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oct, as 
OOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YORKER 
274 
gomefitiii dkonontir. 
BORAX AND CLEANSING BLANKETS. 
The Boston Journal of Chemistry gives 
the following method of cleansing blankets : 
Put two largo teaspoonfuls of borax and a 
pint bowl of soft soap into a tub of cold 
water. "When dissolved, put in a pair of 
blankets, and let them remain over night. 
Next day mb and drain them out, and rinse 
thoroughly in two waters, and hang them to 
dry. Do not wring them. But this is not 
the only domestic use to which borax may 
he put. Says the same journal: Borax is 
the best cockroach exterminator yet dis¬ 
covered. This troublesome insect has a pe¬ 
culiar aversion to it, and will never return 
where it has once been scattered. As the 
salt is perfectly harmless to human beings, 
it is much to be preferred for this purpose 
to the poisonous substances commonly used. 
Borax is valuable for the laundry ; use 1 lb. 
to about ten gallons of boiling water, and you 
need only ono-half the ordinary allowance of 
soap. For laces, cambrics, etc., use an extra 
quantity of this powder. It will not injure 
the texture of the doth in the least. For 
cleansing the hair, nothing is better than a 
solution of borax water. Wash afterwards 
with pure water if it leavos the hair too still. 
Borax dissolved in water is also an excellent 
dentifrice, or tooth wash. 
DOMESTIC BREVITIES. 
To Exterminate. Large Ants .—Noticing in 
the Rural New-Yorker of Sept, 6, that M. 
W. wanted to know how to exterminate 
large ants, I will toll you how I got rid of 
them. I went out In the garden and procured 
a handful of green sage leaves ; sprinkled 
them in and around my sugar box and in 
less than 21 hours they hail all left; they are 
no trouble at all now ; it is a sure way to 
get rid of large ants. Try it.—A. L. Stiller. 
Rings out of Silk .—What will take rings 
out of silk left there by water ? T have a 
light silk so spotted by water, the water 
leaving a black ring. What substance, if 
used, will remove the spots and not injure 
the material ? Such information will be 
thankfully and gratefully received, by—C. 
W. V., Albany, N. Y. 
SELECTED RECiPES. 
Rapid Fielding of Meat .—The following Is 
an English recipe : Roll the meat, in a mix¬ 
ture ol' IGoz. salt,, X oz. saltpeter, and 1 oz. 
sugar, so that all parts may be completely 
Baited ; then wrap closely in a piece of cot¬ 
ton cloth previously well scalded and dried, 
and place in a porcelain or other vessel. The 
Cloth is essential with Small pieces, to retain 
the brine formed In contact with the meat. 
After about Its hours, however, some brine 
will drain off into the bottom of the vessel, 
and it will be necessary then to turn the 
moat, still wrapped up, daily. A piece of 
Six pounds, treated in this way for six days, 
then unwrapped and boded, will bo found 
quite palatable and sufficiently pickled. For 
larger quantities the cloth may be dispensed 
with, since the brine formed will be sufficient 
to cover the mass, provided the pieces are 
closely packed, and any unavoidable cavities 
filled with stones. 
A New Salad .—I think I discovered some 
thing new in the way of salads, the other 
day, and if not new something very agree¬ 
able. Enjoying a salads des legumes the 
other morning, it occurred tome that cold 
baked tomatoes and cold vegetable marrows 
would go well together, I accordingly tried 
and maxed good, cold baked tomatoes, not 
too much done, with the skins off, and some 
? uod-sized vegetable marrows, adding some 
arragou vinegar. The result was a peculiar 
and most delicious salad, On-pi,-died with 
some of the trifling vegetable accompani¬ 
ments, which a good maker of salads knows 
howto use, it might be improved, but I could 
desire nothing more delicious in the way of a 
salad during the warm days of summer and 
early autumn. 
Apple Jelly .—Take golden pippins ; pare, 
core and quarter them, and boil, in water 
enough to cover them, until quite soft. Then 
turn into a flannel jeily-bag, and let the juice 
run out without squeezing at all. The jelly 
bag is made like an enormous funnel, with a 
short Dose and sewed up in one seam. Take 
a square of flannel and doublo over in two 
points, lapping it in the middle, and you will 
see Jiow it ih done. Tie this bag by fastening 
tapes t.o each side of it, to chairs, and let the 
juice run into a dish. To one pine of juice 
put one pound of white sugar, and bon for 
twenty minutes. Then turn into jelly cups. 
Add sugar to the jam, and boil for marma¬ 
lade. 
Cheap Vinegar .—Take a quantity of com¬ 
mon Irish potatoes, wash them until they are 
thoroughly dean, place them in a large ves 
Bel, and boil Lheui until done. Drain off 
carefully tlie water that they were cooked 
in, straining it, if necessary, hi order to re¬ 
move every particle of the potato. Then put 
this potato water iuto a jug or keg, which 
eet near the stove, or in some place where it 
will be kept warm, and add ono pound of 
sugar to about two and one-half gallons of 
the water, some hop-yeast, or a small portion 
of whisky. Let it stand three or four weeks, 
and you’will have excellent vinegar, at a 
cost of six or seven cents per gallon. 
Coddled Apples. —The name is homely, but 
the article good. After the smaller fruits 
are out of season, coddled apples make one 
of the very best desserts that can be sent to 
the table. Gathor small, unripe apples, do 
not peel them, but cut them into slices from 
the core ; put them in a saucepan and pour 
on water enough t<i cover them ; cover t he 
saucepan and stir the apples occasionally to 
prevent burning, and when thoroughly soft, 
mash them smooth through a sieve. Send to 
the table in a glass or china dessert-dish 
with milk or cream, if you have it, and put 
the nutmeg and grater on the. table for those 
who like this spice. 
A Useful Soap.—' The following is com¬ 
mended by those who have tried it for scrub¬ 
bing and cleansing painted floors, washing 
dishes, amt other household purposes : Take, 
two pounds of white olive soap and shave it. 
in thin siices ; add two ounces of borax and 
two quarts of cold water ; stir all together 
in a stone or earthen jar, and let it set upon 
the back of the stove until the mass is dis¬ 
solved A very little heat is required, as the 
liquid need not simmer. When thoroughly 
mixed and cooled, it becomes of t he consist¬ 
ence of a thick jelly, and a piece the size of a 
cubic inch will make a lather for a gallon of 
water. 
To Remove Mold, Stains from Rooks 
without injuring the paper, the Scientific 
American gives the following directions:; 1. 
Wet with pure, dean water. 2. Soak in a 
dilute solution of bleaching powdor. 3. Pass 
through water made sour to the. taste by 
muriatic acid. 4. Soak in pure water until 
all traces of acid are removed, ami dry. It 
is not necessary to say that this operation 
requires careful manipulation. You may 
try, instead, exposing the moistened paper 
to the fumes of burning sulphur, which is a 
good bleaching agent, and then passing it 
through water and drying. 
How lo Cook Mushrooms. —Get half grown 
mushrooms, peel them and lay them side 
upwards on a plate ; put to each a small 
piece of butter, but only one layer thick ; 
pepper and suit to t aste ; add two tablespoon 
fuls of ketchup, and one of water ; press 
round the rim of the plate a strip of paste, 
get, another plate of the same size, firmly 
C i cased in the paste ; put the whole in a 
risk oven for 25 minutes ; the top plate, 
should be left on until served, when you will 
not only have a dish lit for an Emperor, but 
one that, would delight an Empress,—Jw (fil¬ 
bert. 
Green Artichokes Fried.— Cut a couple of 
green artichokes into eight or more “ quart¬ 
ers,” according to the size of the artichoke, 
and trim off all that is uneatable from each, 
putting them as they are trimmed in cold 
water with the Juice Of a lemon squeezed 
into it to prevent, their turning black. When 
the “quarters” are all done, dip them in 
batter (made with flour, oil, water, and 
eggs), see that each piece is well coated with 
it, ami fry them in plenty of boiling lard ; 
served piled on a napkin and garnished with 
fried parsley. 
Green Artichokes Iced.— Cut off the tops 
of the leaves, and trim off the stalk and the 
hard leaves round it. Rub each artichoke 
with a piece of lemon as it is trimmed, and 
put them to cook in boiling water with the 
juice of a lemon or a small quantity of white 
vinegar ; when done, which is ascertained 
by the leaves pulling off easily, put the arti¬ 
chokes Upside down on a cloth to drain off all 
the water, then place them in the refrigera¬ 
tor or on ice to get as cold as possible without 
being frozen; serve with cold poivrade 
sauce. 
with some American com-starch and milk, 
lias been given with marked success, in Lon¬ 
don, for dysentery. 
DIETETIC PREPARATIONS. 
HYGIENIC NOTES. 
Green A rtichokes with Wh ite Sauce .—Trim 
them as in the preceding recipe. Parboil 
them for ten minutes in salted water with 
the juice of a lemon squeezed into it. Melt 
2 ounces of butter in a saucepan, add a ta¬ 
bles poouful of flour, mLx well, and put in a» 
much water as will make sufficient sauce; 
season with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and 
place the artichokes in this sauce to finish 
cooking. When done, stir in, off the fire, the 
yolks of two eggs beaten up with the juice 
of a lemon, and strained. 
A Good Table Sauce .—Take one gallon of 
tomatoes, wash and simmer in three quarts 
of water until nearly done. Strain through 
a sieve. Add two tablespoonfuls of each of 
these spices, ginger, mace, black pepper, all¬ 
spice and salt, and one of cayenne pepper. 
Boil down to one quart. Pour in one flail 
pint best vinegar, and then pass through a 
hair sieve. Bottle in half-pint bottles ; cork 
and seal securely, and keep in a cool place. 
War for Floors —at 5 ounces of pearl 
ash, 25 ounces of wax, and 20 ounces of 
water together, stirring iL frequently until a 
thick mass results, from which water does 
not separate on standing a short time. Then 
add from a pint to a pint and a-half of boil¬ 
ing water, with con-taut stirring. This may 
be colored if desired. It may be applied 
with a woolen rug, and thoroughly rubbed 
in. 
Mint, Chow-CIww for Roast Lamb.—Take 
one third onions to two-thirds cucumbers; 
add spearmint, green pepper, and mustard; 
chop nil together, finely ; put into a jar and 
add strong vinegar and gait; work it up, 
and in a few days it will be tit for use. 
Mucilage of Gum-Arabic .—According to 
R. Rot;tier, the following formula affords a 
mucilage which will keep in the hottest, 
weather Gum-arabic, 12 troy ounces}; gly 
cerine, 8 fluid ounces ; water, 10 fluid ounces. 
Rarity Water. —The Druggist gives the 
following:—Take of pearl barley 2 ounces; 
boiling water, 2 quarts; before adding the 
boiling water let the barley bo well washed; 
then boil it to one-half, and strain the liquor; 
a little lemon juice and sugar may be added 
if desirable. To bo taken ad libitum in in¬ 
flammatory diseases. 
Rice, Water. —Take of rice 3 ounces ; let it 
be well washed, and add to it 3 quarts of 
water; boil It for an hour and a half, and 
then add sugar and nutmeg as much as may 
be required. To be taken ad libitum. Rice, 
when boiled for a considerable t ime, assumes 
a gelatinous form, and, mixed with milk, is 
a very excellent diet for children. It pos¬ 
sesses, in some measure, a constipating prop¬ 
erty which may be increased by boiling the 
milk. 
Infusion of Flaxseed. —Take of flaxseed 1 
ounce; bruised licorice root, half an ounce; 
boiling water, 1 quart; macerate for two or 
three hours near the lire, in a covered ves¬ 
sel ; strain, and add lemon juice sufficient to 
make it agreeable. It may be given as a 
common drink in catarrh. 
Decoction of Drum.—' Take of fresh wheat 
bran, 1 pint; water, 3 quarts ; boil down to 
one-third, strain off the liquor and add sugar, 
honey or molasses, according to the taste of 
the patient. Bran tea may lie made by using 
boiling water and suffering the mixture to 
stand in a covered vessel for three or four 
hours. 
Sage Tea.— Take of dried sage leaves, half 
on ounce; boiling water, one quart; iufuse 
for half an hour, aud then strain; sugar and 
lemon juice may he added in the proportion 
required by the patient. In the same man¬ 
ner may be made balm and other teas. These 
infusions form very agreeable and useful 
drinks in fever, and their diaphoretic powers 
may be increased by the addition of the 
sweet spirits of niter or ontinioflial wine, 
--—-- 
EXPERIMENTS WITH OATMEAL. 
We see by an article in La France Medi¬ 
cate that M. Dujardin Beaurriitz has been ex¬ 
perimenting with oatmeal as a food for 
young children. He made use of a jelly pre 
pared by soaking a tablespoouful of the meal 
in a glass of water for twelve hours, then 
straining through a sieve, boiling till the 
whole assumes the consistency of jelly, and 
adding sugar or salt to taste. According to 
analysis, 100 grammes of the meal contain 
8.7 grammes of water, 7,1 of fatty matters, 
63.5 of starch, 13.2 of nitrogenous matters, 
1.5 of mineral substances, and 7.6 of cellulose, 
dextrine and loss. Its nutrit ious value, there 
fore, as food for children, in regard to nitro¬ 
genous or plastic elements, as such as are 
respiratory, is analagous to that of human 
milk or cow’s milk. Besides these, it con¬ 
tains more iron than do most of t.ho articles 
of food. 
Four newly-born infants were fed with the 
preparation just described, and in every case 
with satisfactory results. In addition to its 
qualities as food, it acts efficiently against 
colic and diarhem. It enters into Hie com¬ 
position of thu syrup of Luther, which is 
said to be much used in Germany. M. Gil¬ 
lette. surgeon of the hospital of Melun, lias 
also given oatmeal combined with cow’s 
milk to six children, and finds it to be a valu¬ 
able food in cases where the natural supply 
of milk is deficient. 
Remedy for De.afness Wanted .—If any of 
the readers of the Rural New-Yorker can 
give the cause of or cure for the following 
case of deafness, they will greatly oblige the 
inquirer :—Alittlfe girl, twelve years old, has, 
during the past spring and summer, becomo 
very deaf, without any apparent cause, Sho 
has no pain or gathering in her cars; no seri¬ 
ous sickness of any kind, except that she had 
the whooping-cough very hard a year ago, 
and coughed considerably during the winter. 
Hoping that some ono among your numer¬ 
ous readers, who may have known of a sim¬ 
ilar case and its cure, will respond, 1 submit 
this to your discretion.—C. B. Pratt. 
Wash for the Hands Wanted .—Will you, 
or some of your correspondents, tell how to 
make a wash that will improve the color of 
the hands and oblige—A Music Teacher. 
Scientific amt Useful. 
A FARMER’S BAROMETER. 
L. B. 8., writes the Country Gentleman : 
The common camphor bottle makes a very 
cloudy index of atmospheric weight and 
weather changes, on which the following is 
a beautiful improvement: — Dissolve 2X 
drams of camphor in 11 fluid drams of alco¬ 
hol. Put 88 grains nitrate of potash (salt¬ 
peter,) and 38 grains ol' muriate of ammonia 
(sal ammoniac) into 0 fluid drams of water ; 
when all are perfectly dissolved, mix the two 
solutions. Shake them well in a two-ounce 
or four-ounce white glass vial, cork very 
loosely, or better, tic over the orifice a piece 
of linen or cotton cloth, and place the instru¬ 
ment in a good light out of tho sunshine, 
where it can be observed without, handling. 
When the weather is (Inc and clear, tho fluid 
is also ; but on the least change, the chemi¬ 
cals, which lie as a sediment, rise in beautiful 
frond-like crystals proportionally, and again 
duly subside. By watching those changes 
one soon becomes able to predict the changes 
of weather probable, for a few hours to 
ooine, in any locality, bub nob for oil alike. 
This instrument may be recommended also 
as a pretty philosophical toy with a problem 
annexed. 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
MEDICAL USES OF CHARCOAL. 
A lecture was recently delivered before 
the Society of Arts, in London, by Mr. W. E. 
Newto.v, in which ho attributed various vir¬ 
tues to peat and other vegetable charcoal 
He stated that, in the form of powdei*, put, 
upon poultices, peat charcoal had been most 
beneficially employed in some of the London 
hospitals, especially in cases of offensive 
sores. It absorbed tho putrid effluvia, and 
was of great benefit in cancers, etc. In 
many cases, when taken internally, it was 
productive of good effects in those troubled 
with disordered stomachs, such as heart¬ 
burn, sick headache, palpitation of the heart 
and giddiness. In all diseases of the chest, 
sore throats, diphtheria, or bronchial affec¬ 
tions, pent charcoal has been found very use¬ 
ful. In France, a scientific commission ap¬ 
pointed by the Government to investigate 
this subject, has reported very favorably in 
regard to the usefulness of this substance for 
a great number of purposes. A minute 
quantity of peat charcoal, in powder, boiled 
Pomade of Castor-Oil and Glycerine. —Tho 
following gives an excellent preparation : 
White wax, IX ounces ; glycerine, 2 drams ; 
castor-oil, 13 ounces ; essence of lemon, 5 
drams ; essence of lavender, 1 dram ; essence 
of bergamot, 3 drams ; oil of cloves, 10 
drops; annatto, 10 grains; alcohol, q. s.; 
water, distilled, q. s. 
Dissolve tho wax with moderate heat in a 
little of the castor-oil, and triturate with the 
remainder of the oil and the glycerine until 
It is cool; then add the essences and the 
volatile oil. Finally, nib the annatto with a 
dram of water until it is thoroughly sus¬ 
pended, add a dram of alcohol, and stir the 
coloring matter into tho pomade until it is 
intimately incorporated. 
Parisian Wood Varnish. —To prepare a 
good varnish for fancy woods, dissolve one 
part of good shellac in three to four parts of 
alcohol of 92 pel* cent, in a water bath, and 
cautiously add distilled water until a curdy 
mass separates out, which is collected and 
pressed between linen ; the liquid is filtered 
through paper, all tho alcohol removed by 
distillation from the water bath, and tho 
resin removed and dried at lOff’ Centigrade 
until it ceases to lose weight; it is then dis¬ 
solved in double its weight of alcohol of at 
least 96 per cent,, and the solution perfumed 
with lavender oil. 
A New Substitute, for Rubber. —A Canadian 
lute devised a method of producing gum from 
'the milkweed plant, or other plants of the 
asclepia family, and flax and other seeds, 
which consists in macerating and fermenting 
the substances, and then, by evaporation, 
reducing the resulting liquid to a thick gum¬ 
my* mass. The gum thus obtained may be 
cheaply produced, and is alleged to have 
many of the valuable qualities of rubber. It 
is insoluble iu water, may be vulcanized 
with sulphur, etc. 
Indestructible Fully.- Boil 4 pounds brown 
umber in 7 pounds linseed oil for two hours ; 
stir iu 3 ounces of wax ; lake from the fire 
and mix in 5X pounds chalk and 11 pounds 
white lead, and incorporate thoroughly. The 
latter operation is quite essential. 
M 
