Dyeing wood is mostly applied for the purpose of veneers, while staining is more generally had recourse to give the desired color to the article after it has been manufactured. In the one case, the color should penetrate throughout, while in the 'atter the surface is all that is essential.

In dyeing pear-tree, holly, and beech, take the best black; but for most colors, holly is preferable. It is also best to have wood as young and as newly cut as possible. After the veneers are cut, they should be allowed to lie in a trough of water for four or five days before they are put into the copper; as the water, acting as a purgative to the wood, brings out an abundance of slimy matter, which must be removed, or the wood will never be a good color. After this purificatory process, they should be dried in the open air for at least twelve hours. They are then ready for the copper. By these simple means, the color will strike much quicker, and be of a brighter hue. It would also add to the improvement of the colors, if, after the veneers have boiled a few hours, they are taken out, dried in the air, and again immersed in the coloring copper. Always dry veneers in the open air, for fire invariably injures the colors.

Fine Black Dye

Put six pounds of chip logwood into the copper, with as many veneers as it will conveniently hold, without pressing too tight; fill it with water, and let it boil slowly for about three hours; then add half a pound of powdered verdigris, half a pound of copperas, and four ounces of bruised nut-galls; fill the copper up with vinegar as the water evaporates; let it boil gently two hours each day till the wood is dyed through.

Five Black Dye

Procure some liquor from a tanner's pit, or make a strong decoction of oak-bark, and to every gallon of the liquor add a quarter of a pound of green copperas, and mix them well together; put the liquor into the copper, and make it quite hot, but not boil; immerse the veneers in it, and let them remain for an hour; take them out, and expose them to the air till it has penetrated its substance; then add some logwood to the solution, place the veneers again in it, and let it simmer for two or three hours; let the whole cool gradually, dry the veneers in the shade, and they will be a very fine black.

Fine Blue Dye

Into a clean glass bottle put one pound of oil of vitriol, and four ounces of the best indigo pounded in a mortar, (take care to set the bottle in a basin or earthen glazed pan, as it will ferment;) then put the veneers into a copper or stone trough; fill it rather more than one-third with water, and add as much of the vitriol and indigo (stirring it about) as will make a fine blue, which may be known by trying it with a piece of white paper or wood. Let the veneers remain till the dye has struck thro

The color will be much improved, if the solution of indigo in vitriol be kept a few weeks before using it. The color will strike better, if the veneers are boiled in plain water till completely soaked through, and then allowed for a few hours to dry partially, previous to being immersed in the dye.

Fine Blue Dye

Throw pieces of quicklime into soft water; stir it well; when settled, strain.or pour off the clear part; then to every gallon add ten or twelve ounces of the best turnsole; put the whole into the copper with the veneers, which should be of white holly, and prepared as usual by boiling in water; let them simmer gently till the color has sufficiently penetrated, but be careful not to let them boil in it, as it would injure the color.

A Fine Yellow Dye

Reduce four pounds of the root of barberry, by sawing, to dust, which put in a copper or brass trough; add four ounces of turmeric and four gallons of water, then put in as many white holly veneers as the liquor will cover; boil them together for three hours, often turning them; when cool, add two ounces of aquafortis and the dye will strike through much sooner.

A Bright Yellow Dye

To every gallon of water, necessary to cover the veneers, add one pound of French berries; boil the veneers till the color has penetrated through; add to the infusion of the French berries, the liquid for brightening colors given on page 24, and let the veneers remain for two or three hours, and the color will be very bright.

Bright Green Dye

Proceed as in either of the previous receipts to produce a yellow ; but instead of adding aquafortis or the brightening liquid, add as much vitriolated indigo (see page 22) as will produce the desired color.

Green Dye

Dissolve four ounces of the best verdigris, and of sap-green and indigo half an ounce each, in three pints of the best vinegar; put in the veneers, and gently boil till the color has penetrated sufficiently.

The hue of the green may be varied by altering the proportion of the ingredients; and it is advised, unless wanted for a particular purpose, to leave out the sap-green, as it is a vegetable color very apt to change, or turn brown, when exposed to the air.

Bright Red Dye

To two pounds of genuine Brazil dust, add four gallons of water; put in as many veneers as the liquor will cover; boil them for three hours; then add two ounces of alum, and two ounces of aquafortis, and keep it lukewarm until it has struck through.

Red Dye

To every pound of logwood chips, add two gallons of water; put in the veneers, and boil as in the last; then add a sufficient quantity of the brightening liquid (see page 24) till you see the color to your mind; keep the whole as warm as the finger can be borne in it, till the color has sufficiently penetrated.

The logwood chips should be picked from all foreign substances, with which it generally abounds, as bark, dirt, etc.; and it is always best when fresh cut, which may be known by its appearing of a bright red color; for if stale, it will look brown, and not yield so much coloring matter.

Purple Dye

To two pounds of chip logwood and half a pound of Brazil dust, add four gallons of water, and after putting in the veneers, boil them for at least three hours; then add six ounces of pearlash and two ounces of alum; let them boil for two or three hours every day, till the color has struck through.

The Brazil dust only contributes to make the purple of a more red cast; you may, therefore, omit it, if you require a deep bluish purple.

Purple Dye

Boil two pounds of logwood, either in chips or powder, in four gallons of water, with the veneers; after boiling till the color is well struck in, add by degrees vitriolated indigo, (see page 22,)till the purple is of the shade required, which may be known by trying it with a piece of paper; let it then boil for one hour, and keep the liquid in a milk-warm state till the color has penetrated the veneer. This method, when properly managed, will produce a brilliant purple, not so likely to fade as the foregoing.

Liquid for Brightening and Setting Colors - To every pint of strong aquafortis, add one ounce of grain tin, and a piece of sal-ammoniac of the size of a walnut; set it by to dissolve, shake the bottle round with the cork out, from time to time; in the course of two or three days it will be fit for use. This will be found an admirable liquid to add to any color, as it not only brightens it, but renders it less likely to fade from exposure to the air.

Orange Dye

Let the veneers be dyed, by either of the methods given in page 23, of a fine deep yellow, and while they are still wet and saturated with the dye, transfer them to the bright red dye as in page 23, till the color penetrates equally throughout.

Silver Gray Dye

Expose to the weather in a cast-iron pot of six or eight gallons, old iron nails, hoops, etc., till covered with rust; add one gallon of vinegar, and two of water, boil all well for an hour; have the veneers ready,which must be air-wood,(not too dry,) put them in the copper used to dye black, and pour the iron liquor over them; add one pound of chip logwood, and two ounces of bruised nut-galls; then boil up another pot of the iron liquor to supply the copper with, keeping the veneers covered, and boiling two hours a day, till of the required color.

Gray Dye

Expose any quantity of old iron, or what is better, the borings of gun-barrels, etc., in any convenient vessel, and from time to to time sprinkle them with spirits of salt, (muriatic acid,) diluted in four times its quantity of water, till they are very thickly covered with rust; then to every six pounds add a gallon of water, in which has been dissolved two ounces of salt of tartar; lay the veneers in the copper, and cover them with this liquid: let it boil for two or three hours till well soaked, then to every gallon of liquor add a quarter of a pound of green copperas, and keep the whole at a moderate temperature till the dye has sufficiently penetrated.