I lo The Drainage of Fens and Low Lands. 



Taking the latter period as a fair sample of a wet season, and 

 allowing the average dip of the wheels throughout the whole period 

 the wheels were running to be 2 feet 6 inches, and the head 4 feet 6 

 inches, the average work done in water lifted would be '^z^^Z ^-^^ 

 The average consumption of coal, 442 lb. per hour, equal to 

 5*28 lb. of coal per hour per horse-power of water lifted and dis- 

 charged. 



Lade Bank, Lincolnshire. — This pumping station is for the 

 drainage of a district known as the East Fen, forming part of the 

 system of the Witham Drainage Trust. It was drained and brought 

 into cultivation at the beginning of the present century, the principal 

 drain being fourteen miles in length, and discharging into Boston 

 Haven through a sluice with three openings of 15 feet each, the 

 outlet doors being self-acting. Owing to the subsidence of the peat 

 in the fen, the drainage of this district became imperfect, and in 

 wet seasons it was frequently flooded, the proprietors in several cases 

 using scoop wheels driven by portable engines to Hft the water off 

 their land, the aggregate power of these engines amounting to 80 

 horse-power. It was consequently decided to provide pumping 

 machinery for more effectually draining the lowest parts of the dis- 

 trict. In 1867 the pum ping-machinery was erected, the site being 

 fixed at Lade Bank, the pumps discharging into the main drain about 

 nine miles above the outfall sluice. The area of land which is pumped 

 is 35,000 acres. The average lift is about 4 feet, the extreme being 

 5 feet; and it was assumed by Sir John Hawkshaw, under whose 

 direction the works were carried out, that pumping power should be 

 provided equivalent to lifting a continuous rainfall of a quarter of an 

 inch in twenty-four hours over the whole district. The machinery 

 consists of two pairs of high-pressure condensing vertical and direct- 

 acting steam engines of 240 aggregate nominal horse-power. Two 

 massive A frames span over either side of the pump well, and carry 

 the crank shaft, on which is fitted a large mortice bevel fly-wheel. 

 The cylinders, which are 30 inches diameter by 30 inches stroke, are 

 placed outside either A frame, being carried on a heavy base plate. 

 Two small A frames fixed on the cylinder covers carry the parallel 

 motion of a wrought-iron grasshopper beam, one end of which is 

 attached to the crossheads of the piston-rods, the other end being 

 carried on a vibrating column. 



From this beam the air-pump and feed-pump are worked. The 

 side valves are worked by means of excentrics on the crank shaft, 



