Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/108

 best to make fresh blue water now and then, so if you are or are likely to be short of water be economical with it) a tub with clean cold water. One thumb or fig of blue should last two washings, wrap it first in a little piece of muslin, then in a square of flannel, and lastly put it into a bag. The toe of an old sock makes an excellent blue-bag. These wrappings ensure your blue water being clear and not in streaks on the clothes afterwards. If the blue is very hard put it into the boiler for a few minutes till it softens, and then make the blue water by soaking and squeezing it in the water till it is blue enough, or as you like it. Now pour back into the boiler the water that has drained from the clothes, let them down into the tub, cover with clear cold water and rinse well up and down to get all the soapy water out, then wring out each piece, shake it, turn it, and plunge into the blue water, rinse about in it and wring out again, shake, and throw into your basket to be hung out on the line to dry. You can if you like rinse a lot of things and throw into the blue water together to be wrung out when the tub is full. But I could not advise a novice at the work to do this, as she is apt to get her clothes streaky. That is the whole process of washing. In hanging on the line there are a few rules to remember; first, all garments that are round such as night gowns, petticoats, shirts, &amp;c., hang to catch the wind by two pegs at the hem or bottom. Jackets, coats, bodies of dresses and such like are hung by the neck band and turned on the wrong side, indeed everything is blued on the wrong side, being turned when rinsing. Trousers are hung by the band, but tweed things require special treatment in washing. Table napkins, handkerchiefs, and other small pieces can be hung by the corner several tegethertogether [sic].

Half a bar of soap, one thumb of blue and half a pound of washing soda is enough for a very large family wash.

To Clean A Copper—Scour with sand and muriatic acid and rinse with water; or use kerosene oil and sand.

Kerosene.—Its Uses.—Kerosene oil is one of the most useful oils we have, and not only as an oil is it valuable but there are quite a hundred uses to which it can be put one way and another. Of late it has come into almost general use. In the laundry every laundress now-a-days tells you she must have a drop of kerosene in her boiler, and no mistress will grudge it provided she knows it will improve the colour of her clothes. But like soda, washing powders, and many other so-called aids in the laundry, it is more often abused than properly used. And unless it is used in the proper way it utterly spoils the appearance of the clothes, rendering them yellow and impregnated with the smell of the oil. The correct and only way to use kerosene for washing is as follows:—Shred the soap into the boiler (using no soda) and let it come to a boil then, and not till then, stir in two tablespoonsful of kerosene. If a large