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Practical Hints. 
A Good Disinfectant.— Dissolve half a drachm of nitrate of lead 
in a pint of boiling water, then dissolve two drachms of common 
salt in eight quarts of water, pour the two mixtures together. 
After the sediment has settled, the liquid is a saturate solution of 
chloride of lead. A cloth dipped in it and hung up in a room 
will purify a fetid atmosphere. It may also be used to pour down 
a sink, drain, or water-closet. This is very cheap, as a pound of 
nitrate of lead will make several barrelfuls of the disinfectant. 
Damp Cellars.—If a cellar has a damp smell and cannot be 
thoroughly ventilated, a few trays of charcoal set around the floors, 
shelves, and ledges will make the air pure and sweet. If a large 
basketful of charcoal be placed in a damp cellar where milk is 
kept, there will be no danger of its becoming tainted. 
Keeping Butter.—A simple mode of keeping butter in warm 
weather, is to invert a large crock of earthenware, or a flower-pot, 
if need be (varying with the size of the vessel containing the 
butter), over the dish or firkin in which the butter is held. The 
porousness of the earthenware will keep the butter cool, and all 
the more so if the pot be wrapped in a wet cloth, with a little 
water in the dish with the butter. Not the porosity of the 
earthenware, but the rapid absorption of heat by external 
evaporation, causes the butter to become hard. 
Ornamenting Cabinets, ete.—A very effective style for orna- 
menting cabinets, windows, boxes, doors, brackets, etc., is that in 
which the figures of the design are relieved upon a black or coral 
ground, afterwards highly polished like Japanese laquer work. A 
preparation is first made by dissolving the best white bees’-wax in 
turpentine, until it is the thickness of copal varnish. For use 
it is to be mixed with flake white sufficient to give it a body. 
Now, with a fine sable pencil trace accurately the design on the 
white wood. When this is well dried go over the entire surface 
with a paint made of ivory black and parchment size, or if it is 
intended to give it a coral-coloured ground, use a varnish of red 
sealing-wax dissolved in spirit of wine. The whole work is then 
to be brushed hard with a bristle brush dipped in spirits of wine 
until the design becomes visible, appearing in sharp, clear outlines 
on the black or red ground. Then varnish with white varnish 
and rub down with pumice powder until very smooth.—Zhe 
Decorator and Furnisher. 
Stain for Ebonising Wood.—In ebonising wood it is desirable 
to secure the required colour without the use of any solution 
dissolved in water. A water stain swells the fibres of the surface 
of the wood, and necessitates a subsequent operation to smooth 
