;j96 



NEW ENGLAND FARJVIER. 



July C, 1827. 



WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



An article in our last may serve to give some 

 idea of the importance of the Woollen Manufac- 

 ture to the people of this County. By reference 

 thereto, it will be seen that eleven factories, situa- 

 ted in the towns of Mendon, U.xbridgc, Nortli- 

 bridge and Grafton, when in full operation, will 

 manufacture two thousand one hundred and fifiy 

 yards of sattinett, one lamdred yards of kersey- 

 mere, and three hundred and thirty yards of broad- 

 cloth per day, making a yearly aggregate of six 

 hundred and seventy-two thousand nine hundred 

 and fifty yards of sattinett, t'driy-one thousand 

 three hundred yards of kerseymere, and one hun- 

 dred and three thousand, Itvo hundred and ninety 

 yards of broadcloth. Estimating the average value 

 of these goods, per yard, at seventy-five cents for 

 sattinett, one dollar for kerseymere, and three 

 dollars for broadcloth, the yearly value of tlie 

 woollen goods, manufactured in those four towns 

 alone, will be eight hundred and forty-five thousand 

 eight hnidred and eighty-ltro dollars. Is this busi- 

 ness of no importance to those places ? Will it 

 make no difference whether they bring into the 

 towns and distribute, annually, near a million of 

 dollars among the farmers, or lie idle and go to 

 ruin ? Let the flourishing appearance of every 

 thing in the vicinity of the establishments in op- 

 sration, contrasted witii the symptoms of deterio- 

 ration in tlie neighborhood of those tliat are idle 

 answer. 



The above estimate is of but a minor portion of 

 'he woollen manufactures of the County. In 

 Fitchburg, Leicester, O.xford, Dudley and South- 

 bridge, there arc not les.s, wo believe, than four- 

 teen or fifteen factories, some of which are e.x- 

 tensivo and well known establishments, such, for 

 instance, as those of the Wolcott Cbinpany in 

 Southbridge, Slater &, Howard's in Dudley, and 

 the Leicester and Cottomly Companies in Leices- 

 ter. Beside these, there arc a great number of 

 others, in various parts of the County, capable of 

 doing an amount of business sufficient materially 

 to eniiance the value of all kinds of property, and 

 to afford inducements for our increasing popula- 

 tion to remain among ns, in preference to migrat- 

 ing to other parts of the country. — Vf'orcesier Spy. 



NEW PATENTS. 

 Chairs, ^-c. — The ingenuity with which some 

 of the mechanical arts most nearly connected witli 

 the conveniences and comforts of life are improv- 

 ed, often attracts our attention and claims our ad- 

 miration. And among the individuals who have 

 distinguished themselves in this way, we have 

 not met with any one so persevering and success- 

 ful as tlie person of whose new inventions and pa- 

 tents we now propose to give a short account 



Mr. Pratt is already well known as the patentee 

 of solid leather trunks ; of a means to secure lug- 

 gage on carriages, and several other very useful 

 things ; but his latter works, in our opinion, go 

 far beyond these in skill and utility. We shall 

 first speak of a library chair, from whose soft and 

 elastic embrace we dedicate these lines to its 

 praise. This is certainly the beau ideal of ease 

 and luxury ; and with what material does the 

 reader suppose it is stuffed ? It is of iron ! iron 

 wire ! ! This, complicated and twisted into spiral 

 forms, like baked horsehair, composes the seat, 

 the arms, the back of Mr. Pratt's very Easy 

 Chair. Down itself could not be more gentle, nor 

 caoutchouc more springy. For the invalid it is 



invaluable ; yielding to pressure, yet never set- 

 tling into solidity or lunipishness ; and having ano- 

 ther rare advantage, that of not healing the body 

 reposed on it. For sofas and beds the same ma- 

 terial may be advantageously employed ; and from 

 what several eminent medical friends have stated 

 to us, we have no hesitation in saying, that for 

 health as well as pleasantness, this invention 

 I is superior to any thing applied in the same way. 

 ! One laughs, indeed, at first, at the idea of sitting 

 I or lying on iron furniture ; but a very short trial 

 1 soon convinces us that there is much of real en- 

 'joyment in this novel substitute for wool, hair, or 

 feathers. Its application reminds us of a story 



of Lord — , who, building near a great slate 



quarry, found his architect employing slate for 

 I chimnies, for floors, for shelves, for a liundrcd pur- 

 poses. "Why, what the d — I do you intend to do 

 ! with slate next?"' cried his lordship to the artist. 

 j ='Make bed curtains, my lord," was the answer. — 

 j And so with iron ; we should not be surprised to 

 ! see it made into bed curtains, or even into artifi- 

 cial noses when needed. 



j But Mr. Pratt's next invention is still more im- 

 1 portant. It is a mechanical apparatus forming a 

 ship, coach or chair, the object of which is to 

 prevent (and it must in a great measure prevent) 

 that distressing malady sea-sickness. The frame 

 lis disposed something like the compass ; but the 

 I contrivance is so perfect, that the chair or coach 

 swings and yields to resistance in every direction, 

 ' so as completely to neutralise the effect of a ship's 

 , motion ! The interior of the cushion or seat is 

 i farther constructed on a novel method to counter- 

 , act the plunging motion of the vessel — that is to 

 ; say, it resembles the delightful and classic arti- 

 I clcs which wo have just been describing — chairs 

 I which always retain the same shape, and beds 

 { that never require making ! ! ! We are sorry that 

 we cannot, in words, give a perfect idea of the 

 very curious spiral screw by which Mr. Pratt has 

 achieved the universally accommodating action of 

 the ship chair (a matter heretofore deemed impos- 

 sible in mechanics;) but at his repositories in 

 Bond street and Regent street we have no doubt 

 but those who are induced to inquire more partic 

 ularly, in consequence of this notice, may liavi 

 their curiosity gratified. 



MILK. 

 Among the modern improvements in farmin 

 the dairy has of late years, been very much nej 

 lected. So much of the profit of breeders depem 

 ing upon the facility with which the milk of tl 

 cow may be reserved during the sucking time 

 the calf, the following substitute, used in German 

 for the natural food of the young progeny, ma 

 be acceptable to our country readers. 



Let as much water be heated on the fire as th 

 calf will be disposed to drink ; and, when it boih 

 throw one or two handfuls of oatmeal* into it, an 

 after continuing in that state for one minute, tak. 

 it off and let it be cooled to the temperature o 

 new milk, when one or two pints of skimmed mill 

 are to be added to it. With this beverage thi 

 young animal will fatten and thrive prodigiously 

 the milk of the parent will be applied to the dairy 

 and the intelligent farmer will iiiimediately dia 

 cover the great advantage to be derived, in the- 

 j produce of the dairy, from such an expedient. 



Ed. U. S. Gaz. 



FLOWERS. 



The New Monthly Magazine gives the follow, 

 ing method of obtaining flowers of different col 

 ours on the same stem: — Split a small twig ol 

 elder lengthwise, and having scraped out the pith, 

 fill each of the apartments with seeds of flowers o) 

 difterent sorts, but which blossom about the 

 same time; surrounding them with mould, and 

 then tying together tlie two bits of wood, plant* 

 the whole in a pot filled with earth, properly 

 prejiared. The stems of the different flowers will 

 thus be so incorporated as to exhibit to the eye 

 only one stem, throwing out branches covered witfi 

 flowers analogous to the seed which produces* 

 them. 



liei toil 

 irid 



Sewjng silk has been raised and manufacture^! 

 by a lady in the neighbourhood of Raleigh, NortlilC, 

 Carolina, wiiich is pronounced equal in every re 

 spect to any irapoited silk. 



A NEW INVENTION. 

 A person by the name of Moorhouse, a shoe- 

 maker by trade, and who lately arrived from An- 

 napolis, has exhibited to some of the master me- 

 chanics in his trade, a machine, which he says is 

 an invention of his ow'ii. The object of it is to 

 crimp or to block the upper leathers of boots. — 

 This operation is now done by placing the leath- 

 er upon a kind of last, made for the purpose, 

 stretching it out with pincers, and giving a shape 

 by fastening it with tacks. This operation is not 

 only difticult, but when the material is stiff 

 and unpliable, often proves very tedious. The 

 purpose of the machine is to accomplish the labor 

 at once, and we are told that it does so very eflec- 

 tually. Ho sailed yesterday morning for the 

 States, with the intention, as he said, of obtaining 

 a patent from Washington, and Mr. Wilson, who 

 embarks in the Corsair for Greenock, has purcha- 

 sed his claim, and carries the model along with 

 him, intending to secure a patent-right in Eng- 

 land, should the invention not have been before 

 conceived and fashioned there. — Halifax paper. 



A company with a large capital has lately beea 

 formed in New York for the purpose of settling' 

 sugar plantations in Florida. Tlie editor of the! 

 St. Augustine Herald, thinks it a project that must . 

 prove successful. ■' 



In boring for water in New Jersey, at the depth! 

 of 1 8.5^ feet, the contents of the auger indicn-! 

 ted marine shells, wood petrifactions, &c. The''! 

 whole distance was marked with similar appear- 

 ances, strata of clays, quicksands, and wood and 

 shells. The sands only furnishing water. 



June Frost. — There was a severe frost on the ; 

 night of the 1st inst. at Greensburg, Penn. . 

 which totally destroyed the beans and corn in the 

 gardens and fields. The frost was also severe at 

 Chambersburg, but uncommonly so at Somerset. 

 where the "fruit is generally destroyed, the com 

 frozen to the ground, tender plants generally, and 

 it is feared the rye crop has suffered materially." 



Strawberries. — Mr. Daniel Kochersperger, of 

 Francisville, in the district of Spring Garden, 

 brought to market on Wednesday last l. box of 

 strawberries, containing about twenty quarts, 

 which were supposed to average two inches in 

 circumference. They were sold to one individual 

 at fifty cents a quart. — Guernsey (Ohio) Times. 



• Indian meal'' wUl do as well. 



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