Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-02-04
CEMENT DRAIN TILE
Easily Made in Winter Material
Must be Free Of Frost, Keep
Finished Tile From Freezing
for 80 Days.

National Crop Improvement Service. ]
The melancholy days that the poet
Bryant talked about have come and
gone, and the recent warm spell
which has taken place over most of
the corn belt states has greatly les
sened the number of idle days which
the average farmer wastes in winter.
Many farmers were blowing in IL
linois up to December Is. Such con-
ditions are, OF course, unusual !, The
progressive, efficient farmer wishes
there was something he could do dur
Ing winter to utilize his idle hours
and idle days and also to keep his
farm hands busy.
Cooperation Desirable.
Cement drain tile making or manu-
facture by the farmer is a compare
lively simple problem and there is no
reason why the individual farmer
cannot successfully do this work. On
the other hand, cooperation with a
neighbor or two is desirable, if such
neighbors are willing to agree on q
plan of action and stick to it..
The manufacture of cement drain
tile provides one method of co-opera-
ton. A tile making machine can be
purchased by the farmer, or group of
farmers, and the cost will be from $35
to perhaps 500. There is now on
the market a satisfactory machine
selling for $35. While these machines
require small gasoline engine to
operate them, yet this is not factor
to be seriously considered, now that
so many farmers have engines of this
kind On their farms The hauling OF
material (sand and graveD and the
Portland cement from the local dealer
in the nearest town out to the
farms is another cooperative pro-
blem. Given, therefore, group Of
i've or six farmers, who have hauled
several tons of proper material to a
common point and have purchased,
let us say, carload of Portland
cement which will be at least 257
barrels. In addition, a gasoline en-.
CINE must be provided. The group
of farmers are now ready to COM
mence making cement drain tile. It
has not been thought necessary to
comment on the great advantages Of
tiling in this article.
Materials Needed.
According to an eminent concrete
engineer and specifications published
by the Concrete Institute the ma
terials used for making cement drain
tile should be three in number First,
standard Portland cement; second,
torpedo sand or it's equivalent in
screened, graded sand third. clean.
pure water and plenty of it. In win.
ter it will be necessary to heat this
sand outside the building so that al.
frost is removed. The heated ma
terial must be taken Indoors before
it has chance to freeze It is also
desirable that the water should be
heated which, with the large feed
kettle used on many farms, is a com
easy problem. AS to the
water, any water that is unfit for
drinking purposes should not be used
for concrete work at any time.
Torpedo sand is course hard
sand containing no dust, dirt, vege-
table matter or other foreign ma.
terials and ranging from ordinary fine
sand to coarse sand and sometimes
contains little pebbles. broken rock,
ETC.. up to and including one-quarter-
inch in size. Not over 10 per cent.
of this material should be fine sand,
or what every farmer knows as COM
mon beach sand. When sand has to
be purchased (Which is not common
in most farming communities), tor
pedo sand can be specified and
bought from dealers in building ma
terials. Werhe pit or ''bank run"
gravel is used, the coarser material
should be screened through one
sand screen which can
easily be made of ordinary wire
cloth and tackled to a frame of 2x4's.
If too much fine sand appears to be In
the mixture a certain amount of
coarse. material about u Inch in size
should be added to correct this de-
fciency.
Standard Portland cement should
be used with this torpedo sand in the
proportions Of to 3. Under no cir
cumstances should less cement be
used in the manufacture Of cement
drain tile, regardless Of what any
small town contractor or other cover
ly-wise" person may say. Enough
water should be added SO that the
finished tile will bear q webed or
water marked surface The tile
should then be sprinkled and kept
moist for two weeks in closed room
where the temperature does not fall
below freezing. This room, if neces-
sary, must be heated by salamanders,
stoves, etc. The tile should be pro
tected for at least two weeks longer
from freezing, or at least thirty days
in all, after which they may be piled
outside in the yard.
The idea OF farmers in building this
tile should he to make small num-
Der Of first-class tile rather than q
large number Of inferior tile. and