Concrete has been the theme of many books. No excuse can be found for this one by claiming that the subject has not been written of before, yet the authors feel that there is a good excuse or reason for their efforts. While most of the volumes that have been written upon concrete are full of valuable information, the interested person has too frequently found that they contain but a little which really responds to his interest.

During the past two or three years concrete has occupied a place in the mind and doings of many people who previously knew or thought little of the subject or the material. Among these are thousands of school children in hundreds of vocational schools in various parts of the country, where enterprising instructors have looked abroad for new and untried yet practical subjects to add to their list and have chosen concrete work.

This little book has been prepared primarily as a workroom handbook for school shop use. Throughout the attempt has been to present those principles of good practice upon which depends the success of attempts at using concrete. The aim has been to write so anyone could understand. If that aim has been attained the authors will feel well repaid for their efforts.

Those who know the breadth of the subject, concrete, will realize that this little book falls far short of telling all that might be done with this wonderful modern building material. Enough has been told, however, to stimulate the interested person to look farther for more information. Much of this can be had for the asking; and no source of published information is better than the many leaflets and booklets published by the Portland Cement Association. Among them may be mentioned the following, which can be had upon request by addressing the Association at 111 West Washington Street, Chicago:

Concrete Silos.

Portland Cement Stucco.

Concrete Swimming and Wading Pools.

Fundamentals of Reinforced Concrete Design.

Suggested Specifications for Concrete Floors.

Protecting Concrete in Warm Weather.

Specifications for Concrete Roads, Streets and Alleys with Recommended Practice.

Concreting in Cold Weather.

Simple Forms for Concrete.

Tennis Every Day on Concrete Courts.

Concrete Septic Tanks.

Concrete Fence Posts.

Concrete Feeding Floors, Barnyard Pavements and Concrete Walks.

Proportioning Concrete Mixtures and Mixing and Placing Concrete.

Concrete Foundations.

Concrete Troughs, Tanks, Hog Wallows, Manure Pits and Cisterns.

Other books that the student or home worker may wish to see and read after he has finished with this little manual are the following:

Concrete Construction for Rural Communities. By Roy A. Seaton. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. $2.00.

Concrete on the Farm and in the Shop. By H. Colin Campbell. Norman W. Henley Publishing Company, New York. $0.75.

Concrete Pottery and Garden Furniture. By Ralph C. Davison. Munn and Company, Inc., New York. $1.50.

Farm Concrete. By K. J. T. Ekblaw. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.75.

Limes and Cements; Their Nature, Manufacture and Uses. By Ernest A. Dancaster. D. Appleton and Company, New York. $1.75.

Popular Handbook for Cement and Concrete Users. By Myron H. Lewis and Albert H. Chandler. Norman W. Henley Publishing Company, New York. $2.50.

As even a simple use of concrete requires the application of certain fundamentals if the finished work is to be in every way a success, it will be clear that to arrange matter of this kind in the ordinary textbook form is practically impossible. The nearest approach to such an arrangement is evident in the last portion of this manual, where various designs for a number of concrete objects are presented in a logical order of progress as relates to the difficulty of making forms for these objects.

Hardly any subject other than concrete could be chosen for vocational shop work that would develop wood-working skill at the same time it discloses to the worker the possibilities of another material or medium of expression.

It is hoped that throughout this book there will be recognized a consistent effort to make it absolutely fit the title, "Practical Concrete Work for the School and Home."

THE AUTHORS. Chicago, September, 1917.