HO 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III, 



4jC2. An old but ingenious mode of raising wafer from a well to the upper part of a house (fig. 699.) 



is sometimes adopted on the Continent. A post 

 C^, _^ goQ is fixed close to the well ; this is connected with 



^^ the opening in the upper part of the house, where 



the water is to be introduced, by a fixed cord (a). 

 Gn this cord a wooden collar (b) is placed, and 

 slides freely from one end to the other : the bucket 

 rope is put through a hole in the collar, and over a 

 pulley in the window in the upper part of the house, 

 and thus the bucket is first raised perpendicularly 

 from the water in the well till it comes in con- 

 tract with the collar, when, the power being con- 

 tinued, the collar slides along the fixed rope till it 

 reaches the operator at the window. (Last. Col. de 

 Machines, &c.) 



4503. Artificial springs. Marshal seeing 

 the formation of natural springs, and ob- 

 serving the effect of subsoil drains, and 

 being, at the same time, aware of an ob- 

 jection to roof water, which, though more 

 wholesome, is seldom so well tasted a& 

 spring water ; was led to the idea of form- 

 ing artificial land springs, to supply farm- 

 steads with water, in dry situations. He 

 proposes arresting the rain-water that ha* 

 filtered through the soil of a grass ground 

 situated on the upper side of the biJldings^ 

 in covered drains, clayed and dished at 

 the bottom, and partially filled with peb- 

 bles or other open materials : thus con- 

 veying it into a well or cistern, in the 

 manner of roof water : and by this means uniting, it is probable, the palatableness of 

 spring water with the wholesomeness of that which is collected immediately from the 

 atmosphere. 



4504. Water for common farm-yard and domestic purposes may be obtained in most 

 situations, by collecting that which falls on the roofs of the farmery and dwelling-house. 

 This is done by a system of gutters and pipes, which, for the farmery, may lead to a 

 cistern or tank under ground ; and for the family, that from the roof of the dwelling- 

 house may be conducted to a tub. According to Waistell, a suflScient supply of water 

 has been collected from the roof of a cottage to answer every purpose of the family during 

 the dryest season, by preserving the water so collected in a tank. The quantity of 

 water that falls annually upon every hundred superficial feet, or square of build- 

 ing, is about 1400 gallons. Before using the water so collected, it should be filtered ; 

 a;nd it seems very desirable that it should undergo this operation before it enters the 

 tank. 



4505. The operation of filtering may be performed in various ways : 



4506. A very simple tnodc is by having two casks two or three feet high, and of any convenient width 

 ifg. 700.) One of these casks (a) may receive the water from the roof, or from any other supply ; the 



other (6) should have a false bottom (c) perforated with holes and covered 

 with flannel ; on this flat bottomed equal quantities of sand and charcoal 

 maybe laid to the depth of twelve or fourteen inches, and covered with 

 another false bottom similar to the first (d) ; the remainder of the cask will 

 contain the filtered water, which may either be drawn off as wanted by 

 a cock {e), or allowed to pass into an underground tank by the same 

 means. The grosser impurities will always be deposited at the bottom of 

 the filtering tank (A), and these may be drawn off at pleasure by a cock 

 (/), placed immediately above the bottom of the barrel. The sand and 

 charcoal may also be freed from any impurities which they may contract, 

 by first allowing both barrels to be quite full, and then turning the bottom 

 cock (/), in consequence of which the filtered water will descend through 

 the filter and clear it. The advantage of having two barrels for the pur- 

 pose of filtering the water from a roof is partly to retain a larger quantity, 

 on the supposition that there is not a reservoir or tank under ground, and partly to admit of supplying 

 the first barrel, from ponds or other sources, in seasons when the roof is unproductive. Where the water 

 is to be preserved in a tank under ground, only one barrel (6) is necessary, the pipe from the roof {g) pro- 

 ceeding, in that case, at once to the bottom of the filtering barrel, and entering where, in the case of two 

 barrels, the junction-pipe (h) enters. In all cases of preserving water, whether filtered or unfiltered, it is 

 of great importance to preserve a steady and a low temperature, and for this purpose an underground 

 reservoir is highly desirable. 



4507. The best form for a tank, according to Waistell, is a circular plan ; the bottom in the form of a 

 flat dome reversed, and the top also domical, with an opening left in the centre of sufficient size to admit 

 a man to clean it out occasionally. " The top of this opening should be a little above the surface of the 

 ground, and should be covered with an oak flap, with several holes bored in it for ventilation ; or the 

 cover may be an iron grating, horizontal, and a little elevated, or conical These tanks may be constructed 

 of various dimensions: the depth and width should be nearly equal ; a hole should also be left for the 

 service-pipe, or that which conveys the water into the tank, and also for the pipe for the pump, if the 

 water be drawn out by that means. The water may be filtered previously to its entering the tank ; the 

 hole for the service-pipe ought, therefore, to be near the top, and on that side most convenient for the 

 filtering chamber j this may be about four feet in diameter, and three feet deep : across this, about twelv* 



