y marked; the diviner
would depart and the well diggers who had followed his performance
with proper awe would begin work. As the ceremony failed to stipulate
just how far down the precious liquid was, a successful well was
presumably the result. The prowess of the well diviner is acclaimed
even today by some people, although scientific investigation has
proved that his services are worth just about as much as those of a
witch doctor.

After the country home owner has attended to the little matter of a
well, be it old or new, dug or drilled, the next step is installing a
pump. If the water level is less than twenty feet below ground, a
shallow-well pump will be perfectly adequate and as it is much less
expensive than the more elaborate deep-well pump, we recommend its use
if possible. Most plumbers invariably advise the deep-well pump,
especially for driven wells. They do this in all honesty and with no
ulterior motive. There is always a bare chance that the water level
may drop below the suction limit of the shallow pump under abnormal
pressure. If it does, an irate customer can descend on the luckless
installer of the less expensive pump and cause general unpleasantness
if not loss of custom.

The difference between these two kinds of pump, aside from price, is
that with a shallow-well one, suction is produced in the cylinder of
the pump itself, while the deep-well pump has its plunger and cylinder
at the bottom of the well. Water is forced up the pipe by the up and
down movement of the plunger within the cylinder. This plunger is
connected to a geared wheel by the well-rod that extends downward from
well-head to cylinder in the center of the same pipe through which the
water is forced upward. Because of its design, a deep-well pump must
always be located directly above the well itself. With a suction pump,
on the other hand, the pipe from well to pump may bend and turn to
suit conditions. These should be as few as possible since each
right-angle bend of the pipe reduces the pump's suction power one
foot.

[Illustration: A PLACE FOR SUMMER AND WEEK-ENDS

_Robertson Ward, architect_. _Photo by La Roche_]

As for motive power, electricity has distinct advantages over all
other means. The switch operated by pressure starts the pump when the
supply of water in the storage tank drops below a certain level, and
also stops it when the proper volume has been reached. (Ten pounds to
start the pump and forty or fifty to