226 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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Tlie Story of flic Boot-Black. 
This picture tells the whole story itself, and needs no 
explanation. Perhaps a boot-black might not like it, 
but then it is a great deal better to have had an humble 
origin, beginning low in, the scale and working up, than 
What slow work it was, when every pin, even the small¬ 
est, had to go through all these operations; in those days 
it could be said of even the smallest, that it took 
FOURTEEN MEN TO MAKE A PIN 1 
This was the kind of pin in use when I was a young¬ 
ster, and the kind that I found such a curiosity when I 
found them in the parcel from Prance. One of these 
French pins had its portrait taken, as seen in figure 1, 
which is not a “full length.” I well recollect what 
they have cooked for about three hours, the pins will be 
found to be no longer brassy, but quite white; the acid, 
has dissolved a little of the tin, and then deposited it 
upon the pins, so that each one is covered with the thin¬ 
nest possible coating—a mere film of tin. This, thin as 
it is, answers very well, for you know that pins' will 
stand a great deal of wear before they show that they are 
of brass. The pins go from the kettles into the barrels 
again, with hot saw-dust, and they are whirled and 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OR THE BOOT-BLACK, ACCORDING TO SOME NATURALISTS. 
it is to begin high and run down, as many a boy—and 
many a man too—has done, into something almost as 
senseless, and not near so useful, as even a boot-jack 1 
The Doctor’s Talks—How Tilings 
are Done—Bins Here and There. 
bother they made by losing their heads, but the worst 
was, that in pushing a dull pin, or in thrusting one into 
some hard or thick cloth, the head, not being securely 
fastened, would slip, and the blunt wire would often be 
forced into the thumb, and hurt badly. With all their 
faults, these were the only pins to be had until about 
40 years ago, as it was not until 1836 that 
The other day I received from a friend, who lives near 
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in the south of 
France, a large parcel of botanical specimens, which you 
know are plants that have been carefully dried by press¬ 
ing them between papers. Upon opening it, I found it 
CONTAINED A GREAT CURIOSITY, 
one which I was glad to see, because it is curious in it¬ 
self, but because it reminded me of “ old times,” as it 
was something I had not seen since I was a child. No 
doubt some of you will think it is a fine plant from 
“ sunny France ” ; others may guess that it is a brilliant 
sea-weed from the great inland sea; still, another will 
perhaps think it is some pretty shell that my friend had 
picked up on the beach. But you could go on and guess 
a great many things that it might be, without hitting the 
right one. The plants were laid between folded sheets 
of paper, and then all the sheets holding plants of one 
family—such as the ferns, or the grasses—were put to¬ 
gether and wrapped, to keep them separate, in a larger 
paper, and each end of this wrapper was fastened by 
AN OLD-FASHIONED PIN. 
This pin was the thing that I thought so curious, and 
was glad to see ! Perhaps you will think of the saying 
“ as near alike as two pins,” and wonder if there can be 
any difference in pins, except in their size arid color, and 
that there should be such a thing as an “ old-fashioned,” 
as different from anew-fashioned pin, will no doubt be 
strange to you. Indeed, pins are in such common use, 
are so cheap, and so much a matter of course, that it is 
likely few, old or young, ever gave much thought to them. 
Forty years ago, pin-making was slow work, and be¬ 
fore a pin was finished and ready to be sold, it had to go 
through a great many hands. In the first place, the wire 
was cut into pieces, each long enough for six pins ; then 
a workman would take 30 or 40 of these wires, and keep¬ 
ing their ends even, bring them against a grindstone, 
where he ground each to a point; by keeping the wires 
rolling in his hand, he managed to point this number at 
once and all alike. The ends of these long wires being 
pointed, enough to make a pin was cut from each end, 
and the grinding continued to point the wires anew: the 
pointed ends being cut from these, the wires would be 
left only long enough for two pins; these were ground 
at each end, cut in two, and the workman was then ready 
to start with another lot of long wires, and go on as be¬ 
fore—one mail doing nothing but grind pin-points all his 
life. Here were the pins with points, but with no heads, 
and to make these and put them on, was the work of 
other men. First the heads must be made, and this was 
done by taking a piece of very fine brass wire, and coil¬ 
ing it closely around a steel wire the size of the pin ; 
this made a coil like a spiral spring, which was then cut 
into pieces of two (sometimes three) coils each, and 
these were the heads. . Each headless pin had its blunt 
end pushed into the hole in one of these pieces, and this 
was held in its place by giving it a blow with a small 
hammer; after a while an improvement was made by fix¬ 
ing the hammer to work with the foot. When the piri 
was finished, its upper part was like that shown in figure 
1, which is magnified, to show its shape, and below is a 
view of the head as it appears when looked down upon. 
PINS MADE BY MACHINERY 
came into use. A pin-machine is a wonderful thing. The 
wire passes into the machine at one side, from a reel 
upon which it is coiled—there is a great deal of clickety- 
click, and the completely made pins drop out at the op¬ 
posite side, quite as fast as vou would care to count 
them. You will agree with me that this is very wonder¬ 
ful, when you think that this machine of iron and steel 
does, and more rapidly, Jiie work of a dozen or more 
men, with but one man to attend to it—indeed, one man 
can look after several machines. Not only is the work 
done much more rapidly, but much better. I can not 
describe the machine, but it works in this way: the wire, 
as it passes in, has a bit cut off of the proper length, this 
is held—by a “hand” of the machine itself—against a 
wheel that goes round very quickly, and acts like a file, 
which points the pin ; then the piece of wire goes to a 
die —a piece of steel of the right shape, where the blunt 
end is powerfully squeezed, to make the head, and when 
this is done, the pin drops out, all complete. Pins thus 
made are solid-headed, all being in one piece, as in figure 
2, which shows the upper part of a pin, and below is the 
head as it appears when you look down upon it. You 
see that the head can not slip off and get lost, or be push¬ 
ed off to the injury of the hand, because it is a part of 
the pin itself. You can under¬ 
stand why these old-fashion¬ 
ed pins interested me, as 
they reminded me what a 
great improvement had been 
made in one of the conveni¬ 
ences, if not one of the ne¬ 
cessities, of every-day-life. I 
do not know if pins are still 
made in the old way, or not, 
in France, but I presume that 
they are, as those which came 
to me looked bright and new. 
We may take pride in the 
fact that this great improve¬ 
ment was made by an Ameri¬ 
can, or rather several Ameri¬ 
cans, for several worked at 
the pin-machine before it was as perfect as it is at pres¬ 
ent. How much thought and study it must have taken, 
to so fix and shape iron and steel that it would perform 
such delicate operations better than many hands I But 
there are some other things you would like to know 
about pins. They are made of brass wire (some very 
poor ones of iron wire), and yet they are white, and you 
wish to know how they are made so. When the pins 
drop from the machine, they are put into a barrel, which 
is fixed to turn rapidly on its axils; some saw-dust is put 
in with the pins—pecks—thousands of them, and .the 
barrel set to whirling; as this goes humming around, the 
pins get a terrible shaking up; they rub against one 
another and against the saw-dust, until after a while they 
are scrubbed clean and bright. Then the pins are put 
into large kettles, a layer of pins, some plates of block 
or pure tin, more pins, and more tin plates; until the ket¬ 
tle is full. Water enough to cover the pins is put in, with 
a little nitric acid, and the whole set to boiling; after 
Fig. 1. fins. Fig. 2. 
tumbled over for a while, when they come out bright and 
polished, and ready to be 
STUCK INTO THE PAPERS. 
For some time after pins were made by machinery, 
they were pnt into the papers by the hands of children, 
but this was too slow altogether. When a machine is 
needed in this country, it is very sure to come, so a pin- 
sticking machine was invented, then another, until at 
last the needed machine was produced, and the one now 
used, also invented by an American, is even more wonder¬ 
ful than the machine that makes the pins. All that is 
needed is, to throw the pins into a hopper, supply the 
paper, and the machine does the rest.... I don’t think 
that my friend in France had any idea, when he stuck 
his pins into the parcels, that it would lead to so long a 
talk to children all over the world. But we can not fore¬ 
see what may come from our slightest acts.— The Doctor. 
Aunt Sue’s I'uzzlc-Kos. 
We will give a few words of explanation, this month, 
concerning Positives and Comparatives. Most compara¬ 
tives are formed by adding er, as high, higher ; sweet, 
sweeter; black, blacker; short, shorter, etc. So that, 
-when we make puzzles on “positives and comparatives,” 
we select words terminating in e, r, or having the sound 
of er, but which need not really belong to any adjectives 
at all; as, for example, “scour”—take off the er 
sound and what do yori leave? “Scow.” Is that any¬ 
thing 1 Yes, a boat; so that that will make a first-rate 
“ positive and comparative puzzle.”—Positive, a boat 
(scow); comparative, to clean (scour). — “Stammer.” 
Take off the er and what is left ?—“ Stam.” Is that any 
word ?—No. That will not do, then. Now if you look 
at the answers published in the April number, you 
will find weight, waiter; cent, center; pond, ponder; 
gnu, newer, and sleigh,'slayer; all very good words for 
the purpose. With this explanation, I hope you will 
have no difficulty in guessing the following 
POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES. 
1. Positive—correct.; comparative—a scribe. 
2. A support—fitting. 
3. Part of a ship—a ruler. 
4. A boy’s name—a Southern State. 
5. A girl’s nickname—to purvey. 
6. A rascal—to scud. 
(The positive and comparative in each line, understood.) 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE APRIL NUMBER. 
Specimen Enigma.— Look before you leap. 
Illustrated Rebus.— (By an unfortunate position select¬ 
ed for this picture, some puzzlers mistook it for the “ prize 
enigma,” which enigma was on the next page). A rose 
would smell as sweet by any other name. 
Pf.ize Enigma.— (To be answered in July.) 
Simple Enigma.— Live within your income. 
The “liquor agent’s account ” has been variously answer¬ 
ed; by the majority incorrectly. J. H. B. sends the most 
terse answer, thus: 
“ 1st.—The agent owes the town 
2d.—In money $50.23rrin liquor $31.37. 
Sd.—The town loses $8.11. 
M. J. Reid tells us more about it, and as so many have 
taken an interest in the sum, we cannot do better than quote 
from his letter: Brookville, Ontario, April 2d, 1877. 
Pear Aunt Sue .•**** I have given it (the account) to 
several of my friends, and they nearly all do it in different 
ways, and get different answers, the trouble being, in my 
mind, that they mix up the cash and the liquor ; but 1 con¬ 
tend that, as the agent was simply an agent, his account with 
the town has nothing to do with the stock on hand when he 
took office, or the stock on hand when he left, as he did not 
