, hard water is injurious for wool. It ruins the
brilliancy of the colour, and prevents the dyeing of some colours.
Temporary hardness can be overcome by boiling the water (20 to 30
minutes) before using. An old method of purifying water, which is
still used by some silk and wool scourers, is to boil the water with a
little soap, skimming off the surface as it boils. In many cases it is
sufficient to add a little acetic acid to the water.

TO WASH WOOL

In a bath containing 10 gallons of warm water add 4 fluid ounces of
ammonia fort, .880, 1 lb. soda, and 2 oz. soft soap, (potash soap).
Stir well until all is dissolved. Dip the wool in and leave for 2
minutes, then squeeze gently and wash in warm water until quite clear.

_Or_ to 10 gallons of water add 6 oz. ammonia and 3 oz. soft soap. The
water should never be above 140 deg.F. and all the washing water should
be of about the same temperature.

Fleece may be washed in the same way, but great care should be taken
not to felt the wool--the less squeezing the better.

There are four principal methods of dyeing wool.

1st.--The wool is boiled first with the mordant and then in a fresh
bath with the dye.

2nd.--The wool is boiled first with the dye, and when it has absorbed
as much of the colour as possible the mordant is added to the same
bath, thus fixing the colour.

A separate bath can be used for each of these processes, in which case
each bath can be replenished and used again for a fresh lot of wool.

3rd.--The wool is boiled with the mordant and dye in the same bath
together. The colour, as a rule, is not so fast and good as with a
separate bath, though with some dyes a brighter colour is obtained.

4th.--The wool is mordanted, then dyed, then mordanted again. This
method is adopted to ensure an extremely fast colour. The mordant
should be used rather sparingly.

SILK

There are two kinds of silk (1) _raw silk_ (reeled silk, thrown silk,
drawn silk), and (2) _waste silk_ or spun silk.

Raw silk is that directly taken from the cocoons. Waste silk is the
silk from cocoons that are damaged in some way so that they cannot be
reeled off direct. It is, therefore, carded and spun, like wool or
cotton.

Silk in the raw state is covered with a silk gum which must be boiled
off before dyeing is begun. It is tied up in canvas bags and boiled up
in a strong solution of soap for three or four hours until all the gum
is boiled off. If it is a yellow gum, the