260 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Paint for Faem Buildings. 



Mr. B. Killiun, Oswego city, asks: "Can the lime-wash paint 

 you recommend he changed Jiy the admixture of any cheap suh- 

 stance, to a brown or dark paint Avhich will he equally as good? 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Either slate flour or hydi-aulic cement 

 will make a stone color. Yellow ochre, Spanish brown, Venetian 

 red, or any other cheap paint may be added to give the tint you 

 desire. 



Fence Posts. 



Mr. J. R. Hosley, EastDixfield, Me., sa3\s: "If we must have such 

 things, a very convenient portable fence may be made by taking a 

 stone weighing about 100 pounds, drill a hole in it and insert an 

 iron rod, setting it in cement, for posts. Then make a light picket 

 fence, using two by three joists, and nailing the pickets about six 

 inches apart. Bore a hole entirely through the under rail of the 

 fence and half through the upper one. Set the stones in the ground 

 enough to steady them. Slip the fence on the iron rods, and the 

 thing is done. This is not a permanent fence. It is not stone- 

 wall, but cattle Avill not jump over it unless they are unruly, and 

 an occasional stake or prop will prevent their pushing it over by 

 rubbing against it. It costs about seventy-tive cents a rod. But 

 I wish you would go ahead and teach the fiirmers to do without 

 fences if you can. In Maine some of the best farms have been 

 fenced and cross-fenced, until the fences occupy one-twentieth of 

 the land ; and if any one tells farmers to learn to do without fences 

 he is in danger of becoming an inmate of a lunatic asylum. 



Mr. H. P. Smith. — I think it would be too much trouble to set 

 such posts. They Avould be too costly in some places, and not 

 available in others, for thei-e are vast districts which have no stone. 

 What we need is an iron fence post, which will not cost over $1, 

 which can be readily set with a crowbar, and stand sufficiently 

 firm, answering equally for a portable or a permanent fence. Such 

 a post I hope yet to see exhibited before this club. I have myself 

 a plan in view which I think will answer. 



A New Plow. 

 F. Volkman, Xo. 171 West Thirty -eighth street, Xcw York 

 city, presented drawings of a plow working on new principles. 

 The forward })art of the beam rests on a pair of light iron trucks, 

 about two and a half feet wide, and one wheel of which runs in 

 the furrow; and the coupling thereto is so ingenious that ease of 



