Straw matting is the best for chambers and summer parlors. The checked, of two colors, is not so good to wear. The best is the cheapest in the end. When washed, it should be done with salt water, wiping it dry; but frequent washing injures it. Bind matting with cotton binding. Sew breadths together like carpeting. In joining the ends of pieces, ravel out a part, and tie the threads together, turning under a little of each piece, and then, laying the ends close, nail them down, with nails having kid under their heads. In hanging pictures, put them so that the lower part shall be opposite the eye. Cleanse the glass of pictures with whiting, as water endangers the pictures. Gilt frames can be much better preserved by putting on a coat of copal varnish, which, with proper brushes, can be bought of carriage or cabinet makers. When dry, it can be washed with fair water. Wash the brush in spirits of turpentine. Curtains, ottomans, and sofas covered with worsted, can be cleansed by wheat bran rubbed on with flannel. Dust Venetian blinds with feather brushes. Buy light-colored ones, as the green are going of fashion. Strips of linen or cotton, on rollers and pulleys, are much in use, to shut out the sun from curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on old cotton, are good for chambers. Put them on rollers having cords nailed to them, so that when the curtain falls the cord will be wound up. Then, by pulling the cord, the curtain will be rolled up. _House-cleaning_ should be done in dry, warm weather. Several friends of the writer maintain that cleaning paint, and windows, and floors in _hard_, _cold_ water, without any soap, using a flannel wash-cloth, is much better than using warm suds. It is worth trying. In cleaning in the common way, sponges are best for windows, and clean water only should be used. They should be first wiped with linen, and then with old silk. The outside of windows should be washed with a long brush made for the purpose; and they should be rinsed, by throwing upon them water containing a little saltpetre. When inviting company, mention in the note the day of the month and week, and the hour for coming. Provide a place for ladies to dress their hair, with a glass, pins, and combs. A pitcher of cold water and a tumbler should be added. When the company is small, it is becoming a common method for the table to be set at one end of the room, the lady of the house to pour out tea, and the gentlemen of the party to wait on the ladies and themselves. When tea is sent round, always send a tea-pot of hot water to weaken it, and a slop-bowl, or else many persons will drink their tea much stronger than they wish.