90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



In some cases, the metal leaf is only applied to parts of the silk or other 

 thread, leaving the other parts uncoated ; or different metals, gold and 

 silver leaf, may be applied in sections, or different colored leaf of the same 

 metal may be applied, by which means varied and beautiful fabrics may 

 be produced, especially in using such thread for weft, and weaving it into 

 cloth fabrics. 



Care must be exercised to have the thread perfectly coated with size or 

 gum before it is run on the roller of metal leaf, and it will answer per- 

 fectly if the gummed thread itself is only slightly damped, to make the 

 leaf adhere. Scientific American. 



MANUFACTURE OF WOODEN WARE. 



The general tendency of Yankee ingenuity is towards labor-saving ma- 

 chinery. As a race, the Yankees cannot, perhaps, be considered lazy ; 

 they, nevertheless, evince a wonderful propensity for dodging hard work 

 in every possible way. Steam power, wind power and water power are 

 put to the most menial services, as well as to those of the greatest magni- 

 tude ; and machines are contrived for almost every occasion of life, from 

 the weaving of cloths and carpeting to the churning of butter by dogs or 

 sheep. Hand labor is becoming daily less and less direct in its application 

 to manufactures, and might in time become, perhaps, entirely obsolete, 

 were it not that the increase in the means of acquiring comforts and luxu- 

 ries begets a corresponding increase in the demand for them. New wants 

 are being constantly def eloped; and what was but yesterday a luxury, to 

 be enjoyed only by the few, becomes to-day an imperative necessity for 

 the million. 



Thirty years ago, tubs, pails, and other articles of wooden ware, which 

 hold so conspicuous and important a place among the household utensils 

 of every family, were made entirely by hand. The thrifty Yankee far- 

 mer, having garnered his crops in the fall, and made ample preparation for 

 the long New England winter, would, when driven, in doors by the drift- 

 ing snows, retire to his , little cooper-shop, set off from, the wood-shed, or 

 attached to the barn, and improve the season of rest from agricultural 

 labors by turning out a few dozen of pails, or " nests " of tubs, which he 

 would exchange at the country store for West India goods, or calicoes, or 

 peddle around among the inhabitants of the neighboring villages. This 

 mode of manufacturing was called, in common parlance, "set work." 

 Wooden-seated chairs, settees, broom and mop handles, clothespins, trays, 

 card boards, boxes, &c., were also manufactured in the same manner, to a 

 large extent. 



The commencement of the manufacture of wooden ware to any con- 

 siderable extent, as a regular branch of business, dates about the year 1825. 

 A "patent pail " manufactory was about that time established in Keene, 

 N. H., and others in Troy and Brandon, Yt., were started soon after. The 

 next year, several manufactories were commenced in Massachusetts and 



