Ill 



lodgements above the ovens of kitchens, or about the throat of 

 the chimney, which are within reach of a hand brush, would 

 often effect a temporary relief. Complete sweeping, however, 

 being a recurrent matter of expense, a sanitary clause should 

 entail it on the landlord for poor tenants, say every three 

 months in summer, and two in winter for kitchens ; but where 

 fires are only occasionally used, then perhaps once or twice a 

 year should be the rule. Six weeks is the time at law, within 

 which, if a chimney takes fire, the sweeper, if he can be iden- 

 tified, (and for this purpose formerly all chimney-sweepers were 

 obbged to wear a number on a brass badge), is responsible for 

 any fine ; but if beyond that period, the occupier of the house 

 is the party mulcted. . The penalty for chimneys taking fire 

 in towns is not, however, sufficient to ensure freedom from 

 smoky dwellings, as the poor cannot easily afford the charge 

 for frequent sweeping — a shilling to them being a serious con- 

 sideration. Formerly, when soot was more an article of value 

 for chemical purposes, in some towns the fraternity of chimney 

 sweepers were a constant annoyance, from soliciting employ- 

 ment for the value of the soot, but modern science has made 

 it desirable only with the gardener and farmer, and somehow or 

 other it is now less in favour even with them. This rather sur- 

 prises me in the farmer, for it is well known that scattering 

 soot upon a meadow has a great effect on the grass, rendering it 

 sweet, tender, and crisp, and more abundant withal, so that if 

 a corner has soot over it, there the cattle congregate, as their 

 blackened mouths readily show. In Liverpool, and probably 

 other seaports, its chief demand is for the West Indies, where 

 it is much prized for the culture of the sugar-cane, and until 

 lately it was worth about a shilling a bushel, the average 

 sweepings of a kitchen chimney being about half this quantity. 

 It would seem therefore an excellent and philanthropic 

 arrangement were it obligatory to attach a corps of chimney- 

 sweepers to each sanitary staff, say one for every 40,000 of 

 population. The value of the soot would almost defray the 



