1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
DIGGING POST HOLES BY STEAM. 
Wholesale Work lor Power Lines. 
Last Fall a reader asked if there was any machine 
for digging fence post holes by engine power. Our 
readers generally respond, and now we are able to print 
pictures and description of a machine used by Wood¬ 
man Bros, of Hamilton, Out., Canada. 
The side view, Fig. 193, gives a good general idea 
of its construction and the end view, Fig. 193, is in¬ 
tended to show more in detail the arrangement for 
driving the auger proper. The two “pocket” sheaves. 
just above the auger bit are driven by the two drums on 
an ordinary hoisting engine, engaged or disengaged by 
the usual arrangement of friction clutch. The lower 
pocket sheave engages the auger shaft 
by a slot the full length of the shaft and 
“feather,” rotating the auger, but leaving 
it free to move up or down; the Upper 
sheave engages the threads of the shaft 
and controls the upward and downward 
motion. In operation the auger is rotat¬ 
ed by the lower sheave, the upper sheave 
remaining stationary; thus the auger 
lowers itself according to the pitch of 
the “threads”; in this case one inch to 
each revolution. This is very fast “feed” 
and only used in light soil. In heavier 
work the upper sheave is rotated inter¬ 
mittently, and the “feed” becomes any¬ 
thing from one inch to zero as wanted, 
as when both sheaves are rotated there 
is neither upward or downward motion. 
Rotating only the upper sheave raises 
the auger; all these motions can be re¬ 
versed. 
The auger “bit” is of cast iron, much 
of the same form as the old-fashioned 
post-hole auger, but has baffle plates 
which close the openings when the auger is being raised; 
in Fig. 193 one plate is shown closed. When the auger 
has been run down from two to four feet, according to 
the nature of the soil, it is raised until the “bit” comes 
to the surface, the earth raised being shoveled to each 
side as it comes up. This machine is built to bore holes 
up to two feet in diameter by six feet deep for heavy 
electric power lines,- the derrick-like arrangement being 
used to hoist the poles up after the hole has been dug. 
the soil and of course finally find its way into the creek, 
but it was so filtered it did no harm. These cesspools 
must be covered; the solid matter is left behind, but 
from a private residence a surprisingly small amount 
is left in the pool. This depends somewhat on how 
far away from the house the cesspool is. In cities l 
have opened sewers where all was dissolved except an 
occasional rag, corks and tin cans. Of course such 
material as this should never enter a cesspool. 
When putting in a system of this kind the kitchen 
sink should have a separate drain pipe to the outside 
of the building, where a grease trap is put in. A piece 
of 20-inch tile pipe is the easiest material to make a 
grease trap. Dig a hole deep enough to allow the tile 
DISPOSAL OF FARM SEWAGE. 
When installing a sewage system the prevailing condi¬ 
tions of land, water and amount to be disposed of must be 
considered, also its character. 
By land I mean character of soil 
and what grades can be ob¬ 
tained. For dwellings on a 
farm I have installed a system 
as follows, which has given sat¬ 
isfaction, is cheap and I believe 
also getting a return in money 
value for the sewerage. In the 
house were two toilets, two 
bathtubs, three lavatories and 
one kitchen sink. I ran four- 
inch cast iron pipe five feet out¬ 
side of foundation, thence six- 
inch terra cotta pipe to a cess¬ 
pool four feet square by five 
feet deep, giving a grade of 
only one inch to 40 feet, line 
being 250 feet long. The joints 
were well cemented with good 
Portland cement and sand, 
mixed in equal parts. The cess¬ 
pool was walled up with brick 
to prevent caving. From the 
cesspool I had a ditch dug 
about three feet deep, in rows 
10 feet apart, across a lot con¬ 
taining nearly an acre of land. 
In the bottom of the ditch I 
placed large rock laid V-shaped, 
with the apex at the top, then 
coarse gravel on top to within 
15 inches of top, then some 
straw to keep dirt from sifting 
into the crevices thus made until dirt is well settled; thus 
you see a complete sub-irrigation plant was made, and 
the Summer following a finer vegetable garden I never 
saw than was raised on that ground; hence I refer to 
the money value. 
In a very porous soil regular drain tile can be used. 
In one place the Epworth College thus disposes of the 
sewage, laying the tile about 300 feet in four different 
directions. The soil is very close or stiff, this being the 
reason so much tile had to be used. I worked in one 
town of about 7,000 population that disposed of the 
sewage by running the main outlet about two miles to 
a creek, and by a series of cesspools and outlet pipes 
as I have described the water would percolate through 
A FIELD OF CANADA FLINT IN CONNECTICUT. Fig. 194. 
to be set oil end, the hub or bell end at top to be about 
three or four inches above ground, to prevent any for¬ 
eign water entering, the inlet pipe from the sink being 
as near surface as practical. The outlet pipe goes out 
enough lower to prevent water and grease coming 
higher than inlet. Outlet starts from a point at least 
eight inches from bottom, turning out with an elbow at 
the point designated; the bottom is cemented so as not 
to leak. A 20-inch tile is two feet six inches long; this 
will hold quite a volume of water at all times. Fit a top 
or lid in the hub of metal and cement or otherwise so 
as to be tight to prevent escape of sewer gas. The dish 
water coming into this, being laden with grease, becomes 
cool, and the grease hardens and rises to the top, where 
ROSE PRINCESSE DE SAGAN. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 195. See Ruralisms, Page 411. 
it can be removed and disposed of. If allowed to go 
to the cesspool it will eventually clog the pipe and 
stop the seepage of the soil in the drainage ditch. 
There are grease traps that go under the fixture, but 
they are too small to hold the volume of water properly 
to cool the grease. The vent from the sink will also 
vent the grease trap if properly put in. 
Another system, and the only one that entirely does 
away with the objections of the foregoing system, or 
emptying into a stream, is the crematory, where all 
water is vaporized and the solids burned; but this is 
very expensive, both as to construction and maintenance. 
In locating a cesspool or other sewage disposal be care¬ 
ful of the water supply and sewer gas. See that all 
fixtures are properly vented and trapped. Sewer gas 's 
deadly, and is laden with disease germs. Some people 
believe as long as no offensive odor is detected no sewer 
gas is there, but this is not so, as sewer gas sometimes 
lias no smell. Too much care cannot be exercised in 
the installation of plumbing, which may be made either 
a curse or a blessing. m. l. owen. 
Kentucky. 
A HOUSE OF CONCRETE. 
Solid Construction With Reinforced Material. 
On the first page of this issue is the picture of a 
house built entirely of concrete. The pictures appear 
in a pamphlet issued by The Atlas Port¬ 
land Cement Co., of New York. There 
is so much interest just now in concrete 
construction that we are glad to have 
a house of this sort described. The 
Atlas Company tells us: 
“There seems to be an impression 
among the general public that houses to 
be built of concrete must be built of 
concrete blocks. This impression is en¬ 
tirely a false one, as the concrete block 
is only one .of a number of different 
forms of concrete construction, and al¬ 
though it has been pushed in the coun¬ 
try districts more than any other form, 
we do not believe that it will be the pre¬ 
dominating style of house in the future. 
Concrete lends itself to any style of 
architecture, and can be fashioned into 
any shape by building the reverse of the 
desired effect in either wood or plaster 
of Paris. The house pictured in Fig. 
191 is solid reinforced concrete. By this 
we mean that the forms were put up 
and the . concrete poured in, the reinforcing being 
a continuous fabric running through the walls and 
floors of the house. There were no blocks used in 
it. The effect of shingles and siding was caused by 
the way the forms were built. Mr. Wight, the owner 
of this house, even went further than the imitation of 
clapboards, and imitated shingles in every place except 
on the roof itself. This imitation is so good that a 
person standing in the road a few feet away from the 
house would not only think that the house was clap¬ 
boards above the first story, but that the shingles were 
weather-stained. 
“You ask if it is possible for the ordinary workmen 
to get this effect in constructing a house. Mr. Wight 
took an ordinary gang of Ital¬ 
ian laborers and constructed 
this house, he giving his per¬ 
sonal supervision to the 
work. He, however, had some 
experience in the handling of 
concrete before he started in, 
and we would not advise any¬ 
one to start to built a house 
before he had handled some 
smaller work. In regard to 
the coloring matter, would say 
that unless a person has had 
experience in this line, we 
would not advise his trying it, 
as it is almost impossible to 
get the same color in mixing 
different batches of concrete. 
Should a person, however, 
wish to try it, he should mix 
the coloring matter dry with 
the cement until it becomes of 
uniform color, and then mix it 
with the sand and aggregate. 
“In regard to the making 
of the stove, Fig. 190, it was 
made in three parts, the base, 
the body and the top. • The 
base was made with concrete 
grate bars in an ordinary box, 
the top was made in a round 
form with a piece of sewer 
pipe put in for the base of the 
stove pipe, the hole in the top 
was made by setting a tin pan, bottom of which was 
covered with oiled paper, right in the form. The body 
of the stove was made by setting a small barrel inside 
a large one and filling the space between the two with 
concrete, the door being blocked out in the barrel, 
hinges set in while the concrete was wet. I he whole 
stove was reinforced with ‘lock-woven steel fabric’ at 
a cost of about one-sixth of what an ordinary iron 
stove would be.” 
A familiar proverb in. the western counties of Bngland 
says “Roast apple at night starved the doctor outright,” 
while another saying is “An apple a day keeps the doctor 
away.” These proverbs express the sentiments of the 
Apple Consumers’ League, 
