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NUMBER THREE. Mr. Porter con siders the proper form of an aerial float to be the “ revoloidal spindle,” round in its transverse section, its sides curving uniformly from end to end, and having its length ten times its diameter. But this may be varied according to the business for which it is intended, and made longer for great speed, or larger in diameter for carrying freight. It should be made of the strongest linen cloth, varnished on both sides with a varnish that will not injure the strength of the fiber ; and the strips of cloth should be sewed together with double seams, the seams being covered with thick elastic varnish. The cloth is supported inside by twenty rods of white spruce, extending the entire length, the joints being secured by tin tubes, and the cloth being attached to the rods by tack nails, driven through strips of white oak or elm, half an inch wide and one-eighth thick ; the tacks being two incheg apart. A medium-sized. float should have a capacity of 266,796 cubic feet. The longitudinal rods for a float feet long should be one and one half inches in diameter, but tapering to three fourths at the ends. The buoyant power of 266,796 cubic feet of hydrogen gas, is 19,051 lbs. The weight of the cloth, including two transverse partitions, is 2,000 lbs., and that of the rods 2,000 lbs., leaving a net buoyancy of 15,051 lbs. The proper proportional length of the saloon is 133 feet, and its diameter 10 feet; being square in its transverse section, and having its four sides covered with painted duck, and curving to a point at each end. The engine room should be in the center, 10 feet long by 6 feet wide, leaving a passage way of two feet on each side. There would then be space for two cabins 20 feet long, and a ladies' room, and kitchen, each 8 feet long. The spaces left forward and aft, wou1

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