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Classic
Cook Books
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page 343
TO PREVENT PAILS FROM SHRINKING.--Saturate pails and tubs with glycerine, and
they will not shrink.
TO KEEP FLIES OFF GILT FRAMES.--Boil three or four onions in a pint of water and
apply with a soft brush.
GILT FRAMES.--Varnish with copal varnish, and they may then be washed at any
time, with cold water without injury.
TO REMOVE OLD PUTTY FROM WINDOW-FRAMES.--Pass a red-hot poker slowly over it,
and it will come off easily.
TO SOFTEN HARD WATER.--Hard water becomes nearly soft by boiling. A piece of
chalk will soften hard spring-water.
PROVIDE ON SATURDAY FOR MONDAY, so as not to take up the fire with cooking, or
time in running errands on washing-day.
TO SOFTEN CISTERN-WATER.--Cistern-water that has become hard from long standing,
can be softened by adding a little borax.
TO DESTROY THE SMELL OF FRESH PAINT.--Sprinkle hay with water in which chloride
of lime has been mixed, and place on floor.
ANTS AND INSECTS. --Dissolve two pounds alum in three quarts water. Apply with a
brush while hot to every crevice where vermin harbor.
TO CLEAN CHROMOS.--Dampen a linen rag slightly and go over them gently. If the
varnish has become defaced, cover with a thin mastic varnish.
SHEETS.--When sheets are beginning to wear in the middle, sew the salvage sides
together and rip open the old seam, or tear in two and hem the sides.
TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL CORAL. --Melt together four parts yellow resin and one part
vermilion. Dip twigs, cinders, or stones in this, and when dry they will look
like coral.
TO SEW CARPET-RAGS ON A MACHINE.--Make the stitch short, run it obliquely across
the rags where they are to be joined, and sew a good many before cutting the
thread.
TO CLEAN OIL PAINTINGS.--Clean the painting well with a sponge dipped in warm
beer, and when perfectly dry, wash with a solution of the finest gum-dragon
dissolved in pure water.
TO CLEAR CISTERN-WATER. --Add two ounces powdered alum and two ounces borax to a
twenty-barrel cistern of rain water that is blackened or oily, and in a few
hours the sediment will settle, and the water be clarified and fit for washing
and even for cooking purposes.
TO MAKE OIL-CLOTHS MORE DURABLE.--Before or after putting down new oil-cloths,
put on one or two coats of linseed oil with a brush, and when thoroughly dry,
add one or two coats of varnish. This makes the cloth softer and much more
durable.--Miss Eva Evans, Delaware.
TO CLEAN OIL-CLOTHS.--Take a pail of clean, soft, lukewarm water, a nice, soft
piece of flannel, wash the oil-cloth and wipe very dry so that no drop of water
is left to soak in and rot the fabric. After washing and drying, if a cloth is
wrung out of a dish of skim-milk and water, and the oil-cloth is rubbed over
with this, and then again well dried, the freshness and luster of the cloth will
well repay the extra labor.
HOW TO WASH CHAMOIS LEATHER.--Made a good, tepid suds with hard or soft soap,
put in leather, rub it on the wash-board, put soap on skin and rub again on
board, and wash in this way through one or two suds, or until perfectly clean;
rinse in tepid water without bluing, squeeze dry (do not wring), hang in sun and
keep snapping and pulling it till perfectly dry. The leather will be as soft as
new if the snapping and pulling are done thoroughly.--Mrs. Marshall,
Minneapolis.
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Classic
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