well and sufficiently done, will cover all the stains, and will take the size colors very kindly.
In order to produce an absolutely level tint in distemper, great care should be exercised in carrying on the work. Whilst the color is being laid on, the windows and doors should be closed, and all draughts prevented, so that the wash may not dry too quickly, in which case the brush drags, and all piecings or brush marks will show when quite dry, but the moment the work is finished, all windows and doors are to be opened, in order to afford free ingress to the fresh air, for the moment the whole of the color is laid on, the sooner it dries the better. In order to ensure uniformity in drying, and to avoid parts becoming shady, the wash must be laid on evenly, and when the ground is once covered, no portion of it should be retouched, for such portion would then receive an additional coat, and would without fail present a more solid and brighter appearance than the rest, at the same time there is every chance that the brush, passing over the half-dry or partially set color underneath, would rub up some of it, and cause a rough appearance, whilst the edges of the retouched part would be visible, giving the idea of a patch having been applied over the spot.
The colors of which the various tints are to be composed should be ground up separately, and should be carefully added to the white body. As far as can be calculated, as much of any particular tint as may be required for one room or job should be compounded at once, to avoid the trouble of matching. Powder color should never be added to the body white If only a small quantity of any additional color is required, it should be well ground on a slab, and taken on the point of the palette knife, or at the end of a stick, and thus mixed with the general mass. Where this is not done, the white gathers around each separate particle of the powder color, making a minute ball, with a colored center and as it were a white shell, a number of these be-
