Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1881 — USEFUL HOTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HOTS.

To behove oil colors, rarnish and resins from white or colored linens, cottons or woolens, use rectified oil of turpentine, alcohol, lye and their soap. On silks, use benzine, ether and mild soap very cautiously. Half a pound of borax will drive the cockroaches out of the house. A large handful of it put in ten gallons of water saves 10 per cent, of soap. It is an excellent dentifrice, and the best thing for cleaning the scalp. To remove ink stains from printed books, procure a cent’s worth of oxalic acid, which dissolve in a small quantity of warm water; then slightly wet the stain with it, when it will disappear leaving the leaf uninjured. Paste fob Paper.—To ten parts by “weight of gum arabic add three parts of sugar, in order to prevent the gum from cracking; then add water until the desired consistency is obtained. If a very strong paste is required, add a quantity of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the mixture. The paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment. To Clean Black Materials.—Take the article you Avish to clean, on the side Sou intend to make up as the right side; rash well all the dust out of it; then take a piece of black flannel or an old black woolen stocking (it must always be black) ; dip it into cold coffee, and sponge well the material all over alike; then fold up each piece or breadth nice and even and let it remain for three or four hours. Iron on the wrong side, and the old, dusty, shabby dress will look just as fresh and bright as new. I have tried this recipe on black silk, paramtas, lusters and merinos, and consider it the best I have used. It neither streaks, deadens the gloss, nor rots the materials. A Durable Whitewash. — A correspondent of “the Scientific American gives the following directions for a good Avhitewash: For one barrel of color wash—Half a bushel white lime, three peck* hydraulic cement, ten pounds umber, ten pounds ochre, one pound Venetian red, quarter pound lampblack. Slake the lime ; cut the lampblack with vinegar; mix well together ;‘ add the cement and fill the barrel with water. Let it stand twelve hours before using, and stir frequently while putting it on. This is not white, but of a light stone color, without the unpleasant glare of white. The color may be changed by adding more or less of the colors named, or other colors. This wash covers well, needing only one coat, and is superior to anything known, excepting oil paint. I have known a rough board barn Avashed with this to look well for five years, and even longer, without renewing. The cement hardens, but on a rough surface will not scale.