need not be considered
in detail, because high-pressure steam is not often available in
country houses. Where electric current is brought to the building, or
generated for lighting purposes, water may be pumped by an electric
pump. Electric motors are easy and convenient to run, very clean, but
so far not very economical. Electric pumps may be arranged so as to
start and stop entirely automatically. Water may be pumped, where
electricity forms the power, either by triplex plunger pumps or by
rotary, screw, or centrifugal pumps.

_Pumps Worked by Hand_

Space forbids giving a description of the many simpler devices used
for lifting water. In small farmhouses lift and force pumps worked by
hand are now introduced, and the old-fashioned, moss-covered
draw-bucket, which is neither convenient nor sanitary, is becoming a
relic of past times.

_Reservoirs and Storage Tanks_

The water pumped is stored either in small masonry or earth
reservoirs, or else in storage tanks of either wood, iron, or steel,
placed on a wood or steel tower. Wooden tanks are cheap but unsightly,
require frequent renewal of the paint, and give trouble by leaking,
freezing, and corrosion of hoops. In recent years elevated tanks are
supplanted by pressure tanks. Several such systems, differing but
little from one another, are becoming quite well known. In these water
is stored under suitable pressure in air-tight tanks, filled partly
with water and partly with air.

_A Simple Pressure System_

One system consists of a circular, wrought-steel, closed tank, made
air- and water-tight, a force pump for pumping water into the tank,
and pipe connections. The tank is placed either horizontally or
vertically in the basement or cellar, or else placed outdoors in the
ground at a depth below freezing. Water is pumped into the bottom of
the tank, whereby its air acquires sufficient pressure to force water
to the upper floors.

This simple system has some marked advantages over the outside or the
attic tank. In these, water gets warm in summer and freezes in winter.
Vermin and dust get into the tank, and the water stagnates. In the
pressure tank, water is kept aerated, cool, and clean.

Another pressure tank has an automatic valve, controlled by a float
and connected with suction of pump. It prevents the tank from becoming
water-logged by maintaining the correct amount of air inside.

_An Ideal System for a Country House_

Still another system u