CISTERNS. 41 



In looking at the profits of farming in Massachusetts, be it remembered that 

 those men have to deal with a rugged, hard, gravelly and stony soil, requiring 

 for the plowman iron muscles for the slow and steady motion of the plow drawn 

 by a span of oxen that seem to laugh as they walk away with 4,000 pounds in 

 a loaded cart. 



What we most desire is to see farmers come together as such, without respect 

 to party, to consult about and to investigate their condition, and to see how it is 

 that while the whole proceeds of the public lands, given by the old States for 

 the common use and benefit of all the States of the American Union, are pledged 

 for the payment of the interest on a war debt, and while the landed interest pays 

 so many millions every year to the support of armies and navies, and army and 

 navy schools, not one dollar — no, not one dollar— is given for instruction in Ag- 

 riculture or any industrial pursuit ! If money can be found to build and equip 

 observatories and naval and military schools ; if $80,000 can be found to print 

 one Patent-Office Report, can nothing be had to found Agricultural Schools ? Bat 

 men who would have justice done themselves must show that they know hoio 

 to keep the account ! J. S. S. 



CISTERNS: 



HOW BUILT— THEIR COST, AND APPLICABILITY TO THE WANTS OF THE COUNTRY. 



We the more earnestly desire to procure and disseminate all practical information on tliis 

 subject, because we see so many people neglecting the means at hand eveiywhere for col- 

 lecting an ample supply of pure water for all uses, which they might do from the roofs of 

 their houses, by means of a simple cistern easily built after the fashion described m the fol- 

 lowing obliging communication from Mr. Buck. How many families in the country ai'e 

 scantily supplied with water for domestic uses, and that procured with gi-eat expense of 

 labor. Moreover, no tongue can tell how much the domestic animals sometimes suffer for 

 want of tliis first necessary of life ! 

 J. S. Skin-neb, Esq. Hartford, Ct, April 1, 1847. 



Dear Sir : Your favor asking information respecting the cistern you saw build- 

 ing at my place last summer, was duly received. 



Failing to obtain from the builder that definite information I could wish, I 

 will tell you all I know about this kind of cistern. Like everything else of 

 Yankee invention, it is " patented ;" the entry at the Patent-Oflice is, I under- 

 stand, made by Obadiah Parker, of Syracuse, N. Y. 



The cistern is built of cement, without brick or stone, say one-third cement, 

 two-thirds coarse gravel mixed together like common mortar — the hole in the 

 ground being dug large enough to admit of a wooden frame, made in pieces of 

 two feet high by tiirce feet long, the pieces being fastened to each other by 

 hooks and staples ; the frame is set off from the sides, say 21 to 3 inches, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil, commencing with one row of pieces ; the composi- 

 tion (cement and gravel) is then turned in slowly, another set of pieces then 

 hooken on, adding composition as before. As the composition hardens, the 

 frames are removed, and it is finished inside with a trowel like t])e wall of a 

 house. The top is arched, leaving a hole at top, say 24 inches square, to admit 

 a person fur the purpose of clearing it when necessary. The bottom is flat, and 

 is made after the sides and top are finished. 



For pipes for carrying the water in, and waste pipe, use a round stick, say 3 

 to 5 inches circumference, and form the composition around the stick, withdraw- 

 ing the stick as the pipe is formed. 



The cover to the liole on top of the cistern is generally of wood, in which you in- 

 sert either wooden pump or lead pipe, though a lead pipe can be easily inserted 



(89) 



