318 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
About Cisterns, 
Uy GILBERT J. GREENE, HUDSON, N. Y. 
Every good house should have a cistern, in- 
deed a barn can hardly be considered complete 
without one. A good cistern is a good thing, 
and a bad one is not much short of a nuisance : 
How to build a good cistern is a thing worth 
knowing, and having built one, it is a thing to be 
proud of. All cistern water should bo filtered 
to take from it whatever impurities may have 
been gathered from the roofs, pipes, etc.; and 
liow to filter cistern water, or to build cisterns 
with filters, is the subject of the present article. 
Cisterns are usually built luider a piazza, or 
beside the kitchen, sometimes under it, occasion- 
ally a portion of the cellar is walled off for a 
cistern, and if well constructed no special objec- 
tion can be nrged to this plan , further than that 
it is not always advisable to have such a body 
of water under the house. Under the piazza or 
kitchen, or adjoining it, is perhaps the proper 
place, but whatever the locality, every cistern 
should be provided with a good substantial filter. 
Fig. 1, represents a style of filter in use in 
many portions of the West, which answers an 
excellent purpose ■svhere the area of roof is not 
great, as it is not capable of filtering water very 
fast. It is simply a bo.\ about thirty-two inches 
in liight, and two feet square; the bottom is full 
of small holes, and this (.5) is covered with 
coarse gravel to the depth of four or five inches ; 
next (4) clean sand, say five inches; then pound- 
ed charcoal (3), ten inches, on tliis (3) another 
layer of clean sand ; and in the top (1), clean, 
coarse gravel. The water passes from the load- 
er into the top of the box, and iu passing 
through the strata of sand and charcoal, is 
freed from all deleterious matter, and the water 
is fit for any use. The pump is usually placed 
upon this box and the pipe passes through it 
into the cistern; such a filter can be attached 
to almost any cistern already built. 
Fig. 3, represents a round or square cistern, 
built of brick or stone, and well cemented in 
tlie sides and bottom; across the middle a wall 
is built of soft bricks to the hight of the cistern ; 
these are laid in cement, but the face of the wall 
is not cemented. This remark is made to pre- 
vent the recurrence of a mistake made by a 
friend of the writer, who wrote to him some 
lime since to know what kind of a cistern ho 
should build. A cistern similar to fig. 3 was 
recommended, and soon after ho learned that 
the cistern was completed, that one side was 
full of water, but the other side was dry. Inqui- 
ry was made as to the construction of the par- 
tition wall, and it was found that it was all 
right, was made of selected brick, well laid, and 
ccmen ted on both sides. Of course nothing could 
be done but build a new wall, or break a hole 
through and let the water fill both parts. 
Now the philosophy of this filter is this : the 
water passes from the roof into compartment 
A, and is filtered throxigh the bricks into com- 
partment B, in which the pump is placed; 
this wall should be eight inches thick, great 
care should be taken that the joints are well 
closed with cement, and no holes left for the 
passage of water except through the bricks, each 
alternate laj-cr of which should be laid across 
the wall. Such a wall, if well constructed, is the 
best and most rclialile filter the writer lias seen. 
Fig. 3 is a brick filter, easily constructed, and 
can be readily applied to any cistern now in 
use : it consists of a sort of box or pen built of 
brick on the bottom of the cistern, fifteen or 
twenty inches m diameter, and the same in 
hight, and can be built of one or two thicknesses 
of brick laid in cement, the top arched and the 
joints well closed. The lower end of the pump 
pipe enters this box, and as fast as the water is 
exhausted in the box it filters in through the 
bricks. One hundred bricks would make a fil- 
ter, and almost auy one could build it, it is the 
acme of cheapness, simplicity and durability. 
We prefer square cisterns to round ones, be- 
cause thej' are in all respects as good, and are 
more readily constructed. If built adjoining a 
building, the foundation wall could be used for 
one side of it. If this bo a basement or cellar 
wall, a foucet could be placed in the cistern as 
A, in fig. 1. A waste pipe as B, in fig. 1, should 
be placed in all cisterns, the eud of this should 
be so arranged with a valve as to close itself, 
except when water is passing out of it, other- 
wise mice and insects would get into the cistern, 
and injure the water. Cistems outside of 
buildings should be covered with earth, as in 
fig. 1, to prevent their freezing, and the covers 
should be constructed with a trap door (A, fig, 
3,) so that they can be entered to be cleaned or 
repaired. If the covering is of plank it should 
be well jointed, laid in cement upon the walls, 
and the outside thickly coated with coal tar 
and sand, and be of durable timber. 
Brick filters are not new; the Egyptians used 
them three thousand years ago. In New Mexico 
the water from the muddy sluggish streams are 
filtered in this manner, tlie natives dig a hole 
beside the stream, several feet below tlie sur- 
face, this is bricked up, and the water tliat per- 
colates through the brick is clear and limpid. 
—. I * ! .! — >-^ 
Cheap Water Carrier, 
— • — 
Mr. Gainford Ennis, Morgan Co.,Iud., sends 
the following with very clear illustrations, which 
we try to copy as well as they were drawn : 
" I have prepared a description of a cheap 
Mechanical cqyjliancc, now iu use on our farm, 
for the benefit of those readers of the Agt-icul- 
tiirist wdio have to carry water from the spring 
to the house. I can recommend it to those so 
situated, or at least, I will say, it has proved it- 
self, in every respect, indispensable, in our case, 
not only efi'ectually obviating 
that very laborious task of car- 
rying crater, but at the same 
time, has saved incurring the 
expense of a well, to say nothing 
of the pleasure of having at 
command at any moment, a 
cool and refreshing diuught. 
Take a suflicient number of 
good posts (fencing posts will 
do), allowing one for every six 
feet space. Five inches from 
the top of each post, mortise in 
an arm, or bracket, projecting 
ten inches, with top edge at 
right angles with the post (see 
fig. 1). Then set your posts 
firmly on the line already sur- 
veyed for that purpose, allowing space above 
meutioued, and have the brackets all turned 
one way, the ends forming a straight Hue, to 
receive the track. In setting the posts, there 
should be maintained a descent of eight degrees 
at least, to insure suflicient momentum to the 
bucket, and as sprinr/s almost universally issue 
from much lower ground thau where buildings 
Fig. 1.— POST 
AND BltACKET. 
Fig. 3.— INCLINED AND ELEVATED TRACK. 
stand, the lack of proper descent is not likely 
often to prove an impediment. The greater the 
descent the better. Now procure some boards 
for track (I use poplar), one inch thick, four 
inches wide, and twelve feet long ; dress the 
