I 
256 THE CULTIVATOR. 
twenty years old and upwards, are frequently seen in 
western New-York; and in the town of Farmington, On¬ 
tario county, are the remains of an Indian orchard, con¬ 
taining peaeh trees a foot in diameter and probably fifty 
years old, in a bearing state. 
The curled leaf, which frequently appears on peach 
trees early in summer, is occasioned by frost or chilly 
weather. These leaves soon drop and the tree assumes 
a healthy appearance. This would not be worth noti¬ 
cing, except that it sometimes occasions unnecessary 
alarm. 
The growth of some varieties is retarded by mildew 
upon the young shoots. It appears to be exclusively 
confined to those having serrated glandless leaves, as the 
Early White Nutmeg, Early Ann, and some of the earli¬ 
er varieties of the red rareripe. It is not a very serious 
evil; and the best remedy appears to be good soil and 
good culture to stimulate the growth. All yellow-flesh¬ 
ed varieties appear to be entirely free from it. 
The length of this article precludes any further re¬ 
marks on the curculio, which attacks the nectarine and 
sometimes the peach, than merely to say, that the evil 
may be prevented by jarring the insects from the tree on 
cloths spread beneath, and then destroying them; or by 
confining swine in the orchard, every year, during the 
early part of the season. The former should be done 
when the fruit is as large as a pea, and continued daily 
or oftener until no more are found. The latter should 
be continued so long as the injured fruit continues to drop 
from the tree. In the next number, a fuller account of 
this insect will be given. J. J. T. 
CEMENT CISTERNS—THE BEST METHOD OF 
CONSTRUCTING. 
Messrs. Editors —You will doubtless allow me to 
communicate through your valuable monthly, pro bono 
publico, but especially for the benefit of those interested, 
a few brief hints in regard to the proper manner of con¬ 
structing cisterns; household appendages so necessary to 
the comfort and convenience of those who are not bless¬ 
ed by nature or art with a generous fountain of pure soft 
water at their doors. 
Of the various methods recommended and practiced in 
different sections of the country, the plan of constructing 
cisterns of brick and water cement, is doubtless far supe¬ 
rior to any other, particularly in regard to usefulness and 
durability. Though we have made one answer a tolera¬ 
bly good purpose for a number of years, made of white 
pine, bound with strong iron hoops, and firmly set in blue 
clay, yet the liability of the material to decompose and 
become useless, even when every precaution is used, 
s*ggested the propriety of adopting some improved mode 
in constructing it. The plan chosen was the one above 
mentioned. We constructed two of different sizes. For 
the largest, a pit was ordered to be dug ten feet in diam- 
ter and nine feet in depth, the bottom being shaped simi¬ 
lar to that of a large potash kettle, and the sides perpen¬ 
dicular- The brick selected from the kiln for the pur¬ 
pose, were those burned hard, though but little cracked 
or warped. The mortar used was made of two parts 
coarse clean river sand, and one part ground water ce¬ 
ment ready for mixing, obtained at the mill near Schuy- 
lerville, N. Y., at 25 cents per bushel, though from the 
fact that it does not petrify or “ set” as soon as some 
kinds, it is believed a superior quality may be obtained. 
Water is worked in to render it sufficiently soft for use, 
like common lime mortar. With materials and pit thus 
prepared, the mason commences operations exactly in the 
centre and bottom of the excavation, by covering the sur¬ 
face with a thick coat of his mortar, and laying the 
bricks with their flat surfaces contiguous, forming as soon 
as convenient, a perfect circle of some three or four feet 
in diameter. Regular courses are then laid around the 
circle, taking care to increase the inclination of the up¬ 
per edge towards the centre, so that when the bottom is 
finished to the edge from where he wishes to carry up 
the sides, the bricks will be placed in an angle of about 
fifty degrees with the perpendicular side. Extreme care 
should be taken with this part of the work, and an extra 
quantity of cement used, in order to prevent the possi¬ 
bility of a leak, as in turning up the wall, the outer edges 
of the bricks must necessarily be further apart than the 
inner, and every cavity should be completely filled with 
the mortar. The sides were then carried up perpendic- 
larly five feet, from which point they were gradually 
drawn in until carried up nine feet, and the neck or top 
so small as to admit of being covered with large slabs of 
white marble, with a circular orifice sufficiently large to 
admit an ordinary sized person, and to place a pump for 
raising the water. A curb is then carried up sufficiently 
high to prevent any action of the frost on the work be¬ 
low, and filled in with dirt or gravel that will not heave. 
At the top of the brick wall and immediately under the 
stone covering, is left an opening the size of a brick, 
from which a drain is laid to conduct off the surplus wa¬ 
ter, made like the cistern of brick and cement. While 
the wall is going up, the mason should be particularly 
careful to lay on a good coating of cement over the out¬ 
side before filling in, care being taken to preserve a suf¬ 
ficient space between the bank and wall for this purpose. 
To complete the work, a flat stone is placed on the bot¬ 
tom of the cistern in a bed of mortar for the pump to 
stand upon, the whole inside plastered with cement simi¬ 
lar to the walls of a house, and after drying a few hours, 
whitewashed with a thick mixture of cement and water, 
and the work is clone. Water may be admitted after the 
work has become partially hardened, but should be con¬ 
ducted to the bottom in such a manner as not to wash the 
coating of cement. The first quantity of water dischar¬ 
ged into it, will be hardened and rendered unfit for use, 
by the sulphate of lime contained in the cement, which 
may be pumped out, when the next will be soft. 
The advantages of having cisterns constructed as above 
described, must be apparent to the most casual observer. 
When done in a workmanlike manner, and with proper 
materials, they will be as durable as though formed of 
solid rock, and the inside presents a surface as free from 
filth as any stone vessel used for culinary or household 
purposes. Different families will of course require dif¬ 
ferent sizes, and the amount of material necessary to con¬ 
struct them, vary accordingly; the one described, con¬ 
taining something like 45 hogsheads, the other about 20. 
The builder, Mr. Richard Swartu r out of Sehuylerville, N. 
Y., has often, to save expense, been ordered to plaster 
the cement directly on to the earth as shaped with the 
shovel, and covering with plank or large stone as before. 
But the mode is evidently objectionable, as, if accidental¬ 
ly exposed to the frost, the sides will crack and become 
leaky. Brick cisterns laid up with common mortar, are 
also liable to crumble in time, and prove defective. In 
either case, however, the top should be sunk below the 
surface, and covered with gravel sufficiently deep to pre¬ 
vent the action of the frost on any part of the masonry. 
If any of your readers choose to construct their cisterns 
according to the above directions, taking care to secure 
an experienced workman and good materials, they will 
find doubtless, should they live so long, that the lapse of 
half a century will not affect their usefulness or impair 
their durability. J. Chace. 
Iloosick Falls , June, 1844. 
CORN-STALKS FOR SOILING. 
Some remarks were made in another column, on the 
advantages of soiling. One mode of raising green fod¬ 
der for this purpose, should have been mentioned. This 
is by sowing corn. A sufficient number of experiments 
have been made to establish fully its advantages. Those 
made last year by the writer, by sowing it in drills two 
feet apart, and about twenty to thirty grains per foot in 
the drill, yielded over fourteen tons of green food per 
acre, though the land was not rich, and would not pro¬ 
bably have given more than thirty bushels of the grain in 
the usual way. Dr. Button of Newark, N. Y., raised by 
sowing broadcast, (four bushels of seed per acre,) five 
and a half tons of dried fodder; and J. A. Miller of the 
same place, raised last year, which was a very dry and 
unfavorable season, and on poor and unmanured land, four 
tons of dried fodder to the acre. 
The small size of the stalks, caused by the dense growth 
greatly improves the quality, horses and cattle consumii 
