Root Cellars of Concrete
The increasing use of roots, as winter feed for animals, has brought about the construction of root cellars as a means of preserving this valuable food. A root cellar must be sufficiently warm and dry to keep roots from freezing or rotting. By building the cellar below ground the warmth is greatly increased. To do this, however, a material must be employed which is moisture-proof and which will not rot. For these reasons use concrete.
The cellar shown in the illustration on page 91 extends 5 feet below, and 2 feet above ground level. The walls are 5 inches thick, and are made of concrete proportioned 1: 2: 4.
Choose a well drained site, and dig a pit in the earth to the desired depth and with an entrance-way so sloped as to make provision for concrete steps, which will have a rise of 7 inches and a tread of 10 inches.
Build a floor of the same thickness as the walls. Set inside box form and fill the space between this form and the earthen side walls with the wet concrete, the same as for [Underground Cisterns], page 68.
Above the ground level an outside form must be used. The roof is built in the way described on [page 86] except the thickness is increased to 5 inches.
Ventilators are provided in the roof, by imbedding lengths of sewer pipe in the concrete. Add galvanized tin hoods to keep out the rain.
By [referring to page 90], there will be found a description of how to build a hatchway and steps.
Immediately after the side wall forms have been erected, the door frame should be set in its required position, before placing concrete.
Similar structures are also used as bee, vegetable, fruit and cyclone cellars. Concrete cellars are great favorites with growers of apples, potatoes and cabbage. By adjusting the ventilator openings, the temperature can always be kept at just the right point. Moreover, since rats and mice cannot gain an entrance to a concrete root cellar, there is no waste causing decay, and the vegetables keep better.
In cold climates bees must be warmly housed in winter, lest they freeze to death. By no other means than underground cellars can they be safely brought through the winter. The bee cellar must be dry, in order that the bees stay in good health. In no way, can there be provided so even a temperature or so dry an atmosphere, as by the use of concrete. Bees kept in concrete cellars come through the winter in perfect condition.
| Materials Required | ||
|---|---|---|
| Crushed rock or screened gravel | 11 cubic yards at $1.10 | $12.10 |
| Sand | 5½ cubic yards at $1.00 | 5.50 |
| Portland cement | 15 barrels at $2.50 | 37.50 |
| $55.10 | ||
