ADDITIONAL USEFUL HINTS, 619 



Poison Ivy or Sumac. — Sometimes wet salt or pork brine bound on the poison 

 Spots and kept wet, will soon dry them up. Very strong ammonia applied fre- 

 quently as soon as the poison appears is an excellent remedy. This remedy is 

 sometimes severe in its effects, acting as a caustic on the poison spots after ttie 

 poison is killed. When ammonia fails, powdered gum myrrh, shaken up in sweet 

 oil and used three times a day as a wash^ will be found an almost unfailing remedy. 

 When obtainable, it is the best to apply at first. 



J. The last remedy has been used successfully as a pre~entive, by liberally 

 anointing the skin before going into the woods, always allowing the remedy to 

 dry on the skin. 



3. Tincture lobelia, (equal parts water) or sugar of lead, or Pond's extract 

 (Hammalis). Think the ** Hammalis " the best ; very cooling and allays the itch- 

 ing, etc. Ivy poison has a ** run" of about one week, no matter what you apply. 



4. Carbolic acid and glycerine, in the proportion of about one part of the acid 

 to three of glycerine, which is also good for all kinds of insect bites, burns, 

 cuts, bruises, etc. 



5. Apply water as hot as can be borne to the part aflfected. 

 Disinfectants. — If onions are sliced and kept in a sick room they will absorb 



all the atmospheric poison. They should be changed every hour. In the room 

 of a small-pox patient they blister and decompose very rapidly, but will prevent 

 the spread of the disease. 



a. One pound of green copperas, costing seveil cents, dissolved in one quart of 

 water, and poured down a water-closet, will eflfectually concentrate and destroy 

 the foulest smells. On board ships and steamboats, about hotels and other pub- 

 lic places, there is nothing so nice to purify the air. Simply green copperas dis- 

 solved in anything, will render a hospital or other places for the sick, free from 

 unpleasant smells. 



To Cook Mushrooms. — Peel both tops and stems, put in a stew-pan, with an 

 ounce of butter and a pinch or two of salt to each pound, and serve up hot. This 

 will answer to eat with fish, flesh, and fowl. To fry thent — peel, dip in egg, and 

 roll in cracker dust, season, and fry with oysters. 



To Roast a Wild Turkey. — Having picked and cleaned a turkey, put up two 

 short forked stakes pretty close to the fire ; cut a thin straight stick with which 

 spit the turkey ; lay the ends of the stick in the crotches of the uprights, turn 

 the bird slowly before the fire. A pan should be placed underneath to catch the 

 gravy and dripping, with which baste the turkey from time to time. Make the 

 basting of a little butter or lard, flour, salt and water. 



To Bake Small Birds, — Quail, woodcock, pigeon, snipe, prairie fowl, etc., 

 should be neither picked nor drawn. Wet the feathers thoroughly ; make a hole 

 in the coals, and put in the wet bird. Cover well with coals and hot ashes, to 

 exclude air and prevent burning. When cooked, the skin and feathers will peel 

 off bodily, leaving the well-cooked meat unmarred. 



To Bake a Fish. — Cover the fish undrawn, with clay two inches th-ick, and 

 throw it into the hottest of the fire. The clay hardens almost instantly, and the 

 fish in its rough oven bakes through and through, retaining also its juices. The 

 clay is then poked out of the fire, cooled with a dash of water, and a sharp stroke 

 ^rith a stick separates it from the fish. The fish's skin peels off with the clay and 

 the dish is ready. 



Havino^ cleaned, split, and seasoned the fish, pin it to a board by wooden 

 pegs J then prop the whole up before a smart hot fire of hot coals. The fish is 

 very quickly baked brown. 



