Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/679

 57i B L E A C H I N G. upon'a dreeper. It muft not be drier before buckall the dirt and filth which the rubbing-boards have laid with lime, otherwife it will take in more than can •loofened, and which, at the next boiling, would disco- ing be got out again before the next application: For as I lour the' clqth. Befides, it is obferved, that it makes have obferved already, that lime* is only fit for difefarthe cloth lefs cottony, and mere firm, than when whi- ging the_dead part, bucking thus wet make it reft on the tened by rubbing alone. of the cloth. I take a lippy of the fineft and The laft operation is that of ftarching and bluing. It outfide richeft powdered lime that can be got, of the brigKteft often happens, that the cloth, when expoTed to the wea- white as poor lime does more hurt than good,, ther to be dried after this operation, gets rain ; which to thirtycolour, of the above length; and make a cold undoes all again, and forces the bleacher to a new ex-' lye of it, pieces by ftirring and pouring water off the lime, unpence. To remedy this• inconvenience, Mr Chryfhe, til all be diffolved, the drofs, which is thrown away:. fome years ftgo, invented the dry-houfe, where the cloth Then I add a little but which makes the lye have the may be dried, after this operation, in any weather. This neareft refemblahce foap, to milk that breaks in boiling, of any invention meets with univerfal approbation. thing I can think of: For this foap blunts the hotnefe of the lime. Then I take the cloth, and dip it in the A METHOD of BLEACHING safely with lime-lye; and that moment out again, and lay it on a LIME. dreeper until it be bucked ; then put it on the field, Dr Home has found by repeated trials, that alkaline watering it carefully; for if allowed to dry, it is much falts added to lime,' diminifh its power of weakening and damaged. This is done always in the morning; as it corroding cloth; and that in proportion to the quantity cannot be done at night, in regard of the hot quality of of thefe falts added to the lime. This compofition, as the lime, which foon heats the cloth, and tenders it. If it is not fo dangerous as lime alone, fb it is not fo expe- a hot funlhine follows, it has great effeift; for lime is ditious in whitening. When equal parts of each are juft like all other materials for-bleaching, that have more ufed, the whitening power is ftrong, and the weakening o.r lefs effedt according as the weather is good or bad, I power not very confiderable; fo that they might be tiled take it up the fbcond day after-bucking, and. give it a with fafetv to bleach cloth, in the proportion of one part little milling, or hand-bleaching, or bittling, commonly of lime to four of pure alkaline falts. This fully accounts called blocking; and lay it on the field again, watering for an obfervation made by all bleachers, That the bleaching it carefully as before. The effed is more vifible the fefalts, when mixed together, operate fafer and better than cond than the firft day. As all cloth when limed ftiould when ufed feparately. For the corrofive power of the have a great deal of work, otherwife more than half the Mufcqvy, Marcoft, and Caihub afhes is correfted by the effed is loft; and not only that, but a great deal of lapearl afhes. and the whitening quality of the latter is in- bour and pains is requifite to take the lime out of'the cloth again; it muft never be expofed on the Sabbath creafed by that of the former. There is not a more corroding fubftance, with regard day, but carefully kept wet always while ufed in this way. to animals, than alkaline fairs and lime joined together, Thus bucking for three or four times at moft, is furliefpecially when fufed in the fire. This is the compofition cient for any cloth, except that made of flax pulled eiof the common caufHc. But lime, and lime-water alone, ther over-green, or which grows in a droughty feafion, preferve animal fubftances in a found entire date. It ap- or perhaps not fo well heckled as it fliould be. This pears then furprifing, that falts and lime (hould be found fort occafions-great trouble and expence to the bleacher.. fo little deftrudfive ofs cloth, when lime, or lime-water But the moft effedual and expeditious way I ever found alone, deftroys it fo remarkably. But that this is a fad, for this kind, was, after boiling, to take a little off the is made evident by many experiments, and has been warm lye, and mix a very fmali quantity of lime with it, pradifed both with fuccefs and fafety, by a bleacher who and draw the cloth through that as hot as poffible, and gives the following account of his method of bleaching put it on the field diredly, watering it carefully. This with lime. will clean it of the-fprat furprifingly. Then I boil it w'ith “ FirfI, fays he, I deep the cloth in warm waten for pearl alhes, and give it the laft boil with foap; twenty-four hours; then clean it in a wafhing mill, of all “ There are innumerable miftakes in the ufe of lime the drefling, or fowen, as the vulgar term it. After- committed by the vulgar,'who are ignorant of its quality wards I buck the cloth with cow-dung and water, and arid effeds. They know only this in general, that it is bleach it with this for three days ; then clean it again, a thing which whitens cloth cheap, and is eafy purchafed; and boil it with a lye made of Caihub afhes. A pound therefore they will ufe it. Some of them begin whitento each piece of 18 or 20 yards long is fufficient. This ing of their cloth with it, which.I have already obferved I do twice, as no lime. ought#to be given to cloth before to be wrong, and given reafons for it, and. continue it it is a full third whitened; it by no means advances until the cloth is "bleached; gite It a boil or two at moft, the whitening of the cloth, but, on the contrary, pro- and then wafh it up while the grofs body of the lime is in trads it: For, inftead of loofening the oil and dirt in the fubftance of^the cloth. This makes limed cloth eathe cloth, when brown, it rather fixes them; juft as fily diftihguifhable from unKmed,- as the former has a ytlwhen fine cloth is bucked with over-warm lyes in the lowifh colour, and is full of a powder. Befides, as lime firft buckings. Lime is by ho means fit for difeharging is of a.very hot corroding nature, it muft by degrees, the oil in the cloth, but for cleaning it of"the dead part, weaken the cloth. The bad effeds of this fubftance do commonly called fprat. The cloth, being cleaned, is not end here. When the. cloth is put on board, it -contrada