Do not clean but one room at a time, as it is a bad plan to have the whole house in confusion at once. It is best to commence with the attic.

Before beginning on your spring cleaning, remove the curtains, all the movable furniture, and the carpets. With a broom and dust-pan remove all dust from the floor. Then with a wall-brush thoroughly sweep and dust the ceiling and side-walls, window and door frames, pictures and chandeliers. Then go over the floor again, removing the dust that has fallen from the ceiling and walls. Then proceed to wash all the paint in the room. If it be white paint, use whiting or such other preparations as are recommended for the purpose in the subsequent pages. If it be varnished, or in imitation of oak or walnut, wipe with a cloth dipped in milk-warm water. If the wood work in the room be of unvarnished walnut or oak, wipe it off first, and then oil it, rubbing in the oil well.

Then with a soft flannel rag and a cake of sapolio clean every piece of marble in the room. Next wipe the mirrors carefully with a flannel rag, wrung out of warm water and dipped in a little whiting, or you may rub a little silver soap on the rag. The gilding must be merely dusted, as the least dampness or a drop of water will injure it.

The windows (sash and all) must then be washed in soap and water, with a common brush such as is used for washing paint. A little soda dissolved in the water will improve the appearance of the windows. It is unnecessary to use such a quantity of soap and water as to splash everything around. After being washed, the windows should be polished with newspapers. Except in a general house-cleaning, windows may be cleaned by the directions given above for mirrors.

The metal about the door-knobs, tongs, etc., may be cleaned by electro-silicon, and the grates may be varnished with the black varnish kept for the purpose by dealers in grates, stoves, etc. Every chair and article of furniture should be carefully cleaned before being brought back into the room, and linen covers should be put on the chairs. If you are going to put down matting, do so before bringing back the first article of furniture. Some housekeepers, however, allow their matting to remain during the winter under their carpets. Spots on matting may be removed by being scoured with a cloth, dipped first in hot water and then in salt. This, however, will cause wet spots to appear on it in damp weather. After the spots are removed, scrub the matting with dry corn-meal and a coarse cloth. Sweep it over several times, till all the meal is removed.

For persons who do not use matting in summer, a recipe is given later for beautifully coloring the floor with boiled linseed oil and burnt sienna. Where different woods are used alternately in the floor, this oil answers better than revarnishing the floor every spring.

As soon as the carpets are taken up, have them nicely shaken, swept, and brushed on both sides. Every spot should be carefully washed and wiped dry. The carpets should then be rolled up smoothly, with tobacco sprinkled between the folds, sewed up in coarse linen cloths, and put away till autumn. A cedar closet is an excellent place to keep carpets as well as other woollens. If you have no cedar closet, however, a cedar chest will serve to protect your woollen clothes against moths, and it is better to preserve them in this way than to sprinkle them with tobacco, which imparts an unpleasant scent to them.

Whitewash for Outdoor Use.

Take good quick-lime in lumps. Slack it with hot water, and while slacking add to what will make a pailful one pound tallow or other grease, free from dirt. It may be rancid, smoked, or otherwise unfit for kitchen use.

When the violent slacking is over, stir thoroughly. All the water should be added before the slacking ceases, and the mixing together should be thorough. Do not dilute with cold water. If well made, it will be very smooth and but little affected by rain.—Mrs.E.

Indoor Whitewashing.

We have recently seen recommended in a journal a fine and brilliant whitewash preparation of chalk, called "Paris White," and said to be admirable for whitewashing walls. It sells in paint stores at three cents per pound, retail. For every sixteen pounds Paris White, get half a pound white transparent glue. Cover the glue with cold water at night, and in the morning heat it, without scorching, till dissolved. Stir in the Paris White with hot water to give it a milky consistency. Then add and mix well the glue. Apply with a common lime whitewash brush. A single coating will do, except on very dingy walls. Almost as brilliant as "Zinc White."—Mrs.S.T.

To Oil Floors.

To one gallon boiled linseed oil add half a pound burnt sienna. The druggist who sells these articles will mix them. If economy is necessary, instead of employing a painter to put it on, dip a large woollen rag into the mixture, and with this wipe over the floor.—Mrs.S.T.

To Dye Floors a Pretty Color.

Make a strong decoction of the inside bark of red oak. Set it a dark color with copperas.

Have the floors well swept and cleaned of spots. Then with a cloth rub the dye in well, taking care to wipe up and down the floor, so as to prevent streaking.

Let it dry, then wipe over with weak lye, and as soon as this dries off, rub with a waxed brush.—Mrs. Dr.P.C.

To Clean Paint.

Wring out a clean flannel, take up as much powdered whiting as will adhere to it, then rub the paint. Wash off with clean water and rub dry with a soft cloth, and it will look new. Not for paint in imitation of oak.—Mrs.R.

To Wash Oil-Cloth.

Wash oil-cloths with salt water; say, one pint salt dissolved in a pailful water. When dry wipe over with a little milk and water.—Mrs.H.D.

To Wash Oil-Cloth.

Sweep it well. Wash with cold water, using a brush. Then wash with milk and wipe dry. Never use hot water.—Mrs.R.

To Wash Carpets.

Shake, beat, and sweep well. Tack firmly on the floor. Mix three quarts soft, cold water with one quart beef's gall. Wash with a flannel, rub off with a clean flannel, immediately after putting it on each strip of carpet.—Mrs.R.

Carpets should be washed in spots, with a brush or flannel, one tablespoonful ox-gall in one or two quarts water.—Mrs.A.

To Remove Ink from Carpets.

Take up the ink with a spoon. Pour cold water on the stained spot, take up the water with a spoon, and repeat this process frequently. Then rub on a little oxalic acid and wash off immediately with cold water. Then wet with hartshorn.—Mrs.R.

To Clean Marble Slabs, etc.

Sal soda, four ounces; powdered pumice-stone, two ounces; prepared chalk, two ounces. Mix well, add sufficient water, rub well on the marble, and then wash with soap and water.—Dr.E.A.C.

Sapolio, rubbed on a flannel rag which has just been dipped in hot water and squeezed, is also good for cleaning marble.—Mrs.S.T.

To Remove Grease from Wall Paper.

Dip a flannel in spirits of wine and go carefully over the soiled places once or twice.—Mrs.R.

To Clean Furniture.

One-half pint linseed oil, one half pint vinegar, one-half pint turpentine. Apply with a flannel rag, and then rub with a dry flannel.—Mrs.H.S.

To Clean Varnished Furniture, Mahogany Especially.

Wash the piece of furniture with warm water and soap, and then rub dry; afterwards take a flannel rag, and rub with the following mixture: equal proportions of vinegar, sweet-oil, and spirits of turpentine, in a bottle which must be shaken before using.—Mrs. McG.

An Excellent Furniture Polish.

Alcohol, three ounces; linseed oil, boiled, two ounces; oxalic acid, one drachm; gum shellac, two drachms; gum benzoin, two drachms; rosin, two drachms. Dissolve the gums in the alcohol, and then add oil and oxalic acid. Apply with a woollen cloth.—Dr.E.A.C.

Furniture Polish.

One pint of alcohol, one pint of spirits of turpentine, one and one-half pint of raw linseed oil, one ounce balsam fir, one ounce ether. Cut the balsam with the alcohol, which will take about twelve hours. [That is to say, dilute the balsam with the alcohol.] Mix the oil with the turpentine in a separate vessel and add the alcohol, and last the ether.—G.C.W.

To Clean Silver.

There is nothing better for this purpose than Colgate's Silver Soap, and Robinson's Indexical Silver Soap, made in Boston. After the silver has been cleaned, according to the directions accompanying each package of the aforementioned kinds of soap, wash it in a pan of hot water in which a tablespoonful of ammonia has been poured.—Mrs.S.T.

To Clean Silver.

Make a paste of whiting and spirits of wine. Put it on with a soft cloth, then rub it off also with a soft cloth, and polish with chamois skin.—Mrs.R.

To Remove Egg Stains from Silver Spoons.

Rub with salt, and it will entirely remove the discoloration produced by eating a boiled egg with a silver spoon. Rubbing with salt will also remove the grayish streaks that collect on white tea-china by careless usage.—Mrs.M.C.C.

To Clean Brasses, etc.

Electro-silicon, manufactured by J. Seth Hopkins & Co., Baltimore, is the best article that can be procured for this purpose. The price is twenty-five cents per box, with full directions for use. It may be procured of any druggist. If not convenient to get it, use powdered brick-dust.—Mrs.S.T.

For the Kitchen.

Sapolio, manufactured by Enoch Morgan & Sons, should be in every kitchen. It is invaluable for cleaning tins, iron-ware, knobs, and is so neat a preparation that it does not blacken the hands.

The Dover Egg-Beater.

Is indispensable to housekeepers. It froths eggs in less than a fourth of the time a spoon or an ordinary egg-beater requires to froth them.—Mrs.S.T.

To Remove Rust from Knives or any Steel.

Rub very hard with a piece of wash leather, dipped in powdered charcoal, moistened with spirits of wine. Rub off quickly, wash in hot water, and renew as may be necessary.—Mrs.K.

To Clean Knives, Tins, etc.

Crystal Kitchen Soap, manufactured by Eastman & Brooke, Philadelphia, is excellent for this purpose, being so neat a compound that the knives and coffee-pot, as well as the tins used in the preparation of breakfast, may be quickly cleaned at the table while the tea-china is being washed.

When not convenient to obtain the Crystal Kitchen Soap, knives may be cleaned with ashes either of coal or wood.—Mrs.S.T.

To Whiten the Ivory on the Handles of Knives.

The ivory handles of knives sometimes become yellow from being allowed to remain in dish-water. Rub them with sandpaper till white. If the blades have become rusty from careless usage, rub them also with sandpaper and they will look as nice as new.—Mrs.S.T.

Mixture for Shading Glass.

Spanish whiting, one pound; white glue, one-quarter pound; litharge, one ounce; alum, one ounce. Boil the glue and alum in a sufficient quantity of water. Let it cool, then add the whiting and litharge. Stir well and use at once. It may be washed or scraped off, if desired.—Dr.E.A.C.

Cement for Rubber and Glass.

Pulverized gum shellac in ten times its weight of strong spirits hartshorn.—Dr.E.A.C.

To Destroy Bedbugs.

Dissolve one ounce corrosive sublimate in one pint strong spirits. Put it on the bedsteads with a feather, and it will destroy the bugs and their eggs also.—Mrs. Dr.P.C.

Bedbug Poison.

Alcohol, two and a half pints; camphor, one ounce; spirits turpentine, one ounce; corrosive sublimate, half an ounce. Mix and dissolve. If the scent is not objectionable, two ounces commercial carbolic acid will greatly improve the above.—Dr.E.A.C.

To Destroy Bugs, Ants, etc.

Dissolve two pounds alum in three quarts boiling water. Apply boiling hot with a brush. Add alum to whitewash for store-rooms, pantries, and closets. It is well to pound alum fine and sprinkle it about beds infested with bugs.—Mrs.S.T.

Remedy for Red Ants.

Kerosene oil is a sure remedy for red ants. Place small blocks under a sugar barrel, so as not to let the oil touch the barrel.—Mrs.J.W.

Cayenne pepper will keep the store-room and pantry free from ants and cockroaches.—Mrs.S.D.

Remedy for Mosquitoes Or Other Blood-sucking Insects.

Uncork a bottle of oil of pennyroyal, and it will drive them away, nor will they return so long as the scent of it is in the room.—Mrs.S.D.

For the stings of insects, wasps, hornets, bees, etc. Apply to the place soda, hartshorn, or arnica.

Rats.

Mix a little powdered potash with meal and throw it into the rat-holes and it will not fail to drive the rats away. If a mouse enters into any part of your dwelling, saturate a rag with cayenne in solution and stuff it into his hole.—Mrs.S.D.

Concentrated Lye Soap.

All fat and grease from the kitchen should be carefully saved, and should be made into soap before accumulating and becoming offensive.

Boil for six hours ten gallons of lye made of green wood ashes. Then add eight or ten pounds of grease, and continue to boil it. If thick or ropy, add more lye till the grease is absorbed. This is ascertained by dropping a spoonful in a glass of water, and if grease remains it will show on the water.

If hard soap is desired, put one quart of salt in half-gallon of hot water. Stir till dissolved and pour into the boiling soap. Boil twenty minutes, stirring continually. Remove from the fire, and when cold cut in cakes and dry. A box of concentrated lye may be used instead of salt, as it will obviate the necessity of using more dripped lye to consume the grease.—Mrs.P.W.

A Washing Mixture.

Mix and boil twenty minutes one gallon soft soap; half a gallon of weak boiled lye; four ounces sal soda; half a gill of spirits turpentine. Soak the clothes overnight in milk-warm water. In the morning, rinse and wring them. To every gallon cold water add one pint of the above mixture. Stir it well in the water. Open the clothes and boil fifteen or twenty minutes; rinse out of those suds. If the articles are not thoroughly cleansed, rub a little of the mixture on the soiled places, and the result will be satisfactory.—Mrs. Dr.E.