36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of economy, and partly from ignorance. It costs, however, 

 but a little more to build with two stories. The same shingles 

 that cover one story will cover two, and the increased accom- 

 modations will pay fourfold for the increased expense. We 

 once asked a farmer who was building a one-story house with 

 a cellar-kitchen under it, why he did not put on another story 

 and arrange his kitchen where it ought to be, on the first floor? 

 His reply was, "The nearer you can get your work to the 

 earth the more convenient it is. I don't like climbing up into 

 chambers," " But will not your wife find it inconvenient to be 

 running up and down the cellar-stairs?" "Yes, possibly, but 

 women were made for work, and the cellar-kitchen is very 

 handy." The dismal, damp cellar may have been very handy 

 for work, but we noticed that the wife did not live very long 

 to work in it, and with the advent of a second wife the cellar- 

 kitchen was converted into a potato-bin. 



If our family consisted of only two persons we would build 

 the house with two stories, and w^ould sleep in a chamber on 

 the sunny side. " Climbing up into chambers " may be a little 

 inconvenient for old folks, but when they are once there, the 

 dryer, purer air will compensate for the labor. The nearer 

 the earth the more convenient it may be for sleep as well as 

 work, but we should not, on this account, either work or sleep 

 in a cellar. The more remote from the ground the chamber, 

 the better is the air, especially in the night, and good sleeping- 

 air is one of the essentials for health and lona: life. 



A story and a half house is but little better than the old- 

 fashioned one-storied. It has a fourpence-halfpenny look. 

 The chambers are low and warm, and the little windows under 

 the eaves furnish poor light, and still poorer lookout. A 

 house with twelve-feet posts may be considered economy by 

 some ; we call it parsimony. Sixteen-feet posts cost but little 

 more, and furnish far more comfort and health. 



Analogous to this parsimony in the height of the house, is 

 that of putting a cellar only under a part. We rejoice that 

 this old practice is pretty much obsolete. Cellar-room is al- 

 ways wanted, even though we may not stow away so much 

 cider in it as formerly. The expense of a whole cellar is but 

 little more than that of a half cellar, as the walls must be 

 built on two sides in both cases, and when built of the same 



