Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1914-02-20
Crop Improvement
It's Not What a Man Thinks Of
His Critics but Of Himself That
Counts.
CONCRETE FENCE POSTS POPULAR
Government Recommends Concrete
Fence Posts for Farmers - Good
Material, Care in Mixing Con-
crete, and Reinforcing Neces-
sary for Success.

| National Crop Improvement Service.
Many things have contributed tc
make concrete one of the leading
building materials of the day. 1t has
shown its worth as substitute for
wood because of its moderate cost, its
durability, the ease with which it is
handled, the wide distribution of sand,
gravel, and stone which enter into its
composition, and the tremendous
growth of the cement industry. 1t
has been thoroughly tried and tested,
not only in laboratories, but also by
years of actual use by the United
States Government, by state agricul-
tural colleges, by railroads and stock
yards, and by hundreds of farmers,
and it has, among other things, proved
successful in the construction of fence
posts, according to Farmers Bulletin
No. 403, published by the United
States Department of Agriculture.
IF manufactured as usual and cured
for three months, concrete posts are
as good as the best wooden posts of
the same size. After three years
service wooden posts possess only
from one-third to one-half of their
original strength, whereas concrete
grows stronger with age and needs no
repairs, for neither weather nor fire
Injuries it. Under ordinary circum-
stances, good concrete posts will last
forever; and even if a few, in the
course of years, should be broken by
unusual strains, it is cheaper to re-
place these than to replace an entire
fence of decayed wooden posts with
posts of material with the same lack
of durability"
Care Must Be Used in Materials.
Condensing the information issued
by the Department of Agriculture it
may be said that the sand and gravel
used in making concrete must be
clean and free from dirt, vegetable
matter or other foreign material. The
sand must be coarse and should run
up to and including one-fourth of an
inch in size.
The gravel must also be clean and
should vary in size from one-fourth
of an inch to one inch, and not larger.
1t is advisable to screen the sand.
because ordinarily in what is called
'bank-run" material there is altogether
too much sand in proportion to the
larger and coarser materials. Thus
screening not only makes better con-
crete at less expense but insures uni
form results. A one-fourth inch wire
screen should be used for the purpose
of dividing the sand and gravel and
everything which passes through this
screen can be used as sand. Such
screen can be easily purchased at a |
local hardware store and fastened to
a 2x4 wooden frame.
Mixture Used.
What is known as a l:2:3 mix
should be used for making concrete
fence posts Mix one sack or cubic
foot of Portland cement (Which
weighs ga lbs.), 2 cubic feet of coarse
sand, up to one-fourth of an inch in
size, and cubic feet of gravel rang
ing in size from one-fourth of an inch
to one inch. 1t is essential for sue
cess that the proportions be used as
above directed, although farmers fire.
quently use what they call | IS mix
which is altogether wrong as pointed |
out above.
Necessity for Reinforcement.
Concrete fence posts must be rein
forced One of the best ways to do
this is to use four three-s ixteenth-inch |
steel rods, which can be purchased at
the local hardware store, or if the
hardware dealer does not happen to
have them on hand he can readily /
obtain them from the steel companies
in Chicago or Pittsburgh, For exam
pie: in a 6x4 post feet long, which
is a popular size, the reinforcement
should be placed in the four corners
of the posts as close to the outside
edge as possible and not in the middle.
If the reinforcing is placed in the
middle it will have no practical value.
1t is advisable to tie the wires to-
gether so that they will not move in
the concrete, which, by the way,
should be of wet or mushy con-
sistency, up to reasonable point,
the more water which is added to con-
crete the better it will be.
Farmers Can Cooperate.
Farmers can cooperate to advan-
tage and buy one of the many steel
fence post forms on the market. They |
can also get together and purchase
Portland cement by the carload, and
by using all their teams at one time
can haul large quantities of sand and |
gravel at a minimum cost. If, how
ever, the individual farmer cannot or
will not cooperate with his neigh
bors, he can by writing the Depart
ment of Agriculture and getting
Farmers Bulletin No. 403, the Con-
struction of Concrete Fence Posts,
find out how to make homemade