Jhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1475 
Farm Mechanics 
Conducted by Robert H. Smith, of the Canton Agricultural School 
Canton, New York 
Refrigerator in Icehouse 
Would .you tell me what to do with 
refrigerator built in icehouse? It is not 
satisfactory. It is built in one corner 
of icehouse, ice on two sides. It is close 
a_id musty. G. J. B. 
Lake George, N. Y. 
You neglect to say how your cold 
storage room is connected up with your 
ice pile, but it is probable that a lack of 
air circulation is one of the reasons for 
the musty odor mentioned. If air pas¬ 
sages can be arranged as suggested in the 
sketch, a circulation will be maintained 
as long as there is a difference in tem¬ 
perature between the ice in the cold 
storage room and that surrounding the 
ice pile. The warmer air of the cold 
room will be displaced by the colder, 
heavier air flowing in from the ice pile, 
and will be forced out of the opening at 
the top. the circulation being as indi¬ 
cated by the arrows. After reaching the 
top, the warm air will flow out over the 
ice pile, and becoming cooled by contact 
with it, will settle down through it and 
again enter the cold room by the lower 
passage. 
The location of the refrigerator is not 
the best, because of the fact that it has 
two sides exposed to the outside wall. It 
would be better if it could be moved, and 
a small ante-room bu’dt as an entrance 
across one end. This would lessen the 
entrance of heat when the refrigerator 
was opened. 
All walls of the cold room should he 
well insulated, the outside walls to pre- 
Diugram of Icehouie Refrigerator 
vent the entrance of heat, and the inner 
walls to prevent their temperature falling 
lower than that of the air in the re¬ 
frigerator, thus tending to prevent con¬ 
densation. As long as the wall tempera¬ 
ture can be kept as high as the enclosed 
air there will be little or no condensa¬ 
tion in the refrigerator. The moisture 
, will lie carried out by the ascending cur¬ 
rent of air. and condensation will take 
place as the air is chilled when passing 
back down through the ice pile. If this 
air circulation is arranged, particular 
care should be given to the door. It 
should be well insulated and fit tight, 
otherwise there may he a considerable 
waste at this point. 
Whitewashing the interior of the re¬ 
frigerator will also help in removing the 
musty odor. 
Water Heater for Henhouse; Icehouse 
1. We have just installed electric lights 
in our poultry houses and now have a 
problem on our hands as to the water sup¬ 
ply. Could you suggest a method to keep 
the water from freezing? Are there any 
electric heaters for this purpose, and what 
is in common use in this line on success¬ 
ful poultry farms? 2. We intend to build 
a large ice box about 8x8 ft., Gft. high, 
and would like some arrangement so as to 
place the ice in the top (about one ton 
ice capacity). Could you help us out 
with some sort of plan? w. F. F. 
Wilton, Conn. 
1. As to the device to prevent the freez¬ 
ing of water in the poultry drinking foun¬ 
tains, nothing has come under my obser¬ 
vation in actual use for this purpose. The 
poultry department at the New York 
State School of Agriculture at Canton, N. 
Y.. has had this same difficulty and is 
preparing to meet it this Winter by the 
use of some cup-like arrangement made 
from tin. These have an inside diameter 
sufficient to take in an ordinary electric 
bulb, and are lowered into the drinking 
water, the elongated tin cup serving both 
to protect the bulb and to keep it dry, 
the heat of the bulb being sufficient to 
prevent freezing and to remove the chill 
from the water. A suitable packing at 
the open end of the cup should be pro¬ 
vided to retain the heat of the bulb with¬ 
in it and transmit it to the water. Just 
how successful this device will be remains 
to be seen, but it seems that a small bulb 
of th.' carbon type should keep the water 
well above the freezing point. 
2. Your description of refrigerator is 
not quite clear. If it is to be used in a 
way similar to the usual house refrigera¬ 
tor the wall construction and doors should 
receive careful attention, the walls being 
insulated with shavings or some of the 
cellular patented material obtainable for 
this purpose, and the doors closely fitted 
to prevent the entrance of heat and the 
consequent waste of ice. It would seem a 
better plan, when constructing a refrig¬ 
erator of this size, to build it as a cold 
room or cold storage within an icehouse, 
and this is perhaps the idea that you have 
in mind. If built in this way it could be 
made with a framework sufficiently strong 
to carry the weight, covered with metal 
to prevent leaking, and the ice piled di¬ 
rectly over and around it. When provid¬ 
ed with the necessary openings to permit 
a flow of cold air from the ice pile 
through a cooling room this makes a very 
satisfactory arrangement. A small vesti¬ 
bule with tightly fitting, insulated doors, 
should be provided to insure the minimum 
entrance of warm air when entering or 
leaving the refrigerator. A height of G ft. 
is not enough to include both the ice 
bunker and the cooling room. The ice 
bunker should be at least l 1 2 /^ ft. deep be¬ 
neath the cover, while the cooling room 
below should have a height sufficient to 
permit standing upright—about 0 ft. G in. 
R. H. s. 
Preventing Checking in Oak Posts 
You seem to know all about everything, 
so I come to you for information. I want 
to use pin oaks that are G or 8 in. in 
diameter for porch posts, and I would 
like to know if there is some way to treat 
them so that they will not check when 
they season. c. C. K. 
Cleveland, O. 
Posts or logs split when drying because 
of uneven shrinkage in surface layers and 
central part of stick. The shrinkage of 
wood takes place almost entirely along 
the annual rings. As the outer layers of 
wood dry the annual layers contract, and. 
no longer being able to reach around the 
material, a crack develops. It follows, 
then, that to check this splitting some 
means must be provided to secure as 
rapid drying in the interior of the stick 
as on the outside. To do this the stick 
is bored lengthwise, giving an air circula¬ 
tion up the center and thus hastening the 
interior drying. With the hole length¬ 
wise of the center, the outside protected 
to retard outside drying and the ends pro¬ 
tected with paint to reduce checking here, 
the splitting that you refer to is reduced 
to the minimum. Oak. however, is very 
susceptible to checking when drying, and 
may give trouble even when these precau¬ 
tions are taken. The main thing is to 
secure even drying throughout and not 
permit the exterior to dry and shrink 
while the interior of the stick remains 
moist. r. it. s. 
Pulley for Small Saw 
I have -a saw table with 4-in. pulley 
and 10-in. saw. I wish to saw for home 
use pine and hemlock slabs and pine tops. 
What horsepower electric motor, (!0 
cycle. 110 volts, do I require (alternating 
current)? Also what size pulley is 
needed on the motor, and would it be 
necessary to install shafting? If so. what 
size and pulleys on that? F. c. c. 
Bridgton, Me. 
It is impossible to give you the size 
pulley needed on the motor, as you have 
failed to give me the speed at which the 
motor is to run. However, the standard 
speed for a cutting-off saw is 10,000 ft. 
per minute at the rim. To attain this 
rim speed a 10-in. saw would have to run 
at 4,000 revolutions per minute, as its 
circumference is approximately 2% ft. If 
4.000 is multiplied by 4 the diameter of 
the saw mandrel pulley, and divided by 
the speed at which the motor runs, it 
will give the proper diameter for the 
motor pulley to permit driving the saw at 
this speed. While this is the standard 
saw speed, the saw will do satisfactory 
work if driven much slower, and if de¬ 
sired a smaller pulley may be used on 
the motor. 
Unless it is desired to drive other light 
machines at varying rates of speed a line 
shaft will not be necessary ; belt directly 
from the motor to the saw mandrel. A 
three-horse motor should run this small 
saw satisfactorily. It would seem, though, 
that if you have much wood to saw you 
would be justified in getting a larger saw, 
24 to 80 in. in diameter, and a heavier 
motor to drive it. The outfit described 
will be rather disappointing if anything 
other than very light work is attempted 
with it. The saw has such a small diam¬ 
eter that it cannot be expected to saw 
anything thicker than 3 in. at one cut. 
R. II. s. 
A MERCHANT had advertised for a hoy. 
Late in the afternoon a red-headed, 
freckle-faced, blue-eyed, honest-looking 
youngster applied for the job. “Do you 
like to work?’’ asked the merchant. “No. 
sir!” replied the boy. “Then you can 
have the job,” replied the merchant. “You 
are the first boy who’s been here today 
who didn’t lie about it and say ‘Yes.’ ” 
—New York Globe. 
HOMELITE 
The Portable Electric Light and Power Plant 
NOT THE LOWEST PRICE BUT THE CHEAPEST AND BEST 
Weight: 100 Pounds 
ELECTRIC POWER 
for 
Iron, Vacuum Cleaner, Pump 
or any machine up to Vz H. P. 
ELECTRIC LIGHT 
for 
Home, Barn, Store and Camp 
Write for circular with description and price 
Special Foundation is required. 
Separate Gasoline Tank or Piping necessary. 
Cooling Water Homelite is air cooled. 
Ignition Trouble—Simms High Tension Magneto is used. 
Manufactured by 
THE SIMMS MAGNETO CO., East Orange, N. J. 
Distributed by 
Smith-Meeker Eng. Co., 123 Liberty St., N. Y. 
On WITTE Kerosene and Gasoline Engines 
No need to wait for lower prices. The new 
-TE scale is exactly in line with what you get for your 
farm products, and just what you have been looking for. 
Tell me what size or style engine you want, and I will 
quote you lowest factory price for Immediate Shipment— 
Cash or Easy Terms As You Wish 
WITTE Quality and Service is assured by 90-Day Test 
and Lite-Time Guarantee. No matter where you live 
you can have the advantage of buying direct from factory 
at a big saving and getting a standardized engine at its 
lowest cost. Write for large engine catalog and latest 
quotations on all sizes.—ED. H. WITTE, Pres., 
WITTE ENGINE WORKS, 
- LOOK! - 
2 H-P( *»)Now $39.95 
6H-P( »1S0 ) Now 119.90 
12H-P(&S)Now 249.00 
30 H-P(*w a 9i)Now 699.80 
All Other Sizes Lower. 
Prices f. o. b. K. C. 
Carload f^t. rate to Pittsburgh. 
Oakland Ave.. 
1896 Empire Bldg., 
KANSAS CITY. MO- 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 
Have\bur Defense Read 
Insects, scale, and fungus cause a 
orchards every year. 
The battle against them is on, and your only weapon is 
the sprayer. Hardie Sprayers best assure your profits. 
Hardies work at very highest pressure, are big in capacity, 
and are built so sturdily that they are always ready for 
the fight. They are made in so many sizes and styles that 
there is a Hardie to fit your orchard. 
loss of millions in 
Get our catalogue of 20 
sizes and styles, both 
power and hand 
puwcf uiiu iiuriu 
HARDIE MANUFACTURING CO., HUDSON, MICHIGAN 
Branches at: Portland, Ore., Lot Angeles, Calif., Kansas City, Mo., Hagerstown, Md„ Brockton, N. Y.. Petrolia. Ont. 
Maple Sugar Makers, Attention! 
Evaporation 
heretofore has been the choice 
between one of two evils. The 
deep boiling process—FLUES 
which eventually deteriorated the quality of syrup, 
or the shallow boiling-syphon principle—slow and 
expensive. KNOW YE THEN that the 
VERMONT "—the latest and most improved, 
PRACTICAL. RAPID, SHALLOW BOILING 
TOR CONSTRUCTED. Ask us about it. 
VERMONT EVAPORATOR CO., Rutland, Vermont 
“FAMOUS 
is the onlv 
EVAPORA- 
