TO CLEAN PAPER HANGINGS.
Cut into eight half quarters a stale quartern loaf: with one of these pieces, after having blown off all the dust from the paper, to be cleaned by means of a good pair of bellows, begin at the top of the room, holding the crust in the hand, and wiping lightly downwards with the crumb, about half a yard at each stroke, till the upper part of the hangings is completely cleaned all round; then go again round with the like sweeping stroke downwards, always commencing each successive course a little higher than the upper stroke had extended, till the bottom be finished. This operation, if carefully performed, will frequently make very old paper look almost equal to new. Great caution must be used not by any means to rub the paper hard, nor to attempt cleaning it the cross or horizontal way. The dirty part of the bread too must be each time cut away, and the pieces renewed as soon as necessary.
TO WHITE WASH.
Put some lumps of quick-lime into a bucket of cold water, and stir it about till dissolved and mixed, after which a brush with a large head, and a long handle to reach the ceiling of the room, is used to spread it thinly on the walls, &c. When dry it is beautifully white, but its known cheapness has induced the plasterers to substitute a mixture of glue size and whiting for the houses of their opulent customers; and this, when once used, precludes the employment of lime-washing ever after; for the latter, when laid on whiting becomes yellow.
White-washing is an admirable manner of rendering the dwellings of the poor clean and wholesome.
TO PRESERVE POLISHED IRONS FROM RUST.
Polished iron-work may be preserved from rust by a mixture not very expensive, consisting of copal varnish intimately mixed with as much olive oil as will give it a degree of greasiness, adding thereto nearly as much spirit of turpentine as of varnish. The cast iron-work is best preserved by rubbing it with black-lead.
But where rust has begun to make its appearance on grates or fire-irons, apply a mixture of tripoli with half its quantity of sulphur, intimately mingled on a marble slab, and laid on with a piece of soft leather: or emery and oil may be applied with excellent effect, laid on with a spongy piece of the fig-tree fully saturated with the mixture. This will not only clean but polish, and render the use of whiting unnecessary.
TO CLEAN MARBLE.
Take verdigris and pumice-stone, well powdered, with lime newly slacked. Mix with soap lees, to the consistence of putty. Put it in a woollen rag, and rub the stains well one way. Wash off with soap and water. Repeat, if not removed.