Securities against Fire, &c. 293 
¥ 
But although another very important article on the same subject 
will call for attention before we conclude, yet as it will be of some 
length from having two incidental circumstances of a more general 
nature connected with it; we shall pass at present to three separate 
articles, which regard a different topic; namely, supplies of water, 
which of course may be noticed here as belonging to my original pa- 
per. I proceed therefore as follows. 
8. Article. Since my original paper was printed, I have met with 
the following passage in Earl Dundonald’s Treatise on the intimate 
connection between agriculture and chemistry; which will be read 
with pleasure ; for although it contains little not referred to by myself, 
yet the statements and hints of an author of some note, will of course 
be more valued than those of an anonymous writer. 
“It has been neglected by me, (says Lord Dundonald,) under the 
article Peat and Peat Masses, to state, that their waters are very in- 
jurious to cattle :—and that such defects may be remedied by collect- 
ing the rain water that may fall on the roofs of the dwelling houses 
and offices, in tanks, properly constructed, and having no communi- 
cation with the soil. 
“Should not the buildings be conveniently placed for affording the 
cattle a supply of water from the tank, or should the extent of such 
be insufficient to collect the quantity of water that may be required ; 
sheds or hovels, covered with tile, should be erected in a central field, 
conveniently situated for securing to the cattle their daily supply.— 
A further benefit will ensue by the shelter and protection that such 
sheds or hovels will afford the cattle. 
“This method of collecting rain water, (and which is practised in 
many countries,) may with great advantage be adopted in the upland, 
chalky, or gravelly soils; or in the marshes near the sea-shore, where 
the springs either are at a great depth, or where the water is brack- 
ish. In upland countries, water may be collected into tanks in great 
abundance, during the rainy seasons, by leading the surface water 
into such receptacles, without increasing the expense of sheds or 
hovels. But in fens, morasses, peat mosses and marshes, or flat 
grounds, where the soil is full of vegetable or animal matters, or 
where the water is brackish, a supply of water can be obtained only 
by the assistance of the roofs above mentioned.” So far Lord 
Dundonald. (See his edition of 1803, addenda, pp. 241, 242.) 
T cannot omit repeating here, for the sake of horticulturalists of all 
descriptions, that by collecting rain water in a garden by means of a 
