The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1858-06-17
clean Your Cellars.

BY a beneficial arrangement Of Prov
idence, the gases and odors most preju-
dioial to human life, are lighter than
the air which surrounds as, and, as soon
as disengaged, rise Immediately to the
upper atmosphere, to be purified, and
then returned to be used agcin.
The warmer the weather, the more
rapidly are these gases generated, and
the more rapidly do they rise; hence it
is, that in the most miasmatiC regions of
the tropics, the traveller can with safety
pursue his journey at midday, but to
do so in the cool Of the evening, or
morning, or midnight would be GER
tain death. Hence also the popular but
too sweeping dread of might air, B." To
apply this scientific truth to practical
life in reference to the cellars under our
dwellings, is the object Of this article.
The ceilings of cellars should be well
| plastered, in order most effeCtually to
prevent the ascent of dampness and
noisome Odors through the joints Of the
flooring.
The bottom of the cellar should be
well paved with stone, cobble stones are
perhaps best; over this should be pour
| ed, to the extent of several inches in
| thickness water lime cement, or such
other material as is known to acquire
almost the hardness Of stone; this keeps
out the dampncss of the earth below.
If additional dryness is desired foI
special purposes, in parts of the cellar
let some common scanting be laid down
at convenient distances, and loose board
be laid across them for convenience Of
removal and sweeping under, when clean,
ing time of the year comes.
The walls should be plastered in or.
der to prevent the dust from settling on
the innumerable projections of a com
mon stone wall
Shelves should be arranged in the cen
ter of the cellar not in the corners o,
against the walls; these shelves should
hang from the ceiling, by wooden arms
attached firmly before plastering; thu
you make all safe from rats.
TO those who are so fortunate as t
own the houses in which they live, W,
recommend the month Of June, as thu
most appropriate time for the following
recommendations.
Let everything not absolutely naileC
fast, be removed into the yard, and ex
posed to the sun, and if you please, re
main for a week or two, so as to attOrl
opportunity for a thorough drying.
Let the walls and floors be swept thor
oughly, on four or five different days
and let coat of good whito-washing b.
laid on.
These things should be done once
year, and one day in the week at least
except in mid-winter, every opening il
the cellar, for several hours, about noon
should be thrown wide; SO as to ALLOW
as complete a ventilation as possible
Scientific men have forced on the com
mon mind, by slow degrees, the impOr
tance of a daily ventilation Of our sleep
ing apartments, so that now, none bu
the careless or most obtuse neglect il
but few think of ventilating their eel
lars, although it is apparent that tn
noisome dampness is constantly risinl
upwardsand peryading the whole dwell
ing.
Emanations from cellars do not xii
in a night; if they did, universal atten
ton would be forced to their prope
management, but it is certain, from tn
very nature Of things, that unclear
damp, and mouldy cellars, with their 90
pulcral fumes, do undermine the healt
of multitudes of families, and send ma
ny Of their members to an untimel
grave Halls journal of Health.