Part 98

Grease.--(_a_) Simple washing in soap and water. (_b_) Stains from oil colours will yield to a mixture of soap and caustic potash. (_c_) Chalk, fullers’ earth, or steatite (French chalk) diffused through a little water to form a thin paste, spread upon the spot, allowed to dry, and then brushed out. (_d_) Ox-gall and yolk of egg. The ox-gall should be purified, to prevent its greenish tint from degrading the brilliancy of dyes or the purity of whites. Thus prepared it is most effective, especially for woollens. It is diffused through its own bulk of water, applied to the spots, and rubbed well in with the hands till the stains disappear, after which the stuff is washed with soft water. (_e_) Volatile oil of turpentine will take out _recent_ stains, for which purpose it ought to be previously purified by distillation over quicklime. Wipe the stain with a sponge dipped in oil of turpentine, cover with filter paper (blotting-paper) and pass a hot iron over several times; finally wash out in warm soapy water. (_f_) Benzine or essence of petroleum is commonly used for removing grease spots; but these liquids present the inconvenience of leaving, in most cases, a brownish ring. To prevent this, the garments, &c., should be laid out flat, _in daylight_, upon a cake of plaster of Paris, or upon some folds of blotting-paper, moistened with sulphuric ether, otherwise known as rectified ether, and rubbed gently with a soft brush or clean linen rag. This process, if necessary, may be repeated. It neither injures the colour nor the material, and evaporates completely on exposure to the air. Another remedy is to scatter powdered gypsum or lycopodium on the moist surface, brushing the powder away when dry. (_g_) Equal parts strong ammonia water, ether, and alcohol form a valuable cleaning compound. Pass a piece of blotting-paper under the grease spot, moisten a sponge, first with water to render it “greedy,” then with the mixture, and rub with it the spot. In a moment it is dissolved, saponified, and absorbed by the sponge and blotter.

Gelatine, Glue, Blood, Sugar.--Wash in clean warm water.

Green nuts, Tanning Juices.--Wash white goods in weak eau de javelle or chlorine water. For coloured goods, first damp, and then touch the spot with more or less dilute chlorine water, afterwards rinsing in clean water.

Ink, Ironmould.--For ink stains, dilute hydrochloric acid, which must subsequently be carefully washed out, will mostly be found effectual. For the same purpose oxalic acid or salts of sorrel (hydrogen potassium oxalate) may also be employed, and that most economically, in fine powder to be sprinkled over the stains and moistened with boiling water. The action of these solvents may be hastened by gentle rubbing, or still better by placing the stained portion of the fabric in contact with metallic tin. If there is much ironmould to be removed, dyers’ tin salt (stannous chloride) will perform the same work at less expense than the oxalic acid compounds. Another solvent for such stains consists of a mixture of 2 parts argol with 1 of powdered alum. On coloured cotton and woollen goods let a drop from a burning tallow candle fall on the stain, and then wash out in a concentrated solution of pyrophosphate of soda. On fast dyes, lime chloride or tartaric acid may be used. On fine silk or satin goods damp with strong vinegar and leave covered for some time with beechwood ashes, washing finally in strong soapy water. Some iron stains submit to a washing in a solution of yellow prussiate of potash with addition of sulphuric acid; the blue colour thus produced is removed by rinsing in a solution of potash carbonate. One of the simplest and most efficacious removers of ink stains is milk, applied _instantly_.

Lime and other Alkalis.--If white goods, wash out in clean water. For coloured cottons or woollens, silk or satin, wet the stuff, and apply successive drops of dilute citric acid; when the stain has disappeared, wash thoroughly in clean water.

Mildew.--(_a_) Dip the spot into a strained weak solution of lime chloride (2 teaspoonfuls to 1 qt. water) for a moment and expose to the sun for a few minutes; repeat till gone, and then rinse thoroughly in clean water. (_b_) Soak in water for an hour and then sun. (_c_) Moisten with lemon juice and lay in the sun. (_d_) Moisten with lemon juice, cover with a paste of soft-soap and chalk, and sun for ½ hour; repeat till gone.

Milk, Soup.--For white goods, wash thoroughly in soapy or lye water; for coloured cottons and woollens, wipe the stain with a sponge dipped in pure turpentine-oil or benzine, remove excess with blotting-paper, and wash out in warm soapy water. For silks and satins use purest benzine ether.

Nitrate of Silver.--(_a_) Dip in a neutral solution of copper chloride and touch the spot with a crystal of soda hyposulphite dipped in ammonia. (_b_) Damp with solution of potash hypermanganate and dip into solution of potash bisulphite. (_c_) Moisten with solution of mercury bichloride (a deadly poison). (_d_) Moisten repeatedly with very weak solution of potassium cyanide and rinse thoroughly in clean water.

Oil, Paint, Varnish.--(_a_) New stains will submit to carbon bisulphide, or spirits of turpentine. (_b_) Cover old stains with butter or olive oil, and when softened apply first spirits of turpentine and then benzine. (_c_) For white goods, and coloured cottons and woollens, damp the patch, and pass a sponge dipped in turpentine-oil or benzine repeatedly over the stain, then lay on a sheet of blotting-paper and pass a hot iron over; finally wash out in warm soapy water. (_d_) For silks and satins spread on a thin paste of ether and magnesia carbonate; when the ether has volatilised, brush away the magnesia, or rub with crumb of bread.

Perspiration.--Wash in a solution of soda hyposulphite, and then bleach if the goods are white.

Stearine, Wax.--Remove with a knife; place a piece of wet linen beneath, cover the stain with several layers of blotting-paper, and pass a hot iron over. Any remaining trace can be removed by a sponge dipped in benzine.

Tar, Pitch, Resin.--For coloured cottons and woollens the stuff is damped, and fat is applied to the stain, on which soap is well rubbed. The soap is allowed to act for a few minutes, and is washed out alternately with oil of turpentine and hot water. If this has not succeeded, the yellow of egg mixed with some oil of turpentine is applied, and when this has dried it is scratched away, and thorough washing out in hot water ensues. The last method is the washing of the stuff in water mixed with a little muriatic acid, and thorough rinsing out in pure river water. For silk and satin, the stuff is wetted, and a sponge dipped in a solution of ether and chloroform is rubbed over the stain. If the stain is no longer noticeable, white clay is strewn over it, over which blotting-paper is placed, and the stain is extracted by passing a hot smoothing iron over. If this process has not been successful, the yellow of egg mixed with chloroform is used in the same manner.

Unknown origin.--(_a_) For white goods, and coloured cotton goods, a small quantity of soap is dissolved in lukewarm water, and for each pint is added a coffee spoonful of ammonia. The stain is wiped with a sponge steeped in this fluid, and the material is finally washed out in water. (_b_) For coloured woollen stuffs, dissolve 20 parts ox-gall, 40 of borax, 500 of spirit, and 200 of ammonia, adding 30 of glycerine and the yellow of two eggs. The stuff is washed in this boiling solution. It is subsequently rinsed in clean warm water, and dried in the air, but not in the sun. (_c_) For silk and satin, dissolve 40 parts borax and 10 of soap in 70 of diluted spirit and 30 of ether, adding 10 of magnesia carbonate and the yellow of two eggs. The mixture is applied to the stain, and the stuff is washed in lukewarm water, rinsed in cold water, and dried at a moderate warmth, being subsequently ironed with a moderately hot iron.

Urine.--Wash in alcohol or very weak solution of citric acid.

Vinegar, Wine, Acid Fruits.--For white goods, wash out in clean water, to which ammonia has been added. For coloured cotton and woollen materials, silk, and satin, diluted ammonia is spread over the satin, and when it has disappeared a thorough washing in water ensues.

Wine, Beer, Punch.--Wash in soapy and then clean hot water.

_Tobacco Pipes._--A very simple and effective plan. Cut ½ in. from the end of an ordinary cork, and fit it tightly into the bowl of the pipe. Then with a knife cut a hole through the cork wide enough to admit the nozzle of a water tap with a little pressure, turn on the water gently until the flow through the stem is sufficiently strong, and let it run until the pipe is clean.

_Violin._--(_a_) Use soap and water, but avoid its running through the “_f_” holes. Clean the interior with _dry_ rice.

(_b_) Moisten the solid parts with salad oil, then mix same oil and spirits of wine together in a basin, trying its strength first on a part of the neck or scroll, then with a piece of white linen rag, dipped in the oil and spirit, rub the soiled parts, keep shifting the rag as it gets dirty: it will take several days to do, but keep the parts well soaked, where dirty, with oil after every rubbing; but by no means scrape it.

(_c_) Ordinary paraffin oil. _Slightly_ saturate a rag of soft silk, and proceed to wash your violin therewith. The effect is almost magical; the paraffin dissolves the crust of dirt and resin and cleans the varnish without injuring.

(_d_) For the outside, a strongish solution of washing-soda, applied with piece of flannel. If you find the soda remove the varnish (as it does with some oil-varnishes), use soap-and-water, and then paraffin. When clean, rub with linseed-oil; spirits of wine removes the old resin at once, but sometimes takes the varnish with it. For the inside, get a handful of rice, steep in solution of sugar and water 5 minutes, strain off, and nearly dry the rice till just sticky. Put in at sound-holes and shake till tired. This will pick up all dirt, then turn out.

_Violin Bows._--(_a_) Take a small piece of flannel, wet it (cold process), well rub it with best yellow soap, double it, holding the hair gently between the finger and thumb, rub gently till clean, using plenty of soap; rinse flannel, wipe off, then wipe dry with a piece of calico or linen; in an hour afterwards it will be ready for the resin. (_b_) A solution of borax-and-water.

_Wall-papers._--To remove oil stains or marks where people have rested their heads, from wall-papers, mix pipeclay with water to the consistency of cream, lay it on the spot and allow it to remain till the following day, when it may be easily removed with a penknife or brush.

_Watches._--A correspondent of the _Watchmaker and Metal-worker_ tells how he cleans watches with benzine. The method may be useful for other fine work. He says: I immerse the parts in benzine and dry in boxwood sawdust. This gives the gilding a fresh, new look, which I have not been able to get by any other process. The movement must be entirely taken down. The dial screws may be screwed down tightly and left, but all parts united with screws must be separated, so that there will be no places where the benzine can remain and not be at once absorbed by the sawdust. I have a large alcohol cup, which I fill about half full of benzine, taking down my movement and putting the larger pieces in the fluid. The scape wheel, balance, and delicate parts I treat separately, that they may not be injured by contact with the heavier pieces. I then take the pieces one at a time, and tumble them into the sawdust. In a few seconds they will be dry, when I pick them out and lay in a tray, using brass tweezers, which do not scratch. I treat all the parts in this way except the mainspring, when a slight use of the brush and clean chamois will remove all dust. Of course, the holes must be cleaned with a pointed peg; and I wipe out the oil sinks with chamois over the end of a blunt peg, but it is not often necessary to clean the pinions with a peg; they will come out of the sawdust bright and clean. The mainspring must not be put in benzine unless you want it to break soon after. The fluid seems to remove the fine oily surface which a spring gets after working for a time, and which is very desirable to retain; so I clean my springs by wiping with soft tissue paper. If they are gummy, I put on a little fresh oil to soften, and wipe off, being careful not to straighten out the springs.

=Vermin, Destroying.=--Before proceeding to classify the various kinds of noxious creatures whose presence is objectionable to man, and giving hints for their destruction or removal, it will be well to put forward a word of caution _against_ using any substance which will _poison the vermin_ in situations where their bodies can putrefy unseen and produce unpleasant and injurious odours. Wherever poisons are mentioned in the following recipes their use is intended exclusively away from the dwelling, and there are many sound reasons why poisons should be avoided on all occasions.

_Insects._--As this word is commonly used in the household it embraces a considerable number of small creatures outside the class known as insects to naturalists, and may be regarded as including all winged and creeping vermin.

Before descending to special remedies against different insects a few lines may be devoted to that universal insecticide the so-called “Persian insect powder.” This is of two kinds, one produced in the Transcaucasian region and another in Dalmatia. The first is the produce of _Pyrethrum roseum_ and _P. carneum_, and the last of _P. cinerariæfolium_ [_Chrysanthemum turreanum_], all common wild flowers in their special districts. The useful part of the plants is their flowers, which are gathered when half developed, in dry weather, dried in the shade under cover, ground to powder, and stored in air-tight vessels. The plants can be cultivated in warm climates. The Dalmatian gives the stronger powder, or perhaps the powder sold there is less adulterated. Experiments have conclusively proved that while these powders are perfectly harmless to human beings and domestic animals, they are distinctly poisonous to all insects having open mouth parts, such as bees, wasps, ants, mosquitoes, flies, fleas, bugs, dragon-flies, spiders, carpet-beetles, &c.

Ants.--(_a_) White ants will eat the whole timber work of a house without noise. They bore close to the surface of the wood, but without destroying it, so that there is no visible indication of what they are doing. They will even bore through the boards of a floor and up the legs of a table, leaving the latter a mere shell. The principal woods used in this country which are said to resist the white ant are cedar, greenheart, ebony, and lignum vitæ, and the heartwood of jarrah. Pitch pine is sometimes attacked. White ants will not attack new teak, but will bore through teak to get at yellow pine. Arsenic seems to prevent the attack of these insects, and is sometimes used for this purpose in the concrete, mortar, paint, and plaster of buildings. Arsenic is also mixed with aloes, soap, &c., to form a wash to exterminate these insects. Creosoting is an effectual preservative against white ants, but on account of its smell is only adapted for out-door work, and can hardly be applied to very dense tropical timbers. A cheap source of arsenic for this purpose is the lime arsenite residue from aniline dyeworks.

(_b_) Black Ants.--Scatter a few leaves of green wormwood about their haunts. (_c_) To clear them from pantries, chalk the shelves upon which the provisions are put, so that the ants cannot move about; or apply moistened fly-paper and lay about the pantry; or apply quassia tincture, and soak crumbs of bread with it, and lay it about the pantry. (_d_) Leave a vessel, such as a butter-crock, containing at the bottom a few stewed prunes, or a little water in which prunes have been stewed, uncovered in the places frequented by the ants; it will attract them, and thousands will drown in it. (_e_) Boil pieces of string in beer and sugar, and lay them in the ants’ way; collect once in 24 hours, when they will be found covered with ants, and drop into boiling water. (_f_) Pour benzoline down the holes. (_g_) Pour boiling water down the holes. (_h_) Rooms on a ground floor may be cleared by carefully pouring some strong oil of vitriol down each hole. This will be fatal to the living insects and all their eggs, but will destroy flooring, plaster, and bricks wherever it touches.

(_i_) Red Ants.--Grease a plate with lard, and set it where the insects abound. They prefer lard to anything else, and will forsake sugar for it. Place a few sticks around the plate for the ants to climb up on. Occasionally turn the plate bottom up over the fire, and the ants will fall in with the melting lard. Reset the plate, and in a short time you will catch them all.

Blackbeetles.--(_a_) Keep a hedgehog. (_b_) Set a deep dish or earthen pan, containing a little sugared beer by way of attraction; it will entrap the insects in vast numbers, if a few pieces of wood are inclined against the sides to serve as ladders. They will tumble in when they reach the edge, and the glazed sides will prevent their getting out. (_c_) Immediately before bedtime, strew the floor of those parts of the house most infested with the vermin with the green peel, cut not very thin, from the cucumber. (_d_) A mixture of Persian insect powder and powdered wormseed, thrown about where they frequent. (_e_) Use powdered borax, about ½ lb. to each room. It requires perseverance and care in its use. It should be scattered about freely wherever they congregate, and particularly in cracks and crevices where they can hide from it. It may be blown or forced by the blade of a knife into narrow cracks. The effect of the borax is to cause them to emigrate. It may kill a few, which will be found afterwards in a dried withered up condition lying about on the floor. They may be swept up without injury to carpets or furniture.

Bugs.--The following are paste poisons:--(_a_) 1 oz. mercurial ointment, ¼ oz. corrosive sublimate, ¼ oz. Venetian red. (_b_) Soft soap and cayenne pepper. (_c_) Soft soap and corrosive sublimate. (_d_) Soft soap and strong snuff. The following are washes for furniture or floors:--(_a_) A small quantity (6_d._ worth) salts of wormwood, dissolved in a bucket of hot writer. (_b_) Solution of pyroligneous acid, arsenite of potash, decoction of oak bark, and garlic. (_c_) 2 dr. corrosive sublimate, 8 oz. spirits of wine rubbed in mortar till dissolved, then add ½ pint spirits of turpentine. (_d_) 1 lb. each sal ammoniac, and corrosive sublimate, 8 gal. hot water. (_e_) 1½ oz. camphor, 8 oz. each spirits of turpentine and spirits of wine. (_f_) Weak solution of zinc chloride. (_g_) Benzine. (_h_) Equal parts spirits of turpentine and kerosene. Application:--(_a_) The room must be thoroughly cleared; take the bed and bedclothes into the open air, and beat them thoroughly; take the bedstead to pieces, and after a thorough purification with hot water, plug every hole and crevice with one of the pastes given above; stop all cracks, &c., in the floor and walls with the paste also. (_b_) Empty the room; scrape off all paper and burn immediately on the spot in charcoal brazier; fill all cracks in plaster, paint, and wormwood with a poison paste; scent the floor with a wash; burn all old scraps of carpet.

Crickets.--(_a_) Half fill some jampots with water and set at night. (_b_) A covered box with perforated lid containing a little salt or oatmeal.

Earwigs.--Place lengths of hollow bean-stalk or other tube where the insects collect, and each morning empty them into boiling water by blowing sharply through.

Fleas.--In Beds.--(_a_) Sprinkle chamomile flowers in the bed. (_b_) Use young leaves of wild myrtle in the same way. (_c_) Strew fresh mint under the beds. (_d_) Have walnut leaves about the person. (_e_) Place a piece of new flannel in the bed, and there seek the vermin. (_f_) Sprinkle the bed or night dress with a little solution of camphor in spirits of wine. (_g_) Sponge your person with camphor water-¼ oz. camphor, ½ oz. tincture of myrrh in 1 qt. water, shake well before use.

In Rooms.--(_a_) Slice a strong onion and rub the bottom edge of the trousers. The favourite point of attack is at the ankles and the legs up to the knee; they do not jump so much from above. (_b_) Make a strong decoction of laurel leaves by filling a large copper with the leaves, adding as much water as possible, and boil for 4 or 5 hours. Then take the leaves away, and deluge the floors with the boiling hot liquor. The liquor will but very slightly discolour the ceilings, which can be whitened again.

On Animals.--(_a_) Oil of pennyroyal will certainly drive them off; but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to dip dogs and cats into a decoction of it once a week. Mow the herb and scatter it in the beds of pigs once a month. Where the herb cannot be got, the oil may be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of dogs and cats, pour a little on the back and about the ears of hogs, which you can do while they are feeding, without touching them. By repeating these applications every 12 or 15 days, the fleas will leave the animals. Strings saturated with the oil of pennyroyal, and tied around the neck and tail of horses, will drive off lice; the strings should be saturated once a day. (_b_) Equal parts ox-gall, oil of camphor, oil of pennyroyal, extract of gentian, spirits of wine; wash.

Flies.--In Rooms.--(_a_) A castor-oil plant growing in the room kills many and drives away the rest. (_b_) A bunch of walnut leaves keeps them out. (_c_) A large, handsome Japanese lily (_Lilium auratum_) behaves like the castor-oil plant. (_d_) Soak blotting-paper in a solution of sugar of lead, and sweeten with molasses. (_e_) Mix treacle, moist sugar, or honey with 1/12 of orpiment. (_f_) Boil ¼ oz. of quassia chips in 1 pint water for 10 minutes; strain; add 4 oz. molasses. (_g_) Spread laurel oil on picture frames, curtains, &c. (_h_) When going to bed, blow some Persian or Dalmatian insect powder into the air of the room and close it for the night; burn the dust swept from the room in the morning.

On Animals.--(_a_) Procure a bunch of smartweed, and bruise it to cause the juice to exude. Rub the animal thoroughly with the bunch of bruised weed, especially on the legs, neck, and ears. Neither flies nor other insects will trouble him for 24 hours. The process should be repeated every day. A very convenient way of using it, is to make a strong infusion by boiling the weed a few minutes in water. When cold it can be conveniently applied with a sponge or brush. Smartweed is found growing in every section of the country in the United States, usually on wet ground near highways. (_b_) Scatter lime chloride on a board in the stable or pen.

Harvest Bugs.--Smear the legs all over with (_a_) Decoction of colocynth; (_b_) strong vinegar; (_c_) paraffin; (_d_) thick soap lather; (_e_) tincture of iodine; (_f_) benzine; (_g_) tar ointment (_h_) 1 oz. insect powder (Dalmatian) macerated in 1 oz. weak spirit, and then diluted with 2½ oz. water.