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The Water Supply for the Country Place 
VARIOUS WAYS OF SOLVING THE PROBLEM FOR THE HOME WHICH IS NOT REACHED BY THE 
MUNICIPAL SYSTEM—THE ADVANTAGES AND INSTALLATIONS OF THE BEST POWER PLANTS 
by George Ethelbert Walsh 
T HERE is no question more perplexing to the country resi¬ 
dent than that of a good and reliable water supply, both 
for household and irrigation purposes, and while the problem may 
he solved for those who can tap a town or village water system 
it is far from being settled for those who live in the true country 
away from such modern conveniences. The independent water 
supply must then be worked out by the individual and according 
to circumstances. Each problem, it may be said, is a separate one, 
and must be treated accordingly. 
The owner of a good well or pump which provides clean, sweet 
and wholesome drinking water is not inclined to give it up and 
substitute something less desirable. “We have the coolest and 
best water in the State,” remarked the owner of a country place, 
“and the well is protected from all contamination. What more 
do I want?” 
Notwithstanding this boastful announcement, the man had one 
of the poorest systems of water supply in his State. The water 
was all that was claimed for it, but it was obtained at a great 
waste of time and effort. All the water needed for the house—■ 
except a little rain water collected in barrels—and for the stock 
had to be drawn up bv hand. They never wasted water there, 
for it was too expensive. 
Near by was a pond, fed by a tiny brook, but this water was 
rarely used because it was located some distance below the level 
of the house. Stock were sometimes driven down there and 
watered, but that was all. 
It never occurred to the man that the water from the pond 
could be piped up to the house and barn for general uses and for 
nearly everything except drinking, and the waste could be used 
for garden irrigation. With a hydraulic ram or a small gas 
engine pump located near the pond a generous water supply could 
have been obtained at very little cost. 
The treatment of the individual water supply system falls under 
one of several classes, and one must be applied to every country 
place or farm in the country: windmill pumping station; hy¬ 
draulic ram; gas-engine pump; gravity spring system, and 
rain storage. 
The Department of Agriculture recently issued a bulletin de¬ 
ploring the abandonment of the good old windmill, for in many 
parts of the country it is still the best and most sensible method 
of securing water. It is true that the gasolene engine pump has 
been substituted for the windmill in many parts of the country 
with excellent results, but this method costs more and is not 
always so satisfactory. 
One of the reasons for general abandonment of the windmill 
was its unreliability. That is, the wind could not be depended 
upon to do the pumping in the season when water is most in 
demand. This was due entirely to the inadequacy of the storage 
tank. A tank holding less than a thousand gallons of water was 
generally the maximum size for these windmill pumping stations. 
That amount of water would not last the average family for 
household uses much longer than a week, leaving nothing for 
stock and irrigation. 
Some of the most modern windmill equipments have solved 
this question by the installation of big water tanks, built of field 
stones and concrete, in connection with the windmill. These 
tanks or reservoirs are built to-day big enough to hold fifty and 
sixty thousand gallons of water. They are built up in circular 
form of field stones, with a concrete bottom and inside, to a 
height of thirty or forty feet. They are independent of the 
windmill, except that the overflow pipe drips into them. I he 
water stored in them provides throughout the spring, summer 
and autumn all that may be needed for stock, irrigation and 
fountain use. 
Such a reservoir built of field stones and concrete forms a 
really ornamental feature to the country place, and if covered 
with ivy or other plants the outside walls are showy and striking. 
A stone reservoir of this nature, thirty feet high, and holding 
fifty or sixty thousand gallons of water, can be built for about 
$150 if the field stones can be obtained on or near the place. 
The hydraulic ram is an old system of pumping up water from 
a lower to higher level, and its use to-day is satisfactory where 
a nearby or distant pond can be utilized. Many places have 
somewhere on them such a supply of water, but owing to its low 
level it is considered of little use. There is no pond, lake or 
stream of water, no matter how much lower than the level of the 
house and garden it may be, that cannot be utilized for irrigation 
purposes or household and stock use by means of a hydraulic ram. 
A first-class ram requires little attention and should run an 
entire season without repairs. The hydraulic ram was invented 
in 1796, but many improvements have been made on it to-day, 
and the double-acting ram does the work that could not be ob¬ 
tained from the old-fashioned one. These rams are now made to 
operate with a fall as small as eighteen inches and up to fifty feet. 
Water can be raised to practically any height by using a battery 
of several rams. The advantages of such a water pumping in¬ 
stallation is that any pond or lake of impure water can be used 
for the motive power, and water a considerable distance off in a 
spring can be pumped to the house, or impure pond water can be 
pumped to a reservoir for irrigation purposes. 
The gas engine pump has come into vogue in the last few years 
in all parts of the country. It is a cheap and reliable system that 
anybody can operate. It takes no more brains to keep it going 
and operate it than to start the engine in the automobile or 
motorboat. 
The gas engine can be placed near a pond, lake, brook or 
river, and with the intake pipe running far out good water can 
be pumped up to the house or barn. The cost for piping depends 
upon the distance from the house or barn. Good gasolene pump¬ 
ing outfits can be purchased from $300 upward. The greater the 
distance the water must be pumped and the higher the altitude, 
the heavier must be the engine to do the work. 
The gasolene pumping engine consumes very little gas, not 
more than a few cents’ worth an hour, and once started it will 
continue going without attention until stopped. One hour of 
pumping will furnish all the water needed for barn and house¬ 
hold use in a day. For irrigation purposes the gasolene pump 
can be run for an hour a day and supply sufficient water for an 
acre of land in each twenty-four hours. In the worst summer 
drought the garden can thus be kept moist and well watered at a 
cost of only a few cents a day. 
Gravity spring systems of obtaining water for irrigation and 
general use are so simple that where the proper conditions pre¬ 
vail they should not be neglected by any one. The idea consists 
simply in running a long pipe from some spring, brook or pond 
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