must be pounded together, very fine, carefully sifted, and well mixed. The mixture must next be exposed to a strong heat till it is rendered very dry. It is after that to be put into vessels which have been already baked; it will then be melted, and the varnish is made. It may be applied in the usual manner. French soft varnish for engravers. One ounce of virgin's wax, one ounce of asphaltum or Greek pitch, half an ounce of common pitch, and a quarter of an ounce of Burgundy pitch. N. B. The celebrated Vivares, the landscape engraver, always used this varnish, in preference to any other. Varnish for furniture. To one part of virgin's white wax add eight parts of oil of petroleum; lay a slight coat of this mixture on the wood with a badger's brush, while a little warm; the oil will then avaporate, and leave a thin coat of wax, which should afterwards be polished with a coarse woollen cloth. A varnish for toilet-boxes, cases, fans, &c. Dissolve two ounces of gum-mastic, and eight ounces of gum-sandarac, in a quart of alkohol; then add four ounces of Venice-turpentine. Preparation of the true copal varnish. Take two parts of gum copal, reduced to a fine powder; wash it repeatedly in water to free it from the woody fibres; then introduce it into a flask, and pour over it four parts of pure oil of rosemary; digest the mixture in a gentle heat for three days, or longer; after which, add as much highly rectified spirits of wine as is deemed necessary, and suffer it to remain undisturbed, until the impurities subside; then decant the varnish. To intoxicate and take fish. Make a paste in the following manner: take coculus indicus, cummin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and coriander seeds, equal parts; reduce them to powder, and make them into a paste, with rice-flour and water: reduce this paste into small balls of the size of peas, and throw it into such ponds or rivers where there are fish, which, after eating thereof, will rise to the surface of the water almost motionless, and will allow themselves to be taken out by the band. To clear iron from rust. Pound some glass to fine powder, and having nailed some strong linen or woollen cloth upon a board, lay upon it a strong coat of gum water, and sift thereon some of your powdered glass, and let it dry; repeat this operation three times, and when the last covering of powdered glass is dry, you may easily rub off the rust from iron utensils, with the cloth thus prepared. Method of taking off impressions of leaves, plants, &c. Take half a sheet of fine wove paper, and oil it well with sweet oil; after it has stood a minute or two, to let it soak through, rub off the superfluous oil with a piece of paper, and let it hang in the air to dry; after the oil is pretty well dried in, take a lighted candle or lamp, and move the paper slowly over it, in a horizontal direction, so as to touch the flame, till it is perfectly black. When you wish to take off impressions of plants, lay your plant carefully on the oiled paper, and lay a piece of clean paper over it, and rub it with your finger, equally in all parts, for about half a minute; then take up your plant, and be careful not to disturb the order of the leaves, and place it on the book or paper, on which you wish to have the impression; then cover it with a piece of blotting paper, and rub it with your finger for a short time, and you will have an impression superior to the finest engraving. The same piece of black paper will serve to take off a great number of impressions; so that when you have once gone through the process of blacking it, you may make an impression in a very short time. The principal excellence of this method is, that the paper receives the impression of the most minute veins and hairs; so that you may take the general character of most flowers, much superior to any engraving. The impressions may afterwards be coloured according to nature. To obtain the true shape and fibres of a leaf. Rub the back of it gently with any hard substance, so as to bruise the fibres; then apply a small quantity of linseed oil to their edges; after which, press the leaf on white paper, and upon removing it, a perfectly correct representation of every ramification will appear, and the whole may be coloured from the original. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. A ream of paper, 20 quires. A roll of parchment, 5 dozen, or 60 skins. Ditto of gloves, 10 dozen pair. A last of hides, 12 dozen; of leather, 20 dickers. A chaldron of coals, 36 bushels. A hogshead of wine, 63 gallons. A wey of cheese, 256 pounds. Days in the year, 365; weeks, 52; and hours, 8766. An acre of land, 160 square poles or perches. A last of corn or rape-seed, 10 quarters. A quarter in England, 8 bushels; in Scotland, 4 bolls. A last of pot ashes, cod-fish, white-herrings, or meal, 12 barrels; pitch and tar, 14 barrels. Ditto of flax and feathers, 1700lb.; of gunpowder, 24 barrels, or 2400lb.; of wool, 12 sacks. A tun of wine, 252 gallons; oil of Greenland, 252 gallons; and sweet oil of Genoa, 236 gallons. A ton in weight, 20 cwt. of iron, &c.; but of lead, there is only 194 cwt. called a fodder or fother. A tod of wool, 28 pounds. A pack of ditto, 364 pounds. A load of bricks, 500; and of plain tiles, 1000. A stone of fish, 8lb.; and of wool, 14lb. The same for horeman's weight, and also hay; but pepper, cinnamon, and alum, have but 133lb. to the stone. Ditto of glass, 5lb.; and a seam of ditto, 24 stone. A truss of hay, 565.; and a load of ditto, 39 trusses. Note, New hay in June and August, ought to be 60lb. to the truss, as per statute of 2d of William and Mary, 1693. A cade of red herrings, 500; and of Sprats, 1000; iron and shot, 14lb. to the stone. Anchovies, 30lb. Barrels of sundry commodities. A double barrel, 60lb. Raisins, 1 cwt. Oil, 31 gallons and a half. Things in wholesale trade, bought and sold by the thousand. Things bought and sold at six score to the hundred. Banks and barlings Cole, ling, and Newfoundland- Ells of canvass, and most fo- FINIS |