Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1881 — USEFUL HINTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HINTS.

The expressed juice of green walnut shells diluted with water is used for dying blonde hair a light brown. A little spirits of turpentine added to the water with which floors are washed will prevent the ravages of moths. Use kerosene, or bath-brick, or powdered lime to scour iron, tin or copper; wash in hot suds and polish with dry whiting. To remove spots from furniture, four ounces of vinegar, two ounoes of sweet oil, one ounce of turpentine. Mix and apply with a flannel cloth. Various materials may be advantageously covered with rubber enamel, iron thus being protected from rust, glass and crockery from breaking, and wood rendered stronger and more ornamental. The caoutchouo material is applied in a plastic state to the foundation material, after which the whole article is submitted to a high degree of heat, the materials being thus firmly united and the enamelled surface obtained. Take half a pound of the best ground coffee, put it into a saucepan containing three pints of water, and boil it down to one pint; boil the liquid, put it into another saucepan, well scoured, and boil it again. As it boils, add white sugar enough to give the consistency of sirup ; take it from the fire, and when it is cool put into a bottle and seal. When traveling, if you wish a cup of good coffee, put two teaspoons of the sirup in an ordinary cup and pour boiling water upoD it and it is ready for use. Macaroni makes an excellent variety in the scarcity of vegetables, and should be much better known and more used by the masses here. It is the staple food of tho common people in Italy, indeed, of most classes. It is made of strongly glutinous wheat flour, hence is flesh forming, while its starch supplies heat. It may bo cooked tender in boiling water, seasoned with salt, and eaten with or even without cream sauce, or milk or butter. After boiling it can be put in a pudding dish, with about a quarter its weight of grated cheese sprinkled over it and lightly baked. The addition of this cheese makes this diet about equal to lean meat as a fleshformer. A good, respectable-looking husk mat, says a writer in the Household, is not an unsightly object, and I wish every housekeeper knew what a world of scrubbing and wiping of floors they saved, that they might have one. One bushel basket and a boiler full of husks is sufficient to braid a large mat. If you have boys or girls, it will be just fun for them to braid one in the evening ; but if, like myself, you have neither, it would pay you to take the time and do it yourself. Have ready a tea-kettle full of hot water, and turn on to the boiler of husks. Begin a common threestrand braid, and as you bring over a strand place about three husks on, leaving the large ends of the husks up. When enough is braided for a mat, sew firmly with twine in any shape you choose—long, round or oval. Then sprinkle, warm water on upper side. Run a fork through the busks, splitting the ends into little, curly fibers ; then with the shears trim of! evenly. This can be done in one evening by a good worker. I braid enough in the fall to last me the year round.