1853 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
299 
puny and contemptible cisterns and tubs placed co catch 
it; .but full-sized, capacious reservoirs, fit to hold this 
downward deluge, we know not where to find, even in 
a single instance! 
It is true, that where a constant draught is made on 
a cistern, it need not hold the full year’s supply—even 
one-sixth part, will, in general, answer, as the varia¬ 
tions in the wet and dry seasons do not often amount to 
more than the rain of two months. But allowing all 
this, where shall we find a cistern for a thirty-by-forty- 
feet bam that holds this sixth, or 170 barrels? Or one 
proportionately large, for a broader roof? 
Now what would the large supply of water from suf¬ 
ficient cisterns enable the farmer to do? or rather, 
what might he not do with it? 
1. In the first place, all the cattle on a farm well 
furnished with buildings, might obtain all the water 
needed for their daily use. 
2. Or, if instead, the usual proportion were supplied 
them by streams and wells, a large upper cistern would 
furnish all the conveniences of showering, washing, and 
sweeping off feculent matter, which are derived in 
cities from pipes and hydrants. 
3. Or, if large cisterns were placed in the upper part 
of the farm-buildings (where the space they would oc¬ 
cupy would be of little comparative value,) they would 
supply a fountain one-fourth of an inch in diameter, 
spouting fifteen feet high, for two hours every summer 
afternoon—the cisterns being unoccupied in winter. 
4. In addition to supplying the fountain, they would 
keep up the water in a pond at the foot of the fountain, 
thirty feet in diameter, (or with equal surface,) and al¬ 
low eight barrels to flow off daily for watering cattle or 
for other purposes, during the hottest evaporating days 
of summer. -—<&■— 
Tanks for Liquid Manure. 
Intelligent farmers are becoming well acquainted 
with the fact that under the ordinary management of 
manures, or rather want of management, a loss of 
fifty per cent, or more occurs by the waste of the 
liquid portions, and by the washing of rains. As a 
consequence, much ingenuity has been exercised, and 
much labor performed, to save and apply it. Tanks, 
or large water-tight underground cisterns, have been 
built, into which all the drainage of manure is directed. 
When full, some have pumped the contents back on their 
manure or compost heaps; others have pumped them 
into water casks, and conveyed them directly to the 
growing crops. Others again, have filled their tanks 
with dried peat, charcoal, &c., and when these are sa¬ 
turated the whole is thrown out and used as manure, 
and fresh portions again deposited. A more common, 
but less perfect, although easier way, is to keep the 
stables well littered with straw, and trust to its absorp¬ 
tion of the liquids. 
These all have their disadvantages. Carting out the 
liquid manure in water-carts, is altogether too expen¬ 
sive for ordinary farm crops—for although pumping 
and throwing from pipes is easier than shovelling the 
solid material, and the finely divided fertilizer pene- 
w^ = .= —.— 
| trates the soil to great advantage, yet the many tons 
of water required to be drawn out in order to get one 
ton of solid material, overbalances all the advantages. 
Pumping the contents back on the compost heap is far 
better, especially if there is a large amount of tuff 
and loam to absorb the rich parts. Filling the tank 
with absorbents saves all, but wastes labor, as these so¬ 
lid materials soon become loaded and heavy with water, 
for the small portion which they hold in solution, and 
all this weight of water must be shovelled out every 
time the cistern is filled, which is absolutely out of the 
question for common practice. 
We observe by the English papers that a decided im¬ 
provement has been made on all these plans, by Lady 
Frankland Russell, near Thirsk. It has been applied 
on a large scale to drains or sewers, and possesses the 
peculiar advantage of retaining all the enriching ma¬ 
terials, and suffering the water in a pure and transpa¬ 
rent form to escape; and may, of course, be as well ap¬ 
plied to the drainage of the barn-yard. The follow¬ 
ing is a section of the arrangement. 
The arrows show the course of the liquid current; the 
first tank, D, is filled with clay, turf, or loam, a large 
portion of clay being desirable ; and the second tank, 
E, with charcoal dust. The liquid finds its way through 
these substances by the force of gravity, and by capil¬ 
lary attraction. Two sets of these tanks are placed at 
the foot of each sewer or drain, and as soon as the 
water ceases to flow pure from the first, it is immedi- 
diately turned into the second, while the contents of 
the first are removed. The great advantage of this 
plan is, that the valuable parts of the liquid are ab¬ 
sorbed, and many times concentrated, instead of being 
dissipated through a vast bulk of water, while the ope¬ 
ration of pumping up all this water, as in the mode be¬ 
fore mentioned, is entirely avoided. 
Should such a plan as this be adopted to any extent 
on a farm, it would be an economical arrangement, and 
save some cartage, to carry the drainage as near as 
practicable to the place where most of the manure 
would be used, before passing into the tanks; and also 
to place them, if possible, on a hill-side, where the soil 
or turf could be easily dumped into them from a cart, 
and taken out into the cart below, when saturated. If 
charcoal cannot be had, both tanks may be filled with 
earth. Dried peat will absorb much liquid, but its 
absorption is mechanical , not chemical like clay, and 
hence when saturated, the water will not flow off pure. 
[CP* In Sussex county, Delaware, a young cow, one 
year old, is giving milk of an excellent quality. 
