Book III. 



IMPROVEMENT OF WASTES. 



741 



inches from the side next the tank {fig. 701.) a slate partition 

 from the top to within about six inches from the bottom, should 

 be fixed ; at the bottom of the box should be put clean coarse 

 sand or pounded charcoal, about a foot in thickness. The pipe or 

 opening from the filter to the reservoir should be of ample dimen- 

 sions, and be made at about eighteen or twenty inches from the 

 bottom, in the small division or space behind the slate (6). Above 

 this opening, and in any part most convenient [w), in the large 

 division of the filter, should be an opening or drain to carry off the 

 water when the tank is full. This filter should also have a cover, 

 that it may be cleaned out, and fresh sand or other purifiers put in 

 as often as may be found requisite. Of course the water as it comes 

 from the roof is to be first conveyed into the large division of the 

 filtering chamber, on the opposite side to the slate partition (c), 

 and passing through the sand it rises in the small division purified, 

 when it is fit to pass into the tank. If there are two or more of 

 these filtering chambers, or if they are of greater depth, the water may be passed through the greater 

 quantity of sand, &c. in them, and be still more purified. Both the tanks and the filters should be water, 

 tight : if constructed of brick, the inner course may be built with Roman cement, and afterwards the 

 whole of the inside covered with a coat of about three quarters of an inch thick. Water, from drains 

 formed in the ground for the purpose of collecting it for domestic purposes, may be purified, by passing it 

 through a sand filter previously to its entering the tank or reservoir. Sponge and flannel may also l;e 

 used as filters. In constructing tanks of the above description, care must be taken to have the earth 

 to have the earth closely filled around the brick- work, and to allow sufficient time for the work to get 

 properly settled, previously to admitting any great weight of water." {Jgricultural Buildings, p. 15.) 



4508. Filtering water on a large scale may be effected by emptying one pond into another on a lower 

 level, through a conduit of any kind filled with gravel, sand, and charcoal. 



4509. A filtering apparatus /or salt water has been invented, but we are unable to say how far it has 



succeeded : it, at any rate, will succeed well with fresh water, 

 and, we have no doubt, to a certain extent also with that 

 of the sea. Fig. 702. a a is a cylindrical vessel of wood, or any 

 other suitable material, which is lined on the inside with 

 cement as far as the tilterer extends ; b is the bottom of the 

 filterer, formed with a grating, which is supported by the 



rame of a stool ; c is a pipe extending from the under 

 part of a cask (rf), containing the salt water, and which pipe 

 opens to the lower part of the vessel a a below the filterer. 

 Over the grating (6) there are placed several thicknesses of 

 woven horse-hair, or a quantity of wool, and above this the 

 vessel is filled with sand. On the top of the sand there is a 

 plate {e) like a piston pressing upon the sand and keeping it 

 compact, the plate being held down by a screw (/). 'I'he 

 salt water thus delivered from the cask (d) by the pipe (c), 

 fills the lower part of the vessel (), and by the superincum. 

 bent pressure of the column descending from the cask, the 

 water is forced upwards through the mass of sand, and runs 

 off at the cock {g) in a purified state. There are man holes 

 (A, h) for the purpose of getting access to the interior when 

 it is required to remove the sand or other matters, and the 

 internal surface of the filterer is rendered rough in order to 

 prevent the water from sliding up the sides of the vessel, 

 instead of passing through the sand. {Newton's Journal, 

 vol. i. 2d series, p. 158.) 



4510. The distillation of palatable water at sea has been 

 effected by P. Nicole, of Dieppe, by simply causing the steam 

 arising from boiling sea water in a still to pass through a 

 stratum of coarsely powdered charcoal, in its way to the con- 

 denser, or worm-tub. {Mechanics' Magazine, vol. iv. p. 280.) 



4511. Water cisterns, formed of blue slate, or Yorkshire 

 paving-stones, are much better than those made of wood, and lined with lead. {fVaisteU's Agricultural 

 Buildings, p. 15.) 



Chap. IV. 



Improvement of Lands lying Waste, so as to Jit them for Farm- Culture, 



4512. Of waste lands, many descriptions are best improved by planting, and therefore 

 are to be considered as disposed of in that way in the laying out or arrangement of an 

 estate ; but there are others which may be more profitably occupied as farm-lands, and it 

 is the preparing or bringing of these into a state of culture, which is the business of the 

 present chapter. Such lands may be classed as mountainous or hilly grounds, rocky or 

 stony surfaces, moors, bogs, or peat-mosses, marshes, woody wastes or wealds, warrens 

 or downs, and sea-shores or beaches. In the improvement of these, many of the oper- 

 ations are such as are performed by temporary occupiers or farmers ; but, as in this case 

 such occupiers have always extraordinary encouragement from the landlords, either in 

 the shape of a low rent, of money advanced, of long leases, or of all of these ; we consider 

 it preferable to treat of them as permanent, or fundamental improvements, than to con- 

 sider them as parts of fann-culture. The delusive prospects of profit, from the improve- 

 ment of wastes, held out by speculative men, have an unhappy tendency to produce dis- 

 appointment in rash and sanguine adventurers, and ultimately to discourage such attempts 

 as, with judicious attention to economy, would, in all probability, be attended with great 

 success. Those who are conversant with the publications that have lately appeared on 

 this subject must be aware with what caution the alleged results of most of these writers 



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