or. A hard-wood floor can
be dressed with shellac or with oil. The wood absorbs this dressing so
that water will not soak in. A floor which has been shellacked should be
wiped with warm water. Not much water will be needed. The oiled floor
can be wiped and dried, then oiled lightly from time to time.

Linoleum or oilcloth may be used to cover an old floor. If the floor is
rough it should be made even by planing before the linoleum is put down,
and the cracks should be filled. If you can't get linoleum you can paint
your floor with a hard floor paint. Be sure to get a paint that dries
hard. The linoleum should be frequently washed with warm water and soap
and then rinsed carefully before it is dried.

_The Kitchen Stove._ The chief business of the kitchen stove is to
provide heat for cooking. It must hold a fire, and so must be made of
something which will not burn. Stoves are usually made of iron. Fire
will not burn without air, so a place must be arranged to let air into
the stove, and just enough to make the fire burn clearly and furnish the
right amount of heat. That is what the front dampers or slides are for.
The fuel, wood or coal, is held in the fire-box. The heated air makes
the top of the stove hot for frying, broiling or boiling, and the oven
hot for baking.

The smoke and gases from the fire must not come out into the room to
blind our eyes or suffocate us; the chimney is built to take care of the
smoke and gases, and there must be a way for them to get into the
chimney; the stove pipe is for this. But the game you have to play with
your stove is to let the smoke and gases run up chimney, but to save all
the heat you can for the work to be done. So your stove is supplied with
dampers. When the fire is new, and there is much smoke or gas, you open
the damper into the stovepipe, and in the stovepipe. Try to get a
picture of the way the heated air goes from the fire-box up into the
chimney. We call this direct draft. Of course a great deal of heat runs
away through the chimney, and so your fuel is wasted. Now if you want
to save heat, and particularly if you want to bake, and must have a hot
oven, you will close the oven damper that has made the short easy way
into the stovepipe. Then the heated air must find another way to get to
the chimney, and it has to go around the oven to do this. While the hot
air is finding its way around the oven, it heats it, ready for your
baking. We call this the "indirect draft."