In country places, where there is no sewage to contaminate the soil, a hard, well-beaten dirt floor is not particularly objectionable, except that it cannot well be cleaned.  Boards raised from the ground by small blocks nailed to the under side, and leading to bins, cupboards, and furnace room, should be laid across it to prevent the tracking of dirt to the upper rooms, and these little walks must be swept and kept free from dirt and dust.  If the cellar is floored with boards, the flooring should be raised sufficiently to allow free circulation of air beneath it; but the only strictly sanitary flooring is of concrete, six inches thick, covered from wall to wall with Portland or other good cement.  Cellars, being below the street, and therefore receiving some of the surface drainage, are prone to dampness, and, are easily contaminated by leakage from drains and sewers, and other filth communicated to them through the soil.  These conditions are largely counteracted by the concrete and cement flooring, which also bars the entrance of ants and other vermin.  The communication of damp cellar air, polluted by noxious gases from sewers and decaying vegetable matter, to the upper parts of the house is responsible for many an otherwise unexplainable case of rheumatism, consumption, typhoid, and other diseases, and any outlay of time and money which can render the cellar wholesome and immune to ravages of agents external and beyond our control, must not be grudged.

VENTILATION

One who owns his home can adopt preventive measures, such as outside area ways or air spaces, impossible to the renter; but certain ounces of prevention are available to all.  For instance:  if drain pipes run through the cellar, have them examined often for leaks; if there is an open drain, wash it out frequently with copperas and water, and give it an occasional flushing with chloride of lime or lye in strong solution to destroy any possible odor arising from it; and see that the roof drains do not empty too near the house, thus dampening the cellar walls.  Whitewash the walls semiannually, not only for sanitary reasons but to lighten the “darkness visible,” and above all else—­have sufficient ventilation!  A perfect circulation of air is insured when there are opposite windows; but whatever their location, all windows should hang from the top on hinges, or be so put in that they can be easily removed from the inside; for open they must be, and that all the year round, except in the coldest winter weather, and even then they can be opened during the warmer hours of the middle of the day without danger of freezing the contents of the cellar.  The cellar can be protected from invasion from without by galvanized iron netting, and wire screens will exclude the flies.  Both screens must, however, be so adjusted that they will not interfere with the opening and closing of the windows.

THE PARTITIONED CELLAR