Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1869 — USEFUL RECIPES, ETC. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL RECIPES, ETC.

It is said that passing a red-hot iron over old putty will make it so soft that it may be readily removed. Mixing hen feed with a strong suds of common soft soap is recommended both as a preventive and cure of gapes. We see it stated that if well seasoned shingles be dipped in limewash, and dried before laying, they will last much longer, and not become covered with moss. Mr. Joseph Harris writes to the American Agriculturist that one of the -most convenient methods of reviving chilled lambs or pigs is to bury them up to their heads in a barrel of steamed chaff or straw. Young men and boys should be instructed in the use of every kind of hand-tool, from a broad hoe to a hay tedder. If farmers do not feel competent to instruct a beginner in the use of a plow or hoe, for example, it will pay well to employ a teacher who can handle such tools with as much dexterity as a good chopper shows in the swing cf his axe. —Hearth and Home.

_ Coffee is highly recommended as & neutralizer of foul odors, and can be used would be inadmissible. In cases where rats or mice die in spaces between the floors of dwellings, a pound or two of freshly burnt coffee will produce the desired effect. It is also said to be incomparably superior in a sick chamber to most other disinfectants ; it has a beneficial chemical action on the atmosphere, besides giving out an agreeable perfume. Hearth and Home. Ginger Bread.—Four ounces of bruised ginger root, one ounce cream of tartar, five pounds of white or light brown sugar, and the juice and rind of one lemon. Put these in a vessel which can be covered and pour on them five gallons of boiling water. Let them stand for eight or ten hours in a cool place, and then add one pint of porter; stir thoroughly, strain clear, and bottle in strong bottles and tie the corks down immediately. Place in a moderately cool cellar, and in three or four days it will be fit for use. — Exchange. Elder Ointment.— A writer in the Country Gentleman says: “ I have a recipe, used by my mother, for making the ointment of elder flowers, instead of the bark, which might possibly be more acceptable to some. Take a double handful of dried elder flowers’separated from the stems, and boil them in one quart of water, until it is reduced td half a pint; then strain it, and add to this strong elder tea, two large spoonfuls of melted lard (fresh,) two large spoonfuls of melted mutton tallow, and simmer it until the water is all evaporated. This makes an excellent healing ointment.” Another correspondent gives this recipe for making an ointment from the bark of eider. “ Take the inside bark of sweet elder, boil to a strong infusion; strain it, then add equal parts of bees-wax and mutton tallow: say to one-half pint of the liquid, a piece of mutton tallow and bees-wax, each the size of a hen’s egg; simmer until the water is out. If a softer ointment lis desired, use fresh butter instead of mutton tallow. Here you have a recipe for an ointment which is invaluable as a healing remedy for erysipelas, sores, cuts, chilblains and sores of all kinds, and especially excellent for burns.”