36 The Bulletin. 



such that the ram cau be used we would recommend it iu preference to the 

 wind-mill. 



Hydraulic Ram. — This machine runs by the force of the water itself, hence 

 costs nothing for power, and as the machinery is very simple the whole outfit 

 can be installed at comparatively little cost, the expense depending upon the 

 size of the tank to be supplied, the amount of pipe necessary to convey the 

 water from the source to the house and barn, etc. It cau only be used where 

 there is some decided fall at the water source, such as a stream, ditch, or spring 

 brook flowing down a good grade. Such conditions can be found at hundreds 

 of homes throughout the hilly Piedmont and mountain sections of our State, 

 and in these regions thousands of hydraulic rams might be (and some day 

 will be) at work driving an abundant supply of pure water into the homes 

 and barns. To make a very conservative estimate of what may be done by 

 the ram we may saj' it icill raise one-seventh of the suijply of water to four 

 times the height of the fall at the source. In other words, if you have a 

 spring giving a flow of fourteen gallons to the minute, and the stream flows 

 from - the spring with a fall of five feet in a short distance, you may, by 

 means of a ram, raise two gallons of the water every minute to a height of 

 twenty feet. Or, if you need to raise the water forty feet to get it to the 

 top of your house or in the tank, it will raise one gallon per minute. I have 

 chosen to be very conservative in this estimate — a good ram will do more 

 than I have stated rather than less — iu fact, there are pump dealers and 

 makers who will guarantee better work than I have indicated. Advertise- 

 ments of hydTaulic rams are to be found in all farm papers, or any large 

 hardware or pump dealer will gladly assist you in making a proper invest- 

 ment along this line. Study the matter carefully and when intelligently con- 

 vinced that you have suflicient flow and fall to operate a ram successfully, 

 go ahead. The total cost will vary from $00 to $15U, and it will save many 

 times its cost in worry, work, profanity and premature gray hairs. There 

 are, of course, many houses built at the top of high hills where the water 

 cannot be forced by this means, but nevertheless there are thousands upon 

 thousands of homes iu this State which are now without this convenience 

 where it could be had at a cost easily within reach of the owners. 



Other Methods. — A number of other methods are in use for obtaining water 

 in houses. Cistern water, gathered from a clean roof and carefully screened, 

 is entirely healthful, and even if not used for drinking is excellent for cook- 

 ing and washing purposes. Water may be run from the eaves directly into 

 a large tank outside, or inside the house, from which pipes may lead to 

 the kitchen or bath-room. Bath-room? Yes, sir, for I think that this is an 

 accompaniment of cleanliness and modern good living that should be iu every 

 good farm-house. A force-pump may be employed, by which a pressure of 

 air is pumjted into a metal tank and that forces up the water from the 

 cistern or shallow well. One farmer told me that he had a hand-pump on 

 the kitchen porch and his bath-room on the ground floor not more than 

 twenty feet away, and he merely attached a pipe to his pump when he wished 

 to fill the bath-tub. Mr. French, of Rockingham County, tells me of a man 

 who had one of these pole and roller crushers (1 don't know the proper 

 name) for grinding sorghum-cane, and geared it so that, when the mule was 

 hitched to it and walked around, it worked the pump handle and raised the 

 water to a tank in the top of the house. If there is an old-fashioned tread- 

 mill on the place it may be geared to a similar use; or better still, if tne 

 farmer has a good gasoline or steam-engine it will do this work and much 

 other besides. 



Enough has been said to show that there are various methods of accom- 

 plishing this very desirable result of getting water into the house. Once this 

 is accomplished, it is an easy step to attach a hot-water tank to the cook- 

 range and have both hot and tjold water on hand every daj^ in the year for use 

 in kitchen and bath-room. Conditions are so variable on the different farms 

 that no specific directions can be given here that will suit all cases, but with 

 the hints here given any farmer can consult a mechanic, a plumber or a 

 pump dealer and determine with certainty the best method of solving the 

 question of the water supi)ly. 1 have talked with those in this State who 

 have expended as high as $400 or even $1,000 on very elaborate and complete 



