HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18614, 16 November 1928, Page 11

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

>3oap rubbed on door hinges will prevent them squeaking. Cheese will not go mouldy in a covered dish if one or two lumps of sugar are put in the dish with it. The sugar absorbs the moisture that would otherwise affect the cheese. To prevent cream from going sour, add .to it a little castor sugar and keep it on ice or in a very cold larder, with .the lid off. the jar. Paraffin used for cleaning windows will make them clear as crystal. To keep butter firm in hot weather, fill a deep wooden box with sand to within, a few inches of the top. Put the butter in a stoneware jar with a wide mouth, and sink this almost to the neck in the sand. Keep the sand moist, and cover the mouth of the jar with a saucer. When washing ebony hair-brushes, take special care of the backs. These should be rubbed with vaseline before the brush is put into water. After washing, dry well and rub a little olive oil into the wood. Polish with a soft cloth. When using bicarbonate of soda for cakes, always stir it into the milk, which should be tepid. Paraffin or turpentine will clean porcelain ba"fchs and enamel ware. Before buying chamois leather gloves hold them up to the light. In this way the “weak” parts of the skin are easily detected. Choose a pair of gloves through which the light cannot penetrate/ Obstinate inkstains on the hands will be removed if they are rubbed with a ripe tomato. Corks may be made watertight by being immersed in oil for a few minutes. Lime will absort? all dampness in cupboards and wardrobes if placed in the corners. It should be changed as it absorbs the dampness. Onion juice, applied immediately, will often remove scorch marks from clothes. Teacups, no matter how carefully tlley are washed and dried, are sometimes disfigured by dark stains at the bottom. These are caused by the action of the tannin in the tea. Salt, slightly moistened, will remove these stains; but in the case of very fine china it is better to use po\ydered whitening instead, as salt might result in scratches. The peel of a lemon or an orange, dried thoroughly and placed in the teacaddy, will greatly improve the taste and aroma of the tea. If the edges of the pastry of a fruit tart are damped with milk instead of water the fruit juice will not render the pastry sodden. To rid a house of black beetles, mix together equal parts of sifted sugar and plaster of Paris. Place the powder in small heaps by the holes or on the floors of the rooms mostly infested. In a short time the beetles will disappear. When boiling a ham, leave it in the water in which it has been boiled until quite cold. This will make it juicy and tender. Remove dirty marks on paint by rubbing them first with a slice of lemon, and then with whitening. Afterwards wash the paintwork with soap and water. Stains on window panes and mirrors can be removed by spirits of camphor sprinkled on a piece of flannel. Grease can be removed from the hair by washing it in warm water to which a teaspoonful of borax has been added. Knocking Nails Into Wood.—-To prevent wood splitting when nails are being driven in. push each nail through a cake of ordinary soap before knocking it. This greases the nails and makes them slip in more easily, so that the wood is not so liable to split. Another method is to blunt the nails slightly by holding them head downwards on some hard siirface and tapping the points with a hammer.