82 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



are cut, and the knives are Ion 2^ or short accordhiof to the direc- 

 tion in which the logs are cut, some of them being 10 feet long. 

 In cutting round a log, shavings of very great length are made. 

 A length corresponding to 8 rolls of paper, of 8 yards each, can 

 be cut by the present machine in 2 minutes. 



By saturating the wood in glycerine and other fluids, the harder 

 woods, like hard maple, are rendered soft and pliable, so that 

 they can be carried, without breaking, round corners and over 

 beads in the same way as paper. A strong sizing of glue is first 

 applied to the wall, and then the hangings are put on with com- 

 mon flour paste in the same way as with paper; the grain is then 

 filled in and finished with a varnish or a mixture of oil and wax, 

 the last being the best and the cheapest. The prices of the com- 

 mon woods are 1^ cents per square foot, equal to 54 cents for an 

 8-yards roll of paper; the more expensive woods, such as mahog- 

 any, bird's-eye maple, etc., 2 cents per square foot, equal to paper 

 at 72 cents a roll. 



It may be put on plain, panelled, or ornamented in various 

 ways. The sections are so thin that they dry completely in 24 

 hours, and, if they come off at all, will do so at the end of that 

 time ; heat does not affect them any more than paper, and they 

 have withstood without change the great changes of temperature, 

 dryness and moisture, in kitchens in this vicinity, for a period now 

 reaching 9 months. These hangings can be put on, finished and 

 fitted, at an expense of 2 dollars a roll, presenting the appear- 

 ance of the solid wood, and, it is claimed, permanent and capable 

 of being washed without injury to the texture or lustre. 



CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHY. 



Chromo-lithography is the art of picture-printing in colors, and, 

 although not a very recent invention, it has been greatly modified 

 and improved of late years; it might, with propriety, be called 

 mechanical painting, as the colors are laid on one after another, 

 mingling the dift'erent tints and shades until the picture is com- 

 plete, in a manner analogous to painting with a brush ; and, pro- 

 vided the men who undertake the work are skilful artists, there is 

 no reason why a chromo-lithograph should fall short, in point of 

 expression or delicacy, of the original painting which it is designed 

 to imitate. 



A few words on ordinary lithography will first be necessary in 

 order to give the reader a clear idea of the chromo process. 

 Briefly, then, a lithograph is a chemical drawing upon stone, — the 

 drawing being made with a greasy or oily ink upon the peculiar 

 quality of limestone found in the quarries of Solonhofen, Bavaria. 

 All other processes of engraving are mechanical rather than chem- 

 ical, as in wood or type work, where the impression is obtained 

 from a raised design, or in copper or steel plate, where the design 

 is made by deep incisions, into wliich the ink is rul)bed. In the 

 litliographic process, however, tliere is neither relievo nor intaylio 



