Household Hints.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 122, 14 January 1909, Page 3

Household Hints.

To clean alabaster ornaments, wash ' them with hot water and soap, rinse . them in cold water, and dry them as j quickly as possible for unless theornaj ment is carved from one piece, it is ' likely to come apart at the joints. If the ornament is very soiled, brush it over with one part of nitric acid to three of water, and rinse it quickly. Stains can be removed from alabaster by covering them with a paste made of Fullers's earth, pipeclay, or whiting. Ants may be destroyed by tracking them to their home, which can be done by watching the movements of those bearing burdens of food, and pouring boiling water down their, holes. A ring of tar painted round a fruit tree near it roots, will prevent the ants from climbing the stems. Mosquitoes, like moths, are attracted by a bright light, so that in the district which they infest it is difficult to keep the windows open after the lights are on. A teaspoonful of eucalyptus oil in a basin of boiling water will entirely prevent the intrusion of mosquitoes in any room in which it is placed. It is a curious fact that mosquitoes are unable to fly high in the air, so that they are never found in looms above the ground floor. Croutes of Green Peas. —Fry some nice sized croutes of bread and keep hot. Grate one ounce of cheese into a white saucepan, ad 1 two tablespoonsful of milk, one tablespoonful of bread crumbs, a small pat of butter and season well with pepper and salt. Bring this sauce -to boiling point, adding a little more skim milk if very stiff. Add J-pint nicely boiled green peas, then quickly pile on to the fried croutes and serve very hot. Strawberry Cream Ice.—Take lib. strawberries, J-Ib. castor sugar, 1 teaspoonful of cochineal, 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a pint of whipped cream. Remove the stalks from the strawberries, put them on to fine hair seive and rub them through with a wooden spoon, and add the cochineal and lemon juice. Whip the cream and stir it into the strawberry puree. Then freeze, if you wish to make ices you should buy a machine for freezing. They can be bought now at a comparatively low figure. Ice alone is not sufficient to freeze the ices. You want two-thirds ice, and one-third freezing salt.

Hasty Pudding.—Two oz. of butter, 2 oz. castor sugar, 2 eggs, Jib of flour, t pint of milk, jam. Cream the butter and sugar together till they look like thick cream, add the eggs one by one, then the flour and milk stirred lightly in. A little flavouring, such as vanilla or lemon, is an improvement. Put into a greased pie dish, and bake for about half an hour. Serve with jam.

Indigestion is a frequent and direct result of badly-controlled nerves, and you must know how rapidly this ailment ruins a woman's good looks. The complexion suffers, becoming muddy, often showing an eruption of some sort. Thinness follows for the food does not nourish. So don't let this sort of indigestion lay hold upon you. You can drive it away, not by dieting, not by medicine, but by driving away its cause. It means much to your digesion to control the nerves at all times, but particularly so while you are at meals. Never take a thought of care or work or anxiey to the table with you. If you are full of perplexing thoughts all the while you are eating, you are laying up a store of indigestion for the future. The mind should be perfectly relaxed during meals and for at least half an hour afterwards. ' How to keep Small Table Ferns.— In order to preserve the life of small table ferns, the following plan should be followed, if the ferns are inclined to droop and fade. After the meal of the day remove the ferns from the table and place them pots and all, in empty biscuit tins, which must be large enough to bold the ferns without injuring the fronds. Sprinkle the ferns freely with water, put the lids on the tins, and leave the ferns encased until the morning, when they should be fresh and moist as though just brought out of a greenhouse. In this way small table ferns can be kept in good condition for an indefinite period, even though subjected to gaslit rooms. * Milk for the Complexion. — New milk, skimmed milk, and buter-milk furnish simple and useful cosmetic washes, which may advisedly replace many of those of a complicated character that cost much, but give no better results than the above-mentioned.

To Fill up Cracks in Floors. — Take one pound of flour, three quarts of water, and one tablespoonful of alum. Tear up newspapers in pieces, and soak them for some time in the mixture; then boil all together until well blended. Fill up cracks by working this dough in with a knife. When dry it will harden like paper-mache.