FIREWOOD BUNKERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 4 (Supplement)

FIREWOOD BUNKERS.

Housewives who are lucky enough to secure a good supply of logs for their open fires are faced with a problem when considering where to keep thorn. Onlytwo or three logs of any size can be Stacked in the ordinary open coal bucket, and even then they inako it top-heavy, so that it upsets at a touch. This means that the greater part oi each day's supply must lie loose in the fireplace. A good solution of the difficulty is to i.uu'itirte tine firetwood buviker. Any wooden box will do, such as a disused o'ttoman. If a decorative oak ohmt is available, so much the better, but, if not. the box can be co\-ered with cretonne to match the rest- of the furniture. It must be placed alongside the tire, against the wall, or in a corner. If a few comfortable cushions are added it will serve as an inglenook seat. A wood fire is the most cheerful sight one can wish for on a chilly day. Its great objection is that it burns too quicklv, and is therefore extravagant. Tin's can be avoided by damping down the lok's with a little earth before they begin to blaze too fiercely. If 'bis plan is followed very little coal is needed 'to keep the fire going, though coal must al- ' ways be used at the start. The earth can he kept, in a corner of the hunker, of, if one is not big enongh, a second «*n l>o placed on the other side of the fire. Oko is not a suitable " dampener." except in occasional tiny lumps. It- is apt to put a wood fire completely out. It gives no heat worth mentioning, and it has an irritating habit of popping out of the fire on to the best rug whenever one's back is turned.