ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 569 



DYEING, Cotton with Madder as 

 .Practiced at Smyrna. — Cotton, at Smyrna, 

 Mr. Eton tells us, is dyed with madder in 

 the following manner: The cotton is 

 iboiled in common olive oil, and then in 

 mild alkali; being thus cleaned, it will 

 take the madder dye; and this is the fine 

 color so greatly admired in Smyrna cotton 

 yarn. "I have heard," adds the gentle- 

 man, " that the sum of five thousand 

 pounds was given in England for this 

 secret!" It is, doubdess a secret in pre- 

 paring cottons, and perhaps other articles, 

 for the reception of a particular dye, very 

 well worth knowing. 



DYE, Gray. — Sumach, two pounds; 

 logwood, one pound ; make a decoction 

 with water, pass the stuff through it, and 

 afterwards through weak iron water (sul- 

 phate or acetate); lastly, add a little 

 iron liquor to the decoction, and again 

 turn the stuff through it. This gives a 

 pearl gray. 



a. Dissolve one pound of tartar in four 

 .gallons of water, turn the stuff through the 

 liquor for half an hour; add a decoction 

 of galls one-fourth of a pound, and 

 .sumach one and one-half pounds ; put 

 in the stuff and boil for half an hour ; 

 then take out the stuff, add sulphate of 

 iron one pound, and when dissolved 

 again, put it in, and work it well for an 

 half hour longer. Ash gray. This 

 "will dye fifteen to twenty-five pounds of 

 wool. 



b. Galls bruised, two pounds; wine- 

 stone, one pound ; water, sixteen gallons , 

 boil for thirty minutes, then put in the 

 stuff and work it well for half an hour ; 

 take it out, add three pounds of green 

 copperas, and when dissolved again, put 

 in the goods and work them well. Ash 

 jjray. This will dye sixty to seventy 

 pounds of wool. The addition of a 

 little alum converts this into a mouse 

 gray. 



c. Pass the stuff through a weak fustic 

 bath, and next through a very weak de- 

 coction of galls, to which a little alum 

 has been added ; then remove the goods, 

 refresh the bath with a little logwood, 

 boil half an hour, add some blue and 

 green vitriol, and when dissolved, finish 

 the stuff therein. Yellowish gray. 



d. Give the stuff a pale blue tint in the 

 indigo bath, then pass it through a weak 

 decoction of galls and sumach, take it 



out, add a little iron liquor to the bath, 

 and work the stuff well through it. In 

 this way may be given every shade of 

 iron gray, slate gray, and the other 

 shades that turn upon the blue. 



DYE, How to take the Stains from the 

 Hands. — Take a small quantity of the oil 

 of vitriol, pour it in some cold water, in 

 a wash-hand basin, and wash your hands 

 with it, without soap ; the dye will then 

 come off. You may afterwards cleanse 

 them completely in hot soap and water, 

 taking care that all the acid is washed 

 away before the soap is applied. 



DYE, Indigo Blue for Yarn.— To dye 

 this beautiful blue, use wine-pipes or 

 some other large casks, sunk in the earth 

 at a depth convenient for the operator to 

 work at. Five of these constitute a set, and 

 are worked together and kept of the same 

 strength. The yarn being worked in 

 quantities of one hundred pounds, twenty 

 pounds are passed through each vat. 



Each vat is filled about three-fourths 

 with cold water; there are then added 

 eight pounds of indigo, sixteen pounds of 

 sulphate of iron (copperas), and twenty- 

 four pounds newly-slacked lime. The 

 whole is well- stirred with a rake for 

 half an hour, and this stirring is re- 

 peated every hour and a half for the first 

 day. 



The stirring must be continued until 

 the solution becomes a rich oak yellow, 

 having large blue veins running through 

 it, and a fine indigo froth on the surface. 

 When these signs are all favorable, the 

 solution is allowed to stand for several 

 hours till all the solid matter settles, when 

 it is ready for use. 



The mode of dyeing consists in simply 

 immersing the goods, and working them 

 in the solution for fifteen minutes, taking 

 out and wringing or pressing, and then 

 exposing to the air ; repeating this opera- 

 tion until the desired depth of color is 

 obtained. The yarn is then washed in 

 cold water and dried. When the shade 

 required is very deep, the yarn may, pre ■ 

 vious to washing, be passed through a 

 tub of water acidulated with vitriol till it 

 tastes acid, and then washed; this adds 

 brilliancy to the color. 



DYEING, Kid Gloves.— In dyeing kid 

 gloves the first thing needed is an iron 

 hand on which the glove is drawn. If 

 the glove is to be dyed black, it is first 



