902 
Tbt RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
July 15, 1!>2Z 
Farm Mechanics 
. Conducted by Robert H. Smith, of the Canton Agricultural School 
Canton, New York 
Fastening Separator to Concrete Floor 
Will you tell me how to fasten cream 
separator and engine to a concrete floor 
that is already made? e. j. n. 
Dormansville, N. V. 
This can best be done by driving holes 
4 or 5 in. deep in the proper position t<» 
match those in the base of the machine 
being set, a star drill being the best for 
the purpose, although an ordinary stone 
drill will work very well. Use a drill in 
making the hole sufficiently large to per¬ 
mit putting foundation bolts into the holes 
with the heads downward. 
Machine bolts should be chosen of the 
proper size and length to lit tin* base of 
the machine to be fastened, and a frame 
of wood, called a template, containing 
holes in exactly the same location as 
those in the base of the machine, pre¬ 
pared to support these holts in the proper 
position. 
After making sure that everything is 
lined up exactly as it should be, lead is 
melted and poured into the holes about 
the holts. Make sure that the holes are 
free from every trace of moisture before 
pouring in the lead, or the resulting steam 
will cause the lead to fly and may result 
in serious burns. After the lead cools, 
remove the template and hammer the lead 
firmly into the hole about the bolt, using 
a hummer and large punch or other bolt 
for the purpose. This makes a solid 
fastening. Anchors can he purchased 
which permit fastening the machines 
down with lag screws, the expanders 
spreading as the lag screw is turned 
down, gripping the sides of the hole. 
Stick sulphur or brimstone i.s sometimes 
melted up and used for the same purpose, 
but does not make as solid a fastening as 
the lead. 
Electricity from Water Power 
Most of the farm electric light plants 
are too expensive for the ordinary farmer, 
because they use so much kerosene, cost 
•so much, and the batteries do not last 
long enough There is a stream about 
five rods from our buildings with enough 
water to furnish all the electricity a 
fanner would need with an overshot, 
wheel, and fall enough b> have the wheel 
in a cellar, where it will not freeze I 
saw an overshot wheel in the Farm Me¬ 
chanics building at Cornell University 
that run satisfactorily, but they used 
storage batteries. Is there a dynamo 
built to be run without batteries? 
Moravia. N. T, I. w. 0. 
Your criticism of the lighting plant, in 
general, that it is somewhat expensive 
and costs more for operation than the 
kerosene necessary for the house lamps 
would cost, is probably true. The light¬ 
ing plant, however, gives a degree of illu¬ 
mination not possible with kerosene, and 
does this without heat or odor, and with¬ 
out daily cleaning of lumps. In addition, 
it cleans the house with the vacuum 
cleaner, cools the house in Summer with 
fans, pumps the water, does the washing, 
turns the grindstone and runs cream sep¬ 
arator. and does numberless other light 
tasks about the farm, so that, taken all 
together, it is really a cheap and efficient 
servant. 
Tn regard to the use of storage bat¬ 
teries. it is easily possible to light your 
house and premises without them, provid¬ 
ing the stream that you refer to has suf¬ 
ficient volume and fall to give the re¬ 
quired fall. This can be determined by 
measurement. The wheel that you saw 
at Cornell was doubtless used with stor¬ 
age batteries because it was using or bad 
available such a small quantity of water 
that it did not develop sufficient power to 
operate all the lights that might be needed 
at one time. The wheel was allowed to 
run. storing up the small current gener¬ 
ated in the batteries, and then when the 
period of the load came on it at dusk, 
the batteries were drawn upon for cur¬ 
rent. B. H. S. 
Acetylene or Electric Light 
Which is the cheapest light to operate 
for farm buildings, as well as the safer, 
carbiib* gas or electric plant? Wliat kind 
of carbide plant is the safer, the one in 
the cellar, or the one out in the ground 
away from the buildings? Is there any 
danger of their exploding in case of fire, 
or from a leaking pipe dose to a fire? 
What kind of electric plant is the better, 
the one with the engine generator and 
switchboard all together, or all separate? 
Where we live we are unable to get elec¬ 
tric current from a power plant. So the 
only thing we can do is to have our pri¬ 
vate plant if we w'ant light. w. J. L. 
Mt. Bethel, Pa. 
Any well-made carbide plant can be 
considered reasonably safe so long as it is 
handled properly. There are some acci¬ 
dents reported from the use of these 
plants, but invariably they are file result 
of carelessness. The acetylene gas formed 
by the action of water on the carbide i.s 
very inflammable or explosive when 
mixed with the proper proportion of air. 
and the generator and piping must be 
installed in a workmanlike manner to 
prevent, leaking-and consequent danger 
from fire. Fortunately, however, acety¬ 
lene gas has a very penetrating odor, and 
a very small leak can be quickly detected 
by the sense of smell. Also, unless the 
leak is a very large one, or the place 
where it occurs is very confined, it will 
have to exist for a considerable length of 
time before enough gas will flow through 
to form an explosive mixture with 1 lie 
surrounding air. In fact, n burner can 
he left turned on for some time without 
danger, as with the usual type of burner 
only about % of a cu. ft. of gas flows per 
hour, and at this rate it would have to 
flow for a long time before an explosive 
mixture would he formed in a room. An¬ 
other thing that makes for safety is the 
fact that the gas is not stored in the ma¬ 
chine. hilt is liberated ns fast as used, an 
automatic device feeding the carbide into 
the water only fast enough to maintain 
the gas supply, Carbide itself is as 
harmless as so much crushed stone so 
long as it is kept dry. As intimated 
above, however, every precaution should 
be observed in their care, and instruc¬ 
tions carefully followed. Never look for 
leaks with a lighted match or open flame 
lamp—this is the way a great many of 
the accidents occur. 
The out-of-door plant might possibly 
be considered Safer than the inside type, 
although, of course, the danger is equal 
so far as the piping i.s concerned: it ex¬ 
ists in both cases. Either one is approved 
by insurance companies. 
It is probable ti nt you will find the 
electric plant the most convenient and 
satisfactory. It can lie used to operate 
a washer, vacuum cleaner, etc., as well 
as furnishing light, and while I have no 
figures at hand, it is probable that the 
operating cost is somcwlml less than for 
acetylene. The price of carbide has ad¬ 
vanced enormously in the last few years, 
and this, together with the high freight 
rates existing makes, the expense of oper¬ 
ating such a plant high. The unit plants 
where the generator and engine are built 
together are very convenient and give 
good service. Whore a suitable gas en¬ 
gine already exists a belt-driven plant 
can he put in more cheaply, but if the 
whole must be bought new. one of the 
plants in which the engine is equipped 
with a pulley to be used for belt work 
makes a very good outfit. 
Comparison of Concrete and Wood for 
Fence Posts 
What is the cost and selling price of 
concrete fence posts in New Jersey, also 
the price of chestnut posts 8 ft. long? 
I am thinking of making concrete posts 
for sale. What are the possibilities? 
Stellnn. N. .T. c. K. 
Just wliat the price of fence posts is 
in New Jersey I cannot say. as the price 
varies with locality exceedingly, the avail¬ 
ability of materials suitable for posts de¬ 
termining to a great extent, the price. 
No doubt definite figures could bo obtained 
from your experiment station. However, 
one large cement company gives the fol¬ 
lowing quantities of cement, sand and 
gravel as necessary for the construction 
of a post when using a mixture of one 
part cement, two parts sand and four 
parts screened gravel : .’2857 sack ce¬ 
ment. .5714 cu. ft. sand, 1.1428 cu. ft. 
screened gravel, or at the rale of 14 posts 
4x5 in. at the top. 5xG in. at the bottom, 
and 7 ft. in length, from every barrel of 
cement, one-lmlf single load of sand and 
small single load of gravel. These figures 
cannot be accepted as exact, but will give 
close approximation. In addition, 28 ft. 
of No. G wire will he required for rein¬ 
forcement for each post. It. would seem 
that there is little likelihood of financial 
success in the undertaking, unless there 
is a supply of good sand and gravel that 
can be obtained for the hauling a short 
distance, and a scarcity of good wood 
posts in the locality A wire fence well 
built from good wood posts is good for a 
long term of yenrs. and where wood posts 
are available, the posts of concrete seem 
very little used, except for corner posts 
or [daces of that kind. Although they 
have many advantages, their weight, the 
difficulty of attaching the wire to them, 
and the fact that they cannot be driven 
tend to prevent their use. 
Length of Horse Stall 
Wliat is the general consensus of opin¬ 
ion as regards the proper width and 
length for a horse stall for horse 1.200 to 
1.4(H) lbs.? G. A. B. 
Limington, Me. 
The standard single horse stall is 4 ft. 
0 in. in width. Stalls much uarrower than 
this are likely to cause the horse to get 
’’cast" while lying down, although they 
are sometimes made as nurrovv as 4 ft. 
Double stalls an* made from s to 0 ft. 
in width; they give slightly more freedom 
to the animal, hut there is less danger of 
the animals injuring each other when con¬ 
fined iu single stalls. Nine feet seems to 
be the accepted length of both single and 
double stalls. Of this length, 2 ft. is 
used as a manger, and the remaining 7 ft. 
usltd fur a standing platform. 
McCormick - Deering Corn Machines 
SsPL 
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tr 
ja_<9 
e>_ 
I N the coming autumn it will be necessary to take 
from the fields some three billion bushels of 
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he determined largely by the efficiency of your 
equipment for handling this crop. 
Veteran corn growers for years have made corn yields 
greater with the expert help of McC ormick, Deering, 
and Milwaukee Corn Binders, McCormick-Deering 
Ensilage Cutters and other McCormick-Deering equip¬ 
ment. At the start of the corn harvest they are 
fortified by these machines and by dependence on the 
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Thirty years ago began the pioneer work in the making 
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sheller—McCormick-Deering dealers thi 
nation over may he depended on for 
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International Harvester Company 
_ of America 
CHICAGO (INCORPORATED) U S A 
92 Branch Houses and 15,000 Dealers in the United States 
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Elevator to load bundles on wagon, or 
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McCormick-Deering ensilage cutters 
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All working parts carefully housed. 
Force feed, large throat. Strong fly¬ 
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Cutting and elevating done in one 
operation, saving power. 
