en, as they are so apt to eat
any thing that comes in their way, and these poisons will prove as fatal
to them as to vermin, (excepting the pepper.) The flour of sulphur is
said to be good to drive ants away, if sprinkled round the places that
they frequent. Sage is also good. Weak brine will kill worms in gravel
walks, if kept moist with it a week in the spring, and three or four
days in the fall.

COMMON SIMPLE DYES.

433. _To Dye Black._

Allow a pound of logwood to each pound of goods that are to be dyed.
Soak it over night in soft water, then boil it an hour, and strain the
water in which it is boiled. For each pound of logwood, dissolve an
ounce of blue vitriol in lukewarm water sufficient to wet the goods. Dip
the goods in--when saturated with it, turn the whole into the logwood
dye. If the goods are cotton, set the vessel on the fire, and let the
goods boil ten or fifteen minutes, stirring them constantly to prevent
their spotting. Silk and woollen goods should not be boiled in the
dye-stuff, but it should be kept at a scalding heat for twenty minutes.
Drain the goods without wringing, and hang them in a dry, shady place,
where they will have the air. When dry, set the color by, put them into
scalding hot water, that has salt in it, in the proportion of a tea-cup
full to three gallons of the water. Let the goods remain in it till
cold; then hang them where they will dry; (they should not be wrung.)
Boiling hot suds is the best thing to set the color of black silk--let
it remain in it till cold. Soaking black-dyed goods in sour milk, is
also good to set the color.

434. _Green and Blue Dye, for Silks and Woollens._

For green dye, take a pound of oil of vitriol, and turn it upon half an
ounce of Spanish indigo, that has been reduced to a fine powder. Stir
them well together, then add a lump of pearl ash, of the size of a
pea--as soon as the fermentation ceases, bottle it--the dye will be fit
for use the next day. Chemic blue is made in the same manner, only using
half the quantity of vitriol. For woollen goods, the East indigo will
answer as well as the Spanish, and comes much lower. This dye will not
answer for cotton goods, as the vitriol rots the threads. Wash the
articles that are to be dyed till perfectly clean, and free from color.
If you cannot extract the color by rubbing it in hot suds, boil it
out--rinse it in soft water, till entirely free from soap, as the soap
will ruin the dye. To dy