acid, either diluted or in a pure state. If too strong, it will deprive
the marble of its polish, but may be restored by using a piece of felt
and a little putty powdered, rubbing it on with clean water. Another
method is, making a paste of a bullock's gall, a gill of soap lees, half
a gill of turpentine, and a little pipe clay. The paste is then applied
to the marble, and suffered to remain a day or two. It is afterwards
rubbed off, and applied a second or third time, to render the marble
perfectly clean, and give it the finest polish.
MARBLE CEMENT. If by any accident, marble or alabaster happen to be
broken, it may be strongly cemented together in the following manner.
Melt two pounds of bees' wax, and one pound of rosin. Take about the
same quantity of marble or other stones that require to be joined, and
reduce it to a powder; stir it well together with the melted mixture,
and knead the mass in water, till the powder is thoroughly incorporated
with the wax and rosin. The parts to be joined must be heated and made
quite dry, and the cement applied quite hot. Melted sulphur, laid on
fragments of stone previously heated, will make a firm and durable
cement. Little deficiencies in stones or corners that have been stripped
or broken off, may be supplied with some of the stone powdered and mixed
with melted sulphur: but care must be taken to have both parts properly
heated.
MARBLE PAPER. For marbling books or paper, dissolve four ounces of gum
arabac in two quarts of water, and pour it into a broad vessel. Mix
several colours with water in separate shells: with small brushes
peculiar to each colour, sprinkle and intermix them on the surface of
the gum water, and curl them with a stick so as to form a variety of
streaks. The edges of a book pressed close may then be slightly dipped
in the colours on the surface of the water, and they will take the
impression of the mixture. The edges may then be glazed with the white
of an egg, and the colours will remain. A sheet of paper may be marbled
in the same way.
MARBLE STAINS. To take stains out of marble, make a tolerably thick
mixture of unslaked lime finely powdered, with some strong soap-ley.
Spread it instantly over the marble with a painter's brush, and in two
month's time wash it off perfectly clean. Prepare a fine thick lather of
soft soap, boiled in soft water; dip a brush in it, and scour the marble
well with powder. Clear off the soap, and finish with a smooth hard
brush till the stains are all removed. After a very good rubbing, the
marble will acquire a beautiful polish. If the marble has been injured
by iron stains, take an equal quantity of fresh spirits of vitriol and
lemon juice. Mix them in a bottle, shake it well, and wet the spots. Rub
with a soft linen cloth, and in a few minutes they will disappear.
MARBLE VEAL. The meat is prepared in the same way as potted beef or
veal. Then beat up a boiled tongue, or slices of ham, with butter, white
pepper, and pounded mace. Put a layer of veal in the pot, then stick in
pieces of tongue or ham, fill up the spaces with veal, and pour
clarified butter over it.
MARKING INK. Mix two drams of the tincture of galls with one dram of
lunar caustic, and for marking of linen, use it with a pen as common
ink. The cloth must first be wetted in a strong solution of salt of
tartar, and afterwards dried, before any attempt be made to write upon
it. A beautiful red ink may also be prepared for this purpose by mixing
half an ounce of vermillion, and a dram of the salt of steel, with as
much linseed oil as will make it of a proper consistency, either to use
with a pen or a hair pencil. Other colours may be made in the same way,
by substituting the proper ingredients instead of vermillion.
MANGOES. Cut off the tops of some large green cucumbers, take out the
seeds, and wipe them dry. Fill them with mustard-seed, horseradish,
sliced onion, ginger, and whole pepper. Sow on the tops, put the mangoes
into a jar, cover them with boiling vinegar, and do them the same as any
other pickle. Melons are done in the same way.
MARIGOLD WINE. Boil three pounds and a half of lump sugar in a gallon of
water, put in a gallon of marigold flowers, gathered dry and picked from
the stalks, and then make it as for cowslip wine. If the flowers be
gathered only a few at a time, measure them when they are picked, and
turn and dry them in the shade. When a sufficient quantity is prepared,
put them into a barrel, and pour the sugar and water upon them. Put a
little brandy into the bottles, when the wine is drawn off.
MARMALADE. For a cough or cold, take six ounces of Malaga raisins, and
beat them to a fine paste, with the same quantity of sugarcandy. Add an
ounce of the conserve of roses, twenty-five drops of oil of vitriol, and
twenty drops of oil of sulphur. Mix them well together, and take a small
tea-spoonful night and morning.
MARROW BONES. Cover the top of them with a floured cloth, boil and serve
them with dry toast.
MARSHMALLOW OINTMENT. Take half a pound of marshmallow roots, three
ounces of linseed, and three ounces of fenugreek seed; bruise and boil
them gently half an hour in a quart of water, and then add two quarts of
sweet oil. Boil them together till the water is all evaporated, and
strain off the oil. Add a pound of bees' wax, half a pound of yellow
rosin, and two ounces of common turpentine. Melt them together over a
slow fire, and keep stirring till the ointment is cold.
MASHED PARSNIPS. Boil the roots tender, after they have been wiped
clean. Scrape them, and mash them in a stewpan with a little cream, a
good piece of butter, pepper and salt.
MASHED POTATOES. Boil the potatoes, peel them, and reduce them to paste.
Add a quarter of a pint of milk to two pounds weight, a little salt, and
two ounces of butter, and stir it all well together over the fire. They
may either be served up in this state, or in scallops, or put on the
dish in a form, and the top browned with a salamander.
MATTRASSES. Cushions, mattrasses, and bed clothes stuffed with wool, are
particularly liable to be impregnated with what is offensive and
injurious, from persons who have experienced putrid and inflammatory
fevers, and cannot therefore be too carefully cleaned, carded, and
washed. It would also be proper frequently to fumigate them with vinegar
or muriatic gas. If these articles be infested with insects, dissolve a
pound and a half of alum, and as much cream of tartar, in three pints of
boiling water. Mix this solution in three gallons of cold water, immerse
the wool in it for several days, and then let it be washed and dried.
This operation will prevent the insects from attacking it in future.
MEAD. Dissolve thirty pounds of honey in thirteen gallons of water; boil
and skim it well. Then add of rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and
sweetbriar, about a handful altogether. Boil the whole for an hour, and
put it into a tub, with two or three handfuls of ground malt. Stir it
till it is about blood warm, then strain it through a cloth, and return
it into the tub. Cut a toast, spread it over with good ale yeast, and
put it into the tub. When the liquor has sufficiently fermented, put it
into a cask. Take an ounce and a half each of cloves, mace, and nutmegs,
and an ounce of sliced ginger. Bruise the spices; tie them up in a
cloth, and hang it in the vessel, which must be stopped up close for
use.--Another way. Put four or five pounds of honey into a gallon of
boiling water, and let it continue to boil an hour and a half. Skim it
quite clean, put in the rinds of three or four lemons, and two ounces of
hops sewed up in a bag. When cold, put the liquor into a cask, stop it
up close, and let it stand eight or nine months.
MEASLES. In general, all that is needful in the treatment of this
complaint is to keep the body open by means of tamarinds, manna, or
other gentle laxatives; and to supply the patient frequently with barley
water, or linseed tea sweetened with honey. Bathe the feet in warm
water; and if there be a disposition to vomit, it ought to be promoted
by drinking a little camomile tea. If the disorder appear to strike
inward, the danger may be averted by applying blisters to the arms and
legs, and briskly rubbing the whole body with warm flannels.
MEAT. In all sorts of provisions, the best of the kind goes the
farthest; it cuts out with most advantage, and affords most nourishment.
Round of beef, fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, are joints that bear a
higher price; but as they have more solid meat, they deserve the
preference. Those joints however which are inferior, may be dressed as
palatably; and being cheaper, they should be bought in turn; for when
weighed with the prime pieces, it makes the price of these come lower.
In loins of meat, the long pipe that runs by the bone should be taken
out, as it is apt to taint; as also the kernels of beef. Rumps and
edgebones of beef are often bruised by the blows which the drovers give
the beasts, and the part that has been struck always taints; these
joints therefore when bruised should not be purchased. And as great loss
is often sustained by the spoiling of meat, after it is purchased, the
best way to prevent this is to examine it well, wipe it every day, and
put some pieces of charcoal over it. If meat is brought from a distance
in warm weather, the butcher should be desired to cover it close, and
bring it early in the morning, to prevent its being fly-blown.--All meat
should be washed before it is dressed. If for boiling, the colour will
be better for the soaking; but if for roasting, it should afterwards be
dried. Particular care must be taken that the pot be well skimmed the
moment it boils, otherwise the foulness will be dispersed over the meat.
The more soups or broth are skimmed, the better and cleaner they will
be. Boiled meat should first be well floured, and then put in while the
water is cold. Meat boiled quick is sure to be hard; but care must be
taken, that in boiling slow it does not stop, or the meat will be
underdone. If the steam be kept in, the water will not be much reduced;
but if this be desirable, the cover must be removed. As to the length of
time required for roasting and boiling, the size of the joint must
direct, as also the strength of the fire, and the nearness of the meat
to it. In boiling, attention must be paid to the progress it makes,
which should be regular and slow. For every pound of meat, a quarter of
an hour or twenty minutes is generally allowed, according as persons
choose to have it well or underdone. In preparing a joint for roasting,
care must be taken not to run the spit through the best parts of the
meat, and that no black stains appear upon it at the time of serving.
MEAT SAUCE. Put to a clean anchovy, a glass of port wine, a little
strong broth, a sliced shalot, some nutmeg, and the juice of a Seville
orange. Stew them together, and mix it with the gravy that runs from the
meat.
MEAT SCREEN. This is a great saver of coals, and should be sufficiently
large to guard what is roasting from currents of air. It should be
placed on wheels, have a flat top, and not be less than about three feet
and a half wide, with shelves in it, about one foot deep. It will then
answer all the purposes of a large Dutch oven, a plate warmer, and a hot
hearth. Some are made with a door behind, which is convenient; but the
great heat to which they are exposed soon shrinks the materials, and the
currents of air through the cracks cannot be prevented. Those without a
door are therefore best.
MEDLEY PIE. Cut into small pieces some fat pork, or other meat
underdone, and season it with salt and pepper. Cover the sides of the
dish with common crust, put in a layer of sliced apples with a little
sugar, then a layer of meat, and a layer of sliced onions, till the dish
is full. Put a thick crust over it, and bake it in a slow oven. Currants
or scalded gooseberries may be used instead of apples, and the onions
omitted.
MELON FLUMMERY. Put plenty of bitter almonds into some stiff flummery,
and make it of a pale green with spinach juice. When it becomes as thick
as cream, wet the melon mould, and put the flummery into it. Put a pint
of calf's foot jelly into a bason, and let it stand till the next day:
then turn out the melon, and lay it in the midst of the bason of jelly.
Fill up the bason with jelly beginning to set, and let it stand all
night. Turn it out the next day, the same as for fruit in jelly: make a
garland of flowers, and place it on the jelly.
MELON MANGOES. There is a particular sort for preserving, which must be
carefully distinguished. Cut a square small piece out of one side, and
through that take out the seeds, and mix with them mustard-seed and
shred garlic. Stuff the melon as full as the space will allow, replace
the square piece, and bind it up with fine packthread, boil a good
quantity of vinegar, to allow for wasting, with peppercorns, salt, and
ginger. Pour the liquor boiling hot over the mangoes four successive
days; and on the last day put flour of mustard, and scraped horseradish
into the vinegar just as it boils up. Observe that there is plenty of
vinegar before it is stopped down, for pickles are soon spoiled if not
well covered. Also the greater number of times that boiling vinegar is
poured over them, the sooner they will be ready for eating. Mangoes
should be pickled soon after they are gathered. Large cucumbers, called
green turley, prepared as mangoes, are very excellent, and come sooner
to table.
MELTED BUTTER. Though a very essential article for the table, it is
seldom well prepared. Mix on a trencher, in the proportion of a
tea-spoonful of flour to four ounces of the best butter. Put it into a
saucepan, and two or three table-spoonfuls of hot water; boil it quick
for a minute, and shake it all the time. Milk used instead of water,
requires rather less butter, and looks whiter.
MICE. The poisonous substances generally prepared for the destruction of
mice are attended with danger, and the use of them should by all means
be avoided. Besides the common traps, baited with cheese, the following
remedy will be found both safe and efficacious. Take a few handfuls of
wheat flour, or malt meal, and knead it into a dough. Let it grow sour
in a warm place, mix with it some fine iron filings, form the mass into
small balls, and put them into the holes frequented by the mice. On
eating this preparation, they are inevitably killed. Cats, owls, or
hedgehogs, would be highly serviceable in places infested with mice. An
effectual mousetrap may be made in the following manner. Take a plain
four square trencher, and put into the two contrary corners of it a
large pin, or piece of knitting needle. Then take two sticks about a
yard long, and lay them on the dresser, with a notch cut at each end of
the sticks, placing the two pins on the notches, so that one corner of
the trencher may lie about an inch on the dresser or shelf that the mice
come to. The opposite corner must be baited with some butter and oatmeal
plastered on the trencher; and when the mice run towards the butter, it
will tip them into a glazed earthen vessel full of water, which should
be placed underneath for that purpose. To prevent the trencher from
tipping over so as to lose its balance, it may be fastened to the shelf
or dresser with a thread and a little sealing wax, to restore it to its
proper position. To prevent their devastations in barns, care should be
taken to lay beneath the floor a stratum of sharp flints, fragments of
glass mixed with sand, or broken cinders. If the floors were raised on
piers of brick, about fifteen inches above the ground, so that dogs or
cats might have a free passage beneath the building, it would prevent
the vermin from harbouring there, and tend greatly to preserve the
grain. Field mice are also very destructive in the fields and gardens,
burrowing under the ground, and digging up the earth when newly sown.
Their habitations may be discovered by the small mounds of earth that
are raised near the entrance, or by the passages leading to their nests;
and by following these, the vermin may easily be destroyed. To prevent
early peas being eaten by the mice, soak the seed a day or two in train
oil before it is sown, which will promote its vegetation, and render the
peas so obnoxious to the mice, that they will not eat them. The tops of
furze, chopped and thrown into the drills, when the peas are sown, will
be an effectual preventive. Sea sand strewed thick on the surface of the
ground, round the plants liable to be attacked by the mice, will have
the same effect.
MILDEW. To remove stains in linen occasioned by mildew, mix some soft
soap and powdered starch, half as much salt, and the juice of a lemon.
Lay it on the part on both sides with a painter's brush, and let it lie
on the grass day and night till the stain disappears.
MILK BUTTER. This article is principally made in Cheshire, where the
whole of the milk is churned without being skimmed. In the summer time,
immediately after milking, the meal is put to cool in earthen jars till
it become sufficiently coagulated, and has acquired a slight degree of
acidity, enough to undergo the operation of churning. During the summer,
this is usually performed in the course of one or two days. In order to
forward the coagulation in the winter, the milk is placed near the fire;
but in summer, if it has not been sufficiently cooled before it is added
to the former meal, or if it has been kept too close, and be not churned
shortly after it has acquired the necessary degree of consistence, a
fermentation will ensue; in which case the butter becomes rancid, and
the milk does not yield that quantity which it would, if churned in
proper time. This also is the case in winter, when the jars have been
placed too near the fire, and the milk runs entirely to whey. Milk
butter is in other respects made like the common butter.
MILK AND CREAM. In hot weather, when it is difficult to preserve milk
from becoming sour, and spoiling the cream, it may be kept perfectly
sweet by scalding the new milk very gently, without boiling, and setting
it by in the earthen dish or pan that it is done in. This method is
pursued in Devonshire, for making of butter, and for eating; and it
would answer equally well in small quantities for the use of the tea
table. Cream already skimmed may be kept twenty-four hours if scalded,
without sugar; and by adding as much pounded lump sugar as shall make it
pretty sweet, it will be good two days, by keeping it in a cool place.
MILK PORRIDGE. Make a fine gruel of half grits well boiled, strain it
off, add warm or cold milk, and serve with toasted bread.
MILK PUNCH. Pare six oranges and six lemons as thin as possible, and
grate them afterwards with sugar to extract the flavour. Steep the peels
in a bottle of rum or brandy, stopped close twenty-four hours. Squeeze
the fruit on two pounds of sugar, add to it four quarts of water, and
one of new milk boiling hot. Stir the rum into the above, and run it
through a jelly bag till perfectly clear. Bottle and cork it close
immediately.
MILK OF ROSES. Mix an ounce of oil of almonds with a pint of rose water,
and then add ten drops of the oil of tartar.
MILK SOUP. Boil a pint of milk with a little salt, cinnamon, and sugar.
Lay thin slices of bread in a dish, pour over them a little of the milk,
and keep them hot over a stove without burning. When the soup is ready,
beat up the yolks of five or six eggs, and add them to the milk. Stir it
over the fire till it thickens, take it off before it curdles, and pour
it upon the bread in the dish.
MILKING. Cows should be milked three times a day in the summer, if duly
fed, and twice in the winter. Great care should be taken to drain the
milk completely from the udder; for if any be suffered to remain, the
cow will give less every meal, till at length she becomes dry before her
proper time, and the next season she will scarcely give a sufficient
quantity of milk to pay the expences of her keeping. The first milk
drawn from a cow is also thinner, and of an inferior quality to that
which is afterwards obtained: and this richness increases progressively,
to the very last drop that can be drawn from the udder. If a cow's teats
be scratched or wounded, her milk will be foul, and should not be mixed
with that of other cows, but given to the pigs. In warm weather, the
milk should remain in the pail till nearly cold, before it is strained;
but in frosty weather this should be done immediately, and a small
quantity of boiling water mixed with it. This will produce plenty of
cream, especially in trays of a large surface. As cows are sometimes
troublesome to milk, and in danger of contracting bad habits, they
always require to be treated with great gentleness, especially when
young, or while their teats are tender. In this case the udder ought to
be fomented with warm water before milking, and the cow soothed with
mild treatment; otherwise she will be apt to become stubborn and unruly,
and retain her milk ever after. A cow will never let down her milk
freely to the person she dreads or dislikes.
MILLET PUDDING. Wash three spoonfuls of the seed, put it into a dish
with a crust round the edge, pour over it as much new milk as will
nearly fill the dish, two ounces of butter warmed with it, sugar, shred
lemon peel, and a dust of ginger and nutmeg. As you put it in the oven,
stir in two beaten eggs, and a spoonful of shred suet.
MINCE PIES. Of scraped beef, free from skin and strings, weigh two
pounds, of suet picked and chopped four pounds, and of currants nicely
cleaned and perfectly dry, six pounds. Then add three pounds of chopped
apples, the peel and juice of two lemons, a pint of sweet wine, a
nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, the same of mace, and pimento,
in the finest powder. Mix the whole well together, press it into a deep
pan, and keep it covered in a dry cool place. A little citron, orange,
and lemon peel, should be put into each pie when made. The above
quantity of mince meat may of course be reduced, in equal proportions,
for small families.--Mince pies without meat, are made in the following
manner. Pare, core, and mince six pounds of apples; shred three pounds
of fresh suet, and stone three pounds of raisins minced. Add to these, a
quarter of an ounce each of mace and cinnamon, and eight cloves, all
finely powdered. Then three pounds of the finest powder sugar, three
quarters of an ounce of salt, the rinds of four and the juice of two
lemons, half a pint of port, and half a pint of brandy. Mix well
together, and put the ingredients into a deep pan. Prepare four pounds
of currants, well washed and dried, and add them when the pies are made,
with some candied fruit.
MINCED BEEF. Shred fine the underdone part, with some of the fat. Put it
into a small stewpan with some onion, or a very small quantity of
shalot, a little water, pepper and salt. Boil it till the onion is quite
soft; then put some of the gravy of the meat to it, and the mince, but
do not let it boil. Prepare a small hot dish with sippets of bread, mix
a large spoonful of vinegar with the mince, and pour it into the dish.
If shalot vinegar is used, the raw onion and shalot may be dispensed
with.
MINCED COLLOPS. Chop and mince some beef very small, and season it with
pepper and salt. Put it, in its raw state, into small jars, and pour on
the top some clarified butter. When to be used, put the clarified butter
into a fryingpan, and fry some sliced onions. Add a little water to it,
put in the minced meat, and it will be done in a few minutes. This is a
favourite Scotch dish, and few families are without it. It keeps well,
and is always ready for an extra dish.
MINCED VEAL. Cut some cold veal as fine as possible, but do not chop it.
Put to it a very little lemon-peel shred, two grates of nutmeg, some
salt, and four or five spoonfuls either of weak broth, milk, or water.
Simmer these gently with the meat, adding a bit of butter rubbed in
flour, but take care not to let it boil. Put sippets of thin toasted
bread, cut into a three-cornered shape, round the dish.
MINT SAUCE. Pick and wash the mint clean, and chop it fine. Put it into
a small bason, and mix it with sugar and vinegar.
MINT VINEGAR. As fresh mint is not at all times to be had, a welcome
substitute will be found in the preparation of mint vinegar. Dry and
pound half an ounce of mint seed, pour upon it a quart of the best
vinegar, let it steep ten days, and shake it up every day. This will be
useful in the early season of house lamb.