344 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



persons add a cup of sugar to every gallon of 

 whitewash, to make it adhere better.) Stir the wash 

 frequently while using from it. Apply it with a 

 whitewash brush— a small one with a short handle 

 is the most convenient for a woman's use. A very 

 little lampblack gives this wash a slate color ; the 

 same of red ochre, a rose color ; indigo, a blue ; 

 yellow ochre, buff, or cream color. These coloring 

 substances should be mixed with a little water, and 

 then thoroughly stirred into the whitewash just be- 

 fore it is used. A colored wash gives a pretty ap- 

 pearance lo basement rooms, and light cellars, as 

 well as to pantries and store closets, while the lime 

 of the mixture has a cleansing effect. 



After the cellar has thus been cleaned let its, 

 doors and windows be kept open the larger part of 

 every fair day ; if screens made of wire netting or 

 strainer cloth are substituted for both windows and 

 doors through the summer you will have the ben- 

 efit of fresh air without fear of the intrusion of ani- 

 mals. About this time — before your garden is made 

 — it is well to see that fences and out-buildings are 

 in good repair, to clear out drains, and to look af- 

 ter the coiiOition of water-butts and cisterns — so 

 that you need not be troubled in your busiest time 

 by the consequences of a neglect of such things. 

 If fences and the outside of your buildings need 

 painting you will probably have to employ a man 

 for that purpose ; but I know one lady, intelligent 

 and highly cultivated, who painted herself the out- 

 side of her house, as high as she could reach, be- 

 fore calling for a man's help ; and another who had 

 the window blinds taken oflF, and then painted them 

 at her leisure. 



The wash mentioned for cellars, etc., is a very 

 good substitute for paint upon fences by mixing 

 with a gallon of it a quart of good flour paste. A 

 very brilliant and nice wash is made of prepared 

 chalk, Paris white, as painters call it, and glue. 

 Get half a pound of frozen glue, (the white, light 

 kind) pound it and mix with cold water, then pour 

 on boiling water — about three quarts — and stir in 

 the chalk — ten pounds to half a pound of glue ; 

 then add more water till the mixture is of the 

 thickness of milk. Apply in the same manner as 

 lime-wash. 



If you need paint, get a small keg or pail of white 

 lead mixed with oil, two or three quarts of boiled 

 oil, and the same of spirits of turpentine. Mix a 

 portion of the lead with a quart of the oil, enough 

 to make it of the consistence of thick cream ; then, 

 for a glossy paint add only a pint of the turpentine ; 

 for a dead or lustreless white, a quart ; if you wish 

 it to dry quickly get a little of the patent drying 

 mixture and stir altogether ten or fifteen minutes. 

 A small quantity of lamp black, Venitian red, or 

 yellow ochre, mixed with a little oil, and stirred 

 into this white paint, as each is needed, will give 

 different shades of slate, brown, red, yellow, clay, 

 or stone color. To keep the lead or the mixed 

 paint from hardening and drying, the vessels which 

 hold either must be filled up with cold water, and 



covered closely, except when in use. Thus cared 

 for they will remain fresh for months. It is good 

 economy to own two or three paint brushes of dif- 

 ferent sizes. Keep them in water in warm weather 

 — when there is occasion for their frequent use. 

 Clean them with spirits of turpentine in the fall, 

 and let them remain dry through the winter. 



These matters having been attended to, look to 

 your wardrobes, closets, drawers and chests. 

 Dust them nicely, and if they need washing, use, 

 as for all nice cleansing purposes, — not the number- 

 less powders and soaps so loudly advertised and 

 puffed for their labor-saving qualities, which are 

 generally injurious both to the paint and the hands 

 of the washer, — but a harmless and most excellent 

 preparation of your own, made in the following 

 way : — One bar of hard soap cut into small pieces 

 and dissolved in four gallons of hot rain water, 

 which is kept over the fire till the mixture is 

 ready to boil. Then stir in a quarter of a pound 

 of borax and one pound of common washing soda 

 — finely pulverized. This makes a soft soap, of 

 which two table spoonfuls to a gallon of water 

 gives a suds strong enough for all sorts of wash- 

 ing or scrubbing. 



If any receptacles for clothing are not com- 

 pletely tight the cracks should be covered with 

 strips of paper pasted over them ; and if you have 

 any fears of the moths, sprinkle benzine very 

 plentifully within and about them, and among the 

 woolens placed therein put cedar chips or shavings 

 and tobacco stems. Furs should be thoroughly 

 shaken, and hung in a draught of fresh air a day 

 or two before being laid away; then placed in 

 thick paper bags, with a little gum camphor; the 

 bags pasted very tightly — not a crack or a crevice 

 anywhere to admit air. No moths can then attack 

 them from the outside, and if any should chance 

 to remain after the shaking, the camphor will de- 

 stroy them. But many sins are laid to the charge 

 of the moths that are really perpetrated by our 

 common hcuse-flies and those little .*-ilvery fiish-like 

 insects that are called shiners. Spirits of turpen- 

 tine, or benzine, sprinkled about the haunts of 

 these latter insects will cause them to "skedaddle." 

 When the flies abound, all furs and woolens should 

 be kept well covered from them, and death-dealing 

 potions, in the shape of saucers tilled with a mix- 

 ture of cobalt, sugar and water, or the "Lightning 

 Fly Paper," placed in their way. 



Before laying away winter clothing, and the 

 blankets, spreads and heavier quilts, it is well to 

 repair and wash all that require such treatment; 

 and those that are beyond repair place with your 

 materials for making carpets and upholstery work ; 

 the rags being cut out, both cotton and woolen as- 

 sorted, and your savings of the same during the 

 year, — together with old newspapers, worn-out or 

 useless books, broken glass, bits of old iron, &e. — 

 placed in readiness for disposal to purchasers of 

 such things. 



There is always in every house more or less rub- 



