If Fat Boils Over

Ingredients

• one pound of powdered charcoal
• a piece of zinc placed on the coals of a hot stove will clean out the stove pipe
• a teaspoonful of melted lard to eveiy quart of batter
• a piece of brown paper
• four pounds plaster of paris

Directions

1. Lift off the kettle instantly to stop the supply, open all the dampers and covers of the stove to draw the flames and smoke into the chimney. If the blazing fat runs over on the floor throw on ashes or sand, never water, which only scatters the flame. Where much frying is done a box of sand should be kept close by the stove.

2. Red and black ants may be effectually driven away by using Persian Insect Powder, sprinkled wherever they intrude. It is perfectly harmless to man or beast and deadly poison to insects. To destroy flies and mosquitoes with it, burn it by sprinkling it over live coals or by heaping it on a plate and setting it on fire.

3. A mixture of one pound of powdered charcoal and four pounds plaster of Paris, sprinkled under porches or in damp corners, will prove a good disinfectant.

4. If a few trays of charcoal are set in a damp cellar where milk is kept, there will be no danger of the milk becoming tainted.

5. If a cellar has its windows closed by day and open at night, it will not be damp.

6. By placing a dish containing a good-sized lump of unslacked lime, in a refrigerator, the moisture will be absorbed, so remov- ing all danger from mould.

7. White lead will cement broken crockery better than anything else. Apply a brush to each edge, press together and set aside for a few days. Water has no effect on it.

8. A heated knife will cut hot bread without making it soggv.

9. Oxalic acid, dissolved in hot water, will clean paint from windows.

10. THINGS GOOD TO KNOW. 133

11. Brooms dipped in boiling suds once a week for a few minutes will last much longer than they otherwise would. Paint brushes, bristle brooms, camels hair brushes, etc., will not shed their bristles if allowed to soak in water and dried slowly.

12. Kid shoes may be kept soft and free from cracks if rubbed once a week with pure glycerine or castor oil.

13. • Rats detest chloride of lime and coal tar.

14. Stone jars that have become unfit for use from any cause can be purified by filling with fresh earth and allowing it to remain two or three weeks.

15. A crash bag wet with ammonia water and drawn over a broom enables one to freshen the carpet of the living room every morn- ing without dust; it is also very nice to use on any carpet after a thorough sweeping to remove the dust that settles.

16. Cotton batting is impervious to all life germs. Draw it care- fully over a full jar of preserved fruit and it will prevent mould and fermentation.

17. Vinegar is better than ice for keeping fish. By putting a little vinegar on the fish it will keep perfectly well even in hot weather. Fish is often improved in flavor under this treatment.

18. To bake batter cakes on a common griddle without grease or smoke, add a teaspoonful of melted lard to eveiy quart of batter, just before you begin to bake. Put your griddle on the stove, put some salt on; when it gets hot, rub off well with a piece of brown paper. You will have to repeat the salting if, after you stop baking, you let the griddle stand on the stove.