HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 8 October 1913, Page 2

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Vienna Tea, Twist.—2oz of butter,

lib of self-raising flour, 2 eggs, and a little milk. Rub "butter into the

flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Beat eggs well and mix with the flour, and add sufficient milk to make a stiff dough. Roll out and cut into strips quarter-inch wide. Take three .strips and plait into short twist. Brush over with milk and bake in a brisk oven. Time, 15 minutes. Charcoal is a capital disinfectant. Keep a dish of it in the larder, and the food kept there will not quickly taint. Cut flowers with woody stems will last much longer in water if the stalks are scraped for about three inches up. Yolks of eggs which are not wanted for immediate use will keep good for several days if they are dropped into cold water and kept in a cool place. To glaze linen easily add a teaspoonful of salt and one of finely scraped soap to each pint of starch in which the linen is dipped. New potatoes should be placed in boiling water to which sa,lt and a little milk have been added. The milk prevents them from turning black. On taking cakes baked in a tin out of the oven, stand tho tin on a wet cJoith for a few minutes. Hie cakes can then be turned out without the aid of a knife, and will not-stick t<? tho tin, as frequently happens otherwise. Apples out in irregular pieces will wok more quickly in ,a pie than if sliced, for they dot not pack closely as slices do, and .so tho hot air comes more easily in contact with the fruit, and cooking is facilitated. It is well for those who do their h ashing at home to know that so*ne ammonia in the water.in which new flannels are washed will take all the roughness off, and save both labour and soap. Tho ammonia takes out the oil in flannel.

To clean .silver, put a quantity of sour milk in a shallow pan and place the articles in the milk, letting them remain there till they become bright. Afterwards, wash them in warm water which contains a few drops' of ammonia, and the silver will bo bright and clean.

To treat patent shoes so that the cracks are not so apparent, got some fiue sand-paper and rub in the cracks' gently; then rubi wiih clean cloth and paint the damaged piece with black enamel. A little vaseline rubbed on patent shoes will stoip them from cracking.

To clean black silk without making in either shiny or stiff, lay ifc oh a board or clean table ,and sponge it with strained hot coffee. After it is partly dry iron on the wrong side. The coffee will remove all grease and restore the natural gloss without making it shiny. A splinter which has been driven into tho hand can often be extracted by steam. Take a wide-mouthed bottle, which nearly fill with very hot water. Press the part where the splinter is over''the mouth of the bottle. The section thus produced will draw- the flesh down, and in a few

minutes the stea'n will extract the splinter.

Leather chairs often become greasy looking where the arms and head rest 011 the leather. To remove these marks try linseed oil. Bail half a pint of oil, and let it stand until nearly cold; then pour in half a pint of vinegar. Stir till it is well mixed, and bottle, when it is ready for use. Put a few drops on a flannel, and polish off with soft dusters. This will thoroughly renovate all leather. The proper way to wash a knitted coat is a? follows : Make a good lather and dip the? coat up and down in it till all the dirt is extracted. Then rinse it in warm water (taking care not to wring; the coat at all, and put it into a pillow-slip. Pin this on to a clothes line oii a dry, windy day, and when the coat is nearly dry take it out put it on a coat-hanger to finish drying. If you stuff a few newspapers in-tho sleeves they will hang better.

To clean much-soiled hands, do not go to work roughly with' brush and .soda water but loosen the dirt by rubbing the hands well with sweet oil, or even lard or dripping. Then wipe off the grease as much as possible with a piece of soft paper or old

rag, and wash the hands with warn water and soap. They will soon be clean when treated thus, and without damaging the skin. When insect bites occur the immediate application of a little ammonia often prevents swelling and inflammation. It is a good plan to keep a bottle of oil of eucalyptus, because mosquitoes have a decided aversion to the smell, and will promptly leave for ot'her fields if a little of the oil is sprinkled about where they congregate, or a few drops be put on the pil-low-case at bed-time.

.When windows need cleaning moiston a cloth with methylated spirits, and apply it to the windolw. Then polish with a clean dry cloth. By following this plan you will find that windows can be cleaned in half the usual time, with a fraction of the labour, and that the glass 1 will be brillant. never cloudy, and will keep clean much longer. This plan also keeps windows free from frost in cold weather. One pint of methylated spirits will clean twenty windows inside and out.

Ironmould sitains spread in any fabric they come in contact with in the wash. To remove them, stretch the stained part over a basin nearly full of boiling water, so that the steam may penetrate the fabric, and apply with a feather a teaspoonful of salt dissolved in a dessertspoonful of lemon juice. When the marks diappear dip the material well into the hot water; afterwards rinse very thoroughly in cold water. An excellent paste for extracting grease from carpets isi made by mixing fuller's earth with a little ammonia, the mixture should be quite thick, and should be applied with a lavish hand. Let it remain on the carpet overnight, then brush it off with a stiff brush. Sometimes- it is necessary to put on a second supply. If the colours of the carpets are delicate and there is a danger of discolouration, the ammonia may be omitted. Should the tone of the carpet seem dull after the grease is out, the colour may be freshened by sweeping the carpet with moist salt.