a very little loaf sugar. This receipt was given by an experienced
physician, and has been proved, to be entirely suited to the stomach of
the youngest infant. But care must be taken to secure _good_ cream; and
this can be done only by providing new milk every day, from _one_ cow.
Mixed milk cannot be safely used for a little infant.
=For a child just weaned.=
There is always danger, especially in warm weather, that the stomach,
even of a healthy child, will become disordered by being weaned; and
it is important to guard against the evil, by careful attention to the
diet, for a little while. Boil every morning new milk enough to last
twenty-four hours, and stir into it the best of arrow-root wet in cold
water, in the proportion of a large teaspoonful to a quart. Add a very
little salt, and boil it up again for one minute, then set it in a cold
place.
=Flour Gruel= (for children sick with teething complaints).
Tie up in a piece of thick cotton cloth a coffee-cup of white flour.
Put it into boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily three hours.
Then remove the cloth and lay the lump where it will become perfectly
dry. To use it, grate it and thicken two gills of boiling milk with
a dessert spoonful of it wet in cold water. Put a little salt in the
milk. This is excellent food for feeble children.
[The value of the following receipts has been proved in the successful
rearing of very feeble infants by the use of them. Several mothers
have gratefully testified to their excellence, especially for children
reduced to extreme debility by teething complaints. After weighing the
articles a few times it will be easy to proportion the ingredients by
measure].
=Food for an Infant at successive periods.=
_For the first three months_:--5 grains of gelatine; 25 grains of
arrow-root; 2 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream; 1½ pints of water.
_From three to six months_:--gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as above;
3 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream.
_From six to nine months_:--gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as above;
1 pint of milk; 1½ gills of cream.
_From nine to twelve months_:--gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as
above; 1¼ pints of milk; 1½ or 2 gills of cream.
If the child is feeble, use in each case one quart of water.
Put the gelatine into 1¼ pints of hot water, and when it boils add
the arrow-root dissolved in a gill of cold water. When this has boiled
five minutes, add the milk, and when it boils again pour in the cream.
Take it from the fire, and sweeten with loaf sugar until it is slightly
sweeter than cow's milk. Strain if necessary, through fine muslin,
and stir occasionally while cooling. If the child is constipated, use
a little more cream, or sweeten with brown sugar. In the opposite
case, use a little less cream. This food should be prepared once in
twenty-four hours; in warm weather, twice, unless kept in a very cool
place.
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS AND DIRECTIONS.
=Lemon Syrup.=
One pound of loaf or crushed sugar to every half pint of lemon juice.
Let it stand twenty-four hours, or till the sugar is dissolved,
stirring it very often with a silver spoon. When dissolved, wring a
flannel bag very dry in hot water, strain the syrup, and bottle it.
This will keep almost any length of time.
=Another without lemons.=
Put six pounds of white sugar to three pints of water, and boil five
minutes. Have ready the beaten white of an egg mixed with half a pint
of water, and stir it into the boiling mixture. In a few minutes a scum
will arise, and the kettle must be set off from the fire, and stand
five minutes; then remove the scum. When it is almost cold, measure it,
and to a gallon of syrup put three ounces of tartaric acid, dissolved
in half a pint of hot water; add at the same time a large teaspoonful
of the oil of lemon. When it is cold, bottle it. The goodness of the
syrup (and it is an excellent imitation of the genuine), depends on the
oil of lemon being fresh. If this is in the least rancid, it will spoil
the syrup.
=Raspberry Vinegar.=
To two quarts of raspberries, put a pint of cider vinegar. Let them lie
together two or three days; then mash them up and put them in a bag to
strain. To every pint, when strained, put a pound of best sugar. Boil
it twenty minutes, and skim it. Bottle it when cold.
=Currant Wine.=
Use sugar, water, and currant juice in these proportions, viz., one
quart each of juice and the best of sugar, and two of water. Put the
mixture into a tight keg with a faucet. Leave out the bung for two or
three weeks, and then put it in loosely, so that if it continues to
ferment longer, the keg will not burst. After a few days more put in
the bung tight. Let it stand a year, and then draw it off and bottle it.
=Another.=
To one gallon of currant juice, put nine pounds of the best of sugar,
and two gallons of water. Set it where it wont be disturbed, and bottle
it at the end of the year.
=Currant Shrub.=
Boil currant juice five minutes with loaf or crushed sugar--a pound of
sugar to a pint of juice. Stir it constantly while cooling, and when
cold, bottle it. A spoonful or two in a tumbler of water affords a
refreshing beverage.
=Sarsaparilla Mead.=
Three pounds of sugar, three ounces of tartaric acid, one ounce of
cream tartar, one of flour, one of essence of sarsaparilla, and three
quarts of water. Strain and bottle it, then let it stand ten days
before using it.
=English Ginger Beer.=
Pour four quarts of boiling water, upon an ounce and a half of ginger,
an ounce of cream of tartar, a pound of clean brown sugar, and two
fresh lemons, sliced thin. It should be wrought twenty-four hours,
with two gills of good yeast, and then bottled. It improves by keeping
several weeks, unless the weather is hot, and it is an excellent
beverage. If made with loaf instead of brown sugar, the appearance and
flavor are still finer.
=Maple Beer.=
To four gallons of boiling water, add one quart of maple syrup and a
small table-spoonful of essence of spruce. When it is about milk warm,
add a pint of yeast; and when fermented bottle it. In three days it is
fit for use.
=Spring Beer.=
Take a handful of checkerberry (wintergreen), a few sassafras roots
cut up, a half a handful of pine-buds, while they are small and gummy,
and a small handful of hops.[18] Put all these into a pail of water
over night, and in the morning boil them two or three hours; fill up
the kettle when it boils away. Strain it into a jar or firkin that
will hold a half a pailful more of water. Stir in a pint and a half
of molasses, then add the half pailful of water, and taste it. If not
sweet enough add more molasses. It loses the sweetness a little in the
process of fermentation, and should therefore be made rather too sweet
at first. Add two or three gills of good yeast, set it in a warm place,
and let it remain undisturbed till it is fermented. When the top is
covered with a thick dark foam, take it off; have ready clean bottles
and good corks; pour off the beer into another vessel, so gently as not
to disturb the sediment; then bottle it, and set it in a cool place. It
will be ready for use in two days. The sediment should be put into a
bottle by itself, loosely corked, and kept to ferment the next brewing.
[18] If dried in the ordinary way. But a small pinch of the hops put up
in pound packages by the Shakers is enough.
=Spruce and Boneset Beer.=
Boil a small handful each of hops and boneset for an hour or two, in a
pailful of water; strain it, and dilute it with cold water till it is
of the right strength. Add a small table-spoonful of essence of spruce,
sweeten, ferment and bottle it, like the spring beer.
The essences of hops, checkerberry, ginger, and spruce, put into warm
water in suitable proportions, then sweetened, fermented, and bottled,
make good beer.
=Rennet Wine.=
Wash a third, or half of a salted rennet; wipe it dry and put it into a
bottle of wine. The wine will be fit to use for custard the next day.
To keep the remainder of the rennet till more is needed, put it into a
strong brine and cover it close.
=To Boil Cider.=
Take cider which has been made but a day or two, and boil it nearly
half away. Skim it often. It will keep good a long time, and is useful
in making mince pies, and to flavor pudding sauce. Bottle it and cork
it well. A mould will form over the top, but will not injure the cider.
=Cologne Water.=
To one gallon of alcohol, put twelve drachms each, of oil of lavender,
oil of bergamot, and essence of lemon; four drachms of oil of rosemary,
and twelve drops of oil of cinnamon.
=Indelible Ink.=
To make the ink, put into the small bottle six cents worth of lunar
caustic, and fill it with rain water.
To make the wash, nearly fill the largest bottle with soft water, and
add gum arabic enough to make a thin solution--about a teaspoonful of
the lumps. Then put in a drachm of salt of tartar. If the ink spreads,
add more gum-arabic to the wash.
=To prevent Books, Ink, Paste, &c., from moulding.=
A drop or two of oil of lavender on a book, and a single one in a pint
bottle of ink, will prevent mould.
=Tooth Powder.=
Two ounces of Peruvian bark, two of myrrh, one of chalk, one of
Armenian bole, and one of orris root.
=Rose Butter= (a good substitute for rose water).
Gather every morning the leaves of the roses that blossomed the day
before, and put them in a stone jar in alternate layers with fine salt.
After all the leaves are gathered, put a saucer or small plate into the
jar, and lay in a pound of butter, for cake or pudding sauce. It is a
very good way of obtaining the flavor of roses, without expense.
=To keep Parsley.=
Gather fresh sprigs, and after washing them, chop them fine, and work
them into as much butter as will be needed for boiled poultry, lamb,
and fish, before the next summer. Put the butter into a stone jar, and
cover it with a brine made with nice salt.
=To keep Suet.=
Pull off the skin or membrane from fresh suet, sprinkle salt upon it,
tie it up in a cloth or bag, and hang it in a cool, dry place. It will
keep sweet the year round.
=To keep Eggs.=
To four quarts of air-slacked lime, put two ounces of cream of tartar
(that is, two table-spoonfuls), two of salt, and four quarts of cold
water. Put fresh eggs into a stone jar, and pour the mixture over them.
This will keep nine dozen, provided they are all good when laid down;
and after many months, the yolks will be still whole, and the whites
stiff and clear as at first. The water may settle away so as to leave
the upper layer uncovered. If so, add more. Cover them closely and keep
them in a cool place.
Eggs should be laid down when they are at the lowest market price.
=To cleanse a Calf's Head and Feet.=
Take them as soon as the animal is killed, wash them clean, and in
order to remove the hair, sprinkle pulverized rosin over them and dip
them for an instant in scalding water. The rosin will dry immediately,
and they can be easily scraped clean. Soak them from one to three days
in cold water, changing it repeatedly.
=To kill Cockroaches and Beetles.=
Strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places infested
by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead, or dying.
Black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb
shops.
=To drive away Ants.=
The little red ants will leave closets where sea-sand is sprinkled, or
where oyster shells are laid.
Scatter sprigs of wormwood in places infested with black ants.
=To secure Woollens, Furs, Furniture, etc., from Moths.=
Carefully shake and brush woollens early in the spring, so as to be
certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen
wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin,
into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are
to lie. When the gum is evaporated it must be renewed.
A lady put up her blankets and carpets in this way before going to
Europe, and on her return, three or four years after, found every
article safe from moths.
Furs should not be hung out in the sun in the spring before being put
away for the season. The moth miller will be likely to visit them when
thus exposed. They should be put into a close box with a piece of
camphor, and the box tied up in a pillow case or bag.
Blankets that are in use only occasionally during the summer, should be
laid when not wanted, under a mattress in constant use, or in a trunk
where there are pieces of camphor gum, or cedar chips. It would be a
most convenient arrangement for housekeepers to have a closet with
shelves and draws made of cedar boards.
It is more difficult than it used to be, to preserve woollens, furs,
carpets, and furniture from being injured by moths. Thirty years since
it was regarded as an indication of very negligent housekeeping to have
a moth-eaten carpet. Now, the utmost care will not always preserve
carpets from being injured in this way. Perhaps the reason may be, that
in general, warehouses and dwellings are warmed throughout, during the
winter, by furnaces. New stuffed and cushioned furniture is sometimes
found to contain moths. To destroy them, pour burning fluid plentifully
upon the cushions, sofas, &c. If it is fresh, it will leave no stain,
and the disagreeable odor will soon pass away. To preserve a carpet
that cannot be often shaken, draw out the tacks twice a year, turn back
the edges a quarter of a yard all around, brush out the dust, and then
with a painter's brush put new spirits of turpentine upon the boards
as far as the carpet is turned back; then return it immediately to its
place, and put in the tacks.
The floors of some houses have moths in the cracks. In this case,
cedar saw-dust sprinkled over the floor before laying down the carpet,
will protect it from these diligent mischief-workers. If this cannot be
had use tar-paper.
=To kill Moths.=
Take furs or pillows infested with moths, and put them into a brick
oven which has just been used for baking. Let them remain over night,
and the next day beat them well in the open air.
=To remove the Bad Odor from New Feathers.=
Make a cover for the bed of some coarse material, or a couple of old
sheets; get a baker to put it into his oven one or two nights. A better
way, when it can be done, is to send the feathers in bags to a baker's
oven, before they are put into the tick.
=To purify a Sink or Drain.=
Dissolve half a pound of copperas in two gallons of water, and pour in
half one day, and the remainder the next.
=To take out Mildew.=
(This and the next receipt were furnished by a chemist.)
Obtain the dryest chloride of lime that can be bought, and for strong
fabrics dissolve four table-spoonfuls in a half a pint of water. Let
the mildewed article lie fifteen minutes in this solution. Then take
it out, wring it gently, and put it immediately into weak muriatic
acid--one part of the acid and four parts soft water.
For delicate fabrics, laces, muslins, &c., the solution of lime should
be diluted by the addition of three or four times the measure of water.
Let the article lie in it five minutes; then put it into the muriatic
acid.
=To take out Iron Mould.=
Dissolve a teaspoonful of salts of tin in two table-spoonfuls of
water. Dip the iron-mould into the solution, and let it remain five
minutes. Then dip it into a mixture of equal parts of muriatic acid and
water. Dip the mould spots alternately into these mixtures, or make the
first one stronger with the salts of tin, and apply it with a soft rag
on the end of a stick. Last of all, rinse the articles very thoroughly
in cold water.
A simpler method of removing iron-mould succeeds well, provided it is
recent, and not very dark. Tie up a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in
the moulded place, and put it into cold water without soap, and boil it
half an hour.
=To take out Ink.=
Turn boiling water upon it immediately, in this way: spread the cloth
over a pitcher or basin, with the ink-spots in the centre, and while
you hold it in its place, let another person turn the boiling water on
the spots. This is better than to put the article into boiling water,
as the whole will then be tinged with the ink. If the spots are still
visible, tie up a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in the places where
they are--more for a large stain, less for a very small one--then put
the cloth into cold water without soap, and boil it half an hour. If it
is not convenient to put boiling water at once on the stains, put them
in cold water; do not let them become dry.
Articles that have been stained with ink or fruit, should not be put
into soap suds until the stains are removed. Soap will tend to make
them permanent.
=To take out Fruit Stains.=
Tie up cream of tartar in the spots, and put the cloth in cold water,
to boil; or if the stains are much spread, stir the cream of tartar
into the water. If they are still visible, boil the cloth in a mixture
of subcarbonate of soda a small table-spoonful to a pail of water.
=To take out Grease or Fresh Paint.=
Rub grease spots with chloric ether. To remove paint, the ether
should be applied on the other side. The ether carries off the oil by
evaporation, and leaves the lead of which the paint was composed, dry.
New turpentine will remove fresh paint.
=To remove rust from Iron Ware and Stoves.=
New stove or range furniture is sometimes so much rusted as to make the
use of it very inconvenient. Put into a rusty kettle as much hay as it
will hold, fill it with water and boil it many hours. At night set it
aside, and the next day boil it again. If it is not entirely fit for
use, repeat the process. It will certainly be effectual.
Rub the rusty spots on a stove with sand-paper, and then with sweet oil.
=To take off starch or rust from Flat-irons.=
Tie up a piece of yellow beeswax in a rag, and when the iron is almost,
but not quite hot enough to use, rub it quickly with the wax, and then
with a coarse cloth.
=To prevent Glass, Earthen, Potter's and Iron Ware from being easily
broken.=
Put dishes, tumblers, and other glass articles into a kettle; cover
them entirely with cold water, and put the kettle where it will soon
boil. When it has boiled a few minutes, set it aside, covered close.
When the water is cold, take out the glass.
Treat new earthen ware in the same way. When potter's ware is boiled, a
handful or two of bran should be thrown into the water, and the glazing
will never be injured by acids or salt.
Cast-iron stoves, and iron ware should be heated gradually the first
time they are used.
=A permanent Cement for Glass, China, and Wood.=
Steep Russian Isinglass twenty-four hours in white brandy, gently boil
and stir the mixture until it is well compounded, and a drop of it,
cooled, will become a very thick jelly; then strain it through a linen
cloth, and cork it up closely. A gentle heat will dissolve it into a
colorless fluid. Broken dishes united with it, will break elsewhere,
rather than separate in the old fracture. To apply it, rub the edges,
place them together, and hold them two or three minutes.
=To preserve steel Knives from Rust.=
Never wrap them in woollen cloths. When they are not to be used for
some time, have them made bright, and perfectly dry; then take a soft
rag, and rub each blade with dry wood-ashes. Wrap them closely in thick
brown paper and lay them in a drawer or dry closet. A set of elegant
knives, used only on great occasions, were kept in this way more than
an hundred years without a spot of rust.
=To prevent Ivory Knife Handles from being cracked.=
Never let knife blades stand in hot water as is sometimes done to make
them wash easily. The heat expands the steel which runs up into the
handle a very little, and this cracks the ivory. Knife handles should
never lie in water. A handsome knife, or one used for cooking is soon
spoiled in this way.
=To remove spots from Furniture.=
Paint or white spots occasioned by spilling medicine or setting
something hot upon furniture, can be removed by rubbing them with
camphene.
=To remove Mortar or Paint from Windows.=
Rub the spots of mortar with a stiff brush dipped in sharp, hot
vinegar, and paint spots with burning fluid or camphene and sand.
=To clean Paint with Pumice-stone.=
Use powdered pumice-stone instead of whiting or sand. It cleans paint
very quickly, and without injuring it. But very little should be put
on the cloth at once. A pint of it is enough to clean the paint of a
large house. It is well to keep it on hand, as it is often needed for
removing spots from paint, and for cleaning closet shelves.
=To polish unvarnished Mahogany Furniture.=
First take out ink stains, if there are any, by touching them with
spirits of salt. Do it with a sponge tied upon the end of a stick; then
wash the spots instantly with vinegar, and make the whole surface to be
polished, clean with it. Then rub on the following preparation with a
woollen cloth:--
Melt together in an earthen pot two ounces of beeswax, and half an
ounce of alconet root; then take it from the fire and add two ounces of
spirits of wine, and half a pint of spirits of turpentine. Polish with
a soft silk cloth.
=To clean Silver and Plated Ware.=
Use fine whiting, and wet it with hartshorn instead of water. The spots
that make their appearance upon silver or plated-ware that is not in
constant use, are quickly removed by this mixture. Silver is injured
by coarse whiting; therefore it is well to sift it through a piece of
muslin.
It is a good way to boil half an ounce of hartshorn powder in a pint of
water, and put into it clean linen or cotton rags enough to absorb the
whole of the mixture; then dry them, and keep them to clean silver and
plate. Wash leather should be used afterwards.
=To clean Paper Hangings.=
Put a clean soft bag, or an old pillow-case over a new broom, and
gently brush the dust from the paper; then take crusts of stale bakers'
bread, and wipe it down lightly, beginning at the top. If you rub it,
the dirt will adhere to the paper. After thus brushing all around the
upper part of the walls with the bread, begin just above where you left
off, and go round again. Do thus until you have finished the paper. The
dust and crumbs will fall together. Whenever a room is cleaned it is a
good way, before the paint and windows are washed, to wipe the paper
with a covered broom as above directed.
=To prepare earth for House Plants.=
Put together equal parts of the three following things--soil from
the sides of a barn-yard, well-rotted manure, and leaf mould from the
woods, or earth from the inside of an old tree or stump. Add a small
quantity of sand. For Cactuses, put as much sand as of the other
materials and a little fine charcoal.
=To raise Hyacinths in Winter.=
When they are put into the glasses or earth, set them into a dark
closet until they sprout. If they are in glasses, do not let the water
touch the bulb, by an inch. When the roots have shot down to the water,
fill the glass, put in a piece of charcoal, and set them in the sun.
=Soot Tea for Roses.=
Get soot from a stove or chimney where wood is used for fuel, put it
into an old pitcher, and pour hot water upon it. When cool, use it
to water your plants every few days. When it is all used, fill up
the pitcher again with hot water. The effect upon plants, especially
upon roses that have almost hopelessly deteriorated is wonderful in
producing a rapid growth of thrifty shoots, with large thick leaves,
and a great number of richly-tinted roses. Never despair of a decayed
rose till this has been tried.
=To destroy Grass in Gravel Walks.=
Scatter the cheapest coarse salt along the edges, and where-ever the
grass is springing.
Even the Canada thistle can be rooted out by cutting off the stalks
very near, but not below the surface of the ground, and putting salt on
them. Old brine, not fit for any other purpose, is good for this.
=Use to be made of Ashes, Sawdust, etc.=
To spread ashes upon grass makes it thrifty, and of a richer green.
Those which have been first used for making soap, are as good for the
purpose as new ashes. Let them be scattered just before a rain.
If you cultivate raspberries and blackberries, have sawdust from the
wood-house put around them once a year. Where these berries grow wild,
the largest ones are found near decayed stumps and logs.
=To purify a Well.=
When a well is cleared out, if any offensive substance is found in it,
have the bottom sprinkled with two or three quarts of quick-lime.
* * * * *
As a general rule, it is most economical to buy the best articles. The
price is, of course, always a little higher; but good articles _spend_
best. It is a sacrifice of money to buy poor flour, meat, sugar,
molasses, butter, cheese, lard, &c., to say nothing of the injurious
effect upon the health.