Baths and Stoves. 487 



The patient must be seated in the tub, in a warm room, covered with one sheet, and 

 another must be ready-heated before the fire. The first bucket is to be slowly poured over 

 his shoulders, then the second, then the third and coldest ; he is to be rubbed as much as 

 his bruises will bear, dried with the hot sheet, and put to bed between blankets, with a hot 

 india-rubber or stone bottle to his feet, and refreshed with a hot drink of some kind. A 

 sportsman not bruised, but only tired, may dispense with the bed and the bottle. 



I have known extraordinary benefit derived from this treatment applied at a little roadside 

 tavern to a horseman, after a heavy fall. 



Another invaluable hydropathic remedy is the packing-bath, which acts like a warm 

 poultice on the whole body. 



Water-bottles of india-rubber have in a great degree superseded warming-pans. They are 

 one of the most useful portable adaptations of that invaluable material for the use of either 

 man or horse, with either hot or cold water. 



Of course, there are young and old fellows who require no comforts, can eat anything, 

 sleep anywhere, despise under-garments, defy wet and cold, sit in damp clothes, and laugh 

 at the milksops for whom these hints have been compressed, until they get rheumatism, 

 neuralgia, or toothache ! 



In an old house the best plan for both comfort and economy in fuel is to replace every 

 old grate with Mechi's Parson's stove, which is cheap and cheerful. The saving in coals 

 will pay the whole cost in one season. 



A kitchen-range may be obtained from any respectable manufacturer, which will cook 

 and keep a first-rate dinner for a dozen, supply the whole house up to the first-floor with 

 hot water, and, when required, warm the whole house through hot-water pipes. 



If the vestibule and all the passages of a house are warmed with hot-water pipes in 

 severe weather, and if all the rooms are provided with ventilating valves, moderate fires will 

 keep the living-rooms at a pleasant temperature — neither close nor stuffy. 



The kitchen apparatus should be on the kitchener rather than the open fire system, 

 because fox-hunters often keep dinner waiting, and the close fireplaces are best adapted for 

 cooking the dishes that are not spoiled by waiting. Douglas's, made by the Coventry Company, 

 is very good, and economical in the consumption of coal. Of course there must be good arrange- 

 ment for a broil. Wherever, then, there are half a dozen horses in the stable, and a cow or 

 two kept for cream, it will pay to have a two-horse steam engine. This will cost about £100. The 

 boilers of the engine will at the same time warm the house, the saddle-room, the drying-room, 

 and, if required, a conservatory, and also afford supplies of hot water to the upper floors. 



A drying-room, in which coats, breeches, and boots may be placed on suitable frames 

 and slowly dried, as well as saddles, wet girths, and horse-cloths, is not only a comfort, but 

 an important economy in a hunting-box. A centrifugal dryer has come into use at town 

 hotels that do their washing in the attics. The steam engine whose boilers are thus utilised 

 may be set in motion to pump water from a well, and to a cistern in the top of the house 

 or the stables, to cut chaff, pulp roots, saw wood, or chop meat for hounds. These small 

 fixed engines have been brought to such perfection, are so easy to work, and cost so httle, 

 that no country house of any pretensions should be without one. 



Near the dining-room should be a wine-closet or cupboard, holding at least a week's 

 consumption, because it is not pleasant to have at the last moment to send to the cellar. Of 

 course, in mansions where butlers in solemn black preside, and clicfs of the first order organise 

 the dinners, no hints are needed. 



