SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Part II. 



terials being thus pressed on equally in every point of this circle, are kept in equilibrium. When Che well 

 finiot!^ *S from * he bottora to top, after the excavation is 



284 



finished ; but when the soil is loose, the excavation deep, or its diameter 

 considerable, it is built on the top in zones, sometimes sqiarated by hori- 

 zontal sections of thin oak boards, which, with proper management, sink 

 down as the excavation proceeds. There are various other modes, which 

 those who follow this department of architecture are sufficiently conver- 

 sant with. The height to which the water rises in the well, depends on 

 the height of the strata which supply the water j occasionally it rises to 

 the surface, but generally not within a considerable distance. In this 

 case it is raised by buckets and levers (Jig. 284.), by buckets and hand- 

 machmes placed over the well, or by buckets raised by horse.machines. 

 {fig. 285.) 



1714. The lever and bucket mode is the most ancient and the simplest. 

 It is common in the market-gardens round London and Paris, and in most 

 of the villages from France to Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Astracan ; and, we are told, it is to be seen in 

 Turkey, Persia, India, and China. The hand and horse-machines are more recent inventions, applicable 

 to market-gardens. ' r 



285 



1715. The process of boring the earth for water has of late been successfully practised in various places, 

 and especially at Tottenham, Middlesex, and Mitcham, Surrey. An augur like that used in draining is 

 employed, and when the spring is reached, the augur hole is kept open by tin tubes soldered one to the 

 other as they are pushed down. Up these tubes the water rises to the height of the source of the spring, 

 and when this height does not reach the surface, a well is dug down to the level to which the water will 

 rise. It is evident that where the spring will rise to the surface boring must be a great saving, but less so 

 in proportion as the source of the spring is low. (London Journal of Arts, &c. Oct. 1822. p. 204.) 



1716. Pumps are of various kinds, as the lifting-pump ; the forcing-pump, for very deep wells ; the suction- 

 pump ; and the roller-pump, a recent invention for such as do not exceed thirty-three feet in depth. A 

 good pump for gardens, where the water is not to be raised above twenty-eight or thirty feet in depth, is that 

 of Robertson Buchannan (author of a Treatise on Heating by Steam, &c), because this pump, which also 

 acts by the pressure of the atmosphere, will raise drainings of dunghills, or even water thickened by mud, 

 sand, or gravel. " The points in which it differs from the common pump, and by which it excels, are, that it 

 discharges the water below the piston, and has its valves lying near each other. The advantages of this 

 arrangement are that the sand or other matter, which may be in the water, is discharged without injur- 

 ing the barrel or the piston-leathers ; so that besides avoiding unnecessary tear and wear, the power of the 

 pump is preserved, and it is not apt to be diminished or destroyed in moments of danger, as is often the 

 case with the common and chain pumps ; that the valves are not confined to any particular dimensions, 

 but may be made capable of discharging every thing that can rise in the suction-piece without danger of 

 being choked ; and that if, upon any occasion, there should happen to be an obstruction in the valves, 

 they are both within the reach of a person's hand, and may be cleared at once, without the disjunction of 

 any part of the pump. It is a simple and durable pump, and may be made either of metal or wood, at a 

 moderate expense." Where clear water only is to be raised, Aust's (of Hoxton) curvilinear pump is pre- 

 ferable even to Buchannan's. The advantages depend on the curvilinear form of the barrel, which allows, 

 and indeed obliges, the rod, the handle, and the lever, on which it works, to beallin one piece. Hence 

 simplicity, cheapness, precision of action, more water discharged in proportion to the diameter of the 

 barrel, and less frequent repairs. (Repertory of Arts, Jan. 1821.) Perkins's square-barrelled pump is a 

 powerful engine (London Journal, &c.) j but this and other contrivances for raising water will be found 

 detailed in works on hydraulics. 



1717. Conduits for watering gardens are either open or surface conduits, or internal tubes or apertures. 

 Open conduits are not common in Britain, though very general in France and Italy. They are formed in 

 the commonest gardens of puddled or well incorporated clay ; in the better sort of brick, or rough stone lined 

 with stucco or cement ; and in the best,of hewn stone, in regular troughs, carefully jointed both by mecha- 

 nical and chemical means. Internal tubes may be formed of timber, iron, lead, or earthenware. For 

 mains or large supplies, cast-iron is the most durable, and timber the cheapest material ; but for the minute 

 ramifications necessary to afford supplies at different points, lead excels every thing else. A beautiful ap- 

 plication of the principles of chemistry to the jointing of lead pipes, has been made by Kewley (inventor 

 of the automaton gardener) . Instead of a large gibbous joint, formed by plastering on a mass of solder at 

 an expense both of material and time, which in inch-pipes amounts to at least 3s. a joint, Kewley prepares 

 clear transverse sections on the extremities to be joined, places these in perfect contact, heats the pipe 

 within a few degrees of the melting point, and then, with "one drop of solder not larger than a pea, he 

 forms a junction as perfect as if no separation had previously existed. By proper irons this is done in 

 three minutes, at an expense, time and materials included, of not more than one penny per joint. 

 Earthen pipes in a clayey sub-stratum may be used with economy, to convey water from one point to 

 another ; their disadvantages are liability to fracture or derangement from operations performed on the 

 soil, to guard against which they should be laid at not less than three feet depth from the surface, and 

 well bedded in worked clay. Conduits of common masonry can seldom be advantageously used on a 

 small scale, unless for serving jointly as drains and conduits, but where they are eighteen inches or two 

 feet in diameter, a complete cylinder of masonry may be formed, which, well executed, becomes very 

 durable. It is observed, however, that all conduits of masonry, and even earthen pipes, can only be used 



