The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-06-26

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fellow to shift for himself at home)who has
to do his own cooking set his own table Ut
he is lucky enough to have One) and worst
of all to wash and wipe his own dishes.
ANY man who has lived in Florida long
enough and has not had the pleasure OF
''batching' tor awhile, can consider himself
lucky. Nine men out eff every ten have had
q siege of it, and many there are who know
of no other way of living here in the land
of Flowers There arc various reasons why
| men batch >" Some who earn small wages
| cannot afford to board, others who could
board are not satisfied with the board they
obtain and they think they can live
better by patching" while other poor men
do it to economize so their wives can 60
away and spend the summer and have a
good time.
There are different ways of patching and
the cost varies from 81 to SO or possibly 81
per week. The 81 a week outfit generally
consists of an oil stove, skillet, coffee pot,
tin plate, tin cup, spoon, knife and fork.
| This is all the outfit necessary to live cheap.
| Occasion ally the oil stove is done away with
and the cooking is done over a fire of pine
knots. The grocery bill of the 81 a week
man consists of a little meal or -four,
small piece of white bacon, a little lard.
baking powder, coffee and little butter,
This varies, occasionally adding few eggs,
piece of ham, or some beans, but the
changes at this boarding house are few. He
! cooks and eats out of the same dishes for
days at time. it never occurring to him
that it would be better to wash them, and
his dishes and cooking utensils, and it
have dirty, greasy look, and it makes you
lose your appetite to stay around and watch
him cook. A box answers for table with
him, and another for a chair. A table
cloth he has no use for, but occasionally an
extra neat 81 a week "batcheIOr" has an
oil cloth over his box. His dining room
never needs sweeping; when the crumbs get
too thick IN one corner he moves his dining
table and kitchen outfit to another corner
OF the room and wnen this gets worse than
the one he just vacated then he moves back
again, and so be keeps moving.
The So a week bachelor lives high. He
has his dining room and kitchen separate.
His dining room has mating on the floor
curtains at the windows, oak table and
chairs nice red table spread, plenty of
nice clean dishes, siIverware and napkins.
His kitchen has large gasoline stove with
oven, tea kettles, tea and coffee pots, skill
lets, kettles, dish pans and everything found
in regular woman's kitchen. He has his
refrigerator with plenty OF milk, ice and
butter, and fresh meat. and chickens are
found there regularly. In the morning he
has his eggs, Oat meal, rice, bread and but
ter, or hot biscuits or gems as he feels that
he wants, steak, nam or possibly a fried
| chicken, and his coffee with cream is never
| forgotten. After breakfast table is cleared,
| table spread shook, dishes all washed in hot
water and wiped nice and dry and put away
| for next meal, sinks, stove and everything
wiped up nice and neat and kitchen swept.
At noon he has his bread and milk, cold
chicken, meat, melon, berries or pies. Some
days he gets hungry for warm dinner, and
then he has his potatoes, beans, squash,
roast beef or chicken pies. At supper he
has his potatoes, eggs, steak. ham or
pork, bread and butter coffee and fruit
OF course a man to batch this way has
to know something about cooking, but
the one have in mind knew but little
about it when he started, but with the aid of
good big cook book, which was referred to
many times during the day he has sue