Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 303 



months a little more than twenty years ago. This shows that ashes, 

 besides being good, are good for a long time. 



Mr. Hobbs — Are anthracite ashes valuable for manure? 



Mr. A. S. Fuller — Good to thicken a sanely soil. 



Tliifi Chairman — Also worth something on heavy land as a disin- 

 tegrator. 



Mr. C. D. Bragdon — And an excellent absorbent. 



Pruning Plants. 



Mr. G. T. Pratt, Homer, N. Y., asked if there would be any harm 

 in cutting off the tops of strawberries in an old bed. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller said he didn't see what good it would do. If 

 the tops of two-thirds of them are clipped away at the time of trans- 

 planting, the plants will be all the better for it. This is true of 

 celery, turnips, and in fact of all the vegetables that are transplanted, 

 and it is the secret of success. 



Filtering Cisterns. 



Mr. F. W. Coe, Yergennes, Yt, who stated that he has used fil- 

 tered cistern water constantly for drinking and culinary purposes 

 more than twenty years, gave these further ideas upon a subject 

 which the Club considered at some length a few weeks ago : " My 

 first filter was a box about four feet square, with a partition down 

 through the center, with openings at the bottom of the partition for 

 the w r ater to pass through. Both compartments were filled with 

 charcoal, pebbles and gravel. The water came direct from the con- 

 ductor into one side of the box, passing down through the filtering 

 material through the openings in the partition ; then up through the 

 same material on the other side, over it into the cistern, which was 

 connected with the filtering box on that side, which was, of course, a 

 little lower than the side of the filter where the water enters. The 

 water in this cistern sometimes smelt a little in very hot, dry weather, 

 but was generally pretty gbod. About six years ago, I sold my 

 home, and built anew. In one corner of my cellar I built a large, 

 square stone cistern. Across one corner of this cistern I laid a four- 

 inch brick partition in cement (one brick laid upon another, with 

 cement between, but none on sides.) 



" The brick are what the masons call salmon brick, not the hardest 

 or softest kinds. The water is conducted direct from a slate roof 

 into the main cistern, and passes through the pores of the brick par- 

 tition in the corner, rising to a level with the water in the cistern 



