Household Hints

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 228, 26 January 1910, Page 4

Household Hints

WHEN TO CUT FLOWERS The best time to cut flowers, says a writer in Gardening Illustrated, is early in the morning whilst the dew is upon them, or else during the evening. I prefer the early morning. As soon as cut, the stems should be placed in water, even if a tepmorary way if not convenient to arrange them at once in their proper positions. When the flowers have to be packed early in the morning to be sent a long distance, they must either be cut extra e*rly, or, what is better, cut the previous evening, and placed in water all night in a cool place, which can be kept close. In this way they absorb all the water it is possible for them to do, being consequenty fresher when unpacked. Maiden-hair fern has the name for not keeping any too fresh afer it is cut; this is partly, if not greatly, the fault of the management. When it is known that a certain amount will be required in the morning, it is much better to pick the fields over night, and bunch them afterwards, leaving them immersed until the following morning.

CURRANT BUNS. Quarter of a pound of currants, two ounces of sifted sugar, and if liked, a few carraway seeds. Mix in half a pint of milk and a beaten egg. Make a hole in the flour, pour in the milk, and work the whole lightly with a spoon. Do not touch it with the hands, or the buns will be heavy. Put the lumps of dough on the baking dish with a fork. When nearly baked brush them over with warm milk and dust with sugar. Then replace in the oven until done.

GINGERBREAD LOAF. Take one teacupful each of butter, treacle, and sugar, half a teacupful of cold water, one tablespoonful of ground ginger, soda, dissoved in water, and cinnamon, of each a teaspoon ful; flour to make a stiff batter. Melt the butter slightly, warm the treacle, sugar, and .spice. Beat them together for ten minutes; then add the water, soda, and flour. Stir well, make into three small loaves, and bake in a moderate oven.

In cooking cabbage never add the salt until the vegetable is cooked, as it makes the cabbage tough. Instead, when the water boils, put in a pinch of baking soda, and add-thc salt five minutes before serving.

If housekeepers' who have natural wood kitchen tables would cut a lemon in two and rub it over the surface, rinsing it well with clean warm .water, the result would! be a snowy white board wihout the rough top made by continual scrubbing with a brush.

The objection that many people have to flannelette is its inflammability. This danger.may be averted if after flannelette articles have been washed they are rinsed in water in which one ounce of alum or salammoniac has been dissolved. This precaution may be the means of saving lives.

A RUSTY GRATE. To clean a rusty grate, try this method. Blacklead it thoroughly, and leave the wet blacklead to dry on for a day or two; then clean the grate in the usual manner, and it will be easy to polish it, for the blacklead will have destroyed the rust.

When peeling onions, begin at the root and peel upwards* and the onions will scarcely affectjjte eyes at all.