366 WISCONSIN AGRICULTUEE. 



tliem ; so that with reasonable care in the selection of a build- 

 ing spot, it is rare to pass over a single farm on the prairies 

 where the principal and largest portion of the building materials 

 for the house or barn may not be dug out of the cellar, or out 

 of some side hill near by— in fact the proper place for the barn 

 — the walls to be built of groute or concrete, which process has 

 been fully and clearly described in several lengthy articles in 

 past numbers of the " Wisconsin Farmer." In this way more 

 safe and substantial walls for all farm buildings can be put up, 

 easier and with less expense, than any wooden buildings in the 

 timber countries. Where gravel and pebbles can be got to the 

 place of building at a cost of not more than 50 to 60 cents per 

 wagon load, and lime for 25 to 30 cents per bushel, these gravel 

 walls can be put up, substantial and durable, for ten to twelve 

 cents per solid foot, both the outside and partition walls. The 

 writer of this is acquainted with buildings — churches and others 

 — which have handsomely stood the test for years, made of this 

 concrete. 



Water. — Nest to comfortable Buildings, the Homestead 



needs convenient provisions for a plentiful supply of Water 



an article of which these same Prairie regions are, ajjparently, 

 equally as destitute as of timber; but with a little timely calcu- 

 lation, this want can be abundantly supplied, even with less 

 trouble and expense than the building materials can, by a judi- 

 cious and not costly system of Cisterns. 



Few persons seem to be aware how much depth of rain falls, 

 annually, in tliis latitude ; it can be shown that it is a very laro-e 

 quantity ; and did it not flow off readily to the rivers and lakes, 

 or by evaporation ascend again to the clouds, a considerable 

 surface of our region would be often destructively flooded; and 

 this astonishing fact should be taken into active consideration 

 by the occupants of this almost hrooUess prairie region, as an 

 eminently interesting one to them, and which may easily be 

 converted into one of their richest blessings. By the various 

 rain-guages and observations, noted at different points, annually, 

 it is clearly shown that from 22 to 28 inches' depth of water falls 

 every year on the entire surface of the earth in the western and 



