YACHTING IN 1901. 



799 



continually increasing demand for field fencing 

 without barbs. The field fencing is built from 

 20 to 55 inches in height, and may have as many 

 as a dozen wires strung laterally, the top and 

 bottom being frequently of two large wires 

 twisted into a cable. Upright picket wires are 

 used 6 to 12 inches apart,, and the fencing can be 

 manufactured the same as wire netting, with a 

 large mesh. The demand for barbed wire for ex- 

 port is larger than ever. It has the same popu- 

 larity for large ranches in Mexico, Brazil, and 

 other parts of South America that it had in the 

 United States for twenty-five years. It is also 

 exported to Australia, Africa, and East India. 



For resistance wire a very good nickel-steel is 

 now being made in the United States. Other 

 alloys are imported for the same use, but all are 

 high-priced, and the large electrical manufactur- 

 ing companies are still seeking for a good resist- 

 ance wire that they can afford to use in apparatus 

 sold at moderate prices. The same is true of the 

 wire of which a small piece is used as a holder for 

 the gas mantles that are now used everywhere. A 

 wire is wanted for the gas mantle that, when 



heated, will not oxidize and so in time wear away 

 by corrosion, as would l><; the case wore steel wire 

 used. At first a pure nickel win; was used, and 

 this was satisfactory, but with the -large quan- 

 tities now sold, and the lower prices prevailing, 

 a cheaper wire is wanted, and dill'erent alloys are 

 being used experimentally to meet' the demand. 



For special steel wires the ordinary tests are 

 generally limited to the tensile strength or break- 

 ing weight, the elongation, and the number of 

 twists, and the bends that can be given. The test 

 for elastic limit is seldom made by practical wire 

 makers, and then only when demanded by the buy- 

 er's specifications, and neither is the modulus of 

 elasticity taken into consideration. Tests for com- 

 pression or hardness are seldom asked for, and 

 no testing-machines can be found in the wire-fac- 

 tories to make these tests. New testing-machin- 

 ery, however, is being invented and used, but it 

 is chiefly for wires that are cut to different lengths, 

 and made up into finished articles used in large 

 quantities, such as round and flat springs. 

 WISCONSIN. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 WYOMING. (See under UNITED STATES.) 



Y 



YACHTING IN 1901. It is not to be denied 

 that steam and electricity and the other artificial 

 agencies gain in popularity every year among 

 those who seek recreation upon the face of the 

 waters,, and who can command the wherewithal to 

 pay expenses. Nevertheless, a certain charm be- 

 longs exclusively to sailing craft, be they large 

 or small, and can never be wholly taken away from 

 them by any merely mechanical device. Occa- 

 sional items may appear in public print regarding 

 elaborate social entertainments on board of the 

 large steamers belonging to leaders of fashion- 

 able shore-going society, but the only yachting 

 events worth mentioning and which really attract 

 general attention are those that are confined to 

 sailing craft. Now and again mention is made 

 of some trial of speed between steam-yachts or 

 gasoline launches or what not, but the only con- 

 tests that really arouse popular interest are those 

 where the free winds of heaven furnish the pro- 

 pelling power and where real sailormeh, be they 

 amateurs or professionals, do the work. To wit- 

 ness such contests luxuriously appointed pleas- 

 ure craft assemble from the "seven seas/' and 

 huge excursion steamers packed with humanity 

 jostle one another for vantage-points of observa- 

 tion. All this goes to show that the lavish luxury 

 of the age has not yet eliminated the popular love 

 for and admiration of the more daring and adven- 

 turesome features of yachting. 



Of all the yachting events that command the 

 most wide-spread interest the international con- 

 tests for " the America's cup " easily hold the fore- 

 most place. The story of this famous trophy has 

 been so often told and retold that to those who 

 take an interest in such matters it seems super- 

 fluous ever to repeat it again, and yet every re- 

 currence of a cup race brings to the front tens 

 of thousands of readers .who seemingly never 

 heard of it before. For this reason and because 

 an interesting series of races occurred in 1901, 

 a brief review is appropriate at this time. 



Half a century has now passed since Aug. 22, in 

 1851, when the schooner-yacht America won the 

 silver cup that bears her name from a squadron of 

 18 vessels fairly representing the swiftest sailing 

 craft of the British Isles that is to say, of the 

 Old World, for until that time British yachtsmen 



acknowledged no rivals worth the name. The 

 year was especially notable because of the World's 

 Fair in London, the first great exposition of the 

 kind ever undertaken upon a really comprehen- 

 sive plan. At that time Britannia held practically 

 the monopoly of yachting. Continental yachts 

 and yacht-clubs were at that time very few, and 

 though the American merchant marine was a for- 

 midable rival to that of Great Britain on the 

 high seas, still American yachts were almost un- 

 known beyond the seas, for only two of them had 

 as yet crossed the ocean namely, Cleopatra's 

 Barge, a large brig owned and commanded by 

 Capt. Crowninshield, of Salem, and the sloop 

 Alice, of Boston. Neither of these was designed 

 for racing, the first-named being something of a 

 freak with sundry not altogether shipshape ec- 

 centricities of rig and equipment. She was fitted 

 out with all the luxury attainable at that period, 

 was a fast sailer, and attracted a deal of atten- 

 tion at the various European ports which she 

 visited, counting kings, princes, nobles, and other 

 distinguished personages among her visitors. The 

 Alice was out merely for an unpretentious pleas- 

 ure cruise, and fulfilled her mission so far as is 

 known to the satisfaction of all concerned. 



Americans had their private boats, sailing craft, 

 and barges propelled by oars the predecessors of 

 naphtha launches of to-day as soon as prosper- 

 ity began to establish itself along the coast of the 

 Western Continent. Southern planters along the 

 Carolina sounds and on Chesapeake Bay, with 

 shipping merchants of the Northern coast cities, 

 were among the pioneers. In those days when 

 roads were few and well-nigh impassable, and 

 when only the rudest habitations existed a few 

 miles back from navigable water, it was essential 

 for travelers to have means of communication 

 along the shore, and a large fleet of well-equipped 

 pleasure boats existed in the colonial days. It 

 is of record that yachts became privateers in the 

 early wars, and it is even suspected that some of 

 them were not above piracy and the slave-trade in 

 times of peace. This is true not only of American, 

 but of British yachts, a famous instance in point 

 being that of Sir James Brooke, who no longer 

 ago -than 1840 went a-yachting in Eastern seas, 

 landed on the coast of Borneo, and, seconded by 



