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To Polish Brass, Britannia
and Silver Utensils. -Rotten stone, mixed with a little spirit, is the best thing to clean brass with; rotten stone and oil does very well. They should be polished with dry rotten stone, and a dry cloth. Hot vinegar and milk make milk brass look nice; it should be rinsed off, wiped dry, and rubbed over with chalk, to kill the acid, and give the brass a polish. Brass looks very nice cleaned in this manner, and will keep clean a long time, provided all the acid is killed; if not, they will turn very soon. When brass utensils are not in use, they should be thoroughly cleaned with rotten stone and oil, and wrapped up tight to exclude the air. Whiting or chalk is good to polish silver. If the silver is spotted, wet the chalk (which should be powdered), rub it on the silver, and let it remain until dry; then rub it off with a clean, dry cloth. When chalk will not remove spots, hot ashes will. Britannia-ware should be rubbed with a flannel rag dipped in sweet or linseed oil, if spotted, then washed in soap-suds, and wiped dry. To give it a polish, rub it over with dry powdered chalk or whiting, using a clean, dry rag.
To Remove or Keep Rust from Cutlery. - Bristol brick is good to remove rust, and give a polish to steel utensils. It should be powdered fine, and rubbed on dry, with a woollen cloth. Knives should be rubbed MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. on a board, with a thick leather covered over it, and fastened down tight. The brick should be dry, and powdered fine, and the knives should not be wet after cleaning, but merely wiped with a dry clean cloth.
To make the handles smooth, wipe them with a cloth that is a little damp, being careful not to touch the blades, as it will tarnish them. Knives look very nice cleaned in this manner, and the edge will keep sharp. Ivory-handled knives should never have the handles put into hot water, as it will turn them yellow. If, through misuse, they turn yellow, rub them with sandpaper. When Bristol brick will not remove rust from steel, rub the spots with sand-paper or emery, or else rub on sweet oil, and let it remain a day; then rub it off with powdered quicklime. To keep steel utensils (that are not in constant use) from contracting rust, clean them thoroughly with Bristol brick, wipe them on a perfectly dry cloth, and rub them over with sweet oil, and cover them with brown paper, so as to exclude the air. Knives and forks should be wrapped up in brown paper, each one by itself.
Preservatives Against the Ravages of Moths.-- Moths are very apt to eat woollen and fur garments early in the summer. mer. To keep them from the garments, take them late in the spring, when not worn, and put them in a chest, with considerable camphor gum.
Cedar chips, or tobacco leaves, are also good for this purpose. When moths get into garments, the best thing to destroy them is to hang the garments in a closet, and make a strong smoke of tobacco leaves under them; in order to do it, have a pan of live coals in the closet, and sprinkle on the tobacco leaves.