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House Cleaning: Matting

To Take Up Matting. - Take up the matting, roll it up, and shake as much dust from it as possible by jarring it on the floor. Unroll it on a green lawn and apply the hose to it, or dash pails of water on it until it is thoroughly clean. This should be done on a hot day, and the matting should be thoroughly dried in the open air as quickly as possible. Take it in before the dew falls and air it again the second day if it does not quite dry the first.

Or draw the matting over a table and apply moist corn meal with a scrubbing brush, thoroughly cleaning a section at a time.

Or scrub with bran water.

To Clean Matting on the Floor.- Matting should not be washed or scrubbed with soapy water, as dampness is injurious to it. It may be swept with a broom previously dipped in hot water, and afterwards gone over with a flannel cloth or sponge dipped in salt and water. The salt will freshen the colors and prevent the matting from turning yellow. It should be quickly dried with a second cloth before the water soaks in.

Or borax may be used in the water in place of salt. Afterwards, to give it a gloss and freshen the colors, it may be gone over with a cloth slightly moistened in fresh milk.

To Remove Stains from Matting. -Matting that has been badly stained may be cleaned by washing with a solution of oxalic acid in the proportion of 1 ounce of acid to 1 pint of water. Apply to the stain with a stiff brush, use as little of the solution as possible, and afterwards wipe off with a dry cloth. Care must be taken to throw out the water immediately after using, as oxalic acid is a deadly poison.

To Remove Grease Spots. - Cover with French chalk and moisten with turpentine. Let this stand for a few days, and then scrub off with a stiff brush.

To Lay Matting. - Before laying matting, cover the floor with several thicknesses of old newspapers. Matting is porous and lets the dust through. The paper catches this and admits of its being easily removed at house-cleaning time. Paper also protects the matting from the sharp and uneven edges of the boards.

Matting may be tacked down with ordinary carpet tacks or doublepointed brads. or Or the different breadths may be sewed together with strong linen or cotton thread, using loose buttonhole stitches an inch or an inch and a half apart. To prevent tacking, the edges may be fastened with flour paste.

Or, to avoid sewing, the edges of the several breadths may be pasted down.

Pieces of matting may also be used as rugs on hard-wood floors, especially for bedroom use in summer, by sewing the breadths together with buttonhole stitches and binding the cut ends with cotton braid or tape.