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502 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [August 10, 1883. “ made tracks,” and it is almost needless to add that the bill was never paid. When I first came to the Highlands, and before I enacted the hard and fast rule of “ cash at the time of sitting,” I was much surprised at certain Seotch tactics brought into play by some of my sitters, and to which I at first fell a victim. A sitter would call—order a dozen cartes—state they would be called for on the following Saturday, and payment made then. W hen the Saturday arrived, my sitter would walk in and say, he or she was very sorry, but he or she had not got enough money to " take the dozen out,” but would have six, and come for the others next week. By this means they would get six cartes, all they probably wanted, at just half the price of a dozen, and would never after turn up for the remainder. This, I learnt, they did not look upon as cheating or swindling; but merely as obtaining fair play ; for they consider it an imposition to charge more in proportion for the half dozen than the dozen, and all efforts at explanation fail. Once a "Hielander" takes a thing into his cranium, it is not easily removed. The thing most likely to puzzle a new-comer in the Highlands is, that, nine out of every twelve negatives taken are groups. This is, of course, done for cheapness, as Dugal don’t care to spend more than he can help (except upon whiskey), nor to part with his money before he is compelled. In England, I opine the best plan is to present the receipt and take the money prior to sitting; but here that won’t work at all ; the folks are far too “ canny,” and imagine that you only want to get the cash, and then never take the pictures at all. I find, in practice, that sitters who have paid for their portraits very rarely disapprove them, or require to be re-taken. Another advantage of the cash system, and one of the most important, is that as you have a constant supply of cash for your work, you are enabled to buy your materials for cash yourself, and by so doing, get them at a much less rate than if you ran an account; and the offcome of this is necessarily that you can supply your patrons at a lower rate than if you allowed them to run accounts with you. The credit system necessitates the use of an intricate set of books, which have to be carefully kept and checked; whilst for a cash business, a day-book for business done, another for your wholesale houses, and a cash-book, are all that are really necessary for the monetary part of the business. Then there are no bills to send out every month or every three months—so saving billheads, envelopes, and postage, which are no mean items; no worry as to when So-and-so is going to settle, as you want his account in, so as to settle yours with the wholesale firm. In conclusion, I must add that in the opinion of those who have tried both, the advantages of a cash business over a credit one are too numerous to mention, and that if you once adopt the cash system you are never likely to relapse into the old worn-out credit one. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY AND PHOTO ZINCOGRAPHY. BY MAJOR J. WATERHOUSE, B.S.C., Assistant Surveyor-General of India. Chatter XL—Transferring, Proving, and Printing.* Printing.—From what has gone before, the reader will, we hope, have gleaned a fair idea of the principles and some of the details of lithographic printing, so that we need now only add a few remarks on the routine of printing, the management of the roller, and the causes of failure. Print ing is an art it is impossible to learn from books, and we would counsel anyone wishing to enter practically on this part of the subject to take lessons from a skilful printer. • Continued from page 4-17, The press being in good order, and the working parts oiled, the stone or zinc plate on its block is placed in proper position on the bed of the press. The first thing is to regulate the pressure, and see that the scraper is level, and the pressure uniform all over the stone or plate, as described in the early part of this chapter under the head of “Transferring.” The amount of pressure to be given for printing is regulated by the size and thickness of the stone, the hardness or softness of the printing paper, and, above all, by the character of the work. Excess of pressure is to be avoided as fatiguing to the workman, wearing to the work on the stone or zinc, and, in the case of stone, liable to break it. Too little pressure is, on the other hand, to be avoided as giving pale prints. If not alteady done, the position of the paper, or its « lay,” should now be marked on the stone or plate with a slate pencil. In commencing the printing from a stone that has been laid by, the surface requires to be flooded with water to soften the gum and soak into the stone, any preservative coating of gum having been previously washed off. In order to prevent the water drying off unevenly, it is usual to cover the stone with a sheet of paper, or the damping cloth. The surface of zinc, being less porous, does not require so much preliminary damping, and it will be sufficient to wash off the gum with plenty of water, and wipe the plate with the damping cloth. While the damping is going on, the printer gets ready bis ink, stiff or thin, according to the work and the tem perature, and distributes a portion of it evenly by working it in different directions over the inking slab with his ink ing roller, till both are in proper condition for use. He prepares his damping cloth, and has a sponge and a basin of clean water conveniently at hand, also gum-water and his gum sponge. F'or zinc printing, the damping solution should contain a little gum, as noted above under the head of “proving.” When printing fine; close work, or in very hot weather, a little glycerine may be added to the damping solution, which should then be prepared as follows:— Take twenty-four ounces of gum-water ; add lime-waler till it is neutral to test paper; then add two ounces of glycerine, and mix well. Two ounces of this solution mixed with ten ounces of water from the developing solution, and care must be taken to keep it neutral, otherwise it will become acid, and, acting as an etching solution, may obliterate fine detail. By using this mixture the finest work may be printed without clogging up. This solution should be made in small quantities, as it is liable to get sour. It should always be tested before use, and neutral ized with more lime-water. All being ready, the printer removes with his sponge the water lying on the stone, or, if working with a zinc plate, passes the wet sponge over it, and then either the stone or plate is wiped with the damping cloth backwards and forwards alternately from right to left and left to right progressively towards the printer, that the same place may not be passed over twice, nor any part be left untouched. The stone or plate should now be sufficiently damp to re fuse all ink, except on the lines. The printer now takes his roller, and holding it with both hands by its leather handles, so that it may turn freely in them, rolls it over the work backwards and for wards, pressing at first somewhat heavily, and, after each course of the roller, lifting it off the stone and giving it a slight turn in the hands, so as to change the position of the seam, and equalize the inking. During the first inking of a stone or plate, the latter will require re-damping after a few passes of the roller, and the roller re-charging with ink. The inking is finished off with a lighter and quicker movement of the roller, which picks up any dirty scum of ink, and cleans up the image. In rolling up, care should be taken not to allow the stone to become dry enough tor