To Destroy Crickets Or Beetles

Put some strong snuff in the cracks and holes from whence they come. The parings of cucumbers will, if strewn about near their holes, drive them away.

Source: Cassell’s Household Guide

To Cleanse Scalp of Dandruff

Chloral Hydrate 1 ounce.

Rain or Snow Water 32 ounces.

Apply every other day till scalp is cleansed, then occasionally to prevent recurrence.

Source: Tested Formulas and Useful House and Farm Recipes, T. Kenny

To Remove Warts

Wash with water saturated with common washing-soda, and let it dry without wiping; repeat frequently until they disappear. Or pass a pin through the wart and hold one end of it over the flame of a candle or lamp until the wart fires by the heat, and it will disappear.

Another treatment of warts is to pare the hard and dry skin from their tops, and then touch them with the smallest drop of strong acetic acid, taking care that the acid does not run off the wart upon the neighboring skin; for if it does it will occasion inflammation and much pain. If this is continued once or twice daily, with regularity, paring the surface of the wart occasionally when it gets hard and dry, the wart will soon be effectually cured.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Colds and Hoarseness

Borax has proved a most effective remedy in certain forms of colds. In sudden hoarseness or loss of voice in public speakers or singers, from colds, relief for an hour or so may be obtained by slowly dissolving, and partially swallowing, a lump of borax the size of a garden pea, or about three or four grains held in the mouth for ten or fifteen minutes before speaking or singing. This produces a profuse secretion of saliva or “watering” of the mouth and throat, just as wetting brings back the missing notes to a flute when it is too dry.

A flannel dipped in boiling water and sprinkled with turpentine, laid on chest as quickly as possible, will relieve the most severe cold or hoarseness.

Another simple, pleasant remedy is furnished by beating up the white of one egg, adding to it the juice of one lemon, and sweetening with white sugar to taste. Take a teaspoonful from time to time. It has been known to effectually cure the ailment.

Or bake a lemon or sour orange twenty minutes in a moderate oven. When done, open at one end and take out the inside. Sweeten with sugar or molasses. This is an excellent remedy for hoarseness.

An old time and good way to relieve a cold is to go to bed and stay there, drinking nothing, not even water, for twenty-four hours, and eating as little as possible. Or go to bed, put your feet in hot mustard and water, put a bran or oatmeal poultice on the chest, take ten grains of Dover’s powder, and an hour afterwards a pint of hot gruel; in the morning, rub the body all over with a coarse towel, and take a dose of aperient medicine.

Violet, pennyroyal or boneset tea, is excellent to promote perspiration in case of sudden chill. Care should be taken next day not to get chilled by exposure to fresh out-door air.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Soap for Whitening The Hands

Into a wineglass of eau-de-cologne and a wineglass of lemon-juice, scrape two cakes of brown Windsor soap very finely, and mix well. When it becomes hard it will be an excellent soap for whitening the hands.

Source: Cassell’s Household Guide

To Remove Sunburn

Take two drachms of borax, one drachm of Roman alum, one drachm of camphor, half an ounce of sugar-candy, and a pound of ox-gall. Mix and stir well for ten minutes, and stir it in the same way three or four times a day for a fortnight. When clear and transparent strain through blotting-paper, and bottle for use.

Source: Cassell’s Household Guide