902 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



that is, mixed with an excess of water and poured liquid into 

 the joints of the masonry. Good ^fronting can be made of 

 hydraulic lime and fine sand mixed with water and poured 

 immediately into the joints ; it hardens quickly without shrink- 

 ing, and solidifies all its water. 



Personally I am not much in favour of the practice -of 

 grouting unless under exceptional circumstances, and I think 

 the system is not generally approved of by engineers. Scott 

 thus remarks of it : — " If the joints of a work are not properly 

 flushed up, undoubtedly grouting is of great advantage, 

 especially when dry bricks are employed in work, but the 

 strength of grout cannot at all compare with that of a good 

 stiff mortar ; for grout, when the water dries out, is merely 

 very porous mortar, and the more fluid the grout the weaker 

 the work will be." 



Much difference of opinion exists as to whether the mortar 

 joints of masonry should be thick or thin. In modern 

 practice in some masonry and all brickwork, where strength 

 is required rather than ornament, thick beds and joints of 

 good moi-tar will be useful. Thin bricks or tiles will also be 

 better than thick bricks, as the material will be better burned 

 and consequently more enduring ; more good mortar can also 

 be used, which in such work gives strength. With the 

 introduction now going on of improved compressing machinery 

 and of the Hoffman and other reliable burning kilns, 

 improperly made and insufficiently burned bricks are, I am 

 glad to say, likely to become things of the past, and it is 

 interesting to note the great superiority in the quality of the 

 bricks now being made and sold about Melbourne over those 

 of some years back. 



Cresy in his work " Civil Engineering " strongly depre- 

 cates the use of rich fat hmes for any building purposes, and 

 recommends the use of hydraulic lime when mixed with sand 

 as an excellent mortar for buildings that are out of water as 

 well as for those in water, and points out the economy of 

 this particular lime. 



Hydraulic mortars may be used safely and with advantage 

 in thick beds, and joints in masonry for docks, for railway 

 bridges, viaducts, and retaining walls ; as also for warehouses, 

 goods stations, mills, tall chimneys, fence walls and all similar 

 structures ; reservoir walls, tank walls, and covering arches 

 for water tanks ought most certainly to have thick beds of 

 good hydraulic mortar. A good deal of course depends on 

 the quality of the mortar, for if it be a slow-setting one 



