COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FUEL

A cord of wood is 128 cubic feet ; the sticks are cut four feet long and piled four feet high, and in a pile eight feet long. Wood cut to stove length, eighteen to twenty inches, is sometimes sold as a cord, when only eight feet long, four feet high, and as wide as the sticks are long, but it is not, of course, really a cord. The fair way to sell fuel, however, would be by weight; and when weights are equal the wood containing the most hydrogen will pro- duce the most heat. Thus, one hundred pounds of dry pine are worth more as fuel than the same number of pounds of dry oak. Wood can never be economically used in a green state, as it then contains about 25 per cent, of water, which must be evaporated, and all the heat required to evaporate this Bap is wasted. We give below a table, in which shell-bark hickory is made the standard of comparison, rated at 100 in value and 1000 in weight, and the weights of other varieties show their comparative value, which may be read- ily estimated in dollars and cents. For instance, if hickory is worth $7.00 per cord, the proper value of white oak would be $4.86. for as 100 (hickory) is to $6.00, BO is 81 to the value of white oak, $4.86.

Shell-bark Hickory. .

White Walnut

White Oak

White Ash

Scrub Oak

Black Walnut

AVhite Beech

Yellow Oak

Sugar Maple

White Elm

Yellow-pine

Pitch-pine

White-pine

Lombardy Poplar . .

Comparative

Weight per

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FUEL. 9§1

The quantity of combustible matter in fuel, if weight and other conditions are equal, is indicated by the amount of ashes or non-combustible matter remaining. The heating power of fuel is dependent partly on this, but not wholly. Fuel is valuable for various purposes in proportion to the flame it produces. A blaze is of great service when heat is to be applied to a great surface ; but where an even or lasting heat is required, a more solid fuel is to be preferred.

The various qualities of bituminous, or soft, and anthracite coals, as sold indifferent markets, makes it impossible to give any accurate comparison of values. Measured by pounds, if anthracite is made the standard at 250, sea- soned oak ranks 125, or one-half in value ; hickory, 137 ; white pine, 137 ; yellow pine, 145, coke, 285 ; while the bituminous coals vary from 188 to 248.

As regards the different kinds of bituminous or soft coal each locality has its preference, but the "Briar Hill" is well known and very popular. Of the anthracite or hard, it is the same, there being many kinds, although many prefer the "Lehigh." In all hard coal there are four grades most commonly used : Nut, the finest, for stoves, both cook and heating; Stove, next larger, which is often used alone for stoves, but is best when used with Nut, half and half ; if there is a good draft to the chimney, it is more econo- mical than using all Nut. ^gr^;, next in size and used for grates, open stoves and furnaces. Grate, the largest size used for large furnaces ; but when used with Egg, half and half makes a more economical fuel for house furnaces, where there is a good draft to the chimney, than egg used alone, especially in very cold weather. One should try it thus.

nOUSKKEElPIN^Gi-.

Housekeeping, whatever may be the opinion of the butterflies of the period, is an accomplishment in comparison to which, in its bearing on wom- an's relation to real life and to the family, all others are trivial. It compre- hends all that goes to make up a well-ordered home, where the sweetest re- lations of life rest on firm foundations, and the purest sentiments thrive. It is an accomplishment that may be acquired by study and experiment, but the young and inexperienced housekeeper generally reaches success only through great tribulation. It ought to be absorbed in girlhood, by easy lessons taken between algebra, music and painting, If girls were taught to take as much genuine pride in dusting a room well, hanging a curtain gracefully, or broil- ing a steak to a nicety, as they feel when they have mastered one of Mozart's or Beethoven's grand symphonies, there would be fewer complaining hus- bands and unhappy wives. The great lesson to learn is that work well-done is robbed of its curse. The woman who is satisfied only with the highest per- fection in her work, drops the drudge and becomes the artist. There is no dignity in slighted work ; but to the artist, no matter how humble his calling, belongs the honor which is insei)arable from all man's struggles after per- fection. No mother, who has the happiness of her daughter at heart, will neglect to teach her first the duties of the household ; and no daughter who aspires to be queen at home and in her circle of friends, can afford to remain ignorant of the smallest details that contribute to the comfort, the peace and the attractiveness of home. There is no luck in housekeejjing, however it may seem. Everythinj; works by exact rule, and even with

HOUSEKEEPING.

and the whole train of horrors that result from bad housekeeping ; on the other hand, success wins gratitude and attachment in the home-circle, and adds luster to the most brilliant intellectual accomplishments.

One of the iirst ideas the young housekeeper should divest herself of is, that because she is able, or expects some time to be able, to keep servants, it is therefore unnecessary to understand household duties, and to bear their responsibility. "Girls" are quick to see and note the ignorance of the inca- pacity of the mistress of the house, and few are slow to take whatever ad- vantage it brings them, but the capacity of a mistress at once establishes discipline. The model house should not be large, nor to fine and pretentious for daily use. The mistress of many a fine mansion is the veriest household drudge. A great house, with its necessary retinue of servants, is not in keeping with the simplicity of a republic where trained servants are not known, and is seldom pleasant for the family or attractive to friends. Furn- iture should be selected for comfort rather than show. Most modern chairs put their occupants to torture, and throw them into attitudes any thing but graceful. Comfortable chairs should have broad seats, and a part at least low seats for women and children. Nothing is more out of taste and "shoddy" than to crowd rooms with furniture, no matter how rich or elegant itmavbe. Nor is it by any means necessary to have things in suites ; variety is pref- erable, and each room, especially, should have an individuality of its own. The modern style is to have all furniture be what it seems ; thus a table which often has a foundation of pine, put together mostly with glue, and cov- ered with a veneer of mahogany, walnut, or other wood, and ornamented with carvings, which may mean something or nothing, which are glued to the work gives place to an honest table being throughout what it appear

be on the surface, made of solid wood ; and if a costly wood can be afforded

well ; if not, take a cheaper wood, Init let the table be just what it pretends to be ; if braces or bars are needed for strength, let them show, and indicate why they are used ; and if ornament is desirable, let it be worked in the ma- terial, and not glued on. A table of this kind will last, and may serve for several generations, 'while in a few years the pine framework warps and shrinks out of shape, the veneer peels, the carving gets chipped and the whole becomes "shabby genteel". Let the furniture represent soliditv honesty, and appropriateness. Sets are made of plain woods, such as ash and walnut, inlaid with porcelain tiles, and ornamented with old-fashioned brass rings and handles. They are valued at from thirty to two hundred and fifty dollars. Bedroom sets of French and English walnut, with inlaid woods, gilt and bronze ornaments, and variegated marbles, are sold from thirty-five to fifteen hundred dollars. Parlor sets of rich, carved woods, and satin, damask, cashmere, brocade and tapestry coverings, etc., rano^ In price from one hundred to twelve hundred dollars. Ebony cabinets inlaid with ivory, and richly ornamented are worth from tM'o" to eighteen hundred dollars. Marquetry tables, work tables, library tables, Oriental chairs, louno-es pasels, music racks, etc., of rich material and design, are valued at from ten

IS4 HOTTBBXinmN«.

to one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars. The principal woods used ar« walnuta of various kinds, ash, bird's-eye maple, satinwood and kingwood. Kingwood is almost crimson in color. BooTc cases are of all prices from twenty to fourteen hundred dollars, and side-boards from seventy-five to one thous- and dollars. It is agood rule in selecting furniture, not to buy anything not actually needed, to buy the best of its kind, and to pay cash or not buy. Never get any thing because some one else has it, and do not be afraid to wait for bargains. Wise young housekeepers buy furniture in single pieces or small lots, as they have means, rather than expend more than they can afford in entire sets, which are really less attractive.

Carpets or rugs should, as a rule, be of small patterns. The stoves — if grates or fire-places are not used — should be of the kind that may be thrown open or closed at pleasure. If a furnace is used, great care must be taken that the rooms are not kept too hot in winter, and that there is most thor- ough ventilation, as the health of the family depends as much on the quality of the air they breathe as the food they eat. To waste heat is not so bad as to waste health and vigor, and fuel is always cheaper, on the score of econ- omy, than doctors' bills. In furnace-heated houses — and the furnace seems to be accepted as the best heater, though apparatus for steam and hot water seems likely to be so perfected as to supplant it by furnishing a milder and more agreeable heat, entirely free from noxious gases — there should always be grates or fire-places in living or sleeping rooms ; and whenever the furn- ace heat is turned on, there should be a little fire, at least enough to start the column of air in the chimney and secure ventilation. It is a common mistake to buy too small a furnace or other heating apparatus. This ought to be ample for the coWeat weather, so that ordinarily it need not be kept up to its full capacity. When a furnace is heated too hot, the little particles of dust afloat in the air are charred, and the air has a burnt flavor, as unwholesome as it it disagreeable. Without a fire, chimneys are apt to draw down a current of cold air. If there are no grates or fire-places, do not rely on airing rooms from the halls, but throw open the windows and take in the outside air. This is especially necessary when a room is used as a study, or for an invalid. The air from

HOTJSEEESPINa. 985

be clean and sweet. In sickness, care in all these respects must be doubled. In damp and chill autumn and spring days, a little fire is comfortable morn- ing and evening. The food for the family must be fresh to be wholesome, and it is economy to buy the best as there is less waste in it. No housekeeper ought to be satisfied with any but the very best cooking, without which the most wholesome food is unpalatable and distressing ; and no consideration of economy should ever induce her to place on the table bread with the slight- est sour tinge, cake or pudding in the least heavy or solid, or meat with the slightest taint. Their use means disease and 'costly doctor's bills, to say nothing of her own loss of repute as an accomplished housekeeper. If chil- dren and servants do work improperly, she should quietly insist on its being done correctly, and in self-defense they will soon do it directly without super- vision. Order and system mean the stopping of waste, the practice of econ- omy and additional means to expend for the table and for the luxuries and elegance of life — things of which money is well expended. It requires good food to make good muscle and good brain, and the man or woman who habitually sits down to badly cooked or scanty dinners, fights the battle of life at a great disadvantage.