186 
REMARKS ON FUEL. 
range the entire length, and run two courses, the one over or on the pot of the 
other, and not side by side. In this case it should enter at one end (say the west) 
from the extreme corner of the back wall, pass under the floor, and rise into the 
house at a point about one-third of its breadth within the front wall ; it will then 
proceed to the east end of the house, return upon itself, and pass off at the west end, 
to a chimney over the furnace. Some like a double course, the first to run along 
and near the front wall ; the return to be abreast of, and within, the first, and both 
on the floor. We believe that the draught of the fire (a great point) and the 
equable distribution of heat, are favoured by the single flue first described, which 
stands considerably within the front wall, and presents a deep surface of heated 
masonry. To secure the draught, the neck of the furnace must rise considerably. 
Some contract this neck, to give a rush of air ; but the depth of the fire-place below 
the level of the horizontal flue is the secret of success. The fire grate ought to be 
from two feet to thirty inches below the floor, or lower brick of the flue, and the 
neck must rise so much, ere it deliver its flame and smoke into the first flue. The 
grate ought to be cast in one piece, with a solid plate of iron five inches wide in 
front of the bars ; and these need not be more than twelve or fourteen inches long. 
A grate so constructed, contains the ignited fuel in the part open to the ash pit, 
the solid plate next the door being destined to receive the cold fuel, which thus is 
gradually acted upon by the hot iron pan below, and by the heat reflected from the 
brick-work above it, till it give forth a stream of gas, which passing over the burning 
mass beyond it, becomes inflamed, and raises a very great heat. Thus a well-con- 
structed furnace is partially a smoke consumer, and much volatile matter (which 
would inevitably be lost in air if the coals were thrown on the burning mass) is 
converted into the medium of extreme diff'usible heat. 
If the house be narrow, with a steep roof, and double flues be more convenient, 
it will be prudent to build the furnace about the middle of the back wall, exactly 
under, it, so that the whole of the fire be within the limits of the house. Then, 
provided the furnace be sufficiently sunk, the fire will throw much heat into the 
cells, which will expand itself throughout the entire range. 
The neck of the furnace will slope gradually till it delivers itself at the distance 
perhaps of four feet from the inner surface of the wall, into the nearer of the two 
flues. In a house thirty-six feet long, if the fire enter at one end, turn at the other 
by the course of the inner flue, and deliver its smoke into a chimney over the 
furnace, the heat will be distributed unequally; and in the event of windy nights, a 
very large fire will hardly maintain 56 degrees of Fahrenheit. To remedy this 
defect, it is proposed to divide the inner flue, at the point where the furnace flue 
enters it, into two courses, formed by means of an acute projecting angle of brick- 
work, so as to give a double course to the flue ; one to the left or east, and the other 
to the right or west. Each of these courses is to be furnished with a smoke-tight 
damper, by which the fire may be made to act in either direction, or in both at 
once, as it will occasionally do under certain circumstances. However this may be, 
if the weather be severe, the damper to the left should at first be opened, and the 
conrpe of the smoke will then be to the east ; and thence, by the front course, it 
