water by some well-protected
channel directly into a drain in the ground, at a depth beyond the
direct action of frosts. If the stream is constant, this depth need be
nothing like that to which frost penetrates into the soil,--for the
constant movement of the water will prevent its freezing, even if
covered only a foot deep, though to something more than this depth it
will be desirable to have the metal pipe enclosed in a larger pipe of
earthenware, giving a space of enclosed air.

* * * * *

Where there is no public supply of water, it is better in most cases
(considering the nearness of wells in villages to cesspools and
privy-vaults), to depend entirely upon cisterns. In our climate, where
rain is abundant during a considerable portion of the year, the water
falling upon the roof of any house, if properly collected and stored, is
ample for the whole supply of the family which that roof shelters. This
water as it falls is ordinarily free from any impurity that can affect
its taste, and from every source of serious fouling; though, after a
long-continued drought, it is well to divert and discharge upon the
surface of the ground the first ten minutes' flow of a shower, so that
the impurities of the air and the dust of the roof may first be removed.
After this first dash, lead to the cistern all that follows. Even with
this precaution, the water will be more agreeable for use if filtered.
There are numerous systems for making filters in cisterns, but no other
is so simple nor so durable and satisfactory as the separation of that
part of the cistern from which the suction-pipe leads by a wall of brick
and cement. It is simply necessary to build a wall of brick set on edge
(two and a half inches thick), so as to include about one-quarter of the
area of the bottom, sloping it back so as to terminate against the side
of the cistern at a height of from four to six feet. This wall should be
so well cemented at its joints that water can only pass through the
material of brick, and for strength its form should be slightly bulging.
A wall of this sort, measuring say six feet at its base, and rising to a
height of six feet at its highest point, will transmit an amount of
water sufficient to supply the demand of the most constant pumping that
any domestic use can require.

SQUARES AND PUBLIC SPACES.

As a rule, the open spaces in a country village are subject to no other
criticism than that of n