GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the back side. Please notice the first floor 

 is but little above the level of the lawn in 

 front, so there is not much climbing up and 

 down to get in. Well, on the back side Jie 

 basement is also on a level with the garden, 

 for the house is on a little side hill. The 

 basement floor is really above the level of 

 the ground outside, so that if the water 

 should ever get into the cellar it will run 

 out of the outside door. But that is not 

 likely. The cistern is under the pantry, and 

 is partly under ground and joartly in the 

 basement. When we have plenty of rain it 

 can be filled up nearly to the main floor. 

 The cistern is planned so that, by unscrew- 

 ing a four-inch iron pipe, every drop will 

 run out by gravity ; and when it overflows 

 the overflow all comes from the bottom, tak- 

 ing up sediment or whatever may have 

 collected from the rains. Without our know- 

 ing any tiling about it, the children had 

 Ijlanned an apparatus to take the water 

 out of the cistern, and drive it, either hot 

 or cold, into a bath-room or the kitchen 

 sink. This is done by the force of the city 

 water, the latter being comparatively hard. 

 If I .am correct, the apparatus sends up 

 three gallons of soft water by wasting two 

 gallons of the city water. 



Heretofore we two have never used gas 

 for warming or for cooking; and for quite 

 a time Mrs. Root declared she would rather 

 have her old-fashioned Stewart cook-stove. 

 Her main complaint about the gas was that 

 it would never go out of itself like wood for 

 fuel. In cooking with the old stove she 

 had learned to put in just about enough 

 fuel to do the work; and if she forgot about 

 it, it would go out of its own accord. In 

 vain I pleaded that with gas there was no 

 dusty fuel to litter up the house, nor ashes 

 flying around to be 

 brushed up daily. 



Before lea^^ng the 

 house, I wish to say a 

 word more about the 

 stairs. Mrs. Root de- 

 clares she has worn 

 herself out by climb- 

 ing awkward and 

 poorly made stair- 

 ways; therefore I told 

 her to have these stairs 

 down to the basement 

 made just after her 

 own notion ; and I 

 think I can describe it 

 without any drawing; 

 and I want to add 

 that, if I had to climb 

 basement stairs many 

 times a day, I entirely 

 agree with her. These 



stairs are made of just two long two-inch 

 plank. Plain flat steps are let into these 

 plank so as to come just 8y2 inches from 

 the top of one to the top of the next; and 

 the plank for the steps are just ten inches 

 wide ; but there are no risers to close up the 

 space between the steps — nothing to bump 

 your toes against when you are in a hurry; 

 and tliis makes it vei'y much easier to sweep 

 them off or dust them off. These stairways 

 are certainly a very important feature in 

 any home, and I would put the matter of 

 looks entirely secondary. Have the stairs 

 easy to use and easy to dust off and keep 

 clean. 



Our main cold cellar where we keep our 

 vegetables and fruit is under the noi'th side, 

 and the house faces north. By opening the 

 windows of this cellar during cool nights or 

 cool days, and shutting it warm nights and 

 warm days, we have been able to get along 

 very well without the bother of a refrigera- 

 tor; and as the floor of this cold cellar is 

 right on a level with the garden, as I have 

 fold you, it is an easy matter to move stuff 

 in and out without any climbing up and 

 down. The front jDorch needs no descrip- 

 tion. It is all made of cement, including 

 l^illars that support the roof. The roof is 

 slate, as you notice, so we have the very best 

 of drinking-water. The picture of the auto- 

 house just below gives you also a glimpse 

 of the east porch. This porch is also of 

 cement, floor and all. If you have never 

 had a porch with a cement floor you can 

 scarcely imagine what a convenience it is to 

 have a floor that can be swept and scrubbed 

 off with nothing that Avill soak up or hold 

 the water. 



The sidewalks which you see in the pic- 

 tures are made of cement. They cost, all 



Our auto-house for that little electric auto I have been talking to you about. 



