TIMELY SUGGESTIONS

To Remove Iron Mold from Linen, wash the spots in a strong solution of cream of tartar and water. Repeat, if necessary, and dry in the sun.

Brush Silk with a piece of cotton velvet rolled up tight. For wash- ing, pour a pint of boiling water on a tablespoonful of alcohol. Let it stand till tepid, and sponge the goods with it.

Silk Pocket Ha7idkerchiefs and deep blue factory cotton will not fade if dipped in salt and water while new.

Wash-Leather Gloves should be washed in. clean suds scarcely wami.

Keep an old blanket and sheet on purpose for ironing ; have plenty of holders always made that your towels may not be burned out in such service.

Soap the dirtiest clothes and soak them in warm water over night. Use hard soap to wash the clothes and soft to wash floors. Soft soap is so slippery that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes.

Silk Neckties can be washed in rain-water, to one pint of which add a teaspoonful of white honey and one of hartshorn. Do not squeeze, but let them drip, and when nearly dry press between folds of cloth.

To Wash Red Table Li?ien, use tepid water, with a little powdered borax (borax sets the color) ; wash the linen separately and quickly, using very little soap; rinse in tepid water containing a little boiled starch ; hang to dry in the shade ; iron when almost dry.

To Take Out Fruit Stains, rub the part on each side with yellow soap ; then tie up a piece of pearlash in the cloth and soak well in hot water, or boil ; afterwards expose the stained parts to the sun and air until removed.

Remove Mildew from linen by wetting the spot, rubbing on chalk, and expusing it to the air. Diluted hartshorn will take out mildew from woolen stuffs. A weak solution of chloride of lime can be applied to almost any fabric, but must be used with care, especially on some colors.

To Take Out Tea 5/az«j, put the linen in a kettle of cold water; rub the stains well with common castile soap ; put the kettle on the side of the stove, to let the water get gradually warm ; wash it thoroughly in warm soap suds ; then rub the stain again with soap, and boil ; then rinse.

Clpt^ies can be Bleached by putting six cents worth of oxalic acid into a gallon of boiling water and pouring over them. Stir them up and let them remain in it till the water is cold, and then lay them out on the grass to bleach. They will soon be white as snow.

Bran or oatmeal will soften hard water. The bran should be sewn in a muslin bag and kept in the water all night. The oatmeal should be

TIMEL Y SUGGESTIONS. 245

treated as follows : Put two tablespoon fuls in a saucepan, pour a quantity of hot water upon it and boil a quarter of an hour ; strain and mix with the water as needed.

7(3 Remove Fruit Stains irovn a cambric handkerchief or other white goods, dip the stain in boiling milk. If this is not effectual, apply a very weak solution of chloride of lime, being careful to boil the hand- kerchief afterwards.

J/ Tablecloths, Napkins and Handkerchiefs are folded an inch or two beyond the middle they will last much longer; it is on the edges of folds where they first wear, and folding them not on a middle line, each ironing, they get a new crease.

To Make a Clothes Line Pliable, boil it an hour or two before using it. Let it dry in a warm room and do not allow it to " kink." They should be well wiped and taken down after each wash. Gutta percha lines are the best. Never leave out the clothes line over night, and see that clothes-pins are all gathered into a basket.

Silk, or anything that has silk in it, should be washed in water almost cold. Hot water turns silk yellow. It may be washed in suds made of nice white soap, but no soap should be put upon it. Avoid the use of hot irons in smoothing silk. Either rub the article dry with a soft cloth, or put them between towels and press them with weights.

To Re7nove Coffee Stains from table linen, pour boiling water through the stain before washing. The water must boil. If not quite boiling, it sets the stain.

If you are troubled to get soft water for washing, (ill a tub or barrel half full of ashes and fill it up with water, so that you may have lye whenever you need it, A gallon of strong lye put into a large kettle of hard water, will make it as soft as rain water For toilet purposes a teaspoonfal of borax to a pitcher of water will make the water soft, and is good for the complexion and teeth.

How to Wash Matting — Put a mixture of salt and lemon juice on the stains leave this for some hours without washing off ; then wash the whole matting with salt and water.

Zephyr Shawls and Hoods may be cleaned by putting them into a pan with some flour ; rub the articles as you would wash anything shake well and hang on the line, and they will look as fresh as new.

To Wash Black Lace — Carefully sponge the lace with gin or green tea ; wind around a bottle to dry. By filling the bottle with warm water it will dry more quickly. Don't put near the fire, or it will have a rusty appearance.

To Wash Fascinators — Make strong ammonia water; take the article, dip it up and down a few times and it will be clean, besides the colors will be freshened. Ammonia renews ribbons too. By putting a few teaspoonfuls of ammonia in the washtub with the first water, the clothes will require less rubbing.

246 , THE LA UNDR Y.

To Renovate Black Grenadine, take strong, cold coffee, and strain it, wring the grenadine out of it, quite tightly, after which shake out and fold up. Iron with a moderately hot iron, over a piece of old black material.

To Take Out Grease Spots from Cloth, make a weak dilution of ammonia and rub gently on the spot ; then lay a blotting paper over the place ; press a warm flat-iron on it, and it will disappear.

Common Starch, prepared as for regular washing, makes an excellent paste for scrap-books. Tiiat which is left over from the washing is just as good as if freshly prepared.

When color on a fabric has been destroyed, sponge it with acid ammonia, after which an application of chloroform will restore the original color.

Ink, if washed out or taken from the carpet with milk immediately it is spilled, can be almost entirely removed. Ink spots on floors can be extracted by scouring with sand wetted in oil of vitriol and water. When the ink is removed rinse with strong potash water.

A few drops of ammonia on a wet towel gently pressed on the edge of a soiled collar will whiten it. This is well to remember when travel- ing, where one cannot get a change of linen.

Cold Starch is much improved if made with soap-suds of white toi- let soap. Ripe tomatoes will remove stains from white cloth, also from hands. A teaspoonful of turpentine boiled with white clothes will aid materially in the bleaching process.

An Ox's Gall will set any color — silk, cotton or woolen. One spoon- ful of gall put into a gallon of warm water is sufficient for the above purpose. This is also excellent for taking out spots from bombazines, and after being washed in it they look about as good as new. It must be thoroughly stirred into water, and not put upon the cloth. It is used without soap. After being washed in it, cloth which you want to clean should be washed in warm suds, without using soap.

Housekeepers who are limited in their supply of good washing water,. can make it do double duty by dissolving alum in hot water, and throw it into the tub of soap-suds In a moment the soap will curdle, and. accompanied by muddy particles, will sink to the bottom, leaving the water perfectly clear and devoid of the smell of soap. This water can be used for washing a second time if poured off the sediment. Where water is scarce, this fact is invaluable.

Windsor Toilet Soap — Cut some nice white bar soap into thin slices, melt it over a slow fire, scent it with oil of lavender ; when all dissolved pour it into a mold and let it remain a week, then cut it into the required size.

Shaving Soap — A very fine shaving soap solution may be made by taking a quarter of a pound of white castile soap in shaving, one pint

MEDICAL. 247

of rectified spirit, one gill of water ; perfume to taste ; put in a bottle, cork tightly, set in warm water for a short time, and agitate occasion- ally till the solution is complete. Let stand, pour the liquid off the dregs, and bottle for use.