Cleaning Bottles

Many persons clean bottles by putting in some small shot and shaking them around. Water dissolves lead to a certain extent, and a film of this lead attaches itself to the sides of the bottle so closely that the shaking or rinsing with water does not detach it, and it remains to be dissolved by any liquid which has the least sourness in it,...Continue Reading

A Look Around the Early Country Kitchen

"IN the primitive days of our grandfathers' time, When the fire-place, genial and bright, Its cavernous recesses glowing with flame, Filled the old-fashioned kitchen with light;" - Taken from a poem by Lizzie Clark Hardy 1877 Kitchens have changed dramatically since the early days of the 19th century. They were simple and often very plainly furnished. This simple mentality is reiterated in the statement...Continue Reading

If Walls Could Say, "I'm Clean!"

WALLS The methods of cleaning paint, wallpaper, and wainscoting varied only slightly throughout the early 19th century. Between 1800 and 1840 we see a few methods spoken of throughout the various cookbooks or servants companions that were being published. One such book called A New System of Domestic Cookery published in 1807 explains how to clean paint: Never use a cloth, but take off the...Continue Reading

Wooden Floors - How to Cleanse them.

This is a very important matter in a country like the United States, where there is so much change of domicile, and that particularly in a city like New York on the first of May. Floors dirty enough to make housekeepers desperate when they think of the bare possibility of being able to clean them, are first scrubbed with sand, then rubbed with the aid...Continue Reading