LINES. 1 5 



probably be the secret of the success of the 

 following receipt, for which I was indebted to 

 my friend Mr. W. C. Stewart : 



The first step in the process is to impart to the 

 gut a light tint of the common "red-water 

 stain." For this purpose take a teacupful of black 

 tea, and boil it with a quart of water : keeping the 

 gut steeped in the mixture until it has acquired 

 the necessary tint. This process will sometimes 

 take only half an hour or even less, and sometimes 

 several hours, according to the strength and 

 staining power of the tea : when sufficiently 

 stained, rinse the gut well in cold water. When 

 dry, take a handful of logwood-chips (obtainable 

 at most druggists), and boil them in a quart of 

 water till the latter is reduced to about a pint. 

 Then take it off the fire, and put into it a small 

 piece of copperas (sulphate of copper), about the 

 size of a hazel nut, powdered, stir the mixture, and 

 when the copperas is dissolved, which it will be in a 

 few minutes, dip the gut into the mixture until it 

 has got a dirty greyish-green tinge. Very often 

 a few instants' immersion will be sufficient, and 

 in order to ascertain the exact amount of the 

 stain, as well as to avoid over-staining, it is 

 best always to keep a basin of water close at hand 

 to rinse the gut in, the moment it is taken out of 

 the dye. 



This method of staining involves a little extra 

 b 



