The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1875-04-30
PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
Useful Receipts for the Shop, the House
hold, and the Farm.

Useful Receipts for the Shop, the House
hold, and the Farm.
A teaspoonful of powdered borax dis
solved in quart of tepid water is good fol
cleaning old black dresses of silk, cashmere
or alapaca.
Butter will remove tar spots. Soap anC
water will afterward take out the grease
stain.
DR.. Revillout states that lemon juice,
used as gargle, is an efficacious specific
against diptheria and similar throat troub.
les. He has successfully thus employed il
for over eighteen yetrs.
A solution of chloride of iron will remove
nitrate of silver stains from the hands.
Unslaked lime is excellent for cleaning
small steel articles, such as jewelry, buckles
and the like.
To remove old paint, cover with wash
of three parts stone lime, slaked in water,
to whicissone part of pearlash is added.
Allow the coating to remain for sixteen
hours, when tne paint may be easily scraped
off.
| To renovate old feather beds, when no
steam apparatus is convenient, put them
out doors during heavy rain. Let them
| dry in the sun, beating them occasionally
with sticks to loosen the feathers. They
should be turned over several times, and
thoroughly dried. A paste of soft soap and
starch will take the stains out of bed
ticking. Spread it over the spots. When
dry scrape off and wash with damp
sponge.
A good, cheap paint for floors is made of
five pounds of French ocher, one quarter of
pound of glue, and gallon of hot water.
When well dried, apply one Or two coats of
linseed oil.
Stains on wall paper can be cut out with
sharp penknife and piece of paper so
nicely inserted that no one can see the
patch.
Do not use martingales on working teams.
Sec that the harness are buckled tight
enough at the top to bring the draft iron
near the center of the collar If too low, it
not only interferes with the action of the
shoulder but gives the collar an uneven
bearing.
To prevent moths in carpets, wash the
floor before laying them, with spirits of
turpentine or benzine.
In washing windows, a narrow bladed
wooden knife, sharply pointed, will take
out the dust that hardens in the corner of
the sash. Dry whiting will polish the glass,
which should first be washed with weak
black tea leaves for the purpose.
Sprigs of wintergreen Or ground ivy will
drive away red ants; branches Of worm
wood will serve the same purpose for black
ants.
Papering and painting are best done in
cold weather, especially the latter, for the
wood absorbs the Oil Of paint much more
than in warm weather; while in cold weather
the oil hardens on the outside, making
coat which will protect the wood instead of
soaking into it.
Never paper a wall over old paper and
paste. Always scrape down thoroughly.
Old paper can be got off by dampening
with saleratus and water Then go over
all the cracks of the wall with plaster Of
Paris, and finally put on wash Of a weak
solution of carbolic acid. The best paste
is made out of rye flour, with two ounces of
glue dissolved in each quart of paste; half
an ounce of powdered borax improves the
mixture.
An oaken color can be given to new pine
floors and tables by washing them in
solution of copperas dissolved in strong lYe,
pound of the former to gallon of the
latter. When dry, this should be oiled, and
it will look well for a year or two; then
renew the oiling.
Kerosene and powdered lime, whiting, or
wood ashes will scour tins with the least
labor.
Two ounces of common tobacco boiled in
a gallon of water is used by the Chatham
street dealers for renovating old clothes.
The stuff is rubbed on with stiff brush
The goods are nicely cleaned, and, strange
to add, no tobacco smell remains
The main objection most people have to
sending communications on postal cards is
that the writing, is of course, open to gen.
eral persual. A good way Of avoiding this
difficulty is to use sympathetic ink. A
solution of ten grains hyposulphite of soda
in sixteen teaspoonfuls water is the simplest
fluid for the purpose. Use perfectly
clean pen, and after writing go over the
letters with smooth paper-cutter to re-
move all traces of salt Exposure to the
heat Of a bright coal fire turns the writing
black.
A solution Of chloride of lime, in water
to which little acetic acid has been added,
is among the many receipts recommended
to remove ink stains from linen.
Marble can be stained different colors by
the following substance: Blue, solution of
litmus; green, wax colored with verdigris !;
yellow, tincture of gamboge or tumeric
red, tincture of alkanet in turpentine; flesh,
wax tinged with turpentine; brown, tine
ture of logwood: gold, equal parts of verdi
girls, sal ammoniac, and sulphate of zinc in
fine powder.-ScsestSfc Ameracan
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Indian Draw-Pokee."
From the Virginia (Nev.) Enterprise.