water is
available for the garden and those which are hopelessly given over to
drought shows how much may be accomplished in this direction even with
limited means.

As in the case of road-making in any thing like a complete and thorough
manner, the providing of a water supply must necessarily be directed by
professional advice. Although the simpler principles of hydraulics are
sufficiently understood, and although it would be quite within the
ability of a number of the more intelligent men of any village to secure
and distribute a satisfactory amount of water, the cost of doing such
work in an experimental way by persons unaccustomed to its details, as
compared with the cost of doing it under the direction of an engineer
whose natural judgment and capacity are supplemented by experience and
skill, would be without doubt far beyond the fee demanded for his
services. In this case, as in many others connected with public and
private works, it is always bad economy to save the cost of proper
knowledge. Very likely--perhaps indeed very generally--the actual
performance of the work, the buying and laying of the pipe, and all
that, can be as cheaply done under home direction as under that of a
public contractor; but the making of the plans--the deciding upon the
source of the supply, upon the means for securing a sufficient head, the
sizes of the pipes, the location and construction of fire-plugs, and all
the minor details of the work--will be more or less economical,
according to the skill, experience, and capacity of the person who
directs it.

The sources from which water may be obtained are various. Often enough
water of the best quality may be procured by driven, dug, or artesian
wells; but, whenever this course is adopted, the wells should be located
far enough away from the village, or on land sufficiently high, to make
it impossible that there shall be any fouling of the water-bearing
strata by the filtration from barn-yards, privy-vaults, or cesspools.
Generally, water so secured will have to be raised to an elevated
reservoir by some mechanical force. If the demand is to be a large one,
and if the community can afford the cost, the most reliable plan will be
to use steam-power for pumping; but in smaller places, and where economy
is a great object, wind-power may serve an excellent purpose.

If a stream of pure water is available at a sufficient height, it may be
led directly to the reservoir, or its current may