Is there a damp spot on walls or floor? If there is the cause must be found and put an end to. If there is one near the place where the waste pipes leave the house which cannot be accounted for, send for a plumber.
Is there any article out of its place? Is there any pile of things which might be looked over and in part thrown away? Is there any rubbish? Is the wood piled evenly? Is the coalbin swept up? Are the vegetables in boxes or bins and not on the floor or in corners? Are there cobwebs? Does the floor need sweeping? Are the windows clean and some of them open?
If, in spite of everything one can do, the cellar smells a little musty, some unslacked lime put in a box on the floor will help it. In a cellar with an earth floor it is well sometimes to sprinkle lime in the corners and in out-of-the-way places where it will not be walked upon.
Things which must stand permanently in the cellar are the better for having racks to stand upon. Barrels, ashcans, kerosene cans and cases containing bottles sometimes ooze moisture, sometimes absorb moisture from the floor; their bottoms thus become sodden and mouldy.
Slats nailed on cross-pieces and laid on the floor for such things to stand upon, make the cellar and its contents more cleanly and more dry. They are a contrivance of great use and simply obtained. It is, of course, pleasant to have them made by a carpenter, but three discarded bedslats nailed on the flat sides of some short pieces of floor joist make a rack that will hold two barrels, and small racks can be made in a few minutes from the boards of a box cover nailed on the cleats that have held the box together.
When the cellar floor is swept be sure to use something, preferably not water, to lay the dust. This is especially necessary when the furnace is in use. Dampened sawdust is good for this purpose.
THE PLUMBING
Before settling down to live in a place, one should know where the water supply comes from, and where waste water goes. If the water supply in a city or town comes from a far away stream or an artesian well, and the health of the community is fairly good, one may rest content. If, however, the water is notably or probably polluted, one should boil or at least filter water for drinking and cooking and in every way possible safeguard the family health from this source of danger.
A sewerage system which does not carry the waste a long distance away from any dwelling is not a very good system. If one must depend upon such a system it is well to do and say everything possible to have it improved.
If you live in a country place and must depend on a surface well for water, you must guard it. Have it cleaned at regular intervals; have the cover or platform over the mouth such that no creatures can get in, nor water or dust fall through; allow no rubbish nor waste water to be thrown near it; keep it well pumped off and see that pigpens, barnyards, poultryyards and closets are as far off as possible. The custom of keeping butter or other food cool by hanging it down the well is picturesque, but I can think of no other recommendation of the practice. Keep everything out of the well from frogs to custard pies.