thing. Line engraving is reproduced by this process
exceedingly well, but such plates, like the transfer process, are
shallow and give out soon in the printing.

The last process that I have to deal with is the one I am working
myself. In this process the plates are made in two or more etchings,
according to the requirements of the subject which is to be
reproduced. This method produces a plate of great depth both in the
light and black tints, and on account of the small amount of hand-work
required after the plate is etched, the copy is followed very closely.
With a good positive and favorable conditions, quite frequently a
plate is made upon which the retoucher needs to do no work at all, and
a more faithful reproduction is made than by any of the other methods
that I have mentioned. After a good positive is procured, the copper
plate is cleaned, and a sensitized solution of gelatine is flowed over
the plate, dried down, and then printed under the positive, with a
short exposure. The plate is grained as in the transfer process, and
is then etched.

This first etching, on account of the short exposure, goes over the
plate in about three minutes, and is simply intended to get the light
tints. The plate is again cleaned off and coated, this time in a
different manner, and given a much longer exposure under the positive.
The next etching takes about three hours, which gives the blacks great
depth. Comparing this with the transfer plate which has an etching of
from fifteen to twenty minutes, the reason for the difference in the
wearing qualities of the plate is quite evident. This process, whether
used by myself or others, I feel free to say is the best one that has
ever been worked, inasmuch as it gives a far more faithful
reproduction than any of the others with a minimum of work by the
retoucher.

Some plate makers claim to make all their plates without any
retouching, which cannot be done. As I have mentioned before,
occasionally a plate can be made as good as the copy without
hand-work. But to say that any chemical process gives such results
continually, or that a plate cannot be improved by a skilful retoucher
is, to say the least, misleading. All of the different processes are
very sensitive to atmospheric influences, and no small amount of
chemical as well as mechanical skill is required to keep things
running smoothly; and at certain times the best of operators are at a
loss to remedy some slight fault that m