The Laundry. 691 



To increase stiffness. 



1. Partly dry garment before starching. 



2. Add I tablespoon powdered gum-arabic reduced to a liquid, 

 in J cup boiling water, to the stiff starch mixture. 



3. By use of borax. 



4. Add a small amount of glue to starch mixture, 



5. Dry as quickly as possible. 



Gum-arabic as a starch substitute. 



4 tablespoons pulverized gum-arabic. 



I pint cold water. 



3 tablespoons alcohol. 



Put water and gum-arabic in a sauce pan and set into a sauce 



pan containing boiling water. 

 When dissolved, strain through cheese cloth, cool, add the alcohol, 



pour into a bottle, cork and set away for use. The alcohol 



acts as a preservative and this mixture can be kept for any 



length of time. 



BLUING 



White fabrics have naturally a creamy tint which may be deepened 

 to an unpleasant pale yellow after careless washing, or if the clothing is 

 insufficiently rinsed or is not properly subjected to the bleaching in- 

 fluence of sunlight and fresh air. The use of bluing has developed to 

 hide this yellow color, as blue and yellow are complementary colors and 

 when V ed together in proper proportions give the effect of white. The 

 abuse of bluing is that it may be used to hide a yellowness which is due 

 to careless washing. 



Indigo, originally of plant origin, but now manufactured artificially, 

 was at one time the chief source of bluing compounds, but now it is 

 very little used in the laundry. 



Prussian blue gives a better color than indigo and is easier to use. 

 The objection to Prussian blue is that it is an iron compound which is 

 decomposed by alkalis, yielding iron rust. If clothes are not carefully 

 rinsed of all soap and other alkali used in washing and are then blvicl 

 with Prussian blue they may become yellow or covered with tiny rust 

 spots. If this bluing is used after the precaution of careful rinsing 

 it gives very satisfactory results. It is one of the chief liquid blues on 

 the market, so careful rinsing should be a laundry rule. 



Ultramarine, originally finely ground lapis lazuli but now artificially 

 manufactured, is also a very satisfactory^ blue. It is put up in finely 

 ground form in small balls or squares and is in very general use in the 

 home. The better the product the more finely ground it is. It is poor 

 economy in buying this type of bluing to get a cheap article, as the 

 particles are coarse and show on the clothing. 



