l should be brought to a joint, and project at least six
inches on each side, from the wall itself, when laid upon this bottom
course; as the usual manner of rats is to burrow in a nearly
perpendicular direction from the surface, by the side of the wall, when
intending to undermine it. On arriving at the bottom, if circumvented by
the projecting stones, they will usually abandon their work. Plank of
hard wood, or hard burnt bricks, may answer this purpose when stone
cannot be had.

All cellar walls should be laid in good lime mortar, or if that be not
practicable, they should be well pointed with it. This keeps them in
place, and renders them less liable to the ingress of water and vermin.
The thickness of wall should not be less than fifteen to eighteen
inches, in any event, when of stone; and if the house walls above be
built of stone or brick, two feet is better; and in all cases the cellar
wall should be full three inches thicker than the wall resting upon it.

In the cellar of every farm house there should be an outside door, with
a flight of steps by which to pass roots and other bulky or heavy
articles, to which a wagon or cart may approach, either to receive or
discharge them. This is indispensable.

Every out-building upon the farm, let it be devoted to what purpose it
may, having a wooden floor on the ground story, should be set up
sufficiently high from the surface to admit a cat or small terrier dog
beneath such floor, with openings for them to pass in and out, or these
hiding places will become so many rat warrens upon the premises, and
prove most destructive to the grain and poultry. Nothing can be more
annoying to the farmer than these vermin, and a trifling outlay in the
beginning, will exclude them from the foundations and walls of all
buildings. Care, therefore, should be taken to leave no haunt for their
convenience.

With these suggestions the ingenuity of every builder will provide
sufficient guards against the protection of vermin beneath his
buildings.

VENTILATION OF HOUSES.

Pure air, and enough of it, is the cheapest blessing one can enjoy; and
to deny one's self so indispensable an element of good health, is little
short of criminal neglect, or the sheerest folly. Yet thousands who
build at much needless expense, for the protection of their health and
that of their families, as they allege, and no doubt suppose, by
neglecting the simplest of all contrivances, in the work of vent