Storage Cellars Without Ice have been in use for years, with profit and convenience to their owners. A convenient place is to locate them in the side of a slight hill, as shown in [Fig. 89]. A cross section is shown in [Fig. 90]. An excavation the width of the cellar is made, the earth being thrown up against the outside of the stone wall, which is built on the lower hillside. The opposite wall is formed by the cut face of the hill. The rear end is constructed in the same manner as the lower hillside. The front wall and doors are made of a double thickness of boards, with six inches inclosed space filled with sawdust.
FIG. 89. PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF FRUIT CELLAR.
The doors swing inward, and are large enough to admit a single horsecart. The sides and rear end are lined with inch boards. The side walls are four feet high in the clear. To form the roof, boards are cut of a length which will raise the center seven feet above the floor and give easy passage for a horse.
Midway between the center and either wall a 2 × 4 post is set upon a footing of brick, and above it under the roof boards a 1 × 4 strip is run the length of the cellar. On top of the first roof boards a layer of straw is placed, which will be a foot in thickness when pressed down.
On top of this straw a second set of roof boards is placed, covered with another layer of straw; on top is now placed a tight cover of matched boards, and two thicknesses of tarred paper over the whole. Battens are placed over the joints in the matched boards to hold down the tarred paper and prevent any water passing through. The outer edges of the roof are set firmly against the ground at the top of the walls.
On the upper hillside tiling should be placed, or other draining to carry off the surface water. A porous, gravelly side should be selected whenever available. In the front two windows are placed and one large one at the rear, double sashes being fitted during the coldest weather.
FIG. 90. CROSS SECTION OF FRUIT CELLAR.
The Cheapness and Capacity of such a Cellar.—For a cellar one hundred feet deep the estimated cost is $100, no skilled labor being required. Rough lumber is used except for the last roof boards. Large storage room is provided in such a cellar, fifty thousand celery plants have been accommodated in one; hundreds of bushels of vegetables, apples and other fruits have been held in it during the fall and winter.