6o The Drainage of Fens and Low Lands. 



In Holland the type of engine most generally in use is of the 

 horizontal condensing single cylinder. In the older stations 

 in the Fens beam engines have generally been adopted. In 

 stations of more recent origin no one particular class of engine 

 prevails. In Holland, France, and Italy, the direct acting 

 horizontal compound engines have most generally been applied 

 for driving centrifugal pumps. Vertical engines require less 

 foundations and are less subject to strain if settlement of the 

 foundations takes place, a common occurrence in spite of all 

 precautions in fenland, than those of the horizontal type, yet 

 although adopted in some few cases, do not appear to have 

 received the attention they would seem to merit 



Where the area of land is small, say not exceeding 2000 

 acres, and therefore not sufficient to warrant the cost of brick 

 buildings, the most economical arrangement is to use a semi- 

 portable engine driving a centrifugal pump, the whole enclosed 

 in a galvanised iron shed. The cost of foundations and erec- 

 tion of a chimney is thus avoided. The pump can be driven 

 by belt or by direct gearing from the crank shaft. 



The Management of Drainage Engines.— Although 

 the saving of coal as between one type of engine and another 

 may not be of such consequence as in engines used for com- 

 mercial purposes, yet the total consumption is a matter which 

 ought to engage the most serious attention on the part of the 

 managers, as on this principally will depend the annual cost 

 of the pumping station and the amount of taxes required to 

 meet the expenses. The fuel should bear a direct proportion 

 to the amount of water lifted. If more than is necessary is 

 used it is due to the fault of either the engineman, the engine, 

 or the pump. The excess has to be paid for. As regards the 

 first, too great caution cannot be exercised in selecting a 

 steady, careful, and economical man. The best men can only 

 be secured by paying good and sufficient wages. A good 

 engineman may save his wages many times over by careful 

 stoking ; an incompetent man may not only run up the coal 



