Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1881 — USEFUL HINTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HINTS.

Gloss on Linbn.—Mix a little powdered borax in hot water and let it cool: then pour it, with a few drops of turpentine, into the water. Put the starched things through a machine or mangle, and iron immediately. Nothing is better to clean silver with than alcohol and ammonia; after rubbing with this take a little whitening on a soft doth and polish in this way ; even frosted silver, which is so difficult to clean, may be easily made clear and bright. An old, experienced farmer says that hickory cut iu July or August will not become worm-eaten. Oak, chestnut, walnut, or other timber cut from tho middle of July to the last of August will last twice as long ss when cut iu winter. White oak cut at this season, if kept off the ground, will season through if two feet in diameter, and remain perfectly sound for many years. Whereas, if cut in winter or spring it will become sap-rotten in a few yeard. Tar has been found to bo a preservative against phylloxera. M. Avignon says that it is to be prepared and apElied in this way : Alter the tar has een thoroughly mixed with fine sand, a quantity of wood ash is added, and the mixture is then placed in a hole dug around the stem of the vine and covered with earth. Spring is the best time to apply this remedy. Perhaps it would also repel tho insects that do so much damage to the apple and other fruit trees. Chloral for Nerves. —For toothache and its accompanying facial pain, Dr. Sporer strongly advises, in a St. Petersburg medical journal, the use of chloral and glycerine— a'scruple to half a dram of the former in two drams ol the latter, ard applying a plug of wadding soaked in this to the source of pain. As, however, this may cause considerable irritation of the mucous membrane of the mouth, the chloral can be applied in substance by wrapping from a half to at moat-one grain of the granules of tehloral in a little wool to keep tlbem together, and placing in the cavity of tho tooth; on the chloral becoming dissolved, the accumulated saliva is to be ejected. Bleaching Ivory for Cutlery Purposes.—Peroxide of hydrogen is used in Sheffield to bleach tho inferior ivory for knife-handles. The mode of procedure is as follows: Place, say, 2 quarts of tho liquid in a stone pot, adding 4 oz. liq. ainmon. fort. 880 degrees, immerse the handles and put over a common shop stove for twenty-four to thirty-six hours; the handles are then taken out and gradually dried in the air, not too quickly or they would split. The deep color of the ivory is removed, and a beautiful pcarlywhito ivory results when polished. Tlio ivory is previously treated with a solution of common soda, to get rid of greasy matter and open the pores.