Miscellaneous and Useful Knowledge 



AXLE-GREASE.— i. Water, i gallon; 

 soda, ^ pound; palm oil, 10 pounds. 

 Mix by heat, and stir till nearly cold. 



2. Water, rape oil, of each i gallon; 

 soda, ^ pound; palm oil, ^ pound. 



3. Water, 1 gallon; tallow, 3 pounds; 

 palm oil, 6 pounds; soda, ^ pound. 

 Heat to 210 ° Fahrenheit and stir until 

 cool. 



4. Tallow, 8 pounds; palm oil, 10 

 pounds; plumbago, 1 pound. Makes a 

 good lubricator for wagon axles. 



BEANS, to Shell Easy.— Pour upon the 

 pods a quantity of scalding water, and 

 the beans will slip very easily from the 

 pod. By pouring scalding water on ap- 

 ples the skin may be easily slipped off, 

 and much labor saved. 



BED-TICKS, to Clean.— Apply Poland 

 starch, by rubbing it on thick with a wet 

 cloth. Place it in the sun. When dry, 

 rub it if necessary. The soiled part will 

 be clean as new. 



CARPETS, to Wain. — Shake and beat 

 it well ; lay it upon the floor and tack it 

 firmly; then with a clean flannel wash it 

 over with a quart of bullock's gall mixed 

 with three quarts of soft cold water, and 

 rub it off with a clean flannel or house- 

 cloth. Any particular dirty spot should 

 be rubbed with pure gall. 



CARPETS, to Clean.— Before proceed- 

 ing to sweep a carpet a few handfuls of 

 waste tea-leaves should be sprinkled over 

 it A stiff hair broom or brush should be 

 employed, unless the carpet is very dirty, 

 when a whisk or carpet-broom should be 

 used first, followed by another made of 

 hair, to take off' the loose dust. The fre- 

 quent use of a stiff carpet-broom soon 

 wears off the beauty of the best carpet. 

 An ordinary clothes brush is best adapted 

 for superior carperts. When carpets are 

 very dirty they should be cleaned by 

 shaking and beating. 



Beat it well with a stick in the usual 

 manner until all the dust is removed, then 



take out the stains, if any, with lemon o 

 sorrel-juice. When thoroughly dry rub 

 it all over with the crum of a hot wheat- 

 en loaf, and if the weather is very fine, let 

 hang out in the open air for a night or 

 two. This treatment will revive the 

 colors, and make the carpet appear equal 

 to new. 



CARPETS, Spots on. — A few drops of 

 carbonate of ammonia, and a small quan- 

 tity of warm rain water, will prove a safe 

 and easy antacid, etc., and will change, if 

 carefully applied, discolored spots upon 

 carpets, and indeed, all spets, whether 

 produced by acids or alkalies. If one 

 has the misfortune to have a carpet injur* 

 ed by whitewash, this will immediately 

 restore it. 



CARPETS, Ink Spots, to Remove.— As 

 soon as the ink has been spilled, take up 

 as much as you can with a sponge, and 

 then pour on cold water repeatedly, still 

 taking up the liquid ; next rub the place 

 with a little wet oxalic acid or salt of" sor- 

 rel, and wash it off immediately with cold 

 water, and then rub on some hartshorn. 



CLOTH, Cleaning and Scouring of. — 

 The common method of cleaning cloth is- 

 by beating and brushing, unless whem 

 very dirty, when it undergoes the opera- 

 tion of scouring. This is best done on 

 the small scale, as for articles of wearing 

 apparel, etc., by dissolving a little curd 

 soap in water, and, after mixing it with - 

 a little ox-gall, to touch over all the spots; 

 of grease, dirt, etc., with it, and to rub- 

 them well with a stiff brush, until they 

 are removed, after which the article may/ 

 be well rubbed all over with a brush or 

 sponge dipped into some warm water, toi 

 which the previous mixture and a little' 

 more ox-gall has been added. When this 

 has been prop erly done, it only remains to 

 thoroughly rinse the article in clean water 

 until the latter passes off uncolored, when 

 it must be hung up to dry. For dark- 

 colored clot hs the common practice is to> 



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