HELPFUL HINTS. 409 



"When using dry lampblack, saturate it with spirits of 

 turpentine and there will be no difficulty in mixing it with 

 oil afterward ; no more turpentine should be used than is 

 necessary to make a paste, as turpentine is bad for outside 

 work. A small amount of lampblack is good to set the 

 olive greens and make them durable. 



"It is important that the work to be painted be perfectly 

 clean and free from grease, oil or tar spots. All knots 

 should be covered with a coat of strong shellac varnish 

 before priming. If the work is new let the priming stand 

 a week or two before laying on the second coat. 



"The following will be found useful in computing the 

 amount of paint required : 



" Quantities required to paint one hundred square yards : 

 For priming, if tinted white lead is used, there will be re- 

 quired twenty pounds of lead and five quarts of raw lin- 

 seed oil. For second coat twenty pounds of lead and one 

 gallon of oil. 



" If three-coat work is intended, the amount of material 

 required for priming and completing the work will average 

 fifty pounds of lead and two and a half gallons of oil to 

 cover one hundred square yards, or about one half pound 

 lead per square yard. As painting is sometimes measured 

 by the 'square' of 10x10 feet (or one hundred square 

 feet), we give the following rule for computing the quan- 

 tities required, viz. , five pounds of lead and one quart of 

 oil to the ' square ' for three-coat work. 



" When paint is already mixed and ready for the brush 

 there is required one gallon per coat for each twenty-five 

 square yards. 



" Putty for stopping nail-holes, etc., one half pound to the 



square, or four to five pounds for each one hundred yards. 



"In regard to the brushes required: It is economy to 



have enough brushes so that there will be one for each color, 



