[Illustration: THE PUERTA DEL SOL, MADRID, SPAIN (From a Photograph.)]

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CONCRETE BUILDINGS FOR FARMS.


Buildings made of concrete have never received the attention in this
country that they deserve. They have the merit of being durable and
fire-proof, and of not being liable to be blown down by violent winds.
It is very easy to erect them in places where sand and gravel are near
at hand and lime is comparatively cheap. Experiments made in England
show that coal screenings may be employed to good advantage in the
place of sand and gravel. Mr. Samuel Preston, of Mount Carroll, Ill.,
has a dwelling and several other buildings made of concrete and
erected by himself. They were put up in 1851, and are in excellent
condition. In _The Farmers' Review_ he gives the following directions
for building concrete walls:

First, secure a good stone foundation, the bottom below frost, the top
about one foot above ground. Near the top of the foundation bed in 2×4
scantling edgewise transversely with the walls, at such distances
apart as the length of the planks that form the boxes to hold the
concrete may require, the ends of the scantling to run six inches
beyond the outside and inside of the wall. Now take 2×6 studding, one
foot longer than the height of the concrete walls are to be, bolt in