CELLARS. In all farm-houses the cellar is of special importance. There are so many things to be kept from freezing in winter, and, cool in summer, that no expense should be spared in making this part of the farm-house as complete as possible. When sufficient depth can not be had so the cellar may be entirely under ground, freezing may be prevented by having that portion of the wall extending from two feet below the surface double, with a hollow space for dead air extending up to the first floor Thus, with double windows, the cellar will be frost proof in winter, and measurably cool in summer. The following general rules will suffice to indi cate the means to be used in building cellar walls : A simple, holloW space in which the air may be confined between the inner and outer surfaces of a wall is the most effectual and readiest mode of rendering it impervious to heat, and it makes little difference how wide or how narrow the space is if the air within is entirely cut off from escape or change. .Whether the material is wood or masonry, every good wall,,where the retention or exclusion of heat is an object, should be built in this way. It is as. essential for summer as for winter. at the South as at the North. care, how ever, must be taken that the inner portion of the wall is not massive enough to absorb so much heat as sensibty. "to affect the • temperature of contiguous rooms. A warm wall will almost always be a dry one. It is frequently, perhaps generally, thought that the moisture which stands on basement, and sometimes other exterior walls, is caused by water ,passing• through them from the outside. A glance at a pitcher of iced water in a summer day, with its outside covered with dew, ought to correct such an opinion. If a wall is poorly built, it may become saturated with water, which shall escape by ev iporation from the inside, and affect the air; or, in a severe rainstorm, it might, in rare instances, be driven through, so as to trickle down the inner surface; but in neither case would it show in the manner spoken of. If, as is sometimes said, the damp ness is absorbed from the ground, the very capillary attraction • which drew it into the masonry would hold it there. Moisture collected in this way is vapor from the air of the room, condensed by contact with a cold surface, and indicates both a bad atmosphere and a conduct ing wall. Thick and solid masonry, of course, only aggravates the evil. The most damp and unwholesome rooms are found iu buildings of the heaviest construction, where the substance of the structure acts as a great reservoir of caloric, receiving or giving out its supplies as the con tiguous air, at different points or hours, may be warmer or colder than its own average tempera ture. This average does not differ greatly from the mean temperature, day and night, of the different seasons, and is considerably lower than that by day in the summer months. In building cellar walls, stone will generally be used where quarries are found. They should, if practicable, be laid with a flat surface down, and made so solid as to keep out water and rats. Where it can be obtained readily, it will always pay to lay cellar walls with hydraulic cement, on account of solidity and durability. As coolness is desir able in a cellar, there is no occasion to make cellar walls otherwise than solid at the bottom. They will then always be just as warm as the earth around them. So far down, however, as they are exposed to the air, or in contact with earth liable to freeze, they may be so cold as to endanger the contents of the cellar, and should be protected by a coat of lathing and coarse plastering, formed on wooden strips, a little way from the stone work. Brick walls for purposes ought, whenever practicable, to be laid in hydraulic mortar, and, in most soils, covered with a perfect coating of cement on the outside, as they are otherwise liable to absorb so much water as to affect the atmosphere inside and to. impair their durability. The foundation should be level, and care must be taken that the surface of the trench on which it stands shall not have been broken or disturbed. If basement rooms are to be used for other than cellar purposes, it becomes necessary to make the walls double. When stone is used, this is to be done by furring, with small wooden strips secured to the masonry and covered by lathing and plastering. Brick walls may either be furred in the same way, or laid as two separate walls, two or more inches apart, occasionally bound together by cross bricks, or, better, by small, fiat iron bars; and then, if desired, the inner wall may be plastered directly on its surface. If openings are left in. the air space, it greatly hastens the drying of the wall, but they should all be tightly closed when the work is done. Such spaces are some times used as ventilating flues, with a total ignorance or disregard of their real value. Any ventilating or hot air pipes which may be needed may very well 'be inserted in such spaces, but should be entirely shut off from the air cells.
Another common mistake in building hollow walls, is making occasional vacancies, while the main part of the wall is solid, as though there were some virtue • in the air, which would be diffused over the whole mass. The solid portions must be just as small as may be with strength, for even a single, bond-brick will often betray its position by a.damp spot on the plaster ing. Wherever hollow walls are used, whether above or below ground, the builder must remem ber that their purpose is not to save materials or cost, but to increase efficiency, He must not, as. some do, make the entire thickness the same as if it were solid, filching the material from the middle, but must, for safety, add all the thick ness of the air space, and spare no cost in the bonding, for safety is of prime importance. If properly built, a hollow wall is stronger than the same material laid solidly, There, neverthe less, are some things in the way of its universal adoption, and, except for 'the greater danger in case of fire, the preferable mode of securing the required air space is that by furring. While we are below ground, let us examine the cellar bottom. If the ground is wet and springy, it will be necessary to cover it with a coat of con crete, made of coarse gravel and hydraulic cement an inch or two thick. Where the soil is dry, hard gravel, or even sand, will do, if the occu pants are careful people ; otherwise, it would be better concreted, so that it may be the more readily cleansed. Foundations, other than cellar walls, ought always to be laid on hard ground, and below the deepest frost, according to soil and and climate. The choice of material for the walls of the superstructure is to be governed mainly by location. Good sense and good taste, never inconsistent, both say it should be the most substantial which can be procured with economy. Stone is undoubtedly the most sui able for any permanent building, when it, and the requisite lime, can be obtained of proper quality and wrought without too great labor and cost in comparison with other substances. Next to this Is brick. One great obstacle to the use of stone has been the supposition that it must appear smooth, or it would look badly; and another, the -difficulty of forming the heads and jambs of doors and windows. Both of these objections :are obviated by using bricks in combination with the stone, where much accuracy of finish is required, or where opening's are to be covered. A natural and simple surface of broken stone, suggests an unassuming control of the resources the neighborhood, which no far-fetched ma terial can show Stone walls ought always to be furred or b: it, hollow. It is best never to build any wooden Mocks into the masonry, but for nailing to, u thin strip may be occasionally laid in the mortar-joint, not more than two inches wide and less than half an inch thick. 'This will hold nails and will not weaken the walls. The ends of floor timbers are commonly built into the masonry, just as so many stones would be, but it is better, for the durability of the timber and the solidity of the wall, that, •except on the bottom where they rest, they should touch nothing, a little space being left _above them, and around their sides and ends. Bricks, if used, ought to be hard-burned, so that they may be left in their natural state, as much -of the advantage of either brick or stone is lost if an external covering, demanding frequent renewal, is required for protection. It is useless to give any attention to outside cements, mastics, and plasterings of any name, since, while they are most objectionable for other than structural reasons, they form neither a permanent nor a cheap surface for exposed walls. The drainage from the cellar is of the first importance There 'should, is any case, however dry the bottom, be a line of tile leading away from the cellar to lower ground, whatever the distance required. If dry, this forms one of the best known means of in troducing cool and pure air. If the bottom needs drainage the tile will serve the double purpose of drainage and ventilation. To serve this double purpose the tile should not be less than three-inch caliber, four is better, and should be protected at both ends to prevent the entrance -of vermin, as rats, mice, etc. Ventilation is another matter of importance. One of the house chimneys should go entirely to the bottom of the cellar, with a fire place provided. This, in sum mer, will pass off foul air, while the sub-earth ventilation will furnish pure air. In winter, -close the fireplace, and insert .a pipe into the chimney near the floor. This will provide all necessary ventilation, except when the weather is so mild as to allow the door or windows to be -opened. The cellar should be divided into suit able rooms, by brick walls, and if the bottom be not perfectly hard and dry, it should have a olid floor of broken stone and cement. Thus built,with solid walls and properly floored, it will be proof against rats, moisture and frost.