Leaders. 71 



is with this unknown quantity the comparison is neces- 

 sarily made. Other methods were tried, but none were 

 free from objection. However, it seems safe to say that 

 from fifteen up to forty and even fifty per cent, of the 

 strength of the gut may be lost in this process, according 

 to the skill and care used therein. 



If the following directions are followed, it is believed 

 this will be reduced to a minimum. Before dyeing gut, 

 the ragged ends should be clipped and the useful por- 

 tion bundled together by tying at one end only. This 

 bundle should be well washed with brown soap and 

 water, and then rinsed in at least three waters until the 

 soap is thoroughly eliminated ; it should then be wiped, 

 and allowed to dry. Thus any greasy matter which 

 may be upon the surface of the gut from any cause will 

 be removed, and the dye will bite with greater prompt- 

 ness and the more indelibly. For if all dyes are to some 

 extent corrosive, as seems to be the case, it is well to ex- 

 pose the gut to this influence for as short a time as will 

 produce the desired result. 



The least injurious of any which will give a useful 

 color is the ink-dye. Indeed I have thought at times 

 its use was attended with no loss whatever. Doubtless 

 this is partly due to the fact that the gut is then not 

 subjected to heat. The resultant color is a neutral tint 

 of an azure tone, a color excellent in itself. Ink, how- 

 ever, is generally considered inferior to the dyes of which 

 copperas is a component, in that it does not equally 

 neutralize the natural gloss of the surface of the gut. 

 This is of the utmost consequence, since, as will be seen 

 hereafter, from a glossy surface the light is so reflected 

 that a strand of such gut appears in the water like a 

 polished silver w^ire. Mr. Fred Mather, the widely 



