THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



79 



THE FARM WATER SUPPLY. 



By E. G. Norton of the I. H. C. Service Bureau. 



There is more poetry than pleasure in "carrying 

 water from the spring," or any other source of sup- 

 ply, when face to face with the proposition of carry- 

 ing enough of it for the family washing, the Saturday 

 cleaning and scrubbing, and incidentally, the Saturday 

 night bath supply. With dishes to wash three times 

 a clay or more, cream separator to clean, vegetables 

 to wash, cooking, and the hundred and one other de- 

 mands for water in the daily routine of the home, is 

 it surprising that the housewife seems always to see 

 empty water pails before her? A call on Johnnie or 

 Willie brings the invariable complaint, "Didn't I jest 

 get a pailful?" it may have been a couple of hours 

 ago and mother may have carried in a dozen pailfuls 

 herself in the meantime to avoid delay. And if father 

 carries in an occasional pail or two, it is with a half- 

 conscious air of having done his duty as a considerate 

 head of the house. 



This is a day of labor-saving devices, and there 

 is nothing which will save more labor and give greater 

 satisfaction to the country housewife and at the same 

 time add so greatly to the comfort of the entire family 

 as a home water works system. 



There are thousands of farm homes where such 

 systems have been installed, and there are thousands 

 more where they no doubt would be adopted were it 

 not that the idea has never taken practical form in 

 the farmer's mind. If it ever did suggest itself it 

 was as a sort of "pipe dream," and with the putting 

 away of the pipe was dismissed as impracticable or 

 altogether too expensive a proposition to be considered 

 seriously. 



A home water works equipment is not impractic- 

 able for any ordinary farm or village home, and the 

 average farm owner on looking into the subject a little 

 would no doubt be surprised to find at what compara- 

 tively light cost such comfort and saving of labor 

 can be accomplished. 



Especially is this the case where there is already 

 a gasoline engine on the farm to do the pumping and 

 there are few farms of any size or pretension nowa- 

 days that do not have one of these engines. Even if 

 an engine must be purchased primarily as a part of 

 the house water works equipment, its cost cannot 

 rightly be charged up wholly as a part of the expense 

 for this purpose, as it is used for so many other pur- 

 poses sawing wood, cutting and grinding feed, spray- 

 ing, turning the grind stone, operating the fanning 

 mill, cream separator, churn, washing machine, and 

 every other machine to which power can be applied. 

 Conceding, therefore, that almost every farm either 

 has or will have its engine for general purposes, the 

 cost of an engine is hardly to be considered as a part 

 of the cost of putting in a water works system. 



There are three methods by which a farm or 

 village home that is out of reach of a city water 

 works system can be equipped with running water : 



1. By gravity from a well or spring on higher 

 ground. 



2. By gravity from elevated tanks ; 



3. By means of a pneumatic tank. 



The first method requires conditions rarely found. 

 It depends on having an elevated spring or water 



source near at hand, from which water can be piped 

 clown hill with pipes run into the house up to a height 

 corresponding to the source on the hill. Obeying the 

 natural law that makes water seek its own level, the 

 water will rise in the pipes as high as the level from 

 which it has been secured, and can thus be distributed 

 throughout the house. With this system no pumping 

 whatever is required. This is an ideal method, but 

 the necessary conditions are not often found. 



Gravity flow by means of an elevated tank is a 

 system quite commonly used. The tank is often 

 placed in the attic of the house, or in the hay mow, 

 or it may be placed on a tower in the open yard. The 

 use of the tower, however, is apt to be unsatisfactory, 

 except where the climate is mild enough so that the 

 water will not freeze. Where the tank is placed in 

 the attic, danger from freezing is largely avoided by 

 running the supply pipe along the inner wall of the 

 house ; when a tank is located in the hay mow, the 

 pumps are in the stable and the supply pipes are run 

 under ground to the house. As to the size of tank, a 

 500-gallon capacity should be large enough for a 

 medium-sized farm, for both family and stock. Such 

 a tank could be filled daily by running the gasoline 

 engine from five to ten minutes at practically no cost 

 for fuel. A 500-gallon tank in either galvanized steel 

 or cypress can be bought for about $10.00 or $12.00. 

 If only a house supply, to be located in the attic, is 

 desired, a 150 to 200-gallon size might be large enough 

 and even more desirable, as too great a weight would 

 not be practicable in such a location. One of these 

 smaller tanks could be purchased for about $5.00. A 

 1,000 to 2,000-gallon tank would cost from $15.00 to 

 $25.00, but with a tank of that size, located so as to 

 avoid trouble in cold weather, a half hour's pumping 

 with a gasoline engine a couple of times a week would 

 furnish water for every possible use on the farm for 

 both family and stock, and for watering the flowering- 

 shrubs, fruit bushes, and the familv garden in dry 

 weather by merely turning a faucet or two. It cer- 

 tainly sounds attractive, doesn't it? 



The pneumatic tank system of supplying water 

 for the home, is unquestionably the best and most sat- 

 isfactory system that has yet been devised, though 

 perhaps costing a little more in the beginning than 

 the elevated tank gravity method. The outfit consists 

 of an air-tight steel tank, a force pump, and piping 

 to connect well to pump, pump to tank, and tank to 

 house pipes. The tank is usually placed in the cellar, 

 or is buried under ground and the pump may be lo- 

 cated at the well, in the cellar, or wherever convenient. 



The principle on which the pneumatic system is 

 based is air pressure. Water is pumped into the air- 

 tight tank and compresses the air in the tank which 

 exerts a proportionate pressure on the water, forcing 

 it upward in the pipes to the desired height. Some 

 of the advantages are that, owing to the location of 

 the tank in the cellar or under ground, the water is 

 kept cool in summer and does not freeze in winter : 

 also the air in the tank by oxidizing organic matter 

 in the water, purifies the water to a considerable ex- 

 tent. 



Any form of power can be used to do the pump- 

 ing for a pneumatic system hand power, windmill, 

 gasoline engine, hot air engine, electric motor, etc. It 

 (Continued on page 89) 



