_Ginger Candy._--Boil a pound of clarified sugar until, upon taking a
drop of it on a piece of stick, it will become brittle when cold. Mix
and stir up with it, for a common article, about a teaspoonful of ground
ginger; if for a superior article, instead of the ground ginger add half
the white of an egg, beaten up previously with fine sifted loaf sugar,
and twenty drops of strong essence of ginger.
_Ginger Lozenges._--Dissolve in one-quarter of a pint of hot water half
an ounce of gum arabic; when cold, stir it up with one and a half pounds
of loaf sugar, and a spoonful of powdered ginger, or twelve drops of
essence of ginger. Roll and beat the whole up into a paste; make it into
a flat cake, and punch out the lozenges with a round stamp; dry them
near the fire, or in an oven.
_Peppermint Lozenges._--Best powdered white sugar, seven pounds; pure
starch, one pound; oil of peppermint to flavor. Mix with mucilage.
_Peppermint, Rose or Hoarhound Candy._--They may be made as lemon candy.
Flavor with essence of rose or peppermint or finely powdered hoarhound.
Pour it out in a buttered paper, placed in a square tin pan.
_To Clarify Sugar for Candies._--To every pound of sugar, put a large
cup of water, and put it in a brass or copper kettle, over a slow fire,
for half an hour; pour into it a small quantity of isinglass and gum
Arabic, dissolved together. This will cause all impurities to rise to
the surface; skim it as it rises. Flavor according to taste.
All kinds of sugar for candy, are boiled as above directed. When boiling
loaf sugar, add a tablespoonful of rum or vinegar, to prevent its
becoming too brittle whilst making.
Loaf sugar when boiled, by pulling and making into small rolls, and
twisting a little, will make what is called little rock, or snow. By
pulling loaf sugar after it is boiled, you can make it as white as snow.
_Common Twist Candy._--Boil three pounds of common sugar and one pint of
water over a slow fire for half an hour, without skimming. When boiled
enough take it off; rub the hands over with butter; take that which is a
little cooled, and pull it as you would molasses candy, until it is
white; then twist or braid it, and cut it up in strips.
_Fine Peppermint Lozenges._--Best powdered white sugar, 7 pounds; pure
starch, 1 pound; oil of peppermint to flavor. Mix with mucilage.
_Everton Taffee._--To make this favorite and wholesome candy, take 1½
pounds of moist sugar, 3 ounces of butter, a teacup and a half of water
and one lemon. Boil the sugar, butter, water, and half the rind of the
lemon together, and when done--which will be known by dropping into cold
water, when it should be quite crisp--let it stand aside till the
boiling has ceased, and then stir in the juice of the lemon. Butter a
dish, and pour it in about a quarter of an inch in thickness. The fire
must be quick, and the taffee stirred all the time.
_Candy Fruit._--Take 1 pound of the best loaf sugar; dip each lump into
a bowl of water, and put the sugar into your preserving kettle. Boil it
down and skim it until perfectly clear, and in a candying state. When
sufficiently boiled, have ready the fruits you wish to preserve. Large
white grapes, oranges separated into small pieces, or preserved fruits,
taken out of their syrup and dried, are very nice. Dip the fruits into
the prepared sugar while it is hot; put them in a cold place; they will
soon become hard.
_Popped Corn._--Dipped in boiling molasses and stuck together forms an
excellent candy.
_Molasses Candy._--Boil molasses over a moderately hot fire, stirring
constantly. When you think it is done, drop a little on a plate, and if
sufficiently boiled it will be hard. Add a small quantity of vinegar to
render it brittle and any flavoring ingredient you prefer. Pour in
buttered tin pans. If nuts are to be added strew them in the pans before
pouring out the candy.
_Liquorice Lozenges._--Extract of liquorice, 1 pound, powdered white
sugar, 2 pounds. Mix with mucilage made with rosewater.
_Fig Candy._--Take 1 pound of sugar and 1 pint of water, set over a slow
fire. When done, add a few drops of vinegar and a lump of butter, and
pour into pans in which split figs are laid.
_Puds in Candy._--Can be made in the same manner, substituting stoned
raisins for the figs. Common molasses candy is very nice with all kinds
of nuts added.
_Scotch Butter Candy._--Take 1 pound of sugar, 1 pint of water: dissolve
and boil. When done add 1 tablespoonful of butter, and enough lemon
juice and oil of lemon to flavor.
_Icing for Cakes._--Beat the whites of two small eggs to a high froth;
then add to them a quarter of a pound of white, ground, or powdered
sugar; beat it well until it will lie in a heap; flavor with lemon or
rose. This will frost the top of a common-sized cake. Heap what you
suppose to be sufficient in the centre of the cake, then dip a
broad-bladed knife in cold water, and spread the ice evenly over the
whole surface.
_Saffron Lozenges._--Finely powdered hay-saffron, 1 ounce; finely
powdered sugar, 1 pound; finely powdered starch, 8 ounces. Mucilage to
mix.
_Chocolate Cream._--Chocolate, scraped fine, ½ ounce; thick cream, 1
pint; sugar (best), 3 ounces; heat it nearly to boiling, then remove it
from the fire, and mill it well. When cold add the whites of four or
five eggs; whisk rapidly and take up the froth on a sieve; serve the
cream in glasses, and pile up the froth on the top of them.
_Candied Lemon or Peppermint for Colds._--Boil 1½ pounds sugar in a half
pint of water, till it begins to candy around the sides; put in 8 drops
of essence; pour it upon buttered paper, and cut it with a knife.
VALUABLE MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS, FOR THE HOUSEHOLD AND EVERY DAY
REQUIREMENTS.
_Alum in Starch._--For starching muslins, ginghams, and calicoes,
dissolve a piece of alum the size of a shellbark, for every pint of
starch, and add to it. By so doing the colors will keep bright for a
long time, which is very desirable when dresses must be often washed,
and the cost is but a trifle.
_Cider Yeast._--Take cider from sour apples before it ferments, scald,
skim thoroughly, and pour, while hot, upon flour enough to make a stiff
batter. When cool, add yeast of any kind, and let it rise, stirring it
down as often as it tries to run over for several days, then put it in a
cool place (where it will not freeze), and you will have something equal
to the best hop yeast. It will keep until May without any further labor.
_To Destroy Cockroaches._--The following is said to be effectual: These
vermin are easily destroyed, simply by cutting up green cucumbers at
night, and placing them about where roaches commit depredations. What is
cut from the cucumbers in preparing them for the table answers the
purpose as well, and three applications will destroy all the roaches in
the house. Remove the peelings in the morning, and renew them at night.
_Fire Kindlers._--Take a quart of tar and three pounds of resin, melt
them, bring to a cooling temperature, mix with as much sawdust, with a
little charcoal added, as can be worked in; spread out while hot upon a
board, when cold break up into lumps of the size of a large hickory nut,
and you have, at a small expense, kindling material enough for a
household for one year. They will easily ignite from a match and burn
with a strong blaze, long enough to start any wood that is fit to burn.
_Remedy against Moths._--An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered
shell of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for
several days, then strained. With this tincture the furs or cloths are
sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. Instead of the pepper, bitter
apple may be used. This remedy is used in Russia under the name of the
Chinese tincture for moths.
_Substitute for Yeast._--Boil one pound of flour, one quarter pound of
brown sugar and a little salt in two gallons of water for one hour. When
milk-warm, bottle and cork close, and it will be ready for use in
twenty-four hours.
_To make Ley._--Have a large tub or cask and bore a hole on one side for
a tap, near the bottom; place several bricks near the hole and cover
them with straw. Fill the barrel with strong wood ashes. Oak ashes are
strongest, and those of appletree wood make the whitest soap. Pour on
boiling water until it begins to run, then put in the tap and let it
soak. If the ashes settle down as they are wet, fill in until full.
_Tomato Wine._--Take ripe, fresh tomatoes, mash very fine, strain
through a fine sieve, sweeten with good sugar, to suit the taste, set it
away in an earthen or glass vessel, nearly full, cover tight, with
exception of a small hole for the refuse to work off through during its
fermentation. When it is done fermenting it will become pure and clear.
Then bottle, and cork tight. A little salt improves its flavor; age
improves it.
_To Color Brown on Cotton or Woolen._--For ten pounds of cloth boil
three pounds of catechu in as much water as needed to cover the goods.
When dissolved, add four ounces of blue vitriol; stir it well; put in
the cloth and let it remain all night; in the morning drain it
thoroughly; put four ounces of bi-chromate of potash in boiling water
sufficient to cover your goods; let it remain 15 minutes; wash in cold
water; color in iron.
_To Cleanse and Brighten Faded Brussels Carpet._--Boil some bran in
water and with this wash the carpet with a flannel and brush, using
fuller's earth for the worst parts. When dry, the carpet must be well
beaten to get out the fuller's earth, then washed over with a weak
solution of alum to brighten the colors. Some housekeepers cleanse and
brighten carpets by sprinkling them first with fine salt and then
sweeping them thoroughly.
_To give Stoves a Fine, Brilliant Appearance._--A teaspoonful of
pulverized alum mixed with stove polish will give a stove a fine luster,
which will be quite permanent.
_Method of Keeping Hams in Summer._--Make bags of unbleached muslin;
place in the bottom a little good sweet hay; put in the ham, and then
press around and over it firmly more hay; tie the bag and hang up in a
dry place. Ham secured in this way will keep for years.
_How to Cause Vegetables and Fruits to Grow to an Enormous Size and also
to Increase the Brilliancy and Fragrancy of Flowers._--A curious
discovery has recently been made public in France, in regard to the
culture of vegetable and fruit trees. By watering with a solution of
sulphate of iron, the most wonderful fecundity has been attained.
Pear-trees and beans, which have been submitted to this treatment, have
nearly doubled in the size of their productions, and a noticeable
improvement has been remarked in their flavor. Dr. Becourt reports that
while at the head of an establishment at Enghien, or the sulphurous
springs, he had the gardens and plantations connected with it watered,
during several weeks of the early Spring, with sulphurous water, and
that not only the plantations prospered to a remarkable extent, but
flowers acquired a peculiar brilliancy of coloring and healthy aspect
which attracted universal attention.
_Drying Corn._--With a sharp knife shave the corn from the ear, then
scrape the cob, leaving one-half the hull clinging to the cob. Place a
tin or earthen vessel two-thirds full of this "milk of corn" over a
kettle of boiling water, stir frequently until dry enough to spread upon
a firm cloth without sticking, when the wind and sun (away from dust and
flies) will soon complete the process. To prepare for the table, put in
cold water, set it where it will become hot, but not boil, for two
hours; then season with salt and pepper, boil for ten minutes; add of
butter and white sugar a tablespoonful of each just before ready to
serve.
_To Destroy Lice on Chickens._--The following will kill lice on the
first application: Put six cents worth of cracked _Coculus Indicus_
berries into a bottle that will hold a half pint of alcohol: fill the
bottle with alcohol, and let it stand twenty-four hours. When the hen
comes off with the young chickens, take the mixture, and with a small
cotton rag, wet the head of each chicken enough to have it reach through
the little feathers to the skin; also, with the same rag, wet the hen
under her wings. Be careful that no child, nor any one else uses it,
because it a _deadly poison_.
_Cracked Wheat._--For a pint of the cracked grain, have two quarts of
water boiling in a smooth iron pot over a quick fire; stir in the wheat
slowly; boil fast and stir constantly for the first half hour of
cooking, or until it begins to thicken and "pop up;" then lift from the
quick fire, and place the pot where the wheat will cook slowly for an
hour longer. Keep it covered closely, stir now and then, and be careful
not to let it burn at the bottom. Wheat cooked thus is much sweeter and
richer than when left to soak and simmer for hours, as many think
necessary. White wheat cooks the easiest. When ready to dish out, have
your moulds moistened with cold water, cover lightly, and set in a cool
place. Eat warm or cold with milk and sugar.
_How to Have Green Pea Soup in Winter._--Sow peas thickly in pots and
boxes, say six weeks before the soup is wanted. Place them in a
temperature of 60° or so, close to the glass in a house or pit. Cut the
plants as soon as they attain a height of from three to six inches, and
rub them through a sieve. The shoots alone will make a fair soup. Mixed
with dry peas, also passed through a sieve, no one could scarcely
distinguish color or flavor from that of real green pea soup. There is,
however, considerable difference in the flavor of pea leaves, as well as
of the peas themselves. The best marrows, such as Ne Plus Ultra and
Veitche's Perfection, yield the most piquant cuttings. Also the more
light the plants receive the higher the flavor, plants drawn up or at
all blanched, being by no means comparable with those well and strongly
grown.
In the spring, a few patches or rows may be sown in open quarters
expressly for green cuttings. These are most perfect and full flavored
when four inches high. When too long, the flavor seems to have run to
wood, and the peculiar aroma of green peas is weaker.
There is yet another mode of making green pea soup at any season at very
short notice. Chip the peas by steeping them in water and leaving them
in a warm place for a few days. Then slightly boil or stew, chips and
all, and pass them through a sieve. The flavor is full and good, though
such pea soup lacks color. It is astonishing how much the mere
vegetation of seeds develops their more active and predominant flavor or
qualities; a fact that might often be turned to useful account in the
kitchen in the flavoring of soups or dishes, with turnips, celery,
parsley, etc.
_Composition for Restoring Scorched Linen._--Boil, to a good
consistency, in half a pint of vinegar, two ounces of fuller's earth, an
ounce of hen's dung, half an ounce of cake soap, and the juice of two
onions. Spread this composition over the whole of the damaged part; and
if the scorching is not quite through, and the threads actually
consumed, after suffering it to dry on, and letting it receive a
subsequent good washing or two, the place will appear full as white and
perfect as any other part of the linen.
_To Remove Indelible Ink Stains._--Soak the stained spot in strong salt
water, then wash it with ammonia. Salt changes the nitrate of silver
into chloride of silver, and ammonia dissolves the chloride.
_To Cook Cauliflower._--Choose those that are close and white and of
middle size, trim off the outside leaves, cut the stalk off flat at the
bottom, let them lie in salt and water an hour before you boil them. Put
them into boiling water with a handful of salt in it, skim it well and
let it boil slowly till done. Fifteen minutes will suffice for a small
one, and twenty will be long enough for a large one. If it is boiled a
minute or two after it is done the flavor will be impaired.
_To Pickle String Beans._--Place them in a pan with alternate layers of
salt and leave them thus for 24 hours. Drain them and place them in a
jar with allspice, cloves, pepper and a little salt. Boil enough vinegar
to cover them, pour over them and let them stand till the next day, boil
the vinegar the second time, and pour it on again. The next day boil the
vinegar for the last time, pour it over the beans, and when quite cold,
cover the jar tightly and set in a cool closet.
_How to Cause a Baby to Thrive and Grow._--Try the milk first drawn from
a cow that is fresh, add one-quarter water, and a little sugar. If the
milk constipates, sweeten it with molasses, or mix with it a small
quantity of magnesia. Abjure soothing syrups, and for colic give catnip
or smellage tea. Give the baby a tepid bath at night as well as in the
morning, rubbing him well with the hand. After the bath, let him feed
and then sleep. We find open air the best of tonics for babies. Ours
takes his naps out of doors in the shade during the warm weather, and
his cheeks are two roses.
_To Can Gooseberries without Breaking them._--Fill the cans with
berries, and partly cover with water, set the jars into a vessel of
water, and raise the temperature to the boiling point. Boil eight
minutes, remove from the kettle, cover with boiling water, and seal
immediately. If sugar is used, let it be pure white, and allow eight
ounces to a quart of berries. Make into a syrup, and use in the cans
instead of water. The glass cans with glass tops, a rubber and a screw
ring, we have found the simplest and most perfect of the many kinds
offered for sale in the market.
_Ready Mode of Mending Cracks in Stoves, Pipes and Iron Ovens._--When a
crack is discovered in a stove, through which the fire or smoke
penetrates, the aperture may be completely closed in a moment with a
composition consisting of wood ashes and common salt made up into paste
with a little water, and plastered over the crack. The good effect is
equally certain, whether the stove, etc., be cold or hot.
_To Keep Milk from Turning Sour._--Add a little sub-carbonate of soda,
or of potash. This by combining with, and neutralizing the acetic acid
formed, has the desired effect, and keeps the milk from turning sooner
than it otherwise would. The addition is perfectly harmless, and does
not injure the taste.
_Strawberry Vinegar._--Put four pounds of very ripe strawberries, nicely
dressed, into three quarts of the best vinegar, and let them stand three
or four days; then drain the vinegar through a jelly-bag, and pour it on
the same quantity of fruit. Repeat the process in three days for a third
time. Finally, to each pound of the liquor thus obtained, add one pound
of fine sugar. Bottle, and let it stand covered, but not tightly corked,
one week; then cork it tight, and set it in a cool, _dry_ place, where
it will not freeze. Raspberry vinegar is made the same way.
_Cider Vinegar._--After cider has become too sour for use, set it in a
warm place, put to it occasionally the rinsings of the sugar basin or
molasses jug, and any remains of ale or cold tea; let it remain with the
bung open, and you will soon have the best of vinegar.
_To Give Luster to Silver._--Dissolve a quantity of alum in water, so as
to make a pretty strong brine, and skim it carefully; then add some soap
to it, and dip a linen rag in it, and rub over the silver.
_To Make Water-Proof Porous Cloth._--Close water-proof cloth fabrics,
such as glazed oil-cloth, India-rubber, and gutta-percha cloth are
completely water-proof, but do not permit perspiration and the exhaled
gases from the skin to pass through them, because they are air-tight as
well as water-tight. Persons who wear air-tight garments soon become
faint, if they are undergoing severe exercise, such as that to which
soldiers are exposed when on march. A porous, water-proof cloth,
therefore, is the best for outer garments during wet weather, for those
whose duties or labor causes them to perspire freely. The best way for
preparing such cloth is by the following process: Take 2¼ pounds of alum
and dissolve this in 10 gallons of boiling water; then in a separate
vessel dissolve the same quantity of sugar of lead in 10 gallons of
water, and mix the two solutions. The cloth is now well handled in this
liquid, until every part of it is penetrated; then it is squeezed and
dried in the air, or in a warm apartment, then washed in cold water and
dried again, when it is fit for use. If necessary, the cloth may be
dipped in the liquid and dried twice before being washed. The liquor
appears curdled, when the alum and lead solutions are mixed together.
This is the result of double decomposition, the sulphate of lead, which
is an insoluble salt, being formed. The sulphate of lead is taken up in
the pores of the cloth, and it is unaffected by rains or moisture, and
yet it does not render the cloth air-tight. Such cloth is also partially
non-inflammable. A solution of alum itself will render cloth, prepared
as described, partially water-proof, but it is not so good as the
sulphate of lead. Such cloth--cotton or woolen--sheds rain like the
feathers on the back of a duck.
_To Cleanse Carpet._--1 teaspoonful liquid ammonia in one gallon warm
water, will often restore the color of carpets, even if produced by acid
or alkali. If a ceiling has been whitewashed with the carpet down, and a
few drops are visible, this will remove it. Or, after the carpet is well
beaten and brushed, scour with ox gall, which will not only extract
grease but freshen the colors--1 pint of gall in 3 gallons of warm
water, will do a large carpet. Table floor-cloths may be thus washed.
The suds left from a wash where ammonia is used, even if almost cold,
cleanses these floor-cloths well.
_To Keep Hams._--After the meat has been well cured by pickle and smoke,
take some clean ashes from bits of coal; moisten them with a little
water so that they will form a paste, or else just wet the hams a
little, and rub on the dry ashes. Rubbed in thoroughly they serve as a
capital insect protector, and the hams can be hung up in the smoke-house
or wood-chamber without any danger of molestation.
_A Cold Cement for Mending Earthenware_, says a recent English work,
reckoned a great secret among workmen, is made by grating a pound of old
cheese, with a bread grater, into a quart of milk, in which it must be
left for a period of fourteen hours. It should be stirred quite often. A
pound of unslaked lime, finely pulverized in a mortar, is then added,
and the whole is thoroughly mixed by beating. This done, the whites of
25 eggs are incorporated with the rest, and the whole is ready for use.
There is another cement for the same purpose which is used hot. It is
made of resin, beeswax, brick-dust, and chalk boiled together. The
substances to be cemented must be heated, and when the surfaces are
coated with cement, they must be rubbed hard upon each other, as in
making a glue-joint with wood.
_How to Make Cucumber Vines Bear Five Crops._--When a cucumber is taken
from the vine let it be cut with a knife, leaving about the eighth of an
inch of the cucumber on the stem, then slit the stem with a knife from
the end to the vine, leaving a small portion of the cucumber on each
division, and on each separate slit there will be a new cucumber as
large as the first.
_White Cement._--Take white (fish) glue, 1 lb. 10 oz.; dry white lead, 6
oz.; soft water, 3 pts.; alcohol, 1 pt.
Dissolve the glue by putting it in a tin kettle or dish, containing the
water, and set this dish in a kettle of water, to prevent the glue from
being burned; when the glue is all dissolved, put in the lead and stir
and boil until it is thoroughly mixed; remove from the fire, and when
cool enough to bottle, add the alcohol, and bottle while it is yet warm,
keeping it corked. This last recipe has been sold about the country for
from twenty-five cents to five dollars, and one man gave a horse for
it.
_Bruises on Furniture._--Wet the part in warm water; double a piece of
brown paper five or six times, soak in the warm water, and lay it on the
place; apply on that a warm, but not hot, flatiron till the moisture is
evaporated. If the bruise be not gone repeat the process. After two or
three applications the dent will be raised to the surface. If the bruise
be small, merely soak it with warm water, and hold a red-hot iron near
the surface, keeping the surface continually wet--the bruise will soon
disappear.
_To Prevent Iron Rust._--Kerosene applied to stoves or farming
implements, during summer, will prevent their rusting.
_To Color Sheep Skins._--Unslaked lime and litharge equal parts, mixed
to a thin paste with water, will color buff--several coats will make it
a dark brown; by adding a little ammonia and nitrate of silver a fine
black is produced. Terra japonica will impart a "tan color" to wool, and
the red shade is deepened by sponging with a solution of lime and water,
using a strong solution of alum water to "set" the colors; 1 part
crystallized nitrate silver, 8 parts carbonate ammonia, and 1½ parts of
soft water dyes brown; every additional coat darkens the color until a
black is obtained.
_Remedy for Bums._--Take one teacup of lard and the whites of two eggs;
work together as much as it can be, then spread on cloths and apply.
Change as often as necessary.
_How Summer Suits should be Washed._--Summer suits are nearly all made
of white or buff linen, pique, cambric, or muslin, and the art of
preserving the new appearance after washing is a matter of the greatest
importance. Common washerwomen spoil everything with soda, and nothing
is more frequent than to see the delicate tints of lawns and percales
turned into dark blotches and muddy streaks by the ignorance and
vandalism of a laundress. It is worth while for ladies to pay attention
to this, and insist upon having their summer dresses washed according to
the directions which they should be prepared to give their laundresses
themselves. In the first place, the water should be tepid, the soap
should not be allowed to touch the fabric; it should be washed and
rinsed quick, turned upon the wrong side, and hung in the shade to dry,
and when starched (in thin boiled but not boiling starch) should be
folded in sheets or towels, and ironed upon the wrong side as soon as
possible. But linen should be washed in water in which hay or a quart
bag of bran has been boiled. This last will be found to answer for
starch as well, and is excellent for print dresses of all kinds, but a
handful of salt is very useful also to set the colors of light cambrics
and dotted lawns; and a little ox gall will not only set but brighten
yellow and purple tints, and has a good effect upon green.
_How to Fasten Rubber to Wood and Metal._--As rubber plates and rings
are now-a-days used almost exclusively for making connections between
steam and other pipes and apparatus, much annoyance is often experienced
by the impossibility or imperfection of an air-tight connection. This is
obviated entirely by employing a cement which fastens alike well to the
rubber and to the metal or wood. Such cement is prepared by a solution
of shellac in ammonia. This is best made by soaking pulverized gum
shellac in ten times its weight of strong ammonia, when a slimy mass is
obtained, which in three to four weeks will become liquid without the
use of hot water. This softens the rubber, and becomes, after
volatilization of the ammonia, hard and impermeable to gases and fluids.
_Renewing Maroon Colors on Wool._--Wash the goods in very weak lye; then
rinse thoroughly in clear water; thus you have a beautiful, _even_
color, although your goods may have been much faded and stained. Though
the color thus obtained may not be the exact shade as when new, it is,
however, a very pretty one. The above will not answer for other than all
woolen goods of a maroon color.
_To make Waterproof Cloth out of thick Ducking._--The following French
recipe is given: Take two pounds four ounces of alum, and dissolve it in
ten gallons of water. In like manner dissolve the same quantity of sugar
of lead in a similar quantity of water, and mix the two together. They
form a precipitate of the sulphate of lead. The clear liquor is now
withdrawn, and the cloth immersed one hour in the solution, when it is
taken out and dried in the shade, washed in clean water and dried again.
_How to Stop a Pinhole in Lead Pipe._--Take a ten-penny nail, place the
square end upon the hole, and hit it two or three slight blows with a
hammer, and the orifice is closed as tight as though you had employed a
plumber to do it at a cost of a dollar or more.
_To Build a Chimney that Will Not Smoke._--The _Scientific American_
gives the following hints to those who would "build a chimney which will
not smoke":--The chief point is to make the throat not less than four
inches broad and twelve long; then the chimney should be abruptly
enlarged to double the size, and so continued for one foot or more; then
it may be gradually tapered off as desired. But the inside of the
chimney, throughout its whole length to the top, should be plastered
very smooth with good mortar, which will harden with age. The area of a
chimney should be at least half a square foot, and no flues less than
sixty square inches. The best shape for a chimney is circular, or
many-sided, as giving less friction, (brick is the best material, as it
is a non-conductor,) and the higher above the roof the better.
_To Prevent Turners' Wood Splitting._--Small pieces of valuable wood,
such kinds as are used for turning, etc., are very liable to split
readily--that is, outward from the centre. To prevent this, soak the
pieces, when first cut, in _cold_ water for 24 hours, then boil in hot
water for two or three hours, and afterward dry slowly and under cover.
This will be found useful in making handsome mantel, toilet, and other
articles from sumac, cherry, and other woods that never grow very large.
_To Remove Dry Paint on Windows._--The most economical way to remove dry
paint from the panes is to make a small swab having a handle some eight
inches long, dip it in a little diluted oxalic acid, and rub off the
paint with a swab.
_Everlasting Fence Posts._--I discovered many years ago that wood could
be made to last longer than iron in the ground, but thought the process
so simple and inexpensive that it was not worth while making any stir
about it. I would as soon have poplar, basswood, or quaking ash as any
other kind of timber for fence posts. I have taken out basswood posts
after having been set seven years, which were as sound when taken out as
when they were first put in the ground. Time and weather seemed to have
no effect on them. The posts can be prepared for less than two cents a
piece. This is the recipe: Take boiled linseed oil and stir in it
pulverized charcoal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over
the timber, and there is not a man that will live to see it rotten.
_How to Test the Richness of Milk._--Procure any long glass vessel--a
cologne bottle or long phial. Take a narrow strip of paper, just the
length from the neck to the bottom of the phial, and mark it off with
one hundred lines at equal distances; or into fifty lines and count each
as two, and paste it upon the phial, so as to divide its length into a
hundred equal parts. Fill it to the highest mark with milk fresh from
the cow, and allow it to stand in a perpendicular position twenty-four
hours. The number of spaces occupied by the cream will give you its
exact percentage in the milk without any guess work.
_To Remove Stains._--The stains of ink on cloth, paper, or wood may be
removed by almost all acids: but those acids are to be preferred which
are least likely to injure the texture of the stained substance. The
muriatic acid, diluted with five or six times its weight of water, may
be applied to the spot, and after a minute or two may be washed off,
repeating the application as often as may be necessary. But the
vegetable acids are attended with less risk, and are equally effectual.
A solution of the oxalic, citric (acid of lemons), or tartareous acids
in water may be applied to the most delicate fabrics, without any danger
of injuring them; and the same solutions will discharge writing but not
printing ink. Hence they may be employed in cleaning books which have
been defaced by writing on the margin, without impairing the text.
Lemon-juice and the juice of sorrels will also remove ink stains, but
not so easily as the concrete acid of lemons or citric acid.
_To Prevent Snow-water or Rain from Penetrating the Soles of Shoes or
Boots in Winter._--This simple and effectual remedy is nothing more than
a little beeswax and mutton suet, warmed in a pipkin until in a liquid
state. Then rub some of it lightly over the edges of the sole where the
stitches are, which will repel the wet, and not in the least prevent the
blacking from having the usual effect.
_An Easy Method of Preventing Moths in Furs or Woolens._--Sprinkle the
furs or woolen stuffs, as well as the drawers or boxes in which they are
kept, with spirits of turpentine; the unpleasant scent of which will
speedily evaporate on exposure of the stuffs to the air. Some persons
place sheets of paper, moistened with spirits of turpentine, over,
under, or between pieces of cloth, etc., and find it a very effectual
mode.
_To make Sea-water fit for Washing Linen at Sea._--Soda put into
sea-water renders it turbid; the lime and magnesia fall to the bottom.
To make sea-water fit for washing linen at sea, as much soda must be put
in it, as not only to effect a complete precipitation of these earths,
but to render the sea-water sufficiently laxivial or alkaline. Soda
should always be taken to sea for this purpose.
_To Destroy Insects._--When bugs have obtained a lodgment in walls or
timber, the surest mode of overcoming the nuisance is to putty up every
hole that is moderately large, and oil-paint the whole wall or timber.
In bed-furniture, a mixture of soft soap, with snuff or arsenic, is
useful to fill up the holes where the bolts or fastenings are fixed,
etc. French polish may be applied to smoother parts of the wood.
_Poultice for Burns and Frozen Flesh._--Indian-meal poultices, covered
with young hyson tea, moistened with hot water, and laid over burns or
frozen parts, as hot as can be borne, will relieve the pain in five
minutes; and blisters, if they have not, will not arise. One poultice is
usually sufficient.
_Cracked Nipples._--Glycerine and tannin, equal weights, rubbed together
into an ointment, is very highly recommended, as is also mutton tallow
and glycerine.
_To take the Impression of any Butterfly in all its Colors._--Having
taken a butterfly, kill it without spoiling its wings, which contrive to
spread out as regularly as possible in a flying position. Then, with a
small brush or pencil, take a piece of white paper; wash part of it with
gum-water, a little thicker than ordinary, so that it may easily dry.
Afterwards, laying your butterfly on the paper, cut off the body close
to the wings, and, throwing it away, lay the paper on a smooth board
with the fly upwards; and, laying another paper over that, put the whole
preparation into a screw-press, and screw down very hard, letting it
remain under that pressure for half an hour. Afterwards take off the
wings of the butterfly, and you will find a perfect impression of them,
with all their various colors, marked distinctly, remaining on the
paper. When this is done, draw between the wings of your impression the
body of the butterfly, and color it after the insect itself.
_To take the Stains of Grease from Woolen or Silk._--Three ounces of
spirits of wine, three ounces of French chalk powdered, and five ounces
of pipe-clay. Mix the above ingredients, and make them up in rolls about
the length of a finger, and you will find a never-failing remedy for
removing grease from woolen or silken goods. N. B.--It is applied by
rubbing on the spot either dry or wet, and afterwards brushing the
place.
_Easy and Safe Method of Discharging Grease from Woolen
Cloths._--Fuller's earth or tobacco pipe-clay, being put wet on an
oil-spot, absorbs the oil as the water evaporates, and leaves the
vegetable or animal fibres of the cloth clean on being beaten or brushed
out. When the spot is occasioned by tallow or wax, it is necessary to
heat the part cautiously by an iron or the fire while the cloth is
drying. In some kinds of goods, blotting-paper, bran, or raw starch, may
be used with advantage.
_To take out Spots of Ink._--As soon as the accident happens, wet the
place with juice of sorrel or lemon, or with vinegar, and the best hard
white soap.
_To take Iron-moulds out of Linen._--Hold the iron-mould on the cover of
a tankard of boiling water, and rub on the spot a little juice of sorrel
and a little salt; and when the cloth has thoroughly imbibed the juice,
wash it in lye.
_To take out Spots on Silk._--Rub the spots with spirits of turpentine;
this spirit exhaling, carries off with it the oil that causes the spot.
_To take Wax out of Velvet of all Colors except Crimson._--Take a crumby
wheaten loaf, cut it in two, toast it before the fire, and, while very
hot, apply it to the part spotted with wax. Then apply another piece of
toasted bread hot as before, and continue this application until the wax
is entirely taken out.
_To Bleach Straw._--Straw is bleached by the vapors of sulphur, or a
solution of oxalic acid or chloride of lime. It may be dyed with any
liquid color.
_Windows, to Crystallize._--Dissolve epsom-salts in hot ale, or
solution of gum arabic, wash it over the window, and let it dry. If you
wish to remove any, to form a border or centre-piece, do it with a wet
cloth.
_Wax for Bottling._--Rosin, 13 parts; wax, 1 part; melt and add any
color. Used to render corks and bungs air-tight by _melting the wax_
over them.
_Whitewash._--Slack half a bushel of lime with boiling water, and cover
the vessel to retain the steam. Strain the liquor, and add one peck of
salt previously dissolved in warm water, 3 lbs. of rice boiled and
ground to a paste, Spanish whiting, 8 oz.; glue, 1 lb.; mix and add hot
water, 5 gallons; let it stand a few days, and apply hot. It makes a
brilliant wash for inside or outside works.
_To Purify Water for Drinking._--Filter river-water through a sponge,
more or less compressed, instead of stone or sand, by which the water is
not only rendered more clean, but wholesome; for sand is insensibly
dissolved by the water, so that in four or five years it will have lost
a fifth part of its weight. Powder of charcoal should be added to the
sponge when the water is foul or fetid. Those who examine the large
quantity of terrene matter on the inside of tea-kettles, will be
convinced all water should be boiled before drunk, if they wish to avoid
being afflicted with gravel or stone, etc.
_To Purify the Muddy Waters of Rivers or Pits._--Make a number of holes
in the bottom of a deep tub; lay some clean gravel thereon, and above
this some clean sand; sink this tub in the river or pit, so that only a
few inches of the tub will be above the surface of the water; the river
or pit water will filter through the sand, and rise clear through it to
the level of the water on the outside, and will be pure and limpid.
_Method of Making Putrid Water Sweet in a Night's Time._--Four large
spoonfuls of unslacked lime, put into a puncheon of ninety gallons of
putrid water at sea, will, in one night, make it as clear and sweet as
the best spring-water just drawn; but, unless the water is afterwards
ventilated sufficiently to carbonize the lime, it will be a lime-water.
Three ounces of pure unslacked lime should saturate 90 gallons of water.
_To Keep Apples from Freezing._--Apples form an article of chief
necessity in almost every family; therefore, great care is taken to
protect them from frost; it being well known that they, if left
unprotected, are destroyed by the first frost which occurs. They may be
kept in the attic with impunity throughout the winter, by simply
covering them over with a linen cloth; be sure you have _linen_, for
woolen or other cloth is of _no avail_.
_To Preserve Grapes._--Take a cask or barrel which will hold water, and
put into it, first a layer of bran, dried in an oven, or of ashes well
dried and sifted; upon this place a layer of grapes well cleaned, and
gathered in the afternoon of a dry day, before they are perfectly ripe;
proceed thus with alternate layers of bran or ashes and grapes, till the
barrel is full, taking care that the grapes do not touch each other, and
to let the last layer be of bran or ashes; then close the barrel so that
the air may not penetrate, which is an essential point. Grapes thus
packed will keep for nine or even twelve months. To restore them to
freshness, cut the end of the stalk of each bunch of grapes, and put it
into red wine, as you would flowers into water. White grapes should be
put into white wine.
_To Increase the Laying of Eggs._--The best method is to mix with their
food, every other day, about a teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper to each
dozen fowl. Whilst upon this subject, it would be well to say, that if
your hens lay soft eggs, or eggs without shells, you should put plenty
of old plaster, egg-shells, or even oyster-shells broken up, where they
can get at it.
_To Preserve Meats._--Beef to pickle for long keeping. First, thoroughly
rub salt into it, and let it remain in bulk for twenty-four hours to
draw off the blood. Second, take it up, letting it drain, and pack as
desired. Third, have ready a pickle prepared as follows: for every 100
pounds of beef use 7 pounds salt; saltpetre and cayenne pepper each, 1
ounce; molasses, 1 quart; and soft water, 8 gallons; boil and skim well,
and when cold pour over the beef.
Another method is to use 5 pounds salt, 1 pound brown sugar, and ¼ oz.
of saltpetre, to each 100 pounds; dissolve the above in sufficient water
to cover the meat, and in two weeks drain all off, and make more same as
first. It will then keep through the season. To boil for eating, put
into boiling water; for soups, into cold water.
_Flies, to Destroy._--Boil some quassia-chips in a little water, sweeten
with syrup or molasses, and place it in saucers. It is destructive to
flies, but not to children.
_Walnuts, to Pickle._--Take 100 young walnuts, lay them in salt and
water for two or three days, changing the water every day. (If required
to be soon ready for use, pierce each walnut with a larding pin that the
pickle may penetrate). Wipe them with a soft cloth, and lay them on a
folded cloth for some hours. Then put them in a jar, and pour on them
sufficient of the above spiced vinegar, hot, to cover them. Or they may
be allowed to simmer gently in strong vinegar, then put into a jar with
a handful of mustard-seed, 1 oz. of ginger, ¼ oz. mace, 1 oz. allspice,
2 heads of garlic, and 2 split nutmegs; and pour on them sufficient
boiling vinegar to cover them. Some prefer the walnuts to be gently
simmered with the brine, then laid on a cloth for a day or two till they
turn black, put into a jar, and hot spiced vinegar poured on them.
_To Pickle Cucumbers and Gherkins._--Small cucumbers, but not too young,
are wiped clean with a dry cloth, put into a jar, and boiling vinegar,
with a handful of salt, poured on them. Boil up the vinegar every three
days, and pour it on them, till they become green: then add ginger and
pepper, and tie them up close for use, or cover them with salt and water
(as above) in a stone jar; cover them, and set them on the hearth before
the fire for two or three days, till they turn yellow; then put away the
water, and cover them with hot vinegar, and set them near the fire, and
keep them hot for eight or ten days, till they become green; then pour
off the vinegar, cover them with hot spiced vinegar, and cover them
close.
_Mushroom Ketchup._--Pickled mushrooms, 4 lbs.: salt, 2 lbs. Sprinkle it
on the mushrooms; and, when they liquefy, remove the juice; acid
pimento, 6 oz.; cloves, 1 oz.; boil gently and strain: the remaining
liquor, if any, may be treated with pepper, mace and ginger for a second
quality.
_Tomato Ketchup._--Proceed as for mushroom ketchup, and add a little
Chili pepper vinegar.
_To Take Fac-Similes of Signatures._--Write your name on a piece of
paper, and while the ink is wet sprinkle over it some finely-powdered
gum arabic, then make a rim round it, and pour on it some fusible alloy,
in a liquid state. Impressions may be taken from the plates formed in
this way, by means of printing-ink and the copperplate-press.
_To Copy Letters without a Press._--A black copying ink, which flows
easily from the pen, and will enable any one to obtain very sharp copies
without the aid of a press, can be prepared in the following manner: One
ounce of coarsely broken extract of logwood and two drachms of
crystallized carbonate of soda are placed in a porcelain capsule with
eight ounces of distilled water, and heated until the solution is of a
deep red color, and all the extract is dissolved. The capsule is then
taken from the fire. Stir well into the mixture one ounce of glycerine
of specific gravity of 1.25, fifteen grains of neutral chromate of
potash, dissolved in a little water, and two drachms of finely
pulverized gum arabic, which may be previously dissolved in a little hot
water so as to produce a mucilaginous solution. The ink is now complete
and ready for use. In well closed bottles it may be kept for a long time
without getting mouldy, and, however old it may be, will allow copies
of writing to be taken without the aid of a press. It does not attack
steel pens. This ink cannot be used with a copying press. Its impression
is taken on thin moistened copying paper, at the back of which is placed
a sheet of writing paper.
_To Obtain Fresh Blown Flowers in Winter._--Choose some of the most
perfect buds of the flowers you would preserve, such as are latest in
blowing and ready to open; cut them off with a pair of scissors, leaving
to each, if possible, a piece of stem about three inches long; cover the
end of the stem immediately with sealing wax, and when the buds are a
little shrunk and wrinkled, wrap each of them up separately in a piece
of paper, perfectly clean and dry, and lock them up in a dry box or
drawer; and they will keep without corrupting. In winter, or at any time
when you would have the flowers blow, take the buds at night and cut off
the end of the stem sealed with wax, and put the buds into water wherein
a little nitre or salt has been diffused, and the next day you will have
the pleasure of seeing the buds open and expanding themselves, and the
flowers display their most lively colors, and breathe their agreeable
odors.
_Cheap Ice Cream._--Sweet milk, two quarts. Scald the milk, pour over
four eggs, and stir well. Cool off and add sugar and essence of lemon or
vanilla. Pour into a deep, narrow tin pail. Cover, and set into a wooden
pail. Fill up the space between the two vessels with pounded ice and
salt. In half an hour it will be fit for use. Keep thus in the ice till
wanted to use.
_To Take Impressions from Coins._--Make a thick solution of isinglass in
water, and lay it hot on the metal; let it remain for twelve hours, then
remove it, breathe on it and apply gold or silver-leaf on the wrong
side. Any color may be given to the isinglass instead of gold or silver,
by simple mixture.
_To Print Pictures from the Print Itself._--The page or print is soaked
in a solution first of potass, and then of tartaric acid. This produces
a perfect diffusion of crystals of bitartrate of potass through the
texture of the unprinted part of the paper. As this salt resists oil,
the ink roller may now be passed over the surface, without transferring
any of its contents, except to the printed paper.
_To Preserve Steel Knives from Rust._--Never wrap them in woolen 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 for over a hundred years without a spot of rust.
_To Plate and Gild without a Battery._--A very useful solution of silver
or gold for plating or gilding without the aid of a battery may be made
as follows: Take say, 1 ounce of nitrate of silver, dissolved in one
quart of distilled or rain water. When thoroughly dissolved, throw in a
few crystals of hyposulphite of soda, which will at first form a brown
precipitate, but which eventually becomes redissolved if sufficient
hyposulphite has been employed. A slight excess of this salt must,
however, be added. The solution thus formed may be used for coating
small articles of steel, brass, or German silver, by simply dipping a
sponge in the solution and rubbing it over the surface of the article to
be coated. I have succeeded in coating steel very satisfactorily by this
means, and have found the silver so firmly attached to the steel (when
the solution has been carefully made) that it has been removed with
considerable difficulty. A solution of gold may be made in the same way,
and applied as described. A concentrated solution either of gold or
silver thus made, may be used for coating parts of articles which have
stripped or blistered, by applying it with a camel hair pencil to the
part, and touching the spot at the same time with a thin clean strip of
zinc.
_To make a Clock for 25 Cents._--First you get a sheet of stout
millboard, such as is used by bookbinders. This will cost you from six
to ten cents. Get size twenty-seven by twenty-two inches. Draw two lines
the longest way equally distant from the edge and each other. This
divides it into three parts of the same size. Now from the top measure
off ten inches for the face, and then with your knife partly cut the
board through the rest of the lines below the face, and bend them back
and glue together by putting a strip of cloth over the edges where they
meet. Mark out the face of your clock, and make a hole for the hands. Go
to your tinman, and he will make you a funnel-shaped spout, which you
must glue on the bottom. Then make a spool like a cone--running to a
point on one end--and eight inches across on the other. Wind a string on
this cone, commencing at the large end, and winding down just as you
would a top. Tie to the end a conical ink bottle filled with sand. Make
some wooden hands, and put them on the face. Then fill your box, now
made, with sand, and when it is hung up the sand will run out slowly at
the bottom, and as the sand goes out the weights lower, and turn the
wheel, which makes the hands go around. It will depend upon the size of
the hole at the bottom as to how fast it runs. You can paint it, and
make it quite an ornament and curiosity in your house.