Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts
John Stuart Mill · en
297. _To keep Moths, Beetles, etc., from Clothes._--Put a piece of
camphor in a linen bag, or some aromatic herbs, in the drawers, among
linen or woollen clothes, and neither moth nor worm will come near
them.
298. _A celebrated Blacking Cake for Boots and Shoes._--Take one
part of gum tragacanth, four parts of river water, two parts of
neat's-foot, or some other softening, lubricating oil, two parts of
superfine ivory-black, one part of Prussian blue in fine powder,
or indigo, four parts of brown sugar-candy; boil the mixture; and
when the composition is of a proper consistence, let it be formed
into cakes of such a size that each cake may make a pint of liquid
blacking.
299. _Good Blacking for Boots and Shoes._--Take of ivory black, one
pound; lamp-black, half an ounce; treacle, one pound; sweet oil, one
ounce and a half; coarse gum Arabic, half an ounce; green copperas,
three-quarters of an ounce; and stale vinegar, three pints and a
half. Mix all well together, having first dissolved the gum in a
little water; then add gradually, briskly stirring the mixture, half
an ounce of oil of vitriol; let it stand two days, occasionally
stirring it, and it will be fit for use.
Or, two ounces of ivory-black, one tea-spoonful of oil of vitriol,
a table-spoonful of sweet-oil, and two ounces of sugar-candy, to be
mixed with half a pint of vinegar.
300. _Liquid Blacking._--Ivory-black, quarter of a pound; treacle,
half a pound, well mixed; to which add sweet oil, one pennyworth, and
small beer three pints; add after, oil of vitriol, one pennyworth,
which will cause it to boil. Fit for use in three days.
301. _French Polish for Boots and Shoes._--Logwood chips, half a
pound; glue, quarter of a pound; indigo, pounded very fine, quarter
of an ounce; soft soap, quarter of an ounce; isinglass, quarter of
an ounce; boil these ingredients in two pints of vinegar and one of
water, during ten minutes after ebullition, then strain the liquid.
When cold it is fit for use. To apply the French polish, the dirt
must be washed from the boots and shoes; when these are quite dry,
the liquid polish is put on with a bit of sponge.
302. _To clean White Satin Shoes._--Rub them lengthways of the satin,
with a piece of new white flannel dipped in spirits of wine. If
slightly soiled, you may clean them by rubbing with stale bread.
White satin shoes should be kept in blue paper closely wrapped, with
coarse brown paper outside.
To keep your thin, light slippers in shape, when you put them away,
fold them ever lengthways or sideways, and tie the strings round
them. You should have a covered box purposely for your shoes.
303. _To clean Boot-tops Brown._--Mix, in the same quantity of water,
one ounce of oxalic acid, half an ounce of muriatic acid, a small
vial of spirits of lavender, and two tea-spoonfuls of salt of lemon.
Each bottle should be carefully labeled and marked "Poison."