Good, dry walls are of little use without good roofs, and for a comfortable house the roofs should not only be watertight and weathertight, but also, if I may use the term, heat-tight. There can be no doubt that many houses are cold and chilly, in consequence of the rapid radiation of heat through the thin roofs, if not through thin and badly constructed walls. Under both tiles and slates, but particularly under the latter, there should be some non-conducting substance, such as boarding, or felt, or pugging. Then, in cold weather heat will be retained; in hot weather it will be excluded. Roofs should be of a suitable pitch, so that neither rain nor snow can find its way in in windy weather. Great care must be taken in laying gutters and flats. With them it is important that the boarding should be well laid in narrow widths, and in the direction of the fall; otherwise the boards cockle and form ridges and furrows in which wet will rest, and in time decay the metal. After having secured a sound waterproof roof, proper provision must be made for conveying therefrom the water which of necessity falls on it in the form of rain. All eaves spouting should be of ample size, and the rain water down pipes should be placed at frequent intervals and of suitable diameter. The outlets from the eaves spouting should not be contracted, although it is advisable to cover them with a wire grating to prevent their becoming choked with dead leaves, otherwise the water will overflow and probably find its way through the walls. All joints to the eaves spouting, and particularly to the rain-water down pipes, should be made watertight, or there is great danger, when they are connected with the soil drains, that sewer gas will escape at the joints and find its way into the house at windows and doors. There should be a siphon trap at the bottom of each down pipe, unless it is employed as a ventilator to the drains, and then the greatest care should be exercised to insure perfect jointings, and that the outlet be well above all windows. Eaves spouting and rain-water down pipes should be periodically examined and cleaned out. They ought to be painted inside as well as out, or else they will quickly decay, and if of iron they will rust, flake off, and become stopped.