NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JULY 10, 183a 



RAIN WATER CISTERNS. 



The importance of having- a supply of water in 

 the barn yard for cattle, has already been adverted 

 to in the Cabinet, and it is a subject which cannot 

 be too strongly impressed on the minds of farmers. 

 The quantity of manure lost by driving stock twice 

 a day to water, is much greater than is generally 

 supposed, for the droppings are most copiously de- 

 posited immediately after drinking. In many situa- 

 tions water is easily procured frou'. wells of moderate 

 depth and at little cost, compared with the benefit 

 derived ; and in all situations cisterns may be 

 built, and the water from roofs conveyed into them 

 at a very small expense, when contrasted with the 

 advantage resulting from them. In this climate, 

 the average fall of rain annually is about three 

 feet, which furnishes about twenty gal'ons of wa- 

 ter for each square foot of surface during the year, 

 and from these data it is easy to estimate the (Quan- 

 tity which may be collected fiom a building of any 

 given dimensions. A cistern will cost from 55 to 

 50 dollars, built after the best manner, and theibest 

 is always the cheapest in the end ; the interest on 

 this is from $1 50 to $3 a year, being a sun far 

 below the expense and trouble of taking the cat- 

 tle to water, without reference to the great lois of 

 manure. 



The following table shows about the number of 

 gallons of water contained in cisterns of the fol- 

 lowing diameters in the clear for each foot of their 

 depth, viz : 



Diameter. Gallons. 



5 feet ......... lao 



6 feet . 170 



7 feet 230 



8 feet 308 ■ 



9 feet 390 



10 feet 480 



By multiplying the number of gallons here stated 

 by the depth of the cistern in feet, the product 

 will be the number of gallons it will contain suffi- 

 ciently near for any practical purpose. 



The circular form is preferabb to any other for 

 a cistern, as it possesses greater strength with less 

 materials ; the principle of thf arch keeping the 

 parts combined together. Where they are con- 

 structed with brick, the width of a brick is suffi- 

 cient for the thickness of the wall ; where stone is 

 used, the wall must nccessarly be thicker, but the 

 main matter is to have the ffortar well made of the 

 best clean sand, and nat toe much lime, and great 

 care must be taken that all the interstices are well 

 filled in, so as not to admit the water to escape. A 

 coat of plastering well pu; on, of common mortar, 

 made in the best manner, with no more lime than 

 ia absolutely necessary tc coat the sand and cause 

 it td work evenly, has been found to be a complete 

 protection against leakage, but the whole should be 

 executed in a masterly manner by a careful, con- 

 scientious workman ; o'herwise, you will have a 

 broken cistern holding lo water. Those who are 

 disposed to incur a litle more expense, may pro- 

 cure Roman cement, orwater lime, such as is much 

 used in the construction of locks for artificial nav- 

 igation for plastering, tnd when used, it should not 

 be put on thick, but as evenly as possible; and in 

 the use of this article a second coat should never 

 be applied over the first ; all that is done should be 

 done at once ; it will not adhere well and would 

 Boon peal off, and endanger the stability of the 



Cisterns have been iu use from the earliest pe- 

 riod of which we have any liistorical account, and in 

 modern times many have been constructed, which 

 have been long in use, and which their owners 

 would not dispense with for ten limes their original 

 cost ; therelore let those who are destitute of other 

 means of furnishing water to their stock in their 

 barn yards, proceed at as early a period of time as 

 practicable, to construct a cistern in the best man- 

 ner, and in two years the saving of lime, trouble 

 and manure, will repay the cost with interest. 

 Therefore 



" Build for yourselves cisterns holding water." 



jParmer's Cabinet. 



PEAT MEADOWS. 



As planting is now over, some farmers will be- 

 gin to think of their peat swamps. We have tried 

 various modes to bring these into English grass, 

 and have never failed to do it when we persevered. 



On commencing our editorial course last Janua- 

 ry, we resolved not to attempt to lead our brother 

 farmers into any expensive process of farming 

 which might never yield an adequate return. 



We well know it is quite easy to recommend the 

 purchase of manures — the making of compost 

 heaps — the raising of grain to supply the whole 

 State, &c. &c. It is always much easier to show 

 us how to lay out ten dollars on a farm than to 

 show us how to get a rettirn of ten for an outlay 

 of five. 



As our search is after truth, we shall ev^r ad- 

 mit into our columns the opinions and the state- 

 ments of othfers who may think differently from us 

 — for these opinions thus admitted we are not ac- 

 countable, and we wish our patrons to take them 

 for just what they are worth. But there is another 

 class of opinions for which we feel ourselves res- 

 ponsible ; and we must beg our readers to distin- 

 guish our own recommendations from the theo- 

 ries of others which are admitted into our col- 

 umns. 



On thn subject of reclaiming peat lands and bog 

 meadows, we have had many years, of personal 

 experience, and it is our wish that our readers may 

 avail themselves of the advantages to be derived 

 both from our failures and from our success. 



Our first attempt to raise English grass on a low 

 peatmedow was in 1826. Three of us joined togeth- 

 er in the purchase of eight acres of peat land lying 

 in the centre of the town of Framingham. Major 

 B. Wheeler and John Ballard, 2d. were our part- 

 ners in the purchase. 



When we first made known our purchase and 

 our object we were !at;ghed to scorn by many of 

 the inhabitants. W6 fofgive every one of them, 

 for they have since confessed their error, and are 

 ever ready to applaud the advances we have made 

 in cultivation. They were not then aware of the 

 mischiefs ihey caused us by tlieir want of faith — it 

 was almost impossible to procure help to labor on 

 this meadow — people require extra wages while la- 

 boring here, and when enquired of where they had 

 been at work, they were studious to conceal the 

 scene of their operations. Fortunately, the pur- 

 chasers were all skilled in the use of the bog-hoe 

 and of the paring-plough, and by taking hold and set- 

 ting the example, others were at length induced to 

 join them and " to dig on old centre meadow," be- 

 cause much less unpopular, afier one summer's than 



We well remesnber an exprossiion of one ofthe- 

 oldest inhabitants, J. Maynard, Esq., on this sub- 

 ject. He said he did not wish to live any longer 

 after he should see one ton of good English hay grow 

 on old centre meadow. He did live m.any years 

 after. At a meeting of the trustees of Praiiiing- 

 ham Academy which stood on the border of tbis 

 meadow, Doctor D. Kellogg, Rev. Mr Packard, and 

 J. Maynard, Esq. were present. Doctor Packard 

 looked out on the old meadow, and seeing it flood- 

 ,ed, enquired if it was dammed. " Yes," said May- 

 nard, " and it always has been ever since I 

 knew it." 



This meadow was so miry in the centre that we 

 could easily sink a rail eleven feet long, endwise 

 out of si:?;ht. Our first business was to drain off 

 the water. We drained it off one foot and a half 

 below the surface. We then commenced the par- 

 ing and burning system. This paring is perform- 

 ed by hoes — sometimes assisted by a paring 

 plough. When the meadow will bear up oxen, a 

 paring plough facilitates the operation. Such a 

 plough has a wide share — say one foot and a half — 

 which branches out in a wing on each side. It 

 has no mould plate, and does not turn the furrow 

 over. It only cuts the turf in slips, and suffers it 

 to lie to bear the team up ; then, with the hoes, the 

 sods are easily turned over to dry. When the 

 paring plough is in good order, one yoke of oxen 

 will draw it through a strong hassock. 1 he plough 

 has a sharp coulter like that of an old fashioned 

 wooden plough, and much resembles one except in 

 the want of a mould plate, and in the addition of 

 a second wing to the sharp, branching out to the 

 left, or land side. 



In a dry summer, the turf thus turned over will 

 soon bum if fire is applied. It burns much better 

 the first summer than if allowed to lie a year on the 

 ground. It is well to commence paring and burn- 

 ing in June, for then we have the summer before 

 us, and can choose the dryest time for burning. 

 When some of the sods are well on fire they may 

 be heaped to<rether, and others not so dry may be 

 piled on till the heap becomes as large as a hun- 

 dred of hay. When thus piled no small rains will 

 quench the fires, and they will often burn for days 

 of rainy weather. 



Sometimes we are enabled to burn the sods as 

 'they lie, when no rain comes for ten days in suc- 

 cession. Then all the labor of piling and of 

 spreading about the ashes is saved. This is the 

 easiest mode of preparing for the grass seed, but 

 we are not always able to burn the sods thus. 



When the heaps are burnt, nothing remains to 

 be done but to spread the ashes, sow the seed, and 

 rake it in with a common hand rake. This should 

 be done early in September, if we expect a good 

 swarth of grass the next summer — but any time in 

 September will answer for sowing these low mead- 

 ows with herds grass and with red top. We have 

 seldom seen these grasses winter-killed on these 

 peat bottoms. 



When we are unable to burn all the turf by the 

 middle of September, we spread the ashes over the 

 whole surface, after having replied the unburnt 

 sods in a new place, and we let these piles stand 

 in shape of haycocks until another summer. They 

 then will sometimes burn wholly down without any- 

 trouble, and their ashes should be spread on to the 

 grass ground, and a little seed should be sown on. 

 the ground where the heaps stood. 



In this mode, meadows may sometimes be pre- 



