1912. 
PRACTICAL ENGINEERING TALKS. 
A Pneumatic Water System. 
II. R. B., Grccmcood, Va .—Tell me what 
you think of the problem outlined below: 
I have a splendid living spring 1,000 feet 
from my dwelling, and 70 feet below level 
of dwelling. Can I place a pneumatic air 
pressure tank in ground below this spring, 
pipe from tank to dwelling, and deliver the 
water by air compression, to dwelling in a 
satisfactory manner. Will this system be 
thoroughly practicable with, this distance 
and lift? 
Ans. —A properly installed pneumatic 
system such as you describe will work 
in a thoroughly satisfactory manner 
under the conditions named. The 
amount of water you can get per minute 
will depend, of course, on the size of 
delivery pipe you use and the air 
pressure acting on the water. You 
should obtain a clear statement from 
any firm that supplies you as to just 
what they guarantee their apparatus to 
do when installed—what water capa¬ 
city the storage tank has, what pres¬ 
sure it works under, how long it takes 
to pump to the required pressure, and 
how much water the system will de¬ 
liver per minute to a faucet in the house 
with the size of supply pipe they pro¬ 
pose to install and any other informa¬ 
tion you may desire. For full satis¬ 
faction, a faucet wide open should de¬ 
liver about three gallons per minute 
with your storage tank three-quarters 
empty. Such a system as you outline 
will probably cost you new at retail, 
including a 150-gallon tank, a power 
pump and piping, from $150 to $200 
and with a hand pump from $100 to 
$150 if you have a combination air and 
water pump installed. R. p. c. 
“Curing” a Damp House. 
TT. A. W.. Chestnut Hill, Conn .—Can any¬ 
thing be done to a house that is damp? 
The house is built o£ brick, stands on high 
level ground, there is never any water in 
the cellar, but the walls in the house are 
always damp and so are the clothes! in the 
closets. I cannot account it to the locality, 
as my neighbors’ houses in same locality 
are not damp. I enclose plan of my build¬ 
ings, and as you will see from same, sun¬ 
light is entirely shut out from the house 
on the east and north, on account the 
sheds being so near. Should this be the 
reason or do you think that it must be due 
to poor material used in the building of 
the house? Can you suggest anything to 
remedy same? 
Ans. —It is always extremely difficult 
to tell just what is the trouble with a 
house when it is damp. If the clay of 
which bricks are made contains car¬ 
bonate of lime that decomposes and 
forms caustic potash which will ab¬ 
sorb water and cause disintegration. 
Very soft brick will absorb nearly a 
third of its weight of water, and ordi¬ 
nary interior brick will absorb one- 
quarter their weight of water. Obvi¬ 
ously such brick should not be used on 
outside walls. No brick is good if it 
absorbs more than 10 'per cent of its 
weight, and the best brick absorb only 
five per cent. 
Shutting out the sunlight entirely 
from two sides of the house is very 
likely the immediate cause of the diffi¬ 
culty, especially if there is no break 
in the brick wall from the foundation 
up, and if you are in the habit of keep¬ 
ing that part of the house closed up. 
A brick is full of tiny pores or tubes 
which suck the moisture from the 
ground and pass it on to the next brick, 
and so on through the wall. In the 
best construction, therefore, a stone 
foundation is used, or, if a brick foun¬ 
dation is required, one or two layers 
of slate are laid in the mortar joints, 
thus preventing the moisture going 
farther. Then, too, the moisture of the 
atmosphere is absorbed, especially if 
the sun does not warm the walls at 
all. This moisture is sucked in and 
retained by the bricks. From your let¬ 
ter and sketch, the best thing you can 
do is to swing the sheds around to the 
north side of the barn, thus not only 
opening the house up to the sunlight 
but also protecting the barn somewhat. 
Having made this change, the house 
must be heated up and kept so for a 
considerable length of time. Not only 
must the upper floors be heated, but the 
cellar should be heated and the heat 
allowed to circulate up through the 
partitions and between the outside walls 
and the inner walls. All this should be 
done several times until the house is 
thoroughly dry. Then, if the outer 
walls are painted with a coat of any 
good waterproofing compound, and the 
house frequently thrown open to the 
outside air, it will probably give you 
no further trouble. If you follow these 
suggestions and there is a slate layer 
above the ground line, the house will 
certainly remain dry. r. p. c. 
THE RURAb NE,W-YORKER 
Apple Orchard on Woodland. 
W. J. II., Halloirell, Pa .—I have a tract 
of about four acres that has just been 
cleared of chestnut timber of 40 years’ 
growth. Would your readers think it pru¬ 
dent to plant this ground with apple 
trees this Spring? Our plan to clear new 
ground is to mow every year in August, 
for about 10 years before we take out 
stumps. Of course we must mulch and 
fertilize the apples and give proper care 
aside from cultivation, which would be 
almost impossible for a few years. 
Ans. —We are thinking of clearing a 
number of pieces of land which will 
be handled about as follows: Meas¬ 
ure off the field the desired distance 
apart for the rows. Then clear out 
tracks five or six feet wide where these 
row's run. By grubbing or blasting 
out -a few stumps it is generally pos¬ 
sible to make such clear strips. Set 
the trees in these strips, sighting both 
ways to have the row’s uniform. 
You will then be able to cultivate 
one w’ay by plowing two or three 
light furrows on each side of the tree 
rows and using the cultivator through 
the Summer. You will usually need 
time on such soil and some little hoe 
work around the trees. Leaves can be 
raked in for a mulch. Cut the sprouts 
from the stumps in August and when¬ 
ever possible get out more stumps, try 
to remove them so as to have wider 
strips for working. This will lessen the 
damage from fire and the trees will 
make a steady growth and if you keep 
at the stumps you will in a few years 
have a good orchard. 
When little Ada, aged three, had 
been told the story of Lot’s wife being 
turned into a pillar of salt, she asked 
her mother anxiously, “Is all salt made 
of ladies?”—Woman’s Journal. 
You Know 
What You Are Getting 
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M LAND Lime 
as it is sold under a Guaran¬ 
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Rockland & Rockport Lime Co. 
Rockland, Me. 
Boston, 45 Milk St.; New York, Fifth A ve. Bldg. 
AGRICULTURAL LIME 
O UR Agricultural Lime is Granular in form. Our 
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COMSTOCK LIME <& CEMENT CO. 
rhons 15CO Cortlsndt. _ 89 Cortlandt St., N. Y. 
niTCIITO tbatPAV. $378,140 made by clients. 
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1 kn ■ v/ report as t0 patentability. 
E. E. VIIOOMAN, Rat. Atty., 838 F St., Wash., D.C. 
When yon write advertisers mention The 
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Gasoline Engines 
You can buy a Gasoline Engine from us, and have it shipped 
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WATERLOO ENGINE WORKS 
137 Liberty Street, New York City 
{HAKE WATER PUMP ITSELF 
Have “running water when and where you 
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FOSTER 
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of helpful suggestions Fr««. 
POWER SPECIALTY CO* 
111 Broadway, New York j 
6< 
CASH TALKS” iH£2? 
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