6l6 ADDITIONAL USEFUL HINTS. 



alum, dissolve them in a bucket of rain water and pour off into another vessel and 

 steep your tent in it, letting it soak thoroughly. If the quantity is not sufficient 

 increase i.i same proportion. Hang the article up to dry, but do not wring it. 



lVaterp}-oof for Boots, — Six ounces mutton suet, six ounces beeswax, four 

 ounces rosin, and a pint of linseed oil ; melt the three first ingredients together 

 and add the last. Apply on uppers and soles of boots. 



2. Six parts tallow, two parts beeswax, one part rosin, one pint castor oil, and 

 two parts caoutchouc. When melted together, apply as warm as the leather will 

 permit, with a brush. 



3. Nantucket fishermen, when they want to make their boots waterproof, just 

 pour half a gallon of boiled linseed oil into them, and let it stay there for a week. 



4. Take one-half pound of shoemaker's dubbing, one-half linseed oil, one-half 

 pint strong solution of India rubber. Dissolve the whole with a gentle heat (it is 

 very inflammable), and apply with an ordinary blacking brush. One application 

 will insure dry feet for several months. 



5. Melt together one pound tallow, half an ounce neatsfoot oil, one ounce rosin, 

 one-half ounce lamp-black, a table-spoonful of linseed oil. Should be rubbed in 

 repeatedly, the boots or other articles to be warmed. It is said to be perfectly 

 waterproof and not injurious to the leather. 



6. In a pint of best winter-strained lard oil, dissolve a piece of paraffine the size 

 of a hickory nut, aiding the solution with a gentle heat, say 100 or 140° F. The 

 readiest way to get pure paraffine is to take a piece of paraffine candle. Rub this- 

 solution on your boots about once a month ; they can be blackened in the mean- 

 time. If the oil should make the leather too stiff, decrease the proportion of par- 

 affane, and vice versa, 



7. Take neatsfoot oil, one and one-half pints ; beeswax, one ounce ; spirits of 

 turpentine, four ounces ; and stir until cold. Spread and rub this composition 

 over the leather while it is damp ; leather will absorb oil and grease better when 

 damp than when dry. For the soles, take pine tar and rub it in before the fire 

 until the soles will absorb no more. Three or four applications will be needed. 

 The durability of the soles will be much increased. 



8. Take one pint of drying oil, two ounces yellow wax, two ounces spirits- 

 of turpentine, and one ounce of Burgundy pitch— the hard materials melted over 

 a slow fire, and the others added and well mixed. Rub this mixture on the boots, 

 at a distance from the fire, repeatedly, until the leather is saturated. Commou. 

 black pitch was found equal to the Burgundy, and rather better. It is probable 

 that other variations might be made without detriment, provided a proper consist- 

 ency is maintained in the mixture of the oils, wax and pitch. The boots do better 

 to dry three or four weeks after being treated with the composition.^ than to use 

 them while it is fresh. 



9. Take a quarter of a pound of beef and mutton suet, a teaspoonful of lard, half 

 pint of neatsfoot oil, one ounce of beeswax, half an ounce of Burgundy pitcli, and 

 a half ounce of turpentine. Melt up the suet, the lard, the pitch and the beeswax 

 in a pot, stir in the oil, and when off the fire, and cooling a little, put in the tur- 

 pentine. If you want to be elegant, add a half box of blacking to give it a color. 

 Warm the compound and paint the boots, upper and soles. It makes a boot quite 

 water tight, and salt water cannot faze it. 



10. India rubber cut fine, one ounce put in a pint of petrolemn (raw) or Seneca 

 oil. Let stand a week, and then apply with brush until the leather is saturated. 



Rubber Cement. — One-half pound bi-sulphate of carbon ; tliree handsful of 



