636 Statk Board of Agriculture, &c. 



revolving cylinders of wood, running on hollow shafts 

 through which is fed water, while the polisher occasionallj 

 throws sand on the stone. This polishing process is a vast 

 improvement on tlie hand work, both as to time and the 

 quality of the work done. 



The slab, wlien dry, is now ready for the first operation 

 to fit it for the blast. It is laid fiat on a bench, and the let- 

 tering boy spaces the surface out accurately for his work. 

 The inscriptions are furnished by the Government,in the form 

 of printed lists, each grave being numbered, and we are 

 required to cori-ectly and artistically cut these on the slabs. 

 The letters used are one inch long, made of malleable iron 

 chilled, and bevelled from the base to top. The boy now 

 selects from the type box the letters comprising those forming 

 the name he desires to set, and the figures for the number ; 

 these he places upon a hot griddle, rubs a bit of hot shellac 

 on their bases, and sticks them on the stone. The slab is 

 now ready for tlie blast. 



The sand blast proper is made up of an apparatus through 

 which sand and steam pass and strike upon the stone. This 

 apparatus is made up of four pieces : the sand tube, or cyl- 

 inder, the steam tube, or gun, the socket, and the barrel. 

 The sand tube, or cylinder, is a thin iron tube, three-eighths 

 of an inch in diameter, and six and three-fourths inches 

 long. The steam tube, or gun, is a hollow, globular shaped 

 casting of brass, with an aperture on the side to admit 

 steam. The socket is an appliance connecting the gun with 

 the barrel. The barrel is of chilled cast iron, as hard as 

 can be made, six inches long and one-half inch in diameter. 



