DIRECTIONS ABOUT WASHING, &c.

The design of these directions is to assist the inexperienced; to teach those who are unacquainted with the business of washing, how to do it, and those who can afford to employ others, how to direct them; and also to discover where the fault lies when it is not done well.

As I write only for the uninitiated, I shall be excused for being very minute; and for giving some preliminary hints, needed only by learners.

For the family wash, good water, and good soap are indispensable. Rain, river, or spring water is best, but in some places the well-water is soft, and good for washing. Clothes washed repeatedly in hard water with common soap, will soon become too yellow to be worn, and can never be made white again. As the supply of soft water sometimes fails where a cistern is depended on, it may be well to mention that hard water can be made to answer the purpose, temporarily, by dissolving in it the sub-carbonate of soda, commonly called washing-soda. Put a large table-spoonful into three or four pails of water while it is heating, and then use the olive-soap both for rubbing and boiling the clothes. Remember that soda must not be used in washing calicoes or flannels. It will spoil both. Here it may be well to say that white clothes which are constantly washed with soda, will, when laid aside a few months become of a deep yellow color, not easily removed by any ordinary bleaching process.

Provide a wash bench of convenient height, three tubs, one a large one for rinsing,[19] a water ladle, a pail to be kept for use about the washing alone, a washing board, a clothes stick, clothes pins, a line and two baskets; one cheap coarse one in which to drain the clothes, when taken from the boiling-kettle, and a better one for taking them to the line, and for laying them in to when folded for the ironing. Have good soft soap, which, if you cannot readily procure at the manufactory, you can make with very little trouble.[20] Bar-soap is not necessary for white clothes, provided the soft is of a nice quality. The olive soap is a great improvement on the common yellow soap. If it is several months old, it spends economically, cleanses quickly, and is not sharp to the hands.

When clothes are very much soiled, they should be put into a tub of warm suds over night.

Borax soap is so effectual in cleansing soiled clothes, that the use of it essentially diminishes the labor of washing. To prepare it, put together bar soap, borax, and hot water in the following proportions,—a pound of the soap, cut into small pieces, an ounce of powdered borax, and a quart of hot water. Mix the ingredients together over the fire, but see that it does not boil. When it is cold, cut it up in cakes, and use it like common hard soap. Put the clothes which are most soiled, or if you choose, all the white clothes of the wash into quite a warm suds made with this soap, and let them remain from Saturday evening until Monday morning. This method is recommended by very good housekeepers.

To do the Washing. Sort the clothes, putting the finest and cleanest by themselves, to be washed first and the coarse and more soiled ones together. Where there are white clothes enough to make two or three boilings, sort them accordingly; always boil coarse towels by themselves. If there are fine calicoes, nice ginghams, or delicate printed muslins, separate them from the common ones, and also the white flannel, angola, or merino articles from the colored woollens.

The tub should be a third full of water, not hot, but very warm. Stir in soap enough to make a weak suds, and put in the nicest clothes. Rub handkerchiefs, night-caps, and other fine articles between the hands, using a little soap. Never rub them on a washboard. As fast as they are washed, wring and shake them open, and put them into an old pillow case or white bag, else they will be liable to be torn by the weight of the larger articles when taken out of the boiling kettle. Some persons keep a large bag in which they boil all the white clothes together; if the kettle is a nice one, so that there is no danger of iron mould, or any kind of stain, it is better to boil them without it. Use a wash-board for the large articles, and for those which are not easily made clean, and use more soap than for the fine things, taking special pains with places that are most soiled. All articles worn upon the person should be washed on both sides, and special pains taken with seams and hems. If there are streaks which you cannot entirely wash out, rub soap on them after you have wrung out the article ready for the boiling.

Lay all the washed clothes together in an empty tub or the draining basket, until you have enough for the first boiling. Then dip out all the hot water from the kettle into a tub, and cover it over with a thick cloth, in order to keep it hot for washing more clothes. Put a pail or two of cold water into the kettle, and a large spoonful of soft soap—more if the kettle is a large one. Shake open and lay in the clothes, and add enough more water to cover them. Do not crowd the boiler very full; the clothes will not look as well, and beside, the water will be continually boiling over. Have a good fire, push the clothes down often with the stick, and let them boil steadily, half an hour. Set the draining basket upon a tub, with two or three strips of board laid across, to keep it up. A little frame, somewhat like the cheese ladder used in a dairy, is more convenient. Place the tub near the boiler, and take out the clothes with the stick. When this is done, dip out part of the boiling suds, cover it, and set it aside to be used as occasion requires. Add cold water to the kettle, and put in more clothes. Continue washing until all the white clothes are rubbed, remembering to dip out part of the dirty water from the tub now and then, and add some of the boiling suds which you have kept covered. When the clothes in the basket are well drained, put them into a tub of clean cold water, and take more clothes from the boiler into the draining basket. When all the white clothes are rubbed, and while the last of them are still boiling, get the second rinsing water ready in the largest tub. (Some people have an idea that clothes look best rinsed in hard water, because rain-water is not so white as the other. But rain-water is the best, because it takes out the soap more thoroughly.) Fill the rinsing tub two thirds full of water, squeeze the blue-bag in it two or three times, and stir till the water is equally blue.[21]

When you wring the clothes from the first rinsing-water, see whether the streaks you could not rub out have disappeared. If not, they can probably be removed quickly now. Wring the clothes dry, else the suds remaining in them will make the last rinsing water soapy. If the wash is large, dip off part of the water, when half of the clothes are wrung out, and add clean water, and a little more blueing. Strength, and some practice are necessary, to wring large articles dry, and the appearance of the clothes will but poorly pay for the labor bestowed, if this part of the work is not well done. Perhaps it is the most fatiguing part of washing. The inventor of a good machine for wringing clothes will deserve and have, the thanks of many a toil-worn woman.

When the white clothes are upon the line, take boiling suds and wash the coarse towels; boil them in a clean water, or in some of the last rinsing-water. Wash them thoroughly as the table-cloths; not negligently because they are coarse. If the weather is wet, let the clothes lie in the rinsing-water till a fair day, but omit the blueing, as it will be apt to settle in streaks upon them; or some of the articles will be very blue, while others will not be so at all. If the weather threatens to be rainy, better not put them out, as they cannot be taken in half dry, and carried out while damp to be put on the line again, without getting more or less soiled. If the wind is violent, let them lie in the water even if it is fair (unless they can be hung up in an attic or wood-house chamber or in a yard sheltered from the wind), as the hems will very likely be snapped from the corners of the sheets and table-cloths, and all the clothes will be more worn (even if they are not torn) by being blown half a day, than by two months' use from week to week. In the winter when they will freeze stiff in a few minutes, and there is a strong wind, they are liable to be torn. I have known a large and new table-cloth, cracked completely across, in a few minutes after being hung out. Small and fine articles, like caps, collars, handkerchiefs, and baby's dresses should be dried in the house in severe winter weather. Clothes are made very white by the night frosts, and where the yard is sheltered from the wind it is well to leave them out sometimes for that reason, provided there is no danger of their being stolen.

When the last boiling is done, dip out all the water and save it as before. Heat clean water for the flannels and other woollens. These should be washed in quite warm water with good soft soap. Bar-soap makes woollens hard and wiry. Wash the finest and most delicate articles first. If they are much soiled use considerable soap so as to get them clean quickly without much rubbing, for it is this which fulls up flannels, as we may know from the fact that it is by a similar process cloth is made thick at the fulling-mill. As fast as they are done throw them into a plenty of scalding water. If they lie in a pile until all are washed, they will shrink. When you can bear your hands in the water, wring them and throw them into another; from this last water wring them dry, snap them well, and hang them out. Few people rinse flannels twice, but they look enough better to pay for the trouble. If the soap is not rinsed out, they will shrink, and also become yellow. The water used for the white flannels is fit for the colored ones, and for mixed footings, or calicoes. All sorts of stockings should be washed first on the right side, and then upon the other.

Red flannel preserves the color best, and is softest, washed in hard water. A sailor's red flannels, that have been, during a long voyage, often tied to a rope and towed through the waves, look better and feel softer than those washed at home. A word here in regard to the purchase of flannels, will not be out of place. It is the best economy to buy those made of soft wool. They will shrink very little, while coarse wool flannels will grow small and thick every week, and no pains-taking can prevent it.

After hanging out the woollens, wash the calicoes in clean water, with hard soap, and rinse them twice. Have the starch[22] ready, and dip them before they are hung up. Calicoes should be thrown into the rinsing water as fast as they are washed. Even firm colors are injured by lying. If the weather is not fair leave them in the second rinsing, but put the light and dark ones into separate tubs, unless the colors are perfectly fast. Put a little salt into the water. They will not be injured any more than white clothes, by lying in the water over night. Nice calicoes and ginghams should be dried in the shade, and so put upon the line as to dry quickly. Hang a dress in an angle of the line near the post, with the waist down; put one pin at the turn of the line, and one on each side, a few feet from the angle, so that the hem of the skirt will form a triangle. When the skirt is dry, except near the waist, shake open the waist and sleeves, and reverse the dress, pinning the shoulders to the line.

Calicoes should not be sprinkled till the morning of the day they are ironed. The colors sometimes run together when they are folded over night, and in very warm weather, the starch in a dress that is sprinkled in the evening will become sour by the next morning. In July and August, damp clothes that lie folded together two nights, are very liable to become mildewed. Care should be taken that soiled articles are not put aside in a damp state, during the week, for the next wash. Sad accidents have occurred through want of care in this particular.

For the assistance of ladies who are not able to detect the reasons, if their clothes do not come from the laundry in good order, I will specify a few particulars as to the causes.

If good water and soap are provided, and yet the white clothes look badly, it is owing to one, or possibly, all, of the following things—their not being well assorted, the coarse clothes, and those most soiled being washed and boiled with the best ones; or perhaps those places which required special care, had no more rubbing than other parts. If the seams of underclothes are not clean, it is because they are not turned, after being washed on the right side, and well rubbed on the other. If the clothes look yellow, perhaps the washer uses too small a quantity of water, and neglects to dip off, often, that which is cool and dirty, and add more which is hot; and very likely too many are crowded into the boiler at once. If they are not wrung dry from the first rinsing-water, before being thrown into the second, they will be yellow; and lastly, if they are not well wrung out of the second, they will have soapy streaks in the gathers and hems. If spots of iron mould appear, perhaps the washer is not careful to avoid touching the clothes while wet, to the wire handles of the tubs or pails. If the calicoes fade more than you had reason to expect, very likely they are washed in boiling suds. The soft soap in it will spoil them; and besides, it is never clean enough for nice calicoes. It is a good way to have calico dresses washed on some other day by themselves; it will be easier to have them done well. If the flannels are becoming dingy, it may be that they too are washed in the water in which the white clothes were boiled, and then rinsed but once. If they shrink, although made of fine wool, probably the soap is not all rinsed out, and that they were laid together in a pile, and became cold before they were thrown into scalding water. If they retain the wrinkles after being ironed, they were not well shaken out (or snapped) before being put out to dry. They should not be sprinkled; but if laid in the basket over night with the folded white clothes, they will be just damp enough to iron smooth. If the toes of the footings, and woollen stockings feel stiff, they were not washed clean.

Some domestics bestow great care upon the nicest articles, and take no pains with common ones. This is neither neat or economical. All clothes that are both washed and ironed well, keep clean longest.

There are some advantages in a lady's taking the clothes from the bars, after they are ironed, herself. She sees at once whether they are well washed without the trouble of unfolding them to examine, and all those which need mending can then be most conveniently laid apart from the rest. I will only add to these minute directions, that the boiler should be left perfectly dry, and the tubs, &c., rinsed and put away clean. It is good economy after the usual cleaning is done, to save all the suds to water the garden and trees. The good effects will soon reward the trouble.

Starching, Ironing, and Polishing Gentlemen's Linen.

To make the Starch—Dissolve three table-spoonfuls of the best of starch in cold water, and stir it very fast into a quart of boiling water, and boil it half an hour. Five minutes before it is done, put in a piece of spermaceti the size of a large walnut, and stir until it is well mixed. Dip the linen as soon as you can bear your hands in the starch, and see that every part is thoroughly wet, or you will have what are called blisters. Fold the collars in a dry towel. Fold the shirts through the middle up and down, so as to bring the two parts of the bosom together, that the starch may not get on any other part of the shirt. Let them lie over night.

A bosom board is indispensable. Have a piece of board eight inches by eighteen; cover one side with three thicknesses of flannel; fasten it at the edges with small tacks. Then cover both sides with three thicknesses of cotton, sewed on tight and perfectly smooth.

Iron a shirt completely (the bosom upon the side of the board where the flannel is), then hang it on the bars to air. After about an hour, lay the bosom on the hard side of the board, dip a soft towel in cold water, wring it dry, and brush the bosom until it looks a little damp. Then lay it upon the softest side and use the polishing iron quickly, pressing with all your strength. The polishing iron is very different from the common flat-iron, and far better for this use. It is oblong, and rounded at each end. They are to be found at all the hardware stores, and are not expensive. If there is any roughness upon the iron, touch it when nearly hot with bees-wax tied up in a rag.

A porcelain, or tin saucepan should be kept for making starch, and used for nothing else. The linen ironed by the lady who furnished these directions, was an ample recommendation of them.

To wash Calicoes, the colors of which are not Fast.

Pare and cut up a dozen or fifteen potatoes, and boil them in five or six quarts of water. Strain off the water through a hair sieve, and when it is cool enough to put your hands in it, wash the dress without soap. The starch imparted to the water by the potatoes will cleanse it, and also make it stiff enough without other starch even after passing through the rinsing water. If there is green in the calico, dissolve a piece of alum half as large as an egg, in a pailful of water to rinse it. If there are grease spots upon a dress, a thread should be run around them before it is washed, so that those places may receive special care, else they will be as distinct as ever, after being ironed. If washing does not remove them, use chloric ether, or new spirits of turpentine. Some very nice managers use beef's gall in washing calicoes to prevent their being faded. It is good for the purpose, but the odor is unpleasant, and will be perceptible when the dress is worn, unless it is used sparingly. A table-spoonful of the gall, to a pailful of suds is enough. Put what you do not use into a bottle, with a large table-spoonful of salt, and cork it tight. It is very useful in removing grease from woollens, and cleaning the collars of coats.

To wash Mourning Calicoes, Muslins, and Lawns.

Wash them in perfectly clean water; and if the color comes out, soak them until the water is clear, even if it should require two or three days, changing the water twice a day. A black calico that parts with much of the dye in washing, will have rusty streaks in it, and look like an old thing, if it is dried without being soaked. But in the way directed, a dress of good quality can be done up many times without losing its beauty, as experience amply proves. Such dresses should not be sprinkled over night, before being ironed.

To Wash, Starch, and Iron Muslins, Laces, etc.

Soiled muslins should be looked over and mended before being washed. Embroidered articles should be basted in exact shape upon a piece of flannel or other soft cloth. The muslin will be less liable to be frayed or torn by the weight of the needlework. Common laces should be folded evenly together into many thicknesses, and then basted through and through around the edges, with a fine needle and thread. Soak these various articles in warm water with Castile or olive soap in it. After a few hours, or the next day, squeeze them dry (never rub or wring them); put on more soap, pour on hot water, and let them stand another day. Then squeeze them dry, and examine them. If they are not white, lay them loosely into a broad dish or platter, with warm suds in it, and set them in the sun a day or two; or, put them into a large white glass bottle, with a wide mouth, fill it with warm suds and set it in the sun. Turn the muslins over now and then, and also turn the bottle round, so as to give every side the benefit of the sun. This is a very good way where there is no grass-plot which can be used for bleaching. There can be no better way of whitening muslins than to dip the articles in soap suds, spread them on clean grass and let them lie two or three days and nights, wetting them once or twice a day with suds. When you take them from the grass rinse them twice in a plenty of water, the last time with blueing in it. Squeeze them dry as possible, then dip all in fine starch, except those articles which should be very stiff, and they should be dried before being starched. Sort them, dip those which need most stiffness first, then add hot water enough to make the starch thinner for the next, and lastly still more, for dipping those which need very little stiffness. Hang them all out of doors to dry, unless the weather is cold enough to freeze. When dry, sprinkle them very wet, or squeeze them in cold water, pull them out a little, and lay them two or three double in a sheet—a linen one if they are to be ironed in an hour or two; a cotton one if they are not to be done till the next day—this, because they keep damp much longer in cotton than in linen. To wash elegant, expensive laces, sew a piece of white flannel closely around a common junk bottle, and wind the lace round and round perfectly smooth, and with a fine needle and thread, baste it enough to keep it in place. If the lace is pointed, pass the needle and thread through each point; put the bottle into a jar or deep pitcher filled with warm suds. Change the water once a day for two or three days; then put the bottle into the boiler with the finest white clothes on washing day; as soon as it is taken from the boiler, and cooled a little, rinse it again and again in a plenty of cold water, then wrap a soft, dry towel around it to press out the water, and set it in the sun. When the lace has become entirely dry, take out all the threads, unwind it, and wear it without starching.

Our grandmothers would have thought an elegant lace nearly spoilt by being washed in any other way than this, and a very nice way it is. Having once tried it, you will prefer to wash your laces yourself, rather than pay a French laundress for doing them not half as well.

When you iron muslins, pull them gently into shape, fold and lay them on a plate, and cover them with a bowl, to keep the edges from getting too dry. Have clean irons, and rub each one before using it with a bit of wax or spermaceti tied up in a piece of cotton, and wipe it on a clean rag. This is to prevent the starch from sticking to the iron. Lay the muslin upon the ironing board, the wrong side up, and always move the iron in the direction of the threads. The article will be out of shape, and look badly, if ironed diagonally. Bobbinet laces, if ironed at all, should be ironed diagonally, as in this way only can the mesh retain its shape. Dip them in stiff starch, and after drying them, dip them again, then pin them out upon a bed. They will dry soon, and will need only to be folded even, and a warm iron set upon them to press the folds flat. Whether pressed or not they will look like new bobbinet, and this is a very convenient way when a lady is so situated that she cannot iron her own kerchiefs, or get them done to her liking by others.

To iron lace or edging, carefully pull into shape the points or scollops, and pearling; lay it the wrong side up with the wrought edge from you, pass the iron along the edge nearest you, and then, beginning at the right hand end, move it out from you. Do this the whole length or a yard at a time, then adjust every part even, and pass the iron over it again and again until it is dry. Lay every piece, as you finish it, upon a waiter or dish, so that you will not have occasion to handle it again till you lay it in its place.

Needlework should be ironed upon clean flannel, and be long enough under the iron to dry it, as it will look ill if laid away damp.

Wrought collars, so much worn as to be easily torn by being washed, if they are not badly soiled, may be squeezed out of cold water, rolled in a dry cloth for a few minutes, and then ironed. The same may be done with plain muslins that are only tumbled. Sometimes it is convenient to be able to produce a clean collar in a few minutes.

It is convenient to have a board expressly for ironing caps, collars, cuffs, laces, and other small articles. It should be about two feet long, a foot and a half wide, covered on one side with four or five thicknesses of cotton cloth sewed on tight and perfectly smooth, and covered with white flannel.

To make fine Starch.

There is a great difference in the quality of starch. It is but labor lost to make use of that which is not good. There is so much difference in the quantity of gluten in this article, that no precise measure can be given. Those who are least experienced will soon learn the proportion needed for any given number of articles.

A small sauce-pan or porringer should be kept for boiling starch, and used for nothing else. Boil the water in the porringer, wet the starch smooth in a little cold water, and pour it in slowly, stirring steadily till it has become of equal thickness. Leave it to boil moderately eight or ten minutes. If starch is pure, and well made, it need not be strained. The leg of a fine cotton stocking makes a very good strainer.

To make Flour Starch.

Wet white flour smooth in cold water, and pour it into boiling water, just like the fine starch. Some people do not boil it; others think dresses retain the stiffness longer if it is boiled. It should be so made as to have no lumps in it, and if it is not, it should be strained through a fine colander. Allow a table-spoonful of flour, and nearly three pints of water for a dress. If there are several dresses and skirts to be dipped, divide the starch into two or three parcels, because the first article put into it will take too large a proportion of the stiffness, and leave what remains too thin for the rest. Reserve those which need least stiffness to be starched last.

To Whiten or Bleach.

The best time in the year is the month of May. The dew at that period has a peculiar efficacy for bleaching. In the country, where clean grass plots are accessible, it is a good way to take all the white clothes of the week's wash, from the first rinsing water, or from the boiling suds, and lay them on the grass. After two or three nights take them up before they are dry in the morning, rinse them well, and put them on the line. Their improved appearance will pay for the trouble. In August, clothes should never be more than one day and night upon the grass, lest they become mildewed. In the winter, they will whiten fast, in sunny weather, upon clean snow; and leaving them on the line in the frost over night, after being washed makes them white.

To wash Thibet Cloths, Bombazines, Mouslin de Laines, and Plaids.

If you wish to make over a dress before it is badly worn or soiled, rip it, and sponge it in warm water with Castile soap in it. Sponge a piece at a time, on the side which is to be out, and iron it on the other side, until perfectly dry. The irons should be quite hot but not so as to change the color. If it is hung upon the bars or laid away, damp, it will curl and look old.

Thibet cloths of good quality last so long that they are worth being done up twice. After doing good service, till parts of the waist and sleeves are worn out the dress should be ripped and washed (sponging will not answer), and if it is of a color that fades at all, wash with it any new pieces that you may have to use in making it over. Wash it just as you would a nice flannel, with Castile or olive soap, and then rinse it in two clear warm waters. Remember not to wring it either time as it is almost impossible to iron out the wrinkles. Squeeze out the suds a little before you rinse it. Let it drip as it hangs upon the clothes line, for twenty minutes or half an hour; and before the upper edge begins to dry, and while the lower edge is still wet, turn the lower edge up over the line, and the dry edge down, and let it hang a few minutes, then fold each piece, and lay them in a pile with a damp cloth round them. Have a steady good fire, and several irons, and press them upon the wrong side until dry.

Bombazines if not badly soiled, can be sponged, in the same way as the Thibet cloths. If they are to be made up the same side out as before, sponge that side, and iron on the other. If they need to be washed, it is usually best that they should be made up the inside out, and of course should be ironed on what has been the right side. Wash them just like Thibet cloth. The black bombazines, and other similar fabrics worn in mourning, all wash well, and can be done repeatedly, and each time look so well as to reward the trouble.

Wash de laines and plaids in the same way. It is safe to use the genuine olive soap for those of the most beautiful colors; they will remain unchanged.

To wash Shawls.

Almost all kinds of shawls bear washing; and they should be done as the Thibet cloths and de laines, except that when there is much white in them, or they are composed chiefly of delicate colors, there should be a very little blueing in the last rinsing water, and after being fifteen minutes on the clothes line, they should be laid perfectly smooth into a sheet, which should then be folded up (not rolled, because that will make wrinkles), and as soon as the water is absorbed, so that the shawl remains only very damp, iron it on the wrong side, until it is dry, then fold it, making the creases as when it was new.

To wash Colored, Plaid, Black, and Raw Silks and Ribbons.

For a single dress, pare four or five good-sized potatoes, slice them thin and lay them in a quart of cold water for a few hours; then, if the silk is much soiled, sponge both sides freely, rubbing the soiled places with most care. Sponge one piece at a time, and iron it dry upon the side that is to be the inside, moving the iron up and down, or straight across—never diagonally. Have the irons quite hot, yet not so as to scorch, or change the color. If they are too cool, they will draw up or crimp the silk in very minute gathers, and it will be nearly impossible to make such places smooth again. The effect of the starch from the potatoes is to cleanse the silk, and also give it a little stiffness, and even plaid silks of the most delicate colors are made to look new in this way. If a silk is not much soiled, sponge it only on what is to be the outside, and iron it on the other. A good black silk may be made to look "amaist as weel's the new," again and again by this process, and those who have never tried it, would be surprised at the renovating effect.

Good ribbons, black, white, or colored, are made fresh and handsome in precisely the same way. To iron them, set the iron across one end, on the wrong side, and while you press it hard, draw the whole length of the ribbon under it with the other hand.

Raw silks should be washed in potato water, as directed for calicoes that are liable to fade; and after being rinsed once, and hung without wringing upon the line, long enough for the water to drip off, they should be rolled for fifteen minutes in a sheet, and then ironed dry, on the wrong side.

To renovate black Veils and Lace.

Make a very weak solution of gum arabic, so that it will barely be distinguishable from pure water; lay the veil or lace upon an ironing, or other smooth board, and apply the gum-water with a sponge. See that the article to be sponged lies straight and even; and when you have wet it perfectly smooth, let it remain untouched till the next day. This is the way that ladies who embroider their own veils give them their finish. If the gum water is too thick, there will be danger of tearing the lace in taking it off.

To renovate Velvet.

Wet a clean sponge in warm soap suds, squeeze it very dry in a cloth, and wipe the velvet with it. Then pass the velvet over the edge of a hot iron, turned down side-ways—the wrong side of it next to the iron.

Another very good way is to hold the velvet in the steam of boiling water, and then pass it over the edge of an iron.

To wash English Blankets.

If care is taken to keep them clean, they will seldom need to be washed. New ones ought not to need washing for several years. Those which are not in constant use, should be kept where they will not be exposed to moths or dust, in a closet, pinned close in a cloth, or under a mattress. A chamber-maid or a domestic who does the general house-work, should keep a large apron to be worn only while she makes beds. Blankets, counterpanes, and even bed-ticks sometimes have to be washed in consequence of negligence on this point.

If there are soiled spots on a blanket, baste a thread around them, or else wash those places before it is put into the tub. Then put a handful of soft soap into the water, and begin to rub at one end of the blanket, using more soap, and slipping it along as fast as it is washed, from one end to the other; and as it is not possible to rub the whole width of a large blanket at once,—after it is washed along one side, taking it up to the middle, wash along the other side, just as in washing sheets. It takes two persons to wring a blanket or counterpane well. Have ready a large tub of as hot water as you can bear your hands in and put them as soon as they are washed into it; rinse them in this, and still in another warm water; and after wringing them dry as possible, have the person who assists you take one end, and taking the other yourself, open and snap them several times. This will take out the wrinkles, so that if the day is fair with a good breeze, the blankets will look almost as smooth as if they were pressed. If there are several to be washed, cover the rinsing tubs, so as to keep the water warm, and have some hot water ready to add, when that in the tubs becomes cool.

To wash white Counterpanes and Calico Quilts.

Wash them in the same way as blankets only with hard soap, and rinse them in cold water. If convenient, it is the best way to take them to a pump; and pump upon them and pour off the water again and again, till it is clear; then wring them and hang them on the line. In this way one wringing is saved, which is well, for it is some of the hardest work that is done. The heaviest kind of counterpanes, especially if they are large, should be rinsed at a pump, and taken in the tub to the clothes line, and put upon it without wringing.

To wash the Tick of a Featherbed, or Pillow.

Have it washed very thoroughly and rinsed in a plenty of water. When it is entirely dry, melt together bar soap and beeswax in the proportion of two parts soap, and one of wax. Mix it well, and then, having laid the tick, inside out, upon a large table or ironing board, spread the soap and wax on it with a knife, as thinly as possible. Even a thick tick, when it is washed, does not hold the feathers as securely as before, and the use of this mixture is to remedy the defect.

The odor of the soap soon passes away.

To wash Worsted Table-covers.

Wash them in quite warm water with olive soap. If this is not to be had, soft soap, if it is of the best kind, is better than common bar soap. This last, always has rosin in it, and sometimes there is so much as to make woollens washed with it feel gummy; and no pains-taking will entirely remove the bad effect. If there are grease spots, they should be first taken out with chloric ether or spirits of turpentine. Make a suds, wash the cloth very thoroughly in it, and then in another; then rinse it twice in warm water. Do not wring it when you put it from one water into another, but drain it, and very gently press the water out. Hang it a short time upon the line, until the water has almost ceased dripping from the lower edge; then reverse it, putting the lower edge up on the line. Have the irons hot, and the ironing-board ready, and make up your mind to iron patiently a long time. A medium-sized broadcloth table cover, such as used to be in fashion, required to be ironed two hours and a half. A less time is necessary for the thinner fabrics; but whatever the texture is, if it has wool in it, it must be pressed until it is dry, else it will not look well. Faded table-covers, having one color only, mingled with white, may be dyed with advantage. I have seen one that was originally green and white, that after being in constant use many years, was sent to a dye-house, and came back transformed into a maroon and white cloth, and was as good as when it was new.

To wash Carpets.

According to the experience of many persons, the Kidderminster carpets, and others of like fabric, are as well washed at a fulling-mill as at a dye-house, or by a professed carpet-cleanser. They are washed whole, and if the colors are good, they are returned with a good degree of their original beauty; and I have never known one to be torn or injured in any way. The charge for washing a large carpet, does not exceed a dollar and a quarter, and for medium-sized and small ones, proportionately less. After a carpet has been in hard service, if it is worth being made over, or thoroughly repaired, it is also worth being washed; and a person who has spent two or three days in mending an old, unwashed carpet, will appreciate the assertion.

The directions for removing oil and grease from carpets not having been inserted in the appropriate place, they are given here.

When oil is spilled on a carpet, put on a plenty of white flour, and do it as quickly as possible, in order to prevent it from spreading. If the oil is near a seam, but does not reach it, rip the seam in order to stop it. Put flour on the floor under the oil spot. The next day take up all the flour from the carpet and floor, with a dust-pan and a very stiff clothes broom, and put on fresh flour, and a plenty of it. It will not be necessary to do it a third time. To take out grease spots, rub them with a bit of white flannel, dipped in new spirits of turpentine; and if they again become visible, rub the spots again, on both sides of the carpet, when it is taken up and shaken. If there are oil or grease spots on the floor, they should be covered with thick paper before the carpet is again laid down. Scouring will not entirely remove them.