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

Tea and Coffee Stains

Only a few people know that butter will remove tea, coffee or fruit stains. It should be rubbed on the linen or cotton and then the material should be soaked in hot water and a mild soap. In fact, any stains, except ink or wine stains, sprinkle salt over the spots and pour boiling water through it until the spot has gone.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

For the Giddiness in the Head

Take an ounce of comming Seed and Steep it in white wine all night as much wine as will cover it and then you must dry it in an oven after the bread is drawn and dry with it an ounce of Juniper berrys & a handfull of rue then you must beat all these together to a fine powder and when you use it take as much of the powder as will lay on a Sixpence in a Spoonfull of honey well mixed together or in a Spoonfull of Sugar and take it dry.

Source: A Book of Simples, H.W. Lewer

Common Cologne

(To Use as a Toilet Water.)

Oil of bergamot, lavender and lemon each one drachm ; oil of rose and jasmine each ten drops ; essence of ambergris ten drops, spirits of wine one pint. Mix and keep well closed in a cool place for two months, when it will be fit for use.”

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Good Way To Give Castor Oil

Put a tablespoon of orange juice into a small tumbler, pour in the required amount of oil, and more orange juice on top. The oil forms a ball in the middle of the juice and is swallowed without coming in contact with the tongue. Wine may be used instead of orange juice.

Source: Civic League Cook Book

French Polish

Take a quarter of an ounce of gum sandarac and a quarter of an ounce of gum mastic; pick the dirt and black lumps out very carefully, and pound them in a mortar quite fine; put them into a bottle, and add to them a quartern (old measure) of strong spirit of wine; cork it down and put it in a warm place; shake it frequently till the gum is entirely dissolved, which will be in about twenty-four hours.

Before using it, be careful to ascertain that no grease is on the furniture, as grease would prevent its receiving the polish. If the furniture has been previously cleaned with bees’-wax or oil, it must be got off by scraping, which is the best way, but difficult to those who do not perfectly understand it, because if you are not very careful, you may scratch the surface, and create more expense than a workman would charge to do it properly at first. Or it may be done by scouring well with sand and water, and afterward rubbed quite smooth with fine glass paper, being careful to do it with the grain of the wood. To apply the polish, you must have a piece of list or cloth twisted, and tied round quite tight, and left even at one end, which should be covered with a piece of fine linen cloth; then pour a little of the polish on the furniture, and rub it well all over till it is worked into the grain of the wood, and begins to look quite smooth; then take a soft fine cloth, or what is better, an old silk handkerchief, and keep rubbing lightly until the polish is complete, which will take two or three hours. It will greatly help the polish if it is done near a fire.

If it does not look so smooth and clear as it should, a little sweet oil rubbed lightly over, and cleaned off directly, will greatly heighten it. If any part of the furniture has carving about it, where it will be impossible to polish, it must be done with mastic varnish, and a camel’s hair brush, after the rest is finished.

When the polish begins to look dull, it may be recovered with a little spirit of wine.

Source: The Cook’s Oracle and Housekeeper’s Manual, W.M. Kitchener

How to make White Wine Whey

Put a pint of milk into a very clean saucepan or skillet, to boil on the fire; then add half a gill of any kind of white wine; allow the milk to boil up, then pour it into a basin, and allow it to stand in a cool place, that the curd may fall to the bottom of the basin; then pour off the whey — which is excellent as an agent to remove a severe cough or cold.

Source: A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, C.E. Francatelli

Mouth Wash for Receding Gums

Hydronaphthol 15 grains.

Spirits of Wine 1 ounce.

Water 1 ounce.

Put twenty drops in wineglassful of water, holding in mouth a little at a time for a few moments and spitting out. Do this daily.

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

Croup

Croup, it is said, can be cured in one minute, and the remedy is simply alum and sugar. Take a knife or grater and shave off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum; then mix it with twice its amount of sugar, to make it palatable, and administer it as quickly as possible. Almost instantaneous relief will follow. Turpentine is said to be an excellent remedy for croup. Saturate a piece of flannel and apply it to the chest and throat, and take inwardly three or four drops on a lump of sugar.

Another remedy.–Give a teaspoonful of ipecacuanha wine every few minutes, until free vomiting is excited.

Another recipe said to be most reliable: Take two ounces of the wine of ipecac, hive syrup four ounces, tincture of bloodroot two ounces. Mix it well.

Dose for a child one year old, five to ten drops; two years, eight to twelve drops; three years, twelve to fifteen drops; four years, fifteen to twenty drops; five years, twenty to twenty-five drops, and older children in proportion to age. Repeat as often as shall be necessary to procure relief. If it is thought best to produce vomiting, repeat the dose every ten or fifteen minutes for a few doses.

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

Cracker Panada

Break in pieces three or four hard crackers that are baked quite brown, and let them boil fifteen minutes in one quart of water; then remove from the fire, let them stand three or four minutes, strain off the liquor through a fine wire sieve, and season it with sugar.

This is a nourishing beverage for infants that are teething, and with the addition of a little wine and nutmeg, is often prescribed for invalids recovering from a fever.

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