Enquire Within Upon Everything Part 50

348. Neat Mode of Soldering.

Cut out a piece of tinfoil the size of the surfaces to be soldered.

Then dip a feather in a solution of sal ammoniac, and wet over the surfaces of the metal, then place them in their proper position with the tinfoil between. Put the metals thus arranged on a piece of iron hot enough to melt the foil. When cold the surfaces will be found firmly soldered together.

[WHO NEVER TRIES CANNOT WIN THE PRIZE.]

349. Maps and Charts.

Maps, charts, or engravings may be effectually varnished by brus.h.i.+ng a very delicate coating of gutta-percha solution over their surface. It is perfectly transparent, and is said to improve the appearance of pictures. By coating both sides of important doc.u.ments they can be kept waterproof and preserved perfectly.

350. Temperature of Furniture.

Furniture made in the winter, and brought from a cold warehouse into a warm apartment, is very liable to crack.

351. Paper Fire-Screens

should be sized and coated with transparent varnish, otherwise they will soon become soiled and discoloured.

352. Pastilles for Burning.

Cascarilla bark, eight drachms; gum benzoin, four drachms; yellow sanders, two drachms; styrax, two drachms; olibanum, two drachms; charcoal, six ounces; nitre, one drachm and a half; mucilage of tragacanth, sufficient quant.i.ty. Reduce the substances to a powder, and form into a paste with the mucilage, and divide into small cones; then put them into an oven, used quite dry.

353. Breaking Gla.s.s.

Easy method of breaking gla.s.s to any required Figure.--Make a small notch by means of a file on the edge of a piece of gla.s.s, then make the end of a tobacco-pipe, or of a rod of iron of the same size, red hot in the fire, apply the hot iron to the notch, and draw it slowly along the surface of the gla.s.s in any direction you please: a crack will follow the direction of the iron.

354. Bottling and Fining.

Corks should be sound, clean, and sweet. Beer and porter should be allowed to stand in the bottles a day or two before being corked. If for speedy use, wiring is not necessary. Laying the bottles on their sides will a.s.sist the ripening for use. Those that are to be kept should be wired, and put to stand upright in sawdust. Wines should be bottled in spring. If not fine enough, draw off a jugful and dissolve isingla.s.s in it, in the proportion of half an ounce to ten gallons, and then pour back through the bung-hole. Let it stand a few weeks.

Tap the cask above the lees. When the isingla.s.s is put into the cask, stir it round with a stick, taking great care not to touch the lees at the bottom. For white wine only, mix with the isingla.s.s a quarter of a pint of milk to each gallon of wine, some whites of eggs, beaten with some of the wine. One white of an egg to four gallons makes a good fining.

355. To Sweeten Casks.

Mix half a pint of vitriol with a quart of water, pour it into the barrel, and roll it about; next day add one pound of chalk, and roll again. Bung down for three or four days, then rinse well with hot water.

356. Wrinkly Paintings.

Oil paintings hung over the mantel-piece are liable to wrinkle with the heat.

357. To Loosen Gla.s.s Stoppers of Bottles.

With a feather rub a drop or two of salad oil round the stopper, close to the mouth of the bottle or decanter, which must then be placed before the fire, at the distance of about eighteen inches; the heat will cause the oil to insinuate itself between the stopper and the neck. When the bottle has grown warm, gently strike the stopper on one side, and then on the other, with any light wooden instrument; then try it with the hand: if it will not yet move, place it again before the fire, adding another drop of oil. After a while strike again as before; and, by persevering in this process, however tightly it may be fastened in, you will at length succeed in loosening it.

358. The Best Oil for Lamps,

whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, is that which is clear and nearly colourless, like water.

359. China or Wedgwood Teapots.

China teapots are the safest, and, in many respects, the most pleasant. Wedgwood ware is very apt, after a time, to acquire a disagreeable taste.

[THE BEST PHYSICIANS ARE DR. DIET, DR. QUIET AND DR. MERRYMAN.]

360. Care of Linen.

When linen is well dried and laid by for use, nothing more is necessary than to secure it from damp and insects. It may he kept free from the latter by a judicious mixture of aromatic shrubs and flowers, cut up and sewed in silken bags, which must be interspersed among the drawers and shelves. The ingredients used may consist of lavender, thyme, roses, cedar shavings, powdered sa.s.safras, ca.s.sia, &c., into which a few drops of otto of roses, or other strong-scented perfume may be thrown.

361. Repairing Linen.

In all cases it will he found more consistent with economy to examine and repair all washable articles, more especially linen, that may stand in need of it, previous to sending them to the laundry. It will also be prudent to have every article carefully numbered, and so arranged, after was.h.i.+ng, as to have their regular turn and term in domestic use.

362. Mending.

When you make a new article always save the pieces until "mending day," which may come sooner than expected. It will be well even to buy a little extra quant.i.ty for repairs. Read over repeatedly the "DOMESTIC HINTS" (_pars_. 1783-1807). These numerous paragraphs contain most valuable suggestions, that will be constantly useful if well remembered. They should be read frequently that their full value may be secured. Let your servants also read them, for nothing more conduces to good housekeeping than for the servant to understand the "system" which her mistress approves of.

363. Cleansing of Furniture.

The cleaning of furniture forms an important part of domestic economy, not only in regard to neatness, but also in point of expense.

364. Method of Cleansing.

The readiest mode indeed consists in good manual rubbing, or the application of a little elbow-grease, as it is whimsically termed; but our finest cabinet work requires something more, where brilliancy of polish is of importance.

365. Italian Varnish.

The Italian Cabinet-Work in this respect excels that of any other country. The workmen first saturate the surface with olive oil, and then apply a solution of gum arabic dissolved in boiling alcohol.

This mode of varnis.h.i.+ng is equally brilliant, if not superior, to that employed by the French in their most elaborate works.

366. Another Method.