WINTER MEETING. 149 



extravagant expense, and, besides, it is not needed. Select a convenient 

 gravelly hillside. Excavate to the required size and depth, and then 

 Tvall it up with the stone picked oflFyour fields. Then roof it over. A 

 double roof is best, built in the following manner : Lay a plate on the 

 wall and put on rafters and sheathing as for a roof. Cover the sheath- 

 ing with building paper. Over this lay a second course of rafters with 

 sheathing as before. Fill in between the two courses of sheathing 

 •with sawdust. Then put on the shingles. Before shingling a good 

 ventilator should be put in, running up through the roof. Then with 

 double doors to your cellar you are prepared to hold your apples. 

 Care should be taken to see that the cellar is well drained and well 

 ventilated. The main thing is to keep as near an even temperature as 

 possible. In warm weather in the fall, after the apples are put in store, 

 the ventilators should be opened at night and closed in the daytime. 

 All of the work on a cellar like this can be done with the ordinary help 

 on the farm. It does not require a skilled mechanic to excavate the 

 cellar, to make the mortar or lay the wall. The roof and doors you 

 can build as well. The work can be done at odd times during the 

 summer, when you would not usually be otherwise engaged. 



A good and satisfactory storage place for your fruits or vegetables 

 <3an be put up even cheaper than the one I have described, and it 

 would pay for itself almost the first season. After excavating the cellar 

 and building the wall as before, set up a row of posts along the center 

 the long way through the cellar, high enough when a ridge pole is put 

 on to support the upper end of the rafters. The posts, ridge pole and 

 Tafters can be cut in the woods at a small expense. Cover the rafters 

 with rough boards as for roofing, and then cover with dirt, well packed 

 ■down and thick enough to turn the water and keep out the frost. The 

 timbers should be of good size, suflBcient to sustain the weight of the 

 roof. 



A fruit-house entirely above ground can be put up at not a very 

 large cost, in which an even temperature can be maintained and which 

 will keep out frost, as follows: Prepare a good, tight foundation of 

 stone for the building. Use 2X4-inch studding for the sides. The 

 sides should be about eight feet high. Sheathe on the outside of the 

 studding with inch lumber and cover this with building paper and then 

 on the outside of this with another course of studding, sheathing and 

 building paper. Do this until the wall has three air spaces. The roof 

 is constructed the same way to protect from heat as well as frost. The 

 writer has recently constructed a collar and fruit-house over it, as fol- 

 lows: The floor between the cellar and fruit-room above is laid with 

 2x8 joists, sealed above and below with inch boards. The space be- 



