INFORMATION EXCHANGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22139, 19 June 1935, Page 5

INFORMATION EXCHANGED

QUERIES AND ANSWERS CONDUCTED BY I'KMINA To Headers. —It is advisable that questions and answers for this column should bo sent in addressed to "Femina." Ginger Wine Inquirer (To Kopuru) asks for a recipe for ginger wine. Honeycomb Toffee A recipe for honeycomb toffee is asked for by ILM.Y. (Kaikohe). Mock Cream E.H. (Hemuera) will be grateful to any correspondent who can give her a recipe for mock cream for sandwich filling, also for filling butterfly cakes. Lemon-juice Stains Airs. M.T. (Whangarei) will be very grateful to a reader who can tell her how to remove lenuyi-juice stains from a delicate shade of unwashable pink satin. Storing Bacon N.R. (Waipu) will be grateful if a reader will tell her a good method of storing- home-cured non-smoked bacon. She has found that it goes hard when hung up. Treating Brick Fireplace "Farmer" (Manurewa) asks for information as to some pleasing way of treating an open brick fireplace in a country house dining room. ]t lias been washed with red ochre before she took the house, but the shade of the ochre clashed badly with the red-brown colour of the surrounding woodwork. "Farmer" does not care for whitewash. Olive Oil Emulsion In answer to a request for information as to how to make olive oil emulsion M.H. (Ak.) writes: Shake up about a winoglassful of the oil with either the juice of two lemons, or the beaten white of an egg, till a thick creamy whitish liquid results. Whisk it it that is easier. This liquid forms the emulsion and can be made nicer to take by the addition of one to two spoons of sugar or of honey stirred into it. The dose will depend on what it is to be taken for, but on the average about one winoglassful would do no one any harm by taking. Weed-killer for Paths A correspondent advises "Oliver" that a good weed-killer for paths consists in sprinkling the paths with a can of water in which a little carbolic acid lias been dissolved in the proportion of about one part of acid to 40 times as much water. Another way is to boil some lime in water for a little while (putting a pound of lime to a gallon of water) and stirring a few times while boiling. Then let it settle. Take the clear liquor that remains after cooling and settling and splinkle it well over the weed-infested path with a wateringcan. Both methods would kill the weeds, but would need to be repeated yearly.

Slippery Linoleum To remove a slippery surface from linoleum M.H. advises rubbing over the linoleum with a mop and some soda and hot water, the washing soda having been dissolved in the proportion of loz. to one pint of hot water. Give the floor a good rub over after with the mop and some clean hot water. Another way which might give good results would be to rub the floor over thoroughly from end to end with a mop kept wet with benzine. A good swabbing with this substance should softeu and remove the polish. Removing Fruit Stains

M.B.. —To remove fruit stains on linen a correspondent advises the following treatment: —Dip the stained part in boiling water and hold while wet over the fumes of some burning sulphur for a minute or two till the stain goes Another way is to tie up a little cream of tartar in the stained portion or portions. Put the latter in a pot of cold water and bring the water in the pot to the boil. Keep boiling about a minute. Then take out the tied portions and rinse them in clean water, when the stains should he removed. The hitter method is especially good for old stains. Crumbly Soap

"Soapsuds."—A correspondent has suggested that when home-made soap crumbles it might be due to the use of faulty fat or lard which had not been boiled first to clarify. It might also be due to the using of a large quantity of salt to rise the soap when the fat was already very salty, or that lime and washing-soda were used in making it instead of caustic soda. Another reason might be through not adding enough fresh unslaken lime to make the soda sufficiently caustic (about a-lialf to onethird of the soda would need to be added in the form of unslaken lime at least to ensure this result). Odourless Sticking Paste

A correspondent advises May E.P. that a good odourless sticking paste for scrapbooks, etc., can lie made as follows: —Put ilb. gum arabic into half a pint of soft water in a bottle. Cork tightly; turn bottom upward and leave to stand for a day or two till dissolved, shaking occasionally. It is then ready for use and will last for several years, remaining as good as when first made. A paste made by substituting rice Hour (ground rice) for ordinary flour and adding to it about a thimbleful of corrosive sublimate is also good for keeping without odour. Make a liquid paste of the ground rice with some cold water, then pour in boiling water gradually while stirring, till the right consistency of paste is formed. Then add the corrosive sublimate. The Earwig Pest M.H. has forwarded the following information about the habits of earwigs in answer to an inquiry from J. 10.: —In spite of their lierce appearance, she writes, earwigs are quite harmless to human beings. They can

neither bite nor sting and the tail nippers are weak and harmless. The belief that they get into one's ears has little to support it, and if they ever diil get in it would be purely by accident or in the course of their food hunting, when they generally explore cracks and crannies as do many other creatures. Usually they prefer the open air among plants or on the ground, but where there are masses of creepers, tiees, bushes, etc., pressing against the walls of a house they will often come indoors. Remove the cause and they will depart, if this is not possible or desirable, dissolve 21b. alum in two quarts of boiling water and brush the solution while hot round all the cracks and crevices and corners in the rooms infested and also paint the legs of the beds with it. They will avoid these places so treated. As a precaution brush the solution round the sills of all windows and doors by which they may enter. Karwigs feed 011 both animal and vegetable refuse, as well as on living plants, and are most troublesome to gardeners. They could be poisoned by making a paste out of loz. red lead, half a pint meal and enough molasses or treacle to mix, and spreading this mixture over the bottoms of upturned plates or saucers laid about in dark corners of the places infested. Their tendency to get into beds is probably due to their habit of seeking out dark crannies or crevices to hide in during daytime rather than from any desire to do damage in them. They do not tend to feed upon clothes or clothing, as do crickets.