144 
berries.  They  always  furnish  shade  for  the  young 
stock,  and  in  that  are  of  value  every  year.  We 
always  plan  to  have  our  own  vegetable  and  fruit, 
which  amounts  to  considerable  in  market  value  and 
pleasure. 
The  chief  disadvantage  that  any  woman  would 
have  in  running  a  general  farm  is  that  there  is  much 
work  that  is  too  heavy  for  her,  and  she  would  have 
to  depend  upon  hired  help  entirely.  With  poultry 
there  is  little  that  she  could  not  do  in  a  pinch. 
I  myself  was  brought  up  with  four  brothers,  and 
always  had  the  idea  that  I  could  do  anything  that 
they  did.  As  they  never  discouraged  me  in  this 
belief,  1  am  still  of  the  opinion  that  with  adequate 
training  and  the  right  spirit  a  woman  could  make 
good  in  almost  any  line  of  work  that  she  might 
choose.  I  have  neglected  to  say  that  we  have 
with  our  side  lines  two  Jersey  eow«  that  supply  us 
with  milk,  cream  and  some  butter.  We  sell  some 
milk  and  quite  a  bit  of  cream.  The  cows  have  paid 
li-;  well  in  this  small  way. 
As  for  our  main  crop,  I  may  briefly  state  that  I 
am  more  enthusiastic  about  my  chickens  than  I  was 
when  I  started  in  in  1912.  The  breeding  has  been 
especially  interesting,  and  I  have  greatly  enjoyed 
keeping  in  close  touch  with  the  Poultry  Department 
of  Cornell,  attending  Farmers'  Week  in  Ithaca  and 
have  attended  two  or  three  annual  judging  schools 
at  Cornell.  The  certification  of  poultry  that  Cornell 
carried  on  for  four  years  was  of  great  help  in  breed¬ 
ing.  This  work,  as  you  doubtless  know,  is  now  being 
carried  on  by  our  recently  formed  New  York  State 
Co-operative  Poultry  Certification  Association.  Inc. 
We  have  an  excellent  man  the  year  around,  a  boy 
as  needed,  our  man’s  wife  in  the  Spring  to  care  for 
baby  chicks,  and  my  father  and  myself.  Father  at 
first  did  all  the  work  in  the  Winter,  but  now  con- 
tines  his  attention  to  packing  and  shipping  eggs  and 
looking  after  incubators  in  the  Spring.  I  do  little 
of  the  actual  farm  work;  in  fact,  less  than  I  wish  I 
might.  1  always  do  my  own  culling  and  selecting  of 
stock,  aside  of  course  from  what  is  done  by  the 
Cornell  men.  and  select  the  baby  chicks  that  are  to 
be  shipped.  We  are  wintering  about  1,400  hens  and 
hatch  from  12,000  to  15,000  baby  chicks. 
Financially  we  make  a  comfortable  living  that 
permits  occasionally  trips  for  the  different  members 
of  the  family,  good  reading  in  the  form  of  maga¬ 
zines  and  books,  and  the  greatest  privilege  of  all, 
entertaining  our  friends. 
Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y.  clara  mt  Hastings. 
Building  Fireplace  of  Concrete  Blocks 
We  are  building  a  new  home  of  concrete  and  concrete 
blocks,  doing  most  of  the  work  ourselves.  I  wish  to 
have  an  open  fireplace  in  one  corner  of  a  12x12  room, 
as  shown  in  Fig.  36.  Fireplace  is  to  be  made  of  con¬ 
crete  set  in  forms;  the  men  folks  are  quite  handy  at 
making  forms.  I  would  like  a  few  working  details  as 
Location  of  Fireplac* .  Fig.  86 
to  size  and  construction ;  do  not  want  fireplace  to  take 
any  more  space  than  necessary  for  proper  proportion  to 
rest  of  room.  Give  height  of  mantel,  height,  width  and 
depth  of  opening  size  of  hearth.  Walls  of  room  to  be 
of  concrete  block.  Is  it  necessary  ro  use  firebrick  for 
hearth,  back,  sides  and  throat?  If  so,  how  many  are 
required?  Will  wrought  or  cast-iron  pipe  do  for  thim¬ 
bles  in  kitchen  and  heater  chimneys  for  stovepipe  to  fit 
in?  Walls  to  be  reinforced  concrete  4  in.  thick,  tile 
lined.  We  have  the  proper  size  of  iron  pipe,  hut  have 
been  told  they  are  of  no  use,  as  they  expand  and  con¬ 
tract  and  get  loose  in  time.  M.  C. 
Mizpab,  N.  J. 
A  FIREPLACE  for  the  size  room  you  mention 
should  not  be  too  large.  At  the  same  time  it 
should  present  a  simple,  strong  and  rugged  appear¬ 
ance.  It  seems  that  much  of  the  charm  of  a  fire¬ 
place  is  lost  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  make  it 
too  ornamental.  To  my  mind  a  low  and  broad  effect 
v  m  «  '.AUjB  SSS. 
7ht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
is  desirable;  the  pictures  give  approximate  dimen¬ 
sions.  These  can  be  changed  somewhat  to  meet  your 
needs  more  closely  if  it  is  found  desirable  to  do  so. 
It  is  advisable  to  protect  the  concrete  with  brick. 
While  cement  itself  is  a  fireproof  material,  the  peb¬ 
bles  and  other  material  with  which  it  is  mixed  in 
making  concrete  may  sometimes  be  affected  by  heat. 
February  3,  1923 
the  heat  can  be  better  regulated  than  if  the  hot 
water  pipes  were  placed  in  the  bottom  of  the  hotbed 
and  the  pipes  covered  with  earth,  as  O.  R.  J.  sug¬ 
gests  in  his  plan.  If  I  were  going  to  run  hot  water 
pipes  in  the  bottom  of  a  hotbed  I  would  put  the 
pipes  in  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  and  then  board  tightly 
the  entire  space  3  in.  above  the  pipes,  so  the  heat 
would  be  evenly  distributed  under  the  entire  bed, 
for  if  the  pipes  were  covered  with  earth  the  plants 
directly  over  the  pipe  ivould  get  too  much  heat,  and 
those  between  not  enough.  The  next  best  plan  would 
be — if  pipes  are  covered  with  dirt — to  run  the  hot 
Ground  Finn  of  Greenhouse  and  Hotbed.  Fig.  .JO 
resulting  in  the  concrete  cracking.  The  inside  lining 
should  he  of  firebrick,  but  the  outer  parts  may  be  of 
brick  selected  for  color. 
The  depth  of  the  firebox  should  be  approximately 
IS  in.,  and  the  hearth  should  project  in  front  of  the 
fireplace  for  IS  in.  to  2  ft.  I  am  unable  to  say  ex¬ 
actly  how  many  bricks  would  be  required.  When 
laid  in  a  wall  4  in.  in  thickness  it  is  common  prac¬ 
tice  to  estimate  0.2  bricks  per  square  of  wall  surface. 
I  would  suggest  that  you  write  your  Congressman 
and  request  Farmers’  Bulletin  1230,  “Chimneys  and 
Fireplaces.’’  This  contains  a  great  deal  of  material 
that  will  be  of  interest  to  you  relative  to  fireplace 
construction.  The  R.  N.-Y.  of  January  28,  1922, 
also  contains  a  couple  of  articles  on  fireplace  heat¬ 
ing  that  will  he  of  help  to  you. 
I  am  unable  to  say  whether  or  not  the  cast-iron 
thimbles  that  you  mention  would  give  trouble  due 
to  loosening  from  the  effect  of  heat. 
ROBERT  II.  SMITH. 
Heating  a  Hotbed 
Can  a  hoi  bed  be  heated  successfully  by  hot  water 
pipes?  How  many  pipes  are  required,  and  where  placed 
to  obtain  rhe  best  results?  Can  they  be  laid  in  the 
earth  in  the  bottom  covered  with  a  few  inches  of  soil? 
The  greenhouse  is  at  the  north,  and  is  piped  for  hot 
water  (2-in.  pipes)  which  is  supplied  by  a  boiler  situ¬ 
ated  in  a  pit  in  a  separate  building  at  north  of  green¬ 
house. 
I  wish  to  use  the  hotbed  from  the  first  of  March  for 
starting  tomato  plants  and  other  garden  plants  and 
Heating  I’lan  for  Hotbed.  Fig.  39 
young  geraniums,  etc.  Ilot  water  would  save  buying 
horse  manure,  which  is  diftic-ult  to  obtain  here  without 
shavings  in  it  and.  furthermore,  it  is  not  very  desirable 
for  garden  or  greenhouse  use.  The  seeds  are  sown  in 
flats  and  would  remain  in  these  until  of  proper  size  to 
be  transplanted  in  cold  frames.  o.  R.  J. 
THIS  question  is  being  agitated  more  every  year. 
When  hot  manure  was  easily  obtained  this 
seemed  to  be  the  easiest  and  cheapest  method  of 
heating  a  bed  for  the  growing  of  vegetable  plants, 
but  as  good  fresh  manure  is  hard  to  obtain  many 
growers  are  searching  for  the  best  substitute.  I 
believe  the  way  to  solve  this  question  is  to  build  a 
small  greenhouse,  put  in  a  boiler  and  heat  the  bed 
with  hot  water.  This  plan  gives  one  an  opportunity 
to  work  in  a  place  of  this  kind  in  all  kinds  of 
weather,  and  will  make  a  more  even  growth ;  besides, 
water  from  the  2-in.  pipes,  after  it  enters  the 
bed  in  1-in.  pipes,  laying  these  1  ft.  apart,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  39.  This  would  more  evenly  dis¬ 
tribute  the  heat.  I  hardly  think  the  water  running 
through  the  2-in.  pipe  around  the  greenhouse  would 
lie  hot  enough  to  heat  the  hotbed  sufficiently  after 
it  enters  pipe  to  hotbed.  I  would  run  an  independent 
pipe  line  to  hotbed.  william  perkins. 
Applying  Power  to  Hand  Grindstone 
THE  picture  (Fig.  41)  shows  a  simple  method  of 
running  a  hand  grindstone  with  power.  The 
parts  used  were  taken  from  a  discarded  mowing 
machine.  Anyone  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the 
make  of  mower  will  recognize  the  parts  at  once,  but 
for  those  who  are  not  I  write  the  following: 
The  driving  belt,  which  is  at  the  left  of  the  pic¬ 
ture,  is  on  the  pitman  wheel,  which  makes  a  fine 
pulley.  This  pulley,  with  its  shaft  and  small  gear, 
also  the  large  gear  that  it  runs  on,  are  all  the  parts 
.! 
! 
a 
. 
I 
1 
1 
. 
' 
(=□ 
* 
Arrangement  for  Running  Grindstone  With  Power 
Fig.  -'it 
needed.  It  is  removed  from  the  mower  by  placing 
a  bar  through  the  large  gear  to  keep  it  from  turn¬ 
ing;  then  turn  the  pitman  wheel,  which  will  unscrew 
from  the  small  gear  and  can  be  pulled  out. 
The  first  thing  to  do  in  making  this  attachment 
is  to  fill  the  hole  in  large  gear  with  hardwood,  then 
drill  a  hole  so  it  will  fit  the  grindstone  shaft  (see 
Fig.  a  )  ;  then  place  it  on  shaft  where  you  want  it 
to  run,  which  depends  on  the  frame,  and  drill  a  Vs 
or  ^-in.  hole  through  flange  and  shaft,  which  after 
placing  a  bolth  through  same  keeps  gear  from  turn¬ 
ing  On  shaft  (see  Fig.  b).  For  the  pitman  shaft 
bearing  I  used  the  same  which  were  in  the  mower. 
They  are  round  brass  bearings,  and  can  be  driven 
out  of  the  frame  by  using  a  short  bar  and  hammer. 
These  bearings  I  fastened  on  the  frame  by  using 
Cobblestone  Used  in  Building  House.  Fig.  -J.2 
two  pieces  of  board  with  a  bolt  each  side  of  bearing 
(see  Fig.  c)  ;  then  having  the  bottom  board  long  and 
bolted  to  the  frame  with  two  other  bolts.  The  holes 
for  the  last  two  bolts  were  cut  slot-fashion  (see  Fig. 
d),  which  allowed  moving  the  shaft  in  or  out  before 
tightening,  giving  the  gears  the  right  mesh.  The 
shaft,  of  course,  must  have  two  bearings,  the  other 
being  made  the  same  as  the  one  I  have  just  outlined. 
BOX  BIUELOW. 
