Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1884 — SUGGESTIONS [?]F VALUE. [ARTICLE]

SUGGESTIONS [?]F VALUE.

The purest butter ever made may become tainted and poisoned in one short honr by objectionable surroundings. A string wet in kerosene oil and tied around sugar barrels, lard cans; pre serves, etc., is said to keep away ants. The string should be wet with the oil every few days. Soot is a good manure, especially for land infested with insects. Soot is good for nearly everything in the kitchen garden. It is also good for a lawn, and it may be used along with any manura For polishing mahogany, walnut, etc., the following is recommended: Dissolve beeswax by heat, in spirits of turpentine, until the mixture becomes viscid; then apply with a clean cloth and rub thoroughly with a flannel or cloth. To keep honey the year round, let it run through a fine sieve, to separate it from the particles of wax, then boil it gently in an earthen vessel, skim off the foam which gathers on top, and cool it in jars. Cover tightly and set in a cool phica, A new fancy in the crazy-quilt Him? is to have in the exact center of the quilt a block of plain satin with the initials, in monogram or otherwise, of the owner of the quilt. Another new departure is to have each block the embodiment of an idea, or at least to hove each block develop method in madness. For example, let one have Kensington work in outline patterns only, another needle-work of different kind, or applique, or painting. The foundation of there blocks must necessarily be of plain colors in silk, satin or velvet. Care of Canary Birds.—lt is not genera Uy known that draughts of cohl air are as unwholesome for a canary bird as for a child. Many a pet bird has drooped and died a mysterious and lamented death for the lack of a little thought on the part of its mistress. Many birds suffer also from heat; their cages are hung so high that while the room does not seem too warm for the mistress it is very uncomfortable for the bird. I have known of cages being hung so near a stove that the were became so heated as to be unpleasant to the touch. If one has not the time to be thoughtful and careful of pets, it is more humane to dispose of them to some one who can be. Next Remedies gives the following method of bleaching sponges: “Soak the sponges, previously deprived of sand and dirt by beating and washing in 1 per cent, solution of permanganate of potassium. Then remove them, wash them thoroughly with water and press out the water. Next put them in a solution of one-half pound of hyposulphite of sodium in one gallon of water, to wjhich one ounce of oxalic acid has been added, and leave them in the solution for fifteen minutes. Finally, take them out and wash them thoroughly. By tliis treatment the sponges are rendered perfectly white. Many sponges contain a more or less dark-colored brownish core. If treated only with permanganate and acid the core is either not bleached at all. or if it has been somewhat bleached the tint is apt to grow again darter. By the above modification every portion of the sponge is rendered white and remains so.”