1913. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
36 
FARM ENGINEERING. 
Graphite Paint. 
I have bought a graphite mill for the 
lumber, and get quite a quantity of 
graphite dust with it. I am told 1 can 
make roof paint with it. Is it so, and how 
would you mix it? h. d. d. 
Graphite, known as “plumbago” or 
"black lead” is sometimes used as a metal 
paint, to prevent rusting. It is one form 
of carbon. Any of the paint oils will mix 
with it and form a carrier to allow the 
graphite to be spread over the metal. 
R. p. c. 
Trouble With Hydraulic Ram. 
My ram does not give good satisfaction. 
Ram No. 5, feed pipe two inches, 23 feet 
long; water level above ram 10 feet; dis¬ 
charge pipe %-incli, about 350 feet long, 
and only about four feet higher than water 
level in dam. I can hardly keep ram 
going ; use a strong spring to push impetus 
valve down. What is the matter? 
Pennsylvania. c. r. b. 
The length of the supply pipe to a ram 
should not be less than five or six times 
the height of the fall, because it is the 
dynamic action of the water in the pipe 
which works the ram. Your supply pipe 
should be 50 or 60 feet long. That is the 
main trouble. If remedied, the ram will 
work, although 350 feet is quite a length 
of discharge pipe. R. F. c. 
One-Inch or Two-Inch Pipe. 
In carrying water from spring 250 rods 
from house, the spring having a head of 
100 feet, we purpose laying one-inch pipe 
to carry water. Would we get more force 
by laying two-inch pipe part way? If so 
how far? We purpose supplying three 
families, in addition to ourselves and do 
not know whether one-inch pipe will supply 
demand or not. The descent being graded 
from spring to house. s. b. h. 
A one-incli pipe 250 rods long acting 
under a head of only one hundred feet 
would supply about three gallons of water 
per minute. A two-inch pipe of the same 
length would supply about 12 gallons of 
water per minute. In both cases there 
would be no force to the water as it runs 
out of the pipe. R. p. c. 
Trouble With Telephone Circuit. 
Our party telephone line has recently 
been crossed over several times by the 
lines of an electric water power company, 
and in some instances the two lines run 
parallel for a considerable distance, 30 
or 40 feet apart. Prior to this, our line 
had been giving good service, but since 
there has been a singing, roaring noise in 
the 'phones which makes conversation dif¬ 
ficult. if not impossible. It has been 
stated that where a power line runs par¬ 
allel to a telephone line, the usefulness of 
the latter is destroyed. The manager of 
the telephone company with which we 
connect in town thought that the trouble 
would be corrected if we had a metallic 
circuit. Is he right? Our line at present 
is a single wire, grounded at every 'phone. 
The poles of the power company carry 
three wires conveying current, a fourth 
wire grounded at the poles, and below 
these two lines, on a metallic circuit, of 
telephone wire. a. e. w. 
Virginia. 
The trouble in the telephone circuit is 
doubtless caused by the power wires. The 
reason is that the current in the power 
wires caused an "induced current” in the 
telephone line. If you had a metallic 
circuit for the telephone, that is, if you 
had two wires, in place of a grounded cir¬ 
cuit, and the power wires were properly 
transposed, the trouble would be remedied, 
because induced currents would be set up 
in both telephone wires. These would neu¬ 
tralize each other, as they would be equal 
and would go in opposite directions in the 
circuit. r. p. c. 
Filling an Icehouse. 
On page 950 A. V. S. inquires about ice 
and R. P. C. makes an answer very dif¬ 
ferent from my experience of over 25 years 
in harvesting from 50 to 1,000 tons. 
A. V. S., in placing two feet of sawdust 
on his ice, got it so deep it could not dry 
out, and being wet was a good conductor 
of heat and melted the ice. On sandy 
ground, well drained, A. V. S. was all 
right for the bottom of house, but I should 
want the ice packed within six inches of 
any wall, whether double or single. Make 
cakes as true as possible and all small 
pieces throw out (they only melt and wet 
sawdust), packing as close as it is possible 
to do, and cover from six to eight inches, 
and have a space each side under the 
eaves of from two to three inches to get 
a good circulation of air to dry the saw¬ 
dust on top. If gable to south and a 
window so sun could shine on the saw¬ 
dust, so much the better. t. m. t. 
Connecticut. 
Icehouse; Wrapping Trees. 
On my place in Southern Virginia there 
is an ice-house which is very satisfactory. 
It is simply a hole in the ground. 14 feet 
deep, about the same across the top, 
tapering to six or seven feet wide at the 
bottom. There are no walls; the red clay 
stands very well without. It was filled 
with thin ice last Winter, covered on the 
top with pine tags, and there is ice in it 
dow. Of course it would be of no use 
if not above water level. It is housed 
with an A-shaped roof. 
I have just finished wrapping my young 
apple and pear trees to keep the rabbits 
from gnawing them. I like the way so well 
that I will tell how I did it. Cutting some 
old sacks into strips about six inches wide 
and long enough for the body of the trees, 
I hung one end to the lowest branch by 
making a hole in the burlap and slipping 
it over the limb ; then wound it spirally 
down to the ground and tied at the bottom 
only. It is quickly and easily done and 
will protect the trees from rabbits, but 
may make a harbor for aphis, which is 
bad here, and seems to be worse when there 
is a covering of any kind. I have wondered 
in my unscientific way, if they might not 
be the cause of crown-gall. I found it on 
one tree which I had mulched close to the 
tree, and it was white with aphis at the 
crown. Apples bore heavily here but be¬ 
cause of hot dry Summer, I think, they 
fall off early, and do not keep well. I 
have seen but one orchard with much scale. 
I was interested in the article about the 
need of sulphur in the soil. It brought to 
mind the old custom of applying land 
plaster to new seeding in the Spring; the 
application of one barrel to the acre al¬ 
ways helped the clover. H. B. 
Kenbridge, Va. 
R. N.-Y.—We do not believe the true 
crown gall is caused by aphis. The work 
the insects do might possibly make the tree 
show its injury more fully. The old 
theory of land plaster was that the chemi¬ 
cal reaction which it started liberated 
potash. 
That Small Icehouse. 
I built a small icehouse a year ago this 
Fall, 10 by 16, and the ice kept as well as 
one could wisli. As I was after cheap con¬ 
struction I used matched hard pine for 
both outside and inside. I would make a 
small concrete wall, not only because it 
is a good foundation, hut to prevent any 
under-draft. Use 2 by 6 hemlock doubled 
for sills, 2 by 4 studding, two feet apart, 
covering inside with building paper before 
putting on hard pine lining. Cut rafters 
with “tails” two inches wide, which will 
leave a space between plate and roof 
boards for ventilation, and it will not do 
any harm to have more ventilation if the 
icehouse is to be in a location protected 
from wind. Fill spaces between studding 
with sawdust. I have never tried cement 
or concrete, but fear that it would not be 
tight enough, and I should certainly not 
use it for lloor; the earth is better, as the 
lower tier of ice is sure to melt a little in 
any icehouse, and the water must have a 
chance to drain off. w. a. d. 
New York. 
Having had considerable chance to ob¬ 
serve icehouses of the type referred to 
among city people who come into the 
Summer resorts, and not having any way 
of buying ice, have to put up enough for 
their own use, I feel qualified to answer. 
First, I would say select a spot shaded 
by trees, or on the north side of some 
building. Second, have an icehouse on 
some rise of ground or if not practical, fill 
in the bottom with old railroad ties, or 
if not handy, dirt or sawdust will do, for 
about one foot, but avoid cement bottom 
at all cost, as it will rot away the ice. 
As regards the plan of going below the 
surface of the ground, do not entertain 
this idea for one minute, as your ice will 
surely waste away. For size, construction 
and filling and keeping, I should say that 
10 by 15 feet would be of ample size for 
family use, eight or nine feet in height. 
In the inquiry of J. McG. he has the 
problem confronting him of outside cover¬ 
ing. If I were him I would cover this 
with barn pine, which costs here $37 per 
1,000 feet, then paint it, and you will not 
be ashamed if it docs show from the 
street. Why not make the icehouse as at¬ 
tractive as any other building? After 
setting posts or sills put up frame, then 
run around this inside and out a layer 
of tarred paper, knowu as roofers’ felt 
here, which comes in 500-foot rolls, cost¬ 
ing $1.25; then proceed with sheathing 
inside and out. Years ago they used to 
fill in this space with sawdust, but I have 
observed that it is a rather poor policy, 
as it gathers more or less moisture, and 
soon decays the lining. This covers prac¬ 
tically the construction, except ventilation, 
which of course is the one important fea¬ 
ture. Leave a space at plate line on 
either side of from four to six inches, then 
at the center of roof place a seven-inch 
galvanized ventilator with cap, or make 
one of wood, as preferable. It would do 
no harm if you were to place an opening in 
each end, say 10 by IS inches or so, cov¬ 
ered with louvers to shed the weather. 
As regards filling, figure how wide you 
cut your cakes and leave a foot of space 
clear around, then pack in usual way until 
you come to the top. Fill up all remain¬ 
ing space around with sawdust, which 
should be dry, then cover over the top 
about one foot with dry dust as you re¬ 
move the ice; also remove sawdust ac¬ 
cordingly. Of course this calls for a 
decent looking and well built house that 
you will be proud of for years, and to 
obtain best results use only the best hot 
galvanized nails. Of course if you wish 
to build something cheap (and that 1 have 
noticed keeps ice just as well), allow more 
space for dust at sides in a single boarded 
affair made of common poles or posts cut 
in the woods, placed in the ground and 
covered with sawmill lumber, with roof of 
same construction ; but the question is, does 
it pay from the economical point of view? 
I think not, for I have found the best is 
the cheapest. a. m. Raymond. 
Connecticut. 
A Low-Cost Cistern. —Ten years ago I 
built one in the following manner: After 
digging out to a depth of 10 feet and eight 
feet in diameter, we arched over the top 
with brick, leaving an opening in the cen¬ 
tre 18 inches square. The arch was started 
on an offset made in the earth. The bot-‘ 
tom was covered with concrete about six 
inches deep, after which we coated the 
sides and bottom with a mixture of cement 
and sand of proper proportions of about a 
half inch thickness. Alter the cement on 
the sides was sufficiently set, another coat¬ 
ing was applied. Should any cracks appear 
after the cement was nearly dry, a thin 
mixture of cement was used, applying it 
with a whitewash brush. I built another 
cistern four years ago in the same manner, 
simply plastering the cement and sand mix¬ 
ture against the earth, and have had no 
trouble whatever with leakage. The water 
is almost as clean a? well water, fresh at 
all times. This form makes a low-cost cis¬ 
tern. easily built, and useful in many wavs. 
Elizabethtown, Pa. h. u. c. 
Injurious Insects.— How to Reeoguize 
and Control Them, by Walter C. O’Kane, 
entomologist to the New Hampshire Experi¬ 
ment Station, and professor of economic 
entomology in New Hampshire College. 
This book, containing 414 pages and over 
600 illustrations, most of them original, 
contains an extraordinary amount of in¬ 
formation, arranged in the most readily 
available form. Insect plagues, old and 
new, some of them long familiar, and 
others only just beginning to-excite remark, 
are very fully discussed, and the best 
method of fighting them pointed out. An 
excellent feature is the use of page head¬ 
ings pointing out the insects’ method of 
work, as “Boring in the Crown,” “Tufted 
Caterpillars Eating the Leaves,” "Con¬ 
spicuous Scales on the Bark,” etc. The 
discussion of insecticides is most helpful, 
and the book is written in a lucid, popular 
style, which will appeal to the unscien¬ 
tific reader, while conveying the technical 
knowledge of the trained scientist. We can 
recommend the book as a valuable addition 
to the farm library. Published by the Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York; for sale by 
The R. N.-Y., price $2 net, postage 20 
cents additional. 
Mad Dog Bite. —-We sincerely hope that 
neither you nor your friends or family 
may ever be bitten by a mad dog. Should 
such a fearful thing happen, this advice 
from the Kansas Agricultural College will 
be worth keeping : 
“In case of being bitten by a mad dog 
or other affected animal, the method of 
procedure is given as follows : 
“1. The wound caused by the bite should 
be permitted to bleed freely, as this is 
liable to wash away part or all of the 
virus present. Do not cover the wound by 
bandaging, etc., unless the bleeding is ex¬ 
cessive. The wound should be immediately 
cared for by a surgeon. 
“2. When a dog bites a person, do not 
immediately reduce the offending animal 
to fragments by means of shotguns, clubs, 
etc. 
“3. If possible secure the dog (which in 
most cases is best done by the owner) and 
confine him in an enclosure for the pur¬ 
pose of observation. A real rabid dog will 
show some features by which the suspicion 
will be either confirmed or proved un¬ 
grounded in not more than a week or 10 
days. 
“4. If the suspicion seems to be con¬ 
firmed by future developments (the spon¬ 
taneous death of the dog being a most 
important one) remove the head and ship 
it to the nearest laboratory, where it can 
be properly examined.” 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
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