The Portland daily press., 1892-09-01
THE HOME.

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| household, few large and well-made
covers for protecting furniture from dust
on sweeping-day will be found useful.
These covers are made of cambria or
muslin; ordinary paper cambria will ans
Wer, but in this case the covers should
be starched and ironed smoothly. This
is necessary in order to prevent the dust
from sitting through, which it would do
were the thin material laundered with
out dressing.
For an ordinary cover, two widths of
cambria sewed together and hemmed
will be sufficient. This will protect a
sofa or a piano Other large covers may
| be made, which can be put over chairs
which are set together in groups, or
smaller covers can be made for the
individual chairs according to fancy. A
cover two yards square will protect the
bureau, armchair or centre-table, and
will save great deal of work in the way
| of busting and rearranglng.
A model housekeeper has number OF
these covers always at hand. When her
4 =
| ticle in it is covered with these throw
overs,' as she calls them. In case of
| emergencies, the cover can be removed
at a moments warning. The dust of
| two or three days, which would show
very plainly on the furniture, is gathered
up in the wrappings and shaken out of
doors. If this be carefully done, the
| room does not require busting before
| being used.
Any apartment which is notcontinually
| occupied is treated in the same way, it
being but the work of moment to whisk
off these covers if occasion requires.
| 1t must be borne in mind, however.
that it is necessary to launder and starch
these pieces of cambria as soon as they
become f1imsy, else the dust will surely
! sift through them, and what was intend
ed as labor-saving arrangement will
prove to be merely a snare and a delu-
sion.
Ii care is taken in handling the cloths,
they will remain clean for some time,
all the more so if a piece of ordinary
glue the size of the bowl Of a spoon is
is made.-N. Y. Ledger.
BOTTLED FRUIT.
A correspondent of the New York
Tribune writes that many jars and bot
ties can be used for keeping fresh fruits,
tomatoes, etc., which have no proper lid
for use by pressure on gum-ring. Wax
is good substitute if rightly applied.
The chief objection to it is that an un-
familiar hand finds difficulty in opening
it, either getting the sticky wax on the
fingers or elsewhere EXCEPTIONALLY, or
breaking the neck of the jar in trying to
force it loose. The right way to proceed
is to heat small covered saucepan of
water to boiling, set it aside two or three
minutes to reduce the heat of the iron bot
tom, then lay a piece of card on the lid
of the jar and put the hot saucepan on it.
AS heat does not descend FAST it may
take ten minutes to soften the wax, but
the water maintains its heat, and the
heat never being above 112o is not dan
gerous to the glass. The point of stiff
knife will soon separate the lid. Press
any strings of wax into place at once
with wetted finger, and all will be at
once tidy and right.
To use the wax-common hard seal
ing wax-if the top of the jar is even
and rather wide, cut a couple of rings of
muslin to fit it, similar to gum rings; dip
them in the melted wax, one after the
other, and place on the rim of the jar.
Have little disk or square of glass large
enough to cover all; lay it on, and at once
put warm flatiron or similar weight on
the glass to stay till all is cold, or if per-
manently, all the better. If the rim is
narrow, shallow tin lid that will go
over it should have an eighth of an inch
of wax melted in it and allowed to get
cold. Turn this lid on to the jar neck as
soon as filed and wiped off. and at once
weight it, or--holding the lid in place
turn the jar upside down, and let stand
till cold. If the lid is a little large,
some cotton Irvine dipped in melted wax
can be put into the lid around the neck
after the jar is inverted, in order to make
assurance doubly sure.
THE WAY TO DIsINFECT.
A we'll known physician gives the fol-
lowing directions for disinfectiny cloth
ing and bedding used in contagious dis
eases: Soak the garments two hours in a
solution made from four ounces of sui
phate of zinc, with two ounces common
salt to every gallon of water. The clothes
should be soaked in this solution before
they are sent to the wash, then boiled
with washing soda or borax. The solu-
ton of one part of corrosive sublimate
to 1000 of water, while known to be the
best for disinfection. is SO destructive to
fabrics that it is often not practicable to
use it,
All brooms and clothes used in sweep
ing and busting should be disinfected
before they are taken to any part Of the
house, and dresses and clothing worn by
those having charge of the sick person
should be changed before joining the
family. Even with these precautions it
is thought better where there are young
children in the house to have 1.-THE isola-
ton complete A sheet wet in some dis
infectant should, it is urged, be hung be-
fore the patients door, and small dishes
holding chloride of lime be placed under
the bed and about the room.
In disinfecting room, after the bed
ding has been put in the solution given
and well washed, and the tinware and
crockery thoroughly cleansed, the doors
and windows are thoroughly closed, the
cracks are filled with cotton and sulphur
is burned. Three or four pounds of
stick sulphur are used for room Of Or