Part 19

AN EASY WAY OF MAKING BUTTER IN WINTER.--The following will be found an excellent method of making butter in cold weather for family use. We recommend its trial. Take, in the morning, the unskimmed milk of the preceding evening, (after it has stood all night in a _tin_ pan,) and set it over a furnace of hot coals, or in a stove; being careful not to disturb the cream that has risen to the surface. Let it remain over the fire till it simmers, and begins to bubble round the edges; but on no account let it come to a boil. Then take the pan carefully off, (without disturbing the cream) and carry it to a cool place, but not where it is cold enough to freeze. In the evening, take a spoon, and loosen the cream round the sides of the pan. If very rich it will be almost a solid cake. Slip off the sheet of cream into another and larger pan; letting as little milk go with it as possible. Cover it, and set it away. Repeat the process for several days, till you have thus collected a sufficiency of clotted cream to fill the pan. Then scald a wooden ladle, and beat the cream hard with it during ten minutes. You will then have excellent butter. Take it out of the pan; lay it on a flat dish; and with the ladle, squeeze and press it hard, till all the butter-milk is entirely extracted and drained off. Then wash the butter in cold water, and work a very little salt into it. Set it away in a cool place for three hours. Then squeeze and press it again; also washing it a second time in cold water. Make it up into pats, and keep it in a cool place.

The unskimmed morning’s milk, of course, may also be used for this purpose, after it has stood twelve hours. The simmering over the fire adds greatly to the quantity of cream, by throwing all the oily part of the milk to the surface; but if allowed to boil, this oleaginous matter will again descend, and mix with the rest, so as not to be separated.

This is the usual method of making winter butter in the south of England; and it is very customary in the British provinces of America. Try it.

COCHINEAL COLOURING.--Take an ounce of cochineal, and pound it to a fine powder. Put it into an earthen or porcelain vessel, that is quite clean, and entirely free from grease. Add a small salt-spoonful of potash, or soda, and pour in a pint of clear, soft water. Set it over the fire; and, when it has come to a boil, add a quarter of an ounce of cream of tartar, with a quarter of an ounce of powdered alum; and let it boil ten minutes. Then, while it is boiling hot, stir in three ounces of powdered loaf-sugar. Bottle it, when cold, and keep it closely corked. You can then have it always at hand, as a fine red colouring for icings, blanc-mange, creams, jellies, and other sweetmeats.

COLOURING FOR CHEESE.--An ounce of real Spanish arnotta will colour fifty pounds of cheese. Tie up the arnotta, in a thin linen rag, and put it, over-night, into half a pint of warm water. In the morning, put the arnotta-water into the tub of milk, along with the infusion of rennet, indispensable in making cheese. For a deeper tint, dip the bag into the milk, and squeeze it as long as any colour runs out.

ALKANET COLOURING.--Alkanet is now much used for giving a beautiful red colour to confectionary. It is much cheaper than cochineal, and more easily prepared. It has no peculiar taste, and no unwholesome properties. You can purchase it at any druggist’s, and at a trifling cost. It comes in small, dark-red chips. Before using it, pick it clean, and see that there is none of the dust or powder remaining about it. Tie up some of the alkanet chips, in a bit of very thin, clean muslin, like a small bag, and let it infuse with the mixture you wish to colour. It either may, or may not be boiled.

FINE RED OIL FOR LAMPS.--Infuse, for two or three hours, (or till the colour is well communicated,) a muslin bag of alkanet chips, in the clearest and best winter-strained lamp-oil. Then remove the bag of alkanet, (which may be used again for the same purpose,) and put the oil into clear glass lamps. It will be coloured of a beautiful red. According to the quantity of alkanet, or the length of time it remains steeping in the oil, you may have it of different tints, from light pink to deep crimson. Oil thus coloured is beautiful for illuminations; ball-rooms; or dispersed among the shrubbery, at a garden entertainment. The price of alkanet does not exceed six cents per ounce; and an ounce will do a great deal of colouring.

COLOURED WATER.--Slice a fresh red cabbage, and pour boiling water upon it. Cover it, and let it stand till cold. Then strain off the water, and put a portion of the infusion into three glasses. Pour into one glass a little alum-water; into the second, a little dissolved potash; and into the third, a few drops of muriatic acid. The liquid in the first glass will be turned of a purple colour, by the alum-water; that in the second will be changed to a green, by the solution of potash; and the third will assume a fine crimson, from the muriatic acid. This water is used by druggists, for the coloured jars in their shop-windows.

PERFUMERY, REMEDIES, ETC.

MACASSAR OIL.--This popular and pleasant unguent for the hair can (_as we know_) be prepared at home, so as to equal, in efficacy and appearance, any that is for sale in the shops; and at less than one-third the expense. Take half an ounce of chippings of alkanet root, which may be bought at a druggist’s, for a few cents. Divide this quantity into two portions, and having cleared away any dust that may be about the alkanet, put each portion of the chips into a separate bit of new bobbinet, or very clear muslin. In tying it, use white thread, or fine white cotton cord; as a coloured string may communicate a dirty tinge to the oil. Put these little bags into a large glass tumbler, or a straight-sided white-ware jar, and pour on half a pint of the best fresh olive oil. Cover the vessel, and leave it undisturbed, for several days, or a week; taking care not to shake or stir it; and do not press or squeeze the bags. Have ready some small, flat-bottomed phials, or one large one, that will hold half a pint. Take out carefully the bags of alkanet, and lay them on a saucer. You will find that they have coloured the oil a bright, beautiful crimson. The bags will serve a second time for the same purpose. Put into the bottom of each phial a small quantity of any pleasant perfume; such as oil of orange-flowers; jessamine; rose; carnation; bergamot; oil of rhodium; oil of ambergris; or oil of cloves, mixed with a little tincture of musk. Then fill up each phial with the coloured oil, poured in through a small funnel; and, corking them tightly, tie a piece of white kid leather over the top.

To use macassar oil, (observing _never to shake the bottle_,) pour a little into a saucer, and, with your finger, rub it through the roots of the hair.

ANTIQUE OIL.--This is a fine oil for the hair. Mix together, in a clean glass vessel, half a pint of oil of sweet almonds, and half a pint of the best olive oil. Then scent it with any sort of perfume.

To give it the colour and odour of roses, infuse, in the mixed oil, a small, thin muslin bag of alkanet chips, and set it in a warm place, till coloured of a beautiful pink. Then remove the bag of alkanet, and perfume the oil with ottar of roses. Put it immediately into a bottle, and cork it well.

For a violet perfume, infuse, in the above quantity of the mixed oils, an ounce of the best orris powder. Let it stand, in a warm place, for a week; then pour the whole into a strainer, press out the liquid, and bottle it.

For an orange perfume, scent the oil with essence of neroli, or orange-flowers.

For jasmine, with extract of jasmine.

For bergamot, with essence of bergamot.

OIL OF CASSIA.--Put into a wide-mouthed glass vessel, an ounce of ground cassia. Heat three ounces of the best oil of cloves; and, while warm, pour it on the cassia. Cover it closely, and let it stand a week. Then press it through a sieve, placed over a bowl. Transfer it to small bottles, and cork them closely. It is a fine perfume. To weaken it, add a little _inodorous_ alcohol, which, on inquiring for, you can obtain at the druggists’.

MILLEFLEURS PERFUME.--Mix together an ounce of oil of lavender; an ounce of essence of lemon; an ounce and a quarter of oil of ambergris; and half an ounce of oil of carraway. Add half a pint of alcohol, or spirits of wine, which should be of the inodorous sort. Shake all well together. Let it stand a week, closely corked, in a large bottle. You may then divide it in small bottles.

By mixing this perfume with equal quantities of olive oil, and oil of sweet almonds, instead of alcohol, you will have what is called millefleurs antique oil, which is used to improve the hair of young persons.

FRENCH HUNGARY WATER.--Take two large handfuls of the flowers and young leaves of rosemary; with a handful of lavender-blossoms; half a handful of thyme-blossoms; and half a handful of sage. Mix them well; put them into a large glass jar or bottle, and pour on a quart of inodorous spirits of wine. Then put in, as a colouring, some small bits of alkanet tied in a thin muslin bag. Cork the bottle closely, and shake it about for a while. Let it infuse during a month, exposed to the heat of the sun. Then strain it, and transfer it to smaller bottles.

FINE LAVENDER WATER.--Mix together, in a clean bottle, a pint of inodorous spirit of wine; an ounce of oil of lavender; a tea-spoonful of oil of bergamot; and a table-spoonful of oil of ambergris.

BERGAMOT WATER.--Melt a pound of the best broken-up loaf-sugar in a pint of water; add the yellow rind of six lemons or oranges, pared very thin. Set it over the fire, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. Then add the juice of the lemons or oranges; having squeezed it through a strainer into a bowl. After stirring in the juice, take the syrup from the fire, remove the pieces of rind, and stir in a tea-spoonful of genuine essence of bergamot. Bottle it, and it will be immediately fit for drinking. Pour some of it into a glass, and add a little ice-water. It will be found very fine.

TO PERFUME SOAP.--Take half a pound or more of the best white soap. Shave it down with a knife. Put the shavings into a clean white-ware jar; cover the top closely, and secure the cover by tying down a cloth over it. Set it into a large kettle or sauce-pan of hot water. The water must not come up near the top of the jar. It is well to place a trivet in the bottom of the kettle for the jar to stand on, so that a portion of the water may go under it. Place the kettle over the fire, or in a hot stove, and keep it boiling hard, till the soap in the jar within is thoroughly dissolved. It must become liquid all through, and have no lumps in it. Stir it well when done; and add, while warm, a sufficient portion of any nice perfume to scent it highly. For instance, oil of bitter almonds; extract of verbena; tincture of musk, or ambergris; oil of rhodium; oil of bergamot, lavender, jessamine, rose, cinnamon, cloves, &c. Having well stirred in the perfume, transfer the melted soap to gallicups, or little square tin-pans, and set it away to cool and harden. Afterwards, take out the cakes of soap, and wrap each cake closely in soft paper. Put them away where the air cannot reach them.

COLUMBIAN SOAP.--Blanch, in scalding water, two ounces of bitter almonds. Beat them in a mortar with an ounce of gum camphor, till completely mixed; putting in, with every almond, a morsel of the camphor. Then beat in an ounce and a quarter of tincture of benjamin, and remove the mixture to a bowl. Afterwards, having shaved down a pound of the best white soap, beat that also in the mortar; mixing with it, gradually, as you proceed, the above ingredients, till the whole is thoroughly incorporated. Divide it into equal portions, and roll it with your hands into the form of balls. This soap will be found very fine.

If you wish to have it in cakes, after you have shaved down the white soap, put it into a clean jar, cover it, and set the jar into a pot of boiling water, placed over the fire. When the soap is melted, remove it from the fire; and when it begins to cool, (but is still liquid,) stir in the other ingredients that have been mixed together as above. Then mould it in little square tin pans, and set it to cool. When quite cold, take it out of the pan, and wrap each cake in paper.

GOOD TOOTH-POWDER.--Procure, at a druggist’s, half an ounce of powdered orris-root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two or three small lumps of dutch pink. Let them all be mixed in a mortar, and pounded together. The dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish colour. Keep it in a close box.

ANOTHER TOOTH-POWDER.--Mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red Peruvian bark, finely powdered; a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh; and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk.

PARCHMENT GLUE.--Take half a pound of clean parchment cuttings, and boil it in three quarts of soft water till reduced to one pint. Then strain it from the dregs, and boil it again, till of the consistence of strong glue.

LIP GLUE.--Take of isinglass and parchment glue, of each one ounce; sugar-candy and gum tragacanth, each two drachms. Boil them in an ounce of water, till the mixture is of the consistence of thick glue. When cold, roll it between your hands, till you get it into the form of small sticks, like sealing-wax.

By wetting it with your tongue, and rubbing the moistened end of the stick on the edges of the paper that you wish to unite, it will, when dry, form a firm cement. A stick of lip-glue is very convenient to take with you when travelling, in case you should have occasion for some sort of paste.

PERPETUAL PASTE.--Buy, at a druggist’s, an ounce of the best gum tragacanth, (sometimes called gum dragon,) and six cents’ worth of powdered corrosive sublimate. Pick the gum tragacanth clean, and put it into a wide-mouthed glass or white-ware vessel, that will hold a quart. Add as much corrosive sublimate as will lie on a five-cent piece. Pour on a pint and a half of clear cold, soft water. Cover the vessel, and let it stand till next day. The gum tragacanth will then be much swelled, and nearly to the top of the vessel. Stir it down to the bottom with a stick, as the corrosive sublimate will blacken a metal spoon. Stir it several times during that day; but afterwards, do not stir it at all; leaving it to form a smooth white mass, like a very thick jelly. Then cover it closely, and set it away for use; taking care to keep it out of the way of children, as the corrosive sublimate will render it poisonous if swallowed.

This paste will keep to an indefinite period, if the air is carefully excluded from it, and if it is not transferred to a vessel made of any sort of metal. It forms a strong, colourless, and firm cement for paper, &c.; and when once made, may be kept always at hand; and is most convenient for all sorts of pasting; particularly little things, for which it would seem scarcely worth while to take the trouble of boiling flour-paste. It only spoils when kept in metal, or from long exposure to the air.

We can certify to its superiority over all other paste, having the experience of using it continually. The advantage of its being always ready is an important recommendation. Try it, and you will be induced to keep it constantly in the house.

GUM-ARABIC PASTE.--Take a common-sized tea-cup of cold, soft water, and dissolve in it a large tea-spoonful of the best and cleanest powdered gum-arabic. When the gum is entirely melted, stir in, by degrees, a table-spoonful of fine wheat flour; carefully pressing out all the lumps, and making it as smooth as possible. Keep it closely covered, and in a cool place. If, after a few days, it should appear spotted or mouldy on the top, remove the surface, and the paste beneath will still be fit for use. This is a good cement for artificial flowers, and for ornamental pasteboard work.

CEMENT FOR JARS AND BOTTLES.--According to the quantity of cement required, take one-third bees-wax and two-thirds rosin. Pound the rosin to a fine powder, and then put it, with the bees-wax, into any sauce-pan or skillet suited to the purpose, and set them over the fire to melt. When it becomes thoroughly liquid, take it off the fire, and stir in some finely-powdered brickdust, till the mixture becomes as thick as melted sealing-wax. Then plaster it, warm, round the covers of your preserve or pickle-jars. If you use it for bottles, first cork them tightly, and then dip their tops into the cement. It will dry in a few minutes. This cement is very strong and very cheap, and especially useful for articles that are to be carried to sea.

COVERING FOR CORKS.--The odour of a cologne bottle, or of any other scented liquid, may be prevented from escaping by keeping the cork and the neck of the bottle covered with the finger-end or thumb of an old kid glove, cut off, for the purpose, at a suitable length and breadth, and stretched or drawn down closely and tightly. This is more convenient than the usual kid-leather covers, that must be untied and tied again whenever the bottles are opened.

MILK OF ROSES.--Mix together a pint of rose-water, and an ounce of oil of sweet almonds. Then add ten drops of oil of tartar. Bottle it, and shake it well. It is good for the hands.

EXCELLENT POMATUM.--Melt some beef’s marrow on a slow fire, being careful not to let it burn; then strain it several times over, that it may be well purified. When partially cool, beat in some _castor_ oil, a table-spoonful at a time. The proportion should be two-thirds of melted marrow to one-third of oil. Perfume it by stirring in, as you proceed, any sort of essential oil that is not too pungent. You may give it a fine red colouring by putting in, after the marrow has melted, some chips of alkanet tied in a very thin muslin bag, letting it remain till the tint is thoroughly infused. Keep it in covered gallicups. A little rubbed every day, or twice or three times a week, with the finger among the roots of the hair, will greatly improve its growth and softness.

AN EXCELLENT WAY OF IMPROVING THE HAIR.--Once in three days take some rich _unskimmed_ milk that has been made sour by standing in the sun. Stir it up, so as to mix all through it the cream that has collected on the surface. Wash the hair with this, rubbing it well into the roots. Let it remain on the hair about a quarter of an hour or more. Then wash it off, with a lather of white soap and warm water; rinsing the hair, afterwards, with fresh water, either warm or cold, according to the season. This is an Asiatic process; and if continued every third day, seldom fails to render the hair of young people thick, soft, and glossy.

TO HAVE GOOD HAIR.--The women of Germany have remarkably fine and luxuriant hair. The following is their most usual method of managing it. About once a fortnight, boil for half an hour or more, a large handful of bran in a quart of soft water. Strain it into a basin, and let it cool till it is merely tepid or milk-warm. Rub into it a little white soap; then dip in the corner of a soft linen towel, and wash your head with it, thoroughly; dividing or parting aside the hair all over; so as to reach the roots. Next take the yolk of an egg, (slightly beaten in a saucer,) and with your fingers rub it well into the roots of the hair. Let it rest a few minutes; and then wash it off entirely, with a cloth dipped in pure water; and rinse your hair well, till all the yolk of egg has disappeared from it. Afterwards, wipe and rub it dry with a towel, and comb the hair up from your head, parting it with your fingers. In winter it is best to do all this near the fire.

Have ready some soft pomatum, made of fresh beef-marrow, boiled with a little almond oil or olive oil, stirring it all the time till it is well amalgamated, and as thick as an ointment. When you take it from the fire (and not before) stir into it a little mild perfume; such as rose-water, orange-flower water, extract of roses, oil of carnations, or essence of violets. Put it into gallicups that have lids, and keep it for use; always well-covered. Take a very small quantity of this pomatum, and rub it among your hair on the skin of your head, after it has been washed as above.

At any time you may make your hair curl more easily by rubbing into it some beaten yolk of egg, (washed off, afterwards with clear water,) and then putting on a little pomatum before you pin up your curls. It is well always to go through this process when you resume curls after having worn your hair plain.

All hair should be combed every morning with a fine-toothed comb, to remove the dust which insensibly gets into it during the preceding day, and to keep the skin of the head always clean.

To prevent your bonnet being injured by any oiliness about your hair, baste a piece of white or yellow oiled silk inside of that part of the bonnet where the crown unites with the brim, carrying the silk some distance up into the crown, and some distance down into the brim or front.

Clean your head-brushes by washing them thoroughly with a bit of soft sponge tied on the end of a stick, and dipped into a warm solution of pearlash, prepared by dissolving a large table-spoonful of pearlash in a pint of boiling water. When the bristles have thus been made quite clean, rinse the brushes in hot water; letting them remain in it till it becomes cool, or cold. Afterwards, drain the brushes; wipe them with a clean cloth; and set them upright before the fire to dry.

The most convenient way of cleaning combs is with a strong silk thread, made fast to the handle of a bureau-drawer--in front of which, seat yourself with a towel spread over your lap to catch whatever impurities may fall from the comb. Holding the comb in your left hand, and the thread in your right, pass the thread hard between each of the comb-teeth. Afterwards wash the comb in soap-suds, rinse it in cold water, and dry it with a clean cloth.

SALT OF LEMON OR STAIN POWDER.--This powder, which is erroneously called salt of lemon, is in reality composed simply of equal portions of finely pulverized salt of sorrel and cream of tartar, (for instance an ounce of each,) mixed together in a mortar, and afterwards put into small covered boxes, or gallipots. It will immediately remove ink spots, fruit stains, &c., from the hands or from any articles of _white_ linen or muslin; first wetting the place with water (warm water is best) and then with your finger rubbing on the powder, till the stain disappears. Immediately afterwards wash it off with soap-suds. If applied to a _coloured_ article that has been inked or stained, the powder in removing the stain will take out the colour. But the colour (particularly if black) may in most cases be restored by rubbing the place with hartshorn; which if very strong should be somewhat diluted with water, or it will leave a tinge of its own. If the hartshorn fails to restore the colour, it is on account of some peculiarity in the dye. It is always worth trying. We have seen a large splash of ink taken out of a carpet by first wetting it with warm water and rubbing on some of the above-mentioned stain powder. The colours were all restored to their former brightness by afterwards applying hartshorn. Next day, the place where the ink had been spilled on the carpet could not be distinguished. We have also known the same experiment tried with perfect success on a mousseline de laine dress on which an ink-stand had been overset.

Ink spots can be removed from _white_ clothes by the simple application of a bit of clean tallow picked from the bottom of a mould candle, rubbed on the ink spot, and left sticking there when the article goes into the wash-tub. It will come out of the wash freed from the ink stain.