The household (of the Detroit free press)

After starching the shirts and collars, roll them up tightly in a clean dry cloth and in two hours they will be ready to iron. Gum Arabic Starch : Take two ounces fine white gum arabic and pound to a powder; next put it into a pitcher and pour on a pint or more of boiling water, according to the degree of strength required, and then having covered, let it stand all night. In the morning pour it carefully from the dregs into a clean bottle ; cork and keep it for use. A tablespoonful of gum water stirred into a pint of starch that has been made in the usual manner will give to lawns (either white or printed) a look of newness to which nothing else can restore them after washing. Superior Starch Polish : Take of white wax one ounce, spermaceti two ounces and a good pinch of salt. Mix and melt them together, and when cold it it will be a hard, white cake that will not mould or sour even in hot weather. Put a piece the size of a pea in the hot starch that is intended for every three or four shirts. When ironing go over it a second time quickly, which increases the gloss or polish. Potato Starch : Grate six medium- sized potatoes and mix thoroughly with one gallon of water ; strain through a coarse towel, let settle, drain off the water and turn on another gallon of clear water and let settle again ; drain again, put in an earthern dish and set in a warm place (not too warm) to dry. Use same as cornstarch for starching clothes. Raw Starch for Collars and Cuffs should be mixed very gradually, one tablespoonful of white starch with half a pint of cold water; dissolve a small piece of lump borax about the size of the tip of a finger in hot water ; when cold stir it into the starch. Put the collars into the starch, rub them up and down in it, squeeze and press them in a cloth ; smooth them well out with a soft piece of linen, and iron immediately, first with a flat-iron, then with a polishing-iron. And to those who make up their own fine linen, we can highly recommend the following plan : Let the collars be washed, blued and dried ; then take two large tablespoonfuls of ordinary starch and blend in cold water till there is about a breakfast-cupful of it. Dip your collars through it without going to the sediment ; wring dry and lay them in a clean towel for two or three hours ; then draw them and iron them, and they will be stiff and glazed. To Stiffen Gauze. Good wheat starch and white wax are employed, either cold or warm, according to the color. The gauze on removal from the starch is perfectly untwisted, pressed out, and clapped with the hands, so that the starch may be uniformly distributed. Any meshes that may still appear filled with starch may be free from it when the gauze is stretched on the drying-pad by brushing it with the hand, or, better, with a soft brush. Small starched pieces can also be placed on the finishing-board, since the starch remaining in any meshes will stick to the cloth when the gauze is removed. In this case, however, it will unavoidably have a spotted luster on the side next the cloth.