BARBER'S SHAMPOOING MIXTURE.—Soft Water one pint, Sal Soda one ounce, Cream Tartar one-fourth ounce. Apply thoroughly to the hair.
CRUCIBLES.—The best crucibles are made of a pure fire clay, mixed with finely ground cement of oil crucibles, and a portion of black lead or graphite; some pounded coke may be mixed with the plumbago. The clay should be prepared in a similar way as for making pottery ware. The vessels, after being formed, must be slowly dried, and then properly baked in a kiln.
Black Lead Cruciblesare made of two parts of Graphite and one of Fire Clay, mixed with Water into a paste, pressed in moulds, and well dried, but not baked hard in the kiln. This compound forms excellent small or portable furnaces.
WHAT TO INVENT, AND HOW TO PROTECT YOUR INVENTION.
WHAT TO INVENT.—Cheap, useful articles that will sell at sight. Something that everyone needs, and the poorest can afford. Invent simple things for the benefit of the masses, and your fortune is made. Some years back a one-armed soldier amassed a fortune from a single toy—a wooden ball attached to a rubber string. They cost scarcely anything, yet millions were sold at a good price. A German became enormously rich by patenting a simple wooden plug for beer barrels. "What man has done, man may do."
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR INVENTION.—Patent it. If you do not, others will reap the benefits that rightfully belong to you.
A PATENT IS A PROTECTION given to secure the inventor in the profits arising from the manufacture and sale of an article of his own creation.
TO WHOM LETTERS PATENT ARE GRANTED.—Section 4886 of the Revised Statutes of the United States provides that: "Any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, not known or used by others in this country, and not patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, before his invention or discovery thereof, and not in public use, or on sale for more than two years prior to his application, unless the same is proved to have been abandoned, may, upon the payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings had, obtain a patent therefor."
And section 4888 of the same Statute enacts:
Section 4888. Before any inventor or discoverer shall receive a patent for his invention or discovery, he shall make application therefor, in writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, and shall file in the Patent Office a written description of the same, and of the manner and process of making, constructing, compounding, and using it, in such full, clear, concise and exact terms, as to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make, construct, compound, and use the same; and in case of a machine, he shall explain the principle thereof and the best mode in which he has contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions; and he shall particularly point out and distinctly claim that part, improvement or combination which he claims as his invention or discovery. The specification and claim shall be signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses.
It is also required by law that when "The case admits of drawings," it shall be properly illustrated; and also, if the Commissioner requires it, that a model shall be furnished in cases capable of such demonstration.
The cost of obtaining Letters Patent in ordinary cases is: First, Government fees, $15; counsel fees, including drawings, $25; second, or final Government fees, to be paid within six months from date of allowance, $20; total, $60.
DESIGNS.—A design patent can be obtained for novelties in the shape of configuration of articles, or impressions by any means whatever. These patents are of great value to the trade.
The Government fees for a design patent are:
CAVEATS.—A caveat is a confidential communication used in the Patent Office, and it consists of a specification, drawings, oath and petition. The specification must contain a clear description of the intended invention.
HOW A COPYRIGHT IS SECURED.—The method by which a copyright is obtained under the revised acts of Congress is as simple and inexpensive as can be reasonably asked. All unnecessary red tape is dispensed with, and the cost to the author who is seeking thus to protect himself in the enjoyment of the profits of his work, is so small as to be scarcely appreciable. This is an example of cheapness and directness toward which all branches of public administration should tend, if a government is to fulfill its proper mission of serving the people without needlessly taxing them. Directions have lately been issued for the guidance of persons wishing to obtain copyrights; and, as many of our readers may not be conversant with the subject, we give a brief abstract of the process.
The first thing necessary is to send a printed copy of the title of the work, plainly directed to "Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C." The copyright law applies not only to books, pamphlets and newspapers, but also to maps, charts, photographs, paintings, drawings, music, statuary, etc. If there is a title page, send that; if not, a title must be printed expressly for the purpose, and in both cases the name of the author or claimant of copyright must accompany the title. Use no smaller paper than commercial note.
A remittance of one dollar must be made along with the application. This is the whole charge—half of it being for the entry on the record, and the other half for your certificate, which the Librarian will send you promptly by mail. You will of course prepay your postage.
Within ten days after your book, or other article, is published, you are required to send two complete copies of the best edition to the Librarian, addressed as before, prepaying postage; or the Librarian will furnish "penalty labels," under which they can be sent free of postage. If this deposit of copies is neglected, the copyright is void, and you are liable to fine of $25.
The law requires that on the title page of a copyrighted work, or some part of the drawing, painting, statue, or whatever it may be, there shall be printed these words: "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year ——, by ——, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington;" or, if preferred, this briefer form may be used: "Copyright, 18—, by ——." To this may be added, "Right of translation reserved," or "All rights reserved;" but in that case the Librarian must have been duly notified, so that he may include it in the record.
Any person who prints the copyright notice on his work without having obtained a copyright, is liable to a penalty of $1.00. The original term of a copyright runs for twenty-eight years, and it may then be renewed for a further term of fourteen years, either by the author or by his widow or children, application being made not less than six months before the expiration of the right. Trade marks and labels cannot be copyrighted under this law, but are provided for by a separate act, relating to matters of detail, which cannot here be recited, but in regard to which, the Librarian at Washington will give the needed information whenever required.
TRADE MARKS, LABELS, PRINTS, ETC.—Copyrights cannot be granted upon trade marks, nor upon mere names of companies or articles, nor upon prints or labels intended to be used with any article of manufacture. If protection for such names or labels is desired, application must be made to the Patent Office, where they are registered at a fee of $6 for labels, and $25 for trade marks.
By the word "print" is meant any device, word, or figures (not a trade mark) impressed directly upon the article, to denote the name of the manufacturer, etc.
By the word "label" is meant a slip of paper, or other material, to be attached to manufactured articles, or to packages containing them, and bearing the name of the manufacturer, directions for use, etc.
WATER ICES.—Some make these with acid, water, flavor, and the whites of eggs.No good.
The best rules for the amount of sugar is to suit your taste.
FRANGIPANNA.—Spirits one gallon, Oil Bergamot one ounce, Oil of Lemon one ounce; macerate for four days, frequently shaking; then add Water one gallon, Orange Flower Water one pint, Essence of Vanilla two ounces. Mix.
SILVERING POWDER.—Nitrate of Silver and common Salt, of each thirty grains, Cream of Tartar three and one-half drachms. Pulverize finely, mix thoroughly, and bottle for use. Unequaled for polishing copper and plated goods.
EXTRACT OF LEMON.—Three ounces Oil Lemon; cut with 95 proof Alcohol; add one gallon 80 proof Alcohol, and filter through cotton or felt. Put up in two ounce bottles. Sells for 25 cents; jobs at $1.00 and $1.50 according to quality and style of package.
BALM OF A THOUSAND FLOWERS.—Deodorized Alcohol one pint, nice white Bar Soap four ounces; shave the soap when put in, stand in a warm place till dissolved, then add Oil of Citronella one drachm, and Oils of Neroli and Rosemary, of each one-half drachm.
TIN CANS.—Size of sheet for from 1 to 100 gallons:
This includes all laps, seams, etc., which will be found sufficiently correct for all practical purposes.
MOULDS AND DIES.—Copper, Zinc and Silver in equal proportions, melt together under a coat of powdered charcoal, and mould into the form you desire. Bring them to nearly a white heat, and lay on the thing you would take an impression of, press with sufficient force, and you will get a perfect and beautiful impression.
INDESTRUCTIBLE LAMP WICKS.—Steep common wicks in a concentrated aqueous solution of Tungstate of Soda, and then dry thoroughly in an oven.
A GOLD PLATE FOR SMALL ARTICLES, WITHOUT A BATTERY.—Digest a small fragment of gold with about ten times its weight of mercury until it is dissolved, shake the amalgam together in a bottle, and after cleansing the articles, coat them uniformly with the amalgam. Then expose them on an iron tray heated to low redness for a few minutes. The mercury volatilizes, leaving the gold attached as a thin coating to the article. The heating should be done in a stove, so that the poisonous mercurial fumes may pass up the chimney.
A GELATINE MOULD FOR CASTING PLASTER ORNAMENTS.—Allow twelve ounces of Gelatine to soak for a few hours in water, until it has absorbed as much as it can, then apply heat, by which it will liquify. If the mould is required to be elastic, add three ounces of Treacle, and mix well with the Gelatine. If a little Chrome Alum (precise proportions are immaterial) be added to the Gelatine, it causes it to lose its property of being again dissolved in water. A saturated solution of Bichromate of Potash brushed over the surface of the mould, allowed to become dry and afterwards exposed to sunlight for a few minutes, renders the surface so hard as to be unaffected by moisture.
IMITATION OF GROUND GLASS.—The following is from an Antwerp scientific journal. Paint the glass with the following varnishes: Sandarac eighteen drachms, Mastic four drachms, Ether twenty-four ounces, Benzine six to eighteen ounces. The more Benzine the coarser the grain of imitation glass will be.
UNSHRINKABLE PATTERNS.—The best mixture for small patterns, that does not shrink in casting, is sixty-nine parts Lead, fifteen and one-half parts Antimony, fifteen and one-half parts Bismuth, by weight. A cheap kind for finished patterns can be made of ten parts Zinc, one part Antimony, one part Tin.
TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL MARBLE FOR PAPER WEIGHTS OR OTHER FANCY ARTICLES.—Soak Plaster of Paris in a solution of Alum, bake it in an over, and then grind it to a powder. In using mix it with water, and to produce the clouds and veins stir in any dry color you wish; this will become very hard, and is susceptible of a very high polish.
MOLDS OF GLUE AND MOLASSES, SUCH AS RODGERS USES FOR MAKING HIS STATUETTES.—The flexible moulds referred to are prepared as follows: Glue eight pounds, Molasses (New Orleans) seven pounds. Soak the Glue over night in a small quantity of cold water, then melt it by heat over a salt water bath, stir until froth begins to rise, then add and stir in briskly the Molasses previously heated. Continue to heat and stir the mixture for about half an hour; then pour.
TO CLARIFY LIQUIDS.—The following composition is said to bleach all colored liquids, and to render bone-black perfectly unnecessary: Albumen three hundred, Neutral Tartrate of Potash two, Alum five, Sal Ammoniac seven hundred parts. The Albumen must of course not be coagulated. The ingredients are first dissolved in a little water and then added to the liquid to be clarified.
TO PREVENT STORE WINDOWS FROM STEAMING.—J. F. writes: I am about to have the front show windows of my store inclosed with inside windows. Can you tell any way to prevent the outside windows frosting in cold weather? A. Clean the glass occasionally with a cloth moistened with pure Glycerine, wiping it so as to leave only a trace of the Glycerine adhering to the surface—this on the inside.
ARTIFICIAL INDIA RUBBER.—A cheap and useful substitute for Indian rubber is prepared by mixing a thick solution of Glue with Tungstate of Soda and Hydrochloric Acid. A compound of Tungstic Acid and Glue is precipitated, which at a temperature of 86 degrees to 104 degrees F. is sufficiently elastic to admit of being drawn out into very thin sheets. On cooling this mass becomes solid and brittle, but on being heated is again soft and plastic. This new compound can be used for many of the purposes to which rubber is adapted.
RUBBER STAMPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.—Many photographers employ a rubber stamp for imprinting the backs of mounts, and in these circumstances a good ink is very essential. Here is the recipe for making one quoted from theEngineer, and said to yield an excellent ink which, while not drying on the pad, will yet not readily smear when impressed upon paper: Aniline Red (Violet) one hundred and eighty grains, distilled Water two ounces, Glycerine one teaspoonful, Treacle one-half teaspoonful. The crystals of Aniline are powdered and dissolved in the boiling distilled water, and the other ingredients then added.
A GOOD IDEA.—How to Remove Pain and Soreness from Wounds.The value of the smoke from burned wool to remove the pain and soreness from wounds of all kinds, or from sores, is great, and it will give immediately relief from the intense pain caused by a gathering. The easiest way to prepare this is to cut all-wool flannel—if you haven't the wool—into narrow strips, take some hot ashes with a few small live coals on a shovel, sprinkle some of the flannel strips on it, and hold the injured member in the smoke for five or ten minutes, using plenty of flannel to make a thick smoke. Repeat as often as seems necessary, though one smoking is usually enough.
CHILBLAINS.—We glean two prescriptions from theBritish Medical Journal. They are now being used in this country, and with good results. Lin. Belladonnæ two drachms, Lin. Aconita one drachm, Acid Carbolici six minims, Collod. Flexil one ounce.
Mix and apply every night with a camel's hair pencil, Collod. Flexil four drachms, Oleiricini four drachms, Spt. Tereb, four drachms. Use three times daily with camel's hair brush.
SAID TO BE GOOD FOR GRIP.—Anything that affords hope of relief from Grip is of interest. Pauline Crayson writes from Cranford, N.J., toNew York Tribune, saying: "I have found Peroxide of Hydrogen (medicinal) a marvelous remedy in the treatment of grip and influenza. This medicine should be diluted with water and administered internally, and by snuffing through the nostrils or by spraying the nostrils and throat. I believe the good results from this treatment, which I have never known to fail of producing a speedy cure, are due to the destruction of the microbe upon which this disease depends." The remedy is simple and within the reach of everybody, and can easily be tested.
STICKS LIKE A BROTHER.—A paste that will adhere to anything.—Prof. Alex. Winchell is credited with the invention of a cement that will stick to anything (Nat. Drug). Take two ounces of clear Gum Arabic, one and one-half ounces of fine Starch and one-half ounce of White Sugar. Pulverize the Gum Arabic, and dissolve it in as much water as the laundress would use for the quality of starch indicated. Dissolve the starch and sugar in the gum solution. Then cook the mixture in a vessel suspended in boiling water until the starch becomes clear. The cement should be as thick as tar and keep so. It can be kept from spoiling by dropping in a lump of Gum Camphor, or a little Oil of Cloves or Sassafras. This cement is very strong indeed, and will stick perfectly to glazed surfaces, and is good to repair broken rocks, minerals or fossils. The addition of a small amount or Sulphate of Aluminum will increase the effectiveness of the paste, besides helping to prevent decomposition.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING ALL KINDS OF CANDY.
MOLASSES TAFFY.—New Orleans Molasses one pint, Sugar one and one-half pounds, Water one-half pint (no doctor). Stir all the time to a good light snap. Lemon flavor. Work as above.
CREAM TAFFY.—Same as above. When to the ball degree have ready half cup cider vinegar, one-fourth pipe Cream Tartar, dissolve in the Vinegar, four ounces Butter. Add, stir, and work as you do the white taffy.
NUT TAFFY.—Use the cream taffy recipe. Just before the candy is done cooking stir in any kind of nut goodies, pour out, and when cool enough not to run, form it into a block, cut or break it with a hammer.
GOOD BROWN BUTTER-SCOTCH.—C Sugar, three pounds; Water, one and one-fourth pint; Cream Tartar, one full pipe dissolved in one cup Cider Vinegar; Molasses, one-half pint; Butter, eight ounces (no flavor). Add all except the Vinegar, Cream Tartar and Butter. Boil to medium ball, then add the Cream Tartar in the Vinegar and Butter. Stir all the time carefully. Boil to light snap finish as before in cheap Butter-Scotch.
SOUR LEMON DROPS.—Make a batch of barley squares. Just as soon as you pour it on the slab sprinkle over it three-fourths ounce dry Tartaric Acid, two tablespoons Lemon flavor; turn the cold edges in to the center of the batch, work it like bread dough; place this before a hot stove on your table and cut into little pieces with your scissors, or run the batch through a drop machine.
All goods that you want to spin out or run through a machine or cut with scissors should be kept warm by a sheet iron stove, on a brick foundation, fitted in the table evenly, and the candy placed in front to keep warm.
Should the candy slab, after it is greased, act sticky, not allowing the candy to come up freely, throw a dust of flour over the sticky place after it has been greased.
STICK CANDY.—Stick candy is made precisely the same as peppermint clips, by keeping the batch round, and a second person to twist them and keep them rolling until cold. This can be done only by practice. The sticks are then chopped in the desired length by heavy shears.
STRAWBERRY.—Same, only flavor with strawberry; color with liquid coloring slightly.
MAPLE CARAMELS.—Use one-half Maple Sugar with C Sugar. No flavor.
WALNUT CARAMELS.—Same as the first. When done, stir in sufficient nuts to suit.
A better caramel can be made with white sugar, and milk instead of water.
Still better, by using cream one quart, and when cream cannot be had, condensed milk dissolved in milk works fine.
ALMOND BARS.—Same as peanut, only add the Almond nuts in time to allow them to roast a little in the boiling sugar. One-fourth of a pint of New Orleans syrup added to the boiling sugar improves the flavor and color.
CHOCOLATE COATING.—Can use sweet confectioners', or confectioners' plain (never use the quarter and one-pound grocery packages, as it contains too much sugar to melt good). Place a small piece of paraffine the size of a hickory-nut and one small teaspoon of lard in a rice cooker, melt, add one-half pound of chocolate, stir until dissolved; dip balls of cream in this chocolate, drop on wax paper to cool, and you have fine hand made chocolate drops.
COLD SUGAR ICING.—For dipping cream drops. Confectioners' sugar with the white of eggs and a small amount of dissolved Gum Arabic in water. Make this into a batter. If thick, the drops will be rough; if thin, the drops will be smooth.
COCOANUT CREAM ICE.—Two pounds granulated sugar, three-fourths pint water, boil to a light crack; set off, add four ounces glucose (or the amount of cream tartar you can hold on the point of a penknife); set back on the fire, just let come to a boil to dissolve the glucose; set off again, add immediately one-fourth ounce shaved paraffine, six ounces cream dough cut up fine, one grated cocoanut. Stir all until it creams, pour out into a frame on brown paper dusted with flour, mark and cut with a knife when cold.
OPERA CREAMS.—Two pounds white sugar, three-fourths pint cow's cream, boil to a soft ball; set off; add two ounces glucose; set on, stir easy until it commences to boil, then pour out, let get three-fourths cold, and stir it until it turns into a cream. Then work into two tablespoons vanilla, line a pan with wax paper, flatten the batch in it, and mark it in squares. Set aside two hours to harden.
ITALIAN CREAM OPERAS.—Melt four ounces butter with four ounces plain chocolate. Take a batch of the opera cream; when cooked, add the above, stir it in the kettle until it creams, then pan and work it as you do the operas.
BUTTER CREAMS.—One and one-half pounds white sugar, and one-half pound C. sugar, three-fourths pound glucose, one-fourth pint molasses, one and one-fourth pint water; boil to the hard snap, add six ounces butter, set off until it melts; set on and let boil, to well mix the butter; pour out. Have one pound hard cream dough thoroughly warmed, just so you can handle it. When the batch is cold enough on the stove to handle, place the warm cream lengthwise on the center of it and completely wrap the cream up in it. Place this on your table before your heater, spin out in long strips, have some one to mark them heavy or good. When cold, break where marked.
BOSTON CHIPS.—Three pounds of white sugar, one-half pipe cream tartar, one and one-fourth pints water; boil with a lid over it to the hard snap; pour; pull this only half as much as any other candy; for too much pulling takes out all the gloss when done; flavor it on the hook; wear your gloves, place it before your heater on the table, flatten out and spin out into thin ribbons, break off and curl them up in little piles.
Strawberry chips can be made the same way, adding a pinch of cochineal paste.
DATE OR FIG SQUARES.—Can be made by cutting them fine, scatter them thick over the greased stone, and pour over them a batch of barley square candy. Mark and cut with a knife.
PINE TREE TAR COUGH CANDY.—First have one tablespoon oil of tar dissolved in two tablespoons of alcohol.
Cook to a hard snap twenty pounds sugar (white), three quarts water, three pounds glucose; pour out; scatter over (while cooling) twenty drops of tar, two tablespoons oil of capsicum, three tablespoons oil of wintergreen; work all well into the batch (do not pull this on the hook).
Place before your heater on the table and spin it out in large round sticks. Have some one to keep them rolling until cold. Cut into sticks about three and one-half inches long. Wrap them in printed labels.
DATE AND FIG CREAMS.—Seed dates, cut a piece out of the end V shape, insert a white or pink cream ball, press it in, and stick a clove in the end; it looks like a pear.
Cut figs in strips, place the seedy side around a piece of cream dough. The hand made cream can be made into various varieties of candy to suit your fancy.
FACTORY CREAM DOUGH.—This recipe is worth twenty-five dollars to any candy maker. When the cream is first done it appears flaky and coarse; but the next morning it is fine, and the longer it sets the better it is. When made up it never gets stale or hard. Never use flour to roll out cream with when you can get the XXX lozenge sugar. Forty pounds granulated sugar, five quarts water; boil to a stiff ball; set off; add quickly twelve pounds of glucose. Do not stir. Set on the fire, let it come to a boil until you see even the scum boiled in (do not allow the glucose to cook in the sugar). Pour out, wait only until you can lay the back of your hand on the top of batch. (Never let it get colder, it is better to cream while hot than cold like other goods). Cream it with two garden hoes, or cream scrapers. Add while creaming one-fourth pint scant measure of glycerine. No need of kneading it, scrape into your tub for use. (If A sugar is used the cream is sticky.)
IMITATION HAND-MADE CHOCOLATE.—Take a suitable hand made. Make your plaster paris prints. Take a quantity of the above cream, melt in a bath, flavor and mould. Dip.
A NUMBER ONE CHOCOLATE DROP.—Moulding cream; granulated sugar, twenty pounds; water, three quarts. Boiled to a thread, set off, add three pounds of glucose dissolved; pour, let get cold. Cream, melt, add pinch of glucose to one pint simple syrup; four tablespoonfuls of glycerine. Stir. Mould.
CHEAP CHOCOLATES.—Quick work. Make a batch of the above number one. Exactly the same process. After the glucose is dissolved in the batch do not pour out, but add five pounds of the hard factory cream in pieces. Stir, flavor, melt. Set this kettle in a kettle of boiling water, have a boy to stir and watch it; do not allow it to get so thin as to simmer, only thin enough to run into your starch prints. This cream saves time and labor.
TO WORK OVER SCRAPS OF CANDY.—To thirty pounds of scraps use one gallon water; stir until it boils; set off, for it would never melt any more by boiling; continue stirring until all is dissolved. Set aside until cold. Skim off the top. This can be worked into hoar-hound or dark penny goods, pop-corn bricks, etc.
TO COOK OVER MAPLE SUGAR.—To sixty pounds broken up maple, add water (according to the hard or soft grain of the sugar) enough to dissolve. Stir until melted. If the grain was soft, add fifteen pounds granulated sugar; if the hard grain, only add that amount of C. sugar. Boil to 244 degrees by thermometer, or good ball. Take out some in porcelain sauce pan, grain until cloudy (to make quick work always have a small portion in the same sauce pan for the next stirring). Pour in moulds greased, or put in a tub of cold water.
ARTIFICIAL MAPLE SUGAR.—Dark C. sugar (driest), two pounds; water, one-third pint; butter, two ounces, melted; flavor with maple flavor; boil to a ball, cream in the pan. Pour before it gets too stiff.
MOLASSES POP-CORN BALLS.—Always sift your corn after it is popped. For home use, add butter and lemon flavor to your syrup. This is too expensive for retail and factory use, though some use lard sparingly. Boil molasses to a stiff ball, wet your tub, put in your corn; now with a dipper pour over your candy and stir with a paddle through the corn, wet your hands in cold water, make your balls and wrap in wax paper, twisting the ends close to the balls.
FOR WHITE OR RED.—Sugar and glucose half and half, water, to melt and boil as above. Work the same.
To make six hundred bricks a day and pop this corn, put a coarse sieve in a box or barrel bottom, instead of the natural bottom. Sift your corn. Have your popper made with a swinging wire, hanging from the ceiling down over the furnace to save labor. Have a stout, thick, wide board for the floor of your press; make a stout frame the width that two brick will measure in length; as long as twelve bricks are thick, and have your boards six or eight inches wide. Put your frame together; now make a stout lid of one-inch lumber to fit in your frame; have four cleats nailed crosswise to make it stout, and a 2×4 piece nailed lengthwise across the top of these (shorter than the lid is); now for a lever get a hard 2×4, six to eight feet long; fasten the ends of this lever to the floor, giving it six inches of the rope to play in.
Now you are ready; wet your flour board and dust it with flour; do the lid and frame the same. To every thirty pounds melted scraps of candy use two pounds of butter. (You can't cut the bricks without it.) Cook to a hard ball.
To three-fourths tub of corn, pour three small dippers of syrup; pour this when mixed in your frame on the flour board, put on the lid, with the lever press once the center, once each end, and once more the center; take out the lid, lift the frame, dump out on the table. When two-thirds cool, cut lengthwise with a sharp, thin knife, then cut your bricks off crosswise.
Penny pop-corn bricks are made the same way.
CANDY PENNY POP-CORN PIECES.—Cook a batch of glucose to a light snap, flavor well, pour thin. While hot place your pop-corn sheet hard down on the candy, mark deep cut and wrap. I have put boys on this work in the shop at five dollars a week pay, and knew them to clear for the proprietor from five to twenty dollars daily for several months; one to pop corn, one to cook syrup, one to press, and one to cut them, girls to wrap and box.
TO SHELL COCOANUTS.—Take the nut in the left hand with the three eyes up; strike from the nut down with your hatchet; peel with a knife or spoke shave, cut them into four pieces, cover them with water, set on the furnace, and let come to a good boil. If the nuts are sour, strain and add fresh cold water quickly so as the heat will not darken them, and repeat. If very sour scrape the insides out. Grate them, taking out one pieces at a time, as the air does them no good.
RED CENTER.—Take two-thirds, pour thin; color the remaining one-third red with the liquor color; place this on the half of the two-thirds, and turn the other up over on top, roll out flat with a roller, cool, cut.
The same goods cooked to a soft ball may be made into balls to be coated in red sugar after throwing them in hot sugar syrup; also to be dipped in melted cream, or brown the cocoanut balls on top with burnt sugar. Chocolate glaze cream coating eats well over these goods, or dip the balls as you like.
FLAVORINGS.—To any kind of oils take eight times in bulk the amount of Alcohol: stir, let set in a warm place a short time; can be used if needed immediately.
HOME MADE MAPLE SUGAR.—To two pounds of maple (bricks, not cakes) 1 pint water, one-third pipe cream of tartar (or four ounces of glucose is best); boil slow to a smooth degree, cool, skim. White sugar can be used.
To keep molasses from sugaring in the barrel; when making the molasses, to every barrel add twenty pounds of glucose, stir it in.
To lighten the color and aid the flavor of rank, dark molasses, do the same as above. To allow molasses to cool slowly makes it dark. It should be stirred lively until cool.
Also to improve sour, rank molasses, take the molasses, for instance, ten gallons; take five pounds dry C sugar, five pounds glucose, water two quarts. Boil the sugar and glucose until thoroughly dissolved; add the molasses, boil five minutes. You can make fine syrup this way.
TO MAKE A CANDY HOUSE.—House for a show window. Take any design you fancy, of card board. Cut out the windows; place this on your candy slab. Now with a lead pencil mark out your design, and as many of each piece as you need (it is a good idea to make an extra piece so if you break one you can go ahead). Now take of the icing sugar and fill your paper funnel as if for cake icing, and overline the pencil marks you made on the stone. When done you find you have a frame that will hold hot candy. Boil a batch of Barley Square goods (mentioned in this book), and pour on some in a dipper; take this and pour in your icing sugar frame or patterns you made on the stone, when half cold, so as not to run; run a thin knife under them carefully, lift them and lay them in a different place on the stone; when you have moulded all cut off the icing sugar that sticks to the candy. Then put your candy house together, sides first, and take pieces of lemon stick candy, dip them in the hot candy, and stick in the bottom and top corners of your house; hold them a few seconds to cool, then finish likewise. When done, take your icing sugar and funnel paper and on the outside corners of the candy house put icing sugar and the windows finish the same. Candies, if desired, can be stuck on with the icing sugar, etc. The icing sugar should be stiff for a nice job, and will hide the corners.
Candy pyramids can be made this way also.
TO MAKE A DELICIOUS CANDY COCOANUT CAKE.—Have your cake layers cold. Place in your rice steamer one-half grated cocoanut and a chunk of hand-made cream the size of your fist; stir until mixed and you can spread it; do not melt it more than necessary. This cake will not dry out if made with factory cream. I gave this recipe to two London practical cake bakers; they said it beat any cake recipe they had ever received.
Put your mind to work and with a little practice you will get up candies of your own invention, from the knowledge you derive here in this book.
ICE CREAM.—I will give only the best recipe, my own improvement, as workmen will find all my private recipes in this book to be different from others, as well as first-class. Two quarts thick cream, one pound A sugar, one-fourth ounce French gelatine, yolks of three eggs; add one quart of the cream and gelatine, set on the fire; stir; do not let boil; melt; set off, add the eggs and sugar stirred up together with a little of the cream, stirring all the time; set on, let get hot; set off, add the other quart of cream; stir, strain, freeze. Break your ice fine; use salt from one pint to one quart. Flavor after it is frozen.
FAIR GROUND LEMONADE.—Take one barrel water; dissolve in one quart of warm water twenty-five cents worth citric acid; dissolve two dollars' worth A sugar in one gallon water. Stir all together. A few cut up pieces of lemon can be added for appearance sake.
JAP COCOANUT.—One pound XXX confectioner's sugar, dampened a little; one and one-half pounds glucose; stir when cooked to a soft ball; add all the grated cocoanut it will stick together; boil, stir to the lightest crack.
LEMON ICE.—Seven lemons, the juice only, juice of three oranges. Take one pint water, dissolve in one-half ounce of French sheet gelatine; then add whites of two eggs, one and one-fourth pounds A sugar, dissolved; add all together with three pints cold water; freeze as for ice cream. Keep machine running briskly until finished.
ORANGE ICE.—The same by changing the fruit proportionately.
THE ADULTERATIONS USED BY CERTAIN FACTORIES.—(Please never try to make use of the following, for I never would print it for that purpose, only to expose the stuff.)
Grape sugar, which looks like cheap suet melted, and is so hard as to be chopped with an ax, though it dissolves readily. Terra alba, white clay, which is fine as sugar, and is sieved into cream work or on candy, and worked into it. Rice flour, ground rice mixed into cocoanut goods; cerealine, ground, prepared corn mixed into cocoanut. Glucose has the name of being an adulteration, though I fail, from seventeen years' experience, to find it such; it contains nothing outside of the acid to make it so, and that is in so small a portion as to be harmless. It is an article that is of greater value to man than the inexperienced give it credit for. If I had time I could argue this question satisfactorily to any unprejudiced person. Gamboge is a bad article for candy, yellow, cheap, hurtful color. Ground cocoanut shells are used mostly in adulterating pepper, etc. "Who is to blame for adulterating goods?" I claim three parties—first, the proprietor; next, candy makers; and next, the ignorant class of people that want sixteen cents' worth of boiled sugar for eight cents, when they do not stop to think it could not possibly be made for less than eight cents, all told.
Germany and France have strong laws against all adulterations. Soon America will prohibit the same, and bless God when the day and law we so much need will come.
HOW TO ORNAMENT CAKES.—You need four cups of confectioners' finest sugar, whites of two eggs. Beat the eggs just a little, add the sugar gradually, juice one lemon; beat this stiff, until the sugar will bend when you hold the paddle up. Now take a sheet of thick writing paper, fold it into a funnel shape, hold it in your left hand; fill this with the icing, prepared as above, about two-thirds full, fold in the top and place both thumbs on it, cut off a little of the small end of the funnel to allow the icing to come out when you press with your thumbs. Next, with a knife, cover your cake with icing sugar smoothly; if it sticks to the knife, wet it a little. Let dry half hour; then with a lead pencil make leaves or designs, and with your paper funnel ice your pencil designs. Colored icing looks well.
TAKING LEAF PHOTOGRAPHS—A very pretty amusement, especially for those who have just completed the study of botany, is the taking of leaf photographs. One very simple process is this: At any druggist's get an ounce of Bichromate of Potassium. Put this into a pint bottle of water. When the solution becomes saturated—that is, the water is dissolved as much as it will—pour off some of the clear liquid into a shallow dish; on this float a piece of ordinary writing paper till it is thoroughly moistened, let it dry in the dark. It should be a bright yellow. On this put the leaf, under a piece of black soft cloth and several sheets of newspaper. Put these between two pieces of glass (all the pieces should be of the same size) and with spring clothespins fasten them together. Expose to a bright sun, placing the leaf so that the rays will fall upon it as nearly perpendicular as possible. In a few moments it will begin to turn brown; but it requires from half an hour to several hours to produce a perfect print. When it has become dark enough, take it from the frame, and put it into clear water, which must be changed every few minutes until the yellow part becomes white. Sometimes the leaf veinings will be quite distinct. By following these directions it is scarcely possible to fail, and a little practice will make perfect.
CURIOUS THINGS.—1. To apparently burn water, fill a glass lamp with water, and put into it for a wick a piece of Gum Camphor. The lamp should not be quite full, and the camphor may be left to float upon the surface of the water. On touching a lighted match to the Camphor, up shoots a clear, steady flame, and seems to sink below the surface of the water, so that the flame is surrounded by the liquid. It will burn a long time. If the Camphor be ignited in a large dish of water it will commonly float about while burning.
2. To change the faces of a group to a livid, deathly whiteness, and to destroy colors, wet a half teacupful of common salt in Alcohol and burn it on a plate in a dark room. Let the salt soak a few minutes before igniting. The flame will deaden the brightest colors in the room, and the dresses of the company will seem to be changed. Let each one put his face behind the flame, and it will present a most ghastly spectacle to those who stand before it. This is serviceable in tableau where terror of death is to be represented. The change wrought by the flame, when the materials are properly prepared, is very surprising.
3. Wet a piece of thick wrapping paper, then dry near the stove. While dry, lay it down upon a varnished table or dry woolen cloth, and rub it briskly with a piece of India rubber. It will soon become electrified, and if tossed against the wall or the looking glass will stick some time. Tear tissue-paper into bits, one-eighth of an inch square, and this piece of electrified paper will draw them. Or take a tea-tray and put it on three tumblers. Lay the electric paper on it, and on touching the tray you will get a little spark. Let the paper lay on the tray, and on touching the tray again you will get another spark, but of the opposite kind of electricity. Replace the paper and you will get another, and so on.
4. To produce a spectrum, burn magnesium wire in a dark room, and as soon as the flame is extinguished, let each one try to look into the other's faces. The spectrum of the extinguished light is clearly seen.
MURIATE OF TIN. TIN LIQUOR.—If druggists keep it, it is best to purchase of them already made, but if you prefer, proceed as follows: Get at a tinner's shop block tin, put it into a shovel and melt it. After it is melted, pour it from the height of four or five feet into a pail of clear water. The object of this is to have the tin in small particles, so that the Acid can dissolve it. Take it out of the water and dry it; then put it in a strong brass bottle. Pour over it Muriatic Acid twelve ounces, then slowly add sulphuric acid eight ounces. The Acid should be added about a tablespoonful at a time, at intervals of five or eight minutes, for if you add it too rapidly you run the risk of breaking the bottle by heat. After you have all the Acid in, let the bottle stand until the ebullition subsides; then stop it up with beeswax or glass stopper, and set it away; and it will keep good for a year or more, or it will be fit for use in twenty-four hours.
THE CENTENNIAL ILLUMINATING OIL.—Recipe for Making One Gallon.—Take seven-eighths gallon Benzine or crude Petroleum, add to it one-half ounce Gum Camphor, one-half ounce Alcohol, one-half pint common Salt, one-half ounce Oil of Sassafras. Stir and mix it well for about five minutes. Let is stand for twenty-four hours and it is ready for use. It is better to buy the Benzine from Pittsburgh, Pa., as the druggists usually charge two or three times the wholesale price.
CHAPTER X.
COIN DEPARTMENT.
Complete and standard list of American silver and copper coins which command a premium:
UNITED STATES SILVER DOLLARS.
LIBERTY 1794 Silver DollarLIBERTY 1794