Household Hints.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 716, 28 October 1914, Page 7

Household Hints.

<3Soda water will • clean ceilings discoloured by fumes from a lamp. To whiten wooden, floors, add two tablespoonfuls of paraffin to the hob soapy water used for washing a floor. The best way to make boiled ham juicy and tender is to leave it in the water in which it is boiled until quit© Cold. To clean marble, rub with a piece of lemon dipped 4 in salt. Leave for an hour, then wash off r All stains will be removed and a nice gloss secured. If a calendar- is too pretty to be destroyed, paste a piece of sandpaper over the calendar pad and use it as a match-scratcher. When boiling cabbages or greens v>z any kind, to. prevent their boiling oyer, add a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and they can be left quite safely. Permanganate of potash will cleanse dirty filters : of all impurities. A solution should be passed through the filter until it comes out as pink as when it was poured in, Soap that is allowed to dry and harden lasts twice as long as if used when fresh. Therefore it is cheaper to buy it in quantity and keep it in a> dry place; When polishing floors, make a thick pad of felt or velvet, and fasten it over an old worn-out and hairless broom. This makes an excellent polisher and saves the trouble of kneeling on the floor. ' A warm bath just before going to ted tends rto allay nervous irritability, which prevents sleep. It does so probably by dilating the blood vessels on the surface of the body, and so relieving the brain. When cooking a chop, placo it in a colander and pour over it a dittle. boiling water. This will prevent any of the nutritious juices from being wasted. Then cook on a gridiron in the usual way. Crumpled artificial flowers may be made to look ■ quite fresh again by holding them over the steam of a boiling kettle for a few minutes ; then pull them out into shape and shake jn the air until quite dry. When cleaning mirrors and windows sprinkle a few drops of metal polish upon a cloth and rub over the glass. Leave to dryV-then polish with a clean cloth. This is the quickest and easiest way 'to clean them. Before sweeping tho carpets take an' old round tin, pierce holes in the bottom, and fill with common salt. Sprinkle this over the carpet. It prevents the dust from rising, brightens the colours, and prevents moths. "A great number of people do not realise that the insides of windows ""-ok ir>.Jly catch more f dirt than the outsides. Try rubbing them inside every day with a clean cloth, and you will find that they will not require washing nearly so often. A.good way to clean light ~:cf gloves is to rub them gently from wrists to finger-tips with a flannel dipped in milk. Pull and stretch the gloves to retain their softness while drying. If they are only slightly soiled, dry flourbran will often clean them. . • Take two or three thicknesses of woollen carpeting, or any heavy woollen fabric, and tack it on a block of wood. TTse this for dusting your! kitchen range; it enables you to brighten up the polish and keep your hands clean. ■ 'When putting blouses away in the drawers specially . reserved for them, •place a sheet of tissue paper between each. This means very little extra trouble, and the blouses keep fresh and uncrumpled much longer than if they are tossed in anyhow. Persons recovering from influenza and like prostrating illnesses will fiad an egg, well beaten, and carefully mixed with a small quantity of beef-tea, a pick-me-up of value. To prevent curdling, the egg should be mixed with a little cold fluid before adding it to tho hot tea, and it must be mixed by slow degrees. Never throw away pieces of lemon after they have been squeezed with the lemon-squeezer, for they come in handy for removing stains from tho hands and elsewhere. Dipped into salt they will scour copper kettles nicely and' remove stains," dirt, and odour from pans and kettles as nothing else will. The odours of fish and onions can thusbe easily removed. To prevent milk from becoming sour if kept overnight, it should be warmed over the fire until the finger-tip cannot be held in it for more than a moment. At this temperature it should be removed and placed in a clean screw-top glass fruit jar, tho cover screwed on and the jar placed in a bowlful of cold water. The water should be changed once or twice until the milk has' cooled, when it will keep for a considerable time, depending, of course, on the weather; but it may, in some cases, be perfectly fresh for use after two or three days.