HOME ECONOMICS.

WASTE IN THE KITCHEN.

WASTE in the kitchen is often very great from apparently trivial sources, Housekeepers should read and ponder :

In cooking meats, the water is thrown out without removing the grease, or the grease from the dripping-pan is thrown away.

Pieces of bread in the bread-box, and cake in the cake-box, are left to dry and mold.

Scraps of meat are thrown away.

Cold potatoes are left to sour and spoil.

Preserves are opened, forgotten, and left to mold and ferment.

Dried fruits are not looked after, and become wormy.

Vinegar and sauce are left standing in tin.

Apples are left to decay for want of "sorting over."

Corks are left out of the molasses and vinegar jugs.

The tea-canister is left open.

Victuals are left exposed to be eaten by mice.

Bones of meat and the carcass of turkey are thrown away, when they could be used in making good soups.

Vegetables and puddings left from the dinner are thrown away.
Sugar, tea, coffee, and rice are carelessly spilled in the handling.
Soap is left to dissolve and waste in the water.

Dish-towels are used for dish-cloths.

Napkins are used for dish-towels.

Towels are used for holders.

Brooms and mops are not hung up.

Coal is wasted by not sifting the ashes.

More coal is burned than necessary, by not arranging dampers when not using the fire.

Lights are left burning when not used.

Tin dishes are not properly cleansed and dried.

Knives and forks get rusty, for want of care.

Nice ones are spoiled by use in the kitchen.

Pails and wash-tubs fall to pieces, because left dry.

Potatoes in the cellar grow, and thus become unfit for eating.

Ashes are thrown out and wasted, when they could be utilized in different ways.

Carpets are swept with stub brooms which wear out the carpet texture.

Good new brooms are used in scrubbing the kitchen-floors.

Sheets are scorched and injured by being used in ironing.

Silver spoons are used in scraping kettles.

Good forks are used and ruined in toasting bread.

The flour is sifted in a wasteful manner, or the bread-pan left with dough sticking to it.

etc.

Pie-crust is left and laid by to sour, instead of making a few tarts for tea,

Cold puddings are considered good for nothing, when often they can be steamed for the next day, or, in case of rice, made over in other forms. Vegetables are thrown away that would warm for breakfast nicely. Cream is left to mould and spoil.

Mustard is left to spoil in the cruse, or rust, etc.

Vinegar is allowed to stand until the tin vessel becomes corroded and spoiled.

Pickles become spoiled by the leaking out or evaporation of the vinegar. Pork spoils for want of salt, and beef because the brine wants scalding. Hams become tainted, or filled with vermin, for the want of care.

Cheese molds, and is eaten by mice or vermin.

Lard is not well tried in the fall, and becomes tainted.

Tea and coffee-pots are injured on the stove.

Soap-suds are thrown away instead of being used as a valuable addition to the soil in the garden.

Potatoes are "peeled " before boiling, thus losing a large fraction of the substance. It is much more economical to boil before the rind is removed; then only the thin rind is lost.

Wooden-ware is unscalded, and left to warp and crack.

N. B.-The above list is partial. It could easily be extended.

KITCHEN FURNITURE.-CLEANING.

Heating New Iron.-New iron should be very gradually heated at first. After it has become inured to the heat, it is not so likely to crack.

To Prevent Crust in Tea-kettles.-Keep an oyster-shell in your teakettle. By attracting the stony particles to itself, it will prevent the formation of a crust.

To Clean Tea-kettles.-Kerosene will make your tea-kettle as bright as new. Saturate a woolen rag and rub with it. It will also remove stains from clean varnished furniture.

Glass should be washed in cold water, which gives it a brighter and clearer look than when cleansed with warm water.

Glass Vessels, and other utensils, may be purified and cleaned by rinsing them out with powdered charcoal.

To Clean Coal-oil Cans.-After cleansing them as much as possible with wood ashes and hot water, use nitric-acid in moderate quantities, which will soon remove the difficulty.

Washing Knives and Forks.-Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-water. It is a good plan to have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the blades without wetting the handles.

To Clean Knives.-Cut a small potato in two; dip one half in the brickdust, and rub the knives, and rust and stain will disappear like magic from their surfaces.

Scouring Knives.—Place a quantity of brick-dust on a board, and having the knife perfectly dry, press it down hard and rub it back and forth crosswise of the blade. When bright, turn and scour the other side. Then wipe off with chamois leather. Knives thus treated will retain their brightness much longer, and have a new look after years of usage.

To Extract Stains from Silver.-Sal ammoniac, one part; vinegar, sixteen parts. Mix and use this liquid with a piece of flannel, then wash the plate in clean water.

Silver Soap. For cleaning silver and Britannia: One half pound of soap; three tablespoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, and half a tumbler of water. Let it boil ten minutes; add six tablespoonfuls of spirits of hartshorn. Make a suds of this, and wash silver with it.

To Clean Silver.-Cleansing silver is not an easy task; the use of kerosene will greatly facilitate the operation. Wet a flannel cloth in the oil, dip in dry whiting, and thoroughly rub the plated or silverware; throw it into a dish of scalding soapsuds, wipe with a soft flannel, and polish with a chamois skin.

Another Method of Cleaning Silver.-Silver door-plates are most expeditiously cleaned with a weak solution of ammonia and water; say one teaspoonful of ammonia to a tea-cup of water, applied with a wet rag. It is equally useful in cleaning other silver-plate and gold jewelry.

Cleaning Tinware.-An experienced housekeeper says the best thing for cleaning tinware is common soda. She gives the following directions: Dampen a cloth, and dip in soda, and rub the ware briskly, after which wipe dry. Any blackened ware can be made to look as well as new.

To Clean Tin Covers.-Get the finest whiting; mix a little of it powdered with the least drop of sweet oil, rub the covers well with it, and wipe

them clean; then dust over them some dry whiting in a muslin bag, and rub bright with dry leather. This last is to prevent rust, which the cook must guard against by wiping them dry, and putting them by the fire when they come from the dining-room, for if but once hung up damp the inside will rust.

To Polish Tins.-First rub them with a damp cloth; then take dry flour and rub it on with the hands; afterward take an old newspaper and rub the flour off, and the tins will shine as well as if half an hour had been spent rubbing them with brick-dust or powder, which spoils the hands.

Papier-Mache Articles should be washed with a sponge and cold water, without soap, dredged with flour while damp, and polished with a flannel. Japanned Ware. -Wet a sponge in warm water, and dampen it over; then wipe off with a soft cloth. If a tray becomes spotted, take a bit of woolen cloth and dip into a little sweet oil, and rub it as hard as possible, and the marks, if effaceable, will disappear.

Cleaning Floor-boards.—Scrubbing them with a mixture made by dissolving unslaked lime in boiling water, will have the desired effect. The proportions are, two tablespoonfuls to a quart of water. No soap need be used.

Another Method.-Lime, one part; sand, three parts; soft soap, two parts. Lay a little on the boards with a scrubbing-brush, and rub thoroughly. Rinse with clean water, and rub dry. This will keep the boards of a good color, and will also keep away vermin.

To Clean Painted Wainscot, or Other Wood-work.-Fuller's earth will be found cheap and useful; and on wood not painted, it forms an excellent substitute for soap.

Cleaning Old Brass.-The best liquid for cleaning old brass is a solution of oxalic acid.

To Clean a Brass Kettle.-Do this before using it for cooking; use salt and vinegar.

To Clean Brasses, Britannia Metals, Tins, Coppers, Etc.-These are cleaned with a mixture of rotten-stone, soft-soap, and oil of turpentine, mixed to the consistency of stiff putty. The stone should be powdered very fine and sifted; and a quantity of the mixture may be made sufficient to last for a long while. The articles should first be washed with hot water, to remove grease. Then a little of the above mixture, mixed with water, should be rubbed over the metal; then rub off briskly, with dry, clean rag, or leather, and a beautiful polish will be obtained.

To Keep Iron from Rusting.-Kerosene applied by means of a moistened cloth to stoves, will effectually keep them from rusting during the sumIt is also an excellent material to apply to all iron utensils used about

mer.

the farm. Give plows, cultivators, and the like, a coating before they are put away in the fall.

Paper for Cleaning Stoves, Tinware, Furniture, Etc.-After a stove has been blackened, it can be kept looking very well for a long time by rubbing it with paper every morning. Rubbing with paper is a much nicer way of keeping the outside of a tea-kettle, coffee-pot, and tea-pot, bright and clean, than the old way of washing them with suds. Rubbing with paper is also the best way of polishing knives, tinware, and spoons; they shine like new silver. For polishing mirrors, windows, lamp-chimneys, etc., paper is better than a dry cloth.

Cleansing Bottles.-Many persons clean bottles by putting in some small shot, and shaking them around. Water dissolves lead to a certain extent, and a film of this lead attaches itself to the sides of the bottle so closely that the shaking or rinsing with water does not detach it, and it remains to be dissolved by any liquid which has the least sourness in it, and if drank, lead poison may be the result. Sometimes a shot becomes wedged in at the bottom of a bottle, to be dissolved by wine or cider. Therefore, it is better to wash every bottle as soon as emptied with warm water and wood ashes, or saleratus, and put the bottle away, mouth open and downward; but be careful to wash again when used, as flies and other insects frequently get into open bottles. Or, chop up a large potato very fine, and put it into the bottle with some warm water, and shake it rapidly until it is clean.

SOAPS AND WASHING FLUIDS.

Hard Soap. Five pails soft soap, two pounds salt, and one pound resin. Simmer together, and when thoroughly fused, turn out in shallow pans so as to be easily cut.

Soft Soap-Boil twenty-five pounds of fried grease in two pails of strong lye. Next day add another pailful of hot lye; also on the following day, if there is grease on the top of the soap. Afterward add a pailful of hot water each day until the barrel is filled.

Excellent Soft Soap.-Take 16 quarts of lye of sufficient strength to float an egg; 8 pounds of clean grease; 1 pounds resin; put the whole into a five-pail kettle and boil it. At first it is apt to rise, in which case add a little strong lye, and so continue to do until the materials are incorporated. Then remove it from the fire, and add, by degrees, weak lye, stirring it at every addition, till the kettle is full.

Common Hard Soap.-Put in an iron kettle five pounds unslaked lime, five pounds soda, and three gallons soft water; let it soak over night; in the