PINE and spruce are the kinds used most for ordinary floors that are to be covered with carpeting. In the Middle and Western States, the flooring is matched and laid the first thing after the roof is on the building. In the Eastern States, a floor of cull boards, planed to an even thickness and unmatched, is laid as soon as the floor joists are in place, and this comes very handy to work upon during the process of constructing the walls, either in wood or brick buildings. After plastering and other work of inside finishing are all done, and the base board in place, the last or upper floor is laid over the cull floor previously laid. The last floor is made of pine, or more commonly there, spruce, unmatched, the edges jointed, and the measure taken for each piece, which is cut in place and laid, commencing on either side of the room and meeting in the center, fitting each end to a joint against base board. The last opening near the center is measured, and a piece fitted and sprung into place, making the whole floor tight.

It is then lined off and nailed on both edges.

This makes a very good floor, though costing somewhat more than a matched floor. The edge of such a floor being inside of base board, if there is any settling it will not show an open joint, as in the plan of putting the base board on the floor, when any shrinkage will leave an opening.

In kitchens, this plan of laying the floor inside of finish is particularly good, as the floor frequently wears out in time, and has to be replaced, which can be done without disturbing other finish.

Hard-wood floors are much used, and those made from the following woods are desirable: White oak, hard maple, cherry, and ash, if straight grained.

In the Eastern States, much southern hard pine is used for public buildings and factories. This has a smooth, hard, glassy surface, and makes an excellent floor to stand the wear.

We omitted to mention the use of matched sheathing for outer walls, in connection with our remarks on outside covering; this is desirable many times for fronts in city or town; but in the way it is usually put on, horizontally, in many places, we think it serves a very poor purpose. If the sheathing applied in this way is ever so dry, the tendency is to produce leaks and rotten joints. The rain, beating against the wall, works into the joints, and falling in behind window-frames, many times causes leaks and swells open the joints of the sheathing, so that the appearance is anything but pleasing.

We frequently sheathe the fronts of houses, but we first board and paper outside in the usual manner; then we use perfectly dry matched pine, seven-eighths inch thick and two and a half inches wide (having it narrow lessens risk of shrinkage), putting it on vertically, and wherever it comes on a window cap, or roof, we turn the tin well up under. The reasons why this method is better are obvious. It cannot leak, for if any water should get into a joint, it runs out at the lower end, and the joints running vertically, the water will not have much tendency to get into them. Besides, this method looks better.

We have, in this city, known of many instances where the fronts of houses sheathed horizontally have leaked, and the owners have had them clapboarded to put a stop to the annoyance.

The best finish for all outside wood-work, as is well known, is pine. Nothing else, of the many different kinds of wood, possesses the quality of withstanding the storms and weather changes as does pine, when, of course, protected with paint.

All outside finish, so far as practicable, should be primed before being put into the building. We have found from practice that the moldings of columns, as they are fitted and cut for their respective places, should be hollowed out on the back, or heel, of the miter, and the joints painted one coat. A column made from dry pine, with its joints put together in the same way, will not show the joints of the capital and molded bases open, like many frequently seen on new work carelessly put up.

The cause of open joints is plain. The water striking the column and running down onto the capital and base, thoroughly saturates them; they swell, and if what is known as the heel, or thick part of the miter, has not been hollowed out as above, the outer parts are forced apart, leaving an ugly gap for the painter to cover up; if cut away, it can swell without forcing the joint open on the outer corner.

Pine is also mostly used for all kinds of inside finish in the ordinary class of buildings or houses. Whitewood, known in some parts of the South as poplar, is used to some extent where this kind of wood is plentiful, and being a soft wood, it is very easy to work; the surface finishes down smoothly, and takes paint well. Indeed, it gives a better surface for painted work than it is possible to obtain on pine, and there is no pitch to come through, and but few knots to be found in it. It is not abundant enough to compete with pine in all markets, and although there are very few knots or "shakes" to contend with, it has a way of checking in seasoning, from the ends, that causes a large waste to the consumer. These checks extend from one to four feet from either end, and we know of no way to prevent this. Having used a large amount of it in years past, we think there is none. Bass-wood, a pure, white, soft, pliable wood, fully as soft as pine, is much used for carriage and sleigh bodies, and indeed for almost any finishing that requires bending for form, where great strength is not demanded.

This wood takes on a fine finish, as may be observed by noticing the brilliant, coal-black polish on carriage bodies. It makes a very good inside finish, but must be well secured in place, wherever used, as it will, before being painted, quickly absorb moisture, and warp into all manner of shapes. It has never been used very extensively in cities for inside finishing, its use being confined principally to certain localities where it is abundant and cheap, and where pine is not so plenty.

In the Eastern States the farmer, having trees of this variety in his forest, and no pine, cuts them into finishing lumber, and uses it to save the purchase of pine. Like whitewood, it is much used in cabinet work for drawers and backing of furniture. It resembles the whitewood in most respects, being free from knots and liable to checking in the ends during seasoning, but it is softer and whiter. The woods enumerated in the foregoing list comprise those most used for painted work on interior finish, save in California, where redwood is used very largely. This wood has the peculiar disadvantage of shrinking endwise of the grain.

In either of the two woods mentioned in comparison with pine, neither is so well suited for doors and sash, as they will warp, and must be secured in place to something solid. This is particularly true of bass-wood.

Whitewood is sometimes used for doors, but does not stand like pine; so when we consider the question of general utility, pine is really the best of all, and we know of nothing that retains its form as well. For inside finish, it should be got out some time before being put into the building, and kiln-dried either before or after working; and the best and only way anything like a good house should be finished, is in the following manner: The plastering should be put on around all doors, windows, wainscotings, and base, and all the plaster work should be thoroughly dry before the lumber for finish is taken into the house, as dry pine, taken into even a damp room and left for a few days, will absorb considerable moisture, and if put on the walls before it is dry, it will surely open in the joints.

A very good plan, which we have seen used, is to give lumber for casings or architraves, a coat of shellac on the back side, which keeps the moisture, if there be any in the wall, from entering the wood.

For finishing cheap houses, the plan most generally followed, is to put on plaster ground for the base board only, and then put on the first member of the architrave around doors and windows, and finish the plastering to this, and after mortar is dry, to put on a band molding, as it is called, lapping over the casing and back onto the plaster, covering the joint between casing and the mortar. This plan answers very well for cheap houses, the only difficulty being that the finish first put on will swell up by contact with wet mortar and cause open joints, which will have to be filled with putty by the painter.