476 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Oct. 



pigs will do much better on them cooked, or 

 at least soaked in water twenty-four hours be- 

 fore feeding. And in addition to this advan- 

 tage, pea straw, when well cured and care- 

 fully harvested, is nearly as good for sheep as 

 clover hay, and certainly will much more than 

 pay the expense of threshing. A large far- 

 mer in Michigan who has made himself and 

 his farm rich, attributes his success principally 

 to growing a large quantity of peas every 

 year and feeding them to pigs. He threshes 

 the peas and cooks them, but does not grind 

 them, as he thinks cooking is cheaper and 

 better than grinding. The manure from his 

 pea-fed pigs has made his farm one of the 

 most productive in the State. 



Turnips. — The venerable John Johnston, 

 has recently written a letter to the Country 

 Qentleman, in which he says, roots can never 

 be raised to a large extent in this county un- 

 less wages were as low as in Germany or Den- 

 mark. The feeding out enough of roots to 

 fat fifty head of cattle would cost more than 

 would pay at present price of labor. Four 

 quarts of corn meal will do more good to a 

 steer than 120 pounds of turnips, in my opin- 

 ion. If roots could be fed off with sheep in 

 the field in winter, then I would say raise them. 

 Corn can lie raised for less labor, taking feed- 

 ing and everything into consideration, than 

 roots, and we have also the corn stalks which 

 make excellent fodder if properly taken care 

 of. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TO MAKE AN UNDERQROUJVD 

 CISTBKN. 



BY B, LrVERMORE, HARTLAND, VT,, CEMENT WATER- 

 PIPE LAYER. 



Many people have buildings so situated that 

 it is difficult to bring water to them in pipes, 

 or the spring water is hard and not suitable 

 for washing purposes. For the benefit of such 

 I will endeavor to give written directions, by 

 following which they may make the best of 

 cisterns at little expense. 



The first thing to do is to find out the quan- 

 tity of water we need to give a permanent 

 supply. For a common family 40 or 60 bar- 

 rels is sufficient. 



(Second, to ascertain the size of a cistern 

 which will contain the number of barrels of 

 water needed in three months. We seldom 

 have three months without a supply of rain to 

 replenish the cistern. To ascertain the num- 

 ber of barrels which a round cistern will con- 

 tain we have a sho.rt, correct, and convenient 



Rule. — Square the diameter, and multiply 

 the product by the decimal fraction .1865, 

 which will give you the contents, in barrels, 

 one foot deep ; multiply this by the number 

 of feet the cistern is deep, and we have the 

 contents of the cistern in barrels and fractions 

 of barrels. 



Example. — What is the capacity of a cistern 

 in barrels six feet in diameter and six feet 

 deep? 



Square of diameter of cietern, 

 Fraction, , 



Contents, in barrels, one foot deep 6,7140 



6 



Contents, in barrels, six feet deep 40.2840 



Or forty barrels and a little over a quarter. 



Example 2d. — What is the number of bar- 

 rels that a cistern will contain eight feet in 

 diameter and nine feet deep ? 



8 X 8 X .1865 X 9=107.42 barrels. 



Third, to locate the cistern. The cistern 

 should be made in the place most convenient 

 for the water to run into it from the eaves of 

 the house, and to the place where the water 

 is to be used or drawn out. 



It should be made in the solid earth, and at 

 least four or five feet from the cellar wall. 



Fourth, to dig the cistern. The way we 

 begin the digging of a cistern depends upon 

 the way it is to be covered : whether with flat 

 stone or plank, or arched with brick or cement. 

 If it is to be covered with flat stone or plank, 

 we begin with a circle two feet or so larger 

 than we intend to have the body of the cis- 

 tern, and after digging about 18 inches deep, 

 we then strike a true circle, just the size we 

 wish the body of the cistern to be, and dig 

 per7)endicularly and as smooth and true as the 

 ground will allow. After having dug as deep 

 as you wish the cistern to be, and made the 

 sides as smooth as you can, it is ready to plas- 

 ter. We commence to plaster the cistern by 

 mixing in an old tin pan, water and cement, to 

 the consistency of milk. Hold this pan near 

 the wall of the cistern, and with a shingle, or 

 something similar, flirt this cement wash against 

 the wall till it is completely wet. In a short 

 time this will form a crust on the most loose 

 and sandy ground, so that common cement 

 mortar may easily be put on with a trowel. 

 We make the mortar by mixing together 

 cement and good plastering sand, and wetting 

 them with water till it is of the consistency of 

 common plastering mortar. 



To put the mortar on the walls we use a 

 common brick trowel, because we can make 

 the plastering on an uneven surface nearer of 

 a thickness than we can with a plastering 

 trowel. We go over the walls where the 

 ground is such that the surface is made smooth 

 with one coat ; if not smooth, with two or three 

 coats. Then we make a mortar of clear cement 

 and water and go over as smoothly as may be, 

 and the sides of the cistern are finished. 



The next thing is to cover it. If planks are 

 used, we saw them the right lengths, leaving 



