Vol. LVII. No. 2521. 
NEW YORK, MAY 21, 1898. 
$[ PER YEAR. 
" THE HOME GRUBBING MACHINE 
IN OTHER WORDS, THE FARMER’S KITCHEN 
How To Make It Most Effective. 
This is~an age of special machinery for special pur¬ 
poses, not only in the factory but upon the farm. 
Labor and time-saving devices are in evidence every¬ 
where during seeding, culture and harvest. Modern 
chilled-steel plows; disk, spring and fine steel-toothed 
harrows ; clod crushers and levelers, turn and cut and 
stir and pulverize and smooth the seed-beds of the 
farm with a minimum expenditure of time and labor. 
Combination grain and fertilizer drills, horse-power 
corn and potato planters, and special cultivators in 
endless variety, have taken the place 
of bags, baskets, buckets, hoes and 
backaches. The scythe, cradle and 
handrake are regarded as little less 
than implements of torture by the 
farmer who comfortably rides upon his 
light steel mower or binder, and clips 
a five-foot swath, or cuts, rakes, binds 
and gathers his golden grain, at a 
single sweep. Tedders, sulky rakes, 
loaders, horse forks, tracks and tackle 
turn and gather and load and stow 
away in capacious mows the product 
of the meadow. Even potato digging 
and corn cutting are done by horse¬ 
power, while from the modern barn, 
comes the sound of huskers and shred¬ 
ders and cutters and grinders and ele¬ 
vators. Neither has the forest and 
clearing escaped the invasion of im¬ 
proved machinery. Trees are now 
felled by keen-toothed saws, while 
dentistry, upon a gigantic scale, is 
made possible by the modern stump- 
puller and grubbing machine. 
But how about the “ grubbing ma¬ 
chine ” of the household? “She is 
pretty well—only ‘ a little fagged 
out ’ ”, did you say ? I beg pardon, sir, 
I do not mean your wife —I refer to 
your wife’s kitchen. Is it a “special 
machine” for a “special purpose”? 
Is it a neat, cozy, home-like, well- 
arranged little apartment ? Has it a 
never-failing supply of pure cold water 
direct from spring or well ? Has it a 
capacious hot-water tank with faucet ? 
Has it an elevator or dumbwaiter sav¬ 
ing thousands of steps between kitchen 
and cellar ? Has it a roomy double 
cupboard opening into the dining¬ 
room? Is it provided with a special 
kitchen sideboard with convenient 
apartments for everything ? Has it a 
light, portable worktable, a roomy 
closet, and a delightful little retreat 
furnished with a porcelain handsink 
or washbasin, a cold water tank with 
faucet, soap, towels, glass, brush and 
combs ? Or is it a barren, barn-like room, remarkable 
only for its unattractiveness, inconvenience, and great 
distance from water, fuel, cellar and everything need¬ 
ful in the preparation of food, or the easy prosecution 
of household labor ? There are still some grave and 
dangerous inconsistencies which lurk about the back 
door of many a modern farmer’s house. Why not an¬ 
nihilate these prowlers, and add many hanpy years to 
the life of the faithful little wife and mother by the 
introduction, into her realm, of this greatest of all 
time and labor-saving devices, a cozy and convenient 
kitchen ? In many cases, this would not necessitate 
the erection of a new apartment—only a thorough re¬ 
modeling of the old. 
There are but few country houses that could not 
have pure, cold water right in the kitchen with but 
slight expense as compared to its great convenience. 
The best galvanized iron piping may be purchased for 
six cents per foot—possibly a fraction less. In some 
cases, in a hill country such as our own, a spring of 
water is at such an elevation that it may be piped into 
the house under good pressure ; but usually, a pump 
will be necessary. By this means, water may be con¬ 
veyed under ground for several hundred feet, or any 
reasonable distance, and lifted to the desired level by 
an ordinary pitcher pump, if the perpendicular rise in 
that distance be not more than 20 or 25 feet; if the 
lift be greater than this, a more powerful pump should 
rs: 
■? 
it. 
Closet closed, 
Pump and sink, 
Closet open, 
Kitchen wardrobe. 
HELPFUL FIXTURES IN A FARMER’S KITCHEN. Fig. 156. 
be used. The pipe should be laid not less than three 
feet under ground—to prevent freezing in winter— 
and should enter the house by way of the cellar if 
possible, as it is at this end of the line one will 
encounter the most difficult part of the plumbing. 
At Fig. 157, is shown the plan of our own kitchen, 
which we know to be a good one. Under this kitchen 
is a cellar 10x16 feet, which is entered from the 
kitchen at a. Now don’t mention the danger of the 
babies falling down the stairway ! In addition to the 
heavy trap door, which is, of course, left open when 
the cellar is entered, there is a light, skeleton door that 
drops into place, which not only admits a flood of 
light, but prevents anything in the form of a header 
by the little ones. The position of this skeleton door, 
when both are closed, is just beneath the outer door, 
hence is entirely out of sight. The stove stands at b. 
At c, a heavy framework of 2x8 oak plank, resting 
endwise upon a solid foundation in the cellar bottom, 
and extending about four feet above the kitchen floor, 
not only supports the chimney, but by being neatly 
cased up, both above and below, forms a sturdy little 
closet within which there plies, between kitchen and 
cellar, an elevator or dumbwaiter. In Fig. 156 is 
shown this little closet as it appears when closed, also 
when the door is thrown open to show the shelves of 
the waiter, which is elevated or lowered by means of a 
small windlass, the crank of which is plainly shown. 
The waiter is equally as accessible from 
the cellar below, a screen door being 
used instead of a solid one, which gives 
free ventilation and a perfect circula¬ 
tion of pure, cold air. In this elevator, 
the left-overs, such as butter, cream, 
meat, bread, fruit, pies, etc., may be 
instantly plunged into the cold at¬ 
mosphere of the cellar in Summer, or 
out of danger of freezing in Winter, 
and are at all times at hand at a mo¬ 
ment’s notice. In fruit-canning sea¬ 
son, when the jars are ready for the 
cellar shelves, two or three dozens may 
be placed in the elevator, and lowered, 
saving many tiresome trips down and 
up the cellar stairway. In Fig. 156 
are also the pump and sink, beneath 
which is the fuel closet. At e in Fig. 
157, is a double cupboard, extending 
from floor to ceiling, and opening into 
the diningroom, L. At f, stands a 
kitchen sideboard, which is shown in 
Fig. 156. This is a homemade one, 
and very convenient. The back or 
top is semi-ornamental and contains a 
spice closet. At g, over the cellar 
door, there is a light, castored work¬ 
table, which may be moved from place 
to place as desired. At h is a little 
toiletroom. At f, there is a porcelain 
handsink, and at j, a cold-water tank. 
Under these, is a handy little closet 
for towels, etc. At 7c is a roomy closet 
containing hooks and shelves. The 
floors of both kitchen and toiletroom 
are covered with linoleum. 
As our stove was not furnished with 
a reservoir, we had made a heavy cop¬ 
per tank holding six gallons. This 
tank, which is also shown in Fig. 156, 
cost $2.80, and surely pays for itself 
every month. The cold-water tank in 
the toiletroom is just like it, except 
that it is made from heavy tin, and 
enameled. Tanks of this shape, when 
kept well filled, give a good pressure, 
being about 20 inches deep. The waste 
water, from both the kitchen and 
toiletroom sinks, is conveyed by pipes to the cellar 
drain which, in turn, conveys it to a ravine quite a 
distance from our dwelling. Three-inch tile is used in 
this drain, and is, of course, laid below the frost line. 
A modern “ grubbing machine” of this description 
is comparatively inexpensive, and the load it is capa¬ 
ble of lifting from the shoulders of the busy house¬ 
keeper is incalculable in pounds and ounces. The 
farmer who is handy with tools may do nearly or 
quite all of the work himself during the leisure time 
it is possible to gain by the use of his modern ma¬ 
chinery. In the construction of our kitchen, I paid 
out but $4.65 for labor—$2.40 of this amount for three 
days’ assistance in digging the cellar and hauling the 
