Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1891 — THINGS WORTH KNOWING. [ARTICLE]

THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

To remove grass stains from children’s clothing, wash it out,“while fresh, with alcohol. Damp salt will remove the discoloration of cups and saucers caused by tea and careless washing. To clean willow furniture use sail and water. Apply with a nail brush and scrub thoroughly. A strong solution of alum,to which has been added a little glycerine and vinegar, is a cure for mosquito bites. To keep nickel silver ornaments and mounts bright, rub them with woolon clothes that have been saturated in spirits of amonio. . Salt as a tooth powder is better than almost anything else that can be bought. It keeps the teeth brilliantly white, the gums hard and rosy. For making a useful and simple ointment for sunburn, nothing has been found to suit most skins bettes than the old fashioned preparation o| rose water and glycerine. Preparations may vary, but it is safest to use three parts of rose water to one of glycerine. To keep apples, select the best fruit, wipe it perfectly dry with a fine cloth; then take a jar of suitable size, the inside of which is thoroughly coated with cement, and having placed a layer of the fruit (pears may be kept in this way also), being careful to not allow of the fruit touching; add another layer of sand’ then fruit and so on until the jar is filled. Ovet the upper layer of fruit spread a thick strata of sand, and press this lightly down with the hahds. In this manner choice fruit may be hept for almost any length of time, if the jar be placed in a situation free from moisture. Another way is to take fine sawdust (preferably that made by a circular saw from well seasoned hardwood) and place a thick layer of this on the bottom of a barrel. Then place a layer of apples, not close together or near the staves of the barrel. Put the sawdust liberally over and around, and proceed until a bushel and a half or less are packed in each barrel. Keep in a cool, dry place. To dye feathers proceed as follows for the different colors: Black—lmmerse for two or three days in a bath at first of hot logwood, eight parts, and copperas or acetate of iron, one part. Blue—ln a vat of indigo. Brown —Use any brown dye suitable for silk or wool Brimson—A mordant of alum, followed by a hot bath of Brazil wood, afterward by a weak dye of cudbear. Pink or rose—With safflower or lemon juice. Plum —With a red dye, followed by an alkaline bath. Red —A mordant of alum, followed by a bath of Brazil wood. Yellow —A mordant of alum, followed by a bath in tumeric of weld. Green—Take of verdigris and verditer, each one ounce; gum water, one pint; mix them well and mix the feathers (they having first been soaked in hot water) with the mixture. Purple—Use lake and indigo. Carnation —Vermilion and smalt. _ Thin gum or starch water should be used in dyeing feathers.