The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
Whatever is done to the cellar walls should be done over again once or
twice a year. There is much dust, much dampness and much need for more
cleanliness even in the cleanest cellars.
It is more convenient if the cellar is divided into rooms, that food
and stores of various kinds may be kept separate from the furnace and
the fuel. If this is not possible, the next best thing is to have the
coalbin enclosed, for the coal makes the worst of the cellar dirt.
There should be a window in the coalbin through which the coal can be
put in.
One needs shelves in the cellar and receptacles for vegetables. The
shelves are better fastened to supports attached to the ceiling than
put against the walls. There are then no cracks and corners, for dust,
and the shelves are removed from the possible dampness of the wall.
Some people advocate the building of bins for vegetables. This is
probably advisable if one must store many. For keeping only a few,
neat boxes or baskets which may be moved about, are better. If one
keeps food in the cellar, a cupboard or safe made of wire netting is a
convenience. It should stand on legs which raise it two or three feet
off the floor. If preserves and jellies are kept in the cellar, it is
desirable to have a cupboard more completely enclosed than the safe, to
protect them from dust, quick changes of temperature and dampness.
Shelves, cupboards, bins and partitions should be as white as the walls.
The housewife pays a visit to the cellar now and then with no errand
except to look at it. The survey may give her housewifely satisfaction,
and it may give her something to do or to have done. She should go with
nose alert and eye keen.
Is there any odour noticeable beyond that slight unavoidable cellar
smell? If there is, is it a spoiled sweet potato, or clam, or a working
jar of canned fruit, or--what? Find it; never rest while there is an
objectionable smell in the cellar.
Is there a damp spot on walls or floor? If there is the cause must be
found and put an end to. If there is one near the place where the waste
pipes leave the house which cannot be accounted for, send for a plumber.
Is there any article out of its place? Is there any pile of things
which might be looked over and in part thrown away? Is there any
rubbish? Is the wood piled evenly? Is the coalbin swept up? Are the
vegetables in boxes or bins and not on the floor or in corners? Are
there cobwebs? Does the floor need sweeping? Are the windows clean and
some of them open?
If, in spite of everything one can do, the cellar smells a little
musty, some unslacked lime put in a box on the floor will help it. In a
cellar with an earth floor it is well sometimes to sprinkle lime in the
corners and in out-of-the-way places where it will not be walked upon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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