Bristol brick is good to remove rust, and give a polish to steel utensils. It should be powdered fine, and rubbed on dry, with a woollen cloth. Knives should be rubbed on a board, with a thick leather covered over it, and fastened down tight. The brick should be dry, and powdered fine, and the knives should not be wet after cleaning, but merely wiped, with a dry clean cloth. To make the handles smooth, wipe them with a cloth that is a little damp, being careful not to touch the blades, as it will tarnish them. Knives look very nice cleaned in this manner, and the edge will keep sharp. Ivory-handled knives should never have the handles put into hot water, as it will turn them yellow. If, through misuse, they turn yellow, rub them with sand paper. When Bristol brick will not remove rust from steel, rub the spots with sand paper or emery, or else rub on sweet oil, and let it remain a day; then rub it off with powdered quicklime. To keep steel utensils (that are not in constant use) from contracting rust, clean them thoroughly with Bristol brick, wipe them on a perfectly dry cloth, and rub them over with sweet oil, and cover them with brown paper, so as to exclude the air. Knives and forks should be wrapped up in brown paper, each one by itself.
431. Preservatives against the ravages of Moths.
Moths are very apt to eat woollen and fur garments early in the summer. To keep them from the garments, take them late in the spring, when not worn, and put them in a chest, with considerable camphor gum. Cedar chips, or tobacco leaves, are also good for this purpose. When moths get into garments, the best thing to destroy them is to hang the garments in a closet, and make a strong smoke of tobacco leaves under them. In order to do it, have a pan of live coals in the closet, and sprinkle on the tobacco leaves.
432. To destroy Cockroaches, Ants, and other household Vermin.
Hellebore, rubbed over with molasses, and put round the places that cockroaches frequent, is a very effectual poison for them. Arsenic, spread on bread and butter, and placed round rat or mouse holes, will soon put a stop to their ravages. Quicksilver and the white of an egg, beat together, and laid with a feather round the crevices of the bedsteads and the sacking, is very effectual in destroying bugs in them. To kill flies, when so numerous as to be troublesome, keep cobalt, wet with spirit, in a large shallow plate. The spirit will attract the flies, and the cobalt will kill them very soon. Black pepper is said to be good to destroy them—it should be mixed, so as to be very strong, with a little cream and sugar. Great care is necessary in using the above poisons, where there are any children, as they are so apt to eat any thing that comes in their way, and these poisons will prove as fatal to them as to vermin, (excepting the pepper.) The flour of sulphur is said to be good to drive ants away, if sprinkled round the places that they frequent. Sage is also good. Weak brine will kill worms in gravel walks, if kept moist with it a week in the spring, and three or four days in the fall.
COMMON SIMPLE DYES.
Allow a pound of logwood to each pound of goods that are to be dyed. Soak it over night in soft water, then boil it an hour, and strain the water in which it is boiled. For each pound of logwood, dissolve an ounce of blue vitriol in lukewarm water sufficient to wet the goods. Dip the goods in—when saturated with it, turn the whole into the logwood dye. If the goods are cotton, set the vessel on the fire, and let the goods boil ten or fifteen minutes, stirring them constantly to prevent their spotting. Silk and woollen goods should not be boiled in the dye-stuff, but it should be kept at a scalding heat for twenty minutes. Drain the goods without wringing, and hang them in a dry, shady place, where they will have the air. When dry, set the color by, put them into scalding hot water, that has salt in it, in the proportion of a tea-cup full to three gallons of the water. Let the goods remain in it till cold; then hang them where they will dry; (they should not be wrung.) Boiling hot suds is the best thing to set the color of black silk—let it remain in it till cold. Soaking black-dyed goods in sour milk, is also good to set the color.