

Miscellanies* 205 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE. 



1. Destruction of rats. — M. Thenard indicates a new method of 

 clearing houses of rats and mice. Insert the neck of a glass tubu- 

 lated retort into the principal hole, lute it round carefully so as to 

 •stop the opening, then, having well closed all the other openings of 

 these animals, put into the retort a quantity of sulphuret of iron, and 

 add to it a portion of dilute sulphuric acid. The sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen thus disengaged will penetrate the recesses and almost infalli- 

 bly stifle the animals. — Rev. Encyc. Mars, 1832. 



This must also annoy the persons who may be in the house, whose 

 cavities are never tight. — Ed. 



p 



2. Lute for bottling wine, <^c. — One part rosin, one fourth part 

 yellow wax, one sixteenth part tallow ; add one half part yellow 

 ochre, or red or black ochre or coal. Keep these ingredients melt- 

 ed over a chafing-dish, and when the bottle is well corked, dip the 

 neck into the melted mass. — Jour, de Con. Us. 



3. Artificial granite. — Take two ounces of very pure white glass, 

 an ounce of glass of antimony, a grain of the powder of Cassius, and 

 a grain of manganese ; reduce the whole to powder, mix intimately, 

 and melt in a crucible. The product has such a resemblance to 

 granite that many persons mistake it for that substance. — Idem. 





4. Method of cleansing wool from its grease, and economizing the 

 residue. — M. Darcet, who has long been consulted by manufacturers, 

 advised the following method, which was tried with complete success. 

 Immerse the wool, well washed from dirt, in a vessel containing spir- 

 its of turpentine, and let it remain from thirty six to forty eight hours. 

 Withdraw and immerse a fresh quantity. By means of a press, force 

 out all the adhering spirit, spread the wool out to dry, and when it is 

 to be used wash it in warm water containing a little alkali. 



When the spirits of turpentine will no longer act upon or remove 

 the grease, distil it for fresh use, and the matter remaining in the still, 

 treated with soda, will make good soap. — Idem. 



5. To prevent vines from bleeding when trimmed or cut. — Stick 

 a potato, the skin of which is perfectly sound, on the end of the cut 

 vine, and the bleeding will stop. If the skin of the potato be defec- 

 tive, the sap will flow through it. — Idem. 



This mode of treating vines is familiar in this country.- — Ed. 



