172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECEMBER II, 1S33. 



SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. 



The dreadful fire at the Custom House Stores, 

 in Ireland, lias led to a thorough examination of 

 this curious and dangerous phenomenon, partly by 



means of judicial investigation, and partly by news- 

 paper discussion. The subject has been taken up 

 by a Mr. Edw. Stephens, in a correspondence 

 ■with the Editor of Saunders' News-Letter, and 

 treated with considerable ability, and with an array 

 of evidence that puts the reality of such combus- 

 tion beyond controversy, although he has failed to 

 put an end to all scepticism, as to the cause of the 

 fire in question. The evidence produced, as well 

 by Mr. Stephens as in the course of the judicial 

 inquiry, is sufficient to satisfy us, that many a 

 conflagration which is ascribed to some secret in- 

 cendiary, is in fact due to the mysterious agency 

 of nature. It may, perhaps, prove useful and in- 

 teresting to place before our readers, in a con- 

 densed shape, some of the information that we 

 have gleaned on the subject, from the sources 

 above referred to. 



The fixed oils play a principal part in sponta- 

 neous combustion. Philosophers ascribe the phe- 

 nomenon to an absorption of oxygen, which in- 

 creases the temperature, and ultimately produces 

 combustion. Linseed oil mixed with lampblack, 

 or with any light kind of charcoal, and with wool, 

 cotton, flax, hemp, or other vegetable substances, 

 after some time, heats spontaneously, and at length 

 bursts into flame. Waste cotton, used to wipe oil 

 from machinery, has been observed to take fire, 

 after having been thrown aside for a few hours ; 

 and many calamitous fires in cotton mills, may 

 doubtless be traced to such an origin. — Rags, im- 

 pregnated with oil, or even laid by in a damp 

 state, are a prolific source of spontaneous combus- 

 tion, and occasion a danger to be vigilantly guard- 

 ed against, both in private houses and paper mills. 

 Moisture, without oil, is also an agent of such 

 combustion in vegetable**substances ; and hay- 

 stacks, as well as rags, are said to have taken lire 

 from this source. 



The Russian Government, in consequence of 

 the destruction of a Frigate by fire in the harbor 

 of Constantinople, in 1781, and of a large Hemp 

 Magazine, in the same year, and of a slight fire in 

 another Frigate, the following year, instituted a 

 very strict examination of the subject. On the 

 occasion of the last accident it was ascertained 

 that several parcels of matting, tied with pack- 

 thread, in which the soot of burnt fir-wood bad 

 been mixed with oil, for painting the ship, had 

 been lying for a considerable time on the floor of 

 the cabin whence the fire issued. An experiment 

 was immediately made, to test the sufficiency of 

 such a cause of conflagration. Forty pounds of 

 fir-wood soot were well soaked in about thirty-five 

 pounds of hemp oil varnish, and the whole wrap- 

 ped up in a mat and placed in a close cabin. In 

 about sixteen hours it gave out smoke, and when 

 the air was admitted, the whole burst into a flame. 

 The experiment was repeated with linen, and 

 smaller quantities of soot and varnish, with the 

 like result. In both instances, the soot was from 

 wood and not coal. 



The presence of lampblack, or any other dry 

 carbonaceous matter, is not necessary, however, 

 though it promotes the inflammation. Hemp or 

 cotton, soaked in any farinaceous oil, as rape seed 

 or linseed oil, will take fire, either in hot weather 

 or when closely shut up. In Lincolnshire, in Jul) 

 1794, a bale of yarn, of 120 pounds, accidentally 



soaked in rape oil, remaining in a warehouse, 

 spontaneously burst into a violent flame. Wool, 

 or woollen yarn, dressed with oil, (which is gene- 

 rally rape oil,) is subject to like combustion. This 

 species of combustion is generally preceded by the 

 emission of smoke and of a nauseous smell. 



Farinaceous matter of other kinds has been 

 known to produce combustion. Rye flour, patched 

 till of the color of coffee and wrapped in a linen 

 cloth, has been found to become violently hot and 

 destroy the cloth. Wheat flour, when heated in 

 la'rgci quantities, and highly dried, has been known 

 to take fire, causing accidents in granaries and 

 baker's shops. An accident of this kind once hap- 

 pened at a flour warehouse in Turin, containing 

 about 300 sacks of flour. It began by a violent 

 explosion on a lamp being brought into the room, 

 and the whole was soon in flames. Charcoal 

 alone, finely powdered, packed close in large quan- 

 tities, and kept for some time, has been known to 

 take fiie in powder-mills. Roasted coffee, choco- 

 late nuts, French beans, lentils, &c. also have the 

 property of inflaming spontam ously. 



Moisture without oil, will ignite wool, and in- 

 flame cotton. Several tons of wool, collected for 

 export to England in St. John's, (Newfoundland), 

 on which snow had fallen, and into the body of 

 which it had penetrated on melting, gave out 

 smoke, and upon removing the surface to the 

 depth of about two feet, a mass of red fire was 

 discovered. Like instances in cotton rags are nu- 

 merous. Mr. Stephens concluded one of bis letters 

 thus: — "Keeping in view the well known ten- 

 dency of old damp and unaired linen or cotton 

 rags to heat, scorch, and finally ignite, perhaps the 

 public ma) arrive without much difficulty at the 

 true cause of the fires in the Custom House Stores. 

 High Sheriff Lynar, who was actually in the free 

 store during the conflagration, declares his belief, 

 and in this he is supported by the police, sub- 

 constables, and the mate of the Thames, (who first 

 saw the fire) that it broke out in the first loft, on 

 the spot where it has been ascertained, that a num- 

 ber of bales of linen rags from Hambro' were 

 stored. These had been lying in other parts of 

 the bonded store since 1S29 ; during the last four 

 years, their wrappers bad decayed, and the store 

 porters and others wiped their hands unceremoni- 

 ously on the protruding rags, till at last the mana- 

 ger, very properly, had them removed, for safety, 

 into the place called the " Sanctum sanctorum," 

 where the fire found them. If one of them by ex- 

 posure at a broken window, or otherwise, happen- 

 ed to absorb as much moisture as would at length 

 suffice to promote the destructive heating of the 

 contents, the consequences can easily be calculated 

 without having recourse to the supposition of the 

 band of an incendiary, wilfully applying the 

 torch. 



It is somewhat remarkable, that Sir Edmund 

 Davy, Professor of Chemistry to the Royal Dublin 

 Society, who was examined in reply to Mr. Old- 

 ham, of the Bank of Ireland, (who testified to sev- 

 eral instances of spontaneous inflammation, within 

 his personal knowledge, of cotton rags employed 

 in wiping the plates from which the Bank notes 

 were printed,) carried his skepticism so far, as to 

 east doubt on the whole theory of spontaneous 

 combustion. 



Public opinion seems not to have been satisfied 

 on the natural origin of the fire, as Mr. Stephens 

 alludes to a large reward just offered for the dis- 

 covery of the incendiary. — Charleston Courier. 



From t/ie Gntesee Farmer. 

 FATTENING HOGS ON APPLE PIE. 



Franki.iiv's adage, in the mouth of Poor Rirh- 

 ard, that "a penny seirerl is as good as two pence 

 earned" should be constantly in the recollection of 

 the farmer. There is scarcely a plant that grows 

 upon the farm but what may be made to furnish 

 wholesome food to animals or vegetables. To 

 know when and how to use them, and resolutely to 

 give this knowledge a practical application, con- 

 stitute one of the most valuable features in good 

 farming. The stocks, the straw, and even the 

 weeds, that waste in the fields, and the urine that 

 is washed from the yard, are as much the natural 

 food of vegetables, as hay and grain is of animals; 

 and if husbanded and properly applied, will make 

 a fair return. But as it seems doubtful whether 

 the present generation, in ivestern New York, can 

 be made to appreciate the importance of econo- 

 mising the food of vegetables, we will state some 

 Diets in regard to economising animal food, which 

 we trust may not be unacceptable. 



Stephen Titus of New Baltimore, fattens bis 

 hogs upon apple pie .' So he told us to-day. Ste- 

 phen Titus is of the religious denomination termed 

 Friends, a pretty good guarantee for bis veracity. 

 But we want no guarantee ; for we verily believe 

 all he. told us; and as we consider the facts valua- 

 ble, we will give the narration in detail. I fill a 

 potash kettle, said he, with two parts of apples 

 and one of potatoes, together with half a bushel of 

 Indian meal or bran, and a sufficient quantity of 

 water to boil the mass well. When boiled, 1 call 

 it apple pic. It is then thrown into the swill tub, 

 mashed with a mall, and the butter-milk and sour- 

 milk of the dairy added, when it may be termed 

 tijiple pie and milk. Mr. Titus says he has used 

 apples for years, and with great advantage, in fat- 

 tening hogs and neat cattle, both in a raw and 

 conked stale ; and that he considers an orchard 

 even for these purposes, a valuable appendage to 

 a farm. Friend Titus contrasted his management 

 in this respect, with a neighbor, who bad cut 

 down 200 fine Jersey Sweeting apple trees, as 

 cumberers of the ground. 



Mr. Titus' is the first experiment with cooked 

 apples that we have beard of; but we don't see 

 why cooking apples may not be an improvement, 

 when given to high fed animals, as well as cook- 

 ing corn and potatoes. An interesting fact was 

 stated to us a few days since by one of the best 

 farmers of our country, one who has probably col- 

 lected more important data upon the profits of dif- 

 ferent branches of husbandry than any other. In 

 a nicely managed experiment in fattening bogs, he 

 alternated for some days with each kind of food, 

 boiled potatoes and meal, — and hasty-pudding. 

 He found that the potatoes and meal made two 

 pounds of live pork in each hog per day, while 

 the hasty-pudding made more than three pounds 

 per day, we think he said 3J or 3J lbs. a conclu- 

 sive evidence of the difference in food, as well as 

 of the importance of having it well cooked — for 

 probably the meal was not mixed with the pota- 

 toes till after they bad been boiled. 



We have a word more to add upon orchards. 

 A fanatic zeal has in more instances than one led 

 to their destruction, under the plea that they fos- 

 tered intemperance ! Why not carry the principle 

 through ? Cider, especially in its concentrated 

 form of cider brandy, may cause intoxication, and 

 lead to intemperate habits. Rye and corn, by the 

 aid of the distillery, cause the like evils. Shall we 



