44 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



inclined position with the lower end in the water, turn the upper 

 pulley by a hand crank or a small belt from a source of power and 

 the blocks will elevate the water and shoot it out from the top of 

 the box in fine style. For a short lift this apparatus discharges quite 

 a large volume of water with comparatively little power. 



DEVICES FOR SELF-LIFTING WATER SUPPLY. 



Where running water is at hand in ample supply and with ade- 

 quate velocity, the water can be made to lift itself to a distributing 

 point, if not too high. The most capacious agencies belong to a 

 class of motors called current wheels. 



Current Wheels. A current wheel is an arrangement resem- 

 bling the paddle wheel of a steamboat, with a central shaft acting 

 as a hub for the spoke-like arms which carry on their ends boxes or 

 buckets. The wheel is hung by the projecting ends of the shaft 

 so that the buckets are just covered under the surface of the water. 

 The current catches them and causes the wheel to revolve ; the filled 

 buckets are carried up as empty ones descend into the water. The 

 filled buckets are emptied as the turning of the wheel inverts them, 

 and the water is caught in a box properly placed and is then con- 

 ducted by a flume to the point of discharge. Current wheels are 

 largely used for short lifts from streams or irrigation ditches in 

 which the water flows with sufficient velocity to revolve them. The 

 wheels are usually home-made and much ingenuity can be employed 

 in constructing them of available materials. 



Hydraulic Rams. The hydraulic ram is wasteful in that it can 

 deliver at a higher level but a fraction of the water furnished it and 

 it requires a definite fall for its action. Where conditions are favor- 

 able it does become an effective agency because it acts incessantly 

 and, with suitable storage, considerable amounts of water become 

 available for irrigation. Manufacturers of hydraulic rams furnish 

 full accounts of their requirements and achievements. 



A suggestive combination of current wheel and hydraulic ram, 

 in operation in this state, is described as follows: 



A. P. Osborn's residence and the best part of his land are located on high 

 grounds on the bank of Tule river. To get water on this land without going 

 several miles up the river and bringing out a ditch, Mr. Osborn placed in the 

 river a wheel twenty-five feet in diameter and five feet wide. Surrounding 

 this wheel on either side are forty boxes, each holding four gallons of water, 

 making in all eighty boxes, with an entire lifting capacity of three hundred 

 and twenty gallons at each revolution of the wheel, which is turned by the 

 current of the river. As the boxes reach an elevation of twenty-two feet, the 

 water in them is emptied into flume, which conducts it onward into an irri- 

 gation ditch. This elevating the water twenty-two feet is only sufficient to 

 place it on the flat whereon is done the farming, and will not take it to the 

 knoll on which stands the residence. This is accomplished by a hydraulic 

 ram. A part of the water reaching the top of the river bank is allowed to 

 run back down the steep bank through a pipe, thus furnishing motive power 

 to run the ram, which sends water up to the house. The wheel and flume 

 cost, when completed, $150, and, considering the small liability of its becoming 

 damaged, it is certainly preferable to keeping in repair several miles of ditch. 



