332 



On Wells used in Foundations in Upper India. [[April, 



The depth to which a cylinder of six feet in the diameter can be 

 sunk during the day by one party of well-sinkers through a sandy stratum 

 as far as ten feet, varies from two and a half feet to four inches. It is 

 desirable when the well has to be sunk to this depth only, to expedite 

 the depression of the three or four last feet as much as possible, so as to 

 get the cylinder to its full depth, without leaving it during the night, 

 and allowing the loose soil to settle round it, and give it a firm 

 embrace. It is very difficult at times to free the sides of the cylinder 

 from the hold which the sand has in this case upon them, but even 

 with a very heavy weight applied to the top half a day may be 

 expended in this way, without getting the well to move at all— a re- 

 mark equally applicable in pile-driving through sand, where the 

 advantages of driving the last pile that is driven during the day to its 

 full depth, is well known. I have seen a pile, length twenty feet 

 and diameter eight inches, which has been driven ten feet on the 

 previous evening, resist on the next morning the weight of the pile 

 engine for forty successive strokes — the weight of 250 lbs. falling 

 through a space of ten feet, the head of the pile becoming perfectly 

 shattered and useless. The following table will give an approxima- 

 tion to the expense of sinking cylinders of the above mentioned 

 diameter to a depth of ten feet, and although the difficulties attending 

 the operations from which this table was formed were greater than 

 would be generally experienced, a very tolerable idea of the expense 

 of well-sinking will be exhibited. 



Soil, sandy, mixed with clay, but free from stones or kunkur; full 

 of springs, with the canal head water ten feet above the point at 

 which the cylinder commenced sinking ; outer diameter of well six 

 feet, and in some instances eight feet, and inner diameter four and six 

 feet respectively ; machinery employed night and day in keeping the 

 water down to the level on which the wells were built; windlass 

 used with the Jham ; period of operation between January and May. 



co 



09 



CO 



p 



2 



O 



•a 



S.2 



i 



CO 



Sundries, 

 Rope, Iron, 

 Leather, Oil 

 &c. &c. 



Expense in 

 labour. 



Total 

 expense. 



Length of 

 well or cy- 

 linder sunk in 

 running feet. 



1267 



1688 



358 



30 



30 



RS. 1 A. I P. 



10 | 10 1 2 



RS. ' A. | P. 



439 5 10 



RS. 1 A. 1 P. 



450 1 [ 



202| 



Or average per running foot Rs. 2:0:4 



The cost of building a cylinder of the above diameter, viz. 6 feet 

 and 10 feet high, may be thus— 



