The creative dampers are doors or slides that come below the fire box. When open, they admit the entrance of air, increase the draught, and facilitate combustion.
The oven damper is a flat plate which closes the opening into the chimney flue, to decrease the drawing of the draught. When the oven damper is closed, the heat from the fire remains in the stove and passes around the oven.
Checks are doors or slides higher than the fire-box, which, when open, allow the cold air to pass over the fire, retarding combustion.
A stove is also provided with means for disposing of the ashes, soot, and the gases formed. All parts of the stove are so arranged that they may be kept clean.
(See Twenty Lessons in the Care of the Home. [Lesson I])
PRELIMINARY PLAN
There should be provided for this lesson (from the homes of the pupils or the school garden), some fruit or vegetable in season that can be cooked by dry heat. Each pupil may be able to bring an apple or a potato. The teacher should be sure to have an oven that can be well heated for baking and to have the fire well started before the lesson begins, so that the oven will be ready for use.
Lessons in geography and nature study should be correlated with the cooking lesson, to give the pupils an opportunity to study the source of foods and the reasons for cooking them.
One of the pupils should write the recipes on the black-board before the lesson hour.