6191. German Paste for Feeding Singing-Birds

6191.      German Paste for Feeding Singing-Birds. Blanched sweet almonds, 1 pound; pea-meal, 2 pounds; butter, 3 ounces; saffron, a few grains; honey, a sufficient quantity. Form the whole into a paste, and granulate it by pressing it through a cullender. Some add the yolks of 2 eggs.

6192. How to See Under Water

6192.     How to See Under Water. The Indians of North America do this by cutting a hole through the ice, and then covering or hanging a blanket, in such a manner as to darken or exclude the direct rays of the sun, when they are enabled to see into the water, and discover fish at any reasonable depth. Let any one who is anxious to prove this, place himself under the blanket, and he will be astonished when ho beholds with what a brilliancy everything in the fluid world is lighted up. A correspondent of the Scientific American says: " I once had occasion to examine the bottom of a mill pond, for which I constructed a float out of inch boards, sufficient to buoy me up; through the centre of this float I cut a hole, and placed a blanket over it, when I was enabled to clearly discover objects on the bottom, and several lost tools were discovered and picked up. I am satisfied that, where water is sufficiently clear, this latter plan could be successfully used for searching for lost bodies and articles."

6193. To Prepare Soap for Bubbles

6193.    To Prepare Soap for Bubbles. Dissolve castile soap in strong alcohol; let it settle, or filter, and take the clear solution, from which evaporate the alcohol. The solid residue is oleate of soda. To this add half its weight of glycerine and sufficient water to give the proper consistency. The beauty of the experiments will compensate for all the trouble.

6194. To Produce Large and Long-lasting Soap-Bubbles

6194.    To Produce Large and Long-lasting Soap-Bubbles. For the production of unusually large soap-bubbles that will last for hours, and exhibit splendidly the beautiful colors of the rainbow, a fluid may be employed that can easily be prepared in the following way; Fine shavings of palm-oil soap are shaken in a large bottle with distilled water, until a concentrated solution of the soap is obtained; this is filtered through gray filtering paper, and then mixed with about one-third its bulk of pure glycerine. The fluid is to be shaken up before use. By means of a small glass funnel, of two inches diameter, connected with a tube of india-rubber, soap-bubbles may be prepared with this fluid, that will vie in beauty of color with the rainbow itself, and which may be kept for a long while by putting them carefully upon an iron ring which is slightly rusty and thoroughly wet with the soap solution. Bubbles of 1 foot and more in diameter will keep from 5 to 10 minutes; those of 2 or 3 inches in diameter will retain their form for 10 or 12 hours.