quantities of pulverized borax, camphor gum and saltpetre together,
making a powder. Sprinkle it dry under the edges of carpets, in
drawers, trunks, etc., etc. It will also keep out all kinds of
insects, if plentifully used. If the housekeeper will begin at the top
of her house with a powder bellows and a large quantity of this fresh
powder, and puff it thoroughly into every crack and crevice, whether
or not there are croton bugs in them, to the very bottom of her house,
special attention being paid to old furniture, closets, and wherever
croton water is introduced, she will be freed from these torments. The
operation may require a repetition, but the end is success.
MOTHS IN CARPETS.
If you fear that they are at work at the edge of the carpet, it will
sometimes suffice to lay a wet towel, and press a hot flat-iron over
it; but the best way is to take the carpet up, and clean it, and give
a good deal of attention to the floor. Look in the cracks, and if you
discover signs of moths, wash the floor with benzine, and scatter red
pepper on it before putting the carpet lining down.
Heavy carpets sometimes do not require taking up every year, unless in
constant use. Take out the tacks from these, fold the carpets back,
wash the floor in strong suds with a tablespoonful of borax dissolved
in it. Dash with insect powder, or lay with tobacco leaves along the
edge, and re-tack. Or use turpentine, the enemy of buffalo moths,
carpet worms and other insects that injure and destroy carpets. Mix
the turpentine with pure water in the proportion of three
tablespoonfuls to three quarts of water, and then after the carpet has
been well swept, go over each breadth carefully with a sponge dipped
in the solution and wrung nearly dry. Change the water as often as it
becomes dirty. The carpet will be nicely cleaned as well as
disinfected. All moths can be kept away and the eggs destroyed by this
means. Spots may be renovated by the use of ox-gall or ammonia and
water.
A good way to brighten a carpet is to put half a tumbler of spirits
of turpentine in a basin of water, and dip your broom in it and sweep
over the carpet once or twice and it will restore the color and
brighten it up until you would think it new. Another good way to clean
old carpets is to rub them over with meal; just dampen it a very
little and rub the carpet with it and when perfectly dry, sweep over
with meal. After a carpet is thoroughly swept, rub it with a cloth
dipped in water and ammonia; it will brighten the colors and make it
look like new.
TO TAKE OUT MACHINE GREASE.
Cold water, a tablespoonful of ammonia and soap, will take out machine
grease where other means would not answer on account of colors
running, etc.
TO WASH FLANNELS.
The first thing to consider in washing flannels so that they retain
their size, is that the articles be _washed_ and _rinsed_ in water of
the _same temperature_, that is, about as warm as the hands can bear,
and not allowed to cool between. The water should be a strong suds.
Bub through two soapy waters; wring them out, and put into plenty of
clear, clean, warm water to rinse. Then into another of the same
temperature, blued a little. Wring, shake them well and hang up. Do
not take out of this warm water and hang out in a freezing air, as
that certainly tends to shrink them. It is better to dry them in the
house, unless the sun shines. They should dry _quickly_. Colored
flannels should never be washed in the same water after white clothes,
or they will be covered, when dry, with lint; better be washed in a
water for themselves. In washing worsteds, such as merino dress goods,
pursue the same course, only do not wring them hard; shake, hang them
up and let drain. While a little damp, bring in and press smoothly on
the wrong side with as hot an iron as can be used without scorching
the goods.
Flannels that have become yellow from being badly washed, may be
nicely whitened by soaking them two or three hours in a lather made of
one-quarter of a pound of soft soap, two tablespoonfuls of powdered
borax and two tablespoonfuls of carbonate of ammonia, dissolved in
five or six gallons of water.
TO STARCH, FOLD AND IRON SHIRTS.
To three tablespoonfuls of dry, fine starch allow a quart of water.
First wet the starch smooth in a little cold water in a tin pan, put
into it a little pinch of salt and a piece of enamel, or shirt polish
the size of a bean, or a piece of clean tallow, or a piece of butter
the size of a cranberry; pour over this a quart of _boiling_ water,
stirring rapidly, placing it over the fire. Cook until clear, then
remove it from the fire and set the pan in another of warm water to
keep the starch warm.
Turn the shirt wrong side out and dip the bosom in the hot starch as
warm as the hands can bear the heat; rub the starch evenly through the
linen, saturating it thoroughly; wring hard to make dry as possible.
Starch the collar and wristbands the same way, then hang them out to
dry. Three hours before ironing them, wet the bosom and cuffs in cold
water, wring out, shake and fold, roll up tightly, wrap in a towel and
let remain two or three hours.
The back of the shirt should be ironed first by doubling it lengthwise
through the centre, the wristbands may be ironed next, and both sides
of the sleeves, then the collar band; now place a bosom board under
the bosom and with a fresh clean napkin dampened a little, rub the
bosom from the top toward the bottom, arranging and smoothing each
plait neatly; then with a smooth, moderately-hot flat-iron, begin
ironing from the top downward, pressing hard until the bosom becomes
smooth, dry and glossy. Remove the bosom board and iron the front,
fold both sides of the shirt towards the centre of the back, fold
together below the bosom and hang on the bars to air.
CLEANING OIL-CLOTHS.
A dingy oil-cloth may be brightened by washing it with clear water
with a little borax dissolved in it; wipe it with a flannel cloth that
you have dipped into milk and then wring as dry as possible.
TO CLEAN BLACK LACE. No. 1.
A teaspoonful of gum arabic dissolved in one teacupful of boiling
water; when cool, add half a teaspoonful of black ink; dip the lace
and spread smoothly between the folds of a newspaper and press dry
with book or the like. Lace shawls can be dressed over in this way, by
pinning a sheet to the carpet and stretching the shawl upon that; or
black lace can be cleaned the same as ribbon and silk. Take an old
kid glove (black preferable), no matter how old, and boil it in a
pint of water for a short time; then let it cool until the leather can
be taken in the hand without burning; use the glove to sponge off the
ribbon; if the ribbon is very dirty, dip it into water and draw
through the fingers a few times before sponging. After cleaning, lay a
piece of paper over the ribbon and iron; paper is better than cloth.
The ribbon will look like new.
TO CLEAN BLACK LACE. No. 2.
Black laces of all kinds may be cleaned by alcohol. Throw them boldly
into the liquid; churn them up and down till they foam; if very dusty,
use the second dose of alcohol; squeeze them out, "spat" them, pull
out the edges, lay them between brown paper, smooth and straight;
leave under a heavy weight till dry; do not iron.
TO WASH WHITE LACE. No. 1.
First, the soiled laces should be carefully removed from the garment
and folded a number of times, keeping the edges evenly together, then
basted with a coarse thread without a knot in the end. Now put them in
a basin of luke-warm suds. After soaking a half hour, rub them
carefully between the hands, renewing the suds several times; then,
after soaping them well, place them in _cold_ water and let them come
to a scald. Take them from this and rinse them thoroughly in luke-warm
water, blued a very little, then dip them into a _very thin,_ clear
starch, allowing a teaspoonful of starch to a pint of water, so thin
that it will be scarcely preceptible. Now roll them in a clean, fresh
towel without taking out the bastings; let them lie for an hour or
more, iron over several thicknesses of flannel, taking out the
bastings of one piece at a time, and ironing on the wrong side, with a
moderately-hot iron; the laces should be nearly dry, and the edges and
points pulled gently with the fingers into shape, before ironing.
TO WASH WHITE THREAD LACE. No. 2.
To wash white lace, cover a bottle with linen, stitched smoothly to
fit the shape. Wind the lace about it, basting both edges to the
linen. Wash on the bottle, soaping and rinsing well, then boil in soft
water. Dry in the sun. Clip the basting threads and do not iron. If
carefully done it will look like new lace.
TO CLEAN SILKS OR RIBBONS.
Half a pint of gin, half a pound of honey, half a pound of soft soap,
one-eighth of a pint of water.
Mix the above ingredients together; then lay each breadth of silk upon
a clean kitchen table or dresser, and scrub it well on the soiled side
with the mixture. Have ready three vessels of cold water; take each
piece of silk at two corners, and dip it up and down in each vessel,
but do not wring it; and take care that each breadth has one vessel of
quite clean water for the last dip. Hang it up dripping for a minute
or two, then dab in a cloth, and iron it quickly with a very hot iron.
Where the lace or silk is very much soiled, it is best to pass them
through a warm liquor of bullock's gall and water; rinse in cold
water; then take a small piece of glue, pour boiling water on it, and
pass the veil through it, clap it, and frame to dry. Instead of
framing, it may be fastened with drawing-pins closely fixed upon a
very clean paste, or drawing-board.
TO CLEAN BLACK DRESS SILKS.
One of the things "not generally known," at least in this country, is
the Parisian method of cleaning black silk; the _modus operandi_ is
very simple, and the result infinitely superior to that achieved in
any other manner. The silk must be thoroughly brushed and wiped with a
cloth, then laid flat on a board or table, and well sponged with hot
coffee, thoroughly freed from sediment by being strained through
muslin. The silk is sponged on the side intended to show; it is
allowed to become partially dry, and then ironed on the wrong side.
The coffee removes every particle of grease, and restores the
brilliancy of silk, without imparting to it either the shiny
appearance or crackly and papery stiffness obtained by beer, or,
indeed, any other liquid. The silk really appears thickened by the
process, and this good effect is permanent. Our readers who will
experimentalize on an apron or cravat, will never again try any other
method.
TO WASH FEATHERS.
Wash in warm soap-suds and rinse in water a very little blued; if the
feather is white, then let the wind dry it. When the curl has come out
by washing the feather or getting it damp, place a hot flat-iron so
that you can hold the feather just above it while curling. Take a
bone or silver knife, and draw the fibres of the feather between the
thumb and the dull edge of the knife, taking not more than three
fibres at a time, beginning at the point of the feather and curling
one-half the other way. The hot iron makes the curl more durable.
After a little practice one can make them look as well as new
feathers. Or they can be curled by holding them over the stove or
range, not near enough to burn; withdraw and shake out; then hold them
over again until they curl. When swansdown becomes soiled, it can be
washed and look as good as new. Tack strips on a piece of muslin and
wash in warm water with white soap, then rinse and hang in the wind to
dry. Rip from the muslin and rub carefully between the fingers to
soften the leather.
INCOMBUSTIBLE DRESSES.
By putting an ounce of alum or sal ammoniac in the _last_ water in
which muslins or cottons are rinsed, or a similar quantity in the
starch in which they are stiffened, they will be rendered almost
uninflammable; or, at least, will with difficulty take the fire, and
if they do, will burn without flame. It is astonishing that this
simple precaution is so rarely adopted. Remember this and save the
lives of your children.
HOW TO FRESHEN UP FURS.
Furs when taken out in the fall are often found to have a mussed,
crushed-out appearance. They can be made to look like new, by
following these simple directions: Wet the fur with a hair-brush,
brushing up the wrong way of the fur. Leave it to dry in the air for
about half an hour, and then give it a good beating on the right side
with a rattan. After beating it, comb it with a coarse comb, combing
up the right way of the fur.
NOVEL DRESS MENDING.
A novel way of mending a woolen or silk dress in which a round hole
has been torn, and where only a patch could remedy matters, is the
following: The frayed portions around the tear should be carefully
smoothed, and a piece of the material, moistened with very thin
muscilage, placed under the hole. A heavy weight should be put upon it
until it is dry, when it is only possible to discover the mended place
by careful observation.
TO RENEW OLD CRAPE.
Place a little water in a tea-kettle, and let it boil until there is
plenty of steam from the spout; then, holding the crape in both hands,
pass it to and fro several times through the steam, and it will be
clean and look nearly equal to new.
TO RAISE THE PILE ON VELVET.
To raise the pile on velvet, put on a table two pieces of wood; place
between them, bottom side up, three very hot flat-irons, and over them
lay a wet cloth; hold the velvet over the cloth, with the wrong side
down; when thoroughly steamed, brush the pile with a light wisp, and
the velvet will look as good as new.
TO CLEAN KID GLOVES.
Make a thick mucilage by boiling a handful of flax-seed; add a little
dissolved toilet soap; then, when the mixture cools, put the gloves on
the hands and rub them with a piece of white flannel wet with the
mixture. Do not wet the gloves through. Or take a fine, clean, soft
cloth, dip it into a little sweet milk, then rub it on a cake of soap,
and rub the gloves with it; they will, look like new.
Another good way to clean any color of kid gloves is to pour a little
benzine into a basin and wash the gloves in it, rubbing and squeezing
them until clean. If much soiled, they must be washed through clean
benzine, and rinsed in a fresh supply. Hang up in the air to dry.
STARCH POLISH.
Take one ounce of spermaceti and one ounce of white wax; melt and run
it into a thin cake on a plate. A piece the size of a quarter dollar
added to a quart of prepared starch gives a beautiful lustre to the
clothes and prevents the iron from sticking.
FOR CLEANING JEWELRY.
For cleaning jewelry there is nothing better than ammonia and water.
If very dull or dirty, rub a little soap on a soft brush and brush
them in this wash, rinse in cold water, dry first in an old
handkerchief and then rub with buck or chamois skin. Their freshness
and brilliancy when thus cleaned cannot be surpassed by any compound
used by jewelers.
TO CLEAN SILVER PLATE.
Wash well in strong, warm soap-suds, rinse and wipe dry with a dry
soft cloth; then mix as much hartshorn powder as will be required into
a thick paste, with cold water; spread this over the silver, with a
soft cloth, and leave it for a little time to dry. When perfectly dry
brush it off with a clean soft cloth, or brush and polish it with a
piece of chamois skin. Hartshorn is one of the best possible
ingredients for plate powder for daily use. It leaves on the silver a
deep, dark polish, and at the same time does not injure it. Whiting,
dampened with liquid ammonia, is excellent also.
TO REMOVE STAINS FROM MARBLE.
Mix together one-half pound of soda, one-half pound of soft soap and
one pound of whiting. Boil them until they become as thick as paste,
and let it cool. Before it is quite cold, spread it over the surface
of the marble and leave it at least a whole day. Use soft water to
wash it off, and rub it well with soft cloths. For a black marble,
nothing it better than spirits of turpentine.
Another paste answers the same purpose: Take two parts of soda, one of
pumice stone and one of finely-powdered chalk. Sift these through a
fine sieve and mix them into a paste with water. Rub this well all
over the marble and the stains will be removed; then wash it with soap
and water and a beautiful bright polish will be produced.
TO WHITEN WALLS.
To whiten walls, scrape off all the old whitewash, and wash the walls
with a solution of two ounces of white vitriol to four gallons of
water. Soak a quarter of a pound of white glue in water for twelve
hours; strain and place in a tin pail in a kettle of boiling water.
When melted, stir in the glue eight pounds of whiting and water enough
to make it as thick as common whitewash. Apply evenly with a good
brush. If the walls are very yellow, blue the water slightly by
squeezing in it a flannel blue-bag.
Before kalsomining a wall all cracks should be plastered over. Use
plaster of Paris. Kalsomine may be colored easily by mixing with it
yellow ochre, Spanish brown, indigo; squeeze through a bag into the
water, etc.
PAPER-HANGERS' PASTE.
To make paper-hangers' paste, beat up four pounds of good, white wheat
flour (well sifted previously) in sufficient cold water to form a
stiff batter. Beat it well in order to take out all lumps, and then
add enough cold water to make the mixture of the consistency of
pudding batter. To this add about two ounces of well-pounded alum.
Pour gently and quickly over the batter boiling water, stirring
rapidly at the same time, and when it is seen to lose the white color
of the flour, it is cooked and ready. Do not use it, however, while
hot, but allow it to cool. Pour about a pint of cold water over the
top to prevent a skin from forming. Before using, the paste should be
thinned by the addition of cold water.
TO WASH COLORED GARMENTS.
Delicately colored socks and stockings are apt to fade in washing. If
they are soaked for a night in a pail of tepid water containing a half
pint of turpentine, then wrung out and dried, the colors will "set,"
and they can afterwards be washed without fading.
For calicoes that fade, put a teaspoonful of sugar of lead into a
pailful of water and soak the garment fifteen minutes before washing.
THE MARKING SYSTEM.
Mark all your own personal wardrobe which has to be washed. If this
were invariably done, a great deal of property would be saved and a
great deal of trouble would be spared. For the sake of saving trouble
to others, if for no other reason, all of one's handkerchiefs, collars
and underclothing should be plainly and permanently marked. A bottle
of indelible ink is cheap, a clean pen still cheaper, and a bright,
sunny day or a hot flat-iron will complete the business. Always keep
on hand a stick of linen tape, written over its whole length with your
name, or the names of your family, ready to be cut off and sewed on to
stockings and such other articles as do not afford a good surface on
which to mark.
Then there are the paper patterns, of which every mother has a store.
On the outside of each, as it is tied up, the name of the pattern
should be plainly written. There are the rolls of pieces, which may
contain a good deal not apparent from the outside. All these hidden
mysteries should be indicated. The winter things, which are wrapped
up and put away for summer, and the summer things, which are wrapped
up and put away for the winter, should all be in labeled packages, and
every packing trunk should have on its lid a complete list of its
contents.
_Congregationalist_
TO REMOVE STAINS AND SPOTS.
Children's clothes, table linens, towels, etc., should be thoroughly
examined before wetting, as soap-suds, washing-fluids, etc., will fix
almost any stain past removal. Many stains will pass away by being
simply washed in pure, soft water; or alcohol will remove, before the
article has been in soap-suds, many stains; iron mold, mildew, or
almost any similar spot, can be taken out by dipping in diluted citric
acid; then cover with salt and lay in the bright sun till the stain
disappears. If of long standing, it may be necessary to repeat the
wetting and the sunlight. Be careful to rinse in several waters as
soon as the stain is no longer visible. Ink, fruit, wine, and mildew
stains must first be washed in clear, cold water, removing as much of
the spots as can be, then mix one teaspoonful of oxalic acid and a
half pint of rain-water. Dip the stain in this and wipe off in clear
water. Wash at once, if a fabric that will bear washing. A
tablespoonful of white currant juice, if any can be had, is even
better than lemon. This preparation may be used on the most delicate
articles without injury. Shake it up before using it. Mark it
"poison," and put it where it will not be meddled with.
OIL STAINS IN SILKS AND OTHER FABRICS.
Benzine is most effectual, not only for silk, but for any other
material whatever. It can be procured from any druggist. By simply
covering both sides of greased silk with magnesia, and allowing it to
remain for a few hours, the oil is absorbed by the powder. Should the
first application be insufficient, it may be repeated, and even rubbed
in with the hand. Should the silk be Tussah or Indian silk, it will
wash.
To remove an acid stain on violet silk: Brush the discoloration with
tincture of iodine, then saturate the spot well with a solution of
hyposulphite of soda, and dry gradually. This restores the original
color perfectly.
Muriatic acid is successfully used for removing ink stains and iron
mold on a number of colors which it does not attack.
Sulphurous acid is only employed for whitening undyed goods, straw
hats, etc., and for removing the stains of certain fruits on silks and
woolens. Sulphurous gas is also used for this purpose, but the liquid
gas is safer.
Oxalic acid is used for removing ink and rust stains, and remnants of
mud stains, which do not yield to other deterrents. It may also be
used for destroying the stains of fruits and astringent juices, and
old stains of urine. However, its use is limited to white goods, as it
attacks fugitive colors and even light shades of those reputed to be
fast. The best method of applying it is to dissolve it in cold or
luke-warm water, to let it remain a moment upon the spot, and then rub
it with the fingers. Wash out in clear, warm water immediately.
Citric acid serves to revive and brighten certain colors, especially
greens and yellows. It restores scarlets which have been turned to a
crimson by the action of alkalies. Acetic acid or tartaric acid may be
used instead.
Where it is feared that soap may change the color of an article, as,
for instance, scarlet hosiery or lilac print, if the garment be not
badly soiled, it may be cleansed by washing without soap in water in
which pared potatoes have been boiled. This method will also prevent
color from running in washing prints.
To prevent blue from running into a white ground, dissolve a
teaspoonful of copperas in a pailful of soft water, add a piece of
lime the size of an acorn, and soak the garments in this water two
hours before washing. To keep colors from running in washing black
prints, put a teaspoon of black pepper in the first water.
Salt or beef's gall in the water helps to set black. A tablespoonful
of spirits of turpentine to a gallon of water sets most blues, and
alum is very efficacious in setting green. Black or very dark calicoes
should be stiffened with gum arabic--five cents' worth is enough for a
dress. If, however, starch is used, the garment should be turned wrong
side out.
A simple way to remove grass stains is to spread butter on them, and
lay the article in hot sunshine, or wash in alcohol. Fruit stains upon
cloth or the hands may be removed by rubbing with the juice of ripe
tomatoes. If applied immediately, powdered starch will also take fruit
stains out of table linen. Left on the spot for a few hours, it
absorbs every trace of the stain.
For mildew stains or iron rust, mix together soft soap, laundry
starch, half as much salt, and the juice of a lemon. Apply to the
spots and spread the garment on the grass. Or wet the linen, rub into
it white soap, then finely powdered chalk; lay upon the grass and keep
damp. Old mildew stains may be removed by rubbing yellow soap on both
sides and afterwards laying on, very thick, starch which has been
dampened. Rub in well and expose to light and air. There are several
effectual methods of removing grease from cloths. First, wet with a
linen cloth dipped in chloroform. Second, mix four tablespoonfuls of
alcohol with one tablespoonful of salt; shake together until the salt
is dissolved and apply with a sponge. Third, wet with weak ammonia
water; then lay a thin white blotting or tissue paper over it and iron
lightly with an iron not too hot. Fourth, apply a mixture of equal
parts of alcohol, gin and ammonia.