184 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 



A 12-inch pump lifting 10 cubic metres per minute to a 

 height of 2J metres is only doing 5'5 W.H.P. A nominal 

 6-H.P. engine, which would indicate about double this 

 power would work the pump, provided engine and pump 

 were in good order. In Egypt an engine of at least double 

 that power would be used because both pump and engine 

 are not attended to. The pump fan wears till there is 

 such a space between the fan and the casing that a great 

 deal of water leaks past. It is not an expensive repair to 

 put the fan to rights, and when it is done the pump will 

 give 30 per cent more water for the same coal consumption. 

 The boiler is also subject to neglect. The Nile water is 

 muddy and a boiler should be blown down half a gauge 

 glass daily to clear it of deposit, and every week it should 

 be emptied and washed. Many boilers are allowed to 

 silt up to the level of the fire bars and over that, and 

 contain exceedingly muddy water. All this entails rapid 

 deterioration of the boiler, waste of coal, and danger of 

 explosion. 



There is hardly a small pump in Egypt driven at proper 

 speed. The water is lifted too high, and shoots out from 

 the discharge pipe with far too much velocity. Such a 

 pump is giving more water, but not in proportion to the 

 extra power used and extra coal burned. 



Coal consumption is the most important item in cost 

 of pumping. For large pumps, makers will guarantee a 

 coal consumption not exceeding 1 kilogram of good Welsh 

 coal per W.H.P. per hour. As these installations are in 

 the hands of competent European engineers pumps will 

 run for very many years and exact coal consumption can 



