402 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Sept. 



make and mend, and make butter and cheese, all of 

 which they should be early taught to do with grace 

 on the farm. I once heard an aged lady say that 

 it requires the wisdom of Solomon, the patience 

 of Job and the goodness of God, to bring up a 

 family just as they should be. I will say to our 

 farmer's wife in Warner, N. H., that she has the 

 right grit, and if she has the health which she 

 needs, will see better days when the children get 

 large enough to help her, if she teaches them as 

 well as she can, that she cannot always do every 

 thing ; and if her husband does not appreciate her 

 worth as he ought, he will sometime, if he lives. 

 A Farmer's Wife. 



WATEB PIPES. 



For several months past we have had frequent 

 inquiries as to what is the best pipe for con- 

 ducting water for farm and domestic purposes. 

 Some of these letters, making particular inquiries, 

 we have answered at the time, thinking that, when 

 a favorable opportunity offered, we would give a 

 more extended reply to the general questions 

 stated. Considerable prejudice has always exist- 

 ed against metal pipes, from the fact that iron 

 rusts, and lead is known to give in some cases a 

 poisonous quality to the water, which, after con- 

 stant use for a length of time, undermines the 

 health, and lays the foundations of a painful and 

 lingering disease. Other metals have found a 

 sufficient objection in their cost. Iron pipes 

 coated on the inside with glass have been intro- 

 duced, but are quite expensive in themselves, and 

 occasion increased exjienses from the difficulty of 

 laying them. Cement pipes, made by coating 

 sheet iron or tin pipes on the inside with cement, 

 are not expensive, and in many cases have proved 

 to be all that was desired. Pipes of hydraulic 

 cement, made by moulding the cement around a 

 rod of iron or wood, and then withdrawing the 

 rod before the hardening of the cement, have also 

 been recommended, and in cases where not much 

 pressure has to be resisted, answer every purpose. 

 Within a comparatively few years the multifarious 

 applications of India rubber and gutta percha to 

 domestic purposes have suggested their use for 

 conducting water, and both materials are now 

 manufactured into pipes for that purpose. 



Having thus stated the most important kinds 

 of pipe, we shall now proceed to express our views 

 concerning them, and the reasons we have for 

 entertaining them. For aqueducts, when the sup- 

 ply of water is to be conveyed from a spring or 

 stream, we know of no pipe we should prefer to 

 wood. Wood seldom, if ever, taints the water 

 which passes through it, is easily procured, and 

 if properly laid will last for a longer time than 

 iron. In the country the expense attending it 

 would be small, compared to other materials which 

 would have to be transported from a distance. 



Logs for pipes should be used whole, the bore 

 should be through the centre, or heart-wood, and 

 in laying them, they should be placed at such a 

 depth as to secure as uniform a temperature and 

 state of moisture as is possible. This last is the 

 great point to observe in laying wooden pipes. 

 A depth of four feet in clayey or meadow land, 

 and six feet, or even more, in sandy soil, is not 

 more than is required to secure durability to the 

 aqueduct, and if this is not observed the labor 

 will have to be repeated at altogether too frequent 

 intervals to be profitable. The old Jamaica pond 

 aqueduct, which for many years supplied a por- 

 tion of our city with water, and the one still in 

 constant use, we believe, at Springfield, which 

 was constructed by the late Charles Stearns, of 

 that city, some twenty years ago, prove that when 

 the conditions we have named are observed there 

 is no materaal so valuable as wood for works of 

 any size. Of course, for conveying water for the 

 use of large cities, where millions of gallons are 

 consumed daily, this material would be found en- 

 tirely insufficient, and iron must be adopted. 

 We intend our remarks to apply only to such 

 works as are needed for single estates, or neigh- 

 borhoods. 



The objections to lead pipe are sustained by 

 the evidence of our best chemists, and we should 

 not make use of it where the water conveyed is 

 to be used for drinking, or in the preparation of 

 food. 



The cement pipe made at Jersey City, N. J., 

 has come into use to some extent. A corres- 

 pondent of the Farmer writing from Middlefield, 

 Ct., in 185G, says of this pipe, "I have the ce- 

 ment i)ipe, and see no reason why it should not 

 last for centuries. It is made by coating the in- 

 side of a pipe made of sheet iron, or tin, with ce- 

 ment. This pipe is made in pieces of from six 

 to ten feet in length, which are united when laid, 

 and all is covered with cement two inches thick. 

 If properly laid it is perfectly strong and tight at 

 the joints, and will sustain a great amount of 

 pressure." We have before us an unpublished 

 letter of recent date, from another correspondent, 

 who is an engineer, and has superintended the 

 construction of works of this class, in which he 

 says, "The towns of Plymouth and Pittsfield have 

 extensive water works where the cement pipe is 

 used v/ith entire success, the water flowing through 

 the pipes, which are from one-half an inch to 

 twelve inches in diameter, as pure as if conveyed 

 through solid stone." 



But the principal demand for a pipe for con- 

 veying water seems to be for one that will be 

 most profitable to use in short distances, and 

 where not a large supply is needed ; a pipe from 

 an inch to an inch and a half, or two inches in 

 diameter. For this purpose the new candidates 



