1474 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Draining Surface Water from House 
Where the lawn on the north side slopes 
toward the house, a drain is suggested to 
catch the surface water. The house al¬ 
ready has eaves troughs. Could you give 
me advice as to the character of the pro¬ 
posed drain? Should it be carried down 
to the level or even below the cellar floor? 
And. if so, should the ditch, besides the 
tile, be filled more or less with broken 
stone? The rain (roof) water is well 
taken care of. but the surface water is 
not. It is this water, I fear, that is mak¬ 
ing most of the trouble, heaving tip the 
cement floors, which are now practically 
destroyed, and rotting the wooden floors. 
Essex, N. Y. a. b. 
While it is difficult to judge your con¬ 
ditions from a letter alone, I would ex¬ 
pect that the best place for a tile drain 
would be along the base of the wall, out¬ 
side, and a little below the floor level. If 
the floor is broken up so badly as to re¬ 
quire relaying, sub-drains laid beneath it 
with a good pitch to the drain surround¬ 
ing the building, or at least on the north 
side, will also aid in carrying off the 
ground water. 
As you suggest, filling in the trench 
about the tile' with gravel or broken stone 
will be an aid to the entrance of water. 
The drain can be arranged to slope with 
an even grade obtained by stretching up 
a cord over the ditch with the slope de¬ 
sired, and keeping the ditch bottom par¬ 
allel with this cord by means of a measure 
cut just long enough to reach from tin 1 
cord to the finished ditch bottom. This, 
of course, gives the ditch bottom the same 
slant as the line stretched above it. 
This drainage water should not be dis¬ 
charged into the sewage line leading to a 
septic tank, but should rather discharge at 
a place of its own. or into the drain now 
taking care of the roof water. The water 
is, of course, harmless, not polluted like 
sewage water, and can be discharged any¬ 
where that is low enough to give a gravity 
flow. If discharged into a septic tank the 
dilution of the sewage in wet weather may 
overload the tank, causing “raw" sewage 
to be discharged. It is also difficult to 
trap the drain where it enters the sewage 
system. During periods of dry weather 
the water seal is likely to be broken and 
sewage gases will then find their way 
back into the house via the drain. 
It hardly seems possible that the heav¬ 
ing of the floors spoken of would occur 
unless the cellar freezes severely during 
the Winter; neither would the freezing 
alone cause it. Cold to the degree of 
quite serious freezing and water are nec¬ 
essary to cause the heaving, and either 
keeping the temperature above the severe 
freezing point or removing the water 
should prevent it. I think that you will 
find the ventilation and the keeping of a 
slow fire—a condition approaching that 
of an inhabited dwelling—of as much help 
as anything in preventing the mold and 
dampness throughout the house, k. h. s. 
A Water Problem 
The little diagram accompanying out¬ 
lines the water supply situation on this 
farm, and I would like to have your ad¬ 
vice on it. At present we have a pump 
in the kitchen connected direct to a driven 
Diagram of 1 Voter Suggh 
well. This was driven about three years 
ago, and a good supply of water obtained 
at about 18 feet. Evidently the screen 
has become clogged, as we now have dif¬ 
ficulty in pumping water. Drawing will 
show the arrangement of this well. Will 
you suggest a method of pulling up the 
pipe if that is practical, or would it be 
better to drive a new point? We also 
have a dug well, located 50 feet from the 
house. Would it be practical to run a 
pipe from the old pump in the kitchen 
to this outside well? This is a common 
kitchen pump, short handle lever type, 
connected to 1*4-inch pipe. I have 
already disconnected the horizontal sec¬ 
tion of pipe which runs through the 
foundation, but am puzzled in pulling up 
the well point. S. S. K. 
Caldwell, N. J- 
The situation of the well, in the cellar, 
if I understand it. is somewhat of a han¬ 
dicap in the attempt to pull the pipe, as 
there is little room for tripods, levers, etc., 
for lifting. I would suggest that you se¬ 
cure two strong pieces of timber from 
three to six feet in length, and after bolt¬ 
ing them together bore a hole through be¬ 
tween them with an auger somewhat 
smaller than the outside diameter of the 
pipe of which the driven well is made. 
These timbers are then bolted securely to 
the pipe at a height to permit the intro¬ 
duction of a jack under each end. A se¬ 
cure foundation is provided for the jacks, 
and the pipe lifted by working the jacks 
together, loosening the timber and letting 
it down as the pipe is raised. Turning the 
pipe by the use of a large stillson wrench 
or. a. chain and crowbar will help in loos¬ 
ening it, but it must be turned to the 
right to avoid uncoupling. 
In regard to bringing water from the 
dug well, the depth is the deciding factor. 
If the water in the \vell is within 15 to 20 
ft. vertically of the cylinder of the pump 
the water can be raised, although a pump 
with a longer handle and heavier con¬ 
struction would work easier. If the water 
is much below this level it cannot be 
raised by a pump in the house: the pump 
would have to be located over the well and 
the cylinder placed low enough to bring 
it within practical suction distance. 
R. n. s. 
This plus the distance of 12 feet from 
the ground surface to the water level in 
the well makes a total lift of 37 feet, 
which puts it beyond the possibility of 
“suction” lift. The pump will have to be 
located over the well, or at least near 
enough to it to reduce the lift to from 15 
to 20 feet. A dry well should be dug fbr 
the pump deep enough to accommodate 
the set length easily, and drainage pro¬ 
vided to prevent freezing. While perhaps 
giving better satisfaction when so placed, 
October 4, 1910 
the mill up where it will get an unob¬ 
structed breeze. If the pump is placed 
directly at the well and the pipe laid at 
an even grade, so that there are no 
pockets in it to prevent drainage a valve 
could be arranged, or in fact the three- 
way cock of the pump could be used to 
drain the discharge pipe, and in this case 
the lS-inch depth would be sufficient. If 
this is done the discharge pipe should 
come up beside the trough and discharge 
into it by means of a bend over the top 
Water System 
I am about to install a water system 
for purpose of pumping water to barn¬ 
yard for stock. Water to be pumped 
from driven well, quite sandy in bottom ; 
depth of well 14 ft., to pump about 12 
ft. to surface of ground. Well is 800 ft. 
from where I wish to pump into trough, 
rise one inch to the foot. Would a wind¬ 
mill be the cheaper, or a gas engine? 
Could 1 possibly place gas engine at place 
where I intend putting trough and lift 
water to it. or must I place engine at 
well and force it? Some say it can be 
done, others say it is not possible. What 
horsepower would be necessary? I am 
figuring on about iy± -in. galvanized pipe. 
How deep should pipe be covered to in¬ 
sure it against any possible chance of 
freezing? Would IS in. be deep enough, 
taking into consideration the rise of 
ground? It would seem that pipe would 
drain quickly. Pump to be regular set 
length threeway valve, 4 ft. below sur¬ 
face. If windmill were used, what height 
tower and size of mill would be advisable? 
Farm is situated on hill, always more or 
less wind. I would like the very best 
and surest power at as reasonable a figure 
as possible. F. H. F. 
Earlville. N. Y. 
As the water is to be carried 800 ft.,* 
with a slope upward of one inch to the 
foot, it will be equivalent to a vertical 
lift of 800 inches, or 800 -f- 12 = 25 feet. 
the power need not be directly over the 
well or pump. The engine or windmill 
may be placed at a distance and the pump 
operated by a system of wires and trian¬ 
gles as shown in the sketch. 
A one horsepower engine should handle 
the pumping, but. as when once installed 
other duties will be found for it to do, a 
two to three horsepower will be better. 
The water can be pumped at the cost of 
around one pint of fuel per hour while 
the engine is pumping. While you do 
have to purchase this fuel in the case of 
the engine, you do not have to make the 
initial outlay necessary for the installa¬ 
tion of a storage tank to tide over periods 
of calm, as is the case where a windmill 
is used for power, neither is the engine 
subject to damage by storms as the wind¬ 
mill is. The engine, as intimated above, 
is also adapted to running other machin¬ 
ery, and after installation it will not be 
long before it will be running the milker, 
separating the milk, turning the grindstone, 
the washing machine and the fanning 
mill, as well as furnishing lights for the 
farmstead in addition to its duty of 
pumping water, many of these operations 
being carried on at the same time. The 
windmill is not adapted to these duties, 
and will be used for pumping only. 
A six to eight-foot back-geared windmill 
should work the pump all right, and as 
the location is on a hilltop, where the 
course of the wind is unobstructed, a com¬ 
paratively low tower should give satis¬ 
faction. All that is necessary is to get 
or be fitted with a valve at the upper end 
if entering the trough through the bottom, 
otherwise the trough will be drained as 
well as the pipe. r. h. S. 
Storage for Manure 
Will you give me some suggestion for 
the construction of a simple shelter for 
poultry manure? j. c. A. 
New York. 
Since the only requisite for the storage 
of poultry manure is a shelter that will 
keep it dry, the simplest shed or roof that 
will answer this purpose will suffice. This 
manure should not be allowed to heat in 
the pile, as that will permit much of its 
most valuable constituent, nitrogen, to 
escape in the form of ammonia, and it will 
be more easily kept in usable form if 
mixed with dry loam as it is stored. Acid 
phosphate may also be mixed with it as 
it. is. stoi’ed. both for the purpose of ab¬ 
sorbing the moisture which causes un¬ 
treated poultry manure to cake and 
harden and to add to its fertilizing value. 
Wood ashes, or other substances contain¬ 
ing considerable lime, should not be mixed 
with poultry manure that is to be stored, 
as lime also promotes the escape of am¬ 
monia and the consequent loss of valuable 
nitrogen. u. B. D. 
First Corkscrew: “What will you do 
after .1 uly 1 ?” Second Corkscrew: “I 
think I'll try opening car windows.”— 
New York Sun. ■ 
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