Vintage recipes and hints

I seem to have inherited some of my grandmother's cook books too. 
It's fascinating to dip back into them, and some of the hints are still good.
Maybe with today's babies wearing amber teething beads it would be useful to know that in our grandmother's day they washed these in milk. I'm not quite sure why. Or if a recipe calls for self-raising flour and you don't have any:

SELF RAISING FLOUR
8lb flour
4 oz cream of tartar
2 oz baking soda

Sieve several times.

Do you have trouble keeping your celery crisp? Place it in the fridge in a sealed container with just a little water in the bottom. It will keep crisp for ages.
However I'm not so sure about the pest control suggestions which included sprinkling powdered glass to deter rats and mice - or the one for DDT to kill ants. 
If you want to know how to clean Bakelite or playing cards - just ask me!
I would welcome your comments.