508 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December* 
Cow-Barn and Poultry-House- 
In Major Alvord’s admirable contribution to the 
little book lately issued on “ Keeping One Cow,” 
he gives, with very little comment, the plan of an 
excellent barn. It was at first a mere carriage- 
house and horse stable; then changed, by the addi¬ 
tion of a chicken house, in a wing ; finally it was 
raised, and a cellar or basement for roots, cow-stall, 
store-rooms for bedding, etc., calf-pens, etc., intro¬ 
duced under the main part, while under the wing is 
an enclosed shed and manure pit. The engravings 
are made with such detail, that it is easy to see the 
relations of things. The second or main floor 
above the basement is chiefly devoted to stor¬ 
age, although adapted to be used for a horse and 
carriage barn. In the wing upon this floor, the 
poultry have their quarters, above the manure pit. 
In the enclosed shed in the basement, very com¬ 
fortable quarters might be provided for a pet porker. 
On the whole, it is a plan excellently adapted to 
the wants of a villager or surburban resident, who 
wants to keep an unpretentious family establish¬ 
sand, if it were compact enough not to cave, would 
answer just as well. The sides of the cistern are 
made as even as possible, and a wash of Portland 
cement is applied with a broom—to the bottom and 
sides. This dries very rapidly, and four or five 
coatings will make a perfectly tight and strong ba¬ 
sin to hold all the water that will ever fall into it. 
The cost of the cement is very small, and the thin 
crust, backed by the solid subsoil, is just as good 
and durable as mason work of brick or stone. 
For a covering he used chest¬ 
nut timber of one foot in di¬ 
ameter, hewn upon one side, 
upon which chestnut plank 
two inches thick were laid. 
Two leaders conduct the water 
from the eaves of the barn 
into the cistern. A man-hole 
was left at the top large enough 
for the cleaning of the cistern, 
and for the insertion of the 
pump. The plank was cover¬ 
ed with about two feet of 
earth, which is a.sufficient pro¬ 
tection against frost in this 
latitude. The cistern will hold 
8,000 gallons of water, or more, 
and will furnish an abundant 
supply of water for stock, and 
for irrigation in ordinary sea¬ 
sons. The whole cost for labor, 
timber, and cement, was about 
fifteen dollars. Most farms will furnish the neces¬ 
sary labor and lumber, and the only money outlay 
would be for the Portland cement. This cement 
will harden under water, and become as solid as 
stone. It is entirely practicable for almost any 
farmer to build a cistern of a kind which has been 
described, and to have a good supply of water 
for his cattle during the winter. Build a cistern. 
ment—pony and phaeton, a cow, and some chick¬ 
ens in comfortable quarters, not to mention the pig. 
A Cheap and Durable Cistern. 
An abundance of rain water for family use, for 
the barn-yard, and for irrigation in the garden, is 
still a great desideratum in our rural districts. The 
great bar to this water supply is the anticipated ex 
pense. It costs money to excavate and line the 
sides of a cistern with brick and stone. Most farm 
houses have no provision for washing except well- 
water, drawn with the bucket, and this is often 
hard, and the yard and barn-cellar are without any 
water for stock. A cistern that will hold all the 
/ater that falls upon the house, or the bam, is 
within reach of every thrifty farmer, and will pay 
for itself every year in saving labor, and in the 
health and comfort of the family, and in the care 
of the farm stock. A neighbor of ours, who is a 
gardener as well as a farmer, built a cistern for his 
greeuhouse last year, and liked it so well that he has 
built, another this fall for his barn and garden. The 
first item ot expense was the labor of excavating 
on the south side of the bam, where the frost does 
not penetrate very deep. The excavation is about 
ten feet deep, ten feet in diameter at the bottom, 
and twelve feel at the top. The soil is gravelly 
loam at the top, and compact gravel below. But 
A Well, laid up with Cement Blocks. 
Mr. James E. Dean, of Fishkill, sends us the fol¬ 
lowing clear and concise description of his well, 
and how he made it. It may 
be of use to many.—“As iu 
some other communities, we 
are troubled here with sand 
running iu with the water be¬ 
tween the stones and filling 
up our wells, and we are often 
annoyed by worms, toads, and 
other small animals getting in 
and fouling the water. To 
shut out all these, and also the 
impure surface water, I pre¬ 
pared a mold, figure 1, which 
consisted of a frame with 
wooden blocks for ends, sheet-iron sides, but 
without top or bottom. In this I made cement or 
concrete blocks, similar in shape to the fire-bricks 
which line cylinder stoves, see figure 2. These 
blocks are about one foot high, one foot long, and 
four inches thick, with a groove on one edge and a 
tongue on the other, and so curved that nine make 
a complete circle. The well was about three feet 
in internal diameter, and each course a foot in hight. 
The materials used were one part Portland cement 
and five parts creek gravel. The mold, figure 1, 
Is placed for 
filling in a bot¬ 
tomless box or 
frame, figure 
3, and wedged 
in place by the 
blocks, A, .4, 
sat each end. 
US When I had 
enough of the 
- blocks made, 
Fig. 1- FRAME FOR CEMENT. an( j they , )ad 
hardened a few days, 1 commenced my excava 
tion. At about ten feet water was reached, when I 
prepared a ring, wide enough for the blocks to rest 
upon. It was made of two thicknesses of inch 
boards, cut in segments and nailed so as to break 
joints. This I placed in the bottom, and commenced 
Fig. 2.—A CEMENT BLOCK. 
building, making the horizontal joints tight with 
cement, but leaving the perpendicular joints with 
no cement in them. When we had put on three 
courses, we dug inside and settled our hoops and 
cylinder, occasionally pumpiug out the water until 
we were about four feet below the waterline, which 
just then was very 
low in consequence 
of the protracted 
drouth. Then we 
laid it up to and one 
foot above the sur¬ 
face, carefully filling 
in the sand on the 
outside, and put on 
our well-house, with 
its axle and drum,and 
everything was ready 
for work. The water tastes somewhat of cement, 
which will soon disappear, when Iexpecttohave the- 
best, as I now have the prettiest,well in this vicinity. 
I forgot to 6ay that I put mortices in some of 
the blocks in each course, for toe-holes to assist in 
going up and down. To make these I put in a block 
against the inside iron when the mold is about half 
full, and tamp the material around it. The water 
will filter readily through blocks where the propor¬ 
tion of cement is not greater than one to five,, 
though I left the vertical joints uncemented, to 
facilitate its entrance. If the blocks should not be 
used before they are six months old, one part 
cement to eight of gravel would doubtless answer. 
I sifted the gravel through an ordinary coal sieve, 
so as to take out the large pebbles, and so make 
smoother blocks. I would caution parties not to 
make the material too wet. It should be well mixed 
while dry, and then only dampened so as to be 
tamped into the mold, in the same way as mold¬ 
ings are treated at a foundry. A good man can 
easily make fifty blocks in ten hours, without any 
assistance. No doubt my arrangement for hold¬ 
ing the mold together can be improved. 
To give the iron sides of the mold the right 
shape, I sweep two concentric circles on a floor, and 
bend the sheet-iron pieces to coincide with each. 1 
Fig. 8.— THE FRAME SUPPORTED IN A BOX. 
then divide the inner circle into nine spaces, draw 
radiating lines from the center through two of 
these points, and so find where my end blocks go.. 
A Provisional Opening in a Wire Pence. 
—“J. B. C.,” British Honduras, sends a method of 
making an opening in a wire fence, that will be of 
service in our own country, where this kind of fence 
is so largely used of late years : “Fasten the wires 
securely to the left-hand post; procure two clevises 
for the opposite post, and fasten them through the 
center of the post with bolts. Secure the wires to 
a false post, and have the bottom clevis stationary, 
and long enough to admit the false post, and 
stretch the bottom wire. The top clevis should be 
long enough to admit the false post, and also a 
wedge so as to thoroughly tighten the wir°:'.. 
