1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



533 



and we resolved to keep our eyes open, satisfied 

 that if we did, "we should see what we should see." 

 And we did. During a momentary j)ause in the 

 conversation, the lady rose from her chair, removed 

 the cushion, raised a sort of trap door underneath, 

 and looked into the apparent vacuum with an earn- 

 estly inquiring eye. The secret was out. Under 

 the seat in her rocking-chair M'as a box in which she 

 deposited the jar of cream, and the agitation pro- 

 duced by tlie vibratory motion of the chair, con- 

 verted the liquid into butter. 



By this arrangement the lady was enabled to kill, 

 not only two, but four birds with the same stone. 

 She could churn, knit, take her ease in her rocking- 

 chair, and entertain her morning guests at the same 

 time. And such butter as she made ! Yellow as 

 gold, sweet as the meat of tlie cocoanut, and as hard, ; 

 too ; it always In-ought the highest i)rice in the "ru- 

 ral" market. You may brag of your patent churus 

 if you will, hut for novelty, economy, convenience, 

 and immaculate butter we defy them, one and all, 

 when brought into competition with Mistress 

 Strongatham's incomparable contrivance. Of her 

 butter we shall retain a lively and grateful remem- 

 brance to our d\ing day ; her churn Ave shall never 

 forget either. — Sprimrjield Republican. 



you will say. But the hardening comes next. 

 They are heated in batches in a furnace, and when 

 red-hot, are thrown in a pan of cold water. Next, 

 they must be tempered : and this is done by rolling 

 them backward and forward on a hot metid plate. 

 The polishing still remains to be done. On a very 

 coarse cloth, needles are spread to the number of 

 fort}- or fifty thousand. Emery dust is strewed 

 over them, oil is sprinkled, and soft soap dashed by 

 spoonfulls over the cloth ; the cloth is then rolled 

 up, and, with several others of the same kind, 

 thrown into a sort of Avash-pot, to roll to and fro 

 for twelve hours or more. They come out dirty 

 enough ; but after a rinsing in clean hot water, and 

 a tossing in sawdust, they look as bright as can be, 

 and are ready to be sorted and jjut up for sale. 

 But the sorting and the doing up in papers, you 

 may imagine, is quite a work by itself. 



MAKING A NEEDLE. 



I wonder if any Httle girl Avho may read this 

 ever thought how many people are all the time at 

 work in making the things which she every day 

 uses. What can be more common, and, jou may 

 think, more simple, than a needle ! Yet, if you do 

 not know it, I can toll you that it takes a great 

 many persons to make a needle ; and a great deal 

 of time too. Let us take a peep into a needle 

 factory : Li going over the premises, we must pass 

 hither and thither, and walk into the next street 

 and back again, and take a drive to a mill, in order 

 to see the whole process. We find one chamber of 

 the shops is hung round with coils of bright Arire, 

 of all thicknesses, from tJic stout kinds used for 

 cod-fish hooks to that of the finest cambric needles. 

 In a room below, bits of wire, the length of tAVO 

 needles, are cut by a vast pair of shears fixed in the 

 Avail. A bundle has been cut ofi"; the bits need 

 straightening, for they just came off from coils. 



The bundle is thrown nito a red-hot furnace; 

 and then taken out, and rolled backAvard and for- 

 ward on a table until the Avires are straight. Tliis 

 process is called " rubbing straight." We now see 

 a mill for grinding needles. We go doAvn into the 

 basement, and find a needle pointer seated on his 

 bench. He takes up tAvo dozen or so of the Avires, 

 and rolls them between his thumb and fingers, Avith 

 their ends on the grindstone, first one end and then 

 the other. We have now the wires straight and 

 pointed at both ends. Next is a machine Avtiich 

 flattens and gutters the heads of ten thousand nee- 

 dles an hour. Observe the little gutters at the 

 head of your needle. Next comes the punching of 

 the eyes ; and the boy Avho does it punches eight 

 thousand an hour, and he does it so fast your eye 

 can hardly keep pace with liim. The splitting fol- 

 lows, Avhich is running a fine Avirc through a dozen, 

 perhaps, of these tAvin needles. 



A Avoman, Avith a little anvil before her, files 

 between the heads and separates them. They are 

 noAV complete needles, but rough and rusty, and, 

 Avhat is Avorsc, they easily bend. A poor needle, 



Fur the New England Fanner. 



"STATE OF MAINE POTATO." 



Mr. Editor : — I feel it a pleasure as Avell as duty 

 to reply to the second article of " South Danvers " 

 respecting the " State of Maine Potato." He ad- 

 mits that he knoAvs but little about this variety of 

 pototo from his own experience, but Avas led to make 

 the statement concermng it, from what he heard 

 from another, and he, one who is little accustomed 

 to raising potatoes, and Avho probably never in liis 

 hfe has raised as many sorts as I have raised the 

 past two years. And, though I Avould not doubt 

 the truth of any statement that might be made by 

 the worthy " President of the ^Lissachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society — the best of observers" — and a 

 better man does not live in the State — still I do 

 very much question his experience in regard to 

 raising potatoes, and especially the sort referred to ; 

 and I think your correspondent Avill not be able to 

 get a statement from that source that Avill sustain 

 his position ; if he can, I should like to see it. 

 And suppose he can find one man in the State Avho 

 is not pleased with this potato, does it follow that 

 it is " a miserable concern and entirely unworthy of 

 regard 2" On that principle, almost every variety of 

 vegetable and fruit we cultivate would be condem- 

 ned. Has not " South Danvers" been rather fast 

 in condemning this potato, because one of his 

 neighbors raised a few, and because those did not 

 quite suit him in size — Avhen he had little, or no 

 knowledge of tlie thing himself? If this course 

 Avas i)ursued in res^iect to everything else, Avhere 

 should Ave be ? He mtimates that the reason I putf 

 this potato is, because I have them for sale ; a cry 

 true, I have them to sell for seed, and so have I got 

 a great many other sorts, among Avliicli are an hun- 

 dred and fifty bushels of Davis' Seedling, a sort he 

 l)raises so highly, and which is really good. But shall 

 my opinion be entirely set aside, l)ecause I have po- 

 tatoes to sell ? Who ouglit, and is expected to 

 knoAV the most about a thing, if it is not he who 

 grows it most extensively ? Again, he attempts to 

 impeach my testimony, because Jm says I Avrote — 

 or he thinks I did — an article several years ago, re- 

 sjK'Cting the " Danvers Winter Sweet Apj)le." 

 NoAV all I have to say to that, is, one thing at a 

 time, if you please ; I want no side issues dragged in 

 to prevent a tair discussion of the question before us. 

 If 7ujj oj)inion is not Avorthy of notice, I can give 

 the testimony of more than tAventy-iive, if not dou- 

 l)le that number of persons, avIio have raised this 



