these coats must be laid on with the greatest attention as to smoothing, and they should each be thoroughly dry before the succeeding coat is applied, and should be well rubbed down with glass paper. The last coat which is to precede the flatting, however, should not be quite hardened before the finishing is applied for reasons previously explained. The process of flatting has already been described.
Painting New Walls or Stucco. It does not appear that any painting in oil can be done to any good or serviceable effect in stucco, unless not merely the surface is dry, but the walls have been erected a sufficient time to permit the mass of brickwork to have acquired a sufficient degree of dryness.
When stucco is on battened work, it may be painted over much sooner than when prepared as brick. Indeed, the greater part of the mystery of painting stucco so as to stand or wear well, certainly consists in attending to these observations, for whoever has observed the expansive power of water, not only in congelation, but also in evaporation, must be well aware that when it meets with any foreign body obstructing its escape, as oil paint, for instance, it immediately resists it, forming a number of vesicles or particles, containing an acrid lime water which forces off the layers of plaster, and frequently causes large defective patches extremely difficult to get the better of.
Perhaps in general cases, where persons are building on their own property, or for themselves, two or three years are not too long to suffer the stucco to remain unpainted; though frequently in speculative works as many weeks are scarcely allowed. Indeed, there are some nostrums set forth in favor of which it is stated, in spite of all the natural properties of bodies, that stucco may, after having been washed over with these liquids, be painted immediately with oil colors. It is true there may be instances, and in many experiments some will be found, that appear to counteract
