1908. 
437 
MATERIAL FOR WATER PIPE. 
If A. B., page 264, will take common 
two-inch drain tile and make a pipe of 
it with concrete he will have a pipe 
that will last as long as the world, and 
grow better all the time. To make this 
pipe get good, sharp, clean sand and 
Portland cement, dig the trench just 
as small as possible at the bottom. Mix 
sand and cement, two of sand to one of 
cement, and be sure to mix thoroughly, 
both before and after wetting, and have 
it just wet enough so that when put into 
the trench and well rammed down the 
water will show on top. Now put in 
about two inches of the mixture and 
into it bed the tile, being careful to 
make good joints where tile come to¬ 
gether. To make sure that no concrete 
gets into the joints it is well to have 
strips of building paper about four 
inches wide and just long enough to go 
around the tile; wrap one of these 
about each joint. As fast as the tile is 
laid cover with about three inches of 
concrete, and be sure to ram well down, 
so as to leave no holes. When this 
pipe has had a few days to harden it 
will stand a good strong pressure, and 
the older it gets the better it will be. 
j. s. WOODWARD. 
Facts About Lightning Rods. 
L. If., Hath, N. Y.—iWc would like to 
know if thore is any royalty on the gal¬ 
vanized cable for lightning rods which 
J. S. Woodward described. 
./. R. F., Melvin, Mich, —,T. S. Woodward 
states that galvanized cable can he used 
as lightning conductors without insulation. 
This idea of non-insulation is entirely new 
to me, and as we think of having buildings 
wired would he pleased to know more about 
it. Has it been thoroughly tried and what 
is the theory? Lightning, ns everyone 
knows, in the Eastern States, is a very 
dangerous element to “monkey” with, sev¬ 
eral times worse than taking hold of a buzz 
saw, and I would like to feel reasonably 
sure before going ahead. I notice that all 
electric, telegraph, telephone and other 
wires are insulated from poles, also -old 
lightning rods from buildings. What does 
Tub It. N.-Y. say about it? 
There is no patent on the use of gal¬ 
vanized cable for lightning rods. I put 
such a rod on barn more than 30 years 
ago. All the insulators ever used on 
lightning rods have been small affairs 
and so made that they soon became cov¬ 
ered with water as soon as rain com¬ 
menced. Now, it is a fact that water is 
among the best conductors of electricity, 
so that practically as soon as the in¬ 
sulator was wet it was a conductor in¬ 
stead of insulator. The insulators used 
on electrical lines are so made that how¬ 
ever much and long it rains they still 
remain with a dry surface underside the 
larger flange or rim. But supposing the 
insulators used on a rod really did in¬ 
sulate it, any discharge of electricity 
that would come to the rod through 
thousands of feet of air from the clouds 
would surely be heavy enough to jump 
the two or three inches from rod to 
building, causing a shock, and this shock 
or discharge is just what the rod is in¬ 
tended to prevent. As I have many 
times stated it is a principle of elec¬ 
tricity to pass to and from sharp points 
rapidly and silently and to prevent dis¬ 
charges of lightning and by having the 
rod connected to the building and every 
metallic part the electricity is diffused, 
and every part helps to conduct it to 
the ground. Some years ago we had a 
barn struck by lightning. It was a large 
barn with an L raising its roof up on 
the main barn, causing a valley. The 
main beam had a cupola with a spire. 
'Fhe lightning struck the spire, ran down 
to tin roof of cupola, down that to post 
of cupola, along the tin flashing under 
sides of cupola to where there was a 
rafter having the ends of two lengths 
of roof boards nailed to it; down this 
rafter to the tin valley, down the valley 
to eaves trough, along this the whole 
length of L, to conductor spout, down 
this to the end, where it took post of 
barn to the ground. The effect in shiv¬ 
ering and tearing the posts without any 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
metallic conductor and the entire ab¬ 
sence of damage along the line of tin 
showed the severity of shock and the 
fact that had there been a lightning rod 
no damage would have been done to the 
barn. As it was the spire, the posts of 
the cupola and the rafter and posts be¬ 
low rain spout were shivered into sliv¬ 
ers and had it not been for the tin 
roof of cupola, the flashing along its 
base, the valley, eaves trough and rain 
spout, I doubt not the barn would have 
been set on fire. j. s. woodward. 
Concrete Cellar Walls. 
J. L. P., Kingston, N. Y .—We are re¬ 
modeling a building, changing it into a hall 
10 feet; by 30 feet. We think of making a 
cellar 10x10 feet, seven feet deep and 18 
inches above ground. My idea is lo make 
the wall of concrete to the Surface (5Vj feet) 
and the 18 inches above ground of cement 
blocks, also under the remainder of the 
building to put concrete down for 12 or 
18 inches below surface and building blocks 
as in the other part. Sandy soil to many 
feet down. IIow thick should the concrete 
wall of the cellar be? How many inches 
deep should the concrete bo under the other 
part? What proportion of stone, sand and 
cement should be used, and the best way to 
mix? IIow wet should it be? Is four parts 
of sand to one of cement a good strength 
for blocks ? 
Ans. —Your concrete cellar wall 
should be one foot thick up to the sur¬ 
face of the ground. It will be necessary 
to box the space which the wall is to 
occupy and mix your concrete in the 
proportion of one part good Portland 
cement, two parts sand and four parts 
rather fine stone or gravel. Mix the in¬ 
gredients all together thoroughly while 
dry, then add the water slowly, mixing 
it with the concrete until it is about the 
consistency of mortar. If too much 
water is used the cement will be what 
is called “drowned,” and will not harden 
properly. As soon as mixed shovel the 
mixture directly into the box or trench 
and tamp it down well as it is put in. 
We generally have as many men tamp¬ 
ing as there are filling. If this is not 
done properly the wall is likely to crack 
.and crumble. The boxing can be re¬ 
moved as soon as the concrete hardens. 
For the foundation under the rest of the 
building it will be necessary to dig down 
three feet or below the frost line to in¬ 
sure a firm foundation. Otherwise the 
frost is liable to crack the cement. If 
a trench can be dug the proper shape it 
will not be necessary to box it, as the 
concrete can be shoveled right into the 
trench and tamped down. The concrete 
should be mixed for this the same as 
described for the cellar wall. This mix¬ 
ture also makes good concrete blocks 
when properly tamped during the proc¬ 
ess of manufacture. The proportion of 
one part cement, two of sand and three 
of stone is often used for blocks, but 
the proportion or 1:2:4 answers every 
purpose. c. s. g. 
Examination for Letter Carrier. 
E. A. F. f Pearl River, N. Y .—I wish to 
take up a course of study for examination 
for the position of letter carrier. Will 
you inform me where I can get books to 
study, and also if I can take a course in a 
correspondence school, and is the wearing 
of glasses a bar to taking the examination? 
Ans. —Write to- Secretary Second 
Civil Service District, Custom .House, 
New York, for a pamphlet giving in¬ 
structions. This will tell you just what 
you must do. Persons with the follow¬ 
ing defects will not be examined: In¬ 
sanity, tuberculosis, paralysis, epilepsy, 
blindness, total deafness, loss of speech, 
loss of both arms or both legs, loss of 
arm and leg, badly crippled or deformed 
hands, arms, feet, or legs; heart disease, 
locomotor ataxia, cancer, Bright’s dis¬ 
ease, diabetes. Those addicted to the 
habitual use of intoxicants to excess are 
also ruled out. You will have to stand 
FOR 
SPRING DIPPING 
AND 
Hand Dressing AH Stock. 
PUTS AN END TO 
LICE, TICKS, MITES, 
FLEAS, MANGE, SCAB, 
RINGWORM, ALL 
SKIN DISEASES. 
Don’t waste time and money on inferior dips. 
-USE- 
NON-CARBOLIC. STAN DARDfZED. 
Prepared in our own laboratories. Ask your 
druggist for Kreso Dip. Write us for free 
booklets telling how to use on ah live stock. 
a second grade examination in spelling, 
reading, letter-writing and copying. The 
spelling examination is conducted by 
having the examiner pronounce the word 
and give the definition. The competitor 
then writes the word. Sample questions 
in arithmetic we give as follows. “1. 
Add the following, and from the sum 
subtract 32,885,696 (here will be given a 
short column of figures. 2. Multiply 
7 2-25 by 36.8, and divide the product 
by 1.92. Solve by decimals. 3. A car¬ 
rier can assort 43 letters or 37 papers 
PARKE, DAVIS & CO. 
DETROIT, MICHIGAN. 
Bkanchkh: New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Balti¬ 
more, New Orleans, Kansns City, Indianapolis, Minneap¬ 
olis, Memphis; London, Eng.; Mont eal, Que.; Sydney. 
N.S.W.;.*5t. Petersburg, Russia; Bombay, India} 
Tokio, Japan; Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
in a minute. At this rate, how many 
hours will it take him to assort 3,655 
letters and 185 pounds of papers, averag¬ 
I YTH’S POROUS TII.K. Write for "Hints 
on Farm Drainage.” LYTH TILE CO., Angola, N. Y. 
ing 7 papers to the pound? 4. A lot 
which was 53 feet wide and 150 feet 
long sold for $8,347.50, which was one- 
fourth more than it cost. What was the 
cost per square foot? 5. In a certain 
mail there arc 294 pounds 14 ounces of 
newspapers weighing at the rate of 3 
papers to every 7 ounces. Flow many 
papers are there in the mail? 16 
ounces=l pound.” 
Teacher: “If you are kind and polite 
to your playmates, what will be the re¬ 
sult?” Scholar: “They’ll think they can 
lick me !”—Philadelphia Inquirer. 
THIS DIGGER WON'T 
DISAPPOINT 
because It is not an experiment. Wo 
worked for years perfecting it before 
putting on market. Wo determined 
It should sustain thosame high repu¬ 
tation other Iron Ago Tools 
have made, and it iias. Last 
year it roplaced many 
other makes. Spocial 
features are: Light 
draft, durability, 
froo from cost¬ 
ly repairs; 
adapted to 
varying 
condi¬ 
tions. 
Construction 
different 
from a 11 
others. Has 
patonted 
features. 
BATEMAN MFC. CO. Box 102D,Grenloch, N.J. 
ENSILAGE CORN AT HUNTINGTON, MASS. 
Field Averaged Over 1 7'A Feet. Well Eared. 
RAISED WITH HUBBARD’S 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO. 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
F ERTILIZERS 
WHY NOT USE HUBBARD’S? 
