1911. 
687 
M'tTLS RURAL 
NEW-YORKER 
More About Cement Roofs. 
D. E. S., Old Chatham, N. Y.—What is 
the proper amount of cement for a given 
area of roof? Would you recommend ce¬ 
ment roof for dwellings or have you any 
objection to it? 
Ans. —By mixing the cement one part 
to three of sand, V/ 2 sacks of cement 
will cover 10 feet square two inches 
thick, which I think is heavy enough for 
any ordinary roof if reinforced in a 
systematic manner with wires or any 
convenient material you might have at 
hand that would answer the purpose. 
The only objection to cement roofs for 
dwellings that I could name would be 
they are pretty hot when exposed to the 
glare of a midsummer sun, but no hot¬ 
ter than metal. Cement roofs do not 
need so much pitch, and a great deal of 
material can be saved in that way. Also 
by using a little brain work a cement 
gutter can easily be worked in at the 
eaves and another expense stopped. The 
only point that requires any mechanical 
skill is in building the form. If the 
support is built firm, true and workman¬ 
like, the cement will be just exactly like 
it. w. A. B. 
Improving an Icehouse. 
J. M. F., Dalton, Pa .—In 1909 I built a 
stone icehouse, using waste stones from 
quarry. They were laid up dry and after 
the walls were finished they were pointed 
up well outside and inside. The wall start¬ 
ed some 2.5 to three feet below the surface 
of the ground. The floor was concreted and 
sloped to the center, where a terra cotta 
pipe was taken out of a square well about 
four inches lower than the bottom. The 
pipe started about two to 2.5 inches above 
the bottom of the square well and a gallon 
jar was placed over the end of the pipe, 
thus forming a trap. In this terra cotta 
line outside the building a running trap 
was placed. When we were ready to fill 
the house wo laid down 2x3s and 2x4s and 
put the Ice on them. We did this so that 
the ice would not lie on the concrete. In 
packing the ice we broke joints each layer 
and put six inches of sawdust all the way 
around between the ice and the walls. The 
ice did not keep well last year; seemed to 
thaw from the under side. Last Winter 
when we were ready to fill the house we 
spread four or five inches of sawdust on 
the bottom before packing. The ice so far 
is keeping better than it did last year. 
There are no holes or depressions in the 
under side of the cakes as there was last 
year, but the whole body seems to be set¬ 
tling down. Can you suggest any better 
method of packing, or should the bottom be 
changed? It does not seem as though the 
drainage could be improved upon. All the 
drip or water made by the melting of the 
ice must go to the center and go out 
through the pipe and no air can get back 
through both traps. I covered the building 
with a shingle roof, putting large ventila¬ 
tors in each gable. 
Ans.— Judging from the statements 
made in the description the general plan 
of construction seems to be all that can 
be desired. The statements regarding 
the difficulty appear to indicate that 
there is too much ventilation. If the 
gable windows are continuously open, 
so that a free circulation of air takes 
place through the ice chamber, the suc¬ 
tion may be sufficient to continually 
draw out the air from around and un¬ 
der the ice, thus continually carrying 
out the cooled air, probably from one 
or the other end, according to the direc¬ 
tion of the wind, which is replaced by 
warm air from the outside, causing the 
melting. The only object in ven¬ 
tilating an ice house is to prevent the 
roof from becoming too hot, so that it 
acts as a heated radiator, melting the 
ice from above. If there is head-room 
to permit, a floor laid on joists, perhaps 
supported by the rafters a foot or so 
above the plate, and this covered with 
dij sawdust or hay, entirely shutting 
the space containing the ice off from 
possibility of ventilation above, making 
the ice chamber a dead air space, we 
think would make the ice keep much 
better. Any method of insulating the 
roof so as to avoid that source of heat, 
thus permitting the windows to be 
closed so as to stop the air suction, 
would have the desired effect. A ceiling 
could be run up the rafters in such a 
way as to give a foot space between the 
ceiling and the roof boards, and this 
space filled with sawdust or some other 
insulator to cut off the heat, and then 
close the ice house tight, eliminating 
air suction. f. h. king. 
Steaming Pan for Sterilizing Plant Bed. 
J. K. L., Troy, Pa .—On page 425 Mr. 
Sbamel describes a heavy pan for steaming 
a plant bed in order to sterilize the soil. 
I would like to know material, iron or steel, 
and what weight material? Iam thinking 
about having one made, and the machinist 
wanted it so heavy no two men could handle 
it. 
Ans. —I have used both 18 and 26 
gauge with equally good results. When 
the lighter weight is used, I have sup¬ 
ported it by using an angle iron frame¬ 
work. The angle iron, if attached to 
the edges of the pan, protects the edges 
as well as supports the pan. I would 
recommend, from experience, the use of 
light galvanized iron or steel, in order 
to avoid heavy lifts in moving the pan. 
It ought to be of such weight that two 
men can lift it a.id move it from place 
to place. Then with one man to fire the 
engine, and the other to attend to the 
pan, preventing the steam escaping un¬ 
der the edges, etc., two men can attend 
to the entire operation easily. The 
heavier weight of iron has only the ad¬ 
vantage of longer life. If the light pan 
lifts under the steam pressure, lay a 
post or weight on it to hold it in place. 
A. D. SHAMEL. 
Adobe for Farm Buildings. 
The Colorado Experiment Station issues 
a bulletin, No. 174, giving some facts about 
adobe as a building material. The dic¬ 
tionary tells us that adobe is a sun¬ 
burned brick, really a mixture of mud and 
straw sun-baked iu a dry climate. We 
should judge from this that the bricks 
which the Israelites were obliged to make 
when in Egypt were a form of this adobe. 
In the dry regions of Colorado this mate¬ 
rial is quite largely used in building walls 
and houses of various kinds, so much so 
that the college has seen fit to describe 
its handling. Thirty years ago on the 
plains we saw many sod houses. These 
were built by piling up walls of sod iu the 
shape of a house with a roof over them. 
Ofttimes the sod house was plastered in¬ 
side. The trouble with the “soddy,” so- 
called, is that the walls settle and crack 
so that the plaster gives way. The sod 
wall also is an ideal places for rats and 
mice. The adobe, however, makes a perma¬ 
nent structure. In order to build it in Col¬ 
orado the station's directions are to select 
a patch of the prairie where the grass is 
thick and t, and plow a thick sod. Select 
a place near the water supply and haul your 
sod and spread it iu a circle not to extend 
12 or 14 feet in diameter, making the pile 
about eight inches deep. Throw water on 
this pile until it is wet through, then get 
on a horse and lead one or two others so 
that the horses will tramp around and 
around on this sod, turning very short. 
Water all the dry places and keep on 
tramping with the horses and‘wetting until 
the whole mass is tramped into a form of 
muck. Take a manure fork and throw all 
the outer edges of the mass towards the 
center, wet the dry places again and keep 
on tramping. If you cannot get sod with 
plenty of grass and roots throw in straw, 
hay or trash of any kind and tramp it 
thoroughly into the soil, keep it up until 
it is all turned into mud with the grass 
or straw thoroughly mixed through it. A 
concrete wall should be built as the foun¬ 
dation of the house; then this mud or 
muck is piled upon this foundation, spread¬ 
ing about one or two inches on each side. 
Let this dry and then put on more. When 
about a foot has been placed on the wall 
let it stand until it is firm but not too 
dry. Boards of the proper width of the 
wall may be used to hold the muck, much 
the same as the form for concrete. Before 
the mud gets entirely dry take a hay knife 
and shave off the inside so as to leave an 
even surface. The walls are built up day 
after day with this material, letting them 
dry out and thoroughly bake in the sun. 
It will seem like a strange thing to many 
of our eastern readers that houses can 
lie built in this way, but on the dry plains, 
this abode actually makes a strong and 
permanent wall, and if it is kept off the 
surface of the ground by concrete it will 
remain durable for many years. The roof 
can be made of shingles or of iron. High 
winds blow in that country and in order 
to hold the roof securely 14-inch iron bolts 
are put through short pieces of 2 x 4 
wood. This wood is planted in the walls 
as they are built, so that the bolts rise 
above the wall and are fastened into the 
roof. 
Spraying and Rain. 
We are just now in the midst of spraying 
our apple and pear orchards, May 24; the 
present is the third time over. This, to¬ 
gether with all the other Spring plowing 
and planting keeps us all out of mischief. 
Receipt rains have given all vegetation a 
wonderful start; fair prospects of a fruit 
crop, particularly apples, irving d. cook. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. 
Some have claimed one hour’s sunshine 
on spray would make results sure. I 
would certainly finish all before doubling 
up on account of rain. General practice 
about here is to disregard effect of rain. 
Young fruits are growing very fast and 
ideal spray period is unusually short. We 
applied 2,450 gallons May 22, with one rig, 
filling with rotary pump and 1,350 gallons 
to-day from 9 a. m. to 5.10 p. m. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. e. w. catciipole. 
Personally I have so much spraying to 
do that we are not in the habit of going 
over the trees again after a shower. How¬ 
ever, I find that the spray we are using 
now, the homemade lime and sulphur, with 
the arsenate of lead, gets dry very rapidly, 
and I do not think very much of it washes 
off. It would be better to go over them 
again, but if it had not been washed off 
the second lot might burn the trees. I 
had some leaves burned recently by using a 
double dose. The Summer spray not show¬ 
ing very well, a new man was sent to finish 
up an orchard, and some of the trees were 
sprayed twice and the leaves burned. I 
have just finished putting out 20,000 gal¬ 
lons of the Summer spray. Our section is 
doing more spraying than any before. Ap¬ 
ples not setting well. 
Virginia. Samuel s. guerraxt. 
Getting Rid of Garlic. 
How can I get rid of wild garlic? I have 
about one acre that is just full of it; have 
plowed it four times, but it does not seem 
to kill it out. I have tried pulling it, but 
it is rather slow work. Is there any kind 
of spray that I could use, or any other rem¬ 
edy that might kill it? f. h. 
Mount Healthy, O. 
We do not know of any sure method ex¬ 
cept thorough cultivation. Plowing alone 
will not do it—hand hoeing or digging 
will be needed. Salt dropped on the plants 
will kill them. A spray of strong brine 
might kill the tops, but the roots will be 
filive. Can anyone give a sure method? 
Notes on Vetch.— My experience with 
vetch is from England, and I think very 
highly of it; planted mostly with oats to 
keep them up they make fine feed cut just 
as the first pods form and fed green daily 
or cured for hay. Even grown alone they 
do well, and for seed should be by them¬ 
selves. Most of the oats can be blown 
out, or removed as one of your correspond¬ 
ents suggested in a former number to sepa¬ 
rate them. They grow where field peas 
will. I am glad they are becoming popu¬ 
lar; they should be. j. l. 
Cove, Ore. 
Plowing Under Canada Peas. —T think 
your correspondent will find no trouble in 
turning under a crop of field peas if he 
will use a rolling cutter in place of a knife 
cutter, and a chain for drawing down the 
peas. An ordinary log chain will do, and 
may be weighted by attaching an old plow 
share to the middle of it (the chain) is 
found to be too light. Attach one end of 
the chain to the clevis of the off horse—in 
other words to the right end of the evener 
—and the other end to the beam of the 
plow just back of the coulter. The middle 
of the chain should drag in the furrow, just 
in front of tile mould board, and will, if 
properly weighted and adjusted to the right 
length, draw down the peas so that the 
furrow will completely cover them. 
c. s. M. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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COMES A TIME 
When Coffee Shows What It Has Been 
Doing. 
“Of late years coffee has diagreed with 
me,’’ writes a matron from Rome, N. Y. 
“Its lightest punishment being to make 
me ‘logy’ and dizzy, and it seemed to 
thicken up my blood. 
“The heaviest was when it upset my 
stoinach completely, destroying my ap¬ 
petite and making me nervous and irri¬ 
table, and sent me to ray bed. After one 
of these attacks, in which I nearly lost 
my life, I concluded to quit the coffee 
and try Postum. 
“It went right to the spot! I found it 
not only a most palatable and refreshing 
beverage, but a food as well. 
"All my ailments, the ‘loginess’ and 
dizziness, the unsatisfactory condition of 
my blood, my nervousness and irritabil¬ 
ity disappeared in short order and my 
sorely afflicted stomach began quickly to 
recover. I began to rebuild and have 
steadily continued until now. Have a 
good appetite and am rejoicing in sound 
health which I owe to the use of Pos¬ 
tum.’’ Name given by Postum Co., Bat¬ 
tle Creek, Mich. 
Read the little book, “The Road to 
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Ever read the above letter? A new one 
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When you write advertisers mention The 
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“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
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