AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
173 
THOSE TUMBLING STONE FENCES. 
Stone fences, though a nuisance any¬ 
where, are a necessary evil in many parts of 
the country, which cannot well be dispensed 
with. If Jack Frost would let them alone, 
in Winter, there would be little trouble, but 
that mischievous fellow delights in prying 
up one side, then the other, now loosening a 
stone here, and displacing another there, 
and then raising the whole en masse, and let¬ 
ting down one side at a time, when the sun 
shines in. An old Connecticut farmer, 
whose land, though upon a side-hill, was 
kept continually damp by water oozing out 
over more than half the surface, once told 
us, that the greatest sin he had to answer 
for, was an ill-temper, and that this had been 
chiefly developed by vain attempts to keep 
his stone fences perpendicular, He thought 
about one-tenth ef the year was consumed 
in repairing them. This, he said, was equal 
to seven dollars in every hundred of his farm 
expenses. 
Most builders of stone fences endeavor to 
avoid ihe effect of frost by digging a deep 
foundation ; but this is not entirely effect¬ 
ual, since the soil against the lower part of 
the walls, in freezing, frequently raises up 
the sides unequally. If the fences run east 
and west, the ground thaws out soonest on 
the sunny side, and then the whole wall is, 
ten to one, tilted in that direction, if not 
thrown down. 
A REMEDy.—It is well known that dry 
solids—dry earth, for example—slightly con¬ 
tract in cold weather and expand in warm, 
while water, and wet substances generally, 
expand when becoming solidified by cold. 
Water expands about one-eighth in freezing, 
and a wet soil does the same, so that when 
the ground freezes two feet in depth, it rises 
three inches—enough to upset any wall. If 
the same soil had been dry it would have 
simply contracted or settled, perhaps less 
than one-fourth of an inch. This principle 
suggests a remedy for the effects of frost: 
Make a dry bed of earth for stone walls to 
rest upon. 
This can be accomplished in two ways. 
First, by running an open drain directly un¬ 
der the fence sufficiently large and deep to 
carry off all water. 
The surest method, and perhaps the one 
most generally practicable, is to bank up the 
earih from one-and-a-half to two feet in the 
place where the wall is to stand, and lay the 
foundation stones directly upon the summit 
of the ridge. The banking can be done with 
a plow. Mark out the line for the fence, and 
then run a plow upon each side, turning, say 
half-a-dozen furrows from either side, in 
upon or toward this line. Then begin again 
at the middle and replow the land in the 
same way. Five or six plowings of this 
kind will raise the middle portion sufficiently 
to give a high and dry bed, from which all 
water will flow or drain off. Smooth the 
surface with a harrow, and go over with a 
heavy roller afterward, if such an imple¬ 
ment be at hand. Leave tke ground to settle 
for a time, and then put up the stone wall. 
The extra labor of preparing the bed thus 
will be a dozen times less than what would 
be required to repair the fences from year 
to year; and besides a much less quantity 
of stones will be needed than in the digging 
process. 
We do not recommend this plan for a soil 
always dry, and where stones are plentiful 
and close at hand, for in this case it is prob¬ 
ably better to dig below the frost at once, 
and lay the wall wide enough to prevent its 
falling over ; but on wet ground, with no good 
supply of stones near, we think the plan we 
have recommended highly valuable. 
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY-NOW AND 
THEN. 
If the farmer of fifty years since, could, 
like a second Rip Van Winkle, awake from 
his long sleep to a new life, he would be 
amazed at the machinery which is now em¬ 
ployed in the culture of the soil, and the pre¬ 
paration of its products for market. A 
clumsy ax, a miserable kicking plow, with a 
wooden mould board, a wooden-toothed har¬ 
row, a coarse shovel, a heavy hoe, an im¬ 
perfectly tempered scythe and sickle, a flail, 
and a hand grain-fan, were about all the im¬ 
plements which the best farmers then 
thought necessary for them to possess. But 
now he requires half a dozen to a dozen dif¬ 
ferent kinds and sizes of the best cast-iron or 
steel-polished plows, according to the nature 
of his soil, and the depth and breadth of his 
furrows; rollers with independent iron sec¬ 
tions, and clod crushers to pulverise and 
smooth the surface of his fields ; swing har¬ 
rows, accommodating their teeth to the un¬ 
even surfaces of the ground, and leaving 
large fields in as fine a tilth for the reception 
of the seed as a well-prepared garden ; corn 
and potato planters, seed sowers and drills, 
dropping and covering the seed with the 
greatest rapidity and economy, and yet 
mathematically exact; cultivators and soil- 
stirrers, which open the ground to the inha¬ 
lation of fortifying dews, and cut up and kill 
the weeds which, if suffered to grow, would 
impoverish the crop ; root and corn harvest¬ 
ers, mowing and reaping machines, horse- 
rakes, and horse pitchforks ; threshing ma¬ 
chines, fan mills and corn shellers; mills 
and apparatus for grinding, cutting and cook¬ 
ing the food for stock; and lastly, canals 
and railroads for transporting everything 
which the farmer may have to sell, with un¬ 
dreamed-of safety and dispatch,to the highest 
priced markets ; thus enabling the single 
farmer of the present day, to accomplish 
with ease what ten, and in some instances 
even twenty of his brethen of ancient date 
could not have done in the same time, with 
the most painful and exhausting efforts! 
How thankful ought the generation of the 
presentday to be to those artizans who have 
thus facilitated and lightened the toil of the 
husbandman, and enabled him to keep pace 
with a rapidly increasing population, and fur¬ 
nish food at nearly the average prices of a 
half century ago. We expeet that these im¬ 
provements on the part of mechanics will 
continue, and that the present is even but 
the beginning of what is yet to be accom¬ 
plished.—[E d. 
HYDRAULIC CEMENT (WATER-LIME) FO \ 
WATER-PIPES-HOW TO MAKE THE 
PIPES. 
Mr. J. Henderson, of Bowling-Green, Va., 
gives us his experience as well as observa¬ 
tion of the use of hydraulic cement for pipes 
conveying water. 
The method of making the pipes is quite 
simple and cheap, and we are quite obliged 
for the information. He states, that in his 
own town, as well as in Rockbridge, it has 
been extensively used for several years, and 
is very highly esteemed. He has seen 
several instances where water is conveyed 
from half a mile to a mile, with a heavy pres¬ 
sure. 
Last spring, Mr. Henderson put down 600 
feet of pipe, H inches in diameter, for the 
purpose of conveying water from a spring to 
the barn-yard. He used for the purpose 10 
barrels of cement, which cost $15, or $1 50 
per barrel at the Rockbridge mill. 
His method of constructing the pipe is as 
follows: The dry cement is thoroughly 
mixed with an equal quantity of sharp sand, 
and portions of it made into a mortar, only 
as fast as required for U3e. For a mould, 
two pieces of two-inch plank are taken, say 
four inches in width, and six feet in length. 
These are hollowed out on one side, so that 
when placed together, a hole would be left 
through the centre. They are then put 
down edgewise in the bottom of the ditch 
where the pipe is to remain, but are set apart 
three or four inches, so as to leave a suitable 
space for the mortar between them. They 
are kept apart by another small piece of 
plank, rounded upon its two edges to fit the „ 
hollows in the two side pieces. This forms 
a kind of open trough or mould, six feet long 
and four inches deep, having the ground for 
the bottom, the hollow plank for the sides, 
the last piece of pipe formed, for one end, 
and the small cross-piece for the other. 
Through the centre of the cross-piece a 
hole is bored, of the size of the internal bore 
of the pipe. Through this hole a round, 
smooth wooden rod is thrust, which is con¬ 
tinued along the middle of the mould, and 
into the hole in the last piece of pipe formed. 
When thus arranged, the mortar, just pre¬ 
pared, is poured in and soon becomes hard. 
As soon as the mortar is set, the rod is drawn 
out carefully, leaving a smooth round hole in 
the centre. 
The side pieces are then taken off, and 
moved along for another six feet. These 
may be kept in place by the sides of the ditch, 
if it be of the proper width; but it is better 
to prepare a couple of iron clamps, say like 
a wide plow device, which can be set down 
over them to keep them from falling outward, 
and taken up when the side pieces are to be 
moved. 
The whole process is very simple, and can 
be rapidly performed, and we should judge, 
quite cheaply. As soon as the whole pipe 
is finished the water may be let in, but the 
pipe should be allowed to harden some two 
weeks or so, before much pressure is added. 
GLAZED STONE-WARE PIPE. 
Messrs. E. & D. Fosdick & Co., of Mid- 
dlebury, Summit Co., Ohio, advertise a stone 
