Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/171

 Popular Science Monthhj

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��For Cleaning Leather Upholstery

fOl 'SEW IVES are apt to use most any kind of oil, grease or even furniture polish on the leather upholster- ing of their furnitiue, and fri'(|uently with very had results. The oils soil the clothing and the polish ruins the leather. To overcome this trouble a sales manager of a large eastern furniture house made tests of many fluids prepared for the purpose, some of which were very satisfactory. Finally- a chemist was consulted, and the rejjly was, "l^se sweet milk." The furniture house immediately tried the use of mopping the upholstering with milk, and the results were very gratifying. The leather should be gone over three times annually, and after being smeared for several minutes, the milk should be wiped off with a clean cloth. The leather will be sufficiently oiled, thoroughly cleansed and will not soil the clothing.

How to Make a Door-Mat from Old Rope-Ends

TAKE a piece of canvas about i8 ins. by 30 ins., hem it all around and mark it off in lines about ll'i ins. apart. After you have marked the canv^as, take old rope, spread it out, and cut the strands into pieces 4 ins. long. These pieces are called "thumb- ings." Fray both ends of these thumb- ings and you are ready to start sewing. Use a heavy sail or sack needle and sew these thumbings through the middle to the canvas, using the "back-stitch."

When sewing, follow the lines on the canvas and sew the thumbings close; draw your thread tight. When you have finished you will have a door mat that will clean dirty or muddy shoes better than any mat on the market and it will last longer.

��ROKSnUNOS

���A FRAYED TKUMfiiNO

��A Back- Saving Refrigerator

/\\ unusual itlea has been carried out 1\. in a new home in Iowa, where the !ii)use\vife believes in having kitchen storage places as near as possible to waist-height, to prevent wearisome stoop- ing or stretching. \ot only the utensil and china cupboards, but also the buiit-

���Old rope-ends are useful in making a durable mat for the outside door

��Ice can be admitted through outside doors with no inconvenience

in refrigerator is located above the floor. This refrigerator is set into the kitchen wall and is iced from the back cntr\-. Its base is about 30 ins. from the floor. The convenience of the iceman, who must lift the ice, is served by steps in the outside hall. — A. G. Vest.al.

Renovating the Lawn

THE most effective way to renovate the old lawn is to make a new one. In most cases it will not pay to attempt to patch a poor grass plot for the difficul- ty probably is clue to lack of proper soil conditions, and these cannot be satis- factorily remedied without an entire remaking of the lawn.

If the lawn is on a good soil and is merely disfigured with weeds, it can be brought into satisfactory condition by scratching the surface with a rake after removing the weeds, and seeding with well cleaned seed, using about one-half as much as for a new seeding. Bone meal, a complete commercial fertilizer and nitrate of soda may then be added with satisfactory results.

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