Volume 8, Number 5
Oct 1984

Old-Fashioned Home Remedies

PRESERVATION OF BOOKS. A few drops of any perfumed oil will secure libraries from the consuming effects of mouldiness and damp.

-From Fisher's Improved House-Keepers Almanac and Family Receipt Book. Philadelphia, 1867, p. 34.

To remove spots of grease from paper - Take equal parts of roch alum burnt, and flower of sulphur finely powdered together; moisten the paper with cold water; lay a small quantity of powder on the spot; rub gently with the finger, and the grease will disappear.

To clean paper hangings - First blow off all the dust with the bellows. Then take a very stale loaf of wheat bread; out it in eight parts, so that each shall be the size that the hand can grasp, and leave a crust by way of handle. Begin at the top of the room, and lightly wipe downwards in one direction half a yard at a stroke. Thus go round and round the room till you got to the bottom. The dirt of the paper will fall with the crumbs.

-From Fisher's Temperance Housekeepers Almanac, 1843. With 33 Engravings; and Directions for Carving. N.Y., Phila.: Turner & Fisher, [1842].

[Note: These tips from the past were sent in by Susan Swartzburg to provide historical perspective and amusement. Needless to say, their use is not being advocated.]