st Venetian blinds with feather
brushes. Buy light-colored ones, as the green are going out of fashion.
Strips of linen or cotton, on rollers and pulleys, are much in use, to
shut out the sun from curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on
old cotton, are good for chambers. Put them on rollers, having cords
nailed to them, so that when the curtain falls, the cord will be wound
up. Then, by pulling the cord, the curtain will be rolled up.

Mahogany furniture should be made in the Spring, and stand some months
before it is used, or it will shrink and warp. Varnished furniture
should be rubbed only with silk, except occasionally, when a little
sweet-oil should be rubbed over, and wiped off carefully. For
unvarnished furniture, use beeswax, a little softened with sweet-oil;
rub it in with a hard brush, and polish with woollen and silk rags. Some
persons rub in linseed-oil; others mix beeswax with a little spirits of
turpentine and rosin, making it so that it can be put on with a sponge,
and wiped off with a soft rag. Others, keep in a bottle the following
mixture; two ounces of spirits of turpentine, four tablespoonfuls of
sweet-oil, and one quart of milk. This is applied with a sponge, and
wiped off with a linen rag.

Hearths and jambs, of brick, look best painted over with blacklead,
mixed with soft-soap. Wash the bricks which are nearest the fire with
redding and milk, using a painter's brush. A sheet of zinc, covering the
whole hearth, is cheap, saves work, and looks very well. A tinman can
fit it properly.

Stone hearths should be rubbed with a paste of powdered stone, (to be
procured of the stonecutters,) and then brushed with a stiff brush.
Kitchen-hearths, of stone, are improved by rubbing in lamp-oil.

Stains can be removed from marble, by oxalic acid and water, or oil of
vitriol and water, left on fifteen minutes, and then rubbed dry. Gray
marble is improved by linseed-oil. Grease can be taken from marble, by
ox-gall and potter's clay wet with soapsuds, (a gill of each.) It is
better to add, also, a gill of spirits of turpentine. It improves the
looks of marble, to cover it with this mixture, leaving it two days, and
then rubbing it off.

Unless a parlor is in constant use, it is best to sweep it only once a
week, and at other times use a whisk-broom and dust-pan. When a parlor
with handsome furniture is to be swept, cover the sofas, centre table,
piano, books, and mantelpiece, with old cottons, kept for