THE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
. . .. .. 
In the form of substantial food, Mr. Chadwick states that 
in a week 
The transported thief receives,. 330 oz. 
The convicted thief “ 239 
The suspected thief “ 181 
The soldier (l 168 
The able bodied pauper “ 151 
The independent laborer “ 122 
This is reversing the law of nature and society, with a 
vengeance; and when a government sanctions such fla¬ 
grant wrongs, it may expect that men will steal and grow 
fat, rather than work and starve. The food of the labor¬ 
er in this country is as well illustrated in the anecdote of 
the Baltimore apprentice, as by any thing Ave have met 
with. An apprentice complained to a magistrate that his 
master was starving him. “ Indeed; what does he give 
you to eat?” “Why—why,” lisped the fellow, “ no¬ 
thing but bread, and potatoes, and beef, and mutton, and 
suchlike!” “Well, what would A r ou have?” “Why 
—why—plum pudding, and cakes, and roast turkey, and 
such like l” 
WATER ON FARMS—CEMENT PIPES. 
Those only who are deprived of the advantages of 
good watering places on their farms, can fully appreciate 
the privilege they confer, or the amount of suffering they 
prevent, when the farm slock have no drink except such 
as is dealt out to them once or twice a day from a well, 
or are obliged to be driven a distance to a pond or a 
stream. It is surprising how little attention is paid to this 
subject of water, when so much is depending upon it, and 
when so little expense would in most cases provide a re¬ 
medy for the evil. Wells, artificial ponds, &c. may be 
resorted to, when nothing better can be provided; but 
experience proves that running water, such as is furnish¬ 
ed by springs, or streams, and which can be conducted 
to the points where it is most wanted, is not only the 
best for stock, but far the most economical in the end. 
There are few, very few farms, on which water works of 
this kind may not be constructed, and the water conveyed 
in pipes wherever desired; still we have known men 
bring their water for domestic use, year after year, in 
barrels or in hogsheads, when nothing but a little energy or 
skill was required to bring an abundant supply of pure 
spring water to their doors. 
For the purpose of conveying water from a distance, 
pipes of various kinds have been resorted to, of which 
the most common are lead, wood and cement. Of these 
we give a decided preference to cement, unless used in 
circumstances where a great pressure is unavoidable, 
when perhaps wood or lead might be substituted. That 
a cement pipe properly constructed will not resist any or¬ 
dinary pressure, is effectually disproved by one we have 
in use for conveying water to our buildings, and on which 
a perpendicular pressure of forty feet has not the slightest 
effect. We dislike lead as a conductor of water for do¬ 
mestic purposes, because there are very few springs that 
do not contain salts of some kind sufficient to have a de¬ 
cided corrosive action on the lead, as such pipes on ex¬ 
amination almost invariably show, and lead is too active 
and dangerous a poison to be trusted in the human sys¬ 
tem in any form. Wood is free from the objection at¬ 
tached to lead, but its want of durability is a serious ob¬ 
stacle to its use. In passing through orchards, or mea¬ 
dows, roots will insinuate themselves through the minu¬ 
test crevices, and once entered will spread and ramify, so 
as to speedily fill the pipe and obstruct the passage of the 
water. Clover is if possible, more injurious to wood 
pipes than the roots of trees, and we have known an aque¬ 
duct ruined, and taken up, from the obstruction caused by 
the roots of this^plant. Observation and experience both 
concur in inducing us to prefer a pipe made of cement or 
water lime and sand, to any other material for conveying 
water. There are seA'eral reasons for this preference. 
The first is the purity and sweetness of the water so con¬ 
veyed. If the water is good at the source, it is good at 
its delivery; no poisonous metal, or disagreeable wood 
taste, having been added. A well made cement pipe, is 
in fact, a calcareous sandstone, and preserves water as 
pure as would a pipe of that stone. In the second place 
a cement pipe is durable. Lead usually soon fails from 
corrosion, and wood from decay; a cement pipe does 
neither. If well bedded, and at such a depth as not to be 
disturbed from the surface, there seems no reason why 
they should not last forever. Indeed, the cement aque¬ 
ducts of Rome and Jerusalem, after the lapse of some two 
or three thousand of years, furnish pretty good evidence 
on this point. In the third place cement pipe is the 
cheapest. It is the cheapest, because the first outlay in 
most cases is less than that of any other pipe, and because 
when once done well, it is done for all time, accidents ex¬ 
cepted. 
We have had some inquiries as to the best materials, 
and the best methods of making cement, both for cisterns 
and for water pipes, and all such we propose to answer 
here. The best material for cement is the water lime of 
Ulster or Onondaga; but it should be of undoubted quali¬ 
ty, fresh, or packed in air tight barrels, or it will be lit¬ 
tle better than ordinary good quick lime. As few are 
aware of the extent to which the manufacture of water 
lime is carried in this state, we will remark here, that the 
researches connected with the geological survey of New- 
York, showed that in 1839, six hundred thousand barrels 
were manufactured in Ulster co., and an immense quan¬ 
tity is annually manufactured in Onondaga and Madison 
counties. To prepare the cement, two bushels of very 
coarse sand or even fine gravel, sharp and clean from all 
dirt or loam, is mixed with one bushel of lime. The 
cleaner and sharper the sand, the firmer and better the ce¬ 
ment; great attention should therefore be paid to this part 
of the operation, as well as to the quality of the lime. 
For cisterns, or other purposes where water lime is used, 
the same precautions will be found essential, and if ob¬ 
served, failures can scarcely occur. 
There are several methods of laying down cement pipe, 
but all so simple and easy, that any one may perform the 
operation; although practice enables one to work water 
lime pipe so much more perfectly and readily, that an 
experienced hand should be obtained when practicable. 
The first, thing is to provide the water to be conducted. 
If a single spring, or a stream, it may be considered rea¬ 
dy for use; if from several springs, they must be conduct¬ 
ed to a common reservoir; and if the water is to be de¬ 
rived from wet grounds, deep covered drains centering at 
some convenient point, will be required. From this 
point, or reservoir, the water is to be conducted in ce¬ 
ment pipes to the places where it is wanted. The ditch 
for a water pipe should be not less than two feet deep, and 
if intended to convey water for the use of a family, should 
be still deeper; as if laid shallow, the heat of the earth 
when the water flows any distance from the spring, ren¬ 
ders it disagreebly warm in summer. The width of 
the ditch may be eighteen inches or two feet, a deep 
trench requiring more width than a shallow one. Where 
intended for the use of stock only, pipes so low as to be 
beyond the reach of frost, the plow, or pressure from pas ¬ 
sing bodies, are sufficient for every purpose. The bot¬ 
tom of the trench should be level, free from holes or soft 
places, as such would permit unequal pressure on the pipe, 
and endanger its breaking. 
We have known two kinds of implements used for lay¬ 
ing the pipe. In one of these cases, firm but flexible 
harness leather was sewed into a tube four or five feet in 
length, of the diameter it was intended to give the pipe, 
and then rammed full of bran. A covering of cement an 
inch thick was placed on the bottom of the trench, this 
cylinder placed on the middle of that, and a covering of 
cement well worked over it with a trowel, or by hand, 
for 20 or 24 inches. The cylinder was then drawn for¬ 
ward, while the cement was held hack by the other hand, 
and thus the pipe was rapidly and perfectly formed. Two 
narrow boards, served to confine the cement placed on the 
ground for the bed, to the proper width of four or six 
inches, according to the bore of the pipe, and thus left the 
completed aqueduct of a square form on its exterior sur¬ 
face. In the other instance the implement for forming 
the pipe was a round rod turned perfectly true, some two 
feet in length, and perforated from end to end to allow the 
passage of a strong cord. To this cord is attached a piece 
of wood ten inches long, of the same size as the rod, 
turned perfectly smooth, and tapering to each end. The 
cement is laid over the long rod, well worked down by a 
