The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-17
HOUSEHOLD HINTS.
From the Sun.

from the sun.
Very soon green tomatoes will be
plenty and cheap. Few housewives
know that with little trouble and eX-
pense they can have fresh, ripe to-
matOes in January by taking care of
the green ones. The green tomatoes
should be carefully wrapped separately
in papers and spread out upon shelves
on the floor of dark, cold closet, where,
however, the temperature should be
about freezing. If kept in this way, the
vegetables will slowly ripen. When they
are required for use, expose them to
sunlight and heat for couple of days,
and you will have tomatoes as firm
and nice as those offered in the mar
kets at little expense.
When roasting small birds always
fasten the heads under the wings and
lay q thin slice of pork under the
breast Of each bird and piece of bread
underneath. A bird would not be COM
plete without its bed and blanket.
To make ones own extract Of vanilla
secure five TonQuin beans and one va
nilla bean, clip them and put them into
a bottle with ten ounces OF alcohol, SIX
ounces of water, and three of sugar. Let
the mixture remain from six to eight
weeks, SNdklUS IL frequently,
strain and it Is ready for use.
The small stone crooks used by many
for holding butter should always be
well washed and freshened before being
refilled. The best way to freshen them
is after washing to fill them with boil
ing ammonia or boraX water, allowing
a teasooonful of ammonia to quart
of water Let the water remain all day,
and then fill the crock with sweet milk
and let it stand over night.
When clothing has acquired close.
unpleasant odor from being packed
away where the air cannot reach 1t, a
few pieces of charcoal laid among tho
folds will soon remove the odor.
Among the simple remedies which
should be in the family medicine closet,
one of the most useful Is mutton suet.
For cuts and bruises it is unequalled,
as we'll as for chapped hands and
faces. 1t Is best to procure the suet at
the butchers and fry it out at home,
turning 1t into small moulds to cool,
and then roll 1t in tin foil. A camphor
ice may be made by putting a piece Of
camphor the size of walnut with half
a cup of mutton tallow, and melting
q little cup or mould to become cold.
Among decorative plants for the
house the African asparagus. common
ly called asparagus fern, Is most use
full. The graceful fronds last a long
time; they are rarely troubled with in
sects, and gas and furnace heat do not
affect them SO quickly as many other
plants.
An egg that has been boiled soft and
become cold cannot be cooked again
and made hard: but a soft-bOiled egg
that has not had the shell broken may
be reheated by cooking three minutes
in boiling water, and 1t will taste as
we'll as If freshly boiled.
Housekeepers desirous of making
their own baking powder can do so
with very little trouble. The following
formula is one that has been used for
many years. Weigh six ounces of flour
and thoroughly dry It, without brown
ing It. in the oven. Procure six ounces
of the best soda and thirteen and one
half ounces of cream of tartar. Add
them to the dried flour and rub to-
gether half a dozen times through a
sieve, then put them in air-tight Jars
or cans and keep in dark closet using
the powder from a small Jar SO that II
will retain its strength.
Save tea leaves for washing var
nish paint. When sufficient leaves
have been collected steep them for half
an hour In q tin vessel and then strain