) 910 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
oya 
Cleaning an Iron Kettle. 
Replying to the query of Mrs. C. W. D. 
as to the cleaning of a new iron pot, if 
she will boil hay in it, then clean, not 
with iron rings, but with a clam or 
oyster shell (which by the way will not 
scratch or mar the finest porcelain pot) 
she will do away with the rusty taste. 
She may be obliged to do this several 
times, and must dry the pot thoroughly 
before putting it away. This process is 
a very old-fashioned one, having been 
used by my mother in the old-fashioned 
days of housekeeping. palmer. 
I think if Mrs. C. W. D. will grease 
her kettle on the inside and let it burn 
on, and after washing, each time dry 
well before putting away, she will find 
her kettle will be all right. I would 
like to advise anyone about to get a 
new cook stove to get one with a ground 
top. It does not require blacking, and 
always looks well. After washing dishes 
I take another cloth and wash the top 
of my stove with the dish water and the 
stove looks better than it would if 
blacked. If anything boils over the spot 
will not show after being washed. I 
have tried kerosene and clear water for 
washing the top, but like the dishwater 
best. I never had anything that was 
more of a comfort to me than my 
ground-top stove. I also have a bread 
mixer and mop wringer and am going 
to have a ''acuum cleaner right away, 
and if I had to do my washing, would 
have a power washer. Now I hire my 
washing and ironing done and it is 
done away from home. The men have 
all the improved tools to work with, 
and can usually get all the help they 
want, but girls for housework are very 
scarce, so the farmer’s wife ought to 
have all she can to make work easier. 
Of course it does not look well to 
praise my family, but my husband and 
boys are very good to help me. They 
can any of them get a meal or wash 
dishes or even keep house for a number 
of days if I leave enough bread baked 
for them. I do not leave them in a busy 
time, but in the Winter a change is good 
for me and does not hurt them. I did 
not mean to write so much but we read 
so much about farmers’ wives being 
slaves that it always provokes me, and 
it seems as if it was only the complaining 
ones we hear of. c. L. N. 
After buying her new iron pot Mrs. 
C. W. D. should grease it inside, fill 
with water and let boil, and I think she 
will have no trouble. This takes all the 
little particles of iron off and so does 
not taste. mrs. j. m. s. 
Some Makeshift Devices. 
When you have put something which 
others called rubbish to practical use, 
your glow of satisfaction is entitled to 
the luster of a two-fold shining. Here 
are one or two of the expedients upon 
which I am accustomed to look with 
especial pride. 
Nothing can seem more hopelessly 
useless than old scraps of poultry netting 
which have become twisted, torn and 
misshapen. But there is excellent use 
for such waste. If you have poultry 
about, and what farmhouse does not 
at some seasons of the year?—have 
you not often been annoyed at their 
delight in scattering to the four minds 
the compost wherewith you had meant 
to_ encourage the shrubs upon the lawn? 
W here you had neatly banked-up soil 
one evening you find ragged excavations 
and dust baths next day. But spread a 
piece of old poultry netting snugly 
pegged down over any place lately forked 
and raked smooth and though a whole 
poultry farm promenade your lawn, 
vour beds will remain much as in¬ 
tended. You will not care to see circles 
of netting set upright about every shrub, 
but this carpeting of netting is in¬ 
conspicuous and does not interfere with 
the lawn mower if well pegged down. 
A piece of netting over a clump of 
1'unkia, or Plantain lilies will let their 
leaves come up through its meshes, but 
gives protection which will make it easy 
to grow them wherever you wish. They 
always look particularly well close 
against the house underpinning wall, 
where they find coolness and moisture 
to their taste, and you need not fear 
that some old hen’s idle fancies will 
upset your plans if you have a foot or 
two of old netting with which to out¬ 
wit her. 
A five-gallon oil can which has sprung 
a leak seems about as fit for the dump 
heap as anything can, but cut out the 
top with a can-opener and the poultry 
feeder will find it just the thing in which 
to keep meat scraps of which mice are 
very fond. The cover will not, of 
course, fit snugly, but drop it in on top 
of whatever is kept in the bucket and 
rats or mice cannot make waste. 
Sometimes water pipes, though bought 
for galvanized iron, will fill up with 
rust and have to be dug up and replaced 
with new: If the men will give you a 
few lengths and 'will also allow them¬ 
selves to be coaxed to set four stout 
posts and nail poles or strips of two 
by four to connect their tops you can 
have a charming pergola over the south 
doors or in some spot where you would 
like to hang a hammock. Plan your 
pergola of a width to allow using the 
lengths of pipe for its top. They will 
not sag or rot out as sawed strips of 
wood are prone to do. Just lay them 
across at even distances apart and drive 
a nail on each side to keep them from 
rolling out of place. They can be a 
foot or more apart. Plant a Wistaria 
or a Clematis paniculata, or a honey¬ 
suckle, or a trumpet creeper at two of- 
the posts, wrap them up during Winter 
for a season or two till well established, 
and your pergola will soon be dearer 
to your heart than your handsomest 
piece of parlor furniture, and will call 
forth more compliments. For the Cle¬ 
matis or honeysuckle you might need 
to lay a blanket of poultry netting on 
top of the roof of pipes but the stronger 
growing vines will throw themselves 
across without help. If you like to 
select a grapevine as shade not more 
than one will be needed and that one 
will stand severe pruning every Feb¬ 
ruary and yet give you all the shade 
desired. Of course the ideal pergola 
effect has vine-wreathed pillars, a turf 
floor and a top not too closely covered 
to prevent a pretty play of light and 
shade beneath it. But any roughly 
made support over which vines clamber 
becomes beautiful under mid-summer 
sunshine and a boon to even the weariest 
and hardest-worked housemother, while 
children love such spots as the bird 
loves the tree-tops. 
PRUDENCE PRIMROSE. 
Some Ideas on Work. 
In thinking over my work for the 
last four years, it seems to me there 
might be ideas for others in the story. 
As the oldest child, and the one who 
has remained in the home city, I have 
had left with me, at different times, some 
of the accumulations of three -families, 
consisting of furniture, books, clothing 
and many old-fashioned trunks. Living 
in crowded city quarters, the question 
of storage room had become a serious 
one. Four years ago we moved three 
miles outside the city. Here I had 
plenty of room, but I had come to the 
conclusion that I had far too many 
things for which I had no use. I re¬ 
solved to get rid of some of these at 
least. I began with a trunk of old 
letters; I selected only a very few and 
burned the rest. Some of the letters 
were 40 years old. Then I went through 
the books. I gave some to my friends, 
some to the woman who did my wash¬ 
ing, some to my neighbor’s children, and 
many I burned. When I opened the 
trunks of clothing, some of which be¬ 
longed to dear friends who have passed 
away, it was like opening graves. But 
I reasoned that it required care to pre¬ 
serve it, and it might be of use to some 
one. I gave some to the Salvationists, 
some to church rummage sales, and 
some went into the ragbag. To tell the 
truth, after it was done I felt better, 
more cheerful. After doing all this, I 
saw other things to dispose of, old 
pictures, old photographs, magazines, 
old-fashioned fancy work. I sorted over 
my newspaper clippings, keeping only 
the best; my recipes, of which I had a 
large collection. I put into a book, each 
in its proper place. I sorted over my 
china, giving away many pieces for 
which I had no use. My whole purpose 
has been to put my possessions into as 
small a space as possible after eliminat¬ 
ing everything not really useful or beau¬ 
tiful. This makes my housecleaning 
easy to accomplish, and I know where 
everything is without having to hunt 
for it. 
In looking through my drawers, 
trunks and boxes, I found many pieces 
of work partly done or planned, and I 
resolved to finish them or put them 
into the ragbag, for T was tired of seeing 
them around unfinished. Among these 
were blocks for a crazy quilt. You 
may smile at this, but as I looked at 
the careful stitches, I realized that at 
the time I made them they mean real 
beauty to me. There were blocks for a 
woolen quilt, blocks for an old-fash¬ 
ioned sunflower quilt, a childish effort 
at making blocks of calico. The calico 
quilt I lined with large squares taken 
from the best parts of old colored shirt 
waists. One quilt was made of sugar 
sacks with a three-inch square of tur¬ 
key red calico stitched with red thread 
in the center of each block and also at 
the joining of four blocks. This was 
lined with the sugar sacks pieced up 
without the red blocks. While not 
pretty, these quilts mean extra bedding. 
The old blue percale dresses I cut 
and sewed and had woven into a long 
blue rug, the darker pieces at the ends. 
One rug was made of wool underwear 
in gray and red, and one of red pieces 
and a woolen blanket, yellow with much 
washing. These were woven with red 
and black warp and are certainly pretty. 
A pink rug made of old calico dresses 
and a pink and cream rug made of out¬ 
ing flannel and another woolen blanket 
complete the list. I enjoyed making 
these rugs, for each one, though care¬ 
fully planned, was somewhat of a sur¬ 
prise when I got it from the weaver. 
I find bags very useful for many 
things. One can hang them up, and 
they take the place of boxes and trunks, 
which takes up floor space. I made 
bags of old skirt linings which are used 
for my feather bed, extra pillows, for 
pieces of dress goods, and other things. 
Any pretty piece of ginghfam I make 
into a bag, and I find a use for overy 
one. One Summer I put dried Sweet 
clover into thin cotton bags. These I 
hung in a corner of my closets, not so 
they touch any article of clothing, and 
they give out a faint perfume on a 
moist day. 
Flere I was in a large old-fashioned 
farmhouse and with so little to fur¬ 
nish it with. The front chamber and 
hall had pretty red and green ingrain 
carpets laid down, which we purchased 
of the former occupant. I have in mind 
a rug made of them at some future 
time. These rugs are much used in this 
vicinity. They are pretty, can be used 
on both sides, and are not costly to 
have woven. On the other chambers 
I put matting, which I tacked down 
very firmly, so I can sweep it with a 
carpet sweeper. Over the matting I 
laid homemade rugs. 
For curtains for the chambers I used 
cheesecloth with lawn ruffles. When 
washed, I starch only the ruffles, and 
they hang very prettily. In my pink 
room I used for curtains a green-tinted 
cotton voile, with Battenburg braid put 
in points on the edge. In this room I 
also used a pink challis for a shirt-waist 
box and for a curtain for the closet. 
The floors of the two parlors were fairly 
smooth. We painted the edges 18 
inches deep with dark green paint. On 
these were laid our ingrain rugs. The 
couch, divan and several chairs I had 
recovered, the work being done by one 
of my family. For curtains I used white 
bobbinet, making them two yards long, 
with Battenburg braid put in points on 
the edges. These are simple, but give 
a finish to my windows. The dining 
room was a hard problem; it was so 
large. However, we painted the edges 
of the floor at least a yard deep with 
dust-colored paint and laid the old Brus¬ 
sels in the center. It looked better than 
we expected. The old family clock and 
old-fashioned mirror with mahogany 
frame add dignity to this room. My 
sideboard is a small plain bureau with 
a plate rail hung over it. For a cover 
for the table when not in use I use a 
Paisley shawl with red center. This 
is a very cozy room. 
In china for common use I buy a 
semi-porcelain white ware or white with 
a little gilt instead of the gaudy flow¬ 
ered china. There were still many needs 
in all departments. As I noticed these 
needs, I made a note of them, and as I 
had money supplied them, not spending 
even a penny on unnecessary things. By 
doing this way a little money may be 
made to go a long way. All "this work 
has taken much time and thought, but 
I need not tell a real home-maker how 
much I have enjoyed doing it. r. m. b. 
^.dmiral 
When you buy 
these attractive goods you 
get your full money’s worth. 
VfW For every home 
use they are ad-' 
mirable. 
The patterns and 
colors are the best. 
Try them for Kimonos, 
blouse Gowns and] 
Waists. Also for your | 
husband's Shirts. 
36 inches wide 
1 A CENTS 
1U A YARD 
You should find 
them in every good 
retail store. We 
will send you samples 
if you like. 
HAMILTON 
MFG. CO. 
93 Franklin St. 
BOSTON 
Hello, 
Smifh! 
How Much 
Butler and 
How Many 
EggsToday 
r OU don't need to take your pro¬ 
ducts to town on chance if you 
have a telephone. You need 
not even go yourself. Get customers on 
the 'phone, take your orders, then send 
the boy. Then you can find your best 
market—send the right stuff to the right 
people at the right time. There’s money 
in it. To have a 
Stromberg - Carlson 
Independent Telephone 
In the house is like having another hired 
man, yet it costs but a pittance each 
month. When the doctor is wanted in a 
hurry, its worth cannot be measured. 
Our new free book, 
“How The Telephone 
Helps the Farmer,” 
Edition31, will give you 
a lot of valuable hints 
and tells how easily any¬ 
one can put in our equip¬ 
ment and string the 
wires. Also tells how 10 
men can organize a suc¬ 
cessful Independent Tel¬ 
ephone System. 
Stromberg-Carlson Telephone 
Mfg. Company 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Chicago, Ill. Kansas City, Mo. 
(Address nearest office.) 
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