1 1 8 The Drainage of Fens and Low Lands. 



engine, and 128 "55 tons lifted 11 '16 feet, equal to 97*38 horse- 

 power, with a coal consumption of 5 ' 93 lb. per horse-power for the 

 Ten Mile Station. Taking the two wet years, 1881 and 1883 — 

 1882 being omitted, as during this time the machinery was under 

 alteration — the cost of lifting the water was as follows : — Coal, 717/. ; 

 attendance and other expenses, 203/. The area drained being taken 

 at 35,000 acres, this gives 12 '62^. per acre per annum for working 

 expenses. The average height to which the water was lifted at the 

 two stations being taken at iij feet, gives I'lo^. per acre per foot 

 of lift, or, for coal only, of 0*85^. per acre, coal costing about 

 17X. per ton. 



Whittlesea Mere. — This pumping station is in the Middle Level, 

 in the county of Huntingdon, and contains about 6000 acres. The 

 Mere originally was a large lake or morass, which produced nothing 

 but reeds and wild fowl. This, with the surrounding fen, was em 

 banked and drained by steam power by the proprietor, Mr. Wells, in 

 1851-2, being the first instance in this country where the centrifugal 

 pump was applied to this purpose; the results obtained with the 

 Appold pump at the trials of this machine at the Exhibition of 1 85 1 

 demonstrating its suitableness for the purpose. The engine then 

 erected was of 24 nominal horse-power, driving a double inlet hori- 

 zontal spindle Appold centrifugal pump, 4 feet 6 inches diameter, with 

 an average velocity of 90 revolutions a minute, equal to 1431 feet per 

 minute ; the lift at that time being from 4 feet to 5 feet. The pump 

 was driven by a double-cylinder steam engine, with steam at 40 lb. 

 pressure, and vacuum 133- lb. It raised 15,000 gallons — 67 tons — per 

 minute to a height varying from 2 feet to 5 feet. The total cost was 

 j6,ooo/., of which about 2000/. was for the machinery. The general 

 arrangement of the pumps is shown by the sketch (Plate 6). The 

 pump discharged into Bevil's river, a branch of the Nene, which forms 

 a part of the great Middle Level system, the outfall of the main drain 

 being into the River Ouse, at St. Germains, 30 miles distant. The 

 soil of this district is almost entirely peat, to a depth of from 15 feet 

 to 18 feet. After the drainage operations had been at work some 

 time, the surface of the land gradually lowered, owing to the waste 

 and shrinkage of the peat. In July 1857 the level of the water in the 

 drain was 5 feet above datum j and in August i860 it was reduced to 

 3 inches above datum. At the present time the surface is about 8 feet 

 lower down than it was thirty- two years ago, when the district was first 

 drained. The pump was twice lowered during the twenty-six years 



