Lie ; iy Ws ] , i Ate Hh iy Hy ii Sa ren “it ¥ fied ts are’ THE TECHNOLOGIST. A MONTHLY RECORD OF Science Applied to Art, Wannfacture, and Curture. EDITED BY PETER LUND SIMMONDS, : 4 Author of * The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom,” ‘‘ A Dictionary of Trade Products,” “ Curiosities of Food,” "4 x “‘ Waste Products and Undeveloped Substances,” de. &c. &e. . i - VOLUME VI. LONDON : KENT AND CO, PATERNOSTER ROW. | MDCCCLXVI. fe # Fah om Na ore array ; _~ . Royal Gardens, Kew. ; : i ts ‘ ; ‘ : E SUBSTITUTES FOR GUTTA-PERCHA 3 : : : ‘ eb I ANIMAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR WRITING ON. By the Editor : beds ON THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN CANADA. By J. A Donaldson Mie _ Tue Fisuertes oF Vicrorta. By G.S. Lang . fy Stes re eo THE BAmBoo AS A PAPER MATERIAL . ; a Oe ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT THE DUBLIN Sot op reer nee . 985 ON THE TREATMENT OF BEES IN PoLanp. By Colonel Stanton . » a SD NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND CONDITION OF Its PrincrpaL Goup-FrELDS. By Lieut. H. §. Palmer, R.E. . 49 THE MANUFACTURE OF COMPRESSED PEAT. By C. Hodgson 2 Ree ga) CULTIVATION OF THE MuLBeRRY. By A. Martelli .. f pea PROGRESS OF CoTTON CULTURE IN EGyPTr . : : Fe ass On TRUFFLES AND TRUFFLE CuLruRE. By C. E. Broome ; : ey - Tur Fisres or ComMERCE. By the Editor : : : 8b THE Supply OF Resin. By the Editor : : : : : . 95 Migow Pune FOR Parr. By the Editor. ,....... .. «ss ... 116 MURS GUMNCHURIOR GRUB 2608 ye a ls ase eno kOe How Parer CoLiars ARE MADE EN ge 1 ok MO on CE Ga enean iets THE CULTURE AND Usk oF TEASELS. By the Editor . Pie ein de gle PETROLEUM LAMPS .. Seren es Tue Arms TRADE OF BELGIUM. By Mr. ‘Barron, Her Majesty s Secre- tary of Legation at Brussels ; : : 148, 202 TuE Oak Sirkworm oF ConA. By Thomas Taylor Meadows ag Vek Notes oN CoAL AND FUEL : P ° ; , < ; .. 161 RMT ROM NEDINONS Yom ae gaa oe lan Seg eae ase OE Tue History oF COMMERCE. : ea MS A GRD ; . 168 PROPAGATION OF TROUTIN AMERICA... Cece ek: Ay Oo uh Ges S49 CLEVELAND WINE . j : : . 185 On TorsiTE (A NEw sapleae OF PEAT) AND ITS nines By D. K. Clark, C.E. ‘ , ; : A . 197 STEEL AND THE BESSEMER Process. ee ACT Malley Pek us es SEO Foop Propucts AND CHEMICALS AT THE DUBLIN ExutBITION . . 218 CONTENTS. eee (i) een THe Genus AraucArtaA. By John R. Jackson, Curator, Museum, RESEARCHES ON THE JUICE OF THE SuGAR CANE IN MAURITIUS, AND THE MODIFICATIONS IT UNDERGOES DURING MANUFACTURE. By Dr--lcery - . : : 231, 298, 341, 363, 420, 468, 506 THE CULTIVATION OF Inpieenovs OriuM IN FRANCE. By A. Odeph 236, 319 THE METALS IN CANADA. By Messrs. Wilton and Robb . 5 . 247 1V CONTENTS, MANUFACTURE OF PAPIER MACHE : d ; ; . 266 ‘* HOMES WITHOUT Hanps.” (With Tustr cas. te ; ; . 258 VEGETABLE Foop : : , . - ; . ‘ . 261 BorpEn’'s EXTRACT OF Bice ; : : > . 266 A SUBSTITUTE FOR Cie veomeleees ALBUMEN . ‘ . . 269 THE SUGAR TRADE. ; « BEN ON THE MANUFACTURE OF Coens anernee AND OF Sav cae Carrvets. By A.L. Lacordaire. (With Illustrations.) . : . 275 On PepstnE. By Frank Vincer : : - A “ ‘ . 303 PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA : : - ; a . 3808 IrnisH MANUFACTURES ‘ 4 ‘ F ; y : ; » ol2 CoMPARATIVE VALUE OF WOOD . : ‘ ; ‘ ; : . O15 PHOTOGRAPHY . : ; : ; : ; . 3889 TELEGRAPHING IN THE Urs Sra ; : : ; ; . 300 Review oF ReEp’s SuGAR TRADE ; ; : : : .. aay ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE d ; : . 3869 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS OF THE inept ForEsT, Himantayas. By Dr. J. E. Stewart . : . 3874, 409 ON THE GROWTH OF RHUBARB IN CHINA. Be Fred. J. Farre, M.D. 391 THE BAEL FRUIT AND ITS PROPERTIES ; : i : P . 9396 THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL TRADE 5 : : é . oe re AMALGAMATION . ; : ; aries , Eigse ; . 403 PIMENTO . : : : ’ : : . aoe NoTES ON THE Fivsatice hasrow hans By J. R. JAcKSoN . . 429 EIDER-DOWN : . 4381 ON THE PROGRESS OF THE Seen nae hinageerune IN pega HAM. ByJ,D. Goodman . ‘ : : : : ‘ - 435 Bioop ALBUMEN } ; : é : - , : . 447 PLATE GLASS ieee ares : : : : : ; . 449 PERSIAN OPIUM . ; = . 450 PopuLaAR BOTANY, AND sone OF THE MOST INTERESTING Pusan CONNECTED WITH VEGETABLE LIFE. vi H. A. Graef . : - 451 PETROLEUM IN EUROPE ¥ : . 472 Tur GuMS AND RESINS OF NEW Pig nts ‘ Ae THE AMERICAN WOOD-PAPER COMPANY, Puiramereeee * : . 478 OrcHip TEA. By John R. Jackson . : 2 485 MAORI AND OTHER ABORIGINAL MANUFACTURES | AND EiPreuenee oe W. UM. Harrison . : : ; . 487 VEGETABLE FIBRES AVAILABLE FOR Texvie PAsRrcs. By H. Sher- wood . 4 : . AOS A VISIT To THE BRITISH eer Memes: Renoren ( With Illustrations. ) 510 THE GRASS TREE RESIN OF AUSTRALIA. By the Editor . : . §23 THE SHARK FISHERIES oF Norway. By Mr. Consul-General Crowe. 525 ScrenTIFIC NoTES . : : 3 . 140, 298, 316, 360, 405, 449 1 4 ee Llahay Abies Donglarii Acacia species Acids, organic a figle Marmelos Albumen, blood Aleurites triloba Almaciga or mastic . Alstonia scholaris Amalgamation Amylene : 2 Andropogon involutus. ¢ Angraecum fragrans Animal substances for éetag _ on ; : : Araucaria Bidwilli : Araucaria Brasiliana : 9, Araucaria columnaris Araucaria Cunninghami . Araucaria excelsa Araucaria imbricata Araucaria Rulei_. Arms trade of Belgium 376 Bael fruit | Balata gum’ Bamboo as a paper material 33, Bambusa stricta. : : Bauhinia species Beef, extract of . ; Bees in Italy . : : 5 Bees in Poland : Beetles’ wings Beet root sugar Bergera Koenigii Bessemer steel process Bignonia Indica Birmingham Arms trade Bleaching ; , Blood albumen ‘ Boehmeria nivea . . Bombax heptaphyllum Borden’s meat extract Botany, Essay on Bovey coal. . Brazilian trees yieldin g resin. = Columbia, See "0 E ; Bromelia tribe ° ° ‘ Broussonetia papyrifera Brown paper, anti-corrosive Buchanania latifolia Bunya-Bunya . Burgundy pitch Butea frondosa Camphor of Formosa Canadian metals ‘ Candles made in Russia . ; Canes cultivated in Mauritius . Cannabis sativa ‘ " Cannel coal Careya arborea Cassia fistula . Castor oil, Italian Catawba grape Cedar oil Cedrela toona . : Centerba, an Italian liqueur Chemicals at the Dublin Exhi- bition . Chili pine China grass fibre Cleveland wine : : Coal and Fuel, notes on . Cochlospermum epeyeium Coir ‘ Commerce, history of Conocarpus latifolia Copal of Zanzibar Copper in Canada Cordia latifolia Cordia sprengelii_. : Cotton culture in Egypt . Cotton culture in Italy Cottonized flax Cottonizing flax. Cotton-seed oil, adulteration of Craetava Roxburghii Dacrydium cupressinum . Dalbergia species Dammara australis , ; Dammar bee . é 3 Dammar, East Indian Dioscorea versicolor Diospyros species. ‘ ii INDEX. PAGE Down, imports of, into United Italian productions . j Kingdom. . 435 | Ivory paper Dublin Exhibition, of 1865 35, 218 Dye Stuffs, Indian . ; . 862 | Jade of New Zealand Dyes used by the Feejees . . 505 | Jet a pitch coal Jute fibre Kider-down ; : - 431 Emblica officinalis. 383 | Kaitaka mat ef New Zealand Entelea arborescens, a light and Kakrasinghi 3 pithy wood . . ; . 491 | Kamela . Eriophorium comosum . 883 | Kauri pine of New Zealand Erythrina suberosa : 383 | Kydia calycina ; : j Essential oils, adulteration of . 140 Lagerstreemia parviflora . ; Faham Tea. ; . 485 | Larch turpentine Feronia elephantum . . 884 | Larinusursus . Fibres for textiles . : . 495 | Lavatera plebeia Fibres of Commerce . 85, 495.} Lead in Canada Ficus species . . 384 | Linen manufacture in Ireland . Fiji clothing and weapons - 6508 | Liquidambar . Fish flour and fish guano. . 9818 | Lucerne roots for paper Fish in British Columbia . 56 Fisheries of Victoria : sali Flagellaria Indica . : . 505 Flax culture in Canada . Buti 65 Flax culture inIreland . Abe s '4 Flax stems for paper 308 Food products at Dublin “Exhi- bition . ; 218 Fuller’s thistles : : . 1386 Garuga pinnata : : . 9885 Gemme, crude resin é . 100 Glucose or grape sugar . . 867 Glue manufacture . i . 133 Gluten . y : ; . 269 Gmelina arborea. 385 Gobelins tapestry manufacture 275 Gold-fields of British Columbia 49 Gourds used by New Zealanders 492 Grapes, per centage of wine in 186 Greenstone of New Zealand . 492 Grewia elastica. + , 385 Gums and Resins of New Zea- land . . 475 Gutta-percha, substitutes for . 12 Helicteres Isora__.. : . 3886 Hibiscus diversifolius ‘ . 505 Hibiscus fibre . Q . 194 Holarrhena antidysenteri ica =. «886 Homes without hands. . 258 Honey from Italy . Rim Honey gathering in Poland . 48 Hugues’s colophony : 99 Hymenaea species yielding resin 97 Hymenodyction excelsum . 3886 Icica, various species of . Ree 7 Insect pestsin British Columbia 58 Isolepis nodosa for paper . ab | Luzerine, a new colouring mat- ter : : ° . Manila hemp .. Manila rope, manufacture of | Mannite trom the olive . Maori implements . a : Marengo, an Italian wine : Mauritius, sugar manufacture in ; Medicago roots for paper Mere, a Maori weapon . ° Melia Azadirachta . ‘ Mineral substances in cane juice Moringa pterosperma : - Mulberry, culture of Musa textilis . Muslins, sewed Nauclea species ‘ : ~ Needle manufacture : ; Nephrite . : . oa eee Nerium odorum ’ ; New Zealand flax . . 489, Nyctanthes arbortristis . Oak silk-worm of China . Odina wodier . : a @leaginous food Olive oil production ; Opium consumption in China . Opium culture in France 236, Opium, Persian , - . Orchid tea. . : ° Oreide of gold . : Pacchyrrhizos angulatus : Palimpsets 2 - . Pandanus caricosus . ee ces Pandanus utilis ©. ; ; Paper boards and pipes Paper collars, how made . Paper making materials in Rus- aia Paper manufacture in Ireland . Paper mulberry Paper sugar-moulds. Papier-mache manufacture Parchment Paritium, species of. Peacakeandoil . ~. Peat bogs, extent of Peat, compressed Pentaptera tomentesa Pepsine .. Persian opium Petroleum in Egypt. Petroleum in Europe Petroleum lamps Petroleum trade of Pennsyl- vania . : s ‘ Pheenix acaulis Phenix sylvestris Phormium tenax, gum of. Photography . p Pimento . : Pine trees in Algeria : Pinus maritima : . 104, Pinus ponderosa, Pita Pittosporum trees, gum of _ Plantain fibre. : Plate glass manufactire . Poenamu see Jade Poonyet Popular Botany, essay on Precious metals Putranjiva Roxburghii Randia species : 5 Resin and turpentine - Retinite resin . : 5 Rhubarb in China Rice in Italy . Rimu pine ‘ : ‘ Rottlera tinctoria . 5 Saccharum Munja Sal . Salmon in British Columbia Sapota Mulleri s Schleichera trijuga Scilla indica ; Semecarpus Anacardium . Shark fisheries of N ae Shorea robusta Shukhur ool ashur . : Silk of Milan . : Silver in Canada Sissoo wood , Size, a weak solution of glue INDEX. iti PAGE Smal] arms manufacture of Bir- mingham - ; . 435 Somateria species. . . 431 Starches, coloured . ‘ . 228 Steel manufacture . 7 .. B20 Stone manufacture, ar tificial . 369 Sturgeon in British Columbia . 57 Sugar cane juice, researches on 231 298, 341, 363, 420, 468, 506 Sugar making, cold process . 316 Sugar, Reed on ; : . 3859 Sugar refining : 3 « 272 Sugar trade. ; 2 Dea 4 i Tabasheer : : ‘ Aro is Tallow, Russian. : . 429 Tamarindus Indica . : . 408 Tannin in British Galls . . 141 Tapa cloth . 505 Taupo mat of New Zealand . 489 Teasels, culture of . ; . 136 Tea tree of Australia : Suk Telegraphing in America . . 353 Terminalia species . , . 408 Timber trees of Himalayas . 374 Titanium : 142 Torbite, a preparation of peat . 197 Trehala manna : : . 258 Trigona Laeviceps . 5 . 260 Trophis aspera 409 Trout, propagation of in Ame- rica. : ae 187, 347 Truffle Culture : er ee Ulmus integrifolia . : » 401 Urtica gigas for paper. eae ak Urtica tenacissima . : oe Oe Vacoa palm. : . 405 Vegetable albumen : . 269 Vegetable food ‘ . . 261 Venice turpentine . : . 96 Vermouth, Italian. . ; . 88 Vinegar . : : : . 264 Vitex negundo : ; . 409 Weapons, aboriginal : Wickstroemia Indica PU DOD Wines, Italian ; ‘ . 39 Wire nails : 228 Wood paper company, American 478 Wood pulp for paper ; . 116 Woods of West Africa . - 305 Wood, comparative value for fuel. 315 Woollen manufacture in Ireland 314 Wrightia molissima ‘ . 409 Zopissa paper . . ° . 229 Zostira marina fibre ; » 497 Zyziphus jujuba. . » 409 . f at nico gerne ye tcyte Anat tes rath Taal ow é Pl ey, + f RAN ’ ‘ t $B any, rm Re pd ? ; f ¢ ‘ . ‘ ey rae 4 ° a ; be gh ¥ FS “ 4 ‘e} 4 ae e eer. ” 4 het a SY penn ‘ : aly) * De Giek 7 steed ‘ Te Oa 2 ea) Peay { he . yi i # ‘ . ’ _ \ fs ‘ j ' ‘ 1 t , ... th ul lA § ‘ ; at era Ae nD ' > 3 j Oe q ’ r Fs det « , a ~ ¥ 2 : « +4 Sa jh aad Ss Ae , . ‘ ¥ =| t ‘ el Py . diy . a Pe 5 " . . hl coe \ * Ci } i PRP hotoey Aki ost 5 ; ¥ SS % awe 5 x ¥ * ‘ i , ; i ‘ ne ey g Ca oes tes? 5 Loe te) i ; [ é vant ” Ps Ene * ea Rit 5 my t ; r pes ‘ + { 2 Le aioe ) * ¥ & . 4 + ’ y . “i die ‘ : vin i : " 3 * ay ps i oF Rs ~ a 4 ‘ . J ‘ ea P rt Ke eF o a4 +: SHES r fre i t r . ay e : ic ts 7 Re > ‘ : me ¥en we f oe ss i *y Le % ¥ i pe te nay ee 5 b: * 4 ; Pp: een 4 ; ; ib ; i fuEr ne ; é ; p Pe pea) oc§ te » Bey: Was! t Se * é * € y Se . at Z 5 KS h ae S rs * ; oa rs f : i os 4 : : A a ‘ i c ee ‘ « ¥ a7 ‘ uy) at f 4 tn 4 2 i ¥ e 7 4 ah a ey Beale z ae Fe * ‘ © > eta re ; Si ner a eis UB eR y STS of suet a See — at ae cL | —~- (/’om oases tore ot ere THE. TECHNOLOGIST. O THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. BY JOHN R. JACKSON, CURATOR, MUSEUM, ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. In the year 1774, the good ship ‘ Resolution,’ commanded by the great circumnavigator Captain Cook, was calmly sailing along through the glorious southern seas, when the cry of “ Land a-head” echoed through the vessel. All eyes were directed towards the point indicated. The faint outline of an unknown shore was visible. Gradually they neared the coast. The pleasure of those upon the deck was equalled by their surprise as by degrees the scene became more visible. They saw what appeared to them to be tall pillars, or spires, or the masts of a thousand ships, towering high over all else around them. On they sped without being able to determine what this unusual and unexpected sight could mean, till upon nearing Cape Coronation afew days after, the same objects presented themselves to view. What could they be? Could they be nearing a land where civilization held sway ? or could these be magnificent columns of basaltic formation? This latter was the general opinion of the naturalists on board. Speculation was rife, expectation was on tip-toe. The enlightened commander maintained from the first that they were trees. The telescope was kept pointed towards them, and at last it became evident that these strange pillars were, in fact, trees, but trees of a new and wonderful species. A landing was pro- posed, all hands being determined not to leave the place till they were satisfied as to what kind of trees they were. Captain Cook with the botanists on board now first set foot upon the island. The hearts of the enthusiastic company bounded within them at the sight, as they for the first time made the acquaintance of a goodly number of Araucaria columuaris. Nor was this discovery interesting alone to the botanists, here were trees the trunks of which on this little isle were from sixty to seventy feet high admirably adapted for ships’ spars. Captain Cook says :—“If I except New Zealand, I at this time knew of no island in WoL, VE- B BR sas ow tb) . THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Aua. 1, 18€ 2 THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. the South Pacific Ocean where a ship could supply herself with a mast or a yard, were she ever so much distressed for want of one. My carpenter, who was a mast-maker as well as shipwright, was of opinion that these trees would make exceedingly good masts. The wood is white, close grained, tough and light. Turpentine had exuded from most of the trunks, and the sun had inspissated it into a resin which was found sticking to them and lying about the roots. These trees shoot out their branches like all other pines, with this difference, that the branches of these are much smaller and shorter, so that the knots become nothing when the tree is wrought for use. I took notice that the largest of them had the smallest and shortest branches, and were crowned, as it were, at the top by a spreading branch likea bush. This was what led some on board into the extravagant notion of their being basalts, indeed, no one could think of finding such trees here.” This island was afterwards named by Captain Cook the Isle of Pines. We do not know whether at the time we write the particular tree that first attracted Captain Cook’s attention ninety years since is still standing, but in 1850 it was reported to be “in a flourishing condition,” and was said to exactly resemble “a well-proportioned factory chimney of great height.” From the peculiarity of the foliage and general habit cf the Araucarias, and more especially of A. columnaris, it is certainly a matter of no wonder that all on board the ‘Resolution’ were surprised and astonished upon first beholding so novel and beautiful a scene. There is, perhaps, no one family of plants more interesting than that to which the Araucarias belong (the Conifere), and it is certain of all the timber-trees none have produced so much interest among botanists as the Araucarias. And there are many reasons for this, for if we except the Mammoth trees of California, the Araucarias take a position among the largest and most majestic forest trees. To Captain Cook and his fellow-travellers, then, are we indebted for the first accurate general account of A. eolumnaris, though it had been previously mentioned by several authors, but under other names. The Araucarias, which take their rank as the noblest of all that noble family of trees, the Conifers, are now confined to the Southern hemisphere ; but there is evidence that would lead us to suppose that at one time they held a footing even in our own island. Geologists, and notably poor Hugh Miller, speak with confidence of having found fossil Araucaria stems. The microscopic structure of the wood corres- ponds very closely with that of the recent Araucarias. The remains of one found in the lias of Dorsetshire have been figured and described under the name of A. primeva. There are some seven or eight species of the genus now known to botanists, and these are natives of Brazil, Chili, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Australia, &c. Some of them have been only recently introduced to our gardens, others have been cultivated for many years. A few particulars concerning them may not be without interest to the readers of this magazine. The name of the a Ave. 1 1865] | |‘ THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. 3 genus is derived from that of a tribe of natives called Araucarians (the word signifying freedom), who inhabit the district of South America where A. imbricata abounds. é If A. columnaris holds good as a species, decidedly the most similar to it is A. excelsa; indeed, the difference seems to be so slight that many authors have united them under one specific name (A. excelsa). In general habit and appearance they so much resemble each other that to a casual observer not the slightest difference could be detected, without it is in the manner of branching, A. excelsa throwing out its branches nearly horizontally and in regular whorls, while those of A. columnaris are slightly inclined upwards, but this may not be the case in old plants. Loudon considers them synenymous and says, “ The A. excelsa is a native of New Caledonia, or Queen Charlotte’s Island, and of a small neighbouring island, which is a mere sandbank only three- quarters of a mile in circuit.” After being discovered by Captain Cook, as mentioned above, on the Isle of Pines it was brought home by Brown and Flinders, who found it growing abundantly on the east coast of New Holland, and the tree was introduced intg, this country about 1793. Of all the Araucariasthe A. excelsa is the most beautiful and graceful in habit. Its naked tapering trunk, with uniform branches clothed with rich green foliage, makes it a very handsome object, The leaves are not more than three-quarters of an inch long, awl-shaped, and curved upwards. The plant is not hardy, but grows well in a greenhouse, where it is fully protected from the frost. There are several fine specimens of this beautiful tree in the temperate house of the Royal Gardens, Kew, some of them over twenty feet high. These trees would have been much taller, but want of accommodation made it necessary to cut them down repeatedly. The wood of Araucaria excelsa is white, as indeed are most'of the coniferous woods ; the upper part of the trunk is knotty, while the lower part is invariably unsound in old trees. It is however, much used by the natives in house-building and similar work. It forms a large tree, averaging from 180 to 230 feet high. In the Sydney Botanic Garden there are some remarkably fine specimens of the Norfolk Island pine; in beauty and symmetry they are said to have no equal; their perpendicular trunks, the regularity of their branching, and being covered with the most beauti- ful dense foliage, giving them a drooping feathery appearance. Their age is computed to be about fifty or sixty years. The largest of these trees has attained a height of seventy-six feet, and a circumference near the base of twelve feet, This tree has occasionally borne fruit, the first time in 1839. Dr. Bennett, in his ‘Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australia, tells us that the first instance of perfect seeds having been produced in that colony was in 1857, when the trees at Ash Island, Hunter’s River, bore female cones. The seeds, upon ripening. scattered themselves, taking root and producing young plants, spontaneously, thus naturalizing the plant as it were. og B 2 THE TECHNOLOGIST. 4 THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. A. excelsa is of all the species the most majestic, and the places of its erowth perhaps the most picturesque. It loves the mountain side, the overhanging precipice, the storm-torn rocks; among these it firmly anchors itself with its twisting roots. These roots descend many feet into the ground and penetrate into every lateral crevice. They form wood of some thicknesss and of great density, of a deep red colour, from which the inhabitants make small articles of utility or ornament, such as candlesticks and the like. From the tremendous storms with which Norfolk Island is occasionally visited, the Araucarias suffer considerably, but chiefly in their uppermost branches ; in the valleys where tney are c most sheltered, therefore, the best formed and most symmetrical trees are to be found. They do not grow in very dense forests, other and smaller trees coming in and filling up the spaces between them, thus tending to give the forests a very ornamental appearance. The wood is free from any resin, but a sort of white milky juice exudes from the bark ; this has been tried for various purposes as a substitute for pitch, but found to be useless. A former governor (Governor King) of Norfolk Island was so,partial to this tree that he adopted it as his family crest. Another species of this group, and nearly allied to 4. excelsa, is A. Cunningham. This, which is called the Moreton Bay pine, was named by Aiton in honour of the indefatigable botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham. It is found on the shores of Moreton Bay, in lat. 14° to 29° south, and on the alluvial banks of the Brisbane River, lat. 27° to 30° south. It grows, however, in the greatest profusion in the brush forests, on the Richmond River. The trees seem to thrive best near the coast, attaining in such a situation their greatest height, often from 100 to 130 feet, but gradually diminishing in height the farther the trees are inland. It would appear from this that the sea air has a great effect upon it. Other large trees of different genera are found growing amongst the Araucarias in dense woods. The Moreton Bay pine was discovered in 1770, by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, and the first living plant did not arrive at Kew till 1824. From the time of the discovery of A. columnaris in 1774 up to 1824, the two trees were considered to be the same species, but in the latter year Mr. Allan Cunningham revisited Moreton Bay in company with Mr. Oxley, and after a careful examination, came to the conclusion that A, Cunninghami “ was a very distinct species, not simply in its habit of growth, which is very remarkable, but in the character of its leaves.” The branches are much more drooping than those of A. excelsa, and very lax as compared with that species. On the young twigs the leaves are very minute, gradually developing themselves till they attain maturity, when they become slightly imbricated. The branches are given off in whorls of six or eight, in the young plants slightly bent upwards, but in those of greater age bending down in a very graceful manner. It forms a very straight trunk, frequently rising to a height of eighty feet before any branches are given off. The diameter of the trunk averages from Aue. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. a four to five feet, the cones are ovate, from three to four inches long, and nearly as broad. The scales are very closely set tugether, wedge- shaped, of a leathery texture, each ending in a sharp recurved spine, about a third the length of the scale. The seeds are small and flattened, in the form resembling the scale itself. The whole cone is of a deep rich brown colour. Allan Cunningham says that this plant bears young cones in the month of September. It has never fruited in this country. The wood in appearance and colour much resembles some of the lighter kinds of deal. It is of a very uniform grain, and works well. Some specimens are very beautiful, on account of small knots interspersed throughout, giving it somewhat the appearance of bird’s-eye maple, though being of a lighter colour it has a more delicate appearance. It is chiefly used in the colony for house carpentry and many kinds of furniture. For the masts of vessels it is peculiarly adapted when green, as spars can be obtained in any quantity, from eighty to a hundred feet in length ; but it is said in drying, these masts cannot be depended on, as there is little lateral cohesion between the fibres, and being entirely devoid of resin, there is nothing to strengthen them. The timber procured from the inland or mountain brushes is considered superior to that grown near the coast ; from some trees as much as ten thousand feet of saleable timber can be obtained. From Sydney and other parts, large quantities are imported, giving employ- ment to a large number of sawyers, who receive pay at the rate of 21 10s. per thousand feet. In Queensland, also, the timber is an article of great commercial importance. Though there is no actual resin deposited in these trees, there is an abundance of a clear, white, transparent substance, which exudes from the trunks and adheres to them, hanging in the form of icicles. Some fine specimens of the wood of this tree were exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862, in both the Sydney and Queensland collections. ‘These are now to be seen amongst the magnificent collection of colonial and foreign woods in the Royal Gardens, Kew. The Araucaria imbricata, Pav., or Chili pine, is, perhaps, the best known of all the species, having of late years been so largely planted in this country. It was known to the Spanish settlers nearly a century back. In 1780, Don Francisco Dendariarena was commissioned by those settlers to examine the Araucarias, and report upon their suitability as timber for ship-building. The result was that the wood of A. imbricata was considered good, and at once applied to the repairing of the vessels of the squadron then lying in the port of Talcahuano. In a work published by the Abbe Molina, two years later (1782), the tree is described as Pinus Araucaria. Inthe same year the botanist Pavon was sent by the Spanish Government in search of this tree ; having secured the flowers and fruit (the most necessary parts for determina- tion), he had no,hesitation in aking it a distinct species of Araucaria (A. imbricata). The plant had, however, been gathered by Pavon ina THE TECHNOLOGIST. 6 THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. previous expedition to Chili, and transmitted by him to France, where falling into the hands of Lamarck and Jussien, the former authority named it Dombeya Chilensis, but through inaccuracies in the description of its botanical characters, this name fell to the ground, and Payon’s subsequent name was generally used. The tree was not known in Europe in a living state till Archibald Menzies, accompanying Captain Vancouver secured some fresh seeds. Having been invited to dine at the house of one of the officials, at Valparaiso, he begged a few of the seeds of this tree, which formed part of the dessert. These were planted, and carefully attended to by him on board ship; these young plants were brought home, and were presented by Menzies to Sir J. Banks, who reared one in the garden adjoining his house at Spring Grove, and the remainder were presented to the Royal Gardens, Kew. One of these trees is now among the finest in Europe, and stands our winter climate well. Previous to 1806 it was kept in a greenhouse, but after being planted out it was carefully covered, to protect it from the frost. This precaution has now been discontinued for many years, and found to be quite unnecessary, as the abundance of these trees in almost every well-kept garden testify. Plants can now be obtained for a few shillings which about twenty years since could only be had for as many pounds. The best description of the Chilian Araucaria forests is from Peeppig’s travels in the Peruvian Andes. Hesays: “The Araucaria—a tree that affords the Indians of the Pantagonian Andes a great part of their food—will not grow on the lowlands, and it also preserves an accurately defined boundary with respect to its northern limits. When transplanted into many parts of the province of Concepcion, it exhibits a sickly, deteriorated appearance, and vegetates so reluctantly that from many fresh seeds which were sown in Talcahuano, only two sprung up, which shortly afterwards died. An Alpine atmosphere and a severer climate than can be expected in the lower tracts of the country, and above all a stony soil, seem to be indispensable for its growth. In the immediate neighbour- hood of Antuco not a single tree of Araucaria can be seen, and it requires a fatiguing excursion to gratify the naturalist’s desire to behold a wood of these truly regal trees.” The writer then goes on to say: * Towards the evening we had ascended the moderately high ridges that form the background of the valley,’ which runs between Antuco and the fort of Trun Leuvu, ‘‘ and the dense crown that was seen above these, from afar, had indicated our near approach to the desired aim, and added new vigour to our exertions. When we arrived at the first Araucarias, the sun had just set, still some time remained for their examination. What first struck our attention were the thick roots of these trees, which lie spread over the stony and nearly naked soil, like gigantic serpents, two or three feet in thickness ; they are clothed with a rough bark, similar to that which invests the lofty pillar-like trunks, of from fifty to one hundred feet in height. The crown of foliage — Ava. 1, 1855.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. 7 occupies only about the upper quarters of the stem, and resemble a large depressed cone. The lower branches, eight or twelve in number, form a circle round the trunk ; they diminish till they are are but four or six in aring, and are of most regular formation, all spreading out horizontally, and bending upwards only at their tips ; they are thickly invested with leaves, that cover them like scales, and are sharp-pointed, above an inch broad, and of such a hard and woody texture that it requires a sharp knife to sever them from the parent branch. The general aspect of the Araucaria is most striking and peculiar, though it undeniably bears a distant family likeness to the pines of our country ; its fruits placed at the end of the boughs are of a regularly globular form, as large as a man’s head, and consist of beautifully imbricated scales that cover the seeds, which are the most important part of this truly noble tree. The Araucaria is the palm of those Indians who in- habit the Chilian Andes, from lat. 37° to 48°, yielding to these - nomade nations a vegetable sustenance that is found in the greater plenty the more they recede from the whites, and the more difficult they find it to obtain corn by commerce. “ Such is the extent of the Araucaria forests and the amazing quan- tity of nutritious seeds that each full-grown tree produces, that the Indians are ever secure from want, and even the discord that prevails frequently among the different hordes does not prevent the quiet collec- tion of this kind of harvest. A single fruit (cabeza ‘a head’) contains between 200 and 300 kernels, and there are frequently twenty or thirty fruits on one stem ; and as even a hearty eater among the Indians, except he should be wholly deprived of every other kind of sustenance, cannot consume more than 200 nuts in a day, it is easily seen that eighteen Araucarias will maintain a single person for a whole year. The kernel, which is the shape of an almond, but double the size, is surrounded with a coriaceous membrane that is easily removed. Though relishing when prepared, it is not easily digestible, and, containing but a small quantity of oil, it is apt to cause disorders in the stomach with those who are not accustomed to this diet. When the scarcely matured seeds are dried in the sun, a sugary substance exudes, which appears to reside chiefly in the embryo. The Indians eat them either fresh, boiled, or roasted and the latter mode of cooking gives them a flavour something ‘like a chestnut. For winter’s use they are dried, after being boiled, and the women prepare a kind of flour and pastry from them. “The collecting these fruits would be attended with great labour if it were always necessary to climb the gigantic trunks; but as soon as the kernels are ripe, towards the end of March, the cones drop off of themselves, and shedding their contents on the ground, scatter liberally _aboon which nothing but the little parrot and a species of cherry- finch divide with the Indians. In the vast forests, of a day’s journey in extent, that are formed by these trees in the districts of Pehuenches and Huilliches, the fruits lie in such plenty on the ground, that but a THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Ave. 1, 186 \ 8 THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. very small part of them can be consumed. In former time a great quantity came to Concepcion and Valdivia by trading with the Indians, and thence they found their way to Valparaiso and Lima ; but now they are seldom seen anywhere near the coast, or they are too old to be palatable. The reason why all the seeds of Araucaria that hitherto were sent to Europe did not vegetate, is because the collectors did not procure them from the Indian country, but bought them in the market at Vaiparaiso, where they are offered for sale boiled and dried. My excursion to Quillay-Leuvu obtained for me fresh seeds of the Araucaria, which reached Germany in October, 1829, being seven months after they were ripe, and being sowed immediately, the period was just that of the Chilian spring. Of some hundreds, about thirty came up; but ignorance of the true climate, which led to the error of placing the young plants in a hothouse, killed the greater part during the first year. To my great satisfaction, however, about six individual plants have been preserved in different places, and they are, to the best of my belief, the only ones in Europe. The wood of the Araucaria is red where it has been affected by the forest fires, but otherwise it is white, and towards the centre of the stem, bright yellow. It yields to none in hardness and solidity, and might prove valuable for many uses if the places of the growth of the tree were less inaccessible. For ship- building it would be useful, but is much too heavy for masts. If a branch be scratched, or the scales of an unripe fruit be broken, a thick, milky juice immediately exudes, that soon changes to a yellowish resin, of which the smell is agreeable, and which is considered by the Chilians as possessing such medicinal virtues that it cures most violent rheumatic headaches when applied to the spot where the pain is felt. “The Araucaria forests of Antuco is the most northerly that is known in Chili, so that the boundary of this king of all the extra- tropical American trees may be estimated at 36° south lat. The extreme southern limit is not so clearly ascertained, which is not surprising when we consider how little comparatively is known of Western Pata- gonia ; it seems probable, however, that it does not stretch far beyond lat. 46°. Between Antuco and Valdivia this tree only grows among the Andes, and, as the Indians assert, solely on their western de- clivities, and nowhere lower than from 1,500 to 2,000 feet below the snow line, up to which they frequently reach. Further to the south the Araucaria appears at a lower elevation, and inthe country of the Cuncos, and about Osorno, is said to occur on mountains of a very moderate altitude near the sea. The Corcovado, a mountain that rises opposite Childe, is said to be studded from its foot to the snow line with large groups of these beautiful trees. Of all other vegetation the Araucaria forests are as bare as the pine woods, offering but few plants which can interest the botanist. Steep, rocky ridges, where there is no water, are its favourite habitat.” — The Chilians eat the seeds either raw, roasted, or boiled, and con- Ave. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. 9 sider them very nutritious; they also procure a spirit from them by distillation. The timber is easily worked, and takes a high polish. Pavon mentions a peculiar fact connected with the height of these trees. He asserts that the female is by far the largest, frequently 150 feet, while the male seldom exceeds forty or fifty feet. The inner bark of the trunk is peculiar from its light, porous nature ; it is very thick. The outer bark is also of a great thickness, and of a similar corky con- sistence. The Bunya- Bunya, Araucaria Bidwili, Hook., is a noble tree, in- habiting the scrubs between the Brisbane and Burnett Rivers, between the 26 and 28 parallels of latitude, and longitude 152° to 153°-30 east. On the east coast of Australia the trees grow in dense forests over a tract of country ranging about thirty miles long by twelve broad, where they form one of the principal features in the surrounding vegetation, being strikingly contrasted by their rigid growth and bright green colour. The tree isa magnificent one, growing from 100 to 200 feet high, with a stout trunk, scarcely tapering, and covered with a thick, smooth bark, often unbranched for half the height, with a conical, loose head, overtopping all the other trees of the forest. The branches are arranged in whorls, sometimes giving off near the summit as many as sixteen in a whorl ; these tranches average twelve feet in length, and about one and a-half inches in diameter. The young branches are arranged horizontally on the stem, but the older ones have a drooping habit. The branchlets are disposed in pairs, opposite, about eighteen inches long, very slender, sparsely covered with the thin, long leaves; in the younger and terminal branches the leaves are more crowded. The cones are very large, quite the size of a man’s head, and sometimes nearly as broad as long, the top often slightly depressed. The scales are large and thick, with an acute ridge running across them, termi- nating in a sharp-pointed, recurved spine. The seeds, seated between these scales, are also very large, frequently from one to two inches long, and sometimes even longer, and quite three-quarters of an inch wide, broad at one end and tapering at the other. The cones are produced on the uppermost branches of the tree, and one cone frequently contains as many as 150 seeds which are freely scattered on the ground as the cone ripens. The trees bear fruit plentifully once in three years, usually between the months of January and March. At these seasons the aborigines assemble from far and near to collect the seeds, which are a favourite food with them. They roast them in the shell, crack them between two stones, and eat them while hot. In flavour they somewhat resemble roasted chestnuts. So well does this food agree with them that they are said “to grow sleek and fat” upon it. That part of the district where these trees most abound is called the Bunya-Bunya country. The Brazilian Araucaria, Araucaria Brasiliensis, Rich., is found grow- ing at a great elevation, chiefly in the province of Minos Gerces, and to J a ie > i, ali® thal) oe J fer Ss THE TECHNOLOGISD. [Ave. * 10 THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. the north of Rio, at an altitude of 1,000 feet above the sea-level. They are exposed to some of the most violent storms, accompanied by the fiercest of lightning, from the effects of which the trees suffer con- siderably—their beauty and symmetry being greatly lessened by the stripping off of their lower branches, or the shivering of the younger and more tender parts. The height of the tree itself adds greatly to — the chances of injury, as it attains from 70 to 100 feet, having a very straight trunk, which is covered for the most part with a smooth bark, except near the summit, where the remains of old leaves still persist, as on the truuk of A. imbricata. In its habit it is more loose and spread- ing than that species, but more nearly resembles it than any of the other species. From the date of its introduction in 1819 to 1822, A. Brasiliensis and A. imbricata were considered as one species. In the latter year, however, M. Richard, who had paid some attention to the two plants, published a description of this species, separating it from A. imbricata, and giving the plant its existing name of A. Brasiliensis. He states in that account that the chief botanical difference is, that in this species the seed is entirely devoid of the winged appendage, which is a distinctive mark of A. imbricata. The disposition of the branches also -was made a character for distinction, as well as the greater softness and whiteness of the wood. The branches are arranged in whorls round the stem, but much more numerous than the other South American species. The form of the leaves is linear-lanceolate, very sharp at the apex, from one to two inches long, not so thickly disposed upon the stem as in A. embricata. The cones are more close and compact than those of that species ; they are of a dingy, yellow colour, about six inches long. The scales are of a soft, corky nature, thick, and wedged-shaped, very closely packed together, each having a long, recurved spine. In general appearance, this tree is much more spreading and loose than A. imbricata, and it makes a more rapid growth. It is not hardy enough to bear the frosts of our winters, but thrives well in a greenhouse. The nuts, or seeds, are commonly sold in the markets of Rio Janeiro, as an article of food. The resinous matter which exudes from the trunk, mixed with wax, is much used by the natives in the manufacture of candles. Two species similar to this have been described: the first by M. Savin, under the name ot A. Iidolfiana—this has been proved by Professor Parlatore to be nothing more than a form of A. Brasiliensis. The second by Professor Parlatore, who has given it the name of A. Saviana, and considers it a very distinct species. This plant is growing in the Botanic Gardens of Pisa, where it was planted in the open air in 1846, and is now a flourishing tree. It may also be seen growing in the Botanic Gardens of Florence, and in both gardens it has borne cones. These, in their young state, strongly resembles A. Brasiliensis, with the exception that the spines of the scales are much longer, very uniformly. recurved, and curling so far back as to completely cover the junction of the two scales. So dense Ava. 1, 1865.| THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE GENUS ARAUCARIA, 11 are the spines on these young cones that the scales are completely hidden by them, and the cone much more resembles a fine head of fuller’s teazel than the fruit of a coniferous tree. In the mature cone the scales are much more fully developed, and the spines have the appear- ance of small recurved hooks. The newest of all the Araucarias, and perhaps one of the most remarkable, whether as to its place of growth or its habit, is the A. Rulet, Muell. This was first known in England in 1861 or 1862, when smallsspecimens of the foliage were received by Sir W. J. Hooker, at Kew. ‘The native habitat of this species is very limited ; the whole of the trees as yet discovered occupying a radius of only half a mile, and this on the summit of an extinct volcano, where the changes of season produce the greatest extremes of drought and heat, or rain and cold winds, and where no other vegetation exists for hundreds of feet below. It grows on a parallel lat. with A. Bidwilli, but situate at double the elevation of the habitat of that tree. It was discovered and introduced from Port Molle, by Mr. W. Duncan, collector to John Rule, Esq., of Victoria, in honour of whom Dr. Mueller has given it its specific name. It is a tree rising some 50 or 60 feet high, branching in like manner to A. imbricata, but the branches more thickly arranged round the stem, and these of a more rigid and tabular form, forking in all directions, at equidistances, in a most symmetrical manner. The leaves are very closely imbricated, of a dark, shining, green colour. Its nearest affinity is with A. imbricata, which it resembles in a remarkable degree in many points, but in others it is wholly distinct. Its beauty is said far ‘to surpass the last-named species, or even of any other species known. The cones are nearly spherical, the scales about an inch broad, termi- nating with a long, projecting narrow point, or scale, about an inch long. Of the economic uses of this species nothing is yet known, though it is probable the seeds are eaten like some of the other species. Mr. W. Bull, the well-known nurseryman, of the King’s road, Chelsea, introduced this rare plant into this country. The following, from an account of two Araucarias, one of which is A. Rulei,is given by Dr. Mueller; in his report on Lieut. Fitzalan’s expedition :—“ A. Cunninghami, found on Cumberland Islands, occurs southward to the vicinity of the Hastings River. The branches, with immature fruit, gathered during the Burdekin expedition, accord fully with others from Moreton Bay, Rockhampton, and the Hastings River. It remains as yet wnascertained whether more than one Araucaria belongs to the East Australian flora, Mr. Fitzalan offers en this pine the following notes: Very abundant from Percy’s Island upwards. On Percy’s Islaud it differs but little from the Moreton Bay pine, except in the invariable regularity of its branches—these being in regular tiers, opposite. The Moreton Bay pine is seldom so. As we go further north, this regularity increases, and the foliage becomes more glaucous, until, at Port Molle and on Whitsunday Island, the tree assumes the i 7 THE TECHNOLOGIST. 12 SUBSTITUTES FOR GUTTA-PERCHA. habit of the New Caledonian species, the tree being conical, the tiers of branches perfectly regular, and having a slight droop at their tips. cut a spar of it on Magnetical Island, to make a top-mast, and the wood was hard and close-grained, paler than that of the Moreton Bay pine, and would not swim. It produces a white resin abundantly.”— ‘The Intellectual Observer.’ SUBSTITUTES FOR GUTTA-PERCHA. THE forests of British Guiana yield caoutchoue and a variety of gums of allied nature. Sir W. H. Holmes, of Georgetown, when com- missioner in London at the Exhibition of 1862, drew prominent atten- tion to a new insulating material possessing properties intermediate between those of caoutchouc and gutta-percha. “Tt is the dried juice of the bullet tree (Sapota Mulleri), and is called Balata. It appears likely to be more valvable than india-rubber or gutta-percha by themselves, as it possesses much of the elasticity of the one and the ductility of the other, without the intractibility of india- rubber, or the brittleness and friatailieg? of gutta-percha, whilst it requires a much higher temperature to melt or softenit. . . . There appears to be every probability that balata will become an important article of commerce, supplying the great want of the day—a good insulating medium for telegraphic purposes. Professor Wheatstone is now investi- gating its electrical and insulating properties. Another substitute for gutta-percha, the juice of the Alstonia scholaris, a tree belonging to the natural order Apocynea, has been forwarded from Ceylon by Mr. Ondaatjie ; it is stated to possess the same properties, and to be as workable as gutta-percha. It readily softens when plunged in boiling water, is soluble in turpentine and chloroform, receives and retains impressions permanently, and is adapted for seals tc documents. Thése specimens are sent in response to premiums offered by the Society of Arts for the discovery of a subsitute for gutta-percha.” Although several of this class of gums differ but slightly in chemical composition, it is well known that they are possessed of very different properties. For example, gutta-percha becomes plastic when immersed in hot water, a property not possessed by caoutchouc. Again, while the latter can be extended with facility in all directions, the former admits of extension only in the direction of the fibre or grain. Caoutchouc seems impermeable to water, even under great pressure and elevated temperature, while gutta percha is of a somewhat porous nature and not so well adapted to the purpose of insulation in the construction of sub- marine telegraphs. This fact appears to have been established by the Messrs. Silver, of Silvertown works. ‘ wd ; ‘ ‘nn Bi ri Ava. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. ANIMAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR WRITING ON. 13 While it is desirable that a more extensive knowledge should be obtained of the various gums yielded by the forest trees and plants of our colonies, attention should be strongly directed to the importance of extending and improving the preparation of caoutchouc in Demerara and Africa, as being likely to be attended with benefit in a commercial point of view. The numerous samples brought from the Upper _Essequibo and Western Africa, although of fair value, indicate that the process of preparation admits of great improvement. ANIMAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR WRITING ON. Various forms of parchment and vellum, prepared from the skins of the sheep, goat, calf, and other animals, were not only much used in the _ times of the Romans, but continue to be used for legal and other docu- ments desired to be preserved in our own day. Parchment and. vellum seem to have superseded papyrus about the seventh century. in ‘bial Ave. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. FLAX IN CANADA. 25 steamer at Beltast, or at any of the railway termini. The only attention the machine requires isto keep the bearings well oiled. The mills purchased by me on behalf of the government, on arrival here, were distributed in the following order :—One at Quebec, one at Montreal, one at Sherbrooke, one at Kingston, one at Toronto, and one ateLondon. Until of late, little use has been made of them, as partics engaged in this business had supplied themselves with the ordinary kind. Of the utility of those mills I have no doubt. There is every reason to believe they are calculated to do good work. I saw thena tried several ‘times in Ireland, and was present at the Sion Mills with several other parties when Mr. Herdman certified to their qualities as compared with other mills. Being portable and capable of being worked by the horse- power of the threshing machine, and not requiring rollers to break the flax, they are worthy of a fair trial. This, I fear, they have never had as yet in this country. Hemp was dressed on one of them at Kingston the year before last, and it was found they answered adimirably for that purpose. To return to the quality cf lands best suited for flax, it will be found that on the fine, rich, flat lands in the Canada Company’s Huron Tract, and lands of a similar nature in the counties of Kent, Essex, and Lambton, as well as the St. Clair Flats, flax may be raised to any extent. Lands that have been cleared a few years will also give good flax. It will be observed that, in all the calculations made, I have only shown the prices for the common or ordinary qualities of seutched flax.. But it must not be forgotten that, with proper attention, and the exercise of a skill which it is not difficult to attain, it is quite within our reach to produce an article of fibre worth at least fifty per cent. more than that which we are producing at the present time. Hence, there is great inducement for the farmer to give it every attention in his power. No doubt many will soon fall into the method of cultiva- tion carried on in Ireland—z.e., pulling before the seed is ripe, by which means a finer and more flexible article of fibre is obtained, in conse- quence of the oily substance in the stalk not. being exhausted in the seed. when allowed toripen. By using a little extra attention and skill in the preparation of flax after pulling, an increase of many dollars in value may easily be secured. Before closing, I would suggest the desirableness of every agricul- tural society throughout the province offering liberal prizes for flax- growing in their lists for the autumn ; such prizes to be distributed as may seem best calculated to encourage the production of this crop. County councils, if it be within their province, could not do a more praiseworthy act than make a moderate appropriation for the same pur- pose. The parties competing for such prizes set the example to others, and hence a spirit of emulation is set on foot, as in all other branches of agriculture, and we would not only have much larger quantities pro- duced, but better qualities. VOL. VI. . D THE TECHNOLOGIST. 26 CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN CANADA, It is also desirable that companies should be formed, as it is quite within the reach of a few individuals, with a very moderate amount of capital—say 1,000 dols.—to start a scutch mill with eight or ten stocks, and after preparing their own flax for market, a profitable business could be done in scutching for others. What we require most of all is persons of capital and enterprise to give this matter their attention in cities and towns. In Toronto, within the Jast few months, a company has been formed to erect and start an oil mill, which, I understand, is domg a most successful business, Another company has been formed for the re-erection of the Rossin House. These are examples of what combined effort can accomplish. With such inducements as the manufacturing of linen presents, it is only a wonder the project has been allowed to remain unnoticed so long. Some may urge that water-power is required for such extensive works, There are, however, several small streams in the vicinity able to supply an engine that would drive anv amount of machinery. If buildings were placed near the lake, sufficient water could easily be made ayail- able for that purpose. Another great advantage in connection with the use of steam in flax manufacture, is that sufficient fuel is made from the shive, cr refuse taken from the fibre, to supply an engine of any capacity, with, perhaps, a trifling quantity of wood added. On a recent visit to New York, I found our American neighbours quite alive to this new enterprise. They are entering with much spirit both into the cultivation of the plant and its manufacture. At Paterson, New Jersey, three large establishments are already at work, and some six or seven hundred hands are employed. The most extensive of the three has been in operation several years in the manufacture of juve, and the proprietors are now preparing to spin and weave flax and tow, which will create a demand for the raw material. At Schenectady there are also several mills at work. Here our Canadian flax has found a ready market. At one of these establishments a large quantity of coarse twine for tying brooms is manufactured, as the principal crop grown on the valleys of the Mohawk is broom corn. There is no reason why this erop should not be successfully grown in Canada, and, from the demand for the article, it is well worthy the attention of the Canadian farmer. While urging the growth of the flax plant, too much cannot be said in favour of starting manufactories, as it is an acknowledged fact that, from the failure of the wheat crop for so many years in succession, farming lands, and property of every description in the country, has greatly depreciated. Hence the greater necessity for every one interested putting his shoulder to the wheel and helping on this important move- ment. Wherever companies can be started with any prospect of success, parties should not hesitate in taking stock, and encouraging the project in every possible way.. Large companies ought to be organized in the large cities and towns, while others, on a smaller scale, can, with perfect safety, be established in the country. Itis to be hoped capitalists in . . = . “ ¢ ange ~ ey nth te, ' ee bi Ava. 1, 1865.]} - THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. Q7 the old country, with experience, will soon find their way to Canada, and join those who have water-power and buildings, which they would readily turn in as so much stock, and, with combined effort, success would undoubtedly be achieved. The cottonizing of flax is strongly recommended. Only the other day a party from Detroit sent me a sample, stating that his mill will make about 1,500 lbs. per day from flax tow. This is a most important feature in the case, as it proves that the very roughest and coarsest part of the flax can be turned to good account, and although parties may embark in this new project with comparatively little knowledge, by degrees they will arrive at a point that will give them complete control of their business and be most profitable. In all cases, it is best to com- . mence with the coarser qualities of goods, and not on too extensive a scale. The great demand for seed for sowing this spring is sufficient proof that farmers are determined to give this new crop a fair trial. Those who have not engaged the quantities they require, will act wisely to do so before the season advances too far. When we speak of 40,000 or 50,000 aeres as likely to be sown this year, we must not forget that this area will not be much more than the arable land in a single town- ship. If there were only two acres sown on each 100 acres in every township in the province, what a vast quantity we might look for! Every farmer is perfectly safe in putting in from two to five acres at least. More than th’s, 1 do not hesitate to say he stands in his own light if he does not grow at least a small quantity of this promising product. Toronto, Canada, West. THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. BY G. S. LANG. Bay-FisHine.—From the information already collected as to a very limited portion of the coasts and seas within easy reach of Melbourne, it is established that the supply of fish is practically unlimited. In Port Phillip Bay there is an area of over 700 square miles, with coast line of about 130 miles well supplied with fish; and in Western Port Bay about 300 square miles, one immense fishing ground, and still more plentifully supplied with better fish, and with a coast line of 120 miles including French and Phillip Islands. Both bays are landlocked, and in every way favourable for fishing. The following are the descrip- tion of fish found in these bays:—Schnapper, from 2lb. to 201b., and even 301b.; rock-cod, flathead, garfish, whiting, silver-fish, mullet, gurnet, ling, perch, mackarel, butter-fish, 10]b. to 2vlb.; salmon-trout, white salimon, bream, plaice, flounders, and king-fish, also cray-fish, D2 bu THE TECHNOLOGIST. 28 THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. shrimps and oysters. It is very difficult to form even a near approxi- mation to the number of boats and men engaged in fishing. There are 316 licences issued for tents and huts for fishing, and allowing only one boat for each licence, and two and a half men for each boat, this will give 790 men. There are thus, it appears, almost at our doors an un- limited supply of fish, plenty of men and boats to catch them, ‘and a population anxious to purchase; yet the public cannot be supplied except at enormous prices, while the fishermen often cannot sell their fish at all, and then at prices they can barely exist upon. The reason is, that the fishermen have no capital beyond their boats and nets, and are at the mercy of one or two middlemen who keep the trade in their own hands, and fix their own price. If another buyer interferes, they raise the price till he is forced to retire, and then at once lower it to the old scale, tabooing any refractory fisherman, and not buying from him at all, while he is unable to take his fish to Melbourne, and most probably would not find a purchaser if he did. Capital will, no doubt, remedy this to a very great extent in time ; but fishermen, as a body, are always poor (perhaps because men cease to be fishermen when they rise above poverty), and a remedy that will pro- tect them without preventing the introduction of capital, should be at once applied and render unnecessary such an association as they have formed, with rules as unnecessarily severe as those of the ancient guilds— enough to destroy any industry. The first step is to establish a fish-market not only with retail stalls, but with licensed salesmen, conducting busi- ness in the same way as at Billingsgate, to whom any boat can safely consign its fish ; and there is little doubt that the salesmen would com- bine with the poorer fishermen in removing the present difficulty, by establishing conveyances for their fish, even if coaches were not laid on for the profit of the carriage, which they most probably would be. It would also be a great boon to the fishermen if certain portions of land in suitable localities were marked off as fishery reserves, and fishermen were allowed to purchase at a fixed price, sufficient for a house, garden, and nets, after occupying it a certain time, say two years. The land would seldom be of much value for any other purpose, and it would benefit the public most materially, by encouraging men with families to establish theiselves permanently as fishermen. DEEP-SEA FISHING.—The colony will never have anything approach- .ng the full advantage of our fishery resources until capital is applied on a large scale to the deep-sea fishing ; and that will be only when the fishing-ground is proved of sufficient extent and there are sufficient capitalists whom the investment would suit. First, the fishing-grounds —Besides the Western Port and Port Phillip bays, where an ample supply isto be had during the summer months, there are fishing-grounds outside which will yield not only an equally ample supply during the winter months, when fish generally leave the bays for deep water, but 2 supply for an extensive export trade. Besides the schnapper ae at Avg. 1- 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FISHBRIES OF VICTORIA. 29 Queenscliff, which now yields, during the summer, about 250 tons of schnapper alone, there is a bank outside where they can be caught at all times of the year. There is also an immense bank, extending S. and E. from the eastern entrance of Western Port, swarming with schnapper, rock- cod, and other fine fish, that would of itself even, as far as is vow kuown, supply a large fishery. It has been ascertained that the banks extend- ing to the eastward of King’s Island, Rabbit Island, and Corner Inlet, besides soles, butter-fish, Jew-fish, and others, abound in flounders of l-rge size and of the finest quality ; and, as the Straits average less thau forty-five fathoms, and with much sand and shell bottom, most favour- able for trawling, we only require proper boats to give us as ample < supply in winter as in summer. In a strait between such rocky coasts as this and Van Diemen’s Land, with islands cropping up in’ every direction, there must be extensive areas of rocky and broken ground below water, giving food and shelter, and forming banks for winter fishing as richly stocked as that to the eastward of Western Port. In the Straits the king-fish and barracouta, are in large shvals, and might be caught in quantities infinitely greater than at present. Again, on the south and east of Van Diemen’s Land, there is a bank covered by the waters of the cold Southern Ocean, cold enough for the finest quality of fish, with which it swarms, and of sufficient extent to supply all the Australian colonies over and over again. This bank is known to extend from twenty-five to thirty miles from the end of Maria Island to Tasman’s Peninsula—how much further is unknown. It abounds with trumpeter, running up to sixty and eighty pounds; arbouca, also a large fish, rock-cod, schnappers, flounders, and many other fish of fine quality. This bank is as near Melbourne as the banks that supply London with fiesh cod, and traversed by every steamer passing be- tween Hobart Town and Melbourne, so that it is as much Melbourne as Hobart Town fishing-ground. We have, in fact, sufficient data to prove that. the deep waters off the coast are teeming with life. Fish have been found everywhere; and the entire bottom, where sounded, is mixed with shell and seaweed, and where the food is the mouths will be there to eat it. How universally animal life is disseminated in these seas was proved by the wreck of a French whaler, which came ashore to the east and west of Portland in 1848. She left Adelaide to fill up, and was never heard of for years, when she came ashore in pieces, the wood exposed to the water being covered deeply with mussels, &c., while the broken parts were perfectly fresh, showing that she had laid in still water till moved by some current or very deep commotion of the water, on the ground within reach of the surface waves. There is, in fact, every reason to believe that we have, under the waters as exten- sive a field for the profitable exertion of our energies as we have on the land, though hitherto left as utterly useless and unprofitable as were our pastures before a white man trod upon them. Second, the Capitalists. —These will be of two descriptions—first, individuals or companies with ‘THE TECHNOLOGIST. | 30 THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA, considerable capital, say 3,000l and upwards, who will have one or more stations ashore, with every appliance for curing as well as fishing ; and second—single fishing vessels, which will confine themselves to fishing, selling their fish, as far as possible, in the Melbourne market, and the remainder to the curers, unless when they can cure on board. The body of the fishing fleet will consist of such single vessels, fitted out by a few individuals, as in the Newfoundland and Scotch fisheries. - : The cost of a thirty-ton vessel with trawl, well, &c., would be about 4001. or 5001, and there are many in this community whom such an investment would suit—men in various capacities, who have accumu- lated money beyond the requirements of their business, which they have now great difficulty in investing profitably. Mining has proved too much of a lottery for most prudent men ; agriculture requires personal superintendence, and has generally proved ruinous at least to those not brought up to it ; squatting requires too much capital ; ordinary shares giving too small a profit. Whereas,a sound fishing-smack, fitted out by a few partners under the Limited Liability Act, insured, and under a skilful master, part owner, would be not only a safe but a profitable investment. Second, the pioneers, in establishing a natural deep-sea fishery, must encounter considerable risk and many difficulties, so that a company such as I have alluded to, and such as is now actually being formed, would be much more suitable for the enterprise than one indiyi- dual. As this preliminary loss was incurred by me twenty years ago, I shall give the result of my dearly-bought experience for the benefit of these second pioneers. On arriving here in 1841, I had been struck by the fact that there was no article to exchange for the enormous quanti- ties of sugar, tea, and rice, &c., imported from the East ; and, further, I learned that the East India Company had for yearsfound a most profitable market for a large quantity of Newfoundiand cod, in Mauritius, India, China, and the Phillipines, &c., and had given up the trade only on account of the very long voyage then usual, during which the fish became un- saleable. Having partners to manage my sheep stations, I determined to establish a deep-sea fishery, and addressed a memorial to Lieutenant- Governor La Trobe, pointing out these facts, and the advantages that would arise to the colony. The government almost at once granted me a squatting licence at the mouth of the Yarra, where I established what I intended should be my head station. Iset to work with a body of Scotch Highland fishermen and curers, and, before the season ended, proved, to. my satisfaction, that the supply of schnapper was unlimited, and so ‘cheaply cured that a most extensive and profitable export to the places above-mentioned could be established. The men then offered to hire the boats, and fish for the Melbourne market during the winter, and I agreed, for the sake of keeping them together ; but this at once brought them into collision with the other fishermen, and led to my giving up the scheme altogether. These men did not object to the deep-sea fishing, but declared that no gentleman or company had any right to interfere 7. me Ave. 1,/1865.) THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. on in suj/plying Melbourne, and refused to supply any hawker who bought from the * company’s” boats, and as my boats could not guarantee a coustant supply, my men were stopped To meet this I established a depot in Melbourne, and put one of their own countryiwen to manage it, but, instead of contining himself to his own business when he did very well, he turned it into a general store. Oi my return from a long ex- ploring voyage I found everything paralysed ; a regular war, by the fishermen generally, against my men, burning and cutting nets, setting boats adrift, &c.; the men were so interrupted that they demande daily weges, and the hawkers demanded to be guaranteed a supply, while considerable liabilities had been incurred in the store, and its contents distributed, on credit, to all the Highlanders in Melbourne. The crisis of 1843 coming, I wound up the fishery and went to the bush, but not before I had ascertained to, my perfect satisfaction, chat there Was an opening for a great national fishery. I would suggest that this pioneer fishing company should establish at first—not ten, as they pro- pose—but two stations—one at Queenschff and the other at the eastern entrance of Western Port, or near it ; each, of course, supplied with row- boats, seines, set nets, drift nets, crab pots, &c.; also appliances, for salting, drying, and smoking, and in due time preserving fish in tins, the modern substitute for salting. Hach station should have one, or perhaps two, trawling cutters, or, rather fore-and-aft schooners, as being more easily handled, anc first-rate sea-boats, so as to hold their uwn in any weather. They would thus be able to employ their men in almost any weather, in any wind, and at all seasons, either inside or outside the Heads, and in case of a large take, could always secure the surplus. In the schnapper fishing, alcne, they would have a stand-by that would secure them a profit ; the hawkers and salesmen now object to this fish on account of its weight in proportion to the profit upon it, and ouly the smaller sizes are acceptable. Now, these are not suitahle for salting, but.a company could keep the curers, and preservers in tins, going with the large fish, sending the smaller to Melbourne with the general take ; in the same way, when the cutter is not trawling she can lay-to on the banks and fill herself with schnapper and yock-cod, either to cure on board or preserve on shore, besides, keeping the men em- ployed in the winter when fish have le!t the bay for the deep water. They should strictly confine themselves to their own particular business on the sea and the beach; they must certainly establish a means of rapid communication with the railway, but even that they should do by contract, if there is no public conveyance; sell the fresh fish in the public market, and the rest through an agent, until the business is in full working order, when they may extend it as they please, and more particularly and legitimately by curing the fish caught by other boats. Let them be content at first with plain bush buildings ; they are cheap, and will serve for years. Companies generally neglect their men ; it is a great mistake in any business, but more particularly in a fishery, as it THE “TECHNOLOGIST 32 THE FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. is of vital importance to retain men acquainted with the fishing grounds, tides and currents. House them comfortably, and give them the best of rations. Give the single men a comfortable barrack, with a cook to look after it, so that they may always be certain of a comfort- able meal aud dry clothes on coming ashore; they will thus secure the . willing services of the best men to be had. A company so begun and prudently conducted will, I have no doubt, not only prove most profitable | to the parties engaged but to the colony generally. It is not the business of the government to force this or any other industry into existence, but as the fishing-grounds are at our doors, most bounteously stockel by Nature, while there are both money and capital to be employed upon them, it is the legitimate province of the govern- ments of Victoria and Tasmania to clear the way by a survey of the coasts and straits. Private individuals cannot be expected to spend their capital in making discoveries which at once become public property, as fishing banks inevitably do. Where labour is so high it is of great im- portance to have the men constantly employed, but until the different banks are laid down they cannot be so. The trawlers cannot work in anything like a heavy sea, but if they knew of a bank in their neigh- bourhood they could with deep-sea line, as long as the vessel could hold her own, actually fill the vessel instead of lying-to idle. The survey of the bank off Tasman’s Peniusula alone would well repay the expense of employing a sixty-ton vessel, which would be quite sufficient. There is no doubt that most of the fish come into the bays in summer to spawn, and it is most desirable that both governments should strictly enforce a cluse time, and regulate the size of the mesh in all nets, trawlers included, as the wanton destruction now is most sinful. Thope wheuthe Acclimatisation Society has the means that the Council will turn their attention to the introduction of the cod and the herring. © Lieut. Maury, in his ‘ Physical Geography of the Ocean, mentions that on the portion of the southern States of America touched by the Gulf stream on its way northwards, the fish are of bright colour but poor quality, and that thesesouthern states are supplied by rail from the states further north, whose coasts are washed by the cold current which flows south from the Arctic Ocean inside of the Gulf stream. It appears from Maury’s chart of these seas (No. IX. Seadrift and Whales) that the whole * of the south coast of New Holland is bathed by the waters of the cold Antarctic, so that fish of the finest kind will retain their good qualities. Thecod is not only a good fish of itself, superior toany of ours, but the salt- fish of commerce, andif established in these seas, would greatly facilitate the fermation of an export trade, and, I] think, quite as worthy of atten- tion as the salmcn. The roe is so exceedingly minute, that more than ’ nine millions have been counted in one fish ; being so fine, it would be laid among the moss in pieces, and one ie might contain twelve millions of roe. The sea-water would be eo cold during a great Ave. 1, 1865] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE BAMBOO AS A PAPER MATERIAL. ad portion of the voyage, certainly after reaching eighteen degrees south, and as one cask per day of iced sea-water would be ample for a box of cod and one of herring, it appzars to me that it is well worthy of a trial. But whether we introduce cod and herring or not, there is no doubt of the fact that, we have fish of such quantity and of such quality, that it only requires that capital and labour be applied with ordinary prudence and sagacity to make our fisheries one of the great interests of the colonies. THE BAMBOO AS A PAPER MATERIAL. In a paper by Dr. Williams on the “ Uses of the Bamboo” (vol. 3, p. 120), incidental mention was made of the interior portion of the stem being beaten into pulp for paper. Bruised and crushed in water the leaves and stems form a good proportion of the common or Chinese paper, the finer qualities being improved by a mixture of raw cotton and a more careful pounding, and in some places the article is manu- factured with such care as even to answer for foreign writing paper. In the dearth of other paper materials, the Americans are now turning their attention to the culms of the bamboo from the West Indies fur this purpose, and a new trade has sprung up for an hitherto useless product. _ A late Jamaica paper observes :—“ It must strike every person of a reflective mind that if there were anything like enterprise in Jamaica, there is now presented a splendid opportunity of exercising and dis- playing it. There is no simpler and cheaper process than the manufac- ture of paper, and therefore no very extraordinary amount of capital would be required for machinery, &c. We have here the raw material in excessive abundance, and it may be had for next to nothing. Why may we not set up a paper manufactory here—why, in fact, may we not have a dozen mills in different parts of the country? If it can pay in other countries to manufacture paper from bamboo obtained from Jamaica, how much more should it not pay to manufacture the paper here? We might not only supply our own needs—and we certainly consume a large quantity of paper in this island—but we might also export paper to other countries. It appears to us that we have a source of wealth which we are neglecting—a good opportuuity for exerting our enterprise which we are allowing to slip through our fingers. Without being too sanguine as to the advantages to result, we venture to predict that if care is taken and something like enterprise developed, this will prove a remunerative source of industry. As yet we know very little of the true value of this new staple. It is found in abundance in all parts of the country, and especially on the banks of our numerous Ma ten aa ei yi ot. THE TECHNOLOGIST — 34 THE BAMBOO AS A PAPER MATERIAL, streams, and is of most rapid growth. We have been informed that bamboo-sticks Jaid down on the side of a stream will grow readily and spread with such profusion that in six months it may be cut, and then the growth, as age increases, becomes more rapid and more profuse. But, as anyone who has travelled in the country will bear us out in saying, there is no need of planting, in other words, cultivating it, as it already abounds everywhere in the island equal to the demand, be that ever so great, that may be made for it. Hitherto it has been turned to no account, its greatest use being as fuel on the sugar estates ; but of late we see it brought into Kingston in large quantities for exportation, it having been discovered in America to be an excellent substitute for rags in the manufacture of paper. An enterprising American here now has been purchasing and shipping it to New York. We have seen some paper of a coarse description made from it, and it appears to us superior to the common straw paper imported here; but it is uot the inferior article that we have seen alone that it can produce: we have been assured that the finest descriptions of writing paper are manufactured from it. This fact being established it seems to us to require only a little exertion for converting into an exportable article of some value a product that has hitherto been utterly valueless. The war has forced upon the Americans the necessity for discovering a sub- stitute for rags in the manufacture of paper ; but in England and other countries, from a somewhat different cause, an equally pressing necessity also exists fora like substitute. The British paper-makers are com- plaining of the heavy duty upon rags as well as the scarcity of that material. We confess that we find it difficult to understand,’ says a London paper dealing with the subject, ‘how the amount of the foreign rag duty can possibly produce the disastrous consequences to the paper manufacture at home, which according to the representatives of the trade, have been visited upon it. Nor, in any case, does an appeal to the Treasury seem the rational way of meeting a commercial inconvenience arising out of the protective system of some foreign country. In most other instances when a difficulty has arisen about obtaining a full supply of a peculiar raw material from abroad, ingenuity has simply been bidden to go to work and find out some means of supplying the want by the invention of a substitute for the restricted article. Ingenuity has not to go far, or to work long to attain its mission. An excellent substitute has already been found in the bamboo or hollow cane of Jamaica, which we doubt not could be forwarded to the British paper-makers at a much lower rate than that at which foreign rags can be obtained. At all events, let the experiment be tried. Let the fact be known in England that we have here, and are ready to supply it cheap and in abundance, the very artivle they desire, and if bamboo prove, as we are assured it has proved, the very best material for the manufacture of paper, then we shall have two markets —two distinct set of customers—for the raw material, which we can Ave 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT DUBLIN. 35 supply in abundance without trenching upon the labour required for the promotion of our other industries.” These gigantic grasses are very common in nost tropical regions, many of the West India islands abound with them, they cover the sides and tops of the mountains throughout the continent of India and form one of the peculiar as well as most striking features of oriental and occi- dental scenery. The bamboo attains a considerable height, some seventy to eighty feet, and has been known to spring up thirty inches in six days. ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT THE DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. THE official duties of the Editor at the Dublin Exhibition, in charge of the varied contributions from the Colonies, as in the Exhibition of 1862, have hitherto prevented his laying before his readers a résumé of such raw materials and products exhibited by foreign countries, as seem entitled to special notice. We now commence with a brief notice of the exhibits from Italy, which contributes a much larger col- lection of raw materials than any other European country. Most of the other States of Europe have restricted themselves to Fine Arts and Manufactures. The kingdom of Italy, on the contrary, comes out well in all departments, and makes a noble exhibit. In the first section, ground and sublimed sulphur may be men- tioned, and a fine collection of Sienna earths, shown by Carlo Corbi Zocchi, in the various tints of yellow, orange, and dark burnt. Various red, white, and dark-grev granites, used for building, are shown by the Royal Italian commission. Good specimens of salt are shown by the Sardinian Salt Company of Genoa. The works, which are situated near Cagliari, belong to the Government, but were leased for thirty years to the present company in 1852. The annual produce of table salt then was but 30,000 tons; now the produce is 140,000 tons, of which the Government purchases 52,000 tons, the rest being exported to Norway, Sweden, Prussia, and the United States of America; besides from 6,000 to 8,000 tons of crude sulphate of magnesia, and 2,000 or 3,000 tons of erude sulphate of potash. These two last products are obtained from the mother liquor after the deposition of the table salt. There are many exhibitors of olive oil. One, Dr. Danielli, shows. olives preserved in spirits, dried olives, strong olive oil, sweet olive oil, pure white for perfumery, yellow, common dark yellow, common green, common white, and other varieties of oil ; olive skins pressed to extract the oil with sulphide of carbon ; olive kernel oil for burning, and flour 1 ae Sa “THE TECHNOLOGIST. 36 ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT of olive kernels for fattening pigs. The oil obtained from the skin expressed cold, is used for dyeing, and for the manufacture of white soap; that expressed by heat for making mottled soaps. Fine olive oil is obtained from the same olives as those used for making lamp oil, the only difference being in the care with which the fruit is selected and pre- pared. The olives are plucked before they are over ripe, and the utmost cleanliness is observed in bruising them, as well as in filtering the oil through several layers of clean cotton wool ; whereas, the lamp oil is made from the perfectly ripe olives which have fallen from the trees and placed in heaps, from which a certain quantity is taken at any time during the winter season in order to be pressed. The consequence of such treatment is, that the olives undergo incipient fementation, and yield strong oil. The second system of manufacture prevails princi- pally in the province of Lecce, the oil being mostly exported from Gallipoli fur use in machinery. The more refined quality is manu- factured in the province of Bari, and shipped from the ports of Bari, Monopoli, and Mola, for Leghorn and Genoa, and is then sold to foreign purchasers as oil of Lucca or Nice, with which it may well com- pete in taste and perfection. The olive trees in the province of Bari attain thirty feet in height, the trunks being frequently three feet in diameter ; the branches spreading and the fruit excellent. A full sized tree yields about 2 cwt. of oil. The whole seaboard from Bari to Brindisi, a distance of seventy-five miles, for a breadth of seven miles, is a continuation of luxuriant olive yards. The railway from Brindisi. to Bari is now open, and ere long, this will become the main line of communication between Europe and India. Baron Enrico Janelli shows samples of best olive oil grown at Bragone, Termini Imerese (Palermo). The hills in the neighbourhood of Bragone have an eastern and southern aspect, and are situated close to the sea-shore. The ground is covered with pebbles and gravel, but the subsoil is deep, and in some places marly. The method of preparing the oil is simple. At the end of October, when the olives become yellowish and tinged with red spots, the peasants proceed on dry days to gather the fruit, putting it into baskets lined with linen. They are then spread out on a thin stratum on the wooden floor of a well-venti- lated apartment, taking out all the over ripe or defective ones. After being dried in this manner for three days, they are bruised and then put in the press. The liquid is placed in covered vessels for twenty- four hours, and before fermentation has set in, it is filtered through linen into earthenware pans. in a week’s time itis filtered again through ~ cotton wool to separate the residual pulp which constitutes the colouring matter, and deteriorates the oil. In these operations the utmost care is necessary to keep all the vessels and matter with which the oil comes in contact extremely clean and dry, as “it easily becomes rancid, undergoing a chemical change. Mannite, from the olive, is shown ay, Professor De Luca, of the ~ Ave. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. < THE DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, o7 Royal University of Naples, extracted from the green and mature leaves, from the unripe and ripe olive. Mannite exists in different proportions in every part of the olive tree; the leaves, flowers, and fruit containing the greatest quantity; the roots, wood, bark, and branches rather less. This saccharine principle is not always found in the same quantity at all stages of vegetation. At the period of blossoming, it accumulates in the flowers and diminishes in the leaves, the fallen flowers having once completed the phenomena of fecunda- tion, no longer contain any mannite; it has likewise been found impossible. to obtain the slightest traces of it in the yellow fallen leaves. Mannite exists in the fruit as long as it continues green, diminishing in proportion as it ripens, and disappearing entirely when it becomes perfectly ripe, and contains the greatest quantity of oil. The leaves, with which the olive tree is always covered, and which it is reasonable to suppose must fulfil some important function, are never devoid of more or less mannite as long as they continue green, and as soon as they begin to turn yellow, others have already taken their place, and would appear to accuniulate, s: to speak, the materials elabo- rated by their predecessors, and assume their functions. Many other substances are found in the leaves of the olive tree besides mannite. There are colouring matters, and especially the chlorophyl, which accompanies the mannite and follows its changes ; saccharine principles, which have the property of facilitating fermentation in contact with yeast, as also of reducing tartrate of potassa and copper; organic acids and other matters not well-defined. ‘The leaves of the olive tree, which have the property of accumulating mineral substances, contain a large quantity of water, varying according the period | of vegetation, and sometimes amounting to 50 per cent. Honey and honeycomb is shown by Bartolomeo Bottamini: the following is the method of rearing bees pursued by the exhibitor in the Alpine Valleys of Bormio :— “The bees are placed i in wooden hives about a foot wide, and rather more than three feet long, perfectly closed in front and rear, except that in the former case a small aperture is left at the Holeom, three jaches long and 1°3 inch in height. ““ Great care is necessary at the commencement of the spring to pro- vide sufficient food for the insects, and if they cannot procure it for themselves, two or three ounces of honey are placed in each hive. “ As soon as the mountains become covered with flowers, the bees are smoked out of the hives, by burning a roll of linen rags at the back part, so as to drive them towards the front aperture. The old honey, being invariably of inferior quality, is then removed, taking care not to interrupt the workers, which have begun to make the pure new honey, and even after this operation the bees should not be deprived of honey in case of bad weather intervening, when they must be artificially fed as mentioned above. 38. ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT “The plan followed during the period of swarming offers nothing worthy of remark, beyond the observation that the hives should be well filled, so that when the swarms are small two should be placed in the same hive. These latter are always washed with honey and wine before making use of them. Even at this period it is essential to feed the bees artificially whenever the weather is unfavourable. “ About the middle of July, the honey is taken from the hives in the same manner as that already described. The white combs are sepa- rated from the darker ones, as they furnish honey of superior quality. It is necessary to extract the virgin honey without the use of any pressure. ‘The honeycombs are placed in boxes divided by a perforated tin plate, through which the fine honey drains, provided the room be kept sufficiently warm. That which remains is of inferior quality, and is pressed out mechanically. A third of the honey is always left in the hives for the sustenance of the inmates in case of inclement weather intervening. “The neighbourhood of Bormio being very elevated, all plants have ceased to flower at the beginning of August, so that it is necessary to take the bees down to the lower part of the valley, where they may feed on the buck-wheat planted there in the middle of July, this being a plant which continues flowering for a long time, though the honey which it produces is of an inferior kind, and rarely serves for anything beyond the use of the bees themselves during the winter months. “The hives are removed at night on spring carts,in order to prevent the honeycombs from falling or being in the least degree shaken. During the journey, the front covering of the hives is likewise removed, and substituted by throwing over them a light piece of linen to allow the bees to breathe freely, otherwise they would become overlieated and suffocated, especially in the very full hives. “During the two last months of the year, the bees are placed in their winter quarters, that is to say, in a dark corner of an inhabited room, where the cold never descends to the freezing point. Each hive should contain 44 lbs. of honey, which is otherwise added, taking it from one of the others which happens to be fuller. The combs should be close together, and the apartment be kept perfectly quiet and dry. “The hives are also left in the open air during winter, but in such cases at least 20 lbs. of honey must be placed in each one, instead of the quantity mentioned above. It is not safe to leave the smaller hives out of doors as the bees generally die. “The bees begin to come out in March, provided the weather is fine, but otherwise it is essential to keep them in by covering the hives, lest they should be injured in their excursions by the cold or be destroyed by a fall of snow.” | | Turin vermouth or bitters, furnishes a large trade. One house, that of Martini, Sola, and Co., carries on a considerable business in it both for Italy and abroad. In 1864, they exported 20,000 cases to South , Avg. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THER DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. 39 America alone. There are many producers of cordials and liqueurs. A great variety of wines are shown. A mild and dry Riminesi wine, grown at Port Ercole or Mont Argentale, partakes of tke nature of Madeira and sherry. It is supposed that the vines were introduced by the Spaniards while they occupied the Presidii. The Royal (Enologica! Commission of Turin exhibit a large collec- tion of choice Italian wines on behalf of thirty-five proprietors and manufacturers, thus distributed by provinces :— Province. | No. of samples. Province. No. of samples. Alexandra : 88 Noto Aquilla . f 2 Palermo >. . ‘ 2 Cagliari. : ‘ J Pavia .. : ‘ 23 Capitanata . : 1 Piacenza) | 8 Coni t ; 46 Ravenna : 9 Florence . ; é 2 Rome . ‘ : 10 Genoa. ‘ : 4 AP aarti, 2 : : 18 Naples. : ; 2 Although only ten provinces out of fifty-nine are represented, the collection contains a type of the principal wines drunk at the table of the wealthy and the homely board of their less opulent neighbours, dry, white wines, red table wines, full-bodied red wines, white, and red sweet, and effervescing varieties ; each sample being labelled with the price at ‘which it is obtainable on the spot. Some of the most important of these exhibitors are the following :-— “ Count della Torre gained the prize and much commendation at the National Exhibition of wine held in Turin in 1864, as offering the best of those nade at Caluso. The wines of this exhibitor are made of erbaluce and pelleverde grapes. They are somewhat analogous to Frontignan and Lunel, but have more body and a different aroma. At present they are sold at a very high price, but there is“reason to believe that shortly the proprietors, profiting by the increasing favour which they find, will cultivate them on a more extensive scale, so that the prices will fall proportionally. “Esuperanzo Buelli, of Bobbio, a district which belonged to the late kingdom of Sardinia, but annexed in 1859 to the Province of Pavia, exhibits a variety of wines made from vines cultivated by himself, the greater part of which are foreign, as the very names themselves will show. He sells annually about 12,000 bottles of wine, carrying on his business with increasing diligence, intelligence, and success; his white wines, however, are morz highly thought of than the red. “Count Manfredo Bertone di Sambuy is extending his vineyards yearly more and more in the vast champaign in which the battle of Marengo was fought sixty-five years ago, and where both climate and soil combine favourably to the production of excellent wines of various kinds. The vineshave been brought partly from France and partly from the Rhine, others are indigenous. The exhibitor is turning his atten- ae ee THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Ava 40 ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT tion to the study of the particular variety of vines for which the soil is best adapted. The Marengo wine made with Bordeaux vines, the Neretto Cortese and Malmsey were most approved of at the Turin Exhibition of 1864. “Francesco Varvello purchases grapes grown in the province of Alexandria as well as in the Langhe and in that of Coni. He stands first in importance of all manufacturers in the kingdom as regards quantity ; his wine has received prizes at nearly all the exhibitions lately held. “Chev. Luigi Oudart has large stores in Genoa, though he makes his wine at Neive in the Langhe (Cont), where he purchases the grapes. The collection of this manufacturer was considered equal to that of any other represented at the Turin Exhibition of 1864. The grapes he employs for the red wines are Nebbiolo, Nerano, and Barbera, and for the white, Malvasia, Cortese, and Pignolo—all indigenous. With these he manufactures numerous kinds of excellent wine. “The wines of the other sixteen manufacturers were also much approved of at the Turin wine exhibition, both for their taste and wholesomeness. Some of these may be regarded as types of special cultivation, and could they: once be made known, would find general favour abroad, especially the white J/uscat from Cassiene, the Vesuvian Lagrima, and the Nebbiolo from various localities.” Centerba is a kind of liqueur which is produced to the extent of several thousand bottles by Benjamin Toro and Son. The strong centerba is an excellent stomachic, and besides its medicinal properties when taken inwardly, is very useful applied externally for cuts and wounds. The mild kind is a delicious liqueur. Both are distilled from aromatic herbs growing on the Majella mountains, a spur of the Appenines facing the Adriatic, and in the province of Abruzzo Citeriore. : There is a very fine display of Italian grown cotton, and great pro- gress has been made in this culture in the last few years. Formerly, Italy produced a good quantity of cotton. In 1859, attention was again given to the production, and the yield that year was of the value of fifty million francs. In 1864, the production reached 302 million francs. There are about eighteen exhibitors of cotton. The Baron Donnafugata shows seven kinds of cotton in the pod and cleaned, grown onthis estate Passotalo, Ragusa. The Baron Ricasoli shows raw Siamese cotton, of which he cultivated thirty-seven acres in 1864. The Marquis . Rudini is probably the most extensive cotton grower in the whole of Italy, having devoted last year no less than 930 acres to its cultivation. The cotton of this exhibitor was grown at Pachino. It is the variety generally known as Siamese cotton, the seeds of which originally came from Malta at the beginning of the present century, since which time the plant has been acclimatised in Sicily. The soil at Pachino is volcanic and clayey, partly calcareous and > partly alluvial. Ave. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Al The exhibitor planted his cotton in two different ways, of which if may be interesting to append a short account: one called the ‘trench’ system, the other the ‘ plough’ system. “As soon as the autumnal rains begin to set in, the ground is ploughed two or three times, according to circumstances, but before the soil has become too moist ; this operation is repeated several times until the month of March, taking advantage of the dryer days, so that all the weeds may be thoroughly destroyed, which is rendered more certain by finally hoeing the ploughed surface. “ No change has been made in the form of the plough used in Sicily since the time of the Romans; the depth reached by which is about a feot. The exhibitor has, however, introduced on his estates the plough with a voltorecchio share, and also the harrow, and reports that he has found them very serviceable. “ Having prepared the ground in the manner described, the cotton is sown about the middle of April. A third part of the seed is placed in water and subsequently rubbed lightly with a mixture of pulverized sheep’s dung and ashes, in order to strip it of the down still adhering after the operation of ginning. Two furrows are made between which the sower throws the cotton seed broadcast, the same as is practised for corn. It is at once covered up by the ploughs which follow the sower, but meanwhile, a boy, who walks between the two ploughs, throws into the furrows, at intervals of three feet, ten or a dozen dry seeds, in addition to the former ones. The expense of sowing comes to about 8s. 6d. per acre, 136 lbs. of seed being employed for the purpose. Such is the method adopted in soil sufficiently tenacious to preserve the humidity essential to the germination of the seeds. “Tn the dryer and more porous volcanic soil a different course is followed. At the end of April, furrows are made, distant about twenty inches apart, and seven inches deep. The labourers having made the furrows, each provided with an earthen pot of water, containing the seed, first water the furrows and then throw in the middle about fifteen seeds, fixing them firmly in the ground by pressing them down with the back of the hand, and then covering them up with loose and moist earth. This method of sowing is more expensive than the former, costing 18s. per acre, but it only requires 120 lbs. of seed. “When once the plants have come up, fresh seeds are sown wherever these are deficient, in all cases adopting the plan of making furrows, even in the fields sown in the first instance with the plough. “ By the time the little plants have got four cr six leaves they are thinned, leaving the strongest ones at proper intervals in the fields sowed by the plough method, and in the other case groups of three or four plants, and rooting out all the rest. “The cost of performing this work is about 2s. per acre ; the plants are then hoed up three times at equal intervals until August, at a cost of 7s. 2d.per acre. ¥YOL. VI. E “ pid, ES EAT Se THE TECHNOLOGIST, fAua 1 42 ITALIAN EXHIBITS AT “The cotton begins to ripen in September, and on account of the frequency of the rains is not entirely gathered in before January. The cost of gathering is 2s. per cwt. / “Trrigation has not hitherto been practised at Pachino, from the want of perennial springs, though now the Marquis Rudini has canalized the little 1iver Randeci, and brought the water into’ his estate of Bimesca, so that he will in future be able to irrigate a large extent of land. “The produce of raw cotton per acre in 1864, following the plan just described was about 175 lbs. “ Ginning is usually performed at Pachino by the use of a rough, - wooden apparatus, introduced by the Maltese colonists. Asit naturally crushes many of the seeds, thus injuring the cotton, the proprietor has purchased improved ginning machinery, manufactured by Dobson and Barlow, Durand, and Platt and Co. “Formerly, the ground now planted with cotton was sown with corn, grass, and leguminous plants; but although admirably adapted for this kind of cultivation, cotton, at the present prices, is far more profitable. ‘“‘ Last year the plants suffered very considerably from the ravages of an insect which in some districts entirely destroyed the crop. Various plans were resorted to in order to exterminate them. The plants were sprinkled with quicklime, sulphur, and tobacco, but to no effect, the insect being in no way injured, but continuing its ravages as before. “Having ascertained that Louisiana cotton is the variety best adapted for the climate and soil at Pachino, the exhibitor obtained a quantity of seed last spring from the government, but this being old and bad did not germinate. Other seeds, furnished from the Royal Industrial Museum at Turin, by Commander Devincenzi, President of the Royal Commission for the Cultivation of Cotton, came up, but unfortunately the plants were completely devoured by the insect spoken of above.” The Royal Industrial Museum send a fine collection of samples of Italian cotton, exhibited at the first cotton exhibition held at the Museum in Turin, in 1864. Professor Tornabene, Director of the Botanical Gardens, Catania, has sent. a beautiful collection of 157 different samples of cotton grown in 1864, in his gardens, each labelled. Pods and dry plants, together with a specification of the country from which the seeds were obtained, the botanical names and synonyms. The exhibits of silk and cocoons are not large, but they are in- teresting. Dr. Giovanni Pisani sends the following account of the silk manufacture of the province of Milan :— “ Milan, besides holding incontestably the first rank among the cities of Italy for its silk trade, contains within its walls numerous important commercial houses, which likewise reel and spin the silk they sell. The — province of Milan is, moreover, one of the first for the production of lish language, which treat on the sabject of bees and bee-keeping ; but of these only one (that of Dzierson) appears to have been translated into French or English ; but, as the system introduced by this author is looked upon as one of the most successful, it may be presumed that all the details necessary for the complete explanation of the most approved methods of bee-keeping are to be found in the pub- lished work of that author.” The manner of treatment of bees in Poland may be divided into two heads. The first, or routine method, is practised chiefly among the ignorant peasants, and as these are the most numerous class, this method holds the first place in the amount of produce of honey and wax, and with regard to the manipulation and rearing of bees may be classed into two subdivisions :— 1. The system of hives (made of trunks of trees, either standing or felled), which is generally used in Poland, Galicia, Posen, Lithuania ; and 2. The system of bottomless hives, generally used in Ukraine and Volhynia, as well as the system of basket hives called straw hives, used i14 eo ~~. 4 THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Jury 1, 1 x 46 | TREATMENT OF BEES IN POLAND. for the most part by the small proprietors and some peasants in. Poland, as well as in a part of Lithuania, called Polesie. The second system (the rational one) of rearing bees, though not universally adopted, may be subdivided into three methods :— 1. The swarming method, as represented in the hive of Dzierzon (Jerzon), and his method of rearing, generally used in Poland and Vol- | hynia, as well as in the greater part of Galicia. 2. The system of the Englishman Nutt but little used in Posen. 3. A combination of the two methods above mentioned, introduced by the priest Dolinowski, from the Government of Lublin, uniting in a hive of his contrivance the swarming method of Dzierzon, and the method of Nutt. The three last systems are generally adopted by the wealthier pro- prietors, and are rather the result of interest in bees, than the object of ereater economical produce. Besides the routine and progressive systems before mentioned, there exists a third method of rearing bees in excavated trunks of trees in forests, commonly used in the Government of Plock, in the district of Ostrolenka, and in the woody part of Lithuania, called Polesie. It is hardly possible to describe all the above cited systems, but the works on this subject by Znamirowski and Dolinowski, in which all the particulars are presented, are here worth mentioning. The improved management of bees in Poland may be dated from 1850. At that time the public became acquainted with the works of Mieczynski, Dolinowski, Lubieniecki, and Znamizowski, and with the methods of Dzierzon and Nutt. In many places, the rational manage- ment of bees was adopted, and the following bee gardens were estab- lished—viz.: By Count Czapski in Miropol; Priest Wiktor in the district of Lowicz ; Pawlowski in Gawartowa; Wola in the district of Piotrkof ; Bielang near Warsaw; Kurakowski near Warsaw; Priest Dolinowski near Lublin; Lubieniecki in Galicia; Florkiewiez near Cracow ; Count Bobrynski in the Ukraine ; and Prince Sanguszko in Volhynia. In all these and many other places, the rearing of bees was carried out according to the system of Dzierzon, whilst Mr. Obrzycki, in the Government of Augustovo, adopted the method of Nutt, which, however, appeared totally unsuitable to this climate, notwithstanding, that in the duchy of Posen this method is more extensively used. The following are the chief plants from which the bees in Poland gather honey :—Plantago media, Nigella, Verbascum, Sinapis, Brassica, Trifolium, Medicago, Papaver, Cucumis melo, Calendula officinalis, Cu- cumis sativus, Carduus, Leontodon taraxacum, Reseda odorata et luteola, Tussilago farfara, Melissa, Brassica napus, Hedysarum, Helianthus, Salvia officinalis, Polygonum tartaricum, and Hrica vulgaris. With regard to the latter (heath), which is of great importance to bee- keepers in Western Europe, it must be observed it is of very little significance in Poland, as it blossoms late in the autumn, when the other J 4 P res . oe ) 9, eek Juny 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. TREATMENT OF BEES IN POLAND. 47 plants cease to yield pollen, and although the bees gather mucli honey from heath, they do not procure what is necessary to vault up their cells. Of the trees which materially essist the keeping of bees, especially for the forest bee-keepers in private estates in the Government of Plock, Lublin, Augustovo, and Lithuania, the following are worth mentioning : —Tilia, Syringa vulgaris, Acer, Pinus lariz, Pinus sylvestris, Prunus cerasus, Pyrus sylvatica, and Rubus idacus. It must be observed that the famous honey from Koono 1s indebted for its flavour chiefly to the lime, which abounds in the forests of Lithuania, and in the south of the Government of Lublin, parts of the country inhabited by Ruthenians, whose cemeteries, according to their religious rites, must be surrounded by that kind of tree. This sort of — honey derives its yame from those trees “ Lipiec.”’ In Poland, properly speaking, there is but one sort of bee (Apis do- mestica). From this kind, however, may be distinguished the so-called black-bee, reared in the forests. In the course of the last ten years Italian bees were introduced into Poland, which kind, as is well known, do not use their stings, and which are much larger than the compron. bee. Experience has, however, shown that this kind of bee soon begins to degenerate. ° In the peasants’ hives the bees are left for the winter in the open air, and one-third of the swarms in consequence perish. In progressive bee-keeping, sheltering-houses are constructed for winter. In Podolia and some parts of Volhynia, the bee-gardens in forests or places remote from villages, consist occasionally of a thousand hives in one place, which are managed by men exclusively destined for them, and whose practical knowledge on the treatment of bees is passed from father to son. In the Ukraine, where the system of bottomless hives is used, the treatment of bees is in a state of most primitive manage- ment. The honey-gathering depends chiefly on the locality, and begins about the middle of Spring, and particularly when the willows begin to blossom, which is about the beginning of May. The common bee- hives are then cleaned, and the improved hives taken out of their win- ter places and arranged for the summer. The first swarm takes place about the middle of June, and lasts a whole month. In the improved bee-hives of Dzierzon, Lubieniecki, and Dolinowski, no natural swarming is allowed; but an artificial one is arranged, which chiefly depends on forming artificial queen-bees and joining swarms, the details of this method are described in their works. The‘cutting out of honey-combs is performed twice a year, in July and September, the first giving the more abundant yield, the second consists merely of taking away the quantity deemed superfluous for their winter use. In October the hives are taken in for the winter, and every attention is given to preserving them fronr frost. One hive of THE TECHNOLOGIST. 48 TREATMENT OF BEES IN POLAND. the method of Dolinowski produces on an average 40 lbs. of honey and wax and two new swarms ; one of the methods of Dzierzon yields an average of 8 lbs. of honey and wax and five swarms ; a common peasant hive produces 3 lbs. of honey and wax and two swarms. ~The average price of honey in the kingdom of Poland is ten p. florins a gallon (7 lbs.). In Ukraine, and further in the interior of Rus- sia, this price diminishes to five p. florins. The following are the works on the treatment and management of bees, written in the Polish language, which are of practical value—viz : 1. ‘Bee-gardens, with the Hives of Dzierzon,’ by Lubieniecki, Lem- berg, 1852. 2. ‘ Rules of Treatment of Bees,’ by Dolinowski. 3. ‘ Polish Treatment of Bees,’ by A. Mieczynski, 1862. 4. ‘Lessons for Bee- keepers,’ 3 vols., by Lubieniccki, 1860 .5. ‘ The Good Bee-keeper,’ by A. Mieczynski, 1859. 6. ‘The Polish Bee-keeper, by J. Znamirowski, 1863. The work of Dzierzon had three Polish translators, namely, Loimpa, Witowski, and Twarowski. In England, Dzierzon’s method must be known, as A. de Fraleire in his work ‘Les Abeilles et lApiculture,’ Paris, 1855, mentions that the work of Dzierzon is translated into all European languages. It may, therefore, be presumed to be in the English likewise. - Finally, it must be mentioned that there exist in Poland special ‘schools established by private gentlemen for expounding the treatment of bees to peasants. In 1851, Dzierzon himself arrived here, and during several months explained his method to numerous audiences. Many other gentlemen practically acquainted with the treatment of bees also devote their time to acquainting the country people with this important science, which ina great measure tends to the augmentation of bee- keeping over the whole kingdom, as the Polish peasants show an incli- nation for this branch of industry. Warsaw, May 10, 1865. i Serr. 1, 1865.) THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE TECHNOLOGIST. 0 ‘THE NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND THE CONDITION OF ITS PRINCIPAL GOLD-FIELDS.* BY LIEUTENANT H. S. PALMER, R.E. THE discovery of gold in the extreme west of British North America, in the year 1858, was destined to prove an event of more than passing importance in the history of modern colonial progress. Upwards of 200,000 square miles of savage territory were at once erected into the colony of British Columbia, and the new region became hastily peopled by hordes of eager gold-seekers from the neighbouring States. | The shallow “bars” of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers soon ceased to be profitable ; but step by step, with varying success, yet unabating vigour, the alluvial gold was traced upwards to its parent sources in the hills, and, in 1861, three years of patient toil were rewarded by the discovery of the now famous gold-fields of Cariboo. The productiveness of these new mines has, during the last two years, been so great as to place them in the first rank of modern gold discoveries ; and, indeed, a comparison of their returns with those of the most notorious districts in California and Australia, encourages the belief that the auriferous riches of Cariboo are the greatest hitherto discovered. While the gold- miner's incursions have been thus rapid and extensive, civilization and enterprise have not been far behind him, and the young colony now attracts attention by its various commercial and agricultural, as well as its mineral, advantages. During the last five years, the writer has had frequent opportunities of travelling somewhat extensively in British Columbia, and the object of this communication is to describe, with as much detail as a short paper will admit of, its physical geography and natural capabilities, and the condition of its principal gold-fields. The seaboard of British Columbia, commencing at the international boundary-line (lat. 49° N.) extends for some 500 miles in a general * From the ‘ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.’ VOEW© VE. F “i pi ae a> C. > THE TECHNOLOGIST. — 50 . NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF northwesterly direction. Foremost among its peculiarities is the extra- ordinary length of shore-line, bearing, indeed, an enormous proportion to the actual span of the coast, and due to the existence of a continuous series of long arms of the sea, which everywhere pierce the coast, and, in some instances, penetrate inland to distances of eighty and even 100 miles. Numberless archipelagos of rocky islets stud the whole sea- board, and, bordering closely upon the mainland, furnish protection to its shores ; and further still to seaward, Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, separated only by narrow straits from the Continent, form huge natural breakwaters which shield it from the full force of the Pacific. Thus, the entire seaboard, with its inlets, and numerous outlying islands, presents an extraordinary net-work of sheltered water-com- munication, so continuous, indeed, that the experienced navigator, familiar with its intricacies, and perplexing tidal-irregularities, may - work his way along shore from end to end of the coast, and rarely, if ever, be forced to seek the open sea. The inlets are everywhere deep and narrow, and, although subject to strong winds and tides, and by no means abounding in anchorages, they present scarcely any material obstacles to navigation by steam vessels of the largest class. Piles of giant mountains rise everywhere abruptly from their shores, and snowy peaks and glaciers, pine-clad slopes, rugged cliffs, and precipices, gloomy valleys and picturesque waterfalls, combine in endless succession to form an aggrepute of sublime and wild, though desolate and unattractive, scenery. According to the most recent Parliamentary enactments, the colony of British Columbia, apart from its numerous island dependencies, comprises all the territories stretching from the 49th to the 60th ~ parallel of latitude, and from the culminating ridge of the Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific, a small strip of Russian territory along the extreme northern seaboard alone excepted; and beyond the parallel of 56° N., that portion of the soil to the east of the Rocky Mountains, extending as far as the 121st meridian, is further included within the bounds of the colony. But, of the immense area thus cir- cumscribed, all that portion lying to the north of the 54th parallel remains, and is likely to remain, an uninhabited wilderness. Little only is known of these extensive solitudes. Indeed, the officers and servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who dwell at fur-trading posts widely scattered throughout the district, and are, with the exception of scanty native tribes, its sole inhabitants, are the only white people possessing any personal acquaintance whatever with its geography and natural capabilities. From them we learn that, although not entirely devoid of ateaatiee features, and occasional patches of good soil, this portion of the colony is on the whole cheerless and uninviting, and especially ill-adapted for occupation by man. Moreover, its high latitude, and extreme elevation, _ and the rigorous climatic influences to which it is subject, are elements _ ~ Sezer. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 51 little likely to encourage its speedy development ; and, coupling, with these drawbacks, the circumstance that settlement is but slowly creeping northward from the southern bounds of the colony, it may fairly be inferred that the region north of the 54th parallel presents a very slight prospect of early occupation. On this account, and in the absence of fuller and more perfect information than is at present to be had, the whole country north of this line will be purposely omitted from con- sideration in the following remarks upon the interior. Looking inland, then, from the sea, the southern and explored part of the colony is found to be naturally divided into three great zones, or belts, of nearly equal areas, differing in their physical features, as well as in soil, climate, and vegetation; and bounded by lines generally parallel in direction to the coast on the one hand, and the great back- bone of the continent on the other. The first great belt. may be defined as extending north-westerly from the international boundary line to the 54th parallel, and inland to a distance of 120 miles from the coast. The area comprised within these limits is almost wholly occupied by a com- bination of the great Cascade range of Oregon and Washington Territories. Indeed, the estuary of the Fraser in the extreme south, where the hills recede to a distance of forty miles from the coast, is the only patch of any size that can fairly claim the character of lowland and level country. Elsewhere, the Cascade range, with its countless spurs and outlying ridges, occupies the whole of this broad strip of territory, and forms a massive sea-wall of pine-clad mountains, descending, as has been de- scribed, almost perpendicularly to the very shores of the inlets. The principal crest of this chain attains to an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea, at a mean distance of seventy miles from the coast. It is faintly marked by peaks rising but little above the neigh- bouring ranges. The magnificent isolated peaks, which, to the south of the boundary line, tower up to altitudes of 15,000 and even 20,000 feet, and serve to indicate distinctly the general bearing of the range, are wholly wanting in British territory. The western slope, open to mild winds and genial showers from the Pacific, is everywhere clothed with pine forests of remarkable grandeur, stretching from the valleys to almost the highest hill-tops, and concealing at the lower elevations a massive, impenetrable undergrowth of deciduous bushes. On the oppo- site slope the climate is drier, the forests are less dense, and the pines of smaller proportions ; and, as we approach the eastern limits of the range, underwood becomes more rare, the general profile less rugged and abrupt, and the country begins to assume a more attractive aspect. But it is to be feared that, throughout the coast-range, no portion of the soil holds out any hope of extensive agricultural improvement ; with few exceptions, the rivers which drain the hill-system are short and impetuous, and, pouring down the western slopes, find their way through inconsiderable valleys to the coast, and discharge themselves at the heads of the inlets. Even the larger streams, which, rising in the ; F 2 7) sie THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Sepr. ‘ 52 . NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF interior, thread their way through the heart of the range, are confined in narrow, precipitous passes, or “ cafions,” through which they rush at prodigious velocities on their passage to the sea. So that, dismissing from consideration the small fertile patches in the river bottoms, which are so contracted and thickly-timbered as to be of little avail for pur- poses of cultivation, the whole of this great belt under discussion, the Fraser estuary alone excepted, can only be regarded— from its inaccessi- bility, and its mountainous and forest-bound character—as an inhos- pitable wilderness, practically unsuited to purposes of agricultural settlement. Its mineral resources (and the region is not wanting in indications of vast metalliferous wealth), have yet to be explored. But, although comparatively valueless at present to the white settler, and, in fact, almost altogether unoccupied by him, except in its southern extremity, this mountainous belt is not without its substantial attractions to the native Indian. Many varieties of furred animals haunt its vast forests, and are hunted and trapped in the winter months for the sake of their skins and their meat. Indeed, the furs taken in the northern part of the Cascade range are of the most valuable kinds, and the hunters find a profitable market for them at the various ports and trading stations along the coast. Besides these, countless varieties of fish and water-fow! frequent the rivers and highland lakes, and furnish the Indian with both summer and winter food ; beavers valuable also for the sake of their skins, abound at high altitudes in the swamps, and wholesome berries and wild fruits grow in great profusion in the valleys and river bottoms. Emerging from this cheerless tract of mountain and forest, the traveller enters the second or midland belt, stretching from the southern bounds of the colony to the 54th parallel, and inland to a mean distance of about 110 miles from the eastern limits of the Cascade range, and comprising an area of at least 45,000 square miles. The region thus defined, exhibits a marked contrast to the coast district in its scenery and physical aspect. It may be described in general terms as a lofty, undulating table-land, traversed by numerous low ranges of hills, which enclose broad, well watered, and not unfertile valleys. A group of rivers in the extreme south flow across the border towards the Columbia, but the Fraser is the main artery which receives nearly all the streams that drain the central and northern portions. Besides the main stream, many of the largest of its tributaries, such as the Chilcotin, the Thompson, the West River, and the Quesnelle, flow in deep valleys and chasms, far below the general level of the table- lands. All these rivers are beset by a constant succession of rapids, shoals, and waterfalls, and are, therefore (with the single exception of the Fraser), wholly unnavigable ; and they exhibit throughout their course river scenery of the grandest description. But the brooks and smaller rivers, which traverse the more elevated portions of the plateau, are entirely different in character, winding sluggishly, at high altitudes, — d Serr. 1, 1865.] ‘THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 53 through comparatively level districts, and communicating fertility to the neighbouring soil. In common with the larger tributaries, they occasionally spread out into picturesque lakes, which are frequented by beaver, and by many varieties of fish and waterfowl. They are marked by no rapid changes in level until the last few miles of their course, when, arriving at the vallies of the principal arteries, they break abruptly away from the highlands, and descend swiftly in narrow gorges by a succession of rapids and waterfalls. The scenery of the whole midland belt, especially of that portion of it lying to the east of the 124th meridian, is exceedingly beautiful and picturesque. The highest uplands are all more or less thickly timbered, but the valleys present a delightful panorama of woodland and prairie, flanked by miles of rolling hills, swelling gently from the margins of the streams, and picturesquely dotted with yellow pines. The forests are almost entirely free from underwood, and, with the exception of a few _ worthless tracts, the whole face of the country—hill and dale, woodland and plain—is covered with an abundant growth of grass, possessing nutritive properties of a very high order. Hence, its value to the colony as a grazing district is of the greatest importance. Indeed, the “bunch grass,” so called from the circumstance of its growing in large bunches or tufts, is probably unrivalled as a natural pasture. . Cattle and horses are found to thrive wonderfully on it, and to keep in excellent condition at all seasons ; and, except when required to do work of an unusually hard nature, they need no other food. In the woods, and on the highest portions of the table lands, this grass deteriorates in quality, attaining to its greatest perfection at the lower elevation, but the whole area is more or less available for grazing purposes. Thus the natural pastures of the midland belt may be estimated by hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles. Moreover, large portions of the soil possess properties very favourable to agriculture, and, although influences of climate and altitude are somewhat discouraging, they are by no means formidable obstacles to the energetic settler. But the climate of this district, and the capabilities of its soil, will be more fully discussed hereafter. On the whole, the possession of this fertile belt is of considerable importance to British Columbia. From its salubrious climate, its varied agricultural and pastoral capabilities, and its proximity to the lucrative markets of the gold-fields, it promises to become a pleasant and profitable, if not a very extensive, field for settlement ; and there can be no doubt that it holds out far greater inducements to the agricul- tural settler than the low woodlands of the Fraser. estuary, where it is both costly and laborious to prepare the soil for tillage, © The third and last belt of territory, extending from the eastern limit of the table lands to the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, needs no more than a very general description. Entering it from the west, the transition from level to hilly country is somewhat abrupt, and, advancing eastward, the general profile rises steadily, until it gains the THE TECHNOLOGIST. 54 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF level of the great backbone of the Continent. In this tract, the features of the coast district are repeated, though even on a grander scale—and, ; as a remark generally accurate, it may be stated that, with slight interruptions, the entire area is covered with a sea of towering pine-clad mountains, enclosing gloomy valleys—that it contains a smaller amount of agricultural land than any other district in the colony, and is wholly uninhabited by white men, except at the mining district of Cariboo, in its northern extremity. Yet, although thus outwardly unattractive, this region claims importance as the depository of vast mineral wealth, and the birthplace of the great streams that distribute their auriferous treasures throughout the whole western area. To these phenomena, however, it will be necessary to refer in a future paragraph. Of the rivers of British Columbia, the most important by far is the Fraser, which traverses the colony from north to south, and receives, on its passage, almost every other stream of importance. It takes its rise in the Leather Pass of the Rocky Mountains, and discharges by two principal mouths into the Gulf of Georgia, a few miles north of the international boundary ; and, together with its tributaries, draws an area that may be roughly estimated at 90,000 square miles. From its source, j the Fraser flows an impetuous torrent, in a general north-westerly direction for 180 miles, reaching its extreme northern latitude at the parallel 54° 30". Issuing near this point from one of the great valleys of the Rocky Mountains, it takes a bold sweep to the southward, and entering a more open region, soon assumes the proportions of a broad, navigable stream. Its course, however, is not entirely free from obstructions. Dangerous rapids, some of them wholly incapable of improvement, occur here and there, though fortunately the intermediate stretches of unbroken water are of considerable length; and it is at any rate interesting to know, in connection with the subject of a future route. across the continent by the Leather Pass ; that no less than 200 miles of this upper portion of the Fraser can be made available for steam navigation at the seasons when the stream is free from ice—viz., from _ April to October inclusive. At Fort Alexander its average breadth is about 300 yards, the mean velocity of the current five miles an hour, and the extreme breadth of the valley, measured between the points where it breaks from the table-land on either side, is from three to four miles, And here, for the first time, is noticed the remarkable terraced formation : of the river-banks, peculiar to nearly all the great water-courses of the central districts. This formation consists of a series of perfectly level terraces, or “benches,” rising in steps one above another, to altitudes — corresponding on either side of the streams, and is due, no doubt, to successive sudden degradations of the river-levels at remote periods, occasioned by the removal of large barriers of rock or other obstacles in the defiles further down the valleys. Twenty miles beloW Fort Alexander, the Fraser valley contracts in breadth, and the course of the stream, for 150 miles further south, lies | Serr. 1 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 55 in one of the deep, narrow chasms of the central table-lands. Here the river, already increased in volume by the accession of numerous large tributaries in the upper portion of its course, again becomes unnavigable and its continually swelling waters, limited to a narrow channel, soon form a boiling torrent, increasing in velocity at every mile. At Lytton, the Fraser is joined by the Thompson, one of its largest affluents, and, entering the heart of the Cascade range, rushes for fifty miles through a stupendous gateway, replete with all that is grand and terrible in moun- tain and river scenery. The valley gradually narrows in, until, at its intersection with the principal crest, it dwindles down to-a mere cleft in therange. Here the features of the pass attain to their most gigantic pro- portions. The river itself seems a mere brook in comparison with the huge mountains which project upwards on either side to altitudes of 6,000 and 7,000 feet. Not unfrequently the slopes are almost wholly devoid of timber, and rise abruptly from the valley, massive, unbroken walls of granite and trap, standing in stupendous contrast to the forest scenery on the river-banks and islands. Here and there naked cliffs rise perpendicularly out of the water ; elsewhere the slopes are covered with immense slides of disintegrated rock, and countless waterfalls, thunder- ing down the crannies and crevices of the mountain sides, contribute to the wonders of the scene. At the ordinary stage of the river, the velocity of the current is from twelve to fifteen miles an hour ; but in summer, when its waters are swollen to twice their ordinary volume by the melting of the winter snow, it rises, in this portion of the pass, to as mnuch as sixty feet above its usual level, and, tearing down a rocky narrow channel at the rate of twenty miles an hour, exhibits a terrific succession of rapids, falls and whirlpools, At Yale, the Fraser again becomes navigable, and forty miles lower down emerges from the tangled network of hills, and sweeps in bold curves and with diminished velocity through the level lands of its estuary to the sea. Unlike any of the other large rivers in British Columbia, the Fraser,. throughout its entire course of 700 miles, nowhere expands into a lake. Its waters, therefore, arrive at the sea laden with sand and alluvium, and, being there met by the cross-tides of the Gulf of Georgia, the particles hitherto borne along by the current are deposited outside the entrance proper of the river. Thus, a series of shoals have been formed at the mouth, extending five miles to seaward, and right and left to distances of eight or miles ten along the coast. Fortunately, however, the great volume and impetus of the stream ensure one navigable channel through those shoals, and, at present, vessels drawing as much as twenty feet of water can pass easily upwards to the capital, and even to some twenty miles beyond it. New Westminster, the capital, stands on a commanding eminence on the right bank of the Fraser, fifteen miles from the mouth. The popu- lation is small, seldom exceeding 500 whites, and the city itself has not advanced with the rapidity usual in new countries, a circumstance ‘THE TECHNOLOGIST. 56 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF arising, in some measure, from the difficulty of clearing the site for building, and from the absence of considerable tracts of land in its neighbourhood available for inexpensive tillage. Indeed, throughout the whole estuary of the Fraser, and more than anywhere, perhaps, in the neighbourhood of New Westminster, the forests attain to a greater luxuriance than in any other part of the colony. Foremost among the productions of the forest, in point of splendour and economic value, are the Douglas pine (Abies Douglasi’), and the cedar (probably Juniperas occidentalis). The former grows to the enormous height of 200 and even 300 feet, and possesses qualities that render it especially valuable as a timber both for plankingand spars. The cedar, though not so lofty, possesses an immense girth, some of the finest trees measuring between fifty and sixty ft. in circumference at a height of four or five ft. above the ground. This wood is more especially valuable for roofing and other building purposes, for cabinet work, and for all structures exposed to the action of water; and the natives turn its bark to profitable account in a hundred different ways. These, together with some half-dozen other valuable varieties of pine and fir, form the bulk of the larger and evergreen growth. There are also the alder, the dog-wood and crab- apple, two varieties of maple, the cotton-wood (probably Populus balsami- fera) of the marsh lands, and many other varieties of deciduous trees ; and a dense array of wild fruit berry bearing bushes, which form a luxu- riant and impenetrable jungle. The forests thus composed are almost universal in the Fraser estuary, and extend with but little variation in character, over the whole of the Cascade range. The only open tracts of land are those which are liable to periodical inundations at the seasons when the streams reach their highest levels, and the low marshy districts at the mouth of the Fraser, where the land is seen actually in process of formation. But on crossing the mountains, and entering the central districts of the colony, the magnificent varieties of timber met with in the neigh- bourhood of the coast entirely disappear. Nevertheless, there is wood sufficient for all the requirements of the settler, and the symmetrical yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa), peculiar to this district, dots the grass- lands of the valleys and slopes, and forms a conspicuous and attractive feature in the landscape. In the interior mountainous belt the forests of the coast district are repeated, though on an inferior scale, in conse- quence, no doubt, of the increased elevation and the rigour of the climate ; and the undergrowth is far less dense. The whole of the inlets, bays, rivers, and lakes of British Goldnubae? abound with varieties of delicious fish. The quantity of salmon that descend the Fraser and other rivers on the coast every summer is almost incredible. The first enter the Fraser in March, and are followed in rapid succession by other varieties, which continue to arrive until the approach of winter; but the greater run occurs in July, August and September. During these months, so abundant is the supply, that it os Supr. 1, 1865.) | THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 57 may be asserted without exaggeration that some of the shallower streams can hardly be forded without stepping upon them. Apparently pro- pelled by an undying desire to deposit their spawn at the head-waters of the various streams, vast shoals of these fish force their way annually to distapces of 500 and 600 miles into the interior. Thousands perish from fatigue during this laborious ascent, and, on the subsidence of the waters, are left dead and decaying on the margins of the streams. On their way through the country they supply food for thousands of the natives, who, in fact, depend upon them, in a great measure, for their very existence, and, at the time of the great runs, repair by whole tribes to the favourite fishing-grounds. The salmon are caught in a variety of ‘ways. In the small rivers on the coast adam is built, stretching from shore to shore, and rising high enough to create a considerable waterfall. On the top of the dam, and half immersed in the water, is placed a rude but ingeniously constructed weir, whigh entangles the fish as they jump the falls. At the mouths of the large rivers, where the currents are slight, and the banks low, spearing from canoes is resorted to, and seine fishing has been recently introduced by the whites. But in the “canons” of the Fraser, and these are by far the most lucrative fishing grounds in the whole colony, rude stages are built out from the cliffs, on which the natives stand with large scoop-nets, and thus bale the salmon out by hundreds, as they steal upwards in the eddiesalong shore. Occasionally, however—once perhaps in every four or five years—the supply almost fails ; and although, by a wise dispensation, the natural fruits of the country are at such seasons proportionally more abundant, the natives never- theless suffer fearfully from the dearth of their staple food. Sturgeon, of as much as 500lbs. in weight, abound in the lower part of the Fraser. As these fish usually lie at the bottom of the river, the Indian allows his canoe to drop quietly along with the current, and holds perpendicularly in his hand a long pole armed with a barbed trident fitted loosely on the lower end. The points of this trident are kept a few inches above the bottom. The moment the native sees a sturgeon, he strikes—the trident slips off the end of the pole, but, as it is farther attached by a long running line to the canoe, the fish is eventually secured. The sturgeon are not confined to the Fraser; and instances are known of their having been caught in some of the far inland lakes. In the interior the brooks and highland lakes swarm with perch and several kinds of trout. Myriads of herrings frequent the bays and inlets on the coast, together with cod, flounders, halibut, &., and ‘many varieties of cetaceous and shell-fish. But, while the waters of British Columbia thus teem with life, its soil, on the contrary, is by no means so thickly inhabited. It is generally believed here in England that its vast forests are overrun by numberless wild animals, and afford magnificient hunting-grounds for the sports- man. ‘This belief, however, is almost wholly erroneous; and the com- parative absence of all but insect life in the forest is one of the first THE TECHNOLOGIST. 58 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF peculiarities that attracts the stranger's attention. Some twenty or five- and-twenty varieties make up the catalogue of the animal kingdom ; and the individuals of each species are far from numerous in proportion | to the enormous area they inhabit. Small, furred quadrupeds predomi- nate, many of them being of the most valuable kinds, such as tlie marten and the silver-fox. Besides tnese, there are brown and grizzly bears, the elk, the black-tailed deer and reindeer, mountain sheep and goats, panthers, and some few other varieties. Birds are not much more numerous. Of these, which probably number one hundred varieties in all, water-fowl and birds of prey are by far the most abundant, though several descriptions of grouse frequent both the woods and plains. But, from the lack of food suitable for their support, birds of song are almost wholly wanting—a circumstance which, coupled with the scarcity of gay flora, materially heightens the natural gloom of the forests. Reptiles are still more rare. A few rattlesnakes are met with in the arid portions of the central belt, and several kinds of harmless snakes in the forest, and bull-frogs abound in the swamps ; but the whole colony is utterly desti- tute of worms. Travellers in British Columbia in the summer months will, however, all bear testimony to the abundance of insect life with which the air then teems. Foremost in numbers and powers of annoyanee are the mosquitoes, which, on the subsidence of the rivers after the early summer floods, rise like a vast army from the earth, and invade almost every district in the colony. In the months of July and August these insects can only be described as forming a dense, humming, living cloud, which covers the country to a height of twenty feet above the ground. In the swamp-lands and along the margins of the water-courses, so multi- tudinous and venomous are they that horses and cattle have been known to die from the torment of their stings, and the loss of blood. Although in open country, the sun’s heat and glare drive them by day to seek the nearest shelter, in the shade of the jungle they swarm both by night and day. Men and animals, alike, are thus powerfully harassed ; and as the most fertile lands are generally also the most infested, the mos- quito evil proves upon examination to be far more serious than at first — sight appears. There are, moreover, other insect-pests, such as horse- flies, sand-flies, and a small, black, bloodsucking fly peculiar to high altitudes. House-flies are very plentiful, together with many brilliant varieties of butterflies, dragon-flies, and beetles. The territories of British Columbia, extending over a wide range of latitudes, and rising from the sea-level on the west to an altitude of 10,000 feet on the east, possess a correspondingly wide range of climate. They will be found, however, to present a marked contrast in their general thermal conditions to places in corresponding latitudes on the eastern side of the Continent. This may be attributed, in the first place, — ‘to the absence of important Arctic currents on the Pacific Coast, and the general influence of the prevailing westerly winds—elements which ¢ a - “‘Supr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 59 serve to moderate the cold of winter; and, in the second place, to the neighbourhood of two great snow-covered ranges, which, although not without their chilling influence in winter, serve, nevertheless, to temper the summer heat. Thus, the maximum annual range of temperature is far from excessive when circumstances of latitude and altitude are taken into consideration. The climate along the seaboard closely resembles that of Great Britain. To a short spring succeed four months of beautiful summer weather, usually terminating about the middle of September. During this delightful season little rain falls, and the days are generally bright and clear. Sea-breezes, blowing with great regularity from eleven a.m. until five P.M. temper the heat by day, the thermometer in the shade rarely rising above 80° in the hottest part of the summer ; and by night, land- breezes blowing from the hills render the air deliciously cool and fresh. The break-up of settled weather is somewhat rapid ; but in general the early frosts do not set in before the middle or latter end of October. About this time the heavy rains commence, the first snows soon appear on the hills, and thenceforward, until the middle of March, rain, fog, snow, ani frost divide the days pretty equally between them. The whole country to the west of the dividing ridge of the Cascade Mountains shares in the general humid and temperate characteristics of the climate of the Fraser estuary; but, on crossing the range, the eastern slope and the central belt beyond are found to exhibit some marked differences in their atmospheric conditions. Here but little rain falls, and some of the districts are exceedingly arid ; indeed, in a narrow slope of territory lying immediately to the east of, and parallel to, the Cascade range, the annual rainfall is incredibly small. And here again, notwithstanding the increased elevation, the seasons exhibit no remark- able extremes of temperature. The winters, though sharp enough for all the rivers and lakes to freeze, are calm and clear;.so that the cold, even when most severe, is not keenly felt. Snow seldom exceeds eighteen inches in depth ; and in many of the valleys of moderate elevation even weakly cattle often range at large during the winter months, without requiring shelter or any food but the natural pastures. In spring and early summer the weather is more rainy and unsettled than at any other time of the year; but calm, cloudless skies prevail in July, August, and September ; and although at this season the heat by day is somewhat greater here than on the coast—a circumstance arising, in a great measure, from the more open nature of the country—it is more than compensated by the extra cvoluess of the nights. Of the climate of the eastern belt very little is known, though the superior elevation and mountainous character of the whole region impart to it a greater rigour than is experienced in other parts of the colony. Yet even here the influences which serve to modify the temperature of the central and western districts seem to be not wanting; for all testi- mony concurs in assigning to the western slepe of the Rocky Mountains a more temperate climate than is met with on the eastern side. PS J “<, THE TECHNOLOGIST. 60 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF Judging from present experience, there can be no doubt that, in point of salubrity, the climate of British Columbia excels that of Great Britain, and is, indeed, one of the finest in the world: Moreover, it pos- sesses elements peculiarly favourable to the European constitution,—an essential reconimendation in the case of any British colony, but more | especially of value when the wandering, open-air, and self-dependent habits of a gold-mining community are taken into consideration. There is an entire absence of pestilential localities, and in the pure, bracing mountain air men of even delicate frames soonacquire surprising vigour and healthiness of constitution. Thus the miners are enabled to face habitually, and without fear of detrimental effects, hardships, and ex- posures, under which in less favourable climates, they would inevitably break down. With the advantage of a magnificent climate, the rapid development of all the available resources of British Columbia may be with reason anticipated ; and, as any but the most general remarks upon the quali- ties of tbe soil have been thus far omitted, it may not be uninteresting to conclude this hasty geographical sketch with a brief outline of the colony’s agricultural and pastoral capabilities. With this object it will be necessary to return once more to the central belt, or rather to that portion of it lying to the east of the 124th meridian, which has been already spoken of as the most attractive district in the colony. Here, in sheltered and well-irrigated valleys, at altitudes as much as 2,500 feet above the sea, a few farming experiments have been already made, and the results have thus far been beyond measure encouraging. The soil, when well watered, is found to possess properties exceedingly favourable to the growth of nearly every variety of our English cereals and vegetables. At farms in the St. José and Beaver valleys, situated nearly 2,200 feet above the sea—and, again, at Fort Alexander, at an altitude of 1,540 feet—wheat has been found to produce nearly forty — bushels to the acre, and other grain and vegetable crops to be abundant in like proportion. Again, at Papillon, in the dry zone immediately to the east of the Cascade range, the soil, aided by artificial irrigation, has proved to be prolitic to a remarkable degree; the potato-crop having reached as high as fifteen tons to the acre, and single turnips having been known to attain the enormous weight of twenty pounds. | In Cutoff valley also, on the shores of Okanagan Lake, and in many other favoured localities, equally astonishing results have been ob- tained. . The district, however, isnot without its drawbacks, The farmer _ suffers occasionally from night-frosts extending far into the summer, from long droughts in the latter part of the season, and, still more often, from the difficulty and expense of irrigating the soil in the arid districts. | Nevertheless, without going further into details, there is already abun- dant proof that many portions at least of this fertile belt are not wanting — _in most of the elements that conduce to successful agriculture. It will — - be remembered, too, that the experiments hitherto made are but firs Y _” ‘Supr. 1, 1865.) © THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 61 stepsin husbandry, conducted under all the disadvantages of pioneering settlement at a few fertile spots in the immediate neighbourhood of the existing highways. And when it is further borne in mind that there are scores of valleys scattered up and down this region, now lying absolutely waste, which possess extensive tracts of suitable soil, the results of these early efforts furnish encouraging proof of what may be expected from an improved, and more extensive system of agricultural settlement. The pastoral capabilities of the central belt bid fair to be no less a source of future prosperity to British Columbia. Millions of cattle might graze over its luxurious pastures, and exact but little tribute from the stock-farmer in the way of expenses for their maintenance. For, whatever precautions may hereafter prove to be indispensable in the more lofty portions of the grass-lands, experience thus far goes to prove—as has already been remarked—that at moderate elevations it is unnecessary to provide cattle either with shelter or additional food at any season of the year. _ It may be asserted then, without hesitation, that two-thirds, at least, of this eastern division of the central belt may, when occasion arises, be turned to good account either for purposes of grazing or tillage. Small though it:may be, indeed, it is not more than one-fifth of the entire area treated of in this paper, this fertile tract is, nevertheless, of enormous value to British Columbia. This will be better understood when atten- tion is drawn to the position of the Cariboo and other gold-mines, which are cut off from easy communication with the sea-board by a lofty range of mountains, and lie in the heart of a country lacking facilities for inexpensive transport. It then becomes evident that the possession of productive lands in the neighbourhood of the mines, capable of supplying them at moderate rates with the ordinary produc- tions of the soil, is one of the first essentials to the proper development of the mineral wealth of the country. Moreover, it is obvious that, without productive lands, the colony can never hope to retain any but the most insignificant feature of its auriform treasures, and must for ever continue to be dependant upon other countries for its supplies. From its central position with reference to the mining districts, the fertile belt is well adapted for the supply of their markets, and, remem- bering that a country with but limited agricultural resources, will feed a small and slowly increasing population, such as that of British Columbia, it may fairly be anticipated that, in the course of afew years, every available portion of the soil will be brought by degrees under cultivation, and the whole region to the east of the Cascade range be found to possess within itself ample resources for its own support. We may search in vain throughout British Columbia for other inviting fields for agricultural settlement. The valley of the lower Fraser, with its jungle and dense pine-forests, is but little likely to attract a large population for, at least, some time to come; though er ~~ bra © THE TECHNOLOGIST. 62 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF possibly enough land for the growth of apples for the immediate neigh- bourhood may, ere long, be brought under cultivation ; and the district is, at any rate, a limited one. Elsewhere nearly all is mountain, and forest, and worthless land ; so that, practically speaking, farming and stock-raising operations will, for the present, be almost wholly confined : to the central districts. It would be unreasonable, therefore, to claim for British Columbia any.comparison, in point of its agricultural and pastoral capabilities, with the more favoured possessions of our colonial empire, such as New Zealand, the Cape Colonies, and Australia, or the ‘United States’ territories, with their vast rock plains. Nor can it be pretended that the colony is likely ever to export grain, or to attract and retain a large population solely on account of its agricultural advan- tages. Yet there remains, at any rate, the gratifying assurance that, so long as gold continues to attract emigration, British Columbia can provide easily for the requirements of a considerable population, and at the same time contribute every facility for the further development of its mineral wealth. Without pausing to dwell at any length upon a description of the native tribes, their language, habits, and superstitions, it may be re- marked briefly that the statements which have been put forth in England to the effect that British Columbia swarms with bloodthirsty savages are almost wholly untrue. Although it cannot be denied that upon some occasions, when exasperated by drink or by interference with their lands, their women, or their superstitions, they have committed fearful crimes ; it may be positively asserted that by nature they are a harmless, peace- ful, and by no means bloodshedding people. The writer has travelled among them for years, and only once met with annoyance or interference. Degraded and immoral they certainly are, and, indeed, the whites, are communicating to them vices likely to degrade them still further ; but as faithful guides through the forests, untiring travellers, and expert canoemen, they are worthy of a great deal of our admiration. With these remarks it is proposed to pass on to the description of the gold- fields. Cariboo—or as it should have been more correctly spelt, “ Caribou” —so named from its being the abode of that description of the reindeer, is at present the principal centre of gold-mining in British Columbia. This district lies within the great northerly elbow formed, as has been previously described, by the upper waters of the Fraser, and although mining operations have hitherto been limited to a small space on and about the 53rd parallel, the name may be considered as generally appli- eable to the whole area bounded at the south by the Quisnelle River and Lake, and on all other sides by the Fraser. Cariboo, so far as it has yet been examined, is found to be crowded with mountains of great alti- tude, very confused and irregular in character, and presenting thickly- wooded slopes. Here and there tremendous isolated masses tower above __ the general level, rising, in their most elevated parts, to altitudes of 6,000 Serr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 63 and 7,000 feet above the sea. At these highelevations forest-vegetation becomes dwarfed and scanty. Their summits and the upper parts of their slopes may be described as steep downs, clothed with tolerable grass, and dotted with small pine-plantations, an aspect presenting so marked a contrast to the dense forests of the valleys and lower slopes as to have earned for them amongst the miners the not inappropriate title of “the Bald Hills of Cariboo.” Of these the best known are Mounts Agnes and Snowshoe—the former commonly called the Bald Mountain of William’s Creek—which rises to altitudes of about 6,200 feet, and are fair types of the great hill-features of the district. Each, from its comparative isolation, is the nucleus of its own miniature hill- system, consisting of long subordinate ranges, shooting out in every _ direction from the central mass, and becoming in their turn the parent stems of innumerable still smaller spurs and ridges. Thus Cariboo, in its physical configuration, presents a confused maze of peaks and ranges, spurs, ravines, and valleys, preserving no distinct arrangement and bewildering alike to the topographer and the traveller. . Numberless streams of all sizes, from tiny rivulets to moderate rivers, drain the hill-system. The smallest are the ‘“ culches,” as miners call them—mere rivulets at ordinary times—which pour Gown narrow gul- lies and ravines on the mountain sides, and any of which may be jumped over. The next are the “creeks,” rapid streamlets about the size of an ordinary English brook, which drain the smaller valleys and are at present the scenes of the most active mining. The largest are the “rivers,” into which the others fall, and which, from the peculiar posi- tion and drainage of the district, although flowing towards every quarter of the compass, eventually conduct the whole of the Cariboo waters to the Fraser. The forests of the region, which, though very dense and extensive, bear no comparison in point of splendour or luxuriant growth with those of the Cascade range, nevertheless contain many excellent varieties of pine and fir-trees. They abound with martens, marmots, black bears, and some other varieties of furred animals, and the “ Caribou” deer is found at the higher elevations. In winter, bands of Carriers—a scattered, intelligent Indian tribe, who occupy a large district north of the parallel 52° 30’—resort to Cariboo from their summer abodes on the large lakes and rivers, and hunt and trap in the mountains, following there game on snowshoes. While presenting, as will be hereafter described, many phenomena that enlist the interest of the geographer and the geologist, Cariboo is not without features to attract the artist and the lover of wild scenery. Pages might easily be filled with descriptions of the magnificent views to be had in clear summer weather from the summits of any of the loftier hills. In the foreground, a tumbled sea of mountains ; narrow gloomy valleys ; forest-clad slopes ; and here and there the bleak, un- wieldly masses of the bald hills patched with snow ; far off to the south * as Sp ne THE TECHNOLOGIST. _[ 64 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF and west, the softer outlines of the central table-lands; to the east, a cheerless, rugged region, crammed with serrated ranges of hills; and away behind them, the peaks and ridges of the Rocky Mountains, - glistening with eternal snow, and visible through the clear air at almost incredible distances. These are some of the scenes that reward the tourist in this remarkable region, and furnish the artist with all the elements of grandeur he can desire. It is late in the morning, even in Midsummer, before the sun shines down on the mining-settlements of Cariboo; brisk, thriving little . wooden towns, lying hemmed in by hills in the deep valleys of the mining creeks, at altitudes of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea. Here are assembled a motley population of adventurers of every class in society, and from every country in the civilized world : traders, diggers, and idlers, and not a few gamblers and desperadoes,—men for the most part habituated to a frontier life and inured to its attendant discomforts. Indeed the miners’ life among the mountains and streams is fraught with hardships and danger. Few would imagine the amount of patience and endurance exhibited by the hardy pioneers or ‘‘ prospectors ”—those whose especial province it is to prosecute the search after gold. Cold and hunger, inclement weather, weary mountain-marches, constant expo- sure, and occasional isolation from all companionship, are a few of the discomforts habitually experienced by these sagacious men in their ex- ploration of the country. _ Strange and touching tales might be told of their adventures in Cariboo, where, from the bewildering nature of the topography, they are frequently lost for days, if not altogether, in the dense forests of the hills and slopes. Not the least touching history is that of one poor fellow, a native of Scotland, who thus became separated from his comrades, and, after wandering about hopelessly for days until his strength failed him, lay down at last in utter despair, and then, after scratching his own epitaph on histin cup, composed himself quietly to die. The inclemency of the weather in Cariboo, and the rigour and length of the winter season are serious barriers to the proper developement of its mineral wealth. At the end of September the first snows fall in the valleys, the mining “ vlaims ” can be ‘ laid over ’’"—that is to say, the laws which oblige miners to be at work on the spot are remitted for the time—and the greater part of the population retire to spend five or six months in the milder climates of the south. The winter weather con- sists of a succession of severe snow-storms, and fine clear intervals ; the thermometer sometimes falls as low as 40° below zero (Fahrenheit), and every stream and lake becomes solid ice. Snow lies on the ground to adepth ofabout six feet in the valleys and accumulates in tremendous masses on the hill-tops, and all travelling, except on snow-shoes, is sus- pended. During winter, surface-digging is naturally discontinued, though, from the absence of floods, deep underground excavations can _ 7 then be prosecuted with all the more advantage, the auriferous gravel _ : peer, I, 1865.) THE TECHNOLOGIST. F BRITISH COLUMBIA. 65 being brought to the surface and heaped in readiness for “ washing ”’ in the spring. Towards the end of March the streams begin to melt and by May the thaw is at its height. Then Cariboo is by no means an enviable locality. Steaming mists envelope the forests in gloom,‘and the trees drip perpetual rain ; trails and mountain-slopes become swampy and abominable to the last degree; creeks overflow their bounds, dig- gings become flooded, and the miners embarrassed by surplus water ; and travelling is a toilsome operation for both man and beast. At this season hundreds of animals, carrying in the first convoys of provisions to the miner, succumb to want of food and exhausting journies over wretched mountain-paths ; and to this day the most loathsome, if not the saddest sights that greet the traveller in Cariboo are the numberless earcases of horses that have thus been literally tired to death, and generally left to rot on the wayside where they fall. On the Ist of June miners are compelled by law to be present, and at work on their “claims.” Thensucceed two months or more of mild weather and drenching rains, notwithstanding which digging goes briskly on. In August and the early part of September a few weeks bright sunny weather may be expected ; the region now wears its most favourable aspect, the creek falls Pals: and the miners’ harvest is at its height. The radiation of groups of streams from within small areas on the upper slopes of the bald hills, is one of the most peculiar features of the topography of Cariboo. From within a circle of not more than three miles in diameter, on the summit of Mount Agnes, issue the head- waters of five of the most notorious creeks in the district, their directions bemg towards every quarter of the compass. Similarly the sources of no fewer than six others are contained within a small area on the summit of Snowshoe Mountain. The ancient and existing channels of these streams, are the great depositories of the alluvial gold of the region, the richest accumulations being found immediately over the bed-rocks, or rocks in situ, which lie at all depths down to 150 feet below the surface of the soil. In Cariboo these bed-rocks are meta- morphic clay-slates, traversed by broad bands of quartz. = * It is probable that all the particles of gold now found in the water- channels have, in the course of ages, been loosened, by water action and other natural processes of disintegration, from their position in matrix in the native rocks of the region, and been eventually transported by the torrents to the localities where they are now found accumulated. As yet, the alluvial deposits in the immediate neighbourhood of the two great bald hills above mentioned, have proved to be so extensive and remunerative, and, withal, so comparatively easy of access, as to ‘have ajmost wholly engrossed the miners’ attention. Indeed, it is confidently asserted by the most experienced diggers from California and Australia that, on three miles of William’s Creek—the present focus of Cariooo mining—more gold has already been extracted from the earth than from any corresponding stretch of mining ground in those countries. VOL. VI. G prea x THE TROHNDLCaE 66 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF For reasons which will presently appear, no extensive system of “ pro- specting” the whole region has as yet been attempted. But, judging ; from analogy, there is every reason to conjecture that the slaty gold- | bearing rocks will be found to be distributed over a far greater area than has hitherto been examined, and that an extended system of exploration cannot fail to result in the discovery of fresh groups of streams, issuing from the slopes of neighbouring bald hills, and containing their rich hoards of alluvial gold. It would certainly be difficult to believe that the half-dozen water channels which have yielded nearly all the gold hitherto exported from Cariboo can be the only rich spots in the region, or that William’s Creek can have no associates of its own calibre ; and, hence, it may fairly be inferred that the alluvial diggings of Cariboo promise, of themselves, to afford lucrative employment to a large mining population for many years to come. Apart, however, from the question of alluvian wealth, it may be assumed with almost absolute certainty, that the auriferous veins which permeate the parent ranges—and are believed to have supplied by their partial disintegration the gold found in the river-beds—are not yet wholly exhausted of their treasures; and that, eventually, the more costly and elaborate operations of quartz-mining will, under an improved condition of civilisation and commerce, engage the attention of capi- talists. If this assumption be correct—and there is little room for doubt as to its accuracy—Cariboo, even as it stands at present, and without reference to the other unexamined localities in the immediate neighbour- hood, must be regarded as one of the richest and most inexhaustible known gold fields in the world. William’s, Lightening, Antler, and Lowhee Creeks, are the most remarkable in the district. On each of these, the gold, though all of the description termed “ coarse,” “nevertheless differs materially both in appearance and intrinsic value. On Williani’s Creek, for instance, the particles are smooth and water-worn, and contain a large amount of alloy ; whereas, on Lowhee Creek, not five miles off, they are more crystalline in structure and exceedingly pure ; the latter, when assayed, being found to yield nearly 8s. per ounce troy more than the former. And on no two creeks do the particles bear an exact resemblance in character to one another. A no less remarkable feature of the auriferous districts is the unevenness with which the alluvial deposits are scattered over the bed rocks. The larger particles are generally found to be accumulated in detached heaps, in rich “ pockets,” in crevices and angles of the rocks, and the “leads,” or strata of highly auriferons gravel, are marked by a constant succession of wide intervals and abrupt changes in level and direction which baffle the most experienced miners. From this peculiar inequality of distribution it arises that, whereas those who are lucky enough to alight upon rich “leads” or “ pockets,” rapidly — ‘d amass considerable sums of gold ; the less fortunate miners, who happen — to possess “ claims,” or ailment of mining ground, in neighbouri Se ee a ‘Serr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. = BRITISH COLUMBIA. 67 though comparatively unproductive areas, derive but little benefit from their labours. Enormous sums are thus being constantly squandered in fruitless mining operations, and cases of utter failure are, as a conse- quence, exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, the gross annual proceeds from the mines coutinue year by year to increase, and have at length reached to an enormous sum. It is estimated that, during the height of the last summer season, the average daily harvest upon William’s Creek amounted to no less than. 2,000 ozs., or over 6,000/. sterling. The principal partner in the notorious Cameron claim, returned to his native town in Canada, three months ago, with 30,000/. in his pocket, all amassed in one year. And an almost incredible instance of rapidly-acquired wealth, is that of the three partners in the “ Hard Curry” Company, who, one evening in the spring of last year, returned to their tents with 102lbs. weight of gold (about 4,000/. sterling), as the result of a single day’s labour on their claim. These, it need hardly be mentioned, are exceptional cases, but they are of interest, as serving to indicate the amazing wealth of some of the rich “ pockets” before alluded to. In this manner, numbers of miners have, during the last three years, been enriched in the course of a few weeks, or even days. Hundreds, on the other hand, have realised but little at the end of their season’s work; and it is to be feared that by far the greater proportion have, with difficulty, cleared their expenses. Hitherto, indeed, the cost of working claims, and prospecting water channels, has been so enormous as to have proved a very serious detriment to the general prosperity of the district. Nor are other draw- backs wanting. The severity of the weather, the shortness of the summer season, the peculiar hardships of life in the wilderness, and the fatigue and expense incident to the journey from New Westminster to Cariboo, are elements little conducing to rapid occupation or successful mining. But, in the main, the tardy advancement and expansion of the mining districts, has been due to the exorbitant prices of “ labour, food, and material.” The tax upon the clear profits of steadily paying claims has thus been enormous. For example, one famous company on Williams Creek, extracted 40,0000. worth of gold last year from their claim, yet were only able to declare dividends to the extent of 20,0001. ; exactly one half of the entire proceeds having been swallowed up in the shape of expenses. And this is but one of many instances of the same kind, They will excite but little surprise, however, when it is explained that the gold field is situated 500 miles in the interior of a young colony, hitherto unprovided with good roads, and almost wholly destitute of any but imported supplies. Until quite recently, nearly every pound of provisions for consumption at the mines—fresh animal and vegetable food alone excepted—to say nothing of the necessary supplies of tools and material, was carried for hundreds of miles into Cariboo on the backs of mules and horses, and even of the miners themselves. Hence, the price of every imported article rose to an enormous figure at the G2 THE TRORROROG 68 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF diggings. Even flour has for years past cost on an average 4s. a pound. Twenty shillings have been given for a pound of common nails, and half as much again for a mess of fresh vegetables. This high tariff of provisions and material created a correspondingly high scale of pay for labour. The ordinary navvy received from 30s. to 40s. for his day’s work, while the mechanic might earn from two to three guineas ; and, in the experience of the writer, a hair-cutter at Lightening Creek charged at the rate of about 7d a minute for his services. While exacting heavy tribute from the richest and most successful diggers, these enormous prices, together with the limited and frequently —% overstocked condition of the labour-market, fell upon the needy and un- successful with an effect that was absolutely ruinous. Men of slender means, and others who had quickly sacrificed their capital in fruitless mining-operations, unable to get employment, or to support themselves in a country, where it cost from 15s. to 20s. a day to procure the bare necessaries of life—hurried away almost as soon as they came, without pausing any longer to “ prospect”? in so expensive a locality. In this. manner anything lke a deliberate examination of the country has been ‘ completely prevented. Moreover, by reason of the extravagant cost of every commodity, contiruous mining operations have hitherto- been - ; practically limited to the very richest spots in the district ; and, even then, to the most productive strata of auriferous gravel. In localities where hired labour cost 40s. a day, it became obvious that it would never pay to work diggings which would not yield at least that amount to the individual labourer, over and abuve all contingent expenses. On : this account, the operations of working claims have been confined to the gravel lying immediately upon the bed-rocks, where the richest deposits are found; and the upper strata, containing amounts of gold, which, but for the enormous price of labour, would have well repaid the cost of working them, have been. left altogether untouched. In like manner, surface diggings—capable under more favourable circumstances of sup- ; porting a large mining population—remain as yet undisturbed. It is no wonder, then, if in the face of all these impediments the actual profits of Cariboo mining have, in the majority of instances, been far from considerable. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt, upon a consideration of the history of the region up to the present time, that it teems with productive gold-mines, practically boundless in extent, and promising lucrative employment to thousands so soon as an improved system of communication and commerce shall admit of ther fuller de- velopment, and of the introduction of the many economical appliances of civilisation. ; Cariboo, however, is by no means the only auriferous district in British Columbia, The bars of Fraser River, throughout the greater part of its course, are not nearly stripped, as yet, of their accumulations al of “fine” gold. Moreover, the accuracy of a theory long ago advanced 1, 1865. ] THE TECHNOLOGIST. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 69° to the effect that gold in the matrix would be found distributed all along the hilly districts bordering on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains—is yearly being more and more satisfactorily established. Desultory explorations, made at different times within the last four years, have resulted in the discovery of a chain of auriferous deposits, extending at intervals from the southern boundary of the colony to the 56th parallel of latitude, and preserving a direction parallel, or nearly so, to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. Rock Creek in the extreme south, the head-waters of the Okanagan, the tributaries of the north and south branches of the Thompson River, the south and north branches of the Quesnelle River, Cariboo, and, finally, Peace River, near its intersection with the meridian 122° W., are so many successive points in this chain, at all of which gold in varying quantities has been found. These and other intermediate discoveries have established, almost beyond a doubt, the existence of a vast auri- ferous zone or belt of country, more than 500 miles in length, com- prising within its limits the sources of all the great yold-yielding streams that water British Columbia; aud forming, in ail probability, the de- pository of incalculable wealth. | Should this range indeed prove, upon future examination, to be the matrix of the auriferous wealth of the colony, there can be no doubt that British Columbia must in time become, steadily but surely, one of the most important dependencies of the British Hinpire. The certainty of the possessions of extensive and practically inex- haustible gold-fields along the immediate districts of the central belts would at once impart a wonderful stimulus to the settlement of its agri- cultural and pastoral lands, and, at the same time, improved communica- tions would, ere long, be established. Thus, the enormous frices of labour and commodities on the gold-regions would rapidly disappear, and full scope be afforded for the proper exploration of the mineral wealth of the land. The first steps cowards improvement have been already made. Settlement, as has been before remarked, is gradually creeping over the midland districts ; and, even now, Cariboo, one point in the auriferous range, is beginning to enjoy the advantages derivable from cheap com- munication and the cultivation of neighbouring districts. The efforts of the local government, within the last five years, have at length resulted in the completion of a system of excellent waggon-roads, leading through the most promising districts of this colony to within a short distance of Jariboo. Miners or others, to whom time is of value, need no longer perform weary journeys on foot or on horseback over wretched trails and throngh an uncivilised, if not totally uninhabited, country. A steamer voyage of ninety miles from New Westminster terminates at Yale, the head of steam navigation on the lower Fraser, Throughout half this distance the river winds among the gorgeous forests of its estuary, slight clearings here and there revealing native villages and ~ 1” oe 2 eP ree 7] a ’ THE TECHNOLOGISY. | eee [Sepr. ™ 70 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. ‘ shanties of the woodmen who prepare fuel for the steamers. Higher up, the hills approach the stream, the currents become rapid, and small Chinese mining-camps dot the banks and bars. From Yale upwards, a noble road exeeuted at vast labour and outlay, enters the passes of the Fraser, and traverses the faces of cliffs and precipices, and skdes of disintegrated rock, that two years ago, seemed to bid defiance to any efforts of the engineer. For sixty miles upwards, it winds through the magnificent scenery of the Cations, crossing over to the left bank of the river by a suspension bridge thrown aeross the chasm at a point where it is only ninety yards im width. Soon after passing Lytton the forest is left behind, and the road approaches the belt of pastoral country, and, gradually emerging from the Cascade range, reaches the green hills and vatleys, and the picturesque country of the central districts. From a point twenty nules below Fort Alexander, the Fraser may again be ascended in a small steam-vessel built on the spot, for whizh all the machinery and fittings were carried up on inule’s backs, long before the road was finished for waggon-traffic. Disembarking at the mouth of the Quesnelle, the traveller reaches William’s Creek by a ride of sixty miles, over the one good trail in Cariboo. A westerly loop of this route branches off forty miles above New Westminster, passes through a low gap in the Cascade range, along a chain of lakes connected by roads, and rejoins it 150 miles south of Fort Alexander. It has been considered questionable whether the Fraser River is hkely to continue to be the great avenue for the conveyance of all traffic towards the mining districts, and several of the more northerly inlets on the coast have been recently examined, with the view of dis- covering a shorter route to Cariboo. The results of these examinations are, on the whole, discouraging. It appears, from reports on the sub- jects, that while the rivers which discharge into these inlets, are unnavi- gable for steamers, and facilities for the establishment of seaport towns almost wholly wanting, the districts which would be traversed in eross- ing from the coasts to the mines are generally stertle, and unattractive, and lie at too high an elevation to admit of the establishment of really good permanent routes. Moreover, it is shown that the actual shorten- ing of the amount of land communication would be almost unappre- ; eiable, since the Fraser admits of navigation both in the lower and upper portions of its course. Those and other drawbacks are likely to lead to the abandonment of any projects for the establishment of coas.- routes, for at any rate some time to come, and, keeping in view the probable extension of the gold-fields, southward from Cariboo, it seems likely that the existing routes will in future be adopted as the perma- nent highways of commerce. : . The journey from New Westminster to Cariboo, by either of these _ routes, may now be easily accomplished in from six to seven days. As — yet, the benefits arising from improved communications, haye hardly "Serr. 1 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE MANUFACTURE OF COMPRESSED PEAT. 7k had time to become manifest, for it was not until the close of last summer that the new roads were thrown entirely open for traffic ; but already inns and incipient farms, dotting the wayside at almost every turn, mark the first growth of settlement, and begin to break the soli- tude of the journey. With new roads,a new day has dawned upon British Columbia. Already the foundations of its ultimate prosperity seem to have been securely laid, and it only remains to hope that in days to come its rich harvests may be participated in by British subjects much more largely than they are at present. From its advantages of geographical position, its vast mineral wealth, its salubrious climate, and valuable natural products, it seems but fair to anticipate that, under good government, and by a process of gradual development, British Columbia will ere long take rank as not the least important of the colunies of the crown. THE MANUFACTURE OF COMPRESSED PEAT* BY C. HODGSON. * THE author commenced by stating that improvements in the ordinary mode of preparing peat fuel have attracted much attention for many years, the chief difficulty lying in dryingthe wet turf taken from the bog. A system which had in it all the elements of success was proposed by Groynell and others about fifteen years ago. ‘Their idea was tout turf in the ordinary way, and to dry it to the extent possible during the summer, then to grind it, and complete its dessication whilst in a state of powder, and subsequently to compress it in a machine pointed with a reciprocating ram, and several moulds capable of being brought suc- cessively under the ram. A beautiful sample of hard fuel was thus obtained, bnt the quantity made was limited to samples, the machine being complicated. The practical difficulties which beset all early attempts in the manufacture of peat fuel have now, however, been overcome by the system of machinery at present employed at the Derrylea Peat Works. The system in use at these works is based on the principle that the drying of the peat is the main difficulty of the manufacture, and this is accomplished by operating continually on thin surfaces of disintegrated peat, instead of on compact sods or blocks, and the using compression only as a means to render the already prepared peat transportable and marketable. The plan of obtaining the peat from the bog by successive harrowings and scrapings forms also a part of this system of drying by thin surfaces. Having described the position and * A paper read before the Society of Mechanical Engineers. Dio aw ie ee Be ng ee =F Oe SSDS SE ee ae THE TECHNOLOGIST. — 72 THE MANUFACTURE OF COMPRESSED PEAT. extent of the bog at present operated on, the author next detailed the apparatus in use at the works. They consist of a railway formed of thirty-six-pound rails, well fished at the joints, runing along the centre of the drained piece of bog. It is laid on sleepers of nativetimber, and carries an eight-ton locomotive. On these rails runs a six-wheeled truck, across which, and reaching the entire width of the drained ground, lies a square box lattice girder, which is formed of half-inch angle iron at the corners, latticed on each of the four sides by one and a half inch by one-quarter inch iron, with two teet spaces. It is six feet square at the centre, where it rests on the waggon,and tapers to one foot square at each end, and is assisted perpendicularly and laterally by wire rope stays, set in taut. This apparatus is propelled by the locomotive at the rate of four tuiles an hour, with its great arms stretching over the bog at each side to the distance of nearly one hundred and fifty fect, and to it are attached ten harrows, each six feet square, which by repeatedly passing over the ground scarify the surface to a depth of from one to two inches. This operation is performed during any moderately fine weather, and in the mornings and during the day the light powdered surface, which readily dries to a certain extent, is wheeled to the rcad by men, and waggoned into the works for manufacture. In dry weather the upper surface of the bog, thoroughly drained as it is, will always contain much less water, perhaps less than half what the general mass retains ; and as by this mode of operation a fresh upper surface is being daily exposed, it follows that peat in the most favourable state for drying is being constantly operated on. As soon as the harrowing begins rapid and continuous drying takes place, and a very large portion of the water which is not removed by drainage is evaporated by a few hours’ exposure. The mull when waggoned into the factory is generally found to consist of about forty per cent. peat, and sixty per cent. water. Bog in its natural state consists of ninety parts water and ten peat. When drained as described, after some hours of an average dry day, it consists of sixty parts water and forty peat. At Derrylea, the only arti- ficial heat used is that obtained from the waste steam of the com- pressing engines and the smoke and gases of the boiler fires. These are applied to heat very extensive surfaces formed. of sheet-iron, on which is spread a thin layer of peat mull, kept m continual and pro- gressive motion by machinery. The drying kilns consist of brick build- ings, five hundred feet long by thirty feet wide, having an upper and under floor of one-eighth inch sheet-iron, extending the entire length. The buildings are of brick, roofed with tiles. Under the lower floor, which is placed about two feet from the ground, is blown the smoke and waste heat of the boiler, and instead of the ordinary chimney a large fan is used to urge the fires, and force the products of combustion under this sheet-iron table. The upper floor is carried on cast-iron gir-_ ders, and stands four feet high above the lower one. It is made double, with a distance between the sheets, about four inches, for the purpose of — >; Serr. 1, 1865.) © THE TECHNOLOGIST. CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. 73 being heated by waste steam from the compressing steam-engine. By the time the whole of the sixty per cent. of water is evaporated, an arrangement of bands and elevators conveys the peat to a loft over the compressing maebine, where it is subjected to the action of an apparatus, the result of which is to pass the peat down a tube by the action of a ram. As the peat is driven forward in the tube it becomes so wedged, and so powerful a resistance is offered by the friction against the sides of the tube, that each snecessive charge is consolidated into a separate hard block before the whole mass in the tube yields. The outer end of the tube is entirely open, and the compressed peat is delivered from it in a continuous cylindrical bar, which can be readily broken up into separate discs of one inch thickness each, which are formed at each stroke of the ram. Hach block in transitu remains one minute under pressure, and the quality of the compressed peat as fuel is further improved by its being made to pass along an open shoot, continued from the end of the tube, some 300 feet from the machine, to the store or waggon, without rupturing the continuous cylindrical bar in which the peat issues from the machine. Peat thus prepared, being so free from moisture, is well adapted for the boilers of stationary engines and for brewers’ work, and has found a ready sale for household purposes, its great cleanliness and freedom from smoke being a strong reconmmendation. A very good gas is made by using one-third of Cannel coal and two-thirds of this com- pressed peat, but it is probable that from its application to the manu- facture of iron the most useful results will yet be derived. CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. BY A. MARTELLI. Onz simple statistical fact will justify attention to this subject. Twenty- five millions of acres in Piedmont and Lombardy, after supplying the full wants of the inhabitants, export silk and cocoons to the value of six millions sterling. More than twice that quantity of land in Victoria alone, superior to the Italian both in soil and climate, could in twenty years double that export. The obstacle to this success is, however, not confined to silk only. The great evil of all countries is the listlessness that pervades the monied classes in all matters relating to agricultural interests, and it is against this apathy that we should endeavour to fight, by setting an example of activity to the poorer classes of the community, and by raising up an intelligent body of men fitted to carry out the projects designed for the furtherance of the cultivation of the soil. Complaint is useless where work is necessary to build up the future greatness of a country. Give a just direction to agricultural produce, THE TECHNOLOGIST. 74 CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. especially by promoting the more industrious cultures, amongst which that of silk may be considered as one of the greatest sources of riches to a country by the large returns on the distribution of a comparatively small capital amongst the labouring classes, and you «will have been worthily assisting in the great work of the erection of the edifice of social happiness and well-being. It will now be necessary to bring under notice some of the principles of vegetable physiology, in order that we may draw deductions from them for the practical cultivation of the mulberry. Every tree that grows draws the element of its existence from the decomposition of mineral and organic substances, by the action of the atmosphere and the dampness of the soil in which it is planted. This is done not only by the exterior, but also by the leaves and the skin of the younger branches, Nature beneficently providing the trunk of the tree with a thicker skin to withstand the rigour of the elements. ‘There exists such harmony in the provisions for the growth of trees, that the leaves and roots are working simultaneously in the absorption of the - principles necessary for the protection of their vegetation. Those prin- ciples materially aid in the circulation of the sap, which is very rapid in the summer under favourable circumstances, but it is nearly suspended during the winter months, and the powers of the tree recruited and strengthened forthe production of vegetation during thenext season. There are two saps continually ascending and descending. The ascending saps pass through the wood and give nutriment to the branches and leaves, and the descending ones pass through the skin to the roots, and produce new weod from season to season as the tree grows older. The preser- vation of the leaves is not so necessary to the existence of a tree as its roots, as from these it derives its principal support and nourishment ; it will therefore be gathered from these remarks, that it is impossible to propagate mulberry trees for silk culture by cuttings, but that they must be raised naturally from seeds in order that perfect roots may be formed for the sustenance of the tree in the future periods of its existence, and when it shall be necessary to gather its leaves for the education of the precious worm. As the grand object of the cultivation of the mulberry tree is to fit it for the production of leaves in the least i possible time, nothing must be neglected by its cultivator to attain that : object not so much by the expenditure of a large amount of capital as an assiduous study of the necessities of the plant, as no tree in the world yields so large a return as this one. ‘The good quality of the ground is certainly of great importance to the prosperity of the tree; but the judicious training and pruning of the branches is of far greater moment, and the excuse of the bad cultivator as to the indifferent quality of the soil only tends to betray his ignorance of the art of cul- tivating the mulberry. The time for pruning and training the branches greatly depends on the climate and the situation in which the trees are __ placed. From great experience in the cultivation of the mulberry,I am convinced that the establishment of plantations of these trees will Sepr. i, 1865. ] THE TECHNOLOGIST. CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. (i) yield large returns, and be of great benefit not only to the agriculturist, but to the whole eommunity. The demand for silk produced from the worms fed upon the leaves of the mulberry is always increaging, and I cannot foresee any but the most beneficial results in its general adop- tion to this country. In the composition of the leaves of the mulberry tree there are five different substances—viz., solid or fibrinous, colouring matter, water, and saccharine or resinous and silky matters. The three first substances are not absolutely necessary for the life of the silkworm. The saccharine matter nourishes and aids in the formation of the animal, and the resinous matter imbibed by the worm from the leaves is aecu- mulated and purified by its peculiar organisation, and collected in the two reservoirs of the worm to be discharged afterwards through the mouth in the form of silk. The yield. of silk will be found in accordance with the presence of more or less of the saccharine and resinous matters in the leaves on which the worm is fed. For instance, the silk produced by the leaves of the black mulberry, which are hard, rough, and tenacious, and which was the principal food of worms in the warm countries of Europe, such as Greece, Spain, Sicily, Calabria, &., is abundant, the thread strong, but very coarse. The worms fed on leaves of the white mulberry (which has been planted on elevated situations and exposed to a dry wind) produce abundance of silk, strong, very pure, and of very fine quality. It is almost unnecessary to state that the less nuiriment there is in the leaves the greater will be the quantity required to perfectly develope the worm. ‘The result is that the worm which is fed on leaves which possess great nutritive power will grow large, and produce less silk than that which is fed on those containing a large amount of resinous matter, althouzh not attaining the same size as the former is liable to become sick, and its productive powers put out of order. Of the white mulberry there are many varieties, but of these the following sixteen are in general use in Italy for grafting stocks—viz., 1. A foglie nervose ; 2. Bathiany ; 3. Columbassa ; 4. Flava ; 5. Giazzola a foglia doppia; 6. Integrifolia; 7. Latifolia ; 8. Macro- phylla; 9. Macrophyla grisea; 10. Mascula pedemontana ; 11. Ovali- folia fructibus albidis; 12. Piramidale; 13. Roseo di Lombardia; 14. Rose levigata ; 15. Rouillardi; 16. Vainissi. For sowing, two are principally used—vyiz., Morrettiana and common alba. Of those used for grafting, the three most generally in favour are the Giazzolo a foglia doppia, Mascula pedemontana, and the Roseo di Tiombardia, as being more rich in saccharine and resinous matters, and containing less water, &c., than the others. From experiments made with one hundred ounces of the fresh-gathered leaves of each of these three varieties, the yield after being properly dried was found as follows :—Roseo di Lombardia, thirty ounces ; Giazzolo a foglia doppia, thirty-one ounces ; and Mascula pedemontana, thirty-six ounces. Another variety of mulberry, the Multicaulis, that was imported from the Island of Luzon, is also very much used for the early education of the silkworm, but owing to its ak me Ie Wai 7 errs hi eed Ohne THE TECHNOLOGIST. —[Serr. 1, ‘ is 76 CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. large leaves it is not adapted to all climates, although it is a splendid stock to graft on any other variety, well-fitted for the formation of hedges, and is excellent food for the very young worms. Having called attention to the physiological principles and different varieties of the white mulberry in greatest repute, I shall endeavour to give directions towards making plantations of this valuable tree. First.— With respect to the selection of the ground. A spot of ground should be selected in a situation sheltered from the south wind, dug to the depth of eighteen inches, and afterwards mixed with a litile stable manure, and the surface made perfectly level. Secondly.—With regard to the method of sowing the mulberry. The best time in this climate (Victoria) will be found between the middle of March and the middle of May. The objection I have to spring sowing in the case of the mulberry, is the long drought and prevalent hot winds of the Australian summer, which would require a vast amount of atten- tion and diligence in watering the seedlings. The winter rains, on the contrary, may be easily prevented from injuring the young plants by covering them with straw ; but the choice of season is a matter which may very safely be left to the intelligence of the farmer. A suitable spot being fixed on and prepared tor the reception of the seed, the sur- face of it should be laid out in beds about three feet wide, sufficient space left between each for the passage of a man. The seed should be steeped in water for about twenty-eight hours before sowing, to accelerate its tendency to germinate, and afterwards well mixed with about one- third part of dry sand. This mixture is then to be sown broadcast over the beds, the earth carefully raked over it, and gently patted down with the back of a spade. If the soil is rather hard, a little cut straw sprinkled over it will tend to remedy this defect. It the season is wet, with cold nights, it will be found beneficial to prepare a blanket or can- vas to be thrown over the ground already sown, supported by pegs, to protect the seeds and young plants from the inclemency of thte weather. _ In the absence of rain, they must be watered with a hand watering- can ; and in the event of too much rain, protected with straw or in the manner above stated. Asa matter of course, no weeds must be allowed to remain in the beds. Thirdly —The mode of transplanting. The young plants, after attaining the age of from eighteen to twenty-four months, may be trans- planted to a proper nursery, or in ground prepared for the formation of hedges, according to the following directions. For the nursery it will be necessary to cut longitudinal trenches fifteen inches deep by fifteen — inches wide. The bottom of the trench should be covered with dead branches to the depth of two inches or three inches, and afterwards filled in with earth nearly to the level of the former surface for the reception of the roots of the young plants. These plants have generally a fusiform root from which a piece of about two inches must be cut off. = The plants so prepared should be laid on the surface of the ground in — ? "ey, Serr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY. vi: the trench jin such a fashion that their upper portions should be sup- ported by the unbroken ground, and the lower portion covered in with some of the earth taken from the trench, which must be slightly com- pressed with the hand; on this should be placed a layer of stable manure, and finally, the remaining portion of the earth taken out of the trench. After the young plants have been set according to these direc- tions, the tops of them should be cut to within six inches of the ground, for the purpose of increasing the strength of the young plant.. All the suckers springing up from the plant must be removed except the two strongest, which should be left for the purpose of giving support to the foot of the tree, and when they have gained sufficient strength they should be banked up with earth all round. The distance at which the plants are to be set should bein accordance with the fertility of the soil, but they may be set at a general average of three feet from the lines and fifteen inches from each other. No care, trouble, or expense must be spared to keep the ground well moved round the foot of the mulberry, in order to maintain the humidity of the soil, so necessary for the pro- duction of the vegetation of the tree. Most cultivators are aware that loose earth will retain its natural moisture for a longer period than that * which is compressed ; it would, therefore, be advantageous to the growth of the tree to move the earth with a rake, in order that the rays of the sun might penetrate its roots. Heat and humidity are the most effectual natural agents in the rapid development of vegetation, more especially with regard to the mulberry, which is indigenous to warm climates. Tn seasons of drought, it will be necessary to irrigate the ground along the trenches, and a few days afterwards to rake it over to admit the penetration of the heat, which had been nearly destroyed by the pre- vious irrigation, because the evaporation of the water is creating cold. These directions may, perhaps, appear minute to persons unacquainted with the greater importance of the matter, but I consider they are essential to the successful rearing of the young plants, and if they grow well and prosperous the first year they will be fit to be grafted in the second, and the graft will usually spring up a young tree in the course of the next season. Perr i ee. ee 4 a PROGRESS OF COTTON CULTURE IN EGYPT. From no other available source of cotton supply can we now. obtain cotton of such good quality as that grown in Egypt. It has a fineness and strength which make it suitable for the best goods, and a length of staple adapted to the machinery now in use in the Lancashire cotton- mills, It has borne a high price since the stoppage of shipments from America, but it is found that we can now depend upon large quantities of Egyptian cotton at prices at which it is doubtful if the American planters will for a long time be able te compete. The Egyptians have shown an energy and thoroughly commercial enterprise in dealing with their golden opportunity, even beyond what might have been expected from a people far more advanced in modern civilization. They have drained and irrigated and planted, they have encouraged the construc- tion of railways, and every work of public improvement, and they are now availing themselves of every mechanical means which European ingenuity has placed at their disposal for the cultivation of cotton. It is extraordinary how large are the orders already executed, and still in course of execution, for steam engines, centrifugal pumps, steam-plows, and cotton-gins, for the Egyptian cotton farms. There are now upwards of two hundred steam-plows at work in Egypt ; the number of steam- ’ pumps is probably still greater, and the cotton-gins are countless ; there being several towns and villages having from twenty to thirty ginning factories each. The Viceroy has 150,000 fedans, or acres, of land under cultivation with cotton ; his uncle, Haleem Pasha, who has sixty steam engines and fourteen steam-plows at work, is cultivating 50,000 acres, and others of lower rank, or of no rank at all, are, in the aggregate, working a still larger acreage. The cotton plant is most productive in Egypt, and although the proportion of cleaned lint to seed cotton is considerably lower than in the case of American cotton, some of the irrigated lands of Egypt have produced as much as 900 lbs. of clean cotton per acre in one year, a quantity which is tenfold greater than the average yield of cotton fields in India. The Egyptian cotton lands pay an annual tax of 1l. per acre to Government, and their ordinary rental is 51. per acre. These are charges quite beyond anything known to the American planters of former days, but they are in part compensated for by the greater yield and superior quality of the Egyptian staple, and by the aid derived from steam. In no country in the world is cotton again likely to be grown by slave labour, and hence, whatever the effect upon the future price of the article, the greatest advantage enjoyed by the American planter is gone for ever. Whether he will now avail himself, as the Egyptians have done, of steam machinery, or the next best resource, remains to be seen; itis, of course, for the interest of this country that he should. We cannot have too many or too abundant sources of supply. But with the exception, perhaps, of America, the — rh Sept. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. ON TRUFFLES. 79 cotton-growing countries vannot do without British machinery, and the result in Egypt shows what the demand upon our engineers is likely to become. We have not yet reached, if it be indeed possible that we shall in this century ever reach, our maximum production of cotton goods, for the demand is constantly increasing, and every spindle manu- factured corresponds but to the natural increase of the means of supply. English engineers when abroad are often struck by the adaptability shown by people of inferior civilization in the management of machinery. On many of the Egyptian cotton farms, the engine- drivers, firemen, and even those entrusted with the repairs of the engines, are Arabs. As for repairs, it has not yet apparently occurred to the Exyptian mind that they are requisite. In many cases, as socn as a fire-hox is burnt out, or a cylinder scratched so as to defy the care of the driver in adjusting his packing, the engine is practically con- demned, being left out in the weather, and a new one ordered, we will say from England. This may not seem a matter of regret here—although even those who thus obtain orders which ought not to have been given, must know that it is for their own interest, in the long run, that their eustomers should be careful, economical people, as if they are not they cannot go on for ever ordering machinery and paying their debts, But it is likely that engine-mending, like engine-driving, will yet be learned by the Arabs.—‘ Engineer, ON TRUFFLES AND TRUFFLE CULTURE. BY C. BE. BROOME. THE numerous varieties of fungi that are exposed for sale in the markets of France and Italy must induce a feeling of surprise that so little attention has been paid to their culture by the horticulturists both of Great Britain and the Continent. The mushroom is the only species at all commonly made use of in this country ; the Blewitt may sometimes, indeed, be seen in Covent Garden, but it is a species far inferior in flavour to many others of our fungi, and it is certainly not the produce of our gardens. Truffles, which are frequently seen, and so highly esteemed in Continental markets as to command a high price, are comparatively rarely to be met with in our own, and even Covent Garden can boast but of one native kind, and that an inferior one—viz., Tuber estivum. There are, however, various reasons for this neglect of nature’s benefits that operate with us, that do not apply with equal force to our Continental neighbours, such as distressing cases of poisoning from the indiscriminate use of fungi gathered by persons ignorant of the qualities of the various species, a danger in great measure guarded ° o* THE TECHNOLOGIST. 80 ON TRUFFLES. against abroad by the appointment of an official person capable of deter- mining the noxious or innocent nature of the species brought for sale. What tends, however, still more perhaps to increase our objection to. their use, is the natural inaptitude of our countrymen to acquire the art of cookery, which is a very important element in suiting these plants to human digestion ; added to which, there is the difficulty of adopting new customs, or changes of diet. Were a taste for these productions, however, once established, we should soon find numerous species brought forward as valuable additions to our means of sustenance. Notwithstanding that. truffles have been considered articles of luxury, and have commanded a high price from the time of the Romans down to the present, and that it has ever been the aim of horticulturists to bring them into the number of regular garden crops, they seem hitherto to have defied all efforts to reclaim them, and to resemble, in their intractable disposition, the wild ass, “ whose house has been made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings, who scorneth the multitude of the city, and the range of the mountains is his pasture.” If this, then, be a correct representation ot their character, it is a question whether it would not be easier to cultivate them by assisting Nature in her own way, than to restrict her within our limits by forcing these denizens of the forest to oceupy a place in our kitchen gardens. It would seem indeed, that the amount of shade they demand is such as to be incompa- tible with the requirements of a garden. But let us see what has been done hithertu in the various endeavours to grow trufiles by the assistance of art. And here we cannot do better than give the information with which the Messrs. Tulasne present us in their beautiful work on Hypogeeous Fungi. They mention four species of truffles exclusively in use in France—viz., T. melanosporum, 7. brumale, 7. cestivum, and T’. mesentericum, of which two, or perhaps three, occur in Great Britain. Tuber cestivum is apparently the only species to be met with in a recent state in our shops ; 7. mesentericum may at times occur, but it has not yet been noticed there. 7%. brumale, if our plant be identical with Tulasne’s, has hitherto been found in England of too small a size to be worth sending to market. In Italy there are other kinds, one of which, T. magnatum, commands a higher price than any other; and in the southern parts of Italy, Sicily, Syria, and Africa, another species, Serfezia leonis, is of common use as an article of food. - The true truffles have rough seeds, which, seen under the older and imperfect microscopes, resembled somewhat a truffle in miniature, and early writers concluded that the mature plant was merely one of these seeds largely developed in all directions. The Tulasnes have proved, however, by careful observations that they germinate in the same way as do those of most other fungi—viz., by giving origin to delicate threads, which spread in the surrounding soil, and that from such threads the young truffles arise, probably after some kind of impregnation, which is : bs ¥ i = Sep. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. ON TRUFFLES. 61 obscurity. The fact of the existence of a mycelium in truffles, resemb - ling that of mushrooms, must be taken into consideration in any attempt that may be made to cultivate them. The soils in which edible truffles are found in France are always calcareous or calcareous clays, which accords generally with my own experience. Tuber mesentericum occurs, however, in ferruginous sands, as is also the case with anvther species, Hydnotrya Tuiasnei, which, or a elosely allied kind, is largely eaten in Bohemia, under the name of Czerwena Tartofile. Messrs. Tulasne describe the soil of a truffle district near Loudun, Vienne, as composed of rolled fragments of calcareous matter, mixed with fine quartzose sands, lying on a thick bed of compact marly clay, which easily splits up into thin layers. It contains, in 1,000 parts, 500 of calcareous matter, 325 of clay and iron, 150 of quartzose sand, and 35 parts, more or less, of vegetable mould But they attribute a still greater influence in the production of these plants to the presence of trees—a condition necessary perhaps to their growth, in order to keep off the heat of the direct sun-rays. Our authors testify, indeed, that this is not always indispensable ; and I have seen truffles dug up on the bare sloping sides of the Italian mountains. Some persons have supposed that these fungi are parasitic on the roots of trees. This the Tulasnes expressly deny, on the strength of observations and inquiries instituted to that end; and I can confirm them in this matter, and would remark that the frequent presence of certain galls attached to the small roots of the oaks, resembling young truffles so strongly as often to deceive me for a time, may have given origin to this error. Some trees appear to be more favourable to the production of truffles than others. Oak and hornbeam are especially mentioned ; but, besides these, chestnut, birch, box, and hazel are alluded to. I have generally found Tuber estivum under beech-trees, but also under hazel, Tuber macrosporum under oaks, and JT. brumale under oaks and Abele. The men who collect truffles for Covent Garden obtain them chiefly under beech, and in mixed plantations of fir and beech. The trufile-zrounds of France are remarkable for the sterility of the surface, the cause of which has given rise to ‘many conjectures—viz., that truffles exercise a prejudicial influence on ail plants in contact with or proximity to them- selves, by appropriating their nutriment in a manner similar to the Rhizoctonie ; but a more probable reason of this sterility is the frequent digging to which the truffle-grounds are subjected by the collectors ; for, as truffles are not truly parasitic, it would attribute an inconceivable amount of influence to their mycelium to suppose them capable by its means of destroying all the surrounding vegetation. And we may remark, that some species occur in grassy places, as in the forest of Vincennes, according to Tulasne; and so with Z. macrosporum and T. brumale, as i find them. It seems to be a better explanation of this sterility, so generally accompanying truflles, that they can only succeed VOL. VI. H oe eT ee “" THE TECHNOLOGIST. —{Sepr. 82 ON TRUFFLES, well where they find a comparative freedom from other vegetable growth, arising from causes independent of themselves, and that they are the result, and not the cause, of this sterility. In common with many other fungi, truffles do not bear to be dis- turbed in their early stages ; so that the collectors are careful in their researches after the summer species, as 7. wstivum and T. mesentericum, not to stir the ground more deeply than is absolutely necessary, as by so doing they would destroy the winter crop of the more valuable kinds, 7. melanosporum and T. brumale. Any disturbance of the soil in the winter, when the latter are mature, does no laim, but rather aids in their culture, by rendering the mould more suitable for the germination of their spores and the growth of their mycelium. From Messrs. Tulasnes’ observations it would seem that three or four months suffice for the development of these plants ; they state that they have met with Tuber mesentericum about as large as grains of millet in the beginning of October, which must acquire their full size before the end of December ; for about that time they find this species in its mature condition alone. And it is supposed that the warm rains of August are highly conducive to the fertility of the truffle-ground, and that the abundance or scanti- ness of the crop depends very much on the nature of that period. These , plants grow wi:hout any special care or tendance ; but as they are not unfrequently found, both in France and Italy, on the borders of corn- fields, where they are ploughed up in the cultivation of the land, it : would seem that they succeed as well in ground that has been stirred f and manured, as in that which has been left in its natural condition, Some notion may be obtained of the extent to which the trade in truffles is carried on in France, when we read that in the market of Apt about 1,600 kilogrammes (about 8,500 lbs.) are exposed for sale every week in the height of the season, and that the lowest estimate of the quantity sold during the winter amounts to 15,000 kilogrammes (nearly 33,000 lbs. weight). According to another account, the Department of Vaucluse yields from 25,900 to 30,000 kilogrammes annually. The vast quantity that must, therefore, be procured and sold in all the French provinces where they grow, and the large revenue arising therefrom should be a great inducement to the proprietors of suitable localities to attempt their cultivation in England. Many trials have been made to subject these vegetables to a regular system of culture, but hitherto without success. We owe to the Count de Borch and M. Bornholtz the chief accounts of these attempts. They inform us that a compost was prepared of pure mould and vegetable soil, mixed with dry leaves and sawdust, in which, when properly moistened, mature truffles were placed in winter, either whole or in . fragments and that, after a lapse of some time, small truffles were found : in the compost. But the result was discouraging rather than otherwise. The most successful plan consisted in sowing acorns over a considerable _ aan ~ © Serr. 1, 1865. ] THE TECHNOLOGIST. ON TRUFFLES. 83 attained the age of ten or twelve years, truffles were found in the intervals between the trees. This precess was carried on in the neigh- bourhood of Loudun, where truffle-beds had formerly existed, but where they had long ceased to be productive—a fact indicating the aptitude of the svil for the purpose. In this case no attempt was made to produce truffies by placing ripe specimens in the earth ; but they sprung up of themselves, from spores probably contained in the soil. The young trees were left rather wide apart, and were cut for the first time about the twelfth year from the sowing, and afterwards at intervals of from seven to nine years. Truffles were thus obtained from a period of from twenty-five to thirty years, after which the plantations ceased to be pro- ductive, owing, it was said, to the ground being too much shaded by the branches of the young trees, a remedy for which might have been found by thinning out the trees ; but this would not be adopted till all the barren tracts, called “ galluches,” had been planted. The brushwood, by being thus thinned out, would be converted into timber-trees, and the truffle-grounds rendered permanent like those of Poitou, which are commonly situated under the shade ot lofty trees. It is the opinion of the Messrs. Tulasne that the regular cultivation of truffles in gardens can never be so successful as this so-called indirect culture at Loudun, -&c.; but they think that a satisfactory result might be obtained in suit- able soils by planting fragments cof mature truffles in wooded localities, taking care that the other conditions of the spots selected should be analogous to those of the regular truffle-grounds ; and they recommend a judicious thinning of the trees, and clearing the surface from brush- wood, &c., which prevents at once the beneficial effects of rain and of the direct sun-rays. It is added that this species of industry has added much to the value of certain districts of Loudun and Civray, which were previously comparatively worthless, and has enriched many of its proprietors, who now take periodical sowings of acorns, thus bringing in a certain portion of wood as truffle-grounds each year. At Bonardeline, for instance, the annual return from truffles in a plantation of less than half an acre was from 4/. to 5/. Another case is adduced in the Arron- -dissement of Apt, where several proprietors have made plantations: the trees are left about five or six yards apart ; and so soon as their branches meet and shade the ground too much they are ‘thinned out. The districts of England especially suited to produce truffles would thus appear to be situated on the great band of calcareous beds which run diagonally across the island from the south-eastern corner of Devon- shire to the mouth of the Wash in Norfolk, occupying all the country that lies to the south-east of such a line, including the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Gloucester, Hampshire, Berkshire, Kent, Hert- fordshire, and parts of Northampton, Norfolk and Lincoln ; and it is to the proprietors of lands in those districts that we must look for any successful attempts to cultivate these fungi. A great proportion of the truffles exposed for sale in Covent Garden 84 ON TRUFFLES. come from Wiltshire and Hampshire, and the opinions of those who make it their busines to collect them coincide completely with those of Messrs. Tulasne cited above. JI have been informed by one of these men, that whenever a plantation of beech, or beech and fir, is made on the chalk districts of Salisbury Plain, after the lapse of a few years truffles are produced; and that these plantations continue productive for a period of from ten to fifteen years, after which they cease to be so. It has been observed that the species most available fur culinary purposes with us is Zuber westivum, a species considered in France as of far less value than 7. melanosporum and TF. brumale, and it might be worth while to obtain well-matured specimens of these species from France, and distribute them while quite fresh in some locality producing our indigenous kinds, to ascertain if we could not thus cbtain a superior race of tiuffles. Tuber wstivum is commonly worth about half-a-crown per pound in Covent Garden, whilst in Italy Tuber magnatum fetches trom fifteen to seventeen francs, and 7. melano- sporum almost as much. Should horticulturists be tempted to try their skill in the artificial production of these fungi, they should bear in mind the conditions most suitable to their nature, as above recorded. They might succeed, for instance, in producing them in filbert-planta- tions, or in gardens thickly set with fruit-trees, and they should plant mature specimens in well-trenched ground on a calcareous substratum, and be careful not to stir the soil to any depth till the autumn or winter of the following year, in order not to disturb the mycelium; and it would be well, perhaps, in case they find a successful result, not to take too largely of the crop for the first year or two, but to give them time to establish themselves thoroughly in the locality. It would seem, however, that, when once established, deep stirrings of the soil would tend rather to encourage than to check their increase, as giving the mycelium a lighter soil in which to vegetate, and preventing the growth of roots of surrounding trees, &c., which might deprive the truffles of the requisite nutriment. It might be well to try the growth of Zuber macrosporwm, as it is an indigenous species, and might become a source of profit, notwithstand- ing its garlic odour. Those who possess woods or plantations of beech in calcareous soils, which are not already productive of truffles, might succeed perhaps in rendering them so, by trenching patches of ground beneath the trees, so as to clear away the brushwood, grass, and roots for a considerable space. and planting ripe truffles in the trenched spaces, and then allowing time for them. to produce their mycelium. ~ And when the roots of surrounding trees again encroach on the selected — spots, they might be checked by deep digging around their margins. a Serr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. > THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. BY THE EDITOR. ALTHOUGH we have for many years past been largely increasing our imports of all materials suited for the purposes of textile fabrics, the manufacture of cordage, matting, paper, &c., yet the wants of commerce increase so rapidly with the advance of civilization, the extension of shipping, the progress of wealth, the generalcomforts of the people, and the increasing trade we carry on with other countries, that the demand still exceeds the supply. Our imports of cotton are quite insufficient for our wants. And so with the materials for our paper supply, the 25,000 tons of rags we import, added to the 50,000 or 60,000 tons ob- tained at home, are found quite inadequate for the mills of the manu- facturers, even with 44,000 tons of raw vegetable substances added, the average consumption of paper being about 80,000 to 100,000 tons per annum, with a largely-increasing demand. To go tully into all the details respecting the production and sources of supply of old staples and new fibrous materials, would here be im- possible. We, however, greatly require detailed and accurate informa- tion as to the modes of cultivation and the best*localities for producing many of the plants proposed as suitable for supplying fibre. And more especially is it essential to obtain particulars as to the preparation of the fibre, the cost at which it can be furnished, the quantity at present produced and available on demand, the capabilities for extending the culture, and what are the chief difficulties that may stand in the way of supply, such as distance from the sea-board, cost of labour, and expense of transit. The means of extracting fibre cheaply and expeditiously from plants upon a small as well as a large scale, notwithstanding all the announcements and all the promises of machimery for the purpose, made at the several International Exhibitions, is still a desideratum. 1,000,000 cwt. of foreign-grown hemp, 2,000,000 cwt. of jute and other vegetable substances of the nature of hemp, 1,800,000 cwt. of foreign flax are imported, besides our home grown supplies. The stoppage in the supply of hemp and bristles during the Russian war led to large demands being made on India and other countries, for suitable materials to supply the deficiency,"and commerce soon brought to the aid of the manufacturer many new substances adapted to his wants, and pointed out others which might be largely and cheaply pro- duced, The late Dr. Royle, with the magnificent resources of the East India Company at command, threw his vast knowledge into the gap, and in his work “On the Fibrous Plants of India,’ and his lec- tures before the Society of Arts “On the Indian Fibres fit for Textile Fabrics, for Rope, and for Paper-Making,”. accompanied by the very = interesting collections of fibres which_he exhibited, together with their THE TECHNOLOGIST. 88 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. commercial products, proved their suitableness and applicability for all the purposes required. The only question now is as to the price, condition, and quantity in which they can be supplied in our ports. The quantity of hemp and other vegetable substances of the nature ‘of undressed hemp imported from the Hast Indies and the Philippines was in 1851, 589,460 cwt., and in 1864, 2,306,752 cwt. Besides the above, there were 79,693 cwts. of coir-rope, twine, and strands, valued at 109,429/. received from India in 1863, and 37,485 ewt., valued at 51,884/. from Ceylon. For the use of the brush-maker the kittool fibre, obtained from a palm, the Caryoto urens, was found to answer admirably, and this, with coir from the cocoa-nut husk, Mexican grass, so called, (Agave sisilana), and various other stout vegetable fibres, have entered largely into the manutacture. | It is singular how quickly science and the skill of our manufacturers supersede one article by another of totally diferent material. The instances of this of late years have been very numerous, and will occur to the recollection of the reader. Wood for building purposes is being fast supplanted by iron. Gutta-percha and caoutchouc have very generally taken the place of leather in many manufactures. And we may shortly expect to be completely independent of the hog, at least, for his skin and bristles, however much we may still make use of - his carcase. Vegetable fibres, as we have just seen, ate now very generally and effectivel y used in brush-making, but another revolution has lately taken — place in the substitution of fine metallic wire for brushes. A large manufacturer in the neighbourhood of Manchester, not content with the extensive production of wire cards for carding wool, cotton, &c., has applied delicate machinery to the preparation of wire-brushes, for- all ‘the various uses to which brushes are put—very fine and flexible for flesh-brushes, wnich are much more delicate and efficient in promoting the healthy action of the skin than the harsh horse-hair gloves ; for cattle brushes, instead of the hard and coarse curry comb, for hair, clothes, hat, sweeping, and all other kinds of brushes. Truly, there is no end to novelty of invention, and in this metallic age, iron will have the mastery, although its rival, gold, in its abundance and utility, runs the baser metal hard. During the ten years, from 1840 to 1850, the average import of foreign hemp and flax was about 70,000 tons per annum. Last year, (1864) including flax, hemp, jute, and other vegetable substances of a similar character, it reached 245,046 tons. The immense increase of our manufacturing industries, dependent upon textile substances for the raw material, is best shown by the fol- lowing quantities which were worked up at different periods, stated in pounds :— : 4 - Fi . 4 rs . a es ~~ & , 1865,] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. 1855, lbs. 99,300,446 8,904,508 145,541,088 205,344,720 890,159,872 8,960,000 1860. | lbs. 300,000,000 7,000,000 180,227,488 336,000,000 1,140,510,112 ~ 9,884,112 1864. lbs. 437,737,330 8,513,673 342,493,200 408,000,000 893,304,720 37 Let us next glance at the immense extent of the carrying trade and traffic in fibrous substances. The annual quantity of these articles pro- duced here, or imported and manufactured and transported over the kingdom, exceeds in weight one million and three quarter tons, and amounts in value to fully 213,000,0001., figures given in Poole’s “ Statistics of British Commerce,” QUANTITIES AND VALUE OF THE PRINCIPAL FIBROUS ARTICLES AND judging by a revision o the TEXTILES. Weight Tons. Value. Bagging 10,600 £320,000 Canvas 6,500 546,000 Coir, &c. 6,000 162,000 Cordage 50,000 2,000,000 Cotton (wool) 621,954 34,839,935 » Manutactured 270,000 52,000,000 Flax 183,000 10,920,000 Hemp, &. . . 152,898 2,644,937 Lace 1,500 3,680,000 Linen . 90,000 18,000,000 Pali leaves 630 19,000 Piassava fibre’ 150° 2,000 Rags, &e, 70,000 1,500,000 Silk (zaw) 5,000 11,000,000 » manufactured 5,000 16,000,000 Wool . 200,000 22,500,000 iF Woollen cloth 60,000 34,000,000 1,733,232 210,133,872 To which may properly be added the following other fibrous substances : Tons. Value. Baskets 9,130 £210,000 Bass mats and bass voce 3,250 78,000 Bonnets and straw 104 135,000 Brooms and brushes 26,200 2,180,000 Bulrushes 700 7,000 Mats and matting : 15,000 150,000 Straw and grass for platting. 750 6,000 55,134 2,766,000 ee THE TECHNOLOGIST. | 88 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCH. Having estimated the aggregate value of the trade in these sub- — stances, let us now examine more in detail a few of them, although it will be only possible to treat them superficially. And first as to flax :— Without going into the discussion why flax has not been more gene- rally cultivated in the United Kingdom, and leaving the mooted point of its exhausting properties on the soil, I may state, in the words of one of its panegyrists, “ that to innumerable individuals of the great human family, flax supplies the various items of clothing, writing materials, bedding, fuel, medicine (external as well as internal), manure, material to aid the painters’ art, and indirectly, animal food of the highest nutri- tive qualities, and, above all, when duly appreciated and properly managed, it affords that inestimable blessing to a population—a constant source of remunerative employment.” (Delamer ‘‘ On Flax and Hemp.”) An equally long string of useful properties might, however, be made of many other fibrous substances, whether of cotton, the cocoa-nut, or the plantain. : Flax culture occupies but a very small degree of attention in Scot- land, the acreage under culture with this crop not, I believe, exceeding 3,000 acres. For England we have no details ; but in Ireland the breadth of land under flax culture last year was about 300,000 acres. The produce may be calculated at 75,000 tons, valued at 3,750,000/. for the fibre, exclusive of the seed. } The land under flax has more than trebled in the last twelve years, but it fluctuates considerably. The quantity of flax, hemp, jute, and tow consumed, can only be stated approximately, because we are defi- cient in any returns of the quantity of flax produced at home. There was imported in 1860 :— Cwts. Flax : . 3 ; ‘ . 1,464,810 Hemp, &. . : : : : 787,283 - Jute and Sunn : t Pay gas 821,891 3,073,984, & To this must be added the estimated quantity of -flax grown in the United Kingdom, and of the old materials broken up to be re-manu- factured (in the same manner as woollen rags are torn and re-converted in the shoddy manufacture), probably 1,500,000 cwt., making a total of 4,573,984 cwt. In 1864, the imports were. nearly doubled. Numerous inquiries are now making by our manufacturers and mer- chants as to the possibility of obtaining new and suitable vegetable fibres, adapted to the manufacture of articles which are at present made from hemp. ‘8 ; One of the most promising materials for certain purposes is the fibre of the plantain, which has often engaged the attention of the tropica x Serr. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. . 89 cultivator and merchant ; but until of late years there was no great de- mand for new textile or cordage substances. The process of disengaging the fibre is so simple, compared with the elaborate processes attending the separation of hemp and flix, and the expense and labour so trifling, that it is surprising the raw material has not before this been made an extensive article of commerce. . When we perceive how large the traffis in coir, the short prepared husky covering of the cocoa-nut, has become, it is an earnest of encour- agement for those who choose to einbark in new undertakings for the supply of commercial fibres. The coir or fibre obtained from the husky covering of the cocoa-nut is even now of great commercial importance, and might be made more so in conjunction with the equally valuable pulp or kernel for food and for cil. Coir and coir-rope to the value of 30,0002. or 40,0001. is annually imported in the three Indian Presidency towns, while we receive as much as 162,000/. worth. The nuts grown at the sea-side yield most fibre ; three of them will produce a pound of coir, while ten from the interior. give no more in weight, though the coir will be purer. For stuffing mattrasses this substance is considered better in India than hair. Sail- cloth, oakum, and much of the coarse baling cloth so much in use, are made from it; and coir cables are coming into more general service in Europe for their strength and elasticity, and are ever replacing chain cables for large ships. | Although coir ropes have Deen employed in the East from time im- memorial, it is scarcely a quarter of a century that they have been. . introduced into this country, and now we use up at least 6,000 tons a year of cocoa-nut fibre for various purposes—cordage, matting, brush- making, stuffing bedding, &c. For ships’ cables it is especially esteemed, being very durable, elastic, and buoyant, and not chafing by friction. Forty years ago, the House of Assembly of Jamaica tried to stimu- late the production of plantain-fibre rope by liberal rewards, but the want of suitable machinery to prepare it, and the more profitable return of sugar and coffee production there at that time, caused the subject to be neglected as a commercial speculation. However, experiments made in the Port Royal Dockyard with ropes of the Government dimensions, showed that the breaking weight of various samples ranged from 3%. to 64 cwt. The manufacture of cloth and rope from the plaintain is no new discovery, for the Indians and natives of South America have long been in the habit of using the fibre for these purposes, The celebrated cir- cumnavigator, Dampier, notices the process as common in the Indian Archipelago, more than a century ago, as follows :—“ They take the body of the tree, clear it of its outward bark and leaves, cut it into four quarters, which put into the sun, the moisture exhales ; they then take hold of the threads at the ends and draw them out ; they are as big as brown thread ; of this they make cloth, in Mindanao, called ‘ saggen,’ VOL. VI. 1 90 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE, which is stubborn when new, wears out soon, and when wet it is slimy.” Like many of the misnomers of commerce, which are very difficult to correct, and which lead to sad confusion, the fibre of the wild plantain (Musa tevtilis) of the East, is commonly termed Manila hemp (Abaca by the Spaniards), and I am obliged, therefore, to keep to the term here. This so-called hemp is the material so much used for making strong white rope for ships. The usual mode of preparation is as follows :—When the stalk or stem has attained its full size, which is Indicated by throwing out its fruit branches, it is cut close to the ground and the stem which will be eight or ten feet long below the leaves, again divided. The outer coating of the herbaceous stem is then stripped off, until the fibres or cellular parts are seen, when 1t undergoes the process of rotting, and after being well dried in houses and sheds, is prepared for market by assorting it, a task which is performed by women and children, That which is intended for making cloth is soaked for an hour or two in weak lime water, again dried and put up in bundles. Some enterprising American merchants have of late years almost monopolised the manufacture and trade of Manila rope, for which there is a large demand in the United States for the use of their mercantile marine. By the introduction of machinery the cordage has beea greatly im- proved. The plan now adopted in the manufacture may be thus described :—The first floor of the factory is occupied with the dressing machines, three of which are cylinders of wood covered with points of iron two inches in length, distant from each other about one inch and a half. These first open the fibre which then passes to another machine under a cylinder of much larger diameter, of which the points (cards) are smaller and placed together. By these the fibre is separated into a fine thread and divested of the woody or refuse particles. After this preparation the hemp passes between two iron cylinders which com- presses it very strongly. From thence it is conducted toa smaller machine which gives the first twist, and winds it on a bobbin of about six inches diameter. The dimensions of the cord are increased or diminished by means of an iron screw which adjusts the diameter of the hole, through which the fibres pass, to the required size. . The demand for Manila rope has been largely increasing and as much as 6,500 tons per annum are often shipped from Manila to ~ Europe and America. Recently, owing to the American disturbances, — there has been a glut of this fibre in the London market and the prices have fallen. The culture of this particular species of plantain has been carefully — extended of late years in the Philippines ani also in the northern part — of Celebes. 4 | ; The magnificent herbaceous plantain forms a marked feature in the ~ varied and profuse vegetation of tropical countries, and possesses a very widely extended range. The broad leaves overhang gracefully th 4 Seer. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. } THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. Ot succulent huge stem, which attains an elevation of from eight to fifteen feet, with a diameter of stalk from one foot to two feet. The stem is formed partly from the united petioles of the leaves ; and they contain | such a quantity of spiral vessels, that they are capable of being pulled. out by handfuls. The Musa textilis, unlike the cultivated species of ee which can only be propagated by suckers, is easily raised from seed. Finlayson (“Journal of a Mission to Siam”) tells us that unlike the luscious and delicious fruit raised by the hand of man, the fruit of the wild plantain contains scarcely any pulp whatever. Its leathery sheath incloses numerous series of large black seeds, attached to a pithy central stem, and immersed in a gunmy substance resembling bird-lime. The seeds of the plantain having been but rarely seen by botanists, doubts have been expressed on the subject. In none of the cultivated varieties are there any seeds discoverable ; though at times we may observe minute black points in the pulp disposed in longitudinal rows. These are probably the feeble traces of seeds, not yet quite extinguished by cultivation, the black perisperm being the last to disappear. In the wild plantain che seeds are numerous, covered with a thick, black, brittle shell, and as large as those of the custard apple (Anona reticulata), but of a more singular shape. About fourteen years ago,a patent was taken out in the United States, for the manufacture of paper from plantain fibre, and a good, strong, fine wrapping paper was made from it. Some years ago a Colonial Fibre Company was incorporated by charter in London, for the cultivation and purchase of fibrous plants in Jamaica and British Guiana, for obtaining from them the valuable fibres which they contain, and for converting the same into marketable pro- ducts. Owing, however, to difficulties on the question of the patent rights for new machinery, or failing in obtaining the necessary capital, the company broke down. The younger stems of the plantain, and the inner heart, leaves of the Agave, furnish strong filaments of a silky character, which are naturally of a silvery whiteness, and which may be dyed of any colour, retain- ing their lustre and brilliancy; deprived also of their gummy or resinous matter, and split or carded by the ordinary processes, they may be extensively adapted to many of the wants now supplied by flax and cotton. They are used at the present time for weaving’ into light fabrics, and also for damasks, the finer sort of furniture- “hangings and upholstery, &c., generally. The weight of a plantain stem will sometimes be 70 or 80lbs., of which 50 per cent. will be water. It is, therefore, too expensive to cart the stems to any considerable distance for preparation, and, in the colonies, machinery would require to be erected contiguous to the pro- vision grounds, or “ plantain walks,” as they are termed. It is extremely desirable to know the quantity of fibre that can be influences, particularly from frost or excessive rain, and a full average / Law a "” Re ys 8 ie: . 4 a THE TECHNOLOGIST. 92 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE, obtained per acre, and the following calculations, which are the result of careful experiments, are worthy of record :— Cotton in America is an annual plant, subject to many deteriorating crop is considered to be one bale per acre, or about 4cwt. Flax, an annual, is regarded as a good crop at 6 cwt. per acre; and hemp at 7 cwt. per acre. The plantain will yield of the best quality of fibre, 48 cwt. per acre, besides the coarser qualities, consequently its produce will be, as compared with that of cotton, twelve-fold ; of flax, eight-fold ; and of hemp, seven-fold. Moreover, the produce of the plantain, from 500 acres, would require, to obtain the same quantity in cotton, 6,000 acres ; in flax, 4,000 acres ; and in hemp, 3,500 aeres. But flax and hemp, being exhausting crops, cannot be grown upon the same land oftener (at the utmost), than in a five year rotation. Therefore, to produee annually, and every year, 1,200 tons of flax, would require the use of an estate of 20,000 acres. And for hemp in the same way, 17,500 acres. Whilst the plantain not being an exhausting crop, would continue te produce its 1,200 tons of fibre per annum, without replanting, for a term of twelve or fifteen years upon 500 acres. The New Zealand flax produces 1,792lbs. per acre, the Moorva, or Marool (Sanseviera), 1,613 to 3,226lbs. in two crops. Several of the nettle family of the East yield fibres of extreme value, especially the Urtica (Bochmeria nivea), from which the Chinese grass cloth is made, and for which 120/.a ton has been given ; and the Rhea of Assam (Urtica tenacissima) identical in properties and value. The softest flax is excelled in fineness by this fbre, and the strongest hemp . in tenacity by the Himalayan hemp. iThe China grass cloth, Boehmeria nivea, is a plant equally as suscep- . tible of cultivation as the sugar-cane, and on similar principles, increased readily by seed and suckers. In rapidity and luxuriance of growth it vies with the rankest tropical weed, and will grow in any soil, but seems . to thrive best in a moist climate. So rapid is the growth of this plant, that, by careful observation, the colonial botanist of Jamaica, found one . of its shoots attain the height of six and a half feet in fourteen days, and, ultimately, eight and a half feet ; but in good land it would exceed this by two feet, while in China and the East Indies, where it is highly cul- tivated, eight feet is the height mentioned it now makes, from which fibre six feet long is obtained. This is the plant from the fibre of which is fabricated the finest cloth in the wo1ld. It has also been ascertained to be not only the finest, but the strongest of every fibre submitted to test by the East India Company. This fibre is now beginning to be known in the market, and commands an exorbitant price ; on the continent especially, attention has lately been much drawn to it. The Sansevieras are liliceous plants, long known and- cultivated, as holding an important place among fibre-producing plants, in the East a .. ‘ ; } 4 é q } Serr. i, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. 93 Indies and Africa, where they are indigenous, and largely cultivated, The fibre is called Bowstring hemp, Moorva and Marool in Madras. The succulent leaves of these plants grow from three to four feet in length, and abound in fibre remarkable for fineness and tenacity. The species are readily propazated from suckers and slips, which are pro- duced in abundance, and will grow in any soil, with little or no care, requiring no removing, as the plants are perennial. The species Angolensis has been but recently sent to England, and introduced into the West Indies from Angola in Africa, where it is extensively used for making ropes, being superior to every other species of the same genus for that purpose. The Yuccas are well-known and approved fibre-producing plants, and not less so the Hibiscus, or Malvaceous tribe. The Pinguin, and all the Bromela tribe, like the plantain, are peren- nials, requiring only one planting in twelve or fifteen years, and throwing off two crops of leaves a year. Some of the aloe tribe too, and the Aloe variegatur, for instance, yield fibres, not to be excelled, if they are equalled by any foreign product. The term Pita is a kind of generic name, used very generally in Mexico, Central, and South America, for almost all vegetable fibres whencesoever obtained, thus the fibre of numerous species of Agave, yucca, and other filamentous plants of the genus Bromelia fall under this common denomination. The Yuccaaloe folia and Y. filamentosa afford a very rich silky fibre, and assimilate in their growth and other characteristics to the Agave species. The leaves of the Bromelia karatas of Mexico and South Brazil attain a length of from nine to twelve feet or more, and yield a mass of fibre, of about the same length, of yreat strength, and of a silvery whiteness, one-sixth lighter than hemp. In the State of Panama the best and whitest rop2 is made from the fibre of the ‘Corteza” (Aphebia Tibourbon, of Abul) ; a brownish-looking rope, easily affected by dampness, probably because the tree from which it is taken has saline properties, is manufactured from the “Majagna de playa” (Pa- ritium tiliaceum, Adr. Juss.) In Ceylon, this is called Peli. This hibiscus-like plant is very common in fences and swampy places in Ceylon. They make in Tahiti fine matting of its bark, and also ropes and lines, from the size of an inch, to that of a small pack thread, and fishing lines. The Pachira Barrizon, Seeman, and the Malagueto hembra (Xylopia frutescens of Aubl.) in Central America, yield a fibre fit for ropes. Seeman, in his “flora of Panama,” states that the hammocks of Veraguas, consist of the fibres of the Cobuya, a species of Agave, and those of a palm called Chonta. A strong fibre is contained in the leaves of the “ Pita di Zapateros,” a species a -Bromelia, which is prepared like flax, ‘woven into bags, or “ chacaras,” by different Indian tribes, and exten- sively used by shoemakers for sewing. The fibre surrounding the Cucua, ¢ > «. "eee ee — ee ¢ . " * THE TECHNOLOGIST. | 94 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. or Namagua, forms a close texture of natural material, which the natives soak in water, beat and make into garments, beds, and ropes, or use as sails for their canoes. ‘The mats which the poorer classes have to sleep upon are manufactured from the fibre of plantain leaves, The fibres or filaments vary according to the age of the stems or leaves of the plants. When they are obtained from the full-grown plantain stem, and the exterior leaves of the agave, aloe, and other similar plants, they are very strong and coarse, and are best adapted for cables, cordage, rope, canvass, sacking, the warp of carpets, and indeed for every description of this class of manufactures, where strength and durability are required. Ropes and cordage made from these are much stronger and more durable than those made from hemp, lighter and more pliable, do uot require tarring, by whizh hempen ropes lose much of their strength, bear the item atitn of dryness and moisture with little 1 injury, and the difference in hygrometric action is considerable. There are several fibres obtained from the Malvaceous tribe of plauts which deserve to be better known and more attended to. These are, according to their mode of preparation, strong, of different shades of colour from greyish white to brown. Some of the fibre is of great length, particularly the Hibiscus cannabinus and H. esculentus. The latter, the ‘‘ bayndee ” of the East, and the “ ochre” of the West Indies is held in great esteem for its mucilaginous fruit as a pot-herb. Both these are grown abundantly all over India, and if found to answer for rope-making any quantity could be furnished, as more attention would be given to it if a commercial demand existed for the fibre, which is now wasted. Dr. Riddell, from experiments made on it, considers that the fibre, which he obtained almost white, would form an admirable paper-material, and prove a substitute for rags. The roselee plant (H. sabdariffa) produces a strong brown-coloured hemp ; and though when hackled the fibre is short, it might be converted into good rope. The preparation of the fibre, however, could never become very remunerative, unless the plant were cultivated in large quantities, and some simple crushing and scraping or combing machinery were substituted for the manual labour now employed in cleaning it. The fibre appears to be an important and useful article of commerce, the preparation of which on a large scale would probably prove remunerative. The points which would require to be carefully attended to, are, that the steeping and rotting process of cleaning should not be followed, but that the pulp should be separated from the fibre, if possible, the very day on which the leaves of the plant are cut. Should the fibres be required in large quantities for cordage or coarse purposes, they ought to be boiled in some tanning solution the day after they are cleaned. ‘Tanning appears to answer better with fibre than tarring, and care must be taken in spinning into rope or string, that it be not too much twisted, as it then yields a stiff cordage that is apt to snap when suddenly twisted. . ——— oo “a THE TECHNOLOGIST. aoe () aos THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. We drew attention in a former number, (vol. 5, p. 370) to the declining supplies of turpentine and resin, and stated that the Secretary of State for the Colonies had circularised the colonial governors with the view of if possible stimulating production in new sources. We have now before us a valuable series of reports from our consuls in foreign countries on the quantity, quality, and value of the resin produced within their con- sular districts, from which we are able to quote much new and interest- ing information. It is, however, satisfactory to notice that the supplies are beginning to increase to the satisfaction of manufacturers in various branches of trade. The imports have been in :— Turpentine, Resin. 1864 - . - : 353,824 52,968 cwt. 1865 (7 months) . 5 193,181 DOT On 55 Avustria.—Mr. Acting-Consul General Valentine, Venice, reports that a considerable quantity of turpentine, or of the resinous matter from which resin or colophony is extracted, might be obtained from the extensive forests of the Tyrol and Friuli, which abound with firs, larch, and other resinous trees, were not the tapping of the trees prohibited by the forest laws, to prevent injury to the growth and perfect quality of the timber. Should, however, the present profitable prices offered for resin con- tinue, affording full compensation for the deterioration of the quality of the timber, there is no doubt that the production of resin would be very greatly increased. Previous to the war in America the production of resin in the Tyrol was limited to the requirements of the local trade; but since then the scarcity and consequent high prices of colophony have caused greater attention to be paid to the cultivation of this resource of the country, and the turpentine to be collected and purified to an increasing extent, not only for the use of the immediate neighbourhood, but also for the VOL. VI, K 96 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. consumers of it in Germany, who have obtained it direct from the Tyrol, where the refining of it seems hitherto to have been confined, in conse- quence of the facility of transport by railway. Of the refined resin, resembling “ Burgundy pitch,” the actual pro- duction cannot be estimated to exceed 3,000 to 4,000 Vienna centners, or about 200 British tons ; but could confidence be placed in the con- tinuance of actual prices, the quantity produced would be very greatly increased. The present value of this refined quality is twenty paper florins per Vienna centner, which may be calculated as equal to 36s. 6d. per Eng- lish cwt., free on board in Venice, in cases of about 34 English cwt. gross, with an allowance of 10 per cent. for tare of case. ; Larch turpentine, formerly known in commerce as “ Venice turpen- tine,” is procured from the same resinous produce, and is likewise sent to Germany in kegs of 14 English cwt. gross, with 15 per cent. tare of cask, and could at present be purchased at a price equal to about 41s. 6d. per English cwt., delivered free on board in Venice. The quantity can- not be estimated at present at more than 1,200 to 1,500 kegs, but a cer- tainty of the continuation of the actual prices would likewise ensure a greatly increased production next season. BornEo.—Mr. Acting Consul-General Gallvahan writes from Labuan that the ordinary resin of commerce is not to be found within his Con- sular district. There is, however, a resin produced in considerable quantities, and of several varieties, which is called by the natives ‘“ dammar.” One variety only, the “dammar batu,” is produced in any large quantity in that part of Borneo within his district. About 500 tons of this kind could be collected within a short time in the neighbourhood of Brunei, and sold there for about 71. a ton. The other varieties are produced in very small quantities. - Mr. Consul Ricketts writes from Sarawak that resin is to be found in all parts of the Province, the best being, however, obtained in the vicinity of the Rejang river. There are three qualities—viz., the flesh resin, or “ dammardagging,” the cat’s eye, or “madah kuching,” and the common “ dammar.” They are all the products of large jungle trees. The flesh resin can be purchased at the town of Sarawak for about 4l, a ton. The cat’s eye, or “madah kuching,” being far more valuable than the above, is also more scarce; it is very useful for making fine varnish, and its market-price at the town of Sarawak is 28/. 15s. a ton ; its sup- ply may be termed moderate. | The common “dammar,” which is used for making pitch, costs at the town of Sarawak about 2/.aton; there is a plentiful supply to be , had of this as well as of the flesh resin or “‘ dammar dagging.” _ BantA.—Mr. Acting-Consul Baines states that the article has hither cho a * ieee THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 97 not attracted the attention of people in the interior as being one worth the trouble of obtaining for the purpose of exportation. I have endea- voured to induce persons living in the woods near the small seaport town of Canavierias, where it is said resinous trees abound, to occupy themselves with the production, and I shortly expect to receive samples of resin from various trees, which I shall send to London to be valued, and if they are approved of, and the price offered will leave a profit to the producer, I have not the slightest doubt that a considerable quantity could and would be exported in the course of next year. The circumstance that the woods of this country, such as rosewood and Brazil wood, have depreciated so much in value of late in Europe, that the prices offered here do not even pay for the labour of cutting and transport to this market, has made persons hitherto employed in the wood trade both anxious and eager to devote their attention to the production of any article that would be remunerative, and as the labourers employed in the wood trade are principally Indians, born and brought up in the forests, no persons could be better suited for the em- ployment of. collecting resin. List oF BRAZILIAN TREES WHICH YIELD R&ESIN. Icica heptaphylla . . . . . Almecegueira. » Lcicariba : : : : . Ubira-siguda. 5 guianensis : : : ; . Icicariba. » altissima . : : : ° oe Ely, Hymenza Courbaril, £. . - . .. detahy, Jataky. stilbocarpa, Hayne . . . Jetai, Jetai-tiva, Martiana Bs ; : . Tatoba, Tetaiba. Olfersiana ,, . . . Abati-timbaty. stigonocarpa 5, eS Sellowiana ,, Trachylobium Martianum, Hayne. N.B.—tThe last seven species yield copal or anime. Araucaria Brasiliana, Lamb. . ; . Cari-y, Cari-iiva. Pinheiro. N.B.—The turpentine is used the same as the European. Bursera leptophleos, Mart. : . Trubarana. Bahia. N.B.—Greenish yellow resin, with the same smell as turpentine. Astronium concinnum, Schott. Guaraba. Sehinus antarthritica, Mart. Aroeira. » Molleoides. Velloso. terebenthifolius. rhoifolius, Mart. munorivilatus ? Mart. 99 Para.—Mr. Acting-Consul Blandy reports, there is but a small quantity of resin gathered in these Provinces, never amounting to over 300 arobas, or 9,600 lbs. This amount is seldom reached, being princi- pally picked up beneath the trees bearing this gum. There are three K 2 98 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. varieties, known in commerce as the black, yellow, and white. The — two first are commonly used in the manufacture of soaps, and for lazing a soft earthenware made in these Provinces. The last is used more in ceremonials and for fumigating apartments, as it has the odour of incense, much esteemed by the natives. The price varies from 34d. to 7d. per lb., according to its colour and — purity. The whole country is an inexhaustible variety of trees producing these resinous gums, as well as of oils; but labour is expensive and difficult to be obtained, and the greater value of other wild products have and will prevent the increase of the supply of resin in this district until its price should equal the remuneration from other pro- ducts. This would seem impossible, as the same labour is required to extract an arroba of resin, whose highest price is 7 milreis, as an arroba of rubber, worth 28 milreis. Under this state of things, I am unable to furnish ary reliable sug- gestion for the increase of its production. Untold riches are thus buried in vast forests, from the great value of the rubber crop, and will so remain until a more general supply of this article releases the small amount of labour for the pursuit of other pro- ducts. Resinous extracts would then be produced i in immense quanti- ties in these districts. PanaMa.—A small quantity of resin is actually extracted froth some of the woods on the Isthmus, but not in sufficient quantity to form an article of exportation, or in fact for the local consumption, resin being imported to supply the deficiency. Eaypr.—Mr. Acting Consul Ayrton writes from Cairo :— -No resin is produced in Egypt. ; Of analogous substances (taking resin as of the class of hydro- carbons) petroleum is found at a place called Gebel Zeit (Oil Mountain), near the entrance of the Gulf of Suez, on the Egyptian shore. The late M. Barbaroux, a French subject, to whom his late Highness Said Pasha had conceded the privilege of working the springs whence the petroleum issues, informed me that the yield was so small as scarcely to defray the expense of obtaining it. It is, however, possible that a larger supply might be procurable with larger and better appliances than those available to M. Barbaroux. About Hodeida (the seat of government, and great coffee port of Yemen) a vegetable tar is produced. I only know it as used for mark- ing the coffee bales. But were a demand raised for it, the quantity pro- curable might be found larger than at present. . FrancE.—Report by Consul-General Churchill, Algeria.—The pro- vince of Algiers, of the three that constitute this important colony, is _ the only one in which the pine tree grows abundantly. There are upwards of 160,000 acres of land in this province covered with the pine — THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 99 and the cedar tree, and the average distance of these forest lands from the coast is from 70 to 100 English miles. Several French capitalists have of late directed their attention to the manufacture of resin, and have obtained from the French Government concessions of pine forests for that purpose; but very little resinous produce has hitherto been brought to the market of Algiers, and still less has been exported. Having placed myself in communication with M. Léon Lesca, of Orleansville (Algeria), one of the “concessionnaires,” I am informed that this, the first year of his labours, he calculates on producing 150 tons of resin in different shapes, and hopes to double and quadruple this quantity in the course of a few years. The tree from which the resin is extracted is the Aleppo pine, and’ its resin, from specimens sent to Marseilles and Bordeaux, has been pro- nounced to be at least as good as that of the Southern States of America. The system adopted by M. Lesca in the manufacture of resin is the “ Systéme Hugues,” which requires both care and skilful labour. His colophcny is apparently of the best description. - his year M. Lesca has confined his business to the production of tar, pitch, and colophony, but he proposes to himself to attend more particularly to those descriptions of the latter commodity that enter into the manufacture of paper and varnish. M. Lesca is anxious to enter into direct communication with the manufacturers of Great Britain ; but although he affirms that his resins are bought up at Marseilles as fast as he can produce them, he makes another statement that would tend to show that nothing is to be done with Algeria in this article of trade, namely, that the resins sold at Dax, and Bordeaux at 146f., 150f., and 154f.in cask, fetch 165f. at Algiers without cask. From another source, I learn that a sample of Algerian resin was sent to Liverpool this year, but that its cost price was found to be too high for the English market. M. Lesca writes from France that in order to induce the British manufacturers to take his resins, he is prepared to give them at more advantageous terms than those of Bordeaux ; trusting that this, together with the superior quality of his produce, will draw the attention of the British manufacturers, who will,:he reiterates, find it more suitable to place themselves in direct communication with his house at Orleans- ville or Alviers. Report by Acting-Consul Graham, Bayonne. — From 70,000 to 80,000 barrels of dry resinous produce, weighing on an average 250 kilogrammes each, are annually sold in the market of Dax, which town is the depot within this Consular district of the article in question. From 4,500 to 5,000 tons of essence of turpentine are likewise disposed of. The quality of the resin may be classed as follows :-— Ist. Hugues’s colophony. 4 100 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 2nd. Ordinary ditto. 3rd. Light-coloured pitch. 4th. Black pitch. The above may again be subdivided into the undermentioned classes and denominations, according to the colour and the care used in the fabrication of the primary materials :— Hugues’ colophony, No. 2. Ordinary ditto, No, 2. Screened light-coloured pitch, Ordinary _— ditto ditto. Half light-coloured ditto. The prices at present are—for essence of turpentine, 150 franes, (61.) the 100 kilogrammes ; Hugues’ colophony, 78 to 82 francs (3J. 2s. 4d. to 3/. 5s. 7d.) per. ditto. Ordinary colophony, 65 to 70 francs (2/. 12s. to 21. 16s.) per ditto ; Light-coloured pitch, 60 to 64 francs (21. 8s. to 27. 11s. 2d.) per ditto ; Black pitch, 54 to 56 francs (20. 3s. 2d. to 2/. 4s. 9d.) per ditto ; Report by Acting-Consul Hiver, Bordeaux—The average quantity of “gemme” or resinous matter produced annually, of late, in these de- partments, amounts to 50,000,000 kilogrammes, equal to 49,261 tons English—viz., a a 110g. ons. One-third in the “Gironde” . piel Ge 666. 666 = 16,420 Two-thirds in the “ Landes” . . 33,333,334 38,841 50,000,000 49,261 “ Gemme,” or natural resinous matter, is but seldom exported in its primitive state ; it is generally distilled in order first to obtain oil or spirits of turpentine, and then it is submitted to further process, the result of which gives the different sorts of resin. The first operation on 50,000,000 kilogrammes of “ gemme ” (49,261 tons) gives about 8,000,000 kilogrammes (7,882 tons) of oil. The remaining 34,500,000 kilogrammes of matter (33,990 tons), about 15 per cent. being lost by evaporation in the manufacturing of oil, gives three sorts of resin in equal proportions, Kilog. Tons. One-third first sort . ‘ ; 11, 500, 000 = 11,330 One-third light . . ; , 11,500,000 11,330 One-third brown . : é : 11,500,000 11,330 34,500,000 33,990 VALUE (Average Prices). “ Gemme” or raw Resinous matter. 50,000,000 kilogrammes, or 49,261 tons, at 65 francs the 100° kilogrammes (2/. 12s, per 221 lbs.,) == 32,500,000 francs, — or 1,300,0000. . THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 101 Oil or Spirits of Turpentine. 8,000,000 kilogrammes, or 7,882 tons, at 160 francs the 100 kilogrammes (6/, 8s, per 221 lbs.,) = 12,800,000 francs, or 512,000/. Resin. First sort, 11,500,000 kilogrammes, or 11,330 tons, at 70 francs the 100 kilogrammes (2/. 16s. per 221 Ibs.,) = 8,050,000 francs, or 322,0001. - Light, 11,500,000 kilogrammes, or 11,330 tons, at 65 feancs the 100 kilogrammes (2/. 12s. per 221 Ibs.,) = 7,475,000 francs, or 299,0001. Brown, 11,500,000 kilogrammes, or 11,330 tons, at 57 francs the 100 kilogrammes (21. 5s. 7d. per 221 lbs.,) = 6,555,000 francs, or 262,2000. Thus, the value of resin, &c., given by the 50,000,000 kilogrammes or 49,261 tons of raw matter produced annually by the pine forests of the departments of the “Gironde” and of the “ Landes,” amounts to 34,880,000 frances, or 1,395,2007., as follows :— ~ a Francs. £. Resin—First sort 8,050,000 == 322,000 5 Second sort, ight 7,475,000 299,000: 3 Third sort, brown 6,555,000 262,200 22,080,000 883,200 Oil or spirits . 12,800,000 512,000 34,880,000 1,395,200 Andasthe prime cost or value of the raw matter is only 32,500,000 1,300,000. The profits on manufacturing amount to 2,380,000 95,200 Previous to the American troubles the demand for all descriptions of resinous matter being very limited, a great portion of the pine forests in this and in the neighbouring department was left unproductive. The owners of these forests and the manufacturers of resin assert that the production was then nearly two-thirds less than at present. They also state that should the demand increase, a much larger quantity could be © readily obtained, considerable portions of the forests being still avail- ~ able for production. Report by Consul Brackenbury, Charente——The production of resin within the Department of the Lower Charente is limited to the Canton of La Tremblade, on the River Sendre. The quantity obtained is small, and is entirely consumed on the spot by the poorer inhabitants, who manufac- ture a very coarse description of candles from it. The price is regulated 102. . THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. by the market value at. Bordeaux, from whence, as well as from La Teste and Bayonne, the largest supplies of this article are drawn. The French Government have recently ordered extensive plantations of pine to be formed on the coast of Arvert, near La Tremblade, as well as on the Isle of Oleron, and in the course of a few years there is reason — to expect that this department will be enabled to vie, to a certain ex- tent, with the Landes in the production of resin. Report by Cousul Smallwood, Corsica.—The forest most productive of resin in Corsica at present is that of Valdoniello, situate in the aron- dissement of Calvi. It is cultivated by MM. Chaton and Co., and is expected to yield this season 2,500 quintaux métriques of resin. The forests of Melo and L’Ambuste, situate in the arrondissement of Corté, are cultivated by MM. Decheneux, Cadet, and Co., and produce annually 1,200 quintaux métriques of resin. Small tracts of the Forests of Asco, Pineto, and Serraggio, situate in the arrondissement of Corté, and cultivated by M. Renaud, yield annu- ally 800 quintaux métriques of resin, The Forest of Rostonica, situate in the arrondissement of Corté, and cultivated by M. Castelli Pochon, produces yearly 400 quintaux metriques of resin. | In the arrondissement of Ajaccio a cultivator offers this season 200 quin taux métriques of resin. Abstract. Total Quantities. Site and Name of Forest. Se French weight. | English weight. f Quintaux. Tons. Calvi. Valdoniello ; ‘ : 2,500 246 Corté. Melo and J’Ambuste 4 1,200 118 Bs Asco, Pineto, Serraggio . 800 79 ie Rostonica : : ; 400 39 Ajaccio j : : - : 200 18 Total . ; : : 5,100 500 Additional tracts of forests are being brought into cultivation for resin. Some cultivators are about to subject the Red Larix to double tapping, wherefrom a considerable increase in the supply of resin is expected ; and it may not be unreasonable to anticipate that next season the quantity of resin produced in Corsica will not fall short of from 700 to 800 tons. The superiority of the sample of resin from the Forest of Valdoniello “may be accounted for from the improved treatment of the tree adopted in the forests of the arrondissement of Calvi by experienced cultivators from the French “Landes” and “ Dunes” between the Gironde and — Borceaux, who have introduced the process of receiving the resin from THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. © 103 the pine in appropriate vessels ; whereas in the other arrondissement it is left to drop into pits dug at the base of the tree. All persons whom [ have consulted as to the quality of Corsican resin concur in asserting that it is equal, if not superior to that of the French “ Landes” or to American resin. The price obtained this year at the port of Marseilles for Corsican resin ranged from 55 to 60 francs per 100 kilogrammes. At Leghorn it ranged from 55 to 62 francs per 100 kilogrammes. The producers of resin in Corsica are, with few exceptions, in needy circumstances. I am assured that a capitalist who would tender cash for small lots, and who could be relied upon for ready money on their delivery at Bastia, Calvi, or Ajaccio, would obtain advantages in price. This plan might be carried out through agents and merchants at these ports, and the small parcels warehoused until in bulk for shipment. Cash advances to the needy producers would not only secure the supply, but would go far to stimulate exertion to augment the produce. Report by Consul Mark, Marseilles.—In this part of France there -is no resin available for exportation ; on the contrary, considerable quan- tities thereof are imported from Algeria, Corsica, and Greece; the neighbourhood of Bordeaux likewise furnishes a large part of the resin required in these southern departments of France. The resin produced in this neighbourhood is very limited in quantity, the pine woods being more directly valuable for the timber and fuel they afford. The forests likewise have been so excessively drained for many years past, that the government has recently found it requisite to call the attention of the public and the local authorities to the necessity of replanting extensive districts which were formerly wooded, and whose present bareness has caused long-prevailing droughts. Large quantities of resin are used in Marseilles in the manufacture of soap, which is most extensively carried on here. The resin imported from abroad arrives here in a rough state, very inferior to that received from Bordeaux. That produced in this neighbourhood is also of a very unsatisfactory description. It is now sold, nevertheless, for treble the price demanded before the commencement of the American War. The present price, however, is not likely to stimulate any great production in this part of France, and as, if necessary, an unlimited supply of resin might be drawn from the Landes in the south-west of France, no one in this Consular district appears disposed to start an enterprise of this nature. Report by Consul Lacroix, Nice—Notwithstanding the rich resinous forests which cover the Maritime Alps, and also a very large extent of the adjoining Department of the Var, no industry exists in this place or its neighbourhood for collecting the resinous juice from the different species of trees which form these forests. The resins used at Nice are mostly derived from Dax, near Bayonne. The resinous forests of the Maritime Alps are formed of two species of 104 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. pines (Pinus maritima and Pinus sylvestris), the fir (Pinus Picea), and the larch (Pinus Lariz). These forests cover a surface of about 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land, and yield annually from 12,000 to 13,000 trees, which are cut for timber. The price of a well-grown, straight, and healthy tree averages from 15 to 16 francs; badly-grown and ill-shaped trees, unfit for building purposes, are valued from 2 to 3 francs each. ‘he larch tree principally grows on the summits of the mountains ; the pine and the fir tree extend in many localities as far down as the sea. The Estrel Mountains, which border the sea in the Department of the Var, are covered with the Pinus maritima. The principal forests in the Maritime Alps are situated in the com- munes of St. Martin de Lantosea, Valdeblora, Isola, St. Dalmas le Sauvage, Ronbion, Clans, La Bolléne, Lonbosca, Saorgio, Le Molinet. Most of these forests belong to government; some few are private property. A eompany wishing to hire these woods for collecting resin would have to apply to the maires of the different communes, the pro- prietors, and also to the Bureau de Conservation des Foréts, established in Nice. Some years ago the distillation of the resinous substances collected from trees was tried in the vicinity of Menton; but the company working this distillery having then to contend with great difficulties and expense occasioned: by the want of carriage-roads—all communica- tions in those mountainous parts being carried on by mules—and also to compete with the resinous productions derived from the Southern States of America, the attempt proved unsuccessful, and was conse- quently abandoned. At the present time, in the absence of supplies from America, which has quite doubled in this market the price of all resins, and with the many new roads which have been lately made, and are still in the course of construction, opening an easy access to the principal mountain com- munes, a company would not meet with the same obstacles and diffi- culties. The attempt, however, should not be made without previous study and investigation on the part of the companies which may feel disposed to work these forests, and a minute inquiry into the details. GrEECE.—Report by Consul Ongley, Patras.—Resin is extracted from the pine in various parts of the Morea. Okes. The province of Corinth produces about . . 700,000 a Ellis oF ibe Messenia __,, f ‘ - 50,000 Other parts produce about. ee 0. Inallabout . ; Equal to 1,250 bend . . 1,000,060 ~~ -— » ry o @ 7 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN, 105 Of this about one-half is used to put into the wine of the country, which absorbs part of it, and the remainder unites with the tartar, and attaches itself to the sides of the casks. This mixture of resin and tartar has lately been subjected to dis- tillation, but it yields but a very small quantity of spirits of turpentine, the residuum being black resin, or colophony, and argol. The other half of the resin produced is exported to other parts of Greece and to foreign countries, part in its natural state and part, after distillation, as spirits of turpentine. Resin is now worth here about 60 leptas per oke, or 17s, 2d, per ewt., and spirits of turpentine 2 drachmas per oke, or 57s. per cwt. The increase in value will augment the production. Mr. Vice-Con- sul Pasqualigo writes from Pyrgos, in Elis, that, with high prices, it might be increased threefold. Some small parcels of resin have lately been exported from this port of Patras to England. Report by Consul Lloyd, Syra.—Resin is produced from the pine-tree, called by the natives of Greece, pefkos. There are two sorts of resin—that which naturally exudes and dries of itself, and which does not contain so much spirit, and that which exudes from incisions made in the same tree, and is more liquid. Of this latter, in 1862 Greece produced 1,000,000 okes, halfofwhich wasused inthe fabrication of winein Greece and Turkey, and the other half was distilled for the spirit of turpentine, and for the resin, its product, all of which was consumed in Turkey and Greece. In 1863, 1,500,000 were produced ; 700 tons went to England, and the rest was consumed in Greece and Turkey for wine and distillation for the spirit of turpentine, and resin, except small quantities which were sent to France and Italy as experiments, 1864, it is expected, will produce about 4,000,000 okes. About 2,000 tons have probably been already sent to Great Britain, exported from Syra, Pirzeus, Chalchida, and Patras; a portion also has been kept for wine in Greece and Turkey, and a portion has also been sent to France and Italy ; the remainder will all go to Great Britain. This year a distilling apparatus, brought from England on purpose, has been established at Chalchis, in Negro- pont. The resin is chiefly produced in the forests from the pine-trees, and from one kind of tree only, namely, that which is used for ship- building. After Negropont, Attica produces the next greatest quantity, the trees being more scattered there, as the woods have been destroyed, and they destroy them still for the cultivation of the ground; next, Eastern Greece—that is, Megarida, north of the Isthmus of Corinth, where the woods are also scattered—and near Corinth itself, and from between Lutraki and Calamaki; also Argeo, near Patras; near and opposite Zante and the Ionian Islands, and about Sparta. The inhabi- tants of certain villages had the business of making the incisions in the trees from old times, and were called Koulouricks, from Koulouri, the name of a village, and this occupation they followed in Attica, anciently called Eleusina. The incisions are made in the month of June, in the 106 TH SUPPLY OF RESIN. trunks and branches of the trees. The turpentine runs into a hole made for the purpose, and continues running during about six weeks, according to the weather. In hot weather it runs most ; but in wet and cold weather it does not run. As in Greece, it is hotter, and there are less rain and damp than in Turkey, so Greece produces most. A young and strong tree, say of twelve years, produces seven okes, The first year the tree is cut it produces little, and the expense is greater the first year; the second, third, and fourth year more runs, and with less ex- pense, as it exudes from the old cuts as well. In 1865 it is expected 40 per cent. more will be produced, as they have now begun to cultivate the trees and take care of them, instead of cutting them down; and the Greeks calculate that, even with peace in America, they can produce it cheaper. It costs now about 40 leptas per oke in the raw state on the spot, and 52 in Syra, plus the expense of barrels. No duty is levied on its exportation from Greece. Translation from ‘Travels in Greece,. in 1834-37, by Dr. Fielder. Pinus maritima, NevdKn, Dioscorides (Medxos of modern Greeks), is the tree most extensively distributed over Greece; and a shore so desolate and rocky as not to produce some of these pines is rarely to be found. Where it exists alone it is generally stunted, from the rocky soil and exposure to wind and storms; but where they grow thickly on the moist declivities among the hills, or in the sloping plateaux of the mountains, the stems of those of eighty or ninety years’ growth are straight and large, being near 100 feet high, and from two to three feet in diameter. It likes a dry rocky soil, but succeeds best in loose calcareous or sandy clay soil, which need not be very deep, the roots then spreading wide and not penetrating far downwards. It gTOWS as far as 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. At fifteen years it bears seed, but retains the cones, which frequently- are produced direct from the bark of the trunks, and boughs; they: ripen, shed their seed, become dry, and remain on the tree, and hence three kinds of cones are to be found on it at the same time. The open cones are four inches long and three inches in the greatest diameter. These clusters of the old cones, which from a distance appear like great birds’ nests, disfigure the tops of the pines. This tree contains much resin, and on that account is generally cut in such a manner as to impede its growth. If the tree be required to use for its resin it should be left growing for ninety years, and in the last ten or twelve years only the resin taken from it in a regular manner. The collected resin, or the half-ripe and even green cones, are cast in great quantities into the newly made wine, in order by the oil of turpentine contained in them to prevent the wine froin becoming ~ acid. The ancients did this, and hence the pine was sacred to Bacchus. | The so-called pine-wreath or garland for the victors in the Isthmian games was made from this species of pine. THE SUPPLY OF RESIN: 107 - - The pollen of the blossoms affords wax to the bees, the bark serves for tanning, but is as yet little used; it contains according to Nardo 52 per cent. tanning substance, consequently considerably more than the common pine ; the bark can also be used for dyeing a red-brown colour. It contains a good deal of resin, from which particularly good oil of turpentine, resin, pitch, tar, and very fine pine blacking (Kienruss) can be made. Thin straight stems afford most excellent masts. The wood is used for house and shipbuilding, and is esteemed for many other useful purposes. It makes excellent firewood, and its charcoal is better than that of the common pine. According to the same author Pinus Pinea, Pinus Picea, and Pinus Abies, all of which exist in Greece, produce resin and oil of turpentine. GuatEMALA.—Report by Consul Hall.—Various deseriptions of resin, most of them in their natural state, are here to be obtained, no use haying hitherto been made of them by the efforts of industry. Here are to be found different descriptions of balsams, turpentines, liquidambar, vegetable wax, a substance of a candent nature, and which serves for the preparation of candles, wherewith a soft and bril- liant light is obtained. The balsams, which in particular are exported on the coast of Son- sonate, situated on the Pacific of the neighbouring Republic of Salvador, are those which most frequently make their appearance in commerce, and are the only ones that may be considered articles of exportation at present. Each gallon is worth 5 dollars, more or less. The liquidambar, which is likewise exported and is of good quality, bears a varied price; it may, however, be estimated at 3 dollars per gallon. The trade in these articles is conducted on a very small scale, but it is susceptible of great extension if carried on with sufficient means and intelligence. The Indians are those who attend to this source of industry. The pitch pine, from which is extracted the turpentine, is abundant in this Republic, but it is incomparably more so in Honduras. Large quantities might be obtained therefrom, and not at much cost. I cannot state the fixed value, because I know no one who has dedicated himself to this speculation, but on noticing the large number of trees, and loaded as they are with turpentine, it may be calculated that the price of a gallon would be from 4 to 6 rials, but more particularly in the Republic of Honduras, where the forests are near the coast and in a virgin state. Ivaty.—Report by Consul Craig, Cagliari.—The imports of resin into Sardinia are very limited, and the only resin collected in the Island is from the Bastard Olive (Oleaster), at Orosei, on the east coast ;_but it is only in small quantities, and is disposed of as presents, and used in per- fuming apartments. JAPAN.— Report by Acting-Consul Enslie, Hakodadi.—The nearest parts of J apan whence this article is to be procured are Sendai and 108 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. neighbouring provinces. Small quantities of an inferior quality also come from Nambu and Isugaru. Theaverage prices, if bought here, are—best quality, }-boo, or, taking the Mexican dollar at 5s. and 24 boos, gives 6d. per “kin” or 14 Ib.; second quality, 300 cash, or 43d. per kin. A considerable reduction in prices is, however, experienced in con- tracts made in the above mentioned provinces through the Hakodadi brokers and agents, and the cost would then vary from 24d. to 3d. per kin for the superior quality, and 2d. for the inferior resin. Judging by the information 1 have obtained, I think that contracts for 500 or 1,000 piculs might be made to be delivered during the sum- mer months. ! Report by Acting-Consul Gower, Nagasaki.—Notwithstanding the numerous variety and abundant resinous trees in this country, the de- mand for the article is apparently so small that only two kinds are pre- pared. The “thiang,” or red transparent sort, is the most expensive, and costs 60 taels per picul, or (at 5s. per Mexican dollar) 2/. 7s. 11d. for 100 Ibs. The opaque resin is called “ mazu-yani,” and can be purchased for 40 taels per picul, or 17. 12s. per 100 lbs. I have found it impossible to ascertain what quantity might be pro- cured ; but I feel sure that if even a large supply was required for exportation to Europe, the Japanese could soon prepare enough to meet the demand. The first quality is used principally by the natives for the caulking of their junks and preparation of cables, &c., as we use tar. The cheapest resin is used in the preparation of plasters for medical purposes, and for tinker’s work, which is but a very small branch of manufacture in Japan. Mexico.—Report by Consul Glennie.—As itis only very recently that turpentine has come into general use in Mexico for purposes of lighting streets and houses, the source of supply of this ingredient, and conse- quently of rosin, from the apparently inexhaustible pine forests by which the valley of Mexico is surrounded, might naturally be supposed to be undiminished ; such, however, is far from being the case, for al- though there do exist laws for the protection of Mexivan woods and forests, they are very seldom enforced, and the Indians, left to them- selves, whilst cutting timber or tapping for turpentine, waste a hundred times more than they need to do. In fact, the work of destruction has been carried to such an extent during the last few years that serious complaints have recently been made to the government by individuals and by corporations; and it is expected that a special and very stringent law will ere long be promulgated, with the view of protecting the forests of this district from such wholesale demolition. ° : With regard to the quantity of resin in my immediate district, there — so) THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 109 is at this moment a stock on hand of about 250,000 quintals, and I have been informed by persons possessing practical knowledge of the subject, that the forests within a radius of thirty-five miles from the capital are capable of producing 200 quintals of resin per month. With respect to quality, I have merely to say that the resin produced in this district, and sold in the shops of Mexico, is of a dark colour, and may safely be termed an inferior class of produce ; susceptible, however, of improvement by refining. Dolls. c. Cost—The wholesale price of resin delivered in this ~ elty is, per quintal , : : ; OBE Freight to Vera Cruz, per quintal 5 ‘ Siewe 0 Ditto from Vera Cruz to England, per quintal o Onaes Packing, shipping, and other charges, 5S percent ... 0 4 Making in all, per Mexican quintal 4 16 Consequently, 1 cwt. of resin, the produce of the forests of this dis- _ trict, would cost, at the exchange of 48d. per dollar, 18s. 4d., placed in any port of the United Kingdom. The excessive cost of transport will I imagine, render this produce of the table-land of Mexico unavailable for English manufacturers. PrersiA.—Report by Consul-General Abbott, Tabreez.—Resin is not an article produced in this province, nor have I ever heard of it as a production of Persia, which, with the exception of the strip of country lying on the western and southern shore of the Caspian, which is densely clothed with forest, and certain districts in the interior possessing a low growth of wood, is a vast tract of bare mountain, plain, and desert. Turpentine, however, which is employed for some of the purposes to which resin is applied, is produced in Koordistan, and is brought here from thence in some quantity. It is the production of a tree of close, hard grain, and of small growth. Iam assured that about 1,000 mule loads, or about 2,600 cwt., of this article, of the several qualities, may be purchased here in the course of the year. The prices at Tabreez are at present 34,th to 42th kesans per maun of 640 misculs, which would be equal, at the present exchange of kesans 2142ths per 10., severally to about 48s., 51s. 3d., and 56s. per cwt. The carriage Biba hence by camels to Erzeroum, and nates by mules to the sea cost at Trebizond, would amount to about 35 kesans per load, or about 12s. per cwt.; and there would be five per cent. cus- toms duty here and 3 per cent. transit duty in Turkey to pay, besides minor expenses of packing, &c., which would probably be covered by 2 per cent. more on the pci price. Prrvu.—Report by Mr. Jerningham, Lima.—I find from a conversa- tion which I have had with a gentleman here, Mr. Nation, who is well versed in botany, &c., that there are two treesin Peru, namely, the “euiacum” and“ copal,” from which resin, if required, could be produced in great quantities, 110 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. The “opal,” is found in the districts on the eastern side of the Andes, and the “guiacum” in North Peru, in the country beyond Pinra. In Chile he tells me there are large forests of the Auracaria imbricata, which gives resin; this, however, is different from the Awracaria Braziliensis that abounds, I think I have been told, near the Brazilian frontier of Paraguay. I am not aware that resin from the “ copal” or “ guiacum” is used in Peru, for what is required here appears to be imported from the United States of North America. Russia.—Report by Consul Renney, Archangel.-— Notwithstanding the unusual facilities for obtaining resin in this part of Russia, the arti- cle is only collected and manufactured in the Velsk district of the Vologda Government. Many years ago the quantity produced amounted to above 8,000 cwt., but the introduction of more stringent forest regula- tions had the effect of reducing the production to about 1,500 ewt. Under the stimulus of high prices for home consumption, caused by the want of American resin, the quantity has this year again increased to about 3,000 cwt., and next year it will probably be more, but still nothing in comparison to what it might become were the production to extend to other districts. Besides the Velsk there are other large districts, both inthe Vologda and Archangel governments, where almost the sole employment of the people is the manufacture of tar, and where the tar is principally pro- duced from growing trees, namely, pine. In order to fit the wood for the purpose, its bark is, during several years, gradually stripped off to some height from the ground, and during this process the resin exudes. In the Velsk district the resin is scraped off and collected for manufac- ture in the autumn ; but in the districts to which I allude it is allowed to remain, andis, I may say, wasted. The additional quantity of tar which the trees may produce in consequence of the resin not being removed must, I am led to believe, be very trifling indeed, for in felling and carrying the trees from the forest and in cutting them up, the resin is knocked off. As there are several pitch works in these districts, the resin could be easity manufactured. The attention of the pitch manufacturers has either not been directed to the article, or their capital may be insufficient to engage in the manufacture of resin. For their pitch they find a ready market at this port, and obtain advances of money on the article during winter ; whereas resin has hitherto only been saleable in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where it has to be sent by land carriage. By a reduction of the excise duty on resin the government might stimulate the production of the article. This would not cause even a temporary loss to the revenue, for the same trees that now produce tar alone would produce both tar and resin. Regulations might also be issued by the government which would tend to cause the resin to be extracted in the first instance from trees felled for export. ' THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 11k With some such encouragement on the part of the government, com- bined with an export demand, I am convinced, that in a few years a very large quantity of resin could and would be produced in my Consular district ; but, for the present, the supply being insufficient for the home consumption, no demand for export can be met. There is a coarser sort of resin, however, made from tar in the same manner as pitch, of which a large quantity could at once be furnished for exportation, the quantity of pitch exported hence this year having been about 90,000 cwt. The quality of the resin produced in Velsk is inferior to the American, probably owing to carelessness in the manufacture. The difference of _ value between the two is, I am informed, about 3s. percwt. The colour of the Russian is almost black. The kind produced from tar is but a superior sort of pitch and has the same colour. Previous to the war in America the value of resin in Velsk did not exceed 9s. per cwt.. but this year as high as 25s. per cwt. has been paid for it. There being water communication to this port from all the districts which could fur- nish resin, the cost of delivering it in England would be about the same as the transport to Moscow and St. Petersburg, say about 3s. 6d. per cwt. The value of the resin from tar is from 20 to 25 per cent. above that of pitch, and may be named at present at 12s. per cwt. free on board ship, or at 14s. per cwt. deliverablein Great Britain. Satvapor.—Report of Consul Hall, Sonsonate—The Governor of Chalatenango reports that any quantity of excellent resin may be sup- plied at that department at the price of one dollar per arroba (25 lbs.). He mentions the names of fourteen districts within hisjurisdiction abound- ing in pine forests which might yield an unlimited supply. The moun- tains of that department bearing this tree are situated at distances of from five leagues and upwards from the town of Chalatenango. The distance from this town to Libertad is only forty leagues over good roads. In the vicinity of Santa Anna, distant twenty leagues from the Port of Acajutla, there are also extensive forests of pine trees capable of yielding good resin. The Governor of Sonsonate reports favourably of the quality of the resin brought for consumption in this town from the mountains on the border line of Guatemala, and gives the price of that sold here at 3 cents per lb. The Governor of San Salvador states that he has had personally much experience inthis article, which he considers of great importance to the country, and can testify to the excellence of the quality of that brought from the pueblos of Tejutla and La Palma, in the department of Chala- tenango, which he has bought at the price of 3 dollars per quintal (100 lbs.), and even as low as 2 dollars, and he-believes that in large quantities it might be obtained cheaper. VOL, VI. . . L 112 , THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. Some samples have been brought to me which I have had inspected by intelligent persons, and they report very favourably of their quality. PHILIPINES.—Report by Vice-Consul Webb, Manila.—Resin is not produced in the Philippines, and at present there is not an ounce of that article in the market. I believe that nearly the entire quantity of resin in the world, except a small amount that is procured from Sweden, comes from the United States, and principally that of North Carolina. There is, however, abundantly produced in the Philippines an article known in commerce as almaciga, or mastic, and which is obtained like resin from a tree. It is exported to some extent, and is used in Great Britain and Europe in the manufacture of varnish. I think it may be substituted for resin should the scarcity of the latter continue. It is pro- duced in nearly all the provinces of the Philippines ; andif the importers of resin in England be desirous of giving it a trial, the cheapest and most expeditious way of obtaining it would be to order it through Her Majesty’s Vice-Consuls at Sual and Iloilo. The price of almaciga, or gum mastic, here varies with the demand. It generally averages from 4 to 6 dollars the picul of 140 lbs., according to the quality. SwWEDEN.—Report by Consul Engstrém, Gottenburg. — Of native Swedish resin the production is small, the quality very inferior, being quite black, opaque, and impure, and the price nearly equal to the foreign. It is brought down here fromthe north of Sweden in small parcels only according to the demand, and the present stock at this place is not more 2 or 3 ecwt. Were a good market open for the sale of Swedish resin, the produc- * tion in the northern parts of the country might be greatly extended, and with a little more care in preparing it, the quality also improved. The present price of Swedish resin is about 30s. per cwt. English. Report by Consul Hunt, Stockholm.—Hitherto, resin has been an import, not an export ; notwithstanding that the vast forests of Sweden are composed almost entirely of resin-producing spruce and fir, and that the wood cut in them, for most of its present uses, would be improved by the abstraction of its juices. The high prices of the article, which have risen from about 10s. to 30s. per cwt., have now induced some persons to embark in its produc- tion ; and there is a probability that this, once commenced, may lead to a regular trade of importance. There is ab present no stock for expor- tation. Resin is obtained by stripping the growing tree of its bark in spring when the substance exudes, in greater or less quantity according to cir- cumstances, and yields about 1 lb, for every ten or fifteen square feet of bared wood, or between 7 and 10 lbs. of liquid resin per tree. As the cutting of the forests has been computed by Swedishstatistical writers to be 10,000,000 of tons yearly, it follows in this case, that the + ; . production of resin might be carried up to 500,000 or 1,000,000 cwt. It is in favour of such a trade that it requires no great permanent invest~ ment; but it is impossible to say to what extent even the present strong inducements will establish it. Resin may be exported in its liquid form, as produced, or used for the distillation of turpentine spirit yielding about one-half of its weight of the hard brown resin of commerce. In either case, it would be best shipped in casks containing 23 cwt. Turkbty.—Report by Acting-Consul Heidenstam, Aleppo.—The annual produce of resin in this district may be computed at about 225 cantars equal to about 1,125 cwt. There are two different qualities. The superior kind, of which about 25 cantars, or 125 cwt., are annually sold at Aleppo, and is known in trade here as “dufr resin,” is almost all exported to England. It is worth at present in the Aleppo market from 1,800 to 1,900 piastres per cantar, about 2/. 10s. per cwt., free of all charges, ex- cept the Custom duty of 8 per cent., if exported.. The second quality, of which a very small portion is exported to England, is valued at 1,000 piastres per cantar, or 1/. 14s per cwt., and is principally used by local manufacturers, or exported to other towns in Turkey. Report by Consul-General Kemball, Bagdad.—Resin in the form of inspissated turpentine is imported into Bagdad from the Kurdish Moun- tains and Persia ; and the supply, hitherto limited to the demand in this market, is said to be abundant, and susceptible of large increase for pur- poses of exportation. The quality I understand to be superior. The price, hitherto subject to little or no fluctuation, is 2$d. and 3d. per Ib. Distillation not being practised in this country resin divested of oil of turpentine is imported from India to the small extent required for local consumption. Report by Consul-General Longworth, Belgrade.—Resin is prepared in small quantities by the Servian peasants from the fir tree, principally in the forests on the Bosnian and Albanian frontiers. ‘There is, however, no regular manufactory ; what is made is of a very crude sort, and is entirely consumed -in the country itself, none being exported. By a recent proposition of the National Assembly the destruction of the forests in Servia, by the indiscriminate cutttng of timber and the manu- facture of potash, was sought to be prevented. These circumstances may stop the manufacture of the present small quantity made, which does not now average more than 100 tons yearly. Its value here is about 5/. the ton. The rate of freight between the south of Servia, where the ‘resin is made, and England, vid the Save, Sissek, and Trieste, is about 117. the ton. Report by Consul Sandison, Brussa.— Resin is procurable here from the forests on the skiyts of Mount Olympus, and usually to the extent of 120 to 200 tons annually. But on demand the supply could probably be very considerably increased up to the amount of labour at command The forests partly belong to the Porte and partly to the villagers ; but \ THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 113 114 THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. except in regulating the rights of parties by personal title or licence as renters, the trade is under no restriction, and the authorities profess their readiness to facilitate its extension. There are three sorts, the two inferior respectively worth 25 and 40 per cent. less than the best, which | is good quality, costing 2 piastres the oke, with th piastre more of car- | riage to the coast, in all 112 piastres, or 20s, 8d. the ewt. delivered there ~ (exchange 112 piastres per 1/. sterling). An extra demand might of course raise the price, and contracts must are made in advance ; best from March. During the fine season it may be shipped from the open roadstead of Mundania; but Ghio or Ghemlex, at the bottom of the gulf, is the safe accessible port at all times. Vessels freighted on purpose might load the article direct for England, or it might be forwarded across to Constan- tinople by the station steamers, or small craft, for transhipment from thence to its destination, as most convenient. The export duty from March 1865 will ve 5 per cent., or about 53d. per cwt., on the white or best resin, with the annual reduction of 1 per cent. till it falls to that. Report by Consul Callander, Dardanelles—No resm had been ex- ported from this Consular district previous to the present year (1864). The quantity expected to be exported up to the end of the year is esti- mated at 120 tons. This resin is colleeted by the Yourouk tribes, but from the cbinbikg of labour and the difficulty of conveyance to the port of shipment the sup- ply is likely to remain limited ; otherwise it is capable of being increased to 800 or 1,000 tons and upwards a-year. The quality of the resin is not very good ; it is mixed with pieces of bark and adulterated with water. The price, free on board, has fluctuated from 5/. to 127. a ton. Rate of freight to Great Britain about 30s, a ton. Report. by Consul Stuart, Janina.—The quantity of resin annually collected in Epirus is very limited, but it might be increased to a con- siderable amount. From the mountain forrests in the Arta districts about 800 lbs. weight is obtained every year, all of which is used in the country, as it has heretofore been in no demand for exportation. But I have been assured that under the stimulus of a brisk foreign demand > the same forests could be made to yield as much as 50,000 lbs. Inclosed are two specimens of this Arta resin, from which its quality may be judged ; that marked No. ,1 sells in the country at 5d. per lb., No. 2 at 4d. _ At present but a very imperfect idea can be formed of the quantiy of resin that might be obtained in this country, as, in the absence of profit- able demand, this valuable article is but little sought after ; but it may be fairly presumed that considerable supplies of it are left to waste in the pine forests which abound in most of the mountain districts of Epirus. Report by Consul Calvert, Monastir.—The ie locality proineiad 4 resin in this Consular euinicks is the pine-forest of Poretch, situated * Aa ~~“ 2 | | | | aa THE SUPPLY OF RESIN. 115 the vicinity of Krushova, a large village in the Caza of Kritzhovo, to the north of Monastir. During the month of October the bark of the pine trees is slit, and the resinous gum allowed to flow into pits excavated at their foot. The gum is thencarried to the manufactories, of which there are four, namely, one at Krushova and one at Perlépé, both eigkt hours distance from this town, and two in the town of Monastir. Each of these manufactories turn out 6,000 to 8,000 okes (150 to 200 cwt.) of resin annually, just sufficient for local consumption, since none has ever hitherto been exported. The manufacture of resin consists in boiling the gum as it comes from the trees, and thus separating the turpentine. The residue is a dirty yellow-coloured resin, which is made up by hand into balls the size of an orange. Its wholesale price on the spot is 25 paras | the oke (about 4s. 6d. per cwt.). If there were a demand for it abroad it could be run into boxes containing about 140 lbs. weight, two of which would form a horse-load : it would then cost about 6d. per cwt. less. Its transport to the nearest shipping place (Salonica) would be 15 to 20 paras the oke (2s. 8d. to 3s. 7d., nearly, the cwt.) according to the season, it being cheaper in summer than in winter. The manufactories, accord- ing to present requirements, work only three months in the year, opening early in October and closing early in January. The aggregate quantity of resin now produced at the four manufac- tories above-mentioned amounts to only 600 to 800 cwt., and its value 135/. to 1807. This quantity could easily be doubled if there were a demand for it, subject however, to the condition that the buyer of any quantity in excess of what is required for local consumption should also purchase the turpentine with the resin, there being but a limited demand in the country for turpentine. The proportion of turpentine to resin is, as nearly as I can ascertain, about ten,per cent. Oil of turpentine sells on the spot at 10 piastres the oke weight, or 73s. 6d. per cwt. Report by Consul Reade, Scutari.—Resin comes from Porece, in the province of Uscup, five days distant from this, where it is collected from the fir and pine trees that abound in that district. It is extracted in the month of May, and is brought here during the cold months, asin the hot weather it is difficult to transport, from its melting, The quantity that could be had per annum I have not been able to ascertain. I am assured that it might be contracted for, free on board in one of the ports of this province at about 4 piastres per oke (about 3d. per Ib.) Contracts for the resin in question should be made as early as possi- ble, so as to afford sufficient time to collect the materials for the extrac- tion of the resin before May. Report by Consul Cumberbatch, Smyrna.—The Ottoman government has forbidden the collection of resin in Olivali and the neighbouring districts. There are, however, vast tracts of resin pine forests in this district, also at Adrimiti, Avdjilar, Casak, and Avunia, as well as in the vicinity of Mount Ida ; if the Ottoman government permitted 116 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. the destruction of the trees, and a large and abundant supply of resin might be obtained from these districts, Although there are vast tracts of resinous pine plantations, the peo- ple of the island of Scio, have never extracted any, except for their own private use. . , It is stated that 100 to 150 tons might be collected in six months on the island of Mytilene. No doubt, if permission to extract were given, and a better method adopted for collecting the resin, a much larger supply might be obtained from this district. The quality of the resin is good, though not so clear as the American resin. The price is about 14 piastres per oke, or about 11/. per ton. ZANZIBAR.—RHeport by Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair.—Of the common resin of eommerce, the produce of coniferous trees, there is none obtain- able here; but other valuable resins are found on the East Coast of Africa, and exported to India, England, and the Continent of Europe. Of these the most important, and almost the only one exported from Zanzibar, is copal, which is found both in a fossil and a recent state ; the average price is about 6 lbs. for one Austrian dollar, and during the year 1863-64 163,353 dollars worth was exported to the following places :— | Dollars. United Kingdom _.. 5 : = te 30,030 British Undia of S00 os ee Kertch - 3 : 5 ‘ : : 500 . United States. i d ; : : 5,000 | Hamburgh 050.000 5 See © ee . Vialy 86 oe PCE ORS ees rr Total”. d : : ‘ : . 163,353 The quantity of other resins, principally oblibanum or frankincense, was hardly appreciable ; that is exported from the African Coast, west of Cape Guardafui, principally to the Aden and Bombay markets. WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. BY THE EDITOR. Amonest the multitude of materials which have been proposed for the manufacture of paper, perhaps wood has been suggested the greatest number of times. On several occasions the manufacture has been suc- cessfully carried out, and we saw some years ago really good paper for printing purposes produced from deal shavings by the patent of J.and ©. Watt. We are induced to take up the subject now by finding atten- _ tion prominently drawn to wood pulp for paper in the ‘Paper Makers’ a - WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 117 Monthly Journal,’ and from the fact that this wood pulp is advertised for sale in London. We have specimens in our collection of many wood papers, and also of wood pulp which was shown at the Exhibition in 1862 from Sweden and Germany. A French lady has succeeded in manufacturing excellent paper from wood, and at a price much lower than that made from rags. Her method consists chiefly in the use of a new kind of machinery for reducing the wood to fine fibres, which are afterwards treated with the alkalis and acids necessary to reduce them to pulp, and the composition is finally bleached by the action of chlorine. By means of a series of parallel vertical wheels, armed with fine points, which are caused to pass over the surface of the wood in the direction of its fibres, the surface of the wood is marked, and the outer layer is formed into a kind of net, with- out woof, composed of separate threads. This layer of fine threads is afterwards removed by means of a plane, whichis passed across the wood, and the portion thus removed, which resembles lint or flax, is then treated with chlorine, &. Specimens have thus been made consisting of a mix- ture of 80 per cent. of wood pulp, and 20 per cent. of rag pulp, and sheets have been tried by printers, lithographers, and others, with very satisfactory results. It is the unanimous opinion of the engravers and lithographers who have used it, that paper made according to this me- ‘thod, from wood, and which costs only 167. per ton is quite equal to the China paper, which costs 214/. per ton. It is confidently expected that experiments upon a large scale will confirm the results already obtained. The range of choice of wood for paper making is by no means limited ; the pine family contributes, however, most largely to the manufacture. But another question of economy arises which has ex- cited much inquiry and invention, namely, the most advantageous method of reducing solid wood to the requisite degree of fineness for subsequent treatment. The most ingenious method of disintegrating the fibre of wood which we have yet heard of isa Yankee “ notion.” Wood is placed in a cannon, the mouth of which is plugged up. High-pressure steam is then forced in through the touch-hole, and when the pressure rises to a sufficient degree, the plug, together with the wood, is blown out, the latter being reduced to the appearance of wool by the expansive force of the steam, with which its pores have been filled whilst in the cannon. Experiments conducted by Mr. Robertson, at the Albion Foundry, Hobart Town, to illustrate the practicability of thus exploding bark into fibre by steam power, proved highly successful: the bark, which was inserted in large solid masses into what we may call the steam-digester, being discharged in the shape of a fine fibre. . * In some Belgian paper-mills wood is now used asa substitute for rags, to the extent of from 20 to 30 per cent., for printing papers. Early in 1826, the brothers Cappucino, papermakers of Turin, dis- covered the means of supplying the want of rags by the fabrication of 118 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. paper from the thin bark of the poplar, with one or two other kinds of wood. The Academy of Sciences having examined the specimens of writing, printing, and wrapping paper thus produced, acknowledged their goodness and praised the invention. The King granted to the brothers an exclusive privilege for ten years for the manufacture of paper from ligneous materials. In 1838, James Vincent Desgrand took out a patent in this country for making paper and pasteboard with wood reduced into a state of paste, and of the different sorts of wood that came under the denomina- tion of white woods, he found poplars answer the best. In 1855, Wil- liam Johnson was granted a patent for improvements in the application of various substances containing woody fibre to the manufacture of white paper pulp, as the inner bass of the lime tree and other Tiliacezx, the willow, birch, and elder. * In 1857 and 1858, Mr. W. E. Newton took out patents for improved methods of preparing wood pulp. The wood pulp on Volter’s patent has been tried in America, and a very satisfactory article produced from it. The Boston papers have already printed on it, and from some stray copies that have reached this country it seems to be successful in its result. The colour is white and the body is tough, which cannot be said of American newspaper generally, while it prints well. A very excellent method of manufacturing paper and pasteboard pulp from wood, originally invented by M. Hartmann, has been im- proved upon by Mr. Schlesinger, of Bradford, who, after taking much trouble to introduce the plan into this country, is now, as the working partner of the inventor, conducting the process with great success. As the manufacture of paper is a subject at present forcing itself upon public attention, it seems desirable to give prominence to every good improvement relating to it. Process ;—Cut a tree (say 6 feet long and 2 feet diameter) into nine lengths of 8 inches by 2 feet diameter each ; place these blocks into the boxes, with the fibres running in the same direction as the stone turns; lever them ; then start the stone at the rate of about 200 revolutions per minute. By the foregoing process a fibrous pulp is obtained equal to that of ordinary rag pulp, and lower in price. Moreover, this wood pulp has the advantage of absorbing a greater quantity of mineral than ordinary rag pulp, without deteriorat- ing the srtength of the pasteboard or paper. Light or hard woods will take the dye of even the most delicate colours as readily as rag pulp. According to Mr. Schlesinger’s calculation, he produces a pound of dry wood pulp at about one penny, and makes no doubt that, in districts where wood and power can be had cheaper than at Bradford, it may be made at five-eighths to three-fourths of a penny per pound of “dry pulp. The cheapest classes of wood, as fir, pine, poplar, willow, -&c., suit his purpose best. We have had highly satisfactory specimens of the papers and pasteboards above enumerated submitted to our in- = spection. WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 119 We see that the idea of making a paper pulp out of wood is not new, but the trials to which such pulp was subjected at first did not succeed well, as the inventors only aimed at the production of a fine sawdust, or wood powder, which, by the shortness of its fibre, possessed no felting property, and had therefore soon to be rejected. Mr. Volter, paper-maker of Heidenheim in Germany, who com- menced twenty-five years ago touse wood pulp for his papers, succeeded after many trials with sawdust and wood powder in making an efficient pulp, by separating the wood into its elementary fibres, and this pulp is capable of being used largely with ordinary and middle fine papers. It has been generally employed in Germany and Belgium; and Mr. Gratiot, President of the French Paper-makers’ Club, called the atten- tion of French paper-makers to this pulp in his speech lately delivered with reference to the abolition of the export duty on rags in France. Besides the above-named countries, these machines are at work in France, Denmark, Austria, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden, altogether sixty-one having been sold by Mr. Volter during the last three years. We have also seen some samples of wood pulp prepared by these machines, the purity and fineness of which is really surprising. Fir wood pulp shows a somewhat yellowish colour, but aspen wood pulp is white. We let Mr. Vélter speak for himself about the capabilities of his pulp — “* Wood pulp can be used with rag pulp according to the quality of the rag pulp and the quality of the paper required, in quantities of 15 to 80 per cent.; generally the following proportions are taken :— “Fifteen to eHiity per cent. for middling writing and printing papers. “Thirty to fifty per cent. for common writing and printing papers. “Fifty to eighty per cent. for paper hangings, mill boards and .paste- boards can be made entirely of wood pulp. “ The application of wood pulp does not in the least exclude the use of China clay, analine, or pearl white, wherever these substances are admis- sible ; fir and pine wood pulp especially bear China clay extremely well. “For printing papers wood pulp is very well fit, because “1. It prevents in a great degree the transparency of the paper. “2. The papers containing wood pulp show a clear, sharp impres- sion, and consume less ink, « 3. The types are less worn out than with other papers, because wood, pulps contain no hard, impure parts. “For thin and tissue papers, where China clay is totally unfit, wood pulp can be taken in large quantities. “ The sizing and colouring of the paper is in no way hindered by an addition of wood pulp, as it takes size and colour just as well as rag pulp. Although wood pulp cannot be bleached cheaply, it is not ex- eluded thereby from the manufacture of better papers, as a small ad- mixture of China clay or the overbleaching of the accompanying rag pulp does hereby good service. VOL, VI. M 120 WOOD PULP FUR PAPER. ‘“A paper-manufacturer working with water power can easily aug- ment his yearly production’ by the use of wood pulp. In the summer months when the water supply of many a factory often sinks to the half of its normal state, and the rag engines cannot be worked for want of power, the production of paper can be kept on a corresponding height by using wood pulp, its proper mixture with the rag pulp re- quiring little labour and consuming little power. But in regular times, those that know how to use wood pulp also find it easy to augment their daily production to a certain degree, by giving to the paper machine a higher speed than it is commonly worked at. “The advantages to be gained by the application of wood pulp may be summed up as follews :— “], Its cheap price compared to that sort of rags which wood pulp is capable of replacing. “2, Its great natural purity and fineness of fibre, in which qualities the wood pulp far surpasses common rag pulp, and it is made wholly by mechanical operations, untouched by any chemical process. “3. Its capability of quick application, as it leaves the wood pulp machine.as a ready ground pulp, and can be used without any further manipulations. “4, Rag pulp, which is mixed with wood pulp, requires less washing than unmixed rag pulp to obtain a paper of equally light tint ; there is consequently less waste, and a saving of time and power. “5. Paper manufacturers using wood pulp require less rag engines, and by the power they save thereby can increase their production. “6. Wood pulp paper can be made with less expenses than other paper.” At the Dublin Exhibition this year Mr. C. A. Koether of Cassel received a medal for the excellence and cheapness of his wood pulp and the samples of paper made therefrom shown in the Zollverein depart- ment. Mr. W. K. Sullivan in his report for the jury states—“ Many years ago, several attempts were made to employ wood as a material for paper. It was only, however, within the last fifteen years that the pecu- liar difficulties which wood offers to being converted into a good uniform pulp, free from lumps and capable of flowing evenly on the guage of the paper machine, have been successfully overcome. Two manufacturers appear to have obtained this practical success, M. Chauchard, of Paris, and Herr H. Volter, (H. Vélter’s Sohne) of Heidenheim, in Wurtem- berg. Mr. Vélter especially seems to have made wood one of the regu- lar raw materials of paper, for several pulp manufactories on his system have been set up in Germany, France, and elsewhere. Mr. Koether seems to work upon Volter’s system. He exhibits sam- — ples of different qualities of “stuff” made from four woods, the linden, the aspen, the pine, and the Scotch fir. These samples, which are of ex- cellent quality, are of very moderate price. He charges for fifty kilo- grammes or 110 lbs. the following prices :— . ; WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 121 No 1. No 2. No 38. Linden, aspen, 51 Thalers 44 Thalers 34 Thalers and pine stuff. or about 16s. or about 13s. or about 10s. Scotch fir 44 Thalers 32Thalers 3 Thalers stuff. or about 13s. or about lls. or about 9s. The samples of paper made from mixtures of rags with diferent pro- portions of these pulps are excellent, and show a decided progress in wood paper manufacture since 1862. Among them may be specially mentioned a good writing paper, containing 45 per cent. of Scotch fir stuff ; an excellent tough lapping paper, containing 65 per cent. of the same material; and a coloured lapping tissue paper, which is ex- ceedingly strong, containing 50 per cent. of wood pulp. The Hobart Town ‘ Mercury’ draws attention to the bark of the “ Tea-tree” (the broad-leaved is a Leptospermum, and the narrow-leaved. a Melaleuca), which abounds in the forests of Tasmania, as admirably adapted for the manufacture of paper. Nature manufactures paper from it “of her own accord.”’ “ During the summer months, when the trees shed their leaves and bark, these accumulate in the gullies and dry ereeks. So soon as they are brought into contact with the water they form of themselves a thick pulp, which spreads itself over the uneven surface of the water-courses, and which, after it has been deserted by the water, remains spread out into a huge sheet of stiff brown paper. The supply is inexhaustible. The rough bark peels off in numerous thin membranous folds. A species of Eucalyptus, the Stringy-bark tree (E. obliqua or E. fabrorum), constitutes, in very extensive mountain districts of Victoria, the principal part of the forests. Hence it is not improbable that its bark, which is readily separable, thick, and fibrous, although not tena- cious, will not merely continue to supply the roof for the first rustic dwellings of the settlers, but may eventually be drawn into use for the manufacture of a coarse paper, although neither this nor other native products, (Isolepis nodosa, Stipa crenata, Leptospermee and Lavatera plebia) are likely to yield a paper comparable to the available maize leaves and stalks in Australia. The bark of the large-leaved Nettle-tree of Australia (Urticu gigas), a tree very plentiful in the cedar »rushes upon the banks of the Clarence, in New South Wales, might be utilized. The bark is from } to 1 inch thick, and consists of a large proportion of fibre, the interstices of which are filled with a watery juice and soft vegetable matter, both of which are easily removed by crushing or beating the bark until it becomes nearly dry. Steeping in water will not succced : the whole of the bark rots together. Should this material be found suitable for making ropes, bags, or paper, a large quantity might be procured at from 3d. to 4d. per pound, provided some cheap and portable machine could be found to prepare it readily. M 2 122 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. Two pairs of roliers, worked by a horse, would do the work effectually : one pair of the rollers to bruise the bark moderately in the first instance, and the second pair sufficiently close to squeeze out the watery and pulpy matter. This, with washing and drying, would partially prepare it ; or some scutching or tearing machine, which would separate the fibres, might be found best adapted for the purpose. — In the year 1800, Matthias Koops patented a method of extracting ink from printed and written paper, and re-converting such pulp into writing and printing paper. In the following year he also obtained a patent for manufacturing paper from hay, straw, thistles, waste and refuse of hemp and flax, and different kinds of wood and bark. The graceful and useful bamboo is the source of paper supply in China. The paper made from its culm is sufficient to meet the common demands of the Chinese. It is, for the most part, of a quality unfit for European books and newspapers, but in some places the article is manu- factured with such care as to answer even for foreign writing-paper. The Anglo-Chinese newspapers, however, find it better to import their material from England. The paper mulberry also contributes to the paper demand in China, and so does rice-straw. Does the reader inquire what becomes of the cast-off or, rather, fallen-off garments of the un- counted millions of China? The world of letters can derive no aid from Chinese rags until leather becomes more abundant in that country. Crispin claims them all for soles: the shoes of China have soles an inch thick, formed of suitably-prepared paper rags, fixed with a thin strip of leather. The leaves of Indian corn (Zea mays), have often been experimen- talized on, and recommended as a paper material, but have not yet come into general use. ‘The supply of this waste substance might be very large. The chief use of the leaves, &., hitherto, has been for packing purposes, stuffing mattresses, and wrapping oranges, When we consider the enormous crops of maize in North America alone, the 5 material, if husbanded, might become profitable. Recent experiments id have proved it to possess, not only all the ordinary qualities necessary to make good paper, but to be in many respects actually superior to rags. Indian corn, it is true, cannot be grown except in countries with a certain degree of temperature—at least, not with the prolific result of warmer climates ; yet the plant is of frequent occurrence all over the continent of Europe, and can be easily cultivated to a degree more than sufficient to satisfy the utmost demands of the paper market. Besides, as rags are likely to fall in price before long, owing to the extensive supply of material resulting from this new element, the world of writers and readers would seem to have a brighter future before it than — the boldest fancy would have imagined a very short time ago. ‘This is not the first time that paper has been manufactured from the blade of = Indian corn ; but, strange to say, the art was lost and required to be discovered anew. As early as the seventeenth century, an indiana | _.. / WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 123 paper-manufactory was in full operation at the town,of Rievi, in Italy, and enjoyed a world-wide reputation at the time ; but with the death of its proprietor the secret seems to have lapsed into oblivion. The mani- fold attempts subsequently made to continue the manufacture were always baftled by the difficulty of removing the silicious, resinous, and glutinous matters contained in the blade. The recovery of this process has at last been effected, and is due to the research of one Herr Moritz Diamant, a Jewish writing-master in Austria. Having busied himself for some time in experiments on Indian corn, the ingenious discoverer has at length been rewarded with the desired results of his labour ; and a trial of his method on a grand scale, which was made at the Imperial manufactory of Schligelmdhle, near Glegnitz (Lower Austria), has completely demonstrated the cer- tainty of the invention. Although the machinery, arranged as it was for the manufacture of rag paper, could not, of course, fully answer the-— requirements of Herr Diamant, the results of the essay were extremely favourable. The article produced was of a purity of texture and white- ness of colour that left nothing to be desired; and this is all the more valuable from the difficulty usually experienced in the removal of the impurities from the rags. Knots, and other inequalities of surface, so frequent in the ordinary paper, and which give so much trouble in printing, the new product is entirely free from, and this: without the material undergoing any special process to attain the desired end. Another great advantage, and this in an economical point of view, is the reduction of the steam power required in the manufacture by one- third of its present amount, in consequence of the material being re- duced to pulp by chemical, and not, as at present, mechanical agency. The present proprietor of the invention is Count Carl Octavio Lippe, of Wessentfold, who has bought it-from the originator, and from several experiments deduced the following results :— 1. It is not only possible to produce every variety of paper from the blades of Indian corn, but the product is equal, and in some cases even superior, to the article manufactured from rags. 2. The paper requires but very little size to render it fit for writing purposes, as the pulp naturally contains a large proportion of that necessary ingredient, which can at the same time be easily eliminated if desirable. 3. The bleaching is effected by a very rapid and facile process, and, indeed, for the common light-coloured packing-paper, the process be- comes entirely unnecessary. 4, The Indian corn paper possesses greater strength and tenacity than rag-paper, without the drawback of brittleness, so conspicuous in the common straw products. 5. No machinery being required in the manufacture of this paper 124 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. for the purpose of tearing up the raw material and reducing it to pulp, the expense, both in point of power and time, is far less than is neces- sary for the production of rag paper. Count Lippe having put himself in communication with the Austrian Government, and imperial manufactory for Indian-corn paper (mais-halm papier, as the inventor calls it) is now in course of construc- ~ tion at Pesth, the capital. of the greatest Indian-corn-growing country in Europe. Another manufactory is already in full operation in Swit- zerland ; and preparations are being made on the coast of the Mediter- ranean for the production and exportation, on a large scale, of the pulp of this new material. It is not merely the blades of Indian corn, but the leaves, the tassel, the sheathing of the grain, the cob, and the stalk might all, I believe, be utilized by the paper-manufacturer. A reference to the list of paper materials patented, already given, shows that this substance has often been taken into consideration, but never as yet been obtained in quantity, or manipulated upon satisfactorily. Let us hope that a great traffic will arise in this cheap, and useful material, and that English vessels will, before long, be freighted with ship-loads of books and papers zn futuro. In Brandenburg, with its indifferent soil, and where the temperature is eertainly not higher on the average than that of Great Britain, Indian corn, though a novel introduction, may now be seen on many a sandy acre rearing up its broad leaf blades to a height of half a dozen feet or upwards. Another wild plant which has lately come into general use for paper manufacture is one known as Alfa (Stipa tenacissima), esparto, sparto, or spartum. Several species of this grass grow wild on both shores of the Mediterranean for about five degrees of longitude, and are particu- larly abundant in some of the seaboard provinces of Algeria. They are found upon arid, rocky soils, having bases of silica and iron. In Spain the herbaceous stalks of esparto have been used as a textile for centu- ries, for ropes, mats, sandals, baskets, &c. ; also in the manufacture of a coarse paper. Lygeum spartum, Stipa gigantea, S. barbata, and other species, are also employed. The attention of the French Government has for years past been directed to this plant as a substitute for rags; and in the London Exhi- bition of 1851, samples of alfa, as well as paper made from it, were shown in the Algerian section of French products. In consequence, however, of the difficulty of transport, and the imperfect methods then employed in its preparation, little progress was made ; but the recent legislative enactments in England respecting paper, and the increasing prices of rags abroad, have caused the manufacturers here to pay more attention to this plant, and experience has proved not only its supe- riority to straw, but its perfect adaptability to making paper, either by itself, or when mixed with straw or rags. ; WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 125 The efforts which have been made to utilize more generally the her- baceous stalks of this grass have been attended with the most beneficial results, and for paper pulp it has been found exceedingly valuable pro- ducing paper of great strength and tenacity. A large paper-mill has been established at Arba, near Algiers, and the Akhbar daily paper, one of the oldest journals of Algeria, is now printed on paper of African origin, made of the fibres of alfa, diss (Arundo festucoides), and of the dwarf palm (Chamerops humilis), all wild plants, met with in abun- dance. The prosecution of an export trade in these fibres was long retarded by the stringent customs regulations of France. M. Michel Chevalier, some years ago, pointed out that the man of business-enterprise and capital in Algeria was placed in the same tanta- lizing situation as Sancho Panza in the island of Barataria: in the pre- sence of a table covered with dainty viands, he was continually arrested by the command of the doctor, who prohibited his touching the various. delicacies which tempted his appetite. “The plains of Algeria,” wrote M. Chevalier, “offer, without cul- ture, a plant excellently adapted for making paper of the first quality : this is alfa, or esparto. The importation into France is permitted in the. rough state—that is, with the stalks or stems tied up in bundles, like forage. From their excessive bulk, it is scarcely possible to transport. them profitably any great distance, or to ship them; but when, by maceration, it is made intoa pulp, and greatly diminished in weight and bulk, so as to be conveniently transportable, it is prohibited in France. The time is coming, however, when France will be open with- out duties to all Algerian produ ctions.” Recent measures, taken by the Minister for Algeria, have aur modified the customs regulations for French colonies. All its natural products, and a great many of its industrial and manufactured products, are now freely admitted. The alfa, in its wild state, grows in a tuft or clump, of which only such stalks as have come to maturity and are full of sap ought to be gathered. If gathered too green, it produces a transparent fibre, with immense waste; if, on the other hand, too ripe, the constituent ele- ments of silica and iron are with difficulty removed. The proper months for the harvest in Africa are, therefore, April to June. It must be gathered by hand, and left to dry for a week or ten days, before being removed for packing. From the green to the dry state it loses 40 per cent. of its weight ; but even in this latter condition it is so cum- bersome that when shipped in loose bundles, one ton weight occupies from four to five tons space. When placed under a hydraulic press, however, it can be packed into bales, with iron hoops, which reduce it to half the above volume, as far as space is concerned, each bale averag- ing about 24 cwt., and 10 bales weighing 1} ton. When thus com- ‘pressed, the alfa ee can be transported not orily with greater facility, 126 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. but this method of packing (resembling, in fact, bales of pressed hay) keeps the fibre clean, and renders it of easy stowage. In the above manner, considerable exports have lately taken place to France and Belgium, where its use is every day inereasing ; and it is now introduced upon the English market in the same form, with the conviction that the superior advantages of packing, as well as condition and quality, will not fail to attract the notice of paper-manufacturers. The method of treatment for paper is now so well known that any detailed statement is unnecessary. The chemical constitnents of the plant are as follows -— Yellow colouring matter ... des ae a 1864 (small and side-arms) . 16,358,803 The statistical data concerning this trade are few, and some- what conflicting. With reference to this table, the first remark to be made is, that the value of the exports is generally understated, the only authority on which they are based being the merchants’ decla- rations. On the other hand, it is also to be remarked that the exports — of recent years must include large amounts of foreign arms imported — into Belgium free of duty to be repaired or altered. Formerly these — 7 * The above table does not include powder, shot, or percussion caps. ie i | q j THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 151 arms were imported en franchise provisoire, under the law of 1846, and when exported were not included among Belgian produce. The old duty of 7:20 per cent. ad valorem was repealed by the Franco-Belgian Treaty, and a large importation of foreign arms has since taken place. These imports were in— HOGA vs ee oe ea OU OA REG Qe ee ee eee hoe SIRO OOS TOGO oe es Ns eee yen SOD GOS 1e6l uy se a ae ae oo ane which of course became confounded with Belgian produce, and when exported could not be distinguished from it. This will partly account for the exceptionally large exports of 1862. The decrease of exports of 1864 is probably more apparent than real, considering that the manu- facture of barrels has increased so largely. The records of exports are not so ample as might be wished, the value alone, and not the quantities being stated. .This will be partially remedied in future by recording the gross weight of exports, as in France. Comparative Statement of the Small Fire-Arms exported from Belgium, Great Britain, and France during the last Eight Years. Value in £ Sterling. | 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 ——— ee ee | em & | 415,536 396,960 | 400,116 | 475,676 716,184 919,296 | 765,176 | 654,352 rib: 3 Nuinber. | 299,243 | 223,718 | 171,529 | 272,948 315,509 702,254 | 439,122 | 260,986 value £. | 409,789 | 325,543 | 168,597 | 358,847 515,"61 | 1,573,706 | 856,009 | 344,475 Tance: Kilozr. . | 224,863 | 237,15‘ | 460,276 | 476,032 | 1,397,496 | 1,101,984 | 929,309 | 473,906 Value £. | 123,464 | 121,880 | 243,824 | 280,948 760, 648 596,796 | 522,532 | 280,024 This table includes guns and pistols, excepting in the English return for 1857, wherein pistols are not included. The numbers of fire-arms exported are recorded in England alone. The weights and values are recorded in France. In Belgium the values alone. In attempting a comparison like the above, the want of exact and uniform data is seriously felt. In Belgium there is no record whatever of the quantity of arms exported. In England and France the quan- tities are recorded, but on such different principles as_to baffle all attempts at comparison. The three statistics agree in showing a great and sudden increase of exports in 1861, caused no doubt by the American demand. The exports reached their climax in 1862, and have receded ever since. Belgium is certainly gaining upon her two rivals, having exported last year a greater value of arms than England and France united. Where they all go to cannot be ascertained. The official returns afford no index of their ultimate destination. The great -bulk are cleared for France and England, but evidently only for transit 152 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. or transhipment, Antwerp being deficient in trans-Atlantic steam com- munication. With the exception of France, Austria, and Prussia, most European as well as American Governments, buy more or less of their muskets at Liége. The best customers have been the United States and the United Kingdom. Their demand has now entirely ceased. Large orders are now on hand for Russia and Italy. The following distinct trades are employed in the manufacture of a musket. The barrel-maker, band-maker, percussioner (‘systémeur ”), ramrod-maker, lock-maker, trigger-guard-maker, bayonet-maker, lock- ing-ring-maker (“‘embagleur”), screw-maker, stock-maker, setter-up, and nipple-maker. None of these use machinery properly so called. All but the first do their work at home by manual labour. The barrel- makers use sinall water-mills for the purposes of forging, grinding, and boring the barrels. This industry is carried on all over the arrondisse- ment wherever water-power is available, by a thriving class of artisans called ‘“usiniers.” They generally buy their own iron and sell the barrels to the “ fabricants d’armes,” thus often amassing good fortunes. A few “fabricants” of the highest standing buy their iron and have it forged themselves. Barrels ought to be made of tough charcoal iron, the best of which is supplied by the furnaces of Chimay, Couvin, Piéton-sur-Meuse, Bouillon, and Annevoye. Itis sold in the form of short flat slabs. These slabs are hammered by water power into long flat quadrangular slabs or “skelps” called “lames 4 canon,” about three feet long, thicker and wider at one end. The skelp-forger (“marteleur”) with two assistants can forge about eighty or ninety skelps in ten hours. The next operation, that of welding the barrel, is accomplished by hammer- ing the skelp on a grooved anvil, thus turning up the edges over a mandril and welding them together in lengths of two inches at a time, each length being exposed to three or four welding operations with alternating high and low heats. A good workman will weld three barrels in ten hours’ labour. The lump or nipple-seat is next welded on. The price of a rough barrel in this state is about 5 francs. It then undergoes a series of operations called “usinage,” (chiefly boring, grinding, and straightening), which, as practised in the Royal Factory, will be described below. Boring as now practised is assisted by the pressure of the workman’s body. It is so severe a labour as often to induce deformity. Grinding is attended with some danger from the occasional rupture of the mill-stones. When the barrel comes from the “usine” it has to go to one man to be breeched, to another to be garnished, to a third to be percussioned, to a fourth to be drilled for the touch-hole, to a fifth to be rifled, to a - ‘sixth to be stocked, toa seventh to be polished and set up. The stocker and setter-up come to the counting-house with their wives and appren- tices to fetch their pieces of work, thus losing a day on the journey and atthe tavern. Women are constantly seen in the streets of Liége ¢ ‘ny a » EE 7 eee ee “ THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 153 ing bundles of gun-barrels on their heads. The guns come back to the manufacturer after six or seven months. The setter-up brings twenty or twenty-five at atime. Another loss of two or three days occurs in examining these arms. Two or three guns will be rejected, and this loss will fall on the workman, who is probably in debt, having been so long without receiving any wages. The wages of several months’ labour are paid to him at once, exposing him to temptation and robbery. It is not surprising if these two classes live in a state of chronic pauperism. They are generally ill-lodged, ill-provided with tools, stinted of air and — space. It is common to see a stocker or a setter-up obliged to work and sleep in the same room, surrounded with a family, and perhaps 100 guns. The only hands employed on the gunmakers’ premises are a few lock-filers, to assist the comptroller in inspecting the guns when they come from the stocker, and to put the locks into working order. ‘This class of men are called ‘‘ rhabilleurs,” or “ platineurs de recette.” The lock-filers are generally asuperior class, each master having often a work- shop in the country anda number ofjourneymen. Itis a trade somewhat trying tothe chest. In case of an excessive demand, over-work often in- duces consumption, from the pressure of the centre-bit on the chest. The gun furniture is all made likewise in little forges round the town. Of course, in cases of pressure, the gunmaker has to send repeatedly to get in all these pieces. A gun has to go in and out of the maker’s premises about two hundred times before it is finished, and to pass through twenty different hands. Such a system must be often productive of incon- venience and of heterogeneous styles of workmanship. Liége possesses five facturies, properly so called, for the manufacture of arms,—viz., the Roya] Cannon Foundry, the Royal Gun Factory, the Barrel Works of Val-Benoit, the Musket Factory of Messrs. Falisse and Trapman, the Revolver Factory of M. Francotte. Val-Benoit is the only mill in Belgium where barrels are rolled by machinery. It was first’ established by the Cockerill Company, but was closed in 18385. The great difficulty was to obtain a good coke iron for barrels, such as till lately Mr. Marshall, of Wednesbury, alone produced. This was at. last achieved by the celebrated Iron Works of Seraing. Their barrel iron is described by some as superior even to charcoal iron. Thanks to this result, Val-Benoit was again opened, and is now organised so as to turn out about 400 barrels per day. They are made from slabs ten or twelve inches long. These are first bent in their whole length by means of grooved bending-rolls until they assume the form of short rough tubes, called there “carottes,” their opposite edges being brought to meet without overlapping. They are then laid on the hearth of a reverberating furnace, brought to a full welding heat, and then repeatedly passed between grooved rollers of gradually decreasing grooves. The barrels of Val-Benoit are not considered to be quite equal to hand-forged barrels; but in seasons of pressure they are employed promiscuously 154 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. with these, even for first-class muskets. One hundred and fifty men are employed here. Good sporting barrels are always made of iron and steel rods, twisted together on various principles, and forming various patterns, called ribbon-twist, wire-twist, stub iron, Damascus, &c. The latter is the most expensive kind, being made of compound strips of iron and steel, forged into small quadrangular rods, which are first twisted upon their own axes, then wrapped spirally round a mandril and forged into a continuous tube. The two metals, assuming different colours (the iron white, the steel black), form little knots, called here “ flowers,” which are reproduced with greater or less regularity all over the surface of the barrel. These flowers are often counterfeited by a corroding substance applied externally. A pair of true Damascus barrels can be bought at Liege for from 20 francs to 25 francs ; the best for 35 francs and 40 francs. Bernard, of Paris, who has acquired a European reputation for these barrels, charges from 110 francs to 120 francs for a pair of No 16 bore, and 135 francs for No. 12 bore. They are proved by himself alone. His mark passes current in France and Belgium in lieu of an official mark, there being no Government proof-house in Paris. He and three others in Paris make about 2,000 barrels per annum, which are generally sent to Liége to be mounted. M. Falisse has in his factory some admirable machinery for boring, rifling,and stockmaking, all manufactured on the premises, and some of it quite uniqueofthekind. Asapinto be made cheaply must be made by fifty men, so each stock is here made by twenty machines and thirty workmen, at a cheaper rate, he says, than the common stock made by oneman. His rifling machinery is the most perfect in Liége. He has also established ) a manufactory of percussion caps and nipples at Beaufays, near Liege, which has now passed into other hands, and is still the only private one in Belgium. He has invented some machines employed in this fabrica- tion, and has organised similar factories for several foreign governments. M. Francotte makes breech-loading revolvers on a large scale by machinery, for prices varying from 40, 45, and 50 francs to 100 franes. Each of these pays a fee of 5 francs to the heirs of the late M. Lefaucheux, the inventor of the favourite system of breech-loading both for pistolsand fowling-pieces. About 60,000 Lefaucheux revolvers were made at Liége last year, which must have produced a revenue of 300,000. francs to the patentee. The Lefaucheux patent for guns has expired. Few other guns are now used here for sporting purposes. Caps and ramrods are now things of the past. Empty cartridges of pasteboard and brass, with an interior fulminating cap, are made all over Belgium, but none so good as Eley’s, The best fulminating powder is not made here. The progress of Liége is mainly owing to the incredible cheapness of its workmanship. 'This cheapness has, of course, increased the demand. ne _ The increased demand has again reduced the cost of production, Th . is ae —— eC THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 155 following are some of the comparative trade prices of Liége and St. Etienne :— Liége. St. Etienne. SineLE BarREL Guns. Francs. Francs. Youths’ guns, the commonest . 5°50 Not made. Men’s tia 6°85 % ae OF false ribbon twist wide 8:40 12°60 . - Damascus twist . 11°55 14:10 DovusLE BARRELLED GuNS. Of the commonest quality . . 14°51 Not made. pecommmion quality... .)0.) 62 17°50 22°10 > false ribbon twist .....) .. . 21°50 22°90 », false Damascustwist . . . 26:05 27°26 iron riobien barrels... 27-95 Sa 72 », Steel ribbon barrels. . . . 31°50 40°52 », Damascus barrels . . . 55°56 60°16 Lefaucheux gun, with Damascus bartels... ne 71:50 98°76 Superior qualities, from . . 100 to 400 100 to 500 The annual production of guns at Liége is now about ten times as great as that of St. Etienne. The number here manufactured has fallen to about 30,000 fowling-pieces annually ; therefore not half as many as are bought at Liége by the French alone, notwithstanding the duty of 220 frances per 100 kilos. The Paris gunsmiths buy three-fourths of their guns at Liége, finish them carefully, and sell them as Paris workmanship. The superior qualities are about equal at Liége and St. Etienne ; the produce of the former being superior in style and appearance, that of the latter in real finish. The Belgian talent for imitation is-here conspicuous. The taste of every market is carefully studied ; the trade marks of other nations and makers are, [ am sorry to say, counterfeited. Thus Liége has supplanted Birmingham to a great extent in the important market of North America. A stringent law on trade-marks in Belgium is a great desideratum for British industry. The best double-barrelled Lefaucheux gun costs at Liége 161. sterling. To the eye this gun will be quite identical with a 301. gun of Paris, cr a 401. gun of London ; but in some parts it will be found inferior to either. If selected, however, with care and put into the hands of a gunsmith to be examined and “ finished,” it will do excellent service. From the immense scale of manufacture, a gun seldom comes from Liége thoroughly fivished and regulated. The iron work will require to ‘be case-hardened ; the lock will require the closest scrutiny, and perhaps re-tempering Here it is that England defies all competition. A pair of Wolverhampton locks will cost 31. therefore as much as an 156 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. average Belgian gun, but will last for a lifetime. The Belgian lock will appear quite equal, but in a year or two the mainspring will become relaxed. English iron, coal, and workmen have been brought to Belgium in order to make English steel, but in vain. This is conse- quently attributed to the nature of the Sheffield water. The British Board of Ordnance has bought about 150,000 stand of arms at Liege. The contracts were passed about 1854 with an associa- tion of four great houses, and were finally completed in 1863, to the entire satisfaction of the War Department, as officially notified. Of this order, some 1,500 were rolled barrels from Val-Benvit. The locks were all of Liége manufacture, excepting some for the navy rifles. The prices were—for the Enfield rifle musket, with bayonet, complete, 2l. 13s.; the artillery carbine, with sword-bayonet, 3/. 3s.; the naval rifle, with sword-bayonet, 31. 8s. 5d. All these arms were made under the inspection of British artillery officers, and were subject to an inspection unusually severe for Liége. All the parts were made interchangeable, an object very difficult of attainment by manual labour. These arms were found from 8 per cent. to 20 per cent. cheaper than those supplied by the English gun trade, and at least equal in quality, but were inferior in regularity to the machine-made arms produced by the Enfield factory. During the same period some 20,000 stand were also supplied to Her Majesty’s government by the Imperial Factory of St. Etienne. This would seem to show a decline of the English gun trade » since 1830, when Birmingham was the great arsenal of the world. She then was able at a short notice to supply the French government with 140,000 muskets at 23s. each ; but seems, from strikes and other causes, to have lost ground so much as to have been hardly able to supply 28,000 Minié rifles to our own Government in two years, 1852 and 1853. Liége was well represented at the Exhibitions of Paris and London in 1855 and 1862. At the former she certainly occupied the first place for military arms. The house of Lemille there exposed a collection of 392 different specimens of fire-arms. One great medal of honour was awarded to the Liége arms trade collectively ; three personal medals of honour, besides eight medals of the first class, seven of the second class, and three honorary mentions. The charge of imperfect straightening has been brought against Liége barrels. A great number of first and second class barrels were on this occasion examined by the Jury, and were most of them found defective in this respect. The London Exhibition received fewer contributions from Liége ; there being only nineteen exhibitors in Class XI., Section C, Arms and Ordnance. Seven medals were awarded to Belgian exhibitors,—viz. ; To MM. Simonis, of Val-Benoit, for their laminated gun-barrels ; to MM. Lezaack, Dumoulin, Jansen, and Malherbe, for guns; to M. Ladry, for his rifle-rest ; to MM. Coopal, for the purity of the raw materials used by them in the manu- facture of gunpowder. Eight honorary mentions were awarded to — Belgians in the same section. In another class a medal was awarded to — 4 % t ia THE OAK SILKWORM OF CHINA. 157 M. Amand, of Ermetton, for the excellence of his charcoal barrel-iron. In ornamental arms suitable for display Liége cannot of course, produce such works of art as are always exhibited by Paris gunmakers. Yet, in the decoration of saleable guns, her engravers work so cheaply and well that it is not uncommon for the Paris gunmakers to send their stocks and furniture to be engraved at Liége, notwithstanding the cost of duty and carriage. Many Liegois settled in Paris have risen to eminence in the gun trade, as, for instance, M. Leopold Bernard. Another Belgian factory, the powder-mill of MM. Coopal, at Wetteren, claims here a special mention, as having earned a European reputation. All the powder used by the Belgian army is there manufactured by contract, under the inspection of artillery officers. From 1855 to 1857 Wetteren supplied the British Government with 2,400,000 lbs. of powder. As England has always enjoyed the reputation of making the best powder in the world, the selection of this and other Belgian powder- mills must be considered as highly honourable to this industry. Wetteren has always kept pace with, and sometimes originated, the leading improvements in this art. One of these which is due to Wetteren is the carbonization of wood by means of a super-heated vapour, invented here in 1842 by M. Castillon. This happy innovation enables charcoal to be calcined to the precise degree which may be required. By employing the two other ingredients in a state of absolute purity, it is now, therefore, possible to make powder always identical in quality. Thus, from an empirical it has risen to be a scientific process. This factory employs 100 hands and a steam-power of 100 horses. Though founded so long ago as 1778, it has, by good management, been preserved from explosions—an instance rare, if not unique, in the annals of this dangerous industry. (To be continued.) THE OAK SILK-WORM OF CHINA. BY THOMAS TAYLOR MEADOWS. In the journey to the Corean borders of the autumn of 1863, I found myself, so soon as I had crossed the watershed of the Leaou Mountains, travelling through a silk-producing country. I had, indeed, heard be- fore of silk being produced at and near Fung-hwang city, but had con- sidered it merely an amateur domestic occupation not capable of being developed into a trade. That it is much more than this, and that it may furnish in time what the port greatly wants, an article of export to Europe, may be seen from the details published in the TecHNOLOGIST, vol. v., p. 368, 158 THE OAK SILKWORM OF CHINA. _ It is difficult enough to extract good information from Chinese when in the midst of the things inquired of: at a distance it is next to im- possible. As an instance of this, I may state that in spite of allmy frequent inquiries made both when in the silk-producing district and at this port from natives of that district, it is only within the last few months that I have learnt of another tree besides the oak on which the large worm feeds. The oak bush is called locally Po lih ko tsi. The other bush is called Chien tso tsi. Its leaves are narrow and long as compared with those of the oak bush. Its bark is of a greenish white hue and is smooth, and its trunk and branches straight and ungnarled as compared with those of the oak. It produces a seed or fruit on which pigs feed. It must, I think, be a species of beech. The silk produced by worms fed exclu- sively on this bush is said to be stronger than when they are fed on the oak. | It is, I fear, beyond doubt that the oak leaf-eating worm, the shan keen or mountain worm, as the Chinese here call it, is of a different species from the mulberry leaf-eater, which is here called the kea keen or do- mestic worm; and that, therefore, the hope hinted at by Mr. Major, of a beneficial crossing, cannot be indulged in. On the other hand, the mulberry leaf-eater or domestic worm of the New-chwang Consular dis- trict does seem to be of the same species as that of middle China ; and it might be desirable to try the effects of a crossing with an insect that has probably for many generations been a separate inhabitant of this widely diferent climate. As the cocoon produced by the mountain worm is about three times the size of that produced by the domestic worm, so the worm itself is about thrice the thickness, though little if anything longer. It is of a brown or dry earth colour, and has on its back little knobs or pro- tuberances. In its flying stage the “mountain” insect is a large and richly coloured butterfly, measuring from tip to tip of its expanded wings some seven to nine inches, “as large as a swallow.” A native of the silk country now here professes to have once fed a few mountain worms on mulberry leaves. They ate as much as five or six times the number of domestic worms: and the cocoons they spun did not at all differ in their appearance from those spun by mountain worms fed on oak bushes. The same man tells me that the stuff made from the cocoon of the mountain worm will take only a black or a purple dye, and that those who desire to make with it a stuff of other colour are obliged to ise some proportion of cotton threads. | Looking to the three great classes of textiles, cotton, wool, and silk, the produce of the mountain worm must be classed with the latter, inas- much as it neither grows ona shrub nor on an animal’s back, but is produced by a leaf-eating worm, and viewed as “ silk,” it is manifestly of an inferior quality. But if we choose to look at it simply as a new textile, there is some reason to believe that it may prove to have useful © qualities not possessed by either silk, wool, or cotton. Ff. THE OAK SILKWORM OF CHINA. 159 Should it be found to possess some such peculiar quality so useful as to make it specially marketable, then it will become a matter of interest to ascertain whether a cocoon-forming worm which exists in a wild state in British North America—near the Canadian lakes I think,—is not the same animal as the New-chwang “ mountain” worm. The climate of the two regions is essentially the same, and if the cultivation should seem desirable in Canada, the difficulty of want of experience as well as want of sufficient labourers might be got over by introducing Chinese emigrants from the New-chwang silk-districts. Be that as it may, the produce of the mountaizh worm spun into thread or as cocoons should, if the provincial authorities are not allowed to interpose barriers to foreign adventure, prove a fairly remunerative export from this port town, and that for the reason that it has for generations back paid Chinese dealers to send it seaward in junks. The silk region of the New-chwang Consular district may be de- scribed as the valleys of the Yang, and other small rivers which empty themselves into the head or northern extremity of the Yeliow Sea; but the region extends as far north as the parallel of Moukden; the hilly country lying due east from that city, and which is drained by the affluent of the Leaou river which passes it, also producing silk. No other part of the Leaou valley produces silk, nor is any, so far as I can learn, produced in the hills which lie between it and the great wall. The silk region, as I have defined its limits,is about 100 miles broad from east to west, and about 150 miles long from north to south. Its southerly position, that nearest to the Yellow Sea, 1s probably the most suited fer the cultivation, and itis from that that the accompanying eocoons, with the twigs and leaves of the bush the grub feeds on, have been procured. The pieces of stuff that accompany them were woven in the same region, whether with or without admixture of cotton, which is also produced in that quarter, I cannot tell. I have traversed the silk region twice. A water-shed, composed of the mountains that comes down from the north-east of Moukden and stretch away to the Meaou-taou Straits, forming the Leaou Peninsula ; this water-shed intervenes between the silk region and this port town. But there are certainly two, if there be not more, roads practicable for the heavy goods’ carts used in this province. Heavy articles of small value, as pulse, bean-cakes and oil, could not with profit be brought over these mountains to this port. On the other hand, a considerable portion of the foreign cotton-manufactured goods, which supply the fairs held near the Corean frontier, are taken in carts over these moun- tains from this port, showing that, in articles of no greater value in proportion to their weight than cottons, this foreign-shipping port can compete favourably with the junk ports at the head of the China Sea, the longer land carriage being counter-balanced by the cheaper freights, and quicker passages of foreign ships, with the power of insuring goods conveyed by them. Therefore, the cocoons have been sent southward VOL, VI. Bet 160 THE OAK SILKWORM OF CHINA. through the junk ports at the head of the China Sea: nome, so far as I can learn, have ever been brought to this port (New-Chwang) ; but as. the light cocoons could be brought from that region with less cost, in | proportion to their value, than cotton goods can be taken thither, it is plain that, in so far as the land transit is concerned, there is no reason why this port should not become a port of export of the silk region ; and if it has paid Chinese dealers for generations back to take it away south- ward, there would seem to be no reason why, in the present dearth of textiles, foreigners might not also take it away with profit. The southern dealers arrive at the junk ports as the navigation opens, about the end of March, and proceed up into the silk valleys, where they give advances to the silk farmers. The first crop is usually taken to ports, mostly to one called “ Ta-koo-shan,” about July; a se- cond crop is shipped just before the navigation closes, z.e., about the beginning of November. The cocoons are taken away in fande baskets. The price in some seasons goes down to four or five mace of silver for 1,500 cocoons ; in others, it rises to six or seven mace for 1,500, advances being in every case made to the cultivators. Mr. J. Major, of Shanghai states, I have first seen this kind of co- coon some fifteen years ago, in the Museum of the Chamber of Com- merce and Arts at Lyons. It had been sent there (likely 100 years ago) by the Roman Catholic missionaries, as the produce of a worm in the north of China, feeding on the leaf of the oak tree. No experiments | had been made therewith in France, because the quantity sent had been too small. Since I have been in China I have received a letter from Lyons, asking me to look after this cocoon; but it was only once, two years ago, that I succeeded in getting a few of them from Japan, which I then reeled off. The first impression on seeing these cocoons and the cloth woven from their produce is, that this can never come in for silk. The manu- facture is the rudest that can be in all respects; the thread is as coarse and unequal as well can be ; the whole has no gloss whatever, although no cotton is mixed, both the warp and woof are made of the raw mate- rial as taken from the reel, without any attempt at tram or organzine, therefore necessarily left in the gum. I have attempted to boil off the half of the cloth sent to ascertain the quantity of gum the animal may use in spinning, which with the silkworm is twenty per cent., but I have not been able to reduce it in weight at all; this can only be accounted for by the cocoons having undergone a degree of fermentation in the process of killing the grub which has been adopted. You will also see from the piece of cloth I return you, together with the other — piece unboiled, that the colour has remained unboiled, that the colour — has remained nearly the same (it would therefore, in dyeing, take no — other colour than black), whereas, if this had been made of usual yellows: ; silk, it would have turned out white from boiling. I have, however, boiled off half the skein of silk of my reeling { .. NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. 161 such cocoons, which I add to the other skein of raw, which you will perceive has become nearly white, and will take any colour. I therefore am persuaded now, after seeing this silk boiled off, that it really is silk, and might well be used for tram in European manufacture, if reeled equal to this sample. NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. We think that a few general observations upon the descriptions of coal most commonly used in England for domestic and steam purposes, may not be out of place. For domestic use, those coals that do not corrode the fire-bars, and leave the least quantity of ashes, are the best ; but for steam purposes the value of them depends upon their power of converting water quickly into steam—that is, if a given weight of coal in a certain time converts a larger proportion of water into steam than the same weight of another kind of coal.in the same time, the evaporative power of the one would be greater than that of the other. Coal for steam purposes should burn rapidly, should not be too bituminous and produce much smoke, should have a cohesive power so as not to fall to pieces by the rolling and pitchirg motions of a ship, and should have such a density and structure as to bear stowage in as small a space as possible ; it ought not to contain a large proportion of sulphur, nor be subject to quick decay, for in either case it might lead to spontaneous combustion. No coals as yet discovered, unite all these conditions. Several attempts have been made to convert anthracite coal into a patent fuel, but at present the tar used to cement the coal burnt so much more rapidly in the furnaces than the anthracite itself, that the latter ac- cumulated on the bars-and obstructed the draught, or escaped through the grates unconsumed, The component parts of coal are principally carbon or charcoal, and bitumen. Some kinds of coal are laminar, others compact. They in general burn freely, with a bituminous odour, and leave a considera- able residuum. This invaluable mineral is found in beds, or strata, frequently be- twixt clay, slate, and sandstone, and seldom betwixt those of limestone, It occurs in great quantities in Great Britain, Siberia, Germany, Sweden, France, North America, the northern portion of China; and, in smaller quantities,in Australia. Dr. F. Krauss, of Stuttgard, met with it in great abundance during his travels in South Africa, specimens of which were exhibited on his return to England. No fewer than seventy different kinds of coal are now brought to the London market, the value and prices of which greatiy differ. Of these the coals called Wallsend, from 162 NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. the name of the pit, near Newcastle, whence they are obtained, usually bear the highest price. Common Coal or Pit Coal, is of a black colour, and te generally a slaty structure and foliated texture. When handled it stains the fingers ; and when burnt it cakes more or less during combustion. Its com- ponent parts are usually charcoal and bitumen, with a small portion of clay, and sometimes with pyrites, or sulphuret of iron. What is called slaty coal contains a greater portion of clay than other kinds. Some foreign writers have ascribed the great wealth possessed by England to the coals which are there found in such abundance, and which facilitate, in a very essential degree, nearly all its manufactures, and consequently are a means of promoting its commerce to an extent which is possessed by few other countries. All Britain’s great manu- facturing towns, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow, &c., are situated either in the midst of coal districts, or in places to which coals are conveyed, with little expense, by canal carriage. The extraction of saleable coal from British mines approaches a hundred millions of tons per annum, and the waste of coal involved in getting this quantity is probably more than one-fourth part more. Coal weighs rather less than a ton to the cubic yard, and we are therefore removing and using, or destroying, from the portion of our own small island to which coals are limited, 125,000,000 of cubic yards every year of one of the most valuable substances in existence. Assuming a coal seam to have an average thickness of two yards, it would take twenty square miles of such a seam to supply one year’s consumption. It behoves us, then, to look around and consider the resources we possess, whether we can afford to expend this portion of the capital stock of our national wealth, and what chance there may be of this local supply - becoming exhausted. Coals in England are principally obtained from the neighbourhood of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, Derby, and Stafford. Glamorgan likewise furnishes a considerable supply of coal: it having been esti- mated that the coal fields of South Wales extend over 1,200 square miles ; and those of Northumberland and Durham 732 square miles. The particular places whence they are obtained have the name of “ collieries, ” and the mines from which they are dug are called “pits.” The deepest of these are in Northumberland, and are worked at more than 900 feet below the surface of the earth. At Newcastle there is a coal-pit nearly 800 feet in depth, and which, at that depth, is wrought five miles horizontally, quite across and beneath the bed of the river Tyne, and under the adjacent part of the county of Durham. At Whitehaven, the mines are of a great depth, and are extended even under the sea, to places where there is above them sufficient depth of water for ships of great burthen, and in which the miners are able sometimes to hear the roaring of the water. On the contrary, in some parts of Durham the coal lies so near the surface of the earth that the wheels of carriages lay si : : | . NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. 163 _ it open, and in such quantity as to be sufficient for the use of the neighbourhood. . The beds of coal are of various thicknesses, from a few inches to several feet ; and in some places, it is found advantageous to work them at a very great depth, although their thickness does not exceed four or five feet. The thickest bed of English coal, of any extent, is that of the main coal in the mines of Bilston and Dudley, Staffordshire, which measures from thirty to forty feet. In many places there are several beds above, and parallel to, each other, separated by strata of slate, sandstone, and other minerals. Coal is never found in chalk, and very rarely in limestone. At Whitehaven, the principal entrance to the coal mine, both for men and horses, is by an opening at the bottom of a hill, through a long passage hewn in a rock. This, by a steep descent, leads to the lowest bed of coal. The greatest part of the descent is through spacious galleries, which intersect other galleries, all the coal having been cut away, except large pillars, which, in deep parts of the mine, are three yards high, and about twelve yards square at the base, such great strength being there required to support the ponderous roof. There are three distinct and parallel strata of coal, which lie at a considerable distance above each other, and which have a communication by pits that are sunk between them. These strata are not always regularly continued in the same plane. The miners occasionally meet with veins of hard rock which interrupt their further progress, and at such places the earth on one side of the vein appears to have sunk down, while that in the opposite side has its ancient situation. These breaks miners call “dykes.” When they come to one of them, their first care is to discover whether the coal, in the part adjoining, be higher or lower than that in which they have been working; or, to use their own terms, whether it be cast down or cast up. For this purpose they examine the mineral strata on the opposite side, to see how far they correspond with those which they have already passed through. If the coal be cast down, they sink a pit to it; but if it be cast up, the discovery of it is often attended with great labour and expense. In general, the entrance to coal mines is by perpendicular shafts, and the coal and workmen are drawn up by machinery. Asthe mines fre- quently extend to great distances horizontally, beneath the surface of the earth, peculiar care is needed to keep them continually ventilated with currents of fresh air, for the purpose, not only of affording to the work- men a constant supply of that vital fluid, but also to expel from the mines — certain noxious exhalations which are sometimes produced in them. Some writers have imagined coal to be the remains of antediluvian timber, which floated upon the waters of the deluge, until several strata of mineral substances had been formed ; others conceive it to have been antediluvian peat bog. It is now, however, universally admitted, that coal is nothing more than vegetable matter, which flourished when 164 NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. Great Britain must have been at a considerably higher temperature than at the present time ; and which vegetables must have been washed down by rivers probably in the form of forests, and deposited, together with sandstone, clay, limestone, &c., in the situations where we now find coal. The question then arises, from whence did the mass of vegetable matter come ?—was it supplied by forests in any part of our own island ?—or ~ was it obtained from land now beneath the sea, in the Northern and Western oceans? It is called “ pit coal,” from the circumstance only of its being obtained from mines and pits ; and in London, for no better reason than its having been conveyed thither by sea, it has the name of “sea coal.” Its uses as fuel are too extensively known to need here any observa- tions. By the distillation of coal, an inflammable gas is produced. The gas is conveyed by pipes, from the reservoir in which it is collected, to great distances ; and the light which it yields is peculiarly brilliant and beautiful. It was at the foundry belonging to Messrs, Boulton and Watt, at Birmingham, that the first display of gas light was made, in the year 1802, on the occasion of the rejoicings for peace. In 1805, | the cotton mills of Messrs. Philips and Lee, at Manchester, were lighted with gas. In the beginning of 1816 it was estimated that, at the three gas-light stations, in Peter street, Westminster, and Worship street and Norton Folgate, London, twenty-five chaldrons of coais were used daily ; ; and that these were sufficient to supply with gas 125,000 large lamps. A ton of coal makes between nine and ten thousand feet of gas, and a saleable chaldron of coke. The same quantity loses in the act of carbonizing (if weighed hot) about 30 parts out of a 100; so that 70 parts is the quantity of coke left in the retort. Of the 30 parts, 15 are gas, 1 tar, 5 water, and 5 are consumed by purification. With respect to the illuminating power of ordinary coal gas, it is estimated that five feet are equal to twelve mould candles, of six to the pound weight. Cannel Coal is of a black colour, with little lustre, is not laminar, but breaks in any direction, like pitch, and does not stain the fingers. It burns with a clear flame resembling acandle. It is rather heavier than water. This highly inflammable kind of coal is found abundantly in the neighbourhood of Wigan, in Lancashire, where there is an entire stratum of it about four feet in thickness. It is also found near White- haven, in some of the pits at Newcastle, and in some parts of Scotland. Doubts have been entertained respecting the name of this coal; but when it is recollected that in Lancashire, whence it is chiefly brought, the word candle is usually pronounced with the oiission of the letter d, and that, in many instances, the coal is used by the poor as a substitute — for candles, these will be immediately removed. In Scotland it has the name of “parrot coal.” | 3 Stone Coal, Kilkenny Coal, Welsh Coal, or Glance Coal, is of a dark NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. 165 iron-black colour, with a metallic lustre and foliated texture; and consists almost entirely of charcoal. Unlike most other kinds of coal, this occurs both in stratified masses, and in lumps, nested in clay. It is found in several countries of the European Continent, in Wales, Scotland, and near Kilkenny in Ireland. When laid on burning coals, it becomes red hot, emits a blue lambent flame in ‘the same manner as charcoal ; and is, at length, slowly consumed, leaving behind a portion of red ashes. No smoke or soot is produced from this coal; but, on the contrary, it whitens the place where the fume is condensed; and the effluvia which it gives out is extremely suffocating. This coal is chiefly used in the drying of malt. Bovey Coal, Brown Coal, or Bituminous Wood, is of a brown colour, and in shape exactly resembles the stems and branches of trees, but is usually compressed. It is soft, somewhat flexible, and so light as nearly to float when thrown into water. The greatest abundance of this coal occurs at Bovey, near Exeter, from which place it derives its name. The lowest stratum is worked. at the depth of seventy-five feet beneath the surface of the earth. Tt is also found in Scotland, Treland, and Germany. As fuel, the Bovey coal is used only by the poorest classes, as, not- withstanding its burning with a clear flame, it emits a sweetish but ex- tremely disagreeable sulphurous gas, which is injurious to health. It is principally used for the burning of lime, and for the first baking of earthenware. Jet, or pitch coal, is a variety of cannel coal, and is a solid, black, and opaque mineral, harder than coal, and found in detached masses from an inch to seven or eight feet in length, having a fine or regular structure, and a grain resembling that of wood. It differs from cannel coal by its superior hardness. Jet cannot without difficulty be scratched with a knife, whilst cannel coal may be marked by the simple pressure of the nail. The name of jet has been derived from Gages, a river of Lycia, whence the ancients are said to have obtained this substance. It is fre- quently cast on shore on the eastern coasts of England, together with pieces of amber and curious pebbles, particularly near Lowestoft in Suffolk, and Whitby in Yorkshire, where many persons employ their leisure in searching for it, and forming it into various kinds of trinkets. Jet is found in several countries of the Continent. Culm is a species of coal frequently used in ‘England and Ireland for lime burning. It contains much earthy matter, will not kindle in an ordinary fireplace, yet produces considerable heat and flame in a furnace to which a strong current of air can be introduced. Modes of purifying coals are being gradually introduced under patents in England, France, Germany, and elsewhere. In 1851, at the Great Exhibition, Messrs. Berard and Oo., in the French Department, - 166 NOTES ON COAL AND FUEL. produced “small purified coals, and the residue of the same, the pro- duce of a system for purifying coals ;” and, at the last English Exhibi- tion, the Americans produced purified coals, made up into light portable fuel. Patent fuel of compressed small coal is now largely made in Wales for steamers. Dried turf, or peat, is extensively used in Ireland for fuel. In the sandy deserts of the north-east of Africa, the excrement from camels is dried and used as fuel, and other descriptions of excrement might be readily collected and burnt. Before railways became so uni- versally in vogue in England, cottagers in various parts of the country, particularly in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, were in the habit of saving the refuse from their cow-stalls, laying it from three to three and a-half inches thick upon grass, and in its fresh and moist state cutting it into squares of about six inches, which they left to dry in the sun, and then stored for fuel in the winter. We have ourselves frequently witnessed this, and seen the square or round stacks of the fuel thatched down for domestic use when coals became dear, or winter weather de- manded more numerous fires than ordinary. The Chinese have for ages been accustomed to mix the excrement from cows and other refuse vege- table matter, with soft clay and coal-dust, thus forming cakes that, when sun-baked, become a cheap and portable fuel, and they burn with very little smoke. These cakes are, indeed, largely manufactured in the coal districts of Northern China, being widely distributed therefrom over that vast empire by means of junks on the numerous canals. In some parts of Wales, particularly in Pembrokeshire, culm is frequently made into balls with clay, and the poorer classes sit over them for hours in winter, when lighted in the cottage grates. It will be well for people to bear in mind, that upon the stowage away of large quantities of coals at ordinary temperatures, a slow com- bustion is going on under the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, evolving carbonic acid, nitrogen, and inflammable gases, which may lead to explosions, the combustion being the more promoted by high tempe- rature, combined with the presence of moisture. If the coals contain much sulphur or iron pyrites, the chemical action may become so intense as very speedily to fire them. In storing coals, therefore, it is important to keep them dry, and of such a variety as may be the least liable to progressive decomposition. 167 FORMOSA CAMPHOR. CAMPHOR is the chief export from Tamsing, but the trade in the drug is still hampered by a monopoly which is not only against the treaty but is clearly unfair to individual merchants. In 1864 the monopoly was apportioned out among there firms, four months to each. The amount incurred by the holder of such monopoly is about 200 dollars a day, 125 of which goes to the Taotee or superintendent. The current rate of camphor was fifteen dollars a picul, and the rate it was offered at in Taiwan was 13 dollars, so that was quite a losing game with the present holders of the monopoly, though the Taote derives his profits therefrom the same as usual. The Taotez, on behalf of the Government, lays claim to all the timber of the island adapted for naval purposes, or in other words, the camphor wood only ; for no steps are taken to prevent the settlers in the bush from cutting down other wood for domestic use or for charring into charcoal. Were the injunctions issued with a view to preserve the wood which is daily being cut away without any attempts to replant it for future use, the measure might be applauded as a beneficial one, and one that ought to have been enforced in many parts of China and India, where the want of firewood is daily making itself more felt ; but it refers unquestionably to camphor alone. The fine camphor trees thus destroyed it will take scores of years to replace ; and as, from the peculiar character of their large outspreading growth, they only occur at widely scattered intervals, the time may not be distant when the chief source of profit from this locality will be reckoned as one of the things of the past. As it now stands, the Government have doubtless the title over all the jungly land of the Colony, and they may be right in restricting the privilege of demolish- ing the finest timber to one party for a valuable equivalent. A great deal of secret destruction of timber is always going on, and were it not for the vigilance of the mandarins and of the parties concerned, the annihilation of these trees on the hills would be doubtless brought about in a speedier manner. The tree appears only to flourish in the Tamsing and Komolar Department, it having some time since disappeared from mountains of the southern department accessible to the Chinese settler. The exports of camphor from Taiwan in 1863 were by | ; dollars. British vessels, 13,670 piculs, val. ; ; ; 205,050 Foreign vessels, 90,482 catties : : ; =, 1,176,266 In 1864, the exports were 10,594 cwt., valued at 26,6291., of whic 20,803 cwt, were shipped in British vessels. , VOL, VI. . Q "oo 168 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. For thousands of years commerce has spread its blessings over many countries; imperceptible are its beneficent influences on civilisation, nations, and their development ; it has brought into advantageous union countries and peoples, founded cities and states, softened men’s manners, and conducted them to wealth and education. Commerce has ever been the motive, awakening in every direction life and useful activity, ani- mating production and industry, and stimulating each art to unwearied activity and strife after new discoveries. Without such emulation many discoveries important in their action would never have been made, and distant regions of the earth would have yet remained unknown and uncultivated. Happy therefore the country where commerce establishes herself. The history of all times gives proofs that States where commerce enters with her attendants, trade, agriculture and mining, quickly raise themselves high above their contemporaries. So shines yet through past ages Phoenicia with her Tyre and Sidon, rich through navigation and industry, and still later the celebrated Carthage, whose opulence and power on the Mediterranean had the same foundation. So rose after them Italy by her great commerce, of which she might well be proud, and Venice and Genoa under the Medici, whose splendours and power have not even yet disappeared. Later still, Great Britain and Holland through commerce have obtained the dominion of the seas and the government of foreign countries ; and so by the same stirring com- mercial activity has arisen a state in the New World, the free Union in North America, which in a wonderfully short time has become a powerful rival in the commercial world, and attained to political importance. But commerce and industry were not always so flourishing and exten- give in the circle of their operations as at present, because not any period of time is so marked as our nineteenth century in varied intellectual development and rapid and common advance in different departments of human knowledge. As it was not always the same country which shone — in this respect, it will be interesting to point out in a short sketch the most important phases of commercial life from ancient to recent times. 7 All commercial intercourse could in the beginning hoe no other origin than that which we find at the present time among people in the lowell stage of civilisation—viz., an interchange of the raw products of nature ; from a want of them on the one side, and an overflow of them on the other. The increase of mankind and their need to buy and sell at cer-_ tain prices, or by some common medium of barter, must first have led them to settle upon the precious metals or money. In the East, to whose earliest development as well as to her precious —— a 1) ae At iia oo a f THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 169 products the most ancient histories point, and from whence at the same time the arts received their foundation, commerce first acquired a wide expansion ; for in the most ancient times valuable oriental goods such as aromatics, spices, perfumes, gold, precious stones, and pearls, ivory, fine wood, cotton, silk, costly fabrics, and gold and silver brocades, were spread from India, Babylonia and Arabia to the western coast of Asia and Egypt, and they were conveyed for security in large companies or by caravans, The Pheenicians in Tyre and Sidon on the Syrian coast or in the land of Canaan, soon shared this traffic. But they were not content with this — circumscribed and difficult land commerce ; for improving their naviga- tion, and incited by rich profits, they were the first bold maritime people to encounter the dangers of the ocean, whilst at the same time they pushed their commerce through caravans to the rich Babylonian markets of Heliopolis or Baalbec, and Palmyra or Tadmor, to India and Arabia Petre, and traded with those renowned ancient Egyptian cities, Merce, Thebes, and Memphis in corn, cotton and costly linen. About 1,500 years before Christ, they had already founded commercial settle- ments at Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete or Candia on the coast of Asia Minor, and Greece, and peopled later, by means of colonies, Sicily, Panormo now called Palermo, and on the northern coast of Africa, Utica, after- wards Carthage, which served them as stations for long voyages. The Pheenician ships also sailed through the pillars of Hercules, the ancient name for the Straits of Gibraltar, and settled their commercial colonies in the south west of Spain, then rich in silver, founded Gades and Hispalis, now called Cadiz and Seville ; even the tin mines of Cornwall appear to have been known to the Tyrian merchants. The Madeiras on the western coast of Africa also received from them colonies. In the Hast their navigation extended principally in Solomon’s time and in connection with that king, to Palestine, in their neighbourhood, through the ports of Elath and Erion-geber, on the Red Sea, having the gold region of Ophir for its boundaries, which some have placed in Ceylon, others in Arabia Felix, and more recently, on the eastern coast of Africa; but the part taken by the Israelites, in commerce at sea, ceased soon after the death of their king, Solomon. The Pheenicians were great and renowned in several trades besides navigation. They discovered the art of making glass and purple colours, weaving and dying splendid stuffs, wrought much brilliant merchandise in ivory, glass, amber, gold, silver, precious stones and pearls. In the ancient times of Homer, and under David and Solomon, people praised the Syrian and Sidonian garments, which were carried to all countries, as articles of luxury for the kings and great. We also owe to them the first money coined. Contemporaneously flourished through industry, in consequence of her commercial connection with India, proud Babylon on the Euphrates, which not only in architecture, in metallurgy, in steel and cwriery, but 170 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. like Tyre and Sidon, in the manufacture of all wares of oriental luxury, in gold and silver embroidery, in ornamental and jewe!ler’s work, and as at the present day like Bagdad, in costly carpets, and products of wool and silk, was celebrated before all other places. Greece or Hellas also raised herself in these early times, through Pheenician and Egyptian colonies, favoured by navigation and com- merce; and colonies of the Ionian Greeks on the western coast of Asia Minor, especially Milet, the Queen of all Greco-Asiatic cities Ephesus, and Smyrna, renowned as places of trade for the commerce of the Levant, acquired a commercial importance, which the storm that over- threw in the sixth century the Persian rule was not able to destroy, and only had this effect, that from this Ionian coast commercial colonies were settled in several islands in the Archipelago, in the Peloponnesus, on the coast of Italy, Sicily and Galicia itself where Marseilles was founded, and as a result Athens and Cormth, with their many colonies, which in like manner, as important maritime commercial places, after- wards became noted for their manufactures. But greater than all, after the fourth century before Christ, rose the Phoenician colony of Carthage, on the North coast of Africa (in the neighbourhood of the present Tunis). Not only did she elevate her- self to be an important commercial state, but in the spirit of her under- takings, excelled the mother country by improvements in navigation, acquiring the dominion of the seas, and for a long time embracing the ecommerce of the west. Carthage ruled, as a result, the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, founding colonies at Syracuse in Sicily, and at Carthagena in Spain. Her fleets went through the pillarsof Hercules into the open ocean, to Armoricum and Britannia, and carried a part of her commerce to the West Coast of Africa. The Carthagenians formed caravan roads for commerce, which remain to this day, through _ Fezzan and Upper Egypt as far as Arabia ; so that Carthage became at last so rich and powerful, that it excited the jealousy and fear of the uncultivated Romans, aroused their thirst for conquest, and by them she was conquered 196 years before Christ. Carthage rose like ancient Tyre to greatness by her commercial enterprise, only to share like that ~ city the same sorrowful downfall ! § Still later, on the northern coast of the same part of the earth, a . new maritime city was founded, which quickly rose to commercial im- portance,—Alexandria in Egypt, even at this day one of the most flourishing maritime cities of the Mediterranean. This city was first built after the destruction of Tyre and the downfall of the Phoenician commerce 332 years before Christ, by Alexander the Great, and called after the Conqueror of Asia Minor and Egypt. Under the splendid dominion of the Greek regal dynasty, the Ptolomies it at the same time became the seat of Grecian education and activity, and lke Athens and Corinth soon absorbed everything to itself, which its magnitude in > tiches, arts, science, and industry could command. By virtue. of its THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 173 favourable position, Alexandria ruled the coasts of three parts of the earth, and after the fall of Carthage, shared with Rhodes and Corinth the maritime commerce of the Mediterranean. From thence Alexandria pushed her navigation up the Red Sea, and soon embraced the greatest part of the commerce of Arabia and India, for which purpose the harbours of Berenice, Oumas, and Myos were founded by the Ptolomies as places of commerce. From these places merchandise caravans, through the Nile, brought the markets of the commercial world into the harbour of Alexandria, whose riches at length, together with the whole of Egypt, fell into the hands of the insatiable Romans. Now, although the warlike Romans, after the destruction of Carthage, urged navigation, and for a long time neglected and despised commerce, which they looked upon as business fit only for manumitted slaves and citizens of the lowest class, yet they ultimately began to give it their attention, and after many battles at length also founded a naval power. They obtained the lucrative traffic of the Levant, and under Augustus, A.c. 30, after the conquest of Egypt, seized the Arabian and Indian commerce in Alexandria ; but owing to their perpetual wars it could never become a commercial state. Through their conquests almost all known countries brought the Romans treasures, which produced among them a high degree of luxury and love of enjoyment, whereby indeed the fine arts prospered, but at the same time their increasing effeminacy not only ruined commerce but brought the Roman empire itself toan end. Alexandria in Egypt, however, continued to maintain to the last the rank of the first commercial place in the great Roman empire, and remained through all changes the ruler, with only few interruptions, for more than 1,000 years after the fall of Rome, the principal place of trade for the commercial world, and at the same time the chief seat of learning and science. Next to Alexandria, after the fall of Rome, rose Constantinople, the ancient Byzantium, and the new residence of the Ottoman and Greek emperors, 476 years after Christ. It began to flourish under the dominion of Justinian, who brought the silk-worm from China to Europe about a.D, 555, and by prosperous wars and wise laws raised the splendour of the country of the Greeks to a significant magnitude. After the conquest of Alexandria by the Saracens, a.p. 640, it was desirable for them to obtain the most lucrative commercial connections, and to profit by them. Constantinople was therefore made by the Saracens the principal seat of commerce, and a market not only for the Levant, but also for Asiatic and African merchandise, and whither, therefore, the treasures of many countries flowed. The city itself pre- pared for commercial diffusion a great number of valuable fabrics in silk, cotton, wool, goats’ hair, leather, steel, gold, and silver, and brought besides wax, wine, Indian aromatics, and spices, as well as precious stones and pearls, and much Russian peitry for exportation to the West. The foundation of a new kingdom in Lesser Asia Minor, and Northern . 172 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE, Africa by Mahomet and his followers, about the middle of the seventlr century, must have necessarily shaken the Ostromic, or Greek Kingdom ; since the Arabs or Mahommedans, at one time by Islam inspired, and to conquests impelled, like a violent and incessant stream spread them- selves over Spain itself, and far into Asia and Africa, and tore away from the Greek Empire, Syria, Asia Minor, and Evypt. Neverthe- less, Constantinople yet maintained its political and commercial im~ portance, although for a long time subjected to multifarious battles. But near it, rose towards the end of the eighth century, Bagdad on the Tigris, the seat of oriental luxury, and of the vower of the Caliphs. This became the centre of a varied and wide-spread com- merce, and a principal seat of art and science, rivalling the city of Damascus in splendour, which had become great through its manu- factures in cotton, silk, leather, and steel goods. Aleppo, also in Syria, where the Arabs had spread themselves, at this time had commercial connections with China and Java, and as far as Morocco and Spain ; in the ninth century it already trafficked with Canton, and at that time tea, arrack, and porcelain were known to them. Thus much for the Hast. After that, Western Europe having recovered herself from the storms and disturbances brought down on the Germanic stem through Rome’s decline, had formed herself new states. Then first flourished on the Spanish Peninsula, under the dominion which the Moors or Mahommedan Arabs had forced upon Morocco at the commencement of the eighth century, near the old Punic and Roman colonies, Cadiz, Seville, Malaga, Carthagena, Cordova, Granada, Murcia, Valencia, Tarragona, Barcelona, Saragossa, Toledo ; Spanish cities, raised through industrial arts, which the Moors revived, aided by the cultivation of the soil, and the prosperity of commerce. Already the South of France had established a brisk traffic with the Levant ; and the old colony of Marseilles, worthy of her origin, had come to be regarded as the most important mercantile place of Western Europe, next to which Ayles, Narbonne, and Bordeaux, Tours, Soissons, and Paris, distinguished themselves by their manufactures and com- merce, and Lyons and St. Denis became renowned through their mer- cantile fairs. But notwithstanding this apparent happy commencement in Spain and France, the succeeding times (equally also in the Nether- lands and Northern Germany, through the repeated Norman invasions, the wars with England, and the endless Moorish battles,) were in the highest degree unfavourable to the prosperity of both States, so that although the wine and salt exportation from both countries, especially to the Netherlands and England had begun to be brisk, yet their com- merce up to recent times remained on the whole passive. About the time of Charlemagne, a.p. 800, Germany began to acquire a flourishing character. Under his rule, rural economy and the indus- trial trades made for themselves rewards. The people commenced most of the present German products, and worked especially in flax, wool, THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 173 hides, and metals, for the necessary wants of life. The inhabitants of the coast prosecuted the fisheries successfully, and several places on the Rhine were already famed for wines. But most of the commerce circumscribed itself here to the interior, which was especially carried en in the neighbourhood of monasteries on festive occasions, called their fairs. : Although at this time the cities of Southern Germany came into connection with Constantinople, yet it is more important, especially for Northern Germany and the countries on the Baltic Sea, to point out the commercial roads and the merchandise tracks. ‘These were from Con- stantinople over the Black Sea, and by means of caravans through Russia, by Kiev on the Dneiper, the central point of this diffused commerce, and Novogorod on the Ilmansee, went to the Baltic, In the ninth century the Sclavonic city Mureta, on the Pomerania Island, Usedom, at that time next to Constantinople, the most important trading place in Europe, and after its decline, Wisby, on the Swedish Island, Gotland, was the place of trade, whither goods from the Levant and India arrived, to be exchanged for northern products, peltry, amber, flax, cordage, wool, hides, leather, iron, copper, tar, blubber, &c. Since the 10th century the following have become noted as trading places :—On the Baltic, Dantzig; Julin on the Pomeranian Island, Wollin, Schleswig, but especially Lubeck ; on the North Sea, Ripen on the Peninsula of Jutland, Hamburg and Bremen; on the Rhine, Cologne, Coblentz, Mayence, Worms, Spire, and Strasbourg, particularly Frarkfort-on-the-Maine (whose fairs had commenced in a.D. 848) ; whilst in inner Germany, Bardowia in the Launeburg, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Erfurt and Halle; in Southern Germany, Ulm, Augsburg, Nuremburg, Prague, Salzburg and Vienna flourished by the industrial arts and commerce, as did Belgium, Flanders, and Brabant, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp, pattern states of the industrial arts, and embroidery sought in European markets. Several cities of upper Italy, enriched by commercial navigation on the Mediterranean and with the East, ascended higher than Germany, and Western Europe, about a.p. 1000, separated from the rule of the German princes, had formed itself in part into powerful Republics. For many centuries had Italy been oppressed by the hard blows of savage unsettled wars, and after the overthrow of the Roman empire, the rough people from the Hast and North, the conquerors, crushed her and desolated this beautiful land. Then at last a new and happy life for Italy developed itself through industry and activity in navigation and commerce at several points, and she elevated herself gradually by trade with the Levant—viz., to Constantinople. The maritime cities of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi especially became enriched, whilst contem- poraneously through active industry, Florence, Siena, Mailand, Lucea, and Bologna shared this greatness. The Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries animated and extended the 174 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. traffic between Europe and the East to an extraordinary degree; and whilst they continued, Venice and Genoa through their maritime power and enterprising spirit became renowned. They carried in their ships a number of Crusaders to the East, and found it convenient to establish new connections for their traffic, obtaining also permission to preserve for themselves many colonies for their extensive employés, so that at length the commerce of the Levant, of India and China, and of all countries at that time known came into their hands. Venice, for a long time in possession of Constantinople, bnt dis- possessed of this place through its powerful rival the Genoese, em- braced the commerce of Syria and Egypt, where its warehouses were at Ptolemais or Acre and Alexandria ; Venice had Cyprus, Rhodes, Samos, Chios, Candia, Negropont, several tracts of coast on the Morea, the Ionian Islands, and Dalmatia, and had gained important points in the Archi- pelago and the Adriatic Sea ; whilst Genoa drew to herself the commerce of Constantinople, Asia Minor, and the Black sea; Genoa had taken into her possession the peninsular of Taurus or the Crimea, and had made the seaport Kaffa a magnificent commercial depot, into which, by caravans, Russian, Persian, and Indian merchandise flowed, and the merchandise of the Levant by Constantinople arrived from the West. Each city en- deavoured by emulation and persecution to obtain the riches and domi- nion of the sea, till at length, after many years’ fighting, Venice was overpowered by Genoa,—the dominion of mame and the Mediter- vanean was decided. Since then, the caravan traffic from the East cue Russia to the Baltic has diminished, and Italians carried the Eastern and Indian wares, at the same time with their own products and rich fabrics, in suk, seo: paper, glass, looking-glasses, silver, steel, and many articles of luxury, whose manufacture they had learned in the East, not only to the North West of Europe as far as the Netherlands, where, under the Lombard name, they were seen by the whole of Northern Europe. The Italians also erected large warehouses and fairs at Bruges, Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp; but they sent goods to Southern Germany, and indeed from the Black Sea, along the Danube to Vienna and Ratisbon, as also from Italy to Augsburg, which cities first at this time became noted as depots for Italian Levantic commerce. About this period the Italian cities formed for themselves a mari- time law, which was confirmed by Rhodes in the South, already in early times renowned for navigation and commerce, by Wisby in the North, and later by Barcelona, Marseilles and Venice, so also in the thirteenth century exchange laws originated at Florence, next to which also for _ the relief of commercial business in the eallen century the first Giro- bank was established at Venice. f Whilst these things were going forward in Italy, through brisk commercial traffic several cities had sprung up in Germany, and this would have been yet more the case, had not in those rough times the THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 175 attacks of sword-law and of want, rendered commercial travelling unsafe and exposed. ‘Traffic yet wanted the security of later times and these events having occurred, the merchants of a place or country were induced to unite for commercial objects, and travel armed and with armed attendants, this afterwards contributed principally to the expan- sion of commerce; for these combinations brought about the union of several cities, and also had the effect of laying the foundation of depots and collecting points, held in common, at home and abroad. And that which had only been a private affair, afterwards became an object of the State, and a means of political importance. Lubeck was at length made the principal German trading place ; in order tu give their commerce more expansion, and by defence more security against the constantly occurring attacks on the high roads and rivers, on the part of robbers, and on the Northern and Baltic seas on the part of the Norman pirates. By contract, most of the great cities on the Baltic sea, as well as on the Elbe, Weser, and particularly in Northern Germany, and in part also in the Netherlands, to promote the common interests of commerce, concluded amongst themselves, in the year 1241 with Hamburg and Bremen, an offensive and defensive alliance, against the forcible and rapacious interruptions of their commerce by land and water, forming the celebrated commercial league the German Hanse. Thus united, a considerable land-power secured the roads and destroyed several robbers’ castles, and its fleet in the Northern waters was as powerful as contemporaneously that of the Italian cities in the Mediterranean. To extend commercial business, the Hanse erected four great counting-houses and warehouses as places of trade for their commerce, in foreign countries ;—viz., for Netherlands, France, and the rest of Southern Europe to connect with the Italian Republics, beginning at Bruges in Flanders, extending to Antwerp ; for England at London ; for Scandinavia, at Bergen in Norway; for Russia, Liven Poland and Prussia, as also to unite with the Black Sea and the East by Kiev; commencing at Novogorod on the Ilmensee, later at Narva, on the Gulf of Finland. The number of confederated cities from the mouths of the Scheldt to Narowa in Russia amounted at last to 85. In this confederation, and united with the three Hanseatic towns Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, were Bergen, Wisby, Revel, Riga, Konigsberg, Elbing, Dantzig, Thorn, Cracow, Frankfort, Berlin, Stettin, Cologne, Munster, Minden, Bielfield, Osnabruck, Hildesheim, Launeburg, Goslar, Brunswick, Quedlinbourg, Halberstadt, Magdeburg and Halle. ‘This league was favoured on all sides by Royal and Princely charters and privileges, and secured lucrative contracts with several neighbour- ing states for free export and import in their countries ; the profit of this common traffic gave it firmness and respectability, but especially the full division of the trade among themselves. At length almost every commercial point in Europe having been drawn within the circle of VOL. VI. R 176 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. their influence, procured for them treasure and thereby power, to command fora century in the North of Europe, and till about the end of the sixteenth century to hinder the development of the peculiarly active commerce in the countries on the Baltic and Northern seas, against the interest of their inhabitants. Besides the exchange of the merchandise of the south, coming from Italy, the Levant and India, owing to the great activity of the Hanse, the products of the North appeared at their principal commercial places in abundance ;—viz., corn, flax, hemp, sail-cloth, tar, hides, leather and peltry, iron, copper and amber, salt-fish, blubber, tallow, soap, and timber from Russia and the Baltic; and much wool, tin, lead, and leather from England. For a like object, to animate and secure commerce against the rapacity of the rude nobility on the Rhine and in the Netherlands in the yedr a.p. 1247, was originated the Rhenish league, by the cities of Mentz, Frankfort, Aschaffenberg, Oppenheim, Worms, Manheim, Heidelberg, Spire, Strasburg, Muhlhausen, Breisach, Basle, Zurich and Freiburg, uniting them with the lower Rhine and the cities in its neighbourhood,— viz. Bonn, Coln, Wesel, and Aix-la-Chapelle and several Westpha- lian towns, which in the fourteenth century, through the Swabian ~ league, at whose head stood Ausburg, Ulm, Nuremberg and Ratisbon, preserved an advantageous extension. Not only was the commerce on the Danube and its commercial connection with Constantinople advanced, but also the trade of the cities of Southern Germany and the Italian Republics received a considerable impulse. It was at this time that Nuremberg and Augsburg, the principal places between North and South Germany, flourished in an extraordinary degree, and by a varied and notable industrial trade in a thousand different sorts of articles, which are even now carried to all the known countries of the globe, their opulence was established. About this time, also, through these city unions, many industries were created—as, for instance, mining in several countries—in the Hartz: and Ertzgebirge mountains, which already at this period yielded profits in silver, tin, and iron. Next the Netherlands and Germany distinguished themselves by a number of valuable manufactures in linen, woollens, leather, paper, glass, iron and steel goods, as also by a lively interior traffic, which placed its cities in prosperous circumstances ; and when Belgium, Flanders, and Brabant reached an eminence in the industrial arts, England gave them the pre- ference before other countries, and they not only supplied its early, flourishing woollen manufactures abundantly with the raw material, but thereby an important commerce was created, for London, with its trade with the Hanseatic towns, was already in the fourteenth century, next to Bruges, .a rich and important trading place. ~ Whilst commerce and the arts thus steadily foviviched in Europe, iam in the East they sensibly declined, in consequence of the long ~ THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 177 and desolating wars between the Mongolians and the Ottomans, by which the caravan traffic through South-Western Asia (by Oashmir, Lahore Candahar, Cabul, Samarcand, Bokaria, Herat, Teheran, and Taurus, Kasan, Orenburg and Astracan, Tiflis, Eri- van, Erzeroum, Mossul, Bagdad and Basra, Mocha, Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Aleppo, Tokat, Brussa, and Smyrna), in several. countries for a long time was interrupted, and only Alexandria remained in connection with India, the trade being maintained by Venice for centuries. The rich countries and islands of the south-east of Europe later shared in this misfortune, as the savage Ottomans, in the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries, crossing from Asia, desolated them, and at length the storming of Constantinople, a.p. 1453, made an end of the Greek empire. In consequence of this, the possessions acquired by Genoa and Venice, and the commercial freedom of the Levant, were lost. In the rest of Europe, commerce remained stationary till after the | introduction of the use of the compass at the beginning of the fourteenth century. A new epoch for navigation now commenced. With the help of this simple instrument, sea voyages were performed with rich results, till at length the whole course of trade was revolutionised, and a new period in the commercial world brought about. Then began a desire for longer sea voyages, in order still further to explore the as yet unknown oceans, and to make fortunate discoveries. In Italy thinking minds were agitated, and the en- deavour began to discover a direct way by sea to the East Indies rather than by the circumnavigation of Africa, in order so much the easier to arrive at the spring-head of commerce, and to be able to draw over at first hand the rich productions of that land without the Egyptian Sultan having first to be bought. In Egypt, the traffic was guarded with the most anxious precaution, so that no European could carry down goods to Arabia and India through their land, the Arabian Gulf, or the Red Sea. What the Europeans naturally for profit had brought was consumed by the inter-traders in Indian goods, and that which they carried to Alexandria and Damietta was sold at prices determined and paid by the Venetians. But it was reserved for Portugal and Spain, instead of Italy, to solve this great problem, alike important for commerce and for science. Portugal, indeed, did much, and had the first triumph, from the circum- stance that its King’s son, Prince Henry the sailor, broke the path, and discovered Porto Santo and Madeira in 1418, the Azores in 1432, the Cape de Verd Islands in 1444, and Seacorsnliin and the Gold Coast of Guinea in 1452. The circumnavigation of the promontory cf the Cape of Good Hope, and the discovery of the ocean way to the much- prized India, was made by Vasco de Gama in 1498, and thus the long looked for period arrived. But whilst Portugal was occupied in the dis- covery of land to the far East, the courageous Genoese, Christopher 178 THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE. Columbus, had opened the way over the great ocean to the far Biba and made the discovery of the new’ part of South America. Portugal and Spain became great through their acquisition of flour- ishing colonies and rich countries, and by the commerce of the world which now found its seats at Lisbon and Cadiz, whilst the splendour of Venice and Genoa gradually declined with the loss of their commercial monopoly. Portugal and Spain now provided the Italian States and Europe with an abundance of East and West Indian products, and for these there was soon an ever-increasing demand in Europe, which has continued uninterrupted to the present time. Through colonisation, large plantations in fruitful countries were established to supply this com- merce, which, under the name of colonial produce (sugar, coffee, cocoa, spices, rice, cotton, indigo, tobacco, &c.), was brought to Europe. To obtain the profits, hundreds of thousands of negro slaves were shipped from Africa to America. This ever-increasing foreign commercial traffic, ’ which soon included China and Japan (which rich countries were dis- covered by the Portuguese), occasioned a strong exchange of manufac- tured and woollen goods. This greatly stimulated industry and the industrial arts in Europe (though Italy long retained her pre-eminence), especially France, the Netherlands, England, Germany, and Switzerland, by the development of a variety of manufactures and the sale of a quan- tity of goods of all kinds for transatlantic commerce, Portugal and Spain, from their small industrial activity, finding it impossible to satisfy the wants of the newly-discovered countries with their own products. Next to Lisbon, Cadiz, Oporto, San Lucas, and Seville, now flourished, also Bordeaux and Havre, and especially Antwerp, which had, since the middle of the tifteenth century, become the chief trading place of commerce between the north and south of Europe. In like manner Amsterdam and London advanced by their maritime commerce, and profited by un- dertakings which this new direction of commerce suggested ; soon, in fact, Holland, England, France, and Denmark endeavoured to take part in the same direction. This commercial activity was at last so extensively diversified, that manufactures rose to the highest degree of development, and Europe may thank these early discoverers for her riches and power, B a i. | 179 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. Now that fish-breeding by the assistance of art has become a business of great magnitude in different parts of the world, and its pursuit vastly profitable, we have thought that, a description of the simplest and best method for the propagation of brook trout would be both interesting and valuable to our readers. Of the numerous species and various families of fish being both pro- pagated and improved by artificial culture, there are none so interesting as the genus Salmo ; and the branch of this family known—apart from the Latin phrases of farrio and fontinalis—as the brook trout, is one of the most easily and economically propagated of the numerous species of fish in the United States, because it inhabits nearly all the spring streams north of the 40th degree of latitude. In most cases, therefore, in streams where trout are becoming eliminated by the nets, traps, and other cruel devices of the poacher, judicious game-laws should be enacted with suitable penalties for their infringement. This has been done in this State (New York) upon the application of the Sportsmen’s Club. In addition to laws for preventing poaching, there should be a law enacted against the erection of dams on streams so constructed as to prevent fish from surmounting them, and the tumbling dam, with steps or stairs on the lower side, should supersede those now erected, so that trout and salmon may reach the heads of the streams to spawn. Next to the salmon, the brook trout is the best table-fish of our fresh water streams. Indeed, it has the advantage of the “royal salmon” in the sizes necessary for culinary purposes, being small enough to fry oF broil, and large enough to boil. Among the reasons why the trout holds so high a rank in the angler’s estimation are the facts that heis an intellectual creature and has evidently a will of his own. He looks sagacious and intelligent ; he sedulously avoids turbid waters ; loves the sparkling stream; displays an ardent ambition to explore streams to their source ; is quick, vigorous and elegant in his movements ; likes to have the exclusive command of the stream ; keeps up a rigid system of order and discipline in the little community of which he is a member; exhibits a remarkable degree of nicety and fastidiousness about his food ; is comparatively free from vulgar, low and grovelling habits, though addicted to the crime of cannibalism, and would eat a member of his own family without remorse ; but he entices his pursuer into the loveliest scenes of Nature’s domains, and calls forth from man the utmost efforts of his ingenuity and skill, and preserves a superior and dignified de- meanour unattainable by any other living occupant of the streams. His physical constitution is also incomparably superior, and he boasts a prepossessing figure, moulded in strict conformity with the most refined principles of symmetrical proportion, sparkles in all the gorgeous colours 180 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. of the rainbow, and occupies a distinguished position in the science of . gastronomy. The brook trout differs in appearance and flavour, according to the waters it inhabits, but its satin’ surface retains in all waters, a sprinkling of carmine spots, surrounded by a halo of azure, with occasionally -spots as round as shot, of brown and yellow or white. Its tail is also nearly square, instead of forked. Its first dorsal fin is formed of soft rays, and its second is merely an adipose protuberance. Its meat ranges in colour from that of the pinky-meated salmon to the mallow-colour, the latter being preferred by epicures, as indicating the condition of creamy succu- lency between its laminar flakes. By these pen-hints all may know a brook trout, for, though different waters may shade its back from a golden brown tinged with green to sooty black, yet its carmine spots will always be visible and the meat always more or less approximate to that of the salmon in colour. We are thus particular in describing the surface marks of the trout, in order that a chubb shall not be mistaken for one, as is the case in Virginia, or a white bass, as has been the case farther south. The trout, in disposing of its spawn, follows the the identical rules which govern the salmon in this important process. It thrives best in spring streams, and mates in July or August with one of its same size, and the pair feed and remain together until spawning time, which is September and October, sometimes much later, but these are the princi- pal spawning montks for this latitude. As the spawning season ap- proaches, the trout in pairs run up rivers, torrents and brooks, to seek out near the springy sources of the stream the most retired water flowing over gravelly bottoms for their annual operation. There the female digs a trench in the gravel with her nose, and when ready to deposit her spawn she swims round and round with great celerity, the male fish following her, and, as she ejects the ova into the trenches, he discharges the milt which impregnates the ova; and after this process is finished the female covers up the trenches and stands sentry over them to prevent the male trout and other enemies such as eels, roach, &c., from uncovering her nests and eating her eggs. For the knowledge adequate to enable a person to propagate trout or | salmon by artificial means (the manner of propagating trout and salmon are the same), a person should understand the habits of the trout in the natural progress of propagation, and then imitate it as neaaly. as possible by artificial means. Fishes of the genus Salmo are less prolific than the Clupia tribe, the . fecundity of which baffles computation, varying from the carp, with its 300,000 eggs—according to Blumenbach, to the sturgeon withits 1,487,500 — E —as recorded by Lowenceck—and who states this to be nothing to the fecundity of the cod, one of which he estimated to contain i" upwards of 4 9,000,000 eggs.” : We think it’ will be ascertained that as animals rise in the scale o 7 ~~ ee. a — —— PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 181 entities and mind asserts its power over matter, that fecundity is proportionably lessened. The genus Salmo, therefore, as it includes the most intellectual families of all the oviparous tribes, seldom contains more than 25,000 eggs, and some trout not more than as many hundreds, yet the yield of spawn for one year only of a large pair of trout in good condition, would be worth, in a preserve of spring water, several thousand dollars. | _ There are two general methods for propagating trout, whereas there appears to be but one for salmon, by reason of its migratory nature. It should therefore be propagated from impregnated roe, by artificial means. Cut streams and preserves may be stocked with small trout, or trout of any size required, by transporting them from streams stocked by nature, and that too without injuriously eliminating the serried ranks of speckled beauties, which would flourish and increase faster ifthe monsters of the pool, which require each a dozen fingerlings for breakfast, were re- moved for ever from the stream. Gentlemen who own preserves of ‘rout should cull them occasionally with nets of large meshes and remove the large trout to a separate preserve or employ them to stock preserves with. Unless this courseis pursued, the big fish will eat the small ones, and the large ones will become un- healthy and die without any apparent cause. This is frequently the case on parts of streams, where the trout are robbed by insurmountable dams of their spawning beds at the heads of the streams. Too much importance cannot be attached to the necessity for improving all dams so that trout may surmount them. Sawdust, tanbark and poisonous colouring materials, should be kept from trout streams, but the two first are disappearing so fast in the Eastern and Middle States as to create no serious apprehension. ‘They have done their worst, and robbed many streams of more value in trout than the lumber and leather was worth which caused the sacrifice. From our experience we should think that stocking living spring waters with trout propagated by nature would be the most economical course in this country. It is still a question, which has been the cause of many experiments in France, whether the young trout hatched by arti- ficial means from the ova are as healthy for the first year, and whether they will thrive as well as those propagated by nature in natural trout streams, and afterwards used to stock preserves with. Much depends upon the extent of a preserve of living spring water and its situation. Ifitisso extensive as to include several miles of stream above the pond or preserve, or only a fraction of a mile, well protected by a shore shaded with dense shrubbery, then the water may be led by pipes to lateral ponds, so as to keep the trout of different sizes separate, and artificial propagation may be resorted to with great success and profit. But asmall pond, fed by only one spring, had best be stocked with trout by Mr. Aaron Vail, of Smithtown, Long Island. He takes all the responsibility of stocking ponds several hundred miles 182 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. away with Long Island trout, which epicures consider superior to trout of most of the streams in the interior of the State. He has recently stocked extensive preserves in Connecticut and in the interior of the State of Pennsylvania, and from his experience, having been engaged many years at propagating trout and stocking preserves, he is the most competent and reliable person that we know of, unless Mr. Ramsbottom of Islip, would engage to stock a preserve, either artificially or with fingerlings. He is now engaged in propagating salmon, trout, and black bass, in the waters known as the Snedicor Preserve, near Islip. Mr. Ramsbottom has recently been engaged in re-stocking many salmon rivers of Ireland by means of artificial propagation. His father is now engaged at the business on some of the Scottish rivers, and his brother is stocking the streams of Australia with salmon. We anticipate great benefit from the presence of Mr. Ramsbottom, who contemplates stock- ing with salmon many rivers in this State. As fish-culture by artificial means has been successfully pursued for several centuries in Christendom, being an invention of the monks, assisted in its discovery by information gathered from Catholic mission- aries in China, or on the islands. of the Eastern Archipelago, therefore the feasibility of artificial propagation at this late day has become esta- blished in every intelligent mind ; but it has been from recent experi- ments that the commercial world has opened its argus eye to its thousand per cent. profit. In order to approach a data from which to approximate the profit of propagating trout, we will instance the increase from a pair of salmon— for salmon may be propagated as easily as trout, and as cheaply here as in any other part of the world. It is estimated that after all drawbacks, and an unusual number of disasters, that from a pair of salmon three thousand grilse will return to the river in which they were hatched. It is true that twenty thousand left the spawning-bed, but the host had dwindled to three thousand. Now fifteen hundred per cent. is no mean interest on any stock, and at an average of ten pounds each, this pair of salmon would yield 30,000 dollars. But trout are not liable to the dangers to which the salmon is exposed, and we therefore conclude that, - after the work of propagating trout is fairly established, it will yield at least five thousand per cent. The question should be with those who desire to form trout preserves for profit or recreation, which is the best method of stocking their waters ? Should it be with live trout, or by artificial propagation in hatching from the ova. We incline to the live trout process in this country, because the preserve may be stocked with trout of any size, and at the risk and trouble of stocking your preserves by the propagator, who takes the contract and risk of supplying you at a modest price per thousand fish, the price, of course, depending on the size. By thus stocking your pre- serve once, your trouble and expense is ended with that investment. You may then draw from your own preserve the means for artificial _ PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 183 propagation to an unlimited extent, provided you have a living spring as your sinking fund. In that case an extended business may be sought more successfully by increasing the stock through means of artificial propagation. A preserve made from living springs was formed two years ago at Maspeth—a suburb only a mile east of Brooklyn—by stocking a pond which was made by leading water through iron pipes from a spring. A club of New York gentlemen hired the exclusive right to fish this pond with a fly from March until July, this year, for the sum of 2,500 dols. The owner is now enlarging the pond, and has let it for fly-fishing for several years, from March 1 to July 1 for 5,000 dols. the season. This sum is not a mean income for a small farmer to receive without the investment of much labour. Old ponds, even if inhabited by trout, are apt to fill with weeds which grow from all parts of the bottom, except the channel cut by the creek flowing through it ; and if the stream be too small compared with the size of the pond, so that the water is not renewed sufficiently often, then the eels, roach, perch, and pike are apt to accumulate, to the ulti- mate extermination of the trout. It becomes necessary, therefore, before stocking an old pond, that the water be drawn off and the bottom of the pond thoroughly cleaned. The expense of cleaning a pond is partially paid by the manure thus obtained. Some persons, after clean- ing a pond, sow the bottom with lime and salt.. The creek should also be cleaned up to its source, by sweeping it with small-meshed nets; but all its shades on the margin of the stream, and its hiding places of rocks and stones in the stream, should be left, and pegs or piles driven into the bottom, leaving the tops of them a foot or go above the bottom, to prevent poachers from netting the pond or stream. The dam may or-inay not be constructed so as to permit the trout to follow down the stream to its estuary and return at will. This would depend upon agreement between the different owners of the stream. But when the stream debouches into a bay or river of salt water, a tumbling dam offers an inducement to smelt, herring, &c., to spawn in fhe pond, and thus stock it with the best feed possible for trout, for those trout which feed on shrimp, smelt, spearing, young herring, and the roe of those fishes, are always superior to such as feed on worms brought down the stream by a freshet. Although one of the principal charms of the trout is that he feeds on the flies which swarm on the surface of the water, thus enlivening and beautifying the water by breaking to the surface and forming numerous wakes of large circles, and sometimes rising above the surface and disclosing miniature rain- bows of amber and gold, yet there are times when he prefers something more substantial, and will not touch afly. In this he imitates humanity, which requires roast beef as well as plum pudding and omelette souffiée. So the trout requires his piece de resistance of something more substantial than flies. VOL. VI. S 184 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA, Dubravius, Dr. Lebault, and many piscatorial professors, dwell at great length upon preparing fish ponds and taking care of them. We therefore extract the gist of their advice, intermingled with our own, as follows: A pond intended for either profit or pleasure should be cleansed once every three or four years, especially if large compared with the stream by which it is fed, or if sustained by more surface water than of spring water. It should be drained and lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the water-weeds and the animals which feed on trout and its roe. The letting your pond dry, and sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for it purifies the bottom of the pond. In reconstructing your pond after draining it, and having made the earth firm where the head of the pond must be, Lebault advises that you drive in two or three rows of oak or elm piles, which should be scorched in the fire or half burned before they be driven in the earth, for being thus used it preserves them much longer from rotting ; and having done so, lay faggots or bavins of smaller wood between them, and then earth between and above them ; and then, having first well rammed them and the earth, use another pile in like manner as the first were, and note that the second pile is to be of or about the same height that you intend to make’ your sluice or flood-gate, or the vent that you intend shall convey the overflowings of your pond, or any flood that shall threaten to break the pond-dam. Then he advises the planting of willows and osiers about the dam, and then cast in charred logs not far from the side, as, also, upon the sandy places, in order to protect ‘spawning beds and form hiding places for the small fry. All ponds should contain places of gravel bottom, and places sandy and shallow where trout may disport themselves and. burnish their sides. Fish should also have retiring places, such as hollow banks, or shelves, or roots of trees, to keep them from danger and to shade them at times during the day in the extreme heat of Summer, also from the extremity of cold in the Winter. ‘If too many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves thereof, falling into the water, will so impregnate it as to injure the flavor of the fish. Although towering trees form too densea __ shade, and the foliage is bad for the stream, while they yield cover fo invite winged game and the consequent gunner, and shooting much about a fish preserve.is injurious, yet. we would advise the planting of willow and alder to east mhade the stream or eon and. render firm the shores, © - Two trout ponds are more profitable than one of the same area as athe two, because they may be cleaned alternately, and the trout turned into one while the other is under cleaning process. -In‘small ponds, or ponds where the small fry of common fish often form food for trout, Lebault advises the feeding of trout by throwing into — the pond chippings of bread, curds, grains, or the entrails of chickens or of any. bird or beast you kill to feed yourselves. On the score of feeding trout in preserves our experience is that they are generally fed too much CLEVELAND WINE, 185 In ponds where feed is scarce, living bait should be thrown in,:such as minnows, mummies, shrimp, and all kind of fish which nature intended for bait, by forbidding them ever to become more than three inches in length. But even this. should be done sparingly. We have known several ponds on Long Island where the fish died while they were fed sumptously, and when dead were found to be in excellent condition. We regret to state that some animals endowed with the exterior sem blanee of humanity keep trout ponds and pretend that they.are waters intended for the propagation of trout,wheu in reality, they are pounds, or liquid bastiles, wherein to imprison trout until they command. a high price in Fulton Market. When they get orders for them, they at once feed them with a huge meal of mummies (small fish), and when the trout have gorged themselves so, that in some instances, the tails of the fish which the trout vainly endeavoured to swallow are seen protruding from their mouths, these Peter Funks then sweep the pond with a net, send the trout thus stuffed to market, and receive therefor the price which healthy trout command. During the past season one dollar and a half a pound has frequently been paid for trout bought at wholesale. — It. is said that these Peter Funks rob the trout streams of their neighbourhoods by means of nets during the close season—between the first of September and the first of March—and deposit their stolen gains in liquid pounds, where they feed them until the market opens ; forit is unlawful to catch or sell trout during the close season, except for the purpose of science or the object of propagation. : Having endeavoured to inform the reader about the nature, habits and quality of trout, and the simplest and best methods for propagation by stocking with living fish, we propose in a future Number to give a detailed description (founded on authorities now successfully engaged at fish-culture) of the method for propagating trout and salmon by artificial means. CLEVELAND WINE. CLEVELAND coutains 60,000 inbabitants, has a good trade with Ohio and Indiana, and it manufactures pretty largely. Here is the great fruit- preserving house, and it is the centre of the greatest number of vine- yards on the American continent. Mr. George Leick has eighteen acres in vineyard, eight miles east of Cleveland, near Dr.. Dunham’s. He has three wine presses, one on Kelly’s Island, one at Sandusky, and one in Cleveland. He makes ‘some wine from the Isabella, The Clinton grape makes good wine, and is similar to the German red wine ; in fact, Germans cannot tell the difference between it and the old country wine. He values the Clinton ; ; 186 CLEVELAND WINE. no other grape bears better ; it likes to run on trees. The Isabella he does not like to mix with other kinds, because it is earliest ripe and ferments soonest. By itself it makes a fair wine. Last year he tried 200 lbs. of the Concord, and does not like it, and yet the Hermann folks value it to mix with Norton’s Virginia. The following is his account of the per-centage of wine in different grapes. He uses the scale of Oéshel which ranges from 4 to 115 degrees. Concord showed from 65 to 70 per cent. ; Norton’s Virginia, suddenly, 1:0; Catawba from 80 to 90; Isabella from 60 to 65; Clinton 100, and sometimes 103; of the Delaware he was doubtful. The amount of acid in the must of different grapes he tests by Geister’s acidimeter, ranging from 1 to 20. In addition is a thermometer, which is used in making the trial when the must is at 52 deg. Fahren- heit? In 80 degrees of Catawba saccharine matter there are from 7 to 8 of acid; in Isabella, 9 to 10; Norton’s Virginia, 4 ; Delaware, 5; Con- cord, 6. Last year he bought grapes to make from nine to ten thousand gallons of wine; two years ago from eighteen to twenty thousand gallons. He says positively there can be no limit to the market at good prices. Last year most of the grapes were engaged early in August, This year buyers were already around trying to contract. Mr. Leick has large cellars under his store, where are huge ae but he has no regular wine-cellar such as at Hermann. Those cellars look like vast railroad culverts walled at one end, and with an entry and two doors in the other. They cost from three to five hundred dollars. If the wine is kept in store during the year it will rapidly ferment, and get what is called age. He can sell all the wine he makes during the year. Should he keep much over, he would require a proper wine-cellar. Still he has some old stocks, so as to have different ages in the business. Mr. Leick makes this statement :—If for five years to come the people of this country plant vineyards as they have for five years past, there will be more wine and grapes here than in the old country. He says the grapes in Germany have only about half as much acid as those in this country, but the flavour of American wine is three times stronger. The German grapes yield about the same, but the skin is thinner. The acid isin the thick skin of the Catawba. The sac- charine matter is about the same. They do not get half as much wine from-an acre of grapes there as we do here, for they have a good crop only once in eight years. As regards the comparative quality of the wine he could not decide, so much depends on taste, but the Catawba has only 9} per cent. of alcohol. _ A very great question, however, arises. Is a warm or tropical climate more favourable for producing sugar or saccharine matter than a cold one ? It does not follow that in warm climates good wine grapes or other choice fruits will not grow. The truth is, such climates are quite favourable for fruit, but the fruit has more acid. ig nH TECHNOLOGIST. 0 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. (Concluded from p. 185.) PISCICULTURISTS of Europe have traced the artificial propagation of fish to the Chinese, thence—moving with empire—the Romans paid signal homage to fish-culture as a pet philosophical pastime for several of the most distinguished epicurean Emperors. Lucullus—the gourmand who dined on peacocks’ tongues—expended very large sums in the for- mation of fish-ponds. Some of them he supplied with sea-water by means of a canal cut from the Mediterranean to his villa at Tusculum. Sergius Orata, in the time of Crassus, stocked the Lucrine Lake with oysters, and derived large revenues therefrom ; while the apparatus used in ostraculture on the Lake of Fusaro formed the base upon which the French have constructed their system of ostraculture of the present day. We saw recently in the Treasury at Naples, among articles exhumed from the ruins of Pompeii, a glass vase of fish eggs in a perfect state of preser- vation, though having been put up 1,800 years previously. It was sup- posed +o be caviare, but on reflection we have been led to doubt it, because the eggs were as large as those which belong to the Salmo genus, and the glass vase was similar in shape to the bottles used in France by fish-cul- turists to export fecundated roe to all parts of the world, and it is now claimed that it can be preserved for years without addling an egg. We know that the eggs have been shipped first from France to England, and from thence to Australia where they have been hatched—both trout and salmon—and were doing so well that Prof. Ramsbottom, who is the fish artist of the enterprise, recently expressed surprise at the rapidity of their growth—it being much greater than on the British Isles. From fish-culture in the most refined part of ancient Rome, by the patricians, we next trace it to the Monks of the mountains—those men of science and experiment who invented eau de vie, the water of life, com- monly known as brandy—where Don Pinchon, a monk of the abbey VOL. VI. T 188 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. Réome, was the inventor of the present plan of hatching fish in boxes. His inventive faculty was doubtless inspired by the necessity of providing for the numerous fasts prescribed by the Church of Rome. After Father Pinchon, much time elapsed before the art of propagating fish travelled far, but it was next discovered on its westward march, when M. Jacobi, a Ger- man, in 1763 presented his results of thirty years’ application before the Royal Academy of Berlin. The interest thus excited was not suffered to die entirely, though the incredulous retarded its benefits until the success of a few philosophical capitalists became so patent to all who could see and read, that fish by artificial propagation soon became an article of commerce. More recently “the abundant success which attended the institution at Heningen, in which a million of trout have, in a single year, been hatched and reared,” so interested the men of science through- out Europe, that a savant of France reported it to the French Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in February 1843, accompanied with the following comments :—“ Fish-culture, which had obtained among the ancients so high a degree of perfection, is, in our own days, fallen to such a state of decadence, that it is scarcely reckoned among the least important branches of modern industry, and nevertheless, our social conditions have at no time more imperiously demanded of us again to restore it to a level with the continual increase of our population. There exists not, I safely affirm one single branch of industry or of culture which with less chance of loss, offers to realise more important benefits.” The people of the British Isles were, apparently, first awakened to the subject of propagating trout and salmon by artificial means, through the experiments of Messrs. Shaw and Young, which first resulted in the humourously discussed question in one of the British magazines, about the year 1840 on “The Transmutations of the Salmon,” which startled public curiosity with a premonition of those facts which were fully elucidated in France by Messrs. Gehin and Remy in 1847, and divided interest with the continental revolutions of 1848. Although the French government recognised the importance of the invention of Gehin and Remy by a liberal reward in money and lucra- tive employment in carrying forward the experiment under government patronage, so that millions of trout and salmon were annually hatched by artificial propagation, yet the people of Britain did not engage in it until after the year 1850, when Messrs. Edmund and Thomas Ashworth are said to have been the first to test it, by stocking some of the rivers on encumbered estates in Ireland, under the superintendence of Mr. Robert Ramsbottom. But in America, up,to the present time, only a very few gentlemen have engaged in the enterprize, first among whom is R. L, Pell, Esq., late President of the Agricultural Club of the American Institute in New York, and Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth, a trout breeder in West Bloomfield, N. Y. To these may be added Solon Robinson and Prof. Maeps as scientific gentlemen and experimenters, the first of whom stated before the American Institute, “That trout can be artificially “y PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 189 produced with greater profit to the producer than any kind of meat, no member of the Club entertains a doubt. But to induce people to enter upon the business, the subject needs to be constantly agitated.” In addition to these gentlemen, Mr. Aaron Vail and Mr, Ramsbottom (who is son of Robert Ramsbottom, and brother to Mr. Ramsbottom who is now engaged at propagating trout in Australia from fecundated roe transported from England), we know of but few more in this country ; but the vital subject is undergoing incubation, and promises a superabundant yield after the people become fully awake to the immense profits and the attractive amusement and luxury of propagating trout by artificial means. Spring water from 40 deg. to 45 deg. has thus far proven best for propagating trout in this country. Prof. Ramsbottom states that a spring is preferable to a brook, since the latter is liable to sudden inun- dations which sweep away the ova or destroy them by deposits of mud. Tn other respects, also, a spring is much more desirable, the temperature of spring water being higher in the winter season, and more equable than that of river water. It is the superior warmth of spring water which renders its employment almost essential to the progress of artifi- cial propagation. When deposited in the bed of a spring the ova are hatched in a much shorter period than in river water. The term of their exposure to the numerous causes of destruction is consequently less, and the probability of their ultimate escape proportionably greater. Instead of being liable to injury for more than one hundred days they are frequently hatched in sixty. River water, indeed, may be of so low a temperature as to render it impossible that the ova shall ever be hatched at all, even wien properly impregnated and deposited. In situations where spring water cannot be obtained in sufficient quantities, the river water should pass through a filter of sand and gravel. If the spring is large enough, and the ground suitable, it may be divided into artificial rills with a pipe of two inches run of water to each. Under all circumstances a gentle, eqnable, and pure current is indispensable. If you have a trout-pond, tap it at the sluice in the dam, with several pipes of two inches diameter, covering the ends in the pond with fine wire gauze, to exclude young fish, or the egys of such fish or reptiles as are enemies to the trout. Conduct the water through these pipes to rows of boxes about two feet wide and six feet long, the boxes, from the head one nearest the dam, resting two inches lower than the one which immediately precedes it, so as to produce a current suffici- ently swift in this artificial stream formed of a row, or several rows of boxes, and each row formed of a half-dozen boxes. One pipe to supply each row of boxes, and then you may have as many rows of boxes as you have water to supply, always bearing in mind that the water must run continually. The waste water, after it leaves the boxes, may be conducted by a ditch into the brook below the dam, or into a pond pre- pared to receive the young trout. The bottoms of the boxes are next 190 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. covered to the depth of a couple of inches with sand and small pebbles, upon which is laid a pavement of stones from three to six inches diameter. The water should be as much as two inches deep above this pavement and fill the boxes two-thirds full, The boxes are open at the top. Then pour the fecundated roe equally over the paved bottom of each box, and it will soon find its way into the crevices of the stony bottom, and within from sixty to seventy-five days the trout will be hatched, and a bag connected to the abdomen: by the umbilical cord - contains sustenance sufficient for forty days, after which the tiny creature begins to seek food and should be removed to their pond. The principal object to be aimed at in forming artificial spawning beds with boxes is to imitate Nature as nearly as possible, and improve upon the natural spawning stream by preventing the enemies of the trout and lovers of spawn from gaining access to it. In stocking ponds at first it is well to do it with trout at least two years old, but after the preserve is stocked it is more economical and certain to continue its supply by artificial propagation, for while it is true that young trout have so many enemies in their natural streams that not one in ten matures, and, of ova planted in the natural streams, scarcely one in a hundred is hatched, because of being devoured by roach, eels, and the parent trout, or destroyed by a host of other causes, such as freshets, which either sweep them clean away or leave deposits of mud and other débris so deep as to destroy both eggs and the fish which were lately hatched. While these are the concomitants of the natural pro- creation of trout, artificial propagation prevents those losses by protect- ing the eggs until they are hatched, and afterwards by preserving the voung trout in shallow ponds by themselves until they become two years old, when they may with safety be turned into the common pre- serve. If the boxes are to he supplied from a spring direct, pipes in that case will conduct the water as from the pond, bearing in mind that you so place the boxes as to produce fall enough to keep the water always in motion and passing through them regularly. The waste water may then be conducted by a ditch to the main creek, and a dam formed so that the backing water will not interfere with the spawning boxes, and after keeping the trout in the boxes forty days after they were hatched turn them into a shallow compartment of the main pond, when they may be fed with liver, curds, the offal of any animal or fowl you kill, or meal. It is best that they have variety in diet, but afterthey become a year old they will devour worms, flies, and very small fish. For the trout there is no food more dainty and wholesome than a young shiner, either whole or cut into small pieces. There should be charred wood and stones in the pool for hiding places, and the bottom should be formed of sand and gravel. Mr. Robert Ramsbottom’s Directions for forming Artificial Spawning Beds or Boxes, and procuring Ova from Trout or Salmon and planting it. —A suitable rill, contiguous to the river, and affording a sufficient m PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 191 supply of water, was first selected, and operations commenced at once. Across the stream, which was scarcely thirty inches in width, a rude weir was thrown so as to check the progress of the water, and to form a dam which extended several yards toward the source of the rill, with the average depth of twelve inches. The necessary continuous supply of water was thus obtained, the remainder passing away in an artificial channel cut for the purpose. - The boxes for containing the ova were twenty-four in number, each being six feet long, eighteen inches wide, nine inches deep, and open at the top. The whole were disposed in a double row, parallel with the original course of the rill. Each row consisted of twelve boxes, placed end to end, the beds of the foremost commencing shortly below the lower end of the dam. A piece of three inches in depth and nine in width was cut from each log in order to allow a free passage for the stream through the whole series. At the junction of each box was nailed a sheet of tin with turned-up sides to prevent the escape of the water. A couple of pipesa yard in length and two inches in diameter conveyed the stream to the foremost box in each row, the end of the pipes inserted in the dam being covered with fine wire gauze to prevent the entrance of trout and insects. The whole were arranged on a gentile slope, so as to avoid stagnation, and ensure a tolerably rapid flow of water. The boxes being arranged, a strata on which to place the ova was then formed. It consisted of a mixture of sand and gravel, of the depth of several inches, upon which were deposited pebbles of the ordinary size of road metal, When properly prepared for the reception of the ova, the stream averaged two inches in depth above the average of the stones. At a short distance below the dam two ponds were constructed to contain the fry, the one receiving the stream from the double row of boxes, and the other from the bed of the rill. The superficial area. of each was 240 yards, being much too small, as finally ascertained, for the hosts of fry with which they were ultimately tenanted. A spawning bed in the immediate vicinity afforded every facility. nu order to obtain the spawn in a perfectly mature state, the fish were taken from the spawning bed in the very act of its deposition. They were caught with nets at night. When taken they were instantly, and without injury, put into an oval tub one-fourth full of water. So soon as a pair of suitable fish were captured, the ova from the female was immediately discharged into the tub by a gentle pressure of the hands from the thorax downward. The milt of the male was ejected in a similar manner, and the contents of the tub gently stirred with the hand. After the lapse of a minute the water was poured off, with the exception of sufficient to keep the ova submerged and fresh supplied in its place. This also was poured off and fresh substituted previously to removing the impregnated spawn to the boxes prepared for its reception. In discharging the ova from the abdomen of the female, all violence was carefully avoided. If on examination the ova were found to be 192 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. immature, the fish was immediately returned to the river, and others in a more advanced stage taken. When a sufficient quantity of spawn was collected, it was at once removed to the hatching ground. An amount proportioned to the size of the boxes was carefully poured in at the head of each, the action of the water scattering it pretty equally among the crevices of the stones. A temporary increased flow of the stream easily distributed it wherever it might happen to be too closely crowded together. Out of 24,000 roe deposited in the spawning boxes, 20,000 were successfully hatched. Mr. John Gillone’s Process of Propagating Trout and Salmon—As owner of the ‘‘ Longland Fishery,” the opinion of Mr. Gillone is received with much confidence and respect throughout England. “In the first place,” he states, “we have one mill-dam hecked at top and bottom.” (As the word heck means “an engine or instrument for catching fish,” we suppose that he means a peculiar net or singularly constructed weir, for preventing trout or salmon from passing it, and rendering them liable to capture in the attempt.—Ep.) The upper part of the dam was laid with gravel suitable for salmon or trout to spawn in naturally. There is also a very suitable stream for trout or salmon to deposit their spawn, and so soon as our fishing season is about to close we take the number of fish required to fill our breeding boxes with fecundated ova, and put them into the dam and keep them there until we see them beginning to spawn. (Spawning is continued for several days, and sometimes weeks, by a single pair of fish. The male trout or male salmon sometimes forces the female to the spawning bed before all the ova is sufficiently matured for deposition—Ep.) We then shut down our upper sluice, catch and examine all the fish, and keep in a large wooden box all the fish ready for manipulation, returning the rest to the dam till we see them beginning to spawn a second time, and so on till we get them all spawned. We spawn them in a box three feet six inches long, seven inches wide, and nine inches deep, with as much water as will cover the fish. We first take the female fish from a large box filled with water close at hand, lay her in the little box as she swims (that is, her back up), taking her by the tail with the right hand, and with the left gently press from the neck to the vent until you get all the roe excluded. We then pour off about half the water and use the male fish the same way, mixing the milt with the water by the hand. After mixing the ova, we have a large filter that fits the neck of a botile, water-tight, with a rim of wire gauze two inches deep. We then fill the bottle and filter with water ; then, pouring off the greater part of the water in the spawn-box, we empty the roe and water into the filter. The roe, of course, sinks into the bottle, the water runs off through the wire gauze, and prevents any of the ova from being spilled. The bottle is marked off into divisions, each division holding 800 eggs of an average size. By this way we count our roe with little trouble that we deposit in our breeding-boxes, In ~- PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 193 putting the ova into the breeding-boxes, I have a tin tube that fills the neck of the bottle, tapering to about a half-inch circle at the top. This tube I place belcw the water in the breeding-box, and gradually empty the roe into glass bars. Our breeding boxes are two in number—or rather a continuation of one. They are laid quite level, so that the water circulates down the one and up the other. The boxes are made of wood four inches deep, one foot wide, and the length of the two boxes combined is 135 feet. These boxes are supplied with frames inside each, three feet long, filled with narrow strips of glass, with the sharp edges ground off to prevent cutting the young fish. The glass is laid across the stream, forming gutters, in which the ova is placed in rows aeross the run of the water; the glass is supported in the frames three-quarters of an inch from the bottom of the box, the water flowing freely both above and below the ova. These boxes are capable of hatching at a time 15,000 salmon or trout. This season we have 24,000 salmon eggs deposited in them, and the eggs are becoming quite visible. In deposit- ing the ova in the several boxes, I keep each fish’s eggs separate, and marked on the boxes 1, 2, 3, &. I keep correspondiag numbers in a book, with a remark on each fish’s roe at the time of spawning ; and during the time of incubation, if I see anything worthy of notice, I take a note of the number and what has happened. I pick out all the dead ova once or twice a week, and keep account of the number ; and when the hatching is finished, I subtract the number of the dead from the number deposited, which will show about the quantity we have hatched. At the present time, the re-stocking of the Tay with trout and salmon, and stocking with trout and salmon the Tasmanian waters in Australia from ova transported from France and England, are subjects of comment by the most learned pisciculturists, proving that fecundated ova may be carried in glass bottles all over the globe without injury to a single egg. We have just learned that a citizen of Maine has invented a process by which he can preserve roe in a condition for being hatched for many years. Of the various methods of preparing roe for shipment, MM. Gehin and Remy place the fecundated spawn in a tin box, between layers of pebbles—an undesirable plan, since the shock in transit will certainly crush them. Others have recommended alternate strata of wet sand as suitable for convenient packing. The plan recommended by Professor Ramsbottom, and successfully practised by him for many years, is that of placing the ova in large glass bottles filled with river-water, which is changed as often as convenient. Mr. Francis Francis, a great ichthy- ological student in London, recommends glass bottles similar to those used by the French government at present for transporting roe. Of course, the fecundated ova can be most safely transported in fall or winter. Salmon roe was imported from Ireland last winter by Mr. Bowman Johnson of Islip, at the instance of Mr. Ramsbottom, whom he 194 } PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. has employed to stock the Snedicer Preserves with both salmon and trout; and the roe was hatched at the Artists’ Buildings in Tenth street, in Croton water, from whence they were transferred to the Connetquot, Preserve below Islip. Although many persons contend that the pair turned into the South Bay will never return to Mr. Johnson’s preserve, I doubt them. They perhaps have not taken into account the fact that blue fish, Spanish mackerel, boneta, and sharks, do not inhabit the bay during either spring, fall, or winter, and these are the migratory seasons of the salmon. Of trout, they have been taken in nets in the South Bay several miles from shore. Daniel Webster contended that the trout of Marshfield Creek made regular trips to sea, and improved greatly by their marine voyages. We never doubted it for we know that trout which have access to our bays and inlets from the ocean are fatter and higher flavoured, which is justly attributed to their food in salt water being shrimps, small fish, and the eggs of the numerous tribes of the deep. | It has been proved by experiment that, of salmon, not more than one in a thousand hatched naturally arrive at maturity. Of trout, it is pro- bable that double that proportion mature, for the present experiment of propagating trout and salmon side by side in Australia proves that trout thrive best, and are what Lord Dundreary would call “ the most wobust.” But the ranks of the speckled beauties in our trout streams and ponds have been decimated, and require filling up. This cannot be done without the assistance of art. Let us suppose that a pond which is supplied by streams suitable for spawning is stocked with five hundred trout, each of which weighs a pound. In the course of one season they will deposit 250,000 ova. Granting that a considerable portion of these are hatched, is it ever found that a fiftieth or a hundredth part of the whole arrive at maturity? Far from this being the case ; the number “of trout will continue almost the same for years, without any perceptible increase. The reason is plain. As soon as the fry are hatched they are exposed to the attacks of the parent trout. Within the limits of the reservoir there is not the remotest chance of their ultimate escape. It is true, if the fingerlings knew enough, they might ascend the tributaries | of the preserve to shoals where the parent trout could not follow; but they do not know, and man being placed over the kingdom of inferior | animals should preserve them for his own good. Trout or salmon which spawn in the natural waters, generally go to the heads of the streams during the Fall floods and deposit their spawn: when the waters subside the ova is sometimes destroyed by being left on dry land. Other fish deposit their spawn and cover it on prior beds of spawn. Others spawn in the current of the stream, and a freshet carries it down the current as food for all the inhabitants below. In other cases the female trout makes her spawning-bed, and deposits and covers up the ova, while the male trout is down at the foot of the pool guarding it from the incursions of an army of water-guerillas. Sometimes the a PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 195 place in the stream selected for the spawning-bed is very good ‘while preparing the trenches for the spawn, but by the time the spawn is_ deposited the stream has become a torrent, and washes away the ova ; and yet just like a headstrong specimen of humanity—if the female makes up her mind that she will spawn at a place the rapidity of the flood of water never daunts her, though the swiftness of the current prevents the roe from ever touching bottom. Long Island is formed of a net-work tracery of trout streams, and yet there is but one establish- ment for the artificial propagation of trout on it. The proprietors and poachers of the island capture trout in Wiuter to stock ponds which, kept for the commercial advantages of letting them to be fished by amateurs with the fly, or the trout are fed and then netted and taken to market. There is no attention paid tothe procreation of the s} eckled beauties. Many of the best preserves on the island are depleted of trout by sheer neglect. They should divide their ponds, and catch their large trout and use them for stocking subsidiary waters. In a word they should tap their dams with pipes and conduct water into spawning- boxes. Where their dams are near a road or turnpike, they shoud run the pipes underneath, or place their boxes along the embankment of the dam in such position as to furm a rather swift flow of water throughout the line of boxes. Nothing can be more simple or safe. The trout hatched in that way should be placed in small ponds, each brood by itself, thus necessitating three of these small ponds. As each brood arrives at two years of age it should be turned into the main preserve, and that preserve should be swept annually with a largc- meshed net, and all the large trout so taken should be transferred to the pond of propagation, which should be watched during spawning- time—in September, October and November—and when found ripe for spawning they should be netted and the roe and milt taken from them and laid in the breeding-boxes, Whenever practicable, it is de-irable to take the trout from the spawniny-beds by means of nets, so as to insure the maturity of the ova. It can best be done in the night. So soon as caught, the fish should be placed in a large tub, or other vessel, partially filled with water, till a milter and spawner are taken. In ejecting the ova, the female should first be held over a bucket or large tin can half full of _water—the lower end of the abdomen being inserted in the water in order to prevent the exposuie of the ova to the air. A gentle pressure of the hand from the thorax down each side of the abdomen will dis- charge the ova, if mature, without the least injury to the fish. The water in the bucket should then be reduced to three or four quarts pre- viously to ejecting the milt of the male. In expelling the milt the course pursued is precisely the same as that just described, the lower eud of the abdomen being in this case also inserted in the water. After stirring the couteuts of the bucket with the hand, the water should be poured off and fresh supplied several times in succession, until no trace VOL, VI. | Bears U 196 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. of the milt can be seen, always taking care to keep the ova submerged. the spawn may then be removed to the hatching-ground or boxes ; for _ the artificial spawning bed may be made in a ditch, dug for the purpose, and paved, and supplied through pipes with water, as well as in boxes ; but experiments have given the preference to boxes, as susceptible of forming thereby a stream more equal in flood, volume and temperature. In the removal of the ova for a sbort distance it is unimportant in what manner they are conveyed so long as they are not much shaken. In transporting to great distances, requiring much care, it is better to carry them in bottles of water than in layers between sand or moss, because the specific gravity of ova and that of water are so nearly the same as to insure against much oscillation. Another advantage of exporting in bottles of water is found in the less apprehension of their being dis- turbed or injured by Custom-House officers. The preparation of the hatching-ground is the same whether it is intended to deposit the ova in boxes or in the natural bed of the spring or stream. The best substratum consists of a mixture of sand and gravel, a couple of inches in depth, upon which stones like the old irregular-sized paving-stones should be laid throughout the entire length, and the stream should flow equally over the whole. In the deposition of the spawn, a portion is taken into any small vessel and gently poured upon the hatching-ground, care being exercised to distribute it pretty equally. If it should accumulate too thickly in places it may easily be scattered by pouring water upon it, when it will soon disappear among the small interstices of the paving-stones. No fur- ther care is then required, except to keep the stream of water constant and pure and protected from injury by frost. The period at which the ova may be expected to come to life will be from sixty to ninety days, owing much to the temperature of the water. Trout have been hatched in this way in less than fifty days, and salmon in less than sixty. The annual revenue of the Tay is continually increasing since it is being restocked by artificial propagation, and it is now worth 10,000/. a year more than it was before its supply was augmented by its thousands annually hatched in fish-boxes. The experiment of transporting ova to Australia and hatching them there has proved entirely successful. By a perusal of the foregoing descriptions for propagating trout by the most celebrated and successful fish-culturists, it will be perceived that they do not differ much in the modus operandi. Nearly every tarmer has a spring on his place yielding surplus water sufficient to hatch trout in boxes. If he does not wish to go to much expense in erecting a dam to form a preserve, he might, at least, hatch the trout in boxes and sell them, for they are as ready sale as any product of a farm. Mr. Ainsworth, of Bloomfield, N. Y., said : “The original stock (of trout) was put in my pond, containing 61 square rods of ground, 14 feetdeep, __ - supplied with springs, three years ago, 1,400 in number, age from one TORBITE AND ITS USES. 197 to four years. They weigh now from one to three pounds each. They are about as tame as kittens—come at call, and throw themselves clear out of water in their haste for food a‘ the five hundred at a time, and some take it out of a spoon six inches above the water. Think of seeing five hundred trout, all at the same instant, weighing from one to three pounds, and from twelve to eighteen inches long!” Mr. Ainsworth states that he takes the trout while on their rate spawning-beds and exudes their ova and milt artificially, and then places the spawn in troughs on gravel with pure spring-water running over them. They hatch in seventy-eight days, and commence feeding from forty to fifty days thereafter, during which time they live on the egg attached to them. Last fall I took in this way about 60,000 eggs and hatched say 40,000 of them, which are now from two to four inches long. With all things right, nearly all will hatch in this way. These will grow to a pound in weight in four years, with good water and plenty of food. A two-pound trout will furnish about 8,000 spawn ; smaller ones less in proportion. They commence spawning when one year old. In this way they can be increased and grown to any extent, and all the ponds and streams in the country stocked to overflowing. We conclude with the statement of both hope and confidence, that ‘the reader will find fish-breeding in boxes so simple and sure that he will at once prepare to engage in the interesting and profitable occupa- tion of the Propagation of Trout. ON TORBITE (A NEW PREPARATION OF PEAT) AND ITS USES.* BY D, K. CLARK, C.E. THE writer had occasion a short time since to inspect professionally the works at Horwich, in Lancashire, to manufacture fuel and charcoal from peat, and was so struck with all that came under his rotice, and impressed with the importance of the results obtained, that he feels he cannot bring a more interesting subject before the meeting. The question of the manufacture of peat into fuel is in reality a question of supplementing the natural supplies of coal with a fuel, which may be made superior to it in every respect, more abun- dant and more readily accessible. The consumption of coal is so enormous and goes on annually increasing at such a rate that for some time past, serious apprehensions have been entertained that our * Read before the British Association. 198 TORBITE AND ITS USES. coal measures will be exhausted at no very distant period. Our stock of coal, excluding all that lies at a greater depth than 4,000ft., has been estimated at 83,544,000,000 tons. In 1863 the consumption reached 86,300,000 tons, and the average rate of increase for the last ten years has been two millions of tons a year. Thus, supposing our stock to have been correctly estimated, mm less than 100 years our coal will be ex- hausted. Fortunately, however, nature has not left us dependent on our coal measures alone, but has also given us our bogs, Peat, it is well known, possesses many most valuable properties as a. raw material for fuel, but the attempts hitherto made to utilize peat on a large scale have proved failures, owing to the difficulty of dealing with a substance exceecingly bulky, very loose, and holding from 75 to 85 per cent of water. To separate the water und to condense and mould the peat into con- venient sizes at a cost sufficiently low to render it commercially available as fuel, is a problem which has baffled the efforts of nany operators. In most instances, compression has beeu applied for the purpose of Impart- ing the requisite degree of of solidity, by means of powerful hydraulic presses or other machinery. In the process adopted by Messrs, Gwynne and Mr. C. Hodgson, the peat is first dried and powdered, and then pressed into blocks ; but the action of compression is purely mechanical, and though it imparts great compactness by bringing the particles of the peat into close contiguity, it does not really solidify the substance, since on being exposed to heat, it resumes its original form and crumbles to pieces. Fuel thus prepared is totally incapable of resisting the action of a blast or even of a moderate draft, and though Mr. Hodgson still earries on the manufacture of tuel by his process, the consumption is very limited. Acccording to Mr. Cobbold’s mode of treatment the peat is immersed in water for the purpose of separating the fibre from the move decom- posed matter, and the water is afterwards got rid of either by simple evaporation or by means of centrifugal power; but though by this means a very dense fuel is obtained, the separation of the fibre deprives the fuel of coherency, besides which the process is laborious and costly. Attempts have also been made in Ireland to utilize peat by manufac- turing it solely for the sake of its chemical products. Many valuable products have thus been obtained, from which even paraffin candles have been made, but the cost far exceeded the market value. But such attempts have not been altogether in vain, inasmuch as the experience thus gained in the treatment of peat has proved of great value. To know what will not do is a great step towards knowing what will do ; and the more recent patents show, almost in the order of their dates, the slow but steady progress that has been made until one arrives at the system of manufacture recently inspected by the writer at Horwich: according to this system mechanical compression in any manner is studiously avoided, being not only costly but also ineffectual. TORBITE AND ITS USES. 199 Advantage has, on the contrary, been taken of the natural property of peat, suitably prepared, of contracting as its parts with its moisture and becoming perfectly solid and cohesive. The means of separating the water suspended in the peat have, too, be carefully perfected. The necessity of dealing with, and getting rid of, such a large proportion of water has been a standing difficulty from the first and the cause of excessive expenditure. At Horwich the problem has been carefully studied, and the difficulties appear to have been successfully overcome. Until a mode of artifficially drying peat rapidly and economically had been worked out air drying was necessarily resorted to ; and where limited quantities of fuel—say about 100 tons a-year—only are required to be made air drying may suffice, but for large quantities it would be, in our fickle climate, too uncertain a process to be depended on, and fur seven months in the year it would not be available at all. According to the system matured and established at Horwich, the peat, as it comes from the bog, is thrown into a mill expressly con- structed, by which it is reduced to a homogeneous pulpy consistency. The pul, is conveyed, by means of an endless band, to the moulding machine, in which, while it travels, it is formed into a slab and cut into blocks of any required size. ‘The blocks are delivered by a self-acting process on a band, which conveys them into the drying chamber, through which they travel forwards and backwards on a series of endless bands at a fixed rate of speed, exposed all the time to the action of a current - of heated air. The travelling bands are so arranged that the blocks of peat are deliverea from one to the other consecutively, and are by the same movement turned over in order to expose fresh surfaces at regular intervals to the action of the drying currents, so that they emerge from. the chamber dry, hard, and dense. To the peat substance thus treatcd the name of “torbite” has been given, from the Latin torbo, by which name peat is constantly mentioned in ancient charters. The next stage in the process is the treatment of the torbite in close ovens, when it may either be converted into charcoal for smelting pur- poses, or may be only partially charred for use as fuel for sane ge steam, or in the puddling furnace, The whole of the Horwich system has been planned with a view to the utmost economy of time aud labour. The raw peat is nearly altogether automatically treated by steam power—introduced at one end it issues frum the other in the form of charcoal, within twenty-four hours after it 1s excavated from the bog, and the manual labour expended is almost entirely limited to the first operation of digging, consequently the actual outlay in labour and fuel in the production of the charcoal does not exceed from 10s. to 12s. per ton; bnt, in addition to the eco- nomy thus effected by charring, in close ovens, a considerable quantity of valuable chemical products are yielded, as ammonia, acetic acid, pyroxylic spirit, paraffin oils, the sale of which alone nearly cover the expenses of the whole process. 200 - TORBITE AND ITS USES. The fatty matter separated by distillation forms an excellent lubri- cating grease, the yield of which averages about five per cent. of the weight of charcoal produced ; in its crude state it has been sold for 12/. per ton at Horwich. The charcoal made from torbite is extremely dense and pure ; its heating and resisting powers have been amply and severely tested, and with the most satisfactory results. At the Horwich works pig iron has been readily melted in a cupola. About eighty tons of superior iron have been made with it in a small blast furnace measuring only six feet in the boshes, and about twenty-six feet high. The ore smelted was partly red hematite, and partly Staffordshire, and the quantity of char- coal consumed was one ton eleven hundredweight to the ton of ivon made, but in a larger and better constructed furnace, considerably less charcoal will be required. It has also been tried in puddling and air furnaces with equally good results, considerably improving the quality of the iron melted. For this purpose the fuel was only partially charred, in order not to deprive it of its flame, which is considerably longer than that from coal. Some of the pig iron made at Horwich was then converted into bars, which were afterwards bent completely double when cold without exhibiting a single flaw. Messrs. Brown and Lennox, in testing this iron for chain cables, have reported that its strength was proved to be considerably above the average strength of the best brands. In Germany, peat mixed with wood charcoal is very extensively used in the production of iron, the peat as prepared there not being sufficiently solid to do the work alone, but it is found that the greater the proportion of peat that can be used, the better is the quality of the iron produced, The gas delivered from the high furnaces has also been satisfactorily employed in the refining of iron and the puddling of steel. — The value of peat in the production of iron has long been established. Tron metallurgists are agreed in the opinion that iron so produced is of very superior quality. In every stage of iron manufacture, and in weld- ing, peat charcoal is most valuable. At Messrs. Hick and Son’s forge, in Bolton, a large mass of iron, about ten inches square, was heated to a welding heat with peat charcoal made at Horwich. The time occupied “was less than the operation would have taken with coal ; the whole mass was equally heated through without the slightest trace of burning on the outside, and in hammering out the mass as much was done with one heating as ordinarily required two heatings to effect. The importance of obtaining an abundant supply, at cheap rates, of peat charcoal cannot, therefore, be too highly estimated. For the generation of steam the fuel made at Horwich has also been well tested, and its superiority over coal practically demonstrated both in locomotives and stationary engines. On the Northern Counties Rail- way of Ireland a train was driven with it from Belfast to Portrush, a distance of seventy miles, The-result at the end of the-journey showed TORBITE AND ITS USES. 201 a saving, as regards weight consumed, of twenty-five to thirty per cent. over the average of three months’ working with coal on the same journey. There was an excess of steam throughout the run, though the fire-door was constantly open and the damper down. At starting the pressure was 100 lb., but during the trip, and while ascending a steep incline, it rose to 110 lb., and afterwards to 120 1b. with the fire-door open. While running there was no smoke, and very little when stand- ing still, At the Horwich works the fuel was tested against coal under the boiler there. This was done on two cousecutive days, the fire having on each occasion been raked out the night previous. The following results were obtained :—Coal got up steam to 10 lb. pressure in 2 hours 25 minutes, and to 25 1b. pressure in 3 hours ; peat fuel got up steam to 10 lb in 1 hour 10 minutes, and to 25 1b. in 1 hour 32 minutes; 21 cwt. of coal maintained steam at 30 lb. pressure for 9? hours ; 11} cwt. of peat fuel maintained steam at the same pres- sure for 8 hours. But in addition to this a large economy is effected by the use of peat fuel for the generation of steam in the saving of boilers and fire-bars from the destruction caused by the sulphur in coal, from which peat is free. In Bavaria, peat fuel has been used on the railways for several years past, end the economy effected by its use in the wear and tear of the engines is stated by the officials in their reports to be very con- siderable. The bogs of Great Britain and Ireland cover an area exceeding five millions of acres, the average depth of which may be taken at twenty feet. Nature has thus supplied us with the means of adding to our ‘stock of fuel some twenty thousand millions of tons. In Ireland, about a million and a half of acres have been thoroughly surveyed. In the reports of these surveys it is stated that beneath the peat an excellent soil, well situated for drainage, was found fit for arable or pasture land. When it is considered what peat is capable of doing, and all the results involved in the question of utilising peat, it is im- possible not to feel impressed with the conviction that in what has been accomplished at Horwich, the foundation has been laid of an undertaking of great national importance and interest. 202 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. BY MR. BARRON, HER MAJESTY’S SECRETARY OF LEGATION AT BRUSSELS. (Concluded from p. 157.) Section JI I.—Government Factories. THe Belgian artillery possesses four great establishments for manu- facturing and repairing arms and ammunition, viz.:—l. The cannon foundry at Liége ; 2. The small-arms factory at Liege ; 3. The Arsenal de Construction (carriage-factory) at Antwerp; 4. The Ecole de Pyro- techuie (laboratory) at Antwerp. There exists, besides, a shot foundry at Antwerp, intended for use in time of war. The powder is all made by contract, as also some ordnance stores. Nearly everything else pertain- ing to the armament of the troops and the fortresses is manufactured by ‘the government itself. Trials of cannon are held at the Polygon of Brasschaet, or on the Ostend beach ; those of small arms at the camp of Beverloo or on the “champ d’épreuves” at Liege. Since 1859 the Minister of War, Lieutenant-General Baron Chazal, has imparted the greatest activity to this de;artment. Under his energetic impulse, every practical improvement has been introduced into the system of national defences, Of all the royal factories the Cannon Foundry of Liéve stands first in importance and celebrity. It kas from time to time supplied most Enropean States with iron and bronze cannon. Thus, from 1840 to 1857 it has executed for foreign governments 2,991 pieces of cannonand 123,000 projectiles, of an aggregate value of 140,000/. The government deemed it advisable, in the interests both of science and industry, to keep this establishmeut constantly at work. The high qnality of its productions has become well established by frequent competitive trials, especially that held at Woolwich in 1850. The superb cannon foundries of Truvia, in Spain, and of Vienna, were imitated from that of Liége. The whole strength of the establishment is now employed upon the Belvian artillery. Consequently no orders have been ac- cepted since 1859 for foreign governments. It is not accessible to visi- tors. Since the intruduction of rifled urdnance the foundry has been kept in extieme activity. Bronze has been entirely discarded, experience having shown that that metal, so superior in tenacity, is deficient in the hardness necessary for rifled guns. In 1861, the new breech-loading rifled gun was adopted, and 14,461,000 francs were voted for “ trans- forming” the whole artillery, ze, for the manufacture of new and the alteration of old guns. The Belgian cannon is, with slight modifications, that invented by Baron Wahrendorff, and adopted by Prussia. It gives perfect satisfaction. The minister instituted some experiments with THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 203 steel cannon manufactured of blocks derived from the principal steel- works in England, Germany, and Belgium. The result was so decidedly favourable to Krupp’s steel that all the small guns have since been pur- chased of him. They are supplied by his works at Essen, in Prussia, in the rough state, then rifled and fitted with their breech-closing appa-. ratus in the royal foundry. Wheat flour . ; : ‘ ue ’ Barley Meal . 1% , , : OS 4 Oatmeal : : : : . OF | Indian Meal . : : ; ra us Rye .- ; 5 ; ; eek Peas . ; ; . f eZ Rice . ‘ ; ‘ ; - HOW Beans ; : 2 5 «230 ‘Cocoa F : , 3 - 50°0 Lentils : é ; L 5 a Buckwheat . : : : See Tea . : ’ 5 ; - VEO - Coffee f ; j P rae bg ANIMAL FOOD. Mien >: : : ‘ . ae Pork ; y . Ks . 50°0 Veal : : “ ee . 16:0 Beef j pen : : < SOEs Mutton : : ‘ : . 40°0 Fish “ ; ; : TE Cheese ; ; , : . 20 The olive (Olea Huropea) is cultivated in the south of Europe. The part of the plant which contains the oil is the fruit. The berries of ‘the olives are pressed, and yield the oil which is so extensively employed on the continent of Europe, and known in this country under the name of salad oil. In countries where little butter or fat meat is employed as food, this oil is a most important ingredient in diet. The seeds of most plants contain oil in addition to starch and other principles. Many seeds are used for obtaining oil for various purposes in the arts, as the poppy, rape, mustard, hemp, and flax seeds. The following seeds, eaten as food, contain oil :— —e eee ee Almonds . : : . (Amygdalis communis). Chesnuts . : : . (Castania vesca). Walnuts . : : . (Juglans regia et Juglans nigra). ' Peccan nuts 5 : . (Juglans olive formis). Brazil nuts : . (Bertholletia excelsa). Spanish and hazel nuts . (Carylus avellana). Hickory nuts. : . (Carya alba). Beech nuts . . « .« (Fagus sylvatica). Pistacia nuts Cashew nuts Chicha nuts Pine seeds VEGETABLE FOOD. 263 (Pistacia vera). (Anacardium occidentale). . (Sterculia Chicha). (Pinus Pinea). The seeds of many other species of plants are eaten, and the oil they contain is probably their chief recommendation. Amongst them may be mentioned the various forms of acorns which are eaten in Portugal, Greece, Asia Minor, and other parts of the world. The sacred bean of Egypt (Nelwmbium speciosum), and the lotos ‘(Nymphea lotos) of the same region, the water-nuts (Zrapa natans) of China and Cashmir, and the souari, or butter nuts (Caryocar buiryosum) of Demerara. A bread is made at Gaboon, in ies from the seeds of the Mangifera gabonensis, called dica or odika bread. By simply boiling in water, from 70 to 80 per cent. of fat can be extracted from this bread. In this respect these seeds resemble chocolate, and it is not impossible that they might be used in Europe in the same way. They are exceed- ingly abundant in Gaboon. The seeds of many of the palms yield large quantities of oil, especi- ally the oil palm (Elavs guineensis) of Africa. The seed of the cocoa-nut palm (Cocos nucifera) is used as a substantive article of diet in Ceylon and many parts of the East Indies. It is imported into this country for the sake of the oil it contains. The milk in the interior of the seed isa blank fluid, and when the nut is fresh gathered, is a cool and pleasant drink. In the young state the seeds of most palms are filled with a cool fluid consisting mostly of water. This fluid is drunk by the inhabi- tants of the countries in which they grow. The double cocoa-nut of the Seychelles Islands (Lozdicea Seychellarum) contains sometimes as much as fourteen pints of water, and is drunk by sailors touching on these islands with great relish. Even the hard ivory-nut (Phytelephas macro- carpa) contains when young a fluid which is drunk by the natives of the countries in which it grows. Amongst vegetable foods yielding oil the cocoa or chocolate plant (Theobromo cacao) is one of the most remarkable. The seeds of this plant contain 50 per cent. of a hard oil or butter. - Food is sometimes preserved in oil which, on account of the small quantity of oxygen it contains, prevents animal or vegetable substances from putrefying. A familiar instance is known in this country in the case of the fish called sardines, which are thus preserved. Oil is used for this purpose in China. Acips.—Many of the organic acids resemble closely in their compo- sition starch and sugar, and may to a certain extent act on the system in the same way. They are therefore referred to the carbonaceous group, but there is no reason to suppose that in any system of diet. they could VOL. VI. EE a 264 VEGETABLE FOOD. be substituted for any of the other substances in the group. ae following paragraphs explain their action ; Organic Acids enter extensively intothe composition of various kinds of food. The acids most commonly used in diet are—Acetic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acic, oxalic acid. As articles of diet they probably all act in the same manner on the system. They all exert a solvent power over mineral substances, and assist In carrying the alkalies and alkaline earths into the blood. There is also reason to believe that in certain states of the system they favour the development of the gastric juice in the stomach, and assist, by their decomposition, in oxidising the materials of the blood. In all cases they act medicinally, or as auxiliaries, to the first class of foods. Acetic Acid, or Vinegar, is obtained either from the oxidation of alcohol in fermented liquors, or from the distillation of wood. Common vinegar is obtained from the oxidation of the fermented wort of malt. Vinegar is added to sauces and food to give them a flavour. It also preserves vegetable substances from decomposition, and is used in the raanufacture of what are called “ Pickles.” Citric Acid is contained in many fruits, but it exists in greatest abundance and purity in the fruits of the Orange tribe (Aurantiace@). Citric acid is separated from the fruits of these plants in a crystalline form. Tartaric Acid is found in the juice of the fruits of the vine tribe (Vitacew), more especially of the common vine (Vitis vinifera). This acid gives the acidity to the fruit of the grape, and is the acid present in wines. It forms with potass an insoluble salt, known by the name of cream of tartar. Malic Acid is contained in the fruits of the rose tribe (Rosacee). It has the same general properties as the other acids, and is contained alone in apples and pears, whilst in cherries, plums, &c., it is mixed with other acids. Oxalic Acid is contained in the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella, also in the common sorrel (Rumex acetosa), and various species of rhubarb (Rheum). Species of the latter genus are extensively cultivated in this country, and the petioles of their large leaves cut up and made into pies, puddings, &c. The basis of vinegar consists of acetic acid, which is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; the same elements that enter into the composition of alcohol. This compound is also procured from the dis- tillation of wood. ‘The acetic acid thus procured is called pyroligneous acid. The quantity of acetic acid in vinegar is from four to five per cent. Malt vinegar contains, besides acetic acid, water, dextrin, and frequently sulphuric acid. Wine vinegar contains besides acetic acid, the constituents of the wine from which it is made, as tartaric acid, &. — Pure vinegar is transparent, but burnt sugar is added to give it a colour, on account of a popular prejudice in favour of coloured vinegar. VEGETABLE FOOD. 9265 Various kinds of fruits, leaves, and parts of plants are preserved in vinegar and added to food. Some things are used in this way which are not otherwise employed. This is the case with the caper, which is the fruit of the Capparis spinosa; and the stertion, the fruit of the Indian cress (Tropwolum majus), A collection of fruits and plants preserved in vinegar will be found on the shelves devoted to the exhibition of “acids.” Sugar may be converted into vinegar by the aid of vegetation. The so-called “ Vinegar Plant,” of which a specimen is exhibited in the Museum, is the mycelium of .a fungus, which, during its growth in sugar and water, decomposes the sugar, and the result is the formation of the vegetable matter of the plant, and the development of acetic acid. The natural order Aurantiacese embraces the orange, the lemon, the _ citron, the shaddock, the pomelot, the lime, and other fruits. All of them contain citric acid, and varying proportions of sugar. ‘The flowers of the orange yield a delicious perfume known as oil of Neroli* The juice of these fruits is employed in the Navy for the purpose of preventing scurvy amongst sailors. This effect has been attributed ‘solely to the citric acid, but it has been found that the acid alone does not act so efficaciously as when contained in the juice of the fruit. Hence some writers have attributed the effect to a chemical compound of the acid with other ingredients of the jnice. Citric acid is also found in many fruits, but mixed with other acids, as in the berberry, strawberry, &c. Tartaric Acid forms with potass an insoluble salt, known by the name of argol, and, when purified, cream of tartar. This salt is found in the lees of wine. By burning it the tartaric acid is converted into carbonic acid, and the salt of tartar (carbonate of potash) is made from the tartar of wine. Hence also the name tartaric acid. The dried fruits of the grape (Vites vinifera) are known by the name of “ raisins ” and “ currants.” The tomato is the fruit of the Lycopersicum esculentum, and on account of its acid flavour is used as a sauce. The edible products of the natural order Rosacez, comprising the fruits of the apple, pear, apricot, nectarine, peach, cherry, plum, rasp- berry, strawberry, contain malic acid. They are mostly preserved in sugar. Many forms of plums called prunes contain a sufficient quantity . of sugar to be dried and preserved without further preparation.—‘ Guide to the Food Collection in the South Kensington Museum.’ 266 BORDEN’S EXTRACT OF BEEF. Av a recent meeting of the American Institute Farmers Club, held at New York, some interesting information was furnished, of a product which Mr. Borden is about introducing to the public, for itis of great interest to producer and consumer. To the farmers who live remote from market, it is of great interest for him to know that all the most yalua- ble portion of a bullock can be extracted near its home on the great Western pastures, and put into such a form that it will save all the waste and nearly all the weight of transportation to market. To the city consumer, and above all the sick, this extract is of the utmost im- portance, for it insures the finest nutriment in the world, in the most healthy condition, and concentrated form. The extract is not gelatine, in the form of glue, for it is more like soft leather. Yet in a little hot water, it dissolves into an almost clear liquid, which is palatable to all tastes, when seasoned to suit, and nutritious, stimulating and refreshing to any person, faint for want of sustenance. This little cake, weighing only two ounces, represents two and a half pounds of the very best quality, for the bullock fresh from the pasture was killed and put into the great chemical retort before any process of deterioration could have possibly begun. In short, then, this is nothing more nor less than the juices of choice beef cooked in the most perfect manner, concentrated by evaporation in vacuo (without addition of salt or any condiments) into the smallest possible bulk, and comprises the nutritive value of twenty times its weight of fresh beef of the first quality. Without the cattle fed upon the Western prairies (observed the chair- man), this city, New York, could not enjoy its roast beef, steaks and soups. Without railroads how should we get the vast numbers received ? —last year over 267,000 head. If they came on foot they might be healthy, but the fine rich juices of the meat would be nearly all wasted upon the long march over plains and mountains. Upon railroads, do they reach the city in a healthy condition fit for human food? Some- times, and sometimes far from it. I have known droves arrive which have been five days upon the cars, without food or drink. Think of giving such food as such meat would make to a sick friend. Thanks to the inventive genius of Mr. Borden, weare not now obliged to go to the butcher and risk the purchase of what would tend to kill, sooner than cure, when we need something peculiarly nourishing to the convalescent, Here it is. - It comes from a great manufactory which Mr. Borden has established at Elgin, lL, forty miles north-west of Chicago, where _the extract is made from mature, healthy, grass and corn fed bullocks. It may not be as well known to you, as it is to me, that beef fresh from prairie grass is the most delicious of any in the world, yet such a bullock transported to New York loses largely in weight, and almost BORDEN’S EXTRACT OF BEEF. 267 inconceivably in quality. The fine aroma and the delicious nutritive juices obtained from the sweet prairie grass are all gone. You will find them all concentrated in this extract, which is not to be confounded with, nor mistaken for, any preparations of gelatine, made in Europe or this country, for there is nothing else like it. This is an American dis- covery, and a pure genuine American article. Gelatine was formerly thought to be nutritious. This is an error. It has been ascertained that it is not capable of contributing to any of the requirements of the organism, but is excreted mainly by the kidneys very soon after its absorption into the blood. By protracted boiling in water, the tendons, metisbiil and cartil- ages, are converted into gelatine, and the same substance may be obtained in large quantities from bones, skin, hoofs, horns, &c. Soups, properly made, consist of the juices of meat extracted by maceration with hot water. If bones, cartilages and tendons, in larye proportion, as is sometimes done, be added to the meat, and the boiling ‘long continued, a soup is obtained, which, though it may appear sub- stantial, is really, in a great measure, devoid of nutritious qualities, consisting, as it must, chiefly of a solution of gelatine, which, alone, is incapable of supporting life. Preeminent among stimulating, supporting and reconstructive ali- ments are the juices of good beef ; and this for the simple reason that they embrace those indispensable constituents of an animal organization which are, as it were, the fuel and the forces needful to keep up healthy vital action ; and so they are able to contribute to the well-being of another animal organism to which the powers of life are more or less prostrated, by reason of the abstraction from it of these very elements in consequence of disease. This extract is a great improvement upon “meat biscuit,’ as originally made by Mr. Borden in Texas, which “received the com- mendation of scientific and practical men, both in America and Europe, and to which, after full investigation by a committee consisting of Dr. Lyon Playfair, Professor Solly, and other celebrated men, was awarded the Great Council Medal (the highest award made in any case) at the International Exhibition at London in 1851—an honour shared only by three other contributors from the United States. The meat biscuit was used and commended by Dr. Kane, in his Arctic Expedition, as well as by many others upon various expeditions, long voyages, overland journeys across the continent, and in hospital and household use.” Dr. J. V. ©. Smith, former Mayor of Boston, now Professor of Anatomy in New York, gave his experience at some length in the soldiers’ hospitals at the South with preparations of condensed food, made by various parties in the country who are anxious to introduce it into hospital use. He found generally that the patients relished the soups prepared from it once or twice, but soon tired, and none that he tried gave full satisfaction. For many purposes, such as travelling over 268 BORDEN’S EXTRAOT OF BEEF. deserts, condensed food is a necessity. He had found it so at one time, when for thirty days he was on camel back, but he became so tired of it that he thought he should prefer a soup made of bones which we throw away. He hopes this article will prove more valuable than any- thing which has preceded it, even Borden’s meat biscuit, of which mention has been made, and which he is aware has been so serviceable to travellers. Mr. Goodale said this article differed materially from anything whick has preceded it. Mr. Borden has been for twenty years earnestly en- deavouring to produce something which would be highly valuable for hospital purposes. He at length succeeded in producing the article about a year ago, and so far it has met the universal approbation of physicians. Beside the higher degree of concentration, this extract differs from the meat biscuit, as it contains no farinaceous constituent, and the flavour and essential qualities of the meat are more fully preserved. Professor 8. R. Percy gave two cases in his practice wherethis extract used as a medicine produced the most beneficial results. A gentlemen who had been two weeks suffering with typhoid fever, had become very much reduced, when Dr. Percy was called in consultation. He found the patient in a very prostrate condition, with a very rapid and feeble pulse, and a stomach so irritable that it rejected almost everything that was taken. At the first visit a perfect change in the diet was ordered. Borden’s beef extract alone was given in teaspoonful doses. Within four hours from the change of diet the pulse had become more quiet and fuller, the vomiting entirely ceased, and he slept quietly. No medicine was given for several days, but the beef extract was alone used. He re- covered quickly. The second case was that of an officer in the army, who had served in the West and contracted miasmatic fever and dysentery of the very worst form. When Dr. Percy first saw him, he had been suf- fering with this dysentery for about seven months, and was now given over as incurable. A quantity of Mr. Borden’s beef extract wasobtained and fed tohim in teaspoonful doses every half hour. The Collinsonia cano- densis was alone used as amedicine. A marked improvement was quickly seen,and on the 16th day he was able to be carried out of doors and up and down in the sunshine. For two weeks no food of any descrip- tion was given to him but this beef extract. There is one peculiarity about the use of this extract with debilitated persons—its effects are always recognizable by the pulse, making it fuller and stronger ; and this may be noticed within half an hour of its administration. He could say much on the use of this beef extract in cases of sickness: the article was so good that it needed only to be used to recommend itself. eee - 269. A SUBSTITUTE FOR GLUE—VEGETABLE ALBUMEN, AN improved process has been invented by E. Hanon, of Paris, by which he obtains vegetable albumen from gluten, for the purpose of applying it as a cheap agent for fixing printed colours on textile fabrics, and also for uniting pieces of wood, leather, &c. The following is the substance of the specification, as published in ‘Newton’s London Journal of Arts’ :— Gluten is obtained by kneading wheat flour paste with water. During the operation of kneading, the feculent part of the paste is earried off with the water, and the glutinous parts unite and form an elastic substance called gluten, which contains about twice its weight of water ; the gluten, in this state, is converted into albumen, by the pro- cess of fermentation. In carrying out the invention, gluten of the best quality, free from fecula, and after having been well washed in warm water, is placed in vessels, in which it is left to ferment until it is completely soft, and has lost its elasticity, and until the greater portion of the water which it has taken up during the operation of kneading is combined with it ; when the gluten has undergone the regular fermentation or modification, it offers no resistance to the finger, or to any article which may be passed through the mass, and the modified gluten should also adhere to the object with which it is brought in contact. The gluten, so modified, is then ready for use ; but as it has been brought, by the process of fer- mentation, into a very thin paste, it is necessary to place it in moulds for drying. The process of fermentation may be performed, either with or with- out the aid of artificial heat ; when artificial heat is applied, the process is considerably expedited, and the heat found most beneficial is about 20° to 30° Fah., above the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. During the fermentation, it is requisite to stir the gluten frequently, and to remove the water which rises to the surface. With the above temperature, and in operating upon about fifty or sixty pounds of glu- ten, placed in a vessel, the fermentation will be sufficiently advanced in three or four days, and the fermented gluten or vegetable albumen, will then be in the proper state for being made into thin plates and dried. The greatest care must be taken that the fermentation is stopped at the proper point, for if it is allowed to proceed too far, the gluten is converted into a noxious mass. When the gluten is converted into vegetable albumen it is divided, and formed into plates of about one quarter to three-eighths of an inch in thickness ; this is effected by spreading the albumen in metal or other moulds by. means of a spatula; it is then left to dry, either in the open air, or by the aid of a gentle heat, and the ae when dry, are about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, ; 270 A SUBSTANCE FOR GLUE. The process of converting gluten into vegetable albumen may be ac- celerated in the following manner :—The gluten is put into a vessel or boiler, and heated by steam, or in a water bath, but the heat must only be sufficient to soften the gluten, and should vary from 1058 to 140° Fah. The gluten combines and unites with the water which became in- corporated withitin the operation of kneading ; partof the water is, how- ever, evaporated during the process of fermentation, and that the time required for drying the modified gluten, in the manner before described is reduced. The water and gluten, when united, form a perfectly homo- geneous mass of a thin pasty consistency, which is removed from the vessel, and dried, as before described ; or the drying chamber may be heated by steam, care being taken that the heat is very moderate. When dry, the vegetable albumen takes up the greater part of the water which it has lost through evaporation during the process of desiccation. In order to dissolve it, it is put to steep, for about forty-eight hours, in cold water, and, by preference, in soft water; during this time it should be frequently stirred. Before being used the liquid should be diluted with water, and well stirred and shaken up, so that the whole mass of solution is perfectly homogeneous. The quantity of water for dilution must be regulated according to the purpose for which the solution is required. One pound of the so-called vegetable albumen to one pound and a half of water will give a solution which may be used as a substi- tute for the strongest glue or gelatine, and which resists moisture to a great extent, and is not influenced by heat. The solution may be used cold, and will retain its properties from ten to fifteen days in summer, and twice as long in winter ; that isto say, if it is kept cool, and, if possible, in a current of air. This vegetable albumen is applicable, first, for uniting pieces of wood, in lieu of glue or gelatine; secondly, for uniting pieces of porcelain, earthenware, glass, enamel, and other similar articles ; thirdly, for uniting pieces of leather, skin, linen, paper, pasteboard, and other similar substances; fourthly, for rectifying, clarifying, strengthening, preserving, and generally improving malt liquors; fifthly, for sizing paper and warps; sixthly, for sizing, dressing, stiffening, and thickening every description of woven fabrics and silks, instead of, or combined with, animal gelatine, gum, dextriae, fecula, or other substances ; seventhly, for fixing all colours, except ultramarine blue, in printing fabrics ; it is requisite to add from ten to twenty-five per cent. of acetic acid, of the strength of seven or eight degrees of Beaume’s hydrometer, to the vegetable albumen, which is then thickened in the ordinary manner with fine wheat flour, starch, fecula, or dextrine of wheat, care being taken to boil the same from ten to thirty minutes, according to the degree of concentration, and the consistence of the colour required. Before use, the mixture should be allowed to cool sufficiently to avoid coagulation. For ultramarine blue, a little ammonia is used, instead of the acetic acid; the vegetable albumen must then be dissolved in, or THE SUGAR TRADE. 271: combined with, a solution of slacked lime or phosphate of lime or magnesia. Highthly, as a mordant for fixing colours in dyeing ; ninthly, as a means of fixing gold or other metal leaf on to fabrics, leather, or other materials. In this case, the vegetable albumen, in the form of a dry powder, is rubbed or spread on the surface of the fabric or other material ; the gold or other metal leaf is then placed over the part to be figured, and it is fixed thereon by the pressure of a heated die or. roller, on which the design is made in relief. The metal may be applied in any other form, instead of in leaf. THE SUGaR TRADE, . We Englishmen, in our national pride, are too apt to pre-suppose that we can beat all foreigners in machinery and its applications to our own particular province. But this over-confidence in our own merit has lately had some severe shocks in the inability of English to compete with foreign machinists in supplying locomotive engines and other machines. Presumptuous persons have even ventured to hint that we are far inferior to the French, and even to the Scotch, in everything connected with sugar-making ; but the chilling reception given to their “insinuations has discouraged a repetition of the attempt to shake the confidence of Londoners in the skill of their countrymen. The foreigners certainly use a far better class of sugar for refining, and it would be worth while to find out why they do so. Isit because the continental consumption of brown sugar is limited, and that in consequence of this fact the refiners buy a strong and fine sugar in order to leave as little pieces as possible? If this explanation be correct, it is evident that the reason of the foreigners making cheaper sugar is found ; for in order to enable the pieces and bastards left after extracting the loaves to compete with raw sugar, the London refiners have been obliged to sell the lower products at little or no profit, and to get their profit from the stoved sugar. ‘The English public use brown sugar in very large quantities, and there is thus some apparent justification for the practice of buying comparatively low qualities at a cheap rate, with the view of supplying the consumption of brown as well as of white sugar ; and the system, though wrong in theory, answered very well while an extra protection duty was levied on the foreign refined. Since the imvosition of the 12s. 10d. instead of the 18s. 4d. rate, the practice has to some extent been abandoned by our refiners, to enable them to keep the Dutch and French goods out of the market, but we might surely with profit use a stronger sugar for refining. Some light has recently been thrown on the kinds most suited to the refiner by examinations carried on with YOL, VI. EF 979 THE SUGAR TRADE. polarized light by M. Emile Monier, into the constitution of sugar, and published in his work, “ Guide pour l’Essai et PAnalyse des Sucres/’ (Paris: E. Lacroix.) This book contains a perfect mine of information for refiners, and it would seem that the polariscope, or optical saccharo- meter, by which the results given are arrived at, is not nearly so well known atnong us as it ought to be. By the use of this delicate instru- ment, the saccharine richness of sugar can be shown to the minutest fraction, and the system of classification by shades of colour, or of types, is shown to be delusive. A yellow sugar, of which the erystals are clear and good, is often richer than a white sugar, of which the crystals are hardly formed or badly defined. The richness also varies in samples of sugar of the same shade of coiour. Thus, No. 12 of French beetroot sugar contains from 92 to 97 per cent. of crystallisable sugar—a differ- ence of four per cent. in richness, and a margin of four francs in the buying price. At the same time this sugar (No. 12), when good, contains 97-per cent., or the same saccharine richness as some samples of Nos. 18 and 19, worth 4s. or 5s. per cwt. more in the market. M. Monier states that beetroot sugar, as presented in the market, is richer than any other kind of saccharine matter, and gives the greatest yield when refined. The principal distinction between cane and beetroot sugar is, that the former contains from ten to fifteen times as much glucose or incrystal- lisable sugar. Independent testimony to the superiority of the beetroot to the cane sugar is given by Mr. Barron, in his report upon the Belgian sugar industry (“ Reports of the Secretaries of Legation,” No. 6, page 208) :— Beetroot sugar is preferred by the refiners for the volume and whiteness of its yield. In refining it gives a much larger yield in loaves than Havana or Jamaica sugar.” After the beetroot, M. Monier places the sugars of Java, Cuba, Mauritius, and Bourbon ; and last, those of Martinique, Gaudaloupe, and Porto Rico. We should be curious to know where M. Monier would place the lower class of British West India sugars, on which he has apparently made no experiments. We fear they would end his list. These analyses throw considerable light on the question of why the foreign refiner can produce loaf sugar more cheaply than the English—it is by the use of beetroot, Java, Cuba, and Mauritius sugars, instead of inferior kinds. The interest taken by the trade in the imports of beetroot will be added to as the refiner makes more loaf sugar from it. .With some approach to free trade in — sugar, English refiners must be ready to make changes in their manu- facture, or they will continue to lose ground. In the revenue returns for the year 1864-5, a charge appears for British native sugar, and this item has led to some speculation on the part of those interested in the subject, as to whether beetroot had again been tried in England. That starch sugar was made in this city was certainly not generally known, as it was thought that the manufacture was prohibited by the excise. The following extract. from the ‘Times, however, shows that a general misapprehension existed on the subject: — “British made _ SCTENTIFIC NOTES, 273 sugar has long held a merely nominal place in our list of excise- able articles, but in the past year two manufactories of glucose, or starch sugar, have been established in London. The quantity brought to charge in the financial year 1864-65 was 1,064 cwt. . The materials from which» this sugar are made is chiefly sago and potato starch. It has but little resemblance to cane sugar, and less sweetness than the lowest class of colonial sugar. The rate of duty with which it has been charged is 9s. 4d. per cwt., being that on yellow Muscavado or brown clayed sugar. 1t is stated that it is intended to be used in brewing. The imposition of the 9s. 4d. rate on sugar possessing so little saccharine matter gives a new instance of the injustice of the scale of duties. Sciutitic Motes. New Paprer MatErran.—M. Caminade has taken out a patent in France for manufacturing paper fromthe roots of the lucerne, plant. When dried and beaten, these show thousands of very white fibres, which form an excellent pulp for paper-makers, and may be substituted with great advantage for rags. The three species of lucerne, Medicago media, M. falcata, and M. maculata, produce equally good roots for, paper-makers’ use. M. Rabourdin, an experienced agriculturist, states that the month of December is the best time for taking up the roots of the plant. The earth is then moist, and a great part of the root can be easily drawn. In the months of January or February following, a har- row may be drawn over the land, and the remainder will then conie to: the surface. ‘The roots are then to be well washed and delivered to the paper-makers. The pulp produccd is said to be equal to that of ordinary... rags. The roots are to be first pressed between two rollers to open them, and when sufficiently crushed and dried, they are left to soak in running water for fifteen days or three weeks. The pulp, besides the fibre for paper, produces salt of soda and a colouring matter, called by the inventor “luzerime.” It is calculated het, France produces annually seventy-five million kilogrammes of paper, of which one- seventh is exported, leaving not more than two kilogrammes for each inhabitant. It is consequently inferred that the production of paper would increase considerably, were it not for the scarcity of the raw material. It requires one pound and a quarter of rags to make one pound of paper. Rags are eagerly sought for by every nation where paper is manufactured, hence this warm competition makes rags scarce and dear. M. Lafon, of Candeval, considers that the Arundo festucoides,. 274 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. or wild hemp, which grows abundantly in vast tracts of land in Algeria, might be much more utilised than it is for paper material. At least twenty or thirty millions of hectares are covered with this plant. While rags cost from 270 to 300 francs the ton, the pulp made with this wild plant might be sold with advantage at one-third of this price. Dr. O’Rorke, after alluding to the employment of this plant by the ancients, thinks that paper made with this pulp would want consistence, but M. Lafon refutes this objection by furnishing paper made of it, which is tough, and offers great resistance. Sis ANTI-CORROSIVE Brown Paper.—An entirely new description of brown paper has been introduced by Mr. John Gladwin, paper manufac- turer of - Ecclesfield near Sheffield. This paper is made of materials peculiarly adapted for giving strong and resisting properties, and by the introduction of a powerful anti-corrosive element, a high standard of quality is obtained for cutlery and steel goods, the extinct moisture ~ being totally excluded. Goods requiring the moisture to be retained, may also be folded in it advantageously. A stouter make of this paper is also adapted to the same purpose as the usual make of waterproof paper. To test its quality, a paper vessel may be made of, and filled with water, which will remain until it is exhausted by absorption from the surface ; when empty, the sediment may be cleaned out from the bottom and the vessel refilled as often as may be desired. A more severe test of quality may be made by suspending a vessel filled with water over a flame; it then exhibites fire-proof properties the water in the vessel becoming heated. Under the process of glazing, it attains a _ higher degree of finish. There is no difference in appearance between this and the ordinary brown paper no surface covering to render it water- proof, its own inherent properties suffice for this purpose. The inventor says there is no necessity for holding paper in stock to season for years as is now the custom of cutlery manufacturers ; and that if this is used in a few months it will answer every purpose, thereby saving the cost of keeping large stocks. By rolling, this paper takes a highly glossy appearance. — ee ! fee mat, TECHNOLOGIST 0 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY AND OF . SAVONNERIE CARPETS. BY A. L. LACORDAIRE, Director of that Establishment. THE Imperial manufactory of Gobelins includes two distinct works: that of historical tapestries or mural hangings, and that of carpets in fine wool called Savonnerie, from the name of the house where they were first made. (“‘ La Savonniére.”) These two textures appear to have been in use from the most remote period of time; they are mentioned in the most ancient documents transmitted to us by history and by monuments; the art of manu- facturing them was imported from the East into Europe at a period difficult to determine, but which for France does not appear to be further back than the ninth century. Saint Angelure de Norvége, Bishop of Auxerre, who died in 840, had a great number of carpets executed for his church;(a) about 985, the Monks of the Abbey of Saint- Florent de Saumur manufactured themselves in their enclosures, ta- pestries and different stuffs,(b) Matthew de Loudun, Abbot of this Monastery, nominated in 1133, had an entire suite of hangings executed by them for his church ; on one of the pieces which ornamented the choir was represented the four and twenty elders of the Apocalypse ; on another piece a subject taken from the same book, and on that of the nave, the hunting of wild deer.(c) Towards the year 1060, Gervin, Ab- bot of Saint-Riqrier, was remarkable for his liberality in the purchase of (a) Le Boeuf, Histoire d’Auxerre, tom. 1, page173. Le Pere Labbe, Histoire de l’Eglise d’Auxerre, chap. xxxv. (6) DD Martenue et Durand, Historia Monasterii Sancti Florenti Salmuriensis Ampl. col., tom. v. (c) Ibid. VOL. VI. &@ 276 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY hangings and for the carpets which he ordered.(a) At Poitiers, in 1025, there was a manufactory of tapestry and of carpets om which were re- presented figures of animals, portraits of emperors, and subjects taken from sacred history ;(b) the towns of Reims, Troyes, Beauvais, Aubusson, Felletin, Tours, and Arras, had seen this industry naturalised amongst them at an early date.(c) In the considerable development and progress which these distant epochs present, net only in France, but also in different parts of Europe and above all in Flanders, the East can only claim the primitive ele- ments, and the fact of a simple initiation ; the coarse images and rude figures with insipid colouring traced on some of the ancient Persian or Byzantine tissues, are very different from the personages and scenes re- presented on the tapestries of the West. The history of this branch of the arts in France since the ninth century appears to divide itself into three distinct epochs :— In the first, the tapestry worker only makes use of a simple and expeditious process; he has his invariable tone composed of a few tame colours fixed on the wool or silk by the dyer, and for models simple designs, superficially tinged, of which he makes, with regard to colouring, but an inaccurate imitation and purely conventional; all is combined for expeditious work. The tapestries that result from this system present, and only can present (whatever may have been at first the quality of the models employed), a uniform tone in all their similar details, and an absolute want of harmony. This was the era of industrial tapestry, an epoch which seems to embrace the whole of the productions of this art, from its origin in France to the foundation in 1662, of the manufacture of regal furniture by Louis XIV. The second epoch is that where by taking a new direction, the worker gradually abandons his own colouring, and where the models, too, are modified. Simple designs lightly touched give way to paintings more and more finished. Such changes cannot be effected without difficulty ; they gave rise to a struggle between the industrial and artistic principles, ‘a struggle which was personified in the Gobelins manufacture, from 1662 until towards the end of the eighteenth century. In the third and last epoch, industrial tradition and conventional colouring disappear as much as the nature of the tissue and the re- ‘sources of the dyer permitted with the employment of wool and silk (a) In palliis adquirendis, in tapetibus faciendis. Vit. 8. Gerv., ¢. Vii. ; -apud d’Ach. et Mab., Ibid., tom. ix., p. 322. (6) Hist. Episc. Antic: ied: cap. lili., apud Labbe, Nov. Bib]. Manuser., eid » p. 457; Le Boeuf, Mém. Concern. Vhist. d’Aux., tom. i., partl, p. 258; ¢ Chron: Gaufredi, cap. ix, apud Labbe, Ibid., tom. ii., p. 283; Epise. Ceca elogia—apud Mabill. Analecta vet. menum., tom ii., 598. (c) Inthis enumeration of towns, Arras is comprised as having been a wath of France for two centuries; but, in reality, it is to Flanders that the celebrity belongs of this town in: its industry in carpets and hangings. ‘AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 277 instead of fluid colouring. The last efforts of the artist in tapestry result not in a copy but in the transfer of character, where the different qualities of the model are rendered with a harmony and skill un- known in preceding centuries. These productions surpass the ancient tapestries as much as modern engraving upon box-wood, executed by the most skilful artist, surpasses the engraving upon pear-tree wood of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This perfection, the only reason for the existence of the actual art of tapestries, does not prevent some lingering remnant of the industrial element, though become totally subordinate. But it is difficult to go back upon the course of ages; we can no more reproduce the tapestries of the early eras than we can restore the Byzantine School of Painting.(a) The most ancient manufacturers of tapestry in France, faded in the registry of trades and merchandize in the city of Paris, bore the name of Sarrazinois. From the twelfth century, under the reign of Philippe-Auguste, they formed in Paris an important corporation, amongst other privileges due to Royal protection, they enjoyed gratui- tously an exemption from watching, and from paying to the king tribute of what they bought or sold in their trade. They had also permission to dye their stu/ffs.(6) These privileges of a certain importance at that time, were sabia by the peculiar conditions of the industrial work, or, more correctly speaking, the art of tapestry, an art requiring a long apprenticeship, a variety of learning and information, and considerable expense, all cir- cumstances perfectly appreciated, even at the epoch when workers in tapestry were classed amongst simple artizans. An exact notion is not given of the work executed by the Sarrazinois artisans, which appears to have consisted chiefly in a sort of embroidery. This much may be affirmed that they did not work in tapestry, and that other artizans eallec “haute liciers” (high warp weavers) established a long time after them in Paris, entering into competition, it became necessary, towards the end of the fourteenth century, to terminate their differences by an union of the two industries in one and the same company. This incorporation, commenced in 1301, was finally established by the formation of public statutes transcribed in the records of the castle, the Saturday after the disputes of the following year. The Sarrazinois artists and the artists in tapestry formed separate bodies until 1625, when they were united to other hodies of trade having very little affinity ; makers of bed coveri. g in serges, coverlets woven in squares, ticking makers, counterpanes, &c. But already the Sarra- (a) These general remarks, it must be understood, only apply to the manu- facture of Historical Tapestry, of which the manufacture of Gobelins is, in the entire world, the only representative, and has been for a great length of time. (6) Thus were named the first materials entering into the tapestry work, oak wool, wire-drawn gold or silver, Ga@2 278 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY zinois had experienced so many transformations, that their primitive industry, almost forgotten, became an object of the most vague conjec- ture. On this subject, about 1632, Peter Dupont, Master of Tapestry to Henri Quatre, expresses himself :— It is to be presumed that after the entire ruin of the Saracens by Charles Martel, in the year 726, some of those who knew how to make these carpets, fugitives and vagrants, or, possibly, escaped from the defeat and settled in France, to gain a livelihood there, began to estab- lish this manufacture of Sarrazinois carpets. To know of what fabric, or by what method or stuff, these carpets were made one could not judge, save that it is seen by the sentence of 1302 that these Sarrazinois carpets were instituted long before the tapestry hangings, had been long in possession, but were on the decline, and that tapestry hangings Baan to appear and bury in oblivion and set aside the Sarrazinois carpeting as they have done. This manufacture, if the same, having failed in France or remained among the Turks, had been lost since that time, we see it, notwithstand- ing being raised up and re-established in greater perfection than it ever was before, or even than it is in Turkey.(a) These vicissitudes and modifications in the art of Sarrazinois tapestry did not prevent the name from perpetuating itself until the period when freemen’s rights and wardens were abolished, and from figuring in all the rules of the corporation of mitre tapissiers, or tapestry makers. The first royal manufacture of tapestry was not established in France until about the middle of the sixteenth century. Francis IL, in the latter years of his reign collected at Fontainbleau some workers in haute lice (high warp) (6) under the direction of Philibert Babon, Master of the Bourdaiziére, Superintendent of Royal buildings, and of Sebastien Serlio,(c) Painter and Decorator to his Majesty. He confided the execu- tion of patterns to several French painters and foreigners who worked at the decoration of this royal residence. Henri II. whilst preserving the manufacture at Fontainbleau, the directing of which he gave to Philibert de Lorme, his architect in ordi- (a) Extract of chapter ii, of “ Stromatourgie, or the excellence of the manufac- ture of carpets, called Turkey, lately established in France, under the direction of the nobleman Pierre du Pont, tapestry maker in ordinary to the King, and called Works — mieux faire que bien dire at Paris in the gallery of the Louvre, at the house of the author, 1632. (6) This denomination (haute lice) has its origin in the disposition of the loom on which these tapestries are made. In the “‘ haute lice” loom the chain of the tissue is vertically disposed ; in the—basse lice (low warp),—it is disposed hori- _ zontally ; hence the essential difference in the method of working and in the proe ducts. The “haute lice” is at present reserved for great suites of haneuehy the *< basse lice,” for tapestry of lesser importance. (c) Named by warrant of 27th Dec., 1541. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 279 nary, established another at Trinity Hospital in Paris,(a) which rapidly reached a high degree of prosperity. Henri IV. in 1597, gave additional impetus to this industry, by creating a new manufactory in the house of the Jesuits, at the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, vacant since the expulsion of those monks. Laurent, an excellent worker in tapestry,(?) had the management of it, and Dubreuil, a famous painter (c) was entrusted with the furnishing of patterns. The Jesuits having been re-established, one party of the tapestry workers, received towards the end of the year 1603, accommo- dation in the galleries of the Louvre; another party, probably the most important, were removed to the house of the Gobelins, and augmented by a number of Flemish workers. Mare de Comans and Francois de la Planche, both natives of the Low Countries, were entrusted with the enterprise, and to them was committed the special care and direction of this new manufacture of Flanders tapestry.(d@) Henri IV. ennobled them and conferred on them, by letters patent (January 1607), the freedom, not only of Paris, but of every city in the kingdom where they wished to establish themselves. The house of Gobelins had then enjoyed more than a century of industrial celebrity ; Jehan Gobelin, first of the name, dyer in scarlet, established himself, about 1450, on the banks of the river de Pievre, the water of which was at the time considered of a superior quality for dyeing. (e) According to a very uncertain tradition he was a native of Reims. Growing prosperity was, in this family, the result of the per- severing efforts of several generations, and very soon we find the name of Gobelin aliied to that of ancient and noble families, the magistracy, the army, finance, and government. There were still in the middle of the seventeenth century dyers of this name; but they disappeared towards the year 1650, about the period when the Dutchman, Jean | Gluck, brought into France a new process for dyeing scarlet. The (a) Founded in the eleventh century, and suppressed at the commencement of the Revolution, This Hospital occupied the greater part of the small Island com- prised between the streets Saint Denis, Grenétat and Guérin-Boisseau; the opening of the Boulevard of Sébastopol has caused the last traces of it to dis- appear. (5) Sauval, ‘* Antiquities of Paris,” t. xi. (c) Ibid. (zd) This name seems only to have been given on account of the essential dif- ference of the Paris tapestry makers, and that of their Flanders confréres ; the former generally employed the haute lice loom, the latter worked only in busse lice. (e) A reputation very much lowered in the present day; the waters of this _ river, infected for more than a mile of their course towards the city of Paris, by the deposits of innumerable bleach-greens and other industrial establishments, are no longer fit for dyeing; they blacken silver, and destroy by their putrid emanations, the colours of the patterns employed in Gobelins, For a great num- ber of years, there has not been used, even for washing, or in the workshop of this establishment, for dyeing, any but filtered Seine water. 280 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY actual works of the manufacture of Gobelins are only united to the industry of these celebrated dyers from having the same workshop for dyeing, common to the two manufacturers of crown tapestry. Henri IV. also established, about 1604, in the galleries of the Louvre, a workshop of carpets palled ““& la fagon de Perse et de Turquie ” (Persian and Turkey carpets), under the direction of Pierre du Pont, a skilful tapestry maker, and this was the beginning of the celebrated manufacture “de la Savonnerie,” founded by Louis XIII. in the house of this name, on the Quai de la Conférence, in the place actually occupied by the military. The house of Savonnerie was originally a soap manufactory. The Queen, Marie de Médicis established» there, in 1614, by royal patent the seventh day of May, “‘ poorchildren, to be lodged, fed, and instructed in the fear of God, and in making several works in linen, cloth and others. . . . ” Simon Lourdet, pupil of Pierre du Pont, afterwards his partner, opened there, at an epoch which we cannot determine, but which is anterior to the year 1626, a workshop for carpets, “ fagon du Perse et du Levant,’ (Persian and Levant make). Pierre du Pont never lived there, as we are assured by different acts.(a) The 17th April, 1627, both of them received from Louis XIII, the conclusive right to this industry, a pension of 1,500 livres and letters of nobility for themselves and their children, born or to be born, in legiti- mate marriage, who might follow and maintain the said art and manu- facture. The manufacture of tapestries fagons de Flanders, left to itself, after the death of Henri IV., appears to have suddenly experienced the fate of the greater number of the establishments founded by this sovereign. In the year 1612 there only remained the manufactures of silks at Lyons, at Tours, and in the South of France. Mare de Comans and his partner Frangois de la Planché solicited from Louis XIII. the confirmation of their privileges, and obtained, the 8th April, 1625, new letters patent for“. . . the continuance of the fabric and manufacture of tapestries ‘ fagon de Flandres,’ for eighteen years, to commence at the expiration of the term granted by the late king.” In 1629, they resigned the direction of this establishment in favour of their sons, Charles de Comans and Raphael de la Planché, but these not being able to agree, solicited and obtained authority to exercise their industry separately ; Charles de Comans remained with the Gobelins, Raphael de la Planché established himself au faubourg Saint Germain, in a place which has since been united to the hospice de Ménages. 'This separation took place in 1633. Charles de Comans died in December, 1634, and was replaced by his — brother Alexander de Comans ; Raphael de la Planché, treasurer to the (a) A patent of the last day of September, 1637 exempts P. du Pont from the obligation of residing in the house of Savonnerie. The register of his Gomi a proves that he continued to inhabit the galleries of the Louvre. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 281 buildings of the king under Louis XIII. and Louis the XIV, only kept the direction of his manufacture in tapestry until 1667, the period when the work of this establishment ended. Under the name of “Manutacture des meubles de la Couronne,” (court furniture) Louis XIV. in 1662, established a truly artistic and industrial Gobelins school, inhabited by artists and workmen chosen from amongst the most skilful. The edict however, relative to this estab- lishment did not appear until November, 1667 ; in it we read that “ the manufactures and dependencies hereof shall be regulated according to’ the orders of the Master Colbert, superintendent of the building, and the particular direction of the Master Le Brun, chief painter to the king, in conformity with letters granted te him 2nd March, 1663. That the superintendent of the buildings, and the overseer under him shall keep the manufactory full of good painters, masters of tapestry de haute lice, goldsmiths, founders, engravers, lapidaries, &c.; that the’ workmen employed in the aforesaid manufactures shall be exempt from all logements de guerre (billeting of soldiers in time of war or siege). That apprentices, to the number of sixty, chosen by the superintendent shall be maintained and employed in the school of the director ; that very express inhibitions and prohibitions be given to all merchants and other persons to prevent their purchasing or causing to be imported the tapestries of foreign countries, &c.” ; L’hostel des Gobelins, which, since the year 1603, had only been held in tenancy for the use of the Crown, was in 1662 purchased by Colbert, in the name of the king, as well as eight other estates near it, all for the sum of 90,242 livres, 10 sols. The area of the manufactory, comprising the public walks, gardens, meadows, and different sorts of tillage extend- ing between the two branches of the Bievre as far as the Crouleborbe mill, amounts to 12,266 square toises (a) about 46,610 square métres (a towse is six feet, English). The workshops for tapestry in the Louvre (still there), and those of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, were at that time successively incorpo- rated with those of Gobetins. Like Henri IV. his grandfather, Louis XIV. induced a great number of tapestry makers in haute and basse lice to come over from Flanders ; he placed them at Gobelins, as well as in the manufactory of Beauvais, founded in 1664. Flanders continued thus to be the principal seat of this manufac- ture, its prosperous condition in that country being traced to a remote period. So far back as the twelfth century, the Flemish manufacturers were flourishing ; in the sixteenth, the emperor Charles-Quint had given (a) This is still the superficies of the Gobelins manufactory. Out of the space exceeding the wants of the service, somewhat more than a hundred smali allotments are distributed to the housekeepers of the establishment, al! cultivated ‘as gardens. * 282 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY them a definite constitution (Statute of 16th May, 1544, on the style and trade in tapestry of the Pays-Bas, divided into ninety heads). They were empowered to supply with this precious material all the sovereign and princely houses of Europe. The ‘Garde Meuble’ in France contained a considerable quantity of hangings in Flemish tapestry, dating back to the reign of Francois I. ; but when Louis XIV. had given to the production of French tapestries a new and powerful impulse, more especially in developing their artistic character, too much neglected until then, the conctition of affairs changed ; the manufacture of Flemish tapestries was eclipsed by degrees, and, about 1787, disap- peared entirely.(a) The multitude of chefs deuvre in painting, tapestry, sculpture, gold- smith’s ware, engraving, mosaic, cabinet making in ebony, &c., which resulted from the manufacture of crown furniture, exercised a very marked influence upon the general taste and industry of the nation. This influence extended even abroad, and very soon placed in the first rank, the productions, arts, and manufactures of France. The work- shops of tapestry formed always the most important part of this estab- lishment, the only one which has resisted the efforts of time and of revolutions, The arts, excepting those which tended directly to the manufacture of tapestry, ceased to be represented at Gobelins in the latter years of the eighteenth century ; more than two hundred workers in haute and basse lice were employed there from 1662 to 1690, under the direction of Charles le Brun ; Jans, father and son, master workers in haute lice, had themselves alone the direction of sixty. A second workshop in haute lice was under the management of Lefebvre; Jean-Baptiste Mosin and Jean de Lacroix conducted each a workshop of basse tice. A Flemish dyer, a native ot the town of Oudenarde, Vander Kerehove, was placed at the head of the dye-house. With regard to the productions of these different workshops, we must confine ourselves to citing. The Acts of the Apostles, in ten pieces, raised with gold, in imitation of the cele- brated tapestries of Raphael. The suite of hangings, said to be of the Vatican, in imitation of the frescos of the same master, in eight pieces ; the Elements, raised in gold, in eight pieces, from Charles le Brun ; History of the King (Louis XIV.), in fourteen pieces, also in imitation of Le Brun, and Vander Menlen ; History of Alexander, from Le Brun, in eleven pieces ; the Seasons, in eight pieces, raised in gold ; the Months, in imitation of Le Brun; the History of Moses, in ten pieces, in imitation of Nicolas Poussin and Le Brun ; the History of Méléagre, in eight pieces, in imitation of Le Brun; the Fruits of War, in eight pieces, in imitation of the ancient tapestries executed from the (a) At Oudenarde, the last representative of this industry, Jean-Baptiste Brandt, addressed to the commercial authorities of that town, the 9th May, 1787, an account of the business and liabilities of the corporation of tapestry makers, and soon after closed his own workshops. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 283 drawings of Lucas de Leyde ; the Battles of Scipio, in ten pieces ; the History of Constantine, in eight pieces, &c., A specimen of this latter hanging, in five pieces only, was issued from a manufactory founded at Mincy by the Superintendent Fouquet, but which was closed at the time of the disgrace of this minister ; the Gobelin workers in tapestry having been commanded to place upon this hanging the arms of the king instead of those of the superintendent, and to add bordures (in heraldry) to them. We do not purpose speaking of the well-known works of the cele- brated engravers Audran, Rousselet, Sebastien Leclerc, nor of those of the sculptors Tuby and Coisevoix, who all resided at Gobelins, nor of the fine works of chased gold, the artistic value of which far surpassed that of the material, yet could not preserve them from complete de- struction, for Louis XIV., in 1690, in consequence of the penury of the royal treasury, thought that he ought to convert them into money ; they had been in part executed at Gobelins by the goldsmiths Alexis, Loir, du Tel, Claude de Villers and his sons. The manufactory of the Savonnerie executed, at the same time, in - imitation of models of the most skilful masters, works which, from their multiplicity and being of a character exclusively decorative, have escaped almost any description; a carpet for Versailles and the Louvre, seats of every form, folding screens, portieres (pieces of tapestry hung before a door to keep out the wind), &c. The carpet of | the great gallery uniting the Louvre to the Tuileries, and that of the ° little gallery of the Louvre, called es ass were finished at this period. The first, commenced in the reign of Henry IV., contained ninety- two compartments, seven yards and a half in length uniformly, by from four to five yards in breadth, and of a varied composition, where were represented landscapes, military trophies, different symbolical figures, War, Peace, Music, Astronomy, &c. The second carpet, that of the small teillory of the Louvre, was composed of thirteen pieces in designs appropriate to the place; that is to say, all the characters produced upon it were connected in some measure with the god of day. To Ch. Le Brun succeeded P. Mignard as governor of the Gobelins manufactory ; but this illustrious painter, already aged, did not leave many traces of his rule. It was besides partly under his direction that the only total interruption of the works took place which that estab- lishment experienced since its foundation. In 1694, a ruinous war obliged Louis XIV. to dismiss the greater part of the workmen assembled at Gobelins. Some of them entered the French army, others returned to Flanders, their native country ; the greater number were collected by the Master Béhayle, one of the most skilful directors and master tapestry-makers which the manu- factory of Beauvais ever had. The peace of Ryswick restored work to its. former activity. Robert 284 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY de Cotte, an architect, superintentent of buildings to the King, directed in his turn the Gobelins manufacture. After him, Jules Robert de Cotte, his son, who was also architect and governor of the buildings to the King in the department of Paris, The twenty-five last years of the reign of Louis XIV., less produc- tive, perhaps, in great compositions in tapestry than the first period of the reign of this sovereign, furnish, notwithstanding some fine suites of hangings, amongst which we may name the Triomphe des Dieux, from Noél Coypel, in eight pieees; the suite of hangings called de L’Ancien Testament, in eight pieces from Jouvenet.(a) The hangings called des Judes, in eight pieces, in imitation of the models originally painted in India ; and a great many portieres, the greater number of them repre- senting gods and goddesses, the elements, the seasons, &c, It is much less by the number of the hangings that we must estimate the importance of the works of which we have given a rapid notice, than by the real progress accomplished in the composition and construc- tion of tapestry. In our opinion no epoch surpassed that of Louis XIV. in the choice and composition of models ; but this branch of the art is solely the office of the governors and of the painters who superintend the execution of the work. Simple copyists or translators, the master tapissiers and their workmen, do not appear even in this period to have raised themselves above their predecessors. The traditions and methods then in use being only at that time permitted to them in a very limited measure. We find even long and sharp disputes relative to this latter question cccupying a part of the following reign, disputes upon which it will be necessary for us to say a few words. The ancient tapestry makers only reproduced the models placed before them in a manner purely conventional, that is to say, by contract ; they were neither colourists in the modern sense, nor designers. The school of design founded at Gobelins under Louis XIV., and directed by four professors of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, was not precisely instituted for them, but for the painters, sculptors, engravers, and other artists assembled in this house. The workmen who com- menced work at break of day and did not leave off until nightfall, had not certainly time to give to the study of drawing, or to anything but the broche (6) in their hand and the working of the tapestry. The pallet placed by the dyer in the hand of the tapestry maker was at that time composed of but a few plain colours, having little to do with transitions, without which all harmony in colouring is impossible. But as soon as an influence more or less marked was attributed to painters in the fabrication, convention (from which could only result tapestries (a) In the reign of Louis XV. these hangings were augmented by four pieces, in imitation of Jouxenet and Restout. (6) Broche, the instrument on which is rolled the coloured wool destined to form the woof of the tapestry, and which to the artist in tapestry supplies the place of the weayer’s shuttle. _ * AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 285 of a general and not agreeable tone, discordant colours (always the same), gave place to an imitation more and more rigorous and correct; it then became necessary to increase the number of shades—light shades in par- ticular, and to employ a greater number of subdued colours, otherwise weakened and rendered dim by a certain quantity of black ; the primi- tive simplicity of the work disappears, difficulties augment, and the hand of the workman acquires a proportionate value. Such changes could not be effected without opposition on the part of the manager and of the Operatives, opposition the sharper as the latter worked by piece or task work, the quantity made being to them their daily bread, and which they niust each day defend against the growing demands of their imme- diate chiefs, and of the painters who superintended the artistic part of the work. We need not be astonished, then, at the complaints which resounded through this manufactory during a great part of the eighteenth century, nor at the ardour of the workmen, in 1790, to conquer a different admi- nistration, that of free work and by the day. Contemporaneously with these disputes, persevering efforts, crowned with success, were made by one of the master tapestry-makers to the King, Jacques Neilson, to im- prove the basse lice work, fallen into complete decay before his nomina- tion as head of the department (1449), the trade of basse lice was brought to perfection by Vaucanson (1757), and very important works carried out by a skilful dyer named Quemiset (1773—1779), under the conduct of J. Neilson, to raise the dyeing of wool and silk to the level of the new requirements of the fabrication. This movement, seconded by the architect Soufflot, then manager of the Royal Manufactures of Tapestry (1775—1780), did not last long enough to bring about really useful results. It was put an end to in consequence of the death almost simultaneously of Quemiset, of the sons of Neilson, and of Soufflot. But these early efforts determined the superior administration, then in the hands of M. Le Comte d’Angivillers, to establish for this manu- facture a scientific element, which until then had been unknown. The chemists Cornette and Darcet were called upon to take charge of the dyeing ; the latter, named as inspector of this department in the work- shops (the 15th August, 1786), took up the work commenced some years before ; but it was not long before he himself was stopped in his researches by the sudden reforms which followed the fall of the monarchy (1792). Much about the same time the inspector of dyeing, the chief dyer, and the three painters attached to the manufactory, were dismissed as useless ; the school of design was closed; one of the master tapestry- makers, the master Audran, secret promoter of all these changes, took the place of the architect Guillaumot, who had directed the royal manu- factories of tapestry since the decease of M. Pierre, first painter to the King, Louis XVI. (1759). Audran re-established taskwork, suppressed two years before, at the suggestion of his predecessor. This return to an order of things precipitated his fall; after less than a year he was ac- 286 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY cused of want of patriotism, arrested, and sentenced to stx months’ im- prisonment at Sainte-Pelagie. A painter, Augustin Belle, son of the superintendent of Gobelins, replaced him. A warm republican, the new director, caused to be burned in the court of the manufactory, at the foot of the tree of Liberty, all the pre- cious hangings decorated with thé insignia of royalty. This act of Van- dalism, authorised by the Minister of the Interior, was accomplished on the 30th November, 1793, “in honour of the martyrs of Liberty, Marat, Lepelletier, Beauvais, Préan, Pierre Bayle, and Chalier.” But very soon the fall of Robespierre permitted the return of the Director Audran (14th April, 1796). He, however, died at the end of three months (26th June). These disturbances and perpetual changes paralysed work and stopped all progress. In vain was a commission of painters, sculptors, and men of letters instituted under the name of “Jury des Arts” (17th July, 1794) by the Committee of Public Welfare. After having re- formed almost all the patterns employed at Gobelins and at Savonnerie, they determined the conditions for a meeting for the creation of pat- terns fit to regenerate the art in these establishments. No one replied to this appeal ; the moment was not favourable for these pacific modes of arriving at perfection. A tapestry-maker in haute lice of Gobeiins, named Mangelschott, officer of the National Guard, and a zealous patriot, tried for himself the sad experiment ; he was decapi- tated (the 14th July, 1794), merely for having at a club interrupted by a simple observation the discourse of a member of the Convention. Two years before the manufacture had paid for the first time its tribute of blood to the Revolution, in the person of its chaplain, M. de la Frenée, imprisoned and massacred with a great number of priests. It was now no longer a question of perfection, but of existence. The Republic be- sides did not want tapestry ; it sold them for next to nothing, gave them in payment to army contractors, burnt the hangings raised in gold of the royal wardrcbe, to get from them those portions of the precious metal which obstinately remained in the fabric. The workmen only existed by taking oaths, and by exercising different professions strangers to their art. Some became soldiers. From the commencement of the war more than twenty Gobelins tapestry-makers and of Savonnerie thus furnished a respectable contingent for the defence of the territory. The 18th August, 1794, the Committee of Public Welfare re-estab- lished a workshop for dyeing; the Master Galley, a skilful workman and patriot, was named chief dyer (8th November). The 25th Septem- ber the Master Duvivier, manufacturer of Savonnerie, was named as director. | The 3rd December, 1800, the pupils and apprentices, suppressed in 1792, were again set to work. Eight sons of .master tapestry-makers, six in haute lice, and two in basse lice, took their-place in the workshops. The 6th May, 1803, at the proposition of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, the First Consul established worship in the chapel of the Gobe- AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 237 lins, and named as chaplain to this house M. Pioret, formerly prior- dean of Saint Jean de Dijon. On the 27th September of the same year, M. Roard, professor of medi- cine and of chemistry to the central school of the department of Oise, was named director of dyeing in the national manufacture of tapestry. Scarcely installed in these functions, M. Roard asked and obtained, by the influence of MM. Chaptal and Berthollet, the creation of a prac- tical school of dyeing, of which the Minister of the Interior bore the expense. Frenchmen and foreigners were admitted without distinction. Amongst the former six received from the Minister an annual stipend of a thousand francs. In a short time a number of distinguished artists (a) left this vehape and founded at Paris, at Lyons, at Tours, at Mulhouse, at Avignon, and at Turin, workshops for dyeing, renowned for the beauty, the solidity and perfection of their work.(b) Under the imperial era, the art of tapestry recovered again. The French school of painting contributed to the production of patterns destined fur the manufacture of Gobelins. The Emperor had an account furnished him of the most minute details connected with this establish- ment and that of Savonnerie. By his orders, the greater part of the compositions representing facts from contemporaneous history were transformed to tapestry. The events of 1814 and of 1815 do not admit of the entire accomplishment of these works; but from the numerous fragments that figure in one of the exhibition halls of the manufacture of Gobelins, one may judge of their importance ; their execution leaves little to be desired, notwithstanding the relative inferiority of the pro- eess still employed at this epoch. The artist in tapestry, no longer enslaved by the system of taskwork definitively replaced by free labour, seeks now, without intermission, the means of remedying the difficulties always existing. Notwithstanding the improvements accomplished in the art of dyeing, certain delicate colours fade some time after the execu- tion of the piece of tapestry ; others, on the contrary, become more in- tensified or turn brown, thus producing shocking differences .and de- stroying all harmony in the most perfect pieces in appearance at the moment they were finished. : (a) MM. Brauvisage at Paris, Renard at Lyons, Perdreau at Tours, Gonfreville, at Rouen, &e. . (6) The bounds which with regret we impose on ourselves do not permit us to follow M. Roard in his honourable career at Gobelins from 1803 to the 4th May, 1816, the epoch of the momentary suppression of the office of director of dyeing. Numerous experiments are due to him in the use of indigo, of Prussian blue, of madder, the results of which are recorded in the reports of the Society of Encou- ragement, and in other scientific works. Memoirs, first, on alum, and the in- flueuce of the different states of wool in dyeing ; second, on the washing of silk preparatory to dyeing ; third, on the mordants; fourth, on the influence of Roman alum compared with that of French, which have been approved of by the Institute, and published in the collection of Savants Etrangers, 288 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY The chemist and the dyer having in vain exhausted the resources of their art, whatever may be in effect, the shades employed and the pro- cess in preparing them, they cannot arrive, in the light part of the shades, “ gammes” (a) at the same solidity as in the deep tones. Vainly too, in the composition of patterns for tapestry, have they exerted themselves not to Jeave the limits of the pallet of the dyer in solid colours. About the year 1812, the head ofa workshop in basse lice, M. Gilbert Degrolle,(b) solved the problem by a new combination of colours, in the tissue even of the tapestry, replacing the old system of monochrome or cross hatch- ing, In one shade, by hatchings in two shades.(c) He applied this pro- cess, however, only in a restricted degree; and many years must pass before it arrives at perfection, and is generally adopted in workshops. He is at present almost the only one who uses it. It is, in fact, the sole way of forming a combination of colours in wool or in silk, which admits of obtaining in the highest degree, exactness in the translation of the colours of the pattern, durable harmony of the shades employed, and transparency. This invention, which to be perfectly explained would require to be fully unravelled, constitutes a true revolution in the working of the Gobelins manufactory. The remarks made at diferent times, on the absence of durability and harmony in the colouring of some tapestries of ancient date, are now inapplicable, as attested by the number of suites of hangings sent forth from this establishment during the last twenty years. After the hundred days, M. Lemonniere, historical painter, director of this manufacture from 1810, was obliged to retire, as well as MM. Koard and Augustine Belle; the latter having entered it in 1802 as inspector and professor of the school of design. M. le Baron des Rotours, formerly an officer of artillery, was named manager, and filled the duties of that office until 1833. M. le Comte de la Boulaye-Marillac, named director of the dyeing department the 10th October, 1816, was besides required to give a course of lectures on chemistry applicable to dyeing. The salary of the pro- fessor was deducted from the fund of 6,000 francs, annually granted by the Minister of the Interior for the school of Painting, which reduced from six to three, the number of pupils in this school From this re- duction to a total suppression the descent was rapid ; so that, as appeared. a few years later, at the period for the nomination of the actual titular (a) At Gobelins are expressed by ‘‘ gammes,” the whole of the regular grada- tions, from brown to bright of a shade ; generally the number of these gradations is from twenty to twenty-four in the baa aeotly of Savonnerie, and from twenty to thirty for tapestry. (b) Died in 1814. (c) Hachures are employed in graduating tints and to avoid the mosaic effect which results from a simple juxtaposition of colours; they constitute one eh bi greatest difficulties : in tapestry work. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 289 (September 9, 1824), the fund of 6,000 francs ceased to be paid, and the institution fell. M. Chevreul, however, did not cease giving each year his course of chemical lectures upon dyeing, and to instruct pupils. Under the able direction of M. des Rotours, important improvements were produced, viz. :-— The creation of a special school of tapestry, a tardy realisation of the school ordered by the edict of 1667.(a) The suppression, by decision of May 4, 1826, of the fabric in basse lice which hereditary prepossession had preserved on an equality with the fabric in haute lice. The suppressed looms were removed to the manufacture at Beauvais, and this species of work is applied exclusively to a secondary order of tapestry for furniture. The union of the manufacture of Savonniere swith that of Gobelins was taken advantage of to suppress in the manufacture of carpets the system of task work, which had been re-established there in 1805. These different measures have at this day the complete sanction of time and experience ; the governments that follow have especially to ‘encourage with all their interest the development of the elements of prosperity and of progress united long since in these manufactures. Proficiency, it is true, is slow, but sure, in its accomplishment. By draw- ing and the study of colours, more and more diffused amongst young artists in tapestry ; by the spread and general employment of work a@ deux nuances (a shadowing with light colours upon dark of the same kind, or, with dark colours upon lighter), by the complete application of such perfect order as will enable each artist to find at the moment any colour required in the execution of his work ; and, lastly, by the dyeing department being constantly directed in a manner to secure the beauty and solidity of the shades, it may be truly said that this art is transformed, and no longer recognises any obstacle. This account would be incomplete if it did not notice some of the finest of the suites of hangings executed in Gobelins tapestry since the reign of Louis XIV., the administrators or directors of this manufac- ‘ture since the year 1662, the ancient masters of tapestry in haute and basse lice tu the King, from 1662 to 1792, the period of their suppres- sion; and, lastly, the process of the fabrication of tapestry in haute lice and Savonnerie carpets. To the reign of Louis XV. belong the following hangings :— Sequel to the History of Louis XIV., after Hallé, Vernansal, Antoine Dieu, Dulin, in six pieces. The suite of hangings from Don Quixotte, in twenty-eight pieces, after Charles Coypel. (a) We must observe, however, that this school had not at that period been granted the conditions necessary for permanency, and that it was necessary to create it anew in 1848. 290 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY Field Sports of Louis XV., after Oudry, in eight pieces. The History of Esther, in seven pieces, after De Troy. ‘The History of Jason and of Medea, after the same painter, in seven pieces. The Loves of the Gods, after F. masher The Story of Daphne and Chloe, after Jeaurat, in seven pieces. Village Fétes, after the same painter, in four pieces. Under the reign of Louis X VI. were executed :— The Sequel to the Loves of the Gods, after Pierre and Vien. The History of France, in five pieces, after Vincent. The second hanging of the History of France, in eight pieces, from the paintings of Berthélemy, Suvée, Brenet, Du Rameau, Menageot. Under the Empire :— A succession of compositions relative to the History of Napoleon I. (The greater part of these tapestries remain unfinished.) Under Louis X VIII. and Charles X. :— A third hanging of the History of France, after Rouget. A hanging cf the History of Marie de Médicis, after Rubens. in twelve pieces. (This hanging was only finished in the reign of Louis- Philippe.) A hanging of the History of Saint Bruno, in seven pieces, after Lesueur. The Acts of the Apostles, after Raphaél, and ancient copies of hangings of the Vatican of the period of Louis XIV. (This hanging was only finished under the reign of Louis-Philippe.) And a great number of isolated pieces, after L. Boullongue, Callet, M. de Le Brun, Robert Lefévre, Gérard, Gros, Horace Vernet, Guérin, and Delaroche. In the reign of Louis-Philippe two hangings were finished which had been commenced under the preceding reign. The Acts of the Apostles. The History of Marie de Médicis. Another hanging, called the Castles, in five pieces, after MM. Alaux and Couder, was commenced ; and lastly, some isolated pieces exe- cuted, after Le Brun, Frangois Despartes, and Horace Vernet. The Directors, or Governors, from 1662 to the present time were :— Ch. Le Brun, chief painter to the King (a). 1663—1690 P. Mignard, chief painter to the King . 1690—1695 Robert de Cotte, architect . : 1699—1709 Jules Robert de Cotte, son of the secu architect . 3 : ; ; . 1709—1747 D'Isle, architect : ; , : . 1747—1755 Soufflot, architect ; ‘ . 1755—1780 Pierre, chief painter to the Kane » « -1781—1789 Guillamout, architect . : : A . 1789—1792 The same . ‘ . : : . « 1795—1807 (a) The two dates are those of entering into office, and of the retiring or death of each director. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 291 Joseph Audran, former head of workshop . 1792—1793 The same . : : ; . 1795— Augustin Belle, poitiier é - 1793—1795 Chanal, chef de division au fivinstatve de i; maison de L’Empereur, intérim director 1807—1810 Lemonnier, painter. ; 1810—1816 Des Rotours (Le Baron), foenes pies of artillery 3 : : A : . 1816—1833 Lavocat : : j : : : . 1833—1848 Badin, painter . : i : . 1348—1850 Lacordaire, architect and engineer : . 1850— The master tapestry-makers to the King, managers of haute and basse lisse, at the manufactory of Gobelins, from 1662 to 1692, the period of their suppression, were— Jean Jans (Haute lice) . : : : . 1662—1668 Henri Laurent (Haute lice) . ‘ : . 1663—1670 Lefebvre, father (Zfaute lice) : : . 1663—1700 Jean de la Croix (Basse lice) : : . 1663—1712 Jean Baptiste Mosin (Basse lice) . : . 1663—1693 Jean Jans, fils (Haute lice) . : ‘ . 1668—1623 Dominique de la Croix, fils (Basse lice) . 1693—1737 Souette (Basse lice) . : ; . 1693—1724 Jean de la Fraye (Basse lide) 5 ; . 1693—1729 Lefebvre, fils (Haute lice) °. : : . 1697—1736 Etienne le Blond (Basse lice) é 1701—1727 Mathieu Monmerqué (In basse lice 1730 +6 1736 ; In Aaute lice from 1749 to 1792. 1736—1792 Michel Andran (Haute lice) . : 1733—1771 Pierre Francois Cozette (In basse ee ae 1736 to 1749; in haute lice from 1749 Pe eer a er dk ek Pg ae eee Jacques Neilson (Basse lice) : . 1749—1788 Daniel-Marie Neilson, fils (a) (Basse Lice) . 1775—1779 Joseph Audran (6) ene ; : . 1772—1792 Michel-Henri Cozette (c) (Basse lice) . . 1788—1792 All the tapestries formerly bore on the selvage, or on the ground of the composition, the name of the chief of the workshop where they had been executed. Being thus given the names and the duration of active life of all the managers who have directed the Gobelins work- shops, it will always be possible to determine the origin of any piece that has been executed in this manufactory, and the approximate epoch - of its fabrication. (a) Partner with his father in 1775. (>) Named director the 4th September, 1792. (c) Retained, as also his father, as chief of the workshop in 1792, VOL. VI. | HH 292 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY METHOD oF WEAVING TAPESTRY. The Gobelins tapestries and Savonnerie carpets are both made in high warp looms. Tapestries present, like all interwoven cloths, a. warp and a woof, but the woof alone appears both on the right side and on the wrong ; the warp is wool, it may also be cotton or even silk, or other fibres used in tapestry ; it is vertically held on two rollers called beams ; the threads parallel to each other, and on the same level, are passed alternately over a staff called the crozsure (cross-web), so that one-half of the threads are, relatively to the worker, forward, and the other half backward. But the backward thread may be drawn forward by means of rings of pack-thread called lices which surround them, and are held at the opposite side, on a fixed rod placed below the cross- web staff, at a little distance from the plane of the warp. For Gobelins the cross-web staff is a glass tube from two to three inches in diameter, which is called baton dentre deux (inter-medium staff). The woof is rolled ona little instrument, made of wood, called a broche, terminating in a point at one end,-and which, in tapestry, is used instead of a shuttle. To form the tissue, the worker takes a broche filled with wool or silk of the proper colour, fastens the extremity of the thread of the woof on the thread of the warp at the lett of the space where the shades are to be placed, then, passing the left hand between the threads in front and back, removes those that cover again that same shade; the right hand passing between the same threads takes from the left the broche to bring it back to the right; the left hand then seizing the warp, brings to the front the back threads, ana the right hand darts the broche to the point from whence it came. This working of the broche, backward and forward in two opposite directions, forms what is technically called two passages or one row. The worker repeats, successively, these rows one over the other, according to the extent and outline of the space which the shades are to occupy with which the broche is filled, taking a new broche for every new shade; he cuts, stops, and loses at the wrong side of the tapestry, that is to say, the side on which he works, the thread of the preceding broche, if he is not to begin using it again near the same place. At each row, he draws together, with the pointed end of the broche, the threads of the woof of the portion of the tissue already made; this first pressing together.is not sufficient either to regulate the tissue, or to cover the warp exactly. The worker, after he has placed some rows one above the other, completes the compression by beating the woof with a heavy ivory comb, the teeth of which penetrate between the threads of the warp, the latter are thus completely hidden and brought to the same level. The extent that a shade occnpies determines the number of threads AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 293 of warp in a passage or row; in a horizontal or even part, the passage is stretched as muchas possible to accelerate the work ; it often happens that one passage contains only two or three threads of warp: the outlines of the design to be produced, the divers accidents of colouring, the greater or less extent of light, of mezzotint, &c., indicate the space to be given to the rows, as well as their number one above the other. They pass from light to brown, and from one tone to another, by colours softening gradually the one into the other, and disposed in hachures. The outlines obliquely inclined in the construction of the threads of the warp, by the different lengths of the rows, are not in the greater number of cases, and if considered in a small part of their development, either right lines or curved, but always indented. This disposition, considering the fineness of the threads of the woof, does not in any way injure the general effect of the objects represented ; it disappears in the details of shadow and light of the extreme outlines, and by the work of the hachure. The hachures are employed to graduate the shades and to prevent the mosaic effect that would result from a simple juxtaposition of colours. If we suppose that, in a given space, of fifteen threads, for example, a colonr A forms a row from one end to the other, then, on ten threads, wa--| J-=2-] J-a-=| Jeane! f-2x-] [----] f-o2-} J-~=-] }----] 7 -— : 44 Row SSS SG FSG QQ) OP rat age Fa 6 [fill | LLL ven I j i al _8"Rony NS KSSSSG [GSS [5G AWG AIG} | (aa ba, LEI, VETTEL rath | i ‘Ond Ron [1 ie Se el ey SS SSS} QQ gy AWG SS ¥ P/N LLL LIL. ME. WEL. VELL NZL 77, bo tstRow a second row, and lastly, on five threads, a third row, there will be a gradation in the colour employed, and the greater the number of rows the more intense the colour will be. If, now, we imagine a second colour coming from the point B traversing equally the fine threads and filling the spaces, that is to say, making three rows, where the first colour made one ; two, where the other made two rows, and one where it made three, there will be the same number of rows, four on fifteen threads, and these two colours thus employed will produce intermediate tints, so much the more resembling either of the two, as it has more rows in the composition of the hachure. The accompanying figure represents the effect of the superposition of the hachures, and how it is possible with two colours to produce two and three intermediate tones. This disposition constitutes in its sim- plicity the ancient system of hachures called “of one tone,” or of one shade, a system very little used in the present day, and which is re- 294 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY is replaced “by the work of hachures called, of two tones, or of two shades crossing each other continually and giving as result a lightness of tone, transparency, and solidity, to which it is impossible to arrive by any other combination. The tapestry-maker, for the design of the objects to be represented by the passage from one shade to another, is guided by a pattern traced in black on | the warp, by the intervention of tracing PEPPER paper on which he has previously Pim — — ———tttittiitt || : i ST | ————1 ou eee on Grane af ing ain fi a UO oT — —} This sketch appears equally befor e LUOADECVOUSEUGEOCONCTUAOUAUERETETLHAAASA INMTTTAMA 1 if —— MMIII ——} gnd behind the w arp, an d cons equ ently “ 9auo] WITT CTUNATTU ST oa the worker can always see it whether he occupies his habitual place, or whether he goes round to the back to judge of the general effect. The Savonnerie carpets differ essentially, both in the process of weaving, and in the result, from the Gobelin tapestries; they belong to the class of velvets. The threads of wool, at their juxtaposition from the surface are each stopped by a double knot on two threads of the warp, this latter is in wool and double, the warp combines itself both with the threads of the velvet surface, and with a woof and a duite (a) of which no part appears outside ; the carpet maker sees the right side _ of the carpet and not the wrong, as in Gobelin tapestry. The warp is held vertically, as in the high warp looms for tapestry, and the loom is of the same form, but much larger. The carpet is begun by a selvage, the web of which is the same as that of tapestry. . To commence the velvet groundwork, or otherwise to make a stitch, the worker having chosen a broche filled with wool of the shade re- quired by the pattern, takes with the fingers of the left hand the thread of the warp on which he is to begin; he draws it a little towards him and with his right hand passes the broche of woollen thread behind it. He then draws to his side the thread of the next warp placed a little behind the first, and makes a sliding or running knot on this thread which he fastens. Between these two passages (this is the technical . term) the wool forms, in front of the warp, a ring, the amplitude of which answers to the height of the velvet pile. An iron instrument called ti anche-fil, and formed of a round bar, four to five inches in diameter, terminating in a knife blade, is passed through the ring of | wool of which we have been speaking ; it occupies a horizontal position on the web or groundwork, and is filled successively by woollen rings produced by the repetition of the stitches. When the whole of the cylindrical part of the tranche-fil.is covered . with rings of wool, it is drawn from left to right to cut the rings; they — (a) This denomination “ duite” common to the two fabrics, carpet and apestry, is applied, however, in each to an object of a totally different nature. _ AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 295 are thus divided into two threads, implanted perpendicularly on. the warp ; immediately a new series of knots is begun, and the rings of wool are cut ;. this produces a continuous and horizontal line of threads. each knotted on two threads of the warp. This row of stitches is after- wards strengthened, Ist, with a very strong thread of hemp, called duite,. which is added to the knots between the two rows of the warp threads,, throughout the breadth of the carpet; 2nd, by a thread of woof which | envelops each of the threads of the warp and is added to the duite. To. place the woof in the groundwork or web by means of the warp, the worker brings forward the back thread, passes the woof between the: two rows of threads, then lets those of the back return to their place,, taking care to hold that woof loose enough, that it may follow the con- tour of each of the threads of the warp. In this manner the stitches are. fixed. The worker ther heaps up with a very heavy iron comb, the stitches,. the duite, and the woof ; tlie threads of the: hemp composing the two latter elements in the web remain there perfectly invisible. This series of operations being terminated, the threads of the wool, forming the velvet are sheared witha peculiar kind of scissors. In large carpets these threads are left about oné centimetre long ; in carpets. of small dimensions, such as hearth-rugs, banquettes, &c., the threads. are only left the length of from seven to eight millimetres, thus dimi- nishing the velvet pile. It is by the shearing process that the interior, of the woollen threads is exposed to view and that the visible surface of the carpet is put in its proper place. That the effect may be satisfactory, the most perfect regularity is necessary, and each partial shearing should: be made in such a manner as to present the effect of a single cut bring- ing all to an even surface. The mode of tracing employed for tapestries has been used for some) time in the fabrication of the carpets of the Savonniere; but for the latter, patterns are designed in squares of voluntary dimensions, these squares are marked on the warp; Ist, by coloured threads; 2nd, by horizontal lines traced in.ink or chalk. The partial outlines bearing the same divisions are adjusted to the general design with mathematical: precision. No part of the design is previously traced on the warp of: carpet, this model is copied in squares of twenty-five millimetres each side ; the method is infinitely preferable, because it gives to the worker the possibility of transferring his. pattern without head work, and in: some degree without fatigue. - The wool employed in the velvet is composed generally of six threads of different shades but of nearly equal value all harmonising together. In certain cases these threads amount to nine innumber. The com- bination of these shades requires on the part of the worker a peculiar aptitude for cclours ; he draws with these threads of wool as the painter: does, with his brush and palette, but in proceeding by stitches of which 296 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY the greatest surface does not exceed nine square millimetres, he arrives, according to the nature of the pattern, at very remarkable results ; this cannot be better compared than to mosaic. What is possible to the artist in mosaic, with regard to the design, the pattern, and the colour- ing, is equally so to the artist in tapestry, with this difference to the advantage of the latter, that the threads of wool, of which the surface of the velvet is composed, are not singly perceptible to the eye, like each of the cubes of marble or of enamel of which Mosaic is composed. The dyed wools and the silks belonging to the two Gobelins fabrics, are stored in proximity with each other :—1st. In a general warehouse, where they are arranged in skeins; 2nd. In a retail shop where they are on broches, ready for use ; further, to each loom is appropriated a press, containing wools assorted by the artizan for his work, and those he has already used, that may again be of use in the execution of the tapestry in the doom: The workers independently of the weaving of the tapestries and carpets, mount the warp, chalk the pattern, and assort the wools of the colour they require. The heads of the workshop constantly superintend the work, (a) the sub-chiefs replace them when they are obliged to be absent, (6) all are chosen from amongst the oldest and most skilful artists in tapestry. An historical painter, bearing the title of Inspector of Works of Arts, visits the workshops at least once a week. (c) The tapestries actually occupy forty artists in tapestry, comprising in that number two chiefs, two sub-chiefs, and four pupils. The car- pets occupy thirty-seven, comprising one chief, two sub-chiefs, and four pupils. The highest of the payments does not exceed 2,000 francs. Emulation is preserved much more by the rewards accorded to perfec- tion, than by the quantity of tapestry or of carpets produced. The latter may be estimated, in both fabrics, on an average, at from thirty- four square centimetres (d) each person. The service of the storehouses for the two workshops employ eight persons, generally chosen from amongst the old artist workers. The manufactory contains, besides a workshop for dyeing, a laboratory for chemistry, schools of design and tapestry, a workshop for fine-drawing, (a) M. Limosin, dit Laforest, chief of the workshop, directs that of tapestry since 1828; M. Gilbert, artist in tapestry, has been associated with him since March 1, 1858, under the title of Chief of the 2nd class workshop. M. Legrand, chief of carpets, filled this office from 1853, after having exercised that of snb- chief for twenty-one years. _ (0) In the tapestry workshops, the sub-chiefs are MM. Duruy and Buffit; in the carpet workshop, MM. Frangois and Bordot exercise the same functions. (c) M. Muller (Charles Louis), ha; been Inspector of the Works of ae in the manufacture of Gobelins, since 1st June, 1851. (ad) Or thirty squares of one centimetre the side. AND SAVONNERIE CARPETS. 297 galleries of exhibition. The workshop for dyeing, independently of a director(a) and a sub-director, (b) occupies a chief dyer, (c) two journey- men, a pupil and two labourers. ‘The wools and silks used in the manu- factory of Beauvais are dyed there. The director of dyeing, gives each year a course ot chemistry applicable to dyeing. The schools of design and of tapestry, are directed by two professors, (d) of whom one bears the title of assistant professor. Free pupils trom without are admitted, in tolerable numbers, to follow the course of the school of design, which comprises elementary drawing, study of the antique and living models (e). The school of tapestry, opened in 1848, with five or six pupils, now contains twenty-two. These pupils taken generally at the age of twelve or thirteen years, and by ministerial authority, after two years trial, belong indifferently to the families of tapestry workers, or out- side; it is very rarely that they are admitted to the workshops of tapestry or of carpets before the age of nineteen or twenty years. In entering them they are still looked upon and directed as pupils for several years. The workshop for fine-drawing or darning occupies five persons ; a first fine-drawer, two old tapestry fine drawers, and two workers. The business of this workshop, consists in reuniting or fine-drawing the parts of the carpets or tapestries made separately in the loom, in mending torn parts, holes, or pieces moth-eaten. The fine-drawer does with tne needle what the maker does with the broche ; he reéstablishes in the first place the portions of the warp injured or destroyed, then the woof, with the wools of colours assorted for tapestry to be repaired. The exhibition galleries contain a suite of choice tapestries, belong- ing to the different periods of fabrication, and from which a judgment may be formed of the modifications and progress of the art from the foundation of the manufacture of the Gobelins to the present day. (a) M. Chevreuil, Member of the Institute, has directed, since 1824, the a mical laboratory and workshop for dyeing. (6) These functions are filled by M. Decaux, appointed October 18, 1843. (c) M. Perrey has filled this office since 1858, in the place of M. le Bois, who died the 15th July, 1857. (d) M. Abel Lucas, painter and artist in tapestry making, pupil of the Szhool of Fine Arts in the manufactory of the Gobelins, is professor of the School of Design since 1848, period of the retiring of M. Mulard, ancient inspector of the manufacture, and professor of that school. He unites to these functions, since 1850, that of professor of the school of tapestry. M. Hippolyte Lucas, his brother also a painter, pupil of the Fine Arts and of the Gobelin manufactory, is assistant professor at the schools of design and of tapestry since 1857. (e) The study of living models, suppressed in 1848 was re-established in 1850, 298 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR CANE. RESEARCHES ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR CANE IN MAURITIUS, AND THE MODIFICATIONS IT UNDERGOES DURING MANUFACTURE. BY DR. ICERY. President of the Chamber of Agriculture. Translated by JamMES Morris, Esq., Representative of the Chamber of Agriculture of Mauritius. (Continued from page 236.) Part I.—EXTRACTION OF THE JUICE. THE cause of the greater part of the loss experienced for a length of time, in the Colony, in sugar manufacture has, without doubt, been the insufficient action of the machinery used to crush the cane. The first mills which were employed, consisted of three cast iron cylinders placed vertically, to which mules communicated motion by means of toothed wheels. The first improvement introduced into this system, as rude as it was defective, was the application of a power both more effective and regular, supplied by the action of wind or water. Shortly afterwards this, steam was applied to cane mills, and these machines in the meantime became more perfect, which necessarily allowed them to work with a precision and power hitherto unknown. Yet these first mills left much to be desired ; the irregularity and the too rapid move- ment of the machinery, as well as the insufficient resistance of the chief parts, did not allow a pressure to be exerted so as to obtain more cane juice than 45 to 50 per cent. of the weight of cane. In recent times machinery more perfect, and moved by a force equal to the resistance to be overcome, introduced areal progress. Thanks to the employment of these improved mills, the yield of cane juice ha increased about 25 per cent. Numerous experiments have been made elsewhere to determine the quantity of juice which could, on the average, be extracted from the cane by the different mills usually employed in sugar manufacture. It appears to me interesting to repeat these experiments, for too much im- portance cannot. be given to the results furnished by this first part of. the labour of our machines. Under this head might be predicted very notable differences, result- ing not only from the greater or less perfection of the machinery em- ployed, but also in the manner these are directed and the nature as well as the age of the canes which are used. Mills of large size, in order to produce an adequate pressure, require the cylinders fed with a considerable quantity of canes. They ought also to be the object of especial care, not always easy to attain. I have seen these powerful machines moved bya nominal force of sixty to eighty horse power, produce no more effect than a mill three or four times less powerful, and yield only in juice 55 per cent. of the weight of the canes. The return obtained, whatever may be the force employed, de- = 7 sare -! ee ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-OANE. 299 pends essentially on the manner the pressure is exerted, and as often as the pressure is not regularly applied, the most powerful machines in present use, fail in one of their advantages, namely, to crush daily a greater quantity of cane. We may seem perhaps rather indisposed to admit that machines otherwise perfectly regulated do not sometimes produce, even with the aid of strong and expensive apparatus, a return equal, or at least hardly superior, to what is produced by mills of far less power. Every atten- tive observer who has visited the sugar manufactories of this colony, will allow the justice of such an observation ; he will be astonished to see how little care is bestowed on this part of the work, and on merely examining the bagasse (a) escaping from the cylinders, he will find that it is frequently impregnated with a quantity of sugar liquid equal to the half of that of the juice extracted. We must, however, add that a contrary practice exists in some establishments, and where the pressure is always suited to the power of the machinery employed. Averaged generally, the yield which is usually furnished by the best mills on the largest estates, is about 75 per cent. of the juice contained in the cane, or three-fourths of the liquid to be extracted. The quality of the canes experimented on, and the degree of resistance they offer naturally influence this estimate, the extreme limits of which, from my own experience, are 84 per cent., and 69 per cent. Of all canes, the Bellognet or purple Java cane, is the most easily crushed, and gives the greatest quantity of juice; after it, comes the Diard cane, the Otaheite cane, the Penang, the Guinghan, and the Bam- boo. The method employed to test what a mill can yield, consists in first weighing the canes to be crushed, and then in estimating the juice ob- tained from them, or determining the weight of the bagasse remaining. This method entails considerable trouble in weighing, on account of the enormous quantity of the substance employed, and does not present those conditions of exactness, which should accompany every experi- ment. For this reason we find considerable difference of estimation in those authors who have treated this question. | I have adopted a much simpler method which allows us to under- take such researches without having occasion'to keep an exact account of such large weights, and without being troubled with the quantity of canes employed. | It will be sufficient to know by a preliminary experiment the quan- tity per cent. of ligneous substance contained in the canes submitted to the mill, the yield of which is required to be ascertained. This being once determined, we take a certain quantity of wet bagasse from the (a) The Creole corruption for an old Spanish term, implying the cane residuum alter passing through the mill. VOL. VI. II 300 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE, mill, about 250 grammes, taking care to select it in a state of compres- sion which represents on tlie average the result of the ordinary action of the cylinders. This bagasse is then weighed, and after having placed it in a little bag of strong cloth so as to prednds all after loss, it is sub-; mitted to a rapid washing in luke-warm water, then to a complete dry- ing in the stove, and the weight is again ascertained ; the difference be- ices these weights gives the quantity of juice ienaegacate in the bagasse’ and which had necessarily escaped the crushing power of the mill. ree Le = the weight of the damp bagasse. | t = the weight of the dry bagasse. ; ic == the weight of the woody substance contained 4 in 100. parts of the canes passed through the mill. We shall then: have eG S Lapp -X, or the quantity of the juice extracted COnEap ani” ing to B of bagasse furnished by the mill. The quantity of canes cor- responding to the same weight of B of bagasse being represented by — ,we see that the yield of any kind of mill can be easily caleu- lated by the plan of two successive weighings of a small quantity of the bagasse | produced ; for, strictly speaking, we can dispense with de- termining the value of C by a special proof, this quantity not present- ing great variations, and being generally of the average of ten for the finest kinds of Bellognet and Diard and 11°5 for the other kinds. In order to facilitate this operation, I shall give. the ° aa ex- ample : — _A mill, of forty horse power acting on Guingham cane stalks which contain 11°5 per cent. of woody fibre, gives a bagasse of which a por- tion perfectly similar in appearance by its state of compression to the total of the bagasse produced, weighed when damp, 207-63 grammes, and when dry, 87°30 grammes. _ To find according to the above formula the quantity of juice extracted from 207:63 grammes of moist bagasse, 87:30 must be multiplied by 100, and the product divided by 11:7, from the quotient 759-1 grammes, 207°63 are to be subtracted, which leaves 551°5 grammes. As the above quotient of 759'1 grammes is simply the equivalent of the quantity of canes producing the bagasse submitted to experiment, it is clear that the veld of pe mill will be definitely given by the proportion: 7591 : 551.5 : :X = Rib per cent. Itis at the same time clear that the absolute quantity of juice being’ 100—11°5, there has been left in the bagasse 15:90 ; (a) it therefore results that, in round figures, for every 100 parts of juice contained in those Grammes. Grammes. (a) Juice extracted eae - 551.5 ont hei Juice remaining in ee St . 120.33 dia 15.9 Woody fibre - - 87.3 as (owe 759.13 |. 100.00 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-OANE. 301 Guinghan canes, eighty-two. parts have been extracted, and eighteen have escaped the action of the mill. . : It must now be asked whether we really extract by this augmenta- tion of pressure a quantity of sugar always proportioned to the q uan tity of juice obtained ; in other words, if for all degrees of pressure the juice possesses the same qualities, a if the elements of which it is eomposed are found in the same respective -proportions. It might happen in the case where this proportion is broken, that the ad- vantage g. gained. from:an increase of juice would be weakened by newly acquired properties, which interrupted the after. operations, and in fact, rendered the extraction. of sugar a more expensive and a more difficult operation. This is, indeed, a question. which deserves to be seriously examined, and which has never yet been studied. It is generally thought that. the last: portions of the juice extracted from the cane, are Similar fo. what flows from. it at the first pressure ;..and all those who in the various colonies have occupied themselves’ i in increasing the com~ pressive. force. of the sugar mills, have never doubted of its similarity, Some. persons. seemed to attribute even a richer, saccharine principle to the juice which. flows at the last pressure. The researches I have made clear up this hitherto unnoticed point, and force me to adopt a totally different opinion. The quantity of sugar, after a certain degree of pres sure, diminishes in the ratio of the augmentation of the pressure ; and other substances, such as. the azotised principles and the mineral salts, proceed in an inverse ratio, increasing with the pressure. This result is one of the most manifest, and is explained by the differences of weight, which one is far from expecting. But what are the causes of such nes You will seek it in vain except in. the constitution of the plant itself and the unequal re. sistance of its. various parts. The medullary portions being really. supplied with a juice more saccharine, offering less obstacle to the ac-. tion of the press or. cylinders, allow the juice to flow more freely, whilst the bark and the concentric tissues, less rich in sugar, have far more. resisting power, and thus much longer retain the j Juices with which they. are impregnated. ) Here are some results which eee this argument and which give the measure of the differences ohserved under these circumstances,, whatever portion of the canes be examined, whether the knots of the cane, or the intervening parts be crushed or not. A certain quantity of cane hasat first been subjected to a pressure equal to that obtained from a mill which yields 60 per cent., and then to a second pressure of a mill capable of yielding 78 per cent. The juice obtained in the first instance was clear and limpid ; in the second, its clearness was thickened because it contained a greater quan- tity of organic remains. After being filtered with care, an analysis was made under exactly similar conditions. I12 ‘302 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE: JUICE } Of White Bellognet Cane. Of Penang Cane. pinta tee = tiny ero er ee a Ist Pressure. 2nd Pressure. lst Pressure. 2nd Pressure. Density : a . 1084 1079 1080 1078 Quantity of sugar MOTOS 18°9 19°6 18.5 ) 'P Albuminous matters . 0°18 0:27 016 0.20 Weight of ashes . 6 0'20 0:22 013 0.23 The difference is more marked with the Penang cane, than with the white Bellognet, resulting from the former being harder, and te more resistance to the pressure of the cylinders. After what has been said, an account may easily be given of the numerous specialities which take place in sugar manufacture, and which have been explained in various ways. It is evident at once that the juice extracted from canes slightly crushed being relatively richer in saccharine and poorer in organic and mineral substances, is of easier labour, and yields for the same weight or volume, a greater proportion of sugar. Such a result is not solely due to a superior saccharine richness of juice, but rather to a less quantity of albumenoid and saline prin¢i- ples; for by our usual provess of manufacture, evaporation cannot be prolonged without producing a very perceptible interversion of crystal- Hisable sugar, and this transformation is also subordinate to the quantity of organic matter held in the juice. It seems to me incontestable that it is still more in this difference of qualities presented by the juice, according to the pressure to which the cane has been subjected, that we ought to seek for a rational explanation of the general belief that with the same means of evaporation, the extrac- tion of sugar was easier formerly than now. If it be remembered that the first advance realised was due to the use of more perfect mills, and that the evaporating apparatus now employed was only adopted long after, it will be difficult, unless we deny the results of exact experi- ments, and these too within the reach of all, not to attribute to the more efficacious pressure of our mills, what in my opinion, has been most erroneously considered as the result of degeneration of the cane. - T shall show further on in continuing these researches, that this idea is contrary to the facts which come under our daily notice, and Shall complete my remarks on the part which this assumed degeneration plays in the production of sugar. ‘(To be continued.) 303 GON. BBP Sk NM! BY FRANK VINCER. PRPSINE was introduced into medicine by Dr. Lucien Corvisart. The daily increasing importance of pepsine, which has now been in use during the last fourteen years, demands a short history—1l. Of its extraction ; 2. Its employ ; 3. Its pharmaceutical preparations, including the principle formule in use. 1. This substance, which is the active principie of the gastric juice, is found in those glands of the stomach called peptic of vertebrate animals; but the isolation and preparation, so as to preserve to this agent its physiological properties, are extremely delicate operations. A. Certain pharmaciens have lately found no means more profitable and economic than that of simply drying the mucous membrance of the stomach of animals (pigs, &c.), and selling it under the name of pepsine. Nothing is more simple, but nothing more deplorable in every respect ; the nanie of this product is at once a falsification, as the pepsine is as impure as it is possible for it to be, none of the detritus of the dead membrane or of the putrid matter being removed. For example, if this powder is mixed with water and maintained for twenty-four hours at a temperature of 40° C., it is decomposed, and exhales an insupportable and fetid odour. This in Germany has been designated “Pepsine de Lamatch.” These products are easily recognized under the microscope, which discloses the organic cellular debris. B. Other manufacturers have at least eliminated those putrefiable portions of the gastric membrane which are solid.. Heidenham directs the maceration of frogs’ stomachs and the liquid portion only is desic- cated. Some, to disguise the putrid matter (after the example of Dr. Aschentreumer), have added to this product, before evaporation, 2 to 5 per cent. of salt. The preparation sold at Berlin under the name of *¢ Pepsine de Simon” contains salt; this is easily recognized, as, when~ exposed to the air, it becomes viscid and attracts moisture rapidly, an inconvenience which causes the weight of the pepsine to vary with the closing of the bottles and the changes of the atmosphere. These preparations are simply the liquid or solid rennet, in which, — at the end of a few days. the digestive property is lost; that of Aschentreumer has been named Chymosum Muriaticum dilutum. None of these can be called pepsine, and ought to be studiously interdicted, as they are merely falsifications, : We will now consider pepsine isolated from all foreign matters—that is to say, chemically pure. Schwann was the first (1834) who extracted - (and named) pepsine from the gastric juice in a state of purity ; to this end he made use of bichloride of mercury, which precipitates pepsine ; the precipitate was dissolved in hydrochloric acid, through which he then passed a current of sulphuretted hydrogen to throw down any excess of mercury, and leave the pepsine in solution, .Wasman employed 304 ON PEPSINE. acetate of lead. These facts were little known in France when this substance was extracted from the rennet by Deschamps, by means of ammonia, by Payen from the gastric juice by alcohol ; other processes are given by George Wood and Franklin Bache, authen of the Upiet States Dispensatory, &c., &c. After extraction, pepsine, freshly prepared and dissolved in acidulated. water, is precipitated from its solution by protosulphate of iron, acetate of lead, sulphate of copper, bichloride of mercury, tannin, alcohol, &c., it combines with certain acids, and it isin this state that it exists in the gastric juice, but we do not think it is able to form definite salts, so that the names of acetate and hydrochlorate of pepsine are wrongfully em-_ ployed ; without any trace of acid, and neutral to litmus, it is little or. not at all soluble in water. Experience nas shown the physiological action of pepsine, to which the gastric juice owes its digestive powers, as it produces the operations of digestion exactly identical. 2. Its Hmploy.—It should be a medicine acceptable to the taste, and the digestive power, naturally variable, should be brought by science to- a uniform standard ; and, finally, that a chemical determination should | be made as to the ones in which it should be administered. It was in 1851 that the first chemical observations were made by Corvisart, and. towards the end of 1852 this doctor communicated his opinions to the: Academy of Sciences; some refused to admit the idea of assisting human. digestion by the digestive agent of animals, or that this, once extracted, could retain the properties it possessed as gastric juice; but others, more, advanced in modern science, saw in this a radical progress in an entire branch of therapeutics. In 1854, Corvisart determined the form, the mode of administration, the doses, and the cases which required. the | application of this new physiological medicine ; the detailed observa- tions of a great number of physicians depose to the correctness of the. result stated. Thirty-two cases were reportel, in a third the contra test recommended by Corvisart had been tried with the-best success, viz. with the cessation of the pepsine at meals the indigestion reappeared. The same year, Silliet (Geneva) stated the good effects of its use, and re- commended that it should be tried ‘in all cases of disordered stomach. , In'1855, Li, Fleury-reported many successful cases. Desmartes (Bordeaux) advocated its employ in. chlorosis and -choleraic diarrhcea of infants, Dechambie also published the happy results from its use; and Debout, . from his experience, particularly recommended it in the diarrhoea of . young children. In 1856, Corvisart was rewarded by the Institute. In, 1857, Ballard, physician to St. George’s Hospital, having employed Boudault’s pepsine, stated, “he thought that he ought to acquaint the : profession with the results he had obtained, as they promised henceforth - to largely diminish the mortality from many diseases ;” at the same ‘ period, another English physician, Nelson, confirmed the good effects of. liquid pepsine (liquor pepticus). Finally, T. K. Chambers, Dr. Todd, : Dr. Protheroe Smith, James Ross, William Moore (Dublin), strengthened ON PEPSINE. 305 the facts already advanced. In 1858, L. Gross employed pepsine with Success in the sickness incidental to pregnancy; Barthez has ad- ministered it to children suffering with apepsia, in which the food passes through the stomach and bowels undigested ; after the exhibition of the pepsine, digestion took pam and the udols presented a natural appearance. Pepsine is indicated in cases were ire secretions of the stomach, being disordered, the digestion is laborious, imperfect, or almost ‘bes -possible—that is to say, in gastralgia, dyspepsia, debility, convalescence from acute diseases, &c., when the food produces vomiting, nausea, diarrheea, &c. &&. We may add, that the rapidity of its action in appropriate cases is so great that it forms an excellent means of diag- nosis; employed at hazard in an affection of this sort, if it succeeds, in three or four days the cure commences; if it fails, this short space of time is sufficient to show that it is not in the gastric juice that the physician ought to search for the cause of the malady, an advantage which spare much loss of valuable time and useless treatment. This ‘was especially remarked by Rilliet in his practice. 3. Its Pharmaceutical Preparation.—It is solely portoctly pt pure pepsine that is capable of being employed therapeutically. When pure, after being extracted and dried at 40°, it has the form of lamine or scales of a lemon colour, very similar to dried albumen; taste slightly styptic, and generally a slight odour of cheese when rubbed. It is extremely delicate, and a temperature higher than 45° C. completely destroys its digestive property without altering its chemical composition. - It: is impossible to employ pepsine in a state of extract for many reasons. First. It has been remarked that pepsine (a product of fermentation rather than a simple chemical body) varies extremely in energy ac- cording to the species of animal from which it is procured, and in the same animal whether taken at the time of eating or fasting, whether young or old, change of seasons, &c., &c., so that any two preparations do not resemble each other. Sometimes it is necessary to use twenty centigrammes to produce a given effect, another time seventy; but it is important to the physician to be able to administer an equal digestive power in the same weight, it is necessary to add to the pepsine a varia- ple quantity of inert matter, so that a given weight contains anere an equal amount of digestive power. - Secondly. When the extract is desiccated without any additional substance it does not retain its original form; being hygrometric in the highest degree, it readily absorbs humidity from the atmosphere becomes viseid, soon liquefies, and consequently returns into the category of nitrogenous bodies, which in the presence of water and a slightly elevated temperature, enter into putrid decomposition. In this state pepsine loses all its digestive properties, and is variable from the auginentation of. weight due to water, the medicinal properties diminisn- ing accordingly. 306 ON PEPSINE. How is the hygrometricity to be remedied? The inert powder already mentioned solves this problem, since, as soon as it is intimately incorporated with the extract, this ceases to attract humidity, and preserves a yranular pulverulent form. Starch is the substance which best preserves pepsine from decomposition without injury to its thera- peutic action ; most other vegetable powders, either from the tannin they contain or from some catalytic force arising from their porosity, destroy rather than preserve it. The admixture of starch gives to pepsine the most convenient form. Corvisart has noted all the conditions that it ought to present in practice, viz. — First. The action of the gastric juice is the dissemination of its active principle amongst the food, so the pepsine in powder imitates the natural action by the dissemination of its granules ; on the contrary, the pills, ‘&c., of pepsine have an opposite effect and frequently pass into the intestines without action. Secondly. The gastric secretion does not pass into the stomach by the mouth before action ; so, the pepsine powder taken in wafer paper, commences to act in the stomach, and thus fulfils the physiological design; whilst the dragées or pepsine lozenges, which dissolve in the mouth, are little in accordance with it. Thirdly. The gastric juice is secreted drop by drop, slowly and successively ; so each granule of starchy pepsine evolves, in dissolving, its active principle, thus imitating the formation of the natural fluid, This is not the case with the solutions of pepsine. When administered, in cases where the stomach is irritable, under the form of wines and syrups, it is sometimes borne with difficulty. These conditions, which demand a preparation pure, unalterable, possessing always an invariable digestive power, are fulfilled by the “Pepsine Amylacée,” or medicinal pepsine, which imitates the forma- tion of the gastric juice, its gradual secretion, and its slow and continual dissemination amongst the food. Mode of Extraction.—A certain number of calves’ or sheep’s rennets are taken from the animals as soon as killed, thorougly washed with water ; the mucuous membrane, which contains the peptic glands, is suraped, macerated in water, at 10° to 15° C. for twelve hours ; the pepsine in the solution is then precipitated by acetate of lead, allowed to settle, and the supernatant liquid poured off ; a current of sulphuretted hydrogen is passed through the semi-liquid deposit, which precipitates the lead in the form of sulphide ; the pure pepsine remains in solution | with the free acetic acid ; it is tnen filtered, and finally evaporated to dryness at a uniform temperature of 40° C. The next operation is the trial and determination of the dose of the pepsine. To determine the quantity of digestive power contained in a given weight, three samples are taken from the mass, the first of 25 centigrammes, the second 50 centigrammes, and the third 75 centi- ON PEPSINE. 307 grammes. Each is placed in a separate vessel, with the addition of, first, 25 grammes of water , secondly, acid, (lactic or other acid), a sufficient quantity to saturate 17 centigrammes of pure caustic potass (equivalent to the acidity of the gastric juice) ; thirdly, fibrine obtained from calves’ blood, washed and strongly pressed in a cloth. The three vessels are then placed in a stove, and maintained at a uniform temperature of 45° C. for twelve hours. Thesample in which the fibrine has been dissolved and converted into pure peptone (albuminose), not precipitable by nitric acid, is the normal and therapeutic dose of the pepsine. But as the weight of pepsine necessary to obtain this regular power varies incessantly, sometimes 25, sometimes 50, or 75 centigrammes, whichever it may be, at each operation, sufficient starch is added to make the weight one gramme, so that each gramme contains invariably a uniorm digestive power, the quantitity of starch alone varying. No physical or chemical characteristics distinguish active pepsine from that which is inert, nor from other nitrogeneous bodies more or less allied; the only important quality being its digestive power, the test with fibrine is the only method of determining their value, all preparations, what- ever may be their aspect and chemical reactions, are not pepsine if they do not answer toit. The digestive characteristic consists in that pepsine, — in twelve hours, dissolves fibrine, and converts it into peptone, not pre- cipitating from its solution by heat, alkalies or acids; sometimes the dilute acids (hydrochloric, &c.) dissolve fibrine, causing it at first to swell enormously, which is characteristic of their action. Besides this, after twelve hours peptone is not formed; as the liquid gives a large precipitate with nitric acid, this test is conclusive. The modes of administration proposed for pepsine are very numerous, but, in Corvisart’s Opinion, the pepsine in powder, the syrups, the elixirs, and wine answer every exigency. The most preferable forms are those that are most miscible with the food. Finally, besides the addition of codeia, nitrate of bismuth, strychnine, lactate of iron, and reduced iron (in small doses), which are without any injurious action on pepsine, many formule have been proposed in which it is combined with a large number of other remedies ; but these preparations are better avoided. So the combina- tion of pepsine with alkalies or alkaline lactates is not physiological ; the alkalies very certainly produce good results in some dyspepsias, but they have an action very distinct from that of pepsine. We think that the alkaline salts and the gastric secretion may be mutually injurious when meeting in the stomach, especially when the stomach does not sufficiently renew the peptic fluid, for it is necessary to remember that the acidity is the essential ingredient in it, and it is therefore necessary to employ pepsine and the alkaline lactates separately. The solution remains perfectly transparent on pe addition of four drops of nitric acid—pure pepsine. 308 PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. Inquiry having been made on the subject of the available raw ma- terials for paper (especially from the flax plant), through the Foreign Office, some interesting information is furnished thereon in several of the recent Consular reports. Mr. Stevens, the British Vice-Consul at Kherson, writes in the in- closed despatch that he made inquiries as to the possibility of selecting flax-stems for exportation so far back as 1859, but found that the expense of conveyance to a port for shipment would be too costly. He adds that, although there are more than 200,000 acres of land under- ‘flax in the government of Kherson, very little is grown in the immediate neighbourhood of the Black Sea; and, as it is only sown on virgin soil, its cultivation is annually falling back farther into the interior. A great deal of flax is grown on the banks of the Dnieper, between Nicopol and ‘Ekaterinoslav, but the means of river-transport are insufficient, and freights are too high to make it worth the attention of commerce. The plants are not burned, but the best stems are pulled and selected for inaking a coarse kind of linen. Itis only the refuse of the crop that is either burnt or employed in thatching. There isa kind of rush, he. ‘States, very plentiful near Kherson abe might be worthy the attention of the paper manufacturer. | ‘- One of the largest landowners in Southern Russia, says that the flax-plant is extensively cultivated in New Russia, Bessarabia, Kherson, ‘and Ekaterinoslavy. Odessa alone ae ia more than 140,000 quarters of linseed. While these provinces continue to Ge thinly populated, he thinks that the cultivation of flax will increase, as it is less troublesome and ‘expensive to produce than cereals ; but, if the population increases, the land under flax must decrease, as it requires virgin soil, which will ‘become scarce. The plant is now cultivated chiefly for the seed. No care is taken to grow good stems; and this country being subject to drought four years out of five, the want of moisture renders the stems of little value, though it does not affect the seed. When a season, however, has been wet, the peasants convert the stem into flax for linen. It is only when the stalk is worthless for manufacturing purposes that itis burnt. If the person desirous of employing the stem in paper-making could pay from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. per Russian poud—say 36 lbs. English, delivered ‘at a seaport ready for shipment, the landowner is of opinion that they vould be supplied with a large quantity from this country; and, if encouragement of a ready market were offered, the cultivation of the ‘plant for the stem would immediately occupy the attention of growers. The chief of an eminent commercial firm, which may be considered at the head of the trade of Southern Russia, considers the exportation of the flax-plant from that country could not be made profitable. The - PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. 309 expense of bringing stalks to Odessa would be nearly 91. sterling per’ ton, without counting their cost price, while the charges of shipping them to England would be from 6l. to 77. sterling more, thus making the total cost of the article in England between 15/. and 16/. sterling per ton, while the best rags in London are worth only from 121, to 130. tasling per ton. Flax is very extensively grown in Southern Russia for the seed alone. After the seed is collected the plants are either burned or are used for thatching. The idea that flax might be profitably employed as an article of commerce has been entertained for some years by mer- chants residing here, and attempts have been made to export it, but without success. The expense of carting it to a seaport, and the heavy freight charged for its conveyance to England or France, have proved obstacles which rendered its sale impossible, and no further trials appear necessary to confirm a fact which has been already established at heavy cost. It is clear that-flax cannot be usefully exported from here without previous preparation, to reduce its bulk, and Lees very materially the cost of transport. | A process appears to have been discovered by which the useful por- tion of the flax plant could be easily extracted, and profitably exported. M. Pitancier, an experimental chemist, is the inventor. He is a gentle- man of somejlocal importance, who gained.a medal at the London Exhi- bition in 1851, and two medals in the Exhibition of 1862, for. chemical products of his manufacture. During several years he has given his attention to the subject of employing flax in the manufacture of paper. He found that the stems could not be profitably exported in their crude state, for the following reasons :—Firstly, because the plant is too light and too bulky. Secondly, because it cannot be easily reduced by pres- sure. Thirdly, because the material applicable to the purposes of the. manufacturer is small in proportion to the refuse matter, amounting, indeed, only to sixteen per cent. Appreciating the value of flax to papermakers, M. Pitancier studied the possibility of separating the fibre from the woody matter, and then’ exporting the fibre. To do this cheaply, however, in a country where good workmen are rare, and water is scarce, was the great difficulty. At length he discovered a method which did all he desired without water, and he now finds that he can reduce the expense of freight and carriage on flax by eighty-four per cent., or five-sixths, through this process. M. Pitancier further advocates the reduction of the fibre into pulp previous to its exportation. This can be done by another process of his own in less than seven hours, and at a very small cost. He calculates. that the pulp so produced could be sold to papermakers in England or France at about half the price now paid for raw material. M. Pitancier has obtained a patent from the Russian government for his method of treating paper-producing plants, and he is now construct- ing a paper manufactory in Odessa, to supply local demands, which ave 310 -PAPER-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. considerable, As, however, an export trade would be more lucrative, he proposes to enter into engagements with any firms in England de- sirous of utilizing the materials for paper now wasted in this country. M. Pitancier states that there are other vegetable productions here of far greater value to the papermaker than flax, and especially calls atten- tion to straw of various kinds, and the leaves of maize. The reeds growing on the banks of rivers he has also ascertained by experiment yield nearly fifty per cent. of their bulk as material for paper. The rush is almost as rich ; and the paper produced from these plants is strong, lustrous, and smooth. M. Pitancier has drawn up a report on these plants, and has annexed samples of the materials he uses, and of the various qualities of paper he can produce. My inquiries, observes Mr. Consul-General Murray, tend to show that Southern Russia grows an immense quantity of flax, which could be usefully employed in paper-making. But all my informants combine in declaring that it cannot be exported in its natural state; for it is evident that an article must be of great value to admit of its being sent thousands of miles, when only one-sixth part of itis of any use. The same argument applies with more or less force to all vegetable produc- tions of like nature. These are very plentiful in Southern Russia, But under scientific treatment only could they be exported with advantage both to producer and to the consumer. Mr. Bernstein, one of the most eminent brokers at Odessa, who has previously, on several occasions, rendered important services to Her Majesty’s Government, in similar inquiries to the present, after stating the exact quantity of land under flax in the province of Kherson, gives some information as to the mode of cultivation of the kind of flax grown there, as well as the quantity produced. Mr. Bernstein gives his opinion that the flax fibre could be pressed in the same manner as wool and cotton, so as to be exported in a small compass; but I am not in- clined to attach the same weight to his opinion on the subject as to that of M. Pitancier, although it is just possible that an inventor may be a little misled by his own theories. Mr. Bernstein thinks, as is natural, looking at the question from his point of view, that British capital might be profitably employed to purchase the raw material here, with- out reference to M. Pitancier’s inventions; and he adds that it could be bought for little more than the cost of transport. He also thinks that. the erection of a paper-mill here would be a good speculation, I have the honour, likewise, to inclose a translation from the German news- paper published here, trusting that it may be read with interest. In conclusion, I am bound to observe that a reliable estimate of the quantity and quality of the fibre which Southern Russia could annually | export can only be made by an actual survey of the lands under flax, and other plants useful to the papermaker. Doubtless, if a sound con-- clusion were arrived at on this subject, and the result should, as appears. op a ae ss PAPDR-MAKING MATERIALS IN RUSSIA. 3lt probable, be satisfactory, the price of many useful kinds of paper might be materially lowered. Mr. M. Bernstein, of Odessa, states that in the government of Kherson, about 80,000 dessiatines (or French hectares) of land, after lying seven or eight years fallow, are annually cultivated with flax. No kind of manure whatever is employed in this culture. Operations are limited to a simple autumn ploughing, sixteen or eighteen centi- metres deep, and followed by two harrowings in the following spring’ No hoeing or weeding are ever resorted to. The expense of cultivation for one dessiatine (seed included) does not exceed six or seven roubles: Coarse flax is the only kind cultivated in this country, and solely for the sake of obtaining the seed. The inconvenience of our dry tempera- ture, want of water for retting the flax, scarcity of lands, &c., prevent us from cultivating the other kinds for the fibre. Taking for basis the average of two years’ crop, one dessiatine gives us about four tchetwerts linseed which produces an annual total of 320,000 tchetwerts of seed and about 45,000 kilogrammes weight of stem, con- taining excellent fibre. This refuse material is generally employed as fuel, or is left to rot, in consequence of the considerable distance it is from the linen and paper mills. Flax in this country is generally mowed in the manner wheat and other cereals are, so that the stem is detached from the root, the totally useless part. Having separated the seed fromthe stalk, and exposed this latter to the action of dew or rain, to dissolve the resinous gum, and after getting it trampled or beaten asunder by horses on a threshing floor, one may obtain the fibre almost entirely deprived of its ligneous particles. This experiment has already been made by one of my°acquaintances in a neighbouring farming establishment. The fibre could be compressed in the same manner as wool and cotton, so as to be exported in the smallest possible volume. It is more than probable that, an English company furnished with necessary capital and establishing at Odessa an office for the purchase of the material (which could be obtained for little more than the cost of transport), and erecting a paper mill, would reap very large ad- vantages on the capital employed for this purpose. In the Journal of Odessa of Jan. 18, 1865 we find the following remarks :—Recently we had a conversation with a large landed pro- prietor who cultivates flax on a grand scale, and we asked him what he did with the stems of the plant which contain so much useful fibre. They serve for fuel, he replied. The want of labour prevents the cutting or pulling up the stems, and it has to be mown and is then passed through a mill to separate the seed. Hence, the fibre is not fit for textile purposes. ’But this material 8 nevertheless, too valuable to be wasted as fuel, a papermaker could derive great profit from the use of this substance which would be equal 0 the best linen rags. There are few branches of industry which offer greater prospects of 312 IRISH MANUFACTURES. ' success than papermaking in this country, seeing that the raw materials are to be obtained in such great abundance. od Other suitable materials could be furnished by Odensittt in larger quantities, than other towns of similar population from the number. of sacks used for grain annually. The stalk and leaves of the maize plant could furnish here as in Austria, most useful paper stuff. The reeds of the rivers Dnieper and Dniester would serve admirably for manu- facturing paper. We have seen white writing paper of an excellent quality made of this substance by Mr. G. Pitancier, chemist of this town, in his laboratory. The Customs tariff accord to papermakers here considerable protection over foreign makers. The duty on foreign made paper being from 54 to 10 roubles the poud. Notwithstanding this heavy duty, Odessa receives annually 3,200 pouds of foreign made paper, hence it may cay be calculated what profit a local papers mill would deserve. ~ The town of Odessa, which at present receives its supplies fromjMos- cow and foreign’ ports, would take a large part of the quantity made: All the other towns on the coast of the Black Sea are in the same posi- tion as this seaport. It might also be possible to supply some foreign wants, especially Constantinople. Why has no person yet entered on this profitable field of enterprise. ? a 6h TUENOG | IRISH MANUFACTURES. THE linen manufacture ,of Ireland which was. substituted for the, woollen, after flourishing for many years, chiefly in Ulster, has greatly, revived in consequence of the application of machinery to the spinning of yarn, and of the introduction of the power-loom in weaving. The exports of linen yarns and linen manufactures from Ireland ca Great Britain and foreign countries, was, in 1862, 6,292,000. ; in 1863,, . 8,084,0007.; and, in 1864, 10,327,000. The number of spindles in, operation for spinning flax, in Ireland, in 1864, was 761,060 ; 200,000 persons are altogether employed in connection with the trade, and the amount invested in buildings, machinery, and the requisite floating. capital, is estimated at.3,000,000/. In 1864, there were 42 factories, with, 8,187 power-looms, nearly the whole of which wereemployed. The estimated quantity of flax grown in Ireland in the seven years) ending 1864 was 216,897 tons, or on an average 30,985 tons per annum. The number of Pane Hs, 1863.was 214,099, and in 1864, 301,693 acres, an increase of 87,594 acres, chiefly in Ulster. The produce of the, two years in dressed material ready for spinning was 139,712 tons. The import. of foreign flax into the United Kingdom. in. those years was, 164,416 tons, so that the quantity consumed in the manufacture of linen, cloth exceeded the entire produce of the whole of Treland, There will, IRISH MANUFACTURES. 313. - therefore, be a ready market for twice the quantity of flax grown last year, supposing the machinery then existing to remain the same. But in fact the manufacture of linen is progressing with unexampled rapidity: Mr. Baker gives the number of spindles working in Ireland in May, 1864, as 665,442, but, at the close of 1864, this number had increased to 761,060. These, with the English and Scotch‘ mills, would demand 152,550 tons of dressed flax, or a quantity fully equal to the home pro-: duction and imports from abroad in 1864. In foreign countries, too, flax spinning has increased 426 ‘per cent. in ten years, and is still more rapidly progressing. It is evident from the figures that if Ireland produced three times the quantity of flax grown in 1864 there would be a ready sale for it for home consumption and exportation. The English inspectors of factories believe that a less extent of land. will be sown with flax in the present year than in 1864. The produce of the last flax crop was, in general, abundant in quantity but deficient m quality. The Trish inspéctors attribute this to “late sowing,” “ i a sufficient preparation of the soil, and want of care in weeding the crop.” _ The English inspectors to ey EET: and an unfavonrable season. : 3 - The Government have determined, to continue the prant for Govern- ment instructors. ‘From the report on the statistics of flax culture in Connaught and Munster in 1865, by W. Neilson Hancock, LL.D., it is proved that the decline which took place in the production of flax in Ulster, in 1865, compared with 1864 is not peculiar to that year. In the last sixteen years there was a decrease in acreage in seven years at different times, and an incredse in nine years, but, on the whole, the growth of flax increased from 60,314 acres in 1849 to 251, 534 in 1865, : being an increase of over 300 per cefit. in sixteen years. - ~ The increase in the growth of flax in Connaught, from 1361 to 0 1863, when no Government aid was granted, was only 986 acres, but: in 1864 with Government aid the increase was 6,110 acres. There was a de-' crease of thirteen per eent. in 1865, but this year’s crop if compared with that of 1861 shows an increase of 254 per cent. Similarly, in Munster, from 1861 to 1863, when no Government aid was given, the whole increase was only 908 acres, but with Government aid in 1864 the increase was 2,398 acres. Although there was a diminution of flax culture in 1865 as compared with 1864, the statistics prove that the Government encouragement has worked most silevenstnllye: and. that its assistance may be expected to be advantageous. The greatest exertions are being made to extend the. cultivation o flax in England, but the Irish farmer has only to. sow early, to prepare his ground carefully, and to give the crop ordinary care, to secure ample remuneration. The farmer whose expectations were not fully answered last year should hope for a more favourable result next year. He does not abandon the culture of any other crop because it may not have ful- filled his hopes in one year. In general all the flax grown in Ireland Sia 314 IRISH MANUFACTURES. has been sold at prices which yielded to the farmer a larger profit than he could have obtained from any other crep, and this ought to be a suf- ficient encouragement for the cultivation of the crop. The flax plant and the linen manufacture are two sources of almost unlimited prosperity. Ireland has an opportunity of becoming the great flax market of Europe. With plain ordinary care the crop may be grown and pulled in excellent condition. Mills, for dressing flax and preparing it for the mill, have been erected in many counties which last year produced flax on an extensive scale for the first time, There is no true reason for supposing that cotton will ever again be so cheap as to render the culture of flax in Ireland unremunerative, The cotton trade in Ireland is found in six counties only ; it has entirely disappeared from six. In 1862, there were 1,412 persons em- ployed in this trade in the county of Waterford, 639 in the county of Antrim, and 492 in the county of Dublin. There is not in any county a single instance of the number of cotton mills increasing since 1839. In Londonderry and Tyrone, however, it is new. In 1862, the total number of mills was nine, and the persons employed 2,734. A new factory has been lately erected in Drogheda. SeweEpD Mos.ins.—A great source of employment for females has of late years sprung up in the North of Ireland, in the working of patterns on muslin with the needle. Belfast is the centre of this manufacture, which employs about 300,000 persons, chiefly females, scattered through all the counties of Ulster, and some localities of the other provinces. About forty firms are engaged in the trade, some being Irish houses and others agents for Scotch firms, and the gross value of the manufactured goods amounts to about 1,400,0001. The woollen manufacture, which was nearly extinguished at the Revolution, revived for some time after, but is now confined to Dublin, Cork, King’s County, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Queen’s County. There appears to have been a positive decrease of factories in use be- tween 1839 and 1850, no doubt owing to a decline in the trade, which has revived since, and the discontinued factories have been reoccupied. The total number of counties manufacturing is ten, and in these there are only four in which there are 100 persons employed in the aggregate —viz., Dublin, Cork, Westmeath, and Kilkenny. The trade has entirely left Kildare and Wicklow, and has been established in Fermanagh, Limerick, Meath, and Westmeath since 1839, and a great improvement has been made in the machinery. Silk manufactures since their introduction by French emigrants in the beginning of the last century, have been confined to Dublin ; its chief branch is tabinets or Irish poplins, which still flourishes. PareR Manuracture.—In 1860, the year before the repeal of the duty on paper, 9,314,985 lbs. were manufactured in Ireland, being an increase of 1,022,524 lbs. on the previous year. The quantity made in 1847 was only 5,711,546 lbs. ‘ oe yt | i 315. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF WOOD. TuE following seasonable advice is from an American paper :— Wood that is intended for fuel should be cut in the winter, as it contains less sap than in the spring, and will season quicker. The sooner it is converted into stove wood after being cut from the stump the less work will be required, for it is well known that seasoned timber is _ harder to saw and split than green. The best way to store it for seasoning is to pile it under cover ; it will do very well to cord it out of doors and if merely thrown together in a large pile it will wet in but little, though from the greater amount exposed on the ground and outside this _ is more wasteful than the other methods. It does not seem a good plan for farmers to cut more wood into cord length than in the course of the winter and spring they can convert into a size fit for the stove. And the time has come when it pays to cull the forest. Save the - timber. Use up first the dead and fallen trees ; cut the crooked, worth- less saplings ; thin out where too thick, and by this treatment the tim- ber lot will improve in value. Be careful, also, in felling large trees, not to injure the valuable undergrowth beneath and near them. Many of our most useful kinds of timber throw up numerous thrifty sprouts from the stump after being cut—chestnut for example. These should be cared for—thinned—and in a remarkably short time several trees, large enough for stakes or posts, will replace the parent. Nearly all the work that pertains to preparing wood for fuel is laborious. It takes strong muscle to swing the axe and fell the king of the forest ; but it requires more endurance to work steadily the buck- saw. It pays to work the wood into suitable size for handling readily, and then saw it with horse-power. One machine will answer for a neighbourhood, and can be moved easily. When large trees are to be cut up, two men with a cross-cut saw can take off lengths for a stove rapidly, and these can be easily split with an axe. Although it will not be good economy for a farmer to pick his fuel from his wood lot, merely with regard to its good qualities as fuel, yet it may be interesting to know the relative value of different kinds of American wood for burning purposes. We subjoin a table from the best authorities :— 1. 2. Shellbark or Hickory . : . 1:000 1:00 White-Ash . ; : : a ei pes ‘97 Apple . er : : 1 eOOF ‘70 White Beech . . : : . “724 "65 Chestnut : : é A - 522 "52 Pignut Hickory . : : eae 95 Red Heart Hickory ‘ : 3820) “81 Hard Maple . ; : é . 644 “60 Soft Maple . ; : : pee aN Ye 54 VOL. VI. K 316 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. if 2. White Oak . : ; . . BBS ‘81 Scrub Black Oak . ; Ry ‘71 Red Oak ; ; ‘ : & in Bae 69 Yellow Oak . 4 ; : «>, 688 ‘60 Yellow Pine . ; A : +.) 3a) 54 Pitch Pine. ; : ; .,, 426 43 White Pine . ” ; : rae 42 Sassafras : : i ‘ ue OS ‘59 White Elm . ; : f , *580 *58 Red Cedar. ; s ; 2 "6S 56 Black Walnut s : 681 65 The column marked 1 gives the Seti at of dried samples of the different kinds, and that marked 2 the relative value of specified quantities compared with shellbark hickory as a standard, which is marked at ‘100. Shellbark hickory is considered the best wood in mar- ket for fuel. Next, hard maple and beech are held in highest estima- tion. But it will be noticed in the table that several woods are placed in advance of the latter. White oak stands near to hickory, and white ash next. Yet ‘who, in our markets, would think of paying as much for a cord of these as for sound, hard maple? But we apprehend the table is right in regard to the value of the different woods for fuel. With white and red oak we have had some experience, and know, if well seasoned, it will equal any hard maple we ever burned. But in a green state it is almost worthless. It contains more water than maple or beech, and requires much more seasoning to become fit for burning. Undoubtedly the prejudice in favour of beech and maple arose from this cause. It was generally more plentiful than oak, and as it would burn quite readily without much seasoning, and is easier to kindle when dry, it was taken into favour. Oak and ash being more valuable as timber for manufacturing purposes, naturally would not be thrown into market for fuel to so great an extent as beech and maple. But as ash, and especially oak contain, more water when green, and vequire a longer time to season thoroughly, they are apt to be used be- fore they are perfectly dry, or else become slightly decayed from long exposure to the weather. Scieutif + Bates. Atvaro REYNOSO’s. CoLp PROCESS OF Maxine Sua@ar.—Messrs Travers and Co. call attention to this process as. follows :—“ Certainly no one can say that sugar manufacture is not advancing, when we have ~ to chronicle in one year, Fryer’s. Concretor, the Alcoholic Process (of _ which we hope to give details shortly), and the Cold Process of M. Rey- — noso. True, neither of these inventions have as yet had any effect upon SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 317 sugar-making in general, but they have also not been tried. Without them, however, a point has been reached, when, with vacuum pans, centrifugal machines, appareils d triple effet, and other old inventions and new applications, white sugar can be as cheaply made as brown, and when, were it not for the scale of duties, we should receive all our sugar ina fit state for immediate use. With regard to M. Reynoso’s process, the following particulars are extracted from a paper read by that gentleman before the French Académie des Sciences, and reported in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ of that body. M.A. Reynoso commences by saying :—‘ The process for the treatment of saccharine juices, which I have the honour to submit to the Académie is divided into two parts. — Ist. Defecation. Chemists have long been occupied with the advantages that would result were aluminous substances used in sugar manufac- tures. Alum, sulphate of alumina, and alumina itself, in a more or less pure state have been tried with variable success in sugar manufactories. Evans has described in detail the way in which alum and the sulphate of alumina were used, and speaks of the geod results that had been obtained in the English colonies, I my- self have employed sulphate of alumina under different circumstances, but have eeen that, side by side with considerable advantages, the use of this substance leads to serious inconveniences. Acid phosphate of lime has been used in Cuba since 1860, and particularly in 1°63, in M. D’ Aldama’s works, by Mr. Swift, a distinguished American refiner, and I about that time described his process. I believe that I can now use alumina in a way to produce a defecation, perfect in a commercial point of view, and that I at the same time succeed in eliminating hurt- ful substances. The substance I use is acid phosphate of alumina. After having put it directly into the cane juice, the mixture is treated with lime ; free alumina and phosphate of lime are thus formed. The reactions resulting from acid phosphate of aluniina, from alumina, from phosphate of lime, and from lime added in slight excess, do away with the colouring matters, azotized bodies, &c., in such a way that only a few of the salts are left that originally existed in the juice. This defecation may be compared to that produced by sub-acetate of lead, but it has not its inconveniences. 2ndly. Separation of the water. To evaporate the water contained in the purified juice, I employ cold instead of heat. I prevent in this way the numerous and complex reactions which, under the simultaneous influence of air and water, and heat coming between the different matters of which the juice is formed, cause the change in the colour of the sugar. By means of a rapid cooling, produced in suitable machines, I change the juice into a Magma—formed of a mix- ture of water reduced to the state of small pieces of ice, and of a syrup more or less dense, according to the conditions of the operation. To separate this mixture I have recourse to centrifugal machines, and I end the process by evaporating the syrup in vacuo. The details of the pro- cess will be found in my memoir.’ This memoir has not yet been made 318 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. public, and we shall await further particulars with” some impatience. To give an opinion as to the value of the chemical part of the defecation, would be premature, and it%is only in practice that its value can be de- termined. With regard to the separation of the greater part of the water by freezing, the idea is so simple, and yet so} beautiful, that it cannot but excite admiration. It is well known that water when frozen rejects almost all alien substances, and that the ice even of a muddy puddle is pure, while the salt is driven out of frozen sea water. Whether the cold process will pay we cannot say, but M. Reynoso deserves credit for the application of a well-known principle to sugar-making, and we may conclude by wishing him the success to which his efforts entitle him.” FISH-FLOUR AND FisH-Guano.—The simplest form in which cod fish is prepared for market in Norway, is to cure and hang the fish on long spears till it is dried and has become as hard as a piece of wood ; in this form it is shipped to Spain and Italy under the name of stockfish. When this dried fish has to be prepared for eating, it must be well beaten to get it soft, and laid in water several days. Before you get it on the table, the preparing process, “soaking and cooking, will take the most essential of the nourishment, especially all the phosphates or lime in the bones that is a very essential support for the frames and brain will be lost. To make what may be termed fish-flour, the best dried stockfish is ground-up, bones, skin and all, to a dust or flour, in which form it may easily be used for all sorts of dishes, and gives a cheap and substantial food. It may be mixed with potatoes or other substances, according to — taste, or made into cakes or biscuits. It is to be observed that in this way the fish is more fit for transport and can be packed in barrels, with- out causing any inconvenience from the particular fishy smell. Fish guano is manufactured at Lofoten, in Norway, of cod-heads; and back- bones collected during the great cod fishery season in the winter, chiefly by poor and infirm people, and children or women who cannot take part in the fisheries, The heads and backbones are hung in bundles for drying on long spears, or laid on the bare rock. In the month of June and July this raw material is brought to the;mills§where it is cut in pieces, dried artificially, and ground on millstones. It is shipped in bags, each containing 250 lb. Norwegian weight (about 24 cwt.),:and delivered in Hamburg at the price of about 91. per ton. An analysis of this manure by the celebrated German Professor Stockhardt in 1860, inserted in Chem. Ann., gave the following proportions :—Water, 12°2; organic, matter, 53°7; phosphates of lime, 30°5; alkaline salts, 3°1; sand, 0°5; nitrogen, 10:15; ammonia, 9°9. The Norwegian Fish-guano Company has been established since 1856. It has been a great benefit for the fisheries in Lofoten to get rid of this manure that formerly spoiled the bottom of the fishing banks and infected the harbours where it in some places was laying knee-deep on the beach. THE TECHNOLOGIST. 0 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. BY ALPHONSE ODEPH. Pharmaceutical Chemist at Leuxeuil (Haute Saone) ; ex-Membre de la Commis- sion d’Hygiene et de Salubrite; Awarded the Gold Medal in 1864 au Concours Regional d’Epinal; Seven times rewarded for his Works on . Opium ; a Liberal Professor and Founder of Public and Gratuitous Lec- tures on the Culture of-this Narcotic; Honorary Member of the Agricul- tural Committee of Dampierre and of Champlitte, &c., &c. (Cortinued from page 246.) Ist. Choice of the Plant. THE poppy is an herbaceous annual belonging to the genus Proscar 2 that family known to botanists as Papaveraceal. | There are a great many varieties of this plant all furnishing opium; but the quantity which they yield and the richness of the product varies according to the species employed, as has been proved by Professor Cavantou of the School of Pharmacy in Paris, and according to the degree of advancement in ripening of the capsule as M. Aubergier has observed. : Let us examine these varieties, taking some of the results of M. Aubergier, and see if this distinguished writer has been correct in fixing his choice upon the purple poppy, having regard to the cost of extraction ; . the returns in opium; and above all in seed; for the latter must be * taken into consideration as a great, and very important portion of the _.. products of the crop. It is the seed, in fact, which in covering the expense pi ofculture, ought to enable us on French soil with a changeable climate ; fev - . labour, and rent of suitable ground being also high, to pet us to ; gies eco Aid successfully with oriental production. - Professor Clermont, in his. treatise has confined his attention to _ three varieties of poppy ; the white somniferous poppy with white seeds; ec oon Somniferum) the purple poppy, and the carnation poppy of the —- VOL. VI. | : Ne 320 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM, I name them in the order of their greatest value for the quantity of opium they yield, and for the thickness of the sides of the capsules ; but, unfortunately every medal has its reverse, and we find these poppies placed in an inverse order when we come to examine the richness of the product, and the abundance of seed. The thick sides of the white poppy head so favourable to incisions give a very poor opium, and but a small quantity of seed, although the seed yields an oil of a superior quality. According to the multiplied experiments of MM. Aubergier, De- charmes, Bénard, O. Reveil, Mialhe, Lepage, &c., it appears. That the opium of the carnation contains fon 14 to 23 per cent. of morphia ; that of the purple poppy from 10 to 12 per cent. whilst the white poppy affords an amount of morphia which varies from 3°27 to 7 and rarely reaches 8 per cent. For these reasons the last variety should be rejected as giving but little seed, and an opium the weakness of which in alkaloid seems to increase with the progress of ripening. M. Aubergier who has not only collected the opium juice of each variety, but the product of each day’s work separately and submitted them to a comparative analysis, has remarked that, the opium of the white poppy gathered by him before the complete development of the capsules, the 9th of July, 1845, gave on analysis 6°63 per cent. of morphia ; that collected in the same plantation the 28th of the same month, the capsules still green having arrived at their full growth, only furnished 5°53 per cent. of alxaloid, and lastly, the juice obtained the 13th August ‘from poppy heads already arrived at the colour of dead leaves gave but 3°27 per cent of morphia. He also found in the carnation poppy the same stages of decrease in morphia during the ripening of the fruit. The carnation poppy, at the gathering of the 29th to the 31st July, 1845 would have given to the Professor 17°833 per cent. of morphia; and the opium gathered the 21st August would have furnished about 14°780 per cent of alkaloid. M. Aubergier has observed that the variations in the quantity of morphia in the purple poppy are confined within very narrow limits (1 per cent.), and that it gives pretty regularly a rich opium of 10 per cent. strength Buchner, however, in his experiments has arrived at opposite results, for according to that experimentalist, the morphia increases with the progress of ripening in the capsule. But, have these two chemists studied the products in the same condition and under the same circumstances ? It is in fact, difficult to follow separately the capsules in their development, those which bud in the morning arriving sometimes at _ maturity much sooner than those of the evening before, as I have often proved by neighbouring plants. Moreover, it is necessary to give an wa ~*~. eo * ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 321 account of the variable produce which may compose each day’s harvest, before deducing scientific resnlts from them, for in my opinion they must make the value of the opium vary in quality. In effect, whilst the opium of the first day is usually gathered from the first capsules which appear on each stalk (those at the top of the plant), that of the second day must be obtained from the first capsules already incised, or from those capsules which did not appear upon the stalk until after the first, and finally on the third day of work, none but ~ heads already exhausted are left to be operated on, or those newly come. Now, observation has clearly proved to me that the first fruits which appear on the stalks acquire a development much more considerable than the fruits of a later growth, which are always more or less stunted in size, and the juice of the former also appears to be more abundant and more laden with active principles than in the latter. Therefore, the pro- duce of even one day’s work may differ essentially, according as it is com- posed exclusively of juice taken from capsules of the same age, or a mixture of juice taken from the heads of young poppies and of capsules that have been incised several times. a Hence it is impossible, scientifically speaking, to admit or to reject this or that opinion, and new researches and fresh experiments become necessary. But to make them protitably we must tirst put the question clearly so that it may not have two solutions. And the question is either scientific or practical. If of a scientific character, we must operate on capsules of the same age and follow them in their development to maturity. Here isinmy opinion the mode of operation for making important experiments, from which it will be possible to deduce scientific results. At the time of blossoming, to recognise afterwards the capsules of the same age, the peduncle should be decorated with a ribbon or some mark to point out the flowers which fade the same day. The capsules thus ornamented, that is to say those which are grown the same = must be divided into three series. All the heads of the first series are to be incised before they arrive at their full growth. Those of the second series are not to be operated on until they are fully grown, although still green ; and lastly, the incisions of the third series are not to be made until the capsules have become the colour of a dead leaf. Then by analysing separately the produce obtained, we can be certain of what takes place during maturation, I have never had time to try these experiments which I purpose making this year. Butif the question ismerelyof a practical naturethereno longer remains the shadow of a doubt, for every one knows that the opium resulting from a first incision made at the proper time is richer than the juice gathered in at two operations, only because of operating on the first and consequently on the finest capsules in the plantation. This is so true, that the last incisions do not pay by their product for the time they take LL2 322, ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. I shall show further on the most favourable moment for making incisions of the carnation poppy so as to obtain the richest product. This long digression was necessary to establish one reason for the preference that I accord to the carnation poppy for the extraction of opium. In first making choice of the purple poppy, it was deemed expedient to sacrifice the question of economy, and consequently the commercial question, to uniformity in the quality of the opium, which could, how- ~ -ever, be obtained more easily and more exactly in another way. By a singular chance, the opium of the purple poppy, obtained by M. Aubergier during five successive years, gave pretty regularly 10 per cent. of morphia; and this coincidence of strength which could not fail to excite a lively enthusiasm amongst men who, up to the present moment, have desired regularity in the composition and uniformity in the strength of the opium employed in medicine. But what has resulted from the preference given to the purple poppy ? This—that the commercial question has ended there. It is, however, possible, I think, to obtain with certainty a constant and regular yield of 10 per cent. of morphia without depending entirely on the caprices of nature. I believe that it must be with the culture of. the purple poppy as with other cultures, and the opium of this variety, cannot any more than the other products of the soil, give regularly the same results. Everyone knows, in effect, that the same kinds of wheat, of vines, &c., do not give every year produce of the same quality. To admit a similar principle we must suppose an identity of cir- cumstances which we do not always meet, and above all, a permanence of the same atmospheric conditions which are to be met with still more rarely. It is true that the carnation poppy has been reproached with the thinness of its walls, but this objection disappears in using the instru- ment which I have invented for making incisions in the poppy head, and which only allows the flexible blades of this apparatus to make superficial cuts. Admitting this, let us now examine seriously the economical, and consequently the commercial side of the question of indigenous opium. What is the most powerful cause which has hitherto been an obstacle to the extraction of opium in an industrial point of view ? It is evidently the slow process of incising the heads, the length of time that the collecting of the produce requires. But this inconvenience is the same for the purple as for the carnation variety, and the incisions cannot be made with greater rapidity on one variety than on the other. Moreover, the purple poppy scarcely gives as much opium as the carnation. That being so, the richness of the carnation opium allows us to reduce the price at least one-half per kilogramme of medicinal opium containing 10 per cent, of morphia. ; Z q ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. ole Let me explain myself. We know that the opium of the purple poppy gives approximately 10 per cent. of morphia, and that of the carnation never descends lower than 15 per cent., and sometimes reaches 23 per cent. This variableness of the carnation poppy need not perplex us; the height to which its strength ascends will enable us to manage the produce as we desire. ‘“ Abondance de biens ne nuit pas.” It will be easy for us, to buy at a low price the poorest exotic opium, and by mixing it with the extract of the juice of the plant, to obtain a medicinal} opium with a fixed 10 per cent. of morphia by following the process recently pointed out by Mr. Adrien. “An example is necessary to understand these facts. Let us take for instance :— 1 kilog. 500 grammes of carnation opium at 19-40 per cent. of morphia. 2 kilog. of exotic opium _ at 3 per cent. Let us mix exactly these products, having previously analysed them, and calculate the sum of kilogrammes and that of morphia, and we have— 3 kilog. 500 grammes on one side, and multiplied by 10 351 of morphia on the other. Whence we have ie == 102 of morphia per kilog. or in round numbers 100, and consequently 10 per cert. So, that if 1 kilog. 500 grammes of carnation poppy has cost forty-five francs in the extraction—the kilogramme of opium at 10 per cent. will only come to fifteen francs, or what is the same, instead of 1 kilog. 500 grammes of opium, you obtain 3 kilog. 500 grammes for the same price. One word more. Why then substitute for this carnation poppy, already acclimatised and so well known in parts of France for its fruitfulness and for its culture ?—a variety which both in opium and in seed gives produce of an inferior quality.* The oil of the purple poppy is well known to be more highly coloured than that of the carnation. And-when have we ever seen France, that nation of pro- gressive improvement, prefer an inferior product to one of superior quality ? Let us, then, with MM. Bénard of Amiens, and Roux of Rochefort, give the preference to the carnation poppy, which will produce a double . harvest, give a richer opium, and abundance of seed afterwards. What I have said of the culture of this plant, and cf the manner of collecting the opium juice and seed, applies to every other variety of the poppy. 2. Description of the Plant. The carnation poppy is a variety of the Papaver somniferum, or rather of the Papaver nigrum, the capsule being dehiscent. It has an * It was impossible for me to find purple poppy seed in any of the seed shops in Paris. i a 024 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. annual root which is white and fusiform; stem from 3 to 3% feet high, cylindrical, glaucous and glabrous, straight at the base and rami- fied at the top. The leaves are alternate, amplexicaul, oblong, and deeply cut. The flower bud grows at the extremity of the branch, and is pro- vided with an oval calyx, having two sepals and very perishable. The corolla has four entire petals, but crumpled before the blowing of the flowers. They are generally of a roseate white, with a deep violet eye at the base. In some instances, however, they are perfectly white. | The stamens are very numerous. I have counted from 300 to 340 of them in one flower. The capsules, either oblong or flat, are at first of a very delicate green, which becomes by degrees deeper, then glaucous and succulent, after- wards greyish, and when ripe, dry. The oblong capsules when fully grown are in general from 48 to 65 millimetres high by 111 to 117 in circumference. The depressed or flattened capsules are from 34 to 50 millimetres high, and from 120 to 180 in circumference. They have all from 13 to 14 stigmas (sometimes 16) standing in rows upon a starred disk crowning the ovary. The carnation poppy produces from seven to forty heads according to the nature of the soil and the distance between the plants. The capsules of the poppy contain a great number of very small seeds, reniform and reticulated at the surface. These seeds are attached to false partitions known under the name of parietal trophosperms. At maturity, the disk and stigmas separating themselves from the capsule, small openings are made which correspond with the inner par- titions, and by these openings the seeds escape to spread over the soil, if the stems are left to themselves. 3. Nature of Soil and Choice of Ground. The vegetable basis of earth is ins part composed of triturations from the sub-soil. It generally contains alumina, carbonate of lime, silica, and humus (a matter arising from the decomposition of any sub- stance) in diverse proportions, which cause an infinite variety in the nature and fertility of our soils. Sometimes, however, ground contains also magnesia, oxide of iron, and sulphates, which are far from rendering soil productive. I shall only point cut how these various mineral products are to be known, as it is not necessary to enter into chemical considerations in a work intended to be essentially practical. I need only say that earths are designated from the mineral strata on which they lie. Thus, earths are called clayey, calcareous, ferru- ginous, marly, siliceous, according as they cover beds of clay, wees iron, marl, or rock containing quartz, in their composition. ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 325 ' But cultivators in general here being in a great measure ignorant of chemistry, recognise only four sorts of earth, which they call by the names of cold earth, warm earth, light earth, and hard or stony earth. They comprehend under the name of warm earths all those which are easily penetrated by rain water, and do not retain it long ; that become hot by the prolonged action of the sun, and retain heat a considerable time. | They give the name of cold earths to those which are slowly warmed by the action of the sun on account of the presence of water which they hold for a longtime. Under this class may be ranged marly and clayey earths. I purpose speaking in another place of light earths and hard earths. But there is another classification of soil, much more rational, esta- blished by the learned and distinguished geologist, M. Thirria. He divides them into five classes, according to their mineralogical constitution—Viz. : - 1st. Hard earths. — 2nd. Light earths. ord. Poor earths. 4th. Ferruginous earths. 5th. Magnesian earths. Hard or stony earths, he says, are compact, difficult to work, and are not easily penetrated by water. They are either yellowish, red, or of a greyish black. These earths, which are marly or clayey, are fertile when alumina is not in too great a proportion, but when it predominates the earth is too long in a damp state, the water not being able to escape easily, and the roots of vegetables decay. Light earths are friable and easily worked ; their colour is generally greyish or yellowish. They are sandy, calcareous, or marly. They owe their friability either to the silica or to the lime which predominates in their constituent parts when they are sandy or calcareous, or to the heaps of small calcareous stones which divide them when marly. They are very productive when the proportions of silica or of lime are not so strong as to prevent their absorbing a sufficient quantity of water for vegetation, or when the amount is abundant of small cal- careous stones, in which case these stones have the advantage of admitting the introduction of water to the soil, and of warming it by transmitting atmospheric heat better than the surrounding earth. The earths called poor are those which, being sandy or calcareous, contain a great deal of silica or lime. Their cclour is generally whitish or yellowish grey; they are untruitful, because they cannot retain enough water to transmit to vegetables the quantity necessary for their growth. Ferruginous earths are of a red colour, more or less deep, and are always clayey. They are in general barren, because the oxide of iron with which they are charged contains often a small quantity of pro- 326 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. toxide of iron, which experience has proved to be very injurious to vegetation. Lastly, magnesian earths are rather grey or black and marly. They are all sterile, on account of the magnesia, which exercises over vege- tables a pernicious action —E. Thirria’s Statistics of Hte, Sadne. So much being granted, let us now see what soils are suitable for the carnation poppy. f After the numerous experiments that I have made on the various soils of three departments of France between. 1860 and 1864, the result is, 1st. That we must employ for this culture, as far as possible, choice lands with rich soil. 2nd. We must reject strong earths or poor soils without depth or too arid ; as on these the poppy will not thrive nor yield much opium, 3rd, The carnation poppy seems to like ferruginous earths. 4th. It flourishes best of all in light or sandy soils which have a little depth ; in a word, it requires ground not too dry, and soil not too com- pact, for the root of this plant being pivoted it must perish in an un- penetrable or arid soil. 5th. The nature of the ground must be chosen according to the aspect or situation of the sun. Therefore, in places exposed to the north we must reject cold earths ; poppies there give little opium, and the opium yields little morphia (8 per cent.) On the contrary, in places exposed to the south or ona plain, we must give the preference to cold earths, for then the water retained in the sub-soil furnishes a useful humidity which constantly tempers the heat of the sun. Poppies growing there furnish in abundance an opium rich in morphia (15 to 20 per cent.) I have had the best results at Grandchamp (Haute Marne), in sandy ground exposed to the south, belonging to the ferruginous class, and reposing on the marls of that degree. The carnation poppy there, acquired prodigious dimensions, and furnished abundantly a rich opium with 20 per cent. of morphia. I found it grow equally well in the plains of Haute Sadne, on a reddish soil reposing on a clay containing iron. It also gave me equally good results, at Luxeuil, in a soil of motley grey, the superstructure of a clayey subsoil. : From the preceding observations, and from analogy, it is easy to . point out the land most suited to the cultivation of the carnation poppy a in different climates, Thus, in the northern departments, with land situated in the plains, or on hilly ground facing the south, cold earths must be rejected. On the contrary, in the southern departments the preference should be given to land having a subsoil impermeable to water,.and in still hotter regions land must be chosen upon rising ground exposed to the north,in order that the plants may be protected from the raysof a burning ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 327 sun. In the latter climates i in particular the seed must be sown in autuinn. M. Aubergier thinks that land reposing on n voleanic formations is very favourable to the culture of poppies ; and it is to this kind of soil that he attributes, in a great degree, the success of his culture in Auvergne. 4. Analysis of Soils. The analysis of soils, as its name indicates, is an operation the object of which is to determine the nature and proportion of the different substances that compose a given soil, so that the agriculturist may arrange it in one of the preceding classes. To make this analysis we purpose following the simple and easy process pointed out by Professor Lassaigne of the Imperial School at Alfort. First find the proportion of moisture contained in the earth. Then separate the matters soluble in water from those not so, and finally determine, successively, the nature of the bodies which compose the watery solution, and the residue. The proportion of humidity may be estimated by drying a given weight of earth for analysation, and taking care not to decompose the organic substances found in it. . After this determination, separate the gravel and stones, weigh them and ascertain their nature by means of hydrocloric or nitric acid; they will be dissolved by effervescence if they are formed of chalk (carbonate of lime), but will remain insoluble if silica forms the base. Soils, besides the gravel and stones which mix with them in variable quantities, contain a greater or less proportion of fine sand, which can be separated by stirring the earth in water. : The sand, being heavier, is precipitated in less than a minute ; it is then collected in a vase by decanting, and when dry is to be weigh : its nature is as easily known by an a as that of the gravel... The finer parts of earth, and the animal and vegetable matter, less. heavy than the sand, remain for a longer time suspended in the water. The liquid is to be filtered through paper to separate them. As the water which served for this operation contains the saline and soluble organic matters, if any existed, in the earth, it is to be evaporated to dryness in acrucible or small saucer of clay for roasting samples of ore, so as to weigh the residue and examine it separately. 3 The disunited matter of the soil, separated by filtration is the most important to determine; it contains generally the remains of organic matter, of silica, of alumina, bi-oxide of iron, carbonate of lime, and sometimes carbonate of magnesia. A portion is to be calcined in a crucible to a red heat, to ascertain the weight of the organic matter by the loss of weight sustained. But_ as this part of the loss is due also to the carbonic acid, which proceeds 328 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. from the calcareous carbonate, the quantity of this must be estimated by the loss another weight of earth sustains by dissolving it ina given quantity of weak hydrochloric acid ; subtracting then the latter weight from that which the calcined residue expresses, the remainder is the weight of organic matter. The residue of the calcination is treated by hydrochloric acid in a little test tube; all the oxides are dissolved, with the exception of the silica, which is collected by a filter, and which, after having been well washed in hot distilled water, should be calcined before its true weight can be taken. The hydrochloric separation is precipitated by a solution of bicar- bonate of potash. The bi-oxide of iron, the alumina, and the lime are separated, whilst the magnesia remains in the filtered solution and may be extracted from it by boiling. The precipitate formed by the bi-carbonate of ‘schillh is collected by decanting or filtering; whilst damp it is put into a solution of caustic potash and boiled to collect the alumina, which is afterwards separated from this alkaline solution by hydrochlorate of ammonia. The insoluble portion of the precipitate in the potash only contains the bi-oxide of iron and the carbonate of lime ; these are to be dissolved again in hydrochloric acid, and in adding afterwards ammonia the bi-oxide of iron is isolated from the lime which floats upon the liquor, and in its turn is precipitated by a solution of carbonate of potash. Each principle thus separated should be strongly calcined and then weighed, that the properties may be known as they existed in the specimen of earth submitted to analysis. The name of humus has been given to the residue formed by the decomposition, more or less advanced, of organic substances exposed to contact with the air. This black residue, in consequence of its earthy appearance, is known also by the name of vegetable or animal earth, ac- cording as it proceeds from vegetable or animal substances. It supplies agriculture with an excellent manure, and appears to act on the process of vegetation, not only by the soluble saline principles which it contains, but by the property it possesses (as observed by de Saussure and Humboldt), of absorbing by its carbon a certain quantity of oxygen from the air and producing carbonic acid gas, which decomposed by the plants, - becomes to them one of their principal elements, The enterprising researches of M. Theodore de Saussure have proved that vegetable earth contains a very small quantity of extractive matter soluble in water and alcohol; but that it is almost entirely formed of a brownish-black matter, soluble alkaline solutions, and having the characteristics of ulmine ; and that in equal weights of each, it contains more of carbon and nitrogen, and less of hydrogen and oxygen, than the vegetables which have furnished it. Though the composition of earths comes very near in general to those which we have described, they vary according to the nature of thie organic substances which produce them. — ee ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 329 5. Preparation of the Soil, Sowing, and Care of the Young Plant. Soon after the harvest of cereals (wheat, barley, &c.), it is good to till the soil, and leave it to rest until October or November. At this period the ground should be well manured (about thirty cubic metres to the hectare), this should be followed by deep trenching the poppy being an exhausting plant. In the month of January or February, if the weather permit, or in autumn in warmer countries, it is harrowed twice and in dry weather the seed is sown in lines (about five litres to the hectare), and a light roller is passed over them. But it must be borne in mind that the month of April and the end of March being almost always very dry, germination could not take place and the seed would experience an irreparable delay, if the last sowing in our country (France) were not terminated by the 15th of March. It may, however, be delayed in land where the subsoil is marly or clayey, or on hillocks facing the north, and hastened, on the contrary in dry land, in plains, and in aspects exposed to the south. The carnation poppy may also be sown in autumn in still warmer climates, Professor Aubergier having proved that the sowing of this season gives the best results, and better than those of spring, but in Haute Sadne the sowings in autumn have never succeeded, the soil freezes there easily. This shows that the sowing must depend upon climate and the aspect of the soil. With regard to the disposal of the plants, I cannot do better than re- produce here the mode of planting indicated by M. Decharme, in his treatise upon indigenous opium in 1855. “‘Two rows of poppies are to be planted,” he says, “so that the plants may be at a distance of twenty centimetres, one from the other, then, besides that of those two rows, an interval is to be left ot sixty centimetres, according to the length of the field, so that the circle of the field may be easily taken to incise the civpeuls right and left of the plants that border the same walk.” I think, however, that I must in some degree modify this practice ; for the plants not being distant enough become less vigorous in growth, the capsules not so large or so numerous as when at a greater distance. I think it useful to place the poppies so that the rows may be at a distance of forty centimetres from each other, at the same time leaving sixty centimetres in breadth for the walks. In this way, 71,500 plants of poppy per hectare may be counted, and the plants will acquire enormous dimensions, It is thus that in the plantation of M. Arbeltier, at Grand champs (Haute Marne), I counted in 1862, as many as forty heads on one stalk. It would be possible by leaving a sufficient interval between the rows (say, Om. 50c.), to subs- titute for digging, which is always very slow and expensive, the employment of the horse hoe, which, by abridging the work, and per- 330 ON THE GULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. mitting the diggings between the lines to be multiplied, would carry “with it a very perceptible economy. In the latter case, however, it would be necessary to dig “a the hand the intervals left between each poppy in the rows. To make these seed plats regular I-use a kind of large rake, furnished with a long handle firmly fixed. This rake has only three teeth of a harrow, flattened like a lance, being each fifteen centimétres in length by four in breadth. The teeth are fastened in a piece of oak six centi- métres square and one metre twenty in length; two of them are placed at ten centimetres from each of the extremities of the wood, and the third between the two others, 40 centimétres from the one and 60 from the other. It is sufficient to drag this instrument over the soil, previously harrowed, to obtain three furrows, the first destined for the poppies, leaving an interval of 40 centimétres, and the third, distant from the second 60, will show on the ground the breadth of a walk, and serves as a guide in the next operation, the first tooth of the instrument having to go over the third furrow made by the tuird tooth in the preceding operation. So that in each new operation, the first tooth of the instrument ought to follow exactly the third furrow made by the preceding operation. Besides this, Iarrange the sowing of the plant in such a manner that the lines may be as much as possible in a direction from north to south, so that the rays of the sun may more easily penetrate between the rows of plants. _ When the whole of the intended plantation is thus traced the "a8 is tiles to be sown, having previously mixed it with fine sand or dry earth in order to obtain a thin and regular sowing, and afterwards a light roller is to be passed over the field. _ The seed remains in the ground a fortnight before the plant appears, and develops itself so slowly, that at the end of twenty days the stem is scarcely half a millimetre thick, and only five millimetres high, with six small leaves of from four to five millimetres in length. As soon as the plant has grown to five centimetres high, which happens about forty days after its first appearance, it will be necessary to dig very lightly in thinning them. It may, however, be as well. to retard a little this first digging if the frosts of spring are still to be. feared. M. Lepage of Gisors does away with them altogether, and con- fines himself to simply passing the parior between the lines. Twelve days after the first digging, it will be necessary, without in- _juring the roots of the delicate plant, to practice a second digging, the object of which is to raise the surplus plants, and to make a distance between those that remain of about thirty centimétres in the direction of the lines. If required, another digging may be made, which, by de- stroying extraneous vegetables hurtful to the plantation, and facili- tating the penetration of rain, wil] augment the fertility of the soil, seeing that the same surface of ground will preserve this portion of. a ; ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. , 331 nourishment which would otherwise be spent in pure loss by parasitical plants. All the diggings must terminate twenty or twenty-two days after the first, for about this time the stem of the plant begins to rise, the radical leaves entirely covering the soil; and the shade and coolness of these large and beautiful leaves, smother the weeds which may have grown after the last digging. The poppy, as I have already stated, has a tap root, and requires, consequently, deepness of earth ; the depth may be augmented by bank- ing up the plants at the second digging. After this, the poppy becomes ‘strong, grows rapidly, and very soon attains a métre in height. The blossoming takes place about three months after the sowing, and commences by the top buds; afterwards this continues slowly, hence there are found at the same time on one plant flowers scarcely come to light—capsules still green—and heads perfectly ripe. The poppy has a very short existence, altogether ephemeral ; those which open in the morning seldom live to see the next day’s sun, and give place to a little capsule of a very delicate green, about six centi- métres in circumference. : Seven days later, the capsule already begins to whiten underneath the stigmas, then at the base of the fruit, and finally, four days after, the surface of the head of the poppy is covered over with a powder of an opaque white colour. The capsule remains in this state during eight or nine days, during which the wallof thepoppy head, becoming hard, gives more and more opposition to the pressure of the finger. About twenty or twenty-two days after the blooming of the flower, the head of the poppy softens, and the longitudinal depressions, beginning at the point where the stamens are inserted, turn yellow at their lower extremity, whilst the rest of the surface of the capsule offers a tint of pale green over the white bed of down, become translu- cent. Dehiscence commences towards the thirtieth day after the fall of the petals, and complete maturity takes place about the fortieth day. In this manner, from the time of sowing to the gathering of the seed, a period elapses of about for months and a half. - 6. Apparatus for Incising the Poppy Heads. In giving a description of my instrument for incising poppy heads, I do not pretend to assume as new, the idea that I have had of making ‘an apparatus containing several parallel blades. This invention, as is known already, is of old date. But what I have invented—never having seen this sort of instrument—is the form, arrangement of the apparatus, ‘and in particular, the method of rendering the blades either movable or fixed at will, so as to regulate easily their force, and to enable the operator to make superficial incisions on the capsules. 302 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. This instrument, which has been on my part the object of two successive improvements, obtained a bronze medal at the Concours Régional of Vesoul in 1863, and the bronze medal at that of Epinal in 1864. Butifit prove useful to the planters of opium, and to the country, this will be my best recompense. It is composed first, of a frame of iron, furnished with a handle of wood, and into which frame, there slides, like the iron of a plane, three lancet blades, at a distance from each other, and held afterwards in their position by the help of a vice de pression. The blades of the instru- ment may be regulated at will. If the incisions are very superficial, the vice being fastened, the operation can be continued. If, on the contrary, it is perceived they run through the wall of the capsule, the length of the blades must be gradually diminished, until they are short enough to make superficial incisions ; for every pierced capsule is a cap- sule lost, the seed never coming tomaturity. Ifthe instrument does not wound sufficiently more blade can be exposed, and try again. Such was originally my instrument. In a first improvement upon it, I changed the shape of the blades, substituting for lancets the blade of a penknife; the point of the latter giving greater facility for com- mencing the incisions. In my second, the vice for holding the lancet has been changed in position, and placed at the back of the instrument ; by the fraction of a turn, it causes the frame of the three blades to move either backwards or forwards in an infinitely small degree. This instrument, by its construction, enables even the most unskilful workman to give to the cutting blades the exact projection necessary for producing superficial incisions, and which, not penetrating the wall of the capsule, does not injure the growth of the = or, consequently, the maturity of the seed. The instrument with bent teeth spoken of by Messrs. Benard 4nd Collas, is little used. It pierces and destroys the wall of the poppy head. I tried it in 1860. 7. Gathering of the Opium. When the capsules, or poppy heads, still green, have attained their full size (fifteen to twenty days after the falling of the leaves), incisions, horizontal and very superficial, are to be made with the little instrument I have just described.* _ The milky juice then appears, and is collected some minutes after, for later it will not fail to become thick, solid, and dry; and then the gathering of it becomes more tedious and expensive: besides, in our country, it might be fatally carried away and lost by storm showers. It is sufficient to hold the head of the poppy between the dlueanh and index finger of the left hand, and to pass horizontally over the surface *M. Bonafous, of Turin (Italy), has proved that transverse incisions give a quantity of opium juice double that furnished by longitudinal incisions, ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 333 the instrument, which the operator holds in his right hand, leaning a little on it, taking care to regulate first the projecting of the cutting blades. When rapidity is wished, this is how we must proceed : In the morning, after the disappearance of the dew, the operator, run- ning all down one passage, incises on the right and left of him all the poppy heads to be found there, without troubling himself about the gathering. When he has arrived at fifty or sixty steps from where he set out, a second person, who is to collect the opium, commences his walk and follows at this distance the operator, who goes successively through all the passages. . _ This walk is nearly that pointed out by M. Decharme. But the time that passes between the incision and the gathering of the opium is more or less long ;* it ought to be the inverse of the temperature, for the milky juice thickens more rapidly as the heat is more intense. This juice, when gathered, ought to have about the consistence of the casein in curdled milk. The gathering is very simple; a child might do it, it is only neces- sary to take each incised head between the thumb and index finger of the left hand, and after to pass the index finger of the right hand along the incisions to take up the opiate juice, already a little thick, which is to be deposited in a vase of tin, which is fixed to the waist of the operator, this is done simply by wiping off the pulp from the finger on the sharp edges of the vase. When the operator is alone, it will be enough for him, in gathering the opium, to come back upon his steps after having incised all the cap- sules of the same passage, and not to commence the incisions of the next until all the product of the first has been collected. This operation for the extraction of opium may continue every day, as long as the capsules are still green, hard, resistant to the touch, and covered with white opaque dust. As soon, however, as the heads begin to turn yellow, and to soften, the work must be suspended, as they will no longer furnish any product, and it will be injurious to the seed. But in crder that the culture of opium may finally take root amongst us, it must yield to the agriculturist real advantages. And that the ex- traction of the opiate juice may increase agricultural wealth, a just application of the practical observations which follow must be made— they are the result of five years of serious experiments. 1st. It will be necessary to choose the moment for incising the cap- sule. After the falling of the petals, the heads of poppy, at first very small, _ * The time that may pass between the incision and the gathering of the opium juice, ought to be in an inverse ratie to the temperature, for the gummy sap dries more rapidly in hot weather ; but the time fixed by M. Lepage, of one hour appears to me to be more than exaggerated. 834 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. are of a delicate green, which they preserve for about eight days : the wall of the capsules, then very thin, is elastic ; yields under the pressure of the instrument for incising, is difficult to cut, or else may be pierced through, in this case, nothing is obtained but a milky juice, so thin that it falls almost immediately over the leaves of tae plant, where it is impossible to gather it. Later still, the capsules become of a deep green tint, grow hard, re- sistant, and their surface is covered with a kind of whitish dust, easily removed by the finger. The longitudinal depressions corresponding with the false partitions of the interior, become very apparent ; the capsule, then under the incising instrument, makes a slight noise, analogous to that which the cutting of an apple produces. The sap, slightly yellowish, which comes in abundance from it, concretes rapidly and gives an opium very rich in morphia. It is then, at this stage of vegetation, that it is necessary to practice light incisions of the poppy head to obtain the best results. Later in their growth, the capsules become yellowish and yield little opium. However, some travellers say that it is only at this moment that the gathering of the opium takes place in Oriental countries. But the trials made in France have all proved that it is then too late to take the juice. 2. It must not be forgotten that a too superficial incision gives less milky juice than that which penetrates half through the thickness of the wall of the capsule; but the contrary extreme must not take place, and the capsule be pierced, which would let part of the opiate juice into the interior of the head, and finally destroy the seed. 3. When it is intended to incise, for example, the same heads three times, the length of each horizontal incision must be less than the third of the circumference of the head, and the cuttings must not cross each other. 4, It must be remembered that the first incisions made of the cap- sules in an opportune time, furnish opium the richest in morphia ; that the second gives a production less abundant, and not so rich as the first; and the third less rich still than the second, and so on, until in the end the last incisions do not pay in produce for the time they take. - 5. The first incision made at the right moment, as already remarked, gives a product more abundant and richer than any other. I think, therefore, to economise time and labour, it would be better to use a greater quantity of ground, and only to practice a single incision on all the plantation, thus leaving aside the late capsules. In this way it would be always possible to hire labourers by the day, and to pursue the operation from the disappearance of morning dew until four or fivein the — evening. It would even be possible, in certain localities, to sow poppies for the seed in preference to rape, which gives an oil of a quality very in- ferior to the poppy, and only to incise the whole plantation once, observing always that this one incision of each head must be circular . w Pls ¢ fo ae ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 335 - and almost complete, and to practice it in a direction perpendicular with the axis, and about a third of the height of the capsule from the base. In this way, much opium may be obtained in a short time, and the agriculturist who generally rejects minute work, and dislikes returning to go over the same work for hours, will not hesitate to sacrifice each year, one whole day that he may double the amount of his harvest. It was thus that in 1862, and under my direction M. Née, Nicolas de Leffond (Haute Saone) collected in one day and a quarter of work, 150 grammes of dry opium, containing 20 per cent. of morphia. : From the appearance of the first to the last flower I have remarked that there are generally twenty-two days; which shows that all the cap- sules of one plantation are not equally advanced at the same time. It is necessary then, when only one incision is to be made, to seize the moment in which the greatest number of heads have arrived at the de- velopment fit for the operation; this is generally twenty-five days, or so, after the appearance of the iirst flower in the plantation. 6. MM. Decharme and Bénard say, that the circumstances most favourable to the harvest, in giving an abundant produce, are :—The warmth of the afternoon, the damp air from the south, south-west, and west, as well as slight atmospheric pressure. | However, M. Aubergier, on his part, maintains that the permanence of a high temperature tends rather as an obstacle to the gathering of the opium than an advantage, and he adds that in hot countries, the gathering of the juice always takes place, before the time of great heat ; he recommends only to make incisions in the morning and in the evening ; for he adds, the harvest is little or nothing under a burning sun. If the harvest is considered only with regard to abundance, I should not hesitate to join in opinion with Professor de Clermont. But I maintain an opposite position when the richness of the opium is consi- dered. 3 _ In 1860, a very rainy year, the carnation opium contained here 15 per cent. of morphia, and in 1861, a very dry year, it furnished 20 per cent. It seems then that these numbers fifteen and twenty are the ex- treme limits of the ordinary strength of the carnation opium, although MM. Decharme and Bénard have obtained 23 per cent. in the depart- ment of Somme. It appears then that these two years 1860 and 1861 of diametrically opposite atmospheric conditions, fortunately succeeded each other, so as to enable me to establish an average strength for other years, and to prove that the quality of an opiam rises with the tempe- rature that produces it. Furthermore, I have always remarked that incisions made after five or six o'clock in the evening, do not give good results, the coolness of the night is opposed to the coagulation of the opiate juice in the cap- sules, they do not close, and the opium continues to flow in waste until morning over the leaves of the plant. VOL. VI. | uM 336 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. This loss, necessarily impoverishes the gathering of the next day, which gives but a small amount of morphia, the opiate juice not having had time to concentrate itself in the capsule and to acquire from it the necessary amount of morphia, for it is principally in this part of the vegetable that the alkaloid is formed, and the milky juice which constantly arrives there, contains little alkaloid if it is not allowed to remain in the capsule a certain time. To prove this, I refer to the experiments made by M. Aubergier, and repeated several times by myself. In effect, whilst the Professor de Clermont, in July 1844, gathered by incisions of a mixture of somniferous poppies with long and round heads, an opium containing 8:57 per cent. of morphia and 9°48 of water, he only obtained by squeezing in his hands the poppy heads, not detached from the stalk (the crown of the stigma only being raised), he obtained I say, a product, only giving 1'52 per cent. of morphia and 7°67 of water. It must be admitted that in this case the juices of the plant are mixed with opium. 8. The Drying of Opiums for Sale. When the collection of the opiate juice has terminated it is to be placed in vases, such as a deep plate that may be covered with a leaf to keep the substance from water and from dust. Itis then exposed to the sun, taking care to turn it occasionally to hasten the dessicating pro- cess; for according to MM. Décharme and Bénard, opium when slowly dried undergoes a change injurious to the morphia, which then suffers a sort of fermentation or oxygenation which transforms by degrees the alkaloid into a less valuable product. The opiate juice, which was of a milky white, becomes of a blackish brown in solidifying. As soon as itis dry, it is made into balls of a hundred grains weight, and then rolled up in a sheet of oiled paper ; they are then fit to be taken to the apothecary, who purchases them ac- cording to their richness in morphia, so that the price may vary from sixty to one hundred and twenty francs the kilogramme. Before ending the subject of the extraction of opium, it may be useful to tell the planters, that the opiate juice applied to the sting of bees, causes the pain to cease immediately ; and we know that in prac- tising the incisions on poppy heads, we are not free from the attacks of these insects. 9. Collecting of the Seed. The culture of carnation poppy being made on so large a scale in the department of Somme where more than twelve thousand hectares are given up to this oil plant, with a view to the extraction of the white oil, called carnation, I think I ought to reproduce here the valuable experiments given by MM. Bénard and Collis, on the method of collecting the seed in the north of France. er: ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. 337 “Towards the end of July, the: moment the capsules begin to oper, the stalks are pulled up always holding them straight. Bundles are then formed of about a hundred in each and tied together, making what is called a sheaf. “Ten or twelve days after the pulling up, whilst all the capsules are open and well dried, when the grain is hard upon agitating the heads, they are rested on a large cloth, and beaten with a little stick, then the labourers take each a bunch of poppy stems under each arm, knocking the heads against edch other, the seed is thus made to fall out on the biche. These bundles are then put standing up in a line to undergo a second beating, in a week after the first, when it is perceived that a good many capsules still contain seed. “The seed passed through a sieve and well cleaned, is ready for market, where it sells at a price varying from twenty-eight to thirty-five francs the hectolitre, on an average, of thirty-one francs fifty cents for Amiens.” To these details, I shall add some information resulting from my own experience :— 1, A carnation poppy capsule gives on an average three grammes and a half to four grammes of dry seed. 2. To produce a litre, requires from a hundred and fifty to two hundred heads. 3. The litre of seed weighs 600 grammes, and consequently the hectolitre 60 kilogrammess. From the poppy seed there is extracted by pressure an oil, which next to clive oil holds the highest rank for alimentary use. It gives 28 litres per hectolitre. This oil is white, siccative, of a very agreeable sweet odour, something like that of the hazel nut, its density is from 09253 taken by the oleo- metest of M. Lefebvre of Amiens and marks 55° 25' the centesimal alcoometer ; it is soluble in twenty-five parts of alcohol (cold), and six of boiling alcohol, and remains liquid at ten, and even fifteen degrees below zero—it never turns rancid. Notwithstanding the prejudices which exist, I ought to say that neither this oil, nor the seed which furnishes, it, have any unwholesome property.* It does not contain any narcotic principle, children eat poppy seed without being indisposed, and birds as well as poultry are very fond of it. M. Emile Mouchon, pharmacien at Lyons, in his Dictionary cn “ Bromatologte vegetale exotrque,” relates the daily use that has been made of it from time immemorial by the different nations of Europe. The Egyptians, the Greeks, and the ancient Romans kneaded it with honey and with flour to make cakes that were much esteemed. The * Ti was Rosier, who first, at the end of the iast century, proved them to be innocuous. 338 ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS OPIUM. Orientals, we are told by Thevenot, covered their bread with it. The ladies of Génes eat it covered over with sugar. The Tuscans, with this seed and wheaten paste made hard cakes calléd paverata. The inhabi- tants of Hungary and Poland, of Germany, of Alsace, and of Picardy, feed upon it habitually. The oil and seed then of the carnation poppy may, with perfect safety be applied to alimentary purposes. France produces annually poppy seed in value from twenty-five to three millions of francs. The department of Somme alone, according to M. Bénard, furnished in 1857, 140 thousand hectolitres of seed, valued at 4,480,000 franes. Why then not combine in these BAG oe cisia the gathering of opium with that of seed? The value of the harvest might then be doubled. The agriculturist, I know, fears to compromise by this extraction of opium, the seed harvest. To satisfy him, I say with Messrs. Hardy, Bénard, and Collas, that incised capsules, give seed, which, when sown, produces in its turn, poppies furnishing opium as rich, and a seed as abundant, and giving as much oil, as poppies that had not been incised. But, for this, it is necessary that the incising instrument, be the same as mine, that it may not penetrate the wall of the capsule, for then, as M. Hardy has proved, a portion of the opiate juice will over- flow the interior, injure the seed, and prevent its coming to maturity. It was also M. Hardy who first proved that the incisions which do not go through the endocarp of the poppy head do not prevent the seed from ripening. Test of Opiums. It is to the percentage of morphia an opium contains that it owes its value in commerce. The greater the quantity of mor- phia the higher the value of the opium rises, and consequently the higher the price of the kilogramme. To know then the value of an opium the morphia must be estimated, and the process which seems to me the best for determining the richness of an opium is that of Guiller- mond. Fifteen grammes of opium are to be examined. Let it be pounded in a mortar with sixty grammes of alcohol, at .71° and thrown on a cloth and squeezed ; the cake is then taken with forty grammes of fresh alcohol, the tinctures are reunited in a bottle with four grammes of ammonia, twelve hours afterwards the result is obtained. The mor- phia is eliminated at the same time with a quantity greater or less of — narcotine ; the former hanging on the sides of the bottle in crystals, coloured, and of a tolerable size, the latter in spiral crystals, very light. The crystals are to be placed together ona cloth, and well washed in several waters, to get rid of the meconate of ammonia which soils them, these crystals are to be plunged in a little flask of water. The narcotine remains suspended in this vehicle, and by decanting, it will be separated from the morphia, which remaining at the aki: can ba collected, dried, and weighed. PHOTOGRAPHY. 339 M. Mialhe has modified this mode of separation, he prefers em- ploying five or six washings, with four or five grammes of ether, perfor- formed by trituration of the crystals previously pulverised, the morphia being thus set at liberty it is easy enough to dry and weigh it. M. Aubergier states that, the separation of the narcotine by washing, and by decanting, gives much quicker results, and in the greater number of cases, quite as certain and as exact as the treatment by ether. And he adds, that in case of adopting the latter method, the operator must not content himself with seven or eight washings by four grammes of ether as there is a risk very often of leaving a considerable portion of the narcotine undissolved. In this case, the washings with ether must not cease until the insoluble residue no longer diminishes in weight, a gramme of ether will only dissolve about five milligrammes of narco- tine. M. Aubergier says he has repeated the washing sixty times, and em- ployed 230 grammes of ether in the analysis of an opium which con- tained 19°153 of narcotine for fifteen grammes, | It appears then, he says, that morphia, instead of Jepositing itself in voluminous crystals, is granulous, gives a pulverulent precipitate, although crystalline, which is easily held in suspension in water, and carried away by washing. The mixture of morphia and narcotine may be treated by a solution of caustic potash, containing a decigramme of alcohol per gramme of water. I have ascertained, he says, that four grammes of potash are sufficient to dissolve one gramme of morphia. ‘Lhe weight can be calculated by the deficiency, after having washed, dried, and weighed the residue of the narcotine. Independently of the morphia and of the narcotine, M. Aubergier has found in indigenous opium, codéine, thébaine, narcéine, meconine, meconic acid, caoutchouc, and oily and resinous matters, already enumerated by Pelletier. But narcotine, according to Professor de Clermont, exists in greater quantity in the white poppy than in the purple poppy. PHOTOGRAPHY. PHOTOGRAPHY is an affair of the present century. Its annals cover scarcely sixty years, and may be divided into three distinct periods :— The first extending from the time when science partially revealed the fascinating secret of light-printing, till the independent and valuable dis- - coveries of Mr. Fox Talbot gave the world an art of sterling utility, where it had before possessed only a few curious experiments ; the second com- prising the years when, protected by Mr. Talbot’s care, and in a great de- gree popularized by the restrictive powers of his patent, the art made slow advances to maturity ; the third reaching down to the present time, from _ the date when the art somewhat ungraciously burst away from the con- 340 eee PHOTOGRAPHY. trol of its practical originator. As early as 1802, Sir Humphry Davy and Mr. Wedgwood hit upon a process by which they were able to ren- der paper so sensitive of light that they could produce upon it negative images of objects brought directly in contact with it. They even directed attention to the probable results to be obtained through this sensitive paper and the co-operation of acamera obscura. The pictures, however, produced by Sir Humphry and his coadjutor were transient, and they expressly avowed their ignorance of any means by which the semblances could be rendered permanent. From 1802 till 1834 Sir Humphry’s ex- periments remained, at least as far as the public knew, without being in any way developed or improved upon. In the latter year however, Mr. Fox Talbot, by independent investigation and perfectly original experi- ments, went far beyond the distinguished philosopher, He achieved, like Sir Humphry, pictures, but he also contrived to render them perma- nent. Mr. Talbot’s next step was to discover a process by which he ob- tained ‘ positives” from his “ negatives,’ On the 8th of February, 1841, William Henry Fox Talbot, of Lacock Abbey in the County of Wilts, Esquire, obtained letters patent for his famous calotype process. A gentleman of position and weaith, Mr. Talbot made no ungenerous use of his patent. Reserving to himself, as he was well entitled to do, the commercial advantages that might accrue to the parent of so remark- able an invention, he gracefully waived his patent rights in favour of amateur photographers, permiting them without let or hindrance to de- rive all possible enjoyment from the practice of his discovery, so long as they did not employ it for pecuniary gain. At this date it would he nothing short of repulsive injustice to detract from Mr. Talbot's services. He was indeed the father of the photographic profession, as well as the inventor of the photographic art. From his own funds, as well as by his influence with men of science, he created a new field of industry. At a considerable expense he erected worshops and employed assistants. Before, however, he could reap a reward from his outlay, or even reim- burse to himself the large sums absorbed by his operations, the invention of the collodion process by Mr. Archer in 1850, gave the death blow to his undertakings. In the memorable trial of Talbot v. Laroche in the Com- mon Pleas, December, 1854, it was attempted to establish that the un- licensed practitioners of the collodion process were guilty of infringing Mr. Talbot's rights, The jury, however, declined to adopt that’ view of the case ; and passing over the Rev. Mr. Reade’s discoveries prior to 1841, they gave Mr. Talbot the merit of being, within the meaning of the patent laws, the first and true inventor of the calotype process ; but at the same time they found that in producing pictures by thecollodion — process M. Laroche had in no way been guilty of violating Mr. Talbot’s patent. The decision was most important to photographers. It was given just as the term of Mr. Talbot’s patent was at the point of expira- tion, and was the cause why that gentleman failed to obtain a renewal of his rights, From that time photography has been free from the fet- = ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 341 ters of letters patent. If that feeedom has been beneficial to the artists, it is no less certain that it has been injurious to the originator of their art. The public can, however, console themselves for this unhappy con- sequence of a useful decision, by reflecting that toa man in Mr. Talbot’s circumstances, the position of a victim for the public good is a compara- tively easy lot, and Mr. Talbot has reason at the same time to congratu- late himself that he has not like some inventors, lost the credit of his invention, although like some inventors, he has acquired but little sub- stantial gain from his ingenuity‘ Photographic Journal.’ RESEARCHES ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR CANE IN MAURITIUS, AND THE MODIFICATIONS IT UNDERGOES DURING MANUFACTURE. BY DR. ICERY. President of the Chamber of Agriculture. _ Translated by JAMES Morris, Esq., Representative of the Chamber of Agriculture of Mauritius. (Continued from page 302.) Part II—Microscopicat EXAMINATION. Av different periods the juice of the sugar cane has been the object of numerous investigations. Chemistry has brought to light the different substances, the aggregate of which constitutes the liquid, and has described with more or less success the intimate value and qualities of these sub- stances. It has besides determined with precision the modifications peculiar to each of them, under the influence of those agents which are made use of in the manufacture of sugar, and has by such means put the planter on his guard against those alterations which he had to contend against. If, however, the chemical properties of cane-juice have been carefully studied, it must be acknowledged nevertheless that its physiological condition has been altogether neglected. Even in those writers who have most recently treated on the composition of the sugar- cane, no precise indications will be found on this subject. It may, doubtless, seem at first to be a matter of astonishment that, after so many minute investigations of the structure of this plant, it should still be considered necessary to submit cane-juice to new microscopical researches, and that it is still possible to deduce from such investigations certain facts worth of remark. But, as will presently be seen, this juice is not only aliquid in which a certain number of immediate organic and mineral substance are found in solution ; but it contains, in addition, an organic mattar appreciable by the microscope, and which, in the manufacture of colonial sugar, has too great an importance not to be considered worthy of the attention of the manufacturer of sugar, and of a special examination on my part. It is 342 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR CANE. my aim to investigate from a physiological point of view the nature of this substance and its functions in the phenomena of the nutrition of the cane and in the formation of its saccharine principle ; nor have I traced for myself the plan of agitating such a question, and of establishing hypotheses which can only unprofitably turn aside our attention from the true path of investigation. My chief aim is to place inaclear point of view a well authenticated fact, and to indicate those consequences which daily result from it in our manufactories, during the extraction of the sugar, and which escapes our notice. Whatever method be adopted for the extraction of this cane-juice, be it by the press or the mill, fragments of cellular tissue and residuum are always brought down with the juice which, after a certain time, form at the bottom of the receiver a more or less abundant deposit varying according to the degree of compression employed. Particles like these _which are foreign to the liquid, are rarely recognised by the naked eye, while under the microscope they exhibit those appearances peculiar to the crushed and torn material when vegetable structures are subjected to heavy pressure. A period of subsidence of about three quarters of an hour is sufficient time for these substances to separate from the liquid and to become precipitated to its lowest stratum. But, however long this period of subsidence may be, even though it may last until fer- mentation has set in, this liquid, even in its upper portions, never become limpid, and always assumes a milky appearance. When it is brought under the microscope in this state, it is then found that all these fragments and cellular remains have entirely disappeared,from it. Were the juice of the cane simply formed by water holding in solution a certain number of these substances, it might be more or less coloured ; but after the precipitation of these organic particles, it should not however, retain that dim appearance which characterises it. This juice is, in fact, formed of two distinct parts, the liquid, and the solid. The first comprises the water holding in solution the immediate organic principles and saline substances; the second is formed by corpuscles or granules suspended through the entire extent of the liquid, and which cannot be eliminated by those means which are used to separate the most minute cellular remains. These corpuscles are globular, formed of a thin covering, though solid and transparent, and which contain a species of nucleus or semi-fluid matter. Their greatest diameter is from three to five thousandths of a millimetre. I therefore, name these globules the granular matter of the juice, and they form an integral part of this liquid to which they communicate that slightly milky appearance which is peculiar to it. They are with difficulty precipitated from the upper layers of the juice when left to itself, though they may be easily separated from it by being passed through filtering paper, when the juice then passes through this vehicle entirely freed from all solid substance, _ becoming limpid with a slightly brown tinge similar to that of clarified syrup. . ; ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE, 343 What is very remarkable, the juice in this state may be kept for nearly twenty-four hours in conditions of temperature most favourable to fermentation without showing the slightest change indicating such an action; but after this period it becomes dim, and corpuscles are develuped in its thickness; fermentation then sets in, and continues slowly, and it is only at the end of two days and at a temperature of 25° centigrade that well-formed bubbles appear in the liquid. When the juice has been simply cleared from the fragments of vege- table matter, which it always carries down with it, fermentation on the cortrary is rapidly produced after its extraction from the cane, and in a few hours the liquid becomes viscid. In the latter case, fermentation is almost complete, though it has not even commenced in the juice, the separation of the globules of which has been effected in the manner mentioned above. This granular matter then plays an important part in the fermentation of the juice, and should be regarded as the principal agent of that change which takes place in this liquid during the first twenty-four hours nearly which follow its extraction from the cane. 19 $63 Cane juice at the boiling point becomes freed from the albuminous substance which it contains, and this substance, coagulating wnder the influence of heat seizes on the globular matter which it draws into the flakes which form on the surface of the liquid. This albumen of the cane juice has also great importance as an exciting cause of fermentation, for to its agency must entirely be attributed that change in the juice - which, after boiling, has been completely freed from its albumen and its globules by means of filtration, may be kept perfectly fresh for two days at least, at a temperature of 30° centrigade. At the end of this period, a thin pellicle is seen extending along its thickness, and on the next day a slight cream-like appearance covers its surface, while at the same time the colour has changed ; but it is only at the end of the third day that fermentation positively shows itself. To resume, the juice filtered through a cloth and left to settle, becomes a liquid more or less of a disturbed and milky appearance, and of a yellowish green colour which is of a deeper hue in proportion as ‘the cane is riper, and of a deeper tint, whether the plant be the striped or smooth species. In its normal state and after deducting the effect of the remains of the tissues, which are accidental and easily removed, this juice is composed of a solid granular portion and of a liquid holding in solution a certain number of organic and mineral substances. This solid portion consists of globules or organised bodies suspended through the entire extent of the liquid, and which differ essentially from the other vegetable principles contained in the cane-juice. These globules which, in their living state, without doubt possess special physiological qualities, are beyond all other substances contained in the cane, those which possess in the highest degree the power of exciting alcoholic fermentation, Its action would appear to begin with the remission of VOU. - VI. NN 344 ON THE JUICE OF THE-SUGAR-CANE. the juice from the cane, and it always becomes more manifest in two or three hours by a temperature above 20° centigrade. The abstraction of these globules from the liquid has the result of retarding by a day the process of fermentation ; and when at the same time the albumenoid substance is withdrawn, the juice undergoes no appreciable alteration for the space of two whole days. It is sufficient, then, to raise rapidly to the boiling point the newly- extracted cane-juice, and to filter it immediately, in order to have a per- fectly limpid liquid which can be kept for a considerable time without any alteration. On the one hand, the extremely fermentable property of the juice of the cane influenced by these globules and by the albuminous substance coagulated by heat ; and, on the other hand, the possibility of elimi- nating these substances as well as the other organic remains by means of rapid boiling and filtering in such a way as to obtain a limpid fluid, are facts which simply require to be named in order to make their im- portance readily understood. In the ordinary practice of the sugar manufactories in this colony at the present day, such a process would have three advantages :— 1. To avoid the immediate fermentation of the juice while being able to keep it a whole day at least without any trace of alteration. 2. To diminish the formation of uncrystallizable sugar. 3. To act on a limpid liquid which, being concentrated, preserves all ‘its limpidity and primal purity. I think it necessary to add a few words to demonstrate more clearly these last two advantages. The globular and albuminous substances essentially contributing to develope the acidity of the juice, are one of the principal causes of the glucose transformation of the sugar. When they are eliminated, it becomes, in fact, easy to determine that such acidity is only feebly increased by the action of heat, and always re- Mains very inferior to what it would have been in the contrary case. It is to be remembered, on the other hand, that the means made use of to effect the defecation and to purify the juice from the impurities it brings down with it, as well as from impurities produced during evapo- ration are, in spite of every effort employed, powerless to effect its com- plete purification, and it contains, when in the state of syrup, a very large quantity of particles principally of extremely minute frag- ments of coagulated albumenoid and granular matter. 6 These particles, by reason of their weak specific gravity, are with great difficulty separated when in a state of rest from the clearing mate- rials employed, and are mostly found mixed with, and attached to, the grains of the manufactured sugar, the quality of which is thus always more or less changed. During manipulation they are also frequently the point of departure for the crystals about to form, and to which they communicate a dull and brownish colour, which biting inherent in the ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 245 constitution of the saccharine crystal, can only be removed by the pro- cess of washing by the centrifugal machine. The presence of these corpuscles in a notable quantity gives a ready explanation of the difficulty experienced in turning out a white and brilliant sugar when the clarifying material, introduced too soon into the vacuum apparatus, has not been able to undergo sufficient cleansing in the open air. This, for instance, is what occurs in the so-called “ triple effect apparatus,” in which the juice is enclosed after defecation, a process inevitably incomplete according to the present method. The method which might be based on the particularities which I have just described is, in my opinion, one of easy application to all our sugar-machines, and would prove a powerful auxiliary tothe triple effect apparatus, which, for the reasons I have mentioned, is unable to produce a sugar of fine quality under the ordinary conditions in which the sugar manufacture of the colony is furced to proceed. The applica- tion of this method would merely require filters the shape of pails, fur- nished with a set of metallic cloths placed over each cther by means of moveable frames, terminating in a plate pierced with holes, covered with one or two layers of flannel. The cane-juice as it flowed from the mill would at once receive that dose of lime necessary for the quality of the sugar to be produced, and would then rapidly be raised to the boil- ing point, and immediately after be thrown on the filters arranged in such a manner as to allow of a quick and perfect filtration. Iil.—Dewnstry. The density of cane-juice being one of its most easily determined properties, depending chiefly on the quantity of saccharine matter it contains, always attracted the attention of manufacturers, who even now do not have recourse to any other observation in orier to specify the saccharine richness of the cane. But the clumsy and imperfect instru- ments which are still employed for this purpose frequently render such determination quite illusory; the error of which is still more increased by the circumstances under which they are made. Without taking into account the temperature and the aeration of the juice, as well as the organic remains which may be held in solution, a small glass instru- ment is introduced into the liquid which, generally speaking, has nothing in common with an areometer but the name and the form; and it is from such indications that the saccharine richness of the juice of the canes passed through the mill is estimated. The density of cane-juice determined with care furnishes, however, valuable information, which being compared from month to month, and from year to year, may be made extremely useful in estimating the yield of canes manipulated under the same conditions ; it will even sometimes furnish a sufficiently precise idea of the definite result of a crop which hasbeen only begun. But in order to attain this end, it 346 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. becomes indispensable to fulfil certain conditions, which fortunately are easily realised. The first is, to work always at the same temperature, namely, 25° centigrade, to which degree of heat the juice can easily be brought ; for the average temperature of the first months of the sugar crop is 23° centigrade in the shade, and that of the last month, 27° The second is, the use of a correct instrument, however its scale may he graduated. ‘The areometers of Braumé in ordinary use have on a very short stem relatively too many principal divisions to be accu. rately used in the juice, the extreme limits of which are for the canes usually employed, 8° and 12°. But in order to remedy this in- convenience, and at the same time to give such experiments more pre- cision, I have arranged an areometer with a long and perfectly cylindri- cal stem, on which is marked only the degrees of 6 and 13, each of these principal divisions being divided into tenths. With this instrument - the density of the juice can be registered to one-tenth of a degree. But in order that the indications of the areometer may be really usefulto the planter, it is requisite that such an instrument should show him ap- proximately the proportion of sugar contained in the juice the density of which he has ascertained. For this purpose different methods have been proposed. Being based on the proportion of sugar which a certain weight of distilled water con- tains at a given temperature, they are defective, because a solution of crystallizable sugar, varying only in the quantity of saccharine matter it contains, cannot be compared to the juice into which there sometimes enter notable quantities of other substances besides crystallizable sugar, these substances themselves undergoing great changes according to the different areometric degrees. Experience alone—that is, on the one hand the determination of the density of a great number of juices, and, on the other hand, the comparative chemical analysis of these same liquids —could conduce to the formation of a table presenting any exactness. Taking asa basis all the analyses of the cane-juice which I have made during a period of nearly two years, amounting to a hundred at least, I have framed the following table,n which opposite to the degree of the areometer will be found the quantities of crystallizable sugar for one litre of juice and 1,000 grammes of this liquid; that is, the corre- sponding quantity of sugar for the juice, regarded in volume or weight:- In the fourth column of this table are recorded the considerable dif- ferences produced by the presence in the juice of other substances than sugar. To insist further on the modifications which these substances produce in the juice would be simply to anticipate what I shall have to say with regard to these substances themselves. It is, therefore, suffi- cient for me to point out the part to be assigned to them in the deter- mination of the density of the cane-juice. THE PROPAGATION OF TROUT. 347 The qualities of sugar for a determinate volume or weght of juice, cor- responding to the principal divisions of the areometer of Beaumé, and obtained directly by a series of experiments at 23° centigrade. Differences resulting from : Grammes of Sugar Quanti y of Sugar the influence of other Areometer. for a Litre of in Weiglit. substances besides Su- Juice. gar (principally of un- crystallized Sugay). Degrees. 4 28 0°026 0°049 ) 49 0:048 0:047 6 78 0°074 0-040 6 85 0:079 6 91 0°086 6 98 0°092 7} 105 0-099 0:036 74 111 0-105 73 118 0-117 8 124 0-111 8} 131 0°123 0:032 gi 137 0°129 88 144 0-135 9 152 0°142 9} 159 0°149 0°026 94 165 0-155 93 Le 0-161 10 180 0167 104 188 0-174 0-021 104 196 0180 103 204 0187 11 211 07194 11} 217 0°200 ~ 07115 113 226 0°206 113 230 0-211 12 237 0°216 121 244 0:227 0-013 (To be continued.) . THE PROPAGATION OF TROUT. BY STEPHEN H. AINSWORTH. Since the printing of the article on the propagation of Brook Trout, in which my name is mentioned, I have been overwhelmed with letters’ from all parts of the United States, asking further information in the various departments of their cultivation. This great desire for further knowledge, so extensively manifested by a large number of your readers induces me to ask you to print the following article, giving minute answers to the most important information requiredin growing trout, both naturally and artificially. Also a pretty full description of the cele- brated Caledonia Spring Creek, the vast number of trout it yearly pro- 348 THE PROPAGATION OF TROUT. duces naturally, with Seth Green’s gigantic operations in growing trout in it artificially, &e. To cultivate brook trout successfully, the water must be pure, clean spring water, free from all sediment ; but a tincture of lime, or sulphur, does no harm,.as far as I have been able to discover in six years’ obser- vation and practice. I have seen them hatch and flourish remarkably well in such water. Thetemperature of the water in the hatching races, or troughs, during the time of incubation must be between 36° and 48° to insure success. The best temperature, in my opinion, all things considered, is from 42° to 45°. When above this temperature they hatch too soon, and are too weak and tender. When below, more ox less die during incubation. Consequently great care should be taken to place the hatching boxes for artificial propagation, or to make the spawning beds in natural cultiva- tion, where the water will’ be within these temperatures during the coldest weather in winter. The temperature of our best springs is 48° the year round. - Trout will not do well where the water rises in the summer above 60° or 64° at most. The best temperature to grow them to perfection is between 50° and 58° This fact should always be born in mind when constructing ponds, so as to have the size of the ponds correspond with the volume of water in the stream supplying them. For example, a spring that produces as much water as will run through an inch square hole, will supply a pond 20 by 30 feet square, or 600 square feet surface, and keep the water below 64° through the summer, and if covered with a house, or boards, so as to shade the water effectually, it may be double this size. I have one of this size shaded, supplied with an inch stream, the temperature never rises above 64°, and the trout are always perfectly healthy in it. When the spring or stream will fill a four inch square hole, then the pond may be sixteen times as large, containing 9,600 square feet, or a pond 80 by 120 feet square, and so on, according to the size of the stream. ; 0 For growing large trout, the water should be from 8 to 15 feet deep; tor small ones, from 2 inches to 5 feet, according to the size of the trout. An inch stream running through two perfectly arranged hatching troughs, will hatch 200,000 spawn, and grow them till about 14 inches long, when a part of them, from time to time, must be put into other streams. This stream will grow 10,000 trout the first year, 2,000 the second year, and 500 the third year, thus decreasing rapidly in num- ber as they increase in size. A 16-inch stream might hatch 3,200,000 trout ; grow 160,000 the first year, 32,000 the second year, and 8,000 the third year, and 3,000, or 4,000 the fourth year that would average one pound each, Young trout, till from 1 to 2 inches long, do much the best in THE PROPAGATION OF TROUT. 349 shallow water, say from two inches to 3 inches deep, but as they increase in size the water should be increased in depth. By the first of Novem- ber, if well fed, they will be from three inches to 5 inches long. At this time the water may be increased to the depth of three feet: The most difficult period in growing trout artificially is about the time they commence feeding. This period is from forty days to sixty days after hatching, according to the temperature of the water. At this time a large proportion of them are very weak, and are entirely unable to stand the least current, and consequently are carried with the current through the whole length of the hatching-box against the screen (if one) at the lower end of the box, and are soon suffocated and die. I have lost them by the thousand in that way. To obviate this, put a tank 12 feet square at the lower end of the hatching-box, so that the water will run into it, with a gentle current, carrying the weak trout with it into the tank, where they can rest in still water from 2 to 3 inches deep. In this way they wil! soon recover and comeinto the very slight currentto look for food, ~ and, as they grow stronger, run up the hatching-box again. By this ar- rangement I have decreased the mortality so that I lose but a very small percentage compared to what I did before. I first feed boiled eggs rubbed very fine, also lobbard milk beaten very fine. One egg will feed several hundred thousand trout a day. After they get a little larger I feed hashed liver and lobbard milk. Trout feed and grow well on meat of any kind, but will not eat any vegetable matter with me. The cheapest dam, when the soil will answer, is of dirt. When it is too porous, it can be built with a double stone wall, with a two-inch space between, and this filled with water lime grout ; or, when clay is at hand, it can be built of dirt with a foot of clay in thickness, the whole length of the dam in the centre, from bottom to top; or with matched plank, as may be the cheapest and most handy to obtain. Depopulated streams where trout have once ftourished, can be restocked with spawn, or young trout with but proper spawning beds prepared, they would increase at little expense, and with wonderful rapidity, and if protected as private streams afford all the sport one or two anglers with fly and rod could desire, and furnish a meal of trout daily fora large family during the fishing season, and, if the stream is of some size, a large amount for sale in addition. By putting a small dam across the stream to raise the water a few feet, with a screen on top to prevent the trout from running over, with the creek well gravelled above to the spring, so as to make good spawning beds, the trout would increase naturally tens of thousands yearly, and produce a large income at the present price of trout, 1 dol. per pound. There is a small spring brook in the town of Springwater, dammed and screened in this way, where the trout have increased naturally in a few years to over 100,000, and hundreds of them to over two pounds in weight each. I am told that the proprietor has lately sold the ponds aou. * THE PROPAGATIGN OF TROUT. stream, and trout for 8,500 dols. I visited the ponds three in number by invitation, last summer, with rod and fly, and took trout from one to two pounds in weight, almost every cast, in certain parts of the ponds, They were beautiful, fat and healthy. In other parts of the ponds I found one, two, and three-year olds in vast numbers. The creek was alive with little ones. The stream did not afford more than 30 square inches of water at the time I was there. This shows to what extent trout may be increased and grown by properly damming, screening, and gravelling smallspring brooks. The most prolific streams for trout that I have ever seen, or of which I have ever heard or read, are the Caledonia springs, and brook from them. This celebrated trout brook rises from the rocks in the village of Caledonia, Livingston County, New York. Its whole length is but one mile, when it unites with Allen’s Creek, one of the tributaries of the Genesee, in the village cf Mumford. The stream falls about 50 feet from the springs to its junction with Allen’s Creek. The country isall thickly settled, and one of the richest and best farming towns in the State. The surface of the land is quite level, with banks but little above the surface of the water. The stream in places is very rapid, and in others has quite a gentle current, of a mile or more per hour. The springs as now situated, cover about six acres, being dammed slightly for milling purposes. They ‘ afford about 80 barrels of water per second, and make a creek from three to four rods wide, and from 18 inches to 6 feet deep, according to the current. The bottom is covered with small white shells and gravel. The water is clear, pure, and perfectly transparent, so that any object can be seen for three or four rods very distinctly. It is tinctured with lime and sulphur. » Its temperature at the springs is 48° the whole year round, but down the creek, three-quarters of a mile it rises in the hot- test days in the summer to 58° by night, but it is down in the morning to 52°. In winter it settles at times to 43° but generally keeps up to 45° or 46°. The temperature of the water to Allen’s Creek is very even the year round, but very cold in summer, and quite warm in the winter, never freezing the very coldest weather. The water through the whole length of the creek, as well as every stone, stick, weed and blade of grass, is alive, and literally covered with numerous insects and larve of flies, summer and winter, so that the trout, however numerous they are, easily obtain all the food they want at all times of the year. There is but very little surface water that makes into the creek, hence the volume of the water is very evén, and seldom disturbed. The first set- tlers of the country found the creek literally filled with trout of great size and beauty, and it has remained so to this day, notwithstanding it has been almost constantly fished, night as well as day, from that time to this. The largest and finest trout are taken in the evening with a large artificial white or gray miller. Dark nights, the banks of the creek in spring and summer are often lined with fishermen, when they reel in THE PROPAGATION OF TROUT. 301 the speckled beauties, hand over hand, and often carry them off by back loads.. In this way they sometimes take some that weigh four pounds — each. The most ordinary pupil of old Isaak can take them in the even- ing, when in the mood of rising, with the right miller, and with a small piece of angle-worm on the point of the hook, to induce them to hold on to the hook till the novice can make his twitch to hook them. But in the day time none can succeed but the expert. The water is so clear and they are so shy and so well educated, that it requires a 50- or 60- foot line, a fine 10 foot leader, and very small flies, or hackles, and those must be cast upon the water so gently and life-like, to induce them to rise and take the fly, and when they do take it they discover the decep- lion, and spit it out so quick that but. very few are ever able tu so cast the fly and to jerk quick enough asto hook them. The fishermen among the oldest inhabitants tell me that at the least calculation there are 4,000 pounds of trout taken from the creek yearly, and yet they compute the number of trout now at 1,000 to each rod of the stream, or 320,000 in the creek, of all sizes, from tour or five pounds down to five inches in length. On the 18th of this month I took 110 fine trout in about three’ hours, with the fly, from the creek, and put them into one of Mr. Green’s ponds. The day was bright, and the water so clear and transparent that T had to fish with a 60-foot line, which took the most of the time to get the line out to this length and to reel in the trout against the strong current after being hooked. The next day I took eighty-five splendid fellows from one place, hardly moving from my tract. These facts show how plenty they were, and how ready they are to take the fly in winter. These trout were as fat, active and gamey as ever I saw them in any other stream in May or June. Seth Green, Esq., the celebrated marksman and fly-thrower of Rochester, bought this creek a year ago last Fall, for the purpose of growing trout artificially as well as naturally on an extensive scale, He has since prepared ponds, races, hatching-house and hatching-boxes and troughs for 3,000,000 of spawn, which he expects to fill during the spawning season, which is, with him, from the lst of November to the Ist of April. Last winter his two best months for spawn were J anuary and February, and he expects they will be this year. He has one pond, only 75 feet long, 12 feet wide and 5 feet deep, which has 9,000 trout in it from 9 inches to 20 inches long, that will weigh from a quarter of a pound to three pounds each, as fat as seals and as beautiful as trout can possibly be, all caught with the fly by his own hand, since he bought the creek, and all can be seen now, any day, at one view, by any person who will take the trouble to call upon him Only think what a sight —9,000 such trout all in the igs at once. What a gigantic and magnificent aquarium ! I am certain that this is the largest and finest exhibition of trout in America, and, probably in the whole world. This alone would - well 00 852 THH PROPAGATION OF TROUT. repay a journey of any lover of Izaak from any part of the country to seé, But this is not all. He has another pond, right by the side of this, 30 by 50 feet, which contains 20,000 beautiful trout, mostly one and two years old, from six to nine inches long, ail taken by his own skill, as above. He has still another pond, filled with last spring’s fry, from three to five inches long. It seems incredible at first thought that such a vast number of large trout should live in so small a space, but it is also accounted for and made plain, when one learns that the water in the ponds are changed every minute through the day by the large current constantly pouring in upon them, of this cold, pure spring water. Some of the trout produced 6,000 spawn each, and from that down to 200, according to size. Last year Mr. Green hatched as high as 98 per cent. in some instances—in others, about 80 per cent: This year he expects to hatch nearly all, as he has become master of the business, and knows the right time to take the spawn to insure perfect impreg- nation. I could see the young trout in almost every egg that had been taken fifteen days, with the naked eye, so that I know his success is perfect so far. With this continued. success he will very soon be able to stock all the private streams and ponds in the country with spawn and young trout, as well as to furnish tons yearly for the table of this, the most delicious and costly of all the finny tribe. It costs him but little to feed his trout. He tells me they get fully three-quarters of their living from the insects (as above) in the water running through the ponds. He thinks the trout in his ponds, and in the creek, devour fully 600 pounds of these various insects daily. These facts show how profitable the cultivation of trout can be made with proper water and care, and also the ease with which all the depo- . pulated waters of the country can be restocked. The spawn can be transported from the eighth to the fifteenth day after impregnation, in glass bottles filled with water, by express to any part of the country with safety, and will nearly all hatch if distributed thinly over well-prepared gravel beds in the stream near the spring where the current is gentle, and the temperature remains from 40° to 46° through the winter, and will nearly all take care of themselves after hatching through the spring and summer, and grow to from 3 to 5 inches in length by fall. This is the easiest and cheapest way to stock all streams and ponds where the temperature and water will permit. But where they will not, then they must be stocked with | trout. An outlay of 5 dols. to 500 dols. in spawn, and preparing the stream — and gravel beds according to the amount anyone may feel disposed to invest, will produce a corresponding show in ‘the early spring of young — trout. Some of these young trout will spawn in the fall, and all the ~ fall following, and with proper care in a few years fully stock the stream or pond, and will pay the owner and angler for all the expense and TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES, 3538 trouble, in the very exciting sport of taking them with the fly, as well as a delicious meal daily. Well-impregnated spawn can be obtained as low as 10 ahs per thousand. The cheapest and best time to transport trout is while very small, or about the time they commence feeding, say in March or April. Then about 5,000 can be carried ina barrel half or two-thirds filled with water. They can be transported in this way any distance by wagyon or rail- road. All the care required is to keep the water cool, say from 50° to 60°, and in constant motion to fill it with air as fast as the trout exhaust it, or to change it often when standing still, Trout of this age can be had for 50 dols, a thousand. Large trout can be moved in the same way just as well, only a much less nnmber in a barrel, say about seventy-five one, two, and three-year- olds, Trout of this. age are worth 200 dols, a thousand. With this information, anyone can consult his own desire and purse in the manner and extent of stocking his stream or pond. ‘From my experience in growing large trout,-I would not advise any- one to grow them for profit to more than three or four years of age, or from eight ounces to sixteen ounces in weight. After this age and size it requires so much more to feed them, and water to keep them, and they are so much more subject to die, that I find it does not pay. I have no spawn or trout for sale, and have never taken or grown any for that purpose, nor do I intend to hereafter. I commenced raising trout artificially in 1859 as an experiment merely for my own recreation and gratification. I have spent some time and money in these experi- ments, but have been abundantly paid in the information and gratifica- tion it has afforded me in these six years. I have hatched as high as ninety-nine spawn in the 100, and grown trout by the 1,000 to weigh from one to three pounds each during this time, and all with only 8 one square inch of water during the dry weather in the summer. TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES. New York is the centre of the great telegraph interest of the country. There are centred the head-quarters, the capital and the talent that this immense business demands. The inventor of the telegraph, full of years and honours, loaded down with royal and imperial favours, and what is of more worth to. an American, crowned with the respect and gratitude of his countrymen, can be seen any pleasant day on Broadway. He was the son of a New England clergyman, a bold man in his day, who made his pulpit the fortress in which to battle for what he conceived to’ be the truth in dark and trying times. 354 TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES, Inthe year 1832 a packet ship left Havana for New York. The | passengers were merry and intelligent. They beguiled the tediousness of the long voyage by scientific discussions, They talked of inventions ; the discoveries of the day passed in review; wonderful things were told o: electricity. A gentleman from Boston rehearsed the marvellous things brought to light in relation to that mysterious and subtle agency. Among the company was Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse. When the Massa- chusetts gentleman closed his recital, Prof. Morse quietly remarked— “Tf these statements are true, if such discoveries have really been made, then I can send a message by lightning round the world.” Then and there the great discovery was made. On the wide Atlantic—as if the invention that was to change the face of the world scorned the narrow limits of States or Nations—on the wide sea, whose waters touch all climes and bind all the nations of the earth in bonds of amity on the great highway of the commerce of the globe, the great telegraph system came to its birth. The packet ship reached New York in safety. Prof. Morse had been from his family and native shore for three years. His friends were on the dock waiting to receive him; but he seemed to see them not. He made no personal or social inquiries for his family from whom he had been so long absent. He seemed like one demented. He accepted the warm and cordial greetings coldly. His friends were grieved that so short a time had so changed a genial friend into a morose and unfeeling man. He was big with a great discovery that was to agitate and bless the world. He had no thought, no feeling, no faculty for any- body or thing, till the telegraph was a reality and beyond dispute put by the side of the great inventions of the age. The pathway of the telegraphic invention was through scorn, in- credulity, and derision. It was the old story of the persecution of Galileo and the refusal of the old monks to look through the telescope lest they should be convinced. The old story of Harvey, demonstrating his theory of the circulation of the blood to a gainsaying generation, losing his practice, and, as men thought, losing his senses and going mad. The old story of the league with the devil, on the part of the poor printer, who cut out the first wooden types with his penknife, and brought to the eye of the terrified literati the full printed page. It was | Columbus on his wild voyage for a new world, Jenner fleeing from his indignant countrymen and not daring to go out doors at night, because, he said, the great plague of the small-pox could be stayed. It was Ful- ton starting on his steam voyage up the Hudson, while a crowd of ma- ligners looked on, wishing him an early and a complete failure. The telegraphic demonstration was slow, great difficulties had to be overcome, and before the telegraph was a working success, Prof. Morse faced all opposition. He accepted ridicule and derision. His attempt to get subscribers to the stock of a company was nearly a failure. Shrewd men, men of forecast, would have nothing to do with the fiery - scheme or the visionary inventor. One of the shrewdest men who TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES. O55 might, if he would, have controlled all the lines in the land, shook his head at the proposal to take stock. “I will give Prof. Morse 100 dols. as a present,” said the Great Bear of Wall street, ‘‘ but not one dollar for investment.” So the nation felt. A few men joined in the new in- vention, but they were as poor as the inventor. They had no money and but little influence. An enterprising man in Western New York, who ran the first stage- line West, and ran the earliest expresses, saw the future of the telegraph. He grasped it with his whole soul. Men laughed at his folly. He told the deriders that the telegraph would succeed the mail. Then his friends were sure he was mad. Confident in the invention as a success and a public benefactor, Prof. Morse and his few friends clung to the great discovery. Poverty, like an armed man, came upon him. Inventors must eat, and those who manage the lightning cannot live on air. Men can now well afford to talk, and Prof. Morse, with his regal income, can afford to hear how he battled in those dark days to keep the wolf from the door, how poor was. his dress, how mean his shoes, how meagre his face. At last aid from the government’ was promised to run an experi- mental line from Washington to Baltimore. But the discreet govern- ment was to pay nothing till the line was in actual working order, and a bona fide message sent over the wires from Baltimore to the Capitol. It was to be no bogus message, but one sent over the wires to the satis- faction of the government. So little faith had the leading men of the nation at that time, that the thing was at all practical. Mr. John C. Spencer was at the head. of the Treasury. He was, certainly, of the average intelligence of the people. He was to pay the money when the message had really passed over the wires. He had not the least idea of what the invention was, and in a conversation with a gentleman, Mr. Spencer asked, “ how large a bundle could be sent over the wires, and whether the mails could not be sent that way.” Who wonders that an old lady carried her umbrella into the office at Buffalo with a request that it might be sent to Cleveland by lightning? It was supposed by scientific men that a trench must be dug from Baltimore to Washington to complete the circuit, without which the lines could not be worked, and this delayed for a long time the completion of the trial lines to the National Capitol. Men were ignorant of the fact that the earth formed the most perfect circuit. Peet | All the preliminary troubles over, the inventor saw the work of his brain demonstrated and take its place among the most beneficent. dis- coveries of the world, and himself placed high among the benefactors of his race, He saw himself and children raised to affluence, which was liberally shared by those heroic men who stood by him and partook of his trials, and with him breasted the storms of contumely and scorn. There is nothing like success. Stock could not be presented so fast as to meet the demand. Companies multiplied, wires spread under all 356 TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES, parts of the heavens, and ran in all directions over the land and under the seas. Three great lines were created. The Morse Company, so well known, took the lead. House’s line, which printed words, became popu- P | lar, and Paine’s, more curious and scientific than all, took Jown the mes- sage, and by a chemical process, changes the character by obliterating a . part of the words, and doing all in an instant. But these three lines ran into one another. They interfered with the business of each other, underbid, and made a rivalry that allowed no profit, while the public was badly served, The companies were all poor and made no money. A consolidation was suggested and agreed to between the three com-~ panies. All the lines, then in existence, and the consolidated company were called the “Six Nations Telegraph Company,” after the Six Indian Nations. A division was then made of the territory of the United States, and the companies occupying certain portions took each a name by which it was to be known, To the American Telegraph Company, to be located in New York, was allowed the seaboard from Halifax to New Orleans, with branches reaching to Canada. The United States Telegraph Com- pany took the inland lines, and embraced the different telegraph com- panies in the land not consolidated in the American Telegraph Company, This consolidation introduced a new era in telegraphing, It called into the service of the lines the ablest talent in the land. It made tele- graphing the most profitable business in the country. It produced har- mony, concord, and system ‘among the lines. ‘The public are and have been better served, so the Companies say. The monopoly has not only not increased the tariff of prices as they affirm, but has ranged the prices actually lower down than they were before, the Companies having re- solved to make the telegraph a public necessity to every man and to put its facilities within the reach of all classes and conditions, rather than make gain by exorbitant charges. During the war, till the third year, the old prices ruled, and when they were raised they were raised only 50 per cent., while nearly all the business of the land was raised fully 300 per cent. But itis evident that a large portion of the people are debarred from the use of the telegraphs by the present high rates. Its use could be made as universal as the most common necessities that are found under every roof. Through the length and breadth of the land the now silent machines could click with unhesitating pertinacity like the spindles in a factory. The imménse dividends of the companies and their profits indicate how easily such a reduction could be made and P the telegraph be used no less by the labourer than by the millionaire, ; One of the most interesting places for a stranger to visit, is the American Telegraph building on Broadway, corner of Liberty street, — The great brown stone edifice, from basement to roof, is deyoted to the work of the Telegraph Company. It has a capital of 2,200,000 dols, Jt employs 20,000 miles of wires, It has eighty officers in different parts — af the country. A pay roll on which the names of 2,000 employés are TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES. 357 written. The annual expenses of the Company fall but little below the great sum of 700,000 dols. No common men can be employed ; the business demands persons of intelligence, quickness, and parts, and such men cannot be had without a good compensation. It takes 275,000 dols, to meet the demand of the pay roll—39,000 dols. is paid for messages alone, and the batteries call for the outlay of 26,000 dols. - The building is a curiosity. It smacks of mystery. Well was it that Morse lived not when witchcraft was an “abomination and a wizard was not allowed to live in the land,” The office for messages is on the street floor, fitted up as elegant as a bank, where system and quietness rules disturbed only by the endless click, click, of the hundred instru- ments that fill the room. Here Morse, House and Paine meet, and each de their work. The House printing instrument is a model of accuracy and swiftness ; no less than seven thousand words can be transmitted to’ Philadelphia in an hour. The telegraphing is done by the ear. The messages are written as they come clicking over the wires. The ear is proved to be more accurate than the eve, and fewer mistakes are made than in the old method of words or symbols. When the messages are over the words are all written, for they are taken down as fast as they come, aad the message is realy for immediate distribution. All messages. are numbered and recorded in a book with the accuracy of a bank acceount. The system is becoming an important source of evidence in our courts. The fact that a message was sent, to whom, from whom, the date, and the import, are all recorded. * The battery room is a study. The company use 1,700 cups or cells, and the complicated simplicity of the wires and the cupola on the roof where all the wires are concentrated, is a theme of constant wonder, Special wires are devoted to special kinds of business. The Brokers. board have one exclusively employed for their use. Express men, Rail- road men, the Press, the Police have each a line to themselves. One line is devoted to Philadelphia exclusively ; another to Boston. The messages are sent by one instrument and returned by another, so that message after nessage can be sent along with wonderful rapidity, one after the other in rapid succession and accuracy—dlespatch will follow despatch with no interruption. One of the most curious things in this office is a telegraph switch, not unlike in practical use the railroad switch on a railroad track. By this invention messages can be switched off at any moment to let an “incoming dispatch have the track.” This is the invention of the talent of the office, Gen. Lefferts, the engineer, leading in the invention. It is a most curious machine. The forecast of the men who conduct this business induced them to attempt to make -the telegraph a common necessity—like the Croton water, the Express, the Post-office. It has been brought to the door of each man. Men buy and sell, travel and live by lightening. The American Telegraph Company embraces various companies, stretching from Halifax to New Orleans, from Sandy Hook to Montreal, covering the whole intermediate country with a net-work of wires vibrating with 358 TELEGRAPHING IN THE UNITED STATES. intelligence, borne on the wings of lightning. The great building occupied by this company, the perfection of the mechanical arrangement, the system and number of employés, and the telegraphic talent concen= trated in this establishment, not only show the amount of business done, but make it worthy of a visit from any one who would know the wonderous march of intelligent mechanism. The company have in this city forty offices. Everything now seems to be done by telegram. It has become the great business of the day. It seems to go wherever light and water go. The system here is so perfect that it touches nearly every man’s house within a circuit of twenty miles and is connected with the main office in the city. Ifa lady is sick she telegraphs to her husband’s place of business, and requests him to come home and bring the doctor: Ifa gentleman concludes to go to Europe instead of going home he telegraphs for his carpet bag {to be at the steamer at noon. Ifa . merchant invites a friend home to dine with him he telegraphs, that his wife may have a good dinner on the table, and good looks on her face. The’ Chief of Police sits in his office and converses with his men in every station within the whole circuit of thirty miles through which his district extends. He can move men from any section, concentrate them at any point, and quell a riot before the rioters have time to act: Wires are connected with all the markets— with the drovers’ rendezvous —with all cities and villages of importance around New York for a distance of twenty miles. Not the least interesting part of this institution is that department assigned to women. It was early discovered that telegraphing was a work peculiarly adapted to women. They were invited to enter the field. They were instructed in the art. Rooms have been provided for those who wish to learn telegraphing, and, when instructed, euiployment and good pay are secured. The room adapted to female operators is cheerful and well carpeted and elegant. It is under the charge of a lady superintendent who has been in the American office five years, and has an annual salary of 950 dols. Most of the city business is done by female operators. Ladies are also employed on the line of railroads and in small country towns. They can do their sewing or reading, and pursue their studies, and yet attend to all the duties of their office, and at the same time earn a handsome salary. They make the best operators. Their ear is quick. They are more trustworthy than men, and more trustful. Some of them are elegantly dressed, all of them are in neat attire, none others being employed. Their influence is found to be good all along the lines. Men are more attentive and civil where lady operators are employed. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since Prof. Morse gave to the world this wonderful invention. The march of the business has steadily increased, and the end is not yet. The telegraph wires quiver with intelligence over all the civilised world. Soon, it is hoped, the Atlantic cable will bind the two Continents in bonds of perpetual pe » and concord. i igs wir ee ’ Boo Lebiews, THe History or Sugar AND SuGAR-YIELDING PLANTS ; TOGETHER WITH AN EPITOME OF EVERY NOTABLE PROCESS OF SuGAR Ex- TRACTION FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT. By Witt1aM ReEep. Longman and Co. 1866. THoucH a small, this is an exceedingly useful and comprehensive volume on an important subject, and one which is daily assuming a more decided interest for the general public. Mr. Reed has been for many years connected with the sugar trade, and is well known as the proprietor of the ‘Grocer’ This circumstance has given him more than ordinary facilities in the treatment of such a subject, which re- quires considerable special knowledge. The statistics which accompany the volume, and which form an important as well as a very interesting portion of it, are arranged with great exactness, a matter not generally attended to by those who are forced to wander through the difficult _ mazes of Parliamentary Blue Books and similar documents. The yolume is divided into eleven chapters ; the first contains a history of sugar in- troduction into various countries, with notes on important patents for manufacturing purposes. The second chapter contains ample details on the principal sources of sugar supply, and the imports of raw and re- fined sugar from various countries for the last twenty years. The other chapters treat of the culture and variety of the sugar cane; the manu- facture of raw sugar ; the growth and manufacture of date, beet, and maple sugars ; the manufacture of refined sugar in England ; the prices of sugar from 1319 to 1864; the use and treatment of animal charcoal ; English and foreign duties, and the egusumplien of sugar in the United Kingdom and in other countries. All these topics are treated with precision and knowledge of the subject ; and those who remember the angry and oftentimes illogical controversy which was carried on a few years ago, and which terminated in Mr. Gladstone’s reduction of the duiy in 1864, will indeed wish that such a compendious manual of sugar statistics had been in the hands of the public, who are so considerably interested in this question as con- sumers, and who are so often forgotten by statesmen in their seemingly well-arranged schemes. At that time beet sugar was not the formidable rival of cane sugar which it has since become, a rivalry which was ignored in Mr. Gladstone’s compensation budget of 1864, but which, if the present anomalous differential duties are not changed, will have a fatal effect on the West Indies particularly, as well as on the other sugar-producing colonies, which will have to struggle against a fiscal in- justice worse than any protection could be. But as the TECHNOLOGIST is not the fitting arena of such a discus- sion as this, it will be simply necessary to remark that such chapters as VOL. YI. EB 360 : SCIENTIFIC NOTES. the growth and manufacture of ‘sugar from date, beet, maple, sorghum, &c.; the refined sugar manufacture of England, and the use and treat- ment of animal charcoal, &c., are ably written, and, would, if extracted, be very interesting to the general reader. But the chapters which will most interest those who look on the fiscal side of the question, will be those on the prices of sugars, and on the different duties imposed at dif- ferent periods. What a suggestive instance of the short-sighted inter- ference of government in the onward flow of commerce is the fact, that in the year 1700 the consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom was 10,000 tons,-while at the present time it has increased to 500,000 tons, though its progress is still fettered with the remnants of red-tape legis- lation. Those who wish to estimate the value of such legislation, can turn to page 171 of Mr. Reed's book, where they will find the account of the sugar debates in Parliament in 1841, when Lord Melbourne’s Ministry was wrecked in attempting a fairer system of sugar duties. The late Sir Robert Peel’s argument in that debate was one which would teach every statesman how fluctuating is Parliamentary consist- tency, and how vain it is to struggle against the spirit of theage. When Sir Robert said : “a sufficient quantity of sugar for home consumption may be obtained from the East and West Indies and Mauritius, without resorting to the slave colonies,” he little foresaw what enormous ad- vances the consumption of sugar was destined to make. Our limits, however, preclude us from any further reference to Mr. Reed’s welcome volume. We may add, that as the working man, and the class above the working men, are intimately concerned in this question of tea and sugar, which are no longer the luxuries, but the necessary aids of daily life, this volume is just the sort of book a working man should read, and which, we trust, will find a place in every Mechanic’s Institute library. Nothing can better elucidate the mischief of commercial re- strictions than the history of the sugar duties ; while nothing will more interest the consumer of sugar than the triumphs of science in extract- ing the beautiful and brilliant crystals of the present day from the cane, the beet, and we may probably add, the sorghum also. Arivutitic Mates. Rice 1n Irany.—Mr. Sackville West, in his ‘ Commercial Report on Italy for the year 1863,’ says that rice is more extensively cultivated in Italy than in any other part of Europe, although the date of its in- troduction is comparatively recent. Its cultivation, for sanitary reasons, has always been more or less restricted by legislative measures, and the question as to whether it is really pernicious or not to the health of the surrounding populations has ever been and still is seriously discussed. BCIENTIFIC NOTES. 361 The rice which is grown in ‘Italy must be cultivated nnder a system of irrigation. There does not appear to be sufficient humidity in the air ‘to admit of the successful cultivation of the species “ mountain rice ” which was brought by M. Poivre from Cochin China to the Mauritius, from whence it was subsequently brought to Europe, where it is proved to have germinated and come to maturity in climates possessing the requisite amount of humidity. , Neither the Greeks or Romans appear to have cultivated rice, although it is certain they knew ot such produce as coming from Asia by the Red Sea to the ports of the Mediterranean. The Arabs are supposed to have cultivated it, and to have introduced it into Egypt and the southern parts of Europe with which they came into contact, but nothing is certain as to its existence in Europe until its in- troduction into Spain by the Moors in 1324, although a certain Peter Crescentius mentions it as growing in the marshy lands about Bologna as early as 1301. There are legislative enactments extant of Francesco Sforza and Ludovico the Moor, which prove that it was cultivated to a considerable extent in the Milanese in the fifteenth century. Im the year 1585, the Spanish Governor of Milan, the Marquis Aymonte, pro- hibited it as a pestiferous production. Notwithstanding, however, all efforts to restrict its extension, it continued to spread throughout Italy, especially on the coasts of the Adriatic about Venice and Ancona in the valley of the Po. In Spain and Portugal sufficient care and attention were not bestowed on its cultivation as to render the crop important. It was grown to some extent in some parts of France until Cardinal Fleury put a stop to its cultivation, and at the present time it is by no means a profitable speculation. In Italy, however, the contrary is the case, and the crop is most remunerative, but it is a matter of serious consideration for the government to decide the question as to its pernicious effect on the health of the population, and if necessary, to adopt the most judi- cious measures to prevent the evil consequences consequent on an undue extension of its cultivation near great towns. 3 ——— To the Editor of the TECHNOLOGIST. Camp in Chumba, Lahore. Dear S1R,—In connection with an article on the shawl manufacture of Kashmir in a recent number of your Journal, some of the following may not be uninteresting :— During a short tour in Kashmir some years ago, I paid some atten- tion to corroborating, completing, or correcting some of the information connected with vegetable productions which Vigne gives in his ‘ Book of Travels’ in that country, and among other things, made some inquiries into the nature of the dyes used there. The information that Vigne gives as to the dyes used in Sirinaggar (vol. ii. p. 127), may be condensed as follows. About forty different colours (and shades of colour) are in use for silks and woollens. Blues and purples are derived chiefly from indigo, yellows from a Punjab flower called gul-i-kyser 362 SCIENTIFIC NOTHS. and from a Kashmir grass called woffangil. Blacks and a light-brown are got from iron filings and wild pomegranate skins; reds from ker- mes, logwood, and a native wood called lin. A drab is obtained from waluut-skins, and the colour extracted from English green baize is em- ployed to get their finest greens and a light blue. He elsewhere notes that the root of a plant called kritz is used in dyeing. The following constitutes the information as to dyes I picked up in Kashmir, and I have no doubt but that like Vigne’s it may contain some errors :— The blues for both silk and woollen are obtained from indigo and lajward (lapis lazuli). The latter is largely imported into Kashmir, and thence partly into the Punjab and Hindustan, from Tibet or beyond it. Purple is got from the application of kirm (cochineal), after lapis lazuli. Vigne’s Punjab flower, which gives a yellow, is gul kesar (literally saffron flower), which is obtained from the dhak or palas, Butea frondosa, which grows much more abundantly in many parts of Hindustan than in the Punjab (except in one or two districts in the eastern extremity of the latter). The rind of the fruit of the pomegranate, which is not uncommon wild in and near Kashmir, with the liquor of iron ash, is used for black. Woolis dyed red by means of lakh (seed-lac produced in many parts of India), and silk by cochineal. A non-durable red is got from bakam, the wood of, I think, Cesalpinia Sappan, from Southern India, which probably constitutes both the logwood and the lin of Vigne. At all events, I could discern no native dyewood known by the latter name, and do not think I could have missed it had it existed. Drab is obtained from walnut skins without any mordant or preparation, but with the addition of a little black if necessary. As to green, 1 heard nothing of the use of green baize, but the only source of this colour was stated to be indigo after wotidngil. This is the name of one or several species of Carpesium common in parts of Kashmir and its neighbour- hood. For silk its root, and for woollen its leaves, are employed to give a yellow in the preparation of green. It was stated that for some colours a mordant is used of first sajjz (impure carbonate of potash), and then phit kari (alum), but I did not get details as to the use of these. Kriss is the name in Kashmir and to the westward of Dioscorea deltoidea, a plant common in many parts of the Western Himalaya. So far as I ‘could learn, its root (a coarse yam, which is eaten by the people in places) is only used in washing the wool, &c., preparatory to dyeing. -It would appear that at least one-half of the materials above enumerated, are derived entirely or chiefly from British territory (the rest being in- digenous in Kashmir and brought from beyond it), So that if at any time it should be considered advisable to shut up the chief trade of the country—a very unlikely contingency—we could do so by stopping the supply of dyes, altogether irrespective of the power of closing the chief exits for the manufactured article. L. L. Stewart, M.D., Officiating Conservator of Resides Punjab eget THE TECHNOLOGIST. RESEARCHES ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR CANE IN MAURITIUS, AND THE MODIFICATIONS IT UNDERGOES DURING MANUFACTURE. BY DR. ICERY. President of the Chamber of Agriculture. Translated by JAMES Morris, Esq., Representative of the Chamber of Agriculture of Mauritius. (Continued from page 347.) Seconp Part.—l. THe CoMPosITION OF THE SuGAR-CANE AND OF Its JUICE IN GENERAL. Tue term “Juice” has been employed to designate the liquid extract of the cane when subjected to a greater or less pressure. When flowing freshly from the mill it contains a notable quantity of solid particles, sometimes of extreme tenuity, and which float along its whole surface. These are the fragments of the fibres and vegetable cells, the result of the crushing and tearing action of the cylinders of the mill. It is always easy by means of subsidence or common filtration to separate these minute bodies, and they cannot therefore, be considered as an integral part of the cane-juice. It is, therefore, erroneous to assign to them, as certain authors have done, a place among the elemental con- stituents of the liquid, designating them by the very unfitting name of coloured fecula, I have already shown, that deducting these amorphous products entirely accidental and foreign to the intimate nature of the cane-juice, there exists normally in this liquid, as in many vegetable juices, organised corpuscles in the form of globules with distinct and transparent membranes, from 3 to 5 thousandths of a millimetre in ' diameter, and I have indicated the importance which must for the future be attached to the presence of these microscopical particles by all our colonial sugar manufacturers. VOL. VI. QQ 364 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. The composition of this cane-juice properly so called, that is separated from all solid substance, has been differently determined by those chemists who have examined it at various times, and even at the present day, it is not known with complete accuracy. The analyses made at the end of the last century were naturally imperfect in con- sequence of the means employed by the organic chemists of the period, and the data which they furnished were of a general nature, the precision of which was often questionable. At the commencement of the present century chemists of acknowledged merit, starting with the object of throwing new light on the colonial manufacture of sugar, the imperfect processes of which were recognised on all sides, proposed to themselves the task of determining the exact nature and the proportion of the elements which constituted the juice of the sugarcane. The difficulty of preserving this liquid in a fresh state during a long voyage, rendered these first essays almost fruitless. The beet plant had been analysed and its structure and composition were perfectly known, when the sugar cane still remained the object of erroneous examinations, It isonly within the last twenty-five years that this juice has been studied with care and success by one of the most distinguished French chemists, M. Peligot. He first determined the relative quantities of water, sugar, and mineral and organic substances contained in the sugar cane, and the figures by which he has represented them, are still the data to be found even in the most recent works on this subject. ~ This able chemi:t rendered a real service to all sugar manufacturers by ciscarding from the composition of the plant all those pretended sub- stances which were only a source of useless complexity, and by giving them a clear and precise demonstration of the primal material on which they had to operate. It is nevertheless certain that, if instead of work- ing in France exclusively on the juice of plants which had arrived at maturity, he had extended his researches in the colonies themselves, to the juice extracted from canes in different stages of development, he would have modified certain conclusions which are to be found in the learned memoir which he published on this subject. His opinion on the condition of the sugar in the cane, an opinion adopted by all succeeding chemists, might be perfectly correct according to the analyses he made; but it does not correspond to those facts which direct and often repeated experiments have brought to light. Cane-juice, in fact, does not, as is usually admitted at the present day, contain crystallizable sugar only; it contains uncrystallizable sugar, and the quantity of this latter substance varies in different parts of the same cane, and at different periods of its development. I shall dedicate a special chapter to the exposition of this question which is really so important to the colonial sugar industry, and place in evidence the fact I have just stated, - and those conditions under the influence of which the state of the sugar in the cane is normally modified, I shall also examine in a special — ~*~ Bee | ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 365 manner those organic substances besides sugar, as well as mineral salts which enter into the formation of cane-juice. Regarded in a general manner, cane-juice is sugar water holding in solution a certain quantity of organic and mineral principles. Consider- ing then particularly only the sugar and the water, and grouping the other remaining substances into two distinct categories, according to their vegetable or mineral nature, I have deduced the average composi- tion of the juice of Mauritius canes of the different species cultivated in’ the Island, from numerous analyses, all of which were made, during the last two years,upon canes which had reached maturity,but grown in locali- ties differing in soil and temperature. Water... we or 81:00 Sugar jas: ae ie 18°36 Mineral salts... ays 0:29 Organic substances... 0°35 100:00 The average composition of fresh cane, relatively speaking, can be deduced approximatively from that of the juice when the loss of a given weight of cane subjected to a complete dessication is known; but the juice contained in the bagasse being less rich in sugar than what has been extracted, and the washing of dessicated cane being also a long and difficult operation, it is easier, and at the same time more exact to _ have recourse to direct experiment. To determine this composition of. the cane, so far as the water, the saccharine, and the ligneous matter alone are concerned, I analysed a certain number of canes of different species growing in localities which can be assumed as representing in respect to climate, the average of those in which the cultivation of the cane is carried out on the largest scale. I here append these analyses which were made on canes in average and comparable conditions.* . * The want of space has necessitated me to omit a long and elaborate table in which the results furnished by seventy-eight analyses are recorded, and which gives an exact account of the variations of these different substances according to the age of the cane, the period at which it has been manipulate 1, the portions of the plant examined, and the localities of its growth. The relative richness in saccharine matter of the various kinds of cane is also tabulated, as well as the differences in the quality of the sugar of the same canes subjected to various de- grees of pressure. The indications of the polarizing saccharometer and the results of chemical analysis are also recorded ; the whole table being a compen- dium of the series of experiments made.—(Translator. ) QQ 2 366 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE, The analyses of different kinds of cane completely developed, in order to determine the relative quantities of water, saccharine, and ligneous sub- stance. ee see Species of Cane. Water. Sugar. Riad oe Labourdonnais Diard 07698 0°200 0°102 i Guingham 0-682 0°209 0-109 La Gaieté* Diard 0-703 0°197 0-100 a Pinang 0°678 0°196 0°126 Bellouguet | 0°716 0°197 0087 is Bamboo 0°695 0°190 07115 i -Guingham 0°703 0°186 0-111 , Bellouguet 0°703 0°203 0:094 a Pinang 0°690 0°198 0°112 x Bellouguet 0°729 0-187 0-084 ss Guingham 0°697 0°196 0°107 Ne Bambou 0-669 0.214 0°117 ‘. | Otaite 0-708 0-210 €-107 The saccharine matter is not equally distributed in the different parts of the sugar cane ; the central or medullary portion is richer than the nodular or cortical. When a piece of sugar cane is separated in such a manner as to be able to compress individually. the knots, the parts between such knots, and the bark roughly detached and carrying away with it a certain quantity of medullary structure, results are obtained of which the following example will give an exact idea :— Medullary portion. Cortical. Nodular. Density at 25° centigr. ws | L082 is 1074 «. 1069 _ Quantity of sugar percent. ... 18°4 ns 179 «ie! > Such an experiment as this is a complete justification of what I have stated above, that the relative richness of the juice depends on the pressure employed. Such richness would be still more appreciable were the knotty portions of the cane not always so- much more completely crushed by the action of the cylinders than the part nearest the bark which as is well-known, is on issuing from the mill, the least bruised and the most humid. Those canes which have beena ttacked by the disease which I described under the term “ degeneration” about three years ago, do not generally contain less saccharine than the healthy canes with which they are compared. The analyses I have made in this respect confirm what the planters had already been able to recognise in the * La Gaiet* is the fine estate in the Flacq District of Mauritius, belonging to Dr. Icery. : J ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 867 ordinary processes of their manufacture. I may also add that such canes even when most extensively diseased, did not contain a greater relative proportion of uncrystallizable sugar. II. Tae Primitive ConpitIon OF THE SACHARINE IN THE CANE. AsI bavealready noticed, the cane does not contain crystallizable sugar alone. In stating an opinion so directly opposed to the ideas of scien- tific men at the present day, I feel myself bound to declare at once that I have no intention to take up again the conclusions of the earlier chemists who gave adetailed analysis of the sugarcane. The error com- © mitted by them of admitting in the juice of the ripe cane, the pre-exist- ence of a notable quantity of liquid sugar or molasses ready formed, could only be the result of experiments wanting in precision, and be- sides, such a theory has long been abandoned. I do not believe, and my own experiments agree perfectly with those mentioned by the most recent writers on the subject, that there exists in the healthy cane, which has reached the full term of its development, a proportion of un-~ erystallizable sugar, sufficiently appreciable to cause much importance to be attached to it. But I have arrived at an opinion entirely contrary to that which is now entertained, when the question is as to the results furnished by every other part of the cane, except that which has under- gone the prolonged action of the solar rays, and as to the period at which this plant has been examined, and as to the primitive condition in which the sugar presents itself at different periods of vegetation. _ In order to render more clear the details on which I am about to enter, it is requisite to recall in a few words the characters peculiar to those substances which have been indistinctly designated by the name of sugar. The first group of such substances, the only ones which are of interest to us to know, and which can enter into the present investi- gation, is formed of those bodies which have the remarkable property of being directly changed into alcohol and carbonic acid when treated with yeast. Cane sugar (C¥# H™ O}) is distinguished from all other kinds by the property it has of crystallizing in large rhomboidal prisms, and the facility with which it is possible to obtain it in this state, when dis- solved in water. To the present time it has only been found in the vegetable kingdom, and vegetation is the only influence producing it. Glucose or grape sugar (C!2 H!? O42 HO) is found both in the - vegetable and animal kingdom, and can also be formed artificially by various chemical processes. It precipitates in small glandular crystals, when dissolved in water, and the solution is concentrated slowly, or when it is left to itself for any considerable time. Less soluble than cane sugar in water, it has a saccharine taste, about three times less pro- nounced than cane sugar. Treated by a warm solution of potass 368 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. or soda, the glucose becomes oxydised, and communicates a deep brown colour to the solution. Boiled with the tartrate cupro-potassic, it re- duces the metallic oxide, and gives rise to an abundant red precipitate, These two reactions enable us to discover traces of glucose mixed with cane sugar. The various terms, as sugar of fecula, of rags, of honey, of that found in diabetes, simply apply to glucose, the different sources of which they indicate. Uncrystallizable sngar, called also interverted sugar, sugar of acid fruits, levulose &. (C! H™ O"*) exists in most fruits, and is found ready formed in the stems of some plants. The action of acids on cane sugar will produce it in a direct manner ; like glucose, it turns brown under the action of alkalis, and reacts energetically on the cupro- potassic tartrate. This uncrystallizable sugar becomes modified after a certain time, and is partly changed into glucose, which then appears as small granular crystals. For this reason, it has sometimes been con- sidered as a compound of glucose and liquid sngar. Taking into aecount merely certain physical characteristics of this last kind of sugar, it is be- yond doubt that it is not always identical in the vegetable organisation, and is there manifested under different molecular conditions, if not with a variability of its intimate composition. There are some other substances which have a great analogy with the above-named bodies both in their properties and composition ; such as lactine, trehalose, melitose, and melezitose ; but it is sufficient to name these substances which, on account of their special origin, do not fall within the range of those mattters which are the principal ob- ject-of these researches, , : The action which polarised light exerts on the solutions of the different sugars which have been passed in review, furnishes valuable means for distinguishing them ; and itis at the same time the surest and most precise method to determine their relative quantities in a liquid which does not contain other bodies, having equal power of reaction on polarised light. The modification which is communicated to polar- ised light by different kinds of sugars, is more or less marked, though not always exercised in an identical manner. Cane sugar, crystallized glucose, lactine, trehaloge, melitose, and melezitose become on the right hand the plane of polarization of the light, the greatest rotatory power: among these substances being possessed by trehalose, and after it come melitose, melezitose, cane sugar, lactine and glucose. Diluted acids modify in an opposite sense the rotatory power of cane sugar which then diverts to the left the plane of polarization ; glucose, however does not undergo such a change under the action of acids. u Like interverted cane sugar, the liquid sugar of acid fruits turns to * Gelis gives us the formula of levulose or levulozine, C'? H?° Q?°, that is, one equivalent less of water than prismatic sugar. 2 ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. 963 the left the plane of polarization. Important data like these, furnished by optical analysis powerfully contribute to the elucidation of certain questions connected with the presence and the formation of the different kinds of sugar already enumerated in the vegetable organiza- tion, optical saccharimetry employed in conjunction with the ordinary methods of chemistry, has already produced invaluable results. (To be continued.) ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. Tuar artificial stone of a durable quality can be made in most places and in any quantity is a proposition that may readily be granted; but when the further question for agricultural purposes at a sufficiently low _ price is appended, its successful reduction to practice becomes somewhat problematical. At the same time it must be admitted that this branch of art has of late been making consideravle progress ; that some impor- tant discoveries, which have hitherto been imperfectly carried out under patent and a too limited means, are becoming the common property of the public ; and that the advances being made in the sister-branches of chemistry and mechanics are fast bringing it within the range of profit- able practice, if we have not already attained this position. The subject suggested itself to our notice the other day, in witnessing a labourer taking up an old gate-post, which had been fixed and held firm in its place by well-tempered concrete, the subsoil being a soft tenacious example of London clay. The concrete was as hard and solid as if it had been run together in a state of fusion like lava, or some specimens of conglomerate rock, making the pick ring at every stroke in breaking it up. To appearance, from a passing observation, it had preserved the gate-post from rotting below the surface, and held it as firm in its vertical position above ground as if it had keen an iron post fixed in solid rock by lead. No doubt both these conditions depended in a great measure upon the soundness of the post when putin, together with the quality of the wood and concrete. This may be granted; but it is only profiting by the lesson which examples of more than ordi- nary success teaches, that leads to permanent improvement ; for although some may fail in setting gate-posts firm in concrete, that is no rule to the contrary, but only proof practical of mismanagement. Fixing gate-posts, however, is not the only agricultural purpose in which concrete can be used, as many of the old Pictish conerete build- ings still standing prove. Some of these old castles thus referred to lead us back to periods lost in ages gone by, and to appearance seem as if they would stand to the end of time, the influence of the weather upon their structure not being greater than upon the solid rock that 870 ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. crops out and rises abruptly in some places above the surface of the ground. In examples where the progress of things render their removal necessary, blasting with gunpowder is the more economical process of manipulation, and even then the walls could be broken down and re- moved at less expense of money and at a still more reduced outlay of labour, had they been hewn out of the solid rock, owing to the peculiar toughness and tenacity and total absence of stratification or cleavage pro- perties of the concrete ; for with a sledge-hammer, you may pound it into dust, but you cannot split it up into fragments ofa size easily to be handled. In erecting such buildings, the Picts are said to have set their con- crete in moulds; indeed, many of the walls still standing bear legible evidence of this method of building. Agricultural buildings, from their plain and simple style of archi- tecture, and also fences, are favourably adapted for this plan of building, and just now, when strikes among the building trades and the conduct of tradespeople generally ; together with the extra expenses attending trade combinations—renders it difficult for landowners to erect home- steads, labourers’ cottages, and fences on terms that will enable tenants — to pay fair interest on capital thus invested—cannot the work of mould- ing concrete walls be greatly abridged and expedited by means of ma- chinery and the advances recently made in this branch of chemistry ? Now, for example, when we can by dint of discoveries in chemistry con- vert chalk into marble over night while our workmen are sleeping, and the drifting sand into a hard conglomerate sandstone or Bathstone, &c., of any colour, cannot we teach our portable steam-engines the art of building, so as to erect homesteads and cottages by the hundreds, and fences by the running mile, in a twinkling, and at no expense, compara- tively speaking? Weare evidently fast approaching a period when experience will give an affirmative answer to the above interrogatory, thereby advanc- ing the wages of those employed in this branch of industry—indirectly in the construction of machinery, and directly in using such machinery, at the same time greatly reducing the expenses of building, and increas- ing the health and comfort of man and beast, as occupants ; houses thus built being much more healthy than the vast majority of the ginger- bread structures now erected. The present buildings are not only ex- pensive in a pecuniary sense, and of short duration, but they are also” unhealthy, as compared with the more solid and permanent examples of Pictish masonry ; and although the concrete style of the latter was plain and rude to outward appearance, yet we aver that the finest style of architecture can be affected by the moulding concrete and infiltration processes, and at less money than the current terms of this quality of workmanship ; for itis already a well-established fact that the artificial stone in question takes the highest polish, and is susceptible of being ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. $71 worked into the finest and most elaborate decorative examples of art. But so far as the style of agricultural buildings is involved, a sufficiency of ornamental work can be easily effected, at comparatively no increase of expense—certainly at a less increase than it is at present done by manual labour. Apart from improved mechanical means now at the command of builders, it has often occurred to us, when examining old Pictish masonry, thatimprovements could be made in the breaking and laying of the stones ia tne wall. The kind of stones used in the old fortified strongholds or castles and buildings to which we more especially refer, is chiefly sandstone. Few of them are larger than what one person could hand to another, and so shapeless in form and irregular in size, as to resemble very closely the rubbish of a quarry, broken-off in forming and dressing the large blocks for hewn work ; and the position of the largest of them is as often lengthways as vertically, instead of being placed in the mould or box lying on their flat sides, and more frequently in the cen- tre of the wall, than on the outside, as seen over doors and windows, and in places where the wall had been broken down by artillery, under a lengthened siege, which it at one time sustained. Towards the outside and inside of the wall, however, thin, small fragments are more in a flat or edge position tranversely. Some say thestones were first placed in the box or mould, and the finely tempered mortar then poured in; others, that the mortar was first poured in, and then the stones sunk in the semi-fluid mass; but we could never reconcile the actual posi- tion of the stone, so far as visible to the eye exclusively, to either of these two plans ; for they evidently indicated rather that both processes had been carried on alternately at the same time—i. ¢., sometimes the one and sometimes the other, in accordance with certain definite rules based upon the peculiar shape and size of the stones. We know from experi- ence that the success of forming a good concrete foundation for a wall, or in fixing gate-posts, and the like, depends, in a great measure, nearly as much upon expedition, as upon the quality of the gravel and mortar ; and we aver that this rule of quick action entered largely into the theory of Pictish masonry, and that it must still be the rule of action in any successful attempt to make concrete walls, whatever may be their dimensions. 7 There was another peculiarity in the experimental lesson which the masonry of the old Pictish castle taught us in early life, relative to the durable quality of the stone. With tewexceptions, the stones for example had been carefully selected, but here and there the end of a sand- stone had given way to the weather, the mortar around it remaining hard and weatherproof to the hand of time. This further shows the reason why the Pictish mason put the smooth straight head of a large stone as often into the interior of his wall as to the outside, and why in putting the stones into the mould he studied the bonding of 372 ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. his work by the position of the mortar rather than by that of the stones. But we aver that something better than Pictish conerete masonry isnow attainable, and at a figure which recommends it to the favourable notice _ of landowner and tenant in many localities at the present time, where brick and stone are either bad, or not to be had at all, unless brought from a distance, such places yielding, at the same time, chalk or gravel, or sand of the finest quality, for artificial store manufacture and build- ing. Almost anybody can fill a long box or trough with sand from an adjoining gravel-pit ; and when once the solution is known, or got from its manufacturer, it takes very little more skill to pour in the solution until it stands to the brim or surface of the sand, so as to run the whole together into a solid rock, layer upon layer, until the chimney-tops are attained in farm-houses and cottages, the top of the walls in buildings for cattle, and the coping of fences. In other cases, the sand or gravel and the solution might require to be incorporated, and then poured into the mould in a semi-fluid state. Thus, the steam-engine could be made to mix and work the mortar in a pug-mill, and then elevate and pour it into the moulds by means of an archimedian screw, so constructed as_ to be put up at different lengths to suit different heights of walls. Such hypothetical data, it is true, may not altogether coincide with the actual line of future progress upon which we are about to enter, but they nevertheless evidently lie in the same direction. Again, artificial stone-roads for carts and horses, carriages, tramways for traction-engines, for steam-cartage and steam-culture, are other purposes that are embraced by our proposition. The ancient Romans made artificial stone-roads of almost incredible hardness and durability, of which we may instance the “ Appian-way,” on which the Apostle Paul appears to have travelled (Acts xxviii. 15), when sent a prisoner . to Rome. Were tramways of such artificial stone as the Appian-way was constructed of, laid down on the principle of railways so as to reduce the gradients to what the traction-engines now in use require, the carrying of manure to the fields and the bringing home of the produce of harvest are works that would soon be realised, and we do not see a valid reason why England in the present boastful age should be behind the “Mistress of the World” in the days of “the Apostle of the Gen- tiles,” or when Horace penned the oft-quoted oracle, ) *‘Rusticus expectat, dum defluat amnis; at a Labiter et labetur.” If there is a reason at all, it must obviously be embraced sortieltay in this same oracle? It ine therefore, that this part of our proposi- tion, like the others, involves es novelty than some old-school opponents to progress may imagine. In short, what we propose is merely an improvement upon the old Roman tramway, because at present urgently demanded by the rapid progress now being made in the application of ARTIFICIAL STONE MANUFACTURE. 373 steam to the cultivation of land and the conveyance of its produce to market. In our animal mechanics, for example, the ground is the fulerum to the foot of the horse and the wheel of the cart, waggon, and traction-engine. The Roman philosophers were better acquainted with this branch of mechanics than we were prior to the age of rail- ways ; hence the economy of muscular power affected by their stone- tramways, and the manifold loss we sustain when our teams are wading to the knees in our soft, sticky clays. About the economy of brute muscle we have hitherto cared less than common sense and our pockets have told us; but now that the steam-horse is puffing in our fields, the outlay in coals and other etceteras is begining to lecture on the subject of economy in another fashion, making the oldest people hear on the deaf-side of the head, and think likewise ; for our wheels are endless levers, and as such they absolutely require something more solid than our plastic clays to work upon,—~. ¢., artificial stone tramways. And, lastly, we have the proposition of artificial stone main-drains and sewers; also the bottoms of open ditches, water courses, and rivers, so as to prevent the washing away of the land, and to carry off the largest quantity of water in the smallest drain or channel and in the shortest space of time. This of itself is doubtless a great subject. In discussing the problem of applying the sewage of the capital to sandy and other open and porous soils some nine or ten years ago, the represent- ative of the “Indurated Stone Company” then offered to make sewers through the different kinds of soil in question, on terms which were highly encouraging both for covered and open work. And there is nothing in the chemical nature of such artificial stones to prevent their being also used for cisterns and ponds to hold water for cattle. On the contrary, they have much to recommend them, so as to obviate the present putrid Water which is proving detrimental to the health of cattle and quality of the milk and meat they yield for our tables. Thus, in opening a. ditch or watercourse through sandy soils, six inches of the sand in the bottom, or any other depth or thickness, can be converted into a solid stone, impervious to water, and more durable than the hardest sand- stone. With regard to moulds and the moulding process, the improvements made in practical mechanics since the days of the Picts and ancient Romans are greatly in favour of our proposition, as the work could now be done at a fraction of the outlay in time, labour, and money which it cost them. Indeed, so great is the balance in favour of modern improvement, that a comparison can hardly be drawn between it and the rude practice of the olden time ; while it may be safely inferred that the progress already made is perhaps further behind the future than the past is behind the present. Our proposition as a whole, it will thus be seen, is not unworthy of a hearing, but the contrary, has many special claims upon the atten- 374 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS tion of the agricultural public at the present time ; nor is its importance confined to them, as the forlorn and ruinous architectural condition of many a provincial town and village proves. And besides their present experience as to inferior and unhealthy houses, the manufacture of artificial stone would afford an immense amount of profitable employ- ment, thereby creating a new stimulus to the other branches of useful industry. In an improvement where the welfare of so many are interested, the benefit gained extends to all classes of the community. THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST, HIMALAYAS. BY DR. J. L. STEWART, CIVIL SURGEON. In proceeding to consider the individual trees and other plants yielding timber and minor products in the Bijnour forest, the preferable arrange- ment of them has been a subject of some perplexity. A botanical arrangement would be too technical and presents no compensating ad- vantages, while on the other hand, an alphabetical catalogue of the native names, though seemingly simple, has great inconveniences, chiefly owing to the varying methods of spelling native words, and the fact that in some cases, several native names are given to the same tree within a few miles. I know of no cireumstance against which, as throw- ing difficulties in the way of our identifying the products of Indian plants and systematizing our knowledge of their properties, botanical writers, from Buchanan and Hamilton to Hooker, have inveighed so strongly, at the tendency of many people to hold fast and swear by native nomenclature with its variations and uncertainties, Any arrangement founded on the nature and uses of the various pro- ducts seems beset with difficulties and inconveniences, and although I can hardly flatter myself that I have hit the juste milieu by arranging the botanical names in an alphabetical catalogue, followed by the re- spective native names, yet this method appears to me to labour under fewer disadvantages than any of the others. I have included in the following list every plant, large and small, known to me in this forest, as yielding timber or any other useful pro- duct whether for home consumption or export, as well as one or two useful trees, &c., which are doubtfully indigenous in it, and a very few plants which from their striking appearance or connection with others which are useful, seem to deserve a place here. The native names are spelt from pronunciation, as nearly as may be according to the system used by Shakespeare, so as to ensure some de- gree of uniformity, the ordinary way of spelling being added in cases Se SS ES | THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY AND CARPETS. To face Page 275. ]. a OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 375 when that differs much from the former. Native names derived from sources other than personal investigation, and in one or two cases native names in common use in neighbouring districts, are given in brackets. To prevent possible confusion the botanical name which has been com- monly used for particular trees is always given, the more correct name where it has on authority been recently altered being inserted in paren- thesis. I have taken considerable pains to attain correctness in regard to the rates of price ; the first price given is that usually charged on the article ere removal from the forest, while the second is the ordinary price at Nujeebabad, the nearest mart. 1. Acacia Arabica, Willd: babdl kikkar. This well-known and use- ful tree is common, planted in the open plain, but 1 am very doubtful if it grows anywhere in those forests truly wild. The timber is never of a large size in these provinces, but being fine grained and tough, it is in: most parts of India much used for building, axles and wheels, and for making charcoal. At Rombay, kneed timbers for ship building are made from it. A gum (babdl ka gond) identical with gum Arabic, issues from its trunk, and its bark is used in tanning and medicine. 2. A. Catechu, Willd: Khair. This tree is or has been abundant along all the minor portion of the forest-belt. It yields a hard, close- grained, heavy wood, which is very durable and is said to turn well. It is valued for plough- shares, axles, pestles, pins, &c., but its special use is for making the crusher (chéiran) of sugar and oil-mills, for which pur- pose it is said to yield to tamarind only. 3 yds. x 2? yd. I/ to 3 rupees. The fact of all the larger trees having been used up, is assigned. as the reason why little or no manufacture of catechu (4athd) from its wood, is carried on, though a great deal for use in dyeing and medicine is made, east of the Ramgunga. 14 seer 1). 3. Acacia elata, Grah : kareo, baron. I doubt if this tree, the timber of which is like that of the siris (No. 5), and is used for wheels, furni- ture, &c., comes outside the Siwaliks. It is common in the Doons, and is a tall, very handsome tree, with smooth, light coloured, greenish grey bark. ; 4. A, ? stron. This tree I only found on the skirts of the outer hills, though it is common in the Doons. It has a lightish grey bark, curiously wrinkled, and its timber is hard, light, and strong, and much valued in some parts of India. 5. A. species: siris. Although this tree grows well when planted in the plains, it does not seem to be truly wild anywhere in the forest. It is rapid grown, dark-barked, smooth-trunked, and wide-spreading, and its heart-wood yields a dark-coloured, hard, and very heavy timber, which is used for building, &c., and being durable and not liable to be attacked by insects, it has been recommended for railway sleepers. 4t yds. +4 yd. 3/. In this district it is frequently used for oil-mills 376 THE TIMBER TREES AND USHFUL PLANTS (kolh&), and the oil is supposed by entering its pores to make it stronger. It is less lasting than sissé (No. 47), and in Baker’s experiments a bar 6 feet long, and 2 inches square broke with 709 lbs. The bark is said to be used for application to hurts of the eyes, and a gum oozes from its trunk, but Iam not aware of its being anywhere collected in quantity. 6. Aigle Marmelos, Corr: bel. Has been very abundant all over these forests, but recently much of it has been cut down for charcoal, for which it is well adapted. It grows to 20-30 feet and is a handsome though small tree, with a light grey smooth bark, and when old a columnar (fluted) trunk. Its flowers have a delicious honey smell, The timber is light coloured, hard, and strong, and is sometimes used for crushers (chtiran) but is said to last only one year. 33 yds, x # yd. —/12. The fresh fruit is used for sherbets, and its dried pulp is much valued and of considerable efficacy i in some forms of bowel-complaint. 1 maund 2/4; 1 1b. —/1. The rind is used in dyeing yellow, and the Dutch in Ceylon are said to have manufactured a perfume from it. 7. Andrachne trifoliata, Rox :? An exceedingly rare tree in the inner part of the forest (and occasional in the Doons). 8. Andropogon involutus, Steud: bhdbar. This grass, which is abundant in this part of the Himalaya and occasional on the skirts of the Siwaliks, appears to furnish almost all the material called bhabar so: largely used for string in these parts. Botanists, from Wallich and Royle downwards have stated this to be the produce of Eriophorum comosum (No. 54), of which, however, apparently only a very small propor- tion of that brought to the plains consists. 1 maund —/8. Dr. Brandis first drew my attention to the probability of the ordinary belief being erro- neous, and subsequent inquiry has shown that the case is as above stated. The string is very coarse, but strong, and although there is great waste in the manufacture, exceedingly cheap. 1 maund2/—. It is well adapted for boat-ropes, the rope-work of bedsteads, and other ordi- nary purposes. Possibly the bhdbar may come into play as a paper material, at least, it is worth the trial, and probably larger quantities of the raw article could be got than of any other fibre that I iene of in this part of the Himalaya. 9. Antidesma paniculatum, Willd : amli mendla (surshoree). Rare outside the hills, timber small and worthless. Its acid fruit (“ thatta mithd”) is eaten, and also applied as a discutient to boils by natives. 10. Bambusa stricta, Rox: béns. All the bamboo of this forest and the neigbouring Doons probably belongs to this species. It forms one . of the most valuable products of the forest, and will be alluded to more fully hereafter. The cut. bamboos are divided into the following kinds, beginning OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. : 377 with the least valuable, in regard to paying the forest rates, and for sale. 2,000 4/8—; 240 1;—. 1. Chaneja, long and thin ; for roofs (chhappar). 2. Lathi, lathichar, thicker, shorter, solid, for walking-sticks and clubs, 3. Bala, similar but much thicker, for sides of bedsteads, &c. 4. Kanerwé, between the two last in thickness, but hollow; for chhappar. 5. Sardicha, much thicker, short, hollow ; for chhappar. 6. Dashatta, similar but much longer. - 7. Bhengi, thickest of all, and less hollow ; for tent and doolie poles, &e. 40 1/;—. In the cavities of the joints of various species of bamboo, as is well known, the curious form of silex called tabasheer (banslochan) is found, It is used in medicine by natives, but appears, from its price, to be rarely formed or collected here. 1 seer 4/ to 6/—. I may mention that the flowering of this species can be by no means uncommon, as each of the three years that I have botanized in or near the Siwaliks I have found a large percentage of the plants in flower. 11. Bassia latifolia, Rox: mahwa, mowd. This tree, if indigenous at all, is so exceedingly rare on the skirts of the Siwaliks, as to be econo- mically valueless. 12, Batis spinosa, Rox: mandd A small tree occurring in some places near the outside of the forest, but, so far as I am aware, no part of it is applied to any special use. 13. Bauhinia parvifiora, Vahl., &e. 14. B. purpurea, L. gérial, kachndr. Both of these small trees are common along the innermost fourth of the forest, and their wood is used for domestic puposes. 12 maunds1/0—. The bark of the latter is said to be employed in tanning, but the buds (4al/z) do not appear to be eaten here, as they are in the plains. 15. B. racemosa, Vahl. malt, maljan. This enormous climber is common only along the inner edge of the forest, close to the hills ; within the latter it is abundant, and here, as in other parts of India, from its bark is extracted by beating and steeping a strong fibre from which ropes are made. The seeds (to@li) are eaten by natives, and said to taste like cashew-nuts. 16. Berchemia laxa, Walleet? dakki, kajet. A small tree, occasional all over, of no special use. 17. Bergera Kenigi, L. gaudela gandt. A shrub, common along the outer and inner edges of the forest. Its aromatic leaves appear to be less frequently used for flavouring curries in this part of India than in the Peninsula. 18. Bignonia Indica, Li. (Calosanthes, Blume) ala fareda (pharkath). A small tree, occasional all over, wood soft, spongy, and useless, In the plains the paper-like wings and the seeds are applied to abscesses. 378 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS. 19. B. suaveolens, Rox: (Stereospermum, D.C.) paddl. A tall tree with a smoothish grey bark, becoming dark, and flaking off irregularly. Common throughout, and furnishes a useful second-rate timber, for planks, small beams, &c. Cart load —/6 ; 44 + 1} yds. 1/8. Its seeds (g&thit) are by the natives poked behind the ears in cer- tain eye-diseases, in domestic medicine. 20. Bombax heptaphyllum, Cav: semal, sembul. This tree, whose enormous buttressed trunk, and in spring its showy red flowers, render it a striking object, is or has been common all over the forest. Its timber is soft, coarse-grained, and not durable, and is mostly used for boxes, planks, hollowed-out tubes, &. 5 x 14 yds. 1/2, Nimchaks for wells are also made of it, and from its lightness it is employed for hollowed-out canoes, which are in use on theSardah and Ganges. It is useful also for floating timber rafts and on the Bombay coast for making fishing-boats. Its flower-buds (s¢mlantd) are cooked with salt and pepper and eaten by natives; 1 maund —/4., and an astringent gum (mochras) which exudes from the bark is collected and exported, being given in medicine for diarrhcea, &c. 1 maund 3/—. 21. Bradleia sp.:? daraula, geya. A small tree occasional in various parts of the forest ; of no special use. 22. Buchanania latifolia, Rox: kath-bhilawa, (maria, piydl.) A small tree with a thick, very Jark bark, tesselated by furrows into small quadrangular pieces, common only along the innermost edge of this forest, but abundant in the outer Siwaliks. Its wood is soft and worthless. The large leaves are used as dishes by the natives. The bark is in some parts of India used in tanning ; and the oily kernel of the fruit appears here as elsewhere to be eaten like almonds in confec- tionery. Inthe Peninsula, a bland oil is occasionally extracted from the kernel. 23. Butea frondosa, Rox: dhdk, dhakka. Inside the forest this gets to be quite a large tree, which it scarcely ever is outside in the plains, but it-does not extend to the innermost part of the belt. 12 maunds 1/—. Exceptas fuel, and as supplying a light charcoal fit for gunpowder, its wood is worthless here, and it appears to be used for building, &c., in those parts of India only where decent timber is ever scarce. Dhék Ke-gond is very similar to gum kino, and is used as an astrin- gent in medicine and indyeing blue. 1 maund —/4; 11 seers1j—. I cannot find that its extraction is in this forest carried on largely, but the _ tell-tale incisions on the trees in many parts show that it cannot be long since it was so. The flowers (kisé tisw) are exported towards Central India to be used (with lime) as a red dye—in the hote powder—and as an external application in medicine. az In some parts of India a large amount of strong rope is manufac- © tured from the fibre of the root- ae, which is here also Oa employed for this purpose. OF THE BIJNOUR FORES. 379 24, B. parvifora, Rox: mendhara (mauld), An immense climber, growing only in the innermost part of the belt. In Southern India, its gum is used medicinally. 25. Cesalpinia sepinaria, Rox: aylan rat. A large thorny climber with showy yellow flowers which occurs in the innermost part of the belt. JI am not aware that it furnishes any useful product. It is called the “Mysore thorn” having been much used by Hyder Ali for the boundary-hedges of his strongholds. 26. Callicarpa incana, Rox: (duya). A large shrub, common in various parts of the forest, and, so far as 1 know, useless. 27. Cannabis sativa, L. bhang. A common weed in all the forest clearings, but appears to be nowhere cultivated, nor is rope made or charras collected from it. Its tops, however, are frequently dried for home-use, as dhang, but this is not nearly so much esteemed as that from the hills, which alone is said to be bought and sold under the Govern- ment license. 2 28. Careya arborea, Rox: kimbh. This tree is not found external to the skirts of the Siwaliks and its wood is here reckoned almost worth- less, except for fuel, as its price indicates, but it is stated to be pretty durable if kept dry (a Bombay authority, however, says “it resists water well”), and being mahogany-coloured and well veined is employed at Monghyr for making ornamental boxes, and in the Peninsula for regi- mental drums. 12 maunds 1/. In some parts of India, a strong, coarse cordage is made from its bark, which here and elsewhere is used for gun- match (ford). 2 yds. 3 pie. 29. Carissa diffusa, Rox: Karounda. A shrub common in many parts, but not in the thickest of the forest. Its fruit is never aught but small, stony, and sour. 30. Casearia tomentosa, Rox: chila (cheela). A small tree whose wood appears to be very little used except as fuel; abundant all over the forest. Its fruit is put into streams and ponds to kill fish, which are said not to be rendered unwholesome by being thus poisoned. 31. C. Hamiltonii, Wall. néro. A shrub rarely found in the inner- most part of the belt. 32. Cassia fistula, L. amaltés, kitwéli, simhaéra. 'Vhe “ Indian labur- num,” conspicuous for its smooth very light grey bark, and fine yellow flowers ; is common all over the forest, especially towards its inner edge, Its timber is worthless, being very brittle, and particularly subject to the attacks of insects. Its bark is used by dyers, 4 seers 1/—, and from the pulp of its fruit (¢alwdli, amaltds) are prepared contection opines and pickle (achar) ; and it is also employed in medicine. 33. Cedrela toona, Rox: tun, toon. But very few specimens of this tree, even of moderate size, ae left in any part of the forest. Old wood 1 maund 4; 24 yds. + yd. + 1 ft. 5, Its timber is light, fine- grained, mahogany-coloured, and when properly seasoned is well known VOL. VI. RR 380 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS as an excellent furniture wood; and on some of the Assam rivers, ad- mirable boats are built from it. Its specific gravity is only 640, and a six feet bar two inches square, was found by Baker to support 800 Ibs. lt is an interesting fact that in the small family to which this tree belongs, there are four others which yield valuable timber, and only one of them, mahogany (Swietenia Mahogani, L.), is extra-Indian. The others are satin-wood (Chloroxylon Swietenia, D.C.) rohunna (Swietenia Sebrifuga, Rox :) and Chittagong wood (Chickrassia tabularis, A. Juss :) all found in the Peninsula, the last also in Eastern India. , 34, Celastrus paniculata, Willd : mdlkagne. This climber which occurs in the inner part of the belt, yields seeds from which is extracted an oil, used as a liniment iri rheumatism. 1 maund /4 ; 13 seers 1/, 35. Celtis Caucasica, Willd. kharak. A tree with grey smoothish bark and curious circular wrinkles ; occasional all over the forest, yielding a soft white wood which is but little valued. 46. Cissampelos Pareira, L. nirbasha. An herbaceous climber, occa- sional in the forest (and abundant in the open plains) whose leaves are applied to abscesses. 37. Citrus Medica, L. nimb& (bijoura). The wild citron, occurs at one or two places in the forest. Its fruit is used for making pickle (khatai). | 38. Cochlospermum gossypium, D.C. (katera, guyra ?]. A small tree with dark grey bark grooved by broad furrows, and with a very large yellow flower which appears before the leaves. This does not extend further outward than the skirts of the Siwaliks. I cannot find that the gum of this tree (katira ka gond) is collected here, and what is sold in the hazaars is said all to be brought from the Kast. 5 seers 1/—. . 39. Colebrookia oppositifolia, Smith ; binda, baiisd. A shrub which is common in the inner part of the forest and occurs all over. Wood, 12 maunds 1/. Its charcoal is (or was) much used for gunpowder. 40. Conocarpus lat¢fulia, Rox: dhdori (bakli). This tree bears a very strony resemblance in general appearance and leaf to Lagerstoemia parviflora so that they are apt to be confused, and in fact frequently are so. This is a handsome, tall tree, with smooth, light grey bark, and is common over all the inner 2 of the belt. Here the timber is in no request and is only used for planks, bedsteads, &c.; but in Central India and the Peninsula generally it is much valued, its chocolate coloured heart-wood in particular being reckoned extremely durable, and-in various places it is used for beams and rafters, cart-axles and naves, _ Cart load—/8 ; 4+14 yd. 2/—. It is said to be considered by the natives superior to almost any timber except teak for ship building. The leaves are used by tanners, and from the bark exudes a gum which is collected here, as ‘elsewhere in India. Here it (dhaori Ka gond) — OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST, ia 381 is chiefly mixed with and sold as the inferior sort of gum of the Odina Wodier. 1 maund —/3; 10 seers. 1/,—. 41. Cordia incana, Royle (Gynaion vestilum, D.C) ktim (peen?) This is no where within my knowledge, a common tree, but occurs occasion- ally throughout the inner part of the forest, butits timber is hard and lasting, and is used for mill work, naves of wheels, &c. 42. C. latifolia, Rox : listra, gaja. A well known, moderate sized tree having smoothish light grey bark with aoe spiral furrows, wahich is not uncommon (planted) in the plains, as well as throughout the forest. Its timber is hard and heavy like that of the last, and is used for oil- mills, and for making the drag by means of which the clods in fields are broken up. 3414 yd. 2/— ; 5 seers. 1/—. Its fruit is used in medicine. 43. Cretava Roxburghii, R. Br: barnd. A small tree common in the inner half of the belt (and occasional, planted in the open plain). It yields no useful product here, so far as I know, although the root, juice, bark, leaves, and seeds of this, or a closely allied species, are all em- ployed medicinally in the Peninsula. 44, Cucumis pseudo-colocynthis, Royle. bislimba. The fruit;of this is collected largely in and near the forest, for usein medicine. It yields a purgation nearly equivalent to our colocynth. 45. Dalbergia lanceolasia, L. bithtia (takold). A fine handsome tree, with a smooth, ash-coloured bark, which flakes off, common in several parts of the forest. Its timber here is said to be almost worthless, but it is reckoned valuable for many purposes in various parts of- the Peninsula, where its seeds, leaves, &c., are used medicinally 46. D. ougeinensis, Rox. (Ougeini dalbergioidis) séndam sanan. This tree which is common in the outer hills, hardly extends beyond them, except in a very stunted and craggy form. Its timber is hard and strong, and very similar to that of its congener Sissu, and is much valued — for wheels, ploughs, furniture, &c. 1 maund —/4; 1x14 yd. 2/. In the Western Presidency a kind of gum kino is collected from it, but I cannot hear of any such product deing known here. 47, D. Sissoo, Rox: susst, sissoo, shisham. Young trees are abundant in the forest, on islands and the banks of streams only. Its well known and excellent timber is seldom long and straight, but is in great request for furniture, building, and gun-carriages, and on the coast for use in the dock-yards. 1 maund —/4; 45 x 14 yds. 5/—. It has a specific gravity of 724, and is very strong, a six feet bar, two inches square, having in Baker’s experiments only broken with 1,104 lbs. It is said to be obnoxious to the attacks of white ants. : 48. Dioscorea versicolor, Wall : (Helmia bulbifera, Kunth), githé. This climber is of considerable interest, as its large tubers furnish the yam which supplies great part of the food of the Boksas when grain is scarce. The plant is common-throughout the forest, and its tubers, which grow 382 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS to several pounds’ weight, are got at by digging from two to six feet. To remove their original acridity, they are always steeped for a night in ashes and water ere being cooked. As a curious instance of the power of vegetation, I may mentionthe following. A piece of tuber about half a pound in weight having been put aside among some specimens, soon after the rains commenced I tound that it had shot out a young stem a foot long through the folds of the paper in which it was wrapped. It was then tied up in a woollen stocking, without a particle of soil, hung up in a verandah, and liberally watered. In six weeks, until it was unfortunately broken off, it sent out, to a length of nearly twenty feet, its climbing stem with abundance of leaves, but without manifesting any disposition to flower. . This species of yam (allied to the common cultivated ratalé of these parts, and to the West Indian yam) is found in many countries within and near the tropics, and it, as well as several of its wild congeners, is used as food in various other parts of India. Its reots were largely eaten by the multitudes of starving poor who were employed on the Mohna pass road in 1861. 49. Diospyros ——, tendi, abnus, This tree, which grows to no great height, and has a dark-coloured bark cut into quadrangular tesselations, by longitudinal furrows and shallow transverse cracks, is not now to be found in large quantity in any part of the forest, and towards the western end appears to be quite extinct. . The Deospyri furnish most of the ebonies of commerce, some of which are in Europe largely used in cabinet work, but mainly only in veneering from their being liable to warp and crack. 1 maund —/3 ; 10 seers 1/—. The heart wood of this species, which is of a fine black colour, and not liable to the attacks of insects, supplies the local manufac- ture of ebony work-boxes, &c., at Nugeena; of which the carving, though rather plain, and perhaps somewhat unvaried, is very neatly executed. Ere a tree is cut down an incision is made into it, to find out if there be much mal, or heart wood, as the outer wood is entirely useless, and this practice, though necessary, doubtless injures many trees. The fruit, which is globular and about the size of a pigeon’s egg, has a sweetish, astringent, and not unpleasant taste, and is eaten by the natives. 50. D. montana, Rox: (urdina?) This small tree, which is still more rare than the last, does not appear to afford any ebony, nor doesit at all resemble the former in appearance, but it is not unlike the Dios- - pyros (D. Lotus?) which produces the amlok fruit of Afghanistan. 51. Ehretia aspera, Rox : chamror kodah. A tree with whitish, very smooth bark, not uncommon throughout the forest. It grows to no great size, nor is its timber much valued. Cart load /6 ; 10 maunds 1/—. OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 383 Goats are fond of its leaves, and the herdsmen (goriyas) chew its bark with catechu as a cheap substitute for the regular pan. I have included under this name more than one of the species of Royle and others, which, as existing here and to the north-west, seem to me, after collecting them in many places hundreds of miles apart, to be only variations of one species. 52.. #. serrata, Rox: panden pind. Uncommon outside the hills, but occasionally planted at villages, I presume on account of its fine honey-scented flowers. Its wood is not valued here, but in some parts of the Peninsula is found to be tough, light, easily worked, and durable, and is much used for sword-belts and gun-stocks. 53. Hmblica oficinalis, Geert: areolé, amla. A well-known small but handsome tree with very smooth ash-coloured bark, common, planted at villages, &c., in the plains, and found all over the forest. Its hard, strong, straight-grained wood is valued for gun-stecks, &c., and is said to _.be particularly durable under water. 43 X 13 yds. 1/2. The leaves, bark, &c., are used medicinally in various parts of India, but the fruit is universally the chief product. It is not edible as plucked, being intensely sour (whence the native name), but is collected all over India for dietetic and medicinal purposes. It is made into pickle (échar) and the soft part dried (dal-donlé) is eaten asarelish. In medicine it is esteemed as a tonic and purgative, being generally administered in the form of “ black salt,” in which it is combined with common and other ‘salts. It is also used for washing the hair, in making ink, and along with some of the other myrobalans and iron filings in dyeing black. 1 maund —/3. In these forests it is gathered about January, and one person will earn about one anna a day selling what he collects to pansaris at one maund for a rupee. 54, Eriophorum comosum, Wall: bhabar. Commonly supposed to yield all the grass for rope so called, and probably does yield part of it, (see Andropegon, No. 8). It grows abundantly on the cliffs of the Siwaliks, as well as outside the forest, on the walls of the Fort at Nujee- babad, &c. 55. Hrythrina suberosa, Rox: doldhak, rimgart. The “coral tree,” easily distinguished by its corky bark with distant wide longitudinal wrinkles, and long prickles on the younger branches, and its fine red flowers which appear before the leaves. Its wood is soft, white, and tough, and is largely used for making the hoops of sieves (chalni he ghera) for which purpose a log is first cleverly split into radiating segments and then each of these into long strips bomventneally. Cart load —/10 ; for 20 sieves —/1. 56. Falconeria insignis, Royle, Khinna. The timber of this small 384 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS tree is occasionally used for domestic purposes, but I hardly think it grows outside the Siwaliks. 57. Feronia elephantum, Corr: kait. Small specimens of this tree, which has a dark bark, very much wrinkled and furrowed, grow in various parts of the forest, and it is not uncommon, planted in the plains, but its timber does not appear to be valued here. It is white, with a tolerably close, even fibre, and in some parts of India is used for doors, rafters, &c. In Bengal a gum is collected from this tree. 58. Hicus caricoides, Rox : anjivt. A small tree resembling the culti- vated fig-tree, common in the open plain, rare in the forest. 59. #. cordifolia, Rox; kdbra, khabar (qujeeon). Bears a strong resemblance to both the pipal (No. 64) and the pilkhan (66). Its tim- ber, like that of all the family, is worthless, its leaves are given to elephants. 60. F. Cunea, Hamit : ‘henna. Common in the lower and outer hills, and occasional at damp places in the forest. Its very scabrous leaves are in the Peninsula used in polishing cabinet-work, and in some parts of India its fruit is employed medicinally. 61. F. glomerata, Roxb : gdlar. This tree, which is common in the open plain, is rare—if wild at all—in the forest. Its fruit is greedily eaten by monkies, and is used in curries, &c., by the natives. Its timber is coarse-grained and brittle, like that of the other figs, but as it does not readily decay under water, it is here (and in Central India) used for well frames. 62. F. Indica, Lin: bargad. The “banyan tree,” revered. by Hindoos as the female of the pipal, is abundant all over the forest. Its leaves are eaten by elephants, and although the timber of the trunk has the faults of that of the family, the root stems are strong aud elastic and used as dandy poles. Each —2/. I have been informed that the red powder on the fruit is used for adulterating the kamela powder (No. 112), but I very much doubt the correctness of the statement. 63. F. oppositifolia, Roxb: gobla. A shrub which is occasional in the forest, and, as far as I know, quite useless. 64, F. religiosa, Lin. pi pal, peepul. Not uncommon throughout the forest, and there very often quasi-parasitical on other trees. Timber worthless. 65. F. Roxburgh, Wal; timla. I do not think this tree extends outside the Siwaliks. Its timber is always small but is occasionally used for domestic purposes. 66. F. venosa, Ait, pilkhan, (pakar). This handsome tree, which is common, planted in the open plain, occurs wild in the forest. Its leaves furnish elephant fodder, and on the Peninsula, a red dye is made from -the root, and bowstrings from the root bark. 67. Flacourtia sapida, Rox bhanber, bilangs A, lad This small 7 OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 385. tree, which has a light-ash-coloured, roughish bark, is, perhaps, less com- mon than in the open plain. In the former I have observed it growing on the pipal, where its seed had been dropped by birds. Its timber is useless, the ripe fruit is edible. ‘ 68. Garuga pinnata, Rox: kharpat. A rather handsome, tall tree, whose old and blackened bark comes away in flakes leaving the fresh ash-coloured below., It is common throughout the inner part of the forest. The timber is little valued, but is used for planks, &. The bark is collected by tanners, and the leaves, which are exceedingly sub- ject to galls, are used as fodder, whence the name shar-pat—grass-leaf. Cart load /5; 44 x /$ yd. 1/2. 69. Glycosmis pentaphylla, Corr., pilila pilrat. A small shrub abun- dant in some places in and outside the forest, and only noted for its sweetly fragrant flowers. Be 70. Gmelina arborea, Rox: kimhadr. 28,583 aie New Granada. j se ee at Op eOO: 107,837 BontosRico oe Se et. 20,026 59,439 Total . : , ; gals, 21 283, 489 19,547,604 Exports since Jan.1,1864, ,, 21 288,499 The following is the quantity exported from other ports from January to December :— a 1864, 1863. From Boston . ‘ . gals. 1,676,307 2,049,431 Philadelphia. ; - 7,760,148 5,595,738 Baltimore. . s 929,971 915,866 Portland ; a otels 70,762 342,082 Total... + wii © gale 10,457,168) 38.705 ee Total export from the U.S. ,, 31,745,687 28,252,721 Same time 1862 . : ‘ ; gals, 10,887,701 Of the exports for 1864, 24,000, 000 gallons were refined, and more than 8,000,000 gallons crude, representing a money value abroad, at the price of two shillings a gallon for refined oil, of about 3,250,000/. in gold. At the current rate of exchange, during the past year, this has given us a purchasing power in European markets amounting to 45,000,000 dollars in United States currency. | Taking the low estimate of 25,000,000 gallons of crude oil for our THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL TRADE. AOL home consumption during the same year, and averaging the price, say at 75 cents. per galion for refined oil, it represents an additional sum of over 19,000,000 dols., besides ‘effecting a saving to the community, by its use, in lieu of more expensive fish and lard oils, of not less than 40,000,000 dols. The exports for the year 1865 will probably not com- pare so favourably with the previous year. The quantity received in the present year will not equal that of 1864, and will probably hardly sur- pass that of 1863. The recent panic among the petroleum stockbrokers of New York, the failure of wells in the producing district and other causes, have conduced to decrease the receipts of the present year. In 1864, the receipts, as compared with the preceding year, were as fol- lows :— | 1863. 1864. Crude ... bbls. 399,341 | Crude ... bbls, 199,942 ir Refined © .::,,/ ,«.. 197,490} Refined .... ... 220,772 r aS ., 59G,6aL| Total | deOia ‘In the same year, 1864, the shipments from Pittsburg eastward by Pennsylvania Railroad amounted to 945,781 barrels. The shipments east and west for the ten months of the same year reached 588,202 bar- rels. The shipments of November and December (the last two months of the vear) were unusually large and would add, perhaps, 100,000 bar- rels to the total. This would give, in round numbers, a total of 800,000 barrels as the shipments of the year. The receipts of petroleum at Pittsburgh, by the river, for the eleven months of 1854, were 208,749 barrels, in addition to 189,870 barrels re- ceived by the Alleghany Valley railroad from February 1 to December 1, and 78,320 barrels received in the bulk-boats and measured outside the city limits, thus making a total of 476,939 barrels. The total receipts at Pittsburgh for each of the last six years have been as follows :— Barrels. Barrels. 1859 as Sia 7,037 | 1862 cae tide 171,774 1860 ake Se 17,161 | 1863 dee wate 175,181 1861 wee eee 94,102 | 1864 ae ase 476,939 It is not possible at the present time to give a correct exhibit of either the receipts or exports of petroleum for 1865. The former pro- bably fall short of the exhibits of both 1863 and 1864. AiS8 The stocks on hand at the beginning of the present year are small as compared with 1863, probably owing more than anything else to the fact that, although the product has considerably increased, the demand for export and consumption has been enhanced in a still greater ratio. The following was a statement of the stock on hand in New York, January 1 1865, and will show the closeness of the demand to the available supply :-— 402 THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL TRADE, STOCK ON HAND AT NEW YORK, JAN. 1, 1865. 1864, 1865. Crude, bbls. : r - ° 7,933 14,512 Refined . : : ' : : 18,718 64,448 Naptha . : ‘ - , : / 417 6,073 Petroleum : ; . ‘ ‘ 100 676 It is a frequently expressed opinion on the part of oil speculators that the oil springs of Pennsylvania are giving out, that they are ex- hausted, and that we must look to other and remote quarters to keep up the supply. Others are confident that the oil wells of Pennsylvania are inexhaustible, and only need to be regularly and properly protected from the influx of water to send up their lucrative fountains for ever. Forty-six thousand nine hundred and eighty-two barrels of crude oil, were received at Baltimore last year from Pennsylvania, and 1,117 from Western Virginia. The supply has now been sufficient to meet the wants of the refiners, but a much larger quantity is expected from Vir- ginia in the present year. There are nine refineries in operation at ‘Baltimore, and three new ones will shortly commence, and their united capacity will be 3,000 barrels a week. The receipts at Baltimore during ~ the last four years were as follows, in barrels :— . Crude. Refined. Total. 1862 le 8818 a 64 oe 18630002 69 AS 696 Mo OOS eo -s e e 1864. 86,467. ih, 978" ee ee 1865 ©... 48/152 4. 2 400° 5. eigae The resources of Pennsylvania are not yet exhausted. Venago County—which produces nearly three-fourths of the oil that comes to our market—still pours forth its golden current of petroleum, if the streams come less copiously than of old, itis not owing to a lack of oil, but the decrease is occasioned by an overflow of water forcing the oi] from its natural beds up into hills and peaks which have not yet been perforated.. Thus an oil well lies in a valley, between two hills, At first the supply is ample. It spouts gallons per minute and barrels per hour. But presently the production decreases, until, at length, it ceases—becomes dried up—altogether. This is owing to a flood of water, rising uniformly through the land forcing the oil on its top; and, as the valley has been bored, it, being the lowest portion of land, is, of course, first deprived of its oil. If more is wanted, of course you must perforate the hills, where according to the same theory, the water, with the oil on its surface, lifts it upwards to the acquisition of man. We hear nothing as to what would happen after all the water was also expended, Is there oil below it, or what will be the nature ace the next product cast up to view ? The usual mode of protection against water is by means “ “seed AMALGAMATION. 403. bags.” These are sacks filled with flax seed, which are sunk around the shaft bore, in the manner of a boot. If the existing oil springs should fail, of course there is no danger that the country or the world will fall short of oil. The article has only been discovered in four or five States, and we have others left wherein to “ prospect” for new discoveries. There is cil in Illinois ; there comes an oily murmur from Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kansas ; oil has been discovered in California.. Young America with his enter- prising caduceus, has smitten the gold-veined rocks of the Pacific coast, and they have spouted forth oil, as did the rocks of Syria to the stroke of Moses’s wand, when his followers were athirst in the desert. The location of oil may be determined only by the geological forma- tion of the ground, but there are many places in the broad compass of the United States where one can dig for oil and dig hopefully. Petroleum may justly be considered as one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed by Providence on man. It increases our national wealth, gives employment to our railroad and shipping interests, and supplies the place of gold as a purchasing medium in foreign markets. Its magnitude cannot be estimated even by the immense amount of capital nominally employed by the large number of companies already organised, which, in our principal cities alone, has already reached the enormous sum of over 500,000,000 dollars, exclusive of a large number ef private companies, whose existence is entirely unknown to the public. Its discovery seems to have been Providential, occurring just at the moment when our whale fisheries were giving out, and when we had but very little cotton or other produce for shipment to meet our obliga- tions in foreign markets. ‘When we consider the enormous and valuable tracts of territory lying in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and many other sections of our country, which are just as likely, judging from existing indications, to be as valuable oil-producing lands as any yet developed, we must admit that the trade in petroleum is but in its infancy, ard that it is destined to become one of the greatest commercial interests in the world. AMALGAMATION. THE ‘Mining Record’ of Victoria publishes the following :—A_ pro- cess which may, we consider, be correctly styled a discovery, has just been patented, by Mr. W. Crookes, the discoverer of the new metal thallium, a discovery of double interest, interesting on account of the singular properties of the body itself, and no less interesting from its VOL. VI. UU TSP ire tan 404 AMALGAMATION; having been effected by the admirable method of spectrum analysis. The patentee, who might safely rest his name on this one discovery alone, is otherwise a chemist of high-standing and accredited ability, so that we may, without restraint, bestow on his proposition at least a res- pectful attention. As might have been anticipated from the repute of its discoverer, the method is, regarding it in the light of a chemical proposition, a sound one—more than this, it actually does in practice what it undertakes to do. The technical problem, the question of its universal fitness, or of its adaptability to particular cases only—these and others of like kind, will all require to be settled by actual trials, and the process, in this sense, must stand or fall according to its own merits. Refraining from all arguments. or commendations, we merely add that we look hopefully towards the method of Mr. William Crookes, because it appears to us to be actually new, very simple, and based on sound chemical principles. The new process consists in the addition of the metal sodium to the mercury used for amalgamation. For the instruction of junior readers it may be explained that sodium is the base of soda, caustic soda con- sisting of water and oxide of sodium, nearly in the same way that the yellow rust of iron consists of water and oxide of iron. Sodium is a silver white metal, rather lighter than water, and so greedy of oxygen that it tarnishes in a second of time when exposed to air ; it is otherwise so oxidizable that it will take oxygen from almost all its compounds. Sodium forms a pasty amalgam with mercury, and a little of this rich sodium amalgam is to be added from time to time to the bulk of the mercury in the amalgamating machine. The addition of this sodium amalgam produces the following results :— 1. The mercury is rendered more greedy of gold. 2. Water is gradually decomposed with evolution of hydrogen, ie preventing oxidation of all metallic surfaces, while the water is rendered alkaline, and what may be called grease-killing. 3. The iron surface in contact with the mercury, the iron basin of an amalgamating pan for example, is actually amalgamated over its whole surface, just as a copper plate would be by contact with pure mercury, and thus the chance of taking up or retaining gold is enormously increased, while the iron, being only amalgamated very superficially, is not rotted and disintegrated as a copper plate would be. 4, Sulphur compounds are decomposed,a sulphide of sodium passing into the solution. Sulpharsenides, as arsenical pyrites, are stated also to be decomposed, both copper pyrites and gray antimony ore in contact with this sodium amalgam afford immediate evidence of decomposition. Whether the pyrites, in common cases and with mills working at the ordinary speed, will be all decomposed, and whether the advantages resulting in practice from this decomposition will admit of expression an dividends, is at present a problem; in short, the merits of this dis- 4 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 405 covery, in the sense of practical results, have yet to be measured; but making this statement, it may be also at the same time fairly stated that the invention appears to be one of the most promising, if not the most promising of all those hitherto submitted to the quartz miner. Sodium was once retailed at twopence per grain, or at the rate of over £58 sterling per pound avoirdupois; it was in those days a philosophical curiosity. From that to the present time it has gradually cheapened ; and, owing to its recent and extensive use in the production of alumi- nium, it has receded in price so as to be quoted at 10s. per pound. We See it even stated that in large quantities it may be had at 5s. per pound —a price which, although doubtless very low, may be quite within the limits of modern means of production. This, then, should enable us to form a basis for our calculations. We are to accept the use of sodium at so much per pound— say at its Melbourne market price, plus royalty or licence ; and we are to find our returns in gold heightened by as much more or less than the money value of the sodium thus used. The experiment on the large scale will demand a skilful, patient, not hasty, series of trials; and the patentee and public, both equally interested in the success of the trial, must alike abide by the result. Srivutific Motes. West AFrricAN Woops.—Notes on some woods sent to the Dublin Exhibition. 1. Black Mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle). This is the large twisted roots or branches of the common mangrove used for boat knees. timbers, &. 2. Yellow Mangrove. This is the straight young trunks and branches of the same tree ; used for house building, poles, supports, rafters, &c. 3. Oroku. This is a fine, hard, dark-coloured, durable wood, much used for floors, ceilings, walls, doors, and cabinet work. 4. Iki. This is a new wood which has not yet been much employed here ; useful for cabinet work. 5, Brimstone Wood. A very serviceable wood, largely used here, principally in building, for floors, partitions, &c. 6. Native Oak: uses somewhat similar to Nos. 3and 5, 7. Unnamed: used by the natives for making canoes, paddles, &c. 8. Similar to No. 7. Paddles are made of it ; not much used. 9. Orupara. This isa fine hard wood, very similar to mahogany. It has never been tried yet, so we do not know its quality. I will send shortly the leaves of these trees for identification. Epwarp J. L. Simmonps, Lagos, Feb., 1865. PRopDUCcTS OF THE VACOA (Pandanus utilis..—In the Mauritius, ex- tensive use is made of the leaves of thistree. With the leaves, bags for packing sugar are made, for which there is a large demand—considering 406 SCIPNTIFIC NOTES. that the export of sugar averages 1,000,000 ewt. a year—into mats for bedding, into hats and baskets; the roots are split for cord to fasten thatch, split it is made into a whitewash brush, and it yields very white and good fibre for cordage. Tur Precious Merats.—We glean the following interesting items from M. Roswag’s new work on the subject, entitled ‘Les Métaux Précieux. From the year 1500 to 1848 America yielded 27,122 millions of francs in silver, and 10,028 millions of frances in gold. These numbers comprise 13,774 millions of silver drawn from Mexico, 43,059 from Peru and Bolivia, 230 from Chili, and 58 from New Granada. As to gold, the share of Brazil was 4,625 millions of franes ; that of Granada, 1,952; of Mexico, 1,341; of Peru and Bolivia, 1,172; of Chili, 862; and of the United States, 76. Europe during the same period only produced 2,330 millions of francs in silver, and 1,600 ditto in gold. Africa yielded 2,500 millions from Guinea. Hence the total quantity of precious metals existing in 1848, including 1,000 millions supposed to exist before 1500, formed a total of 44,578 millions of francs—viz., silver, 30,152, and gold, 14,426. From 1848 to 1857 the stock of metals has been increased by 2,170 millions of francs of silver, and 6,004 of gold. Of the latter, California has pro- duced 2,508 millions, and the rest of America 445. Australia has yielded 1,695, and Europe 733, including. Russia for 678 millions. Asia has contributed 505 millions, and Africa 108. Of silver, Australia has yielded 9 millions; America, 1,827; Europe, 321; and Asia, 22 ; forming a total of 2,179 millions of francs. There consequently exist at present in the world 32,331 millions of francs of silver, and 20,430 of gold. The ratio of gold to silver, which before 1848 was as one to two, is now as two to three. In weight there existed before 1848 about thirty one kilogrammes of silver for every kilogramme of gold; in 1856 this proportion had fallen to less than twenty-four kilogrammes of silver for one kilogramme of gold. Since 1856 the total annual in- crease of the precious metals may be stated at 240 millions of frances of silver, and 500 of gold, being more than double the former. A Califor- nian paper states :—About the year fourteen of the Christian era, the annual product of gold and silver was 5,000,000 dollars, in 1492 it was only 250,000 dollars, in 1853 it was 285,000,000 dollars, and in 1868, 240,000,000 dollars, In the year 14 also the gold and silver in existence is estimated at 1,327,000,000 dollars, and in 1863 at 10,562,000,000, The whole amount of gold and silver obtained from the earth, from the earliest period to the present time, is estimated at 21,272,000,000 dollars. Ho Te HN 01,0 618E 0 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST, HIMALAYAS. BY DR. J. L. STEWART, CIVIL SURGEON. (Concluded from page 391.) 118. Shorea rubusta, Rox: sd, saul, kandar. I shall allude more fully hereafter to this tree which produces the second best timber in India. Outside the Siwaliks it only exists in restricted patches, and does not grow luxuriantly. The timber is reddish coloured, close-grained, even-fibered, and heavy, and is stronger than teak, but is said to be less durable. Sleeper, 1/8 to 2/—. Its sp. gr. is over 1:000 and Baker found a six feet bar two inches square break with 1,238 lbs. With careful seasoning it is ar: invaluable timber for all purposes requiring strength, and excels all others for gun-carriages. Crushers of sugar-mills are sometimes made from it but are said to last only half as long as those made of tamarind. Its bark is occasionally employed by tanners and a resin (rd) exudes from the bark which is burned as incense in Hindoo temples (and in ship-building yards is used as pitch), This resin does not appear to be abundant or to be collected even in the Doons near this, and the bazaars are said to be supplied from “ the East.” 3 Seers 1;—. From the resin, in Shahabad, an aromatic oil (choya) is procured by dry distillation. 119. Srzgium Jambolanum, D. C. jaman, (and a variety jamdwa ?). a tree with a smooth, light coloured bark, common, planted in groves in the open plain for its fruit, and not uncommon in the forest. Its timber is tolerably good, and used for planks, and domestic purposes. 44x} yd. —/8. In Bengal and the Peninsula, the bark is used to dye brown, and in Bombay a gum like kino is extracted from the bark. 120. S. venulosum, Royle ? rai jdman. I hardly think this handsome tree grows outside the Siwaliks so far west as this. . VOL. VI. xX xX 408 _—_. THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS 121. Solanum verbascifolium, L. asega (asheta). A large shrub with curious mealy-looking leaves, which is very rare outside the Siwaliks. In Southern India the plant is cultivated for its berries which are used in curries. 122. Spondias mangifera, Pers.: amdra dmabdra, Rarely found outside the Siwaliks and innermost part of the belt. The timber is worthless. The fruit which is compared to a particularly bad turpentiny mango, is eaten by natives and made into pickle (kahtdi). Various parts of the tree are in the south of India usedin medicine. 123. Sponia Wightii, Planch: Joan (khusarod). A small tree with very rough leaves common but only locally in some parts of the forest and mostly found near streams, To the eastward and in Southern India, the leaves are used instead of sand-paper to polish wood and horn. 124, Sterculia villosa, Rox: uddla. A small tree abundant at some places in the innermost part of the belt. Here, as elsewhere, a strong rope is made from the fibre of its bark, after a process of steeping and beating. In the south of the peninsula, elephant ropes are made of this, and in Bombay the fibre is employed for making bagging. 125. S. Wallichii, G. Don. bodula. Hardly extends outside the Siwaliks. Ropes are made from its bark also. 126. Tamarindus Indica, L.imli. The tamarind tree has properly speaking no business in a list of the plants of this forest as it nowhere grows wild near this, but on account of the excellence of its timber for special purposes it deserves some mention. The tree is well known in cultivation, being grown chiefly on account of the pulp of its fruit which is used both as food, and in medicine. The timber is finely veined, hard, heavy and strong, and is applied to various uses, such as for making naves, clod crushers, door-frames, &c., but is particularly valued as the best and most lasting wood for both parts (churan and kohlu) of sugar and oil mills. Kohlu up to5—. 127. Terminalia Bellerica, Rox: bdhera. A large tree, with bark tesselated by longitudinal and transverse furrows and cracks ; not un- common throughout, and most frequent in the inner part of the belt. The timber is used for planks, &c., but is not valued. Cart load—/5. 44+ /tyds. 1/2. ; The fruit which appears to be a favourite food of the Senmopithecus (langtir) is largely collected, chiefly for use in dying and tanning. 14 maunds, 1/—. The leaves also are employed by tanners, Cart load—/6., and in various parts of India different parts of the tree are used medici- nally. 128. 7. Chebula, Retz : har harré, Not uncommon in the inner part of the forest ; the timber is of no value. The fruit, which here is larger and finer than-that which comes from the hills, is collected for export, to be used in medicine and by dyers. One man will collect one, or one and a half annas worth a day, the OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. _ 409 dealers buying from him at the rate of four and five kKacha maunds for a rupee. 1. 14 maunds, 1/—. 129. Tetranthera apetala, Rox : meda Dies A small tree common all over the forest, timber of no value. 12maunds1/—. The astrin- gent fresh bark is applied to bruises, and it is exported largely for use in medicine. 1 maund—/1 ; 1 to 14 maunds, 1—. 130. T. Roxburghii, Nees. masir (meda lakri). Occasional throughout the forest. There is some confusion about these two species, but I think the medicinal bark has been assigned to its proper source. 131. Trophis aspera, Willd : sionra, kar, chamra. A small, scraggy looking tree, common wild in the open plain and dceasoaa in the forest. Its timber is worthless and here no part of the tree appears to be utilized, but in Southern India its juice is applied medicinally and the rough leaves are used to polish ivory. 132. Typha latifolia, L.: patera. A tall bulrush, abundant in marshy places. Its leaves are collected for the eee of coarse mats (boirya.) Cart-load— 8 133. Ulmus nlegrefolia, Rox : papri (kunju). A fine at and hand- some smooth barked tree, with dark foliage ; sometimes planted in the open plain, and common in the inner part of the forest. Its timber is light, white, and liable to split, and its chief special use here is for making spoons. 43x13 yds. 1/2. In Southern India it is employed for making carts, door-frames, &c. 134. Vitex negundo, L. shamdlu (mewrce). A tall shrub common in the forest as in the open plain. Its wood is too small to be of use, but its twigs are employed for wattling, &. The fruit is said to constitute the medicinal ji/fl bari of the bazaars, and in Southern India various parts of the plant are employed in medicine. 135. Wendlandia cinerea, Dec : pudhara (chilkiyia). A large shrub hardly extending outside the skirts of the Siwaliks. Its timber is said to be useful in carpentry. 136. Wrightia molissima, Wall: duddhi. A large shrub not uncom- — mon (but much of it cut), inthe inner part of the forest. Its wood is white, fine grained, free from knots and easily worked, and is much used by carvers for making bowls, plates, &c. Cart load —/6; 10 maundsl/— The following belong to a genus of which the Indian species are as yet somewhat undecided, but I think I have not gone far astray in ar- ranging them provisionally as follows :— 137. Zyziphus Jujuba, Lam : three varieties. A. jhabert. Small and bushy, one of the most abundant wild shrubs of the open plain and common also in the clearer parts of the forest. Its wood is never large enough for aught but fuel, and its small red fruit is not edible. B. khalis, ghuter, beriand C. hatber (ghuter), both attain a considerable size and are not easily distinguished,. They approximate the cultivated x x 2 410 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS variety of the plant, the fruit of which is much relished by natives. These are common throughout the forest. The timber is tolerably hard and strong, and is made into ckurn-sticks (ved), feet of cots, crushers, wooden shoes for bathing, &c., 10 maunds 1/—. In Southern India it is used for saddle-trees, and has been recommended for sleepers, butif correctly it must attain a much larger size than it does here. Cart load —/10; 3 maunds 1/—. The bark is much used by tanners and lac (/akh) is collected from the tree, to be employed in dyeing. 1 maund 1; 4. 138 .Z. nummularia, Gmel: jhar bari. Very similar to variety a. of No. 137, and found along with it. 139. Z. Oenoplia, Mill, mako, bamolan. Abundant in the open plain, very rare in the forest. Its wood is small and only fit for fuel; the fruit is eaten, and its juice used in medicine. 140. Z. vulgaris, Lam :——-—? A large shrub, occasional in the forest. Besides the forest rates payable to contractors on timber, &e., the produce of certain trees, there are some general rates, such as on each cart load of firewood /4, of charcoal /10, on each rice-pestle (mésal) a half anna, and oneach oar three pice. Though these are apparently of minor importance, the first two probably contribute a considerable part of the revenue derived from the forest. There are only I think two forest exports of commercial value to be mentioned here on which rates are levied, but which not being the pro- duce of any or of special plants, are not included in the above list. These are lime, and wax (with honey). The khera earth from which lime is manufactured pays /3, the lime itself /6, and the limestone peb- bles from which lime is burnt, /4 a load, but there is no reason to sup- pose that any very extensive manufacture of lime is carried on in, or with, materials drawn from, the forest. A good deal of wax and honey ‘is collected, the forest rate paid on the latter being 1/4 and on the for- mer 4/ a man. Gold washing was I believe at one 1ime a source of revenue to the dis- trict, as it was regularly carried on both in the Ramgunga and in the Ganges, the right to wash gold in each being leased. But it was never very remunerative to the washers, and if any gold is got now from the sand of the rivers within the bounds of this district, it must be of vary limited amount. In touching more particularly on some of the members of the pre- ceding list, J may pass over without further remark all the fruits, drugs, dyes, tans and gums, which are yielded by trees and other plants grow- ing here. Nor need I do more than give collectively the names of pla t3 yielding fibre —-: bahar (Nos, 8 and 54), mild (15), bhenwal (72), tasdéré (93), m&nj (113), uddla, (124), and budiila (125), as none of them except the minj, grows or is collected in very large quantity within our limits. Bamboo has an intermediate place, as it can hardly be reckoned a aie OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 411 minor product, nor, though mostly used for construction, is it, strictly speaking timber. The best charcoal for furnaces, &c., is produced by khair (2) and bel (6); behera (128) and ber (138), furnishing a somewhat less valuable article, while the light charcoal of the dhazk (23) and binda (39) was in repute in former days when the manufacture of gunpowder was per- missible. The creed of the natives as to the most important timbers, is.sum- med up in a local rhyme. “+ Sandan, shisham, sona sal Jab chhil hota, nikle 14l.” Which may be paraphrased thus “¢ Sandan, shisham and sél so sound, Redness follows the axe all rouud.” Perhaps as regards redness, strict truth has been here sacrificed to sound, but for quality of timber, it might not have been easy to make a better selection. Unfortunately for the Bijnour forest none of the timber for excellence is produced in large quantity within its limits. Sd (118). The timber of the forests of the N. W. provinces, at some distance outside the skirts of the Siwaliks here as all along this tract for hundreds of miles to the eastward, only exists in isolated strips and patches. .In these the trees never grow to any great size, but appear to be arrested at an early stage of their development, when according to several authorities, they become rotten and hollow without apparent cause. ae In the Bijnour forest there are three principal strips of sal: one in _ the east beyond Kehur, another towards the ceatre in the Burrapoora district, and the third and largest to the westward in Chandee. In the last the trees appear to thrive better than in the other two places, in accordance with what has been observed elsewhere, —viz.: that sdl prefers a high, dry and gravelly site. In these three situations as in other places the tree grows gregariously, and very large numbers of young plants may be observed in some parts, An im- mense proportion of these however must perish from the jungle-fires by which the tall grass is burnt down several times each year, to allow the fresh young herbage to come up for pasture. Whether or not the state- ment be true that the young trees absolutely rot at a certain stage, it is certain that for many years no sd/ larger than to form moderate-sized poles (dalli) have been taken from this forest. The following are the other trees furnishing the. more useful and tolerably hard or strong timbers which are found here ; khair (2), bel (6), tim (33), kim (41), lisdra (42), sddan (46), sist (47), aonla (53), and gau- sam (115). None of these require further notice than has been already given as to their qualities and frequency, except ¢un and sis#. Of the former almost none above the size of the smallest sapling are now to be 412 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS seen in this forest, as the worth of its wood prevents it from attaining any size where anything like indiscriminate felling is allowed. Of sisw there are extensive groves of young trees along the banks of streams and stream-beds and on islands ; just as on the Chandnee chauk islands of the Sardah and along that and other rivers in Oudh this tree grows in great quantity in such places there. But here hardly a tree of any size is to be seen, whether from the fact that the constant shifting of the beds by freshets prevents the saplings from ever attaining full growth, or be- cause they are invariably cut down so soon as they become at all fit for use, it is difficult to say. Probably, both causes unite to account for the phenomenon, but I believe considerable effect must be attributed, to the the latter, seeing that those trees which do escape being drifted away by floods, must, if left alone, attain at least the respectable size of those in the open plain which grow under less favourable circumstauces. At the same time it may be that the inhospitable sub-soil has a peculiarly de- leterious effect on this tree. Just as the climate here outside the Siwa- liks has on the sd. The following are the trees which so far as regards their uses here, must be reckoned of inferior or third-rate quality for general purposes, although some of them are considered valuable in other parts of India. padal (19), semal (20), dhaurt (40), kharpat (68), kumhar (69), beram (81), baklz (83), huldu (90), keim (91), gingan (95), sev (98), Jaman (119), paprt (133), and bert (137). ‘The frequency or rarity of each of these with their qualities, has already been sufficiently noted in the general list. war (80), and duddhi (136), from their colour, texture, and soft- ness, are useful for wood-carving, and dolduk (55), is of value to the sieve-maker. ; The only other timber I need here specially mention is the ebony, tend (49). It is very difficult to get exact information on such a point from natives, but I have no doubt but that this tree is gradually getting worked out in the Bijnour forest, although the manufacture of the boxes, &c., which are made from it is confined to one place (Nugeena) and their sale is by no means actively pushed. Besides the timber and minor products there are two sources of foiest revenue which require notice. One of these consists of the fees for wild elephants caught (50/. on each) which produce several hundred rupees a year, and the other, of grazing fees, which are of considerably greater importance. The grazing-rate charged by the contractors is 10/ a year for 100 cattle, 20/ for 100 buffaloes, and 4/a year for a herd (i. e., as many as are kept under one chhappar) of sheep or goats ; a fee of from one to four annas is also imposed on each hide exported. I have no certain information as to the annual amount that is raised from this source, but it must be very large from the great numbers of cattle which are brought from both hill and plain, especially the former, to graze during the cold season. Their number is at present on the in- OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 413 crease owing to the shutting of some of the Doons. The pahdris who bring their herds down for grazing purposes are mostly from Kumaon, the cause of which is said to be that cattle-raising is there more attended to, while there is less extent of waste land than in Gurhwal. The principal product of this grazing is ghee (fluid butter), which is exported hence to the plains in very large quantities, being bought upon the spot by dealers, Of the 260,000 acres (including a few thousand acres of cultivated land) contained in the Bijnour forest, nearly 70,000 are in private hands. This state of things was partly unavoidable, but the larger pro- portion of the 70,000 acres consists of that part of the Kehur estates which became forfeit after the mutiny. This might still have remained Government property, had we not here done as on the Nepal frontier. though on a very much smaller scale, in giving as rewards to those who doubtless deserved them well but might have been equally well- satisfied with jaghirs elsewhere, land we may one day wish that we had kept. The management of most of the forest which remains to Govern- ment having hitherto been conducted on the plain principle of “ clearing as rapidly and profitably as possible” has been simple enough. The Chandee forest, 7. ¢., the extreme north-west corner of the district lying to the west of the Peelee Kas nuddee, including some outlying spurs of the Siwdliks, and containing some 50,000 acres, has for special reasons been for the last eight or nine years under charge of the Kumaon forest officers, and there all wood cutting has been nominally prohibited, oniy bamboos and minor produce being allowed in the contract. But else- where the system has been that the forest in several segments has been put up to auction annually, the parties leasing it for the year having the right to all spontaneous produce, and being authorised to “ cut and sell” all they can (sdl excepted in one segment). What is realized by them for timber, bamboos, &c., is thus theoretically construed to be the price of these articles, but in reality is levied and considered as a rate or due paid to the contractor, by those who cut and remove timber and collect minor products (or graze cattle) in the forest. It is possible that with the non-capitalist natives who at present generally lease the forest, it might not be easy to work any other system ; but the plan might be tried of letting itin much smaller seg- ments, or, as is said to be the case in Chandee just now, monied men might be found to take the contracts. In either case such rules might be adopted and insisted on as would make the lessees work the forests systematically, so as to ensure not oniy the present but the prospective good of Government, the public, and themselves. The frequent changes of lessees, and sudden annual fluctuations of rent, do not indi- cate a very healthy state of things as to these leases. The amount for which all the forest now in the hands of Government 414 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS has let during the last few years has varied from 15,000, to about 32,000/. The larger amount, however, must be considered quite ab- normal, as in the years approaching to that sum—viz., those immedi- ately succeeding the mutiny, when the forest had had rest and could of course stand a larger drain, not only do the contractors appear to have done their best to rnin it, but some of them also to ruin themselves. The aggregate amount of the contracts is now about twenty to twenty- two thousand rupees, which appears to be nearly what the forest in its present state and on the present system will pay. A tendency to increase of rent for some parts, of late years, chiefly depends on the fact that some of the forests of neighbouring districts have recently been closed, so that there is a greater demand for bamboos especially from these and others which are still open. It is, as yet very doubtful if the bamboos of the neighbouring strip of. Gurhwal and of the Bijnour forest can stand the increased drain. In former years there seems no reason to doubt that each season’s growth of bamboo was equal to supply the annual loss from cutting; except in Chandee, of which the bamboos are immeasurably more valuable than in any other part, and where cutting seems to be more terribly overdone than in the years above alluded to, and it will require a year or two’s further experience to determine whether or not this may be the case, with the present in- creased demand. Inthe eastern and central parts, however, the quantity of bamboo is comparatively trifling, as there the boundary line of the district does not follow that of the skirt of the Siwaliks, beyond which this plant only extends a short distance, but follows the line of the main longitudinal sub-Siwalik road, which runs from Kalee doongee via Chilkiya and Laldhang towards Hardwar. Near Chandee again there is a great deal of valuable bamboo, for it not only contains the outliers of the Siwaliks already mentioned, but this part seems to be peculiarly favourable to the growth of the plant which may be found in some quantity in the rough ground near the Ganges towards Amsot, far outside the hills. It is note-worthy that not only bamboo, which is the most productive item in this forest, but sal, the best timber of the northwest, and teak, the most important timber-tree in India, or perhaps in the world, should all be gregarious in their growth. It were out of my province to enter into much detail as to what I -may conceive to be the best system of management of the Bijnour forest, but there are several aspects of this question which obtrude them- selves so strongly that I cannot quite pass them over. During last cold weather, in trudging on foot many miles through this forest, I could not but see that the great cause of destruction of the young sé and other young trees more or less valuable, arises from the frequent annual conflagrations, which, in their devastating progress, not only burn up the tall harsh grasses, as is intended, but destroy hundreds of tender saplings, as well as scorch up much of the foliage of, and OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 415 thus render unhealthy, many of the larger trees; and I was corrobo- rated in this view by Dr. Brandis when I subsequently met him in the forests of the Doons near this. But as Hooker has truly remarked, “ whether as a retainer of miasma, shelter for wild beasts both car- nivorous or herbivorous alike dangerous to man, or from their liability to ignite and spread destruction far and wide, the grass jungles are most serious obstacles to civilization,’ and they must be kept down somehow, and to these reasons we have to add the still more pressing utilitarian one that the young herbage must be allowed to come up as pasture, especially when we consider that the amount raised from pasture dues probably bears a very large proportion to the forest-rates proper. This is indicated by the fact that a few years since (about 1846) in the Kumaon - Bhabur, the latter exceeded the former by only a few hundred rupees (9,756 to 8,973). It is only perhaps in isolated and special situations, as in the neighbouring small Doons, where the growth of sdl, &c., is really of immense value, that it will pay to exclude the agriculturist and herdsmen altogether, and thus lessen the probability of fires, as well as prevent even the chance of indiscriminate cutting, so making sacri- fice of a present minor advantage for the sake of future gain. At the same time it appears not impossible that means might be adopted to render these forest fires less destructive to saplings and trees than they now are. Another and more practicable improvement which suggests itself is this. If it will in the end bea saving to keep a few men on the Eastern segment of the forest where alone (to the east of Peelee Rao) there is any conservancy establishment, might not similar conservation,—with of course a corresponding restriction of the lease,—be extended to some other places, where if the quantity of sal is much smaller, the establish- ment required would also be less extensive ? And this not with the futile hope of even the third generation hence—(the tree in all probability nowhere attains any very great size in less than several scores of years,) cutting in these extra-Siwalik strips noble sé/s, monarchs of the forest, such as possibly the last generation removed from the outer skirts of these hills, and the present is cutting within them, but merely for guard- ing the saplings till at twelve or fifteen years they be fit to furnish good poles and spars. One isthe more inclined to believe it worth risking the small expense a few men for this purpose would entail, from being aware that some years since many thousands of rupees of sal ballis were in one season cut by a sharp contractor from similar strips in this very forest, and from having seen hundreds on hundreds of sal ballis brought into a neighbouring station near which all sal cutting is “strictly pro- hibited.” . A larger and fully more difficult question remains for discussion. Even if the present system of managing this forest, so as “‘ to clear it as ‘speedily and profitably as possible,” has hitherto been the best possible, 416 THE TIMBER TREES AND USEFUL PLANTS will it henceforth be so? And this includes two subjects cf very con- siderable importance—viz. 1st. does clearing imply that cultivation will follow? And 2nd, apart altogether from the larger and more valuable timber trees, is not the demand for firewood within a few years likely to be such as would warrant some conservancy ? I do not think there is any doubt that within the last few years a great deal of land has under the present system been more or less cleargd, but it by no means follows that the ploughman treads on the heels of the “lumberer.” Iam sorry I cannot give figures applying to the whole forest in this regard but the following may suffice. In the Nujeebabad forest proper, 4. e. roughly speaking from the Khop and the head-waters of the Ganghun to the Peelee Rao and the Ganges, containing about 100,000 acres, there were at the time of the mutiny 4,990 acres cultivated, this year the amount of cultivation is 5,461 acres, and this is five years’ progress in this direc- tion. But still further, what increase of cultivation may have recently taken place within the forest bounds has in almost no case been effected within the the forest proper, when on the contrary within but a few years many villages have become waste. The fact appears to be that any considerable increase of cultivation within the forest bounds takes place in ordinary circumstances along its edges, and as has been before indicated, reasons connected with the physical structure of the tract and the scarcity of water render it almost impossible that it should be other- wise, and for similar reasons the cultivation from the inner edge must always be very limited, here much more so than opposite Kumaon where streams of some size are much more frequent. With these views [ cannot but consider any estimate, such as that given regarding the Chandee and Nujeebabad Forests, of 75 p.c. of ‘cultivable land, as extremely fallacious, though doubtless something like that proportion may be arable in the literal sense of the term. The very Boksas whom it has been the habit to suppose “to the manner born” seem only to have been originally driven to settle within the forest belt by external pressure, and now that pressure has been for many years removed even they tend to leave the intra-forest clearings. ‘Several of these last have within the memory of man been deserted, and almost the only village which has increased in size by immigration is Bergnalla, which is de facto in the Tarai belt outside the forest proper. For many years at least and untilevery acre of available land outside of the dry forest has been brought under the plough, it seems very un- likely that men will voluntarily betake themselves to agriculture on the large scale in this tract where so many difficulties have to be faced. Any large increase of the demand for firewood to be supplied from the Bijnour forest depends on the advance of railways, and in particular -on the not improbable contingeney of a lateral, longitudinal railway line with transverse branches, permeating Rohilkhund within a few years. As illustration of what will take place in such a case, I may OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 417 mention that I have it on reliable authority that between Allahabad and Cawnpore, at the time of the commencement of railway operations, the price of fire-wood was about 9/ a hundred maunds, 7. ¢. a very little over what the price of the same commodity now is at Nujeebabad a few miles outside our forest belt. Mow (1863), the contract price of railway fuel between Allahabad and Cawnpore is 19/ a hundred maunds, 2. e. the railway has more than doubled the rate. From a sufficiently near approach of the railway, a similar result may be expected here, if means are not taken to modify the effects of the increased demand. More knowledge of details than I at present possess, and very pro- bably a year or two’s experience of the effects of such approach, would be necessary in order to determine the best possible steps by which to meet the increased demand for fire-wood. It appears to me however, that in order not only to meet this demand effectually but to lessen the railway expenditure as well as that of the people generally under this head, one feasiblemethod would be to divide off the forestinto manageable segments, in only a certain proportion of which alternately would any wood-cutting or any jungle fires be permitted each year. By some such plan the evils of indiscriminate cutting and trimming, under the impending contingency, might be guarded against. Under the present system of working, the main part of the funds is expended on roads, of which 225 miles are in the Collector's Report, stated to be maintained in and near the forest. Within the limits of the forest there is not much thorough traffic, the only roads crossing it on which any great amount of such traffic exists being that from Kaloo Shuheed (at the mouth of the pass into the Patlee Doon) to Burrapoora, that from Koldwara to Nujeebabad,—and that from (the western) Laldhang to Amsote. On these roads besides the ordinary timber traffic a very considerable amount of merchandize comes from Gurhwal by Koldwara for several months of the cold weather when a depot of Bunyas is in full play there. I have in 24 hours on a November morning, counted 200 men and boys with head-burdens of grain, red pepper, &c., &c., come into Koldwara. ... 2°4 Water, &c., &e.,° ..; etl nee DAD : It is important to remark that these ‘‘foolish” canes grow rapidly in the midst of extensive plantations which overshadow them, and they generally have a tender and uncoloured bark, one of the circumstances most favourable to the predominance of interverted sugar. When the canes, on the contrary, grow regularly and slowly in a field which receives the direct action of light, they hardly ever contain in their middle portion, even when the stems begin to lose their leaves, more than one-tenth of interverted sugar in the whole weight of saccharine matter contained in the juice. This proportion of levulose rapidly diminishes as the cane stem still more disengages itself, unless its growth suddenly assumes an abnormal activity. 5. Having admitted the preéxistence of uncrystallizable sugar in the cane, it becomes important to know the precise nature of this substance, and to determine if it proceeds or follows the formation of the crystal- lizable sugar which is equally found there; or in other words, if, by a process of modification, it gives rise to the former, or if on the contrary, it is not itself a product of the transformation of cane sugar properly so called. The inadequacy of the chemical means at present at command to isolate in a prompt and complete manner these two kinds of sugar with- out changing their original character, will not perhaps, until after a long interval, allow us to formulate the composition of the interverted sugar peculiar to the cane. My own optical experiments made for the pur- pose of appreciating the rotatory power of this substance, have, I am forced to confess, given me as yet but very unceitain results. It can however, be concluded frum these experiments that the liquid sugar of the cane generally turns the plane of the polarising saccharometer to the left; that even this peculiarity is modifiable, and that under certain cir- cumstances it has the property of partially turning to the right, and of not being interverted by the action of diffusive acids, as though it were then formed of a portion of the power of turning to the right, and a portion of the power of turning to the left, which is non-intervertable. Such an interpretation must be admitted in order to explain the contra- dictory indications furnished by the optical examination of the juice obtained from canes containing a high proportion of liquid sugar. When after having directly examined this liquid, and _ inter- verted it, we again submit it to polarised light, it generally happens as I have said above that a deviation to the left indicates a smaller quantity of interverted sngar than what is furnished. by the chemical analysis ; but it also happens that the quantity 1s equal or only a little. VOL. VIL. ‘ ¥-Y 424 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. above that obtained by the direct notation before the acidulation of the juice. The rotatory power of levulose peculiar to the cane, without doubt stronger than that of sugar interverted artificially, is quite sufficient to explain wliat takes place in the first case ; but in the second ease, it -becomes necessary to admit that there exists in the juice a substance with a rotation to the right, which substance is something different from crystallizable sugar, and which is not susceptible of modification by acids. Would not such a substance be the first state into which levulose enters in order to become crystallizable sugar? Without attempting to substi- tute hypotheses for facts, and theory for observation, it seems right to submit such a question as this, when we remember, as I have clearly established already, the predominance of liquid sugar in the cane, the juice of which has not as yet been completely elaborated ; the gradual diminution of this substance in proportion as crystallizable sugar aug- ments ; and finally its continuance so long as vegetation is maintained, and its disappearence when vegetation becomes nearly stationary, and its reappearance when vegetative vigour recommences. Unless we make the absurd admission that the uncrystallizable sugar which, under similar circumstances, exists on the juice of the cane in its full vigour of growth is simply a product of change similar to that which fermentations and acids cause crystallizable sugar to undergo, it is difficult to regard in any other way than I have done, this transformation the phases of which I have described. Aaccording to this hypothesis cane sugar, that which definitely speaking, is found in its totality in the ripe cane, would not originate in the midst of the liquid which moistens the different parts of the vegetable tissue ; but it would be gradually formed at the expense of another body which, being greatly like it, would com- plete its modification under the double influence of vegetation and sun- light. 6. Toresume: I may state that the sugar originally existing in the tis- sucs of the cane differs in many respects from what is extracted from them in the full development and maturity of the plant ; and that it may readily be admitted that the crystallizable prismatic sugar is the de- finite result of an operation which takes place in the formation of glu- cose ; the latter however, is the lost term of an operation which can be produced artificially, while the former on the contrary, can only origi- nate from the vegetable organisation and under the influence of the vital forces. : The processes I have followed in order to determine the nature and the quantity of sugar contained in cane-juice are those which at the present day exhibit the greatest precision, and which are generally employed under such circumstances. In having thus only followed the ordinary methods, I am thereby enabled to spare my readers a description of de- tails which are familiar to scientific men. There is, however, a reagent; ee ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. “B25 which is personal in some measure to me, and which for this reason I take the liberty of remarking on before concluding the present chapter. This reagent is formed by the oxide of copper in solution in a concen- trated solution of caustic soda ; and in its preparation some little care must be taken, without which the dissolution of the metallic oxide is not produced. A cubic demi-centimetre of a weak solution of sulphate of copper is introduced into a glass, upon which is rapidly poured about twenty-five cubic centimetres of soda, at the same time stirring the liquid rapidly in the glass with a small rod ; after decanting it, in order to separate a small quantity of the precipitated oxide of copper, a liquid of a beautiful deep blue is obtained which must be kept from the light. The contact of ammoniacal vapour must be carefully avoided, for any traces of this alkali would completely neutralise the effect produced by the solution. When required for experiment, about the proportion of one-third is added to juice which is thoughttocontaininterverted sugar ; the mixture is then left to itself, and at the end of two or three minutes it changes from deep blue to violet red if there be the most feeble trace of glucose. No other substance existing in cane-juice has the property of producing such a decided change of colour, so that this reagent on account of its sensitiveness, and the great ease with which it may be employed, is very convenient when we wish simply to recognise the presence of interverted sugar in the liquid extract of any plant ; but on account of its instability, occasioned by the slow separation of the metallic oxide, it cannot be used as a means of testing, like the liquid of Frommbherz.* : lil. On otHer OrGANIC MATTERS BESIDES SUGAR. A considerable number of organic substances more or less defined have been pointed out as existing in cane-juice ; but as all of them are far from having the same importance during the operation of extracting the sugar from the cane, I shall at present confine myself to the exami- nation of those only which have a positive influence on the qualities of the juice, reserving the others for some future occasion when they will be made the object of a special study. The basic acetate of lead mixed with the juice generates an abundant precipitate into which is drawn the greatest portion of the vegetable matters besides sugar ; this preci- pitate, as can easily be ascertained, contains also as salts of lead some of those acids found in the juice in combination with its alkaline bases, If _ *This reagent as I showed several years ago, has the property of changing to violet under the influence of the albumenof egg, of blood, and of mostof the liquid products of the animal organisation ; but it remains indifferent when in contact with albumen extracted from the vegetable kingdom, and that which is, excreted in human urine in certain pathological cases. The azotised substances in the cane have notthe power of changing the blue liquid to red; interverted sugar is the only body-capable of producing this transference of colour. Y¥.2 426 ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. the acetate of lead be used to determine the quantity of these organic substances, we must then take account of the difference resulting from the action of this salt on the carbonates, chlorides, and sulphates of the juice ; otherwise we shall be acting on a first product of too high a figure. The basic acetate has been employed; but from the precipitate obtained there has been deducted the weight of the quantity of those insoluble salts carried down at the same time with the vegetable mat- ter. In the general table already given will be found the proportion of such matter for 1,000 grammes of juice from canes taken in different conditions of age, climate, &c., and I have estimated the average at 3°5 thousandths of the weight of the cane-juice. It has also been seen that pressure augments the quantity in the juice, which may thus occasion additional trouble to the manufacturer. Whatever kind of cane be examined, it is always in the uppermost portion that the largest amount of vegetable matters is met with. Those canes which are not com- pletely developed, do not generally contain a larger quantity of it than the ripe canes, if we compare the weight of these substances to that ot the juice, and not to that of the total matters dissolved as some writers on the subject seem to have done. If we group these different materials into three categories, the first embracing what has already been described under the name of granular matter ; the second, the albumen of the juice or that substance capable of coagulation by heat; and the third one, or more azotized substances which can only be ecagulated by alcohol and the metallic solutions, it will be found that they are on the average in the following proportions :— Granular matter . : : : : : 0:287 Albumen . : : 5 : . 0076 Other vegetable subsienieus ; 5 : : 0°637 and as they enter in totality into the juice for thirty-five ten-thousanths it results therefrom that one hundred parts of this liquid contain :-- Granularmatter . : e 3 : 0100 Albumen... - , - ; 0:027 Other vegetable eee ne tent ' ; 0:223 0°350 The albumen found in cane-juice coagulates at about 80° and is pre- cipitated by powerful acids, without being re-dissolved in any sensible manner by an access of the reacting substance. After this albumen, is separated by heat, there remains in the juice a complex organic matter which can be precipitated by alcohol and by the neutral acetate of lead, and which is very soluble in alkalis and acids, and even in tannic acid. Separated and purified by several precipitations in alcohol, this substance is without smell or taste, white, amorphous, without influence on polar- ised light, giving out ammonia wher. heated with lime or potash, and PIMENTO. 427 deliquescent, though only partially re-dissolving after its separat on. Left in water, it furms a disturbed and viscid solution; mixed with sweetened water, it causes it to become equally viscid, and it appeared to me to be the real cause of that viscid consistence which the cane-juice and syrup assume before fermentation. This substance, escaping from the action of the agents used to purify the juice, accumulates in this liquid, and is found in considerable quantity in the syrups. It must, therefore, be considered as one of the chief causes which hinders the extraction of sugar at the second boiling, as it is a powerful obstacle to the regular crystallization of this substance. Complex in its nature, it plays an important part in the manufacture of sugar in the Culonies, and for this very reason it deserves to be studied in a more special manner. I shall presently determine the quantities of it which different kinds of syrup contain. (To be continued.) PIMENTO. Aut the pimento which arrives in Great Britain comes from Jamaica, and is the produce of Huginia pimenta, Dec.—Pimenta vulgaris, Lindl. An inferior species (2. acris) with larger berries, grows in the Island of Tobago, and is occasionally imported into France. Jamaica enjoys a monopoly of this product. Every attempt to carry the seed to St. Domingo and Cuba, and to propagate it there has failed, and though the tree is found in Yucatan, the fruit is not exported thence. The small, dry, reddish-brown berry is sometimes called Jamaica pepper, and often allspice, from its taste and flavour (qualities which reside chiefly in the cortical part of the berry) being supposed to resemble that of a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmegs. Its pro- perties are chiefly due toa volatile oil, The pimento walks are situated in the mountains, on the north side of the island, where the trees grow in hundreds. It is a white-trunked, shapely tree, not unlike in shape and growth an English apple tree, but with a thicker, richer foliage, and dark, glistening leaves, aromatic, like its fruit, and resembling those of the myrtle, to which family it belongs. The trunk is white, because every year the bark strips. Nature seems to have intended that some useful purpose should be served by the bark, but hitherto it has not been made available commercially. The tree blossoms twice, but only bears once a year. The blossom that holds and sets to fruit appears in April. The trees form the most delicious groves that can possibly be imagined, filling the air with fragrance, and giving reality, though in a 428 . PIMENTO. very distant part of the globe, to the poet’s description of those balmy gates which convey to the delighted voyager ‘‘Sabean odours from the spicy shore of Araby the blest, Cheer’d with the grateful smell, old ocean smiles.” The tree grows spontaneously, and seems to mock all the labours of man in his endeavours to extend or improve its growth, not one attempt in fifty to propagate the young plants, or to raise them from the seeds, in parts of the country where it is not found growing spontaneously, having succeeded. ~The usual method of forming a new pimento plantation (in Jamaica it is called a walk) is nothing more than to appropriate a piece of woodland, in the neighbourhood of a plantation already existing, or in a district where the scattered trees are found in a native state, the woods of which being fallen, the trees are suffered to remain on the ground till they become rotten, and perish. In the course of twelve months after the first season, abundance of young pimento plants will be found growing vigorously in all parts of the land, being, without doubt, pro- duced from ripe berries scattered there by the birds, while the fallen trees, &c., afford them both shelter and shade. At the end of two years it will be proper to give the land a thorough cleaning, leaving such only of the pimento trees as have a good appear- ance, which will then soon form groves, and except for the first four or five years, require very little subsequent attention. In July and August, soon after the trees are in blossom, the berries become fit for gathering, the fruit not being suffered to ripen on the tree, as the pulp.in that state being moist and gelatinous, is difficult to cure, and when dry becomes black and tasteless, It is impossible, how- ever, to prevent some of the ripe berries from mixing with the rest, but if the proportion of them be great, the price of the commodity is considerably injured. It is gathered by the hand. One labourer on the tree, employed in gathering the small branches, will give employment to those below (who are generally women and children) in picking the berries, and an indus- trious picker will fill a bag of seventy pounds in the day. It is then spread on a terrace, and exposed to the sun for about seven days, in the course of which it loses its green colour, and becomes of a reddish- brown, and when perfectly dry-it is passed through a fanner, bagged, and is ready for shipment. The term sometimes used to denote the in- gathering of the crop is not picking, but “breaking,” because, with each cluster of berries a portion of the branch is broken off, the tree thriving all the better for the spoliation. The returns from a pimento walk in a favourable season are pro- digious. A single tree has been known to yield 150 lbs. of the raw fruit, or 1 cwt. of the dried spice, there being commonly a loss in weight of one-third in curing; but this, like many other of the minor pe so J NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN TALLOW TRADE. 429 productions, is exceedingly uncertain, and perhaps a very plenteous crop occurs but once in five years. | Before the war with Russia there was a large demand for pimento in that country, fur use in spiced bread, but during the blockade it was fuund that a tree growing on the banks of the Amoor, yielded a bark which, when grated, was pungent enough to supply the pepper, and aromatic enough to yield the spice, and the Russian market was thus lost. Pimento is used as a spice in cooking, and in medicine in weak digestion, to relieve flatulency, &. The dried fruit and flower buds of Myrtus communis were formerly used as a spice, and are said to be so still in Tuscany. Pimento exists in sufficient abundance in many parts of the parish of Hanover, Jamaica, but the price has frequently fallen so low as 1$d. per lb., making it scarcely worth the expense of picking. From Hanover there were shipped 7,100 lbs. in 1855, &,800 Ibs. in 1856, 67,644 lbs, in 1857, and 184,459 lbs. in 1858. In 1850, 1,022 tons of pimento were imported into the United Kingdom ; in 1855, 2,115 tons, of which 1,200 tons were re-exported ; in 1860, the imports were 1,000 tons, and in 1865, 1,279 tons. NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN TALLOW TRADE. BY J. R. JACKSON, A Government Blue Book is not the kind of literature usually taken up to while away half an hour, still less do we see such a book in the hands of railway travellers or upon our drawing-room tables. A Blue Book indeed has an awfully official appearance, and perhaps is little known, except in particular instances, beyond the great commercial circles of London, Liverpool, Manchester, and those towns of smaller repute, but which fraternise with the above busy centres. If we take up the trade reports furnished to the British Government by Her Majesty’s ministers abroad, though we may find an interminable list of figures, we shall also find much interesting matter. In avery voluminous report upon the present state of the trade between Great Britain and Russia recently laid before Parliament, are the following notes upon the Russian tallow _trade, which may perhaps be interesting to the readers of the TEcH- NOLOGIST :— Tallow is one of the principal articles of export from Russia, and in reality conduces more to the prosperity of the country than probably all the manufactures of Russia put together, and yet only one cask of P. Y. C. was deemed worthy of a place at the Exhibition of Russian 430 ~NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN TALLOW TRADE, Industry in Moscow. The only conclusion to be drawn from such an absence of tallow exhibitors, is that the art is still in its rude primitive state, and that no improvements have been made in it that’would secure honourable mention or a medal. Since 1856, Russia has, to a great extent, lost the monopoly of supplying Europe with tallow. The Crimean War stimulated the exportation of tallow from South America and Australia, and at its close the tallow speculators of Russia, still thinking they held the old monopoly, kept up its price artificially, and while in many cases ruining themselves, drove the consumers of tallow still more into other markets. In these, improved processes of melting have been adopted, and particularly in America, greatly to the advan- tage of the important article of commerce, both in quality and in price. The tallow trade of Russia has in the meantime retrogressed. No atten- tion, or very little, has been paid to the improvement of native breeds of cattle, which have been left to the Steppes and the plague. Hundreds of thousands of heads have perished in this way, and the natural con- sequence is that the supply of tallow has been greatly reduced. While the cattle of the Steppes are still being swept off by disease in herds, the peasantry are not able to do much in the direction of improving their cattle, and the want of capital equally prevents the large landed proprietors from introducing a more extensive and improved grazing for cattle. The cattle raised by the peasantry of Russia never gave much tallow, being of the leanest kind, and the murrain has made great havoe even amongst these—the last resource of the tallow-melters. It is, therefore, not a matter of astonishment that the trade of Russia with foreign countries in tallow has fallen to nearly half its former extent, a decrease which is, of course, but little made up by a greater exportation of candles, which amounted in 1864 to 800 tons. The home consumption of tallow has been at the same time on the increase. The manufacture of stearine, tallow, and other descriptions of candles is greatly increasing in Russia, and with it the price of the raw material. . The total quantity of stearine candles produced in Russia is only about 7,250 tons, or about 2,500 tons below the production of France. The total quantity of tallow candles manufactured in Russia is estimated at 95,500 tons. There were only twelve exhibitors of stearine candles at Moscow, of whom three were from Poland. The principal manufactory of stearine candles in Russia and“in the world (the Neosky works, at St. Petersburgh), belongs to an English company. The prices _ ot stearine candles exhibited at Moscow ranged between 7d. and 9d. ~~ = 431 EIDER-DOWN, THE genus Somateria is peculiarly marine. Dr. Sir John Richardson, whose opportunities of observing the northern birds were so great, and so well used, says that the king duck (S. spectabzlzs) and the eider duck (S. mollissima) are never, as he believes, seen in fresh water, their food con- sisting mostly of the soft molluscain the Arctic Sea. They are, he adds, 0 ily partially migratory, the older birds seldom moving farther south- wards in winter than to permanent open water. He states that some eider ducks pass that season on the coast of New Jersey, but that the king ducks have not been seen to the southward of the 59th parallel. Audubon, however, says that in the depth of winter the latter have been observed off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, and that a few have been obtained off Boston, and at Eastport in Maine. The genus is remarkable for the high development of the exquisitely soft and elastic down so valuable in commerce, and so essential to the keeping up of the proper balance of animal heat in the icy regions in- hahited by these birds. | Colonel Sabine meutions the eider duck as abundant on the shores of Davis’ Strait and Baffin’s Bay, but adds that, deriving its food princi- pally from the sea, it was not met with after the entrance of the ships into the Polar Ocean, where so little open water is found. Capt. Lyon saw the eider in Duke of York’s Bay. Capt. Sir James Ross notices vast numbers of the king duck as resorting annually to the shores and islands of the Arctic regions in the breeding season, and as having on many occasions afforded a valuable and salutary supply of fresh provi- sion to the crews of the vessels employed in those seas, Speaking of the eider duck, he says, it is so similar in its habits to the king duck, that the same remarks apply equally to both. In Lapland, N orway, Iceland, Greenland, and at Spitzbergen, the eider duck is very abundant, and it abounds also at Bering’s Island, the Kuriles, the Hebrides and Orkneys. In Sweden and Denmark it is said to be more rare Germany to be only observed as a passenger. Temminck states that the young only are seen on the coasts of the ocean, and that the old ones never show themselves. The down of the king duck is equally excellent, and is collected in great quantities by the inhabitants of the Danish colonies in Greenland, forming a valuable source of revenue to Denmark. A vast quantity of this down is also collected on the coast of Norway, and in some parts of Sweden. The eider duck is found throughout Arctic America, and is said to wander in severe winters as far south to sea as the capes of the Delaware. From November to the middle of February small numbers of old birds are usually seen towards the extremities of Massachusetts Bay and along the coast of Maine. A few pairs have been known to breed on some rocky islands beyond Portland, and M. Audubon found several nesting , and in 432 EIDER-DOWN. on the island of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. The most southern breeding place in Europe is said to be the Fern or Farn Isles, on the. coast of Northumberland. Willughby, quoting Wormius, says that the eider “ ducks build them- selves nests on the rocks and lay good store of very savoury and well- tasted eggs, for the getting of which the neighbouring people let them- selves down by ropes dangerously enough, and with the same labour gather the feathers (eider-doun our people call them), which are very soft and fit to stuff beds and quilts, for in a small quantity they dilate themselves much (being very springy), and warm the body above any others. These birds are wont at set times to moult their feathers, en- riching the fowlers with this desirable merchandize. Willughby also ‘remarks that when its young ones are hatched it takes them to the sea and never looks at land till next breeding time, nor is seen anywhere about our coasts.” This early account is in the main correct; but there are two kinds of eider-down; the live down as it is termed, and the dead down ; the latter, which is considered to be very inferior in quality, is that taken from the dead bird. The down of superior quality, or live down, is that which the duck strips from herself to cherish her eggs. . Its light- ness and elasticity are such, it is asserted that two or three pounds of it squeezed into a ball, which may be held in the hand, will swell out to such an extent as to fill a case large enough for the foot covering of a bed. It is collected in the following manner :—The female is suffered. to lay her five or six eggs, which are about three inches in length and two in breadth. These, which are very palatable, are taken, and she strips herself a second time to supply the subsequent eggs. If this second batch be abstracted, the female, being unable to supply any more down, the male plucks his breast, and his contribution is known by its pale colour. The last deposit, which rarely consists of more than two or three eggs, is always left, for if deprived of this, their last hope, the bereaved birds forsake the inhospitable place; whereas, if suffered to rear their young, the parents return the following year with their pro- geny. The quantity of down afforded by one female during the whule period of laying, is stated at half a pound net, the quantity weighing nearly a pound before it is cleansed. Of this down Troil states that the Iceland Company sold in one year (1750) as much as brought 8301. sterliny, besides what was sent to Gluckstadt. The haunts of birds capable of producing so valuable an article are not unlikely to be objects of peculiar care ; we accordingly find that in Iceland and Norway, the districts resorted to by them, are reckoned valuable property and are strictly preserved. Every one is anxious to induce the eiders to take up their position on his own land, and when they show a disposition to settle on any islet, the proprietor has been known to remove his cattle and dogs to the mainland in order to make ‘ J _ EIDER-DOWN. 433 way for a more valuable stock which might be otherwise disturbed. In other cases artificial islets have been made by separating promontories from the continent ; and these eider tenements are handed down from father to son like any other inheritance. Notwithstanding all this care to keep the beds undisturbed, they are not, as we shall presently see, scared by the vicinity of man, in some places at least. We proceed to give the personal observations of some of those who have visited eider settlements. “ When I visited the Fern Isles,” (writes Pennant, it was on the 15th July, 1769), ‘I found the ducks sitting, and took some of the nests, the base of which was formed of sea plants, and covered with the down. After separating it carefully from the plants it weighed only three- quarters of an ounce, yet was so elastic as to fill a larger space than the crown of the greatest hat. These birds are not numerous on the isles, and it was observed that the drakes kept on those most remote from the setting places. The ducks continue on their nests till you come al- most close to them, and when they rise are very slow fliers. The num- ber of eggs in each nest was from three to five, warmly bedded in the down, of a pale olive colour, and very large, glossy and smooth.” Horrebow declares that one may walk among these birds while they are setting without scaring them, and Sir George Mackenzie, during his travels in Iceland, had an opportunity, on the 8th June at Vidoe, of ob- serving the eider ducks, at all other times of the year perfectly wild, assembling for the great work of incubation. The boat in its approch to the shore, passed multitudes of these birds which hardly moved out of the way ; and between the landing place and the governor’s house it required some caution to avoid treading on the nests, while the drakes were walking about, even more familiar than common ducks, and utter- ing a sound which was like the cooing of doves. The ducks were sitting on their nests all round the house, on the garden wall, on the roofs, nay, even in the inside of the houses and in the chapel. Those which had not been long on the nest generally left it when they were approached; but those that had more than one or two eggs sat _ perfectly quiet and suffered the party to touch them, though they some- times gently repelled the intrusive hand with their bills. But ifa drake happen to be near his mate when thus visited, he becomes extremely agitated. He passes to and fro between her and the suspicious object, raising his head and cooing. M. Audubon saw them in great numbers on the coast of Labrador—where, by the way, the down is neglected— employed about their nests, which they begin to form about the end of May. ‘They arrive there and on the coasts of Newfoundland about the first of that month. The eggs were of a dull greenish-white, and smooth, from six to ten in number. Aububon states that, as soon as incubation has commenced, the 434 EIDER DOWN, males leave the land and juin together in large flocks out at sea. They begin to moult in July, and soon hecome so large as to be scarcely able to rise from the water. By the Ist of August, according to the same author, scarcely an eider duck was to be seen on the coast of Labrador. The young, as soon as hatched, are led by the female to the water, where they remain, except at night and in stormy weather. Sometimes two females deposit their egzs in the same nest, and sit amicably together. Both sexes assist in forming the nest though the female only sits ; but the male watches in the vicinity and gives notice of the danger. This seems to be confirmed by the account given of the nesting place at Vidoe. The skin with the feathers on forms ani article of commerce, particu- larly with the Chinese. M. Audubon is of opinion that if this valuable bird were domesticated, it would prove a great acquisition, both on ac- count of its down and its flesh as an article of food ; and he is persuaded that very little attention would effect this. Indeed, it appears that the experiment was made at Eastport with success, but the greater number of the ducks were shot, being taken by gunners for wild birds. The same author says that when in captivity it feeds on different kinds of grain, and moistened Indian corn meal, when its flesh becomes excellent, Mr. Selby succeeded twice in rearing eiders from the eggs and kept them alive upwards of a year, when they were accidentally killed. The eider duck has been, though with great difficulty, domesticated in a few places in Norway ; it lives there now with the greatest careless- ness, and breeds even in the kitchens of the houses. Norway eider- down, from Tranoé, was shown in the Exhibition of 1862. A special kind of eider-down is collected by the Russians at Nova Zembla and - Spitzbergen, it comes from the Gagka duck. Capt. Beechey, in his account of Buchan’s ‘ Voyage of Discovery to- wards the North Pole,’ states, that on some of the islets in Magdalena Bay on the north-west coast of Spitzbergen, the king ducks were so nunierous that it was scarcely possible to walk without stepping upon their nests; and could we (he says) have divested ourselves of all con- sideration of the young birds, we might have filled several sacks with that valuable commodity, eider-down, of which their nests were com- posed. The down is of that tenacious character that it adheres to every rough substance it touches, and thus effectually prevents the nests being overturned or blown away by strong winds.. The quantity of down re- quired for one of these nests deprives the parent of a great portion of the down upon its breast, which is in consequence left nearly bare for a considerable time ; and it is quite pitiable to observe the condition of those which have probably been obliged to make a second nest. The males may also be seen occasionally with their breasts denuded of down, from their having contributed to the formation of the nests. : PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 435 The following have been the imports of down into the United King- dom in the last ten years, but the official returns do not show how much of it is eider down. Value..- lbs. ae Meson age ee SIT es DOI tna ms aa — era Gi oy, Pane re FES PL er ae wed — BGoe ovo tse. tek DOS eat: ietieen cee 640 SS) ak ES i OO So 337 WSS R SS hig er SUN Oe th ack ea 365 SG e! ei het ta Nga eo omiyy se euey, 393 1s ah aah a Ph oS mea ga 230 ee EE MO OIO ee cee Oe a ee We ee OBO O eo a SOU AG eg ee ni LOL204 oop el ae es ON THE PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. BY J. D. GOODMAN.* From the earliest times there is little doubt but that the smiths of Birmingham were renowned for the production of swords and pikes and other similar weapons, but it was not till the close of the seventeenth century, as we hear from the often quoted Mr. Hutton, that William ITI, at the suggestion of Sir Richard Newdegate, at that time one of the members for Warwickshire, employed certain manufacturers of the town to supply a quantity of arms for the Government service. Macau- lay statesthat in 1685 the population of Birmingham was only four thou- sand, and at that day, he says, nobody had heard of Birmingham guns. Previous to this time England had obtained her supplies from the con- tinent, doubtless chiefly from Liége. The gunmakers of Liége claim for their city the honour of being the most ancient seat of this manufacture. It is stated that in the principality of Liége it dates from the middle of the seventeenth century, when cannon were first introduced. Hand guns were invented about 1430. We Hear of their being brought to England by Edward 1V., when he landed at Ravenspur, in 1471, bring- ing with him 300 Flemings armed with hand guns. The match-lock was an improvement shortly afterwards adopted. This was’ followed by the wheel-lock, which was invented about the time of Henry VIII., and remained without change till the reign of Charles II., when it was superseded by the flint-lock. It was a demand for this gun, a few years later, by William III., that first introduced the manufacture into Bir- mingham. As the following letter may be regarded as the foundation * Read at the British Association, at Birmingham, September, 1865. 426 PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE, of what has grown into one of the most important industries of the town, I make no appology for giving it at full length :-— **FRoM CH. MYDDELTON, OFF, OF ORDNANCE, For their Mats. Rarities to Sr. Roger Newdegate, att Arbury, near Warwick. “‘ These— “ Sr— Pursuant to an order of this Board, We have directed the sending to you by the Tamworth Carryer 2 snaphance Musyuetts of differing sorts for pat- terns, desireing you will please To cause them to be shewed to ye Birmingham Workemen, and upon yor. returne of their ability and readiness to undertake the making and ffixing them accordingly—Or the making Barrells or Locks only, Together wth. the tyme a sufficient Quantity of Barrells can be made in to answer the Trouble and Charge of sending an Officer on purpose to prove the same ac- cording to the Tower proofe which. is the Equall weight of powder to one of the Bullett alsoe sent you and their Lowest price, either for a compleat Musquett ready fixd or for a Barrell or a Lock distinct or together as they will undertake to make them. We shall thereupon cause further direction to be given as sha'l be most beneficiall for their Mats. service with a thankfull acknowledgement of yr. great favour and trouble afforded us herein. ‘* We are, €< Sry: ** Your msot humble servant, “Cu. MYDDELTON.” “* Office of Ordnance, 10th of January, 1689. “¢ J. Gardiner, Jos. Charlton, Wm. Butler.” Note by the late Sir Roger Newdegate, Bart. : — . ‘“ Before, all the guns for the Army were imported from Germany.” The term snaphance used in this letter is derived from the troops who made use of it.I These were a set of marauders whom the Dutch termed “‘snaphans,” or poultry stealers. The use of the match-lock exposed them on their marauding expedition to this inconvenience, that the light from the burning match pointed out their position. They were unable to provide themselves with wheel-lock guns on account of their expense. In this dilemma they formed the snaphance from a study of a wheel- lock. The guns ordered from the Birmingham makers, although re- taining the name, were of course an improvement on the original snaphance, and were no doubt a near approach to the flint-lock of modern times. The first trial of the skill of the Birmingham men having resulted satisfactorily, we find that an order was afterwards transmitted to five manufacturers, Messrs. Wm. Bourne, Thomas Moore, John West, Richard Weston, and Jacob Austin to provide 200 snaphance muskets per month, for which they were to receive, on delivery of each hundred muskets 17s. each, ready money, in one week after delivery in the Tower of London, and that they were to be allowed 3s. for the carriage of every one hundred weight. This document bears date 5th January, 1693. We have little or no information to guide us in tracing the progress of the manufacture till the commencement of the present century, when the military records enable us to ascertain the capabilities of the trade ’ PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 437 at that period, to which I will hereafter refer. Before referring to these figures, it may be interesting to trace the system at present pursued in carrying on this manufacture in Birmingham at the present time. The manufacture of the various parts of the gun, or barrel, lock, &-., are distinct trades. These several parts are collected by the manufac- turer, known as the gunmaker, and by him are set up. The chief branches are as follows :—Stock making, barrel making, lock making, furniture making, oddwork making: and for military guns there are in addition, bayonet making, seit making, rammer making. The stocks are of two kinds—beechwood and walnut. They are brought to Birmingham, cut from the plank into the form of the gun, Beech stocks are grown in this country, chiefly in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. Walnut stocks are, with few exceptions, imported from Italy and Germany. One Birmingham contractor, to meet the demand occasioned by the Crimean war, established saw mills in Turin, and since. that period has converted into gun stocks nearly 100,000 walnut trees. He has left but few sound walnut trees standing in the district in which he carried on his operations. The greater part of the supply was obtained in Piedmont, and smaller quantities from Ferrara, Bologna, | and Modena. An average size tree yields about thirty gun stocks ; those cut from the heart of the tree are most valued, and are used for first-class military arms and the best sporting guns. About one stock in five or six can be obtained “all heart ;” the remainder are “sap and heart” and sap. ; Barrel making is quite a distinct trade. For the manufacture of military barrels a somewhat large plant of rolling, boring, and grinding machinery is required. No barrels are made in England, except in Birmingham and its immediate neighbourhood. The invention of making gun barrels by means of grooved rolls is due to a Birmingham manufacturer of the name of Osborne. It was on the occasion of the strike of the barrel welders that he was led to make the experiment. He was not allowed to introduce his system without Op- position, for no sooner were his rolls set to work, than twelve hundred barrel welders, each armed with his forge hammer, proceeded to the private residence of Mr. Osborne, in the Stratford road, threatening its destruction. The military was called out before the disturbance could be quelled, and for many days afterwards a guard was placed over the mill in which the work was carried on. Gun locks are made in Birmingham, and, on a still larger scale, in the neizhbouring towns of Darlaston and Wednesbury. Furniture, under which head are included the heel plate, trigger guard, &c., is made either of brass for military guns, or cast iron for com- mon sporting guns, or forged iron for the better qualities. ‘The odd work, consisting of screws, pins, swivels, &c., is pro- 438 PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. duced in Birmingham by manufacturers, who make also sundry imple- ments connected with the trade, such as turnscrews, nipple keys, lock vices, &c. The bayonets required for the military trade, form an important branch: they are made in Birmingham and West Bromwich. Thesword bayonet, which has been largely adopted, is generally produced by the same manufacturers, Scabbard making is a distinct branch ; scabbards are of two kinds, steel and leather. On reference to the Birmingham directory of the present year (1865), we find 599 names as manufacturers, engaged in the different branches of the trade. Of these 174 are gun mukers. Of the remainder the greater number are makers of different parts of the gun. Others again are workmen, such as stockers, finishers, engravers, &c. These are of the class who are out-workers, employing a few assistants, and work at the same time for different masters. Gun making or “ setting up,” is again very much subdivided. It is only on the more important Ssiablishincdi that all the branches are carried on on the premises of the gun maker. More or less, outworkers are engaged in every branch. This system makes it extremely difficult to obtain a correct estimate of the number of workmen employed in the trade. Probably no master can tell how many hands he is employing at any given time, and the number varies from month to month with the demand. About ten years ago an endeavour was made to ascertain the number of hands engaged, and as the workmen themselves assisted in the enquiry, it was at the time no doubt a tolerably correct estimate. The number is less than at: the present time, and probably it does not represent more than half the number called into requisition by the American demand during the war. With trifling exceptions, women are employed only in one branch, that of “ making off,” or giving the final sand papering and polish to the stocks, a light and not unsuitable em- ployment. A few women are employed in polishing and barrel boring, It is difficult to say why such work has fallen into their hands, as it is both dirty and laborious. The list of workmen employed estimates the total number at 7,340, Of these 3,420 are engaged in producing the materials, the barrel em- ploying 700, the lock 1,200, the bayonet 500, and so on. Setting up these materials into guns employ 3,920 men. Of these the three chief branches are the stockers, screwers, and finishers. Each of these branches, with its sub-branches, is estimated to employ 1,000 men. The stocker lets the barrel and lock into the stock, and roughly shapes the stock. The screwer lets in the furniture and remaining parts of the gun, and further shapes the stock. The finisher takes the gun to pieces, and distributes the several parts to the browner of the barrel, the polisher, the engraver, &c., &c., and when they are returned he puts the gun to- gether, and finally adjusts the several parts. : PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 439 The out-working system leads to the employment of a considerable number of young boys, who are employed mainly in carrying the work from one to another as it passes through its several stages. No very correct estimate can be given of the rate of wages earned by the workmen in the gun trade. With very few exceptions the work is paid for by the piece, and the rate varies considerably with the demand. During the past ten years there is little doubt but that the wages earned in this trade have probably exceeded those inany other. Several branches require very high skill, and the remuneration is in proportion ; for in- stance, barrel boring and setting, stocking, rifling, lock-filing, &. 60 £0 0 SOT0-0 ag g2 130-0 860-0 GZ1-0 0741p ae ene saliesiexee Cece ccs ccs cee ceccesccsees setae soe seece , Suljiog, pwooes ey} jo Tesns oy} JO UOTJORIZxXe 944 5 : | Toqje evoge yy Jo eonpoid out ‘dnkg ‘puz €900-0 | 800-0 Hei $8 Gt0-0 CoL-0 L¥1-0 | °0F4Ip 3 ree ice cg “ “reeset GUTTLOG, S | qsIy OY} JO resns ey} Jo UoTMovy4x9 94} Db Joye eAoqe oy} Jo sonpoid ayy ‘dnifg 4sf es 2200-0 6300-0 c C6 100-0 SCT-0 COL-0 ‘[eI4gneu eae cite epee soe dhs ose tyme te ep a2 48 UINNOVA au} 0} a A1043eqQ 9} WoIJ YUeS Sul[iog jo JueWMOWW B oy ye pourmexe ules ey} Woy dnaig y, 6800-0 | 2800-0 S 86 200:0°} 791-0. 1; ZOT-0 | “PSR. IL0T | ocg |e "* seme saoge ay} jo some fo) _—— eip| 2h “123 ae qi a © lee SSR BS zeSns =| -ae8ns a[qezty B S = bd S a > 5. A ea pee seiseta @ “d = 2 o @ Ss cS "MINDS OY} JO uOTZeredes 944 oo 5 ° 2 aos = og 2 2. a. © |1oyje Womoved [e1}NoU BYJIM poinjovjnueul st Bs _ cuss SS o A S } OK & Jaoml { ediz pue y4M0x8 [Nz s10q} Ye souO : fea) sO = N : : =| a an z 2 g@ |Te}0, eq} Jo ‘yueo sed avsns = cn =e 3 : Be FT] a6 poy.loaloyur pue o oa < | o © laqeziqteyshuo Jo uoysodoig = o ‘fpsuaq puo aingosodwmay, aups ay2 07 paonpas ‘yr wolf paonposd sdnuhty quasafig 742 pun von ay. um punof suajnu promungp pun suyoy pun swbngy papsoasaquy fo sapyumn® aumpy ay fo vouourwmsajag ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 509 I.—Tuer YirLD oF SuGAR FROM DIFFERENT JUICES. The yield of sugar obtained by the processes used in the colony of Mauritius is necessarily affected in a very sensible manner by its glucose transformation, and it may be generally said that whatever tends to develop-it, concurs doubly to diminish the quantity of saccharine matter to be extracted from the juice; for it not only produces the loss result- ing from the passing of the crystallizable sugar into the uncrystallizable state, but it also introduces into and accumulates in the syrups a matter, the presence of which becomes more and more an impediment to the separation of the sugar which is still found there in considerable proportion. The barrel of juice (247 litres) generally weighs 530 Ibs. at least and 544 lbs. at most. In the first case it contains about 75 lbs. of sugar, and in the second, 121 lbs. on the average; this quantity of sugar may be estimated at 95 lbs. per barrel of the juice—the most usually manufac- tured. All things equal, the proportion of sugar obtained from a barrel of cane-juice will depend not only on the relative richness of this liquid, but also on the various circumstances in which the manufacture may be placed. And as such circumstances admit of considerable modi- fications, it becomes diificult to set down a figure which will represent the general and average yield of the sugar manufacture of the colony. I am, however, able to give, in this respect some particular indications which will allow an appreciation to be formed of the yield of establish- ments placed in the most favourable conditions. For this purpose I cannot do better than simply transcribe the information which has been kindly communicated to me by the Hon. C. Wiehé, the proprietor of one of the finest and best administered sugar establishments in Mauritius. Labourdonnais Sugar Manufactory. The Hon. C. Wiehé and Company ; Riviere du Rempart, January 31, 1865. Average Net | Average | Quantity of sugar of the quantity of |produce of yield per; second and third boilings sugar per bar-| the crop. | acre. /per cent of the sugar of the for 100,000 Ibs. of Average barrels jof liquid molasses rel of juice. first boiling. sugar. Crop. |Ibs.| __ Ibs. Ibs. | Second | Third | Total. 1854 - 55) 80 | 3,008,137 boiling | boiling or sugaror sugar of first of second Syrup. | Syrup. — (og) On ip Or ~J ~] ~J pains Mod oo Go gg oo S =) (ie po 1860—61| 703| 3,422,584 5,415 | Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 1861. -62| 753| 2,047,940 3,250 21 6h 275 1862—63) 754| 3,374,761 4,712 22 64 284 283 1863 --64! 75 | 2,662,924 3,848 25 8 333 | 33% As the results of my own experiments on my estate, La Gaiéte, during the last two years correspond very nearly with the above, I do. not think it necessary to reproduce them. 510 A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS, REDDITCH. Wy are needles made at Redditch? Why should a beautiful and secluded part of the county of Worcester, many miles distant from what are termed the “manufacturing districts,” contain a village, whose in- habitants, one and all, live directly or indirectly by making these little steel. implements? The fact is demonstrable, but the reason is not. The good housewife who mends her child’s pinafore, the milliner who decks out a lady in her delicate attire, the hard-working sempstress who supplies “make up goods” to the shops, the school girl who works her sampler—all, however little they may be aware of the fact, are depend- ent principally ona Worcestershire village for the supply of their needles. Their “ Whitechapel needies” are no longer made at Whitechapel, even if they ever were ; and though they may in some cases seem to emanate from London manufacturers, the chances are that they were made at Redditch. Not that other towns are without indications of this branch of manufacture ; but in them it is merely an isolated feature, while at Redditch, as we shall presently see, needle-making is the staple, the all-in-all, without which, almost every house in the place would probably be shut up; for although there is a fair sprinkling of the usual- kind of workmen, shopkeepers, dealers, &¢., these are only such as are necessary for supplying the yants of the vided entailing population. Itisa strange thing that the Redditch manufacturers themselves seem scarcely able to assign a reason why this branch of industry has centred there, or to name the period of its commencement. Indeed, the early history of the needle-trade is very indistinetly recorded. Stow tells us while speaking of the kind of shops found in Cheapside and other busy streets of London, that needles were not sold in Cheapside until the reign of Queen Mary, and that they were at that time made by a Spanish negro, who refused to discover the secret of hisart. Another authority states that “ needles were first made in England by a native of India, in 1545, but the art was lost at his death ; it was, however, recovered in 1650, by Christopher Greening, who settled with his three children at Long _ Crenden, in Buckinghamshire.” Whether the negro in one of these accounts is the same individual as the native of India mentioned in the other, cannot now be determined, nor is it. more clear at what period Redditch became the centre of the manufacture. There are slight in- dications of Redditch needle-making for a period of two cenhants but beyond that all is blank. A reader, who associates the potteries with the clay dies of N orth Staffordshire, and the smelting works with the coal and iron districts of South Staffordshire, will naturally seek to know whether any features distinguish Redditch which will enable us to assign a probable origin for the needle manufacture there. A visitor, in any degree accustomed to watch the progress of manufactures, looks around him to seek for any arnt © Nak de ¢ 511 BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. A VISIT TO THE VOL. 512 A VISIT To THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS, indications whence he may account for the location of needle-making ; he looks for a stream or canal, or something which may be to the manu- facturer in the relation of cause to effect ; but very little of the kind is seen. Needle-making is nearly all the result of manual dexterity, re- quiring little aid from water or steam power. There are, it is true, a few water wheels employed for pointing and scouring the needles, but Redditch presents no other facilities for this purpose than such as are presented by a thousand other places in the kingdom. In short, there seems to be no other mole of accounting for the settlement of the needle- manufacture in this spot, than that which may be urzed in reference to watchmaking in Clerkenwell, or coach-making in Long Acre. A needle- maker we will suppose—say two centuries ago—settled at Redditch and gradually accumulated round him a body of workmen. A supply of skilled labour having been thus secured, another person set up in the same line. In time, the workmen's children learned the occupation carried on by their parents, and thus furnished an increased supply of labour, which. in its turn, led to the establishment of other manu- facturing firms. By degrees so many needles were made at Redditch, that the village acquired a reputation throughout the length and breadth of the land for this branch of manufacture, and hence it becaine a positive advantage for a maker to be able say that hisneedles were “ Redditch needles.” This train of surmises may perhaps approach pretty nearly to the truth. Let us, however, leave conjecture and proceed to facts. There are in Redditch about half-a-dozen manufacturers who conduct the needle- manufacture on a large scale, and employ a considerable number of persons. Some work in factories built by and conducted under the superintendence of the master manufacturers; while others work at theirown homes. In no occupation, perhaps, is the division of labour more strictly carried out than in needle-making ; for the man who euts the wire does not point, nor dves the pointer make the eyes or polish the needles. Both within and without the factory the same system of division is kept up; for a cottager who procures work from a needle- manufacturer does not undertake the making of a needle, but only one particular department, for which he is paid at certain recognised prices. Many of the workpeople live a few miles distant and come with their work at intervals of a few days, a plan which can be adopted without much inconvenience, since a considerable quantity of these little articles may be packed in a small space. It is, we believe, estimated that the number of operatives in Redditch is about three thousand, and in the whole district of which Redditch is the centre, six or seven thousand, of whom a considerable number are females. ~ The general name of “mills” is given to the needle-factories, each one having some distinctive name whereby it may be indicated. Thus the establishment which we have been obligingly permitted to visit, and ‘ ee as is ? A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS, ‘513 the arrangements of which will be here described, is called the “ British Needle Mills.’ To the British Needle Mills of Messr.. S. Thomas and - Sons, then our visit is directed. _ This factory has been recently constructed, and is situated at one ex- tremity of the village. It consists of a number of court yards or quad- rangles, each surrounded by buildings wherein the manufacture is carried on. The object of this arrangement seems to be to obtain as much light as possible in the workshops, since most of the departments of needle-making require a good light. Some of the rooms in the factory are small, containing only three or four men; while others con- tain a great many workmen, according to the requirements of the several processes of the manufacture. From the upper rooms of the factory, the surrounding hilly districts of Worcesterhire are seen over a wide eatent, wholly uninterrupted by any indications of manufacture or town bustle ; and it is while glancing over this prospect that one wonders how on earth needle-making came to speckle such a scene. The sub-divisions of the factory correspond with those in the routine of manufacture, and we accordingly find that, while some of the shops are occupied by men, others contain only females, and others again furnish employment chiefly for boys. We should surprise many a reader were we to enumerate all the processes incident to the manutacture of a needle, giving io each the technical name applied to it in the factory. The number would amount tosomewhere about thirty, but it will be more in accordance with our object to dispense with such an enumera- tion, and to present the details of manufacture in certain groups, with- out adhering to a strictly technical arrangement. First, then, for the material. It is scarcely necessary to say that needles are made of steel, and that the steel is brought into the state of wire before it can assume the form of needles. The needle-makers are not wire-drawers ; they do not prepare their own wire, but purchase it in sizes varying with the kind of needles they are about to make. We will suppose, therefore, that the wire is brouzht to the needle factory and de- posited in astore-room. This 10oom is kept warm by hot air to an equable temperature, in order that the steel may be preserved free from damp or other sources of injury. Around the wall are wooden bars or racks, on which are hung the hoops of wire. Each hoop contains what is called a packet, the length varying according to the diameter. Perhaps it may be convenient totakesome particular size of needle and make it our standard of comparison during the details of the process. The usual sizes of sewing needles are from No. 1, of which twenty-two thicknesses make an inch, to No. 12, of which there are a hundred to an inch. Supposing that the manufacturer is about to make sewing needles of the size known as No. 6, then the coil of wire is about two feet in diameter; it weighs about 13 Ibs.; the length of wire is about a mile and a quarter; and it will produce forty or fifty thousand. needles. The manufacturer bas 3G 2 514 A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS, a gauge, consisting of a small piece of steel, perforated at the edge with eighteen or twenty small slits, all of different sizes, and each having a particular number attached to it. By this gauge the diameter of every coil of wire is tested, and by the number every diameter of wire is known. A coil of wire when about to be operated upon, is carried to the “ cutting shop,” where it is cut into pieces equal to the length of two needles. Fixed up against the wall of the shop is a ponderous pair of shears, with the blades uppermost. The workman takes, probably, a hundred wires at once, grasps them between his hands, rests them against a gauge to determine the length to which they are to be cut, places them between the blades of the shears, and cuts them by pressing his body or thigh against one of the handles of the shears. The coil is thus reduced to twenty or thirty thousand pieces, each about three inches long, and as each piece had formed a portion of a curve two feet in diameter, it is easy to see that it must necessarily deviate somewhat from the straight line. This straightness must be rigourously given to . the wire before the needle making is commenced, and the mode by which it is effected ig one of the most remarkable in the whole manu- facture. Around the walls of the shop we see a number of iron rings hung up, each from three or four to six or seven inches diameter, and a quarter or half an inch in thickness. Two of these rings are placed upright on edges at a little distance apart, and within them are placed many thousands of wires, which are kept in a group by resting on the interior edges of the two rings. In this state they are placed on a shelf ina small furnace, and there kept till red hot. On beiag taken out at a glowing heat, they are placed on an iron plate, the wires being horizontal and the rings in which they are inserted being vertical. The process of “rubbing” (the technical name for the straightening to which we allude) then commences. The workman, as here represented, takes a long piece of iron, and inserting it between the two rings, rubs the wires backwards and forwards, causing each to roll over on its own axis, and also over and under those by which it is surrounded. The noise emitted by this process is just that of filing; but no filing takes place, for the rubber is smooth, and the sound arises from the rolling of one wire against another. The rationale of the process is this :—the action of one wire on another brings them all to a perfectly straight orm, because any convexity or curvature in one wire would be pressed out by the close contact of the adjoining ones. The heating of the wires facilitates this process, and the workman knows by the change of sound when all the wires have been “rubbed ” straight. Our needles have now assumed the form of perfectly straight pieces of wire, say a little more than three inches in length, blunt at both ends and dulled at the surface by exposure to the fire. Each of these pieces is to make two needles, the two ends constituting the points; and both A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. 515 points are made before the piece of wire is divided in two. The point- ing immediately succeeds the rubbing, and consists in grinding down each end of the wire till it is perfectly sharp. The workman sits on a stool or “ horse ” a few inches distant from the stone, and bends over it tyift CHEM ! 1B : ! i i | i i il THE PROCESS OF “ RUBBING.” during his work. He takes fifty or a hundred wires in his hand at once, and holds them in a peculiar manner. He places the fingers and palm of one hand diagonally over those of the other, and grasps the wires between them, all the wires being parallel. The thumb of the left hand comes over the back of the fingers of the right, and the different knuckles and joints are so arranged, that every wire can be made to rotate on its own axis, by a slight movement of the hand, without any one wire being allowed to roll over the others. He grasps them so that the eud of the wires (one end of each) projects a small distance beyond the edge of the hand and fingers, and these ends he applies to the grindstone in the proper position for grinding them down toa point. It will easily be seen, that if the wires were held fixedly, 516 A’ VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. the ends would merely be bevelled off, iu the manner of a graver, and would not give a symmetrical point; but by causing each wire to rotate while actually in contact with the grindstone, the pointer works equally on all sides of the wire, and brings the point in the axis of the wire. At intervals of every few seconds, he adjusts the wires to a proper position against.an iron plate, and dips their ends in a little trough of water between him and the grindstone. Each wire sends out its own stream of sparks, which ascends diayonally in a direction opposite to that at which the workman is placed. So rapid are his movements, that he will point seventy or a hundred needles, furming one hand-grasp, in half a minute, thus getting through ten thousand in an hour. The reader will bear in mind, that the state of our embryo needle is simply that of a piece of dull straight wire, about 3 in. long (supposing 6’s to be the size), and pointed at both ends. The next process is one of a series by which two eyes or holes are pierced through the wire, near the centre of its length, to form the eyes of the two needles which are to be fashioned from the piece of wire. A number of very curious operations are connected with this process, involving mechanical and manipulative arrangements of great nicety. Those who are learned in the qualities of needles—as that they will not “cut in the eye” and so forth—will be prepared to expect that much delicate workmanship is involved in the production of the eyes, and they will not be in error in so supposing. Most of the improvements which have from time to time been introduced in needle making, relate more or less to the pro- duction of the eye. In the commoner kinds of needles, many processes are omitted which are essential to the production of the finer qualities ; but it will show the whole nature of the operation better, for us to take the case of those which involve all the various processes. After being examined, when the pointer has done his portion of the work to them (an examination which is undergone after every single process throughout the manufacture), the wires are taken to the “ stamp- ing shop,” where the first germ of an eye is given to each half of every wire. The stamping machine consists of a heavy block of stone, sup- porting on its upper surface a bed of iron, and on this bed is placed the under half of a die or stamp. Above this is suspended a hammer, weighing about 30 lbs., which has on its lower surface the other half of the die or impress. The hammer is governed by a Jever moved by the foot, so that it can be brought down exactly upon the iron bed. The form of the die or stamp may be best explained by stating the work - which it is to perform. It is to produce the “gutter” or channel in which the eye of the needle is situated, and which is to guide the thread in the process of threading a needle. But besides the two channels or gutters, the stampers make a per- foration partly through the wires, as a means of marking exactly where the eye is to be. The device on the two halves of the die is conse- A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. 517 quently a raised one, since it is to produce depressions in the wire. The workman holding in his hand several wires, drops one at a time on the bed-iron of the machine, adjusts it to the die, brings down the upper die upon it by the action of the foot, and allows it to fall into a little dish when done. This he does with such rapidity that one stamper can stamp 4,000 wires, equivalent to 8,000 needles, in an hour, although he has to adjust each needle separately to the die. {a is the lower die on which the needles 6 are placed, to be pierced by the points c, guided by the apparatus d.) To this process succeeds another, in which the eye of the needle is pierced through. This is effected by boys, each of whom works at a small hand-press, and the operation is at once a minute and ingenious one. The boy takes up a number of needles or wires, and spreads them out like a fan. He lays them fiat on a small iron bed or slab, holding one end of each wire ia his left hand, and bringing the middle of the wire to the middle of the press. To the upper arm of the press are affixed two hardened steel points or cutters, being in size and shape ex- actly corresponding with the eyes which they areto form. Both of these points are to pass through each wire, very nearly together, and at a small distance on either side of the exact centre of the wire. The wire being placed beneath the points the press is moved by hand, the points descend, and two little bits of steel are cut out of the wire, thereby forming the eyes for two needles. As each wire becomes thus pierced, the boy shifts the fan-like array of wires until another one comes under the piercers, and so on throughout. The press has to.be worked by the right hand for piercing each wire, and the head of the boy is held down pretty * \ 518 A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. closely to his work, in order that he may see to “eye” the needles pro- perly. Were not the wires previously prepared by the stamper, it would be impossible thus to guide the piercers to the proper point, but this being effected, patience, good eye-sight, and a steady hand effect the rest, THE WIRE ‘* SPITTED.” There are several processes about this stage which are effected by boys; some of these little labourers taxe the needles when they have been “ eyed” and proceed to “ spit” them, that is, to pass a wire through the eye of every needle. Two pieces of fine wire, perhaps three or four inches in length, are prepared, the diameter corresponding exactly with the size of the needle eye. These two pieces of wire are held in the right hand, parallel, and at a distance apart equal to the distance be- ‘tween the two eyes in each needle-wire. The pierced needles, being held in the left hand, are successively threaded upon the two pieces of smaller _wire, till, by the time the whole is filled, the assemblage has something the appearance of a fine toothed comb. A workman then files down the bur or protuberances left on each side of the eye by the stamper. It must be borne in mind that throughout all these operations the needles are double ; that is, that the piece of wire, three inches in length, which is to produce two needles an inch and a half long is still whole and undivided, the two eyes being nearly close together in the centre, _ and the two points being at the ends. Now, however, the separation is to take place. The filer, after he has brought down the protuberances _ on each wire, but before he has laid the comb of wires out of his hand, bends and works the comb in a peculiar way until he has broken the comb into two halves, each half “spitted” by one of the fine wires. _ The needles have arrived at something like their destined shape and size, for they are of the proper length and have eyes and points. In the annexed cut (p. 519) we can trace the wire through the processes of change hitherto undergone. But although we have now little bits of steel which might by cour- tesy be called needles, they have very many processes to undergo before A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. 519 they are deemed finished, especially if, in accordance with our previous supposition, they are of the finer quality. Oe ui. 8 (A the wire for two needles; B the same, pointed at one end ; C pointed at both ends; D the stamped impress for the eyes; # the eyes pierced; # the needles just before separation ; d, ¢, /, enlargements of D, #, F. The needles are by this time pointed and eyed, but before they can be brought to that beautifully finished state with which we are all familiar, it is necessary that they should be “hardened” and “ tempered” by a peculiar application of heat. After being examined to see that the preceding processes are fitly performed, the needles are taken to a shop provided with ovens or furnaces. They are laid down on a bench, and by means of two trowel-like instruments spread in regular thick layers on narrow plates or trays of iron. Inthis way they are placed on a shelf or grating in aheated furnace. When the proper degree of heating has been effected, the door is opened and the needles are shifted from the iron tray into a sort of colander or perforated vessel immersed in ‘water — or oil. When they are quite cooled the hardening is completed, and ‘if it has been effected in water the needles are simply dried ; but if in oil, they are well washed in an alkaline liquor-to free them from the oil. 520 A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. Then ensues the tempering process. The needles are placed on an iron plate, heated from beneath and moved about with two little trowels un- til every needle has been gradually brought to a certain desired tempe- rature. We now leave the furnace-room and proceed to one of the upper rooms of the factory, where a multitude of minor operations are con- ducted. The needles have bécome slightly distorted in shape by the action of the heat in the processes just described, and to rectify this they undergo the operation of “hammer straightening.” A number of females are seen seated at a long bench, each with a tiny hammer, giving a num- ber of light blows to the needles ; the needles being placed on a small steel block with a very smooth upper surface. ‘This is rather a tedious part of the manufacture, the workwomen not being able to straighten more than five hundred needles in an hour, a degree of quickness much less than that which we have had hitherto to notice. We leave the tinkling hammers and follow the needles to the only part of the manafacture which involves apparatus other than of a small size. This is the “scouring” process. In one of the lower rooms of the factory are machines looking like mangles, or; perhaps more correctly, like marble-polishing machines, a square slab or rubber working to and fro on a long bench. The object of this process is to rub the needles one against another for a very long period, till the surfaces of all have becume perfectly smooth, clean, and true. This is effected in a curious manner, A strip of thick canvas is laid open in a small hollow tray, and in this a heap of needles is laid, all the needles being parallel one with another, and with the length of the cloth. The needles are then, with soft soap, emery, and oil, tied up tightly in the canvas, the whole forming a compact roll about two feet long and three inches in thickness ; these are placed under the runners of the scouring machines, two rolls to each machine. A steam engine gives to the runners, by connected mechanism, a reciprocating or backward and forward motion, pressing heavily on the rolls of needles, and causing all the needles of each bundle to roll one over another. By this action an intense degree of friction is exerted among the needles, whereby each one is rubbed smooth by those which surround it. For eight hours uninterruptedly this rubbing or scouring is carried on, after which the needles are taken out, washed in suds, placed in new pieces of canvas, with a new portion of soap, emery, and oil, and subjected to another eight hours’ friction, Again and again is this repeated, inso- much that for the best needles the process is performed five or six times over, each time during eight hours’ continuance. This is one of the points in which the difference is shown between various qualities of needles, the length of the scouring being Mice with excel- _ lence of the production, Again we accompany the needles to another part at = factory, A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. 52k being that.which is technically termed the “bright shop,” in which many processes are carried on in reference to the finishing of needles. The needles are examined after being scoured, and are placed in a small tin tray, where, by shaking and vibrating in a curious manner, they are all brought into parallel arrangement. From thence they are removed into flat paper trays, in long rows or heaps, and passed on to the “ header,” generally a little girl, whose office is to turn all the heads one way, and all the points the other. This is one among the many simple but curious processes involved in this very curious manufacture, which surprises us by the rapidity and neatness of execution. The girl sits with her face towards the window, and has the needles ranged in a row or layer before her, the needles being parallel with the window. She draws out laterally to the right those which have their eyes on the right hand, into one heap, and to the left those which have their. eyes in that direction, in another heap. About this time, too, the needles are examined one by one, to remove those which have been broken or injured in the long process of scouring, for it sometimes happens that as many as eight or ten thousand out of fifty thousand, are spoiled during this operation. Most ladies are conversant with the merits of “ drilled-eyed needles,” warranted “ not to cut the thread.” These aie produced by a modern improvement, whereby the eye, produced by the stamping and piercing processes before described, is drilled with a very fine instrument, by which its margin becomes as perfectly smooth and brilliant as any other part of -the needle. To effect this, the needle is first “blued”—that is, the head is heated so as to give it the proper temper for working. Next comes the drilling. Seated at a long bench are a number of men and boys, with small drills working horizontally with great rapidity. The workman takes up a few needles between the finger and thumb of his left hand, spreads them out like a fan, with the eyes uppermost, brings them one at a time opposite the point of the drill, and drills the eye, which is equivalent to making it even, smooth, and polished. He moves the thumb and finger, so as to bring the opposite side of the needles, in succession, under the action of the drill, and thus gets through his work with much rapidity. The preparation of the drills, which are small pieces of steel three or four inches long, is a matter of very great nicety, and on it depends much of that beauty of production which constitutes the pride of a modern needle-manufacturer. We next pass into a large room (see illustration on page 511), where a multitude of little wheels are revolving with great rapidity, some intended for what is termed “ grinding,” and setting the needles, and _some for polishing. The men are seated on low stools, each in front of a revolving wheel, which is at a height of perhaps two feet from the ground, All the wheels are connected by straps and bands, with a steam engine in the lower part of the factory. A constant humming— 522 A VISIT TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS, noise is heard in the room, arising from the great rapidity of revolution among a number of wheels, and it is not difficult for the ear to detect a difference of tone or pitch among the associated sounds, due to differ- ences in the rate of movement. The workman takes up a layer or row of needles, between the fingers and thumbs of the two hands, and applies the heads to the stones in such a manner as to grind down any small asperities on the surface. As the small grindstones are revolving three thousand times in a minute, it is plain that the steel may soon be sufficiently worn away by a slight contact with the periphery of the stone. The grinders and the polishers sit near together, so that the latter take up the series of operations as soon as the former have finished. The polishing wheels consist of wood coated with buff leather, whose surface is slightly touched with polishing paste. Against these wheels the polishers hold the needles, applying every part of the cylindrical surface in succession ; first holding them by the pointed end, and then by the eye end. About a thousand in an hour can thus be polished by each man; and, when they leave his hands, the needles are finished. We have still to see the needles papered, In one of the rooms a number of females are cutting the papers, separating the needles into groups of twenty-five each, and folding them into the neat oblong form so well known to all users of a “paper of needles.” So expert does practice render the workwomen, that each one can count and paper three thousand needles in an hour. The papered needles then pass to another room, where boys paste on the labels bearing the manufacturer's name. Even here there are sundry little contrivances for expediting the process, which would scarcely be looked for by.common cbservers. When the papers have been dried on an iron frame, in a warm room, they are packed into bundles of ten or twenty papers each ; which are further packed in square parcels containing ten, twenty, or fifty thousand needles, inclosed, if for exportation, in soldered tin cases. As a means of judging the bulk of the needles, we may state ‘that ten thousand 6s form a packet about six inches long, three and a half wide, and under two in thickness. Thus have we followed the manufacture'to its close. None but the best needles undergo the whole of ‘the processes enumerated ; but we have wished to give them as a means of estimating the complexity of the manufacture of an article apparently so humble. The arrangements of the “ British Needle Mills,” as to apparatus, Be, i ‘are adapted to the production of two hundred millions of best needles per‘annum. These are startling results, and show that, in considering the seats of manufacture in England, we must not forget to include the ‘remarkable Worcestershire village of Redditch. 523 BOTANY BAY, OR GRASS TREE, GUM. BY THE EDITOR. Turs remarkable resin which is known in different parts of Australia under various local names, as “black boy” gum, grass tree gum, &c., would seem to be obtained trom several species of Xanthorrhea, of which there are six or seven well defined species in Australia. The resin has long been known among druggists as gum acroides. It was generically named by Swartz from its peculiar colour. This resin was first described in Governor Phillips’ voyage to New South Wales in 1788. Mr. Phillips states that it was employed by the natives and first settlers as a medicine in cases of diarrhoea. The resin of X. hastilis as it occurs in commerce sometimes forms masses of con- siderable size, but as it is very brittle, although tolerably hard, it usually arrives in small pieces, and in the state of a coarse powder. Its colour is adeep yellow, with a slightly reddish shade, and considerably re- sembling gamboge, but darker and less pleasing. The colour of its powder is greenish yellow. When chewed it does not dissolve or stick to the teeth, but tastes slightly astringent and aromatic, like storax or benzoin. When gently heated it melts, and when strongly heated it burns with a smoky flame, and emits a fragrant odour resembling balsam of tolu, containing apparently cinnamic acid mixed with a very little benzoin. The quantity of carbazotic acid which this resin yiclds when treated with nitric acid is very great, and it is easily purified. Incidental mention has already been made of this resin (TECHNOLOGIST, vol. i1., p. 25, i11., p. 19, and v., p. 227), but as it appears to be occupy- ing increased attention in Australia just now, some further details respecting it may prove useful. The grass tree is one great characteristic of the scenery and of the vegetation of Australia. It puts one in mind of a tall black native with a spear in his hand ornamented with a tuft of rushes. On the spear is found an excellent, clear, transparent gum, and from the lewest part of the tree oozes a black gum, which makes a powerful cement, used by the natives for fastening stone heads on their hammers. The resin may be obtained in inexhaustible quantities. X. hastilis, Australis, and arborea, seem to be the most generally diffused species. A late Melbourne paper thus speaks of the tree :—‘‘ There are few . who have ever travelled any distance in Victoria but have met with the grass tree, which is to be found in nearly all parts of Australia. Up toa few months ago it was supposed only to bea useless growth encumbering the land. A few knew from the natives that it contained a very tenacious gum. The blacks used it as a glue for joining parts of their weapons, but it is only within the last few months that the following valuable articles have been obtained, after great labour and expense, by a Mr. Dodd, St. Romain’s. The place where Mr. Dodd has erected his 524 BOTANY BAY, OR GRASS TREE, GUM. works to carry on the experiments is situated about eighteen miles in a southerly direction from Colac, and here for some months past experi- ments have been carried on in connection with the grass tree. The root is the portion used in these experiments, and usually weighs from 10 1b. to 50 1b, ~The root is composed of the stems growing in a close mass around the inner portion or kernel. From the outer portion of the gum shellac in large quantities is obtainable ; the refuse contains a large quantity of gas, and can be made available for lighting the works. From the inner portion is extracted, by pressing distilling, a spirit equal to the best brandy ; after distilling, a quantity of saccharine matter remains, from which sugar can be extracted. The present _ supply of grass tree in the neighbourhood of St. Romain’s is computed to be equal to a supply of 600 tons per week for the next ten years. Great quantities of young grass trees abound, which will keep up the supply, and. doubtless cultivation would enlarge the roots.” In a paper which we read before the Society of Arts in 1855, ‘On the Gums and Resins of Commerce,” we entered rather fully into the character and uses of this resin. We therein stated that Capt. Wray, R.E., submitted a report to the local authorities of Western Australia in 1854 on the manufacture of illuminating gas from the Xanthorrhea at one-third the expense of lighting with oil or candles. The plant grows in abundance all over Western Australia, and is composed of a core of hard, fibrous pith, about half of its whole diameter, round which there is a layer of resin, varying from half an inch to one inch or more in thickness, which forms the connexion between the leaves and the core. Between these leaves and also adhering to, and covering them, is a considerable quantity of resin ; resin also exudes in large lumps from the sides of the plant. The method of obtaining the material in the colony for this purpose was as follows :—lIn the first instance, the leaves and resin were sepa- rated from the core by breaking up this plant with an axe and sifting the resin from the leaves, but it was found by experience that as much gas was obtained from an equal weight of the leaves and resin together, as from the resin alone. The quantity of resin obtained from an average sized “black boy” was about 45 lb. weight. This was col- lected easily at the rate of 5 1b. per hour, by a person having for his tools an axe and a sieve. Should the resin be collected for export, I am satisfied that by a proper arrangement of crushers and sieves, a labourer, at 4s. per diem (the colonial rate), could collect at least one hundred weight per diem, enabling the resin to be brought to market, at Freemantle, for 41. per ton, the ton weight meastiring forty-five cubic feet when pressed. The quantity of pure gas obtained by Capt. Wray’s experiments was at least four cubic feet to the pound of resin and leaves, but much more might be obtained by a more complete apparatus. | THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 525 A cart-load of the plants, eight in number, weighed 1,048 pounds. When the core was removed, the leaves and resin weighed 628 pounds. This core is very good fuel wie mixed with other wood. The specific gravity of the gas is 888. The products of the distillation are gas, tar, and coke. The tar obtained was about one quart for every 10 lb., and this, when re-distilled, gave 8 per cent. fluid ozs. of naphtha, and 20 per cent. of a sweet, spirituous, non-inflammable liquor. The coke remaining was about one-quarter of the original weight, and with other fuel burns well. The coke of the leaf has a bright shining appearance, and when ground with oil, is a very good substitute for lamp-black in - paint. The gas has a smell somewhat similar to coal gas, not nearly so offensive, but sufficiently strong to make any escape immediately per- ceptible. Itsilluminating power appears to be very superior to coal gas, aud its light very white. Captain Wray is of opinion that when the production of the gas from the resin of the Xanthorrhea is conducted with suitable apparatus, the cost per annum will be materially reduced, so far, indeed, that the resin may become a large and profitable export from the colony, to places which are not lightedat all, or lighted with oil. The supply is almost unlimited, and even were it not su, it would be advantageous to ges rid of the plant from all the land fit for cultivation. Should it be found, however, that the plant was likely to get scarce, the resin might be ob- tained by tapping. | THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. BY MR. CONSUL-GENERAL CROWE. _ THERE are four species of the shark tribe which inhabit the northern latitudes, viz., the Scymnus borealis, or Squalus glaciales, Selache maximus, Squalus acanthias, and Squalus spinax niger. The Greenland shark, (Scymnus borealis), frequents in numbers the banks which are traced in a line nearly along the whole of the western coast, at distances varying from fifty to one hundred miles from the main; in greater abundance, however, on that portion which line the eoast of Nordland and Finmark, as far as the North Cape, and between the latter and Cherry or Bear Island. They are to be met with, how- ever, all over the North Sea and Arctic Ocean, as well as in most of the large fiords on the west coast, at depths varying from 100 to 200 fathoms. The Norwegian name for this shark is haakiaerring. This fishery, which affords such lucrative employment to the inha- bitants of the northern districts, has not attracted the attention in the 6.3 526 THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. southern part of the country which it deserves, not from the scarcity of fish, but the deficiency of appliances and absence of that experience which is considered necessary to success, A prevailing opinion, how- ever, exists that,if properly prosecuted, it would become equally as lucrative in the south as it has proved to be in the north. Formerly it was exclusively confined to the immediate vicinity of the coast, but of late has been more specially and lucratively prosecuted on the banks, commencing in about latitude 68° to the Nerth Cape, and between that and Cherry Island. The banks are not quite con- tinuous, as occasional breaks or deeps are met with, as well here as further south. These are supposed to be valleys or rifts, like the fissures on the mainland, which now form the deep fiords, and that the banks are simply coutinuations of the mountain ridges or spurs of the same. The vessels employed on this fishery generally range from twenty-five to thirty-five tons, manned with a crew of six men. They lie at anchor on the banks, with 150 to 200 fathoms water, by a grap- nel weighing about two cwt., with a warp about 300 fathoms in length, and from four to five inches in circumference. On the approach of bad weather this warp or line is run up by means of a double purchase, and the vessel put under easy canvas. It is but seldom they are compelled to seek harbour from stress of weather during the fishing season. The warps are occasionally broken, but this is attributed more to the unevenness of the ground than to inclemency of the weather. A box perforated with holes, or a canvas bag containing the re sidium or refuse blubber, after the oil has been extracted by bviling, is attached to the line not far from the bottom, near the grapnel ; glo- bules of oil are found to ooze out, or to percolate through the holes or bag, and to float away in a continuous stream, serving as a decoy, in a similar manner as the cod-roes are applied in France, where they are thrown into the sea as ground-bait to attract the sardines. Led by this stream the sharks are guided to the main bait, which is attached to a thin iron chain, of from ote to two fathoms in length, This is fastened to aline of about the thickness of the stem of acommon tobacco-pipe. Atthe end of the chain the hook is fastened, which is usually of the size of a salmon-gaff, and is baited with some kind of fish, or, what is preferable, about a pound of seal-blubber. The seals from which this blubber is taken are generally caaght at Spitzbergen, and there salted fresh. No kind cf bait appears so effica- cious or so attractive as this, and it throws off readily its fatty particles, which, being carried to a considerable distance, form a trail to the bait, which the fish greedily take, if of blubber, but it has been obseryed ‘not so readily if the blubber is at all rancid. Five barrels of blubber is considered necessary for the season, and appears to be the average quantity used’ by each vessel. - a= @F =”. as .. ae THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 527 On hooking the shark, he is hauled to the surface of the water by the aid of a single purchase. Each vessel is furnished with four of these, two on each side. The line, being small, is only calculated to bring the fish to the level of the water; his nose is then hauled a little above the surface, a smart blow is immediately struck, by which he becomes stunned. A large hook at the end of a pole, attached to a strong tackle, is then driven into the fish, and by this means he is hoisted on deck. The belly is cut open and the liver taken out ; a hole is then made in the stomach for the purpose of inflating it with wind, which done, the hole is again tied up, the fish got into the water and permitted to float away. The stomach, being inflated, prevents the fish sinking, and soon drifts out of sight. By being kept afloat, the fishermen imagine that — the carcase cannot injure the fishing grounds. The length of the fish varies from 10 to 18 feet. The value depends upon the size, quantity, and quality of the liver, which yields from one-half to two barrels, or from fifteen to sixty gallons of fine oil each. This shark is also caught nearer the coast, as far as the Waranger fiord. It does not, however, commence until the coal fish or sey fishery (the Merlangius Carbonarius) is finished, which is generally about the end of September. It is then continued through the winter, until the end of February, with deep-sea lines, in so-called “ femborings ” (five- oared open boats), manned by five men. These boats usually lie at anchor by a strand-rope made out of spun hemp. At the end of this a chain ten fathoms in length is attached, proportioned to the size of the rope, which connects it with the grapnel. This chain is, at the same time, secured to one of the claws by a smaller but strong piece of rope, which is fastened to the shank of the grapnel as well, so that, in case of need, it can be weighed by the claw. The lines used for this fishery are what are called Hane lines, of such a thickness that fifty fathoms weigh rather better than four pounds. The hooks are mostly home-made, of hardened steel, ten inches in length, with a curve of four inches in diameter. The bait preferred is either porpoise or seal-blubber. The hook is attached to a chain of about one fathom, and the line with which this is zonnected, is served with sailcloth and twice with twine, to the extent of three fathoms, as a preservation against the line being cut after the fish has been hooked, as it sometimes happens. Here, likewise, a box with holes or a bag is sunk, as on the bank- ~ fishery, containing blubber, for the purpose of forming a trail. This is suspended about ten fathoms above the bait. The line is retained on the finger, and, as soon as the man feels that the bait has been touched, he gives a sharp jerk in order to fix the hook more firmly in the jaws of the fish. Some skill and experience is re- quired to effect this at the proper moment, as the fish no sooner finds VOL. VI. 3 H -§28 THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. himself caught than he spins round the line, and it is on these occasions that the line is liable to be severed by the sharp edges of the skin. The greatest celerity, at the same time, is requisite in hauling the fish to the surface, in order to check this rotatory movement. When the fish has been brought to the surface and alongside the boat, he is despatched by asharp blow on the nose from a club, which must always be at hand ready for the occasion. The belly is then cut open, and the liver extracted, which done, a hole is made in the stomach, as described above, and the carcase allowed to float away, or, if near the land, is towed to the shore. It happens not unfrequently on these occasions that several sharks come to the surface of the water in the wake of the one hooked, and swim round the boat, and are caught by means of a swivel hook fixed to a long gaff which each boat is furnished with. They are then secured by a hook and strong line to the stern of the boat until they can be hauled alongside. The result of a fishery carried on in open boats depends greatly on the wind and weather. When a boat’s crew obtain from two to four barrels of liver, they are satisfied. Under favourable circumstances, however, they obtain from seven to eight ; and if, during the course of the winter they can get from forty to fifty barrels, the catch is esteemed a good one. Besides the liver, when the fish can be towed to the shore, the flesh is converted into food for the cattle, when a scarcity of dried fish-heads, which are prepared for that purpose, arises, _- : It is occasionally used also for human food, but then as “ rakling,” which is prepared by being cut up into long strips and wind-dried in the open air, or buried in the ground until partially decomposed, when it is taken up and prepared in a peculiar manner, so as to become edi- ble and fit for human food. It requires, however, an Arctic stomach to digest it. The basking shark, (Selache maximus), another of the genus, the largest of sea-fish, is found all along the coast from Ryvarden, latitude 59° 31’ 35", up to Finmarken; but in some localities it has become more rare than in others. This important and remunerative fishery was, a century ago, totally unknown. We first hear of its being carried on in the north of Norway, in the. district of Namdal, round Hitterden, and as far south as Nordmér, about the year 1760. In tae southern parts of the country it was at the same time pursued with great avidity and perseverance, and with such success as for a series of consecutive years to form the staple and chief support of the inhabitants of the districts in which it was carried on. Of late years, however, this shark has either been driven away from his then favourite haunts in the south, or their numbers have so far decreased as to diminish the importance it had for years maintained. The increased herring fishery which immediately followed fully compensated the decline. This shark differs from his fellows in not being a voracious fish ; consequently, is neither to be enticed nor caught by the same kind of bait, or mode of fishing as pursued with the Scymnus borealis, but = ve er THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 529 rather that followed with the whale. About the last of the dog days, when the water and weather is at its highest temperature, this shark makes his appearance on the coast, when the fishery immediately com- miences. Large open boats are generally employed, from thirty-seven to forty-two feet in leneth, each boat being manned by four men, and furnished with harpoons similar to those used in harpooning the stur- eon. 7 The harpoon is attached to a line proportioned to the depth of water on the ground selected, which usually is from 300 to 400 fathoms. This rope lies cviled up in the bow of the boat. Thus equipped, the fishermen, selecting a light breeze and warm weather, cruize about under a triangular sail, near the mouth of the fiords the fish are in the habit of seeking. They are generally found lying perfectly still near the surface, apparently basking in the sun, and slowly to follow in the wake of the boat as soon as discovered, the large fin on the back standing prominently above the surface of the water, in- dicating his presence and movements. The fishermen imagine, from his following the boat, that he is de- coyed to the surface by the small triangular sail, which he mistakes for the fin of another fish. Certain it is that, whatever the temptation may be, the fish follows closely the boat, without being disturbed for a con- siderable time, although sometimes carrying a stiff breeze. When the fish approaches close enough, the harpooner, watching his opportunity, urges his harpoon as deep into the body of the fish as he is able. Then arrives the perilous moment, as the fish no sooner feels the weapon than he dives with great celerity. Everything must be clear to allow the line to run out freely; and it does so with such rapidity as to require one of the men to be incessantly pouring water on the swivel over which the line traverses, to prevent its igniting. Should the line unfortunately catch any projecting piece of wood, or meet with any impediment, the boat is inevitably capsized. Or, should either of the men, through carelessness or accident, be caught by the line round the leg or arm, which has occasionally happened, he gets hauled down by the fish. Another man, therefore, always stands ready with an axe tocut the line; but when such an accident does occur, generally both man and fish are lost.. When the fish has reached the bottom, he proceeds along it, continuing to drag the boat with him, until his strength becomes exhausted. A lean fish holds out longer than a fat one, and will sometimes con- tinue dragging for four and twenty hours ; while a fat one generally gets tired out in three or four hours. When thoroughly exhausted, the fish is hauled up to the surface, alongside the boat, and with a long sharp knife, the fin is instantly cut off to prevent his striking, as a blow would readily smash the boat. He is then speared until quite dead. Before commencing to extract the liver, the fish is fastened by sun- dry ropes to the mast and turned, when one of the men, provided with a long knife for the purpose, opens the fore part-of the belly, which enables him to take out a large piece of the liver. He then insinuates his arm in, and separates all the fibres and integuments, so as effectually to release the liver, which operation requires carefully to be performed. Whencompleted, the stomach is ripped up from end to end. The liver then floats out, the belly fills with water, when the fish is cast adrift and immediately sinks. The liver is then taken into the boat, and the fishery is concluded. 530 THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. ™ The size and fatness of the fish vary considerably. The prevailing size varies from thirty to thirty-five feet. They have been caught as long as forty feet, but this is now a rarity. Young fish are never ‘met with; they doubtless keep in deep water until of mature growth. The size of the liver depends greatly on the condition of the fish. They usually render from five to seven barrels of liver, occasionally as much as from ten to sixteen. Instances even have been known when as much as twenty-four barrels have been obtained from a single fish ; but this is of very rare occurrence. When the liver is rich, six barrels will produce five barrels of oil of thirty gallons each to the barrel. No other part of the fish is utilized. Of the remaining species of the shark tribe, there are only two besides the foregoing, which are of any importance on this coast. The one is the picked dog fish, Sgualus acanthias, and which in former times, was in great abundance along the whole coast from Gothenburg, and afforded lucrative employment to the fishermen. At present the fishery is carried on during the whole of the summer from the Naze to North Cape, in the fiords, as well as along the coast. This is a ravenous fish, and is caught in various ways. About mid- summer he is observed to swim near the surface, and cao then be taken in nets, as well as with lines, precaution being taken to protect the line by proper serving for a short distance beyond the hook, to prevent its being bitten off. This fish is eaten sometimes fresh, but must be skinned before being cooked. It is, however, mostly smoked, and in this way it is considered ~ rather a delicacy. It is also dried as split stockfish for consumption in the country, as well as for export to Sweden, where it is greatly appre- ciated. The yolk of the egg, which is about the size of a pigeon’s egg, is used by the inhabitants as a substitute for other eggs in their domes- tic economy. The skin is employed by joiners and turners for polishing purposes. The liver is exceedingly rich, and makes a very fine oil. The other species is called in Norway the kulp or haatorsk (Squalus spinax niger), and is the smallest of the shark tribe. It is met with in all the deep fiords along the coast, where it com- mits great mischief by nibbling off the baits from the deep-seaflines which ~ are set out for the ling and the torsk (Brosmus vulgaris). Lines with single hooks are never laid out to catch this fish ; but at the end of the summer and autumn—and, in some fiords, all the year round,—instead of a single hook, they employ ten to twelve, placed one above the other, which they bait with half decayed, or tainted fish. The depth of water selected is from sixty to a hundred fathoms. As the “ kulp” is a sluggish fish, bites lightly, and is small, some ex- perience is requiredto know when he bites, and he is secured on the hook, especially if there is any wind. ‘The line, however, is not brought up each time the bite is felt, as there are many hooks ; a simple tug is given at every supposed bite. The fish, being once hooked, generally remains quiet, as you usually find eight or ten fish caught when the line is drawn up. As this fish comes in shoals and takes the bait freely, an experienced skilful fishermen will occasionally, during a single night, obtain a rich booty. The kulp will not bite during the day. It is not eaten, but soughtafter exclusively for the liver, which is unusually rich, and yields a very superior kind of oil. M,GOWAN AND DANKS, GREAT WINDMILL STREET, HAYMARKET, Hs Hit eS tS . i Cay } ie oo SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 3 9088 01629