440 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



the success is so much the more remaikable, 

 as the quantities of water ohtained successively in 

 each well have always been increasing since the 

 firf^t borinrj. 



To make borings, to pierce the earth to reach 

 spoulintT water, is not all that is necessary in con- 

 structinn; Artesian wells. I'he greatest difficulty 

 does not lie there. When the ground is liivora- 

 b!e, and the necessary conditions are presented, 

 we may easily bring to light, and make overflow 

 at the surface of the earth, the springs ot subter- 

 raneous waters : but the great difRculty is to main- 

 tain and preserve the entire volume and force of 

 water which the source furnishes, and preventing 

 any after diminution of its quality, power or ef- 

 fect. Such is the true difficulty, such is the prin- 

 cipal rock that the Artcsiaii weil-bnrer can strike 

 upon. On this account, in my divei's reports upon 

 the principal bored wells with which I have had 

 acquaintance, have I always particularly dwelt 

 upon the necessity of tubing them with the ut- 

 most care, and through their entire depth. In 

 truth, earth which appears most compact often 

 presents numerous fissures, or cavities, or beds 

 of sand and gravel, of which the boring may not 

 show the true state, nor the degree of permeabil- 

 ity. The subterraneous water, in risino;, at first 

 filters through the passages imperceptibly: but if 

 this infilteration is allowed to continue, it soon in- 

 creases : it opens, it rapidly enlarges the at first 

 small issues, then the waters spread through the 

 earth; they make way for their passage, and soon 

 or late, they are lost entirely. 



I have often cited examples of excellent bored 

 wells, which had been the admiration of the coun- 

 try, which had caused a general enthusiasm to 

 prevail, to that de^jcree thai none doubted but that 

 there was under the country a subterraneous sea 

 ready to rise up wherever the earth was pierced : 

 every body wanteil to have bored wells, so that 

 the workmen could not s?rve the demands which 

 arrived from all sides. But soon this ardor subsi- 

 ded ; and the admiration ceased almost as quickly, 

 when it was seen that the overflowing waters ra- 

 pidly diminished, and soon even C(>,ased to rise ; 

 and this entirely for want of proper care and pre- 

 caution in the tubing of the wells. I have even 

 reported an example perhaps, the most striking, 

 that of a bored well, the waters of which, as abun- 

 dant as impetuous, aller having inundated the 

 garden of the proprietor, who, as he said, only 

 wished to have a little river and lake, (in the style 

 of English garden,) but of which the waters, 

 in their (liry aeknowled<red no dike, no obstacle 

 able to arrest their course, overthrowing the par- 

 tition walls, and even overflowing the adjacent 

 grounds, to such extent that the proprietor, not 

 being able to govern t-he water, was condemned to 

 make a subterranean aqueduct, to rid himself of the 

 excess of his river, and to prevent the occurrence 

 of new disasters. Eut his aqueduct was not yet 

 finished when he had the grief of perceiving his 

 cascades successively to become fi^eble, his river 

 to diminish, and next even to cease to flow, be- 

 cause his well had not been tubed its full heii>rht ; 

 and because, lor mistaken economy, he had besides, 

 committed the fault of using tubes made of com- 

 mon sheet tinned iron, which, being quickly de- 

 stroyed, suffered the rising water to be lost in the 

 Fandy and permeable beds of earth traversed by 

 the well. 



In Ills communication, M. Viollet says, that 

 being charired with applying the motive power of 

 the water of a bored well to a mamjtactory, he 

 deemed it necessary previously to study the va- 

 rious bored wells of Tours, in order well to ascer- 

 tiin the power of the water of which he could dis- 

 pose, and to assure himself whether the supply 

 was constant: but tfiat frequent measurement of 

 the volumes discharged had soon convinced him 

 of a progressive diminution, which he attributed 

 to the wells not liaving been tubed through their 

 whole extent ; that consecjuently they experienced 

 considerable waste fi-om filtration, and a gradual 

 decrease, which had not been perceived at first, 

 because that the wells bored lor the municipal ad- 

 ministration of the city of Tours, sent their com- 

 bined waters to different public fountains, through 

 subterraneous conduits. 



It was in studying thus the power of the Arte- 

 sian wells of Tours and in repeating successive- 

 ly the measurements of their products, that Mr. 

 Viollet conceived first the principles of. his theory 

 — of which the application appeared to him doubt- 

 ful and uncertain when he had established the 

 progressive diminution of the power — but upon 

 the success of which, however, he was re-assured, 

 when he arrived at the cerlainly that the Artesian 

 wells always preserved their full power, when they 

 had been tubed through all their height, and with 

 proper care and precautions. 



The examination ol the memoir of JVl. Viol- 

 let having led me to speak of the decrease of the 

 waters of bored wells, in consequence of the de- 

 feels of the tubing, 1 think it proper to suspend 

 my remarks fur a mc.metit, for the purpose of in- 

 troducing some developemenis upon the tubiuff of 

 wells, one of the most important operations of the 

 well-borer, since on it the success of" the work 

 generally depends. 



There are used, to tube bored weils, pipes either 

 of wood, of cast metal, of iron, of sheet iron, of 

 sheet tin {fer-blauc. tinned iron,) of zinc, or of 

 copper. 



1. Pipes of wood .ire used for wells of no great 

 depth, or which do not exceed 40 to 50 melrp3. 

 In Artois, there are wells bored at a very remote 

 epoch, the affes of which are not known, which 

 are lined with wood which has never needed re- 

 pairs, unless at the upper extremity, at the open 

 air, and which part has to be renewed once in 20, 

 or 25 years, and often in less time. These jjipcs 

 are maie hke those for pumps and fountains, of 

 the wood of alder, elm, oak, &c. The wood of 

 alder is generally preferred to the two others : it is 

 easy to bore, is less dear, and is very durable. 

 They bore these pipes laid horizontally, with an 

 auger worked either by hand, by horse power, or 

 by a water wheel. They give to those pipes a di- 

 ameterofO.lO millimetres to m. 0.20. Thcirlength 

 is as ijreat as the boilies of trees that can* be had 

 witl'.out defects. Thejoiningsof the pipes are made 

 by the end of one pipe being cut to enter in the 

 end of the next, and the joining encircled and se- 

 cured by a hollow cylinder (freile,) of metal. 



2. Pipes of cast iron are used by difl'erent well- 

 borers, in preference to pipes of wood ; and yet 

 they ofler some serious inconveniences, according 

 to the nature of the ground, and of the gas or 

 other principles contained by the water. These 

 pipes unite with each other by the one end enter-' 

 ing and fitting into the ether, with soldering,'' 



