ries. The utility of tliis plan must not be over- 

 looked in making arrangements for nsing steam- 

 heat, nor likewise the simplicity by which the 

 same agent could be applied for a clothes-drying 

 house for family use. Nor must we forget the 

 advantages of heating poultry -houses with spare 

 steam-heat, or even the poussiniere. or nursery 

 for egg-hatching. Nor is this chimerical — the 

 poussiniere of M. Bonnemain, invented fifty 

 years ago, heated by hot-water pipes, or steam, 

 we are told, was found to be an ingenious and 

 profitable establishment ; and this plan, as old as 

 the Egyptians, while it has been revived within 

 these few years, aiibrds to the busy housewife, 

 where her spouse has laid out a few^ pounds on 

 the erection of a stcam-eugine. or steam-mill as 

 it is called, or boiler, an ample supply of heat 

 for bringing chickens in winter into market, to 

 rewai'd her with a profitable investment. The 

 above are merely a few things of the many this 

 powerful agent can be made to do, even on a 

 small scale ; nor must I forget, for the house- 

 wife, the washing-machine, both driven by 

 steam-power, and svpplied with steam, and 

 other excellent applications of steam, many of 

 which will be found described (as they have 

 been practically applied) in Silvester's Domes- 

 tic Philosophy. 



The great distance to which steam can be con- 

 veyed from the boiler would excite surprise to 

 those who have never seen it ; hence there could 

 be no difficulty in applying it, in addition to 

 what is stated, to many horticultural purposes — 

 such as warming a hot-house and conservatoiy, 

 and pine or melon pits, or even forcing land, or 

 garden ground. The daily new inventions and 

 purposes to which it is applied point out an in- 

 exhaustible field for extension. 



But the utility of the steam-engine is not prac- 

 tically exhausted : the boiler chimney could be 

 made of the greatest utility for an important pur- 

 pose — vejitilation — a thing so much neglected 

 in most arrangements. The whole range of sta- 

 bles, cattle-sheds, and even piggery, grain lofts, 

 &c. could be brought under a perfect system of 

 ventilation by the fire draught, by means of 

 metal or wooden pipes, or brick or stone flues, 

 communicating with the ash-pit of the furnace — 

 a plan which has been long known,* yet so lit- 

 tle practically made available. The importance 

 of ventilation to stables, though generally ad- 

 mitted, is frequently neglected. Although we 

 have many examples on record, especially in 

 horse-barracks in the army, of the evil conse- 

 quences of bad ventilation — as all animals, when 

 confined, rapidly destroy the atmosphere, both 

 by respiration and secretitious exhalations from 

 the skin — producing carbonic acid, and other 

 ammoniacal and mephitic gases. Hence the 

 lower animals require even more air in the same 

 ratio than the human race ; and, to keep horses, 

 cattle, poultry, sheep, pigs and dogs in a healthy 

 condition, and free from cutaneous diseases, 

 when much confined, besides wholesome food, 

 a constant renovation of the air should go on ; 

 and even in stables, if heat is required, which it 

 must be, it is surely better to provide artificial 

 heat, by passing a steam-pipe through the sta- 

 ble, than by enclosing the animals in a loose box 

 heated by their own exhalations, or by closing 

 the stable up, to allow them, as it is termed, to 

 draw heat from one another. I do not think suf- 

 ficient attention is ever paid, in the construction 



P * See an account of this, in a paper read by the 



> _writer before the Royal Society of Arte, 10th April, 



1843 : and printed in the Society's Transactions. 



(1118) 



of stables and cattle-houses, to the necessity of 

 ample light as well as air. The effect of want 

 of light on vegetables and plants is so well 

 known that there can be no doubt light is equal- 

 ly required for the health of man and the lower 

 animals. In addition to the stables, &c. the 

 same range of cottages which I have shown 

 could be so easily heated with spare .steam, or 

 hot water, from the engine-boiler — could, with 

 equal effect, be ventilated by fines drawing or 

 sucking out the impure air to the furnace — or if 

 the fire draught was found inconvenient, or 

 thought objectionable, as has been said, for " at- 

 tenuating the air," then the wind fan could be 

 driven by the steam-engine, to effect the same 

 purpose. In all and every case to which venti- 

 lation is applied, whether to suck out the im- 

 pure air from cottage or stable, provision is to 

 be made for the inlet of fresh air. as well as the 

 escape of impure air. Thus, with a little ex- 

 pense in the first arrangement, fann-house, cot- 

 tages and offices could be placed under a thor- 

 ough system of ventilation — under perfect con- 

 trol ; and the same agent which effected this 

 would supply, without more cost for fuel, an 

 ample supply of heat to wami with salubrity 

 many cottages; even ample .supplies of warm 

 air. if prefeiTed, heated by steam, might be dis- 

 tributed, thereby increasing the comfort of the 

 cottage fire or the farmer's hall. 



In addition to all this, an agent so accessible 

 as the engine chimney might be applied to other 

 useful purposes — to preserve the roof and tim- 

 bers of the buildings, as well as so contrived 

 that a flue from each stack in the yard might 

 create a circulation of air in w-et weather, and 

 prevent the heating of the grain in the stack. 



I might pursue this subject still farther, but I 

 am well aware that even much of what I have 

 already suggested the farmer may be apt to re- 

 gard as chimerical, and inconvenient for him to 

 adopt in practice. This I am prepared to ex- 

 pect. But opposition of this kind goes for no- 

 thing. It is like the slow-sailing ship in the 

 wide sea, which is soon distanced by more ac- 

 tive competitors. When we remember the 

 state of the Scottish farms of old, and contrast 

 them with the improved state of modem tillage, 

 and knowledge of chemical properties of soils 

 and manures, we may observe what a few j-ears 

 have already produced, and what a prospect of 

 progressive advancement is still held out. I 

 agree with Mr. Babbage " that Science and 

 Knowledge are subject, in extension and in- 

 crease, to have effects quite opposite to those 

 which regulate the material world : the farther 

 we advance from the origin of our knowledge, 

 the larger it becomes, and the greater power it 

 bestows upon its cultivators to add new fields to 

 its dominions. . . . Tiie mind contemplates 

 the past, and feels irresistibly convinced that the 

 vv'hole already gained bears a constantly dimin- 

 ishing ratio to that which is contained within 

 the still more rapidly expanding horizon of our 

 knowledge. . . ■ The experience of the 

 past has stamped with the indelible character of 

 truth the maxim that ' knowledge is power.' " 

 [Journal of High, and Ag. Soc. of Scotland. 



Burnt Cream. — Prep. Cream, 1 quart; cas- 

 sia, a small stick ; the peel of half a lemon ; boil 

 for 5 minutes; let it cool a little and takeout the 

 spice : then add the yelks of 9 eggs, and sugar to 

 sweeten ; stir until cold, put it into a dish, strew 

 powdered sugar over it, and bake it until brown. 



