Get the blue composition; it may be had at the druggist’s, or clothier’s, for a shilling an ounce.  If the articles are not white, the old colours should all be discharged by soap or a strong solution of tartaric acid, then rinsed; 12 or 16 drops of the composition, stirred into a quart-bowl of warm water, and strained if settlings are seen, will dye a great many articles.  If you want a deeper colour, add a few drops more of the composition.  If you wish to colour cotton goods, put in pounded chalk to destroy the acid, which is very destructive to all cotton; let it stand until the effervescence subsides, and then it may be safely used for cotton or silk.

205.  For lilac colour

Take a little pinch of archil, and put some boiling-hot water upon it, add to it a very little lump of pear-lash.  Shades may be altered by pear-lash, common slat, or wine.

206.  To colour black

Logwood and cider, boiled together in iron, water being added for the evaporation, makes a good durable black.  Rusty nails or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink powder, if boiled with vinegar.  In all cases, black must be set with copperas.

207.  To dye lemon colour

Peach leaves, bark scraped from the barberry bush, or saffron, steeped in water, and set with alum, will colour a bright lemon, drop in a little gum-arabic to make the articles stiff.

208.  To dye Royal purple

Soak logwood chips in soft water until the strength is out, then add a teaspoonful of alum to a quart of the liquid; if this is not bright enough, add more alum, rinse and dry.  When the dye is exhausted, it will colour a fine lilac.

209.  To dye slate colour

Tea grounds, boiled in iron vessels, set with copperas, makes a good slate colour.  To produce a light slate colour, boil white maple bark in clear water, with a little alum.  The bark should be boiled in brass utensils.  The goods should be boiled in it, and then hung where they will drain and dry.

210.  To dye scarlet

Dip the cloth in a solution of alkaline or metallic salt, then in a cochineal dye, and let it remain some time, and it will come out permanently coloured.  Another method:  1/2 lb. of madder, 1/2 oz. of cream tartar, and 1 oz. of marine acid to 1 lb. of cloth; put it all together, and bring the dye to a scalding heat; put in your materials, and they will be coloured in ten minutes.  The dye must be only scalding hot.  Rinse your goods in cold water as soon as they come from the dye.

211.  To colour A bright madder