Vol. XXIV. No. 6.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
85 
Practical Cljen^istry aqd tlje jJrts. 
HINTS TO INTENDING AMATEUR 
PHOTOGRAPHERS. 
Thanks to modern improvements, the fas- 
cinating art of photography can now be 
» practiced b}- anyone, no previous knowledge 
of chemistry being required, and excellent 
outfits can be obtained at all prices, from five 
dollars upwards. A few hints to those 
intending to join the ranks of the "photo- 
graph fiends" may be of service. 
We siiould advise the beginner to start in a 
small way, with comparatively cheap appa- 
ratus, and proceed step by step, buying addi- 
tional apparatus as it may be found necessary. 
The amateur who attempts the first day he 
receives his camera to take a landscape view 
in the morning, an instantaneous picture after 
dinner, a portrait in the course of the after- 
noon, and a flash-light interior in the evening, 
will surely come to grief, and consider all 
amateur photography to be but vanity and 
vexation of spirit. Nothing is better to com- 
mence with than an architectural subject, — 
the amateur's residence, for instance, — and in 
a few trials, the first of which will undoubt- 
edly be failures, he will gain an immense 
amount of information regarding time of 
exposure, management of the camera, use of 
tlie diaphragms, etc., which will be indispen- 
sable to his further progress. 
Taking everything into consideration, we 
would recommend the 5x8 size of plate as the 
best to use. It is easy to handle, and gives a 
picture in which the details are large enough 
to be distinct, while prints of this size when 
mounted are of a convenient size to examine 
and not too large to lie aroimd the house. 
Larger sizes are adapted to particular cases, 
while apparatus for taking smaller views only 
has the advantages of greater portability and 
slightly le.ss cost. 
An excellent 5x8 outfit can be obtained 
complete for about twenty-five dollars, and is 
recommended as the best to commence with. 
As one gains experience and interest in the 
•irt» — and the interest always increases at a 
very rapid rate, — better apparatus can be 
substituted, to any extent that one's purse 
will allow, and the old apparatus sold at a 
small discount to some other beginner. Of 
course the most important part of the appa- 
ratus is tlie objective, or lens, and a good one 
should be procured before anything else. A 
strictly first-class photographic objective for 
the above size will cost from twenty to fifty 
dollars, although the single view lenses sold 
with the cheaper outfits are often most excel- 
lent, and give very satisfactory results. 
"Wide angle" lenses are indispensable for 
interiors and many out-of-door views in con- 
fined situations, but the rectilinear landscape 
lenses are the best, we think, on the whole, 
for such duties as the average amateur is 
likely to require of them. 
A very common mistake of beginners is to 
stop the development too soon. When a 
properly exposed plate is placed in the devel- 
oping solution, the image soon appears and 
is, apparently, perfect in all its details. The 
temptation is strong to remove it at once and 
wash ofl' the developer ; if this is done, the 
negative, after it is fixed, will be thin and 
lacking in detail, and, in fact, quite worthless. 
The development should be continued until 
the image nearly disappears, and the plate 
seems to be spoiled. But it is not, and an 
immersion in the fixing bath will bring out a 
brilliant negative of the necessary intensity to 
make good prints. 
It is not worth while to experiment much 
with diflerent developers. There is nothing 
much better than the ordinary pyrogallic acid 
and carbonate of soda, and the average ama- 
teur does not usually care to trouble himself 
about the refinements of the art. It is better 
to become accustomed to one solution and 
use it constantly, when uniform results will 
usually follow. The same principle will 
apply to plates. The leading brands are all 
about equally good, and there is nothing 
gained by constant change. 
No instruction in photography can take the 
place of practical experience. There is a 
sort of " knack" in the various manipulations 
which can only be acquired by practice. The 
first attempts of the photographic amateur 
are pretty certain to be accompanied by much 
trouble and anxiety, antl result after all in a 
dismal failure. If one does not forget to pulh 
out the slide, remove the cap, or take two 
pictures on the same plate, he will do well, 
for there is as much nervousness accompanv- 
ing the taking of the first picture as in land- 
ing the first trout or shooting the first deer. 
Practice will soon make perfect, however, 
and patience and perseverance will enable 
one to obtain photographs which will be 
things of beauty and joys forever — or, at least, 
until they attain what seems to be the ulti- 
mate destiny of all silver prints, and fade 
away into oblivion. 
+»v 
A CHINESE SEED-PLANTER. 
The accompanying illustration of an im- 
plement for planting seed, so curiously similar 
in principle to those of modern times, is taken 
from a work on China by Guignes, published 
about 1808, and seems to indicate that the 
Chinese anticipated some of our supposed 
modern inventions in the line of agriculture, 
as well as gunpowder, the mariner's compass, 
and the use of movable types in printing, to 
which they modestly lay claim. It is com- 
posed of a box for holding the grain, mounted 
upon a frame of bamboo, the lower ends of 
which are provided with two small plow- 
shares. The rear part of the box, or hopper, 
is pierced with two holes, through which the 
grain passes into the hollow bamboo rods 
forming the back of the framework, which 
conduct it to the furrows made in the ground 
by the plowshares. This primitive imple- 
ment is dragged over the ground by two 
men, and, in spite of the clumsiness of its 
construction, it must be fairly effective ; at 
least it enables the Celestial farmer to plant 
his seeds much' quicker than by dropping 
them one by one from the hand. It is an 
interesting example of the state of the Chi- 
nese civilization, which seems to have devel- 
oped up to a certain point and there become 
permanently arrested, while the western na- 
tions, continuing on, left them far behind. 
Whether their modern intercourse with more 
advanced nations will start them once more 
on a career of progress, remains to be seen ; 
but the prospect is at least hopeful. 
PRACTICAL RECrPES. 
Varnisiung Fretwork. — Use white, hard spirit- 
varnish ; it requires no size. The application is to 
be made in a warm room. Or, fill in the grain of 
the wood with glue size, and varnish with brown, 
hard varnish. 
Paper or pasteboard m.-ij' be rendered water- 
proof as follows: Mix four parts of slacked lime 
with three parts of skimmed milk, and add a little 
alum ; then give the material two successive coat- 
ings of the mixture with a brush, and let it dry. 
Filling for NAiL-noLEs. — The following method 
of filling up old nail-holes in wood is not only 
simple, but is said to be effectual. Take fine saw- 
dust and mix into a thick paste with glue, pound it 
into the hole, and when dry it will make the wood 
as good as new. Often by frequent attachment of 
new leather to old bellows-frames, the wood becomes 
so perforated that there is no space to drive the 
nails, and, even if there was, the remaining holes 
would allow the air to escape. A treatment with 
glue and sawdust paste invariably does the work, 
while lead, putty, and other remedies always fail. 
For Cleaning and Polishing Brass. — An acid 
which seems to have a peculiar solvent action upon 
the oxides, etc., and yet leaves the metallic surface 
intact, is oleic, and, when combined with finely- 
powdered Venetian red and cleaning fluids, leaves 
nothing to be desired. A good formula is : Vene- 
tian red, finely powdered, 3 troy ounces; oil of tur- 
pentine, 12 fluid ounces; oleic acid, i fluid ounce; 
ammonia water, Vi fluid ounce ; alcohol, i fluid 
ounce; oil of sassafras, lo minims. Mix; shake on 
using. To clean the brass, apply with a rag, and 
clean off when dry with whiting or precipitated 
chalk. 
