Secret Formulas

Recycle Beverage Containers into a Super Fruit Fly Trap

2011-01-10T20:10:00.000+04:00

Fruit flies are a real nusiance. I came up with a neat idea for a trap that works to get rid of Fruit Flies quickly.

It uses a recycled beverage container and four pebbles or something similar, to lift it a quarter inch or so off of the counter. For bait, a little bit of red wine or cider vinegar works well.

Here is what you need: an empty plastic water bottle, juice or soda container with a bottom that has a raised center.

Drill a small, 1/8” hole in center of this raised bottom. I used a 3/32” drill to start a pilot hole and then widened it to 1/8”.

Use hot glue to add something to the bottom corners to raise the trap a little bit so that the flies will be able to crawl or fly up into the center hole.

Put a small amount of red wine, cider vinegar or similar aromatic liquid in the container so that it is just below the hole in the raised center of the bottom and your trap is set.

To release your captured flies, just step out side and take off the top. They will happily fly away unharmed. For the more blood thirsty, just do nothing. They will soon land in the liquid and be unable to escape.

Good luck!

Art of Rat Killing without Traps or Poison

2008-11-08T22:27:00.001+05:00

Take a common sponge, dried, cut into small pieces

soak in lard, melted tallow or meat gravy.
Place these pieces within easy access to the rats.

They will eat greedily and the moisture of the stomach will cause the pieces to swell and kill the rat.

Water may be placed within reach, and will hasten the results by expanding the sponge.

How to Keep Apples Fresh and Sound all Winter

2008-11-08T22:22:00.002+05:00

I discovered a very superior way of preserving apples until spring. By it any apple in good condition when packed will be equally good when unpacked, and even those rotten because not in good condition when put away will not injure any others.

Take fine dry sawdust, preferably that made by a circular saw from well seasoned hard wood, and place a thick layer on the bottom of a barrel.

Then place a layer of apples, not close together and not close to the staves of the barrel. Put sawdust liberally over and around, and proceed until a bushel and a half (or less) is packed in each barrel.

They are to be kept in a cool place.

I kept some in an open garret, the thermometer for a week ranged close to zero. No bruised or mellow apples will be preserved but they will not communicate rot to their companions. There is money in this, applied to choice apples.

Editor's Note: This actually works. When I was a kid, it is how my Father kept carrots from the garden all winter.

Make Tomato Catsup

2008-09-27T19:19:00.004+04:00

Boil one bushel of tomatoes till they are soft,

squeeze them through a fine sieve;
add one and a half pints of salt,
two ounces of cayenne pepper,
and five heads of onions, skinned and separated;
mix together,
then boil till reduced one half;
then bottle.

Unerring Test for Good Flour

2008-09-27T19:13:00.002+04:00

Good flour is white with a yellowish or straw colour tint.

Squeeze some of the flour in your hand; if good it will retain the shape given by the pressure.
Knead a little between your fingers; if it works soft and sticky, it is poor.
Throw a little against a dry perpendicular surface; if it falls like powder it is bad.

To Soften the Hands

2008-09-27T19:09:00.003+04:00

Before retiring, take a large pair of old gloves and spread mutton tallow inside, also all over the hands. Wear the gloves all night, and wash hands with olive oil and white castile soap the next morning.

To Restore Velvet

2008-09-27T19:05:00.003+04:00

Where velvet has been crushed, hold the wrong side over a basin of quite boiling water, and the pile will gradually rise.

Do not lose patience, for it takes a considerable time, but the result is marvellous.

Superior Raisin Wine

2008-08-17T21:36:00.004+04:00

Take thirty pounds of chopped raisins, free from stems and dust
Put them in a large keg
Add to them 10 gallons of soft water
Let them stand 2 weeks unbunged -shaking occasionally (warm place in the winter)
Strain through a woolen cloth or filter
Colour with burnt sugar
Bottle and cork well for use

The more raisins, the better the wine -not exceeding 5 pounds to the gallon.

Trapper's and Angler's Secret for Game and Fish

2008-08-17T21:24:00.002+04:00

A few drops of Oil of Anise or Oil of Rhodium, on any trapper's bait, will entice any wild animal into the snare trap.
India Cockle, mixed with flour dough and sprinkled on the surface of still water will intoxicate fish, rendering them insensible; when coming up to the surface they can be lifted into a tub of fresh water to revive them , when they may be used without fear.
Fish may also be caught in large numbers during the winter season by watching them through the ice and striking it with a mallet directly over where they happen to be. The shock stuns them and they will rise belly upwards, toward the surface, when they are easily secured by breaking a hole in the ice.

To Make Nice Crayons for Blackboards

2008-07-07T05:04:00.002+04:00

These directions are given by Prof. Turner, of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, as follows:

Take 5 pounds of Paris white, 1 pound of Wheat flour, wet with water, and knead it well; make it so stiff that it will not stick to the table, but not so stiff as to crumble and fall to pieces when it is rolled under the hand.
To roll our the crayons to the proper size, two boards are needed, one to roll them on; the other to roll them with. The first should be a smooth pine board three feet long and nine inches wide. The other should also be pine, a foot long and nine inches wide, having nailed on the under side near each edge a slip of wood one-third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much above the under board as that the crayon, when brought to its proper size, may lie between them without being flattened.
The mass is rolled into a ball, and slices are cut from one side of it about one-third of an inch thick: these slices are again cut into strips about four inches long and one-third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between these boards until smooth and round.
Near at hand should be another board 3 feet long and 4 inches wide, across which each crayon, as it is made, should be laid, so that the ends may project on each side--the crayons should be laid in close contact, and straight. When the board is filled, the ends should all be trimmed off so as to make the crayons as long as the width of the board. It is then laid in the sun, if in hot weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fireplace, where the crayons may dry gradually, which will require twelve hours. When thoroughly dry they are fit for use.

An experienced hand will make 150 in an hour." Young boys can make them and sell to their companions.

Poisons and Antidotes

2008-07-06T19:37:00.005+04:00

The following list of antidotes is given as reliable in cases of poisoning, to which all are in danger of being subjected some time, when, perhaps, no medical skill or experienced advice is within reach. It would be well for every family to have something like this, which they can turn to at a moment's warning.

The following are some of the more common poisons and the remedies most likely to be at hand in case of need.

The directions may be old, but in case you happen to get a good, strong dose of poison down, you will not object to a cure on account of age.

Acids.--These cause great heat and a sensation of burning pain from the mouth down to the stomach. Remedies: magnesia, soda, pearlash, or soap dissolved in water, then use the stomach-pump or an emetic.
Alkalies.--Best remedy is vinegar.
Ammonia.--Remedy: lemon-juice or vinegar.
Alcohol.--First cleanse the stomach by an emetic, then dash cold water on the head, and ammonia (spirits of hartshorn).
Arsenic.--Remedies: in the first place evacuate the stomach, then give the white of eggs, lime-water, or chalk and water, charcoal, and a preparation of iron, particularly hydrate.
Lead, White Lead, and Sugar of Lead.--Remedies: alum, cathartics, such as castor oil and Epsom salts, specially sulphuric acid lemonade.
Charcoal.--In poisons by carbonic gas, remove the patient into the open air, dash cold water on the head and body, and stimulate the nostrils and lungs by hartshorn, at the same time rubbing the chest briskly.
Corrosive Sublimate.--Give the white of eggs, freely mixed with water, or give wheat flour and water, or soap and water, freely.
Creasote.--White of eggs and emetics.
Belladonna (Night Henbane).--Give an emetic, then plenty of vinegar and water, or lemonade.
Mushrooms, when Poisonous.--Give an emetic, plenty of vinegar and water, with doses of ether, if handy.
Nitrate of Silver (Lunar Caustic).--Give a strong solution of common salt, and then emetics.
Opium.--First give a strong emetic of mustard and water, then strong coffee and acid drinks; dash cold water on the head.
Laudanum.--Same as opium.
Nux Vomica.--First give emetics, then brandy.
Oxalic Acid (frequently mistaken for Epsom salts).--Remedies: chalk, magnesia, or soap and water, and other soothing drinks.
Prussic Acid.--When there is time, administer chlorine in the shape of soda and lime; hot brandy and water, hartshorn, and turpentine are also useful.
Snake Bites, etc.--Apply immediately strong hartshorn, and take internally; also give sweet oil and stimulate freely; apply a ligature tight above the part bitten, and then apply a cupping-glass.
Tartar Emetic.--Give large doses of tea made of galls, Peruvian bark, or white oak bark.
Verdigris.--Plenty of white of eggs and water.
White Vitriol.--Give the patient plenty of milk and water.
Melted Lard.--An antidote for strychnine, nux vomica, wild cherry, and nightshade.
Tea of the Sensitive Plant for the bite of a rattle-snake.

To Prepare Shad for Broiling

2008-07-06T19:36:00.000+04:00

Scale your shad perfectly, clean it nicely, then split it down the back, and lay it flat on your board or tray; now remove the entrails perfectly, taking care not to break the gall. Wash out all the blood, and lay your shad in clean water till you are ready to place it over the fire.

To Prepare a Shad for Breakfast

2008-07-06T19:35:00.000+04:00

First, with a sharp knife, remove all the bones from your shad, sprinkle it with salt and a little Cayenne pepper, after which dredge on a thin coat of flour. Have ready a greased tin sheet (not a pan), lay on it your shad, and put it in your stove or oven; let it brown slowly, and when done slip it carefully off the tin sheet to a hot dish. Butter it well, and serve it immediately.

To Broil a Fresh Shad

2008-07-06T19:33:00.000+04:00

Grease your gridiron, put your shad on it, over bright coals for five minutes, just to give it the taste of the fire, then transfer it to a tin sheet, and having dredged on flour, pour on a large spoonful of melted butter, and bake.

Diarrhea

2008-07-05T18:28:00.001+04:00

Cut up a dozen green persimmons with an ounce of red oak bark,
boil these in a pint of water till reduced one - half,
add one ounce of gum Arabic and
half a pound of white sugar.

Boil the mixture with a teacupful of the syrup from black-berry preserves down to a stiff candy.

Sift coarse white sugar on a clean sheet of white paper, and drop the candy on it in the form of lozenges.

Let the patient eat three or four each day.

A Cancer Cure

2008-07-05T18:25:00.002+04:00

Pound up a handful of sorrel leaves,
Stew them with lard,

Apply the poultice to the cancer, taking care to protect the well flesh by means of a large piece of adhesive plaster with a round hole cut in the center just sufficiently large to expose the cancer.

This poultice should remain twenty-four hours.

Strong potash, applied in the same way, it is said, will destroy a cancer so that it can be pulled out as you would pull up a parsnip from the ground.

Cure for the Bite of a Mad Dog

2008-07-05T18:22:00.003+04:00

Elecampane is a plant well known to most persons, and is to be found in many of our gardens. Immediately after being bitten, take

one and a half ounces of the root of the plant,--the green root is perhaps preferable, but the dried will answer,
slice or bruise,
put into a pint of fresh milk,
boil down to a half pint, strain, and when cold drink, fasting for at least six hours afterward.

The next morning, fasting, repeat the dose, using two ounces of the root. On the third morning take another dose prepared as the last, and this will be sufficient. It is recommended that after each dose nothing be eaten for at least six hours.

Important Medical Discovery

2008-07-05T18:20:00.001+04:00

A remarkable medical discovery has recently been made in the treatment of deafness, by Professor Scott, of the New York Medical University, by which the most apparently hopeless cases are radically cured. The method consists in introducing atomized oxide of phenol directly into the cavity of the tympanum. No unpleasant sensations are produced, and a feeling of clearness seems to follow the application. Numerous cases are daily treated successfully at the university.

Make Cucumber Vines Bear Five Crops

2008-05-24T22:37:00.002+04:00

When a Cucumber is taken from the vine, let it be cut with a knife leaving about the eight of an inch of the Cucumber on the stem, then slit the stem with a knife from its end to the vine, leaving a small portion of the Cucumber on each division, and on each separate slit there will be a new Cucumber as large as the first.

To Cure Boils

2008-05-24T22:31:00.002+04:00

They should be brought to a head by warm poultices of Camomile Flowers, or boiled White Lily Root, or Onion Root by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating plasters.

When ripe they should be destroyed by a needle or lancet.

But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved.

Cure a Sprained Ankle or Wrist

2008-05-17T21:06:00.003+04:00

Wash the ankle very frequently with cold salt and water, which is far better than warm vinegar or decoctions of herbs.

Keep the foot as cool as possible, to prevent inflammation, and sit with it elevated on a high cushion.

Live on a low diet, and take every day some cooling medicine, such as Epsom Salts.

it cures in a few days.

Treat Dyspepsia

2008-05-17T20:57:00.003+04:00

One of the first things to be attended to is to regulate the bowels, which in this disease are always in a costive state.

The best means of keeping them loose is the eating of a handful of clean Wheat Bran once or twice a day.

This is the most simple and efficacious method of cleansing the stomach.

It may be eaten from the hand with a few swallows of water to wash it down.

Also use to regulate the stomach and bowels, the daily use of Common Salt, in teaspoonful doses, dissolved in a half-tumblerful of water, taken in the morning fasting.

Avoid rich diet, and use Brown Bread instead of that made with Superfine Flour.

To Remove Red Mites from Canaries

2008-05-10T17:25:00.003+04:00

Put into the cage as a perch one or more hollow sticks with holes cut into them at short distances as in a cane pipe.

The insects crawl into these and can be easily knocked or shaken out or destroyed by letting hot water run through the sticks. This should be done every day until the bird is relieved.

Hang a piece of new white flannel in the cage at night, next to the perch, so that it shades the bird from the lights. In the morning you will find the mites on the flannel; wash or put in a new piece the following night, and continue to doing so until they are all removed.

It is also well to scald the cage.

The perches should be of Red Cedar wood.

To Drive Away Ants

2008-05-10T17:22:00.002+04:00

Put Red Pepper in the places Ants frequent the most, and scrub the shelves and drawers with strong Carbolic Soap.

A Remedy for Rheumatism

2008-05-10T17:11:00.002+04:00

Four ounces of Saltpetre in one pint of Alcohol; shake well and bathe parts affected.

Wetting red flannel with it; lay it on.

It does not cure, but takes away the redness, reduces the swelling and relieves the torment and agony.

Zigura Oil

2008-05-04T17:59:00.002+04:00

One half ounce of pulverized Salt Petre put in half a pint of Sweet Oil.
Cures Inflammatory Rheumatism.
Bottle and label.
Pays well.

Hair Invigorator

2008-05-04T17:54:00.002+04:00

Bay Rum, 1 quart
Alcohol, 1 pint
Castor Oil, 1 ounce
Tincture of Cantharides, 1 ounce
Sweet Oil, 1 pint

Bottle and label. Sells well

Liebig's Goldometer

2008-05-04T17:51:00.001+04:00

This instrument is used for the discovery of mines, minerals, treasures, etc.

It is made of Mercury, Gold and Magnetic Sand.

To Make Brown Teeth White

2008-05-04T17:47:00.002+04:00

Apply carefully over the teeth a stick dipped in strong Acetic or Nitric Acid and immediately wash out the mouth with cold water.

To make the teeth even, if irregular, draw a piece of fine cord betwixt them

To Destroy Flies in a Room

2008-05-02T02:36:00.002+04:00

Take a half a teaspoonful of Black Pepper, one teaspoonful of Brown Sugar, and one teaspoonful of Cream: mix them well together ,and place them in a room on a plate, where the flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear.

Get rid of the Smell of Oil Paint

2008-04-26T19:45:00.001+04:00

To get rid of the smell of Oil Paint, plunge a handful of Hay into a pail of water and let it stand in the room newly painted.

Cure Warts

2008-04-26T19:37:00.002+04:00

The easiest way to get rid of Warts is to pare off the thickened skin which covers the prominent wart; cut it off by successive layers, and shave it till you come to the surface of the skin and till you draw blood in two or three places.

Then rub the part thoroughly with Lunar Caustic and one effective operation of this kind will generally destroy the Wart.

If not, cut off the black spot which has been occasioned by the Caustic and apply it again or you may apply Acetic Acid, and thus you will get rid of it.

Care must be taken in applying these acids not to rub them on the skin around the wart.

To Cure a Tooth Ache

2008-04-26T19:30:00.002+04:00

Take equal parts of:

Camphor
Sulphuric Ether
Ammonia
Laudanum
Tincture of Cayenne
1/8th part Oil of Cloves

Mix well together. Saturate with the liquid a small piece of cotton and apply to the cavity of the diseased tooth. The pain will cease immediately.

Put up in long Drachm bottles. Retail at 25 cents.

This is a very salable preparation and affords a large profit to the manufacturer.

To Cure a Sore Throat

2008-04-26T01:16:00.002+04:00

Pour a pint of boiling water upon twenty or thirty leaves of common Sage.
Let the infusion stand for half an hour. Add Vinegar sufficient to make it moderately acid and honey according to taste.
It must be used several times a day.

Another excellent remedy is a strong solution of salt and water. Gargle every hour.

A Wet Towel worn on the throat at night will assist in effecting a cure.

For a Putrid Sore Throat use a gargle of Brewers Yeast five times a day also bind thin slices of Salt Pork on the throat.

The Best Pill in the World

2008-04-26T01:09:00.003+04:00

Aloes, 2 pounds
Gamboge, 1 pound
The Extract of Clocynth, 4 ounces
Castile Soap, 1/2 pound
Oil of Peppermint, 2 fluid ounces
Cinnamon, 1 fluid drachm

Mix and form into pills.

These pills are the most celebrated of any in the world and the fortunate manufacturer has accumulated over a million dollars from their sale.

To Make Honey Soap

2008-04-24T00:44:00.002+04:00

Balsam of Fir, 1/2 ounce
White Wax, 1/2 ounce
Honey, 1/4 pint
White Rosin, 1/2 ounce
Purified Soap, 10 pounds

Melt these ingredients thoroughly, and mix them well, then add

Essence of Cloves, 1/4 ounce
Cinnamon, 1/4 ounce
Bergamot, 1/4 ounce

Pour it in moulds, or in a box. Cut it in cakes to suit, when cold.

How to Make Indelible Ink

2008-04-24T00:40:00.002+04:00

Grind a number of green persimmons to a pulp, then pour over them sufficient water to cover them, and press out all the juice. Boil it down to half the quantity, and add a small piece of ferrous sulphate.

Cure Freckles

2008-04-23T02:56:00.001+04:00

Muriate of Ammonia, 1/2 drachm
Lavender Water, 2 drachms
Rain Water, 1/2 pint

Applied with a sponge two or three times a day.

Best Blacking for Shoes or Boots

2008-04-23T02:51:00.003+04:00

Ivory Black, 1 and 1/2 ounces
Molasses, 1 and 1/2 ounces
Sperm Oil, 3 drachms
Strong Oil of Vitriol, 3 drachms
Common Vinegar, 1/2 pint

Mix the Ivory Black, Molasses and Vinegar together, then mix the Sperm Oil and Oil of Vitriol separately and then add them to the other mixture.

To Cure Wens

2008-04-23T02:48:00.002+04:00

Take the yolks of eggs, beat up and add as much fine salt as will dissolve and apply a plaster to the wen every ten hours.
It cures without pain or inconvenience.

To Cure a Cut or Bruise

2008-04-22T03:05:00.003+04:00

Apply the moist surface of the inside coating or skin of the shell of a raw egg. It will adhere of itself, leave no scar and heal without pain.

Cure for Scrofulous Sore Eyes

2008-04-22T03:02:00.003+04:00

Take Blue Violets, dig them up top and root, wash clean, dry them, and make a tea.
Drink several times a day, wetting the eyes each time, and it will soon effect a cure.

Another Potion for Sore and Weak Eyes

2008-04-22T02:59:00.002+04:00

Dissolve:

5 grains of Acetate of Morphia
10 grains Sugar of Lead
6 grains Sulphate of Zinc

In five ounces of Rose Water. Bathe freely, three times a day

Cure for Sore and Weak Eyes

2008-04-22T02:55:00.002+04:00

Sulphate of Zinc, three grains
Tincture of Opium, ten drops
Water, two ounces

To be applied three or four times a day.

How to Make Cement for Broken China, Glass, etc.

2008-04-22T02:50:00.003+04:00

The following recipe, from experience, we know to be a good one, and, being nearly odorless, it possess advantages which liquid glue and other cements do not.

Dissolve half an ounce of Gum Acacia in a wine glass of boiling water
Add Plaster of Paris sufficient to form a thick paste

Apply with a brush to the parts required to be cemented together.

To Make Pomatums

2008-04-22T02:40:00.003+04:00

For making pomatums, the lard, fat, suet or marrow used must be carefully prepared by being melted with as gentle a heat as possible, skimmed and cleared from the dregs which are deposited on standing. Take:

Mutton suet prepared as above, one pound
Lard, three pounds

Carefully melted together and stirred constantly as it cools.

Oil of Bergamot, two ounces

Being added just after lifting the pomade from the fire.

Hard Pomade

Mutton Suet, one pound
Fat, one pound
White wax, four ounces
Oil of Bergamot, one ounce

Put up in short, large-mouthed bottles and sell at 15 or 20 cents.

To Remove Grease or Stains from Clothing

2008-04-22T02:36:00.002+04:00

Ordinary Benzene is as good a grease eradicator as is now used.
Put up in four ounce bottles and label it"The Nations Grease Extractor", and sell it for 20 or 25 cents. Benzene generally costs about 15 cents a gallon. Dip the corks in wax.

To Prevent Cattle from Getting Old

2008-04-21T00:15:00.005+04:00

If the cattle are occasionally fed a little of the extract of the June Berry, it will extend the period of their lives.
Use in connection with the Vanilla Bean and the two will produce the most wonderful results.

It will act on people the same as on the animal kingdom.

New Flax seed, frequently given to cattle in small quantities, will make them, whether young or old, or if as poor and thin as skeletons, soon appear to be fat and healthy.

Balm of Gilead

2008-04-20T21:15:00.005+04:00

Opodeldoc
Spirits of wine
Sal-ammoniac

Equal parts of each. Shake.

Bottle and label.

Cures neuralgia, pains, aches, etc. Apply as a lotion

Waterproof Composition for Boots and Shoes

2008-04-20T20:57:00.003+04:00

Beeswax, two ounces
Beef suet, four ounces
Resin, one ounce

Melt together- sells well

Egyptian Cement for Mending China, Glass or Wood

2008-04-20T20:48:00.004+04:00

Take:

One pound of the best white glue,
One half pound dry white lead,
One quart soft water,
One half pint alcohol,

Put the first three items in a dish and that dish in a pot of boiling water; let it boil until dissolved then add the alcohol and boil again until mixed.

A little camphor should be added to preserve it and disguise its composition.
Put in small bottles : 25 cents each

A Certain Cure for Drunkeness

2008-04-20T20:34:00.004+04:00

Sulphate of iron, five grains
Magnesia, ten grains
Peppermint water, eleven drachms
Spirits of nutmeg, one drachm

Take twice a day. This preparation acts as a tonic and stimulant, and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor and prevents the absolute physical and moral prostration that follows the sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks.