Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, and laid in a drawer of linen.
When a cask of molasses is bought, draw off a few quarts, else the fermentation produced by moving it will burst the cask.
Bread and cake should be kept in a tin box or stone jar.
Salt cod should be kept in a dry place, where the odor of it will not affect the air of the house. The best kind is that which is called Dun, from its peculiar color. Fish-skin for clearing coffee should be washed, dried, cut small, and kept in a box or paper bag.
Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and should not be used till three months old.
Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, and laid where it will become dry. It is well to keep it several weeks before using it, as it spends fast when it is new.
Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the cellar.
Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as they are dug. Lying exposed to the sun turns them green, and makes them watery. Some good housekeepers have sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. To prevent them from sprouting in the spring, turn them out upon the cellar-bottom.
To thaw frozen potatoes put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples put them in cold water. Neither will keep long after being frozen.
Cabbages should be buried in sand, with the roots upward.