Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 1 June 1911, Page 1025

Domestic

BY MAUREEN

Use of Vinegar.

Add a little vinegar to the water in which you poach eggs to prevent the whites from spreading. Breaking each egg into : a cup. about a quarter of an hour before it is to bo used will also help. ••> '"\'i"-■"-.... k : . :;.,. ;.?

A Cosmetic Soap.

Take a pound of white Castile or brown "Windsor soap and stir it on the .fire with a little water. Add lavender water or any other kind of essence when it is melted to a smooth paste, but do not melt it too much. Stir, m half a cup or more of almond meal or of common oatmeal. Keep it in jars for use. Care of Palms. .., ....,., f

. . A wrinkle about palms, which a London florist endorses, is that the leaves should be washed, not 'pure; water, but with milk and water, which has a wonderful way of preserving them and preventing the appearance of the brown spots which are so disfiguring. Another suggestion about the plants is that a little cold coffee poured over the earth" at the roots occasionally will be found beneficial. Coffee is a good fertiliser.

A Durable Door Mat.

If you have an old rope about the house that is of no use for clothes lines or anything where strength is needed, you can put it to good use by making it into a door mat for the outside door. It makes no difference if the ropes are not of the same thickness. Take a darning needle and strong cord, coil the rope around once and sew it on the under side, then make another coil and do likewise utitil you'.have a:large mat.

Washing Medicine Bottles.

In most families are gradually collected a number of phials that have been used for medicine. It is well to have a place ,to keep them, and once in a while to wash them all. Put into a wash-kettle your phials without corks and pour over them enough cold water to more than cover them. Into this put a generous amount of ammonia and some soft soap, or hard, dissolved in /a little water. Place the kettle over the fire, and let it gradually come to a boil. Alter it has boiled awhile, take it off and set it aside, letting the phials remain in till cold. Then take them out, rinse, drain them, and lay them on their sides.

Care of Glass and China.

The most important thing to do when new glass off china is bought is to 'season' it to sudden changes of temperature, so that it will remain sound after exposure to sudden heat and cold. This is best done by placing the article in cold water, which must gradually be brought to a boiling point and then allowed to cool very slowly, taking the best part of the day to do it. If the wares are properly seasoned in this way, they may be washed in boiling water without fear of fracture; except in frosty weather, when, even with the best wares which are always better seasoned than the commoner materials care must be takea not to place them., suddenly in too hot water. All china that has any gilding upon it must on no account be rubbed with a cloth of any kind, but merely rinsed, first in hot and afterwards in cold water. If the gilding gets dull, it may, be polished not more than once a year; this may be done with a soft wash-leather and dry whiting. When the plates and saucers are placed in the closet, a piece of paper should be placed between each to prevent scratches. In washing out glass bottles it is much better to use a little muriatic acid in them than ashes, sand, or shot, for the ashes and sand scratch the glass; and . if by accident any shot is left in, the lead is poisonous. ' '-' ■ "'' ,

How to Wash Dishes.

An easy way of washing up dishes is to have plenty of water and two big Howls. Having scraped the plates and dishes fairly clean, they should be placed in a bowl of very hot water .and soda, briskly wiped out with a mop (a small one kept for the purpose), then plunged into the bowl of clean cold water, . wiped; dry and placed in the rack or on the dresser. There should be two or three wiping cloths, as a damp one leaves smears. Knives should be put into a jug of hot water which covers the blades and not the handles, after a rinsing they should be wiped and cleaned. Another couple of bowls, one of hot and one of cold water, will be wanted for the glasses,; and the silver can -afterwards be washed in. the same : hot water, dried and just rubbed with a leather. As a final touch, when the kitchen has been made quite tidy, wash out the cloths'in' hot water and hang them to dry. After clearing away the mid-day meal and clearing up, the housewife should take a jug of hot rainwater to the bathroom, and with this and some very good soap thoroughly wash .her hands. .. After drying them on a soft towel, rub them with a, little glvcerine and rosewater, and then no traces of. household work can be seen.