﻿W. T. L. Travers. — On the Practice of Out-door Photography. 161 



My camera is so constructed as, when completely closed, to occupy a space 

 only four and three-fourths inches deep by eleven inches square, and the dark 

 slide permits of the pictures being taken either the wide or the long way 

 of the glass ; but although, as T have before observed, the lens face covers 

 admirably a ten by eight plate, I have reduced the size of the glass to nine 

 by seven, and I never take a picture of less size, for the simple reason that 

 to do so would involve carrying separate glass boxes, whilst, of course, the 

 larger size includes all that could be got by using a smaller plate. The 

 nitrate bath is carried in a porcelain trough fixed in a strong wooden frame, 

 with a small space between the ware and the wood, from which it is kept 

 generally free by a few india-rubber buffers. This precaution diminishes the 

 risk of damage from any accidental blow or crush. I use a glass dipper, 

 which also fits into a wooden case, after being wrapped round with a soft 

 rag. My developing and cleansing solutions are kept in six-ounce bottles, 

 which fit into a box made of thin board, divided into cells, padded with 

 cotton wool and lined with cloth. I usually caiTy in these cells two bottles 

 of cyanide solution, and one each of iron, pyrogallic, and silver solutions. 

 The collodion bottle is also fitted with a small wooden box, into which I stuff 

 a few of the cloths which are necessarily used for wiping the developing 

 glasses, etc., when I am at work. A galvanized iron dish, with a pipe 

 about an inch long in one corner for carrying off the waste water, plateholder, 

 developing glasses, a spare silver dipper, and a few other odds and ends which 

 every one accustomed to landscape photography ordinarily requires, complete 

 the materials for the work. When I travel in mountainous or other districts, 

 in which there are no carriage roads, I usually carry all these articles packed 

 in a developing box, which T propose to describe, and which I have found 

 admirably suited for the purpose. 



The bath in its case, the camera when folded up, the boxes containing the 

 collodion and developing solutions, etc., are all of nearly uniform thickness, 

 which is about five inches. The developing box, answering to the dark room 

 of the stationary photographer, is made of three-quarter inch well seasoned deal, 

 and is thirty inches long by sixteen inches broad, and five and a half inches 

 deep in the inside. The inside is fitted with straps which are screwed close to 

 the edges, and which are so fixed as, when buckled, to secure in their respective 

 places the various articles laid in the box. On the left hand side I place the bath, 

 lying across the width of the box, next to it, in the middle, the iron washing 

 dish, in which the box containing the developing solutions, the dipper, and any 

 odds and ends, lie, and on the right side the camera and lens, whilst the remain- 

 ing available space affords room for the collodion bottle, the focussing scrcAv, 

 cloths, etc. When the lid is down, and a pair of straps are fastened round 

 the box, the whole is secure, and it can easily be slung on one side of an 



