Part 9

The water in which pared potatoes has been boiled, is an excellent thing to wash black silk in, it makes it look almost as black and glossy as new. Beef's gall in soap suds is also very good, and soap suds without the gall does very well. Colored silks should have all the spots removed before the whole of the article is wet. Put soap into boiling water and beat it till it is all dissolved, and forms a strong lather when at a hand heat, put in the article that is to be washed and if strong it may be rubbed hard; when clean squeeze out the water without wringing, and rinse it in warm water. Rinse it in another water and for bright yellows, crimsons, maroons and scarlets, put in oil of vitriol, sufficient to give the water an acid taste, for oranges, fawns, browns or their shades use no acids, for pinks, rose colors, and their shades, use tartaric acid, lemon juice or vinegar. For bright scarlet, use a solution of tin. For blues, purples, and their shades, add a small quantity of American pearlash, to restore the colors. Verdigris dissolved in the rinsing water of olive greens is good to revive the colors, a solution of copper is also good. Dip the silks up and down in the rinsing water, and take them out without wringing, and before they get perfectly dry fold them up tight and let them lay a few moments, then mangle them, if you have not a mangler, iron them on the wrong side. A little isinglass, dissolved in the rinsing water of blondes and gauzes, is good to stiffen them.

33. _Rules for washing Woolens._

If you do not wish flannels to shrink, wash them in two good suds, made of hard soap, then wring them out, and pour boiling water on them, and let them remain in it till cold. A little indigo in the rinsing water of white flannels makes them look nicer. If you wish to shrink your flannels, wash them in suds made of soft soap, and rinse them in cold water. Colored woolens that incline to fade, should be washed with a little beef's gall in the suds. Cloth pantaloons look well washed with beef's gall in the suds; they should be pressed, when quite damp, on the wrong side.

34. _Rules for washing white Cotton Clothes._

Table cloths that have coffee or any other stains on them, should have boiling water turned on them and remain in it till cold. The spots should be rubbed out before they are put in soap suds, or they will be set, so that they cannot be removed by subsequent washing. If a little starch is put in the rinsing water, the stains will come out more easily the next time they are washed. Any white cloths, that have fruit stains on them, should be washed in the same manner. It is a good plan, to soap and soak very dirty clothes over night; put them in when the water is lukewarm, and let them heat gradually, if they get to boiling it will not do any harm. Where rain water cannot be procured to wash with, a little lye in the proportion of half a pailful to seven or eight pails of hard water will soften it so that much less soap will be necessary. It is said that white clothes washed in the following manner will not need any rubbing. To five gallons of soft water, add half a gallon of lime water, a pint and a half of soap and a couple of ounces of the salts of soda. Wet the clothes thoroughly and soak the parts that are most soiled; if very dirty, they should be soaked over night. Heat the above mixture boiling hot, then put in the clothes, let them boil an hour, then drain and rinse them thoroughly in warm water, then in indigo water, and they are fit for drying. The soda can be procured cheap, by purchasing it in large quantities. It is a good plan to save the dirty suds after washing, to water your garden if you have one, it is also good to harden sandy cellars and yards.

35. _To clean Silk and Woolen Shawls._

Pare and grate raw potatoes, put a pint of it in two quarts of clear water. Let it stand for five hours, then strain the water and rub through as much of the potatoe as possible; let it remain until perfectly clear, then turn off the water carefully. Put a clean white cloth on a table, lay the shawl on it and pin it down tight. Dip a clean sponge into the potatoe water and rub the shawl with it till clean, then rinse the shawl in clear water. When nearly dry, mangle it; if you have not a mangler, wrap it up in a clean white cloth and press it under a heavy weight till perfectly dry. All the grease spots and stains should be taken out of the shawls, before they are washed with the potatoe water.

36. _To clean Silk Stockings._

Wash the stockings in mildly warm hard soap suds, rinse them in soap suds and if you wish to have them of a flesh color, put in a little rose, pink or cochineal powder; if you prefer a bluish cast, put in a little indigo. Hang them up to dry without wringing, when nearly dry, iron them on the right side, till perfectly so. If you wish silks of any kind to have a gloss on them, never rinse them without soap in the water.

37. _To clean Carpets._

Carpets should be taken up as often as once a year, even if not much used, as there is danger of their getting moth eaten. If used much they should be taken up two or three times a year. If there is any appearance of moths when carpets are taken up, sprinkle a little black pepper or tobacco on the floor before the carpets are put down. Shake the dust out of the carpets, and if they are so much soiled as to require cleaning, rub a little dry magnesia or grated raw potatoes on them; the potatoes should be rubbed on with a new broom. Let it remain until perfectly dry before walking on it. If there are any grease or oil spots on the carpet, they should be extracted before the potatoe is rubbed on. They can be extracted by grating on potter's clay, covering it with brown paper and a moderately warm flat iron or warming pan. It will be necessary to do it several times to get out the whole of the grease.

38. _To clean Feather Beds and Mattresses._

When feather beds become soiled or heavy, rub them over with a brush dipped into hot suds. When clean lay them on a shed or railing, where the rain will fall on them till they get thoroughly soaked, let them dry in a hot sun for a week, shaking and turning them over each day. This way of washing the beds makes the feathers fresh and light, and is much easier than the old fashioned way of emptying the beds, and washing the ticking and feathers separately, while it answers quite as well. Hair mattresses that have become hard and dirty, can be made nearly as good as new ones, by ripping them and washing the ticking, picking the hair free from bunches, and keeping it in an airy place several days. When the ticking gets dry fill it lightly, and tack it together.

39. _To clean Light Kid Gloves._

Magnesia, moist bread and India Rubber, are all of them good to clean light kid gloves, if rubbed on thoroughly.

40. _To remove Ink or Grease spots from Floors._

Ink spots can be removed by scouring them with sand, wet with water that has a few drops of oil of vitriol in it. Great care is necessary in using it, as it eats holes if suffered to remain long without having something put on to counteract its effects. When rubbed on floors, it should be rinsed off immediately with weak pearlash water. Oil and grease spots can be removed by grating on potter's clay thick and wetting it, it should remain on till it has absorbed all the grease; if brown paper and a warm iron is put on, it will come out much quicker. Pearlash water and sand is also good to extract grease and oil, they should be rubbed hard, then rinsed directly.

41. _To clean Mahogany and Marble Furniture._

They should be washed in water without any soap. A little oil rubbed on them occasionally gives them a fine polish. White spots on varnished furniture can be removed by rubbing them with a warm flannel cloth dipped in spirits of turpentine. It is said that ink spots can be extracted by rubbing them with blotting paper rolled up tight.

42. _To clean Stone Hearths and Stoves._

If you wish to preserve the original color of free stone hearths, wash them in clear water, then rub them with a stone of the same kind pounded fine, let it remain until dry, then rub it off. If the hearths are stained, rub them hard with a free stone. Hot soft soap or soap suds, does very well to wash hearths in, provided you have no objections to their looking dark. For brick hearths use redding mixed with thin starch and milk. Varnished stoves should have several coats of varnish put on in summer so as to get quite hard before being used. They should be washed in warm water without any soap, a little oil rubbed on once or twice a week, improves the looks of them. Black lead is good to black stoves that have never been varnished, but it will not do where they have been. It should be rubbed on dry once or twice a day.

43. _To clean Brass._

Rotten stone and spirit, is better than any thing else to clean brasses with. Acids make them look nice at first, but they will not remain clean long, they are also apt to spot without a great deal of care is used. When brass andirons are not in use, they should be thoroughly cleaned with rotten stone, and rubbed over with oil, and wrapped up tight.

44. _To cleanse Vials and Pie Plates._

Bottles and vials, that have had medicine in them, can be cleaned, by putting a tea spoonful or two of ashes in them and immersing them in cold water, the water should then be heated gradually until it boils. When they have boiled about half an hour, take them from the fire, and let them cool gradually in the water. Pie plates that have been baked on many times, are apt to impart an unpleasant taste to pies. It may be remedied by boiling them in ashes and water.

45. _Cautions relative to Brass and Copper._

Cleanliness has been aptly styled the cardinal virtue of cooks; food is not only more palatable cooked in a cleanly manner, but it is also more healthy. Many lives have been lost in consequence of carelessness in using copper, brass and glazed earthen utensils. No oily or acid substance should be allowed to cool or stand in them. Brass and copper utensils should be thoroughly cleaned with salt and hot vinegar before being used.

46. _To keep Pickles and Sweet Meats._

Pickles should be kept in kegs or unglazed earthen jars. Sweetmeats keep best in glass jars, unglazed earthen jars do very well. If the jar is covered with a paper wet in spirits, the sweet meats are less liable to ferment. Both pickles and sweet meats, should be looked to occasionally to see that they are not fermenting, if so, the vinegar or syrup should be turned from them and scalded. If pickles grow soft, it is owing to the vinegar's not being strong enough; to make it stronger, scald it and put in a paper wet with molasses, and a little alum.

47. _Starch._

To make good flour starch, mix the flour with a little water till free from lumps, thin it gradually with more water, then stir it slowly into boiling water. Let it boil five or six minutes stirring it frequently, a tallow candle stirred round in it several times makes it smoother. Strain it through a thick bag. Starch made in this manner will be free from lumps, and answers for cotton and linen as well as Poland starch. Many people like it for muslins. Poland starch is made in the same manner as flour starch. When rice is boiled in a pot without a bag, the water that it is boiled in is as good as Poland starch for clearing muslins, if boiled by itself a few moments and strained. Muslins to look very clear, should be starched and clapped while the starch is hot.

48. _To temper New Ovens and Iron Ware._

New ovens before being used, to retain their heat well, should be heated half a day. The lid should be put up as soon as the wood is taken out. It should not be used to bake in the first time it is heated. Iron utensils are less liable to crack if heated gradually before they are used. New flat irons should be heated half a day, to retain their heat well.

49. _To temper Earthen Ware._

Earthen ware that is used to cook in, is less liable to crack from the heat, by being put before they are used into cold water and heated gradually till the water boils, then taken from the fire and left in the water until cold.

50. _Preservatives against the Ravages of Moths._

To prevent woolen and fur articles of dress, from getting moth eaten when you have done wearing them, put them in a chest with cedar chips, camphor gum or tobacco leaves.

51. _To drive away various kinds of Household Vermin._

A little quicksilver and white of an egg beat together and put in the crevices of bedsteads, with a feather, is the most effectual bed bug poison. A solution of vitriol is also a good thing rubbed on walls that are infested by them. Hellebore with molasses rubbed on it, is an excellent thing to kill cockroaches, and put round the places that they are in the habit of frequenting. Arsenic spread on bread and butter, and placed round in rat holes, will put a stop to their ravages very speedily. Great care is necessary in using all these poisons where there are children, as they are equally as fatal to human beings as vermin. The flower of sulphur sprinkled round places that ants frequent, will drive them away. Half a tea spoonful of black pepper, one of sugar and a table spoonful of cream mixed and kept on a plate, in a room where flies are troublesome will soon cause them to disappear. Weak brine will kill worms in gravel walks. They should be kept moist with it a week, in the spring, and three or four days in the fall.

52. _To keep Meat in hot Weather._

Cover it with bran, and keep it where there is a free circulation of air, away from the flies. A wire safe is an excellent thing to preserve meat from spoiling.

53. _To Prevent polished Cutlery from rusting._

Knives, snuffers and other steel articles, are apt to rust when not cleaned frequently. To prevent it wrap them tight in coarse brown paper, when not in use. Knives and forks should be perfectly free from spots and well polished when not in use. They should also be wrapped up, each one by itself, so as to exclude the air.

54. _To melt Fat for Shortening._

The fat of all kinds of meat, excepting mutton and hams, makes good shortening. Roast meat drippings and the liquor that meat is boiled in, should stand until cold to have the fat harden so that it can be taken off easily. Cut your scraps of fat into small pieces, and melt them slowly without burning, together with the fat from your drippings. When melted, strain it and let it remain until nearly cold, then pour in a little cold water. When the fat forms into a hard cake, take it up and scrape off the sediment that adheres to the under side, melt it again and when lukewarm sprinkle in a little salt. The dregs of fat are good for soap grease. This shortening answers all the various purposes of lard very well, excepting in the warmest weather. In using it for pies it is necessary to use considerable butter with it. The fat of meat should not be suffered to lie more than a week in winter without melting, and in summer not more than two or three days. Mutton fat and the fat of beef, if melted into hard cakes, will fetch a good price at the tallow chandler's. It is much more economical for housekeepers to put down their own pork, than to buy it already salted. The leaves and thin pieces that are not good for salting, should be cut into small bits and melted, then strained through a cullender with a cloth laid in it, as soon as it begins to thicken sprinkle in a tea cup of salt, to twenty or thirty weight of the lard; stir it in well, then set it away in a cool place. Some people have an idea that pork scraps must be fried till very brown in order to be preserved good the year round, but it is not necessary if salt is put in.

55. _To preserve Eggs fresh a Year._

Mix a handful of unslacked lime with the same quantity of salt, two or three gallons of water. If eggs that are perfectly fresh are put in this mixture, they will keep good a year in it, provided none are cracked.

56. _To preserve Cream for long Voyages._

Take cream that is fresh and rich, and mix it with half its weight of powdered white sugar, stir the whole well together, and preserve it in bottles corked very tight. In this state it is ready to mix with tea and coffee.

57. _Substitute for Milk and Cream in Tea or Coffee._

Beat the white of a fresh egg in a bowl, and turn on to it gradually boiling tea or coffee. It is difficult to distinguish the taste from rich cream.

58. _To Cure Butter._

Take two parts of the best common salt, one part of sugar and one of saltpetre, blend the whole well together. Mix one ounce of this composition well with every sixteen ounces of the butter. Close it up tight in kegs, cover it with an oiled paper, and let it remain untouched for a month. Butter cured in this manner is very nice, and will keep good eight or nine months, if not exposed to the air.

59. _To make salt Butter Fresh._

Put four pounds of salt butter into a churn, with four quarts of new milk and a small portion of annatto. Churn them together, take out the butter in the course of an hour, and treat it like fresh butter, working in the usual quantity of salt; a little white sugar improves it. This is said to be equal to fresh butter in every respect. The salt may be got out of a small quantity at a time, by working it over in fresh water, changing the water several times.

60. _To take Rankness from a small quantity of Butter._

Take a quantity that is to be made use of, put it into a bowl filled with boiling water with a little saleratus in it, let it remain until cold, then take it off carefully and work it over with a little salt. By this method it is separated from the grosser particles.

61. _Windsor Soap._

To make this celebrated soap for shaving and washing the hands, nothing more is necessary than to slice the best white soap as thin as possible and melt it over a slow fire. When melted take it up, when lukewarm scent it with the oil of caraway or any other oil that is more agreeable, then turn it into moulds and let it remain in a dry situation several days. It will then be fit for use.

62. _To make Bayberry or Myrtle Soap._

To a pound of bayberry tallow, put a pint of potash lye, strong enough to bear up an egg. Boil them together till it becomes soap. Then put in half a tea cup of cold water, let it boil several minutes longer. Take it off, and when partly cooled put in a few drops of the essence of wintergreen, pour it into moulds and let it remain several days. This soap is good for shaving, and is an excellent thing for chapped hands and eruptions on the face.

63. _Cold Soap._

To twenty pounds of white potash put ten of grease, previously melted and strained. Mix it well together with a pailful of cold water, let it remain several days, then stir in several more pailsful of cold water. Continue to pour in cold water at intervals of two or three days, stirring it up well each time. As soon as the water begins to thin it, it is time to leave off adding it. This method of making soap is much easier than any other, while it is equally cheap and good. If you have not land to enrich with your ashes they can be disposed of to advantage at the soap boiler's.

THE END.

Transcriber's Note

The following typographical errors were corrected:

Page Error vii 67 changed to 97 ix Apple Dumplings changed to Apple Dumplings, x woolen Shawls changed to woolen Shawls, 3 petre changed to petre, 4 and alspice changed to and allspice 4 when severl slices changed to when several slices 4 mix a tea spoonfull changed to mix a tea spoonful 11 pigs ear's changed to pig's ears 15 fow s changed to fowls 15 Cold Veal changed to Cold Veal. 21 rice, and a a lb. changed to rice, and a lb. 25 twenty minutes, changed to twenty minutes. 61 whites of threee ggs, changed to whites of three eggs, 63 to your tase. changed to to your taste. 71 sugar, half a tea spoonsful changed to sugar, half a tea spoonful 71 nutmeg, and a table spoonsful changed to nutmeg, and a table spoonful 74 by the spoonsful changed to by the spoonful 89 be fit to to changed to be fit to 108 without any soap, changed to without any soap.

The following words were inconsistently spelled.

bake pan / bakepan pen-knife / penknife pie crust / piecrust saleratus / sal eratus whortle berries / whortleberries