All modern science is based upon experiment. Chemistry was hardly a science until experimental research began. It must be confessed that the average housewife seldom thinks of making experiments. She is apt to remain helpless before any new problem of the home without printed directions or advice from friends. Very often the easiest and surest way to find out a thing is to try it. Use your kitchen as a laboratory. It would, of course, be most unwise to make experiments on expensive materials. For example, if a stain was to be removed from colored goods, it would be best to find the effect of the chemicals to be used on some small piece of the fabric.

To test the color of a sample of gingham for fastness in washing, try a part of the sample* in soap and hot water and see if the color "runs" or stains the water. Dry and iron the piece treated and compare with the portion of the original sample kept. A sample can be