704 



F A R M E R S' U E G I S T E R. 



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Pirate Xllf. — Drainage of hills, procuring of water for wellSj 4*c. ^-c^ 



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-A Pipe or covered drain. B x\uger hoM. C open sandy side hiiJ. S S Springs. 



side, by means of a drain and boring, lower than 

 lliat wiiich it naturally lius on tlievvet side, the 

 course of the spring may be thereby diverted. 

 The opposite side being porous and sandy, it be- 

 comes a reservoir lor the rain-vvaler, which will 

 afterwards discharge itself at the artificial opening 

 made on the other side— a circumstance that may 

 be usel'ul lor domestic purposes, when a house is 

 set down on the dry side of a hill. See fifs. 1 and 

 2, of plate No. XIII. 



The principles of this system may be often ap- 

 plied with advantage in the procuring of water lor 

 wells, &c., in situations where it does not appear 

 practicable to a person unacquainted with them. 



A spring in a low situation adjacent to higher 

 ground, may be raised to supply a house or any 

 other useful purpose (although nmch below the 

 level), by confining it in a pipe, or water-tight 

 brick chimney. The reservoir from whence the 

 spring or outlet of water is supplied, being con- 

 fined and pent up between two retentive Strata, 

 and the upper part of such reservoir extending 

 perhaps to a considerable height and distance in 

 the high ground contiguous, it is evident, that if a 

 perforation be made through the superincumbent 

 stratum into the lowest part of that containing the 

 spring, the Water may be raised to nearly as hi'i-h 

 a level as the head of its reservoir, by confining it 

 in a pipe or other close conductor. See fior. 2 of 

 plate No. XIII. Of this, several instances occur- 

 red in iV'lr. Elkington's practice; particularly near 

 Warwick, where he raised the water, procured 

 from draining a low meadow, into a mill-lead a 

 considerable height above the level of the drain. 

 The conduit is closely built with brick, and so 

 puddled with clay at sides and top, as to make it 

 so perfectly water-tiirht, that not a drop can es- 

 cape, though the | ressure be considerable. The 



(also water-tight), and is discharged into the lead.- 

 Two similar cases have occurred during the au- 

 thor'a practice^ 



Tlie advantages of such operations must be' 

 very great in many situations, and may often be 

 accomplished with success, though some may 

 think them impracticable.* Of the |)racticabilty of 

 this, however, and that water will rise to a very 

 considerable height by means of its own pressure 

 in high and distant ground, the following remark- 

 able occurience, which happened in digginir a 

 well in the vicinity of London, is a proof: Earl 

 Spencer, ibr the preservation of his noble mansion 

 at Wimbledon against fire, ordered a well to be 

 dug at a little distance from the house, which was 

 sunk 10 the amazing depth of six hundred feet be- 

 fore any s[)ring was ibund! It was begun on 31st 

 ol May 1795; and, on the 12th of August 1796,t 

 the man who was employed in the undertaking, 

 gave a signal to the person above, to draw him up, 

 as he had found the spring, and was immersed in 

 water so deep that his lile was endangered. In 

 the space of four hours, the water rose to the 

 height of three hundred and fifty feet, and during 

 two days Ibllowinir, its increase was more than a 

 foot an hour. The water proceeding Irom rock, is 

 remarkably fine, and, from the strata it passes 

 through, is strongly impregnated with mineralic 

 (jualities. The sinking of this well alone cost his 

 lordship two thousand pounds, but will recom- 

 pense him by its utility; as, before it was done, 

 the only supply for the family was either rain fall- 



* Experiments in Mr. Elkington's mode of drain- 

 ing, and in procuring water by boring, &.c. successful- 

 ly made by sir Joseph Banks, are described in fhe en*-- 

 larged Agricultural Report of Lincolnshire. 



author was at Wimbledon nearly about this 



. - - , t The 



water rises through a perpendicular brick chimney time, where he ascertained the above particulars 



