ns should be washed in very hot suds, and not rinsed. Lukewarm
water shrinks them.

On the contrary, silk, or anything that has silk in it, should be
washed in water almost cold. Hot water turns it yellow. It may be
washed in suds made of nice white soap; but no soap should be put upon
it. Likewise avoid the use of hot irons in smoothing silk. Either rub
the articles dry with a soft cloth, or put them between two towels,
and press them with weights.

Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-water. It is a good plan
to have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the
blades, _without wetting_ the handles. Keep your castors covered with
blotting-paper and green flannel. Keep your salt-spoons out of the
salt, and clean them often.

Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap them in good, strong
paper. Steel is injured by lying in woollens.

If it be practicable, get a friend in the country to procure you a
quantity of lard, butter, and eggs, at the time they are cheapest, to
be put down for winter use. You will be likely to get them cheaper
and better than in the city market; but by all means put down your
winter's stock. Lard requires no other care than to be kept in a dry,
cool place. Butter is sweetest in September and June; because food is
then plenty, and not rendered bitter by frost. Pack your butter in a
clean, scalded firkin, cover it with strong brine, and spread a cloth
all over the top, and it will keep good until the Jews get into Grand
Isle. If you happen to have a bit of salt-petre, dissolve it with
the brine. Dairy-women say that butter comes more easily, and has a
peculiar hardness and sweetness, if the cream is scalded and strained
before it is used. The cream should stand down cellar over night,
after being scalded, that it may get perfectly cold.

Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen.

Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped and packed down in a
stone jar, covered with molasses.

Pick suet free from veins and skin, melt it in water before a moderate
fire, let it cool till it forms into a hard cake, then wipe it dry,
and put it in clean paper in linen bags.

Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon. If you have children
who are learning to write, buy coarse white paper by the quantity, and
keep it locked up, ready to be made into writing books. It does not
cost half as much as it does to buy them at the stationer's.

Do not let coffee and tea st