1869. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARIVIER. 



325 



Eastern markets is quarried, it is about forty- 

 six feet in thickness and is divided into seven- 

 teen layers, varying much in character and 

 hydraulic propert ies . These layers themselves 

 often vary much in short distances. 



To make the subject more plain and show 

 why casks of cement, often of the same lot, 

 vary so much in quality we will draw a sketch 

 r'ers as they usually occur in the 



of the 



quarry. 



Layers. 



The layers No. 1 and 2 make a 

 good cement, which sets in about 

 fifceen minutes. No. 3 makes a 

 cement which sets in half the time 

 of 1 and 2, but it contains an ex- 

 cess of caustic lime which slakes 

 and cracks it to pieces in about an 

 hour. No. 4 makes a good cement. 

 No. 5, like No. 3, makes a worth- 

 less cement. No. 6 usually makes 

 poor cement. No. 7, in some lo- 

 calities, makes good and in others 

 poor cement. No. 8 will not make 

 good cement. The layers from No. 

 9 to 16, when mixed together, make 

 good cement. No. 17 makes poor. 

 From this it will be seen that 

 there is a liability of sometimes get- 

 ting too great a proportion of the 

 objectionable layers, and when this 

 is the case, poor cement is the result. 



During the last three years we have found 

 much more poor cement than in former years ; 

 probably owing to the fact that there has been 

 a greater quantity used since the war, and 

 manufacturers having been pressed to supply 

 the demand, have used less caution in select- 

 ing the stone. 



Cement is said to be set when it has left 

 the state of mortar and become sufficiently 

 hard to break and crumble. The time re- 

 quired for different cements to set varies from 

 a fcw minutes to eighteen or twenty hours. 

 The time required for a cement to set is not 

 proof of its good or poor quality. Cement 

 which contains a ruinous quantity of carbon- 

 ate of lime usually sets very quickly, and some 

 quick-setting cements are good. 



The best cemenl known — natural Portland — 

 which is made in Portland, France, requires 

 about eighteen hours to set. The artificial 

 Portland cement — an excellent cement — sets 

 in a few minutes. Our American cements an- 

 swer all common purposes, and their price is 

 only about one-fourth as much as those im- 

 ported. 



Age and moisture injure and destroy the 

 hydraulic energy and power of cement. Ce- 

 ment in casks, kept one year as dry as it con- 

 veniently can be, makes work that is only 

 about half as strong and hard as work made of 

 new cement. 



There is a great difference between setting 

 and hardening. It requires a long period of 

 time for cement to harden properly. For 

 weeks after it has set, it remains so tender 



that it can be easily broken and crumbled with 

 the hands, but in time it becomes nearly as 

 hard as common limestone. Work made of 

 good cement requires about a year to get 

 strong and hard. If blocks made of it and 

 put in a damp place to harden, will sustain at 

 the expiration of a month 100 pound weight 

 before breaking, will at the end of two months, 

 sustain 200 pounds weight ; at the end of three 

 months 300, and keep increasing in strength 

 for over a year. 



As some water contains impurities that pre- 

 vent or retard the hardening of the cement, it 

 should be wet up with that which is pure. . 



Some of your correspondents object to the 

 use of cement for tanks, &c., to hold the 

 liquid of the stable, and think such liquids will 

 destroy cement work. To which 1 will say 

 that these liquids will injure new cement work 

 and prevent its hardening; but if the tank 

 were to remain six months or more, kept moist 

 with pure water, stable liquids will not injure 

 it. I have m ide some work for this purpose, 

 and have not heard but that they prove well. 

 I us.; no brick in such work. 



But I find I am writing a long letter, a fault 

 we are apt to be guilty of when writing on a 

 favorite topic. My purpose was chiefly to 

 call attention to one cause of frequent failures 

 in the use of cement. The impcrtance of a 

 good article in the construction of dams, piers 

 or bridges, &c., as well as in making di'ains, 

 cisterns, &c., should lead mechanics to a 

 more careful study of the subject, and to a 

 closer inspection of every cask of the material 

 used. Were this done I apprehend that less 

 failures would occur in its use on the farm, 

 and less dams and piers would give way to the 

 force of our annual floods. B. Livermore. 



Hartland, Vt., May 4, 1869. 



For the Kew England Farmer, 



BREEDS AND MANAGE OLEJStT OF 

 POULTRY. 



As you published my poultry account, per- 

 haps those who were interested enough to 

 read it will like to know something about 

 the breed of fowls kept and their manage- 

 ment. The fowls are the Asiatic breed, light 

 colored, with pencilled necks and yellow legs, 

 and weigh, h.ns from oh to Ih lbs., cocks, 

 from 8 to 10 lbs. at maturity. They were ob- 

 tained by purchasing the best I could get in 

 this vicinity and keeping the best of their pro- 

 duce. 



The geese were purchased of a party who 

 advertised in your paper (none the worse for 

 that) as being pure Bremen, but they are 

 mongrel and weigh about 12 to 15 lbs. each. 



The turkeys are mostly bronze, the hens 

 weigh from 13 to 15 lbs., gobbler at two years 

 old, 25 lbs. 



In regard to feeding, I keep corn and oats 

 an Indian meal dough mi.xed with sour milk, 

 when we have it, constantly by the stock poul- 



