THINGS CURIOUS AND USEFUL

TO GET CLEAR OF MOSQUITOES.

Take of gum camphor a piece about one-third the size of an egg and evaporate it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes.

HOW TO GET RID OF BEDBUGS.

Bedbugs cannot stand hot alum water; indeed, alum seems to be death to them in any form. Take two pounds of alum, reduce it to a powder—the finer the better—and dissolve it in about four quarts of boiling water. Keep the water hot till the alum is all dissolved; then apply it hot to every joint, crevice and place about the bedstead, floor, skirting or washboard around the room, and every place where the bugs are likely to congregate, by means of a brush. A common syringe is an excellent thing to use in applying it to the bedstead. Apply the water as hot as you can. Apply it freely, and you will hardly be troubled any more that season with bugs. Whitewash the ceiling with plenty of dissolved alum in the wash, and there will be an end to their dropping down from thence on to your bed.

TO OBTAIN FRESH-BLOWN FLOWERS IN WINTER.

Choose some of the most perfect buds of the flowers you would preserve, such as are latest in blowing and ready to open. Cut them off with a pair off scissors, leaving to each, if possible, apiece of stem about three inches long. Cover the end of the stem immediately with sealing wax, and when the buds are a little shrunk and wrinkled wrap up each of them separately in a piece of paper perfectly clean and dry and lock them up in a dry box or drawer, and they will keep without corrupting.
In winter or at any time when you would have the flowers blow, take the buds at night and cut off the end of the stem sealed with wax and put the buds in water wherein a little nitre or salt has been diffused, and the next day you will have the pleasure of seeing the buds opening and expanding themselves and the flowers display their most lively colors and breathe their agreeable odors.

TO INCREASE THE LAYING OF EGGS IN HENS

Pulverized Cayenne pepper, half an ounce, to be given to one dozen hens, mixed with their food every second day.

THE NEW AND BEAUTIFUL ART OF TRANSFERRING ON TO GLASS.

Colored or plain engravings, photographs, lithographs, water colors, oil colors, crayons, steel plates, newspaper cuts, mezzotints, pencil, writing, show cards, labels, or, in fact, anything.

DIRECTIONS.

Take glass that is perfectly clear (window glass will answer), clean it thoroughly; then varnish it, taking care to have it perfectly smooth; place it where it will be perfectly free from dust; let it stand over night, then take your engraving, lay it in clear water until it is wet through (say ten or fifteen minutes), then lay it upon a newspaper, that the moisture may dry from the surface and still keep the other side damp. Immediately varnish your glass the second time, then place your engraving upon it, pressing it down firmly, so as to exclude every particle of air; next, rub the paper from the back until it is of uniform thickness, so thin that you can see through it, then varnish it the third time and let it dry.
These transferred pictures make lovely ornaments for table, bracket, mantel, etc.

MATERIALS FOR MAKING THE VARNISH.

Take two ounces balsam of fir to one ounce spirits of turpentine. Apply with a camel's-hair brush.

TO PREVENT HORSES BEING TEASED BY FLIES.

Boil three handfuls of walnut leaves in three quarts of water; sponge the horse (before going out of the stable) between and upon the ears, neck, and flank.

TO PREVENT FLIES LIGHTING ON WINDOWS, PICTURES, MIRRORS, ETC.

No fly will light on a window or other article which has been washed in water in which garlic has been boiled.

TO MAKE LEATHER WEAR FOREVER.[168]

Let it receive as much neat's-foot oil as it will take. If regularly repeated every three months, leather so treated seems to be impervious to outward action and will last for years.

TO RENDER PAPER FIREPROOF.

Whether the paper be plain, written, printed, or even marbled, stained, or painted for paper hangings, dip it in a strong solution of alum water and thoroughly dry it. In this state it will be fireproof.

TO PREPARE WATERPROOF BOOTS.

Take three ounces of spermaceti and melt it in an earthen pot over a slow fire; add thereto six drains of India rubber cut into slices, and after it dissolves add of tallow, eight ounces; amber varnish, four ounces. Mix it, and it will be ready for use immediately.

TO CURE DRUNKENNESS.

Keep the patient for one week freely dosed with figwort. This is a sure cure.

TO CURE LAZINESS.

Give the patient an occasional dose of ferri. The sulphate of ferri is the best. It acts on the liver and vital organs, and is a sure cure for laziness.

TO EXTRACT THE ESSENTIAL OIL FROM ANY FLOWER.

Take any flower you like, which stratify with common salt in a clean glazed pot; when filled to the top, cover it well and carry it to the cellar; forty days afterwards put a crape over a pan and empty the whole to strain the essence from the flowers by pressure. Bottle this essence, and expose it for four or five weeks in the sun and dew of the evening to purify. One single drop of this essence is enough to scent a whole quart of water.

TO TAKE LEAF PHOTOGRAPHS.

A very pretty amusement, especially for those who have just completed the study of botany, is the taking of leaf photographs. One very simple process is this: At any druggist's get an ounce of bichromate of potassium. Put this into a pint bottle of water. When the solution becomes saturated—that is, the water has dissolved as much as it will—pour off some of the clear liquid into a shallow dish; on this float a piece of ordinary writing paper till it is thoroughly moistened, and let it dry in the dark. It should be of a bright yellow color. On this put the leaf, under it a piece of black soft cloth and several sheets of newspaper.

 Put these between two pieces of glass (all the pieces should be of the same size) and with spring clothespins fasten them together. Expose to a bright sun, placing the leaf so that the rays will fall upon it as nearly perpendicular as possible. In a few moments it will begin to turn brown; but it requires from half an hour to several hours to produce a perfect print. When it has become dark enough, take it from the frame and put it into clear water, which must be changed every few minutes until the yellow part becomes white. Sometimes the veinings will be quite distinct. By following these directions it is scarcely possible to fail, and a little practice will make perfect.