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Category Archives: Historic Reflections

18 Medicine Cabinet Essentials: A 1935 Slant

06 Nov

Back in 1935, recommendations for essential items in the home medicine cabinet was, not surprisingly, pretty simple. Though the names of items have changed — as has the death grip that brands now have on the public — with a few additions what might be in your medicine cabinet now is really not so much different than before World War II.

There were 13 must-have home medicine cabinet essentials recommended in a home economics textbook from 1935. I added five to allow for advances in medicine for a total of 18 items that every home medicine cabinet should try to have in stock. Note that this list does NOT include herbal- or plant-based medicines or treatments; those are for a future post but many can be substituted for items listed below.

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1935 MEDICINE CABINET RECOMMENDATIONS

(Source: ‘Home Living,” by Justin and Rust. 1935)

Alcohol (rubbing): Alcohol was recommended as an antiseptic for wounds and cuts before applying healing creams or lotions. It can also be used as a soothing muscle rub.

Baking soda: Baking soda can be used for anything from an antacid to a fire extinguisher. For the home medicine cabinet, baking soda is indeed great to use as an antacid if you have an acidic stomach, heartburn, gas, or other stomach issues. It’s also great for brushing your teeth, as a natural deodorant, and as a skin softener when dissolved in a warm bath. Baking soda has also been known to treat colds and flu, treat bladder infections, and as a soothing gargle for sore throats.

Boric acid solution: Boric acid solution has mild antifungal and antibacterial properties and as such is used as an antiseptic for abrasions and mild cuts. Boric acid solution can be used in the eyes (a common treatment for pink eye), ears, and skin, and is frequently used for foot fungus issues like athletes foot. It can be purchased in different solution strengths and also in powder form, so consult your pharmacist to be sure you’re buying the correct solution for your desired treatment.

Cascara bark (Rhamnus purshiana): This was a common laxative on its own back in the day, and is still used as a common ingredient in brand-name laxatives and other medications. Fresh bark must be aged for at least a year to be used safely, or baked thoroughly in an oven. But it is safer to use over-the-counter laxatives that contain cascara bark until you learn how to harvest, process, and use your own.

Baking soda, Epsom salt, and salt are as beneficial to the modern medicine cabinet as they were in the 1930s.

Epsom salt: Epsom salt was used as a common bath soak to enhance relaxation, and studies show that soaking in an Epsom salt bath does indeed elevate our levels of magnesium, which helps to increase levels of serotonin in our bodies and help us relax. Epsom salt is also a mild anti-inflammatory, which relieves cramps and other pains. It can also draw out splinters when used as a soak as well.

Iodine (liquid): Iodine is a disinfectant and sterilizer, and is used as a wound cleaner to prevent infection. it can destroy both viruses and bacteria and is immune to the resistance issues present in antibiotics.

Lysol: Lysol was recommended as an astringent and disinfectant and is still used for this purpose today.

Mineral oil: This used to provide the most common relief for constipation as a laxative. However, it has also been used to treat scalp conditions like dandruff, and skin conditions like psoriasis.

Salt: It was used much more frequently for health and medicine, and with good reason. Salt water is a great gargle to help heal sore throats and painful gums. Salt can also help soothe insect stings when applied as a paste, and help to relieve poison ivy or oak when used as a saltwater soak.

Unguentine, a recommended antiseptic ointment in 1935, is still available as a pain and itch reliever.

Unguentine: Unguentine was one of the few branded products available over-the-counter in 1935. It’s an antiseptic ointment and topical pain and itch reliever that is still available today for use on minor burns, cuts, and scrapes.

Vaseline: A petroleum product, Vaseline traditionally was used as a skin protectant during harsh weather, and even killed lice on the scalp when applied in a thick layer, which suffocated the insects. It has also been used as a moisturizer.

Vaseline, carbolated: Carbolated Vaseline was a drawing salve (sometimes called black salve), used to draw out infections and help heal wounds, or draw out small invaders like splinters or bee stingers. It is available today as Watkins Petro-Carbo Salve, and and is still used as a wound healer and preventative against infection.

Zinc oxide ointment: An ointment of zinc oxide relives a variety of minor skin ailments because of its anti-inflammatory properties. It can be used to treat skin issues like minor burns, diaper rash, hemorrhoids and acne. Many over-the-counter skin creams and ointments have zinc oxide as a main ingredient; Calamine lotion’s main ingredient is zinc oxide. Zinc Oxide is also a widely used sun screen.

MODERN ADDITIONS

While many of the medicine cabinet essentials from 1935 are still worth having on-hand, there are some modern additions that some would consider essential for the home medicine cabinet (again, plant- and herbal-based medicine cabinet essentials deserve an article of their own)!

Antibiotic ointment: After cleaning and disinfecting mild wounds, cuts, or scrapes, an antibiotic ointment can help prevent infection.

A pain reliever such as aspirin, or an aspirin-free alternative are modern additions to the home medicine cabinet.

Antihistamines (oral): Having a basic oral antihistamine around can be wonderful for mild insect stings or other allergic reactions that don’t require medical attention. They can help stop an allergic reaction in its tracks by blocking histamine at the receptor site in the central nervous system. There are close to a dozen antihistamines on the market, so ask your pharmacist which one would be best for general, sedation-free use.

Antihistamine cream: The lotion form of the above has the same effect, and is great to relieve intense itching from insect bites or poison ivy or oak.

Decongestants: Decongestants (either pharmaceutical ones or manual ones, such as a neti pot) can feel like a miracle when a cold or allergies clog nasal passages and make basic breathing a chore. If you’re using an over-the-counter decongestant, talk to the pharmacist to make sure you’re selecting one that is appropriate for your symptoms (there are so many available now).

Pain reliever: Whether you are a fan of Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, or plain old aspirin, a basic pain reliever or anti-inflammatory is essential for the temporary relief of headaches and other body pains.

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2012 in Historic Reflections, Home Remedies & Apothecary

 

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A Depression-era Kitchen, and a Matter of Opinion

13 May

A Depression-era kitchen has the power to evoke memories, dreams, and realism.

Back in April, I posted a photo of a kitchen onto the Rural Spin Facebook wall, with little information beyond saying the photo was taken between 1935 and 1942 via the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information program. I asked people for their thoughts, and the photo was met with a wide variety of responses. Most shared positive memories and dreams, some took a practical look at the kitchen, and a small portion didn’t like what the photo represented to them:

  • “It is a very servicable kitchen. I just LOVE the wood stove over in the corner – and the cast iron is FABULOUS!! It is a very sustainable kitchen. My great grandmother had a kitchen like this – as did my grandmother early in her life.”
  • “This is when kitchens weren’t about decor, or high priced gadgetry, but the life center of the home. Well worn pieces that were tried and true, staples and cooking utensils within easy reach, a good, sturdy table where much of the preparations were done on, not to mention the eating! Let’s not forget the simple straight backed chair …a place to rest while peeling potatoes or having a quick cup of tea or coffee. All about simplicity and practicality.”
  • “Thoughts? No one is stopping you from living like that.”
  • “There is NOTHING wrong with this kitchen. I love it, and my wife wants that stove!”
  • “It is way way way bigger than grandma’s but much the same otherwise….. loved it — Oh, and she had 2 lamps hung on the wall – one by the table (which was against one wall with a long bench) and the other was on the wall by the stove on the opposite wall….”
  • “They’d need the woodstove, big time, the walls are uninsulated, only electric appliance appears to be the radio, no electric lights, unlikely that there is running water, most likely either a hand pump at the sink, with an outhouse somewhere well out of sight. I don’t know too many folks who would live like this today, at least voluntarily.”
  • “No running water. What a dream.”
  • “Absolutely beautiful….wish I had a kitchen like this.”

And so the comments ran. They are all valid opinions, and a testament to how an image can conjure up a wide variety of thoughts, but also deep emotions. Reading the comments we can feel the power of longing some feel about having a kitchen like this and how the photo speaks to them in words of warmth, love, caring, and simplicity. To others, they see this same image and realize that there is some hard work ahead in this kitchen, be it the need to haul water to what it would be like doing laundry on a hot summer day. Others feel more comfortable with Teflon and the immediacy of hot water on command. They are just differing viewpoints, and without differing viewpoints life would be boring, indeed.

The fact of this kitchen is that it was taken as part of the Farm Security Administration program in Depression-era Dust Bowl. Government photographers and writers at the time were tasked with documenting the lives of destitute farmers, and most of the famous Depression-era photos we have come from this program. The program was originally touted as a way to assist very poor farmers, sharecroppers, and tenants who were being hit hard during the Depression. The program was hotly debated, and this ‘spin is not about the the program itself. Instead, this is about the power that an image can have over us, and help us dream of what we want for ourselves, or what we don’t want.

Florence Thompson, destitute migrant mother of seven and pea picker in California. Photo by Dorothea Lange, 1936.

One of the most famous photographs of the collection is undoubtedly that of this 32-year-old migrant pea picker in California. Florence Thompson, shown at right with three of her seven children, evokes strong emotions. We look at this photo and see worry and poverty.

But 40 years after the photo was taken, Florence was able to tell her story after having become aware of the photo’s existence. Florence’s daughter Katherine recalls a hard life that had its mix of good and bad, “We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn’t eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That’s one thing she did do.” (For the complete story of Katherine’s reflection on this photo, read the 2008 article “Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: ‘We were shamed”“

In truth, this kitchen belonged to a poor family in the Dust Bowl southwest. Life was very hard for this family, and this kitchen is one of the nicer ones photographed that are available in the image collection (the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives collection can be found here). But like Florence’s daughter shows, even in hard times, even with rough kitchens and uninsulated walls and hard work, there is the spirit that even if someone doesn’t have a lot, at least they have something. And sometimes that “something” is worth more than a modern kitchen. Sometimes that something is, indeed, about warmth, love, caring, and simplicity.

 
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Posted by on May 13, 2012 in Historic Reflections, Homesteading

 

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Feeding the Horse: A 1924 Perspective

13 Apr

(Note: The text and images are taken from “A Study of Farm Animals,” by Charles S. Plumb, 1924. Click on photos to enlarge.)

“The use of the horse, in spite of the automobile, is very general in both town and country. He is suited to do many things for which the motor is not fitted. He is a more economical producer of power in short hauls than is the motor, and he is as necessary as ever on the hill farms and where small areas are cultivated. According to the 1920 census we had in the United States some 20 million horses and over 5 million mules. These horses had a farm value of $2,000,000,000, and the mules were valued at half a billion dollars, so we may see that the production of the horse in America is a great industry….

The work of the horse and what he can accomplish depends upon his weight, his muscular development, and his endurance.  What is knows as horse-power, is the power necessary to raise 33,000 pounds at the rate of one foot a minute against gravity. The real measure of horse-power is based on the unit of a foot-pound, shown in the power manifested in raising a pound one foot. The horse works in different ways, no matter what his type, weight or size….

Feeding standards for the horse have been in use for a long time, and, on the basis of what has already been stated, the necessity for different standards is very apparent. Here weight and work are the two vital factors. The following is the modified Wolff-Lehmann standard for horses, as given by Henry and Morrison (Feeds and Feeding, 1917)

The preparation of the feed for a horse is important. The horse has a comparatively small stomach, and so, as his work increases, concentrates should more or less replace roughage. Food is prepared in several ways. Dry roughage is often chaffed, that is, cut or shredded. Chaffing reduces the work of the horse for the reason that the more the roughage is torn to pieces by mechanical means, the less labor will be required of the horse in breaking it up. Men who care for horses often make hay or straw more palatable by chaffing, then mixing with concentrates, and dampening the mass with a light sprinkling of water. Thus prepared, more roughage is consumed than would be the case otherwise, and the sprinkling reduces the dust, which is injurious to horses. The grinding of grain for horses is unnecessary, unless in the case of old animals with poor teeth. Whole grain is appetizing to the horse, he grinds and breaks it up easily with his teeth, and it digests efficiently as thus fed. Crushing grain may be desirable, and the author has known of city stables where oats were run through a mill and crushed, and as thus fed gave better returns, in the opinion of the management, than were secured from oats fed whole. Cooking of feed has been resorted to by horsemen in the past, more especially in Europe, but this process affects the digestibility of the proteids, so the practice is undesirable.  What is known as a bran mash, that is, wetting bran with hot water to make a thick, fairly moist feed, is practiced. If fed at regular periods, as, for example, once a week, it has a cooling, laxative effect. Bran mash is relished by horses, and is popular as an occasional feed. The soaking of feed may sometimes be desirable, especially in spring when feeding very hard, dry corn or barely.

The feeds most desirable for horses vary according to condition of age, work, and locality. Oats in the grain is the favorite food for horses both in America and Europe. There is no likelihood of danger from overeating oats, they are much relished, and from them the horseman looks for greater activity than from most feeds. Dry ear corn is popular in the corn-growing sections, especially in the South and Central West, where hundreds of thousands of horses see no other kind of grain. Experiments at the Ohio station, conducted by Prof. Carmichael, show no important difference in the feeding value of corn and oats, as fed work horses under equal conditions. Barley is fed horses in some parts of America, Europe, and northern Africa, and meets with favor. Wheat and rye are too pasty for satisfactory horse feed. Wheat bran has been fed mixed with oats and corn, and gives good results. Corn meal is too heavy for a horse feed, unless mixed with bran, oats, or chaffed hay, when it will do very well. What is known as chop feed for horses in some sections consists of varying portions of oats and cracked or crushed corn, the percentage of one to the other depending upon the value of each fed in the market. As a rule, two thirds oats and one third corn is a good proportion. Linseed meal is a most excellent feed to be given in small amount once daily, as, for example, a half pound a day. This is a fine appetizer, and tends to make the skin mellow and the hair sleek and glossy. Condition powders or prepared condimental stock foods are not to be recommended. The lindseed meal will largely serve the same purpose and in fact is a popular conditioner.

Of all the dry roughages, timothy hay in the East is a leading favorite. It is usually free from dust and is relished by the horse. Any well cured, sweet grass, however, will usually prove satisfactory horse roughage. Good dry corn stover is excellent horse feed. Alfalfa hay or red clover are rich in protein and lime, and may be fed to advantage when care is used. Dust must be avoided, and the leaves should be free of mildew or mould. A combination of alfalfa or clover with corn makes nearly a balanced ration for the work horse. There is considerable difference of opinion among American horsemen as to the suitability of these feeds for horses, but in France alfalfa has long been extensively fed to horses, while in the western United States it has been shown to be an excellent roughage for horses when well cured. Corn silage may be safely fed to horses in limited amounts, but it is important that it be bright and well cured, free from all mouldy matter; otherwise serious results may occur. Horses do well on pasture, especially of mixed grasses or of some sort of blue grass, of which Kentucky blue is the more common sort.”

 
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Posted by on April 13, 2012 in Animals, Historic Reflections, Homesteading

 

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The Feeding of Poultry…a 1924 Perspective

29 Feb

(Note: The text and images are taken from “A Study of Farm Animals,” by Charles S. Plumb, 1924)

A white orpington, 1924

The foods suitable for fowls vary widely in kind and character. In fact, farm poultry will eat almost anything that has any nutritive value. So adaptable are fowls to local conditions, that, as a rule, they are fed the cheapest and most common foods grown in the region in which they are kept. Very naturally, in America corn is most commonly fed, with wheat or its by-products next in favor. In Japan, rice is the food generally used. The kind of food, however, should vary according to the age and condition of the birds, and the purpose for which they are kept. If for fattening, then a carbonaceous food is best; but if for eggs, then that of a protein nature should be used. Protein foods recommended for fowls are meat scraps, fish meal, and milk of various forms. The common grains and cereal by-products, such as corn, wheat, oats, bran, middlings (the leftovers from milling whole wheat), etc., supply the necessary carbohydrates.

Green foods for fowls causes them to respond very rapidly in increased growth or egg production. When on a range of good grass no other green food need be provided, but during the winter season succulent food is most desirable. Coarse vegetables are often sliced or chopped into small pieces before feeding, although entire cabbages or roots may be hung in the house or fastened to nails on the walls, from which points they will be picked to pieces. In recent years sprouted oats have been used in a small way for feed, especially for young chicks. The common plan is to make a wooden rack-like arrangement, to contain series of shallow pans. The desired amount of oats is put into a vessel and covered with warm water and let stand over night. The surplus water is then drained off and the oats are spread over the pans to a depth of one half to three fourths of an inch. The oats should then be placed in a room, preferably a basement or cellar, having a temperature of 60 to 65 degrees. The oats should be sprinkled daily with tepid water and, to provide drainage, should be perforated with small holes. In about ten days the sprouts will be ready to feed to the chickens, but they should be used sparingly in the first of the feeding.

Rations for egg production used in different sections of the United States, vary more or less, according to material available. The following rations are recommended by various authorities engaged in research work in feeding fowls.

RATION NO. 1

Chicken anatomy from 1924 (Click to enlarge)

Mash:

  • 16 lbs corn meal
  • 6 1/2 lb meat scrap
  • 1 lb bran
  • 1 lb middlings

Scratch Mixture:

  • 1 lb cracked corn
  • 1 lb wheat
  • 1 lb oats

RATION NO. 2

Mash:

  • 2 lbs corn or barley meal
  • 1 lb bran
  • 1 lb middlings
  • 1 lb meat or fish scrap

Scratch Mixture:

  • 2 lbs cracked corn
  • 1 lb oats
  • 1 lb wheat or barley

A fine white leghorn from 1924

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Feed the grain mixture morning and afternoon in a deep litter of straw. Feed sparingly in the morning, but give the hens all they will eat in the afternoon. Feed the dry mash in a hopper which is open at all times. Keep grit and shell in open hoppers. Feed green food once a day.

It will be noticed that in all the above rations, corn , wheat, oats, and wheat bran or middlings are the standard foods used. Meat meal or beef scrap, skimmed milk, and clover or alfalfa are always desirable. In the far West Kafir corn or millet seed may be used to advantage. When barley is commonly grown, this is to be recommended as a feed, and may be used in place of corn, if desired.


 
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Posted by on February 29, 2012 in Animals, Historic Reflections, Homesteading

 

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