HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 89, 4 July 1918, Page 4

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

A bag of salt standing- where tne»e it a smell of fish will absorb the odor. To keep suet fresh, chop roughly fend sprinkle with a little granulated sugar. A pinch of salt on the tongue, followed ten minutes after by a drink of cold writer, often cures a headache. To whiten the kitchen table scrub with powdered bath brick, then wash •ff with tepid water. When the kettle is furred fill with potato peelings, then add a little water and boil fast till clean. Should paraffin oil be spilt when filling lamps, a little salt sprinkled over it will prevent the unpleasant smell. Raw potato-juice is a valuable cleanser. It will remove stains from the hands and also from woollen fabrics. ■ i ii» " When baking potatoes, cut a snip from the end of each. This will let out the moisture and make them appear mealy. When cooking vegetables never allow the water to stop boiling all the time they are in the saucepan. To do so will make them sodden. To strengthen shirt button holes stitch round and round with the machine after the buttonholes have been worked over. After washing lamp-chimneys, try polishing them with dry salt. This gives the glass a brilliant shine and prevents it from cracking. A good treatment for unduly moist hands is to bathe them frequently in warm water to which a little alum or vinegar has been added. When you desire to keep meat and have no ice on which to keep it, wrap it in cloth wet with vinegar. Wash the vinegar off before cooking the meat. Save old tea-leaves for a few days, pour boiling water over them, leave till nearly cold, strain, and use the water for washing paint. To prevent milk from sticking to a saucepan, put a lump of sugar in with the milk when putting on to boil. Before cleansing knives on a knifeboard, damp them slightly. They clean more quickly and gain a better polish. The easiest and best way of cleansing a bath is to use whiting and turpentine, rubbing it on as you would soap. When ink is spilt on the carpet rub <t cut lemon over the stain immediately, and it will entirely disappear and not injure the carpet, no matter how light the colour. To give a rich, creamy flavour to coffee, before addin.tr the water mix well with the dry coffee as much mustard powder as will cover a three-penny-piece and the same quantity of salt for every pint of coffee required. When incandescent mantles break do not throw them away. Crush them up into powder, store in a small box, and use for cleaning jewellery. It gives a splendid polish, and docs not scratch the surface of gold or silver. Jars and pickle bottle that smell of onions may be made quite sweet if filled with garden mould and left standing out of doors for two or three days. When thoroughly washed they will be found quite sweet, and may be used for jam or any other purpose. To remove grease spots on carpets, make a thin paste with fuller's earth and water. Spread this on the spots cover the fuller's earth with paper and place a hot iron on it. Let it remain on until cold, but do not brush off the paste for some hours. If a fire has to be kept unwatched for several hours, the best plan to keep it alive is to place on the top of the coal a handful of salt. This will prerent it burning quickly, also from flying on to the hearthrug. A stir with th« poker will result in a nice red fire. Rub new linoleum regularly with paraffin oil, it darkens it and preserves it at the same time, but you will have "to be carcfu/ not to have it done under the mats, as it makes them slide under your feet in a mbst dangerous way. To "test the heat of an oven, put in a piece of white paper. If too hot, th"e paper will blaze or blacken. Should it become dark-brown, the oven is fit for small pastry,; if light-brown, for tarts, etc.; if just tinged, for spongecakes, meringues, etc; if darktyellow, for bread, large meat-pies, large pound cakes, etc. In order to keep silver that is not in constant use in a good condition, fill a paper with alternate layers of forks, spoons, and other objects, and common flour that is perfectly dry. If 'the silver is bright and dry when you put it away, it may be used at any time without being cleaned for • year or two. After this time the Bbur needs drying again. This pla* sax»s % great 'deal of cleaning;