FARMERS' REGISTER— PAINTING HOUSES. 



949 



constantly stirring it with a dry pine stick, until 

 the stick beconnes a little brownish from the heat, 

 when pressed against the bottom of the crucible. 

 Now weigh it, and set down the loss for water of 

 combination. 



5. Heat the second parcel, stirring as before 

 with a glass rod or slip of window glass, until it is as 

 a red heat, and no glimmering sparks to be seen. 

 Weigh it, deduct the weight of the water of com- 

 bination, and set down the remainder of the loss 

 for animal and vegetable matter. 



6. Put the third parcel into a pint of pure water. 

 Stir it repeatedly for about ten minutes. Let it 

 stand precisely three minutes for the silicious mat- 

 ter to settle. Pour off into another vessel, all the 

 supernatant liquid and its contents. Add another 

 pint of water to the silicious sediment. Let it set- 

 tle just three minutes as before. Pour off all the 

 supernatant liquid again. Dry the sediment about 

 as dry as when weighed. Weigh it and set it down 

 for silicious matter. 



7. Subtract the sum of the weights of the wa- 

 ter of combination, the animal and vegetable mat- 

 ter, and the silicious matter, from 200 grains, and 

 the remainder set down for argillaceous matter. 



8. Pour into one glass vessel the two portions 

 of supernatant liquid, which had been poured from 

 the silicious matter, and note the time required 

 for settling, so as to leave the liquid clear. Set the 

 time down for power of absorption. 



./Analysis made by Dr. T. R. Beck and myself, 

 of soils taken in the vicinity of Albany and Troy. 



Upland loam. Absorption, 4 hours in settling. 

 Water of combination, 4 per cent. Animal and 

 vegetable matter, 5 per cent. Silicious matter, 

 68 per cent. Aluminous matter, 23 per cent. 



Best lowland loam. Absorption, 3 hours in set- 

 tling. Water of combination, 4 per cent. Animal 

 and vegetable matter, 12 per cent. Silicious mat- 

 ter, 58 per cent. Aluminous matter, 26 per cent. 



On Painting" Houses. 



BY KOBEKT R. HARDEN. 



From the Southern Planter. 

 Starvation Farm, Feb. 12, 1833. 

 Sir, — We use paint on our wooden buildings 

 with two objects : first, ornament ; second, dura- 

 bility. Was oil used by itself, without any color- 

 ing matter, the wood would be made more dura- 

 ble than it is with paint ; but as ornament is a 

 considerable part of the objects of painting, and as 

 the addition of paint to the oil, when properly pre- 

 pared, does not very materially injure the preser- 

 vative qualities of the oil, the ornamental effect of 

 the coloring more than counterbalances the injury 

 it does. Paint, when properly prepared, thereibre, 

 while it is highly ornamental to wooden buildings, 

 so materially contributes towards their durability, 

 that there is economy in using it. But as it is gene- 

 rally prepared, (I may say always,) the ornamen- 

 tal effect of it on the outside ot buildings is made 

 only temporary, and its preservative qualities 

 wholly destroyed. It is only necessary to look at 

 our quickly decaying wooden buildings, with the 

 paint washed off more or less in different places, 

 according as it is exposed to the sun and rain, to be 

 satisfied that the expense of painting has added very 

 little towards preserving the building ; and wheth- 

 er a building looks better without paint, or with 

 fiaint nearly all washed off, with here and there a 

 ittle remaining to show that it once was painted, 

 Vol. 1—32 



taste must determine. If what I have stated be a 

 fact, that paintas mostly prepared, isof little value, 

 it will be well to look into the cause of it that the 

 evil may be remedied; and if I give the correct 

 cause, happily the evil is removed without ex- 

 pense or trouble ; or rather, it is cheaper to paint 

 well than in this defective manner. We have on- 

 ly to leave out the spirits of turpentine, and we will 

 have good paint. Ask the painter why he adds it 

 to the paint, and he will tell you to make it dry 

 quick. This is just the same as saying, to destroy 

 the oil, which renders the paint useless. Now let 

 us reason upon it and see if this is correct. If we 

 pour oil on wood it soaks into it, and after it is all 

 soaked up, if we apply more oil it will strike still 

 deeper and soak up more; when it has penetrated 

 sufliciently deep into the wood as to prevent mois- 

 ture from rain, &c. penetrating as deep as itself, 

 the wood is rendered very lasting. This would be 

 the case if the ijuilding was simply covered with 

 two coats of oil without paint. If we give it only 

 one coat of oil, with a sufficient quantity of paint to 

 give it color, the wood would so quickly soak up 

 the oil that the paint would be left a dry powder 

 on the building, that would be easily rubbed or 

 washed off. If we give it first a coat of oil with a 

 little paint added to it, the oil soaks into the 

 pores ; another coat of oil with the proper quantity 

 of paint, while the pores are filled with the re- 

 cently put on or first coat, remains sufficiently 

 long before the oil is soaked up by the pores, for a 

 part of it to dry with the paint, which forms a 

 permanent covering of paint. This is the advan- 

 tage of giving two coats of paint ; if the first coat 

 was oil only, it would be better. When a house is 

 thus painted, all the injury done by the paint is 

 the oil which it retains and prevents from soaking 

 into the wood, and this is in part, perhaps wholly, 

 counterbalanced in forming a firm external cover- 

 ing which tends to exclude moisture ; thus painted 

 a building is preserved and ornamented. Now 

 what will be the effect of adding spirits of turpen- 

 tine to the oil .'' We know of nothing better cal- 

 culated to destroy our intentions in the use both 

 of the oil and paint than the addition of turpentine. 

 Every housekeeper knows that if oil is on her 

 floor, spirits of turpentine is the application to re- 

 move it. Every wash-woman knows that if oil is 

 on her clothes turpentine is the application to re- 

 move it ; and how does it remove it when the oil 

 and turpentine are added together.' A chemical 

 union takes place and the qualities of both are 

 destroyed, and although either the oil or tur- 

 pentine by themselves when applied on wood 

 would add to its durability, yet when added to- 

 gether the original quality of both are destroyed, 

 and the application is useless, just as an acid and 

 alkali, when mixed together, destroy the qualities 

 of each other and the effect of neither remains. 

 Now when a building is painted with two coats of 

 paint to which spirits of turpentine is added, in- 

 stead of the first covering of oil (which has very 

 little paint) being soaked up, and the second 

 covering, as the pores are already fed, soaking up 

 the oil so slow that a part of the oil may dry in the 

 paint, thus making a firm coat of paint on the sur- 

 face, which will exclude moisture and prevent the 

 evaporation of the oil, thus making the wood al- 

 most as lasting as time, and the color to remain as 

 long as the wood lasts ; what will be the effect of 

 this addition of spirits of turpentine ? The oil is 



