178 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
coarse, compact gravel, it is better to make it 
somewhat spreading at the sides, or bell-shaped, 
and similar to that in the engraving. The sit¬ 
uation should be chosen in the most convenient 
place, as it is easier to lay a pipe to it than to 
carry water from it. The digging should be 
smoothly done, or there will be waste of ce¬ 
ment in the plastering. When the whole is 
dug the cement may be prepared. This should 
be water lime or hydraulic cement. Our native 
Rosendale cement will answer the purpose very 
well, but if expense is no object, and the best 
work is desired, we would finish with a thin 
coating of imported Portland cement. This 
costs three times as much as Rosendale cement, 
being worth about $5 a barrel, while the other 
is about $1.75. The cement should be mixed 
dry, as evenly as possible, with seven times its 
bulk of clean, sharp sand. As it is needed it may 
be mixed with water upon the floor of the cis¬ 
tern, so as to become a soft mortar and be im¬ 
mediately spread. A flat stone large enough 
to stand upon, or several of them, should be 
laid in the bottom of the cistern, and bedded 
in the cement. Then the sides should be plas¬ 
tered at least an inch thick, or somewhat thick¬ 
er at the bottom, in streaks all round the cis¬ 
tern,’going regularly around in a spiral, taking 
care to make the joints very accurately, and 
leaving scratches to receive the finishing coat. 
In this way it is finished to the top. After it 
is done a light coat, with half as much sand as 
before, is laid over it and smoothly finished. 
When this is done a thin coat of pure cement, 
made as thick as whitewash, is laid on with a 
brush. A covering of joists and plank is laid 
over the top, and water may be run in at any 
time, the sooner the better. If any cracks ap¬ 
pear before the water comes in they should be 
carefully filled with the cement wash by means 
of the brush. The accompanying engraving 
shows the shape of the cistern which is best 
fitted for gravelly soil. In stiff clay the shape 
is not of great importance. In sandy soil the 
walls of the cistern must be bricked before 
cementing. 
For domestic use a waste shoe should be 
provided to be hung upon the lead spout from 
the roof, for the purpose of carrying off the 
first run of water, which is very apt to taste 
badly. After the roof and spouts are washed 
clean, the shoe may be removed and the water 
turned into the cistern pipe. It is well also to 
clean out the gutters occasionally and remove 
dead leaves and dirt. A filter should be attached 
to the house cistern, made of a wooden or ce¬ 
mented box, two feet square, into the bottom 
of which the lead pipe discharges. Layers of 
coarse gravel, sand and pounded charcoal are 
placed in the box and covered with a slate or a 
slab of cement pierced with holes. Upon this 
slab a layer of coarse gravel is placed. The 
water passes through all these and is freed from 
ill tastes and color. The engraving shows the 
manner of making the filter. 
Ear-Marks for Stock. 
There are various methods in use for mark¬ 
ing and numbering animals so that they may 
be readily distinguished by the breeder. In a 
recent number of the London Field w r e find a 
system described which has been invented by a 
German breeder, Yon Thaer. It consists in the 
use of three marks only, which may be so com¬ 
bined as to indicate very clearly any number up 
to 10,000. These marks are, first, a notch in the 
side of the ear; second, the tip of the ear cut 
squarely off, and third, a hole in the ear. Each 
mark has an arbitrary value which changes ac¬ 
cording to its position upon the ear, or either 
ear, and the sum of the values represents the 
number of the animal which bears the marks. 
A notch on the front of the left ear stands for 
1, two such notches stand for 2; a back notch 
on the same ear stands for 3, two such notches 
stand for six; one notch in the back and one 
in the front of the left ear stand for 4, and 
combinations of these notches mark up to 9; 
a front notch upon the right ear marks 10, and 
a back or outside notch marks 30; combina¬ 
tions of these notches upon this ear mark up 
to 90, and w’itli those upon the other ear up to 
99; a notch upon the tip of the left ear marks 
100, one upon the tip of the right ear 200, and 
these two together 300; a square cut, off from 
the tip of the left ear, is 400, and from the right 
ear marks 500 ; this last mark with the notch in 
the tip of the left ear marks 600; the tips cut 
square from both ears mark 900. Thus we 
have marks up to 999, and the third comes in¬ 
to use. This is a circular hole which, in the 
left ear, marks 1,000, and in the right earmarks 
3,000. By combining these marks any number 
up to 10,000 maybe represented. We append 
the following engravings of various marks, 
with the values represented by them. A sim¬ 
ple pair of pincers, provided with the required 
cutters, is the only tool needed. A register of 
the stock of course will be kept in which the 
character of the animals will be recorded oppo¬ 
site their particular number. This system is 
well adapted in cases where stock is running 
at large and is in danger of tearing out the ear 
marks made by inserting rings or bands bear¬ 
ing letters or numbers. Where stock is care¬ 
fully kept the Dana ear-marks here shown may 
be made very useful. Careful breeders find it 
quite necessary to be able to distinguish each 
individual of their herds. When a calf in a 
large herd is removed from its dam to be 
Fig. 3 .—dana’s eab-marks. 
weaned, its identity becomes lost unless a mark 
is put into its ear. Upon the western plains 
the usual brands must give place to these me¬ 
tallic ear marks, at least for horned stock, 
while those previously described will serve ad¬ 
mirably for sheep. The metallic ear marks, 
stamped with the owner’s private brand, will 
be a readily distinguished mark ; upon male 
animals they may be placed longitudinally inthe 
ear, and upon females they may be placed cross¬ 
wise, as shown in the accompanying figures. 
A Smoothing Drag. 
E. W. Greene, North Andover, Mass., sends 
us a sketch of a smoothing drag which is used 
extensively in his neighborhood in¬ 
stead of a roller. It is eight feet long, 
and made of two-inch plank. The bot¬ 
tom is two feet wide on the flat, and 
a plank twelve inches wide is placed 
in front at such an angle as will enable 
the drag to ride over the ground and 
crush all rough clods without pushing 
them ahead. The sides are made of 
4x4 scantling, beveled at one end to 
fit the front plank. A chain is fast¬ 
ened to the front by hooks, and when 
in use the driver rides. In addition to 
its use as a clod-crusher, it will be found very 
convenient in gathering rubbish and roots of 
A SMOOTHING DRAG. 
grass or other weeds from plowed ground. The 
accompanying engraving shows the drag ready 
for use. 
Our Supply of Salmon Spawn. 
It is only four years ago that we were 
obliged to send to the government hatching 
house on Wilmot’s Creek, near Newcas¬ 
tle, Canada, for salmon eggs, and get 
them as a special favor, at $40 a thousand, 
gold. So jealous were the Canadian au¬ 
thorities of all intrusion into their terri¬ 
tory for salmon spawn, that the hatching 
works on the Migamichi River were 
broken up, and we had to purchase at 
the Wilmot establishment, or go without. 
Fortunately there were a few rivers in 
Maine that yielded salmon, and it was thought 
possible to get a supply from the Penobscot, 
where some six or eight thousand were taken 
annually by fishermen. There had been a 
successful experiment of taking land locked 
salmon spawn at Grand Lake Stream in Maine, 
in the fall of 1870, by catching and pounding the 
salmon during the fall until they were ready to 
spawn in November. From this it was inferred 
that the Salmo Salar might be taken alive from 
the weirs on the Penobscot during the summer, 
and kept securely in ponds, until the spawning 
season. A company was organized of the Fish 
Commissioners of Maine, Massachusetts, and 
Connecticut, and the Poquonnoc Fish Com¬ 
pany, who agreed to meet the expenses of an 
experiment near Bricksport, Maine, under the 
direction of Chas. G. Atkins, Esq., one of the 
Maine Commissioners. The first year about 
72,000 eggs were taken, and the price of eggs 
to the parties was found to be about eighteen 
dollars a thousand. The second year, an ap- 
Fig. 1.— EAR-MARKS FOR ANIMALS. 
