Chapter VIII: Practical Hints for the Handy Man 118 (1)

I

COOKING IN THE OPEN: AND ELEMENTARY COOKING APPARATUS

The ideal colonist is he who is able to turn his hand to anything and to supply a table although having practically nothing in the way of cooking utensils. Necessity will teach him how to use his ingenuity in building and manufacturing contrivances of his own, and it is to such a handy man that we offer the following suggestions.

A kettle, a “billy” and a frying-pan may seem a quite sufficient kitchen equipment at first, but some means of baking will soon seem necessary. Bread, for instance, or whatever takes the place of bread, is so much more satisfactory when baked. Hence it is worth while to spend a little time in building up a fireplace in which heat can be retained for some considerable time. Much must depend upon the kind of fuel that can be obtained, but mostly this will be wood, or charcoal made from wood, or the dried droppings of cattle, when coal is unprocurable.

The most elementary type of fireplace for boiling purposes is made by gathering together large stones of even size, and to form a square with them, opening at one side, and of course open at the top. The size of this top opening is regulated by the size of the kettle or pan that is set over it. Place the stones with as much regularity as possible, and fill in the spaces between with clay or earth. If the soil is clay and stones are not to be had, form a fireplace with the clay itself in such a way as to have four walls with opening at the side and at top. Make a small fire first in the firehole with the driest grass and twigs, then feed it with small pieces of wood, and when it is burning well fill up with wood and dried grass and any fuel you have, packing it lightly but closely. It is possible to build a fire that will be bright and quick for boiling, or one that will burn steadily for hours, for stewing or baking purposes. With practice a good deal of skill is acquired, and the more the fireplace is used, the better will it serve its purpose. When new it is slower in getting to work on account of damp, but will burn quite quickly when hard and dry through. To dry the fuel that is going to be used is a great economy of time, and can be done when the fire itself has gone out. Keep the firehole clear and free from ashes.

An oven can be made to stand on top of this fireplace by coating a large biscuit-tin with clay and baking it. A little ingenuity will devise a door for this oven, and it will be found to answer quite well for baking bread and cooking a pudding or for making a slow stew.

In building a fire in the open take notice as to the way the wind blows and take advantage of it as much as possible, as it will help or hinder the fire from burning. Sometimes a screen of stones built up on the windward side will help matters considerably.

A small pair of bellows should be included in the colonist’s outfit, as well as a small pair of tongs, for any fire will burn the better for a little coaxing with the bellows first, and pieces of wood can be more skilfully arranged with the help of tongs than without them. Then whenever any sawdust is met with it should be carefully collected and mixed with oil or paraffin into little cakes, to make quick and easy firelighters.

An open bonfire, with tripod of three sticks or iron supports, may be all that it is possible to get together for the quick boiling of saucepan or kettle, but the results can never be so good as when a built up fireplace is made. On the other hand, a good bonfire leaving a thick bed of burnt ashes and embers is sometimes the best contrivance for roasting large pieces of meat, birds, and so on. Suppose it is desired to cook a whole large fish, a rabbit, fowl or other troublesome creature (troublesome because of the plucking and drawing, skinning, etc., that it seems to require), all trouble is saved by making a covering of wet clay well pressed down as a thick coating over the fish, bird or animal, after having let out the blood, making it into a sort of ball of clay. Bury this ball in the hot ashes and embers, heaping them over it. In about an hour or rather more, the ball can be broken open and feathers, fur or scales will be found to have stuck to the clay, leaving the flesh perfectly baked and juicy, and the entrails will have dried up inside.

Suppose a big roast of meat is wanted—a half-side of a sheep or pig. The outer skin has, of course, been taken from the meat in this case and all internals too. Make a rather deep circle on the ground, paving it with flat stones, or beat the clay very flat and hard. Build a big fire on this and let it burn right through, then sweep aside all embers and ashes, brushing the stones or clay clean, lay down the meat and cover it first with a thick layer of leaves, then pile over it the embers, some brushwood, and finally more clay until it is closely covered and none of the heat can escape. Leave for two or three hours; uncover, and clear off all ashes, and the meat should be found well baked through. In a similar way bread can be cooked on hot stones, using only a thick layer of leaves and ashes for covering.

A little experience will make any one quite skilful in the use of the most unpromising materials, and if compelled to do it a man can generally produce a quite appetising meal with nothing but a clay fireplace and a few old meat tins. The total absence of what Americans call “fixings”—the little additions which the ordinary cook at home considers indispensable—need not, and will not deter the camp cook from making savoury meals, but as circumstances alter cases very considerably, it is possible only to make suggestions here, which each one must adapt or improve upon to suit himself. When hungry men are craving to be fed the absence of seasoning or condiments is not missed, but good baking, frying or boiling has to be accomplished somehow.

Where the camp is a more or less permanent one or the preliminary to a settlement and house-building, there may be a number of people to cook for, and hence it is worth while making some form of Trench Kitchen. For this, dig a trench about three feet deep and four or five feet wide, and at right angles form a series of narrow trenches close together. Arch over these with stones and turf and make hollows in the top of the ridges to hold saucepans and kettles. A hole for the firing is made at the end of each ridge, the smoke from which passes along the side trenches that are arched over and is drawn up a “chimney” that is set up in the middle of the cross trough at the further end which connects all the trenches. To create a good draught a long tin funnel helps to make this chimney. If there is any likelihood of the trench kitchen becoming flooded out by rains it can be tented over. A series of “ranges” is created by forming ridges in this way so that boiling and stewing, frying and grilling can all be going on at the same time. All the same, the need of an oven for baking will be felt, and while small ovens for placing over a firehole can be made out of biscuit tins as before mentioned, a large one can be built out of stones and clay, or with the help of an iron-hooped barrel, in this wise: cover the barrel with clay or turf and stones, well wetted and beaten down over it, and give it time to solidify, then build a fire inside the barrel. The wood will burn away, leaving the iron hoops as supports. If the covering is sufficiently thick, such an oven is quickly heated and retains its heat quite a long time, the fire being built inside it and swept out when burnt through. Insert a piece of piping in the middle of the top of this barrel-oven to act as a vent for the smoke. Arrange a door with a piece of sheet iron sufficiently large to cover up the opening; it need not, of course, be put on hinges, as stones will help to keep it in position. Food that is put into this oven to cook, after the oven has been heated and swept out, should be enclosed in a bag of paper if not already in a dish. A little practice will enable any one to judge how long the heat may be relied upon to last, and how long time must be allowed for the cooking in paper or in a dish.

Food that is already cooked can be kept hot for hours by following the Thermos principle. This is the principle of storing up heat, but not of generating it. Anything that is already hot can be kept hot, and anything already cold can be kept cold. In a Thermos flask there is a vacuum between two surfaces which is a non-conductor preventing the escape of heat, likewise in the Thermos jar, and whatever is put in at a certain temperature retains that temperature for a very long time without alteration. While it is hardly possible for the pioneering colonist to make a good Thermos flask or jar, he can carry out the same principle of storing heat in other ways. The Hay-box Oven is a primitive construction, perhaps, but it answers extremely well and costs very little to make. What is wanted is a strong wooden box with well-fitting lid—a thick box and one that is large enough to take a thick layer of hay or sawdust at the bottom as well as all round the jar put inside the box. Cook over the fire the soup, stew, pudding or whatever it may be, and when sufficiently cooked and whilst boiling hot, lift the jar or pan off the fire and set it in the middle of the Hay-box Oven. Pack hay and sawdust closely round it, filling up all spaces, then over the top as well and put on the box cover, then a piece of blanket folded, or a rug. You may go away for hours, all the day or night, if you like, and come back to find your soup or stew perfectly cooked and thoroughly hot.

A hole in the ground, lined with hay and sawdust, will answer the same purpose, if care is taken to cover the place very thickly to allow no escape of heat. The advantage of the box is that it is portable and can be used anywhere.

The Biscuit-tin Oven has the advantage over the Hay-box Oven in that it can be used for actual cooking by placing it over the firehole and keeping a fire burning underneath it. But unless the biscuit-tin is covered with clay made hard the solder is very apt to melt and cause the oven to give way when exposed to great heat. The same objection arises with regard to the use of empty fruit and meat cans as cooking pots. On the other hand, stone jam jars are valuable, and make excellent stew-jars; especially useful are they for holding anything that is to go into the Hay-box Oven to be kept hot for hours.

Where there are no saucepans and no jars to use, nothing but the open fire and a billy, it is an improvement to have two of these billies and to set one inside the other with water between. The “billy,” be it understood, is nothing more than a tin can with handle slung across it, but there are improved forms of it, such, for instance, as the cans which navvies use to carry their coffee or soup when going to work, and some of these are made in enamelled ware, with close-fitting lid. If one of these better cans were to be placed inside a rougher one of tin, the outer one would get all the smoking and hard usage, while the better one would be clean enough to set on the table when required. If a little hook is made in the wire of the handle it will prevent slipping when the billy is suspended over the fire.

The principle of this kind of cookery—what a colonist would doubtless dub “glue-pot cookery”—is sound, and it is copied by many inventors of more elaborate things which, in spite of their elaboration, however, cook none the better in reality than two cans one inside the other. The Warrener, for instance, which is much liked by camp cooks and travellers, is in principle but a glorified glue-pot. What is really better than the Warrener is the Hutchings steamer, which is a kind of conjuror’s cabinet, having a tier of compartments or pans one fitting above the other, each one being a sort of steamer, the bottom one holding the water. This is guaranteed by its maker to cook as perfectly on the “top floor as in the basement,” and one or more of the compartments can be used without the other, while a whole dinner may be cooked at the same time with nothing but the one pan. These Hutchings steamers are likewise fairly cheap, and can be procured at the large ironmongery stores anywhere in London.

Still another of these “glorified glue-pots,” if we may be pardoned for using the term, is the Welbank Boilerette, the Cooker that Looks After Itself, as its advertisement declares. This is much less expensive than the Warrener, and can be had in several sizes. It cooks everything—whether porridge, soups, stews, joints, fowls or vegetables—in their own juices, and so preserves the fullest flavours and makes tenderness certain. Like the Warrener, it must be used in conjunction with some sort of stove or fireplace, not on the hearth or open fire.

The frying-pan is another article which must be classed among elementary cooking appliances, for it is almost indispensable for the quick preparation of a meal. It is well to take two frying-pans, one of black iron for quick frying of fish or meat, the other of enamelled iron for cooking eggs and making damper. The iron one will not often need washing if it is well rubbed with paper after each time of using, but the other one will want washing with soap and perhaps a little sand or ashes to keep it white and smooth.

Some travellers argue that bread as well as meat can be roasted on a spit—no doubt meaning that the spit can be run through the middle of a piece of dough, and by careful watching and turning the bread cooks all over. But a spit is not difficult to make, only in cutting them from wood care must be taken not to use poison woods; take the straight branches of trees that are well known and familiar. Wild shrubs and wild vegetables should be looked upon with distrust; a few are harmless, but many are not. It would be better to make the spit with an iron or wire rod, setting it in supports at either end, if at all possible to do so. The fire must have burnt clear red before attempting to roast anything on a spit, otherwise smoke will spoil the flavour of the food.

II

THE LOG-HUT OR CAMP KITCHEN

Some men possess considerable natural aptitude in cooking, and any skill of this kind will serve them in good stead when they become colonists, and where there is not natural aptitude it is well worth while acquiring a little knowledge by dint of study. Supposing all other kinds of employment fail, a cook’s job is generally to be got and no one grudges his wages. A little story may be cited which bears out the truth of this. The son of an army chaplain and a public school-boy, decided to go out to the Colonies, and before doing so took a course of lessons in land surveying. He went out to a large farm and at first did fairly well, but then he fell on evil times, and having no capital was soon on his beam ends. A chum of his who came across him remembered certain school study feasts, and as he was himself a kind of sub-contractor in a lumber camp, offered his friend the post of camp cook for a hundred or more men, at good wages. The offer was promptly accepted. The new cook, who was a smart lad, soon had everything well organized and in apple-pie order. He pleased the men mightily and could always rely on their help for the harder tasks of chopping firewood, washing-up, and so on. Soon he acquired a real liking for his job and got through his work quickly and easily. When the second season came round he again enlisted as camp cook, but this time, having some capital, he went into partnership with his friend the sub-contractor. The two prospered. They sub-contracted for the woodwork to be done on one of the railways then being built, and the “cook’s” knowledge of mathematics and surveying then came in useful. In a few years’ time he blossomed out as a railway engineer with an important post, big salary, house, servants and horses. Of course he had his mathematics and his land surveying to help him. Still it was his wage-commanding knowledge of cookery that had set him on his feet, and on the road to fortune.

Most open-air cooks have to make the best they can out of the situation, for the site of a camp is not usually settled with much regard for their convenience. If there is good water within reasonable distance that is much to be thankful for. The planning out of the kitchen will depend chiefly upon circumstances; where there are only two or three to be catered for it is not a difficult matter, but where a dozen or more men want at least two meals a day, it is a matter requiring some contrivance and organization.

Choose a position as much protected from wind as possible for the camp kitchen, and have it separate from the rest of the camp. Where rocks or boulders can be made use of take them into service, but build a furnace, (one or more), with stones, of a size convenient to hold pans and cauldrons, and make a table also.

If a circular form is taken for the furnace it can be partly domed over, which enables more draught and a greater degree of heat to be obtained. Where a good deal has to be turned out of the kitchen it is a good plan to have a row of furnaces and build a chimney to connect with them, making the walls thick at bottom and narrow at the top. The chimney should come immediately behind the furnaces with a hollow base three feet square, gradually narrowing up to a height of six feet or more. A hole or flue of stones welded together with clay should connect each furnace with the chimney. If the whole battery is built in one block flues are easy to shape, and a splendid heat should be obtained from the stoves.

Where a log cabin or stone hut is being built the greatest care should be given to the erection of the fireplaces for cooking purposes, as the comfort and likewise the safety of the whole construction will depend on this part being secure and sound. The more good masonry work is put into the fireplaces the greater and more economical will be the amount of heat obtained from the fuel that is consumed. Thick, well-made walls prevent the escape of heat.

For the hearth and base of furnaces and chimney use as large stones as can possibly be found, the flatter the better. If the large stones require much levelling take smaller ones in preference and fit them together as evenly as can be with sand and clay. Excellent fireplaces can be built with stones and mud, but a little cement is of course much better for binding together the stones. Build the fireplace in the middle of the wall at the end of the hut, or across one corner. Make the hearth a little higher than the floor level. Sacrifice a little space, if need be, to have the fireplace inside the hut, and not, as is too often done, outside as a separate projection. Level the hearth, cover with a thin bed of cement or mortar or wet clay, and place thereon the largest and flattest stones, making the level as straight as you can. Now build round this hearth thick walls, starting them in a trench dug at least eighteen inches below the level of the ground. The walls should surround the hearth on three sides, leaving a part of the side facing into the hut open. Carry them up to about two or three feet high and gradually narrow them to bring the top nearer towards a dome shape. A good builder will then carry his furnace up in chimney shape right out through the roof of the hut, but if stones fail then the rest of the chimney can be a zinc or tin pipe. Experts, who are able to use mortar, will give the chimney a bend to right or left which prevents too strong a downward draught, or the fire from being put out by rain.

With a hearth such as this it is well to place upstanding supports about the middle, such as a pan or kettle could be rested upon; this helps in the cooking very much, and prevents any spilling when the fire burns down. With an open hearth with thick-walled sides, such as this, much can be done, but it is well worth while going to the trouble of building a furnace oven, as before described, in addition.

Additional Portable Appliances

Only in very remote districts indeed would any one be limited to such rough fireplaces as these. Fuel of some other kind, such as oil, would assuredly be procurable to some extent, and a portable oil stove would take the place of the gas ring and gas appliances in town houses. The outgoing colonist would not be ill-advised to take with him a portable oil stove of some make, and when doing so he might as well choose one that will do more than merely boil a kettle. A small-sized Rippingill, with one tank can, when required, cook a full-sized dinner and will burn no more oil than a simple boiling stove. When buying such a stove buy a can for holding oil, a filler, and an extra wick or two, and carry something wherewith to clean the stove and keep it in good condition, then wherever oil is procurable the little stove can be brought into use and prove of endless comfort. There may be occasions when the stove must be packed away and resort be had to the rougher and more primitive methods of the clay fireplace or the tripod in the open, but the stove would in that case take no harm and come out smiling when opportunity favours it again.

The same remark applies to the spirit lamp or traveller’s Etna; though methylated spirit is more difficult to procure than is kerosene or paraffin oil. Still there are occasions when travelling or when camping in a tent, or making a journey by boat, when a portable spirit stove or lamp is of great service, or in sickness.

Electric Cooking Apparatus

One must bear in mind that all Colonists are not going out as pioneers, but that many will be setting up new homes in districts where in certain matters conditions of living will be even more advanced than they are in the old country. For instance, in parts of South Africa, the Transvaal, and the Cape, electric power is fast coming into common use, while gas is not used at all and coal is scarce and expensive. In such cases, electric lighting will be found general in quite small townships and in quite small houses, and therefore the electric cooking stove will become, not a luxury such as we in England would deem it, but a necessity.

Having ascertained how far electric power is in use in the district to which the colonist is going, and also how it is supplied and how available, it is possible then to consider the advisability of taking out a portable electric stove, such, for instance, as can be connected up with an ordinary light in any room. A portable stove of this kind, about twelve inches square, which is a combined Grill and Water Boiler, can be had for 35_s._ complete, with flexible wiring for connecting up. Its consumption is about 750 watts of electric energy per hour or about three-fourths of a unit—the cost of course depending on the price charged per unit in the district. In any case, this is a little stove that at a cost of approximately a penny will produce a full meal with tea, coffee or soup, a grilled steak or chop and toast in something less than half an hour. It is so small and so capable, that, whether sure of finding electric power or not, the outgoing colonist would add little to his expenses and less to his luggage by taking one on the chance of finding it useful.

But when certain of electric power and when going out to establish a home forthwith, in a district where electricity is in common use, certain fittings and assuredly a cooking stove, should be taken without hesitation. There are some to be got out there no doubt, but they are cheaper here, and also there is more variety to choose from. Several types of electric ovens are now on the market; the price of them varies according to size and capacity. One that is strongly to be recommended for wear and capability, for family use in a small kitchen, is the “X.L.” It stands 36 inches high; it is 24 inches in width, and weighs 130 pounds. It is a thoroughly good and strong stove and can be installed wherever electric current is obtainable. One of its commendable points is its perfect freedom from dust or smoke, another is that each of its compartments can be used independently of the others, being controlled by separate switches. There is also a minimum and a medium switch, and when both are put on together the maximum degree of heat is obtained. The oven is large enough to hold a joint and pastry or bread, while the grill, the hot-plate and plate-warmer can be used or shut off, as desired. The price of this complete is £18 10_s._ f.o.b. at any English port. These “X.L.” stoves are manufactured by O. G. Hawkes, Ltd., at Globe Works, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham.

Smaller and less expensive is the “Tricity” range and outfit supplied by the Berry Construction Company, 29a, Charing Cross Road, whose wholesale agents are Messrs. Gillespie & Beales, Amberley House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C. The Tricity Cookers are listed for Direct or Alternating Current Circuits of not less than 100 voltage. In addition to the oven and hot-plate, either of which can be used independently of the other, the outfit comprises an extension cooker which gives another boiling ring, and the whole equipment of utensils consists of thirteen articles, comprising a complete apparatus. The full list with stove and extension cooker costs £12 10_s._, but the oven and hot-plate alone is four guineas. Ordinary tin kettles and saucepans will answer, but the outfit is purchasable in parts and may consist of as few articles as any one wishes to take.

That fine explorer, Boyd Alexander Smith, and in fact all experienced travellers, speak of the value of having a mincing machine at hand. It comes in useful for so many purposes, making tender and digestible meat that is often too tough to use in any other way. It assists in making savoury dishes out of remnants, will grind down the stale crusts, and save much trouble in many ways. A good mincing machine can be got for 12_s._ 6_d._, but one that has adjustable parts, making it useful for cutting up vegetables and beans, is a little more in price.

III

DEALING WITH STORES, ETC.

Purification of Water—Storage of Water—Disposal of Refuse and
Waste—Keeping Food Stores—A Curing House—An Ice House, etc.

The importance of having a supply of water can hardly be over-estimated. A township depends upon it, and a log-hut or cabin must be pitched as near to a water supply as is possible, while no journey of any length can be undertaken unless water is carried or obtained at fairly frequent intervals, and this whether the climate is hot or cold. Some ready means of purifying water that is abundant yet of doubtful quality is likewise essential, also some means of catching the rainfall as it occurs. Then we must consider the storage of water in camps and locations not intended to be permanent ones. On all these points it is desirable to be ready with knowledge and resourcefulness.

Experienced travellers like the late Sir Francis Galton, W. B. Lord and Thos. Baines all speak of ways of filtering water and of making it fit for human consumption, writing at a time when the portable filter was almost unknown. Still if a portable filter saves much trouble it is also heavy to carry about, and rougher and readier forms must sometimes be resorted to. An excellent filter for camp use is described by the two writers last named. They say—

Take a wooden box or barrel, long and deep. Bore a number of holes in the bottom and then fasten inside it a bag made with a folded piece of blanket. At the bottom place a layer of grass, moss or twigs, then a layer of sand, then fresh layer of moss, and so on until the barrel is half-filled. Make a cover which will fit well inside the barrel like a second bottom; press it down and weight it to keep it from rising. Half-sink this barrel in a pond or stream, and the water which will gradually filter up to the upper compartment can then be baled out clean and clear. If it needs purifying still further after this clearing, boil it with a pinch of alum, and then expose it again to the air. Alum has a chemical effect on organic matter, and a small handful of it will purify a whole hogshead of water.

This arrangement of cask or barrel can be carried out by fitting a smaller cask inside a larger one, the smaller being perforated with holes, and the space between it and the larger one filled with stones and sand, then the double cask can be sunk in the pond. These rough and ready filters are very useful where a collection of water is found in hollow places, the drainage from streams and after a rainfall, the quality of which may be doubtful or too muddy for drinking purposes. If water is merely thick, not putrid, it can be filtered through a cloth. But where it is putrid, and is yet the only water available, it should be first boiled, then mixed up with crushed charcoal and allowed to settle again exposed to sun and air. Alum is a purifier and charcoal is a disinfectant. There is no other way of using salt water than by distilling it.

How to store water, in places where it is difficult to keep any supply, is another matter. Every drop of rain water is of value, and should be caught, as far as possible by means of piping from the roofs of sheds, ending in barrels, but this source of supply can be increased by suspending blankets or canvas sails by the four corners between trees, weighting them with stones in the middle to make the water run towards the centre, and placing underneath this a barrel or bucket. Dew water brushed off leaves and grass into basins in the early morning will yield a great deal more than might be imagined, and in dry climates there is often a heavy fall of dew before sunrise.

A precaution which old travellers take to prevent thirst is to keep the outer clothing damp and a wet cloth folded round the throat. Where water is not fit for drinking it still can be used to moisten clothing, and this little precaution prevents evaporation from the skin.

As an indication where water may be found in strange districts, Galton advises watching the flight of birds. Converging flights of birds are usually safe guides, especially towards evening. Dogs also have an instinct for discovering water, but cattle are less trustworthy, as their tracks may often lead from rather than towards water. When digging for water, in default of spades, a hole can be made with a sharp-pointed stick, holding it upright and stirring it round, scraping out the loosened earth with the hands. Where soil or sand is found moist lower down, water will generally collect when a hollow is made for it. The native bushmen keep their holes open by a rough contrivance of twigs tied together and converging to a point.

When carrying water in pails from a spring or well, place a thick wreath of grass or leaves round the edge of the pail to prevent spilling. Leaves floating on the top will also help to keep the water in. Where water has to be carried for a journey, over the shoulder or from a saddle, nothing is better than leather bags, or skin bags answer the purpose well. Stone jars are heavy and unsatisfactory.

The water supply for a district of isolated homesteads or camps is sometimes a difficult matter to arrange where there is no spring or river near enough. Some form of co-operation in the matter of well-sinking is very desirable, and the wells should be concreted and protected in the common interest. Well boring is beyond our scope and cannot be gone into here, as it requires some engineering knowledge and skill, but it may doubtless come into the day’s work at some time or other. Making a cistern for rain water is, however, another matter, one for the individual camper or hut-dweller to attend to, and therefore we may here give Dr. George Vivian Poore’s clever adaptation of the old Venetian system, as cited by the editor of an admirable work on _Small Estate Management_, by A. C. Freeman, a useful book published by Rebman & Co., 129, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C., which will give invaluable help to those laying out homesteads.

“His cistern, which received rain from the roof of a four-roomed bungalow cottage (giving about 1,100 feet square of surface), was circular, partly sunk in the ground, and built of concrete. The dimensions were: internal diameter 7 feet, depth 10 feet. It was divided into two compartments by a cement diaphragm, perforated at the bottom by agricultural drain-pipes. Both sections contained a filter bed, consisting of 1 foot of sand, 1 foot of fine gravel, and a top layer of coarse gravel, also one foot thick. The water on draining off the roofs into the gutters passed through a double strainer and then entered at the top of the first section of the cistern, being filtered downwards, and then filtered upwards as it rose in the second half, which was provided with a pump having a copper suction pipe (lead and ironing being of course inadvisable where soft, solvent rain water is concerned). A good cover protected the top. The storage capacity of this cistern was 1,600 gallons, or forty gallons a day for a drought of six weeks. Although the cottage was near a small town the water proved of excellent quality, pure, chemically and bacteriologically, and used for all purposes, and appreciated by a family in spite of its having a slightly yellow caste and a faint smell. An undoubted improvement would be to use as a substitute for the strainer an automatic tilting separator, which divests the first few gallons (the washing shower) from the reservoir. Such water is perfectly fitted for all domestic purposes, but the supply from an ordinary cottage roof may not be adequate for a household. In such a case a surface well may be sunk to provide water for washing, bathing, live stock watering, etc. Such wells should be sunk about 10 to 12 feet deep, the upper 8 or 10 feet being lined with impervious material (concrete with smooth cement surface) covered over. In this way the water can only rise from the bottom, and if the land is being well cultivated the ground water is sure to be pure. Dr. Poore had a shallow well, only 5 feet 6 inches deep, in his highly cultivated garden, the sides lined with concrete pipes protected by 4 inches of concrete right to the bottom. This well generally contained 3 feet 6 inches of water (about ninety gallons), yet it was chemically and bacteriologically pure and quite potable.”

It may be useful to those who are making a dwelling within a township if we quote further the author’s words about water carried from main pipes. He says—

“Where water is obtained through mains it is well to make some provision against the effects of frost. In Canada the general practice is to carry the supply pipe into the house below the frost level, into a sunken earthenware box, open at the bottom and resting on a drainage pit filled with sand or breeze. The tap proper is placed within this box, and rising from this to the sink level are two pipes, one within the other, the outer one being a tap spindle, the inner the actual water pipe. At the base of this pipe is a vent-hole. When the tap spindle is turned on the water rises and flows out; when turned off the vent-hole is opened and at once drains the standpipe, so that freezing is impossible. A somewhat easier method is to bring the pipe through a small closed copper vessel placed just at the entrance of the pipe into the house. When there is any sign of hard frost it is merely necessary to place a small flamed lamp beneath the copper vessel to prevent any possibility of freezing. It is inexpensive, saves much inconvenience, and also loss arising from damage done by bursts.”

Having made what suggestions we can to help the colonist in the matter of securing and storing a water supply, we must now consider that other important item, the disposal of waste water and other refuse. It is amazing what an amount of refuse matter and waste water accumulates from day to day in a camp or quite small settlement. The ground is the one safe and sure receptacle for all waste matter, even kitchen waste where there are no fowls or pigs to consume the scraps. But all vegetable refuse and bones should be burned before returning it to the soil, hence a scrap heap can be made and set fire to once a week, the whole of it when raked out being dug into the soil again. Ashes from fires should be put into a box and kept for use in the earth closet, the waste matter from the latter being dug into a field or garden, not into a pit, and it should not be too far below the surface. Dry soil does quite as well as ashes for sprinkling into the closet pail, and this dug into the earth again at short intervals is the most sanitary and easy way of disposing of this waste. If the precaution of using plenty of dry earth is used no flies will gather about the organic matter, nor will any smells be noticeable.

Waste water from baths and from kitchen washing-up is valuable wherever bush fruit is grown, and can always be poured round trees, or round young plants in a garden plot. The main point in disposing of all refuse is to restore as much as possible to the land. Where this is done carefully and with discrimination the ground benefits and nothing offensive is left to annoy by sight or smell. The secret of successful French and Dutch gardening is this careful digging in of all refuse matter, vegetable and other, and not in the applying of expensive guanos and manures. The authority quoted above has a good deal to say on this matter of returning refuse matter to the soil. To quote him again—

“The splendid productive soils of the Dutch, French and Italian gardens are the result of many years of careful cultivation, a system whereby the soil is continually being enriched with what we are pleased to call ‘Waste’ material. Therefore for both hygienic and practical gardening reasons, the earth closet system is to be advocated. While on the question of soil enrichment we would point out that those who cultivate small holdings, allotments and gardens should be taught to return as much to the soil as possible. All greenstuff, trimmings, leaves and so on, should either be dug in or placed to ripen in a compost pit and used as fertilizer when digging over the land. Sticks and wood should be burned and the ashes added to the pit because rotting wood in the soil attracts insects and so must be avoided. Such enrichment is valuable in any situation, but will be found to work marvels in lightening heavy clays and in bringing fertility to poor, porous soils. In our experience the most productive gardens have been those with ‘made soils’ which have been enriched for generations. Dr. Poore’s experimental garden, dressed regularly with dry closet-soil, brought in over £56 per acre, the crops being ordinary orchard and bush fruit, asparagus, potatoes, green stuff and flower all grown in the open, no glass being used and very little labour available.”

And now we must pass on to the keeping of stores—of stores of vegetables and dry goods and things in constant requisition for the kitchen.

It is easy to make a series of store closets with deep boxes that are lined with zinc, turning the tops to face outwards, fitting in shelves if required, and then making a door to fit. These boxes can be piled one over the other, all facing the same way, and a curtain can cover them all if they are in any way unsightly. Dry goods and groceries generally require keeping in a temperate place, therefore these and linen and clothing can fill this series of damp-proof boxes. But when it is a question of storing fresh vegetables and fruit, potatoes, dried meat, dairy stuff, liquors and so on, an outside storehouse is imperative, also in hot weather all food must go into some cool place to keep it from insects and the atmosphere.

It is a comparatively easy matter to dig out a pit some feet away from any tent or building, to dig it out of the earth in a shaded and protected spot, and then to brick the sides and build them up to a sufficient height above so as to make the whole depth of the sunk pit some eight or ten feet. Roof over the top of the pit with corrugated iron, and if there is heat or frost to fear make a thatch over this. Make one or two steps down into the pit and arrange also some shelves as seems convenient. If such a storeroom rises but a little way above ground and is protected at the top, it will be found to be of even temperature all the year round, admitting neither frost nor heat. It should be ventilated by perforating holes round the roof, but need not have light admitted except by the door. Failing the possibility of digging out and building such a storeroom, remember that pits in the ground lined with a collection of leaves or dry twigs and well covered over with earth and more branches, make excellent keeping places for stores of roots and fruit. There is no better preservative than Mother Earth.

A good deal of meat, especially pork and beef, will have to be salted and dried for use at different times, and while salting and pickling are comparatively easy processes, needing only watching and frequent rubbing and turning, the later processes of curing and drying by smoke are more difficult, and for this purpose it is well to build a curing house.

A smoke-curing house for hams and bacon may be made with two large-sized packing cases. Remove the top and bottom of one of the cases. From the other case remove one board at the top, the middle board; also cut a fairly large square hole on one side, large enough for any one to put head and shoulders through. With the boards that are cut away form a door by nailing batten on the inside or outside, and fasten to the box by means of hinges at bottom and catches at the top. If no hinges are at hand use stout pieces of leather, even the uppers of old boots will do. The catches are merely small, flat wedges of wood about the length of the middle finger, and as broad as two fingers. Nail or screw them in the middle on the box just above the flap door. By turning to left or right they will fasten the door firmly. Inside the top box fasten a series of rods, say six inches apart and six inches below the top. Over the long slit formed by removing one board as directed form a slanting roof with two boards kept in position by fastenings at each end. Nail pieces of netting from the edges of the slanting roof to the box. You thus provide ventilation and prevent insects from creeping in. Pierce the bottom of this case with a number of holes. Now choose for the site of the curing house sloping ground, dig a trench 18 inches deep and 6 or 7 feet long. Cover over the trench with flattened stones or bricks well packed together with earth. Over the top opening of this trench place the first case that had the top and bottom knocked out, and on this fix the second case. Suspend the hams and bacon inside the top case and then fasten the door tightly. At the lower end of the trench light a fire with wood refuse and sawdust, but avoid using pine or any resinous wood. The fire must be kept smouldering and the smoke will find its way up the trench, through the lower box into the curing chamber above, escaping very gradually by the ventilation outlets. Peats are best of all for keeping in a smoke fire. The smoking should be kept up for from three to five days, according to the amount of meat inside the curing chamber.

Before placing the meat in this chamber it should be wiped dry after curing it with rubbings of dry salt, or by a mixture of saltpetre, black pepper, sugar and common salt. This may have been rubbed in for a week or ten days before the smoke cure was begun. If hams are intended for long keeping sew them up in cloths after curing with salt and before smoking them. Pieces of beef lightly salted and dried by smoke can be kept almost indefinitely, but they should be soaked and scraped before using for food.

Biltong, or Jerked Beef as it is called in the United States, is a handy way of keeping meat for a length of time and is easily prepared. It is made by cutting the raw beef into slices, sousing the slices in sea water, then drying them hard in the sun. It can be kept threaded on spikes of wood, and when required the slices are taken off, soaked and washed, and laid in a frying-pan, with a little oil or other fat, and covered with plate, cooking over the fire for about an hour. A spoonful of vinegar put in the pan would tender the meat and improve the flavour.

The converse to a smoke house would be an ice house, but wherever there is any dairying done this little place will prove a great boon, and it can be provided all the year round in most Colonies by taking a little forethought. In many places ice can be carried from lakes and ponds in the winter and stored for use in summer, and failing ice a fall of snow may be utilized, for snow that is packed into blocks and sluiced over with water will soon harden into ice. For storing it dig a deep hole, 4 to 8 feet deep, and build into this a house with walls of double thickness; the outer one may be of logs, the inner one of rough boards. Pack the space between the boards with sawdust, shavings or tan bark. The flooring should be of rafters placed close together about a foot above the ground. See that this open space is well drained. This can be done by digging a sloping trench a foot or two at the bottom and filling up with loose stones. The door of the house should also be double and packed with sawdust. The roof, which should come well above the hole, should slope and be composed of rafters well boarded over and covered with thick thatch of straw or fern. The thatch should project well beyond the walls but leave a ventilating space all round. Ice in blocks covered with sawdust can be kept in a quantity in this house, or blocks of ice at the bottom will make a cool storeroom of it for milk and butter in the summertime. Its main object, however, is to keep a store of ice for the dairy itself.

IV

THE STAFF OF LIFE

Making Bread—Oven and Hearth-baked Bread—Patent Yeasts for
Travellers’ Use—Quick Bread; the Damper, Pancake, Flapjack, Chupatty,
etc.—Dumplings and Pie-crusts—Uses for Dry Bread, etc.