piece of water will produce a great burden. In time of war there is a scarcity, and they fetch a high price, and you know, Sir, peace, like every thing else in this world, is very uncertain; at any rate the Committee will judge most proper. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your humble Servant, Red Car, near Gisborough, March 12th, 1817. To A. AIKIN, Esq. SEc. H. D'OYLY. SIR, My method of cultivating the bull-rushes was merely to divide and plant the roots, which the farmers were obliged to throw out from the bed of the river Triske, on account of their obstructing the current; but, had I an opportunity of planting on a larger scale, I should certainly raise them from seed; it might be easily procured the latter end of the year, when it is fully ripe. It should be sown in the spring, in a low situation, after the floods had subsided, on a tender light soil, where it should remain a year or two; but I do not recollect having seen any above a foot and a half high that were not growing at least that depth in water. When mine were planted, the workmen threw a line across the ponds, and forced the roots into the mud with a three-pronged fork, in rows ten inches apart; but, where the water is not too deep, it is a more ready and safe way for the man to press them down with his foot. Just before the commencement of Peace, an upholsterer at Wakefield offered me for them five shillings per bundle, measuring 3 feet 9 inches in circumference, 9 inches from the the bottom. When properly cultivated, they grow as rank as corn, and most likely average the same quantity per acre, shooting three or four times as high. Red Car, May 4th, 1817. I have the honour to be, Sir, To. A. AIKIN, Esq. SEC. HANNAH D'OYLY. PAPERS PAPERS IN CHEMISTR Y. TWENTY GUINEAS were this Session voted to Mr. R. WYNN, of Wellington Place, Vauxhall, for Receipts for Enamel Colours, and for Staining and Gilding Glass. The following Communications were received from him on the subject, and Specimens of the Colours are preserved in the Society's Repository. SIR, THE liberality of the Society in encouraging and rewarding communications in every useful art, induces me to offer to their notice a concise and compleat method of composing enamel colours. Painting in enamel colours has always been considered very interesting, and one of the most costly productions of art in every country where practiced, but the real preparation of the colours has always been confined to the knowledge of a few persons who have made a mystery of it, and whatever has been yet published on the subject, appears to be chiefly the compilation of writers unskilled in the profession. Many artists of superior talents, in different parts of this country, could practise the art but for the difficulty of procuring a compleat set of good colours: indeed it is extraordinary with what suspicious secrecy the art of making the proper enamel colours has hitherto been conducted. I have been acquainted with several of the best manufacturers, whose colours were used by the most eminent painters on the finest and most elaborate works of the time, who have died without ever benefitting their country by publishing their acquirements, or leaving any documents behind them. By a continued perseverance in such secrecy, it is not impossible that the present improved state of knowledge in the art might, under unfavourable circumstances, be entirely lost, if some experienced professional person did not seek for an opportunity of making it public, and more generally useful. With these motives I take the liberty to offer the accompanying treatise, which consists of the mest valuable selections from the experience and labours of above twenty years. I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, Wellington Place, Vauxhall, March 11, 1817, To A. AIKIN, Esq. Sec. ROBERT WYNN. Introductory Remarks. The different qualities or degree of purity in the ingredients as usually met with, will with the same prescriptions, produce some slight variations in effect, but the best enamel colours |