Placing the Concrete
Always begin placing the concrete on the low side of the floor, so that the rain from sudden showers will not run from the hard onto the newly placed concrete. Fill the trench and the slab section of the forms with concrete. Bring the surface to grade by drawing over it a straight edge with its ends on the opposite forms or with one end on the form and the other on the finished concrete. Four inches in from the edge, on each of the low sides, temporarily embed the rounded 4 by 6-inch gutter mold and tamp it down until its square top is even with the surface of the slab section of the floor. Remove the mold, finish with a wooden float and cure the floor as [described on pages 31-34]. Connect the gutters with the manure pit by means of a trough, another gutter, or by large drain tile laid underground.
On the next page is given an itemized bill of materials necessary for a 6-inch floor 24 by 36 feet, amply large to accommodate 50 hogs.
| Materials Required | |
|---|---|
| Crushed rock or screened gravel, 20 cubic yards @ $1.10 | $22.00 |
| Sand, 10 cubic yards @ $1.00 | 10.00 |
| Portland cement, 28 barrels @ $2.50 | 70.00 |
| $102.00 |
Mixing the concrete by hand, 5 men can usually finish this floor in two days. Depending upon the price of labor and materials and the thickness of the concrete, the floor will cost 6 to 12 cents for each square foot of surface.
Manure Pits and Cisterns
For restoring the fertility of the fields, there is nothing better than barnyard manure. By the ordinary methods of piling it on the ground or storing it in wooden pens, from 30 to 50 per cent. of the manure’s strength is wasted. This loss is brought about in two ways:
- First—By “leaching” or washing out, due to heavy rains.
- Second—By heating or “firing,” caused by lack of sufficient moisture.
Since concrete pits are waterproof, manure can be kept in them as moist as necessary. Moreover, with concrete pits the supply of manure is increased, as all the liquid manure, from the gutters of the barns, barnyard pavements and feeding floors, is saved.