When painted wainscot or other wood requires cleaning, soft soap and fuller's earth should be applied with a flannel. The work should proceed from the top downwards, and the water should be prevented from running on the clean parts as much as possible, or marks will be made which will appear after the whole is finished. One person should dry with a soft rag as fast as another has scoured off the dirt and washed off the soap. When the paint is soiled in parts only, and does not require a general cleaning, dip a sponge or a piece of flannel into soda and water, wash it off quickly, and dry immediately, or the soda will eat off the paint. When paint simply requires to have the dust removed from it, a cloth should not be used, but, after blowing off the loose particles with a pair of bellows, the operation should be completed with a longhaired brush. With care, paint will look well for a long time if guarded from the influence of the sun.

Painting, Effect of, on Wood. It is, of course, generally understood that the main purpose of painting wood is to preserve it from decay, but this effect is only to be expected when the wood is previously quite dry, if this is not the ease, the painting is injurious instead of being beneficial to the timber. There is a cause which affects all wood most materially, which is the application of paint, tar, or pitch before the wood has been thoroughly dried. The nature of these bodies prevents all evaporation, and con-fines the internal moisture, which is the cause of sudden decay. Both oak and fir posts may be brought into a premature state of decay, by their having been painted prior to a due evaporation of their moisture, and painting affords no protection to timber against dry rot. On the other hand, the doors, pews, and carved work of many old churches have never been painted, and yet are often found to be perfectly sound, after having existed for centuries. Painted floor-cloths are very injurious to wooden floors, and soon produce rottenness in the floors that are covered with them, as the painted cloth prevents the access of atmospheric air, and retains whatever dampness the boards may absorb, and therefore soon causes decay, carpets are not so injurious, but still assist in retarding free evaporation.