512 STANDARD RECEIPTS. 



Concrete Door-Steps. Make a box at the door where the steps 

 are wanted just the size and shape of the required steps. Then mix up 

 coarse gravel or Portland cement and make a mortar or concrete, mix- 

 ing in cobble-stones, and fill the boxes or molds. After a time remove 

 the moulds, and place boards on the steps for people to walk over till the 

 concrete has thoroughly hardened. If rightly made, these cement steps 

 will remain hard and perfect, and neither the frost nor weather will injure 

 them. They should be made in the spring of the 5'ear, so that they can 

 have the summer and fall to harden in. 



To Mix Mortar. Take four parts coarse and three parts fine sand, 

 with one part of quick- lime, mix well, using but little water. This makes 

 mortar which soon becomes as hard as adamant ; resisting all atmospheric 

 action as durably as the material it unites; and with the addition of a 

 portion of manganese, it will harden under water. 



To Keep Cellars from Free^ing^. A good plan to keep out the 

 frost is to take either old newspapers or coarse brown paper, and with a 

 strong size, paste them four or five thicknesses thoroughly to the stone 

 walls of the cellar and to the bare timbers overhead, leaving an air space 

 between them and the floor. It will not be necessary to press the paper 

 down into all the depressions of the wall; every air space is an additional 

 defense against the cold. If this plan is adopted and carefully executed 

 the cellar will be frost-proof, even if it is left unbanked. 



Iron and Steel Kept from Rusting-. A coating of three parts 

 lard and one part resin, applied to tools of iron or steel, will effectually 

 prevent rust. 



To Preserve Shingles. Take a potash kettle, or large tub, and 

 put into it one barrel of he of wood ashes, five pounds of white vitrol, 

 five pounds of alum, and as much salt as will dissolve in the mixture. 

 Make the liquor quite warm, and put as many shingles in it as can be 

 wet at once. Stir them up with a fork, and, when well soaked, take 

 them out and put in more, rene^^'ing the liquor as necessary. Then lay 

 the shingles in the usual manner. After they are laid, take the liquor 

 that was left, put lime enour^h in it to make whitewash, and, if any col- 

 oring is desirable, add ochre, Spanish brown, lamp-black, etc., and ap- 

 ply to the roof with a Lr jsh or an old broom. This may be renew- 

 ed from time to time. Salt and l)-e are preservatives of wood. It is 

 well known that leach tubs, troughs, and other articles used in the man- 

 ufacture of potash, never rot. They become saturated with the alkali, 

 turn yellowish inside, and remain impervious to the weather. 



