Soap.—From the thousands of kinds of soap one can only make a choice by means of personal experiment, or by accepting the recommendation of some one who has already experimented. The kind preferred once settled upon, it is best to buy enough at a time to last several months and to keep it exposed to the air, for unless soap dries a little before it is used, it wastes.
Many preparations are sold to whiten clothes and make washing easy. To use them is a risk, and I have yet to see one which produced even as good temporary results as intelligent washing done with good soap and followed by thorough rinsing.
Starch.—Starch—the raw material—should be protected from dust in a closed box or jar and not exposed to strong light, as this in time makes it slightly yellow. It is on this account that starch boxes are frequently lined with dark blue paper.
Cold starch is merely starch dissolved in cold water. The proportion is a tablespoonful of starch to a pint of water. Stir until it seems dissolved, but stir again before dipping each article as it settles quickly. This starch is used just before ironing. Articles starched with it should be squeezed out well and folded in a dry cloth for ten or fifteen minutes, then ironed.
To make boiled starch, moisten three tablespoonfuls of starch with cold water. Stir and press out the lumps until it is smooth as cream. Then begin to stir it fast and pour on quickly a quart of boiling water. Allow it to boil about twenty minutes. Toward the end of the time put in a piece of spermaceti as big as a walnut and stir until it is mixed with the starch. Substitutes for this are a bit of lard or a bit of butter. When clothes come home smelling of kerosene, it usually indicates that the laundress has used a dash of that oil as a substitute for spermaceti. If candles are used in the home, it is well to save the ends for the starch. Wax or oil added to starch makes it smooth and keeps it from sticking to the irons.
Bluing.—The purpose of bluing is to give white clothes a bluish tinge instead of the yellowish tinge they are apt to acquire. Substances for the purpose can be bought in several forms and are used greatly diluted. Two or three squeezes of a bluing ball, or a teaspoonful of liquid bluing is often a sufficient quantity for a tub of water. Bluing must be thoroughly stirred into water. If this is not done before clothes are put in, they will be streaked. Some people put a few drops of bluing in starch.
2. THE PROCESS
Where soiled clothes are to be kept during the interval between wash days is often a difficult question. A closet in the laundry made especially for the purpose is one solution; a hamper set in some ventilated but secluded spot in the house is another. It is unfortunate that often the bathroom is the only refuge for a clothes hamper. Articles like bed linen, which are only changed once a week should be changed as near the wash day as possible, but I do not think this matter so important that the change of linen should be made on Sunday.
The first step in the process of washing is to sort the clothes, separating white, coloured, woollen and silk articles. The white division always, sometimes the others, must be divided again into articles which have been put to personal uses, such as garments, bed linen and towels, and those which have not, as table linen, and dish towels.