tion, considering
that it is so near the water, and that the sand and gravel do not
readily admit of good hard road bed.

NOTE.--Map of New York city asphalted streets in No. 809. Map of
route from New York to Tarrytown in No. 810. New York to Stamford,
Connecticut, in No. 811. New York to Staten Island in No. 812. New
Jersey from Hoboken to Pine Brook in No. 813. Brooklyn in No. 814.
Brooklyn to Babylon in No. 815. Brooklyn to Northport in No. 816.
Tarrytown to Poughkeepsie in No. 817. Poughkeepsie to Hudson in
No. 818. Hudson to Albany in No. 819. Tottenville to Trenton in
820. Trenton to Philadelphia in 821. Philadelphia in No. 822.
Philadelphia-Wissahickon Route in No. 823. Philadelphia to West
Chester in No. 824. Philadelphia to Atlantic City--First Stage in
No. 825.

[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB]

Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly
answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to
hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.

PAPERS FOR BEGINNERS, NO. 13.

DARK-ROOM HINTS.

In guides to photography, directions are always given for varnishing the
negative, but with ordinary care a negative need not be varnished except
for the purpose of retouching. Retouching means covering the spots in
the film with some non-actinic substance. Small spots are covered by
touching them lightly with a rather soft lead-pencil. Sometimes
water-color is used applied with a delicate brush, and sometimes crayons
are used.

It is not necessary to varnish a negative in order to retouch it; for a
fluid can be bought for this purpose, called "retouching fluid," which
is applied locally with a piece of surgeon's cotton. To "apply locally"
means to put the fluid on the part of the plate which needs retouching,
instead of covering the whole plate. A bottle of retouching fluid costs
twenty-five cents, and will last a long time. Full directions for use
come with each bottle.

Fine retouching is an art, but the amateur can easily learn to cover the
spots in his negative which would disfigure or spoil his prints.

The small clear spots on negatives are usually caused by dust on the
plate. They make what are called pin-holes, and wherever these occur in
the negative a black spot will show on the print. Amateurs are often
advised to dust their plates with a brush before placing them in the
holders. It re