THE GENESEE FARMER. 



241 



laud-picking are now pretty clear ; but I am quite 

 sure it would have been done cheaper and better 

 by the birds had they been left alone. I cannot 

 ;hink I am sending you much information, but one 

 iact is better than many theories. — An Ignoramus, 

 near Liverpool. 



[ We give this communication the most prom- 

 jaent position in our pages, because it relates to a 

 mbject of far more importance than it is usually 

 believed to possess. The warfare carried on against 

 small birds is a proceeding founded on the most 

 self-injuring ignorance that at present overshadows 

 3ur farmers and gardeners. A similar warfare has 

 been carried on in France, and the same result has 

 occurred there which our correspondent records as 

 qow scourging the vicinity of Liverpool — namely, 

 i plague of caterpillars and grubs. So serious has 

 the plague become in France that the Government 

 has interfered and a strong arm is outstretched to 

 save the small birds from destruction. We almost 

 regret a similar power cannot be similarly exercised 

 on this side of the channel. We have warned our 

 readers again and again that these birds are far 

 more powerful benefactors than they are injurers 

 by being thieves of seeds and fruits. They can be 

 scared from these at a small expense, even if old 

 women are paid to act as scarers ; whereas, if the 

 birds are destroyed, no outlay, however large, can 

 rescue our crops from insect mauraders. The 

 destroyer of small birds is one of the most unmis- 

 takable illustrations of the old saying, "He is penny 

 wise and pound foolish." It is preventing a small 

 loss, and insuring the occurrence of a far greater. 

 Nor are the services of small birds restricted to the 

 destruction of insects, for they are great consumers 

 of the seeds of weeds. As an evidence how far in 

 advance of us in a knowledge of these facts are 

 our descendants on the other side of the globe, we 

 have a letter before us detailing the successful im- 

 portation into Australia of goldfinches, hedge-spar- 

 rows, and other small birds. They were bought in 

 this country, and sent by steamer to Sydney, for 

 the express purpose of consuming the thistle seeds. 

 We recorded some time since how a Scotchman had 

 sown some seeds of his national emblem in Austra- 

 lia, and that it was overwhelming the land. The 

 public authorities have paid large sums to children 

 for gathering the seed-heads of the thistles ; but 

 though this has brought in a vast tribute of heads, 

 yet the thistles are unconquered ; so the Australian 

 authorities have allied themselves, like wise men, 

 with the small birds. The head of the sparrow 

 sent to us by our correspondent is now upon our 

 table, with the green caterpillars and daddy-long- 



legs, parents of root-injuring grubs, in his mouth, 

 and we wish every farmer and every gardener 

 could see it, for it is a striking though silent rebuke 

 to them all.] — Journal of Horticulture, London. 



CHEAP CISTERNS. 



In all soils where a hole maybe dug, without the 

 earth caving in at the sides, cisterns may be cheaply 

 made in the following manner : 



A cistern required to be ten feet in diameter, 

 should have a hole, for the first eighteen inches of 

 its depth, twelve feet in diameter, and beyond this, 

 ten feet, thus leaving a curb of earth of one foot 

 surrounding the cistern. When the hole is excava- 

 ted, the bottom and sides should be coated with a 

 magma made of Rosendale Cement and water, of 

 about the thickness of cream ; this may be put on 

 with a whitewash brush ; the watery portions will 

 sink into the soil, leaving a coating of cement on 

 the surface ; to this we may apply, with a trowel, 

 to the thickness of one or two inches, a mortar 

 made of one part Rosendale cement, and two parts 

 of sand ; the sand should be cleaned free from lime 

 and well washed before its use. This mortar may be 

 of such consistency as to be readily applied and 

 smoothed with an ordinary ceiling trowel, and 

 should evenly cover the sides and bottom. When 

 a pump is intended to be introduced, one large flat 

 stone should be placed on the bottom, on which 

 the pump may rest. And if set, at eighteen inches 

 below, the surface should be covered with a tier of 

 brick, well laid in the same cement which forms 

 the cistern. On this may rest a frame or flooring, 

 or a brick arch may be sprung upon it. 



Rosendale cement is now sold in a finished state, 

 at $1.12 a bushel, and the expense of building a 

 a cistern in the way we have named is much less 

 than by any other method. When once set and 

 hard, its circular form defies the outward pressure 

 of the soil. We have known such cisterus to last 

 for a greater number of years than the best wooden 

 cistern. 



In soils which are so sandy as not to permit the 

 entire cistern to be dug at one time without a 

 shelter, build a cistern loosely of wood, place it on 

 the surface of the ground, without a bottom, and 

 with only a rim surrounding its lower edge, and 

 loaded with stone ; then dig out the soil from the 

 inside, passing it over the top, and permitting the 

 cistern to settle until at the proper depth ; then 

 pour in a grouting between this wooden cylinder 

 and the outer soil, of Rosendale Cement, mixed 

 very thin with water. This will fill up the inter- 

 stices, and will help to give strength to the cistern, 

 and if the soil should not lean against the cistern, 

 but permit the magma to settle with the soil, this 

 outer coating will form a perfect cement coating. 

 The bottom may then be cemented with one part 

 Rosendale Cement, mixed with two parts of sand 

 in the manner recommended above. — Working 

 Farmer. 



The Germantown Telegraph remarks : — Those 

 who desire a cheap cistern, we do not question that 

 the foregoing will suit them ; but we could never 

 see the value of dug-out cisterns compared to those 

 above ground. A dug cistern, however cheap it 

 may be, will require a pump, or some other contri- 



