leopard. This desire is likely to go unfulfilled. These beasts are
easily domesticated and are gentle and affectionate. They appear to
have the best characteristics of both cat and dog. They are no more
expensive than many a thoroughbred dog. Yet we shall not have one.
Not only is the climate of Westchester County, New York, too unlike
that of their native India for them to thrive, but consider the task
of soothing terrified tradesmen and casual visitors. One may explain
that although appearances are against him he is not really a leopard
but just an overgrown cat. They will not believe it. They will not
even hear because they will be a mile down the road.
Other people must be considered even in the country. So pick your dog
and train him up in the way he should go. You may prefer one of the
terrier breeds. They are bright and lively and make good pets but must
be taught not to dig holes in the carefully groomed lawn. It is as
natural for them to delve for underground animals as for a setter or
spaniel to flush birds. Retrievers are usually gentle, well disposed
animals and not only make good pets but are excellent in a family
where hunting is a diversion. Very popular just now in this class are
the spaniels, especially the cockers. They have beauty, an
affectionate disposition, are most intelligent and are excellent watch
dogs. They fit into nearly any household large or small.
With the larger dogs there is, of course, the collie as well as his
ancestor the old-fashioned shepherd. Here we would say a good word for
a much-maligned dog, the police or German shepherd. Only recently
since the Seeing Eye has demonstrated their keen intelligence and
sense of responsibility in guiding their blind owners, have they begun
to come into their own again. Even now there is an impression abroad
in the land that they, like the timber wolf they so much resemble but
are _not_ descended from, are sly treacherous brutes with a particular
delight in taking a piece out of the unwary stranger. It is true that
when first brought to this country they had no little trouble in
adapting themselves to conditions here. In their native Germany they
were what their name implies and as working dogs covered miles daily.
They ate coarse food and slept in the open either on the ground itself
or a small heap of straw. Obviously such a dog cannot be shut up in
cramped quarters and given almost no exercise without his disposition
being somewhat affected. They are highly intelligent animals and for
the country dweller with two or more acres, make affectionate and
satisfactory pets. They have a keen sense of guardianship, are fine
watch dogs and show but little tendency to roam.
The latter is an excellent trait for if you wish to remain on
moderately pleasant terms with your neighbors, train your dog or dogs
to stay home. Worrying the cat of the man who lives just at the bend
in the road to the south, or killing the chickens of the neighbor to
the north, will not aid in establishing friendly relations. Barking at
passing cars is not commendable nor is the tipping over of a
neighbor's garbage can and scattering the contents about. These are
bad habits and should be corrected if your pet is to be any real
comfort to you. Patient and intelligent training will mark the
difference between a friendly well-mannered dog and a spoiled brute
that even your most humane friends yearn to cuff.
When it comes to the matter of other livestock in this venture of
farming-in-the-little, the new owner is either treading unknown or
forgotten ground. Dogs and cats, even canaries and white rats, were
familiar enough in the city. He has read books on their care and
training. He has consulted veterinarians and fanciers but until now
the sources of his daily bottle of milk or his carton of graded eggs
have been matters of indifference. The venture with livestock may
begin with chickens and end with saddle horses, but it is nothing for
the uninitiate to enter into lightly or unadvisedly. Personally, we
prefer to let the farmer down at the end of the lane wrestle with the
recalcitrant hen and temperamental cow. He has summered and wintered
with them for years and knows the best and the worst of them. If there
is a way to make them worth their keep, he knows it. If his cow
generously gives twelve quarts of milk and we can use but two, it is
no concern of ours what becomes of the other ten.
For the country dweller, who feels that life is not complete without
livestock of some sort and follows that by acquiring a barnyard
menagerie, we would recommend that he enter upon his course
cautiously. This is assuming that he knows little or nothing of
farming either by theory or practice. If, on the other hand, he has
been reared on a farm, he understands perfectly how to care for the
various animals and the labor entailed in doing so. He is in no need
of any admonition from us, and who are we to offer it? But for the
average person who is just beginning his experiment in country living,
a few chickens are suggested for the initial attempt. There are two
ways to embark on this. With either, it is well to subscribe to a good
farm journal. Consult that or the farmer down the road as to breed. As
rank outsiders we suggest a well established and hardy kind.
Then, the easiest way for the novice would probably be to buy
full-grown chickens that are just beginning to lay. They are old
enough to know their way about and any dry, well ventilated shelter
that is proof against thieving skunks, weasels and similar wild life,
will be adequate for them along with a chicken run with a high enough
fence to keep them within bounds. For this type of fowl is no
respecter of property. Not only does it take delight in working havoc
with its owner's flower beds and borders but those of his neighbor as
well.
They also eat incessantly. The optimistic friend who has never kept
chickens, but thinks it a marvelous idea, will tell you that scraps
from the table will take care of all that and even save you the
garbage collector's fee. Such a person is still living back in the
1890's when food was cheap and seven course dinners and hearty suppers
were the rule. Today's orange skins and banana peels are no diet even
for a chicken. So, one must buy feed for them. This should be offset
in a measure by the eggs normally laid by well-fed and tended pullets.
Also as time goes on and setting hens hatch chickens, which in turn
become eventually broilers or fresh producers of eggs, according to
results you will decide whether or not you want to continue in the
chicken business.
Another method widely advocated is to buy week-old chicks from a mail
order house or other firm dealing in such stock and bring them up
without aid of a mother hen to gather them under her wings. Here a
brooder is necessary since the chicks are of tender age and must be
kept warm. These brooders are of varying sizes and prices and may be
had from the same mail order houses that are glad to sell the chicks
as well. This is more complicated than the other old-fashioned method
but a little guidance from some one understanding the procedure along
with consistent care on your part will probably bring a majority of
your brood to broiler size.
Taking on a cow to support is a much more serious thing. Not only does
a well-bred, tuberculin-tested animal cost a fair sum to acquire, but
she must be comfortably housed in a clean, comfortable cow barn.
Bulletins from the Department of Agriculture will give the
requirements not only for her shelter but for her proper care. She
needs at least two acres of pasturage and this can't be all stones and
bushes. She must be milked morning and evening without fail and at
regular hours by some one who knows how. She must be groomed. Her
stable must be cleaned regularly. When the yearly calf is born one
must sit up nights with her. All this, if she is to remain in good
condition. In gratitude for it she will give milk, three or four times
as much as a small household can consume. Possibly a market can be
found for this excess or one can turn to butter making and add a pig
to the barnyard family. Even this accommodating scavenger cannot live
by skim milk alone but must have it augmented by corn or prepared
feed. He must also have proper shelter and a run. Thus does one thing
lead to another, once one gets beyond the chicken stage of farming. It
is obviously nothing for the daily commuter to attempt unless he is
prepared to pay for the services of a competent hired man.
Farming even on the smallest scale is a full-time job in itself. The
tired business man will find it a toil or a pleasure. The daily chores
involved are relentless and unending. A business appointment in town
is no excuse for their non-fulfillment. They must be done at a regular
time, if not by you by some one else. Of course, with a family where
there are three or more small children, keeping a cow can be both
practical and economical. With the normal table and cooking uses the
milk given can be consumed without difficulty. Further, the expense of
maintaining would probably fall much below the monthly milk bill under
such circumstances. For this purpose, select one of the Jersey or
Guernsey breed which gives rich milk rather than quantity.
For the family that can afford and enjoy saddle horses, it is pleasant
to have them, but with their advent the country home becomes still
more complicated. There must be a stable with somebody to tend and
groom the horses. They must be exercised too, which means systematic
riding rather than an occasional canter on just the ideal day. Also
with even one horse, if a need for economy arises it is not always
easy to dispense with him. He is flesh and blood and, humanely, you
cannot just sell him to the first buyer who presents himself. You must
be assured that your mount will be well-treated and not abused. We
have known of several instances where a number of excellent saddle
horses were given away by owners, who felt that they could no longer
afford to buy their oats and hay, but wanted to be sure the animals
would be well cared for.
So, before acquiring horses, contemplate the up-keep and make sure you
are prepared to maintain them whether business is good, bad, or
indifferent. For the first year or two a much wiser course is to turn
to the neighborhood riding stable and rent. These have become standard
institutions in many vicinities and they frequently afford not only
excellent mounts but sound teaching for those who know little or
nothing about the finer points of riding.
TIGHTENING FOR WINTER
[Illustration]
_CHAPTER XIV_
TIGHTENING FOR WINTER
The wolf of winter was the arresting phrase originated several years
ago by no less a practitioner of the art of advertising than Bruce
Barton, to drive home the merits of adequate domestic heating. But no
matter how efficient your heating system may be, unless the country
home has been made ready for the cold months, insufficient heat and
excessive fuel bills result.
Against this, there are a number of simple things the home owner may
do himself or have done. Nobody begrudges money spent for fuel that
keeps the house at a comfortable, even temperature. In the days when
six dollars bought a ton of the best anthracite coal and the pea and
buckwheat sizes were sold as waste products, it may have been a
matter of small importance that certain spots in a house leaked heat
and let in cold. Besides, in an era when windows closed tightly with
the first cold blasts of fall and remained so until spring, such
ventilation was probably a life saver. But at the present high prices
for either coal or fuel oil, these points about the house where heat
is lost and winter cold crashes the gate should be taken seriously.
With a new house, of course, everything possible in the nature of
built-in metal weatherstripping and thoroughly insulated exterior
walls were included by the architect when he prepared plans and
specifications. But even he may have ignored one of the most practical
means of conserving warmth. This is a set of storm windows and doors
carefully fitted so they open and shut at will, yet are snug enough so
that little cold penetrates. These are remarkable conservers of heat.
Measured scientifically, the amount that escapes by radiation through
ordinary window glass is amazing. The storm window reduces this to a
minor percentage because the dead-air space between the two
thicknesses of glass acts as an efficient means of insulation.
Storm doors and windows are now made in stock dimensions that fit
practically any frame. Quantity production has made their price so
moderate that the saving on fuel for a single winter can exceed their
initial cost and the labor of fitting and putting them in place. Such
windows and doors should be properly marked, like the screens that
replace them in summer, with numbering tacks so that, each fall, they
may be put in proper place without confusion. The system is simplicity
itself. A duplicate tack bears the same number on the sill of each
window and on the upright of each door. This is a real saver of time,
for so small a variation as half an inch in width or height can make
the difference between doors and windows that really fit and those
that leak air. Such proportions vary even with a new house.
The only requisite for such a complement of double doors and windows
is a proper place to store them during the summer months. Being
largely of glass, if they are not put away carefully, the breakage can
be both annoying and needlessly expensive. So it is well to provide a
special compartment, located in the garage or other convenient place,
where these may be placed when not in use. Similarly, the same section
may be used in the winter for door and window screens as well as
garden furniture.
Except for the new country house or one that has been completely
remodeled or renovated, each succeeding fall brings minor repairs.
These ought to be undertaken during those cool crisp days of fall that
precede freezing weather and penetrating winter winds. They will vary
with age and state of repair but they begin with the cellar and
progress upward to the attic. Unless your house is unusually ailing,
probably not all of these will be necessary but at least there should
be a careful examination and diagnosis. Here is the list.
[Illustration: SNOW HAS DIGNITY, BUT IS THE HOUSE SNUG AND WARM?
_Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho_]
Repoint the foundations, inside and out, with a rich cement mortar to
seal any cracks through which the wind might penetrate. A late October
or early November day when there is a high wind is ideal for this
work. As one goes over the inside of the foundation, the searching
cold blasts will reveal the crevices that need attention. Mark each
one with a wooden splinter as fast as they are found. When all four
walls have been thoroughly inspected, the work of closing these cracks
can be done as a single operation. Except for a solid brick or stone
house, inspect the point at which the sills rest on the foundation
walls. The fillet of mortar may have come loose or cracked in places.
Any such breaks should be repaired.
Before leaving the cellar notice the windows. Does cold air leak
through joints of sash and frame? If so, make them tight with batten
strips or, if very loose, calk them with oakum. The window through
which coal is delivered, of course, cannot be sealed so thoroughly as
it may have to be opened now and then for additional fuel.
Weatherstripping it as well as the hatchway door is advisable.
Some houses built on side-hill sites have at least one cellar wall
more exposed than the rest. Where this condition exists, it is a real
economy to cover the inside of it with insulating material. Either
special plastering or fiber-insulating board can be used, as
individual conditions warrant. At the same time any water pipe that is
close to an outside wall should either be re-located or insulated,
lest it freeze some day when it is abnormally cold or a high wind is
blowing. Freezing cold air blowing through a fine crack in an
exterior wall acts about as does the flame of a welder's torch, only
in the reverse. The flame cuts by melting; the cold air solidifies the
water in a pipe and sometimes does it so thoroughly that a cracked
pipe is the result.
From the cellar one now goes to the attic. Are windows in place here
and weather tight? How about end walls and the under sides of roof? If
not insulated, your house can lose a quantity of heat at these points.
Remember, heat rises and, after a storm, if the snow on the roof of
your house melts quicker than on those of your neighbors, it is a
clear demonstration that you are wasting heat by letting it ooze
through certain minute apertures. Another way to combat this upward
radiation is to pour a loose, featherlike insulating material into the
space between the attic flooring and the plaster of the bedroom
ceilings. As it comes in bags prepared especially for this purpose and
is very light, sometimes it is only necessary to raise a small
proportion of the attic floor boards and the insulating material can
be spread evenly through these openings.
There remains still a major escape for heat, the fireplaces. If each
is equipped, as is customary with all built during the last half
century, with a cast-iron damper that closes the throat when not in
use, make sure it is in working order. Sometimes such dampers get
clogged with soot and fail to close tightly. For older fireplaces the
problem varies. Some can have a throat damper installed; others are of
such size or shape that it is not practical. With the latter, if the
throat is not too large, it is possible to stuff it with tightly
packed newspaper, first crumpling the sheets to make them bulky. The
large fireplace, once the scene of all family cooking, generally has
an opening into the chimney so large that there seems to be but one
practical way to treat it. This is the use of the time-tried fire
board which fits tightly into the opening of mantel and shuts off the
fireplace completely. This causes much lamentation each winter in our
own household, as the picturesque effect of the fine old fireplace
with swinging crane is blotted out by a none too ornamental expanse of
board. But it is so fitted that it can be readily removed any time a
fireplace fire is desired. When not in use such a cavernous avenue for
escaping heat must, of course, be closed. No heating system can
compete with it. Stand beside such a fireplace for a moment and the
cold breeze swirling out from it will convince you.
Nothing is more uncomfortable in winter than cold and drafty floors.
Much of this can easily be corrected by closing the cracks, usually
found in older houses, between flooring and walls at the baseboards.
Generally quarter-round molding, carefully fitted and securely nailed
is sufficient but occasionally wide, uneven cracks have to be closed
with oakum, putty, or crack filler before the molding is put in place.
Again, if the cellar has no plaster ceiling, a drafty floor can be
remedied by lining the under side of the flooring with felt paper or
like material.
Lastly, inspect the heating plant. Has it been cleaned and put in
order since last season? If not, it should be done without fail, for
no soot-clogged furnace or encrusted boiler can work properly. You are
simply wasting fuel and effort if you neglect them.
Out of doors, there are several minor things that can make or mar a
winter in the country. Be sure the faucets used for the garden hose
are disconnected and drained. There is probably a drain valve in the
cellar for this. If your water supply is a shallow well, notice the
location of the supply pipe. If it extends to within four or five feet
of the top, some sort of covering must be placed over the latter to
prevent cold winter winds searching it out. A cover of wall board with
a small opening for ventilation is easily fitted to it and will avert
later trouble.
It is far from amusing to awake some zero morning and find the house
without water because the well pipe has frozen. It can be thawed with
a blow pipe but that means calling a plumber or a handy man who
happens to have a tool of this sort. One such experience will keep you
from forgetting or neglecting to provide a well cover. Similarly, if
you are in doubt whether the pipes from water source to house are
below the frost line, a carpet of leaves about two inches thick on top
of the ground along the course of the water pipe, will obviate any
such unhappy event. Thawing a frozen pipe plainly visible in the well
is child's play compared to the task of arguing with any underground.
Once, such pipes had to wait for nature. Today, they can be thawed
very skillfully with special electrical equipment, but not cheaply.
The standard charge ranges from $20 up, mostly the latter.
The family living in the country will also find that cold weather puts
a great strain on the automobile. A car that has worked perfectly all
summer simply refuses to start, and the storage battery that operates
the self-starter is exhausted and powerless. The sensible course is to
have the car put in condition for winter before the first cold snap
congeals the crank-case oil. Replace the latter with one of lighter
grade; have the radiator filled with a good anti-freeze in sufficient
quantity so that you will be safe on the coldest days against the
hazard of a frozen radiator; have the ignition system thoroughly
overhauled and new spark points put in the distributor. Most important
of all, get a new storage battery if the one you have is more than a
few months old.
This course of action saves annoyance, is better for the automobile,
and less expensive than calling for garage help some abnormally cold
morning when many others are also in trouble and you must wait your
turn. Don't take just anybody's advice when changing to lighter and
more freely flowing motor oil. Go to the service station handling the
make of car you drive and have it done there. They will know which is
the right grade. We once almost ruined a car by following a layman's
advice. With our own hands we refilled the crank case with oil that
was rated as S.A.E. 10 and was perfect for the light car of our
well-intentioned adviser. Unhappily the lightest suitable for our make
and model was S.A.E. 20, practically twice as heavy. Fortunately we
burned no bearings before our error was discovered and so learned a
valuable lesson more cheaply than we deserved.
Keeping the radiator protected against freezing is not complicated.
Nearly any filling station has the necessary hydrometer. To be sure
the anti-freeze liquid has not evaporated unduly, have the radiator
contents tested about once in two weeks, particularly after several
days of abnormally warm weather. For real safety, it is wise to have
any automobile radiator filled with enough of the compound so that its
freezing point is fully ten degrees colder than the lowest temperature
expected. There are two reasons for this margin. It allows for a
slight percentage of evaporation and for a certain peculiarity of
country highways. There are sometimes points on the road where, for
some reason, the actual temperature is a full five degrees colder than
elsewhere. We have seen many cars steaming and boiling in such places.
We have once or twice been in the same unhappy situation and know that
thawing a radiator so frozen is slow work, requiring blankets and
plenty of patience.
A word as to the clothing especially designed for the cold of the
country. Wool-lined mittens may seem to hark back to sleighbells and
buffalo robes, but driving a spirited span hitched to a cutter was a
summer occupation compared to steering an unheated automobile ten
miles on a below zero morning with ordinary gloves. Mittens are not
graceful but in them the fingers are not confined and therefore do not
chill as quickly.