Foods and home making

plated silver. Although sterling silver is commonly called solid silver, it is not pure silver. Pure silver is too soft for use. Copper is mixed with it. Only 7.5% copper, however, is used in making sterling silver. Plated silver is made by coating steel or some other metal with silver. The quality of plated silver depends upon the thickness of the silver coating and upon the kind of metal used underneath the silver. Some of the best silverware is made by plating copper with silver. Plated silver does not tarnish quite so readily as sterling silver, but, being pure silver, it is scratched more easily than sterling silver. Plated silver, of course, is much cheaper than sterling silver. Plated silver especially constructed for durability is shown in Figure 77. Some kinds of silverware are more pleasing from the standpoint of art than others and some kinds can be cleaned more easily than others. In selecting silver, not only the beauty of the design, but the ease with which it may be cleaned should be considered. How may silver be cleaned? One way to clean silver is to scour it so that the dark coating is removed. There are many different silver-cleaning powders and pastes. These invariably contain a fine white powdered substance known as whiting. The objection to scouring silver is that some of the silver is lost when the dark coating is removed. Of course in one clean- ing only a very small quantity of silver is removed. But if the process is repeated year after year, considerable silver is lost. Then too, scouring silver scratches it somewhat. (See Figure 78.) There is another way of cleaning silver without scouring it. For this, use an old aluminum pan. If the pan is tarnished it should be scoured. Put water, common salt, and baking soda in the pan. For each quart of water , use 1 teaspoon each of salt and baking soda. Place the silver in the pan. There should be enough water to cover the silver. Then place the pan over a flame and heat it. Heat until the tarnish disappears from the silver. Then pour off the water and wash the silver in hot, soapy 214 Modern Housewifery water. Rinse and dry it. Instead of an aluminum pan, a granite pan may be used. A piece of aluminum or an aluminum spoon or other article must be put in the pan. Figure 78. A, New Spoon ; B, Spoon Scratched by Use and Scouring Notice the fine vertical scratches on Spoon B. Scouring not only scratches a spoon, but wears away the silver. This method of cleaning silver is better than scouring, because no silver is lost in the process. There is, however, a slight amount of aluminum lost. For this reason, it is well to use an old aluminum pan or article. The Dining Room and Its Furnishings 215 How are copper and brass cleaned ? The same method may be used for copper as for brass. Dip a cloth into vinegar, then into whiting. Scour the metal. There are many prepared metal polishes which can be used successfully on these metals. In scouring metals always protect the table with a piece of paper. It is not efficient to stain the table with the cleaning process and then have to clean the table. Why is linen desirable for the table ? Linen costs more than cotton. There are many things about the house for which cotton is desirable. Tablecloths, however, are more satisfactory when made of linen. There are several reasons for this :