Guard your bolting from gnawing rats!

Yes, I’m looking at old remedies and recipes again… how to make do with everyday household products… for example, castor oil, coal ashes, hydrolchloric or oxalic acid, quicklime and cyanide…

• To guard bolting against being gnawed by rats, anoint it with castor oil.
• the best home-made fireproof safe is a hole in the ground, well lined with brick and cement.
• coal ashes, sifted very finely, thoroughly ground, and mixed with oil, make a good cheap paint. Any colouring matter may be added.
• yellow stains commonly called iron mould are removed from linen by hydrochloric acid or hot solution of oxalic acid. Wash well in-warm water afterwards.
• to restore the colour of any marble article  which has become stained, mix up a quantity of the strongest soap lees with quicklime to the consistence of milk, and lay it on the stone for twenty-four hours. Clean afterwards with soap and water.
• to remove rust from steel. — Immerse the article to be cleaned (for a few minutes, until all dirt and rust is taken off) in a strong solution of cyanide of potassium, say about ounce in a wine-glassful of water; take out and clean with a tooth-brush, with a paste composed of cyanide of potassium, Castile soap, whiting and water

I have no idea what the bolting is which is in danger from rats, maybe some sort of cable or covering for cable? I really have not a clue!

Not all the advice is as extreme or dangerous sounding – here is a recipe for simply boiling rice, and it is exactly the same way my lovely Pakistani students taught me when I was teaching them English at school. You will get the fluffiest rice!

Rice – The way they boil rice in India is as follows:

1. into a saucepan of 2 quarts of water
2. when boiling, throw a tablespoonful of salt
3. then put in 1 pint of rice, previously well washed in cold water
4. let it boil 20 minutes
5. throw out in a colander
6. drain, and put back in the saucepan…
7. … which should be stood near the fire for several minutes.