THE CULTIVATOR. 
285 
this manufacturing city, and that of the “ operatives” in 
the cities of Europe, must forcibly impress every intel¬ 
ligent and humane mind. Here, instead of poor, emaci¬ 
ated and haggard forms, and visages worn out with sleep¬ 
less and never ceasing toil, all appeared blooming, cheer¬ 
ful and healthy. 
In no city in our country can be found so great a pro¬ 
portion of young, healthy and neatly clad people. A- 
mong the whole populace, I saw not a single pauper or 
beggar. What a contrast this with the ragged, sickly, 
beggarly thousands, that throng the,streets of Manchester 
and Leeds! 
On Saturday eve, the walks were filled with young 
“ladies,” as they may well be called, neatly, and many 
of them even elegantly dressed, presenting those native 
decencies, proprieties, and even graces of manner and 
movement, which many of the highborn and fashionable 
belles of Broadway might advantageously copy. 
Who ever heard of a literary journal conducted by 
factory girls in any other country or place? In the city 
of Lowell is issued a neat little monthly sheet called 
“ The Lowell Offering,’ 5 written, edited and publish¬ 
ed by the working girls in the factories! 
In Mr. Lawrence’s woolen establishment, there are 
employed 550 females, and about 250 males. In the dif¬ 
ferent factories of the city are 6,295 females and 2,345 
males. Many of the girls who, when they came to Lo¬ 
well, had left their parents in poverty and distress, have, 
by their diligence at the spindle and the loom, removed 
from their grey hairs the pressure of penury, and ren¬ 
dered their last days comfortable and happy. Some have 
even been able to pay off mortgages and recover from 
alienation their patrimonial inheritances. The girls usu¬ 
ally receive from $1 to $2.50 per week with their board, 
making an average of about $1.75. There is a Savings 
Bank in which they deposite a considerable portion of 
their wages, bearing interest. In their moral condition 
and character, the operatives of both sexes are not infe¬ 
rior to any portion of the community. On Sunday morn¬ 
ing the streets are full of young people at the ringingof 
the bells, walking in orderly procession to their respec¬ 
tive Sunday schools and churches. 
The factories in Lowell were commenced in 1825. 
There are now thirty-three in successful operation. 
There are 8 establishments for calico printing, besides 
which are powder, flannel, blanket, batting, and paper 
mills, grist and saw mills, foundries, &c. The total 
number of yards of cloth (cotton and woolen) manufac¬ 
tured in a year by all the mills is 74,146,600, which 
amounts to 230,000 yards per day. 
In taking leave of my hospitable and excellent friend, 
Mr. Lawrence, I cannot but remember the deep interest 
he manifested in agriculture, especially in the rearing 
of sheep. On the centre table of his splendid parlor lay, 
in elegant bindings, the three volumes of the « Transac¬ 
tions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society,” and two 
volumes on the “ Domestic Animals of England, with 
Engravings.” 
I observed nothing novel in my hasty journey home, 
through a part of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 
across the Green Mountains, except the mode of quarry¬ 
ing the granite in New Hampshire, and the very common 
use of it in sections of that state. In separating the blocks 
from the mass, small holes are drilled in a straight line 
a few inches asunder, into which wedges are inserted, 
which being gently and evenly driven, sever blocks of 
any required length; these may be afterwards subdivid¬ 
ed in the same way. So easily is this hard material quar¬ 
ried, and so easily wrought, that it is considered in ma¬ 
ny parts of the state, the cheapest material for posts and 
fixtures requiring strength. As we passed along the 
road, I saw great quantities of these posts in the railing 
of bridges, viaducts, ornamental fences, and common 
fields enclosed with these granite posts, into which are 
fitted wooden rails. The price of these posts varies ac¬ 
cording to finish and size. Small plain posts may be 
furnished for a shilling a piece. Crossing the Green 
Mountains, I reached home safely, and was not at all 
displeased to think of remaining on the banks of the 
Solomon W. Jewett. 
Weybridge, Vt. July 20, 1844 
ON THE YOLK OF WOOL. 
Messrs. Editors —This substance is also called eke , 
in some parts of the United States, and with much pro¬ 
priety, as it is continually eking or oozing out of the 
skin. The words eke and yolk, or yoke as it is frequent¬ 
ly pronounced, appear to be derived from the Saxon word 
eac, which in their language, is pronounced eoke. So 
that between the spelling and the pronunciation, the two 
words eke and yolk or yoke, are made out of the same 
word. In the present state of the English language, the 
word eke seems to define this secretion of the skin with 
propriety, and the words yolk or yoke seem to be the 
Yorkshire dialect for the same thing. 
The yolk of wool is a kind of soap -which is composed 
of potash and an adhesive oil, and the potash is super-sa¬ 
turated with this oil, and to it are added small quantities 
of carbonate of potash, acetate of potash, muriate of pot¬ 
ash and lime. That it is principally a soap, in which 
the alkali is super-saturated with oil, any person may 
convince themselves by putting some alkali, either pot¬ 
ash or soda, into some rain water, and washing some 
eky wool in it. The eke will be turned into a perfect 
soap, and the wool made clean with the greatest ease. 
The uses of the yolk appear to be as many as three: 
First—it makes the wool soft and lively. Hence that 
kind of yolk which is most abundantly saturated with the 
adhesive oil is best. It will then adhere to the ends of 
the wool as w^ell as to that which is near the skin; and 
every part of the wool will be kept lively—whereas, if 
the yolk is almost nothing but a mere soap, as seems to 
be the case with the yolk of some kinds of sheep, it will 
be washed by the rain out of the ends of the wool, and 
such ends of the wool will become dead as it is termed, 
and will felt unevenly. 
Second—the yolk forms a defence against the weather. 
If it is of such a quality that it will not be washed out by 
the rain, it will be for the sheep a complete coat of mail, 
and it must be a severe storm of rain or snow which will 
completely wet through such a fleece. In Scotland, af¬ 
ter the lambs have been weaned in autumn, it has been 
customary to milk the ewes a few weeks, and from their 
milk to make a quantity of butter, and then mixing this 
butter with tar, say two or three parts of butter with one 
of tar, they prepare a kind of artificial yolk in order to 
soften the wool and defend the sheep against their wintry 
rains and snows. 
If they find it profitable to take so much pains to make 
this artificial yolk, how carefully should he who owns 
merinoes, breed them together so as to preserve the pro¬ 
per quantity and quality of the yolk upon his sheep ? and 
if there is any especial reason for preserving merinoes 
pure, it is the preservation of the quantity and quality of 
the yolk. 
Third—there is very little taste to the yolk, and yet it 
appears to be in some measure a defence against flies and 
worms. The tick seems to be the only animal which 
can live comfortably in pure yolk of wool. No fly of 
North America will lay its eggs in pure yolk of wool of 
the merino. It is only when the yolk is mixed with 
blood or mucus or some other animal matter, that the fly 
will deposit eggs which will make worms. The sheep 
of England are very much troubled with maggots coming 
from eggs deposited by the h’y in the wool itself. But 
it would seem that they must have some different fly 
from what is found in America; for British sheep in 
America are not troubled in this manner. And after 
wool is shorn, it will not be disturbed by moths so long 
as the yolk is left in it. This to the wool buyer is a very 
useful property of yolk. And he always buys it, making 
proper allowance for yolk and dirt, and buys it readily 
when it is black with yolk, knowing it to be good; and 
all the compliments for clean wool which are purchased 
by raising sheep which are deficient in this useful arti 
cle are dearly bought. C. D. 
Cotton Crop of Florida.—A letter fromG. F. Balt 
zell, Esq., dated Oakley Hill, July 24, says—“ The 
planters of this country will again be seriously injured by • 
the caterpillar, lessening the crop of the staple to one’ 
third of their expectations two weeks ago.” 
