DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE IMPROVEMENT 
VOL. XIII. 
AUGUSTA, GA., JULY, 
NO. 7. 
WILLIAM S. JONES, Publisher. 
DANIEL LEE, 
, Editors,. 
gy SEE TERMS ON LAST PAGE. 
©iDitDiiiij ml 3Eiecellaitij. 
r AGEICTTLTURAL ENGINEERING.-IRRIGATION. 
A NEW “ Cornish Engine ” has been put up in the 
Schuylkill Water Works, Philadelphia. The Ledger of 
that city says, that the builders of the engine guarantee it 
to perform the work of lifting fifty million pounds of water 
one foot high with one hundred pounds of coaL 
It is our purpose to visit these somewhat famous Water 
W orks soon, to examine in person the actual results at- 
tained by the consumption of a given quantity of fuel ; for 
fifty million pounds of water is twenty-five thousand tons 
of 2,000 lbs. each, and will cover 25 acres one inch deep 
with water. 
Assuming the execution of this Cornish Engine not to 
be over-estimated in the guaranty, the above stated data 
are of the highest agricultural importance. Both Irigation 
. and Draininge are questions first of mechanics and hy- 
draulics ; and secondly of dollars and cents. All the food 
of plants that enters their roots must be dissolved in water 
and the needed water must go to needy plants, as the lat- 
ter cannot travel, like cattle, down to a branch to drink. 
What can scientific Engineering do to help the planter 
water his crops when they suffer from the lack of it % It 
has already done something, and it is capable of doing in- 
finitely more. The economical lifting and distribution of 
water are problems of great and peculiar interest to agri- 
culturists in all warm climates ; for the comparatively 
high temperature of such climates, and the not unfrequent 
arid state of the atmosphei-e, combine to render the amount 
^ of water evaporated from the leaves and general surface of 
plants very large. Hence, the demands of nature, under 
such circumstances, are often pressing, and but scantily 
met by the supply of water in the soil. In a word, agri- 
cultural plants need a great deal more water than they re- 
ceive to attain their highest, and perfect development. 
One inch of water over the whole surface of a field is 
equal to a first-rate rain ; and wood equal to 100 lbs. of 
coal, say 200 lbs. of seasoned wood, will lift 100 tons of 
water 25 feet, where that elevation will suffice to spread 
water over an acre of land. 
AVhile some of our readers may irrigate large fields by 
lifting water only 25 feet, more may do so by lifting it 50 
feet. The mechanical power to do this is ©nly 400 lbs. of 
dry wood per 100 tons of water, equivalent to one inch in 
depth per acre over the field. Now, it will often pay to 
consume 800 lbs. of dry wood to lift 100 tons of water 100 
feet high, if need be, for one good irrigation of a single 
acre. One hundred tons of water, so applied in an arti- 
ficial shower as to permit it all to soak into the ground 
about the roots of needy plants, may save a crop that 
would otherwise be lost. But it will rarely be necessary 
to raise one’s artificial shower 100 feet high, to get the 
water over the surface of the earth. When the roofs of 
high buildings and church towers are on fire in cities, it 
may be necessary that fire engines worked by hand or 
steam, should rain at an elevation of 100 feet— the water 
being drawn from a well or cistern. The improvements 
almost daily made in the handling of water in cities, as in 
London, New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, are 
worthy of the study of rural economists. In Rochester^ 
where this article is written, a small steam engine has- 
just been put up expressly to extinguish fire in the valu- 
able property within one or two hundred yards of it. This- 
engine will be, doubtless, a profitable working machine,, 
if it shall never be wanted to flood a building which is on- 
fire ; and so may be any engine on a farm, when from the 
abundance of rain it is not often needed for purposes of 
irrigation. 
Near Rochester there is a steam engine of 64 horse- 
power now at work in the manufacture of brick, draining- 
tile, and pipes of all sizes for the conveyance of water 
under ground. The engine drives a horizontal iron shafS:. 
400 yards in length, which works twelve upright iron mills 
for thoroughly mixing, clay, sand, and a little coal-screen- 
ings. At this extensive establishment, five men dig and 
haul the raw material, and manufacture thirteen thousand 
brick for a day’s labor of ten hours. This task is usually 
performed in less than ten hours. The Company em- 
ploys ^100,000 cash capital, and is understood to be 
making money. As yet the demand for drainage tile and 
pipes for the close conveyance of water is not large, but it 
is increasing. A single machine does the work, which 
cost only $200. The tile and pipe are baked in a large 
brick oven, heated much like a common brick-kiln, by 
long narrow arches, with open work at the top, in which 
wood is burnt. Instead of open ditches, and open mill- 
races, so liable to be filled with snow and ice in winter, 
and weeds and leaves in summer and autumn, pipes of 
eight inches bore, made in two pieces, each a semi-circle, 
are put down and covered with earth one or two feet, as. 
shall be necessary to escape frost. Where more water is 
needed at a mill than one large pipe will convey, two or 
more, of eight inches each, are used. On small streams 
that often drive over-shot, pitch-back and breast-wheels, 
the loss of water by evaporation, in long, open ditches, 
and the liability of their banks to break, are pretty serious 
evils. Loss, by sinking into the ground and leakage, is 
another drawback on the value of a lengthened open ditch, 
where one wishes to save water for mechanical, or other 
purposes. 
