The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-02-06
Adobes Us a Building Material.

AQODeS as BullWng Matef1ai.
The early settlers of the Far West.
although fresh from the woodland re-
gions Of the Mississippi Valley, and the
New England States, were not slow in
abandoning the log-capin, and adopt
ing instead the sun-baked adobe houses
of their Mexican neighbors. The old
Mexican adobes are large and clumsy.
being twenty-four inches long, twelve
inches wide, and six inches thick, and
so hea1t that both hands of the mason
are emp1pyed to lift and place them.
thus requiring the trowel to be laid
down In handling each piece. This
was too unworkmanlike for the brick
LAYERS, who demanded a more conven-
len. size. and adopted q dimension
which IS still in use. A brick-shaped
piece of nodded earth or clay.
baked in the hot sun. two and
one-half Inches thick. five inches
wide, and ten and one half inches long,
is now the common adobe of this coun-
try. There are blue adobes, white
saleratus odubes, and common adObes
pronounced ''dobys'o. Both the
white and blue adobes are made from
beds of clay found in the lowlands.
These clay beds are more or less i'm
pregnated with an alkaline salt. The
common adobes are made from any
loamy or clayey soil with sufficient ad-
hesive properties to permit the pieces
being handled when dried or baked.
Formerly adobes were made at the clay
beds, thus forming the adobe yards to
be found everywhere near the towns
and villages. These .,doby yards"
bear some resemblance to the country
brick-yards of the Middle States, but
lack the debris of the kilns, the kiln
stacks, the piles of fuel, and the sheds
of the yards that were made in rainy
climates. In some of these adobe
yards the common pud-mih of the old
fashioned brick-yard is occasionally
seen. TIE adobes made from clay
mixed by these mills, are not consid-
cred nearly as strong as those made in
the more primitive way OF treading and
mixing the material with the feet.
Adobes are made st the yards as
follows: Selecting a place on the bed
of clay convenient to water, or where
water can be obtained by a small ditch
reaching to the nearest irrigating
ditch, the top soil is shoveled away
where the clay is to be cxcayated.
A space is cleared Of the salt grass and
| rabbit-brush, and levelled for . dry
ing floor. The s'doby" maker. with
q boy to assist. digs out one or more
yards OF clay, forms mound 80 shaped
as to soak up water. throws or runs
water upon it and leaves it to soak
over night. In the morning this clay
is mixed by treading into rather . stiI-
fer mass than can be worked through
q mill.
The sdobyn maker then commences
to mould BY forcibly throwing double
handfuls Of the mud into the moulds.
leveling them of with . sweep of the
hands. and pushing the mould to the
boy who empties it on the drying
floor.
Another mould il filed while the
carrier is emptying the first, and so ON
An average days work is five hundred
adobes. but from eight hundred to Z
thousand are frequently maoe by rapid
and skillful workers. After being par
tally sun baked. they are turned up on
edge, ard when sufficiently dry are
placed in convenient piles. 1t takes
these adobes in summer weather, about
one week to dry.
The loading, transportation, and I'M
loading of these adobes made ut the
yards, damages . large number by
knocking OF the corners and edges.
and it is now customary to have them
made where the building is to be erect
ed. The clay is piled at a convenient
place. and water procured by digging
out small temporary ditch.
Common adobes are always made on
the site where they are to be used, fire.
quen.ly from the earth excavated from
the cellar. These are made either by
foot or machine. according to the guam
tity required. They are used either for
the inner side of walls or for division
walls, where they are not exposed to
the weather. In the order of durabili-
", when exposed to the weather, the
sswhig6 ssleratus DOLBY is all that could
be desired.
In examining carefully the wall Of .
house erected twenty mine years ago.
this variety shows no appreciable wear.
while the blue adobes intermixed in
the same wall are more or less weather
beaten and worn. This wall has .
southern exposure. and has stood the
beating rains from the south and vest
sin e first erected. In the same dwell
ing the walls facing east and north
show NO marks of weather wear. ap-
pearing smooth and in . good order .
Il but recently constructed -Awericss
AgyscSlts<yiss.