1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
space between the clapboards and the plaster¬ 
ing. 2d.—Nearly as efficient a filling is made 
by laying the bricks upon their edges. This is 
a good deal cheaper, but they must be more 
Fig. 1.— DIAGONAL BOARDING AND SHEATHING. 
carefully laid, and good mortar used. 3d.—The 
practice of back-plastering lias been for some 
time in vogue. This consists in tacking laths 
in the middle between the studs and laying a 
rough but tight plaster coat upon them. This 
is cheaper than a brick filling, and more rapidly 
applied. It lias not the same weight, which is 
useful in settling the house firmly upon its foun¬ 
dation, and in stiffening it against high winds. 
Still the house is made a good deal stiffer by 
back-plastering. 4th.—A better plan than either 
of these is what is called “Diagonal boarding 
and sheathing.” This is represented in fig. 1, and 
consists of first nailing cheap hemlock boards 
diagonally upon the studs, and covering them 
with sheathing-felt or tarred-paper nailed on 
horizontally, each course lapping an inch upon 
the one beneath. The boards are not nailed on 
diagonally to give additional strength and 
stiffness to the frame from their bracing posi¬ 
tion, for the frame would be just as stiff’ if they 
were nailed horizontally. If in the latter posi¬ 
tion, however, cracks would often interfere with 
nailing on the siding. It is of some consequence 
to have good felt or paper, and the best has a 
less quantity of tar than roofing-felt. We no¬ 
tice the growing use of felt-sheathing without 
the diagonal boarding, it being nailed directly 
on the studs. This is, of course, better than 
nothing, but not nearly so good as boarding and 
sheathing. In putting on the boards it is most 
convenient to give them a slant of 45 degrees, 
and all on one side have nearly the same slant. 
The idea of their being useful as bracing the 
building being a deceptive one, carpenters some¬ 
times put them on to slant upward towards the 
corners on all sides, which is useless. 
There is a style of cheap wall sometimes built 
which is very comfortable if not handsome. 
Fig. 2. CONCRETE BILLING. Fig. 3. WATTLED WALL. 
The studs are placed three or four feet apart, 
clapboards nailed on as usual, and the spaces 
between them filled with coarse concrete, made 
with a portion of hydraulic cement, boards be¬ 
ing nailed on the inside of the studs, as shown 
in figure 2. When the concrete is stiff enough 
to stand, the boards are removed, and the sur¬ 
face scratched to receive a coat of plastering. 
There is an old-fashioned kind of wall which we 
have known as “Wattled wall,” which is made 
by filling in, between studs set wide apart, with 
split sticks, cut so as to wedge firmly between 
the studs. Upon these, coarse mortar is spread, 
and the outside is finished with a coat of ce¬ 
ment floated on smoothly, covering the studs, 
while inside it is simply plastered. (See fig. 3.) 
These two plans are particularly applicable 
to outbuildings, such as smoke-houses, fowl- 
houses, liog-houses, and the like, but very warm 
dwellings might be constructed cheaply on the 
same principle. In the structure, such buildings 
are somewhat similar to those in which a wood¬ 
en frame is filled in with stone or concrete of 
some kind. These are sometimes built in imi¬ 
tation of European cottages, and if the fram¬ 
ing is arranged with some care, may be very 
ornamental. The style is shown in figure 4. 
When the inner plastering is put directly upon 
stone or brick, or thin concrete Avails, moisture 
is almost sure either to strike through or to de¬ 
posit upon the inside, hence it is usual to “ fur 
off” for plastering. Any means by which the 
wall may be made hollow will obviate this diffi¬ 
culty. In laying concrete, half-inch boards may 
be set perpendicularly, three or four inches 
Fig. 4.—EXPOSED FRAME STONE WALL. 
apart in the Avails, and drawn up as the Avail 
rises. This Avill entirely obviate any difficulty 
from moisture on the inside. 
Maple Sugar Making.—2d Article. 
BT AV. I. CHAMBERLAIN, HUDSON, O. 
The article in February concluded with the 
tapping of the trees. If the day has been a good 
one, many of the buckets at the trees first tap¬ 
ped Avill be full, and it Avill be well to commence 
Gathering Sap. —Take the stone-boat sled 
(fig. 5, Feb.), put on three barrels or casks, a 
tunnel made to fit the barrel and not rock,—and 
a tin pail holding sixteen quarts. One pail is 
better than tAvo, unless the trees are scattered 
far from where the sled can go. There should 
be a strainer in the tunnel. This should be of 
the shape shown in figure 2, and made of thin, 
coarse, white muslin, stitched around a wire 
hoop at top and bottom. The top wire should 
fit tightly over the top of the tunnel, and be 
pressed down over the outside of it about an 
inch, so as to hold the strainer in place. The 
bottom wire should be small enough to keep 
the strainer from touching the sides of the tun¬ 
nel, else the sap cannot run through rapid¬ 
ly. The strainer should be so short that the 
bottom of it will not touch the bottom of the 
tunnel, for this too would obstruct the flow of 
sap. The strainer is to keep out from the bar¬ 
rels dirt or flies that may have got into the sap, 
and also to prevent the loose flaky ice often 
found in sap from clogging the tunnel. The 
ice may be thrown away, as it is of little value. 
Fig. 1. —HOW TO EMPTY SAP. 
Select a good road through the grove so as to 
bring the sled as near each tree as practicable. 
There is but one right Avay to empty the sap 
from the bucket into the pail. If you are not 
used to the Avork, probably you Avill set the pail 
on the ground, take off the bucket cover and 
throw it down, take the bucket from the spile 
Avith both hands and empty it, hang the bucket, 
stoop for the cover, and finally stoop again for 
the pail. If the pail does not stand on level 
ground, the sap Avill run over, and if the cover 
is Avet, dirt Avill stick to it and fall 
into the pail. The right Avay is 
this. Stand facing the tree, with 
the bucket in line between it and 
yourself. Hold the pail in your 
left hand, take the cover Avitli 
your right hand, and place it up under the 
left arm above the elbow. Now hold the 
pail close to the left of the bucket, grasp the 
rim of it firmly with your right hand, and turn 
the bucket gently on the spile, as on an axle, 
until the sap is all out. Then let the bucket 
back to its place, and put on the cover. (See fig. 
1.) The bucket is not removed from the spile, no 
sap is Avasted, no dirt sticks to the cover, your 
backbone is not bent, and one hand empties the 
sap far more easily and quickly than both. In 
gathering, if you find a large bucket only half 
full, and near to it a small one overflowing, 
change them. Much sap can be saved by a little 
care in changing the buckets where necessary. 
When your barrels are full, and you go to 
empty them, be careful to drive close to the 
ends of the skids. These are straight poles, or 
3x4 scantlings, fastened at the upper end to the 
store-trough, and at the 
lower end to a timber at 
right angles with them, 
and high enough to bring 
them just on a level Avitli 
the top of the sled-rave, 
as sliOAvu last month in 
the engraving on page 50. 
The skids should be just 
long enough to let the 
barrels roll once and a 
half over and bring the 
bung-holes doAvn. Or if the top of the store- 
trough or vat is Ioav enough, the skids may be 
so short as merely to let the barrels roll half 
over. At any rate the skids should not be steep, 
not more than fifteen degrees, or the barrels Avill 
roll too hard for one man to unload easily. 
If there is any mud on the barrels remove 
