Q. I would like to have the following question answered: A gentleman in the country has a well on a hill, and he runs a pipe from it to his barn. Now, he says he has to put a pump on every once in a while and pump out the air; they tell him the air gets in from the water, and I contend he has a leak in his pipe.

I would like to know if water can have air in it to stop a pipe from working, as he says.

From the top of pipe in well to top of spigot it has twelve feet of a fall.

A. There is always air in water. It is not uncommon for syphons to lose their charge in consequence of an accumulation of air in the bend. In the large 24-inch syphon-pipe at the Kansas City Water-works, the pipe is only kept free of air by an air-pump attached to the pumping-engine. If there were a leak in the pipe mentioned by our correspondent the pump would have to be applied a good deal oftener than once in a while.