To Disinfect A Cellar

A damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even common lime. The most effective means we have ever used to disinfect decaying vegetable matter is chloride of lime in solution. One pound may be dissolved in two gallons of water. Plaster of Paris has also been found an excellent absorbent of noxious odors. If used one part with three parts of charcoal, it will be found still better.

How To Thaw Out A Water Pipe

Water pipes usually freeze up when exposed, for inside the walls, where they cannot be reached, they are or should be packed to prevent freezing. To thaw out a frozen pipe bundle a newspaper into a torch, light it, and pass it along the pipe slowly. The ice will yield to this much quicker than to hot water or wrappings of hot cloths, as is the common practice.

To Prevent Mold

A small quantity of carbolic acid added to paste, mucilage and ink, will prevent mold. An ounce of the acid to a gallon of whitewash will keep cellars and dairies from the disagreeable odor which often taints milk and meat kept in such places.

Economical Fire Kindler

One may be made by dipping corn cobs into a mixture of melted resin and tar, and drying.

How To Keep Eggs Fresh

The great secret in keeping eggs consists in entirely excluding the air from the interior. The lining next to the shell is, in its natural state, impervious to air, and the albumen is calculated to sustain it, but dampness and heat will cause decay, and, if the egg is allowed to lie in one position, especially upon one side, the yolk sinks through the albumen and settles upon the lining, and, not possessing proper qualities for preserving the skin in a healthy condition, it dries, and air penetrates, and begins the work of destruction. Where eggs are set upon their small ends, the yolk is much less liable to reach the lining of the shell. Where eggs are packed in a barrel, keg or bucket, it is a good plan to turn the whole quantity on to a different side once in a while Indelible Ink. - An indelible ink that cannot be erased, even with acids, can be obtained from the following recipe: To good gall ink add a strong solution of Prussian blue dissolved in distilled water. This will form a writing fluid which cannot be erased without destruction of the paper.

The ink will write greenish blue, but afterward will turn black.

To Get A Broken Cork Out Of A Bottle

If in drawing a cork, it breaks, and the lower part falls down into the liquid, tie a long loop in a bit of twine, or small cord, and put it in, holding the bottle so as to bring the piece of cork near to the lower part of the neck. Catch it in the loop, so as to hold it stationary. You can easily extract it with a corkscrew.

A Wash For Cleaning Silver

Mix together half an ounce of fine salt, half an ounce of powdered alum, and half an ounce of cream of tartar. Put them into a large white-ware pitcher, and pour on two quarts of water, and stir them frequently, till entirely dissolved. Then transfer the mixture to clean bottles, and cork them closely. Before using it, shake the bottles well. Pour some of the liquid into a bowl, and wash the silver all over with it, using an old, soft, fine linen cloth. Let it stand about ten minutes, and then rub it dry, with a buckskin. It will make the silver like new.