1875 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
231 
in that; but just transpose them into “LAW,” anil I 
think you will find sufficient to drive wise men mad, 
especially if they get into Chancery with it. 
Ida S. T.—I do not like to discourage the little ones, 
but we have a great many “ numerical enigmas.” An 
answer to the whole is sufficient, without writing each 
separate item. 
J. II. T.—Much obliged for the puzzle you send, but 
we do not wish to publish any but original ones. 
M. and W. S. N.—Thanks for your “ alphabetical arith¬ 
metic,” but I can not use it, for I think it is utterly un- 
solvabie. I see no possible way of getting a clue to it. 
Georoe H. F.—We make no distinction in our Puzzle 
Box between “North ” and “ South,” all are welcome. 
How Engravings are Made. 
All boys and girls like pictures ; who ever saw one who 
did not ? Long before the little brother or sister can 
talk, you can amuse the baby by showing it pictures. 
Sometimes boys or 
girls will be so 
much interested in 
pictures that they 
wish to know how 
they are made, and 
letters have now 
and then come ask¬ 
ing ns to tell about 
them. We are re¬ 
minded by a letter 
from Cbas. W. M., 
Tuscola Co., Mich., 
that we many months ago promised to say some¬ 
thing about engravings. Charles and his sister have 
been talking the matter over, and being unable to 
satisfy themselves, they have concluded to “muster 
up courage ” to write to The Doctor. Charles and his 
sister,-and every other boy and girl in the whole family 
of young Agriculturists, should know that it does not re¬ 
quire the least “courage” to write to The Doctor or 
others of the editors, who are all ready to help them— 
though they may not always answer their questions right 
off. Charlie writes such a clever letter that it is a pity 
we have not room to print it. His questions show that 
he does not know that there are several very distinct 
kinds of engraving; the principal kinds being on wood, 
on metal, and on stone, and the ways of making these, 
and of printing them are about as unlike as the materials 
that are used. The most common kind is 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 
By common I do not mean poor, though the very poorest 
as well as some of the very finest engravings, are made 
in this way; but 
that these are more 
used than any 
other. I will try 
to tell you some¬ 
thing of the differ¬ 
ent kinds, and be¬ 
gin with this first. 
Wood engravings, 
it hardly needs to 
be said, are made 
with wood, and for 
the better kinds 
only one sort of wood will answer—box-wood. You 
know the box of the gardens used to make edgings 
to beds, and what a slow growing plant it is, with its lit¬ 
tle shining evergreen leaves. In southern Europe, and 
in Asia, it grows to a tree, with a trunk 8 inches or more 
through. Such trees are hundreds of years old, and the 
wood is so close and fine that the rings made by each 
year’s growth can scarcely be seen. This wood is cut 
into slices crosswise about an inch thick, and sold by the 
pound ; the preparing of the wood is a business by itself; 
one surfaee is made very smooth, and if large blocks are 
needed, they are 
made by gluing 
small pieces to¬ 
gether, and very 
large ones are 
strengthened by 
bolts running 
through them. For 
coarse engravings, 
other hard woods, 
such as pear and 
apple - tree wood 
Fig. 3. —GROOVES AND TINT. are used, and for 
such work as the 
great circus show bills, mahoganj' and even common 
pine are used. So much for the material. If yon take a 
block of wood and ink ito surface with printer's ink and 
then press it down upon paper, the ink will leave the 
block and stick to the paper, and you have a clear black 
spot, as in fig. 1. Now if you take your knife and cut a 
groove like a V on the surface of the block and then ink 
it and press it on the paper as before, your print will, 
as in fig. 2, show a white line through the black, as the 
ink would not go into the groove, and if it did, the paper 
would not reaih the sides of the groove to take it out. 
Fig. 4 .—engraver’s tool. 
On this block are one wide groove and three very nar¬ 
row ones like deep scratches. If several grooves are cut 
a little distance apart, and a print of the block taken with 
ink, it will then show several lines, and these lines will be 
heavy or light, as there is more or less distance between 
the grooves. Fignre 3 is printed from a block which Mr. 
Hinkle cut for you, that you may sec how a block with 
grooves of various sizes will print. You see that where 
there is a wide part of the face of the block left uncut, it 
prints solid black, where the wood is cutaway, making a 
wide groove, it is clear white, and where there are sev¬ 
eral grooves very near together, it prints lines, and the 
black of these lines with the white between them, makes 
a gray tint. You can readily understand that these lines 
may be curved in any manner, and the same effect would 
be produced. The untouched surface of the block re¬ 
ceives the ink and does the printing, and where the sur¬ 
face is cut away, there will be no ink, and this part of 
the block will, so to speak, print white. The size of the 
lines and their closeness makes the tint. Suppose we 
wish to have the letter O in a wood engraving, it would 
first he carefully drawn with a pencil, and this is not the 
engraver’s business, but the artist’s. The letter being 
drawn exactly as it is wanted, the engraver takes it and 
cuts away the surface of the wood for a slight depth all 
around the outside, and then from the inside of the let¬ 
ter, and leaves the surface of the wood where the pencil 
marks are, untouched. He would do the same if, instead 
Fig. 5. —engraver’s tool. 
of a simple letter, he had a highly ornamented one. A 
picture in which there is not only form, but light and 
shade, about which we shall tell more hereafter, is treated 
in the same way, it is his business to cut away all the 
surface of the block that is to be white. To do this cut¬ 
ting he uses tools made for the purpose; these tools, 
called gravers, are of different sizes and shapes, two of 
the common ones are here shown ; fig. 4 has a wedge-like 
point, and fig. 5 has a sort of diamond point, and there 
are those of other shapes, some of which will allow a wide 
and others a very narrow groove to be made. These 
tools are made of the best steel, and kept very sharp. 
The maimer of using them can hardly be described, 
and can only be learned by practice. A good en¬ 
graver will cut a.series of grooves side by side, leav¬ 
ing a narrow line of unbroken surface of the wood 
between them, the lines so fine that you will need a 
magnifier to see them, and the magnifier will show the 
lines all perfectly true and unbroken, anil all at the same 
distance apart. Thinking that you will understand from 
this the principle upon which wood engravings are made, 
the story of how the picture gets upon the block before 
the engraver takes it in hand, will be told at another time. 
---•- 
Drying Plante.—Sarah M. T. We are glad that 
you wish to know how to dry the plants you collect, and 
no doubt other girls, if not Doys too, would like to do 
so. Laying the plants between the leaves of some large 
hook of little value, will do for a few, but it is a poor use 
to which to put a book, and allows of only slow work. 
Get some newspapers, printed on as soft, thick paper as 
you can find, and fold them to make pads of several thick¬ 
nesses—at least 6 or 8—putting two papers together if 
need be—and of convenient size. Botanists make them 
18 inches long by 12 wide, but you can make them smaller 
if you choose. Put a few stitches through them to keep 
them from separating. These are your “ driers,” now 
prepare a number of single folds of newspaper of the 
same size—a single fold like a sheet of letter paper, 
these are the “folds.” Then you will need several 
boards, all the better if kept from warping by a cleat at 
each end. Two may do, but more will be handy. Hav¬ 
ing collected the plants, place two driers on one of the 
boards, open a fold and lay the plant out as naturally as 
possible upon one-half, fold over the other half, place 
this fold with the plant in it upon the driers, and put 
another drier on it. Put more plants in other folds in the 
same manner, and put them on the pile with driers be¬ 
tween. When all are done, put a board upon the top and 
upon that a heavy weight. A box with stones in it, fitted 
with handles to lift it by will do, or you may do up 
bricks in parcels of four or more with some strong paper 
Fig. H .—WIDE AND NARROW 
GROOVES. 
and twine and use several of them. As a Miss is not able 
to lift very heavy weights, it is better to have the weight 
so fixed that it can be handled a part at a time. With 
small plants you can put several in a fold. The driers 
need to be changed every day, and for the first few days 
it will be better to do it twice a day. To change, lay a 
fresh drier on a board, then take off the drier from the 
pile and carefully lift the fold and place it on the fresh 
drier; put on this another drier, and so on, building up 
the pile again as at first. Spread the driers that have 
been used, to dry, and have them ready for the next 
change. Do not open the folds to look at the plants un¬ 
til the paper no longer feels damp, as they should not be 
disturbed. You will see that an abundance of driers will 
be handy. You can tell after a little experience when 
the plants are dry ; they become dry to the touch, and 
stiff enough to hold their shape when lifted. No rule 
can be given, as the plants vary greatly in the time re¬ 
quired ; some dry in two or three days, and others will 
require a week or more. Lay the plants away in the 
folds until ready to arrange them, and in a place free 
from dust. You of course will place with each a label 
with the name of the plant and place and date of collect¬ 
ing It takes long to describe, but is not near so difficult 
as it seems. It is well to place the driers in the sun, and 
use them dry and warm when you change. The more 
rapidly plants are dried the better will the colors keep, 
but there are some plants which will turn black on dry¬ 
ing, no matter what care may be taken. The Indian 
pipe, which is pure white, is one of these. In very damp 
weather it will be necessary to dry the driers by tho 
fire. It is better in pressing to assort the plants, and 
not put large and small ones together in the pile. Separ¬ 
ate each day’s collection by a board or pasteboard. 
-- 
«¥ uue. 
Is it not strange that we do not know the reason why 
several of the months are called by the names v/e daily use 
for them ? We told you last month that there was much 
doubt why May was so called, and there is quite as much 
trouble about June. Some say June was named after 
Juno, one of the ancient goddesses; others that it was 
named in honor of Junius Brutus, the Homan Consul, 
but the best reason of all is that it is th; month dedica¬ 
ted to the young men, who in Latin aio called juniores. 
But there is no good reason why it should mean young 
men and not include young women, and then you know 
young men and women may be very young. Here’s a 
discovery! June, from juniores, is nothing more or lees 
than the young folks’ month—the Beys and Girls’ month. 
Yes, that’s it. Hurrah for June! the youngsters’month! 
That’s an enough sight better reason for the name than 
any ancient heathens or their gods.--Why shouldn't it be 
the young folks’ month, for with ms it is the pleasantest 
of all ? It is bright and fresh and gay and full of life and 
sweetness, as all young folks should be. Yes, children, 
claim June as your own month; if any care to dispute 
it, say that you are juniors, and even juniores if they 
prefer it, and it is much better for the month to be called 
in your honor than in that of Juno, who, if she ever ex¬ 
isted, was a very disagreeable person, or Junius Brutus, 
who ha3 been dead over 2,000 years, and isn’t of half 
so much importance as one live junior. It’s your month 1. 
-- — MSHfr-sga—-- 
TSiat Utile Arbor, 
Florence B. thinks she can make, with her brother's 
help, a little arbor in her little garden, and wants to know 
what plants will climb quickly, and can be easily got. 
She has but little money to spend for seeds and plants, 
but she knows that with some brush and strings she can 
make an arbor, which will be nice to sit under.—A good 
idea, Miss Florence—but in the first place, unless you 
have a big brother, we fear you will not make it strong 
enough. Vines, when they grow up, are heavy, especi¬ 
ally when wet, and the winds take a strong hold of them. 
If you can get some slender poles, or long brush, you 
can have them set in the ground in two rows, and then 
bent over, brought together from opposite sides at the 
top, to make an arch, and tied there. Then you can run 
strings from one pole to the other, horizontally, on each 
side. It would be well to have it tall enough for a grown 
person to stand up in. as you may have company, and it 
should be wide enough for several young people, and a 
little table. You can make niee enough seats out of box¬ 
es, and all the neater if you can find something to cover 
them with. But for the vines—the two easiest things to 
get are morning g’ories and beans.—“Beans !” Acs, do 
not despise them. Limas have beautiful foliage, and bow 
tbey run ! If you can get scarlet-runner beans, you can 
have flowers too ; otherwise plant morning glories with 
the beans, and let them grow together: put three or four 
seeds of each near the foot of each pole of your arbor, 
and as they grow, train them where you want them: use 
strings where needed. You can buy a number of vines 
of the florists, but these will cost quite a sum, while the 
beans and morning glories will make just as good e 
Shade, aud cost almost nothing. 
