What It Was, When It Was, The Way It Was (Part 5)

Here is the next segment, there are only two remaining, I hope you enjoy.

"WHAT TO-DO." AND "HOW TO DO IT."
Including Various Recipes of All Kinds.
"We have gathered a posie of other men's flowers And nothing but the thread which binds them is ours."

179. Washing Laces.—Mix the dry particles of starch with enough cold water to make a smooth paste and add cold water until it looks like milk and water and boil in a glazed earthen vessel until transparent. While the starch is cooling squeeze the laces through soap suds and rinse in clear water. If you desire them to be clear white, add a little bluing; if ivory white, omit the bluing; if yellow-tinged, add a few teaspoonfuls of clear coffee to the starch. Run through the starch, squeeze, roll up in towels, and clap each piece separately until dry. Pull gently into shape from time to time and pin upon the ironing board. When dry press between tissue paper with a hot iron. Punch the openings and pick each loop on the edge with a large pin until it looks like new.
180. To Bleach Muslin.—For fifteen yards of muslin dissolve one-half pound of chloride of lime in a quart of rain water. Soak the muslin over night in warm rain water. Wring out the cloth and put in another half tub of warm rain water in which the solution of lime has been poured. Leave it in this for about twenty minutes but lift up cloth for an airing every few minutes. Rinse in clear rain water. Will not injure the cloth.
181. To Wash Lace Curtains.—Carefully shake out all the dust and put the curtains into tepid water in which is dissolved a little soda and without soaking wash at once in several waters. Rinse in water that has been well .blued; also blue the boiled starch deeply and squeeze, but do not wring, the curtains. If you have no curtain frames, some sheets may be pinned on the carpet in1 a vacant room and the curtains pinned to them. Have the curtains stretched to same size as before .washing. In a few hours they will be dry and ready to put up. The curtains should not be soaked and the wash­ing and stretching should be done as quickly as possible for curtains shrink rapidly. They should be measured before washing so they may be stretched to the same size.
182. To Keep Cranberries.—Put them into a keg of water and they may be kept all winter.
183. To Keep Celery.—Bury it in dry sand.
184. To Keep Onions.—The best way is to spread them over the floor.
185. To Keep Turnips.—Bury them deep in the ground and they will keep until spring.
186. To Keep Lemons.—They will keep and also be more juicy if kept covered with cold water. The water should be changed every week.
187. To Keep Parsnips and Salsify.—Unless the climate is very severe they should be left in the ground all winter, otherwise they should be buried in a deep pit in the garden.
188. To Keep Parsley Green and Fresh.—Make a strong, boiling hot pickle of salt and water and, keep it in this for use. If wanted for soups and stuffing, hang it up in bunches in a dry attic, with the blossoms down.
189. Whitewash for Cellars.—Add an ounce of carbolic acid to a, gallon of whitewash or add copperas to ordinary whitewash until it is yellow. Cop­peras is a disinfectant and will drive away vermin. Carbolic acid will prevent the odors which taint milk and meat.
190. To Keep Cellars Clean.—Remove all vegetables as soon as they begin to decay and ventilate well. Sprinkle with chloride of lime, which is a disinfectant.
191. To Keep All Kinds of Herbs.—Just before or while the herbs are in blossom gather them on a dry day, tie in bundles and hang up with the blossoms downward. When they are perfectly dry those that are to be used as medicine should be wrapped in paper and kept from the air while those that are to be used in cooking should have the leaves picked off, pounded, sifted fine and corked tightly in bottles.
192. To Keep Cabbages.—Cut them off near the head and carry to cellar with leaves on, break off the leaves and pack the cabbages in a light box with the stems upward. When the box is nearly full cover with loose leaves and put the lid on to keep rats out. They should be kept in a dry cellar.
193. To Keep Potatoes.—They should be kept in a cool, dark place.
When old and likely to sprout, put them into a basket and lower them for a minute or two into boiling water. Let them dry and put in sacks. This destroys the germs without injuring the potato and allows it to keep its flavor until late.
194. The Temperature at Which Vegetables Should be Kept.—Vege­tables should be kept at as low a temperature as possible without freezing. Apples will stand a very low temperature but sweet potatoes should have a dry and warm atmosphere and should be kept well packed in dry leaves. Squashes should be kept in a dry place and as cool as possible without freezing.
195. To Keep Peas for Winter Use.—Shell them and put into boiling water with a little salt added, boil for five minutes. Drain in a colander and afterwards on a cloth, then place in air-tight bottles. When used they should be boiled until tender and seasoned with butter.
196. To Keep Apples—Apples are usually kept on open shelves where any that begin decaying may be removed immediately. Sometimes they are packed in layers of dry sand but care should be taken that they do not touch each other. They may also be packed thus in any grain, such as oats, barley, etc. If the apples are very choice, each one should be wrapped separately in paper and packed in a box.
197. To Keep Grapes.—The simplest way is to keep them in drawers or boxes which hold about twenty-five pounds each, and pile them one above another. A better way is to hang a barrel hoop from the ceiling by three cords; seal the stem with sealing wax, attach a wire to the small end of the bunch and hang on the hoop, taking care that no two bunches touch. The imperfect grapes should previously have been picked off. The room should not be too moist and yet not so dry as to wither the grapes and it should be free from frost.
198. To Keep Vegetables.—If they are to be kept a long time they should be pulled on a dry day and the tops should be cut off and trimmed. Pack them in layers in barrels or boxes with moss between and over them. The moss keeps them from shriveling and yet keeps out any excess of moisture.
199. Mucilage.—Dissolve three ounces of gum arabic by putting it into one-half pint of cold water and stirring frequently.
200. To Remove Coffee Stains.—Mix the yolk of an egg with a little water that is slightly warm and use it on the stain like soap. If the stains have been on for some time a little alcohol should be added to the egg and water.
201. To Restore Feathers.—Sprinkle a little salt on a hot stove and hold the plume in the fumes for a few minutes.
202. To Clean Feathers.—Pour boiling water over some white curd soap which has been cut into small pieces and add a little pearlash. When dis­solved and cool enough for the hand, put the feathers into it and draw them through the hand until all the dirt is squeezed out, then pass them through a clean lather with bluing in it. Rinse in cold water with blue to give them a good color. Shake the water off by striking them against the hand, then dry them by shaking near a fire. To clean black feathers use water and gall and wash and dry in like manner.
203. To Curl Feathers.—When nearly dry draw each flue or fibre over the edge of a blunt knife, turning it the way you want it to curl; if the feather is to be flat, press it between the leaves of a book.
204. Magic Annihilator.—To make a gross of 8-ounce bottles of annihilator, take one gallon aqua ammonia, four pounds of best white soap, eight ounces of saltpeter and eight gallons of soft water. Pour the water over the soap which has previously been shaved fine and boil until dissolved. Let it get cold, then add the saltpeter and stir until dissolved. Strain, let the suds settle, skim off the dry suds, add the ammonia and bottle and cork at once.
What It Will Do.—It will remove all kinds of oil and grease from every description of wearing apparel, such as coats, vests, pants, dress goods, car­pets, etc., and will not injure the finest laces and silks. It works like a charm when used as a shampoo, lathers freely and removes all grease and dandruff. A cloth wet with it will remove every particle of grease from, door knobs, window sills, etc. It will remove paint from a board no matter how dry or hard the paint may be and will not injure the finest textures. It acts on oil or grease, turning it to soap which may be washed out with cold water. Nothing can beat it for cleaning brass, copper and silverware. It will posi­tively exterminate bed bugs.
Directions for Using.—To remove grease spots pour some of the Magic Annihilator upon both sides of the article to be cleaned and rub well with a clean sponge. If the grease upon carpets and coarse goods is hard and dry, vise a stiff brush and afterwards wash out with clear, cold water. One appli­cation is all that is ever required to remove fresh grease spots but two ap­plications may occasionally be necessary to remove old spots. For a shampoo mix the Annihilator with an equal quantity of water and apply to the hair with a stiff brush, rub well into the pores and wash out with clear water. It will give the hair a gloss like silk. For cleaning silver, brass and copper mix a little whitening with a small quantity of the Annihilator, apply to the metal and rub briskly with a rag. Apply it to beds and other places where they frequent and you will soon be rid of the bugs. Many other uses will be found for the Magic Annihilator.
205. To Remove Sealing Wax.—Apply either alcohol or naphtha to the spots with a camel's-hair brush.
206. To Remove Tar.—Scrape off all the tar possible and then thor­oughly wet the place with either melted lard or good salad oil and let it remain for twenty-four hours; if woolen or silk, take out the grease with either spirits of wine or ether; if cotton or linen,-wash out in strong, warm soap suds.
207. To Make Bluing for Clothes.—Powder one ounce of soft Prussian blue and put it into a bottle with a quart of clear rain water, then add one-fourth ounce of oxalic acid. Use a teaspoonful for a large washing.
208. Patent Soap.—Three pounds grease, three pints salsoda, one-half pint turpentine, two pounds resin soap, forty gallons water; boil one hour. This makes a great soap. ?
209. Brilliant Self-Shining Stove Polish.—Take black lead (plumbago), finely pulverized,
and put into 2-ounce wooden boxes; label them neatly and retail for 10 or 15 cents per box, or wholesale at $6.00 per hundred. It costs three cents per box to prepare.
Directions.—This polish requires no mixing which is so disagreeable to the housewife. Dip a damp woolen cloth into the box and apply to the stove, then polish with a dry cloth. It will give a very beautiful polish. Stove polish is a necessity in every home and if you have the best, as this is, you will make a sale at every house. Step up and polish a small place on the stove and the sale is made. If the stove is not convenient, use a piece of wood, a sheet of paper, a potato or almost any article and you will have a lustre like a burnished mirror. This is a great invention and will make money for those who push the sale.
210. To Clean Gold Chains, Etc.—Let the article lay in a solution of caustic potash until all the dirt is removed.
211. To Kill Carpet Bugs.—Put one tablespoonful of corrosive sublimate into a quart of hot water and saturate the floors and cracks in the walls. If the carpet is to be sponged use a weaker solution. It will be found a sure treatment.
212. To Sweeten Rancid Butter.—Use 15 drops of chloride of lime to a pint of cold water and wash the butter thoroughly with it until it has touched every particle; then work the butter over in clear, cold water.
213. Liquid Glue.—Dissolve half a pound of best glue in three-fourths pint of water and add one-half pint of vinegar. This glue is always ready for use without warming.
214. Concrete.—Add 15 barrows of sand to 8 barrows of slacked lime that is well deluged with water. Do not use river or beach sand as it absorbs moisture. Mix to a creamy consistency and add 60 barrows of coarse gravel and work well. Stones 9 or 10 inches in diameter may be put into this mixture and it will become as hard as rock.
215. Patent Blacking.—One gallon alcohol, 1% pounds gum shellac, 1 ounce sulphuric acid; let stand for 48 hours, then add % pound ivory black. Let stand 24 hours, then carefully pour off the top. This is for the polishing of all kinds of leather and is waterproof. A four-ounce bottle retails for $1.00 and $50.00 was the original cost of this recipe. Of course it may be made in smaller quantities by using the same proportions.
216. Axle Grease.—One pound tallow, 1/4 pound black lead, 1/4 pound castor oil; melt the tallow; add the other ingredients and rub all together until cold and well mixed.
217. To Find the Number of Bushels in a Bin.—Multiply together the three dimensions in feet to get the number of cubic feet and deduct 1/5 and you will have approximately the number of bushels in the bin.
218. To Measure Hay.—Fifteen to eighteen cubic yards of hay well settled in mows or stacks make a ton; 20 to 25 cubic yards make a ton when loaded on a wagon from mow or stack; 25 cubic yards of dry clover make a ton. To find the number of tons in a mow multiply the length, width and height in yards and divide by 15 if well settled and by 18 if not so well settled.
219. Apple Tree Louse.—Lime and tobacco juice mixed together will kill them.
220. Army Worm.—A ditch around the field to be protected will arrest their progress so that they may be killed by covering with earth, by crushing with rollers, pouring coal oil in ditch or burning straw over them. The side of the ditch next the field should be perpendicular or sloping under so they cannot easily crawl out.


Well now that wraps it up for tonight. I hope you have been enjoying these segments and find them interesting. Back in the old days you didn't run to the store when ever you needed some thing. You generally had to construct it yourself. Its nice to go and get what you need but I don't know if we are the better for it.

Sleep tight for, all is well down on the farm,

The Old Farmer