Kindlings. — The kindling matter most commonly used consists of paper, light pine or other resinous woods, pine cones, cobs with or without kero sene, charcoal, coke, and various com pounds of resin, tallow, tar, turpen tine, and the like.
Paper as Kindling.—If the leaves of old books, magazines, and news papers are used as kindling, they must not be laid in the grate flat or bound together. Even two or three thick nesses laid side by side tend to protect one another and to be only partly burned or charred. The flat surfaces often fall across the grate and ob struct the draught. Hence use sepa rate sheets of paper, crumple and twist them into loose rolls, and lay these across the grate corncob fashion, leaving spaces between the rolls to admit the air to part.
Wood as Kindling.—If light pine or other resinous woods are used as kindling they should be split very fine, or in two grades, one finer than the other, and the sticks should be short enough to lie straight in the grate, and not stand partly on end so as to pro ject above the coal or other fuel. In fact, the best wood kindlings are those sold in cities and made by tying with tarred rope at intervals of two or three inches apart a bundle of strips sawed from pine slabs, and sawing across the bundles between the ties. Hence these kindlings are in chunks two or three inches long, which lie evenly across the fire box and admit the air in every part. Such kindling may be obtained very cheap at any sawmill and is a great convenience.
Or excelsior is perhaps the most use ful of all wood kindlings, and in many localities one of the cheapest.
Coke and Charcoal.—An enterpris ing citizen in a small New England city has built up a comfortable for tune by selling charcoal in large paper flour sacks at ten cents a sack and ad vertising its virtues as a fire kindler. It can, however, be bought very much cheaper in quantities, and if used with economy need not be regarded as an expensive luxury.
Kerosene as Kindling. — The fact that kerosene oil gives off at a com paratively low temperature a very in flammable gas, and that in most fam ilies it is always at hand, causes it, notwithstanding the dangers that at tend upon this practice, to be used quite generally for the purpose of kindling fires. The principal danger
in the use of kerosene is that of ex ploding a considerable quantity con fined in a tin can or other tight pack age. If oil is poured on a fire from a can the fire will follow the stream up to the can and explode it, throw ing the burning liquid in all directions, besides causing injury from shock. Many explosions have occurred in this way from live coals in the grate or ash pit when it was supposed that the fire was entirely out. Hence under no circumstances should kerosene be poured from a can into a stove or fur nace. This rule is the more impera tive and sensible because the practice is neither necessary nor desirable.
Better and quicker results can be obtained by first pouring the kerosene into an open vessel, as a cup or an old tomato can, and dashing it over the kindling in such a way as to spread it over the largest possible surface. Kerosene may be thrown on a fire in this fashion with no more danger than attends upon a puff of flame from the inflammable gases produced. Hence if it is employed at all, a cup or small basin should be set apart for this pur pose and invariably used.
Or pour a quart of a cheap grade of kerosene into a milk pan or tin bucket and fill it full of cobs standing on end. Cover with another milk pan or pail to prevent evaporation. The cobs will thus absorb enough oil to start fires quickly. They can be handled by the upper end, to which the oil does not penetrate. When a cob is re moved, a fresh one may be put in its place, and thus a quart of oil will start a large number of fires. This method of handling kerosene is cheap, clean, and entirely safe.
Or a torch such as is used by train men, in parades, etc., may be lighted and held beneath the grate until the fire kindles. It must, of course, be removed before the heat is sufficient to cause an explosion.
Pine Cones as Kindling.—In some localities pine cones are plentiful, and as they are light, easy to get, and full of resin, they make excellent kindlings. Or pine cones, if desired, may be saturated with kerosene the same as cobs.