1884.] 
AMERlOAISr AGRICULTURIST. 
259 
A Kitchen. 
J. P. ROBERTS, PROFESSOR OP AGRICULTURE, CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY. 
Among the many valuable suggestions for plan¬ 
ning houses, given by the American Agricultunst, I 
have seen none for a kitchen complete in itself, 
that is, including pantry. I send a description of 
one which has been in use sometime, that appears 
about as near perfection as we can get anything. It 
is twelve feet square, exclusive of cupboards, has 
one hundred and forty-four square feet of shelving, 
all protected by doors from flies and dust; all with¬ 
in easy reach, and so divided that oranges and 
butter, milk and kerosene, may be kept separate. 
It is arranged to economize both steps and room, 
and have everything convenient. The rear entrance 
door d, d, is shielded from the outside gaze by the 
stairing in front of it. At the right is a meal chest 
m, with a double door cupboard above for lamps, 
etc., and has twenty-four square feet of shelving. 
The bath-room, containing the bath-tub 6 , is sepa¬ 
rated from the seat-room o, by a curtain. This 
room opens into the furnished bedroom on the 
right, and has an outside door and window for 
ventilation. At e in o are two drawers. Above the 
range r, is a large galvanized hood h, with a ten- 
PLAN OP A KITCHEN. 
inch pipe entering the chimney. This is just high 
enough to clear the head, and carries off steam and 
vapors rising from cooking.* The range has a water- 
back for supplying hot water to wash-tubs and 
sink. The door, d,d, leads straight ahead to the 
cellar; turning to the right you pass down the hall 
to the front door ; to the left you pass through a 
door to the dining-room. This latter door swings 
both ways, and is always kept closed by springs. 
At d,n, is a dumb-waiter for bringing articles from 
the cellar; but when standing on a level, it fur¬ 
nishes a passage way by its shelves between the 
kitchen and dining-room, for passing dishes and 
food. On the right of this are two cupboards, n,n, 
with doors ; these contain twenty square feet of 
shelving. On the left is the china closet, c,c, open¬ 
ing into the dining-room, at the dotted line. It 
has twenty-five square feet of shelving and two 
drawers. At ^ is a pump ; s the sink, and r a drip 
board for draining dishes. Under these there is a 
closet for kettles, etc. On the back of them, on 
the other side of the wall, is a large book-case, 
opening into the study. At t and u are two large 
cupboards, built like the rest in the wall. These 
supply seventy-five square feet of shelving, and a 
place for a refrigerator. 
*Note on the Above. —The “Hood” over the 
range is a very good thing in theory, and sometimes 
in practice. We have seen them frequently, and 
found them failures in most cases, except where 
the escape pipe is in a separate flue from the smoke 
pipe of the range. Unless the chimney has a 
etrong draft, the open hood pipe checks the flue 
too much. In any case a close-fitting slide or 
damper is needed to close the opening when start¬ 
ing a fire, and when from the direction of the 
wind or other cause, the range fire does not bum 
quickly enough.—E d. 
Summer Notes on Dress. 
The furs and woollens, which have made the 
long, cold winter endurable, should have been 
packed away weeks ago, before the mischievous 
little moths, whose works of darkness are so de¬ 
structive, appear, which is at about this time. Moth 
powders, cedar shavings, tobacco, borax and cam¬ 
phor, are all good to pack with these winter arti¬ 
cles, but if they are weli shaken in the fresh air, 
and carefuily folded in brown paper, or even news¬ 
papers, so well pasted that not a pin hole is left 
open, they are safe. Of course, some woollen cloth¬ 
ing is needed through the summer months, in this 
variable climate of ours. One flannel suit is indis¬ 
pensable, for ladies and children, and often at the 
sea-shore, or by the mountains, it will be the dress 
most needed. The best materials are cashmere 
serge, and fine, smooth, lady’s cloth, in ecru, 
gray, golden-brown, and new shades of blue. 
These are used very much for bride’s travelling 
dresses, and are tailor-made, which means that 
they are cut by tailors, to fit perfectly to the figure, 
and simply stitched, or bound with mohair braid. 
A vest of the same material is sometimes added, 
buttoned with small, flat, lasting buttons. These 
are imitated in the less expensive fine flannels, ot¬ 
toman cloths, etc. For those who prefer, these 
come in stripes, checks, blocks and plaids, and are 
used for the skirts and sashes of children’s dresses, 
with plain, Jersey waists, of brown, red, blue or 
black. Skirts of white muslin, or pique, are worn 
by little girls with these Jerseys. 
The various cotton fabrics, muslins, cambrics, 
satteens, and many others which now come in such 
pretty patterns, that we look at them as we look 
at a painting or embroidery, are expensive in the 
end—as the sun, and salt sea-air, will fade the 
choicest colors, and dampness destroys their beauty, 
and then the trouble and expense of having them 
“done up ” is an important consideration. Besides 
the summer flannels already mentioned, there are 
inexpensive buntings, and nun’s veiling, from thirty 
to fifty cents a yard, each of them a soft, thin, 
coarse-meshed woollen fabric in all the new shades, 
and are very desirable, as they will endure a long 
service without much care. White nun’s veiling 
was worn very much last summer, and will doubt¬ 
less be very popular this season. It can be made 
dressy enough for any occasion, by trimmings of 
silk-surah, satin, or velvet ribbons. Pale pink is 
also very pretty with golden-brown ribbons. Wrap¬ 
pers of all materials are made with a yoke, and the 
whole front and back gathered to it, falling loosely 
to the floor. This is comfortabie, and for a iady’s 
own rooms desirable, but it has too much the ap¬ 
pearance of undress, and to walk through the 
street, even in a quiet, country town, in this cos¬ 
tume, as we have seen some do, is, to say the least, 
unlady-Iike. Bonnets are little changed from last 
year. Figure 1, shows a child’s brown straw hat 
faced with golden-brown velvet, loops of golden- 
brown ottoman ribbon on the left side with a small 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
bunch of dandelions. A child’s mixed straw hat is 
shown in figure 2. It maybe either blue and white, 
or cardinal and white, faced with velvet to match ; 
bows of ribbon and two small wings trim the out¬ 
side. Figure 3 shows a lady’s black chip bonnet, 
trimmed with black and gold-colored ostrich tips. 
It has black lace strings with gold spangles. The 
small capote, or little, round, close-fitting bonnet, is 
so becoming that ladies do not like to give it up, 
even for the sake of “ a change.” It should match 
the walking dress, and the trimming of flowers may 
be so well chosen, that it can be changed from 
one to another foundation to suit the dress. It 
would seem that every known flower, leaf, or 
grass, is represented artificially. Many that are un¬ 
known, must be the creation of artists, whose ut¬ 
most skill must fail in efforts to compete with the 
great Father, who gave the flowers life. These are 
bunched together on the top of the bonnet, or a 
little to the left side. Among the novelties for 
trimming are bunches of garden vegetables and 
fruits, plums, apples, etc. Kibbons are used two 
inches wide for strings. The fronts have puffs of 
satin or velvet, and some have wreaths of fine 
flowers all around. Gold and 
silver tinsel and spangles are 
used on black lace bonnets 
with good effect. Gilt wire 
frames are used also. Hats 
are little worn by ladies be¬ 
yond forty years of age, ex¬ 
cepting shade hats. They are 
of a high crown shape, with 
round, flat brim, and are trim¬ 
med with a bunch of feathers 
or flowers, on the left side. 
Some are turned up on one 
side. Bonnets and hats are of 
all colors and some straws are 
gilded; and bronzed. Those 3 . 
trimmed with black lace and 
flowers are veiy pretty. Jet, for all trimmings, is 
worn more than ever. There are exquisite patterns 
of jetted net, for scarfs, vests, basques, and also 
for sleeves, and open fronts to black silk dresses. 
The basques have of course a silk lining, which 
may be high or low in the neck. Belts are worn 
with round, full waists, for wash dresses, with 
ciasps of old silver jewelry, to represent old silver 
coins, which are very fashionable in pins, collar-but¬ 
tons and bracelets. Another old fashion revived is 
mahogany furniture, and many old, rich articles, 
long considered “ out of date,” will be found of 
great value, as this wood, like a lovely character, 
grows more beautiful with age. Ethel Stone. 
Fashions in Letter Paper and Cards. 
Though plain white writing paper, especially 
the heavy English kind, is not entirely out of date, 
very many prefer the tinted, or with an odd de¬ 
sign in the corner, and sometimes covering the 
entire outer page, as a fine-spun spider’s web, and 
there are dozens iof styles to select from. “ Rag- 
ged-edged” paper, which has had a run for a year 
or more, is stil] seen, but “ scorched paper” is 
newer, and proniises to become very fashionable. 
The edges look ai if held to the fire until slightly 
browned. This is more curious than pretty ; but 
eccentricity rules the hour, and anything novel 
takes at once.—“^Wood paper” is another popular 
style, imitating the grain and color of bircl:.-bark, 
maple, pine, and other woods. This has the head 
of some animal on both sheet and envelope, as a 
deer, dog, or horse.—“ Robin-egg-blue” paper is 
very tasteful, and often has painted or stamped in 
the upper left-hand corner a pretty little bird’s nest 
containing four tiny eggs, with a robin redbreast 
perched on the side. But the daintiest design of 
all is a silver four-leaf clover with an ordinary pin 
run through it as though pinning it to the sheet.— 
Vellum paper is the handsomest and most expen¬ 
sive of any, and is a pleasure to write upon, while 
the vellum envelopes are exceptionally fine, par¬ 
ticularly for invitations. They are now white, and 
are bound with delicately tinted satin ribbon, which 
is tied in a knot, and seated with wax of the same 
shade. Fashionable people now always seal their 
letters, or more frequently apply the imitation 
crimson seals with an initial. These are made of 
paper waxed over, and come by the box. These 
are much less trouble than the old-time candle, 
wax and seal, which required considerable skill and 
practice', while these fasten a letter securely and 
give a style to the epistle. 
Note cards are larger than formerly, and fold 
over, with a lap like envelopes ; but those for af- 
