HOUSEHOLD HINTS

"Little drops of knowledge, Little grains of sense

Solve the mighty problem Of the home expense."

Cooking Hints.

When making gravy, remove the pan from the fire while the thickening is being stirred in, and when smooth return to the fire to cook. This will prevent lumps forming. Cook at least 10 min- utes longer to cook the flour.

Add a little sugar when making pie crust to make it crisp and brown.

If you put a piece of horseradish root into a jar of pickles, the vinegar will retain its strength longer and the pickles will be less likely to become soft and mold.

To keep potatoes warm after pouring off the water and shak- ing, cover the jjotatoes with a folded towel.

When vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, string beans, etc., are boiling, drop in a pinch of soda; pour off the water and replace with boiling water. Will make the vegetables more tender.

Washing and Ironing.

If a few drops of glycerine be added to the starch for linens, it will be found that the iron will not stick and the linen will have a beautiful gloss after being ironed.

Rusty flatirons should be rubbed over with beeswax and lard or beeswax and salt.

Fine laces and sheer handkerchiefs may be laundered like new without being ironed. Wash in suds by squeezing in the hands. Rinse, and if desired, dip in a thin starch. Have the inside of a

338 THE MENDELSSOHN CLUB COOK BOOK.

window pane perfectly clean and spread articles out on the glass, smoothing out every wrinkle. It will stick to the glass and dry in a short time. Fine lace work should never be ironed.

When starching black wash dresses and petticoats add bluing enough to make the starch a deep blue.

If the button side of waists is ironed in a folded bath towel, buttons turned downward, they will be prevented from breaking and are more easily ironed.

If cloth is scorched when ironing, dip immediately in hot water.

Stains — To Remove Stains From White Cloth.

Fruit stains: Pour on boiling hot water.

Cocoa and blood stains: Soak in cold water.

Ink stains: Rub spot with salt, then wet with ammonia.

Grass stains: Rub with butter or molasses.

Car grease: Rub with laundry soap and wash in kerosene.

Ink stains from fountain pen and iron rust: Rub with lemon juice, sprinkle with salt, then lay in the sun.

Paint stains: Rub with turpentine or benzine.

Coffee stains : Rub with glycerine.

Alcohol will remove candle grease.

If you should accidentally sit on sticky fly paper, apply gaso- line.

Rub grease stains on hard wood floors with soda.

Rub spoons with common salt to remove egg stains.

Rub mildew marks over with a piece of raw tomato. Sprinkle with salt and lay in the sun. Repeat the process, if necessary.

For moths, dissolve Y^ pound gum camphor in 13^ gallon of benzine and use freely with an atomizer.

Oil of red cedar is good to drive away mosquitoes, moths and ants. Soak in wads of cotton.

To keep ants out of a refrigerator, fill baking powder can covers with water and place under castors. Cut a piece of newspaper a little larger than bottom of your sugar crock and place on a sheet of sticky fly paper. Put your crock on this and your sugar will be free from ants.

A small quantity of green sage placed in the pantry will keep out red ants.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 339

Fill rat holes with laundry soap or cayenne pepper.

Allspice freely used will kill buffalo bugs.

This ant remedy is guaranteed to succeed when all others fail. Mix 1 teaspoon tartar emetic, 1 teaspoon sugar with 34 cupful of water, put' in saucers and set saucers around in the cupboard.

The juice of 3^ a lemon squeezed into a glass of w\ater, taken in the morning without sugar, is a simple remedy for torpid liver.

Lemon juice mixed very thickly with sugar will relieve a tick- ling cough.

For sore throat, gargle with 1 part alcohol and 3 parts water.

Dip a woolen cloth in alcohol, wring out, and place on the chest to relieve croup.

Keep on hand Hydrogen Peroxide for cuts, and Carbolated vaseline for bruises.

Rubbing bruises after applying ointment will prevent swelling.

Soaking feet in hot water and salt relieves tired nerves.

For chilblains, rub the parts affected with brandy and salt.

The raw white of an egg applied to a burn will take out heat.

Ammonia applied to the bites of insects, such as fleas, mos- quitoes, etc., will stop the itching at once.

One tablespoonful of olive oil after each meal will increase the flesh.

Miscellaneous.

Turpentine mixed with stove polish prevents rust and gives a brighter gloss than the use of water.

In packing white lace or white silk waists or gowns, if you wish them to remain perfectly white, wrap in light blue cheese- cloth or tissue paper and place in a box.

If you have no ice and want to cool hot w^ater in a short time, put the water in an air-tight jar and place under cold running water. It will be ice cold in 20 minutes.

A large case, similar to a pillow case, made of unbleached cot- ton, for mattresses that can be taken off and washed, saves much time in cleaning them.

To make false hair puffs, switches and pompadours look like new, wash in gasoline and rinse in clean gasohne; hang in open air to dry.

To dry lettuce quickly and make it crisp, wash and place in a thin cloth and shake in the open air.

340 • THE MENDELSSOHN CLUB COOK BOOK.

Use a clothespin instead of a stick, when stringing nastur- tiums or sweet peas.

Save broken gas mantles. They make fine silver polish.

If blankets are too short during the cold weather, sew a piece of canton flannel to one end for the "tuck in."

To remove adhesive plaster, wet with alcohol.

A mustard plaster mixed entirely with white of egg will neither scar nor blister.

To color curtains ecru, buy a little yellow ochre. Pour boil- ing water on the ochre and mix in starch.

Use kerosene in water to clean window glass and painted woodwork.

Use a little ammonia or alcohol in the water to clean glass of pictures, etc.

Place a thimble or the finger of an old glove on the end of the curtain rod when running it through a freshly starched curtain.

To keep a broom firm, before using it soak in boiling hot water or soapsuds for 3^ hour.

THE HOT BEDS AND COLD FRAMES OF A KITCHEN GARDEN. 341

CHAPTER XXVII

THE HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES OF A KITCHEN GARDEN

'Who loves the Garden loves the Greenhouse, too."

The kitchen garden is the housewife's constant friend, so why not make an effort to begin early with a hotbed and a little later with a cold frame, thus securing the delicious young vegetables ahead of the markets and our neighbors, provided they are not as thrifty as we? Think of the pleasure of taking them some crisp heads of lettuce, some tender radishes, or some juicy rhubarb for their Christmas dinner. With the hotbed this is made quite pos- sible.

The hotbed may be started about December first, and for the benefit of our friends who have had no experience in this mode of gardening, we will give a few dimensions and suggestions for mak- ing, culled from "The Garden Magazine."

First, choose a spot having a southern exposure, well pro- tected from the north and west winds, and where the natural drainage is away from the bed.

Dig out a space the size of frame so that when the frame is set up the interior space is four feet deep. Posts 2x4 set firmly in each corner and at intervals on each side serve as supports for the frame.

The dimensions of a practical frame are 9 ft. 2 in x 5 ft. 6 in., 2 feet high in the rear and 18 inches high in front. Two strips across the top serve as rests for the sash, which in buying the com- mercial size (3x6), requires three. Now for the bed. The heating material is composed of fresh horse manure about 3 feet in depth. Drench well with water, then close frame for a few days in order to heat thoroughly. After this process the soil (which is equal parts of good sifted garden loam and well rotted manure) is thrown

342 THE MENDELSSOHN CLUB COOK BOOK.

in to the depth of 4 or 5 inches. The frame must be well protected on the outside from frosts and cold weather by banking with ma- nure and straw.

The temperature during ordinary weather should be from 50 to 60 degrees, but in cold or stormy weather the glass should be covered with burlap, matting or straw. Should the temperature rise to 85 degrees or more, this must be regulated by raising the sash a little with small blocks of wood kept for that purpose. A general rule to follow is, open the sash on pleasant mornings about an hour after sunrise, and close 1 or 2 hours before sundown. On cold, stormy days it is best to let the bed alone.

After planting seeds, sprinkle with hike warm water along the rows; keep moist, but not wet. Lettuce, radishes, onions, carrots, spinach, parsley, rhubarb and asparagus should be put in first and planted in succession in order to keep the table supplied.

The cold frames are generally used later. Transplanting the plants from the hotbed, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, etc., are started ready for garden transplanting, or left in cold frames to mature, provided there is space enough.

The cold frames are not made with as much heating material as the hotbed — a good rich loam will answer the purpose. An ex- cellent article on how to manage a cold frame is given in the March 1907 number of "The Garden Magazine," to which we refer any interested, as lack of space forbids more on this subject.

Rhubarb can be forced any time after December 1st in the hotbed or warm cellar where the light and heat are good. The roots should be slightly frozen before taken up. Bring in and place on the cellar floor covered until thawed out; they are then ready for planting. If not planted in the hotbed, plant in good rich soil in boxes, using broken crocks or cinders- for drainage, and cover the tops with about 3 or 4 inches of soil. Care must be taken not to water the leaves, yet keep the ground moist. The temper- ature required is only 50 or 60 degrees. With care, there might be a rhubarb pie for the New Year's dinner.

March is the month to think of the outdoor garden, also plant- ing of seeds in the hotbed for this garden when all danger of frosts is over. Tomatoes, eggplants, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, pep- pers, even cucumbers and melons may thus be given an early start, which enables one to have many good vegetables before summer droughts deprive us of much, and cause us to think it was love's labor lost.

THE HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES OF A KITCHEN GARDEN. 343

However, it is worth trying for the joy it brings in; the early season fully compensates us for later losses, when the rains will not descend to warrant plenty of vegetables for the winter.