J. HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 381 



IMITATION CEDAR CIGAR -BOXES. 



In Germany, cheap cigars are put in boxes made of ordina- 

 ry wood, and stained so as to imitate the conventional cedar 

 boxes of the tobacconist. To effect this imitation, some cate- 

 chu is dissolved in twenty parts of its weight in boiling wa- 

 ter, then strained and again brought to a boil, and a concen- 

 trated solution of the double bichromate of potash stirred 

 into it. The color can be varied by the dilution of this mix- 

 ture, and the quantity of the bichromate added. When this 

 is applied fresh and warm to dry white wood, the effect of 

 the cedar can be very closely imitated. 5 (7, xxxiii., 264. 



IMPROVED ENVELOPE. 



A form of envelope has recently become quite popular in 

 Germany, and possesses the convenience of enabling one to 

 open a letter when completely sealed up, without the ordina- 

 ry difficulty of finding an entrance. The arrangement con- 

 sists in introducing a thread, which projects from one of the 

 corners, by pulling which the lower edge of the envelope is 

 cut through without injury to the inclosure, the address, or 

 the stamp. 8 C, 1870, April 21. 



FITTING CANDLES INTO SOCKETS. 



Many of our readers have experienced the inconvenience 

 of using candles, which, being too small for the sockets of the 

 candlestick, are liable to drop out at an unpropitious moment, 

 or else, being too large, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, 

 to insert them so as to be securely fastened. As a question 

 of important domestic economy, a recent German writer con- 

 descends to show how this trouble may be avoided. He re- 

 marks that the only certain mode of effecting the adhesion of 

 the candle to the candlestick is by melting the one into the 

 other. For this purpose, if the socket be too large, the candle 

 is to be lighted and held in an inverted position over the 

 socket sufficiently long to cause a considerable amount of 

 melted material to drip into it, whereupon the basal end of 

 the candle is to be inserted and held until the melted portion 

 is cooled. The connection of the two will then be so great 

 tli at the whole may be lifted with perfect security by the 

 candle as well as by the candlestick. Should the socket be 



