lar, in the same way, must be kept from dampness,
and this is best done by covering the cellar floor with a layer of
concrete, one part cement, three parts sand, and six parts broken stone;
or, one part cement and eight parts gravel may be used. Care should be
taken, however, that the gravel does not contain an excess of sand, and
it is always well in using gravel for concrete to check the proportion
of these two materials. This may be done as follows: Sift the gravel
through an ash sieve so that it is free from sand; fill a ten-quart pail
even full with the gravel and then pour in water to the top of the pail,
keeping account of the amount of water poured in. This volume of water
gives the proper amount of sand to use with the gravel for concrete, and
if more sand than this was present in the original gravel, it should be
sifted out until the proper proportion is reached.

Concrete is not water-tight, and the concrete floor of the cellar must
be treated in some way to prevent water or moisture rising through this
floor. One method is to cover the concrete thus laid with a denser
mixture of cement and sand, put on three fourths of an inch thick, and
made by mixing equal parts of sand and cement; or the asphalt layer
already referred to in the cellar walls may be carried across the
cellar, putting, as before, a paint layer on the concrete, then paper,
then another paint layer, making it continuous and without a break from
outside to outside. On top of this, to prevent wear and tear, a floor of
brick, laid flat, or a two-inch layer of concrete may be laid.

_Cellar ventilation._

The great importance of the cellar as that part of the house where, if
anywhere, unhealthy conditions exist, justifies this prolonged
discussion, and before leaving the subject, ventilation in the cellar
should receive a word of encouragement. Too many cellars are damper than
need be, are musty and close, full of odors of decaying vegetables and
rotting wood, entirely from lack of ventilation. The cellar windows are
small and always, closed. The cellar door is seldom opened, and never
with the idea of admitting air. The impression on entering such a cellar
is of a tomb.

The cellar, even in that part devoted to storing vegetables, needs
ventilation as much as the house does, for the cellar air finds its way
up into the house, and an unventilated cellar means a house with air
deficient in oxygen and overloaded with carbonic acid, a condition wh