1300.To dry Pumpkin.—Cut it round horizontally in tolerably thin slices, peel them and hang them on a line in a warm room. When perfectly dry, put them away for use. When you wish to use it, put it to soak over night; next day pour off the water, put on fresh water, stew and use it as usual, &c.Another and, as some think, a much better way, is to boil and sift the pumpkin, then spread it out thin in tin plates, and dry hard in a warm oven. It will keep good all the year round, and a little piece boiled up in milk will make a batch of pies.1301.To pickle large Mushrooms.—Pick them carefully, and take out the stalks; put them into a jar, and pour on them boiling spiced vinegar, with a little salt in it.1302.To preserve Green Currants.—Currants may be kept fresh for a year or more, if they are gathered when green, separated from the stems, put into dry, clean junk bottles, and corked very carefully, so as to exclude the air. They should be kept in a cool place in the cellar.1303.Walnut Ketchup.—Take half a bushel of green walnuts, before the shell is formed, and grind them in a crab mill, or beat them in a marble mortar; then squeeze out the juicesthrough a coarse cloth, and wring the cloth well to get all the juice out, and to every gallon of juice put a quart of red wine, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, the same of bay salt, one ounce of allspice, two of long or black pepper, half an ounce of cloves and mace, a little ginger and horse-radish, cut in slices; boil all together till reduced to half the quantity; pour into a pan; when it is cold bottle it, cork it tight, and it will be fit to use in three months. If you have any pickle left in the jar after your walnuts are used, to every gallon of pickle put in two heads of garlic, a quart of red wine, an ounce each of cloves and mace, long, black, and Jamaica pepper, and boil them all together, till it is reduced to half the quantity, pour it into a pan, and the next day bottle it for use, and cork it tight.1304.To discover if Bread is adulterated with Alum.—Make a solution of lime in aquafortis, and put a little of this solution into water, in which you have steeped the bread suspected to contain alum. If such should be the case, the acid, which was combined with the alum, will form a precipitate or chalky concretion at the bottom of the vessel.1305.To preserve Biscuit from Putrefaction.—To preserve biscuit a long time sweet and good, no other art is necessary than stowing it, well baked, in casks exactly caulked, and carefully lined with tin, so as to exclude the air; at the same time the biscuit must be so placed as to leave as little vacant room as possible in the cask; and when the same is opened through necessity, it must be speedily closed again with great care.1306.A good Yeast.—Put into one gallon of water a double-handful of hops;—boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain off the water while it is scalding hot; stir in wheat flour or meal till it becomes a thick batter, so that it will hardly pour;—let it stand till it becomes about blood-warm, then add a pint of good lively yeast, and stir it well; and then let it stand in a place where it will be kept at a temperature of about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, till it becomes perfectly light, whether more or less time is required; and then it is fit for use;—or if it is desired to keep a portion of it, let it stand several hours and become cool; and then put it into a clean jug and cork it tight, and place it in the cellar, where it will keepcool; and it may be preserved good, ten or twelve days, and even longer.1307.The Dairy.—Dairymen will find a great advantage in cheese making, by putting their milk, which is to stand over night, into small air-tight vessels. They will also find it an advantage, when it thunders, to suspend the vessels by a cord or chain, as the jarring of the shocks, which sour the milk, will, in a great measure, be prevented. We may prevent the commencement of sourness, which takes place in milk standing in large quantities, by a wooden follower being fitted to the vat, and pressed on the milk. If any one doubt the utility of this, let him try the experiment for himself. Cover the bottom of your cheese-vat to the depth of half an inch with milk, and let it stand through the night, and then try to make a breakfast of it in the morning. You could relish tallow as well, or a piece of bread and butter that had lain in the sun an hour. Neither milk, butter, nor cheese will do to stand in the light of the sun, though it be reflected, as it will produce rancidity.1308.Butter.—Keep your pails, churn, and pans sweet. In winter warm the pans and churns with hot water, in summer cool them with cold. Keep your milk in summer where it is cool and airy, in winter where it is warm. In warm weather skim your milk as soon as it is thick; in colder weather skim as soon as there is a good thick cream, and be careful not to let it remain too long, as it will acquire a bad taste. Churn as often as you have cream enough, never less than once a week. If the cream is of the right temperature when commenced, it will not froth, and if it does, put in a little salt. Use no salt but the best ground salt; work out all the butter-milk with a ladle in summer, in winter use clean hands. If you wish to keep it some time, put it down in a jar or firkin, or pickle in layers, as clean and free from butter-milk as it is possible, leaving a space for pickle over it, in the following proportions. Half a pail of water, one quart of fine salt, two ounces of loaf-sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, well boiled and skimmed. When cold, cover with this, and it will keep good and sweet, the year round.1309.Cream.—The quantity of cream on milk may be greatly increased by the following process: Have two pansready in boiling hot water, and when the new milk is brought in, put it into one of these hot pans and cover it with the other. The quality as well as the thickness of the cream is improved.1310.Method of curing bad Tub Butter.—A quantity of tub butter was brought to market in the West Indies, which, on opening, was found to be very bad, and almost stinking. A native of Pennsylvania undertook to cure it, which he did, in the following manner:—He started the tubs of butter in a large quantity of hot water, which soon melted the butter; he then skimmed it off as clean as possible, and worked it over again in a churn, and with the addition of salt and fine sugar, the butter was sweet and good.1311.Method of taking the Rankness and disagreeable Taste from Irish Salt Butter.—The quantity proposed to be made use of, either for toasts or melting, must be put into a bowl filled with boiling water, and when the butter is melted, skim it quite off; by this method it is so separated from any gross particles, that it may require a small addition of salt, which may be put into the cold water that is made use of in melting butter for sauce; and though the butter is oiled by hot water, it becomes a fine cream in the boiling for sauce.1312.To remove the Taste of Turnips from Milk or Butter.—The taste of the turnip is easily taken off milk and butter, by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, which being kept in a bottle, and a small tea-cupful put into eight gallons of milk, when warm from the cow, entirely removes any taste or flavor of the turnip.1313.To make Salt Butter fresh.—Put four pounds of salt butter into a churn, with four quarts of new milk, and a small portion of arnotto. Churn them together, and, in about an hour, take out the butter, and treat it exactly as fresh butter, by washing it in water, and adding the customary quantity of salt.This is a singular experiment. The butter gains about three ounces in each pound, and is in every particular equal to fresh butter. It would be greatly improved by the addition of twoor three ounces of fine sugar, in powder. A common earthen churn answers the same purpose as a wooden one, and may be purchased at any pot shop.1314.Method of making Stilton Cheese.—Take the night's cream, and put it to the morning's new milk, with the rennet; when the curd is come it is not to be broken, as is done with other cheeses, but take it out with a soil dish all together, and place it on a sieve to drain gradually, and, as it drains, keep gradually pressing it, till it becomes firm and dry; then place it in a wooden hoop; afterwards to be kept dry on boards, turned frequently, with cloth-binders round it, which are to be tightened as occasion requires.In some dairies the cheeses, after being taken out of the wooden hoop, are bound tight round with a cloth, which cloth is changed every day until the cheese becomes firm enough to support itself; after the cloth is taken away, they are rubbed every day all over, for two or three months, with a brush; and if the weather is damp or moist, twice a day; and even before the cloth is taken off, the top and bottom are well rubbed every day.1315.Coloring for Cheese.—The coloring for cheese is,or at leastshould be, Spanish arnotto; but as soon as coloring became general in this country, a color of an adulterated kind was exposed for sale in almost every shop; the weight of a guinea and a half of real Spanish arnotto is sufficient for a cheese of fifty pounds' weight. If a considerable part of the cream of the night's milk be taken for butter, more coloring will be requisite. The leaner the cheese is, the more coloring it requires. The manner of using arnotto is to tie up, in a linen rag, the quantity deemed sufficient, and put it into half a pint of warm water over night. This infusion is put into the tub of milk, in the morning, with the rennet infusion; dipping the rag into the milk, and rubbing it against the palm of the hand as long as any color runs out.1316.To make Cement for Bottles or Preserve Jars.—Take one-third bees'-wax and two-thirds rosin, according to the quantity of cement required. Pound the rosin fine, and put it with the wax to melt in any old vessel fit for the purpose. When it is melted, take it off the fire, and add powdered brick-dusttill it is as thick as melted sealing-wax. Then dip the bottle necks into the cement, and in a few minutes the mixture will be dry.1317.Blue Wash for Walls.—Take one pound of lump blue vitriol; pound it in a stone mortar as fine as possible; dissolve it in a quart or two of hot water. Slake about a quarter of a peck, or perhaps a little more of lime, and whencoldpour in the blue water by degrees, and make it whatever shade you desire.The lime must be slaked and the vitriol dissolved in earthen or stone ware, and the whole mixture stirred with a metal spoon. If wood is used for any of the above purposes, the color will be changed. A new brush should also be used to put it on the walls, and they must first have a coat or two of whitewash, to destroy all smoke and other impurities.1318.Yellow Wash for Walls.—One quarter of a pound of chrome yellow, one quarter of a pound of gum senegal, two pounds of whiting.EASY AND CHEAP MODE OF COLORING CLOTHING, &c.1319. "Blue Composition," a compound of vitriol and indigo, is usually kept by hatters and apothecaries. It colors a good and durable blue. An ounce vial, that may be bought for a trifle, will color a large number of articles. It is an economical plan to use it for old silk linings, ribbons, &c. The original color should be boiled out, and the material thoroughly rinsed in soft water, so that no soap may remain in it; for soap ruins the dye. Twelve or sixteen drops of the blue composition, poured into a quart bowl full of warm soft water, stirred, (and strained, if any settlings are perceptible,) will color a great many articles. If you wish a deep blue, pour in more of the compound. Cotton must not be colored; the vitriol destroys it; if the material you wish to color has cotton threads in it, it will be ruined. After the things are thoroughly dried, they should be washed in cool suds, and dried again; this prevents any bad effects from the vitriol; if shut up from the air, without being washed, there is danger of the texture being destroyed.1320.How to color Green.—If you wish to color green, have your cloth free as possible from the old color, clean and rinsed, and, in the first place, color it a deep yellow. Fustic boiled in soft water makes the strongest and brightest yellow dye; but saffron, barberry bush, peach leaves, or onion skins, will answer pretty well. Next take a bowl full of strong yellow dye, and pour in a great spoonful or more of the blue composition. Stir it up well with a clean stick, and dip the articles you have already colored yellow into it, and they will take a lively grass-green. This is a good plan for old bombazet curtains, dessert cloths, old flannel for desk coverings, &c.1321.Slate Color.—Tea-grounds boiled in iron, and set with copperas, make a very good slate color.1322.Purple Slate Color.—The purple paper, which comes on loaf sugar, boiled in cider, or vinegar, with a small bit of alum, makes a fine purple slate color. Done in iron.White maple bark makes a good light-brown slate color. This should be boiled in water, set with alum. The color is reckoned better when boiled in brass, instead of iron.The purple slate and the brown slate are suitable colors for stockings; and it is an economical plan, after they have been mended and cut down, so that they will no longer look decent, to color old stockings, and make them up for children.1323.To make Nankin Color.—A pailful of lye, with a piece of copperas half as big as a hen's egg boiled in it, will color a fine nankin color, which will never wash out. This is very useful for the linings of bed-quilts, comforters, &c. Old faded gowns, colored in this way, may be made into good petticoats. Cheap cotton cloth may be colored to advantage for petticoats, and pelisses for little girls.1324.Nankin Color, another way.—The commonbirch-barkmakes a very beautiful nankin dye. Cover the bark with water, and boil it thoroughly in a brass or tin kettle. Bark stripped from the trees in autumn is best. Set the color with alum. A piece as large as a hen's egg is sufficient for two pailsful of dye. Dip the articles, wet thoroughly in clean water, into the alum water, then into the dye.1325.To make Straw-color and Yellow.—Saffron, steeped in earthen and strained, colors a fine straw color. It makes a delicate or deep shade, according to the strength of the tea. The dry outside skins of onions, steeped in scalding water and strained, color a yellow very much like the "bird of paradise" color. Peach leaves, or bark scraped from the barberry bush, color a common bright yellow. In all these cases, a little bit of alum does no harm, and may help to fix the color. Ribbons, gauze handkerchiefs, &c., are colored well in this way, especially if they be stiffened by a bit of gum-arabic, dropped in while the stuff is steeping.1326.To make Rose-color.—Balm blossoms, steeped in water, color a pretty rose-color. This answers very well for the linings of children's bonnets, for ribbons, &c. It fades in the course of one season, but it is very little trouble to re-color with it. It merely requires to be steeped and strained. Perhaps a small piece of alum might serve to set the color, in some degree. In earthen or tin.1327.To color Black.—Logwood and cider, boiled together, in iron—add water for the evaporation—makes a good and durable black. Rusty nails, or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink-powder, if boiled with vinegar. In all cases, black must be set with copperas.1328.General Rules for Coloring.—The materials should be perfectly clean; soap should be rinsed out in soft water; the article should be entirely wetted, or it will spot; light colors should be steeped in brass, tin, or earthen; and if set at all, should be set with alum. Dark colors should be boiled in iron, and set with copperas. Too much copperas rots the thread.1329.To Wash Carpets.—Put the carpets down on a perfectly clean floor; wash them first with warm and weak soap-suds, wringing the wash-cloth almost dry; rinse them with clear water. Open the windows, that they may dry quickly.It is obvious that the above directions are only applicable to the lighter sorts of carpets, Scotch, Kidderminster, and Venetian. If it be desired to cleanse a carpet which has an under-textureof thread, as Brussels, tapestry, or velvet, the carpet having been well beaten or shaken, and washed, should be spread out, and scrubbed with a scrubbing brush and ox-gall. A pint of gall and three gallons of water will clean a large carpet.After the use of the gall, the carpet must be thoroughly rinsed, and dried in the open air.1330.To Wash Clothes, on a small scale.—For a wash for three persons put three-quarters of an ounce of soda in soap and water over the fire. Wash the clothes first in soap and water; rub soap on the soiled or greasy places, and throw them in the mixture. Let them boil an hour; rinse them in clear, cold water; rinse them again in water with a little bluing in it. If the clothes are much soiled, put them to soak over night.1331.Washing of Woollen Articles; an excellent way.—It is a common complaint that woollen articles thicken, shrink, and become discolored in washing. The complaint applies both to the lighter articles of knitted wool, such as shawls, &c., and to thicker and heavier materials—table baizes, carpets, and men's woollen garments. The difficulty in either case may be obviated by strict attention to the method about to be explained. To clear the way, it may be well first to point out some things whichneverought to be done, but which frequently, perhaps generally, are done:—1. Woollen articles are never to be washed in hard water, nor in water softened by soda, potash, or anything of that kind. Soap even should never touch them.2. They are never to be rubbed at all.3. They are never to be put in lukewarm water for washing, nor in cold water for rinsing.4. They are never to remain lying still in the water a single minute.5. They are never to be wrung.6. When taken out of the water, they must not be laid down at all, before the process of drying is commenced, nor at any time afterwards until they are perfectly dry.These things are to be avoided:—Now what is to be done?1. Let the things to be washed be first well brushed and shaken, to get rid of the dust.2. Before the woollen things are wetted at all, take care to have everything that will be required, ready and within reach.3. If several things are to be done, let each be begun and finished separately. This makes no difference in expense or trouble. A smaller vessel and smaller quantity of lather will suffice, and the stuff in which one article has been washed, would do no good, but harm, to others; it is, in fact, good for nothing.4. Use only fresh rain water, or very clear river water; rain is preferable.5. With a piece of sponge or old flannel, rub up a very strong lather of either soft soap or best yellow soap. For very large, greasy things, the lather may be made of ox-gall, half a pint to six quarts of water, whisked up with a handful of birch twigs (like that old-fashioned thing, a rod). In either case, the lather may be prepared with a small quantity of water, and the remainder added, boiling hot, the moment before using it. The whole should be as hot as the hand can bear it; the hotter the better. If the articles are very dirty, two lathers will be required in succession; and unless a second person is at hand, to rub up the second while the first is being used, both had better be prepared in separate vessels before the wools are wetted, leaving only the boiling water to be added.6. Take the article to be washed, and without leaving hold of it, keep on dipping and raising, dipping and raising, for two or three minutes. By that time the lather will be absorbed by the wool, and the liquor will resemble slimy suds.7. Squeeze the article as dry as may be, without wringing it.8. The second lather having been brought to the same heat as the first, proceed in the same manner, dipping and raising. N. B.—If the article was very little soiled, and after the first washing appears quite clear and clean, the second washing may be in hot water without soap. Whether lather or water only, a blue-bag may be slightly drawn through before the second washing. When gall has been used, a third washing in hot water only, will be required to take off the smell.9. Having again squeezed the article as dry as may be, for the lighter things, such as shawls, &c., spread it on a coarse dry cloth, pulling it out to its proper shape; lay over it another coarse dry cloth, roll the whole up tightly, and let it remain half an hour. This rule does not apply to large, heavy things; they must be hung out at once.1332.To make Soft Soap.—Bore some holes in your lye-barrel; put some straw in the bottom; lay some unslaked lime on it, and fill your barrel with good hard-wood ashes; wet it, and pound it down as you put it in. When full, make a basin in the ashes and pour in water; keep filling it as it sinks in the ashes. In the course of a few hours the lye will begin to run. When you have a sufficient quantity to begin with, put your grease in a large iron pot, let it heat, pour in the lye, let it boil, &c. Three pounds of clean grease are allowed for two gallons of soap.1333.—Of Fish as Food.—As food, fish is easier of digestion than meats are, with the exception of salmon; this kind of fish is extremely hearty food, and should be given sparingly to children, and used cautiously by those who have weak stomachs, or who take little exercise.The small trout, found in rivers, are the most delicate and suitable for invalids; lake fish are also excellent, and any kind of fresh-water fish, if cooked immediately after being caught, are always healthful.But the ocean is the chief dependence for the fish-market, and there is little danger (if we except salmon and lobsters) that its kind of aliment will, in our country, be eaten to excess. It would be better for the health of those who do not labor, if they would use more fish and less flesh for food. But then fish cannot be rendered so palatable, because it does not admit the variety of cooking and flavors that other animal food does.Fish is much less nutritious than flesh. The white kinds of fish, cod, haddock, flounders, white fish, &c., are the least nutritious; the oily kinds, salmon, eels, herrings, &c., are more difficult to digest.Shell fish have long held a high rank as restorative food; but a well-dressed chop or steak is much better to recruit the strength and spirits.Cod,whiting, andhaddock, are better for being a little salted, and kept one day before cooking.1334.—Of Beef as Food.—Ox beef is considered the best; heifer beef is excellent where well fed, and is most suitable for small families. If you want the best, choose that which has a fine smooth grain—the lean of a bright red; the fat white or nearly so.The best roasting-piece is the sirloin; then the first three ribs—if kept till they are quite tender, and boned, they are nearly equal to the sirloin, and better for a family dinner.The round is used foralamodebeef, and is the best piece for corning.The best beef steak is cut from the inner part of the sirloin. Good steak may be cut from the ribs.If you wish to practise economy, buy the chuck, or piece between the shoulder and the neck; it makes a good roast or steak, and is excellent for stewing or baking. The thick part of the flank is also a profitable piece; good to bake or boil, or even roast.The leg and shin of beef make the best soup—the heart is profitable meat, and good broiled or roasted. The leg rand is used for mince pies—it needs to be boiled till it is very tender. The tongue, when fresh, is a rich part for mince pies. If eaten by itself, it should be pickled and smoked.1335.—Of Pork as Food.—Pork, that is fed from the dairy, and fattened on corn, is the best—potatoes do very well for part of the feeding. But pork fattened from the still-house is all but poisonous; it should never be eaten by those who wish to preserve their health.The offals, &c., with which pork in the vicinity of a city is fattened, make it unsavory and unwholesome. Such stuff should be used for manure, and never given as food to animals, whose flesh is to be eaten by man.When pork is good, the flesh looks very white and smooth, and the fat white and fine. Hogs two years old make the best—older than that, their flesh is apt to be rank. Measly pork is very unwholesome, and never should be eaten. It may be known, as the fat is filled with small kernels.When the rind is thick and tough, and cannot easily be impressed with the finger, the pork is old, and will require more cooking.If pork is not cooked enough, it is disagreeable and almost indigestible; it should never be eaten unless it is thoroughly done.The fat parts of pork are not very healthy food. Those who labor hard may feel no inconvenience from this diet; but children should never eat it; nor is it healthy for the delicate and sedentary. Fat pork seems more proper as material for fryingfish and other meats, and as a garnish, than to be cooked and eaten by itself. It is best and least apt to prove injurious during the cold weather.1336.Of Mutton.—Mutton is best from August till January. It is nutritious, and often agrees better than any other meat with weak stomachs. To have it tender, it must be kept as long as possible without injury. Be sure and cook it till it isdone; the gravy that runs when the meat is cut, shouldnever show the least tinge of blood.1337.Of using Gravies.—Make it a general rule never to pour gravy over any thing that is roasted; by so doing, the dredging, &c., is washed off and it eats insipid.SOME HINTS ON DIET, EXERCISE, AND ECONOMY.1338.Meat for Children.—Lamb, veal, and fowls are delicate and healthy diet for the young and sedentary; and for all who find fat meats and those of coarse fibre do not agree with them.1339.Economicals of Cooking Meats.—The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.Baking is one of the cheapest ways of dressing a dinner in small families, and several kinds of meat are excellent, done in this way. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat. Never bake a lean, thin piece; it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked. Meat always loses in weight by being cooked.—In roasting, the loss is the greatest. It also costs more in fuel to roast than to boil—still there are many pieces of meat which seem made for roasting; and it would be almost wrong to cook them in any other way. Those who cannot afford to roast their meat, should not purchase the sirloin of beef. Stewing meat is an excellent and economical mode of cookery.1340.Butter as Diet.—Butter, when new and sweet, is nutritious, and, in our climate, generally healthy; during thewinter, when made very salt, it is not a good article of diet for some people.1341.Condiments.—Pepper, ginger, and most of the condiments, are best during summer; they are productions of hot climates, which shows them to be most appropriate for the hot season. On the other hand, fat beef, bacon, and those kinds of food we denominate "hearty," should be most freely used during cold weather.1342.Eat Slowly.—Eat slowly. One of the most usual causes of dyspepsia among our business men, arises from the haste in which they swallow their food without sufficiently chewing it, and then hurry away to their active pursuits. In England very little business is transacted after dinner. There ought to be, at least, one hour of quiet after a full meal, from those pursuits which tax the brain, as well as those which exercise the muscles.1343.Of Breakfast.—Persons of a delicate constitution should never exercise much before breakfast.If exposure of any kind is to be incurred in the morning, breakfast should always be taken previously. The system is more susceptible of infection and of the influence of cold, miasma, &c., in the morning before eating, than at any other time.Those who walk early will find great benefit from taking a cracker or some little nourishment before going out.Never go into a room of a morning, where a person is sick with a fever, before you have taken nourishment of some kind—a cup of coffee, at least.In setting out early to travel, a light breakfast before starting should always be taken; it is a great protection against cold, fatigue and exhaustion.In boarding schools for the young and growing, early breakfast is an indispensable condition to health. Children should not be kept without food in the morning till they are faint and weary.1344.Of Supper.—Never eat a hearty supper just before retiring to rest.Food should never be eaten when it is hot—bread is very unhealthy, eaten in this way.1345.Of Dinner.—It is injurious to eat when greatly heated or fatigued. It would very much conduce to the health of laboring men, if they could rest fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner.The diet should always be more spare, with a larger proportion of vegetables and ripe fruits, during summer. Fruits are most wholesome in their appropriate season. The skins, stones, and seeds, are indigestible.Rich soups are injurious to the dyspeptic. Much liquid food is rarely beneficial for adults; but a small quantity of plain, nourishing soup is an economical and healthy beginning of a family dinner.Meats should always be sufficiently cooked. It is a savage custom to eat meat in a half-raw-half-roasted state, and only a very strong stomach can digest it.Rich gravies should be avoided, especially in the summer season.1346.—Of Drinks.—Most people drink too much, because they drink too fast. A wine-glass of water, sipped slowly, will quench the thirst as effectually as a pint swallowed at a draught. When too much is taken at meals, especially at dinner, it hinders digestion. Better drink little during the meal, and then, if thirsty an hour or two afterwards, more. The practice of taking a cup of tea or coffee soon after dinner is a good one, if the beverage be not drank too strong or too hot.Dyspeptic people should be careful to take but a small quantity of drink. Children require more, in proportion to their food, than adults. But it is very injurious to them to allow a habit of continual drinking as you find in some children. It greatly weakens the stomach, and renders them irritable and peevish.The morning meal requires to be lighter and of a more fluid nature than any other. Children should always, if possible to be obtained, take milk—as a substitute, during the winter, good gruel with bread, or water, sweetened with molasses, is healthy. Never give children tea, coffee, or chocolate with their meals.Coffee affords very little nourishment, and is apt, if drank strong, to occasion tremors of the nerves. It is very bad for bilious constitutions. The calm, phlegmatic temperament canbear it. With a good supply of cream and sugar, drank in moderation, by those who exercise much and take considerable solid food, it may be used without much danger.Strong green tea relaxes the tone of the stomach, and excites the nervous system. Persons of delicate constitution are almost sure to be injured by it. Black tea is much less deleterious. If used with milk and sugar, it may be considered healthy for most people.Chocolate, when it agrees with the constitution, is very nutritious and healthy. But it seldom can be used steadily except by aged persons who are very active. It agrees best with persons of phlegmatic temperament; and is more healthy in the winter season than during warm weather.No kind of beverage should be taken hot—it injures the teeth and impairs digestion.1347.A few Rules for Health.—Rise early. Eat simple food. Take plenty of exercise. Never fear a little fatigue. Let not children be dressed in tight clothes; it is necessary their limbs and muscles should have full play, if you wish for either health or beauty. Wash very often, and rub the skin thoroughly with a coarse towel.Wash the eyes in cold water every morning. Do not read or sew at twilight, or by too dazzling a light. If far-sighted, read with rather less light, and with the book somewhat nearer to the eye, than you desire. If near-sighted, read with a book as far off as possible. Both these imperfections may be diminished in this way.Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, be sure to have them clean before you go to bed.Have your bed-chamber well aired; and have fresh bed linen every week. Never have the wind blowing directly upon you from open windows during the night. It isnothealthy to sleep in heated rooms.Wear shoes that are large enough. It not only produces corns, but makes the feet misshapen to cramp them.Avoid the necessity of a physician, if you can, by careful attention to your diet. Eat what best agrees with your system, and resolutely abstain from what hurts you, however well you may like it. A few days' abstinence, and cold water for a beverage, with cold or warm bathing, as the case may require, have driven off many an approaching disease.If you find yourself really ill, send for a good physician. Have nothing to do with quacks; and do not tamper with quack medicines. You do not know what they are; and what security have you that they know what they are?1348.A few Remedies for Sickness.—Theaguemay be rendered milder by the timely use of an emetic, given one hour before the fit is expected to return. For this purpose, one scruple of ipecacuanha may be given in an ounce of water. After each return of vomiting, give half a pint of tepid chamomile tea, which may be repeated three or four times, but not oftener. When the disease has continued for some days, and the force of the fever is weakened by emetics, give to an adult the following preparation of bark:—Take of Peruvian bark, in fine-powder, one ounce; port wine, one quart; mix them, and let them stand together for twelve hours. Shake the bottle, and give four large spoonsful immediately after the hot stage of the disorder, repeating it every second hour till the whole be taken; unless the coming on of the next ague-fit should require its suspension.1349.Hysteric Affections.—So numerous and various are the symptoms said to belong to this disease, that it becomes difficult to mark its peculiar character. It is frequently described by the patient, as a round body moving in the bowels, ascending to the stomach, and from thence affecting the throat with a sense of stricture, threatening suffocation. The patient also complains of palpitation, a costive habit, cold feet and legs, &c. To counteract the force of these attacks, the bowels should be kept open by the following aperient mixture:—Take of infusion of senna, one ounce and a half; tincture of senna, tincture of cardamoms, of each half an ounce. Three large spoonsful to be taken occasionally.The feet and legs should be kept warm, the head cool; the diet should consist chiefly of animal food of easy digestion, as beef or mutton; avoiding vegetables and malt liquor, indeed everything that has a tendency to generate flatulency. As a beverage, weak brandy and water, toast and water, tea or coffee, whichever suits the palate of the patient, may be freely used. Much depends on the cause—as that varies, so must the treatment.A dash of cold water on the face will frequently put an end to the paroxysm.1350.Mumpsare sometimes epidemic and manifestly contagious; they come on with shivering and a sense of coldness, followed by an increased heat, and a considerable enlargement of the glands on each side the neck, below the ear, near to the angle of the jaw bone. This swelling continues to increase until the fourth or fifth day, when it gradually subsides; but before it entirely disappears, it often happens that other tumors take place in the breasts of women, to which the male sex are also subject in different parts of the body.They are more or less painful, but commonly run their course without any alarming symptoms, and therefore scarcely require any remedies. This entirely depends on good nursing; care should be taken to avoid exposure to cold air, and no application should be used except a slight additional covering. Fomentations, liniments, blisters, and whatever may have a tendency to check the regular process of this disease, may occasion a sudden determination to the brain, and prove fatal to the patient.A spare diet, gentle laxative medicines, and a free use of weak diluting liquors, are the best means to be employed; these, with a well-regulated temperature, will generally guard off the secondary tumors. But when the disease has been improperly managed, and a determination to any vital part brought on, send for the physician.1351.Measlesfrequently assume an alarming character, too much so to entitle them to a place in the list of common casualties. They are at all times too serious to be left, with safety, in the hands of the domestic practitioner. Medical aid, therefore, should be instantly sought for, as much depends on proper management during the first stage of the fever. The approach of this disease may be known, by attending to the symptoms which precede the eruption, in the following order: First, the patient complains of shivering, with a sense of coldness, a thin watery discharge from the nose, hoarseness, cough, and a continued flow of tears from the eyes, which appear red and inflamed. These symptoms continue to increase in violence, until the eruption is completed, when they gradually subside. As this disorder has frequently a putrid tendency, which can only be counteracted by the scientific skill of the physician, and which, if neglected, or improperly treated, proves fatal, there can be no excuse for not calling for his aid at the commencementof the attack. But that no time may be lost, should there be no physician present, an emetic of some gentle kind may be given and repeated every half hour till vomiting be excited. If it should not act on the bowels, take mild aperient medicine every fourth hour; but this is not to be repeated after a motion has been procured. The patient should be kept in an equal temperature, near sixty-four degrees of Fahrenheit; if exposed to a higher degree of heat, the fever might be increased; if to a lower temperature, the cough and hoarseness would be aggravated. Wine, or wine and water, and all other fermented liquors must be avoided. Toast and water, barley water, apple-water, rennet whey, tamarind tea, coffee, tea, or any other weak diluting beverage, may be freely used, provided they are of an equal warmth to milk when drawn from the cow; also, weak lemonade.1352.Soothing Beverage for a Cough, after Measles.—Two ounces of figs, two ounces of raisins, two ounces of pearl barley, and half an ounce of liquorice-root. Boil them together in a pint and a half of water, and strain off the liquor. A tea-cupful to be taken night and morning.1353.Costivenessmay be relieved by a change of diet, exercise on horseback, or any other exercise in the open air, or by taking one of the following pills an hour before dinner:—Take of Socotrine aloes, thirty grains; gum mastic, ten grains; oil of wormwood, one drop; tincture of aloes, a sufficient quantity to form the ingredients into a mass, which must be divided into twelve pills.This is an excellent dyspeptic pill, and will afford great relief in all cases of weak digestion.1354.Remedies for Dysentery.—Black or green tea, steeped in boiling milk, seasoned with nutmeg, and best of loaf-sugar, is excellent for the dysentery. Cork burnt to charcoal, about as big as a hazel-nut, macerated, and put in a tea-spoonful of brandy, with a little loaf sugar and nutmeg, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholera-morbus. If nutmeg be wanting, peppermint-water may be used. Flannel wet with brandy, powdered with Cayenne pepper, and laid upon the bowels, affords great relief in cases of extreme distress.1355.Another Remedy.—Dissolve as much table-salt in keen vinegar as will ferment and work clear. When the foam is discharged, cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use. A large spoonful of this, in a gill of boiling water, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and colic.1356.Loss of Appetite.—This is generally symptomatic, and varies according to the occasional cause. The continued use of warm tea, of wine, or other spirituous liquors, diluted with warm water, or the use of warm water alone, if long continued, will occasion a relaxed state of the muscular coat of the stomach. This organ also suffers from anxiety of mind, a sedentary life, or a costive habit; from these and other causes it becomes weakened, irritable, and incapable of digesting the most simple food. To restore the tone of the stomach, first give this emetic:—Take of ipecacuanha, in fine powder, one scruple; horse-radish tea, two ounces. Mix them together. Between the times of the operation, half a pint of horse-radish tea should be drank, but not repeated oftener than twice or thrice. Afterwards keep the bowels regular by the following aperient pills:—Take, rhubarb, in fine powder, carbonated kali, of each thirty grains; ginger, in fine powder, one scruple; balsam of Peru, a sufficient quantity to form a mass; divide it into twenty-four pills. Dose, three or four every other night, at bed-time.At the same time, to restore the tone of the digestive organs, the following decoction should be taken:—Take of Peruvian bark, six drachms; Cascarilla bark, two drachms. Bruise them in a mortar, and boil them in a pint and a half of water for a few minutes; strain off the liquor while hot, then add tincture of bark, two ounces; diluted nitric acid, a drachm and a half. Dose, four large spoonsful, three times a day.1357.Cramp and Spasm.—It frequently happens that persons are extremely annoyed by cramp during the night, which may be relieved by the following tincture:—Take of tincture of opium, two drachms; ether, half an ounce. Mix them together, and take thirty or forty drops every night, at bed-time.1358.How to apply Blisters.—A considerable degree of pain and inflammation often follows the application of blisters, whichmay be obviated, by covering the blister-plaster with very thin muslin, which will prevent any part of it remaining on the skin, after the removal of the blister. The muslin should be pressed down, and rubbed with the finger upon the surface of the blister-plaster.1359.Mustard Plasters—Should be covered with muslin, or the poultice put in a cloth bag, before being applied to the skin.1360.To prevent Lock-jaw.—Immerse the part injured in strong lye, as warm as can be borne. But first, as in all cases of wounds, apply spirits of turpentine on lint.1361.For a Stiff Joint.—An ointment made from the common ground-worms, which boys dig to bait fishes, rubbed on with the hand, is said to be excellent, when the sinews are drawn up by disease or from a sprain.1362.Easy Method of curing the Scurvy.—The root of the garden carrot abounds in a nutritious saccharine juice, and is slightly aromatic. These are desirable properties against the scurvy. To experience the good effects of these properties,the roots must be eaten raw. There is nothing unpleasant in this; on the contrary, it is what the common people often do by choice. These roots would keep well during the longest voyage, packed up in casks, having the interstices filled with sand. Each sailor might be allowed to eat one root every day, or every other day, according to the state of their health, and the quantity of roots on board.1363.To make Cliver, or Goose-grass Ointment; remarkable for its salutary effects in cases of inveterate Scurvy.—To a pound of hog's-lard melted, without spice or salt, put as much clivers as the lard will moisten, and boil them together over a slow fire; after stirring it till it becomes a little brown, strain it through a cloth; and when cold, take the ointment from the water that will remain at the bottom, and it will be fit for use.1364.Easy Method of attracting Ear-wigs from the Ear.—A person lately having an earwig crept into his ear, and knowing the peculiar fondness that insect has to apples, immediately applieda piece of apple to the ear, which enticed the creature out, and thereby prevented the alarming consequences which might have otherwise ensued.1365.Simple remedies for Scarlet Fever.—"Open the bowels regularly every day, with some mild aperient medicine, such as castor oil, senna, etc., and keep the patient at rest, and comfortably warm; sponge the surface with tepid water, two or three times a day; while it is hotter than natural, admit fresh air; live on a bland diet, such as a cup full of arrow-root, several times a day; toast-water for common drink. Gargle made of strong sage tea, honey and alum, or borax, may be used from the commencement, if the throat is affected."—Dr. T. P. Hereford.1366.The French Method of making Whey.—Mix together equal parts of best vinegar and cold water; a table-spoonful of each will suffice for a pint of milk. It is not, however, all to be put in, whether necessary or not; but when the milk just boils, pour in just as much of the acid as will turn it, and no more. Beat up together the white and shell of one egg, which boil up in the whey. Then set it aside till quite clear. Pour it off very steadily through a muslin strainer. Sweeten to taste with loaf-sugar. This whey is very pleasant, and answers every good purpose of white wine whey, while it is not liable to the objection of being heating, and is also very much less expensive.1367.Calves'-feet Jelly.—Take two calves' feet, and add to them one gallon of water; which reduce, by boiling, to one quart. Strain it, and when cold skim the fat entirely off. Add to this the white of six or eight eggs, well beaten, half a pint of wine, half a pound of loaf-sugar, and the juice of four lemons, and let them be well mixed. Boil the whole for a few minutes, stirring it constantly, and then pass it through a flannel strainer.This forms a very nutritious article of diet for the sick and convalescent. When it is desired, the wine can be omitted.—Ellis.1368.Chicken Water.—Take half a chicken, divested of all fat, and break the bones; add to this half a gallon of water, and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Season with salt.This was freely employed by the late Dr. Parrish in cholera at its commencement. Taken warm, it produces vomiting, and washes out the stomach.1369.Essence of Beef.—Put into a porter bottle a sufficient quantity of lean beef, sliced, to fill up its body, cork it with a paper stopple, and place it in a pot of cold water, attaching the neck, by means of a string, to the handle of the vessel. Boil this for three-quarters of an hour, then pour off the liquor, and skim it. To this preparation may be added spices and salt.1370.A very reviving Odor.—Fill with recently gathered, and dried lavender-flowers, stripped from their stalks, small wide-necked scent-bottles, and just cover them withstrongacetic acid. A morsel of camphor, the size of a hazel-nut, may be added, with advantage, to the lavender, in each bottle. Sound, new, and closely fitting corks should be used, to secure the mixture from the air. It is exceedingly refreshing and wholesome, and has often proved very acceptable to invalids. The lavender should be gathered for it before it is quite fully blown.1371.Easy Method of obtaining Water in almost any situation.—The ground must be perforated by a borer. In the perforation is placed a wooden pipe, which is driven down with a mallet, after which the boring is continued, that the pipe may be driven still farther. In proportion as the cavity of the borer becomes loaded, it is drawn up and emptied; and in time, by the addition of new portions of wooden pipe, the boring is carried to any depth, and water is generally obtained.1372.Method of Draining Ponds in Level Grounds.—At a certain distance below the surface of the earth, there sometimes is a stratum of loose sand, which freely admits the passage of water. This stratum is at various depths, in different elevations; but it will be generally found, that lands most subject to stagnant ponds have but a shallow stratum of clay over the sand. All that is necessary, therefore, is to dig a pit in the bottom of the pond, till you arrive at this stratum of sand, when the water will be immediately absorbed, and the pond emptied.1373.To preserve Fishing-rods.—Oil your rods, in summer, with linseed oil, drying them in the sun, and taking care the parts lie flat: they should be often turned, to prevent them from warping. This will render them tough, and prevent their being worm-eaten; in time they will acquire a beautiful brown color. Should they get wet, which swells the wood, and makes it fast in the sockets, turn the part round over the flame of a candle a short time, and it will be easily set at liberty.1374.To gild Letters on Vellum or Paper.—Letters written on vellum or paper are gilded in three ways; in the first, a little size is mixed with the ink, and the letters are written as usual; when they are dry, a slight degree of stickiness is produced by breathing on them, upon which the gold leaf is immediately applied, and by a little pressure may be made to adhere with sufficient firmness. In the second method, some white-lead or chalk is ground up with strong size, and the letters are made with this by means of a brush; when the mixture is almost dry, the gold leaf may be laid on, and afterwards burnished. The last method is to mix up some gold powder with size, and make the letters of this by means of a brush.1375.To make Pounce.—Gum-sandarac, powdered and sifted very fine, will produce an excellent preventive to keep ink from sinking in the paper after you have had occasion to scratch out any part of the writing.1376.Another Method.—Cuttle-fish bone, properly dried, one ounce; best rosin, one ounce; and the same quantity of burnt alum, well incorporated together, will make very good pounce equal, if not superior, to any bought at the shops.1377.To cut Glass.—Take a red-hot shank of a tobacco-pipe, lay it on the edge of your glass, which will then begin to crack; then draw the shank end a little gently before, and it will follow any way you draw your hand.1378.Mrs. Hooker's Method of preparing and applying a Composition for Painting in Imitation of the Ancient Grecian Manner.—Put into a glazed earthen vessel four ounces and a half of gum arabic, and eight ounces, or half a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water; when the gum is dissolved, stir inseven ounces of gum-mastic, which has been washed, dried, picked, and beaten fine. Set the earthen vessel containing the gum-water and gum-mastic over a slow fire, continually stirring and beating them hard with a spoon, in order to dissolve the gum-mastic; when sufficiently boiled, it will no longer appear transparent, but will become opaque and stiff, like a paste. As soon as this is the case, and the gum-water and mastic are quite boiling, without taking them off the fire, add five ounces of white wax, broken into small pieces, stirring and heating the different ingredients together, till the wax is perfectly melted, and has boiled. Then take the composition off the fire, as boiling it longer than necessary would only harden the wax, and prevent its mixing so well afterwards with water. When the composition is taken off the fire, and in the glazed earthen vessel, it should be beaten hard, and whilst hot (but not boiling) mix with it, by degrees, a pint (wine measure) or sixteen ounces more of cold spring water; then strain the composition, as some dirt will boil out of the gum-mastic, and put it into bottles. The composition, if properly made, should be like a cream, and the colors when mixed with it as smooth as with oil. The method of using it, is to mix with the composition, upon an earthen pallet, such colors in powder, as are used in painting with oil, and such a quantity of the composition to be mixed with the colors as to render them of the usual consistency of oil colors; then paint with fair water. The colors, when mixed with the composition, may be laid on either thick or thin, as may best suit your subject; on which account, this composition is very advantageous, where any particular transparency of coloring is required; but in most cases it answers best if the colors be laid on thick, and they require the same use of the brush as if painting with body colors, and the same brushes as used in oil painting. The colors, if ground dry, when mixed with the composition, may be used by putting a little fair water over them; but it is less trouble to put some water when the colors are observed to be growing dry. In painting with this composition, the colors blend without difficulty when wet, and even when dry the tints may easily be united by means of a brush and a very small quantity of fair water. When the painting is finished, put some white wax into a glazed earthen vessel over a slow fire, and when melted, but not boiling, with a hard brush cover the painting with the wax, and when cold take a moderately hot iron, such as is used for ironing linen,and so cold as not to hiss, if touched with anything wet, and draw it lightly over the wax. The painting will appear as if under a cloud till the wax is perfectly cold, as also whatever the picture is painted upon is quite cold; but if, when so, the painting should not appear sufficiently clear, it may be held before the fire, so far from it as to melt the wax but slowly; or the wax may be melted by holding a hot poker at such a distance as to melt it gently, especially such parts of the picture as should not appear sufficiently transparent or brilliant; for the oftener heat is applied to the picture, the greater will be the transparency and brilliancy of coloring; but the contrary effect would be produced if too sudden or too great a degree of heat was applied, or for too long a time, as it would draw the wax too much to the surface, and might likewise crack the paint. Should the coat of wax put over the painting, when finished, appear in any part uneven, it may be remedied by drawing a moderately hot iron over it again, as before-mentioned, or even by scraping the wax with a knife; and should the wax, by too great or too long application of heat, form into bubbles at particular places, by applying a poker heated, or even a tobacco-pipe made hot, the bubbles would subside; or such defects may be removed by drawing anything hard over the wax, which would close any small cavities.When the picture is cold, rub it with a fine linen cloth. Paintings may be executed in this manner upon wood (having first pieces of wood let in behind, across the grain of the wood, to prevent its warping), canvas, card, or plaster of Paris. The plaster of Paris would require no other preparation than mixing some fine plaster of Paris, in powder, with cold water, the thickness of a cream; then put it on a looking-glass, having first made a frame of bees'-wax on the looking-glass, the form and thickness you would wish the plaster of Paris to be of, and when dry take it off, and there will be a very smooth surface to paint upon. Wood and canvas are best covered with some gray tint, mixed with the same composition of gum-arabic, gum mastic, and wax, and of the same sort of colors as before-mentioned, before the design is begun, in order to cover the grain of the wood or the threads of the canvas. Paintings may also be done in the same manner, with only gum-water and gum-mastic, prepared the same way as the mastic and wax; but instead of putting seven ounces of mastic, and, when boiling, adding five ounces of wax, mix twelve ounces of gum-masticwith the gum-water, prepared as mentioned in the first part of this receipt; before it is put on the fire, and when sufficiently boiled and beaten, and is a little cold, stir in, by degrees, twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and afterwards strain it. It would be equally practicable painting with wax alone, dissolved in gum-water in the following manner: Take twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and four ounces and a half of gum-arabic, put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and when the gum is dissolved, add eight ounces of white wax. Put the earthen vessel, with the gum-water and wax, upon a slow fire, and stir them till the wax is dissolved, and has boiled a few minutes; then take them off the fire, and throw them into a basin, as by remaining in the hot earthen vessel the wax would become rather hard; beat the gum-water and wax till quite cold. As there is but a small proportion of water in comparison to the quantity of gum and wax, it would be necessary, in mixing this composition with the colors, to put also some fair water. Should the composition be so made as to occasion the ingredients to separate in the bottle, it will become equally serviceable, if shaken before used, to mix with the colors.1379.The Best Season for Painting Houses.—The outside of buildings should be painted during autumn or winter. Hot weather injures the paint by drying in the oil too quickly; then the paint will easily rub off. But when the paint is laid on during cold weather, it hardens in drying, and is firmly set.1380.A cheap and simple Process for Painting on Glass, sufficient for the purpose of making a Magic Lanthorn.—Take good clear resin, any quantity, melt it in an iron pot; when melted entirely, let it cool a little, and before it begins to harden, pour in oil of turpentine sufficient to keep it liquid when cold. In order to paint with it, let it be used with colors ground in oil, such as are commonly sold in color shops.1381.To make Phosphorus.—Two-third parts of quick-lime (i.e.calcined oyster-shells), and one-third of flour of brimstone, put into a crucible for an hour, and exposed to the air for an hour, become phosphorus.1382.To make an Illuminated or Phosphoric Bottle, which will preserve its Light for several months.—By putting a piece of phosphorus, the size of a pea, into a phial, and adding boiling oil until the bottle is a third full, a luminous bottle is formed; for, on taking out the cork, to admit atmospheric air, the empty space in the phial will become luminous.Whenever the stopper is taken out in the night, sufficient light will be evolved to show the hour upon a watch; and if care be taken to keep it, in general, well closed, it will preserve its illuminative power for several months.1383.To Marble Books or Paper.—Marbling of books or paper is performed thus:—Dissolve four ounces of gum arabic in two quarts of fair water; then provide several colors mixed with water in pots or shells, and with pencils peculiar to each color; sprinkle them by way of intermixture upon the gum-water, which must be put into a trough, or some broad vessel; then, with a stick, curl them, or draw them out in streaks to as much variety as may be done. Having done this, hold your book, or books, close together, and only dip the edges in, on the top of the water and colors, very lightly; which done, take them off, and the plain impression of the colors in mixture will be upon the leaves; doing as well the ends as the front of the book in like manner, and afterwards glazing the colors.1384.To Write Secretly on a Pocket Handkerchief.—Dissolve alum in pure water, and write upon a fine white handkerchief, which, when dry, will not be seen at all; but when you would have the letters visible, dip the handkerchief in pure water, and it will be of a wet appearance all over, except where it was written on with the alum water.You may also write with alum water upon writing paper, which will not be visible till dipped in water.1385.To keep Insects out of Bird-Cages.—Tie up a little sulphur in a silk bag, and suspend it in the cage. For mocking-birds this is essential to their health; and the sulphur will keep all the red ants and other insects from cages of all kinds of birds. Red ants will never be found in a closet or drawer, if a small bag of sulphur is kept constantly in these places.1386.Of Books, Mental Cultivation, &c.—Our work would be incomplete, without some reference to mental as well as material improvement. In truth, we have aimed, throughout this and a former book,[C]to make the connection between the cultivation of the mental faculties and true household economy apparent. To work properly, we must think rightly. Science is as necessary in the kitchen as in the laboratory. The reason why men cooks are preferred above women cooks, and better paid, is, the former study their art as a science. Knowledge is power, in domestic life as well as in the political arena. Let the woman elevate her position by her learning; let her understand the nature and influence of her daily employments, cultivating her taste and refining her manners by the true standard of moral excellence; thus making her home-pursuits conduce to the harmony and happiness of the general plan of life in which she, the wife and mother, is the centre of attraction and volition, and how important for humanity her sphere becomes.1387.Choice of Reading.—Never keep house without books. Life is not life to any great purpose where books are not. TheBibleis indispensable. Out of its treasures of Divine wisdom all best human wisdom is derived or directed. Then have other books, as your means permit. If these are rightly chosen, every volume will be a teacher, a friend—a fountain, from whence may be drawn sweet streams of pleasure and profit. Poetry, story, biography, history, essays, and religious works—I name these in the order a child chooses books—all are needed. American literature—that is, books on subjects connected with our own country, should be first in our reading. Bancroft's "History of the United States," Sparkes' "American Biographies," Lippincott's "Cabinet Histories of the States," Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution"—these should be accessible to every family in the Union. Read on every subject connected with your own pursuits and employments. Knowledge will aid you even in hand labor; and a good book is a safe refuge in idle hours.1388.Of Periodicals and Newspapers.—Every family should take a newspaper; this, the lady of the house should insistupon—kindly, to be sure; for a pleasant request is as powerful as "a soft answer" in "turning away wrath." Men, usually, are willing to subscribe for a paper, though some are indifferent to this great source of family instruction as well as pleasure; but they forget, when the year comes round, torenewtheir subscription in the right way. So the women of the family should be sure to remember the printer.Another important source of family improvement is the periodicals or monthly magazines. These are now, thanks to the cheap postage system, accessible to the dwellers in the most remote places of our wide land. As a work for our own sex, Godey's Lady's Book is the best that can be taken in a family, because it furnishes information on every branch of home duties and pursuits; and moreover, upholds that pure standard of morals in its lightest fiction, which renders it a safe enjoyment for the young.Many other periodicals might be named, all excellent of their kind, and where the expense can be afforded, each household should obtain one or more of these. A better way would be for a neighborhood to unite and take a half dozen different publications, securing the inestimable advantage of reading every month the best religious, medical, agricultural, scientific, literary, and illustrated magazines—thus keeping up with the progress of art, the march of mind, the material advancement, and the moral improvement of the world.1389.How can we Pay for the Magazines?—Is the question with many families. Very easily, if you have the will—one half of the money spent on tobacco would, if laid out in books, soon give every family a library. And, young ladies, if you cannot persuade your brothers to throw aside their cigars, and subscribe, why, look over this book, and see, if from its economical hints you cannot devise some plan of earning or saving, whereby you may be able to pay for the magazines. Do this one year; husband or brother will then be ready to aid. Woman has everything to gain from Christian civilization; she should lead the way.
1300.To dry Pumpkin.—Cut it round horizontally in tolerably thin slices, peel them and hang them on a line in a warm room. When perfectly dry, put them away for use. When you wish to use it, put it to soak over night; next day pour off the water, put on fresh water, stew and use it as usual, &c.Another and, as some think, a much better way, is to boil and sift the pumpkin, then spread it out thin in tin plates, and dry hard in a warm oven. It will keep good all the year round, and a little piece boiled up in milk will make a batch of pies.1301.To pickle large Mushrooms.—Pick them carefully, and take out the stalks; put them into a jar, and pour on them boiling spiced vinegar, with a little salt in it.1302.To preserve Green Currants.—Currants may be kept fresh for a year or more, if they are gathered when green, separated from the stems, put into dry, clean junk bottles, and corked very carefully, so as to exclude the air. They should be kept in a cool place in the cellar.1303.Walnut Ketchup.—Take half a bushel of green walnuts, before the shell is formed, and grind them in a crab mill, or beat them in a marble mortar; then squeeze out the juicesthrough a coarse cloth, and wring the cloth well to get all the juice out, and to every gallon of juice put a quart of red wine, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, the same of bay salt, one ounce of allspice, two of long or black pepper, half an ounce of cloves and mace, a little ginger and horse-radish, cut in slices; boil all together till reduced to half the quantity; pour into a pan; when it is cold bottle it, cork it tight, and it will be fit to use in three months. If you have any pickle left in the jar after your walnuts are used, to every gallon of pickle put in two heads of garlic, a quart of red wine, an ounce each of cloves and mace, long, black, and Jamaica pepper, and boil them all together, till it is reduced to half the quantity, pour it into a pan, and the next day bottle it for use, and cork it tight.1304.To discover if Bread is adulterated with Alum.—Make a solution of lime in aquafortis, and put a little of this solution into water, in which you have steeped the bread suspected to contain alum. If such should be the case, the acid, which was combined with the alum, will form a precipitate or chalky concretion at the bottom of the vessel.1305.To preserve Biscuit from Putrefaction.—To preserve biscuit a long time sweet and good, no other art is necessary than stowing it, well baked, in casks exactly caulked, and carefully lined with tin, so as to exclude the air; at the same time the biscuit must be so placed as to leave as little vacant room as possible in the cask; and when the same is opened through necessity, it must be speedily closed again with great care.1306.A good Yeast.—Put into one gallon of water a double-handful of hops;—boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain off the water while it is scalding hot; stir in wheat flour or meal till it becomes a thick batter, so that it will hardly pour;—let it stand till it becomes about blood-warm, then add a pint of good lively yeast, and stir it well; and then let it stand in a place where it will be kept at a temperature of about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, till it becomes perfectly light, whether more or less time is required; and then it is fit for use;—or if it is desired to keep a portion of it, let it stand several hours and become cool; and then put it into a clean jug and cork it tight, and place it in the cellar, where it will keepcool; and it may be preserved good, ten or twelve days, and even longer.1307.The Dairy.—Dairymen will find a great advantage in cheese making, by putting their milk, which is to stand over night, into small air-tight vessels. They will also find it an advantage, when it thunders, to suspend the vessels by a cord or chain, as the jarring of the shocks, which sour the milk, will, in a great measure, be prevented. We may prevent the commencement of sourness, which takes place in milk standing in large quantities, by a wooden follower being fitted to the vat, and pressed on the milk. If any one doubt the utility of this, let him try the experiment for himself. Cover the bottom of your cheese-vat to the depth of half an inch with milk, and let it stand through the night, and then try to make a breakfast of it in the morning. You could relish tallow as well, or a piece of bread and butter that had lain in the sun an hour. Neither milk, butter, nor cheese will do to stand in the light of the sun, though it be reflected, as it will produce rancidity.1308.Butter.—Keep your pails, churn, and pans sweet. In winter warm the pans and churns with hot water, in summer cool them with cold. Keep your milk in summer where it is cool and airy, in winter where it is warm. In warm weather skim your milk as soon as it is thick; in colder weather skim as soon as there is a good thick cream, and be careful not to let it remain too long, as it will acquire a bad taste. Churn as often as you have cream enough, never less than once a week. If the cream is of the right temperature when commenced, it will not froth, and if it does, put in a little salt. Use no salt but the best ground salt; work out all the butter-milk with a ladle in summer, in winter use clean hands. If you wish to keep it some time, put it down in a jar or firkin, or pickle in layers, as clean and free from butter-milk as it is possible, leaving a space for pickle over it, in the following proportions. Half a pail of water, one quart of fine salt, two ounces of loaf-sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, well boiled and skimmed. When cold, cover with this, and it will keep good and sweet, the year round.1309.Cream.—The quantity of cream on milk may be greatly increased by the following process: Have two pansready in boiling hot water, and when the new milk is brought in, put it into one of these hot pans and cover it with the other. The quality as well as the thickness of the cream is improved.1310.Method of curing bad Tub Butter.—A quantity of tub butter was brought to market in the West Indies, which, on opening, was found to be very bad, and almost stinking. A native of Pennsylvania undertook to cure it, which he did, in the following manner:—He started the tubs of butter in a large quantity of hot water, which soon melted the butter; he then skimmed it off as clean as possible, and worked it over again in a churn, and with the addition of salt and fine sugar, the butter was sweet and good.1311.Method of taking the Rankness and disagreeable Taste from Irish Salt Butter.—The quantity proposed to be made use of, either for toasts or melting, must be put into a bowl filled with boiling water, and when the butter is melted, skim it quite off; by this method it is so separated from any gross particles, that it may require a small addition of salt, which may be put into the cold water that is made use of in melting butter for sauce; and though the butter is oiled by hot water, it becomes a fine cream in the boiling for sauce.1312.To remove the Taste of Turnips from Milk or Butter.—The taste of the turnip is easily taken off milk and butter, by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, which being kept in a bottle, and a small tea-cupful put into eight gallons of milk, when warm from the cow, entirely removes any taste or flavor of the turnip.1313.To make Salt Butter fresh.—Put four pounds of salt butter into a churn, with four quarts of new milk, and a small portion of arnotto. Churn them together, and, in about an hour, take out the butter, and treat it exactly as fresh butter, by washing it in water, and adding the customary quantity of salt.This is a singular experiment. The butter gains about three ounces in each pound, and is in every particular equal to fresh butter. It would be greatly improved by the addition of twoor three ounces of fine sugar, in powder. A common earthen churn answers the same purpose as a wooden one, and may be purchased at any pot shop.1314.Method of making Stilton Cheese.—Take the night's cream, and put it to the morning's new milk, with the rennet; when the curd is come it is not to be broken, as is done with other cheeses, but take it out with a soil dish all together, and place it on a sieve to drain gradually, and, as it drains, keep gradually pressing it, till it becomes firm and dry; then place it in a wooden hoop; afterwards to be kept dry on boards, turned frequently, with cloth-binders round it, which are to be tightened as occasion requires.In some dairies the cheeses, after being taken out of the wooden hoop, are bound tight round with a cloth, which cloth is changed every day until the cheese becomes firm enough to support itself; after the cloth is taken away, they are rubbed every day all over, for two or three months, with a brush; and if the weather is damp or moist, twice a day; and even before the cloth is taken off, the top and bottom are well rubbed every day.1315.Coloring for Cheese.—The coloring for cheese is,or at leastshould be, Spanish arnotto; but as soon as coloring became general in this country, a color of an adulterated kind was exposed for sale in almost every shop; the weight of a guinea and a half of real Spanish arnotto is sufficient for a cheese of fifty pounds' weight. If a considerable part of the cream of the night's milk be taken for butter, more coloring will be requisite. The leaner the cheese is, the more coloring it requires. The manner of using arnotto is to tie up, in a linen rag, the quantity deemed sufficient, and put it into half a pint of warm water over night. This infusion is put into the tub of milk, in the morning, with the rennet infusion; dipping the rag into the milk, and rubbing it against the palm of the hand as long as any color runs out.1316.To make Cement for Bottles or Preserve Jars.—Take one-third bees'-wax and two-thirds rosin, according to the quantity of cement required. Pound the rosin fine, and put it with the wax to melt in any old vessel fit for the purpose. When it is melted, take it off the fire, and add powdered brick-dusttill it is as thick as melted sealing-wax. Then dip the bottle necks into the cement, and in a few minutes the mixture will be dry.1317.Blue Wash for Walls.—Take one pound of lump blue vitriol; pound it in a stone mortar as fine as possible; dissolve it in a quart or two of hot water. Slake about a quarter of a peck, or perhaps a little more of lime, and whencoldpour in the blue water by degrees, and make it whatever shade you desire.The lime must be slaked and the vitriol dissolved in earthen or stone ware, and the whole mixture stirred with a metal spoon. If wood is used for any of the above purposes, the color will be changed. A new brush should also be used to put it on the walls, and they must first have a coat or two of whitewash, to destroy all smoke and other impurities.1318.Yellow Wash for Walls.—One quarter of a pound of chrome yellow, one quarter of a pound of gum senegal, two pounds of whiting.EASY AND CHEAP MODE OF COLORING CLOTHING, &c.1319. "Blue Composition," a compound of vitriol and indigo, is usually kept by hatters and apothecaries. It colors a good and durable blue. An ounce vial, that may be bought for a trifle, will color a large number of articles. It is an economical plan to use it for old silk linings, ribbons, &c. The original color should be boiled out, and the material thoroughly rinsed in soft water, so that no soap may remain in it; for soap ruins the dye. Twelve or sixteen drops of the blue composition, poured into a quart bowl full of warm soft water, stirred, (and strained, if any settlings are perceptible,) will color a great many articles. If you wish a deep blue, pour in more of the compound. Cotton must not be colored; the vitriol destroys it; if the material you wish to color has cotton threads in it, it will be ruined. After the things are thoroughly dried, they should be washed in cool suds, and dried again; this prevents any bad effects from the vitriol; if shut up from the air, without being washed, there is danger of the texture being destroyed.1320.How to color Green.—If you wish to color green, have your cloth free as possible from the old color, clean and rinsed, and, in the first place, color it a deep yellow. Fustic boiled in soft water makes the strongest and brightest yellow dye; but saffron, barberry bush, peach leaves, or onion skins, will answer pretty well. Next take a bowl full of strong yellow dye, and pour in a great spoonful or more of the blue composition. Stir it up well with a clean stick, and dip the articles you have already colored yellow into it, and they will take a lively grass-green. This is a good plan for old bombazet curtains, dessert cloths, old flannel for desk coverings, &c.1321.Slate Color.—Tea-grounds boiled in iron, and set with copperas, make a very good slate color.1322.Purple Slate Color.—The purple paper, which comes on loaf sugar, boiled in cider, or vinegar, with a small bit of alum, makes a fine purple slate color. Done in iron.White maple bark makes a good light-brown slate color. This should be boiled in water, set with alum. The color is reckoned better when boiled in brass, instead of iron.The purple slate and the brown slate are suitable colors for stockings; and it is an economical plan, after they have been mended and cut down, so that they will no longer look decent, to color old stockings, and make them up for children.1323.To make Nankin Color.—A pailful of lye, with a piece of copperas half as big as a hen's egg boiled in it, will color a fine nankin color, which will never wash out. This is very useful for the linings of bed-quilts, comforters, &c. Old faded gowns, colored in this way, may be made into good petticoats. Cheap cotton cloth may be colored to advantage for petticoats, and pelisses for little girls.1324.Nankin Color, another way.—The commonbirch-barkmakes a very beautiful nankin dye. Cover the bark with water, and boil it thoroughly in a brass or tin kettle. Bark stripped from the trees in autumn is best. Set the color with alum. A piece as large as a hen's egg is sufficient for two pailsful of dye. Dip the articles, wet thoroughly in clean water, into the alum water, then into the dye.1325.To make Straw-color and Yellow.—Saffron, steeped in earthen and strained, colors a fine straw color. It makes a delicate or deep shade, according to the strength of the tea. The dry outside skins of onions, steeped in scalding water and strained, color a yellow very much like the "bird of paradise" color. Peach leaves, or bark scraped from the barberry bush, color a common bright yellow. In all these cases, a little bit of alum does no harm, and may help to fix the color. Ribbons, gauze handkerchiefs, &c., are colored well in this way, especially if they be stiffened by a bit of gum-arabic, dropped in while the stuff is steeping.1326.To make Rose-color.—Balm blossoms, steeped in water, color a pretty rose-color. This answers very well for the linings of children's bonnets, for ribbons, &c. It fades in the course of one season, but it is very little trouble to re-color with it. It merely requires to be steeped and strained. Perhaps a small piece of alum might serve to set the color, in some degree. In earthen or tin.1327.To color Black.—Logwood and cider, boiled together, in iron—add water for the evaporation—makes a good and durable black. Rusty nails, or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink-powder, if boiled with vinegar. In all cases, black must be set with copperas.1328.General Rules for Coloring.—The materials should be perfectly clean; soap should be rinsed out in soft water; the article should be entirely wetted, or it will spot; light colors should be steeped in brass, tin, or earthen; and if set at all, should be set with alum. Dark colors should be boiled in iron, and set with copperas. Too much copperas rots the thread.1329.To Wash Carpets.—Put the carpets down on a perfectly clean floor; wash them first with warm and weak soap-suds, wringing the wash-cloth almost dry; rinse them with clear water. Open the windows, that they may dry quickly.It is obvious that the above directions are only applicable to the lighter sorts of carpets, Scotch, Kidderminster, and Venetian. If it be desired to cleanse a carpet which has an under-textureof thread, as Brussels, tapestry, or velvet, the carpet having been well beaten or shaken, and washed, should be spread out, and scrubbed with a scrubbing brush and ox-gall. A pint of gall and three gallons of water will clean a large carpet.After the use of the gall, the carpet must be thoroughly rinsed, and dried in the open air.1330.To Wash Clothes, on a small scale.—For a wash for three persons put three-quarters of an ounce of soda in soap and water over the fire. Wash the clothes first in soap and water; rub soap on the soiled or greasy places, and throw them in the mixture. Let them boil an hour; rinse them in clear, cold water; rinse them again in water with a little bluing in it. If the clothes are much soiled, put them to soak over night.1331.Washing of Woollen Articles; an excellent way.—It is a common complaint that woollen articles thicken, shrink, and become discolored in washing. The complaint applies both to the lighter articles of knitted wool, such as shawls, &c., and to thicker and heavier materials—table baizes, carpets, and men's woollen garments. The difficulty in either case may be obviated by strict attention to the method about to be explained. To clear the way, it may be well first to point out some things whichneverought to be done, but which frequently, perhaps generally, are done:—1. Woollen articles are never to be washed in hard water, nor in water softened by soda, potash, or anything of that kind. Soap even should never touch them.2. They are never to be rubbed at all.3. They are never to be put in lukewarm water for washing, nor in cold water for rinsing.4. They are never to remain lying still in the water a single minute.5. They are never to be wrung.6. When taken out of the water, they must not be laid down at all, before the process of drying is commenced, nor at any time afterwards until they are perfectly dry.These things are to be avoided:—Now what is to be done?1. Let the things to be washed be first well brushed and shaken, to get rid of the dust.2. Before the woollen things are wetted at all, take care to have everything that will be required, ready and within reach.3. If several things are to be done, let each be begun and finished separately. This makes no difference in expense or trouble. A smaller vessel and smaller quantity of lather will suffice, and the stuff in which one article has been washed, would do no good, but harm, to others; it is, in fact, good for nothing.4. Use only fresh rain water, or very clear river water; rain is preferable.5. With a piece of sponge or old flannel, rub up a very strong lather of either soft soap or best yellow soap. For very large, greasy things, the lather may be made of ox-gall, half a pint to six quarts of water, whisked up with a handful of birch twigs (like that old-fashioned thing, a rod). In either case, the lather may be prepared with a small quantity of water, and the remainder added, boiling hot, the moment before using it. The whole should be as hot as the hand can bear it; the hotter the better. If the articles are very dirty, two lathers will be required in succession; and unless a second person is at hand, to rub up the second while the first is being used, both had better be prepared in separate vessels before the wools are wetted, leaving only the boiling water to be added.6. Take the article to be washed, and without leaving hold of it, keep on dipping and raising, dipping and raising, for two or three minutes. By that time the lather will be absorbed by the wool, and the liquor will resemble slimy suds.7. Squeeze the article as dry as may be, without wringing it.8. The second lather having been brought to the same heat as the first, proceed in the same manner, dipping and raising. N. B.—If the article was very little soiled, and after the first washing appears quite clear and clean, the second washing may be in hot water without soap. Whether lather or water only, a blue-bag may be slightly drawn through before the second washing. When gall has been used, a third washing in hot water only, will be required to take off the smell.9. Having again squeezed the article as dry as may be, for the lighter things, such as shawls, &c., spread it on a coarse dry cloth, pulling it out to its proper shape; lay over it another coarse dry cloth, roll the whole up tightly, and let it remain half an hour. This rule does not apply to large, heavy things; they must be hung out at once.1332.To make Soft Soap.—Bore some holes in your lye-barrel; put some straw in the bottom; lay some unslaked lime on it, and fill your barrel with good hard-wood ashes; wet it, and pound it down as you put it in. When full, make a basin in the ashes and pour in water; keep filling it as it sinks in the ashes. In the course of a few hours the lye will begin to run. When you have a sufficient quantity to begin with, put your grease in a large iron pot, let it heat, pour in the lye, let it boil, &c. Three pounds of clean grease are allowed for two gallons of soap.1333.—Of Fish as Food.—As food, fish is easier of digestion than meats are, with the exception of salmon; this kind of fish is extremely hearty food, and should be given sparingly to children, and used cautiously by those who have weak stomachs, or who take little exercise.The small trout, found in rivers, are the most delicate and suitable for invalids; lake fish are also excellent, and any kind of fresh-water fish, if cooked immediately after being caught, are always healthful.But the ocean is the chief dependence for the fish-market, and there is little danger (if we except salmon and lobsters) that its kind of aliment will, in our country, be eaten to excess. It would be better for the health of those who do not labor, if they would use more fish and less flesh for food. But then fish cannot be rendered so palatable, because it does not admit the variety of cooking and flavors that other animal food does.Fish is much less nutritious than flesh. The white kinds of fish, cod, haddock, flounders, white fish, &c., are the least nutritious; the oily kinds, salmon, eels, herrings, &c., are more difficult to digest.Shell fish have long held a high rank as restorative food; but a well-dressed chop or steak is much better to recruit the strength and spirits.Cod,whiting, andhaddock, are better for being a little salted, and kept one day before cooking.1334.—Of Beef as Food.—Ox beef is considered the best; heifer beef is excellent where well fed, and is most suitable for small families. If you want the best, choose that which has a fine smooth grain—the lean of a bright red; the fat white or nearly so.The best roasting-piece is the sirloin; then the first three ribs—if kept till they are quite tender, and boned, they are nearly equal to the sirloin, and better for a family dinner.The round is used foralamodebeef, and is the best piece for corning.The best beef steak is cut from the inner part of the sirloin. Good steak may be cut from the ribs.If you wish to practise economy, buy the chuck, or piece between the shoulder and the neck; it makes a good roast or steak, and is excellent for stewing or baking. The thick part of the flank is also a profitable piece; good to bake or boil, or even roast.The leg and shin of beef make the best soup—the heart is profitable meat, and good broiled or roasted. The leg rand is used for mince pies—it needs to be boiled till it is very tender. The tongue, when fresh, is a rich part for mince pies. If eaten by itself, it should be pickled and smoked.1335.—Of Pork as Food.—Pork, that is fed from the dairy, and fattened on corn, is the best—potatoes do very well for part of the feeding. But pork fattened from the still-house is all but poisonous; it should never be eaten by those who wish to preserve their health.The offals, &c., with which pork in the vicinity of a city is fattened, make it unsavory and unwholesome. Such stuff should be used for manure, and never given as food to animals, whose flesh is to be eaten by man.When pork is good, the flesh looks very white and smooth, and the fat white and fine. Hogs two years old make the best—older than that, their flesh is apt to be rank. Measly pork is very unwholesome, and never should be eaten. It may be known, as the fat is filled with small kernels.When the rind is thick and tough, and cannot easily be impressed with the finger, the pork is old, and will require more cooking.If pork is not cooked enough, it is disagreeable and almost indigestible; it should never be eaten unless it is thoroughly done.The fat parts of pork are not very healthy food. Those who labor hard may feel no inconvenience from this diet; but children should never eat it; nor is it healthy for the delicate and sedentary. Fat pork seems more proper as material for fryingfish and other meats, and as a garnish, than to be cooked and eaten by itself. It is best and least apt to prove injurious during the cold weather.1336.Of Mutton.—Mutton is best from August till January. It is nutritious, and often agrees better than any other meat with weak stomachs. To have it tender, it must be kept as long as possible without injury. Be sure and cook it till it isdone; the gravy that runs when the meat is cut, shouldnever show the least tinge of blood.1337.Of using Gravies.—Make it a general rule never to pour gravy over any thing that is roasted; by so doing, the dredging, &c., is washed off and it eats insipid.SOME HINTS ON DIET, EXERCISE, AND ECONOMY.1338.Meat for Children.—Lamb, veal, and fowls are delicate and healthy diet for the young and sedentary; and for all who find fat meats and those of coarse fibre do not agree with them.1339.Economicals of Cooking Meats.—The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.Baking is one of the cheapest ways of dressing a dinner in small families, and several kinds of meat are excellent, done in this way. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat. Never bake a lean, thin piece; it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked. Meat always loses in weight by being cooked.—In roasting, the loss is the greatest. It also costs more in fuel to roast than to boil—still there are many pieces of meat which seem made for roasting; and it would be almost wrong to cook them in any other way. Those who cannot afford to roast their meat, should not purchase the sirloin of beef. Stewing meat is an excellent and economical mode of cookery.1340.Butter as Diet.—Butter, when new and sweet, is nutritious, and, in our climate, generally healthy; during thewinter, when made very salt, it is not a good article of diet for some people.1341.Condiments.—Pepper, ginger, and most of the condiments, are best during summer; they are productions of hot climates, which shows them to be most appropriate for the hot season. On the other hand, fat beef, bacon, and those kinds of food we denominate "hearty," should be most freely used during cold weather.1342.Eat Slowly.—Eat slowly. One of the most usual causes of dyspepsia among our business men, arises from the haste in which they swallow their food without sufficiently chewing it, and then hurry away to their active pursuits. In England very little business is transacted after dinner. There ought to be, at least, one hour of quiet after a full meal, from those pursuits which tax the brain, as well as those which exercise the muscles.1343.Of Breakfast.—Persons of a delicate constitution should never exercise much before breakfast.If exposure of any kind is to be incurred in the morning, breakfast should always be taken previously. The system is more susceptible of infection and of the influence of cold, miasma, &c., in the morning before eating, than at any other time.Those who walk early will find great benefit from taking a cracker or some little nourishment before going out.Never go into a room of a morning, where a person is sick with a fever, before you have taken nourishment of some kind—a cup of coffee, at least.In setting out early to travel, a light breakfast before starting should always be taken; it is a great protection against cold, fatigue and exhaustion.In boarding schools for the young and growing, early breakfast is an indispensable condition to health. Children should not be kept without food in the morning till they are faint and weary.1344.Of Supper.—Never eat a hearty supper just before retiring to rest.Food should never be eaten when it is hot—bread is very unhealthy, eaten in this way.1345.Of Dinner.—It is injurious to eat when greatly heated or fatigued. It would very much conduce to the health of laboring men, if they could rest fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner.The diet should always be more spare, with a larger proportion of vegetables and ripe fruits, during summer. Fruits are most wholesome in their appropriate season. The skins, stones, and seeds, are indigestible.Rich soups are injurious to the dyspeptic. Much liquid food is rarely beneficial for adults; but a small quantity of plain, nourishing soup is an economical and healthy beginning of a family dinner.Meats should always be sufficiently cooked. It is a savage custom to eat meat in a half-raw-half-roasted state, and only a very strong stomach can digest it.Rich gravies should be avoided, especially in the summer season.1346.—Of Drinks.—Most people drink too much, because they drink too fast. A wine-glass of water, sipped slowly, will quench the thirst as effectually as a pint swallowed at a draught. When too much is taken at meals, especially at dinner, it hinders digestion. Better drink little during the meal, and then, if thirsty an hour or two afterwards, more. The practice of taking a cup of tea or coffee soon after dinner is a good one, if the beverage be not drank too strong or too hot.Dyspeptic people should be careful to take but a small quantity of drink. Children require more, in proportion to their food, than adults. But it is very injurious to them to allow a habit of continual drinking as you find in some children. It greatly weakens the stomach, and renders them irritable and peevish.The morning meal requires to be lighter and of a more fluid nature than any other. Children should always, if possible to be obtained, take milk—as a substitute, during the winter, good gruel with bread, or water, sweetened with molasses, is healthy. Never give children tea, coffee, or chocolate with their meals.Coffee affords very little nourishment, and is apt, if drank strong, to occasion tremors of the nerves. It is very bad for bilious constitutions. The calm, phlegmatic temperament canbear it. With a good supply of cream and sugar, drank in moderation, by those who exercise much and take considerable solid food, it may be used without much danger.Strong green tea relaxes the tone of the stomach, and excites the nervous system. Persons of delicate constitution are almost sure to be injured by it. Black tea is much less deleterious. If used with milk and sugar, it may be considered healthy for most people.Chocolate, when it agrees with the constitution, is very nutritious and healthy. But it seldom can be used steadily except by aged persons who are very active. It agrees best with persons of phlegmatic temperament; and is more healthy in the winter season than during warm weather.No kind of beverage should be taken hot—it injures the teeth and impairs digestion.1347.A few Rules for Health.—Rise early. Eat simple food. Take plenty of exercise. Never fear a little fatigue. Let not children be dressed in tight clothes; it is necessary their limbs and muscles should have full play, if you wish for either health or beauty. Wash very often, and rub the skin thoroughly with a coarse towel.Wash the eyes in cold water every morning. Do not read or sew at twilight, or by too dazzling a light. If far-sighted, read with rather less light, and with the book somewhat nearer to the eye, than you desire. If near-sighted, read with a book as far off as possible. Both these imperfections may be diminished in this way.Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, be sure to have them clean before you go to bed.Have your bed-chamber well aired; and have fresh bed linen every week. Never have the wind blowing directly upon you from open windows during the night. It isnothealthy to sleep in heated rooms.Wear shoes that are large enough. It not only produces corns, but makes the feet misshapen to cramp them.Avoid the necessity of a physician, if you can, by careful attention to your diet. Eat what best agrees with your system, and resolutely abstain from what hurts you, however well you may like it. A few days' abstinence, and cold water for a beverage, with cold or warm bathing, as the case may require, have driven off many an approaching disease.If you find yourself really ill, send for a good physician. Have nothing to do with quacks; and do not tamper with quack medicines. You do not know what they are; and what security have you that they know what they are?1348.A few Remedies for Sickness.—Theaguemay be rendered milder by the timely use of an emetic, given one hour before the fit is expected to return. For this purpose, one scruple of ipecacuanha may be given in an ounce of water. After each return of vomiting, give half a pint of tepid chamomile tea, which may be repeated three or four times, but not oftener. When the disease has continued for some days, and the force of the fever is weakened by emetics, give to an adult the following preparation of bark:—Take of Peruvian bark, in fine-powder, one ounce; port wine, one quart; mix them, and let them stand together for twelve hours. Shake the bottle, and give four large spoonsful immediately after the hot stage of the disorder, repeating it every second hour till the whole be taken; unless the coming on of the next ague-fit should require its suspension.1349.Hysteric Affections.—So numerous and various are the symptoms said to belong to this disease, that it becomes difficult to mark its peculiar character. It is frequently described by the patient, as a round body moving in the bowels, ascending to the stomach, and from thence affecting the throat with a sense of stricture, threatening suffocation. The patient also complains of palpitation, a costive habit, cold feet and legs, &c. To counteract the force of these attacks, the bowels should be kept open by the following aperient mixture:—Take of infusion of senna, one ounce and a half; tincture of senna, tincture of cardamoms, of each half an ounce. Three large spoonsful to be taken occasionally.The feet and legs should be kept warm, the head cool; the diet should consist chiefly of animal food of easy digestion, as beef or mutton; avoiding vegetables and malt liquor, indeed everything that has a tendency to generate flatulency. As a beverage, weak brandy and water, toast and water, tea or coffee, whichever suits the palate of the patient, may be freely used. Much depends on the cause—as that varies, so must the treatment.A dash of cold water on the face will frequently put an end to the paroxysm.1350.Mumpsare sometimes epidemic and manifestly contagious; they come on with shivering and a sense of coldness, followed by an increased heat, and a considerable enlargement of the glands on each side the neck, below the ear, near to the angle of the jaw bone. This swelling continues to increase until the fourth or fifth day, when it gradually subsides; but before it entirely disappears, it often happens that other tumors take place in the breasts of women, to which the male sex are also subject in different parts of the body.They are more or less painful, but commonly run their course without any alarming symptoms, and therefore scarcely require any remedies. This entirely depends on good nursing; care should be taken to avoid exposure to cold air, and no application should be used except a slight additional covering. Fomentations, liniments, blisters, and whatever may have a tendency to check the regular process of this disease, may occasion a sudden determination to the brain, and prove fatal to the patient.A spare diet, gentle laxative medicines, and a free use of weak diluting liquors, are the best means to be employed; these, with a well-regulated temperature, will generally guard off the secondary tumors. But when the disease has been improperly managed, and a determination to any vital part brought on, send for the physician.1351.Measlesfrequently assume an alarming character, too much so to entitle them to a place in the list of common casualties. They are at all times too serious to be left, with safety, in the hands of the domestic practitioner. Medical aid, therefore, should be instantly sought for, as much depends on proper management during the first stage of the fever. The approach of this disease may be known, by attending to the symptoms which precede the eruption, in the following order: First, the patient complains of shivering, with a sense of coldness, a thin watery discharge from the nose, hoarseness, cough, and a continued flow of tears from the eyes, which appear red and inflamed. These symptoms continue to increase in violence, until the eruption is completed, when they gradually subside. As this disorder has frequently a putrid tendency, which can only be counteracted by the scientific skill of the physician, and which, if neglected, or improperly treated, proves fatal, there can be no excuse for not calling for his aid at the commencementof the attack. But that no time may be lost, should there be no physician present, an emetic of some gentle kind may be given and repeated every half hour till vomiting be excited. If it should not act on the bowels, take mild aperient medicine every fourth hour; but this is not to be repeated after a motion has been procured. The patient should be kept in an equal temperature, near sixty-four degrees of Fahrenheit; if exposed to a higher degree of heat, the fever might be increased; if to a lower temperature, the cough and hoarseness would be aggravated. Wine, or wine and water, and all other fermented liquors must be avoided. Toast and water, barley water, apple-water, rennet whey, tamarind tea, coffee, tea, or any other weak diluting beverage, may be freely used, provided they are of an equal warmth to milk when drawn from the cow; also, weak lemonade.1352.Soothing Beverage for a Cough, after Measles.—Two ounces of figs, two ounces of raisins, two ounces of pearl barley, and half an ounce of liquorice-root. Boil them together in a pint and a half of water, and strain off the liquor. A tea-cupful to be taken night and morning.1353.Costivenessmay be relieved by a change of diet, exercise on horseback, or any other exercise in the open air, or by taking one of the following pills an hour before dinner:—Take of Socotrine aloes, thirty grains; gum mastic, ten grains; oil of wormwood, one drop; tincture of aloes, a sufficient quantity to form the ingredients into a mass, which must be divided into twelve pills.This is an excellent dyspeptic pill, and will afford great relief in all cases of weak digestion.1354.Remedies for Dysentery.—Black or green tea, steeped in boiling milk, seasoned with nutmeg, and best of loaf-sugar, is excellent for the dysentery. Cork burnt to charcoal, about as big as a hazel-nut, macerated, and put in a tea-spoonful of brandy, with a little loaf sugar and nutmeg, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholera-morbus. If nutmeg be wanting, peppermint-water may be used. Flannel wet with brandy, powdered with Cayenne pepper, and laid upon the bowels, affords great relief in cases of extreme distress.1355.Another Remedy.—Dissolve as much table-salt in keen vinegar as will ferment and work clear. When the foam is discharged, cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use. A large spoonful of this, in a gill of boiling water, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and colic.1356.Loss of Appetite.—This is generally symptomatic, and varies according to the occasional cause. The continued use of warm tea, of wine, or other spirituous liquors, diluted with warm water, or the use of warm water alone, if long continued, will occasion a relaxed state of the muscular coat of the stomach. This organ also suffers from anxiety of mind, a sedentary life, or a costive habit; from these and other causes it becomes weakened, irritable, and incapable of digesting the most simple food. To restore the tone of the stomach, first give this emetic:—Take of ipecacuanha, in fine powder, one scruple; horse-radish tea, two ounces. Mix them together. Between the times of the operation, half a pint of horse-radish tea should be drank, but not repeated oftener than twice or thrice. Afterwards keep the bowels regular by the following aperient pills:—Take, rhubarb, in fine powder, carbonated kali, of each thirty grains; ginger, in fine powder, one scruple; balsam of Peru, a sufficient quantity to form a mass; divide it into twenty-four pills. Dose, three or four every other night, at bed-time.At the same time, to restore the tone of the digestive organs, the following decoction should be taken:—Take of Peruvian bark, six drachms; Cascarilla bark, two drachms. Bruise them in a mortar, and boil them in a pint and a half of water for a few minutes; strain off the liquor while hot, then add tincture of bark, two ounces; diluted nitric acid, a drachm and a half. Dose, four large spoonsful, three times a day.1357.Cramp and Spasm.—It frequently happens that persons are extremely annoyed by cramp during the night, which may be relieved by the following tincture:—Take of tincture of opium, two drachms; ether, half an ounce. Mix them together, and take thirty or forty drops every night, at bed-time.1358.How to apply Blisters.—A considerable degree of pain and inflammation often follows the application of blisters, whichmay be obviated, by covering the blister-plaster with very thin muslin, which will prevent any part of it remaining on the skin, after the removal of the blister. The muslin should be pressed down, and rubbed with the finger upon the surface of the blister-plaster.1359.Mustard Plasters—Should be covered with muslin, or the poultice put in a cloth bag, before being applied to the skin.1360.To prevent Lock-jaw.—Immerse the part injured in strong lye, as warm as can be borne. But first, as in all cases of wounds, apply spirits of turpentine on lint.1361.For a Stiff Joint.—An ointment made from the common ground-worms, which boys dig to bait fishes, rubbed on with the hand, is said to be excellent, when the sinews are drawn up by disease or from a sprain.1362.Easy Method of curing the Scurvy.—The root of the garden carrot abounds in a nutritious saccharine juice, and is slightly aromatic. These are desirable properties against the scurvy. To experience the good effects of these properties,the roots must be eaten raw. There is nothing unpleasant in this; on the contrary, it is what the common people often do by choice. These roots would keep well during the longest voyage, packed up in casks, having the interstices filled with sand. Each sailor might be allowed to eat one root every day, or every other day, according to the state of their health, and the quantity of roots on board.1363.To make Cliver, or Goose-grass Ointment; remarkable for its salutary effects in cases of inveterate Scurvy.—To a pound of hog's-lard melted, without spice or salt, put as much clivers as the lard will moisten, and boil them together over a slow fire; after stirring it till it becomes a little brown, strain it through a cloth; and when cold, take the ointment from the water that will remain at the bottom, and it will be fit for use.1364.Easy Method of attracting Ear-wigs from the Ear.—A person lately having an earwig crept into his ear, and knowing the peculiar fondness that insect has to apples, immediately applieda piece of apple to the ear, which enticed the creature out, and thereby prevented the alarming consequences which might have otherwise ensued.1365.Simple remedies for Scarlet Fever.—"Open the bowels regularly every day, with some mild aperient medicine, such as castor oil, senna, etc., and keep the patient at rest, and comfortably warm; sponge the surface with tepid water, two or three times a day; while it is hotter than natural, admit fresh air; live on a bland diet, such as a cup full of arrow-root, several times a day; toast-water for common drink. Gargle made of strong sage tea, honey and alum, or borax, may be used from the commencement, if the throat is affected."—Dr. T. P. Hereford.1366.The French Method of making Whey.—Mix together equal parts of best vinegar and cold water; a table-spoonful of each will suffice for a pint of milk. It is not, however, all to be put in, whether necessary or not; but when the milk just boils, pour in just as much of the acid as will turn it, and no more. Beat up together the white and shell of one egg, which boil up in the whey. Then set it aside till quite clear. Pour it off very steadily through a muslin strainer. Sweeten to taste with loaf-sugar. This whey is very pleasant, and answers every good purpose of white wine whey, while it is not liable to the objection of being heating, and is also very much less expensive.1367.Calves'-feet Jelly.—Take two calves' feet, and add to them one gallon of water; which reduce, by boiling, to one quart. Strain it, and when cold skim the fat entirely off. Add to this the white of six or eight eggs, well beaten, half a pint of wine, half a pound of loaf-sugar, and the juice of four lemons, and let them be well mixed. Boil the whole for a few minutes, stirring it constantly, and then pass it through a flannel strainer.This forms a very nutritious article of diet for the sick and convalescent. When it is desired, the wine can be omitted.—Ellis.1368.Chicken Water.—Take half a chicken, divested of all fat, and break the bones; add to this half a gallon of water, and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Season with salt.This was freely employed by the late Dr. Parrish in cholera at its commencement. Taken warm, it produces vomiting, and washes out the stomach.1369.Essence of Beef.—Put into a porter bottle a sufficient quantity of lean beef, sliced, to fill up its body, cork it with a paper stopple, and place it in a pot of cold water, attaching the neck, by means of a string, to the handle of the vessel. Boil this for three-quarters of an hour, then pour off the liquor, and skim it. To this preparation may be added spices and salt.1370.A very reviving Odor.—Fill with recently gathered, and dried lavender-flowers, stripped from their stalks, small wide-necked scent-bottles, and just cover them withstrongacetic acid. A morsel of camphor, the size of a hazel-nut, may be added, with advantage, to the lavender, in each bottle. Sound, new, and closely fitting corks should be used, to secure the mixture from the air. It is exceedingly refreshing and wholesome, and has often proved very acceptable to invalids. The lavender should be gathered for it before it is quite fully blown.1371.Easy Method of obtaining Water in almost any situation.—The ground must be perforated by a borer. In the perforation is placed a wooden pipe, which is driven down with a mallet, after which the boring is continued, that the pipe may be driven still farther. In proportion as the cavity of the borer becomes loaded, it is drawn up and emptied; and in time, by the addition of new portions of wooden pipe, the boring is carried to any depth, and water is generally obtained.1372.Method of Draining Ponds in Level Grounds.—At a certain distance below the surface of the earth, there sometimes is a stratum of loose sand, which freely admits the passage of water. This stratum is at various depths, in different elevations; but it will be generally found, that lands most subject to stagnant ponds have but a shallow stratum of clay over the sand. All that is necessary, therefore, is to dig a pit in the bottom of the pond, till you arrive at this stratum of sand, when the water will be immediately absorbed, and the pond emptied.1373.To preserve Fishing-rods.—Oil your rods, in summer, with linseed oil, drying them in the sun, and taking care the parts lie flat: they should be often turned, to prevent them from warping. This will render them tough, and prevent their being worm-eaten; in time they will acquire a beautiful brown color. Should they get wet, which swells the wood, and makes it fast in the sockets, turn the part round over the flame of a candle a short time, and it will be easily set at liberty.1374.To gild Letters on Vellum or Paper.—Letters written on vellum or paper are gilded in three ways; in the first, a little size is mixed with the ink, and the letters are written as usual; when they are dry, a slight degree of stickiness is produced by breathing on them, upon which the gold leaf is immediately applied, and by a little pressure may be made to adhere with sufficient firmness. In the second method, some white-lead or chalk is ground up with strong size, and the letters are made with this by means of a brush; when the mixture is almost dry, the gold leaf may be laid on, and afterwards burnished. The last method is to mix up some gold powder with size, and make the letters of this by means of a brush.1375.To make Pounce.—Gum-sandarac, powdered and sifted very fine, will produce an excellent preventive to keep ink from sinking in the paper after you have had occasion to scratch out any part of the writing.1376.Another Method.—Cuttle-fish bone, properly dried, one ounce; best rosin, one ounce; and the same quantity of burnt alum, well incorporated together, will make very good pounce equal, if not superior, to any bought at the shops.1377.To cut Glass.—Take a red-hot shank of a tobacco-pipe, lay it on the edge of your glass, which will then begin to crack; then draw the shank end a little gently before, and it will follow any way you draw your hand.1378.Mrs. Hooker's Method of preparing and applying a Composition for Painting in Imitation of the Ancient Grecian Manner.—Put into a glazed earthen vessel four ounces and a half of gum arabic, and eight ounces, or half a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water; when the gum is dissolved, stir inseven ounces of gum-mastic, which has been washed, dried, picked, and beaten fine. Set the earthen vessel containing the gum-water and gum-mastic over a slow fire, continually stirring and beating them hard with a spoon, in order to dissolve the gum-mastic; when sufficiently boiled, it will no longer appear transparent, but will become opaque and stiff, like a paste. As soon as this is the case, and the gum-water and mastic are quite boiling, without taking them off the fire, add five ounces of white wax, broken into small pieces, stirring and heating the different ingredients together, till the wax is perfectly melted, and has boiled. Then take the composition off the fire, as boiling it longer than necessary would only harden the wax, and prevent its mixing so well afterwards with water. When the composition is taken off the fire, and in the glazed earthen vessel, it should be beaten hard, and whilst hot (but not boiling) mix with it, by degrees, a pint (wine measure) or sixteen ounces more of cold spring water; then strain the composition, as some dirt will boil out of the gum-mastic, and put it into bottles. The composition, if properly made, should be like a cream, and the colors when mixed with it as smooth as with oil. The method of using it, is to mix with the composition, upon an earthen pallet, such colors in powder, as are used in painting with oil, and such a quantity of the composition to be mixed with the colors as to render them of the usual consistency of oil colors; then paint with fair water. The colors, when mixed with the composition, may be laid on either thick or thin, as may best suit your subject; on which account, this composition is very advantageous, where any particular transparency of coloring is required; but in most cases it answers best if the colors be laid on thick, and they require the same use of the brush as if painting with body colors, and the same brushes as used in oil painting. The colors, if ground dry, when mixed with the composition, may be used by putting a little fair water over them; but it is less trouble to put some water when the colors are observed to be growing dry. In painting with this composition, the colors blend without difficulty when wet, and even when dry the tints may easily be united by means of a brush and a very small quantity of fair water. When the painting is finished, put some white wax into a glazed earthen vessel over a slow fire, and when melted, but not boiling, with a hard brush cover the painting with the wax, and when cold take a moderately hot iron, such as is used for ironing linen,and so cold as not to hiss, if touched with anything wet, and draw it lightly over the wax. The painting will appear as if under a cloud till the wax is perfectly cold, as also whatever the picture is painted upon is quite cold; but if, when so, the painting should not appear sufficiently clear, it may be held before the fire, so far from it as to melt the wax but slowly; or the wax may be melted by holding a hot poker at such a distance as to melt it gently, especially such parts of the picture as should not appear sufficiently transparent or brilliant; for the oftener heat is applied to the picture, the greater will be the transparency and brilliancy of coloring; but the contrary effect would be produced if too sudden or too great a degree of heat was applied, or for too long a time, as it would draw the wax too much to the surface, and might likewise crack the paint. Should the coat of wax put over the painting, when finished, appear in any part uneven, it may be remedied by drawing a moderately hot iron over it again, as before-mentioned, or even by scraping the wax with a knife; and should the wax, by too great or too long application of heat, form into bubbles at particular places, by applying a poker heated, or even a tobacco-pipe made hot, the bubbles would subside; or such defects may be removed by drawing anything hard over the wax, which would close any small cavities.When the picture is cold, rub it with a fine linen cloth. Paintings may be executed in this manner upon wood (having first pieces of wood let in behind, across the grain of the wood, to prevent its warping), canvas, card, or plaster of Paris. The plaster of Paris would require no other preparation than mixing some fine plaster of Paris, in powder, with cold water, the thickness of a cream; then put it on a looking-glass, having first made a frame of bees'-wax on the looking-glass, the form and thickness you would wish the plaster of Paris to be of, and when dry take it off, and there will be a very smooth surface to paint upon. Wood and canvas are best covered with some gray tint, mixed with the same composition of gum-arabic, gum mastic, and wax, and of the same sort of colors as before-mentioned, before the design is begun, in order to cover the grain of the wood or the threads of the canvas. Paintings may also be done in the same manner, with only gum-water and gum-mastic, prepared the same way as the mastic and wax; but instead of putting seven ounces of mastic, and, when boiling, adding five ounces of wax, mix twelve ounces of gum-masticwith the gum-water, prepared as mentioned in the first part of this receipt; before it is put on the fire, and when sufficiently boiled and beaten, and is a little cold, stir in, by degrees, twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and afterwards strain it. It would be equally practicable painting with wax alone, dissolved in gum-water in the following manner: Take twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and four ounces and a half of gum-arabic, put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and when the gum is dissolved, add eight ounces of white wax. Put the earthen vessel, with the gum-water and wax, upon a slow fire, and stir them till the wax is dissolved, and has boiled a few minutes; then take them off the fire, and throw them into a basin, as by remaining in the hot earthen vessel the wax would become rather hard; beat the gum-water and wax till quite cold. As there is but a small proportion of water in comparison to the quantity of gum and wax, it would be necessary, in mixing this composition with the colors, to put also some fair water. Should the composition be so made as to occasion the ingredients to separate in the bottle, it will become equally serviceable, if shaken before used, to mix with the colors.1379.The Best Season for Painting Houses.—The outside of buildings should be painted during autumn or winter. Hot weather injures the paint by drying in the oil too quickly; then the paint will easily rub off. But when the paint is laid on during cold weather, it hardens in drying, and is firmly set.1380.A cheap and simple Process for Painting on Glass, sufficient for the purpose of making a Magic Lanthorn.—Take good clear resin, any quantity, melt it in an iron pot; when melted entirely, let it cool a little, and before it begins to harden, pour in oil of turpentine sufficient to keep it liquid when cold. In order to paint with it, let it be used with colors ground in oil, such as are commonly sold in color shops.1381.To make Phosphorus.—Two-third parts of quick-lime (i.e.calcined oyster-shells), and one-third of flour of brimstone, put into a crucible for an hour, and exposed to the air for an hour, become phosphorus.1382.To make an Illuminated or Phosphoric Bottle, which will preserve its Light for several months.—By putting a piece of phosphorus, the size of a pea, into a phial, and adding boiling oil until the bottle is a third full, a luminous bottle is formed; for, on taking out the cork, to admit atmospheric air, the empty space in the phial will become luminous.Whenever the stopper is taken out in the night, sufficient light will be evolved to show the hour upon a watch; and if care be taken to keep it, in general, well closed, it will preserve its illuminative power for several months.1383.To Marble Books or Paper.—Marbling of books or paper is performed thus:—Dissolve four ounces of gum arabic in two quarts of fair water; then provide several colors mixed with water in pots or shells, and with pencils peculiar to each color; sprinkle them by way of intermixture upon the gum-water, which must be put into a trough, or some broad vessel; then, with a stick, curl them, or draw them out in streaks to as much variety as may be done. Having done this, hold your book, or books, close together, and only dip the edges in, on the top of the water and colors, very lightly; which done, take them off, and the plain impression of the colors in mixture will be upon the leaves; doing as well the ends as the front of the book in like manner, and afterwards glazing the colors.1384.To Write Secretly on a Pocket Handkerchief.—Dissolve alum in pure water, and write upon a fine white handkerchief, which, when dry, will not be seen at all; but when you would have the letters visible, dip the handkerchief in pure water, and it will be of a wet appearance all over, except where it was written on with the alum water.You may also write with alum water upon writing paper, which will not be visible till dipped in water.1385.To keep Insects out of Bird-Cages.—Tie up a little sulphur in a silk bag, and suspend it in the cage. For mocking-birds this is essential to their health; and the sulphur will keep all the red ants and other insects from cages of all kinds of birds. Red ants will never be found in a closet or drawer, if a small bag of sulphur is kept constantly in these places.1386.Of Books, Mental Cultivation, &c.—Our work would be incomplete, without some reference to mental as well as material improvement. In truth, we have aimed, throughout this and a former book,[C]to make the connection between the cultivation of the mental faculties and true household economy apparent. To work properly, we must think rightly. Science is as necessary in the kitchen as in the laboratory. The reason why men cooks are preferred above women cooks, and better paid, is, the former study their art as a science. Knowledge is power, in domestic life as well as in the political arena. Let the woman elevate her position by her learning; let her understand the nature and influence of her daily employments, cultivating her taste and refining her manners by the true standard of moral excellence; thus making her home-pursuits conduce to the harmony and happiness of the general plan of life in which she, the wife and mother, is the centre of attraction and volition, and how important for humanity her sphere becomes.1387.Choice of Reading.—Never keep house without books. Life is not life to any great purpose where books are not. TheBibleis indispensable. Out of its treasures of Divine wisdom all best human wisdom is derived or directed. Then have other books, as your means permit. If these are rightly chosen, every volume will be a teacher, a friend—a fountain, from whence may be drawn sweet streams of pleasure and profit. Poetry, story, biography, history, essays, and religious works—I name these in the order a child chooses books—all are needed. American literature—that is, books on subjects connected with our own country, should be first in our reading. Bancroft's "History of the United States," Sparkes' "American Biographies," Lippincott's "Cabinet Histories of the States," Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution"—these should be accessible to every family in the Union. Read on every subject connected with your own pursuits and employments. Knowledge will aid you even in hand labor; and a good book is a safe refuge in idle hours.1388.Of Periodicals and Newspapers.—Every family should take a newspaper; this, the lady of the house should insistupon—kindly, to be sure; for a pleasant request is as powerful as "a soft answer" in "turning away wrath." Men, usually, are willing to subscribe for a paper, though some are indifferent to this great source of family instruction as well as pleasure; but they forget, when the year comes round, torenewtheir subscription in the right way. So the women of the family should be sure to remember the printer.Another important source of family improvement is the periodicals or monthly magazines. These are now, thanks to the cheap postage system, accessible to the dwellers in the most remote places of our wide land. As a work for our own sex, Godey's Lady's Book is the best that can be taken in a family, because it furnishes information on every branch of home duties and pursuits; and moreover, upholds that pure standard of morals in its lightest fiction, which renders it a safe enjoyment for the young.Many other periodicals might be named, all excellent of their kind, and where the expense can be afforded, each household should obtain one or more of these. A better way would be for a neighborhood to unite and take a half dozen different publications, securing the inestimable advantage of reading every month the best religious, medical, agricultural, scientific, literary, and illustrated magazines—thus keeping up with the progress of art, the march of mind, the material advancement, and the moral improvement of the world.1389.How can we Pay for the Magazines?—Is the question with many families. Very easily, if you have the will—one half of the money spent on tobacco would, if laid out in books, soon give every family a library. And, young ladies, if you cannot persuade your brothers to throw aside their cigars, and subscribe, why, look over this book, and see, if from its economical hints you cannot devise some plan of earning or saving, whereby you may be able to pay for the magazines. Do this one year; husband or brother will then be ready to aid. Woman has everything to gain from Christian civilization; she should lead the way.
1300.To dry Pumpkin.—Cut it round horizontally in tolerably thin slices, peel them and hang them on a line in a warm room. When perfectly dry, put them away for use. When you wish to use it, put it to soak over night; next day pour off the water, put on fresh water, stew and use it as usual, &c.
Another and, as some think, a much better way, is to boil and sift the pumpkin, then spread it out thin in tin plates, and dry hard in a warm oven. It will keep good all the year round, and a little piece boiled up in milk will make a batch of pies.
1301.To pickle large Mushrooms.—Pick them carefully, and take out the stalks; put them into a jar, and pour on them boiling spiced vinegar, with a little salt in it.
1302.To preserve Green Currants.—Currants may be kept fresh for a year or more, if they are gathered when green, separated from the stems, put into dry, clean junk bottles, and corked very carefully, so as to exclude the air. They should be kept in a cool place in the cellar.
1303.Walnut Ketchup.—Take half a bushel of green walnuts, before the shell is formed, and grind them in a crab mill, or beat them in a marble mortar; then squeeze out the juicesthrough a coarse cloth, and wring the cloth well to get all the juice out, and to every gallon of juice put a quart of red wine, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, the same of bay salt, one ounce of allspice, two of long or black pepper, half an ounce of cloves and mace, a little ginger and horse-radish, cut in slices; boil all together till reduced to half the quantity; pour into a pan; when it is cold bottle it, cork it tight, and it will be fit to use in three months. If you have any pickle left in the jar after your walnuts are used, to every gallon of pickle put in two heads of garlic, a quart of red wine, an ounce each of cloves and mace, long, black, and Jamaica pepper, and boil them all together, till it is reduced to half the quantity, pour it into a pan, and the next day bottle it for use, and cork it tight.
1304.To discover if Bread is adulterated with Alum.—Make a solution of lime in aquafortis, and put a little of this solution into water, in which you have steeped the bread suspected to contain alum. If such should be the case, the acid, which was combined with the alum, will form a precipitate or chalky concretion at the bottom of the vessel.
1305.To preserve Biscuit from Putrefaction.—To preserve biscuit a long time sweet and good, no other art is necessary than stowing it, well baked, in casks exactly caulked, and carefully lined with tin, so as to exclude the air; at the same time the biscuit must be so placed as to leave as little vacant room as possible in the cask; and when the same is opened through necessity, it must be speedily closed again with great care.
1306.A good Yeast.—Put into one gallon of water a double-handful of hops;—boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain off the water while it is scalding hot; stir in wheat flour or meal till it becomes a thick batter, so that it will hardly pour;—let it stand till it becomes about blood-warm, then add a pint of good lively yeast, and stir it well; and then let it stand in a place where it will be kept at a temperature of about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, till it becomes perfectly light, whether more or less time is required; and then it is fit for use;—or if it is desired to keep a portion of it, let it stand several hours and become cool; and then put it into a clean jug and cork it tight, and place it in the cellar, where it will keepcool; and it may be preserved good, ten or twelve days, and even longer.
1307.The Dairy.—Dairymen will find a great advantage in cheese making, by putting their milk, which is to stand over night, into small air-tight vessels. They will also find it an advantage, when it thunders, to suspend the vessels by a cord or chain, as the jarring of the shocks, which sour the milk, will, in a great measure, be prevented. We may prevent the commencement of sourness, which takes place in milk standing in large quantities, by a wooden follower being fitted to the vat, and pressed on the milk. If any one doubt the utility of this, let him try the experiment for himself. Cover the bottom of your cheese-vat to the depth of half an inch with milk, and let it stand through the night, and then try to make a breakfast of it in the morning. You could relish tallow as well, or a piece of bread and butter that had lain in the sun an hour. Neither milk, butter, nor cheese will do to stand in the light of the sun, though it be reflected, as it will produce rancidity.
1308.Butter.—Keep your pails, churn, and pans sweet. In winter warm the pans and churns with hot water, in summer cool them with cold. Keep your milk in summer where it is cool and airy, in winter where it is warm. In warm weather skim your milk as soon as it is thick; in colder weather skim as soon as there is a good thick cream, and be careful not to let it remain too long, as it will acquire a bad taste. Churn as often as you have cream enough, never less than once a week. If the cream is of the right temperature when commenced, it will not froth, and if it does, put in a little salt. Use no salt but the best ground salt; work out all the butter-milk with a ladle in summer, in winter use clean hands. If you wish to keep it some time, put it down in a jar or firkin, or pickle in layers, as clean and free from butter-milk as it is possible, leaving a space for pickle over it, in the following proportions. Half a pail of water, one quart of fine salt, two ounces of loaf-sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, well boiled and skimmed. When cold, cover with this, and it will keep good and sweet, the year round.
1309.Cream.—The quantity of cream on milk may be greatly increased by the following process: Have two pansready in boiling hot water, and when the new milk is brought in, put it into one of these hot pans and cover it with the other. The quality as well as the thickness of the cream is improved.
1310.Method of curing bad Tub Butter.—A quantity of tub butter was brought to market in the West Indies, which, on opening, was found to be very bad, and almost stinking. A native of Pennsylvania undertook to cure it, which he did, in the following manner:—
He started the tubs of butter in a large quantity of hot water, which soon melted the butter; he then skimmed it off as clean as possible, and worked it over again in a churn, and with the addition of salt and fine sugar, the butter was sweet and good.
1311.Method of taking the Rankness and disagreeable Taste from Irish Salt Butter.—The quantity proposed to be made use of, either for toasts or melting, must be put into a bowl filled with boiling water, and when the butter is melted, skim it quite off; by this method it is so separated from any gross particles, that it may require a small addition of salt, which may be put into the cold water that is made use of in melting butter for sauce; and though the butter is oiled by hot water, it becomes a fine cream in the boiling for sauce.
1312.To remove the Taste of Turnips from Milk or Butter.—The taste of the turnip is easily taken off milk and butter, by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, which being kept in a bottle, and a small tea-cupful put into eight gallons of milk, when warm from the cow, entirely removes any taste or flavor of the turnip.
1313.To make Salt Butter fresh.—Put four pounds of salt butter into a churn, with four quarts of new milk, and a small portion of arnotto. Churn them together, and, in about an hour, take out the butter, and treat it exactly as fresh butter, by washing it in water, and adding the customary quantity of salt.
This is a singular experiment. The butter gains about three ounces in each pound, and is in every particular equal to fresh butter. It would be greatly improved by the addition of twoor three ounces of fine sugar, in powder. A common earthen churn answers the same purpose as a wooden one, and may be purchased at any pot shop.
1314.Method of making Stilton Cheese.—Take the night's cream, and put it to the morning's new milk, with the rennet; when the curd is come it is not to be broken, as is done with other cheeses, but take it out with a soil dish all together, and place it on a sieve to drain gradually, and, as it drains, keep gradually pressing it, till it becomes firm and dry; then place it in a wooden hoop; afterwards to be kept dry on boards, turned frequently, with cloth-binders round it, which are to be tightened as occasion requires.
In some dairies the cheeses, after being taken out of the wooden hoop, are bound tight round with a cloth, which cloth is changed every day until the cheese becomes firm enough to support itself; after the cloth is taken away, they are rubbed every day all over, for two or three months, with a brush; and if the weather is damp or moist, twice a day; and even before the cloth is taken off, the top and bottom are well rubbed every day.
1315.Coloring for Cheese.—The coloring for cheese is,or at leastshould be, Spanish arnotto; but as soon as coloring became general in this country, a color of an adulterated kind was exposed for sale in almost every shop; the weight of a guinea and a half of real Spanish arnotto is sufficient for a cheese of fifty pounds' weight. If a considerable part of the cream of the night's milk be taken for butter, more coloring will be requisite. The leaner the cheese is, the more coloring it requires. The manner of using arnotto is to tie up, in a linen rag, the quantity deemed sufficient, and put it into half a pint of warm water over night. This infusion is put into the tub of milk, in the morning, with the rennet infusion; dipping the rag into the milk, and rubbing it against the palm of the hand as long as any color runs out.
1316.To make Cement for Bottles or Preserve Jars.—Take one-third bees'-wax and two-thirds rosin, according to the quantity of cement required. Pound the rosin fine, and put it with the wax to melt in any old vessel fit for the purpose. When it is melted, take it off the fire, and add powdered brick-dusttill it is as thick as melted sealing-wax. Then dip the bottle necks into the cement, and in a few minutes the mixture will be dry.
1317.Blue Wash for Walls.—Take one pound of lump blue vitriol; pound it in a stone mortar as fine as possible; dissolve it in a quart or two of hot water. Slake about a quarter of a peck, or perhaps a little more of lime, and whencoldpour in the blue water by degrees, and make it whatever shade you desire.
The lime must be slaked and the vitriol dissolved in earthen or stone ware, and the whole mixture stirred with a metal spoon. If wood is used for any of the above purposes, the color will be changed. A new brush should also be used to put it on the walls, and they must first have a coat or two of whitewash, to destroy all smoke and other impurities.
1318.Yellow Wash for Walls.—One quarter of a pound of chrome yellow, one quarter of a pound of gum senegal, two pounds of whiting.
1319. "Blue Composition," a compound of vitriol and indigo, is usually kept by hatters and apothecaries. It colors a good and durable blue. An ounce vial, that may be bought for a trifle, will color a large number of articles. It is an economical plan to use it for old silk linings, ribbons, &c. The original color should be boiled out, and the material thoroughly rinsed in soft water, so that no soap may remain in it; for soap ruins the dye. Twelve or sixteen drops of the blue composition, poured into a quart bowl full of warm soft water, stirred, (and strained, if any settlings are perceptible,) will color a great many articles. If you wish a deep blue, pour in more of the compound. Cotton must not be colored; the vitriol destroys it; if the material you wish to color has cotton threads in it, it will be ruined. After the things are thoroughly dried, they should be washed in cool suds, and dried again; this prevents any bad effects from the vitriol; if shut up from the air, without being washed, there is danger of the texture being destroyed.
1320.How to color Green.—If you wish to color green, have your cloth free as possible from the old color, clean and rinsed, and, in the first place, color it a deep yellow. Fustic boiled in soft water makes the strongest and brightest yellow dye; but saffron, barberry bush, peach leaves, or onion skins, will answer pretty well. Next take a bowl full of strong yellow dye, and pour in a great spoonful or more of the blue composition. Stir it up well with a clean stick, and dip the articles you have already colored yellow into it, and they will take a lively grass-green. This is a good plan for old bombazet curtains, dessert cloths, old flannel for desk coverings, &c.
1321.Slate Color.—Tea-grounds boiled in iron, and set with copperas, make a very good slate color.
1322.Purple Slate Color.—The purple paper, which comes on loaf sugar, boiled in cider, or vinegar, with a small bit of alum, makes a fine purple slate color. Done in iron.
White maple bark makes a good light-brown slate color. This should be boiled in water, set with alum. The color is reckoned better when boiled in brass, instead of iron.
The purple slate and the brown slate are suitable colors for stockings; and it is an economical plan, after they have been mended and cut down, so that they will no longer look decent, to color old stockings, and make them up for children.
1323.To make Nankin Color.—A pailful of lye, with a piece of copperas half as big as a hen's egg boiled in it, will color a fine nankin color, which will never wash out. This is very useful for the linings of bed-quilts, comforters, &c. Old faded gowns, colored in this way, may be made into good petticoats. Cheap cotton cloth may be colored to advantage for petticoats, and pelisses for little girls.
1324.Nankin Color, another way.—The commonbirch-barkmakes a very beautiful nankin dye. Cover the bark with water, and boil it thoroughly in a brass or tin kettle. Bark stripped from the trees in autumn is best. Set the color with alum. A piece as large as a hen's egg is sufficient for two pailsful of dye. Dip the articles, wet thoroughly in clean water, into the alum water, then into the dye.
1325.To make Straw-color and Yellow.—Saffron, steeped in earthen and strained, colors a fine straw color. It makes a delicate or deep shade, according to the strength of the tea. The dry outside skins of onions, steeped in scalding water and strained, color a yellow very much like the "bird of paradise" color. Peach leaves, or bark scraped from the barberry bush, color a common bright yellow. In all these cases, a little bit of alum does no harm, and may help to fix the color. Ribbons, gauze handkerchiefs, &c., are colored well in this way, especially if they be stiffened by a bit of gum-arabic, dropped in while the stuff is steeping.
1326.To make Rose-color.—Balm blossoms, steeped in water, color a pretty rose-color. This answers very well for the linings of children's bonnets, for ribbons, &c. It fades in the course of one season, but it is very little trouble to re-color with it. It merely requires to be steeped and strained. Perhaps a small piece of alum might serve to set the color, in some degree. In earthen or tin.
1327.To color Black.—Logwood and cider, boiled together, in iron—add water for the evaporation—makes a good and durable black. Rusty nails, or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink-powder, if boiled with vinegar. In all cases, black must be set with copperas.
1328.General Rules for Coloring.—The materials should be perfectly clean; soap should be rinsed out in soft water; the article should be entirely wetted, or it will spot; light colors should be steeped in brass, tin, or earthen; and if set at all, should be set with alum. Dark colors should be boiled in iron, and set with copperas. Too much copperas rots the thread.
1329.To Wash Carpets.—Put the carpets down on a perfectly clean floor; wash them first with warm and weak soap-suds, wringing the wash-cloth almost dry; rinse them with clear water. Open the windows, that they may dry quickly.
It is obvious that the above directions are only applicable to the lighter sorts of carpets, Scotch, Kidderminster, and Venetian. If it be desired to cleanse a carpet which has an under-textureof thread, as Brussels, tapestry, or velvet, the carpet having been well beaten or shaken, and washed, should be spread out, and scrubbed with a scrubbing brush and ox-gall. A pint of gall and three gallons of water will clean a large carpet.
After the use of the gall, the carpet must be thoroughly rinsed, and dried in the open air.
1330.To Wash Clothes, on a small scale.—For a wash for three persons put three-quarters of an ounce of soda in soap and water over the fire. Wash the clothes first in soap and water; rub soap on the soiled or greasy places, and throw them in the mixture. Let them boil an hour; rinse them in clear, cold water; rinse them again in water with a little bluing in it. If the clothes are much soiled, put them to soak over night.
1331.Washing of Woollen Articles; an excellent way.—It is a common complaint that woollen articles thicken, shrink, and become discolored in washing. The complaint applies both to the lighter articles of knitted wool, such as shawls, &c., and to thicker and heavier materials—table baizes, carpets, and men's woollen garments. The difficulty in either case may be obviated by strict attention to the method about to be explained. To clear the way, it may be well first to point out some things whichneverought to be done, but which frequently, perhaps generally, are done:—
1. Woollen articles are never to be washed in hard water, nor in water softened by soda, potash, or anything of that kind. Soap even should never touch them.
2. They are never to be rubbed at all.
3. They are never to be put in lukewarm water for washing, nor in cold water for rinsing.
4. They are never to remain lying still in the water a single minute.
5. They are never to be wrung.
6. When taken out of the water, they must not be laid down at all, before the process of drying is commenced, nor at any time afterwards until they are perfectly dry.
These things are to be avoided:—Now what is to be done?
1. Let the things to be washed be first well brushed and shaken, to get rid of the dust.
2. Before the woollen things are wetted at all, take care to have everything that will be required, ready and within reach.
3. If several things are to be done, let each be begun and finished separately. This makes no difference in expense or trouble. A smaller vessel and smaller quantity of lather will suffice, and the stuff in which one article has been washed, would do no good, but harm, to others; it is, in fact, good for nothing.
4. Use only fresh rain water, or very clear river water; rain is preferable.
5. With a piece of sponge or old flannel, rub up a very strong lather of either soft soap or best yellow soap. For very large, greasy things, the lather may be made of ox-gall, half a pint to six quarts of water, whisked up with a handful of birch twigs (like that old-fashioned thing, a rod). In either case, the lather may be prepared with a small quantity of water, and the remainder added, boiling hot, the moment before using it. The whole should be as hot as the hand can bear it; the hotter the better. If the articles are very dirty, two lathers will be required in succession; and unless a second person is at hand, to rub up the second while the first is being used, both had better be prepared in separate vessels before the wools are wetted, leaving only the boiling water to be added.
6. Take the article to be washed, and without leaving hold of it, keep on dipping and raising, dipping and raising, for two or three minutes. By that time the lather will be absorbed by the wool, and the liquor will resemble slimy suds.
7. Squeeze the article as dry as may be, without wringing it.
8. The second lather having been brought to the same heat as the first, proceed in the same manner, dipping and raising. N. B.—If the article was very little soiled, and after the first washing appears quite clear and clean, the second washing may be in hot water without soap. Whether lather or water only, a blue-bag may be slightly drawn through before the second washing. When gall has been used, a third washing in hot water only, will be required to take off the smell.
9. Having again squeezed the article as dry as may be, for the lighter things, such as shawls, &c., spread it on a coarse dry cloth, pulling it out to its proper shape; lay over it another coarse dry cloth, roll the whole up tightly, and let it remain half an hour. This rule does not apply to large, heavy things; they must be hung out at once.
1332.To make Soft Soap.—Bore some holes in your lye-barrel; put some straw in the bottom; lay some unslaked lime on it, and fill your barrel with good hard-wood ashes; wet it, and pound it down as you put it in. When full, make a basin in the ashes and pour in water; keep filling it as it sinks in the ashes. In the course of a few hours the lye will begin to run. When you have a sufficient quantity to begin with, put your grease in a large iron pot, let it heat, pour in the lye, let it boil, &c. Three pounds of clean grease are allowed for two gallons of soap.
1333.—Of Fish as Food.—As food, fish is easier of digestion than meats are, with the exception of salmon; this kind of fish is extremely hearty food, and should be given sparingly to children, and used cautiously by those who have weak stomachs, or who take little exercise.
The small trout, found in rivers, are the most delicate and suitable for invalids; lake fish are also excellent, and any kind of fresh-water fish, if cooked immediately after being caught, are always healthful.
But the ocean is the chief dependence for the fish-market, and there is little danger (if we except salmon and lobsters) that its kind of aliment will, in our country, be eaten to excess. It would be better for the health of those who do not labor, if they would use more fish and less flesh for food. But then fish cannot be rendered so palatable, because it does not admit the variety of cooking and flavors that other animal food does.
Fish is much less nutritious than flesh. The white kinds of fish, cod, haddock, flounders, white fish, &c., are the least nutritious; the oily kinds, salmon, eels, herrings, &c., are more difficult to digest.
Shell fish have long held a high rank as restorative food; but a well-dressed chop or steak is much better to recruit the strength and spirits.
Cod,whiting, andhaddock, are better for being a little salted, and kept one day before cooking.
1334.—Of Beef as Food.—Ox beef is considered the best; heifer beef is excellent where well fed, and is most suitable for small families. If you want the best, choose that which has a fine smooth grain—the lean of a bright red; the fat white or nearly so.
The best roasting-piece is the sirloin; then the first three ribs—if kept till they are quite tender, and boned, they are nearly equal to the sirloin, and better for a family dinner.
The round is used foralamodebeef, and is the best piece for corning.
The best beef steak is cut from the inner part of the sirloin. Good steak may be cut from the ribs.
If you wish to practise economy, buy the chuck, or piece between the shoulder and the neck; it makes a good roast or steak, and is excellent for stewing or baking. The thick part of the flank is also a profitable piece; good to bake or boil, or even roast.
The leg and shin of beef make the best soup—the heart is profitable meat, and good broiled or roasted. The leg rand is used for mince pies—it needs to be boiled till it is very tender. The tongue, when fresh, is a rich part for mince pies. If eaten by itself, it should be pickled and smoked.
1335.—Of Pork as Food.—Pork, that is fed from the dairy, and fattened on corn, is the best—potatoes do very well for part of the feeding. But pork fattened from the still-house is all but poisonous; it should never be eaten by those who wish to preserve their health.
The offals, &c., with which pork in the vicinity of a city is fattened, make it unsavory and unwholesome. Such stuff should be used for manure, and never given as food to animals, whose flesh is to be eaten by man.
When pork is good, the flesh looks very white and smooth, and the fat white and fine. Hogs two years old make the best—older than that, their flesh is apt to be rank. Measly pork is very unwholesome, and never should be eaten. It may be known, as the fat is filled with small kernels.
When the rind is thick and tough, and cannot easily be impressed with the finger, the pork is old, and will require more cooking.
If pork is not cooked enough, it is disagreeable and almost indigestible; it should never be eaten unless it is thoroughly done.
The fat parts of pork are not very healthy food. Those who labor hard may feel no inconvenience from this diet; but children should never eat it; nor is it healthy for the delicate and sedentary. Fat pork seems more proper as material for fryingfish and other meats, and as a garnish, than to be cooked and eaten by itself. It is best and least apt to prove injurious during the cold weather.
1336.Of Mutton.—Mutton is best from August till January. It is nutritious, and often agrees better than any other meat with weak stomachs. To have it tender, it must be kept as long as possible without injury. Be sure and cook it till it isdone; the gravy that runs when the meat is cut, shouldnever show the least tinge of blood.
1337.Of using Gravies.—Make it a general rule never to pour gravy over any thing that is roasted; by so doing, the dredging, &c., is washed off and it eats insipid.
1338.Meat for Children.—Lamb, veal, and fowls are delicate and healthy diet for the young and sedentary; and for all who find fat meats and those of coarse fibre do not agree with them.
1339.Economicals of Cooking Meats.—The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.
Baking is one of the cheapest ways of dressing a dinner in small families, and several kinds of meat are excellent, done in this way. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat. Never bake a lean, thin piece; it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked. Meat always loses in weight by being cooked.—In roasting, the loss is the greatest. It also costs more in fuel to roast than to boil—still there are many pieces of meat which seem made for roasting; and it would be almost wrong to cook them in any other way. Those who cannot afford to roast their meat, should not purchase the sirloin of beef. Stewing meat is an excellent and economical mode of cookery.
1340.Butter as Diet.—Butter, when new and sweet, is nutritious, and, in our climate, generally healthy; during thewinter, when made very salt, it is not a good article of diet for some people.
1341.Condiments.—Pepper, ginger, and most of the condiments, are best during summer; they are productions of hot climates, which shows them to be most appropriate for the hot season. On the other hand, fat beef, bacon, and those kinds of food we denominate "hearty," should be most freely used during cold weather.
1342.Eat Slowly.—Eat slowly. One of the most usual causes of dyspepsia among our business men, arises from the haste in which they swallow their food without sufficiently chewing it, and then hurry away to their active pursuits. In England very little business is transacted after dinner. There ought to be, at least, one hour of quiet after a full meal, from those pursuits which tax the brain, as well as those which exercise the muscles.
1343.Of Breakfast.—Persons of a delicate constitution should never exercise much before breakfast.
If exposure of any kind is to be incurred in the morning, breakfast should always be taken previously. The system is more susceptible of infection and of the influence of cold, miasma, &c., in the morning before eating, than at any other time.
Those who walk early will find great benefit from taking a cracker or some little nourishment before going out.
Never go into a room of a morning, where a person is sick with a fever, before you have taken nourishment of some kind—a cup of coffee, at least.
In setting out early to travel, a light breakfast before starting should always be taken; it is a great protection against cold, fatigue and exhaustion.
In boarding schools for the young and growing, early breakfast is an indispensable condition to health. Children should not be kept without food in the morning till they are faint and weary.
1344.Of Supper.—Never eat a hearty supper just before retiring to rest.
Food should never be eaten when it is hot—bread is very unhealthy, eaten in this way.
1345.Of Dinner.—It is injurious to eat when greatly heated or fatigued. It would very much conduce to the health of laboring men, if they could rest fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner.
The diet should always be more spare, with a larger proportion of vegetables and ripe fruits, during summer. Fruits are most wholesome in their appropriate season. The skins, stones, and seeds, are indigestible.
Rich soups are injurious to the dyspeptic. Much liquid food is rarely beneficial for adults; but a small quantity of plain, nourishing soup is an economical and healthy beginning of a family dinner.
Meats should always be sufficiently cooked. It is a savage custom to eat meat in a half-raw-half-roasted state, and only a very strong stomach can digest it.
Rich gravies should be avoided, especially in the summer season.
1346.—Of Drinks.—Most people drink too much, because they drink too fast. A wine-glass of water, sipped slowly, will quench the thirst as effectually as a pint swallowed at a draught. When too much is taken at meals, especially at dinner, it hinders digestion. Better drink little during the meal, and then, if thirsty an hour or two afterwards, more. The practice of taking a cup of tea or coffee soon after dinner is a good one, if the beverage be not drank too strong or too hot.
Dyspeptic people should be careful to take but a small quantity of drink. Children require more, in proportion to their food, than adults. But it is very injurious to them to allow a habit of continual drinking as you find in some children. It greatly weakens the stomach, and renders them irritable and peevish.
The morning meal requires to be lighter and of a more fluid nature than any other. Children should always, if possible to be obtained, take milk—as a substitute, during the winter, good gruel with bread, or water, sweetened with molasses, is healthy. Never give children tea, coffee, or chocolate with their meals.
Coffee affords very little nourishment, and is apt, if drank strong, to occasion tremors of the nerves. It is very bad for bilious constitutions. The calm, phlegmatic temperament canbear it. With a good supply of cream and sugar, drank in moderation, by those who exercise much and take considerable solid food, it may be used without much danger.
Strong green tea relaxes the tone of the stomach, and excites the nervous system. Persons of delicate constitution are almost sure to be injured by it. Black tea is much less deleterious. If used with milk and sugar, it may be considered healthy for most people.
Chocolate, when it agrees with the constitution, is very nutritious and healthy. But it seldom can be used steadily except by aged persons who are very active. It agrees best with persons of phlegmatic temperament; and is more healthy in the winter season than during warm weather.
No kind of beverage should be taken hot—it injures the teeth and impairs digestion.
1347.A few Rules for Health.—Rise early. Eat simple food. Take plenty of exercise. Never fear a little fatigue. Let not children be dressed in tight clothes; it is necessary their limbs and muscles should have full play, if you wish for either health or beauty. Wash very often, and rub the skin thoroughly with a coarse towel.
Wash the eyes in cold water every morning. Do not read or sew at twilight, or by too dazzling a light. If far-sighted, read with rather less light, and with the book somewhat nearer to the eye, than you desire. If near-sighted, read with a book as far off as possible. Both these imperfections may be diminished in this way.
Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, be sure to have them clean before you go to bed.
Have your bed-chamber well aired; and have fresh bed linen every week. Never have the wind blowing directly upon you from open windows during the night. It isnothealthy to sleep in heated rooms.
Wear shoes that are large enough. It not only produces corns, but makes the feet misshapen to cramp them.
Avoid the necessity of a physician, if you can, by careful attention to your diet. Eat what best agrees with your system, and resolutely abstain from what hurts you, however well you may like it. A few days' abstinence, and cold water for a beverage, with cold or warm bathing, as the case may require, have driven off many an approaching disease.
If you find yourself really ill, send for a good physician. Have nothing to do with quacks; and do not tamper with quack medicines. You do not know what they are; and what security have you that they know what they are?
1348.A few Remedies for Sickness.—Theaguemay be rendered milder by the timely use of an emetic, given one hour before the fit is expected to return. For this purpose, one scruple of ipecacuanha may be given in an ounce of water. After each return of vomiting, give half a pint of tepid chamomile tea, which may be repeated three or four times, but not oftener. When the disease has continued for some days, and the force of the fever is weakened by emetics, give to an adult the following preparation of bark:—
Take of Peruvian bark, in fine-powder, one ounce; port wine, one quart; mix them, and let them stand together for twelve hours. Shake the bottle, and give four large spoonsful immediately after the hot stage of the disorder, repeating it every second hour till the whole be taken; unless the coming on of the next ague-fit should require its suspension.
1349.Hysteric Affections.—So numerous and various are the symptoms said to belong to this disease, that it becomes difficult to mark its peculiar character. It is frequently described by the patient, as a round body moving in the bowels, ascending to the stomach, and from thence affecting the throat with a sense of stricture, threatening suffocation. The patient also complains of palpitation, a costive habit, cold feet and legs, &c. To counteract the force of these attacks, the bowels should be kept open by the following aperient mixture:—
Take of infusion of senna, one ounce and a half; tincture of senna, tincture of cardamoms, of each half an ounce. Three large spoonsful to be taken occasionally.
The feet and legs should be kept warm, the head cool; the diet should consist chiefly of animal food of easy digestion, as beef or mutton; avoiding vegetables and malt liquor, indeed everything that has a tendency to generate flatulency. As a beverage, weak brandy and water, toast and water, tea or coffee, whichever suits the palate of the patient, may be freely used. Much depends on the cause—as that varies, so must the treatment.A dash of cold water on the face will frequently put an end to the paroxysm.
1350.Mumpsare sometimes epidemic and manifestly contagious; they come on with shivering and a sense of coldness, followed by an increased heat, and a considerable enlargement of the glands on each side the neck, below the ear, near to the angle of the jaw bone. This swelling continues to increase until the fourth or fifth day, when it gradually subsides; but before it entirely disappears, it often happens that other tumors take place in the breasts of women, to which the male sex are also subject in different parts of the body.
They are more or less painful, but commonly run their course without any alarming symptoms, and therefore scarcely require any remedies. This entirely depends on good nursing; care should be taken to avoid exposure to cold air, and no application should be used except a slight additional covering. Fomentations, liniments, blisters, and whatever may have a tendency to check the regular process of this disease, may occasion a sudden determination to the brain, and prove fatal to the patient.
A spare diet, gentle laxative medicines, and a free use of weak diluting liquors, are the best means to be employed; these, with a well-regulated temperature, will generally guard off the secondary tumors. But when the disease has been improperly managed, and a determination to any vital part brought on, send for the physician.
1351.Measlesfrequently assume an alarming character, too much so to entitle them to a place in the list of common casualties. They are at all times too serious to be left, with safety, in the hands of the domestic practitioner. Medical aid, therefore, should be instantly sought for, as much depends on proper management during the first stage of the fever. The approach of this disease may be known, by attending to the symptoms which precede the eruption, in the following order: First, the patient complains of shivering, with a sense of coldness, a thin watery discharge from the nose, hoarseness, cough, and a continued flow of tears from the eyes, which appear red and inflamed. These symptoms continue to increase in violence, until the eruption is completed, when they gradually subside. As this disorder has frequently a putrid tendency, which can only be counteracted by the scientific skill of the physician, and which, if neglected, or improperly treated, proves fatal, there can be no excuse for not calling for his aid at the commencementof the attack. But that no time may be lost, should there be no physician present, an emetic of some gentle kind may be given and repeated every half hour till vomiting be excited. If it should not act on the bowels, take mild aperient medicine every fourth hour; but this is not to be repeated after a motion has been procured. The patient should be kept in an equal temperature, near sixty-four degrees of Fahrenheit; if exposed to a higher degree of heat, the fever might be increased; if to a lower temperature, the cough and hoarseness would be aggravated. Wine, or wine and water, and all other fermented liquors must be avoided. Toast and water, barley water, apple-water, rennet whey, tamarind tea, coffee, tea, or any other weak diluting beverage, may be freely used, provided they are of an equal warmth to milk when drawn from the cow; also, weak lemonade.
1352.Soothing Beverage for a Cough, after Measles.—Two ounces of figs, two ounces of raisins, two ounces of pearl barley, and half an ounce of liquorice-root. Boil them together in a pint and a half of water, and strain off the liquor. A tea-cupful to be taken night and morning.
1353.Costivenessmay be relieved by a change of diet, exercise on horseback, or any other exercise in the open air, or by taking one of the following pills an hour before dinner:—
Take of Socotrine aloes, thirty grains; gum mastic, ten grains; oil of wormwood, one drop; tincture of aloes, a sufficient quantity to form the ingredients into a mass, which must be divided into twelve pills.
This is an excellent dyspeptic pill, and will afford great relief in all cases of weak digestion.
1354.Remedies for Dysentery.—Black or green tea, steeped in boiling milk, seasoned with nutmeg, and best of loaf-sugar, is excellent for the dysentery. Cork burnt to charcoal, about as big as a hazel-nut, macerated, and put in a tea-spoonful of brandy, with a little loaf sugar and nutmeg, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholera-morbus. If nutmeg be wanting, peppermint-water may be used. Flannel wet with brandy, powdered with Cayenne pepper, and laid upon the bowels, affords great relief in cases of extreme distress.
1355.Another Remedy.—Dissolve as much table-salt in keen vinegar as will ferment and work clear. When the foam is discharged, cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use. A large spoonful of this, in a gill of boiling water, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and colic.
1356.Loss of Appetite.—This is generally symptomatic, and varies according to the occasional cause. The continued use of warm tea, of wine, or other spirituous liquors, diluted with warm water, or the use of warm water alone, if long continued, will occasion a relaxed state of the muscular coat of the stomach. This organ also suffers from anxiety of mind, a sedentary life, or a costive habit; from these and other causes it becomes weakened, irritable, and incapable of digesting the most simple food. To restore the tone of the stomach, first give this emetic:—
Take of ipecacuanha, in fine powder, one scruple; horse-radish tea, two ounces. Mix them together. Between the times of the operation, half a pint of horse-radish tea should be drank, but not repeated oftener than twice or thrice. Afterwards keep the bowels regular by the following aperient pills:—
Take, rhubarb, in fine powder, carbonated kali, of each thirty grains; ginger, in fine powder, one scruple; balsam of Peru, a sufficient quantity to form a mass; divide it into twenty-four pills. Dose, three or four every other night, at bed-time.
At the same time, to restore the tone of the digestive organs, the following decoction should be taken:—
Take of Peruvian bark, six drachms; Cascarilla bark, two drachms. Bruise them in a mortar, and boil them in a pint and a half of water for a few minutes; strain off the liquor while hot, then add tincture of bark, two ounces; diluted nitric acid, a drachm and a half. Dose, four large spoonsful, three times a day.
1357.Cramp and Spasm.—It frequently happens that persons are extremely annoyed by cramp during the night, which may be relieved by the following tincture:—
Take of tincture of opium, two drachms; ether, half an ounce. Mix them together, and take thirty or forty drops every night, at bed-time.
1358.How to apply Blisters.—A considerable degree of pain and inflammation often follows the application of blisters, whichmay be obviated, by covering the blister-plaster with very thin muslin, which will prevent any part of it remaining on the skin, after the removal of the blister. The muslin should be pressed down, and rubbed with the finger upon the surface of the blister-plaster.
1359.Mustard Plasters—Should be covered with muslin, or the poultice put in a cloth bag, before being applied to the skin.
1360.To prevent Lock-jaw.—Immerse the part injured in strong lye, as warm as can be borne. But first, as in all cases of wounds, apply spirits of turpentine on lint.
1361.For a Stiff Joint.—An ointment made from the common ground-worms, which boys dig to bait fishes, rubbed on with the hand, is said to be excellent, when the sinews are drawn up by disease or from a sprain.
1362.Easy Method of curing the Scurvy.—The root of the garden carrot abounds in a nutritious saccharine juice, and is slightly aromatic. These are desirable properties against the scurvy. To experience the good effects of these properties,the roots must be eaten raw. There is nothing unpleasant in this; on the contrary, it is what the common people often do by choice. These roots would keep well during the longest voyage, packed up in casks, having the interstices filled with sand. Each sailor might be allowed to eat one root every day, or every other day, according to the state of their health, and the quantity of roots on board.
1363.To make Cliver, or Goose-grass Ointment; remarkable for its salutary effects in cases of inveterate Scurvy.—To a pound of hog's-lard melted, without spice or salt, put as much clivers as the lard will moisten, and boil them together over a slow fire; after stirring it till it becomes a little brown, strain it through a cloth; and when cold, take the ointment from the water that will remain at the bottom, and it will be fit for use.
1364.Easy Method of attracting Ear-wigs from the Ear.—A person lately having an earwig crept into his ear, and knowing the peculiar fondness that insect has to apples, immediately applieda piece of apple to the ear, which enticed the creature out, and thereby prevented the alarming consequences which might have otherwise ensued.
1365.Simple remedies for Scarlet Fever.—"Open the bowels regularly every day, with some mild aperient medicine, such as castor oil, senna, etc., and keep the patient at rest, and comfortably warm; sponge the surface with tepid water, two or three times a day; while it is hotter than natural, admit fresh air; live on a bland diet, such as a cup full of arrow-root, several times a day; toast-water for common drink. Gargle made of strong sage tea, honey and alum, or borax, may be used from the commencement, if the throat is affected."—Dr. T. P. Hereford.
1366.The French Method of making Whey.—Mix together equal parts of best vinegar and cold water; a table-spoonful of each will suffice for a pint of milk. It is not, however, all to be put in, whether necessary or not; but when the milk just boils, pour in just as much of the acid as will turn it, and no more. Beat up together the white and shell of one egg, which boil up in the whey. Then set it aside till quite clear. Pour it off very steadily through a muslin strainer. Sweeten to taste with loaf-sugar. This whey is very pleasant, and answers every good purpose of white wine whey, while it is not liable to the objection of being heating, and is also very much less expensive.
1367.Calves'-feet Jelly.—Take two calves' feet, and add to them one gallon of water; which reduce, by boiling, to one quart. Strain it, and when cold skim the fat entirely off. Add to this the white of six or eight eggs, well beaten, half a pint of wine, half a pound of loaf-sugar, and the juice of four lemons, and let them be well mixed. Boil the whole for a few minutes, stirring it constantly, and then pass it through a flannel strainer.
This forms a very nutritious article of diet for the sick and convalescent. When it is desired, the wine can be omitted.—Ellis.
1368.Chicken Water.—Take half a chicken, divested of all fat, and break the bones; add to this half a gallon of water, and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Season with salt.
This was freely employed by the late Dr. Parrish in cholera at its commencement. Taken warm, it produces vomiting, and washes out the stomach.
1369.Essence of Beef.—Put into a porter bottle a sufficient quantity of lean beef, sliced, to fill up its body, cork it with a paper stopple, and place it in a pot of cold water, attaching the neck, by means of a string, to the handle of the vessel. Boil this for three-quarters of an hour, then pour off the liquor, and skim it. To this preparation may be added spices and salt.
1370.A very reviving Odor.—Fill with recently gathered, and dried lavender-flowers, stripped from their stalks, small wide-necked scent-bottles, and just cover them withstrongacetic acid. A morsel of camphor, the size of a hazel-nut, may be added, with advantage, to the lavender, in each bottle. Sound, new, and closely fitting corks should be used, to secure the mixture from the air. It is exceedingly refreshing and wholesome, and has often proved very acceptable to invalids. The lavender should be gathered for it before it is quite fully blown.
1371.Easy Method of obtaining Water in almost any situation.—The ground must be perforated by a borer. In the perforation is placed a wooden pipe, which is driven down with a mallet, after which the boring is continued, that the pipe may be driven still farther. In proportion as the cavity of the borer becomes loaded, it is drawn up and emptied; and in time, by the addition of new portions of wooden pipe, the boring is carried to any depth, and water is generally obtained.
1372.Method of Draining Ponds in Level Grounds.—At a certain distance below the surface of the earth, there sometimes is a stratum of loose sand, which freely admits the passage of water. This stratum is at various depths, in different elevations; but it will be generally found, that lands most subject to stagnant ponds have but a shallow stratum of clay over the sand. All that is necessary, therefore, is to dig a pit in the bottom of the pond, till you arrive at this stratum of sand, when the water will be immediately absorbed, and the pond emptied.
1373.To preserve Fishing-rods.—Oil your rods, in summer, with linseed oil, drying them in the sun, and taking care the parts lie flat: they should be often turned, to prevent them from warping. This will render them tough, and prevent their being worm-eaten; in time they will acquire a beautiful brown color. Should they get wet, which swells the wood, and makes it fast in the sockets, turn the part round over the flame of a candle a short time, and it will be easily set at liberty.
1374.To gild Letters on Vellum or Paper.—Letters written on vellum or paper are gilded in three ways; in the first, a little size is mixed with the ink, and the letters are written as usual; when they are dry, a slight degree of stickiness is produced by breathing on them, upon which the gold leaf is immediately applied, and by a little pressure may be made to adhere with sufficient firmness. In the second method, some white-lead or chalk is ground up with strong size, and the letters are made with this by means of a brush; when the mixture is almost dry, the gold leaf may be laid on, and afterwards burnished. The last method is to mix up some gold powder with size, and make the letters of this by means of a brush.
1375.To make Pounce.—Gum-sandarac, powdered and sifted very fine, will produce an excellent preventive to keep ink from sinking in the paper after you have had occasion to scratch out any part of the writing.
1376.Another Method.—Cuttle-fish bone, properly dried, one ounce; best rosin, one ounce; and the same quantity of burnt alum, well incorporated together, will make very good pounce equal, if not superior, to any bought at the shops.
1377.To cut Glass.—Take a red-hot shank of a tobacco-pipe, lay it on the edge of your glass, which will then begin to crack; then draw the shank end a little gently before, and it will follow any way you draw your hand.
1378.Mrs. Hooker's Method of preparing and applying a Composition for Painting in Imitation of the Ancient Grecian Manner.—Put into a glazed earthen vessel four ounces and a half of gum arabic, and eight ounces, or half a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water; when the gum is dissolved, stir inseven ounces of gum-mastic, which has been washed, dried, picked, and beaten fine. Set the earthen vessel containing the gum-water and gum-mastic over a slow fire, continually stirring and beating them hard with a spoon, in order to dissolve the gum-mastic; when sufficiently boiled, it will no longer appear transparent, but will become opaque and stiff, like a paste. As soon as this is the case, and the gum-water and mastic are quite boiling, without taking them off the fire, add five ounces of white wax, broken into small pieces, stirring and heating the different ingredients together, till the wax is perfectly melted, and has boiled. Then take the composition off the fire, as boiling it longer than necessary would only harden the wax, and prevent its mixing so well afterwards with water. When the composition is taken off the fire, and in the glazed earthen vessel, it should be beaten hard, and whilst hot (but not boiling) mix with it, by degrees, a pint (wine measure) or sixteen ounces more of cold spring water; then strain the composition, as some dirt will boil out of the gum-mastic, and put it into bottles. The composition, if properly made, should be like a cream, and the colors when mixed with it as smooth as with oil. The method of using it, is to mix with the composition, upon an earthen pallet, such colors in powder, as are used in painting with oil, and such a quantity of the composition to be mixed with the colors as to render them of the usual consistency of oil colors; then paint with fair water. The colors, when mixed with the composition, may be laid on either thick or thin, as may best suit your subject; on which account, this composition is very advantageous, where any particular transparency of coloring is required; but in most cases it answers best if the colors be laid on thick, and they require the same use of the brush as if painting with body colors, and the same brushes as used in oil painting. The colors, if ground dry, when mixed with the composition, may be used by putting a little fair water over them; but it is less trouble to put some water when the colors are observed to be growing dry. In painting with this composition, the colors blend without difficulty when wet, and even when dry the tints may easily be united by means of a brush and a very small quantity of fair water. When the painting is finished, put some white wax into a glazed earthen vessel over a slow fire, and when melted, but not boiling, with a hard brush cover the painting with the wax, and when cold take a moderately hot iron, such as is used for ironing linen,and so cold as not to hiss, if touched with anything wet, and draw it lightly over the wax. The painting will appear as if under a cloud till the wax is perfectly cold, as also whatever the picture is painted upon is quite cold; but if, when so, the painting should not appear sufficiently clear, it may be held before the fire, so far from it as to melt the wax but slowly; or the wax may be melted by holding a hot poker at such a distance as to melt it gently, especially such parts of the picture as should not appear sufficiently transparent or brilliant; for the oftener heat is applied to the picture, the greater will be the transparency and brilliancy of coloring; but the contrary effect would be produced if too sudden or too great a degree of heat was applied, or for too long a time, as it would draw the wax too much to the surface, and might likewise crack the paint. Should the coat of wax put over the painting, when finished, appear in any part uneven, it may be remedied by drawing a moderately hot iron over it again, as before-mentioned, or even by scraping the wax with a knife; and should the wax, by too great or too long application of heat, form into bubbles at particular places, by applying a poker heated, or even a tobacco-pipe made hot, the bubbles would subside; or such defects may be removed by drawing anything hard over the wax, which would close any small cavities.
When the picture is cold, rub it with a fine linen cloth. Paintings may be executed in this manner upon wood (having first pieces of wood let in behind, across the grain of the wood, to prevent its warping), canvas, card, or plaster of Paris. The plaster of Paris would require no other preparation than mixing some fine plaster of Paris, in powder, with cold water, the thickness of a cream; then put it on a looking-glass, having first made a frame of bees'-wax on the looking-glass, the form and thickness you would wish the plaster of Paris to be of, and when dry take it off, and there will be a very smooth surface to paint upon. Wood and canvas are best covered with some gray tint, mixed with the same composition of gum-arabic, gum mastic, and wax, and of the same sort of colors as before-mentioned, before the design is begun, in order to cover the grain of the wood or the threads of the canvas. Paintings may also be done in the same manner, with only gum-water and gum-mastic, prepared the same way as the mastic and wax; but instead of putting seven ounces of mastic, and, when boiling, adding five ounces of wax, mix twelve ounces of gum-masticwith the gum-water, prepared as mentioned in the first part of this receipt; before it is put on the fire, and when sufficiently boiled and beaten, and is a little cold, stir in, by degrees, twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and afterwards strain it. It would be equally practicable painting with wax alone, dissolved in gum-water in the following manner: Take twelve ounces, or three-quarters of a pint (wine measure) of cold spring water, and four ounces and a half of gum-arabic, put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and when the gum is dissolved, add eight ounces of white wax. Put the earthen vessel, with the gum-water and wax, upon a slow fire, and stir them till the wax is dissolved, and has boiled a few minutes; then take them off the fire, and throw them into a basin, as by remaining in the hot earthen vessel the wax would become rather hard; beat the gum-water and wax till quite cold. As there is but a small proportion of water in comparison to the quantity of gum and wax, it would be necessary, in mixing this composition with the colors, to put also some fair water. Should the composition be so made as to occasion the ingredients to separate in the bottle, it will become equally serviceable, if shaken before used, to mix with the colors.
1379.The Best Season for Painting Houses.—The outside of buildings should be painted during autumn or winter. Hot weather injures the paint by drying in the oil too quickly; then the paint will easily rub off. But when the paint is laid on during cold weather, it hardens in drying, and is firmly set.
1380.A cheap and simple Process for Painting on Glass, sufficient for the purpose of making a Magic Lanthorn.—Take good clear resin, any quantity, melt it in an iron pot; when melted entirely, let it cool a little, and before it begins to harden, pour in oil of turpentine sufficient to keep it liquid when cold. In order to paint with it, let it be used with colors ground in oil, such as are commonly sold in color shops.
1381.To make Phosphorus.—Two-third parts of quick-lime (i.e.calcined oyster-shells), and one-third of flour of brimstone, put into a crucible for an hour, and exposed to the air for an hour, become phosphorus.
1382.To make an Illuminated or Phosphoric Bottle, which will preserve its Light for several months.—By putting a piece of phosphorus, the size of a pea, into a phial, and adding boiling oil until the bottle is a third full, a luminous bottle is formed; for, on taking out the cork, to admit atmospheric air, the empty space in the phial will become luminous.
Whenever the stopper is taken out in the night, sufficient light will be evolved to show the hour upon a watch; and if care be taken to keep it, in general, well closed, it will preserve its illuminative power for several months.
1383.To Marble Books or Paper.—Marbling of books or paper is performed thus:—Dissolve four ounces of gum arabic in two quarts of fair water; then provide several colors mixed with water in pots or shells, and with pencils peculiar to each color; sprinkle them by way of intermixture upon the gum-water, which must be put into a trough, or some broad vessel; then, with a stick, curl them, or draw them out in streaks to as much variety as may be done. Having done this, hold your book, or books, close together, and only dip the edges in, on the top of the water and colors, very lightly; which done, take them off, and the plain impression of the colors in mixture will be upon the leaves; doing as well the ends as the front of the book in like manner, and afterwards glazing the colors.
1384.To Write Secretly on a Pocket Handkerchief.—Dissolve alum in pure water, and write upon a fine white handkerchief, which, when dry, will not be seen at all; but when you would have the letters visible, dip the handkerchief in pure water, and it will be of a wet appearance all over, except where it was written on with the alum water.
You may also write with alum water upon writing paper, which will not be visible till dipped in water.
1385.To keep Insects out of Bird-Cages.—Tie up a little sulphur in a silk bag, and suspend it in the cage. For mocking-birds this is essential to their health; and the sulphur will keep all the red ants and other insects from cages of all kinds of birds. Red ants will never be found in a closet or drawer, if a small bag of sulphur is kept constantly in these places.
1386.Of Books, Mental Cultivation, &c.—Our work would be incomplete, without some reference to mental as well as material improvement. In truth, we have aimed, throughout this and a former book,[C]to make the connection between the cultivation of the mental faculties and true household economy apparent. To work properly, we must think rightly. Science is as necessary in the kitchen as in the laboratory. The reason why men cooks are preferred above women cooks, and better paid, is, the former study their art as a science. Knowledge is power, in domestic life as well as in the political arena. Let the woman elevate her position by her learning; let her understand the nature and influence of her daily employments, cultivating her taste and refining her manners by the true standard of moral excellence; thus making her home-pursuits conduce to the harmony and happiness of the general plan of life in which she, the wife and mother, is the centre of attraction and volition, and how important for humanity her sphere becomes.
1387.Choice of Reading.—Never keep house without books. Life is not life to any great purpose where books are not. TheBibleis indispensable. Out of its treasures of Divine wisdom all best human wisdom is derived or directed. Then have other books, as your means permit. If these are rightly chosen, every volume will be a teacher, a friend—a fountain, from whence may be drawn sweet streams of pleasure and profit. Poetry, story, biography, history, essays, and religious works—I name these in the order a child chooses books—all are needed. American literature—that is, books on subjects connected with our own country, should be first in our reading. Bancroft's "History of the United States," Sparkes' "American Biographies," Lippincott's "Cabinet Histories of the States," Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution"—these should be accessible to every family in the Union. Read on every subject connected with your own pursuits and employments. Knowledge will aid you even in hand labor; and a good book is a safe refuge in idle hours.
1388.Of Periodicals and Newspapers.—Every family should take a newspaper; this, the lady of the house should insist
upon—kindly, to be sure; for a pleasant request is as powerful as "a soft answer" in "turning away wrath." Men, usually, are willing to subscribe for a paper, though some are indifferent to this great source of family instruction as well as pleasure; but they forget, when the year comes round, torenewtheir subscription in the right way. So the women of the family should be sure to remember the printer.
Another important source of family improvement is the periodicals or monthly magazines. These are now, thanks to the cheap postage system, accessible to the dwellers in the most remote places of our wide land. As a work for our own sex, Godey's Lady's Book is the best that can be taken in a family, because it furnishes information on every branch of home duties and pursuits; and moreover, upholds that pure standard of morals in its lightest fiction, which renders it a safe enjoyment for the young.
Many other periodicals might be named, all excellent of their kind, and where the expense can be afforded, each household should obtain one or more of these. A better way would be for a neighborhood to unite and take a half dozen different publications, securing the inestimable advantage of reading every month the best religious, medical, agricultural, scientific, literary, and illustrated magazines—thus keeping up with the progress of art, the march of mind, the material advancement, and the moral improvement of the world.
1389.How can we Pay for the Magazines?—Is the question with many families. Very easily, if you have the will—one half of the money spent on tobacco would, if laid out in books, soon give every family a library. And, young ladies, if you cannot persuade your brothers to throw aside their cigars, and subscribe, why, look over this book, and see, if from its economical hints you cannot devise some plan of earning or saving, whereby you may be able to pay for the magazines. Do this one year; husband or brother will then be ready to aid. Woman has everything to gain from Christian civilization; she should lead the way.