40* FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



forms a solid mass. The wall must be saturated with this 

 cement. Even pebble stones may be thus cemented togeth- 

 er in a wall; provided they be kept in their places, at.d rhe 

 mortar be kept from runmg out through them till it hub be- 

 come hardened. 



The due proportions of lime and sand, for making the 

 strongest cemem, must, however, be previously ascertained 

 by experiments made for the purpose ; as the proportion of 

 each depends on the quality of each ; that is, if the lime 

 have but liule of other earthy matter in it, the less of it will 

 answer ; and the more sharp and gritty the sand, the less 

 lime will be requisite. 



Mr. Livingston mentions the houses built of earth in the 

 neighborhood of Lyons, in France, which are well worthy 

 of attention, as a matter of economy. They are built two 

 and three stories high, and many of them have stood a cen- 

 tury. The earth used for building them is a gravelly loam. 

 A clay or a sand will not answer, but almost every other 

 earth will. The earth is pounded hard with sharp edged 

 beetles, being put in frames made for the purpose, so as to 

 give the masses a square shape proper for being laid up in 

 the wall. These walls are sometimes plaistered on the out- 

 side, but will answer well without. The barns, and garden- 

 walls there, are built of the same material. Columns are 

 also formed of the earth, in the same manner, in moulds 

 made for the purpose. ' The extreme cheapness of these 

 buildings (says Mr. Livingston) the facility with which they 

 are made, their warmth, their security against fires, re- 

 commend them so strongly, that I shall make myself com- 

 plete master of the art before I come over, and teach it to 

 my Countrymen.' It is to be hoped that a design so patri- 

 otic has not been frustrated, and that its execution may be 

 duly appreciated. 



WALNUT. There are but four species of this tree, in 

 this Country, which are indigenous. The enumeration of 

 these, by Mr. De Witt, which it is believed is the only cor- 

 rect one, is as fallows: The black- walnut (Jug tans nigra) 

 the butternut (Juglans cinerca) the Illinots-nu* (Juglans 

 olivae formis) of each of which there are no varieties, and 

 the hickory-nut (Juglans alba) of which there are several 

 varieties; such as the shagbark, the smoothbark, &c. 



The nuts of the three first-mentioned, and of the shag- 

 bark, are good; some of those of -the varieties of the smooth- 

 bark are tolerable, and some are bitter. The natural growth 

 ot the three first-mentioned indicates a dark-colored, fertile 

 soil ; that of the shagbark, one inclining to clay ; and the 

 smooihbarked varieties commonly grow on warm gravelly 

 loams, or other dry loamy, or sandy-loam soils. 



