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Godey's Lady's Book
October, 1861
MISCELLANEOUS.
HINTS TO FAMILIES.— It is better to accomplish perfectly a very small amount of work than to half do ten times as much. Charcoal ground to powder will be found a very good thing to give knives a first-rate polish. A bonnet and trimmings maybe worn a much longer time if the dust be brushed well off after walking.
Much knowledge may be obtained by the good housewife observing how things are managed in well-regulated families. Apples intended for dumplings should not have the core taken out of them, as the pips impart a delicious flavor to the dumpling. A rice pudding is most excellent without either eggs or sugar, if baked gently; it keeps better without eggs.
“Wilful waste makes woeful want.” Do not cook a fresh joint whilst any of the last remains uneaten— hash it up, and with gravy and a little management eke out another day's dinner. The shanks of mutton make a good stock for nearly any kind of gravy, and they are very cheap— a dozen may be had for a penny, enough to make a quart of delicious soup.
Thick curtains closely drawn around the bed are very injurious, because they not only confine the effluvia thrown off from our bodies whilst in bed, but interrupt the current of pure air.
Regularity in the payment of account is essential to housekeeping. All tradesmen's bills should be paid weekly, for then any errors can be detected whilst the transactions are fresh in the memory.
Allowing children to talk incessantly is a mistaken indulgence; we do not mean to say that they should be restricted from talking in proper seasons, but they should be taught to know when it would be proper to cease.
DYEING MATERIALS.— These are alum, tartar, green copperas, verdigris, blue vitriol, roche alum, quercitron, oak bark, fenugreek, logwood, old and young fustic, Brazil-wood, braziletto, camwood, barwood, and other red woods; peachwood, sumach, galls, weld, madder of three or four sorts, safflower, savory, greenwood, anatto, turmeric, archil, endbean, cochineal, lac-dye, and indigo. The whole of these may be purchased of druggists or colormen.
To SILVER IVORY.— Immerse the ivory in a weak solution of nitrate of silver, and let it remain until the solution has given it a deep yellow color; then take it out and immerse it in a tumbler of clean water, and expose it in water to the rays of the sun. In about three hours the ivory acquires a black color; but the black surface, on being rubbed, is soon changed to a brilliant silver.
WOOD STAINING.— A decoction of walnut or hickory bark, with a small quantity of alum in it, to give permanency to the color, will make an excellent dye. Wood of a white color receives, from the application of this liquid, a beautiful yellow tinge, which is not liable to fade. It is particularly adapted for furniture made of maple.
To PRESERVE STEEL GOODS FROM RUST.— After bright grates have been thoroughly cleaned, they should be dusted over with unslaked lime, and thus left until wanted. All the coils of piano wires are thus sprinkled, and will keep from rust for many years. Table-knives, which are not in constant use, ought to be put in a case in which sifted quicklime is placed about eight inches deep. They should be plunged to the top of the blades, but the lime should not touch the handles.
ADULTERATION OF MILK.— Since chemistry has supplied the means of detection, it has been less frequent. Water gives to milk a bluish color, and to conceal this, it is said that chalk, and also wheat flour, have been added. Chalk is easily found out, because it settles to the bottom after a couple of hours, and then the bluish color returns, and the altered taste of the milk is easily distinguished. The existence of flour or meal in the milk maybe detected by employing iodine, which strikes a blue color with the starch of the flour. For this purpose, add to the milk or cream suspected some iodine in alcohol; and if there be any flour, arrowroot, starch, or rice, it will be shown by a beautiful blue making its appearance.
To CLEAN HEAD AND CLOTHES BRUSHES.— Put a tablespoonful of pearlash into a pint of boiling water. Having fastened a bit of sponge to the end of a stick, dip it into the solution, and wash the brush with it. Next pour over it some clean hot water, and put it aside for a short time; then drain and wipe it with a cloth, and dry it before the fire.
A CHEAP AND EASY METHOD OF POLISHING FLINTS AND PEBBLES.— The stone to be polished must be rubbed on a piece of sandstone with fine sand and water until it be equal on the surface; then with emery and water laid on a piece of lead; next, the flour of emery, used in the same manner, until it be quite smooth; then the flour of putty and water, on a piece of felt or flannel, till the gloss comes out.
October, 1861
MISCELLANEOUS.
HINTS TO FAMILIES.— It is better to accomplish perfectly a very small amount of work than to half do ten times as much. Charcoal ground to powder will be found a very good thing to give knives a first-rate polish. A bonnet and trimmings maybe worn a much longer time if the dust be brushed well off after walking.
Much knowledge may be obtained by the good housewife observing how things are managed in well-regulated families. Apples intended for dumplings should not have the core taken out of them, as the pips impart a delicious flavor to the dumpling. A rice pudding is most excellent without either eggs or sugar, if baked gently; it keeps better without eggs.
“Wilful waste makes woeful want.” Do not cook a fresh joint whilst any of the last remains uneaten— hash it up, and with gravy and a little management eke out another day's dinner. The shanks of mutton make a good stock for nearly any kind of gravy, and they are very cheap— a dozen may be had for a penny, enough to make a quart of delicious soup.
Thick curtains closely drawn around the bed are very injurious, because they not only confine the effluvia thrown off from our bodies whilst in bed, but interrupt the current of pure air.
Regularity in the payment of account is essential to housekeeping. All tradesmen's bills should be paid weekly, for then any errors can be detected whilst the transactions are fresh in the memory.
Allowing children to talk incessantly is a mistaken indulgence; we do not mean to say that they should be restricted from talking in proper seasons, but they should be taught to know when it would be proper to cease.
DYEING MATERIALS.— These are alum, tartar, green copperas, verdigris, blue vitriol, roche alum, quercitron, oak bark, fenugreek, logwood, old and young fustic, Brazil-wood, braziletto, camwood, barwood, and other red woods; peachwood, sumach, galls, weld, madder of three or four sorts, safflower, savory, greenwood, anatto, turmeric, archil, endbean, cochineal, lac-dye, and indigo. The whole of these may be purchased of druggists or colormen.
To SILVER IVORY.— Immerse the ivory in a weak solution of nitrate of silver, and let it remain until the solution has given it a deep yellow color; then take it out and immerse it in a tumbler of clean water, and expose it in water to the rays of the sun. In about three hours the ivory acquires a black color; but the black surface, on being rubbed, is soon changed to a brilliant silver.
WOOD STAINING.— A decoction of walnut or hickory bark, with a small quantity of alum in it, to give permanency to the color, will make an excellent dye. Wood of a white color receives, from the application of this liquid, a beautiful yellow tinge, which is not liable to fade. It is particularly adapted for furniture made of maple.
To PRESERVE STEEL GOODS FROM RUST.— After bright grates have been thoroughly cleaned, they should be dusted over with unslaked lime, and thus left until wanted. All the coils of piano wires are thus sprinkled, and will keep from rust for many years. Table-knives, which are not in constant use, ought to be put in a case in which sifted quicklime is placed about eight inches deep. They should be plunged to the top of the blades, but the lime should not touch the handles.
ADULTERATION OF MILK.— Since chemistry has supplied the means of detection, it has been less frequent. Water gives to milk a bluish color, and to conceal this, it is said that chalk, and also wheat flour, have been added. Chalk is easily found out, because it settles to the bottom after a couple of hours, and then the bluish color returns, and the altered taste of the milk is easily distinguished. The existence of flour or meal in the milk maybe detected by employing iodine, which strikes a blue color with the starch of the flour. For this purpose, add to the milk or cream suspected some iodine in alcohol; and if there be any flour, arrowroot, starch, or rice, it will be shown by a beautiful blue making its appearance.
To CLEAN HEAD AND CLOTHES BRUSHES.— Put a tablespoonful of pearlash into a pint of boiling water. Having fastened a bit of sponge to the end of a stick, dip it into the solution, and wash the brush with it. Next pour over it some clean hot water, and put it aside for a short time; then drain and wipe it with a cloth, and dry it before the fire.
A CHEAP AND EASY METHOD OF POLISHING FLINTS AND PEBBLES.— The stone to be polished must be rubbed on a piece of sandstone with fine sand and water until it be equal on the surface; then with emery and water laid on a piece of lead; next, the flour of emery, used in the same manner, until it be quite smooth; then the flour of putty and water, on a piece of felt or flannel, till the gloss comes out.