199 
American Agriculturist, September 20, 1924 
The Kitchen Ideal 
Set a High Standard and Work Towards It 
T HE whole domestic life of woman is 
tremendously influenced by her in¬ 
timate surroundings, and a bright, com¬ 
fortable kitchen is the safest insurance 
policy for an ideal home. 
First, kitchen walls demand the most 
careful attention, for a well-thought-out 
treatment in the first instance will often 
effect very decided economy in the long 
run. 
Distemper can claim many advantages, 
and its use for kitchen walls is rapidly 
increasing. This, no doubt, is largely due 
to the fact that most of the well-known 
firms have specialized in the manufacture 
of distemper, which is generally washable; 
and this, together with the wide range of 
light colors, has resulted in washable 
distemper being one of the most popular 
methods of treating kitchen walls. 
Rather more expensive, but almost 
everlasting, are walls which are first 
painted and finally enameled with a flat 
Teacher’s Pet 
HEN I was just a little lad. 
She taught the District School, 
And though I really worshipped her, 
I said she was a fool. 
For fear the boys would laugh and jeer 
And call me “teacher’s pet,” 
And though the years have chastened 
me, 
Her smile I can’t forget. 
One day in strolling round the room, 
She chanced to stop by me, 
And idly stroked my “carrot” head, 
Such anguish should not be! 
My flaming face was target 
For boyish jokes and jeers. 
And hotly I decided 
To settle all my fears. 
Next day I came all spick and span. 
She praised me for my looks, 
While all the boys, like imps of hell, 
Made smirks behind their books. 
Ere long she paused beside my seat, 
And pressed her hands down hard, 
Then horror stricken hurried out, 
My hair was greased with lard! 
—Esther H. Doolittle. 
finish. The number of coats necessary 
depends entirely upon the amount of 
money to be expended, but given sufficient 
enamel of good reputation, and good walls, 
the interior of the kitchen can almost rival 
porcelain. 
Two-Toned Walls Popular 
Quite a favorite method of treating the 
walls is to have them enameled or dis¬ 
tempered in contrasting colors—the upper 
half being carried out in a light shade and 
the lower in a dark shade. 
Glazed bricks, too, are much in favor on 
account of their brightening effect, and 
many a naturally dull kitchen would be 
made a far more inviting room if glazed 
bricks were used for the lower part of the 
walls. Now that they are obtainable in 
every color, these bricks can put forward 
their claims purely from an artistic point 
of view in addition to being easy to 
clean, durable and exceedingly hygienic. 
Where the strictest immediate economy 
has to be considered, there is much to be 
said in favor of varnished paper, which is 
also washable. This can be obtained in a 
variety of tiled designs, which are more 
suited to the kitchen surroundings than 
a fanciful floral pattern. The geometrical 
severity of the square or rectangular tile 
somehow seems more in keeping with the 
methodical regime of the kitchen. 
The Less Woodwork, the Less Dirt 
In the ideal kitchen woodwork is 
conspicuous by its absence—that is to 
say, all non-essential woodwork, such as 
skirting-boards, etc., should go, and what 
does appear should be plain with no 
quirks or headings to harbor dust and 
germs. All doors should be entirely 
innocent of ornament; panels and ledges 
must be foregone. 
Another labor-saving device that is 
much favored in newly constructed 
kitchens is the rounded corner, both for 
floors and ceilings. It reduces any 
accumulation of dirt to the minimum. 
Perhaps the most attractive treatment 
for the kitchen is the wooden block floor, 
but where this is impossible, then a good 
inlaid linoleum is difficult to surpass. 
Here, again, either the parquet or tiled 
pattern is admirable for the purpose. 
There is far more economy in buying the 
inlaid variety than the merely surface- 
printed patterns. In the latter case the 
design is liable to disappear with frequent 
polishings, whereas the former, with the 
aid of a thoroughly good preservative 
polish, will outlive many successive 
surface-printed linoleums. 
The floor-covering can often be made to 
link up with the walls or curtains with 
regard to color and even design, as 
exemplified in a modern kitchen where 
pale green distempered walls, pale green 
and white check curtains and darker 
green and white tiled linoleum were the 
main decorative features. Both harmony 
of color and the geometrical design were 
observed. 
Kitchen Curtains Are Washed Open 
Kitchen curtains should be essentially 
practical, with no superfluous frills. They 
should be distinctly simple, so that they 
can be easily laundered. Personal taste 
must decide the question of material, but 
even so the scope is wide, and manufac¬ 
turers have never for one moment for¬ 
gotten the requirements of the kitchen. 
Unpatterned, fadeless casement-cloth, 
serviceable ginghams and block-printed 
linens are among the favorites. 
With regard to furniture of the kitchen, 
it would seem that the modern ideal is to 
have all shelves and dressers enclosed by 
cupboards. Some of the recent gas and 
electric cookers are veritable additions to 
the modern kitchen, even from the point 
of view of appearance only, and fu ther- 
more, from the hard-working cook’s point- 
of-view, leave nothing to be desired. 
In fixing a gas cooker it is best to 
arrange it so as to insure a left-hand light 
if possible, and while mentioning this it 
should be noted that the general arrange¬ 
ment of the kitchen is important. The 
individual pieces in the kitchen should be 
so placed as to avo d any unnecessary 
running backwards and forwards, and 
retracing of footsteps. Here, of course, 
some of the really well-constructed 
kitchen cabinets come to the rescue, and 
no kitchen is complete without one. It is 
the housewife’s best friend.— Julia W. 
Wolfe. 
Digging and Storing the Sweets 
WEET potatoes are not so easily kept 
as Irish potatoes, but I have kept 
them and know of others keeping them, 
even to seeding time the next year, and 
with no facilities other than those every¬ 
one can have. In the first place, it must 
be remembered that digging and drying 
is more than half the battle with sweets. 
If dug when the ground is either muddy 
or so hard you cannot dig without bruis¬ 
ing, you will have little chance of saving 
them. They should be dug when they 
will come out clean and not be handled 
roughly at any time, for they .bruise 
readily and rot where bruised. Dry 
thoroughly in shade before putting away. 
For small supplies packing in barrels of 
sand is about the best way, keeping 
in a warm even temperature.— Bertha 
Alzada. _ 
When ironing, some housekeepers find 
a sprig of cedar very satisfactory for 
oiling the iron. 
* * * 
Water-glass for preserving eggs should 
be used in the proportion of one part 
water-glass to nine parts of water. The 
eggs should be clean, smooth, and infertile; 
the container a clean earthenware crock. 
UNION CARBIDE 
F IRST the water-heating. The Carbide-gas water heater delivers hot water 
a few minutes after it is lighted. 
Then for cooking on washday. Time is valuable and much of it is saved by 
the convenience of a Carbide-gas stove. 
And finally for ironing. The Carbide-gas iron saves 
many steps and minutes, by making it unnecessary to 
change irons. It insures better ironing because it main¬ 
tains an even temperature. 
Thus Union Carbide gas makes washday’s tasks 
lighter, and when evening comes wives and daughters 
are not too tired to sit under the Carbide-gas light in 
the living-room, and sew or read. 
Union Carbide itself is a manufactured crystalline 
material, in general appearance like crushed granite. 
Dropped into water, it immediately produces Caibide 
gas. This contact with water is made in a simple, easily 
understood, automatic apparatus known as a generator. 
From the generator the Carbide gas is piped through¬ 
out house, porches, barns and poultry buildings, by 
means of concealed iron pipes. 
Highest insurance authorities rate Union Carbide- 
gas lighting safer than the illuminants it replaces. 
More than 409,000 plants using Carbide gas for light¬ 
ing and cooking have been installed in the past 25 years. 
Interesting booklets are ready for you. Send for them 
today. , 
UNION CARBIDE SALES COMPANY 
30 East 42d Street, Dept. K 10, New York, N.Y. 
Please send tne, without obligation, information on UNION CAR¬ 
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UNION 
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.STATE- 
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L 
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size and width or all numbers in shoe you now wear. 
5 women’s and children’s shoes! 
ANDERSON SHOE CO., Inc. 
102 Hopkins Place 
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Baltimore. Md. 
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Dept. K-l IPSWICH, MASS. 
I MAKE THE BEST CHOCOLATE BARS 
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