lead; about one-fourth part of the latter. These must be laid very smoothly in the direction of the grain of the wood.

When the last coat is dry, smooth it with pumice-stone, or give it the first coat of paint, prepared or diluted with nut or linseed oil; after which, when sufficiently dry, all the nail-holes or other irregularities on the surface, must be carefully stopped with a composition of oil and Spanish white, commonly known by the name of putty. The work must then be again painted with white lead and oil, somewhat diluted with the essence of oil of turpentine, which process should, if the work be intended to be left of a plain white, or stone colour, be repeated not less than three or four times; and if of the latter colour, a small quantity of ivory or lamp-black should be added. But if the work is to be finished of any other colour, either grey, green, &c. it will be requisite to provide for such colour, after the third operation, particularly if it is to be finished flat, or, as the painters style it, dead white, grey, fawn, &c. In order to finish the work flatted or dead, which is a mode much to be preferred for all superior works, not only for its appearance, but also for preserving the colour and purity of the tint, one coat of the flatted colour, or colour mixed up with a considerable quantity of turpentine, will be found sufficient; although in large surfaces it will frequently be requisite to give two coats of the flatting colour, to make it quite complete. Indeed, on stucco it will be almost a general rule.

In all the foregoing operations, it must be observed that, some sort of dryer is absolutely requisite; a very general and useful one is made by grinding in linseed, or, perhaps, prepared oils boiled are better, about two parts of the best white copperas, which must be well dried with one part of litharge of lead: the quantity to be added, will much depend on the dryness or humidity of the atmosphere, at the time of paiuting, as well as the local situation of the building. It may here be noticed, that there is a sort of copperas made in England, and said to be used for some purposes in medicine, that not only does not assist the operation of drying in the colours, but absolutely prevents those colours drying, which would otherwise have done so in the absence of this copperas.

The best dryer for all fine whites, and other delicate tints, is sugar of lead, ground in nut oil, but being very active, a small quantity, about the size of a walnut, will be sufficient for twenty pounds of colour, when the basis is white lead.

It will be always necessary to caution painters to keep their utensils, brushes, &c. very clean, as the colour would otherwise soon become very foul, so as to destroy the surface of the work. If this should happen, the colour must be passed through a fine sieve, or canvass, and the surface of the work be carefully rubbed down with sand-paper, or pumicestone: the latter should be ground in water, if the paint be tender, or recently laid on. The above may suffice as to painting on wood, either on inside or outside work, the former being seldom finished otherwise than in oil: four or five coats are generally sufficient.

It does not appear that painting in oil can be serviceable in stucco, unless the walls have been erected a sufficient time to permit the mass of brick-work to have acquired a sufficient degree of dryness. When stucco is on battened work, it may be painted over much sooner than when prepared on brick. Indeed, the greatest part of the art of painting stucco, so as to stand or wear well, consists in attending to these observations, for whoever has observed the expansive power of water, not only in congelation, but also in evaporation, must be well aware that when it meets with any foreign body, obstructing its escape, as oil painting, for instance, it immediately resists it, forming a number of vesicles or particles, containing an acrid lime-water, which forces off the layers of plaster, and frequently causes large defective patches, not easily to be eradicated.

Perhaps, in general cases, where persons are building on their own estates, or for themselves, two or three years are not too long to suffer the stucco to remain unpainted, though frequently, in speculative works, as many weeks are scarcely allowed to pass.

The foregoing precautions being attended to, there can be no better mode adopted for priming, or laying on the first coat on stucco, than by linseed or nut-oil, boiled with dryers, as before mentioned; taking care, in all cases, not to lay on too much, so as to render the surface rough and irregular, and not more than the stucco will absorb. It should then be covered with three or four coats of white-lead, prepared as described for painting on wainscotting, allowing each coat a sufficient time to dry hard. If time will permit, two or three days between each layer, will be advantageous. When the stucco is intended to be finished in any given tint, as grey, light green, &c. it will then be proper, about the third coat of painting, to prepare the ground for such tint, by a slight advance towards it. Grey is made

with white-lead, Prussian-blue, ivory-black, and lake; sagegreen, pea, and sea-greens, with white, Prussian-blue, and fine yellows; apricot and peach, with lake, white, and Chinese vermilion; fine yellow fawn colour with burnt terra sienna, or umber and white; and olive-greens with fined Prussian-blues, and Oxfordshire ochre

Distemper, or painting in water colours, mixed with size, stucco, or plaster, which is intended to be painted in oil when finished, but not being sufficiently dry to receive the oil, may have a coating in water colours, of any given tint required, in order to give a more finished appearance to that part of the building. Straw colours may be made with French whites and ceruse, or white lead and masticot, or Dutch pink. Greys, full, with some whites and refiner's verditer. An inferior grey may be made with blue-black, or bone-black and indigo. Pea-greens with French green, Olympian green, &c. Fawn-colour with burnt terra de sienna, or burnt umber and white, and so of any intermediate tint. The colours should all be ground very fine, and mixed with whiting and a size made with parchment, or some similar substance. Less than two coats will not be sufficient to cover the plaster, and bear out with an uniform appearance. It must be recollected, that when the stucco is sufficiently dry, and it is desirable to have it painted in oil, the whole of the water-colours ought to be removed, which may easily be done by washing, and when quite dry, proceed with it after the direction given on oil-painting in

stucco.

If old plastering has become disfigured by stains, or other blemishes, and it be desired to have it painted in distemper, it is, in this case, advisable to give the old plastering, when properly cleaned off and prepared, one coat, at least, of white-lead ground in oil, and used with spirits of turpentine, which will generally fix old stains; and, when quite dry, take water-colours very kindly.

MENSURATION OF PAINTERS' work.

Painters' work is measured by the yard square, and the dimensions are taken in feet, inches, and tenths. Every part which the brush has passed over is measured, consequently the dimensions must be taken with a line, that girts over the mouldings, breaks, &c. All kinds of ornamental work produces an extra price, according to the nature of the imitations, &c. Carved work is also valued according to the time taken in painting it

RAIL-ROADS

AND

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.

AMIDST the various speculations of the day, perhaps none have more deservedly excited the public interest than that of the numerous projected lines of rail-road for diminishing the friction of carriages, and for propelling carriages on them by either gas or steam power.

The lessening the friction, produces a consequent diminution in the power which otherwise would be required to propel a given weight; and therefore, is, in a commercial nation, like that of the united kingdom, a subject worthy of the highest consideration.

Railways were originally made of wood, and appear to have been first introduced between the river Tyne and some of the principal coal-pits, as early as the year 1680. The scarcity of this material, and the expense of frequent repairs, soon suggested an idea that iron might be more advantageously employed. At first, flat rods of bar-iron were nailed upon the original wooden rails, or, as they were technically called, sleepers; which, though an expensive process, was found to be a great improvement. But as the wood on which these rested was liable to rot and give way, these railings were soon after superseded by others made entirely of iron.

These tram or rail-roads have, for a considerable length of time, been much used in the colliery and mining districts; and some few have been carried from one town or manufacturing district to another. The principal of these latter in England and Wales are, the Cardiff and Merthyr, 26 miles long, running near the Glamorganshire canal; the Caermarthen; the Lexhowry, 28 miles, in the counties of Monmouth and Brecknock; the Surrey 26 miles; the Swansea, 7 miles; one between Gloucester and Cheltenham; besides several in the north of England.

Railways are of two kinds, arising from the disposition of

L

the flanch that is to guide the wheels of the carriage, and prevent it from running off the rail. In the one, the flanch is at right angles, and of one piece with the flat surface of the rail: in the other, the flat surface of the rail is raised above the level of the ground, and the flanch is fixed on the wheel of the carriage, at right angles to the tyre, or iron placed on the circumference of the wheel, to strengthen it. Beside these, another kind of railway has lately been introduced by Mr. Palmer, which consists of a single rail, supported some height from the surface of the ground: on this, two wheels confined in sufficient frame-work, are placed, suspending the load equally balanced on either side. This arrangement certainly seems to ensure the grand principle of lessening friction, and doubtless will, in many situations, be found a great improvement.

Previously to entering upon the probable advantages likely to result from a general introduction of railways, we shall give the substance of the specification of a patent, obtained in Sept. 1816, by Messrs. Losh and Stephenson, both of whom are well known to those interested in the subject.

These gentlemen preface a description of their method of facilitating carriages along tram and railways, with an observation, that there are two kinds of railways in general use; the one consisting of bars of cast iron, generally of the shape of that described by a, fig.631, the other of the shape of that described by figs. 630 and 631. That shewn at a, fig. 629, is known in different situations by the denomination of the edge rail, round-top rail, fish-backed rail, &c. That shewn at figs. 632 and 633, by the denomination of the plate-rail, tram-way plate, barrow-way plate, &c. The first we shall distinguish by the name of the edge railway; the second, by that of the plate railway.

In the construction of edge railways, Messrs. Losh and Stephenson's objects are, first, to fix both the ends of the rails, or separate pieces, of which the ways are formed, immovable, in or upon the chairs or props by which they are supported; secondly, to place them in such a manner, that the end of any one rail shall not project above or fall below the correspondent end of that with which it is in contact, or with which it is joined; thirdly, to form the joinings of the rails, with the pedestals or props which support them, in such a manner, that if these props should vary from their perpendicular position in the line of the way, (which in other railways is often the case) the joinings of the rails with each other would remain as before such varia