THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 45 



cannot be obtained, however good the materials may be of which 

 it is made, unless it is most thoroughly worked over and over again 

 for a number of successive months, before it is laid on the lath. 

 It is a very laborious job to work over the mortar for a large 

 house, when it is performed by hand labor. When lime and 

 sand are mingled together, and in a few days laid on the lath, 

 the plaster will shrink and the wall will be covered with cracks, 

 and the plaster will soon crumble off. But if about two bushels 

 of clean, sharp sand is mixed with one bushel of unslacked lime, 

 and the mass is worked over once in two or three weeks for a 

 few months, a wall that is made of it will appear like slate ; and 

 will not crack unless the building or some parts of it change their 

 position, as is frequently the case by seasoning. In order to have 

 good mortar, that may be spread like good butter, it must be 

 mixed and worked over often enough to have the lime slack 

 most thoroughly, and " to work the shrinkage out." If mortar 

 should be worked over once in ten days for a year, it would be 

 all the better for it, and would make a better wall. 



40. To facilitate the labor of mixing mortar so frequently as 

 is desirable, when my house was erected I constructed a rude 



FIG. 6. 



MACHINE FOB MIXING MORTAR. 



machine for mixing it with horses, which subserved an excellent 

 purpose, and which is represented by Fig. 6. It is a very cheap 

 concern, and will pay for itself in one day. It consists of a post, 

 <r, about six inches in diameter, very firmly set in the ground, 



