To Remove Stains of Wine or Fruit From Table Linen

Stains of claret wine can be removed by rubbing them while wet with common salt. Turn the contents of the salt cellar directly over the stain, and rub in the salt with the finger, until the redness disappears entirely.

A sure way of extracting fruit stains from table linen, is to tie up some cream of tartar in the stained part, so as to form a little bag, then put the linen into cold soap-suds, and let it boil awhile. Then wash and rinse well, dry and iron, and no stains will appear.

Another method is to mix in equal quantities, soft soap, slacked lime, and saleratus, and rub the stain with the preparation, and lay the linen in the sun, with the mixture plastered on. When it has lain two or three hours, rub it off ; if the stain still appears, apply some more of the mixture. When it cannot be seen, wash out the linen at once, as it will decay the fabric.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

An Excellent Disinfectant

Permanganate of potassa in solution is one of the most efficient disinfectants that can be used for removing all disagreeable odors, either in utensils, or in rooms.

Twenty-five grains can be dissolved in two quarts of water, and a tablespoonful of it, added to a saucer of water, will remove any filthy odor. As the water evaporates more can be added to it. For infectious diseases it is highly recommended, and should always be used in all cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, or small-pox.

For disinfecting mouldy barrels it is unequaled. Two or three tablespoonfuls of the solution, added to a pint of water, will cleanse any cask, or barrel, if it is thoroughly washed in it and rinsed out well. –

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

How to Obtain Sleep

Sleep is the great panacea of earthly ills, yet it is a coy guest, and often has to be wooed long before it is won. But we would on no account recommend to our readers the foolish practice of trying to obtain sleep by the use of narcotics, which should never be resorted to except by the advice of physicians. Many are the patent prescriptions for sleepless nights — and onions — raw onions, sliced thin, and eaten with a bit of bread, are said by many to be a sure specific for the trouble.

A famous divine tells us that he could always obtain sleep by repeating very slowly, with a long inspiration and expiration at each vowel, the letters. A, E, I, O. The fifth vowel was omitted because it demanded too great an exertion of the muscles of the lips. Sleep would soon follow the mechanical repetition of the vowels above named.

Others tell us they can woo sleep by chaining the imagination to one object, for instance the watching a field of corn waving in the breeze, and seeing the sunlight glance upon its lance-shaped leaves. While others more prosaic, would see a flock of sheep jumping one after another through a hedge.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

To Destroy Flies

Boil the parings of potatoes in a little water for an hour, skim them out, and boil the water down to a few table-spoonfuls. Sweeten with molasses, and turn on to plates. It is a deadly poison. Another method is to boil quassia chips to a strong decoction, sweeten and proceed as above.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

A Disinfecting Lamp

The following simple apparatus is most excellent for purifying rooms where any unpleasant effluvia prevails. Any person can fit up the lamp, and it is an agreeable method of overcoming bad odors in a sick room. Take a small glass lamp, such as is used for burning camphene or spirits, put in a clean wick, and fill it up with chloric ether and light the wick. In a few minutes the object will be accomplished.

In damp, dark cellars whore vegetables have decayed, or where drains allow the escape of mephitic gas, in dissecting rooms, and in any place where it is desirable to sweeten the atmosphere, one of these lamps will prove most efficacious. One tube filled with a wick is quite sufficient.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

To Prepare Fumigating Powder

Take equal parts of cascarilla bark, in coarse powder, camomile flowers, and anise-seed, powdered and well mixed together. Two ounces of each will be sufficient to use for several times. Take up some hot coals upon a shovel, and sprinkle the powder over them very slowly; and as the smoke arises, carry the shovel into all parts of the room, and fumigate the air thoroughly. It destroys all disagreeable odors, and is said to prevent contagion in infectious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, and the like.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

To Destroy Cockroaches

A very simple trap can be prepared for these disagreeable pests by cutting four or five strips of paste-board, an inch or more in width, and placing them in a slanting position against the sides of a quart bowl or a common nappy [? – ed.]. Then pour into the basin (taking care not to touch its sides) some molasses and water, or stale beer and molasses, and as cockroaches are very fond of sweets, they will walk up the ladders of paste-board, and find a watery death. Pieces of wood will do as well. Several of these traps can be placed in the kitchen and pantry, night after night, and soon their number will be greatly lessened. Another way is to place pieces of unslacked lime where the cockroaches frequent, and they will be driven away. But care must be taken not to let water drip upon the quicklime, as it would produce combustion.

Still another way is to take quantities of powdered borax, and scatter it all about the shelves and the water pipes. The cockroaches do not like it and will not run over it. A solution of alum in boiling hot water will destroy them at once and also kill their larvae.

These insects always follow the water pipes in houses, but any of these simple remedies will keep them from putting in an appearance.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

To Purify Foul Apartments

To one tablespoonful of common salt placed in a tumbler, add a large pinch of manganese, powdered fine. Turn over it a quarter of a wine-glass of strong vitriolic acid. Do this at an interval of a few minutes, four or five times; then place the tumbler on the floor of the room that requires fumigating, and leave it for a day or more, closing all the doors and windows tightly. The vapors formed by it will destroy all the foul odors, and sweeten the most filthy air.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams

A Sure Remedy for Nervous Sleeplessness

Take one or two sugar-coated asafoetida pills before retiring.

Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams