Fig. 37, represents a _sliding closet_, or _dumb waiter_, a convenience which saves much labor, when the kitchen is in the basement. The two closets should be made wide, and broad enough to receive a common waiter. The chain, or rope, which passes over the wheels, should branch, at _X_, so as to keep the closet from rubbing in its movements, when the dishes are not set exactly in the middle, or are of unequal weights. By this method, almost every thing needed to pass between the kitchen and parlor can be sent up and down, without any steps. If the kitchen is not directly under the eating-room, the sliding closet can be placed in the vicinity of one or both. Where the place is not wide enough for two closets like these, they can be made wider than they are long, say one foot and six inches long, and three feet wide. A strip of wood, an inch broad, should be fastened on the front and back of the shelves, to prevent the dishes from being broken when they are set on carelessly. There is nothing, which so much improves the appearance of a house and the premises, as painting or whitewashing the tenements and fences. The following receipts for whitewashing, answer the same purpose for wood, brick, and stone, as oil-paint, and are much cheaper. The first, is the receipt used for the President's house, at Washington, improved by further experiments. The second, is a cheaper one, which the writer has known to succeed, in a variety of cases, lasting as long, and looking as well, as white oil-paint. _Receipt._ Take half a bushel of unslacked lime, and slack it with boiling water, covering it, during the process. Strain it, and add a peck of salt, dissolved in warm water; three pounds of ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, put in boiling hot; half a pound of powdered Spanish whiting; and a pound of clear glue, dissolved in warm water. Mix, and let it stand several days. Heat it in a kettle, on a portable furnace, and apply it as hot as possible, with a painter's or whitewash-brush. _Another._ Make whitewash, in the usual way, except that the water used should be hot, and nearly saturated with salt. Then stir in four handfuls of fine sand, to make it thick like cream. Coloring matter can be added to both, making a light stone-color, a cream-color, or a light buff, which are most suitable for buildings. FOOTNOTES: [R] Many houses are now heated, by a furnace in the cellar, which receives pure air from out of doors, heats it, and sends it into several rooms, while water is evaporated to prevent the air from becoming dry. The most perfect one the writer has seen, is constructed by Mr. Fowler, of Hartford. This method secures well-ventilated rooms, and is very economical, where several rooms are to be warmed.