Part 17

Pour four quarts of boiling water, upon an ounce and a half of ginger, an ounce of cream of tartar, a pound of clean brown sugar, and two fresh lemons, sliced thin. It should be wrought twenty-four hours, with two gills of good yeast, and then bottled. It improves by keeping several weeks, unless the weather is hot, and it is an excellent beverage. If made with loaf instead of brown sugar, the appearance and flavor are still finer.

=Maple Beer.=

To four gallons of boiling water, add one quart of maple syrup and a small table-spoonful of essence of spruce. When it is about milk warm, add a pint of yeast; and when fermented bottle it. In three days it is fit for use.

=Spring Beer.=

Take a handful of checkerberry (wintergreen), a few sassafras roots cut up, a half a handful of pine-buds, while they are small and gummy, and a small handful of hops.[18] Put all these into a pail of water over night, and in the morning boil them two or three hours; fill up the kettle when it boils away. Strain it into a jar or firkin that will hold a half a pailful more of water. Stir in a pint and a half of molasses, then add the half pailful of water, and taste it. If not sweet enough add more molasses. It loses the sweetness a little in the process of fermentation, and should therefore be made rather too sweet at first. Add two or three gills of good yeast, set it in a warm place, and let it remain undisturbed till it is fermented. When the top is covered with a thick dark foam, take it off; have ready clean bottles and good corks; pour off the beer into another vessel, so gently as not to disturb the sediment; then bottle it, and set it in a cool place. It will be ready for use in two days. The sediment should be put into a bottle by itself, loosely corked, and kept to ferment the next brewing.

[18] If dried in the ordinary way. But a small pinch of the hops put up in pound packages by the Shakers is enough.

=Spruce and Boneset Beer.=

Boil a small handful each of hops and boneset for an hour or two, in a pailful of water; strain it, and dilute it with cold water till it is of the right strength. Add a small table-spoonful of essence of spruce, sweeten, ferment and bottle it, like the spring beer.

The essences of hops, checkerberry, ginger, and spruce, put into warm water in suitable proportions, then sweetened, fermented, and bottled, make good beer.

=Rennet Wine.=

Wash a third, or half of a salted rennet; wipe it dry and put it into a bottle of wine. The wine will be fit to use for custard the next day. To keep the remainder of the rennet till more is needed, put it into a strong brine and cover it close.

=To Boil Cider.=

Take cider which has been made but a day or two, and boil it nearly half away. Skim it often. It will keep good a long time, and is useful in making mince pies, and to flavor pudding sauce. Bottle it and cork it well. A mould will form over the top, but will not injure the cider.

=Cologne Water.=

To one gallon of alcohol, put twelve drachms each, of oil of lavender, oil of bergamot, and essence of lemon; four drachms of oil of rosemary, and twelve drops of oil of cinnamon.

=Indelible Ink.=

To make the ink, put into the small bottle six cents worth of lunar caustic, and fill it with rain water.

To make the wash, nearly fill the largest bottle with soft water, and add gum arabic enough to make a thin solution--about a teaspoonful of the lumps. Then put in a drachm of salt of tartar. If the ink spreads, add more gum-arabic to the wash.

=To prevent Books, Ink, Paste, &c., from moulding.=

A drop or two of oil of lavender on a book, and a single one in a pint bottle of ink, will prevent mould.

=Tooth Powder.=

Two ounces of Peruvian bark, two of myrrh, one of chalk, one of Armenian bole, and one of orris root.

=Rose Butter= (a good substitute for rose water).

Gather every morning the leaves of the roses that blossomed the day before, and put them in a stone jar in alternate layers with fine salt. After all the leaves are gathered, put a saucer or small plate into the jar, and lay in a pound of butter, for cake or pudding sauce. It is a very good way of obtaining the flavor of roses, without expense.

=To keep Parsley.=

Gather fresh sprigs, and after washing them, chop them fine, and work them into as much butter as will be needed for boiled poultry, lamb, and fish, before the next summer. Put the butter into a stone jar, and cover it with a brine made with nice salt.

=To keep Suet.=

Pull off the skin or membrane from fresh suet, sprinkle salt upon it, tie it up in a cloth or bag, and hang it in a cool, dry place. It will keep sweet the year round.

=To keep Eggs.=

To four quarts of air-slacked lime, put two ounces of cream of tartar (that is, two table-spoonfuls), two of salt, and four quarts of cold water. Put fresh eggs into a stone jar, and pour the mixture over them. This will keep nine dozen, provided they are all good when laid down; and after many months, the yolks will be still whole, and the whites stiff and clear as at first. The water may settle away so as to leave the upper layer uncovered. If so, add more. Cover them closely and keep them in a cool place.

Eggs should be laid down when they are at the lowest market price.

=To cleanse a Calf's Head and Feet.=

Take them as soon as the animal is killed, wash them clean, and in order to remove the hair, sprinkle pulverized rosin over them and dip them for an instant in scalding water. The rosin will dry immediately, and they can be easily scraped clean. Soak them from one to three days in cold water, changing it repeatedly.

=To kill Cockroaches and Beetles.=

Strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places infested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead, or dying. Black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb shops.

=To drive away Ants.=

The little red ants will leave closets where sea-sand is sprinkled, or where oyster shells are laid.

Scatter sprigs of wormwood in places infested with black ants.

=To secure Woollens, Furs, Furniture, etc., from Moths.=

Carefully shake and brush woollens early in the spring, so as to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. When the gum is evaporated it must be renewed.

A lady put up her blankets and carpets in this way before going to Europe, and on her return, three or four years after, found every article safe from moths.

Furs should not be hung out in the sun in the spring before being put away for the season. The moth miller will be likely to visit them when thus exposed. They should be put into a close box with a piece of camphor, and the box tied up in a pillow case or bag.

Blankets that are in use only occasionally during the summer, should be laid when not wanted, under a mattress in constant use, or in a trunk where there are pieces of camphor gum, or cedar chips. It would be a most convenient arrangement for housekeepers to have a closet with shelves and draws made of cedar boards.

It is more difficult than it used to be, to preserve woollens, furs, carpets, and furniture from being injured by moths. Thirty years since it was regarded as an indication of very negligent housekeeping to have a moth-eaten carpet. Now, the utmost care will not always preserve carpets from being injured in this way. Perhaps the reason may be, that in general, warehouses and dwellings are warmed throughout, during the winter, by furnaces. New stuffed and cushioned furniture is sometimes found to contain moths. To destroy them, pour burning fluid plentifully upon the cushions, sofas, &c. If it is fresh, it will leave no stain, and the disagreeable odor will soon pass away. To preserve a carpet that cannot be often shaken, draw out the tacks twice a year, turn back the edges a quarter of a yard all around, brush out the dust, and then with a painter's brush put new spirits of turpentine upon the boards as far as the carpet is turned back; then return it immediately to its place, and put in the tacks.

The floors of some houses have moths in the cracks. In this case, cedar saw-dust sprinkled over the floor before laying down the carpet, will protect it from these diligent mischief-workers. If this cannot be had use tar-paper.

=To kill Moths.=

Take furs or pillows infested with moths, and put them into a brick oven which has just been used for baking. Let them remain over night, and the next day beat them well in the open air.

=To remove the Bad Odor from New Feathers.=

Make a cover for the bed of some coarse material, or a couple of old sheets; get a baker to put it into his oven one or two nights. A better way, when it can be done, is to send the feathers in bags to a baker's oven, before they are put into the tick.

=To purify a Sink or Drain.=

Dissolve half a pound of copperas in two gallons of water, and pour in half one day, and the remainder the next.

=To take out Mildew.=

(This and the next receipt were furnished by a chemist.)

Obtain the dryest chloride of lime that can be bought, and for strong fabrics dissolve four table-spoonfuls in a half a pint of water. Let the mildewed article lie fifteen minutes in this solution. Then take it out, wring it gently, and put it immediately into weak muriatic acid--one part of the acid and four parts soft water.

For delicate fabrics, laces, muslins, &c., the solution of lime should be diluted by the addition of three or four times the measure of water. Let the article lie in it five minutes; then put it into the muriatic acid.

=To take out Iron Mould.=

Dissolve a teaspoonful of salts of tin in two table-spoonfuls of water. Dip the iron-mould into the solution, and let it remain five minutes. Then dip it into a mixture of equal parts of muriatic acid and water. Dip the mould spots alternately into these mixtures, or make the first one stronger with the salts of tin, and apply it with a soft rag on the end of a stick. Last of all, rinse the articles very thoroughly in cold water.

A simpler method of removing iron-mould succeeds well, provided it is recent, and not very dark. Tie up a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in the moulded place, and put it into cold water without soap, and boil it half an hour.

=To take out Ink.=

Turn boiling water upon it immediately, in this way: spread the cloth over a pitcher or basin, with the ink-spots in the centre, and while you hold it in its place, let another person turn the boiling water on the spots. This is better than to put the article into boiling water, as the whole will then be tinged with the ink. If the spots are still visible, tie up a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in the places where they are--more for a large stain, less for a very small one--then put the cloth into cold water without soap, and boil it half an hour. If it is not convenient to put boiling water at once on the stains, put them in cold water; do not let them become dry.

Articles that have been stained with ink or fruit, should not be put into soap suds until the stains are removed. Soap will tend to make them permanent.

=To take out Fruit Stains.=

Tie up cream of tartar in the spots, and put the cloth in cold water, to boil; or if the stains are much spread, stir the cream of tartar into the water. If they are still visible, boil the cloth in a mixture of subcarbonate of soda a small table-spoonful to a pail of water.

=To take out Grease or Fresh Paint.=

Rub grease spots with chloric ether. To remove paint, the ether should be applied on the other side. The ether carries off the oil by evaporation, and leaves the lead of which the paint was composed, dry. New turpentine will remove fresh paint.

=To remove rust from Iron Ware and Stoves.=

New stove or range furniture is sometimes so much rusted as to make the use of it very inconvenient. Put into a rusty kettle as much hay as it will hold, fill it with water and boil it many hours. At night set it aside, and the next day boil it again. If it is not entirely fit for use, repeat the process. It will certainly be effectual.

Rub the rusty spots on a stove with sand-paper, and then with sweet oil.

=To take off starch or rust from Flat-irons.=

Tie up a piece of yellow beeswax in a rag, and when the iron is almost, but not quite hot enough to use, rub it quickly with the wax, and then with a coarse cloth.

=To prevent Glass, Earthen, Potter's and Iron Ware from being easily broken.=

Put dishes, tumblers, and other glass articles into a kettle; cover them entirely with cold water, and put the kettle where it will soon boil. When it has boiled a few minutes, set it aside, covered close. When the water is cold, take out the glass.

Treat new earthen ware in the same way. When potter's ware is boiled, a handful or two of bran should be thrown into the water, and the glazing will never be injured by acids or salt.

Cast-iron stoves, and iron ware should be heated gradually the first time they are used.

=A permanent Cement for Glass, China, and Wood.=

Steep Russian Isinglass twenty-four hours in white brandy, gently boil and stir the mixture until it is well compounded, and a drop of it, cooled, will become a very thick jelly; then strain it through a linen cloth, and cork it up closely. A gentle heat will dissolve it into a colorless fluid. Broken dishes united with it, will break elsewhere, rather than separate in the old fracture. To apply it, rub the edges, place them together, and hold them two or three minutes.

=To preserve steel Knives from Rust.=

Never wrap them in woollen 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 more than an hundred years without a spot of rust.

=To prevent Ivory Knife Handles from being cracked.=

Never let knife blades stand in hot water as is sometimes done to make them wash easily. The heat expands the steel which runs up into the handle a very little, and this cracks the ivory. Knife handles should never lie in water. A handsome knife, or one used for cooking is soon spoiled in this way.

=To remove spots from Furniture.=

Paint or white spots occasioned by spilling medicine or setting something hot upon furniture, can be removed by rubbing them with camphene.

=To remove Mortar or Paint from Windows.=

Rub the spots of mortar with a stiff brush dipped in sharp, hot vinegar, and paint spots with burning fluid or camphene and sand.

=To clean Paint with Pumice-stone.=

Use powdered pumice-stone instead of whiting or sand. It cleans paint very quickly, and without injuring it. But very little should be put on the cloth at once. A pint of it is enough to clean the paint of a large house. It is well to keep it on hand, as it is often needed for removing spots from paint, and for cleaning closet shelves.

=To polish unvarnished Mahogany Furniture.=

First take out ink stains, if there are any, by touching them with spirits of salt. Do it with a sponge tied upon the end of a stick; then wash the spots instantly with vinegar, and make the whole surface to be polished, clean with it. Then rub on the following preparation with a woollen cloth:--

Melt together in an earthen pot two ounces of beeswax, and half an ounce of alconet root; then take it from the fire and add two ounces of spirits of wine, and half a pint of spirits of turpentine. Polish with a soft silk cloth.

=To clean Silver and Plated Ware.=

Use fine whiting, and wet it with hartshorn instead of water. The spots that make their appearance upon silver or plated-ware that is not in constant use, are quickly removed by this mixture. Silver is injured by coarse whiting; therefore it is well to sift it through a piece of muslin.

It is a good way to boil half an ounce of hartshorn powder in a pint of water, and put into it clean linen or cotton rags enough to absorb the whole of the mixture; then dry them, and keep them to clean silver and plate. Wash leather should be used afterwards.

=To clean Paper Hangings.=

Put a clean soft bag, or an old pillow-case over a new broom, and gently brush the dust from the paper; then take crusts of stale bakers' bread, and wipe it down lightly, beginning at the top. If you rub it, the dirt will adhere to the paper. After thus brushing all around the upper part of the walls with the bread, begin just above where you left off, and go round again. Do thus until you have finished the paper. The dust and crumbs will fall together. Whenever a room is cleaned it is a good way, before the paint and windows are washed, to wipe the paper with a covered broom as above directed.

=To prepare earth for House Plants.=

Put together equal parts of the three following things--soil from the sides of a barn-yard, well-rotted manure, and leaf mould from the woods, or earth from the inside of an old tree or stump. Add a small quantity of sand. For Cactuses, put as much sand as of the other materials and a little fine charcoal.

=To raise Hyacinths in Winter.=

When they are put into the glasses or earth, set them into a dark closet until they sprout. If they are in glasses, do not let the water touch the bulb, by an inch. When the roots have shot down to the water, fill the glass, put in a piece of charcoal, and set them in the sun.

=Soot Tea for Roses.=

Get soot from a stove or chimney where wood is used for fuel, put it into an old pitcher, and pour hot water upon it. When cool, use it to water your plants every few days. When it is all used, fill up the pitcher again with hot water. The effect upon plants, especially upon roses that have almost hopelessly deteriorated is wonderful in producing a rapid growth of thrifty shoots, with large thick leaves, and a great number of richly-tinted roses. Never despair of a decayed rose till this has been tried.

=To destroy Grass in Gravel Walks.=

Scatter the cheapest coarse salt along the edges, and where-ever the grass is springing.

Even the Canada thistle can be rooted out by cutting off the stalks very near, but not below the surface of the ground, and putting salt on them. Old brine, not fit for any other purpose, is good for this.

=Use to be made of Ashes, Sawdust, etc.=

To spread ashes upon grass makes it thrifty, and of a richer green. Those which have been first used for making soap, are as good for the purpose as new ashes. Let them be scattered just before a rain.

If you cultivate raspberries and blackberries, have sawdust from the wood-house put around them once a year. Where these berries grow wild, the largest ones are found near decayed stumps and logs.

=To purify a Well.=

When a well is cleared out, if any offensive substance is found in it, have the bottom sprinkled with two or three quarts of quick-lime.

* * * * *

As a general rule, it is most economical to buy the best articles. The price is, of course, always a little higher; but good articles _spend_ best. It is a sacrifice of money to buy poor flour, meat, sugar, molasses, butter, cheese, lard, &c., to say nothing of the injurious effect upon the health.

Of West India sugar and molasses, the Santa Cruz and Porto Rico are considered the best. The Havana is seldom clean. White sugar from Brazil is sometimes very good. Refined sugars usually contain most of the saccharine substance, therefore there is probably more economy in using loaf, crushed, and granulated sugars, than we should at first suppose.

Butter that is made in September and October is best for winter use. Lard should be hard and white, and that which is taken from a hog not over a year old, is best.

Rich cheese feels soft under the pressure of the finger. That which is very strong is neither good or healthy. To keep one that is cut, tie it up in a bag that will not admit flies, and hang it in a cool, dry place. If mould appears on it, wipe it off with a dry cloth.

Flour and meal of all kinds should be kept in a cool, dry place.

The best rice is large, and has a clear, fresh look. Old rice sometimes has little black insects inside the kernels.

The small white sago, called pearl sago, is the best. The large brown kind has an earthy taste. These articles, and tapioca, ground rice, &c., should be kept covered.

The cracked cocoa is the best, but that which is put up in pound papers is often very good.

Shells are apt to be musty. Try a quarter of a pound before buying a quantity.

To select nutmegs, prick them with a pin. If they are good, the oil will instantly spread around the puncture.

Keep coffee by itself as its odor affects other articles. Keep tea in a close chest or canister.

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, and laid in a drawer of linen.

When a cask of molasses is bought, draw off a few quarts, else the fermentation produced by moving it will burst the cask.

Bread and cake should be kept in a tin box or stone jar.

Salt cod should be kept in a dry place, where the odor of it will not affect the air of the house. The best kind is that which is called Dun, from its peculiar color. Fish-skin for clearing coffee should be washed, dried, cut small, and kept in a box or paper bag.

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and should not be used till three months old.

Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, and laid where it will become dry. It is well to keep it several weeks before using it, as it spends fast when it is new.

Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the cellar.

Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as they are dug. Lying exposed to the sun turns them green, and makes them watery. Some good housekeepers have sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. To prevent them from sprouting in the spring, turn them out upon the cellar-bottom.

To thaw frozen potatoes put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples put them in cold water. Neither will keep long after being frozen.

Cabbages should be buried in sand, with the roots upward.

Celery should also be buried in sand.

Turnips and beets should be put in a dry part of the cellar. Carrots keep anywhere. Onions keep best spread, and in a cool place, but should not freeze. Parsnips are best buried in a pit in the garden, and not opened till March or April, in cold parts of the country.

Squashes should be kept in a dry place, and as cold as may be without freezing.

Apples should remain out of doors in barrels till the weather becomes too cold. They should not be headed up immediately after being gathered, as a moisture accumulates upon them which causes them to decay. When brought in, set them in a back room, until the weather requires their being put into the cellar. A linen cloth laid over them will keep them from frost till very cold weather. Many good housekeepers prefer not to have apples headed up at all. There is an advantage in being able to pick them over several times in the course of a winter, as one defective apple injures all its neighbors. If they are moist, wipe them.

Herbs should be gathered when just beginning to blossom; as they are then in their perfection. Medicinal herbs should be dried, put up in paper bags, and labelled. Those used in cooking should be pounded, sifted, and put into labelled boxes or bottles. Herbs retain their virtue best, to be dried by artificial heat. The warmth of an oven a few hours after the bread is drawn, is sufficient.

Inspect every part of your house often, and let every place be neatly kept. Habits of order in housekeeping save a great deal of time and trouble, and the most thorough way of doing every thing, is the most economical of labor and money, in the end.