These battles are selected as decisive, because of the important consequences that followed them. Few students of history, probably, would agree with Prof. Creasy, in restricting the list as he does. Many other conflicts might be noted, fraught with great importance to the human race, and unquestionably "decisive" in their nature; as, for instance, the victory of Sobieski over the Turkish army at Vienna, Sept. 12, 1683. Had the Poles and Austrians been defeated there, the Turkish general might readily have fulfilled his threat "to stable his horses in the Church of St. Peter's at Rome," and all Western Europe would, no doubt, have been devastated by the ruthless and bloodthirsty Ottomans. Of important and decisive battles since that of Waterloo we may mention in our own Civil War those of Gettysburg, by which the invasion of the North was checked, and at Chattanooga, Nov. 23 and 25, 1863, by which the power of the Confederates in the southwest received a deadly blow.
THE WANDERING JEW.—There are various versions of the story of "The Wandering Jew," the legends of whom have formed the foundation of numerous romances, poems and tragedies. One version is that this person was a servant in the house of Pilate, and gave the Master a blow as He was being dragged out of the palace to go to His death. A popular tradition makes the wanderer a member of the tribe of Naphtali, who, some seven or eight years previous to the birth of the Christ-child left his father to go with the wise men of the East whom the star led to the lowly cot in Bethlehem. It runs, also, that the cause of the killing of the children can be traced to the stories this person related when he returned to Jerusalem of the visit of the wise men, and the presentation of the gifts they brought to the Divine Infant, when He was acknowledged by them to be the king of the Jews, He was lost sight of for a time, when he appeared as a carpenter who was employed in making the cross on which the Saviour was to be lifted up into the eyes of all men. As Christ walked up the way to Calvary, He had to pass the workshop of this man, and when He reached its door, the soldiers, touched by the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, besought the carpenter to allow Him to rest there for a little, but he refused, adding insult to a want of charity. Then it is said that Christ pronounced his doom, which was to wander over the earth until the second coming. Since that sentence was uttered, he has wandered, courting death, but finding it not, and his punishment, becoming more unbearable as the generations come and go. He is said to have appeared in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even as recently as the eighteenth century, under the names of Cartaphilus, and Ahasuerus, by which the Wandering Jew has been known. One of the legends described him as a shoemaker of Jerusalem, at whose door Christ desired to rest on the road to Calvary, but the man refused, and the sentence to wander was pronounced.
SOME MEMORABLE DARK DAYS.—During the last hundred years there have been an unusually large number of dark days recorded. As has been suggested by several writers, this may have been the result of the careful scientific observations of modern times, as well as of the frequency of these phenomena. The dark day in the beginning of this century about which so much has been said and written occurred Oct. 21, 1816. The first day of the same month and year is also represented as "a close dark day." Mr. Thomas Robie, who took observations at Cambridge, Mass., has this to offer in regard to the phenomenon. "On Oct. 21 the day was so dark that people were forced to light candles to eat their dinners by; which could not he from an eclipse, the solar eclipse being the fourth of that month." The day is referred to by another writer as "a remarkable dark day in New England and New York," and it is noted, quaintly by a third, that "in October, 1816, a dark day occurred after a severe winter in New England." Nov. 26, 1816, was a dark day in London, and is described "in the neighborhood of Walworth and Camberwell so completely dark that some of the coachmen driving stages were obliged to get down and lead their horses with a lantern." The famous dark day in America was May 19, 1780. The phenomenon began about 10 o'clock in the forenoon. The darkness increased rapidly, and "in many places it was impossible to read ordinary print." There was widespread fear. Many thought that the Day of Judgment was at hand. At that time the Legislature of Connecticut was in session at Hartford. The House of Representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the council was under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel Davenport was asked, he answered: "I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment: if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought." In Whittier's "Tent on the Beach" is given a beautiful poetical version of this anecdote. It is suggested by several authorities that the cause of the dark day in 1780 should be attributed simply to the presence of ordinary clouds of very unusual volume and density. These instances are, of course, grouped with phenomena of which not a great deal is known, and can in no way be classed with those occurrances occasioned by the smoke from extensive forest tires, volcanic eruptions, or fogs.
THE REMARKABLE STORY OF CHARLIE ROSS.—Charlie Ross was the son of Christian K. Ross of Germantown, Pa., and at the time of his disappearance was a little over 4 years of age. The child and a brother 6 years old were playing July 1, 1874, in the streets of Germantown, when a couple of men drove up in a buggy and persuaded the children, with promises of toys and candies, to get in and ride with them in the vehicle. After driving around the place for a little time, the older brother, Walter Ross, was put out of the conveyance, and the strangers gave him 25 cents, telling him to go to a store near at hand and buy some candy and torpedoes for himself and Charlie. Walter did as he was told, but when he came out of the store the men with Charlie and the vehicle had disappeared. It was believed at first by the relatives and friends of the missing boy that he would be returned in a short time, as they supposed he might have been taken by some drunken men. Time passed, however, but no trace of the child had been discovered. In a few weeks a letter was received by Mr. Ross to the effect that if he would pay $20,000 his son would be returned, but, that the parent need not search for Charlie, as all efforts to find the abducted boy or his captors would only be attended with failure; and it was stated that if this amount was not paid, Charlie would be killed. The father answered this and a long correspondence ensued, while the search was prosecuted in all directions. Mr. Ross wanted the child delivered at the time the money was paid, but to this the abductors refused to agree. It is stated that more than $50,000 were expended to recover the child. At one time two gentlemen were two days in Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, with the $20,000 ransom money to be given to the child-thieves, but they did not appear. The search was continued, and the officers of the law were looking up any and all evidence, until they had located the two men. These were found Dec. 4, 1874, committing a burglary in the house of Judge Van Brunt, Bay Ridge, L.I.; the burglary was discovered, the burglars seen and shot by persons residing in an adjoining residence. One of the men was killed instantly, thelived several hours, and confessed that he and his companion had abducted Charlie Ross, but that the dead thief, Mosher by name, was the one who knew where the boy was secreted. Walter Ross identified the burglars as the men who had enticed him and Charlie into the buggy. There the case rested. No new fact has been developed. The missing child has never been found. Many times have children been reported who resembled Charlie, and Mr. Ross has traveled far and near in his endless search, only to return sadly and report that his boy was still missing. No case in recent years has excited such universal sympathy as that of Charlie Ross.
THE BLUE LAWS ON SMOKING.—There were some very stringent laws in Massachusetts against the use of tobacco in public, and while the penalties were not so heavy, yet they were apparently rigidly enforced for a time. We quote from a law passed in October, 1632, as follows: "It is ordered that noe person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under paine of punishment; also that every one shall pay 1d.for every time hee is convicted of takeing tobacco in any place, and that any Assistant shall have power to receave evidence and give order for levyeing of it, as also to give order for the levyeing of the officer's charge. This order to begin the 10th of November next." In September, 1634, we discover another law on the same article: "Victualers, or keepers of an Ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco to be taken in their howses, under the penalty of 5s.for every offence, to be payde by the victuler, and 12d.by the party that takes it. Further, it is ordered, that noe person shall take tobacco publiquely, under the penalty of 2s.6d., nor privately, in his owne house, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it togeather, anywhere, under the aforesaid penalty for every offence." In November, 1637, the record runs: "All former laws against tobacco are repealed, and tobacco is sett at liberty;" but in September, 1638, "the [General] Court, finding that since the repealing of the former laws against tobacco, the same is more abused then before, it hath therefore ordered, that no man shall take any tobacco in the fields, except in his journey, or at meale times, under paine of 12d.for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in (or so near) any dwelling house, barne, corne or hay rick, as may likely indanger the fireing thereof, upon paine of 10s.for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in any inne or common victualing house, except in a private roome there, so as neither the master of the same house nor any other guests there shall take offence thereat, which if they do, then such person is fourthwith to forbeare, upon paine of 12s.6d.for every offence. Noe man shall kindle fyre by gunpowder, for takeing tobacco, except in his journey, upon paine of 12d.for every offence."
THE REMARKABLE CAVES—WYANDOTTE AND MAMMOTH.—Wyandotte Cave is in Jennings township, Crawford county, Ind., near the Ohio river. It is a rival of the great Mammoth Cave in grandeur and extent. Explorations have been made for many miles. It excels the Mammoth Cave in the number and variety of its stalagmites and stalactites, and in the size of several of its chambers. One of these chambers is 350 feet in length, 245 feet in height, and contains a hill 175 feet high, on which are three fine stalagmites. Epsom salts, niter and alum have been obtained from the earth of the cave. The Mammoth Cave is in Edmondson county, near Green River, about seventy-five miles from Louisville. Its entrance is reached by passing down a wild, rocky ravine through a dense forest. The cave extends some nine miles. To visit the portions already traversed, it is said, requires 150 to 200 miles of travel. The cave contains a succession of wonderful avenues, chambers, domes, abysses, grottoes, lakes, rivers, cataracts and other marvels, which are too well known to need more than a reference. One chamber—the Star—is about 500 feet long, 70 feet wide, 70 feet high, the ceiling of which is composed of black gypsum, and is studded with innumerable white points, that by a dim light resemble stars, hence the name of the chamber. There are avenues one and a half and even two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful formations, and present the appearance of enchanted palace halls. There is a natural tunnel about three-quarters of a mile long, 100 feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock 45 feet high. There is a chamber having an area of from four to five acres, and there are domes 200 and 300 feet high. Echo River is some three-fourths of a mile in length, 200 feet in width at some points, and from 10 to 30 in depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about 15 feet high, while the Styx, another river, is 450 feet long, from 15 to 40 feet wide, and from 30 to 40 feet deep, and is spanned by a natural bridge. Lake Lethe has about the same length and width as the river Styx, varies in depth from 3 to 40 feet, lies beneath a ceiling some 90 feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of 60 feet. There is also a Dead Sea, quite a somber body of water. There are several interesting caves in the neighborhood, one three miles long and three each about a mile in length.
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.—The "South Sea Bubble," as it is generally called, was a financial scheme which occupied the attention of prominent politicians, communities, and even nations in the early part of the eighteenth century. Briefly the facts are: In 1711 Robert Hartley, Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, proposed to fund a floating debt of about £10,000,000 sterling, the interest, about $600,000, to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines, tobacco, wrought silks, etc. Purchasers of this fund were to become also shareholders in the "South Sea Company," a corporation to have the monopoly of the trade with Spanish South America, a part of the capital stock of which was to be the new fund. But Spain, after the treaty of Utrecht, refused to open her commerce to England, and the privileges of the "South Sea Company" became worthless. There were many men of wealth who were stockholders, and the company continued to flourish, while the ill success of its trading operations was concealed. Even the Spanish War of 1718 did not shake the popular confidence. Then in April, 1720, Parliament, by large majorities in both Houses, accepted the company's plan for paying the national debt, and after that a frenzy of speculation seized the nation, and the stock rose to £300 a share, and by August had reached £1,000 a share. Then Sir John Blunt, one of the leaders, sold out, others followed, and the stock began to fall. By the close of September the company stopped payment and thousands were beggared. An investigation ordered by Parliament disclosed much fraud and corruption, and many prominent persons were implicated, some of the directors were imprisoned, and all of them were fined to an aggregate amount of £2,000,000 for the benefit of the stockholders. A great part of the valid assets was distributed among them, yielding a dividend of about 33 per cent.
AREA OF NORTH AMERICA.—The following figures show the extent of the United States as compared with the British possessions in North America: United States, 3,602,884 square miles. British possessions—Ontario, 121,26O; Quebec, 210,020; Nova Scotia, 18,670; New Brunswick, 27,037; British Columbia, 233,000; Manitoba, 16,000; N.W. and Hudson Bay Territories, 2,206,725; Labrador and Arctic Ocean Islands, make a total of 3,500,000.
HOUSEHOLD RECIPES
Axle Grease.—1. Water, 1 gallon; soda, 1/3 pound; palm oil, 10 pounds. Mix by heat, and stir till nearly cold.
2. Water, rape oil, of each 1 gallon; soda, 1/3 pound; palm oil, 1/4 pound.
3. Water, 1 gallon; tallow, 3 pounds; palm oil, 6 pounds; soda, 1/2 pound. Heat to 210 deg. Fahrenheit and stir until cool.
4. Tallow, 8 pounds; palm oil, 10 pounds; plumbago, 1 pound. Makes a good lubricator for wagon axles.
How to Shell Beans Easy.—Pour upon the pods a quantity of scalding water, and the beans will slip very easily from the pod. By pouring scalding water on apples the skin may be easily slipped off, and much labor saved.
How to Clean Bed-Ticks.—Apply Poland starch, by rubbing it on thick with a cloth. Place it in the sun. When dry, rub it if necessary. The soiled part will be clean as new.
How to Wash Carpets.—Shake and beat it well; lay it upon the floor and tack it firmly; then with a clean flannel wash it over with a quart of bullock's gall mixed with three quarts of soft, cold water, and rub it off with a clean flannel or house-cloth. Any particular dirty spot should be rubbed with pure gall.
How to Clean Carpets.—Before proceeding to sweep a carpet a few handfuls of waste tea-leaves should be sprinkled over it. A stiff hair broom or brush should be employed, unless the carpet is very dirty, when a whisk or carpet-broom should be used, first followed by another made of hair, to take off the loose dust. The frequent use of a stiff carpet-broom soon wears off the beauty of the best carpet. An ordinary clothes brush is best adapted for superior carpets. When carpets are very dirty they should be cleaned by shaking and beating.
Beat it well with a stick in the usual manner until all the dust is removed, then take out the stains, if any, with lemon or sorrel-juice. When thoroughly dry rub it all over with the crumb of a hot wheaten loaf, and if the weather is very fine, let hang out in the open air for a night or two. This treatment will revive the colors, and make the carpet appear equal to new.
How to Remove Spots on Carpets.—A few drops of carbonate of ammonia, and a small quantity of warm rain water, will prove a safe and easy antacid, etc., and will change, if carefully applied, discolored spots upon carpets, and indeed, all spots, whether produced by acids or alkalies. If one has the misfortune to have a carpet injured by whitewash, this will immediately restore it.
How to Remove Ink Spots on Carpets.—As soon as the ink has been spilled, take up as much as you can with a sponge, and then pour on cold water repeatedly, still taking up the liquid; next rub the place with a little wet oxalic acid or salt of sorrel, and wash it off immediately with cold water, and then rub on some hartshorn.
Cleaning and Scouring of Cloth.—The common method of cleaning cloth is by beating and brushing, unless when very dirty, when it undergoes the operation of scouring. This is best done on the small scale, as for articles of wearing apparel, etc., by dissolving a little curd soap in water, and after mixing it with a little ox-gall, to touch over all the spots of grease, dirt, etc., with it, and to rub them well with a stiff brush, until they are removed, after which the article may be well rubbed all over with a brush or sponge dipped into some warm water, to which the previous mixture and a little more ox-gall has been added. When this has been properly done, it only remains to thoroughly rinse the article in clean water until the latter passes off uncolored, when it must be hung up to dry. For dark, colored cloths the common practice is to add some Fuller's-earth to the mixture of soap and gall. When nearly dry the nap should be laid right and the article carefully pressed, after which a brush, moistened with a drop or two of olive oil, is passed several times over it, which will give it a superior finish.
Cloth may also be cleaned in the dry way, as follows: First remove the spots, as above, and when the parts have dried, strew clean, damp sand over it, and beat it in with a brush, after which brush the article with a hard brush when the sand will readily come out, and bring the dirt with it. Black cloth which is very rusty should receive a coat of reviver after drying, and be hung up until the next day, when it may be pressed and finished off as before. Scarlet cloth requires considerable caution. After being thoroughly rinsed, it should be repeatedly passed through cold spring water, to which a tablespoonful or two of solution of tin has been added. If much faded, it should be dipped in a scarlet dye-bath. Buff cloth is generally cleansed by covering it with a paste made with pipe-clay and water, which, when dry,-is rubbed and brushed off.
Renovation of Cloth.—The article undergoes the process of scouring before described, and, after being well rinsed and drained, it is put on a board, and the thread-bare parts rubbed with a half-worn hatter's card, filled with flocks, or with a teazle or a prickly thistle, until a nap is raised. It is next hung up to dry, the nap laid the right way with a hard brush, and finished as before. When the cloth is much faded, it is usual to give it a dip, as it is called, or to pass it through a dye-bath, to freshen up the color.
How to Revive the Color of Black Cloth.—If a coat, clean it well, then boil from two to four ounces of logwood in your copper, or boiler, for half an hour; dip your coat in warm water, and squeeze it as dry as you can, then put it into the copper and boil it for half an hour. Take it out, and add a piece of green copperas, about the size of a horse-bean; boil it another half hour, then draw it, and hang it in the air for an hour or two; take it down; rinse it in two or three cold waters; dry it, and let it bebrushed with a soft brush, over which a drop or two of the oil of olives has been rubbed, then stroke your coat regularly over.
How to Restore Crape.—Skimmed milk and water, with a little bit of glue in it, made scalding hot, is excellent to restore rusty Italian crape. If clapped and pulled dry like muslin, it will look as good as new; or, brush the veil till all the dust is removed, then fold it lengthwise, and roll it smoothly and tightly on a roller. Steam it till it is thoroughly dampened, and dry on the roller.
How to Cleanse Feather Beds.—When feather beds become soiled and heavy they may be made clean and light by being treated in the following manner: Rub them over with a stiff brush, dipped in hot soap-suds. When clean lay them on a shed, or any other clean place where the rain will fall on them. When thoroughly soaked let them dry in a hot sun for six or seven successive days, shaking them up well and turning them over each day. They should be covered over with a thick cloth during the night; if exposed to the night air they will become damp and mildew. This way of washing the bed-ticking and feathers makes them very fresh and light, and is much easier than the old-fashioned way of emptying the beds and washing the feathers separately, while it answers quite as well. Care must be taken to dry the bed perfectly before sleeping on it. Hair mattresses that have become hard and dirty can be made nearly as good as new by ripping them, washing the ticking, and picking the hair free from bunches and keeping it in a dry, airy place several days. Whenever the ticking gets dry fill it lightly with the hair, and tack it together.
How to Cut Up and Cure Pork.—Have the hog laid on his back on a stout, clean bench; cut off the head close to the base. If the hog is large, there will come off a considerable collar, between head and shoulders, which, pickled or dried, is useful for cooking with vegetables. Separate the jowl from the face at the natural joint; open the skull lengthwise and take out the brains, esteemed a luxury. Then with a sharp knife remove the back-bone the whole length, then the long strip of fat underlying it, leaving about one inch of fat covering the spinal column.
The leaf lard, if not before taken out for the housewife's convenience, is removed, as is also the tenderloin—a fishy-shaped piece of flesh—often used for sausage, but which makes delicious steak. The middling or sides are now cut out, leaving the shoulders square-shaped and the hams pointed, or they may be rounded to your taste. The spare-ribs are usually wholly removed from the sides, with but little meat adhering. It is the sides of small, young hogs cured as hams that bear the name of breakfast bacon, The sausage meat comes chiefly in strips from the backbone, part of which may also be used as steak. The lean trimmings from about the joints are used for sausage, the fat scraps rendered up with the backbone lard.
The thick part of the backbone that lies between the shoulders, called griskin or chine, is separated from the tapering, bony part, called backbone by way of distinction, and used as flesh. The chines are smoked with jowls, and used in late winter or spring.
When your meat is to be pickled it should be dusted lightly with saltpetre sprinkled with salt, and allowed to drain twenty-four hours; then plunge it into pickle, and keep under with a weight. It is good policy to pickle a portion of the sides. They, after soaking, are sweeter to cook with vegetables, and the grease fried from them is much more useful than that of smoked meat.
If your meat is to be dry salted, allow one teaspoonful of pulverized saltpetre to one gallon of salt, and keep the mixture warm beside you. Put on a hog's ear as a mitten, and rub each piece of meat thoroughly. Then pack skin side down, ham upon ham, side upon side, strewing on salt abundantly. It is best to put large and small pieces in different boxes for the convenience of getting at them to hang up at the different times they will come into readiness. The weather has so much to do with the time that meat requires to take salt that no particular time can be specified for leaving it in.
The best test is to try a medium-sized ham; if salt enough, all similar and smaller pieces are surely ready, and it is well to remember that the saltness increases in drying. Ribs and steaks should be kept in a cold, dark place, without salting, until ready for use. If you have many, or the weather is warm, they keep better in pickle than dry salt. Many persons turn and rub their meat frequently. We have never practiced this, and have never lost any.
When the meat is ready for smoking, dip the hocks of the joints in ground black pepper and dust the raw surface thickly with it. Sacks, after this treatment, may be used for double security, and I think bacon high and dry is sweeter than packed in any substance. For sugar-cured hams we append the best recipe we have ever used, though troublesome.
English Recipe for Sugar-Curing Hams.—So soon as the meat comes from the butcher's hand rub it thoroughly with the salt. Repeat this four days, keeping the meat where it can drain. The fourth day rub it with saltpetre and a handful of common salt, allowing one pound of saltpetre to seventy pounds of meat. Now mix one pound of brown sugar and one of molasses, rub over the ham every day for a fortnight, and then smoke with hickory chips or cobs. Hams should be hung highest in meat-houses, because there they are less liable to the attacks of insects, for insects do not so much infest high places—unlike human pests.
Pickle.—Make eight gallons of brine strong enough to float an egg; add two pounds of brown sugar or a quart of molasses, and four ounces of saltpetre; boil and skim clean, and pour cold on your meat. Meat intended for smoking should remain in pickle about four weeks. This pickle can be boiled over, and with a fresh cup of sugar and salt used all summer. Some persons use as much soda as saltpetre. It will correct acidity, but we think impairs the meat.
Washing Preparation.—Take a 1/4 of a pound of soap, a 1/4 of a pound of soda, and a 1/4 of a pound of quicklime. Cut up the soup and dissolve it in 1 quart of boiling water; pour 1 quart of boiling water over the soda, and 3 quarts of boiling water upon the quicklime. The lime must be quick and fresh; if it is good it will bubble up on pouring the hot water upon it. Each must be prepared in separate vessels. The lime must settle so as to leave the water on the top perfectly clear; then strain it carefully (not disturbing the settlings) into the washboiler with the soda and soap; let it scald long enough to dissolve the soap, then add 6 gallons of soap water. The clothes must be put to soak over night, after rubbing soap upon the dirtiest parts of them. After having the above in readiness, wring out the clothes which have been put in soak, put them on to boil, and let each lot boil half an hour; the same water will answer for the whole washing. After boiling each lot half an hour drain them from the boiling water put them in a tub and pour upon them two or three pailsful of clear, hot water; after this they will want very little rubbing; then rinse through two waters, blueing the last. When dried they will be a beautiful white. After washing the cleanest part of the white clothes, take two pails of the suds in which they have been washed, put it over the fire and scald, and this will wash all the flannels and colored clothes without any extra soap. The white flannels, after being well washed in the suds, will require to be scalded by turning on a teakettle of boiling water.
HOUSEHOLD PESTS
How to Destroy Ants.—Ants that frequent houses or gardens may he destroyed by taking flower of brimstone half a pound and potash four ounces; set them in an iron or earthen pan over the fire till dissolved and united; afterward beat them to a powder, and infuse a little of this powder in water; and wherever you sprinkle it the ants will die or fly the place.
How to Destroy Black Ants.—A few leaves of green wormwood, scattered among the haunts of these troublesome insects, is said to be effectual in dislodging them.
How to Destroy Red Ants.—The best way to get rid of ants, is to set a quantity of cracked walnuts or shell-barks on plates, and put them in the closet or places where the ants congregate. They are very fond of these, and will collect on them in myriads. When they have collected on them make a generalauto-da-fe, by turning nuts and ants together into the fire, and then replenish the plates with fresh nuts. After they have become so thinned off as to cease collecting on plates, powder some camphor and put in the holes and crevices, whereupon the remainder of them will speedily depart. It may help the process of getting them to assemble on shell-barks, to remove all edibles out of their way for the time.
How to Destroy Black Bees.—Place two or three shallow vessels—the larger kind of flower-pot saucers will do—half filled with water, on the floors where they assemble, with strips of cardboard running from the edge of the vessel to the floor, at a gentle inclination; these the unwelcome guests will eagerly ascend, and so find a watery grave.
How to Destroy Bed-Bugs.—1. When they have made a lodgement in the wall, fill all the apertures with a mixture of soft soap and Scotch snuff. Take the bedstead to pieces, and treat that in the same way. 2. A strong decoction of red pepper applied to bedsteads will either kill the bugs or drive them away. 3. Put the bedstead into a close room and set fire to the following composition, placed in an iron pot upon the hearth, having previously closed up the chimney, then shut the door, let them remain a day: Sulphur nine parts; saltpetre, powdered, one part. Mix. Be sure to open the door of the room five or six hours before you venture to go into it a second time. 4. Rub the bedstead well with lampoil; this alone is good, but to make it more effectual, get ten cents worth of quicksilver and add to it. Put it into all the cracks around the bed, and they will soon disappear. The bedsteads should first be scalded and wiped dry, then put on with a feather. 5. Corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint. Mix. For the decoction of tobacco boil one ounce of tobacco in a 1/2 pint of water. The mixture must be applied with a paint brush. This wash is deadly poison. 6. Rub the bedsteads in the joints with equal parts of spirits of turpentine and kerosene oil, and the cracks of the surbase in rooms where there are many. Filling up all the cracks with hard soap is an excellent remedy.
March and April are the months when bedsteads should be examined to kill all the eggs. 7. Mix together two ounces spirits of turpentine, one ounce corrosive sublimate, and one pint alcohol. 8. Distilled vinegar, or diluted good vinegar, a pint; camphor one-half ounce; dissolve. 9. White arsenic, two ounces; lard, thirteen ounces; corrosive sublimate, one-fourth ounce; venetian red, one-fourth ounce. (Deadly poison.) 10. Strong mercurial ointment one ounce; soft soap one ounce; oil of turpentine, a pint 11. Gasoline and coaloil are both excellent adjuncts, with cleanliness, in ridding a bed or house of these pests.
How to Destroy Caterpillars.—Boil together a quantity of rue, wormwood, and any cheap tobacco (equal parts) in common water. The liquid should be very strong. Sprinkle it on the leaves and young branches every morning and evening during the time the fruit is ripening.
How to Destroy Cockroaches and Beetles.—1. Strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places infested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead or dying. Black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb shops. 2. Put about a quart of water sweetened with molasses in a tin wash basin or smooth glazed china bowl. Set it at evening in a place frequented by the bugs. Around the basin put an old piece of carpet that the bugs can have easy access to the top. They will go down in the water, and stay till you come. 3. Take pulverized borax, 4 parts, flour 1 part, mix intimately and distribute the mixture in cupboards which are frequented by the roaches, or blow it, by means of a bellows, into the holes or cracks that are infested by them. 4. By scattering a handful of fresh cucumber parings about the house. 5. Take carbonic acid and powdered camphor in equal parts; put them in a bottle; they will become fluid. With a painter's brush of the size called a sash-tool, put the mixture on the cracks or places where the roaches hide; they will come out at once. Then kill. 6. Mix up a quantity of fresh burned plaster of paris (gypsum, such as is used for making molds and ornaments), with wheat flour and a little sugar, and distribute on shallow plates and box boards, and place in the corners of the kitchen and pantry where they frequent. In the darkness they will feast themselves on it. Whether it interferes with their digestion or not, is difficult to ascertain, but after three or four nights renewal of the preparation, no cockroaches will be found on the premises.
How to Destroy Crickets.—Sprinkle a little quick lime near to the cracks through which they enter the room. The lime may be laid down overnight, and swept away in the morning. In a few days they will most likely all be destroyed. But care must be taken that the children do not meddle with the lime, as a very small portion of it getting into the eye, would prove exceedingly hurtful. In case of such an accident the best thing to do would be to wash the eye with vinegar and water.
How to get Rid of Fleas.—Much of the largest number of fleas are brought into our family circles by pet dogs and cats. The oil of pennyroyal will drive these insects off: but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to throw your cats and dogs into a decoction of it once a week. When the herb cannot be got, the oil can be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of the dogs and cats. These applications should be repeated every twelve or fifteen days. Mintfreshly cut, and hung round a bedstead, or on the furniture, will prevent annoyance from bed insects; a few drops of essential oil of lavender will be more efficacious.
How to Destroy Flies.—1. Take an infusion of quassia, one pint; brown sugar, four ounces, ground pepper, two ounces. To be well mixed together, and put in small shallow dishes where required. 2. Black pepper (powdered), one drachm; brown sugar, one drachm; milk or cream, two drachms. Mix, and place it on a plate or saucer where the flies are most troublesome. 3. Pour a little simple oxymel (an article to be obtained at the druggists), into a common tumbler glass, and place in the glass a piece of cap paper, made into the shape of the upper part of a funnel, with a hole at the bottom to admit the flies. Attracted by the smell, they readily enter the trap in swarms, and by the thousands soon collected prove that they have not the wit or the disposition to return. 4. Take some jars, mugs, or tumblers, fill them half full with soapy water; cover them as jam-pots are covered, with a piece of paper, either tied down or tucked under the rim. Let this paper be rubbed inside with wet sugar, molasses, honey, or jam, or any thing sweet; cut a small hole in the center, large enough for a fly to enter. The flies settle on the top, attracted by the smell of the bait; they then crawl through the hole, to feed upon the sweets beneath. Meanwhile the warmth of the weather causes the soapy water to ferment, and produces a gas which overpowers the flies, and they drop down into the vessel. Thousands may be destroyed this way, and the traps last a long time.
Fly Paper.—Melt resin, and add thereto while soft, sufficient sweet oil, lard, or lamp oil to make it, when cold about the consistency of honey. Spread on writing paper, and place in a convenient spot. It will soon be filled with ants, Hies, and other vermin.
How to Expel Insects.—All insects dread pennyroyal: the smell of it destroys some, and drives others away. At the time that fresh pennyroyal cannot be gathered, get oil of pennyroyal; pour some into a saucer, and steep in it small pieces of wadding or raw cotton, and place them in corners, closet-shelves, bureau drawers, boxes, etc., and the cockroaches, ants, or other insects will soon disappear. It is also well to place some between the mattresses, and around the bed. It is also a splendid thing for brushing off that terrible little insect, the seed tick.
How to Destroy Mice.—1. Use tartar emetic mingled with some favorite food. The mice will leave the premises. 2. Take one part calomel, five parts of wheat flour, one part sugar, and one-tenth of a part of ultramarine. Mix together in a fine powder and place it in a dish. This is a most efficient poison for mice.
3. Any one desirous of keeping seeds from the depredations of mice can do so by mixing pieces of camphor gum in with the seeds. Camphor placed in drawers or trunks will prevent mice from doing them injury. The little animal objects to the odor and keeps a good distance from it. He will seek food elsewhere.
4. Gather all kinds of mint and scatter about your shelves, and they will forsake the premises.
How to Drive Away Mosquitoes.—1. A camphor bag hung up in an open casement will prove an effectual barrier to their entrance. Camphorated spirits applied as perfume to the face and hands will prove an effectual preventive; but when bitten by them, aromatic vinegar is the beat antidote.
2. A small amount of oil of pennyroyal sprinkled around the room will drive away the mosquitoes. This is an excellent recipe.
3. Take of gum camphor a piece about half the size of an egg, and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and holding it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes.
How to Preserve Clothing from Moths.—1. Procure shavings of cedar wood and enclose in muslin bags, which should be distributed freely among clothes. 2. Procure shavings of camphor wood, and enclose in bags. 3. Sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes. 4. Sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant. 5. An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered shell of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for several days, then strained. With this tincture the furs or cloths are sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. 6. Carefully shake and brush woolens early in the spring, so as to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. No moth will approach while the smell of the camphor continues. When the gum is evaporated, it must be renewed. Enclose them in a moth-proof box with camphor, no matter whether made of white paper or white pine, before any eggs are laid on them by early spring moths. The notion of having a trunk made of some particular kind of wood for this purpose, is nonsense. Furs or woolens, put away in spring time, before moth eggs are laid, into boxes, trunks, drawers, or closets even, where moths cannot enter, will be safe from the ravages of moth-worms, provided none were in them that were laid late in the autumn, for they are not of spontaneous production.
How to Kill Moths in Carpets.—Wring a coarse crash towel out of clear water, spread it smoothly on the carpet, iron it dry with a good hot iron, repeating the operation on all parts of the carpet suspected of being infected with moths. No need to press hard, and neither the pile nor color of the carpet will he injured, and the moths will be destroyed by the heat and steam.
How to Destroy Rats.—1. When a house is invested with rats which refuse to be caught by cheese and other baits, a few drops of the highly-scented oil of rhodium poured on the bottom of the cage will be an attraction which they cannot refuse. 2. Place on the floor near where their holes are supposed to be a thin layer of moist caustic potash. When the rats travel on this, it will cause their feet to become sore, which they lick, and their tongues become likewise sore. The consequence is, that they shun this locality, and seem to inform all the neighboring rats about it, and the result is that they soon abandon a house that has such mean floors. 3. Cut some corks as thin as wafers, and fry, roast, or stew them in grease, and place the same in their track; or a dried sponge fried or dipped in molasses or honey, with a small quantity of bird lime or oil of rhodium, will fasten to their fur and cause them to depart. 4. If a live rat can be caught and smeared over with tar or train oil, and afterwards allowed to escape in the holes of other rats, he will cause all soon to take their departure. 5. If a live rat be caught, and a small bell be fastened around his neck, and allowed to escape, all of his brother rats as well as himself will very soon go to some other neighbor's house. 6. Take a pan, about twelve inches deep, and half fill it with water; then sprinkle some bran on the water and set the pan in a place where the rats most frequent. In the morning you will find several rats in the pan. 7. Flour, three parts; sugar, one-half part; sulphur, two parts, and phosphorus, two parts. Smear on meat, and place near where the rats are most troublesome. 8. Squills are an excellent poison for rats. The powder should be mixed with some fatty substance, and spread upon slices of bread. The pulp ofis also very good. Rats are very fond of either. 9. Take two ounces of carbonate of barytes, and mix with one pound of suet or tallow, place a portion of this within their holes and about their haunts. It is greedily eaten, produces great thirst, and death ensues after drinking. This is a very effectual poison, because it is both tasteless and odorless. 10. Take one ounce of finely powdered arsenic, one ounce of lard; mix these into a paste with meal, put it about the haunts of rats. They will eat of it greedily. 11. Make a paste of one ounce of flour, one-half gill of water, one drachm of phosphorus, and one ounce of flour. Or, one ounce of flour, two ounces of powdered cheese crumbs, and one-half drachm of phosphorus; add to each of these mixtures a few drops of the oil of rhodium, and spread this on thin pieces of bread like butter; the rats will eat of this greedily, and it is a sure poison. 12. Mix some ground plaster of paris with some sugar and Indian meal. Set it about on plates, and leave beside each plate a saucer of water. When the rats have eaten the mixture they will drink the water and die. To attract them toward it, you may sprinkle on the edges of the plates a little of the oil of rhodium. Another method of getting rid of rats is, to strew pounded potash on their holes. The potash gets into their coats and irritates the skin, and the rats desert the place. 13. The Dutch method: this is said to be used successfully in Holland; we have, however, never tried it. A number of rats are left together to themselves in a very large trap or cage, with no food whatever; their craving hunger will, at last, cause them to fight and the weakest will be eaten by the others; after a short time the fight is renewed, and the next weakest is the victim, and so it goes on till one strong rat is left. When this one has eaten the last remains of any of the others, it is set loose; the animal has now acquired such a taste for rat-flesh that he is the terror of ratdom, going round seeking what rat he may devour. In an incredibly short time the premises are abandoned by all other rats, which will not come back before the cannibal rat has left or has died. 14. Catch a rat and smear him over with a mixture of phosphorus and lard, and then let him loose. The house will soon be emptied of these pests.
Vermin, in Water.—Go to the river or pond, and with a small net (a piece of old mosquito bar will do) collect a dozen or more of the small fishes known as minnows, and put them in your cistern, and in a short time you will have clear water, the wiggle-tails and reddish-colored bugs or lice being gobbled up by the fishes.