Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 31, Issue 44, 31 October 1907, Page 33

Domestic

By ' Maureen'

Uses for Salt. Here are several uses for salt :— Put a pinch in the eggs -you are beating, and they will be light in a much shorter time, bprinkle it on the fire and you will gain ,the blue flame so much desired for broiling steaks or chops. Sprinlle it in the bottom of the oven and your cakes will not burn. Pour it quickly on spilled claret or ink and il will absorb most of the liquid before it has time to stain. Salt makes an excellent toothpowder, bait it is .not advisable to use it daily, as it will spoil the "enamel if used too frequently. Still an occasional brushing with it is recommended. Sprinkle it' on the . coals, and shake your damip, uncurled ostrich feathers over the fumes, and the tendrils will curl up smartly. Bathe your- tired eyes in salt and water and you will be astonished at the strength it gives them. A pinch of .salt improves cakes, candies, and almost everything that is cooked. About Washing Blankets. ', - The thrifty housewife " will now- be thinking of washing her blankets, and it is far cheaper "to do so at home than to send them to a laundry. Besides if one goes the right way about it, the amount of labor involved Is really not so great, particularly ,if one has a wringer. But there is a right and a wrong way, and the wrong way invariably ends in dusty, badcolored, hard, thick blankets, which proclaim bad management. Choose a rather windy day for the operation, putting off "Che blanket-washing until you find a day that suits it. The weather must be dry and warm, and it a nice breeze is blowing so much the better. While the water is heating, take the blankets outside, and shake them well— they are laden with •minute particles of cuticle which are invisible t6 the naked eye, but which fly off in a white dust when shaken. Look over the blankets, and if there are any spots wash them out in a small Bath of water, using soap jelly for the purpose. Stains are more easily seen when tne blankets are dry, and the soiled part can" be more easily manipulated alone. Have plenty of soap jelly made of -gft of yellow soap and £lt> of soft soap boiled in three pints of water. Prepare a tubful of hot soapsuds, using two parts hot to one of cola", and into this put' soap jelly tfll stirring i"t raises a fine bubbling lather. Put the -blankets into this lather, t and leave for a quarter of an hour ~ before ' proceeding. Souse up and down thoroughly using the hands or a dolly, then when clean pass through a wringer. Put into a second tub of hot water with less soap, then wring again. Put a little blue in the rinsing water, as this helps to keep them froir turning yellow. Now fold lengthwise, and pass again through the wringer as smoothly as you can. Next take your nearly dry blankets outside, shake thoroughly, and hang up to dry in a windy, shady place, if possible. -Do not fix the pegs in at the corners, rather fold in two, 'and stretch the double thick end on the line. If pegs are used, change their position,, when iihe blankets are half dry, to prevent puckering. While still damp, take them down once or twice and shake thoroughly. This raises me nap, and makes them look~ thick and fluffy. If^a blanket must „be washed on a day when it is not possible to dry off, out of floors, hang on a clothes-horse before the kitchen fire, but not too close. Turn occasionally till aired. If done in this way the blankets will ;be soft and fluffy, and they will look beautifully clean. Quilts, shawls, and eiderdowns are done in the same way as blankets. Efderdowns, however, require much attention in the drying, as, if washed, hung out, and never looked at again, the down will be. lumpy. They must be taken down and shaken thoroughly, and often in tiie drying process, which fluffs up the down to its pristine conditions.