12 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
stands immediately in the rear of his house and shaded 
from view, though within a few steps, by a judiciously 
planted shrubbery of forest and evergreen trees. It is 
entirely closed in, together with the hay and grain- 
yards, all of which cover about four Irish acres of 
ground. There are two large gates of entrance, the 
one from the back part of the farm, the other from the 
front portion of it. At one end stands a large brick 
building, the mill house, where the oats and grain and 
other food for his stock is ground and crushed. Here is 
a turnep or general root slicer, and also a straw-cutter, 
together with the best and most complete thrashing 
machine I ever saw; when the grain is fed to it in front, 
you have no more trouble about it; it is thrashed, win¬ 
nowed, the straw shaken and thrown out into a large 
straw-shed adjoining, where a man packs it away, and 
the clean grain is raised by elevators into the upper lofts 
and deposited there for safe keeping. The whole ma¬ 
chinery is moved by water. In the rear of this build¬ 
ing is the grain-stack-yard, so arranged that most of it 
can be thrown from the stack under a shed to within 
reach of the man that feeds the thrasher. 
On two sides of the square, stand brick sheds with 
slated roofs, containing 350 milch cows, the milk of 
which is sent into Dublin twice a day, to three hos¬ 
pitals (one of them the “ Foundling Hospital ” that 
takes more than half of the whole,) which Mr. R. has 
supplied by contract for many years. Those cows are 
never let out, having a fresh supply of water constantly 
before them within reach, and are fed in the summer 
with fresh cut Italian Rye grass, (of which Mr. R. speaks 
in the most favorable terms,) with clover, vetches, and 
fresh cut common grass, alternately, and in their turn. 
In winter he feeds them with turneps, potatoes and 
mangel-wurtzel, all steamed, and also gives them some 
chopped straw and hay steamed, with the liquor it was 
steamed in, and some bruised oats and barley meal, and 
some linseed meal-cake occasionally mixed with it. 
Aou may judge from this management, the condition of 
the cows, and the quantity of milk they give. Those 
cows are curried and brushed once a day, and the whole j 
of the passages washed out twice every day with water 
and a broom; the temperature is kept below 65 and 
over 60 during the ^winter. One man is allowed for 
every ten cows, to feed, milk, clean and attend to them, 
and there is no time that you cannot with comfort sit 
down in the sheds, so neatly are they kept. The feed¬ 
ing is done four times a day by clock work. A large 
clock is placed in the front of one of the buildings, 
within view from every part of the yard, and can be 
heard strike, of a mild day, at the most distant part of 
the farm. 
Another square was occupied by sheds of a similar 
kind, and contained 200 heifers, four years old, that 
were fattening for the Dublin Smithfield market. Some 
of those wei fit for market then, and we judged them 
to weigh on an average, seven hundred weight, or 784 
lbs. each, the ewt. being 112 lbs., by which they com¬ 
pute their weights here I find. Those heifers were fed 
principally on hay and turneps, as much as they would 
eat three times a day, with an occasional change of a 
feed of potatoes and some linseed meal-cake as they ap¬ 
proached being finished off. No water was given them, 
nor did they need it, which surprised me; they were 
well curried twice a day, and the passages cleaned and 
washed as the cow sheds; but each man had fifteen 
heifers to feed and attend to. 
On another square, the mill house standing at one end, 
are the work horse stables and harness rooms, of equal 
finish, and as complete as the other buildings. In the 
center of this square, surrounded by a three foot wall, 
is a large space, hollowed out in the middle, for the 
dung, of which wagon loads are made every day. About 
the middle of each building is a large cistern to receive 
the urin of the animals, which is pumped out, and carted 
on to the land in carts precisely similar to those with 
which the streets in cities are watered. 
In the center of each building is a feeding room, in 
the rear of which are root sheds, as well as extensive 
potato pits within the outer rick-yard wall; and in the 
rear of each square, is built an immense rick of hay, I 
containing, as they estimated, some forty tons each, 
from which, with a hay knife, is cut off fresh each day 
the quantity for consumption on that day. In each shed 
is a cattle-tube , to be used in case that any of the stock 
should get choked by any of the roots on which they 
are feeding. It is a most useful instrument, quite elas¬ 
tic, and can be used without danger by any man, and 
gives immediate relief by pushing before it into the 
stomach, any obstruction that might have remained in 
the throat; no larmer, or at least neighborhood, should 
be without one of them. A watchman is up every night 
in the year, constantly going from shed to shed, to guard 
against fire, and to give relief to any animal that might 
require it during the night, as well as to call the men 
at 2 o’clock for milking.-. 
The farm consists of 700 acres, the management of 
which I will give you some account of, together with 
a description of my first Irish fox-hunt with the Kildare 
hounds, in my next. 
Till then, adieu, and believe me yours truly. 
F. J. F. 
CEMENT PIPES FOR CONVEYING- WATER. 
WITH FIGURES OF IMPLEMENTS USED. 
Luther Tucker, Esq. —Having had experience m 
the construction and use of cement pipes for conveying 
water, I will venture to answer the inquiries of your 
correspondent, Mr. Guernsey. In doing so, you will 
permit me to write just as I should to a person who had 
never heard of cement pipes; that is, fully describe 
every part of the process, in the hope that my descrip¬ 
tion will enable an ingenious man to make a perfect 
pipe. 
The first thing is, to procure good lime. The best 
way is to use it direct from the stones as it is ground, 
before it can have imbibed any moisture. If this can¬ 
not be done, then it should be put into tight casks, and 
kept dry until it is to be used. The sand should be 
clean, and rather coarse. The proper proportions are 
one of lime to two of sand. 
The ditch should be deep enough to render it certain 
that the pipe will be below frost: the bottom made 
true and about eighteen inches wide. A mold, (fig. 2) 
Mold for Cement Pipes. — (Fig. 2.) 
about five feet long, six inches wide, and three deep, 
made of smooth inch boards, the sides a little flaring, 
is necessary to carry the cement in after it is mixed. 
The lime and sand should be thoroughly mixed, be¬ 
fore any water is put to them; then the water is to be 
applied to such portion as can be used before it sets, 
(perhaps two bushels;) and the cement sufficiently 
worked to wet every part of it, and tempered about like 
mortar used for plastering. It is then to be put into 
the mold, and made to just fill it even to the ends; 
which can be readily done by holding a small piece of 
board up against the ends, and with a trowel bringing 
the cement up to the board. Two men, standing in the 
ditch, receive this mold, thus filled with cement, and 
empty it on the middle of the bottom of the ditch. A 
rod (fig. 3) five and a half feet long, and one inch and 
Rod for Cement Pipes.—(Fig. 3.) 
a quarter in diameter, with a piece one foot long, of 
the same size, connected to it by a flexible leather pipe 
six inches long, (a.) to follow, is then v laid on the ce¬ 
ment, and pressed one-half of its diameter into it. An¬ 
other mold full of cement is put exactly on the top, 
and pressed down on the rod, until the two bodies of 
cement come fully in contact on each side of the rod; 
the mold being taken off, each man with a trowel 
