64 ON COLORING. 



is doubtless preferable, when it can be readily obtained. The 

 cloth should be first steeped in a decoction of nutgalls, or the 

 barks above directed, and afterwards macerated and worked sev- 

 eral times in the liquor of the black vat, drying it between each 

 of the macerations, and finally, being well rinsed, it is to be 

 dyed with a quantity of maple bark, galls, &c., to saturate the 

 iron imbibed in the black vat. To soften the black so produced, 

 the yarn, &c. is usually passed through a bath of starch and oil, 

 well mixed and stirred, employing for this purpose at the rale 

 of one ounce of oil for each pound of cloth, yarn, &;c. This 

 employment of linseed oil gives a soft, glossy appearance to the 

 black dyed upon cotton and linen, renders the color more intetise 

 and durable, and is particularly important for sewing thread. 

 But care must be taken not to withdraw the cotton from this 

 mixture till by suitable management the oil has been equally 

 applied to all parts of it. 



Having given what we believe some of the best methods of 

 dyeing the four simple colors, and incidentally mentioned some 

 of their compounds, we now proceed to give directions for col- 

 oring several of those which are most frequently used, or which 

 have been, or still are, most highly esteemed by mankind. 

 Among these are the purple, once the most costly and valued of 

 colors, worn only by princes and the most wealthy of mankind. 

 The ancient color was produced by a liquor found in small 

 quantities in one or more species of shell fishes. It is yielded 

 by a species of the Buccinum, which resembles in form the gar- 

 den snail. This liquor is found in a little white or yellowish 

 bag, placed transversely in immediate contact with the shell, 

 near the head of its inhabitant. It is nearly colorless, but when 

 applied to linen, cotton, &ic., and exposed to the rays of the sun, 

 it will become green, blue, and finally a most durable purple. 

 Perhaps this animal may be found on our coast, and be advan- 

 tageously used for marking fancy work, &;c. Josselyn, in his 

 'New England Varieties Discovered,' says — •' At Paschataway, 

 a plantation about fifty leagues eastward of Boston, in a small 

 cove, called Baker's Cove, they found this kind of muscle, which 

 haih a purple vein which being pricked with a needle yieldeth a 



