196 CALICO PRINTING. 



colouring matter to water. It is common to keep 

 them in water for a year before they are used. 

 Wool is dyed brown with them by steeping in a 

 decoction for a length of time proportioned to the 

 depth of colour required. The same colouring 

 matter is found in the root of the walnut-tree, but 

 in smaller quantity. Other trees, as the bark of the 

 birch may be used for dyeing browns, and in these 

 cases it is probable that the colouring matter is 

 combined with the tanning principle, and this may 

 be the reason why no mordant is necessary, both 

 the cloth and colouring matter having a strong 

 affinity for tannin. 



Drab colours are dyed by combining brown 

 oxide of iron with the cloth, and then the yellow 

 of quercitron bark. The strength of shade will be 

 more or less, by varying the quantity of the mor- 

 dant, when the proportion is small the colour in- 

 clines to olive or yellow, on the contrary the drab 

 may be deepened or saddened, as the dyers term 

 it, by mixing a little sumach with the bark. 



CALICO PRINTING. 



Calico is a species of cotton cloth ornamented with 

 coloured patterns. The name is derived from Cali- 

 cut, a district of India, where it was first made, and 

 from whence it was formerly imported. The art 

 of making calicoes had been practised there from 

 time immemorial, but it is scarcely a hundred 

 years since it was known in Europe j it has al- 

 ready risen to such perfection as to equal if not 

 exceed the manufactures of India, in the elegance 

 of the patterns, the beauty and permanance of the 

 colours, and the expedition with which the different 

 operations are carried on. 



