<2^ D^4 'il'Klilli !i..!!iiiii:!iii!'H'l|!:" ' ^ii'!!":ltlli"i'i ii ^'iiiiilipliliill : • lii"ll!!i iilli i i ifnUijiHfl! liiiiiiiiiis Cornell University Library S 521. D24 Possibilities of the country liome, 3 1924 001 020 787 i^etD gorfe £)tate College of SgrtcuUure ^t Cornell ^m'becsittp Stijaca, B- B- Hilirarp The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001020787 POSSIBILITIES OF THE COUNTRY HOME Mrs. E. Davenport, Champaign, Illinois Bead first at the Illinois State Domestic Science Association of the Illinois Farmers' Institute, Peoria, February, 1908, and published in their report of that year which is now out of print. This paper is addressed especially to that numerous class of well-to-do farmers who begin to feel a desire for the con- veniences of modern life, who commence to feel their ability to afford them, and who are inclined to move to town to secure what they assume is impossible in the country. The isolation of farm life has passed into history. The telephone and the rural delivery of mail have brought that life into daily touch with the world and often bhe farmer may read his daily paper earlier in the morning than can his city brother. With the trolley lines and the centralized rural high schools it is no longer necessary for him to move to the city to educate his children — in fact, all good things are be- ing brought to his door, for the genius of man seems bent upon making possible for him who dwells in the country all that his city neighbor enjoys of comforts and of conveniences. Lighting It has been long since houses of any considerable size were built to be heated with stoves, and now the kerosene lamp which was a notable step in the progress of our civili- zation is being replaced by something better and more con- venient. Those among us who remember the days of the tallow candle appreciate the wonderful lighting effect of the kerosene lamp, but now that is as far in the shade as is the tallow candle of our grandmothers. While as yet electricity is not generally available for country lighting, the acetylene manufacturers have produced a light which they claim is almost the equivalent of sunshine, and that from gas which is easily and safely made in one's own home. This is no longer an experiment, for there are already no less than 150,000 country homes in the United States using acetylene gas for lighting purposes. The cost of a plant varies according to the requirements. A genera- tor may be had for $75.00 and upward, and a ten room house may be fitted complete for about $200.00. A plant in one house of which I know, recently fitted with seventeen lights, cost $155.00. The expense of running this plant is about $1.00 per month, the cost of the carbide being in that locality $3.75 per hundred pounds. The Water Supply One of the chief advantages of the city dwelling is its water supply which makes possible the water-closets, bath- rooms and lavatories with hot and cold water up-stairs and down. With a modern system of water pressure, however, all that is possible in this respect in the city is fully as prac- ticable in the country home. Who needs these advantages more than does the farmer? Whoever, coming in from his labor hot, dusty, and weary, has been able to go to a bath-room and turn on plenty of water of the right temperature, and after its cleansing and refreshing influence has come forth feeling like a new being, with greater self-respect — "more like a Christian", we some- times say— with the wrinkles smoothed out of his body, his temper, his life — whoever has had this experience knows that no one needs this "modern convenience" more than does the farmer or the farm laborer. Who needs more, too, than the busy house-wife that water both hot and cold shall be convenient at every hand and not be carried by the pailf uls from an outside well or cis- tern — and yet that is what is done in the majority of country homes. Every farm has of necessity a good source of water sup- ply and generally some power for pumping, either windmill or gasoline engine. All that is needed in addition to make an effective system is pressure. This may be had by means of the elevated tank or by the pressure tank. The former has been oaly partially successful because of leakage and freezing, but the use of the pressure tank, while somewhat more expensive, has been found in every way satisfactory. The Kewanee Water Supply Company of Kewanee, Illinois,^ make such tanks with pressure regulator and pumping ma- chinery for any kind of power, — electricity, gasoline, wind- mill or hand pumping. These tanks vary in size according to the needs of the particular plant and furnish according to the statement of the Kewanee people a pressure of from 40 to 70 pounds to the square inch. A pressure of 40 pounds is said to elevate water through pipes to a height of 93 feet or throw a stream into the air to the height of 55 feet. Seventy pounds pressure will elevate water 160 feet or throw a stream 75 feet high. This pressure not only puts water wherever it is needed upon the farm or in the farm buildings, but also furnishes considerable fire protection which is sorely needed in the country, besides lessening the rate of fire insurance. This pressure tank may be located in the basement of the house, in a separate building nearby, or buried in the ground. The basement is the preferable location wherever possible as it is also for the pumping machinery. With a triplex or three-way pump the same power which is used for pumping the water from the well may pump the water from the cisterQ into a smaller pressure tank. Then with the range boiler connected with the kitchen range or with a sep- arate gasoline heater, or both, hot and cold soft water may be had in any part of the house. No matter how great or how small the needs of the farm, these tanks may be had to fit the requirements at corres- ponding expense. W. S. Corsa, of White Hall, writes me that he has had in use for a number of years a similar system which has been an "unqualified success". He has buried in the ground a pressure tank of 100 barrels capacity with a one-horse power 'Since writing the above, my attention has been called to the Leader Iron Manufactur- ing Company of Decatur, wlio also furnish pressure tanks as here described. There are doubtless many others. electric motor for pumping power. This furnishes water for three houses and four barns. Another man with a 70 bar- rel tank furnishes water to 135 head of stock and 500 chick- ens, and still another has a 30 barrel tank for a herd of ponies, a herd of cattle, a hundred hogs and three thousand head of poultry, besides the ordinary uses for the house and lawn. A neighbor of Mr. Corsa, Mr. G. C. Tunison, of White Hall, writes me that he has just installed a Kewanee system. This consists of two 300 gallon tanks with automatic regula- tors, a double stroke force pump which pumps both the hard and the soft water and furnishes 60 pounds pressure. He fitted a bath-room with bath-tub, water-closet and lavatory and has a range boiler of 40 gallon capacity with separate heater to furnish hot water for bath-room and kitchen. The whole cost was about $250.00. Another man put in a simi- lar outfit for $255.00. The Kewanee people furnish a system for ordinary re- quirements as follows: A 720 gallon tank with automatic air valve attachments and water and pressure gauges, a double acting force pump good for a suction lift of 20 feet, and a 2 H. P. gasoline engine with automatic stopping device to shut ofE the engine when a certain pressure has been reached. This outfit they furnish with belt, tank supports and proper connections for $300.00. In addition to this, to make a com- plete outfit for both hard and soft water, a separate tank would be needed for the soft water. A tank of about 200 gal- lons capacity can be had for $85.00, smaller sizes of course running cheaper. A bath-room outfit consisting of bath-tub, lavatory and water-closets costs from $65 to $100 and up. This would make the complete outfit cost from $450 to $500, including a 2 H. P. gasoline engine. Many farmers already own their gasoline engines, and in such cases this system may be at- tached to the power already at hand, whatever it is, thereby reducing the cost correspondingly. It is considered by some to be better economy to operate a smaller engine where light power is required and therefore good economy to own more than one engine. Besides, there are other uses for light power about the house of which I shall speak. Sewer System The general water supply for the house necessitates a sewer system. This is practicable at a small outlay of labor and material and should be in use even without the general water supply system. I have knowledge of one which for more than twelve years has been in successful operation and where in addition to the uses of the house it carried away large quantities of water from a dairy. In this instance there was but little fall in the surface of the ground. The plumbing which should, of course, be fitted with proper traps is brought into 6-in glazed sewer tile. These tile with joints laid in cement should extend to a sufiicient distance from the house and empty into an open brick-lined catch basin. At a little lower level the water should be con- ducted away by ordinary eight- inch drain tile for a distance of 20 or 30 feet through well drained soil. From time to time the tile will need to be cleaned out or fresh ones laid. Where the sewer tile empties into the catch basin it should dip down and the drainage tile slant up as it starts out so that the mouth of each shall be under water and the gases which form be absorbed and not discharged into the air. This al- so prevents the scum which rises from filling the tile. Household Labor Savers Years ago because of the scarcity and the high price of Jabor the farmer was driven into buying machinery in great variety in order to carry on his business. Those things are now considered necessities and a farmer thinks nothing of paying $125.00 for a binder — a tool that he will use but a few days in the year. The housekeeper is now confronted with the same prob- lem. Help for the house is not only scarce and exceedingly inefficient and something must be done to relieve the situation. The same recourse which has brought relief in other occu- pations, namely, mechanical assistance, must now be used for the housekeeper, and the tools are in the market waiting to be employed. One of the great "bug bears" of the housewife is the weekly washing and ironing. "Wash day" is the blue daj which somehow upsets the whole temper of the household. There is but little relief in sending the laundry out of the house even if it is possible to do so, for it is not only ex- pensive but unsatisfactory in every way. There is a way by which it can be made an incident in the work of the day. It is by the use of the power washer, for it is much easier to see this machine quietly doing its work over in the corner than to furnish the power one's self or to bend over the washboard and scrub. The same power which is used for the pumping can al- so be used to operate the washing machine or, where the pressure tank is used in the water system, the pressure is sufficient to run a water motor attached to the machine. Ordinary city water pressure ranges from 20 to 42 or 43 pounds, and a machine with a motor attached can be run at 20-pound pressure though not as satisfactorily as when it is higher. At 40 pounds it runs along merrily and that is a pressure easily maintained with the water system I have de- scribed. A washing machine with motor attached costs $15.00. This can be set in any place where a faucet can be reached for the water pressure and a sink or drain for the waste water. The American Laundry Machinery Company put out a machine for- household equipment at $35.00 for hand power and $15.00 extra for power attachment. This could be run with the same power used for pumping. As a power machine, this is ideal, for it has a rotary motion, its capacity is large and it not only washes but rinses without removal from the machine. There is another great labor and time saver which it seems strange that people have not thought more about, and that is the family size heated mangle. This machine is made for heating either with gas or with gasoline. It may be operated by power or by hand and almost any member of the family is able to run it. It does all of the flat work of ironing but is especially fine for table cloths, napkins, and towels, and every housewife knows how much labor and time are required to do table linens really well. With the use of these two machines, the power washer and the mangle, a housewife is independent of laundress or even of maid. In the family of the writer, where for the last three and a half years no maid or laundress has been employed, the family has numbered from three to six, and the washings are never small, yet they are done by eight o'clock in the morning and an hour to an hour and a half at any convenient time suffices to do the flat work of the iron- ing. Ten minutes is sufficient for a large tablecloth and one minute for a napkin, and the quality of the work is much better than can be done by hand. A mangle costs according to size; $110.00 for a 40- inch hand power, or $135.00, for a 60-inch, with from ten to fifteen dollars additional for power attachment. The wider mangle seems to the writer to be better econ- omy because after the operator is somewhat skilled it can be fed double — that is, such articles as towels, pillow slips, etc. may be run in side by side, and thus much time is saved. The cost — $135.00 — may seem large at first thought and yet the interest upon it would pay for a maid only two weeks or would pay for the laundry work less than a month. Still another time and "back saving" appoiiitment of the laundry-room is the stationary tub. This needs no argu- ment when one thinks of the tubs and benches which have to be handled in doing a washing and which are always in the way, and the water which must all be handled twice by the pailful. This calls for but slight expense. The Ameri- can Laundry Machinery Company put out a tub made from cypress wood at $7.50 per compartment and non-absorbent stone tubs can be had at slightly greater expense. One more thing which I wish to mention in connection with the laundry, and that is a drying room. In our modern built homes the basement is no longer ' 'just a hole in the ground" for a place to store vegetables and fruits. It costs but little more to excavate under the whole house and with the lessened price of cement the entire floor can be cemented at reasonable cost. Every such house is now equipped with furnace heat and with plenty of windows which make it light and airy, and a drying room in the basement is entirely practicable, partic- ularly for the winter months. If not in the basement then it should be in the attic. Everyone knows the exposure, suffering and inconvenience to which one is subjected in "hanging out clothes" in the winter months. Before the wash day can be decided upon the weather man must be con- sulted and often he gives erroneous decisions. Then comes the hurry to gather in the clothes before it storms while they are perhaps but half dry and frozen; lucky indeed if the wind has not caught them and whipped them to shreds; but it is needless to recount the experiences which every house-wife has had. With a drying room inside one is en- tirely independent of outside circumstances and can plan and pursue her work as salts her own convenience. DusTLESs Cleaning There is another labor saving device which as yet is rather costly, but which in the better home can well be af- forded and that is dustless cleaning by the compressed air or so-called "vacuum" system. These plants are now being installed in private and public houses, and in many cities portable machines go from house to house. A private plant for a ten room house may be installed for approximately $500.00 or for about $350.00^ where one already ^The above paper was written in February, 1908. ' At tliat time the only portable clean- er was tbe Ideal wbich is yet on tbe market doing acceptable work. Since tben, bow- ever, tbe Thurman Company bas put out a good portable macbine with one-fourth horse power motor which operates by attachment to an ordinary electric light socket and sells lor $135.00. They have also greatly reduced the price ol tbe stationary plant lor private dwellings until now a machine equipped with one-half horse power direct current motor, with lull set of tools and fifty feet of hose ample for cleaning any ordinary ten room house, can be had lor $325.00. $25 additional lor the alternating current, $25.00 more will increase the motor from one-half horse power to three-fourths, and another $25.00 will provide a full horse power motor. Either of the latter is entirely capable of running laundry machinery or other equipment of the house. I have quoted the Thurman prices because it is this machine that has been in use in my own family and is, therefore, the one of which I know the most. There are many other excellent machines, however, both stationary and portable. Among the stationary might be mentioned the Houston Vacuum System, and also the Tueco— 170 Air Cleaning System, and among the better portable machines could be mentioned the Federal and tbe Invincible, has the power, with some additional expense for tools for special purposes. It requires 3^ H. P. to run it. This is so arranged that by pressing a button in the hallway of either floor the machinery is set in motion, and by attaching one end of a small hose to the vacuum inlet and the other to a specia;l tool, of which there is a small collection ranging from the plain carpet plate to special brushes for floor or walls and to clean- ers for upholstery or portieres, the dust is drawn by power- ful suction through the piping into a receptacle in the base- ment. By this method rugs or carpets do not need to be re- moved from the floors, pictures from the walls nor curtains from their hangings. It is used to dust a lady's hat or skirt, or a gentleman's coat, and removes the dust from pillows, up- holstered furniture or anything whatever that holds dust. By reversing the action, the machine is turned into a blower which is a powerful agent for blowing out drawers, closets, books and bookshelves, picture frames and inaccessible corners gen- erally. Is not this worth the price of a horse? For the price of an automobile all of these things may be had, and if more care were used in the protection of farm tools, machinery and vehicles, the price of any one of them might be saved in a year's time and life on the farm transformed at many import- ant points. The Country Beautiful There is a subject about which much needs to be said and that is the beautifying of our country homes. I wish that some good preacher would go the length and breadth of our goodly land with this text as his topic: "The Country Beau- tiful". We are no longer a nation of pioneers. Agriculture is one of the honored professions. Our farmers are not pea- sants, but the veritable princes of the country, and it is high time to begin to build up the real country home. The charm of the old world lies in the beautiful country estates which are" found scattered here and there where spa- cious grounds have been laid out and noble houses have been 10 built which have stood for centuries, monuments to their builders and an honor to their country. At Rothamsted in Eng- land on the estate of the late Sir John Lawes, the old manor house was built before America was discovered. It stands to- day firm and fine, surrounded by the grand old trees — trees which can never be unless planted "a good while ago." Hat- field, the home of the late Lord Salisbury is another fine old place, under whose magnificent vines and elms Queen Eliza- beth walked when she was held prisoner by her sister Mary. Such places will never be in this country unless we begin, and we should begin now to develop them. It is true that a few such places are coming along, such as Biltmore, the country home of the Vanderbilts, but they have been built by city men and" are the side issues, the playthings of their leisure moments. What we want is the real country home, the home of the man who owns the land by which he lives. They need not all be Biltmores, but they can all be comfort- able. Many of our farmers own their thousands of acres and they can well afford luxurious homes that can stand for gen- erations. Others own their hundreds and these under modern conditions can afford all of the real comforts and most of the luxuries of life in the country as well as and even better than in the city. It is for people of this class especially that this paper has been written. It has been too long the custom that the farmer, as soon as his bank account would permit it, should buy a house and lot in town, uproot his family, so to speak, and move them, as he thinks, to a place where they may enjoy some of the comforts of living. It is notable, too, in this connection that as a citizen of the municipality to which he has gone he is neither welcome nor happy. Generally speaking he is not interested in large city improvements and is unwilling to vote for anything which .will greatly increase his taxes. On the other hand he considers it unnecessary to expend money to develop or beautify the country since he has withdrawn from it as a dwel- ling place. The tenant who occupies the land certainly can- 11 not afford to undertake what the owner of the land is unwil- ling to do, for he must get out of it every thing possible in dol- lars and cents, and so the poor old farm suffers at the hand of each while it continues to support them both. One has but to drive through the country to see the effects of this unhappy custom. What we want is a generation of men who will stick to the farm as a permanent home. We have seen that it is entirely unnecessary to go to the city to secure comfortable living; that it is not only possible but practicable to have in the country home everything that it is possible to provide in the city home and much— how much besides! — and all for the price of a building lot on which to begin the home. In the city the price per foot front for a de- sirable building lot is frequently the equivalent of an acre of ground.' Then the owner must economize in the front yard that he may have space for at least a tiny garden, and the architecture of bis house must reach into the sky in order to provide sufficient room because his ground space is so limit- ed. Perhaps he bought that particular lot because of some fine old trees in front of it, and then a leak develops in the gas main and before he is aware of it his trees are dead. The man who can afford a house and lot in town can afford a number of acres for the laying out of ground for his country home and the price of that city house and lot would more than reproduce it in the country where taxes are low and risk of fire at a minimum. In any event let it be remembered that all the conveniences here enumerated can be supplied for the cost of a desirable building lot in the small city, and for less than the cost of a medium priced automobile. . This country house should not be built as one would build the city house, but after a style which suits its surround- ings. Our country architecture is not yet developed, but something is being done in this direction. The publication "Country Life in America" is doing much towards a country architecture which shall be suited to its surroundings and the laying out of beautiful grounds. This architecture should be simple with fine lines and substantial materials. 12 If one is not able to build as large as he wishes, let him begin, and let the next generation add to it instead of each wasting its energies in the nearest town. Then plant trees — lots of trees, and of a kind which shall grow and grow for centuries. The first comers into this prairie country were anxious to have trees as quickly as pos- sible, and so they planted quick-growing kinds. But quick- growing trees are also short-lived, evidence of which is at hand after every severe storm. For our permanent country homes we want trees which will stand the winds of centuries and remain typical of the noble beauty of country life. We have worked the doctrine of utility to a finish: what we want now is something of the beautiful. There are hopeful srgns of improvement in the many country homes that are being fitted with modern conven- iences and more than all in the fact that almost invariably the students from our agricultural college go back at once to the farm and reconstruct or build at the very first opportun- ity country homes with all of the appointments of the life of a modern country gentleman. Their eyes are upon the things of the country, not of the town. They do not forget their instruction in landscape gardening, and so the setting is made beautiful — beautiful in the glorious things of the free and open country, trees and grass and sheltered nooks where birds may live where chil- dern grow and where men and women thrive. July, 1910. iiiiLsil ':i'< 1 '■|!| ill III liii li! i 1^ iiiiih. lilili