Recipe? For what?

[Southern Gardener]

9lbs sugar
7 1/2 drams tartaric acid
7 1/2 benzoate soda
1 1/4 lb honey
15 drams sodium arsenite
burnt sugar color 9
1 pint of water to every pound of sugar
1 pint of water to disolve 15 drams arsenite

Is this for perserving?

 

[Rosalind]

Sodium arsenite? I think it's an old-fashioned recipe for homemade weed killer, actually. That's what most arsenites were used for in the olden days. They also used to spray it on old apple orchards as bug killer.

Arsenite, just like it sounds, contains arsenic. Not very healthy, and not to be used in modern times due to groundwater contamination issues--that crud stays in the dirt for-freakin'-ever.

 

[Southern Gardener]

I've acquired a stack of books that belonged to my grandmother, two great aunts and uncles. I found this written in a book that belonged to my grandmother. I don't think I'll be mixing up this cocktail!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I wonder if it's a recipe for a colouring & preservative for wood ??? .

I love books full of old tips etc. I have a small collection of them -- I wonder if they contain anything similar to this?

:rose Hattie :rose