96 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
to the weather, hydraulic lime should be used 
for a good budding. It has also been found 
that broken limestone is better than any other 
stone to use in concretes, a more perfect adhe¬ 
sion being - formed between the particles. The 
proper proportions to be mixed are 20 parts of 
hydraulic lime mixed to a paste with water, 30 
parts of washed sand, and 50 parts of broken 
stone or gravel. Thecliips from limestone qual¬ 
ifies make the very best material for concrete. No 
more should be mixed at once than can be used 
in a day, as it hardens very rapidly. To pro¬ 
ceed to build, the foundation must be made, and 
the courses laid on it in a box or mold, shown 
in the engraving. This mold is laid in place; 
the cement already mixed is shoveled in and 
beaten down with a rammer even with the 
top of the mold, which is then moved into place 
for laying the next block. The mold, being 
©pen at one end, laps a few inches over the end 
of the first block, which holds it in place and 
though so simple, of great use in this way. Tiie 
cross-bars (two inches square) should be let 
IMPROVED HOG-TROUGH. 
down flush with the edge of the trough, when 
a tenpenny nail at each end will hold it. 
MANNER OF CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE BUILDINGS, 
permits a close joint to be made. When the 
first round is laid, two small sticks are laid 
across the blocks, and the mold rests on them 
until filled. These sticks, when the building is 
completed, are sawn off close to the wall, and 
if it is desired to nail anything to the wall 
they will furnish a hold for the nails. As the 
walls are carried up, the door and window 
frames are laid in their places. This process is 
so simple that any intelligent mason is compe¬ 
tent to carry it out. The important point is to 
get the materials of the right sort and mix them 
properly. The size of the blocks may be as de¬ 
sired, and as the material is very strong and 
sets very quickly, eight to twelve inches is suffi¬ 
cient thickness for a wall of any ordinary 
slwelling-house. When common lime is used 
instead of hydraulic lime, more time must be 
given for the concrete to set. 
The Cost of Poor Stock. 
Probably few farmers think of what it costs 
to keep a poor cow or a land-pike hog. They 
readily understand that a good cow, or a hog 
that will dress 200 lbs. at ten mouths old, is pro¬ 
fitable stock to keep, but the 
fact that this gain is really the 
amount of loss on the poor 
stock, is rarely considered. If 
a cow yields 200 lbs. of but¬ 
ter in a year, which brings 
$60, and another yields 75 
lbs., which brings $22.50, the 
loss on the poor cow is just 
$37.50. The fact is, it would 
be a more profitable operation 
to give her away than to keep 
her, for she does not pay for 
her feed. The dairy business 
of this country is not on a 
satisfactory footing by any 
means, and solely on account 
of the multitude of poor cows, 
which are kept year after year. 
This is a matter which should 
be looked after by the County 
Agricultural Societies. Every 
one of these associations 
should introduce improved 
stock, by means of thorough¬ 
bred male animals, into their localities. It is a 
good work to elevate the ideas of farmers and to 
foster a taste for improvements, but to the great 
majority of their clients the possession of such 
stock, or the use of it, is quite unattainable, on 
account of want of the necessary means. By 
making this a special branch of their operations, 
the usefulness of these societies would be much in¬ 
creased, and their importance greatly enhanced. 
--- -- 
Fakm Gate.—“I. M. B.,” Glen Brook, Del., 
II 
An Improvement in Hog-Troughs.— 
While we can not cure the propensity of a hog 
•g© be hoggish, we can curb it somewhat. The 
trough here engraved will prevent the strongest 
animal from pushing his fellows away from the 
trough, and robbing them of their share. When 
a little one gets his nose between the cross-bars 
it is a difficult thing for his big brother to dis¬ 
lodge him, and while he is trying to do it an¬ 
other little brother on the other side of him is 
busy appropriating all he can get. We have 
■ffised these troughs in our pens, and found them, 
FARM GATE THAT WILL NOT SAG. 
sends a sketch of an improved farm gate, from 
which we make an engraving. The improve¬ 
ment consists in the attachment of the panel 
and brace, seen at a in the cut, to the gate-post, 
by which the gate is prevented from sagging. 
This is a simple contrivance, and though we 
have not seen it tested the plan seems very 
feasible and useful. It is necessary to pin the 
bars of the panel and the brace into the mor¬ 
tises of (lie post, at 5, very firmly, as the strain 
comes altogether on to them. 
A Filter for Cisterns. 
The engraving here given represents a simple 
filter which should be attached to every cistern. 
Generally, the water from a roof has but little 
solid matter in suspension, but has acquired a 
dark color and strong taste from the smoke- 
stained roof, which if of shingles will give in 
addition a woody flavor. No filtering material 
but fresh charcoal will perfectly remove this 
color and taste. The water therefore must be 
made to pass through a quantity of it. This is 
best done by affixing at the side of the cistern a 
box of hemlock, oak, or chestnut planks, or of 
bricks, in which the pipe discharges through a 
J, at the bottom into a layer of coarse gravel. 
Above the gravel is a layer of coarsely-pow¬ 
dered charcoal, and above that another layer of 
gravel which holds the charcoal in its place. 
Above the upper layer of gravel a piece of 
slate, perforated with a number of holes, may 
be placed, which will keep these strata in their 
proper position. The discharge-pipe is curved 
CISTERN WITH FILTER ATTACHED. 
upward, -which prevents the current from wash¬ 
ing any sand or gravel into the cistern. This 
filter can be taken up at any time and be 
cleansed and replaced. 
Churning' by Means of a Weight. 
“ S. L. F.," Rock Bluffs, Nebraska, asks us for 
a churn power to be moved by a weight. We 
give a cut of one made by us some years ago, 
which worked a small churn very well, but 
which was discarded as the work became too 
heavy for it. It will churn very well in a dairy 
of five or six cows, but for double that number 
requires a larger weight and heavier machinery, 
besides a regulator, either in the shape of a pen¬ 
dulum or a balance-wheel with an escapement. 
Without this, when the cream becomes tkjck, 
the weight must be increased and must be 
changed again as the work becomes easier. On 
this account we could not recommend it except 
for a small dairy, when it may be made a useful 
help to lighten the often tedious labor of 
churning which falls on the housekeeper. 
The machine consists of a frame which sup¬ 
ports the barrel on which the cord is wound 
and the clock-work which transfers and increases 
the motion. This barrel is turned by a crank, 
and moves on an interior axle, and carries at 
one end a ratchet-wheel. The interior axle 
carries a ratchet, which engages with this wheel 
as soon as the crank is released, and thus com¬ 
municates the motion of the descending weight 
to the machinery. By a system of cog-wheels 
