III DEALING WITH STORES, ETC.

Purification of Water—Storage of Water—Disposal of Refuse and Waste—Keeping Food Stores—A Curing House—An Ice House, etc.

The importance of having a supply of water can hardly be over-estimated. A township depends upon it, and a log-hut or cabin must be pitched as near to a water supply as is possible, while no journey of any length can be undertaken unless water is carried or obtained at fairly frequent intervals, and this whether the climate is hot or cold. Some ready means of purifying water that is abundant yet of doubtful quality is likewise essential, also some means of catching the rainfall as it occurs. Then we must consider the storage of water in camps and locations not intended to be permanent ones. On all these points it is desirable to be ready with knowledge and resourcefulness.

Experienced travellers like the late Sir Francis Galton, W. B. Lord and Thos. Baines all speak of ways of filtering water and of making it fit for human consumption, writing at a time when the portable filter was almost unknown. Still if a portable filter saves much trouble it is also heavy to carry about, and rougher and readier forms must sometimes be resorted to. An excellent filter for camp use is described by the two writers last named. They say—

Take a wooden box or barrel, long and deep. Bore a number of holes in the bottom and then fasten inside it a bag made with a folded piece of blanket. At the bottom place a layer of grass, moss or twigs, then a layer of sand, then fresh layer of moss, and so on until the barrel is half-filled. Make a cover which will fit well inside the barrel like a second bottom; press it down and weight it to keep it from rising. Half-sink this barrel in a pond or stream, and the water which will gradually filter up to the upper compartment can then be baled out clean and clear. If it needs purifying still further after this clearing, boil it with a pinch of alum, and then expose it again to the air. Alum has a chemical effect on organic matter, and a small handful of it will purify a whole hogshead of water.

This arrangement of cask or barrel can be carried out by fitting a smaller cask inside a larger one, the smaller being perforated with holes, and the space between it and the larger one filled with stones and sand, then the double cask can be sunk in the pond. These rough and ready filters are very useful where a collection of water is found in hollow places, the drainage from streams and after a rainfall, the quality of which may be doubtful or too muddy for drinking purposes. If water is merely thick, not putrid, it can be filtered through a cloth. But where it is putrid, and is yet the only water available, it should be first boiled, then mixed up with crushed charcoal and allowed to settle again exposed to sun and air. Alum is a purifier and charcoal is a disinfectant. There is no other way of using salt water than by distilling it.

How to store water, in places where it is difficult to keep any supply, is another matter. Every drop of rain water is of value, and should be caught, as far as possible by means of piping from the roofs of sheds, ending in barrels, but this source of supply can be increased by suspending blankets or canvas sails by the four corners between trees, weighting them with stones in the middle to make the water run towards the centre, and placing underneath this a barrel or bucket. Dew water brushed off leaves and grass into basins in the early morning will yield a great deal more than might be imagined, and in dry climates there is often a heavy fall of dew before sunrise.

A precaution which old travellers take to prevent thirst is to keep the outer clothing damp and a wet cloth folded round the throat. Where water is not fit for drinking it still can be used to moisten clothing, and this little precaution prevents evaporation from the skin.

As an indication where water may be found in strange districts, Galton advises watching the flight of birds. Converging flights of birds are usually safe guides, especially towards evening. Dogs also have an instinct for discovering water, but cattle are less trustworthy, as their tracks may often lead from rather than towards water. When digging for water, in default of spades, a hole can be made with a sharp-pointed stick, holding it upright and stirring it round, scraping out the loosened earth with the hands. Where soil or sand is found moist lower down, water will generally collect when a hollow is made for it. The native bushmen keep their holes open by a rough contrivance of twigs tied together and converging to a point.

When carrying water in pails from a spring or well, place a thick wreath of grass or leaves round the edge of the pail to prevent spilling. Leaves floating on the top will also help to keep the water in. Where water has to be carried for a journey, over the shoulder or from a saddle, nothing is better than leather bags, or skin bags answer the purpose well. Stone jars are heavy and unsatisfactory.

The water supply for a district of isolated homesteads or camps is sometimes a difficult matter to arrange where there is no spring or river near enough. Some form of co-operation in the matter of well-sinking is very desirable, and the wells should be concreted and protected in the common interest. Well boring is beyond our scope and cannot be gone into here, as it requires some engineering knowledge and skill, but it may doubtless come into the day’s work at some time or other. Making a cistern for rain water is, however, another matter, one for the individual camper or hut-dweller to attend to, and therefore we may here give Dr. George Vivian Poore’s clever adaptation of the old Venetian system, as cited by the editor of an admirable work on Small Estate Management, by A. C. Freeman, a useful book published by Rebman & Co., 129, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C., which will give invaluable help to those laying out homesteads.

“His cistern, which received rain from the roof of a four-roomed bungalow cottage (giving about 1,100 feet square of surface), was circular, partly sunk in the ground, and built of concrete. The dimensions were: internal diameter 7 feet, depth 10 feet. It was divided into two compartments by a cement diaphragm, perforated at the bottom by agricultural drain-pipes. Both sections contained a filter bed, consisting of 1 foot of sand, 1 foot of fine gravel, and a top layer of coarse gravel, also one foot thick. The water on draining off the roofs into the gutters passed through a double strainer and then entered at the top of the first section of the cistern, being filtered downwards, and then filtered upwards as it rose in the second half, which was provided with a pump having a copper suction pipe (lead and ironing being of course inadvisable where soft, solvent rain water is concerned). A good cover protected the top. The storage capacity of this cistern was 1,600 gallons, or forty gallons a day for a drought of six weeks. Although the cottage was near a small town the water proved of excellent quality, pure, chemically and bacteriologically, and used for all purposes, and appreciated by a family in spite of its having a slightly yellow caste and a faint smell. An undoubted improvement would be to use as a substitute for the strainer an automatic tilting separator, which divests the first few gallons (the washing shower) from the reservoir. Such water is perfectly fitted for all domestic purposes, but the supply from an ordinary cottage roof may not be adequate for a household. In such a case a surface well may be sunk to provide water for washing, bathing, live stock watering, etc. Such wells should be sunk about 10 to 12 feet deep, the upper 8 or 10 feet being lined with impervious material (concrete with smooth cement surface) covered over. In this way the water can only rise from the bottom, and if the land is being well cultivated the ground water is sure to be pure. Dr. Poore had a shallow well, only 5 feet 6 inches deep, in his highly cultivated garden, the sides lined with concrete pipes protected by 4 inches of concrete right to the bottom. This well generally contained 3 feet 6 inches of water (about ninety gallons), yet it was chemically and bacteriologically pure and quite potable.”

It may be useful to those who are making a dwelling within a township if we quote further the author’s words about water carried from main pipes. He says—

“Where water is obtained through mains it is well to make some provision against the effects of frost. In Canada the general practice is to carry the supply pipe into the house below the frost level, into a sunken earthenware box, open at the bottom and resting on a drainage pit filled with sand or breeze. The tap proper is placed within this box, and rising from this to the sink level are two pipes, one within the other, the outer one being a tap spindle, the inner the actual water pipe. At the base of this pipe is a vent-hole. When the tap spindle is turned on the water rises and flows out; when turned off the vent-hole is opened and at once drains the standpipe, so that freezing is impossible. A somewhat easier method is to bring the pipe through a small closed copper vessel placed just at the entrance of the pipe into the house. When there is any sign of hard frost it is merely necessary to place a small flamed lamp beneath the copper vessel to prevent any possibility of freezing. It is inexpensive, saves much inconvenience, and also loss arising from damage done by bursts.”

Having made what suggestions we can to help the colonist in the matter of securing and storing a water supply, we must now consider that other important item, the disposal of waste water and other refuse. It is amazing what an amount of refuse matter and waste water accumulates from day to day in a camp or quite small settlement. The ground is the one safe and sure receptacle for all waste matter, even kitchen waste where there are no fowls or pigs to consume the scraps. But all vegetable refuse and bones should be burned before returning it to the soil, hence a scrap heap can be made and set fire to once a week, the whole of it when raked out being dug into the soil again. Ashes from fires should be put into a box and kept for use in the earth closet, the waste matter from the latter being dug into a field or garden, not into a pit, and it should not be too far below the surface. Dry soil does quite as well as ashes for sprinkling into the closet pail, and this dug into the earth again at short intervals is the most sanitary and easy way of disposing of this waste. If the precaution of using plenty of dry earth is used no flies will gather about the organic matter, nor will any smells be noticeable.

Waste water from baths and from kitchen washing-up is valuable wherever bush fruit is grown, and can always be poured round trees, or round young plants in a garden plot. The main point in disposing of all refuse is to restore as much as possible to the land. Where this is done carefully and with discrimination the ground benefits and nothing offensive is left to annoy by sight or smell. The secret of successful French and Dutch gardening is this careful digging in of all refuse matter, vegetable and other, and not in the applying of expensive guanos and manures. The authority quoted above has a good deal to say on this matter of returning refuse matter to the soil. To quote him again—

“The splendid productive soils of the Dutch, French and Italian gardens are the result of many years of careful cultivation, a system whereby the soil is continually being enriched with what we are pleased to call ‘Waste’ material. Therefore for both hygienic and practical gardening reasons, the earth closet system is to be advocated. While on the question of soil enrichment we would point out that those who cultivate small holdings, allotments and gardens should be taught to return as much to the soil as possible. All greenstuff, trimmings, leaves and so on, should either be dug in or placed to ripen in a compost pit and used as fertilizer when digging over the land. Sticks and wood should be burned and the ashes added to the pit because rotting wood in the soil attracts insects and so must be avoided. Such enrichment is valuable in any situation, but will be found to work marvels in lightening heavy clays and in bringing fertility to poor, porous soils. In our experience the most productive gardens have been those with ‘made soils’ which have been enriched for generations. Dr. Poore’s experimental garden, dressed regularly with dry closet-soil, brought in over £56 per acre, the crops being ordinary orchard and bush fruit, asparagus, potatoes, green stuff and flower all grown in the open, no glass being used and very little labour available.”

And now we must pass on to the keeping of stores—of stores of vegetables and dry goods and things in constant requisition for the kitchen.

It is easy to make a series of store closets with deep boxes that are lined with zinc, turning the tops to face outwards, fitting in shelves if required, and then making a door to fit. These boxes can be piled one over the other, all facing the same way, and a curtain can cover them all if they are in any way unsightly. Dry goods and groceries generally require keeping in a temperate place, therefore these and linen and clothing can fill this series of damp-proof boxes. But when it is a question of storing fresh vegetables and fruit, potatoes, dried meat, dairy stuff, liquors and so on, an outside storehouse is imperative, also in hot weather all food must go into some cool place to keep it from insects and the atmosphere.

It is a comparatively easy matter to dig out a pit some feet away from any tent or building, to dig it out of the earth in a shaded and protected spot, and then to brick the sides and build them up to a sufficient height above so as to make the whole depth of the sunk pit some eight or ten feet. Roof over the top of the pit with corrugated iron, and if there is heat or frost to fear make a thatch over this. Make one or two steps down into the pit and arrange also some shelves as seems convenient. If such a storeroom rises but a little way above ground and is protected at the top, it will be found to be of even temperature all the year round, admitting neither frost nor heat. It should be ventilated by perforating holes round the roof, but need not have light admitted except by the door. Failing the possibility of digging out and building such a storeroom, remember that pits in the ground lined with a collection of leaves or dry twigs and well covered over with earth and more branches, make excellent keeping places for stores of roots and fruit. There is no better preservative than Mother Earth.

A good deal of meat, especially pork and beef, will have to be salted and dried for use at different times, and while salting and pickling are comparatively easy processes, needing only watching and frequent rubbing and turning, the later processes of curing and drying by smoke are more difficult, and for this purpose it is well to build a curing house.

A smoke-curing house for hams and bacon may be made with two large-sized packing cases. Remove the top and bottom of one of the cases. From the other case remove one board at the top, the middle board; also cut a fairly large square hole on one side, large enough for any one to put head and shoulders through. With the boards that are cut away form a door by nailing batten on the inside or outside, and fasten to the box by means of hinges at bottom and catches at the top. If no hinges are at hand use stout pieces of leather, even the uppers of old boots will do. The catches are merely small, flat wedges of wood about the length of the middle finger, and as broad as two fingers. Nail or screw them in the middle on the box just above the flap door. By turning to left or right they will fasten the door firmly. Inside the top box fasten a series of rods, say six inches apart and six inches below the top. Over the long slit formed by removing one board as directed form a slanting roof with two boards kept in position by fastenings at each end. Nail pieces of netting from the edges of the slanting roof to the box. You thus provide ventilation and prevent insects from creeping in. Pierce the bottom of this case with a number of holes. Now choose for the site of the curing house sloping ground, dig a trench 18 inches deep and 6 or 7 feet long. Cover over the trench with flattened stones or bricks well packed together with earth. Over the top opening of this trench place the first case that had the top and bottom knocked out, and on this fix the second case. Suspend the hams and bacon inside the top case and then fasten the door tightly. At the lower end of the trench light a fire with wood refuse and sawdust, but avoid using pine or any resinous wood. The fire must be kept smouldering and the smoke will find its way up the trench, through the lower box into the curing chamber above, escaping very gradually by the ventilation outlets. Peats are best of all for keeping in a smoke fire. The smoking should be kept up for from three to five days, according to the amount of meat inside the curing chamber.

Before placing the meat in this chamber it should be wiped dry after curing it with rubbings of dry salt, or by a mixture of saltpetre, black pepper, sugar and common salt. This may have been rubbed in for a week or ten days before the smoke cure was begun. If hams are intended for long keeping sew them up in cloths after curing with salt and before smoking them. Pieces of beef lightly salted and dried by smoke can be kept almost indefinitely, but they should be soaked and scraped before using for food.

Biltong, or Jerked Beef as it is called in the United States, is a handy way of keeping meat for a length of time and is easily prepared. It is made by cutting the raw beef into slices, sousing the slices in sea water, then drying them hard in the sun. It can be kept threaded on spikes of wood, and when required the slices are taken off, soaked and washed, and laid in a frying-pan, with a little oil or other fat, and covered with plate, cooking over the fire for about an hour. A spoonful of vinegar put in the pan would tender the meat and improve the flavour.

The converse to a smoke house would be an ice house, but wherever there is any dairying done this little place will prove a great boon, and it can be provided all the year round in most Colonies by taking a little forethought. In many places ice can be carried from lakes and ponds in the winter and stored for use in summer, and failing ice a fall of snow may be utilized, for snow that is packed into blocks and sluiced over with water will soon harden into ice. For storing it dig a deep hole, 4 to 8 feet deep, and build into this a house with walls of double thickness; the outer one may be of logs, the inner one of rough boards. Pack the space between the boards with sawdust, shavings or tan bark. The flooring should be of rafters placed close together about a foot above the ground. See that this open space is well drained. This can be done by digging a sloping trench a foot or two at the bottom and filling up with loose stones. The door of the house should also be double and packed with sawdust. The roof, which should come well above the hole, should slope and be composed of rafters well boarded over and covered with thick thatch of straw or fern. The thatch should project well beyond the walls but leave a ventilating space all round. Ice in blocks covered with sawdust can be kept in a quantity in this house, or blocks of ice at the bottom will make a cool storeroom of it for milk and butter in the summertime. Its main object, however, is to keep a store of ice for the dairy itself.