How to Make a Concrete Walk 
T 
\V<> are greatly interested in your paper; it gets quite 
a thorough reading here. 1. You may know how women 
are always wanting things that it is not always con¬ 
venient for them to have. You also know that farmers 
are not getting enough for their produce to afford many 
luxuries. Well, I want a cement walk. I think my 
husband could make one if he had directions. Could 
you send such directions, so we could make it before 
freezing weather? 
2. Could I mend our coal stove with some kind of 
cement? It was broken some way in moving, just at the 
edge of the griddle at the back of the stove. It is a 
heater, and too good a stove to throw' away. s. A. 
New York. 
HIE FOUNDATION.—The construction of a con¬ 
crete walk is a simple matter if a little care is 
exercised to get things right. The first step is to 
prepare a well-drained foundation for the walk to 
rest upon. If the soil is sandy it probably has suffi¬ 
cient natural drainage, and will require the smooth¬ 
ing of the surface only, but if clay or tight loam, a 
trench about 6 in. deep and extending the length and 
width of the walk should he dug and filled with 
cinders or gravel to serve as a porous foundation. 
This is tamped solid and the walk laid upon it. Out¬ 
let for drainage water must be provided at the low 
spots. 
LAYING FORMS.—After preparing the founda¬ 
tion the forms are laid. These usually consist of 
2x4 in. material laid on edge, making the finished 
walk 4 in. thick. The manner of placing these is 
indicated in the sketch. Fig. 587. the sides being 
nailed to stakes driven along the outside. Nails 
holding the stakes to the form should not he driven 
clear in. but the heads should he left projecting, pet. 
mitting easy removal when the walk has hardened 
sufficiently. The side forms are laid 
straight and to an even.grade by first 
locating the ends of the walk and them 
stretching up a line between these two 
points. The top edge of the form is 
then made parallel to this lino. The 
form must not touch the line, hut 
should be kept about % in. away from 
it. If permitted to touch it it will 
crowd the line out of place, the final 
result being a crooked walk. With the 
side forms in place cross forms may he 
cut and placed, dividing the walk up 
into blocks. These blocks should not 
be over 4 to (1 ft. square, as above this 
size there is likely to be cracking, due 
to contraction during cold weather, the 
large blocks not having sufficient tensile strength to 
pull themselves together as they shrink in the cold 
MIXING THE CONCRETE.—Concrete for walk 
construction may be mixed in the proportion of one 
sack of cement, 2 y 2 cubic feet of sand (approxi¬ 
mately two bushels) and five '•■■hie fe ^ * ‘one or 
screened gravel (approxima bushels). If 
gravel is used for making thtrV. A as s likely 
to he the case, it should first he run over a Vr in- 
mesh screen, using the portion that passed through 
the screen as sand, and the part retained upon it as 
stone, discarding any stone for this work that is 
over 2 in. in diameter. The sand should be clean 
and free from loam, the presence of which can be 
detected by rubbing the sand between the hands. 
Loamy sand will leave the hands dirty, while clean 
sand will leave very little matter adhering to them 
after rubbing in this way. 
FILLING AND SURFACING.—The sand and 
cement should he mixed by turning with a shovel or 
hoe until of a uniform gray color, presenting no 
streaks, after which the stone can be added and 
mixed with it. Water is then slowly added and the 
concrete slowly mixed until it is of a jelly-like con- 
Sereening f! ravel Through One-fourth Inch Mesh, 
Fig. 586 
sistency—about like that of a mud pie. When piled 
in a heap no water should show upon the surface, 
but patting it with a hoe or shovel should cause it 
(<» “quake” and water to rise to the surface. This 
of wetting used, and all of The concrete made uni¬ 
form in consistency. ' 
FINISHING THE WALK.—There are different 
ways of placing the concrete in the walk, but one of 
the easiest is to place it in alternate blocks, as indi¬ 
cated in the sketch. As soon as these blocks have 
set the cross form may be removed and the spaces 
between filled, completing the walk. The concrete 
can he mixed in a mixing box moved along the walk, 
and shoveled directly into the forms. The surface 
of the walk may he finished by floating with a wood 
float, and when it becomes sufficiently hard an 
“edger” can he run around each block, giving it a 
finished appearance. This tool can he purchased at 
the local hardware, or perhaps borrowed from 
some carpenter or builder After laying, the walk 
should be protected from the weather by canvas, tar 
paper, sacks or old carpet to prevent too rapid dry¬ 
ing. and if freezing seems likely straw or other 
material of like nature should be spread over the 
protecting covering to retain the heat until it sets. 
If this precaution is taken and the sand, stone and 
water heated before mixing concrete can be laid in 
very cold weather. 
THE BROKEN STOVE.—Tn regard to the broken 
stove, furnace cement can be used to repair holes, 
hut it acts as a stopper only, and should not he relied 
upon to hold pieces together. It is possible that 
your stove could he repaired by welding with an 
oxy-acetylene outfit. Much repair work is done with 
these outfits at the present time, it being possible to 
weld cast iron as well as wrought with them. In¬ 
quiry at the nearest garage having such 
an outfit would determine whether 
or not this repair could be made in this 
way. If repair is impossible, a new 
piece can Le bought and put in in place 
of the one now broken. Your local 
hardware dealer would attend to this 
for yotl. ROBERT IX. SMITH. 
I 
Forms for Concrete Walk. Fig. 58 7 
is then immediately shoveled* into the forms, filling 
them to within about % in. from the top. The top 
layer is then placed immediately, and is made from 
a mortar of one part cement and two parts sand. The 
sand should be cleaii and well graded in size and 
with plenty of coarse grains. If the sand is not of 
the best it is better to make the top layer in the 
proportion of one part cement and 1 % parts sand. 
As soon as the top layer is in place it is “struck” off 
with a straight edge or template cut to conform to 
the curvature of the walk. A narrow walk can be 
made with the surface straight across, but if at all 
wide a slight crown is desirable to carry rain water 
to the sides. The mortar top coat must be applied 
to the base coat while the latter is still wet, or it 
will fail to unite with it, and will scale off. Both 
the mortar and base coat must he placed as soon as 
mixed, for as soon as the initial set begins to take 
place the strength of the mixture is lessened by dis¬ 
turbing and remixing. When mixing the first hatches 
the quantity of water used should be measured, and 
when mixing subsequent batches the proper amount 
Sad Case of a Typhoid Carrier 
THOUGHT perhaps you could give 
me some advice as to whether I 
could obtain damages, and from whom, 
for Hie injury that has been done me. 
My home is near a small town in which 
there is a school for wealthy hoys, and 
my sou has been furnishing milk to six of the school 
homes and about 50 families in the town, for two 
years. Last Spring, after vacation, one boy came 
hack looking very peaked and run down. Toward 
the Summer vacation he was ill. After he went 
home to New York he had typhoid fever and died. 
Then his father inquired of the hoard of health of 
this town where he had contracted the disease. The 
township doctor notified the State Board of Health 
and came to our farm to search for a cause. He 
took specimens of feces and urine from every adult 
member of the family, consisting of eight people, 
four of whom had had typhoid fever 15 years ago. 
All passed favorably except myself, who was then 
termed a typhoid carrier. But I was exonerated 
from all connection with the boy’s case mentioned 
above. 
We were then told that my son must quit his dairy 
or I must leave home. I chose to leave rather than 
have my son give up his dairy, because we had in¬ 
curred heavy expenses to build up this dairy, and 
nothing was found wrong, and of about 300 people 
who drank our milk only case of sickness could 
be found. There never has in all the 15 years that 
Equipment for Laying Walk. Fig. 585 
Finishing Surface with Float. Fig. 588 
Leveling Surface with Straight Edge. Fig. 580 
