JViaryAnn j$ ehume 
 (^Decoratii^cArt 
 
 STERXl N G 
 AND FRAN CINE 
 
 CLARJC 
 ART INSTITUTE 
 L1BRART 
 

 PRACTICAL TREATISE ~J~$ k 
 
 / o 
 
 ON 
 
 DYING Y-i 
 
 WOOLLEN, COTTON, AND S 
 
 INCLUDING RECIPES FOR 
 
 LAC REDS AND SCARLETS— CHROME YELLOWS AND 
 ORANGES— AND PRUSSIAN BLUES—ON SILKS, - 
 COTTONS AND WOOLLENS. 
 
 WITH EVERY IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART, MADE SINCE THE YEAR 1823. '^ 
 
 ALSO, 
 A CORRECT DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 SULPHURING WOOLLENS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM PARTRIDGE. 
 
 NEW. YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
 DYE-STUFF DEALER, 
 
 34 CLIFF-STREET. 
 
 1834. 
 

 
 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by William 
 Partridge, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 of New- York. 
 
 The Author informs Manufacturers and Dyers, that he is at 
 all times willing and desirous to give any information and 
 recipes, that may be in his power, respecting the manufacture 
 of woollens and dying, free of cost. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY HENRY W. REES, 
 
 45 GOLD STREET, NEW-YORK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 . Page 
 
 Introduction, ...... 9 
 
 Scouring of wool, . . . . . .15 
 
 To make the scouring liquor, . . . . 16 
 
 A new scouring liquor, . . . . .18 
 
 An entire new process for scouring of wool, . . ib. 
 
 To make tin liquors, for scarlet and other colours, . . 19 
 
 To prepare nitro-muriate of tin, for woollen dying, . . ib. 
 
 To prepare muriate of tin, . . . .20 
 
 To prepare sulpho-muriate of tin, .... ib. 
 
 To make nitro-muriate of tin, . . . . . ib. 
 
 To test tin, for copper or lead, ... .21 
 
 On ascertaining specific gravities, ... . ib. 
 
 Dr. Ures's comparative scale between Tweedle and Baume, . 22 
 
 To mix oil of vitriol and indigo, . . . .23 
 
 On the choice of vessels for colouring scarlet as well as other 
 
 delicate colours, and of furnace-baskets, reels, etc. . 24 
 
 On dying-furnaces, etc., . . . . .25 
 On cleaning cloth for dying, and the washing of wool and cleaning 
 
 colours after dying, . . . . . ib. 
 
 On the effect which water has on dying, ... 28 
 
 On cochineal and other dye-stuffs, . . . .32 
 
 On native- American dye drugs, . ■ . . . 37 
 
 Sumach, . . . . . . .38 
 
 Swamp-maple bark, . ib. 
 
 Black-oak bark and golden rod, . ... . ib. 
 
 Alder bark, ...... ib. 
 
 Chestnut and butternut bark, . . . . .39 
 
 White-oak sawdust, ..... ib. 
 
 On dye-stuffs, not indigenous, that could be raised in this country, ib. 
 
 On the manufacturing of indigo, .... ib. 
 
 Description of the fermenting process, . . . .42 
 
 On raising madder, . .... 45 
 
 On the weld plant as a dye, and its cultivation, . . .48 
 
 Woad, , .... 49 
 
 Woodwax, . . . . . . .50 
 
 Sweet balm, . . . . . ib. 
 
 To prepare woollen goods for the furnace, . . . ib. 
 
 On black dying, . . . . . ib. 
 
 To dye a blue-black on sixteen pounds of cloth or yarn, . . 52 
 
 Another black for twenty pounds of woollen, . . 54 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Another recipe for a blue-black, in which dye-woods are used in 
 
 the saddenings, for sixteen pounds of woollen cloth, . 54 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds a yellow-black, approaching towards a jet, 55 
 To dye sixteen pounds of a rich reddish brown-black, . . ib. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds of cloth a jet black, ■ .. 56 
 
 For sixteen pounds of cloth, . . . .57 
 
 To dye wool black, ... . .59 
 
 Recipe for sixteen pounds of black wool, . . . ib. 
 
 Recipe for colouring sixteen pounds of wool for a black mixture, 61 
 Recipe for sixteen pounds of wool for a black mixture, . . ib. 
 
 To dye black on cotton, . . . . . ib. 
 
 First Manchester recipe, . . . . . .62 
 
 Second recipe for dying black on cotton, . . . ib. 
 
 To make a superior pyroligneate of iron, . . . 'ib. 
 
 To make pyroligneate of copper, . . . .63 
 
 A new method of colouring black, discovered by Messrs. William 
 
 Adams &, Co. . . . . . .65 
 
 To prepare the chlorine water for black, . . . ib. 
 
 To dye black on silk, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 Process of dying silk black, by Vitalis, ... 66 
 
 To dye furs or hats black, . . . . .68 
 
 On blue dying, . . . * ft * . ib. 
 
 To dye Prussian-blue on woollens, . . . .79 
 
 To make the mordant, . ib. 
 
 Recipes for dying blue in the furnace, . . . .80 
 
 Recipe for colouring a full navy-blue, for mixing for satinett, or 
 
 other coarse work. It is for eighty pounds of scoured wool, ib. 
 To dye blue on cotton, ..... 81 
 
 To dye blue on silk, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 To dye cotton and silk a Prussian-blue, . . . ib. 
 
 To dye silk a sapphire-blue, . . . . .82 
 
 To dye silk a mazarine-blue, .... ib. 
 
 To make soap-lees for producing the lather, . . . ib. 
 
 Prussian-blue, by Mons. Raymond, 83 
 
 A handsome Turkish blue, for ten pounds of silk, . . ib. 
 
 Best ultra-marine blue, for ten pounds of silk, . . 84 
 
 A dark blue for ten pounds of silk, .... ib. 
 
 Recipes for colouring red, . . . . . . 85 
 
 For dying a flannel red, . . . . .86 
 
 To dye a red on a long baize, weighing from fifty to sixty pounds, 87 
 Recipe for a madder-red, for twenty yards of broadcloth, in which 
 
 the tin liquor is not used, .... ib. 
 
 To dye lac-reds and scarlets, . . . . . ib. 
 
 Scotch recipe for dying lac-scarlet, .... 88 
 
 To dye twenty pounds of cloth, worsted, or yarn, . . ib. 
 
 Another Scotch recipe for making lac-spirits, . . 89 
 
 William Partridge's recipe for dying twenty pounds of stuff a lac- 
 scarlet, . . . . . . . ib. 
 
 To dye red with mungeet, on fifty pounds of woollen, . 90 
 
 An improved mode of preparing woollen goods for receiving lac- 
 dye, discovered by the writer last year, . . ib. 
 To dye red on cotton, . .... 91 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 Page 
 
 Recipe to dye a fine and permanent red on cotton, . . 91 
 Recipe for a common red on cotton, . . . .92 
 
 Recipe to dye silk of a blood-red colour, ... 93 
 
 A German recipe for red on silk, for ten pounds, . . ib. 
 
 Second German recipe for a handsome red, . . 94 
 To dye yellow on wool and woollen cloth, . . .95 
 
 To colour nine pounds of wool a fine yellow, . . ib. 
 
 To colour eighty-five pounds of wool of a strong yellow, . 96 
 
 For dying yellow on cotton, .... ib. 
 
 To dye yellow on silk, . . . . .97 
 
 To dye chrome-yellow on cotton and silk, ... 98 
 Recipe for colouring one hundred and sixty pounds of woollen 
 
 cloth a uniform white, . . . . .99 
 
 To colour white on silk, . . . . . 101 
 
 On compound colours, . . . . . . 102 
 
 Of true green, .....'. ib. 
 
 For a very light grass-green, for forty-one pounds of cloth, . 103 
 
 To dye wool a true green, . . . ib. 
 
 Second recipe for green on wool — a true green, . . 104 
 
 For a very light true green — to be first dyed a very light blue, ib. 
 For a true green for sixteen pounds of wool — to be woaded blue, 
 
 as usual, ...... 105 
 
 Recipes for green, in which the blue predominates, . . ib. 
 To dye sixteen pounds of wool, in which the blue slightly predom- 
 inates, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 Recipe for a blue-green, where the blue is stronger than the last, 
 
 for two hundred and forty pounds of wool, . . ib. 
 
 For a very light blue-green, for sixty pounds of wool, . 106 
 Recipe for a very dark green, rather inclining to the blue, for 
 sixteen pounds of wool, previously dyed a fifteen cent blue, 
 
 in the woad vat, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 For one hundred and forty-eight pounds of wool for a dark blue 
 bottle-green — to be first dyed in the woad vat to a thirteen 
 
 cent blue, . . . . . . . ib. 
 
 For a middling blue-green for two hundred and five pounds of 
 
 wool — to be first woaded a nine cent blue, . . 107 
 For a very light green, in which the blue predominates — for forty- 
 six pounds of wool, first woaded to a four cent blue, . . ib. 
 Recipes for green, in which the yellow predominates, . ib. 
 For a rich bronze-green for sixteen pounds of wool that has been 
 
 coloured a full twenty cent blue, . . . . ib. . 
 
 For a bronze-green on two hundred and sixty pounds of wool, ib. 
 To dye sixteen pounds of a lighter bronze, and not so dark as the 
 
 last, ....... 108 
 
 For a fine olive-green on sixteen pounds of wool, to be woaded to 
 
 i a nine cent blue, . . . . . ib. 
 
 For a dark bottle-green, of the bronze hue, for one hundred and 
 forty pounds of wool, made a full eleven cent blue in the woad 
 
 vat, . . . . . . . ib, 
 
 For an invisible green on two hundred and forty pounds of wool — 
 
 a colour now very fashionable, . . . . 109 
 
 1 * 
 
Vl CONTENTS. 
 
 Prajj 
 
 To dye bottle-green of different shades, on twenty pounds of wool, 109 
 To dye red-greens, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 Two recipes for dying green on cotton, . . . ib. 
 
 is directed to 
 
 . 110 
 
 ib. 
 
 . Ill 
 
 ib. 
 
 . ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 . 112 
 
 ib. 
 
 Second recipe, is cheaper, in which part of the blue 
 be put on with logwood, 
 
 To colour cotton a permanent olive, 
 
 To colour cotton a cheap and common olive, 
 
 To colour silk green, . . ' , 
 
 For a Saxon green on silk, 
 
 For a handsome green on silk, for ten pounds, 
 
 For a green with weld, 
 
 To colour silk a dark olive. 
 
 Of scarlet on woollen, . . . . . .113 
 
 For dying sixteen pounds of woollen a bright scarlet, . 114 
 
 For dying sixteen pounds of cloth a fine flame-coloured scarlet, 115 
 
 For dying a Nash scarlet, on two pieces of thirty-two yards each, 
 
 weighing ninety-six pounds, .... ib. 
 
 To colour scarlet with the colouring matter of the stick lac, . 116 
 
 To dye a mock-scarlet on silk, .... 117 
 
 Recipes for buff, . • * • • • • ib. 
 
 Recipe for twenty-seven pounds of fine cloth, . . .118 
 
 For a buff on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool, . ib. 
 
 For a buff colour on cotton, .... ib. 
 
 For a salmon colour on cotton, . . . .119 
 
 For a brimstone, or straw colour, on cotton, . . ib. 
 
 For a straw colour on silk, ..... 120 
 
 A nankeen colour on ten pounds of silk, . . . ib. 
 
 Recipes for orange and aurora, .... ib. 
 
 For an orange on sixty pounds of fine cloth, in a spent scarlet liquor, 121 
 
 For a common orange on four pieces of flannel, . . ib. 
 
 For an orange on nineteen pounds of wool, . . . ib. 
 
 For an orange on cotton, . . . . . ib. 
 
 Chrome-orange on cotton, ..... 122 
 
 To colour silk an orange, . . . . . ib. 
 
 For a deep orange yellow on ten pounds of silk, . . ib. 
 
 To dye cinnamon colours, ..... 123 
 
 To dye wool cinnamon colours, .... ib. 
 
 For a cinnamon of a fuller colour, and more on the red, . ib. 
 
 For a very bright cinnamon on twenty pounds of wool, . . 124 
 
 Two recipes for two lots of very bright cinnamon, done in succes- 
 sion in the same liquor, ..... ib. 
 
 To dye a cinnamon on ten pounds of silk, . . . ib. 
 
 To dye a beautiful cinnamon on both cotton and silk, by a new 
 
 process, . . . . . . . 125 
 
 To dye fawn colours on woollens, .... ib. 
 
 For a fawn on sixteen pounds of wool, . . . . ib. 
 
 For a fawn on sixteen pounds of wool, not quite so red as the last, ib. 
 
 For a fawn on sixteen pounds of wool, still less on the red hue, ib. 
 
 To dye silk a fawn colour, . . . . . 126 
 
 To dye browns on woollens, .... 126-131 
 
 For a very deep and rich claret, . . . . 131 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 vu 
 
 Recipes for olive browns, .... 
 
 For a rich wine colour, for forty-eight pounds of fine cloth, 
 
 To dye chocolate on cotton, 
 
 To dye brown on cotton, 
 
 To dye morone on silk, . 
 
 For a real brown on ten pounds of silk, 
 
 To dye colours compounded of red and blue, 
 
 To colour ninety pounds of fine cloth a rich purple, 
 
 To dye purple on cotton, .... 
 
 To colour purple on silk, 
 
 To dye a handsome violet blue, on ten pounds of silk 
 
 To colour lilac on wool, s 
 
 To colour lilac on silk, .... 
 
 To dye crimson, . _ 
 
 For a crimson on silk, .... 
 
 To dye pinks on woollen, . . , 
 
 To dye ten pounds of cotton yarn a pink, 
 
 To dye pink on silk, . 
 
 To dye mulberry on woollen, 
 
 To colour mulberry on silk, * . 
 
 To dye claret on woollen, 
 
 To colour morone on silk, 
 
 To dye corbeaus on woollens, 
 
 Lavender on woollen, 
 
 For a tea-brown on fifteen pounds of cloth, 
 
 For a London smoke, on fifty pounds of wool, 
 
 For a Paris-mud on sixty-five pounds of wool, 
 
 For a dun colour on sixty-seven pounds of wool, 
 
 To dye drab on woollens, 
 
 To dye red drabs on woollen, 
 
 To dye yellow drabs on woollen, 
 
 For a very light white pearl, on thirty pounds of wool 
 
 For a light red pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool, 
 
 For a pearl drab, on sixty pounds of wool, 
 
 For a pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool, 
 
 For a dark pearl drab, o.n sixty-five pounds of wool, 
 
 For a thin pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool, 
 
 To dye green drabs on woollens, 
 
 For a dark green drab, on fifty-eight pounds of wool, 
 
 For a red brown, of a very lively tint, on twenty pounds 
 
 For a very bright colour, almost a red, of the cinnamon 
 
 For a thin red, on twenty pounds of wool, 
 
 For a Brazil red, on twelve pounds of wool, 
 
 For a deep sanders red, on forty -five pounds of wool, 
 
 For a rich wine colour, on thirty pounds of wool, 
 
 A fugitive wine colour, in imitation of the above, 
 
 For a brighf red for mixtures, of the cinnamon hue, 
 
 For a dark muddy drab, on sixty-five pounds of wool, 
 
 For a muddy drab, on sixty-five pounds of wool, 
 
 To dye drab on cotton, . 
 
 To dye a drab on silk, .... 
 
 of wool, 
 hue, 
 
 Page 
 
 131-2 
 
 133 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 136 
 
 136-7 
 
 137-8 
 
 138-9 
 
 139 
 
 140 
 
 ib. 
 
 140-1 
 
 141-3 
 
 144 
 
 . ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 145-6 
 
 146 
 
 . ib. 
 
 147 
 
 . ib. 
 
 148 
 
 148-9 
 
 149 
 
 . ib. 
 
 150 
 
 150-2 
 
 152-5 
 
 155-7 
 
 158 
 
 . ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 . ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 , 159 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 160 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 161 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 162 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 
vin CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Process of aluming silk, . . . . . ib. 
 
 Silk indigo vat, . . . . . . 163 
 
 Process of setting an ash vat, . . . . . ib. 
 
 Working the ash vat, . . . . . 164 
 
 To renew the ash vat, . . . . . . ib. 
 
 To make a new ash vat, after working out the old one, . 165 
 
 Keeping the silk ash vat in order, .... ib. 
 
 On dying of double colours, .... ib. 
 
 To dye a double colour, having purple on the one side, and scarlet 
 
 on the other, . . • . . . 168 
 
 Mode of dying cotton, by the Africans, a fine blue colour, . 169 
 
 To use bleaching salts, for whitening cotton-yarn or cloth, . ib. 
 
 Wilkins's patent mode of raising the nap of cloth, . . 170 
 
 On the residuums remaining after dying chromic yellow and orange, 171 
 On the cold indigo vat, used by cotton dyers, . . .174 
 
 On mellowing cloth, after fulling, before raising the nap, . 177 
 To dissolve shellac in water, used in France as a varnish, by paper 
 
 stainers, ...... ib. 
 
 On orchille and cudbear, . . . . ib. 
 
 A new patent for fulling woollen goods, . . . 178 
 
 Another process for scouring wool, . . . .179 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Dying is in every branch a chymical art, and the play of 
 affinities are so numerous, and in most instances so rapid, as 
 entirely to escape the notice of common workmen. Men of 
 science have paid but little attention to this art, nor can it 
 be expected they will pay much till other more interesting 
 subjects are perfected, as it will require much time, and 
 numberless tedious and expensive experiments. The im- 
 provements that have been made during the last twenty 
 years, and they have been numerous, have been developed 
 by practical men, possessing more or less scientific know, 
 ledge. 
 
 I would strongly urge every practical dyer, who may be 
 desirous of attaining eminence in the art, as also for the 
 purpose of making money by economizing in his processes, to 
 make chymical science his particular study, and to embrace 
 every opportunity of attending lectures, until he becomes 
 sufficiently acquainted with the science to understand what 
 is going on in his own business. A dyer, totally ignorant 
 of chymistry, can form no conception of any process he 
 pursues ; he follows his business mechanically, making no 
 colours but such as he has been taught to make, and should 
 he stumble on any thing new, it must be merely the effect 
 of chance, often costing more than its worth. A dyer, on 
 the contrary, who has made himself commonly proficient in 
 chymistry, will often make discoveries highly beneficial to 
 himself, and when made known, conferring wealth on the 
 general community. Another consideration, of high import, 
 is the relative change that takes place in the situation of the 
 dyer himself. From being a mere mechanical drudge, igno- 
 rant of every process that passes before him, he becomes the 
 intelligent operator, charmed with his pursuit, and standing 
 high in the estimation of his most intelligent fellow-citizens. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The government of this country has lately changed its 
 Views, and the protective system, under which we had pros- 
 pered so highly, has been destroyed. This will make it more 
 than ever necessary, that our dyers and manufacturers should 
 economize in their various pursuits, and become as perfect in 
 their manipulations as they are in other countries, for without 
 this they must resign all hope of competing with their foreign 
 opponents. 
 
 This change in the protective policy of the country may 
 probably produce other effects that will make it desirable 
 our farmers should understand dying, as Well as the manu- 
 facturers. It is pretty certain that in less than ten years 
 nearly all our small, and very many of our large woollen 
 manufacturers, will be broken down by foreign competition. 
 After this has been effected, all kinds of goods will rise in 
 value, and as the present consumers of agricultural products 
 will have become producers, the farmers must return to 
 domestic manufactures to enable them to support their fami- 
 lies. With a view to this change, I have reduced the scale 
 of my recipes so as to come within the consumption of 
 families. It will be perceived that each recipe for woollens 
 is given for sixteen pounds of cloth, having ascertained that 
 family-made woollens are usually twenty yards, weighing 
 sixteen pounds. I have frequently been solicited to make 
 this reduction, by country clothiers. 
 
 Since my last work was published, a number of new 
 materials have been employed in dying, several of them of 
 great importance to the practical dyer. Such as the colour- 
 ing matter of the coccus lacca, or lac dye ; those obtained 
 from chromates, and the prussian blue colours — all of which 
 will be particularized when recipes are given. 
 
 A scarlet is produced from the lac dye fully equal to that 
 from cochineal, and at less than half the expense. Even the 
 dull red from madder is more expensive. Lac dye cannot 
 be used for all colours as a substitute for cochineal, because 
 it will not turn blue bv the application of alkalis, therefore 
 it is useless in pinks, and does not succeed well in crimson ; 
 but this very property enhances its value as a scarlet dye, 
 for lac wili not pink by perspiration, whereas cochineal will 
 lose its brilliancy by one day's wear in warm weather. This 
 colouring matter has not yet been applied to cotton goods 3 
 and by only one dyer, to my knowledge, on silk. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 Brilliant and beautiful yellows and oranges are now ob- 
 tained from chromates of potasb, and any salts containing 
 lead. This colour is applied exclusively to cotton goods. 
 Silk can be coloured with it, but the texture appears to be so 
 seriously injured as to leave it with much the appearance of 
 cotton. The cotton is first dipped in a solution of acetite or 
 nitrate of lead, and then in a solution of bichromate of potash, 
 when a most brilliant and tolerably permanent yellow is 
 produced. By the use of lime-water a good orange can be 
 obtained. 
 
 Prussian blues have been made on silk and cotton some 
 ten or twelve years, and it's application is increasing. On 
 woollen goods this colour has not been much used. The 
 great difficulty in dying prussian blue on woollens, arose from 
 the very unequal manner the colouring matter was received 
 on such fabrics. This difficulty has been obviated by what 
 is termed the clearing process, as will be seen in the recipes 
 given for such colours. I shall give some instructions relative 
 to a new mode of producing prussian blues on all descriptions 
 of goods, originating with myself, which has been tried by a 
 practical workman and found eminently successful. 
 
 I would call the attention of our dyers to one particular 
 in the application of mordants in the process of colouring. 
 
 It has been ascertained, by actual experiment, that white 
 goods impregnated with mordants, uncombined with colour- 
 ing matter, will give out again all their mordants unchanged 
 if washed much in water, a fact which every dyer should be 
 aware of, as many of them are taught to wash their goods 
 after being saturated with mordants. There can be but few 
 dyers so ignorant as not to know that when more than the 
 loose mordants are washed off, the colour will be weak and 
 imperfect. It has also been proved that when a small portion 
 of colouring matter is combined in the goods with the mor- 
 dants, the latter cannot be washed out with water. It is 
 evident, therefore, that in all cases where the colour will 
 allow of it, a portion of the colouring matter should be used 
 with the mordants ; and where this is not allowable, a very 
 slight washing should be given to the goods, and none if the 
 colour can be obtained as well without it. 
 
 Our dyers have, within a few years, made great progress 
 in the art. This improvement may have been, in many 
 instances, the result of information given in my work, anc{ 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from recipes subsequently given on personal application, as 
 well as by letter ; but I attribute it more to the arrival in 
 this country of numerous first-rate dyers and colourmen from 
 all parts of Europe, and to the judgment acquired by a more 
 extensive practice. There is still abundant room for further 
 improvement, and I would suggest that a more liberal com- 
 munication of new facts be made known as they arise. I do 
 not mean that a dyer, who makes his living by the art, 
 should communicate his secret processes ; but there are many 
 facts continually developed during the manipulations of every 
 dyer, which could do him no injury if made known, that 
 might in the hands of more scientific workmen lead to results 
 highly important to the art. 
 
 I am well aware that very many men arc so selfish as never 
 to give information to others, nor ever give credit to those 
 from whom they receive valuable information ; but the exclu. 
 sive selfishness of the few ought never to check the spread 
 of intelligence by the more liberal part of the community. 
 It is with much pleasure I acknowledged numerous obliga- 
 tions of this kind, and I will mention one from which valu- 
 able results may ensue. Sometime last summer, the Messrs. 
 William Adams & Co., of this city, presented me with sam- 
 ples of black calico coloured in two hours from the white 
 ground. As black on cotton had never, to my knowledge, 
 been done in less than three or four days, and usually occu- 
 pying a week ; and as the colours were better than the general 
 run, I requested an account of their process, which they very 
 readily communicated. It was effected by merely running 
 the goods through a weak solution of chloride of lime, after 
 they were impregnated with the iron liquor. It was evident 
 that this beneficial effect was brought about solely by a more 
 than usually rapid oxydizement of the iron previously given 
 to the calico. The superiority of the colours by this new 
 process, proves that the oxydizement of the iron is more com- 
 plete than when produced by atmospheric exposure. It 
 immediately occurred to me, that the application might be 
 usefully extended to all processes in dying in which a high 
 state of metallic oxyde was required. Prussian blue colours 
 depending altogether on the state of the oxyde iron given to 
 the goods previously to dipping them into a solution of prus- 
 siate of potash, I inferred that. a chloride solution would 
 much improve the present process. In a few days after I 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 had come to this conclusion, I persuaded a dyer in the city 
 to try it, he having complained of the difficulty he met with 
 in giving sufficient body to his colours. In a few days he 
 returned highly elated with his success, and informed me that 
 it had acted like a charm ; that his colours were full-bodied 
 at one dip, that the iron did not leave the goods as before, 
 and that the tints were unusually rich. 
 
 In dying of woollen goods it is of the first importance they 
 should be made perfectly clean before any mordant or colour- 
 ing matter be put on them. Our dyers are too generally 
 negligent in this branch of their operations. They are too 
 apt to consider that goods from the fulling-mill are clean after 
 being washed from the soap, without being aware that water 
 can never wash all the soap from woollen, and that what 
 remains in the goo^s, will, when decomposed by any of the 
 salts or acids, lose the alkali of the soap, and liberate the 
 oleaginous matter as free grease. In this state no goods 
 will ever receive a bright and permanent colour. 
 
 Fullers-earth should be used altogether as the ultimate 
 cleansing material. No other substance, at present known, 
 will answer as well, for when well washed out, it leaves 
 nothing remaining that can injure the most delicate tints of 
 colours. 
 
 All dark-coloured goods, particularly blue and black, should 
 also be cleansed with fullers-earth. Blacks when cleansed 
 with soap will have a brown tinge, and lose all their bril- 
 liancy, assuming the appearance of half- worn colours. Blues 
 when finished with soap are left with a mealy ground, that 
 seriously injures the appearance of the goods, and lessens their 
 value in the market. 
 
 I shall give a particular description of this process under 
 the head of cleansing of woollens, and I would strongly urge 
 every dyer to give the process a fair trial with genuine fullers- 
 earth, and ascertain by actual experiment the decided advan- 
 tages resulting from it. 
 
 I would call the attention of our dyers to the necessity of 
 using given weights and measures in all their processes. 
 Every practical dyer, of much experience, must be aware that 
 he never can employ the recipes of others with any certainty 
 of successful results, unless he shall have received them from 
 a person who practised them in the same dye-house, and with 
 the same water. Any dyer who is attentive to his business, 
 
 2 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 may acquire celebrity in a few months by weighing his ma- 
 terials, writing down the recipes, and adding to each recipe 
 a pattern of the colour produced. And this is the only means 
 by which a dyer can become proficient in his art, for colours 
 are continually varying ; that which is fashionable one year 
 going out and another succeeding it. I have known colours 
 fashionable for a season, the next season entirely out, being 
 totally neglected for thirty years, and then again become 
 fashionable. If books of recipes with patterns attached to 
 them were kept by our dyers for each colour, and every 
 material variation in the shade of each, they could never be 
 at a loss to colour and match every new colour. This is the 
 common practice of every dyer in England that has attained 
 a name, and those who pursue the plan go on with much more 
 ease to themselves, much greater certainty in obtaining correct 
 results, and with more economy in producing their colours. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 Scouring of Wool. 
 
 This is an important operation, much more so than is 
 generally imagined by those who are not well versed in the 
 art of dying and manufacturing; 'for unless the wool be well 
 scoured, and thoroughly cleansed from the yolk and grease, 
 the subsequent operations will be materially injured, as good 
 colours, or good cloth, never can be made from wool badly 
 scoured. . 
 
 For scouring, a shallow conical furnace is employed, hold- 
 ing from one to two hundred gallons, according with the 
 extent of the factory, which may be made either of copper 
 or iron. It is set in brick-work as other furnaces are ; but 
 the fire is never permitted to reach more than one-third of 
 its height. If the furnace is three feet deep, the fire being 
 under the bottom, it should be closed by brick- work at one 
 foot above the fire. 
 
 The apparatus used for washing of wool, after it is taken 
 from the furnace, is uniformly of an oblong square ; but they 
 are constructed of different materials, and vary in the mode 
 of applying the water. Some are merely willow-baskets ; 
 others are made of board on the bottom and sides for about 
 half their height, the upper part being constructed of strong 
 open wire-work, with a wooden curb around the top. Some 
 few are made entirely of sheet copper, with holes perforated 
 about halfway from the top downwards : these are always 
 placed in running streams where the water is not too rapid, 
 such as mill-ponds, or tail-races. The current should be 
 strong enough to keep the water inside the washer continu- 
 ally changing, yet not so strong as to drive the wool too hard 
 against the side opposite to where it enters, which will be 
 attended with considerable delay and trouble, as well as with 
 a loss of wool, for many of the finer locks will be washed 
 through the wires, or over the top of the curb. 
 
16 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 An apparatus superior to either of the above is now gene- 
 rally used for washing of wool, where a head of water from 
 five feet upwards, can be obtained. The shape of this is 
 also an oblong square, and for a full-sized washer is five feet 
 long, two feet three inches wide, and the same in depth : a 
 stout false bottom is added about three inches above the real 
 one — in it are drilled an indefinite number of small holes, 
 about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and the water is 
 conveyed in between the two bottoms by means of a two or 
 three inch pipe, into which a cock is placed to stop the sup- 
 ply when necessary. A number of small holes are drilled 
 in the ends and sides of the washer, twelve inches from the 
 top, to let the foul water run off. When the water is turned 
 on, it will be forced up through the drilled holes with a 
 power equal to the weight of the column, which is sufficient 
 with a fall of five or six feet to keep the surface in a state 
 of constant ebullition. When scoured wool is thrown into 
 one of these machines, it is kept floating and in rapid motion 
 on the surface, by the upward pressure of the column, and 
 the foul water passes off through the holes on the top. , The 
 workman stands on one side of the washer and moves the 
 wool backwards and forwards with a jerking motion, by 
 means of an iron prong, until the water passes through it 
 perfectly limpid — when he throws out that quantity and re- 
 places it by another. 
 
 In constructing this machine, it is necessary to be guarded 
 in two particular circumstances ; first, that the united capa- 
 city of the holes drilled in the false bottom, be not quite equal 
 to deliver all the water supplied by the column : for when 
 this happens, the supply will operate partially, and the 
 designed effect be in a great measure destroyed. In the 
 next place it is necessary that the holes drilled around the 
 vessel, to let off the foul water, shall be sufficient to let oft 
 all that the column may supply, when the wool is in the 
 basket, without permitting the water to rise to the top ; unless 
 this is attended to, the water will flow over the washer and 
 take the wool with it. 
 
 To make the Scouring Liquor. 
 
 Animal urine is the material mostly used for scouring of 
 wool. The volatile alkali, that part of the urine which com. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 17 
 
 bines with the grease and yolk, does not injure wool, unless 
 it be in considerable excess, or too much heat be applied ; 
 whereas the fixed alkalis operate so powerfully as to dissolve 
 a portion of the wool at a temperature that will scour it. 
 
 Urine that is fresh voided will not scour well. That from 
 persons living on plain diet, is stronger and better than from 
 luxurious livers. The cider and gin drinkers are considered 
 to produce the worst, and the beer drinker the best. When 
 urine is collected, it should be kept in close vessels until it 
 has completely undergone those changes by which its ammo- 
 nia is developed. 
 
 To make a new liquor for scouring fine wool, use one 
 bucket of urine to two of water. Some wool requires more 
 and some less of urine ; if too much is used, the wool will 
 be stringy and difficult to work ; if too small a quantity, the 
 yolk and grease will not be cleansed out of it. The same 
 portions of urine and water as are used in making a new 
 liquor, should be employed in filling up during the progress 
 of the work. The urine should be old, and the water the 
 softest that can be procured. It occasionally happens that a 
 liquor, when fresh made, will not scour well ; whenever this 
 occurs, mix one or two quarts of soap in hot water, and add 
 it to the liquor ; but this should never be done if the men- 
 struum will scour well without it. 
 
 When a liquor is prepared, a frame with cross-bars must 
 be placed over the furnace, resting on the curb ; this is in- 
 tended to receive the wool when taken out of the furnace. 
 As much wool is immersed in the furnace at once as will 
 work easy therein ; when entered, it requires to be worked 
 backwarks and forwards for five minutes, and to remain in 
 from about fifteen to twenty-five, or till the yolk and grease 
 have combined with the ammonia. To know when the solu- 
 tion is complete, take a handful from the furnace, squeeze 
 the liquor out of it, and wash it in water. This sample will 
 show if it be clean. When clean, take it from the liquor 
 and throw it on the cross-bars over the furnace, leaving it ten 
 minutes to drain ; then throw in another quantity, and work 
 as before. Wash that which has drained, as before directed, 
 till perfectly clean. 
 
 The scouring liquor should not be too cold nor too hot ; the 
 proper temperature is from one hundred and twenty to one 
 hundred and thirty degrees, Fahrenheit, and it should never 
 
 2* 
 
18 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 be lower than one hundred and twenty. If the wool be im- 
 mersed in too hot a liquor, it will be slammed, as the work- 
 men call it — that is, it will become matted and stringy, and 
 the yx)lk will become so permanently fixed in it, as to be im- 
 moveable by any subsequent process. When, therefore, a 
 new liquor is to be made, and also every morning before the 
 work begins, let the workmen take a handful of unscoured wool 
 and dip it five or six times in the liquor, and then wash it to try 
 if it be clean : if the sample does not scour well, the heat must 
 either be raised or lowered, and if this does not produce the 
 desired effect, the error must be either in the weakness or 
 strength of the liquor, and more urine, or more water must 
 be added, according to the experience of the workman. 
 
 When wool has been scoured, that part which has to be 
 coloured, is sent to the dye-house, and that which is intended 
 to be dried for white work or mixtures, is spread out on sheets, 
 or platforms, and exposed to the sun and air to dry. In bad 
 weather wool must be dried in stoves. 
 
 A New Scouring Liquor, 
 
 Another mode of scouring wool has been invented in this 
 country since I published my former work ; the process is as 
 follows : take one quart of olive oil, and half a pint of oil 
 of vitriol, mix well by stirring, and let the mixture stand for 
 twenty-four hours. To fifty quarts of water, use five pounds 
 of potash. The water should be boiling, and the potash well 
 dissolved. Reduce the temperature to about one hundred 
 degrees, and mix with it half a pint of the composition. With 
 this, and in the above proportions, the scouring liquor is made. 
 The workmanship in this, is the same as before described. 
 
 An entire new process for Scouring of Wool. 
 
 I have received, since this work has been in press, a new 
 material for scouring of wool, called the patent extract of 
 quilliag. I have tried some very foul wool, with a solution 
 of the extract at the temperature of new milk, and in a few 
 minutes it was washed, proving perfectly clean, and when 
 dry retained a peculiar soft and silky feeling. I do not hesitate 
 to say that it is by far the best material that has ever been 
 used for the purpose. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 19 
 
 It is used with singular advantages in cleansing of coloured 
 cloth, as it will make blues and blacks perfectly clean, and 
 give them a great lustre. It is also used in the finishing of 
 woollen cloth by merely sponging the face. A Yorkshire 
 manufacturer, in his letter to the agent, accompanying an 
 order for the extract, gives the following account of it : — " I 
 have tried it in the finishing of broadcloths, and have been 
 really astonished at the effect ; a cloth at fourteen shillings 
 a yard, finished with the extract, has the lustre and feeling of 
 one at twenty shillings, finished in the old way. This con- 
 sists in the beautiful lustre and soft feeling it gives the cloth, 
 without the old method of pressing with heat." 
 
 Perhaps nothing will demonstrate its powerful effects more, 
 on a more simple experiment, than to take the half- worn coat, 
 wash it in the quilliag and dry it in the sun, and it will have 
 the lustre as fine as the day it came out of the tailor's hands. 
 In such a country as the United States, it is an article of the 
 first importance, as it will be a decided help to the growing 
 manufactures, and do more than any thing else to assist her 
 to struggle against foreign manufacturers who take advantage 
 of every assistance the arts or sciences can afford, to bring 
 their goods cheap to market. 
 
 The general proportions to use the extract, is one pound 
 of the extract to eighty gallons of water ; but in regulating 
 this, the manufacturer will be the best judge, as some kinds 
 of cloths may require a stronger solution than others. 
 
 To make Tin Liquors, for Scarlet and other colours. 
 
 These preparations are always made in glass or stone ware 
 vessels. In woollen dying, the acids are never saturated with 
 tin, and the pots are usually placed in cold water, when nitro- 
 muriates are prepared. When tin liquors highly saturated 
 with tin are wanting, the operation is performed in a sand 
 heat. 
 
 To prepare "Nitro -muriate of Tin, for woollen dying. 
 
 Into each pot put four pints of single aquafortis, or two 
 and a half of duplex ; add two pints of water to the single, 
 and three or four to the duplex : put into each pot a handful 
 of white blown salt, and each requires about eight ounces of 
 
20 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 granulated tin. The tin is supplied gradually, a small hand- 
 ful at a time into each pot, which must be kept stirred until it 
 is nearly dissolved, when add another handful till the whole 
 is in solution. The stirring should be performed with a rod 
 of white basket. willow, or glass. Some dyers use sal-ammo- 
 niac in place of salt ; but any salt whose base is muriatic 
 acid, and whose component part will not injure the solution, 
 will answer for this purpose ; for the only use of a muriate 
 is to enable the aquafortis to hold the tin in solution. 
 
 To prepare Muriate of Tin. 
 
 Muriatic acid, or what is commonly called spirit of salt, 
 is often prepared separately, and the solution added in given 
 proportions, to the nitro-muriate before using it. Sometimes, 
 and in many colours of late, the muriate of tin is used without 
 any admixture ; this is particularly the case with the lac dye 
 on woollens, and in many colours on cottons. Muriates are 
 sometimes prepared with a small quantity of tin, and are 
 sometimes highly saturated ; the former mostly used for 
 woollen dying, the latter for cotton. The weaker solutions 
 may be prepared cold, by merely putting into the acid as 
 much tin as the particular preparation requires, and leaving 
 it until dissolved. This will answer for muriates, when the spe- 
 cific gravity of the acid is 21° or 22° Baume, and not more 
 than two ounces of tin to each pound of acid is required in 
 solution ; but when a greater portion of tin is required to be 
 taken up by the acid, a sand heat must be employed ; by 
 which means an acid, of the gravity abovementioned, may 
 be made to take up its weight of tin. 
 
 To prepare Sulpho -muriate of Tin. 
 
 Take in the proportion of two pounds of muriatic acid to 
 one of oil of vitriol. Add to two pounds of muriatic acid, 
 four or five ounces of tin, let it dissolve, and then gradually 
 add one pound of oil of vitriol. In two or three days the 
 solution will be fit for use. 
 
 To make Nitro-muriate of Tin. 
 
 Take five measures of muriate of tin at 120° Tweedle ; 
 add to it one measure of nitrous acid at 90° Tweedle. A 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 21 
 
 great action, or effervescence, takes place as soon as the 
 nitrous acid is added to the muriate, which makes it neces- 
 sary to have larger vessels, in proportion to the quantity 
 prepared, than for common solutions. 
 
 
 
 To test Tin, for Copper or Lead. 
 
 Tin of commerce frequently contains either a minute por- 
 tion of copper or lead, and sometimes both these metals are 
 present. In all delicate colours, the presence of either of these 
 metals, however minute the quantity, must be injurious, there- 
 fore the dyer should understand how to detect them. " To 
 ascertain the purity of tin by means of nitric acid, put one 
 part of the filings of the suspected metal into a basin, and add 
 to it three parts of nitric acid : a violent action ensues, the 
 acid is rapidly decomposed, copious red fumes are disengaged, 
 and the temperature rises. The tin becomes so highly oxy- 
 dized that it does not pass into a state of solution, but forms 
 a white powder, in which, after having been washed, there 
 are no traces of nitric acid, and is, therefore, nearly a pure 
 oxyde. 
 
 When this has been effected, pour a quantity of distilled 
 water on the mass, stir together, and let stand undisturbed, 
 or filter, till the supernatant fluid becomes clear. Decant 
 the clear fluid, and add to it liquid ammonia in excess : if 
 the tin contained copper, the fluid will assume a blue colour. 
 To assay it for lead, add to another portion of the clear fluid 
 a few grains of sulphate of soda, dissolved in water, which 
 will occasion a white precipitate, if lead be present." 
 
 On ascertaining Specific Gravities, 
 
 It is almost necessary, to ensure correct results, that our 
 calico printers and dyers should know the specific gravity of 
 the acids they purchase, the tin liquors they use, their solu- 
 tions of salts, and of the menstruums used either for dying or 
 topical application. Master workmen from England and 
 Scotland are in the habit of using Tweedle's hydrometers, 
 which in this country are not easily procured, and when 
 found are very costly. The French hydrometers of Baume, 
 are imported largely, and sold cheap. As Dr. Ures's com- 
 parative scale will enable our artists to use Baume, I have 
 added that scale for their government. 
 
22 
 
 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 Dr. Ureses Comparative Scale between Tweedle and Baume. 
 
 T| 
 
 I 
 
 T 
 
 1 
 
 
 T 
 
 1 
 
 T» 
 
 
 ibH 
 
 1 
 
 T 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 B 
 
 0- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 39 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ . 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 _ 
 
 49 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 59 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 
 104 7 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 2- 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 SO 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 106 — 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 142 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 4- 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 - 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 52 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 78 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 108 — 
 
 
 
 144 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 ~~ 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 — 
 
 ~ 
 
 41 
 
 110 — 
 
 — 
 
 51 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 6- 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 54 
 
 
 — 
 
 ~~ 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 146 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 82 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 ll2 T~ 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 8- 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 20 
 
 56 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 32 
 
 84 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 114 — 
 
 
 
 148 
 
 — 
 
 
 61 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 34 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 58 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 43 
 
 116 — 
 
 — 
 
 53 
 
 150 
 
 
 
 
 10- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 86 
 
 T 
 
 
 
 1181. 
 
 
 
 152 
 
 7- 
 
 
 
 12 — 
 
 
 8 
 
 36 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 22 
 
 60 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 120 - 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 — 
 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 52 
 
 _1_ 
 
 
 90 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 122 — 
 
 
 
 156 
 
 7 
 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - — — 
 
 — 
 
 55 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 45 
 
 1247- 
 
 
 
 158 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 
 
 -1 
 
 
 
 16 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 126 1. 
 
 
 
 160 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 — 
 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 36 
 
 94 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — ■ 
 
 128 — 
 
 
 — *~ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 162 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;_ 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 96 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 130 — 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 20 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 44 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 47 
 
 132 — 
 
 _ 
 
 57 
 
 164 
 
 — 
 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 98 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 166 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 22 — 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 134^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 38 
 
 100 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 168 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ___ 
 
 
 
 
 
 136 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 — 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 74 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 102 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 1381 
 
 
 
 170 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 66 
 
 In the above scale, the line headed T gives the scale of 
 Tweedle's hydrometer; and the opposite line, marked B, 
 that of Baume's. The numbers, lines, and dots, marked in 
 each column, indicate the relative scale of the two ; and any 
 person using Baume's, in place of Tweedle's, can ascertain 
 the specific gravity of any liquid as well on the former as the 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 23 
 
 latter, particularly so with Tweedle's number one, 15^° Baume 
 being 24° Tweedle. As Tweedle's scale increases, the dif- 
 ference between the two increases, but any given specific 
 gravity can be ascertained exactly as well on Baume's as on 
 Tweedle's, by an accurate attention to the above comparative 
 scale. 
 
 To mix Oil of Vitriol and Indigo. 
 
 This mixture is known by chymists as sulphate of indigo. 
 In England it is called Saxon blue, and in this country chymic, 
 by the workmen. 
 
 It is necessary to the producing of a. good solution, that 
 the oil of vitriol should be of the specific gravity of 66° 
 Baume, or 170° Tweedle, and that it should be free from all 
 foreign matter. American oil of vitriol has generally the 
 proper specific gravity, but none I have yet tried acts well in 
 making chymic. On making inquiry into the cause, I find 
 that in England the makers use five per cent, of saltpetre, 
 in this country from ten to twelve per cent., and as the process 
 is the same, with the above exception, I am inclined to infer 
 that a portion of the nitrous fumes becomes condensed, and 
 mixes with the oil of vitriol in the state of nitric acid. I 
 cannot be mistaken in asserting that American oil of vitriol 
 is unfit for making good chymic, as will be proved by the 
 following facts. I mixed twenty pounds of indigo with eighty 
 pounds of imported vitriol. This chymic was sent out to 
 more than twenty consumers, who all expressed great satis- 
 faction of its quality. I then mixed ten pounds of the same 
 indigo with forty pounds of the best American oil of vitriol, 
 and the same consumers as uniformly condemned it. As 
 none of them knew but that it was the same compound, there 
 could have been no prejudice existing either in favour of the 
 one, or against the other. 
 
 Chymic should be made in glass or stone ware pots. Com- 
 mon earthern ware will not answer, for the oil of vitriol dis- 
 solves the glazing. The compound may be made either in 
 a sand heat, or in warm water. When the best oil of vitriol 
 is procured, the next thing necessary is to obtain such indigo 
 as is suitable to mix with it. A fine, light, compact, purple 
 or violet indigo, either of Spanish or Bengal, should be ob- 
 tained. The suitability of the indigo is best known by its 
 
24 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 rising moderately as the mixing progresses, but not too much, 
 for when the effervescence is too strong, a portion of the 
 indigo will be decomposed, and when very rapid, the whole ; 
 and that which is decomposed will not produce any colour, 
 nor will it mix with either cold, or hot water, for the indigo 
 appears to be completely carbonized. When it does not rise 
 at all, (the mixture is incomplete, that is, the indigo is not 
 properly in solution,) the goods dyed with it will be uneven, 
 and the colour very fugitive. 
 
 It requires four pounds of vitriol to one of indigo. The. 
 indigo must be ground fine in a mill, or made fine by pound- 
 ing in an iron mortar and sifting through a sieve. A small 
 teacup full, or rather less of indigo, is put into the vitriol at 
 once, and stirred until well mixed, and such quantities are 
 added, from time time, until all the indigo is in solution. It 
 must be well stirred during the operation, either with a glass 
 or white willow rod. It has now to be covered down, and 
 may be used the next day, after which it should be kept in 
 ground stopped bottles, in which it will keep well for months. 
 
 It frequently happens that dyers will use more than four 
 pounds of oil of vitriol to one pound of indigo. This is 
 worse than useless, for as four pounds will dissolve one pound 
 of indigo as completely as a larger portion of vitriol, the excess 
 can produce no other effect on the goods than free vitriol 
 will, and we all know this to be injurious to the goods dyed. 
 
 On the choice of Vessels for colouring scarlet as well as other 
 delicate colours, and of Furnace Baskets, Reels, etc. 
 
 Scarlets may be coloured with safety, in vessels constructed 
 either of brass, copper, or block-tin. When done in brass or 
 copper vessels, they must be kept very clean, and the liquor 
 must not be permitted to lie in the furnace after a day's col- 
 ouring is finished. When a furnace is made of block-tin, it 
 will have to be pretty thick, particularly at the bottom, and 
 when the fire is drawn, after a day's colouring, the liquor in 
 the furnace will have to be cooled down before emptying, the 
 fire having been drawn sometime previous, otherwise the heat 
 of the brick-work will so soften the metal that the bottom will 
 fall out. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES, 25 
 
 On Dying Furnaces, etc. 
 
 Before giving recipes for dying, it may be necessary to 
 give directions how the cloth has to be prepared and worked, 
 and the fires to be managed ; for the goodness of colours 
 depend as much on regulating such things correctly, as they 
 do on the materials used to produce them. 
 
 On cleaning cloth for dying, and the washing of wool and 
 cleaning colours after dying. 
 
 Many of the minor operations in dying, which those who 
 are not well acquainted with the business are apt to neglect, 
 as of little or no consequence, have an important bearing on 
 the well-being of the whole. Such are the operations I am 
 now about to describe, and I am sorry to have occasion to 
 observe that very many of our manufacturers totally neglect 
 cleansing their goods. I have before remarked, which can- 
 not be too often repeated, that cleansing the wool and cloth 
 well from all kinds of extraneous matter previous to dying, 
 is a necessary preliminary to the production of good colours ; 
 and I must add, that to clear them well from the dye after- 
 ward, is no less necessary : when in wool, for the benefit 
 of carding, spinning and weaving ; and when in cloth, for the 
 credit of the colours. 
 
 White cloth should always be cleansed well with fullers- 
 earth before dying. The fullers-earth must be thoroughly 
 dried before using, which may be done by spreading it on 
 sheets in the sun, or by means of a stove-heat. When dry, 
 place it in a tub, and throw as much water on as will cover 
 the earth, which will cause the whole to melt into a pulpy 
 mass. The cloth to be cleansed, has to have about as much 
 earth thrown on the face, as is used of soap in fulling. It 
 is then run for thirty or forty minutes in the stocks or washer, 
 without water, and washed out in the same manner as will 
 be described for coloured cloth. I must remark that before 
 throwing earth on the cloth, it should be moistened as much 
 as is usual for fulling. 
 
 When wool has been dyed, the light colours require only 
 to be well washed in the swilling-basket ; the darker colours, 
 and particularly blue, should be first washed as directed for 
 the light one, then soaked six hours, or more, in milk -warm 
 
26 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 water, with as much oil of vitriol in it as will give to the liquor 
 a slight sour taste, and then it requires a second washing. 
 
 All the colours given to cloth, may be cleansed by stream- 
 ing, or beating with sticks, from a bridge over a running 
 stream, excepting blue and black, which require to be scoured 
 in a fulling-mill. Each of these operations I shall describe, 
 for unless the dyer has conveniences suitable to perform such 
 operations, or is ignorant of what is necessary to be performed, 
 he cannot expect to have it successfully executed. I have 
 been much surprised that in works written on the subject of 
 dying, the process for cleaning white and coloured wool, and 
 cloth, should be passed over as operations of no consequence. 
 ft proves, what every practical artist must be well aware of, 
 that a mere theoretical writer on the arts and manufactures, 
 however splendid may be his literary talent, is not calculated 
 to throw much light on the minutiae of such subjects, and we 
 all know that it is a combination of apparently trifling things 
 that constitutes a whole. 
 
 The apparatus used for streaming, is a bridge six feet wide, 
 and at least ten feet long, which is placed across a rapid stream, 
 where the water is not less than eighteen inches deep. About 
 sixteen feet below the bridge, a windlass is placed parallel 
 with it, and elevated about sixteen inches above its level. 
 At one end of the windlass is fixed a pully, three inches 
 thick, and one foot three inches diameter ; around this, holes 
 are bored to place in four or five stout handles, which project 
 about twelve inches from the solid pully, and a boy works 
 the windlass by means of these handles. The cloth intended 
 to be cleaned, is carried to the bridge on a slatted hand-bar- 
 row, by two men. The hand-barrow being placed on the 
 bridge, the' workmen throw the end of the cloth on the 
 stream, and beat it until the water runs clear ; they then take 
 the end up, and fasten on some large twine, by means of a run- 
 ning noose, which twine is permanently secured at the other 
 end to the centre of the windlass. The two men who carried 
 the hand-barrow, having secured the twine on the cloth, throw 
 the end to which it has been fastened on the water, placing 
 each a foot on the list next to him, whilst the boy strains 
 that part between the windlass and the bridge so as to keep it 
 fairly on the stream ; the two men are prepared each with 
 a long pole, large and smooth at the lower end, to prevent 
 their damaging the cloth, with which they strike it, in rather 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 27 
 
 a slanting direction, and keep so beating until the water runs 
 clear from it ; they then lift up their feet to let another length 
 upon the water, and the boy continues to wind up, always 
 keeping it at a proper strain until the whole is off the hand- 
 barrow. The cloth is then drawn back again, and the pro- 
 cess repeated, if found necessary. For dark colours, this 
 operation is repeated two, three, and even four times, or until 
 the colour will not stain white paper. The men who work 
 it, have wooden soles on their shoes an inch thick, the upper- 
 leathers being fastened with tacks ; but no iron or any other 
 metal is allowed on the soles. They have also leather 
 coverings to tie round their legs, from their shoes to a little 
 above their knees, to protect them from the splashings of the 
 water. In this way all colours, excepting blue and black, 
 are cleaned, and so well are they done that the darkest brown, 
 or the blackest bottle-green, will not stain the whitest linen. 
 In towns where access cannot be had to streams of water, 
 they fill large vessels, called backs, with water from pipes, 
 and beat and rinse the cloth in it ; but this is not half so 
 effectual as the plan I have described. 
 
 Blue and black cloths are also streamed before taken to 
 the fulling-mill, but never on the same bridges where other 
 colours are worked. It is usual to have as many bridges as 
 there are different classes of colours ; one for scarlets, oranges 
 and buffs ; one for light drabs, one for dark drabs and browns, 
 one for greens, one for blues, and another for blacks. Blue 
 and black cloths, after being streamed, are taken to the fulling- 
 mill and washed under the hammers, until the water runs 
 clear from them, when they are taken out of the stocks, and 
 hung upon long, large wooden pegs placed, in the walls of 
 the mill-house for the purpose, where they are left to drain 
 until the day following. They are then taken down, spread 
 open, and wet fullers-earth thrown on all over the face ; the 
 lists are now thrown together, and they are carefully folded 
 into the fulling-mill, which is plugged up, the hammers let 
 down, and permitted to play on the cloth, without water, for 
 half an hour, or forty minutes. The cloth is then handed 
 out, the lists pulled square, the earth spread even on the 
 cloth, and more earth added, if necessary. The cloth is 
 then put again into the stocks, and the hammers suffered to 
 play upon it one hour ; after which, a small quantity of water 
 is let run into the stocks, not more than would pass through 
 
28 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 a large wheaten straw, for half an hour, in order that the 
 earth may be diluted slowly, and by degrees. After that, 
 the cloth is once more handed out, the lists pulled square, 
 then again put into the stocks, and the plug pulled out, when 
 a full stream of water is introduced until it is perfectly clean. 
 During the last operation, it is to be from time to time handed 
 out, in order to prevent its taking a wrong position in the 
 stocks, and being torn. The water that comes out of the 
 stocks, shows whether the cloth is clean, for that which runs 
 out towards the latter part of the operation, should be equally 
 as clear as that which runs in. If on trying the cloth you 
 perceive it still soils, it must be worked with earth a second 
 time. River or clear rain water is the best to mix with the 
 earth, and hard water for washing it out. 
 
 Scouring of cloth has of late years been performed by cylin- 
 ders, and I am informed it can be as effectually cleaned in 
 that way as by the old process. If so, it must be a great 
 improvement, as with the utmost care the cloths cleaned in 
 fallers were subject to more or less damage, whereas there 
 must be gross negligence to allow of any when worked with 
 rollers* 
 
 On the effect which Water has on Dying. 
 
 Whenever this subject has been mentioned by theoretical 
 writers, it has been but briefly noticed, as a subject of minor 
 consequence, and their opinions have been uniformly erro- 
 neous. 
 
 I had no conception when I left England, that water could 
 have had so great an effect in the production of colour, as I 
 have since found it to possess. I have practised the art in 
 this country in four states, and have found that given propor- 
 tions of the same description of ingredients, would not pro- 
 duce the same colour in any two ; there would in each be a 
 considerable variation in the hue and body of the colour. I 
 shall endeavour to draw such deductions from the facts that 
 have been developed during my practice in both countries, 
 as will carry conviction to every unprejudiced mind ; and I 
 hope my opinion will be entitled to that consideration which 
 the importance of the subject demands. 
 
 For confirmation of the fact, that waters differ so materially 
 as to cause a change in the hue and body of colours, I will 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 29 
 
 mention two circumstances that have come under my notice, 
 one of recent occurrence, the other of many years standing. 
 The latter occurred to Mr. John Parish, an eminent dyer in 
 the west of England. He commenced dying in Gloucester- 
 shire, and could not succeed ; he then began in Wiltshire, and 
 for thirty years was the most eminent dyer in the country. 
 After which he commenced again in Gloucestershire, and in a 
 few years lost all he had made in Wiltshire, from an inability 
 to make good colours. Since the publication of my former 
 work, an experiment has been tried, that I think puts the 
 opinion of the effects of water beyond doubt. A dyer from 
 Gloucestershire, being determined to ascertain the difference 
 in dying black in Wiltshire, had a blacking of broadcloth pre- 
 pared in Gloucestershire, and the ingredients he used there 
 weighed out. He took with him the cloth and ingredients, 
 and made a dying at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, with the same 
 ingredients he had always made good bright colours in Glou- 
 cestershire, but the colour produced in Wiltshire was a dead, 
 flat, brownish, poor black. 
 
 An opinion has been handed down from the earliest writers, 
 and repeated by every one to the present day, that no other 
 than soft water ;s fit to be used in dying. They say that " if the 
 water meant to be employed, is hard, and not fit for washing, 
 or curdles soap, it is not fit for dying light colours." Although 
 this idea has been taken for granted by every author, and 
 has been as generally received by the most intelligent dyers, 
 yet it is altogether erroneous ; and I will venture to assert, that 
 spring-water free from metallic oxydes, and marine salts, is, 
 however hard, better calculated for dying, than any large 
 stream having a distant source, however soft. 
 
 When I left England, I was impressed with the prevailing 
 notion that none but soft water could be used for dying. It 
 was the opinion of my father, and his predecessors in the 
 same business, who have been eminent dyers for more than a 
 century ; and this in direct opposition to their daily practice ; 
 for they had all this time been making use of spring- water, 
 that was very hard, would curdle soap, and was unfit for 
 washing, in preference to water from a fine mill-stream, that 
 ran between the dye-houses, and was remarkably soft. And 
 I am convinced they owed their celebrity to this circum- 
 stance alone. My practice in America has convinced me of 
 this important fact, that any water, with the exceptions before 
 
 3* 
 
30 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 mentioned, may be used successfully by the dyer, with one 
 proviso — that it is always in the same state. Water that is 
 variable in its property, can never be used with any prospect 
 of success : it is on this account that springs are better cal- 
 culated for the purpose than mill-streams. 
 
 That river-water is ever varying, is too obvious to be 
 doubted. After much rain, by far the greater part will be 
 rain-water — in a dry season, nearly the whole will be the 
 product of springs, and the shades of difference will vary 
 almost daily. Can it be expected that a medium ever variable, 
 should be calculated to produce certain and invariable results ? 
 The dyer who uses river- water (excepting in certain appli- 
 cations which will hereafter be mentioned) must, therefore, be 
 subject to continual disappointment, and probably without the 
 least suspicion of the cause. He will go blundering along for 
 years in the dark, sometimes much to his satisfaction, at other 
 times deceived in the expected results. He will blame the 
 dye-wares ; will think they have been adulterated by the 
 dealer, or will charge his workmen with carelessness and 
 neglect ; any and every thing will be suspected rather than 
 the true cause. 
 
 Let every American dyer, that is stationary, contrive some 
 mode of obtaining water that shall always be in the same 
 state, and I will venture to predict they will soon become -as 
 eminent as those of any other country. 
 
 In scouring wool, the water used in the furnace should be 
 soft ; afterward, for washing, hard water is to be preferred. 
 Rain or river water is the best for one operation, and spring- 
 water for the other. 
 
 In blue dying, soft water should be used in the vats. This 
 exception is not on account of the colour, it is merely a saving 
 of vegetable ferments. Hard water is best for washing wool 
 after it has been coloured ; it is preferable also for washing 
 cloth after braying and fulling ; and where a convenient supply 
 of spring-water can be obtained at an easy expense, it should 
 be led into convenient receptacles, from whence it can be 
 drawn when wanted. 
 
 There is no colour in which water appears to have so 
 much effect as in black. In the county of Gloucestershire, 
 England, where the dyers are celebrated for this colour, the 
 wafer holds in solution a considerable quantity of limestone ; 
 and the same recipes used there, when employed in the ad- 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 31 
 
 joining county of Wiltshire, where the water is impregnated 
 with agillaceous matter, will not produce any thing like the 
 same colour. There is also a sensible difference in the colour, 
 in the same county, from any given recipe when used in dif- 
 ferent places, and even in various parts of the same stream ; 
 for the effect is not the same when used near the source of 
 a river, as it is at a greater distance from it. I brought 
 three different recipes with me from England, one from each 
 of the three best black dyers in the county of Gloucester- 
 shire, and only one of the three would produce a tolerable 
 Colour with the water of a mill-stream in New- Jersey. The 
 principal colouring matter in black is obtained from logwood, 
 which appears to work browner in any other than limestone- 
 water, and does not produce so rich a body. 
 
 As the opinion now given, has never to my knowledge 
 been noticed by any writer on the subject, and involves con- 
 sequences of great importance to the art, I shall attempt to 
 explain the principle on which it operates, that scientific men, 
 as well as dyers, may form an opinion on the subject. I do 
 not presume to suppose my theory will be perfectly correct ; 
 but if it shall give a clue to enable others possessing more 
 science to pursue the subject, and elucidate it with their usual 
 perspicuity, it will, I hope, be the means of throwing some 
 additional light on this intricate and mysterious art. 
 
 I have said that the waters in the county of Gloucester- 
 shire, where they are more celebrated for dying black, than 
 in any other part of England, holds carbonate of lime in 
 solution. After the cloth has been boiled with the dying 
 wares, two or three hours for black, sulphate of iron and 
 sulphate of copper are added, for the purpose of saddening 
 the colour. As soon as these are thrown into the liquor, 
 a violent effervescence is produced : the carbonic acid gas 
 is separated from the carbonate of lime, by the lime com- 
 bining with the acids of the salts, and there remains in the 
 liquor a sulphate of lime, an oxyde of iron and copper, a sul- 
 phate of iron and a sulphate of copper. When colours are 
 dyed in water containing no lime, nor any other alkaline 
 earth, the salts in the liquor will remain in solution in the same 
 compounds as before they were added to it. In the one liquor 
 then, we shall have in solution, sulphate of iron, sulphate of 
 copper, sulphate of lime, oxyde of iron and copper ; in the 
 other, sulphate of iron, and sulphate of copper. 
 
32 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 Every chymist must know that a material difference in the 
 colour will result from these two compounds. The sulphate of 
 lime in the first, will raise the blue of the logwood, and thereby 
 increase the body and intensity of the colour on the goods 
 dyed. I have made two or three attempts to substitute caustic, 
 and sub-carbonated lime-water, in place of the natural ; hav- 
 ing previously inferred that a similar effect would be pro- 
 duced. I found it to raise the colour of the logwood, yet for 
 want of sufficient experience in its use to fix a proper stand- 
 ard, I have never been able, successfully, to imitate the natural 
 water. I have discovered, however, that when too much 
 was used, it had an injurious effect, making the logwood tinc- 
 ture of a pale prussian blue colour. 
 
 The most important deduction to be drawn from these facts, 
 is, that dyers ought never to expect that recipes obtained 
 from other countries, or from distant parts of their own, 
 should produce exactly the same colours when used by them, 
 as they have with others. And also, that for dyers to become 
 eminent, they must be stationary, they must continue to prac- 
 tice in one situation, and with one kind of water, that by these 
 means alone, can they be expected to obtain perfection in the 
 art. It is, nevertheless, useful to become acquainted with 
 the practice of others, and more particularly with the science 
 of chymistry, on which the art is founded ; but they must 
 not implicitly rely on any thing but their own practice. 
 
 The difference in the effects produced, between dying from 
 any recipe in one place and in another, may, and does often 
 arise from other causes beside the variableness of the water ; 
 see scouring of wool, cloth, &c. 
 
 On Cochineal and other Dye-Stuffs, 
 
 There is so much difference in the quality of cochineal, that 
 it is impossible to describe it accurately, and nothing but prac- 
 tice in comparing samples, and dying with it, can give that 
 critical judgment which will enable the dyer to make choice 
 of those that are the best suited for colouring. The French 
 prefer the silver gray ; in England the black grain is pre- 
 ferred. I do not believe there is any essential difference 
 between them. In choosing cochineal, the dyer should be 
 particular in having a large solid grain ; a small, or shelly 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 33 
 
 grain, indicates an inferior article. Cochineal, being costly, 
 is subject to great adulterations ; there is often found in it a 
 gummy-looking substance, having no colour ; and sometimes 
 stones are found in it as large as the fly. Every sample before 
 purchasing should be examined attentively, and all suspicious 
 substances separated from the real fly and broken, which will 
 disclose the imposition, and enable the consumer to judge of 
 the adulterated percentage. It is usual, when different sam- 
 ples are offered, after the adulterations are ascertained, to 
 reduce each one separately into a fine powder, and to form a 
 judgment of their relative value by their comparative shades 
 of intensity. 
 
 Cochineal is ground in a steel-mill kept expressly for the 
 purpose, which is never permitted to be used for any other 
 articles. 
 
 For the finest scarlet, intended to be very rich in colour 
 and body, no colouring matter should be used, excepting 
 cochineal ; but in general colours the manufacturer will not 
 go to that expense, therefore, some yellow has been used to 
 assist the body of the colour : such as young fustic, black- 
 oak bark, and turmeric. 
 
 Turmeric is brought from tropical countries ; it is a bulbous 
 root, and when broken by the hammer, should be of a fine 
 golden yellow. If the roots are new, and have not been 
 much exposed, the outside will have a yellow appearance ; 
 but if old, they will be of a dirty drab ; and the value of the 
 drug will be in proportion to the distance this abstraction of 
 colour has penetrated the root. It is not a little singular, 
 that the root most esteemed in England should be considered 
 of inferior value in this country. 
 
 Lac dye has been generally used since my former work 
 was published. It is imported from the East Indies in square 
 cakes, and can be used at less than half the price of cochineal. 
 The scarlet obtained from the lac dye is equal to that from 
 cochineal ; but its application is limited to reds and scarlet, 
 for it cannot be used to advantage in either pinks or crim- 
 sons, as it will not blue by the addition of alkalis. 
 
 Brazil, or Pernambuco wood — it was formerly the sole 
 property of the crown, and every piece was stamped at one 
 end. It is mostly used for rose colours, crimsons, and for 
 making red ink. There are two distinct woods called bra- 
 zil, one known as king's wood, the other as queen's wood, 
 
34 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 the latter being worth three or four times as much as the 
 former. 
 
 Madder is imported from Smyrna, Holland, and France. 
 The Smyrna is considered the best, the Dutch the next best, 
 and the French the worst. The finest quality of French I 
 have found to be equal to the best quality of Dutch ; but 
 there the equality ends, for the second grade of French gives 
 one third less colour than the second grade of Dutch. 
 
 I am informed that the madder-root grows wild, over large 
 districts of country, in South America. I received a sample 
 of madder-roots, some four years since, from South America, 
 which on trial proved far superior to any European madder. 
 I pounded the roots in a mortar, and tried it in comparison 
 with some prime Dutch crop, when the South American gave 
 a colour far exceeding the other. 
 
 Dutch madder, when ground, is separated into four distinct 
 grades, the crop, the umbro, the gamene, and the mull, and 
 in each of these there are many different shades of quality. 
 The umbro and gamene are mostly used in woollen dying, for 
 all common colours, and for the blue vats ; the crop is used 
 for fine reds, and the mull for dark bottle-greens, dark browns, 
 and for dirty drabs. 
 
 The outside of casks of madder are always more or less 
 damaged by access to the air through the seams between the 
 staves, and when sold in Europe an allowance is made for 
 what is called crust. The injury a cask has sustained, may 
 be discovered by boring in from the bilge to the centre of 
 the cask, and drawing the borer out full of madder. By 
 examining this, an estimate is formed of the average loss. 
 Supposing a cask of madder of three feet in diameter is offered 
 for sale, having a damaged crust of two inches, the consumer 
 who buys it, without an allowance, will be a loser of nearly 
 twenty per cent. 
 
 Most of the blue dyers in this country, are under an im- 
 pression that madder, by giving out its red dye to the liquor, 
 produces with the blue a rich purple colour ; but in this they 
 are mistaken ; for madder, immediately after it is put into the 
 vat, ferments, and in a few hours loses all its colour ; so that 
 those who use the best crop madder under this impression, are 
 contributing to the expense of the dye without any equivalent. 
 
 Attempts have been made to raise madder in this country, 
 and in some instances successfully. Those who use large 
 
PREPARATORY PRECESSES. 35 
 
 quantities, should cultivate it for their own use. The dis- 
 covery made by M. D'Ambourney, that the fresh roots may be 
 used with as much advantage as that which has been dried and 
 powdered, allowing four pounds for one, would make the 
 price of madder come very low to those who would raise 
 their own. Before using, it should be bruised in a mill, simi- 
 lar to that in which apples are ground. 
 
 Mungeet is imported from the eastern continent, in bales. 
 This is a species of rubia, and of course belongs to the class 
 of madders. It is in long roots of the size of a pipe-stem, 
 and smaller. The colour it affords is similar to that given 
 by madder, excepting it being rather more on the red. This 
 article has been much used since madder has risen in value, 
 although it was before totally neglected. 
 
 In making choice of indigo, the dyer should attend to its 
 specific gravity, and to its fracture and colour. That which 
 weighs the least for its bulk, is smooth in the fracture, and 
 appears of a bright violet, purple, or bronze hue, is the best. 
 The qualities in this drug are so unlimited, that it requires 
 much practical skill to make purchase of the most profitable 
 article. The finest qualities of indigo generally demand a 
 price far above their intrinsic value ; and dyers usually buy 
 the consumable qualities, from which they obtain more colour, 
 in proportion to the price, than from the finer qualities. 
 
 The indigo that is used in a fermenting vat, should be 
 ground to a fine paste in water. This may be effected either 
 in a cast-iron pot, with balls turned by a crank, or with a 
 mill, such as is used to grind printers' ink. The indigo should 
 be previously soaked, by putting it into a tub, and filling up 
 with boiling water, so as to cover it. When this has been 
 in soak for three or four days, the indigo will be so much 
 softened as to crumble when moved, and when handled, will 
 break by the slightest pressure of the fingers. 
 
 The ball-mill I need not describe, as every dyer is ac- 
 quainted with it ; the shape of the mill in general use here 
 is very bad ; the bottom where the balls work, should swell, 
 or belly out, and the pot should narrow a little towards the 
 top. A pot of this shape would never permit the indigo to 
 be thrown out by the balls, when in motion — a defect very 
 common in the bell-shaped pots used in this country. An 
 indigo mill-pot, where more than one vat is intended to be 
 employed, should be large enough to grind thirty pounds of 
 
36 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 indigo at one time, with two balls, each seventy pounds 
 weight; these, if kept in constant motion, will completely 
 grind that quantity in three days. The printer's, or stone- 
 mill, must have an iron breaker, through which the indigo 
 may pass before it enters the stones ; and the finer it is broken 
 by this, the easier and better it will grind. 
 
 There are four kinds of logwood, the Campeachy, St. 
 Domingo, Honduras, and Jamaica, known by the names of 
 the places from whence they are exported. The Campeachy 
 is the best, St. Domingo the next best, and the Honduras and 
 Jamaica are both inferior woods. It is considered that three 
 pounds of Campeachy is equal to three and a half of St. 
 Domingo, and to four of Honduras and Jamaica. Notwith- 
 standing the inferiority of Honduras and Jamaica, they are 
 more generally bought by large consumers than Campeachy, 
 from the well-known fact, that manufacturers of wood in 
 England, always adulterate Campeachy logwood with at least 
 half of Honduras and Jamaica. 
 
 Camwood is never used on woollens in England. It was 
 once used there, but has been rejected, because it injures the 
 quality of the goods more than twice the value of the cost 
 of dying. It has been superseded by that of barwood. 
 
 Redwood is but little employed in woollen dying, excepting in 
 some peculiar colours, as will be seen in the recipes for dying. 
 What is called redwood in this country, must be a different 
 wood from that which bears the same name in England ; for 
 redwood is much dearer there than Camwood. It is the same 
 as is here called hatchwood, with the sap taken off. 
 
 Peachwood is the same as is here known by the name of 
 nicaragua, and the quality depends on the size of the wood. 
 It is rarely used on woollens, excepting in colours having a 
 purple hue. 
 
 Red sanders is now much used in rich browns. It not 
 only gives a beautiful tint, but is one of the most permanent 
 of the vegetable dyes. 
 
 There are several qualities of fustic, the Cuba and Tampico 
 are the best. 
 
 Weld is raised in France and England, from whence small 
 lots are occasionally imported into this country, and sold at 
 from five to seven cents per pound. Since my former work 
 was published, this plant has been raised by some of our 
 farmers, but in general has not been well cured. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 37 
 
 Di Bancroft has taken much pains to prove that the quer- 
 citron, or black-oak bark, will give a colour equally as good 
 as the weld ; but English dyers are convinced, after having 
 tried the two, that the weld gives a more beautiful, and a 
 more permanent colour. There is another property in weld, 
 which gives it a decided advantage over the black-oak bark ; 
 it imparts a softness to all woollens coloured in it, which no 
 other colouring matter does in the same degree. 
 
 Dyer's weed grows wild on commons, and around the bor- 
 ders of woodland ; it has much the appearance of heath, and 
 is known in England by the name of woodwax. It is much 
 used in drabs, in the parts of England in which it grows. 
 
 Green ebony is imported from the Pacific. It is a green- 
 coloured wood, and is much used in greens, olive-browns, and 
 many other colours having a green hue. It is generally em- 
 ployed in dying green silk. 
 
 Young fustic is the sticks, or woody part of the Venice 
 sumach, and is sold cheap in England. The sap is white, 
 whilst the inside is of a rich orange yellow. It is used in 
 chips, and principally employed for oranges, auroras, &c. &c. 
 
 This plant grows well in this country, and is to be found 
 in most gardens and shrubberies, of any note. Its technical 
 name is rhus costinus. The stem and trunk of the shrub, 
 and the root, are bought and employed for dying. The leaves 
 and stalk, when bruised, have an aromatic but pungent and 
 acid scent. It bears a flossy blossom, but no berries, and the 
 leaves are round. Any dyer having an acre of land to spare, 
 might raise sufficient for his own use. 
 
 On Native- American Dye Drugs. 
 
 There are, no doubt, a great number of dying drugs in 
 this country, which, if known, might become valuable. It 
 is much to be regretted, that some institution does not exist 
 in this country to test and bring to notice its native colouring 
 matters. In the hands of a practical and theoretical dyer, 
 many valuable discoveries might be made of new dyes now 
 lying dormant.. Many of them might be used to advantage 
 by the dyers of this country, and also become objects of some 
 magnitude, as exports. It would require an appropriation of 
 two or three thousand dollars per annum to effect the object, 
 
 4 
 
38 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 and I should apprehend that five years would be sufficient 
 to test all the colouring matters of the United States. 
 
 I am now acquainted with seven native dye drugs : the 
 sumach, swamp-maple bark, black-oak bark, golden rod, 
 alder bark, chestnut bark, and butternut bark. 
 
 Sumach. 
 
 The common sumach, so abundant in this country, and 
 which is so generally gathered for dying, is of a different 
 species from that which is imported. It is the rhus glabrum. 
 The imported is the rhus coriaria. The latter looks much 
 yellower when ground than the former, and works more pow- 
 erfully. It grows naturally in Syria, Palestine, Spain, and 
 Portugal, and is found occasionally in this country. It is 
 diligently cultivated in Spain and Portugal. The shoots are 
 cut down to the roots every year, and dried, that they may 
 be ground to powder in a mill. 
 
 Swamp-Maple Bark. 
 This bark is used in drabs, grays, and blacks. It may be 
 employed in almost all cases, as a substitute for nutgalls. 
 Four pounds of swamp-maple bark will give full as much 
 colour as one pound of the best nutgalls. 
 
 Black-Oak Bark and Golden Rod. 
 
 These are used for yellow, and the mode of dying is the 
 same for each. The use of the black-oak bark is well known 
 among our dyers, but the golden rod, producing a better 
 colour, has been very little attended to. I would recom- 
 mend our dyers to gather the plant when at maturity, and use 
 it in a dry state. 
 
 Alder Bark. 
 
 The alder is found abundantly in swampy places; it is 
 generally of small growth, and has a motley nut-brown bark ; 
 the sticks are cut in the month of April, or the beginning of 
 the month of May, when the sap runs ; the bark is stripped 
 off as soon as cut, (which is easily done by children) and is 
 dried in the shade, when it is fit for use. The poles make 
 good bean-sticks, or excellent firewood. This bark, when 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 39 
 
 the colouring matter is strong, produces a brownish drab 
 with alum, and a light forest drab when only a small quantity is 
 used. When employed in the black dye, it increases the body 
 of the colour even more than sumach, and is equally durable. 
 
 Chestnut and Butternut Bark. 
 These barks are used in browns and blacks. The butter- 
 nut is mostly employed to give a body for brown. It gives a 
 good cinnamon-brown, of great permanency, without any mor- 
 dant, and could be used to much advantage as a preparation 
 for browns of almost every shade. 
 
 White -Oak Sawdust. 
 
 The sawdust of the white-oak gives the best and most 
 permanent body to blacks, of any material I have ever used, 
 and is not so apt to turn brown, as sumach, oak bark, or any 
 other material in common use. It- requires about twelve 
 pounds to twenty yards of broadcloth, weighing twenty-four 
 pounds, or half the weight of the cloth. The purple, given 
 by the sawdust, is finer than that which is obtained from 
 nutgalls, and is highly. permanent. 
 
 There is an acid in wood, called the pyroligneous, which 
 is much used, when combined with iron, for dying and print- 
 ing of black on cotton. It is highly probable, that when oak 
 or other sawdust is boiled, this acid is extracted, and operates 
 in producing the colour, in addition to the purple obtained as 
 a colouring matter ; for it is well known, that pyroligneate 
 of iron is the best mordant used in black dying. 
 
 On Dye-Stuffs, not indigenous, that could be raised in this 
 
 country.. 
 
 Indigo, madder, weld, woad, woodwax, and many others, 
 might be raised to advantage in this country. 
 
 On the manufacturing of Indigo. 
 
 The value' of the indigo consumed in this country, canno* 
 
 be estimated at less than two millions of dollars per annum. 
 
 The quantity of indigo made from an acre of the plan* 
 
40 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 has been differently estimated by almost every maker from 
 whom I have obtained information. Taking the average of 
 the different estimates, it would be at least fifty pounds to the 
 acre. It will appear by this estimate, that it would require 
 forty thousand acres of land to raise a supply for present con- 
 sumption ; and as the demand is rapidly increasing, it is more 
 than probable, that in ten years, it will require the product 
 of eighty thousand acres to raise a supply for home con- 
 sumption. 
 
 There are four points to be attended to in making of in- 
 digo, which require much judgment, aided by practical skill. 
 These are, the time of cutting the plant, the degree of fer- 
 mentation to be given in the steeper, the degree of oxydize- 
 ment of the colouring feculoe, and the extrication of foreign 
 matter from the pulp after the indigo is made. Three of 
 these processes being purely chymical, it is not, therefore, 
 surprising, that ordinary workmen should frequently fail in 
 producing a good article. There is probably more loss sus- 
 tained by our southern planters, from the ignorance of the 
 operators, than the whole value of the article now sold. 
 
 The plant should be cut when at maturity, as it will then 
 afford a fine colour ; but if cut too late, a portion of colour 
 is then lost, and an indigo of worse quality is obtained. Mr. 
 Dalrymple informed me, that the plant should be cut when 
 in full flower, after the weather for some days has been dry. 
 
 Another celebrated maker of indigo, asserts, " that if the 
 plants are suffered to stand till they run into flower, the leaves 
 become too hard and dry, and the indigo obtained from them 
 proves less in quantity and less beautiful. The due point of 
 maturity is known by the leaves beginning to grow less sup- 
 ple, or more brittle." 
 
 It appears that the makers of indigo differ as to the time 
 of gathering the plant. It is greatly to the interest of our 
 planters that they should ascertain, by direct experiment, the 
 proper time of gathering. 
 
 When the plant is gathered, it has to undergo a process 
 by immersion in water, for the purpose of extracting its col- 
 ouring matter. This operation is performed in two ways — i 
 by fermenting the green plant in a steeper, or by first drying 
 the leaves and then simmering them in a boiler. The latter 
 process is now pursued by some of the best makers in Ben- 
 gal, and has apparently an advantage over the old process. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 41 
 
 When the green plant is fermented in a steeper, and the 
 process is carried a little too far, the colouring matter will 
 become dark, and is said to be burnt — if carried a slight 
 degree farther it will be black, and of course the indigo will 
 be very much injured. Nine-tenths of the indigo made in 
 the United States, partakes more or less of this character, 
 and has evidently been injured by an excessive fermentation. 
 To observe a due degree of fermentation in the steeper, is 
 the most difficult point in the whole process of making indigo ; 
 for should the fermentation not be carried far enough, a con- 
 siderable loss of colouring matter will be the result. It is 
 necessary, therefore, to carry it on to a certain point, and to 
 draw it off the instant it arrives at that point ; and this can 
 be known only by a skilful observer who has obtained his 
 knowledge by practice. 
 
 There is no chymical operation so difficult to describe as 
 that of fermentation, and I almost despair of making myself 
 clearly understood by practical workmen in the following 
 description of the steeping process. 
 
 Fermentation has been divided by chymists into four kinds, 
 or stages : the panary, vinous, acetic, and putrefactive. The 
 fermentation given in the indigo steeper is evidently of that 
 kind called panary, or the first stage of fermentation. It is 
 known to be the panary by the large quantity of carbonic 
 gas given out, which, rising to the surface, floats on the top, 
 covered with a thin pellicle of the liquid. The difficult point 
 for the operator to distinguish, is when it arrives at that degree 
 of fermentation, and begins to assume the acetic. The same 
 difficulty occurs with the woollen blue dyer, and the losses so 
 frequently complained of, by the vats being out of order, 
 and often irrevocably lost, arise from the fermentation being 
 permitted to proceed too far. 
 
 The following directions are given as a guide for those who 
 may be.engaged in the making of indigo. Whilst the plant 
 is in steep, draw off a little of the water, and with a pen 
 dipped in it make a few strokes on white paper. The first 
 will probably be highly coloured, in which case the indigo is 
 not sufficiently fermented. This operation is to be repeated 
 every quarter of an hour, until it loses its colour, when it 
 will have arrived at its true point of fermentation. 
 
 Let a small hole be made in the steeper, six or eight inches 
 from the bottom, exclusive of the opening or aperture, for 
 
 4* 
 
42 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 drawing off the impregnated water. Let this hole be stopped 
 with a plug, yet not so firmly but that a small stream may 
 be permitted to ooze through it ; after the plants have been 
 steeped some hours, the fluid, oozing out, will appear beauti- 
 fully green, and at the lower edge of the cistern, from whence 
 it drops into the battery, it will turn of a copperish colour. 
 This copperish hue, as the fermentation continues, will gradu- 
 ally ascend upwards to the plug, and when that circumstance 
 is perceived, it is proper to stop the fermentation. 
 
 During the progress of this part of the business, particular 
 attention should be paid to the smell of the liquor which 
 weeps from the aperture, for should it discover any sourness, 
 it will be necessary to let the fermenting liquor run immedi- 
 ately into the battery, and lime-water of sufficient strength 
 must be added, until it has lost its sourness. As it is run- 
 ning off it will appear green, mixed with a bright yellow or 
 straw colour, but in the battery it will be of a beautiful green. 
 
 Another maker has given the following description qfthefer 
 
 menting process. 
 
 When the plant is gathered, a large quantity is put into a 
 vat, and some wood laid above to prevent its rising above 
 the water. The mass begins to ferment sooner or later, 
 according to the warmth of the weather, and the maturity 
 of the plant — sometimes in six or eight hours, and sometimes 
 in not less than twenty. The liquor grows hot, throws up 
 a plentiful froth, thickens by degrees, and acquires a blue 
 colour, inclining to a violet ; at this time, without touching 
 the herb, the liquor impregnated with the tincture is let out, 
 by cocks in the bottom, into another vat placed for that pur- 
 pose, so as to be commanded by the first. 
 
 The boiling process, for extracting the colour from the 
 dry plant, was obtained from Mr. Dalrymple, who had for 
 many years been an extensive indigo maker in Bengal. He 
 says : take an iron, brass, or copper boiler, fill it within three 
 inches of the top with the plants, press down with stones, and 
 cover the plants with water. The liquor must be heated, 
 not until it boils, but until it begins to blubber, or simmer. 
 The water, by this time, will look greenish, then draw it off 
 into a shallow vessel or vat, and beat for one or two hours to 
 incorporate oxygen with it. On taking some of the liquor 
 in a white saucer, little particles will appear in it as large as 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 43 
 
 a pin's head and smaller ; then stop beating and throw in a 
 little lime-water, upon which the indigo will precipitate to the 
 bottom, and the supernatant water will look like brandy. 
 The water has now to be drained off to a level with the top 
 of the sediment ; lay the sediment on a cloth to drain, and 
 when stiff enough put it into moulds to dry. 
 
 The directions given by Mr. Dalrymple are evidently im- 
 perfect, for none are given for the fermenting process ; and 
 those who are the least acquainted with the manufacture of 
 indigo, must know that the colouring matter cannot be devel- 
 oped unless the liquor has previously undergone a due degree 
 of fermentation. 
 
 I have been recently informed, that many first-rate makers 
 of indigo in Bengal condemn the process of obtaining it from 
 the dried leaves, on the plea that the article obtained is no 
 better, and is much less in quantity. If any of our planters 
 should be disposed to try the dry process, it will be neces- 
 sary to inform them, that should the leaves, between gather- 
 ing and drying, be subject to fermentation, only a small portion 
 of colouring matter will be obtained, and that the loss sus- 
 tained will be as to the degree of fermentation. 
 
 During the precipitation of the colouring feculae, the coarsest 
 particles, possessing the greatest specific gravity, subside first, 
 constituting the lower strata of the pulp ; and the lighter and 
 finer particles, subsiding last, form the upper part. It is 
 necessary that indigo makers should take advantage of this 
 circumstance, by first taking off the upper layer, and moulding 
 it by itself, and the lower part by itself. By this means they 
 may obtain several qualities of indigo from one mass of pulp. 
 
 It appears from analysis made by Bergman, Quatremere, 
 and other chymists, that indigo of good quality does not con- 
 tain more than from 46 to 47 per cent, of colouring matter, and 
 that the very best samples do not contain more than 48 per cent. 
 
 The following table will exhibit an analysis of indigo of 
 a good quality, and of the menstruua in which the impurities 
 are soluble : 
 
 Mucilaginous parts, separable by water, . . . 12 
 
 Resinous parts, soluble in alcohol, 
 Earthy parts, soluble in acetic acid, . 
 Oxyde of iron, soluble in muriatic acid, 
 Colouring parts, almost pure, 
 
 , 6 
 . 22 
 , 13 
 
 , 47 
 
 loo 
 
44 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt, that the manufacturers of in- 
 digo might produce, by attending to the analysis made by 
 chymists, an article far superior to any hitherto offered to 
 the public. It will also appear certain, when experience 
 shall have confirmed the value of a superior indigo, that a 
 more than remunerating price could be obtained for a purer 
 article. For certain purposes a pure indigo would command 
 double, and even treble prices, provided the supply were not 
 too great for the consumption. This being the case, it would be 
 well for our manufacturers to pay some attention to the sub- 
 ject, and endeavour, by some easy, unexpensive process, to 
 bring it to as great perfection as possible. To promote this 
 object, I offer the following extracts and observations. 
 
 Bergman dissolved, by means of ebullition in water, a 
 ninth part of the weight of indigo. 
 
 Quatremere also separated, by means of water, the parts 
 which are soluble. He states their quantity to be more con- 
 siderable, the worse the quality of the indigo ; and that, after 
 this operation, the residuum has acquired the qualities of the 
 finest indigo. He, therefore, proposes to purify what is of 
 inferior quality, by boiling it in a bag, and renewing the water 
 till it ceases to acquire colour. 
 
 If sulphuric acid be diluted with water, it attacks only the 
 earthy matter that is blended with the indigo, and some mu- 
 cilaginous ingredients. 
 
 Muriatic acid, digested or even boiled with indigo, takes up 
 the earthy part, the iron, and a little extractive matter, which 
 colours it of a yellowish brown, but without attacking in any 
 manner the blue colour. 
 
 It is evident from the analysis, that to make indigo far 
 superior to any now brought to market, requires only an appli- 
 cation of known facts to the art of making it. It is a well 
 ascertained fact, that if indigo is boiled in water containing 
 muriatic acid, twenty-five per cent, of the impurities contained 
 in the best samples, would be extracted, and the colouring 
 matter remaining would form an indigo far superior to the 
 best now offered for sale. 
 
 In the best samples of the indigo of this country there is 
 evidently too much extractive matter, and there is no doubt 
 that this defect arises, in a great measure, from their taking 
 the pulp from the beater, instead of their running it into a vat 
 of clear water, and after well agitating there, letting it settle 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 45 
 
 in the third vat. This third receiver should undoubtedly be 
 added where it has not been done already. Those manu- 
 facturers who would wish to avoid the expense of a third 
 receiver, may fill up the beater with fresh water, after drawing 
 off the first liquor, and perform the operation in the same vat. 
 
 The greatest improvement I can at present suggest, would 
 be to boil the pulp taken from the vat by steam heat, for 
 fifteen or twenty minutes, in water containing as much mu- 
 riatic acid as would give to the liquor a strong acid taste. 
 This operation can also be performed by placing a copper 
 pipe in the beater from any steam boiler. 
 
 Muriatic acid, besides the oxyde of iron, dissolves the car- 
 bonate of lime, red resin, and alumina, contained in the indigo, 
 and by being mixed with water, the greater portion of the ex 
 tractive matter would be taken up at the same time. It would 
 leave the indigo twenty-five per cent, better than any hith- 
 erto made, and a price more than equivalent to the loss of 
 weight and expense would be readily obtained from the con- 
 sumer. 
 
 I have been informed by some South Carolina planters, 
 that owing to their inability to proceed with the fermentative 
 operation as rapidly as the crops require, a portion is often 
 Left on the fields for two or three weeks after the plants have 
 arrived at maturity. This circumstance alone is sufficient 
 to blast the interest of the planters. This difficulty is obvi- 
 ated in Bengal by their planting their seed in successive 
 periods, so that one crop will ripen a week or more after 
 the other, each crop being sufficient to supply one set of 
 tanks during the period of maturity. 
 
 Dyers, as well as indigo planters, would be highly benefitted 
 by attending to the analysis of indigo. Were they, when a 
 superior colour is wanted, to boil the ground indigo in a bag 
 as described by Quatremere, there would be no difficulty in 
 obtaining the desired result from indigo of any quality. 
 
 On raising Madder. 
 
 As manufactures progress, many agricultural products will 
 be brought into demand, which, from the variety of our soil 
 and climate, may as well be raised in this country as in any 
 other ; and it is the interest of our agriculturists to seize every 
 
46 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 opportunity of cultivating new products, as soon as a suffi- 
 cient demand is created to warrant the attempt. 
 
 Madder has become an article of great consumption, and 
 the demand is daily increasing. That it can be raised in 
 most parts of North America, in the greatest perfection, has 
 been tested by experience. Mrs. Madison made a report to 
 the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, many years since, of 
 madder raised under her direction, and the report was accom- 
 panied with a sample of cotton dyed of an adrianople red, that 
 has never been exceeded in colour by any European dyer. 
 In Kentucky, madder is commonly raised in gardens, is dried 
 in the root, and sent to market for sale. I once used a few 
 pounds of those roots, and the colour obtained was equal to that 
 produced from the second. quality Dutch crop. 
 
 I have selected information relative to the cultivation of 
 madder, for the guidance of those who would wish to make 
 the attempt. 
 
 It will be necessary to plough the land deeply for madder, 
 before the winter, into high ridges, in order that it may be 
 exposed to the action and influence of the frosts, and the 
 atmosphere. Early in the spring these ridges should be well 
 harrowed down by a heavy, long-tine d harrow, and then 
 ploughed again in the contrary direction to a good depth. 
 And when after this, the land is not perfectly clean from 
 weeds, or not rendered sufficiently fine and mellow, another 
 ploughing and another harrowing should be given. In the 
 last operation the ground should always be left in as level 
 and even a state as possible. It is then ready for the recep- 
 tion of the plants. The sets or plants may then be obtained 
 either by sowing the seeds upon a bed of earth which is rich, 
 and made perfectly fine by digging and raking in the spring, 
 and then lightly covering in, or from offsets or suckers from 
 the old plants. In the first method, on the plants appearing 
 they should be made perfectly clean by weeding, and set 
 out at the distance of three inches in the beds, by the hoe. 
 In this way, by keeping the ground quite clean and well 
 stirred about the plants, they will be ready to set out in the 
 second autumn, though it will mostly be better to defer the 
 business until spring. It requires about thirty thousand plants 
 for setting an acre of land. The most suitable time for taking 
 the sets is shown by the plants having attained the height of 
 ten or twelve inches from the ground, and the suckers having 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 47 
 
 thrown out fibrous roots from their bottoms. This may be 
 seen by drawing up a few of the plants, and usually about the 
 latter end of May or beginning of June. Besides, it is ne- 
 cessary that the sets have formed root-fibres at the bottom, 
 before they are removed, as where that is not the case they 
 never succeed well. The land being previously prepared as 
 directed, and the plants provided, a sufficient number of 
 labourers are to be employed, that the work may be performed 
 as expeditiously as possible. In taking off the sets, much care 
 is necessary not to injure them. The number of plants that 
 can be set in a short time, should be taken up at once. 
 They should be prepared by having a third part of their 
 tops cut off; a sort of thin batter should be made by mixing 
 good vegetable mould and water well together, into which 
 the roots of the sets should be well dipped before they are 
 placed into the earth, as by this means the necessity of water- 
 ing the plants afterward is prevented. This work is executed 
 by a person before the planting commences. Two others 
 are employed afterward in distributing the plants so as to be 
 convenient for putting them into the ground. 
 
 These sets, after the land has been formed into beds, five 
 feet in breadth, with two feet between each, for intervals, are 
 put in by means of a line and dibble, beginning at a dis- 
 tance of six inches from the outside, and setting a row of 
 plants a distance of five, six, or more inches from each other; 
 then removing the line two feet further on them, and putting 
 in another row, and so on, until the bed is finished. In this 
 way each bed contains three rows of plants, at two feet 
 distance each. 
 
 As some of the plants are liable to die soon after the work 
 has been performed, it is necessary, in the course of two or 
 three weeks, to look over the ground and put fresh vigorous 
 plants in the places where the others. have been destroyed. 
 
 It is of the greatest consequence that the plants be kept 
 perfectly clean, and the mould occasionally stirred about the 
 roots of the plants. 
 
 Manufacturers, by using the green roots as recommended 
 by D'Ambourney, would make a saving of full one-half of 
 the expense now incurred, by raising their own madder. It 
 would require four pounds of green, in place .of one of dry 
 omadder. 
 
48 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 On the Weld Plant as a dye, and its cultivation. 
 
 The weld plant is so valuable a dye-stuff for woollens, for 
 drabs, browns, olives, yellows, greens, &c, that I think it 
 necessary to call the attention of our dyers to its application, 
 and of our farmers to its cultivation. Weld, or would, resida 
 leuteola of Linnaeus, is a plant used by dyers to give a yellow 
 colour. Some parcels of this plant have been imported ; but 
 owing to its excessive bulkiness, it never can be brought from 
 Europe at a price that will enable our dyers to bring it into 
 general use. As the plant, however, can be raised here 
 much better than in England, the summer being warmer and 
 drier, it may be cultivated and sold at as low a price as in any 
 other country ; there is, therefore, no impediment to its being 
 generally adopted by American artists. 
 
 That nothing may be wanting to facilitate the use and cul- 
 tivation of this valuable dye-drug, I shall point out to our 
 dyers its most prominent properties, and to our agriculturalists 
 the mode of cultivating it. 
 
 The colour obtained from weld is more permanent, with 
 the common mordants alum and tarter, than any other yellow 
 dye. The colour it gives is also more delicate than any other ; 
 but its chief superiority consists in the property it possesses, in 
 a very superior degree, of imparting a great degree of softness 
 to the woollens dyed with it. Our manufacturers cannot but 
 be aware of the advantage of using such dyes as will give 
 .a softness to their wool, in preference to others, which from 
 astringency have the effect of giving a harsh feeling to their 
 fabrics. So much are European wool dyers impressed with 
 the superiority of weld over any other yellow dye, that they 
 use it in all furnace colours that will admit of it, though it 
 costs them more than double the price of other dyes, for which 
 it is substituted. The drabs dyed with weld are more per- 
 manent, and the colours more delicate than from any other 
 yellow. The olive-browns and greens, and the bronze greens, 
 are in every way superior, as it respects their brilliancy and 
 permanency. When used for wool colours, the wool is found 
 to work softer and better in every subsequent operation. 
 
 Weld is greatly preferred to all other substances in giving 
 the lively green lemon yellow. It is much used by the Lon- 
 don and French paper stainers. Diffuse any quantity of fine 
 whiting in boiling water, add to it one ounce of alum for 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 49 
 
 every pound of whiting, and stir these materials well together 
 until the gas is disengaged. Boil in a separate vessel some 
 weld, with water just sufficient to cover it, for fifteen minutes, 
 filter the yellow decoction, and mix it with the whiting and 
 alumine. The precipitate is used for staining of paper. 
 
 The soils most suitable for raising of weld are of the fer- 
 tile mellow kinds, whether of the loamy, sandy, or gravelly 
 sorts ; but it may be grown with success on such as are of a 
 poorer quality. In fact, a light quick soil, approaching to 
 the sandy, is the best ; for the smaller the plants, provided 
 the}'' blossom well, the better. A soil rather moist, but mel- 
 low, seems the most suitable and proper for it. 
 
 It is necessary, in the preparation of the ground, that there 
 should be a tolerable degree of fineness in the mould of the 
 soil, which may be effected by repeated ploughings given in 
 the more early spring months, and suitable harrowing. The 
 surface of the land in the seed-furrow should be left as level 
 as possible, that the seed may be dispersed more evenly over 
 it, and with greater regularity and exactness. 
 
 From two quarts to a gallon, is sufficient seed for an acre, 
 according to circumstances, when sown alone ; but when 
 sown with other crops, a little more may be required, which 
 should be blended with a little sand, or some such material, 
 at the time of sowing it, to render it capable of being sown 
 more evenly. It may be sown in the spring, or in the latter 
 end of summer, about the beginning of August. 
 
 In Norfolk, England, it is sown with other crops, such as 
 barley, buck-wheat, beans, peas, clover, or grass seeds — it is 
 usually put in after them ; in some cases immediately, in 
 others not until some time has elapsed. 
 
 The plants do not usually run to stalk until the second 
 year ; it is ripe by the first of June. After they have blos- 
 somed, just as the last begin to fall off, the plants are pulled ; 
 they may be set up in small handfuls to dry in the field. That 
 which is left for seed should be pulled as soon as the seeds 
 are ripe, set up to dry, and then beat out for use ; for if the 
 plants are left too long the seeds will scatter. 
 
 Woad. 
 
 This plant has been raised in this country for some years, 
 and is sold by several agriculturalists in the neighbourhood of 
 
 5 
 
50 PREPARATORY PROCESSES, 
 
 Hartford, Connecticut. The principle error committed by 
 the makers, is in packing the woad too moist after couching. 
 
 Woodwax. 
 
 In some parts of England, this plant grows wild on com- 
 mons, and around the borders of woodland ; it has much the 
 appearance of heath, and is known by the name of woodwax, 
 or dyers' broom, a species of erica. This plant is used alto- 
 gether in drab dying. 
 
 Sweet Balm. 
 
 The flowers of this plant (monarda dydima) will colour a 
 pink nearly equal to safF-flower, and quite as permanent. 
 It should by all means be brought into use. A small plot 
 of ground would produce a large quantity of flowers, as it 
 continues to blossom for two or three months. 
 
 To prepare Woollen Goods for the Furnace. 
 In the first place the cloth has to be well cleansed from all 
 soap and grease, by scouring it with fullers-earth, and wash- 
 ing the earth out quite clean with water. It should be under- 
 stood by the workmen, that soap left in goods to be dyed, is 
 as bad as grease. Cloth, yarn, or wool, should always be 
 moist quite through before entering the dye-furnace. 
 
 On Black Dying 
 
 Black is a compound colour, made from dye-stuffs contain- 
 ing a purple tint, and such as give some drab or yellow. 
 Nutgalls, sumach, logwood, and several other dyes, give a 
 purple ; and fustic, or quercitron bark, gives the yellow. Such 
 dye-stuffs will not give a black colour without the aid of 
 metallic oxydes. Copperas, blue vitriol, and verdigris, are 
 the salts generally used, from which the metallic oxydes are 
 obtained. The intensity of a black colour will, in all cases, 
 depend on the perfection of the oxyde. If, when copperas is 
 used, the iron is oxydized to its maximum, it then produces a 
 black of the utmost degree of intensity ; but if, from any 
 defect in the process, the metallic substance used should be 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 51 
 
 oxydized below that point, the black will be defective, and 
 the deficiency will increase as the oxydizement diminishes. 
 The same effect is produced by all the metallic salts, in what- 
 ever state they may be used, whether as acetates, sulphates, 
 or nitrates. It is for the purpose of oxydizing the metals of 
 the salts used, that in woollen dying the cloths are exposed 
 frequently during the time of saddening, and that in cotton 
 dying the goods are dried and exposed to the atmosphere 
 for several days. 
 
 A new mode of bringing up the oxyde of the metal of 
 metallic salts used for black dying, has lately been discovered, 
 which is very valuable to dyers in general, and particularly 
 so to the cotton dyer. 
 
 This effect is produced by dissolving two pounds of chloride 
 of lime (bleaching powder) in four gallons of water ; to be 
 well stirred, then left to settle, and pouring the clear liquor 
 into one hogshead of water. By running any goods, previ- 
 ously saddened, through this liquor for a few minutes, the 
 metal immediately becomes oxydized to its maximum, and 
 the black produced is more intense than those by the com- 
 mon process. 
 
 This process will be found highly advantageous to the 
 black cotton dyer, as it will save him much time and trouble. 
 
 It is further applicable in all colours wherein metallic salts 
 are employed. In prussian blue colours, its effect is strikingly 
 beneficial. 
 
 This .fact was discovered, and made known to me, by 
 Messrs. William Adams & Co. of this city, and I consider it 
 as a very important discovery. 
 
 As a guide to black dyers, I consider it necessary to inform 
 them of the result of a series of experiments, by which some 
 French chymists ascertained the quantity of copperas neces- 
 sary to saturate a given quantity of the principal dye-stuffs 
 used by black dyers. It will be necessary to inform them, 
 that when more than sufficient to saturate is used, the colour 
 becomes brown, or what dyers would call russet. 
 
 To saturate ten pounds of nutgalls, requires two pounds 
 of copperas. Ten pounds of sumach requires one pound five 
 ounces ; and ten pounds of logwood, one pound five ounces. 
 
 There are four different and distinct colours in black : the 
 blue, the yellow, the red, and the jet black. It will be neces- 
 sary to keep this distinction in view in reading what follows, 
 
52 RECIPES. 
 
 as well as in the practice of the dyer ; for as it includes all 
 the primary variations that can take place in the colour, it 
 will have a tendency to lead the mind to the cause of the 
 difference, and thereby remove that confusion which too 
 many artists in this line are labouring under. The terms I 
 have used to distinguish the different shades of this colour 
 require no explanation — the blue, red, and yellow, being the 
 dyer's primitive colours ; every one must know, that when 
 either of these predominate, the colour assumes that name. 
 A jet black is that happy mixture of the three, in which 
 neither of them is in visible excess. 
 
 To dye a blue-black on sixteen pounds of cloth or yarn. 
 
 For boiling, use six pounds of logwood, fourteen ounces of 
 sumach, and two and a half ounces of pearlash. 
 
 Let the contents of the furnace be well stirred with a rake 
 after the dye-wares have boiled two hours. Cool down the 
 liquor to one hundred and eighty degrees or thereabouts — 
 then enter the cloth rapidly, and give it a few turns over the 
 reel as quick as possible, having it kept open all the time by 
 the broadsman. The fire is then to be made up as strong 
 as possible, and no time lost in bringing the liquor to a boil. 
 After it boils out fairly, the time must be taken, and the boil- 
 ing kept up for two hours, the workman keeping the cloth 
 open all the time. When it has boiled two hours, the furnace 
 must be filled up with cold water, the door thrown open, and 
 the cloth taken out and well cooled. Whilst this is doing, 
 the fire is made up, the door closed, and the liquor brought 
 to boil. The materials to be used at this time are, one and a 
 half pounds of copperas, and four and a half ounces of blue 
 vitriol, (not more than five and a half ounces.) 
 
 After the liquor, with these ingredients, has boiled five or 
 six minutes, the door is to be opened, the liquor cooled down 
 with water as before, and after well stirring the liquor the 
 goods are to be entered rapidly. The reel should move 
 briskly for the first fifteen minutes, one person being em- 
 ployed to push the cloth under the liquor on one side, and 
 another on the other side to keep it open ; the reel to be kept 
 turning, and the cloth kept open during the whole of the 
 operation. In order to avoid repetition, I must, once for all, 
 
* 
 
 RECIPES. 53 
 
 inform the dyer, that in all piece dying, the goods are to be 
 kept well open by the broadsman, and the reel well turned 
 from the time the cloth is entered, until it is taken out ; for 
 if this be neglected, the colour will ever be liable to be 
 spotted and uneven. Immediately after the cloth is entered, 
 the fire is to be made up, the furnace-door shut, and the liquor 
 made to boil as quick as possible. This is understood to be 
 the first saddening, and the boiling must not be so strong 
 as in the first process. When the cloth has been in two 
 hours, and has boiled gently at least one hour out of the two, 
 take it out, having previously cooled the liquor down with 
 water ; air the cloth as before, until nearly cold, and bring 
 the furnace to boil, as directed for the last saddening. The 
 material to be added at this time is only nine ounces of cop- 
 peras, which has to be proceeded with as before, with this 
 difference, that when the saddening has been continued one 
 hour, a pattern is taken off the lacing and scoured, when the 
 colour is matched with a good black pattern. If the colour 
 is not full enough, the saddening must be continued longer. 
 If the colour is wanted of a green hue, add about an ounce 
 of verdigris in the last saddening. If the body of the colour 
 is too strong, lessen the quantity of copperas, and if too weak 
 after going its time of two hours, add more. In matching of 
 colours, it must be understood, that both patterns must be 
 either dry or wet, or there will be many shades of difference 
 in the colour, though they might appear to match before. 
 
 This recipe would produce a better blue-black by not boiling 
 between the first and second, and the second and third process ; 
 but if verdigris is added in the saddenings, the liquor will 
 have to boil before heaving in the cloth. When verdigris is 
 intended to be used, it should be weighed off and put in soak 
 in boiling water, a day or two before it is wanted. 
 
 The workmanship, which I have described for blacking 
 with this recipe, must be observed for all others. 
 
 Many dyers who come from England and other countries, 
 who understand but little of black dying, will prescribe a much 
 greater portion of ingredients to produce the colour on the 
 same quantity of goods ; but this must result from ignorance, 
 it having been proved, that too great a body of colouring 
 matter injures a black, by making the shade brown, russetty, 
 and too heavy. To produce a perfect colour, the copperas 
 and colouring matter require to be used in given proportions. 
 
 5 
 
 K * 
 
54 RECIPES. 
 
 Thave before given the proportions of copperas necessary to 
 saturate logwood, sumach, and nutgalls. 
 
 When a blacking is finished, the cloth should be about 
 half cooled, then separated into pieces, and each one folded 
 up and placed across a wooden horse, where it should lie 
 until the following morning to drain, cool, and give time for 
 the iron to oxydize to its maximum, before it is washed ; 
 for if cleansed immediately after it comes from the dye, the 
 colour will not be so good as when it has laid twelve or six- 
 teen hours. The sun should not be permitted to shine on the 
 cloth for any length of time between the dying and washing. 
 If there be no shed to put it under, it should be covered with 
 sheets made from bagging. 
 
 I have divided this colour into blue, yellow, and jet blacks, 
 and there are innumerable shades of each. To produce 
 these at the will of the workman, can only be acquired by 
 long practice. I shall give recipes for each of these, and 
 the dyer who has a knowledge of the business, can vary the 
 body and hue at his pleasure. 
 
 Another black for twenty pounds of woollen. 
 
 Six pounds of logwood, one and a half pounds of sumach, 
 twelve ounces of fustic, and three ounces of pearlash. 
 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, stir well, throw in 
 the cloth, and boil it three hours. Let the furnace now be 
 run up, the cloth taken out and cooled ; then add the follow- 
 ing ingredients to the liquor; only dissolving them previously 
 in a bucket without boiling : three pounds of copperas, and 
 two and a half ounces of blue vitriol. 
 
 When the cloth has been cooled, stir the liquor well, throw 
 in the cloth, and boil gently for four hours ; then run irp, 
 heave out, throw it until half cold, and proceed as directed 
 for the last blacking when finished. 
 
 Another recipe for a blue-black, in which dye-woods are used 
 in the saddenings, for sixteen pounds of woollen cloth. 
 
 Four pounds of logwood, one and a half pounds of sumach, 
 and five ounces of pearlash. 
 
 Let the wares boil two hours, heave in the cloth, and boil 
 two hours and a half; then proceed as before. 
 
RECIPES. 55 
 
 For the first saddening, use one and a half pounds of 
 copperas, one and a quarter pounds of ground logwood, and 
 ten ounces of blue vitriol. Boil two hours, and proceed as 
 usual. 
 
 For the second saddening, add one and a half pounds of 
 copperas, and six ounces of fustic. 
 
 Boil one hour, and try a pattern ; if not black enough, con- 
 tinue boiling another hour. The liquor must be boiled with 
 the ingredients in both of these saddenings, for twenty minutes 
 before the cloth is put into the furnace. It is necessary in 
 all cases where colouring matter is added to the liquor in 
 the saddenings, that they should be boiled from twenty to 
 thirty minutes before the cloth is entered, or the colour will 
 be uneven. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds a yellow -black, approaching towards a jet. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of logwood, eighteen ounces 
 of sumach, fifteen ounces of fustic, and one ounce of pearl ash. 
 
 The wares must boil two hours, the cloth two and a hal£ 
 cool down the liquor, and heave out and cool the cloth. 
 
 For the first saddening, use one and a half pounds of cop- 
 peras, and four and a half ounces of blue vitriol. 
 
 The ingredients to be dissolved and added without boiling 
 the liquor, and the cloth to boil two hours, then heave out, 
 &c. as before. 
 
 For the second saddening, add one pound and three quar- 
 ters of copperas, and five ounces of fustic. 
 
 The ingredients to be boiled twenty minutes, then throw 
 in the cloth and boil one hour and a half, heave out, cool, &c. 
 
 For the third saddening, use eight ounces of copperas, and 
 twelve ounces of fustic. 
 
 The wares to be boiled twenty minutes, and the cloth to 
 run one hour and a half, boiling gently for half an hour of 
 the time. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds of a rich reddish brown black. 
 
 For the boiling, use six pounds of logwood, one and a 
 quarter pounds of sumach, fourteen ounces of fustic, five 
 ounces of argol, seven ounces of madder, and three ounces 
 of verdigris. 
 
56 RECIPES. 
 
 Let the ingredients boil two hours, the cloth run two hours, 
 and proceed as usual. 
 
 For the first saddening, use one and a half pounds of cop- 
 peras, two and a half ounces of sumach, and two and a quar- 
 ter ounces of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares twenty minutes, heave in the cloth, and boil 
 it two hours. 
 
 For the second and last saddening, use one and a half 
 pounds of copperas, two and a quarter ounces of blue vitriol, 
 two and a quarter ounces of sumach, and seven ounces of 
 madder. 
 
 Boil the wares twenty minutes, heave in the cloth, and boil 
 it gently until the colour is rich enough. 
 
 I have before remarked, that when dye-wares or verdigris 
 are added in any of the saddenings, the liquor must always 
 boil twenty or thirty minutes before the cloth is entered ; but 
 that when only copperas and blue vitriol are added, it may 
 boil or not, at the option of the dyer. When put in without 
 boiling, they must previously be dissolved in a bucket, par- 
 ticularly the blue vitriol, which is the most difficult of solution. 
 Let me here remark, thtit in all cases before cloth is entered 
 into the furnace, the liquor must be well stirred with the dye- 
 house rake. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds of cloth a jet Hack. 
 
 For the boiling, use six pounds of logwood, one pound and 
 three quarters of sumach, and one pound and three quarters 
 of fustic. 
 
 The wares to boil two hours, the cloth three, and heave 
 out and cool. 
 
 For the saddening, use two pounds and three quarters of 
 copperas, and three ounces of blue vitriol. 
 
 The ingredients to be dissolved in a bucket, and added to 
 the liquor without boiling ; the cloth to be boiled four hours, 
 run up, hove out, and proceed as before directed. 
 
 The following recipe for a jet black answers better than 
 any other I ever tried. The body is strong, the colour of a 
 superior hue, and is so permanent that it will wear without 
 changing as long as the stoutest cloth will last. I once sold 
 the recipe in England, for this process, for three hundred 
 pounds sterling. 
 
RECIPES. 57 
 
 For sixteen pounds of cloth. 
 
 Twelve ounces of argol, and six ounces of verdigris. 
 
 Dissolve the verdigris by putting it in a bucket of boiling 
 water the day before using it. Bring the furnace to a boil, 
 and boil the materials ' one hour. Heave in the cloth, and 
 boil it two hours, then heave it out, fold it up, and let it lay 
 twelve hours or more, not exceeding two days. It is then 
 to be washed at the fulling-mill, and a fresh liquor made for 
 colouring it. 
 
 To colour to advantage with this recipe, there should be 
 two kettles employed, one for the above preparation liquor, 
 and a second for finishing ; for after one lot has been boiled, 
 if others follow it in the same liquor, one-sixth of the above 
 proportion of ingredients may be saved, and the liquor will 
 not injure by being kept for months, provided it does not lay 
 too long in a cold state. Where this convenience cannot be 
 obtained, three or four boilings may be made, one after the 
 other, on the same day, as the prepared cloth will keep any 
 reasonable time after being washed. 
 
 When the cloth has been prepared, as above stated, it has 
 to be boiled in a new liquor, as follows : six pounds of log- 
 wood, two pounds and a half of sumach, one-quarter of a 
 pound of fustic, and seven pounds of white-oak sawdust. 
 
 Let the wares be boiled two hours, the cloth thrown in, 
 and boiled three hours. 
 
 For the first saddening, use one pound and three-quarters 
 of copperas. 
 
 Dissolve and put in the copperas, heave in the cloth, and 
 boil two hours. 
 
 For the second saddening, use one pound and a quarter of 
 copperas. 
 
 Dissolve the copperas, heave in the cloth, and boil one 
 hour and a half. Should any of the colours be too strong 
 in body, use a smaller quantity of logwood, or the same 
 quantity and less copperas. 
 
 In this country, where the swamp-maple bark is so easily 
 obtained, I would recommend it to be used in place of the 
 sumach and white-oak sawdust. If six pounds were used 
 with the logwood and fustic in the boiling, I have no doubt 
 it would make even a better colour than the above recipe. 
 
 For dying a rich red-black, take any of the recipes, 
 excepting those for blue-blacks, leave out the fustic, and add 
 
58 RECIPES. 
 
 in place of it, two pounds of ground barwood, and one of 
 alder bark, for every twenty-six pounds of cloth, dividing 
 these between the two saddenings. 
 
 After blacking, and the cloth has lain on the horse about 
 fourteen hours, let it be first streamed, or washed well in a 
 mill, and then scoured clean with fullers-earth, according to 
 the directions given for scouring of cloth. 
 
 After blacks are scoured, should any of them be too brown, 
 or have a russet hue, they may easily be remedied as follows : 
 bring a furnace of clear water to a blood-heat, and add to it 
 as much oil of vitriol as will give to the water a pretty sour 
 taste, then run the blacks in it, until they become of the hue 
 wanted, without raising the temperature of the liquor. By 
 this simple process, all brown-blacks may be improved, and 
 the cloth will handle the softer for it; but it must be a bad 
 dyer whose colours require it. 
 
 When an English dyer is desirous of having a black 
 unusually rich and full bodied, he prepares the material at 
 the season when walnuts are ripe. He purchases the green 
 hulls from those who grow the nut, and puts them into large 
 hogsheads, filling them with water so as to cover the hulls. It 
 must be understood that these hulls, if left in a heap only a 
 few days after they are taken from the nut, will be spoiled 
 for this purpose, and that when in the casks, they must always 
 be kept covered with water, for if permitted to lie on the top 
 uncovered, they will soon be injured. The dyer uses them 
 after a black has been coloured, when it has been washed 
 clean in the stocks, but before scouring with earth. For 
 enriching eight ends, or two hundred and twenty pounds of 
 black cloth, put into a furnace of clean water from eight to 
 sixteen gallons of the hulls, with the proper portion of their 
 liquor, add to these four pounds of alder bark, boil them two 
 hours, cool down with water, and rake the hulls and bark 
 out of the liquor. When this has been done, enter the cloth, 
 and run it without additional heat until it is of the desired 
 colour. This will add very much to the body and permanency 
 of the black, and will make the goods handle soft. The hulls 
 of the common walnut would probably answer every purpose. 
 
 It is a fact not generally known, that any colouring matter 
 put on in this way, after a black has received its colour, will 
 increase the body of the colour much more than when the 
 same material has been added in the first process, and in 
 
RECIPES. 59 
 
 most instances will appear much blacker. Weld and argol, 
 or weld and verdigris, make an excellent liquor, for improv- 
 ing the colour of blacks, giving a fine satin hue. 
 
 To dye wool black. 
 
 The tools used to work wool are, a rake and a stang. 
 The rake has a wooden handle, long enough for the work- 
 man using it to stand on one side of the furnace, and to throw 
 it to the side opposite to him, without stooping over the fur- 
 nace : the handle is made somewhat stouter than those used 
 by hay-makers. For the purpose of raking, iron prongs are 
 placed in at one end, dropping down from the end of the handle 
 about nine inches, and spreading at the points about five or 
 six inches. An iron ring is put on the handle, where the 
 shaft of the prong enters, to prevent the wood from splitting. 
 A stang is a round and smooth wooden lever, about three 
 inches in diameter, when intended for a large furnace, and 
 long enough to reach to the bottom of the furnace, and to 
 extend above the top from four to five feet. 
 
 The following recipe is for a black, where the wool is 
 dyed a middling blue in the woad vat, and is for sixteen 
 pounds of wool. When blacks *have been previously dyed 
 blue, the colours will never change in wearing. 
 
 Dye the wool in the vat to the blue wanted, wash it well, 
 and then boil the dye-wares in the furnace in bags. The 
 bags used for this purpose are very open in the texture, and 
 coarse, but strong, and they should be made to hold double 
 the quantity of the dye-wares intended for one operation, for 
 when a bag is crowded, the liquor cannot penetrate to the 
 centre so as to extract all the colouring matter contained in 
 them. When the furnaces are large, and great quantities are 
 intended to be coloured at each operation, at least four such 
 bags should be provided for each furnace. 
 
 Recipe for sixteen pounds of black wool. 
 
 Eleven pounds of logwood, three pounds of swamp-maple, 
 and two pounds and a half of fustic. 
 
 Boil these in bags for four hours, take out the bags, run 
 up the furnace with cold water, and heave in the wool ; handle 
 it well for half an hour, and boil it well for three hours. 
 
60 RECIPES. 
 
 It will be necessary to explain what is meant by handling 
 of wool in the furnace. I have before described the rake 
 and stang, the tools with which the operation is performed. 
 The wool must in all cases be completely scoured, and well 
 washed before it is coloured, and it is essential to have it in 
 a moist state before entering the furnace. Before the wool is 
 put in, the liquor must be cooled with cold water to about 170° 
 Fahrenheit, then stir it well with a dye-house rake, and throw 
 in the wool. While one person is throwing m, another is 
 employed to push it under the liquor with a stick ; when the 
 whole is in and under the liquor, take the rake and draw the 
 wool from that side ofc the furnace opposite to the workman, 
 to that where he stands, then thrust the long lever or stang 
 down to the bottom of the furnace, on the same side the man 
 stands, forcing the wool down with it. When the stang strikes 
 the bottom, thrust it toward the opposite side, along the bottom, 
 and bring up all the wool to the surface. Let the stang be 
 now drawn toward the workman, one or two feet, according 
 to the size of the furnace, the curb of which acts as a fulcrum 
 to the lever, and with the weight of the body suspended .on 
 the end out of the furnace, lift the wool above the liquor, 
 and by a jerk and a twist of the stang shake the wool abroad 
 on the surface. Let it now ,be raked over again, and proceed 
 as before. These directions must be kept in view, and the 
 operations pursued in every instance where wool is to be 
 dyed in the furnace, for, if neglected, the colour wilLbe 
 uneven. 
 
 It will be seen that half an hour is prescribed for working 
 the wool after it has been thrown into the liquor — by the 
 time this has been performed, the liquor will begin to boil, 
 and must be kept boiling slowly all the time prescribed without 
 any further handling. The same process will have to be 
 pursued for all wool colours that are dyed in the furnace, 
 therefore, I need not repeat these directions for any recipe 
 that may hereafter be given, only mentioning the time of 
 boiling, handling, &c. 
 
 When the wool has boiled the time prescribed, it has to be 
 saddened with the following materials : one pound and a 
 quarter of copperas, and eleven ounces of alum. 
 
 Handle well for half an hour, then boil one hour, and let 
 lie all night. 
 
 The ingredients used in the saddening must be dissolved 
 
RECIPES. 61 
 
 in a bucket of the liquor before the time of using them, and 
 the liquor in the furnace cooled down with water as low as 
 convenient, before any of the saddening compound is added. 
 When this has been done, one person should be actively 
 employed in handling the wool, while another sprinkles the sad- 
 dening liquor over the surface of the liquor in the furnace, in 
 small quantities at a time, permitting one quantity to be mixed 
 thoroughly with the wool before another is added, adminis- 
 tering it at regular progressive periods, till the whole of the 
 saddening solution has been added, then continue to handle 
 afterward for the space of ten or fifteen minutes. 
 
 Recipe for colouring sixteen pounds of wool for a black 
 
 mixture. 
 
 This proves a very good colour, and is tolerably perma- 
 nent. It must be understood that the quantity of dye-wares 
 prescribed are always for clean wool, as an English dyer 
 never attempts to colour it in any other state. 
 
 Seven pounds of logwood, ten ounces of blue vitriol, and 
 seven ounces of verdigris. 
 
 Proceed as directed before in the boiling of wares and 
 wool, boil the wool three hours, and let lie all night. 
 
 Recipe for sixteen pounds of wool for a black mixture. 
 
 Seven pounds of logwood, fourteen ounces of alder bark, 
 six ounces of fustic, and one ounce and a half of pearlash. 
 
 Boil the wares in bags four hours, take the bags out, run up 
 the liquor, heave in the wool, handle forty minutes, boil three 
 hours, and then stew over. 
 
 One pound and a quarter of copperas, and seven ounces 
 of blue vitriol. 
 
 Handle until the colour is even, boil one hour, and let lie 
 in all night. 
 
 To dye Hack on cotton. 
 
 I shall proceed to give three Manchester recipes for dying 
 black on cotton. They were obtained from a first-rate Man- 
 chester dyer. After which I shall give a new mode of dying 
 cotton recently discovered. 
 
 6 
 
62 RECIPES. ♦ 
 
 First Manchester recipe. 
 The cotton has first to be dyed a light blue, in the usual 
 blue vat, and then washed. For each pound of cotton to be 
 dyed, boil four ounces of sumach, and a double handful of 
 logwood chips, which have been boiled before for other col- 
 ours ; when these are boiled, take the clear liquor and add to 
 it half a pint of urine, turn in the cotton, handle well, and 
 let it lie all night. Take it out in the morning, dissolve for 
 each pound of cotton half an ounce of copperas, turn the cot- 
 ton into this liquor, and work it well for ten minutes, repeating 
 the same ten or twelve times, wring out and wash well — put 
 another half pint of urine into the sumach and logwood liquor, 
 turn the cotton again in this, for fifteen or twenty minutes, 
 handling it now and then — dissolve another half ounce of 
 copperas, and add it to the former copperas liquor, turn in 
 the cotton, and repeat as before, wring out and wash well. 
 Boil for every pound of cotton, twelve ounces of logwood 
 chips for half an hour, take off the clear liquor, and add 
 half a pint of urine for each pound of logwood ; turn in the 
 cotton for half an hour at the usual heat, work it well, raise 
 it out, and leave it to drain upon a pin ; dissolve for each 
 pound of cotton, twelve ounces of copperas, put it into the 
 logwood liquor, stir well, and turn in the cotton for half an 
 hour, work it well, wring out and wash well. Boil the first 
 sumach and logwood liquor again for half an hour, put in a 
 handful of ground black-oak bark for each pound of cotton, 
 and turn it in at the usual heat — dissolve for each pound of 
 cotton two ounces of copperas, pour it into the last liquor, 
 stir well, and turn in the cotton for twenty minutes — wring 
 out, wash dry, and it is finished. 
 
 Second recipe for dying hlack on cotton. 
 Before giving this recipe, it will be necessary to give direc- 
 tions how to prepare the acetate of iron and the pyroligneate, 
 to which I shall add the pyroligneate of copper, as each of 
 these compounds will be prescribed in dying the different 
 colours on cotton and silk. 
 
 To make a superior pyroligneate of iron. 
 Dissolve four pounds of copperas in twenty pounds, or as 
 many pints of rain-water, and filter it — -then dissolve four 
 
RECIPES. 63 
 
 pounds of potash in twelve pounds of rain-water, and filter 
 this also on another filter, mix the two liquids together, expose 
 the mixture to the air, and when by the exposure it has 
 attained a deep red colour, then pour the whole on a linen 
 filter ; when the water has passed through, there will remain 
 on the filter a red oxyde of iron, which must be washed with 
 much water until it has no taste of salt. This washing is 
 done on the filter, and when completed, place the red oxyde 
 of iron on a clean board until it is dry, and has attained its 
 maximum of oxydizement ; then take the oxyde and triturate, 
 or rub it in a marble mortar, pour on as much pyroligneous 
 acid as will dissolve it and filter again. 
 
 To make pyroligneate of copper. 
 
 Take one pound of blue vitriol, dissolve it in six pounds 
 of rain-water, then dissolve one pound of pearlash in three 
 pounds of rain-water, mix the two, put it on the filter, wash it, 
 and dissolve in the pyroligneous acid, as directed for the oxyde 
 of iron. When the pyroligneate of iron and copper are 
 wanted in combination, take three parts of the oxyde of 
 iron as it remains on the filter, after it is dry, and one of the 
 oxyde of copper in the same state ; triturate them in a marble 
 mortar, pour on as much pyroligneous acid as will dissolve 
 them, and filter the whole. These mordants are much used, 
 either separately or combined, for dying fine colours on silk 
 and cotton. For common colours cheaper solutions are made, 
 by merely saturating pyroligneous acid with iron, either in 
 a cold state, or by boiling. 
 
 The pyroligneous acid, as the term denotes, is an acid 
 extracted from wood by distillation. The purest acid of this 
 kind is very expensive, there being much trouble and expense 
 incurred in separating all the empyreumatic oil from it ; but 
 that which is commonly used for the purpose of dying, need 
 not be very pure — all that is necessary is to have it so clean 
 from the oil that none of it shall adhere to the goods. The 
 crude acid can be bought by the cask at eight cents per gallon. 
 
 For making common pyroligneate of iron, the acid is put 
 into large casks, vats, or any other vessels, to which is added 
 old iron hoops, the dust which falls from the stones in grind- 
 big edge-tools, or turnings of iron, and the liquor left to stand 
 
64 RECIPES. 
 
 open until strong enough. It should be frequently stirred, 
 and occasionally drawn off and thrown on again. 
 
 The pyroligneous acid, in its crude state, as it is collected 
 from the still, will dissolve double the quantity of iron that 
 will be taken into solution by strong vinegar. 
 
 The common acetite of iron is made by putting strong 
 vinegar into a vessel, and adding iron the same as before. In 
 many dye-houses in England, they keep this liquor in large 
 quantities, and value it according to its age. For some pur- 
 poses they add alder bark, &c. to these liquors. 
 
 We now proceed to the second recipe for dying of black 
 on cotton. 
 
 Dip the cotton in four quarts of the common acetite of iron, 
 or in two of the pyroligneate made by a cold solution, to each 
 pound of cotton, let it lie oil night, in the morning wring it 
 out and dry, and afterward wash it well. Boil in a copper 
 vessel four ounces of sumach, eight ounces of umbro mad- 
 der, and two ounces of logwood, for each pound of cotton ; 
 boil the sumach and logwood together for one hour, and 
 empty the clear liquor into another furnace ; into this liquor 
 put the madder, and drive on the fire until it just boils ; then 
 draw the fire, and when the liquor is milk-warm enter the 
 cotton as in the blue vat, bring the liquor to a boiling heat 
 in one hour and a half, but not to boil out ; let it lie at that 
 heat for fifteen minutes, then draw the fire, place the cotton 
 hollow and straight, and let it lay so for one or two hours, 
 then raise it out of the liquor and wring gently, shaking the 
 madder well out of it — take it out one string at a time, wash 
 clean from the madder, wring evenly and dry. In the sum- 
 mer, dry in the shade, and in the winter in a stove. 
 
 The third recipe for cotton is much cheaper, but not so 
 permanent, nor does it make so fine a colour as the others. 
 
 Boil a sufficient quantity of sumach for half an hour, strain 
 the liquor, into which enter the cotton, and work well for half 
 an hour, wring out, dip it in water and urine, and then rinse 
 it ; dissolve copperas in water, into which enter the goods, 
 and handle them rapidly for half an hour, then wring them 
 out, and enter them into pure lime-water. Boil logwood in 
 water for one hour, and strain it through a cloth ; enter the 
 cotton in this, and work until it is of the colour wanted. It 
 must then be exposed to the air to dry. If dark enough, 
 wash it, and redry it; if not dark enough, give it another 
 
 
RECIPES. 65 
 
 dip through the same materials. Cotton, which will not take 
 up more than a given quantity of colouring matter at one 
 operation, will, after dying, take up a second portion ; and 
 whenever a strong rich colour is wanted on cotton, it is better 
 to give it one portion, then dry and wash, when it will take 
 a second very rapidly. By repeating the operations, any 
 body of colour may be obtained. 
 
 A new method of colouring black, discovered by Messrs. 
 William Adams <$f Co. 
 
 Pad the cotton in such pyroligneate of iron as is made by 
 the firm abovenamed ; then dry the cotton, run it through 
 water containing chloride of lime, about two pounds to the 
 hogshead of water, dry again, and then finish in a logwood 
 liquor, or with logwood and madder, or logwood and sumach. 
 
 To prepare the chlorine water for black. 
 
 Stir two pounds of chloride of lime in four gallons of water, 
 let stand to settle, and then pour the clear liquor into a hogs- 
 head of water. This is the most expeditious mode of dying 
 black on cotton, and the colours are superior to the common 
 productions. 
 
 To dye black on silk. 
 
 Take any quantity of valonia, boil it in a copper furnace, 
 strain the liquor into a back of such heat as will not interfere 
 with the resin of the silk — put the silk into this liquor for 
 three days, turning it once a day, wash out, and stick up to 
 drain. Bring on a kettleful of clean water to a boiling heat, 
 put into it a great quantity of copperas, with a small quan- 
 tity of logwood, and alder-bark liquor ; give the silk four 
 wets in this, boiling hot, wring out over the kettle, hang up 
 in a stove and dry. It may be scrooped with lime-juice ; 
 should it feel harsh, beat it well with fullers-earth on a smooth 
 stone, then wash it clean, wring as dry as possible, and hang 
 it in a stove to dry. 
 
 The silk dyed by this recipe was the raw article in skeins, 
 which always contains a considerable portion of natural resin 
 that must not be disturbed bv the heat of the liquor : hence 
 
 '6* 
 
66 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 the reason of the precaution used in the recipe. It will be 
 understood, that when gum is mentioned in any other recipe, 
 it has reference to this explanation. 
 
 Valonia is the cups and stalks on which the acorns grow of 
 some peculiar oak ; it is imported largely into England, for the 
 purpose of silk dying, and for tanning some kinds of leather. 
 
 The alder-bark liquor, mentioned in the last recipe for 
 dying, is made as follows : take any quantity of pyroligneous 
 acid, fill casks with it of one hundred gallons, each two-thirds 
 full, into each of which put two baskets full, or two bushels 
 of chipped alder-bark, and a large quantity of old iron hoops, 
 turnings of iron, or the dust of iron that falls off in grinding 
 edge-tools ; the latter is mixed with the powder from the 
 stone, which will by no means injure the compound. 
 
 Many of the colours in silk dying are scrooped with lime- 
 juice, which is done after the goods have been dyed. To do 
 this, some lime-juice is put into a tub of clean water, the 
 coloured silk is immersed in it, and a few turns given, when 
 it is wrung out and dried. This is done for the purpose of 
 making the colours clear and bright, and in black for taking 
 off any russet hue that may have been left by the colouring. 
 A weak oil of vitriol liquor is supposed to answer nearly as 
 well. These remarks will be kept in view whenever scroop- 
 ing is mentioned in other recipes. 
 
 The following recipes for dying black on silk, are extracted 
 from a work published at the expense of the government, 
 dated the 7th of February, 1828 ; being a treatise on the 
 manufacture of silk, edited by Dr. Mease, of Philadelphia. 
 I shall insert such recipes from this work, on other colours, 
 as I think may be useful. 
 
 Process of dying silk black, by Vitalis. 
 
 Boil the silk in the ordinary way, with twenty pounds of 
 so*ap to one hundred pounds of silk, and after it is well washed, 
 and freed from the soap, it is dried. The skeins are then 
 immersed in a decoction of galls in sorts, in the proportion 
 of two ounces to a pound of silk. The gall bath must be 
 moderately warm. The hanks are put on the rods, and 
 lightly pressed. They are then put into the bath, which must 
 be kept warm during fifteen or eighteen hours ; after this, 
 they are to be taken out and dried, and then put into a warm 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 67 
 
 bath of pyroligneate of iron, of the strength of 5°, as marked 
 on Baume's hydrometer, and dipped for some time ; then im- 
 mersed, and the heat of the bath increased, during five or six 
 hours, taking out and airing them from time to time. After 
 being taken from the iron bath, the silk is wrung and dried in 
 the air, or under a shed in moist weather. It then receives two 
 beatings, and is subject to a new galling, made with the remains 
 of the former gall liquor, and an ounce and a half of galls 
 to a pound of silk : then taken out, wrung and dried. This 
 galling is followed by a new bath, made warm, of the pyro- 
 ligneate of iron, of four degrees of strength, with the pre- 
 cautions before noted. The silk is again taken out, wrung 
 and dried, two more beatings and a third galling given to it, 
 the bath of which must have one ounce and a half of new galls 
 to a pound of silk, and the former procedure renewed. It 
 must then have another bath of pyroligneate of iron, of three 
 degrees of strength, and be dried and washed. For deep 
 black, a fourth galling with one ounce of galls to a pound 
 of silk, followed by the pyroligneate bath of 3°, will be 
 requisite ; then dry and wash carefully. Run it through a 
 warm bath of soap and water, into which plunge it for some 
 time ; after which it is to be washed and dried for the last 
 time. It may be gummed if required. 
 
 Chaptal says, " a very full, clear, permanent black, has 
 been obtained by the employment of a solution of iron imme- 
 diately after a strong galling ; the stuff is then immersed in 
 a decoction of logwood, and next into this decoction con- 
 joined with a solution of iron and verdigris : and this process 
 is to be repeated until the black is very beautiful. With 
 this view, one hundred and ten pounds, five ounces, and ten 
 drachms of silk ; forty-four pounds and two ounces of nutgalls ; 
 sixty-six pounds and three ounces of copperas, calcined to 
 redness — the same quantity of logwood, and eleven pounds, 
 nine drachms of verdigris, were employed." 
 
 The silk is to be first wrung out of the galls, allowed to 
 dry, and then strongly shaken by the hands, in order to venti- 
 late, and detach from it any adhering galls. 
 
 The same process of rubbing, shaking, &c. is to be em- 
 ployed in respect to the logwood bath ; and the silk is to be 
 carefully washed after each immersion in the solution of 
 copperas. In the last logwood bath is to be dissolved two 
 ounces and fifteen drachms of gum arabic, to one pound, four 
 
68 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 ounces, and four drachms of silk ; the black is softened by 
 passing the dyed silk through soap and water. 
 
 To dye furs or hats black. 
 
 Prepare them first in a liquor, in which has been dissolved 
 one pound of argol, and about ten ounces of verdigris, for 
 every twenty pounds of fur, or hats ; then finish the hats 
 with swamp-maple bark, logwood and copperas, and the furs 
 with the usual dye-stuffs. 
 
 On blue dying. 
 
 I shall begin with the woad vat. It may be useful to the 
 dyer to know how to measure the contents in gallons of a 
 vat, or any other conical or cylindrical vessel ; for it will be 
 perceived, in the course of the following instructions, that 
 the quantity of material used, must always be nearly in a 
 given ratio to the contents of the vessel employed. 
 
 When a vat is cylindrical, that is, when the diameter of 
 the whole length, from top to bottom, is the same, multiply the 
 diameter in inches by itself, and cut off the right-hand figure, 
 and the remaining figures express the ale gallons in a yard 
 length of that cylinder, near enough for every practical pur- 
 pose, it giving only one gallon too little in three hundred and 
 seventy-nine. When a conical vessel has to be measured, 
 that is, a vessel that is larger at one end than the other, and 
 regularly widening from the smallest end to the largest, take 
 the mean diameter, reduce that to inches, and proeeed as 
 described for the cylindrical vessel. 
 
 A vat for woollen dying may be of any dimensions that 
 may suit the whim or convenience of the dyer. The English 
 vats that have come under my notice, have been of one size : 
 seven feet six inches in depth, the same in diameter across the 
 bottom, and six feet across the top. This shape is considered 
 advantageous, because the bottom being large, will hold the 
 sediment without rising so high as to interfere with the work, 
 and because the sediment settles without lodging against the 
 sides of the vat,, which of course would be taken up by the 
 wool or cloth dyed in it. 
 
 White-pine planks, free from knots, two inches and a half 
 thick, are used for making blue vats, and they are bound with 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 69 
 
 stout iron hoops, about three inches wide, driven on very 
 tight, the lower one over the chime, and a second about six 
 inches above it ; three others, making five in all, the last one 
 near the top, are all that is necessary to make it very secure. 
 When the vat is put in its place, a puddle of strong, stiff clay, 
 should be placed under the bottom, on, and into which the 
 vat is worked, until the space is quite filled up between the 
 bottom of the staves and the bottom of the vat. To accom- 
 plish this, two or three holes are bored through the bottom, 
 to give vent to the air underneath, which would otherwise 
 prevent the vat from sinking in the puddle. 
 
 There are three different ways of heating the vat liquors. 
 One by turning it over into a furnace, and when heated to 
 boiling, returning it again into the vat ; a second by having 
 a part of the vat made of metal, and passing a flue round it ; 
 and thirdly, heating it by steam. I shall describe each of 
 these operations, that those who are interested may make 
 choice of the one that suits them. 
 
 When a vat liquor is bailed into another vessel to be heated, 
 a furnace must be placed within a convenient distance, large 
 enough to hold rather more than two-thirds of the liquor, 
 without being quite full. Wide gutters must be provided, long 
 enough to reach frqm the centre of the vat to the centre of 
 the furnace. A piggin holding about two gallons, suspended 
 on the end of a long pole, will be wanted to lade the liquor 
 backwards and forwards. A vat kept in constant work with 
 wool, will have to be heated twice a week — on Wednesdays 
 and Saturdays. The liquor should be thrown over in the 
 morning, after settling all night, before stirring, for if this be 
 done an hour or two after stirring, there will be sufficient 
 woad, and other contents of the vat floating in it, to burn 
 against the side and bottom of the copper ; and as indigo is 
 always mixed with the sediment, some of this also will be burnt. 
 When a liquor is in the furnace, the fire should be driven on 
 rapidly, until it approaches to a boiling heat, and then lowered 
 to prevent its boiling over, which it is apt to do, as rapidly 
 as new milk. A vat liquor, when strong in material, will 
 boil at about 204° Fahrenheit, when weak at 208°. When 
 near boiling, the head, on being separated by a board, will 
 close together again instantly. Two buckets full of water 
 should be standing by the furnace, ready to throw in when 
 the head begins to rise from boiling, the furnace-door should 
 
70 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 be thrown open, and the fire raked out. After standing a few 
 minutes, the liquor has to be thrown back again into the vat. 
 
 When a blue liquor is intended to be heated by fire, with- 
 out boiling it in the furnace, the vat must be differently- 
 constructed. A conical vessel must be first made, six feet 
 deep, seven feet in diameter on the bottom, and six feet across 
 the top. This vessel is to be cut off two feet from the top, 
 and a sheet of copper nailed on the lower edge of the upper 
 piece, and on the edge of the lower piece. The sheet cop- 
 per must be fastened on the inside, first working round the 
 staves with a circular plane, three inches from each end, and 
 inserting two strips of canvass, well coated with white lead, 
 between the wood-work and copper, on, and to which, the 
 latter should be fastened with copper nails, driven in so close 
 together that the heads come nearly in contact, but not so as 
 to lap over each other. A fireplace is fixed in any part of 
 the circle that is most convenient, with a grate, door-frame, 
 &c, and is placed five or six inches lower than the copper 
 round the vat. A brick flue is built round the copper, which 
 commences where the fire enters, and continues to the other 
 extreme of the circle, where the smoke enters a chimney, 
 and is conveyed off. The flue round a vat should be ten 
 inches at the bottom, and three at the top, narrowing upwards, 
 in order to facilitate the closing of it. There should be two 
 thicknesses of brick between the flue and each edge of the 
 wood- work, to prevent the fire charring the vat at either edge. 
 
 When a vat is heated by steam, it is cut off as in the former 
 case ; but instead of a sheet of copper between the wood- 
 work, a cylinder of iron is used, three feet six inches deep, and 
 of the same diameter as the wood- work : it is cast with two 
 flanges of seven inches, one near the top, and the other near 
 the bottom of the cylinder. The principal use of the flanges 
 is to insert a circle of stout staves between the two, so as to 
 secure a free passage for the steam around the work and iron 
 cylinder. Into this passage the steam is admitted from a 
 boiler, and the condensed water passes off by means of a 
 syphon, at any part of the circle, where it may be most con- 
 venient to place it. 
 
 An English vat, of the size described, is set with five 
 hundred and sixty pounds of the best woad, five pounds of 
 umbro madder, one peck of bran, four pounds of copperas, 
 and a quarter of a peck of dry -slacked lime. Before we 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 71 
 
 proceed, it will be necessary to give directions for preparing 
 the lime. 
 
 For two English vats, a half-barrel of lime should be 
 prepared at one time. Take new burnt lime, put it on a 
 clean stone floor, and pour sufficient water over it from a 
 watering-pot, to make it fall into a fine dry powder, but not 
 enough to leave the mass wet when fallen. When watered 
 enough, put it up into a close heap ; throw a wool bag over 
 it, and leave it until the following morning. The heap has 
 then to be opened, and the stones, if any, taken out of it. 
 It must now be put into a box having a close lid, and left for 
 use. Care must be taken to have the box, in which the lime 
 is placed, as air-tight as possible. 
 
 The woad will have to be chopped into small lumps with 
 a spade, and thrown into the vat before the liquor is put in ; 
 let the madder be broken into the vat in small pieces, and 
 the bran and lime thrown in upon them. When the mate- 
 rials are in the vat, it should be filled up with water that has 
 been boiled and cooled down to about 195° Fahrenheit, from 
 the furnace, and the contents kept stirred all the time it is 
 filling. When the vat is full, within four or five inches of the 
 top, give it a good stirring for half an hour, and then cover 
 down close. A dye-house bucket should hold four gallons, 
 a.nd whilst the vat is stirring after it has been filled, put in 
 one bucket of well-ground indigo, containing fifteen pounds 
 of the dry article. The vat should be set about four or five 
 o'clock in the afternoon, and be attended and stirred about 
 nine o'clock the same evening ; by this time, if. every thing 
 goes on regular, the fermentation will so far have progressed, 
 that, when a small portion of the liquor is let run from either 
 a scoop, or any tin vessel, between the person viewing it 
 and the light, it will appear of a dark bottle-green. When 
 well stirred, let it be covered down, and if the weather should 
 be cold, throw some mats or wool-bags over the covers,.tq keep 
 in the heat, which will prevent its cooling too low before the 
 liquor comes to work. The -person who manages the vat,, 
 must. attend at five o'clock the following morning ; let him 
 take off both covers, and plunge the rake into the vat, so as 
 to bring up some of the air to the surface that will be carried 
 down by the rake, when a part of the sediment of the vat 
 will rise with the bubbles. If the fermentattdii Tias pro- 
 ' gressed, as it should do, the air-bubbles will appear of a fine 
 
72 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 blue, and a number of copper-coloured scales will float on the 
 surface of the liquor. Should these appearances take place, 
 and the liquor, when viewed by transmitted light, be of a dark 
 olive-green, put into it another bucket of ground indigo, and 
 a quarter of a peck of the slacked lime ; stir the liquor for 
 twenty minutes, and cover down close. The heat of the vat 
 should now be at about 140° Fahrenheit, and if it has lowered 
 down below 135°, and it be a fire vat, a fire must be applied 
 to raise and keep it at the latter heat. Two hours after this 
 stirring it must be stirred again, when, if the fermentation is 
 found to have gone on in regular progression, the liquor will 
 be of a brighter olive than in the morning, the bubbles will 
 be of a richer purple, and the surface more generally covered 
 with copper-coloured scales ; should these symptoms make 
 their appearance, add another quarter of a peck of lime, stir 
 for ten minutes, and cover down close as before. The liquor 
 must now be stirred every two hours, and if the appearance 
 continue to improve, a quarter of a peck of lime will have 
 to be added at each stirring, until there have been given from 
 eight to ten quarters, including the one that was put in when 
 the vat was first set. By the time eight have been added, 
 the liquor will look very rich in the bead, the bubbles will 
 rise of all sizes, from the bulk of an hen's egg to that of a 
 small hazel-nut, and none of them will break so as to dis- 
 appear ; but many of them will collapse, and as they fall 
 together, will appear of a rich smalt colour, coated with a 
 fat-looking.skin. A large quantity of bubbles will have risen 
 by this time, which, laying on the surface in a compact mass, 
 will look rich, and the greater part will have passed from a 
 blue to a copper^ colour. The indigo, when raked up, will 
 show in the liquor in clouds ; its appearance will be a rich 
 yellow-olive, clouded with indigo. When the vat assumes all 
 these appearances, it is said to be in fine condition, and every 
 thing will have gone on in regular order ; but as it often hap- 
 pens, that a vat does not come on in the regular way, the vat- 
 man must be attentive to appearances, when he stirs the first 
 morning after setting. If the bubbles and head are at that 
 time weak and watery, and the liquor shows no copper scales 
 on the surface, and appears of the same colour as when stirred 
 the evening before, something must be added to accelerate 
 the fermentation, and it is usual to add bran and madder. It 
 will seldom happen that a vat is delayed in coming to work, 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 73 
 
 unless the fermentative quality of the woad has been injured 
 in making. This, however, is not the only cause that may 
 occur to check the fermentation, although it may be the most 
 prominent one. The fermentation may be delayed by an 
 inexperienced workman, by either scalding the woad, by 
 pouring on the water too hot when set ; by having the water 
 too cold when set ; or by permitting it to cool too rapidly 
 after setting. These errors ought never to be committed by 
 an experienced workman. 
 
 I have directed that from eight to ten quarter-pecks of 
 dry-slacked lime be used, when a vat is set with five hundred 
 pounds of woad ; but as the quantity required, will altogether 
 depend on the strength of the woad, as well as on that of the 
 lime, there can be no absolute rule given. I have found, how- 
 ever, that the Rhode -Island, Dexter lime, is of equal strength 
 with the English Cromwell, being that which is used for this 
 purpose in the west of England ; and I would recommend those 
 who attempt the woad vat to use that lime, provided they 
 should follow these directions. 
 
 There is probably no article more uncertain in its strength 
 and quality than woad. The principal object to be attended 
 to in the purchase of woad, is to procure it of the strongest 
 kind, and to take care that the supply be uniformly of the 
 same strength ; for any considerable variation in this par- 
 ticular, will prove very disastrous to the operator, however 
 skilful he may be in his profession, and will be altogether 
 ruinous to a young beginner. Woad is often injured in the 
 making, by being overfermented, and such woad will never 
 work well. Sometimes the plant is not sufficiently fermented, 
 in which case it ferments too freely in the vat, but this is an 
 evil that may be cured, provided the workman has sufficient 
 judgment to know how much it falls short of the due fermen- 
 tation, and how to keep it in check. 
 
 A dyer, at all conversant with the woad vat, may, taking 
 prime woad and following my instructions, bring it into good 
 work, and produce colours equal to the English ; but should 
 they take woad at hazard, no certain rule can be given. I 
 have seen at one dye-house in this country, four kinds of 
 woad in different states of preparation. The workman was 
 a European, and appeared to be very skilful in his profes- 
 sion ; but he complained very justly, that his vats worked 
 irregularly, owing to the great difference in the quality of 
 
 7 
 
74 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 the woad. The owners of factories may rest assured, that 
 their woad dying will never equal the English, until they pro- 
 cure woad that shall be nearly equal in strength and condition. 
 
 When the vat has been brought to work, as before directed, 
 a cross is suspended in it, on which the net will have to rest. 
 About forty pounds of wool is dyed at once. The wool must 
 be thoroughly cleansed from the grease and yolk, and well 
 shaken on the floor close to the vat before it is entered. One 
 man should strew it over the top of the liquor, and another put 
 it under with a vat stick ; when it is all in, it must be handled 
 very briskly the whole time, when the vat is new and strong 
 of indigo, or the colour will be uneven ; when a liquor has 
 been worked some time, and the strength of the vat lowered, 
 the wool need not be handled more than one-third of the 
 time. In a new strong liquor, such as I have given directions 
 for setting, the wool should not be permitted to remain for 
 more than half an hour, when it will have to be wrung out 
 at three wringings, which should be performed as quick as 
 possible, and wrung very dry. As soon as the workmen 
 throw one lot out of the wringing cloth, another person should 
 immediately shake it up, so that the air may have access to 
 all parts of the wool, and then reshake it into a heap ; as soon 
 as the whole is out of the vat, let the heap be again shaken 
 until the wool is nearly cold. It must be noticed that a woad 
 vat should never be worked at more than 125°, and when 
 new at no higher temperature than 115° Fahrenheit. 
 
 In dying with woad, there should always be tw<5 vats in 
 operation at the same time ; one that has been worked for 
 one or two months, and a new vat. The wool to be coloured, 
 should be primed in the new vat, and finished in the older one. 
 
 A vat that is set with five hundred pounds of strong woad, 
 will require five hundred more during the working, and this, 
 in all regular dying establishments where constant work is 
 required, will colour for six months ; in which time it will 
 take about five hundred pounds of indigo. The workman- 
 ship, after the first setting, to be managed as follows : dip 
 two or three wets, of forty pounds each, into the vat after it 
 has been brought to work at night ; after the last dip, stir well, 
 and if the liquor is cooled below the proper standard, put the 
 fire on and bring it up to 125°, not exceeding 130° Fahren- 
 heit, stir again at nine in the evening, and put in two quarter- 
 pecks of lime, striking measure. The day following, the 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 75 
 
 same wets may be redipped, when they will be of a pretty full 
 colour — bring the heat up as the night before, after stirring, 
 and when the vat is stirred at nine o'clock, give it one quarter- 
 peck of lime. The day following, the vat must be renewed. 
 First bring the heat up to 155°, not above 165° Fahrenheit ; 
 when brought to the requisite heat, put in half a hundred of 
 woad, chopped fine as before, half a peck of bran, four pounds 
 of madder, and twelve pounds of indigo, well ground ; stir well 
 after these things are added, and again at nine o'clock in 
 the evening. The next morning it should be yellow in the 
 liquor, have a thick copper scum on the surface, and the bead 
 of a fine purple and very rich. Stir again at five o'clock 
 the following morning, which repeat at noon and again in the 
 evening ; at the last stirring, add two quarter-pecks of lime. 
 It will now bear working and replenishing regularly. When 
 constantly working, it will, so long as woad is added, require 
 two quarter-pecks of lime after each replenishing, and from 
 two to three during each period of working. The reheatings 
 should be done in the after part of the day, and the liquor, if 
 every thing goes on regular, will be fit to work in the morn- 
 ing of the second day afterward. It is usual, in all regular 
 dye-houses, to reheat the vats on Saturdays in the afternoon, 
 and again on Wednesdays. For the first ten reheatings, 
 there is added at each, half a hundred of woad, which makes 
 ten hundred for the whole of one liquor. Twelve pounds of 
 indigo are also added for each of thirty-nine reheatings. 
 
 A woad vat is liable to be out of order from two causes : 
 from the lime being added in too great or two small a quantity, 
 and although the causes of these defects are directly oppo- 
 site, yet the first symptoms of the two extremes bear so 
 striking a similarity, that it requires considerable practical 
 skill to judge from which of the two it arises, and herein con- 
 sists the whole difficulty of the business. It is altogether a 
 fermentative process, and there is but little doubt that the 
 fermentation is of that kind which has been termed by modern 
 chymists the panary. It is necessary to keep the fermenta- 
 tion of the vat always in one state, and this is regulated by 
 quicklime. If too much lime is added, the fermentation will 
 cease ; the air-bubbles, instead of forming a rich purple bead, 
 will look white, and burst with a hissing noise, and the liquor 
 will feel slippery when rubbed between the fingers. When- 
 ever a skilful workman perceives this coming on, he will 
 
76 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 stop work until the liquor is brought back to a healthful state. 
 The safest way of doing this is, to put into a hempen bag of 
 coarse texture, one or two pecks of bran, (according as the 
 vat is more or less overlimed,) and add an iron weight of about 
 fourteen pounds, to sink the bag. The bag being tied up, is 
 put into the vat, and the covers taken off to let the liquor cool 
 to about 110° ; in two or three days, and sometimes sooner, 
 if the vat is not much overlimed, the bag will rise to the top 
 of the liquor, and give out a sour fetid smell. The liquor 
 should now be examined, and if it has recovered its tine green 
 colour, smells of the woad, and feels rough, the bag should 
 be taken out and put on a plank over the vat, until it has 
 drained so as not to drip. The vat should now be covered 
 down, and the heat of the liquor raised to 140° Fahrenheit. 
 Let it be well stirred as soon as the heat is up, and if it does 
 not show the usual appearances of a good liquor, add to it 
 two or three buckets of swill till it comes round. It will be 
 necessary to watch it carefully as soon as it comes to a proper 
 state of fermentation ; for the means that have been used to 
 force it, will continue to operate so powerfully that, unless 
 the excess of fermentation be timely checked by giving it 
 lime, the whole contents of the vat will be irrecoverably lost. 
 
 When a woad vat is out of order, for want of lime, the 
 bubbles that rise will also be white, and will fall with a hissing 
 noise as before, but the colour and feeling will be different. The 
 colour, when overlimed, will be of a light dirty-loojdng yel- 
 low ; when underlimed, of a bluish green, in the first stages 
 of falling off; and instead of being smooth, will feel rough 
 when rubbed between the fingers. When it goes off from 
 this cause, as much lime should be added as will bring it back 
 to a healthful state, and the liquor should be heated to 150° or 
 160° Fahrenheit. On adding the lime, put in a bucket of swill 
 to revive the panary fermentation, which will have been in- 
 jured by having gone too far. A vat, set with a full quantity 
 of strong woad, will ever be liable to get out of order ; but this 
 will be mostly prevented by a skilful workman, provided he 
 pays proper attention to the working of the liquor during the 
 day, and gives it a critical inspection when stirred in the 
 evening. 
 
 A vat of liquor that has been overlimed, even to a great 
 excess, may be brought back to a healthful state by cooling 
 it down, and putting in bran bags, if care be taken to stop 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 77 
 
 the fermentation with lime when it comes too again ; but when 
 a vat is out of order, from not having been sufficiently 
 supplied with lime, and this has been permitted, either from 
 neglect or want of skill, to proceed to an extreme deficiency, 
 the fermentation will come on so rapidly and in so sudden a 
 manner, that in a few hours the bottom will swim on the top, 
 and give out a strong fetid odour, a putrefactive fermentation 
 having taken place. When this occurs, the contents of the 
 vat are lost, and all attempts to revive it will be only incur- 
 ring expense, without the least prospect of success. But such 
 extreme cases can never occur where the workmen have had 
 due practice, and are at all attentive to their business* 
 
 The vegetable ferments I have recommended to be used 
 in a vat are, bran, Cornell, madder, malt, and hops ; but the 
 materials that may be used, include all the ferments that are 
 promotive of the panary fermentation, such as malt dust, 
 distillers' swill, beer grounds, yeast, hay, and ground grain 
 of all kinds. It is useless, however, for a dyer to use too 
 many, and, in fact, Cornell and madder will answer every 
 purpose. 
 
 It may not be amiss to recapitulate what has been said, 
 relative to the working of a woad vat, when every thing 
 goes on in a regular way. 
 
 It is difficult to give directions by which a vat of this kind 
 may be worked regularly, as any little variation in the 
 strength of the woad, or of the lime, will prevent it. The 
 judgment of the vat-man must, therefore, be exercised on all 
 occasions, and lime and ferments added, according to the 
 situation of the liquor. The nearest rule that can be given 
 is the following : 
 
 A vat, as I have before stated, that is set with five hundred 
 
 pounds of strong woad, will take ten quarter-pecks of lime ; by 
 
 the time it is brought to work, after working the first day, it 
 
 will require two quarters ; and after the second day's working, 
 
 one quarter-peck. It has then to be renewed, by adding 
 
 twelve pounds of indigo, fifty-six pounds of woad, three pounds 
 
 of madder, and one gallon of wheat bran, the heat being 
 
 brought up to 150° Fahrenheit, before the ingredients are 
 
 added. The vat to be well stirred after the materials are put 
 
 in, and again at nine o'clock the same evening, also, three 
 
 or four times during the following day ; at the last stirring, 
 
 if the state of the vat should not require it sooner, add two 
 
 n * 
 
78 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 quarter-pecks of lime, also two after the first day's working, 
 and one after the second day's. These directions are to be 
 followed during every renewal, so long as woad is added ; 
 but afterward, when only indigo and ferments are put in, one 
 quarter-peck after renewing, one quarter the first night after 
 working, and half a one the second night. When neither 
 indigo nor woad is put in, that is, while the vat is working 
 down, a still smaller quantity is requisite. 
 
 When cloth has been coloured in the woad vat, it is first 
 to be well scoured with fullers-earth, and then to be boiled 
 one hour, with one and a half pounds of cudbear for each end 
 of twenty yards of broadcloth. The liquor being cooled 
 down, the cloth is to be wound upon the reel, and left to 
 drain ; the workmen then throw it on a handbarrow, and 
 carry it to the vat, on which they lay the barrow ; the cloth 
 is lifted by the men into the liquor, one fold at a time, open 
 and square, and a third person takes it in with two light 
 sticks. In doing this, he must be careful not to let any air 
 go down with the cloth. When the whole is taken in, it 
 lies on tht, cross at one side of the vat, and the person who 
 took it in, works it from side to side with a pair of hawks 
 during thirty or fifty minutes, according to the depth of the 
 colour wanted, and the strength of the vat. The hawks are 
 made of iron, with sockets, which are placed on wooden 
 handles about eighteen inches long. At the end of the 
 sockets are iron rowels about the size of a cent, and as thick ; 
 the rowels are notched, and with these the cloth fe worked 
 backwards and forwards. It is necessary to be very par- 
 ticular during the work, that no air be admitted under the 
 cloth, for when this occurs it will have light-coloured spots 
 on it. The hawker must have much practice to perform 
 this work with perfect safety. 
 
 It often occurs in England, that cloth is dyed in the flannel 
 before it is failed. When this is done, it must be well scoured 
 with fullers-earth. After it has been boiled, the lists being 
 previously covered with webbing, it is worked in the vat 
 after the same manner as other cloth. When it has been 
 coloured dark enough, it is well washed, scoured again with 
 fullers-earth, and the webbing taken off. It is now fitted 
 for fulling. When fulled and cut to furnace, the colour is 
 made up to pattern in the vat, without covering the lists with 
 webbing. If yellow list has been used, its colour will be a 
 
RECIPES. 79 
 
 lively green when finished, and it will require a good judge 
 to distinguish the cloth from wool-dyed. 
 
 To dye Prussian-blue on woollens. 
 
 Prepare the cloth by passing it through lime-water, at a 
 gentle boiling heat. Wash well, cuttle up, and let lie till 
 wanted. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, with one ounce of prussiate of potash 
 to each pound of cloth. The same proportions may be used 
 for yarns. Boil gently for ten minutes, wind up, and let 
 drain on the reel. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, using one ounce of nitrate of iron 
 to each pound of cloth, or yarn. This will give about a half- 
 blue, and if required darker, use more nitrate of iron. Wind 
 up and let drain. 
 
 It has then to be run through a third liquor, in which has 
 been dissolved one ounce and a half of what is called the 
 mordant, to each pound of cloth, or yarn. This is to make 
 the colour even, and to give a bright clear lustre. There 
 should be at least one gallon of water to every ounce of 
 mordant. The temperature of the liquor should not exceed 
 two hundred degrees. Turn the cloth in this rapidly for ten 
 minutes, wash well in clear water, and tenter as quick as 
 possible. 
 
 To make the Mordant. 
 
 Take any quantity of oil of vitriol, and mix it with its 
 weight of water. When the mixture becomes cool, add as 
 much potash as it will take. This compound is called sale- 
 nixen. To every twenty pounds of the above, add one pound 
 of argol, and the same quantity of spirits of salt, diluted with 
 half water. It would not be worth while for our dyers to 
 make the salenixen, as it can be bought much cheaper than 
 they can make it by a direct process. 
 
 This mordant operates more beneficially, if small portions 
 of sulphate of zinc are added to it, as the colour will be deeper 
 and richer. 
 
 The above recipe was received from England a few months 
 since, but is evidently defective. I would recommend the 
 nitrate of iron to be put on the goods before the prussiate of 
 
80 RECIPES. 
 
 potash ; and before running them through the prussiate liquor, 
 that they be dipped in a solution of chloride of lime, using two 
 pounds to seventy gallons of water. The remainder of the 
 process may be continued as directed. 
 
 Recipes for dying blue in the furnace. 
 
 This is often done for very common purposes, but never 
 on any thing like fine goods, unless intended for deception. 
 The following is the best recipe I have known for dying blue 
 in the furnace ; it is intended for twenty-eight pounds of stuff. 
 Use three pounds of alum, two pounds of cream of tartar, 
 two pounds of muriate of tin, and two pounds and a half of 
 logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour; heave in the cloth, and boil it one 
 hour. When this has been done, throw away two-thirds of 
 the liquor, and fill up with water ; bring the furnace to a 
 boil, and put into it one pound and three-quarters of chymic ; 
 let the liquor boil after the chymic is in for fourteen minutes, 
 cool down, enter the goods, and let them boil till of the colour 
 wanted. This colour was of a beautiful dark blue, and stood 
 exposure to the weather for more than a month, before any 
 sensible change took place, but in another month some parts 
 of it were changed. 
 
 A blue may be made with logwood, by previously boiling 
 the woollens to be dyed in copperas and blue vitriol ; but this 
 is so wretched a colour, and so very fugitive, thatnt would 
 be unworthy of a place in a work professing to give instruc- 
 tions for dying of cloth. The process may be found in 
 almost all the works on small dying. 
 
 Recipe for colouring a full navy-blue, for mixing for satinett, 
 or other coarse work. It is for eighty pounds of scoured 
 wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twelve pounds of alum, and three pounds 
 and a half of argol. Boil these one hour, cool down, heave 
 in the wool, and boil two hours and a half; let lie in all 
 night. Prepare a fresh liquor, in which boil eighteen pounds 
 of logwood, and five pounds of peach wood. Boil the wares 
 two hours, then the goods two hours and a half, and let lie 
 all night — wash and dry. 
 
RECIPES. 81 
 
 To dye blue on cotton. 
 
 The common indigo vat, for dying blue on cotton, is well 
 known in this country. I shall give directions for setting 
 this vat, and then give directions for dying Prussian-blue on 
 cotton. 
 
 A vat of one hundred and twenty gallons is nearly filled 
 with soft water, into which put four pounds of the best indigo, 
 well ground ; to each pound of indigo add two pounds of 
 green copperas, and two pounds and a half of dry-slacked 
 lime. Add the ingredients in succession, as they have been 
 mentioned, stir them together for half an hour, and cover 
 down ; then stir frequently, and on the second or third day 
 it will be fit for use. Some persons add a little potash, about 
 half a pound to the quantity mentioned, but most dyers leave 
 it out. 
 
 To dye blue on silk. 
 To prepare the silk for receiving the dye, take twenty- 
 pounds of silk, and boil it in a liquor wiih seveii pounds or 
 white soap, until the silk becomes white. Stick up* make a 
 lather of warm soap liquor that is blued with indigo, give it? 
 a few turns in this, wring out, dry, and stick up. There 
 should be three hanks on each string, and two strings are 
 sufficient for one stick. It is now fit for dying, which must 
 be done in the ash vat, to the pattern wanted. 
 
 To dye cotton and silk a Prussian-blue. 
 
 Steep the yarn or cloth in a tub filled two-thirds with 
 water, put therein twenty pounds of the nitrate of iron, or in 
 proportion to the shade of blue that is wanted, or the pounds 
 of stuff to be dyed ; try two waters to one of the liquor ; if too 
 strong a shade is produced, add more water, or the reverse, 
 steep well therein, wring out, and dry ; then have a tub of 
 water, say to hold four gallons, put therein two pounds of 
 prussiate of potash, which dissolve ; add thereto a pound or 
 so of oil of vitriol. Before running the goods through the 
 prussiate of potash liquor, run them through a solution of 
 chloride of lime, prepared as follows : — Stir two pounds of 
 chloride of lime into four gallons of water, let stand to settle, 
 and pour the clear liquor into one hogshead of water, through 
 
82 RECIPES. 
 
 which run the goods ; then run them through the prussiate 
 liquor, when they will assume the blue shade, light or dark, 
 as may be wanted ; these shades, however, must be regulated 
 by using more or less of the nitrate of iron. 
 
 The French writers recommend two-thirds of nitrate of 
 iron, and one-third copperas, in preference to using all nitrate 
 of iron. 
 
 After the colour has been obtained, it may be raised two 
 or three shades, by running it through a weak solution of 
 water, slightly impregnated with ammonia. 
 
 To dye silk a sapphire-blue. 
 
 Wash the silk out of the suds, after the boiling process., 
 as described for the first blue on silk, pump a bath of cold 
 spring- water, put into it a ladle of alum liquor, (being from 
 four to five quarts,) prepare half a pint of sulphate of indigo, 
 or what is usually called chymic, of which add to the water 
 as much as may be wanted to produce the intended colour ; 
 and as the silk will be of the colour of the liquor, there will 
 be no difficulty in the operation. Colours may be dyed in 
 this way from a pale to a dark sky-blue. 
 
 To dye silk a mazarine -blue. - 
 For this colour, the silk must be prepared by boiling it in 
 black soap, wash out of the suds, and stick up. ^The colour 
 has to be filled up with cudbear. Make a strong decoction 
 of this by boiling it one hour, and strain the clear liquor 
 through a sieve into a back. The silk has to be well worked 
 in the cudbear liquor for a considerable time ; wring out, 
 head it off in seven or eight knots, and heave it into the blue 
 vat till of the colour wanted. Wring out, wash well, run it 
 through a strong soap lather, wring out, and dry. 
 
 To make soap-lees for producing the lather. 
 Take lumps of lime, that is strong and has been recently 
 taken from the kiln, put a quantity into a large butt, pour 
 on boiling water, stir well, and let it stand a week. Make 
 use of this liquor to produce a lather, with soap that is used 
 for finishing the silk ; it must always be used cold. When- 
 
RECIPES. 83 
 
 ever directions are given for using a lather, after silk is dyed, 
 it always refers to that which is here mentioned. 
 
 Prussian-blue, by Mons. Raymond. 
 
 Previous to the year 1811, the silks dyed blue were dull ; 
 but, in that year, M. Raymond invented a method of giving 
 silk a deep and brilliant colour, which is now generally 
 adopted, and is known by his name. Process as follows : — 
 When the silk has been cleansed, immerse it for a quarter 
 of an hour in water containing about one-twentieth part of 
 its weight of the sulphate of the peroxyde of iron, at the ordi- 
 nary temperature, wash, and hold it for half an hour in a bath, 
 nearly boiling, of soap and water ; wash it again, and put it 
 in a cold and very weak solution of prussiate of potash, 
 soured by sulphuric acid, or by muriatic acid. As soon as 
 it is immersed it becomes blue, and nothing more is wanting, 
 than, in about a quarter of an hour, to wash and dry it. 
 
 A handsome Turkish-blue, for ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take one pound and a quarter of alum, two ounces and a 
 half of cochineal, half a pound of composition, three-quarters 
 of an ounce of indigo, and three ounces of oil of vitriol. 
 
 The silk, after being boiled in soap and water, must be 
 rinsed in running water, and then wrung and well beaten. 
 This being done, it must be coloured to a handsome light- 
 blue, in a cold or warm vat, then rinse it in running water, 
 wring and dry it. 
 
 As soon as the silk has become properly dry, it must be 
 moistened in warm water, wrung out, and laid by wet, for fur- 
 ther use. 
 
 Dissolve in a kettle, with eight buckets of water, one and 
 a quarter pounds of alum, pour the solution into a vat, steep 
 the silk in it, and work it well therein for the space of an 
 hour ; take it out, wring, and lay it aside in its wet state, for 
 further use. 
 
 Lastly, boil a kettle with eight buckets of water, and put 
 into it two and a half ounces of cochineal ; let it boil for about 
 ten minutes ; cool the liquor with a bucket of water, and add 
 half a pound of the solution of tin, and three-quarters of an 
 ounce of indigo, which has been previously dissolved in three 
 
84 RECIPES. 
 
 ounces of oil of vitriol, and stir the whole well. Immerse 
 the silk -coloured blue in this liquor, work it well therein until 
 the liquor begins to boil, let it boil one hour, working the 
 silk continually ; it must then be taken out, rinsed, wrung, 
 and dried. 
 
 If you desire the blue to incline more to a red, increase 
 the quantity of cochineal ; if the contrary, take less. 
 
 Best ultra-marine blue, for ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take filings of copper, free from all alloy of other metals ; 
 it is best, therefore, to rasp or file them yourself, in order to 
 obtain them pure. Put these into a glass vessel, pour spirits 
 of salt sufficient to cover them twice as deep as the space 
 they occupy, and let them stand for twenty-four hours, or as 
 long as necessary for the spirits to attain a blue or deep green 
 colour. 
 
 Then pour off the clear part of the coloured spirits of 
 salt into another glass vessel, add fresh spirits of salt to the 
 copper filings, and continue this process until the whole are 
 dissolved, when nothing but the earthy and impure parts will 
 remain. 
 
 Mix all these coloured solutions of copper, and add thereto 
 as much spirits of ammonia as will be necessary to saturate 
 the mixture. 
 
 Then moisten the silk in warm water, so that 3,11 parts are 
 completely and equally soaked ; then wring it, and steep it in 
 the blue tincture prepared as above directed ; work it therein 
 until it has attained a handsome ultra-marine colour ; then 
 take it out, wring it well, rinse in a stream, and dry it in the 
 shade. 
 
 With the liquor which remains, you may colour many 
 other agreeable blue colours ; but you must add, at every 
 colouring, a small quantity of spirits of ammonia. 
 
 A dark blue for ten founds of silk. 
 
 Take one ounce and a half of indigo, three-quarters of a 
 pound of vitriol, one pound and a quarter of alum, four pounds 
 of logwood, and one-qtiarter of a pound of alum. 
 
 The greatest attention and accuracy in the process of 
 dying this colour is necessary. 
 
RECIPES. 85 
 
 Mix the oil of vitriol and indigo as usual, set it by for 
 twenty-four hours, and then stir a little water in to revive 
 the action. After this, prepare a kettle with eight "buckets 
 of water, put into it one pound and a quarter of alum, and 
 dissolve it completely therein. This being done, pour the 
 solution into a vat, steep the silk in the solution, and work 
 it well therein for an hour ; after which, take it out, wring, 
 and lay it by wet, for further use. 
 
 Put eight buckets of water into a kettle, pour the solution 
 of indigo into it, and mix it well ; work the silk well in this 
 liquor for the space of half an hour, then take it out, rinse 
 it in running water, wring and lay it by wet, for further use. 
 By this process, the silk will receive a handsome light blue 
 colour. 
 
 To deepen this blue, or to change it to a dark blue, pro- 
 ceed in the following manner : boil a kettle with sixteen 
 buckets of water, add four pounds of logwood, and boil it 
 well for about three-quarters of an hour ; then take out one- 
 half of the liquor, and run it through a sieve into a vat ; let 
 the other half remain in the kettle for further use ; put into 
 the liquor in the vat, a quarter of a pound of alum, which 
 has previously been dissolved in some vessel ; stir the whole 
 w r ell, steep the light blue silk in it, and work it well in the 
 liquor for a quarter of an hour ; then take it out, wring and 
 Keep it wet for further use, and throw out the liquor as useless. 
 
 Lastly : pour into another vat the remaining eight buckets 
 of the logwood liquor left in the kettle, after having first run 
 it through a sieve ; steep the silk in the liquor, and work it 
 well therein for the space of half an hour ; then take it out, 
 rinse it in running water, wring and dry. By the above 
 process, you will obtain a good dark blue, sufficiently durable. 
 
 Recipes for colouring red. 
 
 Madder-reds are usually put on woollens after they have 
 been fulled, as the soap used in fulling ehanges the red. The 
 cloths dyed madder-red are mostly of a coarse quality, such 
 as flannels, long baize, mocks for embossing, and army cloths 
 for common soldiers. Since the general introduction of the 
 lac dye, most of the reds have been made with it. 
 
 I shall give two recipes for madder-reds, one for a piece 
 of flannel and another for a baize weighing fifty-seven pounds* 
 
 8 
 
86 RECIPES. 
 
 and it will be easy for those who wish to dye red, to add or 
 reduce from the recipes, according to the weight of the mate- 
 rial they may want to colour. 
 
 Dr. Cooper asserts, in his work on dying, page 156, that 
 " the solutions of tin give but dead colours with madder." 
 This assertion of the Doctor's is very strange, for no madder- 
 red is ever dyed in England without the cloth being prepared 
 with more or less of the solution of tin, and it is well known 
 that the more is used in moderation, the better the colour 
 will be. It is true, the tin liquor is not used in the same 
 liquor with the madder, but unless the cloth is prepared with 
 this material before dying, the colour will not be of a bright 
 red, but rather of a brick colour. 
 
 For dying a flannel red. 
 
 For each one, use in the boiling or preparation, three 
 pounds of alum, one pound of argol, or tartar, and half a 
 pound of tin liquor. 
 
 The ingredients are put into the water when it is boiling, 
 and the goods are boiled two hours and a half; when taken 
 out they should be thrown until they are as cool as is pleasant 
 to the hands ; they are then to be thrown into narrow folds, 
 rolled up close together, then wrapped up in a thick coarse 
 cloth, and left three or four days, or until they become quite 
 sour to the taste, and have a sour smell. A fresh liquor 
 must be brought on, in which the goods are to be finished. 
 When the water is near boiling, a gallon or two of bran is 
 to be thrown in, which is to be scummed off just as it begins 
 to boil. When the water is scummed clean, the heat must 
 be lowered down to about 130° Fahrenheit. Let the madder 
 now be put in and well stirred through the liquor ; then the 
 cloth must be rapidly entered and kept briskly turning over 
 the reel, and well opened all the time it is working. For each 
 flannel, of twelve pounds weight, use five pounds of the best 
 crop madder. As soon as the cloth is in the furnace, put on 
 the fire and bring the liquor to a spring heat in two hours, or 
 about 206° Fahrenheit ; then draw the fire and let the liquor 
 cool down again for half an hour or more, when the colour 
 will be finished. If the red should prove too yellow, put a 
 small quantity of urine into the liquor, run the cloth again 
 for ten or fifteen minutes, and it will be red enough. When 
 
RECIPES. 87 
 
 the cloth is taken out of the furnace, rinse it well in clear 
 water till clean, and dry it in the tenters as soon afterward 
 as possible. 
 
 To dye a red on a long baize, weighing from fifty to sixty 
 
 pounds* 
 
 For boiling, use ten pounds of alum, three pounds and a 
 half of fine argol, and three pounds of tin liquor. 
 
 Boil the ingredients as before directed, then the cloth during 
 •two hours and a half, wrap up, and sour as before. 
 
 For finishing, use twenty-five pounds of the best madder, 
 and proceed as for flannels. 
 
 Recipe for a madder-red, for twenty yards of broadcloth, in 
 which the tin liquor is not used. 
 
 These colours are of a dark rich red, but do not approach 
 as near to the scarlet as either of the others. 
 
 For the boiling, use four pounds of alum, and six ounces of 
 cream of tartar. Boil the wares as for reds, run up, heave in 
 the cloth, and boil it for two hours and a half — wrap them up, 
 and let lay to sour. 
 
 For finishing, bring on a fresh liquor, and use to each yard 
 nine ounces of the best crop madder. The cloth should be 
 put in at a blood heat, and well reeled for six hours ; by this 
 time the liquor should just break out at a spring heat, the 
 fire then be drawn, and the cloth run half an hour afterward. 
 Proceed as for the other reds. 
 
 To dye lac-reds and scarlets. 
 In the year 1807, I was requested by Doctor Bancroft to 
 try the colouring matter of the coccus-lacca. I did so, and 
 it produced as fine a scarlet as any now produced from the 
 same material. At that time, there was no lac-dye extracted 
 in the East Indies for sale, and I had to obtain the colouring 
 matter from the stick lac, which proved by far the most 
 troublesome part of the process. Sometime during the same 
 year, I entered a caveat for a patent ; but having made up 
 my mind to leave England for this country, a few months 
 afterward I communicated the secret to a company's dyer, 
 and never pursued the patent. 
 
88 RECIPES. 
 
 The East India Company soon afterward caused consid- 
 erable lac-dye to be extracted from the stick lac in the East 
 indies, and to be sent to England for sale. A considerable 
 quantity was imported, but being precipitated with alum, it 
 was found to be insoluble, except by the addition of such 
 quantities of alkali as rendered it unfit for the red or scarlet 
 dyes. On discovering their error, the company sent a 
 chymist to the Indies, to find a precipitant for the colouring 
 matter, that would not injure its solubility. This being accom- 
 plished, the article has since been brought into general use. 
 
 Lac is probably of much greater value than cochineal, in 
 such colours as red and scarlet, as it may be made equally 
 brilliant in hue, and as it will not change so readily when 
 it comes in contact with an alkali. It is usually sold at such 
 a price as to enable the dyer to make a scarlet at less than 
 half the price he can obtain it from cochineal. In fact, the 
 cost of dying this brilliant scarlet from lac, is not so great as 
 that from madder at fifteen cents per pound. 
 
 In giving recipes for this cheap and splendid colour, I 
 shall first give such as I obtained from a Scotchman, and 
 then follow them up by such as I consider, from my own 
 practice, to be improvements. 
 
 The first colour that is dyed in a fresh liquor is never so 
 fine as the second and following colourings ; it is usual, there- 
 fore, to make the first with half the materials prescribed for 
 a full colour and to make it up afterward with the other half. 
 
 Scotch recipe for dying lac-scarlet. 
 To make lac-spirits. Take one measure of aquafortis 
 duplex, two measures of muriatic acid, add a little tin till it 
 becomes hot, then add one measure of water, and saturate 
 with tin, that is, give it as much tin as it will take. Then 
 take any quantity of muriatic acid, and dissolve in it half an 
 ounce of tin to a pound of acid. 
 
 To dye twenty pounds of cloth, worsted, or yarn. 
 
 If the lac is good in quality, take two pounds and a half, 
 
 and more according to the quality of the lac. Take two 
 
 pounds of each of the above solutions, and mix with the lac 
 
 in a stone-ware dish. Take a clean copper, or tin boiler, 
 
RECIPES. 89 
 
 suited to the quantity of goods, fill it with pure water, and 
 add a pound and a half of fine argol, or cream of tartar ; steep 
 one pound of quercitron bark in hot water, and strain into 
 the boiler the clear liquor ; then add the mixed lac, enter the 
 goods and boil them from an hour and a half to two hours — 
 wash and dry. 
 
 AnotJier Scotch recipe for making lac-spirits. 
 
 Take twelve pounds of aquafortis duplex, reduce it to 
 single, or 20° Baume, add two pounds of spirits of salt, and 
 then add as much tin as will bring them to a dark amber 
 colour. It generally takes from two ounces and a half to 
 three ounces of tin to a pound of single acid. Add the tin 
 slowly so as not to raise a heat. When you have got them 
 to the colour, add sixteen pounds of spirits of salt, stir them 
 well, and they are ready for work. Use the same propor- 
 tions in colouring as for the above recipe, and observe the 
 same process in dying. 
 
 The above recipes would be somewhat dangerous in the 
 hands of a careless dyer ; for when the compound contains 
 but little more than the above proportion of aquafortis, or 
 the duplex acid should be a little stronger than the prescribed 
 standard, the tin liquor and the lac-dye will decompose each 
 other. I have known this to happen frequently with those 
 who thought themselves to be skilful dyers. Aquafortis, of 
 a given strength, will always decompose animal matter, but 
 spirits of salt exerts no action on it ; therefore the latter is 
 always the safest to use. When nitro-muriate of tin is pre- 
 ferred, I would recommend the dyer using it, to put it into the 
 liquor wifch the argol, or cream of tartar, and add the lac 
 afterward. 
 
 William Partridge's recipe for dying twenty pounds of stuff 
 
 a lacscarlet. 
 
 Prepare the water by boiling bran in it, and scumming 
 off after the same manner as for scarlet, with cochineal. 
 
 Take two pounds and a half of fine-ground lac-dye, of good 
 quality, and mix it with four pounds of muriate of tin, in which 
 the acid is in considerable excess. Put into the boiling 
 liquor two pounds and a half of fine-ground argol, or cream 
 
90 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 of tartar, add the mixed lac, enter the goods, and boil forty- 
 five minutes, wash and dry. 
 
 From six to eight dyings may be done in one day in the 
 same liquor, and I would recommend to run the first with 
 half the materials, then to make a full colour from this, by 
 using the other half, after the second or third colouring. 
 
 If the colour should prove too yellow, that is, too much 
 approaching an orange hue, leave out a portion of the argol, 
 or cream of tartar, and the colour will be more decidedly 
 red, and this as the argol is diminished. 
 
 To dye red with mungeet, on Jifty pounds of woollen. 
 
 Prepare the goods previously with a little black-oak bark, 
 ten pounds of alum, and two quarts of tin liquor. 
 
 The next day, colour with mungeet in a fresh liquor, using 
 the same quantity as of madder, or rather less, and dye 
 without boiling. This colour is as permanent as madder, 
 and superior in tint. It may be applied to cotton as well as 
 wool. 
 
 An improved mode of preparing woollen goods for receiving 
 lac-dye, discovered by the writer last year. 
 
 From experiments made on some of the prepared. samples, 
 I am led to conclude that the same preparation, or some 
 modification of it, may be usefully applied to almost all the 
 vegetable dyes, and more particularly to the red. 
 
 To every pound of woollen yarn or cloth, take an ounce 
 of chloride of lime, and one ounce of sal-soda ; pour on to 
 the two, one gallon of scalding water, stir well, and let it 
 settle. When settled, pour the clear liquor off, and throw 
 it into a furnace, adding more water, if necessary, to make 
 up enough to boil the goods in. In this, boil the cloth or 
 yarn for ten minutes, and lay by for use. It is better to dry 
 the liquor in the cloth, and wash before dying; for if not 
 washed, the colour will be too heavy. 
 
 My experiments were all made on the scale of forty grains 
 of woollen yarn, and if the benefit to be derived on a large 
 scale shall bear any proportion to those made on forty grains, 
 it must add to the value of the lac-dye full one-third, if not 
 one-half. 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 91 
 
 To dye red on cotton. 
 
 It is to be understood, that in the recipes I obtained from 
 Manchester, for dying of cotton, there will usually be given 
 two for producing each colour — the first will be for the best 
 and most permanent colour^ and the second for such as are 
 common and cheap. 
 
 Recipe to dye a fine and permanent red on cotton, in which 
 there are five different processes. 
 
 First Process. After the cotton has been well boiled and 
 washed, dry and divide it into handfuls of half a pound each ; 
 tie a string round each parcel loosely, so as to leave room for 
 the dye to penetrate under the strings. For each pound of 
 cotton, take four ounces of well-pounded nutgalls, boil them 
 half an hour, or until the galls are soft, and for every pound 
 of cotton, add five quarts of water. Take five quarts of this 
 liquor, into which dip a pound of cotton, until thoroughly 
 soaked ; repeat the operation three times, then put the cotton 
 into another tub, and pour the gall liquor on it — proceed in 
 the same way with every pound of cotton, until all is done ; 
 let the whole lie until next morning. Then wring out evenly, 
 so that the hanks may be equally pressed in all parts, then 
 dry it. Warm the gall liquor, proceed as before, and let the 
 cotton lie in another night, wring out as directed after the 
 first galling, and dry. 
 
 Second Process. To every pound of cotton, dissolve half 
 a pound of fine-pounded alum in five quarts of water, in a 
 copper pan. When the alum is dissolved, add to every pound 
 of it two ounces of pearlash — proceed in soaking and drying 
 the cotton twice, as directed for galling ; with this difference, 
 that it lie in the alum liquor four or five days. Before mad- 
 dering, put one pound and a half oh each stick, wash it quite 
 clean in running water, and wring well. 
 
 Third Process. Take a tub large enough to wash the 
 cotton in, fill it with warm water, and dissolve in it one ounce 
 of pearlash for every pound of cotton ; turn the cotton in as 
 you would yarn in a blue vat, work it in the liquor for fifteen 
 minutes, wring out evenly, and it will be ready for the fol- 
 lowing process. 
 
 Fourth Process. Take a broad copper pan, large enough 
 
92 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 to hold for every pound of cotton, twelve quarts of water ; 
 put into this liquor one pound of the best crop madder for 
 each pound of cotton, fill the pan to within seven or eight 
 inches of the top — when the madder is in, break the scum 
 on the top, place the cotton on sticks, as before directed, and 
 when the water is milk-warm, turn the cotton in as in the 
 blue vat — bring the liquor to a boiling heat in one hour and 
 a half, but not to boil out ; let it lie at that heat for fifteen 
 minutes, then draw the fire, place the cotton hollow and 
 straight, and let it lie for an hour or so ; then raise it out of 
 the liquor and wring gently, shaking the madder well out of 
 it, one string at a time ; wash clean from the madder, and 
 wring the cotton evenly and dry. In the summer dry it in 
 the shade, in the winter in a stove. 
 
 Fifth Process. If the colour is not deep enough, take to 
 every pound of cotton, four ounces of brazilletto chips, boil 
 them one hour, strain off the liquor into a tub, and add to it 
 urine or lime until the liquor has a pink cast. When the 
 liquor becomes cool enough to bear the hand, put in the cotton 
 and turn it over eight or ten times, then heave it out of the 
 liquor and add for every pound of cotton, half an ounce of 
 alum dissolved in hot water, turn in eight or ten times, wring 
 out and dry. 
 
 Recipe for a common red on cotton. 
 After the cotton has been well boiled and washed, use to 
 each pound, one ounce and a half of galls, and boil as-before ; 
 turn in the cotton, squeeze out, turn in again, handle well, 
 and let it lie all night. Wring it out in the morning, and 
 for each pound of cotton boil one pound of chipped brazilletto 
 for half an hour, take off the clear liquor, and add a little 
 urine or lime until it has a pink cast when a drop is let fall 
 on the back of the hand ; fill up the pan and boil the chips 
 a second time for half an hour, and proceed with this liquor as 
 with the last, when it is so cool that you can bear the hand 
 in it ; dissolve for each pound of cotton two ounces of alum 
 and add it to the liquor, mix well and turn in the cotton, work 
 quick at first, then slower ; turn dov/n and let it lie one hour, 
 then wring out and turn it in the liquor that was first boiled, 
 work it well in this and turn it down for fifteen minutes, then 
 raise it out and wring a little to see if it is of the right shade ; 
 
RECIPES. 93 
 
 should it be too much on the crimson, you must dissolve for 
 each pound of cotton half an ounce of alum, in the colouring 
 liquor, turn in the cotton again and handle it eight or ten 
 times, wring out and dry — in the summer in the shade, in the 
 winter in a stove, or warm room. 
 
 Recipe to dye silk of a Mood-red colour. 
 
 I cannot answer for this recipe ; it was given me by a 
 person who was a silk dyer, and as such I shall add it. 
 
 For each pound of silk, take one pound of alum, and a 
 quarter of a pound of cream of tartar ; boil them in a pail- 
 ful of water for twenty minutes, let the silk steep in this 
 liquor for two or three hours, take it out, rinse, and beat on 
 a block, then hang up and dry. 
 
 Put four ounces of powdered Aleppo galls into a pailful of 
 water, set it over the fire until the hand can just bear the 
 heat, then put in the silk, let it lie two hours, take out and dry. 
 
 Put into a linen bag half a pound of ground Brazil wood, 
 boil it in four quarts of bran-water, keep the kettle covered 
 while boiling, then take the kettle off the fire and let it stand 
 all night ; in the morning add to it a quarter of an ounce of 
 potash, boil it again one hour, then pour it into as much river- 
 water as there is liquor. 
 
 Take out the bag containing the Brazil wood, skim the 
 liquor, and put in the silk ; cover the vessel close and let it 
 remain one hour, wring out and rinse very clean in river- 
 water, repeat the operation and dry it in the shade ; if the 
 colour be not strong enough, boil the dye again and repeat 
 the operation. Pass the silk through a lather of soap, and 
 rinse in clear river- water. 
 
 A German recipe for red on silk, for ten pounds. 
 
 A deep red. Take one pound of fine galls, two pounds 
 and a half of alum, half a pound of tin liquor, and five pounds 
 of best madder. 
 
 Put into a kettle eight buckets of water, and jpne pound of 
 fine galls ; let it boil about fifteen minutes, or until the strength 
 is extracted ; run it through a sieve into a vat, steep the silk 
 in this decoction, and work it well therein for about two hours ; 
 after which, take it out, rinse, and dry it. Then put into a 
 
94 RECIPES. 
 
 kettle eight buckets of water, with two and a half pounds of 
 alum, and half a pound of the composition : let these be 
 properly united with the water ; pour the liquor into a vat, 
 steep the silk in the solution, and work it well therein for four 
 hours : take it out, rinse, and lay it by in its wet state, for 
 further use. 
 
 Lastly. To complete this colour, put in a kettle ten buckets 
 of water, and five pounds of madder, and work the silk well 
 in this liquor, until it begins to boil ; then take it out, rinse, and 
 dry it. 
 
 Second German recipe for a handsome red. 
 
 For ten pounds of silk. Take eight ounces of annatto, one 
 pound and a half of potash, two pounds and a half of alum, 
 six pounds of Brazil wood, five buckets of sharp vinegar, and 
 six ounces of tin liquor. 
 
 The tin liquor is a nitro-muriate, made with sal-ammoniac 
 and aquafortis. 
 
 Boil a kettle with eight buckets of water, put in it eight 
 ounces of annatto, and add one pound and a half of potash ; 
 let the whole boil well for a quarter of an hour, and pour 
 the liquor through a sieve into a vat. Steep the silk in this 
 liquor, and work it well for two hours, after which take it 
 out, rinse, wring out, and dry it. 
 
 Then dissolve one pound and a half of alum in a kettle 
 with eight buckets of water ; pour this solution into a vat, 
 fix your silk upon rods, and work it well therein for two 
 hours ; then take it out, wring and dry. 
 
 When the silk is completely dry, steep it in warm water, 
 until it has become properly soaked. Then take it out, wring 
 and lay it by wet, for further use. 
 
 This being done, pour into a vat five buckets of sharp 
 vinegar, and six pounds of Brazil wood, and let it stand for 
 the space of forty-eight hours ; then . take the liquor out of 
 the vat, and pour it into a kettle ; let it boil for the space of 
 ten minutes ; then pour it through a sieve into a vat, and 
 throw the parts remaining in the sieve into the kettle again ; 
 pour three buckets of water on it, let it boil well for a quarter 
 of an hour, and add the liquor thereof to the other Brazil 
 liquor in the vat. 
 
 Pour six ounces of the composition (tin liquor) into this 
 
RECIPES. 95 
 
 liquor of Brazil wood, and stir it well ; steep the silk pre- 
 viously soaked in warm water, in the liquor, and work it 
 well therein for two hours. Examine, at the expiration 
 of this time, whether the liquor still contains any colouring 
 matter ; if so, take it out, pour it into the kettle again, work 
 the silk another time therein, during which it must be kept 
 moderately warm ; then take it out, rinse it in running water, 
 wring, and hang it up to dry. By observing the whole of 
 the above process you will obtain a very handsome red. By 
 using eight buckets of vinegar, the colour will be much im- 
 proved ; and by leaving out the tin liquor, the colour will 
 become darker. 
 
 Lastly. If you desire to have this colour of a darker 
 and fiery hue, add two pounds of Brazil wood, and one pound 
 of tin liquor, to the above quantity, and proceed as above 
 directed. 
 
 To dye yelloiv on wool and woollen cloth. 
 
 For a piece of Lancashire flannel. For the boiling, use 
 three pounds of alum, and half a pound of tin liquor. 
 
 Boil the ingredients for half an hour, heave in the flannel, 
 and boil it two hours. 
 
 It must be finished in a fresh liquor, with weld and a small 
 quantity of pearlash. This is a highly permanent and very 
 beautiful colour. Goods prepared the same as this in the 
 boiling, and finished in a separate liquor, in a strong decoction 
 of black-oak bark, makes a fine yellow, but by no means so 
 beautiful as the weld. 
 
 In both weld and black-oak bark, the "bath must never boil 
 whilst the cloth is dying, nor before the goods are put in, for 
 nearly all the vegetable dye-drugs, giving a yellow, contain 
 a dead dun colour, which is not extracted below a boiling heat. 
 
 To colour nine pounds of wool a fine yellow. 
 
 Boil with one pound and a half of alum for three hours, 
 and let the wool lie in the liquor all night ; take it out in the 
 morning, wash and bring on a fresh liquor ; finish with nine 
 pounds and a half of weld, boil a quarter of an hour, and 
 let lie in all night. Take out in the morning, wash and dry. 
 
96 RECIPES. 
 
 To colour eighty-five pounds of wool of a strong yellow. 
 
 Boil with ten pounds of alum, let lie in all night ; take 
 out in the morning and wash, then in a fresh liquor boil 
 thirty pounds of weld, and six pounds of fustic. Boil the 
 ingredients two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, and 
 boil one hour ; run the furnace up until cool, land the wool, 
 wash and dry it. 
 
 Black-oak bark may be used in place of weld, taking about 
 half the quantity, or rather less. 
 
 For dying yellow on cotton. 
 
 First recipe. The cotton for this colour must be very 
 well cleansed previously to dying, and, when bleached, it 
 will take a fine colour. Whether it is raw or bleached, it 
 must be boiled in the twisted hank, in soft water, until it 
 sinks in the liquor, and it must then be washed well. To 
 prepare it for receiving the dye, boil it with six ounces of 
 alum, and one ounce of verdigris, for each pound of cotton ; 
 alum it twice, as directed for red, and in the second aluming 
 let it lie four days. When it has been well alumed and 
 dried, boil one pound of fustic for every pound of cotton, and 
 make as much liquor as will soak the cotton twice ; take 
 half the liquor and turn in 1 the cotton. When the colour is 
 nearly drawn out of this, wring out, and turn in the other 
 half of the liquor ; when the colour is drawn out of that also, 
 which it will be in about fifteen minutes, wring out, and it ig 
 finished. 
 
 Second recipe. When the cotton is dry, after aluming, 
 take one pound of weld, and one ounce and a half of pearl- 
 ash, to each pound of cotton — when this liquor has been well 
 boiled, wring the cotton, and turn it in at the usual heat for 
 fifteen or twenty minutes, then raise it out ; dissolve one ounce 
 of blue vitriol to each pound of cotton, put it into the former 
 liquor, turn in the cotton for fifteen minutes, wring out, and 
 it is done. 
 
 This colour will have a green cast, which is much admired ; 
 but if wanted of a golden yellow, it may be produced by 
 boiling two or three ounces of annatto in a saucepan, with 
 two or three ounces of pearlash, adding a very little of thia 
 solution to the weld liquor before putting in the cotton ; but 
 if too much of this is added, the yellow will be brown. 
 
RECIPES. 97 
 
 Third recipe. Let the cotton be boiled and washed well. 
 Dissolve for each pound, one ounce of alum, turn in the cotton, 
 handle well, let lie for half an hour, and wring out even. For 
 each pound of cotton, use one pound of ground black-oak 
 bark, add to it one-eighth of an ounce of pearlash, and pour 
 on it as much boiling water as will soak the cotton twice ; 
 stir these together well, take half the liquor, turn in the cotton 
 at the usual heat, work it well, and raise it on a pin. To 
 each pound of cotton, dissolve one drachm of verdigris, add 
 it to the first liquor, and turn in the cotton for twelve or 
 fifteen minutes — wring out, and give it the other half of the 
 liquor, adding, after it has been dipped in this, the same 
 quantity of verdigris as in. the last, wring out, and dry in 
 the shade. 
 
 To dye yellow on silk. 
 
 First recipe. Boil the silk in soap till white, wash it out 
 well, alum, and then wash it twice in cold water. Fill a fur- 
 nace with clear cold water, put into it half a bundle of weld, 
 and bring it to a spring heat, but not to boil out. Prepare a 
 bath of clear soft water, and put into it of the yellow-weld 
 liquor to the colour wanted. If for a deep yellow, make up 
 and finish in a lather of soap ; but if for a jonquille, this is 
 not wanted — wring out, and dry in a stove. 
 
 Second recipe. Use of alum, three ounces to one pound 
 of silk ; sugar of lead, one ounce to one pound of alum ; fustic, 
 one pound to one pound of silk ; water, one or two gallons, 
 in proportion to the shade required. Immerse the silk over- 
 night in the solution of alum and sugar of lead, take it out, 
 wring, and dye it in the fustic. 
 
 Third recipe. For ten pounds, take one pound and a 
 quarter of alum, and seven pounds of French berries, or four 
 pounds of Turkey berries. • Put the alum into a kettle, with 
 eight buckets of water ; when dissolved, pour it into a vat, 
 immerse the silk in the solution, work it well therein for half 
 an hour, take it out, lay it aside in its wet state for further use, 
 and throw away the solution. Then boil ten buckets of fresh 
 water, put into it the berries, boil for three-quarters of an 
 hour, pour it through a sieve into a vat, and immerse the silk. 
 in the liquor, work it well therein for half an hour, wring out, 
 and fix it on the wringing post. 
 
 9 
 
98 RECIPES. 
 
 A small quantity of alum may be added to the berries, and 
 boiled with them, which improves the colour. 
 
 To make this colour deeper or brighter, take more or less 
 than the above quantity of the berries. 
 
 Fourth recipe. For a citron-yellow, on ten pounds of silk, 
 take two pounds of alum, and six pounds of ground quercitron- 
 bark. Put the alum into a kettle, dissolve it in ten buckets of 
 fresh water, pour the solution into a vat, immerse the silk in 
 it, work it well therein for two hours, wring out, and lay it 
 aside wet for further use — throw away the solution of alum. 
 Then put the ground quercitron-bark into a kettle, with ten 
 buckets of fresh water, boil it one hour, take it out, run the 
 decoction through a sieve into a pail, immerse the silk in the 
 liquor, and work it well one hour ; after which, it is to be taken 
 out, wrung, and dried ; fix it on the wringing post, wring it 
 a second time, when it will be a beautiful citron-yellow. 
 
 This colour may be much heightened, by adding a small 
 quantity of soda, more or less, to the above yellow liquor, 
 according to the shades of colour desired ; but this must not 
 be done till the yellow is dyed. 
 
 To dye chrome-yellow on cotton and silk. 
 
 This colour has been in use only for a few years, and has 
 already superseded almost all other yellows. There is none 
 so clear and beautiful, and as it is as peftianent as any other, 
 it must always take the preference. The advantage of using 
 chrome, for dying yellow, is felt by the dyer, as it may be 
 done in a cold state, thereby saving fuel, and in any quantity 
 at a time, without loss of material. 
 
 Process. For every one hundred pounds of yarn, take 
 twenty-four pounds of sugar of lead, and eight pounds of 
 bichromate of potash ; dissolve the lead in fifty, and the 
 bichromate in six gallons of water. For the first ten pounds 
 of yarn, take about twelve gallons of the lead liquor and 
 make up a tub, (a half-hogshead,) and about one gallon and 
 a half of the chrome liquor and make up another tub. The 
 tubs must be filled with water nearly to the top. When the 
 first ten pound bundle has been through the lead tub, giving 
 it four turns, it is wrung out, and entered into the chrome tub, 
 where it also gets four turns, and is wrung out. For the 
 second ten pound bundle, four gallons of the lead liquor is 
 
RECIPES. 99 
 
 taken out of the working tub, and replenished with four gal- 
 lons of fresh lead liquor ; about three-quarters of a gallon of 
 the chrome liquor is taken out of the working tub, and re- 
 plenished with three-quarters of a gallon of fresh chrome 
 liquor, and so on alternately, until the whole is finished. If 
 a strong yellow is wanted, use nitrate of lead in place of the 
 sugar. 
 
 Silk is dyed after the same manner as cotton. The appli- 
 cation of chrome to silk is said to injure the quality so much, 
 as to give it the appearance of cotton, on which account it 
 is never used by experienced silk dyers. 
 
 We began our dying recipes with black, and have pro- 
 ceeded to give directions how to make the dyer's three primi- 
 tive colours. Before giving recipes for making compound 
 colours, we will give instructions for dying white on woollens 
 and silks, and stoving them. 
 
 Many of the woollen cloths and cassimeres are coloured 
 white, for military uniforms and facings, and it is for such 
 purposes they are generally used. White cassimere waist- 
 coats, however, are occasionally fashionable, as well as white 
 cloth pantaloons. Flannels are often whitened and stoved 
 by sulphur bleaching. 
 
 Recipe for colouring one hundred and sixty pounds of woollen 
 cloth a uniform white. 
 
 The cloth must be drawn over a perch, to see that it is 
 clear in the ground, and free from iron-moulds, or any other 
 stain that may be likely to show when coloured. It has then 
 to be well scoured with fullers-earth, and afterward looked 
 over again, to see if any defects appear that were not before 
 visible ; and if there are any that will not discharge by rubbing 
 with warm soap-suds, the cloth will not be fit for whitening. 
 
 While the cloth has been preparing, a clean copper fur- 
 nace, holding one hundred gallons, must be nearly filled with 
 water, and made to boil ; while the heat is coming up, shave 
 into it twelve or fourteen pounds of the best white soap. 
 Care must be taken, when it begins to boil, that it does not 
 flow over the furnace, which it is very apt to do ; to prevent 
 this, keep a bucket of cold water by the furnace, and when 
 yon find that stirring with a rake will not prevent its rising, 
 
100 RECIPES. 
 
 pour in the water. When the liquor has boiled a sufficient 
 time to dissolve all the soap, take a bucket of the liquor, 
 say three gallons, mix it with three of soft water, and with 
 it scour the cloth again in the stocks, without washing out 
 the soap. 
 
 Uniform whites may be coloured either in large wooden 
 backs, or in a copper furnace, with a white-willow basket 
 made to fit the inside. Whatever vessels are intended for 
 this purpose, they must be such as will not impart any stain 
 to the goods, and must be kept clean and exclusively appro- 
 priated for that purpose. 
 
 When done in a furnace, it must be made very clean, and 
 filled with perfectly clean water. A fire is to be put under, 
 and the liquor raised to the temperature of new milk ; at this 
 heat, as much of the boiled soap should be added as will make 
 the liquor very white ; when this has been added, and the 
 liquor stirred so as to mix the soap well through it, a small, 
 quantity of chymic is put in, just enough to make the liquor a 
 sky-blue, or darker, if the colour requires it. Some uniforms 
 are of a natural white, when they require only soap and sul- 
 phuring ; they vary from this to a very blue white, approach- 
 ing to a faint sky colour — the latter is never sulphured. 
 The blue mixture has to be passed through a bag ; some 
 stout flannel is sewed in the form of a jelly-bag, and the 
 top is secured round a wooden hoop. This bag is first wet, 
 then placed in the furnace, and the soapy liquor will pass 
 through it, and fill the inside ; into this part of the liquor a 
 small quantity of chymic is poured, and stirred until it is 
 well mixed ; the bag is then drawn up by the rim, and the 
 diluted blue permitted to pass through into the furnace — the 
 whole is then well stirred with a rake, so as to mix the blue 
 completely with the soapy liquor. The cloth is then entered, 
 rapidly moved over the reel, and kept well open during the 
 whole time of working. Put in, at the heat of new milk, as 
 before mentioned, bring the heat up five or six degrees, and 
 in thirty or forty minutes the colouring will be finished. 
 
 This colour is not washed, but the cloth is folded up care- 
 fully and smooth, and laid in a clean cloth, on a scrave, 
 horizontally ; for if thrown across a dyer's horse to drain, 
 the colour will run to the lists. When cloth has been dyed 
 white, it is always stove-dried. 
 
 On some occasions, the whites that are dyed without 
 
RECIPES. 101 
 
 bluing, are hung up in a sulphur house to bleach. A sulphur 
 house, for bleaching cloth, is a square building, closely plas 
 tered, to prevent the sulphurous gas from escaping. The 
 cloth is hung up by the list, on wooden hooks, and no two 
 folds are permitted to touch each other. The cloth, when 
 hung up, should be thoroughly moistened with the whitening 
 liquor, but not so wet as to run. When the house is filled 
 with cloth, or the intended quantity is hung up, some roll- 
 sulphur, bruised, is put on four iron dishes, which are pre- 
 viously covered two or three inches thick with fine dry cili- 
 cious sand ; one of these is put in each corner of the room, 
 and a small hole is left at the bottom of the building, near 
 each pot, say three by four inches, to admit a supply of air 
 for the purpose of keeping the sulphur in a state of combus- 
 tion. When the sulphur is set on fire, the door is closed 
 until the following morning, when it is thrown open, and as 
 soon as the workmen can enter with safety, the cloth is shifted, 
 the lists that hung down being now turned up and hooked on 
 the tenters. More sulphur is now placed on the sand plates, 
 which is ignited as before ; when the cloth has undergone 
 this second process, it is finished sulphuring, and will have 
 to be tentered and dried. 
 
 It is necessary to observe, that cloth intended for uniform 
 white is finished shearing before it is coloured ; and that after 
 it is dried, it need only be beaten in the tenters with small 
 white-willow rods, to extricate any soap that may hang on 
 the face in a state of dust — the beating should be done very 
 lightly. Sometimes a small quantity of the best whiting is 
 used in the soap liquor, but this is seldom necessary if good 
 soap be emplo3*ed. 
 
 To colour white on silk. 
 
 Boil off with yellow cake-soap, four pounds to each twenty 
 pounds of silk ; then cord off twenty skeins on each cord, 
 and put them in a bag ; put into a copper kettle the four 
 pounds of soap, with a small quantity of red orchille, in which 
 boil the bag for three hours, wring out by handfuls, and hang 
 up four handfuls on a stick. Draw off and pump up ; make 
 a weak lather, and put indigo into it, according to the colour 
 wanted. If the colour is required to be more on the red, 
 use more orchille. This is done at a good heat, and a few 
 turns will finish it. 
 
 9 * 
 
102 RECIPES. 
 
 On compound colours. 
 
 Having given recipes, and modes of working for black and 
 white, and for the dyer's three primitive colours, blue, yellow, 
 and red, we will proceed to the compound colours, and shall 
 commence with those that are compounded of blue and yel- 
 low, constituting all of that genera known by the name of 
 green. I shall, that my directions may be more clearly under- 
 stood, divide this genera into four distinct classes : the true 
 green, those colours which are dyed with blue and yellow 
 alone, in which neither of those shades predominate in any 
 considerable degree ; the yellow-green, in which the yellow 
 predominates ; the blue-green, in which the blue has the 
 ascendency ; and, finally, those greens in which the red 
 enters into the composition. 
 
 When cloth is to be dyed green, it must previously be well 
 scoured with fullers-earth. 
 
 Of true green. * 
 
 The following recipe is for a full bodied colour of this 
 green, on thirty-three yards of seven-quarter Spanish broad- 
 cloth, weighing about forty-six pounds. 
 
 For boiling, use eight pounds of alum, and one pound of 
 chymic. Boil them together for half an hour, then throw in 
 the cloth, boil it one hour, take it out, and boil in the same 
 liquor thirty pounds of chipped fustic, five pounds of alum, 
 and three pounds of chymic. Boil the alum and fustic for 
 one hour, then add the chymic, pouring it into the boiling 
 liquor in a small stream, not larger than the size of a wheat 
 straw, to prevent . its blowing out ; let the liquor boil ten 
 minutes, fill the furnace with cold water to the proper height, 
 stir the liquor well with a rake, enter the cloth, and rattle 
 over the reel as fast as two men can open it ; for unless this 
 is done rapidly, the colour will be uneven, as the blue strikes 
 instantly. Bring the furnace to a boil, and keep it boiling 
 till of the colour wanted. 
 
 In colouring green, when chymic is used, it is essential to 
 know that the goods take the blue first, then the yellow, and 
 that the longer they boil, the yellower the colour will be. 
 Therefore, in dying two or three pieces at once, as many 
 different colours as there are pieces may be taken out of the 
 furnace successively. 
 
RECIPES. 103 
 
 When the desired colour is obtained, the cloth should be 
 wound up on the reel rapidly, and immediately thrown off 
 into a back of clear cold water. It must then be cleared by 
 streaming, as directed under the article for cleansing of cloth. 
 
 For a very light grass-green, for forty-one pounds of cloth. 
 
 Put into the water, before it boils, a quarter of a peck of 
 bran, and one pound of muriate of tin, bring the liquor to a 
 boil, and, when slowly boiling, scum off the bran as it rises. 
 When the liquor has been well scummed, add seven pounds 
 of alum, and one pound and a quarter of chymic. Boil the 
 alum half an hour, then add the chymic, and boil ten minutes ; 
 run up the furnace, stir well, throw in the cloth, and boil it 
 one hour. In the same liquor, boil ten pounds of fustic, one 
 pound and a half of chymic, and two pounds of alum. 
 
 Boil the fustic and alum as in the last recipe, and add the 
 chymic as there directed, boil as usual, stir the liquor well, 
 throw in the cloth, boil it until of the desired colour, cool 
 down, and heave out into a back of water. When finished, 
 proceed as with the last. 
 
 Very permanent greens of any colour may be made on 
 cloth, by blueing it in the woad vat more or less, according 
 to the colour wanted ; then making a liquor with one-sixth 
 of its weight of alum, and as much fustic as will make the 
 desired colour. 
 
 To dye ivool a true green. 
 
 For a full bodied dark green, on two hundred and three 
 pounds of wool. To be first dyed a middling blue, in the 
 woad vat, then finished in the furnace with eighty pounds of 
 fustic, and twenty pounds of weld. 
 
 The fustic to be boiled by itself for two hours ; the weld 
 to be entered and boiled twenty minutes. The dye-wares 
 are now to be taken out, the furnace run up, the liquor well 
 stirred, the wool entered and handled as before directed, for 
 half an hour, the heat to be brought on and boiled two hours. 
 The furnace must now be run up with cold water, and four 
 pounds of alum strewed over the liquor by handfuls at a 
 time, the wool to be well raked and briskly handled at the 
 time, and between the throwing on of each handful ; when 
 
104 , RECIPES. 
 
 the alum is all in, put on the fire and keep handling until the 
 liquor begins to boil, permitting the liquor to boil for half an 
 hour ; then open the furnace door, run up, and let it lie all 
 night. 
 
 It must be observed that wool should never be landed out 
 of a very hot liquor, for this makes it stringy and difficult to 
 work in the machines. When a furnace of liquor has laid 
 with the wool in it all night, it will be about cool enough to 
 run off in the morning ; should any circumstance make it 
 necessary to run off immediately after it has boiled, the liquor 
 should be cooled down to 140° Fahrenheit, before the wool is 
 left free of liquor. To perform the running off, without per- 
 mitting any wool to go with the liquor, let the workman, 
 before turning the cock, thrust the wool from before the open- 
 ing with two or three large sticks ; when this has been done 
 effectually, put a circular shovel between the mouth of the 
 cock and the sticks, by which means the liquor'will be per- 
 mitted to run off freely without any wool following it. 
 
 Second recipe for green on wool — a true green. 
 
 The wool to be coloured in the vat as before. The colour- 
 ing materials, prescribed in this recipe, are for twenty pounds 
 of wool. Use four pounds of weld, nine pounds and three- 
 quarters of rasped fustic, and three-quarters of a pound of 
 logwood. 
 
 The materials to boil one hour, the bags taken out, the 
 liquor run up with cold water, the wool put in, and boiled 
 two hours, then strew over two pounds and a quarter of alum 
 in the same manner as directed for the last ; boil again for 
 half an hour, and let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a very light true green — to be first dyed a very light blue. 
 
 It must be understood that in all cases when a furnace 
 colour is done on a blue ground, and particularly when the 
 colour is light, the blue must be washed very clean before it 
 is dyed, otherwise the colour will have a very dull and muddy 
 appearance when finished. 
 
 This light colour has first to be boiled in four pounds of 
 alum for twenty-four pounds of wool, and let lie in the liquor 
 all night ; and then, without washing the wool, bring on a fresh 
 
RECIPES. 105 
 
 liquor, in which boil sixteen pounds of weld, run up, heave in 
 the wool, boil two hours, and let it lie in all night. 
 
 This recipe makes a very beautiful green, being much like 
 that which is seen on the plumage of a peacock. 
 
 There is no dying-drug that produces so fine a yellow as 
 weld, and it imparts a softness to the wool that no other ap- 
 pears to give. 
 
 For a true green for sixteen founds of wool — to be woaded 
 
 blue, as usual. 
 
 For the boiling, use eight pounds of fustic, and five pounds 
 of weld. The dye- wares to boil two hours in bags, as usual ; 
 the furnace run up and well stirred, the wool thrown in and 
 boiled two hours ; then cooled down, and strew over it one 
 pound of alum, and one pound and three-quarters of copperas. 
 After these are in, and the wool well handled, bring the liquor 
 to a boil, and let it lie all night. 
 
 Recipes for green, in which the blue predominates. 
 
 There will be no occasion to give any recipe for making 
 this colour on cloth, as they may be easily made by lessen- 
 ing the quantity of fustic, and increasing that of the chymic, 
 upon any of the recipes for true greens. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds of wool, in which the blue slightly 
 predominates. 
 
 To be first dyed blue in the vat, such as can be done for 
 about ten cents a pound; then boil seven pounds of fustic 
 chips, and one pound of logwood, in a bag, for two hours; 
 take out the bag, run up, heave in the wool, and boil it for 
 two hours ; then run up again, and strew in two ounces of 
 pounded blue vitriol, two ounces of pounded alum, and two 
 ounces of copperas ; boil one hour, and let it lie all night. 
 
 Recipe for a blue-green, where the blue is stronger than the 
 last, for two hundred and forty pounds of wool. 
 
 Dye in the blue vat to a fifteen cent blue. For the boiling, 
 use sixty-six pounds of chipped fustic, twenty pounds of weld, 
 one pint and a half of chymic, and one pound of pearlash. 
 
106 RECIPES. 
 
 Let the fustic boil in bags two hours, then heave in the 
 weld in bags, and boil half an hour ; take out the dye-wares 
 and put in the chymic as directed for cloth ; when this has 
 been boiled, add the pearlash in small quantities at a time, 
 then run up and stir well, after which, heave in the wool 
 rapidly and handle very quick — boil two hours, run up, and 
 strew over eight pounds of argol, and twelve pounds of alum ; 
 boil one hour, and let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a very light blue-green, for sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 Use fourteen pounds of weld, and three cups full of chymic. 
 Cause the welds to boil half an hour, then take out, and add 
 the chymic as before directed ; the liquor must now be run 
 up, the wool thrown in, and handled quick : then boiled two 
 hours and cooled down ; when this has been done, strew over 
 six pounds of pounded alum, and three pounds of argol — 
 boil one hour and let it lie in all night. 
 
 Recipe for a very dark green, rather inclining to the blue, for 
 sixteen pounds of wool, previously dyed a fifteen cent blue, 
 in the woad vat. 
 
 For the boiling, use seven pounds of chipped fustic, and 
 two pounds and a quarter of chipped logwood. 
 
 The wares to be boiled in a "bag two hours, the liquor run 
 up, well stirred, and the wool thrown in. Let it be one hour 
 coming to a boil, and boil two ; hours ; then cool down, and 
 strew over fourteen ounces of alum — -boil half an hour, cool 
 down again, and add five ounces of copperas, and one ounce 
 and a quarter of pearlash, boil one hour, and let it lie all night. 
 
 For one hundred and forty -eight pounds of wool for a dark 
 blue bottle-green — to be first dyed in the woad vat to a thir- 
 teen cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use thirteen pounds of umbro madder, and 
 one hundred and thirty pounds of logwood. 
 
 Let the wares be boiled two hours, the liquor cooled down, 
 well stirred, and the wool entered ; then the wool is to be 
 boiled three hours, and when it is cooled down, strew over it 
 four pounds and a half of alum, and thirteen pounds of cop. 
 peras ; boil half an hour, cool down, and let it lie all night. 
 
RECIPES. 107 
 
 For a middling blue-green for two hundred and Jive pounds of 
 wool — to be first woaded a nine cent blue. 
 
 Use twenty-one pounds of alum, boil this half an hour, 
 heave in the wool and boil it two hours ; then heave out and 
 wash. 
 
 Prepare a fresh l?quor, and boil in it forty pounds of chipped 
 fustic, and seven pounds of umbro madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 boil it three hours, and let it lie all night. 
 
 For a very light green, in which the blue 'predominates — for 
 fifty -six pounds of wool, first woaded to a four cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use nine pounds of fustic. Let the wood 
 be boiled two hours, the bag taken out, the furnace run up, 
 the wool thrown in and boiled three hours, and let it lie all 
 night. - 
 
 Recipes for green, in which the yellow predominates. 
 
 In these, will be included bronze and olive-greens. Bronze- 
 greens are those colours which are of a rich olive, having a 
 very strong body of yellow.- 
 
 
 
 For a rich bronze-green for sixteen pounds of wool that has 
 been coloured a full twenty cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use six pounds and a half of chipped fustic, 
 and four pounds of weld. 
 
 Let the fustic boil two hours, then heave in the weld, and 
 boil half an hour ; take the wares out of the liquor, stir, 
 heave in the wool, and boil it two hours ; then cool down and 
 strew over it three-quarters of a pound of alum, and one 
 ounce of dissolved copperas — it must now boil one hour, and 
 let lie in all night. 
 
 For a bronze-green on two hundred and sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 This is for a rich and very full colour. It has first to be 
 dyed in the vat, of a light seven cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use one hundred and eighty pounds of 
 
108 RECIPES. 
 
 chipped fustic, seventy pounds of weld, and four pounds of ' 
 chipped logwood. 
 
 Let the ingredients be boiled as before, for two hours, the 
 furnace run up, well stirred, the wool thrown in and boiled two 
 hours ; then cool down, strew over it twelve pounds of alum, 
 and two pounds of argol ; boil again one hour, let the liquor 
 be cooled again a second time, and strew over it nine pounds 
 of dissolved copperas, and one of ground logwood ; let the 
 liquor boil one hour, and the wool lie in all night. 
 
 To dye sixteen pounds of a lighter bronze, and not so dark as 
 the last. This has to be woaded to a light fourteen cent 
 blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use seven pounds of chipped fustic, and 
 four pounds of weld. 
 
 The wares to be boiled two hours, the bags^taken out, the 
 liquor cooled down, well stirred, and the wool thrown in and 
 boiled one hour and a half; then cooled down, and strew over 
 it one pound of alum ; boil one hour, cool down again, and 
 strew over it one ounce of dissolved copperas ; boil three- 
 quarters of an hour, and let it lie all night. This is called an 
 emerald green, and is a very beautiful colour. 
 
 For a fine olive-green on sixteen pounds of wool, to be woaded 
 to a nine cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use sixteen pounds of chipped fustic, and 
 four pounds of weld. 
 
 Boil the fustic two hours, then the weld half an hour ; take 
 out the dye-wares, run up with water, stir well, heave in the 
 wool, and boil two hours ; then cool down and strew over it 
 one pound of alum, and four ounces of dissolved copperas. 
 
 For a dark bottle-green of the bronze hue, for one hundred and 
 forty pounds of wool, made a full eleven cent blue in the 
 woad vat. 
 
 For the boiling, use eighty pounds of chipped fustic, and 
 fifteen pounds of weld. 
 
 Boil the wares as before, cool down, stir well, heave in 
 the wool and boil two hours ; then cool down, and strew over 
 
KECIPES. 109 
 
 it seven pounds of pounded alum, and three pounds of mad- 
 der ; boil one hour, and let it lie all night. 
 
 For an invisible green on two hundred and forty pounds of 
 wool — a colour now very fashionable. 
 
 For the boiling, use seventy pounds of fustic, thirty-five 
 pounds of logwood, eight pounds of argol, and twelve pounds 
 of alum. 
 
 Boil as usual, wash the wool, and run it in the blue vat 
 until of the desired colour. The stronger the blue, the more 
 it will approach to the invisible hue. 
 
 To dye bottle-green of different shades, on twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 Take from four to ten pounds of fustic, three to twelve 
 pounds of logwood, for the boiling, and sadden with one 
 pound of alum, and from one-quarter to half a pound of 
 copperas, 
 
 The wool to be first dyed a fourteen cent blue in the woad 
 vat, and proceeded with as directed for other greens. 
 
 To dye red-greens. 
 
 For all greens intended to have a red hue, take any of the 
 foregoing recipes for green, leave out more or less of the 
 yellow dyes, and add barwood in their place. If required 
 very dark, use the usual quantity of fustic, and add from two 
 to four pounds of barwood to every twenty pounds of wool. 
 As much madder would be still better than the barwood. 
 
 As the weld plant is an article not much used in this coun- 
 try, I would beg leave to observe, that by using about half 
 the quantity of fustic, the body of the colour will be about 
 the same. 
 
 Having gone through all that will be necessary for colour- 
 ing of green on wool and woollen cloth, and having given 
 ample directions for each class of that colour, I shall now 
 proceed to give recipes for producing greens on cotton and silk. 
 
 The two following recipes are for dying green on cotton. 
 
 Cotton for this colour must be well boiled in a solution of 
 potash, then washed, and dyed blue in the copperas vat, to 
 
 10 
 
110 RECIPES. 
 
 the shade wanted. When it comes from the vat, dry it, 
 wash a little, and dry again ; then alum as for red, with six 
 ounces of alum to each pound of cotton, wash and dry it. 
 Boil eight ounces of fustic for each pound of cotton ; when 
 well boiled, take out the liquor, put it in a proper tub, and 
 when you can bear the hand in it, put the cotton in, turn 
 it eight or ten times, and raise it out of the liquor ; then dis- 
 solve one ounce of blue vitriol for each pound of cotton, put 
 it into the fustic liquor, turn the cotton into it, and work it 
 round eight or ten times ; then turn it down, let it lie for 
 twenty or thirty minutes, wring out, wash and dry, and it is 
 finished. 
 
 Second recipe, is cheaper, in which part of the blue is directed 
 to be put on with logwood. 
 
 Boil the cotton well, wash it, and give it a light ground in 
 the cotton blue vat ; boil one pound of fustic, and four ounces 
 of logwood to each pound of cotton ; after boiling well, take 
 off the clear liquor, and when you can bear the hand in it, 
 turn in the cotton several times ; then turn it down into the 
 liquor for half an hour, raise out on a pin, and let it drain. 
 Dissolve, for each pound of cotton, half an ounce of verdigris, 
 or of blue vitriol, pour it into the liquor, stir well, and turn 
 in the cotton as before, wring out, and dry in the shade. By 
 adding or diminishing the logwood and fustic, any shade of 
 green may be obtained. 
 
 To colour cotton a permanent olive. 
 
 It is not requisite that the cotton be bleached for this colour, 
 but it must be well cleansed. To each pound of cotton, take 
 three quarts of water, one ounce of argol, one ounce and a 
 half of copperas, half an ounce of sugar of lead, and two 
 ounces of blue vitriol : dissolve these together in the warm 
 water ; when dissolved, add one ounce of pounded whiting, a 
 little at a time ; take off the clear liquor, and turn in the 
 cotton, work well, wring out, and turn in again, and let it lie 
 all night ; in the morning wring out, wash and dry. Boil 
 for each pound of cotton, one pound of fustic, turn in the 
 cotton, wring out, wash and dry. It is now finished, but if 
 wanted darker, a little sumach will deepen the colour. It 
 may be made lighter or darker, by adding or diminishing the 
 
RECIPES. Ill 
 
 copperas. If the drugs are dissolved in logwood water, the 
 olive will be greenish. 
 
 To colour cotton a cheap and common olive. 
 For this colour, the cotton is began and worked exactly 
 the same as for chocolate ; but, instead of brazilletto, you 
 must give it fustic liquor, in which work it well. For a 
 greenish olive, dissolve for each pound of cotton, one ounce 
 of alum ; for a yellow olive, half an ounce of blue vitriol ; if 
 for a very green olive, add a little logwood liquor ; when it 
 has been well worked, wring out on a pin, and give, for each 
 pound, half an ounce of blue vitriol ; let it lie in this for half 
 an hour, turning it now and then, wring out, and dry. 
 
 To colour silk green. 
 
 To colour silk a permanent green, it is previously yellowed 
 with weld and alum, and made to the pattern wanted in a blue 
 vat — either the woad or ash vat will answer, but the ash vat 
 
 is generally used. 
 
 For a Saxon green on silk. 
 
 Wash out of soap-suds, and stick up. Boil ground green 
 ebony in a copper vessel, strain off through a tub into a sieve, 
 add chymie to the colour wanted — to be used with very little 
 heat — wash twice in cold water, wring out, hang up and dry. 
 
 For a handsome green on silk, for ten pounds. 
 
 Take two pounds of alum, and four pounds of quercitron- 
 bark. Dissolve in a kettle, with eight buckets of water, two 
 pounds of alum ; then pour it into a tub, and set it by until 
 wanted. 
 
 While engaged in preparing the above solution, the silk 
 must be coloured in the vat, to a handsome light blue ; and, 
 after being rinsed in a stream, wring out, and steep it in the 
 abovementioned alum liquor ; work it well therein for two 
 hours, then take it out, wring, and lay it by wet for further use. 
 
 Lastly, put four pounds of quercitron-bark in a kettle with 
 eight buckets of water, boil it well for three-quarters of an 
 hour, and pour the liquor through a sieve into a tub. 
 
112 RECIPES. 
 
 Pour into the quercitron tub as much chymic as will be 
 necessary to produce the required green, and stir the whole 
 well. Steep the silk in this liquor, work it well therein for 
 half an hour, then take it out, wring, and dry. 
 
 If the green is not sufficiently vivid, add a small quantity 
 of turmeric to the yellow liquor. 
 
 The silk must not be dyed too deep a blue in the vat, as 
 it is very difficult to make a handsome green on a deep blue. 
 The blue should be of a light shade, and the green regu- 
 lated by adding more or less of the chymic. 
 
 For a green with weld. 
 
 The boiling of the silk, the same as for common colours. 
 After which, it must be well alumed, then rinsed, and dis- 
 tributed in hanks of four or five ounces. Make a strong 
 decoction of weld, so as to give a good lemon colour. The 
 silk is to be worked in the weld bath, till it has attained a 
 sufficient body. 
 
 When the yellow is sufficiently strong and even, the silk 
 is to be wrung, washed in a stream, and beetled. The silk 
 is then to be dressed, divided into hanks suitable for the vat, 
 then steeped, one after another, in the blue vat, and, finally? 
 wrung and dried quickly and with care. 
 
 For deeper greens of this shade, add a portion of logwood, 
 or of young fustic, to the weld. 
 
 For very deep greens, such as duck and bottle greens, add 
 a little copperas. 
 
 To colour silk a dark olive. 
 
 Boil with coloured soap, and wash out well ; alum, and wash 
 well ; put into clear warm water half a ladle of strong fustic 
 liquor, the same quantity of strong logwood liquor, give the 
 silk a few turns in this, and it will be a good olive. If wanted 
 greener, use a little blue vitriol, wring out and lather. When 
 the olive is wanted of a brown hue, it will do without a lather. 
 
 Having given an assortment of recipes for such colours as 
 are the product of blue and yellow, we shall now proceed to 
 that class of colours that are the product of yellow and red, 
 which will include scarlets, buffs, oranges, auroras, wine 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 113 
 
 colours, and a certain class of browns, &c, for which recipes 
 will be given in the order they are here mentioned. 
 
 Of scarlet on woollen, 
 
 I have already given directions for preparing the tin liquor. 
 Those who are desirous of having their colours uniformly of 
 the same brilliant hue, must be particular in following one 
 uniform mode of preparing their tin liquor; for the least 
 variation in this particular, will make a sensible difference 
 in the colour. 
 
 I shall give two recipes for producing scarlets, from my 
 father's practice ; one as it was done thirty years since, and 
 the other of modern date. A third will be given, called 
 Nash's scarlet. The recipes will be given for a certain 
 number of yards of broadcloth, each yard weighing about 
 one pound five ounces. I have already described the kind 
 of cochineal that must be used to produce the best colours. 
 
 It will be necessary to give directions for the workmanship, 
 before giving recipes for dying. 
 
 In dying scarlet, the furnace, if of copper or brass, must 
 be kept very bright and clean. The same attention to clean 
 vessels, must be observed in all cases where bright and deli- 
 cate colours are required. If the vessel be of block-tin, the 
 liquor may be permitted to remain in the furnace from one 
 day to another ; but when of copper or brass, it must be 
 emptied every night, scoured quite clean, and fresh liquor 
 made the succeeding day. This direction must be observed 
 for all colours where solutions of tin are used, as well as for 
 every other delicate colour. 
 
 A willow basket, such as I have before described, is used 
 in all these colours. It is also necessary to cover the curb 
 with clean white canvass, to prevent the goods from receiving 
 any stain from the curb. The canvass should be secured to 
 the top of the basket, and hang over the outside of the curb 
 against the furnace, six or nine inches. The reel should be 
 made of clear white pine, free from -knots, and the broading 
 and stopping sticks should be of dry white ash, without bark. 
 The cloth, after having run its proper time in the furnace, 
 should be rapidly wound up on the reel, and immediately 
 thrown ©ff into a back of cold spring- water. The back should 
 be of an oval form, about three feet wide in the centre, as 
 
 10* 
 
114 RECIPES. 
 
 long as the cloth is wide, and made of some clear white wood 
 that will not impart any stain to the cloth. The cloth is 
 moved rapidly over the reel all the time it is in the furnace, 
 and must be kept well open by the broadsmen. The liquor 
 is brought to boil as soon as possible after the cloth is entered, 
 and kept boiling rapidly until the colour is finished. When 
 taken out, it is immediately streamed, as before directed, until 
 quite clean, and tentered as soon after as possible. 
 
 Before a new liquor begins to boil, and prior to any thing 
 being added to it, throw into the furnace one pint of tin liquor, 
 and two or three quarts of wheat bran ; bring the liquor to 
 boil, which will cause the bran to rise to the top, let this be 
 scummed off clean with a fine sieve, and the liquor will be 
 ready for use. 
 
 The cream of tartar, and other drugs used for this colour, 
 should be ground or pounded very fine. 
 
 For dying sixteen pounds of woollen a bright scarlet. 
 
 Use for boiling, half a pound of clear pure alum, six ounces 
 of turmeric, six ounces of cream of tartar, one pint of tin 
 liquor, (nitra-muriate of tin,) and three ounces and a half of 
 cochineal. 
 
 The alum and tartar to be first boiled about five minutes, 
 then the solution of tin to be added and boiled two minutes, 
 then add the turmeric and cochineal, and boil ten minutes. 
 Cool the liquor down, stir well, and enter the cloth rapidly ; 
 put on the fire, and bring the liquor to boil as soon as pos- 
 sible. Keep it rapidly boiling for two hours, then cool the 
 liquor down, wind the cloth up on the reel, and throw it out 
 into the back, as before mentioned ; then let the cloth be well 
 streamed, and while that is doing, add to the boiling liquor, 
 one-quarter of a pound of cream of tartar, three-quarters of 
 a pound of cochineal, and one pint of tin liquor. Boil the 
 cream of tartar and tin liquor four or five minutes, put in the 
 cochineal and boil five minutes ; cool down, stir well, and 
 enter the cloth, taking care to keep it in rapid motion, and well 
 opened, all the time of going ; boil for thirty or forty minutes, 
 cool down, and throw out into the back, as before. The girt- 
 web has now to be taken off the lists, the cloth streamed till 
 thoroughly cleaned, and then tentered as soon as possible. 
 
 Scarlets, dyed according to the last recipe, were rich and 
 
RECIPES. 115 
 
 full bodied, but not of that fine flame colour which is required 
 by the fashion of the present day. When alum is used with 
 cochineal, it increases the body of the colour, and gives it a 
 blue tint, approaching to a pink colour. 
 
 For dying sixteen pounds of cloth ajinejlame coloured scarlet. 
 
 For boiling, use ten ounces of cream of tartar, four ounces 
 of turmeric, one pint and a quarter of tin liquor, and four 
 ounces of cochineal. 
 
 Put these ingredients into the liquor, successively, as directed «. 
 for the above recipe, and when the last is added, boil ten 
 minutes, cool down, stir well, and throw in the cloth rapidly ; 
 boil two hours, cool down, and heave out, as before directed. 
 Let the cloth be well streamed, and while that is doing, bring 
 the liquor on to a boil, and add for the finishing, ten ounces 
 of cream of tartar, four ounces of turmeric, one pint and a 
 quarter of tin liquor, and one pound and a quarter of cochineal. 
 
 Put the ingredients in as directed for the boiling, cool down, 
 stir well, throw in the cloth, and boil rapidly from thirty 
 minutes to one hour, according to the colour wanted ; then 
 throw out into a back of water, and proceed as before. 
 
 A manufacturer, of the name of Nash, became celebrated 
 for dying a scarlet, and a colour has taken its name from 
 him, being called Nash's scarlet. The principal difference, 
 however, between his colour and others is, that the cloth 
 dyed by him was well grounded, the colour having completely 
 penetrated through the thread of the cloth ; this advantage 
 was more the result of a peculiar mode of making the goods, 
 than of any superiority in the dying, r- The warp, as I have 
 been informed, was spun with as little twist as would answer 
 for weaving, and the filling as loose as could be spun so as 
 to follow the shuttle. 
 
 For dying a Nash scarlet, on two pieces of thirty-two yards 
 each, weighing ninety-six pounds. 
 
 This colour has two boilings before the finishing operation. 
 For the first boiling, use one pound and a half of cream of 
 tartar, two quarts of tin liquor, one pound and a half of fine 
 argol, one pound of turmeric, and one pound of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the ingredients as before, cool down, throw in the 
 
116 RECIPES. 
 
 cloth, and boil one hour. It has to be boiled a second time 
 without streaming, only previously cooling the cloth by 
 throwing it backwards and forwards. 
 
 For the second boiling, use eight ounces of turmeric, two 
 quarts of tin liquor, three pounds of cream of tartar, and one 
 pound of cochineal. 
 
 Proceed as before, boil two hours, take out, and stream 
 well ; then use, for finishing, five pounds of cochineal, three 
 quarts of tin liquor, and two pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 Throw in the cloth as before, and boil till done, which will 
 be in thirty or forty minutes. This is a strong rich colour, 
 and being boiled two hours in the second process, and the 
 yarn having been spun loose, is so much better grounded than 
 scarlets commonly are, as to give the colour the appearance 
 of great intensity. 
 
 It is usual, in all establishments where scarlet dying is 
 carried on upon a large scale, to colour twenty or thirty 
 pieces in one daj r , and by this means much expense is saved. 
 If a furnace is brought on early in the morning, some pieces 
 are boiled, or prepared, in the first operation, which prepares 
 the liquor for finishing — for a bright scarlet never can be 
 made in a fresh liquor. Three or four lots that were boiled 
 a day or two before, are then finished in the same liquor, 
 and afterward three or four lots of white pieces are boiled. 
 The first lot boiled after finishing, needs no cochineal; the 
 others follow it, until the whole of this valuable drug is taken 
 out of the finishing liquor ; tin liquor, cream of tartar, and 
 turmeric, are added in the quantities prescribed, but no 
 cochineal, except for the second boiling ; the third and fourth 
 lots are called runs, and are boiled a second time. Some- 
 times a whole day is employed in boiling, when the practice 
 prescribed in the recipes given for boiling is followed, except 
 for the two last, in which the cochineal is left out. 
 
 To colour scarlet with the colouring matter of the stick lac, 
 known in the market by the name of lac-dye. — See lac-reds, 
 &c. pp. 87—90. 
 
 As cotton is never dyed scarlet, we shall proceed with 
 silk. 
 
 Boil twenty pounds of silk, in a liquor with four pounds of 
 black soap, for three hours. Take any quantity of annatto, 
 
HECIPES. 117 
 
 ground fine— to each pound, add four ounces of pearlash ; 
 these are to be ground together in a copper pan, with copper 
 balls, after the same manner as indigo. Bring your water 
 to a boil, take of the annatto liquor one or two bowls, which add 
 to the boiling water, put your silk in at a spring heat, and it 
 Will soon become a good orange. Take the silk out of the 
 furnaCe, hang it up Over it, so that the liquor which drains 
 off may run into the furnace. When drained, wash the silk 
 in four warm waters, and hang up six knots on each stick. 
 Take of the tin liquor one pint, add it to water of a good 
 heat, and this will be sufficient for ten pounds of silk ; give a 
 few turns, wash out and stick up. Then take one pound and 
 a half of well-ground cochineal, put it into a bell-tub, and fill 
 it up with boiling water ; give the silk a few turns in this, 
 and it will come out a fine scarlet. 
 
 To dye a mock-scarlet on silk. 
 
 Orange the same as for real scarlet, wash and stick up as 
 before. Add some strong alum liquor to boiling water, turn 
 the orange in this liquor for three hours, wash in two cold 
 waters and stick up. Take of a liquor made from Brazil 
 wood, previously boiled, two pails, soak sumach in a tub, and 
 strain off a ladleful. These two will finish off the orange a 
 good mock-scarlet. When dark enough, wring out and dry. 
 
 Recipes for huff. 
 
 The yellow for dying of buff is obtained from old fustic, 
 The best sticks used are such as are new and sound, being 
 selected for this purpose. The outside of the logs is split 
 off, and the heart of the wood is ground very fine, and sold 
 to the dyer at double the usual price, for dying of buff and 
 other fine colours. A good buff dyer is more rare than a 
 good scarlet dyer, and goods for this colour are sent from 
 London and other parts of England, a distance of more than 
 two hundred miles, to a dyer in the west of England who is 
 celebrated for dying this colour. It would be supposed that 
 a colour requiring only fustic yellow, and a little best madder, 
 could be well done any where, did not experience prove it to 
 be erroneous. 
 
 The cloth intended for buff, must be examined, spotted and 
 
118 RECIPES. 
 
 cleaned the same as for scarlet, and that which is not per- 
 fectly free from spots and stains, cannot be used for this colour, 
 as the least defect will be seen when finished. Cloth for buff 
 must be finished shearing before it is dyed. 
 
 The same precautions, to keep the goods from coming in 
 contact with the metal, and curb of the furnace, are used in 
 this colour as in the scarlet dye. Buff is more liable than 
 any other colour to become spotted, when it comes in contact 
 with any material that can impart a stain to it ; the utmost 
 caution, therefore, should be used to prevent this. 
 
 Recipe for twenty-seven pounds of fine cloth. 
 
 Use one pound of argol, one pound of alum, two pounds 
 of tin liquor, half a pound of ground fustic, and one ounce 
 of best crop madder. 
 
 Boil the ingredients as directed for scarlet, heave in the 
 goods, keep them rapidly in motion, and boil until of the 
 desired colour. If this colour should not be strong enough, 
 use more fustic and madder ; if too red, use more fustic and 
 less madder; if not red enough, use more madder and less 
 fustic. By these means, any body or shade may be obtained. 
 
 I have never known wool to be dyed buff for cloth of one 
 colour, but as it is often made for mixtures and striped goods, 
 such as vest patterns, &c, I shall add a recipe to produce it. 
 
 For a -luff on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 Take fourteen pounds of weld, boil it half an hour, take 
 out the weld, stir well and heave in the wool ; boil it two 
 hours and land ; add, to the liquor one pound of alum, cool 
 down, heave in the wool, boil it one hour, land and wash. 
 
 This will be a pale yellow buff, the shade of which may 
 be changed to a red hue, by using a small quantity of madder. 
 
 Buffs may be coloured on wool with fustic and madder, as 
 it is done on cloth, leaving out the greater part of the tin 
 liquor, which, when applied strong, makes the wool harsh 
 and difficult to spin. 
 
 For a buff colour on cotton. 
 
 Cotton for buff should be bleached. For each pound of 
 cotton take one quart of iron liquor, and four of water ; put 
 
RECIPES. 119 
 
 it into a copper or brass vessel, add to the iron liquor six 
 ounces of copperas, and one ounce of sugar of lead ; when 
 3^ou can bear the hand in the liquor, turn in the cotton, work 
 it well, squeeze out, and turn it in again ; then let it lay all 
 night, taking care that the cotton be completely covered with 
 the liquor. In the morning, wring it out and dry quick, 
 spreading it well on the drying poles. Take fresh made 
 lime-water, turn in the cotton as quick as possible, and wet 
 it completely. When raised to the colour wanted, wring 
 out, wash, and it is finished. If the colour should not be 
 full enough, put in more iron liquor and copperas, and less 
 water. If it be too strong, put in less of those ingredients, 
 and more water ; by which means a great variety of shades 
 may be obtained. : 
 
 It would answer a much better purpose, after the cotton 
 has received the iron liquor, and has been dryed, to run it 
 through a chlorine water, as described for black and Prus- 
 sian blue. Two pounds of bleaching powders, first stirred 
 into four gallons of water, and when settled clear, to pour 
 the liquor into a hogshead of water, will be all that is wanted. 
 
 For a salmon colour on cotton. 
 
 The cotton must be white — prepare as usual. Boil for 
 each pound of cotton, one ounce of cream of tartar, for fif- 
 teen or twenty minutes, add to it water enough to turn in the 
 cotton, work it for half an hour, and wring out. Then turn 
 it into a liquor prepared the same as for orange, only about 
 half the strength, work quick and even ; when well worked, 
 wring out evenly, and turn it into the cream of tartar liquor 
 again, work quick until it receives a nice salmon colour, 
 wring out and dry in a warm room. 
 
 For a brimstone, or straw colour, on cotton. 
 
 The cotton must be white. To each pound, dissolve one 
 ounce of alum, turn in several times, and then turn down for 
 half an hour, wring out gently and even. It must now have 
 a clear and slender fustic liquor, turn it over quick at first, 
 and turn it into the alum liquor again ten or twelve times, 
 wring out evenly, dry in a stove in the winter, and in the 
 shade in the summer. 
 
120 RECIPES. 
 
 For a straw colour on silk. 
 
 Boil until white, wash, Wring out and stick up. Prepare 
 a strong ebony liquor by well boiling, take a ladleful of this 
 liquor, which will dye about ten pounds, give it five or six 
 turns in this when diluted with water, and if the ebony does 
 not work green enough, put into the liquor a very small 
 quantity of chymic, and finish by stoving with sulphur. 
 
 A nankeen colour on ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take two pounds of fine galls, one ounce and a half of 
 annatto, four ounces of potash, and half a pound of soap. 
 
 Put one pound of finely-pounded galls in a kettle of eight 
 buckets of water, and boil it about ten minutes, then take 
 out the liquor, and run it through a sieve into a vat. 
 
 While thus employed, let half a pound of soap be dissolved 
 in a bucket of warm water, and pour the solution into the 
 liquor of the galls. 
 
 Then put into a crock of water one ounce of annatto, and 
 four ounces of potash ; boil for half an hour, add one half 
 of it to the liquor of the galls in the vat, and stir the whole 
 well ; steep the silk in the liquor, and work it well therein for 
 a quarter of an hour. Examine the silk, and should it not 
 have the necessary redness, add as much of the annatto 
 liquor to it as you may deem necessary, to give the colour 
 the desired tint. Then put the silk in again, and work it 
 well for a quarter of an hour, take it out, rinse and dry it. 
 
 The nankeen coloured silk must not remain long without 
 being rinsed, as this would create stains in it. 
 
 Recipes for orange and aurora. 
 
 When woollen yarn and cloth are dyed orange or aurora, 
 they are usually boiled in a spent liquor, after scarlet or buff. 
 
 For sixteen pounds of cloth for a fine orange. Boil in an 
 old buff liquor, two pounds of young fustic chips, (Venice 
 sumach,) three-quarters of a pound of best madder, one pound 
 of cream of tartar, three-eighths of a pint of tin liquor, and 
 half an ounce of cochineal. 
 
 The chips to be well boiled before the other ingredients 
 are added ; after boiling the other wares for a few minutes, 
 
RECIPES. 121 
 
 cool the liquor down, stir well, throw in the cloth, and boil 
 till up to the pattern. 
 
 For an orange on sixty pounds of fine cloth, in a spent scarlet 
 
 liquor. 
 
 Use eight pounds of young fustic chips, four pounds of 
 cream of tartar, three pounds of best madder, half an ounce 
 of cochineal, and one pint of tin liquor. Boil the chips, and 
 proceed as before. 
 
 Auroras are dyed the same as oranges, except with less 
 madder, and an additional quantity of cochineal. Some 
 auroras approach very nearly to the scarlet colour, having 
 a greater body of yellow. 
 
 Oranges and auroras, when done in a liquor prepared on 
 purpose, require more cream of tartar, tin liquor, and cochi- 
 neal, than is prescribed in the foregoing recipes. 
 
 For a common orange on four pieces of flannel. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pint of tin liquor, and two pounds 
 of argol. Give a body with young fustic, and redden to pat- 
 tern with madder of the first quality. 
 
 Wool is seldom dyed of an orange colour, but as it may 
 be wanted sometimes for mixtures, I will give the only recipe 
 my collection affords. 
 
 For an orange on nineteen pounds of wool. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, boil it one hour,, cool down, 
 stir, throw in the wool, boil two hours, and let it lie all night. 
 In the morning wash it, and finish in a fresh liquor, with ten 
 pounds of weld, and three pounds of madder ; boil it seven or 
 ten minutes, and land. 
 
 For an orange on cotton. 
 
 The cotton for this colour should be white. To each pound 
 of cotton take two ounces of annatto, grind with water in a 
 brass kettle, as indigo is ground, wash it out into another 
 kettle, or pan, and add an equal quantity of pearlash ; boil 
 for half an hour, turn in the cotton, wring out, and dry in a 
 stove, or in the shade ; the more of annatto is used, the richer 
 
 11 
 
122 RECIPES. 
 
 and finer will be the colour. The liquor should not be 
 thrown away after the working, but used with another quan- 
 tity, by adding more of the material to the old liquor after 
 boiling, which will be a saving of one-third. 
 
 Chrome-orange on cotton. 
 
 For one hundred pounds of cotton yarn, take twenty-four 
 pounds of nitrate of lead, dissolve in fifty gallons of water, 
 then take eight pounds of bichromate of potash, which dis- 
 solve in six gallons of water. Make up your tubs in the 
 same way as directed for yellow. Make up another tub of 
 lime-water, and use the lead and chrome liquors as directed 
 for yellow, with the same proportions. Work the yarn, in 
 ten pound bundles, first in the lead, then in the lime-water ; 
 again through the lead, then in the lime-water, and again 
 through the lead ; enter your yarn into the chrome tub, after- 
 ward through the lead, and then through the chrome again. 
 Have a furnace filled with lime-water, brought to a boiling 
 heat, and enter your yarn into it, bundle after bundle, always 
 adding fresh lime-water for every bundle ; wash out in cold 
 water, and it is finished. 
 
 All the tubs, both in the yellow and orange, are warmed 
 to 100° Fahrenheit. 
 
 The sediment of the chrome tubs is sold to painters ; the 
 liquors, after dying, are thrown into hogsheads to settle. 
 
 Fawns, of a very delicate shade, are made by preparing 
 the yarn with sumach, and finishing in the liquor from the 
 hogsheads. 
 
 To colour silk an orange. 
 
 Orange colour is obtained with soda and annatto, and by 
 working in this liquor until the desired colour is complete. 
 
 For a deep orange yellow on ten pounds of silk. 
 Take one pound and a quarter of alum, eight pounds of 
 safflower, and a quarter of a pound of alum. Dissolve the 
 alum in a kettle containing ten buckets of water ; then pour 
 the solution into a tub, steep the silk in it, work it well therein 
 for half an hour, wring it, lay it by in its wet state, for further 
 use, and throw away the solution of alum. Put ten buckets 
 
RECIPES. 123 
 
 ©f fresh water into a kettle, add eight pounds of safnower, and 
 a quarter of a pound of alum ; boil for half an hour, run the 
 decoction through a sieve into a tub, steep the silk in the 
 liquor, work it well therein for a quarter of an hour, wring 
 out, and dry it ; fix it on the wringing post, wring and beat 
 it well, and it is finished. 
 
 With the remains of the above liquor, a pale yellow may 
 be obtained. 
 
 To dye cinnamon colours. 
 
 For fifty pounds of fine cloth, for a bright cinnamon, use 
 seven pounds and a half of alum, one pound and a half of 
 argol, and nine pounds of redwood. Boil the wares two hours, 
 cool down, stir, throw in the cloth, and boil one hour. 
 
 For a darker cinnamon, on the same weight of cloth, use 
 seven pounds of alum, two pounds of argol, six pounds of fustic, 
 ten pounds of barwood, and eight pounds of redwood. Boil 
 the wares two hours, heave in the cloth, and boil as before. 
 
 The hue and body of cinnamon may be varied, by using 
 more or less of fustic, and the other dye-woods. 
 
 Cloth, for cinnamon, is oftentimes prepared with umbro 
 madder, alum, and argol, and then finished with fustic, red- 
 wood and barwood in another liquor, and these are the best 
 and most permanent colours. 
 
 To dye 7000I cinnamon colours. 
 
 For one hundred and twenty-five pounds of wool, use fifty 
 pounds of fustic, sixty pounds of red sanders, and six pounds 
 of madder. Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in 
 the wool, boil it two hours, cool down, and strew over four 
 pounds and a half of ground cream of tartar, and four pounds 
 and a half of alum ; boil an hour, and let lie all night. 
 
 For a cinnamon of a fuller colour, and more on the red. 
 
 For one hundred and twenty pounds of wool, use twenty- 
 four pounds of fustic, and forty-two pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Boil the dye-wares and the wool as for the last, then strew 
 over fifteen pounds of alum, boil one hour, and let it lie in 
 all night ; wash the wool the next morning, and finish in a 
 
124 RECIPES. 
 
 fresh liquor, with thirty pounds of umbro madder. This is 
 a very rich colour, and is never applied but on fine goods. 
 
 For a very bright cinnamon on twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one ounce and a half of nutgalls, five 
 pounds of fustic, and four pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Proceed as before directed for boiling. For saddening, use 
 one ounce and a quarter of copperas, and two ounces of alum, 
 boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 The two following recipes are for two lots of very bright cin- 
 namon, done in succession in the same liquor. 
 
 For ninety-three pounds of wool, use forty-five pounds of 
 barwood, twenty-seven pounds of fustic, and five pounds of 
 alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, and the wool twenty minutes, 
 land it, and then add to the same liquor, for a second lot of 
 wool of eighty pounds, twenty-eight pounds of barwood, and 
 seven pounds of fustic. Boil the wares and wool as before, 
 cool down, and strew over it six pounds of alum, boil half an 
 hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 Cinnamon on cotton is dyed by first colouring it yellow, 
 and then red, as given in the recipes for those colours. If 
 the colour should not prove bright enough, work it in soap- 
 suds, wring out, dry, and it is finished. 
 
 To dye a cinnamon on ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take half a pound of nutgalls, two pounds and a half of 
 alum, half a pound of argol, and four pounds of madder. 
 
 Put into a kettle eight buckets of water and the nutgalls, 
 let it boil fifteen minutes, run it through a sieve into a vat, 
 steep the silk in this decoction, and work it well therein for 
 about two hours, after which, take it out, rinse, dry it, and 
 then alum it. Put into a kettle ten buckets of water, add the 
 madder, and work the silk well in this liquor until it begins 
 to boil, then take it out, rinse, and dry it. Lastly : dye it 
 in a strong yellow liquor, and it will be a good bright cinna- 
 mon. The yellow may be used with the madder, which will 
 save time and fuel. 
 
RECIPES. 125 
 
 To dye a beautiful cinnamon on both cotton and silk, by a new 
 
 process. 
 
 Give the goods as much colour, from a solution of blue 
 vitriol, as it will take up, then run it through lime-water. This 
 will make a beautiful sky-blue, of much durability. It has 
 now to be run through a solution of prussiate of potash, when 
 it will be a beautiful brown. 
 
 To dye fawn colours on woollens. 
 
 For sixty pounds of cloth, use four pounds of alum, two 
 pounds of cream of tartar, four ounces of logwood, one pound 
 of peachwood, and one pound of fustic. 
 
 Boil the ingredients two hours, and the cloth two, heave 
 out, and sadden to pattern with copperas. 
 
 For a fawn on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five ounces of argol, nine ounces of 
 redwood, three ounces of fustic, seven-eighths of an ounce 
 of Brazil wood, and seven-eighths of an ounce of logwood. 
 
 Boil the ingredients two hours, and the wool two, cool 
 down the liquor, and sadden with three ounces of alum, and 
 six ounces of copperas ; boil half an hour, and if dark enough, 
 land, if not, let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a fawn on sixty pounds of wool, not quite so red as the 
 
 last. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound of weld, one-quarter of 
 a pound of ground fustic, seven pounds of umbro madder, 
 two pounds of best argol, half a pound of tin liquor, and one- 
 quarter of a pound of alum. 
 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, and the wool one hour ; cool 
 down and strew over two ounces of copperas, and one ounce 
 of pearl ash ; boil half an hour, fill up with cold water, and 
 let lie all night. 
 
 For a fawn on sixteen pounds of wool, still less on the red hue. 
 
 For the boiling, use half a pound of weld, half an ounce 
 of fustic, half an ounce of logwood, seven ounces of best 
 madder, and two ounces of argol. 
 
 11* 
 
120 RECIPES. 
 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and let it be two hours in coming to a boil ; then boil two hours, 
 and cool down ; strew over one ounce of alum, boil one- 
 quarter of an hour, cool down again and strew on one ounce 
 and a quarter of copperas, and half an ounce of pearlash ; 
 boil half an hour, cool down, run off the liquor and wash. 
 
 To dye silk a fawn colour. 
 
 Prepare the same as for drab, stick up three on each stick, 
 strike a lather with hot suds, put into it a little annatto, which 
 will make a buff, wash out in two warm waters, and stick up ; 
 take a warm liquor, put into it two pails of spent orchille 
 liquor, half a ladle of fustic liquor, and a ladle of argol 
 liquor ; stir well, take a piece of the buff silk, dip in, and if 
 not dark enough, add a little more of each material : the argol 
 raises the orchille — some use oil of vitriol. A ladle holds 
 from four to five quarts. 
 
 To dye browns on woollens, such colours as have no Hue in their 
 composition, being compounded of red and yellow. 
 
 For a brown on one piece of cloth, weighing forty-eight 
 pounds, use seven pounds of alum, nine pounds of logwood, 
 and two pounds of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up with cold water so as to 
 have in quite cool, boil the goods two hours, heave them out 
 and cool by throwing ; then roll the cloth up and let lay 
 until the next day. Prepare a fresh liquor with seven pounds 
 of alum, twelve pounds of barwood, and one pound of pearlash. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the cloth, bring 
 the liquor to a spring heat, but not to boil out ; run at that 
 heat for one hour, and it is finished. 
 
 It is usual in English dye-houses to boil a number of cloths 
 in the preparation liquor, and finish them afterward in the 
 fresh liquor, successively. 
 
 For a very dark rich brown on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use six pounds and three-quarters of fustic, 
 six pounds and three-quarters of red sanders, and one pound 
 and three-quarters of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool and 
 
RECIPES. 127 
 
 boil it two hours, cool down and sadden with one-quarter of 
 a pound of copperas, and five ounces of alum ; boil half an 
 hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a darker and richer brown on one hundred and twenty 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of powdered 
 nutgalls, thirty pounds of redwood, and twelve pounds of red 
 sanders. 
 
 Boil the wares and wool as before, sadden with one pound 
 and a half of copperas, boil one hour, and let lie in all 
 night. 
 
 For a lighter brown than either of the above, for sixty. eight 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds and one-third of nutgalls, 
 eighteen pounds of red sanders, and four pounds and a half 
 of peachwood. 
 
 Boil the ingredients two hours, the wool two, run up, and 
 add three-eighths of a pound of copperas ; boil one-quarter of 
 an hour, cool down again, and strew over three pounds of 
 alum ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very dark brown for one hundred and forty pounds of 
 
 wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use seventy pounds of chipped fustic, 
 seventeen pounds and a half of barwood, and four pounds of 
 logwood. 
 
 Boil the dye-wares two hours, the wool two, cool down 
 and sadden with three pounds of copperas, and one pound 
 and a half of alum ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very dark rich brown, for sixteen pounds of wool — this 
 is a claret brown. 
 
 For the boiling, use fourteen pounds of barwood. Boil 
 the dye-wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool and boil 
 it two hours, cool down and sadden with twelve ounces of 
 copperas, boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
128 RECIPES. 
 
 For a rich copper brown for one hundred and eighty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use sixty pounds of fustic, and eighty 
 pounds of barwood. 
 
 Boil the dye-wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it three hours ; cool down and sadden with seven 
 pounds of copperas, and three pounds of alum, boil one hour, 
 and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very dark rich brown for sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use ten pounds of chipped fustic, six pounds 
 of barwood, seven pounds of peachwood, and half a pound 
 of logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares as usual, run up, boil the wool three hours, 
 cool down and sadden with ten ounces of copperas ; boil one 
 hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very rich brown, lighter than the preceding, for sixteen 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use six pounds of chipped fustic, three 
 pounds of barwood, two pounds of redwood, and two pounds 
 of logwood. 
 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, enter the wool and 
 boil it three hours ; cool down and sadden with four ounces 
 of alum, two ounces of argol, and two ounces of copperas; 
 boil three hours, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a rich brown, yellower than the last, for three hundred 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one hundred and eighty pounds of 
 chipped fustic, ninety pounds of weld, ten pounds of com- 
 mon madder, five pounds of redwood, and two pounds of 
 logwood. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, run up, enter the wool, and boil it 
 three hours ; cool down and sadden with nine pounds of alum, 
 ten pounds of redwood, ten pounds of barwood, and three 
 pounds of copperas ; boil one hour and a half, and let lie in 
 all night. 
 
RECIPES. 120 
 
 For a rich brown, between the two last, for three hundred and 
 fifty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three hundred and fifty pounds of 
 chipped fustic, eighty-four pounds of common madder, and 
 three pounds of argol. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil it two hours ; cool down and sadden with three pounds 
 of alum, three pounds of copperas, and fifteen pounds of 
 barwood ; boil two hours, and let lie in all night. 
 
 The three last recipes afford remarkably rich browns. 
 
 For a rich claret brown, approaching to a plum colour, for 
 sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 Use for the boiling, eighteen pounds of barwood, and two 
 pounds of logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares as usual, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil it two hours ; cool down and sadden with ten ounces of 
 argol, and ten ounces of copperas ; boil two hours, and let 
 lie in all night. 
 
 For a light rich red brown for one hundred and twenty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use forty pounds of fustic, seven pounds 
 of red sanders, and six pounds of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares as usual, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil it two hours ; cool down and sadden with one pound of 
 copperas, two pounds of alum, and twelve ounces of logwood; 
 boil one or two hours, and let lie in all night. 
 
 mmmm 
 
 For a lighter brown than the above, on one hundred and twenty 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use thirty-five pounds of fustic, three 
 pounds of red sanders, and eight pounds of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares three hours, proceed as usual, and sadden 
 with twelve ounces of copperas, and three pounds of alum ; 
 boil forty-five minutes, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a deep rich brown for one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 
 wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use forty pounds of fustic, eight pounds of 
 madder and fourteen pounds of red sanders. 
 
180 RECIPES. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil three hours ; sadden with two pounds and four ounces 
 of copperas, and one pound and eight ounces of alum ; boil 
 one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a bright yellow brown for one hundred and twenty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twenty-six pounds of fustic, four pounds 
 of red sanders, and ten pounds of madder. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with seventeen ounces of cop- 
 peras, and two pounds of alum ; boil one hour, and let lie all 
 night. # 
 
 For a strong red brown on one hundred and twenty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use thirty pounds of fustic, and twenty 
 pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with twenty ounces of copperas ; 
 boil one hour, and let lie all night. 
 
 For a light red brown on one hundred and twenty-two pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eight ounces of nutgalls, twenty-eight 
 pounds of fustic, and twenty pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with seven ounces of copperas, 
 and twelve ounces of alum ; boil one hour, and let lie in all 
 night. ^_ 
 
 For a light brilliant brown for one hundred and sixty-eight 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use seventy pounds of fustic, ten pounds 
 of red sanders, and six pounds of fine madder. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with four ounces of copperas, 
 and three pounds and three-quarters of alum ; boil One hour, 
 and let lie all night. 
 
 For a light yellow brown for one hundred and sixty -eight 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use seventy pounds of fustic, and two 
 pounds and eight ounces of logwood. 
 
RECIPES. 131 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with one pound of copperas, and 
 three pounds of alum ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 The light browns are mostly used for pantaloons and 
 mixtures. [ 
 
 The two following recipes are for red browns for mixtures. 
 The first one is for a dead red brown, and the second for a 
 bright red brown inclining to yellow. 
 
 The first is for eighty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eight ounces of nutgalls, eight pounds 
 of madder, and sixteen pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with four ounces of copperas ; 
 boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 The second is for two hundred and thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use thirty-six pounds of alum, and one 
 hundred and sixty pounds of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wool two hours, land and wash. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, and give it twenty-eight pounds of 
 fine madder ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very deep and rich claret, for two hundred and sixty 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two hundred and eighty pounds of bar- 
 wood, eight pounds of Brazil wood, and six pounds of logwood. 
 
 Boil as usual, and sadden with six pounds of copperas ; 
 boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 Recipes for olive browns. 
 
 Olive browns are a combination of the three primitive 
 colours, red, blue, and yellow. There are two kinds of olive, 
 the brown olive, and the green olive. The brown olive has 
 more red than the green olive in its composition, and not so 
 much blue. The blue of the green olive may be made either 
 with indigo or logwood. 
 
 For an olive brown, for two hundred and fifty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two hundred pounds of chipped fustic, 
 seventy pounds of weld, eight pounds of redwood, ten pounds 
 of mull madder, and two pounds of logwood. The wares to 
 boil as usual, heave in the wool, and boil three hours ; cool 
 
132 RECIPES. 
 
 down, and sadden with six pounds of alum, and three pounds 
 of copperas ; boil one hour and a half, and let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a very dark olive, on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eleven pounds of chipped fustic, one 
 pound and a half of logwood, ten ounces of common madder, 
 and nine ounces of best madder. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, run up, throw in the wool, and 
 boil it three hours ; cool down, and sadden with ten ounces 
 of copperas, and nine ounces of alum ; boil one hour, and let 
 lie in all night. 
 
 For a deep olive, on two hundred and twenty pounds of wool, 
 considerably on the green hue. 
 
 For the boiling, use one hundred and thirty pounds of fustic, 
 sixteen pounds of logwood, and six pounds of bar wood. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, boil the wool two hours, and sadden 
 with six pounds of copperas, and two pounds of alum ; boil one 
 hour, and let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a light olive, on thirty-two pounds of wool, more on the 
 yellow than that of the last recipe. 
 
 For the boiling, use twenty-one pounds of fustic, one pound 
 and nine ounces of logwood, one pound and nine ounces of 
 redwood, two pounds and six ounces of madder, and six ounces 
 of argol. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, boil the wool two hours, and sadden 
 with nine ounces of copperas, and three ounces of alum ; boil 
 one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very deep rich olive brown, for three hundred and sixty 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two hundred and sixteen pounds of 
 fustic, eighteen pounds of madder, eighteen pounds of red- 
 wood, eighteen pounds of logwood, and four pounds of argol. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, boil the wool two hours, and sadden 
 with nineteen pounds of copperas, and five pounds of alum. 
 
 There are a number of colours, having a yellow hue, that 
 have no yellow dye in them. They are mostly made on cloth, 
 
RECIPES. 133 
 
 and are very rich and beautiful, being partly made with 
 cochineal, rendered more or less yellow by the action of the 
 tartar and the tin liquor. I shall give recipes for these in 
 this place, because they come nearer to colours made of red 
 and yellow, than to any other class of colours. 
 
 For a rich wine colour, for forty -eight pounds of fine cloth. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of alum, three pounds of 
 cream of tartar, four pounds of Brazil wood, one pound of 
 cochineal, and two quarts of tin liquor. 
 
 The wares to boil one hour, the liquor cooled down quite 
 low, the cloth to be entered rapidly, and kept in quick motion 
 all the time of working — to be boiled two hours. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, with six pounds of Brazil wood, 
 one pound and a half of pearl ash, and one pint and a half 
 of tin liquor. 
 
 The wares to boil one hour, cool down, and run the cloth 
 until of the colour wanted. 
 
 By varying the proportion of the Brazil wood, and by in- 
 creasing or lessening the pearlash, a great variety of these 
 colours may be produced. 
 
 For a rich wine colour, on one hundred and twenty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twenty pounds of alum, twenty pounds 
 of cream of tartar, and two pounds and a quarter of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the alum and tartar half an hour, then the cochineal 
 fifteen minutes, run up, throw in the wool, and boil two hours ; 
 cool down, land the wool, and bring on a fresh liquor. Put 
 into the fresh liquor half a bushel of bran, and when the bran 
 rises, scum it off clean with a fine sieve ; then put in forty 
 pounds of the best madder, boil two or three minutes, run up, 
 throw in the wool, and boil it a quarter of an hour ; let it 
 be one hour coming up to a boil, land, and wash. 
 
 Another recipe for a rich wine colour, on the same quantity. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound of cochineal, seven pounds 
 and a half of Brazil wood, and twenty-five pounds of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, enter the wool and boil 
 it three hours ; then sprinkle over six gallons of urine, work 
 
 12 
 
134 RECIPES. 
 
 the wool well, and let it lie all night. Wash the wool, and 
 finish in a fresh liquor, with seventy pounds of best madder. 
 
 To dye chocolate on cotton. 
 
 The cotton to be boiled in a liquor of nutgalls, and alumed 
 the same as for red. Then use six ounces of alum and two 
 ounces of copperas to each pound of cotton, wring out and 
 dry as for red : prepare it a second time in alum and cop- 
 peras, wring out and dry again — wash well and wring out ; 
 then madder it, with half a pound of madder to each pound 
 of cotton, the same as for red, wash well, and it is finished. 
 
 If not red enough, give it a small quantity of brazilletto 
 chips ; if not enough on the claret, give it a very little logwood. 
 
 Common mode of dying chocolate on cotton. 
 
 Prepare the cotton with sumach, instead of galls, sadden 
 with two ounces of copperas to one pound of cotton, wash 
 well, and return it into the same sumach liquor ; wash well, 
 wring out, and return it again into the copperas liquor — wash 
 well, dry, and alum it with six ounces of alum to each pound 
 of cotton ; then proceed as directed for the last chocolate. 
 
 Third recipe for chocolate on cotton. 
 
 Give to the cotton the usual preparation ; for each pound 
 boil four ounces of sumach, turn in the cotton, squeeze out, 
 turn in again, putting it in as open and as even as you can, 
 and let it lie all night. In the morning wring out gently, 
 and dissolve for each pound of cotton one ounce of copperas, 
 turn in with the water sufficiently warm, and work for half 
 an hour ; wring out, wash well, and add some urine to the 
 sumach liquor, turn in the cotton, and work quick for fifteen 
 or twenty minutes, squeeze out, dissolve one ounce of cop- 
 peras to each pound of cotton, and add it to the former liquor; 
 turn in and handle well for twenty minutes, wring out and 
 wash well. If a brown chocolate is wanted, and the sumach 
 liquor should not be turned, put some urine to the water, and 
 white that is doing, boil, for each pound of cotton, half a 
 pound of brazilletto chips, (if not for a very red colour, four 
 ounces will do,) pour in a little urine, or lime-water, while 
 the liquor is boiling — when boiled, take off the clear liquor, 
 
RECIPES. 135 
 
 and turn it in at the usual heat ; when it has been well worked 
 in this liquor, dissolve, for each pound of cotton, one ounce 
 of alum in warm water, stir well, and turn in the cotton ; let 
 lie one hour, wring out, and turn it into the brazilletto liquor 
 as before, wring out, dry, and it is finished. 
 
 If wanted of a blue cast, or more like purple or claret, the 
 urine must be omitted; and, after it has been alumed the 
 second time, add logwood liquor to the brazilletto, by which 
 different shades of colour may be produced. 
 
 To dye brown on cotton. 
 
 Give a ground of sumach, handle well, and let it lie in the 
 liquor all night. In the morning add, for each pound of cotton, 
 two ounces of copperas : when well worked, wring out, and 
 wash well; turn into the sumach liquor again for fifteen 
 minutes, then copperas a second time without washing. 
 Make a lime-water, with a handful of lime for each pound 
 of cotton; put the lime into a bucket of 'water, stir well, let 
 stand until clear, pour off the clear liquor, add more water 
 to the lime, and repeat until liquor enough is obtained to 
 work the cotton ; turn in and work very quick. While this 
 is doing, take scalding water, and put into it, for every pound 
 of cotton, one pound of ground black -oak bark ; put the bark 
 into a tub, pour the boiling water on it, and strew into it, 
 for each pound of cotton, half an ounce of lime ; turn in 
 the cotton, at the usual heat, for fifteen or twenty minutes, 
 wring out, dry it, and it will be a fine brown. 
 
 The darker the colour is before turning into the lime- 
 water, the finer and richer it will be when finished. 
 
 To dye morone on silk. 
 
 Wash the silk from boiling in soap, alum as usual for three 
 hours, wash in two tubs of cold water, and stick up ; take 
 four or five pailfuls of Brazil liquor, pour on it water as hot 
 as the hand can bear, turn in the silk, and handle until of 
 the colour wanted, wring out and dry in a stove. 
 
 For a real brown, on ten pounds of silk. 
 Take six ounces of annatto, one pound of potash, three 
 pounds of alum, five ounces of fine galls, one-quarter of an 
 
136 RECIPES. 
 
 ounce of cream of tartar, two ounces of turmeric, and ten 
 ounces of cochineal. 
 
 Boil a kettle with ten buckets of water, powder six ounces 
 of annatto, and put it, together with a pound of potash, into 
 the kettle ; boil for a quarter of an hour, pour the liquor 
 through a sieve into a tub, immerse the silk, and work it well 
 in the liquor for two hours, then take it out, wring, and dry 
 it. After this, pour eight buckets of fresh water into a kettle, 
 dissolve three pounds of alum therein — then put the solution 
 into a tub, steep the dried yellow silk, and work it well therein 
 for three hours, then take it out, wring, and lay it by wet 
 for further use. 
 
 Boil a kettle with eight buckets of water, put into it ten 
 ounces of cochineal, and let it boil for about ten minutes ; 
 then cool the liquor with a bucket of water, and put into it 
 a quarter of a pound of cream of tartar, and two ounces of 
 turmeric, and stir the whole well ; then steep the silk, previ- 
 ously alumed, in the liquor, work it well therein for two hours, 
 during which time it must be kept at a continual boil. Then 
 take it out, rinse in running water, wring, and lay it by in 
 its wet state for further use. 
 
 This being done, dye it in a blue vat, light or dark, as you 
 may require, or according to the pattern. 
 
 The colour may be filled up with sulphate of indigo, or 
 with logwood, which will render it equally handsome, but 
 not of so lasting a colour. 
 
 To dye colours compounded of red and blue. 
 
 In this class of colours are comprised, imperial blues, pur- 
 pies, lilacs, crimsons, pinks, mulberries, clarets, corbeaus, 
 lavenders, &c. 
 
 To colour imperial blues, nothing more is necessary than 
 to boil more or less of orchille and alum, and run light blues 
 through the liquor at a boiling heat, till of the colour wanted. 
 When the imperial is required to be red, boil the goods, be- 
 fore dying blue, with one-sixth its weight of cudbear. 
 
 To colour ninety pounds of fine cloili a rich purple. 
 Prepare the liquor ,by putting into it a quarter of a peck 
 of bran, and when it rises to the surface, as it begins to boil, 
 scum the bran off clean with a fine sieve. 
 
 
RECIPES. 137 
 
 For the boiling, use four pounds of cream of tartar, six 
 pounds of alum, two quarts of tin liquor, and one pound and 
 a half of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the alum, tartar and tin, for one hour, then the cochi- 
 neal for ten minutes, run up, heave in the goods, and boil 
 two hours. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, with four pounds of alum, six pounds 
 of Brazil wood, two quarts of tin liquor, eighteen pounds of 
 logwood, and three pounds and a quarter of chymic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in cool, and work 
 rapidly. Boil until finished. 
 
 The most permanent purples are made by bluing in the 
 vat, and then filling up with a cochineal liquor. The only 
 objection to these colours is the price, as they are usually 
 charged as high as scarlet. 
 
 For a purple on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 Blue, in the woad vat, according to the body of purple 
 required. 
 
 For the filling up, use twenty-one pounds of alum. The 
 wool to boil in this liquor for two hours, then land, and add 
 twenty-four pounds of cream of tartar, and four pounds of 
 cochineal ; boil the tartar one hour, then add the cochineal, 
 and boil a quarter of an hour ; cool down, heave in the wool 
 rapidly, and boil to the colour wanted. 
 
 The wool should be well washed from the blue vat, before 
 dying. 
 
 For a purple on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 Make it first a light blue, in the woad vat, wash very clean, 
 and boil it with two pounds and a quarter of alum ; land the 
 wool, add to the liquor one pound and three-quarters of cream 
 of tartar, and half a pound of cochineal. Boil the wool until 
 of the colour wanted. Any shades may be obtained, by 
 making the blues lighter or darker, and varying the propor- 
 tions of the cochineal. 
 
 When darker purples are required, they may be finished 
 in a fresh liquor, with Brazil wood and logwood. 
 
 To dye purple on cotton. 
 Cotton, for purple, must be well cleansed, and should be 
 bleached. Take, for each pound, one quart of iron liquor, 
 
 12* 
 
X38 RECIPES. 
 
 and four quarts of water ; put this into a brass or copper 
 kettle, add for each pound of cotton half an ounce of saltpetre, 
 half an ounce of sal-ammoniac, and half an ounce of cream 
 of tartar, all pounded together until fine, and kept over the 
 fire until scalding hot ; take it off the fire, and when cooled 
 sufficiently to bear the hand in it, turn in the cotton, squeeze 
 out, turn in again, and let lie all night ; wring out in the 
 morning, dry and wash. It must now be galled, the same 
 as for red, allowing half a pound of galls for each pound of 
 cotton ; wring out, dry, and it is finished. 
 
 This colour may be raised with iogwood liquor, but it will 
 not stand. 
 
 To colour a common purple on cotton. 
 
 Boil and well wash £he cotton ; for each pound, boil half 
 a pound of logwood, take the clear liquor, and when you can 
 bear the hand in it, add urine, turn in the cotton for an hour, 
 then raise it out, and put it on a pin to drain. Make a fresh 
 liquor, by dissolving for each pound of cotton three-quarters 
 of an ounce of alum, in as much water as will be sufficient 
 to work the cotton, add a dish of logwood liquor, squeeze 
 the cotton, turn in, and handle as quick as possible for two or 
 three times ; it must be worked till it becomes of a beautiful 
 lilac. When the colour is as bright as you wish, wring out 
 gently, wash it a little, wring it even, turn it into the log- 
 wood liquor again, and work it quick once or twice. If the 
 liquor does not work well, add, for each pound of cotton, half 
 an ounce of alum ; when dissolved, stir well, turn in for fifteen 
 or twenty minutes, wring out evenly, and dry in the shade'. 
 
 
 
 To colour purple on silk. 
 
 For ten pounds of silk, use two ounces and a half of 
 cochineal, ten ounces of aquafortis,, one ounce and -a half of 
 tin, and one-quarter of a pound of alum. 
 
 The silk must be first coloured in a blue vat,' to a half 
 blue. This being done, take a kettle containing^ten buckets 
 of water, put into it two ounces and a half of cochineal, and' 
 boil it well for ten minutes. 
 
 Dissolve the tin in the aquafortis, pour the solution, together 
 with the alum, into the cochineal liquor — stir the liquor well, 
 and immerse the silk in it, and work it well for forty-five 
 
RECIPES. 139 
 
 minutes, keeping gently boiling the whole time ; then take it 
 out, rinse, wring it, fix it on the wringing post, wring and 
 beat it well. 
 
 The silk should be washed clean, before dying it in the 
 cochineal liquor. 
 
 Those who prefer leaving out the tin liquor, may use a 
 quarter of a pound of cream of tartar, and double the quan- 
 tity of alum. 
 
 Another purple on ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take, one pound and a quarter of alum, two ounces and a 
 half of cochineal, half a pound of tin liquor, three-quarters 
 of an ounce of indigo, and three ounces of oil of vitriol. 
 
 The indigo must be dissolved in the vitriol the day before 
 it is used. 
 
 The silk, after being boiled in soap and water, must be 
 rinsed in running water, and then wrung and well beaten. 
 This being done, it must be coloured to a handsome light 
 blue, in a cold or warm vat ; then rinse it- in running water, 
 wring and dry. 
 
 As soon as the silk has become dry, it jnust be moistened 
 in warm water, wrung, and laid by wet for further use. 
 
 Dissolve in a kettle with eight buckets of water, one pound 
 and a quarter of alum, pour the solution into a tub, steep the 
 silk in it, and work it well therein for the space of an hour ; 
 take it out, wring, and lay it aside wet for further use. Lastly, 
 boil a kettle with eight buckets of water, and put into it two 
 ounces and a half of cochineal ; let it boil for about ten 
 minutes, cool the liquor with a bucket of water, add the solu- 
 tion of tin and the chymic, and stir the whole well. Immerse 
 the blue silk in the cochineal liquor, work it well therein until 
 the liquor begins to boil — let it boil another hour, during 
 which time, however, the silk must be continually worked ; 
 it must then be taken out, rinsed, wrung, and dried. 
 
 If the purple is required to be more on the red, increase 
 the quantity of the cochineal — if more on the blue, take less. 
 
 To dye a handsome violet blue, on ten pounds of silk. 
 Take one ounce of indigo, twelve ounces of vitriol, one- 
 quarter of a pound of alum, four pounds of logwood, and one 
 pound of redwood. 
 
140 RECIPES. 
 
 Dissolve the indigo in the oil of vitriol, as usual. Dissolve 
 in a kettle, with eight buckets of water, one pound and a 
 quarter of alum ; then pour the solution into a tub, and work 
 the silk well therein for one hour, take it out, wring, and keep 
 it wet for further use. 
 
 Fill a vat with eight buckets of water, put the solution of 
 indigo in it, stir well, work the plumed silk therein for half 
 an hour, then take it out and rinse it in running water. 
 
 Lastly ; take a kettle with eight buckets of water, put into 
 it four pounds of logwood, and one pound of redwood, also a 
 quarter of a pound of alum ; boiHihe whole well for forty-five 
 minutes, then run the decoction through a sieve into a tub, 
 steep the blue-coloured silk in it, and work well for one hour ; 
 after which, take it out, rinse in running water, wring and 
 dry it. • 
 
 To colour lilac on wool* 
 
 For sixteen pounds of wool, use one pound and three- 
 quarters of alum, and one pound and a quarter of cream of 
 tartar. 
 
 The ingredients to boil one hour, the liquor run up, and 
 the wool to boil two hours ; land it, and boi%three ounces 
 of cochineal for a q uarter of an hour, cool down, heave in the 
 wool rapidly, and boil-to the colour wanted. 
 
 Any shade may be obtained by slightly bluing it in the 
 woad vat, previous to dying it in the furnace, and by varying 
 the quantity of cochineal. 
 
 To colour lilac on silk. 
 
 Boil it after pink, then take a thin liquor of lather, put into 
 this some red orchille liquor, and work the silk well in it ; 
 then wet out in a lather, made with soap-lees and lime-water, 
 in which it may be blued to the colour wanted. 
 
 To dye crimson. 
 
 For a crimson on forty-eight pounds of fine cloth. For the 
 boiling, use three pounds of alum, two pounds of cream of 
 tartar, half a pound of cochineal, and three pints of tin liquor. 
 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, cool down, heave in the cloth 
 and boil two hours. Prepare a fresh liquor, and put in two 
 
RECIPES. 141 
 
 pounds of alum, three pounds of pearlash, four pounds of 
 Brazil wood, and one quart of urine. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, then add the urine ; cool down, 
 heave in rapidly, and boil to the colour wanted. It is often 
 finished without boiling, by keeping the liquor at a spring heat* 
 
 For a crim&Jfy on sixty pounds of wool* 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound of cochineal, three pounds 
 of best crop -madder, six pounds of argol, three pounds of 
 alum, and two quarts of l&nkquOr. 
 
 Boil the alum, argol, and tin liquor, for half an hour, then 
 add the madder and cochineal, boil ten minutes, run up, throw 
 in the wool, and boil it two hours-; run off the liquor, and 
 wash clean. m. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, with six pounds of cudbear, and 
 two buckets of urine. 
 
 Boil the cudbear half an hour, and then f>ut in the sig ; 
 as soon as this is done, run up the furnace, heave in cool, 
 let it be two hours coming up to a* spring heat, and it is 
 finished. ^ 
 
 S — 
 
 For a crimson on iilk. 
 
 The silk, intended to be dyed crimson with cochineal 5 
 should be boiled in the proportion of twenty pounds of soap 
 to one hundred pounds of silk. 
 
 After washing and beetling the silks at a stream, in order 
 to clear them from the soap, they are alumed in a strong 
 alum liquor, and left in it from night until morning. After 
 this, the silks are to be washed, and twice beetled in running 
 water. Prepare a bath in the following manner : the long 
 trough is charged with river water, about one-half or two- 
 thirds, and, when boiling, some powdered nutgalls are to be 
 put into it and suffered to boil for awhile ; then put from four 
 drachms to two ounces of galls for every pound of silk. 
 When they are washed and beetled, they are to be put upon 
 rods, by hanks. The cochineal, pounded and sifted, is then 
 to be thrown into the bath, well stirred, and must receive 
 five or six minutes boiling ; from two to three ounces for 
 each pound of silk are to be put in, according to the shade 
 required. 
 
142 RECIPES. 
 
 These ingredients are to be put into pure soft water, in a 
 clean copper vessel. When the cochineal and galls have 
 undergone a boiling* put into the bath, for every pound of 
 cochineal, one ounce of nitro-muriate of tin. The kettle is 
 left to cool a little, the silk is entered, and worked for a few 
 minutes ; after this, it must boil for two hours — the silk must 
 be worked now and then during the time of boiling. At the 
 expiration of this time, the fire musj£ ^)e withdrawn, and the 
 silks immersed in the liquor for five or six hours, or more. 
 By this means they receive a fine half-dye — they are to be 
 washed, given two beetlings, wrung as usuq^ and spread 
 upon poles to dry. _^ yi 
 
 * ^-, 
 
 A high-coloured crimson, on ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take one pound and a quarter of cochineal, one pound of 
 galls, four ounces of cream of tartar, and two pounds and a 
 half of alum. 
 
 Dissolve the alum in a kettle, with ten buckets of water ; 
 pour the clear part into a tub, put in the silk, and work well 
 therein for four hours ; take out, rinse, wring it, and lay by 
 wet for further use. 
 
 Put into a kettle, containing eight buckets of boiling water, 
 one pound and a quarter of ground cochineal, one pound of 
 powdered nutgalls, and four ounces of cream of tartar. Let 
 the whole boil gently for fifteen minutes; cool with two 
 buckets of water, work the silk well in the liquor (kept 
 boiling) for one hour and a half; then take out, rinse, wring, 
 and dry it. 
 
 For a cheaper colour, reduce the quantity of cochineal to 
 ten ounces, and use three pounds of cudbear. 
 
 A good crimson, on ten founds of silk. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, half an ounce of argol, half a 
 pound of East India galls, and one pound nine ounces of 
 cochineal. 
 
 Heat eight buckets of soft water, in a clean kettle, luke- 
 warm ; dissolve the three pounds of alum therein, take out the 
 solution and put it into a tub, immerse the silk in it, and work 
 it well for eight hours. Take it out, wring lightly, and lay 
 it by wet for further use. 
 
RECIPES. 143 
 
 Take eight buckets of clear water, bring it to boil, and 
 put into it the following articles : half an ounce of argol, and 
 half a pound of the India galls ; let these boil well for ten 
 minutes, and run the liquor through a sieve into a tub ; then 
 pour the liquor back into the kettle, and put into it the cochi- 
 neal ; let it boil for ten minutes, cool the liquor with half a 
 bucket of water, immerse the silk in this liquor, and work 
 it well for two hours, duriug which time the liquor must be 
 kept boiling. Take it out, rinse it well, wring it well, and 
 dry it. 
 
 Take a kettle with ten buckets of spring water, and heat 
 it to 130° Fahrenheit, work the silk in this for forty minutes, 
 take it out, wring, and dry it. 
 
 A good crimson, on ten pounds of silk, in anotlier way. 
 
 Take two pounds and a half of alum, two pounds of fine 
 galls, ojie pound four ounces of cochineal, one-quarter of a 
 pound of argol, and eight ounces of spirits of ammonia. 
 
 Take a kettle with eight buckets of water, put into it two 
 pounds of galls, boil for fifteen minutes, run the liquor through 
 a sieve into a tub — steep the silk in the liquor, and work it 
 well for four hours ; take it out, rinse, wring, and dry it. 
 
 Take a kettle with eight buckets of water, and dissolve in 
 it two pounds of alum, pour it into a tub, steep the silk in it, 
 and work it for four hours ; then take it out, wring, and lay 
 it by wet. 
 
 Pour six buckets of water into a kettle, add the cochineal, 
 argol, and spirits of ammonia, let all boil for ten minutes, 
 cool the liquor with two buckets of water, work the silk in 
 it for two hours, during which time keep it boiling ; then 
 take it out, suspend it on the rods over the tub, pour the 
 liquor from the kettle into it, and work the silk in the liquor 
 until it has become cool ; take out, rinse, and dry in the 
 shade. 
 
 Other colours may be obtained from the remains of these 
 liquors, by pouring the alum liquor into the colouring liquor. 
 You may produce colours in this, at a proper heat, from the 
 rich peach blossom down to a light lilac. After this a golden 
 yellow may be obtained, in the same liquor, from any silk 
 having a pale yellow ground. 
 
144 RECIPES. 
 
 To dye pinks on woollen. 
 
 To colour fifty pounds of cloth a fine pink. Boil it first in 
 four pounds of alum for one hour, heave out, and add to the 
 liquor four pounds of cream of tartar, two quarts of tin liquor, 
 and one pound of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the cloth until the colour is rich and bright. If wanted 
 to be bluer, add urine to the liquor until blue enough. 
 
 For a pinky on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five ounces of cochineal, two pounds 
 and a half of alum, and one pound and three-quarters of 
 cream of tartar. 
 
 Boil the alum and tartar for half an hour, then the cochi- 
 neal for a quarter of an hour ; cool down, heave in the wool, 
 boil two hours, and let lay all night. 
 
 Pinks may be made into rich wine colours, by boiling them 
 in a strong crop madder liquor — or into lilac, by bluing them 
 in a very weak vat, to a thin sky-blue, before dying pink. 
 If done in too strong a vat, it will make a ptople. 
 
 To dye ten pounds of cotton yarn a pink. 
 
 Use three pounds and a half of safflower, three pounds and 
 a half of cream of tartar, one pound and three-quarters of 
 pearlash, and one pound of oil of vitriol. 
 
 To dye pink on silk. 
 Take of safflower, one hundred and twelve pounds, wash 
 it well in a tub of water, having a reel placed inside of it, 
 until all the yellow comes out ; when well washed, fill up 
 with clean water, and add four pounds of pearlash, draw 
 this off, fill again with water, and let lay until the flower 
 is quite white. The two last liquors are used for dying the 
 pink ; add to it two or three pails of lime-juice, which will 
 neutralize the pearlash, and produce a beautiful rose colour. 
 Take large hanks of silk, and let them lay in the liquor until 
 all the colour is extracted ; then throw the liquor off, and 
 pump up with fresh water, add to it one pail of lime-juice, 
 and let the hanks lie in this liquor till wanted. Wring out 
 the hanks when wanted, put tjiem in water of a mijli heat, 
 
RECIPES. 145 
 
 with a small quantity of pearlash ; when the silk has spent 
 its colour, add a little lime or lemon juice, to bring to the 
 colour wanted. 
 
 If any of the silk should not be dark enough, redye until 
 like the darkest. After the pink is dark enough, wring the 
 silk out in handfuls, then make a small tub of water with 
 lime-juice, give a few turns in this, wring out, and dry. 
 
 Some dyers use cream of tartar, and oil of vitriol, in place 
 of lime-juice. , 
 
 For a pink, on ten pounds of silk. 
 
 Take fifteen pounds of safflower, fifteen quarts of strong 
 vinegar, three-eighths of an ounce of oil of vitriol, one pound 
 fourteen ounces of pearlash, and four ounces of cream of 
 tartar. 
 
 Put the safflower into a bag, wash all the yellow out of 
 it, dissolve the pearlash in water, pour the clear part of this 
 liquor on the safflower in a tub, mix it well, and set it by 
 for six hours. At the expiration of this time, run the liquor 
 through a sieve into a tub, pour half a bucket of water on 
 the hjag, and press it out, to extract the remaining colour ; 
 pour the vinegar and the oil of vitriol into the liquor ; then 
 take the ^ilk, fix it upon rods, put it into the liquor, and 
 work i;/" well therein for four hours ; take it out, rinse it in 
 running water, wring it well, and lay it aside in its wet state 
 for further use. 
 
 D'^solve the cream of tartar in river water, and pour the 
 clear part of this solution into a tub, with eight buckets of 
 soft water ; immerse the silk in this solution, work it well 
 therein for a quarter of an hour, take it out, wring, and dry it. 
 
 To dye mulberry on woollen. 
 
 For forty-eight pounds of cloth, for a rich mulberry. For 
 the boiling, use three pounds of alum, two pounds of cream 
 of tartar, three pints of tin liquor, one pound of argol, and 
 one pound of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the ingredients for half an hour, cool down, heave in 
 the cloth rapidly, and boil two hours. Finish in a fresh 
 liquor, with three pounds of alum, sixteen pounds of Brazil 
 wood, fourteen pounds of logwood, one pint of tin liquor, and 
 one pound of best crop madder. Boil the wares two hours, 
 
 13 
 
146 RECIPES. 
 
 cool down, enter the cloth rapidly, and boil to the colour 
 wanted. 
 
 For a dark mulberry, on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eight pounds of bar wood, two pounds 
 and a half of logwood, and one-quarter of a pound of cream 
 of tartar. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it three hours, cool down, and sadden with'one-quarter 
 of a pound of copperas — let lie in all night. 
 
 To colour mulberry on silk. 
 
 Boil with coloured soap, and wash out ; alum, and wash 
 out ; take three or four pails of Brazil liquor, put it into a 
 tub, and throw on it nine or ten pails of boiling water, pump 
 up, stir well, and put in half a ladle of logwood liquor ; turn 
 the silk in this seven or eight times, then take it out and lay 
 it by the furnace # — add more logwood and Brazil wood, till 
 of the desired colour. When nearly dark enough, throw a 
 pail of urine into a tub of clean water, milk-warm, turn in, 
 and make rather bluer than the pattern. If the urine xloes 
 not make it blue enough, take a clean liquor, and blue with 
 pearl ash. 
 
 Plum colours are dyed the same as mulberry, .only with 
 less Brazil wood. . * 
 
 To dye claret on woollen. 
 
 For a claret on forty-eight pounds of cloth. For the boil- 
 ing, use five pounds of alum, one pound of argol, five pounds 
 of Brazil wood, five pounds of logwood, and one pound of 
 madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the cloth, and 
 boil one hour and a half; then finish in a fresh liquor, with 
 six pounds of Brazil wood, and one pound and a half of 
 pearlash. 
 
 Boil the wares half an hour, run up, heave in cool, and 
 bring on gradually ; boil till of the colour wanted. 
 
 For a dark claret on sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use nineteen pounds of barwood, and half 
 a pound of cream of tartar. 
 
RECIPES. 147 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil gently for three hours — cool down, and sadden with four 
 pounds and a half of copperas ; let lie in all night. 
 
 For a lighter claret, on one hundred and seventy pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one hundred and sixty-eight pounds of 
 barwood, and ten pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 Boil the wares two . hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil three hours ; cool down, and sadden with two pounds 
 of copperas ; let lie in all night. 
 
 To colour morone on silk. 
 
 Wash from boiling in soap ; alum for three hours, wash 
 twice in cold water, stick up, take four or five pails of Brazil 
 liquor, pour on water as hot as the hand can bear, put in the 
 silk, and' handle ; when of the colour wanted, wring out, and 
 dry in a stove. » 
 
 To dye corbeaus on woollens. 
 
 For a very dark corbeau, on thirty-two pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use twenty-two pounds of barwood, and six 
 pounds of logwood. 
 
 The wares to boil three hours, the furnace run up, the 
 wool entered, and boiled two hours ; sadden with one pound 
 of copperas, and twelve ounces of fustic — boil one hour and 
 a half, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a lighter corbeau, on thirty -two pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use sixteen pounds of redwood, and four 
 pounds of logwood. 
 
 The wares to boil three hours, run up, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it three hours ; cool down, and sadden with six 
 ounces of copperas — boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a brilliant corbeau, on one hundred and thirty-five pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twelve ounces of cochineal, two pounds 
 of Brazil wood, eight ounces of aquafortis simplex, ten pounds 
 of argol, and ten pounds of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares, all but the cochineal, for two hours, then 
 
148 *. RECIPES. 
 
 add the cochineal, and boil five minutes ; heave in the wool, 
 boil two hours, cool down, land, and wash. 
 
 Prepare a fresh liquor, in which boil twenty-four pounds 
 of logwood, and one pound of alum, for two hours — heave 
 in the wool and boil two hours ; sadden with two pounds of 
 copperas, and two pounds of aquafortis ; boil one hour, and 
 let lie in all night. 
 
 Lavender on woollen, for one hundred and thirty pounds of 
 
 wool. 
 
 First day, woaded to a very light thin blue, then washed 
 and finished in the furnace, with six pounds of alum, and five 
 pounds of Brazil wood. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, the wool two hours, cool down, and 
 let lie in all night. 
 
 A dark lavender, on two hundred and seventy pounds of wool. 
 
 First, dye it a half blue in the vat, wash well and dye in 
 the furnace with ten pounds of alum, and eighteen pounds of 
 Brazil wood. Proceed as with the last. 
 
 There are many colours of a more complex kind than any 
 I have given recipes for, being compounded of yellow, red, 
 blue, and some mostly yellow ; such are tea-browns, London- 
 smoke, and Paris-mud, &c. I shall give recipes for those 
 in this place, as the browns will then be complete. 
 
 For a tea-brown, on fifteen pounds of cloth. 
 
 For the boiling, use four pounds of alum, two pounds of 
 argol, six pounds of madder, and four pounds of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, run up, heave in the cloth, and 
 boil one hour and a half; cool down, take out the cloth, and 
 add to the liquor four pounds of logwood and half a pound 
 of copperas ; boil the wares half an hour, run up, heave in 
 the cloth, and boil to the colour wanted. 
 
 For a tea-brown, on sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eighteen pounds of fustic, six pounds 
 of barwood, five pounds and a half of logwood, four pounds 
 of common madder, and half a pound of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours ; cool down, and sadden with three- 
 
RECIPES. 149 
 
 quarters of a pound of copperas ; boil one hour, and let lie 
 in all night. 
 
 For a tea-brown, on two hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one hundred and thirty pounds of 
 fustic, sixteen pounds of logwood, and six pounds of barwood. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours ; cool down, and sadden with six pounds 
 of copperas, and two pounds of alum. 
 
 A tea-brown, of a lighter shade, on eighty. seven pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use fifty-seven pounds of fustic, four pounds 
 and a quarter of logwood, four pounds and a quarter of red- 
 wood, seven pounds of madder, and one pound of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours ; cool down, sadden with two pounds 
 and a quarter of copperas, and one pound of alum ; boil one 
 hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 ^L dark tea-brown, on ninety pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use fifty-four pounds of fustic, four pounds 
 and a half of madder, four pounds and a half of redwood, 
 four pounds and a half of logwood, and one pound of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours ; cool down, sadden with four pounds 
 and three-quarters of copperas, and one pound and a quarter 
 of alum ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a London-smoke, on fifty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds of rasped fustic, one pound 
 and a half of redwood, one pound and a half of logwood, one 
 pound and a quarter of umbro madder, half a pound of cam- 
 wood, and five pounds of barwood. 
 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, heave in the wool, 
 and boil one hour and a half; cool down, and sadden with 
 half a pound of copperas, and two pounds and a quarter of 
 argol ; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a Paris-mud, on sixty-five pounds of wool. 
 Boil the wool, with twelve pounds and a half of alum, for 
 three hours, land, and well wash ; finish in a fresh liquor, 
 
 13* 
 
150 RECIPES. 
 
 with twenty pounds of chipped fustic, and twelve ounces of 
 logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil three hours, then throw on twenty pounds of rasped log- 
 wood, and boil three hours ; cool down, throw on four pounds 
 of rasped logwood, boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a dun colour, on sixty-seven founds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound of sumach, one pound of 
 argol, two pounds and a half of logwood, two pounds of red- 
 wood, and add two ounces of chymic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil two hours ; cool down, sadden with half a pound of cop- 
 peras, boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 More copperas will make it darker, so that a great variety 
 of shades may be obtained, by adding or diminishing the 
 copperas and logwood. 
 
 This colour has lately been very fashionable for pantaloons. 
 
 To dye drab on woollens. 
 
 In drabs, there are a great variety of colours, and an im- 
 mense number of shades ; some have a blue hue, some a red, 
 some a yellow, and there are a number that do not appear 
 to partake of either of these hues. I shall begin with drabs 
 that have a blue hue, and proceed with others in the order 
 mentioned. 
 
 For a very light blue drab, on forty -five pounds of cloth. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds of alum, one pound and 
 a half of argol, and two pounds of chipped logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, cool down, heave in the cloth, and 
 boil two hours ; cool down, take out the cloth, bring the 
 furnace to a boil, and while boiling drop in two ounces of 
 chymic ; boil ten minutes, cool down, heave in the cloth very 
 rapidly, and turn the reel as fast as the cloth can be opened ; 
 after it is entered, bring the liquor to a boil, and run until 
 the desired colour is obtained. 
 
 Blue drabs may be made of any shade, by using more or 
 less of chymic and logwood. 
 
RECIPES. 151 
 
 For a blue drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a quarter of weld, one 
 pound of common madder, half a pound of logwood, and half 
 a pound of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares one nour, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil one hour ; then add two ounces of alum, three ounces 
 of copperas, and one-eighth of a teacupful of chymic — boil 
 three quarters of an hour, and let lie in all night. A little 
 orchille will give a blue tint to these colours, and, when used, 
 the chymic may be dispensed with. 
 
 1 must inform those who are not well versed with working 
 wool in the furnace, that whenever chymic is added in the 
 saddening, it must be first mixed in a bucket of the liquor, 
 and spread over the wool, a small quantity at a time, while 
 the wool is being rapidly worked. Those who are quite 
 ignorant of the process, had better cool the liquor down to 
 140° Fahrenheit, land the wool, and mix the chymic in the 
 liquor, by stirring it well previous to re-entering the wool. 
 
 For a very dark blue drab, on one hundred and twenty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twelve pounds of weld, two pounds of 
 fustic, eight pounds and a half of logwood, and two pounds 
 of argol — add one teacupful of chymic. 
 
 Boil the first four articles one hour, then drop in the 
 chymic while the furnace is boiling ; boil ten minutes after 
 it is in, cool down, enter the wool, and boil it one hour ; then 
 sadden with one pound and a half of alum, and boil a quarter 
 of an hour — then one pound and a half of copperas, and a 
 teacupful of chymic; boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a blue drab, on sixty-five pounds of wool, a thin colour. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of weld, five 
 ounces of logwood, one pound of alum, one pound of argol, 
 one ounce of chymic, and one ounce of copperas. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool rapidly, 
 and work quick ; let boil two hours, cool down to about 120° 
 Fahrenheit, land the wool, wash, and dry it. 
 
152 RECIPES. 
 
 For a very light blue drab, on sixty-Jive pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three pounds and a half of weld, one 
 pound of alum, one pound of argol, nine ounces of logwood, 
 two ounces of copperas, and two ounces of chymic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool rapidly, 
 work quick, and let boil two hours ; cool down to about 120° 
 Fahrenheit, land the wool, wash, and dry. 
 
 For a blue drab, rather darker than the above, on sixty-five 
 
 pounds ofivool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three pounds and a half of weld, one 
 pound of alum, one pound of argol, twelve ounces of logwood, 
 two ounces o^ copperas, and two ounces of chymic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool rapidly, 
 work quick, and let boil two hours ; cool down to about 120° 
 Fahrenheit, land the wool, wash, and dry. 
 
 To dye red drabs on woollen. 
 
 There are an immense variety of shades in the red drab. 
 I shall begin with the fawn drabs, which are the lightest of 
 the class, and gradually progress to the darker shades 
 
 For a very light drab, having a red hue, on one hundred and 
 twenty pounds of cloth. 
 
 Boil two pounds of alum, two pounds of argol, one pound 
 and a half of best madder, one quart of tin liquor, and twenty 
 pounds of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, enter the cloth, and 
 boil one hour and a half, or till of the colour wanted. Any 
 shade may be obtained, by adding more or less of madder 
 and fustic, as well as of tin liquor. 
 
 A strong decoction of alder bark makes a red drab with- 
 out any mordant ; blue vitriol darkens it, without injuring the 
 red ; and copperas turns it of a greenish drab. These red 
 drabs are of a pleasing hue, and are very permanent. The 
 bark should be used by our American dyers. 
 
 For a very light fawn, on sixty -five pounds of wool. 
 Where weld is given in my recipes, fustic may be used in 
 place of it, only using half the quantity. It is much to be 
 regretted, however, that weld is not more generally used in 
 
RECIPE&, 153 
 
 this country, particularly in drab dying, as the colours from 
 weld are much brighter and softer than from any other dye- 
 stuffs, and the handle of the cloth is much improved. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of weld, one- 
 quarter of a pound of alum, one-quarter of a pound of red 
 sanders, one-quarter of a pound of logwood, one pound of 
 best madder, and three ounces of copperas. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour and a half, cool down, boil the 
 wool two hours, or till of the colour wanted, heave out, wash, 
 and dry — having previously cooled down to 120° Fahrenheit. 
 
 Another light fawn, on forty -five pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of weld, six 
 ounces of alum, fourteen ounces of best madder, two ounces 
 and a half of logwood, two ounces and a half of sanders, and 
 two ounces and a quarter of copperas. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour and a half, cool down, and boil 
 the wool two hours, or till of the colour wanted ; cool down 
 to 120° Fahrenheit, land, wash, and dry. By leaving the 
 wool in the liquor all night, the colour will deepen two or 
 three shades. 
 
 A rich red fawn, on sixty-five pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds and a half of fustic, two 
 pounds and a half of madder, one pound and a half of bar- 
 wood, twelve ounces of red sanders, one-quarter of a pound 
 of argol, six ounces of copperas, and one-quarter of a pound 
 of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours, or till of the colour wanted. When to the pattern, 
 cool down to 120° Fahrenheit, land, wash, and dry. If not 
 dark enough, let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a light favm, on twenty five pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two ounces of barwood, three ounces 
 of sumach, four ounces of argol, eight ounces of madder, three 
 ounces of copperas, three ounces of fustic, two ounces of red 
 sanders, and three ounces of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours, or till of the colour wanted. When to the pattern, 
 cool down to 120° Fahrenheit, land, wash, and dry. 
 
154 RECIPES. 
 
 For a light fawn, on sixty -jive pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use half a pound of fustic, one pound of 
 sumach, half a pound of Brazil wood, one pound of red 
 sanders, twelve ounces of argol, one pound of best madder, 
 seven ounces of copperas, and eight ounces of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours, or till of the colour wanted. When to the pattern* 
 cool down to 120° Fahrenheit, land, wash, and dry. 
 
 For a light red drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use four ounces of nutgalls, and one pound 
 of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares half an hour, run up, heave in the wool, 
 and boil half an hour ; cool down, and strew over one-quarter 
 of a pound of copperas, two ounces of alum, and boil half an 
 hour — while boiling, strew over six ounces of ground fustic, 
 and six ounces of cream of tartar ; boil half an hour, and if 
 dark enough, cool down, and land — if not, let lie in all night. 
 
 For a rich reddish drab, on forty-two pounds of wool — a 
 fashionable colour at the present time. 
 
 For the boiling, use six ounces of nutgalls, six ounces of 
 argol, ten ounces of redwood, one pound of madder, and 
 twelve ounces of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool two 
 hours ; cool down, and sadden with three ounces of copperas. 
 Boil one hour and land, if dark enough — if not, let lie in all 
 night. 
 
 For a rich reddish drab, of a lighter shade than the above, on 
 thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three ounces of nutgalls, four ounces of 
 argol, seven ounces of red sanders, eleven ounces of madder, 
 ten ounces of fustic, and one ounce of logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours ; cool down, sadden with two ounces and a half 
 of copperas, boil one hour and land, if dark enough — if not s 
 let lie in all night. 
 
RECIPES. 155 
 
 For a darker red drab than either yet given, on forty-two pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use six ounces of nutgalls, six ounces of 
 argol, ten ounces of redwood, one pound of madder, and 
 twelve ounces of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours ; cool down, sadden with tftree ounces of copperas, 
 boil one hour and land, if dark enough— if not, let lie in all 
 night. , 
 
 For a very dark red drab, approaching to a brown, on thirty 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of fustic, and three pounds 
 of red sanders. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool two 
 hours ; cool down, sadden with eight ounces of copperas, boil 
 one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a dark red drab, lighter than the above, for thirty pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use four ounces of nutgalls, one pound and 
 three-quarters of red sanders, two ounces of logwood, and 
 one pound and a quarter of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, and boil the wool 
 two hours ; cool down, sadden with four ounces and a half 
 of cooperas, boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 To dye yellow drabs on woollen. 
 As these are the colours most generally worn, I shall give 
 more recipes than for the others, including a greater variety 
 of shades. 
 
 For a very light drab, having a slight yellow tinge, on eighty 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of ground fustic, 
 half a pound of logwood, and four ounces of best madder. 
 
 The wares to boil two hours in a coarse bag, the furnace 
 run up, and the wool to boil two hours — cool the liquor, then 
 sprinkle over, for saddening, one pound of alum, and four 
 ounces of copperas, having previously dissolved them in a 
 bucket of the liquor ; let the wool boil one hour, run off the 
 
156 RECIPES. 
 
 liquor slowly, and while this is doing, run up with water 
 sufficient to cool the liquor, so low as to make it pleasant to 
 immerse the hand ; when the liquor is all run off, land the 
 wool, and wash well. 
 
 For a drab, a few shades darker than the above, on forty. two 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a half of fustic, twelve 
 ounces of logwood, four ounces of madder, and eight ounces 
 of alum. 
 
 To be proceeded with as for the last, and add for the sad- 
 dening, half a pound of copperas — let boil for half an hour, 
 land, and wash, as before. 
 
 For a darker colour, varying a little in the shade, on seventy. 
 * four pounds of. wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds of fustic, one pound of 
 logwood, and half a pound of madder. 
 
 To be proceeded with as for the two last, sadden with- one 
 pound of alum, and twelve ounces of copperas — boil half an 
 hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a light yellow drab, on seventy. Jive pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use ten pounds of weld, two pounds of 
 logwood, one pound of argol, one pound of alum, and four 
 ounces and a half of copperas. 
 
 Boil the weld in bags one hour, take it out, add the other 
 ingredients, boil half an hour, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil it two hours — then run up, add six ounces of oil of vitriol, 
 and work well for twelve minutes without boiling — if the 
 colour is dark enough, cool down, run the liquor off, and 
 wash ; if required to be darker, let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a light drab, not so yellow as the, last, on sixty-five pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use four pounds of weld, half a pound of 
 fustic, one pound and three-quarters of logwood, half a pound 
 of umbro madder, twelve ounces of argol, and half a pound 
 of alum. 
 
 The weld to be boiled in bags, and taken out as in the last, 
 
RECIPES. 157 
 
 the other wares to boil one hour ; cool down, add one ounce 
 and a half of copperas, and one ounce of oil of vitriol ; boil 
 half an hour, run off, or let lie all night, according to the 
 colour wanted. 
 
 For a yellow drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three ounces of nutgalls, one pound 
 of fustic, one-quarter of a pound of madder, three ounces of 
 argol, half a pound of alum, and two ounces of copperas. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 boil half an hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a yellow drab, on sixty-jive pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds of weld, six ounces of argol, 
 five ounces of logwood, three ounces of barwood, one pound 
 of madder, three ounces of copperas, and two ounces^/f alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, heave inYhe wool, 
 boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a dark yellow drab, on sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of weld, six ounces of red 
 argol, and four ounces of rasped fustic. 
 
 The wares to boil as before, heave in the wool, and boil 
 one hour ; then add, by strewing over, fourteen ounces of 
 ground logwood, and fourteen ounces of umbro madder. The 
 wool to boil two hours, cooled down, and landed ; add to the 
 liquor four ounces of copperas, and four, ounces of alum ; 
 stir well, heave in the wool, boil one hour, and let it lie in 
 all night. 
 
 Another dark yellow drab, on sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of weld, one pound and a 
 quarter of fustic, one pound of logwood, three pounds of mull 
 madder, and half a pound of copperas. 
 
 The weld to be boiled one hour and taken out, then add the 
 other materials, boil one hour, heave in the wool, boil .two 
 hours, land, or let it lie in all night. 
 
 There are many drabs that do not come under the de- 
 nomination of blue, red, or yellow — such are pearl drabs, 
 green drabs, &c. I shall proceed to give recipes for these, 
 as both of them are now fashionable. 
 
 14 
 
158 RECIPES. 
 
 For a very light white pearl, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use four ounces of alum, and one ounce 
 and a half of logwood. 
 
 Let the wares boil half an hour, run up, heave in the wool, 
 and bring the liquor to a spring heat ; keep at this heat for 
 a quarter of an hour, land, and wash. The wool must be 
 handled briskly all the -time it is in the furnace. 
 
 For a light red pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use three ounces and a half of &?gel, two 
 ounces of logwood, one ounce and a half of Brazil wood, one 
 ounce of redwood, one ounce of alum, and one ounce of 
 copperas. 
 
 The wares are to be boiled half an hour, the furnace run 
 up, the wool entered and boiled a quarter of an hour, cooled 
 down, landed, and washed. 
 
 For a pearl drab, on sixty pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use eight ounces of nutgalls, and four 
 ounces of madder. 
 
 The wares are to be boiled half an hour, the furnace run 
 up, the wool entered and boiled a quarter of an hour, ; while 
 boiling, add two ounces of alum, cool down, and land. 
 
 For a pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 
 Boil one peck,«of bran, to soften the water, and scum clean* 
 
 For the boiling, use two ounces of fustic, three ounces of 
 
 nutgalls, five ounces of argol, three ounces of logwood, one 
 
 ounce and a quarter of Brazil wood, and three ounces of 
 
 madder. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and work briskly ; boil one hour, cool down, and sadden 
 with one ounce of copperas, one ounce of alum, one-quarter 
 of an ounce of fustic, and one ounce and a half of logwood — 
 boil half an hour and land, or let lie in all night. 
 
 For a dark pearl drab, on sixty -five pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use one pound of weld, one-quarter of a 
 pound of fustic, eight ounces of logwood, twelve ounces of 
 
RECIPES. 159 
 
 argol, twelve ounces of alum, ten ounces of fine madder, and 
 two ounces of copperas. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours ; cool down to 120° Fahrenheit, land, 
 and wash. 
 
 For a thin pearl drab, on thirty pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use two ounces of weld, four ounces of 
 argol, four ounces of alum, one ounce of logwood, half an 
 ounce of oil of vitriol, two ounces of madder, and half an 
 ounce jpf copperas. 
 
 Boil the' wares one hour, cool down, heave in the wool, 
 and boil.it one^hour and a half; cool down to 120° Fahren- 
 heit, land, wash, and dry. 
 
 To dye green drabs on woollens. 
 
 For a light green drab, having an olive hue, on twenty- 
 nine pounds of wool. 
 
 For the foiling, use three pounds and three-quarters of 
 weld, half abound of logwood, and one-quarter of a pound 
 of fustic. 
 
 The weld to be boiled one hour and taken out, then the 
 other wares one hour, the furnace run up, the wool entered 
 and boiled one hour ; cool down, sadden with one ounce and 
 a half of copperas, and twelve ounces of alum — boil one 
 hour, and land. 
 
 For a dark green drab, on jifty -eight pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use five pounds of fustic, two pounds of 
 logwood, and half a pound of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, enter the wool, and boil 
 it two hours ; cool down, sadden with twelve ounces of alum, 
 four ounces of pearlash, and two ounces of copperas. Boil 
 half an hour, and then add a quarter of a pint of oil of vitriol ; 
 let it lie in all night. 
 
 Miscellaneous colours, or colours coming under no particular 
 
 denomination. 
 
 These colours are, mostly, between drabs and browns. I 
 can only describe them according to their predominant hue. 
 
160 RECIPES. 
 
 Many of them are now quite fashionable for pantaloons, and 
 others are mostly employed for mixtures. I shall give those 
 intended for mixtures first, and then those for colouring. 
 
 For a red brown, of a very lively tint, on twenty pounds of wool. 
 This recipe is intended for mixing with dark colours, and 
 
 has been fashionable in dark drab mixtures. 
 
 For the boiling, use two ounces of nutgalls, two pounds 
 
 of madder, and four pounds of red sanders. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 
 boil two hours ; cool down, sadden with one ounce of copperas, 
 
 boil one hour, and let lie in all night. 
 
 For a very bright colour, almost a red, on the cinnamon hue, 
 for fifty-seven pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use nine pounds of alum, and forty pounds, 
 of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares ^two hours, run up, heave in<th£ wool, and 
 boil two hours ; cool down, land, and wash. 
 
 Prepare a frdfl&h liquor, bring on to a boil, br^p and scum 
 well — put iA seven pounds of madder, run ujteave in the 
 wool, and boil*one hour; cool down to 12(F^ Fahrenheit, 
 land, and wash. 
 
 For a tJun red, on twenty pounds of wool: 
 This colour is rather on the orange hue. Bring the fur- 
 nace to a boil, adfL two pounds of argol, boil one hour, cool 
 to below boiling/ add to the liquor four pounds of madder, 
 heave in the wool, boil half an hour — cool down to 120° 
 Fahrenheit, land, and wash. 
 
 For a Brazil red, on twelve pounds of wool. 
 
 Bring the furnace to a boil, add two pounds and a half 
 of alum, and four pounds of Brazil wood — boil the wares one 
 hour, cool down, heave in the wool, boil forty-five minutes — •■ 
 cool down, after lying one hour, to 120° Fahrenheit, land, 
 and wash. * * ' 
 
 For a deep sanders red, on forty -five pounds of wool. 
 For the boiling, use six pounds of red sanders. Boil the 
 wares one hour, run up, heave in the wool, and boil two 
 
RECIPES. 161 
 
 hours; cool down, and sadden with four ounces of copperas ; 
 cool down, land, and wash. If required darker, let it lie in 
 all night. 
 
 For a rich wine colour, on thirty 'pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use four pounds of red argol, and two 
 pounds of Brazil wood. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool and 
 boil it two hours, then sprinkle over one gallon and a half of 
 stale urine, and let lie in all night — work it well as the urine 
 is entered. Wash well, and finish in fresh liquor, with twenty 
 pounds of best madder — boil one hour, let lie in the liquor 
 nine hours after boiling, land and wash. 
 
 The above is one of the richest colours that can be. made, 
 and is often worn by the ladies, for cloaks, &c. 
 
 A fugitive wine colour, in imitation of the above, hut much 
 poorer in body and tint, for sixty-three pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use forty pounds of barwobd, boil the wool 
 one hour v and a half, then strew over six pounds and a half 
 of alum, boil v one hour, and let lie in all night.. Land the 
 wool the following morning, wash well, and finish in a fresh 
 liquor, with eight pounds of Brazil wood, ten pounds of peach 
 wood, and ten pounds of fustic — boil the wool two hours, and 
 let lie in all night. 
 
 For a bright red for mixtures, of the cinnamon hue, on forty- 
 six pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use twenty-three pounds of barwood, and 
 fourteen pounds of fustic. 
 
 Bring the liquor to boil, boil the wares two hours, run up, 
 heave in the wool, work rapidly, let it be two hours and a 
 half coming to a boil — boil a quarter of an hour, cool down 
 to 120° Fahrenheit, land, and wash. 
 
 For a dark muddy drab, lately fashionable, on sixty-five pounds 
 
 of wool. 
 For the boiling, use one pound and a quarter of fustic, ten 
 ounces of barwood, ten ounces of sumach, six ounces of red 
 sanders, six ounces of Brazil wood, twelve ounces of argol, 
 and two pounds and a half of madder. 
 
 14* 
 
162 RECIPES. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil two hours ; cool down, sadden with one ounce and a half 
 of copperas, and four ounces of alum ; boil one hour and a 
 half, run up, and let lie x in all night. 
 
 By varying the above materials, all those different dirty 
 brown drabs, so lately fashionable, may be readily obtained. 
 I shall give one other recipe for a variety of this colour, being 
 yellower, not so much on the red, and lighter than the above. 
 
 For a muddy drab, on sixty-five pounds of wool. 
 
 For the boiling, use two pounds of fustic, half a pound of 
 sumach, one pound and three-quarters of barwood, half a 
 pound of red sanders, one-quarter of apound of Brazil wood, 
 one pound and a quarter of argol, and four pounds and a 
 quarter of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil two hours ; cool down, sadden with one pound and three- 
 quarters of copperas, and one-quarter of a pound of alum — 
 boil one hour and a half, run up, and let lie in all night. 
 
 To dye drab on cotton. 
 Mix fustic and sumach liquor with warm water, turn in the 
 cotton, and work it well ; if for a brownish drab, turn the 
 cotton into a weak copperas liquor ; if for a greenish drab, 
 mix logwood with the fustic and sumach, and a little blue 
 vitriol with alum and copperas — when well worked, wring 
 out lightly, and it is finished. 
 
 To dye a drab on silk. 
 
 Boil it in black soap, wash out, and stick up as for other 
 colours — put a little spent orchille into a very warm liquor, 
 a little fustic, a little logwood, and strew in a little copperas ; 
 stir up well, and try a pattern — when too blue, use a little 
 argol, or cream of tartar, which will raise the red of the 
 logwood. ______ 
 
 Process of aluming silk. 
 
 Wash the silk from the soap, well beetling it ; steep it in 
 the alum liquor for nine or ten hours, using about five ounces 
 of alum to each pound of silk, and four ounces of pearlash 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 163 
 
 to every twenty pounds of alum, wash, wring with the hand, 
 and lay by for further use. The pearlash is used to neu- 
 tralize the excess of sulphuric acid contained in the alum. 
 
 Silk indigo vat. 
 
 This vat is the same as is known in this country by the 
 name of ash vat, such as was attempted to be palmed on 
 the woollen dyers of this country, some years since, by a 
 Mr. Roach, as the woollen woad vat. It is the best vat for 
 silk, and may be used for cotton, but is altogether unfit for 
 woollen dying, for tjie very reason that it is worked with 
 caustic potash, which cannot fail, under any circumstance, 
 to injure the quality of the \^pol. The following is the pro- 
 cess of setting the ash vat. 
 
 Put fifty pounds" of potash into a barrel, and fill it up with 
 boiling water. It is from this barrel the vat is supplied, 
 when potash liquor is mentioned in the recipe. 
 
 r Process of setting an ash vat. 
 
 Add one pailful of wheat bran to fifty gallons of water, 
 boil thirty minutes, and empty the whole into the vat. Fill 
 the boiler with fifty gallons more of water, add to it ten 
 pounds of wheat bran, ten pounds of potash, and one and a 
 quarter pounds of madder — boil thirty minutes, let it settle, 
 and pour the clear liquor into the vat. When the heat of 
 the vat has lowered to 140° Fahrenheit, add to it five pounds 
 of well-ground indigo, and three gallons of swill — rake and 
 cover down, keep as near 130° Fahrenheit as possible. Stir 
 morning and evening. When the liquor is covered with a 
 copper scum, and the flowers are of a dark blue, add one 
 gallon of potash liquor from the barrel, and half a gallon of 
 swill, at morning, noon, and night, raking well each time. 
 Should the copper appearance cease, or fail to show itself, 
 add one gallon of swill, mornings and evenings, until it does. 
 When this one hundred gallons of liquor is in good order, 
 fill the furnace with one hundred gallons more of clean water, 
 add ten pounds of wheat bran, ten pounds of potash, and one 
 pound and a quarter of madder, boil thirty minutes, cool down 
 to 131° Fahrenheit — pass the clear liquor into the vat, and 
 add to it five pounds of ground indigo and three gallons of 
 swill, rake well, and cover close till next morning. Rake 
 
164 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 again in the morning, and if in order, add to it one gallon of 
 potash liquor, and half a gallon of swill — add the same quan- 
 tity at noon, and again in the evening. Should there be no 
 copper skin on the liquor the morning after renewing, must 
 only rake well morning and evening till it appears. When 
 this two hundred gallons is in good order, boil two hundred 
 gallons more of clear water, with ten pounds of bran, twenty 
 pounds of potash, and two pounds and a half of madder ; boil 
 as before, for thirty minutes, let settle, turn the clear liquor 
 into the blue vat, give it ten pounds of indigo, and four gal- 
 lons of swill — rake well, and cover close. Rake the following 
 day, morning and evening, and the second morning there will 
 be a copper scum on the surface ; then add to it two gallons 
 of potash liquor, and one gallon of swill, morning and evening. 
 The strength of this liquor should rate from two to three 
 degrees, on Baume's hydrometer. If below two degrees, 
 potash liquor should be added until it stands at two degrees. 
 Should the vat contain but three hundred gallons, add, in 
 the last operation, only one hundred gallons of water in place 
 of two hundred, and the other materials in proportion. 
 
 Working the ash vat. 
 
 The goods to be well wet in hot water, and left to drain 
 until nearly dry, then run in the vat for fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, wrung out, and dried — the dipping to be repeated 
 until dark enough. After every dip, add to the vat one gallon 
 of swill, and one gallon of potash liquor from the barrel, then 
 rake, and keep at the temperature of 120° or 125° Fahren- 
 heit. This last rule should in all cases be observed, unless 
 the dye be too weak or too strong, too much fermented or 
 not enough — in either of these cases, follow the directions 
 given under the head renewing the vat. Three or four dips 
 may be made each day, until the strength of the vat is mostly 
 worked out, but must not reduce the liquor too much the first 
 time of working. 
 
 "o 
 
 To renew the ash vat. 
 
 Rake the dye up well, turn over about one hundred and forty 
 gallons of the liquor into the boiler, and add to it ten pounds 
 of bran, and two pounds of madder ; boil for thirty minutes, 
 let settle, turn the clear liquor into the vat, add to it fifteen 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 165 
 
 pounds of indigo, and three gallons of swill liquor, rake well, 
 and cover down. The next morning a fine copper scum will- 
 appear on the surface, then add to it one gallon of potash 
 liquor, and seven gallons of swill, rake well, and cover down. 
 Should the liquor indicate three degrees Baume, in three 
 hours afterward, it is fit to colour ; if it indicates less, add 
 potash liquor and swill, in the same proportions as in the 
 morning, until it rises to three degrees. The liquor, on the 
 second renewal, may stand at four degrees ; on the third and 
 succeeding ones, at five degrees. 
 
 To make a new ash vat, after working out the old one. 
 
 Pass two hundred gallons of the clear liquor from the worn- 
 out vat into the furnace, and after emptying out the remainder 
 from the Vat, return the liquor into it ; then put as much 
 water into the boiler as will fill the vat, add ten pounds of 
 bran, three pounds of potash, and" two pounds of madder ; 
 boil three minutes, let settle, empty the clear liquor into the 
 vat, to which add fifteen pounds of indigo, and three gallons- 
 of swill, rake, and cover close. Next day, add potash liquor 
 until the scale stands at five degrees. 
 
 Keeping the silk ash vat in ordef. 
 
 Should the liquor, by being kept too cold, lose its fermen- 
 tation, b^il one-quarter of the liquor in a furnace, add ten 
 pounds of wheat bran, and seventeen pounds of madder, boil 
 the usual time, let settle, return clear liquor into vat, stir, &c. 
 Next morning add, if not sufficiently fermented, one gallon 
 of swill, and repeat every six hours, until in good order. 
 
 Should the dye be too much heated, cool down, rake once 
 a day, and add half a gallon of potash liquor — continue the 
 same till the liquor appears perfectly clear ; should it have 
 lost its proper degree of fermentation, add at each stirring 
 one gallon of swill, until it comes to work. 
 
 Should it be found necessary to lay a vat by for any con- 
 siderable time, work it about half out, cover close, and it 
 will keep six months. 
 
 On dying of double colours. 
 
 Cloth is sometimes dyed double colours, that is, one side 
 of a cloth is dyed of one colour, and the other side of another. 
 
169 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 Such colours are rarely seen in this country, and are now 
 only seen occasionally in Europe; but as they were once 
 fashionable, and may become so again, I shall finish the 
 subject of dying by giving the process for dying these. The 
 principal markets at the present time for double colours, are 
 Turkey and Arabia. The Arabs cover their horses with 
 cloth dyed purple and scarlet ; by turning up the corners they 
 show a beautiful drapery, and the corners being trimmed 
 with gold or silver tassels, give to the horse's furniture a 
 very rich and elegant appearance. 
 
 There are two kinds of double colours, those having green 
 on one side and yellow on the other — and those having pur- 
 ple on one side and scarlet on the other. We will commence 
 with the first. 
 
 Cloths made for double colours, should be fine in quality, 
 wove very stout, eleven quarters in the loom, not more than 
 twenty-four yards when fulled, and left under six quarters 
 wide. They should have a good nap raised on both sides, 
 and finished shearing before they are dyed. They must be 
 well pized in fullers-earth, and dried to prepare them for the 
 dye. When for yellow and green, the cloth must be first 
 dyed a bright yellow, as follows : for forty-eight pounds of 
 cloth, use, in the boiling, ten pounds of alum, two pounds of 
 cream of tartar, and twenty-five pounds of fustic chips. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, heave in the cloth, and boil it 
 four hours — cool down, heave out, stream it until clean, and 
 dry. A flour paste has now to be prepared. We have, in 
 England, two sorts of wheat, one of which makes a flour 
 that will afford a tougher paste than the other ; when flour 
 is ordered for double colours, it is always such as will pro- 
 duce the toughest paste. The paste is made the day before 
 it has to be used. It requires a stiff paste, to prevent its 
 penetrating through the cloth when rubbed on, yet thin 
 enough to work thoroughly into the nap of the cloth. When 
 this has been properly prepared, one end of the cloth is placed 
 on a smooth table, about five feet wide and twelve long, 
 beginning at one end, the side intended to be pasted laying 
 uppermost. One person lifts the paste out of the tub with a 
 clean tin or copper ladle, and places it on the cloth, while two 
 others are employed in rubbing it into, and all over the face 
 of the cloth, with their hands. As soon as a piece has been 
 pasted, the two ends are brought together, and the whole 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 167 
 
 piece doubled, leaving that side which has been pasted, inside. 
 The cloth is now placed on a long scrave, or slatted table, 
 four or more women are employed to sew the lists together, 
 these are turned in and rolled before sewing, the work is 
 drawn tight, and the stitches are close together, to prevent 
 any liquor from penetrating through the lists. The two ends 
 are rolled, and sewed up in the same way. Care must be 
 taken, during this operation, that none of the paste touch the 
 side of the cloth that has not been pasted, for in such places 
 the cloth will not receive the destined colour. While this 
 is doing, the furnace must be brought on with a new liquor, 
 into which put four pounds of alum, four pounds of fustic, and 
 three pounds of chymic. Boil the alum and fustic during two 
 hours, drop in the chymic, and boil ten minutes. Let the 
 cloth, which is now very heavy, be brought to the furnace 
 on a clean hand-barrow, and placed on the curb — open a 
 few stitches in the end of the cloth, sufficient to make such 
 an aperture as will admit the nose of a bellows, and blow in 
 as much air as can be forced into it. Let the opening be im- 
 mediately sewed up. Two men must now carefully lift the 
 cloth off the hand-barrow into the furnace, keeping the folds 
 square and even, while two others are employed in placing 
 it under the liquor with stopping sticks. Care must be taken 
 not to hand it in faster than the stoppers can put it under the 
 liquor, yet it is very necessary this operation should be per- 
 formed as rapidly as possible. The air, blown in by the 
 bellows, will be confined inside by the paste ; and when the 
 cloth comes in contact with the hot liquor, the air becomes 
 so expanded as to swell the cloth out as large as a butt, and 
 the air moving as the cloth is worked, prevents the paste 
 from adhering, and enables the workmen to move it in any 
 direction. It has now to be worked backwards and forwards, 
 first on one side of the furnace, and then on the other — at 
 every three or four turns, the end is tumbled over so as to 
 bring the side that was lowest in the furnace to be upper- 
 most. The working must be done expeditiously, to make 
 the colour even — it should be had in cool, and the liquor 
 brought on to a boil very gradually. When boiled to the 
 colour wanted, the liquor is cooled down so far as to enable 
 the workmen to handle the cloth, which has now to be lifted 
 out by hand into a large back of cold water. Before open- 
 ing the cloth, it must be streamed, until no stain appears on 
 
168 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 the water ; when washed clean, the twine is taken from the 
 lists, the paste scraped off as clean as possible, and then 
 cleaned in the stocks until all the paste is completely washed 
 off. It is then tentered, dried, pressed, and packed. The 
 side that was pasted will now be of a beautiful yellow, and 
 the other of a rich green. 
 
 It requires sbme experience to perform this operation with 
 perfect safety, and the cloth must be free from holes or thin 
 places. 
 
 To dye a double colour, having purple on the one side, and 
 scarlet on the other. ' * 
 
 The cloth has to be pized and dried, the same as before. 
 It is now pasted when white, and sewed up, as directed for 
 the yellow in the last. When this has been done, and the 
 cloth moistened, take it on a hand-barrow to the blue vat, 
 blow in the air, sew the hole up, take it into the blue vat, and 
 work it until it becomes of a light blue. It is. then taken 
 out of the vat, the paste scraped off, and streamed. Care 
 must be taken while this is doing, that none of the blue 
 touches the side that has been pasted. When streamed, 
 take it to the fulling-mill, and wash it under the hammers 
 thoroughly. It must now be hung up to drain until the next 
 day. When drained, clean it in the fulling-mill with earth, 
 and dry it. The side that was pasted will now be white, 
 and the other a light blue — the side that is blue must be 
 placed inside, bringing the ends of the cloth together, and 
 sewed up with rolled lists, as before, ends as well as sides, the 
 same as for green. When this is done, take it to the scarlet 
 furnace, and colour the white side scarlet, after the same 
 way, with respect to workmanship, as directed for green. 
 There having been no paste put on this time, the liquor will 
 have penetrated sufficiently through the cloth, to make the 
 side that was blue of a rich purple. The cloth has now to 
 be well cleansed by streaming, after the ends and lists have 
 been opened, and finished the same as the green. 
 
 This appears, on paper, to be a very simple operation, but 
 is not found so in practice. The cloth must be made very 
 stout, and very firm in the ground, to prevent the paste from 
 working through it, and it becomes so heavy, when pasted, 
 as to require four men to carry one piece on a hand-barrow, 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 169 
 
 which makes the workmanship of very difficult operation, 
 and renders it liable to be torn, thereby ruining the work. 
 
 Miscellaneous Articles. 
 
 Mode of dying cotton, by the Africans, a fine blue colour 
 with the leaves of the indigo plant. From Mungo Park's 
 Mission to Africa, page 133. 
 
 " A large quantity of wood ashes is collected and put into 
 an unglazed earthen vessel, which has a hole in the bottom, 
 over which is put some straw. Upon these ashes water is 
 poured, which, filtering through the hole in the bottom of the 
 vessel, carries with it the potass contained in the ashes, and 
 forms a very strong lye, of the colour of strong beer ; this 
 lye they call sai-gee, ash-water. «• 
 
 " Another pot is filled not quite full of the leaves of the 
 indigo plant, either fresh or dried in the sun, (those used at 
 this time were dried,) and as much of the sai-gee poured on it 
 as will fill the pot about half full. It is allowed to remain in 
 this state for four days, during which time it is stirred once 
 or twice each day. 
 
 " The pot is then filled nearly full of sai-gee, and stirred 
 frequently for four days more, during which it ferments and 
 throws up a copper-coloured scum. It is then allowed to 
 remain at rest one day, and on the tenth day from the com- 
 mencement of the process, the cloth is put into it. No mor- 
 dant whatever is used ; the cloth is simply wet with cold 
 water, and wrung hard before it is put into the pot, where it 
 is allowed to remain about two hours. It is then taken out 
 and exposed to the sun, by laying it (without spreading it) 
 over a stick, until the liquor ceases to drop from it. After 
 this, it is washed in cold water, and is often beat with a flat 
 stick, to clear away any leaves or dirt which may adhere to 
 it. The cloth being again wrung hard, is returned into the 
 pot, and this dipping is repeated four times every day for the 
 first four days — at the end of which period it has in common 
 acquired a blue colour, equal to the finest India baft." 
 
 To use bleaching salts, for whitening cotton-yarn or cloth. 
 
 Put into a tub fifty gallons of water, put twelve pounds of 
 the oxy -muriate of lime (bleaching salts) into it, stir well, 
 and let remain until it settles, which will take about five 
 
 15 
 
170 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 hours — try the strength' with Tweedle's hydrometer : but 
 before doing this, have a tub ready, and lift as much of the 
 pure liquor out from the lime tub, as you mean to use at 
 once, try the hydrometer in the pure liquor, and if it stands 
 three degrees, it is fit for immediate use ; if stronger, reduce 
 to the requisite strength by adding water. Your cloth, be- 
 fore immersion, ought to be damp ; after it has been boiled 
 as usual with ashes, and well cleaned, let it remain in the 
 steep for four hours, take out, wash well, give a vitriol sour, 
 steep again, and wash well. 
 
 After taking all the clear liquor off your oxy-muriate of 
 lime, put in a few pounds of fresh oxy-muriate, add water, 
 stir well, let stand as before stated, and use in the same 
 manner. Make no more liquor at a time than is wanted for 
 immediate use, as it loses its strength by exposure. 
 
 Wilkins' , s patent mode of raising iJie nap of cloth. 
 
 Since publishing my former work on manufacturing of 
 woollen cloth, a patent has been taken out in England by a 
 Mr. Wilkins, of Tiverton, near Bath, Somersetshire, for rais- 
 ing cloth with wire in place of teazles. 
 
 Repeated attempts have been made within the last fifty 
 years, to substitute wire for teazles on the old gig-mill barrel, 
 but all these attempts have uniformly failed, it having been 
 found that wire, when used in clearing out the wool from the 
 ground of the cloth, would uniformly rob it so much as to 
 injure the texture. Mr. Daniels, a mechanic in Mr. Wilkins's 
 employ, observed that the cloth was injured in consequence 
 of the great strain given to the goods whilst working round 
 the barrel of the gig-mill, and that to make the wire answer, 
 a new mode of applying the work must be discovered. This 
 he effected, by working the cloth on polished marble slabs. 
 He has two polished marble slabs, inclined on an angle of 
 about forty-five degrees, over the face of which the cloth 
 passes, hugging the slabs as it moves over, and the wire 
 cylinders working all the time on the face of the cloth. 
 
 The machine, working the cloth, is very much like a 
 double timming-hog, such as was much used before the gen- 
 eral use of the gig-mill. The cloth moves by mechanical 
 power, being first wound around a roller placed under one 
 of the marble slabs, passing oyer the first slab, then through 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 171 
 
 two rollers placed above the slabs, in the centre between the 
 two, then over the face of the second slab, and winding 
 around a roller placed under it. A piece of twenty-one 
 yards is calculated to move over the slabs in about seven- 
 teen minutes. Rollers, clothed with wire, move rapidly over 
 the face of the cloth, one to each slab, and they are set down 
 by a gauge, so as either just to touch the face, or dip into it 
 to anjr required depth. A trough, containing water, is placed 
 under each roller, by which the cloth is moistened. 
 
 I have seen a sample of the card used by Wilkins. The 
 wire is bent in a circle, very much the same as the teazle 
 point, and is ground sidewise to a dull point. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins's cloth is now in greater repute than any other 
 manufacturer's in England, and it is well knOwn the finish of 
 his cloth is alone the cause of its superiority. Would it not 
 be advisable for our leading manufacturers to pay attention 
 to this patented mode of working, and adopt it, if found ad- 
 vantageous. 
 
 On the residuums remaining after dying chrome yellow and, 
 
 orange, 
 
 1 have given recipes for dying these colours in the body 
 of the work. Most of our dyers being ignorant of the com- 
 pounds remaining after the colours are finished, and of the 
 valuable uses to which they may be applied by themselves 
 and others., I have concluded it may be useful to draw their 
 attention to the subject. 
 
 To enable the dyer to understand the nature of the re- 
 siduums, it will be necessary to explain the component parts 
 of the salts used in producing the colours, and the changes 
 that take place during the operation of dying. 
 
 Chromate of potash is a compound of chromic acid and 
 potash, in which the potash, dissolved by the acid, is put into 
 a solid form by crystallization. There are two distinct salts 
 of the chromate, one of a yellow colour, the other an orange. 
 The yellow crystals contain one atom of chromic acid, and 
 one atom of potash, or an equal portion of each. The orange- 
 coloured crystals contain two atoms of chromic acid to one 
 of potash, or double the quantity of acid to the potash. 
 
 The only other material, necessary in producing these 
 colours, is some salt having lead for its base. Nitrate of 
 
172 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 lead is used by some dyers, and sugar of lead by others ; 
 nitrate of lead is lead dissolved in aquafortis — and sugar of 
 lead is lead dissolved in the acid of- vinegar, called acetic 
 acid. Both of these salts are made to assume a solid form, 
 by crystallization, in which state they are usually sold. 
 Lead dissolved in any other acid will answer as well as the 
 above, provided the potash, combined with the chromic acid, 
 is more soluble in the acid combined with the lead, than in 
 the chromic acid. 
 
 The dyer first impregnates the goods with a solution of 
 the salt of lead, and then with a solution of the chromate of 
 potash, dipping alternately in each, until the desired colour 
 is obtained. During the working, the acetic acid of the sugar 
 of lead leaves the lead, and combines^with the potash of the 
 chromate of potash ; the chromic acid being liberated from 
 the potash, and the lead from the acetic acid,J;he two com- 
 bine and form a chromate of lead on the goods. The same 
 effect takes place when nitrate of lead is used, but the re- 
 siduums are different. The colour will now be a fine yellow, 
 of the same substance and tint as the chrome yellow sold for 
 painting. To raise this yellow to an orange, it is necessary 
 to dip it in some caustic alkali, or alkaline earth, and caustic 
 lime is usually employed. 
 
 We now see the rationale of the process, by which these 
 beautiful colours are obtained, and I have endeavoured to 
 explain it in such language as will enable the most unscien- 
 tific workman to comprehend it. 
 
 We shall proceed to ascertain what remains in the residu- 
 uras, after the dyer has produced the usual colours, and to 
 what purposes it may be applied. 
 
 There must remain a considerable portion of chromate of 
 lead, and a large quantity of the acid of vinegar, combined 
 with potash, when sugar of lead has been used : and of aqua- 
 fortis, combined with potash, when nitrate of lead has been 
 employed. As these are expensive colours, it must be im- 
 portant to the dyer to know if the residuums can be so ap- 
 plied as materially to lessen the expense. In Scotland, they 
 make a beautiful fawn colour by merely staining the yarn in a 
 sumach liquor, and then dipping it in the solution remaining 
 after the chrome dying, and I have no doubt that other beau- 
 tiful shades might be produced, by varying the colours given 
 previous to immersion in the remaining chrome liquors. It 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 173 
 
 must be understood, that the colours will vary as much from 
 the different mordants used in dying the preparatory colours, 
 as from the colouring matters employed. After all this has 
 been done, there will still remain a considerable precipitate 
 of chromate of lead, of some value to painters, and a liquid 
 solution containing mordants of some value — the latter we 
 shall proceed to investigate. 
 
 When sugar of lead has been employed, the liquor remain- 
 ing will contain acetate of potash, and when nitrate of lead 
 has been used, it will contain nitrate of potash, or saltpetre. 
 We have to ascertain by what means these two solutions can 
 be further employed to the most advantage. 
 
 Acetite of alumina is the most valuable and most expen- 
 sive mordant used in cotton dying. This mordant is made 
 by dissolving sugar of lead and alum of commerce separately, 
 and mixing the two solutions ; the sulphuric acid of the alum 
 combines with the lead of the sugar of lead, and the acetic 
 acid, before combined with the lead, enters into combination 
 with the alumina of the alum — the sulphate of lead being 
 insoluble, will not interfere with the colouring. When 
 chrome colours are produced with sugar of lead, we have 
 ascertained that the residuum will be acetate of potash, and 
 as the potash is more soluble in the sulphuric acid than in 
 the acetic, our dyers have only to add to this residuum a 
 solution of alum, and they will obtain the aluminous mordant. 
 Exactly the same results must not be expected from this 
 mordant as from that made in the direct way, as above stated, 
 for the sulphate of potash, being also a soluble salt, must 
 produce effects somewhat different. However different the 
 effects may be, the mordant obtained will be found a valuable 
 acquisition, particularly in dark colours, and may be found 
 to produce many a new and beautiful tint. 
 
 Nitrate of iron is another mordant of great use in dying 
 of black on cotton, and some other colours. This mordant 
 is usually made by dissolving iron in aquafortis, at an ex- 
 pense, for a strong solution, of about twenty-three cents per 
 pound. By adding copperas, which costs three and a half 
 cents, to the residuum left when chrome colours are done 
 with nitrate of lead, the nitrate of iron will be produced, and 
 this mordant, now so expensive, will be obtained at a cost 
 less than four cents per pound. 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted that our dyers are not more 
 
 15* 
 
174 PREPARATORY PROCESSES 
 
 generally acquainted with chymistry, as that science would 
 make plain to them the rationale of every process they fol- 
 low, and how to make the most of their residuums. The art 
 of dying, staining, and topical application, must for ever re- 
 main in the back ground in this country, unless as much 
 science is acquired by our operatives, as the same class pos- 
 sess in Europe. I am aware that courses of lectures, as 
 generally delivered in our cities, are too expensive, too re- 
 mote in their application to the arts, and too full of learned 
 technicalities, to benefit any but the literary class. 
 
 On the cold indigo vat, used by cotton dyers. 
 
 Recipes have been given in French, and other works, on 
 the proportion of materials used to produce the cold blue vat. 
 They uniformly direct the dyer to use two pounds of copperas, 
 and two and a half pounds of quicklime, to. two pounds of 
 indigo. As these proportions are intended for the finest 
 quality of Bengal indigo, and as our dyers, for want of suffi- 
 cient practice, often sustain great injury by following such 
 instructions too faithfully, I have thought it might subserve 
 their interest to explain more fully than has hitherto been 
 done, the operations going on during the process, by which 
 they will be convinced of the necessity of varying the pro- 
 portions, according to the quality of the indigo and other 
 ingredients employed. 
 
 In order to enable our dyers to understand the subject, it 
 will be necessary to explain the component parts of the indigo 
 and copperas used in the process, and how the latter decom- 
 poses the indigo, as also to show the changes produced by 
 the quicklime. 
 
 The best Bengal indigo is composed of about fifty-two per 
 cent, of vegetable extract, combined with more or less of 
 earthy matter, and of forty-eight per cent, of colouring mat- 
 ter, made blue by combining with oxygen. The colouring 
 matter of indigo combines with various portions of oxygen : 
 hence the diversity of colour, as copper, violet, purple, and 
 blue. 
 
 Copperas is a compound substance, containing iron in a 
 state of black oxyde, oil of vitriol in which the iron is dis- 
 solved, and water which is necessary to enable it to crys- 
 tallize. In the best copperas, the proportions are about 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 175 
 
 twenty-six acid, twenty-eight oxyde of iron, and forty-six 
 water of crystallization. So long as the oxyde of iron remains 
 in a crystalline state, it will not absorb more oxygen ; but the 
 instant it becomes separated from the acid and water, it gree- 
 dily absorbs oxygen until it arrives at its maximum of oxydize- 
 ment, by which time it will have combined with one-half more 
 oxygen, and have changed from black to a red oxyde. 
 
 Indigo, when fully oxydized, can never be employed as a 
 colouring matter, as all goods stained with it will immediately 
 wash white ; but when as much oxygen has been extracted 
 from it as will reduce it to a green colour, which is its mini- 
 mum state of oxydizement, it will colour any goods immersed 
 in it of a beautiful green : and by reabsorbing oxygen, when 
 exposed to the atmosphere, becomes a permanent blue in the 
 pores of the goods. 
 
 The use of the lime is to combine with the oil of vitriol 
 of the copperas, for the purpose of liberating its oxyde of iron, 
 The oxyde of iron, liberated from its solvent, having a greater 
 affinity for oxygen than the indigo has, will take it from the 
 indigo, and reduce its colour from the blue to the green state, 
 by which it is enabled to impart a permanent colour. 
 
 We have now the rationale of the process pursued in the 
 cold blue vat, and I hope our dyers may understand it, to 
 enable them to comprehend the correctness of the following 
 deductions, in which their interest is materially involved. 
 
 The quantity of lime prescribed is always in a given pro- 
 portion to the copperas employed ; but as copperas varies 
 materially in its proportions, it will be necessary to have a 
 critical knowledge of the article — for those who have not, 
 must be often mistaken in the result. Copperas, when newly 
 made, must contain more water than when old enough to 
 have become dry in the crystals — of course any given weight 
 of new will not produce the same effect as the dry. Oxyde 
 of iron is capable of combining with different portions of oil 
 of vitriol, the varieties being known to the scientific, by its 
 colour and the form of its crystals. It must be evident that 
 as copperas, containing more than the usual portion of vitriol, 
 must contain a smaller portion of the oxyde of iron, and re- 
 quires a much larger portion of time to liberate it, that the 
 dyer who, for want of science or experience, shall use such 
 an article with the usual portion of other materials, must be 
 disappointed in his expected results. 
 
176 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 Indigo is a very variable article, containing from five to 
 forty-eight per cent, of colouring matter. It is certain, there- 
 fore, that when a dyer uses the same quantity of lime and 
 copperas indiscriminately, that he must always use the same 
 quality of indigo, or suffer great loss by some of the opera- 
 tions. It is all important to the blue dyer that he should be 
 able to ascertain the relative strength of the indigo he uses, 
 and proportion the other ingredients to it. I find very many 
 of our blue dyers are much better acquainted with the process 
 than they were four years since. At that time it was very 
 common with nearly all of them to require the best indigo, 
 and they appeared to be incapable of using a consumable 
 quality ; but now the same dyers are successful in the use 
 of lower qualities. In England, except for some particular 
 colours, the dyers use indigo containing from thirty to forty- 
 five per cent, of colouring matter, and find it their interest in 
 so doing, there being a much greater difference in the price 
 than in the quality. When the best indigo, containing forty- 
 eight per cent, of colouring matter, sells for two dollars, that 
 which contains three per cent, less can be bought for one 
 dollar sixty-six cents ; that which contains six per cent, less, 
 at one forty ; and nine per cent, less, at one twenty-five. The 
 difference in the price being so much greater than the differ- 
 ence in the quality, will always enable the experienced dyer, 
 who can appreciate the quality of his indigo, and vary the 
 process according to the quality, to drive the more ignorant 
 ones out of the business. Those who are well acquainted 
 with the blue dying, as carried on in England, must have 
 observed that some few blue dyers have monopolized the best 
 part of the business, and have become rich, under circum- 
 stances less favourable, judgment excepted, than others who 
 have sunk under the competition. 
 
 To succeed to the best advantage in this valuable art, it 
 is necessary our dyers should know the quality of the indigo 
 they use, should have a critical knowledge of the copperas 
 employed, and should be able to ascertain the strength of the 
 lime used to decompose the copperas. They should also 
 know what quantity of copperas the different qualities of 
 indigo require, and the portions of lime requisite to decompose 
 the various qualities of copperas. 
 
 It will be perceived that dying is altogether a chymical art, 
 depending on a play of affinities varying at every step. I 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES, 177 
 
 am aware that mere science will never make a dyer ; but 
 where science is added to experience, the artist possessing it, 
 with usual application, cannot fail of gaining a decided advan-* 
 tage over his more ignorant competitor. Let me again urge 
 our dyers to acquire as much chymical knowledge as will 
 enable them to understand what they are doing. Without it, 
 they will ever remain the servile imitators of European artists, 
 following in the rear of improvement, and instead of taking 
 the lead in their own market, must rest contented with sup- 
 plying the fagend of consumption ! 
 
 On mellowing- cloth, after fulling, before raising tlie nap. 
 
 It is not generally known, that cloth cannot be raised with 
 so good a nap, if put to the gig-mill immediately after fulling. 
 The cloth, after fulling, should be folded and rolled up close, 
 and let lie horizontally in that state for five or six days. It 
 should then be taken to the gig-mill and raised. Such cloth 
 will have a much fuller nap, and will handle much mellower, 
 than when raised immediately from the fulling. 
 
 To dissolve shellac in water, used in France as a varnish, by 
 
 paper stainers. 
 
 Dissolve twenty grains of borax in half a pint of rain- 
 water, then add one hundred grains of powdered shellac to 
 the liquor, which the borax will enable the water to dissolve. 
 It should be done at a slow boil. This Varnish will make 
 paper water-proof without injuring its flexibility. It may be 
 mixed with any colouring matter, usually used on paper, not 
 injuring the most delicate colour. 
 
 On orchille and cudbear* 
 
 The orchille and cudbear are both made from species of 
 the lichen. The orchille moss is found in tropical climates, 
 such as the Canary and Cape de Verd Islands, and the moss 
 producing cudbear is found in northern climates, as in the 
 north of Scotland, Norway, &c. 
 
 The latitudes in which the orchille moss grows, almost 
 exclude all expectation of ever finding it, at least of good 
 quality, in the United States ; but it is very probable the 
 
178 PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 
 
 cudbear mosses may be found in some of our north-eastern 
 States, and I would recommend, that trials be made by our 
 citizens, living on the eastern shores of the Atlantic, of the 
 mosses found on the rocks there, to ascertain if any of them 
 will give out a purple colour. To enable them to do this, I 
 will first give the scientific names of the different mosses 
 from which cudbear is made, and then describe the process 
 by means of which the colour can be extracted. I would 
 advise that when any particular moss is experimented on, a 
 part of the same be laid aside, and if the other portion is 
 found to afford a purple, then to inquire of some botanist the 
 technical name of that lichen. 
 
 There are four kinds of lichen (moss) from which cudbear 
 is usually made, and the quality produced varies very mate- 
 rially in each. They are, the lichen pustulatus, the lichen 
 tartarius, the lichen duestus, and the lichen vellans. The 
 first is the most valuable, and the others are of less and less 
 value in the order in which they are named. * <. 
 
 To extract the colour, it will be only necessary to fill a 
 bottle loosely with the moss, and then pour in as much spirits 
 of ammonia as will cover it. If there be any purple colouring 
 matter in. the moss, it will show itself after macerating in the 
 water of ammonia for four or five days, in which time the 
 liquor will be of a rich purple. 
 
 A new patent for fulling woollen goods. 
 
 A patent has lately been secured by a mechanic living at 
 Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, for an entirely new machine 
 for fulling, being a substitute for the very antique machine 
 called fallers. I have just now seen a rough draught of the 
 machine. 
 
 The cloth passes through two pair of rollers, and soap is 
 used after the same manner as when felted in the fallers. It 
 is also folded in the same doubles. The woollens work 
 inside of a box, which is close in all parts whilst the cloth is 
 at work. The Messrs. Cooper, owners of a large mill at 
 Staverton, near Trowbridge, having tried one of these ma- 
 chines, have subsequently thrown out all their fallers, and 
 substituted the rollers in place of them. From their account, 
 the rollers not only prevent damage, but the substance and 
 quality of the cloth is so much improved, that it sells for 
 
PREPARATORY PROCESSES. 179 
 
 fifteen per cent, more than those of the same make, felted in 
 the usual falling mill. 
 
 Another process for scouring wool. 
 
 This process is said to scour wool better than any before 
 invented. I have never seen wool scoured in this way, but 
 my informant, who uses it, says that the wool is turned out 
 cleaner, and in much better condition, than he has ever seen 
 it from any other mode. 
 
 In a scouring furnace, holding fifty gallons, put three 
 buckets of stale urine, and fill up with water, bring on the 
 heat to the usual temperature, and add one pint of coarse sea- 
 salt. In this lixivium the wool is scoured. The first dip of 
 wool, as is usual in other fresh made liquors, does not scour 
 perfectly clean, but the subsequent dips will be complete. 
 After working the first day, add one handful of the same kind 
 of safc, and the same quantity for every day it is worked. It 
 will rec[>ure no additional urine. 
 
 \ 
 
 
 THE END. 
 
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KpJI2k'^ G & FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE 
 
 NK8804 .P37 s t acK 
 
 '■fflflBSi Wi,, 'am/A practical treatise 
 
 1962 00074 
 
 292 
 
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