TO TAKE OFF WALL PAPER.—To clear a wall from paper previous to painting or white-washing it, wet the old paper thoroughly with a long-handled brush dipped in a bucket of water, (warm water is best.) Let it rest till the water has penetrated it, and the paper blisters and loosens, so that you can peel it off with your hands. Do not wet too much at a time. If any small bits are found still adhering, wet them afresh, and scrape them off with a strong knife.
TO REMOVE PAINT FROM THE WALL OF A ROOM.—If you intend papering a painted wall, you must first get off the paint, otherwise the paper will not stick. To do this mix in a bucket with warm water a sufficient quantity of pearlash, or potash, so as to make a strong solution. Dip a brush into this, and with it scour off all the paint, finishing with cold water and a flannel.
DUSTING FURNITURE.—If a hand-brush is employed for dusting furniture it should always be followed by a cloth; and the cloth should be so used as to wipe up the dust; and not merely flirted about it, so as to drive the particles from one place to another. The cloth in wiping up the dust should hold it in, and then be shaken frequently out of a back window. A brush or a bunch of feathers will keep the dust floating about the room; dislodging but not absorbing it; and only removing it from one article to settle it on another. Therefore a cloth is indispensable in really freeing the furniture from dust. A yard of sixpenny calico, or of strong unbleached muslin, will make two small dusters or one large one. They should be hemmed or whipped over the edges, that servants may have no pretext for regarding them as mere rags, to be thrown away or torn up when dirty. It is difficult to dust well with a ragged dusting-cloth.
TO TAKE FRUIT STAINS FROM WHITE DOILIES OR NAPKINS.—The use of coloured doilies for wiping the fingers after eating fruit being nearly exploded, and small white napkins being now substituted for that purpose, let them, as soon as taken from table, be thrown immediately into a large vessel of clean water. If hot water is at hand it will be better than cold. Leave them to soak during the remainder of the day. Then take them out, put them where they will dry; and you will generally find that the fruit stains have disappeared. If any remain, wet the stains with hot water, and then rub on some lemon-juice, or salt-of-lemon stain-powder; washing it off as soon as it has removed the stain. Cream of tartar will sometimes produce this effect. It is scarcely possible to get a stain out of any sort of linen after it has been previously washed with soap.
TO CLEAR CLOSETS FROM COCKROACHES.—Remove every article from the closet, scrub the shelves with lye, and then whitewash the closet walls. Next take a sufficiency of black wadding, and soak it in spirits of turpentine or camphor, or a mixture of both. Then with a fork or the point of a knife, stuff it close and hard into every crevice, crack, and hole, however small. United with the copperas dye of the black wadding, the camphor and turpentine will destroy or expel the cockroaches, so that for a long time you will see no more of them. If they return, repeat the remedy; which of course will be as effective if applied to the crevices about the kitchen walls or floors. Let the closet remain empty for several days. Then place on each shelf a small plate with dry chloride of lime to dissipate the smell of the turpentine.
The preparation of phosphorus called Levy’s Exterminator, and which is to be had at the druggists’, is very destructive to cockroaches, rats, and mice. Cover with it a slice of bread and butter, then sprinkle on some brown sugar, and lay it in places where these vermin have been seen.