A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

It is best to prepare, at once, the whole quantity of water to be used. Take out about one third, and set it by; and every time a fresh supply of clothes is put in, use a portion of this, to supply the waste of a former boiling.

Modes of Washing Various Articles

Brown Linens, or Muslins, of tea, drab, or olive, colors, look best, washed in hay-water. Put in hay enough, to color the water like new brown linen. Wash them first in lukewarm, fair water, without soap, (removing grease with French chalk,) then wash and rinse them in the hay-water.

Nankeens look best, washed in suds, with a teacup of ley added for each pailful. Iron on the wrong side. Soak new nankeens in ley, for one night, and it sets the color perfectly.

Woollen Table-Covers and Woollen Shawls, may be washed thus: Remove grease as before directed. If there be stains in the articles, take them out with spirits of hartshorn. Wash the things in two portions of hot suds, made of white soap. Do not wring them, but fold them and press the water out, catching it in a tub, under a table. Shake, stretch, and dry, neither by the sun nor a fire, and do not let them freeze, in drying. Sprinkle them three hours before ironing, and fold and roll them tight. Iron them heavily on the wrong side. Woollen yarn, should be washed in very hot water, putting in a teacupful of ley, and no soap, to half a pailful of water. Rinse till the water comes off clear.

New Black Worsted and Woollen Hose, should be soaked all night, and washed in hot suds, with beef's-gall, a tablespoonful to half a pail of water. Rinse till no color comes out. Iron on the wrong side.

To Cleanse Gentlemen's Broadcloths. The common mode, is, to shake, and brush the articles, and rip out linings and pockets; then to wash them in strong suds, adding a teacupful of ley, using white soap for light cloth; rolling and then pressing, instead of wringing, them; when dry, sprinkling them, and letting them lie all night; and ironing on the wrong side, or with a thin dark cloth over the article, until perfectly dry. But a far better way, which the writer has repeatedly tried, with unfailing success, is the following: Take one beef's-gall, half a pound of salæratus, and four gallons of warm water. Lay the article on a table, and scour it thoroughly, in every part, with a clothes-brush, dipped in this mixture. The collar of a coat, and the grease-spots, (previously marked by stitches of white thread,) must be repeatedly brushed. Then, take the article, and rinse it up and down in the mixture. Then, rinse it up and down in a tub of soft cold water. Then, without wringing or pressing, hang it to drain and dry. Fasten a coat up by the collar. When perfectly dry, it is sometimes the case, with coats, that nothing more is needed. In other cases, it is necessary to dampen the parts, which look wrinkled, with a sponge, and either pull them smooth, with the fingers, or press them with an iron, having a piece of bombazine, or thin woollen cloth, between the iron and the article.

To manufacture Ley, Soap, Starch, and other Articles used in Washing

To make Ley. Provide a large tub, made of pine or ash, and set it on a form, so high, that a tub can stand under it. Make a hole, an inch in diameter, near the bottom, on one side. Lay bricks, inside, about this hole, and straw over them. To every seven bushels of ashes, add two gallons of unslacked lime, and throw in the ashes and lime in alternate layers. While putting in the ashes and lime, pour on boiling water, using three or four pailfuls. After this, add a pailful of cold soft water, once an hour, till all the ashes appear to be well soaked. Catch the drippings, in a tub, and try its strength with an egg. If the egg rise so as to show a circle as large as a ten cent piece, the strength is right; if it rise higher, the ley must be weakened by water; if not so high, the ashes are not good, and the whole process must be repeated, putting in fresh ashes, and running the weak ley through the new ashes, with some additional water. Quick-ley is made by pouring one gallon of boiling soft water on three quarts of ashes, and straining it. Oak ashes are best.

To make Soft-Soap. Save all drippings and fat, melt them, and set them away, in cakes. Some persons keep, for soap-grease, a half barrel, with weak ley in it, and a cover over it. To make soft-soap, take the proportion of one pailful of ley to three pounds of fat. Melt the fat, and pour in the ley, by degrees. Boil it steadily, through the day, till it is ropy. If not boiled enough, on cooling, it will turn to ley and sediment. While boiling, there should always be a little oil on the surface. If this does not appear, add more grease. If there is too much grease, on cooling, it will rise, and can be skimmed off. Try it, by cooling a small quantity. When it appears like gelly, on becoming cold, it is done. It must then be put in a cool place and often stirred.

To make cold Soft-Soap, melt thirty pounds of grease, put it in a barrel, add four pailfuls of strong ley, and stir it up thoroughly. Then gradually add more ley, till the barrel is nearly full, and the soap looks about right.

To make Potash-Soap, melt thirty-nine pounds of grease, and put it in a barrel. Take twenty-nine pounds of light ash-colored potash, (the reddish-colored will spoil the soap,) and pour hot water on it; then pour it off into the grease, stirring it well. Continue thus, till all the potash is melted. Add one pailful of cold water, stirring it a great deal, every day, till the barrel be full, and then it is done. This is the cheapest and best kind of soap. It is best to sell ashes and buy potash. The soap is better, if it stand a year before it is used; therefore make two barrels at once.

To make Hard White Soap, take fifteen pounds of lard, or suet; and, when boiling, add, slowly, five gallons of ley, mixed with one gallon of water. Cool a small portion; and, if no grease rise, it is done: if grease do rise, add ley, and boil till no grease rises. Then add three quarts of fine salt, and boil it; if this do not harden well, on cooling, add more salt. Cool it, and if it is to be perfumed, melt it next day, put in the perfume, and then run it in moulds, or cut it in cakes. Common Hard Soap, is made in the same way, by using common fat.

To manufacture Starch, cleanse a peck of unground wheat, and soak it, for several days, in soft water. When quite soft, remove the husks, with the hand, and the soft parts will settle. Pour off the water, and replace it, every day, with that which is fresh, stirring it well. When, after stirring and settling, the water is clear, it is done. Then strain off the water, and dry the starch, for several days, in the sun. If the water be permitted to remain too long, it sours, and the starch is poor. If the starch be not well dried, it grows musty.

CHAPTER XXVII.

ON STARCHING, IRONING, AND CLEANSING

To prepare Starch. Take four tablespoonfuls of starch; put in as much water; and rub it, till all lumps are removed. Then, add half a cup of cold water. Pour this into a quart of boiling water, and boil it for half an hour, adding a piece of spermaceti, or a lump of salt, or sugar, as large as a hazelnut. Strain it, and put in a very little blueing. Thin it with hot water.

Glue and Gum-Starch. Put a piece of glue, four inches square, into three quarts of water, boil it, and keep it in a bottle, corked up. Dissolve four ounces of gum Arabic, in a quart of hot water, and set it away, in a bottle, corked. Use the glue for calicoes, and the gum for silks and muslins, both to be mixed with water, at discretion.

Beef's-Gall. Send a junk-bottle to the butcher, and have several gall-bladders emptied into it. Keep it salted, and in a cool place. Some persons perfume it; but fresh air removes the unpleasant smell which it gives, when used for clothes.

Directions for Starching Muslins and Laces

Many ladies clap muslins, then dry them, and afterwards sprinkle them. This saves time. Others clap them, till nearly dry, then fold and cover, and then iron them. Iron wrought muslins on soft flannel, and on the wrong side.

To do up Laces, nicely, sew a clean piece of muslin around a long bottle, and roll the lace on it; pulling out the edge, and rolling it so that the edge will turn in, and be covered, as you roll. Fill the bottle with water, and then boil it, for an hour, in a suds made with white soap. Rinse it in fair water, a little blued; dry it in the sun; and, if any stiffening is wished, use thin starch, or gum Arabic. When dry, fold and press it, between white papers, in a large book. It improves the lace, to wet it with sweet-oil, after it is rolled on the bottle, and before boiling in the suds. Blond laces can be whitened, by rolling them on a bottle, in this way, and then setting the bottle in the sun, in a dish of cold suds made with white soap, wetting it thoroughly, and changing the suds, every day. Do this, for a week or more; then rinse, in fair water; dry it on the bottle, in the sun; and stiffen it with white gum Arabic. Lay it away in loose folds. Lace veils can be whitened, by laying them in flat dishes, in suds made with white soap; then rinsing, and stiffening them with gum Arabic, stretching them, and pinning them on a sheet, to dry.

ON IRONING

Articles to be provided for Ironing

A settee, or settle, made so that it can be used for an ironing-table, is a great convenience. It may be made of pine, and of the following dimensions: length, five feet and six inches; width of the seat, one foot and nine inches; height of the seat, one foot and three inches; height of the sides, (or arms of the seat,) two feet and four inches; height of the back, five feet and three inches. The back should be made with hinges, of the height of the sides or arms, so that it can be turned down, and rest on them, and thus become an ironing-table. The back is to be fastened up, behind, with long iron hooks and staples. The seat should be made with two lids, opening into two boxes, or partitions, in one of which, can be kept the ironing-sheets and holders, and in the other, the other articles used in ironing. It can be stained of a cherry-color; put on casters, so as to move easily; and be provided with two cushions, stuffed with hay and covered with dark woollen. It thus serves as a comfortable seat, for Winter, protecting the back from cold.

Where a settee, of this description, is not provided, a large ironing-board, made so as not to warp, should be kept, and used only for this purpose, to be laid, when used, on a table. Provide, also, the following articles: A woollen ironing-blanket, and a linen or cotton sheet, to spread over it; a large fire, of charcoal and hard wood, (unless furnaces or stoves are used;) a hearth, free from cinders and ashes, a piece of sheet-iron, in front of the fire, on which to set the irons, while heating; (this last saves many black spots from careless ironers;) three or four holders, made of woollen, and covered with old silk, as these do not easily take fire; two iron rings, or iron-stands, on which to set the irons, and small pieces of board to put under them, to prevent scorching the sheet; linen or cotton wipers; and a piece of beeswax, to rub on the irons when they are smoked. There should be, at least, three irons for each person ironing, and a small and large clothes-frame, on which to air the fine and coarse clothes.

A bosom-board, on which to iron shirt-bosoms, should be made, one foot and a half long, and nine inches wide, and covered with white flannel. A skirt-board on which to iron frock-skirts, should be made, five feet long, and two feet wide at one end, tapering to one foot and three inches wide, at the other end. This should be covered with flannel; and will save much trouble, in ironing nice dresses. The large end may be put on the table, and the other, on the back of a chair. Both these boards should have cotton covers, made to fit them; and these should be changed and washed, when dirty. These boards are often useful, when articles are to be ironed or pressed, in a chamber or parlor. Provide, also, a press-board, for broadcloth, two feet long, and four inches wide at one end, tapering to three inches wide, at the other.

A fluting-iron, called, also, a patent Italian iron, saves much labor, in ironing ruffles neatly. A crimping-iron, will crimp ruffles beautifully, with very little time or trouble. Care must be used, with the latter, or it will cut the ruffles. A trial should be made, with old muslins; and, when the iron is screwed in the right place, it must be so kept, and not altered without leave from the housekeeper. If the lady of the house will provide all these articles, see that the fires are properly made, the ironing-sheets evenly put on and properly pinned, the clothes-frames dusted, and all articles kept in their places, she will do much towards securing good ironing.

On Sprinkling, Folding, and Ironing

Wipe the dust from the ironing-board, and lay it down, to receive the clothes, which should be sprinkled with clear water, and laid in separate piles, one of colored, one of common, and one of fine articles, and one of flannels. Fold the fine things, and roll them in a towel, and then fold the rest, turning them all right side outward. The colored clothes should be laid separate from the rest, and ought not to lie long damp, as it injures the colors. The sheets and table linen should be shaken, stretched, and folded, by two persons. Iron lace and needlework on the wrong side, and carry them away, as soon as dry. Iron calicoes with irons which are not very hot, and generally on the right side, as they thus keep clean for a longer time. In ironing a frock, first do the waist, then the sleeves, then the skirt. Keep the skirt rolled, while ironing the other parts, and set a chair, to hold the sleeves, while ironing the skirt, unless a skirt-board be used. In ironing a shirt, first do the back, then the sleeves, then the collar and bosom, and then the front. Iron silk on the wrong side, when quite damp, with an iron which is not very hot. Light colors are apt to change and fade. Iron velvet, by turning up the face of the iron, and after dampening the wrong side of the velvet, draw it over the face of the iron, holding it straight, and not biased.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ON WHITENING, CLEANSING, AND DYEING

To Whiten Articles, and Remove Stains from them

Wet white clothes in suds, and lay them on the grass, in the sun. Lay muslins in suds made with white soap, in a flat dish; set this in the sun, changing the suds, every day. Whiten tow-cloth, or brown linen, by keeping it in ley, through the night, laying it out in the sun, and wetting it with fair water, as fast as it dries.

Scorched articles can often be whitened again, by laying them in the sun, wet with suds. Where this does not answer, put a pound of white soap in a gallon of milk, and boil the article in it. Another method, is, to chop and extract the juice from two onions, and boil this with half a pint of vinegar, an ounce of white soap, and two ounces of fuller's earth. Spread this, when cool, on the scorched part, and, when dry, wash it off, in fair water. Mildew may be removed, by dipping the article in sour buttermilk, laying it in the sun, and, after it is white, rinsing it in fair water. Soap and chalk are also good; also, soap and starch, adding half as much salt as there is starch, together with the juice of a lemon. Stains in linen can often be removed, by rubbing on soft soap, then putting on a starch paste, and drying in the sun, renewing it several times. Wash off all the soap and starch, in cold, fair water.

Mixtures for Removing Stains and Grease

Stain-Mixture. Half an ounce of oxalic acid, in a pint of soft water. This can be kept in a corked bottle, and is infallible in removing iron-rust, and ink-stains. It is very poisonous. The article must be spread with this mixture over the steam of hot water, and wet several times. This will also remove indelible ink. The article must be washed, or the mixture will injure it.

Another Stain-Mixture is made, by mixing one ounce of sal ammoniac, one ounce of salt of tartar, and one pint of soft water.

To remove Grease. Mix four ounces of fuller's earth, half an ounce of pearlash, and lemon-juice enough to make a stiff paste, which can be dried in balls, and kept for use. Wet the greased spot with cold water, rub it with the ball, dry it, and then rinse it with fair cold water. This is for white articles. For silks, and worsteds, use French chalk, which can be procured of the apothecaries. That which is soft and white, is best. Scrape it on the greased spot, and let it lie for a day and night. Then renew it, till the spot disappears. Wilmington clay-balls, are equally good. Ink-spots can often be removed from white clothes, by rubbing on common tallow, leaving it for a day or two, and then washing, as usual. Grease can be taken out of wall-paper, by making a paste of potter's clay, water and ox-gall, and spreading it on the paper. When dry, renew it, till the spot disappears.

Stains on floors, from soot, or stove-pipes, can be removed, by washing the spot in sulphuric acid and water. Stains, in colored silk dresses, can often be removed, by pure water. Those made by acids, tea, wine, and fruits, can often be removed, by spirits of hartshorn, diluted with an equal quantity of water. Sometimes, it must be repeated, several times.

Tar, Pitch, and Turpentine, can be removed, by putting the spot in sweet-oil, or by spreading tallow on it, and letting it remain for twenty-four hours. Then, if the article be linen or cotton, wash it, as usual; if it be silk or worsted, rub it with ether, or spirits of wine.

Lamp-Oil can be removed, from floors, carpets, and other articles, by spreading upon the stain a paste, made of fuller's earth or potter's clay, and renewing it, when dry, till the stain is removed. If gall be put into the paste, it will preserve the colors from injury. When the stain has been removed, carefully brush off the paste, with a soft brush.

Oil-Paint can be removed, by rubbing it with very pure spirits of turpentine. The impure spirit leaves a grease-spot. Wax can be removed, by scraping it off, and then holding a red-hot poker near the spot. Spermaceti may be removed by scraping it off, then putting a paper over the spot, and applying a warm iron. If this does not answer, rub on spirits of wine.

Ink-Stains, in carpets and woollen table-covers, can be removed, by washing the spot in a liquid, composed of one teaspoonful of oxalic acid dissolved in a teacupful of warm (not hot) water, and then rinsing in cold water.

Stains on Varnished Articles, which are caused by cups of hot water, can be removed, by rubbing them with lamp-oil, and then with alcohol. Ink-stains can be taken out of mahogany, by one teaspoonful of oil of vitriol mixed with one tablespoonful of water, or by oxalic acid and water. These must be brushed over quickly, and then washed off with milk.

Modes of Cleansing Various Articles

Silk Handkerchiefs and Ribands can be cleansed, by using French chalk to take out the grease, and then sponging them, on both sides, with lukewarm fair water. Stiffen them with gum Arabic, and press them between white paper, with an iron not very hot. A tablespoonful of spirits of wine to three quarts of water, improves it.

Silk Hose, or Silk Gloves, should be washed in warm suds made with white soap, and rinsed in cold water; they should then be stretched and rubbed, with a hard-rolled flannel, till they are quite dry. Ironing them, very much injures their looks. Washleather articles should have the grease removed from them, by French chalk, or magnesia; they should then be washed in warm suds, and rinsed in cold water. White Kid Gloves should have the grease removed from them, as above directed. They should then be brushed, with a soft brush, and a mixture of fuller's earth and magnesia. In an hour after, rub them with flannel, dipped in bran and powdered whiting. Colored or Hoskin's gloves can be cleansed, very nicely, by pure spirits of turpentine, put on with a woollen cloth, and rubbed from wrist to fingers. Hang them for several days in the air, and all the unpleasant smell will be removed. Gentlemen's white gloves should be washed with a sponge, in white-soapsuds; then wiped, and dried on the hands. Swan's-down tippets, and capes, should be washed in white-soapsuds, squeezing, and not rubbing them; then rinse them in two waters, and shake and stretch them while drying. Ostrich feathers can also be thus washed. Stiffen them, with starch, wet in cold water and not boiled. Shake them in the air, till nearly dry, then hold them before the fire, and curl them with dull scissors, giving each fibre a twitch, turning it inward, and holding it so for a moment.

Straw and Leghorn Hats, can be cleansed, by simply washing them in white-soapsuds. Remove grease, by French chalk, and stains, by diluted oxalic acid, or cream of tartar. The oxalic acid is best, but must be instantly washed off. To whiten them, drive nails in a barrel, near its bottom, so that cords can be stretched across. On these cords, tie the bonnet, wet with suds, (having first removed the grease, stains, and dirt.) Then invert the barrel, over a dish of coals, on which roll brimstone is slowly burning. Put a chip under one side of the barrel, to admit the air. Continue this, till the bonnet is white; then hang it in the air, (when the weather is not damp,) till the smell is removed. Then stiffen it with a solution of isinglass or gum Arabic, put on the inside, with a sponge. Press the crown, on a block, and the rest on a board, on the right side, putting muslin between the iron and straw, and pressing hard. Be careful not to make it too stiff. First, stiffen a small piece, for trial.

ON COLORING

Precautions and Preparations

All the articles must be entirely free from grease or oil, and also, in most cases, from soapsuds. Make light dyes in brass, and dark ones in iron, vessels. Always wet the articles, in fair water, before dyeing. Always carefully strain the dye. If the color be too light, dry and then dip the article again. Stir the article well in the dye, lifting it up often. Remove any previous color, by boiling in suds, or, what is better, in the soda mixture used for washing.

Pink Dye. Buy a saucer of carmine, at an apothecary's. With it, you will find directions for its use. This is cheap, easy to use, and beautiful. Balm blossoms and Bergamot blossoms, with a little cream of tartar in the water, make a pretty pink.

Red Dye. Take half a pound of wheat bran, three ounces of powdered alum, and two gallons of soft water. Boil these in a brass vessel, and add an ounce of cream of tartar, and an ounce of cochineal, tied up together in a bag. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes, then strain it, and dip the articles. Brazil wood, set with alum, makes another red dye.

Yellow Dye. Fustic, turmeric powder, saffron, barberry-bush, peach-leaves, or marigold flowers, make a yellow dye. Set the dye with alum, putting a piece the size of a large hazelnut to each quart of water.

Light Blue Dye, for silks and woollens, is made with the 'blue composition,' to be procured of the hat-makers; fifteen drops to a quart of water. Articles dipped in this, must be thoroughly rinsed. For a dark blue, boil four ounces of copperas in two gallons of water. Dip the articles in this, and then in a strong decoction of logwood, boiled and strained. Then wash them thoroughly in soapsuds.

Green Dye. First color the article yellow; and then, if it be silk or woollen, dip it in 'blue composition.' Instead of ironing, rub it with flannel, while drying.

Salmon Color is made by boiling arnotto or anotta in soapsuds.

Buff Color is made by putting one teacupful of potash, tied in a bag, in two gallons of hot (not boiling) water, and adding an ounce of arnotto, also in a bag, keeping it in for half an hour. First, wet the article in strong potash-water. Dry and then rinse in soapsuds. Birch bark and alum also make a buff. Black alder, set with ley, makes an orange color.