Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-04-05
a NEAT Pantry.


How tho Housekeerer Can Secure Ik It
small Expense
Every good housekeeper desires to
have neat pantry. but she does not
always realize her desires In spite OK
every care. disorder will get the better
of things unless there is a systematic
arrangement of the contents OF the
pantry If there Is not 3 regular
kitchen store closet, there should be at
least a kitchen pantry devoted solely
to groceries, ana the contents of the
pot closet should not encroach upon II
1t is always better to have special
closet for keeping the kitchen tins and
other utensils needed in cookery. Cook
ed food should always be kept on
shelves by itself. 1t is a great mistake
to mix up matters by devoting a shelf
in the grocery closet for cooked food
With three different compartments
one for kitchen utensils, one for gro
ceries and one for cooked food-one can
keep things in order with a little care
Having laid out the pantries of the
kitchen. the first matter is to cover the
shelves with paper. Practical house
keepers find that they can buy the
white paper by the quire of the size
and quality OF that on which news
papers are StL u L4OES ECdSOA0OAC
price than the more elaborate paper
which comes especially tor shelving
A paper of fair quality should not cost
over fifteen cents quire if purchased
of large dealer. sheet of paper
simply folded so that it completely
covers the shelf is to be preferred to
any paper with an deliberately seal
Hoped edge with which some people
like to ornament their pantry shelves.
Like the elaborate edges of crocheted
lace with which some German house
wives delight to decorate their kitchen
shelves. these sca1loped papers offer a
convenient resting-place for flies, and
are certainly doubtful as an ornament
Before laying the paper on the shelves
spread little powdered borax over the
shelves as preventive of cockroaches.
croton bugs and other vermin, which
sometimes make the space between the
paper and the shelf retreat As boraX
is perfectly safe and wholesome ar
ticle which acts as cleanser of the
shelf, there is no objection to having9s
sprinkled plentifully all over the
shelves 1t should, however, be under
the paper, so that it will not cling to
the dishes or get in the food. When
the papers are changed it is not neces-
sary to renew the borax, which may be
put on fresh once in six months, when
the pantry shelves are thoroughly
cleaned and scrubbed. The papers
should be renewed every week or two,
or every month, according to their
location and the use to which
they are put In the pot closet, the
lower shelf, which holds the heavy iron
pots, should be covered with white
enamelled oilcloth. as the paper cover
ing to this shelf is liable ta be torn and
is unsuita BILE to the purpose. Some
housekeepers use a heavy brown paper,
but the enamelled oilcloth is much to
be preferred, as it can be wiped off and
easily kept clean. The plain white oil
cloth is to be preferred to the marble
pattern, as it wears better and, for
that matter, looks better In the
grocery closet there should be rows of
boxes, which come at such a low price
that they are within the reach of every
one. Their contents should be dis
tinctly labeled on them at the side-not
on top-so that the housekeeper may
see at a glance where the article is
which she wishes
The careless habit which some house
keepers have of storing away the gre
Gerry packages in the brown paper in
which they come is certainly to be CON
demned They should be emptied into
their proper box as soon as they come
into the house, not only for the sake
of order, but to keep them in good con-
oition. Sugar and some other articles
are better kept in tin boxes. Cake and
bread are two articles of cooked food
which a-e very often kept with the
cooked food, and there is no objection
to doing this, provided there are stone
jars or tin boxes to keep them in. Both
these articles are likely to mould if
kept in the cellar. A great many peo-
pie prefer the old-fashioned stone jar
for this purpose, always wrapping the
cake or bread in linen cloths--N. V
Tribune.