FLOOR OF FURNACE-ROOM.--As a rule no attempt is made to improve the natural earthen floor. Whether open-hearth fires, truck furnaces, or drums are employed, it is usual to find a floor with an inch or two of dust upon it. Where all endeavours are directed in other directions towards cleanliness, it appears strange that this should be overlooked. In contrast, houses employing the Pataling type of furnace (or others) have concrete and cement floors, which can be kept quite clean. Cleanliness should be as zealously attempted in the smoke-house as in other departments. [Illustration: NEAR VIEW OF SHELTER. Steps lead downwards where the wall of the smoke-house has been removed.] ROOF.--In any type of smoke-house, the roof should fit tightly at the eaves, and the only vent should be in or near the roof-ridge. In an ordinary smoke-house, the opening should take the form either of a low jack-roof or of squat chimneys protected against rain. If a jack-roof is chosen, it may be so low as to need no scheme of adjustment, or otherwise adjustable swing shutters must be provided. The chimneys may be made with such low fitting between the cap and the body that no interior swinging flaps are required. During the operation of smoke-curing the smoke vents must remain open to a degree which is arrived at by experience. Failure to provide a comparatively free egress for smoke and moisture will bring trouble in its train. After a house has been in use for some time, it will be noted that the timber becomes covered with a shiny tarry coating deposited by the smoke. If the rubber remained in the house for an equal period, it would take on the same appearance. During the interval between the entry and the exit of the rubber some amount of deposit does take place, and it is this mixture of creosotic substances which plays a part in fitting the rubber to withstand growths of mildew which would otherwise form. If proper smoke-vents are not provided, the moisture evaporating from the sheets is unable to escape quickly enough, with the result that a great deal condenses at night-time upon the inner surface of the comparatively cool roof, and falls back upon the rubber in unsightly black "drips," which leave a distinct mark on the sheet. Even if vents are open, this may happen during seasons of rain. The temperature of the moist smoke in the roof-ridge may be as high as 130° to 140° F., while the outer atmosphere may have been cooled by rain to 70° F. Such a difference on the two surfaces of the roof must lead to condensation within the house, with consequent "dripping." It used to be the custom to drape sacking material above the bays of racks in order to prevent the drops of liquid falling upon the rubber; but often for want of renewal the last state was worse than the first. Modern houses have often an inner lining, a few inches below the roof. This is made of soft wood which receives any product of condensation and absorbs it.