HINTS ABOUT WASHING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3112, 18 June 1881, Page 4

HINTS ABOUT WASHING.

By Mbs Hjenky Wakd Beecher

We have called attention several times to some of the best ways of washing, but with almost all that belongs to household labour a word now and then will not come amiss, particularly as a new theory is advanced every few months, and often found to be a great improvement upon some of the older ones. Besides, there is so much left unsaid which is of importance, either a3 to saving time, strength, or fuel, or being less wearing to the clothes. For instance, in summer, if one has a nice grass yard where the clothes can be exposed to pure air and clear sunshine, all white clothes but the very dirty can be washed and bleached without the trouble of boiling. This saves timfie, fuel (and in the city always and in the country sometimes fuel is a large item of expense), and also some extra wringing. Wash the articles carefully in good clean suds, and spread them at once out of the suds on the green grass to bleach. Leave them an hour or so—until the coloured clothes, wollcn and course articles, are washed, rinsed, and hung out to dry—then take them up from the grass, pass them through a tub of clean, hot, but not very strong suds, and then through a large quantity of well-blued rinsing water, and hang up to dry. This gives all white clothes a nice clean colour. If there is no grass plot this modo of bleaching cannot be carried out.

In washing merino, lambswool, and silk underclothes or silk handkerchiefs, none but the best and purest soap should be used. The soap should be well dissolved in hot water, into which tho articles to be washed are put, but only two or three at a time, keeping fresh hot suds over the fire, to bo added when more clothes are put into the tub. Do not rub them, but cleanse them by drawing them through the hand—up and

down —in the suds. Eubbing shrinks woollens and injures the fabric of both woollens and silks. When they have been thus drawn through the hands til? clean, wring as dry as possible with the hands to re.move all the soap, then rinse in a tub of hot water, which should be ready to put the pieces in immediately on being wrung from the suds. It shrinks and yellows them badly if left out of the water any time after being wrung either from suds or rinsing water. As they are wrung out sbake each piece free, and put it-once more into the rinsing wMter. As fast as it can be done the pieces should be rinsed, wrung out, stretched into their proper shape, and hung smoothly on tho line where the wind and tho sun can have full play over them.

Never wash woollens or silks on a stormy or cloudy day, but put them by till the sun shines, and never put either through the wringer. It makes woollens thick and harsh, and creases silk past restoring. We know of no washing compound that we would trust to use in washing such goods. Many good housekeepers complain that their clothes turn yellow in washing, and they cannot understand why tbis should be. Wo think they will soon find a remedy if they will take the trouble so far to oversee the washing as to bo sure that the clothes are put on to boil in cold water instead of hot or even boiling water, as servants are over-fond of doing. The clothes, after wringing from the first suds, must have a little soap rubbed on the worst stains or soiled spots—enough to make a good suds when they are put into the boiler of cold water and placed over the fire. Nothing turns clothes a, bad colour so quickly aa to put them into water, as is too often done, and if they ai'e allowed to boil long it is very much worse. From 20 to 25 minutes' slow boiling is quite long enough for the dirtest articles. Sheets, pillow-caseg, towels, handkerchiefs, table-linen, &c., should have very little boiling. Let them scald for 25 minutes without at any time coming to full boiling heat; and the colour will be much clearer, and any streaks or stains be much more readily taken out if boiling is rejected for all but the coarsest and dirtiest articles.

There is another negligent or ignorant act which yellows clothes very rapidly, and that is rinsing them in too little water, and neglecting to change the water when it first begins to turn cloudy or show the suds. The first rinsing water must be carefully watched, taking care that there is an abundance of water, and changed so often that when put into the last rinsing or blued water there shall be no indication of suds or soap in that water. Careless rinsing, by leaving soap in the clothes, will in two or three washings begin to change the colour of white articles to a dingy yellow, and it is a long and difficult piece of work to bring them back to their proper colour. In these hints we have referred particularly only to the washing of white goods, and more especially linen and cotton ; but in the few words about washing woollen goods we intended to speak of a mode, well endorsed, but which we have not tried, of wishing white merino, flannel, or white cashmere without using soap at all, but common wheat bran and hot water. It makes an excellent lather, and if these articles are washed in this way it is confidently affirmed that they will not shrink in the least, will not turn yellow, but be as white as when first bought.