Lock Shelves.
Fig 12. Lock Shelves.
In a cellar store-room it is often convenient to have a portion of the shelves locked, for the better protection of preserves, provisions, and unbroken packages of various grocery supplies. For this purpose slat doors, as shown in Fig. 12, can be used, The slats are from ½ to ⅞ of an inch thick and 2 inches wide, and are fastened to the battens with clinch-nails or screws driven from the inside. If much locked store-room is needed, it will be better to have several slat doors instead of one large one. From 4 to 5 feet is a convenient length. Fasten with a padlock and hasp, as shown.
A Vegetable-bin.
For the corner of the cellar, and where it is convenient to the staircase, a very useful vegetable-bin can be made from a few boards and slats, so that the finished result will appear as shown in Fig. 13. The bin can be made any length and width, but for the home of average size it need not be more than 6 feet long and 18 inches wide, with each compartment from 16 to 20 inches wide.
The front, back, and ends are 1a inches high, and two of the partitions are the same height; but the partitions for the potato and turnip compartments extend up 18 inches above the top of the bin, to enable each one to hold more vegetables than the low compartments will contain.
The bin rests on two battens nailed to the brick or stone foundation walls of the cellar two feet above the floor, and at the exposed corner a foot or leg 24 inches long supports it.
The bottom of the bin is made of long slats nailed an inch apart, so that the dirt from the vegetables will fall through to the floor, from which it can be swept up more easily than it can be removed from the boxes or compartments.
The ventilation, due to the slat bottom, prevents the vegetables from decaying as quickly as they would in a box with a tight bottom. If you will notice potato, onion, or apple barrels in transit, you will always find cuts made in the barrels, so the air can circulate freely around the vegetables, thereby insuring their keeping qualities; and if a farmer or shipper neglects to slit his barrels, you may be sure the commission merchant or consignee will do it directly the barrels reach him.
Across the tops of the high partitions, and propped up at the exposed end of the bin, a shelf or ledge, 10 inches wide, will accommodate cabbage, lettuce, bunches of carrots, parsnips, or various other vegetables that may be purchased as stores for a few days.
Fig 13. A Vegetable-bin.
In the above illustration only five compartments are shown in the main part of the bin, but a bin of almost any length can be constructed, depending upon the space at hand and the requirements of the family.
We take oceasion to repeat what we have said in a previous number—namely, that the various dimensions here given may usually be modified. at will, so long as the general plan, as shown by the illustrations and descriptions, is followed.
