Popular Science Monthhj 



157 



H' 



For Cleaning Leather Upholstery 



fOl 'SEW IVES are apt to use most 

 any kind of oil, grease or even 

 furniture polish on the leather upholster- 

 ing of their furnitiue, and fri'(|uently 

 with very had results. The oils soil the 

 clothing and the polish ruins the leather. 

 To overcome this trouble a sales 

 manager of a large eastern furniture 

 house made tests of many fluids prepared 

 for the purpose, some of which were 

 very satisfactory. Finally- a chemist was 

 consulted, and the rejjly was, "l^se 

 sweet milk." The furniture house 

 immediately tried the use of mopping 

 the upholstering with milk, and the 

 results were very gratifying. The leather 

 should be gone over three times annually, 

 and after being smeared for several 

 minutes, the milk should be wiped off 

 with a clean cloth. The leather will be 

 sufficiently oiled, thoroughly cleansed 

 and will not soil the clothing. 



How to Make a Door-Mat from 

 Old Rope-Ends 



TAKE a piece of canvas about 

 i8 ins. by 30 ins., hem it all 

 around and mark it off in lines about 

 ll'i ins. apart. After you have marked 

 the canv^as, take old rope, spread it out, 

 and cut the strands into pieces 4 ins. 

 long. These pieces are called "thumb- 

 ings." Fray both ends of these thumb- 

 ings and you are ready to start sewing. 

 Use a heavy sail or sack needle and sew 

 these thumbings through the middle to 

 the canvas, using the "back-stitch." 



When sewing, follow the lines on the 

 canvas and sew the thumbings close; 

 draw your thread tight. When you have 

 finished you will have a door mat that 

 will clean dirty or muddy shoes better 

 than any mat on the market and it 

 will last longer. 



ROKSnUNOS 



A FRAYED TKUMfiiNO 



A Back- Saving Refrigerator 



/\\ unusual itlea has been carried out 

 1\. in a new home in Iowa, where the 

 !ii)use\vife believes in having kitchen 

 storage places as near as possible to 

 waist-height, to prevent wearisome stoop- 

 ing or stretching. \ot only the utensil 

 and china cupboards, but also the buiit- 



Old rope-ends are useful in making a 

 durable mat for the outside door 



Ice can be admitted through outside doors 

 with no inconvenience 



in refrigerator is located above the floor. 

 This refrigerator is set into the kitchen 

 wall and is iced from the back cntr\-. 

 Its base is about 30 ins. from the floor. 

 The convenience of the iceman, who 

 must lift the ice, is served by steps in 

 the outside hall. — A. G. Vest.al. 



Renovating the Lawn 



THE most effective way to renovate 

 the old lawn is to make a new one. 

 In most cases it will not pay to attempt 

 to patch a poor grass plot for the difficul- 

 ty probably is clue to lack of proper soil 

 conditions, and these cannot be satis- 

 factorily remedied without an entire 

 remaking of the lawn. 



If the lawn is on a good soil and is 

 merely disfigured with weeds, it can be 

 brought into satisfactory condition by 

 scratching the surface with a rake after 

 removing the weeds, and seeding with 

 well cleaned seed, using about one-half 

 as much as for a new seeding. Bone 

 meal, a complete commercial fertilizer 

 and nitrate of soda may then be added 

 with satisfactory results. 



