366 TRANSACTIONa OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — A covering of stable manure would do no 

 harm if put on when the ground is frozen. The Germans in many 

 parts of Missouri excel in growing wheat, by mulching the ground 

 with straw in the fall, before the wheat comes up. 



DAMP IN WELLS. 



Mr. W. R. Waldron, Webster, Mich. — I have a well in my barn- 

 yard, thirty-two feet deep, water always about thirty inches. I use 

 a pump, and water stock daily. Now, this well is generally filled 

 with the damps, or foul air as it is called, and a man can never go 

 down it with safety until it is got out, and this is always a tedious 

 job. I have tried various ways, such as slacking lime in it, pour- 

 ing in water, letting down live coals, passing bags filled with straw 

 up and down rapidly, and tying green bushes together and doing 

 the same with them. This last, seems to be the best, but this I 

 think is too slow, usuall}^ requiring several hours' work. I think 

 there must be a better way. What is the cause of damp in wells? 



Mr. S. E. Todd suggested that a large box tube, two feet square, 

 extending to the bottom of the well, might be connected with a 

 large wooden force pump, which any good mechanic can make, and 

 freah air could thus be forced down to the bottom of the well, so 

 as to drive out every particle of foul air in a few minutes, at a 

 trfling expense. 



VENTILATION OF BUILDINGS. 



The same writer who proposed the foregoing question, asked, 

 if it is true that carbonic acid gas falls to the lower part of the 

 room, why ventilators are commonly placed nearer the top than 

 the bottom of the side walls of a building? Why not have venti- 

 lators near the floor, so that the carbonic acid gas can escape 

 through them? 



Dr. F. M. Hexamer. — There is no free carbonic acid gas in the 

 atmosphere. It is true, that this gas is heavier than atmospheric 

 air, when pure; but it soon mingles with the air. When it is 

 formed by the respiration of animals, in a close room, the foul air 

 within being warmer than the cold air outside of the walls, it rises, 

 and its place is supplied by pure air that rushes in through the 

 crevices around the doors and windows to supply the place of this 

 impure air. For this reason, openings are formed near the upper 

 part of the rooms to allow the impure air to escape. 



Dr. J. E. Snodgrass alluded to the improved mode of ventilating 

 rooms by means of windows that will move downwai-d from the top 



