AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHF. 
Much of my work is done out of doors 
in the summer when light conditions are 
good, and though other developers did 
not meet my wants I hesitated to use pyro, 
fearing the stains. Finally I gave it a trial 
and was at once convinced that it was 
what I wanted, but more, that stained 
fingers were not necessary. I use rubber 
finger tips, but the important point is that 
I keep my hands out of the tray as much 
as possible. It is not necessary to dabble 
in the developer all the time, for it spoils 
the solution and does not help the fingers. 
When I start development I watch the 
plate closely as it lies in the tray and if it 
seems to be coming up all right cover the 
dish and continue rocking gently, looking 
at it occasionally till the image begins 
to appear. Then I take out and ex- 
amine by the red light and often one ex- 
amination is all that is required. Ten min- 
utes is my minimum time for develop- 
ment of a normal exposure, for I found 
I could better ~ontrol a moderately slow 
development and get more uniform nega- 
tives than where rapid development was 
attempted. Occasionally I get a negative 
too dense for easy printing, but over- 
developing is'the easiest error to correct 
and need trouble no one. 
My dark-room is a hall closet with 
smooth, white walls and a shelf for a de- 
veloping table. The red lamp is a large 
one, giving a good light, and I found that 
by turning the light toward the wall the re- 
flection from the white surface gave a 
beautiful soft glow that. not only was a 
relief to the eyes and did not fog plates, 
but illuminated the shelf so that all the 
trouble of tipping er bottles, getting 
plates in the wrong trays, and playing 
havoc generally was entirely overcome. 
Of course no light is absolutely safe, and 
in handling fresh plates I turn the wick 
very low, while I use covers on my trays, 
but nothing has given me so much com- 
fort in the dark-room as the discovery 
of the value of reflected light. How- 
ever, I do not think it would answer with 
a very small lamp. 
Then there are prints. I believe I have 
learned more and progressed less in that 
direction than any other, but the im- 
portant points seem to be fresh papers and 
absolute cleanliness. Rinsing the trays 
in cold water will not keep them clean. 
Hot water and occasionally a few drops of 
sulphuric acid added are necessary, while 
as for the hands, they cannot be washed 
too often. Hypo stains are fatal to good 
prints and it requires great care while 
working to keep the hands clean. In 
summer perspiration will sometimes spoil 
a good print. 
Photography is a school where we may 
always learn something and this. is one 
of its chief charms. Else why should we 
329 
spend our good money and time, risk 
sunstroke and pneumonia, endure the pity- 
ing smiles of our friends and the open 
scorn of the small boy, if not buoyed up 
by the hope of something yet to be 
learned. 

SQUEEGEEING. 
Do your prints ever stick to the ferro- 
type plate when polishing? If so dry 
them over night, face up, on blotters. 
Then the next day soak for a few minutes, 
until perfectly limp, squeegee and they 
can’t stick. 
A. D., Bethlehem, Pa. 

MOUNTING SQUEEGEED PRINTS. 
The method usually employed by the 
amateur is to paste the entire back, trans- 
fer the print to card, or album, and roll 
in contact. But how often does the paste 
ooze out at the edges and soil the print? 
then tie snione -eful operators only 
paste down the corner of the print. Re- 
sult; they become torn in a short time. 
I have tried with success the following 
plan and as it costs nothing, I] recom- 
mend it to readers of RECREATION, 
Place wet print on wet ferrotype plate; 
cover with a blotter and either roll or rub 
into perfect contact. Have all air bells 
rubbed out or mottled prints will result. 
Then apply a good paste, not too thick, 
over the: back and allow to dry, when the 
prints may be peeled off readily and with 
a beautiful polish. 
All that is now needed is to either moist- 
en the mount, place the print on it and 
rub into contact; or moisten the back of 
print and do the same. Practice makes 
perfect. 
I make my own paste by using % 
starch and % flour. Stir up in cold water 
to about the thickness of cream and pour 
boiling water into it until it becomes trans- 
parent and thick. Cool and strain and it 
is ready. 
C., Bethlehem, Pa. 

BROMIDE PRINTS. 
Recently I had occasion to photograph 
a building in front of which were strung 
innumerable wires; I could get back far 
enough to avoid having the wires cut di- 
rectly through the upper portion of the 
building, but they would show across the 
one upper corner (I took it at an angle). 
This annoyed me so | removed the wires 
from the finished print. I made a bro- 
mide print and when washed sufficiently 
laid it flat on a piece of glass, sky down. 
Then I removed the lines with a piece 
of cotton dipped in this solution: 
