the wood is cut crosswise, each board being, as it were, a slice of a tree. The workman wets the wall with his sponge, and applies his wood brush, for this the instrument practically becomes, since the ends of the fibers, directed towards the wall, act like so many closely packed hairs.
The wood brush is rapidly worked in a circular direction, the wall being kept moistened with the sponge, and finally the surface is washed clean and well rubbed with the cloth, and then allowed to become thoroughly dry. A smooth surface is thus produced, and the next process is to stop the absorbent properties of the plaster, and here the process ends. The mixture used in this country is thoroughly well adapted for its purpose, and is compounded in the following manner:
Saturate about 12 pounds of best whiting with water, and beat it up, with a constant addition of water, until the mixture assumes the consistency of a soft paste. Add sufficient size to bind the color, 2 ounces of alum and 2 ounces of soft soap, each dissolved in water. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly well, and strain through a coarse cloth or metal strainer. Care should be taken that too much size is not used, in fact, rather than use the mixture altogether too strong, it is preferable to give two coats of medium consistency, which, in effect, are better than a single thick one. If the wall is known to be damp, no amount of care, and no application on the one side of a wall, will keep it dry if it is pervious to moisture on the other or from below. The source of the evil must be sought for, and efforts should, in the first place, be applied to the removal of the cause rather than to ameliorating the injurious effects.
The first and most general application of distempering is the process known as calcimining. In commencing to calcimine, the walls should be prepared as described above, but, of course, if they have been colored before, they will
