Harper's Household Handbook: A guide to easy ways of doing woman's workMcCulloch-Williams, Martha
General
Harper's Household Handbook: A guide to easy ways of doing woman's work
McCulloch-Williams, Martha
Formulas, recipes, etc.; Home economics
=Mildew=: Wet with boiling water, wring dry, then dip in sour milk, lay
in sun, and cover thickly with salt. Or beat a raw, ripe apple to a
pulp, mix with salt liberally, and spread on the spots in the sun. Salt
and lemon, salt and tomato, or oxalic acid will likewise remove mildew.
The advantage of fruit processes is that they do no harm to the fabric,
which the oxalic acid weakens somewhat, no matter how carefully used.
Very fine and choice mildewed fabrics should be covered with a paste of
sifted starch and laid on the grass in sunshine. Wash off paste and
repeat till mildew disappears.
=Wax Spots=: Soften, dip in warm oil, let lie an hour, keeping warm,
wash in turpentine, then in alcohol or gasolene.
=Perspiration Marks=: Try dry-cleaning, sifting upon them over and over
and over corn starch, magnesia, and French chalk. Rub lightly after each
sifting. If the mark remains, try ether. Make a swab of soft white silk
filled with the powder, pour on the ether a little at a time, and dab
the swab. Put a drop or so of ammonia spirit upon the swab—not enough to
change colors. If ether fails, deluge with chloroform, rubbing inward
hard until it evaporates. Such marks are the problem of amateur
cleaning—the hardest of all to remove.
=Smoke Stains=: Shave half a bar of soap into a cup of boiling water,
dissolve, add a cup of turpentine, a cup of kerosene, and a half cup of
ammonia spirit. Mix, and cover close. Spread on the stain, let stand
five minutes, then rub hard with the lead swab (see section Equipment)
and wash off with hot water and a thick cloth. If the stain is on
plaster, as around a grate, use a brush instead of the swab, which is,
for stone, brick, or marble, a sovereign thing.
=Care of Iron=: Rust is the bane of iron; grease, its salvation. Coat
anything not in use well with hot tallow, and shake over it, still hot,
either fine sifted wood ashes or powdered unslaked lime. Wrap in clean
newspaper and keep dry. When wanted, brush hard with a stiff brush;
there will be a beautiful surface. Anything pitted with rust may as well
be thrown away. A merely rusty surface must be greased with clear fat,
left standing two days, wiped, washed in clear, very hot water, and
greased again. Three greasings should bring it into condition for
polishing. Wipe dry, coat with oil, shake on lime, and brush off after
twenty-four hours. Any alkali without grease predisposes iron to rust.
Eschew soap and soda in cleaning it. Use gasolene or turpentine or even
kerosene. A cloth wet in either will take off smut. Polish with crumpled
newspaper and a handful of hot sawdust.
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