What are the real enjoyments of life, and with what 
class of people are they mostly found ? Let us hear 
from those belonginff to the class who possess the real 
enjoyments of life ; and, also, by way of contrast, from 
those who think real pleasure never comes their way. 
? 2 ? 
Scribner’s says: “It is time to take the bicycle 
seriously, as a thing, like the cotton gin, the steam 
engine, the telegraph and the sewing machine, that 
is to have an effect upon society.” It would seem that 
it is destined to play a prominent part in dress re¬ 
form, and incidentally affect the woman question in 
general. In Paris the prefect has sent letters to some 
of the women cyclists, cautioning them that they are 
infringing the law in wearing men’s clothes. In Eng¬ 
land, an M. P. has prepaied a bill to prohibit the 
wearing of knickerbockers by lady bicyclists in the 
public streets. Do not men know that the moment 
they make laws prohibiting women from doing 
things simply because they are women, they will 
arouse an opposition which would have remained si¬ 
lent ? A revolution in these matters can best be hin¬ 
dered by being let alone. 
2 2 2 
A WELL-HEATED house is one of the essentials of a 
comfortable home. Our symposium this week gives 
all sides of the heating question. There are many 
things to be weighed in deciding which is the better 
method of heating. Tue charm of an open fire gives 
an attractiveness to a room which nothing else can 
equal. As one writer says, the fireside is the center 
of the home about which all the family gather. An¬ 
other says one cannot be entirely unhappy with a 
wood fire to poke. Whether we have furnaces or 
steam heat to warm the house, let the open fire be re¬ 
tained in the sitting room ; it deserves to be one of the 
household idols. Tne ideal resting place for a tired 
body and brain is in the flickering light of an open 
fire. 
HEATING A HOUSE. 
THE BEST METHOD FOR A COUNTRY HOUSE. 
Comfort Conveniently Secured. 
1. What, In your opinion, is the best method of heating a country 
house; 
2. GUve the most Important feature of your preferred method. 
3. Is It economical, considering first cost, cost of fuel, and time and 
care required in attending the beating 7 
4. What are the good and bad points. In regard to healthfulness 7 
6. Is the right temperature easily maintained 7 
6. What Improvement could be made In the usual methods of heat¬ 
ing, by stoves and grates, to make the demands on the housekeeper 
somewhat less 7 
7. Incidental to heating a house, what provision should be made for 
ventilation 7 
A Hot Water Furnace Preferred. 
This is a subject I have never seen discussed in a 
farm journal, and yet it is one that every man, woman 
and child is vitally interested in; one that concerns 
the comfort, and I might even say, domestic bliss, of 
every family in town and country alike. 
As it is very likely that many readers of The R. 
N.-Y. who are intending to build a new house, as well 
as many who are now living in houses that are not 
comfortably warmed, will be very much influenced by 
what is here said, I have taken particular pains to get 
at the bottom facts of this matter as nearly as can be 
done. To this end I have carefully interviewed a 
number of people who are living in houses heated by 
stoves, by hot air furnaces and by hot water circula¬ 
tion, and who kiiow by practical experience how effect¬ 
ive or defective these methods are. I give the facts 
thus gathered in as few words as is consistent with 
clearness. In my search after facts I learned that 
both the manufacturers of heating apparatus and 
their agents, will say anything to make a sale, and 
that it is not safe to be guided by their assertions. I 
also found that thousands of dollars are annually ex¬ 
pended for heating apparatus that is next to worth¬ 
less when put to actual test. I would especially 
caution every one about to invest in heating apparatus 
to go about it with both eyes wide open. My own ex¬ 
perience in this matter has been somewhat checkered, 
and I am still learning. 
1. For heating a small, one-story house a large sized 
hard coal base heating stove is best. A small hard 
coal heater is of little use except for heating a single 
small room. Next to this is a medium-sized soft coal 
stove having a heavy cone-shaped fire box surrounded 
by an open iron casing. If carefully managed, these 
will heat two or three rooms quite comfortably, but 
they will not hold a heating fire overnight. For a 
house of four or more rooms, one or two stories, a hot 
water furnace and boiler with a radiator in each room 
(except the kitchen) is the acme of heaters. 
2. Hot water circulation. 
3. So far as I can learn—and I have investigated this 
matter well—it is the most economical method of 
heating farm dwellings yet devised. But very little 
time is required for attending to the furnace, it is 
economical of fuel, and the first cost is not excessive. 
Thoie who have fairly tested both, advise the use of 
the soft coal furnaces as being the most economical of 
fuel, while quite as effective as those burning hard 
coal. The first- cost depends upon the size of the 
house, quantity of piping, number of radiators, etc. 
It is somewhat more costly than the hot air furnace, 
but it is so infinitely superior that the extra expense 
is nothing when comfort is considered. 
4. The furnace is in the cellar with the fuel; the 
heat is delivered into every room in sufficient quanti¬ 
ties to make it comfortable. The air is not burned 
dry as with a hot air furnace or stove, and there is no 
smoke, dust or gas mingled with it. People who are 
slightly affected with catarrh suffer intensely in 
rooms heated by stoves and hot air furnaces, because 
the air is devoid of moisture—burned dry, and is in¬ 
variably contaminated with more or less gas ; while 
they are comparatively comfortable in those heated 
with hot water radiators. This fact proves their 
healthfulness. 
5. With a little practice it is not difficult to maintain 
a comfortable temperature. The heat in the radiators 
increases and decreases slowly, and the furnace is 
easily regulated by dampers. 
6. Have the fuel-room connected with the kitchen 
by a short passage, with doors at either end to keep 
out che dust, and on a level with it. Steps up or down 
to the fuel room are a nuisance to be avoided. Have 
stoves with ash-pans large enough to hold the ashes 
of about two days’ firing, which can be drawn out 
easily and without filling the room with dust. It is a 
deplorable fact that not one woman in ten, nor one 
man in twenty knows how to manage a common stove 
so as to get the most heat out of the fuel burned. I have 
been in houses where the temperature went up to 100 
degrees and down to 40 degrees a dozen times a day. 
The stove would be filled with coal and allowed to be¬ 
come red-hot from top to bottom before a damper was 
moved ; then the fire would be allowed to get so low 
that one would need an overcoat to keep warm. Then 
I have been in other houses heated by stoves where the 
temperature did not vary 10 degrees all day. A little 
skill and watchfulness on the part of each member of 
the family did the business, and not more than half as 
much fuel was consumed as in the torrid-and-frigid 
house. I have seen two new stoves of the same make 
go into two houses, and one would be burned out in 
four years, while the other was as good as new after 
15 years’ use. The proper management of a stove 
should form part of the education of every boy and 
girl in the land. 
7 Houses made of wood are usually ventilated quite 
sufficiently in cold weather via the door and window 
casings. A ventilator shaft beside the flue with ad¬ 
justable overhead openings, is a good thing. It is 
also advisable to have windows arranged so the upper 
sash can readily be lowered. feed grundy. 
Christian County, Ill. 
Importance of Sunshine and Ventilation. 
1. The first important thing to be considered in 
securing warmth, is a favorable Southern exposure, 
with large windows, unobscured by draperies, to ad¬ 
mit the sunshine. Throughout our Northern and 
middle States, during more than two-thirds of the 
year, sunshine is to be desired, rather than the reverse, 
and dwellings should be constructed with this in view. 
In my opinion, a room into which the sun does not 
shine at some hour of the day, is unfit for human 
habitation. I also believe that the ideal way of heat¬ 
ing houses has not yet teen invented, except in some 
tropical regions where an open wood fire answers the 
purpose. It is beyond all question, the fire of fires for 
beauty, for pleasure and for wholesomeness. No one 
can be entirely unhappy 
with a wood fire to poke, 
and the warmth of it is 
something delightful. For 
this, the grate or fire¬ 
place should be so con¬ 
structed that the ashes 
can be sent down a chute 
into a receptacle in the 
cellar, thus preventing 
dust and litter in the liv¬ 
ing room. 
2. From my own ex¬ 
perience, my preferred 
method of heating a house is by means of a furnace 
(in the cellar) with hot-air flues leading to every room 
in the house—the pipes leading to them from the fur¬ 
nace, being considerably larger on the north than on 
the south side of the house—and grates for open fires. 
I say, preferred, not because I think heated air is 
hygienic, or as much so as radiated heat, but simply 
because it is the least, perhaps, of various forms of 
evil. It is less costly than steam heat, and is more 
agreeably regulated. I have found rooms heated by 
steam often very oppressive, and almost as intolerable 
at times as the steam heat in railway cars. And I 
have not observed that hot-water-heated houses are 
more agreeable than those heated by good furnaces. 
3. Everything depends upon the furnace and its 
management. If the furnace is good, with no cracks, 
with drafts, dust flues, etc., all right, and is properly 
fed and regulated, it is, all things considered, as eco¬ 
nomical in every way as any artificial method of heat¬ 
ing of which I know. Having the furnace inclosed in 
a little room in the cellar, does not seem to be desir¬ 
able, for one of the best things about a furnace is, in 
having the cellar dry, and not cold. Storage places 
for fruits anJ vegetables should, of course, be separate, 
but then they should not be underneath the dwelling 
anyhow. The air that feeds a furnace should be car¬ 
ried into it through a flue leading from the outside of 
the cellar, so as to be at least fresh and pure to begin 
with. 
4. The good points are convenience and ease of man¬ 
agement. The bad ones are possible gas, probable 
dust and overheating, which is unnecessary. Our 
maximum temperature is 65 degrees, three degrees 
less than hospital heat, and in our living-room, where 
we have also an open grate fire, the furnace heat is 
often turned off altogether. We seldom have colds or 
headaches. 
5. There are var’ous devices for modifying the dry¬ 
ness of furnace heat. There is an attachable ther¬ 
mometer—a recent invention—which is somewhat ex¬ 
pensive, but which makes a furnace self-regulating. 
Some people run a wire down through the floor and 
attach it to the furnace draft, by which they close or 
open it without descending to the cellar. There should 
never be gas if the furnace is properly built, and if the 
coal be rightly applied. 
6. Where country houses must be heated by stoves, 
I have found that a good coal burner placed in the 
hall, or some central place, into which other apart¬ 
ments open, is a great comfort. With a warm hall, 
the chill is taken off the whole house. With care in 
its management, at least one good warm spot is main¬ 
tained the entire winter, day and night, which is com¬ 
mon to all, and insures a warm welcome to every one 
who comes in from the cold. When there are six to 
eight, or more stoves to be cared for, I know of no 
better way of lightening the labor for the housekeeper, 
than for each member of the family to be responsible 
for one or more, as the case may be. It is more diffi¬ 
cult to maintain an even temperature with stoves, 
than with a furnace, while the labor involved in heat¬ 
ing a large house by stoves, is vastly greater than with 
the furnace. I remember a country house where the 
labor of supplying fuel to upstairs stoves was made 
very much less, by having an abundant supply of wood 
corded up in the loft over the woodshed or summer 
kitchen, which brought it on a level with the second 
floor, from which a door led into the living part of the 
house. 
7. Where there are open fireplaces, ventilation will 
take care of itself. Windows should open at both top 
and bottom, be hung in the modern way, and be 
readily movable up or down. In our house, there are 
two ventilators in each room, opposite each other, one 
set in the base board and the other in the wall near 
the heat flues. The flues from these ventilators run 
from the first floor to the top of the house. They 
open or close like heat registers. When they are open, 
there is a continual circulation of air in the room— 
fresh air coming in one, and the air from the bottom 
of the room, possibly, passing out of the other. I say 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
Abaolsjteev pube 
1 
