AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
4r 31 
1880 .] 
A Corn •Husking' Bench, 
A convenient bench to hold the corn while husk¬ 
ing, is shown in figure 1. It consists of two poles 
of hard-wood, seven feet in length, to which legs 
are attached by means of auger holes and wedges. 
The bench should stand about two and a half feet 
high, be well braced, and covered with thin boards 
as shown in the engraving. To load the shock the 
bench is turned down on its side, as in fig. 2, when 
the shock is grasped near the top, and the bench, 
with the shock, tipped back into an upright position 
again. Figure 3 shows the com ready for the 
husker, who can stand at his work. A farmer who 
has used one of these benches will not return to the 
Fig 2.— THE TABLE TURNED DOWN. 
old cramped method of husking upon the knees. 
Besides in muddy weather there is a great sav¬ 
ing ct fodder that would otherwise be badly soiled. 
American Natural Cements. 
Ad interesting paper on American Natural Ce¬ 
ments was read by Mr. F. O. Norton at the recent 
convention of the American Society of Civil En¬ 
gineers, from which we select and condense the 
following: The principal deposit of magnesian 
lime-stone, valuable as a cement—occurs in Rose- 
dale, Ulster Co., N. Y. This Rosedale cement first 
came into use m 1823 in the construction of the 
masomy of the locks, etc., of the Delaware and 
Hudson Canal. At the present time there is be¬ 
tween a million and a million and a half barrels of 
this cement made and used each season. Rosedale 
cement develops great hydraulic energy in twenty- 
four hours after being mixed with water, and is at 
that time equal to the English Portland. After 
the first day, the Portland gains rapidly upon the 
Rosedale up to the seventh day, when the differ¬ 
ence between the two is the greatest. At the end 
of a month the strength of the Rosedale approach¬ 
es quite nearly to that of the Portland, and the dif¬ 
ference is continually reduced thereafter. In prac¬ 
tice, these cements are not used pure, but are 
mixed with a large or small per cent of sand, which 
reduces the strength of the mixture in the follow¬ 
ing manner: One part of sand gives mortar one- 
half as strong as the pure cement; two parts, one- 
third as strong; three parts, one-fourth ; four parts, 
one-fifth; five parts, one-sixth. 
With the Rosedale, the reduction 
when mixed with sand is some¬ 
what less than in the case of the 
Portland. The strength of Port¬ 
land cement mortar, one of cement 
to two of sand, at the end of six 
months is 221 pounds to the square 
inch. The Rosedale in the pro¬ 
portion of one of cement to one of 
sand at the end of the same time 
is 257 pounds to the square inch. 
This being the case, it is shown 
that the mortar of the Rosedale, 
equal parts of cement and sand, 
is 34 pounds to the square inch 
stronger than the foreign cement, 
used in the proportion of one to 
two, and 54 cents per barrel less expensive. The 
last question is whether the Rosedale, one to one, 
is strong enough for all practical purposes to which 
a cement is applied. All the important masonry 
in America for the last fifty years has been laid in 
the American cement, and the fact that it has given 
perfect satisfaction for light-houses and culverts, 
sewers and bridges, in the water and out of it, 
shows that it meets all the cases where a good, 
strong, cheap, and lasting cement is required. 
An Archway Shelter Through the Straw 
Stack. 
With winter comes the piercing winds, the in¬ 
tense cold, and, unless well protected, the greatest 
suffering that the farm animals experience during 
the whole year. It is the season when to keep the 
stock warm is no less a matter of economy than to 
keep them well fed ; in fact, they are fed in a great 
measure to keep up the animal heat, the food serv¬ 
ing much the same end that coal 
does to the furnace. This being 
true, it is reasonable to infer that 
an animal will require less food to 
maintain the proper temperature 
of the body were it warmed in 
part by other means. The infer¬ 
ence is a true one, as thousands of 
experiments show—in fact, it goes 
without questioning that farm 
stock, when sheltered from the 
cold of winter, require a consider¬ 
able less food to keep them in a 
good, thriving condition, than do 
those animals that are continually 
exposed to the weather. Shelter 
then has much more in its favor 
than simply the humane side, 
which alone is enough to warrant 
the comfortable protection of ani¬ 
mals. There is an appeal to the 
pocket as well as the sympathy in 
the lowing of the shivering herd. 
All farmers, and especially those in 
the newer portions of the West, do not have stables 
for their cattle or snug sheds for their sheep. They 
are called upon to make the winter as comfortable as 
possible for their animals, with the limited means 
at their command. Sheds of poles with roofs of 
straw are extensively used and with profit. Not 
long ago we saw an archway shelter, under, or 
through a straw stack that was evidently an inex¬ 
pensive and valuable device for stock protection. 
The “ground plan” is given in fig. 1, and con¬ 
sists of two rail pens, of the ordinary sort for the 
bottoms of small stacks, placed near enough to¬ 
gether so that an archway of poles could be made 
between them in the manner shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. The lowcp end of each pole was set a short 
distance in the ground, rested near the middle on 
the top rail of the pen, and crossed with its neigh¬ 
bor pole from the other pen, and was fastened to it 
with wire at the top and also to the rider. Over 
this structure the straw stack was built, and when 
finished had the appearance shown in fig. 2. In 
this way a snug shelter of considerable size was 
made beneath the stack under which the cattle 
gladly took refuge in stormy weather. The struc¬ 
ture is a permanent one, the rails and poles re¬ 
maining if necessary from year to year, or if taken 
down, to be rearranged again in a short time just 
before the thrashing is done. Such an archway 
shelter would not be out of keeping in many a well- 
kept barn-yard. If the stack is a long one a double 
archway may be made, and each will save many 
steps in doing the work of the barn-yard. 
Well Seasoned Fuel. 
Most farmers use wood for fuel, and the best 
time to chop, haul, prepare, and pack it under 
cover, is in the comparative leisure of the winter 
months. There are several reasons for this. One 
good reason is enough, but we have four. It is a 
great saving of fuel. By drying the wood, most of 
the water is expelled, and there is litt le loss of heat 
in drying it as it burns. It costs about 82 to work 
up a cord of wood for the stove after it is hauled 
to the wood pile, and it makes a difference that 
any o.->e can calculate, whether a cord of wood 
THE ARCHWAY UNDER THE STACK COMPLETE. 
burned green, lasts twenty days, or burned dry, lasts 
thirty days. The use of well-seasoned fuel makes 
a large saving of time and labor, and on this score 
alone it pays to always have dry wood. It is a long 
job to light a tire with green wood, even with the 
help of paper and shavings. This work has to be 
done in the morning, when time is most valuable, 
either for sleep or in getting an early start for the 
the work of the day. It is about an hour before 
the green wood gets dry enough to burn, and the 
fire ready for cooking the breakfast, warming the 
room, or both, a delay which is not at all satis¬ 
factory to any one. The wife or housemaid may 
be tempted to use kerosene to start the fire, and 
Fig. 2.- 
