Recipes for the million

The following is also good : — Bruised blue galls, two ounces ; logwood, and sumach, of each one ounce ; vinegar, one pint ; sugar, half an ounce. Macerate in a close vessel, with heat, for twenty-four hours, strain off the clear liquid, add one ounce of sulphate of iron, and shake the mixture twice a day for a week. Keep well corked. Apply with a brush or sponge. BLACK WASH. — Calomel, half a dram ; lime water, four ounces. Shake well together. Used as a cleansing application in certain diseases. BLANCMANGE (LEMON) . — Water, sixteen parts ; Lisbon wine, eight parts ; lemon juice, two parts ; isinglass, one part ; and sufficient sugar to sweeten. Flavour with a little grated lemon peel, and clarify with white of egg. BLANCMANGE, To Make. — Add to half a pint of new milk one ounce of gelatine, and let it soak for six hours. Boil two or three laurel leaves in a pint of cream and half a pint of milk. When it boils pour it over the soaked gelatine, stir till it dissolves, add a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar, strain through muslin, and stir occasionally till it thickens, then pour into moulds. BLANKETS, To Wash. — The following hints on the best way of washing blankets will be found useful to young housewives In the first place use tepid water with a little soda in it. The blankets, first rubbed well over with soap, then put into the water and kneaded with the fists, as in kneading dough. If a little ox-gall — a very little — be put in the first water, the impurities soon mingle with it. Scotch lasses trample on blankets when in the tub, and so tread out the dirt. The water must be changed often, or until it looks clean ; but the blankets must be soaped each time, or put in a lather of soap and a little soda, prepared in a copper. The rinsing water must also be soapy, or the wool will dry harsh, and the blankets shrink. They must be wrung as dry as possible, and after hanging on the drying-line for an hour, be taken down and be pulled on all sides by two persons, to prevent them “felting.” Blankets will “felt,” or “mat,” if the water they are washed in be very hot (tepid water only should be used), or if much water be left in them when hung up to dry. BLEEDING, To Stop. — Take some agaric (that is, the fungus known as touchwood), beat it into a pulp and apply to the wound. The fungus will be found growing on the branches of the oak and other trees, and is best gathered in the autumn, when the weather is fine, and after periods of great heat. BLISTER OINTMENT. — Mix half an ounce of finely-powdered Spanish flies with six ounces of basilicon ointment. Used for keeping blisters open. BLOTCHED FACE, Wash for a. — Mix three ounces of rosewater with one dram of sulphate of zinc. Wet the face with it, dry gently, and rub on some cold cream, which also wipe gently off. BLUE-BLACK REVIVER. — Dissolve one ounce of soluble Prussian blue in one quart of distilled water. Maybe used for either blackblue or blue-black cloth. BLUE PILL. — Blue pill mass, three grains; compound extract of colocynth, three grains ; essence of ginger, two or three drops. Sufficient for twenty pills. One pill to be taken at bed-time, followed by a black draught (which see) in the morning. BLUE (BERLIN), To Make. — See Berlin Blue. BLUE (PRUSSIAN), To Manufacture. — See Prussian Blue.