Recipes Trade Secrets Etc
Toothache Cure.--Compound tinct. benzoin is said to be one of the most
certain and speedy cures for toothache; pour a few drops on cotton, and
press at once into the diseased cavity, when the pain will almost
instantly cease.
Toothache Tincture.--Mix tannin, 1 scruple; mastic, 3 grains; ether, 2
drams. Apply on cotton wool, to the tooth, previously dried.
Charcoal Tooth Paste.--Chlorate of p
tash, 1/2 dram; mint water, 1
ounce. Dissolve and add powdered charcoal, 2 ounces; honey, 1 ounce.
Excellent Mouth Wash.--Powdered white Castile soap, 2 drams; alcohol, 3
ounces; honey, 1 ounce; essence or extract jasmine, 2 drams. Dissolve
the soap in alcohol and add honey and extract.
Removing Tartar from the Teeth.--This preparation is used by dentists.
Pure muriatic acid, one ounce; water, one ounce; honey, two ounces; mix
thoroughly. Take a toothbrush, and wet it freely with this preparation,
and briskly rub the black teeth, and in a moment's time they will be
perfectly white; then immediately wash out the mouth well with water,
that the acid may not act on the enamel of the teeth. This should be
done only occasionally.
Test for Glue.--The following simple and easy test for glue is given: A
weighed piece of glue (say one-third of an ounce) is suspended in water
for twenty-four hours, the temperature of which is not above fifty
degrees Fahrenheit. The coloring material sinks, and the glue swells
from the absorption of the water. The glue is then taken out and
weighed; the greater the increase in weight the better the glue. If it
then be dried perfectly and weighed again, the weight of the coloring
matter can be learned from the difference between this and the original
weight.
Bad Breath.--Bad breath from catarrh, foul stomach or bad teeth may be
temporarily relieved by diluting a little bromo chloralum with eight or
ten parts of water, and using it as a gargle, and swallowing a few drops
before going out. A pint of bromo chloralum costs fifty cents, but a
small vial will last a long time.
Good Tooth Powder.--Procure, at a druggist's, half an ounce of powdered
orris root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two
or three small lumps of Dutch pink. Let them all be mixed in a mortar,
and pounded together. The Dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish color.
Keep it in a close box.
Another Tooth Powder.--Mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red
Peruvian bark, finely powdered, a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh,
and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk.
A Safe Depilatory.--Take a strong solution of sulphuret of barium, and
add enough finely powdered starch to make a paste. Apply to the roots of
the hair and allow it to remain on a few minutes, then scrape off with
the back edge of a knife blade, and rub with sweet oil.
Quick Depilatory for Removing Hair.--Best slaked lime, 6 ounces;
orpiment, fine powder, 1 ounce. Mix with a covered sieve and preserve in
a dry place in closely stoppered bottles. In using mix the powder with
enough water to form a paste, and apply to the hair to be removed. In
about five minutes, or as soon as its caustic action is felt on the
skin, remove, as in shaving, with an ivory or bone paper knife, wash
with cold water freely, and apply cold cream.
Tricopherus for the Hair.--Castor oil, alcohol, each 1 pint; tinct.
cantharides, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 1/2 ounce; alkanet coloring, to
color as wished. Mix and let it stand forty-eight hours, with occasional
shaking, and then filter.
Liquid Shampoo.--Take bay rum. 2-1/2 pints; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine,
1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams; carbonate of ammonia, 2 drams;
borax, 1/2 ounce; or take of New England rum, 1-1/2 pints; bay rum, 1
pint; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams,
ammon. carbonate, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; the salts to be dissolved
in water and the other ingredients to be added gradually.
Cleaning Hair Brushes.--Put a teaspoonful or dessertspoonful of aqua
ammonia into a basin half full of water, comb the loose hairs out of the
brush, then agitate the water briskly with the brush, and rinse it well
with clear water.
Hair Invigorator.--Bay rum, two pints; alcohol, one pint; castor oil,
one ounce; carb. ammonia, half an ounce; tincture of cantharides, one
ounce. Mix them well. This compound will promote the growth of the hair
and prevent it from falling out.
For Dandruff.--Take glycerine, four ounces; tincture of cantharides,
five ounces; bay rum, four ounces; water, two ounces. Mix and apply once
a day, and rub well into the scalp.
Mustache Grower.--Simple cerate, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 10 minims;
saturated tinct. of cantharides, 15 minims. Rub them together
thoroughly, or melt the cerate and stir in the tincture while hot, and
the oil as soon as it is nearly cold, then run into molds or rolls. To
be applied as a pomade, rubbing in at the roots of the hair. Care must
be used not to inflame the skin by too frequent application.
Razor-strop Paste.--Wet the strop with a little sweet oil, and apply a
little flour of emery evenly over the surface.
Shaving Compound.--Half a pound of plain white soap, dissolved in a
small quantity of alcohol, as little as can be used; add a tablespoonful
of pulverized borax. Shave the soap and put it in a small tin basin or
cup; place it on the fire in a dish of boiling water; when melted, add
the alcohol, and remove from the fire; stir in oil of bergamot
sufficient to perfume it.
Cure for Prickly Heat.--Mix a large portion of wheat bran with either
cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day.
Children who are covered with prickly heat in warm weather will be thus
effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. As soon as it begins
to appear on the neck, face or arms, commence using the bran water on
these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no
farther. If it does, the bran water bath will certainly cure it, if
persisted in.
To Remove Corns from Between the Toes.--These corns are generally more
painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost
inaccessible to the usual remedies. Wetting them several times a day
with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. Try it.
Superior Cologne Water.--Oil of lavender, two drams; oil of rosemary,
one dram and a half; orange, lemon and bergamot, one dram each of the
oil; also two drams of the essence of musk, attar of rose, ten drops,
and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a
day for a week.
Inexhaustible Smelling Salts.--Sal tartar, three drams; muriate ammonia,
granulated, 6 drams; oil neroli. 5 minims; oil lavender flowers, 5
minims; oil rose, 3 minims; spirits ammonia, 15 minims. Put into the
pungent a small piece of sponge filling about one-fourth the space, and
pour on it a due proportion of the oils, then put in the mixed salts
until the bottle is three-fourths full, and pour on the spirits of
ammonia in proper proportion and close the bottle.
Volatile Salts for Pungents.--Liquor ammon., 1 pint; oil lavender
flowers, 1 dram; oil rosemary, fine, 1 dram; oil bergamot, 1/2 dram; oil
peppermint, 10 minims. Mix thoroughly and fill pungents or keep in well
stoppered bottle. Another formula is, sesqui-carbonate of ammonia,
small pieces, 10 ounces; concentrated liq. ammonia, 5 ounces. Put the
sesqui-carb. in a wide-mouthed jar with air-tight stopper, perfume the
liquor ammonia to suit and pour over the carbonate; close tightly the
lid and place in a cool place; stir with a stiff spatula every other day
for a week, and then keep it closed for two weeks, or until it becomes
hard, when it is ready for use.
Paste for Papering Boxes.--Boil water and stir in batter of wheat or rye
flour. Let it boil one minute, take off and strain through a colander.
Add, while boiling, a little glue or powdered alum. Do plenty of
stirring while the paste is cooking, and make of consistency that will
spread nicely.
Aromatic Spirit of Vinegar.--Acetic acid, No. 8. pure, 8 ounces;
camphor, 1/2 ounce. Dissolve and add oil lemon, oil lavender flowers,
each two drams; oil cassia, oil cloves, 1/2 dram each. Thoroughly mix
and keep in well stoppered bottle.
Rose-Water.--Preferable to the distilled for a perfume, or for ordinary
purposes. Attar of rose, twelve drops; rub it up with half an ounce of
white sugar and two drams carbonate magnesia, then add gradually one
quart of water and two ounces of proof spirit, and filter through paper.
Bay Rum.--French proof spirit, one gallon; extract bay, six ounces. Mix
and color with caramel; needs no filtering.
Fine Lavender Water.--Mix together, in a clean bottle, a pint of
inodorous spirit of wine, an ounce of oil of lavender, a teaspoonful of
oil of bergamot, and a tablespoonful of oil of ambergris.
The Virtues of Turpentine.--After a housekeeper fully realizes the worth
of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a
supply of it. It gives quick relief to burns, it is an excellent
application for corns, it is good for rheumatism and sore throat, and it
is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits. Then it is a sure
preventive against moths: by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of
drawers, chests and cupboards, it will render the garments secure from
injury during the summer. It will keep ants and bugs from closets and
store-rooms by putting a few drops in the corners and upon the shelves;
it is sure destruction to bedbugs, and will effectually drive them away
from their haunts if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the
bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor
clothing. A spoonful of it added to a pail of warm water is excellent
for cleaning paint. A little in suds washing days lightens laundry
labor.
A Perpetual Paste is a paste that may be made by dissolving an ounce of
alum in a quart of warm water. When cold, add as much flour as will make
it the consistency of cream, then stir into it half a teaspoonful of
powdered resin, and two or three cloves. Boil it to a consistency of
mush, stirring all the time. It will keep for twelve months, and when
dry may be softened with warm water.
Paste for Scrap Books.--Take half a teaspoonful of starch, same of
flour, pour on a little boiling water, let it stand a minute, add more
water, stir and cook it until it is thick enough to starch a shirt
bosom. It spreads smooth, sticks well and will not mold or discolor
paper. Starch alone will make a very good paste.
A Strong Paste.--A paste that will neither decay nor become moldy. Mix
good clean flour with cold water into a thick paste well blended
together; then add boiling water, stirring well up until it is of a
consistency that can be easily and smoothly spread with a brush; add to
this a spoonful or two of brown sugar, a little corrosive sublimate and
about half a dozen drops of oil of lavender, and you will have a paste
that will hold with wonderful tenacity.
A Brilliant Paste.--A brilliant and adhesive paste, adapted to fancy
articles, may be made by dissolving caseine precipitated from milk by
acetic acid and washed with pure water in a saturated solution of borax.
A Sugar Paste.--In order to prevent the gum from cracking, to ten parts
by weight of gum arabic and three parts of sugar add water until the
desired consistency is obtained. If a very strong paste is required, add
a quantity of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the
mixture. The paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment.
Tin Box Cement.--To fix labels to tin boxes either of the following will
answer: 1. Soften good glue in water, then boil it in strong vinegar,
and thicken the liquid while boiling with fine wheat flour, so that a
paste results. 2. Starch paste, with which a little Venice turpentine
has been incorporated while warm.
Paper and Leather Paste.--Cover four parts, by weight, of glue, with
fifteen parts of cold water, and allow it to soak for several hours,
then warm moderately till the solution is perfectly clear, and dilute
with sixty parts of boiling water, intimately stirred in. Next prepare a
solution of thirty parts of starch in two hundred parts of cold water,
so as to form a thin homogeneous liquid, free from lumps, and pour the
boiling glue solution into it with thorough stirring, and at the same
time keep the mass boiling.
Commercial Mucilage.--The best quality of mucilage in the market is made
by dissolving clear glue in equal volumes of water and strong vinegar,
and adding one-fourth of an equal volume of alcohol, and a small
quantity of a solution of alum in water. Some of the cheaper
preparations offered for sale are merely boiled starch or flour, mixed
with nitric acid to prevent their gelatinizing.
Acid-Proof Paste.--A paste formed by mixing powdered glass with a
concentrated solution of silicate of soda makes an excellent acid-proof
cement.
Paste to Fasten Cloth to Wood.--Take a plump pound of wheat flour, one
tablespoonful of powdered resin, one tablespoonful of finely powdered
alum, and rub the mixture in a suitable vessel, with water, to a
uniform, smooth paste; transfer this to a small kettle over a fire, and
stir until the paste is perfectly homogeneous without lumps. As soon as
the mass has become so stiff that the stirrer remains upright in it,
transfer it to another vessel and cover it up so that no skin may form
on its surface. This paste is applied in a very thin layer to the
surface of the table; the cloth, or leather, is then laid and pressed
upon it, and smoothed with a roller. The ends are cut off after drying.
If leather is to be fastened on, this must first be moistened with
water. The paste is then applied, and the leather rubbed smooth with a
cloth.
Paste for Printing Office.--Take two gallons of cold water and one quart
wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely
pulverized alum and boil the mixture for ten minutes, or until a thick
consistency is reached. Now add one quart of hot water and, boil again,
until the paste becomes a pale brown color, and thick. The paste should
be well stirred during both processes of cooking. Paste thus made will
keep sweet for two weeks and prove very adhesive.
To Take Smoke Stains from Walls.--An easy and sure way to remove smoke
stains from common plain ceilings is to mix wood ashes with the
whitewash just before applying. A pint of ashes to a small pail of
whitewash is sufficient, but a little more or less will do no harm.
To Remove Stains from Broadcloth.--Take an ounce of pipe clay, which has
been ground fine, mix it with twelve drops of alcohol and the same
quantity of spirits of turpentine. Whenever you wish to remove any
stains from cloth, moisten a little of this mixture with alcohol and rub
it on the spots. Let it remain till dry, then rub it off with a woolen
cloth, and the spots will disappear.
To Remove Red Stains of Fruit from Linen.--Moisten the cloth and hold it
over a piece of burning sulphur; then wash thoroughly, or else the spots
may reappear.
To Remove Oil Stains.--Take three ounces of spirits of turpentine and
one ounce of essence of lemon, mix well, and apply it as you would any
other scouring drops. It will take out all the grease.
Iron Stains may be removed by the salt of lemons. Many stains may be
removed by dipping the linen in some buttermilk, and then drying it in a
hot sun; wash it in cold water; repeat this three or four times.
To Remove Oil Stains from Wood.--Mix together fuller's earth and soap
lees, and rub it into the boards. Let it dry and then scour it off with
some strong soft soap and sand, or use lees to scour it with. It should
be put on hot, which may easily be done by heating the lees.
To Remove Tea Stains.--Mix thoroughly soft soap and salt--say a
tablespoonful of salt to a teacupful of soap, rub on the spots, and
spread the cloth on the grass where the sun will shine on it. Let it lie
two or three days, then wash. If the spots are wet occasionally while
lying on the grass, it will hasten the bleaching.
To Remove Stains from Muslin.--If you have stained your muslin or
gingham dress, or similar articles, with berries, before wetting with
anything else, pour boiling water through the stains and they will
disappear. Before fruit juice dries it can often be removed by cold
water, using a sponge and towel if necessary.
To Remove Acid Stains.--Stains caused by acids may be removed by tying
some pearlash up in the stained part; scrape some soap in cold, soft
water, and boil the linen until the stain is gone.
To Disinfect Sinks and Drains.--Copperas dissolved in water, one-fourth
of a pound to a gallon, and poured into a sink and water drain
occasionally, will keep such places sweet and wholesome. A little
chloride of lime, say half a pound to a gallon of water, will have the
same effect, and either of these costs but a trifle.
A preparation may be made at home which will answer about as well as the
chloride of lime. Dissolve a bushel of salt in a barrel of water, and
with the salt water slake a barrel of lime, which should be made wet
enough to form a thin paste or wash.
To Disinfect a Cellar.--A damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by
sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even
common lime. The most effective means I have ever used to disinfect
decaying vegetable matter is chloride of lime in solution. One pound may
be dissolved in two gallons of water. Plaster of Paris has also been
found an excellent absorbent of noxious odors. If used one part with
three parts of charcoal, it will be found still better.
How to Thaw Out a Water Pipe.--Water pipes usually freeze up when
exposed, for inside the walls, where they cannot be reached, they are or
should be packed to prevent freezing. To thaw out a frozen pipe, bundle
a newspaper into a torch, light it, and pass it along the pipe slowly.
The ice will yield to this much quicker than to hot water or wrappings
or hot cloths, as is the common practice.
To Prevent Mold.--A small quantity of carbolic acid added to paste,
mucilage and ink, will prevent mold. An ounce of the acid to a gallon of
whitewash will keep cellars and dairies from the disagreeable odor which
often taints milk and meat kept in such places.
Thawing Frozen Gas Pipe.--Mr. F. H. Shelton says: I took off from over
the pipe, some four or five inches, just a crust of earth, and then put
a couple of bushels of lime in the space, poured water over it, and
slaked it, and then put canvas over that, and rocks on the canvas, so as
to keep the wind from getting underneath. Next morning, on returning
there, I found that the frost had been drawn out from the ground for
nearly three feet. You can appreciate what an advantage that was, for
picking through frozen ground, with the thermometer below zero, is no
joke. Since then we have tried it several times. It is an excellent plan
if you have time enough to let the time work. In the daytime you cannot
afford to waste the time, but if you have a spare night in which to
work, it is worth while to try it.
How to Test a Thermometer.--The common thermometer in a japanned iron
case is usually inaccurate. To test the thermometer, bring water into
the condition of active boiling, warm the thermometer gradually in the
steam and then plunge it into the water. If it indicates a fixed
temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees, the instrument is a good
one.
Indelible Ink.--An indelible ink that cannot be erased, even with acids,
can be obtained from the following recipe: To good gall ink add a strong
solution of Prussian blue dissolved in distilled water. This will form a
writing fluid which cannot be erased without destruction of the paper.
The ink will write greenish blue, but afterward will turn black.
To Get a Broken Cork Out of a Bottle.--If, in drawing a cork, it breaks,
and the lower part falls down into the liquid, tie a long loop in a bit
of twine, or small cord, and put it in, holding the bottle so as to
bring the piece of cork near to the lower part of the neck. Catch it in
the loop, so as to hold it stationary. You can then easily extract it
with a corkscrew.
A Wash for Cleaning Silver.--Mix together half an ounce of fine salt,
half an ounce of powdered alum, and half an ounce of cream of tartar.
Put them into a large white-ware pitcher, and pour on two ounces of
water, and stir them frequently, till entirely dissolved. Then transfer
the mixture to clean bottles and cork them closely. Before using it,
shake the bottles well. Pour some of the liquid into a bowl, and wash
the silver all over with it, using an old, soft, fine linen cloth. Let
it stand about ten minutes, and then rub it dry with a buckskin. It will
make the silver look like new.
To Remove the Odor from a Vial.--The odor of its last contents may be
removed from a vial by filling it with cold water, and letting it stand
in any airy place uncorked for three days, changing the water every day.
To Loosen a Glass Stopper.--The manner in which apothecaries loosen
glass stoppers when there is difficulty in getting them out is to press
the thumb of the right hand very hard against the lower part of the
stopper, and then give the stopper a twist the other way, with the thumb
and forefinger of the left hand, keeping the bottle stiff in a steady
position.
To Soften Boots and Shoes.--Kerosene will soften boots and shoes which
have been hardened by water, and render them as pliable as new.
To Remove Stains, Spots, and Mildew from Furniture.--Take half a pint of
ninety-eight per cent alcohol, a quarter of an ounce each of pulverized
resin and gum shellac, add half a pint of linseed oil, shake well and
apply with a brush or sponge. Sweet oil will remove finger marks from
varnished furniture, and kerosene from oiled furniture.
To Freshen Gilt Frames.--Gilt frames may be revived by carefully dusting
them, and then washing with one ounce of soda beaten up with the whites
of three eggs. Scraped patches should be touched up with gold paint.
Castile soap and water, with proper care, may be used to clean oil
paintings. Other methods should not be employed without some skill.
To Fill Cracks in Plaster.--Use vinegar instead of water to mix your
plaster of Paris. The resultant mass will be like putty, and will not
set for twenty or thirty minutes, whereas if you use water the plaster
will become hard almost immediately, before you have time to use it.
Push it into the cracks and smooth it off nicely with a table knife.
To Toughen Lamp Chimneys and Glassware.--Immerse the article in a pot
filled with cold water, to which some common salt has been added. Boil
the water well, then cool slowly. Glass treated in this way will resist
any sudden change of temperature.
To Remove Paint from Window-Glass.--Rub it well with hot, sharp vinegar.
To Clean Stovepipe.--A piece of zinc put on the live coals in the stove
will clean out the stovepipe.
To Brighten Carpets.--Carpets after the dust has been beaten out may be
brightened by scattering upon them cornmeal mixed with salt and then
sweeping it off. Mix salt and meal in equal proportions. Carpets should
be thoroughly beaten on the wrong side first and then on the right side,
after which spots may be removed by the use of ox-gall or ammonia and
water.
To Keep Flowers Fresh exclude them from the air. To do this wet them
thoroughly, put in a damp box, and cover with wet raw cotton or wet
newspaper, then place in a cool spot. To preserve bouquets, put a little
saltpetre in the water you use for your bouquets, and the flowers will
live for a fortnight.
To Preserve Brooms.--Dip them for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling
suds once a week and they will last much longer, making them tough and
pliable. A carpet wears much longer swept with a broom cared for in this
manner.
To Clean Brassware.--Mix one ounce of oxalic acid, six ounces of rotten
stone, all in powder, one ounce of sweet oil, and sufficient water to
make a paste. Apply a small proportion, and rub dry with a flannel or
leather. The liquid dip most generally used consists of nitric and
sulphuric acids, but this is more corrosive.
To Keep Out Mosquitoes.--If a bottle of the oil of pennyroyal is left
uncorked in a room at night, not a mosquito, nor any other blood-sucker,
will be found there in the morning.
To Kill Cockroaches.--A teacupful of well bruised plaster of Paris,
mixed with double the quantity of oatmeal, to which a little sugar may
be added, although this last named ingredient is not essential. Strew it
on the floor, or into the chinks where they frequent.
To Destroy Ants.--Drop some quicklime on the mouth of their nest, and
wash it with boiling water, or dissolve some camphor in spirits of wine,
then mix with water, and pour into their haunts; or tobacco water, which
has been found effectual. They are averse to strong scents. Camphor, or
a sponge saturated with creosote, will prevent their infesting a
cupboard. To prevent their climbing up trees, place a ring of tar about
the trunk, or a circle of rag moistened occasionally with creosote.
To Prevent Moths.--In the month of April or May, beat your fur garments
well with a small cane or elastic stick, then wrap them up in linen,
without pressing them too hard, and put betwixt the folds some camphor
in small lumps; then put your furs in this state in boxes well closed.
When the furs are wanted for use, beat them well as before, and expose
them for twenty-four hours to the air, which will take away the smell of
the camphor. If the fur has long hair, as bear or fox, add to the
camphor an equal quantity of black pepper in powder.
To Get Rid of Moths--
1. Procure shavings of cedar wood, and inclose in muslin bags, which can
be distributed freely among the clothes.
2. Procure shavings of camphor wood, and inclose in bags.
3. Sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes.
4. Sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant.
5. To destroy the eggs, when deposited in woolen cloths, etc., use a
solution of acetate of potash in spirits of rosemary, fifteen grains to
the pint.
Bed Bugs.--Spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush into
every part of the bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of bugs. The
mattress and binding of the bed should be examined, and the same process
attended to, as they generally harbor more in these parts than in the
bedstead. Ten cents' worth of naphtha is sufficient for one bed.
Bug Poison.--Proof spirit, one pint; camphor, two ounces; oil of
turpentine, four ounces; corrosive sublimate, one ounce. Mix. A
correspondent says: I have been for a long time troubled with bugs, and
never could get rid of them by any clean and expeditious method, until a
friend told me to suspend a small bag of camphor to the bed, just in the
center, overhead. I did so, and the enemy was most effectually repulsed,
and has not made his appearance since--not even for a reconnoissance!
This is a simple method of getting rid of these pests, and is worth a
trial to see if it be effectual in other cases.
Mixture for Destroying Flies--Infusion of quassia, one pint; brown
sugar, four ounces; ground pepper, two ounces. To be well mixed
together, and put in small, shallow dishes when required.
To Destroy Flies in a room, take half a teaspoonful of black pepper in
powder, one teaspoonful of brown sugar, and one tablespoonful of cream,
mix them well together, and place them in the room on a plate, where the
flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear.
To Drive Flies from the House.--A good way to rid the house of flies is
to saturate small cloths with oil of sassafras and lay them in windows
and doors. The flies will soon leave.
Aging Oak.--Strong ammonia fumes may be used for aging oak. Place the
piece to be fumed, with an evaporating dish containing concentrated
ammonia, in a box, and close it airtight. Leave for 12 hours and finish
with a wax polish, applying first a thin coat of paraffine oil and then
rubbing with a pomade of prepared wax made as follows: Two ounces each
of yellow and white beeswax heated over a slow fire in a clean vessel
(agate ware is good) until melted. Add 4 oz. turpentine and stir till
entirely cool. Keep the turpentine away from the fire. This will give
the oak a lustrous brown color, and nicking will not expose a different
surface, as the ammonia fumes penetrate to a considerable depth.