PARAFFIN AS A CLEANER

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1922, Page 16

PARAFFIN AS A CLEANER

Very few people on farms realise what a Jiseful friend paraffin can be, says a writer in an African paper. We all know, of paraffin as fuel for our lamps, stoves, and tractors, but as a cleanser very little is known of it. *5>

A teaspoonful of paraffin in a dish of hot water will remove the grease so easily from plates, dishes, etc., that very little or no soap is necessary, Every j Monday when the washerwoman takes the washing, I give her about two table- ■ spoonsful of paraffin. She uses half in I the water in which the vests are washed, and the perspiration is removed without difficulty. The/ other half she uses for the men's clothes —the trousers, etc.;' which have come into contact with grease on the farm machinery. This is a great saving in labour and clothes, as the grease is easily removed, and all the rubbing is saved which, shortens the life of any garment. I once went to the homeoovaf v a young housekeeper who complained to me of the fliesj and then added that hei tablei linen was being ruined by contact with ! "tanglefoot." I suggested the use of .paraffin, and on my next visit she told me she had tried- paraffin with splendid results. . I think everyone knows what a g»od floor polish is made from paraffin mixed in equal parts with melted candle-ends. I grew up on a farm where and gogums were plentiful, and my mother used to groan every time we children came home carrying either. We ruined quantities of clothes; anyone who has tried to remove •'arum or gogum stains from material will know the hopelessness' of it! Then someone .told my mother that any clothes that had come into contact with gogums or arums should be saturated 'at once with paraffin, before washing. The result was excellent. A little paraffin in the water use_d for washing baths helps to remove the grease that always accumulates on the sides. Paraffin is a powerful destroyer of lice, fleas, etc. The Natives use it medicinally for chest' complaints, and flannel saturated' with paraffin and sweet oil on ,the chest, back and front, is a splendid poultice I for pneumonia. '■ ' A teaspoonful of paraffin in a, tablespoon of sweet oil will cure most coughs, croupy or otherwise. '