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Hints On Butter-Making (Packed as it keeps longer when)

packed, as it keeps longer when well washed. If to be used immediately, the washing may be less thorough. Another and better plan is to remove the butter to a marble slab and lay on the top of it a piece of ice. As it. settles down by its own weight, work it up around the edges with the paddle, and the water from the melting ice will wash out and carry off the buttermilk. Before or during the churning, the bowl (which should never be used for any thing else) in which the butter is to be salted, should be filled with scalding water, which should remain for ten minutes; pour out and rub both bowl and paddle with hard coarse salt, which prevents butter from sticking. Rinse thoroughly and fill with cold or ice-water to cool. After washing butter free from milk, remove to this bowl, having first poured out the cold water, and (the butter-bowl and paddle should occasionally be scoured with sand or ashes, washed thoroughly with soap-suds, and rinsed until all smell of soap has disappeared) work in gradually salt which has been pulverized by rolling, and freed from foreign substances. If wanted for use, one-half ounce of salt to the pound of butter is sufficient, but if wanted for packing, use three-fourths of an ounce or even an ounce of salt: Use only the best quality of dairy salt. After salting, cover with cotton cloth soaked in brine, and set away in a temperature of about 60 degrees for twelve hours. Work the second time just enough to get the remaining buttermilk out. This, however, must be done thoroughly, as otherwise the acid of the buttermilk will make the butter rancid. At the end of the second working it is ready for use, and should be kept in a clean, sweet place, as it soon absorbs bad odors and becomes tainted. The air of a cellar in which are decaying vegetables soon ruins the sweetest butter. In packing for market (ash butter tubs are the neatest and best packages) soak the package for twelve hours in brine strong enough to float an egg, pack the butter in evenly and firmly, having first put in a thin layer of salt. If the tub is not filled by the first packing, set away until next churning, in a cool place, with a cotton cloth wet in brine spread over the butter, and place cover carefully on the tub. When filled lay over the butter a cotton cloth (from which the sizing has been washed) soaked in strong brine, nail up the tub, and set away in a clean, cool place until ready to sell.

In packing for family use, work into rolls, lay in large stone crocks, cover with brine strong enough to float an egg (one pint of salt to a gallon of water), in which a level tea-spoon of saltpetre and a pound of white sugar to each two gallons have been added; over it place a cotton cloth and a weight to keep the butter under the brine, and tie a paper over the top of crock. Or, pack in a stone jar, pressing it solid with a wooden pestle, cover with a cloth wet in brine, and sprinkle over it salt an inch thick. More sugar may be added to the brine without injury; if butter is to be kept a long time it is a good rule to always make brine so strong that salt will lie at the bottom of the jar. Some boil and skim the brine and when cold, pour it over the butter. When ready to pack the next churning, remove the cloth with the salt carefully, rinsing off with water any that may have been scattered in uncovering it, pack butter as before, replace cloth with salt over it, and repeat until jar is filled to within two inches of the top, cover all with cloth, add salt to the top of crock, tie paper over the top, and set in a cool place. In removing for use each churning comes out by itself.

When inviting friends to visits of a week or more, try to fix the time for the visit to begin the day after the ironing is done. The girl feels a weight off her mind, has time to cook the meals better, and is a much more willing attendant upon guests.

Do not have beefsteak for dinner on washing or ironing days-arrange to have something roasted in the oven, or else have cold meat also. Do not have fried or broiled fish. The smell sticks, and the clothes will not be sweet; besides the broiler and frying-pan take longer to clean.

As for vegetables, do not have spinach, pease, string-beans, or apple-sauce. All these good things take time to prepare, and can be avoided as well as not. Have baked white and sweet potatoes, macaroni, boiled rice, parsnips, sweet corn, stewed tomatoes, any canned vegetables in winter. For dessert, baked apples and cream, bread-pudding, or something easily prepared.

When removed from the person, clothing, if damp, should be dried to prevent mildew, and articles which are to be starched should be mended before 'placing in the clothes-basket. Monday is the washing day with all good housekeepers. The old-fashioned programme for a washing is as follows: Use good soft water if it can be had. If not, soften a barrel-full of well-water by pouring into it water in which half a peck or more of hard wood ashes have been boiled, together with the ashes themselves. When enough has been added to produce the desired effect, the water takes on a curdled appearance, and soon settles perfectly clear. If milky, more ashes and lye must be added as before, care being taken not to add more than is necessary to clear the water, or it will affect the hands unpleasantly. On the other hand, if too little is put in, the clothes will turn yellow. Gather up all clothes which are ready on Saturday night, and the rest as they are taken off; separate the fine from the coarse, and the less soiled from the dirtier. Scald all table linen and articles which have coffee, fruit, or other stains which would be "set" by hot suds, by pouring over them hot water from the tea-kettle and allowing them to stand until cool. Have the water in the tub as warm as the hand will bear, but not too hot. (Dirty clothes should never be put into very hot clear water, as it "sets" the dirt. Hot soap-suds, however, has the opposite effect, the water expanding the fiber of the fabric, while the alkali of the soap softens and removes the dirt.) Wash first one boiler full, taking the cleanest and finest through two suds, then place in a boiler of cold water, with soap enough to make a good suds. A handful of borax to about ten gallons of water helps to whiten the clothes and is used by many, especially by the Germans, who are famous for their snowy linen. (440) This saves in soap nearly half. For laces, cambrics, etc., an extra quantity of the powder is used, and for crinolines (requiring to be made stiff), a strong solution is necessary. Borax, being a neutral salt, does not in the slightest degree injure the texture of the linen. Its effect is to soften the hardest water. Another way to whiten clothes is to throw a handful of tansy into the boiler in which clothes are boiling. It will make the water green, but will whiten the clothes. Let them boil, with cover off boiler, not more than five or ten minutes, as too long boiling "yellows" the clothes. (Some advocate strongly no boiling.) Remove to a tub, pour over them cold water slightly blued, and turn all garments, pillow-slips, stockings, etc., wrong-side out. (If there are more to boil, take out part of the boiling suds, add cold water, and fill not too full with clothes. Repeat until all are boiled. The removal of part of the suds, and filling up with cold water, prevents the suds from "yellowing" the clothes.) Wash vigorously in this water (this is called "sudsing"), wringing very dry by hand, or better with the wringer, as the clear appearance of the clothes depends largely on thorough wringing. Rinse in another tub of soft water, washing with the hands, not simply lifting them out of the water and then wringing, as is practiced by some, because all suds must be rinsed out to make them clear and white. Wring and shake out well and put into water pretty well blued, putting in one article after another until the first boilerful is all in. Stir up occasionally, as the blue sometimes settles to the bottom, and thus spots the clothes. (This time well-water may be used if soft water is difficult to obtain.) Wring out again and for the last time, placing the clothes which are to be starched in one basket, and the rest, which may be hung out immediately, in another. While the first lot of clothes is boiling, prepare the second, take out first, put second in boiler, and "suds" and rinse first. In this way the first is finished and hung out while the later lots are still under way. Have the starch (see recipes) ready as hot as the hand can bear, dip the articles and parts of articles which need to be very siiff, first "clapping" the starch well in with the hands, especially in shirt-bosoms, wristbands, and collars, and then thin the starch for other articles which require less stiffening. When starched, hang out on the line to dry, first wiping the line with a cloth to remove all dirt and stains. Shake out each article until it is free from wrinkles, and fasten securely on the line (with the old-fashioned split clothes-pins), being careful to hang sheets and table-linen so that the selvage edges will be even. The line should be stretched in the airiest place in the yard, or in winter a large attic is a better place for the purpose. (Freezing injures starch, and for that reason it is better in winter to hang clothes out unstarched until dry, then taking in, starching and drying indoors.) When dry, remove from line to clothesbasket, place clothes-pins as removed in a basket kept for the purpose, take down and roll up the line, remove basket, line, and pins to the house, and put the two latter into their proper places. The clothes-line should always be carefully put up out of the weather when not in use. Wipe it carefully with a clean cloth before hanging out clothes, and always count clothes-pins when gathering them up. Every housekeeper ought to provide a pair of mittens for hanging out clothes, to be used for this purpose and no other. Cut them from clean flannel (white seems the most suitable), and line them with another thickness of flannel, or make them double, if the flannel is thin. These should be kept in a clean place ready for this particular business, and nothing else. A good and handy place to keep them is in the clothes-pin bag. Turn all garments right side out, shake out thoroughly, sprinkle (re-starching shirt-bosoms, wristbands, and collars if necessary). Shake out night-dresses and under-garments so as to free them from creases, and if they are ruffled or embroidered, dip them in thin starch, pull out smoothly, fold first, and then, beginning at the top of each garment, roll up, each by itself, in a very tight roll, and place in the basket; fold sheets without sprinkling, having first snapped and stretched them, and lay on the rest; over all spread the ironing blanket, and let them stand until next morning. Next day iron, beginning with the sheets (which, as well as table linen, must be folded neatly and carefully, so that the selvage edges will exactly come together. Or, another way to fold and iron a sheet is to bring bottom over top, then bring back bottom edge to edge of middle fold, leaving top edge; iron the upper surface, then turn the whole sheet over, fold the top edge back to the middle edge, and again iron upper surface; this leaves the sheet folded in four thicknesses; now bring the selvage edges together and iron the upper surface, and the sheet is done), and taking shirts next, cooling the iron when too hot on the coarse towels. In ironing shirts a "a bosom-board" is almost indispensable, and an "ironing-board" is a great convenience for all articles. The former is a hard wood board an inch thick, eighteen inches long, and eight wide, covered with two thicknesses of woolen blanket stuff, overlaid with two more of cottton cloth. The cloth is wrapped over the sides and ends of the board and tacked on the back side, leaving the face plain and smooth. The ironing-board is covered in the same way, but is five feet long, two feet wide at one end, and narrowed down with a rounded taper from full width at the middle to seven inches at the other end, and the corners rounded. This board may be of any well-seasoned wood which will not warp, and should be about one inch thick; on this all the clothes are conveniently ironed. Always use cotton holders for the irons. Woolen ones are hot to the hand, and if scorched, as they often are, the smell is disagreeable. In ironing a shirt or a dress, turn the sleeves on the wrong side, and leave them until the rest is done, and then turn and iron them. In this way the bosoms are less likely to become rumpled. Pull muslin and lace out carefully, iron it over once, and then pull into shape, pick out the embroidery and proceed with greater care than before. Embroideries should be ironed on the wrong side over flannel. Always have near a dish of clean cold water, so that any spot which has been imperfectly ironed may be easily wet with a soft sponge or piece of linen, and ironed over again, or any surplus bit of starch removed. As fast as articles are finished, they should be hung on the clothes-dryer until thoroughly dry, especial care being taken with those which are starched stiff, as they retain the starch much better if dried very quickly. Thorough airing is necessary, twenty-four hours being none too much.

If a machine is used in washing, it is better to soak the clothes over night in warm soft water, soaping collars and wristbands, and pieces most soiled. Have separate tubs for coarse and fine clothes. In soaking clothes for washing Monday, the water should be prepared Saturday night, and all clothes which are ready thrown in, and the rest added when changed. If washing fluids are used, the recipes which follow are the best.

Another method is to half fill tubs Saturday night with clear, soft water, warmed a little if convenient, but not too hot, made into a weak suds; in one put the finer articles, such as muslins, cuffs, collars, and shirts; in another put table-linen; in another bed-linen; in another the dish-cloths and wiping towels, and in still another the coarsest and most soiled articles: always put the most soiled articles of each division at bottom of tub; cover all well with water and press down. Rub no soap on spots or stains, as it will "set" them. Of course, articles which can not be had on Saturday night are put in the next day as they are changed. Monday morning, heat not very hot a boiler full of clean soft water, add to it water in which soap was dissolved Saturday night by pouring hot water over it, and stir it thoroughly; drain off the water in which the clothes were soaked after shaking them up and down vigorously in it, pressing them against the sides of the tub to get out all the water possible. Then pour over them the warm suds, and wash out as before described, washing each class separately. If found impracticable to make so many divisions, separate the coarse and fine, and the least soiled and the dirtiest.

In the summer, clothes may be washed without any fire by soaking overnight in soapy soft water, rubbing out in the morning, soaping the dirty places, and laying them in the hot sunshine. By the time the last are spread out to bleach, the first may be taken up, washed out and rinsed. This, of course, requires a clean lawn.

Before washing flannels shake out dust and lint; use soft, clean, cold water. in winter merely taking the chill off. Let the hard soap lie in the water, but do not apply it to the clothes. Wash the white pieces first, throw articles as fast as washed into blued cold water, let them stand twenty or thirty minutes, wash them through this water after dissolving a little soap in it, wring hard, shake, and hang up. Wash colored flannels in the same way (but not in water used for white, or they will gather the lint), and rinse in several waters if inclined to "run." When very dirty, all flannels should soak longer, and a little borax well dissolved should be added to the water. This process is equally good for washing silk goods and silk embroideries. Calicoes and fancy cotton stockings may be washed in the same way, except that no soap should be used in the rinsing, Wash gray and brown linens in cold water, with a little black pepper in it, and they will not fade. For bluing. use the best indigo tied in a strong bag made of drilling.