Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1874 — USEFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL AND SUGGESTIVE.

A transparent gum fori the backs of adhesive tickets is made by dissolving caseine in a cold saturated solution of borax. To Cook a Chicken.—Cutopen through the breast, and boil until nearly half done; then lay in a dripping-pan and bake. It has all the relish of one broiled, and there is no waste. Try it. A solution of oxalic acid, or indeed almost any acid, when used as an ink on blue .paper, wilL appear white by discharging the cbl.r of the paper. White crayons are also used for the purpose.— Scientific American. Oyster Sauce.—Over a pint of oysters turn a pint of boiling water in a colander. Put the liquor in to boil, skimming it carefully. Thicken with two tablespooqp of butter and one of flour, rubbed together. Add two tablespoons cream or milk, then pour it over the turkey and serve boiling hot. A corresp,ondent of the Chicago IrUerOeean has been tiying the experiment of putting a spoonful of tia into a plate of nice-looking-white syrup which had been supplied to the family breakfast table by the family grocer. The result was that it turned blaclt as ink, thus proving that it was made of sulphuric acid and rags. He hopes that others may profit from his experience. Water-Pails.—The New England Farmer says: “ Wooden water-pails, whether to be used in the kitchen or at the stable, should receive two or three good coats of ‘gum shellac varnish, dissolved in alcohol, well laid on both inside and outside. This will last a year or more before the wood will begin to soak water. It is much better than lead paint for the inside of pails. Lead is poison and soon peels off in freezing weather, and then the pails soak water and get very heavy to lift; besides which they rot fast and leak through the pores of the wood. Shellac can be procured of any painter ready mixed, and, if corked tightly, will keep any length of time.” To Rid Canaries op Lice.—A correspoLdent asks how to rid his canaries of lice. A friend of ours, having large experience, uses for perches in the cages sticks of the common elder (Sambueus Canadensis), from which the pith is removed and notches cut in the upper side of the perch at distances of one-half to one inch; thus a series of holes connect ing the exterior and interior of the perch are made. As the birds perch the lice leave them and creep into the interior of the perch. Each morning the perch is removed and the lice jarred out on to a piece of white paper and destroyed. We have also heard that lice will not stay on a bird or fowl that sits on a sassafras perch.— Rural New Yorker. The Western Rural has a correspondent who throws out the following hints to young men who work for others: Be ready_to throw in an odd half hour or an hour’s time when it will be an accomodation, and don’t seem to make'a merit of it. Do it heartily. Though not a word be said, your employer will make a note of it. Make yourself indispensable to him, and he will lose many of the opposite kind before he will part with you. Those young 7 men who ""watch the clock to see the very second their working hour is up —who leave, no matter what state the work may he in, at precisely the instant—who calculate the extra amount they can slight their work and yet not get reproved —who are lavish of their employer’s goods—will always be the first to receive notice when times are dull that their services are no longer required. How to Use a Spade.—The man who can handle a spade properly does not find it very hard or laborious work. He first lets the spade fall of its own weight down to the spot where the spadeful is to be taken up, taking care that the breadth on the surface of the ground is not more than four inches; then he draws back the spade a little, which takes off much of the friction of the descending blade. One good thrust of the spade with the foot then sends the blade wwn its full depth. A backward pressure makes a lever of the handle and heel of the spade, and a dexterous turn of the wrist sends the spadeful upside down just where it is wanted. There is no raking or “ sputtering” needed to make the ground level. A slight* tap with the eorner of the spade makes the work as regular and plane as if laid off with an instrument.— Forney's Press.