' 
inch* of fresh and well-burned hard maple 
charcoal will absorb ninety-seven cubic 
inches of ammoniacal gas ; the impurities of 
the water lodge in the pores of the coal and 
let the water pass through in a pure and 
palatable state, while Band and gravel would 
be of little use. 
grassplat or yard. But before doing this, it 
would be best to enter the conductor from 
the roof of the dwelling, (which should be of 
copper to prevent rust,) from about eighteen 
inches above the ground ; it should go down 
under the ground ahout three, feet, so as not 
to be affected by frost, and enter the cistern 
just above the turn of the arch. If it is de¬ 
sired not to stir up the water by the force of 
its entering the cistern, punch fifteen or 
twenty holes, half inch in diameter, in that 
end of the copper pipe which is in the cis¬ 
tern, and then it will drizzle through in 
small streams. 
The two lead pipes, extending from the 
pumps in the sink inside of the house, should 
also go under ground and enter the cistern, 
NEW VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES 
CISTERN WITH A FILTER 
“I don't see what I want” I must, there¬ 
fore ' ask for it." 1 looked in vain in all my 
back “Rurals” and “ Builders” for a de- 
si<rn of a good cistern, economy of course is 
an object of importance, hut a “flood cis¬ 
tern ” is of most and first importance. Can 
you refer me to any number which I mav 
not have of the Rural where L can find such 
as I want ? If not, can any render furnish 
m e with one through the Rural—I mean one 
with a filter attached, so the water can ho 
used for drinking ? Nutmeg.” 
We republish the following which was 
furnished the Rural New-Yorker some 
years ago by Mr, Isaac Esmay. The season 
of cistern making is at hand, and it will in¬ 
terest other of our readers as well as our 
correspondent: 
To build a cistern that will last a hundred 
years or more, be convenient, useful and 
supply n Irrge family with good and whole¬ 
some water for cooking and drinking pur¬ 
poses, and soft water for cleaning and wash¬ 
ing, select a location near the dwelling (gen¬ 
erally in the grass plot), and for a cistern 
twelve l'cet in diameter in the clear and ten 
feet deep from the bottom to the spring of 
the arch, dig a circular hole about fifteen 
feet in diameter, and sixteen to seventeen 
feet deep, See that there is a good founda¬ 
tion (which is all important), and that the 
bottom is made smoot h and le vel ; then cover 
the bottom with one and a quarter inch 
boards, t wo thicknesses, laid crossways of 
each other ; on this lay two thicknesses of 
sound, hard-burned paving brick in good 
water lime cement; then (leaving twelve 
feet space in the clear) commence the outside 
circular wall, eight inches thick, and raise it 
perpendicularly ten feet, high, at which 
point commence turning the arch with a 
proper turn, leaving a hole in the top, about 
two feet in diameter, to receive the cast- 
iron curb. The curb and cover being about 
Cast-iron or Copper Pipe—Foul-air Trap 
and Drain. 
The filter may want renewing once in ten 
or fifteen years. After the cistern has stood 
nearly or quite full of water for a few weeks, 
should there come a dry time., so that, the 
water would be low in the cistern, pump and 
dip it all out and clean it, not disturbing the 
filters ; afterwards the little lime taste will 
he gone, and you will have just such water 
as you desire, without any further trouble, 
except renewing the filters once in ten or fif¬ 
teen years. Further, the cistern will not be 
in your way ; it will he out-of-doors, under* 
the ground, and nearly out of sight ; while 
if you build it in the cellar or basement, it 
will always be in the way, and when yon 
clean it out, will make dirt and muss, which 
is not pleasant. All the pipes and drains 
which enter or leave the cistern should have 
the holes around them well cemented, inside 
and out, and puddled as before, and the 
waste, pipe or drain should be perfectly 
tight, out to beyond the foul-air trap. Much 
depends upon having all done perfectly. The 
stones, slats and canvas are only used to 
keep the charcoal down properly in its place, 
as otherwise, it being lighter than water, 
would rise and float on top. The cistern can 
be built of any size, and cost it) proportion. 
For a small family, one ten feet tn diameter 
and eight feet deep, holding 4,400 gallons, 
would probably be sufficient. 
QUEEN OF THE WEST 
Under the above name a wonderful straw¬ 
berry 1ms been introduced and disseminated 
by Mr. John Booth of Fishkill Landing, N. 
Y., as having been sent him by a friend from 
Wisconsin, where it was said to have been 
found growing in a wild state. On visiting 
Mr. Booth’s grounds a. few days since, we 
recognized it as an Old friend—the “ Trol¬ 
lope’s Victoria,” or “ Victoria,” a foreign 
variety. This is not the first time this good 
old berry has been sent out with a new name. 
Some years since a Now Jersey grower, 
whose name T do not now remember, brought 
it forward as a superior new kind, under the 
name of “Union,” or “Trembly’s Union ” 
and a few years afterward some person in 
Rochester, N. Y., introduced it with consid¬ 
erable flourish as the “Golden Queen,” and 
now we Imvo it as “ Queen of the West.” 
The “Trollope’s Victoria.” is a good grow¬ 
er, large size, regular iu form, handsome, 
good quality, but not generally sufficiently 
productive nor quite firm enough to meet the 
wants of the market-grower ; but if grown 
iu hills, in a deep, rich soil, and well eared 
for, it is a valuable variety for the amateur 
and home use.— Chas. Downing, in Roma, 
Farm, and Garden. 
SecMnnnl View of Cistern. 
just above the turn of the arch, and continue 
down to within S or ID inches of the bottom, 
having a strainer on the end aud resting on a 
large, clean stone—one pipe on the filtered 
waterside, the other on the unflltered water 
side of the cistern. There should also be a 
waste pipe or drain, from the side which re¬ 
ceives the water from the roof, so that if the 
cistern gets full up to near the turn of the 
arch, the surplus water will run out through 
this drain into the main drain, or some low 
place outside, to prevent getting too full; 
and in this last drain there should he a foul- 
air trap, to prevent, bad air from blowing up 
t he main sewers into the cistern ; and if this 
last drain should discharge into a low place 
in an open lot or field, then there should be a 
copper wire screen put on the outer end of 
it, fine enough to prevent rats, mice, frogs 
and vermin from getting through into the 
drain. The foul-air trap will also stop them 
from reaching the cister-n. 
A roof DO by 40 feet will generally catch 
rain enough to supply a large family. Keep 
the roof clean ; do not allow doves or fowls 
of the air to roost on it, or leaves of the trees 
to fall thereon. A cistern of this size and 
built as here described, will hold about 8,000 
gallons, and cost with the pumps, pipes, 
drains, work and materials, all complete, 
about $300, according to the price of labor 
and materials where built. I had one built 
32 years ago in New York State for 1223 ; 
but it would cost more now—say $300. 
ABOUT FILTERS. 
Nearly all the filters for filtering water, as 
published in the papers, are made of coarse 
gravel sand, &c. Now water would have to 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES 
A Dodge in Hair Dyes.—A correspondent 
of the Journal of Pharmacy having received 
a notice, from a party in New Yoi’k who 
manufactures hair-dye, containing a caution 
to those who buy “hair restorers” “to 
have their druggists first test them for lead 
and mercury by means of the iodide of pot ¬ 
assium, suspected the secretion of a oat be¬ 
neath t.he meal, made an examination of the 
article, and communicated the result to the 
editor of the journal alluded to. It was 
found that although the preparation con¬ 
tained lead, the test, recommended by its 
manufacturer would not give any indication 
of the presence of the poison, the reaction 
being in some way adroitly masked. A test 
with sulphuric acid, ho wo vex*, at once re¬ 
vealed its presence by the formation of a 
heavy, white, insoluble pi*ecipitate of sul¬ 
phate of lead. 
A Novel Addition to the Dinner Table. 
The Brewers’ Gazette says, and it ought to 
know, that we are to have a revolution, it 
appeal's iu wine glasses. London porter re¬ 
quires pewter, and hock a green glass, and it 
has now been discovered that sherry is not 
sherry unless drunk out of wood, so that we 
shall shortly have our dining tables laid out 
with tiny carved cups, instead of tlxo ortho- 
dox wine glass with which we have long 
At pi'esent the idea is only 
CRACKING OF FEARS 
Few of the early ripening pears crack or 
blacken with scat). Occasionally the old 
Windsor or Summer Bell does so, hut not 
often. The Virgalieu or White Doyenne is 
the most noted of all, and various x'emedies 
or preventive agents have been advised. 
Homo asBert that keeping the bark of the tree 
smooth by scraping and washing wit h weak 
ley, soft soap and soot, mixed, etc., will pre¬ 
vent : hut results do not sustain these pre¬ 
scriptions, l have for years advocated the 
theory that the soil was the foundation of 
support and perfection of fruit or flower ; 
and I still keep to my theox-y because in its 
practice I have found success. When I find 
the Baldwin or other apples affected with 
the dry bitter X’ot, I study the soil, its com¬ 
ponents, its needs, and the components of 
tree and frait. Ho with the pour ; and the 
application to the gi’ound in early spring, of 
copperas, bone meal and salt, I have had to 
give me fine atul sxnooth White Doyenne 
Peai-s, when trees twenty feet from them, not 
so well treated, wex - e ci'acked and 3cabby. 
F. R. E. 
been familiar 
in its infancy, awaiting the artists who have 
under consideration the design of the new 
sherry cups. We may, however, mention 
that they will be larger than the present 
wine glass, more like the old port glasses 
which our grandfathers used. 
Varnish to Imitate Ground Glass .—To 
make a varnish to Imitate ground glass, dis 
Solve IK) grains of sandnrne and 20 grams of 
tnastie in two ounces of washed methylated 
ether, andaddin small quantities a sufficiency 
of benzine to make it dry With a suitable 
grain—too little making the varnish too 
transparent, and excess making it crapy. 
The quantity of benzine required depends 
upon its quality—from half an ounce to an 
ounce and a half, or oven more ; hut the 
best results are got with a medium quantity. 
It is important to use washed ethei% free 
from spirit. 
To get a tight Ring off a Finger .—Thread a 
needle flat in the eye with strong thread: 
pass the head of the needle, with cai'e, under 
the ring, and pull the thread through a few 
inches to wards the hand ; wrap the long end 
of the thread tightly around the finger, regu¬ 
larly all down to the txail, to reduce its 
size. Then lay hold of the slioi'b end of the 
thread and unwind it. The thread pressing 
against the ring will gradually remove j* 
from the finger. This never-failing met* 
will remove the tightest ring without 
oulty, however much swollen the lb 
The Leib Cherry.—I llinois, through so 
of her would-be pomologists, is tryb 
exalt a cherry under the above • 
which they evidently know m 
that one man has a chen-y tr- 
—Lie don’t know where—> 
climate as well as the 
May of the West, o 
Richmond, and 
latter, but >' 
Horticultc old Flemish 
says it ’ *■) 
dime ho says Is 
of -? -tittle later 
-ral Editor of the 
-a roundish in a hat 
a stringency 
. yet texture of 
o why don’t the 
I 301110 capable i 
® wood, &c., and 
Vertical View of Cistern Bottom, showing 
course of brick in center partition wall. 
pass through a large body of sand and gravel 
for a consldei'able distance to do much good, 
as the sand and gravel is more of a strainer 
than purifier, and leaves the water insipid, 
while charcoal, prepared as above, is not 
only a sti'ainei' aud filter, but puxifier also, 
and imparts to the water sufficient carbon 
to give it life and a relish, make it palatable 
and desirable to drink, causing it to sparkle 
when poured from the pitcher into the tum¬ 
bler Gharcyal is quite porous ; tpne cubic 
ugj to 
of 
-thing, only 
which hfe got 
-uB-ft ha* stood the 
old Flemish or EuHv 
.even as well as Early 
1 as good as the 
m •ipetring. The 
■Prairie Parmer- 
•V/ 8njaU lo tne- 
a flesh 
iew na me a ttu 
