Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

The perspective and plans herewith presented are from the designs of Mr. S. W. Whittemore, architect, East Orange, N J. The general dimensions are: Front, 36 feet, exclusive of bay windows; side, 51 feet, exclusive of piazza and laundry. Height of stories: Cellar, 7 feet; first story, 10 feet; second story, 9 feet 6 in.; attic, 8 feet.

_Materials._—Foundation, stone; first and second stories, clapboards; roof, shingles.

_Cost._—$8,000.

Fireplaces are provided in the dining room, library, parlor, and hall. The attic is finished throughout. Cellar under the whole house except laundry.

* * * * *

Bamboo Tree.

Writing from China, a correspondent says that the Chinese have developed the culture of the bamboo tree very wonderfully. They can produce a perfectly black as well as a yellow bamboo. The Emperor of China has one officer whose duty is to look after his bamboo gardens. This valuable tree is found in all tropical and sub‐tropical regions, both in the eastern and western hemispheres. An attempt has been made in England, and with some success, to raise a dwarf species found at an altitude of 12,000 feet in the Himalaya mountains. The new world furnishes bamboo of the greatest diameter. The stems are usually very slender, but in the northwestern part of South America is found one species with a diameter of 16 inches. The Chinese put this plant to a greater variety of uses than any other people. Some kinds of it when it first shoots up from the ground are used as a vegetable as we use asparagus, or it can be pickled in vinegar or made into delicious sweetmeats. The plant has to be 30 years old to blossom, and then it bears a great profusion of seeds and dyes. These seeds may be used like rice, and a kind of beer may be made from them. In 1812 severe famine in portions of China was prevented by the sudden blossoming of a great number of bamboo trees. The stems of all the varieties are remarkably silicious. One kind found in Java is so hard that it strikes fire when the hatchet is applied to it. This has only a very slender stem, which is polished and used as stems for tobacco pipes. This Protean tree furnishes material for houses, boats, cordage, sails of boats, telescopes, aqueduct pipes, water‐proof thatching, clothing, water wheels, fences, chairs, tables, book cases, boxes, hats, umbrellas, shields, spears, and paper. The pith is used for lamp wicks, so there is no part of it that cannot be used for something. From some of it exquisite carvings inlaid with gold and silver are cut, that exceed in beauty the ivory carvings for which the Chinese are so famed. Recently it has been put to another use. Mr. Edison has found that the carbonized fibers of the bamboo furnish the best material for the incandescent electric lamp, and has made use of it in his system of lighting. In Burmah and Siam whole cities are built from bamboo. These houses are made in pieces, lashed together, and raised on posts several feet high.—_The Lumber World_.

FIREPROOF STRUCTURES.

An article recently published by us apropos of the Opera Comique catastrophe has brought us several interesting communications, and, among them, one from Mr. Hennebique, one of the designers of the 948 foot Belgian tower. Mr. Hennebique has established the fact that structures in which iron is used in the flooring do not arrest the ravages of fire, but fall even more quickly than those in which wood is employed.

In fact, the beams that support the ceiling joists, flooring, and laths, naturally combustible materials, are raised to a high temperature, and, becoming red hot, bend under their own weight, and at the same time shove the walls outwardly.

The flooring of Mr. Hennebique’s invention, which is composed of a cement made of coal ashes, plaster rubbish, and hydraulic lime, is refractory enough to resist the heat developed by combustion.

As may be seen from the figure, this flooring consists of tubular girders resting upon very simple metallic anchorages. These girders are of the composition above described, and thus constitute a sort of monolith upon which any sort of a floor can be laid—terra cotta, marble, wood, etc.

Aside from its being nearly completely incombustible, this sort of flooring presents a great advantage, from an economical standpoint, in consequence of the rational utilization of the materials employed. It is unnecessary to say that the metal is perfectly protected against oxidation.

Another advantage of this flooring is that it almost entirely prevents the propagation of sound.

As may be readily seen, this mode of construction is applicable to different uses and to every possible sort of decoration, such as cornices, compartment ceilings, girders of various styles, as well as pillars, pilasters, columns, and supports of every shape and every resistance.—_Chronique Industrielle_.

Construction of Chimney Flues.

In a letter to the _Insurance World_ Mr. Thomas Boyd, architect, of Pittsburg, Pa., gives the following practical information:

I have had considerable experience in examining buildings burned by fire, having been associated with my father for eleven years, and during that time have examined hundreds of buildings destroyed by fire. I have traced more fires to the cause of defective flues than to any other source, and I could refer you to buildings, not only in this city but in others, where fires have occurred from this cause, and the insurance men and the public in general stated that the fire occurred from “unknown causes,” as it was first seen many feet away from the flues.

In seventy‐five cases in one hundred where fires occur from “unknown causes,” it can be traced to defective brickwork. Ordinarily, an architect specifies that the brickwork shall be well slushed, and that the flues shall be well pargeted or plastered on the inside. This is a great error, as no flues should be plastered on the inside, and no walls having flues in them should be slushed, as the term is generally understood.

The flues should in all cases be built smooth on the inside, and all the joints should be filled full of mortar, the vertical joints as well as the bed joints. The lining of the flue or the four inches surrounding the flue should always be kept in advance of the brickwork, and the brick adjoining the lining and the second and third brick, and so on, should be shoved in soft mortar up against each other. This will fill all the vertical joints from bottom to top as laid. The slushing that is ordinarily put in from the top only goes down into the joint about ½ inch, thus leaving an opening the entire length of the wall, and in some cases an opening which a mouse could crawl through. As it is only a question of time when all the plastering that can be put on the inside of a flue will fall off, it will leave these vertical joints between the bricks open into the flue, and as the joists cross through these joints in the brickwork, fire is liable to take place ten or twenty feet away from the flue. I have taken down many old buildings in which these joints were filled with carbon or soot.

If the flues are built as above described, any competent builder or architect can find out whether the mechanics doing the work are slighting it or not; but if the inside of the flue is plastered or lined with terra cotta or any other material, you cannot tell whether the wall is properly built or not until this plastering falls off, which it will in the course of a few years. Thus all buildings erected with plastered flues are liable to burn at any time.

I have made a practice for a number of years of building flues without lining them, and then when the house is built, or as each story is erected, I put a dense smoke in the flue and close the opening at the top. If there is a hole the size of an ordinary pin head, the smoke will find it and penetrate into the interior of the wall adjoining the flue.

Roadside Plantations of Trees in Belgium.

The roadside planting of trees is carried out on a most extensive scale in Belgium, forming a marked feature in the landscape of that country. According to the report of M. J. Houba, State Head Bailiff or Ranger of Woods and Rivers in Belgium, recently published in the _Revue Horticole_, the total length of the highroads of Belgium in 1881 amounted to 4,227 miles, classified, as regards tree planting, in the following manner:

=Miles.=
Roads already planted 2,417

„ still to be planted 264

„ which cannot be planted 1,546
—————
4,227

From this it will appear that, at the date mentioned, more than half the entire length of the Belgian highroads had been planted, and that the proportion would soon reach two‐thirds.

The number of trees used in forming these plantations amounted to 871,685, representing in 1881 a money value of £415,986, the average cost of each tree when planted having been about 2s. 6d. The plantations had therefore at this date increased in value to nearly four times the amount of the capital originally expended upon them.

The trees principally employed in these roadside plantations (already made) are: Elms, 371,621; oaks, 130,828; poplars, 80,853; ash, 73,893; beech, 32,970; maples, 27,755; service trees, 24,630; Norway spruce, 43,767; larch, 41,699. It will be seen from this list that coniferous trees are largely used in Belgium for roadside planting. On the other hand, the report only gives 897 plane trees, 976 acacias, and 672 cherry trees, apple trees, and pear trees, showing that while the Belgian authorities fully recognize the great utility of these roadside plantations in other respects, they especially aim at the production of timber of good quality in a commercial point of view.—_The Garden_.

An Egyptian Temple.

An Egyptian temple appears to have been one of the most imposing assemblages of buildings that can be well conceived. Avenues lined with hundreds of sphinxes on each side led the worshiper to the sacred precinct for the distance of thousands of feet, and thus the mind, even when remote from the vicinity of the temple, received an impression calculated to excite veneration. This avenue was terminated by a stupendous mass of pyramidal form, above 200 feet wide and about 80 feet high, whose enormous proportion was naught diminished by the vastness of the plain in which it stands, nor by contrast with the mountains that overhung it. In the center of this propyleum is a door, flanked in advance by an obelisk on each side, about 90 feet high, and beside which are figures of colossal dimensions, 45 feet high, sitting as guardians of the sacred portal. The effect of the whole is gigantic, and calculated to impress the coming worshiper with the fullest notions of his insignificance in the scale of material nature. The triumphal gateway being passed, a magnificent court meets the eyes of the beholder, having on each side a colonnade. And this court led to a densely columned hall or vestibule, under the shades of which the crowds of Egypt’s sons and daughters reposed to recover from the exhaustion and fatigue caused by their journey under a burning sun to the fane of their creature god. And here the mind also dwelt awhile on the first impressions produced by the contemplation of the overpowering majesty of the gorgeous mass. For the huge propylea, which inclosed either end of the court, and the hall, with its forest of clustered columns, which the eye could not number, and the playful variety and copiousness of channeled hieroglyphics which left not a space uncovered, and the brilliancy of the pigment which gave an endless variety to the shafts and capitals of the columns, to the beams, the walls and ceilings, bewildered the attention, and left not a moment of repose to the wondering stranger. A lofty central avenue of columns, above 60 feet high, forming, as it were, a triumphal way, leads under a third portal, of dimensions by no means inferior to the others just mentioned, and marked with what care and with what sanctity the priests guarded every approach to the inner parts of the temple. But this gateway passed, and a scene the most sublime burst upon the view. An ample peristyle much larger than the one already passed, presented itself to the eye, probably planted with trees, crowded with metaphoric statues.

On either hand a double avenue of columns, less for convenience than dignity of effect. In the center uprose the portico of the mass of building, that formed the temple itself—the columns in dimension more lofty, in decoration more rich, in proportion more graceful than those of the courts. The dynasties that had ruled over the country up to the period of the erection of this temple have their histories graven on the walls and on the columns. The same pyramidal form gives an appearance of endless durability to the mass, which is surmounted by an immense hollowed cavetto having the center occupied by the sculptured form of the agatho demon, or winged globe and serpents, with outstretched wings extending over the center intercolumniation of the facade, and seemingly a being of another world. Admitted beneath this porch, the minds of the worshipers are prepared for the gloomy inner penetralia, where every object was mysterious and emblematic. Numerous doorways closed by curtains succeeded each other, and led from vestibule to vestibule, which hindered the eye from penetrating with sacrilegious gaze into the inmost sanctuary, all access to it being forbidden to the multitude.

To these vestibules the light of day was denied, and the mind was subdued by the gloom of the spot, for the attention was absorbed by the contemplation of the sacred mysteries of the place and by the effects produced on the attention by the huge incongruous figures of granite—monstrous reflections of the gloomy minds of the religious inhabitants of the sacred precinct, who sought to deify matter and the animal instincts.—_T. L. Donaldson._

The White Ash.

“About twenty years ago, Prof. J. L. Budd, of Ames, Iowa, advised keeping the seeds of the ash through the winter in kegs or boxes, mixed with clean moist sand, taking care that they become neither too wet nor too dry. Freezing will do no harm. The ground should be marked and prepared as for corn, and planting at the intersections, placing four to six seeds in the hill. They should be carefully cultivated, and the next spring thinned to one plant in each hill, the vacancies being supplied. By planting thus thickly, the young trees get a straight growth. At the end of six years every alternate row north and south should be thinned out, and at the end of ten years every alternate tree in each row. When twelve years old, on good soil and proper culture the first four years the grove would have 12,000 trees on ten acres, averaging eight inches in diameter. By cutting the stumps close to the ground, and covering with a light furrow on each side, a second growth is obtained in eight or ten years, more valuable than the first.”

Prof. C. S. Sargent, in speaking of this timber, says: “To develop its best qualities, the white ash should be planted in a cool, deep, moist, but well drained soil, where it will make a rapid growth. That the plantation may be profitable as early as possible, the young trees should be inserted in rows three feet apart, the plants being two feet apart in the rows. This would give 7,260 plants to the acre, which should be gradually thinned until 108 trees are left standing, twenty feet apart each way. The first thinning, which might be made at the end of ten years, would give 4,000 hoop poles, which at present price would be worth $400.

“The remaining thinnings, made at different periods up to 25 or 30 years, would produce some three thousand trees more, worth at least three times as much as the first thinnings. Such cutting would pay all the expenses of planting, the care of plantation, and the interest on the capital invested, and would leave the land covered with trees capable of being turned into money at a moment’s notice, or whose value would increase for a hundred years, making no mean inheritance for the descendants of a Massachusetts farmer. The planting of the white ash as a shade and roadside tree is especially recommended, and for that purpose it ranks, among our native trees, next to the sugar maple.”

Prof. B. G. Northrop says in reference to this tree: “One of the most valuable of our native trees is the white ash, and, all things considered, it is one of the most profitable for planting. Combining lightness, strength, toughness, elasticity, and beauty of grain in a rare degree, it is in great and growing demand for farming tools, furniture, interior finishing of houses and railroad cars, the construction of carriages, for oars and pulley blocks, and many other purposes. The excellence of our ash is one secret of the preference given abroad to American agricultural implements. It is hardy, will bear the bleakest exposure, is a rapid grower and attains large size, but will not thrive on poor lands. It is every way superior to the European ash, much as that has been cultivated and lauded abroad. It is now found widely in the nurseries and young plantations attached to the forest schools of Europe. Director General Adolfo di Beranger, president of the Royal Instituto Forestale, at Vallombrosa, pointed me to his plantations of _Fraxinus Americana_ with a tone which implied that is the tree of which Americans may well be proud.

“The ash is a fine ornamental tree for private grounds, public parks, or for the wayside. When planted closely for timber they grow straight and free from low laterals, and early reach a size that makes the thinnings valuable for poles and fencing.

“The seeds of the white ash are abundant, ripening by the first of October. They may be easily gathered after the first frost. If sown in the fall, they should be covered with three inches of straw. If to be sown in the spring, the seed may be mixed with damp sand.”

Sawdust.

Sawdust has been a source of worry and expense to mill men in various ways, though it is to be admitted that in utilizing it to some extent as fuel they have in part solved the problem of its economical disposition. Lately, there has sprung up a certain demand for it, and the problem of its cheap shipment is now one that presents itself. A Yankee inventor has tried baling it, and appears to have devised a scheme that accomplishes the purpose successfully. He makes the sawdust into bales, and has progressed so far as to be able to compress thirty‐two cubic feet, or a quarter of a cord, into a package three feet long by two feet on each of its sides. As this occupies only twelve cubic feet, the reduction is sixty‐two and one‐half per cent. of its original bulk. The machine used is nothing more than an ordinary hydraulic press, which is arranged in a manner similar to a hay or cotton press. The sawdust is pressed into bales and at the same time inclosed in a burlap covering, making a neat and easily handled package for shipment. Small pieces of wood, shavings, etc., may be baled with the sawdust or separately with equal facility. It appears a simple method of putting this bulky stuff in convenient shape for shipment, and it would seem might be employed to advantage wherever a market can be found for this species of mill refuse.—_The Timberman._

DWELLINGS AT GLENRIDGE.

We illustrate a few of the tasteful residences which have been erected at Glenridge, N. J., a charming suburb of New York City, situate on the line of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railway. Glenridge is 14 miles from New York, and the time required for the trip, including the ferry across the Hudson River at New York, is about 40 minutes. The dwellings we have chosen for illustration have been recently erected. They vary in cost from $4,000 to $6,500 or more. We can supply on application such further information as readers may desire.

Fire Bricks.

Mr. W. Y. Dent, in a Cantor lecture at the Society of Arts, London, on building materials, gave an account of some of the chemical problems involved in the constituency of fire clay and fire bricks.

The plastic clays consist of silica and alumina chemically combined with water. They are hydrated silicates of alumina, the plasticity depending upon the water that enters into their composition. The water with which the clay is chemically combined can be expelled at a temperature a little above that of boiling, without detriment to its plasticity, but the whole of the water contained cannot be driven off without raising the temperature to dull redness. Silica, alumina, and lime are separately very infusible substances, and are capable of resisting exposure to very high temperatures without softening. It is on account of its extreme infusibility that lime is found to be the most suitable material for the cylinders upon which the oxyhydrogen flame is made to impinge to produce a brilliant light, the intensity of the light being due to the extremely high temperature to which the lime is raised. Lime, however, from its want of cohesion, could never be brought into general use for such purposes as fire clay is employed, and this is also the case as regards silica, which requires the addition of some substance of a basic character, with which it will unite, and so cause the particles to bind together. The nearest approach to the use of silica alone as a fire brick is in the case of the Welsh brick, made from the Dinas rock in the Vale of Neath.

This material, before being made into fire bricks, had long been used for repairing the furnaces at the copper works of South Wales, for which purpose its peculiar property of expanding when subjected to the influence of a high temperature, instead of contracting, as in the case of some other fire clays, renders it particularly suitable, the cementation of the bricks being facilitated by the increase of temperature. This Dinas rock occurs in various conditions, from that of a firm rock to that of disintegrated sand, and a mixture of about 1 per cent. of lime is, therefore, necessary in order to make it into bricks. Dinas bricks will stand very high temperatures, but are more friable than ordinary fire bricks, and will not resist to the same extent the action of basic substances, such as furnace slags, containing much oxide of iron. They are, besides, porous and readily absorb moisture, rendering it necessary for furnaces built of them to be gradually heated, as they are liable to crack if sufficient time is not allowed for driving off the moisture. The composition of the clay used for fire bricks is a question of great importance, inasmuch as its quality depends greatly upon its chemical constituents, although its power of resisting fusion, when exposed to intense heat, is effected by its mechanical condition.

The same materials, when mixed together in the form of a coarse powder, will require a higher temperature to fuse them than would be the case if they were reduced to a fine state of division. The qualities required in fire bricks are that they should bear exposure to intense heat for a long time without fusion, that they should be capable of being subjected to sudden changes of temperature without injury, and that they should be able to resist the action of melted copper or iron slag. The Dinas brick, which contains 98 per cent. of silica, will bear exposure to a higher temperature than most others, but it will run down sooner when in contact with melted iron slag. Ganister is the name given to a fine grit which occurs under certain coal beds in Yorkshire, Derby, and South Wales, and the black ganister from the neighborhood of Sheffield is especially adapted for lining cupola furnaces, owing to its capacity to stand high temperatures without shrinking, in consequence of the large quantity of silica it contains.

Fire bricks made of silicious clays from granitic deposits in various parts of Devonshire also contain a large proportion of silica, but their powers of supporting exposure to high temperatures are materially increased by the coarseness of the particles of disintegrated granite of which they are composed. The material employed for the Dinas bricks, as well as the others mentioned, differs considerably in its character from what is ordinarily understood by the term fire clay, as used in the manufacture of the celebrated fire bricks of Blaydon Burn, Stourbridge, or Glenboig; the quality of which, as regards their chemical composition, depends upon the relative portions of silica and alumina, and their freedom from iron oxide and alkaline salts, the presence of which tends to render the clay more fusible.

Improvements in Making Portland Cement.

Clay is taken as dug from the pit, without being dried, and mixed with the usual proportion of lime, a portion of which is used as limestone, the remainder as freshly burnt lime. The burnt lime is first added in such proportion that the water in the clay exactly suffices to slake it, and the heat given out effects the necessary drying. The limestone is then added and the mixture ground in a mill to the usual degree of fineness, made into bricks, calcined, and the “clinker” reduced to a fine state of division as usual.

Typhoid Fever Carried by Well Water.

The following account of the transmittal of cases of typhoid fever by well water is sent us by Dr. Henry B. Baker, secretary of the Michigan State Board of Health. It is made to him by Dr. H. McColl, of Lapeer, Mich.

Dr. McColl reports: About September 1, 1887, Myron Gardner, railroad employe, came from the South sick with fever to his father’s house. He was supposed to be malarial. No care was exercised with stools in the way of disinfection, but they were thrown into privy vault in rear of house, and in close proximity to well. Wash water was thrown on the surface of the ground, which was very dry at the time. About September 7 or 8, a copious rain fell and soaked the sandy soil; and on September 14, Wm. Gardner and wife, father and mother of Myron, and E. D. Gardner, a brother (who was a student in my office), and who boarded at home, were attacked with fever. On this day I got home from Washington, and found four of them down with a severe type of typhoid fever; and in two weeks Myron’s wife and child were attacked; also a child across the street at Terry’s, who had used water from the Gardner well; about the same time three cases in the Clifford house, south of Gardner’s, who also used water from the Gardner well. None of the people from either of these houses were in the Gardner house. In the Walker house, still further south, one case has occurred, and I was at a loss to account for this case till a few days ago, when the young man said that at the mill where he was working they had used the Gardner water for a few days, owing to the disarrangement of the pump at the mill. Two others of the mill hands—Anderson and Lester—who used the same water were attacked about the same time. Lester is now convalescent. Anderson is dead, as also the child at Terry’s. When I took charge of the cases, I ordered the discontinuance of water from the Gardner well and the disinfection of the stools, and no new cases are now reported. People who assisted to take care of the Gardner and other families, and who use water from other sources, have not been attacked. Clearly, Myron Gardner brought the fever home, the well became infected after the first rain from slops and privy, and the other cases got their seed from the water.

Dr. Baker adds: The foregoing instructive account of the way typhoid fever was spread, in one instance, is produced in the hope that it may lead others to trace the spread of this important disease, and, what is of greater importance, act intelligently for the prevention and restriction of the disease, as Dr. McColl did in this instance.—_Sanitary News._

An Unsafe Church.

About a month ago, Inspector of Buildings Griffin discovered that the wall on the southern side of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church, Boston, Mass., was bulging. He climbed to the roof, and was astonished to find that the scissors truss that supported the pitch of the roof was not bolted together, but was fastened only with railroad spikes.

The wall was out of plumb fully nine inches. A peremptory order was issued to vacate the church. Then a more careful examination was made, with startling results.

The truss was laid bare, and then it was discovered that the sole support for the roof of the great building consisted of three iron rods one and one half inches in diameter.

The cross rods were of no use, because the wood had shrunk away and the bolts could be rattled. The upper and lower chords of the truss were made of eight two‐inch planks, and where the cross rods had been put through and clinched the auger had cut off one plank and part of another, weakening the truss by one‐eighth.

The lower chord of the truss was cut completely through in two places. It is said that it will cost nearly $200,000 to repair the church, which is one of the largest in the city.

It would not be a bad idea for the trustees of other churches to have the trusses carefully examined.

Cedar Pavements.

To pave a city with cedar would seem to be a luxury, but it appears that in the city of Chicago, out of 277.71 miles of paved streets, there are 213.35 miles of cedar blocks, of which nearly forty miles was laid last year, and the Chicago _Tribune_ says it is the cheapest pavement laid in the city. Dead cedar brought from the vicinity of Green Bay, Wis., was first used, but it was found that it did not wear well, and live timber is now required. The cedar is a tree which does not taper rapidly, and one of good size should furnish a stick 30 ft. long. The logs are brought here by boats in lengths of about 6 ft., with the bark still on, peeled, and cut into blocks 5 in. long. The blocks range in diameter from 3 in. to 9 in., and cost 50 to 60 cents a yard, measurement being made after they are laid. The process of paving a street with cedar blocks is much the same as was used with the Nicholson pavement. A sand foundation is first provided, and on this are laid boards which serve as stringers. On the stringers planks are placed parallel with the curb, and the cedar blocks are stood on end on the planks. The interstices between the blocks are filled with gravel and coal tar.

For the last three years block pavement has cost in Chicago from $1.00 to $1.30 a yard. The life of cedar block pavement is three to seven years, and it is an excellent pavement when first laid. It is believed by many to be detrimental to health from the fact that it absorbs all liquids falling upon it, gives them back in the shape of vapor under the influence of the sun, and is itself constantly decaying. It is stated as a curious fact that this pavement wears out faster on streets where traffic is light than where it is heavy. Cedar blocks are used for paving all through the West, but more freely probably in Chicago than in any other city in the world. They are cheap, and that is a great point in their favor.

Hemlock.

Respecting the merits of hemlock, the _Minneapolis Lumberman_ has a good word in its last issue. It quotes from a correspondent at Williamsport, Pa., regarding the experience with the wood there as a foundation for paving blocks; and in regard to a stretch of Nicholson pavement there which had been down sixteen years, goes on to say:

“The blocks had been placed on two thicknesses of one inch hemlock, the boards coated both sides with coal tar. When the pavement was taken up, the boards were found to be in good condition—so perfectly sound that they were put back again for possibly another sixteen years. The correspondent says that out of a mile of sixty foot street, less than 10,000 feet of the old planking was condemned. There seems to be no question as to the superlative merit of hemlock for paving purposes.”

This is valuable testimony, and better evidence of the lasting qualities of hemlock under paving blocks than any Western experience has produced, for the reason that it has nowhere in the West been so long as that in use. It has been recognized, however, as a wood excellently suited to this purpose, and is employed almost exclusively wherever the cedar block pavement is freely used, which includes a good many of the large cities in the United States, and practically all Western towns in which any paving is done. It is apparent that lumbermen are beginning to take a strong interest in hemlock, and evidences of its growth in favor are becoming rather plentiful. It occasionally gets a setback from some local dealer, who has come off second best in an encounter with its slivers, but it is bound to come more and more in use in spite of the strong objection that is made to it by some users. Its light weight and great strength for many building purposes are factors that tell.—_Timberman._

Collapse of Walls of Burning Buildings.

Mr. Alex. Black, writing to the _Building News_, says: The expansion of brick by fire heat may be estimated at rather above half that of wrought iron; and of mortar at about one‐fourth more than that of wrought iron. The mortar joints in the wall may occupy, say, one‐fifth to one‐sixth of the height of the wall. There is no accurate data as to the maximum heat developed at Whiteley’s fire. It, however, depends on the nature of the contents, etc., consumed and the accumulation of draught currents. If there is free lime, etc., in brick or mortar, there is added to the expansion more or less disintegration, which would become not the least potent cause of collapse.

We may assume that the interior surface of the brickwork exposed to the fire expanded, say, 1 in. in 8 ft. or 10 ft., vertically and horizontally, which would produce a distortion by buckling, or curving inward, dish‐like, of the inside half thickness of the wall, both vertically and horizontally, leaving for a time the outside half thickness (say, for convenience of description) not much disturbed; in the meanwhile, air gets in between these inside and outside half thicknesses, or slices, and it may become gradually expanded by heat and help to force them further apart until the whole wall collapses.

In setting iron girders, the usual practice appears to be to build the ends solidly in the wall to act as a tie; but by having cross flanges at ends the wall may be built close to these on inside toward interior of building, and space left for expansion on their outside; but this space is of no use without the ends of the girders are set upon rollers or rockers, as is done for bridge girders, because the rigidity of wall would not be sufficient to withstand undisturbed the expansive pushing out, or horizontal thrust, of loaded girder end if resting upon a rough bearing plate or block.

If building timber joists into walls, it is a safe method to bevel off the upper corner equal to the bearing of the end in the wall, which allows the projecting portion of joist, if broken accidentally, to drop down without disturbing the wall, by the leverage which it would exert if built in the wall in the usual way.

A $2,500 CALIFORNIA HOUSE.

California can justly boast of a larger number of pretty places and picturesque localities in which to erect residences of moderate cost than can be found in any other State in the Union. The beautiful town of Alameda, covering, as it does, a large extent of ground, embracing several square miles, may be regarded as a paradise for those who wish a quiet retreat, away from the din and confusion of the city, and yet be in close connection with the great mart. Nearly every portion of the town is covered with a natural growth of oak trees. Nor does this growth stop at this point. For a long distance to the north the ground is covered by the beautiful trees from which the neighboring city of Oakland derives its name.

Extremes meet in architecture as well as other matters. Some æsthetic persons have sought to copy the humble abode of the laborer in the external view of a dwelling, while the internal arrangements and fittings rival those of Aladdin’s palace. Others seek to have the outside present to the eye a conglomeration of whimsical ideas, while they have not deigned to cover the floors with a carpet, nor have a door between any of the rooms or halls, excepting those connecting with the outer world.

Much benefit has been derived from these whimsical erections, and it is only by much study and close application to the fancies of their clients that architects have been enabled to prepare the beautiful bijou plans, a good representation of which is given in this issue. In justice to the architectural profession, we must say that no portion of their practice has been so usefully bestowed as that which has been bestowed upon the production of plans for such homes, a full plan of which accompanies this article.

The elevation, as shown, is a model of neatness and economy. At once attractive in appearance and substantial in all its surroundings, it does away with all those horrible idiosyncrasies and bugbears of the Elizabethan and Queen Anne styles. There are no small windows to cause the one who cleans them to utter a whole vocabulary of cuss words at the architect who made so many corners to dig out. There is no part of California but what needs all the sunshine that was intended to enter a room, and the large windows shown allow the heat and light to make glad the hearts of the dwellers therein. Even with the thermometer at 100 degrees and over in the shade at noontime, still, when evening comes, the cool winds that invariably bless the sleep of those who are tired from their daily toil has easy ingress from these same large windows. And in winter, from the absence of snow in all of our beautiful valleys, the same windows are a source of joy and comfort for the occupants to observe the driving rains, or admit the blessed sunshine as it pierces through the wintry clouds.

Great care should be exercised in painting the exterior. The colors selected should be a happy blending of light and dark shades. They should be graded from rich, heavy grades at the bottom to the lighter tones at the gable peaks, preserving, through the intermediate section, a consistent harmony. The roof may be of dark slate color. The trimmings may be colored with a combination of blue, black, and Indian red. The body of the house may be varied to suit the above. It must be distinctly borne in mind that all buildings of the same class cannot be treated alike. Trees have a wonderful effect on colors used, and the main study of the painter and owner should be that the salient points of form and detail be enhanced by the proper selection of the various colors. By all means, if you are building a home for yourself, take the good wife into your confidence, and let her judgment be given on the various colors to be used.

The arrangement of the rooms, as shown by the plan, is very desirable for any one with a small family. A feature is made of the entrance way. From the hall, one can pass either to the parlor or dining room, the latter being the general sitting room. The parlor is large—13 × 17 feet in size. It has a fireplace, as shown. A cornice is also designated. Sliding doors connect this room with the dining room, the size of the latter being 12 × 17¾ feet. A cornice and fireplace are also shown. In case of company or family gathering, the two rooms will be practically one. The porch shown in front will be very handy for the gentlemen who smoke, or, on warm days the ladies can use the same for sewing purposes, sheltered, as the plans show, by the roof overhead.

You pass from this room into a hall, from which you can enter all the rest of the rooms. The main chamber is 12 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches, besides a large bay window, having four windows for light and air. There is also a cornice in this room, and a place for a stove to connect with parlor chimney. There is a very large closet, and also wash room, which is well lighted and ventilated. Passing along the hall, we next come to a large linen closet. This will be found very serviceable for the storage of the linen in daily use. Then comes a large chamber, 11 feet 6 inches by 12 feet. No cornice is shown. Should a fire be needed in this room, a patent flue could be placed therein, starting from near the ceiling. A large closet is also connected with this room. At the end of the hall is the bath room, 6 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. A wash bowl and water closet are shown. The window, being directly over the tub, assures perfect ventilation.

On opposite side of hall from bath room is a room designated as breakfast room, in size 10 × 11 feet, with two windows. This can be used as a bed room, should the dining room suffice for the needs of the occupants of the house. This room is very convenient, as it can be reached by three different ways. The next room is the kitchen, in size 10 × 13 feet, with plenty of light and ample means of ventilation. The place for the stove pipe is indicated by the dotted lines leading to the dining room chimney. Should it be found more desirable to have the stove in a different position from that indicated, a patent flue can be put in, starting near the ceiling. A large pass closet, amply fitted with drawers and shelves, connects with the dining room. There is also a large pantry fitted up with bins, etc.

A stairway is shown, near breakfast room, leading to the attic. No plan is given of the latter, as the space can be divided according to the individual tastes of the parties building. The rear hall is 3 feet 6 inches wide.

The whole plan is very compact, and will bear careful study. The detail drawings, as shown, will give an adequate idea of the various finishes. Each one is distinctly marked.

We append a general set of specifications to aid those who may see fit to adopt the design. Should any one want a complete set, we can forward them a printed copy.

SPECIFICATIONS.

_Excavations._—All rock, dirt, etc., to be cleared away from site of the building. Trenches for walls and piers to be extended down to firm and solid ground. The bank to be dug well away from the walls, and the same to be left open until the walls are well set and dry.

_Drains_.—To be of ironstone pipe, with cemented joints. The fall to be not less than one‐fourth inch to one foot. No drains to be less than sixteen inches from surface of ground.

_Brick Work_.—Hard, well burned brick to be used throughout. All brick walls to be made level and straight to the proper and exact height, and to a true line from one end to the other, even to the splitting of a brick where necessary. Piers 12 × 12 inches. Turn trimmer arches for the support of all hearths at the time chimneys are built. All sills to be set in mortar after walls are proper height.

_Size of Timbers, etc._—Main sills, 6 × 8 inches; plates, 2 × 4; studs, 2 × 4; underpinning, 4 × 6; joists, 2 × 10; ceiling joists, 2 × 4; rafters, 2 × 4; bridging, 2 × 3 and 2 × 4. Studs and joists spaced 16 inches from center; rafters, 2 feet 8 inches from center; underpinning 2 feet 8 inches from center. All timber below main sills to be of redwood.

Roof to be sheathed with 1 × 6 Oregon pine, well nailed to every rafter. Gutters arranged so as to carry off water wherever directed.

_Rustic_.—All laps and butt joints to be painted before being nailed in position. Butt joints to have a 3 × 11 inch piece of tin to keep out water.

_Outside Steps_ to be built upon strong stringers, inch risers of redwood, and two inch treads of Oregon pine, with nosing and scotia. The recess to front hall will be floored six inches below main floor, with three inch Oregon pine, put together with white lead.

_Floors_.—Oregon pine, tongued and grooved, 4 inches wide, to be used throughout the house. One tongue nail and one through nail to be driven in each piece at each nailing.

_Grounds_ to be of ¾ in. Oregon pine at all openings.

_No inside finish to be put on until the last coat of plastering is on._

Face casings to be 6 inches wide and 1¼ inches thick, with suitable plinths.

Sash beads to be fastened on with raised head screws.

All interior work to be hand‐smoothed and sand‐papered.

All carved or planted‐on work to be primed before putting up.

Bases in all rooms to be 10 inches wide, with 2 inch moulding.

_Wainscoting_.—Rear hall, kitchen, and breakfast room to be wainscoted 3 feet high, and capped with nosing and scotia. Bath room, 6 feet high all around.

_Pantry and Pass Closet_ to be fitted up with shelves and hooks complete, and bins and drawers as shown.

_Lathing_.—Good sound lath to be used, laid on not less than ⅜ of an inch apart. Joints broken over 8 laths. No lath to be put on vertically, to finish out to corners or angles; neither must there be any lath run through angles and behind studding from one room to another. All angles to be formed and nailed solid by carpenter before laths are put on.

_Plastering_.—All walls, partitions, and ceilings to be plastered one coat of well haired mortar, made of best lime and clean, sharp sand, free from loam and salt, using best cattle hair. To be made at least eight days before using.

_Brown_ coat to be covered with a good coat of best white hard finish. All plastering to extend to the floor. Center pieces where designated on plans.

_Painting_.—All interior wood work to have three coats of best white lead, in such tints as may be approved by the owner. Kitchen floor to be oiled two coats.

_Gas Pipes_ to be introduced so as to give the number of lights shown on plan.

_Plumbing_.—Water pipes to be of galvanized iron ¾ inch diameter. No ½ inch pipe to be used. A 40 gallon galvanized iron boiler, with necessary connections, to be placed in the kitchen. Sink to be of size shown by drawing, to have 2 inch iron water pipe and a Garland trap; 3½ inch brass strainer; back of sink to be lined with zinc. Slop hoppers to be placed as shown. Wash basins to be located as per plan, and to have all necessary hot and cold water connections. Water from all basins to discharge into an open slop hopper outside. Bath tub to be lined with No. 12 zinc, to have a 1¼ inch waste, with Garland trap. All necessary fixtures for bath tub to be placed in proper position. The water closet to be Budde’s patent. Place safe trays under all sinks, bath tub, wash basins, water closets, etc., with 2 inch turned‐up edges, well nailed to wood work. Three‐fourths inch wastes. All waste or soil pipes to be connected with the sewer, and extend the same above basins, sinks, bath tub, water closets, etc., out through the roof.

_Generally._—Drawings and specifications are intended to correspond, and to be illustrative the one of the other. All drawings to be furnished by the architect. Details to be given from time to time as the work progresses. Should the necessity arise that any change or changes be made from the original design, the owner shall have the right so to do without invalidating the contract, adding to or deducting from the contract price the agreed sum of any change made.

COST.

The above specifications are given as a general index of the work. No accurate estimate can be given from them of the cost of the house. Quality and price of hardware, etc., have been omitted, leaving same to the pocket books of intending builders. As shown, with finishes indicated by the details given, the house can be erected at a cost of about $2,500. Of course this figure can be changed considerably. Using the best of materials, etc., the price should be given at $3,000, at which sum a truly cozy home can be obtained by those seeking a permanent dwelling place.—_California Architect_.

The Architectural Era.

This is the title of a new monthly published at Syracuse, N. Y. It is finely printed, handsomely illustrated, and full of interesting reading matter. It forms a valuable addition to the architectural literature of the day. The elegant style in which it is produced does honor to its enterprising publishers, Messrs. D. Mason & Co. Three dollars a year, twenty‐five cents per number.

Blue Marking Ink for Boxes, Bales, etc.

Mix a sufficient quantity of ultramarine with barytes (sulphate of barium, blanc fix) and water to produce the desired tint. It may be rendered more permanent by adding some liquid glue (solution of glue in acetic acid) or some starch paste, prepared with the addition of a little wax.—_Chem. and Drug._

CHATEAU AT CASTELNAUDARY.

The internal decoration of the structure represented in the accompanying engravings is due to Mr. Arnaud, an architect at Carcassonne. The front already existed in part, and merely the finishing of it is due to him. As for the parlor and dining room, of which we give an illustration, these two rooms, like the rest, were studied with very artistic care by Mr. Arnaud, and the execution of the work was closely watched.

The chimney that decorates the dining room is of Echaillon stone, and was made at the works of Mr. G. Biron. It is 14 feet in height, and cost, all carved, $1,400. The flooring of the rooms is of oak, of two colors, and was put down by the house of Idrac, of Toulouse, which makes a specialty of old oak inlaid floors. The color of the old oak, introduced into the very substance of the wood, lasts an indefinite length of time. The wainscoting of the dining room and that of the parlor is of walnut, and forms a frame, in the case of the dining room, for old tapestry. In the parlor the panels are covered with large‐figured cretonne.

The ceilings are of plaster, with mouldings. To that of the dining room are affixed, by invisible hooks, some old Japanese plates. These produce a very happy effect in the ceiling as a whole, and in nowise injure it. The ceilings are painted in softening tints, the principal of which are red, blue and maroon. The dining room cost, as a whole, $3,600, the old tapestry included. It is 24 × 30 feet, and the parlor is 28 × 37 feet.—_La Construction Moderne_.

Nails.

A test has recently been made of the relative value of wire and cut nails, with results quite at variance with generally received opinions. This test, given below, is published in a circular issued to the nail trade by the Wheeling nail manufacturers, and was made by a committee appointed by the Wheeling manufacturers, who give the following result:

Number of nails in Pounds required to pull
pound. nails out.

Cut. Wire. Cut. Wire.

20d 23 35 1,593 703
10d 60 86 908 315
8d 90 126 597 227
6d 160 206 383 200
4d 280 316 286 123

This test showed the relative value of a pound of each kind to be as follows: