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PRACTICAL TREATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 DYING 
 
 OP 
 
 WOOLLEN, COTTON, AND SKELN SILK, 
 
 THE MANUFACTURING 
 
 OF 
 
 INCLUDING THF MOST IMPROVED METHODS PURSUED 
 IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND, IN WHICH THE 
 VARIOUS MANIPULATIONS ARE ACCU- 
 RATELY DELINEATED. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 A correct description of 
 SULPHURING WOOLLENS, 
 
 AND 
 
 CHEMICAL BLEACHING OF COTTONS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM PARTRIDGE. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 JUBLTSHED BY H. WALLIS & CO. FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 J. W. Belt, Printer, 70 Bowery^ 
 
 1823. 
 
Stmthem IHdrid: of JVetc- York, m. 
 
 BE it remembered, that on the first day of October, 
 
 L. 5». ID the forty -eigiith year of tbe iDdepeadence of \}te 
 
 United States of America, William Partridge, of the 
 
 said district, hafii deposited in this office tbe title of a book, 
 
 the lig-ht whereof he claims as author, in the words following-, 
 
 to wit: 
 
 " A Practical Treatise on Dying- of Woollen, Cotton, and Skein 
 Silk. Tbe Manufectn ring- of Broadclotlj and Cassimeres, in- 
 clodiDi^ tibe flMKt ImpTXJved Methods pursu&d in the west ot 
 Eog-land, in which the rarious manipulations are accurately de- 
 lineated. Also, a correct description of Sulphuring WoollcDS, 
 and Chemical Bleaching of Cottons." By William Partridg-e. 
 
 In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, en- 
 titled •*■ an act for tbe encourag-ement of learning-, by securing the 
 copies of ABps, ch&rts, and books, to the authors and proprietors 
 of soch copi^ during the time therein mentioned.'" And also to 
 an act, entitied ** an act supplementary to an act, entitled an act 
 far tiie eocomragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
 eliarls, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, 
 danng- tbe times therein mentjoned, and extending the benefits 
 tbererf to the arts of deiigningf, cngraTing, and etching historical 
 aad oilier priats>^ 
 
 JAMES DILL, 
 Clerk of the Southern District of JSi'eio- Torlc. 
 
REVIEW BY 
 DOOT. S. I.. ZMOTCBZIi. 
 
 '' I was much gratified by the detailed and practical esplainatioa 
 you give of the woollen manufacture. The pertinency and judgment of 
 your remark!! on the domestic articles of sumach, quercitron, maple, 
 and podalyria, are worthy of the most attentive consideration. So are 
 vour remarks on the culture of woad, madder, and the olive. 
 
 '< Tlie subjects on which you have written are of very great moment 
 and extent. They are becoming daily more so. Whether your valua- 
 ble book Avill sensibly accelerate the objects it contemplates, time will 
 3ho\v. I think it will ; as it ought to |ja\ e that effect ; and assist in ren- 
 dering our country less dependent than heretofore, and now, on foreign 
 labour, for the coloured goods oa which you treat " 
 
 SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. 
 New-York, Dec. 20, 1823. 
 
 REVIEW BY 
 
 DOCT. FZSIiZX PASCAZ.ZS. 
 
 *' la a country like this, where capitalists, and other industrious clas- 
 ses, call loudly in every journal of the day, in every electoral raetiting, 
 and sovereign legislature, for the encouragement of domestic manu- 
 factures, this work is an acceptable and welcome present- 
 
 " Good materials for manufacturing woollen are daily furnished ; and 
 line specimens of that species of fabric are often proudly exhibited ; 
 but, whoever feels inclined radically to promote public wealth and in- 
 dustry, may become well enabled to judge of what improvements and 
 practical knowledge are still wanting, by a perusal of the * Treatise' of 
 £>f Mr. Partridge. 
 
 " As a ^v^lter, tnaf gentleman is clear and perspicuous, an acurafe 
 «5bserver, and a lucid expositor, in every department and branch of his 
 business ; and whether he treats of the competency of manager or work- 
 man, the reader perceives that he speaks from the authority of sn ex- 
 j)crience, drawn from paternal initiation, and long familiarity with his 
 [)rofes;iou in England as well as in our States. He has rendered his 
 work doubly useful and interesting by uniting the subject of the manu- 
 facture of broad cloths and cassimeres to the complete exposition 
 of the art of Dying 
 
 " It is not my purpose at present to enter into a review of (he work 
 of this eminent artist ; it forms a closely printed volume of 288 duodeci- 
 jno pages. Such an entertaining analysis as it would, however, prove, 
 will, it is hoped, be accomplished by some more comjjetent judge, i 
 will only remark that more than ordinary praise is due Mr. Partridge ; 
 and that he is particularly entitled to the patronage of the community 
 to which he belongs as an adopted citizen ; for he has cheerfully im- 
 parled without reserve or national prejudice, the means of improve- 
 ment and extended advantage, in a branch of usefulness, with which 
 but few individuals in this country are as yet thoroughly acquainted. 
 His work is also as worthy of the attention of the learned as of the art- 
 ist. It is an aid of decided importance to national industry, and a va?- 
 yable tribute to the Republic " 
 
 FELIX PASCALTS. 
 r^ew-York, Dec. 26, 1823. 
 
To his fellow-citizens of (he United States of America. 
 
 Although by birth and education I am an Englishman, yet I 
 was taught from my earliest infancy to consider civil and religi- 
 ous liberty as the first of earthly blessings. As these inestimable 
 privileges are more generally diffused and better secured in tliis 
 than in any other country, it has therefore been the country of 
 my adoption. To assist in perpetuating your system, is my most 
 ardent desire, and I know of no better means than by promoting 
 internal industry, being convinced that an idle and necessitous 
 population is the main pillar of tyranny ! ! That your populatioH 
 is already too aumewno for the uieuus or employment will not be 
 disputed — can it then be good policy to pay twenty million of dol- 
 lars annually for foreign labour, and permit your own citizens to 
 remain idle for want of employment ? This is a political absurdity 
 we could not give credence to, were not its existence proved by 
 ^aily experience ! '. If this work should contribute in the smallest 
 degree towards establishing one branch of manufacture, that will 
 find employment for three or four hundred thousand of your popu- 
 lation, it will not be considered as useless, and the author will be 
 amply repaid in the satisfaction of having done his duty as an adop- 
 ted citizen. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 ?age 49, line 10, for require, read acquire. 
 
 64, line 20, lonf^est pullies, read largest. 
 
 ■•■ 84, line 18, for treated in, read heated in. 
 
 97, line 16, for observations, r««rf aberration^. 
 
 106, line 28, for band, rearf barrel. 
 
 116, line 16, for valuableness,rco J variableness. 
 
 121, line 13, for opinion given, read opinion now given — 14, fo^ 
 
 greater importance, read great importance. 
 
 126, line 28^ for portion of cloth, read portion of both. 
 
 131, line 23, for moued, read mosed. 
 
 132, line 7, for score, read scoured. 
 
 193, line 1, leave out first sentence beginning with "was thii 
 
 wool, fcc" 
 — — 197, line 31, for dying, read drying. 
 216, line 26, for scour, read sour. 
 
 - 21T, line ^T) fv»r one) JivUo It, irtfaA ant\ divided. 
 
 . 226, line 5, for to black, read to bleach, 
 
 276, Hne 33j for there are not, r«ad they areno'f,. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 B 
 
 uneven 
 
 Air store for wool drying 
 American dje drug^ 
 Alder bark 
 
 Braying or scouring dannels 
 Biei-s to warp 
 Bobbin, winding 
 Braying by steam. 
 Burling of cloth 
 Brushing of cloth 
 Brazil wood 
 Black djing 
 Blue black, to dye 
 Black jet, to dye 
 Black, to prevent being 
 Black wool, to dye 
 Black wool, for mixtures 
 Black on cotton 
 Black on cotton ^ 
 
 Black on silk 
 Blue, to dye in vat 
 Blue, dyed in furnace 
 Blue on cotton 
 Blue on silk 
 Buff on cloth 
 Buff, to dye on wool 
 Buff on cotton 
 Brimstone on cotton 
 Brown, to dye on cloth 
 Brown, to dye on woo 
 Brown, olive, on wool 
 Brown, on cotton 
 Bleaching cotton 
 
 Chemical operations in woollen factories 
 Cards, quality of, for scribblers, &c. 
 Chain weight of, &c. for broads * 
 
 1* 
 
Chain we%ht of, fcr cassimeres 
 
 Courses at ^g'-mill, for felts 
 
 Cleaning wool and cloth, for dving 
 
 Chemick, to make 
 
 Cochineal, how to choose • 
 
 Camwood 
 
 Cloth, saving the lists 
 
 Cloth, wrinkles in dv log 
 
 Cloth, for blue, boiled in cutbear 
 
 Cotton, to dye blue 
 
 Compound colours 
 
 Cinnamon on cloth 
 
 Cinnamon on wool 
 
 Cinnamon on cotton 
 
 Chocolate on cotton 
 
 Colours, compounded of red and blue 
 
 Crimson, to dye on cloth 
 
 Crimson, to dye on wool 
 
 Claret on cloth . > 
 
 Claret on wool 
 
 Corbeau on wool 
 
 Chemical bleaching of cotton 
 
 D 
 Drying of wool 
 Diy ing of cloth 
 "Dying of cloth 
 Dyers' weed 
 Dye woods, to prepare 
 Drab on cloth 
 Drab on wool 
 Drabs, red, to dye 
 Drabs, yellow 
 Drabs, pearl, to dye 
 Drabs, green 
 Drab, on cotton 
 Drab, on silk 
 I>ouble colours, on woollen 
 
 £ 
 Effects of water on dying 
 Ebony green . 
 
 Factories, American, too large 
 
 Fire stove for wool drying 
 
 Fulling of cloth, with soap 
 
 Fulling-stoek 
 
 Fulling cloth with urine 
 
 FolliDg with CastOe soap 
 
Fulling- with steam heat 
 Fustic, old . . >> 
 
 Fustic, young , 
 
 Furnaces, &c. for dying , 
 
 Furnaces to set . -» 
 
 Ferments used in blue dying 
 Furnace blues 
 Fawn colour on cloth 
 Fawn do. on wool 
 Fawn on silk 
 
 G 
 Gig-mill, American, very imperfect 
 Gig-mill, barrel of 
 Gig-mill, handle frames 
 Goods to prepare for dying 
 Green, true, on cloth 
 Green, grass colour , 
 Green, true, on wool * 
 
 Green, blue, to dye • ^ 
 
 Green, bottle, to dye 
 Green, yellow, to make 
 Green, bronze, to dye 
 Green, olive, to do. . 
 
 Green, bottle, bronze hue . 
 
 Greens, red, to dye 
 Green on cotton 
 Green, olive, on cotton » 
 
 Green, silk, to dye • ., 
 
 Green, saxon, on silk 
 Green, olive, on silk 
 
 Hats, to dye black ». 
 
 ] 
 Itinerancy of dyers 
 Indigo, how to choose 
 Indigo-plant, substitute for woad 
 Imperial blue, to dye 
 
 Jennies, American, too small 
 
 L 
 
 Lixivium, for scouring wool 
 
 Logwood, qualities of 
 
 Lilac on wool , ^ 
 
 Lilac on cotton 
 
 London smoke on wool 
 
 H 
 
 
 rage 
 
 
 96 
 
 
 147 
 
 
 148 
 
 
 171 
 
 
 174 
 
 
 , 209 
 
 
 212 
 
 f 
 
 252 
 
 • 
 
 253 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 254 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 101 
 
 
 171 
 
 
 227 
 
 
 228 
 
 
 229 
 
 
 231 
 
 
 233 
 
 
 244 
 
 
 ib. 
 
 
 235 
 
 
 236 
 
 
 ib. 
 
 
 > ib. 
 
 
 237 
 
 
 238 
 
 
 > ib. 
 
 
 k ib. 
 
 i '. 
 
 31 
 
 i 
 
 123 
 
 i 
 
 143 
 
 i 
 
 158 
 
 '. 
 
 262 
 
 33 
 
 46 
 146 
 
 264 
 265 
 27J 
 
8 
 
 M 
 
 MacliinerT, American, defectire 
 Mixing of coloured and white wool 
 Manag-ers, erroneous opinion of 
 Mordants used in dying 
 Madder, qualities of 
 Mang-eet, properties of 
 Maple bark 
 Morone on silk 
 Mulberry on cloth 
 Mulberry on wool 
 Mulberry on silk 
 Morone on silk 
 
 Page 
 
 Napping of cloth 
 
 N 
 O 
 
 Oiling of wool 
 
 Oil, properties of, for wool 
 
 Oil, from seeds, grown in America 
 
 Oiling of cloth 
 
 Oak saw dust 
 
 Orange to dye on cloth 
 
 Orange after scarlet 
 
 Orange on flannel 
 
 Orange on wool . . 
 
 Orange on cotton 
 
 Pressing and packing of cloth 
 
 Peachwood 
 
 Purple to dye on cloth 
 
 Purple on wool 
 
 Purple to dye on cotton 
 
 Purple, common, on cotton 
 
 Pink to dye on cloth 
 
 Pink to dye on wool 
 
 Pink to dye on silk 
 
 Paris mud on wool 
 
 R 
 
 Redwood 
 
 Reddish brown black 
 
 Red to colour on woollens 
 
 Red on flannel 
 
 Red on baize 
 
 Red, without tin liqun 
 
 Red on cotton 
 
 Red on &ilk 
 
9 
 
 s 
 
 Stapling" of wool . ; 
 
 Scouring- of wool 
 
 Scribbling and carding 
 
 Slubbing . . 
 
 Spinning- . . ^ 
 
 Sheep, merino, to improve the wool 
 
 Scouring liquor, heat of 
 
 Snapping- machine 
 
 Sizing- the warp 
 
 Shearing of cloth 
 
 Scouring with urine before dyin< 
 
 Scarlet, new preparation for 
 Shell -lac 
 
 Silk to dye blue 
 Silk to dye sapphire blue 
 Silk, a mazarine blue 
 Soap lees for lather 
 Sulphuring- woollen 
 Scarlet on woollen 
 Scarlet, Nash's, to dye 
 Scarlet, with shell-lac 
 Scarlet to dye on silk 
 Scarlet, mock, on silk 
 Salmon colour on cotton 
 Gtx-aw colour on silk 
 
 Twilling of wool 
 
 Tentering of cloth * 
 
 Tin liquors, to make 
 
 Turmeric 
 
 Tea brown on wool 
 
 Urine, properties of . 
 
 Vitriol and indigo, to mix 
 Vessels for scarlet, &c. 
 Vats to construct 
 Vats, to measure contents of 
 Vat woad, out of order 
 
 U 
 
 V 
 
 w 
 
 Woollen factories, management of 
 Woi*kmen, employment of 
 Waste in factories 
 Wool, choice, and properties of 
 
 Page 
 
 42 
 43 
 58 
 61 
 ib. 
 38 
 48 
 64 
 74 
 111 
 131 
 137 
 142 
 213 
 214 
 ib. 
 ib. 
 226 
 239 
 243 
 244 
 245 
 ib. 
 248 
 ib. 
 
 53 
 110 
 134 
 142 
 270 
 
 47 
 
 138 
 
 16S 
 164 
 200 
 
 207 
 
 25 
 27 
 34 
 ;37 
 
10 
 
 Warping 
 
 Weaving 
 
 Wool, Portuguese, Spanish, &c. 
 
 Wool, condition of, to be attended to 
 
 Wool, Saxony 
 
 Wool, scouring and washiDg of 
 
 Wool, dying of 
 
 Wool, pickin?^ of 
 
 Wool, oiling of 
 
 Washing cloth, after fulling 
 
 Water, effects of, on dving 
 
 Weld 
 
 Wuad. to make 
 
 Woad, substitute for 
 
 White on cloth 
 
 Wme colour on cloth 
 
 Wine colour on wool 
 
 Yam. how calculated 
 
 Yaru skeins and runs, length of 
 
 Yellow black, to dye 
 
 Yellow on woollen 
 
 Ye How on wool 
 
 Yellow on lift 
 
 Yellow u f ?noQ 
 
 Tellow «n aiik . 
 
 Page 
 
 67 
 
 75 
 
 37 
 
 41 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 49 
 
 53 
 
 lb. 
 
 94 
 
 116 
 
 147 
 
 148 
 
 158 
 
 224 
 
 258 
 
 259 
 
 62 
 65 
 182 
 220 
 221 
 222 
 ib. 
 393 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ••«» 
 
 THE support of the woollen manufacture has been a primary 
 object with several European governments, more particularly so 
 with England, where such duties have been laid on foreign articles 
 of this description as have amounted to a total prohibition ; but 
 whatever value may be attached to it in other countries, it is dou- 
 bly valuable in this. The greater portion of the population of 
 Europe, are too poor to wear expensive clothing, the cloth they 
 purchase, being of very inferior quality, and one suit will last 
 them four or five years. In this country the poorest citizen will 
 have an annual suit, and mechanics two, and the cloth they wear 
 is of a quality equal to what is worn by the substantial farmers and 
 tradesmen of England. I cannot much err, therefore, when I as- 
 sert, that in the article of woollen clothing, the inhabitants of the 
 United States consume in quantity and value, doubly as much as 
 any other country of the same population. 
 
 The wool sheared in Great Britain is about one hundred and 
 forty millions of pounds annually, and the quantity imported, 
 about one hundred and sixty millions, making a grand total of 
 three hundred millions of pounds per annum. The average value 
 of the wool raised at home, is about one shilling and twopence a 
 pound, and the imported, three shillings and sixpence, taking the 
 latter at what merchants give for it in foreign countries. Each 
 pound of English wool when manufactured, will be worth four 
 shillings, and the imported eleven shillings, which will be three 
 times the original value, making due allowance for the oil and 
 other imported articles used in the fabrication. It will be per- 
 ceived from this concise statement, that England, for every pound 
 of wool sold in a manufactured state, is benefited in twice the 
 amount of the cost of the raw material. She is enabled, also, by 
 the aid of capital and machinery, to turn out as much work, with 
 a population of five hundred thousand, being nearly the number 
 now employed in this description of manufacture, as could have 
 been done sixty years since by five millions ; nor do their profits 
 end here — agents are employed to sell in foreign countries, where 
 many of them make large fortunes, and return home to the mother 
 hive loaded with the fruit of their enterprise and industry. These 
 agents exchange manufactured articles for raw material, and sell 
 to a much larger amount, which increasing the rate of exchange, 
 
12 
 
 other capitalists, as well as those employed in commere, are ena- 
 bled to make considerable profits. 
 
 It is in this way that England is enriched by her commerce ; this 
 is the talisman of her envied superiority ! and she has always 
 esteemed her woollen manufacture as a principal source of her 
 wealth. There is, therefore, no manufacture tlie establishing of 
 which is of so much consequence to a nation as the woollen in all 
 its branches — the articles made in it are more numerous and more 
 costly than in any other, and among these, that of broadcloth and 
 cassimere, stand conspicuous for their value and general con- 
 sumption. Let it be distinctly understood, that every American 
 who purchase one hundred dollars worth of European woollens, is 
 contributing towards the support of other countries, in the sum of 
 sixty-six dollars, and impoverishing his own in exactly the same 
 amount ! ! 
 
 If we reason from what has taken place in other countries, we 
 must acknowledge that the woollen manufacture is the most diffi- 
 cult of any to establish, and the most tardy in being brought to 
 perfection, particularly in the finer qualities. That of cotton has 
 been in existence only a few years, whilst centuries have been oc- 
 cupied in bringing woollen to its present state. Our manufac- 
 turers, therefore, should not be impatient because their progress 
 has been slow. 
 
 I have no wish to magnify be^^ond measure, the difficulties our - 
 manufacturers have to encounter, yet it is of primary consequence 
 that these should not be underrated. In objects of less magni- 
 tude, which can be executed by the ingenuity and industry of in- 
 dividuals, little impediments to their progress are easily seen and 
 as easily removed ; but in an extensive and complicated manufac- 
 ture, where the operations are numerous, an^ where each one 
 must be well performed, in order to compete successfully with 
 other nations, it is absolutely necessary that every impediment 
 should be viewed in its full extent, and the utmost exertion em- 
 ployed to remove it. 
 
 It requires two pounds six ounces of fleece wool of three-quar- 
 ters, and full blooded merino, that has been well washed on the 
 sheep's back, to make one yard of stout superfine broadcloth. The 
 •xpense in making, for workmanship, superintendence, interest 
 on machinery and plant, and repairs, is more than owners of fac- 
 tories are generally aware of. There cannot, in the present state 
 of manufacturing, be much saving made by lowering of work- 
 men's wages, I should presume not more than fifteen or twenty 
 cents on each yard ; but the value of the goods may be so much 
 improved by perfect workmanship, as to make the cloth fabricated 
 from these qualities worth one dollar more on each yard in the 
 present depreciated state of the market, than they, now generally 
 are, without adding to tke expense of making. 
 
13 
 
 We will take it for granted, that woollen factories, that have been 
 well managed, with credit and capital to purchase to the be-t ad- 
 vantage, were last year making twenty per cent, on their returns, 
 which profit, so far as 1 have the means of calculating, comes pretty 
 near the truth. Let us see how they will stand when imported 
 cloth is as low as we have reason to expect. Woollen goods have 
 fallen, in England, within a year past, about eight per cent., and 
 exchange here, has fallen four, which makes the cloth market 
 twelve per cent, more against the American manufacturer, than it 
 was eighteen month-j since. I have recently received accounts 
 from an English manufacturing district, that fine wool has tallen 
 there, more tlian fifteen per cent., which, with the bounty allowed 
 upon exports, will enable them to invoice the spring ^hipments at 
 ten per cent, below the late invoices If added to this, the ex- 
 change that is now eight per cent., should come down to pai, our 
 best conducted manufactories must become losing concerns. I 
 hope no such crisis may take place, but as the event is by do 
 means improbable, the manufacturers should endeavour to meet it, 
 by making their goods so perfect, and by putting their establish- 
 ments on such an economical footing, as may then enable them to 
 support a com.-etition. 
 
 There are three leading defects in most of the cloths made in 
 this country. The wool is not well scribbled, the warps are too 
 crowded, and the nap is not more than half raised. Scribbling is 
 too often neglected in England, as well as in this counti*y ; it ought 
 to be scribbled twice ; this is done by a few of the best English 
 manufacturers, and it wonderfully improves the fabric, it spins 
 better, is softer^ more free from nips, and indeed works better in 
 every succeeding operation. The scribblers in the west of Eng- 
 land are, however, only single machines, and here they are gene- 
 rally double — the wool ought, therefore, to be as well scribbled 
 here at one operation, as it is there a' two. provided the machines 
 are as well made, and worked with equal ability. 
 
 Wool of middling quality is, in England, spun into skeins of 
 eighteen to twenty the pound, for the abb, and from twenty- four 
 to twenty-five for the warp, for stout broadcloth. The skein be- 
 ing three hundred and twenty yards. This quality is generally set 
 on the loom eleven and a half quarters, and seveiittcn hundred, or 
 eighty-five bier — each bier containing thirty-eight threads. For 
 fine quality wool, many of the best n)anufacturers spin the abb no 
 finer than for the middling quality, though the warp is spun five 
 skeins finer, and the chain is warped eighteen hundred, and set on 
 the loom twelve quarters. The fine quality may be set the same 
 width on the loom as the middling, but the bier must be lowered. 
 The strength of the fabric lies in the warp, but when tliis is too 
 much crowded, the weaver cannot drive in sufficient filling to af- 
 
14 
 
 ford a thick nap^is tbis is almost altogether derived from tbe 
 fijliog;. ti 
 
 When cloth is OTrrectly and faithfully made in the loom, the 
 workmanship will he thro^vn away, unless the nap is property rais- 
 ed. In this branch of the manufacture, the American fabrics are 
 in general miserably deficient- I lately called to examine the 
 prize cloihs that were purchased at the late fairs, fully exj^ecting 
 to find it tolerably perfect in tliis respect, but I am sorrj- to have 
 to say, they did not meet my expectation. The nap was thin and 
 straggling, and the threads plairily to be seen, without eren a close 
 inspection. The cloths were otherwise well made. This defect 
 belongs to almost every cloth I have seen, that has been made ia 
 this country. Instead of giving it a large portion of dead and mid- 
 dling work, the nap is cleared out too soon with quick teazle, 
 which makes it easy to the workmen, but proves ruinous to the 
 manufacturer. Sucii goods when cat low enough to make a short 
 nap, will leave the cloth thread-bare, and when left too long, the 
 face will be covered with a rough, uncouth nap. Cloth will stand 
 a larare portion of dead and middling work, without injuring the 
 fabric, and the more it has in moderation, the finer and softer tbe 
 fa«^e will be ; but it is very liable to be damaged when new tea- 
 zles are employed ; and when these are used, which should always 
 be towards the end of the operation, care must be taken not to^ 
 give more than the fabric will bear. 
 
 Those who are conversant with the imported cloth market, 
 must have seen that fine cloths made from the same quality wool, 
 will command very different prices, tliat there will be from one to 
 two dollars per yard difference in the value. TTiis increased value 
 IS the result of perfect workmanship: and those manufacturers who 
 have succeeded in making the most perfect ai tide, have accumu- 
 lated lars'e fortunes, whilst others who have made them inferior, 
 have not much increased their capitals. This is by no means sur- 
 prising, when we note that the difference in the value of tbe goods 
 pays fbr the whole expense of making. A similar difference is 
 observable between the cloth fabricated in this country ; and sure- 
 Iv this important fact ouglit to convince every manufacturer of 
 the necessity of making perfect goods. 
 
 The fulling and dressing of cloth requires great attention. In 
 milling of blues, it is a good method first to scour them out, before 
 fulling, with a little thin soap and water, new laying them in the 
 stocks and scouring this with water clean away, going with them 
 about an hour, this will rid them of a great deal of filth and lime, 
 and the felting wiU afterwards go on better. 
 
 I have given instructions for raising the nap after the manner 
 generally practised by the west of England manufacturers twentj 
 years ago. Since tliis work has been in press, I have received in^ 
 
15 
 
 formation from a respectable maker, from the sITme quarter, giving 
 an account of the process now pursued by their most celebrated 
 manufacLnrers. This process will occupy more time, and consume 
 more teazle than the former. In raising, they give from twenty 
 to twenty-five mill-fuil of work, beginning with the deadest and 
 proceeding' to the quickest. The cloth should be rather dry at the 
 beginning, and kept so nearly to tlie quick work. If too dry, the 
 flock will be seen to fly off like dust, then it must be slightly 
 moistened ; but with the quick work it must be kept quite wet, 
 and the wool should be changed once or twice every mill-full. 
 
 An opinion that ^loth can be better raised by hand than by the 
 gig-mill, is prevalent among the woollen manufactures of this 
 count ry, which is truly an unfortunate impression, and one that is 
 highly uijurious to the manufactuiing interest. I will venture to 
 assert, without teai- of contradiction, that there is no celebrated 
 maker of fine broadcloth in any part of England, whose raising is 
 not performed by the gig-mill. 
 
 Manufacturers who put as much stock in their cloth, as I have 
 directed, may hear an occasional complaint of their being too 
 stout -, this objcotioa arises from defective raising ; for were tiie 
 clolli done justice to at the gig-mill, they would never be com- 
 plained of; but when the wool lies in the ground instead of being 
 placed on the surface by raising, and there cut down very low, 
 the cloth instead of handling mellow, will feel hard and stiff. To 
 this cause must be attributed the objection generally made to 
 American cloth when fabi-icated with a full body. The French 
 and v^ermans, particularly the latter, put more stock in their clotii 
 tlian the English, the substance being reduced by raising to any 
 fitanuard their market may want. 
 
 I have mentioned under the head oil, after having described the 
 properties of such as can be used on wool, that neaily all the fish 
 oils were unfit for the purpose. I have since received such in- 
 formation from a respectable dealer in oiL as to induce me to be- 
 Jieve that the best sperm will ariswer for oiling cf the finest quali- 
 ty wool. This dealer informs me that no oil will combine Uiore 
 readily with the volatile alluili, that it is the least drying of any 
 known oil, and that it has been brouglit into disrepute among wool- 
 len manufacturers, by hnving been adulterated — it being commonly 
 mixed by disreputable traders, with other fish oils that is cheaper 
 and less pure. This gentleman has served many of the first fac- 
 tories with fine sperm that has been found to answer perfectly 
 well. If this be correct, which from the intelligence and respecta- 
 bility of my informant, I have no reason to doubt, the vvooi^ea 
 factories may be supplied with a good article at little more than 
 half the price of gahpoli, provided they purchase of such dealers 
 as will give them a genuine and prime article. 
 
16 
 
 I believe this is the only work in the English language on the 
 mauufacturing- of broadcloth and cassimere, none other having 
 ever come under my notice. I hare endeavoured to give every 
 instruction that is necessary to the well performance of the busi- 
 ness in the plainest language, and sufficiently clear and ample for 
 the most ignoraut to follow. That nothing might be wanting to 
 make the work complete, I have obtained the latest and most ap- 
 proved modes of making those fabrics from the west of England, 
 and have added a table of all that is requisite to guide the manu- 
 facturer. Some of the information has been received since this 
 introduction was began, and I considered it would be useful to 
 give it in this part of the work. There will be various opinions 
 given by European workmen on the mode of making th-cse goods, 
 some will be recommending one system, and some another, which 
 serves to show there is considerable latitude in the practice pur- 
 sued in other countries, as well as in this. The system I have 
 given is such as is followed by the best Gloucestershire manufac- 
 turers, and if inquiry be made among the importers of fine wool- 
 lens, it will be found that the cloths imported from that county, 
 are fully equal to those brought from any other part of England, 
 this system must, consequently, be as good as any practised in that 
 country, and well worthy the attention of American manufacturers. 
 
 There are several works extant on the art of dying, but none 
 deserving of notice that is sufficiently practical. Bancroft and 
 Cooper were not practical dyers, th.erefore, it could not be expect- 
 ed they should give the minutia of the art, which defect renders 
 their works almost useless to the greater number of dyers. To be 
 merely informed of the materials necessary to produce a given 
 colour, can never make a dyer, it is equally necessary that every 
 part of the workmanship should be given, and herein all works 
 hitherto published on the art have been deficient. The time of 
 boiling the dj'e wares, of running the cloth in the furnace, and of 
 boiling it therein : the preparing of different solutions preparatory 
 to dying, and many other particulars that may appear trifling to 
 persons unacquainted with the practice, is as essential to the pro- 
 duction of colour as is the receipts for dying. Those who have 
 read the above-named authors, must have observed that they pre- 
 scribe a given quantity of mordant in proportion to the weight of 
 the goods dyed, without any reference to the colour, or to the 
 state of the goods. There are but two colours that will admit of 
 the portion prescribed by them being used, which are red and 
 yellow — were one-fourth or one-fifth of alum used in general, it 
 would ruin the colours, and if that portion were used on wool, it 
 could never be wrought into cloth. Alum and other mordants 
 produce a specific effect on every colouring matter emplo\'ed in 
 2iying, and the quaatit\^ used must be in proportion to the hue of 
 
17 
 
 the colour intended to be obtained, consequently, no general rule 
 can be laid down. 
 
 Doctor Cooper's treatise is Hltogetber a compilation selected 
 from alinost every author that has ever vv^ritten on the art, but 
 principally from Hcllot aud other old French writers, whose works 
 have been published many years, and whose formula have been 
 long- exploded. That the Doctor was never practically engaged 
 in woollen-dying, maybe inferred from the fact that in every in- 
 stance where he has given his own opinion, it is uniformly erro- 
 neous. 
 
 Doctor Bancroft's work is intrinsically valuable to the scientific 
 artist, and has been the means of introducing great improvements 
 in the practice of dying and calico printing, but as all his experi- 
 ments were made on a very minute scale, it is of no value as a dy- 
 er's text book. 
 
 The receipts I hare given for dying are such as are used in the 
 west of England, and are, what we term, the best mode of dying. 
 It will be understood, that we have in Europe, two sort of dyes, 
 one of common colours, that are employed on low priced goods, and 
 another of a superior kind, that are used on goods of a better qual- 
 ity. Those I have given are of the best kind, all taken from actual 
 receipts now in my possession, with the original patterns attached 
 to them. It will be observed that some of the materials used there, 
 are not much known in this country, such are weld, barwood, and 
 green ebony. The best substitute for weld, so far as it regards 
 colour, is the quercitron, or black oak bark, which affords a colour 
 equally as good as the other, but, being a powerful astringent, it 
 does not leave the wool so soft as the weld. Barwood is undoubt- 
 edly the best dye among all the red woods for browns, aud many 
 other colours requiring a red body. Camwood is genei-ally employ- 
 ed as a substitute in this country. Green ebony gives a strong 
 greenish yellow, and no other dye-stuff Avill produce exactly the 
 same shade of colour. The red wood sold here is very different 
 from that which bears the same name in England. 
 
 There is, in this country, a deficiency in many dying materials 
 which renders it difficult for our dyers to equal the Englisli. The 
 mordant, called argol, is but little known here. There is a great 
 range in the quality of this article, and as great a difference in the 
 price; sometimes the most inferior quality will answer a better 
 purpose than the best, while in other colours the finest is required. 
 It is seldom that more than one quality of madder is seen here, and 
 this has to be used for every description o^ colour. In my receipts 
 it will be perceived that mull madder is sometimes prescribed, and 
 at other times, ombre, gamcne, and crop. How it has happened 
 that only one quality has fo>ind its way to this country, I am at a 
 loss to divine ; but, however it may have occurred, the want of the 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 various qualities, is a serious injury to our dying establishmentSk 
 Wii.ii iiue ombre is piescribed, in any receipt, the madder usual- 
 ly sold here v/ill answer, it being- of that qualily; but when mull 
 is prescribed, it will be necessarj to use a much smallei' quantity 
 than is mentioned in the I'eceipt, and even then, it will not produce 
 the same colour, VV^hen fine (irop is directed to be used, which is 
 always the case in fioe madder reds, the dyer will not be able to 
 find a substitute excepting- in tlie expensive article of cochineal. 
 
 There is another serious impediment wliich must operate ag-ainst 
 American dyers that I was not aware of till I began the d}e-drug 
 business, in looking round the city of Ne.w-York with a view to 
 purcliase dye-woods, I found much that was offered for sale was 
 miserable stuff, totally unfit for the use of the dyer. Some lots of 
 fustic, nicaragua, and camwood, were worth little more than for 
 fire- wood, aud should these find their way to our dying establish- 
 ments, it must prov« ruinous to the consumer. The logwood is 
 g-enerally of a good -quality. 
 
 To colour a permanent blue is the most difficult process in dy- 
 ing. All other colours may be done by a receipt, and when once 
 Avell performed, may be repeated with the utmost certainty, pro- 
 vided the water and dying wares are the same ; buf it is not so with 
 woad dying, in this a constant judgment is required. It depends 
 altogether on a given stage of fermentation being equally and con- 
 stantly preserved, and as this is ever liable to vary from a variety 
 of causes, the operatimi is thereby rendered very difficult. 
 
 It was recently announced in the papers that at the Staten-Isl- 
 and d^'e-house, they had discovered a mode of fixing the Prussian 
 bine so as to prevent its turning green by the action of the fixed 
 alkalies. As this would be a grand desideratum m the art, I felt 
 much interested in the result, and have been anxiously expecting 
 to hear a confirmation of this invaluable discovery. It was made 
 known by Doctor Bancroft, many years ago, that woollen could 
 be dyed blue of a much more brilliant colour than with indigo, by 
 immersing it first in a solution of prussiate of pot-ash, aud then ia 
 a solution of green copperas ; but as it was foimd that the colour 
 turned to a greenish drab, -when it came in contact with any of the 
 alkalies, and as this cliange was the eficct of a law of nature, call- 
 ed chemical action, there has been scarcely any subsequent at- 
 tempts made, by scientific artists, to fix the cok)ur. As, however, 
 many other discoveries equally as improbable as this, have been 
 made during the progress of chemical science, I was inclined to 
 ^ive credence to theirs, and still hope they have experienced no 
 disappointment. 
 
 In England tfee woad dyers are stationa^ry ; the woad is regu- 
 larly purchased from some celebrated maker %vho, from long- prac- 
 tical experietice, has been able to raise the plaut, and manufac- 
 ture it in one uniform wav. The lime is obtained from iwe same 
 
19 
 
 wtaker, and is always of the same kind and of uniform strength-; 
 the ferments are obtained of the same regular quality, and when a 
 <Iyer is once well acquainted with the art, he is able to work with 
 very few failures, and these are seldom carried to excess. In this 
 country the case is reversed, it rarely occurring that woad can be 
 obtained from two houses of the same strength and quality. Some 
 is raised in America, and some is imf»orted ; thai which is raised 
 in this country, and much thai is imported, being what is called 
 weak woad, which sells in England at fifty per cent, less than that 
 which is strong. The difference in tiie quality arises from the one 
 being raised on land of the strongest kind, that has been in pas- 
 ture many years, and the other on arable land, that has been weak- 
 ened by corn-crops and was probably never of the strongest kind. 
 The lime obtained in the ditTerent states is of unequal strength, 
 and does not spend in equal time ; the ferments vary according to 
 the state of the stones in which the gram is ground, and to the qual- 
 ity of the madder used ; but when all these are uniformly perfect, 
 the woad-dyer has still difficulties to encounter that he never ex- 
 periences in Europe. There the dying is mostly performed by 
 public dyers, and when vats are out of order, Avhich they are ever 
 liable to be, the operator, quietly and at his leisure, brings them 
 again to work. In this country it is done at factories, and if any 
 thing happens to retard the working of a vat, the operator is look- 
 ed upon with a suspicious eye, and many disagreeable reflections 
 are thrown out against his capacity, which generally urges him on 
 to hasty measures that frequently produces a tatal failure. 
 
 European dyers have had to contend with anotlier difficiilty that 
 is not so easily accounted for. They will, in some situations, be 
 unable to work at all, and in others, will work well for a short pe- 
 riod, and then will be unable to proceed without any of the usual 
 defects appearing. An instance of the former case occurred very 
 recently at Pleasant Valley. An Irish woad dyer, who has since 
 proved himself to be a first rate workman, set a vat there and could 
 not progress in the working of it, nor could he in any way account 
 for the failure; the contents of the vat was, of course, lost by him. 
 After sustaining this Joss, which amounted, including his own time, 
 to nearly two hundred dollars, he went to West Bloomfield, Niew- 
 Jersey, wbere he has been eminently successful. I have under- 
 taken the woad dying at three different places in this country with 
 various success. During the late war I was engaged at the steam 
 factory in Providence, Rhode-Island, where I worked two vats for 
 nearly three years with uniform success. In the year 1821, I 
 went to the West Bloomfield factory, v/liere I worlced two vats for 
 several montlis, without having them much out of order; but the 
 colours were wealc, owing to the woad being «f bad quality. Soon 
 after the vats were set, I informed the owners they must not ex- 
 r>ect strong colours, such as were imported. I have since been al 
 
an establishment in Columbia Connty, State of New-York, where 
 
 I succeeded for three months, and made very superior colours, but 
 could not afterwards work them. Two or three times I left my 
 vats in g-ood order at nig'ht, and found them out of order in the 
 morning, and in a way I had never seen any before. The last day 
 I attempted to work there, f had broug-ht a vat round that had 
 been over limed by forcing- it with bran-bags, so as to produce a 
 g-ood g-reen at twelve o^clock at noon, and it kept improving till 
 the last stirring at night ; in the morning it was entirely off its 
 work, and appeared like a vat that had been over-limed, although 
 ] had given it nohe. I shall leave it to practical woad dyers to 
 decide how this could happen I ! 
 
 It is to be regretted that any failure should occur in woad-dying, 
 it having a tendency to bring it into disrepute with the manufac- 
 turer, for the colours produced by the ash-dye are so miserable as 
 to stand no competition With the best imported. Blue is a prevail- 
 ing colour in the United States ; it is consequently of more im.por 
 tance than any other, and every effort should be made to bring the 
 woad dying to perfection. It is not probable that g-ood woad-dy- 
 ers can be obtained from Europe in sufficient numbers to supply 
 *o many small establishments as are scattered over this country ; 
 they are scarce in Europe, as one dyiug establishment does the 
 work of a number of large factories, and one woad-man is suffi- 
 cient for the largest dye-house. It would be desirable, therefore, 
 (hat a public dye-house should be commenced, and a first rate Eu- 
 ropean woad-dyer emplojed to do the work, If this were esta- 
 blished, the blue wool could be dyed at such a price as would save 
 three or four cents per pound to the manufacturer, independent of 
 paying the carriage backward and forward, which would be a, 
 saving of from seven to nine cents on each yard of broad cloth. 
 A public dye-house should be situated where a sufficient supply of 
 water can be obtained for scouring and washing of white wool, 
 and for washing of blue wool. It should be near to some naviga- 
 ble river, and within a short distance of the city of New -York, if 
 intended for that and the adjoining states. 
 
 The blues coloured in this country •jught to be superior to those 
 imported from England, for the indigo used in the blue vats, is of 
 a superior quality. That which is consumed in England, is of that 
 *?lass known by the name of secondary copperas, here they use the 
 iine purples ; the former is a strong working indigo, but is not 
 worth as much as the latter by twenty per cent. There are but 
 tew persons who are acquainted with the relative value of the dif- 
 ferent samples of indigo. In examining several chestslheld for sale 
 in the city of New- York, I found they asked one shilling the pound 
 more for a quality that was not worth as much for blue dying as 
 others tliey had valued at a less price. Those who are large con- 
 
21 
 
 Eumers of this article would find their account in allowing" a small 
 per centage to a g-ood judge to make their purchases for ihem. 
 
 lo giving receipts for compound colours, it is difficult so to de- 
 signate them, that those who purchase the work may have a dis- 
 tinct idea of the hue of each. The dyers three primitive colours, 
 blue, red, and yellow, can be easily described, so as not to be mis- 
 understood ; but in the compound colours, this is not so easy, and 
 I hat^e felt the impediment very sensibly throughout that branch 
 of the work. I have endeavoured, however, so to describe them, 
 that every dyer may form an idea of the shade of each as near as 
 can be cxplahied by language. This difficulty must exist in every 
 work published on the compound colours. It has been ascertain- 
 ed, that in cinnamon browns alone there are twenty-two thousand 
 different shades, in nearly all these the yellow predominates, and 
 it is impossible to describe more than three of them in any work 
 published on the art, the light, the dark, and the middling cinna- 
 mon : nor can this difficulty be obviated in any other way than by 
 attaching patterns to each receipt, which would make the work 
 infinitely laborious to the author, and so expensive as to be entirely 
 beyond the reach of common dyers. I once had an intention of 
 publishing on such a plan, but I found it could not be sold for less 
 than one hundred dollars for each copy, and that it would occupy 
 a period of five years to complete the work. To obviate this dif- 
 ficulty, I am arranging nearly two thousand patterns in a large 
 book, in regular order, with the design of matching any that may 
 be sent by dyers or manufacturers. To those who purchase dye- 
 stuffs of me, I shall make no charge, but to all others, fifty cents 
 for each pattern that is matched. 
 
 I have been requested to give the process of dying hats of a 
 permanent black, but as this branch of dying is out of my province, 
 I cannot presume to attempt it. Hats, when new, are usually a 
 good black, but after wearing a short time, they change to a dir- 
 ty brown colour. I should apprehend the colour might be fixed 
 so as to be highly permanent by previously boiling them in verdi- 
 gris and argol, and making use of white oak saw dust with the 
 logwood m colouring them. For the preparation liquor, use with 
 four pounds of verdigris eight pounds of argol, or cream of tartar ; 
 boil these two hours before the goods are entered, and then scald 
 or boil the hats the usual time. Put the colour on in a separate 
 furnace, with a liquor extracted from logwood and white oak saw 
 dust in the proportion of twelve pounds of saw dust to ten of log- 
 wood — blacken with copperas as usual. This mode of dying, will 
 not require any nut-galls. Should the colour be too much on the 
 blue, use a small quantity of alder bark or sumac. The hats will 
 have to be washed after preparing, and before finishing. If white 
 <^ak saw dust cannot be easily obtained, they may be finished m 
 
22 
 
 Ihe usual compound, leaying" out the verdigris. Any number may 
 be pruned in the preparatiou liquor, which will not injure by be- 
 ing" kept for mouths. 
 
 From experiments made with the wild indigro plant, I have re- 
 coniinciided its use in a state of decoction for the woad vat, in 
 place rf swiil from bran and madde»', and to fill th^ m up, vrben 
 lowered, by working-. j\Ir. J liie, .1 dver at tlic Steubeuville fac- 
 tory, Ohio, has just informed me that he has tried it according: 10 
 directions g;iven by me, in the Statesman of last year, and have 
 found it hit^lily beneficial. He says the vats woik steadier, more 
 vigrorously, and produce a finer colour than wilh tlie old mode of 
 working-. He gives to those w!iO g-ather the j>iunt. five dollars tlie 
 toD> delivered at the factors, which is only one-fourth of the price 
 of bran. Dyers will therefore find it a valuable succ^ di?:eum 
 uoon principles of economy, independent of the colour it affords. 
 
 I am indebted toaf'ieiul for the article on bleaching- by the 
 chemical process. The g-entleman from wliom I obtained it. is 
 more scientific than usually ftills to the lot of practical artists, and 
 to this cause I am probahlv mdebted for the promptitucle with 
 whioh my request wns s:ran'?'>d, and for the liberal permission to 
 make use of it in any way moot advautageaui to the public. 
 
DYE-STUFFSv 
 
 WILLIAM PARTRIDGE, 
 
 No. 68 FULTON-STREET, 
 JiEJF-YORK, 
 
 HAS constantly a supply of English woad of prime quality, 
 camwood, redwood, red-sanders, green ebony, barwood, logwood, 
 fustic, nicaragua, brazilletto, alum, and copperas, and all other dye- 
 stuffs warranted, of the best quality. Also, Tat nets and wringing 
 clotli. 
 
 Patterns matched, and receipts sent to any part of America to 
 customers gratis, to all others, fifty cents for each pattern. Intel- 
 ligence, relative to woollen manufacturing and dying, will be free- 
 ly given. It is expected that all letters, inclosing patterns, or 
 Eoliciting information, will be post paid. 
 
TREATISE, &e. 
 
 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF WOOLLEN FACTORIES. 
 
 IN England the woollen factories are undertaken by persons Avho 
 have a competent knowledg-e of the business, having- been either 
 apprenticed to it, or instructed by their parents, who had fo Jowr-d it 
 before them. In this country, the capitalists who embark ia such 
 concerns, have no knowledge of the business, and, in many instan- 
 ces, they employ managers nearly as ignorant as themselves. 
 
 Can any concern be expected to flourish under such circumstan- 
 ces ? It is true they'may flounder along for a few years, and if the 
 manager be an ingenious and enterprising character, and disposed 
 to apply all liis time and attention to the business, he may so im- 
 prove as he goes along, as to keep pace with the best the country 
 affords ; but the greater number will be sure to fall through, and 
 this has already been the case with too many. 
 
 Englishmen were generally employed to manage these concern? 
 when they were first started, most of them only partially acquaint- 
 ed with the bunness ; but they were willing, with that presump- 
 tion which is a prominent ingredient in the character of the great- 
 er number of manufacturing workmen, to undertake the manage- 
 ment of those farts they were ignorant of, as well as those with 
 which they were acquainted. The result has been, that English 
 managers are in disrej)Ute, and their pretensions are so much duuHt- 
 3 
 
26 
 
 ed, that the most able Eng^lish manufacturer, should he emigrate 
 to this country, would find it difficult to persuade the trade that he 
 understood any thing about it. 
 
 It has happened unfortunately that very few who are g-enerally 
 acquainted with this manufacture, bare emigrated to America. I 
 have known but four from the west of England — one of them is in 
 partnership with the ^Messrs. Youngs, of Brandy wine, another is 
 managing for ]Mr. Shepard, of Massachusetts, and the others re&ide 
 in New-York, unemployed in that way — such men would do all that 
 could be performed towards placing our manufactories on a par with 
 the English. 
 
 The manager of a woollen factory should always be in the busi- 
 ness, noroughthe to be engaged in any other pursuit that has a ten- 
 dency to draw his attention away from it ; he must examine the 
 work as it comes from the hands of every workman, and must be 
 able to distinguish good work from bad, nor must he permit any 
 defective work to pass without censure, and a fine, if such is, as it 
 ought to be, thejule of the factory. A manager who cannot dis- 
 criminate between good and bad work, will be compelled to leave 
 the inspection to secondary managers whose qualifications he can- 
 not appreciate ; and it is more than probable that he will be the 
 tool of some smooth designing knave who knows very little more 
 than himself. This state of things will keep such a concern sta- 
 tionarv ; all improvement will be checked, and no progress can be 
 made towards perfection. Other factories in the mean time will 
 be improving in fabric and reputation, and leave this so far be- 
 hind, that the concern will gradually droop and linger until the 
 persons coaceme«i shall either give up, or be ruined. 
 
 Under the direction of an ignorant manager, bad workmen will 
 be encouraged because they cringe to the overseer, whilst good 
 ones will be soured, and dismissed, for displaying a spirit of inde- 
 pendence. A good workman will not be found fault with when 
 be is CQDscicus that he has done better than ethers whose work 
 
27 
 
 has been approved. This state of thing's will cause him to com- 
 plain, and complaint is alwa} s considered impertinence by an ig- 
 norant manag-er. As such a director must be conscious of his own 
 inability to decide, he is ever fearful that a good but discontented 
 workman will expose his ignorance, and thereby cause him to lose 
 his situation — the dread of this often induces him to part with his 
 best hands, very much to tlie injury of the concern. 
 
 It is useless to dwell any longer on the bad effects of ignorant 
 management, as every tradesman must be aware of its ruinous con- 
 sequences. It may be necessary, however, to give a clue by 
 which the capitalist can discover when he employs an ignorant 
 manager, and this may be known in a very simple way. A facto- 
 ry that is under the direction of a man well versed in the business, 
 will be constantly improving until the goods are perfectly made ; 
 whereas, under the management of an ignorant director, it will at 
 least remain stationary, if it does not retrograde. The one will be 
 drawing around him the best workmen, ^v^hiIst the other will be 
 collecting the worst. The igtiorant manager will be so conceited 
 as to think himself superior to all others, before he is at all ac- 
 quainted with the business. He will consider and pronounce the 
 fabrics made under his direction, to be superior, when their infe- 
 riority is visible to every other person who is the least judge of the 
 article. 
 
 ON EMPLOYING OF WORKMEN. 
 
 IN the infancy of any description of manufacture, it will be ne- 
 cessary to employ European workmen ; but native workmen are 
 made as it progresses, and foreign aid may in a few years be dis- 
 pensed with. The settled population of the neighbourhood in 
 which a factory is seated, should be employed in preference to 
 workmen from adjoining couaties or states. 
 
28 
 
 In the west of England the woollen factories are located in small 
 districts. In the county of Gloucester it is all done within a circle 
 whose diameter shall be fifteen miles, within which more than for- 
 ty thousand hands are employed, and these are almost all of them 
 natives of the place, whose fathers and grand-fathers followed the 
 same business before them. By this means, local liabits and preju- 
 dices are acquired, which operate more powerfully to confine them 
 to their district and calling, than could be enforced by the most 
 tyrannical laws. 
 
 In America, these factories are scattered over a great extent of 
 country, and in general, the workmen employed in them, are itine- 
 rants, having no local attachments, and the consequence is, that 
 they are continually roving from one factory to another, very much 
 to the prejudice of the whole. In order to remove tliis difficulty, it 
 will be necessary to instruct the heads of famiUes brought up in the 
 vicinity of factories, and to give employment to every capable indi- 
 vidual of each family ; also, never to engage a workman unless he 
 brings with him a character from the place where he was last em- 
 ployed. At present a workman finds no difficulty in getting employ- 
 ment, should he have made bad work in one factory, or be dis- 
 chai'ged for drunkenness, or grass immorality, or even for theft ; 
 the only loss he suffers is a march of from ten to fifty miles, and he 
 is certain of finding another situation equally good, without any 
 reference being required of him as to ability or character. Should 
 this mode of engaging workmen be continued, the growth of the 
 manufacture will be retarded more than tlic owners generally are 
 aware of. On the contrary, if the managei-s would mutually agree 
 to employ no strange workmen without recommendations, and 
 when they part with them, would give in return a fair and candid 
 character, that itinerancy of Hbich they so much complain, would 
 be sensibly checked. 
 
 The workmen of this country acquire a knowledge of mechani- 
 cal and manufacturing operations, with much greater facility than 
 Europeans, and when the managers sliall have obtained a comj»e- 
 
29 
 
 lenl judgment in this business, and will pay that strict and con- 
 stant attention which so complicated a manufactory requires, the 
 American workmen will become as expert as any in the world ; 
 but so long as the managers are satisfied with inferior workman- 
 ship, and are negligent in inspecting defects, so long will the work- 
 men continue below mediocrity. 
 
 English workmen do not perform as well in this country as when 
 in England. They find the managers generally ignorant of the 
 business, and they take advantage of this circumstance to neglect 
 their work, not by being idle, for that would not answer their pur- 
 pose, but to expedite it at the expense of the quality, and this is no 
 more than they do in England, when they find a master either ig- 
 norant or inattentive. Weaving is one of the most important 
 branches in a woollen factory, and if the workmen find they can 
 earn twenty-five cents a day more by slighting their work, than 
 by performing it faithfully, and that the person examining it does 
 not understand good work from bad, it is but reasonable to sup- 
 pose they will make bad work ; for it is well known, that bad 
 workmen in general, will make as much out of their employers as 
 they possibly can, without considering whether the means be fair 
 or unfair. 
 
 There is a law in England, now become obsolete, which com- 
 pelled the woollen manufacturer to put out his weaving to master 
 weavers, who have shops in, or adjoining their houses. Many of 
 these will keep from four to ten looms at work, finding their own 
 looms, gearing, harness, and reeds, and are allowed from *one 
 shilling to eighteen pence an ell, according to the quality, for broad- 
 cloth, and from feight pence to one shilling for cassimere. These 
 master weavers employ journeymen, and instruct apprentices, but 
 
 ■ — ■■■■ — - — — ■ ■, I -111-- ^ . ^ - 
 
 * From twenty-two to thirty-three cents. 
 
 t From fifteen to twenty-two cents. An ell is one yard and a half. 
 In Yorkshire, the weaver of broadcloth is paid forty-four cents for 
 three yards and a half. 
 
 3* 
 
do 
 
 thev are aiirajrs answerable to their employers forbad work. Al- 
 though this lavr is not con&iiered as binding on tlie clothiers (^the 
 present nay, yet the systsm is continacd, because it is considered 
 better than having the weaving done in the factory. Many of 
 these master weavers live in houses of their own, around which 
 they owQ land enough for large gardens, and for pasturiog their 
 cows and horses, and are not unfrequeatly in possession of tene- 
 ments, which they rent to their jouriieymen. If this plan were 
 adopted ia America, the master workmen and their families woukl 
 become stationary ; for when a man owns looms, harness, and 
 reeds, with houses and land, it would be no slight nmtter that would 
 induce him to break up, sell oS, and seek out for some distant situ- 
 ation, where the chance would be that he could not better his cir- 
 cumstances. This system would be beneficial to the capitalist, in- 
 dependently of keeping the workmen in their place, and if spinning 
 also were included, the saving would be still more considerable. 
 
 The buildings erected here for woollen factories are very lai^ge 
 and expensive for the quantity of work done in them, and the 
 weaving and spinning occupy the greater part of the room. If 
 these branches were performed by workmen, at their own bouses, 
 the capital expended in building of mills, need not be half what it 
 is at present ; and should this part of the capital be laid out in 
 erecting suitable rooms under the houses intended for workmen, 
 every requisite convenience would be secured, and an ample in- 
 terest received for the money expended by way of rent. Thus a 
 dead, unproductive capital would become productiTe, bearing an 
 interest of seven or eight per cent, so long as the iactory continued 
 ia operation. 
 
 It is rerv unusual for the west of England manuiaciurers to em- 
 ploy workmen from Ireland or from the north of England, and vice 
 trrsa. This may appear very strange to those nnac<jnaioted with 
 that country ; and yet the principle on which this election is 
 grounded is very reasonable : the description of cloth made — the 
 machicrrr used, and the m«7de cf working is diierent in al} those 
 
31 
 
 places ; add to this, that the workmen have strong- prejudicej; 
 against each other, and the reasons why they do not intermingle 
 will become very obvious. 
 
 The workmen from Yorkshire are excellent carders, slubbei's, 
 and spinners, and are more conversant in the general concerns of 
 a factory, than are those from the Avest of England ; but as the 
 fabrics made in the north, are mostly of a coarse quality, the 
 workmen are not generally as well acquainted with the makings 
 dressing, and finishing of fine goods. 
 
 I would recommend the manufacturers of this country to select 
 their foreign workmen from one of the three, but never on any 
 account to emplo}- a mixture of them in the same factory — either 
 of these may be made to agree with American workmen, but never 
 among themselves. 
 
 I cannot conceive a more uncomfortable situation, than for a 
 manager, who is not perfect in the business, to be surrounded by a 
 mixture of Irish, Yorkshn-e, and west of England woikmen. 
 Whatever advice he might receive from the one party would be 
 condemned by the others. If any description of machinery were 
 recommended by the one, the other would be sure to suggest some- 
 thing different as being better ; their opinions on spinning, weav- 
 ing, braying, fulling, raising the nap, shearing and pressing, and 
 packing, would be all at variance with each other, and it would be 
 much if the manager did not make his election from the worst of 
 the three. I know manufactories that are now labouring under 
 this dilemma, and all of them have suffered more or less in the same 
 way. A few years, however, will remove the injury arising from 
 tliis cause. It is only to make and encourage American workmen, 
 and the evil will be gradually receding. 
 
32 
 
 ON MACHINERY. 
 
 THAT the best of every description of macbinerv' should be em- 
 ployed in this countr?, to enable its mannfacturers to compete with 
 the importer, is a fact so obvious, that to mention it would appear 
 almost superfluous; yet this is far from being the case, and it is 
 probable the reason why it is not so. has never been suspected hy 
 the American capitalists. 
 
 I hesitated when I commenced this article, whether to explain 
 this circumstance, or pass it over in silence, but the wish to pro- 
 mote the growing manufacture of the country, and knowing that 
 the longer an evil was continued, the more difficult it would be to 
 eradicate it, overcame every other consideration, and induced rae 
 to make it known. 
 
 It is then an indisputable fact, that the cause of the emigration 
 of many English workmen, from the woollen manufactories, has 
 been occasioned by their objection to the introduction of certain 
 machinery ioto the counties from whence they came ; and some 
 few of tliem left, because their violence in attempting to prevent 
 it, made their stay there very hazardous. This prejudice against 
 machinerv is slill very strongly entertained by them, and is not 
 unfrequently expressed. 
 
 How happens it that in many of our factories, the nap is still 
 raised by hand, at an enormous expense ? — that where the gig-milf 
 has been introduced, it is so constructed, and so slow in its motion 
 as to defeat the purpose for which it was intended ' These impedi- 
 ments may sometimes have occured from the ignorance of managers, 
 or from a want of knowledge in the workmen who gave directions ; 
 but it has been suspected to be the result of that violent antipathy 
 against this mode of working which English workmen bring out 
 with thera. 
 
33 
 
 Although this prejudice might be excusable in England, inas- 
 much as the introduction of machinery there occasioned many 
 hundreds of workmen to be thrown out of employment, without 
 means of obtainmg it elsewhere : yet in this country that preju- 
 dice cannot be sustained on any plausible pretence, for the manu- 
 facturer here must fall,. unless the cheapest and best modes of 
 working be adopted. If it cost the American manufacturers fifty 
 dollars to raise the nap on a given quantity of cloth, that might be 
 better done for ten, can they be expected to compete successfully 
 with the importing merchant, and shall English workmen be so 
 blind as not to see, that every effective labour-saving machine in- 
 troduced into her manufactories, is ensuring a continuation of their 
 employment instead of injuring it? 
 
 The jennies used in England, at least in the county of Glouces- 
 ter, are mostly of eighty spindles, and never less than seventy, whilst 
 in this country, the largest have only sixty spindles. This is cer- 
 tainh" retrograding in the use of labour-saving machinery ; for it 
 has been proved by comparative experiment, that four persons 
 working on eighty spindle jennies, will turn out as much yarn per 
 diem, of any given fineness, as five would on sixties. I have 
 mentioned this difference to several factory managers, and the an- 
 swers uniformly received, have been that sixties were as profitable 
 as eighties ; but I would ask from whence had they this intelli- 
 gence ? Surely not from personal experience, for I have never 
 heard of an eighty in the country. Anotlier objection urged 
 against eighties is, that the labour would be too great for the 
 workmen ; if this be fact, it must speak volumes against the suc- 
 cess of the manufacturer, and would prove what many naturalists 
 have asserted, that on this continent man degenerates in physical 
 strength. In England, eightj' spindle jennies are worked by wo- 
 men ; in America their sixties are worked by men ; and shall it 
 •be said, that tlie women in England are stronger, and capable of 
 doing more work than men are in America ? Those wlio read this, 
 will perceive that it is rather an excuse than an objection ; the 
 persons who made it, never saw an eighty spindle jenney, nor had 
 
34 
 
 thej anr data by irhich to judg« of the difference, and tlie only 
 support for their observation must Lave been founded on the re- 
 presentation of Eng^lish workmen. It must be evident that the 
 jennies are either badlj constructed, or that the managers have 
 been deceived. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have seen jennies of one hundred 
 spindles and upwards, that twist by water. At first sight, I con- 
 sidered this mode of working to be a great improvement, but 
 from experience I am inclined to believe they cannot be made to 
 perform as well as when the twist is given by hand, particularly 
 for spinning of warp. Good spinners have informed me that the 
 twist requires humouring in some parts of the draft; that when 
 worked by hand, they can humour it as they find the wool draws, 
 but that when twisted by mechanical power, it must have an equal 
 portion in ail parts of the d.-^t. Whatever may be the cause, it 
 appears from the little experience I have had in spinning by me- 
 chanical motion, that ihe same quality of wool will not draw to as 
 fine a thread, when spun in this way as it will when worked on 
 the band jenny. 
 
 ON THE WASTE MADE IN FACTORIES. 
 
 THE first object that stiikes an European in going over any 
 Amencan factory, is the ^eat waste of stock. In the first place, 
 before he enters the building, he will see a large heap of waste of 
 every description deposited near the factory, in which raising and 
 shearing flocks, locks of scoured and unsecured wool, flakes from 
 the carders and scriblers — pieces of copts, &c. &c. are all mixed 
 together: that \vhich is real waste being intermingled with valua- 
 ble stock of all qualities, and from every department. On examin- 
 ing the dying flakes, he will see locks of coloured and white 
 wool, laying all around and underneath them ; some loose on the 
 ground, others almost buried by having been trodden under foot, 
 
35 
 
 and not a few nearly drawn into their holes by the worms. The 
 same destructive carelesness is observable in thejnterior depart- 
 ments ; and finally, in walking round the exterior of the building-, 
 lie will see pieces of copts and bobbins lying under the walls, that 
 have been thrown out of the windows. 
 
 Such destructive waste is a source of great satisfaction to those 
 foreigners who are hostile to American fabrics, and I have seen 
 this wasteful system animadverted upon in English periodical pub- 
 lications, and the fall of the manufacture prognosticated as the 
 result. 
 
 It is curious to observe how ready the managers are in offering 
 excuses for any defect pointed out to them. In this instance they 
 will tell you that the difference in the price of labour will not al- 
 low of their being so particular here, as they are in England. 
 Provided the saving of stock was attended with additional expense, 
 it might then become a matter of calculation whether or not it 
 ought to be incurred, but this is not the case : it is only necessary 
 to make every one employed in the factory, men, women, and 
 children, answerable for all unnecessary waste, and the loss now 
 sustained, would soon be retrieved without any additional expense. 
 
 Separate bins should be provided and legibly marked for each 
 kind of waste, and the workmen compelled to deposit what belongs 
 to their department in its proper place. At convenient opportu- 
 nities this should be looked over, and appropriated to such pur- 
 poses as it is fitted for : the odd locks, the slubbing and filling 
 waste, and that from the carders and scriblers, may be worked 
 into filling for mixed broadcloths or sattinets ; the chain waste 
 will make handsome hearth rugs, in imitation of the Turkey, the 
 mill puffs, gig-mill flocks, and burling nips, after being willowed in 
 baskets made for the purpose, are excellent for stuffing of couches, 
 or filling of beds ; the shearflocks make superior stuffing for horse 
 pads, and the thrums may be made into mops, a convenient article 
 for cleaning house floors. 
 
56 
 
 Such is the manner of appropriating- waste in England, nothing" 
 is lost there, every thing-, however trilling, being- turned to some 
 profitable use. In America, it is generally thrown out and per- 
 mitted to rot, or carried to the fields and gardens as manure. 
 
 I have pointed out in ageneral and summary manner, the bad con- 
 sequences of mismanagement ; the injurious effects resulting from 
 the itinerancy of workmen; the ineflBciency of some parts of the ma- 
 chi'iery ; and the loss sustained from excessive waste, and have 
 endeavoured to show how these defects may be remedied. I shall 
 proceed to treat of each operation belonging to the manufacture 
 in their regular order : — the choice ofwool, sorting, picking, scour- 
 ing and washing, drying, wHlowing, oiling, scribling and card- 
 ing, slubbing, spinning, warping, weaving and bobbin winding, 
 braying, burling, fulling, raising the nap, drying the cloth before 
 burling, and after raising the nap, oiling, shearing, linting and 
 pressing and packing. 
 
 An opinion prevails among managers, that provided a few of the 
 leading operations are well performed, the others are of little or 
 no consequence : this opinion is erroneous and very fatal to those 
 who entertain it. Nothing can be more certain than that in mak- 
 ing perfect superfine cloth and cassimere, ievery operation, howev- 
 er trifling, must be well understood by the manager, and perfectly 
 performed by the workmen. It may be said that workmansliip of 
 this description will be too expensive, more than the price of the 
 goods will bear ; but this idea also must be founded on conceptions 
 that display a total ignorance of the business. How is it that the cloth 
 made in one factory, from a given quality of fine wool, will sell 
 for two dollars a yard more than that which is made from the 
 same quality in another ? It is because the person who manages 
 the one has a competent knowledge of the business, and takes 
 care to have every nart well performed, whilst the other is either 
 ignorant, or neglectful. The difference in the expense of having 
 every part well, or indiffeiently executed, cannot exceed twenty 
 
37 
 
 cents on the yard, whilst the increased value will be more than 
 eight times that amount — how very blind must those managers be 
 to their own interest, who can view with indifference, operations 
 so pregnant with profit to their concerns. 
 
 It will be my aim in commenting on these operations, to giv^ 
 all the information within the scope of my knowledge. As this was 
 obtained in England, I shall often have occasion to revert to that 
 country, to inform my readers of the modes pursued there : I do 
 not profess to be acquainted with the making of woollen goods 
 generally, my experience and information having been obtained in 
 the county of Gloucester where none but superfines are made, and 
 my observations, therefore, must be considered as applicable only 
 to tliose qualities. How far perfect workmanship may be devia- 
 ted from in making goods of minor qualities, I cannot determine ; 
 but should infer, that in all cases it ought to be as perfect as the 
 price of the fabric will allow of. 
 
 ON THE CHOICE AND PROPERTIES OF WOOL. 
 
 The wool used in this country is either of American growth, 
 or imported from Spain and Portugal. The Portuguese wool is 
 not in much repute any where, it is a wiry, harsh, foul wool, and 
 with few exceptions very unfit to be used for any thing like super- 
 fine cloth. Since Saxony wool has been used in England, the 
 Spanish has sunk so much in reputation as to be seldom employed 
 in making prime or even secondary superfines. Take two Jots of 
 wool, one of Saxony, the other of Spanish, of similar quality, and 
 the cloth made from the Saxony will be very superior to that made 
 from the Spanish ; the former will have a much finer face, will 
 handle better, and sell at a higher price. 
 
 The wool imported into this country from Spain is generally of 
 an inferior quality for the marks : indeed I have seldom seen a 
 4 
 
38 
 
 good sample of single R here, and nothing less than a prime wool 
 of that mark, ought to be used for suj.erfines. TTiat which is 
 made from prime single R for chain, and good double R for filling, 
 would be worth, if well manufactured, from six to seven dollars 
 per yard. 
 
 Spanish wool, as mentioned in the Statesman of the last year, 
 is sorted and scoured soon after it is sheared, and is seldom used 
 in less than twelve months afterwards, and many lots lay two and 
 three years before it is manufactured. Those who are at all ac- 
 quainted with the properties of wool, must know, that the staple 
 will be gradually injured after it has been scoured : it will become 
 harsh, and brittle by age, so much so, as never to recover that fine 
 elastic property, in which its value principally consists. It is true 
 that when closely packed as Spanish wool is, it is not injured so 
 rapidly as when left open ; yet that it is injured by age, is well 
 known to every experienced wool dealer and manufacturer. 
 
 The fuU blooded wool of this country bears a strong resem- 
 blance to the Saxony, and I have seen small lots offered for sale, 
 the first quality of which ought to have made cloth worth ten dol- 
 lars a yard ; but I am informed that the fleeces do not contain as 
 great a proportion of fine wool as the Saxony. 
 
 To improve the quality of a flock, it is necessary to examine 
 the lambs when their wool is a little grown, and if any are found 
 having coarse fleeces, they should eitherjbe sold, or sent off" to an 
 Inferior flock ; but should the increase be permitted to go on with- 
 out sperating those having inferior fleeces, the quality ef the wool 
 will degenerate rather than improve. It costs no more to feed a 
 fine fleeced animal than it does a coarse one : and those agricul- 
 turalists who raise sheep wiiji a view to profit, would certainly find 
 their account, in obtaining by means so easy, a flock whc=e annual 
 fleece would be worth thirty per cent. more, than when raised af- 
 ter the common careless manner- 
 
39 
 
 It is not many years since fine wool was exported from Ger'- 
 many, and I have understood that they first obtained their sheep 
 from Spain during the late continental war, and about the same 
 period, they found their way to New South Wales and America^ 
 Germany and New South Wales are now supplying Europe with 
 much finer wool than can be obtained from Spain, whilst America 
 raises very little that is equal to the best of the second quality 
 Spanish. There must be some radical defect among the wool 
 g^rowers of this country that loudly demand to be remedied. 
 
 Our manufactures are now arrived to that state in quality and 
 magnitude, wliich makes it advantageous for each one to confine 
 itself to the making of one or two qualities of cloth. By pursu- 
 ing this mode, perfection would be obtained much sooner than by 
 fol!r>-*7ing too great a range. A factory that is put into operation, 
 with a view to the making of fine goods, must be, injured, and 
 rendered unfit for that purpose, by manufacturing those of a 
 quality very inferior. It is also very inconvenient, as the mode 
 of workir.g in evei} department must be different, and the mana- 
 ger tiiust be continually making new calculations to regulate the 
 work. 
 
 To give manufacturers an opportunity of working only one or 
 tv. o qualities, it is necessary they should be able, at all times, to 
 purchase asupply of wool of such as are wanted ; otherwise, their 
 factories must sometimes stand still, and this state of things would 
 be vvorse than the former. I believe it is difficult at this time to 
 obiain a supply of one or two qualities. When American wool is 
 purchased, they have to take it in the fleece, and to work up all 
 the qualities : now it is evident to every one conversant with this 
 manufacture, that those cards which are calculated for choice 
 locks, and the reeds and harness that are made for such work, are 
 not fit for working the coarsest grades, and vice versa. 
 
 In order to obviate these diflaculties, it would be desirable to 
 
4t> 
 
 kare tbefletees stsij^d bj dealers in wool, so as to enable mana- 
 fa c t ure rs to purchase the qualities they may want ; but the princi- 
 pal thii^ wanted is extensire capitals, rested in the wool trade, to 
 aBTchase damffltic and foreign wool of every quality, and in suffi- 
 cimt qsantity to supply the market. Ag-ents, who are judges of 
 Ibe article, dould be employed in Spain and Germany, to make 
 sadi jmrdbames as tibe pieB^it and increasing demand may require. 
 
 It is to be regretted ibat it should be necessary to resort to im- 
 portaliaa far tibe sapply of an article that might be raised to any 
 CEleDt ia ths ooontry, and which, while it improres the land, af- 
 fatds a gaed ^t^t to the a^Ticulturalist : nor would this necessity 
 be of loi^ continuajace, provided the farmers would generally turn 
 tbeir atteation to the merino breed, and take the same pains to 
 obtain fine fleeced animals, as is done by the Spaniards and G^r- 
 BBiis. At the present time, the iactories are increasing more 
 nfiSif than the flocks ; but so soon as the former shall have ac- 
 ^pnred their maximum, the latter will continue to increase until it 
 be in eacesB. 
 
 To possess a g'ood judgment in wool, requires more practical 
 ikill Hxan manufacturers are generally aware of. An English 
 ^xsAhxr wfco is known to have a correct and discriminating judg- 
 ment in t>its article, is olten employed by otliers to purchase their 
 wool, for which he is allowed a small commissicm. So trifling are 
 tbe proi&ts in tliat country, that ualess the wool is weD bought, the 
 <dotii wifl affiwd none ; and though the profits are much larger 
 befe* yet the success of a manufacturer must depend in a great 
 measure on having a good judgment in purchasing the raw mate- 
 liaL I do aot profess to have a perfect knowledge of wool, and if 
 I had, it would be impossible to give such written instructions as 
 would convey it to others, I will endeavour, however, to point out 
 of its leadin? features. 
 
*1 
 
 It will be understood that perfect wool is flattish rather than 
 round ; that when round, it approaches nearer to the properties of 
 hair than of wool ; that when of a proper shape it is finer as it is 
 thinner and smaller ; that when fine and good, it will have a crim- 
 ped appearance, which makes it look shorter than it really is ; 
 that it will have a glossy surface, somewhat resembling silk ; and 
 that when stretched out, it will be sufficiently elastic to return to 
 its former position, like a steel spring, as soon as the stretching 
 power is removed. When a lock of wool is placed close to the 
 ear, and there gently drawn out, it will make a crackling noise ; 
 and some judgment may be formed of its quality by the noise it 
 makes — all wool will give it more or less, but the finest will make 
 less noise than that which is coarser. When the fingers are drawn 
 from the roots to the points of wool, no sensible resistance is felt ; 
 when drawn from the points to the roots, the resistance is very 
 sensible, but less so as the quality is finer. 
 
 It must be evident that it will require considerable practice to 
 become expert even to the extent of these few instructions, and 
 much more must be acquired before a correct judgment can be 
 formed. It is difficult in all small articles, where there is a great 
 range in grade and quality, to be able to discriminate between two 
 samples nearly alike, and this can be acquired only by practice. 
 Those managers who are desirous of improving the quality of their 
 cloth, and to make large profits, must take every opportunity of 
 comparing diflferent samples and remarking the result when made 
 up with their judgment before hand; by these means they will be 
 able in two or thre years to discriminate accurately between the 
 relative value of samples that may be offisred for sale. Many En- 
 glish manufacturers employ a small pocket microscope to examine 
 the samples of wool before purchasing ; and it is said the quality 
 can be better ascertained in this wa} , than with the naked eye. 
 
 In purchasing of wool it is not only necessary to attend to the 
 aualit^, but also to its condition. Spanish wool is partly scoured 
 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 before it is exported, but some ids are scoured much (leaser 
 others, and it will be necessary for the purchaser to ascertaiD how 
 much will be the probable loss on the different samj^es. Besides 
 this defect, Spanish wool is ofien very badiv sorted, and left with 
 all the burs and pitch marks remaining in it This wool loses from 
 ten to eighteen per cent, in scouring. 
 
 Saxony wool is offered for sale as it comes from the sheep's back, 
 haying been merely washed before shearing, and is afterwards sort- 
 ed, yet some samples are much fouler than others — the arerage 
 loss by clean scouring is about thirty per cent : at least this is the 
 per centage allowed by the manufacturers «^eo they send their 
 wool to be dyed — ^for every hundred pounds of Saxocy wool seat 
 to the dyer, they expect to haye seyenty pounds cf cJeaa wool re- 
 tamed. American merino wool, unwashed before sLearin^, wiU 
 lose from forty to fiftj- per cent. I once had two fleeces of uo- 
 washed wool scoured, from sheep that had been feeding on sandj 
 land, one of them lost fifty-six, and the other fifty-eight per cent. 
 The finer the quality of the fleece, the more it will lose in scooiiii^, 
 because fine full blooded wool has more yolk in it than that which 
 is of inferior quality. American wool that has been washed clean 
 before shearing, will lose from twenty-fiye to thirty per cent. 
 
 SORTING, OR STAPLING OF WOOL. 
 
 I mentioned in the last article that it would he better that the 
 wool should be stapled by the dealer rather than by tl^ mano&c- 
 turer, and no doubt such an arrangement will take place in a few 
 years ; for want of it an intricate branch is throwil on the mana- 
 ger? of factories, which could be better done by pereons whose 
 whole attention would be applied to this in particular. 
 
 Wool should not be thrown into too many sorts ; this is useless a^ 
 n regards the quality, and troublesome to those who faaye to wariiif 
 
43 
 
 ftp : four or at most iWe qualities are sufficient for any ileece of 
 fine wool, and three for coarse wool. 
 
 After a lot of wool has been thrown into sorts by the stapler, it 
 should be cgirefuUy examined by the raanag-er to discover if he has 
 thrown them regularly, for when stapled by the pound, as it gene- 
 rally is, it will be the interest of the workmen to throw it out in a 
 very rapid and careless manner, by which he will be able to earn" 
 thirty or forty per cent, more, than when he has sorted it carefully, 
 and with due regard to the interest of his employer. 
 
 Spanish wool is packed in very coarse bagging, and much of the 
 lint from the bags adheres to the wool that lies next to it- This 
 covering should be taken off without breaking the wool, and all the 
 lints and filth from the bag carefully picked off from the outside, 
 before the mass is broken : should this be neglected, the cloth will 
 be very linty, and much expense subsequently incured in having 
 them taken out by the women whose business it is to spoile the 
 cloth. This wool is often badly sorted, so much so, as to make it 
 necessary to have it looked over and the coarse locks thrown out. 
 It is not requisite to employ a regular stapler for this purpose, as it 
 can be done as well by any steady girl from the wool pickers. 
 
 When wool has been sorted, it should be sent to the pickers to 
 have all the burs and pitch marks taken out, and if American 
 wool, the dead ends cut off, which should be done with as little 
 waste as possible. It is now in a state fit for scouring. 
 
 SCOURING THE WOOL. 
 
 THIS is an important operation, much more so than is general- 
 ly im \gined by those who are not well versed in the art of manu- 
 facturing, for unless the wool be well scoured, and thoroughly 
 cleansed from tlie yolk and grease, the subsequent operations will 
 
44 
 
 ie materially injured, as gooJ cloth never can be made from wool 
 badiv scoured. 
 
 English manufacturers are so much aware of the advantages of 
 g-ood scouring, that better wages are g-iven by them to a good work- 
 man in this, than in aay other branch of the factory, and he is more 
 certain of finding- steady and constant employment, whilst a spinner 
 can earn only two shillings and six pence a day, a wool scourer 
 will make four. He usually works by the pack, of two hundred 
 and forty pounds, as weighed in the grease. When employed by 
 the day it is considered a day's work for him to scour and wash 
 that quantity ; but when engaged b}- the lump, he will scour and 
 wash from one and a half to two packs. To enable him to do this, 
 erery thing must be conveniently arranged. 
 
 For scouring, a shallow conical furnace is employed, holding 
 about two hundred gallons, which may be made either of copper 
 or of 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. 
 
 The apparatus used for washing of wool, after it is taken from 
 the furnace, is uniformly of an oblong square ; but they are con- 
 structed of different materials, and variable in the mode by which 
 the water is applied. Some are merely willow baskets, others are 
 made of timber in the bottom and sides for about half their height, 
 the upper part being constructed of strong open wire work, with 
 a wooden curb round the top. Some few are made entirely of sheet 
 copper, with holes perforated about half way from the top down- 
 wards : these are always placed in running streams where the 
 water is not too rapid, such as mill ponds, or tail races. The i-ace 
 which in this country leads the water from the dam to tlie wheel 
 would answer well for this purpose, where the water has a suffi- 
 cient current The curfent should be strong enough to keep the 
 water inside the basket continually changing, yet not so strong as 
 to drive the wool too bard against the side opposite to where it en-*^ 
 f^rs, which will be attended with considen^ble delay and trou- 
 
45 
 
 ble, as well as with a loss of wool, as many of the fine locks will be 
 washed through the wires, or other openings. 
 
 An apparatus superior to either of the above is now generally 
 used for washing, where a head of water, from four 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 inclies 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 nuriiber 
 of small holes, three eights of an inch in diameter, and the water 
 is conveyed in between the two bottoms by means of a two inch 
 pipe, in which acock is placed to stop the supply when necessary. 
 A number of small holes are drilled in the ends and sides of the 
 washer for twelve inches from the top to let the foul water run off. 
 When the water is turned on, it will be forced up with a po-ver 
 equal to the weight of the column, which is sufficient with a ivdl of 
 six feet to keep it in a constant strong boiling motion. When 
 scoured wool is thrown into one of these machines, it is kept float- 
 ing and rapidly moving on the surface of the water, 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 mo- 
 tion, by means of an iron prong, until the water passes through it 
 perfectly limpid ; when he throws out that quantity and replaces 
 it by another, and so on alternately until the days's work is finished. 
 This mode of washing wool is superior to every other, the work 
 is performed in less time, and the wool more completely cleansed. 
 
 In constructing this machine, it is necessary to be guarded in two 
 particulars ; first, that the united capacity of the holes drilled in 
 the false bottom, be not quite equal to deliver all the water sup- 
 plied by the column : for when this happens, the supply will ope- 
 rate partially, and the designed effect be in a great measure 
 destroyed. In the next place it is necessary that the holes drilled 
 around tlie basket, to let off the foul water, be sufficient to let off 
 aU that the column shall supply, when the wool is in the basket. 
 
46 
 
 v^ithoQt permitting" the water to raise within two or three inches 
 of the top : nnless this be attended to, the water will flow over 
 the washer and take the wool with it. 
 
 aVIany cmde notions respecting' wool scouring, have been ad- 
 vanced in this country since the woollen factories coirnneoceH, 
 
 anJ injurious modes of preparing the scouring^ liquors are now in 
 operation. A plan for making cloth, without scouring the wool, 
 was started a few yeais since, supported by the plea that the na- 
 tural grease of the animal was as good as oil, and this absunl idea 
 found many advocates, until experience conrinced them cf its 
 injurious tendency. The supporters of iLis theory did not appear 
 to know that a single fleece of full-blooded merino will contain a 
 considerable quantity of silecious sand, that when worked in the 
 cards, would injure them: nor were they aware that wool worked 
 up with forty per cent of yolk and grease, would, when the cloth 
 was scoured out after weaving, leave a cloth quite thin that was 
 well filled in the loom. 
 
 There are but few American factories where scouring of wool 
 is completely understood. In general, the liquor is not made 
 strong enough to decompose the whole of the yolk and grease : 
 when this happens, the wool will turn yellow in drying, and on 
 handling it when dry, it vrili feel greasy, a portion ot the grease 
 adhering to tlie hands so as to make them sensibly oily. When 
 wool is coloured in this state, the colour does not look so web ^; 
 when it has been well cleansed, nor will it stand scouring, or wear 
 as well when made into garments. This is a serious iiij'iry to 
 the manufacturer, as it has a tendency to bring the AaK- ric:. . 
 cloth into disrepute, and to lower its y alue in compaiison with ic - 
 reign fabrics. 
 
 Urine is the only material that ought to be used for scouring i 
 woo! : it is the cheapest of any. and can be obtained in snfficieL.: 
 qw^it^ in almost any situation in which a factory may be i^hcrd. 
 The volatile alkali, that part of urine which combines with the 
 
47 
 
 yolk, does not injure wool unless it be in considerable excess, ©r 
 too much heat be applied ; whereas the fixed alkalies operate so 
 powerfully as to dissolve a portion of the wool at a temperature 
 that ivill scour it. 
 
 Urine that is fresh voided, will not scour well. That from per- 
 sons living on plain diet, is stronger and better than from luxuri- 
 ous livers. -The cider and gin drinkers are considered to ^ive tiie 
 worst, and the beer drinker the best. When the urine is collected, 
 it should be kept in close vessels until it has completely under- 
 gone those changes by which its ammonia is develo, ed M'dny 
 English manufacturers keep it in large vats with close coveis, und 
 I have seen six of these at one. factory, holding nearly two thou- 
 sand gallons each, all full : they keep working the oldest and iill- 
 ing up as they are emptied. 
 
 Those who would wish to become acquainted with the compo- 
 nent parts of what has to be removed from wool, and of ihe pro- 
 perties in urine by which they are to be removed, mav consult 
 Vauquelin's Analysis of Wool and Urine. They will there see, 
 that nine-tenths of the salts of fresh voided urine are acid ; whilst 
 in a stale state, they are altogether alkaline, eight-ninths bein**" 
 ammoniacal. The material to be detached from wool is princi- 
 pally an animal fat, wliich forms a soponaceous compound with 
 tlie ammonia of the urine, which will readily wash out in water. 
 The ammonia, if any remains about the wool in an uncombined 
 state, iii so volatile, as to escape while the wool is drying, leaving 
 it free from oil or salts. When the practice corresponds so ex- 
 actly with the chemical analysis, it proves that the operation 
 pursued by the manufacturer has attained its utmost degree of 
 perfection. 
 
 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 o^" urine ; if too much is used, the wool will be stringy and 
 difficult to work ; if too little, the yolk and grease will not be 
 
 J 
 
4S 
 
 cleansed out of it. The same proportions of urine and waler a* 
 are used in making a new liquor, should be erapioyed in lilling up 
 during the progress of the work. The urine should be old, and 
 the water the softest that can be procured. It occasionally haj>- 
 pens that a liquor, when fresh made, will not scour well ; when- 
 ever this occurs, mix one or two quarts of soft soap in hot water, 
 and add it to the liquor ; but this should never be done if the men- 
 i^truum will scour well without it. 
 
 "NMien a liquor is properly 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 scouring furnace. 
 As much wool is immersed in the. scouring liquor at once as will 
 work easy therein; when entered, it requires to be worked back- 
 wards and forwards for the space of five minutes, and to remain 
 in altogether from fifteen to twenty- five, accoi-ding to the rapidity 
 with which the yolk and grease is dissolved. To know when the 
 solution is completed, take a handful from the furnace, squeeze 
 the liquor well out of it, and wash it in water. By examining 
 this sample, the workman can see whether or not it be cleaa. 
 When clean, take it out of the liquor and throw it on the cross 
 bar over the furnace, and let it lie there ten ijainutes for the liquor 
 to drain ; then have in another quantity, and work in the furnace as 
 before. There should be enough scoured at once for three wash- 
 ings, which will save much time that is now lost at the scouring 
 furnace. Wash as before directed, till perfectly clean. 
 
 The scouring liquor should not be too cold nor loo iiot, the 
 proper temperature is from one hundred and twenty-five to one 
 hundred and tliirty degrees, Fh. and it ought never to be lower tlian 
 one hundred and twenty. If the wool be inunersed in too hot a 
 liquor, it will be slammed, as the workmen phrase it — that is, it 
 will become matted and stringy, and the yolk will be so perma- 
 nently fixed in it, as to be immoveable by any subsequent process. 
 When, therefore, a new liquor is made, and also every morning 
 before the work begins, let the workman take a handful of un- 
 
49 
 
 scoured wool, and dip it fire or six times in the liquor, working it 
 each time backwards and forwards, and then wash it to try if it be 
 clean ; if the sample does not scour well, the heat must cither be 
 raised or lowered, and if this does not produce the desired effect, 
 the error must be either in the strength or weakness of the lixir 
 vium, and more urine, or more water must be added, according to 
 the experience of the workman. 
 
 There are three chemical operations in a woollen factory : the 
 scouring of the wool, the dying and the braying. Manufacturers 
 would find it much to tlieir advantage to require such a knowledge 
 of the science as to understand the rationale on which these ope- 
 rations are founded, as it would often prevent them from attempt- 
 ing experiments that are highly injurious to their interest. Per- 
 sons acquainted with the theory, would never scour wool with 
 potash, or any of the fixed alkalies ; they would know that 
 greasy wool could never be coloured with any credit to them- 
 selves, or to the dyer they employed, and they would be aware 
 that warm water and soap would not answer in braying, or that 
 operation by which the grease and size are taken out of cloth 
 after weaving. 
 
 When wool has been scoured, that part which is to be colour- 
 ed is sent to the dye-house, and that which is intended to be dried 
 for white work, is spread out on sheets, or platforms, and exposed 
 to the sun and air. I shall treat fully on the drying of white and 
 coloured wool in this place, which will make it unnecessary to 
 revert again to the subject. 
 
 DRYING OF WOOL, 
 
 THERE are three modes of drying wool, one by open exposure 
 to the sun and air, r.noiher by a fire stove, and a third bj- an air 
 stove. It would be found useful by manufacturers who have laro-e 
 5 ° 
 
50 
 
 concerns to have both an air and a fire stove. Tlie latter would 
 be wanted in the winter, and the former in the summer. 
 
 In Eng-land the wool fire stove is a circular building-, either of 
 brick, or stone, of about sixteen feet diameter in the clear, con- 
 taining three floors, the height of each being eight feet. The two 
 upper floors are laid with strips of well plained inch board, two 
 inches on the face, and sufficient appertures are left between the 
 strips, for the heat and steam to pass, yet close enough to prevent 
 the wool from falling through. Itis heated by a cast iron stove 
 three feet high, in diameter two at the bottom, having a dome top, 
 and open at the lower end. In the centre of the top is a circular 
 opening of eight or nine inches diameter, in which is inserted a 
 cast iron pipe, that passes perpendicularly through the centre of 
 the building, and terminates three or four feet above the roof; 
 u sufficient space is left round the pipe where it passes through the 
 floors and roof, as to prevent any damage from the fire ; and at 
 those places the pipe is steadied by iron rings around it, and arms 
 branching from them which are fastened to the floors and roof. 
 The iron rings are large enough to admit the pipe, and leave a 
 space of one inch between the two, so as to admit of the pipe being 
 taken out when by any circumstance it should be rendered neces- 
 sary, as well as to cut off the communication between the two, in 
 order to prevent the heat from being conducted along the arms, 
 by which the safety of the building might be endangered. Three 
 wedges with bent tops are dropt in between the pipe and each ring 
 to keep the pipe exactly in the centre. Tlie lower floor is paved 
 either with stone, brick, or cement ; and the stove is placed ex- 
 actly in the middle of the building, being raised a few inches on 
 bridi work, having a grate at the bottom to let the ashes through. 
 The interior of the building is fitted up with convenient machines 
 far drying wool. These arc made with shafts three inches in diam- 
 eter, cut in six sides, in each of which, inclined holes are made to 
 put in arms that project about twenty inches from the shaft ; these 
 are round and smooth, being about one inch at the bottom, and 
 tapering to the other end ; they are made of any hard well sen- 
 
51 
 
 soned vrood, eacli one having- an elevation from the shaft of about 
 twenty degrees, and when the whole is in place, it has a spiral ap- 
 pearance. On these arms the wool is spread to dry. One circle 
 i.f armed shafts is placed round the wall, and as near to it as they 
 can be without coming- in contact, and another circle between it 
 nnd the stove, two circles on each floor, with room between the 
 wo for a man or bo}- to pass, for the purpose of putting on and 
 changing the wooL The arms are not permanently fixed in the. 
 shafts ; they go in loose, but so as not to fall out when the wool 
 is put on, or handled for turning. The shafts are secured in the 
 lower side of the upper floor by means of a round apperture that is 
 rather larger than the end of the shaft, which is also made circular, 
 and by a bolt at the lower end that enters a hole in its supporter; 
 they are thus fixed in order that they may be moved round at the 
 pleasure of the workmen, to enable them to bring all parts within 
 their reach when standing on either side. For drying, the arms 
 must be first covered, and then the floor, beginning at the top of 
 the stove and proceeding to the ground floor. 
 
 There must be an apperture in the roof, where the steam can 
 pass ofi"; and^herein consists the advantage of a circular building ; 
 the roof being conical, and the stove pipe passing through its 
 centre, round which an opening is left, the steam naturally rises 
 to that part, and passes ofi" through the said opening. The roof 
 should be covered with slate or pan-tile to make the whole per- 
 fectly secure against fire. This stove, if properly attended, will 
 dry two hundred and forty pounds of wool every twelve hours, with 
 a moderate consumption of fuel. 
 
 An air stove is made after the same manner as the drying room 
 of a paper mill, only much narrower: it is to be filled with the 
 same kind of apparatus for drying the wool as described for the 
 fire stove. 
 
 The common mode of drying wool I need not describe, as every 
 manufacturer i? well acquainted with it. 
 
62 
 
 It maj appear to those who are i^orant of the business, tLat 
 crying of wool is too simple an (^ration to need any comment, yet 
 this is far from being the case. There are points to be obserr- 
 ed in many of the most simple operations, which have an essential 
 bearing on the interest of the whole, and one of these must be par- 
 ticularly attended to in wool drying, or the staple wiU be materi- 
 ally injured. 
 
 It has already been stated that wool will be injured by exposure 
 to atmospheric air- after it has been scoured, but it will be injured 
 much more rapidly by being exposed to the sun, or to the high tem- 
 perature of a fire stove. It is necessary, therefore, to take it up, in 
 cither case, as soon as it is dry, and in the summer months when the 
 atmosphere is clear, and the sun is powerful, it should be taken up 
 before it is quite dry. It is at this season of the year that an air 
 fctore is usefuL The wool is partially dried in the sun. and then 
 renH>Ted to the air stove, where the drying is completed. Those 
 who use air stoves entertain an opinion, that wool dried in thi<t 
 way, will spin better., and handle softer when in cloth, than when 
 dried altogether in the sun. 
 
 In a fire store, the heat is raised to and kept at a very high tem- 
 fseratnre until the wool is about three fourths dry, then it is per- 
 mitted to cool gradually, until it approaches to about ninety de- 
 grees, at which heat the drying may be finished with safety. One 
 hour^ exposure to the sun in the summer, or to a similar heat in a 
 stove, after the wool is dry, will sensibly injure the flexibility oi 
 its staple. It is necessary for the American manufacturer to pay 
 partictilar attention to this during the summer months ; for if the 
 ^ ool be injured by unnecessary exposure at that season in the 
 mild climate of England, how much more must it be injured here, 
 where the heat oi the EUn ranges from twenty to thirty degrees 
 hisrher. 
 
53 
 
 TWILLING THE WOOL, 
 
 WHEN wool is dried after scouring-, or after colouring, it has 
 to be passed through the twilly, to open the locks, and to seperate 
 all the dust and other filth from it. Since my remembrance this 
 was altogether performed by women, who beat it with rods, on hur- 
 dles made for the purpose, which separated the dust from tlie wool 
 and opened the locks, and they afterwards picked out by hand all 
 the lints, straws, or whatever larger filth might adhere to it. Some 
 manufacturers have pursued this mode of working it to the present 
 day, and assert they are no losers by it, imagining that the picking 
 machines not only injures the staple by breaking it, but that it is 
 nothing like so well cleaned. There are different kinds of ma- 
 chines for the opening and cleaning of wool, such as devils, twil- 
 lies, and tuckers. It is of little consequence which is employed, 
 •J that the wool is well opened and made thoroughly clean. 
 
 OILING OF WOOL. 
 
 AFTER wool has been passed through the twilly, it has to be 
 oiled, which operation is performed by first spreading a ?hin layer 
 of wool on a clean floor, surrounded by boaids to prevent its falling 
 about, some oil is lightly spread over this first layer, either with 
 the fingers, or a watering pot ; another layer of wool is then spread 
 over the first, which is oiled in its turn, and so on till the whole 
 has been oiled. From two to tliree pounds of oil are in England 
 spread over twenty pounds of wool : the latter quantity is rarely 
 exceeded, excepting in some particular colours, in whicli acid mor- 
 dants, or strong astringents, have been used. In this country it is 
 customary to use a quart of oil to ten pounds of blue wool, and fre- 
 quently a quart to eight pounds : why this should be necessary 
 I cannot account, but I have often heard the spinners compbin 
 when only a quart to ten pounds has been used. 
 5* 
 
64 
 
 After wool has been oiled, it sboald be xreU mixed together, and 
 let it lie in a heap for some hours to give time for the oil to spread 
 itself through all parts eqnallv, and to penetrate the pores of the 
 wool. In warm weather the oil will be sufficiently liquid, in win- 
 ter an artincial heat is necessary to liquify it, and at this season 
 ihe operation of oiling should be performed in a wann room. 
 
 The benefit to be derired from this process will rery much de- 
 pend on the quality of the oil. In choosing it for this purpose 
 three qualities are essentially necessary : clear and limpid, con- 
 taining little or no mucilage, it roust not possess any dr\ ing pro- 
 perty and must be such as will easily form a sponaceous compound 
 with the Tolatile alkali. Oil containing much mucilage, fills the 
 machines with filth, soon clogs them np and retards the spinning 
 and wearing : dri^ng oils harden the wool, make it brittle and un- 
 fit for the subsequent operations ; that oil which will not readily 
 form a soap with the volatile alkali, can never be scoured out of 
 the cloth after it is woven ; it will form a clammy substance with 
 the soap in fulling, which adheres so tenaciously to the fabric that 
 nothing will separate it ; and if it has to be coloured afterwards, 
 the dye never can be permanently fixed upon it. It is certain, 
 therefore, that animal fat of any kind, and nearly all the fish oils, 
 together with some that are extracted from the seeds of vegetables, 
 are totally unfit for tliis purpose. Neats foot oil is softening and 
 will form a soap with urine ; but it frequently contains too much 
 mucilage to rely upon its use, particularly that which has been 
 boileil from stale fc€t. Olive oil of that impure kind, which is 
 sold under the name of Grtihpoli, possesses all the necessary qualifi- 
 cations, and is generally used in Europe for the purpose. This is 
 imported in butts, pipes, &c. and in England is sold by the tun. 
 
 1 have no doubt the olive could be raised in some parts of iJn; 
 •^^•ountry, and suficient oil made to supply not only for home con- 
 sumption, but also for exportation. I am informed that a cwnpany 
 of French gentlemen have associated for the purpose of planting 
 
 the oIiv». 
 
55 
 
 There are also fruits and seeds from which a good oil may be 
 extracted. Tlie poppy seed affords an oil equally as good as the 
 olive, and the produce, independently of the oil, is highly valua- 
 ble, and brings great profit to the raiser. The sun-flower seed 
 gives a fine oil. I once raised a few to try it, and had three quarts 
 ex-pressed cold. It proved fine and sweet. I used it on full 
 blooded merino wool, and it appeared to answer as well .as the 
 finest olive. I have heard others say, who had tried it, that it was 
 too mucilagenous ; but I am inclined to believe that what they used 
 was either too hot pressed, or stamped in bags full of linseed, or 
 rape seed oil, which would render any small quantity sufficiently im- 
 pure to destroy its quality for this purpose. The sun-flower seed 
 does not afford a great quantity of oil, it is said to be a dry seed ; 
 but as a compensation for this, the land produces a large quantity, 
 and the cake is probably the best known feed for cattle, horses, 
 or hogs. The nut of the beech, or what is called beech mast, is 
 ?aid to give an oil as good as the olive, and is used as a substitute 
 for it in many parts of the European continent. 
 
 Doctor J. Morgan, in the transactions of the American philo- 
 sophical society, has given an essay on the raising of the sun-flow- 
 er, andthc extracting of oil from its seed. These experiments were 
 made at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania : his essay informs us, " that 
 one acre will yield to the planter from forty to fifty bushels of seed, 
 and that from each bushel can be extracted nearly one galjon ot 
 mild oil." When oil is intended to be used on wool, it will be 
 necessary to give only a moderate degree of heat previous to press- 
 ing ; for if it has too much, tlie oil will contain so great a portion 
 of mucilage as to ruin it for this purpose. 
 
 When ia England, three years since, I copied the following no- 
 tice from a work then recently published. " It is reported, a per- 
 son is going to take out a patent for making a small hand-mill, 
 for every family to make their own sweet oil. This may easily be 
 done, by grinding or beating the seeds of while poppies into a 
 paste, then boil it in water, and skim off the oil as it rises : one 
 
66 
 
 bofihelof seed wd^Sis Efijpoimds, asd pradoces two gallons :. 
 oiL T%e pofiiMes «iU groir in any g-airdes : it is the lai^ head 
 wkite papf9^t ei^ Inr apotibecari^. When tbe seed is taken out . 
 ^^ PTPST l>c^ «rlm dried, b bailed 'to an exlrac t, whicb is sold 
 at tvD sfaiDiBgs per oenoe, and is to be piefieiic d ti) opium. Lai^ 
 fiirtwtifffi moLj be aoq^inBd by tbe cnltiTatiaB of pc^^^-^ 
 
 in 4be ArtiO^ Mammd, bj JamK Cndiidi, Esq. there is mach 
 Taloable JniBifMu l iu u on tiis sobjert, voder die bead ■* aSL7> Tbe 
 ibtljovriiag^ is so reanaiicable ibr its qnalily and great pnsduce as to 
 iodnoe ne to extract it; fat if tbe seed can be obtained, and t^ e 
 farmeR can be prevailed opon to rake it in anj part of tbe U oitod 
 SlatiK, a fioppiy mj^jbt be aJMained saffideat ftr tbb and otLer 
 cosinliies. 
 
 '■' Bene, or Ben Seed OiL^ 
 
 '- On tiie snli^ect of €be ben seed <mI, "Qie foSloiriaa^ letter of Mr. 
 John Moiel to Mr. CbaxS^ TlMmi^waD, Secr^aiy of the Amencaii 
 TiSasafhical Societj, at Pbiiadriphia^ dated SaFannak, May 5tb. 
 1769, may be mefoL* 
 
 ** I seiikd jum a. samll keg- of h&ie^ or ben seed, wLicb yon will 
 please to present to yakw sode^ tor tiaeir inspectioiL. Tbis seed 
 Bskes ofl egnal in qnafiity to Floroioe, and some saj ^cderable. 
 Same sslj one bnndred we i ght of seed wfll produce ranety^poDDds. 
 of oil, odios say 1^; be that as it will, it oertaiolj laakes very 
 fine oiL, and pnidno^ awtawliiglj T- K k is pot to tlae trial, care 
 ^onid be taken to hare the pres well cleaned, go as to leave do 
 liactnre bvmwhat may bore been already prised. In my opinicm 
 this K an astide of oonseqnenee, arad I bdlieve it will grow in 
 P ca m ifejlw jBMa- The way to sow it is in boles about titree feel 
 asurader, diofy ip g in each hole abont ten grains; when it comes 
 op, ibin it to ftree «ir iEbn-of the most pwnifiing: tbe seeds will 
 appear in po^ abont Scjitem bq-, and sdionUU wben foil grown, 
 and beiaic dry, be gathered in. Tbemelhodisat foSows: e^sood 
 
57 
 
 as you perceive about three-fourths, or four-fifths of the pods rise 
 on the stalks, and the lower pods begin to loosen their seeds, it is 
 then time to take it in ; for after that, as much as ripens one day 
 at top, so much falls out of the pod at bottom. You take a sharp 
 hatchet-bill, or some such weapon, and with it cut off the stalk 
 from twelve to eighteen inches below any of the seed, holding the 
 stock with the left hand, and when cut, a second person receives 
 it, keeping it upright, till he has his load ; for if you turn it down- 
 wards, the ripe seeds will fall out of the pods. You may imme- 
 diately carry it into a bam, and set it upright on a close floor, till 
 you perceive all the pods fully dry and open, then thresh it, and 
 run it through a proper seive, and it is fit for use." 
 
 At the time this seed was sent to the society, the consumption 
 of oil in America was an object of little consequence ; the case is 
 now altered : there are woollen factories in operation that are con- 
 suming seventy pounds of oil daily, and others are beginning to 
 work that will use from ninety to one hundred pounds. If this 
 great and daily increasing demand have to be supplied from fo- 
 reign countries, it will be adding no small item to those imports 
 which are already much too great for the welfare of the country. 
 
 MIXING OF COLOURED WOOL AND WHITE FOR 
 MAKING MIXTURES. 
 
 ONE-TENTH part of white makes a good common mixture 
 with any coloured wool ; it often happens, however, that either 
 veij^ light, or very dark mixtures, are fashionable. When one 
 or more of white wool is mixed with ten of coloured, it is only 
 necessary to throw them in alternate layers, as even as possible, 
 and then pick before oiling ; but when only an eye of white is 
 mixed with coloured wool, it requires more attention to obtain a 
 regular mixture. If from one to two pounds of white are re- 
 quired to be mixed with seventy or more of coloured, proceed as 
 
58 
 
 follows :'first mix the white with ten pounds of (lie coloured : pass 
 this throug^h the picker, then mix this with what remains of tlie 
 coloured, and pass the whole throug-h the picker a second time — 
 then oil it and pass through the picker again : let it be now scribled 
 and run through the picker, when it will be completelr mixed and 
 fit for carding. 
 
 \ 
 My receipts give directions that nine pounds fourteen ounces of 
 oil should be used with serenty-four pounds of black wool, having 
 ten ounces of white in it; in this country it is common to use 
 Jiine quarts of oil on the same quantity which weighs sixteen 
 pounds. I cannot account for this any other way than by sup- 
 posing-that the wool is not so well worked down in the breakers. 
 
 SCRIBLING AND CARDING. 
 
 THE rnain cylinder of a scribler is called by workmen the fix- 
 ture, a 'though it moves with greater velocity than any other, ex- 
 cepting the fancy. In most machines four cylinders, called 
 workers, are placed round the top of that part of the main which 
 is above the frame ; to each of these is attached a small cylinder 
 for the purpose of clearing the wool from the workers, and carry- 
 ing it back to the main cylinder. The points of the workers, 
 when in motion, meet the points of the main, and are set some 
 distance from it. The points of the clearers move the same way 
 as those of the main, and are to be set as close to it, and to the 
 workers, as they can be, witliout coming in contact, and the breast 
 roller the same; these clearers must move witli much greater ve- 
 locity than tlie workers. The breast-roller, or licker-in, takes the 
 wool from the feeding roller, and delivers it to the main cylinder ; 
 then takes it again from the first worker, and delivers it to the 
 main a second time. The two largest cylinders next to the main, 
 are called the fancy and doffer, their use is to raise the wool upon 
 the main, and to deliver it when finished by the worker?. The 
 
59 
 
 fancy roller raises tlie wool upon the main high enough for tlie 
 tloffer to take it off: it should move witli a velocity greater than 
 the main, by one inch in twelve ; the points move in the same di- 
 rection as the main, and are the only ones that comes in contact 
 with it. The doffer has a slow motion, and its points move in a 
 direction to meet those of the main, and a comb takes the wool off 
 the doffer. A carding machine is made ever}- way the same as a 
 scriWer, excepting that the doffer is clothed with sheet cards suf- 
 ficiently wide to collect wool enough for one roll, and a space left 
 between tlie cards, so as to prevent the wool from interfering one 
 with another. As the wool is cleared off each card, by the comb, 
 it falls under a fluted roller by which it is formed into rolls. 
 
 There are many trifling variations in making these machines, 
 which it will be useless for me to describe, as they are now gene- 
 i-ally well understood in this country. For the same reason, I 
 should have considered it unnecessary to have given any descrip- 
 tion of the scribler, nor should I have done so, with any otlier 
 view, than to elucidate those observations that will subsequently 
 be made. 
 
 The workman who manages tlie scribling and carding machines, 
 must take especial care that the wool be properly prepared, by 
 being well opened in the twilly ; for should it be lumpy, the work- 
 ers will have to be placed too near the main cylinder, by which 
 the wool will be forced so far into the wires as to prevent the fan- 
 cy from raising it up ; of course it will pass round a second time, 
 and the main will become so clogged as to injure the working. It 
 is on this account, that some English manufacturers continue to 
 tave their wool beat and picked by hand, as mentioned under the 
 head picking : they consider that the extra expense incurred by 
 this mode of working, is compensated for, by the wool being made 
 cleaner and more open, and by the consequent durability of the 
 cards. The best machines for opening the wool sliould be employ- 
 ed, and this expense need not be incurred. The common tucker 
 generally used in this country, does not open the wool sufficiently 
 
60 
 
 (nr fine work, iL dindes it into much smaller lumps it is tru e, but 
 1 be hairs of tlie wool are not well opened by it- The English 
 i^illy, baring fans as well as teeth, is the best machine for this 
 purpose ; and any manufacturer, desirous of having one, need only 
 apply to Mr. Charles Neal. machine maker, at Hartford, Connec- 
 tjcut. This gentleman was connected, for fourteen years, with one 
 of the best machine makers in the west of England, and those 
 who employ him will have their machines made in great perfection, 
 and the work performed very faithfully. 
 
 The licker-in must be so placed, as to take all the wool from the 
 feeding rollers, and deliver it to the main cylinder. The machine 
 must be fed even and regular. The working cylinders must not 
 be placed too near the main, yet near enough to work down the 
 wool as much as it will bear. For carding of fine, they are to be 
 placed considerably nearer than when set for coai^e work, and the 
 distance must be regulated by the quality. The doffer must be as 
 close to the main as it can be, without coming in contact, for should 
 it fail to take off all the wool, what passes round a second time, 
 will be nippy, and an unusual quantity of f ock will be found un- 
 der the machine. It scarcely need be mentioned, that every cylin- 
 der should be exactly parallel with the main, and that the fancy 
 and doffer are of more consequence in this respect, than any of 
 the others. 
 
 "When a new carder, or scribler is made, or old ones are newly 
 covered, it should be done with cards, number thirty-three, for 
 fine work, and with number thirty-two for middling qualities. The 
 cards are filled with flocks, excepting those on the fancy, to a little 
 below the bends of the wire : with white shear flocks for white 
 work, and with coloured for coloured work. The perfection of 
 the workmanship depends on its being free from lumps and nips, 
 and the hairs of the wool regularly separated from each other, 
 without the staple being broken. The rolls when held up, be- 
 tween the person examining it and the light, should appear per- 
 fectly clear, and of the same size and substance the whgle length, 
 
61 
 
 ex-cepUng- a diminution at the tips, as far as they join, so that when 
 two are rubbed together, they may as nearly as possible, be the 
 size of one. It is also necessary that every roll be of the same 
 size, and contain exactly the same quantity of wool, which they 
 will be if the doffer cards are all of the same breadth, and the ma- 
 chine is fed rcsrular. 
 
 THE SLUBBER. 
 
 THIS machine should contain forty spindles. The sheets placed 
 on the rollers, are moved by a string- attached to a mouse under 
 the carriag-e, to which string hangs a small weight. When the 
 yarn is intended to be fine, the mouse is placed nearer the spin- 
 dles, and farther from them when intended to be coarser. The 
 spindles should be made and set so that the band may move them 
 all equally, and with a light motion. When a billy has too much 
 twist, it is difficult to draw out, and when too little, the thread in 
 some places will be large, and in others small, being what is call- 
 ed gouty: an equal thread is the criterion of perfect work. It 
 will occasionally happen, in drawing out, that one or two threads 
 only will be gouty. In that case they must be taken off by the 
 slubber and thrown into the waste basket. When it is intended 
 for the yarn to be fine, the slubbing also must be fine, and vice versa. 
 The twist for warp and filling should be different, when one is 
 twisted with an open band, the other should be done with a cross 
 band. 
 
 SPINNING. 
 
 A JENNY ought never to contain less than seventy spindles, 
 and is still better with eighty. The principal operation in spin- 
 ning, consists in taking up and twisting. When the slide is drawn- 
 6 
 
62 
 
 out a sufficient distance to take up the clove, tbe twist of tbe 
 jenny must first undo that which was given by the billy in slub- 
 bing, and give to it a little additional twist before it be drawn any 
 farther out; the clove is then taken up, and the slide is gradually 
 drawn to the extremity of the machine, the workman con- 
 tinuing the twist as he di-aws it out. If too much twist be given 
 to it, either before closing the clove, or in drawing out afterwards, 
 the work will be so bound, that the slide will not slip ; if two little 
 twist be given, it will draw into gouty threads, thin in places, and 
 uneven all along. When drawn out, if it be intended for fine 
 yam for warp, it must have twenty-five turns of the large wheel. 
 The faller must now rest on the threads, and the yarn be twisted 
 the contrary way, till that which before rested on the points of 
 the spindles, return on the cops; while^the slide is returning, the 
 twist must be given as at first. For fine work, the clove must be 
 taken up short, for coarse, longer, and the latter must also have 
 less twist. 
 
 I have given directions, in twisting for warp, that it should have, 
 after drawing out, twenty-five turns of the large wheel: but as 
 scarcely any two jennies are calculated to ^ve exactly tbe same 
 twist by the same number of turns, no directions can be followed 
 literally, and the twisting must be governed by the judgment of 
 the boss, or workman. 
 
 Before we proceed, it will be necessary to explain how yarn is 
 calculated, and this will be attended with some difficulty, as the 
 way of doing it varies in different counties in England, and with 
 different manufacturers in the same county. In many parts they 
 calculate by the skein, reckoning so many to the pound. I shall 
 give an account of the mode of calculating generally pursued in 
 Gloucestershire, wliich is by the run, and when it is understood that a 
 run of yarn is sixteen hundred yards, there will be no difficulty in 
 reducing any other mode of calculating to this standard. Yarn 
 is spun from two to ten run to the pound, according to the quality 
 of the wool and to the purpose to which it is intended to be ap- 
 
63 
 
 plied. I have never known it spun more than six run for broad 
 felt cloth, and ten for single cassimere ; and none but the finest 
 Saxony wool can be drawn to ten run. Nothing can be more in- 
 jurious to the interest of the manufacturer than the attempt to 
 draw wool too fine, or beyond its staple, and it is much better to 
 keep within the line than to go beyond it. There appears to be a 
 mania among the clothiers of the present day, to make very fine 
 spinning, and although this has been pursued beyond its maximum, 
 yet every one knows that the cloth now made, is neither better 
 looking, nor any thing like so durable, as when the yarn was not 
 spun so fine. Tliere is a medium to be observed in this, as there 
 is in every thing else, and those who deviate much on either side 
 will be injured instead of being benefitted. In spinning yarn, that 
 medium lies in having it drawn just so fine as to draw and twist 
 easily and readily in the jenny, without much breakage ; for when 
 chain yarn is spun too fine, beyond the staple of the wool, it will 
 break too much in spinning ; will be difficult to weave, and will not 
 wear well when made into garments. It is essentially requisite 
 that the manager of a woollen factory, when he receives a lot of 
 wool, should know by its quality how fine it ought to be spun, and 
 what description of cloth can best be made from it ; for unless he 
 knows this, he must be deficient in judgment, in one of the most 
 important points of a manager, and the manufactory that is under 
 so ignorant a director, can never be expected to flourish. 
 
 The yam for filling, when intended for broadcloth, or narrow, if 
 plain wove, will have to be spun different from the chain. The 
 yarn 1 have before described is for chain, that for filling must be 
 spun with a twist the reverse of this : it must not be twisted so hard 
 and somewhat coarser : when the yarn for chain, is six run, or 
 nine thousand six hundred yards to the pound, the yarn for filling' 
 should be five run, or eight thousand yards, a few yards less being 
 of no consequence, provided it exceeds not four hundred, or a quar- 
 ter of a run. In all cases the yarn, whether for chain or filling, for 
 one piece, should be spun exactly alike. Chain yarn is called tlie 
 
64 
 
 warp, and the filling the abb. Single cassimere is filled Triih yam, 
 spun of the same size, and with nearly as much twist as for the 
 warp. Broadcloths are sometimes kersey-wore and are then 
 called rattinnets ; the manner of making these, and of milled cassi- 
 meres will be hereafter described. 
 
 When the spinners begin any given lot of wool, a run, or some 
 part of one, either half, quarter, or an eight, should be snapped and 
 weighed, in order to ascertain its fineness ; this is done to enable 
 tJie manager to regulate the warping, and to ascertain what quality 
 of filling it may want. All the warp of one piece of cloth should 
 be the work of one jenny, and the filling be that from another ; for 
 if the work of two spinners be mixed, either in the warp, or in the 
 filling, the cloth will be rowy, and baggy, a defect not much no- 
 ticed in this market, although in England it depreciates the value 
 of the goods from ten to fifty per cent. This defect may appear 
 in cloth, when yam is spun on the same jenny- If the pullies that 
 fTork the spindles are not exactly of the same size, or the bands 
 working ronnd the pullies to move the spindles, should any of them 
 be so loose as to slip while in motion, the thread from those spin- 
 dles having the longest pullies, or where the bands slip, will have 
 less twist in them than others. When this happens in spinning o^ 
 warp, the cloth will be warp rowy. and when in spinning of abb, 
 it will be abb rowy ; the one being rowy in the length, and the 
 other in the breadth of the cloth. The same effect is produced 
 when the work of two spinners happen to get mixed, either in the 
 warp, or filling. This is a common defect in American cloth and 
 OBght to be particularly attended to 
 
 A napping machine of two yards circim^ference, is a necessary 
 appendage to every woollen factory. It should snap at forty bouts ; 
 five snaps making a quarter run of yam. The yam is calculated 
 from this, which must be done accurately, or the whole system will 
 be in confusion, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 In many English manufactories the spinning is caJculated by 
 
65 
 
 skeins, and workmen who come from thence, will some talk of 
 runs, and some of skeins, without knowing the length of either, as 
 none but raanagei-s are in that country entrusted with this essential 
 part of the business. I was much surprised the other day, in con* 
 Tersation with a person who now resides in New- York, and was 
 some years since, first a weaver and then a master manufacturer in 
 England, to find that he did not know the length of either a skein, 
 or a run of yarn, and he was too communicative on other parts of 
 the business to suspect that he had any design in withholding the 
 intelligence. Eight score bouts, on a reel of six feet circumfer- 
 ence, constitutes a skein of yarn ; therefore, it is three hundred 
 and twenty yards, and consequently five skeins make a run. 
 
 A machine has been invented by a Mr. Brewster, for spinning 
 by mechanical motion ; I have seen very good work done on it, 
 but it is said to be too expenive, both in the first purchase and ia 
 the subsequent repairs. It would appear to be a very desirable 
 object to spin on a machine, where the twist, when once fixed for 
 any given kind of work, would always be the same. When yara 
 is entrusted to a spinner to be worked by hand, he must be very 
 attentive, or some drafts of yarn will have a greater twist than 
 others, as half a turn of the large wheel would make two per cent, 
 difference in the twist of fine warp. 
 
 I was at a factory, not long since, in New-Jersey, where they 
 calculated yam by the bier, a mode of doing it, I believe, peculiar 
 to those managers. They boasted highly of the secret, which they 
 informed me, was obtained from an old countryman, who ihey said 
 was the only person they had ever met with that knew any thing 
 of calculating yarn. I am aware, as before stated, that very few 
 working Englishmen know any thing of this part of the business ; 
 and this 1 am certain of, that so preposterous a mode of doing it, 
 must have been introduced by the person giving the information, 
 or he must have picked it up from some one in this country, who 
 knew nothing of English calculations. A run of yarn, as before 
 mentioned, is sixteen hundred yards ; a skein is three hundred and 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 twenty, or one fifth of a run. A bier is twice nineteen, twice 
 twenty, or twice twenty-one threads, of an indefinite leng-th ; the 
 run and skein are the different ways of calculating^ spinning : the 
 bier for the warping, and the blending of the two, proves that the 
 person giving such directions, was ignorant of what he was doing ; 
 it was hterally the blind leading the blind. 
 
 One of the managers was so obliging as to give me a list of this 
 mode of calculating ; but it was some time before I could obtain 
 any certain account of the length of yam in a bier, the manager 
 who gave the list, appearing to know nothing about it, and the 
 boss wearer was tlie only person from whom I could gain this ne- 
 cessary piece of information. I need only give an account of their 
 plan, to show its absurdity, and to prove its relative disadvantage 
 over the system I have before described. 
 
 They~ suppose two thousand six hundred yards to be a bier of 
 yarn, and from this number they make their calculations. It is 
 of little consequence from what number of yards yam is calcula- 
 ted, provided that number can be reduced by geometrical pro- 
 gression, by the ratio two, to a small number of yards without pro- 
 ducing a fractional part of two yards. When the number assumed 
 wiU not admit of this, it makes the calculation complicated and 
 troublesome. Taking a run, or sixteen hundred yards, as the 
 standard, it can be reduced to fifty, without a fraction ; but when 
 two thousand six hundred is the assumed number, it cannot be re- 
 duced below six hundred and fifty ; without one, tlierefore, the 
 calculation by the run, must be as the quotient of six hundred and 
 fifty, divided by fifty, or thirteen times better. 
 
 Two bier yam, are three and a quarter mn. 
 
 Two and a quarter bier, are three and five-eighths and fifty yards. 
 
 Two and a half bier, are four run and one hundred and fifty 
 vardsi 
 
87 
 
 Two and three-quarters, are four run and three-eighths and .on« 
 hundred and fifty yards. 
 
 Three bier yarn are four run and scven-eig-hths. 
 
 Tliree and a quarter bier, are five run and a quarter and fift/ 
 yards. 
 
 Cts. Cls. Yds, 
 
 For spinning two bier yarn, they give 5i per bier, or 1 1 for 5200 
 
 two and a quarter, .6 ... J 3i for 5850 
 
 two and a half, . . 6h . . . 16^ for 6500 
 
 two and three-quarters, 7 . . . 19i for 7150 
 
 three, 7^ . . , 22^ for 7800 
 
 three and a quarter, .8 ... 26 for 8450 
 
 This is the highest bier they go to, leaving off at about five run 
 and a quarter. For spinning of filling for broadcloth, they give 
 from four to six cents per pound , 
 
 I have made this digression to show the absurdity of their mode 
 of calculating, having discovered that several respectable manu- 
 facturers were induced to believe, from the boasting of the parties, 
 that they were in possession of some important and highly valua- 
 ble secret, and it being necessary in the infancy of a manufactory, 
 that the most simple and least complicated plans should be adopted. 
 
 WARPING. 
 
 THE chain is calculated by biers and hundreds, one hundred 
 being five bier. The bier varies. In some places it is reckoned 
 from nineteen threads, in some from twenty, and in others from 
 twenty-one. A chain is warped in two sides, and taking nineteeti 
 
68 
 
 Ikreads as Uie standard, each hundrnd will be t^^^ice fire tiroes 
 nineteeQ threads, or niaety-five threads. Supposing I want a 
 warper to warp a chain of seventeen hundred. I should give orders 
 to have it warped eighty-five bier, or sixteen hundred and fifteen 
 threads ; and as a chain iswarped in two sides, each one contain- 
 ing that number, it will necessarily be double the quantity, or tliree 
 thousand two hundred and thirty threads. Taking seventeen hun- 
 dred as a data, by which to calculate, it will be easy for any manu- 
 facturer to make an estimate of any other given hundred, or bier. 
 It being, however, necessary to know how to regulate the spin- 
 ning to the hundred, and this to the width on the loom, I have, for 
 the accommodation of the trade, drawn out a table as follows : 
 
 Run of yam. 
 
 Bier to irarp. 
 
 6 
 
 90 
 
 5 1-2 
 
 87 
 
 5 
 
 82 
 
 4 1-2 
 
 78 
 
 4 
 
 70 
 
 3 1-2 
 
 65 
 
 3 
 
 62. 
 
 Width on the loom. 
 
 12 1-2 quarters. 
 12 do. 
 
 11 1-2 do. 
 11 2 nail. 
 11 do. 
 10 3 do. 
 10 1 do. 
 
 Ninety bier, or eighteen hundred, are sometimes set thirteen 
 quarters, and the others in proportion ; and it is always better not 
 to crowd the chain too much on the loom, as it prevents the weaver 
 from putting in a proper quantity of filling. It will now be clear- 
 ly seen why the manager must accurately ascertain the length of 
 chain yarn in a pound, as it comes from the spinner ; for unless this 
 be correctly done, be can have no data by which to regulate the 
 warping, or to direct what filling maybe wanted for it. He should 
 reel five snaps on the snapping machine, described under the last 
 article, which will be four hundred yards, or a quarter run, and 
 having weighed it, must calculate how many yards there is in a 
 pound, and then reduce them into runs by dividing by sixteen hun- 
 dred, and multiplying these by five, will give him the number of 
 skeins. Or he may divide the number of yards in a pound, bj 
 three hundred and twenty, which will give the skeins, then by 
 
69 
 
 five, and the quotient will be runs. The calculation may also be 
 made in a more direct and less complicated manner. Supposing- 
 the four hundred yards when weighed, should be exactly four 
 ounces, it will be one run to the pound ; if two ounces, two run ; 
 if one ounce, four run ; and, if half an ounce, eight run. So far it 
 would be very easy to make a calculation, but not so when the 
 last quantity should weigh half an ounce and three or four grains, 
 or any other odd number. It is better, therefore, for every marfa- 
 ger to make out a table by which to calculate, having previously 
 fixed upon some geometrical portion of a run for the snap of the 
 reel, and having divided a quarter pound weight into geometrical 
 parts. In order to make this system as clear as possible, I will 
 give a specimen of the table referred to. We will take a quarter 
 pound as the standard weight, and the snapped yarn at four hun- 
 dred yards. The weight will have first to be divided as follows : 
 
 Into one half of a quarter. 
 one quarter of do. 
 one-eighth of do. 
 one-sixteenth of do. 
 one thirty-second of dot. 
 one sixty-fourth of do. 
 
 one, one hundred and twenty-eighth of a quarter 
 one, two hundred and fifty-sixths of a do. 
 
 one, five hundred and twelfth of a do. 
 
 There will then be only nine weights necessary to weigh every 
 quality of yam, and all we now have to do, is to asceitam trhat 
 proportion each of these weights will be to a run of yarn. Let 
 the weights be numbered, beginning with the largest, from one to 
 eine, then apply the following table : 
 
 No. 1 is the half of one run, or two run to the pound. 
 
 2 is the quarter of one run, or four run to do. 
 
 3 is tlie eighth of one run,- or eight run to do. 
 
 4 is the sixteenth of one run, or sixteen run to dci. 
 
70 
 
 No. a IS me tnirtv-second of one run, or thirl j-two run to 
 the pound. 
 
 6 is the sixty-fourth of one run. 
 
 7 is the one hundred and twenty-eigLth. 
 
 8 is the txvo hundred and fifty-sixth. 
 
 9 is the fire hundred and twelfth. 
 
 If the yarn should weig-h number three, it will be eight run to 
 the pound ; if it weighs number three and four, it will be eight 
 run less, one half, or four run to the pound ; if it weighs number 
 three and number fire, it will be eight run less one quarter, or six 
 nin to the pound ; if it weighs number three and number sir, it 
 will be eight run less one-eighth, or seven run to the pound ; if it 
 weighs ntunber three and number seven, it will be eight run, less 
 one sixteenth, or seven and a half run to the pound, and so on 
 through the whole series. 
 
 It will readily be perceived that by this regulation, tlie manu- 
 facturer need only weigh the yarn, and by referring to the table, 
 he will be able, after a little practice, to calculate without figures, 
 by merely setting down the proportions as there stated. 
 
 The filling for broadcloth should have just as much, and no more 
 twist, than will enable it to draw ofi" the bobbins, and follow the 
 shuttle, without much breakage. It must not only be looser spuri. 
 but it must also be coarser than the warp. ^^Tien a chain is made 
 from spinning of six run to the pound, the filling should not exceed 
 five, and is still belter when only four run and three quarters. 
 
 The manufacturers of the west of England have varied in their 
 mode of making, twice since my remembrance, and in order t*" 
 obtain the newest mode, I wrote last fall to a clothier in Glouces- 
 tershire to inquire how they were at this time making their broad- 
 cloth and cassimere. The result of that inquiry I sb&U proceei 
 to lay down : 
 
71 
 
 •^^ A thirty-six ell (fifty-foor yards) chain is warped eighty-four 
 bier, is set on the loom eleven and a half quarters, is fulled into 
 six and a half quarters in cloth^ when raised and tentered, will be 
 fair seyen quarters, and if well wove, will measure forty-two yards. 
 The chain should weigh twenty-two pounds, and should have put 
 into it fifty pounds of filling. The warp should snap twenty-six, 
 and the filling twenty skeins to the pound. 
 
 " The mode of making cassimeres has greatly varied ; but the 
 best makers, are warping them, both double and single, twelve 
 hundred, or sixty bier, the double are warped thirty-four ells, 
 (fifty-one yards,) are set on the loom twenty-one nails, and fulled 
 into thirteen. The warp and the filling should both snap twenty- 
 eight skeins to the pound, the chain should weigh fourteen pounds, 
 and if well wove, will take full twenty-five pounds of filling. It 
 should measure, when finished, forty-two yards. 
 
 "A single cassimere chain of thirty ells (forty-five yards) should 
 weigh about eleven pounds, and if Avell wove, will take from sixteen 
 to seventeen pounds of filling. It is set on the loom seventeen nails 
 and fulled into twelve and a half. The warp should snap thirty- 
 six, and the filling, thirty -eight skeins to the pound, and should 
 measure, when finished, forty-four yards." 
 
 I wish to be very particular in describing this part of the busi- 
 ness, as it belongs solely to the managers, and unless well under- 
 stood by them, they never can expect to make cloth regularly good, 
 or with any prospect of success. I shall endeavour to give such 
 directions as cannot be misunderstood, and to make such calcula- 
 tions as will enable those who are totally ignorant of the business, 
 to understand it. The regulations in spinning, warping, and weav- 
 ing, may be said to be the primum mobile of manufacturing ; for 
 should every other part be executed in the most masterly manner, 
 and these, either from ignorance, or neglect, be imperfect, the 
 fabric produced can never be good ; and if ?i piece now and thea 
 
72 
 
 snoold prove superior to the general ran, it wiii be owing more to 
 chaince tlian to desigo. It behoves the mannfkctiirer, therefore. 
 to pay particular and personal attention to these branches of the 
 bosiness. 
 
 When a chain is warped twenty-one threads to the half bier, in- 
 stead of nineteen, as I have directed, it must be set wider on the 
 loom, or the bier must be lovrered. To enable manufacturers to 
 understand why this is necessary, I will make a calculation to show 
 iLe difference between the two. A chain of spinning that is six 
 run to the pound, is directed to be warped ninety bier of twice 
 nineteen threads, and will c<Hitain three thousand four hundred 
 End twentv threads, but when warped twenty -one threads to the 
 hajf bier, a chain of ninety bier will have in it three thousand seven 
 hundred and eighty threads ; which is three hundred and sLsty 
 more than the other, or nearly ten bier of twice nineteen threads 
 additional ; and if this be set in the loom the same breadth as the 
 other, it will be so crowded as to prevent the weaver from putting 
 in a proper quantity of filling. It is a ccMnmon filing in American 
 «Dade cloth, that it is de^cient in filling, and too crowded in the 
 warp. 
 
 Tkis calculation proves how necessary it is when biers are spo- 
 ken of. that the managers should know what number of threads 
 were warped to make it : for unless this be understood, tbey will 
 have to work in the dark. That the sjrstem of regulating work 
 mav be rei^ered clear and easy to the comprehension of every one 
 who may feel an interest in it, either as readers or manufactuicrs, 
 I shall add a table that will, at one view, present to them the whole 
 subject with all the necessary calculations. 
 
 In the first column of the table is given iLe qvsliiy ci iiie yam, 
 beginning for broadcloth at six, run, and proceeding to three 
 run — the second gives the number of skeins contained ic the 
 runs, the third the length of thread, the fourth the hundred whick 
 it dMmld be warped, according to the run, and the fifth the bier 
 
INSERT FOLDOUT HER 
 
73 
 
 contained in those hundreds— the sixth the number of threads 
 contained in the bier when warped nineteen to the half bier, the 
 seventh and eighth the number of threads when warped twenty 
 and twenty-one, the ninth and tenth the extra number of biers 
 contained when vyarped twenty and twenty-one. The four last 
 named columns are designed to show the manufacturer that when 
 chains are warped twenty and twenty-one, the number of biers 
 must be lowered so ar to bring the work to the standard I have 
 marked out ; and in the columns twelve and thirteen the proper 
 width for setting cloth on the loom, according to the run of the yarn. 
 The fourteenth column gives the run of the filling for each quality 
 of warp, and the fifteenth gives the length of the warp. Then fol- 
 lows first the weight of filling which that length ought to have fe-eat 
 into it m the loom, the next the length of cloth when finished', and 
 then the breadth when fulled and when finished. 
 
 I am aware from what little I have seen of American manufac- 
 turers that it will be difficult to prevail upon the workmen to per- 
 form their weaving agreeably to the plan I have laid down : but 
 the owners of factories may rely upon it that the nearer they can 
 l)ring their work to this standard, the more nearly will their cloth 
 resemble that which is imported from the west of England. It will 
 be perceived that when broadcloth is warped from five run yarn, 
 It should be eighty.four bier, and have about fifteen ounces of fill' 
 mg to each yard upon the length warped ; but fifteen ounces of 
 American filling will not make so stout a cloth as the same quan- 
 tity of English filling will do-this may appear paradoxical at first 
 sight, but not so when explained. Fifty pounds of American blue 
 wool will have put on it five quarts of oil, weighing about nine 
 pounds, while the same quantity of wool in England will have bare- 
 ly SIX pounds; therefore, when a weaver in this countr, puts in 
 fifty pounds of filhng, the cloth will have in it three pounds less of 
 wool than when the same weight is put in, in that countrr, which 
 
 rengr ^ '^'^'''''''^ °^ °'^'^^ '""^ °''"'' "P'° """^ y^^^' ^^^ 
 7 
 
74 
 
 SIZING THE CHAIN 
 
 IS performed in a liquor prepared by boiling- limed pieces, glue, 
 or skins of animals, in water till reduced to a jelly. The chain 
 is moistened in a weak solution of this liquor, being" passed gra- 
 dually through it while it is warm, in a large washing tub. When 
 a few yards have been soaked, and wrung- out, another lengtli is 
 put in, and so on, till the wliole has undergone the operation. The 
 chain is shaken as it is wrung out, either by the person sizing it, 
 or by another employed for the purpose ; the shaking has for its 
 object, to prevent the threads from adhering together, which they 
 would do from the adhesive quality of the glue, if the chain were 
 permitted to lie many minutes without it. 
 
 The sizing liquor should be strong enough to give to the yam 
 when dry, a moderate degree of hardness, yet not too stiff. The 
 chain being warped in two sides, each one is sized separately, and 
 when this has been performed, they are taken to a favourable 
 situation, stretched and dried. In some factories, this is done by 
 Land, in others, by a machine so made as to place cross-bars alter- 
 jaately under and over the chain, by which any stretch or pressure 
 can be given that may be wanted. When a chain is placed on 
 this machine, it lays at first on the bars that are intended to re- 
 main underneath it, being every other one, and moderate^ strain- 
 ed over them : the first, or liead bar, is put through the loops of 
 one end, and the other end is fastened by pieces of thrum to the 
 bar at the other extreme of the length of the chain. A wrave 
 is placed on the chain before it receives any strain, and passed 
 from the head to the last end, where it remains. The wrave 
 should have as many pins in it as there are half biers, that half a 
 bier may pass through each space. When this has been done, the 
 cross pieces that go over the chain]are put on, the necessary strain 
 given, and the piece left to dry. 
 
 A chain should be 4ried when the atmosphere is dry and clear. 
 
75 
 
 and the sun not too powerful ; for should the day be close, or what 
 is vulgarly called murky, and the sun shining very warm, the g-lue 
 is apt to run, and leave the chain so supple, that it will not weave. 
 When wool dyed warps, or mixture are to be sized, a little whiting- 
 IS often used in the liquor to strengthen the yarn : but this must 
 never be used in white work, because it is difficult to wash out 
 afterwards, and should any remain in the cloth, the dye would be, 
 injured. 
 
 WEAVLNG. 
 
 LOOMS are differently made. The odd fashioned loom has the 
 ehain beam placed on a level with the reed, on which the chain in 
 wound from the wrave. In the modern loom the chain beam h 
 placed below, and the chain passes over a bar at the back. The 
 latter has this advantage over the former, that the chain is always 
 in one direction with respect to the reed and the work, and a regu- 
 lar stram is more equally preserved. The slay, or reed has to be 
 made to suit the work wanted, and the harness adapted to both. 
 In some factories, they have the cloth woven three, and in others 
 four threads through each split of the reed ; but this is never done 
 by those who undertand the best mode of working : ' they never 
 have more than two threads in a split. The reeds for the latter, 
 are more expensive, but they are more durable, and the threads of 
 the warp are not so much chafed during the working. Every yard 
 of broadcloth should have from fourteen to fifteen ounces of fillin<y' 
 woven into it, warped length. It will be unnecessary to instruct, 
 in this place, what description of filling is necessary for any given 
 quality of chain, as by referring to the table under the head warp- 
 ing, the whole can be seen at one view. 
 
 Good workmanship in weaving, is of more importance than m 
 any other branch of the manufactory, and unless this be well exe- 
 cuted, good cloth can never be made. A first rate wearer mar 
 
76 
 
 make bad yarn into good cloth, but when the fabric is badly put 
 together in the loom, all previous workmanship, however good, 
 and all subsequent labour bestowed upon it, however ably done, 
 can never turn out a good article. I shall endeavour to give such 
 instructions as will enable manufacturers to understand what has 
 to be done to make good weaving : yet after all that can be said, 
 or written on the subject, nothing but experience can make them 
 critically acquainted with it ; and so long as managers are content 
 to leave this and other important branches to the direction of un- 
 der bosses, so long will their concerns go on imperfectly. The mas- 
 ter manufacturers in England, never leave the direction, or in- 
 spection, of any important part to hirelings, for they know full 
 well that one hireling will colleague with others of the same class, 
 although he may be placed a little above them. The master, who 
 is ever the owner of the factory, gives directions what has to be 
 done, and he personally inspects the work, to see that it is executed 
 agreeably to his instructions. 
 
 To have good weaving, the warp must be kept tight on the loom, 
 and the filling put in with an even beat ; that is, there must be the 
 same number of threads . in one inch of the cloth as there is in 
 another. When cloth is woven with a loose chain, a suflScient 
 quantity of filling cannot be put into it, and when fulled and 
 finished, it will be then in texture, and feel hollow and spongy — 
 when it is unequally filled, and thin in places, it will be baggy when 
 finished, owing to its fulling in faster in the places that have been 
 woven thin, than in others, where more abb has been beaten in. 
 When two small a quantity of filling is put in, and yet wove even, 
 the cloth will full very rapidly in length, so that the manufacturer 
 will have to pay from five to ten per cent more for bad weaving, 
 than for good. It often happens with indifferent weavers, that they 
 Will weave one side of the cloth tighter than the other, this may 
 be occasioned by the beaming being irregular, having been strain- 
 ed whilst wintling on, more on one side than on the other, or it 
 may occur a'so by the weaver's irregularity in working. When 
 this occurs, the cloth will be what is vulgarly called lop-sided, and 
 
77 
 
 'in dressing", or raising the nap, that side which has had the greatest 
 strain, will be cut against the list, and have a good nap raised on 
 it before the other is more than two-thirds raised. 
 
 The yam for filling is Usually wound on bobbins that are put 
 into the suhttles and thrown across the warp. This in some facto- 
 ries, is done on the jenny spi«dles as it is spun. In common, how- 
 ever, it is wound oflFthe jenny cops by girls, each one winding for 
 three or four looms, and it not unfrequently happens, that by mis- 
 take, or carelesness, the bobbins will get mixed, or those intended 
 for one cloth will be taken by the i^eaver of another ; in this way 
 two kinds of spinning become mixed in the same piece, when such 
 cloth will be what is called rowy, that is, the filling of one kind of 
 spinning fulling in faster than the other, will leave the cloth in 
 some places tight, and in others loose and wrinkly. This is a 
 common defect in American made cloth, and is often seen in that 
 which is imported ; for in England such goods will not sell unle^^s 
 at a considerable reduction in price, and they are sent to this 
 market because such damage has not yet been noticed here. 
 That which is badly rowed is not considered there to be worth more 
 than half as much as that which is perfect ; and a single row in a 
 whole piece depreciates its value. This defect might be easily 
 avoided by having the bobbins filled on the jenny ; but when one 
 girl has to wind for three or four looms, it cannot be so easily 
 remedied, unless they could be made steady and circumspect, 
 which I believe no wise man will willingly undertake to do. If 
 the plan of putting out chains to weavers to be woven at their 
 own houses, were adopted in this country, such defect would hap- 
 pen but very seldom, as the weavers would then be made answerable 
 for all avoidable damage. 
 
 In many factories in England, the yarn is reeled into skeins, 
 and tliese are made wet before they are wound into bobbins; in 
 others, where the bobbins are wound from the jenny cops, they are 
 wetted by means of a tin suction tube ; for in weaving of all kinds 
 
78 
 
 cf woollen cloth, it is absolutely requisite to fill with wet bobbins. 
 They are wetted with a mixture of water and urine, or water and 
 soap. When cloth is woven with dry bobbins, a sufficient quantity 
 of filling- cannot be beat into it, owing- to the elasticity of the wool, 
 and the cloth will be thin and spongy ; when dry bobbins are oc- 
 casionally woven in by carelesness, or mistake, the cloth will be 
 rowy, the same as when different filling has been shot in ; and if a 
 bobbin be not wet through, the outside being wet and the inside 
 dry, the cloth will also be rowj, but in much narrower stripes than 
 before. 
 
 When a cloth is begun by the weaver, he should in warm 
 weather take off the work from the nether beam, or that beam on 
 which the cloth is rolled when woven, at least every other night, 
 and hang it up on the loom to dry ; for as it is woven with wet 
 bobbins, and is not dry when wound on the beam, that part which 
 lies against it, unless opened as directed, is apt to mould, and will 
 appear mill-dewed, having yellow and blue spots in it, and is not 
 unfrequently decayed in those spots. 
 
 A cloth from the loom is called a say, or flannel, and when the 
 weaver has taken off a cut, it is the duty of the manager, which 
 he should never neglect, to give it a close and critical inspection, 
 to ascertain if the weaver has done his duty, and to fine him if 
 lie has been negligent and careless. I would reccommend that 
 an additional price be given for every piece that is perfectly woven, 
 and to deduct from the usual charge for every glaring- defect. 
 By these means good workmen would be encouraged. But when 
 they find that bad weaving is paid for at the same rate as good, it 
 operates as an inducement for those who know and can do better, 
 to make inferior workmanship. 
 
 To enable a manager to inspect a cloth properly, he must be 
 provided with a double perch, placed before a wide and deep win- 
 dow, on the north side of some room in the factory, for at no other 
 light can defects be so easily seen. A perch is made with two 
 
79 
 
 <cros8-bars suspended from the ceiling-, placed from six to sevea 
 feet above the floor of the room, and parallel with the window. 
 The front bar is two feet from the light, so as to enable the inspect- 
 or to stand between the window and the cloth, the second is placed 
 three feet behind the other ; they are made rounding on the top, 
 and are fixtures. The cloth to be examined is placed on the floor 
 a little behind the last bar, and the head end is taken by the man- 
 ager and the Weaver, and is by them thrown first over the hind 
 bar, and then over the front one. It has now to be drawn slowly 
 over the perch, the persons inspecting- it, standing between the 
 two bars where they can thorough-light the cloth and see every 
 defect, if they are previously acquainted with what are defects, 
 which it will be my next object to describe. 
 
 Defective weaving consists first in the cloth being woven une- 
 qually, or some parts being beaten up closer than others ; thethia 
 places will show at the perch, and should be marked by those who 
 are inexperienced inspectors, and the effect examined when fin- 
 ished — a single white thread tied in the list will mark them. 
 Secondly, when different filling is shot into the same cloth, or when 
 dry, or partly dry bobbins are thrown in, the former will not be 
 visible if the filling should be of the same size and colour, but 
 dry bobbins are readily seen, as the cloth will there be more open, 
 and show more day light through it. Thirdly, having two threads 
 in one place, or what is called double threads, which may be either 
 in the whole breadth, or only part of it. When a double thread 
 crosses the cloth, it is occasioned by the weaver throwing the 
 shuttle twice, without changing the position of the harness, and, 
 when only part of the way, it arises from carelesness in replacing 
 the shuttle when the abb breaks, or when a new bobbin is put in. 
 Fourthly, when the abb is thrown outside of some of the threads, 
 owing to the chain not having been opened in every part before 
 the shuttle crosses it. Fifthly, when the chain threads break and 
 the weaving goes on without mending. Sixthly, when one side of 
 the chain has had a greater strain on it than the other, which will 
 make one list tight and the oth^r loo^e : this defect mostly occurs, 
 
80 
 
 as before obseired, from the chain haTin^ been imeqnally beam- 
 ed: it may aJso be occasioned bj carelesness, or from want of 
 judg-ment in the wearer. 
 
 IndependentJj of these defects in weaving", cloth and cassimere 
 maj sometimes be pin-roirj, that is, wben one thread is larger 
 than another. Tlas defect does not properij belong to the weaver, 
 it being more tbe foult of the spinner, who has neglected to throw 
 out the gt>uty thiieads, and of the bobbin winder, whose province 
 it is, when gwits are left by the spinner, to break them off instead 
 of winding them on the cops. Clolh that is pin-rowy, is only fit 
 for black, as do other colour will hide it. 
 
 Smgle and double milled cassimcres are woven in narrow looms. 
 They are worked with four treadles, four leaves of harness, and 
 eight shafts ; four above and four below ; the whole depends on the 
 rigging of the shafts, a process with which I am not sufficiently 
 acquainted, to describe. All cassimere looms have the same 
 number of treadles, leaves of harness, and shafts. The filling 
 for single cassimere, is twisted the same way, and somewhat finer 
 than the chain yam, and the whole being made by the filling, will 
 fehow fine in proportion to its fineness and twist- Milled cassi- 
 roeres are filled with abb, spun the same as for broadcloth, only 
 finer aud more hardly twisted. Those broadcloths having a cassi- 
 mere twill, called rattinets, are fiUed with yam, such as has been 
 described for double-milled cassimeres, and the rigging of the loom 
 is the same. 
 
 ■f hare already mentioned that, in England, weaving is put out 
 to maffiter-workmen, who perform the work at their own houses, 
 and T have recommended the same plan to be adopted in this coun- 
 try, for reasons there stated. If our manufacturers should approve 
 of this mode, and give into it, they must be apprised of one cir- 
 cumstance resulting from it, that they are liable to lose their stock 
 by the weavers appropriating some of tlie yam to their own use, 
 and ertber selling, or making cloth from it. This evil, however.. 
 
81 
 
 may be easily avoided by adopting- proper regulations, and keeping 
 a vigilant look out after them. A weaver's book must be kept, 
 in which the weight of the chain, before and after sizing, and the 
 bier, are entered in different columns. A fourth column is appro- 
 priated for the weight of the abb taken out by the weaver to fill 
 the piece. When the cloth is brought home, the waste is returned 
 •with it ; the flannels being dried, is weighed after perching, and 
 the weight with the waste added to it, is entered in a fifth column. 
 After the flannel has been scoured and dried, and before burling, 
 it is weighed again, deducting from the first weighing for the oil 
 used on the wool, for the waste returned, and for the sizing, and 
 allowing one-eighth per cent, for dust and dirt ; and if the two 
 weighings agree together, and these with the quantity of chain 
 and filling taken out, no fraud can have been committed that 
 is worth mentioning — the first weighing, compared with the 
 stuff taken out, will not be an effectual check, as the weaver 
 can size the yarn after taking it out, or he can do it even when 
 in cloth ; or if this be not done, the soap, &c. used in wetting 
 the bobbins, will add to the weight. A weaver that is inclined, 
 can add three pounds to every warp taken out, which he can ap- 
 propriate to his own use, unless the manufacturer keeps the check 
 upon him before described. 
 
 I have before mentioned, that weaving is not done by the yard 
 m England. The chain is warped and calculated by the ell of one 
 yard and a half. For each elL the weaver is paid from one shilling 
 to eighteen pence, according to the quality of the wool, the run 
 of the yarn, and. the substance of the cloth. One shilling is twen- 
 Iwo cents, and eighteen pence arc thirty-three ccLits. In this 
 country a weaver is paid as much for a yard as he is there for an 
 ell, therefore, he has fifty per cent more here than iliere. Single 
 eassimeres are woven there for eight pence, half mills for ten 
 pence, and double mills for one shilling per yard. Eight pence 
 are about fifteen cents, ten pence about eighteen cents and a 
 half, and one shilling is a fraction inoie than twenty-two cents. 
 I consider it useful lo give this statement, because I know 
 from experience, that American maiiUiucturers never can get 
 
82 
 
 at the truth from English workmen, and I hare given those 
 prices most fevourable to the weaver. Many of the English 
 master weavers make a property by their business, and surely 
 they ought to do much better here, where they receive fifty 
 per cent more for their work, and the difference in the price 
 is not all the advantage they have, for in England, the wea- 
 ver finds his own looms, harness, and reeds; and here they are 
 found for them, which makes full 12 percent more in their favour. 
 
 The American manufacturers have a further per ceotage 
 against them in the weaving. It is considered excellent weaving 
 here when the finished cloth holds out three yards in four for the 
 loom length, whereas in England, it fulls in only two yards in nine; 
 on the length warped. 
 
 Weaving is seldom more than tolerably well done in this coun- 
 try, and the greater jaart of it is wretchedly performed, and if 
 would be a g^-eat advantage to the woollen maoufacturer, could a 
 machine be invented to perform the work. There was something 
 of this kind in operation at a Mr. Shepard's factory, Northamp- 
 ton. Mass. and the cloth woven on it, appeared to be very passa- 
 ble, quite as good as that which was done by Land in the same 
 factory. 
 
 BRAYIIVG. 
 
 THE process called braying, is that by which the grease and 
 sizing are scoured out of the flannel. When a piece ccmes from 
 the loom, it is said to be in the say, and it ought to be scoured out 
 as soon as possible. Should this from any circumstance be delay- 
 ed, it must be dried and laid by till wanted : it should never, bow- 
 ever, be pennitted to lie long, eifher wet or dry ; for when wet it 
 taiuts, and when dry, the oil will oxidize, when the woe! w'll turn 
 rellow, and the oil become so hard as verv much to increase the 
 
B3 
 
 difficulty 01 removing it from the cloth. The impurities to be 
 scoured out are the oil used on the wool, and Ihe sizing used to 
 stiffen the chain. The materials employed to remove them, are 
 hog's-dung and human urine. A cask is about a quarter filled 
 with dung, and then filled up with urine ; they are then well stir- 
 red together, and left to get stale, being fit for use after standing a 
 few days, yet the older they are, the better. At the time the cloth 
 is folded into the stocks, pour upon it as much of this liquor as will 
 be necessary to wet it, and cause it to turn; the hammers are now 
 suffered to play for a few minutes, till the cloth is wetted equally 
 ill every part, after which it is taken out, and its lists pulled square. 
 The lists are now thrown to the centre, and the cloth thrown into 
 a circular heap, and left in that position until the urine has enter- 
 ed into combination with the oil, which crisis may be known by 
 wringing a handful of the cloth ; when the liquor wrung out, is of 
 a milky appearance, the desired union is effected, and the cloth is 
 again put into the stocks, and more of the liquor is added until it 
 is wetted throughout ; the hammers are now permitted to play for 
 one hour, unless the expected effect is produced in a shorter time, 
 after which, a small stream of water is introduced into the stocks 
 during twenty minutes ; then the plug is taken out, and water is 
 introduced freely until it runs off perfectly clean. 
 
 In general, this urinous liquor and water are sufficient to cleanse 
 a cloth from its grease ; but when the wool has not been properly 
 scoured from its yolk, or filth, or when the cloth has been manu- 
 factured a great while, it is necessary to add to the urine a solu- 
 tion of fuller's earth, and to do it sometimes two or three, and even 
 four times over : notwithstanding which, it is almost ever neces- 
 sary to work such clo( u twice more with earth, prior to fulling ; but 
 this is done only after it has been burled ; at all events, the opera- 
 tion is always finished by letting the water run freely into the 
 stocks. In order to knew whether a cloth in the flannel is in a 
 fit state for washing, aflec it has been worked in the stocks for half 
 an hour, dip a corner or the cloth into a oucket of water, rub it 
 between the hauds, repeat it several times, and then expose it to 
 
84 
 
 the hg^ht, looking" through it, and if no yellow, grey, or black streak 
 OT Stain appear, vou may wash it as before directed ; but should 
 there be any such appearances, the hammers must continue to play 
 >mtil it is fit. 
 
 It is important that cloth should be thoroughly free from grease 
 before it be fulled ; for soap,|which softens grease, but does not dis- 
 solve it, forms with it a clammy, semi-soponaceous compound which 
 adheres very strongly to the cloth, and is scarcely ever to be re- 
 moved by any subsequent operation. In some places on the Euro- 
 pean continent, where good earth is not to be procured, they scour 
 the cloth witli a soft black soap, although it be a miserable substi- 
 tute for earth. 
 
 It is important that cloth should not full in whilst it is undergoing 
 the process of scouring ; to prevent this, it is necessary to attend to 
 it whilst the hammers are playing, and when it begins to get warm 
 in the stocks, it must be handed out and pulled by the lists ; the 
 hammers must play on it slowly, and a little water must be let into 
 the stocks. When cloth is suffered to become treated in the stocks> 
 while scouring, and it fulls in, the burlers cannot take off the knots, 
 nor draw out the double threads, without making such holes as will 
 not close in the fulling, and the cloth will necessarily be imper- 
 fect. 
 
 In some places they suffer the cloth to soak during three, four, 
 •r more days in a nver, after it comes from the loom, in order to 
 dissolve the glue with which the chains have been sized. 
 
 Attention must be paid to the cloth when heating in (he heap, 
 for should it be permitted to become too hot, with the size in it, the 
 eloth will soon be injured. A few hours in warm weather will 
 effect the desired union of the grease and urine, and if it be per- 
 mitted to lay long in the heap after this has taken place, the tex- 
 ture will be destroyed. 
 
85 
 
 The mode of wetting the cloth with the urinous hquor varies 
 according- to the whim and fancy of the workmen; some wil 
 throw the liquor on the face of the cloth, fold it up, and tread it 
 witli their feet ; others again perform the operation altogether in 
 the fulling mill, permitting the stocks to play on the cloth until the 
 grease combines with the ammonia of the urine. It is of little 
 consequence how the process may be varied, provided the cloth be 
 equally well cleansed from its grease. 
 
 Braying is a chemical operation which I shall endeavour to ex- 
 plain for the satisfaction of any scientific manufacturer who may 
 peruse this work. The urinous liquor undergoes a fermentation, 
 which is accelerated by the glue used in sizing ; the ammonia of 
 the urine, assisted by heat, combines with the oil, by which an am- 
 moniacal soap is formed that will readily wash out in water. 
 
 The urinous ammonia and oil are both liquids of less specific 
 gravity than water, and, when combined, the product is a sopona- 
 ceous semi-liquid of greater specific gravity. It is well known to 
 my chemical readers, that when a change takes place from a liquid 
 to a solid, a large portion of caloric, or the matter of heat, is given 
 out, and that the quantity liberated is in proportion to the increased 
 density of the product ; it follows, of course, that during the com- 
 binaiion of the oil and ammonia, caloric is liberated : this added 
 to that which is developed by the fermentation accounts for the 
 great heat engendered during this process, which in a few hours 
 will become so excessive, in warm weather, and in cold when per- 
 mitted to lay longer, as to be too hot to handle ; and if not checked, 
 will soon decompose the wool, and destroy the texture of tlie cloth.' 
 We cannot be suj-prised at this destructive effect when we know 
 that wool is altogether composed of animal fat, assuming its present 
 form by some inexplicable organization; for it is nothing mor^ 
 than a progressive action, continuing to operate on the wool, after 
 ^U the oil with which vt was sheathed, has been decomposed. 
 
 The Messrs. Haights scour the grease out of their carpeting with 
 
 8 
 
86 
 
 steam. Having seen steam tried for fulling, and given up as pro- 
 ducing an injurious effect on the fabric, I was particular in making 
 inquiry of their mode of braying : the result was, that the grease is 
 raised in their carpeting by steam being let into the machine in 
 which they cleanse the carpeting, and I understood without urine 
 «r any other material to assist it. 
 
 I shtU not venture to recommend manufacturers to adopt this 
 mode of braying, altliough, were! engaged in the business,'! should 
 try it myself; for as the success of the operation depends upon 
 using steam at the temperature of about 100*^ Fahrenheit, it is pro- 
 bable that workmen would not do justice to the experiment, and it 
 is very likely that when worked even at this low temperature 
 the cloth would full in so much as to prevent the burling. I am of 
 opinion, however, that steam heat with fullers earth would very 
 successfully cleanse grease out of cloth ; for it is well known that 
 moistened earth, at such a temperature as they use, will readily 
 combine with oil, and also that it has rather a tendency to keep 
 the fabric open than to felt it. Sheuld this opinion, on trial, prove 
 to be correct, it will be no small advantage to the manufacturer ; 
 for, as this earth has been lately found in inexhaustible beds on the 
 North river, and can be purchased in New York at one dollar per 
 Imndred pounds, it will be as cheap as urine— will be much more 
 certain in its operation, and cannot endanger the safety of the 
 goods. 
 
 DRYING CF CLOTH BEFORE AND AFTER BRAYING. 
 
 • 
 
 BEFORE describing the process of burling, I must give some 
 direction on the effect produced by exposing the flannel partially 
 to the sun whilst drying. When cloths have been dyed drab and 
 several other light colours in the wool, or having been woven white, 
 are intended to be dyed such colours in the cloth, it is necessary 
 to lje very particular in drying them ; for, if some parts of a cloth 
 
87 
 
 be exposed to the sun, and other parts lie in the shade, that part 
 which has been exposed will be of a different colour from that which 
 has been shaded ; it will be yellower, and is said to be sun-bleached, 
 and must be re-dyed some other colour before the defect can be 
 covered. This extraordinary fact is well known by every respect- 
 able manufacturer in the west of England, but I believe has never 
 before been noticed by any writer on the subject. It is usual, 
 when such goods are made, to have them hung on tenters to dry, 
 or rather on hanging racks, having but one range of bars placed on 
 the top of eight feet posts, in which hooks are driven, one for every 
 three feet, and every other one being on the back of the bars to 
 prevent the wind blowing the goods off. The right side is placed 
 in the shade, the wrong side only being exposed to the sun. la 
 certain other light colours this defect is never perceived, which is 
 the case with scarlet and all those where a large portion of acids 
 are used. 
 
 I shall attempt to explain theoretically the change which is here 
 produced on the wool. It is more than probable my theory will be 
 defective, yet if it should give a clue to some able chemist to ex- 
 plain it more scientifically, it cannot fail of being serviceable to 
 the trade. 
 
 We know that when fat of any kind is long exposed to the action 
 of the atmosphere, it will become oxidized that the lightest co- 
 loured oils, and the whitest fat, will by such exposure, gradually 
 lose their colour, and become yellow, and that when exposed to 
 the sun such changes are produced more rapidly — we also kno^* 
 that wool is composed of an animal fat liable to be acted on by al- 
 kalies, in the same degree as are other oleaginous substances ; ir 
 necessarily follows, that those parts of cloth which have been ex- 
 posed to the sun, will have oxidized more highly than other parts 
 which have boen dried in the shade; and there is also a striking- 
 similarity in the effect produced ; for the cloth as well as the fat ha« 
 been yellowed. 
 
88 
 
 I have before mentioned that some few manufacturers never 
 permit their woollen cloth to be died in the sun, from an apprehen- 
 sion that it is thereby hardened, and the fact I haee now described, 
 affords a strong proof in favour of their opinion. 
 
 BURLING. 
 
 AFTER a say has been brayed and dried, it has to be taken to 
 the burlers, whose province it is to take off all the knots from the 
 face of the cloth, and to take out all the double threads, if any there 
 are ; in doing this they must be careful not to make holes in the 
 cloth ; when the cloth burled has been wool dyed the lints also 
 must be picked out. 
 
 Burling is performed on a board about three feet wide and ten 
 feet long, placed on a stand having four legs, and inclined about 
 forty-five degrees. This work is altogether done by women, and 
 the instruments they work with are called burling irons. When 
 a piece is begun, as much of the cloth is placed over the board, 
 from the back of the stand, as will cover it nearly to the bottom, 
 the head end or forrel extending a little below it. On the upper 
 edge of the board some fine worn out scribbling card, or dog fish 
 skin, is nailed on, to prevent the cloth from slipping over whilst 
 the women are at work ; below the centre of the board, at each 
 end, a hook is fastened to twine ; the end of the twine is secured 
 to the ends of the board. These are intended to stretch the cloth 
 and to keep it in place breadthways. The cloth faces a good win- 
 dow-light, and a window-seat of the length of the board should be 
 jixed for the women to sit on whilst at work. When all the knots 
 are taken off, and all the double threads drawn out from the breadth 
 first placed upon the board, another succeeds it, and so on till the 
 piece is finished. 
 
 "When a breadth is finished and before replacing it with another^ 
 
 i 
 
S9 
 
 it is marked on the top across the cloth, with chalk, if wool dyed, 
 and with reddle or charcoal if white : the marking has for its ob- 
 ject to show how far the work has been done, so that in drawing 
 another length over, no part may be left unburled, nor any worked 
 over twice. When all of one side has been done, the cloth is re- 
 turned to the back of the stand, turned over, and the other side 
 undergoes the same operation. 
 
 It is usual in many English factories to have the rough wool ta- 
 ken off the face and %vrong side of the say, as well as the knots 
 and double threads, which, I believe is not done any where in this 
 country. Those who have this performed, consider that the cloth 
 has a better face when finished than when the rough wool is left on, 
 and this may be the case when raised by hand : but I do not be- 
 lieve it is any improvement when the nap is raised by the gig mill. 
 The rough wool, however, should be taken off the wrong side, for. 
 unless this be done, that side will have a very uncouth appearance 
 when the cloth is ready for market. 
 
 After wool dyed cloth has been burled at the board, it has to be 
 put over a perch and all the lints taken out with linting irons, of a 
 make similar to those used for burling, only smaller, more elastic 
 and finer at the points. There will be in all cloth more or less of 
 white lints, which being primarily attached to the wool, is spun 
 with it, and shows in the cloth when finished — all of these that 
 possibly can should be taken out of the wrong side of the cloth ; 
 both sides must be looked over, the wrong first and then the right, 
 and no lint must be permitted to remain in the cloth. After both 
 these operations, it has again to be drawn over the perch, for the 
 purpose of stopping, or closing all the openings made by the bur- 
 ling and linting ; and if any large gaps have been made by the 
 breaking of the threads, they must be fine drawn with yarn such 
 as the cloth is made of. For such openings will not close in ful- 
 ling ; but will leave holes and thereby render the fabric imperfect. 
 These operations of burling, linting, taking the rough wool off the 
 wrong side, and stopping, are too much neglected in this countiy. 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 FULLESG. 
 
 AS CTcrj' manufacturer is acquainted iritb nrLat arc called ful- 
 ling stocks, it will be unnece^aiy to describe them ; yet, as I Lave 
 obseired many defectire machines of this kind here, and still 
 greater defects in the use made of them. I shall attempt to gire 
 such directions as will enable manufacturers to remedy those de- 
 fects. 
 
 The stocks in use at Mr. Israel Crane's factoxy at West-Bloom- 
 field, New-Jersey, are a good pattern for any person who may wish 
 to hare newon^ erected, or old ones altered. They were made 
 bj MesTs. Cocker£adr and Ccrflins, of that village, and I believe 
 the expense of workmanship, timber and iron work, is about one 
 handled doflars for each pair, l)eing less than the value of the 
 . imber in i^igland. 
 
 At many factoring in diis cdontiy, they full in a machine called 
 a poacher, whidi may do very well for their country cloth, as sat- 
 tinets, bat as generally ctmstructed, are not calculated for broad 
 fAts. I would reconmiakd the fallii^-stock for braying, foUing, 
 and sccmring; and the poacher for washing oat after these opera- 
 ti<»is ha^e been perfiHrmed. The only poacher I have seen in this 
 coantry that appears to be calculated to make good work, is at the 
 Rahway &ctory : a laige heavy doable machine, having a quick 
 motion. 
 
 FaUing-stocks are always worked by a tappet wheel that is fix- 
 ed on the main diaft of the water-wheel : for this machine can 
 never be geared with safety. Each of the hammers should be 
 3Jculated to fall thirty times in a minnte, or sixty limes the two 
 hammers ; for, if made to move much more rapidly, the tappets 
 wiD catch tiie hammers befove they fall on the cloth, and, if much 
 more slowly, the want of soficient friction wDl retard the pn>greas 
 •^ wort. 
 
91 
 
 It is usual, in England, to have three or tour sets of false backs, 
 of different thicknesses, made to fit the stocks, to which they are 
 secured by a long* iron bolt passing tlirough the sides of the stocks 
 and through the upper end of the false back, the bolt being put in 
 and drawn out by means of an iron ring, large enough for the baud 
 to grasp it inside, and which hangs pendant from a hole at one end 
 of the bolt. When a full quantity of cloth has to be fulled, none 
 of these backs are put in ; but when the quantity is smaller than 
 sufficient to fill it, such of the backs are used as will reduce th«> 
 capacity of the stocks to thi bulk of the cloth, wliich is necessary 
 to enable it to work without damage ; for, when too small a quan- 
 tity is put in, the cloth will not move round well, and will be liable 
 to fall on the fenders, and, should any of the cloth happen to drop 
 between them, which frequently occurs, it will be liable to be cut ; 
 and should it escape such accidents, the machine will, at all events, 
 be injured by such working. When too much cloth is put into 
 the stocks, it will not turn, but beat up into a hard, twisted, im- 
 moveable lump, and can scarcely escape without being damaged. 
 The cloth should so fit the stocks as to move round freely, whilst 
 working, and for the hammers to play on it so as not to strike the 
 fenders. 
 
 Cloth may be fulled either with soap or urine, the former is 
 generally used, and I have never but once seen it done with the 
 latter. I shall describe both modes, that those manufacturers who 
 are desirous of trying them may have an opportunity of doing so. 
 Common white soap may be used for fulling, but, for fine cloth, I 
 would recommend the Castile, which is now universall}' used in 
 the west of England. This soap is made from Gallipoli oil, and, 
 as is there well known, imparts a softness to the cloth which the 
 other never gives. It is the white oil soap that is sold in New- 
 York at fifteen cents a pound by the box, it is bard and dry, and 
 may be considered as cheap as the common white soap at eleven 
 cents. A fine say intended for a stout seven quarter felt, warped 
 thirty-six ell, or fifty-four yards, and weighing warp and filling, 
 seventy one pounds, if white, is allowed, five pounds of soap^ 
 
92 
 
 and, if blue, six pounds; and when of colours, in which much c. 
 the alum mordant has been used, or acid, tin liquor has beeo em* 
 ployed, then seven and even eig-ht pounds are sometiraes necessary. 
 
 All other cloth must have soap, according to their weig-ht, quality 
 and intended substance. 
 
 A larg-e plane is provided for the use of the mill-man, which he 
 place? across a washing tub, the edge side uppermost, and the 
 soap is shaved by passing the bars over the face of the plane till 
 all of it is cut up, which of course falls into the tob. On this, 
 there must be as much boiling water thrown, as wiU leave the soap, 
 when dissolved, of a gelatinous consistency. In this state it is 
 used, after being permitted to cool : for on no account must it ever 
 be used in a warm state. It is also frequently boiled, and then 
 permitted to cool. The cloth intended to be fulled, must be open- 
 ed with the right side up{>ermost. and on that side one half, or 
 rather more of the liquid soap, is thrown on, as regularly as can 
 be, all over the face. As this is doing, the lists are thrown to the 
 centre, and, when completed, the cloth is put into the stocks, 
 which are plugged up, and the hammers permitted to plaj*. The 
 cloth' must be kept suflBciently moist during the operatiwi with 
 soap; for if kept too dry, or is worked with too little soap, the 
 fabric will be gradually wasted, which will soon be observable by 
 the quantity of dry flock that will accumulate about the hammers, 
 cams, and other parts of the machine. Soap has also to be added 
 from time to time as the fulling progresses. The cloth will have 
 to be taken out several times during the process, as when too 
 much heat is produced by the playing of the hammers, or when it 
 has taken a wrong position in the stocks ; beside these incidental 
 handings out, it has to be taken out and put in again at regular 
 periods. When the operation has continued two hours, the clc^ 
 must be taken out the lists pulled square, and the breadth mea- 
 sured in several places, to ascertain if it, fulls in regularly : should 
 any part be found to prove slower than the general run, an ad- 
 ditional quantity of soap must be put on that part, the lists 
 thrown together as before, the cloth iianded into the stocks, and 
 
93 
 
 the hammers permitted to play during" three or four hours. At 
 all the reg-ular handing-s out, the lists are pulled square by two per- 
 sons who stretch the cloth breadthwise with their whole weight, 
 going all along the lists. When this has been faithfully perform- 
 ed, and the cloth measured in the width, to ascertain if it proves 
 fast enough and equal throughout the piece, in those places that 
 are too wide, if any there be, after the first handing out, not onlj" 
 soap must be added ; but if the the difference should be consider- 
 able, that part must be twisted like a rope, and placed in the stocks 
 in that position. These operations of taking out, stretching, mea- 
 suring, &c. are to be repeated every three or four hours, after the 
 first regular taking out, until the cloth is finished. During the 
 operation of fulling, the cloth must have a supply of soap sufficient 
 to keep it, at all times, in good proving order, and this can be 
 known only by experience. I have mentioned the quantity of 
 soap necessary for the whole operation, and the workman must 
 add it from time to time, as it is wanted, which, being circumstan- 
 tial, cannot be described. A given portion is put on, when the 
 operation commences, and some added as soon as the cloth begins 
 to work in the stocks, until it appears to have as much as is neces- 
 sary. If the cloth at the first handing out, should have fulled in 
 too fast, none need be added at that time ; if it should not have 
 proved fast enough, more must be added, and the same will hold 
 good at every handing out. At all events, the cloth must never 
 be permitted to become too dry in the stocks, neither must it be 
 too wet, there being a medium to be observed, which experience 
 alone can direct. 
 
 About fourteen or sixteen hours is required to full in a piece of 
 stout white felt, and from sixteen to eighteen hours for a blue, 
 provided the fallers are properly made, and have a good speed. 
 The poundmg of the hammers produce by their friction a great 
 deal of heat, which if permitted to raise too high, the fabric will 
 prove, or full in too fast, and the texture of the cloth will be in- 
 jured by being left hollow and spongy ; therefore, in all such cases 
 it must be banded out of the stock, opened, strrtcbed and put in 
 
j^aia. Wbenclodiisfalled with too little Kiaps it will waste dur- 
 img tbe opentMMi : it mastcaBseqoeotlj be at all times weQ snp- 
 idied, and newer permitted Id foU in too nfiidly. The proof of 
 good fallios is to have tbe fikbric when fisisbed stoat and firm iu 
 (te gnmnd, like leatber, and of an equal iHeadth in all parts. A 
 piece intended for seTenqpBiters,shoald be fulled into six quaiters 
 and a hall^ widiin the list, never exceeding tins more than a nail, 
 to allow lor any triflings ineqoalitj in the fidlii^, that it may be 
 eqoal when te n t e red. If the warp has been spon with suficiorA 
 twist, and die filling- Toy loosely tmisied, the doth at the same tioie 
 being^ well beaten op in the loam, apiece that has been warped 
 fifty-lbnr yards sbonM hold out, when iinishrd, ibrtf-two; bat thb 
 will depend altogelher npon the pcrfpction of the worirmanBhip. 
 
 FCIXING WITH URLMl. 
 
 THOSE who faD. wiih Qnne coosider ihzi it inqmires the foalirv 
 of the cloth, and imparts to the wtwl a pecoliar sexiness which 
 soap never gives : Irery nmch doubt tins thetHj. The workman- 
 diip, in falling with onne, is the same as witii soap ; the former 
 beinp nsed in place of the latter. Cloth tibat wfll fidl in with soap 
 in eighteen boms wiD require tweoty-foor with mine, althoogh tbe 
 degree (rf* beat be die same. / 
 
 WASHING AFTER FULLING. 
 
 WHEN dotib has be€» foiled in, it has to be wa:Uted cJean tro& 
 flie soap, and this apparently simple opnation is seldom effectnally 
 done in this coontiy. When it has been foiled white, and intended 
 lo be cohmred, the ^e wiD be injored shonld^ any soap mnaia in 
 it; and if it has been dyed a dark colomr in the wocd, and any 
 ■oap remain in it, the cokmr inH not show to the same adrantage 
 
95 
 
 as when it is thoroughly clean ; it will look mealy and light co- 
 loured; for the soap which is retained in the ground, will reflect 
 \ ellowish white rays, which mingling with those of blue, or any- 
 other dark dye, injures the beauty and intensity of the colour, and 
 when bad, gives it a mealy appearance. Soap cannot easily be 
 cleaned out of cloth with soft water only ; therefore, hard water, 
 where itcan be obtained, should be employed for this purpose also, 
 for washing out after braying, and for cleaning in earth prepara- 
 tory to dying. When hard water cannot be obtained, let the cloth. 
 be scoured out with fullers earth. 
 
 I recommended the use of a poacher at the commencement of 
 the article on fulling, and in this part of the process, it should be 
 employed. After cloth has been sigcd in the fullers for braying, 
 and the grease has been properly raised ; also after it has been 
 fulled in with soap, or worked with fuller's earth, it should be 
 washed out in a poacher ; for it is in the washing, when the cloth 
 is partly clean, and much swollen with water, that it is liable to 
 damage under the fallers, as it then becomes too rough and bulky 
 to work round freely. It is then much safer to take it out of 
 the fallers, and put it into a poacher, where it cannot damage, if 
 the machinery be in good condition. 
 
 Those managers of factories, who have had but little experi- 
 ence will be ready to say that I am much too partictilar ; but I 
 can assure them that nothing has been stated, nor any precaution- 
 ary measures recommended, which are not absolutely necessary 
 to the perfection of the business. Those who clean their cloth a* 
 I have recommended, will find the appearance of their goods much 
 improved, their credit much enhanged, and the profits of their busi- 
 ness greatly increased. 
 
96 
 
 FULLING WITH STEAM HEAT, INSTEAD OF SOAP. 
 
 A PATENT has been obtained in this conntrrfcr fulling with 
 eteam- A conical wooden boileri5made,a smaller one of copperbeiag 
 inserted inside of the wooden one, and the whole is made water 
 tight. The vessel is nearly filled with water between the wood 
 and copper, and a fire is made inside the copper one, at the larg- 
 est end ; a short iron pipe being placed at the other end to carry 
 off the smoke. A smaU tube conveys the steam from the wooden 
 boiler, through the back of the stocks, to the cloth inside of it, and 
 a cover on hinges is placed over the cloth to keep the steam down, 
 so as to enter its folds while it is turning round. This steam ap- 
 paratus was tried when I was at West-Bloomfield factory, several 
 stock fuUs having been felted with it ; the cloth proved in a very 
 short time, much sooner than when worked with soap. It appear- 
 ed to give to the fabric a very firm texture ; in fact the ground 
 was too bard, and the staple of the wool was so much injured as 
 to come off in large rolls when worked with jacks, or teazles. In 
 consequence of these defects the system was given up by the man- 
 agers. 
 
 "When any new operation is discovered that may prove bene- 
 ficial to manufacturers, it seldom works well, until the conditions 
 upon which its success depends have been ascertained by long 
 practice : and this is more particularly true, when a new opera- 
 tion is superintended by ignorant woikmen, who are almost al- 
 ways so strongly prejudiced in favour of old systems, as to wish to 
 put down new discoveries : and they are in some measure excusa- 
 ble, being under the impression, that their services, which before 
 had been highly estimated, will no longer be of any value. The 
 opinion of the managers is also often detrimental to the introduction 
 of new machinery, and new modes of working. I remember when 
 a lad, the first introducUon of carding and spiuning machines, in 
 the west of England, for it created a very great sensation, both 
 among master manufacturers and their workmen. The imp res- 
 
97 
 
 sion made upon my youthful mind, arose from the absurd conclu* 
 sion adopted by the factory owners in the first place, and their 
 subsequent recantation. One manufacturer had put the machines 
 at work, and had kept them very close, non-admittance being 
 strictly enforced. A public meeting was called by the most in- 
 fluential clothiers to take into consideration, whether or not cloth 
 could be made from carding- done by machines, and spinning" done 
 on the jenny, when they came to a conclusion unanimously, that 
 it could never be made from work done by the said machines. 
 The manufacturer who had thenj, kept on working them ; and 
 his cloth not only sold well in market, but it was discovered that 
 he was making much larger profits than his neighbours. These 
 circumstances being generally known, caused another meeting 
 to be called, when they came to the resolution that cloth could be 
 made by machiner}^, and from that time they were rapidlj' intro- 
 duced. These observations in the opinion of a public body of men 
 who were supposed fully competent to decide on a question rela- 
 tive to their own immediate calling, in which they were much in- 
 terested, made at the time a strong impression on my mind, and 
 produced a considerable degree of scepticism in human judgment, 
 wl^ich subsequent experience has rather confirmed than removed. 
 
 It is by no means advisable, nor would I recommend manufac- 
 turers to be hasty in trying every supposed improvement which 
 may be ofiered to their notice, yet when a new discovery is pro- 
 posed by a respectable person, that carries on the face of it a pro- 
 bably successful issue, attended with great profit to the business,, 
 it is their imperious duty, if they attempt it at all, to give it a pa- 
 tient and fair trial. 
 
 The experiment made at Bloomfield, to full by steam, was su- 
 perintended, not by an experienced workman, but by a person 
 who understood nothing of fulling ; there were consequently no pre- 
 judices to encounter; but there was that which was more than 
 ta.ifa»;iount to it, ignorance in the operators. 1 looked on at every 
 coQvenient opportunity, and although it was given up, yet 1 ai ^ 
 9 
 
98 
 
 conrinced it might be made to answer, and that very effectuallv. 
 Having expressed this opinion, I shall g-ive my reasons for it, and 
 endeavour to show, that in the trials made in tliat factory, the con- 
 ditions on which fulling usually succeeds, were not obsenred. It 
 is known by every experienced raillman, that when cloth becomes 
 too hot in the stocks, it will full in so fast as to injure the fabric. 
 I hare never ascertained the requisite beat by the thermometer ; 
 but, from having frequently handled cloth that has been experi- 
 mentally pronounced to be in good proving condition, I should 
 judge the requisite heat to be between one hundred and one hun- 
 dred and ten degrees. The steam let into the stocks, in the trials 
 referred to, was, as I have been informed, neariy, or quite at a 
 boiling heat, or more than two hundred degrees, being nearly 
 double the heat that good fulling requires. This accounts at once 
 for all the defects in the cloth done by them. The wool instead of 
 gradually creeping up into shorter lengths, was forced in too rapid- 
 ly, and the hairs became matted together, as in hatters' felts : the 
 staple also was injured, by being pounded for so many hours, in so 
 high a temperature. The first and second effects made tlic ground 
 of the cloth too hard, and the third caused the wool to roll off when 
 acted upon by the card and teazle points. 
 
 To try this mode of fulling fairly, a thermometer should be in- 
 serted in the tube conveying the steam from the boiler to the 
 stocks, and the operation should be attended by an experienced 
 and liberally minded millman, as well as by an intelligent mana- 
 ger : the former to attend the cloth whilst working, and the latter 
 to see that tlie temperature of the steam is kept at a proper stao- 
 dard all tlie time. Let the first cloth be fulled at one hundred de- 
 grees and the heat be increased every fresli piece five degrees until 
 the maximum is found, and I am much mistaken if it would not 
 prove that this is the best possible way of fulling cloth. When the 
 proper temperature has been once discovered, a valve should be 
 fixed in the wooden boiler, that will lift at the requisite heat, by 
 which means the machine would ever after regulate itself, nothing 
 being left to chance, nor to the neglectful habits of workmen. 
 
99 
 
 It was not orig^inally my intention to have said so much on this 
 subject, being- aware that such long digressions are often blamea- 
 ble. Yet if the opinion I have advanced be correct, and should 
 be the means of introducing' a mode of fulling that would save in 
 the aggregate many thousands of dollars per annum to manufactu- 
 rers, it will not be considered as useless. 
 
 DRESSING, OR RAISING THE NAP OF CLOTH. 
 
 RAISING the nap is that operation by which the right side of 
 tlie cloth has all tlie disposable wool drawn to and laid on it, in one 
 direction, from the last to the head end. This is performed either 
 by hand, which is called dubbing, when done on a dubbing board, 
 and timming when done with a timming hog; or it is done at a 
 machine known by the name of gig-mill, when it is called gigging. 
 This work can never be well executed by hand on a stout and fine 
 cloth, unless at such an expense as would make it folly to attempt 
 it. Hand work is so expensive that no English manufacturer will 
 employ it, unless where, from the refractory disposition of the 
 workmen, tliCy are not permitted to use the gig-mill ; miich less 
 ouglit it to be adopted in tljis country, where wages are full forty 
 per cent higher than in England. Hand work being so expen5ive> 
 as to preclude its being employed here, I shall confine my descrip- 
 tion entirely to the gig-mill, and to the mode of working it. The 
 American manufacturers are, in general, ignorant of this branch, 
 therefore, I shall attempt to explain all that may be necessary to 
 make them understand the operation: yet, as practical judgment 
 is necessary in this, as well as all other branches, I feel compelled 
 to reiterate what I before enforced, that those managers who mean 
 to excel, must devote all their time and attention to make them- 
 selves practically acquainted with the business, more especially so 
 far as to enable them to know how work ought to be done, and 
 when it he well performed. 
 
100 
 
 la desaSmg the g^-ndD, I sbaU treat oi ilHiplpn^ilNNliiDct 
 l<eads; first, of the nrarhme and geaiin^; seoondlT. of ibe teazle 
 .ijid handles ; tiirdlj, of siipjpfyiiig- the ck^ idth water, i^hilst at 
 wock ; aad lasdy, (tf tiie wotk giren to the cloth. 
 
 I an so iiiue accnsuMDed to describe r v, and so much 
 
 ^macquaiiited wifh mechanics, that I fee: - hc>w to make 
 
 : his part so clear and idain to ^j readers h.- cj shall not 
 
 Hustake my meaning. I bc^^e, boverer, that me most material 
 parte viU not be misandeistood. 
 
 Tbe barrel of a g^^<-miD AooU not be less than two feet ten 
 indbes, nor nMii>e than three feet m diameter, when corop jete. Tbe 
 cenlie is a. sinat sqoaie iron ^nft, with arois of the szme metal, 
 ext^idin^ from it, at filiort distanoee finora eac^ olher, to 5npp>ort a 
 :;ivea moaober of stroii^ ciicalar iron hoops. The arms arc per- 
 aanentJT fixed in the dntft, and the hoops nretted to the ^ids of 
 be aims. Aromd the hoops are placed wooden frsimes for boldicg 
 tiae teazle handles, windi Iw the lei^;1h of the machine, crossing- 
 be hoopsat light angles: th»e fram^ are penaaneotly secnred 
 ta Ihe 1mio!», and ther are made so as to pat one cod of tLe handle 
 into afiqnare apotnxe corered with thin sheet-iroo, and the olher 
 rod placed in an open apeitnre secnred by an iron hook, snspend- 
 ^ finim a steel sprung, that b fastened at the back of tbe frame. 
 The bone! shooM be as fe^ three inches in length- At the right 
 oandof the barrd, standi^ at the fmat of the machine, the gear- 
 ing B placed. In Ei^^and this is wade with two friction vrheeis, 
 one penBancntly fixed to that end of the riiaftof the barrel, which 
 » ciangated fi»r the poipose, the otbo* being attached to gearing, 
 from the water wheel, and so fixed as to recede fitHn, or approach 
 ^seolher by means of a lev^^. Whei the baird is wanted to be 
 wofked, the latter is thrown into the inside at the fiMmer, to which 
 itoaammicates its motion. There are two roDers, one above the 
 rtaxrel of the gig^-nnlL, rather at the back of its ccnlre ; and the 
 other under it, similazfy wtnated : into holes, notcl«ed oat on the 
 }ower roller, teoter hooks are dnven, so that tlieir points shall l>e 
 
101 
 
 below the level of the wood, to prevent the cloth from being torn. 
 On the upper roller is fastened, by means of hinges, a swinging 
 strip of wood, the length of the roller, having three ot four links of 
 flatted chain attached to it at both ends, and when fastened to the 
 roller, the strip hang pendent from, and every where parallel to 
 it. Tenter hooks are driven into this strip with the same precau- 
 tion as is used in fixing them in the lower roller. These rollers 
 are geared, by means of cog and friction wheels, to the main bar- 
 rel of the machine, and the swinging strip before described, falls 
 into a groove, cut in the roller, when brought up by its moving 
 round. The rollers have a quick or slow motion, at the will of 
 the workmen. 
 
 The handle frames are made so as to hold three roAVs of teazles 
 each, and are divided into two parts or sides. The centre is a 
 piece of hard wood, of an oblong square, about an inch deep, and 
 three quarters of an inch wide, at the thickest part. They are 
 grooved on the sides, for the purpose of letting in that part of the 
 circle of the teazle that presses against it, so as not unnecessarily 
 to break down the points. This centre piece is from five to six 
 inches long ; about an inch from the upper end a hole is drilled for 
 the purpose of letting through a small round rod, the size of a small 
 pipe stem, made of tough wood, such as dry young white oak; it 
 should be about nine inches long, having a swell at the centre, so 
 that when driven in, it may remain permanently fixed. At one 
 inch, or rather more, from the lower end of the cnntre of the han- 
 dle, tenons are cut lengthwise of the piece, to let in two thin slats 
 of tough wood. The centres, where it passes through the upright, 
 should project so as to meet, and the other parts should be cut so 
 as to leave-an opening sufficiently wide to let in the stalks of the 
 teazles. Each end of the rods, and of the slabs, are notched suffi- 
 ciently deep to tie large twine round them, but not so as to endan- 
 '^ ger their breaking. The stalks of the first row of teazles are put 
 in between the slats, the bottom part of the heads being pressed 
 against their edges ; the stalks of the next row are forced in be- 
 tween the teazles of the first; and of the third between the second, 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 Wkentlie Trhole of one side are in place tbey are tied down with 
 twine, from the end of the rod to the slats, so firm that the motion 
 of the g-ig-mill barrel will not shake them out: both sides of every 
 handle are lilled in the same way. 
 
 Below the g-ig-mill barrel, and in front of it, a leaden pipe, of an 
 inch bore, is laid along-, supported against a wooden bar. This 
 pipe has a naraber of small holes in it, through which the water 
 streams out with such an angle of elevation as will force it on the 
 cloth just as it enters on the barrel. At the right hand, immedi- 
 ately within the post of the gig-mill frame, a brass cock is placed 
 in the pipe, to enable the workman to let on and stop the water at 
 his pleasure. From the cock the pipe is either led up the post, or 
 let into the ground, and continued to a reservoir of water, which 
 should have a head of at least six feet above that part of the pipe 
 which passes in front of the cloth, in order that the weight of the co- 
 lumn may be sufficient to force the water so hardly against the cloth 
 as to drive through it. 
 
 The barrel having been filled with handles, and well secured, 
 ihe cloth intended to be dressed, is placed on a slatted barrow, six 
 feet by three, fixed on a swivel rising six inches from tlie floor, so 
 as to move round when the cloth is on it, in order that when half a 
 course has been given in one direction, the wet cloth may be turn- 
 ed to reverse the end, without obliging the workmen to reverse it 
 by hand. Before the clotli is worked, pieces of white canvass are 
 sown on to each end of it, sufficiently long for the cloth to reach 
 to the middle of the barrel of the gig -mill, when it is hooked on 
 the tenters. This being done, and one canvass hooked on the 
 Jower roller, the machine is thrown into gear, and the cloth, so 
 far, wound on the roller, that the canvass at the other end will 
 reach so as to admit of its being hooked on the upper one. Whilst 
 the latter end is hooking on, the machine is thrown out of gear. 
 When every thing is prepared, and the box at the end of the fric- 
 tion lever is weighted, so as to produce the necessary strain, the 
 machine is thrown^nto gear, and the cloth passes very slowly from 
 
 I 
 
103 
 
 ihe lower to the upper roller, the main barrel in which the teazles^ 
 are placed, meeting- the motion of the cloth. When the whole 
 length is up so that the lower end of the cloth comes on the teazles, 
 it is rolled back again, with a quick motion, by means, which 1 am 
 not mechanic enough to describe. Six of these runnings up in 
 one direction, on one side of a set of handles, and then another six 
 lunnings up in the opposite direction, with the other face of the 
 handles to the cloth, is called a course in Gloucestershire ; but in 
 Wiltshire they term five runnings up each way, a course. I must 
 beg of manufacturers, to be particularly attentive to this part of 
 the subject, as it includes that in which they are more immediately 
 interested. I have stated, that what is called a course of work, 
 includes twelve runnings up at the gig-mill, from the lower to the 
 upper roller, six from tlie head end to the last end of the clotli, and 
 six from the last end to the head end, with handles reversed. Be^ 
 fore I progress, it will be necessary to describe how the handles 
 are arranged, cleaned, and dried. 
 
 There should be prepared for every gig-mill, at least three sets 
 of handles, each set containing ten courses, that is thirty times as 
 many as will fill the barrel of the gig-mill once. When a course 
 has been given to a cloth, the handles are taken out, they are 
 cleaned from the flocks with an iron comb, by a small boy, and are 
 then put up to dry. For the convenience of drying, narrow sheds 
 are provided, open on all sides, having a close, shallow roof, which 
 J3 placed on the top of two posts standing six feet distant from each 
 other. Between the posts are placed double slats, each pair just 
 far enough apart to admit the longest leg of the centre of the Iran- 
 die, with space enough to go in easy, or about tv^o inches asunder ; 
 on these the handles are placed in an upright position, when dry. 
 After the handles are taken out of the gig-mill, having done the 
 work of one course, they are first laid hollow, the heads of two 
 leaning on each other, and slanting off in an angle of about twen- 
 ty-five degrees, and when quite dry, they are placed upright, close 
 together, and each pair oi slats should, when so placed, hold as 
 many handles as will fill the gig-mill barrel once. It will be seen,' 
 
104 
 
 that six of these sheds, each containing five pair of slats, will be 
 wanted for the handles of each gig--mill. To prevent the slats 
 from flag-g-ing in the centre by the weight of the teazles, they are 
 passed through an upright inch board, which also helps to support 
 the roof. I scarcely need mention, that these sheds should be 
 placed near to the workmen, and where they will be most exposed 
 to the air, to facilitate the drying. 
 
 Workmen and managers will think they can do with a smaller 
 number of handles than I have directed for them ; but they must 
 consider that handles and sheds are cheap and durable, and that 
 teazles are dear and soon worn out. They are, probably, not 
 aware how much longer teazles will bear working when tliorough- 
 ly dried, than when re-worked in a damp state, and that it is not 
 only necessary the spurs should be dry, but the head also which 
 supports them ; for unless this be dry, the spurs will either break 
 off and leave tiiem pointless, or they will be so limber as not to 
 stand to their work. I do not wish to make manufacturing more 
 expensive than it now is, but, if possible, to lessen the expense, 
 and nothing will contribute to do it more effectually, in this de- 
 partment, than having a full complement of work, and proper 
 drying conveniencies. 
 
 The quantity of work that is required for each piece, must be 
 regulated by the judgment either of the manager, or of the work- 
 man ; for that which would be no more than necessary to raise a 
 good nap on some cloths, would tear others to pieces. The work, 
 as I have before said, is calculated by courses of twelve runnings 
 up, the ends of the cloth and the handles being reversed every six 
 runnings up, the last six being always from the last to the head end 
 so as to lay the nap in that direction, in whicli it has finally to re- 
 main. Before a cloth is begun, the barrel must be clothed with 
 dead work; that is, the handles of the first course has to be filled 
 with teazles, whose points have been made quite tender by previ- 
 ous working. Every course that succeeds it, must be filled with 
 
105 
 
 better aftd better teazles, the handles of the last being- one-third of 
 them set %vilh new teazles, and in some cases, where the cloth is 
 V ery. stout, it will require two-fifths of new ones. 
 
 For raising" the nap effectually on a piece of stout felt, forty two 
 yards long-, from ten to twelve courses are required, or from one 
 hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty runnings up. Other 
 fine cloth not so stout must have work in proportion to its sub- 
 stance. To know when a piece is sufficiently dressed, open the 
 pile and examine the ground of the cloth. If the wool be so clear- 
 ed out that the upper parts of the chain threads are distinctly seen, 
 unclog-ed with wool, then it is well raised ; but if the ground be 
 still clog-ged with wool, it must have more work. An experienced 
 workman will know when the nap is well raised, by placing his 
 hand on the cloth above the barrel ; when it feels very mellow and 
 soft, it is considered to be sufficiently dressed ; but so long as it 
 feels stiff and hard, it will bear more work. This criterion can- 
 not well be described, and can only be felt by those who have long 
 experience ; therefore, it is better to be governed by the former 
 criterion, which being visible, is much more certain, and more rea- 
 dily acquired. 
 
 When a perfect nap is raised on a piece of thick, fine, firm cloth, 
 the face is well and closely covered, and equally so in every part. 
 When the nap is thin on stout cloth, it proves either that it has not 
 been sufficiently raised, or that much of it has been taken off by 
 defective workmanship. The latter will be the case when the 
 cloth has been worked too dry, or when the teazles used in the 
 first courses have been too strong. Under either of these circum- 
 stances the wool will be dragged off the face instead of being 
 drawn out and laid on it. It is therefore necessary always to keep 
 the cloth well filled with water during the whole of the operation, 
 and some manufacturers keep the strainer running on it more 
 than one half the time, others again only occasionally ; but at all 
 events, it must ever be kept quite moist. When a cloth come*- 
 
106 
 
 from the fulling-mill, the wool is always closely matted tt^ether irt 
 the ground, and if in the first courses, tlie work be too strong it 
 will tear it out with a force sufficient to break the staple of the 
 wool ; but when dead work is used in the first courses, and 
 the strength of each is gradually increased, the hairs are gently 
 drawn out in succession, and comparatively, very little is taken 
 off. The French, in order to avoid this, give more time in the 
 working, and use more of dead work than the English. They give 
 the cloth three or four dead courses, then cut a wet kerf, and re- 
 peat with better work,, until it is finished. The English are about 
 eight hours in raising the nap of a fine stout felt, and the French 
 are from twelve to sixteen. A French cloth, therefore, of any 
 given fine quality, has a better nap on it, and a much finer face 
 than the English. I am aware that in making this assertion, I am 
 treading on very ticklish ground; but the fact is well known ia 
 London by every respectable trader in the article, and I can see 
 no reason, excepting sheer national prejudice, why ii should not be 
 candidly acknowledged in a work of this description, having for 
 its object to instruct manufacturers in the be*tmode of working. 
 
 When a stout cloth has been raised with due regard to the fore- 
 going instructions, it will, when finished, have a fine water gloss 
 on the face, superior to hot pressing, and which wearing will never 
 remove. 
 
 In many of the gig-mills I have seen at work in this country, tiie 
 ends of the cloth are sewn together, or otherwise fastened with 
 long slender needles, and it keeps going round by passing over 
 one, or between two rollers, placed above and at the back of the 
 band, from whence it falls down on an inclined plane to the pit 
 below. It is from thence drawn slowly forward over a bar placed 
 underneath the barrel, a little forward of its centre, and it contin- 
 ues going slowly round until tbe workmen stops it to give the cloth 
 an opposite direction, or to put in new work. Tliis is by no means 
 a bad way of raising the nap, and I should consider it equally as 
 good as the process I have described, provided every other part 
 
107 
 
 were equally well manag-ed : but there are many defects which I 
 shall presently describe. 
 
 A g^i^-mill that is under proper management, and with every 
 thing well regulated, ought to raise the nap of sixty yards of broad 
 cloth every day, and that with but little expense for workmanship. 
 This would be eighteen ends of broad cloth per week, or about as 
 much as could be made by three billies. I Avill first describe how 
 they manage these things in that part of England I came from 
 where no other kind of dressing is known, and then point out the 
 defects in the process as pursued here. 
 
 In that country, a millman, the person who undertakes to full 
 the cloth, has the raising of the nap also, which he does in some 
 factories by the piece, in others by the day. Where done by the 
 piece, or day, the twine, soap, and teazles are found by the manu- 
 facturer. The millman, with a lad of sixteen, and a boy of ten or 
 twelve, will do all the work of two pair of stocks, and raise the nap 
 of the cloth fulled in them ; that is, they will full and raise the nap 
 of eighty four yards of cloth per day, or twenty four ends per week. 
 It is true they work eighteen hours out of four and twenty; but 
 they get through with the work, and no manufacturer would think 
 of having more strength employed to perform it. 
 
 Let us see how they get along with these things here. At a 
 manufactory in New Jersey, where they make nearly twelve ends 
 of cloth per week, and where they boast much of their manage- 
 ment, they employ a mill-man to work one pair of stocks, and five 
 men and one or two boys to raise the nap. Four of the men are 
 constantly employed in raising, by hand, at two trimming hogs, 
 and one man and a boy work the gig-mill. There are then six 
 men at seven and a half dollars per week each, and two boys at 
 two dollars, employed to do half the work that is done by one man, 
 one lad, and one boy, in England, and when the cloth is finished, 
 the nap is not half so well raised here as there. 
 
108 
 
 I would senoDsly ask those manag-ers who are workiug in this 
 vray, whether they expect, by pursuing such a system, to be able 
 to compete successfully with the importing mercliant ? It is true , 
 at the present time, they are able to do so ; but this opportunity 
 mar be g-one before they are aware of it. With a protecting duty 
 of twenty-seven and a half per cent, and an exchange of ten, 
 ^uch concerns are enabled barely to get along with a tolerable 
 profit ; and this would not now be the case, provided articles could 
 be found to exchange with Europe, to allow of a more extended 
 importation. How soon the state of things may change, it is im- 
 possible to foresee ; it, therefore, behoves our manufacturers to 
 lessen their expenses in every possible way, whilst the profits of 
 the business afford them the opportunity, in order to be enabled 
 to enter successfully into competition with foreign manufactures 
 rrhen circumstances shall become less promising. 
 
 I do not wish to alarm the capitahsts engaged in this business, 
 yet it is necessary they should be aware of the ground they stand 
 on ; for it is in their power, by making timely exertion, to establish 
 themselves so permanently that no foreign competition shall shake 
 their stability. 
 
 The gig-mills, and the manner of using them, are miserably de- 
 ^cient in this country ; the barrels every where, so far as I am ac- 
 quainted, are much too small, many of tliem being only two feet 
 diameter, instead of three ; the cloth, instead of wrapping round 
 nearly half the barrel, as in England, is never set to come in con- 
 tact with more than one- fifth, and in many of them, much less . 
 the barrel, which, when three feet in diameter, should mak§ one 
 hundred and twenty revolutions in a minute, does not often make 
 more than eighty, although only twenty feet ; the handles in which 
 the teazles are set, generally contain but one row, and never more 
 than two, instead of three. I have never seen a regular set of 
 bandies for the necessary courses in any factory in this country 
 and the handles are seldom well supported behind, so as to keep 
 the points to the face of the cloth. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 
10^ 
 
 under all these defects, that manufacturers should be disappointed 
 in the working- of their gig--mill3, or that they should conclude 
 hand work was better. We will calculate on the consequences 
 attending these defects, to show that the fault is not in the ma- 
 chine, but in the mode of framing, gearing, and working it. 
 
 It requires eight hours constant working, to raise the nap effec- 
 tually on a piece of felt, measuring forty yards, with an English 
 gig-mill, having a three feet barrel, and moving with a velocity 
 equal to one hundred and twenty revolutions in a minute. With 
 one, therefore, of only two feet, supposing it to have the same 
 speed, it will require twelve hours to produce the same effect. The 
 one revolving one hundred and twenty times in a minute, and the 
 other only eighty, will extend the time to sixteen hours ; and as 
 the cloth wraps as much again round the English barrel as it does 
 round the American, the latter will give us thirty-two hours. Sup- 
 posing two rows of teazles to be fixed in the handles instead of 
 three, this will bring it to forty-three hours, and where only one 
 row to fifty-three. This added to the want of regular sets of 
 work, and to the handles not being properly supported at the back, 
 will make the total at least, fifty-six hours, or seven times as long 
 as is required at the English gig-mill. If this were all, it would 
 require only time and patience to produce the same effect; but it 
 has been proved, by experience, that a slow-motioned gig -mill will 
 never raise a good nap on cloth, and, however strange it may ap- 
 pear to those who are not experienced manufacturers, there is a 
 much larger portion of nap robbed from the face of cloth, when 
 worked with a slow, than there is when worked with a rapid motion. 
 
 To enable cloth to stand the work of a gig- mill, it must be wove 
 true and square on the loom, ?ach list having an equal strain and 
 length, and the lists must be made strong and with sound mate- 
 rial, or they will be cut to pieces before the nap is half raised. 
 
 A very passable nap may be raised by h^nd, when the work is 
 
 faithfully performed by a workman who understands the process. 
 10 
 
110 
 
 It requires as many, or more courses of work in this operabon, as 
 
 when performed by the g-ig'-mill, beginniog- with dead work, and 
 prog^ssing to that which is quick. The great eiTor in raising the 
 nap by hand, lies in the workmen not griving half work enough, 
 and beginning to clear out with strong teazles before the proper 
 time. The result of such mode of working, is a thin, coarse, 
 straggling nap, which, when cut down low enough to wear smooth, 
 leaves a bare thread, and if left long enough to corer the ground 
 ef the cloth, will wear very rou^h. 
 
 TEXTERING. 
 
 WHEN the nap has been sufficiently raised, tiie cloth must be 
 (entered for the purpose of drying it. TTiis operation has also for its 
 obiect, to strain it so much in length and breadth, as will makr aH 
 parts smooth and even ; for were it dried without being fixed in a 
 frame and stretched, the cloth would shrink up unequally, and 
 leaTC it so rough and wrinkly, that it could not be sheared without 
 cutting, nor pressed with an even face. 
 
 A cloth intended for seven quarters, being fulled into six and a 
 half within the lists, is stretched to seven in the tenters, aiwi is pull* 
 ed in length, one yard in twenty beyond what it measured when it 
 came from the stocks. When set in the tenters, stretched, and 
 hooked, the face is sprinkled with water, and then run from the 
 last to the head end, first with fine cards, and then twice with long 
 brushes made for the purpose. As soon as a cloth is dry, it should 
 be taken from the tenters, particularly in the summer season : as 
 being exposed long afterwards, hardens the face, by making the 
 wool dry, harsh, and brittle. 
 
Ill 
 
 SHEARING. 
 
 THE intention in shearing, is to cut down the nap which has 
 been raised bv the gig-mill. This has to be done so as to make it 
 very short, yet to cover the ground of the cloth so completely» 
 that none of the threads may show. The thicker the nap is, and 
 the lower and more even it can be cut, so as not to lay the threads 
 bare, the better. This is performed either by hand with a pair of 
 sheers, or by machinery. Hand-work is so expensive, that in 
 some countries, in England, it is entirely laid aside, and would be, 
 in all of them, if the workmen would permit it. The nap is cut 
 down gradually, each cutting over, being called a kerf, and fine 
 cloth requires from five to seven of these, the wrong side also be- 
 ing cut one kerf. 
 
 There are many shearing machines in use in this country, no 
 less than eight or ten having been patented in a few years ; but 
 none of them perform the work any thing like so well as the first 
 patented English machine, called Harmer's shearing frame, on 
 which two shears work exactly in the same way as by hand, ex- 
 cepting that the bobs move by mechanical motion. In this way, 
 one lad of sixteen can attend two frames, working four shears. 
 Two other shearing machines, that are occasionally used, have 
 been patented in England, one is an improvement of Hovey's, the 
 other had just come out when I left that country, and was pro- 
 nounced to be much superior to either of the others. It worked 
 with knives about twelve inches long, placed on the machine dia- 
 gonally, so as to include the whole breadth of the cloth, which 
 passed under them from end to end. The sample pieces cut with 
 it were said to be better executed than any work of the kind ever 
 before seen, and it cut a kerf over twenty yards of broad cloth in 
 fifteen minutes. The machine was very expensive, the price, I 
 believe, being about one thousand dollars. 
 
 Of the machines, used in this country. Swift's is undoubtedly the 
 best. It puts more cleanly tkan any other shearer I have seen, ancl 
 
112 
 
 when worked wiih a motion sufficiently rapid and regular, and ihc 
 edg^es of the working and ledger blades are in good order, it per- 
 forms whait may be called good work. It is essential, in all such 
 machines, to take care they do not traverse faster than they cut, 
 or. whenever this happens, the nap, will be left in ridges j and al- 
 iiiough this may partially be removed in cutting the subsequent 
 kerfs, yet, to a nice obserrer, accustomed to the business, it can 
 easily be discovered when the cloth is finished. 
 
 It is a great object, in shearing, not to have the nap dr^^ed out 
 by the machines whilst they are cutting. This will always be the 
 case, more or less, when cloth is cut with blades whose edges are 
 dull. It is, therefore, essentially requisite, whatever machine is 
 used, that the edges be always kept in good order. For want of 
 this, the best constructed machines will do bad work. The ma- 
 chine most generally used in England, next to Harmer's, is Ho- 
 ey's, improved by Lewis. The cutting blade in this is very small, 
 and made of the best steel. It is wound round a polished iron cy- 
 linder, two inches diameter, in a spiral form, and is secured at the 
 ends. Lewis, the patentee, sends three of the blades with each 
 machine, and he engages to keep them in order for a trifling sum 
 per annum. %Mien one edge begins to get dull, it is taken off, 
 another put in its place, and the dull one sent to the machine maker, 
 who puts it in order, and returns it, so that the manufacturer is 
 always supplied with good edges, at a trifling expense, and without 
 any trouble to kimself. 
 
 I would recommend some such plan to Mr. Swift. Let him pro- 
 Tide t^i'o or three cutters to every machine, and employ, in the 
 capital of every state, where manufacturers are numerous, some 
 able workman to keep the blades in order at a moderate annual 
 expense ; by these means the sale of his machines would become 
 more extensive, and the work turned out by them be much less 
 objectionable. I should also presume that the workmen would be 
 amplv remunerated by a commission on the sale of the machines, 
 and by the price paid for erecting and keeping tliem in repair. 
 
113 
 
 BRUSHING THE CLOTH. 
 
 THE cloth, after shearing, is usually well brushed at a machine, 
 made similar to a gig-mill, only much smaller in the barrel, and 
 having three or four rows of brushes on it. It should have at least 
 half an hour's work on each piece. Before it be brushed, all the 
 lints should be taken out of the cloth. 
 
 «0IL1NG THE CLOTH. 
 
 CLOTH should be oiled before it is sheared, and afterwards^ 
 
 before it goes into the press, or when finished pressing. Some 
 
 prefer doing it after pressing, because they say the oil soils the 
 press papers. 
 
 For this purpose, the very best of oil is required, and, as little i^ 
 wanted, the price of the article should be only a secondary conside- 
 ration, the quality being of primary importa\ice. The wool after 
 braying, fulling, cleansing with fullers' earth, &c. will be very dry^ 
 and oiling not only softens the wool, but it makes the cloth wear 
 better. Enough should be given in the first oiling to soften the nap 
 sufficiently to make it shear well without giving the cloth a greasj*^ 
 feel, and the oil employed should have no rancid smell. That which 
 is put on'after shearing, is intended to penetrate the nap more com- 
 pletely, and is therefore well worked in with the brushes. It takes 
 rather more than half a pint of oil for a piece of broad cloth of forty- 
 two yards. Neats foot oil, when it can be obtained pure, is pre-i 
 ferred for this purpose, and when this cannot be procured, the finest 
 Florence is used, such as has little or no smell. 
 
 Many persons who purchase cloth, appear to object to its being 
 oiled, and, when this is done with a rancid material, it is unques- 
 tionably objectionable. But as a cloth will never wear so well 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 without oiling, it is necessary to do so, and in order to avoid g"iving^ 
 oifence to the olfactories of the purchasers, the maker should always 
 provide a scentless, fat oil, and take care that the cloth be not so 
 crowded with it as to make it handle greasy. It is also usual to 
 brush on the wrong side a small quantity of some essential oil, or 
 essence of lavender. 
 
 The fine white looking oil, used bj- watch makers is very sweet 
 when new, and is less drying than any other kind. It is said to be 
 taken from some part of the head of the porpoise. Whether this 
 can be obtained in sufficient quantity, at a price that will warrant 
 the manufacturer's using it, I cannot say : it is, however, the best 
 oil for this purpose. 
 
 •PRESSING AND PACKING. 
 
 THIS last and very simple operation is seldom well performed 
 lU this coimtry, and the advantages of superior pressing is but little 
 understood, although without any additional expense, the face is 
 thereby much improved. To have good pressing, the papers must 
 be thick, very firmly put together, and highly hot pressed ; the 
 press made very strong, the screw large, and the means of levering 
 down very powerful ; and unless all these means are previously 
 supplied, tlie best of workmen cannot put a good press on the cloth. 
 The presses I have mostly seen here are not half strong enough to 
 bear the requisite weight. The papers are usually so thin as not 
 to answer the intended purpose. They should, at the least, be 
 double, if not treble, the substance. The screws are seldom large 
 enough to stand as much pressure as is required for good work ; and 
 the levers are neither long enough, nor sufficiently multiphed to 
 give to the whole as much weight as good pressing demands. 
 
 I need not describe the manner of folding the cloth and putting 
 jt into the press, as these operations are too weli known to need 
 
115 
 
 any comment. When cloth is ready for the press, it should have 
 been previously brushed quite clean, and all down have been 
 whisked off. 
 
 After it comes from the press, or before it goes in, just as it suite 
 the manag-er, it should be marked on the head end. Fine cloth is 
 marked best superfine^ and when very fine, impeinal Saxony ; it is 
 usual, also, to add the number at one corner, and the name, or 
 initials, of the maker at the other. To do this correctly, the let- 
 ters are cut out on a strip of card board, and marked on the cloth 
 uith whiting-, for coloured cloth, or with powdered starch. 
 
 The cloth has now to be folded up and packed either in paper or 
 canvass, when it is fit for the market. 
 
 ON DYING. 
 
 THIS IS an art of the utmost importance to the manufacturer, 
 and one that will probably be the last in being brought to that per- 
 fection which it lias attained in Europe. The works hitherto pub- 
 lished on the subject, are by no means calculated to improve the 
 art. Bancrofts is altogether a theoretical work, highly interest- 
 ing to the dyer who has acquired a knowledge of chemistry, but 
 is entirely useless to the mere practical artist. Doctor Cooper's 
 is principally a collection from old absolete authors, such as Hel- 
 let, Macquer, &c. whose formula have been long exploded as too 
 tedious in the operation, and too expensive for the practice oftlie 
 present age. 
 
 I shall endeavour to throw as much light on the subject as the 
 experience of twenty years will admit of. My knowledge in wool- 
 len dying has been altogether the result of personal practice, hav- 
 ing been brought up to the business from my infancy, and the 
 receipts given will be such as have come under my own immediate 
 
116 
 
 Dottoe, with the exception of some few wool colours, lately obtainexi 
 from my En^ish connections. Those for silk dying were given 
 bT a celebrated London silk dyer, and the cotton receipts were 
 obtained from a first rate Maucliesler cotton dyer. 
 
 I shall begin by explaining those impediments incidental to a 
 new country, just commencing the business, which have a ten- 
 dency to retard the progress of the art, and which, when under- 
 stood, may be easily removed. I shall then treat of the mordants, 
 and dying drugs used in England, and point out as I go along, 
 which of these are necessary to be employed by American dyers. 
 I shall then endeavour to describe such native dye wares, as may 
 be advantageously used by the artists of this country. The last 
 and primary object will be the giving for every colour, such re- 
 ceipts as have been the production of my own and my brother's 
 practice. 
 
 The impediments in the way of our dyers, consist in the valua- 
 bleness of the water, the itinerancy of tlie dyers, and for want of 
 the goods dyed being properly cleansed. 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS 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 con- 
 sequence, and iheir opinions have been uniformly erroneous. 
 
 I had no conception when I left England, that water could have 
 had so material an effect in the production of colour, as I have 
 since found it to possess. I have practiced the art in this country 
 in four stales, and have found that given proportions of the same de- 
 scription of ingretlients, would not produce the same colour in any 
 two ; there would in each, be a considerable variation in the hue 
 uid bodv of the colour. 4 shall endeavour to draw such inferen- 
 
117 
 
 c6s from the facts that have been developed during my practice in 
 both countries, as will carry conviction to every unprejudiced 
 mind ; and I humbly hope my opinion will be entitled to that con- 
 srideration which the importance of the subject demands. 
 
 In a conversation I lately had with one of the Messrs. Haightg, 
 carpet manufacturers of this city, I was much pleased to find that 
 his opinion on the effects of water, corresponded with mine in 
 every particular. It was gratifying to have this opinion sanc- 
 tioned by a gentleman possessing so much practical and theoreti- 
 cal knowledge, as it is at variance with all who have ever before 
 written on the subject. 
 
 An idea has been handed down from the earliest writers, and 
 reiterated by every one to the present day, that none but soft wa- 
 ter is fit to be used in dying. They say that " if the water meant 
 to be employed, be 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 been as generally received 
 by the most intelligent practical dyers, yet it is altogether erro- 
 neous ; and I will venture to assert, that spring water free frona 
 metallic oxids, and marine salts, is, however hard, better calcula- 
 ted for dying, than any larger stream having a distant source, how- 
 ever soft. 
 
 When 1 left England, I was impressed with the prevailing notion 
 that none but soft water could be used for djing. 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 own 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 wa- 
 ter from a fine mill stream, that ran between the dje-houses, and 
 was remarkably soft. And I am convinced they have owed their 
 celebrity, purely to this circumstance. My practice in America 
 lra§ convinced me of this important fact, that any water, with the 
 
118 
 
 exceptions before mentioned, may be used successfully by the 
 dyer, with one proviso — that it is always in the same state. Wa- 
 ter that is variable in its property, can never be used with any pros- 
 pect 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 it will be altogether the produce 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 cases which will hereafter be mentioned) must, there- 
 fore, 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 expect they have been adulterated by the dealer, or will charge 
 his workmen with carelesness and neglect ; any and every tiling 
 will be suspected rather than the true cause. 
 
 Let every American dyer, that is stationary, contrive some mode 
 (if 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. This has already been done by Messrs. Ilaights 
 of New- York, and the result, whilst it affords an example to all 
 others, reflect infinite credit on themselves. I have never s6eu a 
 dying establishment better systematised, or more happily contrived 
 to answer every purpose than theirs. Their plan for collecting 
 water and the modes contrived to have it always in the same state, 
 are so masterly, and so consonant with the opinion I have been 
 advocating, that I cannot elucidate the sjubject better than by giv- 
 ing a description of this part of their establishment, and the rea- 
 son why they were compelled to adopt it. 
 
 These gentlemen are carpet manufacturers, and their djing j^ 
 
11^ 
 
 done altogether in the yarn. When they first began their busi- 
 ness, they were much plagued by the uncertainty attendant on 
 their colouring. To obviate this difficulty was necessary to their 
 success, and they considered the variableness of the water as the 
 principal cause. The Manhattan water which they use, is pump- 
 ed from springs, yet it was found to be variable, chiefly owing to 
 its containing at times an unusual portion of marine salts. To en- 
 sure a regular supply, uniformly the same, they adopted the foUow- 
 ing mode : the water is first received in a large, open, oblong reser- 
 voir, where it is exposed to the atmosphere, and permitted to de- 
 posit its impurities : it is drawn off from tliis to a second reservoir, 
 lying under the other, which is closely covered. The pipe that 
 conveys the water from the first reservoir, is placed nine inches 
 above the bottom, leaving room below it for the sediment to col- 
 lect. Of course, none of the settled impurities can be drawn 
 from the first to the second. It is pumped from the second to a 
 third, which is placed over the dye-house, and sixteen feet above 
 the lower one. The piimp is so fixed as not to draw off, or disturb 
 tlie water lying within nine inches of the b(A:om, and it is drawn 
 for use from the upper receiver, with the same precaution not to 
 disturb the sediment. The reservoirs are cleaned periodically ; by 
 these means they have been able to produce every colour, except- 
 ing madder red, with the utmost certainty. 
 
 These precautions are not necessary in the country, when ac- 
 cess can be had to springs ; and if river water were conveyed into 
 ponds, seperated by means of sluices from the main stream, suffi- 
 ciently large to hold enough for two or three weeks consumptiouj 
 and drawn ofi" for use twelve or fifteen inches from the bottom, 
 every impediment to the success of the dyer, arrising from the 
 uncertain state of the water would be obviated. Such a pond 
 would require to be cleansed once a year, and the sediment would 
 be worth as much for manure, as the expense of cleansing. 
 
 In scouring wool, the water used in the furnace should be soft, 
 afterwards for washing, hard water is to be preferred. Kain or 
 
120 
 
 i;irer water is the best for one operation, and spring water for tlie 
 other. The manner in which this operates, is the same as in rins- 
 ing- of clothes after washing : every washer woman is aware, that 
 she cannot get all tlie soponaceous filth out of her linen, unless 
 tUey are ultimately rinsed through hard water. In the simple 
 operation of washing the hands with soap, we find how difficult it 
 is to cleanse them from it when soft water is used, and how readily 
 it will wash off in hard. 
 
 In the dying of blue colours, soft water should be used in the vats. 
 This exception is not on account of the colour, it is merely a sav- 
 ing of vegetable ferments. Hard water is not so favourable in pro- 
 moting fermentation, as soft is, and when used in the blue vat, a 
 greater than the usual quantity of bran and madder must be em- 
 ployed, or the fermentation will not be sufficiently vigorous. 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 tvhen 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 water holds in solution 
 a considerable quantity of lime stone ; and the same receipts used 
 there, when employed in the adjoining county of Wilts, where the 
 water is impregnated with an argillaceous matter, will not pro- 
 duce any thing like the same colour ; and there is also a sensible 
 difference in the colour, in the same county, from any givoi re- 
 ceipt when used in different 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 receipts with me from England, two years 
 since, one from each of the three best black dyers in the county of 
 Glouoestershire, and only one of the three wQuld produce a tolera- 
 
121 
 
 ble colour with the water of a mill stream in New- Jersey. In 
 the years 1805 and 1806, I became celebrated in the county before 
 mentioned, for dying- a fine black, and sold the receipt and busi- 
 ness when I left, for three hundred pounds Stirling : this receipt I 
 also tried in Jersey, and it produced a better colour than either of 
 the others, but by no means equal to that which I obtained from it 
 in England. The principle colouring- matter in black, is obtained 
 from logwood, which appears to work browner in any otlier than 
 lime stone water, and does not produce so much body. 
 
 It was my intention when I commenced this work, to avoid as 
 much as possible, all theoretical explanations as being useles to 
 the mere practical artist, and because this has been already per- 
 formed by abler writers ; but as the opinion given, has never be- 
 fore been noticed, and involves consequences of greater import- 
 ance to the art, I shall be induced to deviate from my original de- 
 sign, in attempting to explain the principle on which it operates, 
 that scientific men as well as the mere artist may form an opinion 
 on the subject. I do not presume to suppose that the theory I 
 shall offer will be perfectly correct, or will include all its ramifi- 
 cations. If 1 can give a clue that will enable other more scien- 
 tific men to take up the subject, and elucidate it with their usual 
 perspicuity, it will, I humbly hope, be themeans of throwing some 
 additional light on this intricate and mysterious art 
 
 I have said that the waters in the county of Gloucester, 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 li- 
 quor there, a violent effervescence is produced : the carbonic acid 
 gas is separated from the carbonate of lime, by the lime combining 
 with the acids of the salts, and there remains in the liquor a sul- 
 phate of lime, an oxid of iron and copper, a sulphate of iron and a 
 sulphate of copper. When colours are done in water containing 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 &o liigie, nor aoj otiber carbooixted alkaltne cartk, tlie salts in tbt 
 
 }ii|«or win remaia ia solntioii id ihe szsoe componods as before 
 
 tflbey were added to it. Ia fte one ht^ptar Ih&iL, vre t>ball hs^xe ir 
 sotefioB 
 
 Sai^pkate of iron, 1 f 
 
 Sniphafp of ot^pper, fin the odier 1 Solpbate of iron, 
 
 So^ibafie of liaie, / oniT. j Sulphate of copper- 
 
 OxbI <if inn and coppra-, j f 
 
 Cvcrf cJhemiht most knoir tiiat a maienal diference m lue colour 
 
 win be tike rearit of flaese two oompoiaiids. The sulphate of lime 
 
 ia ttihe first will raise the bloe of t3ae logwood^ and thereby increase 
 
 The hodj amdL iotraisitf^ of tbe ookmr an the goods d jed. I hay e 
 
 nade two or fliive af t wHu i ^ k to subsdiote caustic, and sub-carbo- 
 
 aated linie-watar, in ^aceof tbe oainral; hariog previously in- 
 
 iened that a lawihir ^»ct would be produced bj it. I found i 
 
 racRed tlie ooftoor of the l u jgw ood , yet for want of sufficient expe- 
 
 lienoe la its «se to fix. a ^atfer standard, I hare never been able, 
 
 eacoe^aJELy, to ioiitate the iia;tiiral water. I have discovered, 
 
 bowerex-;, that whea too nm^ was ased, it had an injurious efeci 
 
 Mairii^ the logwood tmctue of a pale Pmssian blue colour. 
 
 Tlie most i^oitaat iafereaoe to be drawn from these facts, i^ 
 Hat dyers oqgbt oerer ta expect that receipts, obiaioed from other 
 eoootries, or fixm oSber parts of tiieir own, ^ouM prodace exact- 
 ly the sane oolosrs wb»i med by theso, as they have done vrith 
 olheis. And ako, that (br dyen to become emineait, they must be 
 rtatio oa r y, they m^t comtiaae to ^^ctise ia one atuation, an J 
 wiSk oaie kiod of water, daat by these meaxis alone, can they he 
 aMe to obtain pniectioa in the art. It is, nevertheless, useful t** 
 become scgmiatBd with the practioe of odms, and more part.'- 
 ..iiijr -sTiiu the science of dienMEtry, on wlacfa the art is founc. ;. , 
 !biat tthfey most aai. implicitly reAj oa any &in^ but their own prac- 
 .'nrt9e. Bt fcither proves, that dyers who are continual] v roving-. 
 -iiH haopt paitlj to leara ffa^ bosiness over ag-ain at every new 
 
 rije ihferesace in the effects produced, between dying from anj 
 
- 123 
 
 receipt in one place and in another, may, and do often arise from 
 other causes beside the variableness of the water ; see scouring 
 wool, cloth, &c. 
 
 I hope what I have advanced on this subject, will be sufficient 
 to convince those who mav be interested, tliat almost any water is 
 calculated for dying, provided the supply be regular, and always 
 in the same state ; and that water, however soft, that is subject to 
 alterations from season and rain, or any other cause, is not fit &r 
 he purpose. 
 
 ON THE BAD EFFECT ARISING FROM THE ITINIi- 
 RANGY OF THE DYERS. 
 
 THE itinerant habits of the dyers of this country, is much 
 against their arriving at any considerable degree of perfection. 
 In fact, the manner in which it is carried on at the factories, is 
 altogether highly detrimental to the progress of the art, injurious 
 to the interest of the manufacturer, and in a great measure, the 
 cause of the itinerancy of the workmen. Perfection in dying, is 
 only to be obtained by local practice. When a dyer remains in 
 one situation where he can obtain such dye-wares as he may want, 
 jirepared uniformly in the same way, and where the water is al- 
 ways in the same state, he will gradually acquire the art of pro- 
 ducing new colours, and new shades of colour; and will attain a 
 precision in making them, which an itinerant never can equal. 
 
 In England, the colouring is generally performed by public dy- 
 ers, who attend personally to the business : they employ foremen as 
 managers, who are usually taken from among the common work- 
 men. When the owner of a dying establishment perceives in 
 any of his men a more than ordinary capacity, and at the same 
 time, approves of his general conduct, he will propose, if he wants 
 a foreman, to instruct him in the business. When this is mutually 
 
124 
 
 agreed npon, the man is bonnd for a term of years, say fifty, or 
 sixty, on conditions subject to a heavy penalty, to senre hb em- 
 ployer faithfully during the stipulated period, and nerer to make 
 known to any other person the secrets communicated to him, or 
 which he may attain during his practice. As a compensation for 
 losing his liberty, he generally has doable wages secured to him, 
 and this is mostly advanced as his services become valuable. 
 These dviag establishments are usually situated near the centre of 
 a manufacturing district, and is an heir-loom in the family, being 
 conveyed from father to son for several generations. The busi- 
 ness gradually prepresses in extent and perfection far beyond what 
 may be conceived of in this country. When wool or cloth is 
 sent to a public dyer, patterns are sent with it. and it must be co- 
 loured so exactly, that when finished, the manufacturer cannot 
 perceive the least shade of difierence between it and the patterns 
 sent. It often happens that more than one hundred patterns wiU 
 be received in one day, all varying in colour ; and it may readily 
 be supp(Ked that a dyer who can at one glance arrange, and after- 
 wards colour them exactly to pattern, must kave attained consider- 
 able perfection in the business. 
 
 My object in mentioning these facts, is cot merely to show what 
 the dyers are capable of doing in England ; but to prove that the 
 manner in which it is generally carried on in this countiy, has a 
 tendency to retard the progress of the art. 
 
 Every woollen manufacturer here, whether small or laig«, em- 
 ploys a bo^ dyer. These seldom remain in the same situation 
 more than one or two years, and more frequently a much shorter 
 period. This year they will be employed in tlje district of Maine, 
 or state of Mass, the next in Ohio, or Kentucky ; in some places 
 they succeed to the extent of their judgment, in others not : but 
 theyall profess to be very knowing in their business, and those just 
 out of their apprenticeship, baring served one year, profess to 
 know the most. Tiiis is not the way by which perfection in the 
 art is to be obtained, nor could the best European dyer, under the 
 
125 
 
 same circumstances, do any better than the mere novice, probably 
 not 30 well, for in each factory, he would have to contend with a 
 mass of difficulties quite foreign to him ; the dying wares would be 
 of different kinds, and in different states of preparation ; the woad, 
 f he had to colour blue, would be in a different state, and very 
 inferior to what he has been accustomed to use ; the lime employed 
 would be either too weak or too strong ; the wool would not be 
 well scoured ; the cloth would be sent to the dye-house full of 
 grease ; the furnaces would be badly set, so as not to boil when 
 necessary, and the cloth, when coloured, would be scoured with 
 urine or soap, instead of fullers' earth, and then, perhaps, not 
 more than half scoured. All these, and many other impediments, 
 he would have to contend with, and without the power to remedy 
 the least evil. Should he complain, lie is said not to understand 
 his business ; and what with taunts on the one hand, and real diffi- 
 culties on the other, he resigns all pretensions to the business, and 
 follows something else ; or he gives into the common mode of the 
 country, and settles down as a plain edge-dyer. This is no fanci- 
 ful picture, for two or three such instances have come under my 
 notice. 
 
 One of two things must take place before the art of dying caii 
 be brought to any considerable degree of perfection in this coun- 
 try. Either the managers must learn to be their own dyers, and 
 devote their time and attention to it, or it must be done at a com- 
 mon dyehouse, where work shall be taken in as in England. The 
 latier '5rould certainly be the preferable plan, and to this it will 
 soon^ or later arrive. A public dyer could afford to do the work 
 at a cheaper rate than it can be done in so many small establish- 
 Jiients — he could do the work of one hundred manufacturies, and 
 would be satisfied with a profit of five or six thousand dollars a 
 year ; and this will be found to be only a small portion of what is 
 now' paid by that number for boss workmen. Supposing each 
 boss to receive only eight dollars a week, the aggregate paid by 
 one hundred manufacturers will be upwards of forty thousand 
 dollars per annum, and even in this one item thev would, by em- 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 ploying a public dyer, make an annual saving of thirty-four thou- 
 sand dollars. The same number of manufacturers would have to 
 expend at least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the plant 
 for dye houses, furnaces, vats, &c. which would be altogether sav- 
 ed by them. I do not pretend to assert that this system could be 
 successfully adopted at the present time, as I cannot see where 
 sufficient work could be collected from ; but a few years will ne- 
 cessarily bring it about. And it is probable that if a dye house 
 should even now be established, in a central situation, purposely 
 for dying of wool and woollen cloth, with proper conveniences for 
 scouring and wasliing, fulling, finishing &;c. where the work 
 could be executed in a perfect and masterly manner, with suffi- 
 cient capital to contend against old prejudices ; it would soon be 
 felt to be a great relief to the manufacturer, and sufficient employ- 
 ment might be found to answer the purpose of the capitalist. 
 
 The more a business is divided, the better and cheaper it can 
 be performed. In England the wool sorting, the dying, the list 
 making and the weaving, are all distinct concerns, separate from 
 the factories. The manufacturers know where to purchase the 
 one ready prepared, and have the otheis well executed ; but they 
 have no capital to expend on those branches ; they are not 
 plagued by employing workmen in them ; and they never feel 
 any anxiety about the result : all that is necessary, is for them to 
 have a good judgment in wool, and in the colours, and weaving. 
 In this countr}' every thing is performed within the walls of a fac- 
 tory, and a curious anomaly is thereby produced ; for where there 
 is the least capital, and almost a total want of judgment, there the 
 greatest portion of cloth is required, and the managers are plagued 
 with more branches, and a greater variety of workmen. 
 
127 
 
 ON CLEANING CLOTH FOR DYING, AND THE WASH- 
 ING OF WOOL AND CLEANING THE CLOTH AFTER 
 DYING. 
 
 MANY of tLe minor operations in a factoryj and in dvin^, 
 which people who are not well versed in the business are apt to 
 neg-lect, as being 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 they are too generally neglected in this country. I 
 have before remarked, and which cannot be too often repeated, 
 that cleaning the wool and cloth well from all kind of extraneous 
 matter previous to the dying, is a necessary preliminary to the 
 pi*oduction of good colours ; and I must add, that to clean them 
 well from the dye afterwads, 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. 
 
 When wool has been d} ed, the light colours require only to be 
 well washed in the swilling basket, tlie darker colours, and par- 
 ticularly blue, should be fii-st washed as directed. for the light ones, 
 then soaked six hours, or more, in milk warm water, with as 
 much oil of vitriol in it as will give to the liquor a slightly sour 
 taste, and then it requires a second washing. Many dyers and 
 manufacturers will be ready to say this is a troublesome and ex- 
 pensive operation ; I grant it; but were they once to try it, and 
 have it done faitlifully, they would find this trouble and expense 
 more than trebly compensated for in the subsequent operations. 
 The wool would not require so much oilj it would card and spin 
 better, would not be so liable to break in weaving, and the cloth 
 would be worth five per cent, more when finished. 
 
 All the colours given to cloth, may be cleaned by steaming, or 
 beating with sticks, from a bridge over a running stream, except- 
 ing blue and black, which require to be scoured in a fulling mill. 
 
128 
 
 Each of these operations I shall describe, for unless the dyer and 
 manufacturer have conreniences suitable to the well performance 
 of an operation, or is ignorant of what is neccs^aroy to be perform- 
 ed, they cannot expect to have it successfully executed. I have 
 been much surprised that in works written on the subject of dy- 
 ing, the process for cleaning- white and coloured wool, and cloth, 
 should be passed over as operations of no consequence. It 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 these subjects, and we all know that it is a 
 combinatiGn of little 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 ele- 
 vated about sixteen inches above its level. At one end of the 
 windlass, is fixed a puUy, three inches thick, and one foot three 
 inches diameter ; around this, holes are bored to place in four or 
 or five stout handles, which project 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-barrow, called a scallet, and to the head end of the 
 cloth is fastened, by means of a running noose, some large twine 
 permanently secured at the other end to the centre of the wind- 
 lass. The two men who carry the hand-barrow, having secured 
 the twine on the cloth, throw the end to which it has been fasten- 
 ed, on the water, placing each a foot on the list next to hira, whilst 
 the boy strains that part between the windlass and the bridge so 
 as to keep it fairly on the surface of the stream ; the two men 
 are prepared with each a long pole, large and smootli at the lower 
 end, to prevept their damaging the cloth, with which they strike 
 it, in rather a slanting direction, and keep so beating till 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. 
 
129 
 
 always keeping it at. a proper strain until the whole is off the 
 hand-barrow. The cloth is then drawn back again. 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 lea- 
 thers being put on with tacks ; but no. iron or any other metal is 
 permitted to be 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 
 the 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 backs with water from pipes, 
 and beat and rinse the cloth in it ; but this is not so effectual as 
 the plan I have described. 
 
 Blue ajid black cloth is also streamed before it is taken to the 
 fulling-mill, but never on the same bridge where other colours are 
 worked. They are then taken to tlie fulling-mill and washed un- 
 der the hammers, until the water runs clear from them, when they 
 are taken out of the stocks, and hung up on long, lr.rge' wooden 
 pegs placed in the walls of the mill-house for the purpose, where 
 they are left to drain till the day following. They are then taken 
 down, spread open, and wet fullers' earth thrown on all over the 
 face ; the lists are now t]irow\ together, and tliey are carefully 
 placed in the fulling-mill, which is plugged up, and 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 necessar}^ The cloth is then put again into the 
 stocks, and tlie hammers suffered to play upon it one hour ; after 
 which, a small quantity of water islet run into the stocks, not 
 more than would pass through a large wheaten straw, for half an 
 hour, in order that the earth may be diluted slowly, and by de- 
 grees. After that, the cloth is once more handed out, the lists 
 gulled square, then put again into the stocks, and the plug pulled 
 
130 
 
 jt, when a full stream of water is introduced till it be perfccth 
 clean. During tl»e 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. It is better after the cloth has been finish- 
 ed with eartli and diluted bj admitting tho small stream of water, 
 to take it out of the fallers and put it into a poacher, where it 
 may be washed without any fear of damage. This may be done 
 in ail washings. 
 
 The water that comes c*t of the stocks, shows whether the 
 cloth is clear, for that which runs out, 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. Kiver or clear 
 rain vrater is the best to mix with the earth, and hard water for 
 washing it out. 
 
 To prepare cloth for dying, it must be worked with earth, as bc* 
 fore directed, only when it has gone the first half boar in the 
 stocks a small stream of %rater is let run in for half an hour, and 
 then a full stream until it be quite clean. The handings out must 
 be observed as before directed. 
 
 Many people colour their blacks after fulling, without scouring 
 with earth ; but the colours will not be so good, nor will they clean 
 so Avell afterwards, because there jail always remain a portion of 
 soap in tlie cloth, which washing with mere water will not detach 
 from it, and when this comes into the black liquor, or any other 
 dye, the soap will be decomposed, the soda will combine with the 
 acids, and tlie grease being liberated, will produce an effect e<joal 
 to the colouring of greasy cloth. 
 
 Some few dyers there arc, who scour wjiu unue, previous todj- 
 iQg, which they imagine gives a softness to tlie cloth and improves 
 the colour. For the advantage of those who wish to try it, I shall 
 describe this process, although I have never been able to discover 
 any sensible difference. 
 
131 
 
 SCOURING WITH URINE PREVIOUS TO DYING. 
 
 AT the time you fold the cloth into the stocks, pour as much urine 
 upoQ it as is necessary to wet it, and cause it to turn ; the hammers 
 are then suffered to play for half an hour, after which the cloth is 
 handed out, and its lists pulled square. The handing out has also 
 for its object to spread the urine even on the cloth, and some added 
 on places, if any there are, where urine has not penetrated. It is 
 put again into the stocks, and worked for another half an hour; a 
 small btream of water is then introduced into the stocks during forty 
 minutes, when the water is let in freely till it is perfectly clean. 
 
 When cloth is dyed in the flannel, before fulling and after burl- 
 ing, it has to be cleaned with earth or urine, as directed for fulled 
 cloth. 
 
 Another method of scouring blacks, known only to a few manu-. 
 facturers and dyers. It is the process pursued by the celebrated 
 Edward Shepard, Esqr.* 
 
 First wash out the gross filth, then scour with earth as before 
 directed ; after which hand them out of the stocks, pull the lists 
 square, and spread on each piece of forty yards, one pound of dis- 
 solved castile soap, with a sufficient quantity of fuller's earth, put 
 it again into the stocks, and let the hammers play on it for one hour, 
 then proceed, as before mentioned, and wash them clean. It has 
 now to be taken out of the stocks and moued two courses, (that is, 
 twelve runnings up at the gig-mill w ith dead work) then returned 
 into the stocks and washed with a full supply of water till clean ; 
 in this last operation, a great discharge of colour takes place, which 
 the mosing appears to have liberated. Then give them another 
 course at the gig-mill, when they will be quite clean and very soft. 
 
 It is to be observed, that castile soap is preferable to any otlier 
 for, being made of olive oil, it imparts a softness to the cloth whici 
 soap made, with common fat never can give. The best manufa< 
 
132 
 
 turers in the west of England use none but this soap for fulling, or 
 for any o<her process about their cloth. It is made by Fry of Bris- 
 tol, and is sold ut one shilling sterling, or twenty-two cents of this 
 currency per pound. 
 
 Bullocks gall is occasionally used to clean blacks, when, from 
 any cause, such as the grease not being cleaned out in the braying, 
 the colours do not score well in the usual wav. 
 
 ON THE MORDANTS AND DYING DRUGS USED BY 
 THE DYERS IN ENGLAND, ON WOOL AND WOOL- 
 LEN CLOTH. 
 
 THE mordants used there are allum, cream, and crude tartar, 
 blue vitriol, verdigris, copperas, tin liquors, and occasionally the 
 acids. I shall include tiie mixture of oil of vitriol and indigo, com- 
 monly koown by the name of chemick, although it does not pro- 
 perly belong to the class of mordants. 
 
 iVIocdants are used to fix the colouring matter on the goods dyed 
 and unless these are employed with discretion the colours will not; 
 (with some few exceptions) be permanent. 
 
 A much greater portion of mordant is used in dyiug of cloth than 
 in colouring of wool ; for if the same quantity were used on wool, 
 it would, iu the greater number of colours, render it unfit for spin- 
 ning, weaving, and fulling. 
 
 Allum is used more generally, and in much greater quantity, than 
 any other mordant, yet no other salt has so great a tendency to 
 render the wool harsh and unfit for working. It is to soften the 
 efiect of tha allum, to give additional stability to the colour, as well 
 as to brighren and cliange the hue given by the dying wares, thcit 
 cream of tartar and argol are used. To the want of employing 
 
IOkJ 
 
 t'liesc sails more g-cucrally in this country, is to be attributed tiieif 
 principal deficiency in the production of furnace colour. 
 
 Every dyer is well acquainted with cream of tartar. It is the 
 crude tartar in a purified state, which is too expensive to be em- 
 ployed by the dyer in any other than hi^h priced, delicate and 
 bright colours, such as scarlets, auroras, orang^es, buffs, &c. &:c. 
 
 As arg-ol or crude tartar is very little known in this country, it ' 
 will be necessary' to describe it. It is the lees of wine in its natu- 
 ral and unpurified state, from which cream of tartar is made : but 
 this last is much too dear to be used in common colours, nor does 
 it always answer so g-ood a purpose, for argol, independent of its 
 operation as a mordant, produces a light brown' colour from the 
 colouring matter of the wine lees, therefore it is always preferred 
 for dark colours, such as bottle greens, dark browns, blacks, &c. 
 &c. There is a great range in the quality and value of this article, 
 the lowest being strongly coloured, having a dirty looking appear- 
 ance, and is in a semi-pulverulent form, whilst the Itest is in semi- 
 transparent crystals, of a light colour, and so hard as to require the 
 force of a hammer to break them. The latter, when prime, is worth 
 nearly as much as purified cream of tartar, and the__lowcst quality, 
 not more tlian one fourth the price : the value of intermediate 
 samples will be as their quality. That which is used for the greater 
 number of colours, is of a middling quality, and when the lowest 
 are used, it is particularly njentioncd in the receipts. 
 
 When the crystals of blue vitriol have the least tinge of green, 
 they are not good, as they then contain more or less of iron, and 
 approximate to a mixture of iron and copper salts, instead of being 
 entirely of copper. This salt, when prime, should be of a rich blue 
 colour, the crystals large and dry. 
 
 Verdigris should be light in weight for its bulk, and should be of 
 a light blue colour. The French verdigris is considered the best. 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 Copperas varies very mnch in qnality, some bein j small and rus- 
 ty, and otliers being in larg-^ cnrstaJs and of a fine green colour. 
 Fordjing of black the small rusty copperas is preferred, for drabs 
 and other light coloure, that which is in large crrstals and of a 
 bright green is employed. 
 
 TO MAKE TIN LIQUOR FOR SCARLET AXD OTHER 
 
 COLOURS. 
 
 THE best aqua-fortis, and that which is generally used lq Eng- 
 land, is made by S. Key &: Son of Bewdley, and by Randall of Lon- 
 don, that which is made by the latter being now mostly employed 
 in the west of England, and it is always what is called single aqua- 
 fortis. A Mr. lanes, formerly of Bristol in England, now a mer- 
 chant in the city of New- York, was once a celebrated maker of 
 this article. It will be understood, that out of the great number of 
 makers in the west of England, and in London, only two or three 
 are able to make an article fit for the scarlet dyer, therefore, it 
 cannot be expected, that aqua-fortis, which is bought in this coun- 
 tnf, without knowing its strength or quality, should answer the pur- 
 pose, or that the colours produced by it should be of uniform bril- 
 liancy. 
 
 The tin liquor is prepared in stone ware pots, larger at the mouth 
 iban at the bottom, each one having a lip for the conTenience of 
 pouring out. The tin is always obtained from Cornwall in stamped 
 blocks, and none other can be depended upon as being genuine. 
 To obtain it pure is of the utmost consequence. That which is in 
 bars is very liable to be adulterated, as it goes through the hands 
 of some dealer in the article after it come5 from the goremmental 
 as^aver, who is bound not to let any block pass that is not pure tin, 
 and it is too much the interest of the dealers to adulterate it. by 
 mixing with it some cheaper and baser metal. The blocks weigh 
 about thi ee hundred pounds each, and when a dyer wishes to pur- 
 
oo 
 
 "chasc, be has samples sent him from several blocks. Each one ol 
 these are melted separately in an iron ladle, the samples are tried, 
 and the best are purchased for use. To prepare the tin for use, it 
 i-> melted in the ladle, and run into a tub of water : the ladle is ele- 
 ^ nted about ten feet above the tub, and the metal let out in a small 
 stream, by which means the tin becomes separated into tliin small 
 porous pieces. Tlie water is now drained off, as close as it can be 
 poured, without permitting- any of the tin to follow it. The tin is 
 then taken out and put into a sieve to drain ; when the water is all 
 drained off, the metal is placed and spread on a smooth clean plat- 
 form until dry ; for tin must never be put into the acids in a moist 
 state. 
 
 Tiie stone pots, in which the preparation is made, hold from eight 
 1 1 ten quarts each, they are placed in an oblong- reservoir, for a 
 t irg-e concern, two feet by fifteen, and five inches deep ; into this 
 
 )id water is let run from* a pipe during- the whole of the opei^ation, 
 and the waste water passes olf through an opening left at an heighth 
 that will just preserve tiie pots from swimming, when the liquor is 
 in them. Into each pot is put four pints of the single aqua-fortis, 
 before described, two pints of water, and a handful of white blown 
 salt, and each requires about eight ounces of granulated tin. The 
 tin is supplied gradually, a small handful at a time being put into 
 each pot, and they are kept constantly stirring, by a man who sits 
 in front of the middle of ihe row. The stirring is done with a rod 
 of basket willow, or of glass, and after the first handful of tin is add- 
 ed, the m?D is kept very busy until the wliole of that quantity is in 
 solution, then another handful is added, and so on, until the neces- 
 sary quantity is dissolved. Dry white willow is used to stir with, 
 because that wood imparts no colour to the compound. It is to be 
 understood that the aqua-fortis must not be completely saturated 
 with tin, it being necessary for making a perfect colour, that the 
 acid should be in excess. It requires about eight hours to perform 
 the operation, for the first three it has to be continually^ attended 
 ^nd briskly stirred, and sparingly supplied with tin to prevent ade- 
 
 imposition of the aqna-regia ; but afterwards it will onlv be neces- 
 
136 
 
 -sry to sLir ii every quaner of an hour, lakmgcare lo give ii a gov^. 
 -:irring whenever tin is added. 
 
 • 
 
 The plan recommended by some theoretical writers, of beiD^ 
 
 wo or three days in making" this preparation, is highly absurd ; for 
 
 lat which is made one day is always used tlie next, and if any re- 
 
 iiain unconsumed, it is employed for bufls, reds, crimsons, purples 
 
 ^ nd other colours, being considered as unfit for scarlet; and the 
 
 jrd day, a decomposition commences, if the liquor be exposed to 
 
 he atmosphere, the tin being precipitated in the state of a muciia- 
 
 4inous white oxid : so that the preparation would be injured, and 
 
 lie solution rendered unlit for tJie purpose before it could be used, 
 
 V being conducted so slow. The principal points to be attended 
 
 ■) are, to have aqua-fortis as free as jM)55ible from iron ; to make it 
 
 ^eak enough before tin is added, to use none bnt very white clean 
 
 - lit, and not to permit too great a heat to be raised while the tin i - 
 
 iissolring". 
 
 In France ihey add to the aqua-fortis, previous to adding the tin, 
 ->ome sal-ammoniac in place of the salt, which practice is also fol- 
 owed by some of tlie English dyers; but if this be added to the 
 
 east excess, Uie colours will incline to a piuk. 
 
 In place of salt, the dyers often put in a small quantiiy of <he 
 ^pirit of salt, which preserves tlie yellow of the colour, but is not 
 considered as good as salt by the best scarlet dyers. 
 
 Spirit of salt is eften prepared separately, and the liquor added 
 ID the other tin liquor afterwards. When spirits of salt is prepar- 
 ed by itself, a large quantity of tin is put iu, which remains three 
 or four weeks before it is dissolved, being slirrc-d oiily occa^iorjii^'v. 
 
137 
 
 TsEVV MODE OF PREPARING LIQUOR FOR SCARLET. 
 
 I HAVE been convinced since the year 1 807, that tHe tartaric 
 acid, or that acid which is a component part of cream of tartar, is 
 flie only material in the complicated compound of acids and salts 
 used in the scarlet process, producing that effect on cochineal 
 wliich occasions it to change from crimson, its natural colour, to 
 tlic vivid orange that constitutes the scarlet : and this discovery 
 v.as more the effect of chance than of preconceived deductions. 
 
 J was that year engaged in the laboratory of Mr. Wm. Bryan, 
 Sen. (who was then an able and extensive dyer in London, and 
 whose sons pursue the same business in New-York) in making ex- 
 periments to discover the effects produced by the mordants on every 
 kind of colouring matter. While so employed, I put into a phial 
 of aqua-regia, as much pulverized cream of tartar as I had been 
 accustomed to use in the dying furnace, with the same portion of 
 acids. The bottle was labelled, and laid by on a shelf. About two 
 months afterwards, I Avas engaged in experimenting on the colour- 
 iQg matters producing yellow, when I used some of the mixture 
 with the old fustic ; the effect produced, surprised me very much, 
 the colour being more brilliant than any I had ever seen produced 
 from the same material ; and it proved, after the most severe trials, 
 to be as permanent as it was beautiful. On examining the list of 
 patterns in April, 1821, I found every other yellow was faded, whilst 
 that one had retained its original body and lustre. 
 
 In the year 1810, 1 made some experiments on cochineal, with 
 the mixture ; and the colour produced by it, was a fine scarlet, very 
 brilliant and well grounded, and I found, on trial, thai it stood the 
 test. of washing and exposure to atmospheric changes much better 
 than any scarlet dyed after the common mode. 
 
 The longer the cream of tartar remains in the aqua-regia, the 
 more completely will any given portion of the compound, jcllow 
 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 .:..; aci ^bcn me mixrure hjs oecn sia&iimg iurt.e or 
 
 r ;;::i>, a very small portioa of it is sufficient to produce the 
 
 This fjact proves that the decomposition of the super- 
 
 irtrite of potash (cream of tartar) g^oe? on rerj slowly, and that r 
 
 s the tartaric acid alone, which produces the effect of orangiug 
 
 :be cochineal. It would require a numher of nice experiments, 
 
 r.nd considerable time to ascertain the exact proportions of tlie 
 
 Mderent ingredients to produce the best mixture, with giren quan- 
 
 iiies of acids, tartar, and cochineal. If I had capital to spore, I 
 
 IX OIL u. . :TRI0L and IXDIGO to 31AKE 
 CIIEMICK. 
 
 i Jii.'r^ uaxiure ;s made id jlass or stori, ^Tire pois. iiavmg hp"^ 
 ;'or ihe conveniency of pouring oi::. Coir.:r,on earthenware will 
 not answer the purpose, it being glazed with a preparation of lead, 
 ^nd the Tilriol acting on it, dissolves the lead very much to the in- 
 ury of the coIour made with the compound. "VVlien the glazing 
 :s gone, which it will be in a very short time, the clay will absorb 
 the mixture and permit the compound to leak through it. Tlie pot 
 ^iiio which the mixture is to be made, is put into a sand heat that 
 »nay be fixed in any iron pot of sufficient capacity for the opera- 
 tion. First obtain an iron pot large enough to hold the stone one, 
 tor one half of its depth, and to permit three or four inches of sand 
 I -i lay below the bottom, and around it. The pot is set in brick 
 '.vork, with a grate under it, the fire not being pemiitted to reach 
 iiigber than the sand inside. The sand employed, should be 
 tolerably fine, and of that kind which is czdled sihcious. such as 
 is used by glass makers. The oil of vitriol should be of the strong- 
 v>t kind, that which has the greatest specific graTky, and is per- 
 :cily pellucid. 
 
 Oil of vitriol was fi>rmcrly made by burning sulphar with a gir- 
 
139 
 
 eu portion of salt-petre, on carriag-es covered with lead, iu iarg^e 
 close rooms lined with lead, and the sulphuric %as was condensed 
 in a cistern of water at tiie bottom of tlie room. Tiie liquor was 
 afterwards evaporated in leaden vessels to a g-iven strength, and 
 then rectified in larg-e glass retorts. Within a few years, a patent 
 has been obtained for making- it in a more direct way. I have 
 never seen this in operation, but have been informed that it is done 
 b} bringing together two streams of gas, one of oxygen, another 
 of sulphureous, which by some refrigeratory process, are made to 
 combine, and that the result is the production of a strong sulphuric 
 acid (oil of vitriol) in a more direct way than by the old process. 
 However that may be, this oil of vitriol is very much superior to 
 that which is made after the old mode ; its specific gravity is great- 
 er, and it dissolves indigo more completely. My brother uses it 
 altogetiici", and he has informed me, that he would not take the 
 other, to be compelled to use it, as a gift. I am informed that 
 this new vitriol is sold at two pence three farthings the pound, and 
 is manufactured cither at Manchester, or Liverpool, T do not re- 
 member Mhich. It is important that those who use chemick for 
 blue and greei, should be supplied with this article. 
 
 When tlic best oil of vitriol is procured, the next thing neces- 
 sary is to obtain such indigo as is suitable to rnix with it. A fine, 
 light, compact, purple indigo, either of Spanish or Bengal, should 
 be obtained ; but it not unfrequently happens, that the best looking 
 indigo is unfit for the purpose, and this can only be known by a di- 
 rect trial. It is customary, therefore, to obtain small samples from 
 several lots, and to try them with vitriol before making a purchase. 
 The trials arc made in small pots, into each of which, eight ounces 
 of vitriol is put, and the pots are placed in a bucket of hot water. 
 When the vitriol has become warm, there is stirred in each pot, 
 two ounces from each sample, in a state of fine powder, by small 
 quantities at a time. That which is the best, is known by its rising 
 modcraicly as the mixing progresses, but not too much, for when 
 the effervescence is too strong, a portion of tlie indigo will be de- 
 composed, and when very rapid, the wliole ; and that which is dc- 
 
140 
 
 composed, will not produce any colour, nor will it mix with either 
 cold, or hot water,' for the indig-o appeal's to be completely carbon- 
 ized. When it does not rise at all, the mixture is incomplete, that 
 is, tlie indigo is not properly in solution, the g-oods dyed with it. 
 will be uneven, and the colour very fug^itive. 
 
 When such vitriol and indigo are procured as will make a com- 
 plete solution, the pot is put into the sand heat, with four pounds of 
 vitriol for every pound of indigo intended to be dissolved. The 
 indigo must be ground very fine, in a dry state, in a steel mill, or 
 by pounding and sifting' through a fine sieve. A fire is made un- 
 der the sand pot, and driven till the vitriol is of the temperature of 
 new milk, when the fire is lowered so as to keep it at that heat. 
 When the vitriol is warm enough, a small tea-cup full, or ratiier 
 less, is put in, and stirred until well mixed, and such quantities are 
 continued to be added, from time to time, as fast as they are dis- 
 solved, until all the indigo is in solution, after which it is kept con- 
 stantly stirred for one hour, as well as during tlie operation. It 
 takes about four hours to prepare twenty pounds of chemick, that 
 is, sixteen pounds of vitriol and four of indigo. It has now to be 
 covered down, and may be used the day following. After all these 
 pains, which are necessary to make the article perfect, it will not 
 be fit for use for more than Uvo or three days, if left exposed to the 
 atmosphere, but if put into glass bottles, with ground glass stop- 
 pers, the day after it has been made, it will keep good for months. 
 
 There are many receipts circulating, in tljis» as well as in other 
 countries, for compounding indigo and vitriol for woollen dying. 
 In some, five parts of vitriol is recommended for one of indig©, in 
 others six, seven, and some go as far as eight ; but when the vitriol 
 is of a proper strength, four pounds will dissolve one of indigo as 
 completely as any greater proportion, and it is worse than useless 
 to employ more than is suflBcient, for in all cases the action of the 
 vitriol is injurious to the goods dyed. 
 
 We will proceed to describe those materials from which colour is 
 
141 
 
 'iUtained. Therd'are many dye wares used in Eng-land and in 
 France, that have not yet found their way to tliis- country. Such 
 are Barwood, Green Ebony, Dyer's Weed, Weld and Brazil Wood. 
 The four first of these are more generally used in Europe than any 
 Mthcrs, and it appears very strang-e to an English dyer to find they 
 
 ire here almost totally unknown. I shall commence by describ- 
 ing the most expensive dye drugs, such as cocliineal, turmeric, 
 lolouring matter of shell lac, Brazil wood, madder, man-gcct, and 
 
 rulisro. 
 
 OX COCHINEAL. 
 
 There is so much difference in the quality and value of coclii- 
 neal, that it is impossible to describe it accurately, and nothing but 
 practice in comparing samples, and in the use of it, can give that 
 critical judgment, which will enable the dyer to make choice of 
 those that are the best suited for the purpose. That which is call- 
 ed Sylvester, having a white down covering the outside, is never 
 used by the best scarlet dyers, the large black grained cochineal 
 being always employed by them. Cochineal, being a costly article, 
 is subject to great adulterations; there is often found in it a gummy 
 looking substance, having no colour, sometimes stones are found 
 in it as large as the fly. Every sample, before purchasing, should be 
 scrupulously examined, and all suspicious substances separated; 
 from the real fly and broken, whicli will disclose the imposition, and 
 enable the consumer to judge of the adulterated per ccntage. It 
 is usual, when different samples 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 comparati\ <■ 
 shades of intensity. When dyers are compelled to purc^^se the 
 Sylvester, which' is often the case from the scarcity of the black 
 grain, they always make choice of that kind which is in the largest 
 grains, and having the least white down on them. 
 
 Cochineal is ground in a mill kept expressly for the purpose, and 
 is never permitted to be used for any thing else. 
 
142 
 
 For the finest scarlet intended to be very rich in colcur and 
 body, no colouring- matter should be used, excepting- cochineal ; 
 but in g^eneral the manufacturer will not g^o to that expense, there- 
 ore, some yellow has almost always been used to assist the body 
 of the colour : such as young fustic, black oak bark, and tcrmeric. 
 The latter is what my father has always employed, and although it 
 is not so permanent as black oak bark, yet it gives a much richer 
 colour, making the scarlet more flaming ; and as the yellow con- 
 stitutes but a small portion of the body of the colour, it will not fade 
 much, and has never been found fault with by military oflScers, who 
 are the principal consumers. When scarlet cloaks were generally 
 worn, I have seen the colour look very well, when dyed with turme- 
 riCi after having been used several winters ; consequently, the colour 
 cannot be so fugitive, as has been represented by many interested 
 writers. Mr. Haight has informed me that scarlets, dyed witK 
 
 rtneric, will fade very much on drving before a fire ; this may 
 probably be the reason why they are always tentered in the fields^ 
 -n 1 n-^^-r -'-" a nre her-tin during stoves. 
 
 Turmeric is brought from tropical countries, it is in the form of 
 bulbous roots, and, when broken by the hammer, should be of a 
 fine golden yellow. If the roots are new, and have not been toa 
 mt:ch exposed, the outside will have a yellow appearance ; but if 
 old, they will be of a dirty drab ; and the value of t'le drug will be 
 in proportion to the distance this abstraction of colour has pene- 
 trated tlie root. 
 
 The colouring matter of shell -lac has not been known as a dye 
 nK>re than twenty years. It is imported from the East Indies in 
 square cakes, and is sold by the company at from three to nine 
 shillings steriing the pound. It is used for dying scarlet in place 
 of cochineal, by a diiferent process, which will be described when 
 receipts for that colour are given. 
 
 Brazil wood is imported from the Brazils. It is Uie property of 
 the crown, and every piece has the king's stamp on it. It has been 
 
143 
 
 very scarce in Europe of late years, being sold there at seventy dol- 
 lars per hundred in the log-. It is used principally for colouring crim- 
 son and other colours of that hue. It is also the principal ingre- 
 dient for making red ink. 
 
 Madder is imported from the Archipelago and Holland, the fine 
 Smyrna being considered the best. Of madder there are four dis- 
 tinct grades, the crop, the umbro, the gamene, and the mull, and 
 in each of these there are different shades of quality. The umbro 
 and gamene are mostly used in England, for all common colours, 
 and for the blue vats ; the crop is used for fine reds, and the mull 
 for very dark bottle green, for dark brown, and for some dirty 
 drabs. That which is generally sold in America are either very 
 inferior crops or first quality umbro. I have never seen any 
 prime crop in this market, nor any of tlie inferior quality, except- 
 ing a sample of very poor mull. 
 
 Madder grows well in the western country, and I am informed 
 it thrives in all parts of the United States where it has been plant- 
 ed. Many farmers in Kentucky raise it for sale, and I liave seen 
 some sold in the stalk there, that has been of a very superior qua- 
 lity. The mode of raising it is, by putting down a layer of roots 
 in small beds, and covering them with a few inches of soil ; these 
 throw up shoots full of joints, which are laid down and covered 
 with soil twice in each summer ; these become madder, and throw 
 up fresh shoots. In four or five years the whole bed is taken up 
 for use, and the smallest roots replanted to make fresh beds. The 
 product is very valuable, and well worth the attention of the manu- 
 facturer, as what could be raised on one acre of land would amply 
 supply the most extensive manufacture in the country, for every 
 purpose, after the first crop came round. 
 
 Madder is dried in stores, or in the shade, when exposed to dry 
 in the air, it is then ground and passed through sieves, by which 
 the different qualities are separated. When sifted, it is packed 
 
144 
 
 Jiard lu u^iii casks, w.iert- lae line quaiiuc; uecome socompa^.i. - 
 to require a chisel and hammer to separate it. "^ 
 
 M. D'-Arabourner made many experiments upon madder, and he 
 has g-iven it as his opinion, that the fresli root may be used with as 
 much adv^nta^e as that which lias been dried and powdered ; al- 
 lowing four pounds for one ; before using", it should be bruised in a 
 mill, similar to that in which apples are ground ; or the common, 
 conical, iron bark mill Arould be preferable. Any person who 
 raises madder either for sale, or for their own use, must wash the 
 roots as soon as they are taken out of the g:round, and dry them in 
 ihe siiade, or ia stores, as soon afterwards as possible ; when dry it 
 :nust, either ground, or unground, be packed in close casks, and 
 headed down ; for exposure to the air ferments madder, and de- 
 stroys all its colouring matter. ]Many persons, as weU dealers in 
 the article, as consumers, not being aware of this property in mad- 
 der, expose the surface to the air without any coyeriug, by which 
 it gradually becomes yellow, then assumes a dirty light brown, and 
 is more or less damaged, according to the length of time it has been 
 exposed, and to tlje moisture of tLe room in which it has been 
 placed. 
 
 The outside of casks of madder, are always more or less dam- 
 aged, and when sold in Europe an allowance is made for what is 
 o ailed crust. The injury a cask has sustained, is discovered by 
 boring in from the bilge to the middle and drawing out the bor- 
 er full of madder ; by examining this, an estimate is formed of the 
 .verage loss. Supposing a cask of crop madder of three feet di- 
 ameter is offered for sale, having a damaged crust of two inches, 
 the person who buys for use, without an allowance, will be a loser 
 of nearly twenty per cent. 
 
 Most of those who work blue vats here, are under an impression 
 ihat madder by giving out its red dye to the liquor, produces with 
 the blue a rich purple blue colour : but in tliis they are mistaken ; for 
 madder immediately it is put into the vat, ferments, and in one or 
 
14o 
 
 ' two hours loses all its colour ; so that those who use the best crop 
 madder under this impresssion, are contributing' to the expense 
 of the dj^e without reaping any equivalent. 
 
 Mangeet is imported from the eastern continent, in casks and 
 oblong boxes. It is in long roots of the size of a pipe stem, and 
 the colour it affords is similar to that given by madder, excepting 
 it being rather more on the red. I am inclined to believe from 
 experiments made many years since, that mangeet would be an ex- 
 cellent succedaneum for the yellows used with cochineal in colour^ 
 ing of scarlet. 
 
 In making choice of indigo, the dyer should attend to its weight, 
 burlk for bulk, to its fi-acture and colour. That which weio-hs tlie 
 least for its bulk, is smooth in the fracture, and appears of a fine 
 purple or copper bronze hue, and when rubbed with the nail has 
 a polished copper appearance, is the best. The qualities in this 
 drug are so unlimited, that it requires great practical skill to make 
 purchase of the most profitable article where the samples are near- 
 ly alike. The best way of ascertaining the relative value of sam" 
 pies, is to pound them fine, and to make choice of that which has 
 the richest colour. 
 
 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 printer's ink. The indigo should be previously soak- 
 ed, by putting it into a tub, and filling up so as to cover it with 
 boiling water. When this has remained soaking for three or four 
 days, the indigo will become so soft as to crumble when moved^ 
 or when handled, will break by the slightest pressure of the fin- 
 gers. 
 
 The ball mill I need not describe, as every dyer is acquainted 
 with it : the shape of the mill in general use here is very bad : 
 the bottom where the balls work, should STfell, qr belly out, and 
 13 
 
146 
 
 the pot should narrow a little towards the top. A pot of this shape 
 would nerer pennit theiodigo to be thrown out bj the balls, whea 
 in motion, a defeci verj common in the bell shape pots used in 
 this countrr. An indigo miU pot where more than one rat is in- 
 tended to be employed, should be large enough to grind thirty 
 pounds of indigo at one time,,with two balls, each seventy pounds 
 weight ; these, if kept in constant motion, will completely giind 
 that quantity in three days. The printers, or stcMie mill, must hare 
 an iron breaker through which the indigo may pst^ before it en- 
 ters the stones ; and the finer it is broken by this, the easier and 
 better it will grind. A man is employed to lade in the soaked 
 indigo, and about two hundred pounds may be ground ia one day. 
 
 We hare now gtme through the most eiqioisive dye wares, and 
 shall proceed to take notice of the others, as kgwood, camwood, 
 redwood, peacLwood, barwood, fustic,^weki, dyer's weed, green 
 ebony, young fustic, &c. 
 
 There are four kinds of logwood, the Campeachy, the St. Do- 
 mingo, the Honduras and the Jamaica, known by the name of the 
 places from whence they come. The Campeachy is the best, the 
 St. Domingo the nest best, and the Honduras the -worst of the 
 three. It is considered that three pounds of Campeachy is equal 
 to three and a half of Domingo, and four of Hfmduras. The Ja- 
 maica, is a weak poor dye wood. 
 
 i 
 
 Camwood is not much used in the west of England. It was once 
 employed there, but has been superseded by diat of barwood, 
 which is considered a much better wood for browns and other co> 
 lours for which the former was used, 
 
 Red'.rood is but little emplc^ed, excepting in some pecuhar co- 
 lours, as will be seen by the receipts for dying. Wbzx is calloi 
 redwood in this country, must be a di&rent wood from that which 
 5^0^"^ by the stsue came ia England ; for redwood is there neariy 
 
I4r 
 
 double the price of camwood. It is the same as is here called 
 hatchwood. 
 
 Peachwood is the same as is here known by the name of nica-. 
 ra^ua, it is rarely used, excepting' in colours having- a purple hue. 
 
 There are three qualities of fustic, the Cuba, the Honduras, and 
 the Jamaica ; the former is the best, and the others in succession^ 
 as they are named. 
 
 Weld is raised in France and England, from whence small quan- 
 tities are occasionally imported into this country, and sold at seven- 
 five cents per pound This plant, (residae leuteola) can be raised 
 on any land that is not too rich, for on good land it runs too much 
 to stalk, and produces a small quantity of colouring matter. It is 
 a biennial plant, and is gathered when in full blossom, by pulling 
 it up by the roots ; it is then bound tog^ether in small bundles, and 
 placed in the shade^ in a favourable situation to dry. It will be 
 necessary to procure the seed from Europe, as that which is ob- 
 tained from the plants brought into this country, is not ripe enough^ 
 for reproducing it, the plant being pulled while green, for the bene- 
 fit of the dye. 
 
 Doctor 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 woollen dyers are convinced, after having tried 
 the two, that the weld gives a more beautiful, and a more perma- 
 nent colour, when used only with the common mordants, alum and 
 tartar. There is another property in weld, which gives it a de- 
 ,cided advantage over the black oak bark ; it imparts a softness to 
 all woollens coloured in it, which no other colouring matter doeis 
 in the same degree. 
 
 Dyer's weed grows wild on commons, and around the borders of 
 woodland, it has much the appearance of heath, and is known by 
 the name wood wax. I brought some seed vvith me from Englani^) 
 
148 
 
 « 
 
 and planted a part of it on a mountain in New Jersey. If it should 
 grow and increase there, I shall endeavour to extend the plantation. 
 
 Green ebony is imported from some islands in the Pacific ; it is 
 a green coloured wood, rather of an olive hue, and is much used 
 in g-reens, olire browns and many other colours having a green hue. 
 
 YouDg fustic is the sticks, or woody part of the Venice sumac, 
 and is sold cheap in England. Tlie sap is white, whilst the inside 
 is of a rich yellow. It is used in chips, and principally employed 
 for oranges, auroras, &c. &c. 
 
 ON RAISING AND MAKING WOAD FOR THE BLUE 
 
 VAT. 
 
 AS I consider the colour produced by the ash vat, to be in every 
 way inferior to that from woad, I shall not attempt to give an ac- 
 count of it ; besides I am not well versed in the ash dye, never 
 having seen any until I came to this country. Those who want 
 information on that mode of dying, may consult Doctor Cooper's 
 work, where they will find an ample description of it. I am sorry 
 lo have to observe, that Mr. Cooper has committed himself very 
 ^*nuch in asserting that " the ash is the common vat for the blue 
 dye employed in Europe," when it is a well-known fact, that in 
 England, where three times as much blue wool is dyed, as in all 
 other parts of Europe, this vat is totally unknown, not one wool- 
 len dyer in fifty haviug ever heard of it. And I understand it is 
 only used on the continent by those who are ignorant of the woad 
 dye. 
 
 In order to succeed well with this mode of dying, it will be ne- 
 t'essary to obtain a regular supply of woad, and that it be ahva}s 
 pretty nearly tfie same in quality and strength. To obtain this, it 
 should be raised on strong good land, and always manufactured in 
 
14& 
 
 tbe same way ; as any considerable variation will disappoint tli6 
 dyer, anc' be the means of his producing colours more or less weak» 
 as the woad is bad, or good. 
 
 As this plant and the mode of working it, is but little known in 
 America, I shall give, in the first place, a copy of a letter from 
 Mr. John Parish, to the Bath Agricultural Society, on the cultiva- 
 tion and manufacture of it, and afterwards describe the process I 
 pursued to obtain a supply for the Providence Steam Factory 
 during the late war, when English woad wasjselling at fifty cents 
 per pound. 
 
 Mr. Parish informs us that this plant is cultivated in different 
 parts of England, for the use of the dyers, as well as in France, 
 Germany, fee. It is best to sow the seeds in the month of March* 
 or early in April, if the season invite ; but it requires a deep loamy 
 soil, and is better still with a clay bottom, such as is not subject to 
 become dry too auickly. It must never be flooded, but situated 
 60 as to drain its surface that it may not be poisoned by any wa- 
 ter stagnating upon it. 
 
 at anv reasonable price, meadow land can be obtained td 
 break the surface, it will be doubly productive. This land is gene- 
 rally most free from weeds and putrid matter, though sometimes it 
 abounds with botts, grubs and snails. However, it saves much 
 expense in weeding; and judicious management will get rid d^ 
 iliese otherwise destructive vermin. A season of warm showers, 
 not too dry, or too wet, gives the most regular crop, and produces 
 the best woad. 
 
 If woad is sown on corn land, much expense generally attends'' 
 hoeing and weeding ; and here it will require strong manure, 
 though on leys it is seldom much necessary, yet land cannot be too 
 rich for woad. On rich land, dung should be avoided, particularly 
 On leys, to avoid weeds. Some people sow it as grain, and harrow 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 it ia. and afterfrards boe it as turnips, leaving- plants at a distaccc, 
 in proportion to the streng'tli of tbe land ; others sow it in ranks by 
 a drill ploug-h : and some dibble it in, pulting^ three or four seeds in 
 a hole, and these holes to be from twenty inches to two feet apart, 
 accordii^ to tbe richness of the land ; for g-ood land, if room be 
 giren, will prodncc very hkjniriant plants ia gx>od seasons ; but if 
 too nearly planted, so that air cannot circulate, they do not ihriFC 
 so well. Attention to this, is necessary in ever}- way of sowing it. 
 Woad very often fails in its crop, from the land not being ia con- 
 dition, or from want of knowing how to destroy tbe botts, snails, 
 wire- worms, &c. that so often prey upon and destroy it, as well as 
 Trom inattention to weeding, kjc. Crops fail also from being sown 
 on land that is naturally too dry, and in a dry season ; but as the 
 roots take a perpendicular direction, and run deep, such land as I 
 bave described (with proper attention to my observations) will sel- 
 dom fail of a crop ; and if the season will admit of sowing early 
 fDougb to have the plants strong before the hot and dry weather 
 comes on, there will be almost a certainty of a great produce. 
 
 These plants are frequently destroyed in the germination by 
 3ies, or animalcules, and by grubs, snails, &:c. as before observed; 
 and in order to preserve them, the seeds may be steeped, with good 
 success, in lime and soot, until they begin to veg-etate ; first throw- 
 ing half a load or more of flour lime on the acre, and harrowing 
 it in. Then plant the seeds as soon as they break the pod, taking 
 care not to have more than one day's seed ready ; for it is better 
 to be too early, than to have their vegetation too strong before it 
 ih plaDt<>d, lest they should receive injury ; yet I have never ob- 
 served any injury in mine from this, though I have often seen the 
 tbe shoot strong. Either, harrows or rollers will close the holes. 
 if tbe ground be moist, it will appear in a few days ; but it will be 
 safe, and a benefit to the land, to throw more lime on the surface, 
 when, if showers invite snails and grubs to eat it, they will be de- 
 stroyed, which I have several times found ; particularly, when the 
 leaves were two inches long, and in drills very thick and strong, 
 nat tiic ground was dry. When a warm rain fell, in less than two 
 
151 
 
 hours, 1 found the ranks on one side attacked by these vermin, and 
 eaten entirely off by a larg-e black grub, thousands of which were 
 on the leaves, and they cleared as they went, not goin^ on until 
 they had destroyed every leaf where they fixed. They had eaten 
 six or seven ranks before I was called by one of my people to ob- 
 serve it. Havinof plenty of lime, I immediately ordered it in dour 
 to be strewed along" those ranks which were not begun. This de- 
 stroyed them in vast numbers, and secured the remainder. Ano- 
 ther time, having had two succeeding- crops on four acres of land, 1 
 considered it imprudent to venture another. However, as the land 
 after this appeared so rich and clean, I again ventured, but soon 
 found my error. On examining the roots (for after it had begun 
 to vegetate strong, it was observed to decay and witlier) I found 
 thousands of the wire-room at them, entwined in every root. I 
 immediately strewed lime, four loads of six quarters each, on the 
 four acres, and harrowed it in ; when rain coming on soon after, 
 washed it in, destroyed them all, and I had an excellent crop ; but 
 t}ie side of the field sown first where they had begun, never quite 
 recovered like the rest. 
 
 It is in vain to expect a good crop of woad, of a good quality, 
 from poor and shallow land. The difference of produce and its value 
 is so great, that no one of any experience will waste his labour 
 and nttcntion on such land, iipon so uncertain a produce. Warm 
 and moist seasons increase the quantity every where, but they can 
 never give the principal which good land affords. 
 
 In very wet seasons, woad from poor land is of very little value. 
 I once had occasion to purchase at such a time, and found there 
 was no possibility of regulating my vats in their fermentation, and 
 I was under the necessity of making every possible effort to obtain 
 some that was the produce of a more congenial season. I suc- 
 ceeded at last, but I kept the other three or four years, when I 
 found it more steady in its fermentation ; but still it required a 
 double quantity, and even then its effect was not like that from 
 g-ood woad. 
 
152 
 
 ne kaiui of woad, on good bni, aad In a good aeaflOB, grosr 
 ▼erw hige and loog, aad wbca the j aie ripe, shov near Ibeir end 
 a farovauh spot, viiile ottfaer paiti of tfbe lear^n aw^" S'bc"'* I>^ 
 jot begiaung to tiini of a noie jdknrisii sliade : and they most 
 be gaflMved, or tli^ wfSk be injnei. 
 
 Woad B to be gatbered finm tvioe to fimr, and even fire times 
 la ffae fjeason, as I once expenenoed, (it was an earij and a late 
 season) and iM- the next spriag I saored an acre for seed, of which 
 I hada&irciopu. I |nclDBd the yonng seedling i^iioats of* the rest^ 
 and nixed witik mf fint gathering of what was newly sown ; this 
 wasTcrygood. During one season I let thoe grow too long; the 
 conseqnenoe was, tint tiiefibroos parts became hke so many sticks, 
 andaflSndedno joioes. When yon design to plant woad on the 
 ^me land the second season, it dionld, soon afto* your last gatiber- 
 ii^, b^bte winter is finjAed, be plo«^;hed ; that is, as soon as the 
 wother wiD pooit, and in deep fnnvws or ridges, to expose and 
 ameliarate it by die TcgetatiTe salts that exist in the atmoGphere, 
 and by fiost and snow. Tlik, in some seasons, has partly the eSoct 
 ofachangeofpiodnoe,bntifiatendediforvi^eat, the last gather- 
 lug- ^oold not be later €ban September. 
 
 The land, aller woad^ is always clean, and the natore of the soil 
 appeals to be danged in lb,vaar of the wheat crop : lor I haTe al- 
 ways experi enced abundant increase of ptodooe afber wosd, and 
 idia m we d that it held on fin* some time^ if proper chaises were at« 
 tended to, and good hnsbandnr. 
 
 Woad. when gaflicivd, is carried to the mm and gioand. 
 
 mOls grind and cat tibe leaves snsaB, and then they ace 
 mto heaps, where they fiennent, and gain an adheErre oonsis- 
 tenoe; they are then fbnned into balb, as compact as possible, and 
 pboed on hnidles, lyii^ in a shed, one oro- die other, with room 
 Cor air between, to receive from the atnMHphere a priDct}de 
 whidi is said to hiqirorc them as a dye. as weS as to dry diem tcT 
 
153 
 
 a degree proper for being- fermented ; but in summer these ballK 
 are apt to crack in drying, and become fly-blown, when thousands 
 of a peculiar maggot generate, and eat, or destroy all tliat 
 is useful to the dyer. Therefore, they require attention as 
 soon as tliey are observed to crack, lo look them all over well, 
 close them again, so as to render them as compact and solid as 
 possible ; and if the maggot or worm has already generated, some 
 fine flour lime strewed over it will destroy them, and be of much 
 service in the fermentation. These balls, if properly preserved, 
 will be very heavy ; but if worm eaten, they will be very light and 
 of little value. They are then to be replaced on the hurdles, and 
 turned, not being suiFered to touch each other ; until a month or 
 more after the whole that is intended for one fermenting couch, is 
 gathered in, ground, and balled. And often not until the hot wea- 
 ther of summer is past, to render the oifensive operation of turning 
 it, when in the couch, less disagreeable, and not so apt to overheat, 
 and,TJlough temperature herein is necessary, yet a certain degree 
 of heat must be attained, before it is in a proper condition for the 
 dyer's use. This is easily distinguished by a change of smell, from 
 that which is most putrid, and offensive, to one which is more agree- 
 able and sweet, if I may be allowed the term ; for few people at 
 firsts either can approve of the smell of woad, or a woad vat ; though, 
 when in condition, it became quite ag-reeable to those whose busi- 
 ness it is to attend the vats. Woad is in this state of fermentation 
 more or less time, according to the season, and the degree of heat 
 it is suffered to attain, whether at an early period, or according to 
 the opinion of those who attend the process ; but the best woad is 
 produced from a heat temperately brought forward in the couch, 
 until at maturity, and turned, on every occasion necessary, which 
 a proper degree of attention will soon discover. 
 
 The balls, when dry, are very hard and compact, and require to 
 be broken with a mallet, and put into a heap, and watered to a due 
 degree, only sufficient to promote fermentation, but too much mois- 
 ture would retard it ; and here is a crisis necessary to be attended 
 to. When the couch has attained its due point, it; is opened, spread? 
 
164 
 
 and turned, until reg-ularly cooled, and then it is considered in cou- 
 dition for sale ; but the immediate use of woad, new from the couch, 
 is not adWsed bv dyers who are experienced ; for new woad is not 
 so regular in its fermentation in the blue vat. This is the common 
 process. Woad oftentimes is spoiled herein, by people who know 
 nothing of the principles of its dye, following- only their accustomed 
 process of preparing it ; and hence the difference in its quality is 
 as often seen, as it is in the real richness or poverty of its leaves, 
 from the quality of the land. The process for preparing woad which 
 I have followed, and which I consider beyond all comparison best, 
 is as follows : 
 
 Gather the leaTCs, put them to dry, and turn them, so as not t« 
 let them heat, and so be reduced to a paste, which in fine weather 
 children can do. In wet weather my method was to carry them to 
 my stove, and when I had got a sufficient quantity dry, I proceed- 
 ed to the couch, and there put them in a large heap, where, if not 
 too dry, they soon began to ferment and heat. If too wet, they 
 would not properly ferment, nor readUy become in condition for 
 the dyer. These leaves, not having been ground, nor placed in 
 balls on the hurdles, their fermenting quality was more active, and 
 required more attention, and also the application of lime occasion- 
 ally, to regulate the process with the same kind of judgment as is 
 used in the blue dying woad vat. When the heat increases too 
 rapidly, turaing is indispensibly necessary, and the application <rf 
 very fine flour lime, regularly strewed over every laying of them ; 
 ©r, if the couch is getting too dry. lime water, instead of cx>mnMn 
 water, applied by a watering pot, may have an equal effect, with- 
 ©ut loading the woad with the gross matter of tlie lime ; though I 
 conceive that the gross dry flour lime, and the oxygen of the air, 
 will furnish* more carbonic acid gas to the woad, and retain such 
 
 * The lime is dry slacked, and is used before it can have absorbed 
 carbonic acid gas Therefore, Mr. Parish must have been mistaken io 
 the theory of this operation. The oxygen of the ainiosphere coipl'ine? 
 Tvith the colouring matter of woad while fermenting, and carbonic acid 
 
155 
 
 prmciples as are essential to a better effect. For I have expcrir 
 enced, that woad which requires the most lime to preserve a tem- 
 perate decree of fermentation, and takes the most time, is the best . 
 so that at length it comes to that heat which is iadispensible for the 
 production of good woad. 
 
 In this couch it is always particularly necessary to secure the 
 surface as soon as the leaves begin to be reduced to a paste, by 
 rendering it as smooth as possible, and free from cracks. This 
 prevents the escape of much carbonic acid gas, (which is furnish- 
 ed by the lime* and the fermentation,) and also preserves it from 
 the flies, maggots, and wonns, which often are seen in those parts 
 where the heat is not so great, or the lime in sufficient quantity 
 to destroy them. It is surprising to observe what a degree of heat 
 they will bear. This attention to rendering the surface of the 
 couch even and compact, is equally necessary in either process ; 
 and also to turning the wood exactly as a dung-heap, digging per- 
 pendicularly to the bottom. The couching house should have an 
 even floor, of stone or brick, and the walls the same; and every 
 part of the couch of woad, should be beaten with the shovel, and 
 trodden, to render it as compact as possible. 
 
 The grower of woad, should erect a long shed in th e centre of 
 his land, facing the south, the ground lying on a descent, so as to ad- 
 mit the sun to the back part ; and here the woad should be put down 
 as gathered, and spread thin at one end, keeping children to turn 
 it towards the other end ; therefore it will be necessary to know- 
 how long the shed should be ; but this can be erected as you 
 gather, and then it will soon be known. 
 
 gas is a product of fermentation ; consequpntly, the lime, instead of 
 supplying that gas, facilitates and regulates the operation, by combin- 
 ing with it. 
 
 * It is tinily surprising how readily persons, oikenvise correct, can 
 produce theories so absurd. Unburnt Ifme stone is a carbonate, but 
 wheu burnt, and fresh slacked, it does uot aSoru carbonic acid gas ; bo- 
 will enter into combiualion with it very greedily. 
 
156 
 
 Good woad, such as the richest land produces, if properly pre- 
 pared, ivill be of a blackish g^reen, and mouldy; anduhen small 
 lumps are pulled asunder, the fracture and fibres are brown ; 
 and the more stringy they are, and tlie darker the external ap- 
 pearance, and greener the hue, the better the woad ; but poor 
 land produces it of a light brownish green. The fibres only serve 
 to show that it has not suffered by putrifaction. 
 
 For the use of the dyer, the bails require a further preparation^ 
 They are beaten with wooden mallets, on a brick or stone floor, 
 into a gross powder, which is heaped up in the middle of the room, 
 to the height of four feet, a space being left for passing round the 
 sides. The powder moistened with water, ferments, grows hot, 
 and throws out a thick ;^ad fetid fume. It is stioyelled backward 
 and forward, and moistened every day for twelve days ; after 
 which it is stirred less frequently, without watering, and at length 
 made into a heap for the dyer. 
 
 Such is the account which has been published of the manner 
 of raising woad, and manufacturing the plant by Mr. Paiish. I 
 was well acquainted with Mr. P. he was an excellent dyer and 
 made a great many experiments ; and his process of making woad, 
 was much spoken of by other dyers as bemga great improvement. 
 It serves to show that a considerable latitude may be observed in 
 the process, without injuring the article ; and this will be further 
 proved in my own process, as follows : — 
 
 The land on which I raised woad in Providence, Rhode-Island, 
 was none of the strongest, though it was in tolerable good condi- 
 tion, and I had it well manured. It was ploughed twice, and bar-!- 
 rowed ear.h time The seeds were planted in bills about three feet 
 apart, five seeds in each hill ; Ibis was done as early as tbe season 
 would permit, and it came up very fine, scarcely a seed failing. 
 To facilitate the planting, I had a board cut four feet in length, and 
 nine inches wide : at or.v end I put ia five ?.hn^i peers, that prr.ject 
 ed. two inches from the board on the underneath part, the peg* 
 
157 
 
 being- four inches apart. A handle was inserted in the middle of 
 the board, of sufficient length to enable the person who worked 
 with it to stand, upright ; by this means he could walk over the 
 ground measuring the distance as he went along, at the same 
 time that he made the holes for the seeds, and this he was ena- 
 bled to do as fast as two persons could plant them. 
 
 The wire worm destroyed a few of the plants at first, but these 
 I soon got under, by looking after and killing them mornings, 
 and by working in fresh slacked lime around those hills that had 
 not been attacked. The plants were kept clean by hoeing, and 
 they grew very rapidly. Tke first crop was ripe by the latter end 
 of June, I had it gathered and spread on all the unoccupied floors 
 of tlie factor)', and on sheets out doors, where it lay, and was turn- 
 ed, until half dry, when it was conveyed to the dye-house, and 
 there cut with sharpened spades in tubs, until it was sufficiently 
 adhesive to work into balls ; these were made with the hands, 
 and were laid to dry on a large floor over the steam engine. In 
 the early part of the drying, maggots, from fly-blows, were engen- 
 dered in great numbers, and I was much troubled to keep them 
 under ; to effect this, I rolled them in fine, fresh dry slacked lime» 
 and it never failed to destroy them. When I had dry balls enough, 
 they were put in hogsheads, and pounded in as close as possible, 
 and covered down. When a hogshead was filled, I had them close- 
 ly covered, until the cool weather of autumn would permit their 
 being fermented with safety, when all the crops were mixed to- 
 gether. 
 
 I had five crops off* the land that season, and another in the fol- 
 lowing spring ; for the plants grew veiy rapid after the first crop- 
 ing, which were much increased by plentiful showers happening 
 to fall immediately after each gathering. When the leaves are 
 nearly ripe, a round ring will appear near their ends, and a pur- 
 ple spot in the interior of the ring ; soon as these assume a brqwo- 
 ish hue,, the leaves must be gathered, 
 
 14 
 
1.38 
 
 It must be observed, that I laboured under every disadvantage 
 in manufacturing the woad, so as to make it fit for dying ; the 
 crops were good, and considering the quality of the land, and other 
 impediments, it worked better than I had any reason to expect. 
 Having made it myself, I was not restricted in the consumption^ 
 and I made up for the quality by using an additional quantity. 
 
 I have seen a good deal of woad raised and manufactured in 
 England, and I am convinced, that where land of the first rate 
 quality can be obtained, and proper attention be paid to cultivating- 
 and manufacturing, it may be raised and made in this country in 
 the utmost perfection. It is an annual crop, well worth the at- 
 tention of any enterprising American farmer, who has land of the 
 quality wanted, and sufficient capital to erect sheds and machinery 
 for working it. The mill used for grinding the leaves, is like the 
 cider-mill that grinds with a rolling stone, or iron ring, in a circu- 
 lar trough, with this difierence, that the woad-mill has knives fol- 
 lowing the roller, which cuts the plant as it moves round : this, with 
 a shed, and a couching room, are all that is needed to commence 
 the business. 
 
 The demand for woad will be improving as the manufactures in- 
 crease ; and those who have been using the ash vat, are changing 
 for the woad dye, this also will increase the demand. There is 
 none made in the country at the present time, in a regular wa}', so 
 that any person who will undertake to establish the business, and 
 make an uniform prime article, may calculate on its becoming an 
 object of considerable magnitude, attended with a liberal re- 
 muneration. 
 
 ON THE WILD INDIGO PLANT AS A SUBSTITUE 
 FOR WOAD. 
 
 THE wild indigo plant growing every where in this country 
 
159 
 
 ©light to be broug:ht into use for the blue dje. I gathered some iii 
 the fall of 18-21, too late in the season to obtain it in maturitj', and 
 had it boiled, and used the liquor in place of swill from bran and 
 madder, to assist the fermentation of the vats. The plants were 
 too old to retain much of those succulent juices in which their 
 value chiefly consist, yet they answered far beyond my expecta- 
 tion; for the liquors, so long as I was enabled to supply them with 
 it, worked much more freely and more vigorously than in the usual 
 way ; and although this experiment was not decisive, for want of 
 a sufficient quantity, and from the plant being too old when gather- 
 ed, yet I am convinced, by the effect produced, that it might be 
 used to considerable advantage. In Bancroft's first volume on per- 
 manent colours, this article is noticed as follows; 
 
 " It is well known, according to Mr. Clarkson, that the African 
 dyers are superior to those of any other part of the globe. 
 
 " The blue is so much more beautiful and permanent, than that 
 which is extracted from the same plant in other parts, that many 
 have been led to doubt whether the African cloths brought into 
 England were dyed with indigo or not. They apprehended, that 
 the colours in these, must have proceeded from another weed, or 
 have been an extraction from some of the woods which are cele- 
 brated for dying there. The matter, however, has been clearly 
 ascertained : a gentleman procured two or three of the bales, which 
 had been just prepared by the Africans for use : he brought them 
 home, and upon examination, found them to be the leaves of indi- 
 go rolled up in a very simple state." 
 
 As this plant is found every where in the United States, and in 
 many places in great abundance, it would be well to have some 
 experiments made on it to test the superiority of the colour at- 
 tributed to it ; and if it should be found to possess the qualities as- 
 cribed to it, of which there appears to be but little room for doubt, 
 it would become an object of great national importance, inas- 
 much, as the colour made from it would be superior to those ob- 
 
160 
 
 ^Ded from Europe, and thereby give to the American fabrics a 
 •-reference in the blue dye, in which they are now decidedly de- 
 ficient. 
 
 I apprehend these balls are made by simply placing the leaves 
 ixjgether face ways as they are gathered ; that when a ball is made, 
 it ferments and exudes sufficient Koister to cause an adhesion of 
 the mass ; and that this process developes the colouring matter, so 
 as to enable the vat to extract it with sufficient facility. 
 
 The indigo made from the wild plant, is said to be of much bet- 
 er quality than that which is obtained from the cultivated ; but 
 'aat the former does not afford so great a quantity as the latter. 
 
 ON AIVIERICAN 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 
 test and bring to notice its native colouring matters. In the 
 tiands of a practical and theoretical dyer, many valuable disco- 
 veries 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 re- 
 quire an appropriation of two or three thousand dollars per annum 
 to effect the object- and I should apprehend, that five years would 
 be sufficient to test all the colouring matters of the United State«. 
 
 I am at present acquainted with only four native dye drugs, the 
 aumac, the ydJow bark, the bark of the swamp maple, and the al- 
 der bark. The two last not being generally used here, I shall de- 
 scribe their properties— of the first, I need say nothing more than 
 that for colouring o( black, or tanning morocco skins, it is not half 
 ro good as the Sicilian: particularly for bine blacks, as the A me- 
 
161 
 
 1 ican works much browner, and does not produce any thing hke 
 as much colour, weight for weight. 
 
 The alder is found plentifully in swampy places ; it is generally 
 of small growth, and has a motly nut-brown bark ; the sticks are 
 cut in tlie month of April, or the beginning of the month of May, 
 according to the climate and seasons when the sap runs ; the bark 
 is stripped off soon as cut, (which is easily done by children,} and 
 is dried in the shade, when it is fit for use. The poles make very 
 good bean sticks, or excellent fire-wood. This bark, when 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 sumac, and is equally durable. 
 
 The bark of the swamp, or scarlet flowering maple, is said, by 
 Doctor Bancroft, to possess all the good dying properties of nut- 
 galls, with a less portion of extraneous precipitants. I have 
 tried this bark, and am convinced of its being a valuable colour- 
 ing matter, for the black dye, and for pearl drabs. Its extract 
 gives a strong blackish purple with copperas, in body equal to 
 that from nut-galls, and the colour looks brighter and" clearer j 
 but, like every thing else, it requires much experience to ascer- 
 tain the quantity necessary to produce the best effect. 1 would 
 strongly recommend the American dyers to bring it into use : le< 
 them first employ as much of it as of gall-nuts, and increase gra- 
 dually, until they find what quantity will produce the best effect. 
 
 The saw-dust of the wiiite oak, gives the best and most perma- 
 nent body to blacks, of any material I have ever used, and is not 
 so apt to turn brown, as sumac, oak bark, or any other material in 
 common use. It requires about twelve pounds of oak saw-dust to 
 twenty yards of broad-cloth, weighing twenty-four pounds, or 
 lialf the weight of the cloth. The purple, given by the saw-dust, 
 is finer than that which is obtained from nut-galls, or the swamp- 
 maple bark, and is highlv permanent. It is not improbable, tKa- 
 
162 
 
 the saw-dust of the swamp-maple, would be still better than that 
 of the oak. 
 
 There is an acid in wood, called the pyrolig-neous, which is 
 much used, when combined with iron, for dying- and printing- of 
 black on cotton. It is highly probable, that when oak, or other 
 saw-dust is boiled, this acid is extracted, and operates in produ- 
 cing- 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 the black dye. 
 
 ON COVERING THE LISTS OF CLOTH WITH WEBB- 
 ING TO J»REVENT ITS TAKING COLOUR. 
 
 CLOTH, intended for scarlet, or any other cochineal colour, is 
 ihvaysgirt-webbcd, to prevent the lists from taking the dye, as it 
 would, being heavy and coarse, absorb much of the cochineal. 
 This operation is performed with thick cotton, or linen webbing, 
 which, being doubled to half its breadth, is then wide enough to 
 enclose tlie list when rolled up. The webbing is put round the 
 ]ist, so as to enclose it all, and is sewn on with small twine, pass- 
 ug through the cloth close to the list, and drawn tight over both. 
 The stitches are about one-fifth of an inch apart, when the list is 
 
 • overed, merely to save cochineal; but in other colours, when it is 
 intended to deceive' the purchasers, by making- them believe the 
 
 ♦ loth has been wool-dyed, it is sewn on very close, and very even, 
 no thread being permitted to enter the cloth, all of them passing 
 liirough the last shoot of list next to it. Soon as a scarlet cloth is 
 finished colouring, and has been partly cleaned by the streamers, 
 it is put on a slatted scrave, tliat has been covered with a clean 
 ^vhite cloth, and the girt-webbing is taken off. This is performed 
 i>y women, who draw the threads out with hooks. After it is tJ-kcn 
 «fF, both the thread and webbing are well washed and hung up to 
 dry for further use. 
 
]6S 
 
 ON THE CHOICE OF VESSELS FOR COLOURING 
 SCARLET, AND OTHER COLOURS, AND OF 
 FURNACE-BASKETS AND REELS, &c. 
 
 SCARLETS may be coloured with safety, in vessels constructed 
 either of brass, copper, or block-tin. When done in brass or 
 copper v^essels, they must be kept very clean, and the liquor must 
 never be permitted to remain in the furnace after a day's colouring 
 is finished. When a furnace is made of block-tin, it will have to 
 be very stout, particularly at the bottom, and, when the fire is 
 drawn, after a day's cooling", the liquor in the furnace will have to 
 be cooled down, and the fire drawn some time before it is emptied, 
 otherwise the bottom of the furnace will be liable to fall down and 
 ruin it. 
 
 For dying of scarlet, and other bright and delicate colours, they 
 have baskets made to fit the furnace, to prevent the goods from 
 coming in contact with the metal and being soiled. They are use<l 
 in England for almost every colour, excepting black. A basket it 
 made to fit the interior of the furnace, and to project about two 
 inches above the level of the top. They are made of willow, cut 
 in the spring, and peeled by machines. The basket-maker, after 
 having made the bottom, and filled in large willow rods all round 
 it, places it in tiie furnace, and fills it up so as to fit it, making the 
 top very stifiT and strong. To the top of the basket, some clepu 
 white canvass is fastened, that reaches over tlie curb of the fur- 
 nace, so that the cloth may never come in contact wiili the metal, 
 or the curb. 
 
 The reel that is intended for scarlet, and for other bright and 
 <3elicate colours, mu?t be of wliile pine tliat is perfectly free frcm 
 knots and other dof<rf«. 
 
1B4 
 
 ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF VATS, FURNACES, ^c. 
 USED BY MANUFACTURERS AND DYERS, AND ON 
 THE LAYING OFF OF DYE-HOUSES. 
 
 A DYE-HOUSE should be built of stone or brick, and the wall 
 thick, to keep it warm during the winter, and cool in the summer. 
 The roof should be high, with capacious air holes in it, over the 
 furnaces, to let out the steam as fast as it rises. The part contain- 
 ing the blue vats should be separated by a partition, and the floor 
 should be higher than the other, to prevent any of the liquor from 
 the furnaces running among the blue wool. There should be room 
 enough in the blue dye-house, to la)- six or eight wets of wool with- 
 out interfering with the workmen. Over each vat there should be 
 one good light, nearly the width of the vat, and leaning a little for- 
 ward towards the top, so as to tlirow the light more on the top of 
 the liqucr, than windows do that are made after the usual construe, 
 tion. 
 
 According to Mr. Cooper's account, a French blue vat is nine 
 feet deep, by five and three quarters over. An English vat is seven 
 feet six inches in depth, tlie same in diameter across the bottom, 
 and six feet on the top, for wool dying, and five feet six inches, 
 when intended to be employed exclusively for cloth. It is of very 
 little consequence what depth a vat has, provided there be room 
 enough to hold all the sediment collected during one working, so 
 as it shall not interfere with the goods dyed. The English vat has 
 in this respect a decided preference, as it will hold five hundred 
 and sixty-one beer gallons more than the French ; besides, a coni- 
 cal vat is much better than one that is cylindrical, for, after stir- 
 ring, the sediment will settle more quickly, and will not be so lia- 
 ble to lodge against the rough sides ; and the bottom, when settled, 
 will be much deeper in the French than in the English vat, and 
 consequently more troublesome to rake up, as well as to empty 
 when worked down. 
 
165 
 
 The American blue vats are manj- of them smaller at bottom 
 than at top, a shape highly injurious to a woad vat, as I once expe- 
 rienced. When a flue is passed round a fire vat, it is necessary to 
 keep the sediment as clear from the heated copper as possible, as 
 it is very subject to be burnt, by which the contents of the vat are 
 soon destroyed. This fact never came under my observation till 
 lately, and, for waot of experience in it, I lost two vat liquor^^ 
 worth one hundred and seventy-five dollars. 
 
 White pine, clean from knots, two inches and a quarter thick, 
 is used for making- blue vats, and they are bound with stout iron 
 hoops, about three inches wide, driven on very tight, the lower one 
 over the chine, and a second about six inches above it ; three 
 ethers, making* five in all, the last one near the top, are all that 
 are necessary to make it very secure. When the vat is put in its 
 place, a puddle of strong-, stiff clay should be made under the bot- 
 tom, 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 accomplish this, two or three holes are bored in through 
 the bottom, to give vent to the air underneath, which would other- 
 wise 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, re- 
 turning it again into the vat ; a second, by having a part of the vat 
 made of metal, and passing a flue round it ; and tliirdly, heating it 
 by steam. I shall describe each of these operations, that those 
 who are interested may make choice of either one which may 
 please them the best. 
 
 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 reacfi 
 from the centre of the vat to the centre of the furnace, and a pig- 
 gin holding two gallons suspended on the end of a long pole, will 
 
166 
 
 be wanted, to lade the liquor backward and forward. A vat, kept 
 in constant work with wool, will have to be heated twice a week ; 
 on Saturdays and Wednesdays. 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 sides 
 and bottom of the copper ; and, as indigo is always mixed with the 
 sediment, some of this will also 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 will do, as rapidh"^ as new milk. A vat liquor, when strong 
 in material, will boil at about 20-1*^ Fahrenheit, when weak at 
 208°. When near boiling, the head, on being separated by a 
 board, will close together again instantly. Two buckets of water 
 should be kept standing by the furnace, ready to throw in when 
 the head begins to rise from boiling ; the furnace door should 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, without 
 bailing it into a furnace, the vat must be differently constructed. 
 A wooden conical vessel must be first made, six feet deep, seven 
 feet diameter at the bottom, and six feet on 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 the upper edge of the 
 lower piece. The copper must be fastened on the inside, first 
 working round the wood with a circular plane, three inches from 
 each edge, 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 
 that the heads come nearly in contact, but not so as to loosen them. 
 A fire-place is fixed in any part of the circle that may be 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 con- 
 tinues to the other extreme of the circle, where the snjioke enters 
 
167 
 
 a chimnev, and is conveyed off. The flue round a vat should be 
 ten inches wide at the bottom, and three at the top, narrowins: up- 
 wards, in order to facilitate the closing of it. There should be two 
 thicknesses of brick between the flue and each edg^e of the wood- 
 work, and a good layer of mortar between it and the first layer Of 
 bricks, to prevent the fire from charring the vat at either edge. 
 It is better to leave a space of half an inch, or more, between the 
 last course of bricks and the upper edge of the vat, so as to make 
 it perfectly secure against fire. 
 
 I observed that the grating on which the fire is built, should be 
 placed five or six inches lower than the bottom of tlie flue, round 
 the vat. This is necessary to produce a draught ; for, if the fire 
 should be as high as the bottom of the flue, which is a dead level all 
 the way round, it would be more likely to draw through the mouth 
 of the fire-place, than round the vat. It would be still better, if cir- 
 cumstances will allow of it, to have the fire twelve or fourteen 
 inches below the flue, by which the rapidity of the draught would 
 be much increased. It is to be observed on the other hand, that 
 the more rapid the draught, the greater is the liability of burning 
 the contents of the vat ; therefore, the greater caution is required 
 not to put a fire round it till two or three hours after the vat has 
 been stirred, when the sediment will be suflBciently settled to pre- 
 vent any danger. 
 
 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 the same 
 diameter as the vat. It is cast with two flanges of seven inches, 
 one near the top, and the other near the bottom of the cylinder. 
 The iron extends a few inches at each end beyond the flanges, 
 sufl5ciently to secure the wood work at the ends. The principal 
 use of the flanges is, to insert a circle of stout staves between the 
 two so as to secure a passage around the work and iron cylinder. 
 Into this passage the steam is admitted from a boiler, and the con- 
 densed water passes off by means of a syphon, at aoy part of the 
 
168 
 
 circle, where it may be most convenient to place it." The staves 
 are fixed to tliat part of tlie iron which project beyond the flanges, 
 and the vat is secured from leaking;, by hoops outside, and by can- 
 vass coated with white lead on the inside. All this contrivance, 
 which is troublesome and expensive, raig^ht be saved, if the steam 
 could be admitted into the liquor of the vat ; but this has been 
 tried, and found to fill up by the condensing" of the steam to over- 
 flowing". 
 
 As heating by steam is tlie best way of warming a blue vat, in- 
 asmuch as it is cheaper and more secure, it is probable that many 
 who now heat them with fire, would make the alteration, if they 
 could do it at a small expense. To do this, it is only necessary to 
 make a flue round the metallic part of any vat so as to leave the 
 space between the brick work and metal of only two inches. A 
 small well must be left of three inches in the bottom of the flue, 
 in which the short leg of a syphon is placed, the other leg lying 
 outside, by which the water, when it collects inside so as to rise 
 above the bend, will run off. The steam is let in about half way 
 between the bottom and top of the flue through a tube of two 
 inches diameter. The tube of the syphon need not be more than 
 a quarter of an inch. 
 
 There is much diflerence of opinion with respect to the best 
 mode of heating a blue vat, some prefer heating by steam, or fire» 
 in the vessel containing the liquor, but the greater number ap- 
 prove of bailing it into a furnace. Those who use the latter mode, 
 ground their preference on the belief, that the indigo works more 
 strongly, and produces more, and a better colour, after it has been 
 thrown off the spring and partially oxydized by bailing, and a de- 
 oxydizement reproduced by a new fermentation ; whilst those who 
 work hot vats (as they are called, to distinguish them from the 
 others) assert that the colour is injurcjd by this *too frequent a 
 change from oxydizement to deoxydizement. I have worked both, 
 and altl»ough the bailing be troublesome and expensive, and occa- 
 sion? Bome delay in the working, I cannot but give it the prefer- 
 \ 
 
169 
 
 euce; having always observed, that it worked more vigorously 
 than the hot vat, and produced upon the whole, a finer and better 
 colour. In working a fire vat, it is occasionally necessary to throw 
 it over into a furnace and boil it. I am aware that this opinion is 
 in direct opposition to the theory advanced by Doctor Bancroft 
 and Mr. Berthollet; but whatever respect I may be inclined to 
 pay to such high authorities, yet theorj', however respectably 
 supported, cannot be permitted to stand in competition with prac- 
 tical facts. It is often amusing to observe the extremes to which 
 mere theoretical writers would lead the practical artist. I do not 
 refer to either of the above named authors, their theory is always 
 respectable, and never spun out into extreme applications; but an 
 American author taking up the idea of a vat being injured by 
 oxydizement, has recommended to have an opening in the cover 
 that would just admit the rake, and a lid to shut down upon the 
 opening, so that the vat need not be opened for stirring. He might 
 as well have recommended us to cover the earth with canvass to 
 promote the growth of the tribe of fungi, in order to pamper the 
 appetite of an epicure in mushrooms ; for as the earth, in that case, 
 would be useless for the common purposes of life, so would a blue 
 liquor that required Such extreme caution, be useless for the pur- 
 pose of dying. 
 
 ^ The apparatus that is generally used in tliis country for taking 
 the wool out of the vats, is a wretched substitute for the old Eng- 
 lish mode. They draw the wool, net, &c. out of the liquor by 
 means of large pullies, and after draining some time, they squeeze 
 it with a double lever fastened at one end by means of a chain. 
 If any thing can have a tendency to injure the liquor by means of 
 exposing it to the oxygen of the atmosphere, it must be this. In 
 England the wool is taken out by means of a jack, kitt, trunch 
 board, and trunch cloth, all of which are moveable, and can be 
 applied to any number of vats in succession, one set doing the 
 work of five or six vats. "When every tiling is properly construct- 
 ed, the wool may be wrung so dry as not to damp the floor when 
 laying ia a heap. A sample of this plan of wringing wool, may be 
 15 
 
170 
 
 seen at Mr. Israel Crane's factory, West-Bloomfield, New-Jersey, 
 or if any person is desirous of employing them, I can have a set 
 made to order ; for I cannot give such written instructions as 
 would be sufficient for a mechanic to make them accurately. 
 
 ON PREPARING OF WOODS FOR THE USE OF 
 THE DYER. 
 
 IN England the dry-salters first rasp the wood from the log, and 
 tlien grind it under two heavy stones, that revolves round and 
 close to the perpendicular shaft by which they are worked ; by 
 tliis mode of working, the stones have a rubbing friction, independ- 
 ent of their weight, which facilitates the grinding. 
 
 I was, when a youth, on trial to tlie dry- sal ting business for three 
 months, during the time of trial, I was entrusted with some of the 
 secrets of the business, and among others became acquainted with 
 their method of raising the coloiir of woods under the stones, when 
 grinding. Every preparer of dye-wood, knows that it is necessary 
 to make it damp when under the stones, to facilitate the grinding, 
 which is mostly done with water in this country ; but in England 
 they damp their woods with a preparation previously made for that 
 purpose, as follows: 
 
 An iron pot is two-thirds filled with water, to every gallon is 
 added two pounds of the best crop madder ; after this has been 
 boiled two hours, pearl-ash is generally added, two ounces to each 
 pound of madder ; tlie liquor is then boiled for half an hour, after 
 which it is permitted to cool down and the clear liquor taken oif 
 from the dregs. Should the water boil away too much, add it at 
 discretion. Take the remaining dregs, add half a gallon, or more, 
 of water for each pound of madder, boil one hour, and then add 
 half the first named quantity of pearl-ash. With this tincture, 
 
171 
 
 diluted with water, or g-enuine, the red woods are moistened as 
 they are grinding" under the stones. Logwood is moistened with 
 urine and water. 
 
 Tlie effect produced, is to raise the colour of the woods ; and it 
 is said by those who practice it^ that the^' will give out more co- 
 louring matter tlian when damped only with water : at all events 
 the woods so prepared have a much richer appearance, than sam - 
 pies of similar woods have in this country. 
 
 As this is not yet done in America, it would be an additional 
 reason to what has been offered before, why an European dyer 
 cannot produce from his receipts exactly the same colour here 
 
 as there. 
 
 ON DYING FUENACES, AND THE APPARATUS 
 TO WORK THE CLOTH, &c. 
 
 BEFORE giving receipts for dying, it will be necessary to give 
 directions how the cloth has to be prepared and worked, and the 
 fires to be managed; for the goodness of a colour depends as much 
 on regulating these things correctly, as it does on the materials 
 used to produce it. 
 
 TO PREPARE THE GOODS DYED, AND THE MAN- 
 NER OF PREPARING FURNACES, &c. FOR BLACK 
 DYING, TOGETHER WITH ALL PRECAUTIONARY 
 PREPARATIONS. 
 
 IN the first place, the cloth has to be well cleansed from all soap 
 and grease, by scouring it with fuller's earth as directed under 
 the head scouring of cloth, and also washing the earth out qtiite 
 
172 
 
 clean. A corner at the head end of each cut is then put into it 
 blue vat, having- been previously wetted in hot water, and allowed 
 to remain in till dark enough ; a portion of this being tied up with 
 fine twine, will, when finished, leave a blue rose, and the other 
 corner being tied up without dipping, will leave a white rose, such 
 as are always seen in European blacks ; but the manufacturers 
 of this country do not usually put roses in their black cloth, nor 
 is there any necessity for it, excepting that which arises from the 
 prejudice of purchasers. The intention of roses are to show that 
 the cloth was not dyed any other colour before it was blacked, and 
 that it was previously dyed blue, and though it is now well known 
 that blacks are not woaded before dying, yet the practice is still 
 preserved, and American manufactures would do well not to con- 
 tend against an established prejudice. 
 
 The apparatus necessary to colour black, is first a large winch 
 or reel with an iron bolt at one end, and a deep iron crank at the 
 other; tliis works on two uprights fixed in the circle, one on each 
 and opposite sides of the furnace ; the winch should run on brass 
 boxes, and be elevated for this colour as much above the liquor as 
 it can be, without making the work too tiresome to the person who 
 turns it. The object in thus elevating the winch, is to give an 
 opportunity for the iron to oxydize as it passes through the atmos- 
 phere. I have known dyers have the reel placed seven or eight 
 feet above the furnace, but I believe without any sensible advan- 
 tage. 
 
 The furnace for black dying may be made, either of sheet iron, 
 or copper, and should be lai-ge enough for the cloth to work in the 
 liquor without being too much crowded; on tbis circumstance will 
 principally depend the regularity of the colour; for when too much 
 crowded, it is almost certain to be uneven. The bottom of the 
 furnace should be turned up inside, so that the outside, on which 
 the fire acts, may have the appearance of a dome.. This has for its 
 object to make the liquor boil with a less quantity of fuel, than when 
 a flat or conical bottom ^s used, and also for the conveniency of 
 
J73 
 
 Binptying the liquor, as this projection leaves a narrow ridge, that 
 acts as a gutter, to carry the liquoi-s to the vent hole. A dying 
 furnace should, in all cases, when intended to be used for colouring 
 of cloth, belly out at the centre, and draw in at the top ; for when 
 it is perpendicular, and more particularly when it widens towards 
 the top, the liquor will boil out of the furnace, and endanger the 
 safety of the workmen. 
 
 On the outside of the dye-house a small light reel should be 
 placed, five feet long, on a stand four feet high, resting on a large 
 slatted platform, called a scrave. This is intended to wind the 
 cloth from off the furnace reel to the outside of the dye-house, 
 when it is taken out to be aired. An opening, six feet long and 
 nine inches high, is made in the partition of the dye-house, when 
 of frame work, or in the wall, when of brick or stone ; a little be- 
 low the top of the furnace winch, and above the winch placed on the 
 outside of the dye-house, on a line that shall be an inclined plane 
 between the two. In this opening a small and smooth wooden roller 
 is placed, for tlie cloth to pass over from the one winch to the 
 other. 
 
 In colouring of black, the cloth has to be taken out of the fur- 
 nace, two, three, and on some occasions four times, to air and cool, 
 or, more properly speaking, by exposing it to the air, to give the 
 iron an opportunity of becoming oxydized to its maximum. This 
 was performed, until a few years since, by winding the cloth out of 
 the hot liquor, upon the winch placed over the furnace, throwing 
 it off from thence on to the floor, with a stick, and then cooling it 
 b}' tlirowing the cloth backwards and forwards over a pole. It is 
 cow done by winding the cloth out of the furnace, by means of the 
 apparatus just described, and when out, one of the men trundles 
 it over the winch, on the platform outside of the dye-house, while 
 another throws it out with a broading stick, to cool oo the platform, 
 on which the winch stands. The platform should be about sixteen 
 or eighteen feet long and six wide. 
 
 15 
 
 'i* 
 
174 
 
 When cloth was wound on the winch, it was erer IiaibJ€ to be* 
 come heat-wrinkled, which always injured the sale of the goods, 
 and the plan of winding out on a second winch was adopted, to prevent 
 the possibility of such injury. As I am writing for the purpose of 
 giring information to tliose who are not supposed to be acquainted 
 with these casualties, it may be useful to explain more particu- 
 larly what heat-wrinkles are, and how they are made. When 
 cloths that are dyed black, and some other dark colours are wound 
 up from the liquor on a winch, if it lies but a short time thereon. 
 the nap will become matted together in narrow wales in all direc- 
 tions on the face of the cloth, and whatever pains may be taken 
 with them afterwards, they never cam be removed. The wool is 
 apparently felted together, the points standing upright, and are so 
 compactly united as to be inseparable by mechanical means. The 
 finer the cloth, the more liable it is to become heat-wrinkled, and 
 very coarse cloth is seldom or ever damaged in that way, nor are 
 the finer qualities when the temperature of the liquor is below 
 1 50 degrees, Fh. The liability to wrinkle, is also as the quantity 
 of copperas employed to produce the colour. The effect, there- 
 fore, is as the heat of the liquor and the quantity of copperas used 
 in it. 
 
 OX THE SETTING OF DYE FURXACES- 
 
 IN all furnace dying, it is an object of importance so to set the 
 lumaces that the liquor shall boil quick and with the least possible 
 quantity of fuel. To effect this, will be the object of the follow- 
 insr directions. I shall first describe the old mode of setting fur- 
 iiaces, and then the new, accompanying it with such remarks as 
 will be necessary to elucidate the advantages of the latter. 
 
 In setting of large furnaces, the mouth of the fire-place should 
 
 over be situated on the outside of the dye-house immediately under 
 
 uie chimney. Several circumstances render this necessary. First, 
 
 4iat the fire mav not be communicated to anv of the combusti- 
 
175 
 
 bles insiJe, sucb as floors, ^c. nor make the dye-Louse smoky to 
 the great annoyance of the workmen — secondly, as it is occupy- 
 ing- room that may be better employed, and leaving- loop holes 
 where workmen by falling in, may as I have sometimes known, be 
 seriously injured. Thirdly, the mouth of the furnace being- inside, 
 the flues cannot well be set without having- them to wind twice 
 round the furnace, by which their capacity for heating, is very 
 much lessened. 
 
 The old mode of setting large dying furnaces, was by having a 
 fire made on narrow grating and carrying the brick work out to 
 the shape of the bottom, so that only the edge of the furnace rest- 
 ed on the brick work sufficient to support it, and no more. At the 
 other end, opposite the mouth, the heat passed through an oblong 
 opening of fourteen by six into a flue that was open all round the 
 furnace to the height necessary to close. The flue was ten inches 
 wide at the bottom, and gradually lessened till it closed where it 
 was only three inches. The heat from the fire passed through the 
 oblong opening, and separated to the right and left, meeting again 
 at another vent that is equi-distant from each edge of the former, 
 through which it passed off into the chimney. 
 
 The modern mode of setting furnaces, by which much fuel is 
 saved, is au follows : the grating is made, as before described, but 
 the whole space round the furnace is left open, excepting four 
 pillars for the furnace to rest on, and a small flue round the top, 
 with eight or more apertures leading into it according to the size 
 of the vessel, for the purpose of dividing the flame and heat, so 
 as to make the draft perpendicular, or in other words, to cause the 
 heat to strike the furnace in straight lines. 
 
 The last mode of setting furnaces, was patented in England 
 about thirty years ago, by a person of the name of Lewis. At 
 that time, Count Rumford's improvement made a great noise, and 
 I had just then had a large furnace set upon his plan, having em- 
 ployed a workman from London who was at work under the direc- 
 
176 
 
 uoa of the Counrs agent. I was induced to g-o to that expense, 
 being fearful that country workmen would not do it correctly. 
 The Count's mode was very complicated, and the setting very ex- 
 pensiye ; the flue was small, and ran spirally round the furnace, a 
 damper was placed in the throat of the chimney, a closer at the 
 ash pit, and a small drafc door, on hing-es, at the centre of the bot- 
 tom of the furnace door. The alteration cost me more than thirty 
 pounds, Stirling, (nearly one hundred and fifty dollars,) and when 
 done, would never boil the liquor when the clotl) was working in it, 
 so that it had all to be taken down again and the furnace re-set. 
 
 It is very certain, notwithstanding the Count's superior talent 
 and splendid theory, that he had altogether mistaken the matter of 
 heat on furnaces. In setting them, his object appeared to be to 
 confine the heat, expecting by that means to drive it through the 
 metal into the liquor inside of the furnace, than which nothing can 
 be more erroneous. It is now well known, that the heating power 
 of caloric is, as its angle of incidence, every thing else the same ; 
 hence the reason why the sun has so much more power within the 
 tropics where it is vertical, than in milder latitudes, where its inci- 
 dental angle is more enlarged. Just so does heat operate under 
 furnaces. When it is brought up against the bottom at right an- 
 gles, its impinging power is so much increased, as to heat the liquor 
 inside in much less time, and with a smaller quantity of fuel than 
 would be credited by those who have never experienced the difier- 
 ence. Keeping this principle in view, we can easily perceive why 
 in Mr. Lewis's mode, the water in any given sized furnace, can be 
 made to boil in one half the time, and with three-eighths less of 
 fuel, than upon either the oU plan, or upon Count Rumford's. 
 
 In every mode of setting furnaces prior to Lewis's improvement, 
 the draught underneath was from the mouth to the back, parallel 
 with the bottom ; but as the air which supplied the fuel with oxy- 
 gen, was admitted from below, through the bars of the grate, the 
 position of the draught was thereby partially altered when the 
 door was el(»ed : supposing the incidental angle to be a medium 
 
177 
 
 between the two operative draughts, it would imping"e against the" 
 metal at an angle of forty-five, when the door was shut and at an 
 angle much more extended when it was open. Hence the reason 
 why a liquor boiling vehemently with the door closed, would cease 
 either partially or altogether, almost at the instant of opening it. 
 In Mr. Lewis's improvement, the fire operates against the bottom 
 at right angles, impinging against it in the best possible direction, 
 with all the power that is capable of being given to it, thereby 
 bringing it into aciion in the best possible mode, and rendering all 
 future attempts at improvement unnecessary, unless by an increase 
 of the velocity of tiie draught. 
 
 One other particular must be attended to in setting furnaces for 
 dying, that the llue round the furnace be closed so low th-at the fire 
 may not reach above the liquor when it boils down during tlie 
 operation. Sjiould this ever occur, the cloth will be burnt in 
 patclies, and tiie inexperienced dyer will be unable to account 
 for it. 
 
 OX BLACK DYIi^G. 
 
 LV colouring of black, the liquor has, in all cases, to be boiled 
 hard two hours previous to the goods beiiig entered, and cooled 
 down pretty low with cold water, before they are put in. As the re- 
 ceipts for piece dying will be given for oneend, or for a given num- 
 ber of ends, it will be understood, that an end of broad cloth mea- 
 sures twenty yards, which when cut to furnace, usually weighs 
 about twenty-seven or twenty^-eight pounds. Sixty yards of single 
 cassimere is equal to twenty of broad felt, as is forty-four of half 
 milled, and thirty-six of double milled. 
 
 There are four different and distinct colours in black, the blue, 
 the red, the yellow and the jet black. It will be necessary to keep 
 this distinction in view in reading what follows, as well as in the 
 
178 
 
 practice of the djer; 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 disting-uish the different colours, require 
 no explanation, the blue, red, and yellow being- the dyer's prima- 
 ry colours ; every one must know, that when either of these pre- 
 dominate, the colour assumes that name. A jet black is that hap- 
 py mixture of the three, in which neither of them is in excess so 
 as to be visible. 
 
 TO DYE EIGUT ENDS OF CLOTH WEIGHING 220 
 rOLWDS, A BLUE BLACK. 
 
 /'V;r boiling vse. 
 
 80 pounds of cliipped log-wood (not more.) 
 12 do. of sumac (not more than sixteen.) 
 2 ■ do. of peail-ash (not more.) 
 
 Let the contents of the liquor be well stirred with a rike after 
 the dye wares have boiled two hours. Cool down the liquor to 
 one hundred and eig-hty 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 broads-man. Tlie 
 ijre is then to be made up as strong as possible, and no time lost in 
 bringing the liquor to boil. After it boils out fairly, the time must 
 be taken, and the boiling kept up for two hours, the broads man 
 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 cooled as before directed. 
 While this is doing, the fire is made up, the door closed, and th e 
 liquor brought to boil. Tiie materials to be added this time, are 
 20 pounds of copperas. 
 4 (\o of blue vitriol (not more than six.) 
 
179 
 
 After the liquor, with these ing^redients, have boiled five or six 
 minutes, the door is to be opened, the liquor cooled down with 
 water as before, and the goods after well stirring, are to be rapidly 
 entered. When eight ends are done at once, the reel must move 
 with considerable rapidity for the first fifteen minutes, one person be- 
 ing employed to push the cloth under the liquor on one side, and ano- 
 ther on the other side to keep it open ; the reel being kept turning, 
 and the cloth kept open during the whole operation. In order to a- 
 void repetition, I must once for all, inform the dyer that in all piece 
 dying, the goods are to be kept well opened by the broads-man, and 
 the reel briskly turned from the time the cloth is entered, till it is 
 taken out ; for if this be neglected, the colour will be ever liable 
 to be 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 soon 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 have boiled gently, at least 
 one hour out of the two, take it out, having previously cooled it 
 down with water, air the cloth as before, till nearly cold, and bring 
 the furnace to boil, as directed,' for the last saddening. The ma- 
 terial to be added this time is only 
 
 8 pounds of copperas, 
 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, or is 
 deficient in body, the saddening must be continued longer. If the 
 colour is wanted of a greener hue, add one or one and a half pounds 
 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 go- 
 ing its full time of two hours, add more. In matching of colours, 
 it must be understood, that both patterns must be either dry or 
 wet ; for, if one be dry, and the other wet, there will be many 
 shades of difference in the colour, though they may match when 
 both are in one state. 
 
180 
 
 This receipt «rould produce a bluer black by not boiling be- 
 tween the £rst and second and the second and third process ; but if 
 verdigris is added in the saddenings, the liquor will have to boil 
 before having 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. 
 
 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 tlie colour on the same quantity 
 of gt>ods ; but this must be the result of ignorance, it having been 
 proven, 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 certain proportions, when less colouring matter is used, a 
 'arger portion of copperas is necessary, and when more is used, 
 he quantity of copperas must be diminished. 
 
 The workmanship which I have prescribed for blacking with 
 this receipt, must be observed for all others. 
 
 When a blacking is finished, the cloth should be about half cool- 
 ed, then divided into ends, and each one folded up and placed a- 
 cross a wooden horse, where it should lie till the following mom* 
 lag to drain, cool, and give time for the iron to oxydize to its maxi- 
 mum, before it be washed; for if cleaned immediately after it 
 comes from the dye, the colour will not be so good as when it has 
 laid twelve or sixteen hours. The sun must not be permitted to 
 shine on the cloth for any length of time between the dying and 
 washing. If there be no shade to put it under, it should be cover- 
 ed with sheets. 
 
 I hare divided this colour into blue, yellow, red and jet blacks, 
 anci there are innumerable shades of each. To produce these at 
 the will of tliC workman, €a.n only be acquired by long practice. 
 I shall give receipts for each of these, and the dyer who has a know- 
 Jedg-e of the business, can vary the body and hue at his pleasure- 
 
181 
 
 Another blue black for tv7enty-eight pounds of cloth. 
 10 pounds of logwood. 
 2^ do. of sumac. 
 1 do. of fustic, 
 i do. of pearl-ash. 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, stir well, heave in the cloth, 
 and boil it three hours. Let the furnace be now run up, the cloth 
 had out and cooled, then add the following ingredients to the liquor, 
 only previously dissolving them in a bucket without boiling. 
 5 pounds of copperas. 
 i do. of blue vitriol. 
 When the cloth has been cooled, stir the liquor well, heave in 
 the cloth, and boil gently for four hours, then run up, have it out. 
 throw it, till half cold, and proceed as directed for the last black- 
 ing when finished. 
 
 Another receipt for a blue black, in which the colouring matter is 
 lessened, and the copperas increased. For boiling six ends of 
 broad cloth weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds, use 
 
 30 pounds of logwood. 
 
 15 do. of sumac. 
 
 3 do of pearl-ash. 
 
 Let the wares boil two hours, heave in the cloth, and boil two 
 hours and a half; then proceed as for the first blacking. For the 
 first saddening, use 
 
 16 pounds of copperas. 
 12 do. of ground logwood. 
 6 do. of blue vitriol. 
 Boil two hours, and proceed as for the first blacking. 
 For the second saddening, add 
 
 12 pounds of copperas. 
 
 4 do. of fustic. 
 
 Boil one hour, and try a pattern, if not black enough, continue 
 boiling another hour. 
 
 16 
 
182 
 
 The liquor must be boiled with the ingredients in both of these 
 saddening^, for twenty minutes before the cloth is put into the fur- 
 Dace. It is necessary in all cases where dye wares are 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 
 uneyea. 
 
 TO DYE EIGHT EXDS, OR 220 POUNDS OF CLOTH 
 OF A YELLOW BLACK APPROACHING TOWARDS 
 A JET. 
 
 For the boiling use, 
 60 poun3s of logwood. * 
 16 do. of sumac. 
 12 do. of fustic. 
 1 do. of pearl-asli. 
 The wares must boil two hours, the cloth two and a half, cool 
 down, heaye out and cool the cloth. 
 
 For thejirst saddening use. 
 20 pounds of copperas. 
 4 do. of blue vitriol. 
 The ingredients to be dissolved and added without boiling the 
 liquor, and the cloth to boil two hours, then heaye out, &c. as be- 
 fore. 
 
 For the second saddening put in 
 25 pounds of copperas. 
 
 4 do. of fustic. 
 
 The ingredients are to be boiled twenty minutes, then heave 
 in the cloth and boil one hour and a half, heave out, cool, kc. 
 
 Add for the ihird and last saddening, 
 
 5 pounds of copperas. 
 
183 
 
 10 pounds fustic. 
 The wares to be boiled twenty minutes, and the cloth to jo oBe 
 liour and a half, with boiling gently for half an hour. 
 
 TO DYE EIGHT ENDS, OR 220 POUNDS OF CLOTH 
 OF A RICH REDDISH BROWN BLACK. 
 
 For the boiling use. 
 30 pounds of log-wood- 
 18 do. of sumac. 
 12 do. of fustic. 
 4 do. of argoL 
 6 do. of madder. 
 2i do. of verdigris. 
 Let ingredients boil two hours and the cloth run two hours, pro^ 
 ceed as usual. 
 
 Forjirst saddening use. 
 22 pounds of copperas; 
 2 do. of sumac. 
 2 do. of fustic. 
 Boil the wares twenty minutes, heave in the cloth and boil two 
 hours. 
 
 For the second and last saddening use, 
 20 pounds of copperas, 
 2^ do. of blue vitriol. 
 2 do. of sumac. 
 6 do. of madder^ 
 Boil the wares twenty minutes, heave in the clotli and boil it 
 gently till the colour is rich enough, 
 
 I have before remarked, that when dying wares or verdigris 
 are added in any of the saddenings, the liquor must always boil 
 tiyenty or tbirtv ininntjra before (he qlofh is entered ; but wb^ii 
 
184 
 
 onJj copperas and blue vitriol are added, it may boil or not, attLe 
 option of the dyer. When put in without boiling them, they inust 
 be previously dissolred in a bucket, particularly the blue vitriol 
 which is very ditficult of solution. Let me here remark, that in 
 all cases before the cloth is entered into the furnace, the liquor 
 :ust be well stirred with a dye-house rake. 
 
 TO DTE TWEXTl -EIGHT POU>'DS OF CLOTH A JET 
 
 BLACK. 
 
 For the hoiUn^ use, 
 ] pounds of logwood. 
 2^ do. of smnac. 
 2i do. of fustic. 
 The wares oug-ht to boil two hours, and the cloth three, beavt 
 uut and cool as before. 
 
 S pounds oi copperas. 
 
 i do. of blue vitriol. 
 The iug^redients to be dissolved in a bucket, and added to the 
 liquor witiiout boiling; the cloth to be boiled four hours, run up, 
 heave out, and proceed as directed for the first blackii^. 
 
 The following' receipt for a jet black, answers better than any 
 other I have ever tried. The body is strong, the colour is of a su- 
 perior hue. and is so perraanen^. that it will wear without c-xangii^ 
 as long as ti»e stoutest cloth will last. I once sold the receipt in 
 England, for this process, for three hundred pounds sterling. 
 
 For one end -.■, .^.i. weighing- twenty-eight pounds: — 
 
 1 pound of ar^ol, (crude tartar.) Cream of Tartar wail answer as 
 
 well. 
 i do. verdigris: not more than ten oances. 
 
 Dissolve the verdigris, bv puttin°f it in a backet taf baiiiog: wajLer 
 
185 
 
 liie day before using' it. Bringf the furnace to 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 in a poacher, and 
 a fresh liquor made for colouring it. 
 
 To colour to advantage with this receipt, there should be two 
 furnaces employed, one for the above preparation liquor, and a se* 
 cond for finishing ; for after one lot has been boiled, if others fol- 
 low it in the same liquor, one-sixth of the above proportion of in- 
 gredients may be saved, and the liquor will not be injured by being 
 kept for months, provided it does not lay more than a week at one 
 time in a cold state. 
 
 When the cloth has been prepared, as above stated, it has to Ife 
 ^finished in anew liquor, as follows: — 
 
 10 pounds of logwood* 
 4 do. of sumac. 
 i do. of fustic. 
 1 2 do. of white oak saw dust. 
 Ijct the wares be boiled two hours, the clotli heaved in, and br>il- 
 ed three houi-s. For the first saddening-, use 
 3 pounds of copperas. 
 Dissolve and put in the copperas, heave in the cloth and boil two 
 hours. For the second saddening, use 
 
 2 pounds of copperas. 
 Dissolve (he copperas; heave in the cloth, and boil one Iiouran'd 
 a half. Should any of the colours be too strong in body, use a 
 smaller quantity of logwood, or the same quantity, and less cop- 
 peras. 
 
 For dying a rich red black, take any of the re<^eipls, excepting 
 those for blue blacks, leave out the fustic, and add in place of it, 
 two pounds of ground barwood, and one of alder bark, for ever^' 
 twenty-six pounds of cloth, dividing these between the saddening?, 
 where there are two, and add it at once* wh^re (here is only ont>.- 
 
 -IG* 
 
186 
 
 Artef blacking^, ^od the cloth has lain across a wooden hor^ fo: 
 eire or fourteen hdors, let it be streamed and scoared, according 
 the directions giren under the bead scouring of cloth. 
 
 To prerent the colour from being cloody and uneven, the liquor 
 must, in all cases, be lowered down before the cloth is heaved into 
 the furnace, and it dlMiold be rattled over the reel as fast as the 
 broads-man can keep it open for the first quarter of an hour, and 
 the cloth should be kept under the liquor^ on the opposite side, the 
 same space of time. It is also essential, as I have before stated, 
 that the cloth should be kept moving moderately, and opened dor- 
 ii^ the whole time it is ID the furnace. It may not be amiss to 
 repeat the precautionary measure of never crowding the cloth too 
 much in the furnace : the quantity of water for one end should 
 never be less than one hundred and twenty g^ons, and one hun- 
 dred and forty is still better. 
 
 After blaclfs are scoured, shonld any of them be too brown, or 
 liave i ru^et hue. they may easily be remedied as follows : bring 
 on a furnace of clear water to a blood heat, and add to it as much 
 oil of vitriol as will give to Ihc water a pleasant sour taste, then 
 run ^uvh colours in it, -until they become of tlie hue wanted, with- 
 out raising* the temperature of the liquor. By this simple process, 
 an brown blucks may be made jet, and tlie cloth will handle the 
 
 A^iuough the receipts 1 have given for black are the best thai 
 England af^brJ. yet I would not recommend the American dyers to 
 ''oflow tlji^m !JT:. licitly. for tf»ere are many articles in this country, 
 
 at misr'jt be emp'oyed to much advantage. Oak barks, how- 
 ever, ought never to be employed in black dying, for though a good 
 cirfour may l>e made from many of tliero, yet they always wear 
 brown, and will turn of a russet hue in a very short time, particu- 
 !ar1v in the summer season. Let them employ the swamp maple 
 
 rk -in place of soroac, and the alder in lieu of fustic When 
 
 varr-p maple bark is used, the quantity of logwood should be dimi- 
 
187 
 
 nished, in as much as this bark produces a strong- purple body simi- 
 lar to nut-^alls, for which logwood is a substitute. 
 
 As a ^uide to those who are but little acquainted with colouring. 
 I will add a receipt for this kind of black which I apprehend should 
 make a g-ood colour. 
 
 For one end of felt, weig^hing- twenty-eight pounds, for a jet 
 Vilack. Use for the boiling 
 
 7 pounds of logwood. 
 
 6 do. of swamp maple bark. 
 
 2 do. of alder bark, 
 i do. of verdigris. 
 
 Boil the materials two hours ; heave in the cloth and boil it two 
 hours and a half; takeout and cool as before directed. For tlie 
 first saddening, use 
 
 3 pounds of copperas. 
 
 Heave in the cloth and boil gently two hours ; then heare out 
 ami cool. For the Izht saddening, use 
 
 2 pounds of copperas. 
 
 Heave in and keep at a spring heat for two hours. By a spring 
 beat, the dyer means a gentle bubbling boil, without proceeding to 
 ^^ strong ebullition. Take a pattern off, after the cloth has gone 
 one hour ; scour and match it, should it then be a good black, 
 heave it out, but if the body be not strong enough, continue the 
 saddening anotlier hour. Should not the colour, after having-, 
 gone its full time, have sufficient body, use more logwood, or more 
 copperas, and less of these, should the body be too strong. 
 
 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 wha 
 grow the nut, and puts them into large hogsheads, filling tliem with 
 
188 
 
 vv^ater so as to corer the hulls. It must be understood, that tiiese 
 hulls, if left in a heap only for 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 any are per- 
 mitted to lie on the top uncovered, they will soon be injured. A 
 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 
 eloth, put into a furnace of clean water from eight to sixteen gal- 
 lons of the hulls, with the proper portion of theix liquor, add to 
 these four pounds of alder bark, boil the ingredients two hours, cool 
 down with water, and rake the hulls and bark out of the liquor. — 
 When this has been done, enter tlie cloth, and run it without any 
 additional heat till they are of the desired colour. This will add 
 very much to the body and permanency of the black, and will 
 make the goods handle soft. It is a fact not generally known, that 
 anv colouring matter put on in this way, after a black has been 
 dyed, will increase the body of the colour much more than when 
 the same material has been added in the first process, and in almost 
 every instance it will appear the blacker. 
 
 I apprehend that the hull of the butter-nut, or white walnut of 
 this country, would answer very well for this purpose, as it affords 
 a rich brown, very similar to the colour given by the hulls of the 
 Eno-lish walnut, and is, as I understand, highly permanent It 
 should be collected when the nut is ripe, and proceeded with as 
 directed for the other. 
 
 Having given all the information that is necessary for dying of 
 >lack in tlie cloth, we will now proceed to dying it in the wool 
 
189 
 
 TO DYE BLACK WOOL. 
 
 THE furnaces for colouring of wool are constructed and put up 
 in a very different manner from those which are used for clolh dy- 
 ing. They are made after*the same manner as a soap-boiler's fur- 
 nace, with a small metallic bottom, either of iron or copper, and a 
 large wooden head. It is of much greater diameter across the top 
 than where secured io the metal. In England, these furnaces are 
 usually large enough to colour from three to six bundled pounds of 
 wool at one operation ; but as the principal part of them is wood 
 worli, a small quantity may be done when necessary. It is always 
 better, however, to dye large quantities at a time, as three hun- 
 dred or more can be done at the same expense, for wages and fuel, 
 as forty or fifty, and those items always constitute, in cheap co- 
 lours, full one half of the expense attending the dying. It is by 
 doing large quantities that the English dyers and manufacturers 
 have very much the advantage over those ot\ this country ; for in- 
 dependent of the saving in fuel and labour, the larger the quantiiy 
 done at onetime, the less will be the proportion of dying wares 
 used, in producing any given colour. The wood work of wool fur- 
 naces is bound with stout iron hoops, three inches wide, after the 
 same manner as described for the woad vat. The wooden staves 
 must be as stout as those for the vat, and one of the iron hoops driv- 
 en close to the top, and well rivetted on, as there Wiii be a great 
 strain on that part during the working. 
 
 The tools used to work wool are a rake and a stang. The rake 
 has a wooden handle, long enough for the workman to stand on one 
 side of the furnace, and to throw it to the side opposite to him? 
 without stooping over the furnace liquor — ^the handle is made some- 
 what stouter than those used by hay-makers ; for the purpose of 
 raking, iron prongs are placed in it at one end, dropping down from 
 the end of the handle about nine inches and spreading at the points 
 to six inches. An iron ring is put on the handle, where the shaft 
 of the prong enters, to prevent the wood from spitting. A stang 
 
190 
 
 is a round and smooth wooden lerer, about three inches diameter, 
 when intended for a lar^ fomac-e, and long enough to reach to 
 the bottom of the furnace, and to extend abore the top abant four 
 or fire leet. 
 
 The following- receipt is for a blackywhere the tvoo] was previ- 
 oafeij dred a middling blue in the woad vat, and is for forty -one 
 pcNindsof scoured wool. When black wdol is dyed in this way, 
 the C(4oar nerer changes by wearing, but will look briglit, full 
 Ix^died, and of a fine jtet black, until the garment is worn out. 
 
 Woad the wool to the blue wanted, and wash it well, then boi! 
 tl?e dye wares in the faroace in bags. The bags used for this 
 purpcjse are very open in the texture, and coarse, but strong, and 
 :ijej should be made to hold double the quantity of dye- wares in- 
 tended for an operation ; for when a bag is crowded, the liquor can- 
 not penetrate so as to extract all the colouring matter of the woods 
 contained in them. When the furnaces are large, and great quan- 
 tities are intended to be coloured at each operation, at lej^t four 
 >ucb ba^ should be provided for each furnace. 
 
 Receipt for forty-one pounds of black wool. 
 25 pounds of logwood. 
 
 7 do. of maple bark. 
 
 6 do. of fustic. 
 Boil these in bag* for four hours, take out the bags, run np the 
 furnace with cold water, and heave in the wool, handle it well for 
 Lalf an hour, and boil it three hours. It will be necessary to ex- 
 plain what is meant by handling of wool in the furnace. I have 
 before described the rake and stang, the tools with which this 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 when entered in the furnace. Before the wool is put 
 in. the liquor must be cooled down with cold water to about 170" 
 Fahrenheit, then stir it well with a dye-house rake, and throw in 
 fi>€ wp9l. Wlnle one persoa is throwing in, another is emplove^ 
 
* 191 
 
 to push it under the liquor with a stick ; when the whole is in and 
 under the liquor, take the rake and draw all the wool from that 
 side of the furnace opposite to the workman, to that where he 
 stands, then thrust tlie long- lever or stang- down to the bottom of 
 the furnace, on the same side, forcing- the wool down with it, when 
 the stang- approaches the bottom, thrust it towards the opposite 
 side, along the bottom, and bring- up all the wool to the surface, 
 let the stang be now drawn towards the workman, one or two feet, 
 according to the size of the furnace, which acts as a fulcrum to 
 the lever, and with the weight of the body suspended on the end, 
 lift up the wool above the liquor, and by a jerk and a twist of the 
 stang shal^e the wool abroad on the surface of the liquor. Let it 
 be now 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 co* 
 lour will be uneven. 
 
 It will be seen that half an hour is prescribed for working the 
 the wool after it has been heaved into the liquor — by the time tJiis 
 has been performed, the liquor will begin to boil, and must be kept 
 boiling slowly all the time prescribed without any other 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 direc- 
 tions for any receipt that may hereafter be given, only mentioning 
 the time of boiling, handling, &c. 
 
 When the wool has gone the time prescribed, it has to be sad- 
 dened with the following materials : 
 
 2i pounds of copperas, 
 Hh do. 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 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 handling the wool. 
 
192 
 
 while anotlier strews the saddening liquor over the surfacp of the 
 furnace, in small quantities at a time, permitting one quantity to 
 be mixed thoroughly with the wool before another is added, admi- 
 nistering it at reg^ular progressive periods, till the whole of the sad- 
 dening solution has been added, then continue to handle afterwards 
 for the space of ten or fifteen minutes. 
 
 Receipt for colouring seventj-five pounds of wool for a black mix- 
 ture. 
 This proved a very good colour, and was permanent. 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. 
 
 23 pounds of Ic^wood. 
 2 do. of blue vitriol, or 1 i of verdigris. 
 Proceed as directed for the first receipt in the boiling of wares and 
 wool, boil tiie wool three hours and let lie all night. 
 
 Receipt for eighty pounds of wool for a black mixture. 
 28 pounds of logwood. 
 4 do. of alder bark. 
 2 do. of fustic. 
 i do. of potash. 
 Boil the wares in bags four hours, take the bags out, run up the 
 liquor, heave iu the wool, handle forty minutes, and boil three hours 
 — then strew over 
 
 6 pounds of copperas. 
 2 do. of blue vitriol. 
 Handle till colour is even, boil one hour, and let it lay all night. 
 
 Receipt ^r colouring a raven black for a mixture or for a wool 
 
 colour. 
 
 First woad two hundred pounds of wool of a light blue, then boil 
 
 in bags thirty pounds of logwood for four hoars, heave in the wool 
 
 as before, and handle one hour, as it must be that time before the 
 
 liquor comes to boil — then strew thirty pounds alum over it, ban- 
 
193 
 
 die and boil two hours, and let it lie all night. Wash the wool on 
 the following- morning, and bring on a fresh liquor, in which boil 
 fifty pounds of logwood for three hours, and let it lie all night. 
 Wash the wool on the following morning, and bring on a fresh 
 liquor, in which boil fifty pounds of logwood for three hours, heave 
 in the wool, and let it be four hours coming up to a boil, then boil 
 a quarter of an hour, cool down and let lie all night. It should 
 be handled for the first two hours. This colour will be a rich bliie 
 black, or what is called a raven, being the hue of the wing of thit 
 bird. 
 
 TO DYE BLACK ON COTTON. 
 
 I SHALL proceed to give three Manchester receipts for dying 
 of cotton on black. These receipts were obtained from that town 
 a few years since, and I have received fifteen dollars for one of 
 them, after permitting the person to try it before he paid the money. 
 I have never tried any of them myself, but as they come from a 
 first rate dyer, who freely offered them without fee or reward, I 
 have full confidence of their being exactly such as were used by 
 himself. 
 
 The cotton has first to be dried a light blue, in the usual cotton 
 blue vat, and then washed. For each pound of cotton to be dyed, 
 boil four ounces of sumac, and a double handful of logwood chips, 
 which has been boiled before for other colours ; 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 cotton into this liquor, and work it well for ten 
 m'nutes, repeating the same ten or twelve times, wring out and 
 wash well — put another half pint of urine into the sumac and log- 
 wood l.quor, turn the cotton again into this, for fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, handling it now and then — dissolve another half ounce of 
 17 
 
194 
 
 copperas, and add it to the former copperas liquor, turn in the cot- 
 ton, 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 & 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 log-wood liquor, stir well, and turn in the cotton for half 
 an hour, work it well, wring out and well wash — boil the first su- 
 mac and logwood liquor again for half an hour, put in a handful o* 
 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 cot- 
 ton for twenty minutes — wring out, wash, dry, and it is finished. 
 
 SECOND RECEIPT FOR DYING BLACK ON COTTON. 
 
 BEFORE giving this receipt, it will be necessary to give direc- 
 tions how to prepare the acetite of iron and the pyroligneate, to 
 which I shall add the pyroligneate of copper, as each of these com- 
 pounds will be prescribed in dying the different colours on cotton 
 and silk. 
 
 To make the pyroligneate of iron, dissolve four pounds of cop- 
 peras in twenty pounds, or as many pints of rain water, and filter 
 it — then dissolve four pounds of pot-ash 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 
 till it has no taste of §alt^ — this washing is done on the filter, and 
 when completed, place the red oxyde of iron on a clean board un- 
 til it is dry, and has attained its maximum of oxydizement, then 
 
195 
 
 place tLe oxyde and triturate, or rub it in a marble mortar, pour oq 
 it as much pjroligneous acid as will dissolve it, and filter again. 
 
 The pyrolig-neate of copper is made as follows : take one pound 
 of blue vitriol, dissolve it in six pounds of rain water, then dissolve 
 one pound of pearl-ash 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 pyrolig-neate 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 dr} , and of the 
 oxyde of copper in the same state, triturate them in a marble raw- 
 tar, pour on them as much pyrolignic acid as will dissolve them, 
 and filter the whole. These mordants are much used, either sepa- 
 rately or combined, for dying of silk and cotton. 
 
 The pyroligneous acid, as the term denotes, is an acid extracted* 
 from woad by distillation. The purest acid of this kind, is very 
 expensive, there being much trouble and expense incurred in se- 
 parating all the empyreumatic oil from it ; but that whicFi is com- 
 monly 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. 
 
 Common pyroligneate of iron is made after a more direct man- 
 ner than that which I have before described. The acid is put into 
 a large iron-bound cask, to which is added old iron hoops, the dust 
 which falls from the stones in grinding edge-tools, or fine turnings 
 of iron : and the liquor is left to stand open a great length of time, 
 the longer the better. 
 
 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 sofution by the strongest vinegar. The most ready and direct 
 ^way of making the solution is by boiling iron filings, turnings of 
 iron, or old iron hoops, in this acid, in a cast iron furnace, for three 
 or four hours. Some little of the acid will evaporate, but the 
 
196 
 
 strength of the compound \rill be much increased. It must be re. 
 marked, that the iron should be free from oil, and as much rusted 
 (oxydized) before it is put into the acid, as possible. One quart of 
 this concentrated solution will produce effects nearly equal to four 
 of the common acetite irhich I shall presently describe. 
 
 The pyroli^eous acid is now made in this country by the white 
 lead manufacturers, and is offered by the barrel at one shilling-, 
 New-York currency, per g-allon, which is about the same price as 
 cider vinegar. 
 
 Independent of the property which this acid possesses, of dissolr- 
 jDg a much greater quantity of iron than strong vinegar, it has 
 combined with it a considerable portion of the gallic acid, that can- 
 not be discovered by neutralizing it with an alkali; but which 
 greatly assists its colouring property by turning the red oxyd of 
 iron to a dense black oxyd. This solution, in all colouring for a 
 black dye, is far preferable to copperas, particularly when used on 
 cotton, silk, or hair, and independent of its superiority as a dye, 
 it leaves the goods in a much softer state than when copperas is 
 used, and it also appears to impart a permanency which the other 
 never gives. 
 
 The common acetite of iron is made by putting strong cider or 
 wine vinegar into a vessel, and adding iron the same as before. In 
 many dye-houses in Europe, thej keep large vats,holding one or 
 two thousand gallons each, in which they make this preparation, 
 and some of them are not used out till they are more than one hun- 
 dred years old, and the older they are, the more completely will 
 the liquor produce the desired effect. For some particular pur- 
 poses, they add alder bark, &c. to these liquors. 
 
 We will now proceed to the second receipt for dying of black on 
 cotton. 
 
197 
 
 Dip the cotton in four quarts of the common acetite of iron, or 
 in two of the pyrolig-neate made by a cold , solution to each pound 
 of cotton, let it lie all night, in the morning wring it out and dry, 
 and afterwards wash it well. Boil in a copper vessel four ounces 
 of sumac, eight ounces of umbro madder, and two ounces of log- 
 wood for each pound of cotton — boil the sumac and logwood to- 
 gether for one hour, and empty the clear liquor into anotlier fur" 
 nace into this liquor, put the madder and drive on the fire till 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 liquors and wring gently, shaking the madder well out 
 of it — take it out one string at a time, wash clean from the mad- 
 der, wring evenly and dry. In the summer, dry it under a shade, 
 and in the winter in a stove. 
 
 The third and last receipt 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 sumac for half an hour, strain the 
 liquor, into which enter the goods, and work well for half an hours 
 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 an hour, and strain it 
 through a cloth, enter the goods in this and work till it be of the 
 colour wanted. It must then be exposed to the air to dry. If 
 dark enough, wash it, and re-dry it ; if not dark enough, give it 
 another 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 when- 
 ever a strong rich colour is wanted on cotton, it is better to give it 
 one portion, then to dry and wash, wben it will take a second verj 
 
 17* 
 
198 
 
 readily. By repeating the operalioiis any body of colour may be 
 obtaioed. 
 
 TO DYE BLACK OX SILK. 
 
 TAKE any quantity of raUineux, boil them in a copper, strain 
 the liquor into a back of such a heat as will not interfere with the 
 resin of the silk — put the silk into this liquor for three days, turn- 
 ing- it once a day, wash out and stick up to drain. Bring on a ket- 
 tle full of clean water to a boiling heat, put into it a great quantity 
 of copperas, with a small portion of logwood and alder bark liquor? 
 gire the silk ibur wets in this liquor boiling hot, wring out ov^er 
 the kettle, hang up and dry in a stove. It may be scrooped with 
 iime-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 store to dry. 
 
 Vallineux is the cups and stalks on which the acorns grow of 
 some peculiar oak ; it is imported largely into England for the pur- 
 pose of dying, and for tanning some kinds of leather. I once sold 
 tius receipt in Rhode Island, on condition of its producing a good 
 colour, in which I substituted a strong decoction of sumac and 
 ;'3wamp maple bark, in lieu of the vallineux, and the substitute 
 answered so good a purpose, that the dyer called soon afterwards 
 and paid the money, acknowledging that it made an excellent 
 "'^lour. 
 
 The silk died by this receipt, was the raw article in skeins, 
 which alwa}^ contain a considerable portion of natural resin that 
 fltiast not be disturbed by the heat of the liquor : hence the reason 
 of the precaution used in the receipt. It will be understood, that 
 
 hen the gum is mentioned in any other receipt, it has reference 
 
 this explanation. 
 
199 
 
 The alder bark liquor, mentioned in the receipt, 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 bushels of chipped alder bark, and a large quantity of old 
 i^iisty iron hoops, turnings of iron, or of the dust of iron that falls 
 off in grinding of edge tools ; the latter is mixed with a part of the 
 stone, which will by no means injure the compound. The older 
 this preparation is, the more completely will it answer the purpose. 
 For a large well established concern, it is usual to sink the casks 
 in the ground on a bottom of well puddled clay, and claying them 
 well up to the top ; over each cask is placed a cover with holes 
 bored through them. These are used to prevent accident, at the 
 same time they give free access for the atmospheric air to operate 
 on the liquor, this being essential to the proper oxydizemeni of the 
 iron. 
 
 Many of the colours in silk dying, are scrooped with lime-juice>, 
 which is done after the colour has been dyed. To do this, some 
 lime-juice is put into a tub of clean water, the coloured silk is im- 
 mersed 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. This remark will be kept in view 
 whenever scrooping is mentioned in other receipts. 
 
 TO DYE BLUE. 
 
 I SHALL begin with the woad vat. Let the reader refer to 
 what has been said under the general head of dying, relative to 
 setting of vats, and he will there see an account of the manner of 
 erecting of the cold, the fire and the steam vats, also directions for 
 manufacturing of woad. 
 
 It may be useful to the dyer to know how to measure the con- 
 tents in gallons of a blue vat, or of any other conical or cylindri= 
 
200 
 
 cal vessel ; for it will be perceived, in the course of the folloiring' 
 instructions, that the quantity of material 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 
 lenglh, from top to bottom, is the same, multiply the diameter in 
 inches by itself, and cut off the right hand figure, and the remain- 
 ing figures express the ale gallons in a yard length of that cylin- 
 der, near enough for every practical purpose, it giving only one 
 gallon in three hundred and seventy-nine too little. When a co- 
 nical 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 proceed, as described, for the cylindrical vessel. 
 
 V 
 
 As an example of this rule, vre will reduce the English and 
 French vats, before described, la their contents in ale gallons. 
 An English woad vat is there stated to be seven feet six inches 
 deep, the same in diameter across the bottom, and six feet on the 
 top, the mean diameter will be six feet nine inches taken at the 
 centre. This reduced according to the rule, will stand thus, 
 S14~S1=656,1 , gives six hundred and fifty-six beer gallons in three 
 feet of the vats depth — now the vat being seven feet six inches 
 deep, or two yards and a half, we multiply 6564-2^=1640 gal- 
 ons as the contents of the vat. The French vat is said by 
 Mr. Cooper to be nine feet deep by five feet nine inches over 
 69-|-69==476, 1-1-3=1 428 gallons. Most practical dyers, without 
 measuring, would consider the French vat as likely to hold more 
 than the English, although its contents are one-eighth less. This 
 proves, how necessary it is to ascertain the contents, before a vat 
 is worked, for were the same materials to be used in both of these, 
 one of them would be too strong, when the other would have only 
 its proper quantity. It also shows, that it is necessary when re- 
 ceipts are given for woad dying, that the contents of the vessel 
 should be given with it, otherwise an artist ignorant of the busi- 
 ness, might fail for want of being put in possession of this vfrv 
 simple fact. 
 
201 
 
 An English vat of the size described, is set with five times one 
 hundred and tw'elve pounds of the best woad, five pounds of um- 
 bro madder, one peck of Cornell and bran, half of each, the 
 refuse of wheat, four pounds of copperas, and a quarter of a peck 
 of dry slacked lime. Before we proceed, it will be necessary to 
 g-ive directions for preparing the lime, as the success of the dyer 
 will very much depend on having this article properly prepared. 
 
 For two English vats, it will be necessary to prepare half a bar- 
 rel at one time. The lime must be such as has been lately taken 
 from the kiln, for no part of it should be air slacked, as that which 
 has fallen by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, will be re- 
 carbonated, and produce no^effect upon the vat hquor. Take the 
 new 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 make the mass wet when fallen. When enough 
 watered, put it up mto a close heap ; throw a wool bag over it, 
 and leave it till the following mornmg. The heap has then to be 
 opened, and the stones, if any there, are taken out of it. It must 
 now be put into a box having a close hd and left for use. Care 
 must be taken to nave the box, in which the lime is placea, as air 
 tight as possible. I have directed the lime to be slacked on a stone 
 floor to prevent accidents by fire, for when lime is slacked on 
 wood floors, it will sometimes set them on fire, as I once experi- 
 ,enced. 
 
 The woad will have to be chopped«nto small lumps with a spade, 
 and thrown into the vat before the liquor lo piu m; let the madder 
 be broken into small pieces, and the L an or lime thrown upon 
 upon them. When the materials are in, .t should be filled up with 
 water that has boiled and cooled dowu to doout 195° Fhn. from a 
 furnace, and the contents kept stirred ali tne iime it is being filled. 
 When the vat is full to within iour or Qv3 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 gaii.jt»3, and while the vat is 
 stirring after it has been filled, put in one bucket of well ground 
 
202 
 
 indigo, containing fifteen pounds of that article. The vat should 
 be set about four or fire o'clock in the afternoon, and be attended 
 and stirred again at nine o'clock the same eveniog, bj 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 daik bottle gieen. When wel^ 
 stirred, let it be covered down, and if the weather should be cold, 
 throw some mats or wool bag« over the covers to keep in the heat, 
 to prevent its cooling too low before the liquor comes properly to 
 work. The person who manages the vat, must attend at five 
 o'clock the following morning, let them take off both covers and 
 plunge the rake into the vat, so as to bring some ol the air that is 
 cai-ried down by it to the surface, wKen a part of the sediment of 
 the vat will rise with the bubbles If the fermentation has pro- 
 gressed, as it usually does, the air biiooies will appear of a fine 
 blue, and a number of copoer 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 or 
 the slacked lime, stir the liquor for twenty minutes, and cover 
 down close. The heat of the vat should now be at about 140* Fh. 
 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 fermenta- 
 tion 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 licher purple, and the surface more generally covered with 
 copper coloured scales: should these symptoms make their ap- 
 peamnce, add another quarter 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 appearances 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 quarterns including 
 the one that was pnt in when the vat was first set. By the time 
 eight has been added, the liquor will look very rich in the bead. 
 
203 
 
 the bubbles will rise of all sizes, from the bulk of an egg to that of 
 a small hazle-nut, and none of them will break so as to disappear; 
 but many of them will collapse, and as thej fall tog-ether, will ap- 
 pear of a rich smalt colour, coaled with a fat looking- skin. A 
 larg-e quantity of bubbles ivill have risen by this time, which lay- 
 ing on tlie surface in a compact mass will look rich, and the great- 
 er part will have passed from a blue to a copper colour. The in- 
 dig-o now when raked up, will show in the liquor in clouds, its ap- 
 pearance will be a rich yellow olive clouded with indig-o. When 
 the vat assumes all these appearances, it is said to be in fine con- 
 dition, and every thing will have gone on in regular order; but as 
 it often happens, that a vat does not come on in a regular way, the 
 vat-man must be attentive to appearances, when he stirs the first 
 in morning after setting. If the bubbles and head is at that time 
 weak and watery, and the last that rise should not show any ap- 
 pearance of blue, and the liquor shows no copper scales on the 
 surface, and appears of the same colour as when stirred the even- 
 ing before, something must be added to force the fermentation, 
 and nothing will answer the purpose better than a liquor made 
 from boiling together bran, malt, hops, and madder. This liquor, 
 which is called swill, should be prepared the same day the vat is set, 
 by putting into a copper furnace of one hundred and fifty gallons, 
 two pecks of bran, one peck of ground malt, four pounds of mad- 
 der, and one pound of hops. The furnace having been previously 
 two-thirds filled with water, bring it to a boil, and, when near boil- 
 ing, break and rake it in ; a bucket or two of cold water should be 
 kept near the furnace to throw in when necessary, to prevent the 
 liquor from overflowing, which it is very apt to do when it begins 
 to boil. When the liquor has boiled from thirty to forty minutes, 
 draw the fire and run the furnace up with cold water, the sedi- 
 ment will soon settle and leave the liquor clear on the top. Should 
 not the fermentation have come on strong enough when the vat is 
 stirred in the morning, add one bucket of swill without giving it 
 any lime, and cover it down close ; in two hours afterwards stir 
 again, and, if 'he appearances warrant it, proceed as first directed ; 
 but should these be still unfavourable, add two buckets of swill 
 
204 
 
 at the second stirring, cover down and repeat until the appear- 
 ances become favourable so as to proceed with the liming. It will 
 seldom happen that a vat is delayed in coming to work unless the 
 fermentative quality of the woad has been injured in making. 
 
 I have directed that from eight to ten quarter pecks of dry slack- 
 ed lime be used when a vat is set with five hundred weight 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 ab- 
 solute rule given. I have found, however, that the Rhode Island 
 lime is nearly of equal strength with the Enghsh 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 particular, will prove very dis- 
 astrous to the operator, however skilful he may be in his pro- 
 fession, and will be altogether ruinous to a young beginner. It is 
 very rare to see even a fair sample of woad in this market ; for 
 that which have been imported, have generally been such as was 
 no' saleable in England. I lately imported some of the best kind, 
 such as I formerly used there, and such as my brothers now use, 
 from whom I obtained it. To encourage the consumption, I was 
 induced to offer it at fourteen cents per pound, being six cents 
 lower than it was ever before sold in this country. As soon as an 
 opportunity offers, I shall induce some agriculturist to undertake 
 its manufacture. 
 
 I must request those who are interested in the consumption of 
 woad, tO io>!i b^ck, and read att<?ntively the letter of Mr. Parish's, 
 on iho Tainnar and mauufacttirir? of woad, they will there see that 
 its lelative value depends altcgelher on the strength of the land 
 
205 
 
 on which it has been raised—that when raised on poor land, it is 
 of httle value ; but that when raised on strong land, in a favoura- 
 ble season, it is highly valuable, and that the strongest land will 
 not bear more than two crops in succession. 
 
 A dyer at all conversant with the woad valt, may, by 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 the state of Massachusetts, four kinds of woad in 
 dilferent states of preparation, the workman was an European 
 and appeared very skilful in his profession ; but he complained 
 very justly, that he could not work his vats regularly, owing to the 
 great difference in the quality of the woad. The owners of fac- 
 tories may rest assured, that their woad dying will never equal the 
 English until they procure woad Uiat shall be nearly uniform 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 wet in at once. The wool must be thorough- 
 ly cleansed from the grease and joik, and well shook 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 un- 
 even; 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 
 in it 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 throws 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— soon as the whole is out of the vat 
 18 
 
206 
 
 et the be^ be sgajua shaken untd the wool is neariy coid. Ii 
 ■Hct be no ti c ed tiiat a woad rat ^oald never be worked at more 
 tiian lis**, and whtem new^ at no more than 1 15^ Fb. 
 
 in djiag witii woad, tboe slioald always be two vats in opera- 
 tion at tbe same time, one that Ins been worked for one or two 
 moBtfa^ and a new rat. Tbe wool to be coloured, should be primed 
 m tbe new Tat, and finislied in tbe old^r one. 
 
 A rat tibai m set wifb five hundred of strong* woad, will reqnire 
 £re bandied more during the working, and this, in all regular dj- 
 where constant work is required, will colour for 
 in ttat time it will take nearly £ve hundred pounds of 
 indigOk Tbe wadamnship, after tbe £rst setting, to be managed 
 as fiiBows; ^i two or tbree wets of forty pounds each into ttie vat 
 after U bas been brotig-Lt to work at night after the last dip, stir 
 -veil, and if tbe liquor is cooled below the proper standard, put the 
 ire cm and brm^ it up to 125% not exceedmg 130^ Fh., stir a^-ain 
 at nioe in tbe evauag, and put in two quarter pecks of lime. The 
 ilij fiilliwiiim^, tbe same wets may be redipped, when they will be a 
 fBCtty inD colonr, haag tbe beat up as the night before, after stir- 
 xing^, and when the rat is stirred at nine o^clock, give it one quar- 
 ter feek of lime. Tbe day following the rat must be renewed. — 
 Pint bnag: fbe beat up to 1 55S or 165° Fh. ; when brought to the 
 veqanite beat, pot in balf a hundred of woad, chopped fine as be- 
 fore, balf a peck of bran, four pounds of madder, and twelve pounds 
 of indig-o well ground ; stir weU after these things are added, and 
 again at nine in the evening;. The next morning it should be yel- 
 low in tbe bqpior, bare a thick copper scum on the surface, tbe 
 bede be of a fine pmple and very rich. Stir ag^dn at £ve o^clock 
 ^be fidoinB^ nonungp, wbich Tepeai at noon and in the evening, 
 at €he last rtining;, add two quarter pecks of lime. It will now 
 bear wudnyg and refdeawiung r^ularly. When constantly work- ' 
 ed it wiH, so bmg' as woad is added, require two quarter pecks of 
 ■Ik afiber eaiCh Tcpleoisbiny, and from two to three during eac^ 
 
207 
 
 pcnod of working-. The reheating should be done in the ^fter part 
 of the day, and the liquor, if every thing goes on regular, will be 
 fit for work the morning of the second day afterwards. It is usual, 
 in all regular dye-houses, to reheat on Saturdays in the afternoon, 
 and again on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, according as the vat works. 
 For the first ten reheatings, there is added at each half a hundred 
 of woad, which makes the whole quantity used in one liquor tep 
 hundred and twelve pounds of indigo for each of tliirty-nine retreat- 
 ings. So long as the woad is added, the vat will require, after the 
 first days working, two quarter pecks of lime, and on the second 
 evening, one quarter peck. 
 
 It will be seen that for working one vat during six months, there 
 will be required half a ton of woad, and four hundred and ninety 
 pounds oftndigo. This vat, if skilfully managed, and prime indigo 
 is used, will colour two hundred and twenty pounds of wool every 
 week ; and as it will admit of being worked six weeks after the 
 last addition of indigo, there can be obtained from it, during the 
 working down, four hundred pounds of dark blue wool, two hun- 
 dred of half blue, and two of very light. This is the calculation 
 in all well regulated English dye-houses. 
 
 A woad vat is liable to be out of order from two causes; fiom 
 the lime being added in too great or too small a quantity, and al* 
 though the causes of these defects are directly opposite, yet the 
 first symptoms of the two bear so striking a similarity that it re- 
 quires considerable practical skill to judge from which of the two 
 it arises, and herein consists 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 chemists the panary, or that description of fermentation 
 which produces yeast. I am convinced of this by the great quan- 
 tity of carbonic acid gas that is liberated during the operation, and 
 from the fact that acetic acid destroys the working of the vat? 
 while yeast, bran, madder, malt, &c. promote it. At all events^ 
 irbatever may be the stage of fermentation, it is necessary to keep 
 
208 
 
 it always in one state, and tliis is regulated by quick lime. If too 
 much lime is added, the fermentation will cease ; the air bubbles? 
 instead of forming- a rich purple bede, will look white and burst 
 with a hissing" noise, and the liquor will feel slippery when rubbed 
 between the fingers. Whenever a skilful workman perceives this 
 coming on, be will stop working 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 shorts, (accord- 
 ing as the vat is more or less over-limed,) add an iron weight of 
 Iburteen 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 one 
 hundred and ten degrees ; in two or three days, and sometimes 
 sooner, if the vat is not much over limed, the bag wUl rise to the 
 top and give out a sour fetid smell. The liquor should now be 
 examined, and if it has recovered its fine green colour, smells of 
 the woad, and feels rough, the bag should be taken out and put on 
 3 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 
 one hundred and forty degrees. Let it be well stirred as soon as 
 the heat is up, and if it does not show the usual appearances of a 
 jjood liquor, add to it two or three buckets of the swill, and let it 
 lie close covered for three or four hours, when it must be again 
 stirred, and if not then at work add more swill, stir and add 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 has been used to force it will continue to operate so powerful- 
 ly, that unless the fermentation is timely checked by giving it lime, 
 the whole contents of the vat will be irrevocably lost. 
 
 When a vat is out of order for want of lirne, the bubbles that 
 rise will also be white and will fall with a hissing noise as before, 
 but the colour and feel of the liquor will be different The colour 
 when overlimed will be of a light dirty looking yellow, and 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 
 fitfgers. When it goesloff from this cause, as much lime should be 
 
209 
 
 acided as will bring it back to a healthful state, and the liquor 
 should be heated to 1 50^ or 1 60" Fh'f On adding the lime, put in 
 & bucket of swill to revive the panary fermentation, which will 
 have been injured 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 tathe working of the liquor during the day 
 and gives it a critical inspection when stirred in the evening. 
 
 A vat 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 the fermentation, 
 with lime, when it comes too again ; but when a vat is out of or- 
 der, 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 rapid- 
 Jy, 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 arising from 
 a putrefactive fermentation having taken place. When tliis oc- 
 curs, the contents of the vat is lost, and all attempts to revive it, 
 will be only incurring expense without the least prospect of suc- 
 cess. But such extreme cases never can occur wh.ere the work- 
 men have had due practice, and are at all attentive to their busi- 
 ness. 
 
 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, distiller's swill, beer 
 grounds, yeast, and ground grain of all kinds — it is useless, how- 
 ever, for a dyer to use too many, and in fact, Cornell and madder 
 will answer every purpose. No stronger proof can be given of 
 the liabihty of mankind to be deceived, than the fact that a few 
 years since, a work was sold, in a pamphlet form, in all parts of 
 this country by a foreigner at fifty and even one hundred dollars 
 each, professing to contain a substitute for woad, which, after all. 
 proved to be nothing more than the swill I have before described. 
 
210 
 
 tizi has for a lon» time been used by many woad dyers lo promolt! 
 llie fermentation of their rats. However strang-e it may appeai 
 10 intellig^ent persons, there are at this time a great many who 
 firmly believe that a liquor from bran, madder, and hops posses- 
 ^l the Tirtue of woad. 
 
 It may not be amiss to recapitulate what has been said relative 
 to the working of the woad rat, when every thing goes on in a 
 regular way. 
 
 It is dLficuIt to give directions, by which a vat of this kind may 
 be worked r»gularly, as any little variation in the strength of the 
 woad, or of the lime, will prevent it. The judgment of the rat- 
 man must therefore be exercised on all occasions, and lime and 
 ferments added according to the situation of the liquor. The near- 
 lit rule that can be given, is the following: 
 
 A vat, as I bare before stated, that is set with five hundred of 
 itrong woad will take ten quarter pecks of lime when brought to 
 work, after working the first day, it will require two quarters, and 
 after the second days working, one quartern. It has then to be 
 >enewed by adding twelre pounds of indigo, fifty-six pounds of 
 woad, three pounds of madder, and one gallon of Cornell, the heat 
 being brought up to ISO*' Fh. before the ingredients are added. 
 The rat to be well stirred after the ingredients are put in, and 
 again at nine o'clock the same evening, also tliree or foiir times 
 during the following day ; at the last stirring, if the state of the 
 vat should not require it sooner, add two quarter pecks of lime, 
 iilso two after the first days working, and one after the second 
 days. These directions are to be foDowed during every renewal 
 to long as woad is addend, but afterwards when only indigo and fer- 
 ments are put in, one quarter peck after renewing, one quarter 
 the first night after working, and half a one the second night, will 
 l>e suScieiAt. When neither indigo nor woad is put in, tliat is, 
 while the v^t is working down, a still Einaller quantity is requisite. 
 
211 
 
 When cloth has to be coloured iu the woad va(. it is first tc he 
 well scoured with fullers^ earth, and then boiled with one and a 
 half pound of cutbear for each end of twenty yards for one liour. 
 The liquor being- cdolcd down, the cloth is to be wound up. on the 
 reel and left to drain ; the workmen then throws it on a hand-bar- 
 row, and carries it to the vat on which they lay the barrow, the 
 cloth is lifted bj' the men into ihe liquor, one fold at a time, open 
 and square, and a third person takes it in with two lig'ht 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 the 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, accord- 
 ing- to the deptii of the colour wauted, and the strength of the vat. 
 The hawks are made of iron, with sockets, which are placed in 
 wootlen handles about eig-hteen inches long-. At the end of the 
 sockets are iron rowels about the size of a cent, and nearly as 
 thick, the rowels are notched, and with these the cloth is worked 
 backwards and forwards. It is necessary to be very particular 
 during the work that no air be admitted under the cloth, for when 
 this occurs, it will leave light-coloured spots on it. The hawlser 
 must have considerable practice to perform this work with perfect 
 safety. 
 
 It often occurs in England, that cloth is dyed in the flannel be- 
 fore it is fulled. When this is done, it must be well scoured in 
 fullers^ earth, after it has been boiled and the lists covered with 
 webbing, and then worked in the vat after the same manner as the 
 cloth. When it has been coloured, it is well washed, scoured in 
 fullers' earth, and the webbing taken off. It is now fit for fulling. 
 When fulled and cut to the furnace, the colour is made up to pat- 
 tern in the vat, without covering the lists with webbing. If yel- 
 low list has been employed, its colour will be a lively green when 
 finished, and it would require a good judg^c to distinguish the cloth 
 from wool dved. 
 
212 
 
 RECEIPTS FOR DYING BLUE IX THE FURx\ACE. 
 
 THIS is often done for very common purposes, but never on 
 any thing like fine goods. The following is tlie best receipt I have 
 known for dying blue in the furnace, it is intended for twenty- 
 eight pounds of stuff. Use 
 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 
 2 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 2 do. of muriate of tin, (tin dissolved in spirits of salt.} 
 
 2h do. 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 chemick ; let the liquor boil 
 after the chemick is in fourteen njinutes, 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 to a dirty brown. 
 
 A blue may be made with logwood, by previously boiling the 
 frooUens, to be dyed, in copperas and blue vitriol ; but this is so 
 wretched a colour, and so very fugitive, that it would be unwor- 
 thy of a place in a work professing to give instructions for dying 
 of cloth. The process may be found in almost all the works on 
 small dying. 
 
 Receipts for colouring a full navy blue, for mixtures, for sattinet, 
 or other coarse work. It is for eighty pounds of scoured wool. 
 
 For the boiling use. 
 
 12 pounds of alum. 
 3^ do. of argol. 
 Boil these one hour, -cool down, heave in the wool, and boil two 
 
213 
 
 iiours and a half; let it lie in all night. Prepare a fresh liquor, in 
 i which boil 
 
 18 pounds uf logwood. 
 
 5 do. of peachvrood (nicaragua.) 
 Boil the wares two hours, tlien the goods two and a half, and let it 
 lie all night, wash. &c. 
 
 TO DYE BLUE ON COTTON. 
 
 I NEED not say much on this subject, as the vat for dying blue 
 on cotton, is very well known in this country. 
 
 A vat of one hundred gallons is 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 and a half pounds 
 of diT 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 wiil 
 be fit for use ; some persons add a little pot-ash, 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 with seven pounds of white soap, until 
 the silk becomes wliite. 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 striugs ?re sufficient for one s<^ick. It is now fit 
 for dying, which raust be done in the ash-vat to the pattern want~ 
 ed. 
 
211 
 
 TO DYE SILK A SAPPHIRE BLUE. 
 
 WASH the silk out of the suds after the boiliogr process last des. 
 cribed, pump up a bath with cold spring water, put into it a ladle 
 of alum liquor, (being from four to &ye quarts,) prepare half a pint 
 of sulphate of indigo, or what is usually called chemick, of which 
 add to the water as much as may be wanted to produce the intend- 
 ed colour, and as the silk will be of the colour of the liquor, there 
 will be no difficulty in the operation. Colours maybe died in this 
 way from a pale to a dark sky blue. 
 
 TO DYE SILK A MAZARINE BLLT:. 
 
 FOR this colour the silk mu?t be prepared by boiling it in black 
 soap; wash out of the suds and siick up. The colour has to be 
 filled up with cutbear. Make a strong decocrion of this by tnjiliug 
 it one hour, and strain the clear liquor through a siere into a back. 
 The silk has to be well worked in the cutbear liquor for a conside- 
 rable time: wring out. head it oif in seven or eight knots, and 
 heave it into the blue vat till of the colour wanted, ^^'ring out, 
 well-wash, 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 lage butt, pour on boiling wa- 
 ter, stir well and let it stand a week. IVIake use of this liquor to 
 produce the lather with soap that is used for finishing the silk. It 
 must always be used cold. Wherever directions are given for 
 using a lather, after silk is dyed, it always refers to tbat which i& 
 here mentioned. 
 
ki5 
 
 RECEIPTS FOR COLOURING OF RED. 
 
 MADDER reds are usually done on woollens after they have been 
 fulled, as the soap used in fulling changes the colour of 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. I shall give two receipts, one for a flannel, and 
 another for a baize weighing fifty-seven pounds, and it will be easy 
 for those who wish to dye red to add or reduce from the receipts 
 according to the weight of the material they may want to colour. 
 
 Doctor Cooper asserts?, p. 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 a bright red, but 
 Tather of a brick colour. 
 
 FOR DYING A FLANNEL RED. 
 
 FOR each one, use in the boiling or preparation, 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 1 do. of argol, or tartar. 
 ^ do. of tin liquor. 
 
 The ingredients are put into the water when it is boiling, and the 
 goods are boiled two hour 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, are rolled up close togeth- 
 er, then wraped up in a thick coarse cloth, and left three or four 
 
216 
 
 davs, 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 are to be thrown in, which is to be scummed otf just as it be- 
 gins to boil. When the water is scummed clean, the heat must be 
 lowered down to about 130° Fh. Let the madder now be put in 
 and well stirred through the liquor, then the cloth must be rapidly 
 entered and kept briskly turned over thie 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. 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 SO^'^ Fh., 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 mi- 
 nutes, and it will be red enough. When the cloth is taken out of 
 the furnace rinse it well in clear water till clean, and dry it in the 
 tenters as soon afterwards as possible. 
 
 TO DYE A RED ON A LONG BAIZE WEIGHING FROM 
 FIFTY TO SIXTY POUNDS. 
 
 For boiling use. 
 10 pounds of alum. 
 3i do. of fine argol. 
 3 do. of tin liquor. 
 Boil the ingredients, as before directed, then the cloth during two 
 hours and a half, wrap up and scour as before. For finishing, use 
 twenty -five pounds of the best crop madder, and proceed as for 
 fianoels. 
 
217 
 
 Receipt for a maMer red for twenty yards of cloth, in which 
 none of the tin liquor is used. These colours are of a dark rich 
 red, but do not approach as near to the scarlet as either of %. 
 others. 
 
 For the lolling, use 
 
 4 pounds of alum. 
 
 6 ounces of cream of tartar. 
 Boil the wares as for the 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, use to to each yard nine ounces of the best crop 
 madder in a fresh liquor. The cloth should be had in at a blood 
 heat, and well reeled for six hours : by this time the liquor should 
 just break out to a spring heat, the fire to be then drawn, and the 
 cloth to run half an hour afterwards. Proceed as for the other 
 reds. 
 
 Those who attempt to dye red on woollen must take care not to 
 let the madder liquor boil, as the yellow of the madder will becomie 
 fixed on the goods, and spoil the colour. 
 
 TO DYE RED ON COTTON. 
 
 IT is to be understood, that in the receipts I obtained from Man^ 
 Chester, for dying of cotton, there will usually be two given for pro- 
 ducing each colour-the first will be for the best and most perma- 
 nent colour, and the second, for such as are common and cheap. 
 
 Receipt 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 wash- 
 ed, dry, and divide it into handfuls of half a pound each; tie a 
 19 
 
218 
 
 uuu eacn parcel loosely, so as to leave room for the dye 
 ^ - . .rate under the string's. For each pound of cotton, take 
 four onnces of well pounded nut-galls, boil them half an hour, or 
 until the g^lls 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 gal^ 
 liquor on it — proceed in the same way with every pound of cotton, 
 until all is done — let the whole lie till 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 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 everj* pound of it two ounces 
 of pearl-ash — 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 maddering, put one pound and a 
 half on each stick, wash it quite clean in running water, and 
 \vring welL 
 
 Pracesss the third. Take a tub large enough to wash the cot- 
 ton in, fill it with warm water, and dissolve in it one ounce of 
 pearl-ash for every pound of cotton, turn the cotton in as you 
 would the yam in the blue vat, work it in the liquor for fifteen 
 minutes, wring out evenly, and it will be ready for the following 
 process. 
 
 Process the fourth. Take a broad copper pan, lar^e enough to 
 hold for every pound of cotton, twelve quarts of water, put into 
 Uiis liquor one pound of the best crop madder for each pound of 
 cotton, fill the pan within seven of eight inches of the top^whea 
 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 
 
219 
 
 ihe 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 hollo vr and 
 straight, and let it lie so for an hour or more — 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 drj'. In the summer dr}' it in the shade, in the 
 winter in a stove. 
 
 Process the ffth. If the colour be not deep enough, take to every 
 pound of cotton four ounces of brazilletto chips, boil them one hour 
 and strain off the liquor into a tub, 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. 
 
 Receipt for a common madder red on cotton. 
 
 After the cotton has been well boiled and washed, use to eacfh 
 pound one and a half pound of galls, boil as before, turn in the cot- 
 ton, squeeze out, turn in again, handle well and let it lay all night. 
 Wring it out in the morning, and for each pound of cotton boil one 
 pound of cl lipped brazilletto for half an hour, take off the clear 
 liquor and add a liltle urine or lime till 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, proceed with this liquor as 
 with the last, when it is so cool that you can bear the hand in it, 
 ilissolve for each pound of cotton two ounces of alum and add it 
 ■ the liquor, mix well and turn in the cotton, work quick at first, 
 en slower, turn down and let it lie one hour, then wring out and 
 irn it in the liquor that was first boiled, work it well in this and 
 turn it down for fifteen minutes, then raise out and wring a little 
 ' see if it be of the right shade ; should it be too muph on the 
 
^0 
 
 crimson, you must dissolve for each pound of cotton half an ounce 
 of alum in the colouring liquor, turn in the cotton aguin and han- 
 dle eight or ten times, wring out and dry, in the summer in the 
 shade, in the winter in a stove, or warm room. 
 
 Receipt to dye silk of a blood red. 
 
 I cannot answer for this receipt ; 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 full 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 pail full of wa- 
 ter, set it over the fire till 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 qnarts 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 pot-ash, boil it again one 
 hour, then pour it into as much river water as there is liquor. 
 
 Take out the bag containing the Brazil, 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 opera- 
 tion and dry it in the shade ; if the colour be not strong enough, 
 boil the dye ag^in and repeat the operation. Pass the silk through 
 a lather of soap and rinse in clean river water. 
 
 To dye yellow on wool and wool If n eloth. 
 
 For a piece of Lancashire flannel. For the boiling, use 
 
221 
 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 
 J do. 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 welds and a small quan- 
 tity of pearl-ash. This is a very beautiful and highly permanent 
 colour ; the pattern I have by me is still very brilliant and full- 
 bodied, though it was dyed more than twenty years since. 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 yel- 
 low, but not of so fine a green tinge, nor so permanent as the weld- 
 To colour nine pounds of wool a Jine yellow. 
 
 Boil with one and a half pounds 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 welds, boil a quarter of an hour and let lie in all night. — 
 Take out in the morning, wash, and dry it. 
 
 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 
 30 pounds of weld. 
 6 do. of fustic. 
 Boil the ingredients in bags two hours, cool down, heave in the 
 wool, and boil it one hour, run the furnace up till coo!, land the 
 wool, wash and dry it. 
 
 19- 
 
222 
 
 To colour one hundred and thirty pounds of list yaj-n a strong 
 
 yellow. 
 
 For the hoilin^^ use 
 18 pounds of alum. 
 2 do. of cream ®f tartar. 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, cool down, heave in the yam, boil 
 it two hours, and let it lie all night. Bring on a fresh liquor in 
 the morning and boil fifty pounds of fustic chips in bags for two 
 jiours, lift the bags out, heave in the yarn, boil it one hour, land 
 and wash, or if not strong enough in colour, let it lie in all night. " 
 
 It is necessary, when yarn is dyed for list, that it should be pret- 
 ty <rell alumed to prevent its fulling up faster than the cloth. 
 
 Three receipts for dying yellow on cotton. 
 
 The cotton for this colour must be very well cleansed previousv 
 Jy to dying, and when bleached, it will take a fine colour. Whe- 
 ther it is raw or bleached, it must be boiled in the twisted hank, 
 in soft water, until it sinks in the liquor, and must then be well 
 washed. To prepare it for receiving the dye, boil it with six 
 ounces of alum, and one ounce of verdigris for each pound of cot- 
 ton — alurii it twice, as directed, for red, and in the second alum- 
 ing, 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 the cotton ; when the colour is nearly drawn out of 
 this, wring out, turn in the other half of the liquor, and wjien the 
 rolour is drawn out of that also, which it will be in about fifteen 
 minutes, then wring out, and it is finished. 
 
 Second receipt for dying yellow on cotton. 
 
 When thp cotton is dry, after alurning, take one pound of welds, and 
 
223 
 
 oue and a half ounce of pearl-ash to eacli pound of cotton — wlicn 
 this liquor has been well boiled, wring the cotton and turn it in at 
 the usual heat for fifteen or twenty minutes, raise it out and dis- 
 solve 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 g-reen 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 sauce*. pan, with two or three 
 ounces of pearl-ash, adding a very little of this solution to the 
 weld liquor before putting in the cotton ; but if too much of this 
 be added, the yellow will be too brown. 
 
 Third receipt for dying yellow on cotton. 
 
 Let the cotton be boiled and well washed. Dissolve for each 
 pound one ounce of alum, turn in the cotton, handle well, let it 
 lie for half an hour, and wring out even. For each pound of cot- 
 ton, use one pound of ground black oak bark, add to it one-eightli 
 of an ounce of pearl-ash, and pour on it as much boiling water as 
 will soak the cotton twice ; stir these well together, 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 quan- 
 tity of verdigris as in the last, wring out and dry in tlie shade. 
 
 Receij,t for dying yellow on silk. 
 
 Boil the silk in soap till white, wash it well out, and alum, wash 
 it in two cold waters. Fill a furnace with clear soft water, put 
 into it half a bundle of welds, and bring it to a spring heat, but not 
 to boil out. Prepare a bath of clean soft water, and put into it of 
 ijie yellow weld Jiquor to the colour wanted. If for a deep yelloW: 
 
224 
 
 make up and finish in a lather of soap ; but if for a jonquillc, this 
 is not wanted — wring out and dry in a stove. 
 
 We began our dying receipts with black, and have proceeded 
 to give directions how to .make the dyers three primitive colours. 
 Before giving receipts for making compound colours, we shall give 
 instructions for dying white on woollens and silk, and stoving them. 
 
 Woollen cloth and cassimere are many of them coloured white 
 for military uniforms and facings, and it is for such purposes most 
 of them are used. White cassimere waistcoats, however, are not 
 unfrequently used as well as white cloth pantaloons. Flannels are 
 often whitened in the stove by sulphur bleaching. 
 
 Receipt for colouring one hundred and sixty pounds of cloth of an 
 
 uniform %chite» 
 
 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 stains that may 
 be likely to show, when coloured. It has then to be well pized 
 w^ith fullers' earth, and afterwards looked over again to see if any 
 defects make their appearance that were not before visible ; and if 
 any there are that will not discharge by rubbing with warm soap 
 9uds, the cloth will not be fit for whitening. 
 
 ^"hile the cloth has been preparing, a clean copper furnace, 
 holding one hundred gallons of water, must be nearly filled and 
 brouglit on to boil ; whilst the heat is coming up, shave into it 
 twelve or fourteen pounds of the best white soap, and bring it to 
 boil. Care must be taken when it begins to boil, that it does not 
 flow over the furnace, wliich it is very apt to do ; to prevent this, 
 keep a bucket of cold water by the furnace, and when you find 
 that stirring with a rake will not prevents its rising, throw in the 
 water. When the liquor has boiled a sufficient time to dissolve 
 all the soap completely, take a bucket of the liquor, say three gal- 
 
225 
 
 Ions, mix it with tTiree of soft water, and with it scour the clotb 
 ag^in in the stocks without washing out the soap. 
 
 Uniform whites may be coloured either in large wooden backs, 
 ot 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 appropriated 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 chemick is put 
 in, just as much as will make the liquor of a sky blue, or darker, 
 if the colour requires it. Uniforms are, some of them, of a natu- 
 ral white, when they require only soap and sulphuring, they vary 
 from this to a very blue white, approaching to a faint sky colour — 
 the lattfer are never sulphured. The blue mixture has to be pass- 
 ed through a bag — some stout flannel is sewed into the form of a 
 jelly bag, and the top is secured round a wooden hoop. This bag 
 js first wetted, and then placed in the furnace, the soapy liquor 
 will pass through it, and fill the inside ; into this part of the liquor, 
 a small quantity of cliemick is poured, and stirred in so as to be 
 well mixed, the bag is drawn up by the rim, and the dilated 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 now entered, and rapidly moved over 
 the reel, and kept well opened during the whole time of working. 
 Have in at the heat of new milk, as before mentioned, and bnng 
 the heat up five or six degrees. In thirty or forty minutes, the 
 colouring will be finished. 
 
 This colour is not washed, but the cloth is folded up carefully 
 and smooth, and laid in a clean cloth, onascrave, horizontally; 
 
for if thrown across a djer^'s horse to drain, the colour will run to 
 the b'sts. ^^1JeQ cloth has been dyed w^itp it is always stove 
 dried. 
 
 On some occasions, the whites that are dyed without blueing, 
 are hang up in a sulphur house to black. A sulphur bouse for 
 cloth, is a square building, closely plastered, to prevent the sul- 
 phureous 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, vhen 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 op, some roll 
 sulphur bruised, is put on four iron dishes, which are previously 
 covered two or three inches thick with fine dry silecious sand, on 
 which the sulphur lies. One of these are put in each corA.er of 
 the room, and a small hole is left at the bottom of the building 
 near each pot, to admit a supply of external air for the purpose of 
 keeping the sulphur in a state of combustion. When these are 
 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 list 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 ; and when the t loth has un- 
 dergone this second process, it is finished sulphuring, and will 
 have to be tentered and dried. 
 
 It is DecesBary to observe, that cloth intended for uniform white. 
 is finished shearing before it is coloured, and that after dry, it need 
 only be beiiten in the tenters, with small white willow rods to ex- 
 tricate any soap that may hang on the face in a state of dust, the 
 beating should be done very lightlj. Sometimes a small quantity 
 of the best whiting is used in the soap lic^uor, but tb's is seldoxa 
 cecessarv. 
 
227 
 
 ON COMPOUND COLOURS. 
 
 HAVING given receipts, and the modes of working" for black 
 and white, and for the dyers three primitive colours, blue, yellow 
 and red, we will proceed to the compound colours, and shall be- 
 g-in with those that are compounded of blue and yellow consti- 
 tuting all that genera known by the name of green. I shaU, that 
 my directions may be more clearly understood, divide this genera 
 into four distinct classes : the true green, those colours which are 
 died with blue and yellow alone, in which neither of those colour- 
 ing matters predominate in any considei'able degree , into yellow 
 green, in which the yellow predominates ; into blue greens, in 
 which the blue has the ascendency, and, finally, into those greens 
 into which the red enters into the composition. 
 
 When cloth has to be dyed green, it must previously be well 
 pized with fullers' earth. 
 
 Of true green. 
 
 The following receipt is for a full bodied colour of this kind, on 
 thirty-three yards of seven-quarter Spanish felt," weighing about 
 forty-six pounds. 
 
 For the boiling, use 
 8 pounds of alum. 
 1 do. of chemick. 
 Boil the alum and chemick for half an hour, then heave in the cloth 
 and boil it one hour, take it out and boil in the same liquor 
 30 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 5 do. of alum. 
 3 do. of chemick. 
 Boil the alum and chips for one hour, then add the chemick, pour- 
 ing it into the boiling liquor in a small stream, not more than the 
 size of a wheaten 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 
 
228 
 
 over the reel as fast as two men can open it, for unless this be rap- 
 idly done, the colour will be uneven, as the blue strikes instantly. 
 Bring the furnace on to a boil and keep it boiling till of the colour 
 wanted. 
 
 In colouring- of green, when chemick is used, it is essential to 
 know that the goods take the blue first and then the yellow, and 
 that the long-er they are boiled the yellower the colour will be. — 
 Therefore in dying two or three pieces at once, as many difierent 
 colours may be taken successively out of the furnace. 
 
 When the desired colour is obtained, the cloth should be wound 
 upon the reel rapidly, and immediately thrown off into a back of 
 clear cold water. It must then be cleaned by streaming, as direct- 
 ed under the article cleansing of cloth. 
 
 For a very light grau green for about forty-one pounds of cloik, 
 
 Put into the water before it boils a quarter of a peck of bran and 
 one pound of tin liquor, bring the liquor to a boil, and when slowly 
 boiling scum off the bran as it rises. When the liquor has been 
 weU scummed, add 
 
 7 pounds of alum. 
 
 H do. of chemick. 
 Boil the alum half an hour, then add the chemick and boil ten 
 minutes ; run up the furnace, stir well, heave in the cloth and boil 
 it one hour. In the same liquor boil 
 
 10 pounds of fustic. 
 
 li do. of chemick. 
 
 2 do. of alum. 
 BotI the fustic and alum as in the last receipt, and add the che- 
 mick as there directed and boil as usual ; stir the liquor well, heave 
 in the cloth, boil till of the desired colour, cool down, and heave 
 out in a back of water. When finished, proceed as with the last. 
 
229 
 
 Very permanent greens of any colour may be made on cloth by 
 bluing it in the woad vat 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. 
 
 For dying wool 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 
 to be finished in the furnace with 
 
 80 pounds of fustic. 
 20 do. of welds. 
 
 The fustic to be boiled by itself two hours ; the welds to be en- 
 tered and boiled twenty minutes. The dye wares are now to be 
 taken out, the furnace run up, the liquor well stirred, the wool en- 
 tered and well 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 being well raked over and 
 briskly handled at the time, and between the throwing on of each 
 handful ; when the alum is all in, put on the fire and keep handling 
 until the liquor begins to boil, permitting the hquor to boil for half 
 an hour, then open the furnace door and let it lay all night. 
 
 Ic must be noted that wool should never be landed out of a rery 
 hot liquor, for this makes it stringy and difficult to work in the ma- 
 chines. When a large furnace of liquor has lain 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^^ Fh. 
 before the wool is left free of liquor. To perform the running off> 
 without permitting any wool to go with the liquor, let the work- 
 man, before turning the cock, thrust the wool from before the open- 
 ing with two or three large sticks ; when this has been done effec- 
 tually, put a circular shovel between the sticks, and before thet 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 opening to the cock, by which means the liquor will be permitted 
 to run off freely without any wool following it. 
 
 For a true green, the wool to be coloured in the vat as before. 
 The colouring materials prescribed in this receipt is for twenty 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 4 pounds of weld. 
 9| do. of rasped fustic. 
 I do. of logwood. 
 The materials to boil one hour; the bags taken out ; tlje liquor 
 run up with cold water ; the wool had in, and boiled two hours, 
 then strew over two pounds and a quarter of alum in the same man- 
 ner as directed for the last ; boil again for half an hour, and let 
 lay in all night. 
 
 For a very light true green — to he Jirst dyed a very light hlue. 
 
 It must be understood that in all cases when a furnace colour i' 
 done on a blue ground, and particularly when the colour is light 
 the blue must be washed very clean before it is dyed, otherwist 
 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 
 every twenty-four pounds of wool, and let lay in the liquor all night, 
 and then, without washing the wool, bring on a fresh 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 receipt makes a very bright beautiful green, being muc" 
 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 softne&s to the wool that no other appears to give. 
 
231 
 
 For a true green for two hundred pounds of wool. To be xcoadei 
 
 as usual. 
 
 For the boilings use 
 80 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 60 do of welds. 
 Tlje dye wares to boil two hours in bags, as usual — the furnace 
 run up and well stirred, the wool heaved in and boiled two hours', 
 then cool down, and strew over 
 
 10 pounds of fine pounded alum. 
 1 do of do green copperas. 
 
 After these are in, and the wool well handled, bring the liquor to 
 a boil, and let it lay all night. 
 
 Receipts for green in which the blue predominates. 
 
 There will be no occasion to give any receipt for making tliis 
 colour on cloth, as they may be easily made by lessening the quan- 
 tity of fustic, and increasing that of the cheraick, upon any of the 
 j.eceipts for true greens. 
 
 To dye one hundred and jxfiy pounds of wool, in which the blue 
 slightly predominates. 
 
 T o be first dyed blue in the vat, such as can be done for ten 
 cents per pound — tiien boil sixty pounds of fustic chips, in bags» 
 for two hours — take the bags out, run up, heave in the wool, and 
 boil it two hours — then run up again, and strew in nine pounds of 
 ground logwood, and one pound of pulverized blue vitriol, boil 
 two hours, again cool down, and strew in one pound of alum, and 
 one pound of green copperas, boil one hour, and let lay all night. 
 
Receipt for a bltie green, where the blue is stronger than the lasl^ 
 for two hundred and forty pounds <f wool. Dye in the blue val 
 f9 a fifteen cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use 
 OG pounds of chipped fustic. 
 20 do of welds. 
 1^ pint ofchemick. 
 1 pound of pearl-ash. 
 Let the fustic boil in ba^s two hours, then heave in the weld id 
 bags, and boil half an hour; take out the dye wares and put in the 
 chemick as directed for cloth — when this has been boiled, add the 
 pearl-ash 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 lay all night. 
 
 For a very light blue green, for sixty pounds of wooL 
 
 14 pounds of weld. 
 3 tea cups full of chemick. 
 
 Cause the welds to boil half an hour, then take out, and add the 
 chemick, as before directed — the liquor must now be run up, the 
 wool heaved 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 
 Jay in all nig-l.t. 
 
 In the two last receipts for wool-dyed .greens, the blue is made 
 with chemick. Although I cannot recommend those who are de- 
 sirous of obtainiJD^ credit in the market, to dye their greens in this 
 waj, yet as it is a cheaper mode than when the blue is made in the 
 %.at, it is not unfrcquentlj so done. 
 
233 
 
 Receipt for a very dark green, a liltle inclining to the Hue, for two 
 hundred and thirtxj pounds of wooL previously dyed a fifteen cent 
 blue- in the woad vat. 
 
 Fo r the boiling, use 
 86 pounds of chipp'd fustic. 
 30 do. of chipp'd logwood. 
 The vrares to be boiled in bags two hours, the liquor run up, 
 vrell stirred, and the wool had in. Let it be one hour coming to a 
 boil, and boil two hours — then cool down, and strew over ten 
 pounds of alum — boil half an hour, cool down again, and add four 
 pounds of copperas, and one pound of pearl-ash, boil one hour, and 
 let it lay in 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 thirteen 
 cent blue. 
 
 13 pounds of umbro madder. 
 130 do. of logwood. 
 Let the wares be boiled two hours, the liquor cooled down, well 
 stirred, and the wool entered — then the liquor is to be boiled three 
 hours, and when it is cooled down, strew over it four and a half 
 pounds of alum, and thirteen pounds of copperas — boil half an hour, 
 cool down, and let it lay all night. 
 
 For a middling blue green for two hundred and five pounds of 
 wool — to be first woaded a nine cent blue, 
 21 pounds of alum. 
 Boil this half an hour, run up, heave in the wool and boil it two 
 hours — then heave out and wash. Prepare a fresh liquor, an'A 
 boil in it 
 
 40 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 7 do of umbro madder, 
 20* 
 
Boil the Trares two hour?, cool donrn, heaFe in the wool and boil il 
 ihree hoars — let it lay all nights 
 
 For a rerj light green in which Che blue predominates — for &"- 
 •ty-six pounds of wool first woaded to a four cent blue, use 
 9 pouads of fustic. 
 
 Let the wood be boiled two hour?, tlic bag taken out, the Aimace 
 run up, the wool heaved in, and hoiled three boars, and let it lar 
 &I1 night. 
 
 Receipts for greens in xchich the yellow predominate*. 
 
 In these will be included bronze and oliye greens. Bronze 
 greens are those colours which are of a rich olive, having a very 
 strong body of yellow. 
 
 For a ric"h bronze for two liundred pounds of wool, that Iras 
 t>een coloured a full twenty cent blue. 
 
 80 pounds of chipped fustic 
 
 50 6o. of welds. 
 X.et the fustic boil two hours, then heave in the weld, and boil half 
 an hoar — take flie wares oat of the liquor, stir, heave in the wool, 
 and boil it two hours — then cool down and strew over it ten pounds 
 of pounded alum, and one pound of dissolved copperas — let it now 
 hoil one bouT. and let it lay all night- 
 
 For a bronze on hco hundred and tixty pound* of u>ooL 
 
 This is For a rich and very fall colour. It has first to -be dyed ia 
 ye vat of a light seven cent blue. 
 
 Tor the boiUng, wre. 
 130 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 70 do. of weld. 
 4 do. of chipped l(^wood. 
 •L-efOKJ iDgTcdients be "boiled as before, for two hours, fbe farwrr* 
 
235 
 
 an up, well stirreJ, the wool heaved in and boiled two hours — 
 fhen cool down, strew over it twelve pounds of alum and two 
 pounds of arg-ol, or cream of tartar; boil ag-ain one hour — let the 
 liquor be cooled down a second time and *trew over it nine 
 pounds of dissolved copperas, and one of g-round log-wood — let the 
 liquor boil one hour, and the wool lay all night. 
 
 For one hundred and sixty pounds of a lighter bronze, and not so 
 
 yellow as the last. 
 
 This has to be Tvoaded to a lig-ht fourteen cent blue. 
 
 For (he boiling, uee 
 €5 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 40 do of welds. 
 The wares to be boiled two hours, the bag's taken out, the liquor 
 Kjooled down, well stirred, the wool heaved in and boiled one hour 
 and a half — then cool down, and strew over it eight pounds of 
 pounded alumj boil one hour, cool down again, and strew over it 
 from half to three-quarters of a pound of dissolved coppei-as — boil 
 three-quarters of an hour, and let it lay all night. This is called 
 -an emerald green, and is a very beautiful colour. v 
 
 For a fine olive green. For two hundred pounds of wool woaded 
 to a nine cent blue, Mse for. the boiling, 
 
 190 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 45 do of weld. 
 Boil the fustic two hours, then the weld half an hour ; take out the 
 d^^e wares, run up with water, stir well, heave in the wool and 
 boil two hours — then cool down and strew over it ten pounds of 
 alum and two pounds of dissolved copperas — boil one hour, and 
 *et it lay all night. 
 
236 
 
 For a dark bottle green of the bronze hue^ for one hundred and for- 
 ty pounds of icooly made a full eleven cent blue. 
 
 For the boiling, use 
 
 80 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 
 15 do. of welds. 
 Boil the wares as before, cool down, stir well, heave in the wool 
 and boil two hours — then cool down, and strew over it seven 
 pounds of pounded alum, and three pounds of madder — boil one 
 hour, and let it lay all night. 
 
 To dye bottle greens of different shades, take from 
 
 ^ 4 to 10 pounds of fustic. ) /. .i , ,. 
 Wares for I 3 to 12 do. of lo-wood. J ^^ the boiling, 
 each score \ For saddening, 
 
 of wool, j 1 pound of alum. J 
 
 j i do. of coj^ras, more or less. 5 
 
 The wool to be died to a fourteen cent blue, 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 receipts, leave out one-third of the yellow dyes, and add 
 from one to three pounds of barwood or «amwood. As much mad- 
 der would be still better than the woods. 
 
 We have now gone through all that will be necessar}- for colour- 
 ing of greens on wool and woollen cloth, having given ample di- 
 rections for each class of this colour, and shall now proceed to give 
 receipts for producing greens on cotton and silk. 
 
 The two folloioing receipts are for dying green on cotton. 
 
 Cotton for this colour must be well boiled in a solution of pot- 
 
237 
 
 ash, then washed and dyed blue, to the shade wanted in the cop- 
 peras vat. 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 the 
 pound of cotton, dry and wasli 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 in the 
 cotton and turn it eight or ten times ; then raise it out of the liquor 
 and dissolve one ounce of blue vitriol for each pound of cotton, 
 put it into the fustic liquor, turn the cotton in, and work it round 
 eight or ten times — then turn it down, and let it lay for twenty or 
 thirty minutes — wring out, ^y and wash, and then it is mished. 
 
 Second receipt in which part of the blue is directed to be put on with 
 logwood, is cheaper. 
 
 Boil the cotton well, was'n and give it a light ground in the cot- 
 ton 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 se- 
 veral 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 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 and a half ounce 
 of copperas, half an ounce of sugar of lead, and two ounces of 
 blue \Utriol, dissolve these together in the warm water ; when dis- 
 •solved, add one ounce of pounded whiting a little at a time ; take 
 <]{ the clean liquor, and turn in the cotton, work well, wring out 
 :and turn in again, and let it lay all night — ^in the morniog wring' 
 
238 
 
 out, dry and wash. 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 sumac will deepen the co- 
 lour. It may be made lighter or darker, by adding- or diminishing 
 the copperas. If tlie drugs be dissolved in logwood water, tbe 
 olire will be greenish. 
 
 To colour cotton a common oUve. 
 
 For this colour, the cotton is began and worked exactly the 
 =ame as for chocolate ; but instead of brazilletto, you must give it 
 fustic liquor, in which well work it. For a greenish olive, dis- 
 solve 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, and when it has been well worked, wring 
 out on a pin, and give for each pound, half an ounce of blue vitriol, 
 let it lay 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 ihe patLern wanted, in a blue rat; 
 either the woad or ash vat will ansvrer. 
 
 I^or a Sdxon g-recn. 
 
 Wash out of soap suds and stick up. Boil ground green ebony 
 in a copper vessel, strain off into a tub through a sieve, add che- 
 mick to the colour wanted. To be used with very little beat, wash 
 in two cold waters, wring out, hang up and dry. 
 
 To colour silk a dark olive. 
 
 Boil with coloured soap, and wash well out — allum and well 
 wash — put mto clear warm water half a ladle of strong fustic li- 
 
239 ' 
 
 quor, and 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 to be of a brown hue, it will do without a lather. 
 
 Having given an assortment of receipts for all those colours 
 that is the product of blue and yellow, we shall now proceed to 
 that class of colours that is the product of yellow and red, which 
 will include scarlets, buffs, oranges, auroras, wine colours, and a 
 certain class of browns, &c. &c., for which receipts will be given 
 in the order they are here mentioned. 
 
 Of scarlet, 
 
 I have already given directions for preparing the tin liquor ; and 
 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, as the least variation in this 
 particular, will make a sensible difference in the colour. 
 
 I shall give two receipts for producing scarlets from my father's 
 practice, one as it was done thirty years since, and the other of 
 modem date. A third will be given, called Nash's scarlet. The 
 receipts will be given for a certain number of yards of broadcloth, 
 each yard weighing about one pound, six or seven ounces. I have 
 already described the kind of cochhaeal that must be used to pro- 
 duce the best colours, and that when sylvestre is used, those sam- 
 ples having the largest grains, with the least white or grey 
 down on them, and which are the least adulterated, should be 
 preferred. 
 
 It will be necessary to give directions for the workmanship, be- 
 fore giving receipts for dying. 
 
 In dying of scarlet, the furnace, if of copper or bras?, must be 
 kept very bright and clean. If of block-tin, the liquor may be 
 
240 
 
 fermhxed to remain in the famace from one day to another ; but 
 when of copper or brass, it mast be emptied eFery night, scoured 
 qnite clean, and fresh liquor made the succeeding- day. This di- 
 rection has to be obserred for all colours where soluticKis of tin are 
 used as well as for every other delicate colour. ! 
 
 A willow basket, such as I hare before described, is used in all 
 these colours. It is aUo necessary to cover the curb with clean 
 white canvass, to prevent the goods dyed from receiving any stain 
 from it. The canvass should be secured to the top o£ the basket, and 
 hang over the outside of the curb, against the furnace, for six or 
 nine inches. The reel should be made of clear white pine, free 
 from knots, the broading and stopping sticks should be of dry 
 wUte 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 off into a back of c^ld spring water. The 
 back should be of an oval form, about three feet over in the cen- 
 tre, as long as the cloth is wide, and be made of some clean 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 
 mast be kept well opened by the broads-men. 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, unt<l quite clean, 
 and tentered as soon after as possible. 
 
 Before a new made 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 bran, bring the liquor to boil, which will 
 cause the bran to rise to the top, let this be scununed clean off 
 with a fine sieve, and the hqoor will be ready fer use. 
 
 The cream of tartar ajid other drugs used for this colour, shoukl 
 be ground or pounded very fine. 
 
241 
 
 For dying two pieces of seven quarter Spanish felt, measuring thir- 
 ty-seven yards each, and weighing about one hundred and seven- 
 teen pounds. 
 
 Use for the boiling, 
 
 3 pounds of clean white alum. 
 
 2i do, of turmeric. 
 
 2i do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 6 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 1^ pounds 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 i^pidly, put on the fire, and bring the 
 liquor to boil as soon .is possible — keep it rapidly boiling during 
 one hour, cool the liquor down, reel the cloth up the wirch, and 
 heave it out in the back, as before mentioned — then let the cloth 
 he well streamed, and while that is doing, add to the boiling liquor. 
 
 1^ pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 4| do. of cochineal. 
 
 6 pints of tin liquor. 
 Boil the cream of tartar and tin liquor four or five minutes, put in 
 the cochineal and boil five mintites, cool down, stir well, and enter 
 the cloth, taking care to keep it in rapid motion, and well opened, 
 all the time of going; boi' for thirty or forty minutes, cool down 
 and heave out in the back, as before. The girtweb has now to be 
 taken off the lists, the cloth streamed until Uioroughly cleaned, and 
 then tentered as soon after as possible. 
 
 Scarlets dyed, according to the last receipt, were ricli and full 
 bodied, but were not of that fine flame colour which is 7equired by 
 tlv fashion of the present day. When alum is used with cochineal, 
 it increases the hody of the colour, and gives it a blue tint an- 
 preaching towards a pink colour. 
 
 21 
 
242 
 
 For dying sevcniy-sijc yards of seven-quarter Spanish Jelt, a Jim 
 Jlame coloured scarlet, such as is now in demand, weighing one 
 hundred and twenty pounds. 
 
 Use for the boiling, 
 3 pounds of cream of tartar. 
 2 do. of turmeric. . 
 6 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 2 pounds of cochineal. 
 
 Put these ingredients into the liquor, successively, as directed for 
 the last, and when the last is in, boil ten minutes, cool down, stir 
 well and heave in the cloth rapidly ; boil one hour, cool down and 
 heave out, as before directed. Let the cloth be well streamed, 
 and whilst that is doing, bring the liquor on to a boil, and add for 
 the finishing 
 
 3 pounds of cream of tartar. 
 2 do. of turmeric. 
 
 6 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 5 or 6 pounds of cochineal. 
 Put the ingredients in as directed for the boiling, cool down, stir 
 Nvell, heave in the cloth and boil rapidly, from thirty minutes to 
 one hour, according to the colour wanted — heave out in a back of 
 water, and proceed as before. 
 
 A manufacturer of the name of Nash, became celebrated for 
 dying of scarlet, and the colour has taken its name from him, be- 
 ing called Nash's scarlet. The principal diiference, however, be- 
 tween 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 ; and this advantage was more the result of 
 a peculiar mode of making the goods, thr^n of any superiority in 
 the dying. The warp, as I have been informed, was spun with as 
 little twist as would answer for weaving, and the filling as loose as 
 it could be spun, so as to follow the shuttle. A gentleman, who 
 was a late partner of Nash's successor, is now in Virginia, 
 
243 
 
 For dying a J^ash^s scarlet on two pieces of thirty-two yards, each 
 weighing ninety-six pounds. 
 
 This colour has two boilings before the finishing operation, and 
 mast be considered as in imitation of Nash's dying. 
 
 For the first boiling, use 
 li pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 4 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 li pounds of fine argol. 
 1 pound of turmeric. 
 
 1 do. of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the ingredients as before, cool down, heave in the cloth and 
 boil one hour. It has to be boiled a second time without stream- 
 ing, only previously cooling the cloth by throwing it backward 
 and forward. 
 
 For the second boilings use 
 
 8 ounces of turmeric. 
 
 4 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 3 pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 1 pound of cochineal. 
 Proceed as before, boil two hours, heave out and stream well — 
 then use for finishing, 
 
 5 pounds of cochineal. 
 
 6 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 2 pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 Heave in the cloth, as before, and boil till done, which will be iu 
 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 an appearance of great intensity. 
 
 It is usual in all establishments where scarlet dying is carried on 
 upon a large scale, to colour twenty or lliirty pieces in one day. 
 
244 
 
 auJ by this meaos, much expense is saved. If a furnace is broughi 
 on early in the morning, some pieces are boiled in the first opera- 
 tion, this prepares the liquor for fioishing- ; three or four lots that 
 were boiled a day or two before, are then finished in the same li- 
 quor, and aftenvards 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 raluable drug is taken out of the 
 finishing liquor — tin liquor, cream of tartar, and turmeric, are 
 added in the quantity prescribed ; but no cochineal, excepting for 
 the second boiling — the third and fourth lots are called runs, and 
 are boiled a second time. Sometimes a whole day is employed in 
 boiling, when the practice prescribed, in the receipts given for 
 boiling is followed, excepting for the two last, in which the cochi- 
 neal is left out. 
 
 To colour scarlet with the colouring matter of shell lac, knotcn by 
 the name of lac lake. 
 
 I have two receipts for this colour, one that was obtained rom 
 the specification of the patentee, and the second from a relation 
 who used it in dying of scarlet v.orsted for manufacturing of worst- 
 ed webbing. 
 
 In the first tLs lac spirits has to be prepared by dissolving four 
 ounces of tin in a pint of spirits of salt, which must be performed 
 by digesting the mixture in a sand heat. The following compost 
 has ihen to be made : to ten pounds of lac spirits, put six pounds 
 eight ounces of lac lake powdered fine, six pounds eight ounces of 
 ground cream of tartar, four ounces of pounded turmeric, eight 
 ounces of cochineal, one pound of saflower, and four ounces of 
 diluted oil of vitriol. 
 
 One pound of said mixture to be used to produce a scarlet on 
 two pounds of woollen yarn or cloth. 
 
 la the second they take three and a half pounds of lac spirits, i* 
 
245 
 
 which is put two and a half pounds of pounded lake, and three 
 pounds of cream of tartar, which is well mixed at least twenty-four 
 hours before using it. This quantity is employed to colour twen- 
 ty pounds of worsted. 
 
 As cotton is never dyed scarlet, we shall proceed to silk. 
 
 Boil twenty pounds of silk in a liquor with four pounds of black 
 soap for three hours. Take any quantity of annatto, ground fine, 
 to each pound of annatto, add four ounces of pearl-ash, these are 
 to be ground together in a copper pan, with copper balls similar 
 to 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 tliat the liquor 
 which drains off may return into the furnace. When drained, 
 wash the silk in four warm waters and hang up six knots on each 
 stick. Take of tin liquor one pint, add it to water of a good heat, 
 and this will be suflScient for ten pounds ef silk, give a few turns, 
 wash out and stick up. Then take one and a half pounds 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, which, in En^-land, is usually charged two dollars per 
 pound. 
 
 To dye a mock scarlet on nlk. 
 
 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 sumac in a tub and strain off a ladle full. Tlic^e two 
 will finish off the orange a good mock scarlet. When dark enough 
 wring out and dry. 
 
 21* 
 
246 
 
 RECEIPTS FOR BUFF. 
 
 THE jellow for dnog- of buff is obtained from fustic. The be?^t 
 slicks used are such as are new and sound, being selected for thia 
 purpose. The outside of the log's are split off, and the heart of the 
 wood is ground very fine and sold to the dyers at double the usual 
 price, for dying of buff and other fine colours. A good buff dyer 
 is more rare tlian a good scarlet dyer, and goods for this colour are 
 sent from London and other parts of England, a distance of more 
 tl<aB <Mie hundred miles, to a dyer in the west of England, who is 
 celebrated for dj ing this colour. It would be supposed that a ^ 
 coionr requiring only fustic, yellow, and a little best madder, could 
 be well done any where, did not experience prove it to be errone- 
 ous. 
 
 The cloth intended for bu# must be examined, spotted and clean- 
 ed the same as for scarlet, and that which is not perfectly free from 
 irpots and stains cannot be used for this colour, as the least defect 
 will be seen when finished. Cloth for buff must be finished shear- 
 i-pg before it is dyed. 
 
 The same precautions to keep the goods from coming in contact 
 V ith die metal and curb of the furnace, are used in this colour as 
 jii the fcarlet ^ye. Buff is more liable than any other colour to 
 becoiTie s7>ottcd TiLen it comes in contact with any material that 
 fUB iropart a stain to it, the utmost caution, therefore, should be 
 
 For Itrenly-seren pounds of fine cloth, use 
 ] pDund of argol. 
 
 1 do. of alum. 
 
 2 do- of tin liquor. 
 
 I do. of ground fustic. 
 1 ounce of best crop madder. 
 
247 
 
 Boil the ingredients as directed for scarlet, heave in the goods, 
 keep them rapidly in motion, and boil till of the desired colour. If 
 this colour should not be strong enough, use more fustic and mad- 
 der ; 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 and made into cloth 
 for one uniform colour, but as it is often made for mixtures and for 
 striped goods, such as vest patterns, &c. I shall add a receipt to 
 produce it. 
 
 For a huff on one hundred and twenty pounds of -wool. 
 
 Take fourteen pounds of weld, boil it half an hour, take out the 
 welds, stir well and heave in the wool — boil it two hours and land — 
 add to the liquor one pound of alum, cool dowa, 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 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 huff colour on cotton. 
 
 Cotton for buff should be bleached. For each pound of cotton 
 take one quart of iron liquor, (acetite of iron,) and four of water — 
 put ii into a copper or brass vessel, add to the iron liquor six ounces 
 of copperas, and one ounce of sugar of lead ; when you can bear 
 the hand in the liquor, turn in the cotton, work it well, squeeze 
 out, and turn it in ^gain, then let it lay all night, taking care that 
 the cotton be complete! \' covered with the liquor. In the morning 
 wring it out, and dry quick, spreading it well on the drying poles. 
 
248 
 
 Take fresh made lime-water, turn io the cotton as quick as possi- 
 ble, and wet it completely. When raised to the colour wanted, 
 wrii^ out, wash, and it is finished. If the colour should not be 
 full enoo^h, put in more inm liquor and copperas, and less water. 
 If it be too stitmg', put in less of those ingredients, and more water. 
 by which means a great variety of shades may be obtained. 
 
 For a aaiaum colour on cotton. 
 
 Tint ootloo mast be white — prepare as usual. Boil for each 
 poond of cotton, one ounce of cream of tartar, for fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, add to it water enough to tnrn in the cotton, work it for 
 half an boor, and wring out. Then turn it into a liquor prepared 
 the same as for orange, only about half the strength, work quick 
 and even, wfa^i 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 ttravB colour^ on cotton. 
 
 Tlje cotton must be white. To each pound, dissolve one ounce 
 of alum, turn in several times, and then turn down for haJf an hour, 
 wring out gently and even. It must now have a clear and slender 
 fustic fiqnor, tnm 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. 
 
 For a gtroue colour, (m silk. 
 
 Boil tiii white, and wash, wring out and stick up. Prepare a 
 5tnM^ ebonj liquor by well boiling, take a ladle of this liquor, 
 which will dye about ten pounds, give it five or six turns in this 
 '^hen diluted with water, and if the ebony does not work green 
 enough, put into the liquor a very small quantity of chemick. and 
 finish by stoving with sulphur. 
 
249 
 
 Receipts for orange and aurora* 
 
 AN'hen woollen yarn and cloth are dyed orange or aurora, they 
 are usually boiled in a spent liquor, after scarlet or buff. 
 
 For one hundred pounds of cloth for a fine orange. Boil in an 
 ©Id buff liquor 
 
 12 pounds of young fustic chips. 
 4 do. of best raadder. 
 6 do. of cream of tartar. 
 2 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 2 ounces of cochineal. 
 
 The chips to be well boiled before the other ingredients are added ; 
 after boiling the other wares for a few minutes, cool the liquor 
 down, stir well, heave in the cloth, and boil till up to the pattern. 
 
 For an orange on sixty pounds of fine cloth, in a spent scarlet 
 
 liquor. 
 
 8 pounds of young fustic chips. 
 4 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 3 do. of best madder. 
 ^ ounce of cochineal. 
 
 1 pint of tin liquor. 
 JBoil the chips, and proceed as before. 
 
 Auroras are dyed the same as oranges, excepting with less mad- 
 der and an additional quantity of cochineal. Some auroras ap- 
 proach very nearly to the scarlet colour, having a greater body 
 of yellow. 
 
 Oranges and auroras, when done in a liquor prepared on pur- 
 pose, require more cream of tartar, tin liquor, and cochineal, thaa 
 is prescribed in the foregoing receipt. 
 
250 
 
 For a common orange, on/our pieces ofjiannel. 
 
 For the boiling, use 
 
 1 pint of tin liquor. 
 
 2 pounds of argol. 
 
 Give a body with young fustic, and redden to pattern with madder. 
 
 "Wool is seldom dyed of an orange colour, but as it may be want- 
 ed sometimes for mixtures, I will give the only receipt my collec- 
 tion affords. 
 
 For an orange on nineteen pounds of wool. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, boil it one hour, cool down, stir, 
 heave in the wool, boil two hours, and let it lay all night. In the 
 morning wash it, and finish in a fresh liquor, with ten pounds of 
 weld, and three pounds of madder, boil 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 a ketile, or pan, and 
 add an equal quantity of pearl-ash — boil for half an hour, turn in 
 the cotton, wring out, and dry in a stove, or in the shade — the more 
 of dye is used, the richer and finer will be tiie colour. The liquor 
 should not be thrown away after the working, but used with ano- 
 ther quantity, by adding more of the material to the old hquor af- 
 ter boiling, which will be a saving of one-third. 
 
 TO DYE CINNAMON COLOURS. 
 
 For fifty pounds of fine cloth for a bright cinnamon, use 
 
251 
 
 7i pounds of alum, 
 
 li do. of arpol. 
 
 9 do. of redwood. 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, stir, have in the cloth and 
 boil one hour. 
 
 For a darker cinnamon on the same weight of cloth, use 
 
 7 pounds of alum. 
 2 do. of arg-ol. 
 6 do. of fustic. 
 
 10 do. of barwood. 
 
 8 do. of redwood. 
 
 13oil the wares two hours, have in the cloth, and boil as before. 
 
 The hue and body of cinnamon may be varied by using more or 
 less of fustic, and of the other dye woads. 
 
 Cloth for cinnamon is oftentimes prepared with ombre madder^ 
 alum, and argol, and then finished with fustic, redwood and bar- 
 wood in another liquor. 
 
 To dye wool, cinnamon colours. 
 
 For one hundred and twenty-five pounds of wool, use 
 50 pounds of fustic. 
 60 do. of Sanders. 
 6 do. of madder. 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, have in the wool, boil it iwQ 
 hours, cool down and strew ot^er four and a half pound of ground 
 cream of tartar, and four pounds and a half of alum — boil one 
 hour and let lay all night. 
 
 For a crimson of a fuller colour, and more on the red on one 
 hundred and twenty pounds of wool, use 
 24 pounds of fustic. 
 42 do. of Sanders- 
 
252 
 
 Boil the dye wares and the wool as for the last, then strew over 
 fifteen pounds of alum, boil one hour, and let it lay io all night — 
 wash the wool the morning following, and finish in a clear liquor, 
 with thirty pounds of ombre madder. This is a very rich colour. 
 
 The two following receipts are for two lots of very bright cin- 
 Bamon, done in the same liquor. 
 
 For ninety -three pounds of wool, use 
 45 pounds of barwood. 
 
 27 do. of fustic. 
 5 do. of alum. 
 
 Boil the wares two houis, and the wool twenty minutes, land it, 
 and then add to the same liquor for a second lot of wool of eighty 
 pounds, 
 
 28 pounds of barwood. 
 7 do. of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares and wool as before, cool down, and strew over six 
 pounds of alum, boil half an hour, and let lay in all night. 
 
 Cinnamon on cotton is dyed by first colouring it yellow, and 
 then red, as given in the receipts 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 FAWN COLOURS. 
 
 For sixty pounds of cloth, use 
 
 4 pounds of alum. 
 
 2 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 4 ounces of logwood. 
 
 1 pound of peach wood (nicaragua.) 
 
 1 do. of fustic. 
 Boil the ingredients two hours, and the cloth two, have out ani 
 sadden to pattern with copperas. 
 
253 
 
 For a fawn on ninety'two pounds of wool, 
 
 1 h pounds of argol. 
 
 3 do. of redwood. 
 
 1 do. of fustic. 
 
 \ do. of Brazil wood. 
 
 i do. of logwood. 
 Boil the ingredients two hours, and the wool two, cool down the 
 liquor, and sadden with one pound of alum and two of copperas — 
 boil half an hour, and if dark enough, land, if not, let it lay in 
 all night. 
 
 For a fawn on sixty pounds of wool not quite so red as the last. 
 
 1 pound of weld. 
 
 i do. of ground fustic. 
 
 7 do. of uinbro madder, 
 
 2 do. of best argol, or cream of tartar, 
 i do. of tin liquor. 
 
 \ do. 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, pump up and let lay in all night. 
 
 For a fawn for two hundred pounds of woolj still less on the red hue, 
 
 6 pounds of weld. 
 
 i do. of fustic. 
 
 6 ounces of logwood. 
 
 5 pounds of best madder. 
 
 ih do. of argol. 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, cool down, have in the wool, and 
 let it be two hours in coming- up to a boil, then boil two hours and 
 cool down, strew over three-quarters of a pound of alum, boil a 
 quarter of an hour, cool down again and strew on one pound of con- 
 
 22 
 
254 
 
 peras and a quarter of a pound of pearl-ash ; boil half a hour, cool 
 dow^D, run oS the liquor and i^ash. 
 
 To dye sUk a faxcn colour. 
 
 Prepare the same as for drab, stick op 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 archil liquor, half a ladle of 
 fustic liquor and a ladle of argol liquor, stir well, take a piece of 
 the buff silk and dip in. if not dark enough add a little more of each 
 material. The argol raises the archil, some use vitriol. A ladle 
 holds from four to fire quarts. 
 
 To dye bj'owns on itoollens^ suck colours as have no blue in their 
 composition^ being compounded of red and yelloxc. 
 
 For one piece for brown weighing forty-eight pounds, use 
 
 7 pounds of alum. 
 
 9 do. of logwood. 
 
 2 do. of argol. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up with cold water so as to hare in 
 quite cool, boil the goods two hours, hare them out and cool by 
 throwing, then roll the cloth up and let lay till next day. Prepare 
 a fresh liquor with 
 
 7 pounds of alum. 
 
 12 do. of banrood. 
 
 1 do. of pearl-ash. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, have in the cloth, bring the li- 
 quor on to a spring heat, but not to boil out, run at that heat for 
 one hour. 
 
 It is usual in English dye-houses to boil a number of cloths in the 
 preparation liquor, and 6nish them afterwards in the fresh liquo 
 successirelv. 
 
255 
 
 For a very dark rich brown on one hundred and twenty pounds 
 of wool. For the boihng-, use 
 
 48 pounds of fustic. 
 
 48 do. of Sanders. 
 
 12 do. of madder. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, have in the wool and boil it two 
 hours, cool down and sadden with one and a half pounds of copper- 
 as and two pounds of alum, boil half an hour and let lay in ail night. 
 
 For a darker and richer brown on one hundred and twenty 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 li pounds of powdered nut-galls. 
 
 30 do. of redwood. 
 
 12 d®. of sanders. 
 Boil the wares and wool as before, sadden with one and a halt 
 pounds of copperas, boil one hour and let lay all night. 
 
 For a lighter brown than eitlier of the above for sixty-eighi 
 pounds of wool, use 
 
 2i pounds of nut-galls. 
 
 18 do. of Sanders. 
 
 4^ do. of peach wood, (nicaragua.) 
 Boil the ingredients two liours, the wool two, run up and add three- 
 eighths of a pound of copperas, boil a quarter of an hour, cool 
 down again and strew over three pounds of alum, boil one liour 
 and let lay in all night. 
 
 For a very dark brown for one hundred and forU' pounds of wool, 
 use 
 
 70 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 17^ do. of bar wood. 
 4 do. of logwood. 
 3 do. of copperas. 
 Boil the dye wares two hours, the wool two, cool down and sadden 
 with three pounds of copperas and one and a half pounds of alum, 
 boil one hour and let lay in all night. 
 
256 
 
 For a very dark rich brown, for two hundred and sixty pounds 
 of wool, use 
 
 224 pounds of barwood. 
 Boil the dye wares two hours, run up, have in the wool and boil it 
 two hours, cool down and sadden with twelve pounds of copperas, 
 boil one hour and let lay in all night. 
 
 For a rich copper brown for one hundred and eighty pounds of 
 wool, use 
 
 60 pounds of fustic. 
 80 do. of barwood. 
 Boil the dye wares two hours, run up, have in the wool and boil it 
 three hours, cool down and sadden with seven pounds of copperas 
 and three of alum, boil one hour and let lay in all night. 
 
 For a very dark rich brown for one hundred and sixty pounds 
 of wool, use 
 
 98 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 58 do. of barwood. 
 70 do. of peach wood. 
 4 do. of logwood. 
 Boil the wares as usual, run up, boil the wool three hours, cool 
 down and sadden with six pounds of copperas, boil one hour and let 
 lay in all night. 
 
 For a very rich brown lighter than the preceding, for three hun- 
 dred pounds of wool, use 
 
 100 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 58 do. of barwood. 
 34 do. of redwood. 
 3 do. of logwood. 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, enter the wool and boil it 
 three hours, cool down and sadden with four pounds of alum, two 
 «f argol, and two pounds six ounces of copperas, boil three hours? 
 and let lay in alj night. 
 
257 
 
 Fer a rich brown yellower than the last, /or three hundred pounds 
 
 wool, use 
 
 180 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 90 do. of welds. 
 10 do. of common madder. 
 5 do. of redwood. 
 
 2 do. of log-wood. 
 
 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 it lay in all niglit. 
 
 For a rich brown between the two last^ for three hundred and fifty 
 pounds of icooly use 
 
 350 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 84 do. of common madder. 
 
 3 do. of argol. 
 
 Wares to boil as usual, run up, have in the wool, and boil it two 
 hours^-cool down and sadden with three pounds of alum, three of 
 copperas, and fifteen of barwood — boil two hours, and let lay in all 
 nig-ht. The three last receipts afford remarkably rich browns. 
 
 Receipts for olive browns. 
 
 For a light olive brown for two hundred and fifty pounds of 
 wool, use 
 
 200 pounds of chipped fustic, 
 70 do. of welds. 
 8 do. of redwood. 
 10 do of mull madder. 
 2 do. of logwood. 
 The wares to boil as usual, run up, have in the wool, and boil three 
 hours— cool down and sadden with six pounds of alum, and threr 
 
 22* 
 
^8 
 
 pannis <rf copperas, — boii one hour aixi a half, and let it lay in all 
 
 Eicbt.* 
 
 For a darJcer olive lets upon the red, for two hundred and eight 
 * pounds of 'jcool^ use 
 1 40 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 20 do. of logwood. 
 8 do. of common madder. 
 7 do. of best madder. 
 Wares to boil as usual, run up. heave in the wool, and boil it three 
 hours— cool down and sadden with seven and a half pounds of cop- 
 peras and seven of alum — let lay in all nig-ht. 
 
 There are a number of colours having a yellow hue that have 
 no yellow dye in them. They are mostly made on cloth, and very 
 rich and beautiful, being- partly made with cochineal, rendered 
 more or less yellow by the action of cream of tartar, and of tin 
 liquor. I shall give receipts for these in this place, because they 
 come nearer to colours made of red and yellow than to any other 
 class. 
 
 For a ridi miae colour fur forty-eight pounds of fine cloth, use for 
 
 th^e boiling 
 
 5 pounds of alum. 
 
 3 do. of cream of tartar* 
 
 4 do. of brazil wood. 
 1 do. of cochineal. 
 
 4 pints of tin liquor. 
 TLe wares lo boil (me 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 bailed two hours, then prepare a fresh li- 
 quor witli 
 
 6 pooDds of brazil. 
 
 1^ do. of pearl- asb. 
 3 1 pints of tin liquor- 
 
^59 
 
 The wares to boil one hour, cool down and run tlie cloth till of 
 the coluur wanted. 
 
 Bv v^ryirsg- the proportion of brazil, and by increasing or less- 
 ening- tiie pearl-ash, a great variety of these colours may be pro- 
 duce.!. 
 
 JFor a ri<:h wine colour on one hundred and tvoenty ■pounds of vxyoh 
 
 use for the boiling 
 
 20 pounds of alum. 
 20 do of tartar. 
 2\ do. of cochineal. 
 
 Boil the alum and tartar half an hour, then the cochineal fifteen 
 minutes, run up, have in the wool, and boil two hours— cool down, 
 land the wool, and bring on a fresh liquor. Put into the fresh li- 
 quor half a bushel of bran, when the bran rises, scum it off clean 
 with a fine sieve — then put in forty pounds of best madder, boil 
 two or three minutes, run up, have in the wool, and boil it a quar- 
 ter of an hour — let it be one hour coming up to a boil — land, and 
 wash. 
 
 For a fine wine colour on one hundred and twenty pounds of wooly 
 use for the boiling 
 
 1 pound of cochineaL 
 
 7^ do. of brazil. 
 
 25 do. of alum. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, enter the wool and boil it three 
 hours — then strew over six gallons of urine, work the wool Mell, 
 and let lay all night. Wash the wool, and finish in a fresh liquoE, 
 mth seventy pounds of best madder. 
 
260 
 
 To dye chocolate on cotton. 
 
 The cotton to be boiled in a liquor of nut-galls, and alumed the 
 same as for red. Then use six ounces of alum and two of copper- 
 as to each pound of cotton, wring out and dry as for red — prepare 
 it a second time in alum and copperas, wring out and dry again — 
 wash well and wring — then madder it with half 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 sumac instead of galls, sadden with two 
 ounces of copperas to one pound of cotton, wash well, and return 
 it in the sumac liquor — wash well, wring out, and return it again 
 in the copperas liquor — wash well, dry, and alum it with six ounces l 
 of alum to each pound of cotton — then proceed as directed for the 
 last chocolate. 
 
 Third receipt for chocolate on cotton. 
 
 Give to the cotton the usual preparation — for each pound boil 
 four ounces of sumac, turn in the cotton, squeeze out, and turn in 
 again, putting it in as open and as even as you can, and let it lay 
 all night. In the morning wring out gently, and dissolve for each 
 pound of cotton one ounce of copperas, turn in with the water suf- 
 ficiently warm, and work half an hour — wring out, wash well, and 
 add some urine to the sumac liquor, turn in the cotton, and woi^ J 
 quick for fifteen or twenty minutes — squeeze out, dissolve one 
 ounce of copperas 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 sumac liquor 
 
261 
 
 should not be turned, put some urine to water, and while that is 
 doing, boil for each pound of cotton half a pound of brazillelto 
 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 boil- 
 ed, take off the clear liquor, 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 it lay one hour, wring out, and turn it into the bra- 
 zilletto hquor 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 co» 
 lour may be produced. 
 
 To dye brown on cotton. 
 
 Give a ground of sumac, handle well, and let it lay 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 sumac liquor again for fifteen minutes, then copperas a se- 
 cond time without washing. Make a lime-water with a handful o 
 lime for each pound of cotton, put the lime into a bucket of water, 
 stir well, let stand till clear, pour off the clear liquor, add more 
 water to the lime, and repeat till 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, and pour tlie 
 boiling water on it, and sprinkle 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. 
 
262 
 
 To dye monmeon silk. 
 
 Wash the siik from boiiing in soap, aJum as usual for iLrec Louis, 
 
 wasii in t?ro tubs of cold waler and stick up ; take four or five pail 
 
 lih of brazil liquor, pour oa it water as hot as tLe band can bear, 
 
 tarn in tbe silk and hanM^. tUl of the colour wanted, wring out and 
 
 dry in. a stove. 
 
 To dfe coUmrs compovndrd of red and blue. 
 
 To this class of cirioare are comprised imperial blues, purples, 
 lilacs, crimaML, |Miik, mulberry, claret, corbeau, &c. 
 
 TocoSour imperial blue, notljing- more is necessary than to boil 
 cure or Jess of archil and alum, and run light blues throug^h the 
 HqmiT sd a boiliag heat till of the colour wanted. When the im- 
 perial is required to be Tcry red, use cutbear, either by itself or 
 with the a2«:liiL 
 
 To cokrar nineCj poonds of fine cloth a rick purple, prepare the 
 Kqpor by potting- into it a quarter of a peck of bran, and when it 
 rises to the surface, as it begins to bml, scum the bran oS, clean 
 witii a fiue sieve. Use far the boiliog' 
 
 4 pooDik of cream of tartar. 
 6 do. of alum. 
 4 pints of tin liqa<M'. 
 H poonds of cocbioeal. 
 Boil tbe alum, tartar and tin for one hour, then the cochineal for 
 len minutes, ran op, heave in the ^oods and boil two Lours. Pre* 
 pare a fre^ liquor with 
 
 4 pounds of alam. 
 6 do. c^ brazil wood. 
 4 {nnts 4d tin liquor. 
 18 pounds of logwood. 
 3i pooads of chemick. 
 
263 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, Leave in cool and work rapid. 
 Boil till finished. 
 
 For a very light purple, on one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 wool, for the boiling", use 
 
 21 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 cochi- 
 neal; 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. By blueing in the woad vat any body of 
 purple mar be obtained, but this should be done, and the wool well 
 washed before dying in the furnace. 
 
 For a purple for one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. Make 
 it first a very light blue in the woad vat, wash very clean*, and boil 
 it with sixteen pounds of alum, land the wool, and add to the liquor 
 twelve pounds of cream of tartar and three pounds of cocliineal. 
 Boil the wool till of the colour wanted. 
 
 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 bleach- 
 ed. Take for each pound one quart of iron liquor, and four quarts 
 of water ; put this into a brass or copper kettle, add for each pound 
 of cotton half an ounce of salt-petre, half an ounce of sal-armoniac, 
 and half an ounce of cream of tartar, all pounded together till fine, 
 and kept over the fire till 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 lay all night ; wring out in the 
 morniag, dry and wash. It must now be galled, the same as for 
 
264 
 
 red, allowing half a pound of g^ for each pound of cotton ; wring 
 out, dry, and it is finished. 
 
 This colour may be raised with logwood liquor, but it will not 
 stand. 
 
 To colour a common purple on cotton. 
 
 Boil and well wash the cotton, for each pound, boil half a pound 
 of logwood, take the clean 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 in, add a dish 
 of logwood liquor, squeeze the cotton and turn in, 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 and turn it into 
 the logwood liquor again, and work it quick once or twice. If 
 the liquor does not work well, add for each pound of cotton, half 
 an onnce of alum, when dissolved stir well, turn in for fifteen or 
 twenty minutes, wring out evenly and dry in the shade. 
 
 To colour lilac. 
 
 To dye lilac on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. For 
 
 boiling, use 
 
 12 pounds of alum. 
 
 9 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 The ingredients to boil one hour, the liquor run up, and the 
 
 wool to boil two hours; land it, and boil one and a quarter pound - 
 
 of cochineal for a quarter of an hour, cool down, heave in the wool ' 
 
 rapidly and boil to the colour wanted. 
 
 Any shade may be obtained by slightly blueing it in the woad 
 rat previous to dying it in the furnace, and by varying the quanti- 
 V of cochinea I. 
 
265 
 
 To colour lilac on silk. 
 
 Boil it after pink, then take a thin liquor of lather, put into this 
 some red archil liquor, and well work the silk in it; then net. 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 crimson on forty-eight pounds of fine cloth — use for boiling", 
 3 pounds of alum'. 
 
 2 do. of cream of tartar, 
 i do. of cochineal. 
 
 3 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 Boil the ingredients one hour, cool down, have in the cloth, and 
 boil two hours. Prepare a fresh liquor, and put in 
 
 2 pounds of alum. 
 
 3 do. of pearl-ash. 
 
 4 do. of brazil wood. 
 
 2 do. of urine. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, then add the urine ; cool down, have in 
 
 rapidly, and boil to the colour wanted. It is often finished with- 
 out boiling the cloth, by keeping the liquor at a spring heat. 
 
 For a crimson on sixty pound's of wool, use for boilings 
 
 1 pound of cochineal. 
 
 3 do. of crop madder. 
 6 do. of argol. 
 
 3 do. of alum. 
 
 4 pints of tin liquor. 
 
 Boil the alum, argol, and tin liquor, for half an hour, then add the 
 madder and cochineal, and boil ten minutes, run up, have in the 
 wool, and boil it two hours — run off the liquor and wash clean. 
 Prepare a fresh liquor with 
 
 6 pounds of cutbear. 
 
 2 buckets of unoe. 
 
 Boil the cutbear half an ho«r, and then put in the sig — soon as 
 
 23 
 
266 
 
 tim IS done, nm up tbe fiimace, haFe in oooL» let it be two 
 oomii^ o^» to a qprii^ beat, ajki it is inished. 
 
 To Jye a pink. 
 
 To cfAoai Mj pounds of cLwh a Sue pink, ose 
 
 4 poaads of alaniL. 
 Boil line cloth one hoar, hare out, and add lo tie liqoor 
 
 4 pounds of cream of tartar. 
 
 4 pints of tin li<q[D<v. 
 
 1 pound of oocbioeaL 
 Boil tbe clotb onto the coloiir is lich and bright If wanted to be 
 Uaer. add wine to tbe liquor till enougii. 
 
 For a pink o« ome kMmdred and twaUx/ j^imdg of wool, ust for 
 
 bfdlmgf 
 2 pounds of cocbineaL 
 18 do. of alom. 
 12 . do. of cream of tartar. 
 Boi! the alum and tartar for half an hour, then tbe cocLineal for 
 a quarter of an hour, cool dowc, bare in tbe woo!, and boil two 
 hours — let laj all night. 
 
 Pinfa mar be raade into rich wine colours br boilii^ them in a 
 5" OfT, or into lilac, by blnii^ IIm^u in a very weak 
 
 ^ If done in too stroi^ a Tat it will make 
 
 To dye ptmk on aJk. 
 
 Teke of 6ȣlower, one bundr^ and twelre pounds, wash it well 
 in a tub drf^ water, hario^ a reel placed inside ci it, nclil aU tbe yel- 
 low oooies out— wiien wefl washed, fill up with clean water, and 
 add four pcuods of peari a^b, draw this off; fill again witb water, 
 asd let thi- 3aj till the Sewer is quite white. TLe two last Ijqaore 
 
 it two OT thnee peils cf liine- 
 -- " - J i-t t L. jjuzl' uir 2i£w, and prtoduc-e a 
 
267 
 
 Take large hanks of silk, and let them lay in the liquor till all Ih* 
 liquor 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 lay 
 in this liquor till wanted. Wring out the hanks when wanted, put 
 them in water of a milk heat, with a small quantity of pearl-a^h, 
 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, re-dye until like 
 the darkest. After the pink is dark enough, wring it out in hand- 
 fuls, then make a small tub of water with lime-juice, give a few 
 turns in this, wring out, and dry. The last process is called 
 scrooping. 
 
 To dye mulberry. 
 
 For forty-eight pounds of cloth, for a rich mulberry, for the 
 feoiling, use 
 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 
 2 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
 3 pints of tin liquor. 
 1 pound of argol. 
 
 1 do. - of cochineal. 
 Boil the ingredients for half an hour, cool down, have in the cloth 
 rapidly, and boil two hours. Finish in a fresh liquor, with 
 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 16 do. of brazil wood. 
 14 do. of logwood. 
 
 1 pint of tin liquor. 
 
 1 pound of best crop madder. 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, enter the cloth rapidly, and 
 boil tc the colour wanted. 
 
 For a dark mulberry on two hundred pounds of wool. 
 100 pounds of bar wood. 
 30 do. of logwood. 
 3 do. of cream of tartar. 
 
268 
 
 Boil the wares two hoars, cool down, have in the wool, and boil it 
 three boars— <mx>1 down, and sadden with three pounds of copper- 
 as — ^let it lie in all ni^ht. 
 
 To colour mulberry on tilk. 
 
 Boil with coloured soap, and wash oat — alum and wash out — take 
 of brazil liquor three or four pails, put it into a back, and throw 
 on it nine or ten pails of boiling water, pump up, stir well, and put 
 in half a ladle of logwood liquor — ^tum the silk in this seven or 
 eight times, then take it out and lay it by the furnace — add more 
 logwood aikl brazil till of the desired colour — when nearly dark 
 enough, throw a pail of urine into a back of clean water, milk 
 warm, turn in, and make rather bluer than pattern. If the urine 
 does not make it blue enough, take a clean liquor, and blue with 
 pot-ash. 
 
 Plum colours on silk are dyed the same as mulberry, with less 
 
 brazil. 
 
 To dye claret. 
 
 For a claret on forty-eight pounds of cloth, use for boiling 
 5 pounds of alum. 
 1 do. of argol. 
 5 do. of brazil. 
 
 5 do. of logwood. 
 •* 1 do. of madder. 
 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, hare in the cloth, and boil one 
 hoar and a half — then finish in a fresh liquor with 
 
 6 pounds of brazil, 
 li do of i>earl-ash. 
 
 Boil the wares half an hour, run up, have in, cool and bring on 
 ST^duallv — boil tiU of the colour wanted. 
 
269 
 
 For a dark claret on one hundred and seventy pounds of wooL 
 210 pounds of barwood. 
 4^ do. of cream of tartar. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, have in the wool, and boil gent- 
 ly for three hours — cool down and sadden with three pounds of 
 copperas. Let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a light claret for one hundred and seventy pounds of wool, 
 
 use for boiling 
 168 pounds of barwood. 
 10 do of cream of tartar. 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, have in the wool, and boil 
 three hours — cool down and sadden with two pounds of copperas. 
 Let it lie in all night. 
 
 To colour morone on silk. 
 
 Wasli from boiling in soap — alum for three hours, wash in two 
 tubs of 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 han- 
 dle — when of the colour wanted, wring out and drj' in stove. 
 
 To dye corbeau. 
 
 For a very dark corbeau on one hundred and sixty pounds of 
 wool. For the boiling, use 
 
 112 pounds of barwood. 
 28 do. of logwood. 
 The dye wares to boil three hours, the furnace run up, the wool 
 entered and boiled two hours, sadden with ten pounds of copper- 
 as, and six of fustick — boil one hour and a half, and let lie in all 
 night. 
 
 For a lighter corbeau on two hundred and forty pounds of wool, 
 
 use for the boiling 
 
 112 pounds of redwood. 
 
 30 do. of logwood. 
 
 23* 
 
270 
 
 The wares to boil three hours, run up, and hare in the wool and 
 bojJ it threi" hours— cool down and sadden with three pounds of 
 copperas — boil one hour and let lie in all night. 
 
 There are many colours of a more coraplexed kind than any T 
 have given receipts for, being compounded of yellow, red and blue 
 an i some mostly yeUow : such are tea browns, London smoke and 
 Paris mud. I shall give receipts for those in this place, as the 
 browns will then be complete. 
 
 Tea browns approach nearly to a dark olire, with less of green 
 than an olive green, and le*s of red than an olive brown. 
 
 For a tea broicn on fifleen pounds of cloth. 
 
 3 pounds of alum. 
 2 do. of argol. 
 6 do. of madder. 
 
 4 do. of fustic. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, run up, hare in the cloth, and boil one _ 
 hour and a half — cool down, take out the cloth and add to the li- \ 
 quor four pounds of iogirood and half a pound of copperas — boil 
 the wares half an hour, run up, have in the cloth and boil to the 
 colour wanted. 
 
 For a tta brown on nxiy pounds of wool. For the boUing, u#c 
 
 18 pounds of fustic. 
 
 6 do. of larwood. 
 
 5h do. of logwood. 
 
 4 do. of common madder. 
 
 2 do. of argol. 
 Boil the wares two hours, cool down, have in the wool and boil it 
 two hours — cool down and sadden with three-quarters of a pound 
 of copperas. Boil one hour, and let it lie in aU night. 
 
271 
 
 For a Lo7idon smoke on two hundred pounds of wool. For the 
 
 boiling, use 
 
 8 pounds of rasped fustic. 
 
 6 p<»unds of redwood. 
 
 6 do of logwood. 
 
 5 do. of ombre madder. 
 
 2 do. of camwood. 
 20 do. of barwood. 
 The wares to boil two hours, run up, have in the wool and boil one 
 hour and a half— cool down and sadden with two pounds of cop- 
 peras and nine pounds of arg-ol — boil one hour, and let lie in all 
 night. 
 
 For a Paris mud for two hundred and sixty pounds of wool. Boil 
 the wool with fifty pounds of alum for three hours ; land and well 
 wash ; finish in a fresh liquor with 
 
 80 pounds of chipped fustic. 
 3 do. of logwood. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, have in the wool and boil three 
 hours, then throw on twenty pounds of rasped logwood and boil 
 three hours, cool down and throw on four pounds of rasped logwood, 
 boil one hour and let lie all night. 
 
 TO DYE DRABS. 
 
 IN drabs there are a great variety of colours, and an immense 
 number of shades ; some have a blue hue, some a red, some a yel- 
 low, and there are many that do not 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, 
 2 pounds of alum. 
 
272 
 
 1 i pounds of arg-ol, or cream of tartar. 
 
 2 do of chipped logwood. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, cool down, have in the cloth and boil 
 two hourss cool down, take out the cloth, bring the furnace to a 
 boil, and while boiling drop in two ounces ofchemick. boil ten mi- 
 nutes, cool down, have 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 till the desired colour is obtained. 
 Cloth may be dyed to any shade, by using more or less of chemick 
 and logwood. 
 
 For a blue drah on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 
 5 pounds of weld. 
 
 4 do. of common madder. 
 
 2 do. of logwood. 
 • li do. of argol. 
 
 Boil the wares one hour, cool down, have in the wool and boil one 
 hour — then add half a pound of alum, three-quarters of a pound 
 of copperas, and half a tea cup full of chemick — boil three-quar- 
 ters of an hour, and let lay all night — a little archil will give a 
 blue blush to these colours. 
 
 I must inform those who are not well versed with working wool 
 in the furnace, that whenever chemick is added in the saddening, 
 it must be first mixed in a bucket of the liquor, and then strew 
 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 land the wool and mix the chemick in the liquor by stirring 
 it well with the dye-house rake previous to re-entering the wool. 
 
 For a very dark blue drab on one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 
 wool. 
 12 pounds of weld. 
 2 do. of fustic. 
 8i do. of logwood, 
 2 do. of arffol. 
 
273 
 
 1 tea cup full of chemick. 
 Boil the four first articles one hour, then drop in the chemick while 
 the furnace is boiling- ; boil ten minutes after it is in, cool down, 
 enter the wool and boil it one hour ; then add one and a half pound 
 of alum, and boil a quarter of an hour ; then one and a half pounds 
 of copperas and one tea cup full of chemick, boil one hour and let 
 lay in all night. 
 
 Tq dye red drabs. 
 
 For a very lig-ht drab having* a red hue, on one hundred and 
 twenty pounds of cloth, 
 
 2 pounds of alum. 
 2 do. of arg-ol. 
 \h do. of best madder. 
 2 pints of tin liquor. 
 20 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 without any 
 mordant ; blue vitriol darkens it without injuring- the red, and cop- 
 peras turns it of a greenish drab. 
 
 For a light red drab, on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 1 pound of nut-galls. 
 4 do. of madder. 
 Boil the wares half an hour, run up, have in the wool, and boil 
 half an hour, cool down and strew over one pound of copperas and 
 half a pound of alum; boil half an hour, while boiling, strew over 
 one and a half pounds of fustic, and one and a half pounds of cream 
 of tartar, boil half ao hour, and if dark enough, cool down and 
 land, if not, let it lay in all night. 
 
274 
 
 For adazk red drab, on one bnndred and tweotj pounds of wool, 
 
 2 pounds of grmnd Nunac. 
 7) jio. of tilslic. 
 
 Si do. of baiwopd. 
 1 do. of Sanders. 
 
 3 dot of ombrD madder. 
 
 Boil dtae wares two hoars, ran op, ha^e in the wocd and boil two 
 honrs, oool down and sadden witfi one and a half poands of copper- 
 as, and <Mie and a half pounds id alum, bdll one hour and land. 
 
 T'j dxi %'.llov: drabf. 
 A% fhese aite the oolouVt irovi geoeraiiv vrom. I sliaD ^ire more 
 zcceiptfr than fiw the odier&, including a greater Tariety <^ shades. 
 
 Far a wery tight drab^ haxis^ a stigkl yellow tiage^ on eighty 
 poum'fs of wooL 
 1\ pdondsof ground fastic 
 i dou of kigwood. 
 I do. of b^l: madder. 
 
 The wares to bofl two hoars in a coarse bag, the furnace ran 
 «p, and the wool boiled two hoais — cool the liqnor bj running op 
 with cxilA water — then strew over, for saddening, one ponnd of 
 alum, and fimr qbbccs of copperas, haTisg previooslj disscJred 
 them in a bucket of the hqaor — let the wool boil 4me boar — ran 
 off the hqnor slowlj, and while this is doiiig, ran op with water 
 sofiicieitf^ to cool the liqnor so low as to make it (feasant to im- 
 merae the hand — when the Hgptar i& all ran off, land the wool and 
 well wash. 
 
 W^n.^rviiafemtkadesiaarktrOuui Oie abowt^om forty-two yovnds 
 
 ^ wo»L 
 
 1^ poands of fastic 
 f do- of logwood, 
 i pcmnd of madder. 
 ^ do. of alum. 
 
275 
 
 To be proceeded with as for the last, and add for the saddening, 
 half a ^uund of copperas— let boil hair an hour, land and wash, as 
 before. 
 
 F'>r a darker colour, varying a little in the shade, on seventy-four 
 
 pounds of wool. 
 
 2 pounds of fustic. 
 
 1 do. of log-wood. 
 
 i do. of madder. 
 To be proceeded Tvith as for the two last, sadden with one pound of 
 alum, and three quarters of a pound of copperas— boU half an hour, 
 and let it lay -Al night. 
 
 For a light yellow drah, on three hundred pounds of wool. 
 
 38 pounds of weld. 
 
 8 du. of Ingwood. 
 
 4 do. of argol. 
 
 4 do. of alum. 
 li do. of copperas. 
 Boil the weld in bags one hour, take it out, add the other ingredi- 
 ents, boil half an hour, run up, have in the wool, ond boil It two 
 hours— then run up, and add one pound eight.ounces of oil of ri- 
 triol, work well for ten or fifteen 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 drah, not so yellow as the last, on tvco hundred and 
 seventy pounds of wool. 
 
 15 pounds of weld. 
 2 do. of fustic. 
 7 do. of logwood. 
 2 do. of umbro madder. 
 
276 
 
 3 pounds of argol, or cream of tartar. 
 
 2 do. ofalimi. 
 The weld to be boiled in bags and taken out as the last, the other 
 wa'-es to boil one hour, the furnace run up, the wool entered and 
 boiled one hour^-cool down and add ?ix ounces of copperas and a 
 qua- ter of a pint of oil of vitriol — boil half an hour, run off, or let 
 lie according to the colour wanted. 
 
 For a dark yellow drab on tuco hundred and forty pounds of \oooi. 
 
 ^ 20 pounds of weld. 
 
 l^ do. of red argol. 
 
 1 do, of rasped fustic. 
 
 The wares to boil as before, have in the wool and boil one hour- 
 then add by sti'ewicg over 
 
 3i Lounds of ground logwood. 
 
 3i do. of ombre madder. 
 
 The wool to boil two hours, cooled down and landed— add to the 
 
 liquor 
 
 1 pound six ounces of copperas. 
 1 do. of alum. 
 
 Stir well, have in the avooI, boil one hour — let it lie in all night 
 
 For a dark yellow drab, on two hundred and forty pounds of wool. 
 20 pounds of weld. 
 
 5 do. of rasped fustic. 
 
 4 do. of logwood. 
 12 do. of common madder. 
 
 2 do. of copperas. 
 
 The weld to be builed one hour and taken out, after which add 
 the other materials, boil one hour, run up, heave in the wool and 
 boQ two hours, land, or let it lie all night. 
 
 There are many drabs that do not come under the denominatioQ 
 of blue, red, and yellow, =:uch are pearl drab=>. green drabs kc. I 
 shall proceed to give receipts for these, for although there are not 
 
277 
 
 now fashionable, excepting the pearls, they may become so as the 
 fastiion changes. 
 
 To dye pearl drabs. 
 
 For a very light white pearl on one hundred and twenty pounds 
 of wool. 
 
 1 pound of alum. 
 
 6 ounces 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 briskly handled all 
 the time it is in the furnace. 
 
 For a light red pearl on one hundred and twenty pounds of wool. 
 14 ounces of argol. 
 8 do. of logwood. 
 6 do. of brazil. 
 4 do. of redwood 
 4 do. OT alum 
 4 do. 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, cool down, landed 
 and washed. 
 
 For a pearl on sixty pounds of wool, 
 i pound of nut-galls. 
 ■J do. of madder. 
 The wares are to be boiled half an hour, the furnace run up, 
 the wool entered an-l boiled a quarter of an hour; while boiling, 
 add two ounces of alum, cool down and land. 
 
 24 
 
278 
 
 TO DYE GREEN DRABS. 
 
 FOR a lig-ht greenish drab, having an olive hue, on one hun- 
 dred and sixteen pounds of wool. 
 
 15 pounds of weld. 
 2 do. of logwood. 
 1 do. of fustic. 
 The welds 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, then cool down and sadden with six ounces of copperas 
 and three pounds of alum, boil one hour and land. 
 
 For a dark green drab on fifty-eight pounds of vrool. 
 5 pounds of fustic. 
 2 do. of logwood. 
 ^ do. of madder. 
 Boil the wares two hours, run up, enter the wool and boil it two 
 hours, cool down and sadden with 
 
 1 of a pound li alum. 
 
 i of a pound of pot-ash. 
 
 2 ounces of copperas. 
 
 Boil half an hour, and then add a quarter of a pint of oil of vi- 
 triol ; let it lie in all night. 
 
 For a very dark muddy brown drab, which has been lately very 
 fashionable, when mixed with white or light blue. 
 8 pounds of rasped fustic. 
 6 do. of redwood, 
 of logwood, 
 of ombre madder, 
 of camwood, 
 of barwood. 
 
 The wares to be boiled two hours, the furnace run up, the wool 
 entered and boiled one hour and a half, then cool down and sad- 
 den with two pounds of copperas and nine pounds of argol. 
 
 4 
 
 do. 
 
 4 
 
 do. 
 
 1 
 
 do. 
 
 8 
 
 do. 
 
279 
 
 To dye drab on cotton. 
 
 Mix fustic and sumac liquor in warm water, turn in the cotton 
 and work it well; it for a brownish drab, turn the cotton into a 
 weak copperas liquor ; if for a greenish drab mix logwood with the 
 fustic and sumac, and a little blue vitriol with alum and copper- 
 as ; when well worked, wring out lightly and it is finished. 
 
 To dye drab on silk. 
 
 Boil it in black soap, wash out, and stick up as for other colours 
 — -put a little spent urchil 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. 
 
 On dying of double colours. 
 
 Cloth is sometimes dved double colours, that is, one side of a 
 cloth is dyed of one colour, and the other side of another. Such 
 colours are rarely seen in this country, and are only seen occa- 
 sionally in Europe ; but as they were once fashionable, and may 
 become so again, I shall finish the subject of dying by giving the 
 processes for dying these. The principle markets at the present 
 time for double colours are Turkey and Arabia. The Arabs co- 
 rer their horses with cloth dyed purple and scarlet, by turning up 
 the corners they show a beautiful drapery, and the corners being 
 bung with gold or silver tassels, give to the horses furniture a very 
 rich and elegant appearance. 
 
 There are two kind of double colours, those having green on 
 one side aiid yellow on the other, and those having purple on one 
 side and scarJet on the other. We will commence with the first. 
 
280 
 
 Gloth made for double colours, should be fine in quality, wove 
 rerj stout, elcYen quarters in the loom, not raore 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 with fuller's earth, and 
 dried to prepare them for the dye» When for yellow and green, 
 the cloth must first be dyed a bright yellow as follows — for forty- 
 eight pounds of cloth, use in the boiling 
 10 pounds of alum. 
 2 do. of cream of tartar. 
 25 do. of fustic chips. 
 Boil the wares two hours, heave in the cloth and boil it four hours 
 — then cool down, heave out, stream it till clean and dry. A flour 
 paste has now to be prepared. We have in England two sorts of 
 wheat, one of which affords a flour that will make a tougher paste 
 than the other ; when flour is ordered for double colours, it is al- 
 ways such as will produce the toughest paste. The paste is made 
 the day before it has to be used. It requires a stiff paste to pre- 
 vent its penetrati; g 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, lying uppermost. One 
 person lifts the paste out of the tub with a clean tin or copper la- 
 dle, 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. 
 Soon as a piece has been pasted, the two ends are brought together, 
 and the whole piece doubled, leaving that side which has beeu 
 pasted, inside. The cloth is now placed upon a long scrave or ta- 
 ble, and four or more women are employed to sew the lists to- 
 gether, 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, tli.it none of the paste touch tlie side of the cloth that 
 has not been pasted, for, in such places, the cloth will not receive 
 
281 
 
 the destined colour. While this has been doing, the furnace must 
 be brought on with a new liquor, into which put 
 
 4 pounds of alum. 
 
 4 do. of fustic. 
 
 3 do. of chemick. 
 Boil the alum and fustic two hours, drop in the chemick, and boil 
 ten mioutes. 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 sufficient to make such an opening 
 as will admit the nosel of of a bellows, and blow in as much air as 
 can be forced into it. Let the opening be immediately sewed up. 
 Two men must now carefully lift the cloth off the hand-barrow 
 into tlie 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 stop- 
 pers can put it under the liquor, yet it is necessary this operation 
 should be performed as rapidly as possible. The air blown in by 
 the bellows, will be confined in the inside by the paste ; and when 
 the cloth comes in contact with the hot liquor, the air becomes so 
 expanded as to swell as large as a butt, and this moving, as the 
 cloth is worked, prevents the paste from sticking together, 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 tum- 
 bled over so as to bring the side that was lowest in the furnace to 
 be uppermost. 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 han- 
 dle the cloth which has now to be lifted out by hand into a large 
 back of cold water. Before opening the cloth, it must be stream- 
 ed till no stain appear on the water ; when washed clean, the twine 
 is taken from tlie lists, the paste scraped off as clean as possible, 
 and then cleaned in the stocks till all the paste is completely 
 washed off. It is then tentered, dried, pressed, and packed. The 
 
 2.4* 
 
2B2 
 
 side that was pasted, will now be of a beautiful yellow, and the 
 other of a rich green. 
 
 It requires some experience to perform this operation with per- 
 fect safety, and the cloth must be free from holes or thin places. 
 
 To dye a double coloui^, havini^' 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, take it on a hand-barrow 
 to, the blue vat, blow in air, sew the hole up, take it into the vat, 
 and work till it becomes of a %ht 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-xnill, and wash 
 it under the hammer 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. When this is 
 done, take it to the scarlet furnace, and colour the white side scar- 
 let, 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, 
 wid 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 very stout made, and ve- 
 ry fine 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 it on a hand-barrow, which renders it very difficult t^ 
 
283 
 
 work, and makes it very liable to be torn during the operation, 
 which FUins the work. 
 
 The price paid to the dyer, for scarlet and purple, was, twenty 
 years since, two dollars and one-third per yard. ' 
 
 ON BLEACHING OF COTTON, BY CHEMICAL 
 PKOCESS. 
 
 The materials used for this purpose, are fine salt, sulphuric acid 
 ^and manganese. The sulphuric acid decomposes the salt, combining 
 with Its soda, and liberating its muriatic acid, which in its turn de- 
 composes the oxyde of manganese, and enters into combination with 
 Its oxygen, thus forming what Da.'y calls chlorine, and was known 
 before the nomenclature was altered by him, by the name of oxv- 
 nmnatic acid gas. " It is of a yellowish green colour. Its odour 
 IS mtolerably acrid and suffocating, h cannot be breathed with- 
 out proving fatal. When atmospheric air, containing a mixture of 
 It IS breathed, it occasions a violent and convulsive cough, attend- 
 ed With much pain in the chest." 
 
 I thought it necessary to premise thus much, in order to guard 
 
284 
 
 The form of the retort in which this g-as is made, must be gireu 
 in order to make mj iustruclions intellig^ible. 
 
 Fig-ure A, is a safety tube used to prevent any accident during' 
 the operation, and is also used to convey the sulphuric acid into 
 the retort, after the other materials are put in, and the whole well 
 luted down. B, is a distilling tube, through which the gas passes 
 over into the receiver. 
 
 It is important to observe whether the sulphuric acid is of the 
 standard, specific gravity, 1. 85, that is, whether it weighs eighty- 
 five per cent more than the same measure of distilled water, since 
 a small deficiency, in this respect, will be attended with a great 
 deficiency of strength. In "Thompson's Chemistry" there is a ta- 
 ble showing the strength, and consequently, the value of sulphuric 
 acid, of different specific gravities. It will there be seen, that when 
 ■sulphuric acid is of the specific gravity, 1 . 85, it will contain fifteen 
 per cent, of water, when of 1. 80, it will contain twenty per cent., 
 and so on. As all good oil of vitriol ought to be at least 1. 85, it 
 will be found a great loss to the bleacher, when it proves to be be- 
 low that standard. 
 
 Still more important is the purity of the manganese ; for if it con- 
 tains much calcarious, or other earthy matter, there is not only a 
 loss of so much manganese, but a greater loss of sulphuric acid, ne- 
 cessarily wasted in saturating the earthy matter. There are tw« 
 
 i 
 
285 
 
 distinct ores of manganese, the grey and the black — the grey is the 
 richest ore, but is very subject to be combined with hme, some 
 samples containing eight per cent. ; therefore, the black is to be 
 preferred, as it is said to contain no lime, its impurity consisting 
 principally in sulphur, which has no injurious effect in this process. 
 
 Fine salt should be employed for this purpose, that which is call- 
 ed blown being the best. It should be clean, and free from all 
 adulterations. 
 
 The next object is, to obtain a caustic alkali, for the carbonic 
 acid coniained in the alkali that is offered for sale, renders it much 
 less efficacious than when it is made caustic bj' lime. For this pur- 
 pose add to the alkali half its weight of quick lime, and boil them 
 for half an hour in water- When clear, the solution is poured off, 
 and trore water added, to wash the sediment, and this process is 
 repealed several times, till the alkali is found to be all extracted. 
 When the alkali is to be used in the receiver, it is unnecessary to 
 separate all the lime — and if the receiver be filled with lime-water^ 
 the boiling in lime may be omitted. 
 
 To prepare the bleaching liquor. 
 
 To a receiver containing one hundred and twenty gallons of 
 water, add eight pounds of pearl-ash, rendered caustic by lime. 
 For this quantity put into the retort fourteen pounds of manganese, 
 ^nd from sixteen to twenty pounds of salt, mixed with three gal- 
 lons of water. The cover and tubes are then firmly luted by driv- 
 ing into the joinings a stiff putty, and afterwards, dry powdered 
 chalk. The cover also should be faslened down to ensure safety. 
 
 When things are thus disposed, sixteen pounds of sulphuric acid 
 are poured through the crooked funnel ; but slowly and at inter- 
 vals, that the gas may not pass too rapidly, which is known by the 
 violence of the ebullition in the receiver, and the escape of the 
 noxious fumes. This is a tedious process, and usually consumes 
 
286 
 
 half a daj. It would be easy to place a vessel of the acid so that 
 a very small sueam miglit constantly pass into Uie fuouel, auo iLus 
 the operation be suffered to go on of itself. There irouia be a 
 saving of time, and the supply of acid would be more unilbrm, oc- 
 casiouiiig a less waste of the gas. After all tiie action has ceased, 
 which may be known by applying the ear to the receiver, or by 
 grasping with the hand the tube leading to it, a fire is kindled un- 
 der the retort. This must also be regulated by the evolution of 
 gas, and continued till no more passes over, which usually occu- 
 pies three or four hours. By this time the gas tube will be hot, 
 owing to the passage of steam, though dunng most of the process 
 it will be cold. 
 
 The bent funnel is not always so adjusted as to operate as a tube 
 ci safetv . in which case it will be necessary to open the retort as 
 soon as the heat decays, otherwise the bleaching liquor from the 
 receiver will pass into the retort and nil it. in eveiy case it n.ay 
 be i^roper to open it and pour in cold water, for a lai'ge masb of 
 heated brick work and sand will cause the contents tu boil for a 
 long time after the fire is removed, and thereby to become indu- 
 rattd. For the greater safety or the retort, it is thought by some 
 useful to keep the sand in which it is embedded filled with water. 
 
 It is necessary to be attentive to these and such like minutiae, 
 which have been the occasion of many failures to young practi- 
 tiouei*s. 
 
 BLEACHNG. 
 
 THE first process which the cloth usually undergoes, is fermen- 
 tatioii. wfiich is very usefully attended to when time wi 1 admit, 
 thoug?i ii i» not indispensable. V*'hen t.his has been well per form" 
 ed, a quantity o^ gelatmous substance has collected in the water, 
 and in the subsequent washing much foam, like that of soap suds^ 
 
287 
 
 has been produced. I have sometimes fermented in weak Ije, in 
 which cloth has been boiled. In either case it is, of course, pre-? 
 ferable in a warm state. When put into the fermenting hquor, it 
 is loosely folded, and the two corners of the end tied round it. In 
 this state it is also boiled and washed. The washing- is repeated 
 after every other process, severally, till it is finally dried, and is 
 performed at least six times. 
 
 After fermenting- and washing, it is next boiled in lye. Bleach- 
 ers use difterent proportions of pot-ash, but three pounds to the 
 hundred weight of cloth is considered by good bleachers as suffi- 
 cient. The same liquor will answer several times, and perhaps 
 any number of times, by adding additional pot-ash, and a sufficient 
 quantity of water to supply the loss. The process of bucking, with 
 suitable apparatus, would be preferable to boiling. I have known 
 this tried by hand, but it was found much too laborious. The lye 
 will become deeply coloured and thickened, and it is said will, 
 sometimes, acquire the consistence of molasses, by dissolving and 
 combining with the colouring matter of the cloth. 
 
 When the cloth is put to bleaching, it must be untied and loosely 
 thrown into the liquor, crowding it down but little. One-third 
 part of the contents of the receiver, as before described, diluted 
 with three or four times the quantity of water, will be sufficient 
 for one hundred and fifty pounds of cloth. The time it remains in 
 the bleaching liquor, must be determined by convenience, but 
 twelve hours is sufficient, perhaps much less. Those who use the 
 hyperoxy muriate of lime, say it is slower in its operation. 
 
 Lime would be more economical than pot-ash, and is said to an- 
 swer as well. I made one experiment, however, with it, but from 
 some cause, was not very successful, much of the gas escaping. 
 When lime is used in the receiver, in place of pearl-ash, continual 
 agitation is requisite to keep it suspended in the liquor, and per- 
 haps even then it does not combine so readily with the gas as pot- 
 ash, the one being mechanically, the other chemically divided* 
 
288 
 
 It is the same with carbonate of magnesia, reoortmended by Davy, 
 yet tliis substance 1 employed in my first bleaching expcniuent 
 with complete success. 
 
 To return from this digression, the boiling- and bleaching", with 
 the WRsbing^ must be again repeated, which will g^i n<^rally be 
 sufficient. Less alkali will be required after the first boiling, and 
 a fresh solutiun of pearl-ash is preferable, as it keeps the cloth 
 nicer than common pot-ash. After the cloth is sufficiently bleach- 
 ed, it is put into a souring in order to take out such stains as it 
 may have contracted, as also, to prevent its acquiring a brown 
 tmge by time. It is usually recommended to make the water as 
 scair to liie taste with oil of vitriol as lemon juice. The cloth 
 loo'cs ihe clearer for being- in h oretty strong acid, in which it 
 shuald remain twelve hours. When it comes out of this liquor, 
 cledr water should be made to pass through it three or four times, 
 filling- the vessel and drawing oflf at the bottom. This w)ll take 
 out much of the acid, after which it must be carefully and thorough- 
 ly cleansed, by repeated washings. 
 
 It is said the cloth will have a brighter appearance for being 
 dried in the shade. 
 
 The process for yarn or thread, is essentially the same as that 
 described for cloth ; but it seems to require a gi eater streogih of 
 bleaching liquor, or that the pi*ocess should be oftener repeated. 
 The labour i)f washing is much greater. Some persons pass a 
 large stream of water through it for some time, which willckanse 
 it su ^ -ieDtly, except after the souring, wh' o it must be thorough' 
 ly washed. By this means much labour will be saved. 
 
^•^"^ 
 
 y