67- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



lead separates at once in a spongy state, 

 and the solution of stannate of soda may- 

 be decanted. 



h. Lac Spirit, used as solvent for lac- 

 dye, in preference to muriatic acid alone, 

 is thus made : Add gradually three 

 pounds of tin to sixty pounds of muriatic 

 acid. Digest three-fourths of a pound 

 of this solvent on each pound of the dye 

 for six hours. Plum or puce spirit, peach 

 spirit, and grain or scarlet spirit, are 

 names given by dyers to different solu- 

 tions of tin employed in dyeing these 

 colors. For scarlet, the nitro-muriatic 

 solutions (Nos. 2 and 3, above) are 

 used. 



/. Iron Liquor. Scraps of iron are 

 placed in casks or other vessels, are 

 covered with rectified raw pyroligneous 

 acid. There are usually a series of ves- 

 sels, through which the solution is suc- 

 cessively passed till it is fully saturated. 



FEATHERS, To Clean and Curl.— 

 White soap must be used (curd will 

 answer best), cut into small pieces, upon 

 which boiling water should be poured 

 until it be quite dissolved, a small quantity 

 of pearlash being added. When the 

 latter has sufficiently cooled for the hand 

 to bear its temperature, the feathers may 

 be drawn through it. This should be re- 

 peated several times, and the feathers 

 gently pressed with the hand, or carefully 

 passed between the fingers a few times, 

 so that the dirt may be squeezed out of 

 them. Another lather containing less 

 soap must now be prepared, and used in 

 the same manner. On removing the 

 feathers from this, they should be well 

 rinsed in cold water, and the water taken 

 from them by beating them against the 

 hand or a clean cloth, and then waving 

 them backward and forward in the air a 

 short distance from the fire. Before they 

 are quite dry, with a pen-knife curl each 

 fibre separately, by drawing it carefully 

 over the edge of the blade, which should 

 be a blunt one. If it be wished that the 

 feather should be flat, it may be pressed 

 in drying, after the curl is given to the 

 fluey part. This process may be used 

 for white feathers and also for fawn- 

 colored, or brown. Black ones may be 

 cleaned with water, adding to it some 

 gall, and following the above directions 

 in all other respects. Feathers of brighter 

 colors cannot be cleaned, but must be re- 



dipped, as they usually fade very much 

 by exposure to the sun. 



FEATHER BEDS, to Cleanse.— When 

 feather beds become soiled and heavy, 

 they may be made clean and light by 

 being treated in the following manner: 

 Rub them over with a stiff brush, dipped 

 in hot soap-suds. When clean, lay them 

 on a shed, or any other clean place, 

 where the rain will fall on them. When 

 thoroughly soaked, let them dry in a hot 

 sun for six or seven successive days, shak- 

 ing them up well and turning them over 

 each day. They should be covered over 

 with a thick cloth during the night; if 

 exposed to the night air they will become 

 damp and mildew. This way of wash- 

 ing the bed-ticking and feathers makes 

 them very fresh and light, and is much 

 easier than the old fashioned way of 

 emptying the beds and washing the 

 feathers separately, while it answers quite 

 as well. Care must be taken to dry the 

 bed perfectly before sleeping on it. Hair 

 mattresses that have become hard and 

 dirty, can be made nearly as good as 

 new by ripping them, washing the tick- 

 ing, and picking the hair free from 

 bunches and keeping it in a dry, airy 

 place several days. Whenever the tick- 

 ing gets dry, fill it lightly with the hair, 

 and tack it together. 



FISH, Cnltnre. — Fishes, whether in the 

 freedom of nature or in artificial recepta- 

 cles, show plainly enough the approach 

 of spawning. The belly of the female 

 becomes distended and yields readily to 

 pressure. There is a fluctuation under 

 the hand, which shows that the eggs are 

 free from the ovary and easily displaced. 

 This being the case, take up in your left 

 hand a female fish, and hold it suspended 

 by the head and thorax over a flat- 

 bottomed vessel containing clear water. 

 Then with the right hand passed from 

 above downward, squeeze the loosened 

 eggs through the anal opening. A male 

 fish is then taken, and the milt is ex- 

 pressed in the same manner, though often 

 it flows by the mere act of suspending. 

 This substance, white and cream-like, 

 soon gives to water the appearance of 

 whey. To insure effectual fecundation, 

 the mixture in this state should be gently 

 stirred with the hand or with a soft brush. 

 It requires but a few minutes to accom- 

 plish the fecundation. 



