expense of the building above a certain point may prove poor management,
by locking up capital for too long a time, and may tend to prevent the
improvements in arrangement and construction which are necessary for the
most advantageous manufacturing.

The method of mill building known as slow-burning construction combines
the advantages of low initial cost and great resistance to destruction
by fire, the final result being that the manufacturing is housed at the
minimum annual cost. The fundamental principle of such construction is
to mass the material in such a way that there shall not be any concealed
spaces about the structure, and that the number of projections of
timbers, which are more easily ignited than the flat surfaces, shall be
reduced as far as possible; that iron portions of the structure shall
not be exposed to the heat of any fire in the contents of the building,
and furthermore, that the isolation of the various portions, both in
respect to that of one building to another and of the various rooms and
stories of the same building, shall be as complete as is feasible.

The most important feature is that of the mill floors, which should be
laid on beams, generally of Southern pine, 12 x 14 inches, or two inches
larger when required by unusual loads or longer span than twenty-two
feet. These beams are placed from eight to ten feet apart between
centres.

At the columns, beams rest on cast-iron caps.

The support from one column to the next should be made by cast-iron
pintles, preferably those whose section is in the form of a Greek cross,
as that presents advantages in the way of securely joining them to the
timber beams. At the top of the pintle, a cast-iron plate should support