Useful Information

The best timber in a sound tree is always tho part near the ground. The tensile strength of lance wood is doublé tbat of beecli or ohestnut. To clean stair rods use woolen cloth wet witli water and dipped in sifted coal ashes; afterward rub with a dry cloth. To Keep tiie House Cool. - An East Indian tra veler writes to an exchange: ' ' If people were to shut up and darken their lionses in the ooolest hours of the mornicg, leaving only apertures enough for ventilation, and to those apply loonely-woven mats si fragrant grass, and keep them wét, every breath of air coming into the houso would take up the moisture, and the tomperature within would be reduced many degrees." Oindbrs m the Eye. - Having noticed two Communications in your journal lately under the above heading, permit me to give you a very simple remedy I have used for years with success : A small camel's hair brush dipped in water and passed over the ball of the eye on raising the lid. The operation requires no skill, takes but a moment, and instantly removes any einder or partióle of dust or dirt without inflaming the eye. - Oor. icientifto American. Substitdtes for los. - The following are recommended by a Southern newspaper as freezing powders, which may prove useful in hot weather where ice is not obtainable: 1. Four pounds sulphate of soda, two and a half pounds each of muriate of ammonia and nitrate of potash; when about to use, add doublé the weight of all the ingrediënt in water. 2. Equal parts of nitrate of potash and muriate of ammonia; when required for use, add more than doublé the weight in water. 3. Nitrate of ammonia and water in equal portions. Carbonate of soda and nitrate of ammonia, equal parts, and one equivalent of water. A simple mode of testing the inflammability of coal oil: In a small cup or glass place a small quantity of oil to be tested; immerse in the oil the bulb of a good thermometer; suspend the cup containing the oil in a vessel of water; move about close to the surf ace of the oil a lighted taper, and note the degree on the thermometer at which the oil begins to emit inflammable vapor (the flashing point), and again that at which the oil inflames. Oil to be used in lamps should not take fire below 1 15 deg. Fahrenheit. In applying the lighted taper the name must be kept away from the glass of the thermometer. Many people are puzzled to understand j what the terms "fourpenny," and "sixpenDy"and "tenpenny" means as applied to nails. "Fourpenny" means four pounds to the 1,000 nails, or " sixpenny " six pounds to the 1,000, and so on. It is an old English term, and meant at flrst "tenpound" nails (the 1,000 being understood); buttheold English clipped it to " tenpun," and from that it degenerated until " penny " was substituted f or "poundB." So when you ask for fourpeüny nails nowadays you want those of which 1,000 will weigh four pounds. When 1,000 nails weigh less than one pound they are called tacks, brads, etc, and are reokoned by ounces.