The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-02-27
USEFUL AND SUGGESTIVE.

One THOUSAND laths will cover sew
enty yards of surface, and eleven pounds
of nails will put them on.
A CORD of stone, three bushels OF
lime and a cubic yard OF sand will lay
100 cubic feet of wall.
EIGHT bushels of good lime, sixteen
bushels Of sand, and one bushel of hair
will make enough mortar 10 plaster 10O
square yards.
ONE-FIFTH more siding and flooring
is needed than the number of square
feet of surface to be covered, because
OF the lap in the siding and matching
of the floor.
FIVE courses of brick will lay one
foot in height on a chimney; six bricks
In course will make fiue eight inches
wide and twelve inches long, and eight
bricks in course will make fue eight
inches wide and sixteen inches long.
ALUM IN BREAD.-To discover wheth-
er bread is adulterated with alum, soak
the bread in water, and to the water in
which it has been soaked add little
OF the solution of muriate of lime !;
upon which, if any alum be present,
the liquid will be pervaded with milki-
ness; but, if the bread be pure, the
liquid will remain limpid. Ration
ale: Sulphuric acid has stronger af-
finity for lime than alumina and potas-
sum, with which it forms alum; it,
therefore, quits those bodies to form
sulphate of lime with the lime of the
test, which produces the milkiness.
CHEAP INDELIBLE INK.-Braconnot
recommends the following: Twenty
parts of potassa are dissolved in boil
ing water, ten parts of tine-cut leather
chips and five parts of flowers of sui
phur are added, and the whole heated
in an iron kettle until it is evaporated
to dryness. The n the heat is continued
until the mass becomes soft, care being
taken that it does not ignite. The pot
is now removed from the fire allowed
too cooD, water is added, the solution.
strained and preserved in bottles. This
ink flows easily from the pen.
NEwLy-P PAINTED RooMs.-The danger
of inhaling the vapor of turpentine has
been long known, and its pernicious in
fuence on the health is beyond all
doubt, rs has been verified III several
cases occurring in persons sleeping in
newly-painted rooms, some of which
have even proved fatal. Several theo-
ries, more or less plausible, have
been propounded to explain the
prejudicial effects of the inhalation of
these vapors; but. whatever be the ex-
PLANTATION, there IS no doubt of the dam
ger of occupying room recently paint
ed in which turpentine has been en-
ployed, before complete dessication has
taken place. 1t was pointed out by the
Council of Hygiene, that sudden
death which recently took place in
Paris was attributable to this cause, it
being shown that it could not be as
cribed to the lead which entered into
the composition of the paint of the
room in which the deceased slept; the
lead, being fixed and non-volatile, can
not in these cases be accused of being
the offending element.
To DYE STRAw.-Magenta red.-The
first operation for dyeing this or any
other color on straw is to steep the lat
ter in bath calculated with sulphuric
acid for twelve hours. For magenta,
take an acid bath of to 5 deg. Be.
The straw after washing is immersed
twelve hours in a bath kept at 30 to 40
deg. c., containing the necessary
amount of dye. Now wash well and
dry. Other aniline colors do not dye
straw with the same facility. Maroon,
with logwood. Clean the straw by boil
ing with solution of carbonate of
soda, then steep in bath of logwood
for two hours. To give a blush tint,
add some blue stone to the bath if too
much of the latter is used the straw
will have greenish hue. This is
loose color, only employed on account
of it's cheapness Coffee and choco-
late stains.-If the chocolate or coffee
contains milk the stains produced are
more pronounced than if prepared
with water only, but they are also more
easily removed. To remove them the
stains are washed with mixture of
yelk of egg in tepid water. Ii with
this treatment they still remain, add
little spirit to the mixture and rub with
a hard brush. Blue Innings for hats.
In producing these the cloth is not
dyed, but the thickened color is APP
piled to it in the following manner:
Prepare the color with twenty-five gal
Ions of water, thirty pounds starch,
two pounds of tallow, forty-four pounds
ultramarine blue; mix, boil, pass
through sieve; print on the roller first
on one side, then on the other, and dry
on ii a cylinder.