244 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
well to have at least four large mortar beds, one on each 
side of the house, made of strong plank, in the usual way. 
These should be surrounded by casks of water (oil casks 
cut in two, are excellent) ; piles of rock, sand, gravel, &c , 
— the lime of course, to be kept under cover, and used as 
wanted. Slack up your lime until it forms a thin, smoothe 
creamy mass, then add four or five parts of clean, sharp 
sand, stirring and mixing constantly, and using water 
enough to bring the whole, when thoroughly mingled, 
to the consistency of a thick batter. Into this “batter,” 
mix coarse and fine gravel (that has previously been 
screened and well dampened) until the mass is thick 
enough to be lifted on a common shovel, [The proper 
and careful mixing of the sand with the lime, and the 
gravel with the mortar afterwards, is very important, and 
should only be entrusted to your most careful hands.] 
Having one or two “beds,” full of this mixture, you are 
ready to begin your wall. Wheel the mortar to the foun- 
dation in common rail-road wheelbarrows, letting the 
as before, and so on, until your boxing all around is full. 
You have now 10 inches or a foot of wall, all around, built ; 
and if the lime is good and the weather dry, it will be 
hard enough in 24 hours, to raise your boxing another 
tier. This is readily done by knocking out the wedges 
between the plank and the scantling, raising up the plank 
and sustaining it in place by “cleats” nailed on the scant- 
ling. In raising the boxing, begin at the point where 
you commenced laying up the day previous, as that por- 
tion of the wall will, of course, be the hardest. It is not 
necessary to raise all the boxing at once, or go entirely 
around the wall in a day. A foot or yard of the wall can 
be completed at a time, if advisable; but if the complete 
round can be made, so much the better. Planks to cover 
up with, in case of a sudden shower, or when a storm is 
apprehended, should be provided, and placed within 
reach, 
6th. General Details, Floors, Windows, Doors, &€v 
— We prefer a cement floor for the basement, on many ac- 
^ Description.— H., Kali, 53x10 feet. L., Library, 21x18. B.R., B. R , B. B., three Bed-Rooms, respectively 18x15^ 
18x14; and 18x11. P., Parlor, 21x18. P, B. R., Parlor Bed-Room, 18x15. c, c, c, Closets ] 
common hands shovel it into the bottom of the trenches, 
while the superintendant or “boss” workman spreads it 
evenly with his trowel. When the bottom layer of mor- 
tar, 3 inches thick, is laid in, wheel large and small rock 
(previously sprinkled with water) to the wall, and press 
it into the soft mortar at every available point, leaving a 
small space between each piece of rock, and working the 
soft mortar against the plank boxing, to preserve a 
smoothe surface on the wall. When you can press no 
more rock into the mortar, pour another layer of the lat- 
ter over and through the rock, then add a layer of rock 
counts; but those who desire a wooden floor, should 
leave air-holes in the cuter walls, under the lower floor, 
six inches above the surface. This may be easily done, 
by inserting wedge-shaped blocks or pins through the , 
wall, to be knocked out afterwards. When you are ready 
to lay the floors, level up your walls and run one course 
of brick all around, the thickness of the wall, for the- 
ends of the flooring-joists to rest on — flllit g in around 
these ends with concrete, when they are fixed in their 
proper places. The door and wundow frames should be 
made of 3-inch yellow pine, the full thickness or wudth of 
