3a THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



farm-buildings. The drainage of this swamp, and that 

 of 140 or 150 acres more adjoining it, gives an ample 

 supply of water for working machinery of 12-horse 

 power every day throughout the year ; and, before the 

 lands were drained, this water was not only lost as a 

 motive power, but did immense injury by stagnating 

 beneath the surface, and extending its chilling effects to 

 every portion of ground through which it slowly oozed 

 from its source. At the farm-buildings to which the 

 stream is conveyed, a mill-wheel, 38 feet in diameter, is 

 sunk into the solid sandstone rock to such a depth, that 

 the water discharges itself into it ' over-shot.' The tail 

 water is taken from the bottom of the wheel by a 

 tunnel driven through the solid rock for nearly 500 

 yards, whence it is conducted into channels for irriga- 

 tion. When the mill is stopped, the water between the 

 reservoir and the wheel, which would otherwise run to 

 waste, is conveyed by pipes to the different yards and 

 buildings for the use of the stock, from which any 

 surplus finds its way to the meadows. The purposes to 

 which the water-power is applied are these : It turns 

 two pair of stones (one as we saw it gi'inding wheat, 

 the other peas) ; it grinds malt, works a circular saw, a 

 lathe, a chaff-cutter, and a thrashing-machine. The 

 whole of these can be worked at the same time, though 

 in practice that is seldom necessary. It has been in 

 operation for several years, working every day, and all 

 day, summer and winter. Independent altogether of 

 the improvement of the land by drainage, and the sub- 

 sequent use of the water in irrigation, its direct value 

 as a motive power is estimated to exceed £500 a-year ; 

 and that was obtained by a total expenditure of about 

 £1,700. In a multitude of cases, a similar power to 



