MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 393 



RECEIPT. 



Drying oil, (linseed, we presume,) one pint; 

 Yellow wax, two ounces ; 

 Turpentine, two ounces ; 

 Burgundy pitch, one ounce. 



Melt these over a slow fire, and then add a few drachms of essen- 

 tial oil of lavender, or thyme ; with this your boots are to be rubbed 

 with a brush, either in the sun or at some distance from the fire. 

 The application must be repeated as often as the boots become dry 

 again, until they are fully saturated. — Hawher. 



This mixture is an excellent dressing for boots generally ; it 

 will not render them water-proof, but it will cause them to repel 

 the rain extremely well. 



An excellent dressing for shooting-boots, or any thing else that 

 is exposed to foul weather, is a solution of gum caoutchouc, or 

 India-rubber, as it is commonly called, in strong spirits of turpen- 

 tine or ether. It is made as follows : — A piece of caoutchouc, the 

 size of a walnut, is cut into small pieces and put into a wide- 

 mouthed phial, with four ounces of turpentine or ether, and 

 allowed to remain two or three weeks, according to the strength 

 of the solvent, when it will become of the consistence of a thick 

 varnish, and may be applied with a brush to every part of the 

 boot, inside as well as outside. If ether is employed to dissolve 

 it, it will require but a very short time to make this preparation. 

 The phial should be tightly corked ; otherwise the ether will lose 

 all its strength, or, in other words, evaporate. This preparation, 

 or one analogous to it, is the article sold for several years past as 

 an application to old harness and wagon-covers, to make them 

 flexible and water-proof. 



Our friend Mr. Chandler sent us a quantity of water-proof 

 dressing for boots, which we used on several occasions, and found 

 to answer a most excellent purpose, so much so that we requested 

 nim to furnish us with a receipt for making it, which he very 

 kindly did, as will be seen from the following note : — 



