Middletown transcript., 1908-04-18
USEFUL THINGS TO KNOW
Flour will lose its goodness if kept in
damp place.

damp place.
Don't try to save coal at the expense 0
the viands; always have steady ant
sufficient FIRE for cooking.
A stock pot should always be handy
and bones and odd pieces of meat put il
for the making of soups and gravies.
The outer parts of some vegetables con
tain most nourishment, therefore carrots
and parsnips should be brushed clean ane
lightly scraped, and potatoes thinIy peeled
or boiled in skins and peeled before dish
ing.
Remember that sitting the -four fer
cake or biscuit several times will add
much to the lightness of the article baked.
Every cook sifts the flour for angel cake
five or six times, but there ia just as much
sense in sitting it as much for the baking
powder biscuit.
To clean swansdoWn made warm soap
lather and in this gently knead the swans
down till clean. Then rinse in fresh cold
water to which a little blue has been
added, Shake well and hang in the air
to dry, shaking from time to time to make
the down fluffy,
Salt sprinkled around the drains is a
simple and inexpensive disinfectant.
If hooks for the bathroom, kitchen and
pantry are dipped in enamel paint there
will be no trouble from iron rust.
You will scarcely need pair Of kitchen
scales if you follow this simple plan: One
ordinary cupful of -four is four ounces,
so that four eupfuIs make one pound.
Sugar is heavier, so do not take full cup
of it to make four ounces, Shredded suet
is SO light that a cupful weighs but two
ounces. With very little experience
you will measure ingredients quite accur-
ately in this way.
Maple syrup which has fermented and
become sour can be freshened by heating
to the boiling point and adding little
soda. Stir thoroughly, then skim.
1t is said if the upper sash of a window
is drawn down to the sill, the lower one
pushed to within two or three inches of
the top of the window, it will give a good
circulation in a sleeping room, yet the
draft will not be noticed,
A knowledge OF how to make and apply
furniture stains and varnishes is valuable
to housekeeper whose income is limited,
for with slight practice it is often possible
to make artistic pieces of furniture out of
plain white wood chairs, tables, etc. In
making very dark coloring half pound
of madder and two ounces Of logwood
chips should be boiled gently for an hour
in a gallon of water. This should then
be strained and applied to the wood while
hot. 1t should be put on evenly with q
fat brush. The finish requires pearl
ash solution that is made by putting two
drains of the ash into quart OF water.
This is not applied until the stained wood
is dry. For light shade two ounces of
bruised dragons blood are put into
bottle with quart of turpentine. The
jar is corked and placed in warm spot,
near or on ra1iator, is shaken OCCASION
ally until the blood is dissolved and then
applied with brush. The other mahog-
any stain is apt to be understood best by
those who know something OF mixing
coIors. Raw sienna is ground and then
mixed with beer, thus making a light
shade. Then burnt sienna that has been
ground is added in proportion to the tint
wished and put on rather thin with
soft brush, wipiBg it over Immediately
with a piece of cotton or other soft SUBJ
stance. When quite dry the surface may
be oiled or vanished. Cold drawn lin
seed oil is good yarnish or polisher. To
stain a new piece OF furniture is simple
work for an amateur, but success is not so
certain when an old chair or table is to
be renovated. However, doing over an
old piece would not be difficult if it were
understood that the wood will not take
new stain until all the old varnish, what
ever it may be, is removed. The easiest
way of getting off the old finish is to put
on saturated solution of sal soda-that
is, as much soda as can be dissolved in
water. With a stiff scrub brush this
liquid shonld be applied while hot, so it
will eat off the surface coat. A stiff scrub
brush is best for putting it on with. Then
the article must be allowed to dry before
the new finish is applied.
If you have not already put your furs
away for the summer months, it is high
time that you were doing so. As this has
been an unusual season for furs, notwith-
standing the money stringency, the prob
lem of cleaning and storing these gar
ments is one that is assuming grave pro-
portions with almost every woman. Ii
your furs are very valuable, it would pei
haps be wiser to pay the extra charge OF
sending them to furrier for cold storage,
so that they may have the benefit of
professional supervision during the hot
weather, and of the expert cleaning which
is designed to keep them from deteriorat
ing. But if your furs are not SO expen-
sive, or if you do not feel that you can
afford to pay for cleaning and storing,
then you will no doubt be glad of few
words OF advice about attending to this
highly important matter at home. Dark
furs, such as seal, mink and sable, may be
cleaned by the use of fine cedar or ma
hogany sawdust. The fur is to be placed
on table with the hairy side ap, and the
sawdust rubbed in vigorously by the
handful Then shake the fur over the
table until good proportion OF the saw
dust, which may be used again, has been
removed. Place the fur, hairy side down,
on large pillow, and beat with a switch
shaking occasionally and continuing the
beating until no trace of the sawdust is
left. White furs will probably worry you
more than the dark colored ones, because