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House Furnishing and Decorating: Cans

Tin Cans. - Lard, kerosene, and other oils are sold in various parts of the country in five-gallon cans. These can be obtained from the grocer for a small sum and make excellent boilers to wash out small articles too dainty for the regular wash. They can also be used with a small washboard as tubs.

Or they may be used as flour bins, bread or cake boxes, and the like.

Or, by removing the top and making holes at each side and attaching short pieces of copper wire with a broom handle between, convenient pails may be made out of them. These pails may be made of any desired depth by cutting off the can with a cold chisel and hammer and turning back the sharp edges.

Such cans are also convenient to salt down pickles, steam fruit, etc.

Lard Pails. These may be used for storing sugar, coffee, cereals, and rice.

Or for potting plants, especially as hanging baskets. They are also useful both in five- and ten-pound sizes for steaming brown bread and Indian puddings. A five-pound lard pail placed inside a ten-pound pail, and slightly raised from the bottom of the latter by small stones or otherwise, forms a good substitute for a double boiler.

Or an earthen jar or common saucepan may be used for the outer receptacle, and rice, cracked wheat, oatmeal, prunes, etc., may be cooked without danger of burning.

They are also useful for storing and carrying milk, butter, and eggs.

Baking-powder and Cocoa Cans.- One of these cans, with a few nail holes in each end, is a good soap shaker. This will utilize all the scraps of soap.

Or soak off the wrappers, paint these cans with any color of enameled paint, and label them with gilt or any other colored letters. Use these for all sorts of spices, which may be bought in bulk much cheaper than in cans. These cans are air-tight and will preserve the strength of the contents.

Or use for this purpose empty vaseline and cold-cream jars with screw tops. These being of glass, their contents can be seen at a glance, and no labeling is required.

Cereal Boxes. -The stiff pasteboard boxes in which breakfast foods are sold may be labeled and set in a row on the pantry shelf. When paper bags of dry groceries come from the grocer's, they may be dumped in the proper box, thus saving the time and trouble of opening first one sack and then another to find the right article.

Use these for rice, beans, tapioca, corn meal, oatmeal, starch, salt, hominy, buckwheat, sugar, etc.

Labels. - Everything should be labeled for the convenience of every HOUSE FURNISHING AND DECORATING member of the family. Beat up the white of an egg and dilute with a pint of warm water. On ironing day apply this both to the label and to the glass or tin, and afterwards run a hot iron over the surface to set it. Tack pasteboard tags on wooden boxes, and on bags containing pieces of cloth of all descriptions tie cloth labels.

Kitchen Cabinet.-A good kitchen cabinet, with metal bins for flour, meal, and other substances that mice are fond of, is an investment which will save time and strength for the "A Good Kitchen Cabinet." housekeeper and will be a money saver in the long run. These bins should be removable, so that they can be regularly washed, scalded, and dried.

To Order Groceries. -A child's school slate hung on a nail in the wall of a kitchen, with a slate pencil attached by a strong cord, will be found a great convenience in ordering groceries. When any supplies run low, make a note on the slate of what is wanted. The whole family will soon get into the habit of making these memoranda, and many steps in running errands will be saved. Also make an alphabetical list of groceries in a little indexed alphabetical memorandum book and hang this up on the same nail. When the grocer calls run over this list to refresh your mind.

If the various dry groceries, as tapioca, rice, raisins, etc., are kept in glass jars, it will be easy to see what is wanted, and they will be protected from mice and insects. Fruit jars of various sizes are useful for this purpose.

Or use a pad and pencil to keep memoranda of articles wanted. The paper can then be detached when going to market and forms a convenient memorandum.

Storeroom. A cellar having a cement floor and water-tight walls, if kept clean and sanitary, makes an ideal storeroom, but many houses do not have one. A small storeroom can be made in a corner of the cellar at much less cost than is commonly supposed, by putting up walls of concrete made of sand or gravel and cement. Rough boards may be knocked together with very little trouble to make a mold.

The cellar walls, if they are tight and dry, will make two sides; or they can be faced with cement by building a board-retaining wall an inch or two from the surface of the cellar wall and pouring the cement back of it.

The whole, including the floor, can thus be made solid concrete at a trifling cost. When furnished with a suitable door, this storeroom will be damp proof and free from dust, germs, and all other unsanitary pests.

There should be a cellar window protected on the outside by wire netting, and having on the inside a removable screen of cheese cloth to keep out the dust.

Slat shelves painted with white paint and a coat of enamel may be built up in this storeroom in the same manner as book stacks in a library, i. e., back to back, with just enough room between them for a person to walk. On these shelves preserves, pickles, canned goods, butter, eggs, and other groceries can be stored the year round in perfect safety.

In a cellar thus equipped can be stored canned goods and other gro ceries bought at wholesale when prices are low, thus saving in many cases 25 per cent of the cost of such articles.

Door Mat.-A great deal of mud is tracked in at the kitchen door. Make door mats of several thicknesses of old carpets, turning in the raw edges and sewing them together with carpet tacks. Attach stout loops to the corners and fasten these over strong nails on the porch floor. These keep the mat in shape and place, and allow it to be readily removed and cleaned.

Verandas. One of the most notable changes that have come over American "Living Out of Doors." life in recent years is the increase in the custom of living out of doors.

The old-fashioned porch, formerly a mere rain shed over the doorstep, or small outer vestibule, is being generally replaced by a wide structure ex- " دو tending a considerable distance along one side of the house, if not entirely along two or more sides. The words porch" or 'piazza" are often improperly applied to these improvements in place of the right name, "veranda," a word coming from India, which suggests a kind of living room out of doors. It is becoming more and more customary to furnish the veranda with suitable furniture that will not be harmed by exposure to the air, and use it in summer as a living room.

Many verandas have regular window casings fitted with removable hinged frames for glass and screens, and with ordinary roller shades, so as to admit, when desired, of all the privacy of an indoor apartment. By means of one or more suitable low tables, chairs, and other necessary articles, tea or lunch may be served on the veranda, sewing may be done, callers entertained, and social entertainments given. Suitable vines, as the clematis, Madeira vine, woodbine, or passion flower may be trained to run around the veranda and furnish grateful shade and privacy. A box couch in a sheltered spot against the wall will be found useful as a receptacle for hammocks, old shoes, and various articles used about the lawn and grounds. It may be fitted with a suitable padlock, and chained or otherwise fastened to the walls.