out thoroughly, rinse
faithfully, and dry outdoors in clear air and sun, and dish-cloths and
towels need never look gray and dingy--a perpetual discomfort to all
housekeepers.

A dark carpet often looks dusty soon after it has been swept, and you
know it does not need sweeping again; so wet a cloth or a sponge,
wring it almost dry, and wipe off the dust. A few drops of ammonia in
the water will brighten the colors.

For cleaning hair-brushes it is excellent; put a tablespoonful into
the water, having it only tepid, and dip up and down until clean; then
dry with the brushes down and they will be like new ones.

When employed in washing anything that is not especially soiled, use
the waste water afterward for the house plants that are taken down
from their usual position and immersed in the tub of water. Ammonia is
a fertilizer, and helps to keep healthy the plants it nourishes. In
every way, in fact, ammonia is the housekeeper's friend.

Ammonia is not only useful for cleaning, but as a household medicine.
Half a teaspoonful taken in half a tumbler of water is far better for
faintness than alcoholic stimulants. In the Temperance Hospital in
London, it is used with the best results. It was used freely by
Lieutenant Greely's Arctic party for keeping up circulation. It is a
relief in nervousness, headache and heart disturbances.

TO DESTROY INSECTS AND VERMIN.

Dissolve two pounds of alum in three or four quarts of water. Let it
remain over night till all the alum is dissolved. Then with a brush,
apply boiling hot to every joint or crevice in the closet or shelves
where croton bugs, ants, cockroaches, etc., intrude; also to the
joints and crevices of bedsteads, as bed bugs dislike it as much as
croton bugs, roaches, or ants. Brush all the cracks in the floor and
mop-boards. Keep it boiling hot while using.

To keep woolens and furs from moths, be sure that none are in the
articles when they are put away; then take a piece of strong brown
paper, with not a hole through which even a pin can enter. Put the
article in it with several lumps of gum camphor between the folds;
place this in a close box or trunk. Cover every joint with paper. A
piece of cotton cloth, if thick and firm, will answer. Wherever a
knitting-needle can pass, the parent moth can enter.

Place pieces of camphor, cedar-wood, Russia leather, tobacco-leaves,
whole cloves, or anything strongly aromatic, in the drawers or boxes
where furs and other th