Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/124



To cleanse greasy hands, and to take the unpleasant smell from them, cut an orange or a lemon in halves and rub over the hands thoroughly.

Always wet the tea and let it draw about five minutes before filling up the pot.

Steel will not rust if washed now and then with carbonate of soda and water.

A handful of coarse sugar will revive a dying fire better than paper. Kerosene should never be used to revive a fire, as there is always danger of explosion.

When ants swarm into the house take a watering can with the rose on, fill with boiling water in which is a little carbolic, and water the ground infested by them.

Epsom salts dissolved in beer and applied by a brush to the windows silvers and whitens them very prettily.

Brass is cleaned with sweet oil and crushed rotten stone.

To make paper stick to white-washed walls, make a sizing of glue and water about as thick as oil, and apply with a white-wash brush; then put the paper on in the usual way.

Fleas can be kept out of carpets by sprinkling oil of wormwood about the room.

When hot fat or grease has been dropped on a floor, throw cold water on it at once to harden it before it penetrates the wood.

In soaking the clothes for the wash, add one tablespoonful of pure ammonia to the tub of water. It will lessen the labour of rubbing.

A teaspoonful of salt to each pint of starch prevents sticking.

To harden plaster of paris so that it will not break easily, mix it with a small quantity of marsh mallow root powdered.

Paper can be rendered transparent for copying purposes by an application of pure benzine rubbed on with cotton wool or a small clean sponge.

Whiskey will take out nearly every fruit stain. Before sending to the wash dip the stain in raw whiskey and let it dry.

Cucumber cut in strips and put where ants are found will generally drive them away.

Spots of paint on the windows can he removed with very strong hot soda and water. Wash with a flannel.

A strong solution of muriatic acid applied with a cloth, and the spot well washed afterwards will take ink stains out of wood.

should be sponged with ammonia and hot water, and hung out to dry at once, instead of washing. Do not make it too wet, or the colours will run.

Washing the hands in borax water will keep them soft and smooth. To make the borax water, dissolve as much in warm water as the latter will take up, and use a spoonful in one pint of water when washing.

To bleach grey calico under-wear, use one spoonful of, and 1 lb. of chloride of lime dissolved in soft water. Soak the things in this for ten or fifteen minutes and rinse in clear soft water, and hang out at once.

Always iron embroidery or raised work of any kind on the wrong side.

In all cookery, sweet or savory, salt should be used; even in a sponge cake a pinch of salt is beneficial.

If baking soda is used you must use acid, as one is imperfect without the other.

Never use baking soda and baking powder, or baking powder and acid. In making soda bread or scones you must not use baking powder and soda. The powder alone contains both soda and acid.

Use sour milk with baking soda.

To clean jewellery use prepared chalk.

For washing marble use ammonia instead of soap.