this mode of draining cellars, representing the
cellar referred to, will, perhaps, present the matter more clearly.

[Illustration: Fig. 99--DRAINAGE OF CELLAR.]

Many persons have attempted to exclude water from their cellars by
cementing them on the bottom, and part way up on the sides. This might
succeed, if the cellar wall were laid very close, and in cement, and a
heavy coating of cement applied to the bottom. A moment's attention to
the subject will show that it is not likely to succeed, as experience
shows that it seldom, if ever, does.

The water which enters cellars, frequently runs from the surface behind
the cellar wall, where rats always keep open passages, and fills the
ground and these passages; especially when the earth is frozen, to the
surface, thus giving a column of water behind the wall six or eight feet
in height. The pressure of water is always in proportion to its height
or head, without reference to the extent of surface. The pressure, then,
of the water against the cemented wall, would be equal to the pressure
of a full mill-pond against its perpendicular dam of six or eight feet
height! No sane man would think of tightening a dam, with seven feet
head of water, by plastering a little cement on the down-stream side of
it, which might as well be done, as to exclude water from a cellar by
the process, and under the conditions, stated.

DRAINAGE OF BARN CELLARS.

Most barns in New England are constructed with good substantial cellars,
from six to nine feet deep, with solid walls of stone. They serve a
three-fold purpose; of keeping manure, thrown down from the cattle and
horse stalls above; of preserving turnips, mangolds, and other
vegetables for the stock; and of storing carts, wagons, and other farm
implements. Usually, the cellar is divided by stone, brick, or wood
partitions, into apartments, devoted to each of the purposes named. The
cellar for manure should not be wet enough to have water flow away from
it, nor dry enough to have it leach. For the other purposes, a dry
cellar is desirable.

Perhaps the details of the drainage of a barn cellar on our own
premises, may give our views of the best mode of drainage, both for a
manure cellar, and for a root and implement cellar. The barn was built
in 1849, on a site sloping slightly to the south. In excavating for the
wall, at about seven feet below the height fixed for the sills, we came
upon a soft, blue clay, so nearly fluid that a ten-