294 
T H E GARDEN M A G A Z I N E 
July, 1915 
having a fall, or “head,” to raise part of the 
flow to an elevated point. It utilizes the 
principle commonly known as “water 
hammer.” The installation of such a.plant 
depends, as above described, on a con- 
siderable amount of power water together 
with a direct or separate supply fit for 
domestic uses. This particular installation 
is pumping to an elevated tank on a rocky 
knoll well screened from the surrounding 
landscape. The tank is of five thousand- 
gallon capacity and its bottom is some 
fifteen feet higher than the ridge of the 
house and perhaps thirty feet higher than 
the farm buildings. 
In this outfit there is a three-inch drive 
pipe of galvanized wrought iron and an 
inch and a quarter delivery. The cost of 
The hydraulic ram will pump from a spring or well, using 
water from a stream for its operation 
the installation, including the concrete 
dam, was $523. 
Much interest developed over the success 
of the plant in the cold winter weather. 
While ice formed around the stones where 
the splash of the overflow struck, the ram 
itself has worked perfectly. 
This particular form of pumping ma- 
chine can be used where there is fall and 
flow enough for a great variety of uses. It 
will work against a pneumatic as well as an 
elevated tank. 
The deep well, which is the most common 
source of water supply, opens up a problem 
which puts up to the owner at once the 
choice of a very great number of excellent 
equipments. It is not always that the 
best for one well may prove the best for 
the next case. Here the experience of the 
engineer is of great value. His knowledge 
of the record of past performance of the 
several deep well cylinders, power heads, 
engines and motors will govern the choice 
quite as much as price. 
Some firms manufacture machines of 
such a substantial character that the weight 
of the castings runs up the price so that it 
appears like a great discrepancy in the bids 
submitted. The strength and excellence 
of design, however, may more than com- 
pensate the owner by length of the life of 
the machine, less need of repairs and 
smoothness in running. 
Such questions as the yield of the well 
under constant pumping, depth of water 
from surface, etc., must be considered. 
The type of cylinder — single or double 
acting — form of rod couplings, length and 
speed of stroke at the power head, direct 
or belt drive, horse power and style of 
engine, fuel oil, kerosene, gasolene, electric 
or windmill. The costs range with the 
size and elaborateness of the outfit. 
For a cost example, a man in West- 
chester County, New York, had a 300-foot 
well, 6-inch bore, mostly in rock, which cost 
$1,800 to drive. It yielded twenty gallons 
per minute on a twenty-four hours’ pump- 
ing test with the water standing thirty-four 
feet from the surface. The equipment 
installed was as follows: 1,100 feet of 3-inch 
galvanized wrought iron pipe in a trench 
4^ feet deep; 210 feet of 2-inch galvanized 
wrought iron pipe in a trench \\ feet deep; 
three fire hydrants; frame pump house 10 
by 8 feet with shingled sides and roof, one 
double door, one window, brick chimney and 
stove; one deep well rig with power head, 
sucker rods, deep well cylinder; one 3 horse- 
power gasolene engine, belt drive so placed 
that the belt can be slipped off and used 
in through the door for wood saw; one 
10,000-gallon wooden tank with walk, rail, 
ladder and gauge all mounted in a 30-foot 
steel tower. Total cost of above, $3,300. 
Hence the cost of water to the owner 
might be estimated thus: 
Well $1,800 
Plant 3,300 
Total $5,100 
Interest at 6 per cent $ 306 
Depreciation 5 per cent 255 
Repairs 1 per cent 51 
Operating — oil, fuel and labor 126 
Total $738 
Supposing there is pumped 3,000 gallons 
per day for 340 days in the year, we have 
a total pumpage of 1,020,000 gallons at the 
cost of $738, or the cost per gallon is 
$0.00073, or about $2.19 per day. Allow- 
ing 150 gallons per head if there were 20 
<rk» 
Water sources may be made into attractive garden 
features, permitting the introduction of stone, concrete 
and ornamental iron work 
The ram is a remarkably useful thing when a moderate 
fall of water is available to operate it. The water thus 
pumps up a certain proportion of its volume 
people on the place this would mean about 
eleven cents per day per person. 
Of course it might be said there was no 
depreciation in the well and that only a fair 
charge is on the net operating cost of oil, gas- 
olene and labor, leaving out the interest and 
depreciation on the pumping outfit. These 
items, however, are real enough and ought 
to show in estimating the cost of the water. 
The above represents an outfit that is 
well installed with the best material and 
equipment. The same amount of water 
might with a less substantial outfit be 
furnished on the same place at the rate of 
perhaps one dollar a day. Under these cir- 
cumstances, however, the plant would need 
rebuilding in a very much shorter time. 
It is quite out of the question in a paper 
of this kind to more than generalize on 
equipment. The reasons for selecting an 
equipment for one place might not be 
justified in another. One owner may be 
satisfied with the lightest and cheapest 
installation (and frequently is) with full 
knowledge that it will wear out rapidly, 
cause inconvenience with breakdowns, and 
make fire risk by lack of storage or pressure. 
Another owner will go to the other ex- 
treme and install a plant large enough to 
supply a small town. It is the nicely 
balanced design, withproper storage andsub- 
stantial equipment, which would seem to be 
the best all around solution to the problem. 
It frequently happens that electric cur- 
rent can be obtained at a low or reasonable 
rate. In this case a motor with an auto- 
matic starter and cut-out prove to be of 
great convenience. A float or other device 
can be arranged so when the water in the 
supply reservoir or tanks reaches a certain 
level the motor will throw in and start the 
pumps automatically. The electric motor 
obviates the necessity of the gasolene 
storage tanks and the labor and care of 
filling them. Here again the cost of current 
is a great element to be considered. 
In general then the water supply prob- 
lem is one to which much study can wisely 
and profitably be given before the final 
decision is made. The advice of an expert 
is quite worth while and may well save the 
owner much care and money. 
