# Domestic economy, or, General recipe book

DOMESTIC ECONOMY;
OR,
general
RECIPE BOOK:
CONTAINING
A NUMBER OF USEFUL RECIPES,
COMPILED FROM VALUABLE
PRIVATE MANUSCRIPTS
AND
EXPENSIVE WORKS OF EMINENT MEN.
BY P. CARRUTH,
CHIROPEDIST.
Edinburgh:
PRINTED BY ROBERT MENZIES,
20 BANK STREET.
RECIPE BOOK.
To Clean Black Clothes.
Brush the dust well out of the clothes—remove the grease from the collar with a brush, warm water, and soap, then boil one ounce of logwood in a quart of water, add a bit of bluestone about the size of a horse bean, lay the clothes on a table and brush them well with it till they are wet; let them dry, then brush them again with hot water, on the surface of which, put a few drops of olive oil, care must be taken not to put too much oil on the water at once; when wasted, add a few drops more. This operation must be done uniformly and in direction of the nap or grain of the cloth, hang them to dry, and they will be a beautiful black, particularly if the nap is not wore off.
——— To Clean Blue Clothes.
Pound some indigo and dissolve it in a little sulphuric acid when properly melted, dilute it with eight times its weight of water: add to it a small piece of soda; give the clothes a good brushing with this liquid, finishing as directed for Black Clothes.
——— To Clean Drab Clothes.
Take pearl ashes 7 oz. quick lime 12 oz mix them together with boiling water, then pour upon the mixture 7 quarts of cold water; stir it up and let it stand ​24 hours; strain off the clear, and use it with a brush, hot water, and soap.
——— To take out Pitch, Wax Rosin, or Tar.
If any of these happen to be on a garment, pour a little oil of turpentine on it, let it soak for an hour or two, then it will crumble out like dry dirt by rubbing it between the fingers.
——— How to Remove Flies from Rooms.
Take two oz of quazzie chips boiled in half a pint of water, and half an ounce of sugar. Mix them well together, and place them in the room on a plate where the flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear.
——— Paste for Sharpening Razors.
Take oxide of tin levigated, vulgarly termed prepared putty one ounce, sathrated solution of oxalic acid, ⟨of⟩ sufficient quantity to form a paste. This composition ⟨is⟩ to be rubbed over the strop, and when dry a little water may be added. The axalic acid having a great attachment for iron, a little friction with this powder gives fine edge to the razor.
——— How to take Ink out of Mahogany.
Dilute half a tea spoonful of oil of vitriol with a large spoonful of water, and touch the part with a feather; watch it, for if it stays too long it will leave a white mark, It is therefore better to rub it quick, and retreat it if not removed.
——— For dipping Black Silks when they appear rusty, or the colour faded.
For a silk dress, your own discretion must be used, ​whether the silk can be roused, or whether it requires to be re-dyed. Should it require re-dying, this is done as follows:— For a gown, boil 2 ounces of logwood, when boiled half an hour, put in your silk, and simmer it half an hour, then take it out and add a piece of blue vitriol as big as a pea, and a piece of green copperas as big as the half of a horse bean; when these are dissolved, cool down the copper with cold water, and put in your silk and simmer half an hour, handling it over with a stick; wash and dry it in the air.
——— Light Blue Silk.
Your silk being boiled in white soap and water, and made quite white, must be rinsed in warm water: then take a vessel of sufficient size to wash your goods in; pour into this some cold water, sufficient to cover your articles to the depth of two or three inches. Then drop from a chemic blue bottle one or two drops; if the shade is to be azure or pale blue, these will suffice; but for a darker shade, more must be used. Put in your articles, and handle them from ten minutes to half an hour, as the shade requires.
——— Violet, Pansy, and colours bordering on Purple.
Purples are made by giving them a first shade of blue, more or less full as you would have the shade to be, into blood-warm water, pour a quantity of ⟨archil⟩ from half a pint to a pint and a half; and when this, liquor is almost scalding hot, put in your goods and handle them well; and by simmering them an hour or thereabouts you will have a pretty fine violet, or pansy, more or less full, according to the quantity of archil used; but if the colour requires to be dark ​red, add barrilla, alkaline lye, or potash, which will ⟨redden⟩ it.
——— To make a Bright Red with the same Ingredients.
Instead of adding pearl ash to your liquor, take out your goods, and put in half a wine glass of the solution (illegible text)tin—stir it up, put your goods in again, and boil them half an hour; take them out again and add half pint more archil, and as much more of the solution (illegible text)tin; put in your goods again, and boil them for ten minutes ; take them out, and rinse in cold water.
——— A pretty Hair Brown.
If the article to be dyed is a silk pelisse, fill your (illegible text)per full of rain water; when it boils put in a quarter ⟨of⟩ a pound of chipped fustic, two ounces of madder, ⟨one⟩ ounce of sumach, and half an ounce of camwood, (illegible text) if not required to be scoured, the camwood may ⟨be⟩ omitted. These should boil half an hour, but they ⟨may⟩ not boil two hours, that the ingredients may be ⟨all⟩ incorporated, and which should be the case with ⟨gowns⟩ and all colours where two or three are mixed ⟨together⟩. The copper must then be cooled down by ⟨pouring⟩ in cold water; the goods may then be put (illegible text) and simmered gently from half an hour to an hour. ⟨If⟩ this colour should seem to want darkening or saddening it may be done by taking out your goods, then ⟨adding⟩ a small quantity of old black liquor, or, for want ⟨of⟩ black liquor, a small piece of green copperas may ⟨be⟩ used; rinse in two or three waters, then hang up ⟨to⟩ dry.
The French way of dying Yellow Silk.
First, alum your silks half an hour in cold ⟨alum⟩ liquor, then wash them. Pass them through a pan ⟨of⟩ weld liquor, at a hard heat. If they are to be of lemon yellow, dissolve a trifling quantity of blue vitriol in your pan to the colour required.
——— Sympathetic Ink.
Dissolve bismuth in nitrous acid: when the writing with this fluid is exposed to the vapour of liver of sulphur, it will become quite black.
——— Black Ink.
Take of Aleppo galls, in coarse powder. 8 oz; logwood in thin chips, 4 oz; copperas 4 oz; gum ⟨arabic⟩ finely powdered, 3 oz; blue vitriol, 1 oz.; sugar candy 1 oz. Boil the galls and logwood together in twelve pints of rain water for one hour; strain the decoctic and then add the other ingredients; stir the mixture until the whole be dissolved, more especially the ⟨gum⟩ and then let it subside for twenty-four hours; lastly decant the ink very steadily, and cork it in stone ⟨bottles⟩ for use.
——— Red Ink.
Boil an ounce of fine Brazil wood (in the chips) ⟨and⟩ half a pint of water, and add three drachms of gum arabic, with half an ounce of alum.
——— Blue Ink.
Dissolve a small quantity of indigo in a little oil vitriol, then add a sufficient quantity of water, in which is dissolved some gum arabic.
Permanent Ink for Marking Linen.
Dissolve a drachm of lunar caustic in three drachms of distilled rain water, then add half a drachm of gum arabic, with which write with a clean pen upon the linen, prepared as follows:—Dissolve half an ounce of soda in an ounce of water, adding twenty grains of gum arabic, which is to be kept in a separate bottle; moisten the part of the linen you wish to write on with this liquid, dry it before a gentle fire, then write as before directed. The writing when exposed to the sun becomes black.
——— Mixture for Destroying Bugs.
Take of corrosive sublimate 2 drachms, spirits of wine 8 oz.; rub them well together in a mortar until the sublimate is dissolved; then add half a pint of spirits of turpentine This is an effectual destroyer of bugs; but, being a strong poison, great care should be taken in using it.
——— How to kill Cockroaches.
Give them the root of black hellibore, which grows in marshes, and may be had from the country people; strew it over the floor at night, and next morning you will find all the family of cockroaches dead or dying from having eaten of it, which they do with much avidity.
——— Amber Varnish.
Take of Chio turpentine 8 oz. melt it over a very slow fire, and add 1 lb. of powdered gum amber, keep on the fire half an hour, then take it off, and add 2 oz. of white resin while quite warm, and 1 lb of hot linseed oil. When cold, strain, and it will be ready for use.
——— Bleaching Liquid
When water is added to the chloride of lime, one half of the chloride leaves the lime, and dissolves in the water; and this is the bleaching liquid of the shops which is sold at a high rate, although it cannot cost more than a farthing a gallon! Let not the cheapness, however, suffer this liquid to be overlooked, as its purifying properties are unquestionable.
——— Silvering Copper.
Equal parts of muriate of silver, common salt, and cream of tartar, form a composition well calculated for silvering the dial-plates of clocks, the scales of barometers, &c. by simply rubbing the powder upon them and afterwards washing off the saline particles with water.
——— To Preserve Steel or Iron from Rust
Take 1 lb of hog’s lard free from salt, 1 oz. of camphor, 2 drachms of black lead powder, and 2 drachms of dragon's blood in fine powder, melt the same on a slow fire until it is dissolved, and let it cool for use.
——— Destroy Rats.
Take a sponge and steep it well in fat. and then cut it in pieces, and lay them in the rat- oles, and the rats will soon be destroyed.
——— Harness Makers Jet.
Take 1 drachm of indigo, a quarter of an oz of isinglass, a quarter of an oz of sort soap, 4 oz. of glue, a pennyworth of logwood raspings, a quart of vinegar, and a small quantity of green vitriol; boil the whole ​together over a slow fire till reduced to a pint, a small quantity is then to be taken on a clean sponge, and thinly applied to the harness, or boots or shoes, taking care that they are previously well brushed. This composition saves an ocean of trouble to coachmen and grooms.
——— To Fumigate Foul Rooms.
To 1 table spoonful of common salt with a little powdered manganese in a glass cup, add at four or five different times a quarter of a wine glass of strong vitriolic acid. At every addition of the acid, the vapour will come in contact with the malignant miasmata, and destroy them.
——— French Polish
Take 1 oz. each, mastic, sandarac, seed-lac, shell-lac, gum-lac, and gum arabic; reduce them to powder, and add a quarter of an oz. virgin wax; put the whole into a bottle, with one quart of rectified spirit of wine; let it stand 12 hours, and it will be fit for use.
To apply it, make a ball of cloth, and put on it occasionally a little of the polish; then wrap the ball in a piece of calico, when slightly touch with raw linseed oil: rub the furniture (not) hard with a circular motion, until a gloss is produced; finish in the same manner, but instead of all polish, use one-third polish to two-thirds spirits of wine.
——— Spruce Beer.
Take of water 16 gallons, and boil the half of it; put the water thus boiled to the reserved cold part, which should be previously put into a barrel or other vessel; then add 16 lbs. molasses, with a few spoonfuls of the essence of spruce, stirring the whole ​together; add half a pint of yeast; keep it in a temperate situation, with the bung-hole open for two days, ⟨until⟩ fermentation subsides; close it up, or bottle it off, and it will be fit for use in a few days.
——— Instantaneous Ginger Beer.
Mix a quarter a lb. of loaf sugar with an ounce of carbonated soda, and a quarter of an ounce of ground ginger Put a tea spoonful of the above mixture and half a tea spoonful of tartaric acid, scented with essence of lemon into a glass of water, and you have Ginger Beer in ⟨a⟩ moment.
——— Lemonade.
Made same as the above, only keep out the ginger.
——— To Engrave on Copper, Brass, or Steel.
Warm what you intend to engrave, and give it a thin coat of bees wax, then write on it with sharp instrument that will penetrate the wax, and rub it over with a little nitric acid, and it will cut it the same as if it has been engraved.
——— To make Good Shoe Blacking.
Ivory black 1 lb. molasses 1 lb. sperm oil and sulphuric acid 1 ounce each; then mix the whole well together, and form it into whatever shape you like.
——— To Remove Ink Spots and Iron Mould from Linen, &c.
Mix equal quantities of oxalic and tartaric acids, wet the stains with water, and rub a little of the above on it, and in a few minutes the spots will disappear.
——— To make Furniture Paste.
Melt equal quantities of bees' wax and oil of turpentine together, you may colour it red by steeping a little (illegible text)anet root in the turpentine, previous to melting the wax in it.
——— To Varnish Prints and Water Colour Drawings.
Balsam of Canada 1 oz. oil of turpentine 2 oz.; size ⟨the⟩ drawings with isinglass jelly, take care not to disturb ⟨the⟩ colours; when dry, use the varnish, then they will look like Oil Paintings.
——— To Engrave on Glass.
Cover a bit of glass with a thin coat of bees’ wax, then trace a design on it with a sharp instrument that will ⟨penetrate⟩ to the glass, then mix some coarsely powdered (illegible text)ur, spar, and sulphuric acid in a basin give it a gentle ⟨heat⟩, when acid fumes will be evolved, to which the (illegible text)hed surface of the glass must be exposed for a minute ⟨or⟩ two, taking care not to melt the wax; the wax can be ⟨removed⟩ by warming the glass and wiping it with tow (illegible text)l a little oil of turpentine, when the lines will be found ⟨engraved⟩ to a depth proportioned to the time of their exposure to the acid fumes. Great care must be taken not ⟨to⟩ inhale of the fumes for its poison.
——— To Cement Broken China and Glass.
Mix some finely powdered quick lime and the white ⟨of⟩ an egg well together, and anoint the edges of the broken vessel, and clasp them together by a warm fire; if ⟨your⟩ hand be steady the fracture will be hardly be discerned.
——— To Stain Wood a Mahogany Colour.
Take 2 oz. of dragon’s blood, break it in pieces, and (illegible text) it in a quart of rectified spirits of wine; let the bottle ​stand in a warm place, shake it frequently; when dissolved it is fit for use.
——— To Stain Wood Black
Boil half a pound of chip logwood in 2 quarts of water then add 1 oz. of pearl ash,, and apply it hot to the work with a brush; take half a pound of logwood, and boil it as before in 2 quarts of water, adding half an oz. of verdigris and half an oz. of copperas; strain it off and put in about half a lb. of rusty steel filings, and apply as before
——— Tooth-Ache
Take of purified opium, two grains; Camphire, two grains, Oil of Cloves, two drops; Oil of Pepper, two drops. A pill to be put into the hollow tooth.
——— To Make a Light in a Moment.
Dip a piece of wood or paper in oil of turpentine, then put a bit of chloride of potash on it, and a drop of vitriol and you will see the effect.
——— Cure for Corns
Carruth’s Vegetable Corn Plaster has been proved by the experience of thousands of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley, Greenock, &c. to be the best remedy now known for curing Corns, Bunions; and Warts, which it speedily eradicates without pain; or in the least injuring the surrounding skin. Prepared only by P. Carruth, Chiropedist, and may be had in Rolls, price One Penny each, of Moffat & Co, Druggists, 53 Nicolson Street. Mr Cowan, Surgeon; 30, and Mr Fairgrieve, Druggist, 46 Clerk Street, Edinburgh ; Mr Archibald, Surgeon, Kirkgate, and Mr Finlayson, Druggist, corner of Tolbooth Wynd, Leith.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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