When putting away the silver tea or coffee pot which is not used
every day, lay a little stick across the top under the coyer ; this will
allow fresh air to get in, and will prevent mustiness ; it will then be
ready for use at any time, after having first been thoroughly rinsed with
boiling water.
To remove starch or rust from flat-irons, have a piece of yellow bees-
wax tied in a coarse cloth ; when the iron is almost hot enough to use,
but not quite, rub it quickly with the beeswax and then with a clean
coarse cloth or on sand paper.
Chippings from marble put in the fire till red hot, then cooled and
pounded fine, is the best sand for scrubbing white floors and tinware.
A good way to clean zinc is to rub it with a piece of cotton cloth
dipped in kerosene ; afterward rub with a dry cotton cloth and it will
be as bright as when new. Zincs may be scoured with great economy
of time and strength by using either glycerine or creosote mixed with
a little diluted sulphuric acid.
To take the woody taste out of a wooden pail, fill the pail with boil-
ing hot water ; let it remain until cold, then empty it and dissolve some
soda in lukewarm water, adding a little lime to it and wash the inside
well with the solution ; after that, scald with hot water and rinse well.
If brooms are wet in boiling suds once a week they will become very
tough, will not cut a carpet, will last much longer and always sweep
like a new broom. A good housekeeper never allows her carpet broom
to be used for sweeping the outside stairs or yard ; keep a coarse broom
for this purpose. To keep a broom from getting stiff and hard, hang it
in the cellar way. "if raw potatoes or the peelings are cut fine and
sprinkled on the carpet before sweeping, they will be found more effect-
ual than salt or cornmeal.
Old towels make nice dusters by having the ends sewed together.
Do not let knives be dropped into hot water. It is a good plan to
have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the
blades without wetting the handles. Keep your castors covered with
blotting paper and green flannel. Keep your salt spoons out of the
salt and clean them often. When ivory handled knives turn yellow,
192 HOUSE-KEEPING.
rub them with nice sand paper or emery ; it will take off all the spots
and restore their whiteness.
Steel knives may be saved from rusting by being rubbed with mutton
tallow, wrapped in paper, and put into a baize lined chest.
Do not* wrap knives and forks in woolens. Wrap them in good,
strong paper. Steel is injured by lying in woolens.
Crockery with gilt bands or flowers should not be wiped. It should
be washed quickly, rinsed and drained until dry.
Tumblers that have had milk in them should not be put in hot water.
Glass should be washed in cold water, which gives it a brighter and
cleaner look than when cleansed with warm water.
Britannia ware should be first rubbed gently with a woolen cloth and
sweet oil ; then washed in warm water suds and rubbed with soft
leather and whiting. Thus treated it will retain its beauty to the last.
Have plenty of crash towels in the kitchen ; never let your white
towels or napkins be used there.
DOMESTIC COOKERY SCIENCE.
Page 170
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
When putting away the silver tea or coffee pot which is not used every day, lay a little stick across the top under the coyer ; this will allow fresh air to get in, and will prevent mustiness ; it will then be ready for use at any time, after having first been thoroughly rinsed with boiling water.
To remove starch or rust from flat-irons, have a piece of yellow beeswax tied in a coarse cloth ; when the iron is almost hot enough to use, but not quite, rub it quickly with the beeswax and then with a clean coarse cloth or on sand paper.
Chippings from marble put in the fire till red hot, then cooled and pounded fine, is the best sand for scrubbing white floors and tinware.
A good way to clean zinc is to rub it with a piece of cotton cloth dipped in kerosene ; afterward rub with a dry cotton cloth and it will be as bright as when new. Zincs may be scoured with great economy of time and strength by using either glycerine or creosote mixed with a little diluted sulphuric acid.
To take the woody taste out of a wooden pail, fill the pail with boiling hot water ; let it remain until cold, then empty it and dissolve some soda in lukewarm water, adding a little lime to it and wash the inside well with the solution ; after that, scald with hot water and rinse well.
If brooms are wet in boiling suds once a week they will become very tough, will not cut a carpet, will last much longer and always sweep like a new broom. A good housekeeper never allows her carpet broom to be used for sweeping the outside stairs or yard ; keep a coarse broom for this purpose. To keep a broom from getting stiff and hard, hang it in the cellar way. "if raw potatoes or the peelings are cut fine and sprinkled on the carpet before sweeping, they will be found more effectual than salt or cornmeal.
Old towels make nice dusters by having the ends sewed together.
Do not let knives be dropped into hot water. It is a good plan to have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the blades without wetting the handles. Keep your castors covered with blotting paper and green flannel. Keep your salt spoons out of the salt and clean them often. When ivory handled knives turn yellow,
rub them with nice sand paper or emery ; it will take off all the spots and restore their whiteness.
Steel knives may be saved from rusting by being rubbed with mutton tallow, wrapped in paper, and put into a baize lined chest.
Do not wrap knives and forks in woolens. Wrap them in good, strong paper. Steel is injured by lying in woolens.
Crockery with gilt bands or flowers should not be wiped. It should be washed quickly, rinsed and drained until dry.
Tumblers that have had milk in them should not be put in hot water.
Glass should be washed in cold water, which gives it a brighter and cleaner look than when cleansed with warm water.
Britannia ware should be first rubbed gently with a woolen cloth and sweet oil ; then washed in warm water suds and rubbed with soft leather and whiting. Thus treated it will retain its beauty to the last.
Have plenty of crash towels in the kitchen ; never let your white towels or napkins be used there.
DOMESTIC COOKERY SCIENCE.