As most houses in the neighbourhood of large towns are supplied with water from public sources, by means of small pipes laid from a main pipe in the street to the cistern or cisterns in the house, one of the first things to be attended to, in contriving the arrangement of the front garden, is to fix on the place where the service pipe, as it is called, shall be laid down. The object should be, to secure the pipe from frost throughout the whole of its length, and to admit of its being laid bare, when necessary, for repairs, with as little derangement to the garden, and especially to the walks, as possible. The service water-pipe commonly enters the front garden under the Sill of the street entrance or gate, and is conducted along one side of the walk, or through that part of the lawn, or front garden, on which there are few trees or shrubs, to the cisterns in the house or in the area. The depth of the trench, in the bottom of which the pipe is laid, ought not to be less than 3 ft., in order to secure it from frost; and if, in any part, it passes through ground which is likely to be occasionally trenched, there ought to be a line of bricks or tiles placed immediately over the pipe, to protect it from the mattock or spade.

Suburban houses are frequently supplied with gas from the mains; which are carried along the streets for the public lamps, for a lamp outside the front door, and sometimes for light in the house; and probably gas will ere long be required) even in fourth-rate houses, for the purposes of cookery. The service-pipes for conveying gas need not be laid deeper in the soil than 1 ft., as they are not liable to be injured by frost; but, like the water-pipes, they ought to be protected, by bricks or tiles, from the risk of the spade, When the gravel of the walks is turned or flower-beds are dug; and, like them, they should be laid down in such a direction as that, when repairs are wanted, they may occasion as little derangement of the surface of the ground as possible. In general, the gas-pipe should not be laid directly over the water-pipe; because, in that case, the latter could not be laid bare and examined without disturbing the former. If, however, the waterpipe is laid so deep as to be out of the reach of frost, or of being disturbed by the spade, it is not likely to require repair for many years, or even a lifetime; except at its junction with the main pipe in the street, and with the cistern in the house or in the area; and, in such a case, the gas-pipe may be laid over it That part of the water-pipe which rises out of the ground to supply the cistern, if not carefully protected by a thick casing of charcoal, ashes, or sand, enclosed in brickwork, will be liable to be frozen and to burst every winter; more especially where the cistern is placed in the area.

The connection, indeed, of the service water-pipe with the cisterns of a house is one of the most difficult points which the builder has to manage. It is very commonly got over by directing the servants of the occupier, when the winter approaches, to wrap straw round the pipes where they join the cistern; or, perhaps, a cock is so placed as to enable the servants to empty the service-pipe, or that portion of it next the cistern, every time that the cistern is filled; but, as these precautionary measures are commonly delayed till after a severe frost has occurred, the pipes are generally burst once or twice every winter, and the plumber requires to be called in accordingly. The greatest care, therefore, is requisite to have the service water-pipe rendered perfectly secure from frost, from the point where it leaves the main in the street, to the orifice of the cock which delivers the water to the cistern; and builders and occupiers should insist on their plumbers making sure of this result.