530 



STANDARD RECBIPTS. 



germ, and afterwards the seed ought to be dried before it is put in the 

 ground. It may be preserved in this shape for months. 



I/ime Deposits in Boilers. Put into the cistern or tank, from 

 which the boiler is fed, a sufficient amount of oak tan -bark, in the piece, 

 to color the water rather dark; run four weeks and renew. This plan 

 is much used, in the lime-stone sections of Ohio, giving general satis- 

 faction. 



Sprained Ankle. Wash the ankle frequently with cold salt and 

 water, which is far better than warm vinegar or decoctions of herbs. 

 Keep the foot as cold as possible to prevent inflammation, and sit with 

 it elevated on a cushion. I^ive on very low diet, and take every day 

 some cooling medicine. 



To Make Drying Oil. A good drying linseed oil, prepared with- 

 out the usual process of boiling. Mix with old linseed oil, the older you 

 can get it the better, two per cent, of its weight of maganese borate, and 

 heat this mixture on a water-bath, or, if you have to work with large 

 quantities, with a steam-bath to ioo° F., or at most iio° F. ; you thus 

 obtain a very excellent, light-colored, rapidly-drying oil; by keeping the 

 mixture stirred, the drying property of the oil is greatly promoted. The 

 rapidity of the drying of the oil after it has been mixed with paint, does 

 not simply depend upon the drying property of the oil, but, in a very 

 great measure, upon the state of the atmosphere — viz., whether dry or 

 moist, hot or cold; the direct action of sunlight, and the state of the sur- 

 faces on which the paint is put. Really genuine boiled linseed oil, if 

 well prepared, leaves nothing to be desired as regards rapidity of drying, 

 but it is retarded b>' \'arious substances which are added in practice, 

 among which, especially, oil of turpentine is injurious. 



Kerosene as Paint. This can be used to great advantage on a 

 farm as a preserver of wood. It is not properly a paint. No coloring 

 matter should ever be mixed with it. Ordinary linseed oil paint pre- 

 serves wood by forming a coat that excludes the atmosphere from the 

 pores. Kerosene penetrates the wood and excludes the air by filling up 

 the pores. 



Old barns from which the paint is worn will be much improved by a 

 liberal coat of petroleum. It can be put on with a whitewash brush. 

 The point is to get on as much as the wood will absorb. It is better to 

 go over the work rapidly and then the next day go over it again. For 

 shingle roofs, new or old, nothing is better than kerosene. In making 

 a new roof dip the shingles by the bunch in petroleum until saturated. 



