MISCELLANEOUS. 521 



it; then dirty places are soaped with this before boiling; 15 or 20 minutes will 

 be long enough to boil them, and slight rubbing of soiled places will be all that 

 is needed, rinsing, bluing, etc., as usual. This amount of soap will do four 

 times as much washing as the bar soap would have done by itself, and that, even 

 if the money paid for the soda and the lime, which ought not to be above 15 or 

 20 cents, at most, had been added to the purchase of bar soap. The lime, espe- 

 cially, costs a mere nothing, but adds greatly, as well as the soda, to the deter- 

 gent or cleansing properties of the soap. I call this "Bark Shanty Soap," from 

 the name of the place where we lived one season, and where I obtained this 

 recipe. It is on the shore of Lake Huron, 31 miles above Port Huron, where 

 the timber is chiefly pine, and hence the ashes were not good for making soap; 

 we, therefore, had to get the best substitute we could, and this being in 

 use there, we soon learned its value, and will only add that although it will be 

 found a great help and saving to those living in shanties, yet it will also be 

 just as satisfactory to those living in cities, if they will give it a trial. It 

 makes a half -solid soap very convenient to use. 



2. Soft Soap for "Washing and House Cleaning. — There are 

 many other ways of making soap, nearly all of which contain some of the 

 improvements or newer articles which have been introduced within the last few 

 years in soap making, such as sal soda, lime, borax, etc. ; but few of them con- 

 tain more than one or two of these. The next, although it has only one— 

 the sal soda — yet you will at once see that Mrs. J. Lute, of Liberty, O., who 

 sends it to the Blade, thinks very highly of it; and I give it to show the 

 value of the sal soda mixed with soap wliich, in my own as well as in 

 Mrs. Lute's opinion, will be a great help in washing clothes or house clean- 

 ing, as the case may be. She says: 



"Take 4 lbs. of white, bar soap, cut it fine, and dissolve by heating in 

 5 gals, of soft water, adding 2 lbs. of sal soda. When all is dissolved and 

 well mixed, it is done. Yellow soap does very well, but I think the white 

 is the best. This makes a very nice, white soft soap. You will think it a 

 fraud when you first take it off the fire, but when it gets cool you will 

 change your mind, and after one trial of it you will have no other. I have 

 used it for three years, and am not afraid to recommend it to your readers." 



B£marks.—li this is thus good, where the lime can be got, will not the 

 following be considerably better?— I think so. 



3. Hard Soap, Fifteen or Twenty Pounds from Seven.— Take 

 7 lbs. of good hard soap; cut it in thin slices; sal soda, 2 lbs. ; unslacked (that is 

 stone) lime, 1 lb. ; alum, 1 oz. ; borax, 2 ozs. ; benzine, 1 oz. ; soft water, 2 gals. 

 Directions— Put the sal soda and lime into a dish and pour over them the 

 water, boiling hot, (what is better, is to use a kettle which you can boil these 

 in till the soda is dissolved and the lime all slacked), stirring well a few times, 

 and let settle; then (or in the morning, if done over night,) pour off the clear 

 solution into the kettle containing the slices of soap, put on the fire and let it 

 remain until the soap is dissolved ; then, having dissolved the alum and borax 

 in a little water, pour them in just as the soap comes off of the fire; and when a 



