1871. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



663 



in the trade, — that is, which have been a few days 

 in salt, — are sent from the West to New York, are 

 purchased by ptovision-dcalers ; they are tested, 

 and apparently sound ; but when spring-time comes 

 and a thaw supervenes, large quantities of these 

 hams turn. The salt luis not penetrated. A pu- 

 trefying centre has been suiTounded l)y ice; all has 

 remained stationar}" so long as the temperature has 

 been low; but the instant heat supervenes, the pro- 

 cess advances, and the entire hams turn sour." 



This shows the very great importance of so 



managing as to allow all the heat to escape as 



soon as possible after the animal is dressed. 



ORIGIN OF WOOLEN FACTORIES. 



Though the clothing of our boyhood was all 

 home-made, we have been so long familiar with 

 the products of woolen factories in the form of 

 cloths for ladies' and gentlemen's wear, of beauti- 

 ful shawls, carpets, &c., which are now manufac- 

 tured not only in New England but in nearly every 

 State in the Union ; and we have been so long ac- 

 customed to hear complaints from certain quarters 

 about governmental favors to "rich corporations of 

 lordly manufacturers," that we had almost for- 

 gotten the fact of the comparatively recent date of 

 the introduction of the woolen factory into this 

 country. 



In a late number of the "Bulletin of the National 

 Association of Wool Manufacturers," we find some 

 extracts from a paper on the Introduction of the 

 Woolen Manufacture into the United States, by 

 Royal C. Taft, of the Rhode Island Society for the 

 Promotion of Domestic Industry, which has not 

 only refreshed our memory but added to our stock 

 of knowledge on the subject. 



There are many interesting particulars given, 

 but we have space only for the concise summary 

 of the writer of the article referred to, which is as 

 follows : — 



We have found in our investigation, that Mr. 

 John Manning had land grained him by the town 

 of Ipswich upon which to build a woolen factory, 

 in 1792, which grant was subsequently confirmed to 

 him in 179.5, when the fiictory had been erected. 

 The work here done was all performed by hand, 

 being no advance upon the method previously pur- 

 sued. 



That John and Arthur Schol field came from 

 England, in March, 1793, with a knowledge of the 

 process of manufacturing woolen cloths, as pur- 

 sued there; that they did during that j-ear erect 

 and put into operation a carding-machinc at By- 

 field, Mass., which was the first one erected in tliis 

 country ; that in 1798, they built a factory at Mont- 

 Tille, Conn., and furnished that with the improved 

 raachinei;y ; also, that in 1800, Arthur Scholfield 

 left his brother John, and removed to Pittsfield, 

 where he erected the first carding-machine intro- 

 duced to that section of the country, and followed 

 the business of manufacturing woolen goods with 

 such success that in 1804 his broadcloths, con- 

 signed to the New York market, were sold in suc- 

 cessful competition with the imported article, while, 

 in 1808, he had made such substantial progress as 

 to be able to make and furnish the President of the 

 United States, James Madison, with fi le American 

 black broadcloth, for his inaugural suit, this being 

 the first (and perhaps the last) time that a Presi- 

 dent of the United States has been inaugurated in 



cloth of home manufacture; that he also pursued 

 the business of building machinery ; and that John 

 Scholfield started his third and last enterprise in 

 1806, at Paweatuck Bridge. Several factories were 

 built soon after 1800; that of James Sanderson, at 

 New Ipswich; of John Everett, at Mason Village, 

 both in New Hampshire; and in Amherst, Hadley, 

 and Worcester, Massachusetts. 



The following from the Pittsfield, Mass., Sun, 

 of Nov. 2, 1801, is supposed to be the first adver- 

 tisement of a wool carding machine ever published 

 in this country. 



Arthur Scholfield respectfully informs the 

 inhabitants of Pittsfield, and the neighboring 

 towns that he has a carding-machine, half a mile 

 west of the meeting-house, where they maj^ have 

 their wool carded into rolls for twelve and a half 

 cents per pound; tnixed, for fifteen and a half 

 cents per pound. If they find the grease, and pick 

 and grease it, it will be ten cents per pound, and 

 twelve and a half cents mixed. They are requested 

 to send their wool in sheets, as they will serve to 

 bind up the rolls when done. Also, a small assort- 

 ment of woolens for sale. 



In 1805 the prices for carding were reduced to 

 eight and twelve and a half cents a pound, and in 

 1806 Mr. Scholfield offered double carding ma- 

 chines for sale for $100, and picking machines for 

 $30, which were rapidly set in operation in various 

 parts of New England. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



WHY DID CLOVER GROW WHERE BRUSH WAS 

 BURNED ? 



"Why does wood ashes cause clover to spring up 

 where none has grown bef(jre ? A few years ago I 

 burned some brush that I had cut on the margin 

 of the field. This brush I burned on a spot where 

 nothing Init spear grass had grown for a great many 

 years. The next year there sprang up a splendid 

 plot of clover where I burned the brush. Where 

 did the seed come from ? If it was in the ground, 

 why did it not germinate before ? c. h. w. 



South Braintree, Mass., Oct., 1871. 



Remarks. — Are j'ou prepared to defend the as- 

 sertion made in your first question ? Can you 

 prove that clover had never grown on those spots 

 where wood ashes caused it to spring up ? If you 

 can, you are able to do more than all the scientific 

 men in the world have been able to do, and those 

 who hold to the spontaneous production of plants 

 will, we presume, be willing to pay you well for 

 your trouble in settling in their favor a long dis- 

 puted question. 



The common opinion, we suppose to be, that 

 clover, and other plants and trees that spring up 

 under circumstances similar to the growth of your 

 clover, come from seed in the ground, which is pre- 

 ser%'ed there by some process of nature not well 

 understood. From experiments that have been 

 made, most kinds of seeds kept in the ordinary way 

 lose vitality in from three to twelve years — a few 

 kinds being found to grow after somewhat longer 

 periods. 



But most scientific men believe that seeds buried 

 in the ground preserve their vitality for hundreds 

 and even thousands of years. 



