Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1913 — HOUSEHOLD LORE OF VALUE [ARTICLE]

HOUSEHOLD LORE OF VALUE

Some Good Old Rules That Have Been Handed Down Through Many Generations. A capital method of cleaning copper pans and kettles is to fill them first of all with boiling water and then to nib the outside with sour milk. The milk must have reached the condition of thick curds, a little being rubbed on with a piece of flannel. Buttermilk is even more satisfactory. When dry, the metal should be polished with a clean chamois leather. Garlic juice used to be considered the best cement for fine china in bygone days. To extract the juice from the garlics, they were crushed in a mortar and then pressed in a piece of muslin, the juice being then collected and painted on to the broken edges with a brush of a feather. The flnest whiting, crumbled to a powder and then made into a paste with a drop or two of sweet oil, represents an excellent polish for metal dish and pan covers. This should be rubbed on with a piece of flannel, and a little of the powdered whiting enclosed in a muslin bag afterwards Bpdinkled over the top. A gloss may be obtained by finally scouring briskly with a chamois leather. A little soap rubbed on the hinges of a door will prevent it from creaking. An old-fashioned method of cleaning an oven is that of placing a handful of straw inside it aad setting Are to it. The oven door must be kept closed until the straw has burned itself out The smoke was considered to soften the crust of grease and fruit which it is often impossible to prevent after meat or fruit tarts have been cooked In the oven.—A knife may be required to scrape the stains, and the whole must be well scoured finally with a cloth wrung out in boiling soda suds.