ording to their fineness,
will make a yard of weaving. The best textile for this is undoubtedly
unbleached muslin, even approaching the quality called "cheesecloth."
This can easily be dyed if one wishes dark instead of light colours,
and it makes a light, strong, elastic rug which is very satisfactory.

In rag carpet weaving in homesteads and farmhouses--and it is so truly
a domestic art that it is to be hoped this kind of weaving will be
confined principally to them--some one of the household should be
skilled in simple dyeing. This is very important, as better and
cheaper rugs can be made if the weaver can get what she wants in
colour by having it dyed in the house, rather than by the chance of
finding it among the rags she buys.

CHAPTER III.

DYEING.

In the early years of the past century a dye-tub was as much a
necessity in every house as a spinning wheel, and the re-establishment
of it in houses where weaving is practised is almost a necessity; in
fact, it would be of far greater use at present than in the days when
it was only used to dye the wool needed for the family knitting and
weaving. All shades of blue, from sky-blue to blue-black, can be dyed
in the indigo-tub; and it has the merit of being a cheap as well as an
almost perfectly fast dye. It could be used for dyeing warps as well
as fillings, and I have before spoken of the difficulty, indeed almost
impossibility, of procuring indigo-dyed carpet yarn.

Blue is perhaps more universally useful than any other colour in rag
rug making, since it is safe for both cotton and wool, and covers a
range from the white rug with blue warp, the blue rug with white
warp, through all varieties of shade to the dark blue, or clouded
blue, or green rug, upon white warp. It can also be used in connection
with yellow or orange, or with copperas or walnut dye, in different
shades of green; and, in short, unless one has exceptional advantages
in buying rags from woolen mills, I can hardly imagine a profitable
industry of rag-weaving established in any farmhouse without the
existence of an indigo dyeing-tub.

RED.

The next important color is red. Red warps can be bought, but the
lighter shades are not even reasonably fast; and indeed, the only sure
way of securing absolutely fast colour in cotton warp is to dye it.
Prepared dyes are somewhat expensive on account of the quantity
required, but there are two colours, Turkey red and cardinal red,
which are ext