1868. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FAEMER. 



57 



perience, are needed, before just the right thing is 

 obtained and made. It is well to remember, in 

 the first place, that an inferior article always 

 proves the most expensive in the end. Have an 

 eye, and a hand, also, to economy, in the purchase 

 of dry goods, and get the best, always. Not the 

 nicest — nor the brightest — but the most suitable, — 

 the wearer's occupation and age and circumstan- 

 ces should determine that. 



As to colors, grays and drabs are the best for 

 common wear. Browns and blues and greens, and 

 black, also, show dust, and turn dingy, and look 

 shabby much quicker than lighter colors ; so that 

 farmers and grocers and mechanics ought not to 

 use them, except for Sunday, or dress, suits. If 

 you have brown, even for those, see that you get 

 one with a golden cast. Beware of & purplish, or 

 a red brown ; and never, on any account, buy a 

 purple, or a plum color or any of the purplish 

 slate shades ; — the sun turns them very soon, and 

 acids are sure to spot them. These, with a sort of 

 dark, purplish blue are the worst colors for men's 

 or boys' wear. The black and gold and brown and 

 gold mixtures, the gold being a silken thread, are 

 excellent, both in color and material. 



Double warped, and doubled and twisted warp, 

 and the tricot, especially the French tricot, are the 

 strongest of all cloths. German broadcloths and 

 French cassimeres are considered by many supe- 

 rior to the English and American ; so are the bea- 

 ver and pilot cloths. Doeskins and satinets made 

 in England are generally better than American, 

 though, occasionally, we find some bearing Amer- 

 ican stamps that are really good. All sorts of 

 fancy vestings and trimmings are usually more 

 satisfactory if of French manufacture ; and "more's 

 the pity ;" for by this time the American people, 

 with their superior machinery and abundance of 

 good materials, ought to do as well in these things 

 as any European nation. 



But the trouble is that there is too much "imi- 

 tation," and fraud, to speak plainly, both in the 

 substance of cloths and in their dyes. Shoddy 

 enters into nearly everything. Look shai-p, or it 

 will evade you in some seemingly stout, strong 

 satinet or doeskin, or beaver-cloth. Get a small 

 strip, and pick it and pull it all back to wool. If 

 the fibres are long, tough, yet soft, the material is 

 good. If any cotton has been carded with it the 

 wool is probably second-hand — shoddy. Don't 

 buy it. It isn't worth the making. A good way 

 to test the cloth is to bum the threads. If they 

 are all wool they will crisp, and crust up. If they 

 are cotton, or have a considerable portion of cot- 

 ton, they will burn clearly and bright. Cotton and 

 wool cloths that do not pretend to be all wool are 

 often very strong, and serviceable for boys and me- 

 chanics ; but the sun and air generally turn their 

 colors very quickly. Cotton jeans, and denims, 

 and linen, and cotton and linen for summer wear, 

 should be thickly and evenly woven ; and if of 

 one color, only, will look better after washing than 



plaids or stripes or checks. Black and white 

 checks, if of cotton and wool, are apt to turn 

 brown in wearing, and look streaked after wetting. 



A-^oid large figures, and jilaids, jind all unusual 

 colors, in the Ihiings of garments. Also in the 

 trimmings. All such things are signs of an incor- 

 rect taste, and show a lack of good sense. Flashy- 

 and-fine is twin sister to Shoddy. 



The fashion of making the vest of the same 

 cloth with the- pants, or of having coat, vest, and 

 pants alike, has been good economy. It has also 

 been the neatest and most l)ccoming style ever in- 

 vented for men ; and prudent and judicious people 

 are sorry to see that the old faishion of fancy vest- 

 ings is returning. Silks and satins are more costly, 

 and never so durable as woolen cloths. Velvets 

 are very expensive, and soon lose their beauty. 

 (Of course none but the vainest of fops would ever 

 wear a velvet coat, or pants ; and they are never 

 within sight or hearing of this paper.) Valencias 

 and other fancy goods look spotted and soiled in a 

 short time. They will not bear scrubbing, and are 

 generally miserable enough after washing. Noth- 

 ing makes a man, or a lad, look more shabby than 

 a faded or a defaced vest ; and these styles cost so 

 much that most people cannot afford to lay them 

 quickly aside; so they are obliged to keep wearing 

 the hateful things, feeling mean and disagreeable 

 whenever they catch a glimpse of them, and glad 

 enough of any pretext for getting on others. 



In selecting cotton cloth, or cotton flannel, for 

 underclothing, see that it is firmly and evenly 

 M'oven; and rub it briskly — especially the cloth — 

 to ascertain if it doesn't owe its thickness to siz- 

 ing. For very nice garments, or for collars, 

 wristbands and bosoms of shirts, get bleached 

 goods or linen. If you want warmer material, 

 and such as will last a long time, buy the un- 

 bleached and bleach it j'ourself. By calendering 

 and dressing, bleached cotton is about half worn 

 out before it is ready for the mai-ket. A certain 

 corporation (which shall be nameless) has boasted 

 that during the war its taxes were paid by the ad- 

 ditional profit gained from extra stretching of its 

 cloth. 



The process of bleaching is very simple. The 

 following formula is the same as that used in 

 many bleacheries, and a large number of house- 

 keepers have tried it, with great success: For 

 thirty yards of cloth procure half a pound of chlo- 

 ride of lime. Dissolve it in one pail of boiling wa- 

 ter. Strain it. Add two more more pails of boil- 

 ing water Wet the cloth thoroughly in warm 

 water. Puf it into the hot lime-water. Let it lie 

 an hour, meanwhile turn it continually that every 

 part may be well saturated. Wring it out, and 

 wash it in clear warm water, and hang it up to dry. 

 Use no soap in any way. If you choose, you may 

 pass it through a rinse tinged with blue. The 

 cloth will look equally white and clear with that 

 which is stiffened and dressed, and in wearing will 

 prove much stronger. 



