LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 414, 25 March 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Poultkry Hints: Provide shelter for your fowls in stormy weather. Don t overfeed, but feed regularly, and always give food of the best quality, as best is cheapest. Cive plenty of water in a clean pan. If the roof of your poultry house ia of corrugated iron, bo sure that there is sufficient ventilation. Don t spare your whitewash brush. See that the fowls have lime and od mortar ; this helps them to form the shells. Give green food of some kind. Do not let food lie about till it is sour ; only give enough for one meal at a time. Food should be changed as often as possible. Nests should be occasionally dusted with insect powder. To dostroy vermin in tho fowlhouse, strew unslaeked lime over the floor, sprinkle with water, and sweap °To Clean Cork Bicycle Handles: Methylated spirit is quite the nicest thing. Rub it on with a nice soft, clean piece of rag, and keep turning tho tag till the handles look like new. Brittle Nail: Stirring anything over a hot stove causes this. Try rubbing a little almond oil in every night, and keep a pair of loose g'oves t» si p on when C °Paint'on Windows: lam told that hot vinegar rubbed on the spots with a cloth is an exceedingly easy way to remove this. The vinegar must be very hot, or it will not move the spots. The Milk Treatment of Boots: Kub them well over two or three times a month with a cloth dipped in milk, let dry, and polish as usual, and see if your boots don't lcok respectable much the Kitchen Tidy : A board covered with zinc is used to put on the kitchen table on which to stand hot •aucepans and dishes when dinner is being prepared. It saves the table wonder- ° Fruit Tarts: When making fruit tarts, sprinkle a little carbonate of soda over the top of the fruit before putting on the crust. This will prevent the 3 uice running over, and so spoiling the taste and look of the tart. To Clean Lamp-Chnnneys : This is not difficult if you set about it in the right way. An excellent plan is to hold them in the steam from a boiling kettle, rub them dry with a cloth, and polish with soft newspaper. Cloudy Vinegar : A tablespoonful of Bwcet milk to a gallon will clear this. Pour the milk in, let it stand 24 hours, then pour the vinegar off very carefully, bo as not to disturb the sediment that will be found at the bottom of the jar. To Cool a Room: The simplest and cheapest way to cool a room which is very hot is to wet a cloth of any size—the larger the better—and suspend it in the place you wish to cool. Let the room be well ventilated, and the temperature will sink as much as 12 degrees in an hour. This suggestion may be carried out successfully for those who are compelled to lie in bed with a broken limb, and who are apt to feel overpowered by the heat. HOW TO BE TASTEFULLY DRESSED. The influence of colour upon the complexion and general tone of the toilet is very striking. Blondes should avoid the lighter shades of blue, which are apt to give an ashy hue to the complextion. The darker shades of blue may be worn more recklessly by the blondo than the brighter shades, because throwing out the complexion [in high relief upon an accommodating background, and the darker and mora velvety the shades the finer tho effoct. Brunetteß cannot wear blue becomingly since this shade, when shadowed by a yellow skin, enters into a composition of green, and the tawniness of the complexion is increased. The florid brunette can risk the wearing of blue. Green is a dangerous colour _ tor brunettes, but well adapted to the fair. A pale brunette can effectively wear red ; it heightens the effect of the brune beauty. It is stated by a reliable authority that " crimson should be charily indulged in by the brunette, but erimaon may be worn with safety by the blonde." " Yellow Is highly becoming to the pale brunette, and especially by gaslight." Yellow grows paler and softer in artificial than in natural light; it enters into the olive shade in the brune skin with a softening effect, giving it a rich, creamy tint that becomes beautiful in contrast with brilliant dark eyes and rich dark hair.

The artist long ago discovered what milliners are slow to preceive, and that is that yellow dears everything.

GRACEFUL WALKING. To be thoroughly graoeful, long steps and quick steps should be equally avoided. A stiff walk is also ungraceful, and that is the great fault of English girls. Tbey walk too Btiffy and take too long strides. Spanish women have a pretty walk, as also have Italian country girls, and all are accustomed to carry weights on their heads. To exercise walking a weight on the head is a very good lesson. The person turns backwards and forwards, and from side to eide, as Italian country girls. More marriages are made up at the well in Italy than in any other public place. Young rustic fellows stand by the well to watch the girls fill their jars and carry them away on their heads with a grace given only to them ; and the most graceful among them has the most admirers from whom to choose her husband. The French are also very graceful walkers. Walk should be etudied. Take dancing lessons to begin with, and then repeat the lesson before a long toilet glass. A pretty walk is beauty in itself, and everyone who will can aoquire this beauty. —" Science Sittings." RECIPES. Cooling Deink eor an Invalid.— Apple-water makes a nico change. Choose sharp fruit. Bake three or four till tonder, mash with a little sugar, and pour about one pint of boiling water over. Stir thoroughly and strain. Add more water if required. Vegetable Marrow.—Peel a good sized marrow, cut it in quarters, and boil in salted water for twenty minutes ; strain well. Rub some stale bread through a wire sieve if there are no bread-crumbs already made. Beat up an egg, cut the marrow into neat pieces, dip each first in the beaten-up egg and then in the crumbs. Fry in deep, hot fat. Drain on kitchen paper and serve. Beet Scallops.—Required: A pound of Australian tinned beef, half-an-ounce of dripping, an onion, half-a-gill of stock, ketchup, pepper and salt. Method: Turn the meat out of the tin, mince it finely. Slice the onion, fry it in dripping add the meat, stock 'and soasoning ; simmer altogether for about five minutes. Servo with a border of mashed potatoes or rice. Vermicelli Cheese.—Wash two ounces of vermicelli; boil it in half a pint of milk until it has absorbed all the milk and forms a paste. Add an ounce and a half of grated cheese, a teaspoonful of made mustard, cayenne, pepper and salt to taste. Cook for five minutes. Pour the mixture in a small, well greased piedish ; sprinkle another ounce and a half of grated cheese over it, and bake for ten minutos. Serve hot.