Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1879 — HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.

Use waste paper for cleaning stoves, tinware, knives, spoons, windows, mirrors, lamp-chimneys, etc. An excellent wax varnish for furniture is made by dissolving, over a gentle heat, three ounces of wax in one quart of oil of turpentine. Dissolve four or five pounds of washing soda in boiling water and throw down the kitchen sink to prevent the pipes stopping up with grease, etc. Do this every few weeks. Sweet oil is recommended for polishing pianos. Apply with a chamois skin and rub with different skins as they become saturated with the oil. It requires one or two hours of hard rubbing to restore an instrument to its original luster. Feathers should be very thoroughly dried before using them. If feather beds smell badly, or become heavy from want of proper renovation of the feathers, or from old age, empty them and wash the feathers thoroughly in a tub of suds, spread them in the garret to dry, and they will be as light and good as new. Never lay the pillows or feather ticks to dry in the sun; lay them in a shady place, where the wind can purify them. Heat makes feathers rancid. Pot plants that become unthrifty and sickly may be revived by planting them in rich mold in a sunny spot,after trimming, after the season becomes permanently warm. Thus they will often grow into a vigorous state during July and August, and be ready for repotting. Oleanders, oranges, lemons, camellias, azaleas, among hard-wooded plants, may be made healthy in this way. They must, however, be protected from the effects of sweeping prairie winds.

Tomato Catchup.—A bushel of ripe tomatoes cut up and cooked thoroughly ; strain through a sieve when cold: add three quarts of vinegar, one pint and a half of salt, three dunces each of whole cloves and allspice, three ounces white and black pepper, one and a half ounces cayenne pepper, twelve onions boiled whole in it for several hours, watching and stirring for fear of burning. It need not boil hard, but simmer steadily. When cold bottle, after removing the onions when they have well flavored the mixture; keep in a cool, dry place. Bleaching a Straw Hat.—l. If your hat is badly sun-burned soak it in sour milk a few days. 2. Wash your hat clean in lively soap-suds with either a flesh or a tooth-brush, then rinse. Have a tight barrel or box ready. Drive a nail in one side to Dang your hat on. You should sew a thread through the rim to form a loop to suspend it by; have your cover ready; take an old dish; put in some live coal (stop your nose if you are not fond of the perfume) ; then throw on some stick sulphur orbrimstone previously pounded in small lumps. Five cents’ worth would be enough, I should think. 3, First scrub it well in water softened with borax, using very little soap; then rinse it in borax water, using a teaspoonful of powdered borax in a basin of water; bleach it in the sun for two or three days; and, if the hat is very yellow, a little lemon juice rubbed on will prove effective. Cleaing the Hair.—l. Make half a pint of soap suds with pure white soap and warm water, on rising any morning; but before applying it brush the whole scalp well while the hair is perfectlv dry, with the very best Russia bristle brush; scrub back and forth with a will, let not any portion of the surface escape. When brushing the top and front, lean forward, that the particles may fall. After this operation is finished, strike the ends of the bristles on the hearth, or on a board, next pass the coarse part of the comb through the bristles; next brush or flap the hair back and forth with the hand, until no dust is seen to fall; then with the balls of the fingers dipped in the soap-suds, rub the fluid into the scalp and about the roots of the hair; do this patiently and thoroughly; finally, rinse with clear water, and absorb as much of the water from the hair as possible with a dry cloth, then (after allowing the hair to dry a little more by evaporation, but not to dry entirely) dress it as usual, always, under all circumstances, passing the comb through the hair slowly and gently, so as not to break any one off, or taar out any one by the roots. 2. Ammonia should not be used on the hair; it injures the gloss and softness, causing the hair to become harsh and dry. The best way to cleanse the hair and keep the scalp healthy is to beat up a fresh egg and rub it well into the hair, or, if more convenient, rub it into the hair without beating. Rub the egg in until a lather is formed; occasionally wet the hands in warm water, softened with borax; by the time the lather is formed the scalp is clean; then rinse the egg all out in a basin of warm water, containing a table-spoonful of powdered borax ; after that rinse in one clear, warm water.