Articles of Diet for the Sick.

Here we may observe that neatness in serving up, as well as care and cleanliness in the preparation, makes food for the sick room more likely to be attractive to the fastidious appetite of the invalid.

BARLEY WATER.

Wash well a tea-cup full of pearl barley; put it in a sauce pan, with two quarts of water, and a small cup full of raisins; boil it to a quart; then strain, and add sugar, nutmeg, and lemon juice, to your taste.

OATMEAL GRUEL.

Mix smoothly a dessert spoonful of meal, with two of cold water; pour on a pint of boiling water, and let it boil for fifteen minutes, stirring all the time; sugar or salt may be added as preferred. Wine is sometimes used.

CORN MEAL GRUEL.

Wash several times in cold water, three tablespoonsful of corn meal; pouring off the water as it settles; then pour on a quart of water, and boil, stirring all the time; add a little salt; strain and sweeten, adding butter, wine, and nutmeg.

ARROW ROOT.

Mix a dessert spoonful of arrow root smoothly, in a little cold water; pour on it a pint of boiling water; let it boil five minutes; then sweeten to your taste, and add nutmeg and wine. If richer food is required, this can be made in the same way, with milk instead of water.

WINE WHEY.

To half a pint of boiling milk, add one glass full of sherry wine, and a little sugar; let it boil until the curd has separated, and strain through a fine sieve.

RICE GRUEL.

Stir into a pint of boiling water, a tablespoonful of rice flour, which has been mixed with a little water; let it boil fifteen minutes, stirring all the time; then season with sugar and nutmeg, or a little cream.

TAMARIND WATER.

Upon a gill of good tamarinds, pour a pint of boiling water; cover it, and let it stand until cold, with a lump of ice: it is very grateful to a feverish person. Both currant and quince jelly make pleasant drinks, prepared in the same way.

CREAM OF TARTAR PUNCH.

Pour on a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, a tumbler full of boiling water; sweeten to your taste, with loaf sugar, and drink as hot as possible, upon getting into bed; a teaspoonful of nitre in it is excellent for a fever, or a cold.

LEMONADE.

Squeeze and strain the juice of six lemons into three pints of ice water; sweeten to your taste: by adding a gill of good French brandy, it will be lemon punch. Some persons prefer it made with boiling water, and then cooled with ice.

VEGETABLE SOUP.

Slice one potato, one turnip, one onion, one carrot, and a little celery; boil in a quart of water one hour; toast some bread nicely; cut in small pieces, and lay in a bowl: add salt to the soup, and pour over the toast.

TOAST WATER.

Let the water be boiled and cooled; then toast bread of a deep brown, and pour over it the water; let it stand half an hour. A small piece of dried lemon or orange peel gives it a pleasant taste.

SAGO.

Sago should be well washed; put a tablespoonful in a pint of milk, and boil it until it is quite soft; sweeten to the taste, and add wine or lemon juice. Tapioca is made in the same way, but does not require so much washing.

CARRAGEEN MOSS.

Pour upon one ounce of carrageen (after it has been well washed) one quart of warm water; cover it, and let it stand on top of a stove all night: it will form a tasteless jelly, which when sweetened and seasoned with lemon, is palatable and strengthening.

CRACKER JELLY.

Take a quarter of a pound of crackers; pour on them two quarts of water; boil down to one quart; strain it: add one pound of sugar, one pint of Madeira wine, and a little nutmeg.

BEEF TEA.

Take a tender, juicy piece of beef; cut into small pieces; put into a bottle with a little salt, and a tablespoonful of water: place the bottle in a pan of hot water, and let it boil three quarters of an hour.

BEEF TEA.

Cut up into small pieces a pound of juicy beef; cover it with a quart of water, and let it stand for two hours: then boil it until it is reduced to a pint; let it cool: skim off all the grease; then boil again; drink it while warm.

BALM TEA.

Pour upon a tea-cup full of the leaves of dried balm, a pint of boiling water; let it stand fifteen minutes, when it is ready for use.

CHICKEN TEA.

Wash in cold water the leg and wing of a young chicken; put it in a stew pan, with a pint of water and a little salt; cover it, and let it boil twenty minutes; then skim and strain it.

MILK TOAST.

Cut a thin slice from a loaf of stale baker’s bread; toast it a light brown. Boil half a pint of milk, and a small piece of butter ten minutes; then sprinkle in a little salt, and pour over the toast. Cream toast is made in the same way.

TO KEEP FLOWERS FOR A LONG TIME.

To one quart of water, add one teaspoonful of carbonate of soda: do not change the water.

TO KEEP FURS FROM MOTHS.

Get the gum camphor; as soon as you can do without the furs, beat them, and put small pieces of camphor rolled in paper, in, and around them; sew them up tightly in linen, and keep in a cool place. Black pepper will not prevent the moths getting in, nor will it kill them.

TO WASH FLANNELS.

Wash them in clean suds as hot as you can bear the hands in; then in water of the same temperature, with a little soap in, but not so much as the first; rinse in hot water, and hang up immediately.

TO WASH WINDOWS.

Never put soap on the windows, but wash them off with a shammy, and then dry them with the same; if the shammy cannot be obtained, paper will answer, but it is not so good.

TO WASH BOTTLES BELONGING TO THE CASTOR.

Wash them well with water, with a little soap and soda in it, also some clean coarse sand or rice to get the marks out.

TO WASH CALICOES.

Wash out the grease spots before putting the dress in, as the spots cannot be seen after it is wet; wash them well through two suds; then rinse them, throwing a little salt in the water to set the colours; starch and hang them in the shade, as the sun will fade them. If the calico is black, make the starch water as blue as possible. Wash, and hang up quickly.

TO GATHER GARDEN HERBS.

Herbs should be gathered on a dry day, just before they blossom. Wash them and hang them in a dry place; as soon as they are dry, put them in a paper bag. Sage, sweet marjoram, summer savoury, and thyme should be pounded fine, and kept in bottles corked tight. When parsley is dry, cut it fine, and keep in bottles.

FOR A COUGH.

Make a strong tea of hoarhound; then strain it, and add half a pound of the best loaf sugar, to a pint of the tea: let it simmer till thick; then bottle it, and take a little two or three times a day.

FOR A SORE THROAT OR MOUTH.

Make a sage tea by boiling some sage leaves; when strong, add honey and some alum or borax. Gargle the throat with this often through the day.

FOR THE STING OF A BEE OR WASP.

Rub the part with hot tallow, or with hartshorn, or wet clay.

FOR POISON.

Mix in a tumbler full of warm water one teaspoonful of the flour of mustard; drink while warm: it will make the patient throw off the poison. This is good for the cramp.

FOR BURNS.

When the skin is not off, apply scraped raw potatoes. When the skin is off, apply sweet oil and cotton, or linseed oil and lime water made into a paste. Elder ointment is very good: make the ointment of the green bark of the elder; stew in lard.

Linseed oil and lime water mixed in a paste, is also an excellent cure.

TO PICK DUCKS AND GEESE.

Dip them in boiling water; then wrap them for a few moments in flannel, and pick them, holding them by the feet, with the head down; be careful to dry the feathers as soon as possible. A very good way to cure feathers is to put them several times in a brick oven after the bread comes out: then let them lie on the ground for several days, bringing them in at night. This will take away all the disagreeable smell which is so unpleasant in feathers when they are not properly dried.

TO TAKE INK STAINS OUT OF LINEN.

Rub the stain with lemon juice and salt, or a little hot tallow; when the lemon juice and salt are used, it must go in the sun for several hours; then rinse it: new milk boiling hot will take out most kinds of fruit stains; dip in them when dry, and repeat it often.

TO CLEAN CARPETS.

Shake them well; then spread them on a clean floor, and rub them with a soft brush dipped in camphine, or with a piece of cloth: when they are dry, if the grease is not out, repeat the operation.

TO TAKE GREASE SPOTS OUT OF SILK OR WOOLLEN.

Rub the spots with a sponge dipped in camphine; rub, or if the article soiled be silk, spread magnesia on the wrong side; let it remain for a day or two; then brush it off, and the spot will have disappeared.

TO CLEAN KNIVES AND FORKS.

The iron filings from the blacksmith shop are excellent to clean knives and forks with. Rotten stone or fine brick dust is also very good. Do not put the handles in hot water, as this injures them; wipe them dry, and keep them rolled in brown paper.

TO CLEAN BRASS AND COPPER UTENSILS.

All brass and copper utensils should be well cleaned before using them, with hot vinegar and salt, then washed in hot water; keep the vessel warm till ready for use; when done with it, clean it well, and keep in a dry place.

TO CLEAN BRITANNIA.

Rub them well with sweet oil and whitening; when dry, rub them off with buckskin. If they are well washed in hot soap suds, and rinsed in clean hot water every day, and let dry quickly near the fire or in the sun, they will seldom require rubbing.

TO CLEAN STOVES.

Mix some British lustre with alum water; put it on with a brush, and with a dry brush rub it off.

TO PRESERVE CORN FOR WINTER USE.

Take off all the outside husks; fasten the inside ones down tight, and pack in barrels or boxes with salt in alternate layers; keep in a cool place, or the corn will heat and spoil.

TO PRESERVE GRAPES.

Gather the bunches on a dry day; be careful that the grapes are all sound; pack them in sawdust or cotton: put them in a box; fasten it up, and keep in a dry place.