Ingredient: Lavender
It is very much to be regretted that the nerve-soothing vegetable perfumes of our grandmothers have been superseded, for the most part, by the cheap mineral products of the laboratory. Scents really prepared from the flowers that give them their names are expensive to make, and consequently high-priced. The cheap scents are all mineral concoctions, and their use is more or less injurious. A penny-worth of dried lavender flowers in a muslin bag is even cheaper to buy, inoffensive to smell — which is more than can be said of cheap manufactured scents — and possesses medicinal properties.
Lavender flowers were formerly used for their curative virtues in all disorders of the head and nerves.
An oil, prepared by infusing the crushed lavender flowers in olive oil, is recommended for anointing palsied limbs, and at one time a spirit was prepared from lavender flowers which was known as “palsy drops.”
A tea made with hot water and lavender tops will relieve the headache that comes from fatigue.
Dr. Fernie advises 1 dessertspoonful per day of pure lavender water for eczema.
The scent of lavender will keep away flies, fleas, and moths.
Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel
Filed under Ingredient | Tags: daniel, eczema, fatigue, fleas, flies, head, headache, lavender, moths, nerves, oil, olive oil, palsy, perfume, spirit, tea | Comment (0)Protection against Moths
Use newspapers in all boxes and trunks where winter clothing is to be packed, as moths abhor printer’s ink. Also wrap all plumes and wings in newspapers, fasten the ends securely with pins, and you need not worry about moths.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
Virtues of Turpentine
After a housekeeper fully realizes the worth of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a supply of it.
1 — It gives quick relief to burns.
2 — It is an excellent application for corns.
3 — It is good for rheumatism and for sore-throats.
4 — It is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits by applying to the back of the neck.
5 — It is a sure preventive against moths; by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of drawers, chests and wardrobes, it will render the garments secure from injury during the summer.
6 — It will keep ants and bugs from closets and storerooms by putting a few drops in the corners and shelves. It is sure destruction to bed-bugs and will effectually drive them away from their haunts, if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor clothing.
7 — A little in suds washing day lightens laundry labor.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
Filed under Remedy | Tags: ames, ants, bedbug, bedbugs, bugs, burn, burns, convulsion, corn, corns, fit, fits, laundry, moth, moths, rheumatism, sore throat, throat, turpentine | Comment (0)To Destroy Moths in Carpets
Wring a coarse towel out of clean water, spread it smoothly over the carpet and iron with a hot iron changing the iron often; repeat on all parts of the carpet suspected of having moths. It is not necessary to press hard. The color of the carpet will not be injured and the moths will be destroyed by the steam from the hot iron.
Source: 76: A Cook Book
To prevent Moths
In the month of April beat your fur garments well with a small cane or elastic stick, then lap them up in linen without pressing the fur too hard, and put between the folds some camphor in small lumps; then put your furs in this state in boxes well closed.
When the furs are wanted for use, beat them well as before, and expose them for twenty-four hours to the air, which will take away the smell of the camphor.
If the fur has long hair, as bear or fox, add to the camphor an equal quantity of black pepper in powder.
Source: The Cook’s Oracle and Housekeeper’s Manual, W.M. Kitchener
Filed under Remedy | Tags: camphor, cane, fur, furs, kitchener, linen, moth, moths, pepper, stick | Comment (0)Preservatives against the ravages of Moths
Moths are very apt to eat woollen and fur garments early in the summer. To keep them from the garments, take them late in the spring, when not worn, and put them in a chest, with considerable camphor gum. Cedar chips, or tobacco leaves, are also good for this purpose. When moths get into garments, the best thing to destroy them is to hang the garments in a closet, and make a strong smoke of tobacco leaves under them. In order to do it, have a pan of live coals in the closet, and sprinkle on the tobacco leaves.
Source: The American Housewife