THE LAUNDRY

To keep flannels from shrinking, pulling them and drying quickly has more to do in keeping the garments in their original shape and size than the washing. No doubt squeez- ing the flannels in hot, soapy water, instead of rubbing them, is the better way. But in a large family, where there are four or five boys to wash for, and of course there are numbers of stockings and other flannels soiled, we should quietly permit them to be rubbed.

Nice lace should be soaked — not washed — in soapy water, and carefully rinsed in fair water. Some think a little coffee added to the water gives the yellowish tint seen in nice lace when new. It should neither be starched nor ironed. The lace, particularly the edge, should be carefully pulled until dry, and then placed under a heavy weight.

Muslins, cambrics, or any stamped cotton goods, look much better if washed in thin starch water.

Prints that are likely to fade if washed in ordinary soap- suds, will retain their colors perfectly if washed in starch - water.

For stiffening shirt-bosoms, collars and cuffs, we think cold starch greatly preferable to the boiled. There will be no trouble in ironing them if, after starching, they are dipped quickly into clear cold water, and allowed to remain folded an hour or more before ironing. Table cloths, napkins, and, in fact, all linen, should be very damp when ironed, and iron until perfectly dry.

To Wash Colored Muslins. — Wash in warm (not hot) soap suds, made with soft water and best white soap, if it is to be had. Do not soak them, and wash only one thing at a time. Change the suds as sood as it becomes dingy, and put the gar- ments at once into fresh suds. Rinse first in clear water, then in slightly blued. Squeeze quite dry, but don't wring the dress. Hang in a shady place where the sunshine will not strike it, as that fades all colors.

To Wash Delicate Colored Muslins. — Boil wheat bran (about two quarts to a dress) in soft water half an hour, let it cool, strain the liquor, and use it instead of soap-suds; it removes dirt like soap, keeps the color, and the clothes only need rinsing in one water, and even starching is unnecessary. Suds and rinsing water for colored articles should be used as cold as possible. Another way is to make thick corn meal mush, well salted, and use instead of soap; rinse in one or two waters and do not starch.

To Bleach Muslin. — For thirty yards of muslin, take one pound of chloride of lime, dissolve in two quarts rain water; let cloth soak over night in warm rain water, or long enough to be thoroughly wet; wring out cloth and put in another tub of warm rain water in which the chloride of lime solution has been poured. Let it remain for about twenty minutes, lifting up the cloth and airing every few moments, and rinse in clear rain water. This will not injure the cloth in the least, and is much less troublesome than bleaching on the grass.

Washing Fluid. — Dissolve five pounds sal soda and one of borax in a gallon of boiling water ; slake one pound of lime in another gallon of water, pour both together and allow to stand till perfectly clear, pour off into glass jars and keep for use. Put clothes to soak over night with soap on the soiled parts; in the morning wring out, put into a boiler filled in the pro- portion of one pint of fluid to four pails of water, with soap also added. Boil for ten minutes, take out, rub through one water, and rinse through two. If a machine is used, take from the boiler to the machine, and rinse as above.

The Laundry.

To Wash Flannels in Boiling Water. — Make a strong suds of boiling water and soft soap — hard soap makes flannels stiff' and wiry — put them in, pressing them clown under the water with a clothes stick; when cool enough rub the articles carefully between the hands, then wring — but not through the wringer — as dry as possible, shake, snap out, and pull each piece into its original size and shape, then throw immediately into another tub of boiling water in which you have thor- oughly mixed some nice bluing. Shake them up and down in this last water with a clothes stick until cool enough for the hands, then rinse well, wring, shake out and pull into shape — the snapping and pulling are as necessary as the washing — and hang in a sunny place where they will dry quickly. Man}" prefer to rinse in two waters, with the bluing in the last, and this is always advisable when there are man}7 flannels.

To Make Bluing for Clothes. — One ounce Prussian blue, half ounce oxalic acid. Dissolve in one quart rain water; strain; bottle. — Mrs. A. Bogers.

To Prevent Blue from Fading. — To prevent blue from fad- ing, put an ounce of sugar of lead into a pail of water, soak the material in the solution for two hours, and let dry before being washed and ironed. Good for all shades of blue.

Coffee Starch. — Make a paste of two table-spoons best starch and cold water; when smooth stir in a pint of perfectly clear coffee, boiling hot; boil five or ten minutes, stir with a spermaceti or wax candle, strain, and use for all dark calicoes, percales and muslins.

Flour Starch. — Have a clean pan or kettle on stove with one quart boiling water, into which stir three heaping table-spoons of flour, previously mixed smooth in a little cold water; stir steadily until it boils, and then often enough 10 keep from burning. Boil about five minutes, strain while hot through a crash towel. The above quantity is enough for one dress, and will make it nice and stiff'. Flour starch is considered better for all calicoes than fine starch, since it makes them stiffer, and the stiffness is longer retained.

To Make Fine Starch. — Wet the starch smooth in a little cold water, in a large tin pan, pour on a quart of boiling water to two or three table-spoons starch, stirring rapidly all the while; place on stove, stir until it boils, and then occasionally. Boil from five to fifteen minutes, or until the starch is perfectly clear. Some add a little salt, or butter, or pure lard, or stir with a sperm candle; others add a tea-spoon kerosene to one quart starch; this prevents the stickiness sometimes so annoy- ing in ironing. Either of the above ingredients is an improve- ment to flour starch. Many, just before using starch, add a little bluing. Gold starch is made from starch dissolved in cold water, being careful not to have it too thick; since it rots the clothes it is not advisable to use it. The same is true of potato starch.

Enamel for Shirt Bosoms. — Melt together with a gentle heat one ounce white wax and two ounces spermaceti; prepare in the usual wa}^ a sufficient quantity of starch for a dozen bosoms, put into it a piece of this enamel the size of a hazel nut, and in proportion for a larger number. This will give clothes a beautiful polish.

Polish for Shirt Fronts and Collars. — One ounce sper- maceti, one ounce white wax, one-half table-spoon castor oil, two ounces gum arabic and three tea-spoons salt mixed. Pro- cess: Melt together the spermaceti, wax and oil, pulverize the gum arabic and mix with the salt; add that: then melt again and cool. One table-spoon of polish to a table-spoon of starch. Boil the starch thirty minutes. — Mrs. Webb.

Starch Polish. — Take common dry potato or wheat starch sufficient to make a pint of starch when boiled. Then add half a drachm of spermaceti and half a drachm of white wax, and then use it as common starch, only using the iron as hot as possible. In this manner a brilliant polish is produced.

Gall Soap. — For washing woolens, silks, or fine prints liable to fade : One pint beef's gall, two pounds common bar soap cut fine, one quart boiling soft water; boil slowly, stirring occa- sionally until well mixed; pour into a flat vessel, and when cold cut into pieces to dry.

The Laundry.

Bar Soap. — To make fifteen pounds. Take seven pounds of slry kind bar soap; cut into thin slices and put in a dish. Then take two pounds of sal soda, one pound unslacked lime and put into another dish. Pour over it two gallons of soft water (boiling), and stir well. Let it settle and pour off into the dish containing the soap. Put on the fire and let it remain until the soap is all dissolved. Dissolve one ounce of alum, and two of borax. Stir the soap and put in the alnm and bo- rax just as the soap is taken from the fire. Let the soap cool and then put in one ounce of benzine. When it becomes hard it can be cut into any sized bars desired. The same ingredi- ents, in the same proportion and made the same way, with the exception of substituting common home-made soft soap, will make excellent soft soap. — Mrs. Robert Saltsman.

Hard Soap. — Four gallons of water, six pounds of washing soda, six pounds of clean fat, three and one-half pounds of stone lime. Put the lime and soda in the water and boil until the soda is dissolved; then pour it into a tub and let it settle; then pour off the water gently, with as little lime as possible ; then add the fat and boil it until done. Take a little out in a saucer, and if no water remains under when cold it is done. Pour it in deep pans, or a tub, and when cold cut in bars.

To Remove Ink Stains. — While an ink spot is fresh, take warm milk and saturate the stain; let it stand a few hours: then apply more fresh milk ; rub it well and it will soon disap- pear. If the ink has become dry, use salt and vinegar or salts of lemon.

To Remove Fruit Stains From Table Linens. — Spread the stained parts over a large bowl and pour on boiling water. Re- peat several times before putting into soap-suds.

The End of Ironmould. — To remove ironmould from linen, etc., take tartaric acid, half an ounce: powdered salt of sorrel, half an ounce. Mix. Put boiling water into a basin, put a plate upon it; wet the spot with water, dip your finger into the powder, or put a small quantity to the spot, rub it gently, and the ink or ironmould will entirely disappear, without the least damage to the lace, lawn, muslin, etc.

The Laundry.

Care of Irons. — When irons become rough or smoky, lay a little fine salt on a flat surface and rub them well; it will pre- vent them sticking to any thing starched, and make them smooth; or scour with bath brick before heating, and when hot .rub well with salt, and then with a small piece of beeswax tied up in a rag, after which wipe clean on a dry cloth. A piece of fine sandpaper is also a good thing to have near the stove, or a hard, smooth board covered with brick dust to rub each iron on when it is put back on the stove, so that no starch may re- main to be burnt on. Put beeswax between pieces of paper or cloth and keep on the table close by the flat-iron stand. If the irons get coated with scorched starch, rub them over the paper that holds the wax and it will all come off. Rubbing the iron over the waxed paper, even if no starch adheres, adds to the glossiness of the linen that is ironed.

To Take Out Scorch. — If a shirt-bosom, or any other arti- cle, has been scorched in ironing, lay it where bright sunshine will fall directly on -it. It will take it entirely out.

Flat Irons. — If your flat irons are rough and smoky, lay a little fine salt on a flat surface and rub them well. It will pre- vent them from sticking to anything starched, and make them smooth.

House Plants and Flowers.