The editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, a self-addressed \ 
stamped envelope should be enclosed. Tins department will also purchase any of the articles here described for subscribers living at a distance, or ivill furnish the names of the 
places where Jhey may be obtained. 
Clean Air in Winter 
EVER allow the air in your living- 
rooms to become stale or foul. If 
the weather is too cold to have a window 
or two open a little all the time, a good 
plan is to open up the house several times 
a day for a few minutes or long enough to 
blow out all the bad, foul air and make 
everything sweet and clean. It will be 
found, however, that by keeping one win¬ 
dow open just a little all the time the air 
may be kept pure and fresh without in¬ 
creasing the coal bills and without pro¬ 
ducing discomfort. 
If your cellar has a damp or musty at¬ 
mosphere, set chloride of lime in corners, 
using earthenware receptacles, as it rusts 
tin or iron. The lime will have an odor 
of its own, but it will be a clean and 
wholesome one, and will soon disappear 
if the windows are opened wide on a 
breezy day. A musty cellar is one of the 
greatest menaces to health either winter 
or summer; and when vegetables and 
other eatables are kept in it, the danger 
is doubled. If one has a positive repug¬ 
nance to the odor of chloride of lime, there 
are numerous excellent odorless disin¬ 
fectants on the market. 
Feasible Garbage Incineration 
NE of the most objectionable fea¬ 
tures of kitchen work is removed 
when modern methods of incineration are 
applied to the disposal of garbage. In 
addition, the menace to health is obviated. 
An incinerator that accomplishes its work 
thoroughly and without the nuisance of 
smoke and disagreeable odors must be effi¬ 
cient and thorough in its work. It must 
be durable and compact to be serviceable — 
simple in construction so as to be easily 
understood, economical to maintain and 
operate. It must control the heat so as to 
prevent radiation, and secure maximum 
efficiency. It must utilize its heat to elimi¬ 
nate offensive odor and smoke, and it must 
possess perfect combustion to consume en¬ 
tirely all waste in the shortest time, and 
prevent discharges of soot or unconsumed 
substances from the flue. 
The general elements of construction of 
one that is giving favorable results are a 
perforated inner cast iron drum, enclosed 
by an outer cast iron casing. An air 
chamber is formed between the two. The 
outer casing is surrounded by three in¬ 
sulated steel sheets, with spaces between 
each, forming three individual dead air 
chambers around the body of the appa¬ 
ratus, which prevent heat radiation. 
A Bunsen gas burner is located in the 
lower portion of the inner drum. In con¬ 
nection with, and just below the burner, 
is an agitator grate, on which the refuse 
falls. Four perforated conical caps di¬ 
rectly above the burners spread the flames 
so the refuse is simultaneously attacked 
at several points in its middle portion, and 
completely enveloped by the flames in its 
lower portion. 
All parts are securely fitted within a 
solid cast iron top, base and front. The 
entire apparatus is properly insulated. 
There are two types, portable and wall, 
each operated with gas. 
The former is installed anywhere gas 
and flue connection is available. It can 
be placed in the kitchen, the draught con¬ 
nection being made with the range flue. 
If desired it can be installed in the refrig¬ 
erator room or cellar. It does not radiate 
In appearance a mahogany table of distinct attrac¬ 
tiveness, this safe will prove a secure place for 
the family valuables 
heat nor scorch walls or woodwork. The 
wall type is installed in the wall or chim- 
nev brace, where a flue is accessible and 
gas connection can be made. It is recessed 
so its front is flush with the wall surface. 
This type is especially adapted for apart¬ 
ment use, and is recommended where floor 
space is limited. Complete details and 
blue-prints, giving size of necessary open¬ 
ings, furnished on request. 
The method of incineration is perfectly 
simple. As soon as the burner is lighted 
the garbage is attacked from below by sev¬ 
eral flames. By means of the heat con¬ 
ductors connected with the burners the 
flame is first passed across the top of the 
refuse, drying and carbonizing it. The 
burning refuse produces a gaseous com¬ 
pound containing hydrogen and nitrogen. 
The oxygen, raised to a high temperature, 
is applied to this mixture, and a highly in- . 
flammable produce is developed and ig¬ 
nited. The combustion consumes odor, 
gases and smoke. 
Time of incineration varies with the 
amount of moisture contained in the 
refuse. 
If daily incinerations are desired, such 
accumulation of waste in the average 
household is consumed in about twenty- 
five minutes. 
The Household Safe 
AFETY first is a common-sense idea, 
even when applied to such matters 
as family valuables, for no house is en¬ 
tirely burglar-proof, nor is any room im¬ 
pregnable to untrustworthy servants. In 
all well-regulated households the nightly 
carrying upstairs of the silver basket is 
an honored institution, because eminently 
sane. But what do most of us do with 
the silver when we get it upstairs? It 
may be hidden away in a secret corner, but 
that corner may prove of easy access to 
the light-fingered. For that reason a 
small over-night safe should have a place 
in the house. The type shown in illustra¬ 
tion weighs about forty pounds. It is en¬ 
cased in a solid mahogany cabinet, a deco¬ 
rative object in the bedroom. It is forty- 
eight inches high, the regulation table 
height. The safe itself has a double steel 
wall, locked with a three-point combina¬ 
tion. Inside are a drawer and three pigeon- 
42 
