HOUSEHOLD SORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 234, 30 September 1908, Page 8

HOUSEHOLD SORTS.

TO CUT THIN BREAD. When cutting thin bread and buttw ' from a new loaf, warm the knife used by holding it to the fire for a few moments. llf this precaution be taken, the slices will |be cut as easily and as smoothly as if the bread were stale. I TOUGHEN SHOES. Apply a coat of gum copal varnish; let dry and give two more coats; this will double the wearing power -fit sole leather; give an occasional coat, as it seems to wear. For heavy boots two or three coats of gas tar will renders them almost impervious to damp, besides toughening and hardening the leather. HOW TO WASH FLANNEL. A good way to wash ordinary flannel is to pour strong boiling soapsuds over it in a tub. When cool enough to allow the hand to bear it, pour off the suds and add boiling hot clean water; let this stand as before, then pour off, and add more boiling clean water. When cool enough, squeeze the garments, but do not wring or rub. Stretch immediately on a line in the hot sun or by a hot fire, pressing out the water with the hand as it settles in the dependent parts of the garments. Stretch the flannel as soon as the water is pressed out, keeping it hot until dry, as much as possible. This treatment will keep woollen garments soft and pliable till worn out. TO WHITEN THE HANDS. Have ready a bowl of warm water, a cake of soap, and a dish of oatmeal. First dip the hands in the water, then rijp on a little soap, and, taking about a teaspoonful of' the oatmeal, rub. the hand* thoroughly with it inside and ouside. The soap and meal will produce a good lather, whicE will remove all vestige of soil. Now rinse off, and) wipe lightly, and, while moist, take another spoonful of the oatmeal and rub well into the hands, rubbing them together as if washing; this will dry them nicely and leave them white and so soft and velvety that I am sure you will place a box of meal in some corner of your washstand that you may always possess that greatest of all attributes of daintiness —white hands. THE USES OF ALUM. Alum should never be absent from any household. It has a very good effect if applied to bleeding wounds, as it checks the loss of blood. Boiled in milk in small quantities, it is good for toothache. It must be held in the mouth, not swallowed. For bleeding of the mouth or tongue, a wash in cold water in which alum has been dissolved is very effective. Alum water is used for rinsing curtains, muslin hangings, and children's dresses and pinafores, rendering them non-inflammable. Dissolve 2oz of alum in one gallon of water, and use for rinsin SAlum is also useful for crystallising grasses. Dissolve lib of it in a quart of hot water. Tie the grasses in small bunches, dip them in the solution when it is cool, holding them there three or four minutes, according to the size of the crystals desired. The cooler the solution tho quicker the crystals will form. Use a glass jar, with an old plate under it to prevent the glass from breaking, to hold the solution, as the formation of the crystals is more easily seen by this method than if an earthenwal* jar is used.