myself, I requested my friend, Professor Gale, to make the experiments for me.

*

As the result of these experiments, it would seem that there may be situations in which the arrangements I have made for passing electricity across the rivers may be useful, although experience alone can determine whether lofty spars, on which the wires may be suspended, erected in the rivers, may not be deemed the most practical. The experiments made were but for a short distance; in which, however, the principle was fully proved to be correct.

It has been applied, under the direction of my able assistants, Messrs. Vail and Rogers, across the Susquehannah river, at Havre-de-Grace, with complete success-a distance of nearly a mile.

I have as yet said nothing on the telegraph as a mighty aid to national defence. Its importance in this respect is so obvious, that I need not dilate. The importance generally, to the Government and to the country, of a perfect telegraphic system, can scarcely be estimated by the short distance already established between Baltimore and Washington; but when all that transpires of public interest at New Orleans, at St. Louis, at Pittsburg, at Cincinnati, at Buffalo, at Utica, at Albany, at Portland, at Portsmouth, at Boston, at New York, at Philadelphia, at Baltimore, at Washington, at Norfolk, at Richmond, at Charleston, at Savannah, and at all desired intermediate points, shall be simultaneously known in each and all these places together-when all the agents of the Government in every part of the country are in instantaneous communication with headquarters-when the several departments can at once learn the actual existing condition of their remotest agencies, and transmit at the moment their necessary orders to meet any exigency-then will some estimate be formed both of the powers and advantages of the magnetic telegraph.

29

K.

During the past season, I have erected three tenements of unburnt brick in Washington city, and also one on Grand prairie, in the State of Indiana. The settlers on the prairies have expressed great satisfaction at this new experiment there. The house is cheap and convenient; a plan of which is annexed:

Fig 5..

เ

Fig. 1. Ground plan; the dotted line shows in which direction the building should be extended.

Fig. 2. Cross section.

Fig. 3. Side view.

Fig. 4. Perspective view.

Fig. 5. Shows the manner of laying the unburnt bricks and the founda

tion.

It is twenty-eight feet by eighteen, making a room of sixteen feet square, and two bed rooms eight feet square on the first floor. One chimney only is required; and the whole is so arranged that an additional room can be built without another flue. The house has but a single door; and this is so located that it will lead into the additional room, should one be built; a stairway is made into the upper story (see fig. 2) by extending the outer walls three or four feet above the joists, which rest on the brick. The upper room will admit of a division, making a lodging room over the bed rooms; or what may be better, and is adopted in my house, making a tier of berths resembling those in steamboats, on both sides-lighted and ventilated by a window in the end of the building. This upper room will accommodate very conveniently twenty lodgers, with separate beds. Ticks of osnaburgs, one and a quarter yard wide, filled with corn husks, well hackled after the butt end is cut off, laid on narrow ash or other supple boards, with comfortable" made of cotton, will secure easy and economical beds, and afford sufficient warmth for ordinary weather. The window frames are made of plank, of the thickness of the walls; the panes being 8 by 10 inches; cost from three to five cents per light. Five windows are needed for the whole house.

1

Many persons have been deterred from erecting unburnt brick houses, fearing the clay was not suitable. On this point, I would remark that almost all kinds of clay will answer; and if a cellar is needed, this must be built of stone. The following directions will enable any one to complete a building:

Plan of cheap cottages.-Select a suitable spot of ground, as near the place of building as prácticable, and let a circle ten feet or more be described. Let the loam be removed, and the clay dug up one foot thick; or, if clay is not found on the spot, let it be carted in to that depth. Any ordinary clay will answer. Tread this clay with cattle, and add some straw cut six or eight inches long-using two common bundles to one hundred brick. After the clay is tempered by working it, the material is duly

prepared for the brick. A mould is then formed of plank, of the size of the brick desired. In England they are usually made eighteen inches long, one foot wide, and nine inches thick. I have found the most convenient size to be one foot long, six inches wide, and six inches thick. The mould should have a bottom, not air tight, since mortar will not fall when a vacuum is produced. The clay is then spread in the moulds in the same manner that brick moulds are ordinarily filled. A wire or piece of iron hoop will answer very well for striking off the top. One man will mould about as fast as another can carry away-two moulds being used by him. The bricks are placed upon the level ground, where they are suffered to dry for two days, turning them edgewise the second day; and then packed in a pile, protected from the rain, and left ten or twelve days to dry; during which time the foundation of the building can be prepared. If a cellar is desired, this must be formed of stone or brick, two feet above the surface of the ground.

For cheap buildings on the prairies, where stones are scarce, wooden sills, twelve or fourteen inches wide, may be laid on piles or stone. This will form a good superstructure.

In all cases, however, before commencing the walls for the first story, it is very desirable, as in walls of brick, to lay a single course of slate; this will intercept the dampness so often arising in the walls of brick houses. The wall is laid by placing the brick in lengthwise; thus making the wall one foot thick. Ordinary clay, such as is used for clay mortar, will suffice for laying up the brick; though a weak mortar of sand and line, where these articles are cheap, is recommended, as affording more adhesive material for the plaster. A mortar composed of three parts clay, two parts ashes, and one part sand, is very good; and this, when lime is not plenty, answers for plastering the inside. For ceiling, however, where there is walking over head, lime plaster should be used. The walls may safely be carried up one, two, or three stories; the division walls may be six inches thick, just the width of the brick. The door and window frames being inserted as the wall proceeds, the building is soon raised. The roof may be shingles or thatch. In either case, it should project over the sides of the house, and also over the ends, at least two feet, to guard the wall from vertical rains. The exterior wall is plastered with good lime mortar, mixed with cattle's hair or hog's bristles, (short ones;) and then, with a second coat, pebbledashed. The inside is plastered without dashing. The floors may be laid with oak boards, slit, five or six inches wide, and laid down without jointing or planing, if they are rubbed over with a rough stone after the rooms are finished. Doors of a cheap and neat appearance may be made by taking two boards of the length or width of the doors; placing them vertically, they will fill the space. Put a wide batten on the bottom, and a narrow one on the top, with strips on the sides and a strip in the middle.

This door will be a batten door, presenting two long panels on one side, and a smooth surface on the other. If a porch or verandah is wanted, it may be made with cedar posts placed in the ground, with shingle or thatched roof.

Houses built in this way are dry and warm in winter, and cool in summer, and furnish no retreat for vermin.

They can be made by common laborers in a very short time, (a little carpenter's work excepted,) and with a small outlay for materials, exclusive of floors, windows, doors, and roof.

The question will naturally arise, will the walls stand against the rain and frost? I answer, they have stood well in Europe, South America, and Canada. Whoever has noticed the rapid absorption of water by a brick that has been burned will not wonder why brick walls are damp. Burning them makes the brick porous, while the unburnt brick is less absorbent; but it is not proposed to present the unburnt brick to the weather. Whoever has erected a building with merchantable brick will at once perceive the large number of soft and yellow brick partially burned that it contains, brick that would soon yield to the mouldering influence of frost and storm. Such brick are however placed within, beyond the reach of rain, and always kept dry. A good cabin is made by a single room twenty feet square. A better one may be erected eighteen feet wide and twenty-six feet long, cutting off eight feet on one end, for two small rooms eight feet square. How easy could a settler erect such a cabin on the Western prairies, where clay is usually found about fifteen inches below the surface, and where stone and lime are often both very cheap. The article of brick for chimneys is found to be quite an item of expense in wood houses. In these mud houses no bricks are needed, except for the tops of the chimneys, the oven, and casting for the fireplace; though this last might be well dispensed with, and a cement to put round the chimneys, or to fill any other cracks, is easily made, as before mentioned, by a mixture of one part of sand, two of ashes, and three of clay. This soon hardens, and will resist the weather. Boiled linseed oil may be added, to make the composition harder.

There have been numerous attempts to improve the appearance of buildings by washes; the great objection is the liability of these applications to wash off. The following recipes are given with much confidenceone for wood, and the other for brick or stone work. The superiority of this wash depends upon white vitriol, sometimes called sulphate of zinc, which is a powerful mordant to harden and fix the paint.

For brick or stone.-One barrel of stone lime, (fresh burnt the best,) slake it, and then add two barrels of hydraulic cement or water lime, stir them together until about the thickness of paint suitable to be laid on with a brush; then add twelve pounds of white vitriol, (sulphate of zinc,) stir the same for an hour, or until thoroughly mixed; let it remain twenty-four or thirty hours, and it is then fit for use. When you commence using it, take for every four gallons one quart of fine dry sand, and stir them together; put it on the wall with a large paint brush; if too thick, add a little water. This mixture produces a pale yellow; after which, (when dry,) to produce a pure white, go over the same with whitewash, as follows: 1 bushel of lime, with 1 pound of sulphate of zinc.

For wood work

1 bushel of lime;

1 pound of white vitriol, (sulphate of zinc ;)

1 quart of salt;

1 peck of white sand.

I do not suppose the sand important for wood work.

Sulphate of zinc can be formed by taking one part sulphuric acid, four parts water, and adding as much zinc as it will take up.

Another recipe is used in Washington, which looks remarkably well, viz For a barrel of wash, slake six quarts of stone lime, add four bushels of hydraulic lime, and one pint and a half of salt. It dries quick, so that