Year: 1874

I


In the ayerge household few things suf
fer more from ill-usage than porcelain ant
glass, especially the finer kinds of sucl
ware. We copy from the Boston .Jomna
Of Chemistry few practical suggestion.
on the best methods of cleansing and pre-
serving these fragile materials.


One Of the most important things is to
season glass and china to sudden change
Of temperature, 50 that they will remain
sound after exposure to sudden heat aud
cold. This is best done by placing the
articles in cold water, which must gradu-
ally be brought to the boiling point, and
then allowed to cool very slowly, taking
several hours to dot. The commoner tho
materials the more care in this respect is
required The very best glass aud china
Is always well-seasoned or annealed, as the
manufacturers say, before il il sold. If
the wares are properly seasoned in this
way, they may be washed in boiling water
without fear Of fracture, except in frosty
weather, when, even, with the best Of an
nealed wares, care must be taken not TO
place them suddenly in too hot water All
china that has any gliding upon it may on
no account be rubbed with cloth of any
kind, but merely rinsed first in hot and
afterwards in cold water, and then left to
drain ill dry. II the gliding is very dull
and requires polishing, it may now and
then be rubbed with soft wash leather
and little dry whiting; but this operation
must not bo repeated more than once a
year otherwise the gold win be most Ger.
tainly rubbed off and the china apoilt.
When the plates, eso,, are put away in the
china closet, pieces of paper should be
placed between them to prevent scratches
on the glaze or painting, as the bottom of
all ware has little PARTICLES of sand adher-
ing to il, picked up from the oven where
in it was glazed. The china closet should
be in dry situation, as a damp closet will
soon tarnish the gliding of the best crock
cry.


Ia a common dinner service, it is great
evil to make the plates too hot, as it inva-
riably cracks the glaze on the surface, II
not the plate itself We all know the re-
sult-it comes apart; nobody broke it,
''it was cracked before" or Cracked a
long time ago" The fact is, when the
glaze is injured, every time the ''things''
are washed the water gets to the interior,
swells the porous clay, and makes the
whole fabric rotten. In this condition
they viii also absorb grease and when ex-
posed to farther heat the grease makes the
dishes brown and discolorod. If an old
ill-used dish be made very hat indeed, a
teaspoolful Of fat will be seen to exude
from the minute assures upon its surface
These latter remarks apply more particu-
larly to common wares.


As rule, warm water and a soft cloth
is all that is required 10 keep glass in a
good condition pure water bottles aud
wine decapsers, in order to keep them
bright must be rinsed out with little mu-
ratio acid, which is the best substance for
removing the 'fur' which collects in them.
The acid is far better than ashes, sand or
shot; for the ashes and sand scratch the
glass, and if any shot is left in by accident
the lead is Poisonous.


Richly cut glass must be cleansed and
polished with a soft brush, upon which a
very little fine chalk or whiting is put by
these means the lustre and brillianey are
preserved.