C'Ac RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 22, 1917 
1118 
-im 
/ 
Concrete for Barn Floors 
A well-built concrete floor in your cow-barn will never cost a 
cent for repairs. It’s permanent. It’s sanitar}’. It’s clean. It 
saves manure—and that means saving money and trouble. It’s 
fire-proof—the very cheapest and surest protection against loss. 
You can build it yourself with ordinary tools and your farm 
help. Five stalls can be built with about 30 bags of Atlas Portland 
Cement, 60 cubic feet of sand and 120 cubic feet of crushed stone 
or gravel. 
How to build a cow-barn floor 
Excavate and fill to get a solid founda- top witha template. Slope tlie floor i inch 
tion. ISuild the manger first. Set the between the manger and gutter and pour 
stanchions in place and pour the concrete— the concrete of the same mixture 5 inches 
I part Atlas Cement, a parts sand, 4 parts thick. Use the same mixture of concrete 
crushed stone or gravel. Curve the manger for the gutter. 
Get this free book on construction 
Our free book, “Concrete for the Fann,” gives the complete 
instructions for building concrete floors, walls, foundations and 
other farm improvements. It contains several excellent barn plans. 
Get this book from your Atlas dealer or mail us the coupon below. 
The Atlas Portland Cement Company 
Menihers of ihe Portland Cement Association, 
New York Chicago Phila. lioston St. Louis Minneapolis Des Moines Dayton Savannah 
% 
flsa 
'M'i 
The Atlas Portland Cement Co., 30 Broad Street, New York, or Com Exchange Bank Building, Chicago. 
Send free Atlas farm book. I expect to build a__ 
Name and Address_ — —^- 
Altering Size of Chimney 
I h.avc a chimney that needs a new top. 
The dimensions inside from the roof up 
are 22x8^4 inches. Would it be practical 
to make it smaller, say 20x6 inches? 
The chimney has two flues, six inches 
square, leading into one opening. How 
small dimensions would you advise for a 
top with two flues of given size? J. n. 
Piperville, I’a. 
To get the host results a chimney 
should be lined with tile. This gives a 
smooth, airtight interior and the size in 
which they can he readily obtained will 
often govern the size to which the chim¬ 
ney is built. In the case mentioned by 
.T. H., if there arc only two flues, each 
six inches square in cross section leading 
up to the top, it is probable that a top 
with an inside cross section of 0x20 
inches would be amplfi in size, as this 
provides a much larger opening than the 
combined areas of tlie two flues. 
The function of a chimney is to carry 
off the waste gases from a stove or fur¬ 
nace and cause fresh air or oxygen to he 
introduced to the fire to support combus¬ 
tion. To work at its best it should he 
laid up from a good foundation in the 
Cfdlar to a point well above the highest 
part of the roof in as straight a line as 
pctssihly. Practically the only force tend¬ 
ing to create an upward draft in a chim¬ 
ney is the difference in weight of the heat¬ 
ed air contained in it and the weight of 
the cooler outside air, the heat expanding 
the air and of course making it lighter. 
For this reason the chimney should he 
thick enough to prevent the heat from 
escaping, and the inside should be as 
straight and smooth as possible, so that 
the current of air flowing upward is hin¬ 
dered no more than necessary. A round 
inside cross section is better than a 
square or oldoug one, as it i>resents less 
wall surface to cause friction and .to car¬ 
ry off heat from the inclostKl gases. When 
the flow is hindered too miich .a conden¬ 
sation takes place in the chimney, the 
product of the condensation dripping back 
into the rooms below and causing consid¬ 
erable damage. B. il. s. 
Invest in One of These! 
W. 
TIEN corn 
was selling 
for 50 cents a 
bushel, one of our 
dealers made this 
offer to a skepti¬ 
cal farmer: “Use 
this manure spread¬ 
er to top-dress 20 acres of your 40-acre corn field, 
putting on eight loads to the acre. Leave the other 
20 unmanured as you meant to do with the whole 
40. I will take the difference in the 3 'ield between 
the two 20’s for the spreader.” The fanner agreed, 
thinking to get his spreader at a low price. 
The 20,on which he used the.machine produced 
512 bushels more than the other 20. He paid the 
dealer $256.00 for the spreader — a great deal more 
than its present selling price. Toda}’, higher prices 
would make that difference about three times 
$256.00! 
You simply cannot afford to he without a spreader when it 
will pay for itself like that. Hand spreading is out of the 
question. You want the manure pulverized and spread 
evenly, not dumped out in big lumps unevenly. 
Now that we have added the New No. 8 Spiral Wide 
Spreader to the Low Corn King and Low Cioverleaf lines, we 
are in a position to suit any farmer. The No. 8 uiacliiues are 
for the average small farm, very light draft, narrow boxes, 
spiral wide spread (regular). Our big No. 6 machines—Cora 
King, Cioverleaf and 20th Century — are “whales for work”, 
easy handling and loading, steel construction, light draft. 
With the No. 6 spreaders you may have the efficient disk 
wide spread (regular) or the new spiral wide spread (special). 
Here is a spreader for every farm. This year, of all years, 
you need one. Write us .for full information. 
International Earveater Company of America 
(lacorporated) 
CHICAGO V USA 
Champion Deering McCormick Milwaukee Osborne 
Papering Whitewashed Wall 
Will you tell me how to keep paper on 
.a Avail that has lieeu whiteAvashed? It 
stays on a while and then peels off. A. 
A’irgiiiia. 
First is the climate, sometimes very 
damp aud foggy, and I believe I am safe 
in saying that a Virginia fog Avill pene¬ 
trate quite deep, aud moisten paper on 
the AA'all so that it Avill destroy any ordi¬ 
nary paste. IIoAvever, if I Avero going to 
l)apor the room referred to I AA’ould first 
use a whitewash brush with soft Avater 
(rain water) to soften the AvhiteAvash, 
a no then scrape the whiteAvash off Avith 
a Avail scraper. After that Avas done I 
Avould dissolve a iionnd of rosin in a 
quart of linseed oil. With. this for a 
size I Avoiild spread it over the entire 
plaster, then wait a couple of days and 
put on the Avail paper, using about two 
quarts of Avheat flt>ur and tAA’o ounces of 
alum for the paste. Make the paste as 
usual, and while it is still boiling hot add 
the pnlA’erized alum, stirring the paste 
while the alum is dissolving, Avhieli will 
take about two minutes. Set the paste 
one side until cold. The paste made as 
above, if used hot, Avill spot the paper. 
To get the best results use a lining paper 
next the plaster; any odd rolls that are 
loAV-priced will do; then put the paper 
to finish over that. If directions are fol- 
loAved results will he satisfactory. 
M. n. D. 
ien you ‘write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and -you’ll get a 
ck reply and a **square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Out-door Storage of Potatoes 
If one wishes to stoi*e until June or 
July it is best to dig and remove potatoes 
to an unused piece of laud, as pasture 
or meadow. Then they will not be in the 
way of puttiug in the next Spring’s crop. 
Select a dry piece of land A\dth a slope. 
Kemove the sod in a circle eight or more 
feet to accommodate the mimher of bushels 
you wish to bury. Begm piling the pota¬ 
toes in the center of the ring in a conical 
form. Pile them high enough so that 
your I’ye straw will reach to the top of 
the pile aud fold over a little. Put th» 
straw on from three to five inches thick, 
■having the butts of the straw exteml 
down to the base of the circle. Then 
coA-er with three or four inches of sods 
and dirt. Take most of the earth for the 
covenng from the lo-wer side, so when 
drained there Avill not be a hole to catch 
the water. Let them remain in this con¬ 
dition until the earth begins to freeze, 
then coA'er with any kind of straw or 
leaves four or five inches thick, and four 
or five inches of earth, everj' time leaving 
your drain open. If the potatoes are 
dug and stored before the middle of Oc¬ 
tober they should be coA*ered AA’ith limbs 
of trees cut early in September, so the 
le.Mves will adhere to them. If j'ou .are 
in a section where the snow blows off, 
cover AA-ith horse manure after the ground 
freezes. If it is desired to hold these 
potatoes in a first-class condition until 
.Tune or July, place four posts and nail 
ou hoards, fill with ice and snow, coA'er 
with saAA-dust, cut haj-, leaves aud horse 
manure. If one is willing to do this 
fahiir it will preserA^e the potatoes bet¬ 
tor than any other method. 
Sullivan Co., N. T. D. T. eastjian. 
Storing Vegetables in Idaho 
On page JK)3 E. I.. A. wishes to knoAv 
hoAV to store Winter vegetables. Tlie 
Avarm cellar would be .all right for the 
sfiuash if it can also have some air. Do 
not put them on top of one another, and 
turn them over once in a Avliile. Of 
course, they should not lx* kept where it 
is vei-y warm, but sqtiash requ.u'es to he 
kept di-y and from frost. The other 
vegetables need different ti'eatment. 
If the room farthest from the 
furnace in the cellar has an earth floor, 
one might buiy them to keep them h*om 
drying and withering and thereby wast¬ 
ing. ^ Our way, though, is to bury them 
outside, and we have been very success¬ 
ful for several years in burying pota¬ 
toes and carrots. We select a spot of 
ground where the water will not stand 
or AAash when it rains and scrape it 
Avith, say a hoc or a shovel, .so it will 
be hollowed out a little. We do not dig 
a pit. Then put potatoes, carrots or 
turnips fin this, and cover with straAv 
and then with earth, just enough earth 
at first to turn the frost, as we bury them 
early in the Fall s<K)n after digging. Be¬ 
fore freezing put on more earth, and 
you must know how deep it usually 
freezes in your State, and cover them 
a little deeper than that. The men 
folks do this, but I knoAV about Iioav they 
do it and I know how fine the vegetables* 
are when they come out of this earth 
nest. It is so like their natural place 
that they are scarcely different from 
what they were when first dug in the 
Fall. 
I alAAuiys think cabbage tastes better 
after it has been frostt'd, and I don’t 
believe it needs to be kept in frostproof 
i h*iee in Winter. We bm*y them heads 
i'.( wn much the same as potatoes, but 
they need not bo so deep. Onions we 
keep boxes or orates in a cold, airy 
])laee. If they freeze, don’t be scared. 
A light freeze doesn’t hurt them; but 
fit is not best for them to freeze and 
thaw by turns. c. Q. 
Ownership of Dog 
About two years ^go a dog sti-yed to 
mv place. He was taken in and cared for 
till he should be claimed or advertised. 
No word ever coming as to his owner, he 
Avas kept and his tax paid, and has be¬ 
come a. pet about the farm. Now a 
stranger comes along, sees the dog and 
lays claim. If he can prove that he once 
owned him can he take the dog by law, 
and if so, what can I claim for his care 
and keep for two years? J. ii. P. 
New York. 
Of course, if this dog belongs to the 
stranger and he can prove property he 
can take the animal after paying fac¬ 
costs. We would not ^dve the dog up if 
Ave wanted to keep him without the 
strongest kind of evidence that the dog 
belongs to this man, and it will be difli- 
cult for him to prove that be OAvns the 
dog without witnesses. 
The price for boarding dogs runs all 
the way from $1 a Aveek up to $3 or SI 
for the more expensive animals, and. 
course, if you charged any such price as 
this for two years yon would have many 
times the value of the dog. It Avould be 
impossible for us to figure what the care 
of this dog' is worth. We know of one 
case where a pedigree dog Avas kept for 
about four months and the owner was 
sued for $70 for board and care of the 
dog. Of course, no such chai“ge Aveuld be 
considered in such a case as you mention 
•—probably $15 would be a fair charge. 
“Are yon economizing at your bouse?” 
“No. We’re simply eating less for the 
same money,”—Toronto Sun. 
