AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Papering Damp Walls. 
When paper is put upon damp walls, as in 
basement rooms or walls of stone houses, it is 
liable to mold and become discolored ; it also 
easily peels clF, the paste having no opportunity 
to dry, or becoming moistened afterwards. Mr. 
Chas. Streeper, Montgomery Go., Pa., suggests 
that this may he prevented by nailing narrow 
wooden strips, say half an inch thick, upon the 
wall, at intervals of six feet, and tacking siz¬ 
ed muslin to these, upon which the paper 
may be pasted, thus keeping it from contact 
with the wall. Another correspondent ad¬ 
vises in such a case to fasten the strips perpen¬ 
dicularly to the floor, and to pierce the paper 
with a few fine holes at the top and bottom to 
allow the circulation of air to carry off the damp¬ 
ness, for if the damp air were confined behind 
the paper, it would mold it. The wooden strips 
should not be so far apart, perhaps, yet when 
widely separated, the cloth and paper would yield, 
and lie back against the wall when pressed 
against. However, an arrangement of this kind 
would not admit of the very common but unman¬ 
nerly practice of tilting back in a chair against 
the wall, as the paper would be torn, especially 
near the slats. It might prove a good thing 
on this account, saving the backs of chairs, 
preventing holes in the carpet, dents in the floor, 
and a lazy habit in loungers. 
Hints on Kindling Fires and Using Hard 
Coal. 
“ It takes a fool or a philosopher to build a fire 
well,” is an old saying. The fool blunders into 
the right way, and the philosopher finds it out 
scientifically, is the only explanation we know of 
for the adage. Certain it is that many persons 
make blundering work in starting fires, and in 
keeping them going. This is particularly the case 
in using the harder kinds of mineral coals. The 
softer Liverpool and American bituminous coals 
burn readily. In very many localities where wood 
is still used, mineral coal would take its place 
but for want of experience and skill. No house¬ 
wife who has once become familiar with the 
steady all-day-heat of a good coal fire, will ever 
desire to return to the fitful, constantly-to-be-re- 
plenishcd wood tire, either for cooking or warm¬ 
ing purposes. A tun of coal affords more heat 
than a full cord of the best hickory wood, so that 
when a ton of hard coal costs less than a cord of 
hickory wood all cut and ready for use, it is 
economical to adopt the former. Most other kinds 
of wood are dearer than hickory, if we take into 
account their smaller heating power. 
In ktfidling and keeping up a fire, it is import¬ 
ant to understand the “ w hy and the how ” of a 
draft of air. Warm air is lighter than cold, and 
consequently rises upward. To direct this draft 
to the point where it is needed, is the essential 
thing. The back woodsman puts down his back¬ 
log, sets the andirons or stones in front of it, 
lays on a heavy “ fore-stick,” and places one or 
two small sticks between this and the back-log, 
and starts the fire in the throat or narrow pas¬ 
sage thus formed. The heated air rising, makes 
a draft through this small opening, sufficient to 
start the spark into a blaze. 
In kindling all fires, it is important to secure 
ibis draft at the point where the fire is to be 
started. In a stove, if the fire be started back in 
the center, or on the top, only a little direct draft 
is obtained at the point where it is most needed. 
Put the kindlings at the front, or at the bottom, 
and close up access of air from other points, arid 
the upward draft produced by the warm air in 
the pipe or chimney, draw’s a current of air 
through a small aperture in front, or at the bot¬ 
tom, where it is concentrated directly upon the 
kindling. The modern egg-shaped coal stoves 
have a small opening at the lower end for the 
entrance of the air, and are therefore most con¬ 
venient for starting coal fires. The conical w r ide 
bottom stoves wdth a broad grate are better for 
giving a strong heat after the fire is started, be¬ 
cause they present a larger air surface under¬ 
neath. 
We may here remark, that a thick or deep bed 
of coal is not economical in any stove, for the 
reason that the oxygen of the air is nearly all ex¬ 
hausted in the lower part, and the heat thus pro¬ 
duced, changes the upper layers into gaseous pro¬ 
ducts which go off unconsumed. Three or four 
inches of hard coal is all that can be burned eco¬ 
nomically. It is better to use only a thin layer, 
and replenish it more frequently. “ Little and 
often ” is a good rule. No more should be used 
than will be kept at a bright heat at the surface. 
The same reasoning applies to w'ood, as to coal. 
In a large body of wood where there is a free 
draft above, and only a little air admitted below, 
a portion of the fuel goes off unconsumed. 
In kindling a coal fire, especially on a wide 
grate, we have found the following a good plan : 
Cover the grate with thin flat pieces of wood ex¬ 
cept in a small place in the center, or at one side 
near the draft hole. At this open place put a 
small compact mass of fine kindlings—not a quar¬ 
ter of the amount, usually taken—and ignite them, 
putting on a considerable qnantity of coal before, 
or soon after. The rest of the grate being cov¬ 
ered, the draft is concentrated at the point where 
the fire is starting, and rapid heat is evolved. An 
upward draft is established, and the spreading 
heat soon burns away the thin pieces and in a 
short time the w'hole mass is kindled. In the 
absence of the flat pieces of wood, we have some¬ 
times partly stopped the grate with small sticks 
laid into the openings, and sometimes partly cov¬ 
ered it with ashes, to be raked out beneath, when 
the fire is well started at the open point. We 
have pitied many persons as we have seen them 
put in a whole armful of poor kindling wood over 
a whole grate, and then vainly try to get up a fire 
at one point. The small draft in the upper part 
produced by the feeble fire, draws air through the 
entire grate, but not enough at any point to pro¬ 
duce rapid ignition. These remarks apply equal¬ 
ly to wood and coal fires, both in stoves and fire¬ 
places. We repeat: In all cases so arrange the 
fuel that the draft of air shall come from below, 
and be concentrated where it is most needed. 
Dampers in stove pipes, or Chimneys arc an abom¬ 
ination, unphilosophical, or at least unhealthy. 
Their object is to cut off or lessen the upward 
draft of air, and make the fire burn slower. There 
is a better way. Open the door, or in some oth¬ 
er way admit air above the fire. This stops a part 
of the current of air passing through the fuel, and 
of course lessens the consumption, while enough 
air will still pass upward to keep it alive. The 
current of air passing through the door helps 
change the air of the room which is never too 
pure. The same end may be obtained by closing 
or nearly closing the draft beneath the coal so as 
to shut oil’the supply of air. A coal fire may be 
kept twelve to twenty-four hours, by nearly clos¬ 
ing the draft underneath, and partly opening 
the door above the fuel. A little experience is 
necessary in every stove or furnace, to know just 
how far open to place a door, as this depends en¬ 
tirely upon the draft power of the pipe and flue 
above. The higher the pipe or flue be carried, 
[January, 
the greater will be the draft, as this depends 
upon the perpendicular length of the column ot 
light heated air. 
The fool may blunder into building a fire well, 
but a general understanding of the “ philosophy ” 
of combustion would save more than one-fourth, 
if not one-half of the fuel now consumed in j lie 
country (many millions of dollars a year), and 
contribute not a little to people’s comfort, and the 
maintenance of good temper. How many single 
“frets” are daily uttered over fires'! How many 
persons will get through this Winter without 
scolding once a day, on the average, about some 
defect in, or trouble with their heating apparatus. 
Let every one, stop scolding for a month, and go 
to studying the philosophy, the science, of heat, 
hot air currents, etc., and practice upon what 
they learn. Perhaps we may help you further. 
A Talk about Common Salt. 
■ As common, and as abundant as is the use of 
salt, yet with this, as with many other com¬ 
mon things, very few know anything of its 
composition, character, or utility in food. Let 
us look into the matter a little, And first a bit of 
science. Though existing in different forms, as 
spring salt, bay salt, rock salt, etc., all kinds, 
when pure, have precisely the same composition. 
The chemist will take 58£ ounces of pure salt, 
and show you that it is made up of 23 ounces of 
a white metal, called sodium, united with 35[ 
ounces of a greenish colored gas, called chlorine. 
(The chemist calls salt “ chloride of sodium.") 
The metal, sodium, is like bright silver in appear¬ 
ance, but it is nearly eleven times lighter than 
silver. The chlorine is an air-like substance, 
21 times heavier than air, and not quite so trans¬ 
parent, for when a glass jar is filled with it in¬ 
stead of air, it has a greenish color, though you 
can see through it, if the jar be not large. This 
gas has a strong pungent odor, so much so that 
a pint jar full of it let out into the air in a l?.rg° 
room, would set you to coughing, and a few 
quarts of it in the room would produce death. 
If you fill a jar holding nearly five gallons 
(881 cubic inches) with chlorine, and then drop in¬ 
to the jar a single ounce of the white metal sodi¬ 
um, all the gas will condense down and unite 
with the little piece of metal, and you will then 
have 3i ounces of pure salt. Is it not strange, 
wonderful even, that two such substances, as the 
pure bright metal, and the suffocating gas should 
thus unite, and make so simple and inert a sub¬ 
stance, as the salt'we eat every day 1 Yet this 
is a fact, and it is only one of the wonders that 
chemistry reveals to us respecting the most com¬ 
mon things around us. If you want to help your 
imagination, just put a little salt in a saucer, and 
pour upon it a few drops of oil of vitriol (sulphuric 
acid), which every druggist keeps. 'The acid will 
take away the sodium, and the chlorine will rise 
up in a large volume, and almost suffocate you, 
unless the operation is performed in the open air, 
instead of in a closed room. (The chlorine thus 
obtained is not pure ; it is united with another 
gas, hydrogen, obtained from the water in the 
acid ; but the experiment will help the imagina¬ 
tion, and give pleasure.) We hope this bit of 
science will make our eomm.on salt a more in¬ 
teresting object hereafter We may add here, as 
a matter of interest, that calomel, that much 
dreaded medicine, is made up just as salt is, that 
is, with the same chlorine gas, and another me¬ 
tal, quicksilver (mercury), which takes the place 
of the sodium in the salt. 
Ifyoulookat the finest ground salt with a 
magnifying glass, you will see that it is wholly 
made up of little cubic (square) blocks. These 
are very small, but the largest grains or blocks 
(crystals) of salt consist of a great number of the 
smaller blocks arranged together. Generally 
