TO BOTTLE BEER.

When the briskness of small liquors in the cask fails, and they become vapid and dead, which they generally do soon after they are tilted, let them be bottled.

TO TRY THE GOODNESS OF SPIRITS.

Set fire to some a spoon; if good it will burn brightly away, without leaving any moisture in the spoon.

TO COOL LIQUORS IN HOT WEATHER.

Dip a cloth in cold water and wrap it two or three times round the bottle and place it in the sun. Repeat this oncé or twice.

TO PACK GLASS OR CHINA.

Procure some soft straw or hay to pack them in, and if they are to be sent a long way, and are heavy, the hay or straw should be a little damp, which will prevent them slipping about. Let the largest and heaviest things be always put undermost in the box or hamper. Let there be plenty of straw, and pack the articles tight; but never attempt to pack up glass or china which is of much consequence, till you have seen it done by some used to the job. The expense will be but trifling to have a person to do it who understands it, and the loss may be great if articles of much value are packed up in an improper manner.

TO CLEAN WINE DECANTERS.

Cut some brown paper into very small bits, so as to go with ease into the decanters; then cut a few pieces of soap very small, and put some water, milk-warm, into the decanters, upon the soap and paper: put in also a little pearl ash; by well working this about in the decanters it will take off the crust of the wine, and give the glass a fine polish. Where the decanters have had wine left to stand in them a long time, take a small cane with a bit of sponge tied tight at one end: by putting this into the decanters any crust of the wine may be removed. When the decanters have been properly washed, let them be thoroughly dried, and turned down in a proper rack.

If the decanters have wine in them when put by, have some good corks always at hand to put in instead of stoppers; this will keep the wine much better.

TO DECANT WINE.

Be careful not to shake or disturb the crust when moving it about, or drawing the cork, particularly Port wine. Never decant wine without a wine-strainer, with some fine canbric in it, to prevent the crust, and bits of cork going into the decanter. In decanting Port wine do not drain it too near; there are generally two-thirds of a wine glass of thick dregs in each bottle, which ought not to be put in; but in

white wine there is not much settling; pour it out however 'slowly, and raise the bottle up gradually,: the wine should never be decanted in a hurry, therefore always do it before the family sit down to dinner. Do not jostle the decanters against each other when moving them about, as they easily break when full.

TO MIX A SALAD.

Always inquire before you mix a salad, how your master or mistress would like to have it done. If no particular method be pointed out to you, adopt the following, which has been much approved of. Let the salad be well washed and dried in a cloth before you cut it up; save a part of the celery with a little beet-root and endive for ornament in the middle of the dish: cut the rest small as well as the lettuce and mustard and cresses, and put to it the following mixture: take the yolk of an egg boiled hard, rub it quite smooth with a table-spoonful of oil and a little mustard; when they are well mixed together add six spoonsful of milk or cream, and when these are well mixed, put six or seven spoonsful of vinegar to the whole, and mix it all together with the salad. Never make the salad long before it is wanted, as it becomes flat with standing.

TO MAKE PUNCH.

Put 40 grains of citric acid,

7 full drops of essence of lemon,

7 oz. of lump sugar,

in a quart mug; pour over 1 pint of boiling water, when the sugar is melted, stir; then add pint of rum, and 4 pint of brandy.

TO PREPARE SODA WATER.

Soda water is prepared (from powders) precisely in the same manner as ginger beer, except that, instead of the two powders there mentioned, the two following are used: for one glass, 30 grains of carbonate of soda; for the other, 25 grains of tartaric (or citric) acid.

TO MAKE GINGER BEER.

Take an ounce of powdered ginger, half an ounce of cream of tartar, a large lemon sliced, two pounds of lump sugar, and one gallon of water; mix all together, and let it simmer over the fire for half an hour, then put a tablespoonful of yeast to it, let it ferment a little time, and then put it into stone pint bottles, and cork it down closely for

use.

TO PREPARE GINGER BEER POWDERS.

Take 2 drams of fine loaf sugar, 8 grains of ginger, and 26 grains of carbonate of potass, all in fine powder; mix them intimately in a Wedgwood's-ware mortar. Take also 27 grains of citric or tartaric acid, (the first is the pleasantest

but the last the cheapest.) The acid is to be kept separate from the mixture. The beer is prepared from the powders thus take two tumbler glasses, each half filled with water, atir up the compound powder in one of them, and the acid powder in the other, then mix the two liquors, when an effervescence takes place, the beer is prepared and drank off immediately.

METHOD OF PRESERVING PEAS GREEN FOR WINTER.

Put into a kettle of hot water any quantity of fresh shelled green peas, and after just letting them boil up, pour them into a large thick cloth, cover them with another, make them quite dry, and set them once or twice in a cool oven to harden a little; after which put them into paper bags, and hang them up in the kitchen for use. To prepare them when wanted, they are first to be soaked well for an hour or more, and then put into warm water, and boiled with a little butter.

TO MEND GLASS.

The juice of garlick, pounded in a stone mortar, is said to be the strongest cement to mend broken glass.

TO CONVEY FRESH FISH,

To ensure the sweetness of fish conveyed by land carriage, the belly of the fish should be opened, and the internal parts sprinkled with powdered charcoal. The same material will restore impure or even putrescent water to a state of perfect freshness.

TO PURIFY WATER BY CHARCOAL.

Nothing has been found so effectual for preserving water sweet as charring the insides of the casks well before they are filled. When the water becomes impure and offensive, from ignorance of the preservative effect produced on it by charring the casks previous to their being filled, it may be rendered perfectly sweet by putting a little fresh charcoal in powder into the cask, or by filtering it through fresh burnt and coarsely pulverized charcoal.

TO EXTINGUISH A RECENT FIRE.

A mop and a pail of water are generally the most efficacious remedies, but if it has gained head, then keep out the air, and remove all ascending or perpendicular combustibles, up which the fire creeps and increases in force as it rises.

TO EXTINGUISH FIRE IN A CHIMNEY.

Shut the doors and windows, throw water on the fire in the grate, and then stop up the bottom of the chimney.

Another Method.

The mephitic vapour produced by throwing a handful of flour of sulphur on the buruing coals, where a chimney is on tire, will immediately extinguish the flames.

THE VALET.

THE duties of this servant are not so various nor so important as those of the footman; indeed, they are very frequently, and particularly in small families, a part of the business of a footman. The particular province of the valet is to attend to the personal accommodation of his master. He waits on him when dressing and undressing, has the care of his wardrobe, brushes and keeps his clothes in good order and ready to put on when wanted. For this purpose every garment or other article of wearing apparel, should be carefully examined, cleaned or brushed on the first opportunity that offers, and then put away in its proper place.

He should chuse the earliest part of the morning to clean the boots and shoes, unless it be otherwise arranged, and brush the clothes, and to do all such work, so as to be able to get to his master's dressing-room time enough to make the necessary arrangements there before he expects him to rise. He will see that the housemaid has lighted the fire, and cleaned out and dusted the rooms; will prepare the washing-stand, fill the ewer with clean soft water, and the caroft with fresh spring water. The basin and towels, the hair, nail, and tooth-brushes clean, and in their proper places; hot water, and all the necessary apparatus for shaving, quite ready; his dressing-gown and slippers airing before the fire; and his clean linen perfectly well aired

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by himself, before it be considered as fit to be put on. The coat, trowsers, &c. intended to be worn must be taken out and placed at length across the backs of chairs, the sleeves and outsides turned inward, with a clean linen or brown Holland wrapper thrown over them, to save them from dust. Having once ascertained the way in which these things are to be done, he will find it easy in future, and will be sure to please. The best way to hang up a coat is, to fold it once at full length, with the inside outward, the sleeves put straight, and the two fronts together, and then hang it on a cloak-pin by the inside of the shoulder.

If the wardrobe be sufficiently large to hold each kind of garment separately, it will be so much the better, as the coats and other articles may then be laid in smoothly and at length, as soon as they are brushed and cleaned, and a brown Holland cloth may be spread over each drawer or shelf, to preserve them from the dust.

Gentlemen who shave themselves, usually strop their own razors immediately after the operation, whilst the metal is yet warm, which is the best way: but if it be left to the valet to do, the razor must be dipped in warm water and wiped dry with a clean cloth or rag; then laying it flat on the strop, draw it diagonally, from the heel to the point, the whole length of the strop, turning the elbow in and out every time the razor is turned; half a dozen or half a score strokes backwards and forwards, as often as it is used, will keep it in good order for a considerable time. Good razors are made concave, or hollow, between the back and the edge, on both sides, for the