St. Landry democrat., 1881-08-13
A Cool House AMI Dry Cellar.

Much com orr may be secured by
keeping the house cool in the hot days.
This may be done by closing all the
windows about eight o'clock in the
morning and opening them only otter
six in tn evening; dark green window
shades being inside of the white ones
viii keep out the heat of the sun. add
the darkness will drive out the flies.
Children and old persons suffer greatly
if they cannot rest for an hour or two
about midday, and in cool, dark room,
where there are no flies, an hour 5 rest
for the weary mother and the young
children may he easily secured. The
windows may be opened at night when
the air is cooler and less damp than in
given The condition of the cellar is
much improved by the same treatment.
If the cellar windows are open in the
day time and the warm ar let in large
quantity of moisture comes in with the
hot air and is deposited like dew on the
cellar walls and floor. This encourages
mold, and in few days the cellar is
impregnated with mildew The cooler
night air contains less moisture, and if
a bushel Of fresh lime is kept in the
cellar it will absorb great quantity of
moisture from the Air and keep the eel
lar dry. A bushel of lime weighing
eighty pounds will absorb twentv-seven
pounds of water before it becomes a all
damp A peck of it will absorb more
than six pounds. and a peck is very
manageable When it is slakcd down
to a powder and appears very moist it
h, al,
Piled Ten cubic feet of air saturated
with moisture until it begins to be de-
posted on" the walls of a cool cellar
may contain one cubic inch of water
or half an ounce or thereabout. A cell
lar thirty by twentF and seven feet
high contains 1920 cubic feet, and
may contain, dissolved in the
air, about thirteen pounds, or nearly
two gallons of water. when it begins to
be deposited as dew on the walls at
sixty degrees temperature. Half u
bushel of lime will completely dry the
air in a cellar of this size: but it is not
requisite to dry it completely; all that
is wanted is to absorb the surplus that
cannot be held in the air at a tempera.
ture of forty-tve or fifty degrees. Then
Inc CclldE Will Dc pIbCtlCilll Ill anu
there will be no mold or moisture or
earthly smell about it. This is OF the
utmost Importance in diaries where
milk, cream and butter are kept in cell
lars, and more so in regard to food. 1t
is known that the spore of common
mildew will produce germs that are
found in the stoma h and blood in GER
tain diseases. 1t is quite logical to be-
lieve, then, that to eat musty or moidy
food will be dangerous to health, and
may produce serious diseases as surely
as impure water will. Sometimes a
cake taken from damp cellar ma, be
found, on breaking, to contain fine
glutinous strings or threads which
stretch from piece to piece. These
threads are mold. Pies and bread are
often imperceptibly moldy in warm,
damp weather, and consequently dam
gerous to health. So that a damp eel
lar may be easily a source of unsus-
pected danger, and the dampness may
be all due TO an improper method OF
ventilation. The cellar should, then,
never be ventilated in the DAYTIME eN-
cept in dry, cool weather, when it is
per eptbly warmer than the outside
air. Cor. \. J. Times.