1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



321 



THE UNIVERSAIi CLOTHES WKINGEB. 



It affords us quite as much pleasure to suggest 

 ■what will lessen the labor of the family in the 

 house, as to aid in relieving it in the fields. In- 

 deed, we have long thought that the washing, 

 ironing, cooking, and cheese and butter-making, 

 are foremost among the hard work that is to be 

 done. Several of these are perpetual, with no 

 hope of dismissing them, only for a few brief 

 hours or days at a time. They have always been 

 coming, and so will continue until the present or- 

 der of things is entirely reversed. What millions 

 of people are forever washing dishes, through the 

 slow process of a plate at a time ; or a cup, spoon 

 or saucer ! This should not be so. Why does 

 not some genius devise a cheap and easy way of 

 generating steam, so that every woman who has 

 a dozen cups and as many plates, may place them 

 in a suitable rack, turn a cock and let on steam 

 sufficiently hot to start everything from the crock- 

 ery in a single moment after receiving it. The 

 dinner dishes of a family of a dozen persons ought 

 to be washed and dry in a dozen minutes ! We 

 hail any thing with pleasure that will relieve this 

 in-door tedium — this minute, uninteresting repe- 

 tition of the same thing three hundred and sixty- 

 five times in a year. 



A few weeks since we spoke of "CoZ6j/'« Clothes 

 Wringer" in decided terms of approbation, and 

 after a thorough use of it, the women of the fam- 



ily inform us that not a word of the praise be- 

 stowed upon it should be recalled. Now we have 

 another style before us, a little more of it, and 

 higher in price. This, also, has received a care- 

 ful trial by competent persons, and is pronounced 

 excellent. We have been tempted to the tub, 

 and have wrung out the duds, with it, with great 

 gratification. With a size larger than the one 

 represented in the cut, we have heard it said, that 

 after soaking the clothes over night they can be 

 thoroughly washed by passing them several times 

 through this squeezer ! The cut represents the 

 wringer on a common wash tub, in operation. It 

 is said that it will wring four times as fast as can 

 be done by hand, with one-fourth the labor, and 

 much drier, and wrings anything, from a silk 

 glove to a Dutch blanket; is simple, strong and 

 durable, and will not get out of repair. 



Any servant will use it with safety to the ma- 

 chine and with great saving of wear to the clothes. 



It is readily and firmly secured to tubs of any 

 thickness, and can be instantly detached and set 

 aside. 



Balm. — The balm is a hardy, perennial plant, 

 often rising, in good soil, to the height of two 

 feet ; the stems are square, and furnished with 

 large sized leaves, of an ovate form, growing in 

 pairs at each point. It was originally derived 



