Drainage by Steam Power. 59 



the use of condensing engines, or of others in which compli- 

 cated appliances are adopted for the same purpose, is not, 

 except in the case of the largest stations, of so much importance 

 in an engine used for the drainage of land as a saving in first 

 cost of machinery and foundations, and for subsequent repairs. 

 The circumstances attending engines used in pumping mines 

 or for the water supply of a town or similar purposes, and 

 those used for the drainage of land, are so different that it is 

 an utter mistake to take such engines as types. In the one 

 case the engine is continuously at work with skilled mechanics 

 at hand to carry out repairs and rapidly remedy defects. The 

 saving in the cost of coal in such cases is far greater than the 

 interest on the extra outlay for machinery and foundations, 

 and forms the principal subject of consideration. Experienced 

 men, equal to meet all ordinary contingencies, can be em- 

 ployed, whereas, in the event of a mishap with a drainage 

 engine, a messenger has to be sent from some out-of-the-way 

 place to a distant town to obtain the services of an engine- 

 fitter. Most land drainage engines run for only a short period 

 in the year — in dry seasons, perhaps, for only two or three 

 weeks in a twelvemonth — the saving of coals as between a 

 complex and a more simple machine does not therefore 

 compare so favourably with the annual payment for interest 

 on the extra cost of the more expensive machine. The fewer 

 parts of a simple machine also reduce the risk of breakdowns, 

 and drivers of the agricultural class have generally sufficient 

 intelligence to deal, at least for a time, with such accidents as 

 may happen. Drainage engines should therefore always be 

 of the simplest type, but of the best workmanship and ample 

 strength. The latter quality is one that should always be 

 insisted on. The extra cost of the metal required in making 

 a strong and substantial machine as compared to one beauti- 

 fully finished but so lightly constructed that it is always 

 shaking itself to pieces, forms so small a portion of the whole 

 cost that it ought never to influence a maker. 



