Saving Of Fuel

The grate or cavity for the reception of coal, should never be filled more than three parts full at one time. The fuel ignites more thoroughly, and a greater amount of heat is thrown out by a given amount of coal.

How To Select Floor Oil Cloths

The best floor cloths are those painted on fine cloth, which should be well covered with color. If the figures rise much above the ground, they soon wear off. The durability of the cloth will depend much on the time the paint has been allowed to dry, as well as on the quality of the colors used. If the paint has not become sufficiently hardened, a very little use will deface the cloth. Old carpets answer very well for common floor cloths, if they are painted well and seasoned some months before they are laid down.

How To Curl Feathers

Heat them gently before the fire; then with the back of a knife applied to the feather, they will curl well and quickly. White feathers may be perfectly cleaned by washing in soft water with white soap and a squeeze of blue; beat them against clean white paper, shake gently for a few minutes before the fire, then dry them in the air, and afterward curl them. Or, hold the feathers before a bright fire, and draw the back of a knife along the back of the feathers and they will curl again.

For Toothache

Take of choloform, spirits of camphor, and laudanum, each one drachm. Apply on a little cotton wool.

How To Obliterate Writing

Recently written matter may be completely removed by oxymuriatic acid (concentrated and in solution). Wash the written paper repeatedly with acid, and afterward wash it with lime water, to neutralize any acid which may be left. The writing will be thus removed. If the writing is old, the preceding process will not be sufficiently efficacious, owing to the change which the ink has undergone. In such a case, the writing must be washed with sulphate of ammonia, before the oxymuriatic acid is applied. It may then be washed with a hair pencil.

How To Keep Silk

Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as the chloride of lime used in bleaching the paper will probably impair the color of the silk. Brown paper is better; the yellowish smooth India paper is best of all.

How To Raise The Crush Pile Of Velvet

Hold the wrong side of the velvet over boiling water, and the pile of velvet will be gradually raised.

Cement For Bottle Corks

Melt yellow wax with an equal quantity of resin, or of common turpentine resin, to which add, when thoroughly mixed, one part of Venetian red, well dried. While warm, dip the neck of the bottle in so as to cover the cork and edge of the bottle with the wax.

How To Improve Gilding

Mix a gill of water with two ounces of purified nitre, one ounce of alum, and one ounce of common salt. Lay this over gilt articles with a brush, and their color will be much improved.