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.