302 Of securing houses and their inhabitants from fire, 



Water may thus, always be found, at hand for the extinction of 

 fire in the upper part of a building, however elevated it may be. 

 — Whatever passes off by the spout may be conveyed to a new set of 

 receiving vessels below, so as to increase at pleasure the stock of 

 water below. If these lower receiving vessels be of wood, covered 

 at top, and placed on the ground in a warm aspect, I have found 

 by some experience, that frost in general is not likely to injure 

 them; provided (as was hinted above) that the general form of these 

 vessels be that of a truncated cone, with the base placed uppermost. 

 — Should the cellar however be held as the more eligible place for re- 

 ceiving the surplus water, it may be preserved there in tanhs of stone 

 of any form, or of brick lined with a suitable mortar: but unless there 

 be a drain from the cellar, more water should not be admitted there 

 than is necessary for family uses. 



Here we might quit the subject of the artificial collection of water; 

 but perhaps a {evi additional words may be indulged to me on this sub- 

 ject, by way of extending the use of the hints here given, though what 

 I am now about to offer is not specifically connected with the subject 

 oi^ conflagration. — I begin then, by remarking, that persons who live in 

 portions of the United States, where the springs issue from a soil sup- 

 posed to be unhealthy, or who reside in prairies or other places where 

 there are so often no springs whatever ; may collect rain-water, on a 

 very extensive scale, not only by the means of the roofs of dwelling 

 houses, but of those of out-houses, and even by the help of paved 

 surfaces of the ground ; the water in the latter case being made to 

 enter into a cess-pool to deposit its impurities before it enters the re- 

 servoirs where it is to remain for use. — Rain-water is originally, the 

 purest of all waters, and may serve for family use in various ways; 

 but what is intended for drinking should be obtained from a part of 

 the roof always kept clean with that very view ; and if necessary, it 

 may be preserved afterwards in vessels properly corked. — Water may 

 also be collected thus for the use of cattle, as in Antigua ; and this 

 example maybe imitated, in the case o( farms which are remote 

 from proper watering places. — If rain-water be required for the water- 

 ing of gardens, especially on account of its softness, sheds in gardens 

 will furnish roofs for collecting it ; and as a last resource, paved sur- 

 faces of ground will supply unlimited amounts, at little cost or trou- 

 ble. — Where water descends from a roof, it will in many instances be 

 useless to confine it within a pipe in its descent; for it will rush down 

 in floods on the outside of solid, wooden, upright poles, properly 



