, 

 to herald to a laboring and confiding class olhonest 

 citizens, ail the improvements in the great art with 

 which they are connected, as liist as they appear. 

 The motives of agricultural editors, therefore, in 

 commending to the patronage of their readers im- 

 proved animals, implements of agriculture,- &c., 

 which cost them money, ought, like Caesar's wife, 

 not only to be beyond reproach, but above suspi- 

 cion. — Hazardous indeed might it be to the lair 

 credit of their commendations, were they ever to 

 cause it to be conjectured, that their oi(j?i posses- 

 sion of such animals or implempnls, and an over- 

 weening anxiety to exchange them lor the " thir- 

 ty pieces of silver" in their neiiihbors' pockets 

 could cause them to bestow encomiums where 

 ihey are not merited. Hence, it is exceedingly 

 questionable to our mind, whether, in these de- 

 generate days of imaginary double-dealing and 

 real loss of confidence, it would not be belter lor 

 honest agricultural editors to keep nothing for sale 

 upon which it is often their province to pass hy- 

 perbolical panegyrics. 



For example, should any one of our honest co- 

 temporaries happen to assure his readers that the 

 only true Berkshire hogs are black, with white 

 feet, and a few white bans on the tip " of the tail" 

 — and should it subsequently appear to the eatis- 

 fdclion of his readers that the same honest editor 

 had previously provided himself with Berkshires 

 (so called) and thus "true in color," which he 

 expected to se/Zybr high prices, might it not by 

 possibility cause some lew shrewd old farmers to 

 euspect they saw " a cat in that meal ?" Or 

 should any one of our honest contemporaries, in 

 good faith, advise his readers that there are no 

 genuine Durhams which are red, or that have any 

 "black hairs" about their faces, and should it sub- 

 eequently be found that the said honest contempo- 

 rary had a herd of his own, no one of which would 

 be rejected under such advice, might it not cause 

 others again to suspect "a wheel witliin a wheel "?" 

 We iiave much of the " milk of human kind- 

 ness" within us, and " without money and with- 

 out price" we make a free ofiering of these hints, 

 for the general benefit of the "crali." For, upon 

 the broad shoulders of the craft, the "periodical 

 press of agriculture" is to be sustained ; upon the 

 periodical press, ihe facts, the science, and the real 

 improvements of the age are to be impressed ; 

 and upon \\^e dissemination of these, is the rapid 

 advancement of the great interests of agriculture 

 to depend for promotion. Now, when it is recol- 

 lected that all this fine superstructure rests upon 

 a DO less solid fouodation than the generous con- 



fidence of the farmer In the credibility of the 

 "craft," it is plain that Vvere this honest confidence 

 once rudely annihilated, the periodical prei=s must 

 eventunllv crnmhlc with ii, ami in its wreck, an 

 enii would at tnwe come to that healihlul dissemi- 

 iiaiion of lacis, practical and scientific, and to that 

 blessed transmission of substantial improvements 

 which causes the highways of agnculiure from the 

 old 10 the new world to "blossom like a rose." 

 Therefore, and we would impress it with respect- 

 ful lervor, it surely becomes every honest conduc- 

 tor of the agricultural press to place himself upon 

 the watch tower of a sober discretion, and wiih a 

 telescope of no lalse lens, look around and about 

 him, to see that not a shadow of a shade of doubt 

 rests upon his strong fortress of disinterested truth. 

 In plainer words, he should be vigilant at all times, 

 and in all manner of forms, \o refrain from all 

 speculation to the amount of the value of a pica- 

 yune in any of those choice or rare coods of agri- 

 cultural economy, which it is his vocation to com- 

 mend to the manifold uses and ends of the confid- 

 ing tiller of the soil. 



These things are said in due deference to the 

 opinions and practices ofothers — in a spirit ofgood 

 will to all, and of deep devotion to the true and 

 permanent interests of our country's agriculture. 



DOMESTIC CONVENIENCES — CISTERNS. 



From tlie New Genesee Farmer. 



Every farmer should give particular attention to 

 convenience of his household department. Female 

 labor maybe lessened to a surprising detrree by 

 studying this part of domestic economy. To con- 

 tribute our mite, we here briefly give an account 

 of the construction of a rain-water cistern of our 

 own. 



The pit for the cistern was dug so that the out- 

 side of the cellar wall Ibrmed a part of one side. 

 The wall was built of cobble stone in common 

 lime mortar, one foot in thickness. The bottom, 

 which was hard pan, was first covered with cobble 

 stones, of uniform size, laid in water lime mortar ; 

 a coat of the same mortar was laid upon this ; and 

 a second coat of smaller stones completed the bot- 

 tom. The whole inside then received two coats of 

 water-lime mortar. By applying these to the walls 

 before they had become dry, and then drying very 

 gradually, they were wholly free from cracks. 

 After remaining a ['ew weeks, protected by boards 

 Irom the sun, — the upper edge of the wall was 

 covered with a layer of water-lime nrortar; two 

 inch while oak planks covering the whole, (except 

 a small curb, for the entrance of water and clean- 

 ing the cistern,) was laid on I his mortar ; a coat of 

 water-lime mortar was then spread upon the 

 plank ; thick white oak slabs were laid again on 

 this coat of mortar; another coat of mortar upon 

 the slabs, and several inches of compact earth, 

 forming with the planks and slabs, a little more 

 than a lijoi. in thickness, completed the covering. 

 This issufficient to prevent the water from freezing 

 in the coldest weather, though the curb, (18 in. by 

 2 ft.) is left open, it also prevents all access of 

 surface water. 



The cistern adjoins the kitchen, and a lead pipe, 

 one inch in diameter, passes from near the bottom, 

 through the cellar wall, obliquely upwards, to the 



