324 



Farminrj of LiiicolnsJdrc. 



there has been a great extension of this powerful and unfailins" 

 agent as a means of drainage, and it is thought that steam-engines 

 will become general throughout the district. It is commonly sup- 

 posed that the scoop-wheel, such as is usually worked bv wind- 

 mills, is inferior to the pump, but in the Isle of Axholme it is 

 found to be otherwise. At one period lift-pumps were em- 

 ployed in connexion with the steam-engines, but they were expen- 

 sive, troublesome, and liable to get out of repair, and besides this 

 they wo'iild not perform half the amount of work that the wheels 

 will. At the present time there is only one engine that vv orks 

 a pump — *viz , Sir Robert Sheffield's, at Butterwick, — and 

 this, owing to the inefficiency of the pump system, and insuffi.- 

 cient power of the engine, is quite inadequate (we have been told) 

 to perform the duties required of it. For a description of a 

 scoop-wheel the reader is referred to the cut at the close of 

 this section. The size of the wheels varies according to the 

 height of the head of water against which they have to throvv, 

 the cjuantity of water to be lifted, and the power of the engine. 

 When the wheel dips 5 feet below the drain-water level, and the 

 level of the water in the receiving drain is 5 feet above that in 

 the delivering drain, the diameter of the wheel should be 28 or 

 30 feet ; and if, with the same dip, the head be 10 feet, the 

 diameter ought to be 35 or even 40 feet. The reason for this is, 

 that the space between the ascending float-boards remains 

 charged with water until it reaches the surface of the v/ater in 

 the river or reservoir ; and if this surface be higher than the 

 wheel-axis, or centre, the boards will be unable to shoot off all 

 the water they have raised, and will consequently allow a large 

 portion to fall over again into the trough from whence it was 

 taken. As respects the horse-power per acre required, that 

 depends upon the height to which the water must be lifted, and 

 the suddenness of the floods which limit the time in which the 

 work must be performed ; — it is calculated that as water weighs 

 10 lbs. per gallon, a horse's power will raise 330 gallons, or 

 52-8 cubic feet, 10 feet high per minute, and that a steam- 

 engine of 10 horse power will raise and throw off the drainage 

 water due to a district of 1000 acres in each month, in about 20 

 days, working 12 hours a day; but the actual horse-power and 

 expense per acre for coal, &c. under different circumstances, 

 must be sought in the details given in this report and the Re- 

 port on the Fens." * 



The following are estimations of several particulars concern- 

 ing the steam-engines in this level : — 



Journal, vol. viii* 



