Never think any part of household work too trifling to be well done. 402. The addition of lemon-juice to rich and glutinous soups renders them less liable to disagree with the stomach. 403. Cement-fronts to houses are objectionable on the score of economy, being a great increase on the cost of outside painting. 404. Unpeeled onions are blackened by exposure to the air; it is therefore well, when pickling, to keep them always covered with brine or vinegar. 405. Cooking-utensils, after use, ought not to be left to drain, as there is a great liability in that case to oxidation; they should be well washed in hot water, and wiped dry with a cloth. 406. Rusks, biscuits, or tops-and-bottoms, are much more wholesome food for young children than bread. 407. Children's food should be prepared as often as three times a-day with rain or filtered water, and with not more than half of milk, which must never be boiled. 408. Melted butter is perhaps the most injurious of all the inventions of cookery. 409. Stewpans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; these and their covers should be kept clean and well tinned, not only in the inside, but a couple of inches on the outside. 410. Mashed potatoes make an economical ingredient in peas-pudding. 411. The best method to save dripping is to pour it, whilst hot, into a basin of cold water, by which plan dust sinks to the bottom. any 412. Keep curry powder closely corked, and in a dry place curry can be made with the remains of any cold meat. 413. To have horse-radish in keeping, grate a sufficient quantity during the season, put it in bottles, fill up with strong vinegar, cork them tight, and set them in a cool place. 414. Hops lose all their fine flavour by exposure to the air and damp; they should be kept in a dry, close place, and tightly packed. If left damp, linen soon becomes mildewed. Sweep kitchen chimneys often with an old broom kept for that purpose. A prudent housekeeper will settle her own bills with tradespeople. 415. When a cask requires purifying, set fire to a pound or more of broken charcoal, put it into the cask, and fill the cask with boiling water: after this roll the cask once or twice a-day for a week, then pour out the charcoal and water, wash out the cask with pure clean water, and expose it to the external air for some days. 416. Thunder will turn and often change wines. Cellars that are paved, and the walls of stone, are preferable to boarded floors. 417. Take care of the liquor in which poultry or meat has been boiled, as an addition of peas, herbs, &c., will convert it into a nourishing soup. 418. A good kitchen-screen to keep currents of air from meat when it is roasting is essentially useful. 419. Hats require great care, or they will soon look shabby: brush them well with a soft brush, and have a stick for each hat, to keep it in its proper place, especially if the hat has been exposed to wet. 420. Fish and milk ought never to be taken at the same meal, being a particularly indigestible combination. 421. The roots of the radish, boiled, form an excellent dish when served up in the same way as asparagus. 422. Window-blinds should be made of white calico, which is much more suitable for washing than brown holland. 423. A good pudding may be made of carrots, by boiling two or three large ones till tender, pounding them in a mortar, or beating them until they are quite smooth: add double the quantity of finely-sifted breadcrumbs, a pint of milk, and a little grated lemon-peel : put it into a pie-dish and bake it. 424. To keep a razor in good condition it should be stropped after using, having been previously dipped into hot water and wiped perfectly dry. 425. If a little rubbing of furniture each day soon brings a lustre on the dullest surface, how much easier it must be to keep everything bright which has once been made so ! Glass should be washed in water moderately warm. Jellies are most perfect and transparent when clarified sugar is used. For scouring in winter, dry, clear weather should be chosen. 426. Window-panes may be made to resemble groundglass by daubing them with putty, or a brush with a little thin paste. 427. Paintings should be kept in as pure an atmosphere as possible, and in a dry situation: they should not, therefore, be suspended against heavy walls of masonry, especially in badly-ventilated buildings: excess of light, particularly the direct rays of the sun, also acts injuriously on paintings. 428. To render paper waterproof and useful to housekeepers for tying over pots and jars, to wrap up paste blacking, ground whitelead, &c., merely brush the paper with "boiled" oil, and suspend them on a line until dry. 429. The secret of bottling wine with success consists in the simple exercise of care and cleanliness. The bottles should all be sound, clean, and dry, and perfectly free from the least mustiness or other odour: the corks should be of the best quality, and before being placed in the bottles should be compressed by means of a "cork-squeezer." 430. In furnishing a house it is best to buy carpets first, and then to let their colour lead the tone and style of curtains, paper-hangings, chair-covers, hearth-rugs, and all other articles. 431. A good blacking for harness, &c., may be made thus melt two ounces of mutton suet with six ounces of bees'-wax add six ounces of sugar-candy, two ounces of soft soap dissolved in water, and one ounce of indigo finely powdered; when melted and well mixed, add a gill of turpentine: lay it on the harness with a sponge, and polish off with a brush. 432. In cake-making, every article employed therein should be got ready one hour previously to their being wanted, and should be placed before the fire or upon a stove, that they may become gently heated, without which no good cakes can be produced. 433. Hard brushes should be used as little as possible in cleaning clothes; if wet and dirty, the spots should be rubbed out with the hands and a slight application of the brush afterwards. Scales are essential in every kitchen. Never throw animal or negetable substances into a dust-hole. Salting greatly impairs the nutritiousness of meat. 434. Some persons put sugar into starch to prevent it sticking while ironing, and others stir the starch with a candle to effect the same purpose; these practices are injurious to the articles starched: the best plan to prevent sticking is to make the starch well, and to have the irons quite clean and highly polished. 435. Ointments and unctuous preparations generally may be prevented from getting rancid, by dissolving in the fat a little gum-benzoin, or benzoic acid. 436. Leeches are best preserved in water obtained from a pond, and occasionally changed; when kept in spring-water they soon die : if pond-water is not easily obtained, rain-water, that has been well exposed to the air, can be employed. 437. In purchasing carpets it is economical to buy them of the same pattern for several rooms, because in the event of removal to a house with different-sized apartments, a piece of one carpet may be taken to add on to another. 438. Never use the wood of old barrels for fires when cooking without knowing what their contents have been. 439. Never throw cod-sounds away; take them out carefully with a knife, and wash them well in salt and water; dry them between two cloths and hang them to dry for six or eight hours; get coarse common salt and saltpetre beaten finely, with baysalt, and put this between each layer of fish as you may get them, taking care always that they be not exposed to the air. 440. All the preparations used for dyeing the hair are bad, and it will be prudent, therefore, to bear with a minor grievance (?) than run the risk of serious consequences. 441. Those of a spare habit will find coffee-milk, made as follows, an excellent beverage for breakfast boil a dessert-spoonful of ground coffee in about a pint of milk a quarter of an hour; then put into it a shaving or two of isinglass and clear it; let it boil a few minutes, and set it on the side of the fire to fine: sweeten with best sugar. Lean meat is best for potting. Puff-paste requires a smart oven to make it rise light. Split peas for peas-pudding should never be soaked before they are boiled. 442. A cheap fuel may be made in every family by mixing coal, charcoal, or sawdust, one part; sand of any kind, two parts; marl or clay, one part; in quantity, as wanted make the mass up wet into balls of a convenient size, and when the fire is sufficiently strong, place the balls a little above the top bar, and they will produce a heat considerably more intense than common fuel, and ensure a saving of one half the quantity of coals. A fire thus made up will require no stirring, and will need no fresh fuel for several hours. 443. Air, light, warmth, and dryness, are requisite to keep fowls in good condition; the yard in which they are kept should be well drained and gravelled. possible poultry-houses should have a southern as pect. If 444. A prudent housekeeper should look well after the fruit and kitchen garden, and not leave it entirely to the management of a gardener; by this means, instead of being an expense, a carefully-kept useful garden will be an economy. 445. A good method of cooking vegetable-marrow is, 446. Wiping joints of meat with a dry cloth assists 448. When lamps are dirty inside, they should be Kitchen spoons, for stirring, should be of wood. Small lumps of unslaked lime placed about will destroy beetles. |