182 The Farmstead 



finish swells after it is placed. In either case, 

 when the house becomes thoroughly dried out 

 by artificial heat or otherwise, unsightly and 

 dirt -holding cracks will appear. When ex- 

 pensive hard wood polished floors are laid, pains 

 is taken to j^rovide against shrinkage by 

 kiln-drying the floor boards and by laying 

 them where the air and sun unite to take up 

 extraneous moisture in the rooms and in the 

 floor boards used. 



Comparatively few persons can afford hard 

 wood floors, but this fact does not preclude 

 having floors without wide cracks , which serve 

 to retain dangerous and filthy material. There 

 is no reason why tight floors may not be made 

 of hard pine or other suitable material, pro- 

 vided a little extra pains be taken in their con- 

 struction. 



The laying of the floors should be the last 

 carpenter work done in the new house. All 

 this implies that a rough, cheap floor has been 

 laid when the frame was constructed. The 

 rough, diagonally laid sub -floor will cost some- 

 thing extra, but it results in so many benefits 

 that it should never be dispensed with. 



Windows and door frames must have inside" 

 casings, and baseboards, kitchen wainscoting and 

 picture moldings cannot well be dispensed 

 with. All these should be of the simplest and 



