200 Miscellanies. 



by degrees, stirring the mass carefully, 18 lbs. 6 oz. of pure olive 

 oil, (no matter what its age or taste.) The mixture becomes trans- 

 parent, and acquires, while warm, a syrupy consistence, and when 

 cold it is tenacious, viscous, and looks like turpentine. This mixture, 

 furnishes an excellent varnish for leather, properly prepared, leaving 

 it in a flexible state, and admitting a good polish. 



Ten lbs. of resin and fifteen lbs. of fish oil, or oil of rape seed, or 

 colza, afford a proper coating for cordage or oakum, or sail cloth. 

 The cloth must be perfectly dry, and the mixture applied boiling 

 hot. It should then, after the superfluous portions have drained off, 

 be carefully dried in the air, before it is exposed to water. A 

 month's drying is generally sufficient. Oil of linseed, olivette, or 

 beach, can by no means be substituted for that prescribed. 



Ten pounds of resin and thirteen and a half pounds of fish oil, 

 make a proper varnish for wood ; applied boiling hat. When the 

 wood is duly impregnated, a little quick lime should be sprinkled over 

 it, moistened with water, and then the whole surface well rubbed 

 with a wisp of straw, by which the pores of the wood become com" 

 pletely closed. 



As a hydrofuge for walls, the following is recommended : 10 lbs. 

 of resin deprived of its moisture, and 10 lbs. o£rape seed oil, melted 

 together and applied to the wall with a tow brush. The wall must 

 be previously made very dry and well warmed. 



This coating had better be applied twice, or subsequently a mix- 

 ture of 10 lbs. of drying linseed oil, 10 lbs. of resin, and 6 lbs. of 

 Bougival white, may be applied as a thin coating. The wall should 

 be rubbed with a very coarse cloth, and allowed to dry. A wall 

 thus prepared may be pajnted on, or papered, without risk. — Idem, 

 tome 15, p. 186. 



4. Economy of Sealing Wax. — In public offices, and other situa- 

 tions, in which letters sealed with wax accumulate to a great extent, 

 it may be well to know that the wax may be preserved and used on 

 other occasions. Two methods have been tried in France, (both 

 effectual,) of separating the wax from the paper. The first is to 

 pulverize the whole in an iron mortar, and then effect the separation 

 by sieves of a proper degree of coarseness. The second is to place 

 the mixture in a wire basket with open meshes, and expose it to the 

 action of steam. The wax melts, runs through, and is thus separa- 

 ted from the paper. It may then, in either case, be cast into sticks 

 or rolls, for use. — Idem. 



