Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-01-01
agricultural.
Useful Information.

Useful Information.
CORES pondents Of the C0,tutry Gentle
man furnish that journal with the follow
ing:
KEROSENE LAMPs.-fh5s IS the scaso-
when nearly every paper We take up re
lateS some horrible casualty from the ex-
plOsion of Il Kerosene lamp, or the like,
and women and children are either killed
outright or terribly b rned and SCARED for
life \ simple knowledge of the inhamma-
bic nature of the fluid would probably put
an end to nearly all the accidents First,
no lamps should be filled after dark by the
light of Il candle. Always do this work
after the breakfast dishes are put away.
and then not only fill them, but wash the
chimneys, for if they are dim and smoky.
YOU cannot expect to have a bright light.
Take the chimney in one hand, and breathe
through it; then draw large wisp of pa
per up and down it. and all the blur will
be removed. If the chimney is blackened
with lamp smoke, turn warmish water
through the tube, and then wipe out with
paper the same style rs before If the
lamps are glass, and they become clouded
with Il deposit from the kerosene, take lime
water that is milky with the lime and
shake it up in the lamp. Do this with two
different ~ashings, and all the deposit will
be removed A little chloride of lime.
dissolved in warm water, and left in a
lamp or can which has held kerosene. will
deodOrize it very soon. Lamps must be
filled every morning. This is an {nlDcrG-
tire duty for every housekeeper to see per
formed, for as the oil burns down in the
lamp, there is created highly inflamma-
bic gas, which gathers imperceptibly over
the surface, and as fast as the oil is con-
sumed this gas increases, so when the oil
Is nearly out of the lamp, the slightest jar
of the table viii set the gas on fire; an eX-
plOslOn follows instantaneously, and Il
bOmbShell would not be more destructive.
Tor its touches are deathly. But if the oil
is burned only half way down in your lamp
the gas is not of sufficient power to do any
injury; therefore let me bee of YOU never
to defer the operation of lamp filling to
another day, but see yourself that it is done
When | read of deaths occurring from try
ing to light fires with kerosene, | always
think the verdict of the cOrOner's jury
should be :" Serred them rjght,'' for it
seems impossible to believe that any NOR
TIL could be SO foolish as to tamper with
such highly intlammable liquid Better
try to kindle fires with Il powder can well
filled than with the contents of your kero-
senc can. Daisy Eye6rjght.
How TO SAVE WOOD AND COAL.-In
order to make u house comfortable, its
foundation or underpinning should be made
air tight; this will keep the frosts out of the
cellar, and cold draughts of air from rush
ing up through the floors. Banking up
the house with branches of evergreen trees
IS the best method of procuring it. The
old habit of dlstiguring the house with
piles OF loan or gravel, held up against
them by boards and stakes, has disappear
ed; and branches of spruce, pine or hem
lock, cut from the trees de iyned for fuel
or from young evergreens which spring up
among the pastrrage, are now substituted
with much less expenditure of time in the
putting down and removal of them Put
them closely around the stone work, and,
If needful, lay boards over them to pro-
tect them from the drippings from the
caves. In the early spring, these branches
can be burned i'll II bonfire in the garden
and their ashes turned to some little &c
count. The comfort and health of the
family circle depends greatly upon the
warmth of the house, and it is all-impor
tant to attend to these matters in due sea-
son. For if Grevices and cracks are left
open, and the cold air is suffered to rush
i'll from outside, it is impossible to warm
Il room without Il great waste of fuel; be-
cause when Il room is warm, the air comes
in from out of doors with increased force,
and thus more coal and wood are required
than would be the case were the house
well banked up. Double windows will
also lessen the bills for fuel most materi
ally, and their cost can often be paid in
one year by the decrease in the amount of
fuel burned; and then they are of the
greatest comfort to the inmates of the
house, and this item should be ALWAYS of
force to the master of the MANSIONS. O.
j.
A FEW HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Oiling.-
Never allow a door 10 creak for want of oil
or shut hard so as to require slamminr to
make it latch. For this purpose pass
around once week at some regular time.
say Saturday evening or Monday morning,
with drop of oil on feather, or on the
tip of the finger, and give every rubbing
part, latch, hinge, etc, u touch The door
and walls will last longer than when IN
cessantly pounded and battered, and the
disagreeable noise will not make sick per-
sons worse Or annoy well ones Scissors
sometimes work hard when tenth of a
grain of oil, touched along the cutting
edges to make them move easily over each
other, will imp owe them greatly.
Ventilation would be more easily ac-
complished and more certainly performed,
and rooms kept with purer and healthier
air, if windows were made to slide easily,
If not hung by pulleys and weights, add
good freely-working catches. Never per-
NIT broken pane in house.
Cellars should be kept constantly clean
AS much so rs your parlor. 1t is the
easiest thing in the world, if you attend
to it daily; and only becomes heavy task
when you allow a months accumulations
ON the same principle that the boy who
combed his head once summer was
amazed that any one could do it daily,
Once week, 60 over all your house and
out-houses, and see what wants attention
to keep all in perfect order. You will
find something every time, and attend to
it promptly.
II