Mother's Cook Book: Containing Recipes for Every Day in the Week, Including ..

Steel pens are destroyed by corrosion from acid in the ink. Put in the ink some nails or old steel pens, and the acid will exhaust itself on them, and the pens in use will not corrode. MICE. Pumpkin seeds are very attractive to mice, and traps baited with them will soon destroy this little pest. Mother's Cook Book. Placed in trunks or drawers will prevent mice from doing them injury. TO CLEAN COMBS. If it can be avoided, never wash combs, as the water often makes the teeth split, and the tortoiseshell or horn of which they are made, rough. Small brushes, manufactured purposely for cleaning combs, may be purchased at a trifling cost; with this the comb should be well brushed, and afterwards wiped with a cloth or towel. FOR CLEANING INK-SPOTS. Ink-spots on the fingers may be instantly removed by a little ammonia. Rinse the hands after washing in clear water. A little ammonia in a few spoonfuls of alcohol is excellent to sponge silk dresses that have grown " shiny" or rusty, as well as to take out spots. A silk, particularly a black, becomes almost like new when so sponged. FOR CLEANING JEWELRY. For cleaning jewelry there is nothing better than ammonia and water. If very dull or dirty, rub a little soap on a soft brush and brush them in this wash, rinse in cold water, dry first in an old handkerchief, and then rub with buck or chamois skin. Their freshness and brilliancy when thus cleaned cannot be surpassed by any compound used by jewelers. FOR WASHING SILVER AND SILVERWARE For washing silver, put half a teaspoonful ammonia into the suds; have the water hot; wash quickly, using a small brush, rinse in hot water, and dry with a clean linen towel; 256 Mother's Cook Boos. then rub very dry with a chamois skin. Washed in this manner, silver becomes very brilliant, requires no polishing with any of the powders or whiting usually employed, and does not wear out. Silver-plate, jewelry and door-plates can be beautifully cleaned and made to look like new by dropping a soft cloth or chamois skin into a weak preparation of ammonia-water, and rubbing the articles with it. Put half a teaspoonful into clear water to wash tumblers or glass of any kind, rinse and dry well, and they will be beautifully clear. FOR WASHING GLASS AND GLASSWARE. For washing windows, looking-glasses, etc., a little ammonia in the water saves much labor, aside from giving a better polish than anything else; and for general housecleaning it removes dirt, smoke and grease most effectually. INSECTS AND VERMIN. Dissolve two pounds of alum in three or four quarts of ■ water. Let it remain over night, till all the alum is dissolved. Then, with a brush, apply, boiling hot, to every joint or crevice in the closet or shelves where Croton bugs, ants, cockroaches, etc., intrude; also to the joints and crevices of bedsteads, as bed bugs dislike it as much as Croton bugs, roaohes or ants. Brush all the cracks in the floor and mop-boards. Keep it boiling hot while using, To keep woolens and furs from moths, two things are to be observed — first, to see that none are in the articles when they are put away, and second, to put them where the parent moth cannot enter. Tin cases, soldered tight, whiskey barrels headed so that not even a liquid can get in or out, have been used—to keep out moths. A piece of strong brown paper with not a hole through Mother's Cook Book. which even a large pin can enter, is just as good. Put the articles in a close box and cover every joint with paper, or resort to whatever will be a complete covering. A wrapper of common cotton cloth, so put around and secured, is often used. Wherever a knitting needle will pass the parent moth can enter. Carefully exclude the insect and the articles will be safe. MOTHS IN CARPETS.