66 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



ments which have good covering power in oil. These pigments are 

 all rather expensive, and as they are heavy it takes quite a large 

 amount to make a paint. 



Of the dark shades, there are a number of cheaper pigments 

 which have very good covering power. It may be quite safely stated 

 that for a white paint that really covers, some one or more of the 

 white pigments just enumerated must be used. For a dark brown, 

 however, a good covering can be obtained with an iron oxid pig- 

 ment, which is very much cheaper. Therefore, for such paints there 

 is no reason for using an expensive lead or zinc pigment. 



Tinted paints, at least those of light tint, consist practically of 

 white paint with the addition of a small amount of coloring matter. 

 The coloring materials used in tinting are not uniform. In gen- 

 eral, gray tints are made from white paints by the addition of a 

 black pigment, such as lampblack or bone black, and sometimes a 

 small amount of red or blue is used also. The total amount of 

 coloring matter employed varies, but rarely amounts to as much as 

 5 per cent. Buff may be made by the addition of mixtures of ocher 

 and umber; brown, by the addition of mixtures of black, red, and 

 sometimes yellow. Yellow and cream may be made by the addition 

 of ocher or chrome yellow; frequently for this purpose golden ocher 

 is used, which is ordinary ocher brightened by the addition of a 

 small amount of chrome yellow. Blue tints may be made by the 

 addition of small amounts of Prussian blue. This is a powerful tint- 

 ing pigment, and it is seldom that more than 1 per cent is required. 

 With the white paints which contain no lead, ultramarine blue may 

 be used instead of Prussian blue; but ultramarine blue should not 

 be used with lead paints. Besides the tinted white paints, bright 

 colors are sometimes desired, especially green, for blinds, and reds 

 for the trimmings of houses or for machinery. These paints seldom 

 contain any large amount of the expensive lead and zinc white pig- 

 ments, but consist of comparatively small quantities of coloring 

 matter and large amounts of the cheap white pigments. For black 

 paints there is practically only one coloring substance, namely, car- 

 bon, which, however, occurs commercially in a number of forms. 

 The color of so-called drop or ivory black is carbon, obtained from 

 charred bone ; lampblack is carbon in the form of soot. The latter, 

 although very pure, does not make a satisfactory black alone, the 

 heavier forms of carbon, such as bone black or even ground charcoal, 

 producing a better black. 



For dark shades of brown or red there is probably nothing 

 which is as cheap as the oxid of iron pigments. These vary very 

 much in shade, giving both browns and dull reds. A pigment that 

 gives a very satisfactory reddish brown and contains about 40 per 

 cent of iron oxid makes a satisfactory paint containing approximate- 

 ly 56 per cent pigment and 44 per cent vehicle, the vehicle being. 

 very much the same as that used in a first-class white paint. 



Whitewash. Whitewash is the cheapest of all paints, and for 

 certain purposes it is the best. Lime, which is the basis of white- 

 wash, makes a very sanitary coating, and is probably to be preferred 



