standpoints of sanitation and comfort, the most important part of the
house. There should be no attempt to save expense by limiting its proper
size, materials for walls, windows for ventilation, drainage, etc.,
for money so saved will inevitably be paid out many times over in coal
bills, doctor's fees, and, perhaps, undertaker's bills. A dry cellar
must be secured at all costs, for the air from it permeates the whole
house. Where this is damp, it leads not alone to disease among the
inmates, but to the disintegration of the house itself, through what
is called "dry rot," but is paradoxically the result of dampness.
Edgar Allan Poe, in his weird story, "The Fall of the House of Usher,"
has given a mystical interpretation of the dissolution of an old homestead
which really has a scientific explanation that might be found in the
cellar.

The proper floor of a cellar is a layer of broken stones in which tile
drains are laid, having outlets into a common drain, and over which a
layer of concrete is placed, The walls, of plastered stone, brick,
or concrete, should rise above the ground far enough to permit small
windows, and prevent the admission of surface water from rain or snow.
These windows should open from within, upward, and there should be hooks
on the ceiling to keep them open for ventilation.

Where a house is heated by a furnace, the style of this should be
selected with great care, special regard being had to the economy of
fuel. The systems of steam-heating, hot-water heating, or hot-air
heating have each their merits, depending on the location of the house
and the climate of the region. The cellar can also be used as a
storeroom for those things not affected by the heat of the furnace,
such as perishable food requiring an ice-box or a cool place, vegetables,
especially those with a penetrating odor; apples, canned fruit and