1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
297 
grow soft after a while, and remain very pure. 
These are laid in short sections, the end of one 
entering an enlargement in the next section, and 
the joint being closed with cement. Properly 
laid these pipes stand a pressure of 25 to 40 feet 
without leaking or bursting. It is necessary to 
use the glazed pipe, or moss would be liable to 
accumulate within, which, in time, decays and 
contaminates the water. 
The cost of the lead pipe is usually about 10 
or 12 cts. per pound ; now it is much cheaper 
in New York, extra strong inch weighing 4 lbs. 
12 oz. per foot; that of the tin pipe cased with 
lead, 27 cts. per pound, with a discount when 
considerable amounts are purchased, extra 
strong inch, weighing 2 lbs. 6 oz. to the foot. 
Fig. 2. —cup joint. 
That of the galvanized iron pipe varies with the 
size, inch pipe being about 18 cts. per foot, and 
the three-quarter-inch pipe half as much. The 
services of a good plumber, gas-fitter, or ma¬ 
chinist, would, of course, be desirable, for either 
of these pipes, but any blacksmith can manage 
to lay and make the connections with the iron 
pipe if he has tools to cut threads and nuts 
where connections are made. There are two 
common kinds of joints used for connecting 
lead pipe, viz.: “wiped joints” and “cup 
joints.” The latter are made as shown in fig. 
2. One end is opened forming a cup, the other 
is rasped to a conical form. The contiguous 
surfaces are scraped clean, placed in position, 
and carefully soldered. A good tinner will do 
the job well, ©are being taken not to melt the 
lead too much so as to weaken the pipe. A 
wiped joint is shown in fig. 1, and can only be 
made by a practised 
plumber, and is much 
neater, stronger, and 
better than a cup joint. 
This kind is preferable 
for the lead-encased 
block-tin pipe, for with 
the cup joint a little 
ring of lead is almost 
necessarily exposed to 
Baery 
Garden. 
— Sfa/Sfer 
H7y7i we^ y. 
Vf‘ n 
s 
Cowyard 
I 
%x 
t/i \1 \ 
H! m' 
Icrr/nAouse 
_ J l ™ 
Barn. 
Fig. 3. —PLAN FOR DISTRIBUTING WATER. 
the action of the water. There is, however, a pat¬ 
ent brass joint, which should be used with the 
patent pipe, as this is easily applied and pre¬ 
sents only a tin or tinned surface to the water. 
We assume, in answering our correspondent, 
that he can have the services of a blacksmith 
or of a tinsmith. He says his spring is 5G rods 
from his house, and that he can establish a res¬ 
ervoir 25 feet above the homestead. He wishes 
to use the water in his barns, cattle yards, sta¬ 
bles, dairy, garden, and house. We think a 3 | 4 
or 6 | 8 -inch pipe of either iron or tin-lined lead 
pipe, weighing l'| 4 lbs. to the foot, will deliver 
all the water wanted at the reservoir, there be¬ 
ing an unobstructed flow all the time. If there 
be occasion ever to tap the pipe above the reser¬ 
voir, it should be larger, of course. Below the 
reservoir, a larger pipe ought to be employed. 
Our friend sent a diagram of his plan, which 
was to take the water to each yard and building 
in a separate pipe. This would be of no ser¬ 
vice, and add greatly to the expense. A main 
should be laid of inch pipe from the reservoir, 
as indicated in the diagram, (fig. 3,) to near the 
range of the lowest point at which the water is 
to be taken. The branch pipes should go di¬ 
rectly from the main to the place of discharge, 
and be of J | 2 or 5 | 8 -inch pipes, if a tolerably free 
flow of water is desired. Wherever penstocks 
with faucets occur, and the water is under con¬ 
siderable pressure, it is necessary to provide an 
air-chamber to act as a spring or cushion, so that 
when the water is suddenly stopped, it shall not 
jar and burst the pipe. This air-chamber is 
simply x piece of pipe about a foot long, near 
the faucet., turned perpendicularly up and closed 
at the upper end air-tight, while connection is 
open below ; the air in it acts like a spring. 
Whether iron, galvanized iron, or the tin-lined 
lead pipe be used to bring the water to the re¬ 
servoir, there can, we think, be little question 
of the superiority of the tin-lined for laying 
the distributing, main and its branches, as 
well as the pipes in the interior of a house. 
The Rye Crop.—Its Profitableness. 
Now that rye has reached the same quo¬ 
tations in the market as wheat, it is likely to be 
much more cultivated than it has been. The 
Eastern farmer, with his hard worn lands, where 
tradition affirms that wheat will not grow, is as 
well off as the prairie farmer with his virgin soil. 
If he will use the right rotation and manures, 
he is better off. For rye is more hardy than 
wheat, can be grown with less care, and is 
more uniformly a paying crop. I have the best 
piece of rye in town, five feet high, heavy, stout 
stalk, and heavier head. It is as much of a 
contrast with the thin, stunted crops of some of 
my neighbors as I desire to see. They sowed 
late, on exhausted land, used no manure and 
will get, not over five to eight bushels to the 
acre. That does not pay. It is a sorry sight 
to see such a waste of labor. I shall get thirty 
bushels to the acre on soil naturally no better. 
It was sowed upon a piece of ground in early 
potatoes last year. The potatoes came off in 
July, a sound crop, but not over sixty bushels 
to the acre, though pretty well manured with 
fish scrap sown broadcast. They blasted. The 
piece was plowed, manured with about a half 
ton of fish scrap, and sown to rye early in Sep¬ 
tember. The grain came up well, and got well 
rooted before winter set in. Though the winter 
was open, and very little snow, with much 
freezing and thawing, it did not winter-kill. It 
had a good start in the spring, and pushed right 
along to maturity without any check. A strip 
a few rods wide at one end, was mulched with 
sea weed in mid-winter. This mulched portion 
is indicated by a darker green, and a more lux¬ 
uriant growth of stalk. Shore farmers cannot 
do a better thing for their winter grain than to 
give it a thin coating of sea-weed. The more 
recent it is from the shore the better. The 
roots profit by the salt. The old practice of 
sowing this grain upon exhausted fields with¬ 
out manure is bad for the soil, and still worse 
for the cultivator. Both parties are badly 
cheated. With a little fair dealing with the 
soil, remunerative crops may be taken, and the 
land be kept constantly improving. Rye does 
well with a green crop of buckwheat or clover 
turned in a few weeks previous to sowing, and 
if no manure is used directly upon the seed some 
such crop should be turned in. Some turn the 
sod as early as June, but this is of much less 
importance than early sowing. If the growth 
should be too luxuriant late in the fall, it is 
easily shortened by turning in calves. Rye 
should always be sown with a drill. It is a 
a great safeguard against winter-killing. * 
Crimson Clover.— (Trifolium incarnatum.) 
The clovers, as a class, are very attractive on 
account of their beautiful flowers and foliage, 
and from the fact that all classes of herbivo¬ 
rous animals from elephants to rabbits, are so 
fond of them. They are besides among the 
most valued agricultural plants for several other 
reasons on which we often descant. Among 
them all, perhaps none is more beautiful than 
the Crimson Clover, the one shown in the 
accompanying engraving which well represents 
its form; the blossom is of a bright, rich, 
crimson color. It grows much like Red Clovei; 
