If delicate curtains, either lace or muslin, are to be washed, allow a tablespoonful of powdered borax to two gallons of warm water, and soap enough to make a strong suds.  Soak the curtains in this all night.  In the morning add more warm water, and press every part between the hands, without rubbing.  Put them in fresh suds, and, if the water still looks dark after another washing, take still another.  Boil and rinse as in directions given for other clothes.  Starch with very thick hot starch, and dry, not by hanging out, and then ironing, but by putting a light common mattress in the sun, and pinning the curtain upon it, stretching carefully as you pin.  One mattress holds two, which will dry in an hour or two.  If there is no sun, lay a sheet on the floor of an unused room, and pin the curtains down upon it.

In washing flannels, remember that it must be done in a sunny day, that they may dry as rapidly as possible.  Put them into hot suds.  Do not rub them on a washing-board, as this is one means of fulling and ruining them.  Press and rub them in the hands, changing them soon to fresh hot suds.  Rinse in a pail of clear hot water; wring very dry; shake, and hang at once in the sun.  Flannels thus treated, no matter how delicate, retain their softness and smoothness, and do not shrink.

Starch is the next consideration, and is made in two ways,—­either raw or boiled.  Boiled starch is made by adding cold water to raw starch in the proportion of one cup of water to three-quarters of a cup of starch, and then pouring on boiling water till it has thickened to a smooth mass, constantly stirring as you pour.  A bit of butter is added by many excellent laundresses, the bit not to be larger than a filbert.  Any thing starched with boiled starch must be dried and sprinkled before ironing, while with raw starch this is not necessary.

To make raw starch, allow four even tablespoonfuls to a half-pint of cold water.  Dip collars, cuffs, and shirt-bosoms, or any thing which must be very stiff, into this starch, being careful to have them dry.  When wet, clap them well between the hands, as this distributes the starch evenly among the fibers of the cloth.  The same rule must be followed in using boiled starch.  Roll the articles in a damp cloth, as this makes them iron more smoothly; and in an hour they will be ready for the iron.  In using boiled starch, after the articles have been dried, and then dampened by sprinkling water lightly upon them, either by the hand, or by shaking over them a small whisk-broom which is dipped as needed in water, it is better to let them lie ten or twelve hours.

All clothes require this folding and dampening.  Sheets and table-cloths should be held by two persons, shaken and “snapped,” and then folded carefully, stretching the edges if necessary.

Colored clothing must be rinsed before starching, and the starch should be thin and cool.