round the bottom with a silk thread, or a strong flaxen thread well
waxed. Or they may be dried away by some moderately corroding
application, such as the milky juice of fig leaves, of swallow wort, or
of spurge. Warts may also be destroyed by rubbing them with the inside
of bean shells. But these corrosives can only be procured in summer; and
persons who have very delicate thin skins should not use them, as they
may occasion a painful swelling. Instead therefore of these
applications, it may be proper to use a little vinegar impregnated with
as much salt as it will dissolve. A plaster may also be made of sal
ammoniac and some galbanum, which well kneaded together and applied,
seldom fails of destroying them. The general and principal cause of
corns is, shoes too hard and stiff, or else too small. The cure consists
in softening the corns by repeated washing, and soaking the feet in warm
or hot water; then cutting the corn very carefully when softened, with a
sharp penknife without wounding the quick, and afterwards applying a
leaf of houseleek, ground ivy, or purslain, dipped in vinegar. Or
instead of these leaves, they may be dressed every day with a plaster of
simple diachylon, or of gum ammoniacum softened in vinegar. The bark of
the willow tree burnt to ashes, and mixed with strong vinegar, forms a
lixivium which by repeated applications eradicates, warts, corns, and
other cutaneous excrescences. It is however the wisest way to obviate
the cause which produces them.
WASH. An infusion of horseradish in milk, makes one of the safest and
best washes for the skin; or the fresh juice of houseleek, mixed with an
equal quantity of new milk or cream. Honey water made rather thick, so
as to form a kind of varnish on the skin, is a useful application in
frosty weather, when the skin is liable to be chipped; and if it
occasions any irritation or uneasiness, a little fine flour or pure hair
powder should be dusted on the hands or face. A more elegant wash may be
made of four ounces of potash, four ounces of rose water, and two of
lemon juice, mixed in two quarts of water. A spoonful or two of this
mixture put into the basin, will scent and soften the water intended to
be used.
WASH BALLS. Shave thin two pounds of new white soap, into about a
teacupful of rose water, and pour on as much boiling water as will
soften it. Put into a brass pan a pint of sweet oil, four pennyworth of
oil of almonds, half a pound of spermaceti, and dissolve the whole over
the fire. Then add the soap, and half an ounce of camphor that has first
been reduced to powder by rubbing it in a mortar with a few drops of
spirits of wine, or lavender water, or any other scent. Boil it ten
minutes, then pour it into a basin, and stir till it is quite thick
enough to roll up into hard balls, which must then be done as soon as
possible. If essence is used, stir it in quick after it is taken off the
fire, that the scent may not fly off.
WASHING. Soda, by softening the water, saves a great deal of soap. It
should be melted in a large jug of water, and some of it poured into the
tubs and boiler; and when the lather becomes weak, more is to be added.
The new improvement in soft soap is, if properly used, a saving of
nearly half in quantity; and though something dearer than the hard, it
reduces the expence of washing considerably. Many good laundresses
advise soaping linen in warm water the night previous to washing, as
facilitating the operation with less friction.
WASPS. These insects are not only destructive to grapes, peaches, and
the more delicate kinds of fruit, but also to bees; the hives of which
they attack and plunder, frequently compelling those industrious inmates
to forsake their habitation. About the time when the wasps begin to
appear, several phials should be filled three parts full of a mixture
consisting of the lees of beer or wine, and the sweepings of sugar, or
the dregs of molasses, and suspended by yellow packthread on nails in
the garden wall. When the bottles are filled with insects, the liquor
must be poured into another vial, and the wasps crushed on the ground.
If they settle on wall fruit, they may be destroyed by touching them
with a feather dipped in oil; or may be taken with birdlime put on the
end of a stick or lath, and touched while sitting on the fruit. The
number of these noxious insects might be greatly reduced by searching
for their nests in the spring of the year. The places to find them are
at new posts, pales, melon frames, or any solid timber; for as they make
their combs of the shavings of sound wood, which they rasp off with
their fangs, and moisten up with a mucus from their bodies, they may
often be found near such materials.
WATER. As it is difficult in some places to obtain a sufficient quantity
of fresh spring water for constant use, especially in large towns and
cities, it is important to know that river water or such as becomes
turbid, may be rendered fit for use by the following easy experiment.
Dissolve half an ounce of alum in a pint of warm water, and stir it
about in a puncheon of water taken from the river; the impurities will
soon settle to the bottom, and in a day or two it will become as clear
as the finest spring water. To purify any kind of water that has become
foul by being stagnant, place a piece of wicker work in the middle of a
vessel; spread on this a layer of charcoal four or five inches thick,
and above the charcoal a quantity of sand. The surface of the sand is to
be covered with paper pierced full of holes, to prevent the water from
making channels in the sand. The water to be purified is to be poured
on, to filter through the sand and charcoal, and the filter is to be
removed occasionally. By this simple process, any person may procure
good limpid water at a very trifling expense, and preserve what would
otherwise become useless and offensive.
WATER FOR BREWING. The most proper water for brewing is soft river
water, which has had the rays of the sun, and the influence of the air
upon it, which have a tendency to permit it easily to penetrate the
malt, and extract its virtues. On the contrary, hard waters astringe and
bind the power of the malt, so that its virtues are not freely
communicated to the liquor. Some people hold it as a maxim, that all
water that will mix with soap is fit for brewing, which is the case with
the generality of river water; and it has frequently been found from
experience, that when an equal quantity of malt has been used to a
barrel of river water, as to a barrel of spring water, the brewing from
the former has exceeded the other in strength above five degrees in the
course of twelve months keeping. It has also been observed, that the
malt was not only the same in quantity for one barrel as for the other,
but was the same in quality, having all been measured from the same
heap. The hops were also the same, both in quality and in quantity, and
the time of boiling equal in each. They were worked in the same manner,
and tunned and kept in the same cellar; a proof that the water only
could be the cause of the difference. Dorchester beer, which is
generally in much esteem, is chiefly brewed with chalky water, which is
plentiful in almost every part of that county; and as the soil is mostly
chalk, the cellars, being dug in that dry soil, contribute much to the
good keeping of their drink, it being of a close texture, and of a dry
quality, so as to dissipate damps; for it has been found by experience,
that damp cellars are equally injurious to the casks and the good
keeping of the liquor. Where water is naturally of a hard quality, it
may in some measure be softened by an exposure to the sun and air, and
by infusing in it some pieces of soft chalk; or when the water is set on
to boil, in order to be poured on the malt, put into it a quantity of
bran, and it will have a very good effect.
WATER CAKES. Dry three pounds of fine flour, and rub into it a pound of
sifted sugar, a pound of butter, and an ounce of carraway seeds. Make it
into a paste with three quarters of a pint of boiling new milk; roll the
paste very thin, and cut it into any form or size. Punch the cakes full
of holes, and bake on tin plates in a cool oven.
WATER GRUEL. Mix by degrees a large spoonful of oatmeal with a pint of
water in a saucepan, and when smooth, boil it. Or rub the oatmeal smooth
in a little water, and put it into a pint of water boiling on the fire.
Stir it well, and boil it quick, but do not suffer it to boil over. In a
quarter of an hour strain it off, add salt and a bit of butter when
eaten, and stir it together till the whole is incorporated. To make it
however in the quickest manner, mix a spoonful of ground oatmeal very
smooth, with as much hot water as will just liquify it. Then gradually
pour upon it a pint of boiling water, stirring it all the time to keep
it smooth. It may be cooled by pouring it from one basin to another till
it is fit to drink. Water gruel made in this way is very smooth and
good, and being prepared in a few minutes, it is particularly useful
when wanted in haste, to assist the operation of medicine.
WATER PIPES. To prevent their freezing when full of water, preserve a
little circulation by leaving the cock dripping; or by tying up the ball
cock during the winter's frost, the water may be preserved for use. Care
should be taken however to lay the pipe which supplies the cistern in
such a position as not to retain the water, and of course it will not be
liable to freeze.
WATER SOUCHY. Stew two or three flounders, some parsley leaves and
roots, thirty peppercorns, and a quart of water, till the fish are
boiled to pieces, and then pulp them through a sieve. Set over the fire
the pulped fish, the liquor that boiled them, some perch, tench, and
flounders, and some fresh leaves or roots of parsley. Simmer them
together till done enough, and serve in a deep dish. Slices of bread and
butter are to be sent to table, to eat with the souchy.
WAX. Bees' wax is obtained from the combs, after the sweet and liquid
parts are extracted, by heating and pressing them between iron plates.
The best sort is firm and hard, of a clear yellow colour and an
agreeable odour, similar to that of honey. New wax is tough, yet easily
broken; by long keeping it becomes harder and more brittle, loses its
colour, and partly also its fragrance. With a view to bleach the wax, it
is cut into small pieces, melted, and poured into cold water. In this
state it is exposed to the sun, afterwards melted again, poured into
water, and exposed to the air, two or three times over, till it is
perfectly blanched. It is then dissolved for the last time, cast into
flat moulds, and again exposed to the air for a day or two, in order to
render it more transparent.
WAX PLASTER. This is made of a pound of yellow wax, half a pound of
white rosin, and three quarters of mutton suet, melted together. This
forms a proper plaster for blisters, and in other cases where a gentle
digestive is necessary.
WEAK EYES. Dimness of sight, arising from weakness or inflammation, is
best relieved by frequent washing of the eyes with cold water. If this
do not succeed, the following solution may be applied. Dissolve four
grains each of the sugar of lead and crude sal-ammoniac, in eight ounces
of water, to which a few drops of laudanum may occasionally be added,
and bathe the eyes with it night and morning. A tea-spoonful of brandy
in a cup of water will also make good eye-water, or a little simple rose
water may supply the place.
WEDDING CAKE. Take two pounds of butter, beat it to a cream with the
hand, and put in two pounds of fine sugar sifted. Mix well together two
pounds of fine dried flour, half a pound of almonds blanched and pounded
with orange-flower water, and an ounce of beaten mace. Beat up sixteen
eggs, leaving out three whites, and put to them half a glass of sack,
and the same of brandy. Put a handful of the flour and almonds to the
sugar and butter, then a spoonful of the eggs, and so on till they are
all mixed together. Beat it an hour with the hand, add two pounds of
currants, half a pound of citron, half a pound of orange peel, and two
spoonfuls of orange-flower water. Butter the tin, and bake it three
hours and a half. An iceing should be put over the cake after it is
baked.
WEEDS. Weeds are in their most succulent state in the month of June,
and there is scarcely a hedge border but might be rendered useful by
mowing them at this season, but which afterwards would become a
nuisance. After the weeds have lain a few hours to wither, hungry cattle
will eat them with great freedom, and it would display the appearance of
good management to embrace the transient opportunity.
WELCH ALE. To brew very fine Welch ale, pour forty-two gallons of hot
but not boiling water, on eight bushels of malt; cover it up, and let it
stand three hours. Mean while infuse four pounds of hops in a little hot
water, and put the water and hops into a tub; run the wort upon them,
and boil them together three hours. Strain off the hops, and reserve
them for the small beer. Let the wort stand in a high tub till cool
enough to receive the yeast, of which put in two quarts of the best
quality: mix it thoroughly and often. When the wort has done working,
the second or third day, the yeast will sink rather than rise in the
middle: remove it then, and tun the ale as it works out. Pour in a quart
at a time gently, to prevent the fermentation from continuing too long,
which weakens the liquor. Put paper over the bung-hole two or three days
before it is closed up.
WELCH BEEF. Rub three ounces of saltpetre into a good piece of the round
or buttock. After four hours apply a handful of common salt, a quarter
of an ounce of Jamaica pepper, and the same of black pepper, mixed
together. Continue it in the pickle a fortnight, then stuff it with
herbs, cover it with a thick paste, and bake it. Take off the paste,
pour the liquor from it, and pour over it some melted beef suet.
WELCH PUDDING. Melt half a pound of fine butter gently, beat with it the
yolks of eight and the whites of four eggs. Mix in six ounces of loaf
sugar, and the rind of a lemon grated. Put a paste into a dish for
turning out, pour in the batter, and bake it nicely.
WELCH RABBIT. Toast a slice of bread on both sides, and butter it. Toast
a slice of Gloucester cheese on one side, and lay that on the bread;
then toast the other side with a salamander, rub mustard over, and serve
it up hot under a cover.
WENS. These are prevalent chiefly among the inhabitants of marshy
countries, bordering on rivers and standing waters, especially among
females, and persons of a delicate habit; but they very often arise from
scrophula. Camphor mixed with sweet oil, or a solution of sal ammoniac,
have often been applied to these tumours with success. In Derbyshire,
where this disorder greatly prevails, they use the following
preparation. Fifteen grains of burnt sponge are beaten up with a similar
quantity of millipede, and from eight to ten grains of cinnabar
antimony. The whole is to be mixed with honey, and taken every morning
before breakfast.
WESTPHALIA HAM. Rub the ham with half a pound of coarse sugar, let it
lie twelve hours, then rub it with an ounce of saltpetre pounded, and a
pound of common salt. Let it lie three weeks, turning it every day. Dry
it over a wood fire, and put a pint of oak sawdust into the water when
it is boiled.--Another way. Take spring water that is not hard, add
saltpetre and bay salt to it till it will bear an egg, the broad way,
then add a pound and a half of coarse sugar; mix all together, and let
the ham lay in this pickle a fortnight or three weeks; then lay it in
the chimney to dry. When you boil it, put some hay into the copper with
it. You may keep the pickle as long as you please by often boiling it
up.
WET CLOTHES. When a person has the misfortune to get wet, care should
be taken not to get too near the fire, or into a warm room, so as to
occasion a sudden heat. The safest way is to keep in constant motion,
until some dry clothes can be procured, and to exchange them as soon as
possible.
WHEAT BREAD. To make it in the most economical way, the coarsest of the
bran only is to be taken from the flour, and the second coat, or what is
called pollard, is to be left in the meal. Five pounds of the bran are
to be boiled in somewhat more than four gallons of water, in order that,
when perfectly smooth, three gallons and three quarts of clear bran
water may be poured into and kneaded up with forty-six pounds of the
meal; adding salt as well as yeast, in the same way as for other bread.
When the dough is ready to bake, the loaves are to be made up, and baked
two hours and a half in a tolerably hot oven. As flour when thus made up
will imbibe three quarts more of this bran liquor than of common water,
it evidently produces not only a more nutricious and substantial food,
but increases one fifth above the usual quantity; consequently it makes
a saving of at least one day's consumption in every week. If this meal
bread were in general use, it would be a saving to the nation of nearly
ten millions a year. Besides, this bread has the following peculiar
property: if put into the oven and baked for twenty minutes, after it is
ten days old, it will appear again like new bread.
WHEAT EARS. To roast wheat ears and ortolans, they should be spitted
sideways, with a vine leaf between each. Baste them with butter, and
strew them with bread crumbs while roasting. Ten or twelve minutes will
do them. Serve them up with fried bread crumbs in the dish, and gravy in
a tureen.
WHEY. Cheese whey is a very wholesome drink for weakly persons,
especially when the cows are in fresh pasture. Tending to quench thirst,
and to promote sleep, it is well adapted to feverish constitutions. It
is the most relaxing and diluting of all drinks, dissolving and carrying
off the salts, and is a powerful remedy in the hot scurvy.
WHEY BUTTER. The whey is first set in mugs, to acquire a sufficient
degree of consistence and sourness for churning, either by the warmth of
the season, or by a fire, as in the making of milk butter. Sometimes the
green and white whey are boiled together, and turned by a little sour
ale. When the green whey is boiled alone, it is necessary to keep it
over the fire about half an hour, till it begins to break and separate,
but it must be allowed to simmer only. The process is much the same as
in milk butter, but it will keep only a few days, and does not cut so
firm as the butter which is made of cream.
WHIGS. Mix with two pounds of fine flour, half a pound of sugar pounded
and sifted, and an ounce of carraway seeds. Melt half a pound of butter
in a pint of milk; when as warm as new milk, put to it three eggs,
leaving out one white, and a spoonful of yeast. Mix them well together,
and let the paste stand four hours to rise. Make them into whigs, and
bake them on buttered tins.--Another way. Rub half a pound of butter
into a pound and a half of flour, add a quarter of a pound of sugar, a
very little salt, and three spoonfuls of new yeast. Make it into a light
paste with warm milk, let it stand an hour to rise, and then form it
into whigs. Bake them upon sheets of tin in a quick oven. Carraway seeds
may be added if preferred.--Another way. Take two pounds and a half of
flour, dry it before the fire, and when cold rub in a quarter of a pound
of fresh butter, and six ounces of sugar; mix half a pint of yeast that
is not bitter, with warm milk, put this to the flour with some carraway
seeds; mix all together to a light dough, set it before the fire to
rise, then make it into what shape you please; bake them in a slack
oven. You may add allspice beat fine, instead of carraways, if you
please.--Another way. Take a pound and a half of flour, add a quarter of
a pint of ale yeast to half a pint of warm milk, mix these together, and
let it lie by the fire half an hour; then work in half a pound of sugar
and half a pound of fresh butter to a paste; make them up, and let them
be put into a quick oven.
WHIPT CREAM. Take a quart of thick cream, the whites of eight eggs well
beaten, with half a pint of sack; mix all together, and sweeten it to
your taste, with double-refined sugar; (you may perfume it if you
please, with a little musk, or ambergris, tied in a piece of muslin, and
steeped a little while in the cream) pare a lemon, and tie some of the
peel in the middle of the whisk, then whip up the cream, take off the
froth with a spoon, and lay it in the glasses, or basons. This does well
over a fine tart.
WHIPT SYLLABUBS. Put some rich cream into an earthen pot, add some white
wine, lemon juice, and sugar to the taste. Mill them well together with
a chocolate mill, and as the froth keeps rising take it off with a
spoon, and put it into syllabub glasses. They should be made the day
before they are to be used. Syllabubs are very pretty in the summer time
made with red currant juice, instead of lemon juice.--Another way. Take
a quart of cream, boil it, and let it stand till cold; then take a pint
of white wine, pare a lemon thin, and steep the peel in the wine two
hours before you use it; to this add the juice of a lemon, and as much
sugar as will make it very sweet; put all together into a bowl, and
whisk it one way till it is pretty thick, fill the glasses, and keep it
a day before you use it. It will keep good for three or four days. Let
the cream be full measure, and the wine rather less; if you like it
perfumed, put in a grain or two of ambergris.--Another way. To a quart
of thick cream put half a pint of sack, the juice of two Seville
oranges, or lemons, grate the peel of two lemons, and add half a pound
of double-refined sugar well pounded; mix a little sack with sugar, and
put it into some of the glasses, and red wine and sugar into others, the
rest fill with syllabub only. Then whisk your cream up very well, take
off the froth with a spoon, and fill the glasses carefully, as full as
they will hold. Observe, that this sort must not be made long before
they are used.
WHITE BREAD. This is made the same as household bread, except that it
consists of fine flour unmixed. The water to be used should be lukewarm
in summer, and in very cold weather it must be hot, but not so as to
scald the yeast. Bricks are made by moulding the loaves long instead of
round, and cutting the sides in several places before they are put into
the oven.
WHITE CAKES. Dry half a pound of flour, rub into it a very little
pounded sugar, one ounce of butter, an egg, a few carraways, and as much
milk and water as will make it into a paste. Roll it thin, cut it into
little cakes with a wine glass, or the top of a canister, and bake them
fifteen minutes on tin plates.
WHITE CAUDLE. Boil four spoonfuls of oatmeal in two quarts of water,
with a blade or two of mace, and a piece of lemon peel; stir it often,
and let it boil a full quarter of an hour, then strain it through a
sieve for use; when you use it, grate in some nutmeg, sweeten it to your
palate, and add what white wine you think proper: if it is not for a
sick person, you may squeeze in a little lemon juice.
WHITE CERATE. Take four ounces of olive oil, half an ounce of
spermaceti, and four ounces of white wax. Put them into an earthen
pipkin, and stir the mixture with a stick till it is quite cold.
WHITE GRAVY. Boil in a quart of water a pound and a half of veal, from
the knuckle or scrag end of the neck. Add a small onion, a bunch of
sweet herbs, a blade of mace, a little whole pepper and salt. After an
hour's simmering over the fire, strain off the gravy, and it is ready
for use.
WHITE GRAVY FOR SOUPS. To a few slices of lean ham, add a knuckle of
veal cut in pieces, some turnips, parsnips, leeks, onions, and celery.
Put them all into a stewpan with two quarts of water, and let it simmer
till the meat is nearly tender, without allowing it to colour. Add to
this half as much clear beef gravy, and boil it an hour, skimming off
the fat very clean. Strain it, and set it by for use.
WHITE HERRINGS. If good, their gills are of a fine red, and the eyes
bright; as is likewise the whole fish, which must be stiff and firm.
Having scaled, drawn, and cleaned them, dust them with flour, and fry
them of a light brown. Plain or melted butter for sauce.
WHITE LEAD. White oxide of lead is often adulterated by the carbonate of
lime. To detect this pour four drams of pure acetous acid, over a dram
of the suspected oxide. This will dissolve both oxide and chalk; but if
a few drops of a solution of oxalic acid be now poured in, a very
abundant white precipitate of oxalate of lime will take place.
WHITE PAINT. An excellent substitute for white oil paint may be made of
fresh curds bruised fine, and kneaded with an equal quantity of slacked
lime. The mixture is to be well stirred, without any water, and it will
produce an excellent white paint for inside work. As it dries very
quickly, it should be used as soon as made; and if two coats be laid on,
it may afterwards be polished with a woollen cloth till it becomes as
bright as varnish. If applied to places exposed to moisture, the
painting should be rubbed over with the yolk of an egg, which will
render it as durable as the best of oil painting. No kind of painting
can be so cheap; and as it dries speedily, two coats of it may be laid
on in a day and polished, and no offensive smell will arise from it.