While reading the hundreds of papers which have
passed through my hands since the School opened,
nothing has impressed me more than the variety of
conditions to which any woman in this country
must be ready to adjust herself at short notice.
Much human energy might be set free for other pur-
poses, and much money saved, if men and women
gave closer study to some of these every-day questions.
Emerson has said truly : " We must learn the homely
laws of .fire and water; we must feed, wash, plant,
build. These are the ends of necessity, and first
in the order of nature. Poverty, frost, famine,
disease, debt, are the beadles and guardsmen that
hold us to common sense."
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FUELS
Every householder and housekeeper should have
more definite knowledge regarding the amount of
heat available from a given bulk of each of the stand -
"47
148 PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY
ard fuels. One cord of wood is approximately equal
to one -half ton of coal; 1,000 cubic feet of coal-gas
is equal to 50 or 60 pounds of coal, or about four and
one-half gallons of oil or gasoline. The time re-
quired to keep stove and fire in good condition must
be counted with the cost of the fuel.
In this connection, facts reported in some of the
test papers received are interesting.
From a southern plantation, wood is reported as
costing only the labor of preparation for the stove,
and that only sixty cents a cord. In another locality,
one sixteenth of a cord of wood is used daily at a cost
of twelve cents, or about two dollars a cord. Else-
where, a housekeeper finds wood at five dollars a
cord the cheapest fuel within her reach, and estimates
her daily supply to cost ten cents, or about one fiftieth
of a cord. Another burns a cord of wood each week
for cooking only.
An English pupil writes: "The range to which I
am most accustomed is the almost universal farm-
house open fireplace and Glendenning oven, used in
Cumberland and Westmoreland. The oven is heated
by the hot air from the fire by a passage at the back
of the fireplace, with only one damper for oven. At
the opposite side there is nearly always what is called
here a 'set-pot' for heating water. The heat of
my oven is greatest at the bottom, on account of the
hot air being underneath. What is not cooked in
the oven is done over the open fire."
FUELS 149
COAL
The price of coal varies according to quality and
distance from the mines, and may cost from three to
twelve dollars a ton. A hodful or scuttle of coal
may weigh from fifteen to thirty pounds, but after
weighing the contents of an average hod, any house-
keeper may estimate readily the amount used daily,
or for different purposes.
One woman writes that she can do her day's work
with a single hodful of coal, making a ton last nearly
three months, while a maid in her kitchen usually
disposes of a ton a month. Another housekeeper
runs a fire day and night on half a ton a month,
while in a colder region three hods daily is the usual
winter allowance.
Gas is available in comparatively few sections of
the country outside of the large cities, but wherever
it is used, housekeepers soon learn to plan their cook-
ery to save fuel. This usually results in economy
of time, so that fewer hours arc spent in the kitchen,
though all the necessary work is as well done as
before.
Page 57
Presented as published in 1910. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
While reading the hundreds of papers which have passed through my hands since the School opened, nothing has impressed me more than the variety of conditions to which any woman in this country must be ready to adjust herself at short notice. Much human energy might be set free for other purposes, and much money saved, if men and women gave closer study to some of these every-day questions.
Emerson has said truly : " We must learn the homely laws of .fire and water; we must feed, wash, plant, build. These are the ends of necessity, and first in the order of nature. Poverty, frost, famine, disease, debt, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to common sense."
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FUELS
Every householder and housekeeper should have more definite knowledge regarding the amount of heat available from a given bulk of each of the standard fuels. One cord of wood is approximately equal to one-half ton of coal; 1,000 cubic feet of coal-gas is equal to 50 or 60 pounds of coal, or about four and one-half gallons of oil or gasoline. The time required to keep stove and fire in good condition must be counted with the cost of the fuel.
In this connection, facts reported in some of the test papers received are interesting.
From a southern plantation, wood is reported as costing only the labor of preparation for the stove, and that only sixty cents a cord. In another locality, one-sixteenth of a cord of wood is used daily at a cost of twelve cents, or about two dollars a cord. Elsewhere, a housekeeper finds wood at five dollars a cord the cheapest fuel within her reach, and estimates her daily supply to cost ten cents, or about one-fiftieth of a cord. Another burns a cord of wood each week for cooking only.
An English pupil writes: "The range to which I am most accustomed is the almost universal farmhouse open fireplace and Glendenning oven, used in Cumberland and Westmoreland. The oven is heated by the hot air from the fire by a passage at the back of the fireplace, with only one damper for oven. At the opposite side there is nearly always what is called here a 'set-pot' for heating water. The heat of my oven is greatest at the bottom, on account of the hot air being underneath. What is not cooked in the oven is done over the open fire."
FUELS 149
COAL
The price of coal varies according to quality and distance from the mines, and may cost from three to twelve dollars a ton. A hodful or scuttle of coal may weigh from fifteen to thirty pounds, but after weighing the contents of an average hod, any housekeeper may estimate readily the amount used daily, or for different purposes.
One woman writes that she can do her day's work with a single hodful of coal, making a ton last nearly three months, while a maid in her kitchen usually disposes of a ton a month. Another housekeeper runs a fire day and night on half a ton a month, while in a colder region three hods daily is the usual winter allowance.
Gas is available in comparatively few sections of the country outside of the large cities, but wherever it is used, housekeepers soon learn to plan their cookery to save fuel. This usually results in economy of time, so that fewer hours are spent in the kitchen, though all the necessary work is as well done as before.