The design of these directions is to assist the inexperienced; to teach those who are unacquainted with the business of washing, how to do it, and those who can afford to employ others, how to direct them; find also to discover where the fault lies when it is not done well.

As I write only for the uninitiated, I shall be excused for being very minute; and for giving some preliminary hints, needed only by learners.

For the family wash, good water, and good soap are indispensable. Rain, river, or spring water is best, but in some places the well-water is soft, and good for washing. Clothes washed repeatedly in hard water with common soap, will soon become too yellow to be worn, and can never be made white again. As the supply of soft water sometimes fails where a cistern is depended on, it may be well to mention that hard water can be made to answer the purpose, temporarily, by dissolving in it the sub-carbonate of soda, commonly called washing-soda. Put a large table-spoonful into three or four pails of water while it is heating, and then use the olive-soap both for rubbing and boiling the clothes. Remember that soda must not be used in washing calicoes or flannels. It will spoil both. Here it may be well to say that white clothes which are constantly washed with soda, will, when laid aside a few months become of a deep yellow color, not easily removed by any ordinary bleaching process.

Provide a wash bench of convenient height, three tubs, one a large one for rinsing,* a water ladle, a pail to be kept for use about the washing alone, a washing board, a clothes stick, clothes pins, a line and two baskets; one cheap coarse one in which to drain the clothes, when taken from the boiling-kettle, and a better one for taking them to the line, and for laying them in to when folded for the ironing. Have good soft soap, which, if you cannot readily procure at the manufactory, you can make with very little trouble. + Bar-soap is not necessary for white clothes, provided the soft is of a nice quality. The olive soap is a great improvement on the common yellow soap. If it is several months old, it spends economically, cleanses quickly, and is not sharp to the hands.

"When clothes are very much soiled, they should be put into a tub of warm suds over night.

Borax soap is so effectual in cleansing soiled clothes, that the use of it essentially diminishes the labor of washing. To prepare it, put together bar soap, borax, and hot water in the following proportions, - a pound of the soap, cut into small pieces, an ounce of powdered borax, and a quart of hot water. Mix the ingredients together over the fire, but see that it does not boil. "When it is cold, cut it up in cakes, and use it like common hard soap-Put the clothes which are most soiled, or if you choose, all the white clothes of the wash into quite a warm suds made with this soap, and let them remain from Saturday evening until

* A large painted wash-tub is expensive, and it may be convenient to some persons to know that a very good rinsing tub can be made of a flour barrel. Take one that is clean and well made; have the upper part sawed off about nine inches. See that there are no nails sticking through. Make three holes large enough to admit the fingers, in two opposite staves, to serve for handles. If there are cracks, caulk them, and fill the tub with water. The water will soon swell the staves so as to close the cracks; and when it has once done leaking, keep it always turned down in the cellar when not in use. All kinds of tubs and firkins should be turned down on. the cellar floor, to prevent them from leaking. + See two receipts, p. 235.

Monday morning. This method is recommended by very good housekeepers.

To do the Washing. Sort the clothes, putting the finest and cleanest by themselves, to be washed first, and the coarse and more soiled ones together. Where there are white clothes enough to make two or three boilings, sort them accordingly; always boil coarse towels by themselves. If there are fine calicoes, nice ginghams, or delicate printed muslins, separate them from the common ones, and also the white flannel, angola, or merino articles from the colored woollens.

The tub should be a third full of water, not hot, but very warm. Stir in soap enough to make a weak suds, and put in the nicest clothes. Rub handkerchiefs, night-caps, and other fine articles between the hands, using a little soap. Never rub them on a washboard. As fast as they are washed, wring and shake them open, and put them into an old pillow case or white bag, else they will be liable to be torn by the weight of the larger articles when taken out of the boiling kettle.. Some persons keep a large bag in which they boil all the white clothes together; if the kettle is a nice one, so that there is no danger of iron mould, or any kind of stain, it is better to boil them without it. Use a wash-board for the large articles, and for those which are not easily made clean, and use more soap than for the fine things, taking special pains with places that are most soiled. All articles worn upon the person should be washed on both sides, and special pains taken with seams and hems. If there are streaks which you cannot entirely wash out, rub soap on them after you have wrung out the article ready for the boiling.

Lay all the washed clothes together in an empty tub or the draining basket, until you have enough for the first boiling. Then dip out all the hot water from the kettle into a tub, and cover it over with a thick cloth, in order to keep it hot for washing more clothes. Put a pail or two of cold water into the kettle, and a large spoonful of soft soap - more if the kettle is a large one. Shake open and lay in the clothes, and add enough more water to cover them. Do not crowd the boiler very full; the clothes will not look as well, and beside, the water will be continually boiling over. Have a good fire, push the clothes down often with the stick, and let them boil steadily, half an hour. Set the draining basket upon a tub, with two or three strips of board laid across, to keep it up. A little frame, somewhat like the cheese ladder used in a dairy, is more convenient. Place the tub near the boiler, and take out the clothes with the stick. When this is done, dip out part of the boiling suds, cover it, and set it aside to be used as occasion requires. Add cold water to the kettle, and put in more clothes. Continue washing until all the white clothes are rubbed, remembering to dip out part of the dirty water from the tub now and then, and add some of the boiling suds which you have kept covered. When the clothes in the basket are well drained, put them into a tub of clean cold water, and take more clothes from the boiler into the draining basket. When all the white clothes are rubbed, and while the last of them are still boiling, get the second rinsing water ready in the largest tub. (Some people have an idea that clothes look best rinsed in hard water, because rain-water is not so white as the other. But rain-water is the best, because it takes out the soap more thoroughly.) Fill the rinsing tub two thirds full of water, squeeze the blue-bag in it two or three times, and stir till the water is equally blue.*