Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 36, 5 September 1907, Page 33

Domestic

By ' Maureen *

Frying Bacon.

Before frying- bacon soak it in water for three or four minutes. This will prevent the fat from running, ' and will make the bacon go farther. The Care of Sponges. If . used for soap they should be rinsed out daily, otherwise they , are sure to become slimy and most unpleasant. In any , case they require periodical cleaning. Dissolve - some borax or soda in warm water, and let the sponge soak in it for an hour ; squeeze it well out, and then rinse it in clean warm - water. Many people make a habit of putting their sponges outside the window after using them, in order that they may air and dry in readiness for the next time of using. Light and Nourishing Fopd. • Milk and eggs are the basis of most ' light and nourishing ' foods, because in themselves they contain everything necessary to build up the bodily tissues, to make heat, and give energy. They should, therefore, form the staple part of the diet. Curds-and-whey and junkets are far too little used in tne feeding of invalids. They are both invaluable, for they present milk in a digestible, and appetizing form, and therefore often tempt people to take it when they have grown weary of it in puddings. - To Renovate Oilcloth. When oilcloth is losing its shiny surface it can be made to last longer and to look quite new once more by varnishing 'it over with glue. Wash the oilcloth thoroughly and let it dry. Then at night, when the traffic of the day is done, go over it with a piece of flannel dipped- in glue-water. Choose a dry -day for it, and in the morning the glue will be quite hard and the floorcloth new-looking. The glue-water must be prepared some time before fE is needed by putting a small qqantity of glue in a pint or so of water and letting it stand on the stove till dissolved. On Choosing Meat. If beef is from a young ox it will have.. a. fine, smooth, open grain, be a good red, .and feel tender; the fat should look "white rather -than yellow— if a deep color the meat is seldom good ; the grain of cow beef is closer and the fat whiter 'than ox beef, but the lean is not so bright a red ; in old meat there' is a streak of horn in the ribs— the harder this is the older is the meat. In lamb look at the neck ; if the vein is bluish it /is fresh, if -greenish or yellowish it is stale ; in the Eind-quarter, if there is a taint under the kidney and % the knuckle is limp, it is stale. In buying veal choose meat of which the kidney is well covered with thick white fat ; if the vein in the shoulder looks blue or bright red the animal is newly killed ; other parts should be dry and white. Perilous Pets. Cats and dogs play an important role in the causation and transmission of disease. Dr. Louis Lambon has proved that tropical -diseases hitherto supposed to be due tb heat, are in reality caused by parasites. Parasites are frequently carried by becoming adherent to the hair of animals, or by getting into the blood of animals or insects, which on biting man deposit the parasites in his blood. Flies are the great scourge, being the bearers of the germs of almost every disease, including cholera, enteric, and anthrax. Plague is conveyed from rats byrreansof rat fleas, which take up their quarters on the domestic cat and dog., bringing the plague with them. The doctor has been at work investigating the part taken by the ordinary domestic animals/ such as the cat and dog, in transmitting- disease./ He has discovered sufficient evidence to show that many, of the diseases of man are transmitted" by these animals.' Parents who allow their children to fondle, and even sleep with cats and • dogs, should make a special , note of these facts. It is one thing to be kind to animals, but quite another to treat them in such a way as will render them a source of infection to the home - as was proved recently by Me death of a little girl five years old from hydatids contracted from pet cats