Smallest Quantity

6 pairs of good cotton sheets. 6 pillow cases (untrimmed).

3 dozen bedroom towels, part rough, part soft, part servants' towels.

4 tablecloths.

1 dozen table napkins.

2 kitchen tablecloths.

12 coarse kitchen towels.

6 glass cloths.

12 dusters.

2 roller towels.

4 counterpanes, or one for each bed and two for change. 4 toilette covers.

Medium Quantity

12 pairs of linen sheets (unless cotton are preferred.) These include servants'.

2 dozen pillow cases, frilled.

6 dozen bedroom towels (2 dozen of which may be bath towels, and 1 dozen servants' towels).

12 tablecloths.

24 table napkins.

6 kitchen tablecloths.

6 roller towels.

4 dresser cloths.

12 coarse kitchen towels.

12 glass cloths (linen).

12 toilette covers.

24 dusters.

Good Quantity

24 pairs of linen, cotton, and servants' sheets. 24 pillow cases edged with lace, and plain for servants. 12 bath towels 24 fine towels.

24 coarse and servants' towels. 24 toilette covers. 18 tablecloths.

12 breakfast cloths. 6 kitchen tablecloths. 36 table napkins. 6 roller towels. 4 dresser cloths. 24 coarse kitchen towels. 24 glass cloths (linen.) 14 clusters.

Nursery linen is not included in these lists.

Sheets should be 3 yards long and two breadths wide (if they are not made of full width linen). Some persons prefer cotton sheets to linen on account of their superior warmth; old East Indians seldom use anything but " India sheeting," as it is called, which is of fine twilled cotton. Linen sheets last longer, and are fresh and cold to the touch. The housemother should have both in her possession, as it is possible some guest, or one of her family, may be unable to sleep on linen, from delicate health, rheumatic affections, etc. Servants' sheets are generally of cotton. Sheets should be thoroughly aired the day they come from the laundress, and then folded in pairs for the closet. In one pile should be placed the fine linen sheets; in another the coarser linen; in a third, the cotton; in a fourth, the servants'. The sheets should be lifted up, and the last washed sheets as soon as aired should be placed at the bottom of each pile. Thus each pair will be fairly worn in turn. A ticket should hang from the shelf containing a list of the sheets on it.

They must also be entered in the linen book.

Before the sheets are sent to the wash they should be carefully examined, and mended if they require repairs. If they have grown thin in the middle the centre seam must be unripped and the outside seams be turned inwards and sewn together; or if (as is now usually the case) the sheet is made the whole width, it must be cut very carefully and evenly by a thread, down the middle, and the sides joined inwards. In both cases the outsides must be neatly hemmed. When they are again worn in the centre they may be cut across the length, and the short ends sewn together in the middle.

A sheet quite worn out for the bed will still make pillow-cases, dusters, etc. etc., and the pieces will be of use for cleaning lamps, candlesticks, etc.

Pillow-cases may be made quite plain, with strings, or trimmed prettily with frills or lace. Very grand pillows are sometimes edged with Valenciennes.

Huckaback towels are excellent for drying the skin, and produce (by rubbing) a fine glow. The unbleached material is to be preferred, and it should not be fine but thick and loose in texture. It is about 8d. the yard. Eighteen nails is the length for a towel.

Russian towelling, called by drapers "crash," is a strong material, but narrow in width. It costs about 5d. a yard.

Towels are fringed by ravelling out a little of the edge, and loosely sewing over the threads which end the fringe. Many people prefer this mode to hemming them.

Bath towels can be purchased the full size, but a small sheet is much more comfortable in the bath room, as one can step into it at once, and there is less chance of chill if the bath is a hot one; but for ordinary use it is enough to sew two ordinary towel widths together. It is a good plan if it can be managed to mark every room's separate towels.

The towels, sorted into piles of fine, coarse, bath, and servants', should occupy a shelf with a ticket attached to it stating the number of towels on it; they should be aired when they come from the wash, because linen put away damp is sure to rot; and when aired each pile should be lifted and the last washed towels should be placed at the bottom.

Tablecloths may be of great beauty, or merely nice and useful. A tablecloth and napkin press is necessary in order that the tablecloth may be kept smooth for use.

Tablecloths and table-napkins should be examined every week before they are sent to the wash and all thin places finely darned with soft cotton, every other thread being taken. Any stains must be taken out. Tablecloths are very liable to accidental stains; port wine upset on them is one. When such an accident as upsetting port or claret on the cloth occurs, instantly throw some salt on the spot and pour a little sherry on it. Let the servant wash it the moment the cloth is removed.

Ironmoulds can be taken out by wetting the spot, stretching the linen over a plate placed over a basin of boiling water, and touching the place with salts of lemon; keeping the plate very hot. As soon as the stain is removed, wash in a good deal of hot water.

To take out stains of acids, fruits, etc., rub the place each side with yellow soap, then lay on a paste of starch made with cold water, rub it in, and bleach the linen in the sun till the stain comes out. Scorches may be removed from linen by spreading over them the following mixture: - Juice expressed from two onions, half an ounce of white soap, two ounces of fuller's earth, and half a pint of vinegar; mix and boil well. Let it get cold before using it.

Glass cloths must be of thin linen. Both these and the coarse brown towels should be a yard long.- Not more than twelve should be given out to the servants at a time, and the mistress of the family should inspect them once a month, to see that they are well kept. There is nothing in which more loss and waste occurs, than in kitchen towels unless they are looked after and examined. When worn, the rags should be produced, as careless servants will occasionally throw away a towel rather than wash it if it is very dirty - the kitchen servants wash the coarse towels; the housemaid washes the glass cloths.

Kitchen tablecloths are generally made of unbleached cotton diaper, but huckaback will be found cheapest in the end, as it lasts so much longer.

Dusters may be made of old sheets, old chintz, or any remains of cot-Ion dresses - they are best of cotton; but whether of new material or old, they should be hemmed.

Pudding cloths should be squares of thick new Russia sheeting. For dumplings, squares knitted in coarse cotton, will give a pretty effect. These also should only be given out in certain numbers, and the old ones shown when new are asked for. The eye of the mistress should often inspect the cleanliness of these cloths.

Fish cloths are made of a species of inferior table-napkin. Many-persons now prefer the embossed bordered fish papers, which cost no more than the washing of the fish cloth, and look pretty. They are certainly an economy.

Jelly bags are made of a half-handkerchief shaped piece of flannel, the two sides sewn together strongly, and the top hemmed, and tape loops put to it to hang it up by, or it is in a frame; but if a small outlay does not signify, it is better to buy a jelly bag.

Scouring flannels should be strong and coarse, the edges should be just caught round to save them from fraying out.

In the linen press or closet should be kept needles, cotton, white and black thread, (coarse thread, we mean, for carpets,) curtain rings, patent curtain hooks which require no sewing on (they are in the fashion of the safety pins invented by the Queen), string, binding, etc., and a large pair of cutting-out scissors. These articles may be kept in a large brown holland bag suspended from a nail in the door; it may also contain a pencil for making any alterations in the linen lists.

Linen is usually marked with ink. The following is Mr. Redwood's receipt for making marking-ink to be used without preparation: -

One ounce of nitrate of silver, one and a half-ounce of best washing soda, three drachms of tartaric acid, two ounces of distilled water, six drachms of white sugar, ten drachms of powdered gum-arabic, half an ounce of archil and water.

Dissolve the nitrate of silver in distilled or rain-water; distil the soda (separately) in rain-water. Mix the solutions, and collect the precipitate; wash it in a filter. Whilst it is still moist, rub it in a mortar, with three drachms of tartaric acid; add the two ounces of distilled water. Mix, and add the white sugar, gum-arabic, archil and water, to make up in all six ounces.

The cost is a little over 5s., but the quantity makes twenty-four bottle-fuls of the usual or 8d. size. Use a quill pen, and expose to the air.

We give this receipt because our book may possibly travel where marking-ink cannot be bought; but we recommend for English use the purchased ink as the best. That which requires preparation, and the heat of a hot iron after it is used, lasts much the best. We speak from experience. We give an excellent receipt for one, with preparation, long used in the family of a friend.

Marking Ink

One drachm and a half of lunar caustic, one scruple of sap-green, six drachms of water, two drachms of mucilage.

The Preparation

Half an ounce of subcarbonate of potash, half an ounce of mucilage, half an ounce of water.

This preparation is to be applied to the linen with a brush; when it is nearly dry, rub smooth with the bowl of a spoon and write on the spot with the ink.

How To Restore Scorched Or Discoloured Linen

For discoloured linen or muslin, grass or seaside bleaching is always the best; but in town, mix a pound of bleaching-powder with six quarts of water, and put a portion of this into the tub where the articles are steeping.

How To Take Stains Of Any Kind Out Of Linen

Starns Caused By Acids

Wet the part, and lay on it some salt of wormwood. Then rub it without diluting it with more water.

When white linen becomes mildewed it should be washed in warm water, with a little borax, and then rinsed in clean water. After this, it must he put into a tub of water, containing a little hydrochloric acid; then rinsed and dried in the sun.

How To Take Mildew Out Of Linen

Wash the linen well in warm water with soap; then scrape some chalk very fine on it, and lay it on the grass in the sun; as it dries, wet it a little. The mildew will come out after twice doing this.

How To Take Out Fruit Stains With Chloride Of Soda

Wet first with cold soap and water, touch with chloride of soda. Wash again immediately. See also "Laundry," and its recipes.