any sort could be obtained from them. It then be came necefsary every day to drive the cattle off the premises more than a mile and a half to water, a circumstance most painful and distrefsing. The people said, they had never seen the like before; but it became so intolerable to me, that I would willingly have sold the property, but no purchaser could be found. I then made every possible inquiry, to discover a remedy for this inconvenience; and was told by a friend, that some hints for the discovery of springs occurred in your Treatise on Draining, which I immediately purchased, and read over with avidity; but none of the cases that you describe seem to apply directly to my situation. I read your Recreations also with much satisfaction in other respects, but have in vain looked for some elucidations on that head. I have at length resolved, after a considerable degree of hesitation, to presume so much upon your candour, as to trouble you with this letter, to request that you will favour the public with some hints that may serve to alleviate, if not to remove this serious evil, which I understand is experienced to a very great extent in many parts of the island. I will prolong this letter so far only as to say, that the subsoil in all this district is a firm clay, that extends to a greater depth than it ever has been penetrated; that the surface is a little soft in winter, and is abundantly productive of grafs, though a few rushes make their appearance upon it, and though there is a sufficient descent from all the fields; nor are we commanded by any higher ground near. Should you indulge me in this respect, it will confer a particular favour on ASIATICUS.

IN ANSWER TO THE ABOVE.

I WISH it were in my power to give a satisfactory answer to the queries of this respectable correspondent; but though it be, perhaps, impofsible to suggest a remedy that would prove entirely efficacious in all cases, yet the evil certainly admits of alleviation; and I shall take pleasure in suggesting a few hints that may have such a tendency.

From the circumstances above stated it is evident that the soil is perfectly retentive, so as not to allow any water to percolate through it. This gives to the owner one advantage over those who are situated upon an eminence, where the subsoil to a great depth consists of sand or other porous substances; because a reservoir that will be capable of retaining water can be here made at a much smaller expence than in the other case; for, in a pervious stratum, the bottom and edges must be all puddled with care, which, when of any considerable depth, is rather a nice procefs; and, if it be done carelefsly in any part, it does not easily admit of repair. In the present case, it does not appear to me that the difficulty will be great in providing the house, at least, with abundance of good and wholesome water at all times, and at a very moderate expence.

For this purpose, I would beg leave to direct the attention to one never-failing source of water in this island, which, if duly husbanded, will certainly preclude the danger of want at any season for almost any purpose, either for man or beast, that can ever occur. I here refer to the rain that falls upon the roofs of houses, which amounts to a much greater quantity

tained by repeated experiments, that in scarcely any part of this island does there fall less than twenty-eight inches depth of rain in a year. At this rate, there will fall upon every square foot of roof of any house above seventeen gallons and a half of water; or upwards of two hogsheads and a half on every square yard. At that rate, a house of thirty feet in length and twentyone in width (which is not larger than an ordinary cottage), would collect one hundred and seventy-five hogsheads in a year, which would afford the expenditure of half a hogshead a day. There are few farms with their offices that have not roofs to ten times the extent of the above; so that, were this water all preserved, they could expend at the rate of five hogsheads a day throughout the whole year, which would be sufficient for a very extensive stock of cattle. But when we consider, that in every situation cattle can be easily supplied with water from other sources for the greatest part of the year, it will appear very plain, that if all this water were carefully preserved, no farm could ever be in want of water for cattle or other purposes. All that is wanted then is, to discover an easy manner of collecting and preserving that water till it shall be wanted; which I shall proceed to show is not a difficult matter.

Few houses are now built without having spouts placed along the eaves to collect the rain water and convey it into a reservoir, usually a wooden cask, for the purpose of washing. But this reservoir is usually so small as soon to be filled, when the surplus runs over and is lost. Instead of that, let the whole of the water thus collected be led by pipes to one place, where it may be let into a well dug in the ground to a proper

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depth for that purpose, and covered at top. It will there be screened from the sun, and prevented from evaporation, so as to be kept sweet and cool as long as necessary; and we all know that no water is so pure and wholesome as rain water.

To those who are peculiarly delicate, however, it may occur, that some impurities may be washed off by the rain from the roof, which they would wish to get rid of. This may be easily and effectually done, by sinking another well at a moderate distance from the first, making a passage between the two near the bottom, to be filled up with small clean sand and gravel, through which the water must percolate before it reach the last well; in consequence of which it will be perfectly purified. The pump for supplying the family should be fixed in this last well, where it will of course find nothing but pure water.

For the sake of cattle, if it be necessary, let another reservoir be formed, also under ground, near to the pump well, with which it may communicate by means of an opening at one side near the top of the well, through which the superfluous water will run off whenever it rises above that level. This may be made in the form of a trough covered as far as may be found convenient, and open towards one end for the cattle to drink, without allowing them to set their feet in it.

If the house be upon an eminence, it will be very easy to convey the water from this last reservoir, by means of a pipe under ground, to any convenient part of the fields, or the garden, where it may terminate in a box to communicate with a trough for the cattle by means of a ball-cock, which always allows water

of itself when it is full, so as to keep it always full without ever running over. In this way abundance may at all times be had without any waste; and the pure element procured for the cattle, without any extravagance of expenditure. If pools are made in the lower places of the fields, the cattle may in these occasionally cool themselves; but if they have ready accefs to the troughs, they never will drink there.

I scarcely need observe, that for fields which are at a distance from the house, where the surface of the ground is not a dead level, wells of this sort may be formed by collecting the water that flows over the surface of the ground during rainy weather, and leading it into these wells. But these reservoirs should be always covered, and only have an open trough at one place to allow cattle to drink.

By this very simple contrivance, many parts of the country that are now much distressed. at times for want of water, may be effectually relieved, so as never to suffer any future inconvenience; and much expence in carting water to many villages might be entirely saved.

Mode of obtaining Food for the Nightingale in Russia.

DRIED ants eggs are to these birds a great regale, and the mode of obtaining them is as follows. The Russian shepherd shapes out a space about three yards square, on some sequestered piece of bare beaten ground, commonly a bye road, and surrounds it with a wet ditch, two or three inches broad, and an inch or two deep. Into the centre of this little fort he thus brings a whole hillock, with all its contents, and scatters it about, leaving here and there (on spots kept clean for the purpose) little heaps of