286 
Irrigation and the Storage of Water 
other seeds, whereby their germination is ensured in a droughty 
season such as that of last summer. In the Royal Agricultural 
Society’s Prize Farm competition of 1878 Mr. Hulbert won first 
prize in Class 1, and some further details of this improvement 
will be found in the Judges’ Report of the prize farms in Yol. 
XV. 2nd Series of the Journal. 
There are a great many other places in England, no doubt, 
where existing water wheels or turbines might be usefully 
employed in pumping up water to moderate heights both to 
supply drink for stock and water for irrigation. Referring to 
the supply of water for towns, in a paper read before the Society 
of Arts, 1 Mr. Bailey Denton said : — 
When the relative height of the brook and the town will not allow of a 
reservoir being directly tilled by the former, recourse can be had to a wheel 
or ram to raise in winter the summer supply. The best formed hydraulic 
rams, made by Easton and Amos, or Freeman Rowe, with an available fall in 
the stream of 7 feet, will raise to the height of 30 feet one-eighth of the 
quantity that sets them in motion ; and, assuming a reservoir formed above 
the village to receive the water raised, a stream discharging 23 gallons a 
minute during the winter and spring will be sufficient to raise in 180 days 
720.000 gallons for use during the summer and autumn. A turbine or an 
overshot wheel might take the place of the ram with advantage when the 
quantity of the water to be raised is greater than that stated. But, of course, 
the expense of either ram or wheel, and attendant works, would be saved in 
those instances where water can be brought from a height, and conducted at 
once into the service reservoir, with an overflow to discharge the excess when 
the reservoir is filled. But in many instances even where streams exist a 
better supply may be obtained by the under-drainage of land in the neigh- 
bourhood ; and if we resort to it we have data which will quite satisfy the 
most fastidious inquirer, showing that the minimum discharge will afford 
a sufficient quantity of the very best water if the area of drained land be 
sufficient. It is surprising, too, how few acres of land will suffice for the 
purpose. 
Mr. Bailey Denton also observed that the proportion of 
drainage water to the rainfall would vary, according to the 
nature of the soil and other circumstances, from more than 
two-thirds to above one-fourth ; and that thus “with a winterfall 
of 10 inches of rain and snow the maximum may be taken at 
100.000 gallons per acre and the minimum at 00,000 gallons per 
acre for every acre drained.” Moreover, he estimated that “ the 
mean discharge of drained lands may be fairly taken at 100,000 
gallons per acre.” 
Only comparatively small portions of the above would be 
required for human consumption, so that the greater part would 
be available for agricultural purposes if we could but have the 
reservoirs. The cost of construction of these would not in all 
cases probably be so great as Mr. Bailey Denton's estimate 
previously given, because it would vary considerably in accord- 
See Society of Arts Journal, January 5, 1859. 
