Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/731

 KITCHENS OF COUNTRY INNS. 707 1352 1353 article of clothes-posts, which, when of wood, are cumbersome, and require sockets built into the ground, in which to fix them, a considerable saving is eftected by having them of iron, such as fig. 1353, which costs 8s. 6d-, and is seven feet six inches high. These posts require no sockets ; but, when wanted for use, may be stuck into the common ground, and removed at pleasure. We consider it unnecessary to say more on the sulyject of the fittings-up, fixtures, and furniture of inns and public houses ; having already observed that they are essentially the same as those of cottages and villas. All large inns ought to have turret clocks, similar to those recommended for farms ; and, whether they be built fireproof or not, there ought always to be a nightly watch ; but as this also is pi'actised in first-rate villas, it confirms the position with which we set out, that villas and mansions are the models for inns. 1-178. The Furniture of the Bar consists chiefly of two or three chairs, with a common round table, a work-table, and a bureau, or writing-desk. There is also generally a clock. 1479. For the Signs of Inns we would recommend, as substitutes for the common daubs now generally stuck up, excellent oil paintings by superior artists, protected from the weather by projecting cornices ; handsome statues of public characters placed on pedestals, or over the entrance porch or portico ; or medallions of celebrated men afiixed to obelisks. As the public taste in works of art improves, the present signs will go out of repute, and a better class will be substituted for them. SuBSF.CT. 4. Of the FiuishiJiff, Fittitigs-vp, Fixtures, and Furniture of the Kitchen and Sctdlery of Inns and Public Houses. 1480. The Kitchen. In order to prepare ourselves for treating of the fittings-up and fixtures of kitchens, we have carefully reperused what has been written on the subject by Franklin, Rumford, Sylvester, and other modern authors of less note ; and we have also visited the kitchens of most of the principal club-houses, inns of court, and public inns, in London, besides those of several private houses. In 1811 and in 1826 we exa- mined what had been done at Derby by the Messrs. Strutt ; and at diflferent times we have had an opportunity of seeing the kitchens in various parts of the Continent ; and in 1829, in particular, those of some of the public establishments at Munich, erected under the superintendence of Count Rumford : we have further had an account sent us of the success of the attempts lately made in Edinburgh to boil and stew by gas, described § 1445 ; and have seen the very recent invention by Robert Hicks, Esq., of London, of a method of roasting by gas. To fit us for speaking on ovens, we have examined many of those of the principal bakers and confectioners in London ; the new oven of the Bread Company at Pimlico ; the oven and the kneading-machinery at Oxgate Farm ; and have seen bread baked by steam alone, in the working-model of ]Mr. Hicks. The general impression made on us by all that we have read, heard, and seen, is, that very little improvement has taken place in the fitting up of kitchens, and in the construction of ovens, since the time of Coimt Rumford ; or, perhaps, we should rather say, that a very slight approximation in practice has been made to the improvements which he pointed out, and illustrated by experiments. The inventions of IMr. Hicks, indeed, are exceptions, and may be considered as some of tlie most beautiful and extraordinary applications of chemical and mechanical science to the purposes of domestic economy, which have been made in this or in any other country. Two causes appear to us to have retarded the improvement of kitchens : the first is, the ignorance of cooks as to the science of the generation of heat, and the fundamental principles of cookery ; and the