MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
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ABOUT PEAR STOCKS - AGAIN. 
Mr. Editor :—-When I penned the article 
in defence of dwarf trees, I did not think I 
should be called upon to make the defence 
still stronger. I imagine that my friend 
Ainsworth must be very extensively engaged 
in the nursery trade to have so many trees. 
It certainly must argue one of two things, 
that owing to his extended business he has 
not sufficient, time to do his grafting well, or 
that he does not know how to do it well._ 
His great objection to the quince stock seems 
to be at the union. I can state for his infor¬ 
mation, that I have had pulled up this year 
over two thousand young trees, and not one 
of the whole number got broke off at the 
union. I sincerely hope that my good friend 
is blest with “ connubial ties,” and that the 
union will be more strong and complete, and 
not so easily severed by “every wind that 
blows and other causes,” as are his pear trees. 
Now in regard to the pear trees mentioned 
by M. Bose,—also the “ Endicott pear tree,” 
the “ Stuyvesant,” and those at Detroit. I 
maintain that it matters not how old a tree 
may be (save for its longevity,) if it produces 
poor fruit. Now the pear trees of this coun¬ 
try that Mr. A. has referred to, are ordinary 
fruit, as compared with our improved varie¬ 
ties, and I have no doubt the trees mentioned 
by M. Bose are similar—for most of the finer 
varieties have been introduced within the last 
fifty years. Had they been fine varieties, 
they would have long since gone down to 
their graves, “ unheard of and unsung.” 
Mr. A. is pleased to quote Mr. Downing | 
to prove that the quince lives in a bearing 
state only about twelve years. Mr. A. must 
have known that Mr. Dow ning alluded to the 
pear worked on our common quince ; for he 
could not be ignorant of the fact that Mr. D. 
had been in Boston, where there are trees in 
abundance from twenty to forty years old. 
also that he had visited France, and there 
saw trees of the quince from fifty to one hun¬ 
dred years old by thousands. Mr. A. could 
not be ignorant of this, unless he lived “ off 
the road, and did not take the papers.” 
Mr. A. says “ When Mr. P. shows me 
by facts that one-third of the varieties grown 
are improved on the quince, under the same 
care and culture, and gives me the names, I 
will yield the point with pleasure.” I am 
now prepared to show that only a very small 
number of the one thousand mentioned by A 
are good for anything. Mr. Buist, in his 
work on fruit, page 199, says “ One of the 
most celebrated Horticulturists of the age, 
writing to me from Boston, says—• there is 
too much of a rage for new fruits, and the old 
ones and superior kinds neglected. Of pears 
they have near two hundred kinds, and possi¬ 
bly twenty of fair quality.’ ” So you see out 
of the one thousand varieties spoken of by A., 
this celebrated Horticulturist thinks there are 
only about twenty good ones, audit is a com¬ 
mon remark among our most distinguished 
cultivators of fruit, that from twenty to thirty 
varieties is all that can be depended upon as 
invariably first rate. 
I will now endeavor to show, and that too 
by the highest authority, that the largest and 
most beautiful specimen of pears are grown 
upon the quince stock : 
Duchess de Angouleme, worthless on pear 
stock, says J. J. Tiiomas. Beurre Diel, 
Jargonelle, and Golden Beurre of Bilboa, are 
pronounced best on quince by Coi.e. Louise 
Bonne de Jersey, best on quince, says Thomas. 
Beurre de Aremburgh, best on quince, says 
J acques. Glout Morceau, superior on quince, 
says Barry. Easter Beurre, better on the 
quince than pear, says Barry. Van Mons 
Leon le Clerc, best on quince, says Cole._ 
The largest specimens of Bartlett, Louise 
Bonne de Jersey, Duchess de Angouleme, 
and White Doyenne, we have ever seen were 
on quince, says Barry. Now, the pears that 
I have introduced above, are the most cele¬ 
brated pears in cultivation, and I have shown, 
by the highest authority, that all the varieties 
named are superior on the quince. In the 
Horticulturist for February, 1853, page 98, it 
is stated that “ one re markable specimen of 
Duchess de^ Angouleme pear was sold by 
Isaac Newton, Chesnut street, Philadelphia, 
for one dollar, and many specimens not quite 
so large were sold for seventy-five cents each 
as soon as they were displayed at the win¬ 
dows.” Specimens of the Beurre Diel have 
been sold in the Boston market for twenty-five 
cents each. Says Mr. Jacques :—“ Speci¬ 
mens of the Glout Morceau pear have been 
sold in Boston as high as two dollars a dozen. 
J ohn Taylor, in a letter to me, says_ 1 1 
bought last week of Mr. Austin, of Dorches¬ 
ter, Mass., Easter Beurre pears, for which I 
paid him four dollars and a half per dozen, 
and sold them quick at fifty cents each.’ I 
sold the Louise Bonne de Jersey, myself, at 
eight dollars per bushel.” 
We see by the above that the Duchess de 
Angouleme sells as high as six to eight shil¬ 
lings Lapiece/ while' it is worthless cn the.pear ; 
and you will also find that almost invariably 
all the best pears in cultivation, and the 
largest and most beautiful specimens, are 
grown on the quince. And now, I will leave 
friend A. to deal with such men as Barry, 
Cole, Thomas, Jacques, Buist and Wilder, 
hoping he will refer to them, and not depend 
too much upon his own resources. 
Austin Pinney. 
Clarkson, N. Y., July, 1855. 
BLACK VINE BUG. 
Mr. Editor :—A. Z., in last week’s Rural, 
gave an account of the manner in which he 
rid his vines of that pest of the gardener, the 
black vine bug. He punches them, he says, 
between two slivers of wood. My method, 
although corresponding in results, is easier in 
practice. It is as follows Bend up a short 
piece of hoop iron in the shape of an old fash¬ 
ioned pair of sugar tongs, so that the points 
will open sufficiently by the spring to 
admit a bug between them. This is an ad¬ 
mirable instrument of destruction, and, used 
in one hand, while the vine leaves are opened 
and turned up by the other, will very soon 
clear the vines of the depredators. I have 
killed hundreds in a morning, and the conse¬ 
quences are my vines are flourishing beauti¬ 
fully, while some of my neighbor’s are de¬ 
stroyed. A few minutes each morning has 
accomplished more for me in this way, than 
all other preventives I have ever used put to¬ 
gether. o. K. 
THE CURRANT AND RASPBERRY. 
Considering the value of these fruits and 
the ease with which they may produced, they 
are too much neglected. In the vicinity of 
large cities they are extensively cultivated for 
market, but the people of the interior, especial¬ 
ly farmers, do not pay the attention to them 
that would be for their interest and comfort. 
The currant is everywhere hardy acd more 
uniformly prolific, perhaps, than any other 
fruit. Even left as we usually see it in the 
country,— its roots bound with grass, the 
bushes unpruned, standing for years on the 
same soil un manured and uncultivated,—the 
annual crop of fruit is certain, though les 3 in 
quantity and of poorer quality than it would 
be under proper management. It is a whole¬ 
some and not unpalatable fruit. When well 
ripened, it is no mean auxiliary to the dessert, 
and by the aid of sugar furnishes an excellent 
sauce. It is “ in season ” a long time, is free 
from insects, and good from first to last. It 
may be dried and kept through the year ; it 
is easily and cheaply made into a jelly, which 
every good house wife, as well as her guests 
knows the value of; and it can be made into 
a cheap and pleasant wine, to be taken “ for 
the stomach's sake,” or otherwise. 
There are several varieties of the currant, 
differing considerably in their properties._ 
The following are some of the most noted : 
Red Dutch. —Rather larger than the com¬ 
mon red, the wood stouter and the shrub less 
in height. The clusters of fruit large, and it 
is not so acid as the common kind. 
Knight's Sweet Red .—This is a valuable 
kind produced by that well-known experi¬ 
menter, the late T. A. Knight. It is not, as 
some would suppose from the name, a sweet 
currant, but about as acid as the White 
Dutch. The fruit is larger and the clusters 
as long as the Red Dutch, and it is as product¬ 
ive as any kind. 
The Cherry Currant is an Italian variety 
which has been lately introduced here. The 
fruit is very large, the clusters short, and it is 
rather unproductive. It is the most acid of 
all currants. 
Mary’s Victoria is a new red variety, chief¬ 
ly valuable on account of its being later than 
any other. 
The White Dutch is a handsome and pro¬ 
ductive variety. It is less acid than red va¬ 
rieties, excepting Knight’s, and is prized on 
this account. 
The raspberry is not as hardy as the cur¬ 
rant, though several varieties are not difficult 
of cultivation. It is adapted to the same uses 
as the currant, and like that comes in just af¬ 
ter the strawberry. We have two species in- 
digenious to the country, viz., the Black or 
Purple (“ thimble-berry ”) and the Red. The 
former has broken into some varieties, as the 
Ohio Ever-bearing,—so called from its habit 
of fruiting, more or less, for several weeks,— 
and the white or straw-colored. 
The Native Black raspberry improves 
greatly by cultivation ; the fruit is increased 
in quantity, enlarged, and made much more 
juicy and better flavored. It. is a rampant- 
grower, and when placed in the middle of the 
garden, untrained, it occupies too much room. 
It may be trained to a fence or trellis, or al¬ 
lowed to grow on a low wall. Its branches 
will strike root if allowed to reach the ground. 
It may be made to propagate itself rapidly by 
layers. 
The Native Red is uuwortby of cultivation. 
It is not readily kept within bounds, on ac¬ 
count of its numerous spreading roots which 
throw up stalks. The fruit, from its softness, 
is quickly perishable, will not bear transpor 
tation, and is very subject to an insect. It 
grows iu great quantities on many of the hall- 
wild pastures of New England, and when it 
can be picked and used iua fresh state, is very 
good. 
The European varieties are numerous.— 
Several of these arc really delicious. The fa¬ 
vorite varieties in this vicinity are these : 
Franconia. —This is hardy and prolific ; 
much liked as a market fruit, from its firmness, 
and successive ripening. 
Fastolff. —A new English variety, of large 
size and fine flavor, but, judging from' what we 
have seen, not as productive as some. 
Knevet’s Giant, a large, early variety, of 
superior flavor, and tolerably hardy. 
Red Antwerp. —The true Red Antwerpjis a 
very fine sort; the fruit large, conical, and 
the flavor unsurpassed for richness. The 
common kind which passes under this name is 
quite inferior—the fruit smaller and flattened 
in shape. 
Yellow Antwerp. —This is a showy fruit, 
the flavor sweet, and very agreeable to some 
palates. It is not so firmhs some other kinds, 
and not so valuable for marketing. Both 
this and the Red Antwerp are more inclined 
to sucker and spread than the kinds above 
mentioned, which is an objection to them. 
. AVe shall not speak of the modes of cultiva¬ 
ting the currant and raspberry, in this article. 
They can be learned from the fruibbooks, a 
copy of at least one of which should be in the 
possession of every family which occupies a 
rod of ground. We will just mention, how¬ 
ever, that in New England and the northern 
part of the country generally, it is best to 
bury raspberry canes during winter. It is 
simply necessary to bend them down and cover 
them with an inch or two inches of earth. It 
should be done in November, and the cones 
should not be taken up till freezing weather is 
past.— Boston Cultivator. 
Chinese Vegetables.— The experiments to 
promote the acclimation of the Chinese pota¬ 
to Diosourea batatas — have fully succeeded 
in France ; the plant is not liable to disease, 
and yields twenty-four tons to the acre. The 
geographical society of Paris, says the Tri¬ 
bune correspondent, has awarded one of its 
gold medals to Mr. Montigny, Consul at 
Shanghai, for having sent over the potato and 
the oak silk worms to Europe. A highly nu¬ 
tritious pea from China has likewise been suc¬ 
cessfully tried in France, and the Chinese 
sugar cane is growing well in Belgium, pro¬ 
ducing TOO gallons of syrup to the acre, and 
a large amount of fibre fit for the manufac¬ 
ture of paper. At a late meeting of the En¬ 
glish Horticultural Society, stalks of llolcus- 
saccharatus, from the royal gardens at Frog- 
more, were exhibited, a plant said to be grown 
in India for its grain, and by some supposed , 
likely to prove ultimately a substitute for the “j*. smart, Philadelphia 
sugarcane. F ^ 
An Item for Butter-makers.—I noticed 
in a late number of the Rural directions for 
keeping milk from souring in hot weather. I 
will just tell you my way, which I practiced 
for yeare with goed success. Milk in tin 
pails and set them into fresh drawn water 
from the wed, and let them stand say ten 
minutes—long enough to become what is called 
luke-warm ; then strain the milk and you will 
have much more cream and of much better 
quality. By this method cf raising cream, 
we seldom have more than one poor batch of 
butter in a season. Readers of the Rural, 
try for yourselves ; it will cost nothing, but 
will give you a good return in good butter._ 
S. B., Stockbridge, N. Y. 
olive oil, taken inwardly, is said to be a cer¬ 
tain cure for the bite of a rattlesnake and oth¬ 
er poisonous reptiles. A little should also be 
applied to the wound. Another remedy is 
the following :—Take roots and branches of 
plantain and hoarhound, bruised in a mortar, 
and the juice expressed ; of which give one 
large spoonfiil as soon as possible. In a hour, 
if necessary, give another spoonful. Apply 
to the wound a leaf of tobacco moistened in 
rum. This remedy was discovered by a ne¬ 
gro, for which his freedom was purchased, and 
an annuity settled upon him by the o-eneral 
assembly of Carolina. 
etjrantc %tis, fa. 
LIST OE PATENTS. 
Issued from the United States Patent Office far the week 
ending July 10, 1855. 
John Aspinail, London, for improvement in apparatus 
for draining sugar. 
Charles Atwood, Birmingham, Conn., improvement in 
ventilating railroad cars. 
Jonathan F. Barrett, North Granville, N. Y. for im¬ 
proved method of raising and lowering the cutters of 
harvesters. 
Thomas Barrows, Dedham, improvement in process 
for treating wool. 
Wm. Blackhurn, Jersey City, N. J., for automatic ma¬ 
chine for turning ship spars, &c. 
Francis B. Blanchard, Waterville, Me., for improve¬ 
ment in air and steam engine. 
Samuel W. Brown, Lowell, for improvement in gas 
regulators. 
Eleazar Brown. Jr., for improvement in lubricating 
compounds. 
S. N. Campbell, Elgin, Ill., for improved sun shade. 
Daniel Cambell, Washington, D. C., for improvement 
in saddle trees. 
Jame3 E. Cronk, Poughkeepsie, for device to allow the 
escape of waste water from pump barrels. 
Lyman Clinton, North Haven, Conn., for improvement 
in straw cutters. 
Daniel Deshon, 2d, Whitstown, for improvement in 
spark arresters. 
Rufus M. Dill, of Holyoke, for improvement in looms. 
Sheldon S. Hartshorn, of Orange, C@nn. for improve¬ 
ment in buckets. 
John J. Heard, Boston, for ship pump. 
Enoch Jackman and Edwin G. Dunham, Portland, for 
improvement in fastenings for carpets. 
Benjamin F. Joslyn, Worcester, improvement in slide 
wrenches. 
Wright Lancaster, of Harmony Township, Ind., for 
improvement in washing machines. 
James Murphy, New York, improvement in steam 
boilers. 
Jno. O’Neil, Kingston, N. Y., for improvement in ma¬ 
chine for pulverizing clay. 
Orson Parkhurst and Daniel Bullock, Cohoes, for ma¬ 
chine for cutting screws on bedsteads. 
Isaac J. Hite, White Post, Va., Assignor to W. F. Pa- 
gett, of same place, for improvement in harvesters. 
F. A. Parker, Shaftshury, Vt., for improvement in 
saw-sets. 
Adonijah and Simeon Peacock, Cincinnati, for improve¬ 
ment in attaching cast points to steal mould hoards of 
plows. 
Samuel Pearson and Wm. H. Gardner, of RoxDury, for 
improvement in rope and cordage machines. 
Wm. Robinson, Augusta, Ga., for stave machine. 
Stephen Saunders, South Kingston, R. I., for vibrating 
stop-water for ships and other vessels. 
Frederick Scheurer, N. Y., for improvement in counter 
, for self-regnlating water 
packing for pumps, &c. 
Samuel W. Soule, Oswego, for improvement in exca¬ 
vators. 
Sophia B. Spafford, administratrix, and George Alexan¬ 
der, administrator of Simeon L. Spafford, deceased, (late 
of Philadelphia.) for improvement in railroad draw¬ 
bridge signals. 
Andrew Stoeekel, N. Y., for machine for cutting legs 
for pianos, tables, &c. 
Chas. M. Swany, Richmond, Ind., for guage for stair 
rails. 
Charles F. Thomas, Taunton, for improvement in the 
means for increasing draft in locomotives. 
Stephen Ustic, Philadelphia, for improvement in brick 
presses. 
Orrin D. Yosmus, Mt. Sterling, Ky., for improvement 
in open stirrups. 
Wm. E. Ward, Port Chester, for improvement in ma¬ 
chines for making bolts. 
Jerome B. Woodruff, Washington, D. C., for improve¬ 
ment in sewing machines. 
John C. Young, Middletown, Md.. for machine for bor¬ 
ing posts and pointing rails. 
John Elgar, Baltimore, Md., for seif-regulating wind¬ 
mills. 
Wm. P. Walter, Philadelphia, for improvement in 
manufacturing plate glass from cylinders. 
Abner Whitely, of Clark county, Ohio, for improve- 
ment.in grain and grass harvesters. 
John Philips, of Waynesborough, Pa., assignee to Ben¬ 
jamin Brantz, of the same place, for self-regulating wind¬ 
mill. 
“The Delaware Air-Spring Manufacturing Company,” 
assignee of James F. Heyward, of WilmiDgton, Del., for 
improvement in pneumatic springs. Patented in Eng¬ 
land, Jan. 26, 1855. 
RE-ISSUES. 
Wm. Fuzzard, Charlestown, Mass., for improvement 
Rattlesnake Bite.— Half a wine glass of I ™~?D lliery for feltiBC hat todies - Patented February 
Ufl Alt fol—Or, tnrr.nwtl^ 1.,-IJ 1 . 1 ^ 
13, 1855. 
Samuel Malone, Tremont, Ill., for improvement in corn 
planters. Patented January 3, 1854. 
Lyman Scott, St. Louis, for improved portable grind¬ 
ing mill. Patented May 16. 1854. 
George Westinghouse, Central Bridge, N. Y., for endless 
chain horse power. Patented Juno 13,1354. 
ABOUT IRON- 
Corn Cake. —We eat corn cake every day, 
and our “ folks ” have flattered us, until we 
think, for a plain, wholesome kind, ours ex¬ 
cels all others. We take six cups of good 
buttermilk, one egg, salt enough, aud a table- 
spoonful of saleratus ; make it thin as batter 
for frying; beat quickly, and only loDg 
enough to make it free from lumps ; pour into 
a large buttered bread pan, and bake half an 
hour. This is light, with a nice, tender crust, 
and plenty for a family of six. Stick a pin 
here, you folks with the “ weasel in your 
wheat,” as Mother Partington would sav. 
Water Melon Butter.— Split the water 
nielons open, with a spoon scrape out the pulp 
into a cullender, and strain the water into ves¬ 
sels ; boil it down to syrup, then put in apples 
or peaches, like making apple butter or any 
kind .of preserves. Or, the syrup may be boil¬ 
ed without fruit down to molasses, which will 
be found to be as fine as the best sugar-house 
molasses. The season for making this table 
sauce will soon be at hand, and those who 
wish to partake of it should be prepared for 
the event.— Scientific American. 
Mead. —This pleasant beverage may be 
made as follows Sugar, 3>f lbs.; molasses, 
5 gills ; water 3 pints ; boil 20 minutes; 
strain ; add l 4 of a pound of tartaric acid dis¬ 
solved in one gill cf water; flavor with essence 
of checkerberry, sassafras, or lemon. Mix 
three or four table-spoons with half a tumbler 
water stir iu half a tea-spoonful of bi-carbon¬ 
ate of soda, and drink during effervescence." 
Rhubarb Marmalade.— Pare and cut into 
very small pieces 2 lbs. of rhubarb ; add l> a ' 
lbs. of loaf sugar, and the rind of one lemon 
cut very fine and into very small pieces. Put 
the whole into a dish, or deep vessel, and let 
it stand until next day. Then strain off the 
juice and boil from half an hour to three 
quarters; after which add the rhubarb and 
boil all together ten minutes. 
The other day we found ourself among the 
hills and mountains of old Berkshire, at the 
pleasant little village of West Stockbridge.— 
There was a miss-fit of trains—having left 
Albany at an early hour so that we could go 
down on the Housatonic Railroad connecting 
with the Western at State Line. The roads 
may connect, but the trains did not by a gap 
of nearly three hours. The breaks are vexa¬ 
tious when one is in a hurry; but after all, 
they are often unavoidable, and we rarely fail 
to turn them to good advantage either in ex¬ 
ploring the locality where we are detained, or 
in talking with the people around us. It rare¬ 
ly fails that we do not glean a valuable stock 
of knowledge, and very often we have made 
acquaintances that have been friendly. Once 
before we had been caught in the same place 
with some spare hours, and as the getting out 
and sawing up of marble was the great busi¬ 
ness of the town, we were much instructed and 
interested in observing the process of raising 
the ponderous blocks and moving them to the 
saw-mills. 
From some cause, the quarries are deserted, 
and the mills silent. Our first stroll was into 
a large grist-mill, where we saw Western corn 
and wheat manufactured into meal and flour 
to feed the people in a region where, if the land 
were properly tilled, there would be enough 
and to spare. 
From thence we tramped up the hill to¬ 
wards a furnace that had been erected since we 
were last there. And meeting a gentlemanly 
looking man near the office, and knowing that 
we were in \ ankee land, we indulged in the 
prerogative of the country, and commenced 
asking questions. 
The furnace is of the kind known as hot- 
blast, and uses anthracite coal instead of char¬ 
coal, the more common substance in and around 
the valley of the Housatonic, for smelting the 
ore. The furnace is a large one for that re¬ 
gion, running out every twenty-four hours 
about fifteen tons of pig iron. 
Llio ore is obtained in the Taconic range o 
mountains, and the supply is positively inex¬ 
haustible. The iron made from this ore has 
a high reputation in market. The kind now 
used in this furnace yields about fifty per cent. 
We are not sufficiently verged in the busi¬ 
ness to give a very intelligible account of the 
minutia of the process of making iron with 
these hot-blast anthracite furnaces. But it 
comes as near realizing the idea of the man 
who it is said went up the ladder and then 
pulled it up after him, as any thing we have 
seen. When the fires are once lighted, they 
continue, unless from some accident, frr years. 
The heat evolved in melting the ore is used to 
generate the steam that drives the engine^ 
which in turn puts in motion the machinery 
necessary to force the hot air into the ever- 
consuming but never-ending fire of the furnace. 
At stated intervals the attendants fill their 
burners with coal, or ore, or lime stone, which 
is run upon a platform scale and weighed, and 
then thrown on to the heated mass at the top 
of the smouldering fire, and twice each day the 
liquid mass is drawn out and moulded into 
pigs, and the cinders run out, and when cooled 
thrown away. The coal is brought from 
Hudson on the Hudson and Berkshire Rail¬ 
road, which is doing a large freighting busi¬ 
ness in coal, iron and ore. 
It is curious to note what effect the manu¬ 
facture of iron has had upon the destiny of 
nations. Thus the Anglo Saxon race has 
from the earliest recorded times, been engaged 
in makmg iron, in digging coal and salt, and 
to some considerable extent, copper and tin.— 
But of the precious metals they have never 
been permitted to obtain any except in the 
way of exchange for other commodities. And 
the Celtic and other races have from time im¬ 
memorial been in possession of the gold and 
silver mines of the world. Yet that people 
who had only the coal have ultimately over¬ 
come, and industrially at least, conquered all 
the others. 
MAKING A NEEDLE. 
I wonder if any little girl who may read 
this ever thought how many people are all the 
time at work in making the things which she 
every day uses. What can be more common, 
and, you may think, more simple, than a 
needle? Yet, if yon do not know it, lean 
tell you that it takes a great many persons to 
make a needle ; and it takes a great deal of 
time, too. Let us take a peep into a needle 
factory. In going over the premises,- we 
must pass hither and thither, and walk into 
the next street and back again, and take a 
drive to a mill, in order to see the whole pro¬ 
cess. We find one chamber of the shops is 
hung round with coils of bright wire, of all 
thicknesses, from the stout kinds used for cod¬ 
fish hooks to that for the finest cambric 
needles. In a room below, bits of wire, the 
length of two needles, are cut by a vast pair 
of shears fixed in the wall. A bundle has 
been cut off; the bits need straightening, for 
they came off from coils. 
The bundle is thrown into a red-hot furnace; 
then taken out, and rolled backward and for¬ 
ward on a table until the wires are straight. 
This process is called “ rubbing straight.”— 
We now see a mill for grinding needles. We 
go down into the basement, and find a needle- 
pointer, seated on bis bench. He takes up a 
dozen or so of the wires and rolls them be¬ 
tween his thumb and fingers, with their ends 
on the grindstone, first one end and then the 
other. We have now the wires straight and 
pointed at both ends. Next is a machine 
which flattens and gutters the heads of ten 
thousand needles an hour. Observe the little 
gutters at the head of your needle. Next 
comes the punching of the eyes; and the boy 
who does it punches eight thousand in an 
hour, and he does it so fast yeur eye can hard- 
ip keep pace with him. The splitting follows, 
which is running a fine wire through a dozen, 
perhaps, of these twin needles. 
A woman, with a little anvil before her, 
files between the heads and separates them.—- 
They are now complete needles, but rough and 
rusty, and what is worse, they easily bend.— 
A poor needle, you will say. But the hard¬ 
ening comes next. They are heated in batch¬ 
es in a furnace, and, when red hot, are 
thrown in a pan of cold water. Next, they 
must be tempered ; and this is done by rolling 
them backward and forward cn a hot metal 
plate. The polishing still remains to be done. 
On a very coarse cloth, needles are spread to 
the number of forty or fifty thousand. Emery 
dust is strewed over them, oil is sprinkled, 
and soft soap daubed by spoonfuls Y)ver the 
cloth ; the cloth is then rolled hard up, and, 
with several others of the same kind, thrown 
into a sort of wmsh-pot, to roll to and fro for 
twelve hours or more. They come out dirty 
enough ; but after a rinsing in clean hot wa¬ 
ter, and a tossing in saw-dust, they look as 
bright as can be, and are ready to be sorted 
and put up for sale. But the sorting and the 
doing up in papers, you may imagine, is quite 
a work by itself. 
^ A remarkable machine for the purpose of 
abstruse calculations has been sent over to 
England, and deposited for the present at the 
Royal Society’s rooms. It is the invention 
of an ingenious Swedish gentleman named 
Schultz, who has, it is said, expended the 
greater portion of his property in the various 
operations necessary to bring such an attempt 
to a successful issue. The principle and the 
modus operandi of the machine are not yet 
fully made known, but it has the highest com¬ 
mendation of scientific men. 
The immense amount of caloric which be¬ 
comes latent in the generation of steam, is 
scarcely appreciated by the generality of men. 
No less than one thousand degrees are thus 
absorbed.'* 
