OXALIC ACID.

Buy in bulk; pulverize to suit. Pack in wooden ointment boxes marked with skull and crossbones, or word poison on package.

To Pack Seeds, Farinaceous Foods, Etc. in Pasteboard Packages.

First determine what shape you want to put your goods up in, how high a package, how wide and how deep. You then order from any paper box maker the shells the size you want.

He will also furnish you with the tops, bottoms, and the square sheets of manilla paper for the caps. The box maker will send you the shells, scored on the four corners, lapped and glued together; you then need a form. It is a block of wood that will fit loosely inside the shell. Take a piece of board, say one foot long and six inches wide; attach the block in an upright position on the middle of the board by driving a couple nails into it from the under side of the board. Open the shell and pass it over the block.

Now this block must be just the thickness of pasteboard, shorter than the shell; before you push the shell clear down over the block, take one of the ends and place it inside the shell down on the block; then shove the shell all the way down, thereby bringing the top of the shell just even with the top of the pasteboard end. You then prepare your caps which have a margin over the net size of the top of one-half inch all around. Take the dry cap, put some thin paste on it; lay another cap on that, paste it, and lay another until you have about fifty pasted on both sides, then turn the pile of them over. Put some fresh paste on the first one before picking it up, then lay the fresh side down on the top of the shell, turn down the sides and crease in at ends, then fasten the ends down by rubbing over it gently with the hand. Remove the shell from the block and repeat the performance on the balance. Let your shells get well dried.

The object in placing paste on both sides of the caps is to saturate them so as to work easy and pliable, and also to strengthen and stiffen when dry.

After your shells have dried sufficiently, weigh in your goods, clean off all flour or other material that should adhere to the outside of the shell. Lay the pasteboard end on top of the material or filling, then proceed as in making the shell with the caps; after the caps are pasted on, turn the package upside down; the weight of material inside will force the end against the cap. When dry, label as per Instructions for Labeling.

Labeling Cans.

Paste your labels with thin paste. Fold each one together, pasted sides in. Without you are an expert do not paste more than half a dozen. When ready to label turn the pile of them over so as to use from the bottom, or those first pasted. The pasting of half a dozen or more allows them to get well moistened before using. When placed on the cans or packages in their moist state, there will be no wrinkles when they have dried. After labeling, stand the packages on top of each other to height of three or four packages. Do not place them close together, but so that air can circulate between them.

To Label Ink, Blueing, Extract and Oil Bottles.

Paste evenly a board a foot or more square, with thin paste. Then take the labels you wish to use and lay them backs down on the paste. After you have laid out, say a couple dozen, take a piece of paper, newspaper will do, and cover the whole, then press them down by rubbing your hand over the paper. This is the dampening process for small labels. Commence with the first label laid down to label the bottle, and continue in order; first pasted, first used.

Directions for Labeling.

Apply the paste to back of labels, with a wide brush. Fold the labels (the pasted surfaces together), and let them lie about one minute, which will give the proper time to absorb a portion of the moisture. Then commence with the first one pasted, and rub down smooth with a stiff brush or handful of cloth.

Labels should be kept in a cool, dry place, standing on their edges. Never lay them down flat.

Paste.

For a good paste that will neither decay nor become moldy, mix clean flour with cold water into a paste well blended, then add boiling water and boil, stirring constantly to keep from burning, stirring well up until it is of a consistency that can be easily and smoothly spread with a brush; add to this a spoonful or two of powdered alum, to keep it from becoming sour or spoiling.

Flour Paste.

The best paste for general purposes is simply wheat flour beaten into cold water to perfect smoothness, and the whole just brought to a boil, while being constantly stirred to prevent burning. The addition of a few drops of creosote, or a few grains of corrosive sublimate, or a little carbolic acid, or bisulphite of lime (especially the first and second), will prevent insects from attacking it, and preserve it (in covered vessels) for years. Should it get too hard it may be softened with water.