Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1884 — SUGGESTIONS OF VALLE. [ARTICLE]

SUGGESTIONS OF VALLE.

To clean hair brushes wash thorn id water in which soda has been dissolved. It may be difficult ta restore the gloss to patent leather when it has once lost it, but to retain it'from the fiyst is a very easy matter. Never touch the blacking brush to it. Hub the mud off with a damy sponge, and dry with a soft cloth. Rub with a little cream or castor oil. To clean vegetables of insects, make a strong brine of one pound and half of salt to one gallon of water pinto This pjace the vegetable’(with the stalk ends uppermost) for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water. To cube corns apply a piece of linen saturated with olive oil, night and morning, and let it remain on. It will be found to prove a slow but certain cure; they will wear out of the toe, and some of the courns may be picked out after the oil has been used for a time; but care should be taken not to irritate the toe. Pieces of layer cake that have become too dry need not be thrown away. Steam them for five minutes, and serve as dessert with a nice pudding sauce. The layer cake made with boiled frosting and chopped raisin filling makes a delicious pudding. Cream sauce for this pudding is made of one cup of sugar and a half cup of butter beaten together and thinned with a cup of rich cream. Flavor with vanilla. Pretty catch-alls are made of paper fans, with the rivet ■which holds the sticks together withdrawn and a cord substituted. The fan is drawn together and one stick lapped upon the other and fastened,'thus making a cone-shaped receptacle. A cornucopia of coarse strong paper is fitted into this, and ribbon passed in and out between the sticks forms bows in front. A ribbon loop is attached by which to suspend the catch-all. Our old friend the smilax is giving place to ivy and Japanese ferns. The ivy lasts better, and is a deeper green, and the Japanese fern is more delicate. The new smilax, which looks exactly like a marabout feather, andiis a species of asparagus, is a popular novelty just now; but the gardeners do, not think that it is destined to bo a great favorite. Tulips arc in vogue for table decoration if ladies desire a centrepiece; but the latest fashion is against the centre-piece. . Excellent sanee for fish is made by putting one cup of milk and one cup of water on the fire to heat. When it is hot, stir in a heaping teaspoonful of flour that you have mixed with a little cold water, so that there are no lumps left in it. Beat and then strain three eggs, and stir them iu with two teaspoon fuls of butter, and pepper and salt to suit your taste. Pour this over the fish. It you choose you can vary this in this way; instead of putting the eggs in the sauce, boil them ten minutes? then remove the sliells and ctit the eggs in slices, and lay them over the fish; then pour the sauce overall.