822 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



let it stand for three days ; run off the liquor, now called 

 lye, and pour in more water, until three degrees of lye are 

 taken from the ashes. Put the first lye into a pot with as 

 much tallow as it can saponify or make soapy, and boil 

 about three hours ; then add the second lye, and boil about 

 two hours more ; draw off the water as it separates from 

 the soap, and add the third lye and boil for an hour or so, 

 making three boilings of about six hours in all. Allow the 

 mass to settle, and as it cools, draw off all water that remains 

 under the soap, which is then ready for use. In first 

 experimenting in soap-making, as in cookery and fruit- 

 preserving, disappointment may be a first result. It may 

 happen that the saponification is faulty, and if so, add a 

 little lye, and boil the whole over again, stirring it well in 

 the meantime. Many a boiling of soap is spoiled for want 

 of a log of wood. In making starch the laundress knows 

 by the appearance when the proper quantity of boiling 

 water has been poured in, and in the same way practice 

 will soon enable anyone to tell by sight when saponification 

 takes place. As soon as soap appears in the centre of the 

 boiling mass withdraw the fire, and leave the boiling 

 mass covered up till it partially cools before pouring it into 

 the moulds. 



CANDLES. They can be made from any tallow, but the 

 cleaner and firmer it is the better the candles. Equal 

 portions of beef and mutton tallow answer very well. 

 When beeswax is added, in the proportion of about 3 oz. 

 to a pound of tallow, we have an improved candle. Should 

 the fat be old, discoloured, or offensive, it can be purified 

 by the following simple process : Put a bucket of water 

 into a copper, and the fat with it. When well boiled 

 withdraw the fire, and sprinkle in a handful of powdered 

 alum, and repeat the sprinkling now and then as the tallow 

 cools, when it will be sweet, clean and white ; and if a 

 piece of rough string has been laid in the bottom of the 

 boiler, the alum will be found crystallized on the string, 

 and can be pounded up and used again. Moulds to 

 make half-a-dozen at a time are sold by the tinmen. They 

 are rounded to a point at ono end ; through this end 

 twisted candle wick is passed, and fastened in the centre 



