1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
S67 
Farm Engineering. 
Waterproofing Paper. 
Can you tell me what cheap material 
I can use to waterproof paper? I can 
get almost any quantity of large heavy 
paper boxes, and could use them to line 
poultry houses, if they could be made 
waterproof without too much expense. 
Palmyra, N. Y. w. L. P. 
Paper may be readily waterproofed in 
a great many ways. Probably the cheap¬ 
est method for use with your paper boxes 
is to coat them by means of a brush with 
hot coal tar, thus making a sort of roof¬ 
ing paper. Another mixture may be 
made for coating the paper, of half a 
pound of soap dissolved in a large teacup¬ 
ful of water mixed with half an ounce of 
gum arabic and one and one-half ounce 
of glue which have been dissolved to¬ 
gether in another cupful of water. You 
will want more of the mixture than this 
will make, of course, but keep these pro¬ 
portions. Soak the paper in the solution 
and hang it up or lay it out to dry. If 
possible, roll the superfluous liquid out 
of it before spreading it out to dry. Try 
each of these methods on a box and see 
which is most successful. You can also 
compare the price of the treatment in 
your locality. In most places the coal 
tar would cost less and I should suppose 
that you could obtain it readily. 
R. P. C. 
Laying Wood Block Paving. 
In laying wood block paving, which 
would be the best method to withstand 
heat, such as boiling water continuous¬ 
ly poured on it, or where the sun shines 
all day long, cement or pitch for filling? 
Rhode Island. j. ji. 
Not having had sufficient experience to 
be sure of the best method under the cir¬ 
cumstances you describe, your question 
had to be referred to a number of ex¬ 
perts who have had long experience with 
wood block paving, and strangely enough, 
they all recommend the pitch filling. Ce¬ 
ment filling is used to some extent but, 
so far as I can learn in only an experi¬ 
mental way. Brick and asphalt blocks 
are commonly imbedded in concrete. On 
reading your questions several times, it 
has occurred to me that you may be 
asking two entirely separate things. In 
the first place, wood pavement, properly 
placed end grain up is very satisfactory. 
It depends somewhat on the character of 
the traffic, but it has been used on the 
main streets of many Massachusetts 
towns and cities for years. As to a sur¬ 
face coating for a roof or a floor or 
something of that kind, exposed to boil¬ 
ing water or a hot sun, concrete would 
be better than pitch alone. Cement 
would, of course, be as good as or better 
than concrete in most places, although 
costing more than concrete. B. P. c. 
Siphon Over Elevation. 
Can we siphon water over a ridge 33 
feet high, where we can have the outlet 
50 to 75 feet lower than the spring? 
Grandview, Wash. j. m. p. 
You cannot with safety siphon over 
a ridge 33 feet higher than the spring, 
no matter where the outlet may be 
placed. The reason is that a siphon 
works on the principle of the suction 
pump. In place of a piston removing 
the air from the pump cylinder, thus 
forming a partial vacuum and allowing 
the atmospheric pressure to force the 
water up to fill the vacuum, the water 
in the long arm of the siphon rushes 
out because of its weight, and leaves a 
partial vacuum, which is filled by water 
forced up the pipe from the spring by the 
atmospheric pressure on the water at 
the spring. Atmospheric pressure will 
support a column of water about 34 
feet high. If you could so arrange your 
siphon pipe as, for instance, by digging 
a ditch at the top of the ridge so that the 
water would be well within that distance 
above the spring, your siphon would 
work. Placing it on top of the ground 
without accurate measurement being 
made, when the ridge is so near the max¬ 
imum height, would be almost certain to 
result in failure. It is only this one 
point in the pipe that must be carefully 
placed, provided the pipe is airtight and 
the outlet is appreciably below the level 
of the spring. B. p. c. 
Fireproofing Wood. 
I am building a house, and wish to 
fireproof some of the framing material 
joining the brick work that will probably 
get pretty hot from the furnace. Can 
you tell me what material I can use, 
and how to use it to make this wood¬ 
work incombustible? n. L. M. 
Painesville, O. 
Making wood fireproof by means of a 
coating only is, in fact, merely the ap¬ 
plication to the wood of some substance 
which is fireproof. For instance, you 
could tack up a sheet of asbestos, but 
you don’t wish to do so. The logical 
substitute is to paint the wood with a 
liquid asbestos paint. Really this is the 
same thing, but a little neater job. Such 
a paint consists of powdered asbestos 
seven parts, sodium borate four parts, 
gum lac three parts, water 20 parts. Dis¬ 
solve the borax and lac in the hot water 
and add the asbestos. Give the wood 
four or five coatings, letting each one 
dry before applying the next. If you 
wish to treat the wood before putting it 
in position, soak it in a solution of boric 
acid, one pound; ammonium phosphate 
10 pounds and water five gallons. A sat¬ 
isfactory job should result from either of 
the above protections, but on the whole, 
I think the paint is to be recommended 
because it may be easily renewed when 
renewal is needed. n. p. c. 
Some Farm Conveniences. 
A barrel stood at some convenient 
place in the barn will make a mighty 
handy place to stack the forks, shovels, 
and hoes. Some farmers may have a 
“wardrobe” for these tools, but there are 
hundreds of barns in which the forks and 
other tools are stood against the wall or 
a post. The barrel provides a place to 
put the tools, and when such place is 
provided, use it. Misplaced tools require 
time to find, and on one farm I know 
fully five days’ time for one man for the 
year is spent in searching for scattered 
hand tools. There may be some niche 
or corner about the barn which is con¬ 
venient and adapted for the placing of 
tools; if not try the barrel. It will pay. 
It is a simple idea, but its use will save 
steps and dollars in the year. 
If a tine breaks from a fork, don’t 
throw it away, but put it in the mow¬ 
ing machine tool box. You will find it 
will be one of the handiest tools about 
the machine during the haying season. 
It will enable one to get at oil holes and 
clean them out. It is just as efficient 
around other machinery. The curve in 
the tine makes it possible to get around 
shafting which could not be reached were 
it straight, and its length makes it more 
serviceable than a nail or spike. An¬ 
other stunt will be to remove the axles 
from the old buggies and use them for 
props for the doors about the barn, and 
for such purposes as an iron crowbar 
may be used. In doing so save the clips, 
place them in a box kept for bolts and 
burrs, for they will come handy about 
the farm. w. j. 
Housekeeper : “What makes you so 
late with the milk these mornings?” 
Milkman : “Well, you see, mum, the pure 
food law don’t allow us more than 25 
million bacteria to the gallon, an’ you 
wouldn’t believe how long it takes to 
count the little beasts.”—London Farm 
and Home. 
TRY A 
BOHON 
BLUE GRASS' 
|;1H«T<Y4 
30 DAYS?SJ5 MON EYvoSr POCKET 
1 WANT you to try it on your own roads, no matter 
how rough they are, and if it is not satisfactory, if it 
does not come up to all my claims, send it back. You 
won’t owe me a cent. If you’ve paid me anything I 
will pay it back, and I will pay the freight both ways 
besides. You know I could not make that kind of offer 
if my buggies were not RIGHT in every way. You know 
I wouldn’t last a year in business, and the fact that I 
make this offer proves the QUALITY of my vehicle. 
The next question is the PRICE—and the answer is easy. I sell only 
from my factory direct to you—cutting out all profits and expenses of 
jobbers, salesmen and dealers. I make the same small profit whether 
I sell to them or to you, but by selling to you instead of to them I save 
you $25 to $50. Let me send you my 
Big Book of Buggy Bargains FREE 
I am mighty proud of it—honestly believe it to be the finest buggy book 
ever issued by anybody. You will be glad to have it, and you will do me a 
favor if you will ask me for a copy, even if you do not expect to buy a 
buggy this year. It shows how “BLUE GRASS” buggies are built, 
with photographs and pictures of an endless variety of finished “jobs,” some 
in actual colors. It gives you a bigger range for selection than you could 
find in a dozen dealers’ stores. It explains the details of my free trial 
offer, my $30,000 guarantee bond, etc. Now don’t put it off—you may 
forget. Send me a postal with your name and address right NOW, 
and the book will come to you in the first possible mail. 
D. T. Bohon-, 2411 Main St., Harrodsburg, Ky. 
TILE DRAINED LAND IS MORE PRODUCTIVE 
Earliest and easiest worked. 
Carries off surplus water; 
_ _ _ .. , . admits air to the soil.-. In- 
^ - S creases the value. Acres of swampy land reclaimed and made fertile 
| Jackson's Round Drain Tile meets every requirement. We also make Sewer 
1 1 ipe. Bed and Fire Brick, Chimney Tops, Encaustic Side Walk Tile, etc Write 
for what you want and prices. JOHN H. JACKSON, 89 Third Ave., Albany N Y 
Here is Super-Strength 
Reo the Fifth 
is designed by a man who believes 
in super-strength. He has learned 
this need through 27 years of car 
building. 
In this 35-horsepower car, every 
driving part is made to meet the 
requirements of a 50-horsepower 
engine. And every test goes far 
beyond the usual requirements. 
For Instance 
For years we have kept test 
chassis on the road. Relays of 
drivers have run them at high 
speed night and day. After 10,000 
miles of this reckless driving we 
take the car apart-and inspect it. 
Not only must the chassis stand 
that test, but every vital part must 
stay new. It must show but little 
evidence of wear. 
We could build this car for one- 
fourth less by just skimping the 
hidden parts. Under normal con¬ 
ditions it might for a time serve 
you as well as this. But it could 
not stay new. And it might cost 
you hundreds of extra dollars in 
troubles, repairs and upkeep. 
Does It Pay? 
It pays us to give you the utmost 
in a car. We have in this way 
held the lead in our class. The 
demand for such cars has grown 
and grown, faster than we could 
supply it. 
We are building for the future— 
for what men will say five years 
after buying the car. 
It also pays owners to buy such 
a car, when they buy a car to keep. 
Go and See 
Go see this car. See the hand¬ 
some streamline body, the perfect 
equipment, electric lights and 
starter, deep upholstering, perfect 
finish. 
Then go below all that. Get the 
details of tnis costly chassis. Find 
out why each car is six weeks in 
the building. 
Then note how low we have 
brought the price. Last year’s 
price was $1,395, with electric 
starter and lights. This year it is 
$220 less. Most of that saving 
comes from the fact that all our 
special machinery for building this 
car has been charged against 
previous output. 
We are giving you here the best 
we know, regardless of time and 
cost. The more you know about 
motor car troubles, the more such 
a car will appeal to you. 
Ask us for address of nearest 
dealer. We have them in a thou¬ 
sand towns. 
REO MOTOR CAR COMPANY, LANSING, MICH. 
Canadian Factory, St. Catharines, Ont. Canadian Price, $1,575 
Reo the Fifth 
$ 1,175 
Equipped 
1914 Model 
New-Style Body 
Electric Lights 
Electric Starter 
Electric Horn 
One-Rod Control 
35 Horsepower 
Tires 34x4 
Also Roadster 
(249) 
