HOUSE-CLEANING DOTS

To Clean Chromos. — Dampen a linen rag slightly and go over them gently. If the varnish has become defaced, cover with a thin mastic varnish.

938 HOrSEKEEPTNG.

To Remove Ink Spots From Floors. — Rub with sand wet in oil of ^^t^ol and water ; when ink is removed rinse with pearl-ash water.

Hard Whitewash. — Ten cents worth of kalsomine, five cents worth of glue dissolved in warm water, two quarts of soft soap, and bluing. This wfll do for hjlls, closets, fences, etc.

To Remove Grease From Wood Before Painting. — ^Whitewash the spots over night, and wash it off in the morning. When dry, the paint will stick. Slaked lime laid on the spots and wet a little, will do as well as whitewash.

To Wash Windows. — Dissolve a little washing soda in the water and wet the window well with it ; dry quickly with a soft towel, and polish with chamois skin or newspaper rubbed soft between the hands, or put a teaspoon kerosene in a quart of water, wash with that and dry and polish as above.

Cleaning Micture For Carpets, Etc. — Half bar Ivory soap, and a lump each of saltpeter and salsoda the size of a walnut ; add two quarts of boiling soft water ; stir well and let stand till cool, then add three ounces am- monia, bottle and cork tight. Will keep good a year. Some use only three pints water. This may also be used for bed-bugs, and it is good for cleaning paint, clothes, etc.

To Clean Looking Glasses. — Divide a newspaper in two, fold up one- half in a small square, wet in cold water. Rub the glass first with the wet half of the paper, and dry -mth. the other. Fly-specks and all othar marks will disappear as if bj' magic. This is only true of the best quality of rag paper, such as is used by the best weekly papers. Paper which has wood or straw in it leaves a linty deposit on the glass.

To Clean Oil-Cloths. — Take a pail of clean, soft, lukewarm water, a nice soft piece of flannel, wash the oil-cloth and wipe very dry so that no drop of water is left to soak in and rot the fabric. After washing and drying, if a cloth is rung out of a dish of skim milk and water, and the oil-cloth is rubbed over with this, and then again well dried, the freshness and luster of the cloth will well repay the extra labor, and before or after putting down new ones, put on one or two coats of linseed-oil with a brush, and when thoroughly drj', add one or two coats of varnish. This makes the cloth softer and much more durable.

Magic Furniture Polish. — Half pint alcohol, half ounce each resin and gum shellac, a few drops analine brown ; let stand over night and add three- fourths pint raw linseed oil and half pint spirits turpentine ; shake well before using. Apply with cotton flannel, and rub dry with another cloth. Another polish is one and a half ounces each alcohol and butter of antimony, one half ounce muriatic acid, eightounces linseed-oil, one half pint vinegar. 'Mix cold. This has been tried for twelve years and has been regularly sold for $10.

Care of a Stove. — AVhere one is cramped for room t<j store heating stoves in summer, they may be utilized very nicely. If a laiioy top. remove

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it and the legs if pretty high and surround with a light frame, easily made, with a solid top and cover with drapery, making a pretty stand. A very high stove could be thus enclosed and placed in a corner. In a very hand- some residence we once saw the steam radiators that look so out of place in summer, covered with a board shelf on top and nicely upholstered and fin- ished with a lambrequin, making a pretty and useful receptacle for books, bric-a-brac, etc.

Care of Oil Paintings and Frames. — Wash the picture, if soiled, in sweet milk and warm water, drying carefully. Or, clean the painting well with a sponge dipped in warm beer, and when perfectly dry, wash with a so- lution of the finest gum-dragon dissolved in pure water. To retouch a gilt frame wet the rubbed spot with isinglass dissolved in weak spirits. When about dry, lay on gold-leaf, and when quite dry, polish with a very hard burn- isher ; or some wash with a strong solution of soda, rub with a fine paper and then apply a coat of liquid gold paint. Give the gilt frame when new a coat of white varnish, and all specks can then be washed ofl" with water or suds without harm.

To Paint Floors. — After the house-cleaning is through here is a quick and easy way of painting the kitchen floor : Some bright, sunshiny day, take three quarts soft water, and three ounces glue ; put over the fire and heat until glue is dissolved. Then take ofi" and add three pounds yellow ochre ; now take a brush (a new white-wash brush does very well), and put on a thick coat all over the fioor. When it is dry, which will be soon, take a common paint brush and boiled oil, and thoroughly cover the floor. You can walk on it as soon as the flrst coat is dry. If any would like the floor very light, instead of using all ocher, use two pounds of pulverized dry white lead and one pound ocher ; also use white glue in place of common kind.

To Remove Ink From Fine Woods. — Ink staines on mahogany, rose- wood or black walnut furniture may be removed by touching the stain with a feather wet in a spoonful of water in which six or eight drops of nitre have been mixed. As soon as the ink disappears, rub the place immediately with a cloth wet in cold water, or the nitre will leave a white stain. If the ink stain then remains, make the solution of nitre stronger, and repeat. Ink stains on paper may be removed by a solution made as follows : Dissolve a a half pound chloride of lime in two quarts of soft water ; let stand twenty- four hours and strain through a clean cotton cloth ; add to an ounce of the lime water a teaspoon of acetic acid, apply to the blot and the ink will dis- appear. Dry with blotting paper. Bottle the remainder of the lime-water closely, and keep for future use.

The Care of Marble. — Never wash the marble tops of wash-stands, bureaus, etc., with soap. Use clean warm water (if very much soiled add a little ammonia) and a soft cloth, drying immediately with a soft towel. Or after brushing off the dust, coat with thick mucilage and let dry in wind or

940 HOUSEKEEPING.

sun ; it will peel off and thus remove dirt. There is nothing that will entirelt, remove grease spots from marble, hence the necessity of avoiding them. A paste of crude potash, or baking soda can be used, and whiting placed on the spot and left on a short time will remove them partly. To clean marble or marbelized slate mantels, use a soft sponge or chamois-skin, dampened in clean warm water without soap, then polish with dry chamois-skin. In dust- ing, use a feather duster, and never a cloth, as it is likely to scratch the pol- ished surface. To clean off smoke, wet a piece of flannel in strong ammonia and rub the marble quickly with it, and then wash off with hot soap-suds ; or make a paste of chloride of lime and water and brush over the whole surface that is smoky. Let it stand a minute, then wash with hot suds. '

To Clean Waste Pipes. — A simple, inexpensive method of clearing the pipe is as follows : Just before retiring at night pour into the pipe enough liquid potash lye of 36° strength to fill the "trap," as it is called, or bent por- tion of the pipe just below the outlet. About a pint will suffice for a wash- stand, or a quart for a bath-tub or kitchen sink. Be sure that no water runs into it till next morning. During the night the lye will convert all of the offal in the pipe into soft soap, and the first current of water in the morning will remove it entirely, and leave the pipe as clean as new. The so-called potash lye sold in small tin cans in the shops is not recommended for this purpose ; it is quite commonly misnamed, and is called caustic soda, which makes a hard soap. The lye should be kept in heavy glass bottles or demi- johns, covered with wicker work, and plainly labeled, always under lock when not in actual use. It does not act upon metals and so does not corrode the pipes as do strong acids. As the "ounce of prevention" it is well once a month to pour down all the pipes a strong solution of sal-soda and water, a pound or two to a gallon of water. Have a regular day, say the first Monday of each month and then it will not be forgotten.

To Clean a Papered Wall. — Cut into eight pieces a large loaf of bread (made without any lard or butter), two days old, blow dust off wall with a bellows, rub down with a piece of the bread, in half yard strokes, begining at the top of the room, until upper part is cleaned, then go round again re- peating until all has been gone over. Or, better, take about two quarts of wheat bran, tie it in a bundle of coarse flannel, and rub it over the pajjcr. It will clean the paper nicely. If done carefully, so that every spot is touched, the paper will look almost like new. Dry corn meal may be used instead of bread, applying it with a cloth. If grease spots appear, put blotting paper over spots and press with a hot flat iron ; or a more thorough way is to mix powdered fuller's earth with ox gall and cold water, and spread it upon the spot, let it dry on, pinning or in some way afl&xing to it a sheet of blotting paper. It had better be left for a few hours, or overnight, then brush the powder off very carefully and no doubt the grease will have disappeared, if not, repeat the process. This is almost sure to be successful if the paper is a good one ; a flimsy cheap one cannot be so depemded upon. Do not rub it

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on, but spread on carefully. Some omit the beef's gall. In brushing down a wall to simply free from dust a woolen cloth is best to cover over the broom, f you do not use a long handled feather duster.

To Exterminate Bedbugs. — In March scald with boiling M^ater every crack or suspected place where they find refuge, and then touch thoroughly every crack and seam where the bugs are likely to harbor, with kerosene. Great care must be taken not to injure fine varnished furnitiire. If any in- jury is done to varnish by the hot water, it may be restored by rubbing im- mediately with a rag wet in turpentine or oil.' Beds should be examined again for vermin in July and August, and if measures are taken to extermin- ate them, there will be but very little trouble. Another death-dealing method is after the spring house-cleaning to saturate salt with water till wet enough to stick, and place it in the opening for slats and in any other place, and then with a feather apply kerosene around crevice of bed and dip the end of slats in a saucer of coal oil. Paris green and mercurial ointment are deadly pois- ons to the bedbug, but as they are dangerous to have in the house, the first- named methods are preferable. One part quicksilver to twenty parts white of an egg, applied with a feather to every crack and crevice in bedstead and room, will kill them. Another deadly poison is used as follows : Dissolve corrosive sublimate in turpentine, take beds apart first of April, wash thor- oughly in warm water, then in all cracks or corners where bugs are likely to frequent saturate with the corrosive sublimate ; follow this treatment every month until cold weather. Others use difi'erent insect powders to ad- vantage, but the safest way is to examine in March and by having a special day, say the 17th, it will not be forgotten ; then follow up at house-cleaning time with the application of salt and kerosene as above. Th

To Re-finish Furniture.— One of the most convenient articles the housekeeper can have on hand during the spring house cleaning and renova- tion, is a small can of hard oil finish. This makes a beautiful, bright finish over varnish, but when applied upon the wax finish just mentioned its most valuable qualities are seen. When the battered and scarred furniture is un- covered after the carpets are up, the housekeeper should begin the raid with fine sand-paper and a scraper of some kind. A putty knife is a good thing, but a case knife or, in careful hands, even a piece of glass will answer the purpose. Wherever there is a scratch that has made the wood rough, scrape or sand-paper a smooth surface ; take off' all roughness, and if the chair or piece of furniture is pretty well battered, attack freely. On that which is new and in fair condition use only a sharp knife and be careful not to en- large the imperfections. The object is to smooth down any Httle abrasions. This being done the use of a hard oil finish begins. A varnish brush of good quality an inch and a half wide is needed, and also a soft brush, say a^'red sable, such as artists use for oil painting ; the latter need not be as thick as a lead pencil. The "finish" if fresh, is ready for use. If old it must be thin- ned with turpentine a day or two before it is used, and after several stirrings allowed to stand till thoroughly mixed and uniform. The furniture in good condition needs only to be touched upon the cracks and scratches with the small brush. Certain kinds of blemishes may be covered by taking a little of the finish on a cloth, over the thumb, and rubbing them out, and it is not a bad plan to do this from time to ti

942 HOUSEKEEPING.

not too much or there will be mortification of seeing it run down. "When a panel, back leg or arm has been begun, finish, before touching any other part. Let the brush sweep from end to end of each section at a single stroke. Do the work in a room free from dust, and when finished shut tlie room up until the varnished surface is hard and dry. Drying depends on the weather and temperature, but it should be continued until the varnish or finish is so hard as not to feel sticky even when hand has been pressed on it a minute.

To Remove Greas^e Spots from Carprtx. — "We give below many ways of removing grease when cleansing an entire carpet after it has been taken up, or for spots when it is on the floor. Mix a beef gall well in a pail of hot water ; take out some in a pan and with a clean piece of flannel rub the spot vigorously ; if of long standing a small brusli will be found necessary. When clean wash with some warm soap-suds and then with clear, waim water. The entire carpet may then be scrubbed with warm soap-suds, putting no soap on the carpet, then wash off with clear, warm water, once or twice, till it looks clean and bright. The washing is best done on a clean grass plot, or, on a clean floor in laundry or barn ; then, if possible, hang on a strong rope or any place to dry, A brussels, ingrain or rag carpet may be treated thus, or the two latter may be washed on a wash-board, or pounded in a barrel.

A brussels carpet may also be treated in the following manner when not taken up ; after it has been swept, sprinkle with a liberal supply of salt, and after an hour or so, sweep off with a new broom. Then in a basin of hot water put a teaspoon of ammonia, and with some fine soap and clean white flannel cloths go over all the soiled spots and stains, then Avashingthem with the suds, being careful not to be too lavisli in the expenditure of water ; then with clean hot water and clean flannel cloths, rinse the spots. The next dav, after the spots have become quite dry, it will look as clean as new. If it is a very old carpet and much faded mix"^some of the Diamond dyes, and with a carnel's hair brush touch up and tone up all the faded flowers and leaves, using the same colors as they were when new ; for instance, if the blue had faded to a dirty slate color touch up with blue, and so on till the entire car- pet is thus brightened and the result will fully repay the labor. A spot or two of grease may easily be taken out by covering it tliicldij with flour, some prefer buckwheat, pinning over a paper and leaving it on a few days or even a week, then brushing off, and if not entirely eradicated dust again. For^ Removing Ink Stains, there is nothing better than milk, new being better. If done directlv it will of course be best, but stains of a long standing, if per- severed with, will after awhile be got out. Well drench the ink stain with milk, and when thoroughly darkened with the ink, wipe up and repeat the operation. This will do for very delicate carpets as well as for others, Some- times it is necessary to rub quite hard. Here are some additional hints in regard to carpets

In putting dotvn carpets some advise when newspapers are used to put a dozen layers, as it both keeps out cold and makes a soft footing. The use of straw allows the dirt to pass through to the floor and thus avoids the raising of so much dust when sweeping. Where straw is objected to, cheap straw matting may be used as the dust sifts through that. This is especially good in localities' troubled with a great deal of dust during rainless seasons.

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After taking up a carpet an easy way to remove the dust from the floor is to dampen clean saw dust with water and' sprinkle on the floor, then sweep with a broom ; or newspapers torn in fine bits and dampened may be used in same way. After a carpet is cleaned, ready for laying, it is nice to sprinkle with salt and let stand an hour or so, then sweep off. " Some also use camphor gum in same way when a carpet is first taken oufdoors, thinking it is good to kill the moths if any, but it is rather an expensive method. Ordinany stains are said to be restored to their original color by the use of benzine.