Dyeing.

Scientific American 35, 20.5.1848

For the Scientific American.

As many of our farmers will now begin to look out for their woolen manufactures, we intend to give them a few receipts for dyeing different colors, which they will find thoroughly practical and if they abide by our directions they will have good colors and that with half the trouble and time spent in making colors from the bungling and old fashioned processes to be found in most of the published works upon the subject, but especially in all the flying receipts that so often appear in out agricultural periodicals - not their fault to be sure, but the fault of those who send them for publication.

BROWN.
There are a number of ways to dye this color, but camwood is perhaps the best stuff that can be used. The cloth must be well cleaned from grease and dirt, and a kettle (copper is the best, or tin,) filled with water and for 20 lbs. of the cloth 5 lbs. of camwood, 10 lbs. of fustic and 2 labs. of logwood boiled therein for 16 minutes in a bag and the cloth then entered into the kettle wither on a winch, or all loosely, and kept stirring in such a manner as to keep the cloth loose. After this is boiled well for one hour, the cloth must be taken out and aired and the bag with the stuffs removed entirely. A small quantity of sumac is then put into the kettle along with half a pound of copperas, and the top of the boiler skimmed. The cloth is then entered and boiled for one hour, when it is taken out, aired and washed. It will then be a good rich brown and very fast. The more fustic it gets it will be all the richer in color. Some give the fustic after it goes through the process already described, and we prefer this mode, both for leanliness nad beauty, but it requires more time. The darker the cloth is wanted in the shade, more sumac or logwood and copperas should be added. Some darken with the sulphate of copper, (blue vitriol,) but the copperas is better, of this we are positive. - Don't be afraid of boiling the cloth well. It must have plenty of room in the kettle, or it will be spotted, but if it has plenty of room it will be even in color. This is a substantive color. The cloth takes up the colors without a previous preparation, Camwood and fustic will impart their color to woolen cloth without a mordaunt, hence the adaptedness of these stuffs for our farmers to use in coloring.

ORANGE.
For 1 lb. of cloth take 2 oz. of annatto, 2 oz. of soda, and 2 1-2 gallons of water. Boil the ingredients in a vessel one hour. Wet the cloth, then drain it well, put it in the dye and let it remain one hour, keeping the dye at nearly a boiling heat, drain and rinse and afterwards run it through some strong alum water or weak sulphuric acid and then wash well. This color is fugitive and will be destroyed by the sun's rays. It will do for earpet rags. This will dye a color on either silk, cotton or wool, a remarkable quality which but few other dye stuffs possess. Woolen goods should never be dyed with it, as the soda injures the fabric.