The century cook book

Scent Powder. A good recipe for scent powder to be used for wardrobes, boxes, etc., far finer than any mixture sold at the shops, is the following: Coriander, orris root, rose leaves and aromatic calamus, each one ounce; lavender flowers, ten ounces; rhodium, one-quarter drachm; musk, five grains. These are to be mixed and reduced to a coarse powder. This scents clothes as if fragrant flowers had been pressed in their folds. Almond Paste. Take of bleached almonds four ounces, add the white of one egg. Beat the almonds to a smooth paste in a mortar, then add the white of an egg and enough rosewater, mixed with its weight of spirits of wine, to give the proper consistence. This paste is used as a cosmetic to beautify the complexion, and is also a remedy for chapped hands, etc. Shampooing Liquid. An excellent shampoo is made of salts of tartar, white castile soap, bay rum and lukewarm water. The salts will remove all dandruff; the soap will soften the hair and clean it thoroughly, and the bay rum will prevent taking cold. Toilet Soap. Take two pounds of pure beef tallow, two pounds of sal soda, one pound of salt, one ounce of gum camphor, one ounce of oil of bergamot, one ounce of borax. Boil slowly an hour, stir often, let it stand till cold. Then warm it over so it will run easily, and turn into cups or moulds dipped in cold water. This is very nice for all toilet purposes, and is greatly improved by age. THE CARE OF THE CLOTHES Hints for the Laundry. The laundress will find it useful to "paste this in her hat." Thirty yards of cotton cloth may be bleached in fifteen minutes by one large spoonful of sal soda and one pound of the chloride of lime dissolved in soft water; after taking out the cloth rinse it in soft cold water so that it may not rot. Wringer. The color of French linen may be preserved by a bath of strong tea of common hay. Calicoes with pink or green colors will be brightened if vinegar is put in the rinsing water, while soda is used for purple and blue, if it is desired to set colors previous to washing, put a spoonful of ox gall to a gallon of water and soak the fabrics in the liquid. Colored napkins are put in lye before washing, to set the color. The color of black cloth is freshened if it is put in a pail of water containing a teacupful of lye. Washing Fluid. One pound of concentrated lye dissolved in two gallons of hot soft water, and when nearly cold, add one ounce of sal ammonia and one ounce of tartar. Washing Fluid No. 2. Take one pound of sal soda, one-half pound of lime, and one gallon of water; boil onehalf hour, skim, then set off to settle; pour off the clear fluid, put on more water and boil again, and so continue until you have a gallon of fluid. Hard Soap. Three pounds of grease, one pound of Babbit's potash, ten quarts of water, one-half pound of borax ; 250 The Care of the Clothes boil four or five hours, pour into a square wooden box, and when cold cut into blocks and set away to dry. Hard Soap No. 2. Five pounds of grease, one pound of concentrated potash and two quarts of water; put the potash into the water and when dissolved heat the grease and add to it; let it stand over night and in the morning add four quarts of water, and boil ; turn into moulds and when cold turn out and set aside to dry.