en dyed in a bath of the dye-stuff.
This stains the whole of the piece, and to rid the cloth of the stain
where it has to be left white, it is subjected to a soap bath. Now,
unless the bleach has been thorough, the whites will be more or less
stained permanently, and to avoid this cloths which are to be printed
with alizarine colours are most thoroughly bleached. The madder bleach
of the present day generally includes the following series of
operations:--

(1) Stitching.
(2) Singeing.
(3) Singeing wash.
(4) Lime boil.
(5) Lime sour.
(6) Lye boil.
(7) Resin boil.
(8) Wash.
(9) Chemicing.
(10) White sour.

(1) =Stitching.=--The pieces are fastened together by stitching into one
long rope, which is passed in a continuous manner through all operations
in which such a proceeding is possible. This stitching is done by
machines, the simplest of which is the donkey machine, whereby the ends
of the pieces, which are to be stitched together, are forced by a pair
of cogwheels working together on to the needle carrying a piece of
thread, this is then pulled through and forms a running stitch, a
considerable length of thread being left on each side so as to prevent
as far as possible the pulling asunder of the pieces by an accidental
drawing out of the thread.

Birch's sewing machine is very largely used in bleach works. It consists
essentially of a Wilcox & Gibb machine fitted on a stand so as to be
driven by power. The pieces are carried under the needle by a large
wheel, the periphery of which contains a number of projecting pins that,
engaging in the cloth, carry it along.

There is also a contrivance by which these pieces to be sewn can be kept
stretched, this takes the form of an arm with clips at the end, which
hold one end of the cloth while it is running through the machine. The
clip arrangement is automatic, and just before the end passes under the
needle it is released, and the arm flies back ready for the next piece;
it is, however, not necessary to use this arm always. This machine gives
a chain stitch sufficiently firm to resist a pull in the direction of
the length of the pieces, but giving readily to a pull at the end of the
thread.

The Rayer & Lincoln machine is an American invention, and is much more
complicated than Birch's. It consists of a sewing machine mounted on the
periphery of a large revolving wheel. This carries a number of pins,
which, engaging in the cloth to be stitched, carry it under th