188 FURS. 



The Lehigh and all anthracite coals, being destitute of 

 the volatile matter contained in bituminous coals, are more 

 difficult to ignite than these ; therefore to bring them to the 

 high temperature necessary for combustion requires the aid 

 of the lighter woods and charcoal. Housekeepers who use 

 furnaces to warm their houses require from seventy to nine- 

 ty bushels of charcoal, the quantity varying with the size of 

 the house to be warmed. 



Charcoal, made newly from the heavier kinds of wood, as 

 oak and walnut, is a powerful, and, for many culinary pro- 

 cesses, an economical sort of fuel. 



Wood dried under cover is more free from decomposition 

 than that dried in the open air. 



Hickory or walnut is the best of our native trees for fuel, 

 and commands, consequently, the highest price ; beech, ma- 

 ple, yellow birch, all the species of oak, and locust, form good 

 fuels. Chestnut is unsafe as a fuel, on account of its snap- 

 ping, and throwing its coals to the extremity of a room. 

 White ash, though capable of burning well, is used principally 

 for the arts, for oars, carriages, the handles of instruments, 

 &c. Black birch is also a compact wood, but valuable prin- 

 cipally for furniture, for screws, and implements requiring 

 strength. 



FURS. These articles, like the precious jewels, vary in 

 value as regulated by fashion. Ermine and sable, and the 

 court fur minever, which is said to be more becoming than 

 ermine, have, however, long held the ascendency. The va- 

 rieties of sable are Russian, Hudson's Bay, and Canadian ; 

 ermine and minever are Russian furs ; the curling chinchil- 

 la^ used mostly for children and misses, is from Peru. Stone- 

 martin, whose varying brown constantly discloses, in the ac- 

 cess of every breeze, the downy white of its under surface, 

 the mink, a sort of plebeian sable, the silver-gray fox of 



