to ■ ■ C < _ ^c^ c[ustard, Table 42 Mutton, Shoulder of. Stewed 23 Naphthalamine Colors for Printing on Fabrics.. 25 Nickel-Plating ."58 Oatmeal Gems 25 Oatmeal Mush 25 O.atmeal Pancakes 25 Oatmeal Porridge 25 Orange Dye 33 Ornament for Rooms 30 Ornamental Work, Bronze for 36 Ointment, Sulphur 33 Old Prints, To Clean 17 Pa,ste, A Good 20 Paste, Perpetiial 23 Peppei-mint Candy 16 Perpetual Equilibrium 44 Phial, Tight 33 Phosphate and Manganese, Syrup of 41 Picture-Frames, To Make 24 Pie-Crust 23 Pink Red Dye 33 Plants, House, To Keep 29 Poisoning by Ivy 18 Portable Diorama. To Make 35 Portiait, To Electrotype 59 Potato Pie-Crust 38 Potato Pome 29 Pot^ito Putr 25 Potato Rot, Preventive 37 Potato Salad 17 CONTENTS. Tots. TrnTi, To Mend 20 Piiddiii.s, Baked Indian 38 Pudding, Cliustnut 35 Pudding, Corn-Meal 23 Pudding, Fruit ' 21 Pudding, Giits 23 Pudding. Tapioca 21 Purple Dye 33 Kaspben-y Cream 25 llaspberry Vinegar 27 Raspberry Wine 28 Razor-Paper 40 Razor-Strop.s, To Renovate 40 Red Roaches, To Exterminate 17 Rlionmatisin in Ilor.ses 41 Rlicuniatisni, Remedy for 18 Rhubarb, Coni])ound Tincture of 41 Rhubarb, Sweet Tincture of 41 Rice-Glue 17 RiflcH, To Clean 22 Roads, To Repair 40 ■Roa.st Pig n Roots. rirei>roof, Wash for 35 Rooms, Ornaments for 30 Ropes, To Tell the Strength of 28 Rubber Boots, To Mend 35 Rusty Ploughs, To Clean 42 Salad, Cabbage 25 Sdad, Potato 17 Salmon Dye 33 Sandpaper, To Make 35 Sausage, To Make 31 Scarlet Dye 33 Scarlet-Fever 28 Self-Turning Cross 62 Shawl, Crape, To Clean 19 Shirts and Collars, To Starch 38 Shirts, To Starch 28 Sign of the Cross, To Make 62 Sign-Painter.s, Table for 22 Silk, To Clean 16 Silk, Transparencies on 30 Silk, Wrinkled, To Renovate 21 Silver Ink 32 Silver-Plating 57 Soap, A Useful 27 Soap, Hard, To Make 19 Solar Microscope, To Make 35 Solder for Brazing Steel 23 Soldering-Fluid 19 Soluble Glaas 18 Sore Mouth 42 Sore Till oat 19 Soup, Irish Potato 27 Sponge, To Bleach. 19 Steel, Burnt, To Restore 32 Steel, Scaling 32 Steel, To Remove Bluing From 32 Steel, To Toughen 32 Stone, Artificial 41 Stone Facades, To Clean 41 Stoves, To Mend Cracks in ^. ... 41 Stoves, To Keep from Rusting 41 Strawberry Shortcake 19 Sugar, To Refine 41 Sulphur, Flexible 41 Summer Beverages 20 Super-Phosphate, To Make 21 Sweetbread, Boiled %i Tan, To Remove 32 Terrapin, To Cook 32 Tinning Fluid 19 Tooth-Powder 32 To Make a Liquid Boil Without Fire 49 Transferring Pictures on Wood, Glass, ifec 61 Tree of Lead, To Make 40 Tree of Mars 42 Trees, To Tell the Height 30 Udders, To Remove Lumps in 15 Varnish for Maps, Drawings, &c 20 Varnish for White Woods 16 Viuegnr, Honey 60 Vitremania, Art of - 61 Waffles, German 26 Walls, Holes and Cracks, To Repair 18 Walnut Catsup 13 Warts, To Remove 23 Wet Boots 20 Whitewash 38 Whitewash, A Brilliant 17 Whitewash, Treasury 32 Wine, Cider 15 Wine, Wild-Grape 40 Woodchuck, Tanning 18 Wood, To Stain 38 Wool, To Dye 38 Writing-ink, Blue-Black 19 Yellow Dye 33 THE BOOK OF USEFUL RECEIPTS, AND MANUFACTURERS GUIDE. How To Weave Hair.— No hair should be wasted at all, not even the combings. They should be kept clean and laid away loosely in a paste-board box, without twist- inc! them about the lingers. Take a smooth board one ^nd a half or two feet long, and six or eight inches wide. Near one end drive three shingle nails in a row, the nails being half an inch apart, and the row running parallel with the end of the board. At the other end, opposite the middle nail, drive one nail ; wax three pieces of linen thread, tie them together at one end, and .about a quarter of an inch from this knot tie another. Now slip it over the nail that stands alone, then tie one to each of the three nails, drawing the thread pretty tight. Take the board in your lap, the three nails toward the right hand. Now take a bunch of hair, both ends evened, the size of a knitting needle, wet that end and put it under the thread nearest you, over the middle thread and under the last, then bring it back on the left side, reversing the order ; now push it lip close against the knot. Proceed in this way until the strip is as long as you want it. After it is dry it can be pushed together more closely. In making a switch or braid, it is not necessary that the hair should be placed with the same ends together that grew on the head ; but if the hair is pretty, and two or three curls are required, and one has time and patience, the hair can be placed properly. It can be determined which is the upper end by rubbing a hair endwise between the thumb and finger. The barbs on the hair point downward, and in rubbing, the upper end of the hair will work away from the motion of the thumb and finger. Covering for Jars. — A good water- proof paper for covering jars used in pre- serving, etc., may be made by brushing over the pa]ier with boiled linseed oil, and suspending it over a line until drj-. To Remove Ltimps in Udders.— Take poke-root and chop it up fine and beat it into pumice; take a teacupful and put in a quart of meal, and feed to a cow whose udder has lumps in it, and they are removed at once. Tlie remedy is infallible. Cider Wine. — The cider for this pur- pose should not be made \intil December, when it should be barreled and placed in a vault or cool cellar, and left to remain there until February or early in March, when it should be bottled, using cham- pagne bottles, well corked and wired; the cork should be driven down to an eight of an inch of the mouth, so that the wire can grasp it. Use good-sized copper wire, which will require only one passing over the cork provided it is well secured around the neck of the bottle. Then return the bottled cider to the cellar, laying the bottles on their sides, and it will keep for years. Ba sure that the bottles are thoroughly clean. This must be attended to just before the bottling begins. Some persons — and it in the method of the north Jersey "cham- pagne" cider-makers— filter the cider through sand before putting away m bar- rels. It is true this removes all sediment but we cannot perceive that it adds to the flavor or keeping qualities of the cider. To Dye Glass. — For pink, get some logwood and ammonia and boil them to- gether in water; for red, logwood and alum ; for blue, indipo blue; and all other colors that will dissolve. To keep the glass to- gether, dip it in a weak solution of gum water, or put some gum water in the dye. To Bronze Brass.— For bronzing the brass objects are first made warm, and washed in a hot solution of ammonium chloride, (sal-ammoniac,) and then placed over niglit in a tolerably diluted sohition of two parts cupric acetate, (verdigris,) and one part ammonium chloride in six parts of vinegar. The next morning they are taken out and washed. A bronze to be ab- plied with the brush is made by boiling 16 parts amniinium carbonate and 16 parts cupric sulphate in 200 parts vinegar till the latter is almost entirely evaporated; then adding one part of oxalic acid, and 4 parts of ammonium chloride dissolved in 200 parts vinegar; the wliole is placed over the fire till it boils, then cooled, filtered, and preserved in well-stoppered bottles. Clean thoroughly the object to be bronzed, heat it, and apply the liquid with a fine brush. Alter giving it time to act, pour on boiling water, and rub with a dry oily cotton rag, and then with dry cotton, till every trace of the vinegar has disappeared. 16 KALSOSIIKIN. Kalscmiuinj:,— Eight pounds of wliithig and Gue-qnartur of a pound of white gln^ niuko the right proportions. Soak the glue over night in cold vater, and in the morning heat it till perfectly dissolved. Mix the whiting Avith hot water ; stir the two thor- ougly together, and have the wash of the consistence of thick cream. Apply warm ■with a kalsomine brush, brushing it well in and finishing as yon go on. If warm skim milk is usetl instead of whiting, the glnemay bo omitted. Before the wash is applied, all crevices and holes should be stopped with plaster of parts mixed with water. If it is desirable to tint the walls, colors may be pro- curt d at any paint store and stirred into the kalsomine wash. If whitewash has been uswl upon the wall it must be scraped off before the kalsomine is put on. Yariiisll for Wllite Woods.— Dissolve three pounds of bleached shellac in one gallon of spirit of ^vine ; strain, and add one and one- half more gallons of spirit. If the shellac is pure and white, this will make a lieautifully clear covering for white wooden articles. To Clean Silk. — Mix together a quarter of a pound of soft-soap a teaspoonful of br.mdy and a pint of gin ; mix all well together and strain through a cloth. With a sponge or flannel, spread the mixture on each side the fiilk without creasing it ; wash it in two or three waters ; while damjj iron on the wrong side. This pi-ocess will restore silks to their newness and will not injure the most delicate color. Pre.served Lemon Juice. — To every pound of white sugar add the strained juice of four leinons. Grate the rinds and add them to the mixture. Preserve in glass cans. A ta- blespoont'ul will make a glass tumblerful of lemonade. Lemon or Pepernilnt Candy. — Boil a pound and a half of sugar in a half pint of water till it begins to candy round the sides; put in eight drops of essence. Pour it upon buttered paper and cut it with a knife. Salt-Rising: Bread.— Into a pint of fresh milk pour a pint of scalding water. Stir in smoothly, flour enough to make it a thick bat- ter, keep at a uniform temperature for about six hours, when it will rise and should be at once used. Sift into a bowl three quarts of flour, i^our in the yeast, add warm milk or ■water to wet up all the flour, salt to taste, tnead lightly,put into j^ans, let it rise and then bake. Great care is needed at evei'v stage in making this bread ; the yeast should be used just when it passes from "the saccharine to the vinous fermentation, and before it gets the le.ist bit sour. Just at the same point the raised dough must be put into the oven. The dough should be as soft when put into the pans as it can be conveniently handled. Some kinds of flour will not make good salt- rising bread. The dish in which the yeast is stirred must be perfectly sweet or it will sour before it rises. There is no sweeter ct more ■wholesome bread than this when it is skill- fully made. To M«ke Hang-iiig BaskclS.— Take hoop- skirt wire cut in pieees one foot long, tie with strong thread in the sliape of (ho figure 8, tie each together lintil tJii re arc 2S • then take l)road wire that is on the bottom of hoop-skirts and pass through, over and un- der alternately, where they are tied at top and bottom, fastening the ends firmly together For the bottom take a ring lor the center with 8 rings around it, a piece of plain wire round the outside. Take two pieces of th* heaviest wire, each 83 feet long for handles, tie at top and bottom of the basket, leaving one end long enough to go accross the bottom through the rings. The two handles will cross each other at the center of the luiddla ring, also Avhere they come together at tliu top, and will need a hock of large rotiud wire bent eai'h way to hang up by, paint red, and varnish ; i:)ut tin-foil round the threads as the gilt paper is soon spoiled by the moi.s- ture. Line the basket with fresh green mo.'- s; on this place bottles of water containing stems of ivy, partridge berry vine, and other creepers ; arrange groups c-f pressed ferns tastefully in different parts of the basket and cover the top carefully with moss. Fill the bottles every two or three days as the water evaporates, but do not empty them for fear of disturbing the roots. Bright red paint is prettier for wire baskets as it never rivals the green of the leaves and flashes out here and there from them in a very enlivening way. A basket thus prepared will flourish even in a north room where the temperature does not go below 32°. Cohgll Mixtures. — The following cough mixture was originally prt scribed by Dr. Physic, of Philadelphia. Mix together three table-spoonfuls of niola.sses, two table-spoon- fuls of vinegar, one tju-spoouful of antimo- nial wine, and forty drops of latidanum. Take a tea-spoonful whenever you cough, or every two hours. Another remedy in cases of cough, espec- ially where debility accompanies a cold, is to make an infusion of wild cherry bark. Put a small handful of the chipped bark into a quart pitcherful of cold water, and let it steep lor several hours. Take half a wine- glassful three times a day. The dose may be increased gradually to a full glass, but if any headache ensues, lessen or discontinue the dose. It does not suit all constitutions, but generally acts as a fine tonic. To Cleanse Carpets.— Put four table- spoonsful of ammonia to one bucketful of water, with soap, scrubbing-brrsh and cloth ; scrub and wash the carpet just as you would an unpainted floor, changing the wa- tei- frequently. Leave the windows open and t le carj^et will soon dry. In cities where bituminous coal is used carpets are scrubbed a ^ re .^larly as wooden floors, and with Lapp efi'jctg. Instead of tixking up a carj^et c->.^y six weeks during the winter, as some iu mud- dj-^ districts think necessary, a careful w ping every week of the carpet M'ith a mop M-rung from clean water will remove the dust ai:d brighten the colors. A thorough sweeping should proceed this wiping up. lOE-CBEASl. 17 Ice-Cream. — Talie a tin pail liolding a gallon, and fill it half full of sweet milk, cream and all. This -will bo sufficient for six or eight persons. Into this put about a toacupfnl of white sugar and three or four tablespoonfiils of extract of lemon. These quantities may be varied to suit the taste. If you want it very rich add a couple of eggs, well beaten, as for cake ; but ordinary stom- achs will find the milk and its cream sufS- ciantly rich. Then take a piece of ice and put it in a wooden pail and shave it with an axe, aiming to get it as fine as possible, though some of it may be as coarse as hickory- nuts. Fill the 2">ail two-thirds full of ice, and add about a quart of rock salt ; this is best, but fine salt will do. Stir it thoroughly and pour it into another dish, leaving a little in the bottom of the pail. Upon this set the tin pail and fill in the space firmly with the ice and salt, being careful not ta get any into the cream. In a very few minutes it will begin to freeze on the bottom and sides of the pail. It should bo stirred as it freezes, which will make it foamy somewhat, and of even temperature. In a little while you will have an article that may aj^pear upon the tea-table, and that is both enjoyable and re- freshing. To Make Rice Glue. — This useful ce- ment is raado by mixing rice-flour thoroughly with cold water, and then gently boiling it. It is beautifully white and transparent. Papers pasted together l)y means of this cement will sooner separate in their own sub- stance than at the joining, which makes it extremely useful in the preparation of curious paper articles, such as tea-trays, ladies' dress- ing-boxes, and other articles which require layers of paper to be cemented together. It is in every respect preferable to common paste made with wheat-flouv for almost every purpose to which that article is usually ap- " plied. It answers well, in particular, for pasting into books the copies of writings taken o.T by copying-machines on thin copy- ing paper. With this composition, made with a comparatively small quantity of water, that it may have a consistency similar to plastic clay models, busts, statues, bas-reliefs, and the lilce, may be formed. When dry the articles made of it are susceptible of a high polish ; they are also very durable. Potato Salad. — A most delicious dish may be made in the following manner : Cut eight or ten good-sized cold lioilod potatoes in very thin slices ; chop half a small onion and a good-sized apple very fine ; pick the leaves from a largo handful of green parsley, rinse and chop them. Spread a layer of the potato in a chopping-tray, sprinkle liberally with salt, then half the parsley, apple, and onion ; then the rest of the i^otato, moro salt, and the other half of the parslej-, apple, and onion. Pour over the whole a half cnp of the best sweet-oil or melted butter, and two thirds of a cup of vinegar. Mix the whole carefully, so as not to break the potatoes ; put in a deep dish, and garnish with parsley. Suitable for lunch or tea. Boston Bro-wn Bread. — Scald thorough- ly three pints of corn-meal, add a half pint of molasses and water or milk enough to make a thin batter ; into this stir a quart of sifted rye-meal (not rye-flour) in which two teaspoonfuls of yeast-powder have been mixed ; add salt, and do not have the dough very stiff. Put in a pudding-pan M'ith a tight cover ; set into a kettle of boiling water and boil three hours, renewing the water as fast as it wastes and keeping it constantly at 212 degrees. If yeast is used to raise the bread instead of yeast-powder or soda and cream tartar, the dough must set till it begins to rise. Sour milk or buttermilk and soda may be used instead of yeast. Thus boiled or steamed it has no crust, and is a most deli- cious dish for a hungrj' man. Roast Pig. — Three or four weeks is the' right age to roast whole. Cut off the toes, ' leaving the skin long to wrap around the ends of the legs, and put it in cold water. Make a stuflSng of five or six powdered crackers, one tablespoonfnl of sage, two of Summer savory, one chopped onion, half a pint of cream, two eggs, pej^per and salt. Mix these together, and stew about fifteen minutes. Take the pig from the water, fill it with the staffing, and sew it up. Boil the liver and heart with five peppercorns, and chop fine for the gravy. Put the pig to roast with a pint of water and a tablesp, oonful of salt. When it begins to roast, flour it well and baste it with the drippings. Lake three hours. Brains. — To a cultivated appetite these are among the choicest jiarts of any animal. Brains should be soaked in water to remove all the blood from them; then Ihcy may be fried in butter till well done. A nice v ay of preparing them is to boil them m milk for about twenty minutes, pour oil the milk and pour over them vinegar. Cooked in this way they are as nice as pickled oysters, from which they can scarcely be told. A Brilliant "White-wasli. — Slake clean lumps of well-burned white lime. To five gallons of the wash thus made add a quarter of a pound of whiting, or of burnt alum pul- verized, half a pound of loaf-sugar, one quart and a half of rice flour made into a thin and well-boiled paste, and half a pound of white glue dissolved and boiled in water. Apply cold within doors, but warm outside. Thia will last many years. To Clean Old Prints. — Sponge them on both sides with clean M-ater, and then satu- rate them with the following mixture : j lb. chloride of lime, 2 oz. oxalic acid, and 1 qt. of water. Well sponge down with clean water, and a clean picture will be the result. On no account use (he above preparations on water colors, or prints colored by hand. To Exterminate Red Roaches. — Take flour of sulphur, half a pound ; j^otash, four otmces. Melt in an earthen pan over the fire ; pulverize, and make a strong solution in water, and sprinkle the i>laces which they frequent. ' 18 SOLUBIiE GLASS. Soluble Glass.— Take of pure sand, fif- teen parts, charcoal one part, and purified potash ten parts. Mix and heat iu a fire- proof melting-pot for five hours, or until the whole fuses uniformly. Take out the melted mass; and, when cold, powder it and dissolve it in boiling water. To Clean and Restore the Elasticity of Cane Chair-Bottoms. — Turn the chair bottom upward, tiud with hot water and f?ponge wash the cane ; work well, so that it is well soaked ; should it be dirty, use soap ; let it dry in the aii-, and it will be as tight and firm as new, provided none of the canes are broken. Remedy for Rheumatism.— Procure one pint of good alcohol ; add one pint of water ; make it sharp by adding red pepper pods of any kind, broken in small pieces. In twenty four hours it will be fit for use. Bathe the affected parts well and frequently, warming it iu by the stove, — the action of the heat being of great benefit. Imitation Meerschaum. — This can be carved like tne genuine article. Take com- mon potatoes peeled, and macerate them in water acidulated with eight per cent sul- phuric acid for thirty-six hours. Dry on blotting-paper, and for several days on plates of plaster of Paris in hot sand. The potatoes shoiild be strongly compressed while drying. A Cheap and GoodMouse-Trap.-Take the bowl of a clean clay pipe and fill it with cheese ; put it under the edge of a glass tum- bler in such a manner that a slight touch will cause the tumbler to slip ofi' — the bait and mouse of course underneath. This ar- rangement will catch more mice than any trap I ever saw, at the cost of one cent. Remedy for Poison by Ivy and Vines. — Dissolve sugar of lead — a bit the size of a hazleuut — in half a teacup of sweet milk or warm water. Apply as warm as can be easily borne with a soft, linty piece of linen rag. Three or four applications are suffici- ent to eff'ect a cure. If the poison is on the face and nearing the eyes or mouth, this as- tringent wash may be constantly applied. To Repair Cracks, Holes, &c., in Walls. — Equal parts of plaster of Paris and white sand — such as is used in most families for scouring purposes — mixed with water to a paste, a})plied immediately and smoothed ■with a knife or flat piece of wood, will make the broken place '"as good as new.'' The mixture hardens very qiiickly, so it is best to prepare but a small quantity at a time. Preserving Cast-Iron from Rust. — The Englltih Mechanic says cast-iron may be best preserved from rust "by heating it till, if touched with flax it causes it to frizzle," and then plunging into a vat of mixed oil and grease. It is said that ''The oleaginous matter actually penetrates the pores and prevents oxidation for a very long time, while it does not prevent painting, if desira- ble, afterward." To Make Pocket Mucilage.— Boil one pound of the best white glue, and strain verj' clear ; boil also four ounces of isinglass, and mix the two together; place them ma water bath (glue-kettie; with half apo'.ind of white sugar, and evaporate till the liquid is quite thick, when it is poured into moulds, dried and cut into pieces of convenient size. This immediately dissolves in water and fastens paper very firmly. Gems or Iron-clads. — Stir Graham flour into soft, cold water, making a batter a trifle thicker than for griddle-cakes. Drop from a spoon into the cups of the bread-pans, which are already heated, and bake in a hot oven. Take them from the pan as soon as they are done and arrange them on plates, taking care that no weights rest on them to make them heavy. These, after standing two or three days, are made as good as new by dipphig in cold water and setting in a hot oven a few minutes, or steaming overboiling water. All cakes of this kind are lighter and more delicate by being beaten ten or fifteen minutes while mixing the batter, but it is not necessary in order to make good bread. To Color Marble. — Marble can be stained difierent colors by the following sub- stances : ]51ue, solution of litmus; green, wax colored with verdigris ; yellow, tincture of gamboge or turmeric ; red, tincture of al- kanet or dragon's blood ; crimson, alkanet in turpentine ; flesh, wax tinged with turpen- tine ; brown, tincture of logwood ; gold, equal parts of verdigris, sal ammoniac, and sulphate of zinc in fine powder. Woodchuck Tanning. — The best way to tan woodchuck-skins with the hair on is to sprinkle salt and alum on the hides, roll them up and let them lie until the salt is melted. To tan without the hair on, put the hides into a bucket of ashes and water, let it lie imtil the hair comes off fully, then take the hair off, then put it (the skin) into soft soap, let it lie there until the lye eats the flesh off, then take it out and rub it dry over a smoke. Then you have a hide that can't be beat for toughness. Walnut Catsup. — Early in June take the walnuts, while soft enough to beat to a paste, and to every hundred thus prepared add two quarts or one gallon of vinegar and a handful of salt. Let it stand eight days in a stone jar, stirring it frequently. Then strain the liquor into a tin saucepan, boil it, and skim it well; add to it ginger, horse- radish, mustard-seed, a few cloves or garlic, and a little black pepper ; let it boil up once, pour it into an earthen pan, and when cold bottle it, dividing the ingredients between each bottle. The white Malnut is best suit- ed for naaking cat.sup, but as that can not be procured in all districts of the country, the l)lack walnut may be used, if gathered while tender enough for the rind of the nut to be easily pierced by a pin. "Walnut catsup is regarded by many as indispensable to boiled fresh fish, and especially grateful to the palate in the spring of the year. OtJRE FOB O-TABHH. iQ Cure for Catarrh. — A medical authority asserts that the severest catarrh cold can be removed iu about tea hours by a mixture of carbolic acid, teu drops, tincture of iodine and chloroform, each 7-5 drops. A few drops of the mixture should be heated over a spirit lamp in a test tube, the end of which should be applied to the nostrils as volatilization is effected. The-operation should be repeated in about two minutes, when after the patient sneezes a number of times, the troublesome I symptoms rapidly disappear. Remedy for Sore Throat. — "Simple, cheap, and sure," is the verdict of one who has tried the following remedy for a sore throat. The necessary drugs are an ounce of camphorated oil and five cents' worth of chlorate of potash. Whenever any soreness appears in the throat, put the potash in half a tumbler of water, and with it gargle the throat thoroughly, then rub the neck thor- oughly with the camphorated oil at night before going to bed, and also pin around the throat a small strip of woollen flannel. Soldering and Tinning Fluids. — The following compounds are useful for soldering or tinning : Tin, one part muriatic acid, with as much zinc as it will dissolve ; add two parts of water and some sal ammoniac. Brass and copper, one pound muriatic acid, four ounces zinc, five ounces sal ammoniac. Zinc, one pound muriatic acid, and two ounces sal ammoniac with all the zinc ic will dissolve, and three pints of water. Iron, on© pound of muriatic acid, six ounces spei"m tallow, four ounces sal ammoniac. Gold and silver, one pound muriatic acid, eight ounces sperm tal- low, and eight ounces sal ammoniac. Quick or Republican Cake. — Beat the yolks of six eggs with three-quarters of a pound of sugar. Whip up the whites, and add them to the yolks. Cream half a pound of butter with haif a pound of flour and put the eggs with this. Then add the other half of flour, and beat it well. Add to this one teaspoonful of soda and one of cream of tar- tar, with a teacupful of cream or milk. Sea- son it with lemon, or anything you like. Have your cake-tin ready, hurry it into the oven, and bake quickly. This is an excel- lent cake, whether eaten as a pudding, with hot sauce, or otherwise. Some prefer using only half a teaspoonful of soda and five eggs. If you have sour milk, cream of tartar may be wholly dispensed with. Strawberry Shortcake. — With one quart of sifted flour mix thoroughly two teaspoonfnls of cream-tarter and one of soda, or the equivalent of these in baking- powder, rub in a bit of butter the size of an egg, add a little salt, and sweet milk enough to form a soft dough. Uoll half an inch thick, and bake in a shallow pan fifteen or twenty minutes ; have ready two quarts of fine fresh strawberries ; split the cake, place half the strawlierries between, and cover thickly with white sugar and cream ; put the o^her half on the top, and cover in the same way ; serve "=! soon as done. ^.^ To Bleach Sponge.— Wash first in weak muriatic acid, then in cold water; soak in weak sulphuric acid, wash in water again, and finally rinse iu rose-water. To Clean a Crape Shawl.— Wash it in warm suds made of Mhite soap dissolved ; rub the spots gently, so as not to injure the texture ; rinse in blue water and twice in clear lukewarm water, and pin it to dry. To make Hard Soap— Take six pounds of sal soda, six pounds grease, three and a half pounds new stone lime, four gallons soft water, half pound borax. Put soda, lime, and water, into an iron boiler; boil till all is dissolved. When well settled, pour off the clear lye, wash out the kettle, and put in the lye, grease, and borax; boil till it comes to soap, pour into tub to cool ; and when suflScently hard, cut into bars and put on boards to dry. This is very nice for washing white flannel and calico. To make Blue-Black "Writing Ink. — The following is recommended as giving an excellent blue-black ink: Aleppo galls, bru- ised, 4| ounces; bruised cloves, ] drachm; cold water, 40 ounces ; sulphate of iron, 1 h ounces ; sulphuric acid, '3'> minims ; sul- phate of indigo, in thin paste, ^ ounce. Place the galls with the cloves in a fifly- ounce bottle, pour upon them the water, and digest, shaking often, for a fortnight. Press and filter through paper into another fifty-ounce bottle. Next, put in the iron, dissolved completely and filtered, then the acid, and shake briskly. Lastly, add tha indigo, and thoroughly mix by shaking. Filter again through paper. No gum or su- gar is required, and on no account must the acid be omitted. Ginger Champagne.— To prepare sixty gallons for marketable purposes, the first process is to put fifty-eight gallons of cold water in a copper boiler and add to it 158 pounds of the finest raw sugar and five pounds of bruised ginger. Let the mixture boil gent- ly for half an hour, taking care to remove all the scum which ri :es to the surface. Then draw out the liquor from the boiler and place it in coolers ; and after its temperature has been reduced to blood heat turn it into casks in which you have put thirty-six pounds of chopped raisins, six dozen of oranges, and six dozen of lemons sliced very thin. Add to the whole one quart of brewer's yeast, and let it ferment until it ceases to work. Now add one and a half gallons of proof spirits, and six ounces of isinglass, well dissolved in water, to refine the liquor. Stir this thor- oughly into the whole, and fisten up the cork for a month. Rack it o^Y and bottle it, and in a fortnight it is ready for use, but will keep for years if tightly corked. The pre- dominating flavor is ginger and champagne, whence its name. But if ginger is not rel- ished its use may be dispensed with, and eighteen dozen of oranges substituted, and it will then be orange champagne. Or three times the quantity of lemons may be added, and in that case the result will be lemon champagne. 50^ CHEAP STTMMEB BEVEEaGES. Cheap Summer Beverages. The following /vre not only simple and cheaiD beverages, but are also very pleasant and healthful: — Common Small Beer. — Add to a pailful ' of water a handful of hops, a pint of bran, half pint of molasses, a cup of yeast, and one large spoonful of sugar. Molasses Beer. — To six quarts of water, add two quarts of molasses, half a pint of yeast, two spoonfuls of cream tartar. Hav- ing stirred thoroughly add the grated peel of a lemon. Bottle after standing for twelve hours. ( Harvest Drink. — Mingle together five gallons of pure water, half gallon molasses, one quart of vinegar, and two ounces of powdered ginger. This drink is very invig- orating, and is the same thing as "Western Cider,"' the recipe of which has been selling for a high price through the country. \ Ginger Beer. — To a pail half-filled with boiling water add one pint of molasses and two spoonfuls of ginger ; when well stirred, fill the pail with cold water, leaving room for one pint of yeast, which must not be put in until the preparation becomes lukewarm. Place it on a warm hearth for the night, and bottle in the morning. \ White Spruce Beer. — Mix together three pounds of loaf sugar, five gallons of water, a cup of good yeast, adding a small piece of lemon-peel, and enough of the es- sence of spruce to give it flavor. When fermented, preserve in close bottles. Mo- lasses or common brown sugar can be used, if necessary, instead of loaf, and the lemon- peel left out. Sometimes, when finable to obtain the essence of spruce, we have boiled down the twigs. This will be found a de- lightful home drink. Root Beer. — Mix together a small amount of sweet fern, sar.saparilla, winter- green, sassafras. Prince's pine, a:id spice- wood. Boil them with two or three ounces of hops and two or three raw potatoes, pared and sliced iu three or four gallons of water. After boiling five or six hours, strain off the liquor, and add to it common molasses in the proportion of one quart to three gallons of the beer. If it is too thick, diliite it with vv'ater. A half poi .nd of browned bread added to the liquor, will increase its richness. Cream Soda. — To one gallon of watei*, add five pounds of loaf sugar, one ounce Ep- som salts, one ounce cream tartar, and five ounces tartaric acid. Boil the preparation well, skimming off the refuse matter accu- mulating upon the surface. After cooling, set it away in bottles iu a cool place. When desiring soda drinks, put two or three table- spoonfuls of this syrup into a tumbler two- thirds full of water; and one-fourth of a 'teaspoonful of super-carbonate of soda ; stir briskly, and the effervescence will be equal to that from fountain soda. The Epsom salts,cream of tartar, tartaric acid, and super- carbonate of soda, can be purchased for a small sum at any drug-store. To Mend Iron Pots.— Mix finely sifted lime with some white of an egg, till a thin kind of paste is formed, then add some iron filings. Apply this to the fracture, and the vessel will be found nearly as sound as ever. Varnisli for Maps, Drawings, &c. — Boil parchment cuttings in water, in a glazed earthen vessel, till they produce a very clear size ; strain it, and keep it, till wanted; then give the work two coats of the size, passing the brush quickly over the work so as not to disturb the colors. Imitation Ground Glass. — Dissolve 90 grains of sandarac and 20 grains of mastic in 2 oz. of washed ether, and add, iu small quantities, a sufliciency of benzine to make it dry with a suitable grain — too litile making the varnish too transparent, and excess makes it crapej'. The quantity of benzine required depends ujDon its quality — from ^ oz. to li oz., or even more, but the best re- sults are got with a medium qualitj\ It is important to use washed ether, free from spirit. Wet Boots. — When boots are wet through do not drj' them by the fire. As soon as they are taken off, fill them quite full with dry oats. This gruin will rapidly absorb every vestige of damp from the wet leather. As it takes up the moisture it swells and fills the l(Oot like a tightly fitting last, keeping its form good, and drying the leather with- out hardening it. In the morning shake out the oats and hang them in a bag near the fire to dry, ready for use on another oc- casion. Good Paste. — Paste that will keep un- changed in warm weather may be made in the following manner : Put a teaspoonful of powdered alum in two qnai'ts of water,and let it boil. Mix a piut of flour smoothly into a pint of cold water, and stir it into the boiling alum-watei% continuing the boiling and stirring until the flour is cooked, and the whole is clear, like starcli. Add to this about half a teasjioonful of essential oil of cloves or cinnamon, strain through a wire gauze or perforated tin strainer, and bottle in wide-mouthed jars, which should be corked to keep out dust. To Remove Black Lead, — From pol- ished steel sides of a grate, first wash them with strong soap and water, using old flan- nel for the purpose; then rub them with sweet oil and rotten stone; polish in. the usual manner with soft leather. To Clean Blankets. —When soiled they should be washed, and not scoured. Shake the dust from them, plunge them into plen- ty of hot soap-suds, let them lie till the hands can be borne in the water, wash quickly, rinse in new clean hot suds, shake thoroughly, stretch well, dry, and they will be as nice as new To Clean Brass. — Eotten stone 2 oz., oxalic acid i oz., sweet oil | of an oz., tur- pentine enough to make a paste. Apply with a little water. BKOKZE rOE SMALL CASTLNGa. 21 Eron:::3 far Small Castings. — Fuse to- geiher !).') parts of copper by weight aud 3(J parts of tiu. To Drill Glass. — Moisten the tool with dilute su^)huric acid. This last is better than tnrpentiue. Chocolate Frosting. — Whites of three eggs, one and a half caps sngar,one teaspoou- ful of vauiUa, three heaj^ing teaspoonfiils of scraped chocolate. To Make Wrinkled Silk appear like New. — Sponge on the surface with a weak solution of gum-arabic of white glue, and iron on the wrong side. Good Fruit Cake. — Four cups flour, two of sugar, one of butter, four eggs, one half pound of raisins, one half pound of citron, one cup of milk, a small teaspoonful of soda. To Clean Black Kid Gloves.— Take a teaspoonful of salad oil, drop a few drops of ink in it, and rub it over the gloves with the tip of a feather ; then let them dry in the son. To niaks Awnings "Waterproof. — Plunge first into a solution containing 20 per cent soap, and afterward in another so- lution containing the same percentage of copper. "Wash afterwards. Fireproof Glue.— A handful of quicklime, mixed in four ounces of linseed oil and boiled to a good thickness, makes, when spread on plates and hardened, a glue which can be used in the ordinary way, but will re- sist fire. To Remove the Gloss from Black Silk. — When this gloss is caused by con- stant wear, moisten the silk with a sponge, lay a damp cloth over it, and pass a hot iron quickly over the cloth several times till it is quite dry. Raised Cake. — Five cups of flour, one of butter, one-half cup of yeast, three cups of milk. E,ub the butter into the flour, add milk and yeast, and set it to rise ; when risen, work in the sugar, add spice to taste ; when raised, put in with a fork one cup of floured raisins. To V/ash Calico without Fading. — Infuse 3 gills of salt in 4 quarts of water. Put in the calico while the solution is hot, and leave until the latter is cokl. It is said that in this way the colors are rendered permanent and will not fade by subsequent washing. Sugar Cakes. — One pint dry flour, one- half a pint of butter, one half of sugar, mix the flour and sugar, rub in the butter, add an egg beaten with enough milk to moisten the whole ; roll thin and bake in a quick oven. These recipes are for those who have few eggs or none. To Put a Gloss on Linen.— Add to the starch a little sugar or white wax or butter, iron in the usual way. Then pass a damp cloth over the linen, lay it on a smooth board, and polish with a ))olishing-iron made for the purpose and sold in house-furnishing stores for about a dollar. Cure for Chilblains. — Glycerine, one ounce ; carbolic acid, one-half a dram ; mix and apply night and morning. If the sufler- ing is severe, soak the feet every night in a tea made of white oak bark. This remedy is said to be infallible. To Clean Cider Barrels. — Pour in lime water, and then insert a trace chain through the bung hole, remembering to fasten a strong cord on the chain so as to pull it out again. Shake the barrel until all the mold inside is rubbed oS". Einse with water, and finally pour in a little whisky. To Bake Beans. — Pick them over care- fully, soak them over night in plenty of water, in the morning parboil till soft, then skim them out into an earthen pot, salt (o taste, cover with water, score a piece of fat salt pork, put in the top of the pot, cover the whole with a tight tin cover or a crust of pie paste, and bake slowly six hours. Tapioca Pudding. — Dis.solve a teacnpful of tapioca in a quart of water over night. In the morning pour off the water, and boil it in a quart of milk, with two teacupfuls of sugar. Pare and core eight apples, filling the opening with a lump of sugar and a bit of cinnamon ; put in a baking-dish and pour the tapioca over them. Bake two hours; serve cold. Chocolate Cake.— Two cups of powdered sugar, one cup of butter mixed with the su- gar until it is a perfect cream, then add the yolks of five eggs and the whites of three beaten to a stiff froth ; one cup of milk, one half teaspoonful soda, one teaspoonfid cream tartar, three and a half cups of sifted flour. Chocolate Filling for the Cake.— One half cake of Baker's chocolate grated fine, one cup of sugar, one egg, milk enough to moisten, let all boil together nntil quite thick, flavor with vanilla and spread while hot between the cakes, which should bo baked in jelly pans. Fruit Pudding. — Chop six apples fine, grate six ounces of stale bread, add six ounces of brown sugar, six ounces of cur- rants, washed carefully and floured. Mix all well together with six ounces of butter, a cup of milk and two cups of flour in which two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder have been thoroughly mixed. Spice to taste. If nec- essary add more milk in mixing. Put in a pudding bag, tie loosely, and boil three hours. This pudding should be eaten with cream sauce. To Make Super-Phosphate.— Get all the bones you can find. Put into a wide wooden trough 500 or 1,000 pounds at a time ; tako pure sulphuric acid, (GO deg. quality,) at the rate of two carboys to a ton of bones. Mix half and half with warm water, and apply directly over the bones. Sj^rinkle ovesthe top with dirt; allow them to remain a day or two, and uncovering, tho bones will fall to pieces at the slightest touch. Spread out on the floor to dry, and yon will have a super-phosphate better than can be boucrht, _, — ■ "v. 28 TO CLEAN GUKS AKD EIFLES. ' To Clean Guns and Rifles. — Guns and rifles may be easily cleaned from lead by the following : If a muzzle-loader, stop up the nipple or communication-hole with a little ■wax, or if a breach-loader insert a cork in the breach rather tightly ; next pour some quicksilver into the barrel, and put another cork iu the muzzle, then proceed to roll it lip and down the barrel, shaking it about for a few minutes. The mercury and the lead will form an amalgam, and leave the barrel as clean and free from lead as the first day it came out of the shop. The same quicksilver can be used repeatedly by strain- ing it through wash-leather ; for the lead will be left behind in the leather, and the qiaick- eilver will be again fit for use. To Color Light "Woods. — Light woods may be dyed by immersion. A fine crimson is made as follows : Take one pound of ground Brazil, boil in three quarts of water, add one-half ounce of cochineal, and boil an- other half hour ; may be improved by wash- ing the wood previously with one-half ounce satfron to one quart of water; the wood should be pear wood or sycamore. Purple satin : One pound logwood chips, soak iu three quarts of water, boil well an hour ; add four ounces pearl-ash, two ounces pow- dered indigo. Black may be produced by copperas and nut-galls, or by japanning with two coats of black jnpan, after which, var- nish, or polish, or use size and lamjiblack previous to laying on japan. A blue stain : One pound of oil of vitriol put in a glass bottle with four ounces indigo, lay on the same as black. A fine green : Three pints of the strongest vinegar, four ounces best powdered verdigris, (poison.) one-half ounce sap-green, one-half ounce indigo. A bright yellow may be stained with aloes ; the whole may be varnished or polished. To Crochet a Ereakfa.st Shawl. — Make a chain corresponding in length to the desii-ed size of the shawl around the neck. Crochet a row of double stitch on this chain, putting a stitch iu each loop of the chain. Between the first and second stiches of this row attach three double stitches; between the fourth and fifth, three ; between the seventh and eighth, three. Continue in the same manner until the middle of the chain is reached, where six stitches should be made. The last half of the row is to bo crocheted like the first half. The work will now appear divided, into clusters of three stitches each. For tho next row crochet three stitches between the first and second stitches of the first cluster, three after it and every succeeding cluster, six between the two clusters' that mark (he middle, and three between the last two stitches of the last clus- ter. Each x-emaining row to be worked in the same manner, taking care always to work one cluster between the two stitches at each end of the row, and two clusters exactly in the middle. Vvldencd in this way the bottom of the shawl will describe tho two equal sides of the right-angled triangle. Table for Sign Painters, or others vrho have occasion to make Letter- ing. — Supposing the height of the capital letters to be ten, the widths are as follows : B, F, P, ten: A, C, E, D, G, H, K, N.O, Q, R, T, V, X, and Y. eleven : I, five : J, eight : S and L, nine : M and W, seventeen : Z and &, twelve : Numerals : 1 equals five • 2, 3, f), 7, 8, nine : 4, eleven : C, 9, 0, ten. Lower cijse letters (height six and a half) : "Width : a, b, d, k, p, q, x, and z, seven and a half: c, e, o, s, seven : f, i, j, 1, t, three : g, h, n, u, eight : m, thirteen : r, v, y, six : w, ten. To Roast a Goose. — Ijet the bird be about eight months old, and killed at least twenty-four hours before it is cooked. The fatter it is the better. Remove every piu feather, singe carefully, draw and take away* everything not eatable from the neck and body. All the loose fat should be removed and tried out by itself. Take the neck, middle joint of the wings, liver, heart, and gizzard, and stew them together gently for several hours. They will make a nice pie. For the stufiing take two large ouions chop- ped fine, a tablespoonful of pulverized sage, a teaspoonful of black pepper, and two tea- spoonfuls of salt, adding a little crumbled bread. Goose is strong food, and requires strong dressing. AVhen the body of the bird is stuSed, close the opening to keep the steam in and the fat out. Put butter or a slice of fat pork on the breast when the goose is put in the oven, but do not put any water in the dripping-pan. Bake two hours, basting every 20 or ">0 mimites with the fat in the pan. When the goose is done remove from the pan, pour off the fiit rnd set it away, add to (he brown gravy in the pan the gravy from the giblets, bring (he whole (o a boil and serve. Apple sauce and onion sauce are proper accompaniments to roast goose. Recipes for Bleaching Muslin. — For every five pounds dissolve twelve ounces chloride of lime in a small quantity of soft boiling water. "When cold strain into it enough water to cover the goods. Boil them fifteen minutes in strong soap-suds, wring out in clear cold water, then put the goods into the chloride of lime solution from ten to thirty minxites, with frequent airings ; rinse well and dry the goods ; then scald in clear soft water and dry. An excellent bleaching fluid is made by boiling together one gallon of water, two ounces of pearlash, two ounces salts of tartar, and a quarter of a pound of hard soap. One pint of this mix- ture is to be put into one tub of clothes, which should bo soaked over night and ■washed as usual (he next day. Those who have plenty of sour milk may ]>leach mus-lin in the following manner: Boil (hick sour milk, strain it into a stone pot, and then put in whatever is to be bleached ; let it remain there a few days, turning and airing it thrice a day, wring out, wash in cold soft water, and spread in the hot sun. Repeat the pro- cess if necessary. TO MAKE GKEEN GOLD. 23 To make Green Gold. — Melt together niueteen grains pure gold and five grains pure silver. Tlie metal thus prepared has a beautiful green shade. To Remove Freckles. — Talce a pint of sour milk, and a small quantity of horserad- ish. Let the mixture stand over night, and use it as a wash three times a day until the freckles disappear. Metal for Defective Castings. — Lead 9 parts, antimony 2 parts, and bismuth 1 part, is an alloy which expands on cooling, and which will be found useful in filling small defects in iron casting, &o. Sick Headache. — Two teaspoonfuls of finely-powdered charcoal, drank in a hair tumbler of water, Mill often give relief to sick headache, when caused, as in most cases it is, by a superabuudance of acid on the stomach. To Remove Warts. — Dr. Guttceit re- commends rubbing warts, night and morn- ing, with a moistened piece of muriate of ammonia. They soften and dwindle away, leaving no such white mark as follows their dispersion with lunar caustic. Solder for Brazing Steel. — Very use- ful in case of a valve-stem or other light por- tion breaking when it is important that the engine should continue work for some time longer: Silver I 'J parts, copper I part, brass 2 parts. If practicable, charcoal-dust should be strewed over the melted metal of the crucible. Corumeal Pudding. — Two pints meal, one pint grated bread, one of molasses, one of brown sugar, one of sour milk, two table- spoonfuls butter, a half teaspoonful of gin- ger and two of cinnamon, three eggs, half a teaspoonful soda; slice soft, jucy apples, and add one teacupful, if liked ; bake half an hour. Sauce — cream and sugar. To Case Harden Small Cast-Iron "Work. — Make a mixture of equal parts of pulverized prussiate of potash, saltpetre, and sal ammoniac. The articles must be heated to a dull red, then rolled in this powder, and afterward plunged in a bath of 4 ounces of sal ammoniac and 2 ounces of prussiate of potash dissolved in a ^illon of water. House'work Hints — If stove-polish is mixed with very strong soapsuds, the lustre appears immediately, and the dust of the polish does not fly around as it usually does. Dry paint is removed by dipping a swab with a handle in a strong solution of oxalic acid. It softens at once. Water lime applied with ft dry, soft cloth, will give glass a nice, clear cast. Curing Croup. — Cronp can be cured in one minute, and the remedy is simply alum and sugar. The way to accomplish the deed is to take a knife and gi-ate or shave off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum, then mix it with twice its quantity of sugar to make it palatable, and administer it as quickly as possible. Almost instantaneous relief will follow. Grits Pudding •with Apples. — Take ten apples, pared and quartered, cover the bottom of yoiiv pudding-dish, sprinkle a littl* sugar and grate a little nutmeg over them ; cover this with well-boiled grits, sei soned with butter (as for breakfast;, then another layer of apples, and so on until the dish is full. Bake until the apples are well done, and eat with sweet cream. Good cold or hot. Boiled Sweetbreads. — The best way to cook sweetbreads is to boil them thus : Par- boil them, and then put them on a clean gridiron for broiling ; when delicately browned take them otf and roll in melted butter in a plate to prevent their being dry and hard. Some cook them on a griddle, well buttered, turning frequently ; and some put narrow strips of fat salt pork on them while cooking. Stewed Shoulder of Mutton. — The shoulder must not be too fat. Bone it, tie it up in a cloth, and boil it for two hours and a half. Take up, put a little cold butter over it and strew it thickly with bread-crumbs, parsley and thyme, pepper and salt, all prop- erly mixed. Let it be in the oven half an hour, so that it may be perfectly browned. Serve it with lumps of currant jelly on the top and gravy or spinach round the di.sh. Pie-Crust. — The most healthy pie-crust is made of thin sweet cream and flour, with a little salt. Don't knead this. Bake in a quick oven. Another way is, sift a quart or two of flour in the pan. Stir in the centra a little salt and half a tecspoouful of soda well pulverized. Now put in the hole a cup of soft (not liquid) lard, orbuttterand hird mixed ; stir it thoroughly with the flour ; next add two scant cups of good sour milk or buttermilk. Stir all quickly with the flour, in such a way that you need hardly touch it with your hands till you can roll it out. Bake quick. This will make three or four pies. To make Imitation Gold. — The fol- lowing recipes for metals resembling gold are said to produce a metal which will so nearly approximate the genuine as almost to defy detection, without a resort to thorough tests : Fus'.'. together with saltpetre, sal am- moniac, and powdered charcoal, 4 parts platinum, 2^ parts pure copper, 1 part pur^ zine, 2 parts block tin, and ^k parts pure lead. Another good recipe calls for 2 parts platinum, 1 part silver, and 3 parts copper. To make Perpetual Paste — which will remain sweet for a year — dissolve a teaspoon- ful of alum in a quart of water, to which add sufiBcient flour to make a thick cream. Stir in half a teaspoonful of powdered resin and half a dozen cloves, to give a pleasant odor. Have on the fire a teacup of boiling water, pour the flour mixture into it, stirring well at the time. In a few minutes it will be of the consistence of mush. Pour it into an earthen vessel ; let it cool ; lay a cover on, and put it in a cool place. When needed for use, take out a poxtion and soften it with warm water. 24 TO MAE3 SIIIPLE AXD PRETTY FEAMES. To Make Simple and Pretty Frames. Leuf pictiue-fraines, if neatly uiaJe, aie buit- able tor cheap prints that oue may desire to frame without the expense of u glass even. Take a piece of plaueii Loard of the size re- quired, bind the edges with any fancy paper, attach the screws and coril, paste the picture ou very solidly, excluding all air, and hang it np to dry. Then take pressed autumn leaves of all sizes and shapes and arrange tastefully about the margin, fastening them ■with gum arable or flour paste, pressing them down carefully from base to point. Most of the steius will have to be removed, as they are in the way and do not stick well. Hang np again until quite dry — which will proba- bly be the next day — then neatly brush the whole, leaves, picture and all, with white varnish. ' To Mount Chromos. — Take common bleached muslin (heavily starched is best), make a thick flour paste, cook till clear, then strain. Saturate the cloth with the paste, lay the chrumo on the cloth face up ; turn over and smooth out all the wrinkles and air-putis. Have a stretch-frame prepared of the proper size made of |-inch soft wood, niitered and well nailed. Lay the chromo on the frame — back on frame. Commence in centre of frame and drive a tack on each side, drawing the chromo moderately tiglit. Then alternate from side to side, driving a tack on each side. 1 .j inches from last tack, drawing the canvas gently (but not too tight), both sidewise and endwise of the frarhe — this olniates the difficulty of puckering on the corners. The end is not so particular, only to draw quite tight. If it is not smooth when first finished, it will be all right Mhen it dries. You can then varnish with best ■white varnish after it is dry. To make the Eggs of Pharaoh's Ser- pents. — These are little cones of sulphocy- anide of mercury, which, when lighted, give forth a long, serpent-like, yellowish brown body. Prep re nitrate of mercury by dis- solving red precipitate in strong nitric acid, as long as it is taken up. Prepare also sul- phocyanide of ammonium by mixing 1 vol- ume sulphide of carbon, 4 strong solution of ammonia, aiul four alcohol. This mixture is to be frequently shaken. In the course of about two hours, the disulphide will have been dissolved, forming a dee^D red solution. Boil this until the red color disappears and the solution becomes of a light yellow color. This is to be evaporated at about SO degrees Fah., until it crystalizes. Add little by lit- tle the sulphocyanide to the mercurysolution. The sulphocyanide of mercury will precipi- tate : the supernatant liquid maybe poured olf. and the mass made into cones of about half an inch in height. The powder of the Bulpho'-yaiiide is very irritating to the air- passages, and the vapor from the burning conesshiiuM be avoided as much as possible. To ignite them set them on a plate or the like, and light them at the apes of the coue. The Art of Ballooning.— The lifting strain of a balloon is principally ou (he net. If a balloon will stand inflation, it is safe in mid-air. In winter, the atmosphere is warmer one mile above the clouds than it is at the earth's surface. The weight of a bal- loon to carry one man, including net and basket, should not exceed SO lbs. A cotton balloon will last for about sixty ascensions. A balloon thirty feet iu diameter undergoes a strain of 1 5^ lbs. to the square foot of sur- face. Gas, which at the earth fills the bag only half full, will, at an elevation of Sh miles, expand so as to fill it completely. One thousand feet of coal gas will raise 08 lbs. Gas which gives a poor light is the best for aerostatics. Kites can be used to steer balloons by sending them up or lower- ing them into currents of air travelling in different directions from that in which the balloon is sailing. The Heliotype Process of Engrav- ing. — Ordinary gelatine is di.s.«olved in warm water, and a sufficient quantity of bi-chro- mate of potash is added to render it sensitive to light, and of alum to make it very hard and durable. This solution is poured on a level plate, previously rubbed over with wax, and is dried by means of heat. As soon as dry, or when required for use, the sheet of gelatine is stripped from the plate, and printed under a photograjihic negative. When the picture appears sufficiently plain, the sheet of gelatine is taken from under the negative, and by atmospheric pressure made to adhere to a metal plate. The sheet of gelatine and the metal plate are put together under water ; as much of the water as possi- ble is got rid of from between the two sur- faces, the gelatine absorbs the remainder, so that a vacuum is created, and the picture is thus attached to the plate by the pressure of the atmosphere. The superlluous chemicals are soaked out with water ; and the plate, with the printing surface of gelatine attached, is placed on an ordinary platen printing- press, and inked up with ordinary ink. In printing, it is necessar\' occasionally to dampen the plate with water. A mask of paper is used to secure white margins for the prints; the impression is then pulled, and is ready for issue. Two or more inks are sometimes used in the production of one pic- ture, as it is found that where the light has acted deeply a stiff ink is required, but where it has acted not so deeply — that is, in the half tones — a thinner ink may be used. £0 that a stiff ink is first used for the shadows, and a thinner ink afterward for the half-tones. In this manner three or four inks may be used-in printing one impression. The effect of India or other colored tint is obtained by using, instead of ordinary M'ater for dampen- ing the plate, water with some color in it. The paper absorbs a certain amount of water from the plate, and with it a certain amount of color. The ordinary rollers are not found to be satisfactory, and a mixture of gelatine, glycerine, and castor-oil is used. NICE GINGEKBKEAD. 25 Nice Gingerbread. — One cup of mo- lasses; one cup of thick, rich cream ; onetea- fipoonfnl of saleratus mixed with the cream; one teaspoonfiil ginger, one well-beaten egg, with a little salt. Bake in a quick oven. Potato Puff. —Two cups of cold, mashed potatoes ; stir in two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, hefitiiig to a cream ; add two well-beaten eggs, one cup of cream or milk ; ponr into a deep dish. Bake in a quick oven. Jelly Rolls. — Take three eggs, half a cup of sugar, a cup or flour, a teaspoonful of soda, or, in lieu of the soda and creara tartar, one and a half teaspoonfuls of baking- powder ; bake in thin cakes; spread with jelly, and roll up with the jelly side in ; cut iu slices across the roll. Oatmeal Porridge. — Make a pudding o oatmeal so thin that it can be poured from the spider; let it cook slowly for a short time; and, instead of boiling the milk with it as we do iu corn-meal or flour porridge, drop the pudding with a spoon into each one's bowl ot cold, rich milk. Coffee Cake. — One and a half cups of sugar, one cup of molasses, one cup of butter, one cup of coffee, three eggs, one teaspoonful of soda, live and u half cups of flour, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and nut- meg. The raisins to be stoned and rubbed in a little of the flour before being added to the mixture. Oatmeal Pancakes. — Stir into four cup- fuls of cold water a teaspoonful of salt.a large handfid of Graham flour and oatmeal till you have a thin batter. Bake at once on a very hot griddle. We think the Graham flour improves the pancakes, as they are more easily turned and not quite so dry as when oatmeal only is used. "When preferred, one cup of water ca7i \)'i left out, using instead of it a cupful of buttermilk and a teaspoonful of soda. Raspberry Cream. — Rub a quart of raspberries, or raspberry-jam, through a hair sieve, to take out the seeds; then mix it well with creara, and sweeten with sugar to taste ; put it into a stone jug, and raise a froth with a chocolate-mill; as the froth rises take it off with a spoon, and lay it up- on a hair sieve. When you have got as much froth as yon want, put what cream re- mains into a deep China dish, or punch-bowl, and pour frothed cream upon it, as high as it will lie on. Fruit Pudding. — Make a crust of Graham flour, sour cream, soda, and a pinch of salt. Pass the flour through a coarse sieve, so as to relieve it of the larger bits of bran. For a family of six persons line a quart basin with the crust, a quarter of an inch thick. Fill the basin thus lined, with fruit— plums or peaches are best. Let the fruit be of the choicest variety. Cover the whole with a rather thick crust, and steam until the crust is thoroughly cooked. Serve v.'ith white sugar and thick sweet cream. Very Adhesive Mucilage. — The addi- tion of a solution of 30 grains of crystallized sulphate of alumina in 300 grains of water, to a solution of I0.')() grains of gum arabic in 202.") grains of water, affords a mucilage that will fasten lightly sized paper, printing- paper, &c., or wood to wood, paper to metal, &c. Oatmeal Gems. — Take three and one- half ciipfuls of cokl water, a teaspoonful of salt, and enough oainieal to make the batter about as thick as iov pancakes. Let it stand a few minutes; then fill the gem-irons nearly fall and bake about twenty minutes in a very hot oven, or a .small dripping-pan can be used instead of the irons. Dyeing Easter-Eggs.— In Paris, where more than a million of these eggs are sold during the season, the red ones, M'hich are the favorites, are dyed by boiling (not vio- lently, however.) about five hundred at a time, packed in a basket, in a decoction of logwood, and tlien adding some alum to convert the violet color to red. Various aniline dyes are also used for a similar purpose. Cabbage Salad.— Shave a hard white cabbage into small white strips ; take the yolks of three well-beaten eggs, a cup and a iudf of good cider vinegar, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, three tablespoonfuls of thick cream, one teaspoonful of mustard mixed in a little boiling water; salt and pepper to suit the taste. -Mix : 11 but tlie eggs together and let it boil ; then stir in the eggs rapidly ; stir the cabbage into the mixture, ami stir well. It kee],\s perfectly, and is an excellent relish to all kinds of meat. Oatmeal Mush. — Into one quart of boil- ing water stir a teaspoonful of salt and suffi- cient oatmeal to nudce a thin pudding. Stir ra- pidly to prevent scorchiug.and when it is jnst thick enough to keep its shape dip out into a bowl or deep dish, and in a few moments it can be turned on to a plate. This is a nice breakfast dish eaten warm with butter and sugar ; or. when cold, with cream and sugar. For variety, at dinner, we sometimes use a dressing similar to that made for. dumplings, with the addition of a tablespoonfid of strawlierry preserves, or a little juice of some acid fruit. Apple Snow. — Pare and core eight or ten tart, juicy apples ; boil them in water suffi- cient to cover them, till they are soft, taking care to keep them whole ; fhen]enn)ve them from the stew-paii, making a syrup of nice, white sugnr, and replace them; let them siinmer slowly till they are amber-colored, then place iu a glass preserve-dish; beat fo a stiff froth ; the whites of eight eggs, and two-thirds of a cup of sugar, and spi-ead over the top. It is improved by being kept on ice, and is grateful to the eye aiul palate, either for dessert or for tea. The yolks of the eggs may be used in making a boiled custard. 23 G2EMAN WAFFLEa. German "Wafiles. — Half a pound of but- ter stirred to a cream, the yolks of five eggs stirred into half a pound of flour, half a jiiut of milk gradually stirred in, and lastly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and added to the butter. This recipe fur- nishes very rich and delicious cakes. To be baked in well-greased waffle-irons, as usual. Cloth Mittens. — Take any soft, strong cloth, of all wool, and the same amount of Canton flannel, if you have it ; let the hand be laid flat on a piece of paper, marked round with a pencil, then cut out a pattern, allow- ing for seams; cut the lining bias so as to have a spring to it, stitch the flannel and lining separate, turn the seams together in- side, bind the wrist, leaving the mitten open two inches on the under part of the hand, work a button-hole on one side, sew a strong button on the other, and you will have a du- rable mitten. Apple Biead, — Weigh one pound of fresh juicy apples ; peel, core, and stew them into a pulp, being careful to use a porcelain kettle or a stone jar, placed inside a kettle of boiling water ; mix the pulp with two pounds of the best flour ; put in the same quantity of yeast you would use for common bread, and as much water as will make it a fine, smooth dough; put it into a pan and place it in a M'arm place to rise, and let it remain for twelve hours at least. Form it into rather long-shaped loaves, and bake in a quick oven. Naphthylamine Colors for Printing on Fabrics. — A mixture having the proper- ties of aniline black, which is said to produce fast colors, and is adapted to printing on fvbrics may be obtained by addiug on oxidi- zing agent, as chlorate of potash, a copper salt, or hydrofluosilicic acid to a iiaphthy la- mina salt, such as the nitrate, acetate, or chloride. The fabric printed with it must be exposed to the air for some time, then be passed through a bath of bichromate of pot- ash, to which sulphuric or nitric acid has been added, and finally, if a beautiful brown or brownish-violet is desired, must be dip- ped in a solution of an alkaline chloride. The colors produced are permanent. MufEus of Stale Bread. — In every family bread is apt, to accumulate, and the good economist always manages to dispose of it in some useful way before it moulds. The following recipe teaches the easiest way of making such a disposition, and will be found reliable : Take a quart loaf of bread, slice it, and put it in a bowl, and pour on sufficient water to cover, and let it stand until well soaked : then press the water from it, and mash the bread until no lumps re- main. Add two thoroughly beaten eggs, two table-spoonfnls of floiir, one of melted butter or lard, a little salt, a very small por- tion of soda (unless the bread or milk is sour, when more will be required), and milk en'Jagh to make it into a stiff batter. Bake in muffin-rings or drop from a spoon npon a griddle. To Make an Antique Bronze. — The repeated applications, to copper or brass, ol alternate Ma.shes of dilute acetic acid and exposure to the fumes of ammonia will give a very antique-looking green bronze ; but a quick mode of producing a similar appear- ance is often desirable. To this end the ar- ticles may be immersed in a solution of one part perchloride of iron in two parts water. The tone assumed darkens with the length of immersion. Or the articles may be boiled in a strong solution of nitrate of copper. Or, lastly, they may be immersed in a solu- tion of two ounces nitrate of iron and two ounces hyposulphite of soda in one pint water. Washing, di'ying, and burnishing, complete the process. Box Measures. — Farmers and market gardeners will find a series of box measures very useful ; and they can be readily made by any one M'ho understands the two-foot rule, and can handle the saw and the ham- mer. A box K! by ](j^ inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain a bushel. or2ir>0 i cubic inches, each inch in depth holding one gallon. A box 24 by 11 1-5 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will also contain a bushel, or 21.">0.4 cubic inches, each inch in depth holding one gallon. A box 12 by 11 1-5 inches square, and 8 inches deep will contain half a bushel, or 1075.2 cubic inches, each inch in depth holding half a gallon. A box 8 by 8^ inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain half a peck, or 298.8 cubic inches. The gallon dry measure. A box 4 by 4 inches square, and 4 1-5 in- ches deep, will contain one quart, or 67.2 cubic inches. Measuring Land. — One acre contains 160 square rods, 4,840 square yards, 43.560 square feet. One rod contains :'0^ square yards, 272|^ square feet. One square yard contains 9 square feet. THE SIDE OF A SQUIKE TO CONTAIN Feet. Eods. Paces. One acre 208.71 12.65 64 Half acre 147.58 8.94 45 Third acre 120.50 7.30 37 Fourth acre 104.38 6.32 32 Eighth acre 73.79 4.47 22i HOW TO ESTIMATE CEOPS PEB ACRE. Frame together four light sticks, measur- ing exactly a foot square inside, and, with this in one hand, walk into the field and se- lect a spot of fair average yield, and lower the frame square over as many heads as it will inclose, and shell out the heads thus in- closed carefully, and weigh the grain. It is fair to presume that the proportion will be the 43.5G0th part of an acre's produce. To prove it go through the field and make ten or twenty similar calculations, and estimate by the mean of the whole number of results. It will certainly enable a farmer to make a closer calculation of what a field will pro- duce than he can by guessing. A TJSEyTrL SOAP. 27 A Useful Soap. — The following is com- mor.tkxl iiy those who b;ivo tried it for scrub- bing find cleansing painted floors, washing dishes, and other household purposes. Take two potiiids of wliite olive sonp and shave it in thin slices; add two ounces of borax and two (juarts of cold water; stir all together in a stone or earthen jar, and let it set upon the hacli of the stove until the mass is dissolvpd. A very little heat is required, as the liquid need not simmer. "When thoroughly mixed and cooled, it l)ecomes of the consistence of a thick jelly, and a piece the size of a cubic inch will make a lather for a gallon of ■water. Irish Potato Soup — Take a quart of nice potatoes, jieel, £iik1 boil them in a gal- lon ot' water. When the potatoes are well done, take tliem out and mash fine. Season with pepper, salt, and butter, two onions chopped up. or a bunch of celery, and a lit- tle thyme if preferred. Keturn them to the boiling water, and let it boil fifteen minutes. Beat up light two eggs, into which stir a cupful of sweet cream, and add to the soup. Two or three slices of toasted bread are an improvement, put in with the egg and cream. Let it boil up once, and it is ready to serve. Raspberry Vinegar. — Pour over one pound of bruised berries one quart of the best cider vinegar ; next day strain the liq- uor on one pound of fresh ripe raspberries, bruise them also, and on the following day do the same. Do not squeeze the fruit, only drain the liquor thoroughly. Put the juice into a stone jir and add sugar in proportion of one pound to a pint. When the sugar is melted, jilace the jars in a saucepan of water, which heat; skim the liquor, and, after it has simmered for a few minutes, remove from the fire, cover, and bottle. Stained and Polished Floors. — A correspondent who thinks that carpets are too expensive for daily use and that some- thing that is cheaper and at the same time more easily kept clean is needed, says that a friend's hall and kitchen were floored, as he supposed with black walnut and pine ; but he was informed that the owner had caused the floors to be smoothly laid, and with his own hands had stained each alternate board a dark color, and then with shellac had fin- ished the whole with a fine polish. He says : "I shall have my hall and dining-room floors planed smoothly and evenly by a carpenter, and then myself rub carefully with a sponge or brush, avoiding any daubs over the seam, into each alternate board a staii\ prepared as follows: One-qttarter of aponndot'asphal- tum and half a pound of beeswax; if too light in color, add asphaltum, thotigh that must be done with caution, as very little will graduate the shade, and black walnut is not what its name indicates, but a rich dark brown ; or burned umber in alcohol, to the proper consistency of easy application, may be used without the beeswax ; and. after a thin coat of shellnc has been laid over the whole and the smfuce smoothed over with sandpaper, a coat of common varnish will give it a splendid finish. A breadth of car- pet or matting, or a jiiece of oilcloth laid down, will protect it where the greatest wear comes. The narrower the floor the finer will be the efl"ect ; but in any case it will excite your own and your friends' ad- miration and prove a joy forever." Remedial Properties of Borax. — It may be interesting to some to know that a weak solution of borax-water snuffed up the nostrils, causing it to pass through to the nasal passage to the throat, thencjacting it from the mouth, will greatly relievo catarrh, and in cases not too obstinate or long-standing, will, if persevered in, effect a permanent cure. It is also of great value in case of inflamed or weak eyes. Make a sol- ution (not too strong), and bathe the eye by opening and shutting it two or three times in the water. This can be done by means of an eye-cup, or equally well liy holding a handful of the water to the eye. Another difficultj', with which many persons are af- flicted, is an irritation or inflammation of the mendu'ane lining the cavities of the nose, which becomes aggravated by the slightest cold, often caiising great pain. This can be greatly relieved, if not entirely cured, by snffing borax-water up the nostrils two or three times a day. The most diflicult cases of soar throat may be cured by using it sim- ply as a gargle. As a wash for the head it not only leaves the scalp very white and clean, but renders the hair soft and glossy. It has also been found by manj' to be of in- valuable service in case of nervous headache. If applied in the same manner as in washing the hair, the result is wonderful. It may be used quite strong, after which rinse the hair carefully with clear water; let the person thxis suffering remain in a quiet, well-ventil- ated room, until the hair is nearly or quite dry. and, if possible, indulge in a short sleep, and there will hardly remain a trace of tha headache. If clergymen, teachers, and others, who have an undue amount of braio- work for the kind and quality of physical exercise usually taken, would shampoo the head in this manner about once a week, and then undertake no more brain-work until the following morning, they would be sur- prised to find how clear and strong the facul- ties had become, and there is reason to hope there would be much less premature decay of the mental faculties. As a toilet requisite it is quite indispensible. If used to rinse the mouth each time after cleaning the teeth it will prevent the gums from becoming dis- eased or uncleanly. In short, in all cases of alliiying inflamation there is probably noth- ing better in materia medica. The average strength of the solution should be a small teaspoonful to a toilet-glass of water. Potato Puff. — Two cups of cold, mashed potatoes ; stir in two table spoonfuls of melted butter, heating to a cream ; add two well-beaten eggs, one cup of cream or milk ; pour in a deep dish, Bake in a quick oven. 28 JELLY CAKE. Jelly Cake. — One cnp bntter. one cnp sugar, four eggs, one and a half cups flour. Beat the eggs jsoparately. Muffins. — Two eggs, one qnart of flonr, a pint of sweet milk, two pounds of butter, a gill of yeast, a tea.spoouful of salt. Grandmother's Gingerbread.— A cup and a half of molasses, cnp of rich sour cream, teaspoonful of saleratus, teaspoonful of ginger. Mix a little stiQ". Clove Cake. — One cnp molasses, one cup sugar, one cnp butter, one cup butter- milk, three eggs, three cups flour, one table- spoonfid cloves, one of cinnamon, one tea- spoonfid saleratus in milk, raisins. Beef Stew. — Six pounds of the flank of beef, cut in small pieces ; boil in two quarts of water nntil tender. Then put in a dozen potatoes, a dozen onions, and four turnips. Cover it so that the steam shall not escape. Salt and pepper to the taste. Raspberry Wine. — Take 3 pounds of rai- sins, wash, clean, and stone them thoroughly; boil two gallons spring water for half an hour ; as soon as it is taken otl' the fire pour it into a deep stone jar. and put in the raisins, with 6 q'lans of raspberries and 2 pounds, of loaf sugar; stir it well together, and cover them closely, and set it in a good cool place; stir it twice a day, then pass it through a sieve ; put the liquor into a close vessel, adding 1 pound, more loaf suger ; let it stand for a day and a night to settle, after which bottle it, adding a little more sugar. Cure for Diphtheria and Scarlet Fe- ver. — Take, say, a gill of vinegar, one tea- spoonful of table-salt, and slice up four or five large onions in it, and let it heat in a pan. Put it in a flannel bag. squeeze it out lightly, and pin around the child's throat as hot as it can be borne, and also put the same on the bottoms of the feet. Change the ap- plication morning, noon, and night, for three or four days, and it will cure the worst case. It will produce abscesses on the surface of the skin. The same iz sure to cure the worst case of scarlet fever, if used in the same way. ' How to Select Flour. — Look at its co- lor ; if it is white, with a sHghtly yellowish or straws-colored tint, it is a good sign. If it is very white, with a bluish cast with white specks in it, the flour is not good. Examine its adhesiveness ; wet and knead a little of it between the fingers; if it works dry and elastic it is good; if it works soft and sticky it is poor. Flour made from Spring wheat is likely to be sticky. Throw a little lump of dry flour against a dry, smooth, perpen- dicular surface ; if it adheres in a lump, the flour has life in it ; if it falls like powder it is bad. Squeeze some of the flour in your hands ; if it retain the shape given by the pressure, that too, is a good sign. Flour that will stand all these tests it is Bafe to buy. To Starch Shirt Bo.som.'S and Collars. — Pour a pint of bo ling water upon two oun- ces of gum arable, cover it and let it stand over night. A tablespoouful of this gum ara- ble water, stirred into a pint of starch made ill the usual manner, will give to lawns, either white or printed, a look of newne.ss when nothing else can restore them. To evary pint of starch add piece of spermaceti caudle the size of a chestnut. To tell the Strength of Ropes.— To find what size rope yon require, when roven as a tackle, to lift a given weight: Divide the weight to be raised by the number of parts at the movable block, to obtain the strain on a single part ; add one third of this for the increa.<*ed strain brought by friction, and reeve the rope of corresponding strength. One sixth of 40 tons is (J!| tons, which, with one third added, is S) tons nearly, for which yon should reeve a six-inch or six-and-a-half inch rope. Conversely — To find what weight a given rojje will lift when rove as a tackle : Multiply the weight that the rope is capable of sus- pending by the nnnd>er of parts at the mov- able block, and subtract one fourth of this for resistance. Thus — 8.!> tons, the strength of the rope, multiplied by 6, the nunil)er of parts at the movable block, miims lo 8 or one fourth, gives 40.1 tons as tlie wei.^ht required. Wire rope is more than twice the .strength of hemp rope of the same circumference. Splicing a ro^Je is supposed to ^veaken it one eighth. The strongest description of hemp rope is nntarred, white, three-stranded rope; and the next in the scale of strength i.s the com- mon three-strand, hawser-laid rope, tarred. Artificial Ivory. — The inventor, Mr. Marquardt, dissolves two pounds of pure rubber in thirty-two pounds of chloroform, and hereupon saturates the solution with a ■current of ammonia gas. When the ridiber has been completely bleached, the admission of the gas is interrupted, and the mass is transferred into a vessel provided with a stirrer, iu which it is washed wi(h hot water until the bleaching agent h^s been entirely removed. During this operation, the tem- perature may be increased to 185 deg. Fah., in order to evaporate the chloroform, which, by conducting it into an apparatus of con- densation, may again be made use of. The remaining product forms a kind of froth, which, being pressed out. dried, and again treated with a small quantity of chloroform, is finally obtained as a consistent paste. The paste is now mixed with a .suflicient quantity of finely pulverized phosphate of lime, or carbonate of zinc, until it assumes the ap- pearance of moist flour. In this condition it is pressed in hot moulds, which it lenves sufficiently hard tc be turned, planed, filed, and bored. In order to imitate corals, pearls, enamels, hard woods, &c., it is only neces- sary to mix the paste with the desired colors previously to its being compressed. A HIST TO CONStrMPTIVES. S9 A Hint to Constiinptives. — A physic- ian of uo litile experience saysbehixs knuwu several cuusiiiuptive patients cared by ob- serving the following rules : Live teni{>«rate- }y. avoid spirituous liquors, wear tJan/iel next tlie skin, and take every morning half a pint new milk, mixed witb a wiue-gJass full of expressed juice of green hoarbouud, A Hanging Garden. —A hanging garden of sponge is one of tiae latest novelties in giii'dening. Take a white sponge of large size, and sow it full of rice, oats, or wheat. Then place it for a week or ten days in a shalk'w dish ; and, as the sponge wiil ab- sorb the moisture, the seeds wiil begin to spi'ont before many days. When this has fairly taken place, the sponge may be sus- pended by means of cords from a hook in top of the window, where a little sun will enter. It will thus become a living mass of green, requiring a iittle occasional mois- ture. A Novel Battery. — A gre can be kept from freezing. Now for the mode of growing. Take » box, say ten or twelve inches in depth, aitd as long and broad as the space will admiit of or may be desired ; pack it down witb six inches of horse-droppings, on this three inches of dry cow droppings, broken some- what fine; moisten this (not wetting or de- luging it) with a strong brine of nitre or saltpetre water. In this cow manure plant the spawn, which can be /jbtained at the best horticultiu-al stores, in the form of a brick ; break in good size pieces, say an large as a walnut, and set in triangular shape, thus *#*, and cover with from an eighth to a quarter of an inch (not more than the latter) of fine dry soil. Cover the whole with old carpet or any heavy clotb, so that the light is completely excluded. Of course it needs no sun, but just the con- trary, as perfect darkness is required. To Tell the Heights of Trees or Other Objects. — 1. Place a rod perpen- dicularly in the ground, so that there shall be say 5 feet above ground, and measure the length of its shadow ; then measure the shadow of the tree whose height is requirecJ to be known, and it can readily be arrived at by a rule-of-three sum. Thus, supposing the shadow from the 5-foot rod to measure 7 feet, and the shadow of the tree to measure 120 feet, it will stand thus : As 7 ft. : 5 ft. : ; 120 ft. : 85 5-7 ft., the height of the tree. • 2. In the absence of a Gunter's quadrant, get a piece of soft wood, a quarter of an inch thick, and in shape exactly a quarter of a circle ; let the straight edges be true and smooth, and where they meet, that is, at what would be the centre of the circle, let a thread be fastened, and to the end of it a button or small weight should be attached. Screw in two small brass eyes on the straight edge, so that they may be exactly level with it, and make a mark just half way on the circumference of the wood. Take this in- strument vertically, with the corner upper- most, and look through the brass holes to the top of the tree, approaching or receding from the trunk until the top of the tree is visible through both of the holes; the thread at the same time should hang over the mark; the distance from the observer to the tree will theTi. from the necessities of trigonometry, ))e equal to the height of the tree, but allowance should be made for the height of the observer's eye from the ground. This experiment supposes the ground to be level toward the tree, eo that it makes a right angle with the ground-line. TO COX/On APPIiZS "WHILE GEO WING. 31 To color Apples "while Grorw^ing. — A bright red color Ciiii lie iiiniiuted lo grow- iiig !i|)j:ile,s by the application of the oxyd of iron to the soil about tlie roots of the trees. Anvil dust and cinders, etc., will answer the purpose. Doughnuts w^ithoTit Eggs. — One-half teacup of buttermilk or sonr uiilk, the same of cream and of sugar, one teuspoonful of salerattis, spice and salt to t-aste; atld a little jeast, flt)ui" enough to mold, and let it rise before frying; or if an egg be put in, the yeast cau be left out and the dough fried at once. To lorevent i-avages of Mice in Corn Stacks. — Sprinkle from four to six liushels of dry white .sand upon the root of the stack before the thatch is put on. The sand is no detriment to the corn, azid stacks thus dressed have remained without injur j'. So very effective m the remedy, that nests of dead young mice have beenfmind where the sand has been used, but not a iive mouse could be seen. To prevent Com being destroyed ■when nevT-ly planted. — To prevent the corn being destroyed or eaten by chickens, birds, or insects, l)efore it grows through the surface of the soil, prepare the seed before planting by sprinkling a sufficient portion ©f coai tar, proeui-ed at the gas manufactory, through it. stirring so that a portion will ad- here to each gi-aui; then mix among the corn some ground plaster-of-Paris, which will prevent the tar from sticking t*i the fingers of those who drop the corn, and vegetivtion will be promoted thereby. The tar and plaster will not injure the corn so as to prevent its growing, by being kept some days after it is so mixed together. To Convert Bones into Manure.- — Take one hundred pounds of bones, broken into as small fragments as possible ; pack them in a tight cask or box with one hun- dred pounds of good wood ashes. Mix with the ashes, before packing, twenty-five pounds of slaked lime and twelve pounds of sal soda, powdered fine. It will require about t",venty gallons of water to saturate the mass, and more may and should be added from time to time to maintain moisture. In tw o or three weeks, it is as.serted, the bones will be broken dowu completelj', and the whole may be turned out upon a floor and mixed with two bushels of dry peat or good soil, and, after drying, it is fit for use. It has been recommended to pour on to this mass dihite sulphuric acid to aid decompo- sition and prevent the escape of ammonia. Another method is to take a hettle hold- ing a barrel or more; fill with bones; pour caustic ley over to cover them. A gentle fire is built for two or three suc-cessive days, to barely warm the liquid through. In a week the bones will become «oftened. Mix tlie mass with three loads of muck, after- ward adding the leached .afihes. from which the ley was obtained. Let the whole re- main, in order to decompose the mtick, and apply. To Cure Beef. — To one gallon of water add one and one-half i:)ounds of salt, one- half pound of sugar, and one-half ounce each of saltpetre and potash. Let these be boiled together and skimmed until perfectly clear. Put iu a tub to cool, and, M'hen cold, pour it over the beef or pork, and let it re- main the usual time, say four or five week.s. The meat must be well covered with the pickle, and should not Ije put dt)Mu for at least two days after killing, during which time it should be slightly sprinkled with powdered saltpetre, which removes all the surface blood, leaving the meat fresh and clean. To Dry Fresh Meat.— Cut the flesh into slices from 2 to G ounces in weight, im- merse a small portion at a time in boiling water for 5 or (> minutes, using just water enough to cover the meat, and adding fresh water to keep the liquor vp to its original quantity. Lay the meat to dry on open trellis-work iu a drying stove, keeping the temperature at about 122 deg. Fahr. In about two days the meat will be completely dry, having lost f its weight. Add a little salt and 'spice, especially coriander, to the liquor or soup in which the meat was im- mersed, and then evaporate it to a gelatinous consistence. When the flesh is perfectly dry, dip it, piece by piece, in the gelatinous matter liquefied by a gentle iieat, and re- place it iu the stove to dry, repeating this varnishing and drying 2 or 3 times, so as to get the coating uniformly thick. Meat thua dried will keep good for a year. Sausage-Making. — Of course those who i-aise their own {)ork will make their own sausages ; and those who are fond of sausage meat, but have to buy it, will find it greatly to their advantage to purchase meat before it is cut up, and season it for themselves. Sausages made of beef and pork are more wholesome and more hearty than those made of pork alone. About one-fourth of the meat should l>e fat and the three-fourths be equally divided between lean beef and pork. With a machine which costs only a few dollars, the laV)or of chopping the meat will be trifling and the machine will be found useful in making mince pies, hash and salads. For the sausages, take twelve pounds of chopped meat, six ounces of salt, four oiuices of sage, one ounce of black pepper, half a teaspoonful red pepper, and a teaspoouful powdered saltpetre; mix thoroughly, and ptit in skins or in cases of muslin, and smoke moderately. It is well to put in only a part of the seasoning and try the meat to see what additions it needs to make it right. If, instead of smoking the sausage they be fried in hot lard, after the manner of coolcing doughnuts, then packed in jars and the lard poured over them, they will keep without spoiling until warm weather. Very good saiisages are made of bogs' hearts, after the following recipe : Twenty pounds hogs' hearts, ten pounds fat porlc, twelve ounces salt, six ounces pepper, sage to taste, other spices if you like ; chop fine and put in ekius. 32 TOOTH POWDEK, Tooth. Po'wder. — Two ounces prepared chalk, half au ounce pulverized borax, the same of pulverized ori'is-root, and quarter of an ounce of cassia-powdei'. Walnut Catsup.— Walnut-shell juice, 3 gallons; salt, 7 pounds; ginger, 8 ounces; Bhallots, Bounces; garlic, 8 ouncee; horse- radish, 8 ounces; essence of anchovies, 1 quart. Mix. Chapped Lips. — Take -2 ounces of M'hite •wax, 1 ounce spermaceti, i ounces of oil of almonds, 2 ounces honey, 5- of an ounce of essence of berganiot, or any other scent. Melt the wax and spermaceti ; then add the Louey, and melt all together, and when hot, add the almond-oil by degrees, stirring it till cold. To Remove Tan. — Tan may be removed from the face by mixing magnesia in soft yater to the consistency of paste, which should then be spread on the face and allowed to remain a minute or two. Then wash off with castile-soap suds, and rinse with soft ■water. Cream Cheese from Buttermilk.— Put the buttermilk in a kettle over the fire and heat slowly till it curdles, but do not let it get warmer than will be pleasant to the hands when placed in it. Remove from the fire and let it set on the back of the stove till the curd separates from the whey, then strain through a sieve or bag. Work the curd fine with the hands, salt it a very little, and then put in cream, mixing it thoroughly ■with the curd. Gold and Silver Inks. — Grind gold leaf with white honey on a slab of porphyry or glass, with a muller. until it is reduced to an unpalpable powder in a pasty condi- tion ; this golden honey paste is then dif- fused in water, which dissolves the honey, «nd the gold falls to the bottom in the form of very fine powder. When the honey is all ■«'ashed away mix the gold powder with gum arable mucilage. After using it allow it to dry on the paper, and then it may be made brilliant by burnishing it with an agate bur- nisher. Silver ink is prepared in the same way, by rising silver leaf. Treasury Department "White^wash. — The receipt for whitewashing .';ent out by the Lighthouse Board of the Treasury De- partment has been found by experienoe to answer on wood, brick and stone nearly as ■well as oil-paint and is much cheaper. Slake a i bushel of unslaked lime with boil- ing water, keeping it covered during the process. Strain it. and add a peck of salt, dissolve in warm water, 3 pounds of ground rice put in boiling water and boiled to a thin ])Mste; I pound powdered Spanish whiting and a pound of clear glue, dissolved in warm water; mix these well together, and let the mixture stand for several days. Keep the wash thus prepared in a kettle or portable furnace, and when used put it on as hot as possible with either painters or whitewash brushes. Sulphur Ointment. — Lard 4 ounces, flour of sulphur 1 ^ ounces, Sal ammonia, 2 drachms: essence of lemon, 12 drops; make it into an ointment. Will generally cure the itch, and has no disagreeable smell. To Cook Terrapins. — Boil them ten minutes, take them out of the water and pull off the outer shell. Then boil them again till the claws become teiuler. Then take them out of the inner shell, being care- ful not to break the gall, which must be taken from the liver and thrown away ; throw away all the spongy part — the rest is fit to eat. Cut the terrapin into small pieces, put them into a stew-pan with a lit- tle salt, cayenne pepper, and some butter.- After they have stewed a few minutes in the butter, add a gill of water to each terrapin. Stew ten minutes longer, then add some butter rolled in flour, another g'.U of ivater to 'each terrapin, and ateiv five minutes longer : take them from the fire, and stir in one beaten j'olk of au egg to *ach terrapin ; cover the pan tightly, let it stand five min- utes, then pour into a deep dish and send tO' the table. To Re-cut old Files and Rasps. — The worn files are first cleaned with potash and hot water, after which they are left for five minutes in a solution composed of one part of sulphuric acid and seven parts of water ; a quantity of nitric acid equal to the sulphuric is then added to the solution, and as much water also, and the tiles are left in the solution for about forty minutes longer. They are now ready for use, but, if to be stored, they must be brushed over with a little oil or grease to prevent rusting. The files are not allowed to touch each other in the solution, being supported by their tangs only. In order to obtain the most comjilete results pos.sible, the proportions of acid are varied according to the size of the files ; for example, for large files, one-sixth acid ; for bastard files, one-eighth, one-ninth, to one- eleventh ; and for the finest, one-twelfth to one-thirteenth. To Remove Bluing From Steel. — Immerse in a pickle composed of equal parts muriatic acid and elixir vitriol. Einse in pure water and dry in tissue paper. Sealing Steel,— The scales on steel ar- ticles can be removed by pickling in water with a little sulphtiric acid in it, and when the scale is loosened, brushing with sand and a stiff brush. To Restore Burnt Steel. — Borax, 3 oz. ; sal-ammoniac, 8 oz. ; prussiate of pot- ash, 3 oz. ; blue clay, 2 oz. ; rosin, 1 3 lb. ; water, 1 gill; alcohol 1 gill. Put all on a fire, and simmer till it dries to a powder. The steel is to be heated, and dipped into this powder, and afterward hammered. To Toughen Steel.— Eosin 2 lbs. ; tal- low 2 lbs. ; black pitch 1 lb. ; melt together. and dip the steel in when hot. mPEOVED METHODS OF DtEING. IMPRO^^D METHODS OF DTEIXG. THESE RECIPES AEE FOIl ONE POUND OF GOODS. Yellow on Cotton, No. 1.— 2 oz. Rug.ir of lead, dissolve iu Lot water, in a tin ves- sel; put iu goods, let tbem reniaiu 30 miu- iites. Theu dissolve 1 oz. bichromate potjish iu hot water, iu a brass vessel and immerse cloth 30 minutes. Yellow on Woolen, No. 2.-3 oz. alnm, 1 oz. madder cuuijxiuud, dissolve alum iu small quautity of Lot water, then add the comjiound aud mis well. Boil 8 oz. fustic one hdur in a STifficient quautitj' of water, then take out the Instie aud put iu the alum comj^ouud. Bdil for a lew minutes, theu put in tliC woolen one hour while boiling; air i.nl riuse well. Blue on t!otton. No. 3.— Dissolve li oz. cojipiras in hot water, keeji goods in an hour theu rinse. Dissolve h oz. of prussiate of pota.sh, with one drachm of oil vitriol in hot wa*er, aud keep goods oue hour, stir Irequeutly. Blue on Woolen, No. 4.— Alum 21 ozs., or am tartar I5 ojzs. Dissolve the water aud boil the g(xxls iu the solution for one hour; then throw the goods in warm water which lias more or less indigo compound iu it, ac- cording to the shade of color desired. This is easily umde aud permanent. Black on Woolen or Cotton, No. 5-— Dis- solve iu wat^r, 1 oz. extract of logwood and half an ounce of powdered blue vitriol, put in the yaru, boil 2U minutes, take out aud riuse. Orange on Cotton, No. (>.— After your goods are taken, Irom the yellow dye Ko. 1, and belore they are riused. dip them iu weak lime water until the desired shade is obtain- ed, then rinse. Oranj,^e on Woolen, No. 7.— Take 4 oz. qiaercitrou and Ij oz. lac dye, wet them thoroughly with hot water, add H oz. mad- der compoTind. Prepare iu your kettle a sufficient quantity of water, aud when near boiling add tlie quercitron, lac, etc.. to the liquor and boil ten minutes. Put in the goods an hour, the dye boiling, then air aud rinse. Green on Cotton, No. 8.— Take 5 oz, fus- tic and one drachin extract logwood, boil two hours aud add cue drachm blue vitriol. Color in brass, after it is colored, dry, theu wash iu strong suds. Green osi Cotton, No. 9.— First dye your goods in blue, then yellow, according to recipes No.s. 3 aud 1. Green on Woolen, No. 10.— Add to sufB- cieut water to cover the goods, 1 oz. powder- ed alum, scald the goods therein, then i^ut in half a pound of fustic and boil half au hour, stirring frequently, then take out the goods and hang them up, mix with the dye sufficient quantity of indigo compound to priduce the shade desired, put iu the goods and let them remain 20 minutes. 83 Scarlet on Silk or Woolen, No. 11.— To 3 gallons of warm water, add 1 oz. cream tartar, 1 oz. powdered cochineal and 2 oz. solution of tin. Wet the goods in warm water and when the dye boils, put in the goods and boil oue hour, frequently stirring them, thin take out the goods and riuse iu cold water, Madder lied, No. 12.— To i pound mad- der, soaked over night in brass or copper, add 1 oz. solution of tin. Then add your cloth aud bring slowly to a scalding heat, leave it in the dye according to the shade of color, you wish, theu rinse in soft, clear water. Pink or Red on Cotton, No. 13.— 1 pound Brazil wood, steep well and strain, then add 1 oz. solution of tin, wet your goods, letting them reniaiu a short time according to tho color desired and dry iu the shade. Brown on Cotton or Woolen, (Perma- nent), No. 14. — To 4 pound of cutch add tine-half jjail of water, no more goods than can be thoroughly wet iu the same. Dissolve 2 oz. bichromate potash in same amount of water. Dip from one into the other until you get the right shade of color, and rinse. Purple or Lilae, No. 15.— Dissolve 2 oz. of cudbear with gentle heat in sufficient water to cover the goods. First dip the goods iu saleratus water, wring them and ix)ur in the dye ; let it soak half au hour. If you wish it darker wring again aud wet iu the saleratus Avater, theu again in the dye and add tv.'o ounces of alum. Salmon Color, No. 10. — Is obtained by boiling Annatto iu soap ends or pea.iiash water, and dipping the goods until the de- sired color is obtained. Be sure and get the best Spanish Annatto. To make Bengal Lights.— Take of niti-ato of polassa (saltpetre 1, 8 parts ; sublimed sul- phur 4 parts, and antimony 1 part, and let pecimen, with a brush apply the common crocus i:)owder, previously made into a paste with water. AVhen dry, place it in an iron ladle, or on a common tire shovel, over a clear fire about 1 minute ; and when sufficiently cool polish with a pl.ite brush. By this jiro- cess a bronze similar to that on tea-urns is produced ; the shude depending upon the duration of the exposure to the tire. 2. By substituting finelj'-powdered plum- bago for crocus powder in the above process a beautiful, deep and jDermanent bronze ap- pearance is produced. 3. Bub the metal with a solution of livers of sulphur or snlphuret of i^otassium, then dr}'. This produces the appearance of an- tique bronze very exactly. 4. Dissolve 2 oz. of verdigris and 1 oz. of sal ammouiiicin 1 pint of vinegar, and dilute the mixture with water I'.ntil it tastes but slightly metallic, when it must be boiled a few minutts, aud filtered for use. Copper medals, etc., previously thoroughly cleaned from grease aud dirt, are to be steej^ed in tlie liquor at the boiling point, until the desired ettect is produced. Care must be taken not to keep them in the solution too loug. When ttdien out, they should be carefully washed in hot water, aud well dried. Gives an an- tique appeaiauce. 5. (Chinese method. ) IMake a paste with 2 oz. each of verdigris and vermilion ; 5 oz. each of alnm aud sal amoniac, all in fine powder, aud vinegar, q. s. ; then spread it over the surface of the copper, previously ■well cleaued and bri ^itened, uniforndy warui the article by the fire, and afterwards well wash aud dry it, when, if the tint be not deeji enough, the process may be repeated. The addition of a little bine vitriol inclines the color to a chestnut brown, aud a little borax to ayill)wihh brown. Jluch emijloj^ed by the Chinese for copper tea-urns. G. Dissolve 1 oz. of sal ammoniac, 3 oz. cream of tartar, and 6 oz. of common salt, in 1 pint of hot water ; then add 2 oz. of nitrate copper, dissolved in A a pint of water; mix well, and apply it repeatedly to the arti- cle, i^l iced in a damp situation, by means of a brush moistened therewith. Very antique. 7. Salt of sorrel 4 oz.; sal ammoniac, 1 oz. ; distilled vinegar 25 pints ; dissolve. As last Bronze for Mortars. — Copper 93 pafts ; lead 5 parts ; tin 2 parts. The edges aud lips of mortars must be tempered by heat ing them to a cherry red, and then pluug- ing them into cold water ; as unless so treat- ed, they are very apt to be broken. Bronze for Ornamental Work to be Gild- ed. — 1. Copper H2 parts ; zinc 18 parts V tin 3 parts ; lead 2 parts. 2. Cojiijer 83 parts j zinc 17 parts . tin 1 part ; lead ^ part. Bronze Po^vder. — 1. (Beautiful red) Mix together suljjhate of copper ILU parts ; car- bonate of soda GO parts ; apply heat until thej' unite in a ma.ss, then (;uc;l, powder, and add copper filings 1.5 parts ; well mix, and keep them at a white htat for 20 minutes, then cool, powder, aud wash and dry. 2. (Gold Colored. ) Verdigris 8 oz ; tutty IDOwder 4 oz ; borax aud nitre, of each 2 oz ; bichloride of merciiry, 4 oz ; make tliem into a paste with oil, and fuse them together. Used in japanning as a gold color. 3. Dutch leaf reduced to an inpal^^able pow- der by grinding. 4. (Iron colored. ) Plumbago finely pow- dered. 5. (Silver white) Melt together 1 oz. each of bisnnith and tin, then add 1 oz. of run- ning quicksilver ; cool and powder. Bronze for Statnary.— 1. Copper 88 parts; tin 9 parts ; zinc 2 parts ; lead 1 part. 2. Copper 822 parts ; tin 5 parts ; zinc lOi parts ; lead 2 part.s. These are very nearly the proportions in the celebrated statue of Louis XV. 3. Copper 90 parts ; tin 9 parts ; lead 1 part. 4. Copper 91 pnrts ; tin 9 parts. Bronzing, Surface.— This term is applied to the process of imparting to the surface of figure.5 of wood, plaster of Paris, etc., a me- tallic appearauce. This is done by first giv- ing them a coat of oil or size varmsh, and when this is nearly dry, applying with a dab- ber of cotton or a camel-hair peucil. any of the metallic bronze powders ; or tlio powder maj' be placed in a little bag of muslin, aud dusted over the surface, and afterwards fin- ished off with a wad of bnen. The surface must be afterwards varnished. Paper is brf^nzed by mixing the powders up with a little gum and water, and after- wards burnishing. Iron castings may be bronzed by thorough cleaning and subsequent immersion in a so- lution of sulphate c-f copper, when they ac- quii-e a coat of the latter metal. They must be then washed in water. Bronze (Vinegar) for Brass. — Vinegar 10 gals.; blue vitriol, 3 lbs.; muriatic acid, 3 lbs. ; corrosive sublimate, 4 grs.; sal ammonia 2 lbs.; alum, S oz. PKECKLE-CTTEE. ?7 Preckle-Cure. — Waah tlie face night and morniiig in half a pint of water, to which the juice of one lemon has been added. Bronze Powders. — Bright yellow — cop- per 83 parts, zinc 17; orange — copper flO to 95. zinc r. to 10; copper red — copper 'J 7 to Di), zinc 1 to 3. Barnet's Certain Preventive for the Potato Rot. — Sow nuleached ashes over the field once a week for six or seven weeks, con)ineiicing soon after the second hoeing. Apply two or three bushels to the acre, using care to dust the tops well. Laundry Blue. — A good washing bine is made as follows : Make a solution of prus- siate of potash, 2 ounces, and another of protosnlphiite of iron, 1 ounce. Add the second gradually to the first, until the pre- cipitate almost ceases to fall, then strain through linen ; add water, and continue the washing until the blue color begins to dis- Bolve in it, when it may be at once dissolved in distilled water and dried. The Secret of Raising Fine Quinces. — Purchase the orange variety, and set the trees from six to eight feet apart in rich soil. Bandage the stem with two or three wrap- pings of old cloth as far down in the ground as possible, as the roots start from near the surface. Let the bandages run six or eight inches above the ground, then pack the soil a couple of inches around the bandages. This should be renewed every spring. To Separate Honey from Wax. — Put honeycomb and all in a tin pan upon a mod- erately warm stove, adding a tablespoonful of water to each pound of honey. Stir occa- sionally with a piece of wire until the con- tcTits of the pan are in a liquid condition. Po not allow boiling to begin. Remove the pan from the fire, and set it aside to cool. The cake of wax. to which all imimrities will adhere, may then be carefully lifted ofl' with a knife. Gold Lacquer, closely resembling the real Chinese article, is made by first melting to a perfectly fluid mixture two parts copnl and one part shellac. To this add two parts good boiled oil. Remove the vessel from the fire, and gradually mix in ten parts oil of turpentine. To give color, add a solution of gum guttas in turpentine for yellow, or of dragon's blood for red, a sufficient quantity of coloring material being used to give the desired shade. Tinned Iron "Wire. — A new process for making tinned iron wire consists in first im- mersing it in a bath of muriatic acid in which n piece of zinc is suspended. After the acid has produced a new surface on the wire, it is placed in communication with a sheet of zinc in a bath of 2 parts acetic acid in 100 parts ■water, to which 3 parts chloride of tin and 3 parts soda are added. The wire is allowed to remain two hours in this mixture, after which it may be polished. To Silver Cast-Iron. — 1.'') grains of ni- trate of silver are dissolved in 2r)0 grains of water, and 30 grains cyanide of potassium are added ; when the sohition is complete, the aquid is poured into 700 grains of water whei"ein 15 grains of common salt have been previously dissolved. The cast-iron intended to be silvered by this solution should, after having been well cleaned, be placed for a few minutes in a bath of nitric acid of 1 2 sj>ecific gravity just before being placed in the silver- ing fluid. To Give Cast-Iron the Appearance of Bronze, without coating it wiih any metal or alloy. — 'J'ho article to be so treated is first cleaned, and then coated with a uni- form film of some vegetable oil. This done, it is exposed in a furnace to the action of a high temperature, which, however, must not be. strong enough to carbonize the oil. In this way the cast-iron absorbs oxygen at the moment the oil is decomposed, and there is formed at the surface a thin coat of brown oxide, which adheres very strongly to the metal, and will admit of a high ]iolish, giving it quite the appearance of tine bronze. To give Black Walnut a Fine Polish, so as to resemble rich old wood, apply a coat of shellac varnish, and then rub it with a piece of smooth pumice-stone until dry. Another coat may be given, and the rubbing repeated. After this, a coat of polish, made of linseed-oil, beeswax, and tm-pentine, may be well rubl)ed in with a dauber, made of a piece of sponge tightly wrapped in a piece of fine flannel several times folded, and moistened with the poli.sh. If the work is not fine enough, it may be smoothed with the finest sandpaper, and the rubbing re- peated. In the course of time the\\alnut becomes very dark and rich in color, and in everyway is superior to that which has been varnished. Coloring Butter. — As a rule, it is abso- lutely essential in the Avinter to color butter in order to make it marketable, or at all at- tractive as an article of table use at home. There may be a possible exception to this rule, in cases where cows are fed largely upon yellow corn, pumpkins, carrots, etc., but this does not lessen the importance of the rule. Of the various substances used in coloring butter, we think that carrots (of the deep yellow variety) give the nmst naturs.l color and the most agreeable flavor. An- notto, however, is principally used, aud with most satisf ictory results. Some of the most celebrated butter-makers in the countiy color their butter with pure annotto, giving it a rich, deep orange color. If car- rots are used, take two large-sized ones, clean them thoroughly, and then with a knife scrape off the yellow exterior, leaving the white pith ; soak the yellow jtart in boil- ing milk for ten or fifteen minutes. Strain boiling hot into the cream ; this gives the cream the desired temperature, colors it nicely, and adds to the sweetness of the butter. ■S8 BAEED INDIAN PUDDING. Baked Indian Pudding.— ScaUl a ■quart of milk, and -while bailing thicken it with a pint of corn meal, remove fioni th« fire, thin with cold milk to the consistency ■of batter, add two well-beaten eggs, a cnp of raisins, sugir to taste, a little salt, cinna- mon or nutmeg, and bake two or three hom-s in a moderate oven. Rye Cakes. — To one teacnp of vhite sugar add two well beaten eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, one quart of milk. Mix thoroughly with a quart of rye meal, two teaspooufuls of cream tartar, and one of soda; stir this into the milk and eggs. and 'add enough more to make a thick batter. Drop on a well greased pan and bake half an hour. To Clean Brass Ornaments. — Brass ornaments, that have not been gilt or lac- quered, may be cleaned, and a very brill- iant color given to them, by washing them with alum boiled in strong lye, in the pro- portion of an ounce to a pint, and afterward rubbing them with a strong tripoli. To Take Ink Out of Boards.— Strong mi;riatic acid, or spirits of salts, applied with a piece of cloth; afterward well washed To Keep tlie Hair from Falling Out. "Wash the head every week in salt water and rub the skin of the bead with a dry coarse towel. Then apply a dressing composed of bay rum and sweet oil, with which a drop of tincture of cantharides has been mingled. This will stimulate the skin, and keep the hair from frilling out and turning gray. The dressing for the hair may be scented with cinnamon oil or some such warming essence. Potato Pie-Crust. — To half a dozen good sized potatoes boiled and mashed fine add a teacupful of rich sweet cream, a little salt, and flour enough to roll out the crust. Handle as little as possible and do not put it at the bottom of the pie, as it will be clammy, but only around the rim of tlie plate, and over the top. Prick the upper crust to let the steam out. This pastry may be en ten with impunity by the most con- firmed dyspeptic. To Stain "Wood. — 1. Wash the wood with a solntioti of sulphuric acid and water, made in tiie proportion of 1 oz. to a pint of warm water. Mix when wanted; put on warm, and wash evenly over every part. 2. Stain the wood thus prepared with tobacco stain, using a piece of flannel or sponge, rubbing it in lightly. To make the stain, take G lbs. common shag tobacco, cover with water and boil, letting it simmer slowly away till of the consistence of syrup. Strain for use. 3. When entirely dry, brush it over with the following mixture : i lb. beeswax, i pint linseed-oil, 1 pint boiled linseed-oil. This may be omitted, and the wood simply varnished and jiolished instead. When it is desired to give the tone of light oak or maple, the solution of sulphuric acid should be much weaker, and only a light coat of the stain need. When a dark tone is preferred, two coats of the staiu should Le put ou. To Dye Wool '^lack. — According to the following recipe, the dye does not rub off, the fil)ers remain loose, and the wool has a desirable reddish cast : Boil the thoroughly washed wool well for an hour and a half in a bath composed, for 100 lbs. of wool, of 2^ lbs. of chromate of potash, 2^ lbs. of alum, ^ lb. of blue vitriol, and 2 lbs. of commercial sulphuric acid, and dye it, withoTit rinsing, in fresh water, with 20 lbs. of logwood and 20 lbs. of Brazil wood. It is advantageous for the color to allow the wool to remain in the mordant for 12 hours. Artificial Gems. — The base used in making artificial gems is strass, obtained by melting together G drachms carbonate of soda, 2 drachms burnt borax, ] drachm salt- petre, 3 drachms minium, and H ounces purest white sand. To imitate in color the following nunerals, add to the strass the in- gredients named in connection with each gem: Sapphire, 10 grains carbonate of co- balt; opal. 10 grains oxide of col >alt, I,') grains oxide of manganese, and from 20 to 30 grains protoxide of iron ; amethyst, 4 to 5 grains carbonate of peroxide of manganese ; gold topaz. 30 grains oxide of uranium ; emerald, 20 grains protoxide of iron and 10 grains carbonate of copper. A Good Diirable Wliitewash. — Take half a bushel o^ freshly burnt lime, slake it with boiling water; cover it during the pro- cess, to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve, and add to it 7 lbs. of salt, previously well dissolved in warm water ; 3 lbs. of ground rice, boiled to a thin paste and stirred in boiling hot : j lb. of powdered Spanish whiting; 1 lb. of clean glue, which has been previou.sly dissolved by soaking it well, and then banging it over a slow fire in a small kettle, wiihin a large one filled with water. Add 5 gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days covered from dirt. It must be put on quite hot. For this pur]iose it can be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace. To Make Corn-Cribs Rat Proof. — Take posts 10 or II feet long and eight inches square ; mortise 2 feet from one end ; for end sills, 2-inch mortise with tusk. Taper post from sill to the end. by hewing oif inside until the end is reduced to 4 inches diameter; make smooth with the draw-knife, and nail on tin smooth half way to the end, below the sill. Let sills be 8 inches square, also end-tie them and the rafier-plates strong with moderate inter- ties. Brace well," and lath up and down with ^ inch lath ; dove-tail or counter-sink joints crosswise; lay the floor, and board up the ends with ungrooved boai'ds : let each liend be 12 feet long, G feet wide at the sill, and 7-^- feet at plale; and, if full to peak, it will hold 2.")0 bushels. If preferred, lay the floor with lath or narrow boards, with room for ventilation. Each post should st;ind ou stone, and be about 3 inches from the ground, and each stone have a foundation 2 feet square and below the frost. TH3 AET OF COLOniXG BH.VSS. 39 The Art of Coloring Brass. — An orange tint inclining to gold is produced hy first polishing tbe brass and then plunging it for a few seconds in a warm neutral solution of crystnllizod acetate of copper. Dipping into a ijath of copper, the resnlting tint is a gray- ish green ; while a beautiful violet is obtained by immersing the metal for an instant in a Bolnfion of chloride of antimony and rubbing it with a stick covered with cotton. During this operation the brass should be heated to a degree just tolerable to the touch. A moire appearance, vastly superior to that nsuallj' seen, is prodJiced by boiling the object in a solution of sulphate of copper. There are two methods of procuring a black Incquer on the surface of brass. The first, which is usually employed by instrument-makers, consists in polishing the object with tripoli and washing it with a mixture composed of nitrate of tin one part, chloride of gold two parts. Allow this wash to remain for fifteen minutes, then wipe it off with a linen cloth. An excess of acid increases the intensity of the tint. In the second method, copper turnings are dissolved in nitric acid until the latter is saturated ; the objects are im- mersed in the solution, cleaned, and subse- quentlv heated moderately over a charcoal fire. This process ruust be repeated in order to produce a bl-ick color, as the first trial only gives a dark green. Finally, polish •with olive-oil. Much pains are taken to give objects '"an English look." For this j\ur- pose, they are first lieated to redness and then dipped in a weak solution of siilphuric acid. Afterward the}' are immersed in dilute nitric acid, thorouglily washed in water, and dried in sawdust. To effect a uniformity in the color, they are plunged in a bath con- sisting of two parts nitric acid and one part rain-water, where they are suffered to remain for. severid minutes. Should the color not be free from spots and patches, the opera- tions must be repeated until the desired effect is produced. To make Cheese. — The following de- scriptioii of how cheese is made is by a noted dairyman, who has taken many first pre- miums at State Fairs: In the first place, we keep every vessel and everything connected with cheese-making scrupulously clean. We are careful to have our milking done in a cleanly way. If necessary we wash the cow's bag with water, and wipe dry before milking, never allowing the milker to wet or moisten the cow's teats with milk. We strain the evening's milk through two thicknesses of cloth into the cheese-vat, having previously filled the space between the two vats with cold water; and, if the weather is extremely warm, we change the water during the night, generally before retiring to bed. The milk is stirred gently until reduced to sixty-five or seventy degrees, when it is left until morning, when the cream is ekinamed off and mixed with warm morning's milk and stirred until melted, and it is then passed through the strainer into the vnt, to be mixed with the evening's milk. A fire is made in the stove connected with the vat, so by the time tbe milking is com]>leted tho heat of the milk in the vat will mark eighty- two to eighty-four degrees, — the milk having been gently stirred most of the time since the fire was started, so as to have evening's and morning's milk and cream thoroughly mixed. We add the rennet at eighty-two degrees in hot, and eighty-four degrees in cold weather, shutting off the heat at this point. The quantity of rennet depends on its strength ; we wish to use only enough to biing the curd in from thirty to forty-five mitiutes. We do not color our curd, as we think that it injures the flavor, and is a prac- tice that should be abolished, — annatto, with which the curd is colored, being so often adulterated with red lead. When the curd breaks with a good, clean fracture, we cut it both ways with the curd- knife, which will leave the curd standing in half-inch columns. The heat is now applied or started, and when the columns of curd will break clean over the finger, leaving no soft, milky curd, we stir or lift it up by pass- ing both hands under it, very gently raising it from the bottom to the top, and so break atid mix it up. Then we let it rest a few minutes, stirring it occasionnlly with tho curd-board nntil the curd hardens a little, and the heat has risen to ninety degrees, when we ctit it very gently at first, not so mtich so as the curd hardens ; as the heat rises we cut it nntil it is about as fine as the size of wheat or barley. Of course we do not do this in a hurry, and we occasionally let the curd rest. It should be done with gre^t rare, so as not to work out the cream; this cutting process will take from two to three hours. When the heat has risen to one hundred d(»grees we shut it off, stirring the curd frpquenily. so that it will not settle on tho bottom of the vat. We cook the curd nntil it loses its luilky and glossy appearance, feels a little firm in the h:ind. and the particles are looking a little contracted or shruidcen. rendily drop- ping apart after pressing a hnndfnl of it to- gether, and the whey, if all has been done right, will have a green shade. We now put the curd-strainer in the vat and ruti off the whey; then stir and cool the curd before you apply the salt, breaking the lumps, if any, mnking it fine and lively, u^ing two and a half pounds of AshtoTi salt for one hun- dred pounds of curd. Mix it thoroughlj', and do not put it to press until cool. Press from two to three hours : then take out the cheese, turn and bandage it, return it to the press, anVl let it remain until the next curd needs its jilace. having been in the press about twenty-four hours. The cheese, after being taken from the press, is weighed and put on the rack to cure; the next day it is greased with the oil or butter made from whey colored with ainintto, and kept at altout seventy degrees ; turned and rnbbed with oil daily for three months, when they are ready for market. 40 TREE OP LEAD. Tree of Lead. — Dissolve an ounce of sng:u" of lead in a quart of clean water, and put it into a glass decanter or g]ol)e. Tbeu sns]iend in the solution, near tbe top, a smnll piece of zinc of an irregular shape. Let it stiind undistnrhed for a day, and it will he- gin to shoot out into leaves, and apparently to vegetate. If left undisturbed for a few days, it will become extremely heautiful ; but it must be moved with grent caution. It may appear to those unacquainted Mith chemistry, that a piece of zinc actually puts out leaves; but this is a mistake, for, if the zinc be examined, it will be found nearly unaltered. This phenomenon is owing to the zinc having a greater attraction for oxy- gen than the lead has ; consequently, it tfdves it from the osyde of lead, which re-appears in its metallic state. Razor Paper. — This article supersedes the use of the ordinary strop. By merely wiping the razor on the paper, to remove the lather after shaving, a keen edge is al- ways maintained without farther trouble. Only one caution is necessary — that is, to begin with a sharp razor, and then ''the paper" will keep it in that state for years. It luBV be prepared thus: First, procure oxide of iron (by the addition of carbonale of soda to a solution of persulphate of iron), well wash the precipitate, and finally leave it of the consistency of cream. Secondly, procure a good paper, soft and thin, theti with a soft brush spread over the ))iiper (on one side only) very thinly the moist oxide of iron — dry, and cut into two-inch square pieces. It is then fit for use. "Wine made from the Wild Grape. — Many a housekeeper feels the inconvenience of a protracted absence from home in sum- mer, when she views her shortened allowance of stores in the way of preserves, pickles, and home-made wines. Yet even late in the fall she may find room for activity. The siuhU wild grape, known to boys as the "bird grape," never attiiins its full sweetness until after the fallof frost, and makes aa excellent wine fiu" culinary purposes. Mash the grapes in a large t)owi or tub with a mallet, and keep (hem in a warm place until tliere is some sign of fermentation setting in. Then strain the juice by dripping through a flannel bag or strong yet slightly porous cotton cloth. To tliree quarts of juice add one quart of water and three pounds of light brown sugar. If yon put it away in a demi- john, select a warm, dry closet, and tie up the mouth closely with a piece of thin mus- lin. Do not cork up tight until the whole process is complete. It will be all the V)etter if fermentation ensues speedily, but if the place of deposit is not warm enough, never mind ; as soon as the first warm days of spring come, it will go on to ferment as though there had been no interruption to the process, and be none the worse for the delay. Afier all, it will make wine much sooner than if you waited even for black- berry season. To Renovate a Razor-Strop. — 1. Rub a little clean tallow over the surface, and then put on it the light top jiart of tlie snuif of a candle; rub it smooth. Excellent. — 2. Rub the .strop well with a piece of soft pewter or lead. Indelible Ink.— Two fifths of 1 lb. tar- taric acid are dissolved in (!l cul):c iuchea hot water; in one half of the solution dis- solve one fifth oily anilin ; add the other half, and then one-fifth pound chli)rate of potassium. Allow the solution to cool and subdue until the next day ; filter from the bitartrate, and bring the liquid to the den- sity of seven degrees B. Thicken sufiiciently with gum araliic, and add to each cubic inch one twenty-fifth pound copper sulphate, dis- solved in a little water. This ink may be at once used for printing muslin and other fabrics, upon which the black color will \>e perfectly developed by bleaching liqtiids. Chlorate of copper is also used for writing upon zinc used lor signs and labels exposed to the weather. Repairing Roads. — This is an operation wliicli id orsliould be performed immediately after the seitUiig" of tiie ground in liie .spring. In agricultural districts it is often deferred till later in the season. In tiiis ctise the hibor of putting a road in good condition is often doubhHl. It is as true of roads as of miment tiuit "a stitcli in time saves nine," and if for tlie word stitcli we substitute ditch, tlie old sa\y will be even more forcible in il.s pieaning. Winter makes sad havoc in ll'.e earth roads wliicli ititersect the country in all (lire"tioiis. His fro.'^ts upheave, and the springs washout deepgiUlpys and ruts, and when at last the reign of frost is over, that which was straight is all crooked; level places are changed into alteriuiie rises and depressions, stones are left on tlie top, and, in short, these roads become sloughs of despond in which loaded teams wallow in despair, and wheie wagons are left standing for weeks up to the hubs in mud, simply because it is beyond the power of hoi'se-llesh to e.xtricate them. If, when the mud has dried, the ruts were filled at once, and the ditches at the wayside opened, much would be gained; but as this is generally neglected, the June thunder- storms have things all their own way. Sluices are filled, bridges undermined and washed away, and, finally, when tiie "roadmaster" summons the inhabitants to turn out and work on the road, they find i)lenty to do. The road is at hist put into passaliie condi- tion, and remains so till the full rains and the marketing wagons again cut them till uj), and the snow following hides tlieni from view till the ensuing spring. An old farmer once remarked to us that there is no other work done by farmers that liays so well as road-making; but tliere are few of them that are far-sighted enough to see that the saving effected by good rotids in the current expenses of repairs in wagons and harnesses, and the increase of loads which can be carried, pay liberally for the work, which they do grudgingly, when at last ' it is performed. i TO MEND CKACKS IN STOVE'5. 41 To mend Cracks in Stoves.— Take equal parts of wood ashes and common salt, and mix them to a proper consistence with •water ; with this fill the cracks. To Cure Rheumatism in Horses.— Crude coal-oil. 1 pint; strong vinegar. ^ pint; turpentine. | pint ; mixed, and well shaken. To be rubbed on mornings and nights. To keep Stoves from Rusting.— Kero- sene applied with a cloth to stoves will keep them from rusting during the summer. It is also an excellent material to apply to all iron utensils nsed about a farm. Sweet Tincture of Rhubarb.— Take of rhubarb, bruised, 2 ounces; liquorice-root, bruised. 2 ounces; aniseed, bruised, 1 ounce; sugar, 1 ounce ; diluted alcohol, 2 pints. Macerate for fourteen days, express and filter. Compound Tincture of Rhubarb. — Take of rhubarb, sliced, 2 ounces; liquorice root, bruised, i ounce ; ginger, powdered, saffron, each 2" drachms; distilled water, 1 pint; proof spirits of wine, 12 ounces by measure. Digest for 14 days, and strain. Dose, half ounce as au aperient ; or one onuce in violent diarrhoea. Flexible Sulphur. — By adding to pure sulphur a foui'-huudredth part of chlorine or iodine it becomes very soft, so that it may be spread in thin leaves as flexible as leaves of wax. To make Sulphurous Acid. — To 12 ounces of sulphuric acid, in a glass retort, add 2 ounces of sulphur, and apply a gentle heat. This is a cheap and easy process. Sulphureted Hydrogen. — Pour dilute sulphuric acid on sulphuret of iron. This is made by applying a rt)ll of sulphur to a bar of iron heated M'hite hot, or by heating in a crucilile a mixture of 2 parts, by weight, of iron filings and 1 of flowers of sulphur. Syrup cf Phosphate of Iron and Lime. — Take of phosphate of iron 96 grains; phosphate of lime 1!I2 grains; water 8 fluid drachms; syrupy phosphoric acid 8 fluid drachms; syrup 10 fluid ounces. Mix the powders with the water in a glass mortar, add the acid, and filter into the syrup. Each fluid drachm contains 1 grain iron, 2 grains lime, and equivalent to 30 minims dilute phosphoric acid. The phosphate of lime is made by precipi- tation from solutions of chloride of calcium and phosphate of soda, dried at 100 degrees Fah., and used whilst fresh. That made from bone-ash is much less soluble. Syrup of Phosphate of Iron and Quinine. — Take of phosphate of iron 192 grains ; phosphate of quinia 9(5 grains ; ^^;ater 7 fluid di'achms ; syrupy phosphoric acid 9 fluid drachms; syrup 10 fluid ounces. Rub the powders with water, add the acid, and filter into syrup. Each fluid drachm contains 2 grains iron and 1 grain quinine. Syrup of Phosphate of Manganese. Take of pho-^phate of manganese 9(1 grains; water 9 fluid drachms; syrupy phosphoric acid 7 fluid drachms; syrup 10 fluid ounces. To be made as the above. Strength, 1 grain manganese salt and 25 minims of acid to fluid drachm. Permanent Ink for Marking Linen. — Take of lunar caustic (now called argent'^m nitratum) one drachm ; weak solution c tincture of gall, two drachms. The cloth must be first wetted with the following liquid, viz , salt of tartar, one ounce ; water, one ounce and a half; and must l)e perfectly dry before any attempt ia made to write upon it. To make Cheque-Paper. — Paper may be prepared for bank che jues and other documents so that any vriung in ink, once made thereon, can not be altered without leaving plainly visible marks, liy passing the sheets through a solution composed of 015 grain gallic acid to one gill distilled watei\ Liquid Glue. — One part phosphoric acid, specific gravity 1 "120, diluted with two parts watei', is nearly neutralized with ammonium carbonate, one part of water added, and then, in a porcelain vessel, sufficient glue dissolved in the liquid to obtain a syrupy consistence. It must be kept in well closed bottles. The addition of glycerine or sugar would cause the glue to gelatinize. Refining Sugar. — A German paper men- tions a new process of refining sugar, iu which the saccharine juice, after Vjeiiig clari- fied iu the usual way by means of lime and carbonic acid, is precipitated at boiling tem- perature with caustic baryta (GO parts of the latter for every 100 of sugar), the jirecipitate suspended in water and deconqiosed with carbonic acid. A pure solution of sugar is obtained, which only requires to be evap- orated. To Clean Stone Facades. — It has been ascertained that the jet of water thrown from a steam fire-engine has the power of removing the discoloration jiroduced by the smoke, without injuring the face of the stone. The work is done from the ground, the force of the stiream thrown by the steam fire-engine being quite sufficient to effect the necessary cleansing. Artificial Stone. — White — Alum, 1 lb.; water, 1 gal. Dissolve; then steep in this liquor calcined gypsum, f cwt. Next dry for eight days in the open air, and calcine at a dull red heat ; grind and sift, and form into a paste with water; when hard apply a thin layer of the above paste over the surface with a brush ; when quite hard, polish with pumice, &c. , in the usual way. — Cream Color — Alum, 1 lb.; copperas, h lb.; water, 9 pints. Dissolve ; and proceed as before. ■Waterproof Glue. — Boil one pound of common glue iu two quarts of skimmed milk. This withstands the action of the weather. 42 To CTJEE OK\CKED HEELS IN HOESES. To Cure Cracked Heels in Horses. — Take powdered gnin camphor A ounce, pow- dered gnni myrrh 1 ounce, sulphuric acid 1 ounce, spirits of turpentine 1 ounce, and liird 1 pint. Mix thoroughly, and rub on the affected limbs once a day. Wash the legs with soapsuds, and wipe dry before using. To prevent the affection, keep your stable and lot clean, and be sure that your horse is well groomed. Sore Mouth in a Horse. — Tf caused by ragged teetlj, they should be filed off. If nothing of the kiifd is found, sponge the mouth with a strong decoction of sage leaves, in which alum is dissolved. A few applica- tions of this will probably be effective. It might be advisable to feed the mare npon cut hay or fodder moistened and mixed with bran and meal, a little linseed-meal being given as a gentle laxative. Cure for the Heaves in Horses. — Very bad Crises of heaves have been cured by simply feeding the animal upon cut and moistened feed, of very good quality and in sniall quantities, three times a day. For in- stance, four pounds of timothy hay and three quarts of feed made of equal quantities of oats, corn, and wheat bran ground together. "With this was mixed a sniall quantity of salt, and twice a week one dram of siilphate of iron and naif an ounce of ground gentian root were given in tlie feed. A liberal bran mash every evening will also be very useful. A liorse that can not be cured by this treat- ment is of no value, and may be considei^d past cure. Greasy Heels. — The treatment adapted to this attack consists in an internal as well as external medication. Give your animal a drench composed of raw linseed-oil, twelve ounces; calomel and tartar-emetic, of each one drachm ; iodide of sulphur and potas- sium, of each one drachm. Mix these thor- oughly together in a smooth-necked bottle or drencliing-horn, and give every fifth day three times, and stop for one week, and give again in the same manner, and stop. Give one drachm of powdered sulphur, bloodi'oot, and sulpliate of iron in the food, slightly dampened, every night. Cleanse the heels well twice a day with strong ley, made by dissolving .sal-soda in boiling water. This being done, if there is any protid flesh per- ceptible, touch it, by means of a camel's hair brush. with acaustic composed of nitrate of silver, one drachm ; cold water, one ounce. In fifteen minutes after, wash the heels over with sulphuric acid, two fluid drachms, mixed into two quarts of cold water. When the parts are thoroughly dried, which will be in twenty minutes, dress the heels with an oint- ment composed of glycerine, three ounces; crude carbolic acid and iodide of sulphur, of each two ounces, well mixed together. This, no doubt, will, if properly applied, be found efficacious in removing this trouble, l)ut will have to be followed for some time in order to produce the desired effect. Black Tongue in Cattle. — The symp- toms are inflammation of the month, swell- ing of the head and face, discharge of bloody saliva, and high fever marks the first stages. Ulcers soon appear under and on the sides of the tongue. Then the throat and neck swell, and if the disease is not checked gan- grene ensues and the animal dies. The dis- ease is said to yield readily to early and proper treatment. The following has })roved very successful. The animal should be l)led from the neck vein. Give him castor-oil, one pint, to be repeated in ten hours if "t should not operate. Then nse the following : Powdered burnt alum, 4 ounces , chloride of lime, 2 ounces ; corn meal, 2 quarts Mix, and with this powder swab the mouth frequently. To Clean a Rusty Plough. — Take a quart of water and pour slowly into it half a pint of sulphuric acid. The mixture will become quite warm from chemical action ; and this is the reason why the acid should be poured slowly into the water rather than the water into the acid, and let it remain on the iron till it evaporates. Then wash it again. The object is to give the acid time to dissolve the rust. Then wash with water and yon will see where the worst spots are. Apply some more acid, and rnb on those spots with a brick. The acid and the scour- ing will remove most of the rust. Then wash the mouldboard thoroughly with water to remove all the acid, and rub it dry. Brush it over with petroleum, or other oil, and let it Vie till needed for nse. When you go. to ploughing, take a bottle of the acid-water to the field with you, and apply it every bout to any spot of rust that may retuain. The acid and the scouring of the earth will soon make it perfectly bright and smooth. If all iron work be washed over with petro- leum as soon as we put our tools, imple- ments, and machines aside for the winter, it will keep them from rusting. Arbor Martis, or Tree of Mars. — Dis- solve iron filings in aquafortis moderately concentrated, till the acid is saturated ; then add to it gradually a solution of fixed alkali, commonly called oil of tartar per deliquium. A strong efi"ervescence will ensue; and the iron, instead of falling to the bottom of the vessel, will afterwards rise so as to cover the sides, forming a multitude of ramification.s heaped one npon the other, which will some- times pass over the edge of the vessel, and extend themselves on the outside with all the appearance of a plant. Superior Table Mustard. — Take of best flour of mustard, 2 llis ; fresh parsley, h oz. ; chervil, | oz.; celery, ^ oz. ; Tarragon, | oz. ; garlic, 1 clove; and 12 salt anchovies (all well chopped) ; grind well together • add of salt 1 oz., and sufficient grape juice or sugar to sweeten, with sufficient water to form the mass into a thinnish paste by trituration in a mortar. "When put into pots, a red-hot poker is to be thrust into each, and a little vinegar afterwards ponred upon the surface. HO^ TO MAKE A CLOCK FOK LESS THAN FIFTY CENTS. 43 How to Make a Clock for Less Than Fifty Cents. r -^ r Fig. 2. Yes, boys, a clock — for less than tifty cents — not a mere make-believe, but a cloL-k that will go for Lours, and will tell the correct time, and even ring an alarm to call yoii up iu the morning if yoa wish it ; and all this you make for your- selves at a cost not exceed- ing fifty cents. It need not cost you so much it you are ingenious. It will cost you Fio. 1. but little more if you let others make the framework for you. I made one of these clocks many j^ears ago. It went admirably, and it used to hang iu mj' bed-room, and would ring me up puuctiiallj'- in the morning when I wanted to go bathing or fishing, and could not trust to my wake- fulness aloud ; besides, it introduced me to some novel ideas, and afforded me an oppor- tunity of displaying m}' decorative abilities on its case. In my grandmother's house there was an old hour-glass. They were com- mon enough in those days in country places. '• Oh !" I hear some boy say, " it's only a sand-glass after all!" But it is not only a sand-glass — it is a clock with hands, face, weights, and all the other appendages to a well-regulated clock. It looks like a clock ; it keeps time like a clock ; it is as useful as a clock; it is about ten times as cheap as the cheapest clock ; and therefore it is a clock. Look at it, and you must say that it is a clock, and then I will tell you how to make it. Fii-st you get a sheet of stout paste-board, such as is used by book-binders, which will cost you fro tmen to fifteen cents, according as you have quarto or octavo. I prefer the thicker, and therefore invest 15 cents in ae ■ sheet of paste-board, 27 by 22, price 1 5 cents to begin with. I then with a penknife cut out the front in this shape (tig. 2.) The width of the face is 10 iuches, the length 12 inches, iucludmg the crown ; the shaft is ac- cordingly li inches long, and 4 inches broad. The remainder of the paste-board i- then marked into three divisions of four inches M'ide, or as near that as the board will allow. It is only important that itshoul 1 be iu three Hj HI ; n M 1 • 1 • Hi w\ Fir,. ^b-::t equal divisions, as in fig. 3. Uy means of a straight-edge and a knife, tne board is partly cut through along the dotted .^i hues H H H H, and totally ^^ through the short mark at M. Fig. 4. The board is then bent along the groove.?, and glued with strips of calico to the back of the front, so that it forms a hollow tube or case som-^ four inches square, and twenty- seven inches long, as shown in the section, fig. 4. Any tinman will make the tunnel- shaped end of the tube, shown at C. It is generally cut of tin, like an extinguisher, and a small hole left at the point, whilst the up- per end is squared so as to fit the tube. Mine cost ten cents, and it was soldered tea square cap, which fitted the inside of the tube. My only other "expense out of pocket," as the lawyers say, was the turning of the cone at fig. 4. This cost me five cents. I had the spindles cut out of the same piece of wood. The cone was four inches long, and varied from two and a half to one inch in diameter ; it was grooved from end to end. The front spindle was left one inch long ; the hind spindle half an inch. 1 paid throe cents or the hook G to hang up my clock, and two cents for the sand necessary to fill the tube at S. This I washed, sifted, and dried my- self, so as to free it from stones and iiregular 44 HOW TO MAKE A CLOCK FOR LESS THAN FIFTY CE::T'3. impurities. "With these materials, wliich cost me 111 a large towu exactly forty-live cents, I made my clock. First 1 drew a clock face, and paiuted the dial on a sheet of pnper, which I pasted on the front. I was \ery care- ful to have t'.io axis of the spindle exactly in the centre of the face. I cut the hand of my clock out of card-board, und I ornauieiited th« case with fancy forms, so as to give it an oriental look. 1 iiien tilled the Case with dry sand, as at S, fig. 4. The weight K, I made of a piece of sandstone ; but I have since found that a s:n:dl empty stone ink-bot lo answers the purpose admirably, and permits of easy aujustment. To the neck of the bot- tle a piece of coid is tied, by means of a noose, BO that it hangs freely and level. I pass the end of the cord round the »pindle once or twice, through the door left at M, lig. o. and I pass the other end through the hole njarked N, fig. ;5, so that it hangs down. At this end of the cord a bullet or small weight is at- tached, as at L, which may be increased, or otherwise, so as to assist in regulating the clock. Let us now hang the clock up and see how it keeps time. The sand rims through the aperture at the bottom into a vase, basin, oi' jng ; as the sand runs out, the weight K, descends, and turns the spindle, so that the hand marks the time on the dial. The great oVgect now is to regulate the clock, and this is easily done by shifting the cord on the spindle and by adding a little to the weight. If the aperture at thebattom is of the right size, the sand will not sink more than an inch or an iiu-h and ,a half per hour. A gallon of sand contains bnO cubic inches, and it will fill the tube bS inches high above the cone, so that the clock will go from 10 to 1 6 hoars without intermission, and when once regiilated will keep exact time. To wind it tip, the weight K must be ele- vated by pulling the end of the cord L, and the sand is then poured in at the top. The time must be noted before the ch)ck is wound up, so it nray be set at the right time again. But how abotit the alarum? As sot)n as the rate of going is ascertained — for the sand runs out regularly while there is an inch lift in it, the case should be marked on the side where the cord hangs like a graduated scale. By this means the weight L may be made to release a spring at a given time as it j:)asses upwards, and by that means rings a bell, I must say that this apparatus seldom repays the trouble, and is simply an effort of in- genuity when done. On theother hand, the clock is a useful article : it affords a lesson on the law of forces and in mechanical powers. With respect to the ornamentation, I have shown at O, fig. 4, a small shelf and bracket. This I made out of the spare paste-board, and is useful to place a lamp or bougie on. or it may hold a small boquet of flowers. If a few cents is nooljject. I should recommend the whole of the case to be painted with Brunswick black, a small bottle of which may be obtained at the Paint store, or a black varnish may be substituted. When this var- nish is dry, the edges may be smoothed with sand paper or rounded with a knife. Coiete^ figures, liowers, or ornaments may be then pasted firmly on in a fantastic manner, and the whole varnished with carriage or copal varnish. Sheets cf colored figures are now gjldat the fancy stationers, I'tady cut out, which are admivablj' adapted for the puxi>ose.- Though I have showH how an excellent sand clock may be uir.de for forty-five cents.. 1 may in conclusion mention that it is by no means indispensable that paste-l)oard should be used A piece of tin piping some two feet long would be better. The head, face, and tube may be made of wood, or the whole may be modelled from jjaper pulp. I have given the princiiile. and the ingenuity of our boys will vary the details losuit their varied tastes, appliances, and opportunities. To Change Color.o of Liquids in a Number of Vases. Kange all your vases, which should be made of fine glass, with wide mouths, upon a table, leaning against a partition, takingcare that each of these vases is connected by a se- cret tube with another placed at an elevation above its level, behind the partition, and in an adjacent appurtment. Consequently j'ou must have a confeder.ite, who at your signal will pour into the hidden vases a liquid to flow into the external ones, to produce the changes to be desired. First. — To chan<_;ft yellow to green. The exterior vase should contain lincture of saf- fron, and from the inside should flow, at yotu' signal, tincture of red roses. Second. — Red to blr.e. Outside, tincture of red roses ; from inside, spirits of harts- horn. Third. ^-VAwe to crimson. Outside, tinc- ture of violets ; inside, spirit of sulphur. Fourth. — Blue into violet. Outside, tinc- tdreof violets ; inside, a solution of copper. Fifoh. — Brown into j'cllow. Outside, lix- ivium ; inside, solution of Hungarian vitriol, ;S'w7f/i!.— Red to black. Outside, tincture of red roses; inside, solution of Hungarian vitriol. Seventh. — Green into red. Outside, solu- tion of copper ; inside, tincture of cyanus. EightJt.—'Yo take away and restore the color to green. On the outside have a solu- tion of copper ; from the inside supply first spirits of nitre, and second oil of tarter. Ninth. — First red, then black, then red again. Outside, tincture of roses; inside, 1st. solution of vitriol, 2d, oil of tartar. Tenth. — A limpid liquid successively black, transparent and black again. Outside, infusion of gall ; inside, 1st, solution of vit- riol, 2d, oil of vitriol, and od, oil of tartar. To Balance a Stick in Equilibrium. Perpetual Attach to the end of the stick two knives, o serve as counter weights ; then balance it at any inclination from your finger, and it will not fall off. HOW TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE rOB FIVE CENTS 45 How to Make a Microscope for Five Cents, And Wnat to Observe "With It. The first thing to do is to procure five cents' worth of the little huUow gUss biUl.s, with Btems to them, used by aitihciu! djwer mak- ers to iininitate ciUTauts aud grapes. You may buy them at any artihcial liunsts' mate- rial makers. It will be as well for you to take a litlle box with you, filled with cotton wool, ia order to prevent them being bixjken. fori must warn you that they are estremely frag- ile article.s aud require the greatest care in Landling. Having succeeded in getting thera hoTn© Kafely, without sittiug on ilieiu or otherwise interfering with their spherioai shajie. you must examine them oarotidiyiu a gcjod light, and pick out the one that is most free from scratches, specks, andbubbles, and fill it with clean boiled water. This, at first sight, seems almost impossible, owing to the slendeniess of the stem communicating with the bulb; but, by taking advantage of t)ne or two natu- ral laws, we mav fill tlie Jittle sphere wi li tie greatest ease and certainty. We raust first make at'^mporary handle for our little globule. Take a piece of smootli firewood and cut from it a 3at stick about as thick as a lucifer match and three or four times as broad. Cut a Klit down the middle of the fiat side and insert in it the stem of the little globule, which will be lield firmly by the natural spring of the wood We next mquire a candle or a lamp and a cap of perfectly cl«an reaentli/ boiled water. fV^.r. f^'^' XmMmm Hold the globule stem upwards about three inches above the candle, mitil it is just hot enough to be h^ld against the back of the iiaud without inconvenience. Without delay plunge it stem downwards into the cup of water and hold it there for a few seconds. On lifting it out you will find that, owing to the expanded warm air inside of the globule hav- ing shrunk by immersion in the cold water. a small quantity of that liquid has entered the interior. Eemove tne globule from the cleft stick and wipe it perfectly dry. Ee-inscrt it in its handle, and hold it once more over the candle until the water boils and sends forth a tiny jet of steam from the stem. You must now plunge it once more into the cold water, when, if the water was boiling, yon will find that the little apparatus becomes completely filled as it cools. If a portion of air still remain in the globe repeat the boil- ing and plunging into the cold water. It you are anything of a glass-blower aud know how to use the blow-pipe, ycni may seal the end of the stem l)y melting the glass; but if \ou are not possessed of these usefid accomplish- ments, you must fill up the end with amorsel of bees'-wax. so as to till up the little tube iind prevent tne water from leaking out. A touch of sealing-wax nt the end of the stem will help to make all safe and water-tight. It is not necessary that the bulb and stem should be absolutely full of water; a bubble of air the size of a pin's head, but not larger, will uot materially interfere with the success of the operation. It may be, perhaps, as well to mention that if you do not live near a Florist material ma- ker, you can purchase nraenic tuhesior three or four cents a piece at any operative drug store, which will answer the purpose quite a.s welL y^y /^t^'^. The next operacion is \m tit a holder to our little lens — for such it is now that it is filled with water. Next get a round, smooth, soft wine-bottla cork, and cut oti' from the best end a piece the least shade larger than the diameter of your little lens. Your knife must be very sharp, and your eye very true, to do this properly, as there is always great danger of cutting the cork crooked. Tne two flat faces of the cork shouUi be quite parallel, other- wise the image formed by the lens will be blurred aud indistinct. The best way of in- suring this is to nick or pencil a line round the cork, which is equidistant from one of its flat surfaces. You must next bore a hole through the cen- tre of your little cork cylinder, so as totra:is- form it into a tube. Here, again, steadiness of hand and truth of eye will be required. The best way is to commence the hole with a red-hot wire, and (hen enlarge it with a pen- knife, whose diauieter isaiitllelessthan that of the lens. If you have such a thing by you as an old mnguum bonum pen. an ordinary pen-holder, or even a metal tube somewhat smaller than the little globe, you can sharpen their edges on a bone, and use tliem as a punch. The cork should be placed flat on the table, and the punch used exactlv like a gimlet, takingcareibat itcuts its way at right angles to the surface. I have dwelt at some length on the prepa- ration of the cork tube, because on its exact- itude of form depends the whole worth of the microscope. Having made the cork cylinder 4G AND WHAT TO OUSCKVE WITH IT. to your liking, enlarge the hole at one end, and cut a slu m the flat portion to admit tlie stem of the lens; so that the snrfaco of tlie glolie iH aliiio.st. but not quite, level with the oilier flat siai'ace of the cork, i igs. 1 to 4 "Will illustrate this better than half a page of description. Having fitted the lens nicely into the cork, it reruaius to blacken the former, ro as to de- stroy what opticians call "'false light," which would have ttie e.iect of blurring the image. Take a cake of ludian ink or lampblack, and rub it on a plate, with a few drops of water, until you can rub off no more. Add to this a drop of thick gum and as much sugar as will tit on the top of a pen-knife, to prevent the gum from cracking. Mix them all up to- gether, and paint t. e lens and its stem all over, with the exception of two circles, which must be exactly opposite each other. Figs. 5 and G represent the front and side view of the lens after having been painted. When quite dry, insert the lens in its place, as shown In Fig. 4, and fix it in its position by a slight touch . of gum here and there. A neat slip of cork should also be gammed into the slit formed for the insertion of the stem. By the way, if yon have no Indian ink, or lamp black, you may manufacture some xe- temporaneously by smoking a plate over a caudle or lamp, and mixing the black np with gum and sugar as before. A gas flame gives the finest deposit. We must now fit the lens-holder with dia- phragms, baik and front. Cut from a thin visiting card two circles the exact size of the ends o. the lens-holder, and cut out from their centres neat holes about the size of a small pea ; paint them black, and gum them securely on each end of the lens-holder. If yon know a friendly saddler or shoemaker, you had better ask him to pnnch out these holes for you, as it is some- what difficult us th; t T can only Rive yo 1 the barest description of a few of them, leaving you yourselves to find out those indicated by the | scanty list with which I am going to furnish you. Taking the mineral kingdom first you will find that sal-anmjoniac, blue-stone, nitre, and several salts, form very pretty objects, when crystalizcd on a slide. A weak solution of the salt should be made — say a piece the size of a pea to three or four teaspoonfnls of water. The slide having been warmed, a drop of the solution is placed on it, and the whole is put away in a warm corner until crystalization has taken jDlace. You then examine the slide in tho microscope to see if the experiment has succeeded; ifitUas, you cover it immedia'e- ly with another slide, taking great care not to crush the crystals. The animal kingdom affords an almost in- exhaustible supply of objects. The hair of the head and beard, hair from caterpillars, bees, crabs, and spiders, are all beautiful objects. If you examine sou)e very coarse wool, you will find its surface covered with slight projections, while that of human hair is comparativelj' smooth. The scales of fish — especially those of the eel, and perch — are very interesting object-!, being corrugated in beautiful natters s. 'J'he wings of tiies, bees, wasps, Ac, will form a study in themselves. If you have mnde your microscope carefully, you will be able to see that theiv transparent portion is covered with minute hairs. Notice, also, that the arrange- ment of the ribs is differe t in ever' species. The vegetable kingdem is also unfailing in its supply of objects Thin slices of rush, cork, Wiiod of various kinds, cut both with the grain and against it. will tench j'on much respecting the structin-e of plants. Cooked rhubarb, or tea-leaves, well pulled to pieces with a couple of needles, will show you — sometimes after a long search — those very curious spiral vessels that exist in different parts of plants. In conclusion let me remind yon that there are four cardinal virtues which every micro- scopist must possess. They are %>atienc€, neatn(ss,cleanUne^s, and iiiteiligence. Japanese Paper Matches. When lighted, burn with a small, scarcely luminous flame, a red-hot ball of glowing saline matter accunmlating as the combus- tion proceeds. When about one-half of the matcla has been consumed the glowing heat begins to send forth a succession of splendid sparks. The phenomenon gradually assumes the character of a brilliant scintillation, very similar to that observed on burning a stt el s]iring in oxygen, otdy mufh more delicate, the individual sparks branching out in beau- tiful dendritic ramifications. A mixture of carbon, 1 (powdered wood charcoal) ; stil- phur, 1 5 ; and nitre, 84, produce the phe- nomenon. English tissue paper may be used for the wrapper. 48 MONOCnEOSIAXIC OK CKATON PAINTING, Moaocliromatic or Crayon Painting. The male rials for cruyou paiutiug are, first, tlie uiouocbromatic board. Prociuo the best quality, as a good picture cau uot be prodaceil with inferior board. Tints of variou.s kinds for giving expression to tbo bceue, such as red for a sunrise, or sua.^et, and brown or purple for moonlight scenes, Ciiu be procured ; but white is the best for all beginners. Fort Crayon. — Two of these are required ; they are used to hold crayon in one end aud cork in the other. One must be kept wiili a fine point for drawing and fixing the finer parts ; the other is used to place color on the pallet, and. for the coarser parts. The crayon and cork are pointed by whittling from the point backwards. Crayon. — The round varnished Frencli crayons are the bast. No. 1 is hard, iuid only used for drawing fine lines. No. 2 is commonly used, and is all that is actually necessary for beginners. No. 3 crayons are soft, anti are only used where an intense black is wanted. Black crayons are all that are wanted ; nev^r use colors. Cork should Wo fine and close-grained — that which cuts like a piece of rubber is the best; cut it into slips and place a piece in one end of each of the port crayons, one to be sharpened with as fine a point as can ba produced, the other with a coarse point; it is used to rub over and fix the color of all parts drawn with the crayon. Sponge must be thoroughly washed tofreo it from sand ; the fiue-gi-aiued is the best. Cut into pieces one and a half or two inches squai'e. Biccksskin should be well dressed, soft, smooth, and of good thickness. The backs of old mittens and gloves can be used by washing in soapsuds, dry slowly, and rub in the hands occasionally to make soft. Cut into pieces about an inch square. When ready to use, double over one corner to the centre, bring over the next one on the same side to meet it, forming a point — use the right side. Knife. — A large-sized, spear-pointed, sin- gla-bladed penknife is best. The blade sliould be firm in the handle, and middling sharp; it is used for engraving. Keep a whetstone and sharpen occasionally, to keep the edge smooth and true. DisickrH. — Sel ct a pair of small brass di- viders ; those which fasten with a screw are batter than those which f isten with a rivet, as they can be tightened or loosened at plea- sire. Tiiey are used for measuring and testin,!* distances. Pallet.' An inferior piece of the board is selected for this. It should be two or three JTiches wide, and of any convenient length. A couple of lead weights are useful to stand upon this and keep it in place. It is used to place the color upon by simply rubbing the crayon in a circular manner on it; the color is t;dcen off with the sponge and buck- skin. This completes the list of materials ; they should all bo of th© best quality, as a good artist can not produce a ber.ntiful pic- t ire without a good article to work with, nor can a beginner. Where U) Commence Painting a Land- .scape. — In the fir.st place we will have au old flewspajjer to place upon the table, and a small piece for a thumb-paper to keep all things neat and clean. In Llotiochromatic paint;iug, always, as a rule, commence with the most remote objects and finish with those nearest to the observer. Sky — .\s this is considered the most re- mote of all objects in picture representation, it is the first to be painted. Place some color on the pallet liy rubbing the crayon lightly upon it, take some of this color on a piece of sponge and commence at the top left-hand corner, brushing in a horizontr.l manner, very lis^htly, working down with each stroke ; take more color and continue until it is d;;rk enough. Ce careful and not get it streaked. Water. — Take a piece of buckskin, flat between the thunib and fiuger; get some color on it by rubbing on the pallet, and commence at the lower lefi-hand corner ; work in a horizontal matiner across the board, working upwards with each stroke until the natural horizon is reached. lu waterfalls work in an oblique or curved nman- ner to correspond with the direction of the f lling water. Soften it by working the sponge in the same manner, to render the more t.ranspareiit ; engrave some light places in it with the knife — horizontally if level, or curved if in falling water. C'ouds come next. Paint with the buckskin folded to a point, moving the hand in a cir- cular manner; soften with the sponge, and engrave the light edges with a knife. Re- member that clouds are vapor, with light shining upon them. Eemote Dltitance in the scene is the next in order, as mountains, hills, or heavy masses of timber which are s;ifl&ciently near to exhibit any marks of light and shade, should be painted with the buckskin in a parallel manner, corresponding with the angle and shape of the object represented. Keep the edges of distant mountains soft and not too distinct, according to their dis- tance. Remember that lights and shades are always opposite to each other. Tone down by rubbing lightly with the sponge, and engrave out the light parts with the knife very softly. Observe the time of day, distance, state of the atmosphere, and di- rection in which the light shines. In the central parts the lights and shades are clearer and more distinctly- defined. Diiant Foliage is painted with the pointed buckskin in a circular manner to produce clumns, masses, &C. If the tree-stems are visible, draw (he pointed crayon and fasten with the pointed cork; engrave the foliage lightly. Distant Buildings and Vessels^ -where there is suflB.cient shade, may be engraved out with the knife, touching windows and doors with the pointed crayon and cork; MO-NOCHBOaiATIO OB CEATON PAINTINCJ. 49 the Lulls of vessels may need a touch of the crayon. Jioc/iS. — Rocks should bo worked with the 'oiickiskiu lu the diiectiou of their strata; if tbey have any fissures or other characleris- lic purts, the shaded or d;ulc ^lar'ts iiiiiy be res-n"ve the relative proportion of all figures and ol'jecis; for instance. do not delineate a horse before a barn any larger than r — which is very much dearer than the zinc — do double work, and collect electricity on lioth its surfaces. ^. e C(;nsequent]y tiso two plates of zinc, so lh:it there ]i:ay be electri- city generated on both sides of the platinum plate. Here, then, are two more important facts for you to recollect : tir.st, that no electricity l)asses until the two ]>lates are connected, either by vheir free ends, as in our first ex- I)erimeut, or by wires, as in all ordinary batteries, when it instantly begins circling round and round until all the zinc is dis- solved, or the acid becomes so weak as to act on it no longer; secondly, that it is on the surface of the zinc next the inactive collect- ing plate that the current of electricity is produced. In tlie i')resent instance ve might make one zinc plate give out electri- city from both of its surfaces by usiiig two plates of platinized silver; but as that ma- terial is worth some hundred times as mm h as the zinc, it is better, as I have before sa"d, to make the dear material do the double work. It is hardly necessary for me to say tl : t the amount of electrical effect that njay 1 e produced by a zinc plate is entirely in pro- portion to its surface, and has nothing to do with its thickness. Thus the thin plati- nized silver plate is just as elective as if it were half an inch thick. In tbe case of the zinc, we use pretty thiidc ] l.'tes. simply b< - cause they take longer to d.s.solve away than thin ones. The ordinary commercial zinc used for batteries is very impure. It contains nume- rous particles of lead, iron, and carbon, which set up little opposition voltaic currents ou their own account as soon as the plate is immersed in the acid. To obviate this, the zinc has to undergo the process of amalga- mation by being rubbed over with mercury before it is fit for use. The mercury foims with the zinc a semi-fluid compound, which spreads over the surface, and covers up the little particles of other metals, and prevents tliem from being acted on by tlie acid. The process of amalgamatiug the zinc is very simple, and will be described further on. Having now made ourselves pretty well acquainted with the construction and action of the voltaic battery, we will make a few experiments on its effects. In our first ex- periment we found that the saliva on our tongue was slightly decomposed. The de- composition of substances through which the current passes is one aniell, which is so much used for electro- typing sniall objects. But I should advise yon most strnnglv to put your trust entirely in Smee. The DanieU is certainly cheaper at first, but continual breakage of porous pots, and the uncertainty with which it works, render it dearer iu the end. It consists (Fig. 4) cf a jar, J, containing a porous pot, P, within which is placed a cylinder of zinc, Z. To this i:i attached by means of a bimhng screw, B, a wire, W, carrying the black-leaded mould. III. The outer jar is filled with a solution of sul- phate of copper, the porous pot with dilute sulphuric acid. Yon will, no doubt, at once think that this cannot be a voltaic pair generating a current of fcleetricity, there being no inactive plate to collect the electricity devel- oped by the zinc; but a little reflection will show you that the black-leaded mould is the collecting plate in this instance, becoming covered with cop] .er as long as the current flows. A little moie reflection is liable to raise a new diinculiy as to the pos- sibility of the electricity generated by the zinc passing through the porous pot, which is a non-conducting material ; but if we only consider that the two liquids pass through the pores of the clay, and mix together very slowly, the difficulty vanishes. One more explanation. and I am done with theory. In using the Smee with a separate cell, it often puzzles one to know upon which wire to hang tlie mould ; but if we only take the trouble to trace the course of the oirrent, and to recollect that it is at that particular spot where the current leavrs the liquid that the metal is deposited, you will have do diffi- culty iu remembering to which wire to attach your mould. The following d agrams show (he course taken by the current in the three electro- typing arrangements that we have been considering, beginning with the zinc and dime. In Fig. 5 it begins at the zinc, passes through the sulphate of copper solution into the coin, leaving a de-T posit of copper behind it, - and so upwards into the zinc again. In Fig. it begins with thezinc,and travels through FIQ.6 FIG. 3 z i A i ^ — *■ \ s the sulphuric acid solution, sulphate of cop- per, black-leaded mould, copper wire, and binding screw, to the zinc once more. THE AET OF ELECTEOTTPING. 53 In Fig. 7 the conrse is fig. 7. throngh the zinc, sulphuric acid, pliitmized silver, bind- ing screw, wire, copper^ pl.ite, sulphate of copper solution, and zinc. In this last iu-r:iiigement I have only shown one zinc plate, in order to avoid confusion. Let us now sum up the theory of the elec- trotype process. I.' — When a plate, of zinc is immersed in n liquid which acts uptm it chemically, elec- tricity is developed on the surface of the metal. II. — If we place opposite to the zinc an- other metal only slightly acted on by the liquid, and connect it with the zinc by means of a wire, the electricity developed by the ■ zinc is set in motion, and a current is gen- erated -which lasts until chemical acti(|u ceases. III. — "When a current of electricity is passed tlirough a liquid, the liquid is decom- l)osed, j)rovided the current is sufficiently strong. IV. — If the solution through which the current passes contains a metal, it will bo deposited at the point where the current passes oit of the solution. V. — Tlio electric current will pass with more or less facility through all the metals, charcoal, black lead, and most liquids, but nearly iiU other substances interruiit its pass- age. Bodies of the first kind are called con- ductors, the rest non-conductors. So fir the theory of the electrotype pro- cess, without some knowledge of which no one can hope to succeed in obtaining good results. THE PRACTICE. One of the first things the electrotyper will have to practise is the art of making mordds of the objects he wishes to reproduce. When first the electrotype process was dis- covered, the electrotyper was obliged to confine himself to the use of moulds in metal, it being erroneously supposed tliat deposi- tion would only take place on metallic sur- faces, the discovery, however, that any surface well rubbed with plumbago or black lead was thereby made conducting, freed the artlat once from many of its trammels and enabled the operator to use almost any ma- terial that would take a sharp impression of (he object he desired to copy. For seals, coins, and medals, nothing is better than ordinary white wax of good quality mixed with a little flake white. We will supposf. if you please, that you are de- sirous of making a copy of the Goddess of Libeity on the back of the fifty-cent piece. The first thing to do is to procure good wax. The common white wax sold at the oil-stores isgenerally adulterated with tallow or fat, and is a soft yielding material, ntteidy unfitted^for the purposes of the electrotyper. Yon had better purchase your wax froin the apparatus maker who supplies you with your battery ; you will pay perhaps a higher price, but you will have the satisfacti'jn of getting an article that is reliable. This remark will apply to nearly all the materials that you are likely to use. As a rule wax works much better when mixed with about one-twentieth of its weight of flake white, which may be purchased at an oil-store very cheaply. Put the wax into an ordinary earthen pipkin, and place it near a rather low, clear tire, free from smoke, taking care that the heat is only just sufiici- eut to allow the wax to melt. When quite liquid throw in one-twentieth of its weight of flake white, and stir the whole with a glass rod or clean tobacco-pij^e stem. When fully mixed pour the wax out on a clean plate, and, when cool, chop it up into littlo pieces and re-melt it. ilepeat the cooling and melting once more, and the mixture ia ready for use. You need not be particular about adhering to the exact proportions of wax and flake while given above ; for in- stance, a quarter of a pound of the former and a quarter of an ounce of the latter form an excellent compound, are easy quantities to 2:)urchase, and consequently save the trou- ble of weighing. Of cc^urse it is better to make a large quantity of the mixture at once, and keep it in cakes ready for use. The coin from which you are about (o take a cast should be rubbed over with a small quantity of sweet oil, taking care that it penetrates into all the finer parts of the work. As much as possible of tbe superflu- ous oil is then removed with a pledget of cotton wool, the fine details being cleared with an ordinary sable or camels-hair pen- cil. The object of oiling the medal is to prevent the wax from sticking to it. by the interposition of a very thin film of greasy matter. You next surround the coin with a slip of thin card, about an inch or an inch and a half in width, and of suflicient length to overlap about an inch. Wrapping the card round the coin, mark with a pencil the line where the edge overlaps. Y'ou now tack together the top and bottom of the cardboard hoop with a needle and thread, so as to form a little cell for the reception of the coin, which will be retained in its ])lace by the natural spring of the card. If the coin is heavy it will be better to wind some thread round the whole, so as to make assurance doubly sure. It is almost unnecessary to warn you against touching the face of the coin with the finger, as yotr will no doubt have guessed that the slightest mark will appear in the electrotype copy. Having melted suffi(nent wnx for the pur- pose you require, heat the coin by placing it on the hob, or holding it over a gas or candle flame, until it is just warm enough to prevent the hot wax from being suddenly chilled when poured upon it, and yet it must not be so hot as to dissipate the film of oil with which it is covered. The coin is now held steadily in the left hand and slightly sloping ia that direction, in order that the 54 THE AET OF ELECTKOTTPING. melted wax may flow over the surface evenly aud gnidimlly. Pour in the wiix geutly and contiuuously iiutil it rises nearly to the top of the cardboard. The whole is now put aside to cool, an operation that will take at least two hours ; in fact, it is almost better to make the moulds over night and allow them to cool until the next morning. When the wax has become solid the threads fasten- ing the card may be snipped and the card- board peeled off,— the mould, with the coin adhering to it, being placed aside in a cold place. At first you will find some difficulty in getting perfect impressions, but the failure can only result from three causes. First, air-bubbles nuty be formed through the coin being too cold, pouring the wax with an un- steady hand, or from too great a height ; secondl}', the wax may adhere to the mould so firmly as to resist all endeavors to sepa- rate them without destroying the impression, a misfortune that can only arise from not having left suffifieut oil upon the coin ; thirdly, the impression may be blurred and indistinct through the iise of too much oil. An excellent way to obtain a good impres- sion of a coin, medal, or like object, which will be found less tedious, is to melt your wax in a shallow vessel ; set it aside to cool ; meanwhile, oil your object. When the wax lias become pretty hard lay the object on the wax and squeeze it down with a carpen- ter's clamp. In this way we have obtained good sharp impressions. Having perfected yom-self in the art of casting from metal you should next try to cast from plaster. This is a somewhat diffi- cult operation, but it is one to be learned — plaster copies of some of the finest works in the way of -coins and medals being pro- curable at the Italian image-shops for a few cents. Having everything ready for casting, place the plaster impression, face upwards, in a savrcer containing sufficient hot water to rise to half the height of the cast. Watch the surface of (he plaster until it just begins to look wet. It is then taken out of the water, surrounded with cardboard, as in the case of the coin, and cast from in precisely the same way. Here, agaiii^ judgment is required; for if the plaster is made too weti the impression will be bhirred, if it has sucked up too little water it will nlisorb the wax when poured upon it. Someelertrotyp- ers saturate the plaster with oil, but this method, although good for casting, spoils the appearance of the original cast. How- ever, the best thing to do is to experiment upon both processes and choose the one that gives the best result. For small seals and coins ordinary sealing- wax maybe used, the seal being made in the usunl manner, but very much thicker from back to front. Before use the card or paper should bo soaked off in cold water. Moulds of exquisite sharpness are made in beeswax and an alloj' of bismuth calieut the former is difficult to work •without special appliances in the form of powerful screw-presses, and the latter is too dear for ordinary use. If y on know a friendly working stereotyper you may get him to cast from your plaster impressious in stereotype metal, which is peculiarly adapted for ob- taining sharp copies of such objects. If you can not get the cake wax a good substitute will be found in wax candles ; this will be found easy to work in as the mould does not stick so much. Before commencing electrotyping it will be as well for you to practise casting until you have acquired the method of producing good impressious of all sizes, and from both l)laster and metal. In fact, you may accu- mulate casts during the time that you are saving up your dimes to buy your apparatus. Too many beginners electrotype from bad casts, the results being of course bad copies, to say nothing of the waste of time and ma- terial. Your next step will be to set your battery at work. In ; 11 probability the zinc plates will have been amalgamated by the maker; but, whether they lave or not, it will be as well for you to perform the process upon them. Make a mixture of one part by measure of sidphuric acid and lour of water, taking care to pour in the water last. The water must be jionred into the acid very gently, other- wise so much heat is produced that the mix- ture spirts over the hands and clothes. S>dphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, as it is gen- erally called, is exceedingly poisonous and corrosive. Whatever it fdlsujiou it destroys; aud although there is but little fear of any person driidving it, it should be always kept strictly under lock and key. The mixture of sulphuric acid and water having become cold — for no matter bow cautiously you pour the water in, a certain amount of heat will always be generated, — pour it into a plate or saucer, and place the ziuc jilates in it for half a minute or so if the plate has been amalgamated, and for a longer time if it has not. In the latter case, it should remain in the acid until it looks pretty clear. You will do well to notice tlie little babbles that form upon (he zinc, and rise to the surface in thousands. These are caused by numberless little voltaic pairs that are forujed between the zinc and the particles of foreign metals wilh which it is contamin- ated. Every one of these decomposes the water into oxygen and hydrogen, the former gas uniting with the zinc and becomii'g dis- solved in the acid liquid, and (he latter efier- vescing off in little bubbles like champagne. This does, not occur Mith zinc which has been amalgamated. The zinc is lifted out of the acid, and a small quantity of mercury is poured upon it and gently rubbed over the surface with a piece of rag, tak'ing care not to let the acid touch tlie fingers ; for al- though it will not do them any harm, it is apt to produce dirty stains that take a long time wearing out. You luav, if you like, make a little rubber by stuffing a piece of rag into a clean tobacco-j)ipe bow 1, reserving the stem for stirring your solution. As soon .*: THE Ar.T OF rLECTKOTYPINO. 55 as tlie zinc is perfectly bright in every pnrt, tlie superfluous mercury should be removed with the rubber, and the plate washed in clean M-ater and wiped. It. generally hap- pens tliiit with new phites there are certain spots thnt; will not amalgamate, in which case the plate should be returned to the acid solution until tljey take the mercury as read- ily as any other part. It often puzzles young beginneis to know when these plates want re-aiualg:imating: to this qnerj' one might really reply by saying — always; in fact, the zinc plates used by some of the electric tele- graph ccnapanies always stand in a little gutta-percha trough of mercury, so that the metal very gradually creeps up their surfaces. You may easily tell if a plate requires re- araalgamation or not by lifting it out of the cell, washing it in plenty of cold water, and pouring on it, when dry, a few drops of mercury. If the mercury flows readily over the surface, the plate is still in working or- der ; if, on I lie contrary, the mercury refuses to unite with the zinc, you may know that re-amalgamation is necessary. For using the battery two solutions are required — one a solution of sulphuric acid, for creating chemical action, and, conse- quently, electricity on the surface of tlie zinc ; the other, a solution of sulphate of cop- per, from which we are to draw our supply of metal for covering our mould. The acid solution for exciting the zinc is made by mixing one measure of sulphuric acid with twelve of water, care being taken to add the water last, as when you were am- algamating. An egg-cup forms an excellent measure for this purpose, and any quantity of acid solution may be made at a time by adhering to the proportions given above. It is a good thing to keep a stock in hand, in a large bottle, so that the acid solution in the battery may be changed at a moment's notice. Some operators have a slovenly habit of pouring strong acid into the spent solution, the result being that they get themselves into most unexpected difficilties. When the exciting solution is exhausted, it should be thrown away and replaced from your stock. Sulphuric acid is very cheap, a pound weight of it being sufficient to make five pints of solution. The sulphate of copper solution is made by pouring boiling water on a quantity of the salt — say a pint of the former upon a pound of the latter. Tlie solution should be well stirred with a glass rod or tobacco-pipe stem, in order that the liot water may dis- solve as much as possible of the salt. When perfectly cold, pour off the blue solution from the undissolved sulphate of copper (which should be reserved for future use), and add to it one-fourth of its bulk of the di- lute sulphuric acid you use for exciting your plates. The acid is added in order to in- crease the power of the solution for conduct- ing electrical currents, as it is a better con- ductor than either water or sulphate of copper solution. Sulphate of copper, bhie vitriol, or bluestone, is generally met with in a pretty pure stafo. The solution it forms is sometimes cloudy at first, but subsidence and careful decantation easily remedy this evil. Wo have now prepared our moulds, zinc plates, and solutions, and need only render the surface of the wax capable of conducting electricity to begin operations. This is effected by first gently wiping the wax im- pression with a tuft of cotton-wool, to re- move any dust or oil that may be on its surface, and then applying black-lead to it with a soft plate-brush untjl a black and brilliant gloss is prodticed. The brush should not be too hard, or the face of the mould will suffer ; and the best black-lead, bought at the instrument-maker's, should alone be used. The common quality, sold at the stores for domestic jjnrposes, is quite useless, being generally adulterated with gritty matter. Black-lead, or plumbago, was at one time supposed to be a compound of iron ; btit modern research has proved that it is non-metallic in its nature, being a peculiar form of carbon — the chemical name for pure charcoal. It may interest you to know that coke, lamp-black, charcoal, black- lead, and diamond, are only different forms of carbon. Plumbago, although rot a metal, is an excellent conductor of electricity, and an electric telegram might be sent through a series of black-lead pencils as easily as through an iron vt-ire. The surface of the mould, therefore, when well brushed over with plumbago, becomes just as great a con- ductor of electricity as if it were gilt or sil- vered. You must be very careful to use sufficient black-lead, so as to produce a con- tinuous coating, — indeed, it is hardly possi- ble to use too much. The edgps of the mould should be black-leaded about half-way down ; but the back, of course, is left in its natural condition. Nothing now remains but to connect the mould with the battery, and see the latter in action. Supposing you are using a single-cell Daniell, pour the suljihate of copper solution into the outer jar until it readies within an inch of the top, and place the porous cell in it. Pour the acid solution into the latter, takiTig care that the two solutions are level with each other. Next slightly warm the wire connected with the zinc, and insert it in the edge of the wax mould about half-way between the back and front. When cool, make the electrical connection between the wire and mould continuous by black-leading tlie point of junction,, vigorously. Bend the wire into the shape of a long fj. so that the face of the mould may be opposite the mid- dle of the flat part of the zinc plate, and as near to it as possible. Immerse the zinc in the pnrous tube, and, if necessary, bring the mould nearer to it by bending the wire. The mould may possibly carry down with it a number of little bubbles of air, but these may bo generally got rid of by tapping the wire with a key or knife. If tlicy should resist this treatment, the mould must be 56 THE AKT OF ELECTEOTTPIKO. moved np and down until they disappear ; for, if allowed to remain, "on will find per- fect copies of them on the surface of your electrotype. A little iiiuslin bag of crystals of sulphate of copper should be hung jnst below the top of the copper solution, so that supply may be kept up. if everything has gone right, metallic copper of a beautifid rose tint v. ill gradually spread over the mould, beginning with the part in connection with thewiie, and by de- grees covering the whole of the black-leaded surfaces. The deposition does not begin immediately; but when once it commences, it goes on continuously as long as any is generated. The mould mny be lilted out and the deposit examined with impunity, as long as it is not touched with the fingers. The amount of iiiue necessary for the deposi- tion varies vith the size of the mould and the power of the battery, from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, or even longer. If the time is extended beyond twenty-lour hours, it is better, if the mould i.s large, to pour away the acid solution in the porous tube, and reph'nish it. from stock. Let me here sny that every time yon re- plen'sh the solution in the porous cell yon should brush olf the black fur that has formed upon the zinc, otherwise your battery will not work well. ■\Vhen the deposit is sufficiently thick, the cast may be removed and another substi- tuted for it. If yon are careful, you may re- move the electrotype fiom the mould with- out injuring it ; so (hat, after being freshly black-leaded, it may be used again. If a hniee's battery is used, the copper solution is poured into a separate vessel. An ordinary jelly-jar answers the purpose. This separate vessel is termed the decompo- sition cell. The battery is excited with the dilute sulphuric acid for the Daniell. You must take care that the ends of the screws and wires that come into contact are kept clean and bright, otherwise the current is greatly enfeebled. The battery being filled with the dilute acid, the wire from the zinc is attached to tlie mould as before. The wire from the si-lver is fustened to a piece of copper plate, about twice the size of the mould to be covered. The two wires are then bent over, so that the copper plate and mould maj' be exactly facing each other, and about an inch apart. As the copper plate dissolves away, it must Vie re])laced by a fresh one. You must also recollect that every grain of copper dissolved is reproducei^ on the mould; so that tliere is no necessity in having a bag of crystals in the solutions, as in the case of the Daniell arrangement. The battery solution should be changed every forty-eight hours or so. At first, no doubt, the young electrotyper will succeed in obtaining excellent results; but as he continues his experiments he will find that instead of getting a nice, even, flexible confing of metallic copper, he wil, obtain either a crystalline, brittle depositl or else a dirty brown powder forms on the surface of the mould. These failures occur from the electrical current being either too weak or too strong. If all is not going well the best thing to do is to re-amalgamate the zinc plates and change the exciting solution. If these rem- edies do not have the desired eli'ect we must examine the restilt and endeavor to discover in M'hat particular we have failed. I. — The cojtper deposit refuses to cover the whole of the mould. This generally arises from there being a deficiency of black-lead on the surface of the wax. The remedy is obviously to lift out the moidd, wash it in clean vater, dry it carefully with blotting-paper, and black-lead it afresh. There is, of course, no need to remove an3' of the copper that has already formed, as it will unite with the new de- posit. It may as well be njentioned that this failure is one of the most common m ith beginners. II.— -The copper deposits in the form of a dark-brown powder. This is caused by the electrical current being too strong for the size of the mould. The remedy is manifestly to lessen the amount of electricity received by the mould, which may be done in several ways : — (a.) By pouring away some of the acid solution, and so lessening the surface of zino acted upon. (b.) By separating the mould and the zinc by A greater interval in the case of the Dan- iell, or by removing it to a greater distance from the copper plate, when using the Smee's arrangement. This has the efi'ect of giving the electrical current a larger mass of liquid to traverse, causing some of it to be lost in the waj\ (c.) By diminishing the size of the copper plate when tising the Smee. This cause of failure frequently happens when the reproduction of small seals are the object of our labors. The batteries des- cribed are stifficiently powerful to deposit copper on a mould as large as two inches square, or even larger. Any mould smaller will generally require the power of the battery to be diminished before a good re- sult can be obtained; or, Avhen the moulds are small, several may be attached to the same wire. III. — The copper deposits in a brittle, crystalline mass. The remedies for this faihire are so ex- actly the reverse of those to be ajiplied in the second case that it would be only wast- ing valuable time to detail them. In cold weather the deposit sometimes becomes brittle from the action of the acid solution in the zino being slightly diminished, the apparatus should therefore be kept at a little distance from the fire. This desm-iption of failure may also occur from the connecting wires not being clean and bright when they touch the binding-screws, or from the screws not being screwed sufficiently tight. You will see that I have given you esann- THE AP.T OF ELrCTItOTTI'INO. 57 pies of every kind of failure that can occur, with several remedies to be applied in each case. The choice of these must be left lo your own judgment. One good rule to bear in mind is that the surface of the zinc acted upon should never be more than three times, or at most four times, that of the mwdal to be copied. If this rule is adhered to, and tbe directions for preparing and re- newing ihe solutions are complied with, there is really hardly a possibility of failure Having succeeded in obtaining a deposit of sufficient thickness, the copper impression is carefully removed from the mould, trimmed with a sharp pair of scissors and a fine-cut file, and well washed with soap-and- ■water and a soft brush. It may then be cleaned with a little rotten-stone or fine whiting made into a paste with water, a sott clean piece of chamois-leather being used to give it a final polish. The bright copjjer surface thus obtaiued is very beautiful, but it unfortunatuly soon becomes tarnished by exposure to the air. except, indeed, it be kept in an air-tight case. It is advisable, therefore, to give it an arti- ficial tarnish, so to speak, in order to allow it to be exposed with impunity. This is eifected by the use of a bronzing liquid. Of these there are great numbers in u?e. One of the best is that recommended by Walker. Boil for a quarter of an hour, in an earthen pipkin, a gill of good vinegar, one ounce of carbonate of ammonia, and an ounce of verdigris ; the two last ingvedientu being re- duced to powder previously. Then mix in a separate vessel, a drachm of sal-ammoniac and ten grains of oxalic acid in another gill of vinegar. When tbe sal ammonaic and the oxalic aeid are dissolved, mix the two solutions, and boil for five minutes. When cold, poiir off the clear liquid, and pre- serve in a well-corked bottle. It is used by being brushed well over the medal sev- eral times, the latter being heated over a lamp or candle between each application. The depth of color obtained by this method is very fine. Enough now has been said to enable the veriest tyro to carry on the electrotype pro- cess with success. If, after all, failure should be the result, it will be, I fear, the consequence of the lack of one of the follow- ing good qualities, — patience, exactitude, judgment, and perseverance. PLATING IN SILVER. We will now describe the processes of silver-plating ; for this is what I think nearly all amateurs want to do first. But hei-e let me recommend the student to try his hand in copper first, as it is much easier to do, and requires less ex[)erience ; for, when you can take good medals in cop- per, you will find very little trouble in doing the same in gold, silver, or nickel. Silver is generally deposited upon some other metal, but it is not easy to deposit it tipon them all. Tbe best to experiment on are copper, brass, or German silver, though all the others— as iron, lead, and pewter, — can be coated. The best way to prepare the silver solu- tion is by the battery. This is ellected by dissolving one and a quarter ounces of cyanide of potassium in one gallon of water; then take a porous cup and place within it a piece of iron or copper; put it into the solu- tion, and fill it with the outside solution ; connect tho plate with the zinc end vi the battery ; ia the solution outside the porous cup place a sheet of silver, and connect it with the silver or carbon end of the bi»ttery. It will take ten or twelve hours to get the solution to a proper strength. There are other ways of making the solution, but this is the readiest. Supposing that you have made ihe solu- tion, tlie next thing is to prepare tne article t'> oe placed into it. The article to be plated is first boiled in a solution of caustic soda, which will free it from any grease ; then take it out of t'lis solution and wash it, and then pttt it into diluted nitric acid, which removes any foreign substance that may be tormed upon the surface. When it is taken out of this solution it is brushed over with a hard brush and fine sand. The nitric acid us(-d should be very weak. The article being now thoroughly cleaned and dried, a piece of copper wire is attached to it by twisting it around the article, or by putting it into some of the open parts and twisting it, to maintain the article in sus- pension. It is then dipped into nitric leid as quickly as possible, then washed through water, and then put into the silver solution, suspending it to one of the brass rods which run across the trough, and whicli is connected with the zinc terminal of the b ttery ; on the other rod is suspended a sheetof silver, which is connected with the carbon or silver end of the battery. The article is instantaneously coated with silver, and ought to be taken out after a few seconds, and brushed well with a hard hair-brush and fine s:iper is de- posited on it, having the beautiful matted appearance of dead silver. [It must be re- marked here, that, in all plating solutions, the article must he moved from time to time while the process of deposition is going on. This is necessitated in consequence of the solution in front of the article becoming ex- hausted of the metal which it holds in solu- tion.] If yon desire to preserve the surface in this condition, the article must be taken out — care being taken not to touch it with the han(. — and immersed in distilled boiling water for a few minutes. On being with- drawn, sufficient he:it has been imparted to the article to dry it instantly. If it is a medal it ought to be put in an air-tight frame 58 THE ART 035" ELECTEOTYPING, immediately; or if a figure, it maybe placed nnder a glass shade, as a few days' exposure to the air tarnishes it. If the article is uot ^vanted with a dead surface, it may be brushed with a hard brush aud stale ale. It may be burnished by rubbing its surface with considerable pressure with a polishing steel or a mineral termed bloodstone. We may remark that in depositing silver, a weak battery may be uSed ; but if the battery is too weak, the silver deposited will be very soft. If the battery is pretty strong. — say three or four of our cells, 2^ by 3 inches, — the silver deposited will be as hard as hammered silver. So if your silver is soft, you know the cause ; knowing the cause you know the remedy. The average cost of depositing silver in this way is about ten cents per ounce. ELECTKO-GILDING. The operation of gilding, or covering other metals witli a coating of gold, is per- formed in the same manner as the operation of plating, with the exception of a few prac- tical modilications. The best way of preparing the solution is by Ihe battery, as iu the case of silver. Say you want to prepare l nV 1 Y 1 E P F I 1 I I 1 A E L N s c 1 T 1 L 1 G 1 H 1 E H It is said to have been sometimes used by the superstitious Moslems when they were in doubt about anything they thought of dwng. The rule is to place the finger upon the table without looking at it. Then look to see on what letter your finger has rested, and write it down, with every fifth following letter in the table, until you get back to your starting place. For example, we will sup- pose your finger fell on the letter E in the sixth line. You write down every fifth letter, and the following appears : Enjoy peace, ab- stain and. In reading this sentence, yon commence with the first of the letters taken from the upper line, and so the xitterance of his oracle is : Abstain and enjoy peace. This oracle is capable of giving five distinct an- swers, as any reader can easily verify ; and, commence with what letter we will, we shall obtain one of these answers. It is, of course, a superstition which gives any authority to these answers, but it is curious to observe that the oracle is so arranged as to be likely to do good rather than harm to those who consult it. It contains but one affirmative and four negative answers, and it is evident that its framer knew that when men hesitate about doing an action, it is genendly safer to abstain from it than to perform it. Men are more disposed to consult oracles for leave to do wi-ong than for advice to do right. Japanese Cement. Intimately mix the best powdered rice with a little cold water, and then gradually add boiling water until a proper consistence is acquired, being par- ticularly careful to keep it well stirred all the time ; lastly, it must be boiled for a minute in a clean saucepan or earthen pip- kin. This glue is beautifully white and transparent, for which reason it is well adapted for fancy paper work, which re- quires a strong and colorless cement. Jeweller's Cement.- -Take 6 pieces of gum mastic the size of peas, and dissolve in the smallest possible quantity of alcohol. Soften some isinglass in water, and saturate strong brandy wath it till you have 2 oz, of glue ; then rub in 2 small pieces of sal am- moniac. Mix the 2 preparations at a heat. Keep well stoppered. Set the bottle in hot water before using. It is said by the Turks that this preparation will unite 2 metalic surfaces, even polished steel, so that they cannot be separated. Inflammable Ice. Take essential oil of distilled turpentine, set in a vessel over a slow fire, and melt into it some spermacetti, forming a clear, trans- parent liquid ; put this in a cool place, and in two or three minutes it becomes like ice. It is necessary to observe that the spermac- etti, to be melted, should be added in snfii- cient large piece. Should the season m hen you attempt this experiment prove too warm, put your vase, when its contents are melted, into cold water. As soon as the liquid once frozen begins to liquify, pour over it some good spirits of nitre, then the whole will take fire and be consumed. To Change the Color of a liquid in a Glass Several Different Times. Pour extract of logwood into a glass of water, which will give it the color of wine ; pour this red water into another glass, pre- viously rinsed with vinegar, and it will be- come yellow ; empty the water from the glass, all except three fingers, and upon this pour fresh water, until it becomes the color of gray wine, which you can change into the Color of vinegar, or muscat wine, which, by pouring on more water, changes to the color of fine white wine, and by adding a couple of drops of ink, it becomes a beautiful bluish gi-ay. To Make Ice in Summer. Fill an earthen bottle with boiling water; put into it SO grammes of refined saltpetre, and 20 grammes of Florentine iris ; then, after corking it strong, place it into a well of water, as deep as you can, and let it re- main in the well-water two or three hours, at the end of which time the water contained in the bottle will be frozen. Draw out the bottle, crack it, and you will have a lump of ice. Plumber's Cement— Melt black resin 1 lb ; then stir in brick-dust, 1 to 2 lb ; sometimes a little tallow is added. Pesely Cement.— Prepare a solution of 200 parts of white glue in water ; another one of 50 parts of isinglass, 3 of gum-Ara- bic, and 3 of tragacanth , and finally, an- other of 1 part of bleached shellac in alco- hol. Then pour these 3 solutions together mix them with 24 parts of white lead, and at the last, 12 parts of the best glycerine and 200 parts of alcohol. The mastic thus obtained should be immediately put up in bottles and well corked. Iron Cement. — To make an iron cement suitable for making rust joints, mix thor- oughly 112 lbs, of clean cast-iron borings, or turnings, with 8 oz, of sal ammonia, and 1 oz of tiower of sulphur, and add sufficient water. Keep wet when not to be immedi- ately used, or it M'ill heat and be spoiled. Honey Vinegar. — Mix one pound of honey with a gallon of cider, and expose it to the sun, or keep it where it is warm, and in a few months it will be so strong that water will be necessary to dilute it. "Vitremanie ; OK, THE AET OF TRANSPERRINP ON WOOD, CHINA, OR GLASS. Transferring pictures to wood or glass is fin easy process, yet requires nice flngeriug to be successful. It lias laiely been revived M'ith additions, in England, as a means of decorating windows, autl is fashionable work there under the title of vitrenianie. Indeed, transferring is the base of all those pretty ways of gilding the hours which have littered centre-tables with clippings and gums, florid roses and cnpids and French grisettes, glass panes, wood panels, and bisque vases, while the mysteries of potichoiu: use. decalcoma- Uie. and the like, were going on. The surface to which the picture is to be transferred may be wood, glass, or stone. Hickory or whitewood panels are the best, as they have no grain to show between the lines. Pine wood, painted with white-lead ground in half oil and half varnish, dried carefully and rubbed with rotten-stone after the third coat, makes a good surface. The effect of the engraving is improved if the ground is tinted straw-color, of the smooth shadow tint of lithographic stone, which throws out the ink with surprising clearness. In some parts of the country it is possible to get pieces of smooth soft limestone, which receive the transfer beautifully, and have a mellow ground tint. It is worth while some morning to walk into a stone-yard and see what it has to offer in the way of unconsid- ered trifles of broken marble slabs, soft lime- stone, and slate. These may be cut in shape for paper-weights, lamp-pedestals, and feet for vases, or tiles to ornament a mantel or window-seat. Brackets, hanging shelves, book-racks, the sides of book-cases, box- covers, hall mouldings, and staircases, may be decorated with panels of stone or wood in transfer. There will be a choice of sub- jects for these different uses, in which real taste comes into play. A view of Melrose or a French head will answer equally well for a holly wood work-box ; English scenery will decorate the tiles set about a window or book niche ; the host of roses, butterflies, Cupids, and such fancies l)est suit table orna- ments; the figures of animals may furnish a series of panels for the base-board of the ball or stall's ; the medallions in the mould- ings of chamber furniture may be covered by a thin piece of whitewood, not to say ivo- rine, glued on or set in with a lovely bead. A crew of grotesques may laugh on a banner screen, and they may be every one cut from the scenes of plantation life or the cartoons in Harpei-'s Wee/d>/. The most uncouth figures, cut from old-fashioned wall-paper, may be transferred to window-glass orslates. painted with dark green, l)lite. or brown, in varnish colors, with the slightest degree of skill, and furnish tiles for a j irdimere that do not ill resemble majolica. But the most convenient subject for transfer yields also the finest ef- fect. All l)roken plate.i and saucers of stone china, delf, or porcelain, that have three VltEEMAUlfi. Ql square inches of flat surface may be covered with vignettes, tempting and soft as if pen- ciled on china. But how? asks the impatient reader who is always anxious to get at the kernel of a paragraph, and to find how her story is to turn out. and will have her materials gatiiered to begin before she reads the column through. Suppose she confiscates a square old-fash- ioned white platter from the dining-room closet, and a steel engraving from the jh't Journal — very nice beginnings both. The picture must be placed face upward in a shal- low dish of warm soft water, in which a great spoonful of salt is dissolved. The dish must be large enough to hold the picture without curling the edges, which should be cut off close to the print. Leave the picture till it IS thoroughly soaked through, which will take from twenty minutes to an houi% according to the thickness and quality of the paper. Leave a bit of margm to soak at the same time for trial. When it is soft enough to peel without being pulpy it is time to take the picture out. The platter should receive a coat of transfer varnish on the side where the picture is to go. If the bottom has no stamp or embossed let- ters, it will be most convenient to work on, and the edges will form a bevel. Commonly the face only is available. It must be free from cracks, figures, and chippings, for the least of these will tear the picture, and spoil it. Heat the platter, and brush thinly M'ith trans- fer varnish, which is sold at artists' shops, but is readih' made by mixing six ounces of fir balsam with twelve of spirits of turpentine, both of Mliich are found at the druggist's. Shake well, strain through muslin, antl it is ready for use. Copal varnish is also good for this purpose, but takes longer to dry. Have ready an old sheet, folded in four; lift the picture from the water by slipping the hands under it, and lay gently on the cloth, Mhich must be folded over it to absorb the moisture, 'V^hen it is only clamp, and not the least wet, lay it M'ith the printed side down on the var- nished plate, one end at first, smoothing it with a soft cloth as it falls in place, that no blisters remain tinder it. Place on it a smooth board or slate, and put it in press or under a weight for six hours. Then sponge the pic- ture with warm water, absorb the moisture with soft cloths ; let it lie half an hour, and begin rubbing it gently with the finger-tips till the paper peels away, leaving a faint film over the engraving. Rub till the lines of ink show through the film, taking great care not to destroy the film or make a hole in the pa- per. This is the nicest part of the work, for the paper must come off" evenly all over the plate, andevery part of the engraving apjtear. If the paper dries, sponge it slightly till it peels readily ; if too wet, leave it dry a little. When done, let it dry thoroughly, and covet with two coats of the clearest white varnish, which will strike the film and bring out the picture while it preserves it. Paint the edges of the platter any neutral tint that will bring out the picture, if it is to be colored ; if not, coat them with white paint 62 VITEEMAirrE. in Tarnish, which will give an ivory-smooth border. Cover the engraving in the latter case with a very thin, clear sheet of glass, held at the edges by strips of niaroon or gray velvet, glued on in the strongest nifinner. Heavy narrow ribbon may be nsed in the same waj', and afterward gilded. The sloping edges of the plate are to be covered with vel- vet to match the beading, and the whole let into a narrow, flat, grooved frame of maple, ivory, or ebonized wood, with white edges. If the artist has a slight knowledge of draw- ing in India ink, the picture may be touched np to resemble a fine copy rather than a jirint. On wood the process is much the same. The panel must be varnished, the picture pressed, peeled, and finished as on china, but the last coats must be copal varnish. If the picture is to be colored, it must be coated with strong size, made by breaking a sheet of isin- glass into a small cup of boiling water. This is applied before varnishing, and dried, when the figures are covered with a wash of the lightest shade of color desired. Thus grass should be touched with the sunny tinge in which it appears in sunlight, dresses with the palest shade that appears in high light, for the dark lines of the engraving furnish the depth of tone. Paints mixed with varnish will give beautiful specimens of enamel-work on wood. To imitate tile-work a pattern of wool- embroidery may be transferred, sized, and painted in varnish with solid colors — dark red, blue, brown, and light yellow, without shading. This is easy for a novice, the only care being to keep the edges of figures dis- tinct. For this end a fine black line may be drawn, outlining each when finished. The application of transfer to glass is suscep- tible of most attractive effects. Thick pieces of beveled glass are sold by mirror-dealers that vary in size from three inches to a foot square, with ovals to correspond, at prices from twenty-five cents to five dollars. The small pieces are available for paper-weights, feet for lamps, vases, and cushions ; the lar- ger for panels and box-covers. But common window-glass is as useful if clear and free from cracks. The picture is transferred as to china, but the tinting otfers the widest field to fancy. The clearest varnish, the highest colors, and mosaic patterns are called for, with central figures of saint, or queen, or angel encircled withboixler of jeweled color, perhaps on backgrounds of gold. A glance at Eossetti's mediteval designs will give the best notion of what is wanted. If figures are jiot desired, old English texts or letters may be illuminated in this way with mosaic bor- der or grounding. A print of Adolph Hen- ning's cherub in the illustrated papers not long since is a good subject for transferring to glass. The fair hair of the chenib might be touched with gilded rays, his wings under- tinted with rose, his robe deep blue or sky- color, and the deep diapered border painted in dead gold. To such an extent is this transfer-work carried in England that altar and hall windows are decorated in this way, with effect not inferior to stained glass. ~ The Lampascope. Many of our young friends will be pleased to hear something of this simple invention, so capable of aflbrding them amusement. It consists in the application of the principle of the magic lantern and the dissolving views to an ordinary table lamp. To construct a lampascope (presuming the possession of a lamp), the' ordinary globe must be removed, and in its place a cardboard box, — square, round, or octagonal, as is njost convenient to make, — must be substituted ; and into one side of this two tubes of cardboard must be inserted, after the manner of an ordinary magic lantern. Into these tubes, Avhich slide one within the other, lenses are to be fixed, say the lens nearest to the light shall be of two inches focus, and the one in the inner tube or outer lens of three inches focus. Ac- cording to the rtlative power of the lenses, so will be the size of the pictuj'e on the wall : thus the lenses will be of various focuses, and not exactly, unless convenient, to the mea- sure we take as the example ; which, how- ever, will be well imderstood by those whose knowledge of Jhe laws of optics may induce them to make this lampascope for the enter- tainment of their friends. Between the lenses and the light a place must be made for the purpose of inserting the slides of figures to be represented on the wall upon which the disc of light is thrown. These figures may be painted on glass slides by the amateur him- self, or purchased ready for use. Some very beautiful views, portraits, &c., may now be had on glass, applicable to this purpose, pro- duced by the collodon and photographic pro- cess, and at a price suitable to most pockets. Having thus far constructed the instrument, we have only to hang up a sheet against the wall to make it white, and having put our lampascope on to the lamp a round disc from the lenses will be shown on the sheet. The tubes may be regulated like a telescope to make the picture distinct ; and according to the character of these so will the exhibition be, "grave or gay, lively or severe." Self-Turning Cross. Take a piece of straw, cut about the length of your finger ; and, before announcing the trick, twist the end a couple of turns. With another piece of straw, make the arms of a cross and plant it in a crack in the table. ' Drop upon the head of the straw a couple of drops of water, and command it to turn As the water descends through the straw into the twist you have made, it will cause it to unwind and revolve, although fastened. The Sign of the Cross. Make with a pen and ink a streak in. your hand along the lina which goes from the in- dex to the little finger. You ask some one in the company to cover your hand with a hat which you make him hold ; and while he holds it, you bend your hand as if to close it. You open it immediately, and invite him to take the hat away, and the cross is made. -^ 63 HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC LANTERN. The Ma,2;ic Lantern is one of the most pleasing of optical instruments, and has al- ways a charm of the most attractive nature for youni; folks. It is used to produce en- larged i)ictures, which, being i)ainted on glass, are thrown upon a white sheet placed against the wall of a room. A small lantern may be bought, with everything complete, and a dozen slides of painting, for a few dol- lars; but as some may prefer to try their skill in making one, we have prepared the following simple directions: — Materials for the Lantern. — A Lan- tern, that is to say, the box, case, or frame, may be made of wood, tin, or thick paste, or millboard. If made of tin, j'ou must call in the assistance of a tinman to cut the tin and solder it up together. If made of wood, you must have the assistance of a carpenter, or borrow a saw and a plane, a hammer, and various other tools. If made of pasteboard or millboard, you will require nothing but a glue-pot and some strong melted glue, some sheets of millboard, and tlie various dimen- sions can be cut into shape with a strong pair of scissors or a good sharp knife (the best for the purpose is a shoemaker's knife), and, with the assistance of a sharpening stone, a good edge can be put on the knife when blunted by cutting the millboard or pasteboard. Millboard is made in sheets of various de- grees of thickness, and can be bought by the sheet at the bookbinder's or stationer's. Cut the sheet into pieces about a foot square, and then paste on pieces of old newspapers until it gets a good thickness, and press tiie whole together by placing it in a binders press, or between two boards with a heavy weight on the top, so tiiat all the pieces wanted for the lantern — sides, top, and bot- tom (six in all), can be served in the same way, and a very strong and cheap material procured for makin*- the box to hold the light, and carry the tube that contains the lenses. Making the Lantern. — Take four i)'eces of thick pasteboard, prepared by any of the methods described, ai)outeiglit inches square. Two pieces must be quite plain; the other four must be as follows: tiie top-piece must have a i)lace cut out to put on the chimney or tube, to take away tiie smoke from the lamp; tiie front piece must have a place cut out to take the scjuare frame or groove in whicli the pictures are inserted, and to carry the tube in wiiich the lenses are jtlaced; another piece must liave a portion cut out of the centre, and hinged on witli pieces of leather, to serve as a door; while the bottom l)iece must have holes about half an inch in diameter made in it to admit the air, as this bottom must be kept off the tal)le-top, or whatever the lantern may rest on during ex- hibition, by two pieces of wooil ai)out a cpuirterof an inch thick and one inch broad; these pieces must be glued on to tlie bottom edge from front to back, in ortler to let air up through the holes in the bottom, to enable tlie light to burn clear, and not fog the glasses. These six pieces must be glued, jiasted, or otherwise fastened together, with tiie chim- ney at the top, and the tube in front. To complete the lantern there must be tlie box, the lamp, the reflector, the chimney for top, the tube for front, and tiie lenses. When the lantern is finished, give the whole of it a good coating of glue-size, and then paint it black inside and out, either with thin oil-color or lampblack and thin glue, and, finally, a thin coat of varnish on the outside. If a tin lantern is preferred, the best way would be to take the "instructions" to a tinman, who could make one without diffi- culty, and fix the lenses which would be given hiin for that purpose. The lenses can be obtained at the optician's, and must be fastened, one in the end of the tuiie, with a piece of wire bent round at tlie back to keep it in place, the other nearer the lantern, and just before the pictures that are to be reflected through. Any optician who sells the lenses will tell you wliicli to use for tlie front and which for the back, and how to obtain the focus. The tube should be about six or eight inches long, but all the various dimensions must be regulated liy tlie size of the lantern and the power and quality of the lenses. The box we have described would carry lenses about two inches in diameter, but smaller ones may be had, if desired; then the lantern may be smaller in propor- tion. The Lamp and Reflector. — The lamp must be made of tin, witii a wick about half an inch broad, filled with sperm oil, and if a glass chimney can be placed over it, it will burn clearer, give more liglit, and be more free from smoke; any tinman will make one for a few dimes. Tlie reflector is a round piece of tin, "hollowed up" as they call it, and fastened to the back of the lantern, or on the back of the lamp; the latter must be placed so that the bright part of the flame comes about the midille of the lens, and when lighted, must slide backwards or for- wards until the jiroper place is discovered that shows the picture best; generally about the middle of the lantern, or rather nearer the lens. 64 HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC LAH:TEBK. Painting the Pictures. — There are three ways of doiii^ Uiis: either to i)aint tliem in triiusparent water-color, to ])aint them in jirepared oil-colors, or to transfer small prints or lithographs by means of varnish to l)iece3 of glass, and then use them. The ma- terials requisite for each or all of these pro- cesses will be sable brushes (the common camel-hair are of no use, for they do not keep their points), some ox-gall, prepared, pome cakes of transparent water-color, as Prussian blue, Vandyke brown, raw sienna, burnt sienna, Italian pink, and lake. For oil-Cf)Ior, the same ground up in oil and en- closed in tubes, a bottle of turpentine, some mastic varnish, and a little japanner's gold size. But the most simple plan is the transfer process, which we will descrilie presently. If you decide to paint your views in water- color, you must get some clear pieces of glass, free from cracks or scratches, and clean it with a little of the prepared ox-gall; then, when the glass is thoroughly clean, (li'V, and free from grease, fasten the draw- ing, i)rint, or whatever subject you wish to paint on it to the back with a lillle gum at each corner; then, with a line sable brush lilled with India ink or neutral tint, go care- fully over the outline; when dry, lill in with the water-colors very lightly, never going over the same i)lace twice; when this is all dry, give it a coat of varuisli all over, and put aside to get hard. "When haril and dry, go over those parts with water-color that want strengtiiening and making bolder, to bring them out, ob- serving, as l)efore, never to go over twice in the same i)lace till the lirst is dr}', and give it a coat of thin varnish between each coat or lint of water-color. If the subjects are to be painted in oil-color, the outline must be carefully marked out with black and a little japainier's size; and when set linn and dry, the various tints laid on in the same way as the water-color, only that there needs no coating of varnish be- tween each body of tint, but let the glass re- main for the i)icture to get dvy. When all the tnits are on, and the subject is strengthened u\) and made as efl'ective as required, a final coat of varnish may be put over it. Transferring Prints. -The transfer meth- od before referred to is very simple, and, when carefully done, very etlective. Select a clear piece of glass, and give it a coating of thin mastic varnish, then take a small, clear, clean wood-engraving or lithograph, and slightly damp the back by laying it a few minutes in wet blotting-paper, then press it down on the varnish-side of the glass, the impression-side downward; i)lace a piece of dry paper over this, and ml) it gently to get out the superfluous varnish and all the air- bubbles, — this can best be done by the edge of a bone ])aper-knife, — place a M'eight upon it, and leave it a couple of days to dry; give It i)lenty of time, or you will spoil it; when thoroughly dry and fixed, wet the back and gently rub all the white paper away with the finger or a bit of damp sponge, when the sul)ject and lines of the engraving will be found fixed on the varnish ; tlie picture may then be tinted with oil-colors, and, with a final coat of varnish, is ready to exhibit in the lantern. By this easy method many good subjects may be prepared that would take a very great deal of trouble to paint and draw by hand. In coloring the pictures, the colors must be laid on very thin; the comic heads and figures introduced in the illustrations can be fastened to a piece of glass slightly at the corners to keep the subject from slipping al)out, and the outline traced as before de- scribed, and when thoroughly dry, color ac- cording to taste and fancy. To succeed it is most essential to keep the brushes and colors very clean and free from dust, and not proceed in a hurried or slovenly way, as dust, dirt, and carelessness, are great enemies to glass painting. When the lantern is all ready and the slides all painted, which slides, if in single, round, or square i)ieces, may be protected by having a piece of clear, clean glass, placed over the painted and varnished side (this will keep them from getting scratched or injured; they can be bound together with a paper edging, or put into wooden frames made for the pur- pose. Giving an Exhibition. — In exhibiting the views, have a screen of fine muslin or white calico fastened tight against the wall, or a white wall will answer the purpose as well. Everything must be in good order: the lamp well trimmed so as to burn clear and free from smoke. To get a clear picture the lan- tern must be shifted to or from the screen or wall, and the tube liolding the front lenses gently drawn in or ])ushed out until the l)roper focus is obtainiKl, which will easily be found by placing your slide upside down in the square aperture at the end of ihe lantern- tu)»e. The room in which it is intended to exhibit must have no other light in it, but be as dark as possible, or the efl'ect of the light in the lantern passing through the pictures on to the wall or screen will be lost. A much better effect may be produced, if it can be managed, to show through the screen. To do this, however, it is necessary to have a very strong light, and thin muslin must be used for the screen, which should be wetted in a pail of water and slightly wrung out before fastening it up. dissolving views produced with one LANTERN. A pair of lanterns are usually employed to produce dissolving views, but a very good exhibition of them nmy be given as follows: Put in the ))icture out of focus you wish to show first, and slowly bring up the focus until it is jierfect. Then as gradually alter the focus until the picture is again indistinct; quietly slip in a second picture, and at the same time remove the first. Again bring the focus up, and the picture will be as distinct and bright as the first was. This may be continued for any number of pictures. HOW 10 IME m WORK AN ELECieiC lELEGRAPH. In making our experiment on tbe magnet- ic properties of volUiic electricity, we found that by passing a wire over or under a mag- netized needle we could, by altering the di- rection of the current passing through it, turn the needle to the right or left at will, and that bj' prolonging this wire we could convey signals to any distance. An upp.iratus for transmitting and receiv- ing electricil signals consists of the needle and coil for showing the signals, the commu- tator or contrivance for changing the direc- tion of the ciarrent, and a certain amount of wire for conveying the current. The size of the battery for working the apparatus will depend on the length of the wire through which the current passes, the number of cells — which uec d not be larger than 5 in. by 4 in. — being increased in jiro- portiou. Of course you will want a separate needle, instrument, commutator and battery for each end of the line. Take two pieces of smooth pine or maho- gany, each 8 in. long, 6 in. wide, aud | in. thick. Round off the coi-ners of them, and screw firmly together, as shown in fig. 1 . In the centre of the upright one cut an obloug hole about 1 j in. long and | in. wide, as in- dicated. So far, tbe stand on which the aj)- paratus is to be fixed. You must now make the coil. FIG. 1. Take a piece of wood 3 in. or 4 in. long, 3 in. wide and | in. thick. Eound off the sides, and cut on each face two grooves about a quarter of an inch from each edge, so that then the wire is coiled upon it j'ou can pass a piece of string uuderneath the wire to keep it together. Next take about 30 feet of No. 20 cotton-covered wire, and coil it round the piece of wood about ten times. Tie it firmly with well-waxed twine, by passing it through the grooves already described. On the top of this make two more coils of the same size, and tie each firmly with waxed string as be- fore. Slip the whole of the piece of wood aud make a second coil perfectly similar in all respects, taking especial care to wind the wire in the same direction. The two coils should be separated from each other by about 3 in. or 4 in. of loose wire. You must now well varnish them with ordinary white hard varnish, so that they maj' not be affected by damp. If you wish to be very smart you can use red sealing wax dissolved in methy- lated spirit. We must next make what is called an as- tatic magnetic needle, that is to say a com- pound needle, so constructed as to be unin- fluenced or nearly so by the earth's magnet- ism. First magnetize two stout sewing-nee- dles about 2^ in. long, so that their points shall be North poles, then take a piece of brass wire 3 in. or 4 in. loug, aud al)out as thick as an ordinary pin, or a little thicker, and tie the two needles on it. at right angles, with well waxed silk, as shown at A D, fig. 2, with the contrary poles facing each other. You will next require a piece of brass, half an inch wide and one sixteenth thick. This may be procured at any metal KlKqi for a few cents. Cut off a piece about three inches in length, and bend it into the shape shown at ABC, in figs. 2 and 3. At A, a hole should be drilled to receive one end of the brass axis of the compound needle. This hole oiight to be a little smaller than the brass wire of the axis, which should be carefully 65 66 HOW TO MAKE AND WORK AN ELECTRIC TELEGEAPH, tapered ofif with a fine file at each end, so that it may not slip through the hole. At the other end, at C, figs. 2 and 3, another hole should be made, through which to screw it to the face of the upright board. It must, how- ever, remain unfixed until the very last thing, as its position will depend on that of the back support of the axis of the compound needle. A reference to fig. 4 will show how the double coil is fixed in its place by means of a piece of bent brass. In the middle, at D, figs. 2 and 4, a hole is drilled, similar to that in the front sup2)ort, so that it not only serves to keep the coils in their places, but also as a pivot on which the compound needle can swing. Having fixed the coils firmly in their places, about an eighth of an inch apart, so as to give the needle all the benefit of the current, and tapered the ends of the brass -«eaB£ FIG. 3. FIG. 4. axis, you must next screw on the front sup- port, as shown in figs. 2 and 3. This will require very careful manipulation, for it is of the greatest possible consequence that the two holes in which the axis swings should be perfectly level and exactly opposite each other. If, instead of making the screw hole at C round, you make it oblong, you will have the meaiis of adjusting the front sup- port to a nicety. The holes in the brass may be easily made with a file, the tip of which is ground on a whetsone to a three-cornered point; but, of course, if you are able to do so, it is better to use a drill. You should spare no pains over the adjustment cf the needle on its axis, otherwise you will be con- tinually troubled by its sticking fast just wh^n j'ou are in the middle of a message. You will most likely find that the com- pound needle will not hang quite perpendic- ularly; if so, it will be necessary to attach a tiny piece of wax to the lower end of the back needle. It sometimes happens also, that if the needles are too short, there will be some difficulty in bringing them to rest a ter they have been moved: to remedy this, the front needle may be made rather longer than the back one. On each side of the frout needle there should be fixed two little stops of ivory or wood, as shown at E, figs. 2 and 3, to prevent the needle turning quite round when the current is passed through the coil. Having completed the signalling portion of our telegraph, the next thing to do is to de- scribe the method of making the commutator or contrivance for changing the direction of the coil. There are a large number of commutators in use, some of which are exceedingl.y simple while others are just as complicated. The one I am going to describe belong to the former category ; indeed, so simple is it in its construction, that I saw one made a few- days since with the aid of a couple of hair- pins, two pieces of copper wire, a scrap of fire-wood, and half a dozen tacks, which might have been used to work through the Atlantic Cable. Our commutator will not, however, be quite so homely. The commutator is fixed on the base-board of the apparatus, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6- g^C Fig. 5 gives a side view, fig. 6 a bird's-eye view of the way in which it is put together. In fig. 5 A B is the base-board. G a piece of brass half an inch wide by a sixteenth of an inch thick, reaching from one side to the other, and screwed down firmly to the base- board. D is a block of wood half an inch wide and one inch long, also screwed down to the base-board flush with the edge ; there is a corresponding piece on the other side (D', in fig. 6), so that a piece of brass H, si- milar in all respects to C, will Ibrm a kind of bridge when screwed down to those little blocks. E is a slip of wood half an inch wide and 7-16ths thick, which reaches quite across the board, and is firmly screwed down to it. F G is one of two slips of brass, of any con- venient length, say t'owv inches, and of the same breadth and thickness as the others, which we shall henceforth call the right and left hand keys. Before being fixed in thtir places they must be well hammered, so as to convert them into springs ; they are then screwed down to the wooden slip E, so that when untouched they remain in close contact HOW TO MAKE ANB WOKK AN ELECTRIC TELEGEAPH. CT with the brass bridge H. When either of them is pressed dowu, it will touch the brass slip C aud when the finger is raised to its former position. Fig. 6 is a bird's eye view of the apparatus, the same letters being used as in tig. 5. It also shows how the ditferent parts of the com- mutator are connected with the battery and signalling apparatxis at each end of the line. Thus the brass bridge H'H is connected with the copper, and the brass fillet C'C with the zinc of the battery. We will now suppose that yon have made two instruments, with batteries, commutators, and coils complete, one to work in the front, the other in the back jjarlor. We will call the first No. 1 and the second No. 2. We also sup- pose that you have laid two lines A aud B of No. 20 cotton-covered copper wire between the two stations. Beginning with apjiaratus No. 1, connect the brass bridge with the copjier and the brass slip with the zinc of the batter}'. Connect the left hand key with the coil No. 1 and the other end of the coil with line wire A. Connect the right hand key with line wire B. So far apparatus No. ], No. 2 is connected in a i^recisely similar way. Connect the brass bridge of commutator No. 2 M'ith the co])per aud the brass slip with the zinc of battery No. 2. Connect the left-hand key with one end of coil No. 2, the other end be- ing joined toliue-wire B. Connect the right hand key with liue-wire A, and the whole series of connections is complete. If you draw them out on parser first, you will find very little diflficulty in the matter. You now post your companion at No. 2 ap- paratus, you yourself being at No. 1, and you press down let us say the right key of your own commutator. If your needle moves there is no doiibt about his needle moving also. If, however, neither moves you must have made some mistake in the joining up the con- nections : or else their surfaces are dii-ty at the points of contact. A vigorous application of the file pr a piece of glass-paper will soon remedy this defect. Another cause of fail- ure in the connections may be the keys not pressing with sufficient force against the brass bridge, or through their not quite making contact with it when pressed down. You will also possibly find that the needle is so disobedient as to move to the right when you press the left key and vice versa. This fault is easily set right by reversing the con- nections of the battery. Having succeeded in getting your needles at both ends of the line to work in harmony you must next set yourself' to learn the fol- lowing telegraphic alphabet or code as it is technically termed. II of course means once to the right, K R twice to the right, and so on. LL RLL L. RLE L. RRL... L LLRL.. RRL g LLLL ■■■■ h LL ;;; i LllER j RLE ■ fc LRLL \_ I R R m EL H EE E o LEEL p EELE ,, L E L ,. L L L ., R ■■.'.: t L LE ,( L L L E V L E E j/j ELL E X E L E E . EEL L 2 The best way to begin is to commence with the simplest letters first these are e, t, a, i, m, n, and to send words composed of these backwards and forwards until you find you can use them M'ith ease. Then'add o which is three E's, and s which is three L s. aud so ou until you have gained the whol. . The connections between the wires and the brass bridge aud slip, ought by rights to be soldered but it is not every boy who is jjos- sessed of this very useful accomplishmeut. In default the best way of joining uj) is to brighten the brass well about the screw hole, and then screw down the wire which must be made into a hook large enough to go round the screw, flattened and brightened so that the two metals shall be in as close con- tact as possible. The connections between the commutator and the coils aud the line- wires should also be soldered, as mere twist- ing is apt to work loose. You miA.st always recollect that weak electric curreuts such as you would use are decreased in strength by having to pass through a tine wire, con- sequently if the point of contact is reduced to a minimum a large amount of working force is wasted. All points of contact should therefore be as flat as possible, or in the case of two wires the points of ccmtact should be made very numerous by twisting them to- gether several times, 'if the connections are not soldered they will require looking to now and then. Having got your instruments into working order, and having acquired some little dex- terity in telegraphic manipiilation. you will, no doubt, feel a great desire to remove your stations further apart ; one at the end of the gardeu, lor instance, and the other in the play-room at the top of the lioiise. If you increase the length of your line-wires, you will also have to increase the number of cells in your battery. In order that yon may be able to do this int'lligently, it will be as 'well to say a few words as to the power of bat- teries in general. It must be borne in mind, that it is the size of the plates and not the number of cells that constitutes the working power of a batterj'. The number of cells simply increases the travelling power, so to 68 HOW TO MAKE AND WOEK AN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. speak, of the electric current. Let us sup- 250se for iustance that the stations of your telegraph are oulj' a few yards apart. If you were to try to move the needle with a cell containing plates a quarter of an inch square, j'ou would most likely fail. If you increased the number of qiiarter inch cells to fifty connected together alternately, you would still fail in moving the needle. Here the l^ower is too small, although the sending force is large. Increase the size of only one of the cells ^:ay to three inches sqi;ave, and you ob- tain a most vigorous movement of the needle. Now increase the distance between your stations to, say a hundred yards and the re- sult is a failure once more. The force is there, but it has not the "legs" — to use a cricketing phrase — to carry it so far. Add two or three cells and the sending power is immediatt'ly increased. So that the work- ing force depends on the size of the plates, while the jiower to send that force to a dist- ance, is influenced by the number of cells. You must also remember that the travelling power of the current is equally dependent on the size of the wire through which it has to pass. In (he case of long lines, therefore, it is most economical to use thick wire in order to keep down the number of cells as much as possible, In carrying your line-wires from one station to the other, you must take great care that they do not toucli any metallic or damp sur- face. If you can aff()rd to use gutta-percha covered wire, well and good ; if, however, you are obliged to piif up with bare copper or iron, you must take care to keep it well insulated bj^ wrapping a thick coating of solid gutta-percha round every part that is in contact with any support. If you look at the telegraphic wires that run along the side of our railways, you will find that they are all most carefully insulated by being passed through porcelain or earthenware supports, otherwise the electric current would "leak " into the earth. The above account of the diiference be- tween the working s.nl travelling power of an electrical current is perhaps not absolute- ly correct, but is quite near enough for all practical purposes. To explain the matter fully would necessitate the use of compli- cated mathematical formulae, not to speak of the danger of angering the most indulgent of editors, by allowing my power of travel- ing over paper, to pass beyond its proper limit. Your stations being now at some distance apart, you will not be able to call out to one another when you wish to make a communi- cation ; you will therefore have to contrive a calling apparatus for each end of the line. This portion of the arrangement is very easily made. A horseshoe electio magnet of I about the size recommended at 225 of the present volume, the helix of which is con- nected with the line-wires, is fixed on a piece of board, with its poles' stand upright, above it is suspended a little lever of soft iron working in a pivot. One half of the lever rests about a quarter of an inch from the IJoles of the magnet, the other end resting about the same distance below a little bell. When either of the keys is pressed down at either end of the line, the iron horseshoe is made magnetic, and attracts the iron lever, the other end of which strikes the bell. When the key is released, the lever falls back again. This little apparatus is so simp- ly put together that with the knowledge you have already gained you will have no dif- ficulty in understanding it without illus- trations ; in fact, you need not adhere im- plicitly to the directions given above. Thus, instead of a bell, you may use a piece of hard wood, and give your friends a series of spirit-rapping seances that will rather as- tonish them, more especially if you keep your telegraphic instrument out of their, but not of your, sight. When the line is in work, a little wooden wedge may be inserted tempo- rarily between the poles of the magnet and the lever, or the lever may be turned aside, otherwise you will create a continual ringing or rapping that would be rather a nuisance. The code of signals given above is that known iiniversally as the " single needle code." As you become practised in the art of sending messages you will find it con' venient to invent a series of arbitrary signals: such as R E for ''repeat," L L for "under* stand," R L for "go on," and so on. illiiAAutch Coniicalitir«i, and Yankee Tarns, aflbrding fun for a lifetime. ITumorou.'«ly illustrated by lots of Komikal Xuts. Price 25 cents. Copies of the above Books sent by Mail to any address on receipt of price. ,.itt..At»AAAA ^jt^4 tf..f| , >«Ai^ ^ ^^ l ^rt 4t^ 4 i t 4 4*«^ tt >**> M l . » A A A i| 1 A tJ MEVV AND INDISPENSABLE MANUALS. These Books r:re the very b«st ever issued upon the various eubjects of which they treat. Each vol nme is complete and perfect, and thoroughly practical. Each Book contains 100 pages lar^e 12mo, well printed, aud bound in handgome illumiuated covers. PR9CE TWE!^TY-FSVE CENTS EACH. THE WHOLE ART OF AMUSING, For PuUic or Private Eakrlaininents. 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