(Study pages 66-88) Laundry Work

Bluing May Yellow Clothes: On page 70 is the statement that the repeated use of ordinary bluing may stain the clothes yellow. To prove this, dip a piece of white muslin into a strong bluing solution - about a teaspoonful of liquid bluing to a cup of water - dry the cloth with a hot iron and boil it in a little strong soap solution. The color will be seen to fade. Rinse and dry with the iron. On comparing the cloth with part of the original piece, a slight yellow stain will be seen. This is oxide of iron (iron rust) and can be proved to be such by adding a drop of pure dilute hydrochloric acid and then a drop of yellow prussiate of potash (potassium ferro-cyanide), the intense blue color produced being a test for iron. The conditions in this experiment are, of course, much more severe than obtained in ordinary washing, as most of the bluing is washed out before the clothes are boiled again, but the experiment proves the possibility. As indigo costs about a dollar a pound and Prussian blue only a few cents, practically all the bluings on the market are Prussian blue.

Iron Rust Stains

Make "rusty water" by letting a few nails stand in a can of water over night or longer. Boil some white cotton cloth in a little of the water. Try the same with wool. Strain some of the water through white muslin and boil the muslin in soapy water.

Stains

One of the classes gave a demonstration before a large audience on the removal of stains as outlined in this lesson. As the only way to learn how to remove stains is to remove stains, it would be advisable to make a few, if none are at hand, and then try the experiments on them.

Referenees: Chemistry of Daily Life - Inks. Page 178.

Laundry Work, by Juniata L. Sheppard. (50c, postage 6c.) (Send answers to Test Questions on Part II, and report on supplemental work.)