Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1878 — HOME, FARM AND HARDEN. [ARTICLE]

HOME, FARM AND HARDEN.

—To whiten a Panama hat, sernb with borax water and bleach in tho sun. —A bag of hops as large as the two fists, placed in a bin or store of grain, will, it is said, kill or eradicate all grubs and insects from the grain. —About one pound of copperas (sulphate of iron) at a cost of a few cents, put intq a water-closet, will entirely deodorise it; five pounds in a bucket of water, thrown down a cesspool, will have the same effect. There is no unpleasant odor from It, as there is from chloride of lime or carbolic acid. This is worth knowing, especially at this season of the year. —For washing silver put a half teaspoonful of hartshorn into the suds in whioh the silver is washed; have the water hot; wash quickly, using a small brush; rinse in hot water and dry with a clean linen towel; then rub very dry with a chamois skin. Washed in this manner, silver becomes very brilliant, and requires no polishing with any of the powders or whiting usually employed, and the silver does not wear out. —Experiments made under our personal observation have convinced us that carbolic acid gas is almost a specific against most difficulties of the throat. A little carbolic acid kept in an open dish in a room, or three or four crops on a hot stove three times a day will keep the atmosphere in a house sufficiently impregnated. The cost is almost nothing. The crystals, in solution, are the best form of the acid for use. Care should be taken to keep the acid out of the reach of children, as it is a deadly poison.—Stillwater (Minn.) Lumberman. —Clover is regarded as among the very best of fertilizers, especially for exhausted soils, by several correspondents of the World, as shown from their recent contributions, and here is a strong corroborative sentence by a writer in the Vermont Freeman: “ I claim that I can take a field that has become so exhausted in fertility that it will not produce a profitable crop of anything without a heavy dressing of manure, and in two years’ time I will make it fertile with clover alone and without any manure whatever, except what the roots of the clover and clover green crop turned under may supply.” — N. Y. World. —To measure corn the crib, reduce the size of the crib to cubic inches and divide this sum by 4,300. If the crib is square or right-angled, the reduction is easily made; if it is spreading from the bottom upward, take the length, height and width in the center, or half-way from floor to eaves in inches, and multiply all together. This gives cubical contents in inches. Then two bushels, or 4,300 cubic inches of ears will, under usual circumstances, give one bushel of shelled corn. This can easily be tested by measuring two bushels of ears and shelling them. The result will be cubic inches of ears to bushels of grain. Agricultural Exchange. —To Clean Carpets: After the carpet is well beaten and tacked in place, have it carefully swept. Put two tablespoonfuls of borax in a pail of clear water—just hot enough to be comfortably used—and add spirits of ammonia until the odor is quite perceptible. It is impossible to give an exact quantity, as it varies in strength. With a nice clean scrubbing-brush begin at one corner and scrub a small portion of one breadth; as it is only the surface of the carpet which is to be cleaned, it will not be necessary to make it very wet. Dry Jhe part scrubbed with a flannel cloth—dark or light according to the colors of the carpet. Clean each breadth separately so as to be sure that no portion is omitted. When all is done leave the windows open and let no one go into the room for ten or twelve hours. If the room is large, or the carpet very much soiled, it will be necessary to use more than one pail of water.— Prairie Farmer.