w _«e *.JL.L VPRIL. LS2S * . I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/cabinetofusefulaOOunse / THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES : • k' \ DESIGNED FOR THE PERUSAL YOUNG PERSONS. LONDON: W. WETTON, No. 21, FLEET STREET ; And* sold by all Booksellers. i CONTENTS. The Preface.. 6 Manufacture of Glass,. 9 --Porcelain,. 18 -£- Linen,... 28 Rope Making,... 40 The Cotton Manufacture,... 47 The Art of Calico Printing,. r 57 The Manufacture of Wool,... 71 The Silk Manufacture... 80 The Manufacture of Hats,... 89 -of Leather,....107 -of Paper,... 121 The Art of the Type Founder,. 129 - Printing. 139 - Book Binding,. 148 The Manufacture of Sugar,.. 153 --of Salt,. 163 Brewing,... ...... T 17$ V < • PREFACE. The following little Book is de¬ signed to give an insight into some of those Arts and Manufactures, which minister daily, nay hourly, to our convenience and comfort; though perhaps, many of us have never yet reflected how much, even the poorest are indebted to them. Let the young reader also call to mind, that human ingenuity could never have produced these improve¬ ments, unless the Almighty had bounteously supplied the materials on which itwasexercised. ItistoHim we are indebted for the powers of the understanding.—It is He also, who produces the fleecy covering of the sheep, the silken residence of the • « 'S cription, therefore, of such an ingenious process, must be interesting; and we shall accordingly endeavour briefly to satisfy the reader’s curiosity. This delicate and beautiful substance is made, as has been mentioned, from worn-out rags, which, instead of throw¬ ing them into the fire as useless, every good house-wife puts into a bag kept for that purpose, and sells to those persons who make it their business to go about and collect them. These latter sell them to the rag-merchant, who gives from two¬ pence to four-pence a pound, according to their quality ; and he, when he has got a sufficient quantity, disposes of them to the owner of the paper-mill. This last gives them first to women, to separate in¬ to five different sorts, agreeably to their different degrees of fineness. No. 1, for instance, being all linen, the remains of fine cloth, is used for making the finest paper ; and No. 5, consisting of coarse canvas or of old ropes, may be bleached, but makes only coarse paper. The first three sorts are intended for writing and fine printing; the remainder for news¬ papers, and other inferior uses. After the women have with a knife cut u 4 124 out carefully all the seams, which they throw into a basket for other purposes, they put them into a dusting- engine, a large circular wire sieve, where they re¬ ceive some degree of cleansing. The rags are then conveyed to the mill Here they were formerly beat to pieces with vast hammers, which rose and fell con¬ tinually with a most tremendous noise, that could be heard at a great distance ; but now they put the rags into a large trough or cistern, into which a pipe of clear water is constantly flowing. In this cistern is placed a cylinder, about two feet long, set thick round with rows of iron spikes, standing as near as they can to one another without touching. At the bottom of the trough there are correspond¬ ing rows of spikes. The cylinder is made to whirl round with inconceivable rapidity, and with these iron teeth rends aud tears the cloth in every possible direction ; till, by the assistance of the water, which con¬ tinually flows through the cistern, it is thoroughly shreded, aud reduced to a fine pulp like thin gruel; and, by the same process, ail its impurities are Cleansed away, and it is restored to its original whiteness. This process takes about six 125 hours. This fine pulp or gruel, is then put into a copper of warm water. It is the substance of paper, but the form must now be given it: for this purpose they use a mould ; it is made of wire, strong one way, and crossed with finer. This mould they just dip horizontally into the copper, and take it out again. It has a little wooden frame on the edge, by means of which it retains as much of the pulp as is wanted for the thickness of the sheet, and the water runs off through the interstices of the wires, the pulp remain¬ ing behind. Another man instantly re¬ ceives it, opens the frame, and turns out the thin shee*, which has now shape, but not consistence, upon soft felt, or blan¬ ket, which is placed on the ground to receive it. On the paper is placed an¬ other piece of felt or blanket, and then another sheet of paper; and so on, till they have made a pile of forty or fifty. They are then pressed with alarjre screw press, moved by a long lever, which for¬ cibly squeezes the water out of them, and gives them immediate consistence. There is still, however, a great deal to be done. The felts are taken off, and thrown on one side, and the paper on 126 the other, when it is dexterously taken up, with an instrument in the form of a T, three sheets at a time, and hung on lines to dry. There it hangs for a week or ten days, which likewise further whitens it; and any knots and roughness it may have, are picked off carefully by the women. It is then sized. Size is a kind of glue, made from the skins of ani¬ mals, and without this preparation, the paper would not bear ink ; it would run and blot as you see it does on blotting paper. The sheets are just dipped into the size, and taken out again. They are then hung up to dry, and when dry, taken to the furnishing-room, where they are examined anew, pressed in the dry presses, which gives them their last gloss and smoothness: counted up into quires, made up in reams, and sent to the sta¬ tioner, from whom we have it. The whole process of paper-making takes up about three weeks. Now that the process has been explained, let us ask the youngreaders, can any labour be more simple than that of reducing our worn out garments to a fine pulp in water, by a mill—Indeed so great is the dispatch in preparing the material, that five work- H 5 \27 men may furnish paper sufficient to oc¬ cupy three thousand writers and tran¬ scribers ; and this even on the old plan of hand labour, but by the modern improve¬ ments of mills, where the paper is pro¬ duced in one continued web, instead of sheet, a great portion of the labour is to¬ tally done away. Every quire of paper consists of twenty- four sheets ; and each ream contains twenty quires. Pasteboard is made in a similar way to that of paper : it is also manufactured from old paper, which being put again into the pounding-mill and cleared of all impuri¬ ties, is reduced to a pulp, and treated as that from linen rags. Blotting-paper, and paper used for filtering liquids, is paper not sized, in which, therefore, the ink readily sinks or spreads. Brown paper is made from old ropes which have been picked and worked into a coarse pulp—and fancy coloured papers are made of coarse or coloured rags. Wove or woven paper is made in moulds, the wires of which are exceedingly fine, of equal thickness, and woven or latticed one with another. The marks, therefore 128 of these are easily pressed out, so as to be scarcely visible. Chinese paper, so remarkable for its peculiar delicacy, is of various sorts.— Some is made of the rind or bark of trees, especially of the mulberry and the elm, or else of the bamboo and cotton tree.— Each different province of that immense empire may, indeed, be said to make its own peculiar sort of paper. That of the bamboo, a species of the cane or reed, is made from the second bark, which is soft and white. It is beaten in fair water to a pulp, which is taken up in moulds of such a size, that sheets are sometimes made of twelve feet in length. These are afterwards dipped in alum-water, which renders the paper impenetrable by ink, and gives it the appearance of being- varnished —It is white, soft, and of a close texture, but although quite smooth, it breaks more easily than European pa¬ per ; it is also so thin as to be soon worn out, and is, besides, very subject to de~ structiou by worms. OF TYPE-FOUNDING. ^Vhen the paper has been thus manu¬ factured, its utility commences. It is needless to remind the young: reader of many of its applications.—It gives him the power of communicating his thoughts by letter, to those from whom he is sepa¬ rated—and oftentimes is the means of in¬ forming him that his parents, relatives, or friends, though thousands of miles distant, are in health and prosperity—but it also tends to the advancement of know¬ ledge, by enabling the printer to multiply the copies of the same book. This, how¬ ever, leads us from the art of paper¬ making to that of printing; a short ac¬ count of which cannot fail to interest. Letter-press printing has been for so many years practised amongst us, that it has almost ceased to excite either admira¬ tion or curiosity. The principles of the operation are so obvious, and the execu¬ tion so easy, that in regarding the whole process of making a book, from the for¬ mation of the paper, the types and the ink, the binding, until it comes into out hands fit for perusal, we almost suppose it an invention w hich the most common abilities might attain. This careless man¬ ner of considering the art, certainly argues a want of gratitude for the many benefits we receive from it; and yet, to no one branch of art are we so much indebted as to printing. To the disco¬ very and improvements in letter-press printing, may justly be ascribed, that ra¬ pid advancement in agriculture and ma¬ nufactures, in arts and sciences, which has taken place within the last three hundred years. The history of the art, however, is most interesting; and, as every one who is able to read, must feel the importance of the discovery, we shall endeavour to gratify his laudable curiosity, by stating, very briefly, the circumstances which led to it. Before the year 1440, all books were written with a pen ; and, as it must often employ a copyist for years to transcribe a single book, few persons, we may well believe, could afford to buy one, and therefore, the number of readers must have been very small. Suppose a spelling- book were to be written out by hand- labour, it would require a long period to 131 furnish a single copy, so that the poor were altogether deprived of the benefits of education ; to-day the printer would set up his types and strike off many im¬ pressions of a book, whilst the copyist would be transcribing a single one. It was about this period, that Laurence, Koster, a respectable inhabitant of Har- laem, in Holland, walking in a wood, near the city, began at first to cut some letters upon the bark of a beech-tree, which being impressed upon paper, he printed one or two lines, with the view of teach¬ ing his grand children to read. The plan of printing a few lines having happily succeeded, he meditated great things, as he was a man of ingenuity and judgment; and first of all, invented a better kind of ink, because he found that the common ink sunk and spread, and then formed whole pages of wood with letters cut on them ; in these it is remarkable that he printed only on one side of the paper, the backs of each couple of pages being pasted together. These beechen letters being easily spoiled by use, he afterwards changed for leaden ones; but finding this metal too soft to bear the press, he changed these again for a mixture of tin 132 and lead, which has now been changed into one of antimony and lead, of which all printing types are at present made. This discovery was for some time kept a profound secret; and, it is even said, that all the first printed books were sold as manuscripts, till the number of books, and their exact conformity to each other, even in their faults, (which could never occur if they had been written by differ¬ ent persons,) led to a discovery of the means employed. Since that period, the art of printing has been advancing towards perfection, and knowledge has also been increasing. The works of the wise and learned are not now liable to be lost, as must have frequently happened, when every book was written with the pen, or known to but a few’; since from the mul¬ tiplication of books, even the poorest per¬ son may ensure to himself an instructive and eutertaining occupation for his lei¬ sure hours, by learning to read them. Perhaps a more striking instance can¬ not be brought, of the improvements of modern times, both in knowledge and the arts, than that which the history of printing affords. The whole appa¬ ratus of Laurence’ printing press, prob- 13 3 ably did not cost him five pounds, when he first began ; whilst, there are print¬ ing presses at present worked by steam engines in London, the erecting of which cost twenty thousand pounds. In the sixteenth century, the Queen of Scot¬ land did not possess one hundred books in her library, though she was very fond of reading; to-day, there are few men, a little raised above the humblest class in life, who have not almost as many. The person who makes these letters for the printer, is the type-founder, whose business it is to prepare the metal, which is a composition of lead and another called antimony, melted together in a furnace In large founderies, this mixed metal is cast into bars of twenty pounds each, which are delivered to the work¬ men as occasion may require ; this is a la¬ borious and unwholesome part of the bu¬ siness, owing to the flames which are thrown oft*. In large type-founderies, about fifteen hundred w T eight of this me¬ tal is cast in a day, and the founders usu¬ ally cast as much at one casting as will last six months. We now come to the letter-cutter : that is, to him who cuts the moulds in which the letters are east; he must be provided with vices, hammers, files, gravers, and gauges of various kinds. He then pre¬ pares steel punches, on the face of which he draws or marks the exact shape of the letter; and, with pointed gravers and sculpters he digs out the steel between the strokes or marks which he made on the face of the punch, leaving the marks standing. Having shaped the inside strokes of the letter, he deepens the hol¬ lows with the same tools: for if a letter be not deep in proportion to its width, it will when used at press print black, and be good for nothing. He then works the outside with files, till it is fit for the ma- trice. A matrice is a piece of brass or copper, about an inch and half long, and thick in proportion to the size of the letter it is to contain. In this metal is sunk the face of the letter intended to be cast, by strik¬ ing the letter-punch. After this, the sides and face of the matrice must be cleared, with files, of all bunchings made by sink¬ ing the punch. When the metal is melted, and other things are properly prepared, the matrice is fastened to the end of the mould, which 135 the caster holds in his left hand, while he pours the metal in with his right; by a sudden jerk of the hand, the metal runs into the cavity of the matrice, and takes the figure or impression. The mould con¬ sists of an under and an upper half, of which the latter is taken off, as soon as the letter is cast; he then throws the letter upon a sheet of paper, laid for the purpose on a bench or table, and he is ready to cast another letter as before. When the casters have made a certain number of types, which are made much longer than they are wanted, boys come and break away the jets or extra lengths from the types; the jets they cast into the pot to be re-melted, and the types are carried to another workman, who polishes their broadsides. This is a very dexter¬ ous operation ; for the man, in turning up the types, does it so quickly, by a mere touch of the fingers of the left hand, as not to require the least perceptible inter¬ mission in the motion of the right hand upon the stone. A type-founder will east upwards of three thousand letters in one day; and the perfection of letters thus cast, consists 136 jn their being all straight and square, of the same height, and evenly lined, with¬ out sloping one way or the other. What is called a fount or font of letter, is a quantity of each kind cast by the letter-founder, and properly sorted. A complete fount includes, besides the run¬ ning letters, all the single letters, double letters, accented letters, points, lines* numerical characters, &c. Letter-founders have a kind of list by which they regulate their founts: this is absolutely necessary, as some letters are much more frequently used than others, of course the cells containing these should be better stored than those of the letters which do not so often recur. Thus a fount does not contain an equal number ©f a and b, or of e and x. In a fount con¬ taining a hundred thousand characters, the a should have five thousand, the c three thousand, the e eleven thousand, the i six thousand, and the other letters in proportion. Printers order their founts either by the hundred weight or by the sheet. If they order a fount of five hundred, they mean that the whole shall weigh about five hundred pounds; but if they require a 137 fount of ten sheets, it is understood, that with this fouut they shall be able to com¬ pose ten sheets, or twenty forms, without being; obliged to distribute. The founder reckons one hundred and twenty pounds to a sheet; but this varies with the nature of the letter. Having now described the mode of forming the letters, we shall give an ac~ count of the use that is made of them by the letter-press printer. LETTER-PRESS PRINTER THE ART OF PRINTING. The workmen employed in this art, are compositors and pressmen. The first are those persons whose business it is to range and dispose the letters into words, lines, pages, &c. The pressmen are those who take off the impression from the letters, after they are prepared for that purpose by the com¬ positors. The types being provided for the com¬ positor, he distributes each kind, or sort, by itself, into small boxes, made in two wooden frames, called the cases; the upper-case and the lower-case. The upper-case contains two alphabets of capitals ; large, or full capitals, and small capitals. It also contains boxes for the figures, the accented letters, the characters used in references to notes, &c. &c. making in all, ninety-eight. The lower-case is appropriated to the small letters, the double letters, the points, parentheses, spaces, and qua¬ drats. The boxes of the lower-case, are of different sizes; the largest being for HO the letters most in use; they are fifty- three in number. The instrument in which the letters are set, is called a composing-stick,which consists of a plate of iron, on the side of which arises a ledge, which runs the whole length of the plate, and serves to support the letters. Along this ledge is a row of holes, for introducing a screw to lengthen or shorten the line, by mov¬ ing; the sliders farther from, or nearer to the shorter ledge at the end of the com. posing-stick. Before the compositor begins to com¬ pose, he puts a thin slip of brass, cut to Ihe length of the line, in the composing- stick; he holds the stick in his left hand, and takes up the letters with his right, while he supports them with his left thumb, by pressing them against the sli¬ der.—Having in this manner composed a line, he takes the brass rule from behind it, and places it before the letters of which it is composed, and proceeds to compose another line in the same man¬ ner. Nothing appears more extraordi¬ nary, than the quickness with which the compositor works. If a person unaC- quuaited with this business, were to com- Ill pose a few lines, it is not too much to say, that it would employ two hours to find in what box each of the letters was distributed, (for they are not ranged re¬ gularly, but as before mentioned, accord¬ ing to their being more or less in use,) and afterwards to pick them out and lay them in proper order, on the composing- stick. A good workman on the contra¬ ry, acquires by practice, such dexterity, that the eye can scarcely follow his hand in its rapid motion from the stick, when he lays down each letter, to the exact compartment, in which the followingone is to be found. When the composing-stick has been filled with lines, the compositor, keeping the letters carefully in their proper places, empties it on a thin board, called a galley, being of an oblong shape, with a ledge on two sides. When he has finisheda page, he ties it up with a piece of pack¬ thread, and removes it to some safe place until he has composed as many pages as are required to make a sheet. He then arranges the pages on the im¬ posing-stone, which is a large oblong stone, of three or four inches in thick¬ ness. Having disposed the pages, so I 142 fhat when they are printed, they may be folded to follow each other regularly, the compositor proceeds to what is called dressing the chases. The chase is a rec¬ tangular iron frame, with two cross pieces, of the same metal, called a long and short cross, mortised at each end, so as to be taken out occasionally. To dress the chase, a set of furniture is necessary ; consisting of small slips of wood of dilferent dimensions. The first thing to be done, is to lay the chase over the pages: after this, that part of the furniture called gutter-sticks, are placed between the respective pages. Then another part of the furniture called reglets, are placed along the crosses of the chase, of such thickness as will let the book have proper margins after it is bound. The compositor then secures the outsides of the pages, by put¬ ting side-sticks and foot-sticks to them, and fastens them together by wooden wedges, called quoins. The work in this condition is called a form, and is ready for the pressman, who lays it upon the press for the purpose of pulling a proof. When a proof is pulled, the form or forms are rubbed over with a 143 brush, dipped in lye, made of pearl-ash and water. After a proof sheet has been read, and the errors marked on the margin, it is again put into the hands of the composi¬ tor, who proceeds to correct in the me¬ tal what has been marked for correction in the proof. When the sheet is supposed to be cor¬ rect, the forms are given to the press¬ man, whose business it is to work them off; in doing which, four things are re¬ quired : paper, ink, balls, and a press. The paper is prepared for use bv being dipped in water, and afterwards laid in a heap, on which are placed heavy weights. Printing-ink is a preparation of drying- oil, ivory-black, lamp-black, &o. finely ground together. The balls used in lay¬ ing the ink on the form, are a kind of wooden funnels, with handles, the cavi¬ ties of which are stuffed with wool and covered over with a sheep skin prep >ed for the purpose ; or with a piece of coarse cloth, on which is spread a composition of glue and treacle. There is also another mode of laying on the ink, £y means of rollers, not unlike what we see used to keep the walks of gardens smooth, but 144 much smaller ; they are made of the same composition as the balls. The press is a curious and complex machine ; to give a description of which would exceed the limits of this short sketch. When the form is made ready on the press, and every thing is prepared for working, one man beats the letters with the inked balls, or runs the roller over them, thus covering the types with ink > another lays on them a sheet of pa¬ per, and brings off the impression by pulling a lever or bar, which squeezes the paper against the types, and causes it to take off the ink from them, thus mark¬ ing it with the letters. Having printed on one side, all the sheets of which the edition is to consist, provided the num¬ ber be not large, the form for the other side of the sheet is laid on the press, and worked off in the same manner. If, how¬ ever, the edition should consist of a very large number of copies, the paper after being printed on one side, would dry be¬ fore the pressman could give the impres¬ sion to the other ; to avoid this inconve¬ nience, therefore, tw o presses are used, for the purpose of striking off both sides of the sheet successively. If require, 115 the whole is then powerfully pressed, to give a smoothness and finish to the sur¬ face ; w hen the book is considered com¬ plete, and ready for folding, stitching, and binding. A great improvement has lately been made in the construction of printing presses, which promises many important advantages. A common press, worked by two men, takes off but 250 impres¬ sions on one side in one hour, and re¬ quires eight hours to work off 1000 sheets. In the newly invented engine, which is wrought by the power of steam, three boys can, in the same time, perfect 24000 sheets; which, it is evident, must have the effect of lowering the expense of printing, and consequently the price of books. In its general form, this press resem¬ bles the rolling press of copper-plate printers The forms being fixed on the carriage, are pushed under a roller, on which the sheet is disposed ; and the ink being laid on by an ingenious contrivance, the impression is taken on one side. The sheet is then conveyed by machinery to a second roller, around which it is carried cn theseeond form, when it receives the 146 impression on Ihe remaining blank side. All the manual labour, as before men¬ tioned, is performed by one boy, who lays the sheet of paper on the first roller— a second, who takes it off from the se¬ cond cylinder—and by a third, who lays the sheets even, after the printing of each has been completed. It may also be men¬ tioned, as a further instance of ingeni¬ ous management, that the waste steam from the copper, is carried in tubes round the entire range of workshops, in order to warm them. Stereotype printing was first adopted in these countries by the University of Edinburgh, and has since been extended with much success, by several artists in England. The mode of stereotype print¬ ing is first to set up a page of the intended book, in the common way, with the com¬ mon types, and when it is rendered per¬ fectly correct, a cast or mould is taken from it, and in this cast, the metal for the stereotype plate is poured; hence the name, which signifies fixed or im¬ moveable types. For standard and ex¬ tensively circulating works, such as the Holy Scriptures, and the works of the best authors, who being dead, their books ] 47 can receive no more alteration in style, language, or matter, the invention is in¬ valuable, as the chief expense of future editions (the composition) is avoided ; the original types may be devoted to their former use ; and the plates being always ready, the bookseller strikes off such a number of copies, and thus requires so much paper only, as will answer the de¬ mand. The ART of BINDING BOOKS. L ET us now follow the printed paper, after it lias left the printing press, to the workshop of the artizan who gives it the form of the book yon are now reading. Tim book binder first folds the sheets with a folding-stick, and lays them over each other in t lie order of the signatures, which are the letters with the numbers annexed to them, at the bottom of some of the pages in each sheet. The leaves thus folded, are then beaten on a smooth stone with a heavy hammer, (to make them smooth and open well,) and afterwards pressed. They are next sewed upon bands, or pieces of cord or packthread, which is done by drawing a thread through the middle of each sheet, and giving it a turn roimd each band After this, the books are glued, and the bands opened and scraped, for the better fixing the paste-boards, which are to form the cover; these being applied, holes are made for fixing them to the book, which is again pressed. Then the book is at 149 last put to the cutting-press, betwixt two boards, the one lying even with the press, for the knife to run upon, the other above it, for the knife to run against; after which the pasteboards are squared. The next operation is sprinkling the edges of the leaves, which is done by dipping a brush into the intended colour, holding the brush with one hand, and spreading the hair with the other, by which motion the edges of the leaves are sprinkled in a regular manner, without any spots being longer than the rest. The outside covering, which is gener¬ ally either of calf or sheep skin, or some¬ times of linen or calico, is then fixed with paste to the pasteboards, and doubled over the edges withinside, after having first taken off and indented and platted the cover at the head-band ; which done, the book is bound firmly with bands, iu order to keep the work close, and then set to dry. It is afterwards washed over with paste and water, and then finely sprinkled with a brush, unless it should be marbled, when the colouring matter is thrown on more freely;—black and brown are the most common colours for 150 book backs; the first is obtained from a rolution of copperas, the last from pearl ash. After this, the book is rubbed over with the white of eggs ; and at last po¬ lished with a polishing iron, passed hot over the cover. The letters or other ornaments on books, are made with gilding tools, en¬ graved in raised letters, which are fixed either on the points of puncheons or round little cylinders of brass. The pun¬ cheons make their impressions by being pressed flat down, and the cylinders by being rolled along by a handle, to which they are tilted like a wheel. To apply the gold, the binders rub the parts with the w r hite of egg, or serum of blood, by means of a spunge, and when nearly dry, the pieces of gold leaf are laid on ; the tools being made hot in a charcoal fire, are also laid on, and the book is pressed off, sometimes between pieces of horn, and finished. Consider now, the numerous hands through which even the little book in which you learned your letters must pass, before it was fitted for your perusal — there was the grower of the flax, the hackler, carder, and spinner, the weaver, andafter the linen has been worn, the rag-* man, the picker, the sorter, the different workmen who make it into paper, the au¬ thor who wrote for your instruction, the type-founder, the letter-press-printer, the bookbinder;—reflect, also, upon the la¬ bour necessary in preparing the metal, the ink, the printing press, the leather—all these persons living in different places, perhaps having never seen each other, yet all conducing through the means of merchants, ships, master mechanics, and booksellers, to improve your mind, and make you capable of attaining that know- ledge, which the wise King Solomon has said is better than riches. Shall any one then neglect the instruc¬ tion which it is so much his own inter) est and advantage to receive, and which so many have laboured to give ? Shall any young person neglect his book, or trifle away his precious hours in idle play, when so many men have expended their time, their talents, their industry, to produce a book which is to make him wiser, and happier, and better ? Each good boy will surely hope that the num-’ 152 ber of such is small; and he will, also, endeavour with all his might, not to be ranked amongst those, who turn a deaf ear to wisdom, and will not listen to her advice. MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR . This article, which is applied to so many useful purposes, is made from the juice of the sugar-cane, a kind of reed, in the soft pith of which, the sugary mat¬ ter is contained. It is a lucrative branch of revenue ; and both in its cultivation and produce, gives employment to thous¬ ands of our fellow-creatures. Before we enter, however, upon the description of this manufacture, it may be necessary to describe the appearances of the plant from which it is obtained.— It is cultivated in the West India islands, and rises to the height of about seven feet, in a straight reed, which is sepa¬ rated into joints, about three inches long, and one inch in diameter. It is topped by a bunch of leaves or blades, sharply notched at the edges like a saw, and bears a beautiful flower of a bright golden co¬ lour, streaked with red ; from the centre of the leaves, shoots up an arrow, like a silver wand, from two to six feet in length, producing from its summit a plume of de¬ licate white feathers, which are mixed withyellow. K When cut down, the leaves are throwft aside, as of no use in th* manufacture of sugar, and the stems or canes are divided into pieces, each about a yard in length. These are tied together in bundles, and conveyed to the sugar mill, where they are bruised betwixt three upright wooden rollers, covered with iron. The juice which flows from them during this pro¬ cess, is conducted by canals into a large vessel formed for receiving it. The quan¬ tity of juice prepared by some mills in the- West Indies, is upwards of 10,000 gallons in a day. The next operation, is that of freeing it fromall impurities, which is called cla¬ rifying. For this purpose, the juice is conducted along a wooden gutter lined with lead, to a place called the boiling- house, where it is received into copper pans or cauldrons, each placed over a separate fire. A certain proportion of powdered lime is now added to it, this being found to remove any acid which the juice may happen to contain. When the liquor boils, the greater part of the impurities contained in the juice, rise to the surface in a scum. The purified li¬ quor is then carefully drawn off by a 155 cock, leaving the scum at the bottom of the pan. From these pans it is conveyed, by an¬ other gutter or channel, to the grand cop¬ per, or evaporating boiler, where the scum which rises to the surface, is skim¬ med off as the liquor boils. After under¬ going a similar process in smaller boilers, until it has acquired a certain degree of thickness, it is transferred into a large shallow wooden vessel, where as it cools, it granulates, or runs into an imperfect crystallization, by which it is in some degree separated from the molasses or treacle, an impure part of the juice, which is incapable of crystallization, and which is exported in large casks, for various useful purposes, to the different countries of Europe. From the wrnoden vessels the sugar is removed to the curing house. This is a spacious airy building, furnished with a large cistern for the reception of the mo¬ lasses ; over the cistern is an open frame of strong joist wmrk, upon which are placed several empty hogsheads, each open at the head, and having a few holes at the bottom, closed by stalks of the plan¬ tain-tree thrust through them. The mass k 2 156 of sugary matter is now put into these hogsheads; the molasses drain into the cistern through the spongy stalk of the plaintain, and the remainder, thus regu¬ larly crystallized, has the name of mus¬ covado or raw sugar. That which is called clayed sugar, un¬ dergoes a process somewhat different. For the preparation of this, the sugar when taken from the coolers, is put into conical vessels of earthen ware, each hav¬ ing at its smaller end, a hole about half an inch in diameter, which at the begin¬ ning of the process is stopped with a plug. This plug, after the sugar has be¬ come perfectly cool, is removed, and the molasses drain through the hole ; when these have ceased to run, the surface of the sugar in the vessel is covered with fine clay to a certain thickness, and wa¬ ter is poured upon the clay. This ooz¬ ing through the whole mass of sugar in the mould, dissolves the molasses still remaining in it, and carrying it off through the hole in the bottom, renders the sugar that is left, much purer than that which is prepared the other way. The further refining of sugar, or form¬ ing it into the white conical loaves which 167 are so much used in this country, is the business of the European sugar bakers. This is done by dissolving the raw sugar in water, boiling the solution in lime- water, and then clarifying it with bul¬ locks’ blood or the white of eggs, and straining it through woollen bags. After due evaporation, it is suffered to cool to a certain degree : it is then poured into conical moulds of unglazed earthenware, the narrow ends of which are left open. Here it hardens into a white mass, leaving that part of the sugar which will not crys¬ tallize, to run off through the hole in the point of the cone. The broad end of the cone is then covered with moist clay, the water from which filters through the su¬ gar, carrying off the impurities which otherwise would remain in and discolour it. It is then carefully dried, and re¬ ceives the name of loaf or lump sugar. The juice of the sugar cane is so pa¬ latable, and at the same time so nutritive, that during the sugar harvest, every crea¬ ture which partakes freely of it, whether man or beast, appears to derive health and vigour from its use. The meagre and sickly Negroes, exhibit at this season a surprising alteration, and now become K 3 158 fat and healthy. The labouring' horses, oxen and mules, being allowed almost without restraint to eatofthe refuse plants and of tlie scummin^s from tb*- boiling house, improve now infinitely more than they do at any other sea on of the year. When sugar was first introdneed into this country, it was employed only as a medicine ; but it has now become an es¬ sential article both of luxury and use. To enumerate the different purposes to which it is applied would be endless; it will suffice, however, to mention, that it is the chief ingredient in syrups, and in various kinds of cookery. We have now described the mode, by which the sugar, so much in use, is pro¬ duced; but there are various other plants, besides the sugar cape, which yield even a superior quantity of sug-ary juice ; and, therefore, a short account of the process by which it is obtained from them, will not be uninteresting. The first of these is the sugar maple- tree, which is found in great plenty iu North -America, a district of many miles in extent being in some places quite co¬ vered with them. The process of ob¬ taining the juice is, in the spring of the 139 year to bore holes about two inches deep into the tree, and to put into each of these a spout, by which it may be con- veyed into troughs fitted to receive it. Each tree will afford from twenty to thirty gallons of juice, from which may be obtained fire or six pounds of sutrar; and it is a remarkable fact, that the tree, so far from being injured by tappi* g it, is improved ; so that a single tree ba-r not only survived, but flourished after fcrly- two tappings, in the same number of years. The oftener it is tapped, the more sugar is obtained from it ; and this is proved from the superior excellence of those trees, which have be. n pierced ia many places by the bird called the wood¬ pecker, which feeds on its juice. The juice is clear, of pleasant flavour, and in its simple state is sometimes drunk as a remedy against the scurvy. The principal method of making sugar from the sap, is by boiling; and the Ame¬ ricans have found from experience, that the sap should never be kept loDger than twenty-four hours, after it is collected, lef >re it is put on the fire. Durin g the l.oi ing, they add butter, hog’s lard, and tallow, to prevent the pan or kettle from K 4 160 boiling over ; and fresh eggs or new milk are mixed wilh the juice, in order to cla¬ rify it. The quantity, however, of these ingredients, is not great, since a spoon¬ ful of slacked lime, the white of one egg, or a pint of new milk, will be sufficient to clarify fifteen gallons of sap. The sugar after being boiled, is conducted through the remaining process, nearly in the same manner as in the West Indies, from the sugar cane ; it will, therefore, be unnecessary to repeat what has been already said. When we consider that the sugar ma¬ ple’s juice is collected at a season, when not a single insect exists to feed upon it, and before any of the dust of plants can float in the air and mix with it—that many millions of acres in North America are covered with it, and that the process of collecting the juice and preparing it is so simple, that any one may carry it on without expense—We are led to acknow¬ ledge, that it is the gift of a kind and bountiful Providence, which in all coun¬ tries invites the industry of mankind, and repays him by every thing which can con¬ duce to his support and comfort. The last substance which we shall men- 161 tion, as affording sweet sap in sufficient quantity to make the manufacture of it profitable, is the beet-root; which was cultivated in such large quantities in France, during the late war, as to ren¬ der that country altogether independent of a supply of sugar from the West India colonies. Like the sugar cane, the root of the beet is submitted to the pressure of huge rollers, which, however, are of cast iron; and the juice thus expressed being boiled and clarified with lime, &c. gra¬ dually cools into crystals, like our brown sugar ; or is, by the filtration of water through conical moulds, freed from all im¬ purities, and made equal in fineness and whiteness to our hardest loaf-sugar. Let us now, in conclusion, reflect how many thousands of our fellow-creatures are supported by the manufacture of su¬ gar. How many are employed in the cultivation of the plant; how many more in passing it through the various proces¬ ses it undergoes ; how many industrious tradesmen have been engaged in building the necessary machines, the sugar-houses, the coolers, the boiling pans, the vessel which is to convey it to our shores :—and K 5 162 is it too much to say, that the sugar which goes to sweeten a cup of tea, has passed through the hands of, and contributed to give food and employment to above one thousand industrious persons ? The MANUFACTURE of SALT. JL HERE are few productions so much in request, or indeed so useful, as com¬ mon salt. It is used as a seasoning; of food by the inhabitants of all countries; and by the poor as well as by the rich. The peasant would lose half the relish for his frugal meal, if he had not salt to eat with his potatoes ; and the experienced cook knows how essential its presence is in the most luxurious dishes. It also has the effect of preserving- different articles of food from putridity ; thus enabling the seaman to lay in stores of flesh meat for the longest voyage. It is used, likewise, in medicine, and for glazing the surface of earthen ware; and, lastly, is employed in several chymical processes. Conside¬ rable quantities, therefore, it may be supposed, of this necessary article, are requisite ; and it is another proof of the goodness with which Providence supplies all our wants, that it exists in various states, and in the greatest abundance. When this substance is dug out of the earth, it is called rock salt; and immense 161 masses of it are fouud iu different coun¬ tries of the world. The most consider¬ able, as well as the most celebrated salt mines wdth which we are acquainted, are about five miles from Cracow, in Poland ; and it is supposed that they contain as much salt, as would be sufficient to sup¬ ply the wants of the whole world for se¬ veral thousand years. On descending 1 to the bottom of these mines, a stranger is astonished at the sight that presents itself to his view.—He sees, as it w’ere, a spacious plain, near¬ ly a quarter of a mile under ground, containing a kind of city, with houses, chapeis, carriages, roads, &c. scooped out of one vast rock of salt, as bright in some places as crystal; while the torches which are kept constantly burning, to give light to the workmen, being reflect¬ ed from the glassy surface of the salt, af¬ ford a sparkling lustre, more splendid than any thing above ground could pos¬ sibly exhibit. Through the midst of the plain, lies a road, which is always filled with carriages, conveying large blocks of salt from the farther part of the mine to the mouth or entrance, (which is like a well, up which they are drawn in bas- 165 ketsby ropes and pulleys,) and returning empty after having laid down their loads. A great many horses are necessarily em¬ ployed there, and when once let down never see the day-light again. The min¬ ers, however, do not remain constantly below, as was for a long time believed ; but having wrought for a certain number of hours, are relieved by another set, and thus enjoy the opportunity of breathing the fresh air, and enjoying the cheerful light of day. In several parts of the mine, small chapels are scooped out in the salt rock, and in them mass is said on certain days. One of those is thirty feet long, and twenty-five feet broad; the altar, crueifix, ornaments of the church, and statues of several saints, being all carved out of the salt. In the year 1780, the greatest depth to which the workmen had penetrated, was about 320 yards; and the mass or bed of salt, was consider¬ ed to be in some places more than 240 yards in thickness, and to extend, at least, nine miles under ground. Near the town of Cardona, in Spain, there is a mountain of salt without a cleft, 500 feet high, and nearly three miles in circumference. In the province J66 of Labor, in India, travellers have also described a mountain of salt, not inferior in magnitude. At Northwicb and Nantwich, in Che¬ shire, in England, there are salt mines of great depth and extent. These are fre¬ quently visited by travellers, and are found amply to repay the trouble and inconve¬ nience of descending into them. They are worked in streets or aisles, large masses from the body of the rock being separated by blasting with gunpowder, and pillars of salt six or eight yards square, being left standingat different intervals, to support the roof. Rock salt, however, being found more or less mixed with earthy particles, it is necessary to pound the masses when rais¬ ed to the surface. It is then placed in large cisterns, which are filled with water, -—salt water is always preferred for this purpose ; and, on this account, manufac¬ tories of salt are generally situated on the sea shore. The water having become sa- turatedwith salt, is drawn off pure, leav¬ ing the earthy particles at the bottom of the cistern ; and is conveyed into a large shallow pan, where it is boiled until the water has evaporated in steam, leaving 168 the crystals of salt behind. If the heat be strong 1 , the salt is fine, like that used for the table ; if, on the contrary, the boiling is carried on slowly, the grains are then larger, like what is employed for kitchen use. Thus we see Nature provides salt for our various purposes in abundance, and the process by which it is prepared for consumption, is at once simple and easily carried on. Salt mines, however, and mountains of salt, it has been remarked, are generally found in the inland parts of a country. On the sea coast, this useful substance is procured in the greatest pro¬ fusion, the water of the ocean being, as every one knows, an inexhaustible source from which we can extract as much as we desire. The following is the mode of obtaining salt from sea water, in the British islands. Close to the sea side, a bason or pond is formed, into which, however, the tide or the waves are not allowed to flow. Into this pond, the sea water is received by a sluice gate ; and standing there for some time, exposed to the air, the watery parts evaporate, and the remainder is found much sailer than before. This brine 169 is next pumped into the boiling pan, un¬ der which a fire is so placed, that the flame and heat from it may spread all over the bottom of the pan. When the liquor is beginning to grow warm, the workman beats the whites of a few eggs in an equal number of gallons of water, which he pours into the pan, and mixes with a rake. This is to clarify the water, and when it boils, a black frothy scum collects and is taken off, leaving the wa¬ ter perfectly clear and transparent; which is then briskly boiled, till much of the watery part is driven off in steam, and the remainder becomes a very strong brine. Small crystals of salt begin now to form on the surface, and this, in a pan fifteen feet long and twelve broad, gene¬ rally happens in five hours boiling. The pan is again filled with water, and a se¬ cond clarification, evaporation, and crys¬ tallization take place. This is repeated a third time; and when the crystals are forming, the fire is slackened, so as to leave the brine simmering. The salt is now drawn up in heaps at the sides of the pan, where it drains for some time; it is then taken out and placed on proper frames, till all the moisture is entirely 170 drawn ofT, and the salt is fit to be remove ed to the stores, where it is sold for use. But fuel being scarce and dear, in Hoi* land and other parts of the continent, where salt is made from seawater, a con¬ trivance has been found out to reduce the expence of it, and this has succeeded so well, by the graduated buildings, that seven thousand casks of salt, each weigh¬ ing 650 pounds, are now obtained with the sixth-part of the quantity of wood which before was necessary. The gra¬ duated building consists of several stories, each of which resembles a room, iu which the rafters have been just laid, and are not yet covered with flooring ; these sto¬ ries are more or less numerous, accord¬ ing to the greater degree of the water’s saltness. Every division or space, be¬ tween the rafters, is filled up to the top with large bundles of twigs. The water drawn from the salt wells, and carried into a tub, at the bottom of the room, is raised by pumps to the top of the first division, where it is distributed into troughs of about four or five inches in width, and as much in depth. These are disposed according to the length of the building, are pierced at every six inches. 17 S and hare Title cocks, which allow this water to fall ctod by drop upon the hoo¬ die of fr. The water troubled about, ai d separated through all the n inute hraoches of the twigs, is thos exposed to the air, which causes a great portion to pass away in vapour, leaving the salty particles behind. A favourable wind is a great assistance to the work, and carries away great part of these divided wa ers, by making it pass obliquely Trough the twigs. The particles of wan » which re¬ main stiil united lo the salt, have, ac¬ cording to their weight, many little falls, perpendicularly, from .-prig to sprig, till they come to .the bason at the bottom in¬ tended to receive them They are then raised by other pumps to trie troughs and twigs of the secon i division, wh< "e they acquire a greater degree of saltness, by a new dissipation of 1 lie fresh water: and so on, according as it is found necessary, to a sixth or seventh division. Thus, al¬ most without expense. and in three days, at a proper season of the year, a pound of salt water, which, when it nr^t came from the well, contained a certain small quantity of salt ; suppose, for instance, the weight of one dram, may acquire 172 twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty times as much, when it comes to the bason of the seventh division ; and gives, at the crystallization, which is performed at last by fire, the weight of four ounces of salt. A fourth way in which salt may be pro¬ cured, is from the water of salt springs, or from salt water lakes, which are found of great extent in the interior parts of Asia. In warm climates, the water is drawn into shallow basons, where the heat of the sun evaporates the moisture, and the salt crystallizes without any pre¬ paration This, however, is very impure, and requires to be again dissolved, clari¬ fied, and crystallized. In addition to the other uses of salt, it may be mentioned, that physicians have discovered that it furnishes an efficacious mode of purifying the air of a house or room, where there are persons suffering under contagious fevers, and thus pre¬ venting the spreading of infectious dis¬ orders. Every one knows, that in these cases, the air which has been breathed by the patient becomes so impure, that it is dangerous for persons in health to inhale it and it is, therefore, of the greatest im- 173 portance to clear it of these noxious par- tides which render it putrid. The care¬ ful nurse can then enter the sick chamber without fear of catching 1 the disorder ; and the kind and anxious relative continue her affectionate care and attention to the pa¬ tient, without, as it oftentimes has hap¬ pened, endangering her life. It was the discovery of a learned chemist, of Dijon, in France, who, in 1773, finding that the cathedral of that city was entirely desert¬ ed, on account of the infectious smell produced by the corruption of bodies buried within its walls, placed a mixture of common salt and oil of vitriol, in a pan over burning coals, in the middle of the church, and then withdrew, taking care to close all the doors and windows, to confine the fumes from escaping.— These accordingly filled the whole ca¬ thedral ; and in twelve hours, when the doors were thrown open, were found to have destroyed every putrid odour. As it is desirable that every person should know this simple but effectual mode of checking a contagious disorder, and purifying the air of a sick house, we shall subjoin the directions wh 5 ch are given for its use:—Take six drachms of 174 common salt and the same quantify of oil of vitriol, which is sold by the drug¬ gist or apothecary, and mix them gradu¬ ally in a tea cup. During the prepara¬ tion, the cup must be placed on a fire shovel, or any other piece of heated iron,, and the mixture stirred with a tobacea pipe or a piece of glass. As soon as the fumes arise, the cup is to be moved about to different parts of the room or house,, that are to be fumigated. It is nece sary, however, to add, that the fumes of common salt and vitriol are not sufficient of themselves to prevent in¬ fection. They clear the air of those pu¬ trid odours which would communicate the disorder, but it is equally essential to attend to other directions, which were drawn up by some humane aud skilful physicians, when the typhus fever raged with such violence through this country, in the years 1817 and 1818. At that dis¬ tressing period, the hospitals were thrown open for the reception of the sick, and several houses also Sited up by govern¬ ment, where they had the kindest and most careful treatment. The rules, there¬ fore, which follow, suppose the patient to have been removed to one of these asy- 1 15 lams ; but it is evident, that most of them me equally useful in cases when the patient remains at home. It would be well for every one of our young readers to commit them to memory, as he may thus, per¬ haps, on some future occasion, under the blessing of Divine Providence, he the means of saving his own life, or that of some dear friend or relation. 1. Let all yonr doors and windows, except those of the sick room, be thrown open, and let them remain so throughout the day. 2 Let the house, room, or cabin, be well cleaned; the floors, wood work, and furniture, be well scrubbed ; all dirty clothes be first steeped in cold water, and afterwards washed in warm water and soap. 3. Let the clothes you wear be steeped in cold water, and afterwards washed ; and let any chest, box, drawers, &c. in the infectious house, be emptied and cleansed. 4. If you lie on straw beds, let the straw be immediately burnt, and fresh straw provided ; and let the tieken steeped in cold water. 176 5. Whitewash all your rooms, and the entrance to them, with lime slacked in the place where it is intended to be used, and while it continues bubbling and hot. And, lastly, wash your hands, face, and feet, and comb your hair well, every morning and evening, at least. The benefit of this advice, (continue these benevolent persons,) you will soon feel, after infection has entered your dwelling; and persevering in your at¬ tention to it, will, under God’s protec¬ tion, preserve you from all the variety of wretchedness occasioned by contagious fevers. Attend to it then with spirit and punc¬ tuality, for be assured that cleanliness will check disease, improve your health and strength and encreaseyour comfort. Perhaps, then, it is not too much to say, that to this cheap and most useful commodity, we may at some future time be indebted under God, for protection against a pestilence. Almost every one has heard of that great plague, which raged in London about one hundred and fifty years ago, and cut off nearly ninety thousand of its inhabitants. The streets were deserted, the houses either left empty 177 by their owners, who fled to the country or else shut up by the magistrates, who were obliged to adopt this mode of checking the progress of infection.—Had they known this little mixture of com¬ mon salt and oil of vitriol, doubtless the contagion would not have spread so widely, nor would it have been so fatal to those whose duty it was to attend the sick. The inhabitants of Cardona make of the rock salt in their neighbourhood, va¬ rious transparent articles, which they sell at a cheap rate. These, which consist of small altars, figures of saints, crosses, chandeliers, salt cellars, &c. are as clear as crystal, and to appearance as lasting. L BREWING. IVext to wheat, which when made into bread has emphatically been called the staff of life , barley is considered the most valuable kind of grain The princi¬ pal use to which it is applied in this coun¬ try, is in the making of malt, from which beer, porter, ale aud spirits are prepared. For this purpose, it is first steeped in water for three or four days ;—it is then taken out, and suffered to lie till it begins to sprout; as soon as this has advanced to a certain state, its farther progress is pre¬ vented by drying it in a kiln, heated with coke or charcoal. The grain has now be¬ come mellow and sweet; and after being crushed iu a kind of mill, becomes fit for the brewer, in whose hands, the process of making beer is completed. Malt liquor, in general, is composed of water, malt, hops, and a little yeast; and the great art is to find out the proper pro¬ portions of each ingredient, and how to work them together afterwards. The first part of the operation, when the malt has been mixed with hot water, Is ealied mashing; which is performed in 179 a large circular vessel, called a mash-tub, where the liquor is stirred constantly with large rakes, to extract the sweetness of the malt. As soon as the mashing is com¬ pleted, the tub is covered in to prevent the escape of heat, and after settling, the clear liquor, which is called wort, is al¬ lowed to run off into a lower or boiling copper. Before the goodness of the malt is exhausted, it is usual to pour upon it two or three waters. If only one kind of liquor is made, the produce of the three mashings is mixed together ; but if ale and table beer are required, the wort of the first, which is by much the richest, or of the first and second mashings, is appropriated to the ale, and the remainder is set aside for the beer. What remains of the malt after the wort has been drained off, is called grains; these are employed for the feed¬ ing of horses, cows, and swine. The wort when run into the lower cop¬ per, is to be boiled with a certain quan¬ tity of hops, till upon taking out a little of the liquor, it is found to be full of small flakes, something like curdled soap. It is then drawn out into large shallow" vessels, called coolers, it which it remains till it is cool enough to be submitted to fermen¬ tation. 180 It is then transferred into the ferment¬ ing; or working tun, in which it is well mixed with yeast, in order to hasten and assist the process. The last part of the operation is that of transferring the liquor from the working tun to the barrels, where the fermentation is completed. Fora few days there will be a copious discharge of yeast from the bung-hole, during which the barrels must from time to time be care¬ fully filled up with fresh liquor. After this discharge is finished, the barrels are bunged up, and the beverage is fit for use in the course of a few weeks.