This section is from the book "Wrinkles And Recipes, Compiled From The Scientific American", by Park Benjamin. Also available from Amazon: Wrinkles and Recipes, Compiled From The Scientific American.
Sprigs of wintergreen or ground ivy will drive away red ants; branches of wormwood will serve the same purpose for black ants. The insects may be kept out of sugar-barrels by drawing a wide chalk mark around the top, near the edge.
Fasten a strip of glass over the crack, inside the aquarium, using for a cement white .shellac dissolved in 1/8 its Weight of Venice turpentine.
Dip first in a solution containing 20 per cent soap, and afterwards in another solution containing the same percentage of copper. Wash afterwards,
Benzole is often employed for removing grease-spots. It is highly volatile and inflammable; so that the contents of a 4-oz. phial, if overturned, will render the air of a moderate-sized room highly explosive. Never handle it near a fire or light, as the flame, igniting the vapor from an uncorked bottle, will leap over to the latter, often over a distance of several feet.
The following is used by soldiers on the plains, and is said to be efficacious: Iodide of potassium, 4 grains; corrosive sublimate, 2 grains; bromine, 5 drachms. Ten drops, diluted with a tablespoonful or two of brandy, wine, or whisky, is the dose, to be repeated if necessary. Keep in a well-stoppered phial.
Use a piece of paraffine candle about the size of a nut, dissolved in lard-oil at 140° Fahr. Apply once a month.
Drive a peg into the middle of the sole.
When the boots are taken off, fill them quite full with dry oats. This grain has a great fondness for damp, and will rapidly absorb the least vestige of it from the wet leather. As it quickly and completely takes up the moisture, it swells and fills the boot with a tightly-fitting last, keeping its form good, and drying the leather without hardening it. In the morning, shake out the oats and hang them in a bag near the fire to dry, ready for the next wet night; draw on the boots, and go happily and comfortably about the day's work.
Wash with caustic alkaline lyes and rinse with alcohol; if they have held essential oils, wash with sulphuric acid and rinse with water.
Gelatine mixed with glycerine is used for this purpose. This is liquid while hot, but an elastic solid when cold.
Turn the bottle as evenly as possible over a low gaslight flame for about 10 minutes; then dip steadily in water, and the sudden cooling will cause a regular crack to encircle the side at the heated place, allowing the portions to he easily separated.
Slip rubber rings over them.
 
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