412 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[CnAP. IV. 



and costing not one twentieth part as much. This should be kept under a 

 shed or some out-buiKiiii!:;. It should be kept uioist, and it may be a]iplied 

 whenever oflensive odors are generated, with the assurance that it will be 

 eU'ective to purity the air, and will add to the value of the manure luueli 

 more than it costs. It would be well for every farmer to jirepare a cpuui- 

 tity of this, and have it always on hand." 



IIow much more sensible it would be for. the city authorities to use this 

 mixture, which concentrates effluvia, instead of quicklime, which dissipates 

 it through tlie air and into everybody's lungs! 



To i^rove how quickly the air of a sitting-room becomes impure, place in 

 it a pitcher of iced water, and in a few hours it will have absorbed from the 

 room nearly all the respired and perspired gases of the room, the air of 

 which will have become purer, but the water utterly filthy. This depends 

 on the fact that the water has the faculty of condensing, and thereby absoi-b- 

 ing all the gases, which it does without increasing its own bulk. Tiie colder 

 the water is, the greater its capacity to contain these gases. At ordinary 

 temperatures a pint of water will absorb a pint of carbonic acid gas and 

 several pints of ammonia. Tliis capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the 

 temperature to that of ice. Hence water kept in the room awhile is always 

 unfit for use, and should be often renewed, whether it has become warm or 

 not. And for the same reason, the water in a pump-stock should all be 

 pumiDcd out in the morning before any is used. That which has stood in 

 the pitcher during the night is not fit for cofieewater in the morning. Iiu- 

 I)ure water is injurious to health as well as impure air, and every person 

 should provide the means of obtaining it fresh and pure for all domestic uses. 



4C0. §oap-9Iaking and H'aslling. — Wood ashes made from any hard wood 

 will make soap. Pine ashes are nearly worthless. Beech, maple, birch, and 

 hickory are among the best sorts for leaching. Put sticks and straw in the 

 bottom of the leach-tub, packed close, and four quarts of lime to a barrel of 

 aslies, which wet and pound down as you put in, and then in\t on water 

 slowly two days before you let the lye run, and it will come strong, but 

 should be boiled still stronger before you put in grease. Bones, rinds, 

 gristle, and hard scraps must go into veiy strong lye, and will then soon be 

 eaten up, all but the earthy part of bones, which skim out and save for tlie 

 grapevines and pear-trees. Make the soap strong of grease as well as lye, 

 and do not use it till very old, and it will be very good. It should be of a 

 salvy consistence. 



To make soap with potash : Use the best quality of " first sorts" of pot- 

 ash, in the proportion of six pounds of potash to seven pounds of grease, for 

 a barrel of 40 gallons. Break up the potash into small lumps and dissolve 

 24 lbs. in two pailfuls of hot water. It dissolves rather slowly when the 

 potash is good. When dissolved, put the solution into the kettle, and add 

 the grease quite warm, and stir the mixture together ; allow it to stand all 

 night, if convenient. In the morning apply a moderate heat until the mix- 

 ture appears ropy ; then fill up with cold water. Cost, say 6 lbs. of potasli, 



