494 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Within the past few years a number 
of articles have been published in the 
rural papers about the rearranging of 
farms; laying out and fencing the lields 
in such a way as to minimize time and 
labor, and there is no question that these 
suggestions have proved helpful to many 
readers. The same idea is just as ap¬ 
plicable to the farmhouse as to the land. 
A large per cent of the older farm¬ 
steads were built in a rambling manner, 
caused by afterthoughts in the shape of 
Coal 
Porch 
Bed 
Room 
Bed 
Room 
| Pantry 
Parlor 
Sitting 
Room 
Ritchen 
Porch 
"ti 9) 
*1 
Wash 
Room 
Dining 
Room 
Porcd\ 
Bed Room. 
Portico 
House Plan As It Was. 
wings and lean-tos being added as the 
need for extra room arose. To rearrange 
and modernize one of these houses in 
order to make the housework easier and 
render life more comfortable and pleas¬ 
ant is no small task, and in one case has 
covered a period of a good many years. 
Following the plan of the above men¬ 
tioned articles I give a few diagrams, 
showing changes made, as I believe by 
this I can make myself better under¬ 
stood. 
The reader will notice that we had a 
very small hall with stairway leading 
from it, between the parlor and sitting- 
room. These were removed and double 
doors placed between the two rooms, so 
now our parlor is “one of the family” 
and we do not feel away from home 
when in there. The outside door of the 
little hall had a very narrow window 
each side of it, extending over half way 
down from the top casing. A good- 
sized glass was fitted in the door, and 
little shelves made of basket covers 
were placed at regular intervals across 
the windows and tilled with books, giv¬ 
ing an attractive appearanec and furn¬ 
ishing extra bookcases, while door re¬ 
tains its original effect upon the out¬ 
side. 
A large window 5x6 feet was pur¬ 
chased. together with the frame made 
to lit it. Then my husband and sous 
removed the two front windows of the 
sitting-room, placed the large frame in 
position and filled around it. A two- 
lighted sash was bought for the re¬ 
maining window, the cost for all being 
$13.50. The stairs were placed in a 
portion of a pantry, so they lead from 
the dining-room, thus bringing the up¬ 
per rooms much nearer and saving much 
travel and wear of carpets. The re¬ 
mainder of the pantry was converted 
into a bathroom, which is thus conven¬ 
iently located near the stairway. The 
small inset porch was taken into the 
dining-room and double doors placed be¬ 
tween that and the sitting-room, thus 
throwing the three large rooms together. 
The little portico was taken down and a 
large porch built instead. The partition 
between the two bedrooms adjoining sit¬ 
ting-room and parlor was taken out, 
making one good-sized room, from which 
a door was cut leading to bathroom. 
This brings us to the kitchen and its 
accessories, the pivot of the farm. 
Rearranging the Farm House 
A Study of Household Management 
By A Farmer’s Wife 
Part I. 
The R. N.-Y. never uttered a truer 
statement than one in a recent issue, 
viz., “The most important room is the 
farm kitchen ; the most important asset 
for the equipment of that kitchen is an 
unlimited supply of dry fuel and pure 
water.” Our kitchen (and by this term 
I mean also the adjoining rooms that 
have a direct relation to it) has received 
more thought and attention than all the 
and curtains in front complete this cup¬ 
board. The pump was placed against the 
end of the sink, and this necessitated 
laying a horizontal pipe under the floor 
to the cistern, which was well packed 
in sawdust and has never given any 
trouble through freezing. Behind the 
sink was an ordinary window, which was 
taken out, and an opening made even 
with the top, large enough to hold a 
AS IT WAS 
TIIE KITCHEN AND ADJOINING ROOMS. 
rest of the house. The old adage that 
“A penny saved is worth two earned” 
might well be paraphrased to read, “A 
step saved is worth two trips to a doc¬ 
tor.” We have endeavored to eliminate 
all work and travel possible, not only 
for the household workers, but for the 
outside workers as well. I give a more 
detailed diagram of the kitchen that I 
may better explain improvements made. 
Formerly the sink stood next to the 
dining-room wall, in order that the pump 
might be directly over the cistern, but 
had no leader. My husband made a 
large, shallow box 7x2 feet by 3 inches, 
and taking it to the hardware store had 
window frame made for sash containing 
three 10x20 panes. The lower part of 
the old window was closed up. The new 
window was hung with hinges and ad¬ 
justed to run open with a pulley, and is 
held in place with a weight. This win¬ 
dow is a great comfort in warm weather, 
as it creates a large opening on a level 
with the worker’s face. Buying it with 
the frame *to fit it made it easy to place. 
The zinc lining was a poor investment, 
as it soon wore through. We then had 
one made of galvanized iron, which has 
lasted many years, and barring accidents 
will last as many more. This equip¬ 
ment, shelves, drawers, window, broad 
it lined with zinc, and a leader put in. 
This was then placed against the outside 
wall, to the right of the old sink, and 
adjusted high enough from the floor so 
the worker need not stoop while perform¬ 
ing her duties. It was fastened in place 
with spikes and braces. A broad shelf 
covered with zinc was fitted to the top 
of it, and will slide from one end to the 
other, or can be removed entirely. This 
shelf makes an ideal kneading board, 
much more sanitary than those made of 
wood. Two drawers made of boxes were 
hung underneath; in one is kept spices, 
soda, etc.; in the other pie and cake 
tins. 
Above the sink we put a series of 
shelves, one of which was slanted to¬ 
wards the back to hold the rolling pin, 
shelf and sink with hot and cold water, 
make a very commodious home-made 
kitchen cabinet, as nearly everything 
needed is within reach of the worker. 
The pump, owing to the water system, 
is now useless, but the well being just 
outside, it is our plan to pipe (o it and 
thus bring that water to the sink also. 
Beyond the sink in the corner is the 
double woodbox, made partly inside but 
largely outside. This is a step saver, in 
earnest, for the men. Notice in the first 
diagram of kitchen the dotted line which 
shows the trip required for each arm¬ 
ful of wood, making miles of travel in 
the course of a year. The new wood 
box, as you will notice, is made with 
a lid inside and one outside, each being 
held up when needed by a little wooden 
March 28, 
hook which drops in place as the lid is 
raised. 
While here at the pantry door let me 
show you another step saver for the 
men. Note as before the trip made to 
carry the ice around through the kitchen 
into the pantry to the refrigerator. A 
happy thought came to us. After years 
of this traveling and attendant dripping, 
we now have a broad shelf on the out¬ 
side of the window (which is very close 
to the refrigerator) built on a level with 
the window sill, whereon can be placed 
Laundry 
/f/tchen 
II 
Porch 
Store 
Room 
Becl Room 
Parlor 
Bath Room 
Sitting 
4 Room 
Pining 
Room. 
Porch 
Bed Room. 
House As Made Over. 
enough ice to fill the box; then donning 
a pair of cloth mittens, the farmer-ice¬ 
man goes into the pantry and places the 
ice where it belongs. 
Another glance at the diagram shows 
the kitchen range turned around so it 
projects into tire room, and will also 
reveal what a great improvement this is, 
as the stove now faces the sink, and the 
worker can easily turn from one to the 
other without taking a step. This range 
is unfinished upon the back, and I judge 
they all are, as they are intended to set 
back close to the wall; hence we annu¬ 
ally give it a coat of aluminum paint, 
i.e., the whole of the stove except the 
top and shelf. This is much more satis¬ 
factory than blacking and lasts the year 
through very nicely. Directly over the 
range we' cut a hole and cased it up 
with boards like a box. This makes a 
fine outlet for steam, smoke and heat, 
going into an attic. 
Behind the stove is the hot-water tank, 
and beyond this another sink 20x30x6 
inches, used primarily for lavatory pur¬ 
poses. When planning this sink we 
made inquiries at our local plumber’s for 
a sink fitted with a rubber stopper in¬ 
stead of a strainer. We could get no 
satisfaction, and began to look elsewhere, 
and finally succeeded in locating one 
through correspondence. By putting in 
the plug the sink is converted into a 
nice wash tub for hosiery, or any extras 
we may have to wash out, and do not 
wish to use the regular tub. It is very 
convenient, with hot and cold water, and 
cost 25 cents extra for the rubber stop¬ 
per. Here we arrive at the boot room, 
the tidy (?) appearance of which I will 
not mention; suffice it to say that it 
contains boots and shoes used upon the 
farm : coats, hats, parts of harness, etc. 
A shelf three feet broad has been placed 
across one side about 30 inches from the 
floor, and another two feet broad higher 
up and across the other way. On these 
are kept the things dear to the heart of 
the average farmer—a box of harness 
tools, bolts, snaps, straps, buckles, a shoe 
repairing outfit and other articles too 
numerous to mention. A glance shows 
the room to be well furnished if not 
artistically arranged. 
Where the original sink stood, is now 
an old-fashioned bureau, the legs of 
which were sawed off to make it set 
close to the floor. In this are kept 
kitchen aprons, towels, cloths, etc., and 
what has proved a comfort and step 
saver, extra pairs of the men’s everyday 
socks, and handkerchiefs. 
