AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS AND RURAL ECONOMY. 51 



When the clay is worked to the right temper for use, it is packed away in the cellar, where 

 it will keep just moist enough to mould well. When a new design is furnished, the first 

 process is to mould the clay into the desired form, with a pedestal or back, if designed to 

 set in the wall, or, if for the key of an arch, in the proper form, besides the ornamental 

 part, for the position it is to fill. Now, the expense of this process would never allow of the 

 article being used as a cheap building material. To obviate this, a plaster mould is taken, 

 which is formed of as many pieces as may be necessary to allow the article, when cast, to 

 be removed from the mould with facility. Sometimes these plaster casts are taken in five- 

 and-twenty different pieces to one mould. When thus formed, the whole is placed in a box 

 of suitable size and shape, so that when liquid plaster is poured in, it forms a case of suffi- 

 cient strength, the sides being two or three inches thick, to hold the various parts of the 

 mould firmly in their place. The original laboriously-prepared model being removed, the 

 workman has a perfect matrice in which he can duplicate his designs to any desired extent. 

 The process of doing this is to have the matrice in its plaster case on a table before him, 

 with his prepared clay, which he takes in his hands, and throws and presses it into every 

 part, until his matrice is full, the plastic clay having taken every form, however minute, 

 whether of a face, or leaf, or feather. The case is then rolled over, and lifted off of the mould, 

 which is taken away, piece by piece, from the article formed, which is left to dry until firm 

 enough to handle, when it is taken to the finishing-room and trimmed and repaired, if there 

 are any imperfections, and then taken to the drying-room, until ready for the kiln ; this is 

 an oven nine by thirteen feet, and ten feet high. The articles are set in this, and heated by 

 the consumption of a ton of bituminous coal a day for six days, bringing the clay to a white 

 heat, and nearly to the melting-point. The same degree of heat applied to a kiln of brick 

 would melt down all the arches. The articles in the drying-room are prepared for burning 

 by the escape heat of the kiln. When well burnt, they are more like gray stone than any 

 thing else, and may be used without paint, though that is generally applied to produce a 

 uniform color. 



The difference between terra cotta and stonework prices is the most apparent where the 

 amount of carving is the largest. Window lintels of fancy patterns, with carved-work keys, 

 corbels, and trusses complete, are from $12 to $25, or about one-third the price of stone. 



Cellar Floors. 



The cheapest, best, and most durable cellar floor, which is also impervious to rats, may 

 be made in the following manner: — Supposing the cellar wall already laid, with a sufficient 

 drain to the cellar ; then dig a trench all around the wall on the inner side, a foot wide and 

 deep, connecting with the cellar drain. In the centre of this trench make a drain by stand- 

 ing two stones, bracing against each other, at an angle of about forty-five degrees ; then fill 

 iip the trench with small stones, to within two or three inches of the top ; cover these stones 

 with a layer of pine shavings, and then with the earth thrown out of the trench, levelling 

 off the same with the floor of the cellar. If the ground of the cellar should be gravel, 

 nothing further will be required ; but if clay, make it perfectly smooth, and strew over it a 

 coating of clean gravel ; one load of thirty bushels will be ample for a cellar of twelve hun- 

 dred square feet. The cost of such a floor, estimating the gravel at $1, will not exceed $8 ; 

 the cellar will be rat-proof, and the floor smooth, dry, and hard. — Rural Intelligencer. 



Alarm Bedstead. 



The above name was given to a newly-invented bedstead recently exhibited at the Agricul- 

 tural State Fair of "Vermont. Its peculiarities are as follows: — At the head of the bed is 

 placed a common alarm-clock, which can be so arranged as to give an alarm at any hour 

 required ; but should the votary of the sleepy god be unmindful of the summons, and roll 

 himself over prepai'atory to another nap, in a moment, by an ingenious contrivance, one side 

 of the bed is dropped upon the floor, leaving the surface of the bed at an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, and rolling the occupant out upon the floor in a very unceremonious manner. 



