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Stone blue, or coarse
indigo commonly used
in colouring gives a
dirty appearance, &
might be wholly laid
aside.
Powder blue used for
fine cloathes, is glass,
so heavy that it falls
out of the linen during
the dressing & is expensive.
Solution of indigo in
sulphuric acid gives the
most beautiful colour &
is cheapest. Some say
that it destroys linen;
but this is probably
only when improperly
made.
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Many washerwomen are in
the practice of soaking linen
several hours in cold water.
Others say that it is useless
The dirt seems to be more
easily washed out after a
night's maceration, but it may
be prejudicial to the linen
itself. Fine muslins, cambrics
& laces are much injured by
friction; therefore two or three
hours soaking, & afterwards
gentle pressure would be infinitely
the best method of
washing them.
It is generally believed that
if boiling water be poured
upon dry linen, it renders the
dirt a fixed dye that can never
be totally destroyed.
All washers allow that
pearlash may be employed
to a certain degree with greater
advantage than soap; It
so readily destroys the skin
& inflames wounds that they
can seldom be prevailed
upon to use it.
Wood ashes without any
purification are frequently
used by the poor in the country.
Probably the best common
soap would on the whole be
least expensive for fine linen,
at least in the finishing.
Soft soap for the coarser kinds
& to first the greater proportion.
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Clearstarchers boil a small
quantity of alum in the starch
in order to coagulate it more
perfectly.
Gums are employed in clearing
new muslins. A bad practice,
it renders the threads very apt
to crack.
Callicos intended to be glazed
are stiffened with a mixture
of starch & wax.
Printed and worked callicos
in colours are stretched in a frame
so that the starch can be
applied on the wrong side
with a brush.
Rice starch is used in
India; it gives callico a
compact, white appearance,
seems less apt to be
shaken out than if these at
starch, possibly resists
dirt longer.
Potatoe starch has been
employed in some private
families. Is said to be cheap & good.
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In Scotland linen is washed
in a running stream, often
without soap or ley; sometimes
with the hands; others place
subs in the brook in which the
linen is trampled upon untill
clean. By this means it is generally
kept extremely white.
Much of the washing at
Paris is done in the Seine, &
so far as can be learnt without
the use of warm water. It is
said to be generally yellow &
far from clean.
In Holland the linen of a
family is washed only once in
six months. The whole of it is
put into one large tub a day
or two previous to washing it,
placing the dirtiest dusters at
the bottom, then towels, thus
continuing to sort the degree
of cleanliness to the finest
cambric. The tub is then filled
with cold water. Here the linen
remains at least four & twenty
hours. I much suspect that
the object is to save water.
The linen however looks perfectly
white.
There is a general washhouse
at Glasgow, fitted up
with proper troughs, coppers
hot & cold water a drying
room & bleach field. The servants
of private families
are sent thither to wash. This
method is much approved by
good housewives.
A considerable quantity of
soap is suffered to remain in
the linen in some parts of
Flanders with the intention of
preserving the colour. I never
saw linen more beautifully
white than that of the family
where this was the practise:
perhaps not owing to this peculiarity,
as the cloaths were
never worn when the least
soiled. English women suppose
that soap will infallibly
spoil whatever it is suffered
to remain in.
Very fine ladies insist upon
the use of castile soap for their
own linen. They probably pay
the price of it: surely no unpleasant
smell remains from
good common soap.
---page break---
Wringing machines tear
linen exceedingly. The injury
sustained from them is commonly
attributed to the washing
machine.
No accurate trial has been
made of the comparative
merit of washing machines.
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Identifier: | JB/107/094/003 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 107.
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107 |
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094 |
washing |
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003 |
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collectanea |
2 |
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recto |
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lady bentham |
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35085 |
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