1858. 
TIIE V U 1 TI V A TO R. 
317 
add that he “ cannot afford ” to take the Country 
Gentleman nor Cultivator. 
His barn is about 35 by 70 feet—if three feet of 
rain falls annually, three cubic feet of water will be 
afforded by every square foot of surface—more than 
7.000 cubic feet from the whole roof, which would be 
about 1.700 barrels. This would be enough to water 
daily, the year through , (each animal drinking each 
day four twelve-quart pailfuls,) thirteen head of cat¬ 
tle ; but if this water were reserved for the dry season 
only, or when small streams are dry, thirty or forty 
head might be watered from the roof. 
Every man, almost, makes his cisterns too small, 
and often they do not hold a tenth part of the dis¬ 
charges at the eaves. In the above mentioned in¬ 
stance, it would not be necessary to construct one large 
enough to hold the entire 1,700 barrels. If the cattle 
were watered from it the year round, and its contents 
thus constantly drawn as it fills, one large enough to 
hold 400 barrels would do; but if used for the dry 
season only, it should be more than double. A cistern 
14 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep, would hold about 
400 barrels—20 feet in diameter, and the same depth, 
would be sufficient for 800 barrels. If built under 
ground, and contracted towards the top, it would re¬ 
quire to be a little larger in dimensions, to allow for 
the contracted space. Such a contraction, shown in 
the annexed cut, would be absolutely necessary to ad¬ 
mit of convenient and safe covering at the top, and 
could be effected without any difficulty if built of ma¬ 
sonry. An ignorant stone-mason whom we once em¬ 
ployed to construct a small cistern of this character, 
stoutly refused to contract the walls, asserting positive¬ 
ly that they would immediately tumble in if thus made 
to lean, apparently knowing nothing of the security of 
the arch, which this would possess on every side. The 
pressure of the water outward, would be counterbal¬ 
anced by the pressure of the earth against the exterior, 
especially if well rammed in as the wall is built. 
Now, at the present time, while the inconvenience 
of an ample supply of water is felt, and while there 
will be no annoyance from the streams which at other 
times ooze through the earth into the excavations made 
for cisterns, every deficient farmer should take hold of 
the business, and construct such as may be desirable. 
There are some portions of the country where the 
subsoil is underlaid by slate or other rock which may 
be excavated. In such cases, it sometimes happens 
that with a little care in cutting, the water-lime mor¬ 
tar may be immediately applied to the rocky walls, a 
shoulder above being made on which to build the con¬ 
tracted part only. 
The following table, of the size and contents of cis¬ 
terns, may be convenient to those about to build them. 
For each foot of depth , the numbers of barrels an¬ 
swering to the different diameters, are as folows :— 
For 5 ft. in diameter,. 4 66 barrels. 
6 do. do. 6.71 do. 
7 do. do. 9.13 do. 
8 do. do. .. 11.93 do. 
9 do. do. .. 15.10 do. 
10 do. do.18.65 do. 
The contents are doubled by increasing the diame¬ 
ter from 10 feet to about 14 feet, and quadrupled if 
20 feet in diameter. 
Early Winter Wheat. 
Messrs. Eds. —Within two years past, on two or 
three occasions, I have given through the columns of 
the Co. Gent, some account of my experiments in the 
culture of several varieties of winter wheat, received 
from the Patent Office. Out of six or eight varieties, 
there are two kinds that promise well, viz., the Early 
Noe from France, and another red-wheat from Japan, 
some ten days earlier than any other variety—this is 
very accurately described by Mr Killgore, on page 
160, Co. Gent, of 9tb Sept. I take the liberty of for¬ 
warding you a small sample, both in the ear and shell¬ 
ed out. You will see that the grains are somewhat 
shrivelled, this being the case with all the wheat in 
this section of the country, as far as I can learn. I 
think the wheat described by Mr. K., and the sample 
I forward, must have originated from the same source. 
I have been extremely unfortunate in my attempts to 
grow this variety of wheat the three past seasons, hav¬ 
ing from the small package received, only as yet 
raised about one pound, which I sowed 31st of Aug., 
and I much fear the grasshoppers will nearly use that 
up; I have several times “switched them off,” but 
they have wings and can fly, and legs and can hop, 
so they come back after being thus forcibly ejected. I 
very much doubt the policy of distributing seed wheat 
from the Patent Office, among farmers and planters, 
by the thimble or wine-glass full, and recently have 
so written to Mr. Commissioner Holt. I do not think 
that over one package in ten ever amounts to anything 
valuable to the farming interests. Our friend, John 
Johnston says, there should not be less than a bushel 
of the seed sent to any one farmer to experiment with. 
Mr. J. has “ spressed my mind ’zactly ” in this matter. 
L. Bartlett. 
-®o «- 
Green Tomatoes for Pies. 
Are all your readers aware of the splendid pies per¬ 
fectly green tomatoes make 7 If not, will they not 
try them before the season closes 7 If they will give 
them a trial, we feel certain they will have found an 
article for the purpose they would hardly have suspect¬ 
ed was so easily raised, yet so nice. Doubtless many 
of your lady readers know all about it, and will give 
you some items how they should be made. The writer 
professes only to know anything about the matter in 
the eating : hence can only draw the attention of it to 
others, merely mentioning, however, that they require 
to be first stewed. The smaller the fruit the better; 
hence the little Grape tomato is just the thing for the 
purpose, e. s. 
