124 



THE OOLOGIST. 



CARE OF METAL PIECES. 



How to Clean Brasses, Bronzes and 

 Wrought Iron. 

 To clean brasses quickly and eco- 

 nomically, rub tliem well with vinegar 

 and salt or oxalic acid and salt. Wash 

 immediately after the rubbing, and 

 polish with tripoli and sweet oil. Un- 

 less the acid is washed off the thing 

 will tarnish so quickly that its last 

 estate will be worse than its first. 

 Copper kettles and saucepans, brass 

 and irons, fenders, candlesticks and 

 trays are best cleaned with vinegar 

 and salt. Cooking vessels in constant 

 use need only to be well washed after- 

 ward. Things for show, even pots and 

 pans, need the oil polishing, which 

 gives a deep rich yellow luster, good 

 for six mouths. 



Oxalic acid and salt is the thing for 

 furniture brasses. If it touches the 

 wood around it, it only improves the 

 tone. Wipe the brasses well with a 

 wet cloth, and polish thoroughly with 

 oil and tripoli. Sometimes powdered 

 rotfenstone does better than tripoli. 

 Rub after using either with a dry 

 cloth or leather until there is no trace 

 of oil. No matter what sort of brass 

 is to be cleaned, it must first be freed 

 completely from grease, caked dirt and 

 grime. Wash with strong ammonia 

 suds, rinse and dry before beginning 

 with the acid and salt. 



The best treatment for wrought iron 

 or wrought steel, which both have a 

 knack of grov^'ing gray and lusterless, 

 is to first wash it very clean with a 

 stiff brush and ammonia soapsuds, 

 rinse well, dry— by heat if possible- 

 then oil plentifully with sweet oil, and 

 dust thickly with powdered quicklime. 

 Let the lime stay on two days, then 

 brush it off with ^a clean very stiff 

 brush. Polish with a softer brush 

 and rub with cloths until the lus- 

 ter comes out. This ought to give 

 the color of iron in daily use, which 

 is nearly the most beautiful in the 

 whole range of metals. By leaving the 

 lime on iron and steel may be kept 

 from rust almost indefinitely. 



Before wetting any sort of bric-a- 

 brac, and especially bronzes, remove 

 all the dust possible. The less dust 

 water finds about fine lines and cran- 

 nies the less it can leave there. After 

 dusting wash well in strong white 

 soapsuds and ammonia, rinse clean, 

 polish with just a suspicion of oil and 

 rottenstone, and rub off afterward 

 every trace of the oil. Never let acid 

 touch a bronze surface unless one 

 wishes to eat and pit it for antique 

 effects. 



How to Weigh the Baby. 



Use the basket in which baby's toi- 

 let articles are kept, supposing it is av- 

 erage size. Buy five yards of webbing 

 —an extra heavy tape. Cut two strips 

 each sixty-four inches long. Pass one 

 under the basket diagonally and fasten 

 securely at corners. Do same with 

 other strip, fastening at opposite cor- 

 ners. Join the ends over the top. This 

 leaves ample space to slip baby under. 

 In one end of the remaining piece of 

 tape sew a loop large enough to pass 

 one prong over the chandelier. On the 

 other end sew the ring of your ordinary 

 hook scales at such a height that when 

 the loops on the basket are hooked into 

 the scales the basket will skip the bed 

 or table by six inches. Place a pillow 

 and set of clothing in basket and weigh. 

 Place the baby in and after weighing 

 him subtract the weight of basket and 

 clothing and you have baby's exact 

 weight. 



How to Slip House Plants. 



To slip house plants, fill a dish with 

 sand. Cut slips away from any kind 

 of house plants, taking care the slip is 

 made from a young green shoot and 

 the cut is made slanting. Keep sand 

 wet all the time. Place in a sunny win- 

 dow. They Avill begin to show little 

 foots in from two to three weeks. Aft- 

 er roots are formed put in small pots 

 and shift into larger pots as they need 

 It. Water each day. To enrich plants 

 water with a solution of 150 grains of 

 glue in about two gallons of water. 



