Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1879 — HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.

A Nice Way to Cook Eggs. —Butter a saucepan: break into it the eggs; do not crowd them; place in a slow oven until the whites set. Thus treated they are more delicate and much more wholesome than fried eggs. To Clean Rusty Stove-Pipes.— Rusty stove-pipe maybe made to look nearly as good as new by simply rubbing it over with a bit of cloth moistened with sweet oil. By coating the entirs pipe, joints which are unlike in appearance will be made uniform and display a nice luster. Cleaning Dishes. —Dinner dishes and plates which have had greasy food upon them may be rubbed off with a little Indian meal before putting into water. They are thus prevented from making the water unfit for continued use, while the meal, saved by itself, is good for the pigs or chickens. Hanging Baskets. —Pretty ones can be made of the oak balls which drop about the time of the “sere and yellow leaf.” Collect quite a quantity and thread them upon wire and arrange just as though you were working with beads. A very prettj design is to commence by making a circle for the top ten inches in diameter, and then work down in the form of scallops or diamonds, gradually narrowing it in to form a graceful shape. To Whiten Old Flannel.— Make a suds of hard soap aud soft water; dissolve a teaspoonful of borax and put in the suds; put the flannel in the suds and let it lie a few minutes, then wash and rinse; have ready some cloths dipped in melted brimstone, and wound on sticks; two will be sufficient; put them in a candlestick, or anything to hold them in an upright position; hang the flannel in a barrel, so that the smoke can come up through the middle and around it; light the brimstone candles and set them in trie bottom of the barrel and cover closely. If carefully done, they will come out nearly as nice as new.

A Valuable Hint.— The most convenient way to prevent loose windowsashes from rattling unpleasantly when the wind blows is to make four onesided buttons of wood and screw them to the beading which is nailed to the casings of the window, making each button of proper length to press the side ot the sash outward when the end of the button is turned down horizontally. The buttons operate like a cam. By having them of the correct length to crowd the stiles of the sash outward against the outer stop of the windowframe, the sash will not only be held so firmly that it cannot rattle, but the crack which admitted dust and a current of cold air will be closed so tightly that no window-strip will be required. The buttons should be placed about half way between the upper and lower end of each sash. To Exterminate Bedbugs. — l. First make a strong solution of common salt and cayenne pepper, and place in every crevice or crack where the tugs are likely to be found. Then take a pan or kettle half full of ashes, and put a shovelful of hot coals on top of them. Throw into the coals one table-spoonful of sulphur, and one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, Let this remain in the

room yon wish to fumigate about an hour, being careful to close all doors and windows, and do not leave any living thing, either plant or animal, in the room that you do not wish killed. Two or three thorough apglications of this will rid any house of bedbugs, no matter how badly infested. 2. Take one pint of turpentine, one pint of alcohol and one ounce of gum camphor; dissolve the camphor in the alcohol, and then add the turpentine, shaking well before using; use large-size sewingmachine oiler to put it on with; fill overy crack and crevice with it before taking the bedstead apart, and it will remove both the vermin and their eggs. 3. Corrosive sublimate one table-spoon-ful, aloohol or good whisky one pint. When thoroughly dissolved apply with a feather. Bottle and distinctly label; also cork tightly, for the mixture is a deadly poison to human life as well as to vermin. 4. An ounce of quicksilver beat up with the white of two eggs and put on with a feather is the cleanest and surest bedbug poison. What is left should be thrown away; it is dangerous to have about the house. If the vermin are in your walls, fill up the cracks with verdigris green paint.— Various Sources.