The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
879 
Farm  Mechanics 
Conducted  by  Robert  H.  Smith,  of  the  Canton  Agricultural  School 
Canton,  New  York 
Gasket  in  Cylinder  Head 
What  can  I  do  for  an  engine  that  blows 
out  the  packing  from  the  exhaust  cham¬ 
ber  into  the  water  chamber  in  the  hop¬ 
per?  I  have  been  unable  to  get  any 
packing  to  hold  the  compression. 
Adams  Center,  N.  Y.  M.  s.  d. 
If  the  cylinder  end  or  head  has  not 
been  injured  or  rusted  so  that  the  meet¬ 
ing  surfaces  are  irregular,  you  should 
be  able  to  fit  a  gasket  that  will  last  in¬ 
definitely.  If  either  of  the  meeting  sur¬ 
faces  are  injured,  they  will  have  to  be 
faced  up  in  a  \athe  before  the  gasket 
can  be  clamped  securely  enough  to  hold. 
To  begin  with,  the  gasket  must  be  cut 
to  fit  perfectly.  This  best  be  done 
by  first  cutting  a  pattern  from  heavy 
paper  by  placing  a  sheet  of  paper  over 
the  surface  to  be  fitted,  and  tapping 
lightly  with  a  hammer  along  the  edges  to 
mark  it  and  cut  it  to  shape.  Use  this 
pattern  to  cut  a  gasket  from  the  card¬ 
board  like  asbestos  gasket  material  ob¬ 
tainable  at  the  local  hardware  store.  Fit 
this  gasket  perfectly,  making  all  openings 
large  enough  so  that  it  may  lie  perfectly 
flat  when  pulled  up  between  the  cylinder 
and  head  by  the  cylinder-head  bolts. 
Clean  the  meeting  surfaces  thoroughly 
by  scraping,  removing  every  particle  of 
the  former  gasket.  Apply  cup  grease  to 
both  sides  of  the  gasket  and  put  in  place, 
tightening  the  bolts  up  carefully  and 
uniformly  a  little  at  a  time,  so  that  all 
are  tightened  alike.  After  the  engine  has 
run  sufficiently  to  warm  up,  draw  the 
cylinder-head  bolts  up  again.  In  partic¬ 
ularly  stubborn  cases  a  circle  of  manila 
paper  is  used  around  the  inner  ring  of 
the  gasket,  making  it  a  little  thicker  and 
causing  the  head  and  cylinder  to  grip  it 
a  little  tighter  at  this  point,  or  a  thin 
copper  wire  may  be  used  for  the  same 
purpose.  Ordinarily  this  is  not  needed  ; 
it  is  simply  a  matter  of  getting  a  well- 
fitted  gasket  tightly  gripped  between  two 
perfectly  clean  and  square  meeting  sur¬ 
faces. 
Water  in  Cellar 
How  can  1  make  a  cesspool  to  drain 
my  cellar?  The  soil  is  very  sandy.  In 
digging  cellar  we  found  some  layers  of 
clay  and  gravel,  then  sand  again.  Last 
Summer  rain  filled  it  nearly  half  full. 
Have  an  8-in.  concrete  wall,  but  no  cement 
bottom.  Now  with  our  Spring  rain  I 
have  about  18  in.  of  water.  The  water 
last  year  finally  drained  out,  and  we  had 
no  more  until  this  Spring.  The  ground 
around  us  is  nearly  level.  By  going  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  either  direction  there 
is  a  fall  of  from  5  to  15  ft.  Is  this  a 
basin  with  a  hardpan  line  below  the  cel¬ 
lar  bottom  holding  the  water?  If  so, 
could  a  cesspool  be  built  by  digging 
through  this  hardpan  and  tiling  to  the 
cellar?  f.  s.  w. 
Presumably  the  water  in  your  cellar 
comes  from  seepage  outside,  and  is  at  the 
same  level  as  the  water  table  in  the  sur¬ 
rounding  soil ;  that  is,  if  a  hole  were  dug 
anywhere  about  the  house,  water  would 
be  found  at  the  same  depth  as  it  ig  in  the 
cellar.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  readily 
seen  that  a  cesspool  would  not  serve  to 
drain  the  cellar  into,  as  the  water  would 
stand  at  the  same  level  in  the  cesspool 
as  it  did  in  the  cellar,  and  there  would  be 
no  flow.  It  is  possible,  although  not  very 
likely,  that  the  place  may  be  underlaid 
by  a  tight  stratum  that  would  permit 
drainage  if  punctured.  This  can  only  be 
determined  by  a  test  boring,  and  if  found 
to  be  so,  I  see  no  reason  why  the  drain¬ 
age  could  not  be  directly  in  the  cellar  as 
well  as  outside. 
Your  best  method  of  getting  a  reason¬ 
ably  dry  cellar  seems  to  be  by  a  water¬ 
tight  construction,  keeping  the  w:ater  out! 
To  do  this  a  floor  must  be  laid  contain¬ 
ing  a  membrane  of  building  paper  mopped 
on  with  hot  tar.  This  should  be  carried 
partially  up  the  side  walls,  as  well  pay¬ 
ing  particular  attention  to  the  joint 
where  the  floors  joins  the  wall.  If  the 
wall  is  in  good  condition,  it  may  be  thor¬ 
oughly  cleaned  and  a  mortar  coat  ap¬ 
plied.  If  badly  cracked  and  porous,  the 
water-tight  membrane  may  be  carried  to 
the  top  and  a  thin  wall  poured  inside  the 
first.  In  connection  with  this  eaves 
troughs  should  be  placed  on  the  house 
and  such  outside  drainage  provided  by 
grading  as  is  possible. 
Solid  Pier  in  Packing  Room 
.  e  Pack  our  apples  on  the  second 
floor,  or  over  the  basement  of  a  barn.  In 
racking”  the  barrels  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  tight  pack  of  the  contents  we 
have  been  obliged  to  do  considerable  un¬ 
necessary  “racking”  because  the  floor  is 
not  perfectly  solid.  In  order  to  give 
facility  to  this  important  “racking”  work 
we  expect  to  build  a  square  stone  or  con¬ 
crete  pillar  about  3  or  4  ft.  on  the  side 
trom  the  basement  up  level  with  the  pack¬ 
ing  house  floor.  This  pillar  will  be  sub¬ 
ject  to  a  sharp  jarring  motion,  and  the 
question  is  what  material  to  use  in  mak¬ 
ing  it  strong  and  durable.  Can  small  or 
Hrge  stones  be  used  with  the  concrete? 
Yhat  mixture  of  sand,  gravel  and  cement 
should  be  used?  Should  a  concrete  form 
be  built?  Should  iron  or  wire  reinforce¬ 
ment  be  used  in  the  pillar,  and  how 
should  it  be  put  in  ?  c.  w.  w. 
In  building  a  pier  such  as  you  suggest 
the  ground  should  first  be  dug  away  until 
a  solid  footing  below  danger  of  freezing 
is  secured.  Over  this  erect  a  form  which 
should  be  made  with  2x4-in.  corner  posts 
and  not  less  than  inch  material  in  the 
side  walls.  Wet  concrete  is  very  heavy, 
and  being  plastic  exerts  a  great  pressure 
on  the  side  walls  of  the  form  containing 
it.  Unless  well  built  and  braced  there  is 
likely  to  be  springing,  which  results  in 
crooked  work,  the  concrete  taking  the 
shape  of  the  form.  The  corner  posts 
should  be  plumbed  up  and  secured  in  this 
position,  and  should  of  course  be  on  the 
outside  of  the  form.  If  built  larger  than 
3  ft.  square  there  should  be  other  up¬ 
rights  placed  between  the  corner  posts  to 
prevent  springing  of  the  side  walls. 
Concrete  should  be  mixed  in  the  pro¬ 
portion  of  one  sack  of  cement,  two  cubic 
feet  of  clean,  well-graded  sand,  the  par¬ 
ticles  ranging  in  size  from  *4  in.  down, 
and  four  cubic  feet  of  screened  gravel  or 
stone,  what  is  known  as  a  1-2-4  mixture. 
Mix  this  to  a  “quaking”  consistency, 
about  like  a  mud  pie,  and  shovel  into  the 
forms.  Measure  the  quantity  of  water 
used  in  the  first  batch  and  use  the  same 
quantity  in  the  following  batches  to  make 
the  mass  uniform. 
If  an  opening  can  be  secured  in  the 
floor  the  concrete  can  be  placed  by  shov¬ 
eling  in  at  the  top  of  the  form.  If  not, 
the  form  can  be  filled  from  the  side  and 
the  hoarding  carried  up  as  the  work  pro¬ 
gresses.  A  considerable  quantity  of  clean 
field  stone  can  be  used,  making  sure  that 
each  stone  is  well  settled  in  the  concrete, 
and  that  the  concrete  surrounds  it  on 
all  sides.  Using  a  spade  around  the  sides 
will  keep  the  stones  back  and  bring  the 
mortar  out  to  the  wall,  making  a  smooth 
surface.  Reinforcement  will  not  be  re¬ 
quired  in  a  pier  of  this  kind.  It  is  prob¬ 
able  that  the  floor  that  you  speak  of  as 
being  used  for  apple  packing  is  supported 
by  posts  in  the  basement  beneath.  If  so, 
would  it  not  make  a  sufficiently  solid 
place  for  “racking”  the  barrels  if  a  spot 
directly  over  one  of  these  posts  were 
used  for  that  purpose? 
Casing  an  Old  Well 
I  have  a  well  which  was  used  as  a 
wildcat  oil  well,  but  not  as  a  success  for 
oil.  I  wish  to  use  this  as  water  supply 
for  barn  and  house.  It  just  has  a  shor¬ 
ing  of  rough  boards,  which  are  beginning 
to  fall  in.  Will  it  be  necessary  for  me 
to  build  or  line  the  well  with  brick  or 
cement?  Depth,  about  60  ft.,  plenty  of 
water,  due  to  surface  drainage.  I  was 
thinking  of  putting  down  a  4-in.  pipe 
line,  then  pipe  for  my  pump  inside  of  the 
4-in.  pipe ;  then  dump  in  stone  to  surface 
around  outside  of  4-in.  pipe,  throw  down 
a  cement  floor  and  build  a  neat  little 
building  to  house  pump.  Would  this  be 
the  best  plan?  w.  L. 
Due  to  the  depth  of  the  well  described 
it  will  be  necessary  to  use  a  pump  with 
the  cylinder  placed  at  some  distance  be¬ 
low  the  surface,  within  suction  distance 
(20  to  25  ft.)  of  low  water  Jevel.  This 
makes  it  necessary  to  use  a  sasing  suffi- 
citntly  large  to  take  the  pump  cylinder. 
A  drilled  well  casing  should  work  satis¬ 
factorily. 
I  would  suggest  that  the  upper  10  to 
12  ft.  of  the  well  be  packed  with  well- 
puddled  clay  about  the  casing.  Then  if 
fitted  with  a  good  cement  floor,  as  you 
suggest,  there  will  be  little  or  no  chance 
for  surface  contamination,  and  a  good 
water  supply  will  result.  Common  glazed 
sewer  tiles  are  frequently  used  as  a  well 
lining  also. 
Hydraulic  Ram  or  Gasoline  Engine 
1.  Would  a  water  ram  drive  water  from 
a  brook  at  a  distance  of  1,300  ft.  up  hill 
about  100  ft.,  and  would  about  6  in.  of 
water  be  sufficient  to  cover  the  ram? 
Do  you  think  a  3-h.p.  gasoline  engine 
would  answer  the  same  purpose?  The 
brook  I  am  referring  to  has  plenty  of 
water,  but  is  not  deep.  p.  k. 
A  ram  could  be  used  for  pumping  as 
you  suggest,  provided  there  is  sufficient 
water  and  fall  at  the  brook  to  operate  it. 
If  there  is  a  good  flow,  this  could  prob¬ 
ably  be  obtained  by  damming  the  stream. 
The  ram  itself  does  not  want  to  be  sub¬ 
merged,  but  the  intake  end  of  the  drive 
pipe  must  be  covered  sufficiently  deep 
(about  1  ft.)  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
air.  The  water  should  be  led  to  the  ram 
through  about  100  ft.  of  drive  pipe  having 
a  fall  of  about  14  ft.  When  the  drive  and 
discharge  are  so  long,  100  ft.  and  1,300  ft. 
respectively,  the  smaller  rams  should  not 
be  installed,  for  due  to  the  excessive  pipe 
friction  in  the  small  sizes  of  pipe  used 
with  them  they  are  inefficient. 
If  a  suitable  size  discharge  pipe  is  used 
a  3-h.p.  gasoline  engine  will  operate  a 
pump  successfully  working  against  this 
head.  Too  small  a  pipe  will  make  the 
pumping  hard,  due  to  friction  caused  by 
the  high  velocity  of  water  in  the  pipe. 
A  I14 -in.  pipe  should  work  satisfactorily 
with  pump  delivering  from  10  to  12-  gal¬ 
lons  per  minute. 
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AROOSTOOK  COUNTY  POTATOES 
»CCO  STOCK  A  SHCIAUTT 
PRESQUE  ISLE.  MAINE, 
Aug.  1922. 
California  Central  Creameries, 
San  Franoleco,  Cal. 
Gentlemen: 
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Tours  very  truly. 
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CALIFORNIA  CENTRAL  CREAMERIES,  Inc. 
175  FRANKLIN  STREET 
NEW  YORK 
SAN  FRANCISCO 
CHICAGO 
LOS  ANGBLES 
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R-7 
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THE 
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FARM 
BOOK 
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This  attractive  234-page 
book  has  some  of  the 
best  of  the  Hope  Farm 
Man’s  popular  sketches — 
philosophy,  humor,  and 
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Long-Time  Farm  Loans 
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New  York  and  New  Jersey  over  $25,000,000  and  has  re¬ 
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If  you  operate  your  own  farm  or  intend  to  purchase  a  farm,  we  are 
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