1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
571 
can be taken out and cleansed, or, better, replaced 
with fresh material. Fresh charcoal is a powerful 
deodorizer, but in time loses this quality, which is 
not conveniently renewable by ordinary farmers, 
and the cheapest way is to furnish new material. 
In the best filters, the liquid flows upward 
through the material, so that the weight of the 
solids assists to remove them from the liquid. It is 
also important to arrange the filter so that it can be 
emptied and the material renewed without empty¬ 
ing the cistern. In this western country, where 
the principal rainfall is in one part of the year, and 
where sudden heavy rains are quite common, it is 
especially desirable to have the storage capacity 
large enough to catch all the rain, and retain it to 
be filtered slowly as needed. This is effected by 
FILTERING CISTERN. 
conducting the rain directly to the main cistern, 
and pumping water from the filter. It would be 
quite impracticable to build filters large enough to 
filter all the water delivered to a cistern as fast as 
it falls in some of our exceedingly copious rains. 
All the above conditions are fully met in the fol¬ 
lowing arrangement. The main cistern is built in 
the usual manner, of any capacity desired. Near 
this cistern, but separated from it by a foot or two 
of earth, is dug a well, forty-two inches in diameter, 
and three feet deeper than the bottom of the main 
cistern. [This should have a cover that can be re¬ 
moved,—double, to exclude frost; and be wide 
enough for a man to descend ; also large enough 
to hold sufficient water for heavy drafts in an 
emergency.— Ed.] Before either excavation is wall¬ 
ed, an iron pipe, e, is run from the middle, d, or low¬ 
est part of the main cistern, slantingly down to near 
the bottom of the filtering well. This pipe has a 
common stop-cock on the cistern end, from which 
an iron rod, c, extends up to the manhole, so that 
the cock may be readily opened or closed from the 
outside. The cistern and well are now walled and 
cemented in the usual way, care being taken to 
make all tight about the pipe where it penetrates 
the walls. When all is hardened and tight, and 
water let into the cistern, the stop-cock may be so 
opened as to allow it to filter quite slowly. After¬ 
ward no more water will pass to the well than is 
used from it. The flow can soon be regulated 
with the stop-cock to maintain it nearly uniform. 
Place in the bottom of the well, at /, thirty 
inches of mixed sand and charcoal, covered with 
six inches of clear sand to keep it down. The end 
of the stop cock, d, being a little above the bottom 
of the cistern, any sediment accumulating there 
will not be drawn through to the filter. What 
water does pass through will work its way slowly 
upward through the sand and charcoal, and be 
purified in the best manner on the way. To renew 
the filtering material, close the stop-cock, clear out 
the well, put in new material, and let on the water 
again. If water is scarce, pump what is in tne well 
above the filter back into the cistern to save it. 
Of course a pump will be placed in the well, 
and the pipe attached to it may extend down almost 
to the filter. For the convenience of cleaning, the 
Fig. 1.— A BARROW FOR STRAW, ETC. 
are thoroughly dry. Thus cared for, corn has 
been found to vegetate pretty well, even if plucked 
green and soft enough to be boiled for the table. 
Flint corn may be a single exception when gath¬ 
ered in the milky state and thus dried. Those 
whose corn was not well ripened by October, 
should make the experiment with it, especially if 
of a favorite sort. But in all cases test some por¬ 
tions of corn and all other seeds in ample time to 
procure that which is perfect, before wasting soil, 
work and time in planting any that may fail. 
pipe should run down near one side of the well. 
[In constructing several cisterns a dozen years 
ago, on the general principles above described, but 
without the convenient stop-cock, the connecting 
pipe used was in some cases a two-inch tin-lined 
lead pipe, in others a galvanized iron, and in others 
a glazed earthenware drain tube.—An important 
provision was the placing under the filtering ma¬ 
terial a quantity of small stones, covered first with 
gravel and then with coarse sand ; otherwise the 
small surface of sand immediately in contact with 
the end of the pipe soon chokes. Our latest device 
was to leave in the bottom of the filtering well an 
open space of four inches, covered with a strong 
oak plank, full of small auger holes, and supported 
on bricks laid on their edges. The first layer on 
the plank was coarse charcoal, and above this al¬ 
ternate layers of charcoal and river sand, or other 
sand well washed. In renewing the filters several 
years after, a good deal of material was found 
in the space under them, and we would recom¬ 
mend having it at least six inches deep.— Eds.] 
Some Useful Barrows. 
As a rule we need not go to Europe for garden 
and farm implements. Much work done by us 
with horse power is largely performed there by men 
or women, and they have some conveniences for 
lightening this, that may now and then be useful to 
us. Our garden barrow, with or without sides, is 
made to serve ‘for several purposes, while abroad 
those adapted to a great variety of purposes are 
common. Figure 1 shows one frequently seen 
in Holland, often with high pieces at the back. 
It is used for carrying faggots, straw, forage, etc. 
The barrow in figure 2 is employed in the south of 
Great Improvement in Vegetables. 
Those who frequent our markets can not fail to 
notice the decided improvement in vegetables of 
late years. This is limited to no particular kind, 
but nearly all are vastly superior to those of ten 
years ago. The irregular hollow tomatoes have 
been superseded by smooth 
and solid kinds. Celery is no 
longer a bunch of long green 
leaves, with a small eatable 
portion at the lower end of 
the stalk; and so on, all 
through the list. This season 
we notice a marked improve¬ 
ment in carrots. Iusteadofthe 
long, tapering root, like figure 
2, a large share of the carrots 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2 
now coming to market are shaped as in figure 1. 
This avoids the waste that occurs with the others, 
as the long slender part is of little use, and roots 
of this shape are much more easily dug than those 
which go deep into the soil. These improvements 
are due to care in selecting the stock from which 
seeds are grown. Those who wish to raise their 
own seeds of any improved vegetable, must take 
the same care in selecting, otherwise the variety 
will “run out,” or revert to its original condition. 
Better than Butter ! 
Fig. 2.— BARROW WITH BASKET. 
Europe in gathering farm and garden crops ; baskets 
or boxes of various sizes may be attached. As the 
weight rests upon the wheels a heavy load may be 
taken. A barrow used for carrying heavy weights to 
great distances is shown in figure 3 ; a strap at the 
Fig. 3.— LONG-HANDLED BARROW. 
ends of its long handles and passing over the 
shoulders relieves the arms of a share of the 
weight; having two wheels, it is very steady. 
One great cause of the seed corn rotting in the 
ground, or not coming up abundantly, is that 
6eed is not properly dried during winter. All 
designed for 6eed, if not thoroughly ripened and 
dried when gathered, should have the husks 
stripped down immediately and then hung up in 
some warm, well-sheltered place, until the kernels 
W. D. Boynton, of Appleton, Wis., writes to the 
American Agriculturist thus : When a farmer is re¬ 
mote from markets which give fancy prices for 
fresh “gilt-edge” butter, does it pay to take the 
milk from the calves, hire extra help, neglect other 
important farm work, and take a day every little 
while to go to market ? It seems to me that at 
twenty cents a pound for butter the margin for 
profit is pretty small. In a large, well-equipped 
dairy, handsome profits no doubt are realized, but 
not where one has only eight or ten cows. The 
early morning hours, when he should be in the 
field, are occupied in milking and churning, and 
the time spent in marketing often compels neglect 
of other farm work, resulting in serious loss. 
Would it not be much more profitable to let the 
calves have the milk, and thereby double the value 
of the stock grown ? A large stock raiser of my ac¬ 
quaintance recently gave it as his experience that 
one good cow would raise two calves,and thathe pro¬ 
posed to pursue that method altogether hereafter. 
He gives the calves all the feed they will stand, 
from the very first, and sells them for beef when 
about fourteen months old, at which age they 
weigh about three hundred and fifty pounds. At 
seven cents per pound, they bring him the nice 
| little sum of twenty-four dollars and fifty cents, 
