22ri How TO Grow Cut Flowers. 



all rust or scale from the flue sheets and from all the 

 iron accessible, and then give the whole inside surface 

 a thorough dressing with crude or linseed oil. For an 

 outside dressing, paint with asphaltum that has been 

 cut with turpentine. Stop all draft so as to prevent 

 damp air from circulating through the flues. Lastly, 

 if your boilers are old, have them carefully inspected 

 by a competent person, if you cannot do it yourself, as 

 .soon in the spring as they can be spared, in order that 

 they may be in thorough repair for early fall work. 



MORTAR FOR FIRE BRICK. 



While conducting a series of experiments with clay 

 some years since, I discovered that a mixture of com- 

 mon clay and crude oil would endure great heat, and 

 continue to harden under its influence. For the inside 

 lining of walls, or fire boxes that are constructed of fire 

 brick, if the brick are laid in this mortar, the joints will 

 be nearly as durable as the brick themselves. 



To make the mortar, the clay should be dry. Pul- 

 verize it fine, and mix it with enough crude petroleum 

 oil to bring it to the state of pliability desired, kneading 

 and mixing it thoroughly. Use no more between the 

 joints than is necessary to set the brick firmly. The 

 interior of a fire box may also be temporarily repaired 

 with this mortar, when burned out in places, by filling 

 the vacancies with it. This will oftentimes save the re- 



