A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at SchoolBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Home economics
In a closet, should be kept, arranged in order, the following articles:
the dust-pan, dust-brush, and dusting-cloths, old flannel and cotton for
scouring and rubbing, sponges for washing windows and looking-glasses, a
long brush for cobwebs, and another for washing the outside of windows,
whisk-brooms, common brooms, a coat-broom or brush, a whitewash-brush, a
stove-brush, shoebrushes and blacking, articles for cleaning tin and
silver, leather for cleaning metals, bottles containing stain-mixtures,
and other articles used in cleansing.
ON THE CARE OF THE CELLAR.
A cellar should often be whitewashed, to keep it sweet. It should have a
drain, to keep it perfectly dry, as standing water, in a cellar, is a
sure cause of disease in a family. It is very dangerous to leave decayed
vegetables in a cellar. Many a fever has been caused, by the poisonous
miasm thus generated. The following articles are desirable in a cellar:
a safe, or moveable closet, with sides of wire or perforated tin, in
which cold meats, cream, and other articles should be kept; (if ants be
troublesome, set the legs in tin cups of water;) a refrigerator, or
large wooden box, on feet, with a lining of tin or zinc, and a space
between the tin and wood filled with powdered charcoal, having at the
bottom, a place for ice, a drain to carry off the water, and also
moveable shelves and partitions. In this, articles are kept cool. It
should be cleaned, once a week. Filtering jars, to purify water, should
also be kept in the cellar. Fish and cabbages, in a cellar, are apt to
scent a house, and give a bad taste to other articles.
STOREROOM.
Every house needs a storeroom, in which to keep tea, coffee, sugar,
rice, candles, &c. It should be furnished with jars, having labels, a
large spoon, a fork, sugar and flour-scoops, a towel, and a dish-cloth.
_Modes of destroying Insects and Vermin._
_Bed-bugs_ should be kept away, by filling every chink in the bedstead
with putty, and, if it be old, painting it over. Of all the mixtures for
killing them, _corrosive sublimate and alcohol_ is the surest. This is a
strong poison.
_Cockroaches_ may be destroyed, by pouring boiling water into their
haunts, or setting a mixture of arsenic, mixed with Indian meal and
molasses, where they are found. Chloride of lime and sweetened water
will also poison them.
_Fleas._ If a dog be infested with these insects, put him in a tub of
warm soapsuds, and they will rise to the surface. Take them off, and
burn them. Strong perfumes, about the person, diminish their attacks.
When caught between the fingers, plunge them in water, or they will
escape.
_Crickets._ Scalding, and sprinkling Scotch snuff about the haunts of
these insects, are remedies for the annoyance caused by them.
_Flies_ can be killed, in great quantities, by placing about the house
vessels, filled with sweetened water and _cobalt_. Six cents worth of
cobalt is enough for a pint of water. It is very poisonous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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