HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 16 November 1929, Page 17

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

If the spring of a roller-blind is useless, take off the material, fix the roller on brackets to the wall of tho kitchen and use it as a towel-rack. To keep a slow fire in a sick room, clean out the grate, cover tho bottom with a piece of paper and pile the cinders and coal to the level of the top bar, keeping all close and the largest pieces to the front. Light the fire with paper and wood on top and it ■will burn down instead of up and will last for hours.

Beetroot will not mildew and will keep for weeks if, when it is cooked, a small onion is boiled with it.

Beading that French laundresses use bicarb. soda instead of washing-soda, I tried it and found it excellent. It appears tOi be more effective, is not so hard on the hands, and should be less wearing on the clothes. An effective remedy for indigestion and constipation is a teaspoon of black treacle taken in a glass of cold water immediately upon rising in the morning. To clean iseagrass furniture, brushit thoroughly, then wash each piece with cold water in which a large handful of common salt has been dissolved. Dry in a shady spot in a strong wind. A few dried apricots soaked and added to a melon pie impart a nice flavour. Immediately after using furniture lacquer, immerse the brushes in methylated 'spirit. The lacquer will dissolve and the brushes will become soft and clean.

To test a broody hen prior to setting, put your hand under her. If she leaves the nest she will not sit well, but if she ruffles her feather's -and croons you may safely entrust her with eggs. After wringing the clothes put a piece of old blanket two or three times through the machine. This will dry the rollers and lengthen their life. To make weather and waterproof glue, boil lib common glue in 2 quarts of skimmed milk. If tan shoes are -rubbed over with Shi-no-leum after being cleaned they will not show rain marks and will retain their new appearance. For cording cushions use bias -binding. Open the binding and insert the cord, then stitch along it close to the cord. Insert the edges of the binding between the seams.

Don’t warm dive oil by putting it in a vessel and applying direct heat—this impairs it medicinal qualities. Remove the cork from the oil bottle and stand the latter in a saucepan of water; it can be brought to boiling point if necessary. If apples are cooked before they are put in a tart the results will be better. For pastry have a hot even and a cold slide.

Keep in the kitchen a tin of large nickel!ed safety-pins with which to fasten stuffed meats and poultry and -the sides of roly-poly cloths. "When peeling and slicing pineapple, use a different knife for each operation, as the rind contains a sharper acid than the centre of the fruit. When cutting jelly squares, use scissors dipped in cold water. When blowflies are troublesome, draw the blinds in the room and -place small tins half-filled with kerosene on the window ledges. The flies are attracted by the light, fa'll into the tins and die almost immediately.