Recipes for the million

CASHMERE (BLACK), To Renovate. — Put a pint of good ale into two quarts of hot water, and sponge the material well all over. Hang it up, and when nearly dry iron it on the wrong side. It will look equal to new. It may likewise be washed in hot suds with a little borax in the water rinse in bluing water — very blue— and iron while damp. CASTOR OIL, To Take.— One excellent method of taking this useful but obnoxious medicine is to pour some water into a glass, then add the oil, and cover it with a small quantity of brandy. It is likewise administered in coffee or mutton broth ; or it may be suspended in water by the intervention of mucilage or yolk of egg, according to taste. Another method is to put sufficient hot milk into a large wineglass to one-third fill it, put in the oil, then pour upon it enough milk to fill the glass. If swallowed at a gulp the oil will not be tasted. CATERPILLARS, To Destroy. — Syringe the plants with a decoction of tobacco, or a solution of alum, and afterwards sweep or scrape ud the surface of the soil on to which the insects have fallen. * CATERPILLARS, To Trap.— Pin a few pieces of woollen stuff in the trees or bushes that are attacked by the insects. The caterpillars will settle upon them in the night and may be destroyed in large quantities early in the morning. CATTLE, To Ascertain the Weight of. — Measure the girt close behind the shoulder, and the length from the fore part of the shoulderblade along the back to the bone at the tail which is in a vertical line with the buttock, both in feet. Multiply the square of the girt, expressed in feet, by five times the length, and divide the product by 21 ; the quotient is the weight, nearly, of the four quarters, in imperial stones of 14lbs. avoirdupois. For example, if the girt be 6 feet, and the length 5½ feet, we shall have 6 x 6 = 36, and 5½ x 5 = 26½ ; then 36 x 26½ = 954, and this, divided by twenty-one, gives 45 stones and 9 lbs. approximately. It is to be observed, however, that in very fat cattle the four quarters will be about one-twentieth more, while in those in a very lean state they will be one-twentieth less than the weight obtained by the rule. The four quarters are only a little more than half the weight of the living animal ; the skin weighing about the eighteenth part, and the tallow the twelfth part of the whole. CAULIFLOWERS (BOILED).— Trim them neatly, and lay them in cold water for an hour, then put them into boiling water with a handful of salt, and let them boil for fifteen or twenty minutes, skimming the water occasionally. Take them up the moment they are done. A little flour or milk added to the water in which they are boiled will make them white. Serve with melted butter. CAULIFLOWERS, To Pickle. — Choose full-sized, firm plants; pare off the leaves, and cut away the stalk ; pull off the flowers in small bunches, and steep them in brine for a couple of days, then drain, wipe them dry, and put into a pan of vinegar, in every quart of which three ounces of curry powder has been infused for three days..