Natural Gas the Fuel of the Future.—The house of the near future will have no fireplace, steam pipes, chimneys, or flues. Wood, coal oil, and other forms of fuel are about to disappear altogether in places having factories. Gas has become so cheap that already it is supplanting fuels. A single jet fairly heats a small room in cold weather. It is a well known fact that gas throws off no smoke, soot, or dirt. In a brazier filled with chunks of colored glass, and several jets placed beneath, the glass soon became heated sufficiently to thoroughly warm a room 10x30 feet in size. This design does away with the necessity for chimneys, since there is no smoke; the ventilation may be had at the window. The heat may be raised or lowered by simply regulating the flow of gas. The colored glass gives all the appearance of fire; there are black pieces to represent coal, red chunks for flames, yellowish white glass for white heat, blue glass for blue flames, and hues for all the remaining colors of spectrum. Invention already is displacing the present fuels for furnaces and cooking ranges and glass, doing away with delay and such disagreeable objects as ashes, kindling wood, etc. It has only been within the past few years that natural gas has been utilized to any extent, in either Pennsylvania, New York or Ohio. Yet its existence has been known since the early part of the century. As far back as 1821, gas was struck in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, N.Y., and was used to illuminate the village inn when Lafayette passed through the place some three years later. Not a single oil well of the many that have been sunk in Pennsylvania has been entirely devoid of gas, but even this frequent contact with what now seems destined to be the fuel of the future bore no fruit of any importance until within the past few years. It had been used in comparatively small quantities previous to the fall of 1884, but it was not until that time that the fuel gave any indication of the important role it was afterward to fill. At first ignored, then experimented with, natural gas has been finally so widely adopted that to-day, in the single city of Pittsburgh, it displaces daily 10,000 tons of coal, and has resulted in building cities in Ohio and the removal thereto of the glass making industries of the United States. The change from the solid to the gaseous fuel has been made so rapidly, and has effected such marked results in both the processes of manufacture and the product, that it is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the entire industrial world are turned with envious admiration upon the cities and neighborhoods blessed with so unique and valuable a fuel. The regions in which natural gas is found are for the most part coincident with the formations producing petroleum. This, however, is not always the case; and it is worthy of notice that some districts which were but indifferent oil-producers are now famous in gas records. The gas driller, therefore, usually confines himself to the regions known to have produced oil, but the selection of the particular location for a well within these limits appears to be eminently fanciful. The more scientific generally select a spot either on the anticlinal or synclinal axis of the formation, giving preference to the former position. Almost all rock formations have some inclination to the horizon, and the constant change of this inclination produces a series of waves, the crests of which are known as anticlines, and the troughs as synclines. Many drillers suppose that the gas seeks the anticlines and the oil the synclines, but others, equally long-headed, discard entirely all theory of this kind, and drill wherever it may be most convenient or where other operators have already demonstrated the existence of gas. It will surprise many of our readers to know that the divining rod, that superstitious relic of the middle ages, is still frequently called upon to relieve the operator of the trouble of a rational decision. The site having been selected, the ordinary oil-drilling outfit is employed to sink a hole of about six inches in diameter until the gas is reached. In the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, this is usually found at a depth of 1,300 to 1,500 feet, in what is known as the Third Oil Sand, a sandstone of the Devonian period. Where the gas comes from originally is an open question. When the driller strikes gas, he is not left in any doubt of the event, for if the well be one of any strength, the gas manifests itself by sending the drill and its attachments into the air, often to a height of a hundred feet or more. The most prolific wells are appropriately called "roarers." During the progress of the drilling, the well is lined with iron piping. Occasionally this is also blown out, but as a rule the gas satisfies itself with ejecting the drill. When the first rush of gas has thrown everything movable out of its way, the workmen can approach, and chain the giant to his work. The plant at the well is much simpler than one would suppose. An elbow joint connects the projecting end of the well piping with a pipe leading to a strong sheet-iron tank. This collects the salt water brought up with the gas. Ordinarily, about half a barrel accumulates in twenty four hours. A safety valve, a pressure indicator, and a blow-off complete the outfit. When the pressure exceeds a prescribed limit, the valve opens, and the gas escapes into the blow-off. This is usually 30 feet high or more, and the gas issuing from the top is either ignited or permitted to escape into the atmosphere. The pipe line leading from the tank to the city is of course placed underground. Beyond a little wooden house, the blow-off, and a derrick, the gas farms differ little in appearance from those producing less valuable crops. The pressure of the gas at the wells varies considerably. It is generally between 100 and 325 pounds. As much as 750 pounds per square inch has been measured, and in many cases the actual pressure is even greater than this, but, as a rule, it is not permitted to much exceed 20 atmospheres in any receiver or pipe. The best investment for parties of small means that we know of is in town lots in North Baltimore, Ohio. It is on the main line of the B. & O. Railroad and the center of the oil and natural gas discoveries in Ohio. Property is bound to double in value. For further information, address, W.A. Rhodes, North Baltimore, Ohio.
Hints on House Building.—Gas pipes should be run with a continuous fall towards the meter, and no low places. The gas meter should be set in a cool place, to keep it from registering against you; but if a "water meter," it should be protected from freezing. Cupboards, wardrobes, bookcases, etc., generally afford receptacles for dust on their tops. This may be avoided by carrying them clear up to the ceiling. When this is not done, their tops should be sheeted over flush with the highest line of their cornices, so that there may be no sunken lodging-place for dust. Furring spaces between the furring and the outer walls should be stopped off at each floor line with brick and mortar "fire stops;" and the same with hollow interior partition walls. Soil pipes should never have T branches; always curves, or Y branches. Water pipes should be run in a continuous grade, and have a stop and waste cock at the lowest point, so as to be entirely emptied when desired. Furnaces should have as few joints as possible, and the iron fire-pot is better lined with fire-brick. There should be no damper in the smoke pipe; but the ash-door should shut air-tight when desired. There should be provision for the evaporation of water in the hot-air pipe. "Air boxes" should never be of wood. All air boxes should be accessible from one end to the other, to clean them of dust, cobwebs, insects, etc. Horizontal hot-air flues should not be over 15 feet long. Parapets should be provided with impervious coping-stones to keep water from descending through the walls. Sewer pipes should not be so large as to be difficult to flush. The oval sections (point down) are the best. Soil-pipes should have a connection with the upper air, of the full diameter of the pipe to be ventilated. Stationary wash-tubs of wood are apt to get soaked up with organic matter and filth. Stationary washstands in bedrooms should have small traps; underneath each should be a leaden tray to protect ceilings in case of leakage, breakage or accidental overflow. This tray should have an overflow, and this overflow should be trapped, if connected with the foul-pipe system (which it should not be if possible to arrange it otherwise). Flues should have a smooth parging or lining, or they will be apt to draw with difficulty. Gas pipes of insufficient diameter cause the flames to burn with unsteady, dim light. Made ground is seldom fit for immediate building; and never for other than isolated structures. Ashes, street-sweepings, garbage, rotten vegetation, and house refuse are unfit filling for low ground on which it is intended to build. Cobble pavements are admirably adapted to soaking-up and afterwards emitting unwholesome matters. Asphalt has none of this fault. Wood is pernicious in this respect. "Gullies" in cellar floors should be properly trapped; and this does not mean that they shall have bell-traps nor siphon-traps with shallow water-seal. Cellar windows should be movable to let in air, and should have painted wire-screens to keep out cats, rats, etc. New walls are always damp. Window sills should project well out beyond the walls, and should be grooved underneath so as to throw the water clear of the walls. Cracks in floors, between the boards, help the accumulation of dirt and dust, and may harbor vermin. Narrow boards of course have narrower interstitial cracks than wide boards do. "Secret nailing" is best where it can be afforded. Hot-air flues should never be carried close to unprotected woodwork. Electric bells, when properly put up and cared for, are a great convenience in a house; but when they don't work, they are about as aggravating as the law allows. Cheap pushbuttons cause a great deal of annoyance. Silver-plated faucets and trimmings blacken with illuminating and sewer gases. Nickel-plating is perhaps a less pleasing white, but is cheaper and does not discolor readily. Windows are in most respects a great blessing; but there may be too much of a good thing. It is unreasonable to expect that one grate or stove or furnace can heat a whole county. Don't attempt it. If you have too many windows on the "cold side" of a house, give them double sashes (not double panes), and "weather-strip" them. Unpainted trimmings should be of hardwood. Yellow pine finishes up well. Butternut is brighter than walnut. Cherry makes a room cheerful. Walnut is dull and dismal.
The Forests of the World.—The rapid exhaustion of the forests of the world, and more particularly of the once great reserves of timber in the United States and Canada, renders it inevitable that, in a very few years indeed, iron must supersede wood for a variety of uses. The drain upon the world's resources in timber is prodigious. Every year 92,000,000 railway sleepers are used in America alone, while to supply firewood for the whole of the States, fourteen times the quantity of wood consumed by the railways is annually required. At the computation of the most recent statistics there were 441,000,000 of acres of woodland in the United States; but since over 50,000,000 of acres are cut down yearly, this great area of timber will be non-existent in less than twenty years, unless replanting upon a very extensive scale be at once undertaken. Already efforts are being made in this direction, and not long since some 4,000,000 of saplings were planted in a single day in Kansas and the neighboring States. But since the daily consumption is even greater than this, it is obvious that the work of replanting must be undertaken systematically if it is to keep pace, even approximately, with the destruction. In France and Germany, where the forests are national property, forestry has been elevated to the status of an exact science; but the timber lands of those countries are small indeed compared with those in the United States.
A Church Built from a Single Tree.—A redwood tree furnished all the timber for the Baptist church in Santa Rosa, one of the largest church edifices in the country. The interior of the building is finished in wood, there being no plastered walls. Sixty thousand shingles were made from the tree after enough was taken for the church. Another redwood tree, cut near Murphy's Mill, about ten years ago, furnished shingles that required the constant labor of two industrious men for two years before the tree was used up.
Trees That Sink.—Of the more than four hundred species of trees found in the United States there are said to be sixteen species whose perfectly dry wood will sink in water. The heaviest of these is the black ironwood of southern Florida, which is more than thirty per cent. heavier than water. Of the others, the best known are the lignum vitæ and mangrove; another is a small oak found in the mountains of western Texas, southern New Mexico, and Arizona, and westward to Colorado, at an elevation of 5,000 to 10,000 feet.
Artificial Wood.—You can produce an artificial fire and waterproof wood in the following manner. More or less finely divided wood shavings, straw, tan, etc., singly or mixed, are moistened with a weak solution of zinc chloride of about 1.026 sp. gr., and allowed to dry. They are then treated with a basic solution of magnesium chloride of 1.725 to 1.793 sp. gr., and pressed into moulds. The materials remain ten to twelve hours under pressure, during which time they harden while becoming heated. After being dried for several days in a warm, airy place, they are placed for ten or twelve hours into a strong solution of zinc chloride of about 1.205 sp. gr., and finally dried again. The product is stated to be workable like hardwood, and to be capable of taking a fine polish after being tooled. It is fireproof and inpermeable to water, and weak acid or alkaline solutions, and not affected by the humidity of the atmosphere, being well suited to decorative purposes, as it will not warp and fly like wood, but retain its form.
How to Stain Wood.—The following are recipes for staining wood, which are used in large establishments with great success: Light Walnut—Dissolve 3 oz. permanganate of potash in six pints of water, and paint the wood twice with the solution. After the solution has been left on the wood for from five to ten minutes, the wood is rinsed, dried, oiled, and finally polished. Light Mahogany—1 oz. finely cut alkanet root, 2 ozs. powdered aloe, and 2 ozs. powdered dragon's blood are digested with 26 ozs. of strong spirits of wine in a corked bottle, and left in a moderately warm place for four days. The solution is then filtered off, and the clear filtrate is ready for use. The wood which is to be stained is first passed through nitric acid, then dried, painted over with the alcoholic extract, dried, oiled and polished. Dark Walnut.—3 ozs. permanganate of potash are dissolved in six pints of water, and the wood is painted twice with this solution. After five minutes the wood is washed, and grained with acetate of iron (the ordinary iron liquor of the dyer) at 20° Tw. Dry, oil and polish as usual. Gray—1 oz. nitrate of silver is dissolved in 45 ozs. water, and the wood painted twice with the solution; afterwards the wood is submitted to the action of hydrochloric acid, and finally washed with ammonia. It is then dried in a dark place, oiled and polished. This is said to give remarkably good results on beech, pitch pine and poplar. Black—7 ozs. logwood are boiled with three pints of water, filtered, and the filtrate mixed with a solution containing 1 oz. of sulphate of copper (blue copperas). The mixture is left to clear, and the clear liquor decanted while still hot. The wood is placed in this liquor for twenty-four hours; it is then exposed to the air for twenty-four hours, and afterwards passed through a hot bath of nitrate of iron of 6° Tw. If the black, after this treatment, should not be sufficiently developed, the wood has to be passed again through the first logwood bath.
The Highest Chimney in the World.—The highest chimney in the world is said to be that recently completed at the lead mines in Mechernich. It is 134 meters (439 ft. 6 in.) high, was commenced in 1884, and was carried up 23 meters before the frost set in; building was again resumed on the 14th of last April, and it was completed last September. The foundation, which is of dressed stone, is square, measuring 11 meters (33 ft.) on each side, and is 3.50 meters (11 ft. 6 in.) deep; the base is also square, and is carried up 10 meters (33 ft.) above the ground. The chimney-stack is of circular section, 7.50 meters (24 ft. 6 in.) diameter at the bottom, and tapering to 3.50 meters diameter (11 ft. 6 in.) at the top, and is 120.50 meters (395 ft.) high.
How to Measure Round Tanks.—Square the diameter of the tank, and multiply by.7854, which gives the area; then multiply area by depth of tank, and the cubic contents will be found. Allow 6-1/4 gallons for each cubic foot.
The Largest Buildings in the World.—Where is the largest building in the world situated? The answer to this question must depend upon what the term "building" is held to represent. The Great Wall of China, 1,280 miles in length, wide enough to allow six horsemen to ride abreast along it, and with an average height of 20 ft., may fairly be called a building; so, too, may be called the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The question, however, was not meant to include such works as these. Some have supposed that the Vatican at Rome, with its eight grand staircases, 200 smaller staircases, 20 courts, and 11,000 apartments, is the largest building in the world; but surely this is a collection of palaces rather than a single building. The same objection applies to the famous monastery of the Escurial in the province of Madrid, with its seven towers, fifteen gateways, and 12,000 windows and doors, and to many other vast piles. For the largest single building extant, we must look to St. Peter's at Rome, within which our great cathedral, St. Paul's, could easily stand. St. Peter's occupies a space of 240,000 sq. ft., its front is 400 ft. broad, rising to a height of 180 ft.; the length of the interior is 600 ft., its breadth 442 ft. It is capable of holding 54,000 people, while its piazza, in its widest limits, holds 624,000. It is only by degrees that one is able to realize its vast size. St. Peter's holds 54,000 persons; Milan Cathedral, 37,000; St. Paul's, Rome, 32,000; St. Paul's, London, 25,600; St. Petronio, Bologna, 24,400; Florence Cathedral, 24,300; Antwerp Cathedral, 24,000; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 23,000; Notre Dame, Paris, 21,000; Pisa Cathedral, 13,000; St. Stephen's, Vienna, 12,400; Auditorium, Chicago, 12,000; St. Mark's, Venice, 7,000.