No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 783 



used with almost if not quite as satisfactory results. The greatest 

 trouble we hud is in preparing the boards into which the materials, 

 when properly mixed and ready for use, are deposited in order to 

 make the wall. If we would have a straight and mechanical looking 

 job when corupieted, the boards must be braced thoroughly by driv- 

 ing in stout stakes alongside at frequent intervals and then nailing 

 together temporarily though securely at the top to keep them 

 from spreading, which they surely will do when the wet and heavy 

 concrete is shoveled inside the casings. There would be much saving 

 of labor if two-inch or three-inch planks were used instead of inch- 

 thick boards to form the frame work into which the material is 

 dumped, because they would remain in position better and with fewer 

 stakes. 



"Not until all the moulds, as we may term them, in which the 

 walls are to be cast are ready should the concrete be mixed, and then 

 only such a quantity as can be used in half an hour. When, as above 

 indicated, everything is quite ready to begin operations, we have a 

 board or rather a number of boards nailed together, eight or ten feet 

 square, with the joints as tight as it is possible to make them, or 

 some of the cement will wash through with the water, then we pro- 

 ceed to mix the ashes and cement together, taking six or seven parts 

 of the former to one of the latter, of which we find the better brands 

 of Portland cement the most economical. These materials should 

 be thoroughly mixed by turning three or four times, and should be 

 done while they are quite dry, before any water is applied at all, after 

 which water may be brought into use, and when every particle is 

 thoroughly moist without being too wet it is ready to be applied to 

 where the walls are to be built, and with reasonable activity, em- 

 ploying as many men as can be used to advantage without being 

 in each other's way; this part of the operation is a short one. 



''The concrete should be pounded with a rammer gently though 

 sufficiently until it has filled all the spaces completely, and topped 

 off evenly to the level of the boards or planks. When as much of 

 this part of the operation has been done nearing the end of the day or 

 job, cement and sand should be thoroughly mixed, one part of the 

 former to two of the latter, and mixed dry as before recommended 

 for the ashes and cement, and also watered in the same way; this 

 must be used to put the finishing touch to what will be the top of 

 the wall, and with one man with a shoveJ to drop it at intervals along 

 the top of the wall and another with a bricklayer's or plasterer's 

 trowel — the latter being the most handy — a smooth face is attained 

 that will be one of the most important and esseotial parts of the 

 whole operation, for it is this which keeps the wall that is made of 

 ashes and cement from crumbling; it certainly would crumble if the 

 sand and cement were not applied, and at a time before the wall 



