If possible, when packing a box with mineral wool, do the work out of doors, wearing a pair of gloves, as particles from it fly into the air and are extremely irritating to the throat and skin. Twenty-five pounds of mineral wool will pack a nine-quart pail in a box fifteen by fifteen inches and eleven inches high. Five pounds of wool will pack the same box for using a nine-quart pail. If a smaller pail is used, more wool or mineral wool will be required.
Sawdust is one of the easiest materials to handle. It packs easily and does not require a cloth covering, heavy paper answering the purpose perfectly. Proceed with the packing as for wool or mineral wool and such other materials, omitting the pasteboard top. In place of this and the cloth covering use a paper lining.
“Space adjuster” before it is covered; and small pad to fill the space below the pail.
The “space adjuster” is a padded cylinder which slips into a cooker pocket and makes a receiver for a smaller cooker-pail than that for which the cooker was packed. It can be made by putting together two pasteboard cylinders of equal length, one of which will fit rather loosely outside of the small pail, and the other of which will slip easily into the cooker pocket and line it from top to bottom. When the small cylinder is stood inside of the larger one the space between the two should be firmly packed, preferably with a soft material such as cotton or wool. To keep the filling in place while packing it the cylinder may be wound with twine, as shown in the accompanying [illustration]. It may then be covered with a fitted muslin cover. Sew two tabs on this cover, with which to lift the space adjuster out. When slipped into the cooker pocket, and the small pail placed in the new pocket thus formed, there will be found to be a space below the pail, which may be filled by a round cushion made for the purpose.
Section view of “space adjuster” showing the pail and cushion in place.
Ready-made hay-boxes and fireless cookers are to be found on the market, some of which have advantages over the home-made article along with some disadvantages. First of the disadvantages is, perhaps, the cost, the expense being considerably greater than for the home-made box. Also the choice in the matter of shapes and material for the utensils cannot be as great as in home-made boxes, and some of the cookers are unpractical in minor details. On the other hand, the commercial cookers are ready for use, some of them being excellently adapted to their purpose, and to many people this would offset the cost. Those that are made of metal, on the plan of refrigerators, perhaps not boxes at all, would appeal to certain housekeepers as likely to be more cleanly than upholstered boxes. But, as food is always in tightly-covered vessels, and as experience has shown that ordinary care will prevent anything from being spilled, a hay-box having been kept sweet and clean without refilling for over a year, the danger of uncleanliness is not so great as would at first appear. Doubtless where servants are entrusted with the use of the cooker there would usually be a greater necessity for guarding against untidiness.
In selecting a ready-made cooker certain points should be considered. See that the parts fit closely together, are simple and strong in construction; that there are no seams or pockets in the kettles which would be difficult, if not impossible, to get clean; that the kettles are a suitable size, namely, not too large, if they are to cook food for a small family, and not too small to ensure sufficient heat for proper cooking; and that there is no air space over the cover that will not be filled when the cooker is closed. In the case of the metal cookers a round cover with a single hinge is a point of weakness, for the cover is not sufficiently supported to endure the strain of constant use. Many of the cookers also use tin very considerably, which is objectionable. Doubtless there will be constant improvements in these inventions, as there is a growing demand for them and an increasing intelligence as to their use.