
76 RECREATION. 
an artistic picture. Don’t forget the leaves, 
dent de lion, (the tooth of the lion), from 
which the plant takes it name. Ferns, roses, 
fleur de lis, wild flowers. Flowers, like 
birds are all precious and beautiful. 

I use the No. 1 Vive camera 44% x4%4 
and Seeds special dry plates. . During the 
blizzard of last winter I took some snap- 
shots of the snow when the sun was shin- 
ning brightly; but strange to say, the plates 
are as clear as crystal and are beautiful 
to look at when held up to the light; but 
there is not much film on them. Will 
some reader please tell me why it is, and 
how can I print from them. They will 
not print at all in their present condition. 
John Watkins, Baldwin, Md. 
Your pictures should have been good. 
The Vive camera is noted, the world over, 
for the excellence of its lens, and Seed’s 
plates are a standard make. If you took 
a proper position, so that the sun’s rays 
and the len’s rays were parallel, and used 
snapshot plates, and snapshot development 
you should have come out all right. It 
is probably a case of snapshot on a long 
time plate; and the exposure being instan- 
taneous, and the plate slow, the impression 
was so slight that it will not yield a print- 
able negative. Almost the same result 
wil be attained by over exposing. If your 
plate was snapshot, you may have used 
full strength developer and have taken it 
out as soon as the image appeared. This 
would yield the plate you describe. 
Taking a camera from a hot room into an 
icy atmosphere, will make a frost over 
the lens, and weaken exposure. Again you 
may have compounded your chemicals in- 
accurately. As the scene is so faint as to 
yield no print at all, I doubt if there is 
any remedy. You might try an intensify- 
ing solution: 
Bichloride of Mercury........ 60 = grs 
Bromide Potassium.......... 60s gr. 
. Water. Bot Ss. iscten sh aSaemeien 614 oz. 
Bleach in this and wash well; then clear 
in a solution made of Sulphite of Sodium, 
1% oz. Water, 4 oz. 
Wash aiter fixing. This is one formula 
for intensifying weak plates. I should like 
to mount Pike’s Peak and with a Mega- 
phone that would reach the ear of every 
amateur from the lakes to the gulf, and 
from ocean to ocean, shout “‘never, never 
make a snapshot unless you cannot pos- 
sibly avoid it. If you must, then use snap- 
shot plates and instantaneous developer.” 

I find that one of the most frequent 
causes of failure in Amateur Photography 
is in not thoroughly realizing the sensitive- 
ness of the plate. A great many amateurs 
seem to think a plate is sensitive only when 
behind a lens and ready to be exposed. 
Extreme caution is required from the mo- 
ment of opening a box of plates until de- 
veloped and fixed. 
Be sure your dark room is dark. Close 
the door and without lighting the ruby 
light wait a few moments. Then look 
closely for rays of light from all sides of 
the door and through the keyhole. If there 
is the faintest trace of light it is fatal and 
must be excluded. 
Learn to load the plate-holder by the 
sense of touch, as too long an exposure 
even to the ruby light, will cause fog. 
After once opening a box of plates never 
expose it to the light again, unless thor- 
oughly wrapped up in dark paper. It is 
much better to have a light-tight box and 
in this place your box of plates. 
If you send your plates to be developed, 
send them if possible, in the holder, and 
unless you have absolute confidence in your 
messenger seal them. I am _ confident 
that curiosity has spoiled many plates, as 
nearly every person not a photographer 
seems to have a yearning to “draw the 
slide’ whenever he sees a camera. 
If you remove plates from the holder, 
go to the verge of fussiness in protecting 
them from the light. 
Fogging is not always caused by light, 
but do not blame the photographer who de- 
velops your plates until you can prove that 
it is not your fault, and then be sure that 
some member of the family has not been 
tampering with holder or plates. 3 
It is a good plan to hide your unexposed 
plates, as the younger generation want to 
see what they look like. 
G. L. Abell, Needham, Mass. 

THE COMBINED BATH. 
Seeing an inquiry from E. G., of Tor- 
onto, Can., for a compact changing bag for 
use when toning, I will describe one I use 
which answers a 3-fold purpose---changing 
bag, focusing cloth, and to carry tripod in. 
I have not had a plate fogged or spoiled in 
any way by its use, and I have changed 
dozens of plates in it. - 
Use 2 yards black cotton flannel; 2 pieces 
2 yards each, black silicia; sew the goods 
together; then fold back over, having cot- 
ton flannel inside; sew up each side. At 
open end cut out a V shaped piece about 6 
inches deep, so as to form a sleeve shape, 
to put the elastic in sleeves so no light 
can get in where arms are put in bag. 
Then turn bag inside out. Cotton flannel 
is now on outside and silicia is inside. 
The silicia does not hold dust as some 
goods do. Put everything in bag before 
beginning operations. 
If anyone desiring further information re- 
garding this bag, will write me, enclosing 

