pipe,
large enough for everything except fires, will cost about ten cents, so
that the excess cost per foot for the sake of fire protection is thirty
cents, for a distance up to 500 feet (when the grade is 1 to 4) or $150.
If the grade is not 1 to 4, then the pipe must be six-inch, and the
excess cost is fifty cents or the cost for 500 feet will be $250. If the
distance is greater than 500 and the fall not great, so that an
eight-inch pipe has to be used, the excess cost is sixty-five cents a
foot, or $650 for a 1000-foot line.

It is sometimes possible to economize by building a large tank
containing about 36,000 gallons and using only a small pipe to fill, but
always keeping the tank full. Such a tank would contain 4800 cubic feet
or would be twenty-two feet square and ten feet deep, or it may be
twenty-five feet in diameter and ten feet deep. This tank would have to
be erected in the air, higher up than the top of the buildings, and
would require heavy supports and a great expenditure. Unless, therefore,
a convenient knoll or sidehill is available on which to build a concrete
tank, the large pipe direct from the water-supply must be provided for
fire protection. Whether it is worth while depends on the cost of
insurance and whether it is considered cheaper to pay high rates for
insurance or to spend the large sum for protection. A third choice is
also open, namely, to carry no insurance and to install no fire hydrants
and to run the inevitable risk of losing the house by fire. Perhaps the
decision is a mark of the type of man whose property is concerned.

_Rain water-supply._

It will often happen that no pond or brook is available for a
water-supply, and if water is obtained, it must come directly from the
rain. Apparently, this is quite feasible, since an ordinary house has
about 1000 square feet area on which rain water might be caught and
carried to a tank. In the eastern part of the United States, the annual
rainfall is, on the average, 3-3/4 vertical inches per month, or the
volume of water from the roof will be 310 cubic feet. This is nearly 80
gallons a day, or enough for three or four people. The rain from the
house and barns might be combined, making perhaps 5000 square feet, and
giving an ample volume of water for the needs of a dozen people.

In discussing the size of tank necessary to hold rain water for a family
supply, it must be remembered that for many weeks at a time no rain
occurs, and that a t