326 
STATE AGKICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
This has been tested by actual experiment, and found to 
require one hour before the fire ignites with the next story; 
and also has been tested when the combustible material of a 
large druggist’s shop was wholly on fire, creating an immense 
volume of flame, (the floor timbers above burning nearly 
through,) and the carpets above were not even smoked or 
caused to be taken up. Therefore, any system adopted 
whereby the fire is confined to one room for an hour, gives 
abundant time for an engine to be present, or to apply all other 
means at our command ; which certainly is of great advantage 
towards extinguishing a fire. 
The above plan of construction has many advantages. It 
deafens the floor, prevents all insects and odors from passing 
from story to story, and water in small quantities from above 
to the ceiling below; it makes the house warmer, and, above 
all, is considered the cheapest and one of the best modes 
of construction to diminisli the annual loss by fire in the 
United States. 
Many builders deafen floors between the timbers, which 
plan is not as beneficial or as safe, because all timbers season, 
and thus leave a space between the cement and beam for 
circulation of air; and when the timber burns off, the fire 
ignites at once with the story above. Attention has been 
called more particularly to this subject from the fact that 
insurance on property in France is of minor consideration. 
For insta*nce, in an insurance upon one hundred and fifty 
thousand francs for six months, upon a house and furniture, 
the charge was only fifty francs. The very modest price of 
insurance in France is because they have comparatively no 
buildings burned. Their buildings are vastly more safely 
constructed than those in the United States, and thev have 
more floors of brick, tile, and cement. Even their stairs are 
often covered with tile and bricks, and in the better class of 
buildings their stairs are of stone or marble; their walls are 
mostly of stone and much thicker, and they have less wood- 
finish in the interior. 
