PART XII.

3500. Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy.3501. It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.3502.Vessels large may venture more,But little boats should keep the shore.3503. Pride that shines on vanity sups on contempt.3504. Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with Poverty, and supped with Infamy.3505.What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar dress'd;The gaudy fop's his picture just.3506. The second vice is lying; the first is running in debt.3507. Lying rides upon debt's back.3508. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.3509. Creditors have better memories than debtors.3510. Creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times.3511. Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.3512. The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor.3513.For age and want save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.3514. It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.3515. Rather go supperless to bed than rise in debt.3516.Get what you can, and what you get hold;'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.3517. Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.3518. They that will not be counseled cannot be helped.3519. If you will not reason, she will surely rap their knuckles.3520. Distrust and caution are the parents of security.3521. After feasts made, the maker shakes his head.3522. There is neither honor nor gain got in dealing with a villain.3523. Visits should be like a winter's day, short.3524.A house without woman and firelight,Is like a body without soul or sprite.3525. Light purse, heavy heart.3526. Ne'er take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.3527. Hunger never saw bad bread.3528. Great talkers, little doers.3529.A rich rogue is like a fat hog;He does no good till as dead as a log.3530. Relation without friendship, friendship without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, and profit without virtue, are not worth a farthing.3531. He has changed his one-eyed horse for a blind one.3532. To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.3533. Tongue double, brings trouble.3534. He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of most medicines.PART XII.THE FAMILY AT HOME.A Good Table—Bread, etc.—Meats—Vegetables—Household Management—Beverages—Useful Receipts, etc.—Maxims, Dietetic and Moral—Tool-Chests—Dressmaking, etc.—Pets—Swimming—Riding—Amusements—Children—Letter-Writing—Debt—Flowers—Time—Air—Laws—Phrenology—Historical—Words of Washington.3535. A good table is necessary to health and domestic comfort.3536. Nearly every family in our Republic has, or might have, the means of living very comfortably; if nothing was wasted, and all food was properly cooked, good tables would abound.3537. In my "New Cook Book" these subjects are so fully treated that little can be added.3538. Still a few "Choice Receipts" on Cookery will be found in this volume, at page319and on. I shall add such other directions in this chapter as seem necessary to complete the system: and first of the staff of life—bread.3539.Bread.—To make good bread, or to understand the process of making it, is the duty of every woman; indeed, an art that should never be neglected in the education of alady.3540.The Ladyderives her title from "dividing or distributing bread:" the more perfect the bread the more noble the lady.3541. In "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," and in the following directions, the art is made plain; and the process may, by practice, be easily acquired.3542.Proportions of Nutriment in articles of Food.—See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book—Introductory," etc.3543.Breadcontains eighty nutritious parts in one hundred; meal thirty-four in one hundred; French beans, ninety-two in one hundred; common beans, eighty-nine in one hundred; peas, ninety-three in one hundred; lentils, ninety-four in one hundred; cabbages and turnips, the most aqueous of all the vegetables compared, produce only eight pounds of solid matter in one hundred pounds; carrots and spinach produce fourteen in the same quantity; while one hundred pounds of potatoes contain twenty-five pounds of dry substance.3544. From a general estimate it results, that one pound of good bread is equal to two pounds and a half or three pounds of potatoes; that seventy-five pounds of bread and thirty of meat may be substituted for three hundred pounds of potatoes.3545. The other substances bear the following proportions: four parts of cabbage to one of potatoes; three parts of turnips to one of potatoes; two parts of carrots and spinach to one of potatoes; and about three parts and a half of potatoes to one of rice, lentils, beans, French beans, and dry peas.3546.To test flour, people in the trade generally knead a small quantity by way of experiment; if good, the flour immediately forms an adhesive elastic paste, which will readily assume any form that may be given to it, without danger of breaking.3547. Pure and unadulterated flour may likewise be easily distinguished by other methods: seize a handful briskly, and squeeze it half a minute; it preserves the form of the cavity of the hand in one piece, although it may be rudely placed on the table; not so that which contains foreign substances, it breaks in pieces more or less; that mixed with whiting being the most adhesive, but still dividing and falling down in a little time.3548.Indian Bread.—One quart of buttermilk, one quart of Indian-meal, one quart of coarse flour, one cup of molasses; add a little soda and salt.3549.Bread makingis an art, the importance of which is too frequently overlooked or underrated. Heavy, sour, hard bread should never be tolerated, because good bread is more palatable, more healthy, and it should be borne in mind, is really much less expensive. There is great saving in baking bread at home, and this saving is greatest when flour is cheapest.3550.Good flourand good yeast are requisites, but the goodness of the bread depends much on the kneading: the more the dough is turned and pressed and worked, the lighter and better the bread will be.3551.Proportions.—Two gallons flour, half pint strong fresh yeast; if home-made, add more.3552.The Process.—Make a hole in the flour, in which pour the yeast mixed with half a pint warm water. Stir in the flour round the edge of this liquid with a spoon to form a thin batter. After stirring it well for two minutes, sprinkle a handful of flour over the top of this batter, lay a warm cloth over it, and set it to rise in a warm place. When it rises so as to crack on the top add four spoonsful fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough, pouring as much soft, lukewarm water as is necessary to make the flour mix with the batter. When the flour and batter are thoroughly mixed, knead and work the whole till it is light and stiff. Roll into a lump, sprinkle dry flour over it, cover and put into a warm place, when in half an hour it will rise enough for baking. See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," page 375.The qualitydepends much on the time of putting the dough in the oven. Dough readily runs into three stages of fermentation. It should be put in the oven during the first orsaccharine, when if sufficiently baked it will be sweet and wholesome. It afterward becomes sour and heavy. If put in too soon, it will be light and as tasteless as saw-dust.3553.Good breadis marked by fine pores and a sort of network of uniform appearance.3554.Keep breadwrapped in a coarse towel, and where it will not dry up, or in a tight box.3555.If sour, from being mixed over night, melt a teaspoon of pearlash in a little milk-warm water, sprinkle it over the dough, and in half an hour knead it again.3556.Frozendough is spoiled.3557.Indianis a good addition to wheat, and requires more water, or make mush of it and then mix in.3558.The bitternessof yeast may be remedied by putting in a little charcoal and then straining it.3559.Rye and Indian Bread.—Mix two quarts of each with three pints boiling milk, table-spoon salt, and stir well. Let it stand till lukewarm, then stir in half pint good yeast. Knead to a stiff dough and put to rise near the fire. When the top is cracked over, make into two loaves and bake moderate two and a half hours.3560.Common Yeast.—Boil a large handful hops in two quarts of water twenty minutes. Strain and pour the liquid into three pints flour. Stir in half a pint strong yeast. Its strength is increased by five tea-spoons brown sugar or five large spoons molasses. Cork the bottles loose till next day, and then tight.3561.If turning sourput tea-spoon pearlash in each bottle.3562.Another.—Boil, peel and mash mealy potatoes, which reduce with water or ale as thin as common yeast. To every pound add two ounces coarse sugar, and when just warm stir in two spoons of yeast. Keep warm till fermentation is over and in twenty-four hours fit for use. Let sponge eight hours before baking.3563.Yeast.—Boil one pound of good flour, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt, in two gallons of water for one hour. When milk-warm, bottle it close; it will be fitto use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this will make eighteen pounds of bread.3564.Pulled Bread.—Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it is abouthalf baked, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten them—the rougher their shapes the better.3565. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled bread may be made in the revolving ovens.3566. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.3567.A great increase on home-made bread, even equal to one-fifth, may be produced by using bran water for kneading the dough. The proportion is three pounds of bran for every twenty-eight pounds of flour, the bran to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a hair-sieve.3568. Indian cake made with buttermilk, or sour milk with a little cream or butter rubbed into the meal, and a tea-spoonful of pearlash in the milk, is very light and nutritious.3569.Use of Lime-water in making Bread.—It has lately been found that water saturated with lime produces in bread the same whiteness, softness and capacity of retaining moisture, as results from the use of alum; while the former removes all acidity from the dough, and supplies an ingredient needed in the structure of the bones, but which is deficient in thecerealia.3570. The best proportion to use is, five pounds of water saturated with lime, to every nineteen pounds of flour. No change is required in the process of baking.3571. The lime most effectually coagulates the gluten, and the bread weighs well; bakers must therefore approve of itsintroduction, which is not injurious to the system, like alum, &c.3572.Cheap Bread.—Indian meal is the cheapest, and a bushel furnishes more nutriment than the same quantity of wheat. It is also a generally healthy diet, and those who wish to practice close economy should use much of this meal in their families.3573. It makes excellent puddings and warm cakes, which are much less apt to oppress the stomach than hot wheat bread or short cakes of any kind. And good, light, nourishing bread may be made by using five parts of Indian and one of rye or wheat flour, (see receipts for "Rye and Indian Bread;") which is better than to cook it hot at every meal.3574. Remember thatfourloaves ofcold breadwill go as far in a family asfive loaves of hot bread.3575.Excellent pastefor fruit or meat pies may be made with two-thirds of wheat flour, one-third of the flour of boiled potatoes, and some butter or dripping; the whole being brought to a proper consistence with warm water, and a small quantity of yeast added when lightness is desired. This will also make very pleasant cakes for breakfast, and may be made with or without spices, fruit, &c.3576.Picnic Biscuits.—Take two ounces of fresh butter, and well work it with a pound of flour. Mix thoroughly with it half a salt-spoonful of pure carbonate of soda; two ounces of sugar; mingle thoroughly with the flour; make up the paste with spoonfuls of milk—it will require scarcely a quarter of a pint.3577. Knead smooth, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut in rounds about the size of the top of a small wine-glass; roll these out thin, prick them well, lay them on lightly floured tins, and bake in a gentle oven until crisp. When cold put into dry canisters.3578. Thin cream used instead of milk, in the paste, willenrich the biscuits. Caraway seeds or ginger can be added, to vary these at pleasure.3579.Rye and wheat flour, half and half, makes excellent household bread.3580.Common Black Cake.—Beat separately the whites and yolks of three eggs. Mix half a pound of butter with one pound of flour; one tumbler of milk; one tumbler of molasses; one pound of sugar. Then put in the eggs and one and one-half teaspoonful of soda. Wine, currants, raisins and citron to your taste.3581.Maize Cake.—Take six eggs, a paper of Oswego corn starch, one pound of loaf sugar, half pound of butter, half teacup of milk, half a teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of cream of tartar, the grated rind of the lemon; dissolve the soda in half the milk, and add it the last thing. Bake in an oven as quick as you can make it, without burning.3582. It is a very delicate cake to bake well. Use flat pans, a little deeper than Spanish bun pans, and put paper over the top.3583.Composition Cake.—Take three pounds of flour, half pound of butter, one and three-quarter pounds of sugar, three eggs—beat the eggs—add half a pint of yeast to them, half a pint of new milk, three spoonsful of rose-water, and a little cinnamon and cloves; put the butter in the flour and half the sugar, the other half mix with the eggs; make a hole in the flour, pour the ingredients into it; set it to lighten in the morning by the fire; after it is made out into rolls, you may put it into tins, and set it before the fire for an hour or two; when sufficiently risen, bake it in rather a slow oven.3584.Ginger Biscuits and Cakes.—Work into small crumbs three ounces of butter, two pounds of flour; add three ounces of powdered sugar and two of ginger, in fine powder; knead into a stiff paste, with new milk, roll thin, cut out with a cutter; bake in a slow oven until crisp through; keep of a pale color.3585. Additional sugar may be used when sweeter biscuit is desired. For good ginger-cakes, butter six ounces, sugar eight, for each pound of flour; wet the ingredients into a paste with eggs; a little lemon-grate will give an agreeable flavor.3586.Loaf-cake.—Six pounds of flour, three and one-half pounds of butter, three and one-half pounds of sugar, three pints of milk, six eggs, four pounds of fruit, one-half pint of yeast, three gills of wine, four nutmegs, and one and one-quarter ounce of mace citron. Stir butter and sugar to a froth; boil the milk, and turn in the wine; put the curds and wheywarm, but nothot, into the flour; then add the eggs and yeast, and only one-third of the beaten butter and sugar; let it rise until very light, and then add the remainder of the butter and sugar, and let it riseagain; when light, put in the spices, fruit, &c., bake it in anotvery hot oven.Another receipt leaves out one-half pound of butter and also one-half pound of sugar to the same quantity of flour, fruit, eggs, &c.3587.Sponge-Cake.—Take three-quarters of a pound of white sugar, and pour one-half tumbler of cold water into it, and set it over the fire until itboils clear; beat up seven eggs, the whites and yolks separately, and, after the sugar and water has cooled, add the yolks, stirring them well; flavor it with the peel of a lemon, and half the juice of the same; add the whites of the eggs, and then sift in one half pound of flour. This cake has the advantage of remaining moist and spirited, longer than other sponge-cake.3588.A Cheap and Quick Pudding.—Beat up four eggs, add a pint of milk and a little salt, and stir in four large spoonsful of flour, a little nutmeg and sugar to your taste. Beat it well, and pour it into buttered teacups, filling them rather more than half full. They will bake in a stove or Dutch oven in fifteen minutes; and if you have company to dinner, and wish to add a little dish, this is a good and cheap one.3589.Sago and Apple Pudding(very nice).—Let half a pound of sago steep in water enough to cover it until dissolved. This will take about half an hour. Pare and core eight niceapples without cutting them apart. Fill the middle with sugar, putting in each a little cinnamon. Arrange the apples in a pudding-dish, and pour over them the sago. Let it bake from one to two hours. This is equally as nice, although it does not look so well, if the apples are cut in quarters instead of being left whole, and the sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over them. It is good either cold or hot.3590.Pea Pudding.—Dry a pint or quart of split peas thoroughly before the fire; then tie them up loosely in a cloth, put them into warm water, boil them a couple of hours, or more, until quite tender; take them up, beat them well in a dish with a little salt (some add the yolk of an egg) and a bit of butter. Make it quite smooth, tie it up again in a cloth, and boil it an hour longer. This is highly nourishing.3591.Calves' Feet Jelly.—Boil four feet in four gallons of water till it comes to half a gallon; strain it, let it stand till cold, and skim off all the fat clean. Take the jelly up, leaving the settlings at the bottom. Put your jelly into a clean saucepan or skillet, and to every quart of jelly add one pint of wine, half pound of loaf-sugar beaten, the juice of a large lemon; beat up the whites of three eggs to a froth—put all in together—stir well till it boils, let it boil a few minutes, have ready a double flannel bag, pour it in again till it runs clear; have a china bowl with lemon-peel cut as thin as possible, let the jelly drip on the peel and it will give it a flavor, and a fine amber color; with a clean silver spoon fill your glasses.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," p. 324.)3592.Calves' Feet Jelly made with Gelatine.—Take three quarts of water, one pint of white wine, six table-spoonsful of brandy; six lemons, peel and all; six eggs, the whites slightly beaten, the shells crushed, and the yolks not used; three pounds of white sugar, four ounces of gelatine. Soak for half an hour the gelatine in one quart of the water. Mix the other ingredients in the other two quarts. Put all together, and let them boil twenty minutes without stirring. Strain it through a flannel bag without squeezing. Wet the mould in cold water. Pour the jelly in, and leave it to cool. Three hours is generally sufficient.3593.Meats.—A few hints, or general rules will be given here. (See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book" for Receipts, &c.)3594.Animal food.—The quantity of animal food required to sustain the constitution, in its most perfect state, is greatest in the coldest countries, and, decreasing according to the warmth of the climate, when we reach the torrid zone, but a small quantity is needed.3595. In temperate climates, like our own, the largest quantity is required during the winter.3596. None should use it freely during the hottest weather, except it be those who labor hard in the open air; it rarely appears to injure such, yet probably it would be best for them to eat less meat and more bread and vegetables during summer. They would not then suffer so much from thirst, which often induces the desire for stimulating liquids.3597. As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily digested than vegetable food of any kind—and this it is which makes meats more heating and stimulating.3598. The great essentials for the easy digestion of animal food are that the fibres be tender and fine grained.3599. Of the different sorts of butcher meat,Porkis that of which the least quantity should be taken at a time. It requires longer to digest roasted pork than any other kind of meat.3600. Beef agrees well with most constitutions; it is cheapest in the autumn, but best in the winter season. Many have a distaste to mutton; but for those who relish it, it is a nutritious food, and easy of digestion.3601. 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.3602. The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.3603. 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.3604. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat.3605. Never bake a lean, thin piece, it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup.3606. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked.3607. 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.3608. The other pieces of the animal are best salted and boiled; or if used fresh, stewed or in soups. Beef should rarely be fried.3609.Roasting beef.—Ten pounds of beef require from two hours to two hours and a-half roasting, eighteen inches from a good clear fire.3610. Six pounds require one hour and a-quarter to one hour and a-half, fourteen inches from a good clear fire.3611. Three ribs of beef, boned and rolled, tied round with paper, will require two hours and a-half, eighteen inches from the fire; baste once only.3612. The first three ribs of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take three hours or three and a-half; the fourth and fifth ribs will take as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin.Paper the fat and the thin part, or it will be done too much before the thick part is done enough.3613. When beef is very fat, it does not require basting; if very lean tie it up in buttered paper, and baste frequently and well.3614. Common cooks are generally fond of too fierce a fire, and of putting things too near to it.3615. Slow roasting is as advantageous to the tenderness and flavor of meat as slow boiling.3616. The warmer the weather, and the staler killed the meat is, the less time it will require to roast it.3617. Meat that is very fat requires more time than other meat.3618.Cooking meats.—The proper manner of preparation is, to cook it till it is entirelyseparated from the blood, and the fibres are rendered soft and easy of digestion.3619. Lamb is a delicate and tender meat; but it requires to be kept a few days, when the weather will permit—and should be thoroughly cooked to be healthful. Never take lamb or veal from the spit till the gravy that drops is white.3620.Preserving meats.—Salt is the grand preservative of meats; but in using these, care should be taken to soak them if too salt. It is not healthy to eat our food very salt.3621. In the summer season, particular attention must be observed, lest fresh meat be injured. In the country this care is very necessary.3622. Be sure to take the kernels out of a round of beef; one in the udder, in the fat, and those about the thick end of the flank.3623. To salt the meat thoroughly, rub in the salt evenlyinto every part, and fill the holes where the kernels were taken out.3624. A pound and a-half of salt will be sufficient for twenty-five pounds of beef, if you only want to corn it to be eaten in a few days.3625. In the summer, the sooner meat is salted, after it is cool, the better. In winter, it is better to be kept a few days before salting.3626. Pork ought not to be allowed to freeze before it is salted for family use.3627. If you wish beef to look red, rub it first with saltpetre and sugar; half an ounce of each mixed together, is sufficient for twenty pounds of meat.3628.Poultry.—No kind of animal food is so delicate and delicious as the flesh of fowls and birds, and no kind is so generally healthful. Rarely does it disagree with those who are well; even the feeble in constitution, or those debilitated by sickness, find this a most agreeable and nutritious diet.3629. The white meat of a young turkey, when well boiled, is easier of digestion than that of any other fowl.3630. In a young turkey, the toes and bill are soft.3631. A young goose (a very old one is not fit to be eaten) is plump in the breast, and the fat white and soft—the feet yellow, the web of the foot thin and tender.3632. Ducks, if young, feel very tender under the wing, and the web of the foot is transparent.3633. The best fowls have yellow legs—if very old, the feet look stiff and worn.3634. Pigeons should be quite fresh, the breast plump and fat.3635. Poultry should lie one night after being killed in warm weather to make it tender; in cold weather it may be kept a much longer time to advantage.3636. Take care of the liquor you have boiled poultry or meat in; in five minutes you may make it into soup.3637. The good housewife never boils a joint without converting the broth into some sort of soup.3638. If the liquor be too salt, only use half the quantity, and the rest water; wash salted meat well with cold water before you put it into the boiler.3639. 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.3640. 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.3641.Hashes.—All the pieces and bits of cold meat should be minced and warmed; if this is rightly done, the dish is generally a favorite one.3642. It is best to chop the meat very fine, (gristles and gelatinous matter from the bones may be included;) then make a gravy by putting a lump of butter (what you judge necessary) into a stewpan; when it is hot, add a little flour, and stir it into the butter; then add a teacupful of the broth the meat was boiled in, and a little catsup. Let this boil up, then put in the mince meat, with a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt.3643. Let it stand and simmer a few minutes covered, but do not let it boil—it hardens the meat to boil it. Lay slices of toasted bread in the dish, and pour the meat and gravy over.3644.Meatmay be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some high or windy room, or in a passage where there is a current of air.VEGETABLES.3645. The importance of using a portion of vegetable food can hardly be overrated, though to make this our only diet does and must prove injurious, because contrary to man's nature and the arrangements of the Creator.3646. The farinaceous (or mealy) are far more nutritious than other vegetables; but none are sufficiently so to sustain the constitution under the cares and labors necessary to the full development of the energies of body and mind.3647. And unless these can be developed and sustained, the rational and moral character of the human race will never be perfected.3648. Still, though animal food is never, except in peculiar cases of disease, to be wholly abandoned, we must be quite as scrupulous not to neglect the vegetable part of our diet. This is necessary in order to prevent the concentrated diet of flesh from too sudden and stimulating action.3649. Besides, our nature demands a portion of vegetables to keep the system in proper and healthy order. Amixed dietis the only right regimen—the proportions of the different kinds of food vary, with different ages and constitutions, in different climates and seasons; still, in some degree, this rule should never be abandoned.3650. The very young require a large portion of mild farinaceous vegetables, such as rice, sago, tapioca, and potatoes; the two first are very easy of digestion.3651. There are three things to be attended to in cooking vegetables; make them sufficiently soft, develop their bestflavor, and correct any rank or disagreeable taste they may have.3652. These things are very easily accomplished—boil them sufficiently; change the water if they are rank or unpleasant, and add a little salt, sugar or spice, as the case may require.3653. Vegetables are always best when newly gathered, except the potato; that is better in winter, if well kept.3654. They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty; that is, in their proper season.3655. Except spinach, all vegetables should be boiled quickly (soft water is much the best) in an open vessel, and carefully skimmed.3656.To Clear Vegetables of Insects.—Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water, into this place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.3657.Potatoes.—There are few articles in families more subject to waste, both in paring, boiling, and being actually thrown away, than potatoes; and there are few cooks but what boil twice as many potatoes every day as are wanted; and fewer still that do not throw the residue away as totally unfit in any shape for the next day's meal.3658. Yet if they would take the trouble to beat up the despised cold potatoes with an equal quantity of flour, they would find them produce a much lighter dumpling or pudding than they can make with flour alone; and by the aid of a few spoonfuls of good gravy, they will provide a cheap and agreeable appendage to the dinner table.3659.Bad Buttermay be improved greatly by dissolving it thoroughly in hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A smallquantity can be tried and approved before doing a larger one. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the butter or it will become oily.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book.")3660.Dinners.—The appearance a dinner-table presents does not depend so much upon a profuseness of viands, as upon the neatness, cleanliness, and well-studied arrangement of the whole. Taste, if well directed, may produce a handsome dinner; whereas three times the amount of money may be expended upon another, and yet not make even a respectable appearance.HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT.3661. Have you ever observed what a dislike servants have to any thing cheap. They hate saving their master's money. I tried this experiment with great success the other day.3662. Finding we consumed a vast deal of soap, I sat down in my thinking chair, and took the soap question into consideration, and found reason to suspect we were using a very expensive article, where a much cheaper one would serve the purpose better.3663. I ordered half a dozen pounds of both sorts, but took the precaution of changing the papers on which the prices were marked before giving them into the hands of Betty.3664. "Well, Betty, which soap do you find washes best?"3665. "Oh, please sir, the dearest, in the blue paper; it makes a lather as well again as the other."3666. "Well, Betty, you shall always have it then." And thus the unsuspecting Betty saved me some pounds a-year, and washed the clothes better.—Rev. Sidney Smith.3667.Receipt for Obtaining Good Servants.—Let them observe in your conduct to others just the qualities and virtues that you would desire they should possess and practice as respects you. Be uniformly kind and gentle.3668. If you reprove, do so with reason and with temper.3669. Be respectable, and you will be respected by them. Be kind, and you will meet kindness from them.3670. Consider their interests, and they will consider yours. A friend in a servant is no contemptible thing.3671. Be to every servant a friend; and heartless, indeed, will be the servant who does not warm in love to you.3672. Four important rules:3673. 1. A suitable place for everything, and every thing in its place.3674. 2. A proper time for every thing, and every thing done in its time.3675. 3. A distinct name for every thing, and every thing called by its name.3676. 4. A certain use for every thing, and every thing put to its use.3677.Oil-clothshould never be scrubbed with a brush, but after being first swept, it should be cleansed by washing with a large soft cloth and lukewarm or cold water. On no account use soap or hot water, as either will bring off the paint.3678.Straw Mattingmay be cleaned with a large coarse cloth dipped in salt and water, and then wiped dry: the salt prevents the matting from turning yellow.3679.Oil Paintingshung over the mantle-piece are liable to wrinkle with the heat.3680.Ottomans and Sofas, whether covered with cloth, damask, or chintz, will look much the better for being cleaned occasionally with bran and flannel.3681.Furnituremade in the winter, and brought from a cold warehouse into a warm apartment, is very liable to crack.3682.Rosewood furnitureshould be rubbed gently every day with a clean soft cloth, to keep it in order.BEVERAGES.3683.Water, pure, sweet, cool water is, undoubtedly, the most healthful drink for thirst.3684.Bad watershould be filtered.—(See pages42,43.)3685.Tea and coffeeare the best and least hurtful stimulants.3686. Liebig, with his chemical discoveries, demonstrates that they have become necessaries of life to all nations; that they were both originally met with amongst nations whose diet is chiefly vegetable; and by contributing to the formation of bile, their peculiar functions have become a substitute for animal food to a large class of the population whose consumption of meat is very limited, and to another large class who are unable to take regular exercise.3687.In making coffee, observe that the broader the bottom and the smaller the top of the vessel, the better it will be.3688.Substitute for Cream in Tea or Coffee.—Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well. Then turn into it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream.—(See page352.)3689.Iceland Moss Chocolate—For the Sick Room.—Iceland moss has been in the highest repute on the continent as a most efficacious remedy in incipient pulmonary complaints; combined withchocolateit will be found a nutritious article of diet, and may be taken as a morning and evening beverage.Directions—Mix a teaspoonful of the chocolate with a tea-spoonfulof boiling water or milk, stirring constantly until it is completely dissolved.3690. It is not easy to persuade laboring men thatwateris the best beverage. Where thewater is bad, some corrective or palliative will be had. Then home-brewedbeeris to be commended.3691.Beer and Beverages.—(See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," page 397.)3692.To restore a Barrel of Stale or Sour Beer.—Put a quarter of a pound of good hops, and two pounds of sound chalk into the bung-hole, stop it close, and in a few days it will be fit for use.3693. Or, a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda may be mixed with each quart as it is used.3694.To give New Beer the flavor of Old.—Take out the bung, and put into the cask a handful of pickled cucumbers, or a sliced Seville orange. Either mode will add an apparent six months to the age of the beer.3695.Common Beer.—Two gallons of water, a large handful of hops, fresh gathered spruce or sweet fern, and one quart of wheat bran; boil two or three hours, strain and stir in, while hot, two cups of molasses. When lukewarm, pour into a clean barrel, and add a pint of yeast. Shake it well together, and use next day.3696.To give Beer a rich Flavor.—Put six sea-biscuits into a bag of hops, and put them in the cask.3697.Table Beer, cheap and wholesome.—Eight bottles of water, one quart of molasses, one pint of yeast, one tablespoon of cream of tartar, mixed and bottled in twenty-four hours.3698.Table Beer from Sugar.—To four pounds of coarse brown sugar add ten gallons of water and three ounces of hops. Let the whole boil three-quarters of an hour, and then work it as usual. It should stand a week or ten days beforebeing drawn, and will improve daily afterward for a moderate time.3699.Treacle Beer.—Take a pound and a half of hops, and boil in thirty-six gallons of water for an hour, then add fourteen pounds of treacle, and a little yeast to work it; ferment, and bottle.3700.Summer Drinks.—Ice may be used in all these beverages.3701.Tamarind Drink.—Boil three pints of water with an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of stoned raisins, till about a third has evaporated. Strain, add a bit of lemon-peel, which is to be removed in half an hour, then cool.3702.Sangaree.—Mix a bottle of Marsala wine with a bottle and a half of iced water, sweeten with loaf sugar, and flavor with lemon-juice and grated nutmeg.3703.Curds and Whey(cheap method).—Add six grains of citric acid to a wine-glassful of milk, and the result will be a pleasant acidulous whey, and a fine curd.3704.Currant Water.—Take a pound of currants, and squeeze into a quart of water; put in four or five ounces of pounded sugar. Mix well, strain, and ice, or allow to get cold.3705.Eau Sucré.—Dissolve sugar in boiling water, and drink cold.3706.Lait Sucré.—Boil a pint of milk, sweeten with white sugar, and flavor with lemon.3707.Effervescing Lemonade.—Boil two pounds of white sugar with a pint of lemon-juice, bottle and cork. Put a tablespoonful of the syrup into a tumbler about three parts full of cold water, add twenty grains of carbonate of soda and drink quickly.3708.Quince Syrup.—Grate quinces, pass the pulp through a sieve, then set before the fire for the juice to settle and clarify; strain, and add a pound of sugar (boiled down) to every four ounces of juice; remove from the fire, and when cold, bottle for use. A tablespoonful of this syrup will flavor a pint of water.3709.Effervescing Saline Draughts.—White sugar powdered eight ounces, tartaric acid two ounces, sesquicarbonate of soda two ounces, essence of lemon a few drops. Mix well and keep in a corked bottle.3710.Summer Champagne.—To four parts of selter water add one of Moselle wine (or hock), and put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar into a wine-glassful of this mixture; an ebullition takes place, and you have a sort of champagne which is more wholesome in hot weather than the genuine wine known by that name.3711.An excellent Spring Beverage.—The yolk of eggs beaten up, lump sugar (quantum sufficit), Rhenish wine or not, citric acid, powdered, or tartaric acid (small quantity, exact quantity soon found); one or two drops of essence of lemon on a lump of sugar, to make it mix readily with the water; one quart of water. This is really an excellent, agreeable, and, without the wine, an inexpensive beverage.Good for bilious complaints.USEFUL RECEIPTS FOR FAMILY PRACTICE.3712.Prevention of Baldness.—Eau de Cologne two ounces, tincture of cantharides two drachms, oil of rosemary, oil of nutmeg, and oil of lavender, each ten drops. To be rubbed on the bald part of the head every night.3713.Cramp in Bathing.—For the cure of the cramp when swimming, Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock to the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water into the air if possible.3714.Biting the Nails.—This is a habit that should be immediately corrected in children, as, if persisted in for any length of time, it permanently deforms the nails.3715. Dipping the finger-ends in some bitter tincture will generally prevent children from putting them to the mouth; but if this fails, as it sometimes will, each finger-end ought to be encased in a finger-stall until the propensity is eradicated.3716.Flour of Brimstoneis a mild aperient in doses of about a quarter of an ounce; it is best taken in milk.3717.To Fill a Decayed Tooth.—Procure a small piece of gutta percha, drop it into boiling water, then, with the thumb and finger, take off as much as you suppose will fill up the tooth nearly level, and while in this soft state press it into the tooth; then hold on that side of the mouth cold water two or three times, which will harden it.3718.Cod-liver oil.—Cod-liver oil is neither more nor less than cod-oil clarified; and consequently two-thirds of its medicinal qualities are abstracted thereby.3719.Cod oilcan be purchased pure at any wholesale oil warehouse, at about one-thirtieth part of the price charged for the so-called cod-liver oil. Many persons who have used cod-oil pure as imported, have found it to answer much better than the cod-liver oil purchased of a druggist.3720. The best vehicle for taking cod-liver oil in, is new milk; and the disagreeable flavor of the drug can easily be covered by the addition of one drachm of orange peel to every eight ounces of the oil.3721.To prevent Lockjaw, from a Nail run into the Foot, or any other injury.—Pour some turpentine into a tin cup and hold it over a lighted candle or the fire until it boils. It boils at so low a temperature that it will not burn when applied to the skin. Make a swab by wrapping soft muslin or linen round a stick. Dip this in the turpentine and apply it to the wound, rubbing it in carefully for some time. Apply it as warm as can be borne.—(See page375.)3722.Squinting.—Squinting frequently arises from the unequal strength of the eyes, the weaker eye being turned away from the object, to avoid the fatigue of exertion. Cases of squinting of long standing have often been cured by covering the stronger eye, and thereby compelling the weaker one to exertion.3723. It is often a question amongst people who are unacquainted with the anatomy and physiology of man, whether lying with his head exalted, or even with the body, is most wholesome. Most, consulting their own ease on this point, argue in favor of that which they prefer.3724. Now, although many delight in bolstering up their heads at night and sleep soundly without injury, yet we declare it to be a dangerous habit. The vessels through which blood passes from the heart to the head, are always lessened in the cavities when the head is resting in bed higher than the body, therefore, in all diseases attended with fever, the head should be pretty near on a level with the body; and people ought to accustom themselves to sleep thus to avoid danger.3725.Dyeing the Hair.—It may be stated once for all that this practice is decidedly injurious. It may fail altogether in producing the desired result; it is never unattended by a certain amount of unpleasant circumstances, and frequently with evil results.3726.In the first place, the alteration of the abnormal color, so far as the general aspect of the face is concerned, has an effect the very reverse of that which was intended. Every constituent part of man tends to make the human machine one harmonious whole. The figure, the stature, the skin, the hair, the gait, &c.3727.Fair hairis associated with a sanguineous and lymphatic temperament, a fine and white skin, blue eyes, and a soft and mild expression.3728.Black hair, on the contrary, is generally connected with a bilious habit of body, a muscular and nervous temperament,a dark and yellowish skin, lively black eyes, and a bold, proud air.3729.Red hairis associated with a peculiar constitution, although closely approaching to the fair type. In this variety the skin is transparent, fresh, and presents a peculiar limpidity, which belongs exclusively to the color of hair mentioned.3730.The Contrast.—If, then, from the impression that red hair is a disfigurement, it is dyed black, what relation can exist between this new color and the soft blue eye, and a skin so fine and so susceptible, that the sun's rays seem to penetrate it, in the form of those lentiginous spots commonly called freckles.3731. Be at much pains to keep your children's feet dry and warm. Don't bury their bodies in heavy flannels and wools, and leave their knees and legs naked.3732.For Nausea.—Three drops of hartshorn in a wine-glass of water.3733.For Sick Headache.—One teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal and one-third of a teaspoonful of soda mixed in very warm water.3734.Decoction of Sarsaparilla.—Take four ounces of the root, slice it down, put the slices into four pints of water, and simmer for four hours. Take out the sarsaparilla, and beat it into a mash; put it into the liquor again, and boil down to two pints, then strain and cool the liquor. Dose—a wine-glassful three times a day.3735. Use—to purify the blood after a course of mercury; or indeed whenever any taint is given to the constitution, vitiating the blood, and producing eruptive affections.3736.Cough Syrup.—Steep for twelve hours or more a teacupful of wild-cherry bark in a quart of water. Add sugar enough to make it quite sweet and let it boil to a syrup.3737.Cough Syrup—Very Good.—Take a large handfulof the herb hoarhound, and the same quantity of boneset. Steep them in a quart of water till it is reduced to a pint. Then strain the tea and mix with it a pint of syrup and a pint of sugar. Let it simmer for three or four hours, skimming it.3738.Cure for Pain in the Ear.—Take a teaspoonful of brown sugar, put it on a shovel or any thing that you can place over hot coals of fire until it gets thick, dissolve it in camphor, and drop it in the ear.3739.Gingerbread Aperients.—Gingerbread, made with oatmeal or with barley flour, is a very agreeable aperient for children. Beware of giving children medicines too frequently.3740.For Bowel Complaints.—One tablespoonful of flour, one ditto of brandy, one ditto of loaf sugar, mixed together.3741.Jaundice.—One pennyworth of allspice, ditto of flour of brimstone, ditto of turmeric; these to be well pounded together, and afterward to be mixed with half-a-pound of molasses. Two table-spoonsful to be taken every day.3742.Night Sweats.—Drink freely of cold sage tea; said to be a certain remedy; or, take elixir of vitriol in a little sweetened water. Dose from twenty to thirty drops.MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS, RULES, ETC.3743.To Cure a Soft Corn when between the Toes.—A small piece of cotton wool applied fresh every morning—gives no inconvenience, is cleanly and efficacious. Castile Soap placed between the toes is both cure and preventive of soft corns.3744.Excellent Remedy for Lumbago.—Dip a piece of flannel in scalding water; wring it out, and sprinkle some turpentine immediately over it, and apply it quickly to the part affected by the pain. Repeat this process a few times, and it will afford certain relief.3745.Burns and Scalds.—Cold water is the readiest, surest, most plentiful, and, for these reasons, the best remedy for burns and scalds. Use it instantly, it will remove pain and smarting; keep a cloth wet andcoldupon the affected part for five or six hours after the injury has occurred; a blister will never rise, and the skin will be quite free from pain afterward.—(See109,110.)3746.Scratches.—Trifling as scratches often seem, they ought never to be neglected, but should be covered and protected, and kept clean and dry, until they have completely healed.3747. If there is the least appearance of inflammation, no time should be lost in applying a large bread and water poultice, or hot flannels repeatedly applied.3748.Ringworm.—The head to be washed twice a day with soft soap and warm soft water; when dried, the places to be rubbed with a piece of linen rag dipped in ammonia from gas tar; the patient should take a little sulphur and molasses, or some other general aperient, every morning; brushes and combs should be washed every day, and the ammonia kept tightly corked.—(See page99.)3749.Another Cure for Ringworms.—Common sulphur mixed with butter and pepper till it is a salve: apply twice a day.3750.Invaluable Ointment.—Obtain a pint of real cream, let it simmer over the fire, or on the side, till it resembles butter, and forms a thick oily substance, which maybe used as ointment for fresh or old wounds, cracked lips or hands.3751.To avoid catching Cold.—Accustom yourself to the use of sponging with cold water every morning on first getting out of bed. It should be followed with a good deal of rubbing with a wet towel. It has considerable effect in giving tone to the skin, and maintaining a proper action in it, and thus proves a safeguard to the injurious influence of cold and sudden changes of temperature.3752.Frictionof the body is one of the most gentle and salutary kinds of exercise, cleaning the skin, dispersing stagnating humors, promoting perspiration, strengthening the fibres, and increasing the warmth and energy of the whole body.3753.Depilatory.—Take of sulphate of sodium, or hydro-sulphate of soda, crystallized, three parts; quick-lime in powder, ten ditto; starch, ten; mix. This powder, mixed with a little water, and applied over the skin, acts so rapidly as a depilatory, that if it be removed in a minute or two after its application by means of a wooden knife, the surface of the skin will be entirely deprived of hair.3754. By this process, the removal of hair becomes so simple, rapid, and safe in operation, that it will possibly supercede the use of the razor in many cases; it is only after several days that the hair begins again to appear.3755.Brandy and Salt as a Medicine.—It is useful in the reduction of inflammation of fractured limbs or bruises, the alleviation of incurable sores, cure of ringworms, headache, toothache, inflammation in the eyes, ague, colic, pains in the side, chilblains, burns and scalds, cancers, sprains, open sores, asthmas, and complaints of the lungs.3756. Fill a bottle three-quarters full with good brandy, after which add as much salt as will fill the bottle for corking; shake it together twenty minutes; let the salt settle to the bottom, and do not shake it up before using. The clearer it is used the better.3757. A bottle of this preparation should be constantly kept ready for use, as its virtues have been fully tested. When taken inwardly, for asthma, bowel complaints, &c., mix two spoonfuls with equal quantity of warm water.3758.Cancer.—Five out of six cases have been cured by brandy and salt, described above. The pain is very severe, but temporary.3759.Poison, from vines, may be cured by bathing in whiskeyand cream, and cooling with rye flour; if obstinate, use a strong solution of copperas.3760.Simple Remedy for a Pain in the Side.—At bed-time take a fresh cabbage-leaf, hold it near the fire till quite warm, and then apply it to the part affected, binding it tight with a cloth round the body; let it remain for twelve hours or more, when it will generally be found to have removed the pain.3761. If not entirely removed, it will be well to repeat the application of a fresh leaf, allowing it to remain on the same time as the first.3762.Boils.—See page109.3763.Carbuncles.—These should be brought to a head by warm poultices, by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating plasters. When ripe, they should be discharged by a needle, or the lancet. But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved.3764.Constitutional Treatment.—Stimulating food and drinks, such as ale, porter, champagne and other wines. Strong beef tea should be taken freely—it is very nourishing.3765.Carbuncles reduce the strength greatly.—To recover this, Peruvian bark and sea-bathing are recommended.3766.An inflamed bunionshould be poulticed, and larger shoes be worn. Iodine, twelve grains; lard or spermaceti ointment, half an ounce, makes a capital ointment for bunions. It should be rubbed on gently twice or thrice a-day.—See page97.3767.Frost-Bitten Feet.—Dissolve half pound alum in one gallon warm water, and soak fifteen minutes.3768.Valuable Aperient Pills.—Four drachms Castile soap, four drachms soccotrine aloes; make into the pills with a sufficient quantity of syrup. Two or three may be taken when costive.3769.Good Eye-Water.—Ten teaspoonsful of water, one ditto of brandy, and one ditto of vinegar.3770.Lip Salve.—Spermaceti ointment, half an ounce; balsam of Peru, one quarter of a drachm. Mix. It is notcouleur de rose, but it willcure—often with but a single application. Apply athincoating with the forefinger, just before getting into bed.3771.An Excellent Tooth Powder.—Cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root, commingled together in equal quantities, which any one may procure separately from any respectable chemist, and mix himself.3772.To remove Tartar from the Teeth.—Strawberries, ripe, or dried and powdered, are excellent to clean the teeth.3773.To drive away Rats.—Potash strewn around rat holes, will drive the vermin away.3774.To kill Flies.—Cobalt in powder, moistened with hot water, and covered with a little sugar.3775.Gum Water.—It is a fact not generally known that gum should be dissolved in vinegar instead of water, especially when it is wanted for immediate use.3776.To remove Water-stains from Black Crape.—When a drop of water falls on a black crape vail or collar, it leaves a conspicuous white mark. To obliterate this, spread the crape on a table (laying on it a large book or a paper weight to keep it steady), and place underneath the stain a piece of old black silk. With a large camel's hair brush dipped in common ink, go over the stain; and then wipe off the ink with a little bit of old soft silk. It will dry immediately, and the white mark will be seen no more.3777.Copper in liquidsmaybe detected by spirits of hartshorn, which turns them blue.3778.Arsenicmay be detected by a solution of blue vitriol dropped into the suspected liquid, which will turn green, if arsenic be present.3779.To remove Ink Stains from Silver.—The tops andother portions of silver inkstands frequently become discolored with ink, which is difficult to remove by ordinary means. It may, however, becompletelyeradicated by making a little chlorid of lime into a paste with water, and rubbing it upon the stains.3780.To remove Ink Stains from Wood, &c.—As much oxalic acid as will lay on a sixpence, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water; lay some on the wood, and rub hard with a cork until the stain disappears; then wash and repolish. The above will remove the stain, without injury to the color of the wood, mahogany or any other kind. It also cleans the brass-work.3781.To Clean Plate.—Take of cream of tartar, alum, and common salt, each an ounce, and boil in a gallon of water, throw the plate in and boil; when taken out and rubbed dry it will look beautiful. Plate, when laid aside, will generally tarnish, but if cleaned by this method, at stated periods, it will always look well.3782.Washing Paint.—The best method to wash paint is to rub some Bath-brick fine, and when you have rubbed some soap on the flannel, dip it in the brick. This will remove the grease and dirt speedily, without injury.3783.Glue Paste.—Instead of pure water for mixing the flour, use glue-water, to which add some alum and resin to keep it from turning. It must be made very thick.3784.Whenever oil is usedfor the purpose of artificial light, it should be kept free from all exposure to atmospheric air; as itis apt toabsorb considerable quantities of oxygen. If oil is very coarse or tenacious, a very small quantity of oil of turpentine may be added.3785.Bugs.—Spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush into every part of a bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of bugs.—(Seep. 87.)3786.Calcareous Deposits in Boilers.—In a common tea-kettle,potatoesboiled a few times, will remove the calcareous deposits, and a few oyster-shells, kept constantly in the kettle, will prevent future accumulations.3787.To remove the Stoppers of Glass Bottles.—Dip a piece of linen or cloth in hot water, and wrap it tightly round the neck of the bottle. In a few minutes the stopper will probably be loosened; if not, repeat the application. I have never found this method to fail.3788.How to get a Tight Ring off a Finger.—Thread a needle, flat in the eye, with a strong thread, pass the head of the needle with care under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches toward the hand; wrap the long end of the thread tightly round the finger, regularly all down to the nail, to reduce its size. Then lay hold of the short end, and unwind it.3789. The thread repassing against the ring, will gradually remove it from the finger. This never-failing method will remove the tightest ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be.3790.Cleaning Knives.—Mutton fat made hot, and put on a leather or buff-board, with emery-dust—not powder, as that is too sharp—well rubbed in with an old brush, is the best way of giving a knife as good a polish and edge as any razor.3791.To restore the Color to Mahogany.—Wash well with soap and water, and then polish daily with the following oil: Take half an ounce of alkanet root, cut small, and add to a pint of linseed oil; when this has stood for a week, add half an ounce of powdered gum-arabic, and an ounce of shellac varnish; let them stand in a bottle by the fire for a week, then strain. Rub well in.3792.Rice Flour Cement.—An excellent cement may be made from rice flour, which is at present used for that purpose in China and Japan. It is only necessary to mix the rice flour intimately with cold water, and gently simmer it over a fire, when it readily forms a delicate and durable cement, not only answering all the purposes of common paste, but admirablyadapted for joining together paper, cards, &c., in forming the various beautiful and tasteful ornaments which affords much employment and amusement to the ladies.3793. When made of the consistence of plaster-clay, models, busts, bas-relievos, &c. may be formed of it, and the articles, when dry, are susceptible of high polish, and very durable.—(Seep. 70.)3794.Oil of Lavender.—A few drops in a library will keep the books from moulding. A single drop of the same will prevent a pint of ink from mouldiness for any length of time. Paste may be kept from mould entirely by this addition; and leather is also effectually secured from injury by the same agency.3795.Ink.—To make five gallons of good ink, costing but twelve-and-a-half cents, take half a pound of extract of logwood, and dissolve it in five gallons of hot water, and add half an ounce of bichromate potash. Strain and bottle it.3796.Blue Tracing Ink.—Indigo tied in a flannel bag, moistened with water. Put a lump of white sugar into an egg-cup, and squeeze out the blue on it; the sugar stiffens it, so as to prevent its running, and the color depends on the quantity of water used. Use a quill pen.3797.Marking Linen, preparation.—The preparation used for wetting linen, previous to marking it with ink, is a drachm of salt of tartar in one and a half ounces of water.3798.Economy in Candles.—If you would burn a candle all night, unless you use the following precaution, it is ten to one an ordinary candle will gutter away in an hour or two, sometimes to the endangering the safety of a house. This may be avoided by placing as much common salt, finely powdered, as will reach from the tallow to the bottom of the black part of the wick of a partly-burnt candle, when, if the same be lit, it will burn very slowly, yielding sufficient light for a bed-chamber; the salt will gradually sink as the tallow is consumed, the melted tallow being drawn through the salt, and consumed in the wick.3799.Deafness.—Take three drops of a sheep's gall, warm, and drop it into the ear on going to bed. The ear must be thoroughly syringed with warm soap and water in the morning.

3500. Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy.3501. It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.3502.Vessels large may venture more,But little boats should keep the shore.3503. Pride that shines on vanity sups on contempt.3504. Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with Poverty, and supped with Infamy.3505.What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar dress'd;The gaudy fop's his picture just.3506. The second vice is lying; the first is running in debt.3507. Lying rides upon debt's back.3508. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.3509. Creditors have better memories than debtors.3510. Creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times.3511. Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.3512. The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor.3513.For age and want save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.3514. It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.3515. Rather go supperless to bed than rise in debt.3516.Get what you can, and what you get hold;'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.3517. Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.3518. They that will not be counseled cannot be helped.3519. If you will not reason, she will surely rap their knuckles.3520. Distrust and caution are the parents of security.3521. After feasts made, the maker shakes his head.3522. There is neither honor nor gain got in dealing with a villain.3523. Visits should be like a winter's day, short.3524.A house without woman and firelight,Is like a body without soul or sprite.3525. Light purse, heavy heart.3526. Ne'er take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.3527. Hunger never saw bad bread.3528. Great talkers, little doers.3529.A rich rogue is like a fat hog;He does no good till as dead as a log.3530. Relation without friendship, friendship without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, and profit without virtue, are not worth a farthing.3531. He has changed his one-eyed horse for a blind one.3532. To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.3533. Tongue double, brings trouble.3534. He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of most medicines.

3500. Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy.

3501. It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

3502.Vessels large may venture more,But little boats should keep the shore.

3502.Vessels large may venture more,But little boats should keep the shore.

3503. Pride that shines on vanity sups on contempt.

3504. Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with Poverty, and supped with Infamy.

3505.What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar dress'd;The gaudy fop's his picture just.

3505.What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar dress'd;The gaudy fop's his picture just.

3506. The second vice is lying; the first is running in debt.

3507. Lying rides upon debt's back.

3508. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

3509. Creditors have better memories than debtors.

3510. Creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times.

3511. Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.

3512. The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor.

3513.For age and want save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.

3513.For age and want save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.

3514. It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.

3515. Rather go supperless to bed than rise in debt.

3516.Get what you can, and what you get hold;'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.

3516.Get what you can, and what you get hold;'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.

3517. Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.

3518. They that will not be counseled cannot be helped.

3519. If you will not reason, she will surely rap their knuckles.

3520. Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

3521. After feasts made, the maker shakes his head.

3522. There is neither honor nor gain got in dealing with a villain.

3523. Visits should be like a winter's day, short.

3524.A house without woman and firelight,Is like a body without soul or sprite.

3524.A house without woman and firelight,Is like a body without soul or sprite.

3525. Light purse, heavy heart.

3526. Ne'er take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.

3527. Hunger never saw bad bread.

3528. Great talkers, little doers.

3529.A rich rogue is like a fat hog;He does no good till as dead as a log.

3529.A rich rogue is like a fat hog;He does no good till as dead as a log.

3530. Relation without friendship, friendship without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, and profit without virtue, are not worth a farthing.

3531. He has changed his one-eyed horse for a blind one.

3532. To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

3533. Tongue double, brings trouble.

3534. He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of most medicines.

PART XII.THE FAMILY AT HOME.A Good Table—Bread, etc.—Meats—Vegetables—Household Management—Beverages—Useful Receipts, etc.—Maxims, Dietetic and Moral—Tool-Chests—Dressmaking, etc.—Pets—Swimming—Riding—Amusements—Children—Letter-Writing—Debt—Flowers—Time—Air—Laws—Phrenology—Historical—Words of Washington.3535. A good table is necessary to health and domestic comfort.3536. Nearly every family in our Republic has, or might have, the means of living very comfortably; if nothing was wasted, and all food was properly cooked, good tables would abound.3537. In my "New Cook Book" these subjects are so fully treated that little can be added.3538. Still a few "Choice Receipts" on Cookery will be found in this volume, at page319and on. I shall add such other directions in this chapter as seem necessary to complete the system: and first of the staff of life—bread.3539.Bread.—To make good bread, or to understand the process of making it, is the duty of every woman; indeed, an art that should never be neglected in the education of alady.3540.The Ladyderives her title from "dividing or distributing bread:" the more perfect the bread the more noble the lady.3541. In "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," and in the following directions, the art is made plain; and the process may, by practice, be easily acquired.3542.Proportions of Nutriment in articles of Food.—See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book—Introductory," etc.3543.Breadcontains eighty nutritious parts in one hundred; meal thirty-four in one hundred; French beans, ninety-two in one hundred; common beans, eighty-nine in one hundred; peas, ninety-three in one hundred; lentils, ninety-four in one hundred; cabbages and turnips, the most aqueous of all the vegetables compared, produce only eight pounds of solid matter in one hundred pounds; carrots and spinach produce fourteen in the same quantity; while one hundred pounds of potatoes contain twenty-five pounds of dry substance.3544. From a general estimate it results, that one pound of good bread is equal to two pounds and a half or three pounds of potatoes; that seventy-five pounds of bread and thirty of meat may be substituted for three hundred pounds of potatoes.3545. The other substances bear the following proportions: four parts of cabbage to one of potatoes; three parts of turnips to one of potatoes; two parts of carrots and spinach to one of potatoes; and about three parts and a half of potatoes to one of rice, lentils, beans, French beans, and dry peas.3546.To test flour, people in the trade generally knead a small quantity by way of experiment; if good, the flour immediately forms an adhesive elastic paste, which will readily assume any form that may be given to it, without danger of breaking.3547. Pure and unadulterated flour may likewise be easily distinguished by other methods: seize a handful briskly, and squeeze it half a minute; it preserves the form of the cavity of the hand in one piece, although it may be rudely placed on the table; not so that which contains foreign substances, it breaks in pieces more or less; that mixed with whiting being the most adhesive, but still dividing and falling down in a little time.3548.Indian Bread.—One quart of buttermilk, one quart of Indian-meal, one quart of coarse flour, one cup of molasses; add a little soda and salt.3549.Bread makingis an art, the importance of which is too frequently overlooked or underrated. Heavy, sour, hard bread should never be tolerated, because good bread is more palatable, more healthy, and it should be borne in mind, is really much less expensive. There is great saving in baking bread at home, and this saving is greatest when flour is cheapest.3550.Good flourand good yeast are requisites, but the goodness of the bread depends much on the kneading: the more the dough is turned and pressed and worked, the lighter and better the bread will be.3551.Proportions.—Two gallons flour, half pint strong fresh yeast; if home-made, add more.3552.The Process.—Make a hole in the flour, in which pour the yeast mixed with half a pint warm water. Stir in the flour round the edge of this liquid with a spoon to form a thin batter. After stirring it well for two minutes, sprinkle a handful of flour over the top of this batter, lay a warm cloth over it, and set it to rise in a warm place. When it rises so as to crack on the top add four spoonsful fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough, pouring as much soft, lukewarm water as is necessary to make the flour mix with the batter. When the flour and batter are thoroughly mixed, knead and work the whole till it is light and stiff. Roll into a lump, sprinkle dry flour over it, cover and put into a warm place, when in half an hour it will rise enough for baking. See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," page 375.The qualitydepends much on the time of putting the dough in the oven. Dough readily runs into three stages of fermentation. It should be put in the oven during the first orsaccharine, when if sufficiently baked it will be sweet and wholesome. It afterward becomes sour and heavy. If put in too soon, it will be light and as tasteless as saw-dust.3553.Good breadis marked by fine pores and a sort of network of uniform appearance.3554.Keep breadwrapped in a coarse towel, and where it will not dry up, or in a tight box.3555.If sour, from being mixed over night, melt a teaspoon of pearlash in a little milk-warm water, sprinkle it over the dough, and in half an hour knead it again.3556.Frozendough is spoiled.3557.Indianis a good addition to wheat, and requires more water, or make mush of it and then mix in.3558.The bitternessof yeast may be remedied by putting in a little charcoal and then straining it.3559.Rye and Indian Bread.—Mix two quarts of each with three pints boiling milk, table-spoon salt, and stir well. Let it stand till lukewarm, then stir in half pint good yeast. Knead to a stiff dough and put to rise near the fire. When the top is cracked over, make into two loaves and bake moderate two and a half hours.3560.Common Yeast.—Boil a large handful hops in two quarts of water twenty minutes. Strain and pour the liquid into three pints flour. Stir in half a pint strong yeast. Its strength is increased by five tea-spoons brown sugar or five large spoons molasses. Cork the bottles loose till next day, and then tight.3561.If turning sourput tea-spoon pearlash in each bottle.3562.Another.—Boil, peel and mash mealy potatoes, which reduce with water or ale as thin as common yeast. To every pound add two ounces coarse sugar, and when just warm stir in two spoons of yeast. Keep warm till fermentation is over and in twenty-four hours fit for use. Let sponge eight hours before baking.3563.Yeast.—Boil one pound of good flour, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt, in two gallons of water for one hour. When milk-warm, bottle it close; it will be fitto use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this will make eighteen pounds of bread.3564.Pulled Bread.—Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it is abouthalf baked, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten them—the rougher their shapes the better.3565. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled bread may be made in the revolving ovens.3566. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.3567.A great increase on home-made bread, even equal to one-fifth, may be produced by using bran water for kneading the dough. The proportion is three pounds of bran for every twenty-eight pounds of flour, the bran to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a hair-sieve.3568. Indian cake made with buttermilk, or sour milk with a little cream or butter rubbed into the meal, and a tea-spoonful of pearlash in the milk, is very light and nutritious.3569.Use of Lime-water in making Bread.—It has lately been found that water saturated with lime produces in bread the same whiteness, softness and capacity of retaining moisture, as results from the use of alum; while the former removes all acidity from the dough, and supplies an ingredient needed in the structure of the bones, but which is deficient in thecerealia.3570. The best proportion to use is, five pounds of water saturated with lime, to every nineteen pounds of flour. No change is required in the process of baking.3571. The lime most effectually coagulates the gluten, and the bread weighs well; bakers must therefore approve of itsintroduction, which is not injurious to the system, like alum, &c.3572.Cheap Bread.—Indian meal is the cheapest, and a bushel furnishes more nutriment than the same quantity of wheat. It is also a generally healthy diet, and those who wish to practice close economy should use much of this meal in their families.3573. It makes excellent puddings and warm cakes, which are much less apt to oppress the stomach than hot wheat bread or short cakes of any kind. And good, light, nourishing bread may be made by using five parts of Indian and one of rye or wheat flour, (see receipts for "Rye and Indian Bread;") which is better than to cook it hot at every meal.3574. Remember thatfourloaves ofcold breadwill go as far in a family asfive loaves of hot bread.3575.Excellent pastefor fruit or meat pies may be made with two-thirds of wheat flour, one-third of the flour of boiled potatoes, and some butter or dripping; the whole being brought to a proper consistence with warm water, and a small quantity of yeast added when lightness is desired. This will also make very pleasant cakes for breakfast, and may be made with or without spices, fruit, &c.3576.Picnic Biscuits.—Take two ounces of fresh butter, and well work it with a pound of flour. Mix thoroughly with it half a salt-spoonful of pure carbonate of soda; two ounces of sugar; mingle thoroughly with the flour; make up the paste with spoonfuls of milk—it will require scarcely a quarter of a pint.3577. Knead smooth, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut in rounds about the size of the top of a small wine-glass; roll these out thin, prick them well, lay them on lightly floured tins, and bake in a gentle oven until crisp. When cold put into dry canisters.3578. Thin cream used instead of milk, in the paste, willenrich the biscuits. Caraway seeds or ginger can be added, to vary these at pleasure.3579.Rye and wheat flour, half and half, makes excellent household bread.3580.Common Black Cake.—Beat separately the whites and yolks of three eggs. Mix half a pound of butter with one pound of flour; one tumbler of milk; one tumbler of molasses; one pound of sugar. Then put in the eggs and one and one-half teaspoonful of soda. Wine, currants, raisins and citron to your taste.3581.Maize Cake.—Take six eggs, a paper of Oswego corn starch, one pound of loaf sugar, half pound of butter, half teacup of milk, half a teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of cream of tartar, the grated rind of the lemon; dissolve the soda in half the milk, and add it the last thing. Bake in an oven as quick as you can make it, without burning.3582. It is a very delicate cake to bake well. Use flat pans, a little deeper than Spanish bun pans, and put paper over the top.3583.Composition Cake.—Take three pounds of flour, half pound of butter, one and three-quarter pounds of sugar, three eggs—beat the eggs—add half a pint of yeast to them, half a pint of new milk, three spoonsful of rose-water, and a little cinnamon and cloves; put the butter in the flour and half the sugar, the other half mix with the eggs; make a hole in the flour, pour the ingredients into it; set it to lighten in the morning by the fire; after it is made out into rolls, you may put it into tins, and set it before the fire for an hour or two; when sufficiently risen, bake it in rather a slow oven.3584.Ginger Biscuits and Cakes.—Work into small crumbs three ounces of butter, two pounds of flour; add three ounces of powdered sugar and two of ginger, in fine powder; knead into a stiff paste, with new milk, roll thin, cut out with a cutter; bake in a slow oven until crisp through; keep of a pale color.3585. Additional sugar may be used when sweeter biscuit is desired. For good ginger-cakes, butter six ounces, sugar eight, for each pound of flour; wet the ingredients into a paste with eggs; a little lemon-grate will give an agreeable flavor.3586.Loaf-cake.—Six pounds of flour, three and one-half pounds of butter, three and one-half pounds of sugar, three pints of milk, six eggs, four pounds of fruit, one-half pint of yeast, three gills of wine, four nutmegs, and one and one-quarter ounce of mace citron. Stir butter and sugar to a froth; boil the milk, and turn in the wine; put the curds and wheywarm, but nothot, into the flour; then add the eggs and yeast, and only one-third of the beaten butter and sugar; let it rise until very light, and then add the remainder of the butter and sugar, and let it riseagain; when light, put in the spices, fruit, &c., bake it in anotvery hot oven.Another receipt leaves out one-half pound of butter and also one-half pound of sugar to the same quantity of flour, fruit, eggs, &c.3587.Sponge-Cake.—Take three-quarters of a pound of white sugar, and pour one-half tumbler of cold water into it, and set it over the fire until itboils clear; beat up seven eggs, the whites and yolks separately, and, after the sugar and water has cooled, add the yolks, stirring them well; flavor it with the peel of a lemon, and half the juice of the same; add the whites of the eggs, and then sift in one half pound of flour. This cake has the advantage of remaining moist and spirited, longer than other sponge-cake.3588.A Cheap and Quick Pudding.—Beat up four eggs, add a pint of milk and a little salt, and stir in four large spoonsful of flour, a little nutmeg and sugar to your taste. Beat it well, and pour it into buttered teacups, filling them rather more than half full. They will bake in a stove or Dutch oven in fifteen minutes; and if you have company to dinner, and wish to add a little dish, this is a good and cheap one.3589.Sago and Apple Pudding(very nice).—Let half a pound of sago steep in water enough to cover it until dissolved. This will take about half an hour. Pare and core eight niceapples without cutting them apart. Fill the middle with sugar, putting in each a little cinnamon. Arrange the apples in a pudding-dish, and pour over them the sago. Let it bake from one to two hours. This is equally as nice, although it does not look so well, if the apples are cut in quarters instead of being left whole, and the sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over them. It is good either cold or hot.3590.Pea Pudding.—Dry a pint or quart of split peas thoroughly before the fire; then tie them up loosely in a cloth, put them into warm water, boil them a couple of hours, or more, until quite tender; take them up, beat them well in a dish with a little salt (some add the yolk of an egg) and a bit of butter. Make it quite smooth, tie it up again in a cloth, and boil it an hour longer. This is highly nourishing.3591.Calves' Feet Jelly.—Boil four feet in four gallons of water till it comes to half a gallon; strain it, let it stand till cold, and skim off all the fat clean. Take the jelly up, leaving the settlings at the bottom. Put your jelly into a clean saucepan or skillet, and to every quart of jelly add one pint of wine, half pound of loaf-sugar beaten, the juice of a large lemon; beat up the whites of three eggs to a froth—put all in together—stir well till it boils, let it boil a few minutes, have ready a double flannel bag, pour it in again till it runs clear; have a china bowl with lemon-peel cut as thin as possible, let the jelly drip on the peel and it will give it a flavor, and a fine amber color; with a clean silver spoon fill your glasses.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," p. 324.)3592.Calves' Feet Jelly made with Gelatine.—Take three quarts of water, one pint of white wine, six table-spoonsful of brandy; six lemons, peel and all; six eggs, the whites slightly beaten, the shells crushed, and the yolks not used; three pounds of white sugar, four ounces of gelatine. Soak for half an hour the gelatine in one quart of the water. Mix the other ingredients in the other two quarts. Put all together, and let them boil twenty minutes without stirring. Strain it through a flannel bag without squeezing. Wet the mould in cold water. Pour the jelly in, and leave it to cool. Three hours is generally sufficient.3593.Meats.—A few hints, or general rules will be given here. (See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book" for Receipts, &c.)3594.Animal food.—The quantity of animal food required to sustain the constitution, in its most perfect state, is greatest in the coldest countries, and, decreasing according to the warmth of the climate, when we reach the torrid zone, but a small quantity is needed.3595. In temperate climates, like our own, the largest quantity is required during the winter.3596. None should use it freely during the hottest weather, except it be those who labor hard in the open air; it rarely appears to injure such, yet probably it would be best for them to eat less meat and more bread and vegetables during summer. They would not then suffer so much from thirst, which often induces the desire for stimulating liquids.3597. As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily digested than vegetable food of any kind—and this it is which makes meats more heating and stimulating.3598. The great essentials for the easy digestion of animal food are that the fibres be tender and fine grained.3599. Of the different sorts of butcher meat,Porkis that of which the least quantity should be taken at a time. It requires longer to digest roasted pork than any other kind of meat.

A Good Table—Bread, etc.—Meats—Vegetables—Household Management—Beverages—Useful Receipts, etc.—Maxims, Dietetic and Moral—Tool-Chests—Dressmaking, etc.—Pets—Swimming—Riding—Amusements—Children—Letter-Writing—Debt—Flowers—Time—Air—Laws—Phrenology—Historical—Words of Washington.

3535. A good table is necessary to health and domestic comfort.

3536. Nearly every family in our Republic has, or might have, the means of living very comfortably; if nothing was wasted, and all food was properly cooked, good tables would abound.

3537. In my "New Cook Book" these subjects are so fully treated that little can be added.

3538. Still a few "Choice Receipts" on Cookery will be found in this volume, at page319and on. I shall add such other directions in this chapter as seem necessary to complete the system: and first of the staff of life—bread.

3539.Bread.—To make good bread, or to understand the process of making it, is the duty of every woman; indeed, an art that should never be neglected in the education of alady.

3540.The Ladyderives her title from "dividing or distributing bread:" the more perfect the bread the more noble the lady.

3541. In "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," and in the following directions, the art is made plain; and the process may, by practice, be easily acquired.

3542.Proportions of Nutriment in articles of Food.—See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book—Introductory," etc.

3543.Breadcontains eighty nutritious parts in one hundred; meal thirty-four in one hundred; French beans, ninety-two in one hundred; common beans, eighty-nine in one hundred; peas, ninety-three in one hundred; lentils, ninety-four in one hundred; cabbages and turnips, the most aqueous of all the vegetables compared, produce only eight pounds of solid matter in one hundred pounds; carrots and spinach produce fourteen in the same quantity; while one hundred pounds of potatoes contain twenty-five pounds of dry substance.

3544. From a general estimate it results, that one pound of good bread is equal to two pounds and a half or three pounds of potatoes; that seventy-five pounds of bread and thirty of meat may be substituted for three hundred pounds of potatoes.

3545. The other substances bear the following proportions: four parts of cabbage to one of potatoes; three parts of turnips to one of potatoes; two parts of carrots and spinach to one of potatoes; and about three parts and a half of potatoes to one of rice, lentils, beans, French beans, and dry peas.

3546.To test flour, people in the trade generally knead a small quantity by way of experiment; if good, the flour immediately forms an adhesive elastic paste, which will readily assume any form that may be given to it, without danger of breaking.

3547. Pure and unadulterated flour may likewise be easily distinguished by other methods: seize a handful briskly, and squeeze it half a minute; it preserves the form of the cavity of the hand in one piece, although it may be rudely placed on the table; not so that which contains foreign substances, it breaks in pieces more or less; that mixed with whiting being the most adhesive, but still dividing and falling down in a little time.

3548.Indian Bread.—One quart of buttermilk, one quart of Indian-meal, one quart of coarse flour, one cup of molasses; add a little soda and salt.

3549.Bread makingis an art, the importance of which is too frequently overlooked or underrated. Heavy, sour, hard bread should never be tolerated, because good bread is more palatable, more healthy, and it should be borne in mind, is really much less expensive. There is great saving in baking bread at home, and this saving is greatest when flour is cheapest.

3550.Good flourand good yeast are requisites, but the goodness of the bread depends much on the kneading: the more the dough is turned and pressed and worked, the lighter and better the bread will be.

3551.Proportions.—Two gallons flour, half pint strong fresh yeast; if home-made, add more.

3552.The Process.—Make a hole in the flour, in which pour the yeast mixed with half a pint warm water. Stir in the flour round the edge of this liquid with a spoon to form a thin batter. After stirring it well for two minutes, sprinkle a handful of flour over the top of this batter, lay a warm cloth over it, and set it to rise in a warm place. When it rises so as to crack on the top add four spoonsful fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough, pouring as much soft, lukewarm water as is necessary to make the flour mix with the batter. When the flour and batter are thoroughly mixed, knead and work the whole till it is light and stiff. Roll into a lump, sprinkle dry flour over it, cover and put into a warm place, when in half an hour it will rise enough for baking. See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," page 375.The qualitydepends much on the time of putting the dough in the oven. Dough readily runs into three stages of fermentation. It should be put in the oven during the first orsaccharine, when if sufficiently baked it will be sweet and wholesome. It afterward becomes sour and heavy. If put in too soon, it will be light and as tasteless as saw-dust.

3553.Good breadis marked by fine pores and a sort of network of uniform appearance.

3554.Keep breadwrapped in a coarse towel, and where it will not dry up, or in a tight box.

3555.If sour, from being mixed over night, melt a teaspoon of pearlash in a little milk-warm water, sprinkle it over the dough, and in half an hour knead it again.

3556.Frozendough is spoiled.

3557.Indianis a good addition to wheat, and requires more water, or make mush of it and then mix in.

3558.The bitternessof yeast may be remedied by putting in a little charcoal and then straining it.

3559.Rye and Indian Bread.—Mix two quarts of each with three pints boiling milk, table-spoon salt, and stir well. Let it stand till lukewarm, then stir in half pint good yeast. Knead to a stiff dough and put to rise near the fire. When the top is cracked over, make into two loaves and bake moderate two and a half hours.

3560.Common Yeast.—Boil a large handful hops in two quarts of water twenty minutes. Strain and pour the liquid into three pints flour. Stir in half a pint strong yeast. Its strength is increased by five tea-spoons brown sugar or five large spoons molasses. Cork the bottles loose till next day, and then tight.

3561.If turning sourput tea-spoon pearlash in each bottle.

3562.Another.—Boil, peel and mash mealy potatoes, which reduce with water or ale as thin as common yeast. To every pound add two ounces coarse sugar, and when just warm stir in two spoons of yeast. Keep warm till fermentation is over and in twenty-four hours fit for use. Let sponge eight hours before baking.

3563.Yeast.—Boil one pound of good flour, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt, in two gallons of water for one hour. When milk-warm, bottle it close; it will be fitto use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this will make eighteen pounds of bread.

3564.Pulled Bread.—Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it is abouthalf baked, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten them—the rougher their shapes the better.

3565. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled bread may be made in the revolving ovens.

3566. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.

3567.A great increase on home-made bread, even equal to one-fifth, may be produced by using bran water for kneading the dough. The proportion is three pounds of bran for every twenty-eight pounds of flour, the bran to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a hair-sieve.

3568. Indian cake made with buttermilk, or sour milk with a little cream or butter rubbed into the meal, and a tea-spoonful of pearlash in the milk, is very light and nutritious.

3569.Use of Lime-water in making Bread.—It has lately been found that water saturated with lime produces in bread the same whiteness, softness and capacity of retaining moisture, as results from the use of alum; while the former removes all acidity from the dough, and supplies an ingredient needed in the structure of the bones, but which is deficient in thecerealia.

3570. The best proportion to use is, five pounds of water saturated with lime, to every nineteen pounds of flour. No change is required in the process of baking.

3571. The lime most effectually coagulates the gluten, and the bread weighs well; bakers must therefore approve of itsintroduction, which is not injurious to the system, like alum, &c.

3572.Cheap Bread.—Indian meal is the cheapest, and a bushel furnishes more nutriment than the same quantity of wheat. It is also a generally healthy diet, and those who wish to practice close economy should use much of this meal in their families.

3573. It makes excellent puddings and warm cakes, which are much less apt to oppress the stomach than hot wheat bread or short cakes of any kind. And good, light, nourishing bread may be made by using five parts of Indian and one of rye or wheat flour, (see receipts for "Rye and Indian Bread;") which is better than to cook it hot at every meal.

3574. Remember thatfourloaves ofcold breadwill go as far in a family asfive loaves of hot bread.

3575.Excellent pastefor fruit or meat pies may be made with two-thirds of wheat flour, one-third of the flour of boiled potatoes, and some butter or dripping; the whole being brought to a proper consistence with warm water, and a small quantity of yeast added when lightness is desired. This will also make very pleasant cakes for breakfast, and may be made with or without spices, fruit, &c.

3576.Picnic Biscuits.—Take two ounces of fresh butter, and well work it with a pound of flour. Mix thoroughly with it half a salt-spoonful of pure carbonate of soda; two ounces of sugar; mingle thoroughly with the flour; make up the paste with spoonfuls of milk—it will require scarcely a quarter of a pint.

3577. Knead smooth, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut in rounds about the size of the top of a small wine-glass; roll these out thin, prick them well, lay them on lightly floured tins, and bake in a gentle oven until crisp. When cold put into dry canisters.

3578. Thin cream used instead of milk, in the paste, willenrich the biscuits. Caraway seeds or ginger can be added, to vary these at pleasure.

3579.Rye and wheat flour, half and half, makes excellent household bread.

3580.Common Black Cake.—Beat separately the whites and yolks of three eggs. Mix half a pound of butter with one pound of flour; one tumbler of milk; one tumbler of molasses; one pound of sugar. Then put in the eggs and one and one-half teaspoonful of soda. Wine, currants, raisins and citron to your taste.

3581.Maize Cake.—Take six eggs, a paper of Oswego corn starch, one pound of loaf sugar, half pound of butter, half teacup of milk, half a teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of cream of tartar, the grated rind of the lemon; dissolve the soda in half the milk, and add it the last thing. Bake in an oven as quick as you can make it, without burning.

3582. It is a very delicate cake to bake well. Use flat pans, a little deeper than Spanish bun pans, and put paper over the top.

3583.Composition Cake.—Take three pounds of flour, half pound of butter, one and three-quarter pounds of sugar, three eggs—beat the eggs—add half a pint of yeast to them, half a pint of new milk, three spoonsful of rose-water, and a little cinnamon and cloves; put the butter in the flour and half the sugar, the other half mix with the eggs; make a hole in the flour, pour the ingredients into it; set it to lighten in the morning by the fire; after it is made out into rolls, you may put it into tins, and set it before the fire for an hour or two; when sufficiently risen, bake it in rather a slow oven.

3584.Ginger Biscuits and Cakes.—Work into small crumbs three ounces of butter, two pounds of flour; add three ounces of powdered sugar and two of ginger, in fine powder; knead into a stiff paste, with new milk, roll thin, cut out with a cutter; bake in a slow oven until crisp through; keep of a pale color.

3585. Additional sugar may be used when sweeter biscuit is desired. For good ginger-cakes, butter six ounces, sugar eight, for each pound of flour; wet the ingredients into a paste with eggs; a little lemon-grate will give an agreeable flavor.

3586.Loaf-cake.—Six pounds of flour, three and one-half pounds of butter, three and one-half pounds of sugar, three pints of milk, six eggs, four pounds of fruit, one-half pint of yeast, three gills of wine, four nutmegs, and one and one-quarter ounce of mace citron. Stir butter and sugar to a froth; boil the milk, and turn in the wine; put the curds and wheywarm, but nothot, into the flour; then add the eggs and yeast, and only one-third of the beaten butter and sugar; let it rise until very light, and then add the remainder of the butter and sugar, and let it riseagain; when light, put in the spices, fruit, &c., bake it in anotvery hot oven.

Another receipt leaves out one-half pound of butter and also one-half pound of sugar to the same quantity of flour, fruit, eggs, &c.

3587.Sponge-Cake.—Take three-quarters of a pound of white sugar, and pour one-half tumbler of cold water into it, and set it over the fire until itboils clear; beat up seven eggs, the whites and yolks separately, and, after the sugar and water has cooled, add the yolks, stirring them well; flavor it with the peel of a lemon, and half the juice of the same; add the whites of the eggs, and then sift in one half pound of flour. This cake has the advantage of remaining moist and spirited, longer than other sponge-cake.

3588.A Cheap and Quick Pudding.—Beat up four eggs, add a pint of milk and a little salt, and stir in four large spoonsful of flour, a little nutmeg and sugar to your taste. Beat it well, and pour it into buttered teacups, filling them rather more than half full. They will bake in a stove or Dutch oven in fifteen minutes; and if you have company to dinner, and wish to add a little dish, this is a good and cheap one.

3589.Sago and Apple Pudding(very nice).—Let half a pound of sago steep in water enough to cover it until dissolved. This will take about half an hour. Pare and core eight niceapples without cutting them apart. Fill the middle with sugar, putting in each a little cinnamon. Arrange the apples in a pudding-dish, and pour over them the sago. Let it bake from one to two hours. This is equally as nice, although it does not look so well, if the apples are cut in quarters instead of being left whole, and the sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over them. It is good either cold or hot.

3590.Pea Pudding.—Dry a pint or quart of split peas thoroughly before the fire; then tie them up loosely in a cloth, put them into warm water, boil them a couple of hours, or more, until quite tender; take them up, beat them well in a dish with a little salt (some add the yolk of an egg) and a bit of butter. Make it quite smooth, tie it up again in a cloth, and boil it an hour longer. This is highly nourishing.

3591.Calves' Feet Jelly.—Boil four feet in four gallons of water till it comes to half a gallon; strain it, let it stand till cold, and skim off all the fat clean. Take the jelly up, leaving the settlings at the bottom. Put your jelly into a clean saucepan or skillet, and to every quart of jelly add one pint of wine, half pound of loaf-sugar beaten, the juice of a large lemon; beat up the whites of three eggs to a froth—put all in together—stir well till it boils, let it boil a few minutes, have ready a double flannel bag, pour it in again till it runs clear; have a china bowl with lemon-peel cut as thin as possible, let the jelly drip on the peel and it will give it a flavor, and a fine amber color; with a clean silver spoon fill your glasses.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," p. 324.)

3592.Calves' Feet Jelly made with Gelatine.—Take three quarts of water, one pint of white wine, six table-spoonsful of brandy; six lemons, peel and all; six eggs, the whites slightly beaten, the shells crushed, and the yolks not used; three pounds of white sugar, four ounces of gelatine. Soak for half an hour the gelatine in one quart of the water. Mix the other ingredients in the other two quarts. Put all together, and let them boil twenty minutes without stirring. Strain it through a flannel bag without squeezing. Wet the mould in cold water. Pour the jelly in, and leave it to cool. Three hours is generally sufficient.

3593.Meats.—A few hints, or general rules will be given here. (See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book" for Receipts, &c.)

3594.Animal food.—The quantity of animal food required to sustain the constitution, in its most perfect state, is greatest in the coldest countries, and, decreasing according to the warmth of the climate, when we reach the torrid zone, but a small quantity is needed.

3595. In temperate climates, like our own, the largest quantity is required during the winter.

3596. None should use it freely during the hottest weather, except it be those who labor hard in the open air; it rarely appears to injure such, yet probably it would be best for them to eat less meat and more bread and vegetables during summer. They would not then suffer so much from thirst, which often induces the desire for stimulating liquids.

3597. As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily digested than vegetable food of any kind—and this it is which makes meats more heating and stimulating.

3598. The great essentials for the easy digestion of animal food are that the fibres be tender and fine grained.

3599. Of the different sorts of butcher meat,Porkis that of which the least quantity should be taken at a time. It requires longer to digest roasted pork than any other kind of meat.

3600. Beef agrees well with most constitutions; it is cheapest in the autumn, but best in the winter season. Many have a distaste to mutton; but for those who relish it, it is a nutritious food, and easy of digestion.3601. 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.3602. The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.3603. 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.3604. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat.3605. Never bake a lean, thin piece, it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup.3606. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked.3607. 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.3608. The other pieces of the animal are best salted and boiled; or if used fresh, stewed or in soups. Beef should rarely be fried.3609.Roasting beef.—Ten pounds of beef require from two hours to two hours and a-half roasting, eighteen inches from a good clear fire.3610. Six pounds require one hour and a-quarter to one hour and a-half, fourteen inches from a good clear fire.3611. Three ribs of beef, boned and rolled, tied round with paper, will require two hours and a-half, eighteen inches from the fire; baste once only.3612. The first three ribs of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take three hours or three and a-half; the fourth and fifth ribs will take as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin.Paper the fat and the thin part, or it will be done too much before the thick part is done enough.3613. When beef is very fat, it does not require basting; if very lean tie it up in buttered paper, and baste frequently and well.3614. Common cooks are generally fond of too fierce a fire, and of putting things too near to it.3615. Slow roasting is as advantageous to the tenderness and flavor of meat as slow boiling.3616. The warmer the weather, and the staler killed the meat is, the less time it will require to roast it.3617. Meat that is very fat requires more time than other meat.3618.Cooking meats.—The proper manner of preparation is, to cook it till it is entirelyseparated from the blood, and the fibres are rendered soft and easy of digestion.3619. Lamb is a delicate and tender meat; but it requires to be kept a few days, when the weather will permit—and should be thoroughly cooked to be healthful. Never take lamb or veal from the spit till the gravy that drops is white.3620.Preserving meats.—Salt is the grand preservative of meats; but in using these, care should be taken to soak them if too salt. It is not healthy to eat our food very salt.3621. In the summer season, particular attention must be observed, lest fresh meat be injured. In the country this care is very necessary.3622. Be sure to take the kernels out of a round of beef; one in the udder, in the fat, and those about the thick end of the flank.3623. To salt the meat thoroughly, rub in the salt evenlyinto every part, and fill the holes where the kernels were taken out.3624. A pound and a-half of salt will be sufficient for twenty-five pounds of beef, if you only want to corn it to be eaten in a few days.3625. In the summer, the sooner meat is salted, after it is cool, the better. In winter, it is better to be kept a few days before salting.3626. Pork ought not to be allowed to freeze before it is salted for family use.3627. If you wish beef to look red, rub it first with saltpetre and sugar; half an ounce of each mixed together, is sufficient for twenty pounds of meat.3628.Poultry.—No kind of animal food is so delicate and delicious as the flesh of fowls and birds, and no kind is so generally healthful. Rarely does it disagree with those who are well; even the feeble in constitution, or those debilitated by sickness, find this a most agreeable and nutritious diet.3629. The white meat of a young turkey, when well boiled, is easier of digestion than that of any other fowl.3630. In a young turkey, the toes and bill are soft.3631. A young goose (a very old one is not fit to be eaten) is plump in the breast, and the fat white and soft—the feet yellow, the web of the foot thin and tender.3632. Ducks, if young, feel very tender under the wing, and the web of the foot is transparent.3633. The best fowls have yellow legs—if very old, the feet look stiff and worn.3634. Pigeons should be quite fresh, the breast plump and fat.3635. Poultry should lie one night after being killed in warm weather to make it tender; in cold weather it may be kept a much longer time to advantage.3636. Take care of the liquor you have boiled poultry or meat in; in five minutes you may make it into soup.3637. The good housewife never boils a joint without converting the broth into some sort of soup.3638. If the liquor be too salt, only use half the quantity, and the rest water; wash salted meat well with cold water before you put it into the boiler.3639. 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.3640. 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.3641.Hashes.—All the pieces and bits of cold meat should be minced and warmed; if this is rightly done, the dish is generally a favorite one.3642. It is best to chop the meat very fine, (gristles and gelatinous matter from the bones may be included;) then make a gravy by putting a lump of butter (what you judge necessary) into a stewpan; when it is hot, add a little flour, and stir it into the butter; then add a teacupful of the broth the meat was boiled in, and a little catsup. Let this boil up, then put in the mince meat, with a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt.3643. Let it stand and simmer a few minutes covered, but do not let it boil—it hardens the meat to boil it. Lay slices of toasted bread in the dish, and pour the meat and gravy over.3644.Meatmay be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some high or windy room, or in a passage where there is a current of air.VEGETABLES.3645. The importance of using a portion of vegetable food can hardly be overrated, though to make this our only diet does and must prove injurious, because contrary to man's nature and the arrangements of the Creator.3646. The farinaceous (or mealy) are far more nutritious than other vegetables; but none are sufficiently so to sustain the constitution under the cares and labors necessary to the full development of the energies of body and mind.3647. And unless these can be developed and sustained, the rational and moral character of the human race will never be perfected.3648. Still, though animal food is never, except in peculiar cases of disease, to be wholly abandoned, we must be quite as scrupulous not to neglect the vegetable part of our diet. This is necessary in order to prevent the concentrated diet of flesh from too sudden and stimulating action.3649. Besides, our nature demands a portion of vegetables to keep the system in proper and healthy order. Amixed dietis the only right regimen—the proportions of the different kinds of food vary, with different ages and constitutions, in different climates and seasons; still, in some degree, this rule should never be abandoned.3650. The very young require a large portion of mild farinaceous vegetables, such as rice, sago, tapioca, and potatoes; the two first are very easy of digestion.3651. There are three things to be attended to in cooking vegetables; make them sufficiently soft, develop their bestflavor, and correct any rank or disagreeable taste they may have.3652. These things are very easily accomplished—boil them sufficiently; change the water if they are rank or unpleasant, and add a little salt, sugar or spice, as the case may require.3653. Vegetables are always best when newly gathered, except the potato; that is better in winter, if well kept.3654. They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty; that is, in their proper season.3655. Except spinach, all vegetables should be boiled quickly (soft water is much the best) in an open vessel, and carefully skimmed.3656.To Clear Vegetables of Insects.—Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water, into this place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.3657.Potatoes.—There are few articles in families more subject to waste, both in paring, boiling, and being actually thrown away, than potatoes; and there are few cooks but what boil twice as many potatoes every day as are wanted; and fewer still that do not throw the residue away as totally unfit in any shape for the next day's meal.3658. Yet if they would take the trouble to beat up the despised cold potatoes with an equal quantity of flour, they would find them produce a much lighter dumpling or pudding than they can make with flour alone; and by the aid of a few spoonfuls of good gravy, they will provide a cheap and agreeable appendage to the dinner table.3659.Bad Buttermay be improved greatly by dissolving it thoroughly in hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A smallquantity can be tried and approved before doing a larger one. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the butter or it will become oily.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book.")3660.Dinners.—The appearance a dinner-table presents does not depend so much upon a profuseness of viands, as upon the neatness, cleanliness, and well-studied arrangement of the whole. Taste, if well directed, may produce a handsome dinner; whereas three times the amount of money may be expended upon another, and yet not make even a respectable appearance.HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT.3661. Have you ever observed what a dislike servants have to any thing cheap. They hate saving their master's money. I tried this experiment with great success the other day.3662. Finding we consumed a vast deal of soap, I sat down in my thinking chair, and took the soap question into consideration, and found reason to suspect we were using a very expensive article, where a much cheaper one would serve the purpose better.3663. I ordered half a dozen pounds of both sorts, but took the precaution of changing the papers on which the prices were marked before giving them into the hands of Betty.3664. "Well, Betty, which soap do you find washes best?"3665. "Oh, please sir, the dearest, in the blue paper; it makes a lather as well again as the other."3666. "Well, Betty, you shall always have it then." And thus the unsuspecting Betty saved me some pounds a-year, and washed the clothes better.—Rev. Sidney Smith.3667.Receipt for Obtaining Good Servants.—Let them observe in your conduct to others just the qualities and virtues that you would desire they should possess and practice as respects you. Be uniformly kind and gentle.3668. If you reprove, do so with reason and with temper.3669. Be respectable, and you will be respected by them. Be kind, and you will meet kindness from them.3670. Consider their interests, and they will consider yours. A friend in a servant is no contemptible thing.3671. Be to every servant a friend; and heartless, indeed, will be the servant who does not warm in love to you.3672. Four important rules:3673. 1. A suitable place for everything, and every thing in its place.3674. 2. A proper time for every thing, and every thing done in its time.3675. 3. A distinct name for every thing, and every thing called by its name.3676. 4. A certain use for every thing, and every thing put to its use.3677.Oil-clothshould never be scrubbed with a brush, but after being first swept, it should be cleansed by washing with a large soft cloth and lukewarm or cold water. On no account use soap or hot water, as either will bring off the paint.3678.Straw Mattingmay be cleaned with a large coarse cloth dipped in salt and water, and then wiped dry: the salt prevents the matting from turning yellow.3679.Oil Paintingshung over the mantle-piece are liable to wrinkle with the heat.3680.Ottomans and Sofas, whether covered with cloth, damask, or chintz, will look much the better for being cleaned occasionally with bran and flannel.3681.Furnituremade in the winter, and brought from a cold warehouse into a warm apartment, is very liable to crack.3682.Rosewood furnitureshould be rubbed gently every day with a clean soft cloth, to keep it in order.BEVERAGES.3683.Water, pure, sweet, cool water is, undoubtedly, the most healthful drink for thirst.3684.Bad watershould be filtered.—(See pages42,43.)3685.Tea and coffeeare the best and least hurtful stimulants.3686. Liebig, with his chemical discoveries, demonstrates that they have become necessaries of life to all nations; that they were both originally met with amongst nations whose diet is chiefly vegetable; and by contributing to the formation of bile, their peculiar functions have become a substitute for animal food to a large class of the population whose consumption of meat is very limited, and to another large class who are unable to take regular exercise.3687.In making coffee, observe that the broader the bottom and the smaller the top of the vessel, the better it will be.3688.Substitute for Cream in Tea or Coffee.—Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well. Then turn into it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream.—(See page352.)3689.Iceland Moss Chocolate—For the Sick Room.—Iceland moss has been in the highest repute on the continent as a most efficacious remedy in incipient pulmonary complaints; combined withchocolateit will be found a nutritious article of diet, and may be taken as a morning and evening beverage.Directions—Mix a teaspoonful of the chocolate with a tea-spoonfulof boiling water or milk, stirring constantly until it is completely dissolved.3690. It is not easy to persuade laboring men thatwateris the best beverage. Where thewater is bad, some corrective or palliative will be had. Then home-brewedbeeris to be commended.3691.Beer and Beverages.—(See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," page 397.)3692.To restore a Barrel of Stale or Sour Beer.—Put a quarter of a pound of good hops, and two pounds of sound chalk into the bung-hole, stop it close, and in a few days it will be fit for use.3693. Or, a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda may be mixed with each quart as it is used.3694.To give New Beer the flavor of Old.—Take out the bung, and put into the cask a handful of pickled cucumbers, or a sliced Seville orange. Either mode will add an apparent six months to the age of the beer.3695.Common Beer.—Two gallons of water, a large handful of hops, fresh gathered spruce or sweet fern, and one quart of wheat bran; boil two or three hours, strain and stir in, while hot, two cups of molasses. When lukewarm, pour into a clean barrel, and add a pint of yeast. Shake it well together, and use next day.3696.To give Beer a rich Flavor.—Put six sea-biscuits into a bag of hops, and put them in the cask.3697.Table Beer, cheap and wholesome.—Eight bottles of water, one quart of molasses, one pint of yeast, one tablespoon of cream of tartar, mixed and bottled in twenty-four hours.3698.Table Beer from Sugar.—To four pounds of coarse brown sugar add ten gallons of water and three ounces of hops. Let the whole boil three-quarters of an hour, and then work it as usual. It should stand a week or ten days beforebeing drawn, and will improve daily afterward for a moderate time.3699.Treacle Beer.—Take a pound and a half of hops, and boil in thirty-six gallons of water for an hour, then add fourteen pounds of treacle, and a little yeast to work it; ferment, and bottle.

3600. Beef agrees well with most constitutions; it is cheapest in the autumn, but best in the winter season. Many have a distaste to mutton; but for those who relish it, it is a nutritious food, and easy of digestion.

3601. 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.

3602. The most economical way of cooking meat is toboilit, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.

3603. 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.

3604. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat.

3605. Never bake a lean, thin piece, it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup.

3606. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked.

3607. 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.

3608. The other pieces of the animal are best salted and boiled; or if used fresh, stewed or in soups. Beef should rarely be fried.

3609.Roasting beef.—Ten pounds of beef require from two hours to two hours and a-half roasting, eighteen inches from a good clear fire.

3610. Six pounds require one hour and a-quarter to one hour and a-half, fourteen inches from a good clear fire.

3611. Three ribs of beef, boned and rolled, tied round with paper, will require two hours and a-half, eighteen inches from the fire; baste once only.

3612. The first three ribs of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take three hours or three and a-half; the fourth and fifth ribs will take as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin.Paper the fat and the thin part, or it will be done too much before the thick part is done enough.

3613. When beef is very fat, it does not require basting; if very lean tie it up in buttered paper, and baste frequently and well.

3614. Common cooks are generally fond of too fierce a fire, and of putting things too near to it.

3615. Slow roasting is as advantageous to the tenderness and flavor of meat as slow boiling.

3616. The warmer the weather, and the staler killed the meat is, the less time it will require to roast it.

3617. Meat that is very fat requires more time than other meat.

3618.Cooking meats.—The proper manner of preparation is, to cook it till it is entirelyseparated from the blood, and the fibres are rendered soft and easy of digestion.

3619. Lamb is a delicate and tender meat; but it requires to be kept a few days, when the weather will permit—and should be thoroughly cooked to be healthful. Never take lamb or veal from the spit till the gravy that drops is white.

3620.Preserving meats.—Salt is the grand preservative of meats; but in using these, care should be taken to soak them if too salt. It is not healthy to eat our food very salt.

3621. In the summer season, particular attention must be observed, lest fresh meat be injured. In the country this care is very necessary.

3622. Be sure to take the kernels out of a round of beef; one in the udder, in the fat, and those about the thick end of the flank.

3623. To salt the meat thoroughly, rub in the salt evenlyinto every part, and fill the holes where the kernels were taken out.

3624. A pound and a-half of salt will be sufficient for twenty-five pounds of beef, if you only want to corn it to be eaten in a few days.

3625. In the summer, the sooner meat is salted, after it is cool, the better. In winter, it is better to be kept a few days before salting.

3626. Pork ought not to be allowed to freeze before it is salted for family use.

3627. If you wish beef to look red, rub it first with saltpetre and sugar; half an ounce of each mixed together, is sufficient for twenty pounds of meat.

3628.Poultry.—No kind of animal food is so delicate and delicious as the flesh of fowls and birds, and no kind is so generally healthful. Rarely does it disagree with those who are well; even the feeble in constitution, or those debilitated by sickness, find this a most agreeable and nutritious diet.

3629. The white meat of a young turkey, when well boiled, is easier of digestion than that of any other fowl.

3630. In a young turkey, the toes and bill are soft.

3631. A young goose (a very old one is not fit to be eaten) is plump in the breast, and the fat white and soft—the feet yellow, the web of the foot thin and tender.

3632. Ducks, if young, feel very tender under the wing, and the web of the foot is transparent.

3633. The best fowls have yellow legs—if very old, the feet look stiff and worn.

3634. Pigeons should be quite fresh, the breast plump and fat.

3635. Poultry should lie one night after being killed in warm weather to make it tender; in cold weather it may be kept a much longer time to advantage.

3636. Take care of the liquor you have boiled poultry or meat in; in five minutes you may make it into soup.

3637. The good housewife never boils a joint without converting the broth into some sort of soup.

3638. If the liquor be too salt, only use half the quantity, and the rest water; wash salted meat well with cold water before you put it into the boiler.

3639. 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.

3640. 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.

3641.Hashes.—All the pieces and bits of cold meat should be minced and warmed; if this is rightly done, the dish is generally a favorite one.

3642. It is best to chop the meat very fine, (gristles and gelatinous matter from the bones may be included;) then make a gravy by putting a lump of butter (what you judge necessary) into a stewpan; when it is hot, add a little flour, and stir it into the butter; then add a teacupful of the broth the meat was boiled in, and a little catsup. Let this boil up, then put in the mince meat, with a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt.

3643. Let it stand and simmer a few minutes covered, but do not let it boil—it hardens the meat to boil it. Lay slices of toasted bread in the dish, and pour the meat and gravy over.

3644.Meatmay be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some high or windy room, or in a passage where there is a current of air.

3645. The importance of using a portion of vegetable food can hardly be overrated, though to make this our only diet does and must prove injurious, because contrary to man's nature and the arrangements of the Creator.

3646. The farinaceous (or mealy) are far more nutritious than other vegetables; but none are sufficiently so to sustain the constitution under the cares and labors necessary to the full development of the energies of body and mind.

3647. And unless these can be developed and sustained, the rational and moral character of the human race will never be perfected.

3648. Still, though animal food is never, except in peculiar cases of disease, to be wholly abandoned, we must be quite as scrupulous not to neglect the vegetable part of our diet. This is necessary in order to prevent the concentrated diet of flesh from too sudden and stimulating action.

3649. Besides, our nature demands a portion of vegetables to keep the system in proper and healthy order. Amixed dietis the only right regimen—the proportions of the different kinds of food vary, with different ages and constitutions, in different climates and seasons; still, in some degree, this rule should never be abandoned.

3650. The very young require a large portion of mild farinaceous vegetables, such as rice, sago, tapioca, and potatoes; the two first are very easy of digestion.

3651. There are three things to be attended to in cooking vegetables; make them sufficiently soft, develop their bestflavor, and correct any rank or disagreeable taste they may have.

3652. These things are very easily accomplished—boil them sufficiently; change the water if they are rank or unpleasant, and add a little salt, sugar or spice, as the case may require.

3653. Vegetables are always best when newly gathered, except the potato; that is better in winter, if well kept.

3654. They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty; that is, in their proper season.

3655. Except spinach, all vegetables should be boiled quickly (soft water is much the best) in an open vessel, and carefully skimmed.

3656.To Clear Vegetables of Insects.—Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water, into this place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.

3657.Potatoes.—There are few articles in families more subject to waste, both in paring, boiling, and being actually thrown away, than potatoes; and there are few cooks but what boil twice as many potatoes every day as are wanted; and fewer still that do not throw the residue away as totally unfit in any shape for the next day's meal.

3658. Yet if they would take the trouble to beat up the despised cold potatoes with an equal quantity of flour, they would find them produce a much lighter dumpling or pudding than they can make with flour alone; and by the aid of a few spoonfuls of good gravy, they will provide a cheap and agreeable appendage to the dinner table.

3659.Bad Buttermay be improved greatly by dissolving it thoroughly in hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A smallquantity can be tried and approved before doing a larger one. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the butter or it will become oily.—(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book.")

3660.Dinners.—The appearance a dinner-table presents does not depend so much upon a profuseness of viands, as upon the neatness, cleanliness, and well-studied arrangement of the whole. Taste, if well directed, may produce a handsome dinner; whereas three times the amount of money may be expended upon another, and yet not make even a respectable appearance.

3661. Have you ever observed what a dislike servants have to any thing cheap. They hate saving their master's money. I tried this experiment with great success the other day.

3662. Finding we consumed a vast deal of soap, I sat down in my thinking chair, and took the soap question into consideration, and found reason to suspect we were using a very expensive article, where a much cheaper one would serve the purpose better.

3663. I ordered half a dozen pounds of both sorts, but took the precaution of changing the papers on which the prices were marked before giving them into the hands of Betty.

3664. "Well, Betty, which soap do you find washes best?"

3665. "Oh, please sir, the dearest, in the blue paper; it makes a lather as well again as the other."

3666. "Well, Betty, you shall always have it then." And thus the unsuspecting Betty saved me some pounds a-year, and washed the clothes better.—Rev. Sidney Smith.

3667.Receipt for Obtaining Good Servants.—Let them observe in your conduct to others just the qualities and virtues that you would desire they should possess and practice as respects you. Be uniformly kind and gentle.

3668. If you reprove, do so with reason and with temper.

3669. Be respectable, and you will be respected by them. Be kind, and you will meet kindness from them.

3670. Consider their interests, and they will consider yours. A friend in a servant is no contemptible thing.

3671. Be to every servant a friend; and heartless, indeed, will be the servant who does not warm in love to you.

3672. Four important rules:

3673. 1. A suitable place for everything, and every thing in its place.

3674. 2. A proper time for every thing, and every thing done in its time.

3675. 3. A distinct name for every thing, and every thing called by its name.

3676. 4. A certain use for every thing, and every thing put to its use.

3677.Oil-clothshould never be scrubbed with a brush, but after being first swept, it should be cleansed by washing with a large soft cloth and lukewarm or cold water. On no account use soap or hot water, as either will bring off the paint.

3678.Straw Mattingmay be cleaned with a large coarse cloth dipped in salt and water, and then wiped dry: the salt prevents the matting from turning yellow.

3679.Oil Paintingshung over the mantle-piece are liable to wrinkle with the heat.

3680.Ottomans and Sofas, whether covered with cloth, damask, or chintz, will look much the better for being cleaned occasionally with bran and flannel.

3681.Furnituremade in the winter, and brought from a cold warehouse into a warm apartment, is very liable to crack.

3682.Rosewood furnitureshould be rubbed gently every day with a clean soft cloth, to keep it in order.

3683.Water, pure, sweet, cool water is, undoubtedly, the most healthful drink for thirst.

3684.Bad watershould be filtered.—(See pages42,43.)

3685.Tea and coffeeare the best and least hurtful stimulants.

3686. Liebig, with his chemical discoveries, demonstrates that they have become necessaries of life to all nations; that they were both originally met with amongst nations whose diet is chiefly vegetable; and by contributing to the formation of bile, their peculiar functions have become a substitute for animal food to a large class of the population whose consumption of meat is very limited, and to another large class who are unable to take regular exercise.

3687.In making coffee, observe that the broader the bottom and the smaller the top of the vessel, the better it will be.

3688.Substitute for Cream in Tea or Coffee.—Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well. Then turn into it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream.—(See page352.)

3689.Iceland Moss Chocolate—For the Sick Room.—Iceland moss has been in the highest repute on the continent as a most efficacious remedy in incipient pulmonary complaints; combined withchocolateit will be found a nutritious article of diet, and may be taken as a morning and evening beverage.Directions—Mix a teaspoonful of the chocolate with a tea-spoonfulof boiling water or milk, stirring constantly until it is completely dissolved.

3690. It is not easy to persuade laboring men thatwateris the best beverage. Where thewater is bad, some corrective or palliative will be had. Then home-brewedbeeris to be commended.

3691.Beer and Beverages.—(See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," page 397.)

3692.To restore a Barrel of Stale or Sour Beer.—Put a quarter of a pound of good hops, and two pounds of sound chalk into the bung-hole, stop it close, and in a few days it will be fit for use.

3693. Or, a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda may be mixed with each quart as it is used.

3694.To give New Beer the flavor of Old.—Take out the bung, and put into the cask a handful of pickled cucumbers, or a sliced Seville orange. Either mode will add an apparent six months to the age of the beer.

3695.Common Beer.—Two gallons of water, a large handful of hops, fresh gathered spruce or sweet fern, and one quart of wheat bran; boil two or three hours, strain and stir in, while hot, two cups of molasses. When lukewarm, pour into a clean barrel, and add a pint of yeast. Shake it well together, and use next day.

3696.To give Beer a rich Flavor.—Put six sea-biscuits into a bag of hops, and put them in the cask.

3697.Table Beer, cheap and wholesome.—Eight bottles of water, one quart of molasses, one pint of yeast, one tablespoon of cream of tartar, mixed and bottled in twenty-four hours.

3698.Table Beer from Sugar.—To four pounds of coarse brown sugar add ten gallons of water and three ounces of hops. Let the whole boil three-quarters of an hour, and then work it as usual. It should stand a week or ten days beforebeing drawn, and will improve daily afterward for a moderate time.

3699.Treacle Beer.—Take a pound and a half of hops, and boil in thirty-six gallons of water for an hour, then add fourteen pounds of treacle, and a little yeast to work it; ferment, and bottle.

3700.Summer Drinks.—Ice may be used in all these beverages.3701.Tamarind Drink.—Boil three pints of water with an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of stoned raisins, till about a third has evaporated. Strain, add a bit of lemon-peel, which is to be removed in half an hour, then cool.3702.Sangaree.—Mix a bottle of Marsala wine with a bottle and a half of iced water, sweeten with loaf sugar, and flavor with lemon-juice and grated nutmeg.3703.Curds and Whey(cheap method).—Add six grains of citric acid to a wine-glassful of milk, and the result will be a pleasant acidulous whey, and a fine curd.3704.Currant Water.—Take a pound of currants, and squeeze into a quart of water; put in four or five ounces of pounded sugar. Mix well, strain, and ice, or allow to get cold.3705.Eau Sucré.—Dissolve sugar in boiling water, and drink cold.3706.Lait Sucré.—Boil a pint of milk, sweeten with white sugar, and flavor with lemon.3707.Effervescing Lemonade.—Boil two pounds of white sugar with a pint of lemon-juice, bottle and cork. Put a tablespoonful of the syrup into a tumbler about three parts full of cold water, add twenty grains of carbonate of soda and drink quickly.3708.Quince Syrup.—Grate quinces, pass the pulp through a sieve, then set before the fire for the juice to settle and clarify; strain, and add a pound of sugar (boiled down) to every four ounces of juice; remove from the fire, and when cold, bottle for use. A tablespoonful of this syrup will flavor a pint of water.3709.Effervescing Saline Draughts.—White sugar powdered eight ounces, tartaric acid two ounces, sesquicarbonate of soda two ounces, essence of lemon a few drops. Mix well and keep in a corked bottle.3710.Summer Champagne.—To four parts of selter water add one of Moselle wine (or hock), and put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar into a wine-glassful of this mixture; an ebullition takes place, and you have a sort of champagne which is more wholesome in hot weather than the genuine wine known by that name.3711.An excellent Spring Beverage.—The yolk of eggs beaten up, lump sugar (quantum sufficit), Rhenish wine or not, citric acid, powdered, or tartaric acid (small quantity, exact quantity soon found); one or two drops of essence of lemon on a lump of sugar, to make it mix readily with the water; one quart of water. This is really an excellent, agreeable, and, without the wine, an inexpensive beverage.Good for bilious complaints.USEFUL RECEIPTS FOR FAMILY PRACTICE.3712.Prevention of Baldness.—Eau de Cologne two ounces, tincture of cantharides two drachms, oil of rosemary, oil of nutmeg, and oil of lavender, each ten drops. To be rubbed on the bald part of the head every night.3713.Cramp in Bathing.—For the cure of the cramp when swimming, Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock to the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water into the air if possible.3714.Biting the Nails.—This is a habit that should be immediately corrected in children, as, if persisted in for any length of time, it permanently deforms the nails.3715. Dipping the finger-ends in some bitter tincture will generally prevent children from putting them to the mouth; but if this fails, as it sometimes will, each finger-end ought to be encased in a finger-stall until the propensity is eradicated.3716.Flour of Brimstoneis a mild aperient in doses of about a quarter of an ounce; it is best taken in milk.3717.To Fill a Decayed Tooth.—Procure a small piece of gutta percha, drop it into boiling water, then, with the thumb and finger, take off as much as you suppose will fill up the tooth nearly level, and while in this soft state press it into the tooth; then hold on that side of the mouth cold water two or three times, which will harden it.3718.Cod-liver oil.—Cod-liver oil is neither more nor less than cod-oil clarified; and consequently two-thirds of its medicinal qualities are abstracted thereby.3719.Cod oilcan be purchased pure at any wholesale oil warehouse, at about one-thirtieth part of the price charged for the so-called cod-liver oil. Many persons who have used cod-oil pure as imported, have found it to answer much better than the cod-liver oil purchased of a druggist.3720. The best vehicle for taking cod-liver oil in, is new milk; and the disagreeable flavor of the drug can easily be covered by the addition of one drachm of orange peel to every eight ounces of the oil.3721.To prevent Lockjaw, from a Nail run into the Foot, or any other injury.—Pour some turpentine into a tin cup and hold it over a lighted candle or the fire until it boils. It boils at so low a temperature that it will not burn when applied to the skin. Make a swab by wrapping soft muslin or linen round a stick. Dip this in the turpentine and apply it to the wound, rubbing it in carefully for some time. Apply it as warm as can be borne.—(See page375.)3722.Squinting.—Squinting frequently arises from the unequal strength of the eyes, the weaker eye being turned away from the object, to avoid the fatigue of exertion. Cases of squinting of long standing have often been cured by covering the stronger eye, and thereby compelling the weaker one to exertion.3723. It is often a question amongst people who are unacquainted with the anatomy and physiology of man, whether lying with his head exalted, or even with the body, is most wholesome. Most, consulting their own ease on this point, argue in favor of that which they prefer.3724. Now, although many delight in bolstering up their heads at night and sleep soundly without injury, yet we declare it to be a dangerous habit. The vessels through which blood passes from the heart to the head, are always lessened in the cavities when the head is resting in bed higher than the body, therefore, in all diseases attended with fever, the head should be pretty near on a level with the body; and people ought to accustom themselves to sleep thus to avoid danger.3725.Dyeing the Hair.—It may be stated once for all that this practice is decidedly injurious. It may fail altogether in producing the desired result; it is never unattended by a certain amount of unpleasant circumstances, and frequently with evil results.3726.In the first place, the alteration of the abnormal color, so far as the general aspect of the face is concerned, has an effect the very reverse of that which was intended. Every constituent part of man tends to make the human machine one harmonious whole. The figure, the stature, the skin, the hair, the gait, &c.3727.Fair hairis associated with a sanguineous and lymphatic temperament, a fine and white skin, blue eyes, and a soft and mild expression.3728.Black hair, on the contrary, is generally connected with a bilious habit of body, a muscular and nervous temperament,a dark and yellowish skin, lively black eyes, and a bold, proud air.3729.Red hairis associated with a peculiar constitution, although closely approaching to the fair type. In this variety the skin is transparent, fresh, and presents a peculiar limpidity, which belongs exclusively to the color of hair mentioned.3730.The Contrast.—If, then, from the impression that red hair is a disfigurement, it is dyed black, what relation can exist between this new color and the soft blue eye, and a skin so fine and so susceptible, that the sun's rays seem to penetrate it, in the form of those lentiginous spots commonly called freckles.3731. Be at much pains to keep your children's feet dry and warm. Don't bury their bodies in heavy flannels and wools, and leave their knees and legs naked.3732.For Nausea.—Three drops of hartshorn in a wine-glass of water.3733.For Sick Headache.—One teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal and one-third of a teaspoonful of soda mixed in very warm water.3734.Decoction of Sarsaparilla.—Take four ounces of the root, slice it down, put the slices into four pints of water, and simmer for four hours. Take out the sarsaparilla, and beat it into a mash; put it into the liquor again, and boil down to two pints, then strain and cool the liquor. Dose—a wine-glassful three times a day.3735. Use—to purify the blood after a course of mercury; or indeed whenever any taint is given to the constitution, vitiating the blood, and producing eruptive affections.3736.Cough Syrup.—Steep for twelve hours or more a teacupful of wild-cherry bark in a quart of water. Add sugar enough to make it quite sweet and let it boil to a syrup.3737.Cough Syrup—Very Good.—Take a large handfulof the herb hoarhound, and the same quantity of boneset. Steep them in a quart of water till it is reduced to a pint. Then strain the tea and mix with it a pint of syrup and a pint of sugar. Let it simmer for three or four hours, skimming it.3738.Cure for Pain in the Ear.—Take a teaspoonful of brown sugar, put it on a shovel or any thing that you can place over hot coals of fire until it gets thick, dissolve it in camphor, and drop it in the ear.3739.Gingerbread Aperients.—Gingerbread, made with oatmeal or with barley flour, is a very agreeable aperient for children. Beware of giving children medicines too frequently.3740.For Bowel Complaints.—One tablespoonful of flour, one ditto of brandy, one ditto of loaf sugar, mixed together.3741.Jaundice.—One pennyworth of allspice, ditto of flour of brimstone, ditto of turmeric; these to be well pounded together, and afterward to be mixed with half-a-pound of molasses. Two table-spoonsful to be taken every day.3742.Night Sweats.—Drink freely of cold sage tea; said to be a certain remedy; or, take elixir of vitriol in a little sweetened water. Dose from twenty to thirty drops.MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS, RULES, ETC.3743.To Cure a Soft Corn when between the Toes.—A small piece of cotton wool applied fresh every morning—gives no inconvenience, is cleanly and efficacious. Castile Soap placed between the toes is both cure and preventive of soft corns.3744.Excellent Remedy for Lumbago.—Dip a piece of flannel in scalding water; wring it out, and sprinkle some turpentine immediately over it, and apply it quickly to the part affected by the pain. Repeat this process a few times, and it will afford certain relief.3745.Burns and Scalds.—Cold water is the readiest, surest, most plentiful, and, for these reasons, the best remedy for burns and scalds. Use it instantly, it will remove pain and smarting; keep a cloth wet andcoldupon the affected part for five or six hours after the injury has occurred; a blister will never rise, and the skin will be quite free from pain afterward.—(See109,110.)3746.Scratches.—Trifling as scratches often seem, they ought never to be neglected, but should be covered and protected, and kept clean and dry, until they have completely healed.3747. If there is the least appearance of inflammation, no time should be lost in applying a large bread and water poultice, or hot flannels repeatedly applied.3748.Ringworm.—The head to be washed twice a day with soft soap and warm soft water; when dried, the places to be rubbed with a piece of linen rag dipped in ammonia from gas tar; the patient should take a little sulphur and molasses, or some other general aperient, every morning; brushes and combs should be washed every day, and the ammonia kept tightly corked.—(See page99.)3749.Another Cure for Ringworms.—Common sulphur mixed with butter and pepper till it is a salve: apply twice a day.3750.Invaluable Ointment.—Obtain a pint of real cream, let it simmer over the fire, or on the side, till it resembles butter, and forms a thick oily substance, which maybe used as ointment for fresh or old wounds, cracked lips or hands.3751.To avoid catching Cold.—Accustom yourself to the use of sponging with cold water every morning on first getting out of bed. It should be followed with a good deal of rubbing with a wet towel. It has considerable effect in giving tone to the skin, and maintaining a proper action in it, and thus proves a safeguard to the injurious influence of cold and sudden changes of temperature.3752.Frictionof the body is one of the most gentle and salutary kinds of exercise, cleaning the skin, dispersing stagnating humors, promoting perspiration, strengthening the fibres, and increasing the warmth and energy of the whole body.3753.Depilatory.—Take of sulphate of sodium, or hydro-sulphate of soda, crystallized, three parts; quick-lime in powder, ten ditto; starch, ten; mix. This powder, mixed with a little water, and applied over the skin, acts so rapidly as a depilatory, that if it be removed in a minute or two after its application by means of a wooden knife, the surface of the skin will be entirely deprived of hair.3754. By this process, the removal of hair becomes so simple, rapid, and safe in operation, that it will possibly supercede the use of the razor in many cases; it is only after several days that the hair begins again to appear.3755.Brandy and Salt as a Medicine.—It is useful in the reduction of inflammation of fractured limbs or bruises, the alleviation of incurable sores, cure of ringworms, headache, toothache, inflammation in the eyes, ague, colic, pains in the side, chilblains, burns and scalds, cancers, sprains, open sores, asthmas, and complaints of the lungs.3756. Fill a bottle three-quarters full with good brandy, after which add as much salt as will fill the bottle for corking; shake it together twenty minutes; let the salt settle to the bottom, and do not shake it up before using. The clearer it is used the better.3757. A bottle of this preparation should be constantly kept ready for use, as its virtues have been fully tested. When taken inwardly, for asthma, bowel complaints, &c., mix two spoonfuls with equal quantity of warm water.3758.Cancer.—Five out of six cases have been cured by brandy and salt, described above. The pain is very severe, but temporary.3759.Poison, from vines, may be cured by bathing in whiskeyand cream, and cooling with rye flour; if obstinate, use a strong solution of copperas.3760.Simple Remedy for a Pain in the Side.—At bed-time take a fresh cabbage-leaf, hold it near the fire till quite warm, and then apply it to the part affected, binding it tight with a cloth round the body; let it remain for twelve hours or more, when it will generally be found to have removed the pain.3761. If not entirely removed, it will be well to repeat the application of a fresh leaf, allowing it to remain on the same time as the first.3762.Boils.—See page109.3763.Carbuncles.—These should be brought to a head by warm poultices, by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating plasters. When ripe, they should be discharged by a needle, or the lancet. But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved.3764.Constitutional Treatment.—Stimulating food and drinks, such as ale, porter, champagne and other wines. Strong beef tea should be taken freely—it is very nourishing.3765.Carbuncles reduce the strength greatly.—To recover this, Peruvian bark and sea-bathing are recommended.3766.An inflamed bunionshould be poulticed, and larger shoes be worn. Iodine, twelve grains; lard or spermaceti ointment, half an ounce, makes a capital ointment for bunions. It should be rubbed on gently twice or thrice a-day.—See page97.3767.Frost-Bitten Feet.—Dissolve half pound alum in one gallon warm water, and soak fifteen minutes.3768.Valuable Aperient Pills.—Four drachms Castile soap, four drachms soccotrine aloes; make into the pills with a sufficient quantity of syrup. Two or three may be taken when costive.3769.Good Eye-Water.—Ten teaspoonsful of water, one ditto of brandy, and one ditto of vinegar.3770.Lip Salve.—Spermaceti ointment, half an ounce; balsam of Peru, one quarter of a drachm. Mix. It is notcouleur de rose, but it willcure—often with but a single application. Apply athincoating with the forefinger, just before getting into bed.3771.An Excellent Tooth Powder.—Cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root, commingled together in equal quantities, which any one may procure separately from any respectable chemist, and mix himself.3772.To remove Tartar from the Teeth.—Strawberries, ripe, or dried and powdered, are excellent to clean the teeth.3773.To drive away Rats.—Potash strewn around rat holes, will drive the vermin away.3774.To kill Flies.—Cobalt in powder, moistened with hot water, and covered with a little sugar.3775.Gum Water.—It is a fact not generally known that gum should be dissolved in vinegar instead of water, especially when it is wanted for immediate use.3776.To remove Water-stains from Black Crape.—When a drop of water falls on a black crape vail or collar, it leaves a conspicuous white mark. To obliterate this, spread the crape on a table (laying on it a large book or a paper weight to keep it steady), and place underneath the stain a piece of old black silk. With a large camel's hair brush dipped in common ink, go over the stain; and then wipe off the ink with a little bit of old soft silk. It will dry immediately, and the white mark will be seen no more.3777.Copper in liquidsmaybe detected by spirits of hartshorn, which turns them blue.3778.Arsenicmay be detected by a solution of blue vitriol dropped into the suspected liquid, which will turn green, if arsenic be present.3779.To remove Ink Stains from Silver.—The tops andother portions of silver inkstands frequently become discolored with ink, which is difficult to remove by ordinary means. It may, however, becompletelyeradicated by making a little chlorid of lime into a paste with water, and rubbing it upon the stains.3780.To remove Ink Stains from Wood, &c.—As much oxalic acid as will lay on a sixpence, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water; lay some on the wood, and rub hard with a cork until the stain disappears; then wash and repolish. The above will remove the stain, without injury to the color of the wood, mahogany or any other kind. It also cleans the brass-work.3781.To Clean Plate.—Take of cream of tartar, alum, and common salt, each an ounce, and boil in a gallon of water, throw the plate in and boil; when taken out and rubbed dry it will look beautiful. Plate, when laid aside, will generally tarnish, but if cleaned by this method, at stated periods, it will always look well.3782.Washing Paint.—The best method to wash paint is to rub some Bath-brick fine, and when you have rubbed some soap on the flannel, dip it in the brick. This will remove the grease and dirt speedily, without injury.3783.Glue Paste.—Instead of pure water for mixing the flour, use glue-water, to which add some alum and resin to keep it from turning. It must be made very thick.3784.Whenever oil is usedfor the purpose of artificial light, it should be kept free from all exposure to atmospheric air; as itis apt toabsorb considerable quantities of oxygen. If oil is very coarse or tenacious, a very small quantity of oil of turpentine may be added.3785.Bugs.—Spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush into every part of a bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of bugs.—(Seep. 87.)3786.Calcareous Deposits in Boilers.—In a common tea-kettle,potatoesboiled a few times, will remove the calcareous deposits, and a few oyster-shells, kept constantly in the kettle, will prevent future accumulations.3787.To remove the Stoppers of Glass Bottles.—Dip a piece of linen or cloth in hot water, and wrap it tightly round the neck of the bottle. In a few minutes the stopper will probably be loosened; if not, repeat the application. I have never found this method to fail.3788.How to get a Tight Ring off a Finger.—Thread a needle, flat in the eye, with a strong thread, pass the head of the needle with care under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches toward the hand; wrap the long end of the thread tightly round the finger, regularly all down to the nail, to reduce its size. Then lay hold of the short end, and unwind it.3789. The thread repassing against the ring, will gradually remove it from the finger. This never-failing method will remove the tightest ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be.3790.Cleaning Knives.—Mutton fat made hot, and put on a leather or buff-board, with emery-dust—not powder, as that is too sharp—well rubbed in with an old brush, is the best way of giving a knife as good a polish and edge as any razor.3791.To restore the Color to Mahogany.—Wash well with soap and water, and then polish daily with the following oil: Take half an ounce of alkanet root, cut small, and add to a pint of linseed oil; when this has stood for a week, add half an ounce of powdered gum-arabic, and an ounce of shellac varnish; let them stand in a bottle by the fire for a week, then strain. Rub well in.3792.Rice Flour Cement.—An excellent cement may be made from rice flour, which is at present used for that purpose in China and Japan. It is only necessary to mix the rice flour intimately with cold water, and gently simmer it over a fire, when it readily forms a delicate and durable cement, not only answering all the purposes of common paste, but admirablyadapted for joining together paper, cards, &c., in forming the various beautiful and tasteful ornaments which affords much employment and amusement to the ladies.3793. When made of the consistence of plaster-clay, models, busts, bas-relievos, &c. may be formed of it, and the articles, when dry, are susceptible of high polish, and very durable.—(Seep. 70.)3794.Oil of Lavender.—A few drops in a library will keep the books from moulding. A single drop of the same will prevent a pint of ink from mouldiness for any length of time. Paste may be kept from mould entirely by this addition; and leather is also effectually secured from injury by the same agency.3795.Ink.—To make five gallons of good ink, costing but twelve-and-a-half cents, take half a pound of extract of logwood, and dissolve it in five gallons of hot water, and add half an ounce of bichromate potash. Strain and bottle it.3796.Blue Tracing Ink.—Indigo tied in a flannel bag, moistened with water. Put a lump of white sugar into an egg-cup, and squeeze out the blue on it; the sugar stiffens it, so as to prevent its running, and the color depends on the quantity of water used. Use a quill pen.3797.Marking Linen, preparation.—The preparation used for wetting linen, previous to marking it with ink, is a drachm of salt of tartar in one and a half ounces of water.3798.Economy in Candles.—If you would burn a candle all night, unless you use the following precaution, it is ten to one an ordinary candle will gutter away in an hour or two, sometimes to the endangering the safety of a house. This may be avoided by placing as much common salt, finely powdered, as will reach from the tallow to the bottom of the black part of the wick of a partly-burnt candle, when, if the same be lit, it will burn very slowly, yielding sufficient light for a bed-chamber; the salt will gradually sink as the tallow is consumed, the melted tallow being drawn through the salt, and consumed in the wick.3799.Deafness.—Take three drops of a sheep's gall, warm, and drop it into the ear on going to bed. The ear must be thoroughly syringed with warm soap and water in the morning.

3700.Summer Drinks.—Ice may be used in all these beverages.

3701.Tamarind Drink.—Boil three pints of water with an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of stoned raisins, till about a third has evaporated. Strain, add a bit of lemon-peel, which is to be removed in half an hour, then cool.

3702.Sangaree.—Mix a bottle of Marsala wine with a bottle and a half of iced water, sweeten with loaf sugar, and flavor with lemon-juice and grated nutmeg.

3703.Curds and Whey(cheap method).—Add six grains of citric acid to a wine-glassful of milk, and the result will be a pleasant acidulous whey, and a fine curd.

3704.Currant Water.—Take a pound of currants, and squeeze into a quart of water; put in four or five ounces of pounded sugar. Mix well, strain, and ice, or allow to get cold.

3705.Eau Sucré.—Dissolve sugar in boiling water, and drink cold.

3706.Lait Sucré.—Boil a pint of milk, sweeten with white sugar, and flavor with lemon.

3707.Effervescing Lemonade.—Boil two pounds of white sugar with a pint of lemon-juice, bottle and cork. Put a tablespoonful of the syrup into a tumbler about three parts full of cold water, add twenty grains of carbonate of soda and drink quickly.

3708.Quince Syrup.—Grate quinces, pass the pulp through a sieve, then set before the fire for the juice to settle and clarify; strain, and add a pound of sugar (boiled down) to every four ounces of juice; remove from the fire, and when cold, bottle for use. A tablespoonful of this syrup will flavor a pint of water.

3709.Effervescing Saline Draughts.—White sugar powdered eight ounces, tartaric acid two ounces, sesquicarbonate of soda two ounces, essence of lemon a few drops. Mix well and keep in a corked bottle.

3710.Summer Champagne.—To four parts of selter water add one of Moselle wine (or hock), and put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar into a wine-glassful of this mixture; an ebullition takes place, and you have a sort of champagne which is more wholesome in hot weather than the genuine wine known by that name.

3711.An excellent Spring Beverage.—The yolk of eggs beaten up, lump sugar (quantum sufficit), Rhenish wine or not, citric acid, powdered, or tartaric acid (small quantity, exact quantity soon found); one or two drops of essence of lemon on a lump of sugar, to make it mix readily with the water; one quart of water. This is really an excellent, agreeable, and, without the wine, an inexpensive beverage.Good for bilious complaints.

3712.Prevention of Baldness.—Eau de Cologne two ounces, tincture of cantharides two drachms, oil of rosemary, oil of nutmeg, and oil of lavender, each ten drops. To be rubbed on the bald part of the head every night.

3713.Cramp in Bathing.—For the cure of the cramp when swimming, Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock to the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water into the air if possible.

3714.Biting the Nails.—This is a habit that should be immediately corrected in children, as, if persisted in for any length of time, it permanently deforms the nails.

3715. Dipping the finger-ends in some bitter tincture will generally prevent children from putting them to the mouth; but if this fails, as it sometimes will, each finger-end ought to be encased in a finger-stall until the propensity is eradicated.

3716.Flour of Brimstoneis a mild aperient in doses of about a quarter of an ounce; it is best taken in milk.

3717.To Fill a Decayed Tooth.—Procure a small piece of gutta percha, drop it into boiling water, then, with the thumb and finger, take off as much as you suppose will fill up the tooth nearly level, and while in this soft state press it into the tooth; then hold on that side of the mouth cold water two or three times, which will harden it.

3718.Cod-liver oil.—Cod-liver oil is neither more nor less than cod-oil clarified; and consequently two-thirds of its medicinal qualities are abstracted thereby.

3719.Cod oilcan be purchased pure at any wholesale oil warehouse, at about one-thirtieth part of the price charged for the so-called cod-liver oil. Many persons who have used cod-oil pure as imported, have found it to answer much better than the cod-liver oil purchased of a druggist.

3720. The best vehicle for taking cod-liver oil in, is new milk; and the disagreeable flavor of the drug can easily be covered by the addition of one drachm of orange peel to every eight ounces of the oil.

3721.To prevent Lockjaw, from a Nail run into the Foot, or any other injury.—Pour some turpentine into a tin cup and hold it over a lighted candle or the fire until it boils. It boils at so low a temperature that it will not burn when applied to the skin. Make a swab by wrapping soft muslin or linen round a stick. Dip this in the turpentine and apply it to the wound, rubbing it in carefully for some time. Apply it as warm as can be borne.—(See page375.)

3722.Squinting.—Squinting frequently arises from the unequal strength of the eyes, the weaker eye being turned away from the object, to avoid the fatigue of exertion. Cases of squinting of long standing have often been cured by covering the stronger eye, and thereby compelling the weaker one to exertion.

3723. It is often a question amongst people who are unacquainted with the anatomy and physiology of man, whether lying with his head exalted, or even with the body, is most wholesome. Most, consulting their own ease on this point, argue in favor of that which they prefer.

3724. Now, although many delight in bolstering up their heads at night and sleep soundly without injury, yet we declare it to be a dangerous habit. The vessels through which blood passes from the heart to the head, are always lessened in the cavities when the head is resting in bed higher than the body, therefore, in all diseases attended with fever, the head should be pretty near on a level with the body; and people ought to accustom themselves to sleep thus to avoid danger.

3725.Dyeing the Hair.—It may be stated once for all that this practice is decidedly injurious. It may fail altogether in producing the desired result; it is never unattended by a certain amount of unpleasant circumstances, and frequently with evil results.

3726.In the first place, the alteration of the abnormal color, so far as the general aspect of the face is concerned, has an effect the very reverse of that which was intended. Every constituent part of man tends to make the human machine one harmonious whole. The figure, the stature, the skin, the hair, the gait, &c.

3727.Fair hairis associated with a sanguineous and lymphatic temperament, a fine and white skin, blue eyes, and a soft and mild expression.

3728.Black hair, on the contrary, is generally connected with a bilious habit of body, a muscular and nervous temperament,a dark and yellowish skin, lively black eyes, and a bold, proud air.

3729.Red hairis associated with a peculiar constitution, although closely approaching to the fair type. In this variety the skin is transparent, fresh, and presents a peculiar limpidity, which belongs exclusively to the color of hair mentioned.

3730.The Contrast.—If, then, from the impression that red hair is a disfigurement, it is dyed black, what relation can exist between this new color and the soft blue eye, and a skin so fine and so susceptible, that the sun's rays seem to penetrate it, in the form of those lentiginous spots commonly called freckles.

3731. Be at much pains to keep your children's feet dry and warm. Don't bury their bodies in heavy flannels and wools, and leave their knees and legs naked.

3732.For Nausea.—Three drops of hartshorn in a wine-glass of water.

3733.For Sick Headache.—One teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal and one-third of a teaspoonful of soda mixed in very warm water.

3734.Decoction of Sarsaparilla.—Take four ounces of the root, slice it down, put the slices into four pints of water, and simmer for four hours. Take out the sarsaparilla, and beat it into a mash; put it into the liquor again, and boil down to two pints, then strain and cool the liquor. Dose—a wine-glassful three times a day.

3735. Use—to purify the blood after a course of mercury; or indeed whenever any taint is given to the constitution, vitiating the blood, and producing eruptive affections.

3736.Cough Syrup.—Steep for twelve hours or more a teacupful of wild-cherry bark in a quart of water. Add sugar enough to make it quite sweet and let it boil to a syrup.

3737.Cough Syrup—Very Good.—Take a large handfulof the herb hoarhound, and the same quantity of boneset. Steep them in a quart of water till it is reduced to a pint. Then strain the tea and mix with it a pint of syrup and a pint of sugar. Let it simmer for three or four hours, skimming it.

3738.Cure for Pain in the Ear.—Take a teaspoonful of brown sugar, put it on a shovel or any thing that you can place over hot coals of fire until it gets thick, dissolve it in camphor, and drop it in the ear.

3739.Gingerbread Aperients.—Gingerbread, made with oatmeal or with barley flour, is a very agreeable aperient for children. Beware of giving children medicines too frequently.

3740.For Bowel Complaints.—One tablespoonful of flour, one ditto of brandy, one ditto of loaf sugar, mixed together.

3741.Jaundice.—One pennyworth of allspice, ditto of flour of brimstone, ditto of turmeric; these to be well pounded together, and afterward to be mixed with half-a-pound of molasses. Two table-spoonsful to be taken every day.

3742.Night Sweats.—Drink freely of cold sage tea; said to be a certain remedy; or, take elixir of vitriol in a little sweetened water. Dose from twenty to thirty drops.

3743.To Cure a Soft Corn when between the Toes.—A small piece of cotton wool applied fresh every morning—gives no inconvenience, is cleanly and efficacious. Castile Soap placed between the toes is both cure and preventive of soft corns.

3744.Excellent Remedy for Lumbago.—Dip a piece of flannel in scalding water; wring it out, and sprinkle some turpentine immediately over it, and apply it quickly to the part affected by the pain. Repeat this process a few times, and it will afford certain relief.

3745.Burns and Scalds.—Cold water is the readiest, surest, most plentiful, and, for these reasons, the best remedy for burns and scalds. Use it instantly, it will remove pain and smarting; keep a cloth wet andcoldupon the affected part for five or six hours after the injury has occurred; a blister will never rise, and the skin will be quite free from pain afterward.—(See109,110.)

3746.Scratches.—Trifling as scratches often seem, they ought never to be neglected, but should be covered and protected, and kept clean and dry, until they have completely healed.

3747. If there is the least appearance of inflammation, no time should be lost in applying a large bread and water poultice, or hot flannels repeatedly applied.

3748.Ringworm.—The head to be washed twice a day with soft soap and warm soft water; when dried, the places to be rubbed with a piece of linen rag dipped in ammonia from gas tar; the patient should take a little sulphur and molasses, or some other general aperient, every morning; brushes and combs should be washed every day, and the ammonia kept tightly corked.—(See page99.)

3749.Another Cure for Ringworms.—Common sulphur mixed with butter and pepper till it is a salve: apply twice a day.

3750.Invaluable Ointment.—Obtain a pint of real cream, let it simmer over the fire, or on the side, till it resembles butter, and forms a thick oily substance, which maybe used as ointment for fresh or old wounds, cracked lips or hands.

3751.To avoid catching Cold.—Accustom yourself to the use of sponging with cold water every morning on first getting out of bed. It should be followed with a good deal of rubbing with a wet towel. It has considerable effect in giving tone to the skin, and maintaining a proper action in it, and thus proves a safeguard to the injurious influence of cold and sudden changes of temperature.

3752.Frictionof the body is one of the most gentle and salutary kinds of exercise, cleaning the skin, dispersing stagnating humors, promoting perspiration, strengthening the fibres, and increasing the warmth and energy of the whole body.

3753.Depilatory.—Take of sulphate of sodium, or hydro-sulphate of soda, crystallized, three parts; quick-lime in powder, ten ditto; starch, ten; mix. This powder, mixed with a little water, and applied over the skin, acts so rapidly as a depilatory, that if it be removed in a minute or two after its application by means of a wooden knife, the surface of the skin will be entirely deprived of hair.

3754. By this process, the removal of hair becomes so simple, rapid, and safe in operation, that it will possibly supercede the use of the razor in many cases; it is only after several days that the hair begins again to appear.

3755.Brandy and Salt as a Medicine.—It is useful in the reduction of inflammation of fractured limbs or bruises, the alleviation of incurable sores, cure of ringworms, headache, toothache, inflammation in the eyes, ague, colic, pains in the side, chilblains, burns and scalds, cancers, sprains, open sores, asthmas, and complaints of the lungs.

3756. Fill a bottle three-quarters full with good brandy, after which add as much salt as will fill the bottle for corking; shake it together twenty minutes; let the salt settle to the bottom, and do not shake it up before using. The clearer it is used the better.

3757. A bottle of this preparation should be constantly kept ready for use, as its virtues have been fully tested. When taken inwardly, for asthma, bowel complaints, &c., mix two spoonfuls with equal quantity of warm water.

3758.Cancer.—Five out of six cases have been cured by brandy and salt, described above. The pain is very severe, but temporary.

3759.Poison, from vines, may be cured by bathing in whiskeyand cream, and cooling with rye flour; if obstinate, use a strong solution of copperas.

3760.Simple Remedy for a Pain in the Side.—At bed-time take a fresh cabbage-leaf, hold it near the fire till quite warm, and then apply it to the part affected, binding it tight with a cloth round the body; let it remain for twelve hours or more, when it will generally be found to have removed the pain.

3761. If not entirely removed, it will be well to repeat the application of a fresh leaf, allowing it to remain on the same time as the first.

3762.Boils.—See page109.

3763.Carbuncles.—These should be brought to a head by warm poultices, by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating plasters. When ripe, they should be discharged by a needle, or the lancet. But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved.

3764.Constitutional Treatment.—Stimulating food and drinks, such as ale, porter, champagne and other wines. Strong beef tea should be taken freely—it is very nourishing.

3765.Carbuncles reduce the strength greatly.—To recover this, Peruvian bark and sea-bathing are recommended.

3766.An inflamed bunionshould be poulticed, and larger shoes be worn. Iodine, twelve grains; lard or spermaceti ointment, half an ounce, makes a capital ointment for bunions. It should be rubbed on gently twice or thrice a-day.—See page97.

3767.Frost-Bitten Feet.—Dissolve half pound alum in one gallon warm water, and soak fifteen minutes.

3768.Valuable Aperient Pills.—Four drachms Castile soap, four drachms soccotrine aloes; make into the pills with a sufficient quantity of syrup. Two or three may be taken when costive.

3769.Good Eye-Water.—Ten teaspoonsful of water, one ditto of brandy, and one ditto of vinegar.

3770.Lip Salve.—Spermaceti ointment, half an ounce; balsam of Peru, one quarter of a drachm. Mix. It is notcouleur de rose, but it willcure—often with but a single application. Apply athincoating with the forefinger, just before getting into bed.

3771.An Excellent Tooth Powder.—Cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root, commingled together in equal quantities, which any one may procure separately from any respectable chemist, and mix himself.

3772.To remove Tartar from the Teeth.—Strawberries, ripe, or dried and powdered, are excellent to clean the teeth.

3773.To drive away Rats.—Potash strewn around rat holes, will drive the vermin away.

3774.To kill Flies.—Cobalt in powder, moistened with hot water, and covered with a little sugar.

3775.Gum Water.—It is a fact not generally known that gum should be dissolved in vinegar instead of water, especially when it is wanted for immediate use.

3776.To remove Water-stains from Black Crape.—When a drop of water falls on a black crape vail or collar, it leaves a conspicuous white mark. To obliterate this, spread the crape on a table (laying on it a large book or a paper weight to keep it steady), and place underneath the stain a piece of old black silk. With a large camel's hair brush dipped in common ink, go over the stain; and then wipe off the ink with a little bit of old soft silk. It will dry immediately, and the white mark will be seen no more.

3777.Copper in liquidsmaybe detected by spirits of hartshorn, which turns them blue.

3778.Arsenicmay be detected by a solution of blue vitriol dropped into the suspected liquid, which will turn green, if arsenic be present.

3779.To remove Ink Stains from Silver.—The tops andother portions of silver inkstands frequently become discolored with ink, which is difficult to remove by ordinary means. It may, however, becompletelyeradicated by making a little chlorid of lime into a paste with water, and rubbing it upon the stains.

3780.To remove Ink Stains from Wood, &c.—As much oxalic acid as will lay on a sixpence, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water; lay some on the wood, and rub hard with a cork until the stain disappears; then wash and repolish. The above will remove the stain, without injury to the color of the wood, mahogany or any other kind. It also cleans the brass-work.

3781.To Clean Plate.—Take of cream of tartar, alum, and common salt, each an ounce, and boil in a gallon of water, throw the plate in and boil; when taken out and rubbed dry it will look beautiful. Plate, when laid aside, will generally tarnish, but if cleaned by this method, at stated periods, it will always look well.

3782.Washing Paint.—The best method to wash paint is to rub some Bath-brick fine, and when you have rubbed some soap on the flannel, dip it in the brick. This will remove the grease and dirt speedily, without injury.

3783.Glue Paste.—Instead of pure water for mixing the flour, use glue-water, to which add some alum and resin to keep it from turning. It must be made very thick.

3784.Whenever oil is usedfor the purpose of artificial light, it should be kept free from all exposure to atmospheric air; as itis apt toabsorb considerable quantities of oxygen. If oil is very coarse or tenacious, a very small quantity of oil of turpentine may be added.

3785.Bugs.—Spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush into every part of a bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of bugs.—(Seep. 87.)

3786.Calcareous Deposits in Boilers.—In a common tea-kettle,potatoesboiled a few times, will remove the calcareous deposits, and a few oyster-shells, kept constantly in the kettle, will prevent future accumulations.

3787.To remove the Stoppers of Glass Bottles.—Dip a piece of linen or cloth in hot water, and wrap it tightly round the neck of the bottle. In a few minutes the stopper will probably be loosened; if not, repeat the application. I have never found this method to fail.

3788.How to get a Tight Ring off a Finger.—Thread a needle, flat in the eye, with a strong thread, pass the head of the needle with care under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches toward the hand; wrap the long end of the thread tightly round the finger, regularly all down to the nail, to reduce its size. Then lay hold of the short end, and unwind it.

3789. The thread repassing against the ring, will gradually remove it from the finger. This never-failing method will remove the tightest ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be.

3790.Cleaning Knives.—Mutton fat made hot, and put on a leather or buff-board, with emery-dust—not powder, as that is too sharp—well rubbed in with an old brush, is the best way of giving a knife as good a polish and edge as any razor.

3791.To restore the Color to Mahogany.—Wash well with soap and water, and then polish daily with the following oil: Take half an ounce of alkanet root, cut small, and add to a pint of linseed oil; when this has stood for a week, add half an ounce of powdered gum-arabic, and an ounce of shellac varnish; let them stand in a bottle by the fire for a week, then strain. Rub well in.

3792.Rice Flour Cement.—An excellent cement may be made from rice flour, which is at present used for that purpose in China and Japan. It is only necessary to mix the rice flour intimately with cold water, and gently simmer it over a fire, when it readily forms a delicate and durable cement, not only answering all the purposes of common paste, but admirablyadapted for joining together paper, cards, &c., in forming the various beautiful and tasteful ornaments which affords much employment and amusement to the ladies.

3793. When made of the consistence of plaster-clay, models, busts, bas-relievos, &c. may be formed of it, and the articles, when dry, are susceptible of high polish, and very durable.—(Seep. 70.)

3794.Oil of Lavender.—A few drops in a library will keep the books from moulding. A single drop of the same will prevent a pint of ink from mouldiness for any length of time. Paste may be kept from mould entirely by this addition; and leather is also effectually secured from injury by the same agency.

3795.Ink.—To make five gallons of good ink, costing but twelve-and-a-half cents, take half a pound of extract of logwood, and dissolve it in five gallons of hot water, and add half an ounce of bichromate potash. Strain and bottle it.

3796.Blue Tracing Ink.—Indigo tied in a flannel bag, moistened with water. Put a lump of white sugar into an egg-cup, and squeeze out the blue on it; the sugar stiffens it, so as to prevent its running, and the color depends on the quantity of water used. Use a quill pen.

3797.Marking Linen, preparation.—The preparation used for wetting linen, previous to marking it with ink, is a drachm of salt of tartar in one and a half ounces of water.

3798.Economy in Candles.—If you would burn a candle all night, unless you use the following precaution, it is ten to one an ordinary candle will gutter away in an hour or two, sometimes to the endangering the safety of a house. This may be avoided by placing as much common salt, finely powdered, as will reach from the tallow to the bottom of the black part of the wick of a partly-burnt candle, when, if the same be lit, it will burn very slowly, yielding sufficient light for a bed-chamber; the salt will gradually sink as the tallow is consumed, the melted tallow being drawn through the salt, and consumed in the wick.

3799.Deafness.—Take three drops of a sheep's gall, warm, and drop it into the ear on going to bed. The ear must be thoroughly syringed with warm soap and water in the morning.

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