Proceedings of the Farmer^ Club. 515 



can where the fluid is poured in; but, as this orifice is guarded by 

 a piece of perforated tin, after the manner of Sir Humphrey Davy's 

 safety lamp, no danger from that source is possible; and, as these 

 stoves require no chimney, and have no ashes or kindling wood 

 about them, we deem them safer than the ordinary cooking stove. 

 It is true there is an inflammable gas that rises in the can, and will 

 light at the top or mouth piece; but it is impossible that this 

 flame, if it should by any accident catch in the gas at the orifice, 

 should communicate to the fluid below, for the perforated tin 

 efiectually prevents this. The observance of two plain rules will 

 anticipate accidents and make them well-nigh impossible.- 1st. The 

 can ought to be filled by daylight and when the stove is not burn- 

 ing. 2d. The barrel of naptha should be kept out of doors in the 

 3'^ard, or in some out-house, and should not be approached with a 

 liffhted candle. 



As to cheapness, this fluid costs eighteen cents a gallon. One 

 gallon will run three burners seven hours at full blast, but as the 

 cooking will frequently require a diminution of heat, and not the 

 full intensity, a gallon may be made to last ten hours, and yet all 

 culinary process go on. Breakfast for a family of the average size 

 may be prepared in from twenty to forty minutes. The burners 

 need not be lighted till the cooking is to commence, and may be 

 extinguished the moment it is finished, so there need be no waste 

 of fuel. The cost of the fluid consumed in preparing an ordinary 

 breakfast will thus be seen to be less than two cents. 



In effectiveness these stoves are surpassed by none. All the 

 heat of the flame seems to be absorbed by the dish above it, in 

 such a manner as to cook it quickly and thoroughly, but not to 

 burn it. The various processes of washing, ii'ouing, baking and 

 boiling can, therefore, be performed on this stove with great ease 

 and rapidity, and, so far as baking and boiling is concerned, in a 

 more perfect and satisfactory manner than by the ordinary cooking 

 stove. No time is consumed in preparing kindling wood or in 

 cleaning the stove for use. The fluid must be poured into the can, 

 which occupies three or four minutes, and the stove is in working 

 order for the day. Coffee may be made in ten minutes, steak 

 broiled elegantly in seven, potatoes baked in twenty, and bread in 

 forty minutes, from the time the burners are lighted. As a summer 

 stove this is especially excellent. It heats a room very little, and 

 as it does its work so quickly and may be so easily extinguished, 

 no unnecessary heat is made in the kitchen. As to neatness, 



