At the commencement of the Garden establishment the 

 Society entered into an agreement with the West Middlesex 

 Water Works Company for a supply of water adequate to the 

 wants of the Menagerie and of the Gardens ; and by a subse- 

 quent agreement the annual rent for this supply was settled 

 at £200, at which it remained for several years. In the au- 

 tumn of 1833, however, it having appeared to the Directors 

 of that Company, from calculations made at its Reservoir, 

 that this rate of remuneration was inadequate for the quan- 

 tity of water supplied to the Gardens, they proposed a new 

 arrangement, which, while it involved an outlay for a Reser- 

 voir, would have required (assuming their calculations to be 

 correct) an annual rent of upwards of £450. 



With the view of avoiding, if possible, so heavy an annual 

 charge, the Council referred the whole subject to the consi- 

 deration of a Committee, on whose report it was subsequently 

 determined to endeavour to obtain for the Society an inde- 

 pendent supply of water by penetrating to the deep springs. 

 Contracts were consequently entered into, and the well which 

 is now in operation at the Gardens was sunk. After pene- 

 trating through the London clay to the depth of 140 feet, 

 and through the plastic clay (interrupted by a thin stratum 

 of a whitish colour and very sandy) for 40 feet, the boring 

 was commenced ; and the variegated sand containing peb- 

 bles of chalk flints, in which the deep springs are, was 

 reached in about 1 feet more ; making the total depth 

 from the surface to the spring rather greater than 190 feet. 

 The water rose rapidly in the well, and soon attained its or- 

 dinary level, which is somewhat less than 120 feet from the 

 surface of the ground. The diameter of the well is 7 feet 

 6 inches ; that of the copper tube used in the boring is 9 

 inches. 



To raise the water from so great a depth considerable force 

 was evidently necessary, and this had been provided for by 



