I8d6. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



67 



likely to adopt that mode in preference to aqueduct 

 pipes, which v,e can control as we please. Some- 

 what akin to this absurdity, is the idea, that, be- 

 cause fresh air is essential, we should allow it to 

 blow through our houses without obstruction. 



But there is another* consideration, which must 

 not be forgotten, as to double windows. Although 

 glass is, comparatively, a non-conducter, yet a sin- 

 gle thickness, of an eighth of an inch, between the 

 temperature of zero without, and seventy degrees 

 within, is an insufficient protection. The glass be- 

 comes cold, so cold that ice or frost, as we term it, 

 sometimes forms on the inside of it, even in a room 

 comfortably warm, near the fire ; and the air of the 

 room is continually cooled by contact with the 

 glass, without the admission of any fresh air, for no 

 air passes through the glass, though the heat con- 

 stantly escapes through it. The distinction be- 

 tween cold air and fnsh air, must not be forgotten. 

 The cold that comes through the glass, if we may 

 use an expression not quite philosophical, does not 

 purify the air of the room. We are apt to asso- 

 ciate the idea of bad air with that of warm air, but 

 a man would die just as soon, bottled up in a glass 

 jar, for want of fresh air, in a cold, as in a warm 

 place. 



What we need most to provide for, is, not cold 

 air, but air that has not been vitiated by breathing. 

 In other words, we require a change of air in our 

 rooms, and this not by accidental cracks, left by 

 the unsldlfulness of carpenters and masons, but by 

 some systematic arrangement for its admission and 

 escape. The old idea, that, fight as manfully as 

 we may, against the admission of air, enough will 

 somehow get In, must be given up. We can, and 

 for economy ought to, make our houses tight, and 

 as we usually build in these days, they are, with 

 stoves in them, too close for health. 



And now, as to the question of furnaces or stoves 

 for houses in the country. This question does not 

 depend upon the comparative cost of wood and 

 coal, because furnaces are much in use, in some 

 parts of New England, heated by wood. They are 

 frequently constructed of a common cast iron stove, 

 from two to four feet long, with a sheet iron drum 

 on top, all enclosed in a brick chamber, from which 

 the hot air is taken directly, by the usual pipes. 

 ' This cheap and simple mode of heating is liable to 

 the objection, that usually the stove is heated red 

 hot, and so the air is vitiated before It reaches the 

 persons who are to breathe it. All furnaces are 

 obnoxious to the same objection, in some degree, 

 so far as I know, though I dare say, science has, in 

 theory, at least, obviated the difficulty, and every 

 patentee of a furnace In the land will assure you, 

 that his Invention rather improves than corrupts 

 the air passing through it. The theory of a fur- 

 nace, which shall never be red hot, where it comes 

 in contact with the air that passes to the rooms, 



supplied abundantly with fresh air from without, 

 and with water to counteract the drying tendency 

 of the heating process, is unexceptionable. A very 

 large opening from the open air, not from the cel- 

 lar, as often arranged, is necessary for the supply of 

 air, and corresponding openings by way of ventila- 

 tors, to allow its free circulation and escape, are 

 also essential. For a furnace designed to warm 

 five or six rooms of ordinary size, the opening for 

 admission of air should be not a mere stove pipe, 

 but a box eighteen or twenty inches square, or 

 perhaps better, two boxes of that size, opening to- 

 wards different points, to be used according as the 

 wind may blow, and constructed with gates or 

 valves, to be opened and closed by means of cords 

 or rods, from within the house. 



Now an air-tight stove, though perhaps more in 

 use than any other, because It furnishes the most 

 heat, at least expense of fuel, Is generally regarded 

 as the very worst enemy which we take to our 

 homes and firesides, and as generally managed, is 

 bad enough to deserve universal condemnation, 

 but with proper attention to ventilation. Is perhaps 

 as unobjectionable as most furnaces. 



The Primary School House, here in Exeter, a 

 plan and description of which may be seen in vol- 

 ume five of the monthly JST. E. Farmer, affords 

 the best illustration of my Idea of the best use of 

 air-tight stoves. It is in full view from my window, 

 as I write, and my children attend the school there. 

 The school-room is twenty- five feet square, and 

 thirteen in height. It has five large windows, not 

 double, exposed on three sides, and accommodates 

 sixty-two children, and it is warmed by a single air- 

 tight, sheet-iron stove, of common size and con- 

 struction, which stands within about six feet of the 

 chimney at the east side of the room, with funnel 

 enough to go up about eight feet, and thence to the 

 chimney. Under the stove is a large register 

 which admits the air directly from the out- door 

 world. At the west side of the room, there is a 

 ventilator in the ceiling, opening into the attic, 

 which again is relieved of its vitiated air by a cop- 

 per ventilator on the roof. This simple and cheap 

 arrangement gives sufficient heat in the coldest of 

 New Hampshire weather, and the air of the room, 

 though constantly drawn upon by somo sixty little 

 pairs of lungs, for vitalizing theii- young blood, is so 

 constantly changing, as to give no such indication 

 of impurity, as occurs to you on entering a com- 

 mon air-tight room, Inhabited by a single old bach- 

 elor and his close stove. The Avhole secret of the 

 matter is this : abundance of fresh air enters under 

 the stove, and becomes warm as it is drawn up 

 around it. The ventilator in the ceiling at the oth- 

 er end, is not a mere show pipe, such as we see in 

 parlors— -a mere little ornamental pretence, but a 

 trap-door about eighteen Inches by twenty-four, on 

 hinges, managed by a cord and pulleys. The air 



