The shelf below the chemicals can be used for the trays, which must be rinsed and wiped each time after using, and turned bottom side up to keep out dust.
On the opposite side of the room have the shelves for dry plates, printing-paper, printing-frames, toning-solutions, and pigeon-holes for negatives. The pigeon-holes, which are easily made, should be 4-1/2 inches square by 5-1/2 inches deep. This size pigeon-hole will hold twenty-five negatives. As soon as one has made a good negative it should be placed in a stout manilla envelope, numbered, named, and any notes in regard to it which one wishes to remember, all written on the outside. The negatives should be stored in order in the pigeon-holes, and each one marked with the numbers of the negatives which it contains, thus: 1 to 25; 26 to 50.
The number and name of every negative should be recorded in a small blank-book, which is the negative catalogue. Tie a string in this book, and hang it on a nail or hook at one end of the pigeon-holes, and have the string long enough so that the book can be used without taking it from the hook. The marking and storing of negatives in this way save hours of time spent in searching for some particular negative.
A drawer in the table is very convenient for holding little articles, and several pegs or hooks are needed on which to hang up those articles which can be hung up. Keep your dark-room in such good order that it will be a pleasure to work in it.
Negative envelopes printed on the outside: No. ——, Name ——, Notes ——, can be bought for twenty-five cents a hundred.
Sir Knight Edward Davids asks if a yellow light is a safe light for a dark room. A yellow light is much more agreeable and less injurious to the eyes than a red light, and if the glass is a deep orange the light will be quite safe. It is best, when developing, not to expose the plate to the direct rays of the lantern till development is well started.
Lady Emma Grace wishes to know how blisters in prints may be avoided. If the prints are put, after toning and before washing, in a washbowl of salt and water for five minutes they will not blister.
F. E. W., Jun., asks for a formula for making sensitive paper. "In Nos. 795 and 803 will be found directions for preparing plain paper, and in No. 797, 'answers to queries,' will be found a formula for preparing 'blue prints.'"
Sir Knight Octave de Maurice asks for a formula for a glycin developer. Take glycin, 6 grains; carbonate of potassium, 48 grains; water, 4 ounces. This is said to be an excellent developer, giving soft negatives full of detail, but requiring more time than other developing agents.