Colored cottons should have their colors fixed before washing. Salt
will set most colors, but the process must be repeated at each
washing. Alum sets the colors permanently, and at the same time
renders the fabric less combustible, if used in strong solution after
the final rinsing. Dish cloths and dish towels must be kept clean as a
matter of health, as well as a necessity for clean, bright tableware.
The greasy dish cloth furnishes a most favorable field for the growth
of germs. It must be washed with soap and hot water and dried
thoroughly each time. All such cloths should form part of the weekly
wash and receive all the disinfection possible, with soap, hot water
and long drying in the sunshine and open air. Beware of the
disease-breeding, greasy, damp, dish cloth hung in a warm, dark place.
Oven towels, soiled with soot, etc., may be soaked over night in just
enough kerosene to cover, then washed in cold water and soap.

Laundry tubs should be carefully washed and dried. Wooden tubs, if
kept in a dry place, should be turned upside down, and have the
bottoms covered with a little water. The rubber rollers of the wringer
may be kept clean and white by rubbing them with a clean cloth and a
few drops of kerosene (coal oil). All waste pipes, from that of the
kitchen sink to that of the refrigerator, become foul with grease,
lint, dust and other organic matters which are the result of bacterial
action. They are sources of contamination to the air of the entire
house and to the food supply, thereby endangering health.

All bath, wash basin and water-closet pipes should be flushed
generously (as stated in a previous chapter) once a day at least. The
kitchen sink pipe and laundry pipes should have a thorough cleaning
with a strong boiling solution of washing soda daily, and a monthly
flushing with crude potash. The soda solution should be used for