o8 



GLEANINGS JtN Ufil: CUlTURt:. 



JAN. 



of our reservoirs was to get as much room 

 for water as possible, at the same time using 

 as little stone as possible, we placed them 

 as figured in the cut, so as to make inter- 

 stices, or water-passages. C, C, represent the 

 stones ; A, the earth ; B, aboard put in tem- 

 porarily to keep the bank from caving into 

 the last-made pit. In practice we use two 

 such boards, 14 or 15 inches wide. The ends 

 are let into the bank so that they will keep 

 the dirt from caving in when the dirt is 

 thrown in on the front ; when they are no 

 longer needed they are pried out with a pick, 

 and moved along to the next excavation. F 

 is the solid earth before being dug. 



AK UNUKKGllOUND HKSEKVOIK, CO .N' ST K U CT E D POU 

 THE "NEW AGKICULTUHE." 



In accordance with friend Cole's instruc- 

 tions, I made my first two reservoirs, along 

 the highest part of our garden, between five 

 and six feet deep, and six feet in width. 

 The main reservoir is about 150 feet long ; 

 but as the ground is not (luite level, in order 

 to get the bottom to a water-level we dug 

 down six feet on the highest ground, and 

 about four feet on the lowest. To avoid 

 handling this great amount of earth more 

 than once, we proceeded as follows: We made 

 a wooden frame six feet wide and eight feet 

 long. This frame was laid on the ground at 

 the place of starting, and then with a spade 

 we cut all around it. The frame was then 

 moved away, and the earth dug out with 

 spade and sliovel and pick, and tluown on 

 three sides of the excavation. After it was 

 all dug out, stone were placed in, as shown 

 in the cut, to the depth of 2i feet. On top 

 of the stone we tluew tin scrap from our 

 tin-shops, broken glass and ci-ockery— any 

 sort of rubbish we wanted to dispose of, to 

 be found anywhere on the premises. Old 

 tinware was also used to take tlie place of 



the stone ; old stove-pipes Und sheet iron — 

 any thing that was lumbering up the prem- 

 ises, being sure to place it so the weight of 

 the earth above would never crush it down 

 into the water. After the tin scrap, etc., 

 we put on scraps of leather, old boots and 

 shoes; lastly, coarse manure for two or 

 three inches. Now, instead of throwing the 

 earth back into this pit from the sides, we 

 took the outline frame used before, and made 

 another excavation south of the first one, 

 the dirt being thrown from the first to the 

 north end and on the east and west sides. Per- 

 haps I should explain, that our ground has 

 ordinarily from six inches to a foot of vege- 

 table mold on top. I^nderneath this is a 

 subsoil of yellow clay. I was inclined to 

 think that this yellow clay should be carried 

 away ; but friend Cole says not. Now, let 

 A represent the bank of earth on the north 

 side. The one foot of vegetable mold, or 

 good dark-colored soil, was spaded out ; but 

 instead of throwing it out on the stone cov- 

 ering, we pitched it on A. When it was all 

 off so as to leave nothing but yellow earth 

 in the second pit, this yellow earth was 

 pitched on to the manure covering the 

 stones, throwing first a few inches of yellow 

 earth, and then a few inches of manure, so 

 that the contents of the pit above the stone 

 was manure and this yellow subsoil, about 

 half and half. Loads of manure had been 

 previously piled on each side of the path of 

 this reservoir. You will observe that the 

 trench was carried along in this manner, 

 putting the good soil on top of the banked 

 earth at A. 



Well, after this reservoir had been carried 

 about 75 feet southward, it passed close be- 

 side one of the outbuildings belonging to 

 the factory ; but the covered reservoir was 

 at such depth in the ground that the top of 

 the stones was still a little lower than the 

 bottom of the vault of this outbuilding ; so 

 you Avill see all that was needed was to make 

 an inclined plane luider the outbuilding so 

 as to permit the contents to be easily washed 

 by the water into the reservoir. When this 

 was done, the garden soil was nicely banked 

 all around this outbuilding, making it warm 

 enough so a zero freeze would not at all af- 

 fect the contents. ^Vho has not been an- 

 noyed during zero weather by a freezing-up 

 of the contents of these outbuildings'? Per- 

 haps I should here state, that during a very 

 severe shower of rain, or when the snows 

 melt in the winter, we have a flood of water 

 coming on the west side of our garden. I 

 have laid luiderdrains with large-sized tile 



