The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-05-18
ElRsT-cLAss srARLEs.
Concrete Floors which Outlast and Cost
Loss Than Plank.

Ask any farmer what part OF hi
premises gives most trouble and OK
pense to keep in repair, and think tn,
usual answer will be, ''The stabl,
floors" Recent inquiry gave me tn,
information that these last only three
to five years. My new barn, built foul
years ago, had selected seasoned lum
Der for the stable floors, and while ir
the ow-stable the floor is still in fail
condition, was obliged to put new
layer of boards in each stall of the
horse-stable last fall to enable me tc
get through the winter. l have fol
several years wanted to substitute con-
crete for plank, but could not Learn
how to do it SO as to be sure of a good,
substantial job, and did not feel like
paying the price the men asked who
are regularly in the business, namely,
$50 for flooring u stable 15x30 feet.
Visiting a friend last fall, he told me
he had kept close watch of a barn
floored five years previous with cement,
and had determined to adopt 1t. He
found that in stalls where heavy, sharp
shod horses had stood for the five years
the floor did not show sign of wear,
and he believed that If rightly made a
stable floor of concrete would last a life
time. This friend visited me last week
land told me he laid his floor in October
and put his horse on it a month later;
that it was a perfect success, and he in
tends, the coming autumn, to put floors
of this material into his constable and
his horse stable in his own barn, the
floor he laid being in a new horse
barn. The stable he hoored is 15x44
feet, and to complete it he used eight
barrels of common or Louisville cement
(S1.50 per barreD, and six barrels
Portland cement Cs3. so per barely, or
$33 for purchased material for the
floor. The sand, gravel and broken
stone he had in abundance on his own
farm. AS most of the job was done at
odd times when the land was too wet
to work, he could not tell exactly what
it cost, but it required something over
week for two hands. He first filed
his stable with good clay and leveled
it up to within eight inches of where
must be Thoroughly tamped, and the
best way is to put it in some weeks be-
forehard and let the horses tread it
down solid. If The ground is spouty,
or inclined TO wetness, it is best to use
coarse gravel instead of clay.) Then
six inches of concrete was put in,
made as follows: 2 barrels clean, sharp
gravel and three barrels stone, broken
so that no piece was larger than an
egg, were mixed with / barrel of
Louisville cement.
This was shoveled over so as to get
it thoroughly mixed, and then wet just
enough to make the cement adhere to
the stone. 1t was then spread down,
inches at a time, and thoroughly
tamped with rammer having face
3 or 10 inches broad. In putting in
this foundation use level or straight
edge, and level up and establish the
grades exactly as you want them when
lone. For the finishing coat (or 'liquid
;tone," as it is called) use three parts
sharp sand to part Portland cement;
nix dry with shovel or hoe and then
screen, to insure thorough mixing.
Have one man to mix while another
puts it down, and mix but little at
ime, as it soon sets. Lay this finish
ng coat in strips p feet wide, so you
AN reach across to finish it. Work
With your knee on a strip of 2-inch |
blank and fill just even with the top OF
t, using a short straightedge across to |
he last strip. AS soon as strip is laid |
own il must be smoothed off, as ce-
nent soon hardens so that trowel will |
ave no impression on it. 1t would
pay the average farmer, un-
sed to handling a trowel, to employ a
IAN to put down the finishing coat, but
18th an ordinary day laborer any
irmer can put in the foundation and
ct the material all ready for the last
oat. If the weather is very hot and
ny keep the stable closed so as to pre-
ent drying too rapidly. Do not put
le horses on it until it is solid, which
ill be perhaps month, and when you
rst use it bed heavily with sawdust or
ther fine bedding not easily paved out
( the stall. A little figuring shows
lat the coat of the cement is not far
om what the lumber would cost to
DOR stable, and in my locality, if
lould buy oak lumber it would cost
more, as oak here is $25
Dr. NJ, or over, and 1920 feet will be
,quired to lay Pinch floor, beside
le joist, in a stable the size of that
hich my friend fioored with $33 worth
cement. l believe the cement is
uch better for horses feet, as it will
,t dry out the hoofs like plank. In
ying this floor you must set the
udding for the stall partitions before
itting in the foundation, so that they
i'll be held firmly. Itwould probably
wise to floor a stall or two, or
lall stable, and give it trial before
lopting it generally. believe, how
rer, that if you follow the above di-
ctions there will be no danger OF
+. Brown, in N. Y.
'ibune.
Poor crops of almost any thing else