380 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ink-plant, as furnishing a juice which can be used in writing 

 without previous preparation. Characters traced with this 

 substance have a reddish color at first, which turns to a deep 

 black in a few hours. This juice is said to be really less lia- 

 ble to thicken than ordinary ink, and not to corrode steel 

 pens. It resists the action of water, and is practically in- 

 delible. The plant is known as Cory aria thymifolia. 5 A, 

 July, 313. 



COLORS FROM WILD PLANTS. 



A German writer shows that a great variety of colors and 

 dyes can be readily obtained from common plants found al- 

 most every where, the method consisting principally in boil- 

 ing them in water at a high temperature, so as to produce a 

 strong decoction. Thus, for instance, the well-known huckle- 

 berry, or blueberry (J r acci)iiu?n), when boiled down, with an 

 addition of a little alum and a solution of copperas, will de- 

 velop an excellent blue color. The same treatment, with a 

 solution of nut-galls, produces a clean dark brown tint, while 

 with alum, verdigris, and sal ammoniac, various shades of 

 purple and red can be obtained. The fruit of the elder (Sam- 

 bucus niger), so frequently used for coloring spirituous liq- 

 uors, will also produce a blue color when treated with alum. 

 The privet (Ligustrum vulgare), boiled in a solution of salt, 

 will furnish an excellent color, while the overripe berries 

 yield a scarlet red. The seeds of the common burning-bush 

 (Euonymus), when treated with sal ammoniac, produce a 

 beautiful purple red, while the juice of the currant, pressed 

 out and mixed with a solution of alum, will furnish a bright 

 red color. The bark, treated in the same way, produces a 

 brown. Yellow can be obtained from the bark of the apple- 

 tree, the box, the ash, the buckthorn, the poplar, elm, etc., 

 when boiled in water and treated with alum. A lively green 

 is furnished by the broom-corn {Spartium scoparium), and 

 brownish-green by the genista. 10 C, January 14, 1871,5. 



OINTMENT FOR GUN-BARRELS ON THE SEA-SHORE. 



It is said that an ointment made of corrosive sublimate 

 and lard will prove an effectual protection against the rust- 

 ing of gun-barrels on the sea-shore. 18.4, August 25,571. 



