To Gardeners’ Chronicle [before 25 July 1857]1
[Down]
The subject of Deep Wells has been sometimes discussed in your columns.2 I have a well 325 feet deep, and the 12-gallon bucket actually weighs 40 lbs. For many years I used a chain weighing 232 lbs; this, with the water, itself 96 lbs., amounts to 481 lbs. I have made an enormous saving of labour by using for the last half year Newall’s patent wire rope. Now, will any one have the charity to say from experience whether there could not be a great saving in the weight of the bucket. Would zinc, or gutta percha, or leather serve? The bucket must be strong enough to withstand being occasionally dashed against the side of the well. Or must I stick to my old substantial oaken friend?
C. D.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
CD has saved an enormous amount of labour since he replaced the chain on his deep well with wire rope. He now asks readers whether they have had experience of saving on the weight of the bucket by using some material other than oak.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2127
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Gardeners’ Chronicle
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 25 July 1857, p. 518
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2127,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2127.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6
