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Useful things for the
house-wife to know
Wheat flour, 1 pound is 1 quart.
Indian meal, 1 pound 2 ounces are 1 quart.
Butter, when soft, 1 pound is 1 quart.
Loaf sugar, broken, 1 pound is 1 quart.
White sugar, powdered, 1 pound 1 ounce are 1 quart.
Best brown sugar, 1 pound 2 ounces are 1 quart.
Ten eggs are 1 pound.
A common tumbler holds half a pint.
A teacup is 1 gill.
A large wineglass is 1 gill.
Sixty drops are equal to 1 teaspoonful.
To make hens lay perpetually.--Give half an ounce fresh meat, chopped fine, everyday while
the ground is frozen, with plenty of grain, water, gravel and lime. Allow no cocks to run
with them. Try it.
Panes of glass may be removed by the application of soft soap for a few hours.
To whiten clothes.--Add a teaspoonful of turpentine or a lump of borax to the water in
which they are boiled.
To make flour paste.--Alum, size of a walnut, dissolved in hot water; add cold water and
flour enough to make it of the consistence of cream. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Mould in ink.--To prevent add a few cloves.
Cement for stoves.--If the stove is cracked, take wood ashes and salt equal proportions,
reduced to a paste with cold water, and fill in the cracks when the stove is cool. It will
soon harden.
To clean silver.--Never put a particle of soap on silverware if you would have it retain
its lustre. Soap-suds make it look like pewter. Wet a flannel cloth in kerosene, dip it in
dry whiting, and rub the plated ware. Let it dry on it, and then polish with old
newspaper.
Colored stockings.--A tablespoonful of black pepper will prevent the color from
"running" in black or dark-colored hosiery, calicoes or cambrics, and also from
staining the skin.
To whiten and soften the hands.--Use mixture of two parts of glycerine, one part ammonia
and a little rose water.
Flies may be effectually disposed of without the use of poison. Take a half a teaspoonful
of black pepper, one teaspoonful of brown sugar, and one teaspoonful of cream. Mix them
well together and place them in room on a plate where flies are troublesome, and they will
very soon disappear.
To transfer engravings, photographs, etc. to glass.--Colored or plain engravings,
photographs, water-colors, oil-colors, crayons, steel plates, newspaper cuts, mezzotints,
pencil-writing, show cards, labels, etc., can be transferred to glass in the following
manner: Take glass that is perfectly clear (window-glass will answer); clean it
thoroughly, then varnish it, taking care to have it perfectly smooth; place it where it
will be perfectly free from dust; let it stand over night, then take your engraving, lay
it in clean water until it is wet through (say ten or fifteen minutes), then lay it upon a
newspaper, that the moisture may dry from the surface, and still keep the other side damp.
Immediately varnish your glass the second time. Then place your engraving on it, pressing
down firmly, so as to exclude every particle of air; next rub the paper from the back
until it is of uniform thickness (so thin that you can see through it), then varnish it
the third time and let it dry.
Directions for keeping salad oil.--Keep it always well corked, in a dry, cool place, and
always in the dark.
To mend iron pots.--Mix finely sifted lime with some white of an egg, till a thin kind of
paste is formed, then add some iron filings. Apply this to the fracture, and the vessel
will be found nearly as sound as ever.
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