Part 53

Nothing looks worse than shabby gloves; and, as they are expensive articles in dress, they require a little management. A good glove will outlast six cheap ones with care. Do not wear your best gloves at night, the heat of the gas, &c., gives a moisture to the hands, that spoils the gloves; do not wear them in very wet weather; as carrying umbrellas, and drops of rain, spoil them.

2251. To Clean Kid Gloves (1).

Make a strong lather with curd soap and warm water, in which steep a small piece of new flannel. Place the glove on a flat, clean, and unyielding surface--such as the bottom of a dish, and having thoroughly soaped the flannel (when squeezed from the lather), rub the kid till all dirt be removed, cleaning and re-soaping the flannel from time to time. Care must be taken to omit no part of the glove, by turning the fingers, &c. The glove must be dried in the sun, or before a moderate fire, and will present the appearance of old parchment. When quite dry, they must be gradually "pulled out," and will look new.

2252. To Clean French Kid Gloves (2).

Put the gloves on your hand and wash them, as if you were washing your hands, in some spirits of turpentine, until quite clean; then hang them up in a warm place, or where there is a current of air, and all smell of the turpentine will be removed.

2253. How to Wash Kid Gloves (3).

Have ready a little new milk in one saucer, and a piece of brown soap in another, and a clean cloth or towel folded three or four times. On the cloth, spread out the glove smooth and neat. Take a piece of flannel, dip it in the milk, then rub off a good quantity of soap to the wetted flannel, and commence to rub the glove downwards towards the fingers, holding it firmly with the left hand. Continue this process until the glove, if white, looks of a dingy yellow, though clean; if coloured, till it looks dark and spoiled. Lay it to dry; and old gloves will soon look nearly new. They will be soft, glossy, smooth, well-shaped, and elastic.

2254. Preserving the Colour of Dresses.

The colours of merinos, mousseline-de-laines, ginghams, chintzes, printed lawns, &c., may be preserved by using water that is only milk warm; making a lather with white soap, _before_ you put in the dress, instead of rubbing it on the material; and stirring into a first and second tub of water a large tablespoonful of oxgall. The gall can be obtained from the butcher, and a bottle of it should always be kept in every house. No coloured articles should be allowed to remain long in the water. They must be washed fast, and then rinsed through two cold waters. In each, rinsing water stir a teaspoonful of vinegar, which will help to brighten the colours; and after rinsing, hang them out immediately. When _ironing-dry_ (or still a little damp), bring them in; have irons ready heated, and iron them at once--as it injures the colours to allow them to remain damp too long--or sprinkle and roll them up in a cover for ironing next day. If they cannot be conveniently ironed immediately, let them hang till they are _quite_ dry, and then damp and fold them on the, _following day,_ a quarter of an hour before ironing.

It is better not to do coloured dresses on the day of the general wash, but to give them a morning by themselves. They should only be undertaken in clear bright weather. If allowed to freeze, the colours will be irreparably injured. We need scarcely say that no coloured articles should ever be boiled or scalded. If you get from a shop a slip for testing the durability of colours, give it a fair trial by washing it as above; afterwards pinning it to the edge of a towel, and hanging it to dry. Some colours (especially pinks and light greens), though they may stand perfectly well in washing, will change as soon as a warm iron is applied to them; the pink turning purplish, and the green bluish. No coloured article should be smoothed with a _hot_ iron.

[A GAMBLER AND A SWINDLER ARE NEAR NEIGHBOURS.]

2255. To Renovate Silks (1).

Sponge faded silks with warm water and soap, then rub them with a dry cloth on a flat board; afterwards iron them on the _inside_ with a smoothing iron. Old black silks may be improved by sponging with spirits; in this case, the ironing may be done on the right side, thin paper being spread over to prevent glazing.

2256. Black Silk Reviver (2).

Boil logwood in water for half an hour; then simmer the silk half an hour; take it out, and put into the dye a little blue vitriol, or green copperas; cool it, and simmer the silk for half an hour. Or, boil a handful of fig-leaves in two quarts of water until it is reduced to one pint; squeeze the leaves, and bottle the liquor for use. When wanted, sponge the silk with this preparation.

2257. Restoring Colour to Silk (3).

When the colour has been taken from silk by acids, it may be restored by applying to the spot a little hart's-horn, or sal volatile.

2258. To Remove Water Stains from Black Crape.

When a drop of water falls on a black crape veil or collar, it leaves a conspicuous white mark. To obliterate this, spread the crape on a table (laying on it a large book or a paper-weight to keep it steady), and place underneath the stain a piece of old black silk. With a large camel's-hair brush dipped in common ink go over the stain, and then wipe off the ink with a small piece of old soft silk. It will dry at once, and the white mark will be seen no more.

2259. To Remove Stains from Mourning Dresses.

Boil a handful of fig-leaves in two quarts of water until reduced to a pint. Bombazines, crape, cloth, &c., need only be rubbed with a sponge dipped in this liquor, and the stains will be instantly removed.

2260. Wax.

Wax may be taken out of cloth by holding a red-hot iron within an inch or two of the marks, and afterwards rubbing them with a soft clean rag.

2261. Grease Spots from Silk.

Upon a deal table lay a piece of woollen cloth or baize, upon which lay smoothly the part stained, with the right side downwards. Having spread a piece of brown paper on the top, apply a flat iron just hot enough to scorch the paper. About five or eight seconds is usually sufficient. Then rub the stained part briskly with a piece of whity-brown paper.

2262. Liquid for Preserving Furs from Moth.

Warm water, one pint; corrosive sublimate, twelve grains. If washed with this, and afterwards dried, furs are safe from moth. Care should be taken to label the liquid--_Poison._

[ONE DOUBT MAY LEAD TO DISBELIEF.]

2263. Velvet.

When Velvet gets crushed from pressure, hold the parts over a basin of _hot_ water, with the lining of the article next the water; the pile will soon rise, and assume its original beauty.

2264. Stockings.

Worsted and Lambs'-Wool stockings should never be mended with worsted or lambs'-wool, because, the latter being new, it shrinks more than the stockings, and draws them up till the toes become short and narrow, and the heels have no shape left.

2265. Making Flannels.

All Flannels should be soaked before they are made up, first in cold, then in hot water, in order to shrink them.

2266. Washing Flannel.

Flannel should always he washed with white soap, and in warm but not boiling water.

2267. Brewing.

The best time of the year for brewing is the autumn. The spring is also suitable, but less so. It is a great object to secure a moderate temperature for the cooling of the worts, and to insure gradual fermentation. To those who wish to enter upon the practice, without any previous knowledge, we would advise their calling in the aid of some one practically acquainted with the process for the first operation. By so doing they will save a great deal of trouble, disappointment, and expense. In all places, town or country, there are persons who have worked in brewing establishments, or in gentlemen's families where they have superintended the operations of the brew-house, and the aid of such persons would be valuable. With such assistance, the following receipts will be of importance, since many who are able to go through the manipulations of brewing are unaware of the proper proportions to employ:

2268. Ale.

Take three bushels of malt, three pounds of hops, fifty-two gallons of water, for two workings. Or,--malt, two bushels and a half; sugar, three pounds; hops, three pounds; coriander seeds, one ounce; capsicum, a drachm. Thirty-six gallons. This gives a pleasant ale, with a good body.

2269. Amber Ale.

Three bushels of amber malt, three quarters of a bushel of pale amber malt, two pounds of hops, a tablespoonful of salt. Three mashes, forty to fifty gallons. Skim, and fine with isinglass.

2270. Burton Ale.

One quarter of pale malt, eight pounds and a half pale hops; mash three times. Work the first mash at 170°, second at 176°, third at 150°. Boil the first wort by itself; when boiling add three pounds of honey, a pound and a half of coriander seeds, one ounce of salt. Mix the worts when boiled, cool to 61°, set to work with a pint and a half of yeast. As soon as the liquor gets yeasty, skim the head half off; rouse the rest with another pint and a half of yeast, three quarters of an ounce of bay salt, and a quarter of a pound of malt or bean flour. This makes a hogshead.

2271. Edinburgh Ale.

Mash two barrels per quarter, at 183°; mash for three quarters of an hour; let it stand one hour, and allow half an hour to run off. Or, mash one barrel per quarter, at 190°; mash three quarters of an hour, let it stand three quarters of an hour, and tap.

2272. Porter.

Brown amber and pale malt, in equal quantities; turn them into the mash-tub. Turn on the first liquor at 165°; mash one hour, then coat the whole with dry malt. In one hour set the tap. Mix ten pounds of brown hops to a quarter of malt, half old, half new; boil the first wort briskly with the hops for three quarters of an hour, after putting into the copper one pound and a half of sugar, and one pound and a half of extract of liquorice to the barrel, turn it into coolers, rousing the wort the while. Turn on the second liquor at 174°, set tap again in an hour. The second wort having run off, turn on again at 145°; mash an hour, and stand an hour; boil the second wort with the same hops for one hour. Turn into the coolers, and let into the tub at 64°, mixing the yeast as it comes down. Cleanse the second day at 80°, previously adding a mixture of flour and salt, and rousing well.

[WHEN IN MOTION, TO PUSH ON IS EASY.]

2273. Making Wines.

Wines from Rhubarb, Unripe Grapes, Currants, Gooseberries, &c.--The whole art of wine-making consists in the proper management of the fermenting process; the same quantity of fruit, whether it be rhubarb, currants, gooseberries, unripe grapes, leaves, tops, and tendrils, water, and sugar, will produce two different kinds of wine, by varying the process of fermentation only--that is, a dry wine like sherry, or a brisk beverage like champagne; but neither rhubarb, currants, nor gooseberries will produce a wine with the true champagne flavour; it is to be obtained only from the fruit of the grape, ripe or unripe, its leaves, tops, and tendrils. The following receipt will do for rhubarb, or any of the above-mentioned fruits.

2274. English Champagne.

Take fifty pounds of rhubarb and thirty-seven pounds of fine moist sugar. Provide a tub that will hold from fifteen to twenty gallons, taking care that it has a hole for a tap near the bottom. In this tub bruise the rhubarb; when done, add four gallons of water; let the whole be well stirred together; cover the tub with a cloth or blanket, and let the materials stand for twenty-four hours; then draw off the liquor through the tap; add one or two more gallons of water to the pulp, let it be well stirred, and then allowed to remain an hour or two to settle, then draw off; mix the two liquors together, and in it dissolve the sugar.

Let the tub be made clean, and return the liquor to it, cover it with a blanket, and place it in a room the temperature of which is not below 60° Fahr.; here it is to remain for twenty-four, forty-eight, or more hours, until there is an appearance of fermentation having begun, when it should be drawn off into the ten-gallon cask, as fine as possible, which cask must be filled up to the bung-hole with water, if there is not liquor enough; let it lean to one side a little, that it may discharge itself; if there is any liquor left in the tub not quite fine, pass it through flannel, and fill up with that instead of water.

As the fermentation proceeds and the liquor diminishes, it must be filled up daily, to encourage the fermentation, for ten or twelve days; it then becomes more moderate, when the bung should be put in, and a gimlet hole made at the side of it, fitted with a spile; this spile should be taken out every two or three days, according to the state of the fermentation, for eight or ten days, to allow some of the carbonic acid gas to escape. When this state is passed, the cask may he kept full by pouring a little liquor in at the vent-hole once a week or ten days, for three or four weeks.

This operation is performed at long intervals, of a month or more, till the end of December, when on a fine frosty day it should be drawn off from the lees as fine as possible; and the turbid part passed through flannel. Make the cask clean, return the liquor to it, with one drachm of isinglass (pure) dissolved in a little water; stir the whole together, and put the bung in firmly.

Choose a clear dry day in March for bottling. The bottles should be champagne bottles--common wine bottles are not strong enough; secure the corks in a proper manner with wire, &c. The liquor is generally made up to two or three pints over the ten gallons, which is bottled for the purpose of filling the cask as it is wanted. The wine contains spirit enough without the addition of brandy, which spoils all wines; a proper fermentation producing spirit enough.

The way to obtain a dry wine from these materials is to keep the cask constantly filled up to the bung-hole, daily or every other day, as long as any fermentation is perceptible by applying the ear near to the hole; the bung may then be put in lightly for a time, before finally fixing it; it may be racked off on a fine day in December, and fined with isinglass as above directed, and bottled in March.

[A WORD BEFORE IS WORTH TWO BEHIND.]

2275. Parsnip Wine.

Take fifteen pounds of sliced parsnips, and boil until quite soft in five gallons of water; squeeze the liquor well out of them, run it through a sieve, and add three pounds of coarse lump sugar to every gallon of liquor. Boil the whole for three quarters of an hour. When it is nearly cold, add a little yeast on toast. Let it remain in a tub for ten days, stirring it from the bottom every day; then put it into a cask, in which it should remain for a year. As it works over, fill it up every day.

2276. Turnip Wine.

Take a large number of turnips, pare and slice them; then place in a cider-press, and obtain all the juice you can. To every gallon of juice add three pounds of lump sugar, and half a pint of brandy, Pour the liquor into a cask, and when it las done working, bung it close for three months, and draw off into another cask. When it is fine, bottle, and cork well.

2277. Blackberry Wine.

Gather the fruit when ripe, on a dry day. Put into a vessel, with the head out, and a tap fitted near the bottom; pour on boiling water to cover it. Mash the berries with your hands, and let them stand covered till the pulp rises to the top and forms a crust, in three or four days. Then draw off the fluid into another vessel, and to every gallon add one pound of sugar; mix well, and put it into a cask, to work for a week or ten days, and throw off any remaining lees, keeping the cask well filled, particularly at the commencement. When the working has ceased, bung it down; after six to twelve months it may be bottled.

2278. Black or White Elderberry Wine.

Gather the berries ripe and dry, pick them, bruise them with your hands, and strain them. Set the liquor by in glazed earthen vessels for twelve hours, to settle; put to every pint of juice a pint and a half of water, and to every gallon of this liquor three pounds of good moist sugar; set in a kettle over the fire, and when it is ready to boil, clarify it with the white of four or five eggs; let it boil one hour, and when it is almost cold work it with strong ale yeast, and tun it, filling up the vessel from time to time with the same liquor, saved on purpose, as it sinks by working. In a month's time, if the vessel holds about eight gallons, it will be fine and fit to bottle, and after bottling, will be fit to drink in twelve months.

2279. Arrack (Imitation).

Dissolve two scruples of flowers of benjamin in a quart of good rum, and it will impart to the spirit the fragrance of arrack.

2280. Devonshire Junket.

Put warm milk into a bowl, turn it with a little rennet, then add some scalded cream, sugar, and cinnamon on the top, without breaking the curd.

2281. A Nightcap For Travellers.

Take your pocket handkerchief, and laying it out the full square, double down _one-third_ over the other part. Then raise the whole and turn it over, so that the third folded down shall now be underneath. Take hold of one of the folded corners, and draw its point towards the centre; then do the same with the other, as in making a cocked-hat, or a boat, of paper. Then take hold of the two remaining corners, and twisting the hem of the handkerchief, continue to roll it until it meets the double corners brought to the centre, and catches them up a little. Lift the whole, and you will see the form of a cap, which, when applied to the head, will cover the head and ears, and, being tied under the chin, will not come off. Very little practice will enable you to regulate the size of the folds so as to fit the head.

2282. Scotch Punch, or Whisky Toddy.

Pour about a wineglassful of _boiling_ water into a half-pint tumbler, and sweeten according to taste. Stir well up, then put in a wineglassful of whisky, and add a wineglassful and a half more boiling water. _Be sure the water _is boiling_. Never put lemon into toddy. The two in combination, in almost every instance, produce acidity in the stomach. If possible, store your whisky _in the wood_, not in bottles as keeping it in the cask mellows it, and dissipates the coarser particles.

[MAN DOUBLES HIS EVILS BY BROODING UPON THEM.]

2283. Athol Brose.

Put a wineglassful of whisky into a half-pint tumbler; sweeten with a large teaspoonful of honey, and fill up with milk that has been _nearly_ brought to boiling over a clear fire. Remember that "milk boiled is milk spoiled."

2284. Buttered Rum.

Put a wineglassful of good rum into a half-pint tumbler, with a lump or two of sugar and a piece of butter the size of a filbert. Fill up with _boiling_ water. This is excellent for hoarseness and husky condition of the throat.

2285. Raspberry Vinegar.

Put a pound of very fine ripe raspberries in a bowl, _bruise them well_, and pour upon them a quart of the best white wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on a pound of fresh ripe raspberries; bruise _them_ also, and the following day do the same, _but do not squeeze the fruit, or it will make it ferment_; only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it. Finally, pass it through a canvas bag, previously wet with the vinegar, to prevent waste. Put the juice into a stone jar, with a _pound of sugar_, broken into lumps, to _every pint of juice_; stir, and when melted, put the jar into a pan of water; let it simmer, and skim it; let it cool, then bottle it; when cold it will be fine, and thick, like strained honey, newly prepared.

2286. Ginger Beer.

The following receipt is taken from the celebrated treatise of Dr. Pereira on Diet. The honey gives the beverage a peculiar softness, and from not being fermented with yeast, it is less violent in its action when opened, but requires to be kept a somewhat longer time before use. White sugar, five pounds; lemon juice, one quarter of a pint; honey, one quarter of a pound; ginger, bruised, five ounces; water, four gallons and a half. Boil the ginger in three quarts of the water for half an hour, then add the sugar, lemon juice and honey, with the remainder of the water, and strain through a cloth; when cold add a quarter of the white of an egg, and a small teaspoonful of essence of lemon; let the whole stand four days, and bottle; it will keep for many months. This quantity will make 100 bottles.

2287. Ginger-beer Powders.

_Blue paper_; Carbonate of soda, thirty grains; powdered ginger, five grains; ground white sugar, one drachm to one drachm and a half; essence of lemon, one drop. Add the essence to the sugar, then the other ingredients. A quantity should be mixed and divided, as recommended for Seidlitz powders.--_White paper_; Tartaric acid, thirty grains. _Directions_.--Dissolve the contents of the blue paper in water; stir in the contents of the white paper, and drink during effervescence. Ginger-beer powders do not meet with such general acceptation as lemon and kali, the powdered ginger rendering the liquid slightly turbid.

2288. Lemonade.

Powdered sugar, four pounds; citric or tartaric acid, one ounce; essence of lemon, two drachms; mix well. Two or three teaspoonfuls make a very sweet and agreeable glass of extemporaneous lemonade.

2289. Milk Lemonade.

Dissolve three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar in one pint of boiling water, and mix with them one gill of lemon juice, and one gill of sherry, then add three gills of cold milk. Stir the whole well together, and strain it.

2290. Champagne Lemonade.

Champagne Lemonade, composed of two bottles of champagne, one bottle of seltzer water, three pomegranates, three lemons, and of sugar sufficient, is a _princely beverage_ in hot weather; only care must be taken that perspiration is not hereby too much encouraged.