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The Day's Routine: Towels

Dishcloths - Care of. - The dishcloth must be kept clean. A greasy dishcloth affords a breeding place for the germs of diphtheria, typhoid, and other filth diseases. Wash in soapsuds and rinse in cold water, or add lemon juice and salt to the water, or a teaspoonful of kerosene. Dish Towels. - Any of the above fabrics recommended for dishcloths may be used for dish toweling. Large flour sacks are the right size. So are old pillow slips cut in halves, or dish towels may be made from old sheets.

Or cut up old garments of outing flannel, which has great absorbent qualities, to the size of dish towels.

Hem, and add tape hangers.

Or make hangers of lamp wicking.

Or use blue and white striped ticking from old pillow cases. Dish Towels - Care of. - Two or three dish towels should be used at each meal, and these should be washed in soap and water, rinsed and hung to dry, rather than allowed to dry when soiled with more or less greasy dishwater.

Hanging Towels. - Roller towels are perhaps most convenient and satisfactory for kitchen use, but if these are not used, sew tape hangers at each "The Best Towel Racks." end of common towels so that they can be turned about when one end is soiled and worn equally at both ends.

Or make hangers of small lamp wicks, one at each end, turning the ends in with the hem. Keep a stock of half a dozen or more dish towels and hanging towels, and mark them THE DAY'S ROUTINE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This makes it easy to account for them and to use them in rotation.

CARE OF KITCHEN WARES To Keep Ironware Clean. - Rub soap thickly on the bottom of an iron kettle or saucepan which is placed directly over the fire of a coal range; this will prevent the soot burning on.

Lard or other grease may also be used, but is not so good.

To Clean Cooking Utensils. After emptying food from cooking utensils, do not take them off the range dry.

Pour a little water in them, cover closely, and set them back on the range. If a steady fire is kept the steam will loosen any fragments of food so that the utensils will be very easily washed.

Or, if possible, take them to the sink and wash them immediately before placing the food on the table. They will never be easier to clean than now, and thus the most difficult part of dishwashing will be out of the way before the table dishes are brought in.

Keep a can of lye dissolved in water, and if the article is very greasy rinse with this and pour into the soap kettle.

If iron kettles or other metal cooking utensils have become coated with soot, boil them in water with a generous quantity of potash or soda lye. Boil vigorously for a time, and the soot will become so loosened that it may be removed by wiping off with soft paper. Dip them in hot water to rinse, before touching them with the hands, as the lye will injure the skin.

Or keep at hand a piece of coarse sandpaper and with it rub kettles in which food is burned on. Or use a clam shell as a scraper. This is better and more convenient than a knife.

Or scour with finely sifted coal ashes and a flannel rag.

A frying pan should not be scraped.

Fill it with cold water containing a teaspoonful of sal soda, and let it stand until the dishes are washed for the next meal.

To Remove Rust from Ironware.- Cover the rusted article with grease, and set it in a hot oven for half an hour. Afterwards wash with soap and water, and the rust will be removed.

Copper Ware. - Copper kettles should not be used unless they are perfectly bright and clean. To polish copper ware, apply hot salt and vinegar, and scrub with a stiff nail brush. Or rub with flannel dipped in hot water and sprinkled thickly with powdered borax.

Or dip a cloth in kerosene or gasoline, sprinkle it with a mixture of bath brick or ground pumice, and polish.

For large copper boilers or other utensils which are not used for the preparation of food, apply with a damp cloth or nail brush a saturated solution of oxalic acid in its own bulk of water, and scour with bath brick and pumice stone softened with olive oil.

It must, of course, be borne in mind that oxalic acid is a deadly poison.

Enameled Ware. - Scraping ruins enameled ware. Utensils of this ware placed directly over the flame of a coal range should be protected by rubbing the bottoms thickly with soap.

Any soot which burns on may then be removed by soap and water. If food burns in any enameled-ware utensils, put into them a teaspoonful of sal soda or caustic lye to a quart of water and boil for fifteen minutes. This will soften the burned food so that it can be removed without scraping. If not quite clean, scour with fine sand soap. For discolored saucepans boil a little chloride of lime in the water.

Or boil in them a strong solution of baking soda.

Various Utensils. After using the egg beater rinse it in cold water before it gets time to dry. Before using the food chopper, run a piece of suet through it, and follow with another piece after the food has been chopped. This will keep it clean and in good condition.

Run rice or bread crumbs through the spice mill after grinding orange or lemon peel, or the coffee mill may be used for this purpose and cleaned in the same way.

Dip the colander, sieve, or grater in a pan of water to prevent drying, and afterwards clean with a stiff vegetable brush. Rinse and dry.

Fur on Kettles. - To prevent fur from gathering on the inside of a teakettle, put an oyster shell or piece of marble inside. Change this occasionally.

To remove this furry deposit from heavy iron kettles, fill with water, add a large spoonful of sal ammoniac, and bring to a boil. Empty the kettle and let it stand over the fire until very hot, when the fur will peel off.

Afterwards fill with water containing sal soda, boil, and rinse.

The furry deposit may also be dissolved in a weak solution of muriatic or acetic acid, but it must be remembered that these are deadly poisons. Immediately fill the kettle with water, add 2 to 4 ounces of hyposulphide of soda or baking soda, and boil. Let this stand in the kettle for two or three days, and afterwards rinse with boiling water.

Teakettle.-Put an oyster shell in the teakettle to prevent its becoming incrusted with lime. Polish occasionally with a woolen rag moistened with kerosene.