STANDARD RECEIPTS. 499 



place oil the fire, and stir into it six pounds of clarified grease, and two 

 ounces of powdered borax. L,et it boil slowly till it gets thick and ropy 

 (about ten minutes boiling) , and pour it into a tub or tight box, as stated 

 above. Soap thus made is an excellent hard soap for family use; after 

 drying a month or so in a dry-room, and cut into bars, it is fit for use. 



One Cent a Pound Soap. Soap for family use caJi be made very 

 cheap and of excellent qualitj^ with little trouble by the use of a common 

 article sold in all drug stores. This is lye put up in a concentrated form 

 in small iron boxes holding one pound. These boxes cost about twenty 

 cents, and will make twenty pounds of soap. 



The plan of proceeding is merely to take a box of this substance, knock 

 off the lid, and throw it into a gallon of boiling water. After standing 

 ten hours tlie lye will be clear, and must be thrown into a wash-boiler 

 witn another gallon of boiling water; when the contents of the vessel 

 boils, add slowly four pounds of any grease and stir well. When well 

 mixed, the boiler should simmer slowly for four or six hours, and half 

 an hour before taking off, another gallon of hot water may be added, 

 together with half a tea-cupful of salt. The latter is not necessary, how- 

 ever, and if too much is used, the soap is curdled or made short so -that 

 it breaks and wastes. When the soap is thought to be done, plunge a 

 case knife in; if the mass drops clear and ropy and chills quickly, it is 

 soap and will be firm and hard when cold. Have ready a tub well wet on 

 the bottom and sides; pour the soap in and let it set; in a few hours it 

 will be hard enough to cut out and be as white as snow. 



This process makes twenty-five pounds of soap; or, by the aid of 

 grease, four pounds; lye, one pound; twenty- four pounds of water; (less 

 four pounds driven off in boiling) , are converted into excellent soap. 

 Since the grease is saved from the family waste, the soap has only cost 

 what the lye has come to, and as the loss by drying is only twenty per 

 cent. , twenty pounds of soap can be made for twenty cents. 



Country Soft or Hard Soap, In most parts of the country it is 

 cheaper and much more convenient to make soap from the lye of leached 

 ashes than from a boughten '"concentrated lye." L,each the ashes as 

 suggested, then fill a kettle two-thirds full of lye that will float a potato 

 or egg. Put in the fat in a melted condition, a little at a time, and stir 

 well. When the soap gets to the right consistency (which is found 

 by testing) let the fire out and the soap cool. If hard soap is required 

 add salt while hot by handfuls until of proper hardness. 



2. A farmers wife give the following method of making soap: "Start 



