To Clean Tin Covers. — Mix a little of the finest powdered whiting with the least drop of sweet oil, rub the covers well with it, and wipe them clean; then dust over them some dry whiting in a muslin bag, and rub bright with dry leather. This last is to prevent rust, which the cook must guard against by wiping them dry and putting them by the fire when they come from the dining-room, for if hung up once damp, the inside will rust. VIII. Verminous Insects. Cockroaches and Bed-Bugs. — Cockroaches are the plague of many house- keepers, and yet a little Paris green is death to them. Keep it in a common flour- dredging box, label it poison, and apply it weekly to their haunts. Bed-bugs or chinch-bugs can also be dispersed and utterly routed with this remedy ; and both cockroaches and bed-bugs will flee from powdered borax. Travelers should always carry a paper of borax in their bags, and sprinkle it under and over their pillows, if they fear they shall become food for the last-named wretches. Ants and Plies. — Sprigs of worm-wood will drive away large black ants ; and none of them, whether black, brown or red, relish wintergreen, tansy, Paris green, cayenne or kerosene; so if they invade our pantries, we can, by a judicious application of some one of these articles, make the premises too unpleasant for them. Fly-paper should be kept around the house as early as the middle of May. Put it in every open window, and thus destroy every intruder. It must constantly be borne in mind, that CONTPJHUTIONS FROM FRIENDS ON HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 297 the cobalt with which some tlj'-paper is saturated, and also Paris green, are two most deadly poisons. Keep them safely out of the way of children. Expelling Flies From Rooms.— It is stated that if two and a half pounds of powdered laurel leaves are macerated or boiled in two gallons of water, until their poisonous quality is extracted, and with the solution a whitewash is made, by adding as much quicklime as can be slaked in it, and if a room be Avhitewashed with this preparation, tlies will not settle on the walls for six months. If a paste, made by stir- ring together one pint of the powdered laurel leaves with a quarter pint of glycerine, be applied to windows and door casings, a room so prepared will soon be emptied of flies. Two applications of this paste are enough to keep even a kitchen clear of insects for a fortnight. There is nothing disagreeable or deleterious to human beings in the odor of the wash or paste, though laurel leaves, or laurel water, taken into the human stomach, acts as a violent poison. You may also drive flies out with a brush, ))ut, unless something is done to render the place uninviting to them, they will return immediately. There are many weeds or plants emitting an empyreumatic odor which answer well for the purpose. None are more effectual than the wild chamomile (INIayweed). The odor of this plant is not at all disagreeable, and branches of the weed when in flower, or some of the dried floi^ers, scattered about a room, will soon rid it of all flies. Another way is to throw some powdered black pepper on a hot shovel and carry it about the room. The generation of empyreumatic vapors in the same way from other spices will also, it is said, answer the purpose. A few drops of carbolic acid or creosote, on a cloth hung up in a sick-room or used in the dressings, would proba- bly be effectual, but the odor is not usually so acceptable to one's olfactories.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

To Clean Tin Covers. — Mix a little of the finest powdered whiting with the least drop of sweet oil, rub the covers well with it, and wipe them clean; then dust over them some dry whiting in a muslin bag, and rub bright with dry leather. This last is to prevent rust, which the cook must guard against by wiping them dry and putting them by the fire when they come from the dining-room, for if hung up once damp, the inside will rust. VIII. Verminous Insects. Cockroaches and Bed-Bugs. — Cockroaches are the plague of many housekeepers, and yet a little Paris green is death to them. Keep it in a common flourdredging box, label it poison, and apply it weekly to their haunts. Bed-bugs or chinch-bugs can also be dispersed and utterly routed with this remedy ; and both cockroaches and bed-bugs will flee from powdered borax. Travelers should always carry a paper of borax in their bags, and sprinkle it under and over their pillows, if they fear they shall become food for the last-named wretches. Ants and Plies. — Sprigs of worm-wood will drive away large black ants ; and none of them, whether black, brown or red, relish wintergreen, tansy, Paris green, cayenne or kerosene; so if they invade our pantries, we can, by a judicious application of some one of these articles, make the premises too unpleasant for them. Fly-paper should be kept around the house as early as the middle of May. Put it in every open window, and thus destroy every intruder. It must constantly be borne in mind, that the cobalt with which some tlj'-paper is saturated, and also Paris green, are two most deadly poisons. Keep them safely out of the way of children. Expelling Flies From Rooms.— It is stated that if two and a half pounds of powdered laurel leaves are macerated or boiled in two gallons of water, until their poisonous quality is extracted, and with the solution a whitewash is made, by adding as much quicklime as can be slaked in it, and if a room be Avhitewashed with this preparation, tlies will not settle on the walls for six months. If a paste, made by stirring together one pint of the powdered laurel leaves with a quarter pint of glycerine, be applied to windows and door casings, a room so prepared will soon be emptied of flies. Two applications of this paste are enough to keep even a kitchen clear of insects for a fortnight. There is nothing disagreeable or deleterious to human beings in the odor of the wash or paste, though laurel leaves, or laurel water, taken into the human stomach, acts as a violent poison. You may also drive flies out with a brush, but, unless something is done to render the place uninviting to them, they will return immediately. There are many weeds or plants emitting an empyreumatic odor which answer well for the purpose. None are more effectual than the wild chamomile (Mayweed). The odor of this plant is not at all disagreeable, and branches of the weed when in flower, or some of the dried flowers, scattered about a room, will soon rid it of all flies. Another way is to throw some powdered black pepper on a hot shovel and carry it about the room. The generation of empyreumatic vapors in the same way from other spices will also, it is said, answer the purpose. A few drops of carbolic acid or creosote, on a cloth hung up in a sick-room or used in the dressings, would probably be effectual, but the odor is not usually so acceptable to one's olfactories.

Twentieth century home cook book