USEFUL HINTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3040, 25 May 1926, Page 1

USEFUL HINTS.

A mixture of two ounces of mutton suet and two ounces of beeswax melted and well stirred will make boots waterproof. It should be rubbed into the leather with a soft rag.

Furniture will never shine if the polish is applied with a soiled cloth. When you are beating chairs and sofas indoors cover them with a damp dust-sheet. This will prevent the dust rising into the room. Freshen a stale loaf by putting it in a steamer over a pan of boiling water for five minutes.

Should your hairbrush have worn unevenly and also gone soft, trim the bristles evenly with sharp scissors. Then dip the bristles into hot water and alum to harden them. Wjhen dry brush them up and down with sand-paper to take off the rough edges. Locks that are stiff and hard to turn should be oiled with a feather dipped in good machine oil. Insert the feather through the keyhole and twist from..side to side. This both oils the parts and loosens dirt. When washing a chamois leather leave as mu«h soap as possible in it, and when dry it will be as good as new.

Enamelled saucepans should always be hardened when new by being put into cold water in a larger vessel, brought slowly to the boil, and boiled fast for a.few minutes. Don’t put cold water into a boiling hot enamelled pan.

Diluted cold tea is one of the best cleaners of varnished paintwork.

Grease stains on a stove should be wiped off immediately with newspaper. Before cleaning the stove rub the stain with a cloth dipped in turpentine. Faded carpets should be taken up, well beaten and brushed, then laid down again in their places. To restore the colours take a pint of vinegar add boiling water till you can only just bear your hand in it. Rub all over the carpets with a clean lloor-eloth wrung out in the vinegar.

Lace either black or white, when soiled, can be restored by placing it in milk for twelve or eighteen hours. The milk becomes acid; the lace should then be gently washed in it, and afterwards well rinsed in clean lukewarm water, and laid out smooth upon a pillow in the sun.

Olive oil has so many uses that it should certainly have a place in every home. Hands roughened and stained by housework or gardening can be made smooth and clean by soaking them with olive oil. If it is rubbed into the feet from time to time it will keep the skin soft, and prevent the formation of corns and callouses. Taken internally, it is of the greatest benefit to nervous troubles and the complexion. A teaspoonful a day, either taken plain or with a salad, is beneficial. Olive oil is also excellent for hair which is inclined to be dry. A little of the oil should be well rubbed into the roots.

A scorch mark can be removed from white fabric by the following treatment. Mix 2oz. Fuller’s earth with A pint of vinegar, add two onions which have been finely chopped, and boil all together for about ten minutes or until the mixture is like a thick paste. Stir with a wooden spoon. After the mixture cooled a little spread it over the scorch mark and leave the fabric to become dry. Then brush the paste oft' and wash the garment in the ordinary way. .Repeat the treatment if the mark has not disappeared after it has been washed.