BUILDING A ROOT HOUSE. . 257 



latter to be used when the room is too warm, and weather too cold 

 to leave doors open ; the other to draw off foul air when room is cool 

 enough. Both should have slides. Two tubes are better, especially 

 in large room. In summer leave the doors open nights and close 

 them hot days. This will keep the air cool and dry. Sometimes 

 surface water must be guarded against. Avoid low ground. Place 

 on a knoll if possible. 



The light problem in winter is a difficult one. If the root cellar 

 is built in a sidehill or under a building, a window may be put in 

 one end or side. Otherwise one may be placed in the cover under 

 the stairway, but it is usually best to depend on a lamp when the 

 weather is so cold that doors cannot be left open. 



For storage of onions or other vegetables which require dry air, 

 build the house above ground or above the one in the ground. For 

 warmth depend on air spaces, made chiefly by back plaster, unless 

 a better way is known. If so, I would like to learn of it, for I know 

 of nothing else which will give so much warmth for the money as 

 back plaster. If above ground, artificial heat must be used in severe 

 weather, and in large rooms a double flue chimney is best, as a good 

 draught can be secured in the air flue that will aid in keeping the air 

 dry and pure. In cellars, a lamp or, possibly, a small oil stove will 

 be sufficient protection in the coldest weather, and sometimes no 

 heat will ever be needed. 



The root house may be used as a -cyclone cellar. It is much 

 safer than the house cellar, unless it is arched over with brick. In 

 that case, strong posts should be provided, as the arch might be 

 forced upward by the expansion of the air during a tornado, and 

 then fall on the inmates. Or if it projects above ground, as it should 

 to turn water well, the storm might move and wreck it. 



The accompanying drawings illustrate some points of construc- 

 tion above suggested and explain themselves. They may be modi- 

 fied as occasion may require. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg : I would like to ask the gentleman whether 

 the cellar or root house is damp enough to keep roots from shrivel- 

 ling? 



Mr. Marsh : I am of the opinion it is. I had one built in clay 

 soil on a knoll, cemented the sides and bottom, covered it with oak 

 joists, plastered on both sides, and in that root house we kept vege- 

 tables of any kind as perfectly as they could be kept in an earth pit, 

 without any danger of freezing. I have kept potatoes in it that in 

 June were not sprouted enough to know whether they were going 

 to grow or not. 



I had kept it near the freezing point. Such vegetables as pota- 

 toes, beets, turnips, mangels and cabbage did not shrivel any. I will 

 say, however, that in sandy soil the cellar will be dry, possibly too 

 dry, but if kept closed tightly there will be no trouble on that score, 

 and it will be very much better than a house cellar. 



