Tar and Asphalt: Rub tar spots with soft grease, let lie, and remove with gasolene or by washing in hot suds. Asphalt should be well wet with kerosene, left to stand, then washed out in turpentine or alcohol. Soap sets it hopelessly if applied at first.
Grass Stains: Rub molasses well into the stains, let lie overnight, then wash out with tepid water, repeating if the stain still shows. If a brown mark is left, wet with weak chloride of lime water (see section Renovators) and hang in hot sunshine or close to a fire.
Iron Rust: Take out with oxalic acid the same as ink stains. Else cover thickly with salt after wetting in boiling water, lay in sunshine over bright tin, and squeeze on lemon juice or that of a ripe tomato. Wash out in hot water, repeating if necessary.
Mildew: Wet with boiling water, wring dry, then dip in sour milk, lay in sun, and cover thickly with salt. Or beat a raw, ripe apple to a pulp, mix with salt liberally, and spread on the spots in the sun. Salt and lemon, salt and tomato, or oxalic acid will likewise remove mildew. The advantage of fruit processes is that they do no harm to the fabric, which the oxalic acid weakens somewhat, no matter how carefully used. Very fine and choice mildewed fabrics should be covered with a paste of sifted starch and laid on the grass in sunshine. Wash off paste and repeat till mildew disappears.
Wax Spots: Soften, dip in warm oil, let lie an hour, keeping warm, wash in turpentine, then in alcohol or gasolene.
Perspiration Marks: Try dry-cleaning, sifting upon them over and over and over corn starch, magnesia, and French chalk. Rub lightly after each sifting. If the mark remains, try ether. Make a swab of soft white silk filled with the powder, pour on the ether a little at a time, and dab the swab. Put a drop or so of ammonia spirit upon the swab—not enough to change colors. If ether fails, deluge with chloroform, rubbing inward hard until it evaporates. Such marks are the problem of amateur cleaning—the hardest of all to remove.
Smoke Stains: Shave half a bar of soap into a cup of boiling water, dissolve, add a cup of turpentine, a cup of kerosene, and a half cup of ammonia spirit. Mix, and cover close. Spread on the stain, let stand five minutes, then rub hard with the lead swab (see section Equipment) and wash off with hot water and a thick cloth. If the stain is on plaster, as around a grate, use a brush instead of the swab, which is, for stone, brick, or marble, a sovereign thing.
Care of Iron: Rust is the bane of iron; grease, its salvation. Coat anything not in use well with hot tallow, and shake over it, still hot, either fine sifted wood ashes or powdered unslaked lime. Wrap in clean newspaper and keep dry. When wanted, brush hard with a stiff brush; there will be a beautiful surface. Anything pitted with rust may as well be thrown away. A merely rusty surface must be greased with clear fat, left standing two days, wiped, washed in clear, very hot water, and greased again. Three greasings should bring it into condition for polishing. Wipe dry, coat with oil, shake on lime, and brush off after twenty-four hours. Any alkali without grease predisposes iron to rust. Eschew soap and soda in cleaning it. Use gasolene or turpentine or even kerosene. A cloth wet in either will take off smut. Polish with crumpled newspaper and a handful of hot sawdust.
Brass and Copper: Remove tarnish from brass and copper with salt and strong vinegar or oxalic acid (see section Renovators). Rub hard till bright all over, wash in clear, very hot water, then while still hot polish with a clean chamois skin dipped in sweet oil, and a pinch of either whiting or very fine sand. Rub quickly, wipe with soft paper, heat moderately, and set away. This gives the mellow old look. Copper cooking-vessels must be scoured inside and out, first with the salt and vinegar, then with soap and sand. A greasy cloth rubbed over the outside protects them without being dangerous. If stains are deep enough to demand oxalic acid, be sure to wash afterward with boiling water and borax.
Bronze: Wash bronze with a soft brush in hot, weak borax water, dry quickly, keep warm, and rub all over with a clean cloth wet in turpentine with the barest suspicion of wax. It must not coat the metal, hardly even film it. Make bone-dry before setting away.