r several days, in soft water. When quite soft, remove the husks, with
the hand, and the soft parts will settle. Pour off the water, and
replace it, every day, with that which is fresh, stirring it well. When,
after stirring and settling, the water is clear, it is done. Then
strain off the water, and dry the starch, for several days, in the sun.
If the water be permitted to remain too long, it sours, and the starch
is poor. If the starch be not well dried, it grows musty.

CHAPTER XXVII.

ON STARCHING, IRONING, AND CLEANSING.

_To prepare Starch._ Take four tablespoonfuls of starch; put in as much
water; and rub it, till all lumps are removed. Then, add half a cup of
cold water. Pour this into a quart of boiling water, and boil it for
half an hour, adding a piece of spermaceti, or a lump of salt, or sugar,
as large as a hazelnut. Strain it, and put in a very little blueing.
Thin it with hot water.

_Glue and Gum-Starch._ Put a piece of glue, four inches square, into
three quarts of water, boil it, and keep it in a bottle, corked up.
Dissolve four ounces of gum Arabic, in a quart of hot water, and set it
away, in a bottle, corked. Use the glue for calicoes, and the gum for
silks and muslins, both to be mixed with water, at discretion.

_Beef's-Gall._ Send a junk-bottle to the butcher, and have several
gall-bladders emptied into it. Keep it salted, and in a cool place. Some
persons perfume it; but fresh air removes the unpleasant smell which it
gives, when used for clothes.

_Directions for Starching Muslins and Laces._

Many ladies clap muslins, then dry them, and afterwards sprinkle them.
This saves time. Others clap them, till nearly dry, then fold and cover,
and then iron them. Iron wrought muslins on soft flannel, and on the
wrong side.

_To do up Laces, nicely_, sew a clean piece of muslin around a long
bottle, and roll the lace on it; pulling out the edge, and rolling it
so that the edge will turn in, and be covered, as you roll. Fill the
bottle with water, and then boil it, for an hour, in a suds made with
white soap. Rinse it in fair water, a little blued; dry it in the sun;
and, if any stiffening is wished, use thin starch, or gum Arabic. When
dry, fold and press it, between white papers, in a large book. It
improves the lace, to wet it with sweet-oil, after it is rolled on the
bottle, and before boiling in the suds. _Blond laces_ can be whitened,
by rolling them on a bottle, in this way, and