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10 Lifehacks from 100 Years Ago

IMAGE CREDIT: 

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

In the late 1880s, cigarette manufacturers began inserting stiffening cards into their paper packs of cigarettes to strengthen the containers. It wasn't long before they got the idea to put artwork, trivia, famous people, and pretty girls onto those cards, grouped into collectible series. The cards, which continued into the 1940s, are highly valuable now, with the most expensive (bearing the face of stringent anti-smoking baseball player Honus Wagner) selling for $2.8 million in 2007.

In the 1910s, Gallaher Ltd of Belfast & London and Ogden's Branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co printed "How-To" series, with clever hints for both everyday and emergency situations. From steaming out a splinter to stopping a mad dog, these cigarette cards told you the smart way to handle many of life's problems.

(Please note these cards were published a hundred years ago, when safety was not as popular a pursuit as it is now. For that reason, we can't recommend trying any of these, as brilliant as they may be.)

http://mentalfloss.com/article/51702/10-lifehacks-100-years-ago

1. HOW TO MAKE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER

"Dissolve one pound of salt and half a pound of sal-ammoniac in two quarts of water and bottle the liquor in thin glass bottles holding about a quart each. Should a fire break out, dash one or more of the bottles into the flames, and any serious outbreak will probably be averted."

2. HOW TO EXTRACT A SPLINTER

"Fill a wide mouthed bottle with hot water nearly to the brim, and press affected part of hand tightly against mouth of bottle. The suction will pull down the flesh, and steam will soon draw out the splinter."

3. HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS

"Eggs for preserving must be newly laid, and by simply putting these into a box or tin of dry salt-burying the eggs right in the salt and keeping it in a cool dry place — it is possible to preserve them for a very long period. No air whatever should be allowed to get to the shell."

4. HOW TO FELL A TREE

"Having decided which side you wish the tree to fall, cut alternatively a downward and inward cut as shown. When about half through, proceed to cut the other side a few inches higher, and finally pull tree down by means of ropes."

5. HOW TO STOP A MAD DOG

"A scout's staff, a walking-stick, or even a handkerchief or hat may be held before you as shown. The dog invariably endeavours to paw down your defense before biting, thus giving you the opportunity of disabling him by a kick."

6. HOW TO KEEP PLANTS WATERED WHILE AWAY ON HOLIDAY

"Fill a large pail with water, and stand it a little above the level of the plants and group round or near as many plants as practical. Loosely plait two or three strands of wool together, immerse completely in water, and place one end in the pail, weighted, and touching the bottom. Rest the other end on the soil: a separate plait of wool is advisable for each pot."

7. HOW TO LIGHT A MATCH IN THE WIND

"The familiar difficulty of lighting a match in a wind can be to a great extent overcome if thin shavings are first cut on the match towards its striking end, as shown in the picture. On lighting the match the curled strips catch fire at once; the flame is stronger and has a better chance."

8. HOW TO MAKE A CHAIR TO CROSS A STREAM

"Fasten a strong rope to a tree and let a boy swim across the stream and fasten the other end to a tree on an opposite bank. Make the chair, fasten it to a running loop or a block pulley, and by means of a light rope fastened to the middle of (the) chair and held by a scout at each end, those unable to swim are safely passed over."

9. HOW TO RESCUE SOMEONE FROM ELECTRIC SHOCK

"In rescuing a person touched by a "live wire" do not attempt to take hold of him if he is still grasping the wire, unless your hands are protected by rubber gloves, a water-proof coat, or several thicknesses of dry cloth. Stand on glass or dry wood, and try and have (the) current switched off, and send at once for a doctor."

10. HOW TO MAKE A WATER FILTER

"A most handy and efficacious filter can be made out of an ordinary perfectly clean zinc water pail, through the bottom of which a hole has been drilled and a small pipe fitted. The water percolates through the layers of fine and coarse sand, and clean picked gravel and stones, with which the pail is filled, filtering through to the bottom in a clear state."

How to Make a Recycled Pallet Vertical Garden

http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-make-a-recycled-pallet-vertical-garden/

Yesterday in between snow flurries, sun, hail, snow, and more sun, I was able to use a few left over strawberry plants to create a wood pallet garden.  I first spotted this great idea at the Seattle Flower & Garden Show in February.

I asked the Handsome Husband if he could find me a couple of good clean pallets asap and he did.  He was able to bring home 2 pallets in great condition the very next day.

Here is how I made my wood pallet garden:

I started by wrapping the back and sides of the pallet with a double layer on landscape fabric.  Landscape fabric can be found this time of year at Costco or pretty much any home and garden store.  After cutting the landscape fabric, I then used an industrial stapler and stapled the fabric to the back and sides of the pallet {use a lot of staples}.

Here is what the back of the pallet looked like before I injected a ton of staples into the fabric.

Next, I set the pallet fabric side down, and filled the openings with potting soil.

You’ll want to make sure you push the soil underneath the slats.

If you don’t, when it comes time to stand your pallet up, the soil will slide, and your plants will end up behind the slats.

Next add your plants.  I filled this one with strawberries, but I plan on filling my next pallet garden with an assortment of herbs.

Here is a picture of the pallet garden up close.  This strawberry garden is still in the ugly duckling stage, but in a few short months the strawberry plants will fill out and cover the exposed dirt.Here is a picture of me with the inspiration for this project.

 I left my pallet on the ground for the time being.  I was afraid to stand it up at this point. I want the plants to have time to wrap their roots around the soil so the strawberry plants will be anchored in place.  In about a month when I stand the pallet upright, I will plant 6 more strawberry plants in the opening at the top of the pallet. 

Pallet Gardening 101: Creating a Pallet Garden

http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/pallet-gardening-101-creating-a-pallet-garden/

This year I will be planting a large salad garden, and I thought it would be fun to grow my lettuce and other greens in pallets to change things up a bit in the backyard.

All you really need to do a little pallet gardening is a wood pallet, some good soil and a few seeds. Using a wood pallet to start a garden can be a great space saver, plus as a bonus, there is no soil to til or weed. This is exactly the kind of project young children would love, especially if they could have their own wood pallet.

What to look for in a wood pallet:

If you live in the Tacoma area you can purchase new pallets from Girard Wood Products in Puyallup, Washington for about $9 each. We purchased our pallets here for this years wood pallet garden. The photo you see above is a picture of some recycled wood pallets we found behind buildings last year.

Personally, I suggest using a new, clean, fresh pallet.

But  if you like to live life on the edge, 

Here are a few pointers when looking for recycled pallets:

Look for a pallet that has HT stamped somewhere on the pallet. This means the pallet was heat treated, or kiln dried as opposed to chemically treated.

Because you can never be sure that chemicals were stored on an old pallet or that there is some sort of bacteria lurking inside the recycled pallets, I would scrub the wood down with some bleach and soapy water and let it dry out before using it to plant anything.

Also, watch out for old, rusty nails or staples.

When I first pictured my wood pallet garden, I thought I would only use 3 wood pallets. But every time I walked by something about it didn’t look right. So I decided to expand the pallet garden to include 6 wood pallets.

One of the cool things about gardening, is that there are so many different ways to grow food. So many containers to chose from, and more growing methods than I care to imagine. Everybody has an opinion, and there own way of doing things. And I think that’s the best part.

No two gardens will ever been the same, or have the same growing conditions, but the desire to try new things is something we all have in common. Wouldn’t you agree?

So here we go. This is my new pallet gardening area.  I planted more lettuce seeds this morning, and I’m ready to get started. Next on the agenda is getting the area mulched so it looks a little more put together and like it belongs in a suburban backyard.