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Classic
Cook Books
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page 398
The cellar must be frequently examined and kept perfectly sweet and clean. There
is no reason why it should not be as neat as the living rooms, and as free from
cobwebs, decayed fruit and vegetables, and all other forms of filthiness.
Whitewashing walls in winter will aid in giving it tidiness.
If the cellar is constructed above ground, the entire walls should be double,
with air space between, double windows and doors being even more necessary than
when under-ground. Above all, the floor should be on a level with that of the
kitchen, to save the woman-killing stairs. If there are stairs, let them be
broad, firm, and placed in the light if possible. Of course every cellar should
have thorough drainage. In laying a tile drain, if in the horse-shoe form, place
the circular side down; the narrower the channel the swifter the current and
more certain to carry off sediment.
THE ICE-HOUSE.
Ice is one of the greatest of summer luxuries, and indeed is almost a necessity.
It is so easily put up, even in the country, and so cheaply protected, that
there is no reason why any one who is able to own or rent a house may not have
it in liberal supply. A cheap ice-house may be made by partitioning off a space
about twelve feet square in the wood-shed, or even in the barn. The roof must be
tight over it, but there is no necessity for matched or fine lumber for the
walls. They should, however, be coated with coal-tar inside, as the long
continued moisture puts them to a severe test and brings on decay. Ice should be
taken from still places in running streams, or from clear ponds. It may be cut
with half an old cross-cut saw, but there are saws and ice-plows made for the
purpose to be had in almost every village. In cutting ice, as soon as it is of
sufficient thickness and before much warm weather, select a still day, with the
thermometer as near zero as may be. Ice handles much more comfortably and easily
when it is so cold that it immediately freezes dry, thus preventing the wet
clothes and mittens, which are the sole cause of any suffering in handling it;
and ice put up in sharp, cold weather, before it has been subjected to any thaw,
will keep much better and be much more useful in the hot days of summer than if
its packing had been delayed until late winter or early spring, and then the ice
put up half melted and wet. The best simple contrivance for removing blocks of
ice from the water is a plank with a cleat nailed across one end, which is to be
slipped under the block, which slides against the cleat and may then be easily
drawn out with the plank, without lifting. Cut the ice in large blocks of equal
size, pack as closely as possible in layers, leaving about a foot space between
the outside and the wall, and filling all crevices between the blocks with
pounded ice or sawdust. Under the first layer there should be placed sawdust a
foot thick, and arrangements should be made for thorough drainage, as water in
contact with the ice will melt it rapidly. As the layers are put in place, pack
saw-dust closely between the mass of ice and the wall; and when
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