Seo. 15.] 



CELLARS, CUIMXEYS AND ICE-IIOUSES. 



289 



Bccond thouglit, we earthed it up as liigh as the top of the wall and then put 

 on a building for a smoke-house, the fire for whieh was built at the bottom and 

 carried up in a flue. Where there is a hillside, a cave cellar may be made 

 more easily, though M-e did not iind it a setious job to heap up theeartii from 

 the level ground, taking care to slope it off so as not to leave any noticeable 

 depression. Such a cellar is very convenient, dry, pleasant, and not 

 unhealthy. If built where a building over it would be unsightly, or not 

 needed, it may be arched and covered with earth and made quite an orna- 

 ment of the house surroundings. 



Wherever a cellar is it should have as imiform a temperature as possible, 

 the year through ; it should never sink much below Ji8° Fahrenheit, nor rise 

 above 50^, and it should be always moist, yet never wet. It should be also 

 well ventilated, and that should be by a flue of the chimney, constructed 

 S2)ecially for that object, when the cellar is mider tlie dwelling. 



311. — Chimneys— IIow to Build them. — A new combination of chimney and 

 ventilator has been patented by a Philadelphian (Mr. Leeds), and is very 

 strongly recommended by numy who have tried it in that city. Tlie brick 

 wall of this chimney is without flue.-*, no matter how large the house, but the 

 smoke is carried up, say half the height of the building, through a cast-metal 

 box or square flue in the centre of the stack, while pure, cold air is intro- 

 duced at tlie bottom of the building into the chimney outside of the flue. 

 The heat of the flue causes this air to ascend with great rapidity and force, 

 carrying the smoke with it from their juncture at the top of the bo.\, and 

 rendering it wholly impossible that the ciiimney should ever smoke. \'enti- 

 lation is eflected by valves oiieniiig from the external or air-chimney into the 

 rooms, so as to throw out a column of air, warmed by its contact with the 

 flue, into the room near its floor, while another valve near the ceiling sucks in 

 and carries off the impure air — the draught of the heated flue being aided by 

 the influx of heated air through the lower valve into the room. This arrange- 

 ment, it is claimed, saves the expense of brick flues, saves heat, which other- 

 wise passes ofl" uselessly through the chimney, insures a thorough ventilation 

 without trouble or cost, and atlords a perfect security against flres from 

 defective or overheated chimneys, through the gradual charring of the 

 wooden beams or other timbers imbedded or ending against the chimney. 

 A connection with the cellar, by an opening into such a flue, would draw ofl' 

 all the foul air that would be generated in any but a very badly kept cellar ; 

 besides proving a valuable safeguard against the carelessness of carjientere, 

 who do sometimes place wood in fearfully dangerous ]>laccs. If all stove- 

 heated houses had such means of ventilation, it would do something t.iwartl 

 bringing back the same state of health that existed in connection with open 

 lire-places. 



The comfort of a dwelling depends in a great degree upon its having good 

 chimneys, always maintaining a current of air upward within, and secured 

 exteriuiily against the entrance of water. Form, size, location and workman- 

 ship, all unite iu producing a good or bad article. 



19 



