1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
213 
Building a Curb Roof. 
II. B. II., Lebanon, Pa. —1 wish to build a 
barn 86 x 94 feet, and intend to put on it 
a hip or curb roof. I have the rafters cut 
15 and 13 feet long. 2x8 inch oak, is 
that right? Give a diagram of the roof, so 
that I know how the rafter should be put 
together to make them self-supporting. What 
roofing do you advise? 
Ans. —The usual way of constructing a 
curb roof is by having purlin works in 
the barn and the rafters rest on the pur¬ 
lin plate, but owing to the advanced cost 
of building material many barns are now 
being constructed without any purlin 
works whatever, and are giving good sat¬ 
isfaction. A very good way of construct¬ 
ing a curb roof where no purlin plate is 
used is shown in the diagram. Pieces 
rafters where the two spans come to¬ 
gether, and also at the top of the upper 
span. For a* barn 36 feet wide the lower 
span of rafters 14 feet long and given a 
three-fourths pitch, and the upper span 12 
feet and 9 inches long and given a one- 
third pitch, makes a very nice roof. How¬ 
ever, the lengths of rafters and pitches 
of roof for the different spans may be 
varied to suit the tastes of different in¬ 
dividuals. The usual dimensions of raf¬ 
ters for curb roofs are 3 x 6 inches.; 2 x S 
inches can be used, but does not give as 
good a surface where the ends of the roof 
boards are put together as a three-inch 
rafter does. For a good, durable roof 
for a barn I have never seen or used 
anything better than a good quality of 
shingles. J. J. sheaiian. 
Drainage Without an Outlet. 
A r . 8., Conncrsville, Tnd. —I have a low 
place on my farm of about one acre that I 
am very anxious to drain, but I have no 
outlet without cutting a ditch, near one-half 
mile. It is four feet from the surface of the 
ground to gravel. 1 have thought of putting 
In some dry wells, and I would like to know 
whether they answer the purpose or not, 
and would they he permanent? What is the 
best method of making them? 
Ans. —If the gravel with which the in¬ 
quirer’s land is underlaid is not water¬ 
bearing or carrying gravel, it can with 
safety be used as an outlet for the surface 
water, or even if the water rises a foot 
when a well is sunk into it, it will still 
be a reliable outlet. My plan would be 
this; If the gravel deposit extends into 
or under the surrounding land, to cut a 
drain through the center of the low-lying 
land and as far into the higher land as it 
can be without too much cost, cutting 
the drain three feet deep in the low land, 
although it would be better to sink it to 
the gravel; as it reaches the higher land, 
it must reach the gravel. In cutting it, 
be sure to secure sufficient fall to have the 
water flow towards the upland. If you 
can cut into the upland several rods, so 
much the better, as it will give the water 
more of a chance as it flows through the 
tile to escape into the gravel. At the end 
of the drain in the higher land, sink a 
well in the gravel three feet in diameter 
and as many feet deep; wall up carefully 
with brick or stone, so the wall will stay 
in place. Outlet the tile into this well, 
cover the well with flat stones. With the 
filling up of the drain over the tile and 
well this part of the ditch or draining is 
finished for the inquirer’s lifetime, if 
the work is properly done. 
Use five-inch tile at the outlet for one- 
half the length of the drain, and four-inch 
for the remainder. I would put out lateral 
drains every four or six rods on each side 
of this main drain, and if these do not 
give sufficient drainage, new drains in 
after years can be laid between them. 
Close up the upper ends of these drains 
and fill in all the drains, and the water 
will find them. Another plan—a well can 
be dug to gravel in center of the low land, 
walled up, and the tile drains outlet into 
this well. The trouble with this plan is 
the well will always be in the way. and 
is liable to be disturbed and the wall fall 
in, unless made of Portland cement con¬ 
crete. Wherever the well is dug it must 
go down to the gravel. In a level section 
of country in northern Ohio the farmers 
sink tubular wells to living water, a few 
feet of the upper end of the tubing is filled 
with holes—an open well is walled up 
around the tube, then the tile drains are 
laid to outlet into the well, the water es¬ 
caping down the tube. John m. jamison. 
ARE YOU BEADY 
FOR HARVEST 
How about it? 
Old Mother Earth, the sun and the showers, the dews and the winds are 
doing and will do their part to produce the wheat and oats and rye and bar¬ 
ley that go to make a bountiful harvest. 
Are you doing your part. 
Are you getting ready to harvest the crop after it is grown? 
Do you know how you will cut your grain?- 
Are you sure you will harvest it to the best advantage—with the least, loss 
of grain, the least waste of time, the least trouble and worry and expense? 
These are mighty important questions, for a large share of your profit de¬ 
pends upon them. 
It’s rot too early to begin to think about them. 
With high priced land and high priced labor, you need to get every cent 
from every acre you cultivate. 
Help will be scarce and expensive; therefore, you need a harvesting 
machine that will save you the most labor. 
Harvest days are few; therefore, you need a harvesting 
machine that will save you the most time. 
Grain is worth money; therefore, you need a harvesting 
machine that will save you the most grain. 
You can’t afford to run risks. 
You can’t afford to take chances. 
And you don’t have to. 
Take an hour or two, now, before you get too 
busy and talk to any agent of the International 
Harvester Company of America, and find out 
about the International line of harvesting and 
haying machines for 1906. 
You’ll be interested whether you buy or not. 
* * * + 
Buying a machine of any kind for use on the 
farm is not as simple a matter as it may seem. 
You can “size up” a farm and know pretty accu¬ 
rately how much an acre you can afford to pay for 
it, but unless you are a mechanical expert you can’t 
judge a machine in the same manner. 
You have to take other things into consideration. 
For example: 
You need to know something about the design— 
the mechanical principles—how the machine works. 
You need to know something about the materials 
used in it. 
You need to know something about the skill used 
in its construction. 
You needfro know something about the responsi¬ 
bility of the man behind it and about the machine’s 
reputation. 
The International Harvester Company line of ma¬ 
chines for 1906 will satisfy you on these points—and 
on every other point that you may bring up. 
* # * * 
Bigness is not necessarily a merit in itself. 
If you’re buying a horse you don’t care very much whether the 
man who raised it, raises one colt a year or 500. 
But you know that the man who makes a specialty of horse breeding is 
more likely to raise a hundred good colts, than is the man who goes at 
it in a hit-and-miss, haphazard manner. 
It’s the same way with farm machines. 
You don’t care whether a manufacturer makes 1,000 or 
100,000 of them, just so the machine satisfies you. 
But there’s this to take into account: 
The first harvesting machine was largely an experiment. 
For fifty years inventors and manufacturers continued 
to experiment, making changes and improvements, ad¬ 
ding this and taking away that, until finally a half-dozen 
harvesters began to stand out head and shoulders Above 
the others. 
Why do you suppose that was? 
IIOW did it, happen that the Champion, theDeering, the 
McCormick, the Milwaukee, the Osborne and the Plano in¬ 
creased in popularity and sales so much more rapidly than 
the hundred and one other harvesting machines that have 
been putonthe market at various times in the past 50years? 
There is only one reason for it. 
They met thedemands of the farmer, and satisfied Jus needs. 
In the expressive language of the day, “they made 
good.” They are better today than ever before; they do 
better work and give greater satisfaction. 
And here are the reasons: 
1st.—The mechanical principle is right. 
The manufacturers of the Champion, the Peering, the McCor¬ 
mick, the Milwaukee, the Osborne and the Plano, by cooperation 
are able to include in their respective machines every device, every 
Invention, every mechanical principle yet discovered that tends to 
make a harvesting machine do better work. 
By co-operation they are able to maintain such experimental shops 
as the world has never seen before, making certain that every im¬ 
provement and every device that mechanical genius can contrive 
will be employed in theirline. 
2nd.—The materials are right. 
By co-operation they are able to own, control and operate their 
lumber camps, their own saw mills, their own coal and iron mines, 
their own coke ovens, their own steel mills, relieving them of the 
necessity of depending upon the uncertain and fluctuating steel 
markets, coal markets, lumber markets, etc., for their raw materi¬ 
als, and insuring them at all times an abundance of materials 
which they know to be right. These are added reasons for the 
superiority of these harvesting machines. 
3rd.—The workmanship is right. 
The demand for these six leading makes of harvesting machines 
enables thei. manufacturers to maintain manufacturing plunts of 
the highest efficiency and to employ workmen of the highest skill— 
factories and workmen which could not by any possibility be main¬ 
tained to supply a small demand. , 
4 th.—Their reputation is right. 
The fact that so many farmers cannot he persuaded to buy any 
other,—the fact that so many farmers continue to buy them,—the 
fact that they are considered the standard wherever grain is grown 
in every part of the world is sufficient indication of their reputation 
and their reliability. 
* # * * 
You probably need one of these liarvesting machines. 
You cannot afford to begin harvest with a machine that 
is liable to break down and cause you several days’delay. 
You cannot afford to nse a machine that loses a few 
stalks now and then and a whole sheaf here and there, 
for a little leak like that eats into your profits at a 
surprising rate. 
Go to the dealer now, and get which ever catalogue you 
want. 
If you don’t know an International Dealer—write to us 
for the name and address of one nearest you. 
International Harvester Company of America, (incorporated) Chicago, Illinois. 
International Line— Binders, Reapers, Headers, Header-Binders, Corn Binders, Corn Shockers, Corn Pickers, Huskers and Shred¬ 
ders, Corn Shelters, Mowers, Hay Tedders, Hay Rakes, Sweep Rakes, Hay Loaders, Hay Stackers, Hay Balers, Knife Grinders, Gasoline 
Engines, Pumping jacks. Manure Spreaders, Weber, Columbus and Bettendorf Wagons, Binder Twine. 
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