izx IGtbrtB SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "£ver'thing comes V htm who watts Except a loaned book." OLD YORK LIBRARY - OLD YORK FOUNDATION THE AMERICAN FAMILY RECEIPT BOOK: A NEW COLLECTION OF NEARLY 500 RARE AND VALUABLE RECIPES, FOR THK PRODUCTION AND VSt OT THINGS ESSENTIAL TO THE HEALTH, WEALTH, COMFORT & CONVENIENCE OF EVERY HOUSEHOLD. CAREFULLY PREPARED BY AN AMERICAN HOUSEKEEPER NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY H. PHELPS, 189 BROADWAY. 1851. Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library (pii mi sn moi r B Di rsi Oi i) York Libs \h\ Entered, according to Act of Conpw. in the jew H49, Br ENSIGN tc THAYER, in the Clerk'i Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern DUtrict of New York STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 13 Ch»mben Street, N. 1 PREFACE. The value of a Book of useful Recipes, for do- mestic use, is inestimable. Properly prepared, and arranged in accordance with the wants and tastes of those to whom it is addressed, it becomes a Hand-Book of Economy and a Self-In- structor in a spacious department of useful knowledge — a time-saving, and a money-saving im- plement — performing its duties " without money and without price." In the arrangement of the following pages, wc have aimed to make the work eminently practi- cal, and have therefore omitted many things which we find in other works of this class, that do not bear the stamp of utility. We are thus enabled to comprise within the compass of this volume, much more that is strictly useful, than can be found in any of its predecessors. We have introduced such subjects only, as may be made subservient to the wants and tastes of a frugal household. We have drawn copiouslv from large and expensive works, and have added thereto such other recipes for family use as we have met with in a course of reading and obser- vation. So varied are the subjects, that the compiler found it difficult to arrange them under specific heads. But this seeming defect is entirely obvi- ated by the copious Index, alphabetically ar- ranged. With these few remarks we send it forth, confident that it will meet a welcome re- ception in every family where enlightened econ omy is a controlling principle. CONTENTS. A Bruise 23 Almond Oil, how to luke 33 Acorn Coffee 33 Artificial Oysters 3G Almond Soap, how to make 37 Ants 52 Antidote for Arsenic 53 An Inacct Trap 69 Apricots, how to preserve e2 Bleaching Wool, Straw Bonnets, Silks, .«••" bine.. 74 * " " « red... 74 Blasting Rocks : 75 Bee, the sting of 77 Barberries, how to preserve 80 Blacking, how to make 86 Bee Flowers, how to cultivate 88 Boerhnvc's Rules 96 Broken Ice, how to extricate per- sons from 96 Books, how to marble covers of 99 Boots and Shoes, brilliant French Varnish for 99 Buildings, Pew's Composition for covering 99 Counterpanes, how to scour thick Cotton 13 Clothes, Coats, Overcoats, &c. horn to scour 14 Carpets, Hearth Rugs, ice., bow to scour 14 Cramp in Bathing 18 Chilblains 22 Chapped Hands, how to prevent. ..22 Chapped Hands, a remedy for 24 Cucumbers, how to pickle 31 Chaps in Women's Nipples 33 Cattle, to prevent murrain in 33 Cloth, how to revive faded black... 33 Cheese, bow to preserve from mites, 34 Chickens, Gapes in 34 " " another remedy. 35 Corns 35 Count Bcrchtold's Cautions 37 Clothes, to prevent danger from wet, 37 Corns, how to prevent 38 Cosmetics 38 Cold Feet, how to prevent at night. 38 Cuttle, how to cure the securing in. 40 Cattle, a cure for, when swelled with green food 40 Cloth and Wood, how to render in- combustible 44 Crickets, how to remove 45 Catsup for Sea Stores 48 Casks, how to keep empty ones sweet 49 Cement, to make Japanese or Rice Glue 50 Cement, to make fine or water- proof 50 Cement, Turkish, for joining metals, glass, Slc 50 Coffee, cocoa, 6oc. a substitute for . .50 Coffee, how to make acorn, 51 Cream, 54 Currant*, to preserve green, 55 Charcoal, to prevent uU effects of. ..55 Caughing, to stop a fit of 56 Clothes, of children, to prevent ta- king fire 5" Cream, substitute for 58 Cephalic Snuff, CO Cancer, cure for 65 Chintz, how to wash 66 Court Plaster, 67 Carriage or small apartment, how to ws. co 69 Clothes, how to preserve 70 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. g Cramp : 79 Cucumbers and Melons, how to pre serve 81 Chest Founder, immediate relief for 84 Corns 84 Coral, how to make artificial red branches, 88 Carpet, how to choose one, 89 Compound Pitch Plaster, 90 Cement, elastic, 90 Coffee, Rice, 94 Ducks, how to choose 27 Drowning, how to prevent 36 Drink for Invalids 47 Detergent gargle for sore throat, 47 Dull fire, how to revive, 66 Distilled water, to prevent turning sour, 67 Damsons, how to bottle, 80 Drowning, assistance to persons in danger of 96 Electric Machines, amalgam for cushions of 22 Eggs, simple recipe for preserving .26 '• " " another method,. 39 Eye-lids, ointment for 27 Eye Ointment, 28 Eye-sight, 28 Eyes, a wash for sore ones in ani- mals 62* Eye, to cure a bruise in the 65 Ear, to cure a pain in the 66 Kggs as a remedy, 66 Eyes, cure for inflamed 77 Feathers, how to cleanse from ani- mal oil, 14 Fruit spots, how to take out, 16 Fresh water, how to preserve at sea, 18 Filtering Vessel, 18 Fowls, choice of 27 Feathers, how to preserve 34 Fruit trees, how to preserve from mice and insects 35 Fcer, how to keep dry 39 Feet of horses, to prevent balling with snow, 39 Fistula in horses 45 Flowers, to hasten the blooming of bulbous-rooted ones 48 Flour paste 53 " " hard, 53 Flowers, to preserve in salt, 53 Fire, how to extinguish, 53 Foot, when a nail or pin has been run in 54 Frost counteracted, 63 Files and rasps 63 Fruits preserved by carbonic acid gas t G3 Fire-proof stucco for wood 68 Furs, how to preserve 69 Founder, cure for 75 Fish, to preserve by sugar 79 Fruits, to preserve in brandy, &C...81 Furniture paste 87 Freckles, how to remove 90 Flour, how to restore and improve musty, &c 93 Fuel, to make a cheap kind of 93 Fruit-trees in bloom, to preserve from frost, 93 Fruit-trees, Chinese mode of propa- gating, 94 Flowers, how to restore 97 Fowls, ver min in 98 Grease spots, how to extract from silks, ic 13 Gold lace - and embroidery, how to clean 16 Gloves, how to cleanse without wet- ting, 17 Geese, how to choose 27 Glass, broken, how to cement, 32 Grubs in horses 36 Gripes or botts in horses 39 Gloves, excellent perfume for, 41 Grafting 57 Glass, how to easily remove panes of (>9 Gold Lace, how to clean, 70 Glass and China, how to clean 70 Glasses, mirrors, &c. how to clean. .71 Gloves, white or purple, how to dye 73 Grapes, how to preserve 81 Gilt frames, how to revive 91 German method to prepare quills,. .91 Glazier's Putty, 91 Ginger Beer, 92 Glass, method of breaking to any re- quired figure, 98 Hard breasts, 23 Herbs, how to gather and preserve, 27 Herrings, ho w to choose 27 Horses age, how to ascertain 28 Hair-curling liquid for Ladies 33 How to get a tight ring off the finger 33 Hiccough, a powder for 35 Headache, how to relieve in bed, ...38 Haystacks, to prevent taking fire 43 Hens, how to make lay perpetually, 44 Hawks, to prevent depredations by 54 Horses, to save oats in feeding 54 Hair, to prevent its falling off, 59 Horses, a cure for sore backs of. ..59 Hydrophobia, how to cure 60 Hair, to make grow thick, 64 Hoarseness 64 Horses, to bring out of a stable on fire 71 Horses, embrocation for sprains,. . .72 Horse hair, how to dye or color,... 74 Hair, how to turn red to black 74 Horses, how to prevent being teased by flies, 74 Horses, liniment for the galled back 75 Hair, superfluous, how to destroy,.. 78 Hams, how to salt, 80 Honey, how to clarify 81 10 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Horse Radish, 91 Horses, feeding on the road, 97 Horses, colur in, A-c 96 Ink, to take out spots of 16 ■ Indestructible 19 " Shining black 20 " Indelible blnck, without galls,.. 20 " Sympathetic 24 " Powders for immediate use,. . .29 • Exchequer 29 " to make red 29 ' to prevent freezing in winter,.. 31 ' to prevent mould in 31 " * another method, 31 " " another method, 92 ' Permanent red, 30 " Blue, 30 " Permanent for marking linen, .30 " red for ruling, 91 " autographic, for Lithographer*, 94 14 excellent China 87 Iron cement, 48 Jumping out of wagons, 78 Linen, to take Iron mould out of. . .14 Lotion for bitca or atinga, 22 Lamb, how to choose, 26 Lobsters, how to chooae, 27 Lamps, how to prevent being perni- ■ cioua to asthmatic persons, 39 Lightning, to escape the effects of. .45 Laquer for brass .51 Lotion for itching chilblains 52 Lard, how to prepare pure, 56 Lace, to clean point, 61 Locked Jaw, 64 Lace or linen, how to wash fine 72 Lace, Bobbinet or cotton, to wash.. 76 Lace, thread, how to wash 76 Leather, to preserve from mould,.. 95 Lemonade, portable, 99 Marble, how to clean 15 Mildew, to take out of linen. 16 Metal, to cleanse all sorts, 17 Mutton suet candles in imitation of wax, 26 Maccaroni, 26 Macassar Oil, 26 Mushrooms, to try the quality of 38 Milk, how to preserve, 40 Mushroom Catsup 44 Mushrooms, how to distinguish from poisonous fungi, 44 Narble fire-places, how to clean 55 Manuscripts, renovation of 59 Musquitoes, to prevent the bites of. 61 Meat, easy mode of smoking 62 Mortar, 64 Moths, to keep from clothes, 90 Mock Turtle Soup 90 Mustard, how to cultivate 93 Vails, to prevent bad ones 38 Nankin dye .' 46 Nightmare, how to prevent 46 Natural Dentifrice 46 Never kill bees 91 Ottar of Rosea 19 Onions, how to pickle 19 Ointment for chaps, 53 Plate, to make it look like new 15 Paper hangings, how to cleanse, . . .17 Pigs, how to fatten very fat, AO Pork, choice of 28 Pomatum, hard 29 Pearl water for the face, 29 Pearl powder for the face, 30 Pomatum, cold cream for the face,. 32 Potato glue 34 Protection of vines, 35 Perfume bags for drawers 42 Perfume to prevent pestilential air,. 42 Pastils for perfuming aick rooms, 42 Perfume for clothes 43 Perfume, musk and civet, 43 Paper, how to render it fire-proof, . . 43 Pencil or chalk drawings, how to render permanent, 48 Past© for cleaning metals 53 Parchment deeds, easy method of restoring 58 Prints and drawings, to make re- semble oil paintings 62 Pumps and water pipes, to prevent freezing in winter, 63 Pomade divine 65 Paintings in oil, how to clean, 6} Paper that resists moisture, 61 Papier Mache, 6S Paper prepared for draughtsmen,. -69 Peach trees, 69 Pumpkins preserved, 71 Poultice, bread, 83 " corn meal, 83 " apple, 83 " starch, 83 " slippery elm, 83 " yeast 83 ■* mustard 83 *■ hop 84 spice 84 " alum 84 Piles, a cure for 89 Peas, to preserve green in winter, . .90 Plants, to preserve from frost, 95 Parchment, how to make 95 Paper or parchment, to stain yellow 96 ** " crimson 96 " " green . .97 «• " orange .97 " " purple . .97 Paper or hooks, how to marble the edge of. 97 Prints and pictures, water-proof var- nish for 98 Portable Ice-houses 99 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 11 Quinsey, 85 Runround on the finger, cure for.. 21 Roman Candles, composition for 49 Rose Water 49 Rouge, economical 49 Rouge for cleaning plate 49 Ring worm, 52 Rules for preserving health, 68 Roman cement, 86 Rats, how to expel from houses 91 Roaches, how to kill 94 Rules forjudging when the eyes need the assistance of spectacles, 100 Stains, how to takeout of silks, &c.. 13 Spots of paint, to take from cloth,&c.l3 Scouring balls, how to make 15 Stains, to take out of silver plate,.. 15 " to take out of cloths, &c 16 " to take out of mahogany, 17 Swellings from bruises, to prevent,. 21 Sunburn, Smarting, 6iC 23 Spruce beer, 31 Sea-water, how to render capable of washing linen, 36 Sleep, how to procure, 39 Seed corn, soak in solution of salt- petre 45 Sore tongue in horses, 45 Shaving paste 46 Silks, how to cleanse colored 47 Steel, to take rust out of 54 Stoppers of decanters, to loosen . . .55 Snake, remedy for the bite of 57 " " another 57 Shawls, to wash white merino 59 Scorched linen, a composition for restoring 59 Slugs, to destroy on land 61 Slugs, to preserve plants from 61 Steel goods, how to preserve 61 Stoves, to mend cracks in 61 Strengthening plasters, 61 Smoky Chimneys 62 Smut in wheat, 62 Soda water, 62 Stains, how to remove from mourn- ing dresses, 70 Sealing wax, to make red 70 « . " black 71 " " green 71 " blue 71 Sea sickness, remedy for 72 Sheep, rot in the feet of 72 Sheep, to prevent from catching cold after shearing, 72 Stain or dye, to make horn tortoise shell color, 73 Summer complaint, cure for 76 Sunburnt face and bands, a cure for IS Slack veins, 78 6almon, how to pickle HO Beed, to preserve in honey for vege- tation, 81 Strawberries, to proterve whole... 82 Spavin, relief for 84 String halt, 84 Steel goods, how to preserve 85 Silks and Satins, white, how to clean 87 " " another method. 87 " " black, how to clean 87 11 11 " and rusty, to dip 88 Sheep, to destroy maggots in 98 Straw and chip hats, a varnish for. 98 Thistles, fern and colt's foot, how to destroy 21 Teeth, to fasten the 24 Teeth, to clean 24 Toothache, to prevent, 24 " " another method. 34 Turkey, choice of 27 To write on greasy paper or parch- ment, 31 Turner's cement, 32 To make corks for bottles, 35 To petrify wood, &c 35 Tooth powder, coral 36 Tooth powder, a good 36 To avoid being pressed to death in a crowd, 37 Teeth, to clean and preserve 38 To extinguish a chimney on fire ... 40 To remove flies from rooms, 40 Teeth, an astringent for the 41 Toothache, a radical cure for 41 Teeth, how to clean 41 Teeth, how to make white 42 Tincture of Myrrh, 42 To put black spots on a white horse 44 To ascertain whether a horse has good sight, 46 To sweeten musty or stinking casks 48 Tea or coffee, a substitute for 50 To thicken cloth for screens and bed testers, 51 To prevent the formation of a crust in a tea-kettle, 54 Tomato pickles, 56 To prepare intestines for sausages, .60 Tainted meat, how to restore 62 Tallow, how to whiten 62 Teeth, scurvy in the 64 Teeth, how to make white 66 Tortoise shell, how to solder 67 Trees, to heal wounds in 68 To escape from or go into a house on fire 69 To prevent the smoking of a lamp, .69 Turkeys, how to fatten 75 To remove tar, pitch, or turpentine, 75 Travelling on foot, 78 To clear barns, &c. of rats and mice 83 To renovate a razor strop, 83 Tea, a substitute for 92 The art of fire eating, 92 Trees, to heal wounds in 94 Unventilated places, how to explore,70 Veils, black, how to clean 23 12 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Veal, to ascertain the quality of 40 Varnish for water color drawing*. .52 Vegetables, Uow to make eat tender, 60 " to pickle in brine.... 60 " » in vinegar, CO Varnish lor harness "7 Varnish, Sandaric, for furniture, dtc.79 Varnish, to polish 85 Varnished furniture, how to polish. 85 Ynrnifh lor colored drawings, 86 Veils, white, how to clean 87 Vermin, to preserve houses from.. 89 Vellum, how to make 95 Water, river or any other, te purify 18 Water, putrid, method of making sweet, 18 Woolens, how to wash 21 Windsor soap, how to make 37 Walls, to preserve from dampness, 45 Watch maker's oil which never co- rod es or thickens 52 Wall fruit, to hasten the ripening, ..53 Water (roof glue, .53 Wheat, to prevent mildew in 54 Warts in horses and cattle 54 Water-proof varnish for boots, shoes A* 54 Whooping cough, .55 Wounds, to prevent from mornfying56 Wall paper, how to take off 57 Whitewash, 58 Writing, to give appearance of age, 61 Weak right, 64 Water, to determine whether it be hard or soft, : 71 Water pipes, to manage in winter, .71 White wash that will not rub off, . .77 Wen, cure for 84 Warts, Sue 84 Wash for preserving drawings, 85 Wood, how to polish 86 Water, cologne 90 Wood, how to stain like ebony,. .. .93 Wood work, how to preserve 99 Yellow wash, 59 Yeast, to improve bad .60 THE UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. To Extract Grease Spots from Silks, and Colored Muslins, fyc. Scrape French chalk, put it on the grease-spot, and hold it near the fire, or over a warm iron, or water- plate, filled with boiling water. The grease will melt, and the French chalk absorb it ; brush or rub it ofF. Repeat if necessary. To take Stains out of Silk. Mix together in a phial, 2 oz. of essence of lemon, 1 oz. of oil of turpentine. Grease and other spots in silks, are to be rubbed gent- ly with a linen rag dipped in the above composition. To take Spots of Paint from Cloth, Silks, 8fv. Dip a pen in spirit of turpentine, and transfer it to the paint spot, in sufficient quantity to discharge the oil and gluten. Let it stand some hours, then rub it. For large or numerous spots, apply the spirit of tur- pentine with a sponge, if possible before it is become dry. To Scour thick Cotton Counterpanes. Cut a pound of mottled soap into thin shces ; and put it into a pan with a quarter of an ounce of pot-ash, and an ounce of pearl-ash. Pour a pail of boiling water on it, and let it stand till dissolved. Then pour hot and cold water into a scouring tub, with a bowl of the solu- tion. Put in the counterpane, beat it well, turn it often, and give it a second liquor as before, then rinse it in cold water. Now put three tea-spoonsful of liquid blue into a thin liquor ; stir it, and put in the counterpane : beat it about five minutes, and diy it in the air. To Scour Clothes, Coats, Pelisses, Sfc. If a black, blue, or brown coat, dry 2 ounces of Ful- ler's earth, and pour on it sufficient boiling water to 14 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. dissolve it, and plaster with it the spots of grease ; take a small quantity of bullock's gall, mix with it half a pint of stale urine, and a little boiling water ; with a hard brush dipped in this liquor, brush spotted places. Then dip the coat in a bucket of cold spring water. When near- ly dry, lay the nap right, and pass a drop of oil of olives over the brush to finish it. To Scour Carpets, Hearth-Rugs, Ifc. Rub a piece of soap on every spot of grease or dirt ; then take a hard brush dipped in boiling water, and rub the spots well. If very dirty, a solution of soap must be put into a tub, with hot water, and the carpet well beat in it, rinsing it in several clean waters, putting in the last water a table-spoonful of oil of vitriol, to bright- en the colors. To Bleach Wool, Silks, Straw Bonnets, Sfc. Fut a chafing dish with Bome lighted charcoal into a close room, or large box ; then strew an ounce or two of powdered brimstone on the hot coals. Hang the ar- ticles in the room or box, make the door fast, and let them hang some hours. Fine colored woollens are thus sulphured before dyed, and straw bonnets are thus bleached. To take Iron-Moulds out of Linen. Hold the iron-mould on the cover of a tankard of boiling water, and rub on the spot a little juice of sor- rel and salt, and when the cloth has thoroughly imbibed the juice, wash it in ley. To Cleanse Feathers from Animal Oil. Mix well with a gallon of clear water, a pound of quick lime ; and, when the lime is precipitated in fine powder, pour off the clear lime-water for use, at the time it is wanted. Put the feathers to be cleaned in a tub, and add to them a sufficient quantity of the clear lime-water, so as to cover them about three inches. The feathers, when thoroughly moistened, will sink down, and should remain in the lime-water for three or four days ; after which, the foul liquor should be separated from them by laying them on a sieve. .Afterwards, well UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 15 wash them in clean water, and dry them on nets, about the same fineness as cabbage nets. Shake them from time to time, on the nets ; as they* dry, they will fall through the meshes, when collect them for use. The admission of air will be serviceable in the drying, and the whole process may be completed in about three weeks. The feathers, thus prepared, want nothing further than beating, to be used either for beds, bol- sters, pillows, &c. To make Scouring Balls. Portable balls for removing spots from clothes, may be thus prepared. Fuller's earth perfectly dried, (so *■ that it crumbles into a powder,) is to be moistened with the clear juice of lemons, and a small quantity of pure pearl-ashes is to be added. Knead the whole carefully together, till it acquires the consistence of a thick elastic paste. Form it into convenient small balls, and dry them in the sun. To be used, first moisten the spot on the clothes with water, then rub it with the ball, and let the spot dry in the sun ; after having washed it with pure water, the spot will entirely disappear. To Clean Marble. Take verdigris and pumice-stone, well powdered, with lime newly slaked. Mix with soap lees, to the consistence of putty. Put it in a woollen rag, and rub the stains well one way. Wash off with soap and wa- ter. Repeat, if not removed. To Take Stains out of Silver Plate. Steep the plate in soap lees for the space of four hours ; then cover it over with whiting, wet with vinegar, so that it may stick thick upon it, and dry it by a fire ; af- ter which, rub off the whiting, and pass it over with dry bran, and the spots will not only disappear, but the plate will look exceedingly bright. To make Plate look like New. Take of unslaked lime and alum, a pound each, of aqua-vitae, and vinegar, each a pint, and of beer grounds, two quarts ; boil the plate in these, and they will set a beautiful gloss upon it. 10 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. To take out Fruit Spots. Let the spotted part of the cloth imbibe a little water without dipping, and hold the part over a lighted com- mon brimstone match at a proper distance. The sul- phurous gas which is discharged, soon causes the spot to disappear. To Clean Gold Lace and Embroidery. For this purpose no alkaline liquors are to be used ; for while they clean the gold they corrode the silk, and change or discharge its color. Soap also alters the shade, and even the species of certain colors. But spir- it of wine may be used without any danger of its in- juring either color or quality ; and, in many cases, proves as effectual for restoring the lustre of the gold, as the corrosive detergents. But, though spirit of wine is the most innocent material employed for this purpose, it is not in all cases proper. The golden covering may be in some parts worn off; or the base metal, with which it has been alloyed, may be corroded by the air, so as to leave the particles of the gold disunited ; while the silver underneath, tarnished to a yellow hue, may con- tinue a tolerable color to the whole ; so it is apparent that the removal of the tarnish would be prejudicial, and make the lace or embroidery less like gold than it was before. To take Mildew out of Linen. Rub it well with soap : then scrape some fine chalk, and rub that also in the linen ; lay it on the grass ; as it dries, wet it a little, and it will come out after twicedo- ing. To take out Spots of Ink. As soon as the accident happens, wet the place with juice of sorrel or lemon, or with vinegar, and the best hard white soap. To take out Stains of Cloth or Silk. Pound French chalk fine, mix with lavender-water to the thickness of mustard. Put on the stain ; nib it soft with the finger or palm of the hand. Put a sheet of UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 17 Dlotting and brown paper on the top, and smooth it with an iron milk warm. To Cleanse Gloves without Wetting. Lay the gloves upon a clean board, make a mixture of dried falling-earth and powdered alum, and pass them over on each side with a common stiff brush : then sweep it off, and sprinkle them well with dry bran and whiting, and dust them well ; this, if they be not exceed- ingly greasy, will render them quite clean ; but if they are much soiled, take out the grease with crumbs of toasted bread, and powder of burnt bone : then pass them over with a woollen cloth dipped in fulling-earth or alum powder : and in this manner they can be cleaned without wetting, which frequently shrinks and spoils them. To Clean all Sorts of Metal. Mix half a pint of refined neat's foot oil, and half a gill of spirits of turpentine. Scrape a little kernel or rotten stone ; wet a woollen rag therewith, dip it into the scra- ped kernel, and rub the metal well. Wipe it off with a soft cloth, polish with dry leather, and use more of the kernel. In respect to steel, if it is very rusty, use a little powder of pumice with the liquid, on a separate woollen rag first. To take Stains out of Mahogany. Mix 6 ounces of spirit of salts, and 1-2 an ounce of rock salt of lemons (powdered) together. Drop a little on the stains, and rub>it with a cork till it disappear. Wash off with cold water. To Clean Paper Hangings. Cut into eight half quarters a stale loaf of bread ; with one of these pieces, after having blown off all the dust from the paper to be cleaned by means of a good pair of bellows, begin at the top of the room, holding the crust in the hand, and wiping lightly downward with the crumb, about half a yard at each stroke, till the upper part of the hangings is completely cleaned all round ; then go again round with the like sweeping stroke down- ward, always commencing each successive course a lit 18 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. tie higher than the upper stroke had extended till the bottom be finished. This operation, if carefully per* formed, will frequently make very old paper look almost equal to new. Great caution must be used not by any means to rub the paper hard, nor to attempt cleaning it the cross or horizontal way. The dirty part of the bread too must be each time cut away, and tba pieces renew- ed as soon as at all necessary. Cramp in Bathing. For the cure of the cramp, when swimming, Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock of the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water, into the air, if possible. To Preserve Fresh Water at Sea. Mix 11-2 parts of manganese in powder, with 250 parts of water, and agitate every fifteen days. In this way water has be become dry, these letters will also be invisible. Warm the paper a lttle, and the writing will be restored to a beautiful blue. 4. Draw a landscape v/ith Indian ink, and paint the foliage of the vegetables with muriate of cobalt, some of the flowers with acetate of cobalt, and others with muriate of copper. While this picture is cold it will appear to be merely an outline of a landscape, or winter scene ; but when gently warmed, the trees and flowers will be displayed in their natural colors, which they will preserve only while they continue warn?. This may be often repeated. 5. Write with dilute nitrate of silver, which wher dry will be entirely invisible ; hold the paper over a vessel containing sulphate'of ammonia, and the writing 'will appear very distinct. The letters will shine with the metallic brilliancy of silver. 6. Write with a solution of nitrate or acetate of lead. When the writing is dry, it will be invisible. Then having prepared a glass decanter with a little sulphuret of iron strewed over the bottom of it, pour a little very dilute sulphuric acid upon the sulphuret, so as not to wet the mouth of the decanter, and suspend the writing, by means of the glass stopper, within the decanter. By an attention to the paper, the writing will become visible by degrees, as the gas rises from the bottom of the vessel. 7. Write with a weak solution of sulphate of iron, let it dry, and it will be invisible. By dipping a feather in tincture of galls and drawing the wet feather over the letters, the writing will be restored and appear black. 8. Write with a similar solution, and when dry wash the letters in the same way with prussiate of potasn, and they will be restored of a beautiful blue. 9. Write with a solution of sulphate of copper, wash as before with prussiate of potash, and the writing will be revived of a reddish-brown color. 10. Write on paper with a solut'on of nitrate of I NIVKRHAI. KF.CKIPT-IIOOK. bismuth ; when this is dry the writing will l>c invisible but if the paper be exposed to sulphuretted hydrogen gas, the words will be distinctly legible. 11. A letter written with a diluted solution of bismuth, becomes, when dry, illegible ; but a feather dipped in a solution of sulphurct of potash, will instantly blacken the oxide, and revive the writing. To make Mutton- Suet Candles, in imitation of Wax. 1. Throw quick -lime in melted mutton Buet ; the lime will fall to the bottom, and carry along with it all the dirt of the suet, so as to leave it as pure and as fine as wax itself. 2. Now, if to one part of the suet you mix three of real wax, you will have a very fine, and to appearance, a real wax candle ; at least the mixture could never be discovered, nor even in the moulding way of orna- ments. To judge of the Quality of Lamb. If fresh, the vein in the neck of a fore-quarter is bluish : if green or yellow, stale. In the hind-quarter, if the knuckle is limp, and the part under the kidney smells slightly disagreeable, avoid it. If the eyes are sunken, do not buy the head. Simple Recipe for "Preserving Eggs. Pack them during the summer and fall for winter. Take a stone crock or firkin, and put in a layer of salt, half an inch deep— insert your eggs on the small end, and cover each layer of eggs with a layer of salt. If the eggs are fresh when packed, and put into a cool, dry place, they will keep perfectly good until the following summer. Macaroni. Take wheat of the finest quality, reduce it to a coarse powder, or flour, by means of a pair of light mill-stones, set a little farther apart than usual, then make it into a dough with water, and form as for vermicelli. Macassar Oil. Olive oil, 1 pound ; oil of origanum, 1 drachm ; oil of rosemary, 1 scruple. Mix. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT BOOK. 27 To Choose Lobsters. Press your fingers on the eyes, and if fresh, the claws will have a 6trong motion ; the heaviest are the best. To Choose Geese. A young goose has a yellow bill, if red it is a sign of age ; if fresh, the feet will be pliable, but stale if stiff and dry. To prevent the creaking of Doors. 1. Apply a little soap to the hinges. 2. Take laid, soap, black lead, equal parts. As before. To Choose Ducks. Buy those which have supple feet, and are hard and thick on the breast. To Gather and Preserve Herbs. Herbs should be gathered early in the morning, at the season when they are just beginning to flower. The dust should be washed, or brushed off them, and they should be then dried by a gentle heat, as quick as possible. To Choose Herrings. If fresh, the gills will be red, eyes bright, and body 6tiff and firm. Choice of a Turkey. Choose a smooth leg and short spur; eyes full and bright, and feet supple and moist. Choice of Fowls. . If a cock, choose one with short spurs, observing that they have not been pared or cut ; if a hen, her comb and legs must be smooth ; smell them whether they are fresh, and feel whether the bieast-bone is well coveied ; if not, they have probably died from disease. Ointment for Sore Eyelids. Levigated red precipitate; 1 part; spermaceti oint- ment, 25 parts. Mix, and apply with the tip of the finger every night on going to bed. 28 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-HOOK. Eye Ointment. 1. Sulphate of zinc (in fine powder), C drachms , lard, 1 pound. Mix carefully. 2. Sugar of lead, 7 drachms ; lard, 1 pound. Aa before. To Preserve the Eyesight. 1. Avoid sitting in the dark for any length of time. 2. Avoid straining the eyes by reading small print, or looking at minute objects. 3. Avoid reading or writing much in the dusk of the evening or by candle light. 4. Do not gaze for any length of time on bright or glaring objects, as the fire, gaslight, &c. 5. Observe to hold your book, paper, or work, at a suitable distance from the eyes. To ascertain a Horse's Age. Every horse has six teeth above and below ; before three years old, he sheds his middle teeth ; at three he sheds one more on each side of the central teeth ; at four, he sheds the two corner and last of the fore- teeth. Between four and five, the horse cuts the under tusks ; at five, will cut his upper tusks, at which tune his mouth will be complete. At six years, the grooves and hollows begin to fill up a little ; at seven, the grooves will be well nigh filled up, except the corner teeth, leaving little brown spots where the dark -brown hollows formerly were. At eight, the whole of the hollows and grooves are filled up. At nine, there is very often seen a small bill to the outside corner teeth ; the point of the tusk is worn off", and the part that was concave begins to fill up and become rounding ; the squares of the central teeth begin to disappear, and the gums leave them small and narrow at top. Choke of Pork. If young, the rind will be thin, tender, and easily impressed with the finger ; when fresh, the flesh is Bmooth, and cool ; if clammy, avoid it ; if the fat is measly, or full of ken ils, it is unwholesome. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 29 Hard Pomatum. Take 30 pounds of suet, 11-2 pounds of white wax, 6 ounces of essence of Bergamot, 4 ounces of lemon, 1 ounce of lavender, 4 drachms of oil of rosemary, and 2 drachms of essence of ambergris. Shred and pick the suet clean, and melt it in an earthen pan or pipkin. Then stir it well and strain ; and when nearly cold, add the perfumes, stirring well as before. When properly mixed, pour it into tin moulds. Pearl Water for the Face. Put half a pound of best Spanish oil soap, scraped very fine, into a gallon of boiling water. Stir it well for some time, and let it stand till cold. Add a quart of rectified spirit of wine, and half an ounce of oil of rose- mary ; 6tir them again. This compound liquid, when put up in proper phials, in Italy, is called tincture of pearls. It is an excellent cosmetic for removing freckles from the face, and for improving the complexion. Ink Powder for Immediate Use. Reduce into subtle powder 10 ounces of gall-nuts, 3 ounces of Roman vitriol, (green copperas), with two ounces each of roche alum and gum arabic. Then put a little of this mixture into a glass of white wine, and it. will be fit for instant use. To make Exchequer Ink. To 40 pounds of galls, add 10 pounds of gum, 9 pounds of copperas, and 45 gallons of soft water. This ink will endure for centuries. To make Red Ink. Take of the raspings of Brazil wood a quarter of a pound, and infuse them two or three days in vinegar, {yhich should be colorless where it can be so procured. 30 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Boil the infusion an hour over a gentle fire, and after- wards filter it, while hot, through paper laid in an earth- enware cullender. Put it again over the fire, and dis- solve in it, first 1-2 an ounce of gum arabic, and after- wards of alum and white sugar, each 1-2 an ounce. Care should be taken that the Brazil wood be not adul- terated with the Brasiletto or Campeacby wood. Permanent lied Ink. Take of oil of lavender, 120 grains, of copal in pow- der, 17 grains, red sulphuret of mercury, 60 grains. The oil of lavender being dissipated with a gentle heat, a color will be left on the paper surrounded with the copal ; a Bubstance insoluble in water, spirits, acids, or alkaline solutions. This composition possesses a permanent color, and a MS. written with it, may be exposed to the process com- monly used for restoring the color of printed books, without injury to the writing. In this manner interpo- lations with common ink may be removed. Blue Ink. Thig may be made by diffusing Prussian blue, or in- digo, through strong gum-water. The common water-color cakes, diffused in water, will make sufficiently good colored inks for most pur- poses. Permanent Ink for Marking Linen. Take a drachm of nitrate of silver (lunar caustic), dis- solve it in a glass moitar in double its weight of pure water ; add to this solution 10 drops of nitric acid ; this is the ink. In another glass vessel dissolve a drachm of salt of tartar in 1 1-2 ounces of water; this is usually named the liquid pounce, with which the linen is wet previously to the application of the ink. Pearl Powder for the Face. There are several sorts ; the finest is made from real pearls, and is the least hurtful to the skin. It gives the most beautiful appearance, but is too dear for common use ; still the perfumer ought never to be without it, for the us© of the curious and the rich. UNTVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 31 To prevent Ink from freezing in Winter. Instead of water use brandy, with the same ingredi- ents which enter into the composition of any ink, and it will never freeze. To Prevent Mould in Inks. In order to secure the above and other inks from giowing mouldy, a quarter of a pint or more of sphits of wine, may be added ; but to prevent its containing any acid, which may injure the ink, a little tartar or pearl-ashes 6hould be added, previously, and the spirit poured off from it, which will render it innocent with re- gard to the color of the ink. Another Method. The most simple, yet effectual method, is to infuse a small piece of salt about the size of a hazel nut to each quart. To write on greasy Paper or Parchment. Put to a bullock's gall a handful of salt, and a quaiter of a pint of vinegar, stir it until it is mixed well ; when the paper or parchment is greasy, put a drop of the gall into the ink, and the difficulty will be instantly obviated. Spruce Beer. Take, if white is intended, 6 lbs. of sugar; if brown, as much treacle, and a pot of spruce, and ten gallons of water. To Pickle Cucumbers. Let them be as free from spots as possible ; take the smallest that can be got, put them into strong salt and water for nine days, till they become yellow ; stir them at least twice a day ; should they become perfectly yel- low, pour the water off and cover them with plenty of vine leaves. Set the water over the fire, and when it boils, pour it over them, and set them upon the earth to keep warm. When the water is almost cold make it boii again, and pour it upon them ; proceed thus till they are of a . fine green, which they will be in four or five times ; keep them well covered with vine leaves, with a cloth and dish over the top to keep in the steam, which will help to green them. 32 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. When they are greened put them in a hair aievc to drain, and then to every two quarts of white wine vine- gar, put half an ounce of mace, ten or twelve cloves, an ounce of ginger cut into slices, an ounce of black pepper, and a handful of salt. Boil them all together for five minutes ; pour it hot on the pickles, and tie them down for use. To make Cold, Cream. Pomatum for the Complexion. Take an ounce of oil of sweet almonds, and half a drachm each, of white wax and spermaceti, with a little balm. Melt these ingredients in a glazed pipkin ovei hot ashes, and pour the solution into a marble mortar ; stir it with the pestle until it becomes smooth and cold, then add gradually an ounce of rose or orange-flower water ; stir all the mixture till incorporated to resemble cream. This pomatum renders the Bkin at once supple and smooth. To prevent marks from the small pox, add a little powder of saffron. The gallipot in which it is kept, should have a piece of bladder tied over it. To make Turners' Cement. The following is a very excellent cement for the use cf turners and artisans in general : 16 parts of whiting are to be finely powdered, and heated to redness, to drive off all the water. When cold, it is to be mixed with 16 parts of black resin, and one part of beeswax, the latter having been previously melted together, and the whole stirred till of an uniform consistence. To 'Solder or Cement broken Glass. Broken glass may be soldered or cemented in such a manner as to be as 6trong as ever, by interposing be- tween the parts glass ground up like a pigment, but of easier fusion than the pieces to be joined, and then ex- posing them to such a heat as will fuse the cementing ingredient, and make the pieces agglutinate without be- ing themselves fused. A glass for the purpose of ce- menting broken pieces of flint glass, may be made by fusing some of the same kind of glass previously reduced to powder, along with a little red lead and borax, or with the borax only. CNrTERSAL IlECEIPT-BOOK. 33 Chaps in Women's Nipples. Apply balsam of sugar. Or apply butter of wax, which speedily heals them. To prevent Murrain in Cattle. Take equal parts of salt and slaked lime ; mix, and give two table-spoonsfUl twice a week, during the prev- alence of the disease. To make Almond Oil. Take bitter almonds, and with a hydraulic press squeeze out the oil, either in the cold, or aided by hot iron plates. Acorn Coffee. Take sound ripe acorns, peel them and roast them with a little butter, or fat ; then, when cold, grind them with one-third their weight of real coffee. Hair-curling Liquid for Ladies. Take borax, 2 ounces ; gum Senegal in powder, 1 drachm ; add hot water, (not boiling,) 1 quart. Stir, and as soon as the ingredients are dissolved, add 2 ounces of spirits of wine strongly impregnated with camphor. On retiring to rest, wet the locks with the above liquid, and roll them on twists of paper as usual. Leave them till morning, when they may be unwrapt and formed into ringlets. How to get a Tight Ring off a Finger. Thread a needle flat in the eye, with a strong thread ; pass the head of the needle, with care, under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches towards the hand ; wrap the long end of the thread thickly round the finger, regularly, all down to the nail, to reduce its size. Then lay hold of the short end of the thread and unwind it. The thread pressing against the ring will gradually remove it from the finger. This never failing method will remove the tightest ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be. To revive Faded Black Cloth. Having cleaned it well, boil* two or three ounces of logwood for half an hour. Dip it in warm water and 31 CMVERSAL RECEfPT-DOOK. squeeze it dry ; then put it into the copper, and boil half an hour. Take it out and add a small pieco of green copperas, and boil it another half hour. Hang it in the air for an hour or two, then rinse it in two or three cold waters, dry it and let it be regularly brushed with a soft brush, over which a drop or two of oil of olives has been rubbed. To prevent the Toothache. Rub well the teeth and gums with a hard tooth-brush, using the flowers of sulphur as a tooth-powder, every night on going to bed ; and if it is done after dinner it will be best. This is an excellent preservative to the teeth, and void of any unpleasant smell. To preserve Feathers. When poultry is picked, the feathers should be care- fully preserved from damp and dirt, and all hard bits of quill cut out ; then put them in paper bags, and hang them about a kitchen or dry laundry to season. When enough are collected to be of use, they had better be dried in a cool oven. Fresh feathers must not be put in a bag with those that are partly dry. To preserve Cheese from Mites. Paste over it coarse brown paper, to cover every part. Potato Glue. Take a pound of potatoes, peel them, and boil them, pound them while they are hot in three or four pounds of boiling water ; then pass them through a hair sieve ; af- terwards add to them two pounds of good chalk, very finely powdered, previously mixed with four pounds of water, and stir them both together. The result will be a species of glue or starch, capable of receiving every sort of coloring matter, even of powdered charcoal, of brick, or lampblack, which may be employed as an eco- nomical means of painting door-posts, walls, palings, and other parts of buildings exposed to the action of the air. Gapes in Chickens. It is said that if you keep iron standing in vinegar, or what is the same thing we suppose, vinegar standing in UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 35 an iron vessel, and put a little of the liquid in the food every few days, it will cure or prevent the gapes in chick ens. So simple a remedy for a fatal disease may be worth trying. Protection of Vines. Plaister sprinkled over squashes and cucumbers, when they first come out of the ground, will protect them from that Jittle destroyer, the striped bug. To make Corks for Bottles. Take wax, hog's lard, and turpentine, equal quantities, of thereabouts. Melt all together and stop your bottles with it. To Petrify Wood, Sp. Take equal quantities of gem-salt, rock .alum, white vinegar, chalk, and pebbles powder. Mix all these in- gredients together : there will happen an ebullition. If, after it is over, you throw in this liquor any porous mat- ter, and leave it there soaking four or five days, it will positively turn into petrifactions. Corns. Never cut your corns : it is dangerous. To remove them when they become hard, soak them in warm water, and then with a small pumice stone rasp down the corn. Try it, and you will never use a knife afterwards. To preserve Fruit Trees from Mice and Insects. Apply, early in the fall, around the root a thick layer of lime and ashes. It would be well to sink the earth around the tree about six or eight inches ; throw in a few shovels-full of the lime and ashes, and then cover up with earth, tramping it well down. Gapes in Chickens May be easily cured by giving them small crums of dough impregnated with a little soft soap ; once or twice is sufficient. Powder for Hiccough. Put as much dill-seed, finely powdered, as will lie on a shilling, into two spoonsful of syrup of black cherries, and take it presently. 36 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Grubs in Horses. Take 1 pint of strong vinegar, 1 ounce chalk in pow- der ; stir it well and drench the animal. Artificial Oysters. Take young green corn, grate it in a dish ; to one pint of this add one egg well beaten, a small teacup of flour, half a cup of butter, some salt and pepper, and mix them well together. A tablespoonful of the batter will make the size of an oyster. Fiy them a light brown, and when done butter them. Cream, if it can be procured, is bettet than butter. To render Sea- Water capable of washing Linen. Drop into sea-water a solution of soda or potash. It will become milky, in consequence of the decomposition of the earthy salts and the precipitation of the earth. This addition renders it soft, and capable of washing. Its milkiness will have no injurious effect. To prevent Drowning. If a person should fall out of a boat, or indeed fall into any water from which he cannot extricate himself, but must wait some little time for assistance, let him take off his hat and hold it by the brim, placing his fingers insido the crown, (top upwards,) and he will be able, by this method, to keep his mouth above water till assistance shall reach him. To make Coral Tooth Powder. Take 4 ounces of coral, reduced to an impalpable powder, 8 ounces of very light Armenian bole, 1 ounce of Portugal snuff, 1 ounce of Havana snuff, 1 ounce of good burnt tobacco ashes, and 1 ounce of gum myrrh, well pulverized. Mix them together and sift them twice. A good Tooth Powder. To make a good tooth powder, leave out the coral and in its place put pieces of brown 6tone-ware, reduced to a very fiue powder. This ia the common way ot making it. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 37 Count Berchtold's Cautions. Those who travel on foot, especially in hot climates, ehould never sleep under the shadow of a tree, or near a hemp field. Thirst is more effectually quenched by eating fresh fruit, and a morsel of bread, than by drinking water ; lemon juice, or a little vinegar mixed with water, is bet- ter than water alone. After a long journey on foot, it is unwholesome to take a plentiful meal, or to sit near a great fire. Trav- ellers on foot should wear flannel waistcoats next the 6kin ; and all travellers should carefully avoid damp beds, and the falling of the evening dew after a free perspiration. To Prevent Danger from Wet Clothes. Keep, if possible, constantly in motion, and take care not to go near a fire or into a very warm place, so as to occasion sudden heat, till some time after procuring dry clothes. Sitting or standing in a draught, or current of air, in wet clothes, is particularly injurious, and often fatal. To Make Windsor Soap. Melt hard curd soap, and scent it with oil of karni, and essence of bergamot, bought at the druggist's.; or the essence of bergamot may be omitted. To Make Almond Soap. Take 2 lbs. of soap ley, made of barilla or kelp, so strong that a bottle, holding half a pint of water, will oold 11 ounces of the ley, and 4 lbs. of oil of almonds ; rub them together in a mortar, and put the mixture in- to tin moulds, where let it be for some weeks, till th^ combination is perfect. To avoid being Pressed to Death in a Crowd. From pressure on the chest in crowds, the action of the lungs and viscera becomes stopped, the party sinks uisensible, and generally dies at the instant. To pre- vent this, it will be necessary to present the sides to the pressure, and not the chest by any means. There will 33 UNIVERSAL HECEn»T-DOOK. thus be found little or no inconvenience, far less is the loss of life likely to occur. To try the Quality fo Field Mushrooms. Take an onion, and strip the outer skin, and boil it with them ; if it remains white they are good, but if it be- tomcs blue or black, there are certainly dangerous onea among them. To Clean and Preserve tJie Teeth. In the morning hold salt in the mouth under the tongue, till it melts or dissolves, and rub the teeth with it. This is, probably, the best application yet known, to cleanse and preserve the teeth. To Prevent bad Toe- Nails. Never cut the nails below the level of the end of the toe ; nor ever suffer them to grow much beyond that level. If they grow in at the side, scrape them on the top, and cut them often, both there and at the opposite corner. To Prevent Corns. Wear easy shoes ; frequently bathing the feet in luke- warm water, with a little salt or potash dissolved in it. The corn itself may be completely destroyed by rubbing it daily with a little caustic solution of potash, till a soft and flexible skin is formed. Cosmetics. To set off the complexion with all the advantage it can attain, nothing more is requisite than to wash the face with pure water ; or, if any thing farther be occasionally necessary, it is only the addition of a little soap. To Prevent Cold Feet at Night. Draw off the stockings, just before undressing, and rub the ankles and feet with the hand as hard as can be borne for five or ten minutes. To Relieve Head-Ache in Bed. If the head is much disturbed, wash it with cold water, and discontinue the night-cap : but wear worsted stock- ings in bed. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 39 To Keep the Feet Dry. The only method that has been found to succeed in keeping the feet dry is to wear, over the foot of the stock- ing, a sock made of oil silk. To keep it in its proper place, it will be necessary to wear over it a cotton or worsted sock. To Procure Sleep. Pour a pint of boiling water on an oz. of Epsom salts. Set it to cool, and drink it on going to bed. If still dis- turbed, count from 1 to 1000. Sleep will generally come on before the person has reached 500. To Prevent Lamps from proving pernicious to Asthmatic Persons. Let a sponge, three or four inches in diameter, be moistened with pure water, and in that state be suspend- ed by a string or wire, exactly over the flame of the lamp, at the distance of a few inches ; this substance will absorb all the smoke emitted during the evening or night, after which it should be rinsed in warm water, by which means it will be again rendered fit for use. To Prevent the Feet of Horses from Balling with Snow. If the frog in the hoofi of horees and the fetlock be cleaned, and well rubbed with soft soap, previously to their going out in snowy weather, it will effectually prevent their falling, from what is termed balling the snow. A number of accidents might be prevented by this simple precaution. Draught for Gripes or Bots in Horses. Take of Venice turpentine 1 ounce, beat it up with the yolk of an egg, and then add of peppermint water, or even of common water, if the other is not at hand, 1 pint and a half (English measure) and 2 ounces of whiskey or gin. This will serve for one dose. To Preserve Eggs. Mix together in a tub, or vessel, one bushel of quick lime, thirty -two ounces of salt, eight ounces of cream of tartar, with as much water as will reduce the composi- tion to a sufficient consistence to float an egg. Then 40 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. put, and keep the eggs therein, which will preserve them perfectly sound for two years at least. To Extinguish a Chimney on Fire. Shut the doors and windows, throw water on the fire in the grate, and then stop up the bottom of the chimney. To Remove Flies from Rooms. Take half a tea-spoonful of black pepper, in powder, one tea-spoonful of brown sugar, and one table-spoonful of cream ; mix them well together, and place them in the room, on a plate where tho flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear. To Cure the Scouring in Cattle. Take of powdered rhubarb, 2 drachms, castor oil, 1 oz. kali, prepared, 1 tea-spoonful. Mix well together in a pint of warm milk. If the first dose does not answer, repeat it in 36 or 48 hours. Cure for Cattle Swelled with Green Food. When any of your cattle happen to get swelled with an over feed of clover, frosty turnips, or such like, in- stead of the usual method of stabbing in the side, apply a dose of train-oil, which, after repeated trials, has been found to prove successful. The quantity of oil must vary according to the age or size of the animal. For a grown-up beast, of an ordinary size, the quantity recom- mended is about an English pint. To Preserve Milk. Provide bottles which must be perfectly clean, sweet and dry ; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled, immediately cork them well up, and fasten the corks with pack-thread or wire. Then spread a little 6traw on the bottom of a boiler, on which place bottles with straw between them, until the boiler contains a sufficient quantity. Fill it up with cold wa- ter ; heat the water, and as soon as it begins to boil, draw the fire, and let the whole gradually cool. When ■pite cold take out the bottles, and pack them with straw or saw-dust in hampers, and stow them in the coolest UMHVER3AL RECEIPT-BOOK. 41 p&rt of the house or ship. Milk preserved in this man- ner, although eighteen months in the bottles, will be as sweet as when first milked from the cow. An Astringent for the Teeth. Take of fresh conserve of roses, 2 ounces; the juice of half a sour lemon; a little very rough claret; and 6 ounces of coral tooth-powder. Make them into a paste, which put up in small pots ; and if it dry by standing, moisten with iemon-juice and wine, as before. A radical Cure for the Toothache. Use as a tooth-powder the Spanish snuff called Sibel- la, and it will clean the teeth as well as any other pow- der, and totally prevent the toothache ; and make a reg- ular practice of washing behind the ears with cold water every morning. The remedy is infallible. To Clean the Teeth. Take of good soft water, 1 quart, Juice of lemon, 2 ounces, Burnt alum, 6 grains, Common salt, 6 grains. Mix. Boil them a minute in a cup, then strain and bottle for use. Rub the teeth with a small bit of sponge tied to a stick, once a week. Plaster of Spanish Flies. 1. Simple wax plaster, 3 pounds; suet, 1 pound; cantharides or flies, 2 pounds. Mix. 2. Yellow wax, yellow resin, suet, Spanish flies, equal parts. Mix. 3. Common wax plaster, 9 parts ; suet, 1 part; color to sample. Melt and rub the rolls over with a little pewder of Spanish flies. In all spread blisters, it is usual to sprinkle some powdered flies over the surface, and these principally, if not solely, raise the blister. Excellent Perfume for Gloves. Take of ambergris one drachm ; civit the like quan- tity ; add flour-butter, a quarter of an ounce ; and with these well mixed rub the gloves over gently, with fine cotton wool, and press the perfume into them. • 42 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. To make the Teeth White. A mixture of honey with the purest charcoal will prove an admirable cleanser. Perfumed Bags for Drawers. Cut, slice, and mix well together, in the state of rery gross powder, the following ingredients : 2 oz. of yellow saunders, 2 oz. of coriander seeds, 2 oz. of orris root, 2 oz. of calamus aromaticus, 2 oz of cloves, 2 oz. of cinnamon bark, 2 oz. of dried rose leaves, 2 oz. of lavender flowers, and 1 lb. of oak shavings. "When properly mixed, stuff the above into small linen bags, which place in drawers, wardrobes, &c, which are musty, or liable to become so. Tincture of Musk. This excellent spirit requires 6 drachms of China musk, 20 grains of civet, and 2 drachms of red rose- buds. Reduce these ingredients to powder with loaf- sugar, and pour over them three pints of spirits of wine. A Perfume to prevent Pestilential Airs, !fc. Take of benjamin, storax, and galbanum, each half an ounce ; temper them," being bruised into powder, with the oil of myrrh, and burn them in a chafing dish : or else take rosemary, balm, and bay leaves ; heat them in wine and sugar, and let the moisture be consumed ; like- wise burn them by the heat of the pan, and they will produce a very fine scent. Pastils for Perfuming Sick Rooms. Powder separately the following ingredients, and then mix, on a marble slab : 1 lb. of gum benzoin, 8 oz. of gum storax, 1 lb. of frankincense, and 2 lbs. of fine charcoal. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 43 Add to this composition the following liquids : 6 oz. of tincture of benzoin, 2 oz. of essence of ambergris, 1 \>z. of essence of musk, 2 oz. of almond oil, and 4 oz. of clear syrup. Mix the whole into a stiff paste, and form into pastils of a conical shape, which dry in the heat of the sun. If more liquid should be required for the paste, add warm water. To Perfume Clothes. Take of oven-diied best cloves, cedar and rhubarb wood, each one ounce, beat them to a powder, and sprin- kle them in a box or chest, where they will create a most delightful scent, and preserve the apparel against moths. Mush and Civet Perfumes. Take 2 pennyweights of pure musk, 12 grains of ci- vet, and 1 pennyweight of the residuum of spirit of am- bergris. Make this into a paste, with 2 ounces of spirit of musk, made by infusion. Powder it with loaf-sugar, and mix in 16 pounds of fine hair powder. To render Paper Fire-Proof. Whether the paper be plain, written, or printed on, or even marbled, stained, or painted, for hangings, dip it in a strong solution of alum water, and then thorough- ly dry it. In this state it will be fire-proof. This will be readily known by holding a slip, thus prepared, over a candle. Some paper requires to imbibe more of the so- lution than by a single immersion ; in which case the dipping and drying must be repeated, till it becomes fully saturated. Neither the color nor quality of the paper will be in the least affected by this process, but, on the contrary, will be improved. To prevent Haystachs from talcing Fire. Where there is any reason to fear that the hay which is intended to be housed or stacked is not sufficiently dry, let a few handsful of common salt be scattered be- tween each layer. 44 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. To render Cloth and Wood Incombustible. Mr. Gay Lusaac has proposed to render cloths, stuffs, &c, incombustible, by immersing them in solutions of alum, sea-salt, Sec. Mushroom Catsup. Mushroom juice, 1 gallon ; allspice, 1 ounce ; pepper, cloves, ginger, each half ounce ; salt, 4 pounds. Soil for one hour, strain and bottle. To distinguish Mushrooms from Poisonous Fungi. 1. Sprinkle a little salt on tho spongy part or gills of the sample to be tried. If they turn yellow, they are poi- sonous : if black, they are wholesome. Allow the salt to act before you decide on the question. 2. False mushrooms have a warty cap, or else frag- ments of membrane adhering to the upper surface, are heavy, and emerge from a vulva or bag ; they grow in tufts or clusters in woods, on the stumps of trees, Sic., whereas the true mushrooms grow in pastures. 3. False mushrooms have an astringent, styptic, and disagreeable taste. 4. When cut they turn blue. 5. They are moist on the surface, and generally 6. Of a rose or orange color. 7. The gills of the true mushroom are of a pinky red, changing to a liver color. 8. The flesh is white. 9. The stem is white, solid, and cylindrical. To make Hens Lay Perpetually. Give your hens half an ounce of fresh meat each; chopped fine, once a day, while the ground is frozen, and they cannot get worms or insects ; allow no cocks to run with them, and they will lay perpetually. Try it. They also require plenty of grain, water, gravel, and lime. To put Black Spots on a White Horse. Lime, (quick,) powdered, half a pound; litharge, four ounces. Well beat and mix the litharge with the lime. The above to be put into a vessel and a sharp ley to be poured over it. Boil, and skim off the substance which UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 45 rises on the surface. This is the coloring matter, which must be applied to such parts of the animal as you wish to have dyed black. Red hair may be dyed black with a very similar composition. Thus, boil four ounces of lime with four ounces of litharge, in fresh water : the scum that rises will have the same effect. If the hair be entirely free from grease, one night will be sufficient to stain it black. To escape the Effects of Lightning. 1. Avoid standing under trees to escape from the rain during a thunder storm, but boldly expose yourself to the wet ; .it will preserve you from the lightning. 2. Avoid standing close to any metallic bodies, as lead pipes or iron railings, &c. 3. When in doors during a thunder storm, sit or stand as near to the middle of the room as convenient ; avoid standing at the window, or sitting near the wall. Fistula in Horses. When the fistula makes its first appearance, place a seton in each shoulder, just below the inflamed parts, and keep them running for two or three weeks. This will often remove the disease without any further attention. Soak your Seed Corn in a Solution of Saltpetre. It destroys the worm, is not relished by crows or squir- rels, and yields much more abundantly than when plant- ed without. Sore Tongue in Horses. Take 1 part sugar of lead, 1 part bole ammoniac, and 2 parts burnt alum, the whole to be added to 3 quarts of good vinegar. With this wash out the mouth twice a day. To preserve Walls from Dampness. When the walls are about two feet high, use for one row of stones or bricks a mixture of tar, pitch, and fine sand, in the same way as mortar. The composition must be previously melted to a proper consistence. To remove Crickets. Put a little chloride of lime and powdered tobacco in their holes. 4G UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Shaving Paste. 1. Oil of almonds, 2 parts; white soap, 2 parts; com- mon soda, 1 part; rosewater, 1 part. Melt and per fume with ottar of roses. 2. White wax, 2 ounces ; spermaceti, 2 ounces ; sweet oil, 2 ounces ; soda, 2 ounces ; white soap, 2 ounces; powdered cassia, 1-2 drachm; powdered cloves, 1-2 drachm; bergamot, 35 drops; essential oil of almonds, 5 drops. Mix with rose-water. To ascertain whether a Horse has good Sight. Examine the size of the pupil of the eye in a dull liqht, then gradually expose it to a brighter one, and observe whether it contracts or not ; if it does, the horse can see, and according to the amount of the con- traction will be the keenness of his sight. To ascertain ilie Quality of Veal. Choose the meat the kidney of which is well covered in white fat, the lean dry and white, and the suet firm. If clammy, or spotted, the veal is stale. The flesh of the cow calf is whitest, but that of the bull calf firmest. The whitest veal is not the most juicy, having generally been made so by lengthened bleeding. Nankin Dye. 1. Annato, potash, equal parts ; water sufficient. Boil until dissolved. 2. Spanish annato, 12 parts; alum and potash, each, 1 part ; water, sufficient quantity. Unite by boiling. To prevent the Nightmare. Avoid heavy suppers, and take either of the following doses on going to bed : 1. Bicarbonate of soda, 1 drachm; tincture of carda- mus (comp.), 3 drachms. Mix. 2. Sal volatile, 20 drops ; tincture of ginger, 2 drachms. Mix. 3. Magnesia, 20 grains ; rhubarb, 15 grains ; carbo- nate of soda, 10 grains. Mix. A Natural Dentifrice. The juice of the strawberry. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 47 Detergent Gargle for Inflammatory Sore Throat. Nitrate of potash (powdered), 1 part ; honey, 3 parts ; infusion of roses, 21 parts. Mix. To be used every two hours. To clean Colored Silks. Put some white soap into boiling water, and heat it until dissolved in a strong lather. At a hand-heat put in the article. If strong, it may be rubbed as in wash- ing rinse it quickly in warm water, and add oil of vitriol, sufficient to give another water a sourish taste, if for bright yellows, crimsons, maroons, and scarlets ; but for oranges, fawns, browns, or other shades, use no acid. For bright scarlet, use a solution of tin. Gently squeeze, and then roll it in a coarse sheet, and wring it. Hang it in a warm room to dry, and finish it by calen- dering or mangling. For pinks, rose colors, and thin shades, &c, instead of oil of vitriol, or solution of tin, prefer lemon-juice, or white tartar, or vinegar. For blues, purples, and their shades, add a small quantity of American pearlasb ; it will restore the colors. "Wash the articles like a linen garment, but, instead of wringing, gently squeeze and sheet them, and when dry, finish them with fine gum-water, or dissolved isinglass, to which add some pearlash, rubbed on the wrong side ; then pin them out. Blues of all shades are dyed with archil, and after- wards dipped in a vat ; twice cleaning with pearlash, restores the color. For olive-greens, a small quantity of verdigris dissolved in water, or a solution of copper, mixed with the water, will revive the color again. Drink for Invalids. 1. Barley-water, acidulated with lemon-juice; milk and water ; lemon or orange-whey ; thin gruel ; bohea, balm, or mint tea. 2. Fresh small beer ; porter ; port or claret wine with water ; weak brandy and water. 3. Brisk cider, and perry ; sherry, port, or claret wine ; rum or brandy diluted with water. 48 UNIVERSAL IlECfclPT-BOOK. Catsup for Sea Stores. Take beer, 1 gallon ; vinegar, 3 quarts ; anchovies (washed), 1 1-2 pounds; shallots, 1 1-2 pounds; mace, cloves, black pepper, each, 1-2 ounce ; ginger powder, 1 ounce ; mushroom flaps, rubbed to pieces, 2 quarts. Boil until reduced to ten pints, then strain, cool, and bottle. To be used with a little butter. Iron Cement. Take iron borings, 98 parts ; sal ammoniac, 2 parts ; water to make them into a paste for use. To ncectcn Musty or Stinking Casks 1. First wash them with sulphuric acid, and then with clear water ; afterwards wash them well out with water. 2. For large casks, unhead them and whitewash them with quicklime. 3. Or match them with sulphur mixed with a little ni- trate of potash, and afterwards wash them well with water. 4. Char the inside of the staves. Observe in every case to scald or well wash the casks out before use. To render Permanent Chalk or Pencil Drawings. Lay the drawing on its face and give the back two or three thin coats of the following (No. 1.) mixture , let it dry, and turn it with the chalk upwards, and give that side one or two coats also ; lastly, if you choose, give it one or two coats of No. 2. 1. Isinglass or gum arabic, 5 parts ; water, 12 parts. Mix. 2. Canada balsam, 4 parts ; turpentine, 5 parts. Mix. To remove the Turnip Flavor from Butter. Nitre, 1 part ; water, 20 parts. Dissolve, and put a little into the milk, warm from the cow. To hasten the Blowing of Bulbous- Rooted Flowers. Nitrate of potash, 12 ounces ; common salt, 4 ounces , pearlash, 3 ounces ; sugar, 5 ounces ; rain-water, 1 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. quart, Dissolve, and put a spoonful of this liquid inte the flower-glass, then fill it with soft water. Change th» water every nine days. To Clarify Butter. Take butter, melt it in a warm bath, then let it settle, pour off the clear, and cool as quickly as possible. Butter prepared in this way will keep a long time good. Compositions for Roman Candles. For the candle, nitre, 16 parts ; charcoal, 7 parts ; sulphur, 4 parts. Mix. For the stars, nitre, 16 parts ; gunpowder, 5 parts ; sulphur, 7 parts. Mix with cam- phorated spirit and gum-water. For use, put in one spoonful of fine gunpowder, then a star, then a measure full of the composition, and proceed in this way until the case is full. Rose Water. 1. Rose petals, 60 pounds ; water, 26 gallons. Draw over twenty gallons. 2. Rose petals, 5 bushels ; water sufficient. Draw over nine gallons. Rose-root water and yellow sandal- wood water, are often sold for this article. Economical Rouge. 1. Finely-powdered carmine, 1 ounce ; white poma- tum, 7 ounces. Mix, and pot it for use. 2. French chalk (finely powdered), 1 pound ; car- mine, 3 ounces ; oil of almonds to mix. Rouge for cleaning Plate. Precipitated subcarbonate of iron, 3 parts ; prepared chalk, 3 parts ; Armenian bole, 2 parts. Mix. Be sure to reduce the articles to the finest powder possible. Substitute for Yeast. Take wheat flour, 8 pounds, and water to make it of the consistence of cream. Boil for an hour, then add sugar, 1 pound ; yeast, 1-4 pint. Ferment. To keep empty Casks Swtet. Bung them close as soon as emptied. 50 UNIVERSAL .RECEIPT-BOOK. Japanese Cement, or Rice Glut. This elegant cement is made by mixing rice-flour in- timately with cold water, and then gently boiling it ; it is beautifully white, and dries almost transparent. Pa- pers pasted together by means of this cement, will sooner separate in their own substance than at the join- ing. To make a Fire and Water-Proof Cement. To half a pint of vinegar, add the same quantity of milk ; separate the curd, and mix the whey with the whites of 5 eggs ; beat it well together, and sift into it a sufficient quantity of quick lime, to convert it to the consistency of a thick paste. Broken vessels, mended with this cement, never afterwards separate, for it re- sists the action of both fire and water. Turkish Cement for Joining Metals, Glass, Ifc. Dissolve mastich in as much spirit of wine as will suffice to render it liquid ; in another vessel dissolve as much isinglass (which has been previously soaked in water till it is swollen and soft) in brandy, as will make two ounces by measure of strong glue, and add two Bmall bits of gum galbanum, or ammoniacum, which must be rubbed or ground till they are dissolved ; then mix the whole with a sufficient heat ; keep it in a phial stopt, and when it is to be used set it in hot water. Substitute for Tea or Coffee. Beech mast, or the beech tree, which is an oily, fari- naceous nut, and was used in diet, in an early age, may be used as a substitute for coffee, when roasted. Well dried, it makes a wholesome bread, and in tnis condi- tion, it has served for subsistence, in times of scarcity ; it is now, however, used only for fattening hogs, poul- try, &c. Substitute for Coffee, Cocoa, ffc. The ground sassafras nut is an excellent substitute for coffee, cocoa, Sec., for breakfast and supper. It is not only nutritious, but a more efficacious correcter of the h*bit, in cases of eruptions of the skin and scrofula, than UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 51 the sassafras wood, or the compound decoction of sarsa- parilla. As a powerful preventive of cutaneous affections, it is particularly valuable. It is also an excellent article of diet for rheumatic, gouty, and asthmatic invalids. To make Acorn Coffee. A pleasant beverage is drank in Germany, called the acorn coffee, and is made as follows : Take sound ripe acorns, peel off the shell or husk, di- vide the kernels, dry them gradually, and then roast them in a close vessel, or roaster, keeping them contin- ually stirring. Care must be taken not to burn or roast them too much. Take of these roasted acorns, ground like other coffee, half an ounce alone, or mixed with a drachm of other coffee, and 6weeten with sugar, with or without milk. To Prepare Water-Proof Boots. Take 3 oz. of spermaceti, and melt it in a pipkin, or other earthen vessel, over a slow fire ; add thereto six drachms of Indian rubber, cut into slices, and these will presently dissolve. Then add seriatim of tallow, 8 ounces ; hog's lard, 2 ounces ; amber vamish, 4 ounces. Mix, and it will be fit for use immediately. The boots or other material to be treated, are to receive two or three coats, with a common blacking brush, and a fine polish is the result. To Thicken Linen Cloth for Screens and Bed Testers. Grind whiting with zinc, and to prevent its cracking add a little honey to it ; then take a soft brush and lay it upon the cloth, and so do two or three times, suffer- ing it the meanwhile to dry between layings on, and for the last laying, smooth it over with Spanish white, ground with linseed oil, the oil being first heated, and mixed with a small quantity of the litharge of gold, the better to endure the weather, and so it will be lasting. Lacquer for Brass. Take of seed lac, 6 oz.; amber or copal, ground on porphyry, 2 oz.; dragon's blood, 40 grains; extract of 62 UNIVERBA . IIECEIPT-BOOK. red sandal wood, obtained by water, 30 grains ; Orien- tal saffron, 36 grains; pounded glass, 4 oz.; very pure alcohol, 40 07.. To apply this varnish to articles or ornaments of brass, expose them to a gentle heat, and dip them into varnish. Two or three coatings may be applied in this manner, if necessary. The varnish is durable, and has a beau- tiful color. Articles varnished in this manner, may be cleaned with water and a bit of dry rag. Paste for Cleaning Metals. Take oxalic acid, 1 part ; rotten stone, 6 parts. Mix with erjual parts of train oil and spirits of turpentine to a paste. Lotion for Itching Chilblains. Take hydrochloric acid, 1 part ; water, 8 parts. Mix. Apply on going to bed. Tins must not be used if tho ykiii is broken. ' Watchmaker's Oil, which never Corrodes or Thickens. Take olive oil and put it into a bottle, then insert coils of thin sheet lead. Expose it to the sun for a few weeks, and pour off the clear. Varnish for Water Color Drawings. Take Canada balsam, 1 part ; oil of turpentine, 2 parts, mixed ; size the drawing before you apply the varnish. Ring Worm, May be, in most cases, simply cured by scratching around the outer surface with the point of a sharp pin. The disease will not pass the line, if the skin is thus cut. Growth of Hair Increased, and Baldness Prevented. Take 4 ounces of castor oil, 8 do. good Jamaica rum, SO drops oil of lavender, or 10 do. oil of rose ; anoint occasionally the head, shaking well the bottle previ- ously. Ants. A small quantity of green 6age, placed in the closet, will cause red ants to disappear. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 53. To hasten the Ripening of Wall Fruit. Paint the wall black. Flour Paste. Water, 1 quart ; alum, 3-4 ounce. Dissolve, and when cold, add flour to make it of the consistence ot cream, then bring it to a boil, stirring it all the while. Hard Flour Paste. To the above add a little powdered resin and a clove or two before boiling. This will keep for twelve months. When dry it may be softened with water. To Preserve Floioers in Salt. Common salt, 3 pounds ; flowers, 10 gallons. Beat them to a paste, and preserve it in wide-mouthed jars or bottles. This plan furnishes the perfumer with flow- ers at any season of the year. The scent is not only much improved, but the flowers rendered more suitable for the purposes of distillation. To Extinguish Fire. Dissolve pearlash, soda, wood-ashes, or common salt in the water, before it is put into the engine, and direct the jet on the burning wood work. The proportion may be twenty pounds to every fifty gallons ; the more, however, the better. Ointment for Chaps and Eruptions of the Skin. Simmer ox -marrow over a fire, and afterwards strain jt through a piece of muslin into gallipots. When cold, rub the part affected. Water-Proof Glue. 1. Glue, 1 part ; skimmed milk, 8 parts. Melt and evaporate in a water-bath to the consistence of strong glue. 2. Glue, 12 parts ; water sufficient to dissolve. Then add yellow resin, 3 parts, and when melted, add tur- pentine, 4 parts. Mix thoroughly together. This should be done in a water-bath. Antidote for Arsenic. Swallow the whites of three or four eggs immediately. 5 64 UNIVERSAL RECKIPT-HOOK. To Prevent Degradations by Hawkt. One or more guinea hens in a flock of fowls it is said will effectually prevent molestation from hawks. To Prevent Mildew in Wheat. Sulphate of copper, 1 pound ; water, 4 gallons. Dis- solve, and steep the grain in it for one hour. Warts -in Horset and Cuttle. Wash them with a strong ley, made of pearlash and water, thrice a day. Water-Proof Varnish for Boots, Shoes, Ifc. Linseed oil, 8 parts; boiled oil, 10 parts; suet, 8 parts ; beeswax, 8 parts. Mix with heat and apply hut. To Save Oats in Feeding Horses. Bruise or crush your oats in a mill, or otherwise, as convenient, and your horse will become fatter on half his usual allowance of these oats, than he was before on double the quantity unprepared. If you cannot bruise the oats, pour hot water on them and let them soak for a few hours. To Prevent the Formation of Crust on Tea-Kettles. Keep an oyster-shell in your tea-kettle, and it will prevent the formation of a crust on the inside of it, by attracting the stony particles to itself. To Take Rust out of Steel. Cover the steel with sweet oil well rubbed on it, and in forty-eight hours use unslacked lime finely powdered, to rub until all the rust disappears. When a Nail or Pin has been run into the Foot, Instantly bind on a rind of salt pork ; if the foot swell, bathe it in a strong decoction of wormwood, then bind on another rind of pork, and keep quiet till the wound is well. The lockjaw is of.en caused by such wounds, if neglected. Cream. The quantity of cream on milk may be greatly in- creased by the following process : Have two pans ready in boiling hot water, and when the new milk is brought UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 55 in, put it into one of these hot pans and cover it with the other. The quality as well as the thickness of the cream is improved. To Preserve Green Currants. Currants may be kept fresh for a year or more, if they are gathered when green, separated from the stems, put into dry, clean junk bottles, and corked very care- fully, so as to exclude the air. They should be kept in a cool place in the cellar. To Loosen the Stoppers of Decanters anal Smelling Bottles that are Wedged in Tight. Dip the end of a feather in oil, and rub it round the stopple, close to the mouth of the bottle ; then put the bottle about a couple of feet from the fire, having the mouth towards it. The heat will cause the oil to run down between the stopple and mouth of the bottle. When warm strike the bottle gently on both sides, with any light wooden instrument that you may happen to have. If the stopple cannot be taken , out with the hand at the end of this process, repeat it, and you will finally succeed by persevering in it, however firmly it may be wedged in. To Clean Marhle Fire-Places. If you happen to live in a house which has marble fire-places, never wash them with suds ; tins destroys the polish, in time. They should be dusted ; the spots taken off with a nice oiled cloth, and then rubbed dry with a soft rag. To Prevent the 111 Effects of Charcoal. Ret an uncovered vessel filled with boiling water over the pan containing the charcoal, the vapor of which will counteract the deleterious fumes, and, while it keeps boiling, will make the charcoal as safe as any other fueL Whooping Cough. Equal parts of lamp oil and molasses, is an excellent remedy ; or a tea-spoonful of castor oil to a table-spoon- ful of molasses ; a tea-spoonful of the mixture to be given whenever the cough is troublesome. It will af- 56 UNIVERSAL RECKIPT-BOOK. . ford relief at once, and in a few days it effects a cure. The same remedy relieves the croup, however violent the attack. To Prepare Pure Lard. Get good white lard. Wash it in cold water, then put it into warm water and 6hake them well together, to wash out the salt ; let them cool, then collect the lard from the top of the water, drain it, melt it again in a water hath, let it remain bo for half an hour, and then pour off the clearest portion and preserve it from the air. To stop a Fit of Coughing. A correspondent of the London Medical Gazette, states that to close the nostrils with the thumb and fin- ger during expiration, leaving them free during inspira- tion, will relieve a fit of coughing in a short time. Tomato Pickles. Take tomatoes when two thirds ripe ; prick them full of holes with a fork ; then make a strong brine, boil and skim it. When cool, put your tomatoes in ; let them remain eight days, and then take out and put them in weak vinegar. Let them lay twenty -four hours ; then take them out and lay a layer of tomatoes, then a thin layer of onions, with a tea-spoonful each of cinna- mon, cloves, and pepper, and a table spoonful of mus- tard ; then pour on sharp vinegar. You may put them in jars if you like. To Remove Paint from the Wall of a Room. If you intend papering a painted wall, you must fii st rub off all the paint — otherwise the paper will not stick. To do this, mix in a bucket a sufficient quantity of pearlash, with either warm or cold water, so as to make a strong solution. Dip a flannel into this, and with it wash off the paint. To prevent Wounds from Mortifying. Sprinkle sugar on them. The Turks wash fresh wounds with wine, and sprinkle sugar on them. Obsti- nate ulcers may be cured with sugar dissolved in a strong decoction of walnut leaves. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 57 Grafting. Melt beeswax and tallow together, stirring in a little chalk if handy ; while hot dip in some strips of rags ; then tear them into strips suitable to prevent the escape of the sap or the introduction of water, and the work is finished. To take off Wall Paper. To clear a wall from paper, previous to painting or white-washing, wet the paper thoroughly, with a long- handled brush dipped in a bucket of warm water. While the paper is quite wet, so that it blisters and loosens, you can pull it off" with your hands. If any small bits are found still adhering, wet them afresh, and scrape them off with a case-knife. To Prevent the Clothes of Children from Taking Fire. " The danger and difficulty can very easily be avoided by the use of alum. " When clothes are washed they should be rinsed out in alum water — the solution should be made tolera- bly strong. If the clothing, which has been newly washed, should require starch, the alum may be put in the starch water. " Alum should be used on all occasions ; it renders the clothing fire-proof. All clothing about a house or steamboat made of cotton should be impregnated with alum. For instance, bed, and window curtains, &c, such articles generally having much fringe about them. " This hint, if attended to, will prove a perfect safety to clothing from fire." For the Bite of a Snake. Take the bark of yellow poplar and bruise it, and make a poultice of it and apply it to the wound, bathing the arm or leg that is bitten with a strong decoction of the same, and let the person afflicted drink half a pint every hour. This is a 6afe and easy remedy, and will effect a cure in a short time. Another. Charcoal made into a paste with hog's lard, is a grand antidote for snake bites. In bad cases it should bo 5S UNIVERSAL RECEIPT -BOOR. changed often. It will probably prove effectual for the sting of bees and all other similar cases of poison. Substitute for Cream. Beat up the whole of a fresh egg in a basin, and then pour boiling tea or water over it gradually, to prevent it curdling. In flavor and richness this preparation re- sembles cream. Easy Met/iod of Restoring and rendering Legible dam- aged Parchment Deeds, Sfc. When a parchment deed becomes obliterated and discolored by moisture, on simply immersing it in spring water, for about a minute, then pressing it between sheets of blotting paper, to prevent its shrivelling up while getting dry ; it will generally, when it has nearly approached that state, be found to have resumed its original color, and appear as perfectly plain, but should the characters not prove legible on its becoming mod- erately dry, the operation must be repeated as often as it may be necessary. The following mixture, it is as- serted, will make writing which has been obliterated, faded, or sunk, either on paper or on parchment, imme- diately legible. Bruise two or three nutgalls, infuse them in half a pint of wine, and let the bottle stand for two days in the sun or in any other equally warm stiu- ation ; then wash the part of the parchment or paper which is wanted to have the writing recovered, by means of a sponge or soft brush dipped in the vinous in- fusion ; and the purpose will be immediately answered if it be sufficiently 6trong. Should that not happen, its power must be increased by an additional quantity of galls ; and, perhaps, in gome cases, stronger heat and even stronger wine, may also be necessary. Whitewash. Take half a bushel of unslacked lime, and slack it with boiling not water, covering it during the process. Strain it, and add a peck of salt dissolved in warm wa- ter ; three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin paste, put in boiling hot ; half a pound of powdered Spanish whiting, and a pound of clear glue, dissolved in warm UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 69 water. Mix, and let it 8tand several days. Then keep it in a kettle on a portable furnace, and put on as hot as possible, with a painter's or a whitewash brush. A Fine Yellow Wash. Lime-water, 1 pound ; bichloride of mercury, 40 grains. Rub together. Shake the bottle before use. Used for syphilitic ulcers. To Wash White Merino Shawls. Wash the shawl in fair suds made beforehand, rub no soap on the shawl, rinse in clear warm water, with two changes if you please ; then take a solution of gum ara- bic, and add to it warm water till you think it will pro- duce a little stiffness like starch when dry. Press with a moderately hot iron, before quite dry, laying a clean cotton or linen cloth between the iron and the shawl. To Prevent the Hair Falling Off. Wash the head once a day with good old Jamaica rum. Renovation of Manuscripts. Take a hair pencil and wash the part which has been effaced with a solution of prussiale of potash in water, and the writing will again appear, if the paper has not been destroyed. A Cure for Sore Backs of Horses. The best method of curing sore backs, is to dissolve half an ounce of blue vitriol in a pint of water, and dab the injured parts with it four or five times a day. Composition for Restoring Scorched Linen. Boil to a good consistency, in half a pint of vinegar, two ounces of Fuller's earth, an ounce of hen's dur.g, half an ounce of cake soap, and the juice of two onions. Spread this composition over the whole of the damaged part; and if the scorching were not quite through, and the threads actually consumed, after suffering it to dry on, and letting it receive a subsequent good washing or two, the place will appear full as white and perfect as any other part of the linen. r>o UNIVERSAL RECHII-T-BOOK. To improve Bad Yeast. Add a little flour and sugar, and let them work together for a short time. To cure Hydrophobia. Make a strong wash hy dissolving two table-spoons- ful of the chloruret of lime in half a pint of water, and instantly and repeatedly bathe the part bitten. The poison will in this way be decomposed. It has proved successful when applied within six hours after the animal has been bitten. I wish these facts generally known, as they may be of service to our fellow-citizens at large. To make Vegetables eat Tender. Put a spoonful or two of pearlash or soda into the water you boil them in. To Pickle Vegetables in Brine. Tako the articles to be preserved and put them into pickle bottles, fill them with a strained saturated solution of common salt, and cork immediately. To preserve or pickle Vegetables in Vinegar. Soak them for some hours in brine, then drain them, put them into bottles, and pour on them boiling vinegar until quite covered. Cork immediately. To prepare Intestines for Sausages. Take the intestines, cut off the extraneous fat and peritoneal membrane, turn them inside out and wash them clean, then 6oak them for twenty-four hours in a pail of water, to which a little chloride of lime or potass has been added ; then tear off a part of the mucous membrane to thin them, and wash them well in two or three pails of clean water. Cephalic Snuff. 1. Take asarabacca leaves, marjoram, light Scotch snuff, equal parts. Grind them, and 6ift the resulting powder. 2. Take powdered asarum, 1 pound; powdered Scotch snuff (dry), 1 1-2 pounds ; simple powder, 2 pounds ; hellebore, 4 ounces. Mix and sift. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 61 To destroy Slugs on Land. Sprinkle over it powdered fresh slaked lime, or chimney soot. To preserve Plants from Slugs. Strew well-cut chaff round the plants. ■ To give an appearance of Age to Writing. Infuse a drachm of saffron in half a pint of ink, then write with it. To clean Point Lace. Stretch it in a tent, and clean it with a solution of white soap ; wash off the soap with water, and spongo it with starch on the wrong side ; when dry, iron it on the same side, then with a bodkin set it in order. To Preserve Steel Goods. Caoutchouc, lpart; turpentine, 16 parts. Dissolve with a gentle heat, then add boiled oil, 8 parts. Mix by bringing them to the heat of boiling water ; apply it to the steel with a brush, in the way of varnish. It may be removed when dry with turpentine. The oil may be wholly omitted. To Prevent the Bite of Musquitoes. Apply a thick lather of soap to the skin of the face and hands. To mend Cracks in Stoves. German Method. — Take equal parts of wood ashes and common salt, and mix them to a proper consistence with water ; with this fill the cracks. Strengthening Plaster. 1 . Simple diachylon, 22 pounds ; thuris, 5 pounds ; dragon's blood, 2 pounds. Mix. 2. Diachylon, 20 pounds ; gum thuiis, 4 pounds ; peroxide of iron, 2 pounds. Mix. This is a cheap form for the emplastrum thuris of the Dublin College. 3. Diachylon, 80 pounds ; gum thuris, 29 pounds ; Armenian bole, 5 pounds. Mix with heat. Said to be used as a mechanical support to the muscles by public dancers. as UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. To Restore Tainted Meat. If salted, wash it, and throw away the old brine, then replace it with the following composition, and let it lie in it for a few days : Fresh-burnt charcoal, powdered, 12 parts; common Bait, 11 parts; saltpetre, 4 parts. Mix. This must be used the same as common salt ; and when you want to cook the meat, the black color may be removed with clean water. To Whiten Tallow. Take the tallow, melt it, and add a little alum and saltpetre, or a little nitric or sulphuric acid. Easy Mode of Smoking Meat. Take pyroligneous acid, and either immerse the meat in it for a short time, or give it two or three coats with a painter's brush ; then hang it up to dry. To Cure Smoky Chimneys. 1. Contract the draught. This is infallible, if properly done. 2. Increase the height or crookedness of the chimney. The more turns a chimney has, the greater is (usually) the draught. Wash for Sore Eyes in Animals. White vitriol, 2 scruples ; sugar of lead, 1 drachm ; water, 1 pint. Mix. To prevent the Smut in Wheat. Steep the grain in lime-water, or a weak ley of wood- ashes, or pearlash. Soda Water. Take clear water, and force into it by means of a pump, from six to ten times its bulk of carbonic acid gas, obtained from marble ; cork and wire the bottles. Soda water should always be kept in a cool place, with the neck of the bottle downwards. To make Prints and Drawings to resemble Oil ■ Paintings. Canada balsam, 1 part ; turpentine, 2 parts. Mix and apply it to the paper or print, previously well sized and dried. BNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 63 Method of Cleaning Brass Omamentt. Brass ornaments, that have not been gilt or lacquered, may be cleaned, and a very brilliant color given to them, by washing them with alum boiled in strong ley, in the roportion of an ounce to a pint, and afterwards rub- ing them with 6trong tripoli. Frost Counteracted. As the blossoms of fruit trees are more particularly affected by early frosts, the following plan has been recommended to counteract the injurious effects of the same : — A rope is to be interwoven among the branches of the tree, and one end of it immersed in a pail of water. This rope it is said will act as a conductor and convey the effects of the frost from the tree to the water. Both hemp and straw have been recommended for this purpose. Files and Rasps. Files and other instruments for the abrasion of various substances, may be made by folding up separate pieces of wet clay in muslin, cambric, and Irish linen, forcing them by the pressure of the hand into the interstices or the threads, so that on divesting them of the covering, and having them well baked, a file is produced of a new species, said to be capable of operating on steel ; and very useful in cutting glass, polishing, and rasping wood, ivory, and all sorts of metals. Preservation of Fruits by Carbonic Acid Gas. Cherries, grapes, pears, apples and chestnuts, (and perhaps all other fruits,) placed in glass vessels filled with this gas, obtained from carbonate of lime by sul- phuric acid, are said to be preserved without undergoing any change for a long period. Cherries, at the end of six weeks, had the same appearance as when preserved in brandy. To prevent Pumps and Water-Pipes freezing in Winter. Take up the valve or sucker, and let all the water out of the trunk or pipe. 64 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Weak Sight. Beat up a drachm of alum in the white of an egg, and smear the eye-brow and eye-lid every night with the mixture. Loclccd Jaw. It is said that the application of warm ley, made of ashes as strong as possible, to a wounded part, will prevent a lock jaw; if a foot or hand, immersed in it; if another part of the body, bathed with flannels wrung out from the warm ley. An Incomparable Medicine for the Scurvy in the Teeth. Take a quart of good white-wine vinegar, heat a piece of steel red-hot, and quench it eight or ten times in the vinegar, as fast as you can heat it ; then add to this liquor an ounce of powdered myrrh, and half an ounce of mastic, powdered ; wash your teeth twice or thrice a day. To make the Hair grow Thick. Take rosemary, maiden-hair, southern wood, myrtle berries, hazel-bark, of each, 2 ounces ; burn these to ashes on a clean hearth, or in an oven ; put these ashes in white-wine, to make a strong ley, and wash the hair daily at the root ; keep it cut pretty 6hort. It kills the worm which is at the root. Hoarseness. One drachm of freshly -scraped horseradish root, to be infused with lour ounces of water in a close vessel for two hours, and made into a 6yrup with double its weight in vinegar, is an approved remedy for hoarseness ; a tea-spoonful has often proved effectual ; a few tea- spoonsful, it is said, have never been known to fail in removing hoarseness. Mortar. Much of the mortar used in building is said to be im- perfectly made. Four parts coarse and three parts fine eand, with one part of quick -lime, well mixed with but little water, makes mortar which soon becomes as hard as adamant ; resisting all atmospheric action as durably UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 65 as the material it unites ; and with addition of a portion of manganese, it will harden under- water. Cure for Cancer. Take the narrow-leaved dock-root, boil it in soft water, and wash the ulcer with the strong decoction as warm as it can be borne ; fill the cavity with the liquor for two minutes ; then sciape the hulk of the root, bruise it fine, put it on gauze, and lay it over every part of the ulcer ; dip a linen cloth in the decoction, and put it over the gauze. Repeat this three times in twenty-four hours, and at each time let the patient take a wine-glass of the tea made of the root with one-third of a glass of port wine sweetened with honey. To make the Celebrated Pomade Divine. Beef marrow, twelve ounces, steeped in water ten days, and afterwards in rose water twenty-four hours ; flowers of benjamin, pounded storax, and Florentine or- ris, and cloves and nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce. The whole to be put in an earthen vessel, closely covered down, to keep in the fumes, and being suspended in wa- fer made to boil three hours ; after which the whole is to be strained and put into bottles. To Clean Oil Paintings. If smoked, or very dirty, take stale urine, in which a little common salt is dissolved ; rub them over with a woollen cloth dipped in that till you think them quite clean, then with a sponge wash them over with fair water ; then dry them and rub them over with a clean cloth. To Cure a Bruise in the Eye. Take conserve of red roses, and also a rotten apple, put them in' a fold of thin cambric, apply it to the eye, and it wifl draw the bruise out. To Sivceten the "Breath. Take two ounces of terra japonica ; half an ounce of sugar-candy, both in powder. Grind one drachm of the best ambergris, with ten grains of pure musk, and dis- solve a quarter of an ounce of clean gum tragacanth in 66 IN1VER6AL RECEIPT-BOOK. two ouncea«fl^orange-flower water. Mix all together, so as to form a paste, which roll into pieces of the thick- ness of a straw. Cut these into pieces, and lay them in clean paper. This is an excellent perfume for those whose breath is in auy way disagreeable. For a Pain in the Ear. Oil of sweet almonds, two drachms, and oil of amber, four drops ; apply four drops of this mixture when in pain, to the part affected. To make the Teeth White. A mixture of honey with the purest charcoal, will prove an admirable cleanser. To Revive a Dull Fire. Powdered nitre, or saltpetre, strewed on the fire, is the best bellows that can be used. To Wash Chintz. Take two pounds of rice, boil it in two gallons of wa- ter till soft ; then pour the whole into a tub ; let it stand till about the warmth in general used for coloring lin- ens ; then put the chintz in, and use the rice instead of soap ; wash it in this till the dirt appears to be out, then boil the same quantity as above, but strain the rice from the water, and mix it in warm clear water. Wash in this till quite clean ; afterwards rinse it in the watei which the rice has been boiled in, and this will answer the end of starch, and no dew will affect it. If a gown, it must be taken to pieces, and when dried be careful to hang it as smooth as possible ; after it is dry, rub it with a sleek stone, but use no iron. Eggs — as a Remedy. The white of an egg is said to be a specific for fish bones sticking in the throat. It is to be swallowed raw, and will carry down a bone very easily and certainly. There is another fact touching eggs which it will do very well to remember. When, as sometimes by acci- dent, corrosive sublimate is swallowed, the white of one or two eggs taken immediately, will neutralize the poi son, and change the effect to that of a dose of calomel. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 67 Court Plaster. 1. Balsam of benzoin, 1 part ; alcohol, 12 parts. Mix. Then isinglass, 2 parts ; water, barely to dissolve. Strain the two solutions separately, then mix them. For use, place the bottle in warm water, and give the silk, previ- ously strained, ten or twelve coats with a brush ; when dry, give it a coat of the following : Chia turpentine, 1 part ; tincture of benzoin, 2 parts. Mix. 2. Thick mucilage, 8 ounces; thick syrup, 1 ounce; tincture of benzoin, 1 ounce. Mix. Apply as before. 3. Isinglass, 4 ounces ; water, 3 ounces. Dissolve, then add tincture of benzoin, 1 ounce. Apply warm. 4. Isinglass, 1 ounce ; gum arabic, 4 ounces ; water, 6 ounces. Dissolve, then add balsam of Peru, 2 drachms. Apply warm. 5. Isinglass, 1 ounce ; water, 4 ounces. Dissolve, and add alcohol, 8 ounces ; tincture of benzoin, 2 ounces. Give the silk, previously strained, four or five coats with this vamish, and when dry, two coats of the following to finish : Chia turpentine, 4 ounces ; tincture of benzoin, 6 ounces. Mix. 6. Spread either of the compositions on goldbeaters' skin instead of silk. To prevent Distilled Waters turning Sour. To every gallon add one ounce of finely powdered calcined magnesia, and shake them well together ; then allow the mixture to settle. To Solder Tortoise-shell. Bring the edges of the pieces of shell to fit each other, observing to give the same inclination of grain to each ; then secure them in a piece of paper, and place them between hot irons or pincers ; apply pressure, and let them cool. The heat must not be so great as to burn the shell ; therefore try it first on a piece of white paper. A certain Remedy to take Fire out of a Burn. Beat an apple with salad oil until it is a poultice, pret- ty soft ; bind it on the part, and as it dries lay on fresh. You must be sure to pare, core, and beat your apple well, for fear of breaking the skin of the burn. But if cs UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-ROOK. the skin be off, there is nothing in nature so sure to take out the fire. Paper that Resists Moisture. Take unsized paper, lay it flat on a clean surface, and brush it over with a solution of mastic in oil of turpen- tine ; or plunge it into the solution and hang it up to dry. This paper possesses all the usual qualities of writing paper, with the advantage of resisting moisture. Composition to Heal Wounds in Trees. Chalk, 4 parts ; tar, 2 parts ; brick-dust, 1 part. Melt, and apply warm. Papier Mache. Take paper, any quantity ; boil it well, then pound it to a paste, and mould. Used in making toys, snuff- boxes, &c. Fire-proof Stucco for Wood, Spc. Take moist, gravelly earth, (previously washed,) and make it into stucco with the following composition : I'earlashes, 2 parts ; water, 5 parts ; common clay, 1 part. Mix. This costs about one shilling and sixpence per hundred square feet. It has been tried on a largo scale, and found to answer. Rules for Preserving Health. 1. Hise early, and never sit up late. 2. Wash the whole body every morning with cold water, by means of a large sponge, and rub it dry with a rough towel ; or scrub the whole body for ten or fif- teen minutes with flesh brushes. 3. Drink»water generally, and avoid excess of spirits, wine, and fermented liquors. 4. Keep the body open by the free use of the syringe, and remove superior obstructions by aperient pills. 5. Sleep in a room which has free access to the open air. 6. Keep the head cool, by washing it when necessary with cold water, and abate feverish and inflammatory symptoms when they arise by persevering stillness. 7. Correct symptoms of plethora and indigestion by eating and drinking less per diem for a few days. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK 69 8. Never eat a hearty supper, especially of animal food ; and drink wine, spirits, and beer, if these are ne- cessary, only after dinner. Paper Prepared for Draughtsmen, Sfc. Powdered tragacanth, 1 part ; water, 10 parts. Dis- solve, and strain through clean gauze ; then lay it smooth- ly with a painter's brush on the paper, previously stretch- ed on a board. This paper will take either oil or water colors. Panes of Glass May easily be removed by the application of soft 6oap for a few hours, however hard the putty has become. Peach Trees. Plant tansy around the roots of peach trees. The peach worm will not trouble them afterwards. An Insect Trap. Scoop out the inside of a turnip, scollop the edge of the shell, and place it downward on the earth. The in- sects will pass into it as a place of retreat, through the holes ; and the beds of squashes, melons, cucumbers, &c, may thus soon be cleared of them. To Escape from or go into a House on Fire. Creep or crawl with your face near the ground ; and although the room be full of smoke to suffocation, yet near the floor the air is pure, and may be breathed with safety. To preven t the Smoking of a Lamp. Soak the wick in strong vinegar, and dry it well be- fore you use it. . To warm a Carriage or small Apartment. Convey into it a stone bottle of boiling water ; or for the feet, a single glass bottle of boiled water, wrapped in flannel. To Preserve Furs. When laying up muffs and tippets for the summer, if a tallow candle be placed on or near them, all danger of caterpillars will be obviated. 70 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-DOOK. To Preserve Clothe*. As clothes when laid up for a time acquire an unplea- sant odor, which requires considerable exposure to the atmospheric air, it will be prevented by laying recently made charcoal between the folds of the garments ; and even when the odor has taken place, the charcoal will absorb it. To remove Stain* from Mourning Drettes. Boil a good handful of fig leaves in two quarts of wa- ter, till reduced to a pint. Bombazine, crape, cloth, &c, need only be rubbed with a sponge dipped in the liquor, and the effect will be instantly produced. To Clean Gold Lace. Gold lace is easily cleaned and restored to its original brightness by rubbing it with a soft brush dipped in roche alum burnt, sifted to a very fine powder. To Clean China and Glast. The best material for cleaning either porcelain or glass-ware is fullers' earth ; but it must be beaten into a fine powder, and carefully cleared from all rough or hard particles, which might endanger the polish of the bril- liant surface. To explore Unventilated Placet. Light eo'me sheets of brown paper, and throw into the well or cavern ; also, fix a long pipe to a pair of bel- lows, and blow for some time into the place. To make Red Sealing Wax. Take of shell-lac, well powdered, two parts ; of resin and vermilion, powdered, each 1 part. Mix them well together and melt them over a gentle fire ; and when the ingredients seem thoroughly incorporated, work the wax into sticks. Where shell-lac cannot be procured, seed- lac may be substituted for it. The quantity of vermilion maybe diminished without any injury to the sealing wax, where it is not required to be of the highest and brightest red color ; and the resin should be of the whitest kind, as that improves the effect >f the vermilion. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 71 Black Sealing Wax, Proceed as directed for the red wax, only instead of the vermilion substitute the best ivory black. Green Sealing Wax. Instead of vermilion use verdigris powdered. Blue Sealing Wax. Smalt well powdered ; or for a light blue, verditer may be used. To determine whether Water he Hard or Soft. To ascertain whether or not water be fit for domes- tic purposes, to a glassful of the water add a few drops of the solution of soap in alcohol. If the water be pure, it will continue limpid ; if impure, white flakes will be formed. To manage Water-pipes in Winter. When the frost begins to set in, cover the water-pipes with hay or straw bands, twisted tight round them. To bring Horses out of a Stable on Fire. Throw the harness or saddles to which they have been accustomed over the backs of the horses in this predica- ment, and they will come out of the stable as tractably as usual. To clean Looking-glasses, Mirrors, fyc. Take a piece of soft sponge, well washed and cleaned from every thing gritty ; just dip it into water and squeeze it out again, and then dip it into some spirits of wine. Rub it over the glass ; dust it over with some powder blue, or whiting sifted through muslin ; rub it lightly and quickly off again with a cloth ; then take a clean cloth and rub it well again, and finish by rubbing it with a silk handkerchief. Immediate Treatment of Scalds and Burns. Without waiting to undress the patient, let every part that has been touched by the fire or scalding liquid be immersed, as speedily as possible, in cold water ; or if it cannot be placed in that liquid, let a copious stream be poured over it, until the clothes are thoroughly cooled 72 UNIVEBSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. Itemed i) for Sea- Sickness. Take as much Cayenne pepper as you can rightly bear, in a basin of hot soup, and, it is said, all sickness, nau-ca, and squcamishness will disappear. Embrocation for Sprains in Horses. Take of soap liniment nnd camphorated spirit of wine, of each 8 ounces, oil of turpentine, 1-2 an ounce. Mix, and shake when used. Tliis evaporating and discutient embrocation is well calculated to remove pain and inflammation, which is generally effected in the course of a fortnight or three weeks ; during that time the horse should not be al- lowed to go out of the stahlc or farm-yard. The Foot-llot in Sheep. Take** piece of alum, a piece of green vitriol, and some white mercury — the alum must be in the largest proportion ; dissolve them in water, and after the hoof is pared, anoint it with a feather, and bind on a rag over all the foot. To Prevent S/icep fiom Catching Cold after being Shorn. Mix salt with water and rub them all over. To Bleach Prints and Printed Books. Simple immersion in oxygenated muriatic acid, let- ting the article remain in it a longer or shorter space of time, according to the strength of the liquor, will be sufficient to whiten an engraving ; if it is required to whiten the paper of a bound book, as it is necessary that all the leaves should be moistened by the acid, care must be taken to open the book well, and to make the boards rest on the edge of the vessel, in such a manner that the paper alone shall be dipped in the liquid ; the leaves must be separated fiom each other, in order that they may be equally moistened on both sides. To Wash Fine Lace or Linen. Take a gallon of furze blossoms and burn them to ashes, then boil them in six quarts of soft water ; this, when fine, use in washing with the suds, as occasion re- UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 73 quires, and the linen, &c, will not only be exceedingly white, but it is done with half the soap, and little trouble. To Dye or Stain Horn Tortoise- Shell Color. The horn to be dyed must be first pressed into proper plates, scales, or other flat form, and the following mix- ture prepared : Take of quick-lime two parts, and li- tharge one part, temper them together to the consist- ence of a soft paste, with soap-ley. Put this paste over all the parts of the hom, except such as are proper to be left transparent, in order to give it a near resemblance to the tortoise-shell. The horn must remain in this manner, covered with the paste, till it is thoroughly dry ; when, the paste being brushed off, the horn will be found partly opaque and partly transparent, in rHe man- ner of tortoise-shell, and when put over a foil of the kind of lattern called orsedue, will be scarcely distinguisha- ble from it. It requires some degree of fancy and judg- ment to dispose of the paste in such a manner as to form a variety of transparent parts, of different magnitudes and figures to look like the effect of nature : and it will be an improvement to add semi-transparent parts, which may be done by mixing whiting with some of the paste, to weaken its operation in particular places, by which spots of a reddish-brown will be produced, which, if properly interspersed, especially on the edges of the dark parts, will greatly increase the beauty of the work, and its similitude to real tortoise-shell. Another Method. Take an equal quantity of quick-lime and red lead, and mix it up with strong soap lees. Lay it on the hom with a small brush, like the mottle in tortoise-shell. When dry, repeat the same two or three times. To Dye White Gloves Purple. Boil four ounces of logwood and two ounces ofroche alum in three pints of soft water, till half wasted. Let the liquor stand to cool after straining. Let the gloves be nicely mended, then with a brush rub them over, and when dry, repeat it. Twice is sufficient, unless the col- or is to be very dark ; when dry, rub off the loose dye 71 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. with a coarse cloth ; beat up the white of an egg, and with a sponge rub it over the leather. The dye will Btain the hands, but wetting them with vinegar before they are washed will take it off. To Dye Bristles or Feathers Green. Take of verdigris and verditer, each 1 ounce, gum water, 1 pint ; mix them well, and dip the bristles or feathers, they having been first soaked in hot water, into the said mixture. Blue. Take of indigo and risse, each 1 ounce, and a piece of alum the size of a hazel nut ; put them into gum wa- ter, and dip the materials into it hot, hang them up to dry, anH clap them well that they may open, and by changing the colors, the aforesaid materials may be in this manner dyed of any color ; for purple, use lake and indigo ; for carnation, vermilion and smalt. Red. Take an ounce of Brazil wood in powder, half an ounce of alum, a quarter of an ounce of vermilion, and a pint of vinegar ; boil them up to a moderate thick- ness, and dip the bristles or feathers, they having been fust soaked in hot water, into the said mixture. To Dye or Color Horse Hair. Steep in water wherein a small quantity of turpentine has been boiled for the space of two hours ; then, hav- ing prepared die colors very hot, boil the hair therein, and any color, black excepted, will take ; but that will only take a dark red, or dark blue, &c. To Turn Red Hair Black. Take a pint of the liquor of pickled herrings, half a pound of lamp-black, and two ounces of the rust of iron. Mix and boil them for twenty minutes, then strain and rub the liquid well into the roots of the hair. To Prevent Horses being Teased by Flies.. Take two or three small handfuls of walnut leaves, upon which pour two or three quarts of cold water ; let it infuse one night, and pour the whole next ir.jrn- UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 75 ing into a kettle, and let it boil for a quaiter of an hour ; when cold, it will be fit for use. No more is required than to moisten a sponge, and before the horse goes out of the stable, let those parts which are most irritable be smeared over with the liquor, viz., between and upon the ears, ihe neck, the flank, &c. Not only the lady or gentleman who rides out for pleasure, will derive ben- efit from this preparation, but the coachman, the wag- oner, and all others who use horses during the hot monchs. Liniment for the Galled Backs of Horses. White-lead moistened with milk. When milk is not to be procured, oil may be substituted. One or two ounces sufficed for a whole party for more than a month. Fattening Turkeys. Experiments have been successfully tried of shutting up turkeys in a 6mall apartment made perfectly dark. They were fattened, it is said, in one quarter of the usual time. The reason assigned is, that they are thus kept still, and have nothing to attract their attention. Blasting Rocks. Saw-dust of soft wood, mixed with gunpowder in equal parts, is said to have thrice the strength of gun- powder alone, when used in blasting. Cure for Founder. The seeds of sunflower are the best remedy known for the cure of founder in horses. Immediately on dis- covering tha* your horse is foundered, mix about a pint of the whole seed in his feed, and it will give a perfect cure. To Remove Tar, Pitch, or Turpentine. Scrape off as much as you can ; then wet the place thoroughly with good salad oil, and let - it remain for twenty-four hours. If linen or cotton, wash it out in strong warm soap-suds ; if woollen or silk, take out the oil wiih ether or spirits of wine. If the stain is of tar, you may remove it (after scrap- ing and wiping) by using cold tallow instead of sweet 7fi I.'NIVI.IISAL aEOSlPT-BOOK. oil. Rub and press well on the spot a small lump of good tallow, and leave it stickiug there till next day. Then proceed as above. To IVash Bobbinet or Cohort i^y Sugar. Fish may be preserved in a dry state, and perfectly fresh, by means of sugar alone, and even with a very small quantity of it. Fresh fish may be kept in that state for some days, so as to be as good when boiled as if just caught. If dried, and kept free from mouldiness, there seems no limit to their preservation ; and they are much better in this way than when salted. The sugar gives no disagreea- ble taste. RO T'NIVKKSAI, nECEIPT-BOOK. In the preparation, it is barely necessary to open the fish, and to apply the sugar to the muscular parts, pla- cing it in a horizontal position for two or three days, that this substance may penetrate. After this it may be dried ; and it is only further necessary to wipe and ven- tilate it occabionally, to prevent mouldiness. To Pickle Salmon. Boil the fish gently till done, and then take it up, strain the liquor, add bay leaves, pepper corns, and salt ; give these a boil, and when cold add the best vinegar to them ; then put the whole sufficiently over the fish to cover it, and let it remain a month at least. To Salt Hams. For three hams, pound and mix together half a peck of salt, half an ounce of salt prunella, three ounces of saltpetre, and four pounds of coarse salt; rub the hams well with this, and lay what is to spare over them ; let them lie three days, then hang them up. Take the pickle in which the hams were, put water enough to co- ver the hams, with more common salt, till it will bear an egg; then boil and skim it well, put it in the salting tub, and the next morning put it in the hams ; keep them down the same as pickled pork ; in a fortnight take them out of the liquor, rub them well with brine, and hang them up to dry. To Bottle Damsons. Put damsons, before they are too ripe, into wide- mouthed bottles, and cork them down tight ; then put them into a moderately heated oven, and about three hours more will do them : observe that the oven is not too hot, otherwise it will make the fruit fly. All kinds of fruits that are bottled may be done in the same way, and they will keep two years ; after they are done, they must be put away with the mouth downward, in a cool place, to keep them from fermenting. To Preserve Barberries. Set an equal quantity of barberries and sugar in a kettle of boiling water, till the sugar is melted and the barberries quite soft ; let them remain all night. Put UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-DOOR. 81 them next day into a preserving pan, and boil them fif- teen minutes ; then put them into jars, tie them close, and set them by for use. To Preserve Grapes. Take close bunches, whether white or red, not too ripe, and lay them in ajar; put to them a quarter of a jjound of sugar candy, and fill the jar with common brandy. Tie them up close with a bladder, and set them in a dry place. To Clarify Honey. The best kind is clarified by merely melting it in a water-bath, and taking off the scum ; the middling kinct by dissolving it in water, adding the white of an egg to each pint of the solution, and boiling it down to its ori- ginal consistence, skimming it from time to time. The inferior kind requires solution in water, boiling the •so- lution with 1 pound of charcoal to 25 pounds of honey, adding, when an excess of acid is apprehended, a small quantity of chalk or oyster shell powder ; next by strain- ing it several times through flannel, and reducing the solution to its original consistence by evaporation. ' To preserve Seeds in Honey for Vegetation. Seeds of fruits, or thin 6talk strips, may be preserved by being put into honey ; and on being taken out, wash- ed, and planted, they will vegetate freely. To preserve Fruits in TSrandy or other Spirits. Gather plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, and other juicy fruits, before they are perfectly ripe, and soak them for some hours in hard, or alum water, to make them firm ; as the moisture of the fruit weakens the spi- rit, it ought to be strong ; therefore, add five ounces of 6ugar to each quart of spirit. To preserve Cucumbers and Melons. Take large cucumbers, green, and free from seed, put them in ajar of strong salt and water, with vine leaves on the top, set them by the fire-side till they are yellow ; then wash and set them over a slow fire in alum and water, covered with vine leaves ; let them boil till they §2 UNIVERSAL RKCEIPT-BOOK. become preen ; take them off, and let them stand in the liquor till cold ; then quarter them, and take out the seed and pulp ; put them in cold spring water, changing it twice a day for three days. Have ready a syrup made thus : to one pound of loaf-sugar half an ounce of gin- ger, bruised, with as much water as will wet it ; when it is quite free from scum, put in, when boiling, the rind of a lemon and juice ; when quite cold, pour the syrup on the melons. If the syrup is too thin, after Btanding for two or threje days, boil it again, and add a little more sugar. A spoonful of rum gives it the West-Indian fla- vor. Girkins may be done the same way. One ounce of alum, when pounded, is sufficient for a dozen melons of a middling size. To preserve Strawberries Whole. Take an equal weight of fruit and double refined su- gar; lay the former in a large dish, and sprinkle half the sugar in fine powder ; give a gentle shake to the dish, that the sugar may touch the under side of the fruit. Next day make a thin syrup with the remainder of the sugar, and allow one pint of red currant juice to every three pounds of strawberries ; in this simmer them until sufficiently jellied. Choose the largest scarlets, not dead ripe. To Preserve Apricots. Infuse young apricots, before their stones become hard, into a pan of cold spring water, with plenty of vine leaves ; set them over a slow fire until they are quite yellow ; then take them out and rub them with a flannel and salt, to take off the lint ; put them into the pan, to the same water and leaves, cover them close, at a dis- tance from the fire, until they are a fine Jight green ; then pick out all the bad ones. Boil the best gently two or three times, in a thin syrup, and let them be quite cold each time before you boil them. When they look plump and clear, make a syrup of double refined sugar, but not too thick ; give your apricots a gentle boil in it, and then put them into the pots or glasses, dip a paper in bran- dy, lay it over them, tie th yesx close, and keep them in a dry place. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 83 - To clear Barns, Houses, §v., of Rats and Mice. Spread garlic or dog's tongue — Cynoglossum — (bruised), where they frequent. To Renovate a Razor Strop. 1. Rub a little clean tallow over the surface, and then put on it the light top part of the snuff of a candle ; nib it smooth. Excellent. 2. Rub the strop well with a piece of soft pewter or lead. Bread Poultice. Take stale bread in crumbs, pour boiling water over it, and boil till soft, stirring it well ; then take it from the fire, and gradually stir in a little hog's lard or sweet oil, so as to render the poultice pliable when applied. Com Meal Poultice. Indian meal, five table -spoonfuls ; rye flour, one table- spoonful. To be gradually let through the fingers into boiling water, briskly stirring at the same time. Then add a little oil, as for the bread poultice. Apple Poultice. Apples pared, cored, arid well boiled, then well washed into a pulp, form a very good poultice. Starch Poultice. Starch, any quantity ; thicken with boiling water. When a little cool, stir in a little lard or oil. Slippery Elm Poultice. Take slippery elm in powder, and mix with water until somewhat thick, then boil a few minutes. It is to be applied warm. Yeast Poultice. Wheat flour, one pound ; yeast, half a pint. Mix them together over a gentle heat until the mixture be- gins to rise, then apply warm. Mustard Poultice. Flour of mustard, one part ; flaxseed meal, one part. Make into a paste with water. A little oil or lard should toe added to prevent its sticking. UNIVERSAL RECKIPT-BOOK. Poultice made of Hops. Boil a handful of hops for a few minutes in a pint of water, in a covered vessel, squeeze out the juice and strain. This liquor is now to be put again on the fire and thickened with Indian meal, and a little lard added as it becomes cool. Spice Poultice, Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger, of each equal quantities ; honey or molasses to mix. Alum Poultice. Put the white of a couple of eggs into a plate, and then with a piece of alum between the thumb and fin- ger stir it into a curd. To be applied wrapped in a fine piece of linen, having but one fold next the skin. Relief for Spavin. Shave off the hair and apply a blister of Spanish flies to the part affected. Bathe with warm strong vinegar, and let the horse have rest. Relief for String-Halt. Bathe with warm vinegar and sweet oil and rub well the part affected. Chest Founder ( Momentary Relief for. J Bleed freely, and give an ounce of aloes in a ball. Cure for a Wen. The following has proved to be effectual : Make a very 6trong brine, dip in a piece of flannel two or three times doubled, and apply it to the wen ; keep it con- stantly wet night and day, until suppuration takes place. Warts, Sfc. The bark of the common willow burnt to ashes, mixed with strong vinegar, and applied to the parts, will re- move all warts, corns, and other excrescences. Corns. Dissolve a little caustic potash in water, and wet the corn with it every night. Or — Bathe the feet frequently in warm water with a little salt and potash dissolved in it, and apply a plaster 15NIVEHSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 85 made of two ounces of gum ammonia, two ounces of yellow wax, and two drachms of verdigris. Rasp away with pumice-stone as muck of the corn as possible, and apply the plaster spread on thin soft leather. It must be renewed once a fortnight till cured. Cure for Quinsy. Simmer hops in vinegar a few minutes, until their strength is extracted, strain the liquid, sweeten it with sugar, and give it frequently to the child or patient, in small quantities, until relieved. This is said to be an ex- cellent medicine. To Polish Varnish. This is effected with pumice-stone and Tripoli earth, or " rotten-stone." The pumice-stone must be reduced to an impalpable powder, and put upon a piece of serge moistened with water ; with this rub lightly and equally the varnished substance. The tripoli must also be re- duced to a very fine powder, and put upon a clean woollen cloth, moistened with olive oil, with which the polishing is to be performed. The vamish is then to be wiped off with soft linen, and when quite dry, cleaned with starch or Spanish white, and rubbed with the palm of the hand. To make Wash for Preserving Drawings made ■with a Black Lead Pencil. A thin wash of isinglass will fix either black lead, or hard black chalk, so as to prevent their rubbing out ; or the same effect may be produced by the simple ap- plication of skimmed milk, as have been proved by fre- quent trials. The best way of using the latter is to lay the drawing flat upon the surface of the milk ; and then taking it up by one comer till it drains and dries. The milk must be perfectly free from cream, or it will grease the paper. To Preserve Steel Goodn. A thin coating of caoutchouc, or indian rubber, is an excellent preservative of iron and steel articles from the action of the air and moisture. The caoutchouc is to be melted in a close vessel, that it may not inflame. It 6G UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. will require nearly the temparature of fusing lead, and muat be stirred to prevent burning. To Polish Varnished Furniture. Take two ounces of tripoli powdered, put it in an earthen pot, with water to cover it ; then take a piece of white flannel, lay it over a piece of cork or rubber, and proceed to polish the varnish, always westing it with the tripoli and water. It will be known when the process is finished by wiping a part of the work with a sponge, and observing whether there is a fair even gloss. When this is the case, take a bit of mutton suet and fine flour, and clean the work. To Polish Wood. Take a piece of pumice-stone, and water, and pass regularly over the work until the rising of the grain is cut down ; then take powdered tripoli and boiled linseed oil, and polish the work to a bright surface. To make Blacking. Take of ivory black and treacle; each 12 oz., sper- maceti oil, 4 oz., white wine vinegar, four pints. Mix. This blacking, is superior in giving leather a finer pol- ish than any of those that are advertised, as they all con- tain sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol), which is necessary to give it the polishing quality, but it renders leather rot- ten and very liable to crack. To make Varnish for Colored Drawings. Take of Canada balsam, one ounce, spirit of turpen- tine, two ounces. Mix them together. Before this com- position is applied, the drawing or print should be sized with a solution of isinglass in water ; and when dry, ap- ply the varnish with a camel's-hair brush. Roman Cement. A sort of plaster, so called, is made by mixing 1 bushel of lime slaked, with 3 pounds and a half of green copperas, 15 gallons of water, and half a bushel of fine gravel sand. The copperas should be dissolved in hot water ; it must be 6tirred with a stick, and kept stirring continually while in use. Care should be taken to mix UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 87 at once as much as may be requisite for one entire front, as it is very difficult to match the color again ; and it ought to be mixed the same day it is used. To make Furniture Paste. Scrape four ounces of beeswax into a basin, and add as much oil of turpentine as will moisten it through. Now powder a quarter of an ounce of resin, and add as much Indian red as will bring it to a deep mahogany color. When the composition is properly stirred up, it will prove an excellent cement or paste for blemishes in ma- hogany, and other furniture. To Clean White Veils. Put the veil in a solution of white soap, and let it sim- mer a quarter of an hour. Squeeze it in some warm water and soap, till quite clean. Rinse it from soap, and then in clean cold water, in which is a drop of liquid blue. Then pour boiling water upon a tea- spoonful of starch, run the veil through this, and clear it well, by clapping it. Afterwards pin it out, keeping the edges straight and even. Excellent China Ink. Finest lamp-black, 75 parts ; thick mucilage, 15 parts ; strong ink, pale new, 50 parts ; ox gall, 12 parts. Grind them well together, and if too soft evaporate a little of the water by a gentle heat ; if to thick, add ink. To Clean White Satin and Flowered Silks. Mix sifted stale bread crumbs with powder -blue, and rub it thoroughly all over, then shake it well, and dust it with clean soft cloths. Afterwards, where there are any gold or silver flowers, take a piece of crimson in- grain velvet, rub the flowers with it, which will restore them to their original lustre. Another Method. Strew French chalk over them, and brush it off with a hard brush once or twice. To Clean Black Silks. To bullock's gall, add boiling water sufficient to make it warm, and with a clean sponge rub the silk well on h6 t.NIVl.KSAI. HLCi.IV 1-kiOOK. both eides, squeeze it well out, and proceed again m like manner. Rinse it in spring water, and change the water till perfectly clean ; dry it in the air, aud pin it out on a table ; but first dip the sponge in glue-water, and rub it on the wrong side ; then dry it before a fire. , To Dip Rusty Black Silks. If it requires to be red dyed, boil logwood ; and in half an hour put in the silk, and let it simmer half an hour. Take it out, and dissolve a little blue vitriol and green copperas ; cool the copper, let it simmer half an hour, then dry it over a stick in the air. If not red- dyed, pin it out, and rinse it in Bpring water, in which half a tea-spoonful of oil of vitriol lias been put. "Work it about five minutes, rinso it in cold water, and finish it by pinning and rubbing it with gum water. To make Artificial lied Coral Branches, for the Embellishment of Grottoes. Take clear resin, dissolve it in a brass pan, to every ounce of which add 2 drachms of the finest vermilion ; when stirred well together, choose the twigs and branches, peeled and dried, then take a pencil and paint the branches all over whilst the composition is warm ; afterwards shape them in imitation of natural coral. This done, hold the branches over a gentle coal fire, till all is smooth and even as if polished. In the same man- ner white coral may be prepared with white lead, and black coral with lamb-black. A grotto may be built with little expense, of glass, cinders, pebbles, pieces of large flint, shells, moss, stones, counterfeit coral, pieces of chalk, &c, all bound or cemented together with the above described cement. To Cultivate Bee Flowers. Bees are most fond of those places where their favor- ite flowers are to be found ; therefore bee-keepers should encourage the growth of such shrubs and flow- ers as are known to supply honey and wax in the great- est abundance ; in most situations bees do not fly far for food, generally not more than half a mile ; they may be observed to return with great precipitation to the hive, UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 89 when rain or a storm approaches. The following are the most favorable for pasturage, and those which blos- som early are the most desirable : Shrubs, Sfc. Flowers. Sallow, or the grey wil- Mignonette, low, Lemon thyme, Rosemary, Garden and wild thyme, Barberry-tree, Borage, Gooseberry, Winter savory, Raspberry, Hyssop, Apricot and all other Mustard, "J fruit-trees, Turnips, I when left Lime-trees, Cabbage, f for seed. Furze, White-clover, ) Broom, Scarlet and other beans Heath, when in bloom. Mignonette, borage, and lemon thyme are the princi- pal, as tliey continue very long in bloom, and afford the finest honey. Rivers or streams of water are also very beneficial, as bees make use of a great deal of water. To Choose a Carpet. Always select one the figures of which are small ; for in this case the two webs in which the carpeting consists, are always much closer interwoven than in car- pets where large figures upon ample grounds are rep resented. A certain Cure for the Piles. Take a scruple of powdered opium, 2 scruples flour of sulphur, and 1 ounce of simple cerate. Keep the affected parts well anointed. Be prudent in your diet. To Preserve Houses from Vermin. Bugs, in particular, may readily be destroyed by dis- solving half a drachm of corrosive sublimate, in a quar- ter of an ounce of spirit of salts, mixing it with one quart of spirits of turpentine. Shake these well together, dip a brush in it, and wash those places where bugs are supposed to resort ; this will remove them to a greater certainty than any other mode now practised. 90 CMVKRRAL RUCEirT-BOOK. To make Cologne Water. Take of essence de bergamotte, 3 ounces ; Neroli, 1 and a half drachms ; cedrat, 2 drachms ; lemon, 3 drachms ; oil of rosemary, 1 drachm ; spirits of wine, 12 pounds; spirit of rosemary, 3 and a half pounds; eau de melisso de Cannes, 2 and a quarter pounds. Mix. Distil in balneum maria, and keep it in a cold cellar or ice-house for some time. To Remove Freckles. 1. Alysson seeds, 1 part; honey, 2 parts. Make into a pomade. 2. Bichloride of mercury, 2 parts ; hydrochloric acid, 1 part ; spirits of wine, 3 parts ; milk of almonds, 25 parts ; rose-water, 4£ parts. Mix, and apply night and morning. To procure Green Peas in Winter. Take the peas when they are plenty, shell them, wash and scald in hot water, then drain, put them into bottles, and pour strong brine on them until they are perfectly covered ; over this pour a thin layer of good salad oil, and cork tight, then dip the corks into melted pitch. The bottles should be quite full, and kept upright. To keep Moths from Clothing. Put a few cuttings of Russia leather in your trunk or wardrobe ; or sprinkle a few pepper-corns, pimento corns, or cloves, in the same places. Mock Turtle Soup. Take a fine calf's head, cut the meat clean from the bones, then boil the bones in water ; season with cay- enne, nutmeg, and mace ; pour into the gravy a pint of Madeira wine, with a little parsley and thyme. Compound Pitch Plaster. Burgundy pitch, 6 parts ; yellow resin, 8 parts ; yel- low wax, 3 parts ; lard, 7 parts ; turpentine, 1 part ; palm oil, 1 part ; linseed oil, 1 part. Mix. Elastic Cement for Bells. Dissolve in good brandy a sufficient quantity of isin- glass, so as to be as thick as molasses. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 91 Horse-radish. It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all winter. Have a quantity grated while the root is in perfection ; put it in bottles, fill it with vinegar, and keep it corked tight. Never Kill a Bee. The 6moke of the " fungus maxims," or common puff ball, when dried so as to hold fire, has a 6tupifying ef- fect on the bees, and renders them as harmless as brim- stone does, without any of its deadly effects. By means of this, weak swarms, which would not live through the winter, may be united to strong stocks. To expel Rats from Houses. Smear their holes and haunts with a mixture of two parts of tar to one of lamp oil, gently boiled together. They will not approach it. To revive Gilt Frames. Beat up the white of eggs with chloride of potasse or soda, in the proportion of three ounces of egg to one ounce of chloride. Blow off the dust from the frames, then do them over with a soft brush dipped in this mix- ture, and they will immediately become bright and fresh. German victhod to Prepare Quills. Suspend the quills in a copper over water, sufficiently high to touch the nibs ; then close it steam-tight, and apply four hours' hard boiling ; next withdraw and dry them, and in twenty-four hours cut the nibs and draw out the pith ; lastly, rub them with a piece of cloth and expose them to a moderate heat. The quills prepared in this way are as hard as bone, without being brittle, and as transparent as glass. Glazier's Putty. Whiting, 70 pounds ; boiled oil, 30 pounds ; water, 2 gallons. Mix. If too thin, add more whiting ; if too thick, add more oil. To make Red Ink for Ruling. One pound of Brazil wood to one gallon of the best vinegar; let the vinegar simmer before you add the »2 UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. wood, ihnn let them simmer together for half an hour ; then add three-quarters of a pound of alum, to set the color; strain it through a woollen or cotton cloth ; cork it tight in a stone or glass bottle. For ruling, add half a gill of fresh gall to one quart of red ink, then cork it up in a bottle for use. Substitutes for Tea. 1. Clean chopped meadow hay is said to make a very good substitute for tea, if used in the proportions of three to one. 2. Dried rose-buds, 5 parts ; rosemary leaves, 1 part ; balm, 2 parts. Mix. 3. Strawberry and black current leaves make a very good fubstitutc for tea, when properly treated, 4. The herb spring-grass, (antkoxantkum odoratum,) when dried, forms an excellent substitute for China tea, and is more wholesome. To prevent Mould in Ink. Add a few cloves to the. ink. Ginger Beer, Bruised ginger, 2 ounces ; water, 5 gallons, lioil for one hour, then add, when sufficiently cool, lump-sugar, 3 1-2 pounds ; cream of tartar, 1 1-2 "ounce ; essence of lemon, 1 drachm; yeast, half pint. Strain, bottle, and wire down the corks. 2. Loaf-sugar, 1 pound ; rasped ginger, 1 ounce ; cream of tartar, three-quarters of an ounce ; boiling water, 1 gallon. Mix, and cover them up close for one hour, then add essence of lemon, 15 drops; yeast, 2 or 3 spoonsful. Strain, bottle, and wire down the corks. The Art of Fire Eating, Sfv. The power of resisting the action of fire is given to the skin by frequently washing it with diluted sulphuric acid, until the part becomes sufficiently callous. It is said that the following mixture is very efficacious : Dilute sulphuric acid, 3 parts ; sal ammoniac, 1 part ; juice of onions, 2 parts Mix It is the acid, however, that produces the effect. UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 93 To Restore and Improve Musty Flour. Carbonate of magnesia, 3 parts ; flour, 760 parts. Mix, and use the flour in the usual way. This will not only greatly improve bad flour, but the bread will be much lighter, more wholesome, and keep longer than when alum is used. To Stain Wood like Ebony. Take a solution of sulphate of iivn, and wash tne wood over with it two or three times ; let it dry, and apply two or three coats of a strong decoction of log- wood; wipe the wood when dry with a sponge and water, and polish with oil. To make a Cheap Fuel. Mix coal, charcoal, or saw-dust, one part ; sand of any kind, two parts ; marl or clay, one part, in quantity as thought proper. Make the mass up wet, into balls of a convenient size ; and when the fire is sufficiently strong, place these balls according to its size, a little above the top of the bar ; and they will produce a heat considera- bly more intense than common fuel ; and ensure a sav- ing of one half the quantity of coals. A fire then made up will require no stirring, and will need no flesh fuel for ten hours. To Cultivate Mustard. A yard square of ground, sown with common mus- tard, the crop of which ground for use in a little mus- tard-mill, as wanted, would save some money, and prob- ably save life. The mustard would look brown instead of yellow ; but the former color is as good as the latter ; and, as to the taste, the real mustard has certainly a much better taste than that of the drugs and flour, which go under the name of mustard. Let any one try it, and he will never use the drugs again. The drugs, if taken freely, leave a burning at the pit of the stomach, which the real mustard does not. To Preserve Fruit Trees in Blossom from Frost. Surround the trunk of the tree in blossom with a wisp of straw or hemp. The end of this sink by means of a stone tied to it, in a vessel of spring water, at a little 94 UNIVERSAL RKCEU'T-UOOK. distance from the tree. One vessel will conveniently serve two trees. Or the cord may be lengthened so as to surround several before its end is plunged into the water. It is necessary that the vessel should be placed in an open situation out of the reach of any shade, so that the frost may produce all its effects on the water by means of the cord communicating with it. Chinese Mode of Propagating Fruit Trees. Strip a ring of bark, about an inch in width, from a bearing branch, surround the place with a ball of fat earth, or loam, bound fast to the branch with a piece of matting ; over this they suspend a pot or horn, with wa- ter, having a small hole in the bottom just sufficient to let the water drop, in order to keep theeaith constantly moist. The branch throws new roots into the earth just above the place where the ring of bark was stripped off. The operation is performed in the spring, and the branch is sawn off and put into the ground at the fall of the leaf. The following year it will bear fruit. To Heal Wounds in Trees. This method consists in making a varnish of common linseed oil, rendered very drying, by boiling it for the space of an hour, with an ounce of litharge to each pound of oil, mixed with calcined bones, pulverized and sifted, to the consistence of an almost liquid paste. With this paste the wounds are to be covered, by means of a brush, after the bark and other substance have been pared, so as to render the whole as smooth and even as possib'e. The varnish must be applied in dry weather. Autographic Ink for LithograpJiers. White soap, 25 parts ; white wax, 25 parts ; mutton suet, 6 parts; lampblack, 6 parts; shell-lac, 10 parts; mastic 10 parts. Mix with heat, and proceed as for lithographic ink. To Kill Roaches. Wafers, made out of red-lead and wheat flour. Rice Coffee Take good rice, roast and grind it, the same as coffee. UNIVERSAL UECLIPT-BOOK. 95 To Preserve Plants from Frost. Before the Plant has been exposed to the sun. or thawed, after a night's frost, sprinkle it well with spring water, in which sal- ammo- niac or common salt has been infused. To Make Parchment. This article is manufactured from sheep skins, cleared from lime. The skin is stretched on a frame where the flesh is pared off with an iron circular knife; it is then moistened with a rag, and whiting spread over it ; the workman then with a large pumice stone, flat at the bottom, rubs over the skin, and scours off the flesh. He next goes over it with the iron instrument as before, and rubs it carefully with the pumice stone without chalk ; this serves to smooth the flesh side. He drains it again by passing over it the iron in- strument as before ; he passes it over the wool side, then stretches it tight on a frame. He now throws more whiting, and sweeps it over with a piece of wooly lamb-skin. It is now dried, and taken off the frame by cutting it all round. Thus prepared, it is taken out of the skinner's hands by the parchment maker, who, while it is dry, pares it on a summer, (which is a calfskin stretched in a frame), with a sharper instrument than that used by the skinner, who, working it with the arm from the top to the bottom of the skin, takes away about half its substance. It is again rendered smooth by the pumice stone, which leaves the parchment finished. To Make Vellum. This is a species of parchment made of the skins of abortives, or sucking calves : it has a much finer grain, andis white and smoother than parchment, but is prepared in the same manner, except in its not being passed through the lime-pit. The article is used for bind- ing superior books, and covering of drumheads. To Preserve Leather from Mould. Pyroligneous acid may be used with success in preserving leather from the attacks of mouldiness, and is serviceable in recov- ering it after it has received that species of damage, by passing it over the surface of the hide or skin, first taking due care to expunge the mouldy spots by the application of a dry cloth. This remedy will prove of equal service if applied to boots, shoes, &c., whea damaged in the same manner. To Destroy Maggots in Sheep. Mix with one quart of spring water, a table spoonful of the spirit of turpentine, and as much of the sublimate powder as will lie upon a quarter of a dollar. Shake them well together, and cork it up in a bottle, with a quill through the cork, so that the liquid may come out of the bottle in small quantities at once. The bottle must al- ways be well shaken when it is to be used. When the spot is ob- served where the maggots are, do not disturb them, but pour a little of the mixture upon the spot, as much as will wet the wool and the maggots. In a few minutes after the liquor is applied the maggots will all creep to the top of the wool, and in a short time 96 • i .• \< ukcxip r-nooK. drop off dead. Thn sheep must, however, be inspected next day; and it any of tin; maggots, remain undestroyed, shake thcin off, or touch thein with a little more of the mixture. A little train oil may be applied after the maggots are removed, as sometimes the skin will be hard, by applying too much of the liquid. Beside*, the fly is not so apt to strike when it finds the smell of the oil, which may prevent a second uttack. 'I his method of destroying maggots is superior to any other, and it prevent* thi; animal from being disKgured by clipping off tho wool, which is n common practice iu some countries. Dr. Boerhavc's Rulei. This great man left, as a legacy to the world, the following sim- ple; and unerring directions for preserving health; they contained the sum and substance of his vast professional knowledge, during a long and useful life: " Kr.v.r the K£et waiim; the heao cool; ako Tin-, uonr open." If those were generally uttcuded to, the physi- cian's aid would seldom be required. To extricate Persons from Broken Tic. Let two of more persons hold a rope or ropes at both ends, stretched over thu brokcu ice, bo that the drowning persou may catch hold of it. Assistance to a Person in danger of Drowning. If the spectator is unable to swim, and can make the sufferer hear, he ought to direct hiin to keep his bauds and arms under wa- ter until assistance comes: iu the meantime throw towards him a rope, a pole, or any thing that may help to bring him ashore, or on board, lie will eagerly seize whatever is placed within his reach : thus he may perhaps be jascued from his perilous situation. The best manner iu wmch an expert swimmer can lay hold of a person ho wishes to save from sinking, is to grasp his arm firmly between the shoulder and the elbow : this will prevent him from clasping tho swimmer in his arms, and thus forcing him under wa- ter, and perhaps causing him to sink with him. To stain Paper or Parchment Yellow. PapCr may bo stained a beautiful yellow by the tincture of tur- meric, formed by infusing an ounce or more of the root, powdered, in a pint of spirits of wine. This may be mado to give any tint of yellow, from the lightest straw to the full color, called French yel- low, aud will be equal in brightness even to the best dyed silks. If yellow be wanted of a warmer or redder cast, anatto, or dragon's blood must be added. The best manner of using these, and the following tinctures, is to spread them even on the paper or parch- ment, by means of a broad brush in the manner of varnishing. Crimson. A very fine crimson stain may be given to paper, by a tincture ef the Indian lake, which may be made by infusing the lake some days in spirits of wine, and then pouring off the tincture from tho UNIVERSAL RECEIPT-BOOK. 97 dregs. It may be stained red by red ink. It may also be stained of a scarlet hue by the tincture of dragon's blood in spirits of wine, but this will not be bright. Green. Paper or parchment may be stained green, by the solution of verdigris in vinegar, or by the crystals of verdigris dissolved in water. Orange. Stain the paper or parchment first of a full yellow, by means of the tincture of turmeric ; then brush it over with a solution of fixed alkaline salt, made by dissolving half an ounce of pearlashes, or salt of tartar, in a quart of water, and filtering the solution. Purple. Paper or parchment may be stained purple by archil, or by the tincture of logwood. The juice of ripe privet berries expressed, will likewise give a purple dye. To Marble the Edges of Books or Paper. Dissolve four ounces of gum arabic in two quarts of clear water ; then provide several colors mixed with water, in pots or shells, and with pencils peculiar to each color sprinkle them, by way of inter- mixture, upon the gum-water, which must be put into a trough, or some broad vessel ; then with a stick curl them or draw them out in streaks, to as much variety as required. Having done this, hold the book or books close together, and only dip the edges in, on the top of the water and colors, veiy lightly ; which done, take them off, and the plain impression of the colors in mixture will be upon the leaves ; doing as well the end as the front of the books iu the same manner. To Marble the Covers of Books. This is performed by forming clouds with aquafortis, or spirit of vitriol, mixed with ink, and afterwards glazing the covers. To Restore Flowers. Most flowers begin to droop and fade after being kept during twenty-four hours in water; a few may be revived by substituting fresh water; but all (the most fugacious, such as poppy, and per haps one or two others excepted,) may be restored by the use of hot water. For this purpose place the flowers in scalding water, deep enough to cover about one-third of the length of the stem : by the time the water has become cold, the flowers will have be- come erect and fresh ; then cut off the coddled ends of the stems and put them into cold water. Feeding Horses on the Road. Many persons, in travelling, feed their horses too much and too often — continually stuffing them, not allowing them time to rest and digest their food ; of course they suffer from over fulness and car- rying unnecessary weight. Some make it a rule to bait every tew miles, which is'very inconsistent, as in some cases with a fleet UM 10* 08 I NIVKHSAL KIX'Kll'T-HOOK. mnl, pood road, favorable weather and load, this distance may be travelled in one-third the time it cau under unfavorable circum- stance*, as to sneed. It would be better to regulate the feeding by time, rather than distance. Horses should be well fed in the evening, and not stuffed too full in the morning, and the traveller should be moderate on starting with a horse having a full stomach. If a horse starts in good condi- tion, and travels rather quick, he can go twenty-five miles without bailing ; this is evident, when we consider the time necessary to accomplish this space with tolerable speed. If a horse starts, well fed, iu the morning at 7 o'clock, he can travel till noon, having a little water and a little rest occasionally, without food ; or if he have any, a little meal in water, or two quarts of oats ; if ground, the better : or a little lock of hay may be given instead of meal or oat*. At noon the horse should be pretty well fed, and rest two hours; then he can travel four or live hours with very little or no food. Vermin on Fowl*. Scattering slaked lime on the perches and floors of the hen-houses as often as once iu ten days, will effectually eradicate lice, and pro- mote the health of tho fowls. Colic in Ifortcs. Horses attacked with this fearful disease, are speedily and effec- tually relieved by the following simple remedy. Dissolve, in a quart of pure water, as much salt as will thoroughly saturate the liquid, and drench the animal thoroughly, until you discover symptoms of * relief. The same is good for the bots. An easy method of Breaking Glass to any required Figure. Make a small notch, by means of a file, on the edge of a piece of glass ; then make the end of a tobacco-pipe, or of a rod iron of the same size, red hot in the fire ; apply the not iron to the notch, and draw it slowly along the surface of the glass, in any direction you please: a crack will be made in the glass, and will follow the di- rection of the iron. Round glass bottles or flasks may be cut in the middle, by wrapping round them a worsted thread, dipped in spi- rits of turpentine, and setting it on fire when fastened on the glass. A Water-proof Varnish for Prints and Pictures. Dilute one quarter of a pound of Venice turpentine with a gill, or thereabouts, of spirits of wine. If too thick, add a Utile more of this last ; if not enough, a little of the former, so that it has no more thickness than milk. Lay one coat on the right side of the print, and wheu dry it will shine like glass. If it be not to your liking, lay on anodier. A Black Varnish for Strain or Chip Hals. Half an onnce of the best black sealing-wax; two ounces of rec- tified spirits of wine. Powder the wax, put it with the spirits into o four ounce vial ; digest them in a small heat near the fire, till the wax is dissolved ; lay it on warm, with a tine soft hair brush, before a 6re or the sun. It gives stiffness to old straw hats, and a beautiful gloss, and resists wet. Portable Ice-House. Two casks, one six or seven inches longer and wider than the other, luto the largest put charcoal powder, about three or four inches deep ; then place the smaller cask on this, and fill up the vacancy between the two with charcoal powder, and drive it "own tight ; arrange a double cover, and fill it in the same way ; then bore a hole one inch in diameter through the bottoms of the two casks, and insert a wooden pipe to let the water run out ; last- ly, put it in the coldest place possible. The celebrated Brilliant French Varnish for Boots and Shoes Take three-quarters of a pint spirits of wine; 5 pints white wine ; half pound gum Senegal in powder ; 6 ounces loaf sugar ; 2 ounces powdered galls ; 4 ounces green copperas. Dissolve the sugar and gum in the wine. When dissolved, strain ; then put it on a slow fire, being careful not to let it boil. In this state put in the galls, copperas, and the alcohol, stirring it well for five minutes. Then set off, and when nearly cool strain through flannel and bottle for use. It is applied with a pencil brush. To Preserve Woodwork. Take boiled oil and finely-powdered charcoal, mix to the consis- tence of a paint, and give the wood two or three coats with this composition. Well adapted for water spouts, casks, &c. Portable Lemonade. 1. Tartaric acid, 1 ounce ; white sugar, 5 pounds ; essence of lemon 1-4 ounce. Powder, and keep dry for use. A desert-spoon- ful will make a tumbler of lemonade. 2. Tartaric acid, one part ; powdered white sugar, 90 parts ; es- sence of lemon to flavor. Mix, and keep it in a- bottle ; for use, put one lull tea-spoonful into a glass of water, and stir it until dis- solved. Pew's Composition for covering Buildings. Take the hardest and purest limestone (white marble is to bo preferred,) free from sand, clay, or other matter ; calcine it in a reverberatory furnace, pulverize and pass it through a sieve. One part, by weight, is to be mixed with two parts of clay well baked and similarly pulverized, conducting the whole operation with great care. This forms the first powder. The second is to be made of one part of calcined and pulverized gypsum, to which is added two parts of clay, baked and pulverized. These two pow- ders are to be combined, and intimately incorporated, so as to form a perfect mixture. When it is to he used, mix it with about a fourth part of its weight of water, added gradually, stirring the mass well the whole time, until it forms a thick paste, in which state it is to be spread like mortar upon the desired surface. It becomes in time as hard as stone, allows no moisture to penetrate, and it not cracked by heat. Wh«n well prepared it will last auy 100 UNIVERSAL RKCi:iPT-»OOK. length nl time. When in its plastic or soft state, it may he color etl to uny desired titit. Rule$ far Judging icken the Eyei require the aztitlance of Gpee/a cles. 1. When we are obliged to remove small objects to a consider* ble distance from the eye in order to see them distinctly. 2. If we find it necessary to get more light than formerly, as, for instance, to place the candle between the eye and the object. 3. If, on looking at, and attentively considering a near object, it fatigues the eye and becomes confused, or if it appears to havo c kind of dimness or mist before it. A. When small printed letters are seen to run into each other, and hence, by looking steadfastly on them, appear double or treble. 5. If the eyes are so fatigued by a little exercise, that we are obliged to shut them from time to time, bo as to relieve them by looking at different objects. When all these circumstances concur, or any of them scpnrately takes place, it will be necessary to seek assistance from glasses, which will ease the eyes, and in some degree check their tendency to become worse ; whereas, if they be not assisted in time, foe weakness will be considerably increased, and the eyes be impaired by the efforts they are compelled to exert. THK END r H. PHELPS' DEPOT OF ILLUSTRATED PI BLJCA'I* 189 Broadway, New York. The attention of Agents, and of the reading public in general, rs •ptctfully invited to the above establishment, wnerc a writ s of UKEF ■nd POPULAR are in constant course of publication. Tne senior partner of lisliraerit has been for nearly twenty years engaged in Mus p reparation of which, we hazard nothing in saying, have had a wider