when the meal is over. Iron-rust can generally be extracted
by using lemon and salt, and then rinsing the cloth. Fruit-
stains can be effaced by using a tablespoonful of chloride of
lime and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice or vinegar in a quart
of cold water ; as soon as the stain is washed out, rinse the
linen thoroughly in plenty of clean water. Mildew on linen
can be removed by soaking it in the solution of lime and
lemon-juice, and then rinsing it frequently ; if the mildew
is obstinate, mix enough powdered starch into soft soap to
nearly thicken it, add to it some salt and lemon-juice, cover
both sides of the cloth with it, and expose it to the sun, let-
ting it lie upon the grass, and renewing the paste until the
stain disappears.
Iron table-linen single until quite dry, with a hot iron
made smooth by rubbing it upon fine sand and then on a
waxed cloth ; when starch is used, a little salt or wax, dis-
solved in it, prevents the sticking of the iron. Iron napkins
in square folds ; fold tablecloths by the thread, or roll them
upon a round stick, as long as the cloth is wide, as soon as
they are ironed.
SILVER AND CUTLERY.
The use of silver, or silver-plated ware, is so general that
most housekeepers have their favorite methods of cleaning
and preserving it from defacement ; but a few points may be
useful to the inexperienced. Careful housewives may take a
hint from dealers, and keep their silver, when, it is not in use,
wrapped in soft tissue-paper, and closed from the air in its
original cases, or in paper boxes ; this will largely obviate the
necessity for the frequent cleaning which injures plated ware
quite as much as use.
The powders generally sold for polishing silver are com-
posed of minute organizations of silicious nature, which pro-
duce a polish by covering the surface of the metal with
innumerable" imperceptible scratches, thus destroying some
96 PRACTICAL AMERICAN COOKERY.
of the silver. If powder is considered necessary for cleaning
silver, it should be almost impalpable, so fine as to pass
through delicate muslin, like precipitated chalk or jeweller's
rouge. Add three ounces of the chalk, and two ounces of
liquid ammonia, to one quart of soft water, and, after thor-
oughly shaking these ingredients together, wet a soft cloth
with the mixture, rub it over the silver, and then polish it
with a piece of soft chamois. If silver is habitually washed
with hot water in which soap and a very little washing-soda
is dissolved, it will not often require any other cleaning ; the
silver should be wiped dry with a soft cloth, and then gently
rubbed and polished with clean chamois-skin.
When the chamois is soiled, it ca,n be washed as follows :
Dissolve in warm water enough soap to make a thick lather ;
in this wash the chamois, rubbing it between the hands or
on a wash-board ; put more soap upon stained parts, and
continue the rubbing until the chamois is clean ; then rinse
it through two or three waters, lukewarm, squeeze out the
vvater, and hang it upon a clothes-line, in the sun, without
wringing it; as it dries, take it down, and shake it with a
sharp, snapping noise, then pull it straight out, and again
hang it up ; repeat the shaking and pulling until the skin is
quite dry and soft.
Page 56
Presented as published in 1885. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
when the meal is over. Iron-rust can generally be extracted by using lemon and salt, and then rinsing the cloth. Fruitstains can be effaced by using a tablespoonful of chloride of lime and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice or vinegar in a quart of cold water ; as soon as the stain is washed out, rinse the linen thoroughly in plenty of clean water. Mildew on linen can be removed by soaking it in the solution of lime and lemon-juice, and then rinsing it frequently ; if the mildew is obstinate, mix enough powdered starch into soft soap to nearly thicken it, add to it some salt and lemon-juice, cover both sides of the cloth with it, and expose it to the sun, letting it lie upon the grass, and renewing the paste until the stain disappears.
Iron table-linen single until quite dry, with a hot iron made smooth by rubbing it upon fine sand and then on a waxed cloth ; when starch is used, a little salt or wax, dissolved in it, prevents the sticking of the iron. Iron napkins in square folds ; fold tablecloths by the thread, or roll them upon a round stick, as long as the cloth is wide, as soon as they are ironed.
SILVER AND CUTLERY.
The use of silver, or silver-plated ware, is so general that most housekeepers have their favorite methods of cleaning and preserving it from defacement ; but a few points may be useful to the inexperienced. Careful housewives may take a hint from dealers, and keep their silver, when, it is not in use, wrapped in soft tissue-paper, and closed from the air in its original cases, or in paper boxes ; this will largely obviate the necessity for the frequent cleaning which injures plated ware quite as much as use.
The powders generally sold for polishing silver are composed of minute organizations of silicious nature, which produce a polish by covering the surface of the metal with innumerable imperceptible scratches, thus destroying some
of the silver. If powder is considered necessary for cleaning silver, it should be almost impalpable, so fine as to pass through delicate muslin, like precipitated chalk or jeweller's rouge. Add three ounces of the chalk, and two ounces of liquid ammonia, to one quart of soft water, and, after thoroughly shaking these ingredients together, wet a soft cloth with the mixture, rub it over the silver, and then polish it with a piece of soft chamois. If silver is habitually washed with hot water in which soap and a very little washing-soda is dissolved, it will not often require any other cleaning ; the silver should be wiped dry with a soft cloth, and then gently rubbed and polished with clean chamois-skin.
When the chamois is soiled, it can be washed as follows : Dissolve in warm water enough soap to make a thick lather ; in this wash the chamois, rubbing it between the hands or on a wash-board ; put more soap upon stained parts, and continue the rubbing until the chamois is clean ; then rinse it through two or three waters, lukewarm, squeeze out the water, and hang it upon a clothes-line, in the sun, without wringing it; as it dries, take it down, and shake it with a sharp, snapping noise, then pull it straight out, and again hang it up ; repeat the shaking and pulling until the skin is quite dry and soft.