Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/579

 1809.] Our Street Architecture. 469 ground. Thus the water will flow out as a fountain ; and frogs and other living creatures cannot enter. I have known a ram to be stopped, by a collection of frogs getting together in the waste pipe, laid on the level of the creek below. These cold-blooded animals, on a cold winter day, had gone into the (to them) warm spring water, to escape from the cold, perhaps hybernating. An old fellow, of a pound weight, being in the centre, and more than a dozen little fel- lows huddled together around him. These, thus impacted, had formed a tight valve, shutting in the flow, and submerg- ing my ram with three feet of water. This ram-house should be covered, and closed with a suitable lock also. Much trouble will be saved, by furnish- ing the driving pipe with a full-sized stop-cock, near its lower end, and also one for the supply pipe. Then, should the ram require attention, the water can be shut off from the spring-head, without the necessity of going there, to remove the strainer, and insert a plug. The stop-cock at the supply pipe running to the house, will, when closed, save the loss of the water in it. It is well, too, when starting the ram, to have these pipes full of water. I would recommend the " Douglass Ram," as the best in its plan and ar- rangements for adjustment, of all others. It is, however, faulty in its structure. The flange* of the air chamber is too small, and the eight-sided little thin nuts are difficult to manage, and soon wear out. Many other parts of it are too light. The manufacturers of these machines should bear in mind, that they are for use in places remote from shops, and hy persons, who, for the most part, are not mechanics. They should, for this reason, be perfect and strong in their construction, and easily put to- gether and taken apart. I have found, that country plumbers understand this water supply better than city men. They are more at command, have more ingenuity, and render smaller bills. EXPERIENCE. November 30, 1868. OUR STREET ARCHITECTURE. OUR cities, unlike those of Europe, are wholly devoid of antiquarian memories, so that we are not called upon to embalm their legends in stone or brick. Without having a lesson, then, to convey, we find ourselves at perfect liberty to adopt that mode of street architecture, which is most con- sonant to taste, untrammeled yy neces- sity. In the cities of Europe there is inva- riably some ancient church, or monas- tery, whose venerable remains are held too sacred to be removed. Around such, the street architecture must be in keeping with this old monitor, that pre- sides over the locality; and hence the necessity for renewing in the present the quaint forms of the past. That there is much picturesqueness of effect, in maivy of those modern street compo- sitions of Europe, no one will deny. Rut all such are referrable to the one parent idea — the old monumental exam- ple in the midst. Here in our new land, with our un- historic cities, we may build our streets, to meet our wants ; and suit their various styles to the motley tastes of our divers owners of houses. Yet, in all this inde- pendence of design, we see an evident desire, on the part of our citizens, throughout the great nation, to produce something in the way of elegant art. If critics will not acknowledge our suc- cess in making that desire evident in