290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July 
TOYS 4 miLS 9 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
-*»■- 
The nearness of the 4th of July has reminded 
one of our friends of Fireworks. He is not a boy 
now, but remembering how much he wished when 
he was young to know something about fireworks, 
he thinks that other boys, and perhaps some girls, 
may have the same desire, and he asks me to tell 
you how fireworks are made. He admits that in 
asking for you he writes also for himself, for he 
says : “ If any one should ask me how a Rocket 
or a Roman Candle was made, 1 should have to 
say, I don’t know.” In “talking” a little about 
How Fireworks are Made, 
I do not intend to teach you how to make fire¬ 
works. As much as I enjoy fireworks, I wish we 
would celebrate our great holiday without them ; 
but we cannot prevent the burning of powder, and 
all that we can do is to see that nothiug else is 
burned on account of it. Boys should not under¬ 
take to make fireworks ; besides the great danger, 
they will not succeed in making good ones, as it is 
an art to be learned only by 
much practice. Proper fireworks 
are of two kinds : those burned 
for their color or other pleasing 
light, and those which produce 
motion as well as light. The 
chief thing used in this second 
class—those that have some go 
in them, is gunpowder, or the 
materials of which that is made, 
hence we must first ask: 
What Is Gunpowder? 
A boy very early knows how 
it looks, and soon learns that it 
is made of Charcoal, Sulphur, 
and Nitre (or Saltpeter). These 
are ground very fine, separately, 
put together with water to form 
a sort of dough, which is ground 
and mixed in mills ; after this 
mass is dried, it is broken up 
into grains, the different sizes 
being separated by sieves. 
Youngsters soon learn that when 
gunpowder is lighted it goes off 
with a flash, leaving behind very 
little that can be seen. If fired 
in a gun, it goes off with a bang, 
and if the gun has a ball, or 
some shot iu it, those are sent 
to a great distance. What be¬ 
comes of the powder, and why 
does it throw the ball with such 
force ? I can not tell all about 
this without going into chem¬ 
istry, but it is enough to say 
that gunpowder is a solid, and 
that in burning,almost all of it is 
turned into a gas, invisible, like 
the air. This gas takes up about 
1,500 times as much room as the 
powder itself did ; it can not be 
held in a little place like the gun- 
barrel, but must have room, so 
it gets out, and the ball being in 
the way, that is pushed out very 
suddenly. One of the commonest kinds of fire¬ 
works is the Rocket, or as youngsters often call 
them “ Sky Rockets,” which go up in the air 
with a great rush. You no doubt have wondered 
What Makes the Rocket Go Up? 
The same force that sends the ball from the gun, 
that from the burning of the gunpowder, sends the 
rocket skyward. If the rocket were filled with 
gunpowder, such as we use in a gun, and touched 
off, it would not go up at all; it would go, but in 
every direction. The gunpowder burns altogether 
too fast, it must be “tamed,” so to speak, to be 
used in the rocket. You know that ordinary 
powder is in graius of various sizes; when it is 
ground as fine as flour, and then fired, it burns 
much more slowly; nearly all the gunpowder used 
in fireworks is first ground fine to make what the 
firework makers call “meal powder,” or what is 
the same thing, the Charcoal, Sulphur, and Nitre, 
are made into fine powder and mixed without 
first making them into grains. This is the material 
that is used in rockets, and is merely a slow-burn¬ 
ing gunpowder, packed in a heavy paper tube 
called a “case.” The rocket-cases are made by 
pasting brown paper, layer upon layer, using a 
round stick for a mold ; the larger 
the rocket the thicker the case. If 
you examine a rocket case you will 
find that it has a sort of neck at the 
bottom, and that the opening is very 
narrow ; while the case is still wet, a 
strong cord is put around it near 
the end and drawn so as to “ choke ” 
it, as it is called, or make a neck 
there. When the case is dry it is 
ready to be filled with the mixture 
or powder just mentioned. The 
case is not filled solid, but there is 
a channel running through the whole 
length. If a rocket were cut open 
lengthwise, it would appear os in 
figure 1, which shows the “choke” 
below, and the channel in tlie center. 
The fine flight of the Rocket depends 
upon the proper filling, and it re¬ 
quires much practice to do it well. 
The case is put upon a stand, which 
has an iron rod that passes up 
through its center, some of the pow¬ 
der is put in, and a rammer, a wood¬ 
en plug of the right size, having a 
hole to admit the rod, is put in, and 
struck several smart blows with a 
0 mallet; more powder is put in and 
driven down as before, and soon un- 
candle. til the case is filled. The rod will 
leave a hole through the center of the 
filling. Some very large rockets are filled solid, 
and this hole afterwards bored out. You know 
that when a rocket gets up, there is usually an 
explosion, and stars, serpents, etc., appear and fall 
downwards. These are put in the top of the rocket, 
as seen in figure 1. When the case is nearly 
filled with the powder, a layer of clay is rammed 
in, which finishes the rocket proper. These added 
things are called the “garniture” of the rocket. 
A pasteboard cap is attached to the top of the 
case, a hole bored through the clay, and the stars, 
etc. (which will be described presently), are put in 
Fig. 3 .— A FLAMING STAR. 
with some loose powder, a wad of cotton holds 
them in place, and the whole finished by a pointed 
top. At the lower end a fuse is put in to touch 
it off. The rocket is now finished, all but the 
stick ; it could not fly well without this, any more 
than a kite could go without a tail, and the stick 
serves, just as a tail does to a kite—to balance it. 
About the Upward Flight, 
I stated that powder in burning formed a gas 
1,500 times more bulky than the powder itself. 
When powder is fired in a gun, the gun “ kicks ” ; 
the gas pushes the ball out at the muzzle, and at 
the same time pushes the gun back against the 
shoulder, as many know to their sorrow. The 
powder in the rocket burns more slowly than 
that iu a gun, and there is a great rush of gas 
Fig. 1 . —SECTION 
OF ROCKET. 
from its lower end, which lasts for some seconds ; 
this gas, acting with great force against the air, 
pushes the rocket upwards. When the fire reaches 
the clay partition at the ,top of the case, the loose 
powder in the cap takes fire, bursts the cap and 
scatters the stars which catch fire and burn as 
they fall. Next to the rocket, perhaps the most 
popular of all our common fireworks is 
The Roman Caudle. 
This you know, is much like a rocket without 
a stick, with a fuse at the top. When this is 
set upright by fixing it in a hole in a board or 
otherwise, and the fuse lighted, there will first be 
a blowing off of sparks ; in a few seconds, a pop 
—and up will go a beautiful star quite high in the 
air, then more sparks—another star with a pop- 
ana so on for a number of stars—a dozen in large 
candles. Figure 2, shows a section lengthwise of 
a Roman Candle. At the bottom is some of the 
same powder, or much like that with which rockets 
are filled ; next a little gunpowder, and upon this 
a star, above this a layer of the powder, then gun¬ 
powder and another star, and so on to the top 
where there is some of the powder and a fuse. The 
case is made by pasting layers of paper over one 
another, as in the rocket case, but it need not be 
so strong, and is not “ choked.” The stars are the 
principal things in the Roman Candle. These are 
of Nitre, Sulphur, and fine Gunpowder, made into 
a paste or dough with gum water, or a kind of var¬ 
nish. This paste is molded in a cylinder, and cut 
off in pieces to form thick disks, which have a 
small hole made in the middle and are then dried. 
In making stars for rockets, the mass is not 
molded, but cut up into small lumps. The stars 
are made to give a colored light by adding some 
material to the paste ; for green, a mineral called 
Baryta is used; the beautiful red light is made 
by using Strontia, another rare mineral, and 
other colors by different substances and mix¬ 
tures. When the fuse of the Roman Candle 
is lighted, the powder burns, sets the top star on 
fire and at the same time the fire through 
the hole in the centre of the star reaches the gun¬ 
powder below, which explodes and sends the star 
upward as if it were a bullet, and so the flight of 
stars goes on one after another. But I can not now 
tell you about the wheels and great show pieces. 
Some of the larger pieces are very beautiful, but 
are very simple as compared with the rocket. 
Flaming stars are often used in these. A short 
case is filled with a mixture, much like that used 
for rockets ; five holes are bored at equal distances 
near the bottom of the case, and a fuse so arranged 
that the mixture will be fired at all the holes at 
once; the fire blowing from these holes produces 
the effect of a flaming star as in figure 3. Other 
beautiful things in fireworks are made in an equally 
simple manner. I may at another time tell a few 
more things about fireworks, but I think I have 
shown you that it will be a waste of time and 
money for you to undertake to make them your¬ 
selves. The Doctor. 
Our FiizzleiBSox. 
DECAPITATIONS. 
1. Behead a house and leave the rent. 
2. Behead a house and leave a molding. 
3. Behead to cut, and leave the top of a hill. 
4. Behead a bodkin, and leave a fish. 
5. Behead to pierce, and leave a scar. 
C. Behead a flock and leave a fish basket. 
Henry Alice Donogh. 
BIBLICAL WORDS SQUARE. 
1. A wilderness where David concealed himself. 
2. A measure of surface. 
3. A prince of Midian. 
4. Amountain which overlooked the promised land. 
Isola. 
DEFINITIONS. 
(See explanation in the June number of the imer- 
ican Agriculturist.) 
1. A misty spot in the sky composed of innumera¬ 
ble stars. 
2. A type, emblem, or representation. 
3. One who grants a lease. 
4. To match, to compete with. 
5. Evaporating quickly, lively. 
6. Desolate, valueless, wild. 
7. A small insect. 
8. Mingled or associated with. 
