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HOUSECLEANING. 
To clean house properly, begin in the attic, take 
one room at a time and clean thoroughly; inspect 
every corner, trunk, box, and drawer, and dispose 
of all useless rubbish. Bury old shoes around the 
roots of the grapevines, and they will serve you 
years longer by retaining moisture, and thereby in¬ 
creasing the fruitfulness of the vines. 
Brush the walls, dust carefully, and wash the floors 
in ammonia-water. See that the stoves used down¬ 
stairs are well cleaned and carried up to one of 
the attic spare rooms, and they will be free from 
rust when wanted in the fall. Oil the pipe with 
warm linseed oil, and it will retain a good polish. 
Proceed with the bedrooms, one only at a time; 
examine the bedsteads, and, if afraid of bugs, wash 
them in a solution of corrosive sublimate, and your 
slumbers will be undisturbed. Wash varnished 
woodwork with cold tea made from grounds previ¬ 
ously used and boiled over. It removes dirt, fly- 
specks, and leaves a beautiful gloss. Plain painted 
surfaces require a little ammonia in the water, about 
a tablespoonful to the gallon; use laundry soap, a 
sponge; rinse quickly with warm water, and wipe dry 
with a soft muslin cloth. Whiting applied with a 
cloth dipped in warm water, and carefully rubbed off 
with a dry cloth, cleanses white paint without injur¬ 
ing it. 
To clean the metal plates, key-holes, etc., of 
doors, also brass stair-rods, use sapolio, or, if brass, 
rotten-stone. 
The semi-annual oiling of furniture tends to give 
walnut-wood a darker and richer look, and renews 
its freshness. Any housekeeper who has never tried 
this simple process is advised to do so, and note how 
quickly all white spots and blemishes disappear. No 
matter how old and much abused chairs and tables 
are, try it upon them. Ten cents’ worth of oil, 
mixed with a little rotten-stone, which may be had at 
any druggist’s, will be sufficient to polish the furni¬ 
ture of a large dwelling. Apply a little at a time 
with a small flannel cloth and rub until dry, and 
smooth with a larger piece of flaunel, and finish with 
dry rotten-stone. 
To clean marble mantels, take one part of finely- 
powdered chalk, one part pulverized pumice-stone, 
and two parts of common soda, mix with water and 
rub well the whole surface, then wash with soap and 
water, and you will find every stain has been re¬ 
moved. 
The gilded frames of mirrors and pictures are 
beautifully cleaned by applying the white of eggs 
with a soft camel’s-hair brush. To prevent flies set¬ 
tling upon them, wash in garlic or onion water. Do 
not fear the odor, as it soon dies away and brightens 
the gilt. Accidents ivill happen even in the best- 
regulated households, and oil or grease sometimes 
gets spilled upon carpets. To clean such spots, use 
fuller’s-earth and water, spread thickly, cover with 
paper, and let it remain two clays ; brush off, and if 
not removed make another application. If haste is 
required, use refined benzine. 
The following are good and tried directions for 
kalsomining: Clean the walls from dust, fill all 
crevices and nail-holes with plaster-of-Paris and white 
sand, and coat the walls with a thin sizing of glue- 
Water. Then mix eight pounds of zinc-white to a 
thick cream with warm water, and add half a pound of 
dissolved glue. (Some use common whiting instead of 
zinc-white; it is cheaper, but not near so good.) Apply 
with the largest size paint-brush or small whitewash¬ 
brush. If the mixture becomes too thick to spread 
evenly, add warm water. If the kalsomine is wanted 
tinted, a few cents’ worth of dry colors will be suffi¬ 
cient. This is cheaper than paper or paint, and is 
more quickly put on the walls. A pretty border for 
a room, in imitation of inlaid-wood, is made by past¬ 
ing cloth smoothly around the floor the desired width, 
then over that paste wall-paper of wood colors and 
geometrical designs. When perfectly dry brush over 
with thin glue-water, then apply two coats of copal 
varnish. 
Wash the shelves of closets, pantry, and store¬ 
room with strong alum-water and they will never be 
troubled with red or black ants. Put in every 
mouse-hole little paper parcels of fine corn-meal and 
arsenic mixed, and the obnoxious little creatures 
will be effectually exterminated. But this should be 
done in very cold weather only. Plaster-of-Paris 
mixed with gall is good to fill mouse-holes. 
Experienced housekeepers recommend paper bags 
for keeping dried small fruit, corn, etc., etc. We 
have used instead for years the Mason quart and 
half-gallon self-sealing jars. They are the very 
thing for dried and soft yeast. The latter should 
never be put in a jug unless under your own im¬ 
mediate supervision. If the housekeepers through¬ 
out our land could only look into these jugs they 
would either banish or clean them with their own 
hands. 
The color and durability of our kitchen floor is 
most satisfactory, and the cost was only $2 50. It 
was first oiled with boiled linseed-oil, then varnished 
with shellac varnish, and again oiled. It is kejit 
beautifully clean by merely wiping up with cold 
water. Three times a year it is given a coat of oil. 
We use white oil-cloth, bound with red, for wall- 
protectors back of the kitchen table, and under the 
hooks where pans, etc., are hung. It is easily kept 
fresh by washing in soap and warm water. 
Sydney A. Fairfax. 
Mr. Delmonico, talking about entrees, says that 
Americans ought to copy “the French method of 
utilizing small bits of raw meats and fowls, and of 
recooking all kinds of cold joints and pieces of cooked 
meats which remain, day after day, from every din¬ 
ner in almost every family.” The success of such 
dishes depends mainly on the sauce, which is best 
made from broth. The following is his recipe for a 
favorite sauce : “ Take an ounce of ham or bacon ; 
cut it up in small pieces, and fry it in hot fat. Add 
an onion and carrot, cut up, thicken with flour, then 
add a pint or quart of broth, according to the quan¬ 
tity desired, season with pepper and salt, and any 
spice or herb that is relished (better though without 
189 
the spice), and let simmer for an hour, skim carefully 
and strain. A wineglass of any wine may be added, 
if liked.” Cold roast, or broiled beef or mutton, may 
be cut into small squares, fried brown in butter, 
and then gently stewed in the sauce above de¬ 
scribed. Mr. Delmonico describes croquettes as 
the attractive French substitute for American 
hash, and tells how to make them: “Veal, mut¬ 
ton, lamb, sweetbreads, almost any of the lighter 
meats, besides cold chicken and turkey, can be most 
judiciously turned into croquettes. Chop the meat 
very fine. Chop up an onion, fry it in an ounce of 
butter; add a tablespoonful of flour. Stir well, and 
then add the chopped meat and a little broth, salt, 
pepper, little nutmeg. Stir for two or three minutes; 
then add the yolks of two eggs, and turn the whole 
mixture into a dish to cool. When cool mix well to¬ 
gether again. Divide up into parts for the cro¬ 
quettes ; roll into the desired shape in bread crumbs. 
Dip in beaten eggs, then into bread crumbs again, 
and fry crisp, a bright golden color. Any of these 
croquettes may be served plain or with tomato sauce 
or garniture of vegetables.” 
The rice dishes of Italy are popular and delicious, 
so unlike our own well-known ones that we urge a 
trial of their excellence upon our readers. Chief 
among them rank the risotto of Milan and the cream 
of rice and chicken. The rizotto is made by par¬ 
boiling well-washed rice in boiling water for five 
minutes, draining and drying it on a cloth, frying it 
light brown with a little chopped onion and butter, 
and then stewing it until tender in enough highly- 
seasoned broth to well cover it; it has to be watched 
closely, and the saucepan shaken as the rice absorbs 
the broth, so that it shall not burn ; when the rice is 
done it is put into a buttered mould with shreds of 
cold chicken, tongue, or ham, well shaken down, 
dusted with grated cheese, and browned in the oven. 
Slices of mushroom or a little tomato sauce are used 
as variations from the chicken or tongue. 
The cream of rice is made by boiling the breast 
ol a fowl and a cup of rice in chicken broth until 
soft enough to rub through a fine sieve; the paste 
thus formed is used to thicken boiling milk, seasoned 
with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, to the consistency of 
thick cream; it is one of the most delicious and nu¬ 
tritious of all soups. 
Rizotto is prepared with sausages in the north of 
Italy in a very appetizing dish; the sausages are 
twisted without breaking the skin in inch pieces, 
and fried brown; the rice is washed, boiled for five 
minutes in boiling water, drained and dried, and 
then browned in the sausage-fat with a chopped 
onion; last of all, these ingredients are stewed in 
highly-seasoned broth until the rice is tender and 
has absorbed all the broth, enough being used to well 
cover it when it is set to stew. 
One person abusing another in the presence of 
Churchill, the poet, said, “ He was so extremely 
stupid, that if you said a good thing he could not 
understand it.” “ Pray, sir,-” said Churchill, “ did 
! you ever try him ? ” 
ENTREES. 
RICE DISHES OP ITALY. 
