Jnly 7, 1870. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



at the Needles or Land's End." Bat I was not to be battened 

 down in that mode, so I talked at intervals, as much as was 

 politic, until luncheon time, and then and there, over "the 

 cakes and ale," my friend agreed to journey with me the nest 

 day to Selsey. It 's not the first time we have so journeyed ; 

 and now, aB on former occasions, we had gleaned relative 

 gleanings, and what follows were our conjoint contributions. 



The Wilfrid already mentioned founded at Selsey a monas- 

 tery of Benedictines ; and Bede says that when, for the endow- 

 ment of that and the bishopric, the South-Saxon king gave 

 Wilfrid the whole peninsula, he gave him also the inhabitants, 

 and Wilfrid by baptising them rescued them from the servi- 

 tude of the Devil. A subsequent bishop, however, found that 

 poaching reduced them again to be Satan's slaveB, for Bishop 

 Rede in 1407, by a mandate still preserved, condemned to the 

 greater excommunication certain " children of damnation, who, 

 influenced by the sphit of the Devil," killed game in the 

 bishop's demesne of Selsey. The greater excommunication 

 was no trivial infliction, for it not only excluded the excom- 

 municant from the church sacraments, but rendered him in- 

 capable of any legal act, and forbade his intercourse with any 

 of the faithful. Moreover, if he did not within forty days 

 pacify the ecclesiastic who excommunicated him, a writ was 

 issuable for his apprehension and close confinement until he 

 submitted and obtained absolution. I wonder what fine the 

 bishop imposed upon the " children of damnation " before he 

 forgave their venison theft. 



No venison is in Selsey now, for, as already told, the inroads 

 of the sea have involved the bishop's park, and the whole pen- 

 insula is well enclosed and highly cultivated. The prevailing 

 soil is a strong loam, and now, despite the prolonged drought, 

 the Wheat crops were vigorous and heavy. I say the peninsula 

 is " well enclosed," because the fences are all so thoroughly 

 sustained that they afford unmistakeable evidence that Lord 

 Selsey and the farmers — landlord and tenants — are all worthy 

 of the relationship. 



Despite the long drought all vegetation looked vigorous. 

 Never did Roses look more healthy — one more instance con- 

 firming our opinion that mildew and blotched leaves are chiefly 

 due to ungenial temperature. We should have liked to explore 

 the sands for the Sea Bindweed {Convolvulus soldanella), a 

 native of the Selsey shore, and to search for the Sea Pink 

 (Dianthus prolifer), once abundant, but said now to be found 

 there no longer. Want of time, however, forbade our visiting 

 elsewhere than the manufactory, our special object. A pilgrim 

 had been there before ut>, and thus well sketches an outline of 

 what he saw at Mr. Colin Pullinger's :— 



" We entered a large yard, with the figurehead of some old vessel 

 staring ns out of countenance. There were some sheds, carthouses, 

 stables, and stores on the one hand, and a line of workshops on the 

 other. ' We cannot afford to nso a steam engine yet,' he said, ' so we 

 get our motive power from poor old Bob,' and he kindly patted the 

 horse upon thG neck as it passed us on its circular journey. I could 

 hear the buz, the whir, the whiz of the machinery, but mingled with it 

 I heard, too, the notes of a fine old hymn tune. ' My lads don't 

 always sing hymns ; they have a song occasionally,' said my con- 

 ductor, and he added, 'sawing up the wood is rather monotonous 

 work ; they have little to think about, for the circular saws are all so 

 guarded that they can't have an accident, nor can they make a false 

 cut. So I allow them to sing while at this kind of work, — it keeps 

 them in good temper.' 



" We stepped into the shop and saw a dozen wheels revolving ; there 

 were saws, from the size of a crown-piece up to 3 or 4 feet in diameter, 

 hissing their way through the wood ; there were holeB being drilled ; 

 queer-shaped bits of wood fashioned into form ; wire and zinc cut up 

 like so much thread or paper ; and all with the unerring regularity of 

 a bit of watchwork. It was pointed out to me that each man and boy 

 had a form, or mould, to work by, thus rendering it impossible that 

 even a tin-tack could be driven into the wrong place, or a scrap of wire 

 cut too long by so much as a hair's breadth. The whole of this 

 machinery (with the exception of the circular saws) was not only in- 

 vented by Mr. Pullinger, bnt actually made upon the premises, and by 

 the men and boys gathered out of a village where the one half are 

 fishermen, the other agricultural labourers. 



" I am not going to describe the processes passed through in making 

 a single trap ; it might be tedious, or, to be more candid, I should be 

 sure to fail in doing it. Nor shall I say a word about Pullinger's 

 patent self-adjusting trap ; it is too widely known to need that, though 

 few may know where or by whom they are made. The individual 

 traps sell for a mere trifle, yet each one is composed of seventy pieces ; 

 each side of the trap passes through twenty-eight hands, and, after the 

 pieces are all made, it passes through the hands of twenty-seven more ; 

 in all, about 120 distinct operations are required for the making of one 

 trap. 



■* The ' hands ' whom I saw working in the various shops varied in 



age from about seven to seventy. The youngest was poking abont in a 

 tray of dust with a common magnet. I asked what the little fellow 

 was doing, and received a characteristic answer — one that Bhould be 

 written up and followed in every workshop in the world ; it was : — ' We 

 cannot afford to lose anything here. He is picking out every stray 

 tack, every scrap of wire, every morsel of metal of any kind which may 

 have been dropped among the sawdust. It is like play for him.' The 

 little man looked up with a happy face, and proudly pointed to a couple 

 of nails dangling from the end of his magnet. 



11 We had just left the last shop, when, at a given signal, all left 

 work for the night. ' Some of them will be back by-and-by,' said my 

 guide ; and then, upon inquiry, I found that the boys and a few of the 

 adults came to an evening school, of which Mr. Pullinger and his fore- 

 man were the teachers. The lads availed themselves fully of the ad- 

 vantage, and in winter time the average attendance was about thirty. 

 Mr. Pullinger has also established a penny bank for the use of his 

 workmen, and there are rather more than forty depositors. One other 

 little fact, showing the fatherly attention paid by the proprietor to his 

 hands, and I have done. In the middle of the morning's work the boys 

 are allowed to run out in the great yard and have a jolly game among 

 themselves for a quarter of an hour or so." 



We confirm all that our pre-pilgrim states, and we add that 

 never was space better economised. The machines for sawing, 

 &c, are very numerous, and have to be so arranged in a limited 

 space that not a foot is wasted — and not a foot is wasted. All 

 the saws are circular, varying in diameter from an inch or two 

 to as many feet, and all are turned by the strength of *' Bob." 

 Among the save-alls of time we noticed a double-bladed mortice- 

 chisel, invented by Mr. Pullinger, which outs both sides of the 

 mortice at once. So deeply were we interested by all we saw 

 and by all which we heard, that we asked Mr. Pullinger to tell 

 us a little of his history, and we publish his reply as an incen- 

 tive to others : — 



" I am a native of Selsey. I have received a very plain education. 

 My parents removed to Brighton when I was about twelve years of age. 

 I was there apprenticed to a law stationer. My master failed in busi- 

 ness. I was then a writing clerk in a solicitor's office for about five 

 years. Not liking the confinement, I went to sea for about five years, 

 rilling nearly all situations on board ship. My parents were getting 

 old, and wished me to give up the sea. I came again to Selsey, where 

 I undertook to do anything which was offered me to do. I was never 

 apprenticed to any mechanical trade, but found no difficulty in doing 

 any sort of work. I always had an inventive talent, but it was years 

 before I could bring it to any use ; whatever I made or invented was 

 thought but little of by my neighbours. I made a mouse trap. They 

 then pitied me for the sake of my wife and children, thinking I should 

 bring them to want ; the mouse traps sold. I could not make them 

 fast enough by hand, I had not the means to buy machinery, so I 

 made it myBelf. I always found as soon as I made one thing I could 

 improve upon another ; and so I went on, always an up-hill game with 

 me, for all my profits went to inventions and improvements, but by 

 perseverance I overcame all difficulties. My machines I always made 

 of the most simple description, bo that I could get the children, 

 labourers, and fishermen to use them, and so that they could not well 

 make a mistake in their work. To many a man from the plough or 

 fisherman in the winter when out of work have I given employment, 

 otherwise they must have gone into the union house at West Hampnett, 

 as well as many children who, when they enter my employment, I 

 consider as my own, teaching them all I know in the day, and in 

 winter evenings having a school, and charging 2d. per week to every 

 one who likes to attend to be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, 

 although that is at a great loss to me, having no assistance from any 

 one. I employ many teachers, so that the children may receive all 

 the instruction pessible, and to many who could neither read nor write 

 I have given a fair education. I take but little credit to myself for 

 what I have done ; it comes into my mind with but little thinking ; 

 the same as what you said to me last evening came into my mind this 

 morning — a thought entered my mind, I carried it out, tried the in- 

 vention, and found it answer, before nine o'clock. The only thing I 

 think where I have done some good is in having spent hundreds of 

 pounds in labour, and given many a family a dinner who otherwise 

 would have been without one." 



Mr. Pullinger purposes showing this year at the " Workmen's Inter- 

 national Exhibition," to be held in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, 

 the following inventions : — 



1. Automaton mouse trap. — Each mouse caught resets the trap. 



2. Perpetual mouse trap. — Always set.) 



3. Self-acting mouse trap. — Each mouse caught resets the trap. 



4. An improved rat trap. — One of the best to catch rats. 



5. An improved beetle trap. — Will catch hundreds at once. 



6. An improved eel spear. — To catch more than others. 



7. A sulphur distributor. — To destroy mildew, &c, on Vines, 

 flowers, &c. 



S. A washing machine. — Saving labour, money, and confusion. 

 9. A wringing machine. — Simple and effective. 



10. Cinder sifter. — To sift without dust. 



11. Cask stand. — To stoop with ease and draw off clear. 



12. Tapping mallet. — To drive in and take out taps. 



13. Model for a steam boat. — To obtain greater speed. 



