670 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



4142. Sleining. There are two methods of building the stone or brick within the 

 well, which is called the steining. In one of these a circular ring is formed, of the same 

 diameter as the intended well ; and the timber of which it is composed is of the size of 

 the brick-courses, with which the well is to be lined. The lower edge of this circle is 

 made sharp, and shod with iron, so that it has a tendency to cut into the ground; this 

 circular kirb is placed flat upon the ground, and the bricks are built upon it to a consi- 

 derable height, like a circular wall. The well-digger gets within this circle, and digs 

 away the earth at the bottom ; the weight of the wall then forces the kirb, and the brick- 

 work with which it is loaded, to descend in the earth, and as fast as the earth is removed 

 it sinks deeper, and the circular brick-wall is increased or raised at top as fast as it sinks 

 down; but when it gets very deep, it will sink no longer, particularly if it passes through 

 soft strata: in this case, a second kirb of a smaller size is sometimes began within the 

 iirst. When a kirb will not sink from the softness of the strata, or when it is required 

 to stop out water, the bricks or stones must be laid one by one at the bottom of the work, 

 taking care that the work is not left unsupported in such a manner as to let the bricks fall 

 as they are laid : this is called under-pinning. 



4143. Noxious air. Well-diggers experience sometimes great difficulty from a noi-ious air which fills the 

 well, and suffocates them if they breathe it. The usual mode of clearing wells of noxious air is, by means 

 of a large pair of bellows, and a long leathern pipe, which is hung down into the well to the bottom, and 

 fresh air is forced down to the bottom by working the bellows. 



4144. The use of the anger is common in well-digging, both in ascertaining before 

 commencement the nature of the strata to be dug into, and also in course of digging for 

 the same purpose ; and because, by boring in the bottom of a well to a considerable depth, 

 the spring is sometimes hit upon, and digging rendered no longer necessary, 



4145. In particular situations, the vse of the borer alone may procure an adequate 

 supply of water. This mode appears to have been long resorted to in this and other 

 countries. From what we have already stated as to the disposition of strata, the condi- 

 tions requisite for its success will be readily conceived ; viz. watery strata connected with 

 others on a higher level : the pressure of the water contained in the higher parts of such 

 strata on the lower will readily force up the latter through any orifice, however small. 

 All that is necessary, therefore, is to bore down to the stratum containing the water, 

 and having completed the bore, to insert a pipe, which may either be left to over- 

 flow into a cistern, or it may terminate in a pump. In many cases, water may be found 

 in this way, and yet not in sufficient quantity and force to rise to the surface ; in such 

 cases a well may be sunk to a certain depth, and the auger-hole made, and the pipe 

 inserted in it in the bottom of the well. From the bottom it may be pumped up to the 

 surface by any of the usual modes. 



4146. u4s an example of ivell-digging combined with boring, we give that of a well dug 

 at a brewery at Chelsea, Middlesex, in 1793. The situation was within 20 or 30 feet 

 of the edge of the Thames, and the depth 394 feet, mostly through a blue clay or marl. 

 At the depth of near fifty feet a quantity of loose coal, twelve inches in thickness, was 

 discovered : and a little sand and gravel was found about the same depth. The well- 

 digger usually bored about ten, fifteen, or twenty feet at a time lower than his work as 

 he went on, and on the last boring, when the rod was about fifteen feet below the bottom 

 of the well, the man felt, as the first signal of water, a rolling motion, something like the 

 gentle motion of a coach passing over pavement; upon his continuing to bore, the water 

 presently pushed its way by the side of the auger with great force, scarcely allowing him 

 time to withdraw the borer, put that and his other tools into the bucket and be drawn up 

 to the top of the well. The water soon rose to the height of two hundred feet. 



4117. In a case which occurred in digging a well at Dr. Danimi's, near Derby, the 

 water rose so much higher than the surface of the ground, that by confining it in a tube, he 

 raised it to the upper part of the house. ( Rees's Cyclopcedia, art. Well, and Derbyshire Rep. ) 



4148. The process of boring the earth for spring water has of late been practised, with 

 great success, in various parts of England, chiefly by a person named Good, of Hunt- 

 ingdon. In the neighborhood of London, many fountains of pure spring-water have lately 

 been obtained by these means. We may particularly name those at Tottenham, Middle- 

 sex, and Mitcham, Surrey, both of which aflford a continuous and abundant flow of water, 

 equal to about eight gallons per minute. A very copious fountain, which rises twenty 

 feet above the surface, has lately been obtained by the same means in the grounds of 

 Ravenscroft Park, the seat of G. Scott, Esq., near Hammersmith. Indeed there can be 

 little doubt that in the great majority of situations, not only in Britain, but throughout the 

 world, water might be found by boring or digging down a few scores of feet. 



4149. The bmirig is effected by means of an auger, similar to the instrument employed in boring for coal. 

 The auger is connected to an iron rod, about four or five feet long, which is introduced into the ground in 

 a perpendicular direction, a slight power being exerted on the top : it is turned by manual labor. "When 

 the auger has descended as far as the length of the rod will permit by cutting its way through the ground, 

 it is then drawn up by a shaft and windlass ; and the earth which occupied the space thus bored, is brought 

 up with it and disbharged from the auger. Another length of rod is added to the auger as it gets deeper. 



