336 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
be well pitched and caulked to keep out mois¬ 
ture. In case wooden blocks are used it would 
be well to saturate them thoroughly in hot tar, 
as a preservative against rot from exposure to 
alternations of dryness and moisture. These 
supports will be found very useful for other pur¬ 
poses; for instance, a smaller size may be 
placed with great advantage beneath the posts 
of verandas; and if used in any places where 
posts are sunk in the ground, they will prevent 
rotting of the timber, and make the building 
last more than twice as long. When used for 
square posts they may be spiked to the foot of 
each post bj r two spikes, which should be feath¬ 
ered on the edges to cause them to retain their 
hold in the timber. 
A Mill for Grinding Plaster. 
11 A Subscriber,” Ilutchinson, Kansas, desires 
to know how to construct a mill for grinding 
plaster, and how it should be operated. We 
give on this page an engraving of a mill for 
grinding plaster such as is in common use. 
The first process necessary is to stamp or crush 
the stone into fragments sufficiently small to be 
ground between a pair of burr-stones, and this 
is done by means of the stamps shown in the 
engraving. These are put up in a stout frame 
of timber, beneath which there is a box pro¬ 
vided with a grated bottom of cast iron, made 
sufficiently strong to resist the blows of the 
falling stamps. The interstices between the 
bars of the grate are wider below than above, 
so that the broken fragments easily pass through. 
The stamps are put up in batteries of four or 
five or more, as may be desirable; five stamps, 
however, will break enough rock to keep one 
pair of stones running. The stamps are raised 
by means of a revolving shaft with projecting 
arms, which catch corresponding teeth or cams 
on the rear of each stamp; when raised about 
two feet, the stamp is released by the onward 
passage of the arm, and it falls of its own 
weight upon the rock placed beneath it. The 
stamp heads are of chilled cast iron, and are 
fastened with bolts on to the wooden guides. 
The broken rock which falls through the grate 
is shoveled into the hopper of the mill, and is 
Spround as fine as ordinary flour. The finer 
it is ground the better rt is as a fertilizer. 
Water Bars. 
“W. R. N.Raleigh, N. C., requests a plan 
to fence across a stream which is subject to fresh¬ 
ets. In the annexed engraving there is shown 
such a fence, or, as it is usually called, a set of 
water bars. There is a post on each bank of 
the stream. To one 
post the bars or rails 
are affixed by short 
chains or wire loops 
fastened by staples 
driven into each bar 
and the post. There 
are pins driven into 
the opposite post, 
upon which the loose 
ends of the bars rest. 
To the lower bar there 
is suspended a shorter 
one by means of short 
chains or wires. When 
the water rises the bars float off from the pins, 
and being held by the chains at their ends are 
prevented from being carried away. When the 
water falls they are replaced. 
---v •*»-■ 
How Brooms are Made. 
The broom manufacture is one of those indus¬ 
tries into which a very economical division of 
labor is made to enter. Domestic manufactures 
enter into competi¬ 
tion with such in¬ 
dustries under un¬ 
favorable condi¬ 
tions. It can never 
be hoped that the 
supply of brooms 
nor any material 
portion of it can be 
produced in the 
homes of the farm¬ 
ers who grow the 
brush. They have 
done their portion 
of the divided labor 
when they have 
provided the raw 
material. Yet it is 
true that the spare 
hours of the wint¬ 
er season, when 
farm labors are in 
good part suspend¬ 
ed, may be profita¬ 
bly occupied in 
working up some 
portion of the crop. 
Boys and girls may give a helping hand, 
and earn a sum which will add a great deal 
to the general comfort. Besides, it ought to 
be a rule on every farm to produce at home, 
as far as possible, everything needed for 
home use. Home industry should be fostered 
and encouraged as much as possible. This was 
the old fashion, when our mothers and grand¬ 
mothers spun and knitted and our grandfathers 
wore homespun. There is no good reason why 
a farmer’s family might not turn out sufficient 
brooms to purchase most of the family grocer¬ 
ies or to procure a goodly supply of books and 
papers. Well-made brooms are worth at whole¬ 
sale twenty-five cents each. A pound and a 
half of brush will make a broom, and the han¬ 
dles and wire needed cost but five or six 
cents. This is the whole money outlay required. 
The result is that an acre of brush yielding say 
600 pounds will make 400 brooms, worth $100, 
with an outlay for material of $24 
The necessary machinery is very simple, and 
may be adopted without difficulty from a study 
of those in use at the broom manufactories, and 
which are here described, together with the 
process of manufacture. 
The first thing is to sort the brush into three 
sizes, with straw of 15, 17, and 19 inches long 
respectively; rough, short, or crooked brush is 
used for the inside of the brooms, and i3 to be 
kept by itself. That which is longer than 19 
inches is called “hurl,” and is used for the 
largest brooms. Then the brush i3 cleaned 
from any adhering seeds or hulls or broken 
straw by exposing it in handfuls to a rapidly- 
revolving drum or cylinder in the machine 
shown in fig. 1. In a small way this may be 
done by a coarse comb. The brush is then tied 
up in bundles, and the butts dipped into water 
and placed on a bench to drain, as shown in 
figure 2. The stalks are then soft and pliable, 
and the brush is ready for the wrapping- 
machine, shown at figure 3. It consists of a 
table with a projecting wdng at the right hand. 
Beneath this part of the table is a barrel or 
socket (a) which is revolved by means of a strap 
STAMPS AND MILL FOR PLASTER. 
WATER BARS. 
