BRANT GOOSE 



897 



BRASS 



most important of which are agricultural imple- 

 ments, engines, wagons, paper boxes and en- 

 velopes, electrical supplies, bricks and other 

 clay products and various iron, steel and wood 

 products. The annual output from Brantford's 

 seventy manufacturing establishments has a 

 total value of more than $15,000,000. About 

 twenty wholesale houses also contribute largely 

 to the prosperity of the city. It is supplied 

 with electrical power from Niagara Falls and 

 also uses natural gas. The city has many fine 

 buildings, including the home of the Young 

 Men's Christian Association, built at a cost of 

 $160,000, many churches, the post office and 

 the Ontario Institute for the Blind. 



BRANT GOOSE, also called BRENT GOOSE, a 

 high-flying, sea-loving bird of the northern 

 hemisphere, about twenty-six inches in length. 

 It nests within the Arctic Circle and migrates 

 in winter as far south as the Carolinas. Al- 

 though at home especially on the Atlantic 

 shores of Canada and the United States, it is 

 occasionally seen inland. The male is distin- 

 guished by its blackish head, throat and shoul- 

 ders, brownish-gray back and white patches on 

 the sides of the neck. The brant is a popular 

 game bird, but is protected from the hunter's 

 gun in most states and provinces for about nine 

 months of the year. See DUCK; GOOSE; GAME, 

 subhead Game Laws. 



BRAS D'OR LAKE, brahdohr', a tideless 

 salt-water lake or lagoon which divides Cape 

 Breton Island, N. S., nearly into two parts. 

 This division is actually made by a ship canal 

 which connects the southern end of the lake 

 with Saint Peter's Bay, on the southwest coast. 

 The entrance to the lake, which is on the 

 northeast side of the island, is through two long 

 channels separated by Boulardeire Island. The 

 north channel is not navigable for large ves- 

 sels, but the south channel, which is twenty-two 

 miles long and about a mile wide, has an aver- 

 age depth of 350 feet. The two channels open 

 into a small basin, called Little Bras d'Or, 

 which in turn opens into a basin twice as large, 

 usually called Great Bras d'Or. , These two 

 basins have a combined area of 360 square 

 miles. The shores of the two basins are well- 

 wooded and picturesque, and attract many 

 tourists and summer residents. The waters 

 swarm with salt-water fish, and the fisheries are 

 of considerable commercial importance. Bras 

 d'Or means arm of gold, in French, but it is 

 supposed that the word is really of Indian 

 origin and was corrupted by the early French 

 colonists to its present form. 

 57 



BRASS, a bright-yellow or reddish alloy 

 produced by melting copper and zinc together, 

 usually in the proportion of two parts of copper 

 to one part of zinc. Brass is harder and 

 stronger than either metal from which it is 

 made, a condition true of any alloy. It can 

 be cast in molds, rolled into thin sheets and 

 drawn into fine wire, and it takes a high polish. 

 See ALLOY. 



Varieties. Different varieties of brass are 

 made by varying the proportions of copper and 

 zinc. Red brass contains four parts copper and 

 one part zinc; yellow brass, the variety most 

 often seen, is two parts copper and one part 

 zinc. Muntz metal is three parts copper to 

 two parts zinc, and what is known as spelter 

 solder is one part copper to one part zinc, 

 with a little silver added when intended 

 for soldering articles of gold and silver. Brass 

 intended for engraving purposes contains a lit- 

 tle tin, and that to be turned or filed contains 

 a small portion of lead, which makes it harder 

 than the ordinary variety. 



Uses. We are familiar with brass buttons, 

 brass wire, brass beds and numerous other 

 articles made from this metal, but we probably 

 know little of the large quantities of brass 

 wire, woven into screening and used for numer- 

 ous other purposes, for its color is less char- 

 acteristic. Another extensive use of brass is 

 found in the manufacture of gas and electric 

 light fixtures. 



Some varieties bear such a close resemblance 

 to gold that they are mistaken for it by those 

 unacquainted with the two metals. These 

 varieties are employed in making watch cases, 

 cheap jewelry and other ornaments, most of 

 which are often sold at prices far above their 

 real value. 



Manufacture. The manufacture of brass and 

 articles made from it requires skilled workmen. 

 The most common method of manufacture is 

 by heating carbonate of zinc, charcoal and thin 

 pieces of copper in crucibles. The molten 

 metal is then cast into bars or ingots, which are 

 again melted and recast to free the metal from 

 impurities. 



Brass castings are made by pouring the 

 molten brass into molds of sand, in much the 

 same manner as iron castings are produced. 

 Sheet brass is made by rolling the refined in- 

 gots in mills especially designed for that pur- 

 pose (see ROLLING MILL) and brass wire is 

 made in the same manner as other wire (see 

 WIRE). The most extensive brass works in the 

 world are in Western Connecticut. (See BRONZE.) 



