The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-12-03
manitomo1 pilot.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1885.
FARM TOPICS.
The Necessity for Having Cellars Above
Ground i'm the Prairie Regions of
the West,
Some of the Many Advantages of Planting
Fruit Trees in the Vicinity of
Buildings.
CELLARS ABOVE GROUND.

Some of the Many Advantages of Planting
Fruit Trees in the Vicinity of
Buildings.
CELLARS ABOVE GROUND.
On every farm a building or an
apartment of some kind for the stor-
age of fruit. vegetables, milk, meat,
eggs, and other kinds of food is of the
first importance. 1t is necessary for
it to be comparatively dry, frost-proof
during the winter and cool in sum-
mer. In many parts of the country
these conditions are somewhat easily
secured by making an excavation IN
der the building that is used for
dwelling. In many places good I'M
foreground cellar can be made at a
very small cost. A stone or other firm
foundation is required to support the
house. 1t is necessary to dig trench
below the frost-line, in which to place
the foundation. 1t requires but little
more labor to remove by means of a
scraper the earth included within this
trench. This space will afford ample
storage room. while the foundation for
the house will serve the purpose of the
cellar wall. To secure light, the wall
can be carried above the surface of the
ground and windows placed in it. In
order to render ground sloping about
the house, some of the earth taken
from the excavation can be thrown
against the projecting wall.
A cellar constructed in this way is
convenient and lasting, ani often
cheap. Through an entrance from
the outside 1T is easy to carry potatoes,
garden vegetables, and fruit into it.
During the winter the outer door can
be permanently closed and the cellar
be reached by a stairway leading from
the interior of the dwelling. In case
the house is located where the ground
descends from one or more sides, good
drainage can be secured at moderate
cost, and the requisite degree of dry
ness be scared. In all eastern states
a good cellar is found under almost
| every house in city or country. A
combination of fortuitous circumstan-
ces makes good cellars common. The
ground is billy or rolling, so that good
| drainage can be secured with very
little trouble or expense. Stone suita-
bic for building cellar walls is found in
every neighborhood. More fruit, po-
tatoes and vegetables are raised than
| in most parts of the west, all of which
require good cellars to insure their
| preservation during the winter. On
| the western prairie it is much more
| difficult TO construct good cellars. In
! many places it is hard to secure good
| drainage without great cost, while
stone suitable for cellar walls is very
| scarce.
In many places it is easier to con-
struct cellar above ground than be-
! low it. The walls may be made of
lumber, concrete, brick, or stone.
Some Germans and Dutch in the vi
cinity of this city have constructed
arches built of stone or hard-hurned
brick and covered them with earth. A
double door is at one end and q double
window at the other. A building con-
! structed like an ordinary ice-house
/ may be used for storing the articles
usually kept in an underground cellar.
Light double walls, with space
at least a foot wide between
them. will be required. This space
should De filled with dry sawdust,
! chat, or some other material that is
| very poor conductor Of heat. The
! thickness of the walls and the width of
! the space between them will depend
on the degree of cold they are required
to afford protection against. Confined
| air is the poorest conductor of heat
that can be found. Air, when in mo-
| ton, conveys heat, but when confined
and dry it almost prevents the passage
of heat. By using brick and sufficient
suitable mortar a concrete wall may be
made perfectly alright. Placing
| sawdust or chatf between these walls
| prevents the passage or currents of
! air that would raise the temperature
during the summer and reduce it dur
ing the cold weather.
A cellar or store-room located above
the ground has many advantages over
one that is entirely or chiefly below it..
Ii the roof and walls are tight it will
be dry. and will require no drainage
| 1t can be entered for the purpose of
depositing or taking out articles with
out going up or down stats. This is a
| great advantage when the articles to
| be moved are heavy. A cellar that is
above ground can be better ventilated
! than one that is below the surface. BY
means or double or triple windows,
with air spaces between them, the
room may be rendered as light as any
| room in a dwelling. By means of
shutters and curtains it can DO made
| as dark as may be desired. There are
many sanitary objections to having
cellars for the storage of meat, milk,
fruit and vegetables under the living
rooms of dwellings. All these subs
stances, under the best of care are liza
bic to decay and to give off disagreed
BILE and unwholesome odors. These
find their way into all parts of the
house through the crevices in the floor
and through the door that leads TO the
| cellar. The air in most underground
| cellars is not fit to breathe, and it is
very difficult to keep it in state CT
comparative purity, as the decay of
the articles stored IN it is likely to be
| constantly poiuc on.