Even going back to the 40s and 50s, most books of household hints will suggest using an actual fly spray to kill flies. The Laurel Recipe Book and Household Guide recommended one called Flit (made by Laurel), which “contains DDT and Pyrethrum and is the most deadly of all insecticides,

No book of household hints would be complete without a lot of advice on stain removal. Some of the advice is reasonably universal, and then there is some that is a bit more idiosyncratic. Although kerosene was a popular choice of cleaner, if you want something slightly less inflammable, the

Cooking times in these old cookbooks can go one of two ways. You can either spend a minute pressure cooking your spinach and 30 seconds on your tomatoes, or for regular boiling of vegetables on the stove, you could use these times from the Edmonds Cookery Book, seventh edition. * Cauliflower

British and NZ books of advice before about 1960 were full of advice involving black lead, so it was kind of disappointing to learn that black lead didn’t actually contain lead. Black lead was the British English word for graphite, and was also the generic term for any kind

If Health Soup doesn’t sound appealing, there are plenty of bland recipes in the invalid cookery sections of old cookbooks that should be equally soothing to an upset stomach. Mrs Tuckford’s Cookery for the Middle Classes has this recipe for fish custard: 1 oz. Farola, 1 pint milk,

Glycerine has a lot of uses around the home apart from moistening a dry Christmas cake. The Household Encyclopedia recommends it for removing coffee, tobacco, fruit, mustard, ink, lipstick, and mercurochrome stains. The CWI Cookery Book includes it in this recipe for non-greasy face lotion: Four tablespoons of elderflower water,