Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-06-23
CHEAP COUNTRY PAINT.


a Mixtsrs which Any Intelllgsut Farmer
Can Prepare.
A method Of painting farm buildings
and country houses. while by no means
new, ID yet so little known and 50 de-
serving Of wider application as to war
rant . description. The paint has but
two parts, both cheap materials. being
watcr-lime and hydraulic cement aud
skimmed-milk. The cement is placed
in . bucket. and the skim-milk. sweet.
Is gradually added. stirring constantly.
until just about tho consistency of good
cream. Tho stirring must be thor
ougllly done to have an even flow. and
il too thin, the mixture will run on the
building and look streaked. The pro-
portions can not be exactly stated. but
ga Ion Of milk requires full quart
of cement and sometimes little
more. This 10 = convenient guam.
tity to mix at time, for one
person TO use. If too much is pre-
pared the cement will settle and hard
en- before all is used. A fat paint
brush. about four inches wide. 10 the
best implement to use with this mix
ture. Lay it on exactly as with oil
paint 1t can be applied to woodwork.
old or new, and to brick and stone.
When dry. the color is light. creamy
brown, or what some would cal yell
lowish stone color. Neither express
sion describes it well. but it Is very
| good color for country building. A
| pigment like ochre may be added to
change the color. but it Is very diff
cult to do the mixing 50 thoroughly q
to give an even tint. II attempted. the
cement and coloring matter. in care
fully weighed proportions, should be
hrst run through a paint mill. This
skim-milk paint. we'll mixed, without
added color, has COOL body. gives a
smooth, satisfactory finish, on either
wood or stone. and wears admirably.
A friend Of mine usetl this paint fol
a set Of farm buildings which have sincs
passed through three winters and III,
now looking fresh and well. One build
ing was new and the covering boards
impcrfectly seasoned; others had beer
whitcwashed, some repeatedly for more
than half century. All appear equal
lywel. The older buildings were pre-
pared by scraping off the loose an,
scaly whitewash. the scrapor being
curry-comb; it was not much work to d
this. The expense OF this piece Of paint
ing was surprisingly sleight A lahore
mt 81. so day did the work. and h
covered two-story. twclvc-room houS
in six working days. He laid on fror
: three to four gallons II day the who
quantity used on this building bein
less than bushel OF cement. costin
fifty cents. and twenty-five gallons q
skim-milk, worth less than n dollar o
the farm. The whole cost Of satisf {
torily painting goods I'd house. brus
inc uded, was below Sl2.
i This painting mixture. so easily an
+ ,heaply prepared. was describ ii !
I recipe books years ago, but know
edge of it was revived by General |.
Due while he was U. S. COMMISSIONS
q of Agriculture. He mentioned an il
) stance of country house within h
personal knowledge. the body of whic
I was covered with skim milk and G
9 ment and the trimmings with lead an
\ oil paint. forty five. years before he IL
: scribcd it; during this period the trim
!, ming paint had boon renewed sever;
; times, but the cheap body color r.
: manned we'll preserved. America
}, CuL iva.0r.