JAPANESE LACQUER. 387 



ing a button attached to the apparatus. Finally, a room will he given to electric 

 views, projections and toys ; miniature telegraphic apparatus, trick boxes, magic 

 lanterns, railways, dolls and automata for the amusement of children. All this, 

 strange as it may seem, is an actual fact, or will be very soon. Applications for 

 space have been pouring in and the lists are now closed. The exhibition will be 

 educational besides being very unique. — Manufacturers' Gazette. 



A NEW FIBRE. 



The Louisville Couriei'-Journal gives the following description of a new ma- 

 terial for use in bagging and rope manufacture which has been exhibited in that 

 city: "This beautiful, strong, clean fibre is produced from the plant known in 

 this State as beargrass, and further south as the Spanish dagger. The family of 

 Yucca contains about a dozen varieties, all stout, strong leaved plants, and has 

 been used in Kentucky time out of mind for hanging meat while curing in the 

 smoke-houses. This family of plants is known as a beautiful and abundant 

 bloomer; long, tough, pointed fibrous leaves. The plant is omnipresent every- 

 where in the South, south of forty degrees north latitude. This plant is another 

 item in the long list of the untold resources of the South. Its fibre is as strong 

 as hemp or jute, and almost as indestructible as iron, except by the action of fire. 

 Some of its advantages may be briefly summed up. The plant grows more than 

 one hundred years; loses less than one-tenth in cleaning; it is the strongest coarse 

 fibre in the world; will not shrink when it gets wet in rope; yields largely; re- 

 quires no cultivation after the third year ; is worth ten to fifteen cents per pound 

 when cleaned, and grows spontaneously everywhere south of thirty-one degrees. 

 — National Scientific Journal. 



JAPANESE LACQUER. 



The manufacture of lacquer, an industry for which the Japanese is deserved- 

 ly celebrated, was made a special object of study by Sir E. J. Reed on his recent 

 visit to the Flowery Land, and the following notes are mainly taken from his in- 

 teresting volume : 



"The Japenese lacquer is usually upon article of wood, and not upon arti- 

 cles oi papier-tndche, as many suppose. It is produced from the sap of the Rhus 

 vernicifera, which is taken in its natural state into a large wooden tub or vat, and 

 then stirred in the sun with a large spatula, until its excess of water is evaporated. 

 In some cases the varnish so produced undergoes careful straining ; in other, it is 

 mixed with sulphate of iron, with virmilion, with red oxide of iron, or with in- 

 digo; oil is sometimes employed, likewise powdered stone. Into some inferior 

 varnhishes, a sort of paste made of rice enters in considerable proportion. There 

 are a dozen methods of employing the various varnishes, differing according to 

 the nature of the object to be produced. In the best lacquer, numerous coatings 

 are applied, dried, and polished successively. The first polishings are done with 



