HINTS FOR THE HOME.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2185, 14 September 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

HINTS FOR THE HOME.

Although not generally adopted, a damp duster has a distinct advantage over a dry one, as it collects tho dust instead of leaving it to settle elsewhere.

Up to the age of toil, children aro much better without either tea or coffee. Milk or cocoa, or milk with a little hot- water in it to heat it, are far better for them.

To clean a sponge, dissolve a. pennyworth of salts of lonion in a quart of hot water, and in it steep tho sponge. When it is clean rinse it thoroughly. This quantity is sufficient for a big sponge. Do not use tho water too hot, or it will spoil the sponge, making it shrink. A good polish for tinware can be obtained by making into a paste with water about one winoglassful of finely powdered whiting and a quarter of a pound of ordinary mottled soap shredded. Apply with a piece of flannel, polish with a dry cloth and a litte powdered whiting. From an cconimical point of view, it would surprise a good many, especially those who drink two or three cups of tea or coffee at a meal, if, instead of putting tho sugar into the tea, it was saved for a week to find what a saving could be effected in the matter of sugar to the benefit of both health and pocket. When ovens smell badly, take a vessel of, hot water and a handful of washing soda. Take the shelves out and wash well in hot water, then finish them in cold. Next wash the oven out with soda water, and brush it over with whiting. It will then be clean and sweet, and bake beautifully. To clean Windows Easily.—When you are turning out a room, make some powdered whiting into a thin paste with cold water, smear this all over tho panes with a piece of rag. When dry, lightly rub off, and polish the glass with clean dusters. The window is thus cleaned easily and quickly. Fuller’s earth made into a paste with ammonia is a most, effective mixture for use in the household. In the case of spots of grease on rugs or carpets, it forms an excellent cleanser, tho paste boing spread over the surface and then allowed to dry on. When perfectly dry the carpet should be well swept and if the. stain has not been completely effaced, a second application will entirely remove it. How many housekeepers fail to recognise tho primary importance of salt. Vegetables and meat, unseasoned, would, of course, be tastless, and bread equally so; indeed, to some palates, they would be almost uneatable. A pinch of salt brings out any flavouring used, and frequently a nicely-made, elaborate cake is spoiled through forgetting the salt. All table cutlery should be washed a', soon after it has been used as possible. Very hot- water should be used to cleanse tho knives and carvingforks of grease, the latter afterwards being well dried and the prongs rubbed with lcnife-powder; whilst in cases where knives are cleaned in a machine this duty should always, if possible, be entrusted to tho same person, a point which considerably lengthens the working powers of tho 'knife-mac-hine. Knives must never bo kept in a cupboard close to a hot flue or near tho kitchen stove, as this will cause the handles to crack. When not in use cutlery should bo rubbed with mutton fat and wrapped in brown paper.

lllfidlPES. Princess Tea Cakes.—Melt two tublespoonfuls of butter and the same quantity of sweet lard. Beat them in well together. - Sift in a tcaeupful of flour and two tablespoonfuls of ground rice. Add half a teacupful of sugar and one egg. Drop into pattypans, and hake for a quarter of an hour in a quick oven. To Keep Cream Sweet for at Least a Fortnight.—ln warm weather add a little castor sugar to cream, and then heat it very gently, not allowing it to boil. Then let it cool as gradually. Then put it away in an open jar or basin. If those directions are followed the cream will keep quite a long time perfectly fresh and sweet. How to Keep Cake.—Keep cake in an earthenware jar with a lid. It is a mistake to keep it in a tin box, which only helps to dry it up. Biscuits, however, and oatcake and shortbread must be kept in a tin box with the lid well kept down. If they lose their crispness they may bo placed for a few minutes in front of tlio fire, and when left to cool will be found quite hard again.