164. In Pressing a Plaited Skirt.—In pressing a plaited skirt one will gain time and have more satisfactory results if the plaits are basted before the pressing is done. Clean the skirt and brush it on the inside. Next baste the seams, cover with a damp cloth and press on the right side with a medium warm iron. Dampen the cloth, when necessary and press until the cloth is dry.
165. Stitching Down a Seam.—After stitching down a seam, press with a hot iron, and if no seamboard is at hand, it is useful to know that a rolling pin, wrapped in a clean cloth, will answer this purpose equally as well.
166. The Color Meat Should be.—Meat should be red with the fat a clear white. The fat besides being white should be firm, and suety, and never moist. Good meat has very little smell. Bad meat shrinks considerably in boiling. Meat which is fresh and good does not loose an ounce of weight, but swells rather, when it is being boiled.
[874 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
167. Buying a New Oil Cloth.—When you are ready to buy a new oil cloth for your kitchen table, take your old one and cut it up for aprons. Have it cover the whole front of your skirt, and make a large bib on it, and you will find, when you are through doing a washing, that you will be as dry as you were before you began.
168. Galvanized Tub.—The popularity of the galvanized tub due to its weight and durability, is the cause of a great many people discarding the wringer on account of their inability to fasten it to the tub securely. If a piece of heavy cloth is hung across the tub where the wringer fastens to it, you will find that it will fasten and hold as securely as to the old-fashioned wooden tub.
169. To Remove Mildew.—Mildew, if not of too long standing, can be removed by the use of raw tomato and salt. Rub the stains with raw tomato, sprinkle thickly with salt and lay in the sun. It may be necessary to repeat the process two or three times.
170. Closed Cupboards in the Pantry.—If there are closed cupboards in the pantry use them for storing provisions kept in screw top jars. There should be brass hooks for hanging up all the articles that can be suspended from the walls.
171. Keeping a House Account.—There are fewer reckoning days if housekeepers pay cash. If they persist in running accounts for groceries and other staples they should have a book and see to it that the right price is put down the minute anything is bought.
172. Chestnuts as a Vegetable.—Chestnuts have considerable food value. The boiled and mashed pulp may be used as one would use meat or vegetable, even croquettes being made of it.