2797. Treasury Department Whitewash

2797.    Treasury Department Whitewash. This receipt for whitewashing, sent out by the Lighthouse Board of the Treasury Department, has been found, by experience, to answer on wood, brick and stone, nearly as well as oil paint, and is much cheaper. Slack 1/2 bushel unslacked lime with boiling water, keeping it covered during the process. Strain it, and add a peck of salt, dissolved in warm water; 3 pounds ground rice put in boiling water, and boiled to a thin paste; £ pound powdered Spanish whiting, and a pound of clear glue, dissolved in warm water; mix these well together, and let the mixture stand for several days. Keep the wash thus prepared in a kettle or portable furnace, and, when used, put it on as hot as possible, with painters' or whitewash-brushes.

2798. To Color Whitewash

2798.    To Color Whitewash. Coloring matter may be put in and made of any shade. Spanish brown stirred in will make red pink, more or less deep according to the quantity. A delicate tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized common clay, well mixed with Spanish brown, make a reddish stone color. Yellow ochre stirred in makes yellow wash, but chrome goes further, and makes a color generally esteemed prettier. In all these cases the darkness of the shades of course is determined by the quantity of coloring used. It is difficult to make rules, because tastes are different; it would be best to try experiments on a shingle and let it dry. Green must not be mixed with lime. The lime destroys the color, and the color has an effect on the whitewash, which makes it crack and peel. When walls have been badly smoked, and you wish to have them a clean white, it is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use, before it is stirred in the whole mixture.

2799. Zinc Whitewash

2799.    Zinc Whitewash. Mix oxide of zinc with common size, and apply it with a whitewash-brush to the ceiling. After this, apply in the same manner a wash of chloride of zinc, which will combine with the oxide to form a smooth cement with a shining surface.

2800. A Fine Whitewash for Walls

2800.    A Fine Whitewash for Walls. Soak 1/4 pound of glue over night in tepid water. The next day put it into a tin vessel with a quart of water, set the vessel in a kettle of water over a fire, keep it there till it boil", and then stir until the glue is dissolved. Next put from 6 to 8 pounds Paris white wash-brush, wet the wall you -wish to paper, with the starch; let it dry; then, when you ■wish to apply the paper, wet the wall and paper both with the starch, and apply the paper. Walls have been papered in this way that have been whitewashed 10 or even 20 years successively, and the paper has never failed to stick. When you wish to re-paper the wall, with the brush wet the paper with clear water, and it will come off readily. (See No. 2811 (To Prepare a Wall for Papering).)