In some cases there are persons who pass the goods through the _liquor_ of the aforesaid black vat. The colour of this liquor when it is fit for use is purplish, particularly after being once used and returned to the vat again, which it always is. Others begin by passing the goods through a decoction of logwood and sumach, then through sulphate of iron, then wash off through logwood only; then through sulphate of iron; always washing off from this last; the goods are then dried, and this is called the _first time of saddening_. They are next passed through logwood, then through sulphate of iron, then washed off, then again through logwood, then sulphate of iron, and then washed off; and then dried. This is called the _second time of saddening_. Supposing the goods to consist of a hundred or a thousand pieces, after drying the second time they are brought in lots to the foreman for examination, and assorted into lots one, two, and three. All that is fit for lot one is full enough and has ground enough, and is of a rich full-bodied brown, ready for galling or _sumaching_: sumach being the substitute for galls, this process is termed in the dye-house, _macing_. Lot two is not full enough, and must pass through logwood, then sulphate of iron, and then be washed off. Lot three is still more deficient; this must be passed through logwood and the sulphate of iron twice and then washed off, and both lots two and three dried again. Lot one is now to be sumached for the _first_ time: that is, passed through a decoction of sumach, then through sulphate of iron, and then washed off: if the decoction of sumach be kept up strong after all of them are once sumached, they may be dried. Lots two and three, when they are dry, are also to be sumached the same as lot one, and dried. As soon as any of them are dry they are ready to be sumached the _second_ time by passing them through the decoction as before; but instead of sulphate of iron, some of the alder bark and _iron liquor_ are used; or as we shall term it, the _liquor of the black vat_. They are then to be washed off and dried. If the black liquor and the sumaching be powerful, some of the goods will be finished when dry. Such are examined by the foreman; those which are not finished must go through the last process again. The finished goods are well and repeatedly washed off in fresh clear soft water two or three times and then dried. The _cambric muslins_ are sent to be calendered to imitate silk sarsenets. _Book-muslins_ must be sent to the muslin dressers, except where, in some cases, they sarsenet and dry their own goods. By the above method the ground is secured, and so is the black, and also the strength of the goods. _On dyeing silk and cotton_ BLACK _with a blue ground._