202 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



SIMPLE SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTION FOR 

 THE FARM 



The following is a true description of the situa- 

 tion to be found on many prosperous farms : "A com- 

 fortable and well-built house, tastefully furnished. 

 A wide porch affording protection from sun and 

 rain. Substantial barn and outbuildings. Between 

 these buildings run the pathways or walks used 

 many times each day, but on hundreds of farms 

 they are simply thoroughfares of mud during fre- 

 quent periods but especially in the spring, when the 

 frost is coming. They are a false and discordant 

 note in an otherwise attractive environment." 



Now, the farmer who fails to establish good 

 walks about his premises can no longer plead pro- 

 hibitive cost or lack of time, and this is the season 

 for him to remedy the situation. It is the purpose 

 to set forth briefly a method of doing this at mini- 

 mum outlay and by means so easy that it will seem 

 like play to have a substantial walk from building 

 to building, or from house to the garden some- 



View of a Two by Three Feet Concrete Slab Suitable for Farm Walks. 



thing an intelligent boy of mechanical bent could ac- 

 complish. 



To put down a concrete walk such as is com- 

 mon in towns and cities, involves more or less ex- 

 perience and requires time and money, though it 

 would be a good investment if well done. Such 

 walks are far cheaper in the end than any other 

 continuous type equally satisfactory and durable. It 

 so happens, however, that many farmers cannot con- 

 veniently undertake the construction of a long walk 

 with the certainty that work will not be interrupted, 

 and walks of this character should be a continuous 

 operation if the most economical results are to be 

 obtained. If the farmer can afford to employ an ex- 

 perienced contractor to do the work, well and good. 

 If not, he should go about it in another way. 



Some years ago a firm of enterprising young 

 men engaged in general contracting in a Pennsyl- 

 vania town of three or four thousand inhabitants. 

 They noticed that all the little-used streets had 

 board sidewalks. These were constantly rotting 

 away or the ends of the boards would become loose 

 and dangerous, warping with exposure and pre- 

 senting an obstruction to pedestrians. Numerous 

 complaints and frequent threats of suits for dam- 

 ages were filed with Town Council at each meeting 



of that august body. Noting this the young con- 

 tractors decided that a good opening for increased 

 business was at hand. They did not interfere with 

 the professional sidewalk makers. They simply 

 began the manufacture of concrete slabs and made 

 it a profitable business. A farmer can follow the 

 same plan. The method would be to make a few 

 shallow boxes, each about 3 feet long, 2 feet wide 

 and 4 or 5 inches deep. Then make a concrete 

 composed of 1 part Portland cement, 2 parts clean 

 sand and 4 parts gravel or crushed stone, the stone 

 not larger than % inch. To make the concrete, 

 first thoroughly mix the cement and sand in the dry 

 state and then add the water. The stone should 

 also be wet and the whole mass mixed together 

 until of mushy consistency, a consistency that would 

 be called "sloppy." Dump the concrete into the 

 boxes to the depth and an inch or more, puddle and 

 work it, and then on top of this first layer of con- 

 crete place common chicken wire cut to the size 

 of the box. Then fill the box with concrete and 

 just before the latter had taken its final set the sur- 

 face may be broomed with a circular sweeping mo- 

 tion to give a texture that will prevent people from 

 slipping. The concrete may be removed from the 

 forms or boxes in 4 or 5 days and protected from 

 sun, wind and freezing, as the case may be, and 

 thereafter sprinkled daily for about a week. The 

 result will be a fine slab of indestructible, artificial 

 stone. 



Modern sidewalk practice does not always in- 

 clude a drained subbase, as many suppose, but on 

 the contrary many sidewalks put down in the cus- 

 tomary way have been successfully built by placing 

 them directly on a compact earth surface. The 

 farmer can lay slabs on a natural base where the 

 soil is at all suitable. This plan means that he 

 may make just as few or as many slabs as he has 

 time to make, once he has procured the raw ma- 

 terials. He could soon fill a half-dozen 3-foot molds 

 and thus have 18 feet of walk in the forms, which 

 could be refilled the moment the first lot was re- 

 moved, or at any convenient time. In brief, he 

 would be making so much concrete lumber, which 

 could be distributed quickly and easily, in fact in 

 less time than would be required to put down a 

 well-made boardwalk. 



A Simple and Convenient Board Form or Box for Casting Slabs. 



In making his walks, the farmer need not con- 

 fine the dimensions of the slab to those given above. 

 If he prefers a longer and wider slab, it can easily 

 be made. The first illustration shows the surface 

 texture of a concrete slab of the above dimensions 

 and the second is a drawing of a simple type of 

 form in which slabs may be conveniently cast. 



Concrete walks of this character would not only 

 last for all, time, but could be conveniently moved. 



