Foods and household management

fectly soft water and excellent for laundering if the cistern is kept clean, and free from the dust of the roof. Lake, river, and well water are sometimes soft. Strainers may be used on the faucets if at any time the water from these sources becomes muddy. (See Chapter V for discussion of soft and hard water.) Hard water prevents the soap from lathering, and this must be counteracted for laundering. Temporary hardness is removed by boiling. Permanent hardness is not affected by boiling and can be overcome only by the addition of some substance like ammonia, borax, or soda. Only enough of these should be used to allow the soap to do its work, since they may injure fabric and the. skin of the worker. Soap is the most useful of the cleansing agents added to water. It may have been accidentally made in the first place by some housewife who put a greasy pot to soak with a solution of lye made from the ashes of her hearth fire. Heat and alkali break up the fat into two parts, glycerin and a fatty acid. The fatty acid combines with the alkali, giving soap, and the glycerin remains free. Both animal and vegetable fats are used, and different forms of alkali, usually potash or caustic soda, the former for soft, the latter for hard, soap. In these days soap is much better made in the factory than it can be at home. In the factory the alkali is proportioned by weight, so that as little free alkali is left as possible. Such a soap is called '' neutral.'' Resin is added, in yellow laundry soaps, and is supposed to aid in forming suds. When there is an excess of resin, as in some cheap soaps, it is hard to rinse out and colors the clothes. Borax is sometimes added to soap, and is useful when the water is hard, but not necessary in soft water. Naphtha or some other petroleum oil in soap increases the cleansing property of soap, by dissolving fatty or greasy impurities. A soap solution is essential for use in the boiler and in washing machines and is useful for rubbing on spots before washing. To make soap solution, cut up the soap and dissolve it in hot water, one pound soap to one gallon of water. It should be strong enough to jelly when cool, and may be kept in jars ready to use. Even more convenient are soap chips which come by the barrel, but may be bought at pound rates. Bleaching and bluing agents. — The sun, as it bleaches white fabrics, may be counted in this group. Chemical bleaches are used to whiten clothes, but should not be resorted to unless clothes are yellow from poor washing, as in the end they weaken the fabric. Commercial laundries sometimes use an excess of acid for this purpose. Cream of tartar is a harmless bleach. Javelle water is another household bleach, chloride of lime being the bleaching substance. This is also a good disinfectant. To use cream of tartar. — Dissolve cream of tartar in hot water, 1 teaspoonful to each quart. After the yellowed fabrics have been thoroughly washed and rinsed, lay them overnight in a solution of this strength, rinse, blue, and dry in the morning. Javelle water. — i pound chloride of lime, 1 pound sal soda,