For the purpose of painting over a discarded picture which I wished to prepare for a new picture, I have used white ground up in skimmed milk. I have also used it to prepare a new canvas, using, after the first coat of paint, pumice stone to reduce the lumps in the threads of the canvas. Three coats of paint are quite enough. If the "absorbent ground," which it makes, is objected to, a brushing over the surface with linseed oil will make it a "resisting ground." I have noted that the full-length portrait of my wife and her favorite dog, (dated 1841,) was painted on a canvas prepared by myself with a ground of white lead and skimmed milk, and as no change has yet (1867) shown itself, I will record my mode of preparation. I procured Russia sheeting, and after stretching it on the frame, I gave it a coat of white lead ground in skimmed milk to the consistency of ordinary paste. I then used the pumice stone to subdue the knots or irregular places on the surface. Then I followed with a second coat of the paste, and in order to distinguish it from the first coat, I tinted it very slightly with vermilion. This preparation pleased me entirely. It is now 1867 and I have not found any fault with it., ,