Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2019

Rh in three gallons of soft water, warmed, will be sufficient for a large carpet. It is better not to mix the whole at once, but to do a portion of the carpet at a time, especially if it be a large one; for when the mixture in use gets cold and dirty it should be thrown away. Care must be taken that the carpet does not shrink in drying. It is best washed in the room, after it is nailed down.

Take ¼ of a lb. of fuller's-earth and of a ¼ lb. of pearlash; make them into a paste with about a quart of boiling water; spread a thick coating of this over the grease-stains and leave it for ten or twelve hours; then wash it off with clean water, using sand if necessary. If the grease-stains are very numerous and the floor very dirty, a coating may be spread all over the floor, and left for 24 hours before it is washed off. In washing boards never rub crossways; but always up and down with the grain.

Mix in a saucer three parts of fine sand and one part of lime; dip the scrubbing-brush into this and use it instead of soap. This will remove grease and whiten the boards, while at the same time it will destroy all insects. The boards should be well rinsed with clean water. If they are very greasy, they should be covered over in places with a coating of fuller's-earth moistened with boiling water, which should be left on 24 hours before they are scoured as above directed.

Shred half an ounce of good beeswax into a saucer, cover it entirely with turpentine, and place in the oven until melted. After washing the floorcloth thoroughly with a flannel, rub the whole surface lightly with a flannel dipped in the wax and turpentine, then rub with a dry cloth. Beside the polish produced, the surface is lightly coated with the wax, which is washed off together with any dust or dirt it may have contracted, while the floorcloth is preserved. Milk is also very useful for cleaning floorcloth, applied after the usual washing with a damp cloth, and it should then be rubbed over with a dry one.

Wash the surface with clean water, and let it dry; then rub it lightly over with a flannel dipped in a mixture of the following materials:—Boil 2 cakes of pipeclay, 2 tablespoonfuls of carbonate of lime, ½ a pint of size and a pint of stoneblue-water, in 2 quarts of water. When the stones are dry, after this mixture has been applied, rub them with a dry flannel till they look well.

Dirty paint should never be wiped with a cloth, but the dust should be loosened with a pair of bellows, and then removed with a dusting-