USES IN DYEING. 



of the plant, and woollen cloth boiled in alum water 

 and afterward in a strong decoction of the tops gave 

 it a fine orange color. In the latter case the Heather 

 was pulled before flowering and from a dark, shady 

 place. 



For use in dyeing the plant should be mown or 

 cut when in flower, carefully dried and stacked until 

 required. 



The process of dyeing with vegetable home dyes, 

 says a writer in "Northern Notes and Queries," was 

 to wash the thread thoroughly in urine (long kept, 

 and called in Gaelic "Fual"), then rinsed and washed 

 in pure water, then put into the boiling pot of dye, 

 which is kept hard aboil on the fire The thread is now 

 and again lifted out of the pot on the point of a stick 

 and plunged back again until thoroughly dyed. If blue 

 the thread is washed in salt water and other colors in 

 fresh. The yarn is then hung out to dry and when 

 dry is gathered into balls, or clews, and is then ready 

 for the weaver's loom. "Tartan dyed in the Highlands 

 130 years ago, and used ever since, exists, the green 

 being purely from the Heather." 



An old chronicler writing in 1603 on "Certayne 

 matters concerning Scotland," says that the inhabitants 

 of the Western Isles delighted "to wear marled cloathes 

 especially that have long stripes of sundry colours. 

 Their predecessors used short mantles, or plaids of 

 divers colors, sundry ways divided, and amongst some 

 the same custom is observed to this day, but for the 

 most part now they are brown most near to the color of 

 the hadder, to the effect when they lie among the 

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