1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



843 



largely engaged in the iron industry, as its tall 

 chimneys and smoky aspect will attest. 



"Forest City "is what the good people are 

 delighted tocall their town; and from our short 

 stop and limited time for observation we should 

 say it is well named. The ^park on the shores 

 of Lake Erie. Wade Park, and Lake View Cem- 

 etery, where the remains of Pi'es. Garfield rest 

 in the magniticent monument erected to his 

 memoiy. are all points of beauty and interest 

 to visit. 



The wood-engraver's material to work upon 

 is Turkey boxwood. No other wood is equal to 

 this in fineness of grain and cutting qualities. 

 The wood mostly comes from Turkey, and 

 round about that part of tlie world, and is pre- 

 pared in this country. It comes into the en- 

 gravei'"s hands pi-epared. oi- put up in different- 

 sized slabs, of type-high thickness, and the 

 wood arranged in such a manner that the en- 

 graver's work is done on the end of the grain. 

 The surface is smoothed off, and then whitened. 



RAMBLEK AT THE ENGRAVING ESTABLISH 



We did not call in Cleveland to find bee-keep- 

 ers and look up the honey intei'ests, but merely 

 to pay our compliments to the artist who 

 charms and edifies the readers of Gleanings 

 with the etchings and fine engravings we have 

 admired so long on its pages. Mr. Robt. V^. 

 Murray, of the fiini of Murray it Heiss, we 

 found at No. 204 Sui)erior St. We fortunately 

 found Mr. M. busy at his work. When we see 

 an engraver at his work it seems to be a very 

 simple process: but it requires so much pa- 

 tience, care, and sucli fine touches, that wood- 

 engraving is considered ojie of the fine arts, and 

 the artist becomes proficient only after long 

 practice, and never reaches somewhere near 

 the perfection he strives for. Any one having 

 files of the leading magazines or of Gleanings 

 for the past few years can see that great prog- 

 ress has been made in the art, and a fine wood- 

 engraved picture of the present can scarcely be 

 distinguished from a steel engraving of former 

 days: and though we are favored with such 

 fine pictures, the end is not yet. As many of 

 the readers of Gleanings have never been into 

 an engraver's shop (no, studio), with the edit- 

 or's and engraver's permission we will give our 

 impressions of the business. In the first place, 

 we wish to say the Rambler is a natural-born 

 artist. He loves pictures; and when the cam- 

 era can not be used, the pencil is resorted to. 

 Our earliest use of the pencil was a slate pencil, 

 and the pictures that were made on the slate 

 would set the whole school into subdued snick- 

 ers. They became louder, though, when the 

 artist and his slate were commanded to stand 

 on the floor and exhibit himself and pictures. 

 Though we were never a student of penciling, 

 our sketches are of such a nature as to make an 

 artist weep, and we have no doubt tears come 

 to the eyes of Mr. ^Murray as he works over our 

 elaborate sketches. 



MENT OF JirKKAY & HEISS, CLEVELAND, O. 



The picture to be engraved is then drawn or 

 photographed upon the surface, and it is ready 

 for further operation. The engraver first puts 

 on his armor— a shield over his eyes, a magni- 

 fying-glass to his eye, and, with his graver in 

 hand, he is ready for business. I should have 

 mentioned, that, when the drawing or photo- 

 graph is on the wood, and all errors corrected, 

 and necessary parts retouched, the whole sur- 

 face of the block is covered with a thin trans- 

 parent paper, and the edges firmly beeswaxed 

 to the sides of the block. The engraver then 



A KIT OF engraver's TOOLS. 



takes a portion of the paper away here and 

 there as the work progresses. A whole row of 

 men thus armed, and silently at work in a 

 room, is a very solemn sight, and highly im- 

 pressive. 



The boxwood block and drawing are next 

 placed upon a flat rounding leather pillow filled 

 with sand (the artist, T believe, calls it a 

 swing-pad), in strong or concentrated light, 



