If you draw patterns on cloth or muslin, do it with a pen dipped in a bit of stone blue, a bit of sugar, and a little water, mixed smooth in a teacup, in which it will be always ready for use, if fresh; wet to a due consistence as wanted.

Preservation Of Books

A few drops of any perfumed oil will secure libraries from the consuming effects of mouldiness and damp.

Water-Proof Boots

Saturate the boots with solution of Caoutchouc (India-rubber), till they will absorb no more, at intervals of a week, without needing to leave a coating on the surface. The solution is made with an ounce of India-rubber in a pint of spirits of turpentine, or coal naphtha, kept warm, and occasionally stirred till dissolved, which takes three or four days. In a boiling water bath it can be done in a few hours.

To clean Read and Clothes-brushes,-Put a table-spoonful of pearl-ash into a pint of boiling water. Having fastened a bit of sponge to the end of a stick, dip it into the solution, and wash the brush with it, carefully going in among the bristles. Next pour over it some clean hot water, and let it lie a little while. Then drain it, wipe and dry it before the fire.

How To Make Artificial Red Coral Branches For The Embellishment Of Grottoes

Take clear resin, dissolve it in a brass-pan, to every ounce of which add two drachms of the finest vermilion; when stirred well together, choose the twigs and branches, peeled and dried; then take a pencil and paint the branches all over whilst the composition is warm; afterwards shape them in imitation of natural coral. This done, hold the branches over a gentle coal-fire till all is smooth and even, as if polished. In the same manner white coral may be prepared with white lead, and black coral with lampblack. A grotto may be built, with little expense, of glass, cinders, pebbles, pieces of large flint, shells, moss, stones, counterfeit coral, pieces of chalk, etc, all bound or cemented together with the above described cement.

How To Clean Cane Chair Bottoms

Turn up the chair bottom, and with hot water and a sponge wash the cane-work well, so that it may become completely soaked; should it be very dirty, you may add soap. Let it dry in the open air if possible, or in a place where there is a thorough draught, and it will become as tight and firm as when new, providing that it has not been broken.

How To Clean Decanters

Roll up in small pieces some coarse brown paper, then wet and soap the same, put them into the vessel with a little lukewarm water, and some common soda, shake them well, then rinse with clean water, and it will be as bright and clear as when new.

How To Render Shoes Water-Proof

Mix a pint of drying oil, two ounces of yellow wax, two ounces of turpentine, and half an ounce of Burgundy pitch, over a slow fire. Lay the mixture, while hot, on the boots or shoes with a sponge or soft brush; and, when they are dry, lay it on again and again, until the leather becomes quite saturated, that is to say, will hold no more. Let them then be put away, and not be worn until they are perfectly dry and elastic: they will afterwards be found .not only impenetrable to wet, but soft and pliable, and of much longe duration.

How To Clean Papered Walls

The very best method? is to rub them with stale bread. Out the crust off very thick, and wipe straight down from the top, then go to the top again, and so on. The staler the bread the better.

How To Cleanse Feather Beds And Mattresses

"When feather beds become solid or heavy, they may be made clean and light thus: Rub them over with a stiff brush, dipped in hot soap-suds. When clean, lay them on a shed or any other clean place, where the rain will fall on them. When thoroughly soaked, let them dry in a hot sun for six or seven days, shak ing them up well, and turning them over each day. They should be covered over with a thick cloth during the night. This way of washing the bed-ticking and feathers makes them very fresh and light, and is much easier than the old fashioned way of emptying the beds, and washing the feathers separately, while it answers quite as well. Care must be taken to dry the bed perfectly, before sleeping on it.

To keep Eggs - Half a pint of salt, half a pint of lime to two gallons of hot water. Cover the eggs with the solution.

How To Preserve Various Kinds Of Fruits Through The Winter

Apples can be kept till June, by taking only those that are hard and sound, wiping them dry, then packing them in tight barrels, with a layer of bran to each layer of apples. Envelope the barrel in a linen cloth, to protect it from frost, and keep it in a cool place, but net so cold as to freeze the apples. It is said that mortar, laid over the top of a barrel of apples, is a good thing to preserve them, as it draws the air from them, which is the principal cause of their decaying. Care should be taken not to have it come in contact with the apples. To preserve oranges and lemons several months, take those that are perfectly fresh, and wrap each one in soft paper; put them in glass jars, or a very light box, with white sand, that has been previously dried in an oven a few hours, after it has been baked in. The sand should be strewed thick over each one of the oranges, as they are laid in the jar, and the whole covered with a thick layer of it. Close the jar up tight, and keep it in a cool dry place, but not so cool as to freeze the fruit. To preserve grapes, gather them on a dry day, when they are not quite dead ripe, and pick those that are not far off from the stems. Lay the bunches of grapes in a glass jar, and sprinkle around each of them a thick layer of bran, so that they will not touch each other. Have a thick layer of bran on the top, and cork and seal the jar very tight, so that the air may be entirely excluded.

How To Destroy Cockroaches, Ants, And Other Household Vermin

Hellebore, rubbed over with molasses and put round the places that cockroaches frequent, is a very effectual poison for them. Quicksilver and the white of an egg, beat together, and laid with a feather round the crevices of the bedsteads and the sacking, is very effectual in destroying bugs in them. To kill flies, when so numerous as to be troublesome, keep cobalt, wet with spirit, in a large shallow plate. The spirit will attract the flies, and the cobalt will kill them very soon. The flour of sulphur is said to be good to drive ants away, if sprinkled around the places that they frequent. Weak brine will kill worms in gravel walks, if kept moist with it a week in the spring, and three or four days in the fall.