Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1881 — USEFUL HINTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HINTS.

The best paste for scrap books is made of flour, which is kept sweet by adding a little powdered alum. To make Japanese cement, mix powdered rice with a little cold water, gradually add boiling water, until the desired consistency is acquired, care being taken to keep it stirred. Then boil for one minute in a clean saucepan. This cement is very strong and colorless. A few drops of carbonate of ammonia put into a small quantity of warm rain water will prove a safe and easy antiacid, and will change, if carefully applied, discolored spots carpets, and indeed all spots whether produced by acids or alkalies. If you have a carpet injured by whitewash this will immediately restore it. Dyeing Black.—Four ounces of copperas and one ounce logwood extract to each pound of goods ; dissolve the copperas in water sufficient to cover the cloth ; wet it in clean water before putting it in the copperas water, to prevent spotting ; boil it in the copperas water about twenty minutes; take it out, rinse in clear water first, then wash in soap suds till it seems soft as before it was put in the copperas water ; then put into the logwood dye and let it boil about twenty minutes; take out and let it dry; wash before it dries, or after, as is most convenient. It will neither crack, fade, nor grow rusty. Iced tea is a nice as well as a fashionable drink for summer meals, but it is not so generally understood that the best iced tea is not steeped in hot water. Just try “steeping” it for a few hours in cold water, using a little more tea than for the hot beverage, and having it strong enough to be weakened with icewater when it is served. The flavor and effect are much better than by the hotwater method. And, by the way, the same plan is coming to be more recognized as the best for the preparation of the herb teas used for medical purposes, especially such as thoroughwort (boneset) and others, which, steeped in hot water, produce an unpleasant and undesirable nausea. This effect is obviated by steeping in cold water, and tlxe tea can be made much stronger, and used to better advantage. To Loosen Glass Stoppers.—From many years’ experience in the laboratory, we can say with the utmost positiveness that the method of gently heating the neck of a bottle to loosen an obstinate stopper is the safest and generally the quickest method of procedure. We have never known it to fail of success when properly done, aud the risk of breaking the bottle, except in inexperienced, hands, is very slight. Stoppers are often so tightly wedged, or become so firmly cemented to the neck of the bottle by the efflorescence or drying out of the contents, that no amount of tapping short" of breaking away the neck, stopper and all, will suffice to open the bottle. But, in support of our recommendation, we may add that we have again and again seen an obstinate stopper, that had resisted the most patient and careful tapping, yield almost instantly after gently seating the neck of the bottle. Loosening stoppers by tapping is generally the first method tried in case of such a difficulty, and, where it can be done, it is certainly the simplest and most expeditious metlxod, though it requires careful calculation of the force of the blows to avoid knocking away the neck. — Manufacturer and Builder.