Page:Husbandman and Housewife 1820.djvu/50



MIX in a large bottle, with a quart of soft water, two and a half ounces of common aquafortis, and, adding gradually the same quantity of litharge, slightly cork the bottle, occasionally shake it, and keep it in a warm situation; after a few days the liquid may be poured into a deep earthen, leaden, or pewter vessel, in which the linnen to be dried, being first well washed, though not bleached, should be immersed for ten or twelve hours; being then taken out and three times washed and rinsed in cold water, it is to be dipped in a weak solution of common glue, again rinsed and hung in a shade to dry. In a quart of rain or other soft water, three quarters of an ounce of well bruised galls are next to be boiled for eight or ten minutes, when the like quantity of common salt must be added; as soon as the salt is dissolved, the linen should be boiled seven or eight minutes in the liquor, after which it must be taken out, washed, wrung three times as before, and dried in the shade. At this stage of the process the linnen will receive a dark gray yellowish tinge, which disposes it for the better reception of the colour. It is now to be immersed for eight or ten hours, in a liquid composed of three quarters of an ounce each of copperas, or vitriol of iron, and common salt, dissolved in a quart of hot water, after which it is to be again washed, rinsed, and hung to dry in the shade. For striking the black colour, three quarters of an ounce of logwood is to be boiled for seven or eight minutes in somewhat more than half a gallon of rain or river water, when a quarter of an ounce of white starch, previously mixed with a little cold water, to prevent its rising in lumps, must be added; this being perfectly dissolved, the linnen is to be boiled in the liquor for seven or eight minutes, when it must again be rinsed and dried as before. It will then acquire a fine black tinge; but if the die be