Part 18

A bath three times a week;

The room should not be overheated.

When moulting keep warm and avoid all draughts of air.

Give plenty of German summer rape seed. A little hard-boiled egg mixed with cracker, grated fine, once or twice a week, is excellent.

Feed at a certain hour in the morning.

Diseases and Cures.

Husk or Asthma.--The curatives are aperients, such as endive, water cresses, bread and milk, and red pepper.

Pip.--Mix red pepper, butter and garlic and swab out the throat.

Sweating.--Wash the hen in salt and water, and dry rapidly.

Costiveness.--Plenty of green food and fruit.

Obstruction of the Rump Gland--Pierce with a needle. Press the inflamed matter out, and drop fine sugar over the wound.

Lice.--Keep a saucer of fresh water in the cage and the bird will free itself.

Overgrown Claws or Beak.--Pare carefully with a sharp knife.

Moulting.--Give plenty of good food and keep warm. Saffron and a rusty nail put in the drinking water is excellent.

Loss of Voice.--Feed with paste of bread, lettuce and rape seed with yoke of egg. Whisky and sugar is an excellent remedy.

RECIPES, TRADE SECRETS ETC.

Toothache Cure.--Compound tinct. benzoin is said to be one of the most certain and speedy cures for toothache; pour a few drops on cotton, and press at once into the diseased cavity, when the pain will almost instantly cease.

Toothache Tincture.--Mix tannin, 1 scruple; mastic, 3 grains; ether, 2 drams. Apply on cotton wool, to the tooth, previously dried.

Charcoal Tooth Paste.--Chlorate of potash, 1/2 dram; mint water, 1 ounce. Dissolve and add powdered charcoal, 2 ounces; honey, 1 ounce.

Excellent Mouth Wash.--Powdered white Castile soap, 2 drams; alcohol, 3 ounces; honey, 1 ounce; essence or extract jasmine, 2 drams. Dissolve the soap in alcohol and add honey and extract.

Removing Tartar from the Teeth.--This preparation is used by dentists. Pure muriatic acid, one ounce; water, one ounce; honey, two ounces; mix thoroughly. Take a toothbrush, and wet it freely with this preparation, and briskly rub the black teeth, and in a moment's time they will be perfectly white; then immediately wash out the mouth well with water, that the acid may not act on the enamel of the teeth. This should be done only occasionally.

Test for Glue.--The following simple and easy test for glue is given: A weighed piece of glue (say one-third of an ounce) is suspended in water for twenty-four hours, the temperature of which is not above fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The coloring material sinks, and the glue swells from the absorption of the water. The glue is then taken out and weighed; the greater the increase in weight the better the glue. If it then be dried perfectly and weighed again, the weight of the coloring matter can be learned from the difference between this and the original weight.

Bad Breath.--Bad breath from catarrh, foul stomach or bad teeth may be temporarily relieved by diluting a little bromo chloralum with eight or ten parts of water, and using it as a gargle, and swallowing a few drops before going out. A pint of bromo chloralum costs fifty cents, but a small vial will last a long time.

Good Tooth Powder.--Procure, at a druggist's, half an ounce of powdered orris root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two or three small lumps of Dutch pink. Let them all be mixed in a mortar, and pounded together. The Dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish color. Keep it in a close box.

Another Tooth Powder.--Mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red Peruvian bark, finely powdered, a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh, and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk.

A Safe Depilatory.--Take a strong solution of sulphuret of barium, and add enough finely powdered starch to make a paste. Apply to the roots of the hair and allow it to remain on a few minutes, then scrape off with the back edge of a knife blade, and rub with sweet oil.

Quick Depilatory for Removing Hair.--Best slaked lime, 6 ounces; orpiment, fine powder, 1 ounce. Mix with a covered sieve and preserve in a dry place in closely stoppered bottles. In using mix the powder with enough water to form a paste, and apply to the hair to be removed. In about five minutes, or as soon as its caustic action is felt on the skin, remove, as in shaving, with an ivory or bone paper knife, wash with cold water freely, and apply cold cream.

Tricopherus for the Hair.--Castor oil, alcohol, each 1 pint; tinct. cantharides, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 1/2 ounce; alkanet coloring, to color as wished. Mix and let it stand forty-eight hours, with occasional shaking, and then filter.

Liquid Shampoo.--Take bay rum. 2-1/2 pints; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams; carbonate of ammonia, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; or take of New England rum, 1-1/2 pints; bay rum, 1 pint; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams, ammon. carbonate, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; the salts to be dissolved in water and the other ingredients to be added gradually.

Cleaning Hair Brushes.--Put a teaspoonful or dessertspoonful of aqua ammonia into a basin half full of water, comb the loose hairs out of the brush, then agitate the water briskly with the brush, and rinse it well with clear water.

Hair Invigorator.--Bay rum, two pints; alcohol, one pint; castor oil, one ounce; carb. ammonia, half an ounce; tincture of cantharides, one ounce. Mix them well. This compound will promote the growth of the hair and prevent it from falling out.

For Dandruff.--Take glycerine, four ounces; tincture of cantharides, five ounces; bay rum, four ounces; water, two ounces. Mix and apply once a day, and rub well into the scalp.

Mustache Grower.--Simple cerate, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 10 minims; saturated tinct. of cantharides, 15 minims. Rub them together thoroughly, or melt the cerate and stir in the tincture while hot, and the oil as soon as it is nearly cold, then run into molds or rolls. To be applied as a pomade, rubbing in at the roots of the hair. Care must be used not to inflame the skin by too frequent application.

Razor-strop Paste.--Wet the strop with a little sweet oil, and apply a little flour of emery evenly over the surface.

Shaving Compound.--Half a pound of plain white soap, dissolved in a small quantity of alcohol, as little as can be used; add a tablespoonful of pulverized borax. Shave the soap and put it in a small tin basin or cup; place it on the fire in a dish of boiling water; when melted, add the alcohol, and remove from the fire; stir in oil of bergamot sufficient to perfume it.

Cure for Prickly Heat.--Mix a large portion of wheat bran with either cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day. Children who are covered with prickly heat in warm weather will be thus effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. As soon as it begins to appear on the neck, face or arms, commence using the bran water on these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no farther. If it does, the bran water bath will certainly cure it, if persisted in.

To Remove Corns from Between the Toes.--These corns are generally more painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost inaccessible to the usual remedies. Wetting them several times a day with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. Try it.

Superior Cologne Water.--Oil of lavender, two drams; oil of rosemary, one dram and a half; orange, lemon and bergamot, one dram each of the oil; also two drams of the essence of musk, attar of rose, ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week.

Inexhaustible Smelling Salts.--Sal tartar, three drams; muriate ammonia, granulated, 6 drams; oil neroli. 5 minims; oil lavender flowers, 5 minims; oil rose, 3 minims; spirits ammonia, 15 minims. Put into the pungent a small piece of sponge filling about one-fourth the space, and pour on it a due proportion of the oils, then put in the mixed salts until the bottle is three-fourths full, and pour on the spirits of ammonia in proper proportion and close the bottle.

Volatile Salts for Pungents.--Liquor ammon., 1 pint; oil lavender flowers, 1 dram; oil rosemary, fine, 1 dram; oil bergamot, 1/2 dram; oil peppermint, 10 minims. Mix thoroughly and fill pungents or keep in well stoppered bottle. Another formula is, sesqui-carbonate of ammonia, small pieces, 10 ounces; concentrated liq. ammonia, 5 ounces. Put the sesqui-carb. in a wide-mouthed jar with air-tight stopper, perfume the liquor ammonia to suit and pour over the carbonate; close tightly the lid and place in a cool place; stir with a stiff spatula every other day for a week, and then keep it closed for two weeks, or until it becomes hard, when it is ready for use.

Paste for Papering Boxes.--Boil water and stir in batter of wheat or rye flour. Let it boil one minute, take off and strain through a colander. Add, while boiling, a little glue or powdered alum. Do plenty of stirring while the paste is cooking, and make of consistency that will spread nicely.

Aromatic Spirit of Vinegar.--Acetic acid, No. 8. pure, 8 ounces; camphor, 1/2 ounce. Dissolve and add oil lemon, oil lavender flowers, each two drams; oil cassia, oil cloves, 1/2 dram each. Thoroughly mix and keep in well stoppered bottle.

Rose-Water.--Preferable to the distilled for a perfume, or for ordinary purposes. Attar of rose, twelve drops; rub it up with half an ounce of white sugar and two drams carbonate magnesia, then add gradually one quart of water and two ounces of proof spirit, and filter through paper.

Bay Rum.--French proof spirit, one gallon; extract bay, six ounces. Mix and color with caramel; needs no filtering.

Fine Lavender Water.--Mix together, in a clean bottle, a pint of inodorous spirit of wine, an ounce of oil of lavender, a teaspoonful of oil of bergamot, and a tablespoonful of oil of ambergris.

The Virtues of Turpentine.--After a housekeeper fully realizes the worth of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a supply of it. It gives quick relief to burns, it is an excellent application for corns, it is good for rheumatism and sore throat, and it is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits. Then it is a sure preventive against moths: by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of drawers, chests and cupboards, it will render the garments secure from injury during the summer. It will keep ants and bugs from closets and store-rooms by putting a few drops in the corners and upon the shelves; it is sure destruction to bedbugs, and will effectually drive them away from their haunts if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor clothing. A spoonful of it added to a pail of warm water is excellent for cleaning paint. A little in suds washing days lightens laundry labor.

A Perpetual Paste is a paste that may be made by dissolving an ounce of alum in a quart of warm water. When cold, add as much flour as will make it the consistency of cream, then stir into it half a teaspoonful of powdered resin, and two or three cloves. Boil it to a consistency of mush, stirring all the time. It will keep for twelve months, and when dry may be softened with warm water.

Paste for Scrap Books.--Take half a teaspoonful of starch, same of flour, pour on a little boiling water, let it stand a minute, add more water, stir and cook it until it is thick enough to starch a shirt bosom. It spreads smooth, sticks well and will not mold or discolor paper. Starch alone will make a very good paste.

A Strong Paste.--A paste that will neither decay nor become moldy. Mix good clean flour with cold water into a thick paste well blended together; then add boiling water, stirring well up until it is of a consistency that can be easily and smoothly spread with a brush; add to this a spoonful or two of brown sugar, a little corrosive sublimate and about half a dozen drops of oil of lavender, and you will have a paste that will hold with wonderful tenacity.

A Brilliant Paste.--A brilliant and adhesive paste, adapted to fancy articles, may be made by dissolving caseine precipitated from milk by acetic acid and washed with pure water in a saturated solution of borax.

A Sugar Paste.--In order to prevent the gum from cracking, to ten parts by weight of gum arabic and three parts of sugar add water until the desired consistency is obtained. If a very strong paste is required, add a quantity of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the mixture. The paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment.

Tin Box Cement.--To fix labels to tin boxes either of the following will answer: 1. Soften good glue in water, then boil it in strong vinegar, and thicken the liquid while boiling with fine wheat flour, so that a paste results. 2. Starch paste, with which a little Venice turpentine has been incorporated while warm.

Paper and Leather Paste.--Cover four parts, by weight, of glue, with fifteen parts of cold water, and allow it to soak for several hours, then warm moderately till the solution is perfectly clear, and dilute with sixty parts of boiling water, intimately stirred in. Next prepare a solution of thirty parts of starch in two hundred parts of cold water, so as to form a thin homogeneous liquid, free from lumps, and pour the boiling glue solution into it with thorough stirring, and at the same time keep the mass boiling.

Commercial Mucilage.--The best quality of mucilage in the market is made by dissolving clear glue in equal volumes of water and strong vinegar, and adding one-fourth of an equal volume of alcohol, and a small quantity of a solution of alum in water. Some of the cheaper preparations offered for sale are merely boiled starch or flour, mixed with nitric acid to prevent their gelatinizing.

Acid-Proof Paste.--A paste formed by mixing powdered glass with a concentrated solution of silicate of soda makes an excellent acid-proof cement.

Paste to Fasten Cloth to Wood.--Take a plump pound of wheat flour, one tablespoonful of powdered resin, one tablespoonful of finely powdered alum, and rub the mixture in a suitable vessel, with water, to a uniform, smooth paste; transfer this to a small kettle over a fire, and stir until the paste is perfectly homogeneous without lumps. As soon as the mass has become so stiff that the stirrer remains upright in it, transfer it to another vessel and cover it up so that no skin may form on its surface. This paste is applied in a very thin layer to the surface of the table; the cloth, or leather, is then laid and pressed upon it, and smoothed with a roller. The ends are cut off after drying. If leather is to be fastened on, this must first be moistened with water. The paste is then applied, and the leather rubbed smooth with a cloth.

Paste for Printing Office.--Take two gallons of cold water and one quart wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely pulverized alum and boil the mixture for ten minutes, or until a thick consistency is reached. Now add one quart of hot water and, boil again, until the paste becomes a pale brown color, and thick. The paste should be well stirred during both processes of cooking. Paste thus made will keep sweet for two weeks and prove very adhesive.

To Take Smoke Stains from Walls.--An easy and sure way to remove smoke stains from common plain ceilings is to mix wood ashes with the whitewash just before applying. A pint of ashes to a small pail of whitewash is sufficient, but a little more or less will do no harm.

To Remove Stains from Broadcloth.--Take an ounce of pipe clay, which has been ground fine, mix it with twelve drops of alcohol and the same quantity of spirits of turpentine. Whenever you wish to remove any stains from cloth, moisten a little of this mixture with alcohol and rub it on the spots. Let it remain till dry, then rub it off with a woolen cloth, and the spots will disappear.

To Remove Red Stains of Fruit from Linen.--Moisten the cloth and hold it over a piece of burning sulphur; then wash thoroughly, or else the spots may reappear.

To Remove Oil Stains.--Take three ounces of spirits of turpentine and one ounce of essence of lemon, mix well, and apply it as you would any other scouring drops. It will take out all the grease.

Iron Stains may be removed by the salt of lemons. Many stains may be removed by dipping the linen in some buttermilk, and then drying it in a hot sun; wash it in cold water; repeat this three or four times.

To Remove Oil Stains from Wood.--Mix together fuller's earth and soap lees, and rub it into the boards. Let it dry and then scour it off with some strong soft soap and sand, or use lees to scour it with. It should be put on hot, which may easily be done by heating the lees.

To Remove Tea Stains.--Mix thoroughly soft soap and salt--say a tablespoonful of salt to a teacupful of soap, rub on the spots, and spread the cloth on the grass where the sun will shine on it. Let it lie two or three days, then wash. If the spots are wet occasionally while lying on the grass, it will hasten the bleaching.

To Remove Stains from Muslin.--If you have stained your muslin or gingham dress, or similar articles, with berries, before wetting with anything else, pour boiling water through the stains and they will disappear. Before fruit juice dries it can often be removed by cold water, using a sponge and towel if necessary.

To Remove Acid Stains.--Stains caused by acids may be removed by tying some pearlash up in the stained part; scrape some soap in cold, soft water, and boil the linen until the stain is gone.

To Disinfect Sinks and Drains.--Copperas dissolved in water, one-fourth of a pound to a gallon, and poured into a sink and water drain occasionally, will keep such places sweet and wholesome. A little chloride of lime, say half a pound to a gallon of water, will have the same effect, and either of these costs but a trifle.

A preparation may be made at home which will answer about as well as the chloride of lime. Dissolve a bushel of salt in a barrel of water, and with the salt water slake a barrel of lime, which should be made wet enough to form a thin paste or wash.

To Disinfect a Cellar.--A damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even common lime. The most effective means I have ever used to disinfect decaying vegetable matter is chloride of lime in solution. One pound may be dissolved in two gallons of water. Plaster of Paris has also been found an excellent absorbent of noxious odors. If used one part with three parts of charcoal, it will be found still better.

How to Thaw Out a Water Pipe.--Water pipes usually freeze up when exposed, for inside the walls, where they cannot be reached, they are or should be packed to prevent freezing. To thaw out a frozen pipe, bundle a newspaper into a torch, light it, and pass it along the pipe slowly. The ice will yield to this much quicker than to hot water or wrappings or hot cloths, as is the common practice.

To Prevent Mold.--A small quantity of carbolic acid added to paste, mucilage and ink, will prevent mold. An ounce of the acid to a gallon of whitewash will keep cellars and dairies from the disagreeable odor which often taints milk and meat kept in such places.

Thawing Frozen Gas Pipe.--Mr. F. H. Shelton says: "I took off from over the pipe, some four or five inches, just a crust of earth, and then put a couple of bushels of lime in the space, poured water over it, and slaked it, and then put canvas over that, and rocks on the canvas, so as to keep the wind from getting underneath. Next morning, on returning there, I found that the frost had been drawn out from the ground for nearly three feet. You can appreciate what an advantage that was, for picking through frozen ground, with the thermometer below zero, is no joke. Since then we have tried it several times. It is an excellent plan if you have time enough to let the time work. In the daytime you cannot afford to waste the time, but if you have a spare night in which to work, it is worth while to try it."

How to Test a Thermometer.--The common thermometer in a japanned iron case is usually inaccurate. To test the thermometer, bring water into the condition of active boiling, warm the thermometer gradually in the steam and then plunge it into the water. If it indicates a fixed temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees, the instrument is a good one.

Indelible Ink.--An indelible ink that cannot be erased, even with acids, can be obtained from the following recipe: To good gall ink add a strong solution of Prussian blue dissolved in distilled water. This will form a writing fluid which cannot be erased without destruction of the paper. The ink will write greenish blue, but afterward will turn black.

To Get a Broken Cork Out of a Bottle.--If, in drawing a cork, it breaks, and the lower part falls down into the liquid, tie a long loop in a bit of twine, or small cord, and put it in, holding the bottle so as to bring the piece of cork near to the lower part of the neck. Catch it in the loop, so as to hold it stationary. You can then easily extract it with a corkscrew.

A Wash for Cleaning Silver.--Mix together half an ounce of fine salt, half an ounce of powdered alum, and half an ounce of cream of tartar. Put them into a large white-ware pitcher, and pour on two ounces of water, and stir them frequently, till entirely dissolved. Then transfer the mixture to clean bottles and cork them closely. Before using it, shake the bottles well. Pour some of the liquid into a bowl, and wash the silver all over with it, using an old, soft, fine linen cloth. Let it stand about ten minutes, and then rub it dry with a buckskin. It will make the silver look like new.

To Remove the Odor from a Vial.--The odor of its last contents may be removed from a vial by filling it with cold water, and letting it stand in any airy place uncorked for three days, changing the water every day.

To Loosen a Glass Stopper.--The manner in which apothecaries loosen glass stoppers when there is difficulty in getting them out is to press the thumb of the right hand very hard against the lower part of the stopper, and then give the stopper a twist the other way, with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, keeping the bottle stiff in a steady position.