DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF FUEL. 299 



water at a higher temperature is wanted, it can be supplied up to about 

 230 without the generation of steam, by heating it under pressure ; this 

 can be attained by having a close boiler fed from a cistern placed at 

 the top of the house. For the preparation of preserves and some 

 other cooking operations, such a system is most convenient. 



One pound of coal should raise from fifty to sixty gallons of water 

 from 45 to 212, and, when raised, very little fuel is required to main- 

 tain it, in a properly-constructed boiler, at that temperature. The 

 total amount of water, at such a temperature, used daily, in an ordi- 

 nary middle-class house, does not exceed thirty or forty gallons, and, 

 therefore, if the boiler were made so as to absorb as much heat as pos- 

 sible, the hot water used in an ordinary middle-class house, with a 

 family of ten or twelve persons, ought not, with thorough economy, to 

 consume more than one-sixth of a ton of coals in the year. Count 

 Rumford shows in his treatise that 25 lbs. of bread ought to be baked 

 with one pound of coal, and that 100 lbs. of meat should be cooked 

 with 2\ lbs. of coal. If, therefore, we fully utilized our fuel, it is clear 

 that, in the preparation of our food and hot water for domestic pur- 

 poses, -J- lb. of coal per head of the population ought to be a sufficient 

 daily allowance, which would be equivalent to one-twelfth of a ton per 

 annum, and in large households even less than that quantity ought to 

 suffice. I do not suppose that we should ever attain to this minimum 

 of consumption, but it is well to consider what the standard is, so that 

 we may not rest satisfied till it has been much more nearly approached 

 than hitherto. 



Economy has, as I before observed, latterly been sought in com- 

 bined apparatus. "Where large numbers of persons have to be cooked 

 for, and where, consequently, a carefully-constructed apparatus is al- 

 ways worked to its full extent, the results which have been obtained 

 show a very moderate consumption of fuel ; but the same apparatus, 

 when used for smaller numbers of persons, gives results not favorable 

 to economy. 



The boilers in use in barracks, when I first took up the question, 

 required from 16 ozs. to 20 ozs. of coal per head to supply water for 

 breakfast and tea, and washing up, and to make soup for dinner for 

 fifty or sixty men. The boilers I introduced would perform the same 

 duty with from 3 to 4 ozs. of coal for each person cooked for, provided 

 the number amounted to fifty or sixty persons. The ovens for roast- 

 ing, which I introduced into barracks, would roast and bake with 1 oz. 

 of coal for each person cooked for, when cooking for the full number 

 for which the oven was designed, and for such numbers as 200 to 

 400 persons ; smaller ovens would require 2 ozs. per head when cook- 

 ing for 50 men. Of course, to produce these effects, great care was 

 required. 



Messrs. Benham introduced cooking apparatus which, when cook- 

 ing for the full number of 300 soldiers, would perform the total daily 



