82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INST ITUTE. 



Mr. Wm. R. Prince, however, contended that it was very com- 

 mon at the west, where pork is the principal food, and that no 

 other food was so deleterious. 



Concrete for Foundation Walls. 



Mr. Washington Smith, Laniont, Ottawa Co., Mich., writes : 

 "As w-e have no stone, we need something for foundation. I saw 

 your recommendation to a man similarly situated, to make his 

 foundation of concrete. I must confess my ignorance by asking 

 you how such a wall is made ?" 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — If you have no stone, use the coarsest 

 gravel you can obtain, with which fill a box either in sections or 

 larire enouc-h to make the whole foundation wall of one side of 

 your building, Xow mix lime, one part ; coarse sand, two parts ; 

 with water enough to make the mixture run freely. Pour this 

 into your box of gravel or broken stone until all the interstices 

 are filled. In a few days you may remove the box, leaving a solid 

 block of stone. This is concrete. The same process repeated, 

 layer after layer, makes the concrete walls of a house, sometimee 

 three stories high. 



Farm Buildings. 



Mr. S. J. Willson, Ripley, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., has a new 

 plan for making a house cheap, durable and warm, which looks 

 as though it would succeed admirably. " Whitewood boards for 

 siding are w^orth here $20 to $22 per M. Suppose, instead of 

 planing and lapping them as usual, I put them on so as to make a 

 smooth surface, and cover that with roofing and plastic slate ?" 



Mr. D. S. Wykofi", Hopewell, Ontario Co., N. Y., asks : "The 

 roofs to my barns are leaking badly ; can I put this w^onderful 

 cement on top of my old shingles, or must they be pulled off 

 first ?" 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — To make a perfect roof, the old shingles 

 must be entirely removed and the boards covered with felting, 

 upon which the mastic is laid. You may stop the leaks of the old 

 shingles wnth this mastic easier than by any other method you can 

 adopt. 



Tree-planting on the Prairie. 



Mr. Samuel Edwards, Lamviile, III., urges everybody to plant 

 trees. He says : " The day is not far distant when all the timber 

 in the prairie region will be needed at very high figures. For 

 screens, evergreens are the best — they can be had of nurserymen 



