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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 AG ( a INDUSTRIAL HISTORY CP THB UNITED STATES, iFrom tfjr lEarliest Settlements to t\)t present SEtme: M BEING A COMPLETE SURVEY OF AMERICAN INDUSTRIES, EMBRACING AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE; INCLUDING THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON, TOBACCO, WHEAT; THE RAISING OF HORSES, NEAT- CATTLE, ETC.; ALL THE IMPORTANT MANUFACTURES, SHIl'FING AND FISHERIES, RAILROADS, MINES AND MINING, AND OIL; ALSO A HISTORY OF THE COAL-MINERS AND THE MOLLV MAGUIRES; HANKS, INSURANCE, AND COMMERCE; TRADE-UNIONS, STRIKES, AND EIGHT-HOUR MOVEMENT; TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION OF CANADIAN INDUSTRIES. Sn Btbtn iSooItis. COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED WITH ABOUT THREE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS BY THE MOST EMINENT ARTISfS. BY ALBERT S. BOLLES, LECTURER IN POLITICAL ECONOMY IN BOSTON UNIVERSITY, AND AUTHOR OF "the CONl-LICT BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL," AND "chapters IN POLITICAL ECONOMY." NORWICH, CONN. : THE IIENIIY BILL I'UMLISHING COMPANY. 1881. r' HC 103 B 15 Copyright, 1878, by The Henry Bill Puulishing Company. \ \ Franklin Press: Bltcirotyped and Printed by Rand, Aviry, &> Co., Boston. / I- ', **> PREFACE. ...'^.•> ^>^' ' THE present work was projected by the author several years ago, and is now given to the public in the belief that it will prove really useful, inasmuch as nothing worthy of the name has appeared, while the field itself is quite as deserving of study as any other portion or phase of American history. A great variety of materials have been collected and used in the present undertaking : many facts, also, have been gathered from conversation with persons who were more or less ^miliar with some special l)ranch of American industry. The author has sought to make proper acknowledgment for all facts and incidents herein related, though doubtless he has failed to do justice to every work and author from whom special information has been drawn. On page 56 he omitted to state that the statistics relating to ship- ments of cotton were taken from Mr. Dana's valuable work entitled " Cotton from Seed to Loom ; " while it ought to be mentioned, that, in the introductory chapter, free use has been made of the short but excellent sketches of. Ben : Perlcy I'oorc and Charles L. Flint of the History of Agriculture contained in the United-States Agricultural Reports, as well as the paper of the latter on American Horses which is to be found in the same publication. Likewise, in describing the Pittsburgh riots of 1877, liberal use was made of the mes- sage of Ciov. Hartranft, which contained a very concise and tnithful account of that shocking aflair. Nor would I (a\\ to express my very great indebtedness to Henry Hall of "The New-York Tribune," and James Hall of Norwich, Conn., without whose assistance the preparation of this work for the press would have been much longer delayed. To Mr. C. A. Cutter, Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, my sincerest 809S15 iv PREFACE. thanks are due, and are hereby tendered, for the exceedingly liberal use of the books of that institution ; and also to the Librarian of the Boston Public Library for special privileges of a similar character. I would further add my obligations to the Librarian of the Astor Library for the privilege of consulting to my best advantage the treasures of that collection. The aids thus obtained from these three noble institutions were invaluable : indeed, without them, it would have been impossible for the author to have executed the present work. Norwich, Conn., Oct. If, 1878. *• PRKFACK TO THE THIRD EDITION. THAT two editions of this work sliould be exhausted within a few months strongly verifies the author's belief, when writing it, tiiat such a work was needed. Since the first edition was issued, changes and improvements in the text and illustrations iiave been made, which, it is believed, will render the work still more valuable to the reader. THli AUTHOR. TABLE OF CONTENTS. BOOK I. AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. CIIAI'TER I. General History 1-31 lotroduclory. — Indian Agriculuire. — Colonial Agriculture in the Southern Colonies. — Colo- nial Agriculture in the New-England Colonics. — French Colonial Agriculture. — Effects of American Revolution. — Causes of Progress in Agriculture. — Homestead Laws. — Agricultural Societies. — Granger Movement. — Agricultural Education and Literature. — Establishment of State Boards of Agriculture. CHAPTER H. Agricultural Implements 32-45 CHAPTER ni. Cotton 46-61 CHAPTER IV. Wheat 62-72 CHAPTER V. Corn 73-79 CHAPTER VI. Sugar and Molasses ' I0-89 CHAPTER VII. ^ Tobacco 90-9S CHAPTER VIII. Grass and Hay 99-101 T I I vi ' CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Minor Crops ••• 102-iij CHAPTER X. Neat-Cattle 1 14-126 CHAPTER XI. lit'l-TKR AND ClIEESB I27-I36 CHAPTER XII. The Horse ijr-M'"^ The Troliing-Horse, — The I'auiig-Horie. CHAPTER XHI. Sheep 149-156 CHAPTER XIV. Swine «S7-'63 CHAPTER XV. HORriCUUURK, iNURSERIES, AND pRUIT-KAISINd 164-18I BOOK II. MANUFACTURES. 1 CH.M'TEK I. Manufacture ok Iron and Stfei 185-216 E.irly History. — Forty Years of Rcprcssinn .mil StniRRlc. — The EiTcct of T.iriPTs. — The Era of Anthracite Kiicl and the Hot llhisl. — The (Jrowth nf Rolling-Mills. — Influence of Paris Exposition on Americ.-in Iron-Maniifaclure. — The Manufacture of Steel. vs CHAPTER 1 1. Ikon and Steel Manufactures :i7-3iS Nails. — Cutlery. — Clocks and Watches. — Iron Pipes and Tnhes. — I^.omotivcs. — Sewing- Machines. — Firc-.Arms. — Iron-working Machiner>'. — Axes ami S.iws — .Stoves. — Safes. — Iron Bridges, — Printing- Presses. — Wire. — Water-Wheels. — Locks. — Pumps. s CHAPTER HI. ** Manufactures of Gold, Silver, and Other Metals 316-368 Coinage. — Jewelry. — Gold and Silver I-eaf. — Silver 'I'alilc-Ware. — Copper and Brass TTten- sils.— Bronze Ware and Statuary. — Hells. — Lead-Manufactures. — Stereotyping. — Tin -Ware. — Toys. — Applications of Zinc. 1 CONTRNTS. Vii CHAPTER IV. The Manufacture ok Wool 369-40* (Jcncral History of ilie Woolkn-Manufaclure. — Spinning and Weaving. — Hati. —Carpets. — Shoddy. — Clothing. — Hosiery. CHAPTER V. TnK Manukaciurk (jk CorroN 403-426 CHAPTER VI. SlLK-MANOfACTURE 427*443 CHAPTER VH. Shok ANn I.F.ATiiKR MANUt^ACTURis 444-456 CIIAPTKR VI H. Pater ano PArER-HANOiNcjs 4S7-4'i8 CHAPTER I\. Gunpowder and Fireworks . . . • < .... 469-478 CHAPTER X. India-Ruiimkr Manufactures 479-4^7 CHAPTER XI. CiiEMicAi. Manufactures 488-496 CHAPTER XH. Wood and DriiER Manufactures 497-559 Lumlwr. — Wood -Working Machinery. — Furniture. — Starch. — Wine, Spiriu, and Beer. — Cordage and li.igging. —Soap. — Flour. — Miisic.il Instruments. — Matches. —Gl.-is»- Warc and Tottery. — Glue. —VencerinB. — Carri.igcs and Cars. ; CHAPTER XIH. Conclusion 560-565 -* BOOK III. SHIPPING AND RAILROADS. CHAPTER I. Wooden Ships ... * 569-582 CHAPTER II. Steamboats 583-59.5 'h !h Viii CO A' TENTS. CHAPTER III. Iron Steamships 596-tio2 CHAPTER IV. Canau O03-60H CHAPTER V. The Fisheries ()09-6i8 CHAPTER VI. Railroads 619-664 BOOK IV. MINES AND MINING, AND OIL. ' CHAPTER I. MiNiNO 667-672 General Hutoiy, CHAPTER II. 9 Gold . 673-685 > CHAPTER III. Silver 686-692 . CHAPTER IV. Lead 693-696 CHAPTER V. Copp'-R 697-703 CHAPTER VI. Coal 704-734 Coal-Minen. ^ The Molly Magulret. — Later Hit tory. — Biluminous-coa! Mining. CHAPTER VII. Iron 73S-747 CHAPTER VIII. Minor Metals 74^-753 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER IX. QUARRVINO 754-759 ^ CHAPTER X. Salt 760-767 CHAPTER XI. Petroleum 768-780 BOOK V. BANKING, INSURANCE, AND COMMERCE. CHAPTER I. Banking 783-812 Early Colonial Period. — Firit Bank of the United States. — Second Bank of the United Stale*. — Stale Banks. — MassachiiKtts. — New York. — Uliio. — Indiana. — Illinois. — Ken- .ucky. — Tenneuee, — Miuiisippi. CHAPTER II. ^ Insurance 813-849 Marine. — KIrc. — Life. — Accident. CHAPTER HI. Commerce 8SO-87& Ante-Revolutionary Period. — Post-Revolutionary Period. BOOK VI. TRADE-UNIONS AND EIGHT-HOUR MOVEMENT. CHAPTER I. Trade-Unions 88i-«88 CHAPTER II. Eight-Hour Movement 889-890 CHAPTER HI. Later History of Trade-Unions 891-903. II r, X CONTENTS. BOOK VII. THE INDUSTRIES OF CANADA. The Industries of Canada .... 907-936 The I"isheri«s. — The lumber-Trade. — Mining. — Farming. — Manufacturing. itl ; t \ BOOK I. AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 1 ! ! 1 • > i I t I' 1 ^ \ t ► r ■ 1 P' • K • f \ i ' ^- " ■ 1, INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. GENERAL HISTORY. INTRODUCTORY. FOR ages historians have been busy in writing about political and military events, leaving quite out of sight the social and industrial life of nations, as unworthy of notice. To recent historians a truer historic instinct has been given ; and, by uniting with it a broader and more profound cul- D,„g^g„j ture, they are setting before the world juster, more varied, and methodaof more complete pictures of the civilization of the past. Other his- ^["'"' *"**" torians there are who exhibit only a single side or phase of material life, but, unlike their predecessors, are concerned not less with political or military events than with social and industrial characteristics. It is true that a history of agriculture is free from those startling sensations which spring from the vivid description of battles and othei operations of war, the intrigues of diplomacy, the uncertain and checkered course of importance legislation, the wild freaks of rulers, or the tragedies and comedies of history at of social life. But agriculture possesses an interest for us as deep '*' "^^ and abiding as any other phase of history. It is a healthy study ; for we are taken out of doors, are brought into intimate relationship with Nature, and learn of her boundless generosity and rewards for well-doing. Moreover, it is a history of some of man's greatest triumphs, won, not by striking down his brother, but by conquest over Nature through accident or experiment. No wonder, then, that the cultivation of the soil has proved so attractive to the world's greatest men. When the Roman patrician, Cincinnatus, left his farm to assume the dictatorship of Rome, he betook himself to _. his gentle occupation as soon as he had delivered his country men have from the enemy. And likewise Washington, when retiring from ''"" ■''*" the cares of state, fled to Mount Vernon, where, amid his rich and numerous acres, he daily drank heavy draughts of pure enjoyment, for which he had often longed during an anxious civil career and the still ^-.---fi-j^^^<^@i«feMMlMI 2 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY more troubled days of the Revolution. Even of Webster it may be questioned, whether, with all his fitness and fondness for the national Senate, he did not derive greater happiness from his farm in Marshfield ; for what fact can more touchingly attest his attachment to it than his dying request for his cattle to be driven one by one past the window of the room where he lay, that he might look once more upon them before his eyes were forever closed ? Remembering how vast is the space filled by agriculture in the industries of our country, no further justification is required for writing its history. For a Justification '°"S pcriod, agricultural products have led the list of exjiorts to (or writing a Other countries, and will lead them for years and centuries to come, history of jf ^ l^jstory of the efforts to destrov life be worth preserving, agriculture. ^ . i o> surely a history of those means in which so many are engaged to sus- tain life is not less worthy of preservation. The famous minister of Henry IV. of France, Sully, called agriculture, including both tillage and pasturage, " the two breasts of the state." Strikingly true as the figure is, will not a review of the subject, by showing \s hat has been already accomplished, excite the farmer to new experiments and inquiry ? • . m INDIAN ACiRICU I.TURK. The North- American Indian was not an agriculturist : he regarded the cul- tivation of the soil as degrading. Vet, as it was necessary for some one to Indians Cultivate it in order to obtain a living, the task fell to tiie okl raised corn, women and children. Though the Indian was slack, careless, an•»• haps more difficult for us in this age to realize than almost any other feature of our history, because farming-implements have been brought to such a degree of perfection. The system of agriculture best adapted to the country could only be learned by experiment. Of course the settlers brought with them the ideas and products of their mother-land ; but how poor was their outfit they succen in soon learned. Indian-corn, pumpkins, squashes, beans, potatoes, larming tobacco, and other vegetables and fruits, which were found grow- ""n,ine*d *' ing here, it was easy to cultivate by inijuiry from the Indians, and only by ex- with greater success than ever attended the efforts of their teach- p"''"«"*- crs ; but in respect to the fruits transplanted, as well as the horses, sheep, and other animals brought hither, it was only found out by numerous experiments and many losses what our climate and soil were best fitted to raise and sustain. What did the English immigrant know about the country until he came here, anil how English cattle and fruits would thrive under such altered conditions? It would be an interesting chapter to trace the history of these experiments ; lO rNDVSTKlAl. HISTORY 'II IH :5^ MAVPI.OWKR. but our space is too limited, even if tlie necessary information could be gath« ered. Suffice it to say, after trial some vegetal )les and grasses were aban- doned, while the appropriate locality of others was discovered. Hemp, indigo, rice, cotton, madder, millet, si)elt, lentils, liicern, sainfoin, and many other things, were tried in New Kngland, and failed, as did other crops in the Southern roK)- nies. Not only the plants of Eu- rope, but many from Asia and the Kast Indies, were tried, including cinnamon and vp.ious commercial plants. Some of these crops, on experiment, failed entirely ; others flourished after a fashion, but proved unjirofitable ; others flourished with peculiar luxuriance, and with characters unchanged ; and still others, under the new i Trn'irmiffiapri'r-Ty|»'ihi i6 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY on its broad current to the Gulf of Mexico. The discoveries of the French, Cultivation ^^ joumey of La Salle among the Indians and down the mighty of the sugar- Stream, are full of romantic interest ; but we can only stop to ""*■ note what was done when the French landed in Louisiana, and began the permanent conquest of the soil. A variety of crops was planted ; but none flourished like the sugar-cane, which had been transported into Spain from India by the Saracens, again to Madeira, and thence to the West-India Islands, from which the French planters obtained their plants. For several years its cultivation proved unsuccessful. Not until 1764 did the experiment succeed, upon the eastern bank of the Mississippi, under the intelligent and careful culture of Chevalier de Mazan. The following year, Destrehan, the royal treasurer in the colony, and other planters, erected works on the opposite bank below New Orleans ; but the results were disappointing. Indeed, the planters lost so much heart, that, in 1 769, they abandoned the business, and turned their attention to the cilti ation of indigo, cotton, tobacco, rice, corn, and other crops. A few small gardeners continued to plant sugar-cane in the neighborhood of the city, which they retailed in the market for the use of children ; or expressed the juice, making sirup, which they sold in bottles. More than twenty-five years elapsed before further efforts were made to culti- vate the sugar- plant. The engraving here inserted represents the early process of manufacturing sugar, and will not be without interest to our readers. The cane was stripped Early mode ^^ '^^ leaves, and ground, or rather crushed, by a heavy stone made of making to rcvolvc by manual force. The expressed juice, after boiling in sugar. ^ caldron, was ladled into large stone jars, which were exposed to the rays of the sun until the sugar crystallized. Later on we shall learn what success attended renewed efforts in the way of cultivating the sugar- plant. EFFECTS OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION. The American Revolution wrought a profound change in the agriculture of the country ; not, indeed, in the way of stimulating interest in the cultivation of the soil, but in giving greater freedom in the exchange of commodities. Thrift- less as was the mode of farming prior to that event, during the Revolution it was well-nigh paralyzed ; nor did it speedily • '■over. So dull were the people to the vast capacities of the country and to the great fortunes which lay before them, that the same spirit wliich animated 4Jie ante-Revolutionary farmiT Revolution was found to live within the breast of his immediate descend- ants. But the policy of England, which was to make the colonics as profitable as jwssible to the mother-country without thought of • an adecjuate return, came to an end. Restrictions against manu- facturing were removed. The colonists were free to buy where they plea;ied : no longer could I'.ngland compel them to buy of her. On the gave free- dom in pur- chase and sale of com modities. OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 Other hand, they were at liberty to sell their surplus in any market in the world. Thus their horizon was immensely broadened. The transition from a colony to a state was complete. CAUSES OF PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE. Until the present century was fairly inaugurated, American agriculture can- not be said to have made any notable progress : it had simply made a com- mencement. Since then a number of causes have combined to causes of give it marked development and stimulus. Among the first of prosperity in these is national peace. In time of war, the agricultural classes "^' culture, are drawn on most heavily for soldiery. The extent to which foreign nations, especially those of Euroijc, were en- gaged in war prior to 1815, was a gieat liinilcrance to their agricultural pros- perity. The United States have enjoyed a remarkable advantage in this regard. A second influtuice which we have felt was the foreign demand for our produc- tions. This is touched ui)on repeat- edly in the ensuing chajjters of this work. It will suffice to note here the fact that densely-populated countries like those of Kurope, especially where the people are largely engaged in man- ufacturing pursuits, look to the regions of the earth which are sparsely settled for agricultural products, food, and tex- tile fabrics. I'Acn in our colonial days we had shown great possibilities of pro- duction, though but litUe reality ; and as soon as our independence was achieved, and we took a place among the nations of the earth, we were looked to eagerly as a supi)Iier of agricultural protluce to the vvorld. This foreign demand has been felt more i)articularly by cotton and tobacco planters, grain- growers, and stock-raisers ; but an immense variety of other produce has gone to make up our enormous export trade. Still another great stimulus has been afforded to the agricultural interests of this country by the invention of improved implements for use by the husbandman. This marked advance in a[;riculture is treateil by itself in another chapter of this work. I'ive other influences that have operateil to forward and develop this in- dustry are, — the oc-cupation of the \\'est under the encouragement of govern- ment legislation and land and railroad companies; co-operative effort, the SPINNING-WHekL. m. — -"■■^■'TT' ^- - 18 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY mutual exchange of experience, and the patronage of organized agricultural Other causes societies \ the tbundation of a special department of government specified. f^^ the collation and dissemination of information among the agri- cultural classes, and otherwise aiding them in their pursuits ; the devclOiMiient of a class of literature devoted to tliese subjects ; and tlie special scientific education aflbrded by agricultural colleges. IIOMKSTKAI) I.AW.S. The vast expanse of our arable territory, and the steps we have taken to encourage its occupation and settlement, have been elements of prime impor- Extension of ^''^"''^" '" ^''"-" development of our agricultural interests. Prior to farming the Revolution, the American settlements were confmed cliiofly to °"'^' the Adantic coast. After the war, adventurers began to explore ami locate in the Ohio Valley. The I,ouisiana purchase in 1803, the large annexation of territory from Mexico in 1847, and the definition of our British- American boundary, enlarged our domain wonderfully, and added greatly to the area susceptible to tillage east of the Mississippi. kl one time the unsettled " public " domain of tlie United States embraced 1,446,716,072 acres, exclusive of the Alaska purchase. It is out of this that tT ..I .1 tiie States and Territories not inchuled within the present limit of public the original thirteen were erected. Of this vast area, large grants domain. j^_^^.^, j^^.^.j^ niade to soldiers for military service, to r.iilroads, to agricultural colleges and odier purposes, an;l reservations made for Inilians and government use. A very considerable proportion is mountainous or sterile sand ; yet the extent of territory suited to agricultural purposes exceeds the like territory of any country in Europe. But the United States not only had the land, but promoted its jiurchase and settlement by mmiificent offers. In 1841 Congress passed a law providing for Sale of pub- the sale of tliese j)ublic lands for the remarkal)ly low price of a lie lands. dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, in lots of a hundred and sixty acres or less each, to tliose who would really go to live tiiereon, and cultivate liiom. This i)re-emi)ti()n law was followed up in 1862 by another piece of legis- lation, known as the '• Homestead A< t," which provided that the settler might have tlie land for nothing, under proper conditions. Prior to and during the operation of these laws, tlie new ^\'estern States aiul the railroad companies therein put fortli special efforts to draw agriculturists thither. The consecjucnce of these inducements was to draw people in large num bers from the I'^astern States, and even from ICurope. Doubtless the Irish famine l)etween 1845 and 1847, and the poor success of (he (Ger- man revolution of 1848, did mucli to accelerate foreign emigra- tion, — a movement which the Know-nothing movement in i)olitics a decade later slightly checked. But as larg(,^ numbers of unopposed Swedes also caiiK. Emigration. ■ -I OF THE UNITED STATES. •9 over, and as the greater proportion of the new-comers went West to live on farms, it is apparent that our pre-emption and homestead laws we'-e a great attraction. The perfcc:tly surprising growth of tlie States of the Ohio and Mississipjii Valleys can hardly be attributed solely to the fertility of 'he soil in that section, remarkable as that feature of it was. 'I'hose who have looked into the subject say that agriculture thrives nowhere with such life and success as where the men who do the work own the soil. t.MltiKANT THAIS. Under the iMiropcan feudal system, and liie tenantry system which has sue- ( eeded it. tlie rustic populace are citlier liircd by, or lease their land from, exacting owners, and never know such a thing as jjroprietorship. , l!ut here tiie agriculturist is matle to feel the dignity of Jabor of agricui- and a larger stimulus of self-interest l)v the consciousness that he »"■■»' P'o*- perity. may own the broad acres which lie tills. No other country in the world has felt the influence of this incentive as has the United States. ACiKICt'LTrKAT. SOCIKTIKS. The first steps toward organization for encouraging and forwarding tillage and the arts related thereto in tliis country were taken by the Philadelphia .Society for tlie Promotion of .Agriculture in 171^4. Similar ""^s p^,^ j|g„ were formed in New Vt)rk in 1791 (incorporated two years later), of agricui- in ^.lassachusetts in 1702, and iu South Carolina. .At this »"'»' s°"e- ties. tune the conception of such societies was almost entirely new. Their formation had only just begun in l-nglanil. Hut few men understood fli 'I ':»■;■ J 30 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY how the institution was to operate ; and the membership being slim, and not over-practical, little good was at first effected. There was much talk, at first, of taking these boards under governmental management, and assisting then) with governmental appropriations. Washington was interested greatly in the subject. He was, while yet President of the Untied States, an honorary mem- ber of the Philadelphia organization to which we have alluded. He, as well as Adams and Jefferson, was a practical farmer on a large scale. He cauglit part of his inspiration from correspondence with Arthur Young and Sir John Sinclair of England, who were active in the spheres of agri':ultural organization and information. These gentlemen suggested to him the value of a national agri- cultural board founded and fostered by the United-States Government ; but Washington's idea was, that the formation of smaller societies was a pre- requisite to the greater one. These continued to be organized throughout the States slowly, and with slight results. The Kennebec Agricultural Society was instituted at Augusta, Me., in 1800, being the second society incorpo- rated inside of Massachusetts, the separation between the two States not hav- ing been effected until a later period. A voluntary association of Middlesex- county husbandmen existed in Massachusetts as early as 1 794 ; but it was not incorporated until 1803. The first agricultural fair in this country was held at Washington, then a " city in the woods," in 1804, at the suggestion of the commissioner of patents, and The flrit under the auspices of the municipal authorities, who voted to hold agricultural them semi-annually. The first one, held in October of that year, '' '■ showed the advantage, educationally, of exhibiting choice produce and stock ; and at the spring exhibition the next year over one hundred dollars in premiums were offered, which proved a stimulus to the farmers' efforts. The next provision for a fair was that made by the Columbian Agri- cultural Society for the Promotion of Rural and Domestic Economy, at Georgetown, D.C. The organization was effected in the fall of 1809, and its first fair was held the following May. Large premiums were offered on that occasion for sheep-raising. In 1816 the Massachusetts society held a fair at Brighton, at which premiums were offered for a variety of articles ; and a ploughing-match was had to show off the training of cattle. These fairs brought the farmers together for an interchange of thought and experience, far more valuable than the old husking-bees and sheep-shearings Advantage that formed the earlier neighborhood rural gatherings. They of (airs. excited rivalry as well as afforded new hints. Furthermore, they advertised the stock of some enterprising breeder to his neighbors ; and the consequent sales enabled him to reap a rich harvest from his venturesome _. ,,„,„,. investments of time, trouble, and money. The agricultural soci- tion of eties also collected and printed such information as they could knowledge procure, individual members contributing papers on topics with which they were familiar, and these transactions being published either for circulation or reference. OF THE UNITED STATES, •1 [ slim, antl not -h talk, at first, assisting them I greatly in the honorary mem- He, as well as He caught part lir John Sinclaii rganization and \ national agri- wernment ; but ies was a pre- zed throughout [Cultural Society lociety incorpo- I States not hav- , I of Middlesex- ; but it was not ton, then a "city of patents, and lo voted to hold ler of that year, choice produce ;r one hundred to the farmers' Columbian Agri- c Economy, at af 1809, and its ofiered on that ty held a fair at articles; and a of thought and sheep-shearings therings. They urthermore, they ghbors ; and the his venturesome igricultural soci- )n as they could i on topics with being published s 33 IND US TKIA I. Ills TOR Y • A .'.' i. >r' ,r For the first forty years of the present century the organization of county ineraateof ^"^' *''^*'-* societies was slow and infre(iucnt. IJut between 1840 agricultural and 1850 State and county soc'eties were numerously formed all aoc etiei. ^^^^ ^^^ country ; and, since that time, scarcely an agricultural region within our national limits has been without one or both. In 1 84 1 an effort was made in Washington to organize a national agricid- tural society with the fund bctiucathed .'. r the purpose by Hugh Smithson. But the establishment of the Smithsonian Institute matle the endowment available for the other purpose; and the project was abandoned until iih minds in the eighteenth century; and the writings of Jothro I'lill, Arthur Voimg, Lord Kames, and Sir John Sinclair, were followed by the establishment of a British National Hoard of Agriculture by William Pitt in 179.}. In the minds of many Americans of that day and later the idea of congressional provision for this industry was warmly cherisheil ; but it was long in attaining realization. In 1837-38 the coimtry was roused, by the necessity for importing several million dollars' worth of breadstuffs, to a consciousness, that owing to the exhaustion of the soil, and bad management in other respects, agriiultup- was sadly languishing. One of the two means of relief prj",*i*^o7** suggested by the leading minds of that day was a government money for ajjpropriation, to be expended by the commissioner of patents ■«''="'»"'•' ' ' ' ^ ' ' purposes. for the " collation of agricultural statistics, investigations for pio- moting agriculture and rural economy, and the i)rocurement of seeds and cuttings for gratuitous distribution among the fanners." At this time the Hon. Henry L. Kllsworlh was commissioner of patents, and it was at his suggestion that Congress appropriated a thousand dollars for this purpose in 1839. A like one was made in 1842; for each of the next two years two thousand dollars were appropriated; in 1845 the amount was three thousand dollars; then a year was missed. Resuming at the same figure in 1847, the govern- ment thereafter regularly made provision, gradually increasing the sum, until, ill 1862, it amounted to sixty thousand dollars. Twice and thrice that sum has since been expeniled in a single year. Previous to this date the depart- ment had been little more than a clerkship in the patent office; and the annual reports, beginning with one in 1854, long constituted a part of the report of the commissioner of patents. Hy a law of 1862 a dis- org«ni«tion tinct bureau of agriculture was erected, with a commissioner at of bureau of its head, a chief clerk, botanist, entomologist, statistician, and •«''"'*""• other subordinates. Since that time the size and capacity and the usefulness of the department have steadily increased. m»» 26 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY .iii;i, '!> ill of informa- tion. This government establishment has done for more thoroughly and on a much broader scale much of the work of a local agricultural society, and a Work ac- great deal besides. By the collection of facts and figures showing compiished the extent to which stock-raising and crop-growing of various kinds y ureau. -^^^Q conducted in different sections of the country, the value of the property, the cost of the several branches of the business, the profits, the character of maladies, pests, bad weather and other embarrassments, the pecu- liarities of soil and climate which were favorable and unfavorable to certain crops, the effects of experiments with various plants and breeds of animals, the results of observation upon the use of new implements and new methods of cultivation, and so on, it was possible to draw deductions scientifically, which could not be reached in any other way, and which were of immense value to the farming-interest. Agricultural publications and correspondence from abroad were procured, showing the general condition and special features of the industry in other c 11 cti parts of the world, and the useful parts of such information made and diffusion accessible to the American farmer. Special essays upon various plants, modes of culture, and breeds of animals, were obtained from gentlemen of experience and knowledge all over the coun- try ; and these were made to bear more particularly upon the value and use- fulness of the choicer kinds of stock, and varieties of crops, in order to excite a desire to select, raise, and breed only the best. In addition to the collection of this information, the department procured abroad and elsewhere the choicest seeds, plants, and cuttings, and experi- mented with them on government grounds in order to ascertain their habits, vitality, and utility. The more perfect and valuable specimens were extensively propagated ; and the seeds, cuttings, and plants were distributed all over the country among fanners and gardeners. Thus a greater degree of excellence was secured in produce. The adaptation of these to the locality whither they were sent, and the success of their introduction, was ascertained by the department for its own and the public's information. Improved varieties of our staples, such as cotton, wheat, and corn, were sought after. Great attention was given to the introduction of plants not Introduction indigenous, but valuable, and likely to be suited to our country. of new The silk-worm and the mulberry-tree, ramie-grass, jute or Chinese hemp, sorghum, vines for wine, raisins, olives, and tea and coffee CoUection of ■eeds, &c., and experi- ments with them. plants. plants, are only a few of the innumerable importations made by the department, cultivated on its own grounds, and disseminated throughout the country. The department has never gone into stock-breeding and importation, but has procured a vast amount of information upon the subject in all its ramifications. The printing of all this valuable information, and its broad dissemination OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 gratuitously throughout the land, have educated the country and advanced the science of agriculture almost beyond computation. Without usefulness doubt it has enriched the agricultural classes and the country ofagricui- generally a thousand-fold more than its cost ; and there is reason |J|^"j '*'''"*' to believe, that, before many years, the facilities and influence of the bureau will be increased by its erection into a full-grown " department " of the administration, co-equal with those which conduct our revenue, postal, military, and naval service. broad dissemination ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE BOARDS OF AGRICULTURE. In several of tiie States, Boards of Agriculture have been constituted under government auspices, sometimes based upon the remains of a defunct State agricultural society, and sometimes organized independently. These State boards are maintained by appropriations, establish experiment-stations, provide for lectures in different parts of the State, promote local farmers' clubs, and iniblish their proceedings. Their work, in some cases, will compare very favorably with that carried on at Washington. Education in the science of agriculture, however, is the great thing that has developed the industry. This has been done partly by the discussions of clubs and societies, by the dissemination of documents by socie- introduction ties and the government, by the literature produced by individual of scientific enterprise, and by special schools for the thorough training of ""ethodsmto students in the theory and practice of farming. In the olden time, and indeed until within a century, the farmer looked at agriculture as little more than gathering what Mother Earth would yield him spontaneously. He had not studied the subject of vegetation, weather, soil, chemistry, and tlie other elements which entered into and vitally affected his industry. He had not indulged in wide observation, nor reduced his labor to what could be termed a science. Nearly a hundred years ago, scientific methods of wide- spread observation, logical deduction, and experimental application of theory, were begun by a few enterprising agriculturists, or patrons of agriculture, in the Old World, and subsequently in America. But no provision for pro- curing scientific information, and making it practically useful, has equalled the establishment of special agricultural colleges. Except Germany, this coun- try has no equal in the educational advantages sh.; offers her people in this direction ; although the establishment of these institutions is comparatively recent. The first three agricultural schools were started in Germany and Switzerland in 1799. They were located at Celle in Hanover, near Berne, poundingof and at Kruman, Bohemia. In 181 1 a private forestry-school was agricultural established in Saxony, which in 18 16 was transferred to the state, ** °"'*" and in 1830 became an agricultural college. The great agricultural college of I ■I ♦ Li 28 /N/) l/S TRIAL IIISTOK Y Europe — that at Hohenheim, near Stuttgart — was founded in 1818, and another such institution was started in Pomerania in 1835. Ten years ago Contrast be- there Were a hundred and forty-four stations, institutes, schools, tween jj,i(j coUegts in Germany. Great Britain has but two of any Europe and , i- i , , ,. „ , United consequence, — one at Cirencester, estabhshed before 1840, and States. one near Dublin. French legislation in 1848 led to the organiza- tion of one college at Versailles, and several minor schools in various parts of France. It will be seen from these facts, and from others which we are about to state, that Europe led us but very little in agricultural education, and soon fell Efforts of behind. We have already referred to the depression of agriculture Judge Buei. in America between 1830 and 1840. Besides the suggestion then made for a government bureau of agriculture, the establishment of technical sciiools in this department of knowledge was strongly recommended, Judge Buel of New York being foremost in pressing the idea. No immediate action was t?ken, however. In 1844 an agricultural department was established in connection with Oberlin College, Ohio. A separate college was founded at Cleveland in Increase of 1855, to which the Oberlin endowment was transferred. In 1854 agricultural Dr. William Terrell made a bequest to the University of Georgia, °° '■ amounting to $ 20,000, to establish a professorship of agriculture. .Arrangements for a similar departmt 'X in connection with Amherst College were made by Massachusetts in 1S55. Subsecpiently a veterinary institute was established at Boston. In 1852 a charter was obtained for an independent aLTJcultural college. The endowment was to be raised from town, county, and ])ersonal subscriptions. Little was done toward organization until 1855. It was i860 before the school was in operation ; and, the war breaking out soon after, .t closed after two terms. Michigan was the first State, after Ohio, to get an independent agricultural college in actual operation. The act of incorporation and appropriation passed Feb. 12, 1855. A farm of 676 acres, mostly wooded, at first was purchased, and buildings erected for college-purposes, students' boarding-house, and professors' residences. The institu- tion went into i)ractical ojieration in 1857; and its stock-stables, botanical gardens, and course of instruction, soon made it famous. The original grant was of ;S56,ooo : a subsecjuent one of $40,000 was made ; and even then there was a debt of $13,000, making a total cost of $109,000. In i860 it passed under control of the State Board. Tht 'hird juch independ- ent institution was the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, opened in Centre County of that State in 1859. Three years later its name was changed to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. Iowa made a grant of $10,000 for such an institution in 1858, and got it going on a small scale in 1859. The Ovid College appears to have been the fifth of these institutions. Formation of agricultural schools in Michigan and Penn- sylvania. .MtMIHI"- OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 Congres- sional grant for State agricultural colleges. In 1862 Congress passed an act granting land to each State in the Union, to the extent of 30,000 acres for each representative in Congress, the proceeds of the sales of which were to go to agricultural and mechanical colleges. Immediately steps were taken in several of the Northern States for the foundation of industrial schools of this sort. Massa- chusetts devoted the proceeds of one-tenth of her land-scrip to buying a farm at Amherst, which cost $40,000 ; and $75,000 more was appropriated for the buildings of her Agricultural College. In New York the land-scrip was given to Cornell University, which had an agricultural department. In Connecticut the Sheffield Scientific School profited in the same way. Kentucky at first established a college in connection with the State University, but subsequently separated it, and bought a farm for it, which included " Ashland," the historic estate of Henry Clay. This school was opened in 1866 ; in which year the colleges of Maine, Vermont, and New Jersey, were nearly or quite completed. Where some institution had already been founded, as in Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio, they were made the recipients of the Federal grants. In some States the endowment was utilized at existing universities by the opening of special departments. The Southern States followed suit soon after the war. In 1876 all the States but Nevada had availed themselves of the government provision ; and there were then 41 industrial colleges in existence in this country, with 463 professors and 3,703 students in all grades. In 1875 there were 382 graduates from these colleges ; a number steadily increasing since. At the present time nearly all the land- scrip has been sold, some of it having been exceedingly desirable. Our agricultural literature has been regarded by eminent authority as not exclusively a cause of the development of agricultural science, but as partly an outgrowth of that advance in thought and interest ; for, with Agricultural slight exceptions, we had very little until nearly a quarter of the "f"'""- present century hail passed. In the middle of the last century the Rev. Jared Eliot of Connecticut prepared and published several papers on the state of husbandry in this country, which were almost as valuable to his generation as the famous " Georgics " of Virgil. But these essays were a little ahead of the time, and had but few readers. The Philadelphia, New- York, and Massachu- setts societies also published their transactions, which were valuable. Those of Massachusetts, beginning in 1 796, were especially heloful. Mr. Flint thinks that " The .'\in »rican Farmer," published in Baltimore for the first time in 1819, was the first purely agricultural periodical in the United States. It soon attained a wide circulation, and seems to have Agricultural set the fiirmers to reading and thinking more scientifically than pe"odicais. before. " The Agricultural Intelligencer " was started in Boston the following year; but it lived only a few months. In 1822, however, a new venture was made with better success. Mr. T. G. Fessenden founded "The New- Knjjland Farmer," which was continued until 1846; when, upon its death, I I ' I 4,1 '' ^ i\ 30 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY another periodical of the same name, weekly and monthly, succeeded It. Mr. Samuel Fleet started " The New- York Farmer " soon after the New-England publication made its advent, subsequently selling it out to D. K. Miner. Mr. Luther Tucker, an experienced agricultural editor, started still another paper in New- York State, near Rochester, in 183 1. It was called "The Genesee Farmer," and, though it was long in becoming firmly established, eventually became a valuable and widely-circulated periodical. Judge Buel of Albany founded "The Cultivator " in 1833; and in 1839, on his death, it was consolidated with "The Genesee Farmer." "The American Agricul- turist" wds started in 1842. Shortly prior to this, and since, numerous other periodicals, weekly and monthly, sprang up ; and their publication, and increase of cir lation, rapidly developed. Among these may be mentioned "The Maine Farmer," "The Rural New-Yorker," "The Country Gentle- man," "The Ohio Farmer," "The Michigan Farmer," "The Valley Farmer," " The Wisconsin Farmer," " The North-western Farmer," " The Southern Planter." There are now between fifty and sixty weekly and monthly agricul- tural periodicals in this country. Besides those, many other papers devote a special department to agriculture, stock-raising, dairying, poultry, and fruit. Then, too, within the past forty years, a considerable number of books have been written on special topics in agricultural and horticultural science ; Andrew Agricultural Jackson Downing having been one of tiie earliest and most prolific books. writers on the subject. The reports of the United-States Govern- ment, first prepared by a clerk of the Patent Office in 1839, and then, after 1862, by the commissioner of the Agricultural Bureau, have also proved exceedingly valuable accessions to this class of American literature. I ! ^if \ e; .,^ • ♦ \ v'* ^lipl OF THE UNITED STATES. 3' succeeded it. Mr. r the New-England to L). K. Miner, tarted still another t was called "The firmly established, »dical. Judge Buel 39, on his death, it American Agricul- ;e, numerous other ir publication, and may be mentioned e Country Cientle- 'he Valley Farmer," ', rhc Southern nd monthly agricul- other papers devote poultry, and fruit, mber of books have al science ; Andrew ist and most prolific ited-States Govern- ?39, and then, after have also proved terature. ii Jl! 'l' iii'm iiiiiiiiiii j/i W. laiiiia mMii i i.'^'^^m^mA *■'"""■' '"!",fr-;ir'*n,,: M M M f ■ I u i 1, '.u-r ?' m if m II iiri Sfk^ » -ill ' ■" 1,1'' ii p I, 'I ;■'!. i'^ ^■'.1 ■':-^':l:lill,lllliillil!ji|J|l(|ii|f asset. \ ;| 3* INDUSTRIAL HISTORY < ■* CHAPTER II. AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. ^, , ONE of the most interesting and important features in the history of American agriculture relates to the improvement of means for cultivat- ing the soil. The history is a record of marked originality, perseverance. Hi h h c- ^"^ great triumphs, with enough of tragic disappointment or ter of Ameri- pecuniary loss to spice the tale ; while the vast development given to American resources and wealth by the improvement of these prerequisites to toil has given this nation its distinctive pre-emi- nence. Our highest rank among the peoples of the earth, in a material point of view, is as an agricultural people ; and though great progress has been made in other industries, to which Americans can look with justifiable pride, im- provement in means for subduing and cultivating the land .is still the most marked characteristic of native inventive genius. The most impoitant of agricultural implements is the plough : besides, it is one of the oldest ; for its origin is lost in the dim twilight of antiquity. The Origin of the plough is probably an improvement upon the hoe, which can lay plough. claim to a still more ancient history. At first, it was made of the tough crotches of trees ; then the forked piece was trimmed and bound to the can inven- tive genius ANCIENT HOB AND PLOUGHS. handle to prevent the two from splitting apart. In the accompanying engraving an ancient kind of hoe is given. The plough had a similar and equally humble origivi. It was not the product of great and enduring genius. The earliest ploughs known to us were rude enough in their construction. Like hoes, one limb of a tree formed the beam of the plough, and the other the share ; from which simple device improvements have been slowly made, until this imple- ment has been brought nearly to perfection. M 'iii OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 Wlien the colonists first began to upturn the soil, the plough was a very rude affair. It was made wholly of wood. The beam, standard, and handles, if the plough had two, were of seasoned stuff; and the mould-board was a Rude„e,, block of wood, and approximating to the curve required. A great of early deal of power was needed to draw it. Yet even this, rude as it p'°"«''"* was, far excelled the plough used in the days of Elisha, who, when summoned to assume the functions of prophet and teacher for the Hebrew children, was walking behind his plough drawn by twelve yoke of oxen. The earliest ploughs were doubtless imported, and as early as 1617 they might be seen pirstimpor- upon a Virginia plantation. The complaint of the governor at that tation of time was, not lack of instruments, but " skilful husbandmen, and P'°"**'»- means to set their ploughs on work, having as good ground as any man can desire, and about forty bulls and oxen ; but they wanted men to bring them to labor, iron for ploughs, and harness for the cattle." But ten years later, it is recorded there were only thirty ploughs in the colony at Massachusetts Bay ; and, for twelve years after the landing of the Pilgrims, the farmers there had none whatever, and were compelled to prepare their lands for seed with clumsy hoes. It has been affirmed that it was the custom in that part of the country, even to a much later period, for any one owmng a plough to go about and do the ploughing for the inhabitants over a considerable extent of territory. A town often paid a bounty to any one who would buy and kee]) a i)lough in repair for the purpose of going al)out to work in this way. The massive old wooden plough required a strong and well-fed team to move it through the soil, a heavy, muscular man to press into the ground, another to hold, and another to drive. During all the centuries preceding the present one, but few improvements were made in this most important of all agricultural implements. All the earlier ones never turned a furrow, but only stirred up the ground ; slowness of and hence they were difficult to draw, beside doing their work early im- very imperfectly. In the last century the plough in use among the p^^"""""'* French settlers in Illinois was made of wood, with a small point of iron tied upon the nose with strips of raw-hide. The beam rested upon an axle and small wooden wheels ; while the oxen which drew it were yoked by their horns by means oi a straight yoke attached by raw leather ^"^^x^^°^ si aps, with a pole extending from the yoke back to the axle, ploughs used Knight has described the English plough in use among the colo- '" ***'' nies along the coast in 1776 as being made of wood, except the wrought-iron share, and some bolts and nuts whereby the parts were fastened together. The standard rose nearly vertically, having attached to it the beam and the sole-piece. On the nose of the beam hung the clevis. The mould- board and share were attached to a frame braced between the beam and the sole. The wooden mould-board was sometimes plated with sheet-iron, or by strips made by hammering out old horseshoes. A clump of iron shaped like 34 INDUSTRIAL jr IS TORY a half spear formed the point. It was known as a " biiU-ploiigh," " bull- tongue," or " bar-share " plough. 'I'wo pins in the standard formed the handles, and it recjuired the strength of a man to manage it. The work was slowly and poorly performed by cattle. During the last century, the Carey plough, as it was termed, was more ex- tensively employed than any other, and may be briefly described, although the c«rey form varied very much, according to the ideas and skill of the plough. blacksmith who made it. It had a clumsy wrought-iron share, a land-side and standard made of wood, a wooden mould-board, often plated over in a rough manner with pieces of old saw-plates, tin, or sheet-iron. The handles were upright, and were held by two pins. A powerful man was required to hold it, and double the strengtn of team now commonly used was required in doing the same kind of work. ?f- of the firit catt-iron plough. I'Lour.H OK i8ia. The first cast-iron plough ever seen in this country was imported from Scotland soon after the Revolution, and was the invention of James Importation ' ■' Small of Berwickshire. The mould-board was cast-iron, with a wrought-iron share, the form being somewhat similar to those now in use. The first person in this country who devoted his attention seriously to this subject was Thomas Jefferson. Immersed as he was in the politics of the Jefferson's time, he never lost his interest in the greatest of all pursuits ; and interest in from 1 788 to 1793 he Studied and experimented diligently to t esu ject. determine the proper form of the mould-board, treating it as a " lifling-wedge and an upsetting-wedge," and endeavoring to ascertain the curve necessary to accomplish this purpose with the least friction. Probably he was stimulated to exercise his genius in this direction by receiving an improved plough from the agricultural society of the Department of the Seine in France. His son-in-law, O i. Randolph, whom Jefferson regarded as the best farmer in Virginia, soon ? ter invented a side-hill plough adapted to the hilly regions of that State. This plough was made with two wings welded to the same bar, with their planes at right angles to each other ; so that, by turning a bar adjusted to an axis, either wing could be laid flat on the ground, while the other, standing vertically, served as a mould-board. Stimulated by the example tf Jefierson, others entered this field of inven- ifcf OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 was more ex- tioh. Robert Smith of Pennsylvania, it is said, took out the first patent for the mould-board alone of a plough ; and Newbold of Burlington, g,,,^ iny,„. N.J., in 1797 patented a plough with a mould-board, share, and Honnecured land-side all cast together. Peacock in his patent, in 1807, cast '•J'P'**"*' his plough in three pieces, the front of the colter entering a notch in the breast of the share. We now come to the invention of Jethro Wood of Scipio, N.Y., whose improvement was made in 1819. It was much Wood's in- superior to any previous invention ; but he entertained a wiong mention. idea concerning its novelty, supposing it to be the first iron plough ever invented. Its peculiar merit consisted in the mode of securing the cast-iron portions together by lugs and locking-pieces, doing away with screw-bolts, and much weight, complexity, and expense. Wood did more than any other person to drive out of use the cumbrous contrivances common throughout the coun- try by supplanting them with a lighter, cheaper, and more effective implement. It was the first plough in which the parts most exposed to wear could lie renewed in the field by the substitution of cast pieces. Wood was entitled to a great deal of credit for i genius and enterprise whi^h he displayed ; but, like many an unlucky invt or before and since his time, he ispent all his fortune in developing and defending his invention. Since his day improvements have been -continuous, and every year new designs are sent to the Patent Office ; nor does human skill show scarce a sign of abatement in this direction. The application of steam to ploughing in the United States makes another phase of improvement in agricultural implements worthy of mention. The first invention of the kind in the United States was patented by E. steam- C. Bellinger of South Carolina in 1833; but, for some reason or v'""**"*- other, it never went into general use. Twenty-one years later, John Fowler of England improved upon Bellinger's invention so far as to manufacture and employ several of his machines. About the same time that Fowler's invention appeared, several other American improvements were made upon a very (lilTerent principle. Engines were designed to travel over the field, drawing l)loughs behind them. I'romising as these various inventions are, many im- provements are required to make them perfect ; and a splendid field still lies before the genius of the inventor. Great ns has been the economy effected by using the improved plough, the farmer, for a long time, did not take so kindly and quickly to successive im- l)rovements in this most important of all agricultural implements j.^^^ ^ as he does now. Slowly learned as were the i>rinciples upon were slow to wliich the true construction of the jjlough depended, — the turning ■''°p* '■"' over and pulverizing of the soil with the least friction, — farmers were slower still in adopting any improvement. Not unfrequently they asserted that cast-iron poisoned the ground, and spoiled crops ; and so they adhered to tiieir old clumsy wooden affairs. Slowly has this prejudice worn away, and lii 'isf 36 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Mrith its disappearance every real improvement has been more and more eagerly tested. The inventor has been stimulated to prosecute his efforts more critically : he has found that different kinds of ploughs will work to the best advantage on various soils ; that, while one is best adapted for a dam|) soil, another is for dry ; and that, wliilc one works well on level ground, another turns over the soil more perfectly on the hill-side. Ik-sides, there has been an enormous Eagerness of modern farmers to test inven- tions. "^ i STEAM-rLOUCH. improvement in the manufacture of the plough itself. Formerly, ploughs were made by every country blacksmith ; and liis wt)rk, however skilful, must have been rude enough compared with that performed by the great concerns which are expressly fitted up to manufacture these instruments. The saving which follows the employment of this one invention is enormous. We know of no method of estimating it with exactness ; but he who stops a moment to consider how many days he would be in digging up ten acres with a hoe or with one of the earliest ploughs invented as a substitute, i"H\ OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 and realizes Iiow quickly and how much more perfectly the work is done now, will be able to form an estimate for himsel(; Without Economy of tliis invention, thousands of acres would be untilled, or, if cul- modern .... • /• ^ plough*. tivated at all, only m a very miperfect manner. There are several outgrowths of the plough, among which are the horso-hoe, invented by James Alden of New- York State, and others, and the so-called cultivator, i)rovided with a series of diminutive plough-points to Hone-hoe stir the soil about the roots of corn, cotton, and other crops, andcuitiva- These implements,. while of minor importance, have been of vast value ; for with one of them, one horse, and a man, more work can be done than thirty men caii do provided with hand-hoes. HOKSB-HuK. The harrow. The harrow, the next implement to be used in tillage after ploughing, is but a little different tool from what it was in the days of the ancients. Indeed, few implements have changed so immaterially in construc- tion, and principle of operation, as this. Very little data is attainable showing the progress Of seed-drills for plant- ing. Jared Eliot, writing in 1754, allude- to Mr. Tull's wheat-drill as a wonderful invention ; but, owing to its cumbersome and compli- planting- catcd construction, he urges Mr. Clapp, President of Yale College, machines. to api)ly his " mathematical learning and mechanical genius " lO the invention i)f a simpler machine. Drills for spreading manure were soon after devised. Tile most marked improvement in seed-drills adapted to all kinds of crops has been made within the present century. As regards practical value, probably no agricultural implement can compare with the mower and reaper. After the farmer has planted and raised a crop, he must harvest it : and it happens that most of his hay ripens at Mower and one time j and so with his wheat, rye, barley, oats, and buckwheat. '•*?«'. St INDUSTRIAL HISTORY If the hay be rut too soon or too late, it is of poor quality : and, if grain is allowed to get over-ripe, it rattles out of the husk, and is lost ; or it sprouts in the head, and spoils. 'I'housanils anil thousands of acres of wheat in the fertile West were wasted in a single season before the reaper was perfected, owing to the inability of the owner to secure help enough to harvest it in the proper time. While it is true that American mowers and reapers are acknowledged to be the best in the world, and have always triumphed over all rivals in competitive jjjjj trials in luigland, l"'rance, Germany, Russia, and South America, American they are not of American origin. 'I'iie mo' .cr was invented in Ku- inventtoni. ^^^^ . j^^j^ Yankee genius simplified and improved it greatly. Nof is the invention so very recent. The great improvement of the original dates back scarcely more than a generation ; but the first reaping-machine of history is that mentioned by Pliny the elder as in use among the (lauls over eightcMi centuries ago, or about the year 23 of the Christian era. At that time, and until within fifty years of the present day, most of the reaping of grain was done by the sickle. Hut Pliny mentions particularly a large-sized van on Descri tion wheels, with teeth projecting from the forward edge, and driven of Pliny's through the oat and barley fields, with an ox yoked in the rear, reaping- between thills, in such a way as to i)ush tlie machine ahead of machine. him. Sometimes the sickles thus employed cut off the heads of grain at the top of the stalk, and sometimes half way dow.. the stalk ; but in either case the grain fell over into the van. Palladius, an Kastern e( cle- siastical WTiter, A.D. 391, describing these same reapers, or an improvement thereupon, says that the driver could regulate the elevation or depression of the teeth by means of a lever. 'I'luis it will be seen that a semi-barbaric rat c had invented and used a reaping-machine long before Rome's glory had departed, and even before Christ was crucified. In 1785 we read of proposals being submitted in F.ngland for the construc- tion of a reaper; but, from the tlescription, it does not appear to have differed Early Eng- substantially from that of the ancient Oallic husbandmen. And iish reaping, yet, as iu the development of a plant or of a fine art, we now machines. l)^.gin jq SCO in rudimentary shape some new elements of the perfected machine. The i)ower was applied as formerly, from behind, by either horse or ox ; and the big box or van was emptied into a storeroom when full. But mention is made of a heavy drive-wheel, toothed wheels, and pulleys ; which indicates that a series of knives were made to beat against the teeth in a different manner from those of old. Another reaper is described iu 1 799, which cut a swath two feet wide, and threw it to the ground on one siile. This was another advance on the past ; for the machine could now work with less frequent interruption. Agricultural writers always estimate the work of a horse as equal to five men, and judge the value of a machine accordingly. As this reaper, with a horse and a boy, could do more than six men with OF THE rXITF.D STATES. 39 : and, if grain is ; or it sprouts in of wheat in the er was nerfoctctl, iiarvest it in the tnowlcdgcd to l)t' Is in competitive 1 South America, s invented in V.w- \ it greatly. Nof ;he original dates lachine of history uis over eighteen Vt that time, and )ing of grain was irge-sizcd van on edge, and driven uked in the n.ar, lachine ahea(i of t off the heads of \-.. tlie stalk ; hut m Kastern e( ( le an improvement or depression of cmi-barbaric rac c ome's glory had for the construc- ir to have differed sbandmen. And fine art, we now elements of the from behind, by into a storeroom othed wheels, and > beat against the er is described in 3und on one side. Id now work with ite the work of a hine accordingly, han six men with yammiUm iriiatt 40 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY s:i ^ *';:! sickles, it fulfilled the requirements of a labor-saving machine. British machines deserve to be noticed. Mr. Gladstone devised one in 1806, which delivered the grain in gavels to be bound ; and Mr. Pkmckett constructed one the following year, which was drawn, instead of pushed, by the horse. In 1822 Mr. Mann brought forward a reaper, under the auspices of the Highland Society of Scotland, which would cut ten acres in ten hours. In addition to being drawn, and having a side-projecting cutter-bar, this machine made use of a sliding or reciprocating knife, had a reel to beat the grain against the knives, and had a platform on which the grain fell. The first record of an American invention of this sort is of a mower, constructed by an ingenious mechanic of Genoa, Cayuga County, N.Y., in First Ameri- 1826 or 1828. The characteristic feature of it was a large wheel, can mower, y.'hich revolvcd horizontally near the ground, and which was pro- vided with scythe-like knives on its periphery. A heavy drive-whe commu- nicated the necessary power. It was drawn by a single horse. The, machine never amounted to much, and was never perfected ; but it marks the first awakening of decided interest in this direction in America. In 1828 Samuel Lane of Maine invented a reaper, and is said to have combined therewith a " thresher ; " but we think this is a verbal error, and that Lane's " mower " is meant. A successful mower, which had some little reaper. popularity, was invented by V*'illiam Manning of New Jersey in 1831 ; and in 18^4 the Ambler patent applied Hussey's vibratory knives to the mower. In 1833 the first really successful and famous American reaper was invented by Hussey of Maryland. This had reciprocating knives, which oper- Huitey's ated through slatted fingers, — an entirely new principle, — and reaper. t],-. cutter- oar was hinged so as to turn up at right angles with the ground. M'Cormick of Virginia patented a combined mower and reaper in 1834, which, with subsequent improvements, took a council medal at the World's Fair in London in 185 1. The period from 1830 to 1850 was one during which preat attention was given to improving these machines ; but even more ingeiii'ity has been ap- plied to their improvement since then, no less than three thousand patents having been taken out for such harvesters in tiiis country. Among tiie most important attachments to the reaping-machine is the self-rake, which lays the grain off in gavels for binding ; which work was formerly done by an extra man seated on the machine. P'rom about 1855, experiments have been made to devise and perfect a machine which shall bind grain as fast as it is cut. The man who has given the Grain- '^°^' attention thereto is Allen Sherwood of Auburn, N.Y. His binding apparatus consists of a series of fingers, arranged horizontally, mac ine. upon which the grain is delivered by the rake in bundles ; which fingers, co-operating with a slender, curved arm, are made to embrace the OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 ;. iwo more bundle, and instantaneously girdle it with fine wire, which is cut from a reel, and its ends are twisted together for a knot. As yet, we believe that the ma- chine has never come into practical use. The American mowers and reapers are now awarded the palm of superi- ority the world over. In 1855 a competitive trial of reapers was i.^d near Paris, France, in which machines from F^ngland, America, and superiority Algiers, participated. The result was, that the American machine of American cut an acre of oats in twenty-two minutes ; the English, in sixty- '"°*'*" •"•• six minutes ; and the Algerian, in seventy-two ; and the same triumph has been repeatedly achieved in other similar contests. Our machines are exported to all parts of the civilized world, in preference to those of every other country. The average capacity of the American reaper is fifteen acres per day ; but, under favorable circumstances, it will reap twenty or twenty- live : whereas, by hand, aj» acre and a half to a man is a large average. But c, x i. this comparison does not fully represent the great advantage of advantages this invention to the fiirmer. It must be remembered that these "' American reaper. increased harvesving facilities enable him to gather crops which otherwise would spoil and be lost altogether, so short is the season ia which grain must be harvested, if at all. The manufacture of reapers and mowers amounts to between eighty thou- sand and a hundred thousand a year ; and, though they are made Manufacture at Chicago and elsewhere in large numbers, the prmcipal centre of mowers of the industry in America is Auburn, N.Y. and reapers. Several machines have been invented within the present century, which have materially ficilitated the gathering of the hay-crop. One of these is the tedder, which upturns the new-cut and half-cured grass as it lies Tedders upon the ground, and promotes its more rapid curing. Thus the rakes, and risk of exposure to sudden summer storms is greatly lessened. '*"''*■ Another very valuable implement is the horse-rake. It is found in many forms ; but the two most esteemed are those with curved steel tines attached to a bar hinged to a light axletree, — first brought out in Pennsylvania, and manufactured by the Messrs. Sprout at Muncy, Lycoming County, — and those which have two sets of wooden teeth, lie close to the ground, an»it also the best ;;teristic a product a, b It vastly more this country than jciated with negro one party to the the dependence asis of her greatest the sympathies of :o the contending Kin looks forward tural interest that eliance in coming dent of the United er, her efforts have ncreased; but *he JNDIA SlMNNING-WHEKl.. Although the name " cotton " is of .\rabic origin, and the plant is indige- nous to all warm climates of the >vorld, the fibre was first utilized in India, whence came our word " calico," and then in Persia, which gave £,,,y g„,, us the first " muslin." Thence its culture and use extended into ture of cot- China, Arabia, Africa, and Kurope. Herodotus discovered the Hindoos cultivating the plant, and weaving its delicate fleeces into cloth, 450 H.C. ; and from that people the Greeks and Romans imported it before the Christian era, first for awnings, then tents, and then for clothing. Hindostan still produces considerable cotton ; but her poor communications from the interior to the coast, and her inability to raise as good a quality of cotton as the United States (the American varieties not being successfully cultivated), leave her far in the background as a reliance for the world, although England still imports largely from her. Farther India and the islands of the Indian Archipelago produce cotton likewise, to some extent. China has cultivated it \( ... MiUHtaiiiMi |l. i' 48 INDUSTRIAL HISTORy varloul countriei since the eleventh century, but has to import to supply her own manufactories. Japan raises a coarse, inferior grade of cotton. Livingstone found it growing _ ,. , in abundance in Central Africa. On the western coast of thai culture ot cotton by grand geographical division it has been tviltivated with marked success, although to no very notable extent. The late Lord I'alm erstoi, for many years one of Kngland's greatest statesmen, and long her prime-minister, is said to have feared that the supply from the United States would some time give out ; and he urged upon his country the policy of encouraging cotton-culture on the west coast of .Africa as the great resource of the future. .\s yet, iiis fears and expectations ha\e been but poorlyjustified. The Moors brought tiic cotton-plant from .\ra- ^^^ .^-— ^^ ''''^ '"'" Northern .Afri Tair^jPf^l!^^3g*±Z^ T • jBH^f^ Iv^^ '^^ '^"'' Spain. In the J S^^jljS^jSyL'T^ SP TH^KjBWM i^ latter country, its use by r*- ctent. The upland varieties most po])ular at the jjresent time are said to l)c the Dickson, I*'-'eler. Cheatham, IJoyd's Prolific, Simjjson, Petit (lulf, Johnston, Ilurlong, Shujieck (or Schupach), Ramases, Matagorda Silk, Java Prolific, and South-American Champion. Five causes have operated very decidedly to develop the culture of cotton in this country. The first of these was the remarkable improvements ^v4w^ OJ^' THE UNITED STATES, 5« ut in one place in In Middle and 'xtensively grown, ton on tiie 'I'exan . It deteriorates (cllence and thi rket. In 1806 it tt(.n brought bnl en for the short, pli'nt. Mr. Kinse\ Sea- Island cotton Kiunil than other (Is, was tlu' largest .MU to l-'.nglanil in ord, — t)ne d)llai is ronn<'( tion, that on. that it took .1 lish spinners havt' pomid of it wonl:l It of the iiitrodiK - iirling of Natciiez : le ( ity of Mexico, rse of the conver- f the country, lie seed, — a reqiiesl y the Spanisii (lov- (l his free perinis- .' might fancy. — a IS accei)ted. 'I'lic eed." mother section of e at various times and each of thes( - sul)stantially from , too, to natnrali/e not to any notable me are said to be etil (iulf, Johnston, , Java Prolific, an>l made, a littl" over a century ago, in the machinery for spinning .nd weaving eiopment on the previous spinning-machines; and then, in 1779, Crompton °|„^on "" "' invented the mule, utilizing the ideas of his predecessors. Cart- wright patented his power-loom in 1787; but it was not tmtil the present ( entury that it came into use. These remarkable improvements v.-ry naturally stimulated the prodiu tion of cotton, and the application of Watt's steam- engine to the manufa( ture of the fibre in 1785 .added still fiirther impetus to the industry. For a time, in Kngland, cotton was used only to adulterate linen. Some time afterw;'rds it was f(jimd that it might be used altogether fof filling a flaxen warp ; and finally both warp an3»->'S5- teen-fold, as will be seen from the following table : — ^ POUNDS. Five years ending 1830* . . . . . . 1,273,232,281 1835 1,695,970,409 " " " 1840 2,621,360,414 '84s 3.443.757.674 •850 3.S5'.036,3i7 '855' 5,128,295,80s During the twenty-five years from the first half-decade to the last half- decade here registered the increase was a trifle over fourfold, shipmeata I lerewith we give the figures for the next twenty-two years, sepa- «856-i»77. rately and in bales : — ■ \ • Four hundred pounds. • Average per year, in bales, 636,616. * Average per year, in bales, 3,564,148, rn'itirir -rrfmn ■ ■ j-iriBiBr—iBBMaMI 56 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY , VBAR. h. LBS. 1856 2.953.77' IS57 2,251,496 1858 2,589.732 1859 3."20,5i9 i860 3.773.256 1861 3,126,867 1863 12,661 1S63 28,462 1864 29,982 1865 16,517 1866 1.552.457 1867 1.552.761 1868 1,657,015 1869 1,448,020 1870 2,178,917 1871 3.'66,742 1872 i.9S7.3'4 1873 2,679,986 ^ 1874 2.838,172 1875 2,680,841 1S76 3.248.409 1877 3.043.084 Thus it will be seen that in i860 we attained the climax of our exportation, the amount being nearly a hundred times what it was in 1800, and almost a Comments thousand times what it was in 1791. The war accounts for the onforcgoiaK falling-off of the next five years, and the slow recuperation from *■**'■ that influence for the figures of the next five. While, however, the crops have once more gotten up to ante-war figures, the development of our manufactures lessens the exportation of the raw material ; and it is doubtful whether we reach the figures of i860 again for many years. It must be remembered, however, that, prior to the war, a share of the cotton which we exported came back to us manufactured, and costing us nearly six times what we were paid for it in a raw state : hence our receipts for exported cotton were not clear gain. I5ut now we are repurchasing only small (juantities of our cotton in thread, yarn, or cloth, and are sending abroad manuflictured cotton to an extent more than compensating for the falling-off in ti.e raw material. At the commencement of this century, the export to England represented PMdttctio pretty much our whole yield. We manufacti'.rcd at home an before and Utterly insignificant amount. As late as 1850, our export com- after civil prised Over five-sixths of the crop. The following table shows the total production for the eleven years immediately before the wai and the eleven immediately after, the bdles averaging 440 pounds each : — VHAR. nALiis. 1S50 2,355,257 1851 3.015.029 1852 3,262,882 h. LBS. 2,953.77' 2,251,496 2,589.732 3>"20.5'9 3.773.-56 3,126,867 12,661 28,462 29,982 16,517 1,552.457 . 1,552.761 , 1,657.0" 5 . 1,448,020 . 2,i78,9>7 . 3,166,742 . i,957.3'4 . 2,679.986 \ . 2,838,172 . 2,680,841 . 3.248,409 . 3.043.084 jf our exportation, 5oo, and almost a accounts for the recuperation from Hiile, however, the :velopment of our and it is doubtful jars. It must be e cotton which we irly six times what ported cotton were quantities of our inufiictured cotton e raw material, jgland represented tured at home an , our export coni- ng table shows the tely before the wai ounds each : — nALus. • 2.355.257 • 3.015.029 . 3,262,882 n OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 VBAR. BALKS. 1853 2,930,027 1854 2,847,339 1855 3.527.845 1856 2>939.5'9 1857 3."3.962 1858 3.851.481 1859 4.669,770 i860 3.656.006 Total 36,169,117 1865 2,193,987 1866 2,019,774 1867 , • • • 2,593,993 1868 . 2,439,039 1869 3.'54.946 1870 4.352.3'7 1871 2,974,351 1872 3,930.508 1873 4,«70,388 1874 3.832,991 1875 1 4,669,288 Total 36,33'.582 It will be seen that the increase in our crop is quite steady. The varia- tions noticeable are partly due to pests (of which the army-worm is the most destructive), to wet weather, and to the fluctuation •,'" prices. Inasmuch as the increase in the demand is .-ly slight and gradual, it is Effect of noticeable that over-production usually so depresses the price, production tliat the cultivation next year is slightly discouraged. This will °" '"^'"' be apparent from a comparison of the yield of 1859 with i860, and 1870 with 1871. The effect of quantity on ])rice will be realized from the follow- ing comparison : 1869, crop of 3,154,940 bales brought 23.6 cents a pound, or ;?346,223,774 ; 1870, crop of 4,352,317 bales brought only 14.9 cents a pound, or $301,550,283. The effect of the late civil war was to stop the production of cotton almost altogether for four years. Some of the staple produced before that interruption was hoarded; some was captured, especially in the Effect of war Attakapas region of Ix)uisiana in 1863 ; some was burned to keep on produc- it from falling into the hands of the Unionists ; and a very little of *'°"' it was taken out by blockade-runners to foreign countries. The Southern States made loans of money in England in anticipation of future production and of securing inilependence ; which loans were necessarily left unpaid. During the war, attempts were made in the North to cultivate cotton; seed from our own country, China, Peru, and elsewhere, being widely distributed > The crop of 1876 was about 4,500,000 bales, and that of 1877 was 4.750,000, — the largest ever known in •his country. I:' ;! ilf*( 58 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY and planted. From Maine to Minnesota, and from Canada to Mason and Diy.on's Line, earnest efforts to cultivate this then rare and precious fibre were put forth. But, while the plant flourished finely, the bolls would not mature ; and except in limited localities, in Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kansas, nothing was accomplished. Meantime India's crop and export were largely augmented, and became the chief reliance of the outside world. Hut, as soon as the war was over, this country (luickly came to the front as the world's chief producer. LUrru.S-PKESii. since the war. Indeed, the recuperation of this industry, in view of the emancipation of the slaves, the change from compulsory to free labor, the necessary demorali- Pro<« action '-^tion of society attendant upon the substitution, and the repeiAtod predictions that we could ne\er raise a crop of three million bales again, is simply marvellous. Reference to our tables of production will show, that, during the eleven years next after the war, wc raised more cotton than during the corresponding period betorr, and that five times ' since the war we have raised a larger crop than any year an- terior to it, omitting the exceptional crop of 1859; and there is no doul)t, that, were our market once assured, we cou'd increase our annual yield tu ten million bales inside of ten years. Besides the substitution of free for slave labor, some other notable changes have lately been taking place in this indi;.stry. As with most of our other agricultural interests, there is a westward I In 1870, 1873, 187s, 1876, and 1877. llie lait-namcd r.jup t:xce«ii* even thai of 1859, OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 a to Mason and ccious fibre were »uld not mature ; 3uri, and Kansas, port were largely i world. But, as ant as the world's e emancipation of necessary demorali- n, and the repeated p of three million ; to our tables of t after the war, wc d betort', and that than any year an- there is no doubt, 3ur annual yield to ome other notable iiere is a westward veil that of 1859. movement of the centre of -cotton production. In 1849 Alabama stood in the front rank, with Georgia next, and Mississippi third. In p,„j^, ,.;,n 1859 Mississippi had the lead, with Alabama second, Louisiana of the sev third, and Georgia fourth. In 1876, as will be seen by the follow- "^'^Ji,"""" ing table showing distribution of yield and fertility, Mississippi was first, Texas second, Louisiana third, Alabama fourth, and Arkansas and Georgia nearly equal : — ACKKS I'KR HAl.E. North Carolina, Soutli Carolina . (a-ori^ia Florida Alabama . Mississijipi Louisiana . Texas ^ . Arkansas . Tennessee . Intlian Territory, &c. Total . 210,000 310,000 505,000 50,000 S33.000 760,000 560,000 690,000 515,000 260,000 45,000 4,438,000 2.9 3-oS 3 33 3-25 2.6 2,2 c 2.15 2.85 2.6 2.63 609,000 945,500 1,515,000 165,000 1.732.250 1,976,000 ! ,260,000 1,483,500 1,133,000 741,000 117,000 11,677,250 It may be remarked in passing, that, while our product is as large as before the war (larger on the average), our acreage is less, it having ^^,g,geies« bcLMi upwards of thirteen million in i86o.* This shows an im- than before provcment in methods of cultivation. ° ^"' Improved cultivation is noticeable in several respects. The relative pro- portion of corn and other supply crops is increasing. Heretofore pork and meal have been bought from the North ; but, raising them at home, the food of the laborer is made cheaper, and the profit on labor is greater. Then, too, rotation of crops is studied more closely in consequence. Greater pains are taken to prevent waste of the soil, and also to feed and restore it. Beyond the Mississippi, along the new and 0,^,^^^ rich alluvial bottom-lands of the Red River and Ouachita, no economy in such expedients are now necessary : but, in the States east of the '"'**v»tion Mississippi, greater economy is practised with cotton-seed and lot manures ; and experirnents are numerous with commercial fertilizers used chiefly in combination with composts of home material. • The distribution of the cotton-'mlture in the so-called cotton-belt is very uneven. Out of seven hundred and fifty-nine counties, no less than ninety-three produced no cotton at ^1 in 1870, and two hundred and twenty- seven others from less than a thousand bales down to one; whereas seventy-nine produced about hclf of the whole crop, each yielding upwards of ten thousand bales. As an illustration on a smaller scale, it may be staled that four out of Tennessee's eighty-five counties produced fovir-tenths of that State's crop in 1870. Com, the other prominent Southern crop, though of much loss importance in the aggregate, is much better distributed. 6o INDUSTRIAL HISTORY The soil is being cultivated more thoroughly, and with improved imple- ments, especially in those regions where white labor is in the largest pro- portion. A noticeable diminution in the size of farms is going on, which conduces to higher culture. Between i860 and 1870 the number of farms of over a SmBiier hundred acres decreased in every cotton State, and those of under farms. ^ hundred acres increased, the reduction being twenty-two per cent, and the increase thirty-five per cent. This movement is still progress- ing, the ratios being largest in fjjuth Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. There is a tendency to depart from the method of working on shares (which came into vogue immediately after the war), and to pay cash wages Mode of instead ; and, on the whole, wag?s are growing a trifle less. Where working the share system prevails, — and it still predominates, — contracts '"""■ vary somewhat in particulars. Thus bare labor gets al)out one- fourth of the crop on rich lands, and one-third on poor soils. If the laborers Rates of re- fumish their own rations, they get from four-tenths to one-half the muneration. crop, according to the productiveness of the soils. As the supply of crops becomes more plenty and larger, the tend(.'ncy will be for the help to provide themselves more and more with rations, and rely less on the land- owner. The proprietor receives a third or half of the yield ; if he provides implements, live- stock, and rations for the help, about two-thirds. Rations ^^ ___ » onsist of about two ^k' ^ W^M'^''^««fi^^kftr " "^HMBpff-i^ luuidred pounds ul <-W^ •'" iuBHnn/.BKIHBBE: * '.iJ. *'?r ■•^^w i bacon and fifteen bushels of meal per man a year, which is cfiuivalent to from forty dollars to sixty dollars. A iantUorii will sometimes let his land for a bale of cotton to a man, and half a bale for a woman, giving them the rest. Where cash is paid, the yearly system rather than the monthly is pursued ; and the rate is from a hundred dollar:, to a hundred and forty-five dollars for a "full hand," and half or two-thirds that for youths and women. The freedmen are coming to take a proprietary interest in the labor, rather 1^. '*Si#S COTTON-I'ACKBT. OF THE UNITED STATES. «t twenty-two per than to work as hirelings ; which tends to greater economy, thrift, and energy. One in twenty of tlie freednien are cultivating lands of their own, and in Florida the propOiPon is one in twelve. Like every other great industry of the country, cotton-culture has given character and development to cities, railroads, and shipping-interests. Just as Chicago and Buffalo are built up out of tlie grain-business, Cincinnati out of pork-i)roduction, and Pittsburg out of iron ; so cotton has done Effect of cot- much to create Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, (Jal- ton-cuiture veston, Vicksburg, and Memphis. Railroads from the interior of "n''d*u"t°rier the cotton States to their centres of export have been built more and move- for this class of freight than for passenger- traffic, and it is the """*•• cotton-interest that so earnestly seconds the schemes of Northern capitalists for a Texas Pacific Railroad. Mxcept river-boats, the South has never owned mucii shipping ; but the heavy export-trade of cotton necessarily has given great expansion to American and foreign ship-building and navigation. So wide-spread and huge is the production, that no cotton-rings, like the coal, oil, and grain cli(iues, have ever existed to control the markets. Hut the political influence of the cotton-growers has been the most powerful tliat has ever been wielded by any one interest in this country ; tiiough now, the necessity for its assertion having gone by, it is no longer noticeable. n the labor, rather \( . .! 6a INDUSTRIAL HISTORY CHAPTER v. WHEAT. •« rj ;;■ -.■i * t % * ' ;; P ft Mk Iflli THE culture of wheat is among the very earliest products in American agriculture, and is now, in point of aggregate cash value, one of the three Importance most valuable. Moreover, it is a prime necessity of existence, of wheat. Food to maintain life, and clothing, and houses to shelter us, arc, of course, the very essentials of living. Bread is indeed the staff of life ; and though, previous to its invention by the Greeks several centuries before Christ, otlier articles of diet formed the stajile of human food, yet wheat breail is nt)\v characteristic of civilization. No people on the face of the globe have fully emerged from barbarism who do not live principally upon wheat. Indeed, the cultivation of that grain has had more than any other one thing to do with raising man from a nomadic and unintellectual life, as will _ be apparent to almost any one upon reflection. C'rt:vec(eur, thr wheat- old French traveller, illustrates this point by attributing this uttcr- raising u,.on ^^^^^, j^ ^^^ ^j- ^^ aboriginal cliiefs in this country, in a speech nomadic life. " ^ to his own people : " Do you not see the whites livmg upon seeds, while we eat flesh? tiiat flesh requires more than thirty moons to grow uj), and is then often scarce ? that each of the wonderful seeds they sow in thf earth returns them a hundred-fold? The flesh on which we subsist has four leg.i to escape from us, while we have but two to pursue and capture it. The grain remains where the wh.ite men plant it, and grows. With them winter i> a period of rest, while with us it is a time of laborious himting. For tlu■^c reasons they have so many more children than we, and live longer than we do. I say, therefore, unto every one that will hear me, that before the cedar of our village shall have died down with age, and the maple-trees of the valley haw ceased to give us sugar, the race of the little corn (wheat) sowers will haw exterminated the race of flesh-eaters, i)rovided their huntsmen do not become sowers." The thought might be traced still further ; but it is not within our provim c to do so. The earliest origin of wheat is unknown. It is generally conceded, that, OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 ' tinlike oiir fruits and domestic animals, it was not developed from a wild, inferior growth by iumian culture.' It is claimed, moreover, that it has been found growing wild in uninhabited regions of I'ersia, Mesopotamia, and Texas. Kgypt was one of the greatest wheat-producing countries of origin o( ancient limes : thither Jacob's sons went for it in the days of a w*""- famine in Canaan thirty-six centuries ago. Identically the same grain of that age, extracteil from the cerements of mummies th^t were entombed in Joseph's time, has lately been planted; and the produc is a grain substan- tially the same as our moflcrn wheat, only a trifle larger and better. Thus it will be seen, that, from the earliest historical period, this grain has remained substantially unchanged ; and, though upwards of three hundred vn -i ^ are said to exist, these may practically be narrowed down to three, --v he .rd wheat of Southern Russia, Italy, Sicily, P^gypt, the Barbary • tes. li, i'eru, and other warm countries ; the so-called Polish wheat ; na the soft wheat of Northern Russia, France, England, and North America. ^' e hard wheats, it may Ijc remarked, possess rather morr of gluten tuan ^.le other varieties ; while the soft wheats abound rather in siarch. The I'oypuans were not only among the most famous of a.ici..nt agricul- turists, but they also devised a method of preserving grain which has never yet been excelleil ; namely, placing it in stone depositories her- cultivation metically sealed. Many eminent historians have taken the mam- of wheat in moth Pyramids of that land for granaries ; but, besides these, '*'''*■ they are known to have had other huge receptacles in which they stored grain for years at a time. The Israelites were educated in the arts of husbandry during their bond- age to the Pharaohs, and practised them extensively in later days ; and the Hible contains many beautiful references to the wheatfields of Palestine. Without dwelling further upon the ancient history of this precious grain, we proceed to consider its introduction to and culture in our own country. Cereal grasses were found under cultivation in Mexico by Cortez in 1530; hut luiropean wheat was introduced there by accident ; one of the Spaniards finiling a few grains mixed with his rice, which he carefully sorted _ out, and planted. Thus, in time, the newly-brought grain was scat- cultivation tcrtd about the Spanish-.Xmerican colonies, and finally spread into °' *•'«■*•'» ' "^ ' America. ten itory now belonging to the United States. Wheat was neces- sarily sown by the earliest English colonists of this country almost immedi- ately upon their arrival : indeed, Gosnold is said to have planted it on the I'.lizabelh Islands, off Massachusetts, as early as 1602. For a time, Virginia gave much attention to its cultivation ; and in 1648 several hundred acres in • In The Ve.->r-Book of Agrictiliiirc for 1856 the editor mentions some curious facts which had recently been laid before the French Academy, relative m the iransforniation of two gr.isses, — /Egilops ovata and jfigilo^i triariistrata. A gardener named Esprit Kabrc of Ailge, France, by seven years experimenting found he could develop from these two grasses all or the greater niimlwr of our species of wheat. A savage plant, under culli- vatioo, was thus made lu change its entire aspect and figure, and gradually auumc a new character. 64 INDUSTRIAL HISTOKY that colony were sown with wheat. Hut the more profitable tobacco-crop soon supplanted it ; and for nearly a century scarcely any was raised, even though the colonial authorities offered a premium thereon. Since the Revo- lution, iiowever, this branch of agriculture has revived ; anil Virginia raises a good wheat-crop. In New Kngland, wheat was grown rather assiduously imtil about 1G62, when, for four successive years, the blast and mildew damage«l \W crop to such an extent as to greatly discourage those who raised itj and so the colonists fell back again on corn and potatoes, to which they have given r^.^ iM K : * ■ ■ 1' 1 11 J'^A\ I Bl.Vn-IAN GKANAKV. great attentioo, even down to the present time. Colonial subsidies Id wheat-growers in those days stimulated them but very little, the failure oi their crops more than offsetting such encouragement. Wheat was grown in New England somev.-hat more generally in the early part of the present century ; but the wearing-out of the soil, and other causes, led to its neglei t. Vigorous efforts have been made to revive the industry, but without success. During the last century consideral)Ie wheat was grown in the Hudson ami Mohawk River valleys of New York, and in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1750 New Jersey produced more wheat than any other of our colonics; or THE l.'.\'/7ED S7-A7V-:s. 65 and, long ht-forc fliat date, wheat and wheat-flour were exportcfl from New York and I'liiladelpliia. After tlie Kevohition. Western New York graihially tame to l)e settled ; and it is now a particularly produetive region, although the impoverishing of the soil makes a slight decline in the culture of the wheat there. Writing nearly twenty years ago, when the enormous development of wheat-culture in the Western States had not been attained, Klip[iart said, "The Slates south of North Carolina, or, say, latituile thirty-three Kiipparf* i. Indiana second, W isi onsin third, Ohio fourth, Virj;inia fifth, IVnnsyKani.i sixth, and New York seventh, with Iowa and Mi( hi^^an a close eighth and ninth. In 1870 Pennsylvania had sunk to the seventh rank, with Virginia and New York still lower ; and to-day they rate still farther down the list. In 1X50 Maryland produced as miic h as either Michigan or Wisconsin : now ea( h of those States yields from four to six times as much as then, while Maryland's production has scarcely changed. The United-States commissioner of agriculture brings out this Western movement forcibly in his report for 1876. He says, " Not only is the volume of wheat to-day more than threefold greater than twenty-eight years ago, but the increase of that portion of it grown west of the Mississippi River is greater than the entire croj) of 1849. Five jjercent only was then produced west of the Mississippi River; and in 1876, a year of comparative failure in the North-West, it was forty per p, — » weight of wheatprodiKtion lieyond the ' Father of Waters.' ('omparin« rela- tive (|iianlities. rather tlian proportions of the crop, we find that the Atlantic coast has held its own and little more : the central lielt produces three times as much ; the trans- Mississippi holt, more than twenty times aH much. I'he figures are as follows : — Atlantic Coast Ciiitral lli'lt . 'l'raii!i-Mis!iiHHi|)pi licit Tcilal . «*4'J. l«S9- 51,657,020 1 53.294. "37 57.4-6,37' 4),522,646 ! 04,4S«/)O0 i.to.S77,o7o 5,306,278 25.352,178 89,.}(>.m85 1M9. 100485,944 173,104.9^4 287,745,626 1I76. 56,4»il in his writings. He attributed it largely to the luxurious growth of grass on the prairicx ».h« ., bc'ng liiiriH'd by the Indians or whites, year after year for centuries, deposited a great wealth of ashf . He look Mvcral samples ol the soil to Prof. Voelcker, consulting chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society rf England, wild said, " I have never before analyzed soils which contained so much nitrogen: nor do I find any suilr richer in nilrojjen than these." •'' The railroad companies, by advertisement and by selling lands at lo / figurck, did much to promote .'Miii; ration. If' .,)f^'4. 68 /NDl'S TK/A L Ills TOR Y If Sift' 'Hi V i i* ii it those States, and the construction of the Erie Canal, whicli opened up ample facilities for transportation eastward. But more than any of these other influences, perhaps, the improvement of agricultural implements (l)y Yankee ingenuity) gave impetus to wheat-culture. I'",lsewhere we have con- sidered this matter ; and of the improvement in tiie plough early in tills century, and of the invention of tlic thresliing-machine in place of the poetic but feebly-efficient old flail, we need not here remark. But what Mr. Charles L. Flint says of the reaper bears immediately upon the subject. He remarks, — " The sickle, which was in almost universal use until a very recent date, is undoubtedly one of the most ancient of all our farming-implements, Reajiing by the use of it was always slow and laijorious : while, from the fact that many of our grains would ripen at the same time, there was a liability to loss before they coukl be gathered ; and practically there Quotation was a much greater loss from from Flint. |].,j,; (ausc tluui tlicrc is at the l)resent time. It is not, therefore, too mucii to say, that the successful introduction of the reaper into the grainfields of this country has added millions of dollars to the value of our annual harvests, by enabling us to se- cure the whole proiluct, and to enlarge tlie area of our wiieatfields, with a certainty of being able to gather the crop. NoUiing was more suri)rising to the mercantile coiii- numity of iMirope than the fixct that we ( ould coiUinue to export such vast tiuanti- ties of wheat and other breadstuffs through the midst of the late Rebellion, with a mil- lion or two of able-bodied men in arms. . . . The number of two - horse reapers in operation throughout the country in the harvest of 1861 performed an amount of work equal to about a million of men." Probably the number of these machines used in tlie summer of 1877 was more than three hundred thousand, — eriuivalent to at least five millions of men. 'J'he exportation of wheat and wheat-flour from this country was a large Exportation l>usiness prior to the Revolutionary war and for twenty-five years ofwheatand subsequently. In 1791 we sent abroad 619,681 barrels of flour wheat-flour. ^^^^ 1,018,339 bushels of wheat : this was equivalent to a trifle over 4,000,000 bushels. What proportion of our total product this was, we cannot ,r:|!!||:';. ' 4 \,'l) OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 say. The quantity has steadily increased in a larger proportion than the yield, just as the yield has increased in larger proportion than the population. For tiie five years ending 1845, the average exportation was but 7,000,000 busiiels, including flour. This was a comparatively slow increase. l'"roin that point it was more rapid, partly owing to the start given by the Irish (limine. l''or tiie next five years, the average was over 14,000,000 ; and, as the crop of 1849 'was 100,485,941 bushels, it will be seen that our exports amounted to about one-seventh of the yield. The Crimean war, by reducing Russi.i's production, stimulated our export of wheat. During our own civil war, tlie Southern market being cut oiT and our supply steadily increasing, we exported abnormally, the proportion to the whole crop being something like THRASHING WHEAT. one-fifth. Our average crop for the years 1870-74 was 261,015,920 bushels; and the average exportation 61,579,517, or nearly one-fourth. The export of tliat year was slightly abnormal, owing to the failure of foreign crops. In 1874 it aggregated 91.510.408 bushels; but in 1875 it was only 72,802,605. 'I"hc crop of 1877 was, in round numbers, 360,000,000 bushels ; and the estimated exports very nearly a third thereof- In his report for 1868, the United-States commissioner of agriculturo says, ' Census i)f i8so. » The cocnmissioner of :ipriciilture, in his report for 1876, snys, thnt, in niir exporn of wheat nnil flniir, \\» tcn.lenoy is to send less flour, nnil more Rrain. Fifty years .iro, flour .ouslitntcil nearly the whole of our wheal exporl; lint in iS;!) it was luit little over oni--f Mirth of the whole, either in value or quantity. A special r.-ason for this is found in the necessity for siviiit; ivery possible scope to indusiri.il production In Kurope. Ttic UK reasiuK cost of Kiainproduction in Kurope, on the one hand, aiid the improvement in transatlantic transpor taii.m.on the other, khvc to the Tuilliui; interest, espe, i ally in Knglanil and Kr.ancc, a margin of profit in grinding American grain, which secured to that interest an euornions development. ■iiiiki iiHii !■ I -it- 70 /A'z? f/^ rA'/^ A y/ A? yo A' r over other countries. "The policy of growing grain for exportation, except as a pioneer expedient Ascendency '" opt-^n'^g '1'^d improving farms, is not to be commended. No material portion of our exports can ever be made up of brcadstuffs, nor is it desirable that this should be." But since then our produc- tion ^nd exportation of cereals have rapiilly increased ; while the exijortiuion of cotton, with which he made comparison, has decidedly tlecreased. (^ur exports of cotton in 1868 were worth $152,820,733 ; of uiicat and flour, $51,135,430 and of all brcadstuffs, $79,046,187. In 1875 our cotton exports amounted to only about $175,000,000 ; while wheal and wheat-flour amounted to ^83,317, 937; corn, to $25,747,470 more ; and these, with other brcadstuffs, to about $125,000,000. C'otton increased only about one-sixth, and cereals about one- half, in the interval. When we consider that Russia and the United States furnish those covmtries of the worKl wiiich cannot raise wheat enough for theinsL-lves with three-(]uarters or more of the surjjlus in the producing coun- tries ; that the United States now export nearly twice what Russia docs ; that, notwithstanding Russia's recent introduction of improved agricultural imple- ments, we are likely to maintain the same ascendency over her as regards l)roduction, — we see that our wheat-exjjortation promises to continue a lead- ing industry for many years to come. 'I'his will further appear on the consid- eration of two or three other promising features of the history of wheat-culture in .America. Although the wheat-crop is susceptible to many hurtful influences, — sucii as rust, blast, smut, the wheat-fly, weevil, chinch-bug, grasshoi)per, winter-killing Injurious in- ^^^"^ exposure to frost, and the blowing and lodging from heavy sects, grass- galcs, — yet these influences have thus far proved local, and havi' oppers, c. j^c^rccly affcctcd the total production of the country at any tinu'. The New-Fjigland blights of 1662-65, though discouraging, were limited. Tlu' grasshop])er depredations of 1875 and 1876, in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin, were very serious \n their effects upon the farmers temporarily; and yet the effect on the total yield of tlu' coimtry, or the ])rice of flour in the P'.ast, inasmuch as we had some of i874\ wheat left on hand, was to lessen but slightly our exportation. In 1877 tlu- ])est had nearly disappeared ; and, by i)lanting an extra area, we more ' llian made up the loss. The wars of independence and of 181 2-14 temporarily impaired our product and exportation ; l)ut the war with Mexico in 1847-48, and the late ci\il war, di.i 35-430 ■ ts anioinitcd to ted to ^8.^,317,- dstuffs, to alxnit reals about one- ,e Ignited States leat enougli for producing coun- issia be worse off than iier principal rival, Russia. ; ^'f;: m4 OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 CHAPTER V. CORN. INDIAN-CORN, or maize, is the crop which this countrj' produces in the largest quantity and value, and which has the widest acreage, while it ranks next to wheat among our agricultural exports. Tiius in 1875 we raised 292,136,000 bushels of wheat, and 1,321,069,000 ot corn. In importance 1877 the corn-product was the same nearly, while wheat had of corn-crop, increased to 360,000,000 bushels. In 1875 the value of our corn-crop was ^555>44S»930 j of wheat, $294,580,990 ; of hay, $342,203,445 ; and of cotton, $272,936,400. That same year we had 10,803,030 acres yielding cotton, 23,507,964 yielding hay, 26,381,512 yielding wheat, and .^1,841,371 yielding corn. Such is the story which the figures tell by comparing them. Though used almost exclusively among the cereals by the mass of the Southern 'people as an article of diet, it is not so exclusively an article of human food in the United States as wheat. It is fed to horses largely, and to cattle, sheep, and poultry, but to swine more than to any other animal, the pork of this country )eing largely fattened on this grain. The stalks of tills grain, too, make more nutritious fodvl"r for live-stock than the straw of any other. 'riicre is also a perceptible consump- tion of corn liy distillers of whiskey ; and at times it has been so plentiful ill some of the W^estern States, that it has been used fcir fuel. It was much cheaper, its heat considered, in many ^ localities, in 1871, than coal at nine dollars a ton ; and it was thus consumed in large ([uantities although fires made of it required close attention. dimtm liiiC- '11 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Regarding the origin of this particular grain, there has been much con troversy. It has been claimed as a purely American product, all otlur Origin of Countries getting it from the New World. While, however, then- corn, c-i,^ \^Q ,^Q doubt that it was indigenous to America, it caniKii be established that it first made its appearance in this country. In 1 204 tlif Marquis of Montferrat and his companions brought back from the Orient to Italy a grain known as " mclica," or " melaga," — a name which was afterwards used interchangeal)ly with that of the real maize, and led to the supjiosition that this kind of corn came first from Asia. The name "Turkish corn," which it long bore in Europe, gave rise to a supi)osition that it came fron, Turkey's Asiatic possessions. Neither of these theories has been demon- strated, however. Iiclter evidence of the fact that the Old World had tins same grain under cultivation betbre Columbus discovered America is found in the fact that the Chinese historian, Li-chi-tchin, speaks of a plant exactly corresponding to it in his country toward the middle of the sixteenth century, The proverbial slowness of that people in introducing new ideas and institii lions, the sliortne.ss of the uUorval, and the inference from his remarks tli.it the crop was long established, incline one to believe that they really had our Indian-corn in ('iiina more than 'our centuries ago. Inileed, Oriental tniv ehers incline to believe that it has been cultivated in the islands of the Indi.ni Arciiipclago from rhe earliest ages. A fact of still more decisive character ii, the disi:(Aery of maize in the cerements of a mummy exhumed at Thelns, Egypt, under cin iimstances leading to a belief that it was two c^r tinw thousand years old. Ni.\\.rtheless, it is known that it was cultivated on this continent a great many centuries ago. Longleilow embodies in his "Hiawatha" a well-known E riiestcui- ^^g*-""*^' "^ ^hc Ojibways as to the gift of maize to the red man tivationof by the CJreat Spirit. The .Aztec nations of Mexico and Central America, who attained a high civilization, have a tradition that the Toltecs introduced the culture of maize into this ccnmtry in the seventh century ; but there is reason to believe that it was already com mon with the natives at that time, and that the Toltecs merely improved \Yx metluxl'^ of cultivation. The Mexicans had a deity corresponiling to \\\<: Ceres of the Romans, who was supposed to watch over this croi), and wlidiii they worshipped accordingly. The grain was raised plenteously from .SoutiKiii Chili to the southern part of Pennsylvania when Kuropeans first visited Americ a. Parched corn was the great \egetable staple of Indian diet. Corn requires less < ultiv,uiun than alniust any other food-crop in tin- country, although it is affectot more by the corwlition of the season than somi Modeof cui- otlurs. It iwtffeis ilry. loamy soils, and rich boltom-iands, to wet, tivation. j,^^,} tjays. Thoogh there are man'' varieties (some growing to the height of fifteen or sixteen feel, and others scarrdv above one's knee ; nid some being better adapted to one section than another, there b'-int; variation. corn in America OF TJIK UNITED STATES. 75 ccn much con jiluct, all otlur , however, there erica, it caniioi ^. In 1204 the m the Orient to ■h was afterwarils I the supposition "Turkish com.' at it came fruin as been ilemon- l World hail tins \merica is found )f a plant exactly sixteenth century, ideas and instiUi his remarks th.ii hey really had our eed, Oriental trav- nds of the Indi.in L'cisive character 1:1 hunied at 'I'hebes. was two or tlirce also, in the shape, size, and color of the kernel), there are practically but two kinds, — the white anil yellow, — each being divided into the hard and soft ; and one or another is cultivated in almost every jjart of the United States where agriculture is practised at all. From these various causes, the first emigrants to tiiis country raised it extensively, relying upon it as the principal article of food, and using it, also, for barter and export. Later, the crop was combined with potatoes or pumpkins, or both, on small tracts of land ; and the three flourished togiMher more prosperously than any one of them would with any other common agricultural product. Thus we find that corn-culture followed the whites into all new territory which they occupied. New Kngland raiseil but cojuparatiscly little ; Init, long before the Revolution, New Jersey, Penn- syi\ania, ;i.iid Delaware were exporting corn extensively, Virginia even more so, and the two Carolinas ami Oeorgia also, having a surplus to exchange with I'.nrope tor necessary imports. The aggregate export of the colonies in 1770 was 57X,_54Q bushels, — an amount more than once ecpialled by Virginia alone, before the Revolution. .\t the close of tiiat war. for a time, agriculture in this ' ■;:try maile little heailway ; and some sp ;cial causes, like the sudden deve'i.ip.ent Effect of of cotton-culture in the South, mav lune retarded the progress ot Revolution- ' , ary war other lines bl agri( uUure. From these various causes, we find, upon com- that from 1791, when we exported corn .and meal amounting to culture. about 2,064,936 busiieis of grain, there was a gradual decline for over twenty years in the export. In i.Soo it amounted to 2,032,435 bushels, and in 1810 to only 1 40,996. Ill tiie next two decades, influences of a stimulating character began to operate on this industry, which were followed up by others during succeeiling vears ; so that the corn-croii has for tlie i)ast fiftv years shown , ■ \ . J Increase rapid im lease. In 1X25 tiie I'lric (.'anal was opened, giving cheap during next transportation to Western croiJS. Railroads were built later, pen- *wenty ' years, etrating all the more productive sections of the West. Emigra- tion rapidly increased. I''arm-implements greatly improved, althougii these were not so essential to corn a^ to some other grains. The value of this cereal tor fattening cattle, too, began to be realized ; and its demand for this use was soon vigorous. From 184010 1850. the tot.al yield increased from 377,531,- S75 liushels to 592.071,104, — ;; irain of fifty-seven per cent, while population was increasing but thirty-five yjer rent. Ihe increase of wheat during this Mine was oniv fifteen iwa-.cnt. H\ iS> a falling-off was not. "cable, the product i)eing only 760,944,349 bushels. This, probably, was due to the corn- linds beinii; converted, in some cases, to wheat-cultiire ; which, how ver. is n IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) I.U 1.1 ttiM2» |U It Hi 12.2 ; Its l^'O IL25 in 1.4 d^y Photographic Sciences Corporalion 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WltSTU.N.Y. MStO (716)t72-4S03 \ ^. ,(fWm»J*M i l ii l»il,^MW>l mm .. So INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ' i CHAPTER VI. SUGAR AND MOLASSES. SUGAR and molasses are among those agricultural products of the United States, which, in amount, fall far short of our necessities, rendering a heavy import (chiefly from the West Indies) requisite to supply the defi- Description ciency. The production is, moreover, limited in locality, as well of sugar- as in quantity, being mostly confined to Louisiana. The cane cane region, jj^jiygg^ ^^d is the Staple product, in all parts of the State south of tlie latitude of Baton Rouge, except in the pine uplands bordering on Texas. It must not be thought, however, that the whole of the region within these boundaries actually produces sugar. The area of cultivated land is comparatively small ; swamps, lakes, rivers, and bayous occupying most of the surface of the country, and the territory available for planting being restricted to narrow strips along the water-courses. The shores of the Mis- sissippi, for fifty miles above and below New Orleans, are lined with cane- fields, extending back for about a mile to the cypress-swamps. Along the Atchafalaya, and the La Fourche, Plaquemine, Teche, Boeuf, Courtableau, and other bayous west of the Mississippi, there is little besides sugar raised. The Teche, and the parishes bordering upon it, known under the general name of the Attakapas country, is the paradise of the sugar-planter. Per- haps the land is no better than that along the other bayous ; but its conforma- tion makes it easy of drainage, while the proximity of the Gulf gives it cool breezes in summer, and the natural beauties of the region make it the most attractive part of Louisiana. Longfellow's description in " Evangeline " fits it very well : — " Beautiful is the land, with its prairies, and forest of fruit-trees ! Under the feet a garden of flowers ; and the bluest of heavens Bending above, and resting its dome o'-. the walls of the forest. They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana." There are many little descriptive passages in the poem that are remarkably true to nature ; and the wonder is that Longfellow could have got the local coloring so well without once visiting the region he pictures. OF THE UNITED STATES. 8i t; s of the United es, rendering a iupply the defi- localily, as well ana. The cane the State south Is bordering on he region within jltivated land is upying most of ■ planting being jres of the Mis- ined with cane- nps. Along the f, Courtableau, des sugar raised, der the general ar-planter. Per- ut its conforma- ulf gives it cool lake it the most ivangeline" fits ees: ;rens rest, a." t are remarkably ve got the local Long before the Revolutionary war the New- England colonies carried on a large commerce in sugar and molasses, which, with rum, they brought from the West Indies, and carried hence to Europe. There were re- „ , ' •^ Early eom- fineries in various parts of Connecticut, and Massachusetts too, merce in mostly for such sugar as was kept for home consumption. The ""»•' ■""' enactment of laws by Parliament, restricting this carrying-trade to British vessels, as also the stamp-acts, which threatened to lay a tax on such sugar and molasses, seriously affected this industry. Accounts of Virginia and North Carolina, by the earliest settlers, speak of sugar-canes as indigenous to that section, but inaccurately. Sugar-canes do not appear to have been grown in any part of what is now the g,^, ^^jj,. United States until 1 751, when the Jesuits introduced them to vation in Louisiana from San Domingo. The first sugar-mill in this section ^°"*•'•"■• was erected by M. Dubreuil, whose plantation is now covered by the city of New Orleans. But little headway was made in the culture until 1 794, when persecuted Frenchmen fled from San Domingo to Louisiana, and carried their business ideas with them. This State did not form a part of our Union, however, until 1803. In later years the culture extended into Texas to a slight extent. In 1805 an enterprising Georgia planter obtained Extension of and set out in his own State one hundred young sugar anes. cu't^ire- These were rapidly propagated ; and the culture extended into Florida, Alabam- and elsewhere. It was soon found, though, that the soil of Lou- isiana Wc^a oy far the most productive, and the industry never prospered very much elsewhere. In 1850 eleven-twelfths of the yield of cane sugar and molasses of this country was Louisiana's. The following table shows the distribution in 1870 : — Louisiana Texas . Tennessee South Carolina Florida . Georgia . Arkansas Mississippi Missouri Alabama Korth Carolina Total SUGAR, HOGSHEADS. 80,706 2,020 1,410 I.OSS 952 644 92 49 49 3< 35 87.043 MOLASSES, GALLONS. 4.585.150 246,062 3.629 436,882 344.339 553.19* 72,008 152,164 166,009 33.888 6.593.323 8a INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Just as the tobacco-industry built up Richmond, so the sugar-business built up New Orleans, although the cotton-interest had a share in the latter work. Very few statistics are obtainable, showing the product of cane sugar and molasses in other States ; and statisticians treat that of Louisiana as about all there is in the country. Bearing this fact in mind, one can learn much of the history of the cane-sugar industry of this country, and realize how far it is from meeting our needs, by glancing at the following table, showing the total consumption in this country by tons, and what jiroportion thereof was im- ported, and how much was raised in Louisiana : — Sugar- Interests gave rise to New Orleans. , 'if YEARS. IMPORTED.' LOUISIANA. TOTAL.' I82I .... 26,672 14,000 40,672 1831 44,178 35,000 "9.178 I84I 65,601 38,000 103,601 1842 69,474 39,200 108,674 1843 28,854 64,360 93.214 1844 83,801 44.400 128,201 1845 88,336 45,000 133.336 1846 44.974 83,028 128,002 1847 98,410 71,040 169,450 1848 104,214 107,000 211,214 1849 103,121 99,180 202,301 1850 160,210 144,600 304,810 I85I 201,493 120,331 321.824 1852 196,558 118,659 3'S.2i7 •853 200,610 172.379 372.989 1854 150,854 234.444 385.298 •855 192,607 185.145 377.752 1856 255,292 123,468 378,760 1857 241,165 39,000 280,765 1858 244,758 143.734 388,492 1859 239.034 192.150 431,184 i860 296,950 118,331 415,181 1S61 241,420 122,399 363-819 1862 241,411 191,000 432.4" 1863 231.398 52.910 284.308 1864 192,660 28,000 220,660 1865 345.809 5,000 350,809 1866 383. '78 8,500 391,698 1867 378,068 22,500 400,568 1868 446.533 23.000 469,533 1869 447,899 45,000 492,899 1870 483,892 46,80c 530,692 187 I 553.714 79,600 633.3 '4 1872 567.573 69,800 637.373 1873 592,725 59.300 652,025 1874 661,869 48,500 710,569 187s 621,852 63,500 685.352 ^1876 • 561,369 77,000 638,369 " Omitting that which was cx[)ortcd again, ' Omitting the trifle consumed on Ihc I'acific coast, OF THE (TNI TED STATES. 83 ugar-business in the latter the product [ statisticians the country, he history of how far it is ,'ing the total ;reof was im- TOTAL.' 40,672 79.178 103,601 108,674 93.2 '4 128,201 133.336 128,002 169,450 211,214 202,301 304,810 321,824 3'S.2i7 372,989 385,298 377.752 378,760 280,765 388,492 431,184 415,181 363,819 432,411 284,308 220,660 350,809 391,698 400,568 469.533 492,899 530,692 633.314 637.373 652,025 710,369 685.352 638,369 ic I'acific coast. Starting at nothing, our domestic production rapidly gained on bur im- ports until 1843, when, spasmodically as it were, it suddenly overleaped and more than doublad them. In 1846, 1848, and 1854, our domestic product exceeded the imports, hut not to so great an extent. Owing to increase of the accumulation of a large stock in the country in 1856, the P'^oductiou. next year's home yield fell off amazingly. What abrupt and utter ruin was brought upon this industry by the war m.iy be inferred from the fact, that, by SlKiAK-MILL. the year 1863, the cane-crop had dwindled down to 50,000 tons. In 1864 't fell to 30,000 ; and in 1865, the last year of the war, shrunk to the minimum of only 5,000 tons. 'I'he great tratle tliat was thus shattered in three years, has, Jfe*: 84 INDUSTRTAL HISTORY since the war, been slowly reviving ; but still a long time will have to elapse before it again reaches the proportions to which it had attained in 1853. For the past three or four years, owing to lalwr-troubles and political causes which need not now be mentioned, the crop harvested in Louisiana was not so large as many supposed it would be : still, in spite of every drawback, it has increased 25,000 hogsheads each year, and during the season of 1876-77 amounted to 169,331 hogsheads, or a total of 190,672,570 pounds. It is confidently expected that the crop of the season of 1877-78 will amount to not less than 200,000 hogsheads. It is asserted ' that the business of sugar-planting offers peculiar induce- ments to Northern people who want to find new homes in the South. The Profits and pro^ts are immediate, and, with proper management, very large, prospects of A plantation near Franklin, with 1,100 acres in cane, received for its product of sugar and molasses $120,000; and the net profit, deducting all expenses, even to the cigars smoked by the planter and his friends, was 160,000 dollars. This is an excepdonally large plantation. About 300 acres under cultivation is an average one. The following is the condensed balance-sheet, for 1876, of a 300-acre place above Franklin : — this Indus try RECEIPTS. 400 hhds. sugar at eight cents per pound ^1,600 300 bbis, molasses at two dollars 600 Total ^2,200 EXPENSES. Labor : twenty-five hands throughout year, and ten extra in sugar-mak- ing season $12,000 Rations : five pounds pork and a peck of meal a week to each hand 2,500 Mule feed 1.500 Hogsheads and barrels 2,500 Purchase of mules, tools, repairs, &c. 3.000 Commission on sale of crop ..... .... 1.275 22.775 Profit I19.425 The cost of a plantation like this, in good condition, with sugar-house and machinery in good repair, would range from $40,000 to $75,000. There is usually three or four times as much swamp as arable land sold with a planta- tion. But the swamp has a value ; for it furnishes the wood required for fuel in the sugar-mill. A hogshead of sugar to the acre is a small yield, a hogs- head and a half a fair yield, and two a large one. There are thirteen hundred pounds of sugar in a hogshead ; and the price in New Orleans ranges from seven cents for an ordinary brown grade to ten and eleven cents for the white coffee-sugar made by vacuum pans and centrifugal machinery for sepa« I Npe( ially in iSi j, when the blockade of French ports prc( luded a foreign supply of < aucsugar. At one time 520o,ooo were jilaced in the hands of tlie minister of agri( ulture to encourage it. Hut, after Water- loo, l)eet->ugar production .iluiost died out. In 1S20 it revived again, ancl, with lluctuations, has since rapidly and extensively developed, until the prod- ;;NI. Iowa 1,211,512 Indiana 881,049 Illinois 806,589 Missouri 796,111 Oliio 779,076 Tennessee 706,663 Other States 568,123 Total 6,749,123 Iowa was then the largest producer; but Ohio developed the industry more rapidly until 1866, since which year it has gradually declined there and Production *" Indiana and Illinois. It extended up into Wisconsin too, from tor. somewhat, but rather more largely in Kansas, and all through the ghum. South, prominently in Georgia. It is estimated that we raise annually 1 2,000,000 gallons of sirup, which, at sixty-five cents a gallon, would come to 17,800,000 ; and 250,000 pounds of sugar, which, at six cents a pound, would make the annual yield worth over ^7,815,000. When the value of the crop comes to be c«tter understood, it is believed its culture will be vastly increased. The maple-sugar industry dates from the earliest colonial days, but has not been carried on extensively in any part of the country. It is mostly in the Maple. hands of individual farn:ers, and is chiefly confined to the North- •uK«r. gfn States, from Maine into Minnesota, though reaching into Ken- tucky. Statistics arc imperfect and scarce ; but the Department of Agriculture says, that, in 181 1, Ohio produced 3,033,086 pounds, Kentucky 2,471,647, and Vermont but 1,200,000. Probably the total production throughout the country was something like 15,000,000 or 20,000,000, with sirup equivalent to as much more, a gallon of sirup counting for ten pounds of sugar. The census-returns for 1850, i860, and 1870, show the following total product in pounds and gallons : — 1850. i860. 1370. Sugar .... Sirup .... 34,253,436 106,782 40,120,205 '.597.589 28,443,645 921,436 In 1850 New York was the leading State, producing about thirty per cent of the whole. Vermont held the second place, with Ohio third, and Indiana fourth. In i860 the order was, — New York, Ver- mont, Michigan, and Ohio. In 1870 Vermont had reached the first place, with New York second, Ohio third, Michigan fourth, and Indiana fifth. Several of the States have since improved on the fig- ures of 1870 ; and it is likely that the total product now almost equals that of Production of maplt- sugar in the several States. OF THE UNITED STATES, 89 i860, and is worth something like |6,ooo,ooo. The utmost limit has already been reached, in all probability, however ; though we are not likely to see a very marked decline for a number of years. Much of the maple sugar and* sirup used in this country comes from Canada. 9° INDUSTRIAL HISTORY CHAPTER VII. TOBACCO. Early hii- tory of tobacco. WHEN Columbus landed in Hispaniola, in 1492, he saw the natives brcathiny out smoke from their nostrils ; and he was offered a roll of a fragrant narcotic weed, in the form of a cigar, that he might ilo likewise. This was the first that the civilized world ever knew of tobacco. The Spaniards and Portuguese soon made Europe accpiainted with the l)lant and its uses. In 1560 the agent of the King of Kran< c in Portugal, named Jean Nicot, obtained from a Dutchman some seed of the plant from I'lorida ; and thus it was introduccil into France, where it was known as the Nicotian weed. Tobacco, the Indian name, appears to have been ai)plied originally to the pipes wherein the Caribbecs smoked the dried leaves. In 1586 Sir Walter Raleigh and his colleagues, who had been unsuccessful in founding a colony in America, brought back to England the custom of iising tobacco; but until 1607, when the Jamestown Colony was planted, England obtained the little tobacco which it used, indirectly, through the Spanianls, from the West Indies. As the various nations of the world were using narcot- ics and stimulants of various sorts, this new one had to fight its way into favor against great prejudice. King James I. of England wrote a pamphlet in 1616, vigorously denouncing its use; in 1624 Pope Urban VIII, decreed excommu- nication to all who used snuff; in 1634 Russia affixed a penalty of cutting off the nose for smoking tobacco ; and other nations restricted its importation, culture, and use, in various ways, a favorite i)lan being to lay very heavy taxes thereupon. Yet the use of the weed — which the American Indians smoked as a solace to care, a cheer in idleness, and a token of fidelity around the council- fire and at peace negotiations — soon became popular in Europe, and thus spread all over the Old World, — into Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, the Indies, and China. More than any other product of the soil, tobacco has an unquestioned title exclusively to American origin. The culture of tobacco was undertaken almost immediately by the first settlers in Virginia; and it is recorded, that, in 1615, not only the gardens and fields, but also the streets, of Jamestown, were planted therewith. It OF TIfF. UNITED STATES. 9« .[iiirkly l)cramc the staple- < rop of the colony. 'I'hc laws of the mother- <(»iiiilry forhadc any maniifaduR's, even of necessary clothing; and tohacco was soon found to be the most valuable of aj^'ricnltiiral products, cuitiv«tion even wheat beinj; abandoned for its culture. IJy the year \(\22 o« tobacco the product of Virginia had increased to sixty thousand pounds, " "' " '" and it doubled in twenty years. Its culture was begun in llie l)ut< h colony of New Netherlands (afterwards called New York) in 1646; but it never spread very rapidly. Later, it was cultivated (|uite extensively in the neighborhood (if I'hiladelphia. I-'rom Virginia tlie industry extended southward into the Carolinas. The l-'renth corporation known as " The Company of the West " SMOKIM. INsTKlMtN:s (M- All NATIONS. introduced it into Louisiana in 1718. So rapiilly did the production increase at first in Virginia, and so slowly was its consumption augmented abroad, that prices fell, and the colonists could not make tobacco pay for their < lolhing. \\\ 1639 the .Assembly ordered the product of the next two years to be burned, except a hunilred anil twenty tliousand pounds, properly divided among the planters, in order to check production and raise prices. A tract on Virginia, printed in Ix)ndon in 1649, said that the price of ti)l)acco in the colony had fallen to threepence a pound on account of the supply. In 1652 Cromwell pa INDUSTRIAL HISTORY i!« ij- ordered all tobacco-plants in England to be destroyed, in order to give the colonies a l)ettcr chance ; and the increasing popularity of the weed also stimulated the production in the colonies again, and it made rapid strides. In 1729 the proiluct of Virginia and Maryland had increased in quantity and value, so as to be worth ;;^375,ooo; and a fleet of three hundred sail was employed in its transportation. Ihe annual export from all the colonics for the ten years prior to 1709 averaged 28,868,666 pounds; rmd from 1744 to 1776 the average was 40,000,000' pounds, or one-tenth of our i)rescnt yield. Of this amount, more than three-quarters cai lo froiTi Virginia alone. Prior to the Revolutionary war the planters had discovered that their lands werr deteriorating; and from 1758, when Virginia exported 75,000 Increase of hogshcads, there was a falling-off for a nimibcr of years in acreage until the amount raised on the original plantations. The acreage in- '**"■ creased, however, extending into new States, notably Georgia and Kentucky ; so that the total yield of the country kept about the same, or increased slightly. In 1790 our exports were 118,460 hogsheads, — a figure not reached again until 1840. In- asmuch as domestic consumption was increasing meantime, and the taxes were enormous which foreign countries imposed upon our tobacco when imported by them, it is proba- ble that our product increased at least threefold during that period of fifty years, — from something like 60,000,000 to over 200,000,000 pounds. Between 1840 and 1850 tobacco rulture remained almost at a stand- still : indeed, the figures given by the Agricultural Ikireau show a slight Production falling-off. Thusini840 since 1840. the yij^id ^vjis 219,163,- 319 pounds, while in 1850 it was but 199,752,655. During the next decade, however, there was a very marked development of the industry. In that short time it attained double dimensions, the returns for i860 being 434,209,461 pounds. Since that time it has been impossible to more than approximate the yield, inasmuch as the heavy internal revenue-tax on tobacco has induced producers to falsify their returns by diminishing them. Thus the > Probably equivalent to ioo,aoo hogiheadii in that day. A hogihead now contains about i,ioo pound*. TOBAtCU-I'l.AM. If' li Mi OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 Effect of emancipat- census-statement for 1S70 gives 262,735,341 pounds as the total yield; but tiie commissioner of agriculture estimates that it was at least 360,000,000 ; and, as a further illustration, it may be stated, that in Ohio, in 1870, while the returns to Federal census-takers aggregateil but 18,741,923 pounds, the State assessors declared the crop to be 38,953,206 pounds. The returns for 1875 were 379,347,000 pounds; and, allowing for underrating in the statements, it is safe to say that we raised something like 50c Joo,ooo or 600,000,000, or a <|uartcr more than in i860. That we have mad< no more headway is ciiiefly attributed by the old planters to the erriancipation of the slaves. They say that the industrial demoralization attendant uj)on freeing the blacks is felt far more by the tobacco-growers than by the cotton-growers, it may be remarked, however, that, while the culture of cotton '"'*•"= ' slaves. was almost entirely suspended during the war, the tobacco-interest was but slightly alTecteS.«76 )7.8o4 )i.9'3 10,265 56,426 crop-returns, I production, venty million form of leaf- tured. Some 1, though but ir their pecul- .nce, Holland, manufactories. Scotland's im- CO, that Euro- ;le; England's id the average Uo all Europe : countries the iment may get :d States made Vere they once duction, would It is estimated that the world's production of tobacco to-day is 4,500,- 000,000 pounds. Could we get at the truth, we should doubtless find that the United States produce more than one-ninth of this. Most coun- worid'* pro- tries that produce it either use up their own supply, like Mexico, «>"<:«o««- or call for even more, as do France and Germany. This country is, therefore, the main resource of Northern Europe. Already our tobacco-crop is worth forty million dollars or more to us. Were we able to secure its free admission into foreign countries, and were we to resort to improved culture, restoring the soil where impov- value of erished, this industry might attain a development almost beyond Americaa calculation. *'"' The several ways of using tobacco are too well known to require descrip- tion. It may be worth while, however, to note how the " hard times " have affected thosfc who indulge in this luxury. In the cigar-trade Cigariand there has been a large decrease in sales, and cigarettes have grown c't"*"**' in popular favor. The sale of cigarettes, until a year and a half ago, was an unimportant item in trade, and they were kept more as a matter of conven- ience for fashionable people than as a profitable investment. Heretofore there were only a few brands, and the majority were of foreign manufacture : now a hundred and twenty-one diflerent brands find a ready sale in the market, two-thirds of which have been manufactured within the past eighteen months. During the year 1877 the trade of New- York retail dealers in this line increased two hundred per cent. That the habit of smoking tobacco in tliis form is resorted to as a matter of economy is plainly shown by the fact that old customers who were wont to purchase cigars of a superior quality are now content with those of an inferior grade. Cigar-manufacturers, on the contrary, deny that cigarettes are taking the place of cigars, and, while admitting the great increase in the sale of cigarettes, regard it as a fashion among smokers, and not as a matter of economy. They further declare, that the greatest economy is shown by the trade in the purchase of inferior cigars. The high-priced cigars once largely sold are now manufactured in smaller (juantities, owing to the hard times. This does not include the very finest (juality of Havana cigars, which were heretofore obtained almost exclusively from abroad. Their manufacture is now carried on in this country, and, to a great extent, has usurped the trade formerly confined to Havana and Key \Vcst, because here they can be made and sold much cheaper. The manu- facturers at those places are said to have become greatly alarmed at the increasing trade in fine cigars in this country. Domestic manufacturers affirm, in relation to the prevailing custom of cigarette-smoking, that it is injurious, because certain poisonous ingredients are used in preparing the paper of which the outer covering is made. Statistics at Washington show a very large decrease in the manufacture and importation of cigars last year in comparison with that of the previous year. According to the Bureau of 98 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Statistics, the total number of cigars and clieroots upon which the internal- revenue tax was paid during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, was 1,828,807,396. This is a decrease of nearly 98,000,000 cigars from the year previous. The amount of cigars manufactured and imported in this countr)' during the year 1875 reached nearly 2,000,000,000. The value of the im- ported cigars consumed in the United States during 1876 amounted to 12,289,712.89, and of snuff to J!i8,470. a-- 4: !'i : t OF THE UNITED STATES. n CHAPTER VIII. GRASS AND HAY. THE hay-industry appears to have been forced upon the early colonists in this country immediately upon their occupation. This was especially the case in the Northern and Eastern States, where the winters were _ ,,, ,, ' Cultivation long and severe, and where tlierc was great danger of the cattle of Braiie* and horses dying of starvation. In those days the implements ^^ "''^ for cutting and gathering it were the simple scythe, rake, and pilchfork. The grasses utilized were native, and grew wild, either on upland meadows or sea-marshes. In England the clover and other " artificial " IIAV-LOADEK. grasses were cultivated before the native and real grasses ; but the reverse was the case in this country. It was not until about a century ago, either, that any attempt worth noting was made to sow grass-seed, and reduce its culture to a science. lOO INDUSTRIAL HISTORY i Timothy. Probably the most nutritious hay in this country is made from the so- called "Timothy-grass," which is named after Timothy Hanson, who carried the seed of it from New York to Virginia and Carolina about the middle of the last century. It is also known as Herd's-grass, especially in New England. Jared Eliot says that a man named Herd found it growing in a swamp near Piscataqua, N.H., early in the eighteenth century. In England it was already known and cultivated, and it is said to have been taken to Virginia by Peter Wynche in 1760. The Hungarian millet, which has been moderately cultivated within a few years past, was introduced by the Dejiartment of Agriculture. Ancjther importation is the orchard- grass, or rough cock's-foot, common the world over, and introduced into Virginia from England in 1 764, and which afterwards obtained a wide popularity farther north. It endures drought admirably, yields a luxuriant aftermath, and affords excel- lent pasturage. Clover, which is a forage i)lant of the leguminous family, and not a genuine grass, was likewise imported into this country. ) The varieties of native grass in this country are almost innumerable, though but few have any agricultural value. Among the earliest known and Varieties of "i^st esteemed is the Kentucky blue-grass, widely prevalent in early the West and in New P^ngland. It thrives best on limestone soils, erasiet. ^^^ j^ ^.^,^ fattening. Cattle and horses fed thereon are usually the choicest-looking stock. It is an early and vigorous plant, and makes a i)ermanent turf. It is prized both for hay and pasturage. The red-top, sometimes called Herd's-grass, in Pennsylvania and farther south is quite a favorite, but is generally mixed with Timothy and clover. A grass called " English bent," indigenous to the Connecticut Valley, and swamp wire or fowl meadow, are two local New-England varieties. Besides these, the salt- marsh, goose or creeping sea-meadow, is frequently grown at the seaside, and, mixed with other hay, is regarded as excellent fodder. Most of the wild prairie-grasses, while affording good pasturage, are not eligible for hay. In the Far ^\■est, mostly in the Territories, the plains are coverec! with a short, curly, native vegetation, called "gramma," or "buffalo-grass." It is the natural and princii)al food of the bison, and cattle are fond of it. It is not gathered, however, as hay. The increasing demand for fodder for live-stock, and the improvement in implements for cutting and curing hay, — the mower, horse-rake, tedder, and horse-fork, — have, within the present century, given a great stim- ulus to the hay-business. In the Southern States little attention is given to it, because the stock can be pastured so large a part of the season ; but, in the North, the severity of the season com- pels the farmer to devote more attention thereto. There is a large demand for hay, too, in the cities, where horses are stall-fed the year round, and where large numbers of these animals are employed for private and public conveyance and cartage. The villages and smaller cities in agricultural dis- Causes of increase of cultivation and con- Bumption. by th( Corn Wheat Hay OF THE UNITED STATES. lOl le SO- :anicd ut the i-grass, found entury. been , which ced by p-ass, or ia from :r north, s excel- lily, and merable, awn and ralent in one soils, e usually d makes red-top, (luite a called wire or the salt- side, and, the wild hay. In a short. It is the It is not vement in idder, and great stim- attention •ge a part ason com- is a large ^ear round, and public ultural dis- iss CLOVBR-HULUtR. tricts are generally supplied by cartage from bams and stacks in the adja- cent country. For the larjje cities hay is pressed into bales, and it forms a prominent article of domestic commerce. It is consumed, how- ever, almost exclu- sively at home. Our census-returns indiuled no mention of our hay-crop prior to 1840, in which year the total product was ?1 reported at 10,248,- ■jf' 108 tons; in 1850 it ^. was 13,838,642 ; in i860 it was 19,083,- 896 ; in 1870 it was 27,316,048, and in 1875 the scarcely larger sura of 27,873,600 tons. Of this amount New York produced nearly one-fifth (namely, 4,900,000 tons), and Pennsylvania 2,400,000, or about half that quantity. Illinois statittieiof came second in rank, with 3,050,000 tons. Ohio and Iowa each P'oducHon- raised nearly 2,000,000 tons ; while Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin each raised over 1,000,000 tons. The rest was distributed throughout the North and West. With the exception of wheat and corn, there are no crops in this country which equal hay in value; although in 1875 wheat threatened to step from the third to the second rank as regards value, where it was already in point of acreage, as will be seen HORSE-RAKE. by the following comparison : — •.■;.■.! ' \' ... \\ • .874. 1875. • f '..'...tt )- ACREAGE. VALUE. ACRBAGB. VALUE. Corn . ,. i- . Wheat. Hay ... . 4434 >. 37 1 26,381,512 23.507.964 #555.445.930 294,580,990 342,203,445 49.033.364 27,627,021 25,282,797 JS475,49i."o 300,259,300 300,901,253 I03 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY i n CHAPTER IX. MINOR CROPS. BARLEY grows wild in Sicily, Asia, and the United States, but is among the very earliest cultivated cereals of the world. In this country there g are two varieties, two-rowed and foiir-rowetl ; but in Kurope a kind among the is grown which has six rows of kernels in a head, and is without oldest ^i^j, jj^yf, Qp beard, which characterizes other barley. This is t'en- cerealt. erally planted in the fall, ours in the sjjring. In remote times it was used largely for a coarse bread, and is now used to some extent abroad for feeding horses. Its principal use at the present time is for malt ; and, as our crops are not sufficient for our needs, we are obliged to import in addition to our own yield. Barley was sown by Gosnold on Elizabeth Islands, Mass., in 1602, and by the Jamestown settlers in Virginia in 161 1; but in the latter region it soon Cultivation gave jjlace to tobacco-culture. Good crops of it were raised in bycoioniitt. Massachusetts in 1630. Small samples were sent out from the Dutch colony of New Netherlands in 1626. In 1796 it was Rhode Island's principal crop. It never gained a very extensive foothold in this country, and its culture has been chiefly in those States which give the most attention to grains. In 1840 we raised 4,161,504 bushels : in 1850 the amount returned was 5,167,015. The census of i860 stated the total yield at 15,825,898, and that of 1870 at 29,761,305 bushels. From the table of minor crops appended to this chapter, it will be seen that California is the leading producer of this grain, with New York second, and the grain States of the North-West following closely. Of all the grains, the oat most nearly resembles grass in appearance. There is but one principal variety, — the common oat, which is thought to have originated in Mesopotamia. It grows in cold climates and sterile soils, and is highly prized in Northern Europe as an article of human food, being used in the form of meal for porridge and small cakes, and as grits, or groats, for gruel. In this country, however, it is principally used as horse-feed. The straw is regarded as good fodder for milch-cows. The crop is generally regarded as an exhausting one. Oata. OF THE UNITED STATES. 10$ wild oati. A wild oat seems to he indigenous to California, whce hundreds of thou- sands of acres are covered with it. The Indians gather it, and use it as any other seed. Karly travellers used to call it pin-grass. The culti- vated variety was introduced into this country liy Oosnold in 1602, .ind it attained a much more extensive culture than either barley or rye. Of late years the Department of Agriculture has done much to disseminate choice varieties of seed for experiment, as also of barley. The census- statiitict o( returns of 1840 put the total product of the country at 123,071,- p«"o«>uc»»on. 541 bushels: in 1850 it had increased to 146,584,179, in i860 to 172,643,- 185, and in 1870 to 282,107,157 bushels. Its distribution is more largely ill the central and Ohio-valley sections of the Northern States. As will be >een from the table appemled to this chapter, the last census showed Illinois to be the leading i)roducer, with Pennsylvania second. New York a close third, and the Western grain States next in order. Our oat-crop is almost entirely consumed at home, and the exports are very light. THKESIIBK, iiUI'AKATOK, AND CLBANIR. Rya. Rye ranks next to wheat, among the grains, as an article of human diet in this country. In ancient Britain they were planted together. It grows on sterile soils in high latitudes, and is not only the prevailing grain of Northern Europe, but is also prevalent in the colder parts of the United States. In bread-making, rye-flour is usually mixed with In- dian-meal ; and the product is still very popular, though old-fashioned, with the rural classes of New England. The grain is largely used, also, for the distillation of whiskey ; and the straw is preferred above all others for stuffing beds. There are several varieties of it ; and, like wheat, it is planted both in the fall and spring. It was used in this country as early as 1648, perhaps 1630; and in 1796 no less thin 50,614 barrels of rye-meal, representing five times as many bush- 104 INDUSTRIAL I/IS TORY Buckwheat. els of grain, were exported from Philadelphia alone. In 1801 the total export from the whole country was hut 392,276 bushels. Its «:ultivation spread pretty incrcai* of generally over the Northern States. IJeing well adapted to sterile cultivation, jjoils, and not very exhaustive, it has retained a good foothold in the Kast. Wheat so largely supplanted it, however, that the increase in the crop has been very gradual, no real headway having been made at all for nearly forty years. Thus the total product in 1840 was 18,645,567 bushels; in 1850 it had statiiticiof fallen to 14,188,813; in i860 it had risen to 21,101,380; but in production. 1870 it was down to 16,918,793, at which time Pennsylvania was the largest jjroducer. New York second, and Illinois third. It .still has a good show in New Ilngland, but is more largely cultivated in the Western grain States. Our total jjroduct is not consumed at home, and there is a slight export of it to Kurope. Buckwheat, like rye, is generally a secondary crop in this country. In some j)laces it is grown simply for the honey it gives the bees. The grain is used chiefly in flour, for pancakes. It was broui'ht to this country by the Dutch West-India Company, and sown on Manhattan Island for horse-feed. The Swedes also cultivateil it in Early hii- New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It has been grown chiefly for ♦•"y- home-consumption, and the extension of the volume of the cro|> has been very slow. The (piantity raised in 1840 was returned at 7,291,743 bushels; in 1850 it was 8,956,912; in i860 it was 17,571,818; but in 1870 only 9,821,721, of which New York and I'ennsylvania raised fully two-thirds, the former rather more than the latter. The rest was pretty evenly distributed among the Northern States. Pease and beans have been grown in moderate quantity in this countr}- both for the table and for cattle-fodder. Gosnold planted them in 1602, and Peaie and (he Dutch raised them in 1 644 ; but it is known that the natives beam. cultivated them before the white settlers did. On the South-Atlan- tic coast they soon became popular, and from those colonies were exported in moderate quantities before the Revolution. Thus North Carolina exported 10,000 bushels in 1753; South Carolina, 9,162 in 1754; and Savannah, 400 in 1755. The total exports of the two for twenty years prior to 181 7 averaged 90,000 bushels. In 1850 the total product of the country was 9,219,901 bushels; in i860 it was 15,061,995 ; but by 1870, like several of the minor grain-crops, it fell off again, the census-returns being 5,746,027. The two kinds of potatoes, Irish and sweet, are said to have originated in this country, although the fact is not established ; and the two varieties are somewhat confused in, early accounts. It is said that Raleigh took back the potato to England in 1586; and the Spaniards are said to have found the people of Quito eating a tuber, which answers the descrip- tion of the sweet-potato, thirty or forty years before ; and by these explorers Potatoes. OF THE UNITED STATES. ««l fOTAT(>t)l«;iN0 rLOUCH. the plant was introduced to Kiirope, l)ecoming very pf)pular in Spain, France, ami Italy, and even going to Asia. The ciiltiirt- of the swcct-|)otato has been tinifincd principally to the Southern States of lliis country, though it has been f^rown extensively in New Jersey, and even in l^ght loamy soils near Moston. riif Irish j)otato, however, which is by far the most abundant, is mostly con- fined to the North- ern States, from New l!ngland westward. Neither kind attained much prominence until about the mid- dle of the last cen- lury, when we began to make some slight exports, and have (untinued to do so to the present ilay. Among our exports of vegetable food-stufls, the potato ranks next to wheat and corn. Owin^ to the effects of wet weather, dry-rot, the i>otato-fly, and of late years the Colorado beeUe, this crop has fluctuated largely. The census of 1840 re- turned 108,398,060 bushels of both kinds of potatoes as the American product; in 1850 it h.id fallen off to 104,056,044, owing to disease. In i860 we raised 111,148,867 bushels of Irish potatoes, and 43,095,036 of sweet. In 1870 we produced 143.337.473 of the for- mer, and 31,709,824 of the latter. In 1874 the crop of Irish potatoes was 166,000,000 bushels ; but the consecpient low prices, and the depredations of the potato-bug, cut the crop of 1875 ilown to 125,000,000. The distribution of the crop of 1870 is shown in the table a|)pen(led to this chapter. Although hops grow wild in this country in some of the I-'astern States and in the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, the first ones cultivated in America were from imported roots. Tliey were grown for home-use in Massachusetts in 1638 or 1639, in New York in 1646, and in Virginia in 1648; their culture being encouraged by governmental bounties in the last-named colony in 1657. This branch of industry, however, grew slowly, as the careless modes of picking and packing practised in America N])oiled our market. But, at the close of the last century, the present system of baling was resorted to ; and subsequendy something like a careful inspec- tion and sorting was adopted. In 1806 Massachusetts created an office called Inspector-General of Hops. The development of hop-growing has been con- fined chiefly to the last two or three decades. In 1840 we produced 1,238,- 503 pounds; in 1850, 3,497,029; in i860, 10,991,996, of which New- York State raised more than nine-tenths ; and in 1 8 70 the product had increased to Statlitict. Hop*. io6 1^•D us TRIAL HIS TOJi V 25,456,669 pounds. A heavy export-demand between 1850 and i860 rather stimulated the production ; though the inauguration of the system of stretching wires from j)ole to pole, instead of using isolated poles, by Thomas D. Ayls- worth of Herkimer County, New York, and other causes, seemed to confine the industry chiefly to that State. During the latter part of the next decade the crop in the East fared poorly three or four years in succession ; and this gave the Wisconsin farmers a chance, which they handsomely im- proved. In 1870 New York produceil only two-thirds of the total yield, and Wis- consin nearly one- fifth : the rest was distributed among the Northern States. At- tempts have been made recently to cul- tivate hops in the ' Southern States, but with little success. In California, however, the hop-crop is beginning to assume prominence, both for quantity and quality ; the price being the highest of any hops raised in America. Our exportation has been very uneven. American hops are rather stronger and ranker than those of England and Bavaria, and are not sought for, except Export of when the crops in Europe are short. Thus in 1855 we exported hop*. a trifle over four million pounds, whereas during no previous ye.nr had we exported much more than a quarter of a million pounds. In 1856 the export was but a trifle over a million, and in 1857 a trifle under a million. During the next twenty years the crop gradually reached and passed the figures of 1855. In 1875 we exported 5,331,950, and in 1876 nearly 9,000,000 pounds. Flax, the fibre from which linen is made, grows wild in nearly all countries of the globe, but was probably cultivated first in Egypt. It is very largely grown in the north of Europe ; Russia, Belgium, and Ireland having a wide reputation for the quantity and quality of their product. The plant has other uses too. Its seed yields a valuable oil for painting and burning, — namely, the linseed-oil ; and the refuse oil-cake, as also the ground meal, ere highly prized as fodder for cattle. The seed is used roDDBR-CUTTEK. Flax. OF TI/E UNITED STATES. 107 Hemp. medicinally, and in several other exceedingly useful ways. It was first grown in the New Netherlands, or New York, in this country, in 1626, in Massa- chusetts in 1629, and in Virginia before 1648. The British Parliament offered bounties for its culture by the patentees of Georgia in 1 733, 1 743, and 1 749. I'ennsylvania raised a sufficient crop to export 70,000 bushels of flaxseed in 1752, and by 1771 had increased the amount to 110,41'. Prior to and immediately after the Revolution, flax was prized more highly relatively than now, because cotton had not yet been utilized ; and the colonists prepared, spun, and wove the fibre in almost every household. Hemp, a different though similar plant, producing a coarser fibre, used (hiefly for cordage, had a parallel hiiitory to that of flax in the early days of tliis country. Seed was brought to Plymouth Colony, and planted, as early as 1629. Bounties were offered for its culture by Virginia .md Penns' ania ; but in the former tobacco was found to be more profita- ble, and soon supplanted hemp almost altogether. New Jersey gave great attention to hemp previous to the Revolution. Afterwards both flax and licnip were prominent in the crops of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri, which, between twenty-five and fifty years ago, were the leading producers in the United States, although other Northern and the Eastern States continued to raise them both in small (juantities. Inasmuch as our i)ro(luct of hemp, ilax, and jute, — a coarse India fibre resembling iiemp, and used for cheap bagging, —^ h^s fallen short of our neeils, and our importation has always been large, amounting in the aggregate at the present time to a value of over thirty million dollars, the Department of Agriculture has given great attention to these plants, and greatly encouraged their culture. It was found some fifteen years ago that the India jute was being largely imported into this country for bagging ; and inasmuch as the West needed the fibre for wool and grain shipments, and the South for cotton, those sections were urgetl to cultivate the new plant. This the South has come to do with marked success, though not to any very great extent. In the West it was found that four-fifths of the tow fibre left after removing the flax was wasted ; yet it was far stronger for bagging than jute. Accordingly, the number of mills for utilizing it increased, and the waste was lessened. Since the breaking-out of the war, the fate of the flax and hemp crops has l)ecn widely different : the former has increased, while the latter has sadly declined. In 1850 our total hemp-crop amounted to 34,871 FUxand tons; by 1859' the yield had increased again to 74,493, of which •»««"?• Kentucky produced 39,409, and Missouri 19,268; but in 1870 it had fallen to 12,746 tons, of which these two States together contributed five-sixths. In 1850 the total yield of flax was 7,709,676 pounds, and 562,312 bushels of seed; in 1859' the returns were only 4,720,145 pounds of flax, and 566,867 Jute. I Cenius of i860. ■H 1 08 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ,K:S2 Ramie. bushels of seed; but in 1870 the crop was 27,133,034 pounds of flax, and Distribution 1.730.444 bushcls of seed. of minor On the opposite page we give a table showing the distribution crops. pj- jj^g niinor crops thus far treated for 1870. It is not out of place to say something here concerning the production of ramie, — a grass which is now being utilized in India.* More than seventy years ago, attention was first directed to the properties of a fibre which to many persons has since been made familiar as the material out of which the fabric known as Chinese or Indian grass-cloth is manufactured. Experiments were soon after made, under the auspices of the British Admiralty, to test the strength of this fibre ; the result of which showed, that, in whatever way the test is applied, the grass is three times stronger than the best Russian hemp, while it is also much lighter. For all the purposes for which hemp is used it was admitted to be very much superior. In consecjuence of difficulties that arose in the process of preparation, the matter remained a long time in abeyance. It was not until the last Russian war that the subject received fresh notice. International strife has often been the stimulus to new discoveries. When French ports were blockaded, and French commerce was destroyed, in the days of the first Napoleon, French physicians found a good substitute for ipecacuanha in the root of the violet. Our own civil war stimulated the production of cotton in Egypt, India, and the Pacific islands. The Russian war, cutting off the supply of flax from Western Europe, led to the increased cultivation of jute in India, and to its extended use and application ; at the same time, it turned attention anew to the Indian-grass as another substitute ; and, although it is only recently that any practical result has seemed likely, it promises now to develop into an important source of industry. In addition to the great strength of the fibre, it has a remarkable power of resistance to the influence of moisture. Compared with other fibres, it may almost be said to be indestructible. It is as fine as flax, and presents a glossy lustre more nearly resembling silk. Manufacturers give it an intermediate position between animal and vegetable fibres ; and those who have interested themselves about it appear to consider it as an equal if not superior substitute for flax, and very much superior in every respect to hemp. The chief reason why it has not been sooner brought into use lies in the difficulty that has hitherto been encountered in the preparation. Six years ago the Indian Gov- ernment offered a premium equal to twenty-five thousand dollars for the best machine for separating the fibre from the stems. This was, however, only partially successful. Only one machine was sent in, and that only partly met the requirements. At that time it was thought that only the green sterns could be operated upon ; but it has since been shown that this is a mistake. The dried stems afford a fibre equal in strength and durability, and only inferior in > This account of ramie is drawn from Tlie New- York Times, Aug, 17, 1875. 1 " 3(W ff 3 " ; • . 3'3 2. fS* 5 j %i - > M 00 C I CI ■ T* Si O 9^>0 >0 Ui W Wi \«i w» ■^ * 14 W *• OOW o* c N W Ut LH UJ H V ■ OnW «• 0\ m < 1^ I, *< 5p<> W *Q '0 »- i w i •M CT* CT»W1 O" CO^ -"^ M .#1, t^\. ■*; * "^ " w 'J ■:>\f\ u* ^o ♦ '■J\ 00«0 Ul M O M 0'\^ _P W S4 ^fc, Jo^ I ^tX M «0 * w - w -. - - ^■C 00 ot«i • vtJt 1 * * l*j M 00 ' • w ir M W M ^0 ^ ■ Si it MM.. \" ■ • M OJ ' ■ H t l#i M > . 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UI (5^>o 4k w M >0 ;ii: *^ I u» ■ 5 Ui 9> ON -4 M •* UI CT'^0 -^W*^ •-'U' H»»l (r> 1/1 Ui )0 Oi 04 Q UI Q ■■ lO W 00 •* M 01 MO O UI ijl — «0 •'J 4* ' UI i>U1 UI M <0 uj w M , UI *0 w O- -•I « ui -^ *' N b Ci ^ 'Os * 04k -* -I 5 00 00 M o> * i-SSg"" 1? 1^ C3. 11 n 6 f1 3 3 I lO INDUSTRIAL HISTORY gloss, and for these the existing machinery for flax and hemp is found to be well adapted ; so that, while the best cloth will probably be made in India, or wherever the plant is grown, the manufacture can be made to succeed wher- ever the stems are imported. It is the knowledge of this fact that has given a new impulse to the discovery. The Indian CJovernment is encouraging the cultivation on a large scale. Within the last few months a great deal of new machinery for the manufacture ha? been patented. Practical men are busily at work, and in a short time there is little doubt but that manufactured articles from this fibre will be placed upon the market. It is looked upon already as one of the most useful staples, and as likely to take the place, either as a substitute for or in combination with cotton, flax, hemp, jute, wool, or silk, and to be valuable, also, in the mar facture of paper and for other minor uses. The discovery cannot, however, be regarded as of much value to our people unless the plant can be produced here. If this cannot be done, it will be more likely to benefit the British manufacturer and Indian grower, at some cost to our own. This is, therefore, an important aspect of the question. It is not quite settled whether the Indian and the Chinese fibres are produced by exactly the same plants. If they are (which is most probable), the Chinese product has a little the advantage of the other in the market. This shows tliat either climate or cultivation has, even there, something to do with the quality of the fibre. The plant grows very freely, however, in India; and experiments on a small scale indicate that it can be made equally successfii! in Australia. It also flourishes wherever it has been tried on the coast of the Mediterranean, and sonie very fair samples of the fibre have been grown in the south of Franco. With care, it has been grown in England ; but it never can be produced there on any scale for commercial jjurposes. It is reasonable from this to conclude that there are many parts of the United States where it could be cultivated on a large scale with advantage. Its jiroduction in the South might become a new source of wealth, second only, if not superior, to cotton. It would be necessary, in the first instance, to start upon practical information, obtained in India, in regard to the best methods of cultivation. About this there fn be no difficulty ; and, whetiici- or not it be ultimately found that the soil and climate of this country arc suitable, the subject is one which eminently deserves the careful consideration of persons who arc interested in the maintenance of our manufacturing in- terests. Rice ranks nexi to wheat as the grain-food of human beings, taking the whole world into consideration, although it forms the staple of the diet of less civilized nations than the wheat-consumers. It is most commonly raised in India and China, although Ceylon and Java produce it in large quantities also. It is cultivated, too, in France, Himgary, and other parts of Europe, and in the United State.^ and South America. It is rather a tropical plant, although it grows as far north as the Ohio River ; Rice. OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill the diet most Java gary. It ivcr ; and a wild rice covers thousands of acres in the northern part of Minnesota, furnishing a very palatable food to the Indians. Though resembling wheat in the height, form, and appearance of the plant, and its harvesting and threshing, yet it usually grows in marshy lands. An upland rice is found in Maryland and Virginia, like that of Cochin ; but it yields only fifteen or twenty bushels to the acre. Rice has also been grown on the sides of the Himalayas, between three thousand and four thousand feet above the level of the sea. I'he principal growth, however, is in the swamps, and, in this country, near the rivers and sea, where, by a carefully-adjusted system of gateways, the land can be flooded or drained as occasion requires, and where from forty to sixty bushels an acre are produced. Rice was introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley in 1647, who, from half a bushel of imported seed, raised sixteen bushels of grain. South Carolina, the great rice State of this country, got its seed by Early cuiti- accident from a sailing-vessel from Madagascar in 1694. In vatiooof 1718 the Company of the West introduced it into Louisiana. """ Threshing-machines to separate the grain from tlie straw were brought hither from Scotland in 181 1: they were operated by wind-power, and cleaned five himdred bushels a day. Later, Cal- vin Emmons of New York invented a machine with toothed beaters, which cleaned from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred bushels a day. This process leaves the grain with a thin hull on ; and in this condition it is calletl " paddy," or " rough rice." Our export is chiefly in that form. To complete the work of cleaning, the rice goes tbrough another mill, between stones and under jjoiuiders like those of a (juartz-mill. Formerly rice was cleaned by hand in pitch-pine mortars holding a bushel, by means of an iron-shod pesde. Nearly every large plantation has one of the new mills for cleaning. The climax of our rice-culture was reached in the year 7850, when we raised 215,313,497 pounds, of which South Carolina is credited with 159,- 930,613 pounds, Ceorgia with 38,950,691, North Carolina with statittieaot 5,465,868, Louisiana with 4,425,349, and the other Southern production. States together with less than 7,000,000. The returns of i860, showing the KK IMin.I.KH. 112 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY crop of the previous year, gave a total of onljt 187,167,032 pounds, of which South Carolina produced 119,100,528, Georgia 52,507,652, North Carolina 7,593,976, Louisiana 6,331,257, and the other States together less than 2,000,- 000. In South Carolina all but 2,765,729 pounds were raised in Georgetown, Colleton, Charleston, and Beaufort Counties, the first-named yielding nearly half of the whole. Nine-tenths of Georgia's yield that year was confined to Chatham, Camden, Mcintosh, and Glynn Counties, the first-named producing full half of the whole. In 1870 the total crop of the country was scarcely a third of what it was twenty years before. It was returned at 73,635,001 pounds, of which quantity South Carolina produced 32,304,825, — less than half, instead of three-quarters of the whole, as in 1850, — Georgia 22,277,380, Louisiana 15,854,012, North Carolina but 2,059,281, and the other States less than 1,000,000 pounds. The effect of the war was to nearly annihilate this industry, labor being Effect of war demoralized, the dams, gates, and mills getting sadly out of repair, upon this and the rice-fields growing up with weeds. Since the war the in uitry. recuperation has been slow, but sure ; the negroes coming to take a proprietary interest in the culture, and Louisiana doing much to extend and develop this branch of agriculture. Prior to the war we exported from a third to a half of our crop, the aver- age for 1850-60 being 60,000,000 pounds a year, valued at nearly |2,ooo,ooo. Export! and During and since the war we imported to nearly the same extent, imports. u^til about 1 8 70, when the increased home-production cut down the imports very perceptibly. Before concluding this chapter, a word or two is needed in respect to the cultivation of that luscious fruit, the orange. In Florida Nature pro- duces this fruit in greatest perfection, and within a few years the cultivation of oranges there has rapidly developed. It is said that almost everybody in the St. John's River country is engaged in trying to raise the golden fruit. Very few groves are in bearing ; indeed, it has been asserted, upon good authority, that between Jacksonville and Enterprise, a distance of two hundred miles, there are only about two hundred acres of producing trees : but the large profits realized from the old groves has in- duced the settlers to stake every thing upon the venture of rearing orchards of their own. Nine men out of ten are nursing young orchards, and waiting impatiently for them to yield some return for the money and time expended. It takes from six to ten years to bring an orange-tree to bearing. The cost of making a grove is very heavy. In the first place, the land, if on the river, is held at fancy prices. Comparatively little of it is adapted for orange- culture, and a good site commands from a hundred dollars to two hundred dollars an acre in its wild state. To clear off the heavy growth of timber, and get the stumps out, costs from fifty dollars to a hundred dollars an acre more. Then the young trees for planting are worth from thirty-five cents to a Orangea. OF THE UNITED STATES. 113 dollar apiece, and at least fifty dollars an acre must be spent before the grove is planted. Afterward it requires a yearly expenditure of about fifty cents a tree, or fifty dollars an acre, to keep the growing orchard in good condition ; for the orange-tree is like a tender child, and requires constant petting, nurs- ing, and doctoring to make it thrive. By the time the settler has paid for nis land, started a grove of five acres, and built himself a house, he has spent six thousand or seven thousand dollars at least. The interest on his money, the constant expense for the care of his trees, and the support of his family, will bring his first investment up to a large figure by the time he begins to sell oranges. Still, if he has the money and the patience to remain, and the frost does not kill his trees, he will, in the end, realize a handsome competency. A grove of trees in full bearing is an independent fortune. An old tree produces from a thousand to two thousand oranges a year, when there is no failure of the crop ; and the fruit sells from a cent and a half to three cents apiece at the grove. The prospect of getting twenty dollars a year from a tree is very fasci- nating. Counting a hundred trees to the acre, a very small amount of land can at this rate be made the source of a fortune. There are other sides to this picture not so pleasant to contemplate ; yet let these not be seen while tlic reader longs for the sweet groves and the still more delicate and healthful fruit. XI4 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY CHAPTER X. NEAT-CATTLE. THE histor)' of ncat-cattlc raising in this countr)' naturally divides itself into the two epochs wiien we bred only native < attle, and when we began the improvement of our stock by the importation of foreign breeds. In England, the country which has given more attention than any other to Native the improvement of this class of live-stock, comparatively little cattle. scientific breeding to develop special characteristics was practised until a hundred and fifty years ago ; and none worth mentioning was under- taken in the United States until after the Revolution. The cattle which are commonly termed " native cattle " in this country are the product of an indiscriminate mixture of several varieties of foreign cattle, — two or three not very distinct British breeds, Swedish, Dutch, French, and Spanish; and so thoroughly have these original importations been crossed and intermingled, so poorly pronounced were the characteristics of the parent stock, and so modi- fied were such characteristics, not only by cross-breeding, but also by the hardships of the climate and their owners' neglect in the early colonial days, that our native cattle have come to be a distinct breed by themselves. The first cattle in Massachusetts were the heifers and a bull iirought thither in 1624 by Gov. F^dward W'inslow. Twelve more cows were brought to Cape „, Ann in 1626, thirty more in 1620, and a hundred in i6?o. These tationito last wcrc kept at Salem, antl were for the "governor and com- pany of Massachusetts Hay." The stock bred from the impor- tation of 1624 was divided u]) among the colonists three years later. The breed of these cattle is not known ; but they are spoken of as black, white, and brindle. Several importations of cattle were made by Capt. John Mason into New Hampshire in 1631-33 ; and, as he carried on consid- erable trade with Denmark, his cattle were mostly Danish. They were large, well adapted for working in the yoke, and of a uniformly yellow color. Some of the breed were kept pure until 1820; and, though they were crossed more or less with other stock, they gave a prevailing cast to most early New- England cattle. Connecticut obtained her first cattle from Massachusetts, tliough perhaps a few from New York, and a few by direct importation. New England OF THE UNITED STATES. "5 hither Cape These coiii- impor- years of as Capt. ;onsid- ; large, Some 1 more New- lusetts, The first cattle brought to New York were imported by I'ieter Evertsen Iluist, vmder the auspices of the Dutch West-India Company, in 1625. 'I'iiese came from the Island of Texel, off Holland, and were _ , , l)lack-and-white Dutch cattle. The Swedes, settling in Delaware, portationa brouL'ht cattle from their mother-country : and the Dutch in New *f ^T^„, ° •' York, Vlr- Jersey got their stock from New York, where, in 1627, a milch ginia, and ( o\v was worth thirty pounds, and a pair of working-oxen forty °*''"' colonldf pounds. William Penn encouraged the importation and breeding of ( attle on liis purchase at an early date. Virginia had cattle of her own in 16 10, brought from the West Indies, where their killing was legally prohib- ited, by Sir Ralph Lane. The next year a hundred head were imported from Devonshire and Hertfordshire, luig. In 1620 there were five hundred licad in Virginia, and most of them were bigger than the ])arent stock. Maryland probably obtained most of her cattle from Virginia at first. The first importations into South Carolina were from iMigland in 1670; but Ceor- gia, a much younger colony, had none until 1732. Colunil)us had brouglit cattle to the West Indies in 1493, which, with later importations, were of Spanisii breeds. These were largely introduced into Mexico, and form the basis of our present Texan stock. From importa- thcse, doul)tless, were derived the cattle which the Indians on Red tioniby River are known to have had in 1690. The Portuguese landed °'"'"''ua. tattle on the Island of Newfoundland in 1553 ; but no trace exists of them now. The French brought Norman < attic into /Xcadia in 1604, and into C!anada in 1608. These were small, ^'cntle stock ; and several animals of this breed were introduced into the " .\merican bottom " in Illinois in 16S2, where they increased rajjidly. Cattle at first multiplied very fast in this country. Gov. Hutchinson of Massachuietts says, that, in 1632, no farmer was satisfied to do without a cow ; and there was in New P^ngland not only a domestic but an ex])ort ilrmand for the West Rapjj indies, which led to increase of 1. reeding for sale. But """' the market was soon overstocked, and the price of cattle went down from fifteen and twenty pounds to five pounds ; and milk was a penny a quart. Virginia is known to have had a somewhat similar experience ; for in 1639 she had 30,000 head of neat-cattle, FODDER-CUTTER. ii6 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Poor care taken ol them in the beginning. and only 30,000 ten years later. Maryland liad so many, notwithstanding a loss of 25,000 by pestilence, in 1O94 and 1695, that there was left a great |)lenty. Just before the Revolution, the cattle of the Carolinas and (ieurgia, rather small and neglected, were so plenty, that they were driven up to Pennsyl- vania to fatten for the butchers, and sold theic for one and two guineas ajjiece. During the first twenty-five or fifty years of our colonial history, very little shelter or care was taken of the cattle in the winter time. The cows were not milked, there being a common belief that it would kill them at that season. No stables were built for them, especially in the Middle and South .Atlantic States ; and they wandered at large. No special fodder was given them, either ; and they were obliged to pick up what they could on the roadsides anil in the fieUls. Many a farmer lost twenty or thirty herd from neglect every spring ; and it is a mutter of record that ten thousand head of cattle diel in South Carolina, in the year 1 73 1, simply from hunger and cold. From this same cause, pestilence, or the gradual decline of breeding, a scarcity was again noticeable in New Jersey and New Kngland along toward 1 700. The principal value attached to cattle for a long period of our colonial uistory was for their hides. The several assemblies enacted laws to encourage Hid th '''*^ tanning of leather, to prohibit its importation, and even regulate principal the shoemaking business. Farmers u.sed to take their hides to a currier, have them tanned and returned, an fatten wc cliiefly knowr others. The in color, ver adajjted to a the richness name in the I: like the Alder and piebald, : cers. The Fn or less of a re of Spain, are r have not been I'robably t ported and br numerous in t more common horns importer 1 793. and to \ took some of in the blue-gra: Lexington, Ky breed; and C; From these pui and the two w in this century stock-raising A tucky's examp sional importat formed in the was %,2oo, all were brought t( sold. Prices r:* animal would amount dividec Hill: OF THE UNITED STATES, U| Durham. Alderney. Jertey. Ayrihire. in England. Among the most prominent breeds that were then and have .since been known there was the Durham, or sliort-horn. As the name inijjlies, the horns are short ; while the body looks very nearly siiuare-cornered from the side, if one omits legs and head ; and a hitle colored a dark-red piebald. They run heavily to b(.cf, for which they are chiefly prized ; though special families have shown good dairy (jualities. They need pretty good pasturage, however. The Devons arc red, shapely, with medium-sized horns, a soft mellow hide, a tendency to fatten well, and a marked adaptation to work. The (".alloways are ( liicfly known by their lack of horns, and are not so highly prized as some others. The Alderneys are light-red or yellow mixed with white in <'olor, very dainty and graceful in shape, lightly built, well adapted to a thin pasturage, poor beef-producers and workers, but noted for tlie richness of their milk. The Jerseys, from the island of that name in the British Channel, are small, and of Norman extraction like the Alderneys, they are greatly prized by dairymen. The Ayrshires, roan and piebald, are also highly esteemed as milk and butter produ- cers. The French, Hungarian, Swiss, and Italian cattle have more or less of a reputation on the Continent, but, like the Andalusian fighting-bulls of Spain, are not so valuable for industrial purposes as the PLnglish stock, and have not been imported at all by American stock-raisers. I'robably the short-horns, or Durhams, have been more extensively im- ported and bred with native stock than any other foreign breed ; but, while numerous in the Eastern and Middle Atlantic States, they are far _ . ' ■' Durham! more common in the Ohio Valley. Almost the first pure short- moitexten> horns imported were those brought to Virginia by a Mr. Miller in "'veiy im- 1 793, and to Maryland by Mr. Gough the same year. Mr. Patton took some of these cattle to Kentucky in 1797, and they were widely known in the blue-grass region as "Patton stock." In 181 7 Col. Lewis Sanders of Lexington, Ky., imported three bulls and three heifers of the short-horn breed ; and Capt. Smith soon had another bull and heifer of the same sort. From these pure stock was derived, and crosses made with the Patton stock ; and the two were the parentage of the choicest Kentucky breeds. Very early in this century that section of ihe country gave great attention to stock-raising for the Eastern market, and Ohio followed Ken- tucky's example in improving her stock. Individuals made occa- sional importations prior to 1834, in which year a company was formed in the Scioto Valley for this especial purpose. The .imount subscribed was ;^9,2oo, all of which was invested abroad in pure short-horns. The cattle were brought to the company's farm, and used at first for breeding, and then sold. Prices ran everywhere from %2'^Q to ^2,500 ; and very often the same animal would be sold again in a short time at a decided advance. The amount divided by the company three years after organization was 1^25,760. Attention paid to sub- ject in Ken> tucky. ^^y ii8 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ■ ii III This plan was imitated afterwards in Kentucky and other sections of the conn- try. Short-horns were Ijroii^ht into Westchester County, New York, as early as 1793 and 1796. The breed was not kept pure long, tliouglitheir descend- ants are recognizable to-day. Other importations were made into New York in 1815, 1.S16, and 1822, and still others more recently. In 1824 Mr. Powell of I'hikidelphia commenced importing short-horns, and continued to breed and sell them extensively for many years. In 1818 a short-horn bull, "Ctelebs," and a heifer, " Flora," were introduced into Massachusetts by Mr. Coolidge, and sold to Col. S;xmiiel Jatpies of Sor.ierville in 1820. Selecting particularly fme native cows, Col. Jaques effected a cross with this bull, and developed a breed long kept pure, and called " Cream- Pots." Col. jaquet'i 'I'hey gave extraordinarily rich milk. Col. Jatjues thus describes experiment!. .,„ experiment made with the milk of one of his cows by the fore- man of his stock-(;irm : ".After milking he took two quarts of her milk out of the pail, strained it into a pan, and allowed it to stand twenty-four hours. Having then skimmed the cream into a bowl, he churned it with a spoon ; and in one minute, by the clock, he formed the butter. It was then pressed and worked in the usual way, and amounted to half a pound of pure butter. After this, the following practice was pursued for eight or ten weeks in succession : At each of four successive milkings two quarts of the strippings were strained into a pan, and then churned. The average time of churning did not exceed ten minutes : in some instances the buttc" was formed in five minutes. After being properly worked over it was wei^' t*''. and it never fell short of two pounds." Stephen Williams of Northborough, Mass., imported a fine short-horn bull in 18 18, which became the sire of much grade stock. Other short-horns were taken into that State in 1820. The breed like luxuriant pasturage, and have never proved very popular in New Kngland. t « n Since 1840 short-horns have been imported in even greater of ihort- numbers than ever before, and so numerously that specific men- tion is unnecessary. In 181 7 the Hon. Henry Clay of Kentucky attempted to introduce the Hereford stock into that State. They yield less beef, but require Henry '^^^ pasturage than short-horns, and are poorly adapted to the Clay's im- dairy. The enterprise never succeeded very well, and the stock portat one. ^^^ ^^^ ]fjQ^\. pure very long. Admiral Coffin presented a Here- ford bull to the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture in 1824. The animal was kept at Northampton, and left a numerous progeny. Five bulls and seventeen cows and heifers were imported by Messrs. Corning & Lotham of Albany in 1840. Other importations were added to this herd later. Animals of this breed have been introduced elsewhere j but they have never attained any marked prominence or popularity. ■ m' ■' • - . ■ Stephen WiUiami't importa- tioni. horn* since 1B40. OF THE UNITED STATES. 1x9 The Devons have hecn brought here and bred more numerously. The impression that the native Ncw-Kiiyland stock is of Devon extraction seems to he due to the f^ict that it is mostly red, and not to the possession importation of real Devon traits. Ihe Massachusetts Society for Promoting "' D'vom. Ajjriiiilture has imported some North Devons within the past thirty years; but wliilc iiandsome animals, good gra/icrs, and fine working-cattle, they have not -.hown the dairy (lualilies t9 23,820,608 30,216,900 \ ll \ , 11 !i li 132 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY From this it will be seen, that, between i860 and 1870, there was a slight falling-off in the total number, although the dairj'-interest held its own. The Increase in ^^'^'^ ^^ chiefly in the States where the civil war raged. Mean- number in time, in the other sections, there was a slight increase in the aver- recent years, ^g^ weight. Since 1870 there has been a marked increase in numbers, the proportion bf.ing rather higher in milch cows than in other cattle. At the present time. New York has the largest number of cows, — 1,526,200;' Pennsylvania comes next, with 845,300; Illinois, 724,900; Ohio, 700,000; Iowa, 665,300; and Texas just above, and Wisconsin just below, 500,000. Of other cattle, Texas has altogether the most, — 3,390,500 ; Illinois ranks second, with 1,287,000 ; California, which has rather dropped the dairy- interest she took up twenty years ago, and gone to beef-raising, comes next, with 1,053,500; Iowa has 958,800; Missouri, 846,300; Ohio, 775,000; Indiana, 764,000; Pennsylvania, 701,000; and New York, 663,200. Kansas is the only other having over 500,000. As they stand, our cows are worth ^27.32 apiece on the average, or ^[307,- Vaiueof 743.211 in all ; the other neat-cattle are reckoned at %\i.\o each, neat-cattle, qj. $307,105,386 : making a total capital, invested in this class of live-stock, of $6 14,848,59 7.' As will be seen from our chapt-/ on the dairy-interest, our products in that department amount annually to $211,000,000. It is estimated that the average number of beeves killed between 1870 and 1875 in this country was at least 5,000,000 annually. Butchers estimate that beeves average 1,000 Value of dai- pounds live Weight, and that >i\\Qfivc *'^^* '" October, 1875, the shipments of fresh beef amounted value of to 36,000 pounds; the next October they aggregated 2,719,685 .hipments. po^^ds . ^hile for the month of March, 1877, they were 6,707,855 pounds. For the year ending Dec. 31, 1877, they were 55,362,793 pounds, valued at $5,244,668.' Following up their success in this line, stock-dealers have also undertaken the shipment of live cattle to Europe ; and it is thought the experiment will Export of prove a success. Prior to the v. inter of 1877 beef-cattle had not live-stock. \)Q^f^xi shipped to foreign countries from the United States on account of the expense, the risk incurred, and the monopoly of the Eastern markets by European stock-raisers. Canada, however, has been exporting live- stock to the mother-country for some time, and with such success, that New- York and Philadelphia merchants are now trying the experiment. The ship- ment of live-stock across the ocean has made necessary the construction of apartments on vessels c}uite different from any thing heretofore in use. Porta- ble stalls, in which the cattle are fastened, have been specially made, so arranged as to give room for eating and drinking, and to be movable, with the cattle in them, to different parts of the vessel. The stock is thus brought upon deck for several hours each day, and given the benefit of the fresh sea- air. The new arrangement is strictly an American invention, and its friends I If to these figures one adds $3,847,447, the value of salted beef, $4,S37>4Ss for butter, $i3,ss9,V78 for cheese, $133,343 for condensed milk, $1,848,555 for hides, $6,513,569 for tallow, and $19,356 for glue, he will (nd that our bovine product exports amount to about $35,000,000 annually. - - ^ — . , OF THE UNITED STATES. "5 are confident that its introduction will open Europe and every part of the globe as a market for the stock-raisers of America. While science has thus triumphed in transporting fresh meats for a long distance, it has also won another victory in preserving them for a very long period, and in so compact a form as to be easily transported all over the world, tliii;; economizing vastly the sources of supply ; inasmuch as thou- compressed sands of cattle were formerly slaughtered in South America, Aus- ">"ts. tralia, and Texas, for their horns, hides, and tallow, while their flesh was lost, because no way was known of preserving it. This problem of keeping meat for a long time is an old one among scientists, and Professor Liebig's "extract of beef" has been followed by numerous imitations. The chief objection to Liebig's '"extract of beef" and its imitations has been, that it could be used only in liquid form. It is only recently that the preservation of solid meats has been possible. A New- York company has a uniijue process lor this purpose. The beef, or other meat, is first dried by a patent blowing and steam-evaporating process, after the removal of all bone, and fatty or gristly substances. It is then packed in extremely thin slices, which will retain tlu-ir good (jualities for an unlimited period in any climate. In fiict, nothing remains in the meats that can decay, h. cjuarter of a pound of it is equal to a pound of solid meat. I'he manufacture of compressed cooked meats is a new industry in this country. It began two years ago, and has now assumed almost gigantic pro- {jortions. England has received cooked meats from .\ustralia for twenty years ; but the process there differs greatly from the American method, m^f^^ ^f 'I'he American meats, however, bring better prices in P^ngland manuUc- to-day, and bid fair to outstrip all foreign articles. .About 750,000 '"'"' cans per month are produced by the two .American houses, and from 3,000 to 4,000 cattle per weelc are slaughtered in Chicago for this purpose. For the ( anning of corned-beef and beef-tongues only the best materials are selected, tough and stringy parts being discarded. The Western States naturally lead tlie way in this industry, as they are nearer the main sources of supply and the fertile grazing-lands of the North-West. The live animals are brought to Cliicago, and, after inspection, are slaughtered in the abattoirs of the company. The carcasses are cut into the recpiired weight, and the bone, sinew, and gristle eliminated. After another inspection, the meats are ready for the curing ])rocess. The best portions of the meat are exposed to the action of steam in imiTiense wooden vats. Metal vats would be very undesirable, on account of the liability to mineral poisoning. The beef is then packed in strong tin (ans of various sizes, containing two, four, six, and fourteen pounds each. They are hermetically sealed, and the contents will keep pure and fresh in any climate for many years. They have none of that musty flavor which was for- merly inseparable from canned meats, and retain their flavor a long time after being removed from their metallic envelops. The Australian method of can- 126 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ning differs from the American in this, that the former cooks the meat whole in cans, while the latter cooks it in small pieces in wooden vats, as already described. The Australian cans often present a peculiar appearance after the cooling process, as the sides are sometimes contracted, and look as if they had ueen subjected to pressure. The extent of the American industry is also si own in the number of employees, the salaries, &c., of a Chicago firm. In one establishment 7,000 men and 150 girls are employed, and the pay-roll is $30,000 a month. The floor of the packing-house covers four acres. The refrigerator will accommodate 3,330,000 pounds. Five boilers, with a capacity of 80,000 pounds, are used for rendering callow from marrow, and five for furnishing steam for cooking and the elevators. Cooked meats by the Australian method have been known in America for twenty years ; but the process is very imperfect. Owing to its inferiority, the sales of those meats have been poor. The demand for compressed cooked Export of meats, on the contraiy, has been so great, that there is a prospec- compressed tive business with governments in supplying them with this article, meats. j^ j^ hoped that something may be accomplisiicd in the way of supplying the European belligerents. Large invoices are now sent to London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Iklfast, \:c. Clermany and France do not buy them as readily yet as Great Britain ; but the promise is good of a large trade eventu- ally in those countries. "The London Grocer" stated recently, that, during one week, 11,270 cases of packed meat were received at Liverpool from America. F2ach case contained twelve cans, making a total of 135,240 cans. This, however, is an average estimate, as one house in this country has fre- quently sent out 20,000 cases per week. ^-»f .;-<•;■ ., OF THE UNITED STATES. 127 CHAPTER XI. BUTTER AND CHEESE. THE history of American dairying was a comparatively quiet and unevent- ful one until the middle of the present century, and progress was com- paratively slow in its development until about that time. As we have already remarked in discussing neat-cattle, our stock was of poor quality 8,^^ iliiring the last century, and its improvement not fairly inaugurated resiinbe- until 1825-50. The earlier efforts at improvement, too, were *'""'"«• direct'^d rather to the perfection of our beef than to increase the quantity and (juality of the milk. The importations of foreign breeds were mostly of short- horns until 1850. A little before t'l.it time the importation of Ayrshires, jerseys, and Alderneys, was undertak .. During the next decade the dairy- interest was confined mostly to New England and the Middle States, with a little activity in the North-West. Not until the conception of the modern cheese-factory system, and the demonstration of its marked success, did the West give much attention to the subject. Cheese is altogether the older of the two sister-products of the dairy ; and its first manufacture, more or less crude, began away back in the obscure past. It was a recognized article of food with the Greeks and early Romans, to whom butter was known only as an ointment for the toilet, not as an article of diet. Even yet, in many parts of Europe, butter is sold by apothecaries as a vegetable oil for medicinal preparations, though not used exclusively for such purposes by any means. Unsalted butter, too, is used to a great extent by Europeans. The practice of salting it — doubtless intended originally for preservintr it, but afterwards resorted to for the taste — seems to be more of an English and American custom. Partly from the nature of the two preparations, ami jiartly because of the greater attention given to cheese-making, this article is found in far greater variety in Europe tlian is butter ; and many of the delicate and peculiar varieties of foreign cheese have been unequalled by any American product for flavor, whereas no butter in the world surpasses that of our dairies. Until about 1830 cheese was made in this country by the farmers exclu- Cheese. 128 INDUSTRIAL li STOR'^ cheeie- making. sively, and generally in their own farmhouses, in small quantities. The Early hiito- cheeses were taken to the neighboring village or town, and cx- ry of cheeie- changed for groceries or dry-goods, without any thought of tiie mak ng. trade with large cities, or the export business. If, in the course of the season, the housewife made more than a dozen cheeses of thirty or forty pounds each, she thouglu she was doing unusually well. However, the Firtt expor- demand for this product continually increased among the workinf;- tation. classes at home and abroad ; and our export trade, chiefly witli England, began as early as 1 790. Along toward 1830 the i)rofits to be realized from cheese-making, whicli Proereiiin "^^^ more remunerative than any other branch of agriculture in the Middle and Kastern States, began to be realized. In Herkimer County, New York, a change began to take place in the methods of manufacture which had been formerly in use. The herds had been milked in the open yards, the curds were worked in tubs, the cheeses squeezed in rude log-presses, and laid away to cure in a corner of the cellar or of some " spare room." Hut now more sys- tem was employed ; and apartments, antl even sepa- rate buildings, were con- structed on the farm express- ly for this work. \ contribu- tor to " Harpers' Magazine " says of this stage of the in- dustry's development, — "The face of the county CHURN ~ " (Herkimer) became dotted with dairy-houses as with corn-cribo. These were, for the most part, simple, unpretentious one-story Herkimer Structures, distinguished from the other out-buildings by closely- County. battened cracks and protruding stovepipe. The apparatus was simple and rude, and the system of unnfacture a family's secret, imparted with vvise looks and an oracular phras( , Skill was vested in intuition : it was the maiden's dower, the matron's pride. ... It was during this period of severe application and large rewards that Herkimer County achieved that reputation for fancy cheese which is still her traditional right." Cheese prod- •^" '^^* °f ^^ distribution of the cheese-production at the uct prior to end of twenty years *f this experience may be gathered from the ' ^' following statement v.f the cheese production, in pounds, from the census of 1850 : — OF THE UNITED STATES. 129 New York . • 49.741.413 Ohio .... 20,S|(;,S42 Vermont . 8,720,834 Massachusetts 7,088,142 Connecticut . S.3f'3.277 New Ilanipsliirc 3,19c, 563 Pennsylvania . 2,503,034 Maine 1.434.454 Illinois . 1,278,225 Michigan 1,011,492 Other .States . 3,306,917 Total • '05.S35.f<93 Y\\ tKi< it will \\it* t P(>n tlint M..V ir Vo rlr ni:i(li> ni'iirlv li:ilf nf tlif t'l juodiK t ; anil that, except Ohio, the New-Kngland States were the only others tli.it yielded any considerable (juantity. The only other State besides the above- 11. lined which made over half a million pounds was Indiana, which is credited with 624,564 pounds. m II SHORT-HORN BULL. It was just at this time that the factory system was invented, which, being widely imitated, gave so great a stimulus to the business. Factory sys- It may be remarked in this connection, that not only in this coun- *^™ ^eviied. try, but also in Europe, was the " American system " adopted. The cheese factory is the gift of the New- York dairymen to the world. f [\ lit wm.' Jeiae Wil liamt. 130 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY There lived in Oneida County, New York, near Rome, a gentleman named Jesse Williams, who had achieved a great reputation for his cheeses ; and at that time reputation was money, for it brought higher prices for dairy products. In 185 1 one of his sons was married, and went to live at an adjacent farm. For the sale of his son's cheese product, Mr. Williams con- tracted with the marketmcn at the prices he obtaincil for his own. IJut the «|uestion arose, how he should insure its (juality. At first he thought of going to his son's house every day to superintend the " make ; " but this was imprac- ticable. Accordingly, he proposed that the milk be brought to him. It is always the case, in enlarging a manufacturing business, that the cost of produc- tion is proportionately lessened ; antl, if the price of tlie goods be maintained, the profits are augmented. A few of Mr. Williams's neighbors brought milk to his establishment for three years, and realized these advantages ; and then tiic value of the system began to be appreciated, and similar factories were buiil elsewhere. But up to i860 there were not more than twenty of dicm in operation. The influence of the fixctory system was not j)erce[)tibly felt in i860; for the total product of that year was a trifle less than that of 1850. Only a slight Firsteffectof ^'^'fti'iS ''^ 'ts tlistribution was discernible. New York siiowed the factory sys- most trifling falling-off in her production : so, too, did the New- **""■ England Slates. While there was a corresponding increase in tlu- Ohio basin and the North- West, Wisconsin and California showed a marked development, but one of promise rather than attainment. During the next decade there was a tremendous springing-up of factories. Knowledge of the system had then been well disseminated. linterprising Rapidin- farmers in every dairy district organized for tl)e purpose of build crease of fac- ing a factory. The economy of the plan was apparent. They *°' "'■ would bring their milk in large cans every morning, or else put them where the factory team could pick them up on its rounds. Contracts were made for so many pounds of cheese for so much milk, and an allowance Mode of ^^ ^° many cents per pound for the season's " make." A strict operating account of each day's milk-deliveries was kept, and suitable tests * ""■ and regulations resorted to in order to prevent watering, or other- wise impairing the (juality of the milk. The prosperity of one factory beini,' noticed, often a rival establishment would be erected in the same neighborhood. By 1866 New- York State had more than 500 factories, and in 1870 they num- bered 1,313 in the whole country. While the total product had increased, in round numbers, from 105,000,000 to 163,000,000 pounds, all but 53,000,000 of it was made in factories, and the rest on farms as of old. As will be seen from a comparison of the following table with the last, the increase in the aggregate was confined almost to the increase in New- York State ; and the slight gains in the West were made at the expense of New England mostly, Vermont holding her own better than her sister States. New Vork Ohio \criii()nt . niinois Mass.nchusett!! . Ciliforni,! Wisconsin J'ciiiisylv.ini;i . .Micliijr.in . <-'onnccticut low.i Maine Nfw Hampshire Indiana . Othf States and Total In 1877 the 000 pounds, or 'lilt her extensio our export dem iiually is now ab Although re exported from ti been a constant '•Europe continua jToducing more Our cheese goes with bread and In 1790 we amount was abno *vas only about i 1,000,000, e.xcep 'lie export was i, kinier-county pro tlie figures increa the export of 18. years the average L>een as follows : OF THE UNITED SiATES. 131 New York . . . Ohio .... Vermont .... Illinois .... Massachusetts . (aliforni.! Wisconsin I'cnnsylvania . Michigan. Connecticut Iowa .... Maine .... New Hampshire Iiuiiana .... Othe- States and Territories Total NO. FAC- TOKIKS. 818 '95 28 69 23 54 27 30 7 14 '7 I. '9 rnt'NDS FACTORV MAUE. POIINDS FAKM- MAUU. 78,006,048 I5.'>^4.390 2,984,179 4.07 2.30 ' 1,885,436 1,696,783 1,647,467 1,650,997 27,400 356,906 -'J-:5«' 107,680 893.^7-: 109,435,229 22,769,964 8,169,486 4,830,700 1,661,703 2.245.873 3.395-074 1,591,798 1,145,209 670,804 2,031,194 1,087,741 1,152,590 849, 1 1 8 283,807 1,557,090 53.492.153 TOTAL PRODUCT. 100,776,013 24.i53.S76 7,814,879 5,734,004 4.'3'.309 3.395.074 3,288,581 2,792,676 2,321,801 2,058,594 1,344,647 1,152,590 872,368 391.487 2,450,362 162,927,382 In 1877 the total cheese prochict of the eoiintry was estimated at 300,000,- 000 pounds, or nearly twice that of 1870. 'I'he increase is largely due to the further extension t)f the factory system, though, in a measure, to Cheeieprod- uur export dem.ind. The total value of our cheese product an- "•=* '" ''77- uually is now about $36,000,000. Although reliable data are not accessible, it is i)robable that cheese was cxjwrted from this country pre\ ions to the Revolution. Since then there has been a constant though varying export trade in this commodity. Export of luirope continually seeks food sujjplies here ; and, with facilities for "=*^""' producing more than we need at home, we are easily enabled to sell abroad. Our cheese goes almost altogether to (Ireat Britain, whose working-men use it, with bread and beer, as one great staple of •'leir diet. In 1790 we exported 144,734 pounds of cheese. Five years later the amount was abnormally large, — 2)343.093 ; for the average from 1795 to 1805 was only about 1,400,000; and thereafter the figures did not reach sta,isticg 1,000,000, except in 1819, 1825, i83i,and 1833, until 1841, when relating to tlio export was 1,748,471 pounds. This was at the time the Her- ""P""*' kimer-county product was becoming so famous. During the next eight years tlie figures increased very rapidly ; and in 1849 they were 17,433,682, — tenfold the export of 184 1. A slight subsidence ensued in the trade, and for eleven years the average export was about 8,360,000 pounds. Since then they have been as follows : — ■'iri! ! I 13a INDUSTRIAL HISTORY POUNDt. 1861 32,361,438 "863 34,052,678 "863 42,045,054 1864 47.7S'..129 1865 53,089,468 1866 36,41 1,(;85 "867 52.35=.i27 1868 5i,o<)7,203 1869 J9,' varies not only in richness, but in (juickness with which its butter them, iomes in churning, and that great care should be exercised in mixing milk, lest the fullest product be not obtained. The importance of ventilation in apartments where milk is set, and of keeping the contents of the churn at just the right temperature, have not been understood until cjuite recently. Still, now that the factory system — originally devised for cheese- making, and employed to a far less extent for butter — has become fairly established, w^: may look to see a more wide-spread application of scientific principles to the industry. In the earlier part of the present century butter and cheese making were principally conducted in the New- England and Middle States, although the South and West engaged in it a little. Ohio was among the earliest to attain prominence in the latter section. At first the ^y ?he Eait Western breeders aimed solely at beef. Toward the middle of and We«i in this century they gave more attention to dairy products, to the *|"« '"••"»• good quality of which the nutritious and delicious grasses of that section were peculiarly adapted. Consequently there has been a marked ; •■ i, . i'-^ »38 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY % ^i>i ■•if« i^ i I: I W\ que.ice of the severity of the climate and scanty forage. Though degenerated in size, they still show traces of Norman blood, from which they probably sprang. Many improvements have occurred in tiie horse since his re-appearance in this country. The changes wrought, especially during the last fifty years, have been marvellous ; yet may they not be regarded as indications only of otlur Improve- ^"*^ ^^''^ niorc important improvements, when a still higher degree mentsinthe of knowledge is actiuircd respecting the rearing and training of ""'■ them? It is a striking proof of what may happen to animals under domestication ; and, however great or small may be the (luantity of truth con- tained in Darwin's famous lAw concerning the origin of animals, no one will deny the magnitude of the ciianges wrought in the horse in respect to his si/c, speed, strength, and other ([ualities, since special attention was paid to these matters, nor (juestion the agency by which these results have been produced. Great attention has been given to this subject during the last fifty years, which we shall now proceed brietly to sketch. Tin; IKOrilNcMIOKSE. The trotting-horse is very largely the product of .American thought and cultivation. Trotting, in most cases, is an ac(iuiivd gait ; nor has much atten- tion been paid to it until within sixty-five years. The ancestry of the trotting hor.'>, however, goes farther bac k. Messenger, tVom wlii( h many of the fast horses in this country have descended, was imported into Philadelphia from IJigland in .May, lySS. Messenger was thorougli-brcd. and, i)rior to his importation, ran races on the luiglisii turf wiiti moderate .success; and without doubt it was the intention of those who bnjught hrm to this country to make him the sire of horsds that should gallop rather thati trot. His father, Mambrino, evincecl a natural dis])osition to trot ; and this trait was inherited by many of his jjrogeny. Messenger was trained for the running turf in ICngland ; and in 17S8 the running horse was jwpular in certain sections of .America, and hence the inference is clear that he was imported. His color was gray, and he was fifteen hands aid three inches high, and the colts which were sired by him showed fine form. In Pennsyl- vania, however, — into which State he was first imported, — the legislature passed a law prohibiting racing ; and so the progeny of this famous stallion was trained for the road instead of the track. In the autunm of 1793 Mes senger left Pennsylvania for New York, where he remained until iSoS, when he died of the colic at Oyster Hay, L.I. .As he had long been famous and ])opular, he was buried with milit.ary honors, a volley of musketry being fired over his grave. As the trotting-horse was not fashionable at that period, the record is not veiy perfect concerning the descendants of this famous horse. " Many of the Messenger. H i^ ImkL ^^KiHlil^ ;j^'" (^^■^•^^^urr \ OF THE UNITED STATES. »39 i ihil UVKii m •l *l!iHI ■ 'SjlKfll i. 'A i4J i i.ll.i lIlNI'.sliK.A ll.MC-F. 14° INDUSTRIAL UISIORY earlier horses which won (hstinclioii on the track — such as Top-Gallant, Early trot- I'aul I'ry, and \\'halcl)()ne — are known to have ilescended from him. ting-horses. Alxlallah, the son of Mamhrino, and the grandson of Messenger, proved to be one of the liest trotling-sires that the country has produced. The horse, however, was not much ajjpreciated in his time. His best daugh- ter, probably, was Lady Hlanche, a mare that ''luired celebrity on the road and turf, and which lived to a green old age, and literally died in the harness. It is claimed, that, witii proper care, she would have trotted very fast. Thirty and forty years ago the art of training and driving had not been reduced to a science as now. Abdallah's best son was the horse now so widely known as Rysdyk's Hambletonian. Through sire and dam, Hambletonian has four direct courses of Messenger blood. .As he is a leading progenitor, perhaps a tabulated pedigree will interest the reader. Tiiis one pedigree will illustrate the manner in which the record of eijuine genealogy is kept." Rysdyk's Hambletonian L Mcssent;cr. Maniliiino \ i S,uii.rl'.'' hint wt)n nis keeper th" .Uakes, payable at the tavern where the scratch was made in tne uirr across the road .■"•. the point from which to start. Eadi horse nad to " cunic «ip to the scratch," and, when the hat fell, to be off as fast 3 his legs could cdr«y him. In all such trials, the " littlf horse " was always sure to win. It is from him that Bulrush Morgan and the Morrill horses have descended. Another family of horses, tOv/ well knum of $150. In 1842 he won a match of a thousand (' liars, trotting five miltj over the Cambridge track in sixteen minutos. In the year 1844 Mr. Hill bou'^ht and kept him as a stallion at Bridport, Vt., till the time of hi" death in 1856. His skeleton is preserved in the ofncc of the secretary of the State Board jf Agriculture, at the State House in Boston. Black Hawk was not quite fifteen hands high, and weighed about a thou- sand pounds. He was remarkably symn etrijal and muscular, graced with a beautiful head, neck, and limbs, and A'hen in action, whether in harnjss or out, of a spirited, nervous, and elegant bearing, which could not fail to command universal adminition wherever he appeared. He could easily trot his mile in two minutes and forty seconds, even without much training ; and he combined with great speed the perfection of form, the intel- ligence, courage, and e- durance sufficient to make him a complete model of a roadster. He possessed the power of transmitting his characteristics to iiis very numerous oflsprirg in a degree surpassed by nc other horse in the country. In the carriage or under the saddle, in the cpiiet of a country road or on tlie parade-ground, under whatever circumstances the descendants of Black Hawk appear, the eye accustomed to observe the characteristics of the horse could hardly fnil to detect the relationship. The Black Hawks are much sought after as light carriage and saddle horses. As an evidence of their qualities, as well as the celebrity they have obtained in other parts of the country, it may be stated, that during the fair at St. Louis, _ , . , , in 1 8^0, five out of six of the best Gtallions exhibited in the class Celebrity of •''" Black of roadsters were Black Hawks , and the prizes, of one thousand dollars that year and of fifteen hundred dollars at the fair there in i860, were awarded for the best stallions in this class to sons of old Black Hawk. At the various fairs held in New England — at Springfielil, Boston, and elsewhere — the Black Hawks have been very largely represented, and have generally carried off a full proportion of the prizes offered. More than one hundred horses of this stock were entered at the Springfield Horse Show in i860, and nearly half of all successful competitors were Black Hawks. ^!any sons of the old horse are now standing in various parts of New England as stock-getters ; and, judging from the reports of State fairs in other parts of Hawk** de- ■cendants. OF THE UNITED STATES. 145 cratch was irt. Eacli be off as lorae " was he Morrill I from this was foalcil ;ars he was on a match k in sixteen , stallion at preserved in State House out a thou- aced with a , whether in aring, which peared. He nthout mu< h m, the intcl- te model of ristics to his the country, id or on the Is of Black |of the horse ,s are mucli jave obtained at St. Louis, in the class )ne thousand ^he fair there :lass to sons [t Springfield, represented, Ifered. More [gfield Horse Mack Hawks, [ew England ther parts of A the country, it is safe to affirm that they are exerting a widely-c x^ended influence on the stock of the United States. We must now turn our attention to the turf. The first public race ever trotted in America was in 1818, — a match against time, for a thousand dollars. Puring a jockey-club dinner held in that year in New York, it wn:i pint public asserted that no horse could be found able to trot a mile in three '•"• minutes. Two of the members, however, — Major William Jones of Long Island, and Col. Bond of Maryland, — agreed to produce siich a horse. They were as good as their word ; and, when the horse had accom[)lished the feat, his tame was established. He went by the name of " Boston Blue." Within ten years after this race, trotting-courses and horse-clubs were formed in the principal cities of our country ; and among the hcrses which competed at that early day were Top-Clallant, Screw-Driver, Betsey Baker, W halebone, Paul Pry, Lady Washington, and Sally Miller. The trotting first of these perhaps the most easily won distinction at the Hunt- =<»"•"•'«• ctubi. ing-park Course in Philadelphia. While being employed as a cart- horse his merits were recognized, and his trotting-speed was developed. Screw- Driver won as fine a reputation ; for when he died, in October, 1828, a Phila- delphia newspaper announced that " the emperor of horses is no more." At that time, a horse which could trot a mile in two minutes and thirty seconds was regarded as a marvel. In 1836 two remarkable animals made their appear- ance on the turf, — Dutchman and Awful. The former was a coarse brown lioise of great endurance. At one time he was employed in tramping clay in a Pennsylvania brickyard. Awful was just the opposite of Dutchman in ajipearance. He was a tall, dashing, blood-looking bay, with high, sprawling action. He was a bad-tempered animal, and did not live up to his early promise. Both Dutchman and Awful figure prominently in trotting histor)'. Dutchman's greatest performance was trotting three miles on the Beacon Course, under saddle, in seven minutes thirty-two seconds and a half. It was a match against time, and the horse was ridden by Hiram Woodruff. This was in .\ugiist, 1839. Lady Suffolk comes next :n the list of famous horses. Hamilton Busby thus describes her career: "She made her first public appearance in 1838, trotting three heats, and winning eleven dollars. Verily, hard LadySuf- work and poor pay I Lady Suffolk was a beautiful gray, with an '»"'• Arab neck, and standing- fifteen hands and a half. She remained on the turf neatly sixteen years, during which time she trotted in 161 races, winning 88 and 1^35,011, and losing 73. Her speed was shown and her powers tested in ten different States of the Union. Her best mile-heat race — 2.26^, 2.27, 2.27 — was made under saddle, July 12, 1843, on the Beacon Course, New Jersey. Her fastest mile (2.26) was done at Boston, under saddle. I^dy Suffolk was withdrawn from the turf in 1853 ; and she died at Bridport, Vt., March 17, 1855, aged twenty-two years. Her skin was prepared and mounted by a taxi- 146 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY \A\ Taeony. dermist, and it now does duty as an advertisement in a Broadway harness-store. Those who knew the handsome gray mare in her prime claim that her speed was never (!eveloped. Among Lady Suffolk's competitors on the turf were Washington, Confidence, Kipton, Cayuga Chief, Independence, Beppo, Oneida Chief, Lady Moscow, Americas, aud other horses dear to the memory of the sportsman whose hair is now silvered, and who loves to dwell upon the scencn of the " olden time." In October, 1848, occurred the famous twenty-mile race by Tnistee, the son of a thorough-bred imported horse bearing a similar name. His driver weighed a hundred and forty-five pounds, and his sulky a hundred and fifty pounds ; and the twenty miles were trotted in fifty-nine minutes thirty- five seconds and a half. It was a race which thoroughly tested the endurance of the horse, and was denounced at the time as cruel ; but it is affirmed that Trustee was not injured in the least by the performance. In 185 1 appeared a new horse (Taeony, from Maine), which won many victories, scoring twelve the second year of his public ai)pearance ; at whi« h time Flora Temple began her wonderful career ; also PUhan Allen, the worthy descendant of Morgan. The following season was rendered exciting by a series of races between Flora Temple and Taeony, in Flora which the former beat the latter seven limes at different dis- Tempic. tances. Concerning her breeding nothing is known. While younj;, she changed hands several times ; and, when first put in the harness, she did work in a livery-stable in I^aton, N.Y. In June, 1850, she was broight with a drove of cattle to Dutchess County, where she was purchased by Mr. Velie for $175. Shortly after this she was sold to Mr, George !•".. I'errin of New- York City, who used her as a road-mare. In 1850 she trotted a match race ; but she did not make her regular appearance on the course until two years later. She made her last turf-performance Sept. 5, 1861, on the Fashion Course, Long Island. During the eleven years in which she was prominently before the public she trotted a hundred and eleven races, ninety-three of which she won. Her winnings netted $1 13,000. Prominent among her com- petitors were Princess, Ethan Allen, George M. Patchcn, lancet, Taeony, and Highland Maid. Her best wagon-time, 2.24^, was made Sept. 2, 1856, on the Union Course, Long Island. Her fastest mile in harness, which for a long while stood at the head of the record, was done at Kalamazoo, Mich.. Oct. 15, 1859. Flora Temple's turf-career was marvellous. She was a mare of obscure breeding, small in stature, being fourteen hands two inches high ; and yet she rose to supremacy, and reigned for a number of years queen of the course. It would be impossible for us in our short space to recount the glories of all the famous trotters in the United States, or even to mention Bthan Allen. , . „ . , , , their names. Besides, as we approach nearer to the present time, there is less need of presenting such a history, as many are familiar with it. OF THE UNITED STATES. ^ D«at«r. Who has not heard of the exploits of Ethan Allen, which trotted with a run* ning mate against Dexter, ori the Fashion Course, three heats, of one mile each, in the astonishing time of a. 15, a. 16, a. 19? We must stop, however, to say a word concerning one of the most noted descend- ants of Ethan Allen. This is Pocahontas, whose mother also bore the same name, and whose career will be given presently. Pocahontas is the pet of Robert Bonner's stable, and cost him 135,000. She is said to be " one of the best road-mares in the world." Then there is I^dy 'I'liorne, bred in the lovely blue-grass regions of Kentucky, sired by Mam- brino Chief. Her winnings, from the beginning of her career in 1859 to 1870, amounted to 161,125. Her last race was at Prospect Park, L.I., July 22, 1870, in which she trotted three heats, of one mile each, in the wonderful time uf 2.19^, a. 20^, a.i9h Of Dexter and Goldsmith Maid their record is too familiar to require repetition. THE PACtNG-HORSE. During the latter part of the last century a class of horses became widely known in the more thickly-settled portions of New England, especially in Rhode Island, as the " Narragansett pacers." They were very popular in the earlier part of the last century, and continued to be the favorite Narragan- horses for light travel under the saddle for many years. Upon •'" ?■«•"• good authority it may be affirmed that they probably were the easiest, fleetest, most sure-footed, and toughest saddle-horses ever known in this country, if not in this world. They could not trot. The pace was their natural gait, the only one in which they excelled ; and for this they were especially esteemed. The origin of this famous breed, which was kept distinct for many years, was probably a stallion imported from Andalusia, in Spain ; though there are several theories, founded on tradition, in regard to him. But, from origin of whatever source he came, there is no doubt as to his laying the ••'•""• foundation of a class of horses exceedingly well adapted to the wants of the times, — one that served the purposes for which it was raised more completely than any other at that time, or ever since, known in New England. Many of the Narragansett pacers could go a mile easily in less than three minutes, or carry a rider forty or fifty miles a day, and follow it up for days in succession, without apparent fatigue. It is said that their gait was far easier and more agreeable than that of the rocker or pacer of the present day, with whom the pace is an accident, or the result of training, rather than the natural gait. The Narragansett pacers became so popular, that they were largely exported to the West Indies, and the business of breeding them for that market became very profitable. At length, however, the demand there became so Their popu- great, that an agent was sent to buy up all the best he could find in ••^♦y- the locality where they were bred in the highest purity and perfection ; and he 143 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Ki 11 was so faithful to his trust as to allow few very superior animals to escape him. This circumstance, together with the improvement of the roads, and the fact that the genuine Narragansett pacer was comparatively useless as a draught- horse, anH really good only under the saddle, led to a decline in the interest in breeding this class of horses, especially during and after the war of the Revolution, when larg i numbers of horses were wanted for teaming aiid trans- portation. The pace;, as a breed, was wholly neglected, till, in the year 1800, it was said there was only one animal of the real Narragansett stock to be found in Rhode Island. In 1854, however, the pacer found a splendid representative in Pocahontas, Pocahontas the mother of another mare bearing the same name, which we • pacer. j^ave previously described. Notwithstanding her dam was a natu- ral trotter, she performed very striking feats as a pacer, her best time being made in 1855, when she paced one nile, to wagon, in;:. 17^. OF THE UNITED STATES. t49 CHAPTER XIII. SHEEP. Merinoes. SHEEP are among ^he very oldest domestic animals known, though they are foimd wild in nearly every mountainous country of the world. By some authorities they are thought to be related to the goat, but Early history are far more timid than that animal, from which they differ, also, in •*' *''" «""'• other respects. They are intimately associated with ancient religious rites, and were the symbol of gentleness and innocence. The great wealtli of the Israelites and other pastoral nations was in sheep, which were originally raised for their milk and skins, as well as for sacrifice ; but they have been prized in modern times for their wool, flesh, and fat, in which regards the improvements of breeding have been very marked for the past century and a half. The best breed of these animals for fine wool is the merino, which origi- nated in Spain, and is supposed to have descended from the stock of the patriarchs. They are devoid of wool on the head and necks, and are less fleshy and symmetrical tiian the choice English breeds. From the Spanish merinoes are derived the famous Saxon, Silesian, and Flem- ish breeds. The widely-known establishment for raising sheep, owned by Louis XVI. of France, at Rambouillet, was devoted to the propagation of merinoes principally. The prevailing breed in the United States is a more or less pure merino. The Asiatic and African varieties of this animal are of little value. Probably Great Britain gives more attention to the raising _. of sheep for wool and mutton than any other civilized country, breeding in Her breeds are mostly producers of coarse wools, notably the Leicester or Dishley, the Cheviot, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Dorset varieties. The South- Downs have a shorter, finer fleece, and yield good mutton. Sheep were first introduced into this country at Jamestown, o(*^hee"i'nto Va., in 1609. In forty years they had increased in numbers the United nearly to 3,000. The first importation to Massachusetts was S'""- in 1633 ; and for a time they were kept on the islands in Boston Bay, to protect them from wolves and bears. In 1652 Charlestown had as many Great Britain. ISO INDUSTRIAL HISTORY n as 400 sheep ; and Lynn had several flocks, which were watched and kept l)y a common shepherd. Sheep were introduced into the New Netherlands in 1625, and again in 1630 ; but such were the depredations of wild beasts, that in 1643 there were not more than sixteen in that colony. The Swedes of New- Jersey were encouraged to breed sheep, and raise wool to send home, but in 1663 had no more than eighty sheep. LEICBSTER RAH. The sheep in this country, in those days, were raw-boned, coarse-woolled animals ; but inasmuch as the mother-country discouraged the exportation of _ , them hither, and as the colonists felt the need of producing their Early meas- ' ' ° ure» for en- own woollcn clothing, the colonial governments, by addresses to """^'"^ the people, bounties for killing wolves, and by other measures, encouraged the importation and raising of sheep. Massachusetts, in 1645, ordered the appointment of agents in every town to ascertain wiio would buy sheep, and to urge the people to write their friends across the At- lantic to br'iig sheep with them on emigrating. In 1648 it was ordered that sheep be pastured on the common j and later the selectmen of every town were authorized to superintend the putting of rams to the flocks. In 1654 the Assembly of Massachusetts prohibited the exportation of sheep, and in w 1675 of wool Virginia enacted similar laws. 'ft i •, 'w'*!^:" T OF THE UNITED STATES. 151 Gradually, but slowly, sheep multiplied in numbers. A report on American industries, made to the British House of Commons in 1731-32 by the Board of Trade, shows, that, at that time, nearly all American farmers had .j,,,,„, ;i few sheep, whose wool was spun at home for domestic use. British farm- 'I'liere was no export, however. (Ireat jealousy was felt by the "•'ow"'''' . . , , , , , . , , . , , . Americant. lintish, lest we should compete with them m wool-production ; and obstacles were put in the way of our obtaining sheep. Jared Eliot, writ- ing in 1747, says, "A better breed of sheep is what we want. The English breed of Cotswold sheep cannot be obtained, or at least with great difficulty ; lor wool and live animals are contraband goods, which all strangers are pro- hibited from carrying out on pain of having the right hand cut off." :!' SOUTH-DOWN KAM. On tlic brcaking-out of the Revolution, the colonists immediately recog- nized the importance of ])rescrving their siieep for propagation, '''he Colo- nial Congress of 1775 voted to discourage killing, and encourage Mea»ure»to the breeding, of sheep. The Pennsylvania Assembly did likewise, foster theep- ..., . • • <- 1. 1 1 1 Ml 1 1 • , raising dur- ihe Association of Butchers vote{ -"rovision, brcadstuffs excepted ; while it is also the article of most extenh . e importance export [r uie line of food, except wheat. This grows out of two "' hog-crop. facts, — the hog is altogether the most prolific breeder of our domestic-food animals, matures soonest, and is the most cheaply fattened ; and we have peculiar facilities for raising the food which produces altogether the best pork ; namely, Indian-corn. Swine were introduced into Hispaniola by Columbus in 1493, and De Soto brought them from the West Indies to Florida in 1538. The Portuguese had left swine ashore in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as early introduction as 1553. At Jamestown, Va., we hear of them first in 1609 ; but <>' »wine. they multiplied so fast, that the people were obliged to build palisades to keep tliem out of the town. Plymouth Colony imported swine in 1624, and New Netherlands (now New York) the following year. In the early days the hogs were allowed to run almost wild in the fields and woods, feeding upon beech and hickory nuts, acorns, roots, and other such vegetation. The Indians, in those days, fed extensively on hogs that had grown wild. This wandering, free life tended to make the early stock of this country, especially in the South and West, lean, large-boned, fierce, and swift-footed, — a sort of degeneration toward the wild-boar life from which swine were taken for domestication. Among the choicer breeds that have been known to stock-raisers for the past century are the Chinese, which are small, have slender bones, fatten easily, but are too fat themselves, and are therefore crossed with chineie otlicr species; the Neapolitan, descended from the best Italian '"««''• breeds of two thousand years ; the Berkshire, which yield much lean meat, are prized for hams and bacon, and, crossed with the Chinese, make splendid hogs ; the short-bodied Essex, which have taken more prizes in England at stock exhibitions than any other porcine breed ; i\ i.hw 'hf 158 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY '\\ M*-^ Suffolk. ■wine- braeding. the Middlesex, long-bodied, heavy growers, often reaching eight or nine hun- dred pounds in eighteen months ; and the SufTolk, very symmetri- cal in shape, small and compact, light feeders, and with great tendency to fat. All of these varieties have been popular in this country; and our best swine are mostly from this parentage, more or less crossed. Little attention was given to swine-breeding, with a view to improving our stock in this country, until after the Revolution. Interest was first excited in im rove- ^^'^ subject .by the presentation to Gen. Washington of a pair of mentt in hogs by the Duke of Bedford. They were of a new breed of his own raising, and called "Wobums" after Woburn Abbey. Parkin- son, the Englishman to whom they were intrusted for conveyance, was dishonest enough to sell them on his arrival in this country. They appear to have been a cross between the Chinese and the large English native stock, and were fine animals. The breed soon became common in Virginia and the neighboring States ; but of late years it has quite run out. A breed known as the " Byfield," originated from Chinese and English stock by Gorham Parsons of Byfield, Mass., afterwards had a great popularity, and became great favor- ites in Ohio. Later the other breeds above mentioned weie imported into this country, and widely disseminated. Comparatively little improvement was effected, therefore, in American stock, until about fifty years ago. The value of the pig for utilizing domestic table-refuse, and the facility with which he fattened on such food, and at almost no expense, led to his very Increase of general keeping by all farmers, and many towns-people and small hog-raiting, tenants. The cheapness of bacon created a great demand for it in the old slave States likewise, and the business of furnishing wholesale sup- plies to that market naturally grew with the development of that section of the country. Inasmuch as the Southern planters gave themselves almost exclu- sively to cotton, tobacco, and sugar culture, and did not raise food for their families and help, the labor and profit of providing for them naturally fell to another section of the country ; and the remarkable facilities enjoyed by the West for hog-raising gave those States almost a monopoly of the valuable Southern market, a conquest which they followed up by extensions of their trade in other directions. The one great cause to which the development of the pork-industry in the West is due is the remarkable production of corn in that quarter, and the dis- = . .i < covery that corn-fed pork is sweeter than mast-fed or swill-fed Relation of '' ' corn product pork. There have been times when corn was so plenty in the to hog-rai»- \q^^<^ that it was used for fuel, and when, for lack of transporta- ing. tion, it was sold for six cents a bushel, and that only twenty-five miles from the Ohio River in Illinois. The farmers soon found, that, with such abundant food, it was cheaper to pen their hogs, instead of letting them run loose, and to fatten them quickly for market. Thus hog-raising rapidly increased between fifty and twenty-five years ago in Kentucky and the three OF THE UNITED STATES. '59 States next north of the Ohio River. Thence it spread westward across the Mississippi. The rapid and extensive construction of railroads in those States, about the middle of the present century, of course afforded an outlet for the grain ; but it did likewise for the pork, live and packed ; and so the business staiil there. Of the seven or eight million hogs killed every year in this coun- try, about five or six million are killed in the West, and are mostly packed : those killed in the East are mostly for immediate consumption. The pork- packing business of the West is chiefly confined to six cities, which rank in the order named ; Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Louisville. Inasmuch as Chicago's grain-business is her chief industry, and pork-packing is Cincinnati's leading interest, the latter city is generally reck- oned the great pork-producing centre of the United States : indeed, it was so for a long time. The great bulk of the business is done in the winter-time ; the season opening about Nov. i, and closing early in March. The following interesting description of the Cincinnati slaughter-houses, from the pen of Charles Cist, first appeared in one of the newspapers published in that city : — " The slaughter-houses are in the outskirts of the city, fifty by a hundred and thirty feet each in extent, the frames boarded up with mova- oetcription ble lattice-work at the sides, ordinarily kept open to admit the o( tiaughtar- air, but shut during intense cold, so that the hogs may not be ""**' frozen so stiff as not to be cut up to advantage, tlach establishment employs as many as one hundred hands, selected for their strength and activity. " The hogs, being confined in adjoining pens, are driven, about twenty at a time, up an inclined bridge opening into a square room at the top, just large enough to hold them. As soon as the door is closed a man pro<.„, „( enters from an inside door, and with a hammer weighing about »i»ughter. two pounds, fixed to a long handle, knocks each hog down by a "*' single blow between the eyes. In the mean time a second apartment is being filled with as many more. A couple of men seize the stunned hogs, and drag them through the inside door to the bleeding-platform. Here each gets a cut in the throat with a sharp-pointed knife, and the blood falls through the lattice floor. " After bleeding a minute or two, they are slid off this platform into a scalding-vat, — about twenty feet long, six feet wide, and three feet deep, — kept full of water heated by steam, the temperature being easily regulated. As the hogs are slid into one end of this vat, they are pushed along slowly by men standing on each side with small poles, turning them over so as to get a uniform scalding, and moving them onward ; so that each will reach the other end of the vat in about two minutes from the time it entered. Ten hogs are usually passing through this scalding process at the same time, being con- stantly received at one end, and taken out at the other, where there is a con- trivance for lifting them out of the water, two at the same time, by one man i ■1 M % i6o INDUSTRIAL HISTORY operating a lever, which raises them to the scraping-table, five feet wide and twenty-five feet long, with eight or nine men on each side, and usually as ( ; many hogs on it at the same time ; each pair of men performing a separate part of the work of removing the hair and bristles, 'i'he first two take off only those bristles which are worth saving for the brush-makers, taking only a double handful from the back of each hog, which are deposited in a box or barrel close at hand. The hog slides on to tlie next two, who, with scrajjcrs, remove the hair from one side, then turn it over to the next two, who scrape the other side ; the next scrape head and legs ; the next shave one side with sharp knives; the next shave the other; the next do the same to head and legs. To each pair of men are given twelve seconds to do their part of the work, or five hogs a minute, for three or four hours at a time. " When the hog arrives at the end of this table, all shaved smooth, another pair of men put in a gambrel-stick, and swing the hog off on a wheel, whic h is about ten feet in diameter, revolving on a perpendicular shaft extending from the floor to the ceiling, the height of the wheel being about six feet from the floor. Around its outer edge are i)laced eight large hooks, about four feet apart, on which the hogs are hung to be dressed. " As soon as the hog is swung from the table to one of these hooks, the wheel turns one-eighth of its circuit, and brings the next hook to the table, and carries the hog a distance of four feet, where a couple of men dash it with clean cold water, and scrape it down with knives, to remove any loose hair or dirt that it may have brought along off the table. Then it moves again, and carries the hog four feet farther, where another man cuts it open in a single second, and removes the larger intestines, or such as have no fat on them worth saving, and throws them out an open doorway at his side. Another move of four feet carries it to another man, who lifts out the rest of the intestines, — the heart, liver, &c., — and throws them on a table behind him, where four or five men are engaged in separating the fat and other valuable parts. Another move, and a man dashes a bucket of clean water inside, and washes off all the filth and blood. This completes the cleaning ; and each man has to do his part of the work in just twelve seconds, as there are only five hogs hanging on the wheel at the same time ; and this number are removed, and as many more added, every minute. The number of men, not counting the drivers out- side, is fifty ; so that each man, in effect, kills and dresses a hog every ten minutes of working-time, or forty in a day. " At the last move of the wheel a strong fellow shoulders the hog ; and anothev removes the gambrel-stick, and backs it off to the other part of the house, where it is hung up for twenty-four hours to cool, on hooks, in rows on each side of the beams, just over a man's head, where there are space and hooks for two thousand hogs, or a full day's work at killing. The next day they are taken off by teams to the packing-houses." The proUucts of pork are the hams and shoulders ; sides for bacon, or pack- OF TtlE UNI TED STATES. l6l ing in barrels ; rumps and jowls, which go to the barrel with sides ; and lard, sdinc of which is (onverted into oil for lubricating and illiiminating Productior ]iur|)oscs, and for adulterating sperm and olive oils in the market, p*'"*- Stcarine, from which candles arc made, is a product of lard. Some of the coarser grease from the ofTal is used for making soap. The refuse is employed as .T fertilizer. The bristles go to make brushes, the hoofs for glue, and the blood is manufactured into the chemical called " Prussian blue." llesides these iiuluslries depeiuli.nt upon hog-raising, there is an immense cooperage business ntcessary to sujjply the recpiisite kegs and barrels. The number of hogs in the country has not materially varied for the past few years. The census of 1850 gave the number as 30,354,213 ; that of i860, •T' 33-5".867; that of 1870, as 25,134,569. The Agricultural g^^ ,^„^^ bureau says, that in January, 1876, it was 25,726,800 : at the same (late in 1877 it was 28,077,100. The report of the New-York Produce Kxchangc gives a table Diitribution which shows the distribution of swine in ,the country as follows : — **' iwine. tTATBS. New England .... Middle .States .... Western (east of the Mississippi) Western (west of the Mississippi) r.iciric .Southern Total 1875. 279.700 1 ,643,400 7,372.600 5,833,000 544,Soo 10,035,300 1S76. 306,000 1,679,300 7,948,600 6,649 500 606,400 10345.900 25,726,800 I 28,035,700 >n, or pack- Cincinnati was a great pork-packing centre as early as 1835, and long held pre-eminence in that business. During the war there was an extra demand for pork for army use ; and the number of hogs slaughtered tempo- rarily increased, but fell off again. For the twelve years immediately after, there was a steaa increase again in the whole West, as will be seen from the following statemcni ; — >865-66 . 1.785.955 1866-67 2,490,791 1867-68 2,781,084 1868-69 2.499.873 •869-70 2,635,312 1870-71 3.695,251 '87«-73 4.83>.55* •872-73 S.4'0,394 1873-74 • • 5,466,200 1874-75 5.566,226 1875-76 4.880,135 1876-77 S.072,339 • m| m m^. M^^PI ppgr^ w' .-■if. i f: 1 iii- ppHii^ li'kK" 1 m' IC2 /iVZ? f/5 rAVy4 /. ///S TO A' Y In the season of 1876-77 there were slaughtered 1,618,084 hogs in Chicago, 523,576 in Cincinnati, 414,747 in St. Louis, 294,198 in Indianapohs, 225. 59S Number in Milwaukee, 214,862 in Louisville, 1,781,274 at all other kss slaughtered, important points South and West, and 2,336,835 in the Middle and ICastern States; in all, 7,409,174. These cost the packers, first-hand, al)out fifteen dollars apiece ; which makes the total yield worth to the producers iint far from $1 10,000,000, less expense of transportation. Killed, dressed, smoked, tried, or packed, one-cjuarter was added to the market value of the product. Tiie marked dcNclopment of tiie Western pork raising and packing businLss Export- is largely due to the steady increase of our export-traile in Img trade. products for tlie past few years. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, we exported, — I^.icon and h.ims Harrcllcd pork . Lard . . . Total 327,730,172 54,105,118 168,405,839 *39/'64,456 5,744,0:2 22,429,485 550.33 '.'29 ! )?67 ,837,96 3 This was ten and a half per rent of our total exports ; and it ranks next after cotton, petroleum, and wiieat. The great hulk of the lard and bacon gn to lingland and Ireland, wliich take a small proportion cf tlie barrelled i)ork. Germany, France, and Belgium are our next best foreign customers. ;' OF THE UNITED STATES. 163 W. 1 64 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY iffiH CHAPTER XV. HORTICULTURE, NURSERIES, AND FRUIT-RAISING. THAT branch of the agricultural industry which most closely approaches to fine art is horticulture ; under which term we include ordinary market- Horticulture gardening, landscape-gardening, flower and fruit culture. Fruits • recent and flowers are mostly luxuries, rather than necessities, and in the pursuit. g^j.jy ^^yg ^^ ^yj. j^jgtQry ^gjg scarcely thought of by the mass of colonists. Only a few gentlemen of social position, culture, and wealth, gave attention thereto ; and fruits and flowers were introduced more for the gratifi- cation of individual taste and pride than for the general good. Like tlie development of the taste and pursuit of literature and painting, horticulture is. one of those civilized avocations to which the human mind turns only after the necessities of life are well provided for : consequently horticulture is of comparatively recent birth and development in this country. To market-gardening it is unnecessary to give especial attention here. The raising of a few kitchen vegetables for domestic use began on a limited scale Market- in early colonial days ; and, with the growth of our large cities^ gardenitiK. since th*" Revolution, the business of purveying to the needs of the people has gradually grown up to be a respectable-sized trade all over tlie country, in many cases the cultivation of plants for seed being a branch of the business. Landscape-gardening, or the improvement of lands by trees, flowers, shrubbery, paths, and architecture, has beer, practised to a marked degree for Landscape- about a century only in England and other foreign countries, eardening. Little attention, therefore, was given to it here until after the Revolution. Taste was then manifested in the laying out of the grounds of a few prominent gentlemen in and about our large cities. Downing speaks particularly of the elepant arrangement and excellent keeping of the celebrated seats of the Hamilton family, near Philadelphia, which was famed for its beauty, in 1805; Judge Peters, near Philadelphia, a little later; Chancellor Living- ston, at Clermf^nt, on the Hudson ; the Hon. Theodore L. Lyman, nine miles out of Boston j Beaverwyck, a little north of Albany, the home of William P. THE UNITED STATES. 165 Van Rensselaer, and the manor-house of the " patroon " of that name in the suburbs of that city ; the cottage-residences of William H. Aspinwall on Staten Island, Daniel Wadsworth of Hartford, and James Hillhouse of New Haven ; Col. S. G. Perkins at Brookline, near Boston ; and J. P. Cushing's place, in the same vicinage. m HEDGE-TRIMMER. Downing. In 1824 M. Andr^ Parmentier of Enghien, Holland, came to this country, and started horticultural nurseries near Brooklyn, N.Y., and laid out HorUcuitu- his grounds with especial regard to illustrating the principles of raiiitera- landscape-gardening. About that time Bernard McMahon of *""* Philadelphia wrote a book called "The American (iardener's Calendar." About 1840 Andrew J. Downing, a man whose writings have given a wonderful impetus to horticulture in this country, published a work on " Landscape-Gardening," which also gave to the art a great impetus. Within the next few years much attention was given to the subject by all persons building large manor-houses, and laying out large estates all over the country, but especially in the neighborhood of large cities. 'I'he Growth of grounds adjoining colleges .nd public buildings began to be laid interest in out with greater taste, those at the Smithsonian Institute in Wash- * "" J"*^** ington having been designed by Downing. Agricultural societies began to give .1 little more encouragement to ornamental tree-i)lanting and flower-culture, 'i'lie nurseries springing up here and there furnished young shade-trees as well as fruit-trees. Young towns studied the art of making their .streets graceful, with trees on either side, and flower-patches near their town-halls or county < ourt-houses. Then the idea of adorning public cemeteries by the arts of tree-planting, winding and straight paths, adaptation of shrubbery, flowers, and walks to the 1 66 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY l«i| Public parks. undulations and other characteristics of the ground's surface, and so on, took Public possession of a few cultured minds, and spread rapidly. The first cemeteries, prominent city of the dead so laid out was Laurel Hill, near Phila- delphia, the enterprise being successful largely through the taste and perievir- ance of John Jay Smith of that city. Other burial-places about that tiniij — the middle of the present century- -became famous from an application of the same idea. Almost every one has heard of Mount Auburn, near Boston ; Greenwood, just out of Brooklyn, N.Y. ; Spring Grove, Cincinnati ; and the beautiful cemeteries near Baltimore and New Haven. Within the past frenty- five years the newly-laid-out cemeteries of the country have ncis'.y all been greatly beautified. Still another manifestation of the same taste and culture is the laying out of parks in and about our cities, which shall be more than the old " common ' of a New-P2ngland town. Ff^rhaps the most important work of this sort undertaken in -\\\t country is Central Park, in thi; upper i)art of New-York City. It is half a mile wide, and two miles aaJ a hi' long, and includes what was originally very wild and beautiful scenery. T'.e land was appropiiatt,:d to this use by the New-i'n'h; legislature in 1857, larg.l; rough the in- flu.' \'\: jf Downi' ;g's writings. The next year, in pursuance of plan-i submitted by Fred- erick \.o\s Olmstead and Cal- vert Vau>, the improvement of this froe pari: was begun, and has been continued at enormous expense even until the present time. By a ju- dicious preservation, altera- tion, or utilization of the characteristic features of the land, and by extensive and costly work, an arrangement of lakes, lawns, flower-beds, groves, rocks, glens, caverns, footpaths, driveways, terraces, bridges, chSlets, and other ar- chitectural devices, has been jierfected, which makes tiie pLici. OIM* of the most delightful public resorts in the world. Llewellyn Park, near OrangC; N.J., laid out by Bauman, a famous Philadelphia botanic gar- dener, Faim.ount Park near Philadelphia, and I'rospect Park near Brooklyn, SNUWUALU OF THE UNITED STATES. 167 are among the more recent and more famous of such institutions in this country. Of all departments of horticulture or gardening, the propagation and cul- tivation of flowers most closely approaches a fine art. Only in a limited sense is it an industry. Those who engage in it professionally are few Cultivation 111 number : the great mass of devotees to this pursuit, mostly "' Howen. iatlics, are incited thereto by the same aesthetic instinct which leads them to" ijiudy and practise music. That delightful writer, Ruskin, has said, " Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity. Children love them ; ([iiiet, tender, contented, ordinary people love them as they grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered. They are *he cottager's treasure, and in the crowded town mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose heart rests the covenant of peace." Truly the production and care of flowers is the poetry of agriculture. It has been noticed in connection with the development of certain arts (architecture, for instance) that the tendency in their earlier stages is toward massive proportion and general effect, and aftenvards to refine- Architecture ment of organization, and beauty of detail. Something of the andfloricui- same characteristics is to be found in the history of floriculture. *""" At first, flowers were thought of and used chiefly as elements of landscapis- gardening ; afterwards prized for themselves, improved and cared for accord- ingly. Prior to and during the Revolution it may be said, that virtually no atten- tion was given lo flowers in this coimtry. Now and then persons had a solitary rose-bush, or, to gratify some odd fancy, grew some curi- ous plant, such as cotton was then, upon their grounds. Toward the close of the last century and the beginning of this, flowering- planls, generally shrubs, were grown as borders to paths on the beautified suburban estates of a few wealthy gentlemen ; then n beds, either made in the turf or in clean soil, with box-tree horde rated by paths, began to appear. The iivitation of these means of beautifying a home came to he practised in time by persons of lesser means, and on a small scale ; ' it was not until a quarter of this century had passed away that the little ( nicstic flower- bed came to be at all common. It was not uniil about this period, therefore, that professional gardeners gave much attention to importing, propagating, and selling to the general pul)lic, flowering-plants, seeds, and bulbs. At first this business saieoi was conducted by persons engaged in growing vegetables and ?'■"*•• *<=• fruits for the market in the vicinity of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia ; but in a short time the increased patronage warranted the stimni,!^ of inde- pendent nurseries and flower-gardens. The rapid development of popular taste and interest since about 1825, and the growing demand for flowers in No attention to subject ' ire the olution. r flower- and sepa- .Vv*V..:, ■\% z68 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY i- 'i:^':i^rv, the larger cities for festal occasions, funerals, and sentimental remembrances, led to the extension of the professional florist's trade all over the country ; so that now scarcely a city or town of fifteen thousand inhabitants is without an establishment of this sort. When the gentlemen of the earlier days began to • introduce the choicer and more tender plants to their estates, the greenhouse, for shelter and for Oreen- forcing plants, was here and there erected, the idea being taken houiet. ffQnj the foreign forcing-houses for fruits. Of necessity, the pro- fessional florist requires a greenhouse at the very outset of his business. Be- tween 1825 and 1850, when landscape-gardening and domestic architecture took such a stride in this country, the erection of conservatories as ornaments to a lawn, as well as permanent shelters for choice plants, came into vogue, both as independent edifices, and as additions to the proprietor's mansion. It was during this period, too, that a literature devoted to flower-culture began to make its appearance. In 1832 Robert Buist of Philadelphia, pro- Literature prietor of the Roseland Nurseries, published a book on this sub- &u the tub- ject, which was among the earliest and best publications of the '**' sort. It reached several editions. During the next decade A. J. Downing adapted to American use Mrs. Loudon's " Ladies' Companion to the Flower-Garden ; " and, still later, Hen- ry Carey Baird got out an American edition of " Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Gardening," written by Dr. Niell, sec- retary of the Royal Caledonian Horti- cultural Society. These and other American works were widely dissemi- nated. Agricultural and horticultural journals gave more attention to flow- ers, and the ordinary newspapers re- published extracts bearing upon flori- culture. Within a few years leading florists have got into the way of pub- lishing descriptive catalogues of their seeds, bulbs, and plants, together with valuable hints and suggestions con- cerning their cultivation, for gratuitous distribution, like the almanacs of pptent-medicine makers. During all this time there has been a (}uict. steady improvement — though not very great or startling in the aggregate — m the nwthods of prcpagation and care of flowers. There has been a oerceptibie improvement m the charac ter of varieties, and a niuh«j>hcation of spe''-°ments were set afoot for 'ruit-culture. The ideas of fort ji fruit raisers and breeders began to attract attention. Nurseries were started to attempt the improvement of stock and the dissemination of choice varieties. Individual cultivators awoke enough public enthusiasm to lead to the organization of pomological societies. The first of these was formed in 1829, and in 1848 a national pomological society was organized. The .Agricultural Bureau at Washington soon after began devoting attention to fruits, imparting a vast deal of information with regard to all kinds and varieties, the projjer modes of culture, and the soils and climates to which each was best adapted. Downing's book on "Fruits and Fruit-Trees of .■\merica," and horticultural writings, did a great deal to disseminate information, arouse interest, and stimulate culture. Among the first nurseries we hear of in this country was that of Gov. Endicott of Salem, Mass., who in 1640 had (]uite a grove of young seedling apple-trees; but until 1835 there were scarcely more than two Early nurse- or three institutions for supplying the public generally. Among "■'"• the earliest mentioned are those of James Bloodgood on Long Island, and William Reid on Murray Hill, a part of New-York City, now covered with residences. These were weli saown between 1830 and 1835. Since that time nurseries have rapidly increased in numbers in the Central and Western States, but notably m Central and Western New York. Probably one-tenth oi -Jie fruit-trees sold come from Monroe County in that State, the county- s"ai l)eing Rochester. The enviroraa of Cieneva and Syracuse and Long Island are also great producers of young fruit and shatle trees, shrubbery, and berry-plants. ITiere are now something over a thousand nurseries in this country, from which are sokl five hundred thousand dollars' worth of trees annually. : '51 lyo INDUSTRIAL HISTORY The grape is one of the oldest known fniits of the world, though it has had comparatively little prominence in this country until within a generation. There are many varieties native that have proved valuable and popular besides the many choice imported varieties. The Isabcll.i and Catawba both originated in North Carolina ; the Muscatel, long known as the " Cape," and incorrectly imagined to be an importation from Soiitli Africa, was indigenous to Pennsylvania ; the Scuppcrnong, at one time thouglu to promise well for wine-making, is a Carolina grape ; the Sweetwater, wiii< li with the Catawba is widely cultivated in California for wine, and also in the Eastern States, is a native. Texas products a grape widely known as tlie Mustang ; and there are other varieties almost too numerous to mention. Long after the Revolution, grapes were raised in this country, principally to be eaten fresh, as a dessert fniit. Hardy varieties were grown principally, Recent cui- though a few choice foreign kinds were raised under glass. Alxint tureofgrape. jg^^Q Qp igjo thc growing interest in fruit-culture led to a larger cultivation of hothouse grapes by fanciers and wealthy gentlemen. Downing mentions, that, at about this time, thousands of bushels of grapes were raised near New York and Philadelphia for the market, and that large quantities of the fniit were packed in cotton for preservation during the winter. But it is for wine-making purposes that the grape is to be principally regarded. The Gothic seamen who touched our shores before Columbus's W!ne-mak- day called America " Wineland the Good," because of its grapes '"«■ and their dreams of its possibilities. Very early in our colonial h story, high expectations were entertained by emigrants of the wine-making possibilities of this country j and numerous experiments were made in that direction. Vines were imported to Virginia in 1610, and wine thus produced was sent to England in 161 2. Gov. VVinthroj) gave attention to the subject in Massachusetts before 1630, at which time he owned a tine vineyard ; and in 1634 Governor's Island, in Boston harbor, was rented on condition that the lessee should plant a vineyarfl or orchard, and pay a hogshead of wine yearly, — a condition that i)robabIy was not fulfilkd. .Attempts were made to intro duce wine-grapes into the New Netherlands in 1642 ; but the frost killed them. Grape-culture was especially contemplated by the grantees of the Carolinas ; but it took a poor hold at first. Delaware gave some little attention to wine- making in early days, and in 1753 a wealthy citizen offered a prize of forty shillings for the best arti( le produTC ; and in 1858 an instance is mentioned, as rare, of 400 gallons being jiroduccd in Alabama from an acre. Other instances are mentioned, which show, that, by about 1850, grape- f ulture for wine had taken a new start in this country, especially in the Central and Western States. The census shows the total product of wine win* for the country that year to have been 221,249 gallon , of which P'o^uct. California yielded 58,055 ; Ohio, 48,207 ; Pennsylvania, 25,590 ; Indiana, 14,055 ; North Carolina, 11,058 ; Missouri, 10,563 ; and New York, 9,172. During the next decade wine-making rapidly increased. The art seemed to have been mastered at last : American champagne, sherry, claret, and port, had achieved a new and enviable reputation. The Department of winemmk- Agriculture year after year aflbrded valuable information concern- ing between ing grape-culture, avoiding blights and pests, and methods of wine- ' *°"^' making ; and California, already known to be a perfect Kden for fruits of all kinds, multiplied her vineyards, and yielded so abundantly, that a thousand gallons an acre was frecpiently obtained. The vine flourished in all parts of that State : but the principal vineyards wore in three coiinties ; namely, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and S;m Diego. In i860 the wine-product of the (ountry had increased eigiitfold from that of ten years before, being returned at 1,627,192 gallons, of which Ohio produced fully one-third, or 568,617 gallons; California, 246,518; Kentucky, 179,948; Indiana, 102,895; and New York, North Carolina, Illinois, and Connecticut, not far from 50,000 each. In the next decade California took the lead again, her wines receiving high conmiendation at the Paris Kxposition of 1867, her fame becoming world- wide, and the development of her product being nearly eightfold, wine-mak- Missouri's progress, too, was starding, her yield in 1870 being ing since twelve times what it had been in i860. The last national census returned 3,092,330 gallons, of which California is credited with nearly two- thirds, or 1,814,656 gallons; Missouri, 326,173; Ohio, 212,912; Illinois, 111,882; Pennsylvania, 97,165 ; and New York, 82,607. North Carolina had scarcely advanced, while Indiana had fallen off to only a quarter of her yield in i860. Without doubt the wine-product of this country now amounts to over five million gallons annually; and there is every likelihood that we Present wine shall not only fully supply our demands for domestic consumption product o( before very long, but shall soon be exporting wine to foreign coun- * * =<»"ntfy- tries. This is now one of the most promising of American agricultural industries. 173 INDUSTKIAL HISTORY Passing now to the fruits grown in our country, the apple ranks first among them, because it is the most common of all in this country, and the most use- Early hii- ' fill. It is not the oldest in development and culture, however : the toryofappie. grape, the fig, and the pomegranate flourished in Palestine long before the apple was mentioned in Scripture. And even then, as also in the Greek (iibles which tell of the golden apples of the gardens of Hesperides and of the apple of discord, it is probable that the word "api)le" was used in a generic sense, meaning fruit rather than this particular variety. In the early days of Rome the apple was well known ; and Pliny states, that, in his day, no less than twenty-nine varieties were cultivated in various parts of Italy. At the present time there are about two inmdred distinct varieties of this delicious fruit recognized, of which, however, about thirty constitute the staple product of the United States. The parent stock of all our apples is the wild crab of Europe. Doubtless the first great step taken in its culture and its utilization was the invention of grafting by the Romans. It will be remembered, that, after the establishment of the Roman empire ujjon the wreck of the republic by Augustus Caisar, the poet Virgil was employed by the emperor to write a series of poetical treatises on agriculture, intended to educate the nation in the foremost of all the arts of peace. In the course of his suggestions, that never-to-be-forgotten writer says, — " Graft the tender shoot : Thy children's children shall enjoy the fruit." In the luxurious days of later Rome, fruit-culture was extensively indulged in by wealthy gentlemen ; and nearly every person of means had a walled fruit- Progrestin garden immediately connected with his dwelling-house. In the middle ages, too, the monks of Europe, from Southern Italy to the Highlands of Scotland, gave great attention to fruit-culture; the practice of pruning, setting large flat stones underneath the young trees, and some other devices, coming into more or less permanent use. Yet the fact that a generation of time, or more, must elapse before the setting out of a young orchard yielded its full reward, discouraged even those who grew apples for luxury, much more the poor nistic who lived from hand to mouth. The modern inventions of budding and dwarfing have enabled the horticulturist to get a quicker return for his labor, and they have therefore given a remarkable stimulus to apple-culture. The first record we have of the cultivated apple in England was the announce- ment that pippin-seed, brought from France in 1524, was planted in Sussex. Early cuiti- ^ ^"'^'^ \i^'^t, the golden pippin was developed from this stock, and vation of ap- soon became famous in England. The early colonists found it almost impracticable to bring young trees or even scions to America , and, as we had no native apples, they were compelled to rely pretty much on seeds for our first stock. Naturally enough, therefore, the introduction culture of apple. pie in New Engiand. OF THE UNITED STATES. 173 of the fruit was rare and slow. Nevertheless, it is asserted, that, so early as 1639, "ten fair pippins" were brought tc Boston from trees that had been j)l;inted on Governor's Inland, in the adjacent iiarbor. The following year Gov. Endicott had a nursery of young fruit- trccb in what is now Dan- vers, Mass., and sold five hundred young apple-trees for two hundred and fifty acres of land. For more than a cen- tury and a half, however, a|)|)lcs were cultivated al- most exclusively for cider, the trees for fruit to be eaten being as rare for a long time as orange and other tropical plants are now in the North. Indeed, not until 1830 did the United-States Government begin to collect statistics of our orchard products. Probably the applc-trces of this country, cultivation in the first quarter of the present century, were mostly con- of apple* for fnied to New England and Long Island. New Jersey hail a few, * "" and so had Eastern and South-eastern New York. Western New York, Ohio, and Michigan had not yet felt the impetus soon to be given to this branch of horticulture. Sieveral influences, however, began to stimulate apple-culture thirty and forty years ago very perceptibly. One was the attention given thereto by the Federal Government, which had established a Hurcau of Agricul- Effort! of ture in the Patent Office. The report of the commissioner for the Downing year 1849 indicates that a wide-spread interest was being felt *" *■' *'* throughout the land, especially in New England. Horticultural societies began to be formed, and the general agricultural societies offered more premiums for choice apples. The first horticultural society in this country was founded in 1829, and the American Pomological Society was established in 1848. Nurse- ries came to be more numerous ; Rochester, N.Y., beginning to show great I)rominence in this sphere, as also Onondaga County in that State. Books and periodicals devoted more attention to the subject. Andrew Jackson Downing, long the editor of the monthly " Horticulturist," and author of " Fruits and Fmit-Trees of America," undoubtedly did much to stimulate enthusiasm on the subject. Attention was given especially to winter apples. I : :t| ^, > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^*^<^\, 1.0 I.I 12.8 ^ 1^ ■■■ ■ 2.2 1^ - |L25 ||..4 III — * 6" - ► I.' Photographic Sciences Cbrporalion as WIST MAIN STRIET WnSTIR.N.Y. 14SM (716)I72-4S03 4^% w i\ \ 6^ ■,i fl TTI'T 1 ill,; .9r- »74 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY about this time, and some slight experiments in connection with trans-Atlantic steam navigation suggested to far-sighted men the possibility of our doing quite an export business in apples. Even then the American apple was begin- ning to assert its superiority over the English; and in the winter of 1858-59 no less than a hundred and twenty thousand barrels of apples, mostly Bald- wins, were exported from Boston alone. Scientific discovery regarding the culture of the apple seemed, moreover, to take a stride about thirty or forty years ago. Growers began to recognize that varieties which thrived well on the granite-bedded soil of New England did not do so well in the soft loam of New Jersey and the Western States, and that the limestone ledges of Cen- tral and Western New York called for still different varieties. Adaptability to place and climate was more carefully studied. Moreover, it began to be imderstood how to improve varieties. Seeds from good fruit had almost inva- riably yielded poor fruit when the new trees got to bearing ; and this j)oor return, after many years' waiting, was eminently discouraging. But growers not only found that by crossing old varieties, as the Netherlanders did, could be produced new ones even superior to the parent stock, but also that by taking seed from young seedlings, and replanting, permanent varieties could be established in four generations. These trees too, as also the dwarfed trees, could be made to yield early in life ; and thus labor and money returned interest upon investment far (|uicker than of yore. These various influences, with the consecjuent popularity of our fruit abroad and the establishment of fruit-stores and apple-stands in our cities, have of late years rapidly developed our apple-culture, and given our country pre-eminence in the whole world for the superiority of this fruit. It does not come within the scope of this work to give in detail the ilis- tribution of the varieties of apples in this country. It may not be out of place, however, to say, that the Rhode- Island greening, the Rox- bury russet, the Baldwin, the gillyflower, and the Hubbardston nonesuch, are the best-known winter apples, and the early harvest, sweet- bough, the Porter, and the Coggswell pearmain, among fall apples, in New England. New Jersey is noted for its sound, tart Swaar ; New York for the NRvtown pippin, king, greening, russet, Spitzenberg, and seek-no-farther ; and Michigan for her seek-no-farthers, Northern spys, pippins, and pound sweet- ings. It is generally admitted, that, for flavor, the fruit of New York is the richest ; but the light soils of Michigan and Ohio yield the largest specimens. Owing to the backward state of apple-culture, little had been done in the South previous to the war ; although it is well established, that, were adaptation of varieties to soil ar^d climate studied more, the Gulf States might produce apples abundantly. Since the dapression of the war, little activity has been manifested in that section. California is almost the only State west of the Upper-Mississippi and Lower-Missouri Valleys that has gone much into fruit- culture as yet; and, in that unusually fertile soil and balmy climate, the apple, like all other ftuits of the temperate zone, flourishes exuberantly. Varieties. OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 According to the census of 1870 our orchard products that year amounted in value to $47,335,189, or two and a half times what they did in i860, and six times those of 1850; and, inasmuch as our agricultural and Quantity iiorticultural industries have developed more than any other since "°^ raised. then, it would be safe to reckon the same products for 1877 — though an (ilf-year in some localities — at not far from $60,000,000. Now, as berries and grai)es are not included in this estimate, and as pears, peaches, plums, ( lierries, and oranges are our only other leading orchard products, it would be reasonable to say that the total annual apple-crop of the country to-day is worth $40,000,000. The name of the quince clearly indicates tiiat it grew naturally in the Island of Crete, though it probably did not originate tiiere. It has been found growing wild along the Danube and in France. It was also known at an early day in England and Portugal. When first known, it was more nearly shaped like a pear tiian now : indeed, it is distantly related to both pear and ai)ple. The ancients were wont to regard it as a symbol of love and liappiness ; and in the rab- binical writings it is referred to as the forbidden fruit. The fruit has never had a very ex- tensive culture in this country, although highly prized for jel- lies and preserves ; but the stock has been quite gener- ally used for grafting dwarf trees, especially pears. Probably no fruit has been so greatly improved by the horticulturist, nor been the subject of so much study and experiment, as the pear. Though not a native of this country, it was , ' . , Pear. early cultivated here, not only for the fresh fruit, but also for its juice, which is called " perry," and was often more highly esteemed than cider. There were no less than 442 varieties of this fruit, according to the catalogue of the London Horticultural Society, in 1842 ; but, during the fifty or si^cty years prior to that date, much liad been done to improve and develop the fruit, and form new varieties. Probably more attention was givcu to this matter by Van Mons, the Belgian fruit-culturist, in the early part of this century, than has been given it by any IIYUKANOKA OIASKA. i 11 176 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Seckel. Other one man ; and he did much to start new kinds of pears himself, and to stimulate others to do so, by hybridizing, and experiments with seedlings. Thus it will be readily seen that but few pears raised in this country prior to the Revolution were particularly choice. There was one tree, however, stuyvesant planted in New- York City, in the dooryard of Peter Stuyvesant, pear-tree. when govemor of the old Dutch Colony of New Netherlands, more than two centuries ago, which remained growing, or at least alive, until about 1875 J when, having died, and become not only unsightly, but an ob- stacle to building, it was cut down, the wood being preserved as relics of an interesting historic age. The fruit was a bon-chr^tien, and of good quality ; and grafts were obtained for much other stock. Even more valuable than the fruit of this tree was that of the famous Seckel pear-tree. The late Bishop White of Pennsylvania narrates, that, when he was a boy, — about 1 760, — there was a German cattle-dealer who used to sell to Philadelphians some small but particularly delicious pears ; but from what source he obtained them he wo'>ld not tell. Not long after, the tract of land belonging to the Holland Land Company, on the Delaware River, just south of Philadelphia, was sold in parcels ; and " Dutch Jacob," as he was called, bought a section on which stood the tree from which he had procured this fruit. Soon after, the farm was sold to a Mr. Seckel ; and ultimately the property became part of Stejjhen Cirard's estate. The tree itself lived until quite recently. From that tree have come the Seckel pears so widely known and prized. DoubUess the tree was a seedling raised by early German settlers ; but, while the Seckel somewhat resembles certain known German varieties, it is distinct from them, and is a strictly American fruit. A less generally known but excellent pear, the Petre so called, was a seedling raised by John Bartram, a well-known Philadelphia horti- culturist, in 1735, fro*" 'h^ '^^^^ of ^ butter pear obtained from Lord Petre of England. •Another tree famous for productiveness, and size of its fruit than for the qi^ity of it, was planted by Mrs. Ochiltree, ten miles north of Vincennes, in dXitree Illinois, somewhere about 1800. It bore no less than 184 bush- PMT-trea. g|g Qf fjujt j^ 1834, and 140 bushels in 1840 ; at which latter time its trunk was ten feet in circumference, — a remarkable growth for a pear- tree. Among other American seedling pears, the Bloodgood, an early, high- flavored fall fruit, raised by James Bloodgood, on Long Island, about 1820 or 1830; the Dearborn, originated by the Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn of Boston in 1818 ; and the Buffam pear of Rhode Island, — are the most prominent. Van Mons produced many kinds of the beurrd or butter pears. The Beurrd Anjou was introduced to this country about 1840 by Mr. Wilder, presi- dent of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The Bartlett, identical with Pctra. OF THE UNITED STATES. «n the Williams bon-chr^tien of England, was introduced to this country by Enoch Bartlett of Dorchester, Mass. This has proved one of the most B«rtiett and popular of dessert pears in the United States. The doyenne — other varie- known as the vlrgaloo (or bungalow) in New York, butter pear ***'' in Pennsylvania, and St. Michel's near Boston — is an old French variety, and was brought here quite early in the century. Within the past twenty-five years the importations have been almost innumerable, the beurr^s, Duchesse D'Angouleme, Flemish beauty, and Vicar of Winkfield, being most prominent. The culture of pears, to be successful, requires careful adaptation to soil and climate. These points, as well as the improvement of varieties, have been closely studied by the nurserymen and horticultural societies ; culture of and since 1830 or 1840 the fruit has been very widely grown. '•"• California has been particularly productive of choice pears, and at certain seasons the Eastern markets depend almost entirely on that section for their supplies. Besides being sold from the street-stands in cities, to be eaten out of hand and for dessert, large quantities of pears are dried or canned for the market. 'I'lie business is regarded as highly profitable, many trees yielding fifty or sixty dollars' worth of fruit a year, and one tree in New York having a record of an aggregate product worth 153,750. In quantity, and perhaps in value, the fruit-crop which ranks next to the appie in this country is the peach. It is also one of our oldest fruits. Peaches originated in Persia, and grow wild in Asiatic Turkey. They have been long and widely cultivated in Europe in sheltered spots, and their improvement has received considerable attention ; not, however, so much as tlie pear, than which the peach has much fewer varieties. It is impossible to say when the peach was first brought to this country ; but it was pretty generally known in all the Atlantic colonies before the Revo- lution. Northern winters, however, have been rather too much for History of it ; and the principal peach-orchards of the country are now con- *•" pe*eh. fined to New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. It is generally conceded that American peaches, on the whole, are rather better than Eng)||h ones. There were several varieties known in this country previous to the Revo- lution, and there is a record of the yellow clingstone having been taken to New York bom South Carolina before the war for independence, varietie* Most of our best-known varieties have been developed since. The before and large white clingstone, long popular in New England, was raised in p"",„'l? „ 1805 by David Williamson of New York. The Morris red and Morris white varieties were produced by Robert Morris of Philadelphia nearly a century ago. William Crawford of New Jersey originated the yellow-pulped peach that bears his name, about 1820. Two kinds of nectarine, raised from peach-stones by H. Bloomfield of Harvard, Mass., in 1810, and by T. Lewis Peach. < M, .78 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Peach- culture at cloM of last Century. of Boston about 1815, were cultivated and disseminated by Col. S. G. Perkins of Brookline. This gentleman sent specimens of the former to London in 1 8a I, which attracted great attention. The peach is really the choicest dessert fruit known. In the early part of the century it was very extensively dried for pies and sauce. Downing says that peach-culture in this country reached a climax about the year 1800. At that period the insidious disease called the "yellows " began to destroy the trees gradually. It first manifested fiself in Pennsyl- vania. The fruit was carried north, and widely scattered. It was then customary for seedsmen to plant the stones of peaches indis- criminately, and without regard to the quality or health of the trees from which they came. Thus by degrees the malady became constitutional in the young peach-orchards of the North- ern and Eastern States. The difPculty and its cause were not understood ; and the evil operated slowly for twenty or thirty years, all remedies having been tried in vain. This difficulty, and the severity of the Northern winters, had pretty much exterminated the New- England and many of the New- York peach -orchards by 1850; since which time little effort has been made to re- store them. In the region above referred to, now forming the chief centre of pro duction, there has been a marked dc ■ Marked velopment of peach-culture development within twenty years, largely tur^e'witiiin ^uc to the development of twenty the Canning industry, and yean. ^^ greatly improved and special facilities for transportation by rail and steamer for this class of freight. From that comparatively limited region peaches are now sent all over the country in immense quantities at a trifling cost, and in a good state of preservation ; and in the height of the season the carrying trade forms a big item in the business of certain freight- lines. Plums are a much less prominent crop in this country. The fhiit is derived from the bullace, which, in turn, is the offspring of the wild sloe, and ROSE-COLORED WIQBLIA. M OF THE UNITED STATES. 179 S. G. Perkins London in oicest dessert vely dried for T\ax about the ;llows " began elf in Pennsyl- tered. It was peaches indis- 1th of the trees )nstitutional in Is of the North- The difficulty iderstood ; and ^ for twenty or es having been ficulty, and the rn winters, had ated the New- the New- York b ; since which sen made to re- ,ve referred to, centre of pro n a marked di of peach-culture ity years, largely development ot g industry, and r improved and ansportation by 5 class of freight. y limited region t all over the quantities at a good state of le height of the certain freight- The fruit is le wild sloe, and it is said to have originated in the Caucasus, near the Volga River. It has spread all over Europe from Norway south, and extended even into Barbary. iMiglish catalogues enumerated no less than two hundred and seventy-four varieties a few years since. Plums were known and grown slightly in this country before the Revolu- tion, though not much is heard of them until the dawn of the present century. The venerable Chancellor Livingston was the first to bring to this country the greengage, which was known in France as the Reine Clauile, having been named after the wife of Francis I. From that stock a seedling was developed by Judge Buel of Albany, which was called the " Jefferson." It is one of the most beautiful, delicious, and widely-known l)lums in this country. Its birth was probably not far from contemporaneous with that of the Washington plum, another spontaneous American product, derived from the greengage. Concerning the Washington plum, it is recorded that the parent-tree grew on Delancey's farm, on the east side of what is now the Bowery, in New- York City. A sucker from it was bought from a market-woman by Mr. Bolmar, a Chatham-street merchant, in 1818; and from this came the new variety. The Washington plum was soon introduced into Europe, where it has never been equalled. The Lawrence favorite and Columbia plums were also seedlings of green- gage extraction, raised by L. U. Lawrence of Hudson, N.Y. Other less important varieties have been developed in this country; and numerous foreign varieties, including the common blue plum, the damson, and the apricot, have been imported. We have also, in this country, several wild native varieties. Among them are the Chickasaw, peculiar to Mississippi, a wild yellow and red plum to be found along river-sides from Canada to deorgia and Texas, and a beach-plum that grows on sandy coasts from Massachusetts to New Jersey, and occasionally farther south. Plums have never been cultivated extensively for the market in this country, but generally by farmers and city residents for domestic cuitiv«ion use, and by fruit-fanciers as a special luxury. The common "«"•»«<•• varieties are often pitted and dried, and the choicer ones pickled and pie- served. The fruit is also used fresh for dessert to some extent. The cherry is a fruit of Asiatic origin, and was introduced into Italy from Pontus during the Mithridatic war, 70 B.C. Thence it spread all over Europe. Within the past century or two its varieties have multiplied and improved remarkably. There are now over three hundred varieties cultivated. The blackheart variety was early introduced to this country, and seedlings were raised from it without number. The Black Tartarian, one of its Russian descendants, was brought here in 1825, and has proved a great favorite. The early whiteheart was brought here from France by R. Arden, who lived on the Hudson, opposite West Point. It has been 'It'-^r. I So INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Strawberry. widely cultivated. The bigarreau cherry was brought to the United States by Other varia- William Prince of Long Island in 1800. Chancellor Livingstuii *'••• introduced a white bigarreau, and about 1825 Andrew Parmeniicr of Brooklyn brought the Napoleon bigarreau from Holland. Daniel Blood- good of Flushing, L.I., M. P. Wilder of Boston, A. J. Downing of Newburyh, N.Y., and Robert Manning of Salem, Mass., brought several new varieties here between 1830 and 1850. The mayduke, supposed to be the niedoc of France, was among the earliest, most valuable, and most widely-diffused varieties in this country, and many new varieties have been deduced from it. The morello, or Kentish sour red cherry, used chiefly for pies, was raiscil chiefly in New York along the Hudson, and in New Jersey. The fruit has never been cultivated largely for the market, but chiefly for local and family consumption. Besides being eaten fresh, the cherry is canned, dried, made into pies, and macerated with brandy or rum for medicinal purposes. Tiie wood is also highly prized by cabinet-makers. Strawberries tpke their ramc trom the old custom of putting straw under- neath the plants to keep the fruit from touching the ground. The Romans called them " fragraria," on account of their delicious fragrance. They grow wild almost the world over. Little attention was given to their improvement in foreign countries until this centurj', and not much was done by American horticulturists until about 1830. Hovey'.s seedling, produced by a famous Boston seedsman in 1834, was among the very first and most popular of choice American varieties. In 1837 Alex- ander Ross of Hudson, N.Y , developed an improved variety from the Keen (English) strawberry. Thereafter varieties and plants rapidly multiplied, and the culture of this delicious fruit rapidly increased. Within the past ten or fifteen years strawberries have been grown in small garden-plats rather less than formerly, inasmuch as the immense quantities raised by market- gardeners in the Central States, especially on Long Island and in New Jersey and Delaware, and the improved facilities for transportation, have cheapened and made very plenty this delicious early summer fruit in all parts of the country. Raspberries (which are said to have originated on Mount Ida, in the Island of Crete) and blackberries grow wild all over the northern and eastern part of this country. Most of our cultivated berries were introduced from Europe. They have not been very extensively grown in the United States, however, the market being supplied quite as much by the wild fruit as by the improved. Horticulturists have given these berries compara- tively little attention. Oranges grow to a very limited extent in this country, and chiefly in Florida. The fruit is essentially a tropical one, and has been known there from time immemorial. The principal planting and conduct of orange-groves for mercantile purposes is of recent date, undet Raspberry. Orangea. OF THE UNITED STATES. I8l Figi, fte. the auspices of Northerners who went to Florida after the war. Labor and society are as yet so demoralized, that the industry is still in its infancy, Morida oranges are large and sweet, and are highly and justly prized ; and there would seem to be a deal of wealth in store for those who shall systemati- cally supply Northern markets therewith. Some idea of the growth of the fruit-producing business in this country within the past few years may be formed from the census returns of orchard products, which exclude grapes and wine and the various kinds of berries. In 1850 the total value was stated at 17,773,186 ; ten years later, $19,991,885 ; and ten years still later, 147,335,189. This is a more marked increase than in our sugar, tobacco, cotton, or cereals ; and these simple figures contain a significant summary of horticultural history. Besides the fruits named in this chapter, there have been attempts to domesticate others, mostly belonging to warmer climates, — such as the pome- granate, date-palm, fig, olive, lemon, mulberry, almond, and other nut-trees. But such attempts have met with but little success. The mulberry, however, be it remarked, was grown chiefly for the silk indus- try, which proved so sig- nal a failure. Currants and other small fruits have too little a history to entitle them to specific mention. It may be remarked in this connection, that, besides fruit-trees, such economic plants as tea and coffee have been introduced by the horti- cultural branch of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, Tea and cor- but not with "« ?'■"*•• much success. The pres- ent commissioner. Gen. Leduc, is putting forth more vigorous efforts than did any of his predecessors to render tea-culture not only possible, but also a profitable industry. COFPBB-HIILLBII. BOOK II. MANUFACTURES. I, » V '^ CHAPTER I. MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL. EARLY HISTORY. NATURE has fitted the United States to become the centrt oT & great iron industry by the lavish endowment of her territory witK all the materials required in the production and manufacture of that valuable metal. Buperierlty Iron, coal, and limestone are found in every part *•' United of our domain ; and, in the region lying east of the Rocky Moun other coun- tains, the country is so full of them as to present the appearance »'•«• •" ''eh- geologically of a gigantic basin filled to the rim with mineral variety of treasures. It is said, by those who have examined the mineral «ron ores, resources of other countries, that, were the coal of the rest of the world deposited within the iron rim of this great basin, it would not occupy one- quarter of the area of our own coal-fields. What is true of coal is true of iron, which, by the help of coal, will be utilized still more extensively in the Tuture of the world for the purposes of man. The deposits of the ore in this country exist in such enormous quantity as fairly to stagger the imagination. The ores are more accessible than in EIngland, which now supplies half the iron consumed by the world ; and they exist in close proximity to the coal and lim eston e used in extracting the metallic iron from them. T;.eir abundance insures to the United States the ability to supply, not only its own people, but the world at large, with all the iron that could be consumed for centuries to come, if it were necessary to do so. There appears to be no other country so fortunately endowed with respect to iron and coal. England, now the resource of Europe and Asia, and once of America, supplies at present half the iron and coal of the world ; but her mines are deep and difficult, and costly to work, while in the United States they lie upon the top of the ground, or near it. Sweden, with an inexhaustible supply of the richest and best ore, has no coal. Russia, Austria, Italy, Algiers, and some of the German States, have ore, but no coal. France is deficient in coal, and only maintains her iron manufacture by importing both coal and iron. Prussia has 185 England. ? /2_ ^> t86 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ?""^J r a sufficient supply of both materials for her own needs, but has little surplus. ' Brazil has iron, but very little coal, and can only manufacture her ore by burning her forests in her furnaces, and cannot, therefore, long maintain a competition with a country whose very foundations are planted on beds of coal, if, indeed, she can ever seriously enter into one. Spain has iron and coal ; but they are widely separated, and little has been done to utilize either. The United States, on the other hand, not only enjoys incalculable supplies of the best ores, and of coal and limestoj e, but in some States — as in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Aiabama, and Kentucky — is able to point to all these materials so close together, that they exist within a radius of a mile and a half of the furnace, all lying on or - near the surface of the ground. The mineral deposits of the United States will lie more fully described in the book on " Mines and Mining ; " and it need only be said here, that in a country filled with such exhausfless stores of coal and of iron ores of every variety, so convenient of access, nothing except the grossest apathy and ignorance on the part of the people could possibly prevent it, in . time, from becoming a leading source of the world's supply of iron and iron manufactures ; and that as our people are not ignorant and apathetic, but are eager, intelligent, and enterprising, the destiny of the country as the seat of a great iron manufacture is assured. Indeed, the industry has already reached magnificent proportions, and not only has now the capacity to produce enough to supply the wants of our own inhabitants, but, within the last two or three years, has begun to furnish a surplus for export. In the world at large the United States now stands second on the list of iron- producing countries, as will appear from the following table of the product of pig-metal, compiled by the American Iron and Steel Association for 1877 from the latest accessible statistics : — Statiitics. COUNTRIES. YEAR. IRON, TONS. Great Britain 1875 6,365,462 United States . 1876 1,868,960 Germany 1874 1,660,208 France . 1876 I.449.S37 Belgium . 187s 541,805 Austria . 187s 4SS.227 Russia . 1874 S'4.497 Sweden . 1875 350.525 Luxemburg . 1874 246,054 Italy 1872 26,000 Spain 1872 73.000 Norway . 1870 3.975 Mexico . 1876 7.500 Canada . . 1876 7.500 Japan . 1874 5,000 4 CF THE UNITED STATES. 187 -j^3^ -- ^ --- ^-^ -.^-^ -iW^^ -—!&-_---: - - . ^T-l iTT^^ttMMJife 1 lii HMp'^J'fflj. ,,j .. -, jy a;^^^- ^L"-'^ . ^f nil^Bf^^^^Bri - 't ^ ^ '11^ ^^^^^^^^^^^p^^^^^^-^|!^M|3^^P%^^^ Pi '^pt «- L ^TllS fc^a^' l^^^^^ IRON, TONS. .^:m n --^Ni^.-^ ^^y^^ IRON AND STBBL MANUFACTUIUI. ■■■^fifVT'^ i88 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY COUNTKIBS. Switzerland . Turkey . Australasia All other countries , Total IRON, TONS. 7,500 40,000 10,000 50,000 13,682,750 production cf iron. ! f / The first discovery of jron in this country was in the South. Ore was -^^ found by Raleigh in Carolina ; and, on his return to England, that eminent man Diicover reported that this metal formed one of the resources of the beau- and early tiful region referred to. It did not prove a special attraction to emigration at the time ; for iron was not among the things in which the territory of England was deficient, and the world was not then using a hundredth part of the metal which it consumes now, and there was no great demand for it. The steam-engine had not been invented, and very little machinery was in use. Even after the practical settlement of the country by the English race had begun, in 1607, in Virginia, it was a great many years before iron was thought to be of sufficient account to expend any time on its manufacture. Tobacco was a much more profitable product, and for fifteen years was about the only product of the colony ; the men sent over by the London Company to introduce industry themselves turning agriculturiats, and raising that valuable plant. That minerals abounded in Virginia was, how- ever, noted at a very early day. Tr^ ifiro "imp na re " was sent to England by the Jamestown Colony, and found to yield an excellent quality of metal. Atten- tion was called to the matter repeatedly. Finally the London Company deter- mined to make use of the ore ; and about 1620 they sent to Virginia, as appears from "A Declaration of the State of Virginia," "out of Sussex, about forty, all famed to iron workes." These people established in Virginia a forge, or, more Z^ p roperly, what is now called a " bloomary ." Reference is made to it by Bev- Manufacture ^""'X' '" ^'^ " History of Virginia," as the " iron work at Falling of iron in Creek, in Jamestown River, where they made proof of good iron Virginia. ^^^^ ^^^ brought the whole work so near a perfection, that they writ word to the company in London .hat they did not doubt but to finish the work, and have plentiful provision of iron for them, by the next Easter ; " namely, y jl-in the spring of 1621 . Thus iron was actually manufactured from the ore in I ^Virginia as early as 1620. The fuel used wa s charcoal . In 1621, three of the master- workmen having died, the company sent over Mr. John Berkeley, with his son Maurice and twenty experienced workmen, to carry on the works. Ovl the 22d of May, 1622, the works were destroyed by the Indians, and the whole company massacred, ivith the exception of a boy and a girl, who OF THE UNITED STATES. t8<^ IRON, TONS. south. Ore was escaped by hiding. Thr ee hundred and forty-seven of the other settlers were killed besides. This bloody event put an end to the making of iron in Virginia for nearly a hundred years. The business was not resumed until 1712 , although the rocks of this ancient and well-settled State were known to be full of valuable deposits, and the attention of capitalists in London was from time to time called to the fact. It is one of the most remarkable coincidences in the history of the iron manufacture, that a mob in civiUzed England destroyed a blast-furnace, erected there by Dud Dudley for the smelting of iron by means Dudley's of coal fuel, almost at the same time that the savages of the woods experiments. burned the little pioneer factory in Virginia. Experiments had been making in England for many years to utilize coal in producing iron. The forests of the kingdom were being destroyed Rapidly by the insatiable demands of the forges and blast-furnaces, which then could only be worked with charcoal fuel. In 1619 Dud Dudley had succeeded in making iron with coal by means of his skill in the use of bellows and i n coking coa l. Iron-masters tried to obtain / ^ his secret, and working-men were incited to jealousy of him. He built five separate works, was tricked out of three, and lost one by a flood ; and one was destroyed by a mob. Dudley kept his secret, and it died with him ; and the manufacture of iron with the aid of hard coal was postponed First use of for over a hundred years. It was not until nhmit 1 735 th.if Dgrhy, "ke. having discovered the process, put it into use, and began making iron with coke regularly . That process and the new blowing-engines then quadrupled the product of iron in England in fifty years. The next attempt at making iron in the colonies was in the North. It was part of the object of colonizing Massa chusetts to produce iro n. In the journal of the Court of Assistants at London for the meeting on March 2, „ 1628, it is recorded that "also for Mr. Malbon it was propounded, of iron in he having skill in iron-works, and willing to put in twenty-five '^'^^ ^"*' pounds in stock, it should be accounted as fifty pouiids, and his charges to be borne out and home from New England ; and upon his return, and report what may be done about iron-works, consideration to be had of proceeding therein accordingly, and further recompense if there be cause to entertain him." Three days after, the court made arrangements with Thomas Graves of Gravesend, Kent, "a man experienced in iron-workes," to go out to New England at the expense of the company, and serve the company for six or eiglit months, provision being made for his staying three years if dcsiral)lo. Tiic result of the expedition of these two men is not known. It could not have been very satisfactory ; for no furnace-fires appear to have been estab- lished in consequence of it. The Court of Assistants in I^ondon got no iron from this preliminary attempt. Fifteen years later the subject of iron- making was agitated again, and in 1637 the General Court of Massachusetts t90 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY hi in' I ■• '\ ' si. n i l! j. < t lijHr ' ii^^fl i"iui granted to Abraham Shaw one -half the benefit of any coles or yron the countrye's yL Bog-iron ore. /^ yy Winthrop. Stone w""* shall bee found in any comon ground w'** is in disposing." The first iron made in the colony, however, was not from stony ores, but was taken from the bottom of the peat-bogs and ponds near the coast. '1 liese bogs are found all along the eastern coast of the country as far south as Maryland. Water filtering through the neighboring liills brings down into the ponds large quantities of sesquioxide of iron in solution, and deposits the same at the bottom of the pond, along with vegetable mould, in soft, spongy masses which go by the name of ' 'bog-iron or e." The ore, once taken out, is renewed again by gradual deposit. After the Falling-Creek experiment, the iron-works of the country were suppUed for a long period principally with bog - ore. The large furnaces of the present day could not be supplied with it, because it does not exist in sufficient ciuantity ; but, for the uses of the early colonists, it supplied pretty nearly every want. The iron cast from it is brittle, but very fluid when melted, taking every minute mark of the mould ; and is, therefore, still made to the present day in North-west New Jersey and in Mary- ,andjor^tove-castings. In 1643 specimens of the bog-ores from the ponds near Lynn were sent to England for trial, and found to be so good, that a '• Company of Undertak- ers for the Iron -Works " was immediately formed, with a thousand pounds capital, by John Winthrop, jun., and others. Winthrop came to New England in ±6^ , with a corps of workmen, to begin the regular manufacture of iron. The company built their furnace on the banks of the S augus Riv er, within the present limits of Lynn, at a spot which they called H ammersmit h, after the place in England from which some of the workmen had come. The General Court of Massachusetts greatly favored this work hy grants of three square miles of land wherever the company put up works, and by special privileges and charters. Subscriptions toward the stock were encouraged among the inhabitants. The work was very successful ; and on Oct. 14, 1645, the General Court granted to the company a charter "on the condition that the inhabitants of this jurisdiction be furnished with barr-iron of all sorts for their use, not exceeding twenty pounds per tunne." In 1648 the Furnace at furnace at Lynn was turning out eight tons of iron a week, and Lynn. appears to have been kept busy for a long time casti ng canno n, shot, pots, and other holjowrware, for which the bog-iron is so well adapted. The first article cast was an ir on p ot ; and this historic and intrinsic treasure was handed down for generations in the family of the man who bought it, who happened to be Thomas Hudso n, of the same family as the Dutch explorer, Thomas having been the original owner of the lands on the Saugus upon which the foundery stood. The company built another forge about 1648, in the town of Braintree; OF THE UNITED STATES. (91 Connecticut. of Braintree and in 165 a a forge was established at Raynham (now Taunton) by the two Leonard brothers, Henry and James, from whom have since Braintree descended so many of the well-known iron -masters of the «ndT«un. ton. country. John VVinthrop, jun., went to New London in Connecticut in 1645, *'*d in 1 65 1 obtained a grant of privileges from the Assembly to Kirjtjron- enable him to make iron there. He did not, however, carry out works in his intention of establishing the business then ; and the first iron works in this colony were erected at New Haven, where they were established by Capt. Thomas Clarke i n 165 6. Rhode Island made iron at Pawtucket and elsewhere as early as 1675. There were several fur naces and fo rges in the State, all of them Rhode ninning with bog-ore taken from the ponds on the border of Bris- '■'•'«*• to! County, Massachusetts. The works at Pawtucket were started by Joseph Jenks, jun., from Lynn. The Indians interfered with their infant enterprises a great deal ; and the iron industry has not, even to this day, reached any si)ecial development in the State. The energies of the people were directed at a very early period to cotton spmning and weaving, and that has since engrossed them almost entirely. Yet Rhode-Island hills contain unlimited quantities of the most important iron ores. Iron ore had been discovered in New Jersey by the Dutch ; and a com- pany of people from Connecticut began the production of metal from it as early as 1664 in Shrews bury, Monmouth County. Henry Leonard went to Shrewsbury about that year from Lynn, and is said to have set up one of the first furnaces of the provinces. Sev eral bloomary-fir es were started in Sussex and Morris Counties in 1685 by immigrants from Eng- land and the northern provinces of this country. The ore was brought to the forges many miles in leathern bags on pack-horses. There is some dispute as to whether the pioneer works in New England, at Lynn, were of the character of a blast-furnace or a bloomary-fire ; but there is y<^ no doubt at all, that, during the first fifty years of practical iron- BU«t-fur. / ^ making in this country, the furnaces were, in general, what are called nacea and L/^ " b loomari es." The blast-furnaces were exceedingly rare. They '''°'"■^«•• were in use in England, but not here, except at Lynn (where Mr. Swank believes there was one as early as 1644), and at Shrewsbury, N.J., where one was set up about 1680. These bloo maries were simply an impr ovement upon the prim i- tive mode of making iig p direct from the ore, m use m India trom the most ancient times, and still employed by the natives of Asia and g^^., Africa. The_ oripinal bloomary was merely a hole in the ground, eest of maii' in which charcoal was burned by the aid of a bellows made from a goatjjkin, iron ore being added to the fire in small quan- tities. It is the peculiar property of iron, and the ore quality above all others, which has made it of such extraordinary utility to man, that its particles agglu- New Jersey. ing iron deacribad. w^f ^3 M$» INDUSTRIAL HISTORY *>ll ! ' tinatt*^ ^^ ^ white-h eat. In those primitive fires it was found, that, the stone being burned out of the ore, and the iron heated almost to incandescence, the metal gathered together, and settled at the bottom in a glowing and more or i^^ess compact lump, o r bloom , and might be got out and worked by breaking away the clay. This method of making iron served the world for centuries. It was finally improved i n^ Cit^ilnni.! , in Sp ain, and made much more effective; and the iron-making works there perfected took the name of Catalan bloomari cs. oi in Spain. forges, from the province in which they were first set up. The original form, used in the Pyre nees since 12 0.^. was a furnace two feet high, with a hearth, or crucible, to receive the heated lump of metal, eleven inches / 2. jigep. The blast was fed to the fire through two openings, called tuygres^ about el even inches from the bo ttom. In five hours a hundred and forty pounds of iron could be made. In time the furnace became enlarged, and the hearth was made twent y inches de ep : one tuyere was discontinued, and the produc- tion was increased to th ree hundr ed pounds of metal in five hgu fs. The pro- \ Process cess was as follows : In the fire-clay hearth a bottom of slag and \ ''escribed. charcoal was I laid, and glazed over at a high heat : the heartli was j then half filled with charcoal. On the side opposite to the tuyire coarse ore I was heaped up to the top of the hearth, and the rest of the space was filled ^^ — with charcoal. Then the blast was started at a low pressure of about three- quarters of a pound. In six hours the pressure was raised to a pound and a half, and the wliole of the fire heaped over with fine charcoal and ore, except over the coarse ore. The gas and flame from the fire, meeting with difficulty in escaping through the fine charcoal, were forced principally to find an outlet through the interstices of the coarse ore, and they gradually reduced it. The melted slag, settling down below the tityire, was tappedof Tevery hour. At the end of the operation, or in about six hours,1Ke BToom was pried out of the fire, and put under a fourteen-hundred-pound hapimer for manufacture. The heat could be so increased as to melt tl;ie iron, and run it, off to make castings. I n the Catalan process, thre e tons o f ore, and two and three-quarters or three tons of charcoal, were consumed to make a ton of iron ; the process being very wasteful, but the metal extremely pure and go od. The principal tr ouble with the Catalan forg e was, that the fire had to be re-made after each he at. This objection led to an improvement upon it, Defect of invented by the Germ ans in Alsace. These people went back to Catalan the old plan of throwing into the fire alternate layers of fine ore *"'*■ and charcoal, usi ng larger fires , and making the b last continuo us. By this means they were able either to run off the melted metal, or pry out the heated bloom, without re-making the fire. The principle and form of both-iloomaries were substantially the same, and the product equally good. • < ■ This was the general style of forge which found its way into America in the ;iM! . i ,it: OF THE UNITED STATES. «93 infancy of the iron-manufacture, and by which the manufacture was estab- lished. Professor T. Sterry Hunt says of it in a recent paper, — t. sterry " T his furnac e had the great advantage, that its construction Hunt. required but little skill and outlay. A small waterfall for the blast and ham- mer, a rude hearth with a chimney, and a supply of charcoal and ore, enabled tlie iron-worker to obtain, as occasion requirecj, a few hundred pounds of iron in a day's time in a condition fitted for the use of the blacksmith ; after which his primitive forge remained idle until there was a further demand. To this tiny siirh fnrr^ar.es are found in the mo untains of N ort h Car olina, and furnish the bar-iron required for the wants of the rural population. . . . Still more worthy of note is it, that this pri mitive bloomary-furnac e, discarded in Kurope, has been impr oved by Amer ican ingenuity, — enlarged, fitted with a hot blast, wat er, tuyhe s, and o ther modern a^jiliances, — so that, in the hands of skilled workmen in Northern New York, it affords for certain ores an eco- nomical mode of making a sup erior malleable iro n. A large part of this y ^ product is consumed at Pittsburgh for the manufacture of cutlery-steel of excellent quality." Pennsylvania, so marvellously stored with the materials for iron-making, did not begin the manufacture u ntil 1717^ ^ — the year before William Penn's death. I'enn came to the province which was named after him in 1682. Pennsyi- He was familiar with the iron-business, and he accordingly soon vania. hail furnaces in New Jersey at various places in Sussex. He discovered in time that his own province was rich in minerals ; but it appears that the indus- try was not developed there until the year before his tleath. The record of the event is found in a letter of Jonathan Dickinson, written in 171 7, in which he sa\s, " This last summer, one Th omas Rutt er, a smith who lived not far from (Jerniantown, hath removed farther up in the country, and of his own strength has set up o n making iro n. Such it proves to be as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best of Swede's iron doth_jftQLiLxceed Jt ; and we have heard of others that are going on with the iron-works." A beginning once made, the inilustry developed with great rapidity. I n 1728 f our furnaces were in full blast ; one being at Colebrookdale on the Maxatawny Creek, and one being in the present county of Lancaster. By the time of the Revolution many others !iad been built in Eastern and North-eastern Pennsylvania. Tiiese we re regular blast-furnaces run with charcoal fuel. Virginia resumed the manufacture of iron ab out i7n; . Col. Alexander Spottswood opened some mines in Spottsylvania County, on the Rappahan nock, and put up a blast-furnace there about that year. The owner told _ ' "^ — —■ — « •' Resumption • Col. Byrd in 1 7^2 that he was the first in America who had erected of iron- a reg ular furnac e, and that " they ran nltn^ri'tlier i^nn hl^r^i-nnri^^c manufacture in New J Kngland and Pennsy lvania till his example had made them attempt greater workes." ^^fhis is believed, by Mr. Swank and others, to be a mistake, because there was a furnace at Lynn, and another at Shrewsbury, long vil '"'m.T' 194 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY 'J7 New York. before Col. Spottswood developed his large and flourishing works. The erec- tion of the Rappahannock furnace was, however, an important event in llie history of the iron-trade. It certainly led to the building of larger works in the North than had been put up previous to that time. Col. Spottswood li:i(i fyurjurnaces in 1732 ; the largest being at Fredericksburg, thirteen miles from tlie mine. .An idea of the sort of work the furnaces ran on at that day mav bo gathered from the journal of Col. Byrd, who says, that at the furnace at Massapony, on the Rappahannock, there were cast " backs for chimneys, and- irons, fenders, plates for hearths, pots, skillets, mortars, rollers for gardeners. boxes for cart-wheels, &c., which, one with another, could be delivered at people's doors for twenty shilliiigs_a^n." By 1 735 all the large coast provinces were busily manuflxcturing pig and bar iron an d castin gs, except New York. New York came lagging in the rear ~ of the train, and did not make iron until ab out 1 740. The bej,'in- ning of the industry appears to have been due to the develojjnient of the famous brown hematite dep osits in Salis bury, Conn., in 1732. No iron of any consequence had been found within the limits of the province itself; and the city of New York had been, up to that time, supplied with iron from the adjoining provinces. In 1740 Philip Livingston built the first i ron- w orks of the province on .Xncram Creek in Columbia County, obtaining his ore from Sal isbury in Conne cticut, twelve miles away, 'f he worts consisted only of a bloo mary-fo rge. In 1751 a blast-furnace was built in Orang e Comity to work up the ores of Sterling Mountain. The celebrated mines in tlie northern i»art of the State were not opened until 1800. The oldest forge in the Champlain region is said to have been built no earlier tha n_i{^Qi. The iron-manufacture began in New Ha mpshire about 17S 0. where several bloomar ies were built to make use of the bop-ores . A good deal of irpn was made during the Revolution ; but, after that, the business died out. There is to-day only o ne furnace in New Hamphire ; namely, the one belonging to tlie rolling- mill at Nas hua. Vermont entered upon the industry at the same time as her sister-province, making use of the magnetic an d hematite ores in tiie northern and western parts of the State. Alai^ne had a fe w oJoomary-for ^^es in York County during the Revolution, the war giving an energetic development to this business in every part of the country. North North Carolina exported a little iron as earl y as 1128. and during the Carolina. Revolution had a great many bloomar ies and forge s in operation. In South Carolina the fi rst forg e was erected_i n..i77,^ , in the north-western South part of the State : it was burned by the Tories during the war. In Kentucky the first works were b uilt in 17 01 by government troops, on Slate ('reek in Bath County. In Tjnnessee a bloom- ary was established at Emeryville as early as-i 790 ; and in"T)oth that State and Kentuclcy aTarge number of works sprang up immediately after, Vermont. Carolina. Kentucky. OF THE UNITED STATES. »9S and were operated for many years, until the cheaper iron of the Nokth made the business unprofitable. Georgia made no iron prior to the Ameri- can Revolution. FORTY YEARS OF REPRESSION AND STRUGGLE. Thus, by the middle of the eighteenth century, the manufacture of iron had taken a very favorable start. The furnaces and forges were small, and mainly devoted to supplying the blacksmiths of the vicinity surrounding ^^^^ them with bar-iron, and to casting the articles of hollow-ware, and enacted to furniture for fireplaces. They furnished a quantity of crude iron f'J"** '"*"' for export, however, because the skill and capital to manufacture this material into cudery, tools, machinery, and goods of the higher types, did not at first exist in this country, and the production was somewhat in excess of the demands of the blacksmiths. Along towards the middle of the eighteenth century, steel furnac es, r olling and slitting mil ls, a nd plating forges , began to be erected in the various colonies, the industry keeping steady pace with the growing wealth and development of the several sections. The fur- ther building of the classes of factories just named was, however, stopped in 1750 by a law which cljrectly forbade it as a common nu isance. This was one of the early steps of the in tolerance of the 'y^pthfr-^ """*rY ^'i^'^*' led to the ultim ate revolt and j nf)..p).p>iAn/^<. p|f \\it. f Qlgni^^t A peculiar fe eling existed i n Enf:l and toward the coloni es. The people here were Englishmen, were proud of the fiict, and were unflaggingly loyal to the government under the protection of whose banners they were trying to subdue the wilderness, and build up a group of flourishing and civilized communities. As Knglishmen they were protected by the arms of P^ngland against all foreign invasions of their rights and territor)', and their loyalty was rewarded by the recognition of their able men with commissions in the king's civil and military service and otherwise. Hut they had the misfortune to live and be born out of the realm itself, and on that account they never enjoyed the full respect and sympathy of the people of England and of the crown. All the legislation had in respect to them was inspired, therefore, with something less than a spirit of full fraternity, and often with a positive determination to make them si mply subserve th e jnirposes of the.4ieQcle_athome, regar dless of their ow n welfare and i^ros- perity. The legislation in respect to the industrial development of the colo- nies was dictated by mercenary considerations exclusively. Growth here was retarded in every possible manner. Bounties for the export of agricultural l)roducts were given to induce the colonists to confine their attention exclu- sively to agriculture, and to depend entirely upon the mother-country for articles of manufacture. Parliament desired our people, living as they did under the shadow of gigantic forests, to export even their timber to Eng- 196 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY 1 1 t M • 1 1 i land, and obtain from that country, in return, our wooden-wares, chairs, tables, carriages, and wootlcn bowls. The development of the local industries of Kng. land, arid the promotion of the carrying-trade to the colo- nies so as to insure to Kngland a great deal of shipping, were ^ aimed at steadily. Tlie growth of industry here was looked upon with impatience ; and when it was seen that the colo- nists refused to be depentlent forever, and that they were showing great vigor and enter- prise in putting up their own factories and forges, Parlia- ment interposed with a regu- lation of the sort above re- ferred to. The law of 1750 restricted ^, the iron-making of the colonies to the production of pig and bar iron and to castings. Nails were made in a small way by the people, in their chimney- corners, eveninL's ; Law of 1750. " and the blacksmiths still worked away at wrought- iron implements and utensils: but general growth was stopped. A large part of the iron made was exported to F2ngland, the colonists getting it back again in the cutlery, steel, and other goods they were not permitted to make themselves. The fol- lowing table, which we copy from Scrivenor's " History of the Iron Trade," will show tlie yintity exported to England, down to the time of the Revolution, in ♦ens : — OF THE UNITED STATES. »97 n-wares, chairs, I, and wooden evelopment of stries of Kng- promotion of de to the colo- isure to Knglaiid f shipping, were ly. The growth ere was looked inpatience ; and en that the colo- be dependent that they were vigor and enter- ig up their own forges, Parlia- ed with a regu- sort above re- >f 1750 restricted W. jg of the colonies :tion of pig and 9 castings. Nails 1 a small way by n their chimney- )rners, evenings ; id the blacksmiths, iway at wrought- ints and utensils: •owth was stopped. of the iron made to F^ngland, the ing it back again steel, and other -^ere not permitted mselves. The fol- which we copy lor's "History of de," will show the he Revolution, in 1718 . 17^-20 1730 • 1730-3' "73'-3» 1732-33 •733 1733-34 ■734 •734-3S 1735 >739 1740 1741 1742 '743 •744 '745 1746 1747 1748 1750 '75' 1752 '753 1754 '755 1761 1762 '763 1764 176s 1766 1767 1768 1769 '770 '77' 1772 '773 1774 '775 1776 '.132 '.72s 2,250 2.332 2,404 2,197 2,561 2,4 '7 2.27 s 3.457 2,075 2.98s 1,861 2,274 1,861 2,156 2.'SS 2,924 3.210 2,980 2.737 3.244 3.44' 2,766 8,500 2.SS4 3.264 2.887 3.3 '3 2.9S3 3.401 4.232 S.303 3.724 2.937 3.4SI 2,996 3.6 BAK-mON. 55 • • • S % 57 4 196 82 4 S 5 81 247 270 389 39 122 3'o 1,059 1,078 '.257 '.32s 1,989 1.779 1,716 2,222 96s 837 639 916 28 In the same period, there were some slight shipments to Scotland in addition to these. 'TT7T 198 INDUSTRIAL tllSTOKY l.i: Condition of lron-manu> (acturt at outbreak of Revolution. When the colonies bej^an their daring experiment of a fight for politic al indepentlence, they were poorly provided with the means for carrying on a war. Not to mention their lack of factories for clothing, of ships, of |)iililic funds, and private capital, and of a dense population from whi( h to recruit an army, the poverty of their resources for making can- non, chains, rifles, swords, and shot, was so great as of itself alone to place them at an enormous disadvantage in the conflict with Kngland. 'I'hey had few or no works for the production of these necessaries of war, and neither sufficient ready capital to build all the ('ountry needed, nor the skill to produce at once an article of good workmansliip. The casting of a ten-pounder cannon was so serious a piece of business with them at that day, that few cared to undertake it. The absolute cutting-off ol the supplies from Kngland, upon which the colonies had formerly depended, however, j)Iaced them under the necessity of enlarging their iron-manufactur- ing facilities at once. The people not l)eing able to do this to the extent required both by the local wants and the demands of the government, ilie Policy of Continental Congress took part in the work ; and the troops Continental and the public fur 's were employed to establislijurnaces anil ongreM. fa ctories of iron and steel in various parts of the country. Works were established by Congress in the Housatonic Valle^n .Con necticut, in the Highlands of Jhe Hudson, in Northern New Jersey, Kentucky, and wher- ever the ores were rich~ahd the forest dense, and charcoaT therefore abun- dant. It is said that the first trials of anthracite for manufacturing purposes were made by Congress at its armory at Carlisle, Pen n., in 1775 , established in consequence of the Revolutionary war. The combined resources of Con- gress and people were only barely suflicient at first to su|)ply the country with the iron it needed. It took some time to train workmen, and the Tories freciuentl^intgiiered with proceedings by burning th e iron-work s! Towarcl the close of the Revolution the industry gained a good start ; and, had the tr eaty of peace in 1783 been followed up by a policy favorable to native manufactures, its rise would have been thenceforward rapid. But the Continental Congress had no power to initiate a policy of the proper sort ; and a period of six years followed, during which the country was flooded with cheap manufactures from England ; and a large number of tiie native American furnaces and factories, finding no demand for their iron, ceased to exist. By the previous repression of our industries, England had been enabled to enlarge and develop her own ; and the skill of her workmen, and the large capital of the masters, made it imjios- sible for America to compete with her, even in supplying her own needs. The few iron furnaces and founderies which managed to keep alive during the interregnum from 1783 to 1789 scarcely did more than provide for theii respective neighborhoods. ....... 1783 to 1789. OF THE UNITED STATES. IM THE EFFECT OP TARIFFS. In 1789 the first Congress met under the new Constitution, equipped by tlif people with power to legislate for the commonweal on a variety of im- ]H.rtant subjects, which, before that, the (leneral (Jovernment had been unable tu tDUch. It was a convention of the best men of the Revolu- Early tariff tionary struggle. The first law passed was one in relation to offi- ''^•• ( ial oaths ; the second, an act for the jjrotection of American industries and lor revenue. By this law a duty was levied upon all importations of iron ; a moderate one, — only five per cent on the home value of iron, and fifty cents \Kx hundred-weight on steel, — but enough to prove a temptation to many luriiace-men to kindle anew the fires in their deserted stacks, and collect their scattered workmen, and resume the industry (so valuable to the country) wiiich the heavy importations from England had obliged them to abandon. I'he duty, not proving large enough, was increased by different Congresses, until in 181 2 it reached thirty-two percent and a half on iron (thirty-seven per cent if brought in foreign vessels), and two dollars per hundred-weight on steel. .After the war of 1812 it was reduced somewhat. Under the pro- tection of this tariff, iron-making was resumed in all the States in which it had previously been carried on. In States and localities where i„„e„eo( no start had yet been made it was begun. Pittsburgh, now the manufac- most important iron centre of the country, had yet had no *"'*' blooinary nor foundery ; and Ohio, with its rich stores of coal and ore, and l)iisy farming-population, had seen no piece of iron laid on a village anvil except that which had been toilsomely brought by wagon from the distant Kast. Hut in '^Pj ^h** ■roP-'"^'u strv was injtiiited a^ Pitts))iirgh by the building of a foundery, and in Ohio by the erection of a small charcoal- furnace in Poland Townsh ip, Ma honing Cou nty. Hloom aries, fu rnaces, roll- ing-mills, and steel- works sprang into being throughout the Union everywhere. The mines of the West and South were opened as the wave of population flowed into the regions surrounding them, and in the older communities in the rear of them branches of the manufacture which had never been attempted on this continent were successfully tried and established. Production began to keep pace with consumption, and a small quantity of crude iron was even supplied for exportation. Were it expedient to do so, the history of iron-making from 1 789 down to 1878 might be divided into eras coinciding with the changes in the principle on which the tariff has been framed. There have been several charactarof important changes. The tariff was protective until 1816. In varioua 1816 the duties were lowered in defp ypnri; to th $17 to $56 per ton. %i'] to S56 per ton. KAILROAD-BARS. $37 per ton. 25 per cent. free. free. free. 1^25 per ton. 50 cents per cwt. 75 cents per cwt. $1 per cwt. Ji per cwt. %2 per cwt. %\ per cwt. %i per cwt. $1 per cwt. $1.50 per cwt. $1.50 per cwt. $1.50 per cwt. $1.50 per cwt. ($1.50 to $2.50 per I cwt. ($1.50 to 12.50 per { cwt. OF THE UNITED STATES. aax PIG-IRON. BAR-IRON. RAILROAD-BARS, STEEL. 1846 . 30 per cent. 30 per cent. 30 per cent. 30 per cent. IS57 . 24 per cent. 34 per cent. 24 per cent. 24 per :ent. 1861 . $6 per ton. $1 s to $20 per ton. $12 per ton. ( $1.50 to ^2 per ( cwt. and upwards. / under 1 1 cts. a IS6: . $6 per ton. $ij to JS2S per ton. $13.50 per ton. ) lb., i| to 2\ cts. ; ( over, 25 per cent under 1 1 cts. a lb.. 1864 . $9 per ton. 1S22 -0 to|39.2o per ton. $13.44 per ton. 2] to 3 cts. J over, 3^ cts. and 10 p. . c ad valorem, under 1 1 cts. a lb., 1865 . I9 per ton. $22.40 to $39.20 per ton. $15.68 perton. 1 -' 2^ to 3 cts. ; over, 3i cts. and 10 p. c. ad valorem, under 1 1 cts. a lb.. 1870 . I7 per ton. $22.40 to $39.20 per ton. $1 5.68 per ton. 2jto3cts. ; over, 3^ cts. and 10 p. . c. ad valorem. 1872 . 1^6.30 per ton. $20.16 to $35.28 perton. $14.11 perton. ( 10 p. c. less than ( in 1864. 187s . $7 per ton. $22.40 to $32.20 per ton. $15.68 per ton. same as in 1864. Down to 1816 a discrimination was regularly made in favor of the American carrying-trade by levying ten per cent more of duty if the iron were brought in foreign vessels. The figures above given represent the duty on imports in American vessels. The best statistics as to the production of iron in the United States are those compiled by the American Iron and Steel Association, of which Mr. James M. Swank is the author. They are as follows : — .^ PRODUCTION OF PIG-IRON IN GROSS TONS. 1810 54,000 1820 20,000 1828 ^ 130,000 1829 142,000 1830 165,000 1831 191,000 1832 200,000 1840 315,000 1842 215,000 1846 765,000 1847 800,000 202 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY 1848 800,000 1849 .... 650,000 1850 564,755 1852 500,000 1854 736.218 1855 784,178 1856 883,137 1857 798,157 1858 705,094 1859 840,627 i860 9'9,770 1861 731,544 1862 787,662 1863 947,604 1864 >,>3S.996 1865 93',S82 1866 1.350.343 1867 1,461,626 1868 . . ; 1,603,000 1869 1,916,641 1870 1,865,000 1871 i,9ii,6oS 1872 2,854,558 1873 2,868,278 1874 • . . 2,689,413 1875 2,266,581 "876 2,093,236 it"* THE ERA OF ANTHRACITE FUEL AND THE HOT BLAST. Down to i8j8_the only fuel used to any extent in the manufacture of iron from the or e was charc oal. There were a few coke— furnaces in the country ; but the vast majority of the iron-masters used charcoa' bloomaries and furnaces. The furnaces were small (the stacks Introduction of anthra- cite. seldom over twenty feet high), and producing from two to fo ur tons of ir on a day . From a hundre d to a hundred and fi ft y bushels of c har- coal and tw o tons of ore w ere consu med to the t on of iro n produced, the (juantity of coal varying according to the hardness of the wood from which the coal had been made, and the skill and expeHence of the foreman. The profits of the business depended largely on the judgment and success of the Process de- foreman in the use of charcoal. The blast was of cold air. sup- scribed, plied by two pairs of jargt bjsUojys worked by water-power, and blown into the furnace^ sometimes through hollow green logs placed back from the ttiyire opening, so as to be safe from burning. The quality of iron made by these old-fashioned furnaces was exceedingly good. The metal was pure, and of great tenacity and durability or wearing surface, and was of the greatest value for the purposes of steel. Even at the present time, invention has been unable to produce iron of superior quality to that made OF THE UNITED STATES. 303 in the ch arcoal bloomaries and fum? ces ; and the highest-priced bars at / present are still tho se thus pro duced. The quantity which could be made in the old-fashioned furnace was, however, small ; and, as the forests in the mining-regions were consumed, the cost of production even of that small ([uantity increased. Experiments were made for the production of iro n with anthra cite co al. 1 he country was richly stored with supplies of this valuable fuel ; and its usefulness for the generation of steam, and for the warming of Early ex- houses, had been demonstrated at a very early day. Could it be pediments. Inirned in the blast-furnaces, a saving of labor and expense, and an increase of production, would certainly follow. One experiment was made as early as 18 1 5 at Harford Furnace i n Mary land, the anthracite being mixed with one- ^HarcoaT In 1826 anthracite was tried in a furnace near Mauch success. In 1827 similar experiments, with similar results, The experiments were abandoned l!> half Chunk ivithout were made at a furnace at KingstoUj Mass in a good deal of despair. In 1828 James B. Neilson of Scotland brought out an invention which made it possible to work with anthracite, and immediately revolutionized the iron-making of the world. This was the use of th e hot-air blas t Neiison's / ^ in smelting iron. The previous failures with anthracite had been '"v-intion. due to the employment of tlie cold blast. Mr. Neilson applied the hot llast to coke and charcoal furn. es. Its first utility was considered to be the saving of fuel effected by it. On tlie Clyde a ton of iron had required the combus- tion of eight tons and a half of c oal coke d. With the hot blast this was reduced to two tons and a half at once. It was an American who conceived the idea of burning anthracite direct by means of the hot blast. In 1833 Dr, Geissenheimer of New York obtaiufid. a. patent for smelting iron wjth anthracit e and the hot-air blast. His own experiments were unfortunately unsuccessful: but in 1837 some gentlemen from Reading succeeded with the new idea in an old uirnace near Mauch Chunk, using eighty per cent of anthracite ; doing so well, in fact, that they at once built a new furnace to larry on the business regularly. They had good luck ; and so had the owner of an anthracite furnace built in 1837 at I'ott sville, Pen n., and blown in in 1839. This furnace was blown by steam-power, and produced forty tons a week of good foundery-iron. ,'\ premium of five thousand dollars was given to Mr. William Lyman, its owner, by Nicholas Biddie and others, as the first person who had made pig-iron with anthracite continuously for a hundred days in the United States. This was the beginning of the anthracite iron-business of the country. Thereafter, almost all the new works put up in tlie iron-regions increase in were built expressly to burn anthracite as fiiel. The fiirnaces production. which still continued to burn charcoal were principally in the North ; the coa! measures of that region not having been developed, and the forests sup- V m^^n i-,1l" mam m I m m I: Ml M im |; ao4 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY A' plying, practically, inexhaustible quantities of the old style of fuel. The his- tory of the blast-furnace since that date has been one principally of growth in size : year by year the stacks grew larger and taller, until, from twenty feet in height and ten in diameter, they have now risen even to ninety feet in height and twenty-five in diameter. In 1855 the yearly production of anthra- cite pig-iron overtook that of charcoal iron, and the latter variety has been steadily falling to the rear ever since. In 1869 the production of charcoal \ iron was again passed by that made with bitu minous coa! and coke . In 1872 tlie product was as follows: Anthracite iron, 1,369,812 net tons; bituminous coal and coke-iron, 984,159 tons; charcoal made, 500,587 tons. The metal made by the hard-coal and hot-blast processes is inferior to that made by the old style of furnace ; but it fulfils the demand of the times for cheap and .^bundant iron. \M Blast-furnaces are always located in the vicinity of the supplies of fuel, either in the coal-mining regions, or along the lines of coal transportation. It is cheaper to bring the ore to the coal than the fuel to the ore, — a foot which is strikingly illustrated by the experience of Michigan, which, with incalculable treasures of ore of the finest qualities, is obliged to send away tlie principal part of her ore to Ohio and other States having mineral coal, to Ix" made into pig-iron there. Indiana and Illinois, both great iron-making States, are so solely on account of their coal. Their iron ores are scanty, and of bad quality. Blast-furnaces are possible even in the cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and in other cities reached by the railroads of a great coal State. The blast-furnaces of the United States have reached a size and perfection excelled nowhere in the world. There have been great intelligence, and Blast- alacrity of invention, on the part of those engaged in the iron- furnaces, trade in this country ; and, in respect to mechanical appliances, the American furnaces ha\'e been placed fully on a par with, if not above, the same class of works in other parts of the earth. "j^f The blast-furnace is a structure of stone and brick work, from forty to seventy-five and even ninety feet high, enclosing a chimney-like cavity, in Description which the orcs, fluxes, and fuel are placed to be sme ' d. Usually of blast- the stack is composed of a lining of fire-brick of the most refrac- urnaces. ^^^^ character, backed with a less refractory quality, and that with common red brick and stone. Most Western furnaces, and many of the new ones in the East, are, however, substantially an iron cylinder lined with fire- brick. The Philadelphia Furnace, — finished at Philadelphia in 1873, with all the latest improvements, — sixty feet high, is of sixteen-inch fire-blocks, adapted in shape to the contour of the interior, backed by a nine-inch course of ordinary fire-brick. Then a four-inch air-space, filled with loam, is backed with a nine-inch course of red brick. A three-inch air-space, filled with sand, then occurs, and a four-inch course of red brick ; and the whole is cased v.'ith OF THE UNITED STATES. 2QS 2o6 INDUSTRIAL IllSTOKY %M boiler-iron a quarter of an inch thick, extending to the top of the stack. The crucible, or hearth, is composed of sixteen-inch fire-blocks. This is a good type of construction. Back of the courses above described common masonry of considerable thickness is generally built to support the stack, if an iron casing is not used. The interior cavity of the furnace is round horizontally, but perpendicularly is very much of the shape of the chimney of an ordinary kerosene lamp. At the open top, in a seventy-five foot stack, it is ten feet in diameter. It gradually grows larger going down for a distance of about forty feet, where it reaches a width of about eighteen feet : it remains of this diameter for ten feet more, and then contracts rapidly in the next seventeen feet to eight feet diameter. This sloping portion of the furnace is called the — " boshes ; " and it is the part of it which supports the heav) weight of the ores and fuel, filling the stack to its mouth above. At the bottom of all is the hearth, or crucible, where the melted iron and slag collect. This is from five to eight feet in diameter, and about the same in height. The extreme width of the foundation upon which this mass of masonry rests is from thirty to forty-five feet. In the most modern stacks the masonry is not solid down to this foundation ; but that part of it above the l^eartii rests on an iron ental)- lature, sustained by iron columns planted upon the foundation of the stack. T'he tiiyires for the blast are from three to seven in number, and are cut into the hearth about four feet from the bottom. The air is blown into the furnace at a pressure of from three to four pounds, iind heated to a temperature ot" from six hundred to nine hundred degrees. In order that the tuyires shall not be melted, a current of cold water is kept playing upon them constantly. Up towards the top of the stack a number of openings permit the refiise gases from the burning coal below to be drawn ofT by means of the draught of a tall chimney, instead of escaping through the mouth of the stack itself. These gases are made, by flues, to play around the cold-air pipes and the boiler which drives the blowing-engines ; and by their combustion they heat the air for the blast, and maintain a high pressure of steam. The quantity of air blown into the furnace under pressure to produce the intense heat needed to reduce the iron ore amounts to fifteen tons or more an hour, and is always of much greater weight than the materials in the stack itself. Formerly the furnaces were built against a hillside or a high bank, like a lime-kiln, for convenience in dumping the ores and fuel into the top of the stack. The more modern plan is to construct an elevator l)y the side of tlie fiirnace, with a platform on top about the throat of it, from which the materials are dumped into the stack from a barrow, or thrown iii by hand. 1^ A furnace being ready for blowing in, the fire is kindled in the hearth ; and, when well under way, a (}uantity of ore, coal, and limestone, to dissolve the impurities of the ore, are thrown from the top. With good ores and hard coal the proportion of the different materials to the ton of iron made is about as follows : iron ore, 2,100 pounds; coal, 1,700 pounds ; limestone, 400 pounds. OF THE UNITED STATES. ao7 The blast is now turned on at two-pounds pressure. If all goes on well, in twenty-four hours the pressure is increased from four to six pounds. The workmen keep sharp watch of the tuyhes to see that they are bright and clean, and of the gaseous products of combustion to see that the furnace is working freely and well. Every four hours, ordinarily, the hearth is tapped near the top to draw off the melted slag. There is a litde hole made for the purpose, which k- kept plugged with clay between times. This process produces an exceedingly brilliant display. The slag spouts from the litUe opening made for it with a glare which pains the eye with its intensity. It runs down a rough trougli scraped out of the ground, and out through the open door of the shop into the outer air to cool. As the slag gets low in the hearth, the blast escapes with it, carrying a fiery spray from the opening like a piece of fireworks, within tlie reach of which no man can stand and live. At the proper moment the li!;ist is turned off. The men run up and plug the opening with clay, and the blast is turned on again into the furnace. The melted iron in the hearth is drawn off once in eight hours from a little hole at the bottom of the hearth, which, as previously explained, is usually kept plugged with clay. Tlie metal remains liquid in the hearth, from the fact, that, unlike water, \\\Q^-^d hottest metal sinks to the bottom, and thus it is possible to let fifteen or ^•^^ twenty tons of it accumulate without any danger of its chilling. The process of drawing off" the iron is even more beautiful than that of taking away the slag. The metal flows out in a bright stream, throwing off dazzling scintilla- tions, as it comes in contact with the oxygen of tiie air, far surpassing in vigor and beauty any thing produced by the art of man in any other way. The metal flows along the floor of the shop in, channels, and runs into the rough moulds, where it hardens into the rough pigs of commerce. Tiiese are tested, when cold, by breaking with a sledge-hammer, to ascertain their iiuality, and arc then stacked up for transportation to market. The introduction of the hot-air blast and the emi)loyment of anthracite as fuel, followed, five or six years afterwards, with the application of bituminous coal to smelting-puri)oses, was a timely event for the United States. The country was about entering upon an era of railroad n^g^°o|"new and steamboat b.iilding made necessary by the diffusion of our methods of jiopulation over the vast area of virgin territory protected by our P'° ""^'"^ flag. An extraordinary demand for iron was developing ; and national development would have been seriously retarded if we had been obliged to depend on foreign lands for our supplies of the metal. The hot- air blast and the use of coal as fuel came along, therefore, (ill in good time for America. The reduction in the expense of smelting which they effected, and tlio dtjuiand for metal, gave an extraordinary impulse to the industry. In the period from 1848 to i860 , furnaces, rolling-mills, and iron and steel works, steadily multiplied in all parts of the country. It is an interesting fact, that, in tiiat period, iron-making was actively prosecuted in many States in which, » 1 ? 'Ut; 208 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY since railroad-building has stopped, it has in part or entirely disappeared. In Tennessee there were in 1855, during that era of activity, seventy-five bloonia- ries and forges, seventy-one furnaces, and four rolling-mills ; but at the present time there are only eighteen charcoal and four bituminous coal furnaces, a score of bloomaries, and the four rolling-mills referred to. Arkansas niaile , iron in 1857, but makes none now. In 1857 North Carolina had fifty blooma- ries and forges, two rolling-mills, and six furnaces, in operation. Then, are not now in that ancient State a dozen active forges and bloomaries. There are no rolling-mills nor steel-works, and only one active furnace. South Caro- lina made iron extensively before the war ; but her fires have all gone out, and her furnace- stacks were in 1876 all deserted. A fresh development was given to the blast-furnace business by the war and the tariff of 186 1. A new era of railroad-building set in; and such was the Effect of demand for iron, and so high were the prices, and so large the prof- '*'"■ its, that some of the most brilliant fortunes of the present age were made in the manufacture of the metal. In 1874, 735 furnaces were in operation in the United States, besides a number of bloomaries, distributed as follows : — ANTHRACITB CHARCOAL UlT. AND COKB FUKNACES. FURNACKS. FURNACKS. TOTAL. Maine I I New Hampshire I , I Vermont s s Massachusetts 5 6 Connecticut 9 9 New York . 45 22 67 New Jersey . 16 .. 16 Pennsylvania 152 44 73 269 Maryland . 6 "4 8 28 Virginia Zl 34 West Virginia 3 S 8 Georgia «3 2 '5 Alabama 20 20 North Carolina 10 2 13 Tennessee . 24 3 27 Kentucky . . 23 S 28 Ohio .... 40 62 102 Indiana . 7 7 Illinois * • . 4 . . S 9 Michigan . * . 30 3 34 Missouri . . . . 12 9 21 Wisconsin • , 3 II , , 14 Minnesota . • I . , I Texas . • ... I •• I Total 229 322 184 73S . OF THE UN/ TED STATES. 309 In 1877 the number reported was 714, of which 236 were in blast, and 478 out of blast. The productive capacity of the 7 1 4 enumerated is about 4,500,000 tons a year, or twice the present consumption of the country. The statittici (or only new furnaces at present building in the country are in Ohio '"^y- and some of the Southern States, notably Georgia, where iron can be made at i an expense of thirteen or fifteen dollars a ton against an average of twenty 1^^ dollars a ton in the Northern States, except in Ohio, where it is fifteen dollars r a tun. THE GROWTH OF ROLLING-MILLS. Another department of the iron-industry rose into great prominence with the war and the tariff of 1861, accompanied as those events were by the acci- dental circumstances of a new anil unprecedented mania for rail- rj-jj jevei- road-building, for supplying cities and villages with iron, water, and opment o( l^as pipes, anil roads and canals with iron bridges, and the use of '■°'""*-'""'»' iron in architecture. This was the rolling-mill business, which had never fairly recovered from the deadly blows of the policy of repression inaugurated by Kngland in 1 750. Previous to i860 rolled iron of all kinds had been largely imported : railroad bars Iiud been almost exclusively so. After 1 860 the mills and works necessary for the production of all this material were erected on American soil, the few old ones already in the business being enlarged to meet the demands of the times. Machinery of a magnitude and power hitherto unknown in America was built, and put into the mills for rolling and forging plates, shafts, rails, &c. ; and magnificent establishments grew up in different States of the North, like the Cambria Iron-Works at Johnstown, Penn., employing seven thousand of our countrymen, and spending ten million dollars a year for wages and materials. In the perfection of the different i)rocesses of the rolling-mill a field was afforiled for the free play of the peculiar geiiius of the American people. Up to within a very few years, the Americans have been deficient in m^pXty of the patient analysis of the chemical composition and qualities of the ores and mineral treasures found embedded in their soil, com- pared with the rest qf the world ; but they have been untiring and exceedingly successful in mechanical invet.tion. In the production of skilful machines to jicrform special tasks, and save a former great expenditure of human toil, they are perfectly at home ; and this trait of our countrymen has been illustrated in the development of the different rolling-mills of the United States. The pud- dhng-furnaces for converting pig and scrap iron into wrought iron, by exposing them in an open-hearth furnace to the action of a current of flame which burns out its carbon ; the iiuge seventy- five-ton hammers and squeezers for forging JJ J' the blooms from the furnace into bars for re-working and rolling ; the rolls and otiier appliances, many of them invented abroad, — have all felt the magic touch of American inventive genius, and been greatly developed and improved ; American genius. i ; I, .^!'.i: 9IO IXD US TRIA I. HIS TOR Y while many now appliances have been introduced of purely American ori-in, wiiich have exlraonlinarily simplified and cheapened the prcresses of ininu- fucture. It would reipiire a volume to describe all the improvements intm- duced into the rolling-mills of the United States; but one of them niaj Ik- mentioned as ilhistratin^' the ^'eneral character of a lar^'e number of them. Ai the Sable lron-\\'()rks at rittsburL;h. iVnn.. Mr. Zug. the sc.iljr partner of tlu- Zug's im firm, has set up a mechanism of his own invention to dispone of provcments. j],^, j)uddl(.'d)ars as tlu'V leave the rolls. .\s the red-hot bar comes iVoni ihe rolls it is diMliar,uvd ujion a line of rollers, over wliidi it runs in a scale, on whi( h it is detained lon,^; enouL;h to be weij,'hed. It is then jiushed alonj; the rollers to a i,'reat pair of shears, where it is ( ut into lengths, the jiicds falling into an iron basket (xcupying a pit of water. 'J'his basket, suspeinKd from a beam overhead, is raised to such a height, that it runs by its own wnju to the other kixmX, wliere it comes in (ontact with an ol)ject which unlatches the bottom of the basket ; ane« w ^Ji t Ui^J ^JBE i;i 216 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY m If emptied with a ladle, which is, in turn, swung over the ingot moulds. A fire- clay plug is removed by a lever, and the steel runs out pure, white, and shin- ing. The whole operation is brief, and the men remain silent and attentive until it is completed. The use of ferro-manganese for conversion in this process has latterly been introduced, and is increasing. Four-fifths of the Bessemer steel now made Use of ferro- in this country is rolled into railroad iron : it is a leading indus manganese, t^y^ ^nd has placed the steel-rail business here ahead of the iron- rail manufacture. The other fifth of the product is devoted chiefly to the purposes of machinery. / / The Siemens-Martin process is not yet extensively used. It affords a valuable product ; but the system last described is at present the favorite. The Siemens- Sicniens-Martin plan is simply that of the carbonization of wrougln Martin iron iu an open hearth or reverberatory furnace, by mixing it witli process. cast-iruH and iron ore. The flame from the furnace is made to pass over a hearth on which the metal is placed, and effects the required - chemical transformation. The metal is sometimes supplied with ferro-inan- ganese in the process of conversion into steel. The product of open-hearlh steel, which was only 3,000 tons in 1872, amounted in 1876 *i 21,490 tons. Since the first crude experiment at iron-making in the forests of Virginia, two hundred and fifty years have flown by on the wings of time ; yet it has not been until within the past five years that the United States have bcL-n able to produce iron and steel enough to supply lier own wants, either in war or peace. The railroads of the countr) have been prih^Ipally built with rails imported from the contineii Our factories and shops have been equipped with foreign-made Tools, telegraph-wire, chains, and manufactured articles in general, as well as meta! in pigs and ingots, have been brought here from abroad in enormous cjuantities from the earliest day. In 1873 the amount imported was valued at fifty-eight million dollars. Thanks to the natural resources of our country anc' the enterprise of our countrymen, and the influences which have aided them, the United States have now an iron and steel producing capacity fiilly equal to her wants, and indeed in excess of it. The importation has been cut down to the insignificant sum of about seven million dollars for the year ending June 30, 1877; and an exportation has liegun not only to the less advanced nations of the world, but also to civilizx'd ^IP Europe. The United States are at last truly independent of the world for her iron and steel. Wonderful extension of steel-indus- try. of Europe, machinery. i: i:- ill lili OF THE UNITED STATES. 217 CHAPTER II. IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURES. IT was one peculiarity of the times in that age of the world when America was first settled, that gq]d and silvgr were the most highly prized of metals ; and the abundance of them in any country was regarded as the utility of test, not only of its wealth, but of its civilization. Times have "°"- changed since then ; and a celebrated wTiter has pointed out, that, in this latter age of the world, the civilization of a race of men is more clearly indicated by the iron it employs and consumes than by any other power it possesses. Iron has always brought superiority to the race using it in the largest degree for .veapons and implements ; but in modem times the fact has become more conspicuous. It is marvellous to look back along the history of the conquests and wars of the past, and to compare the condition of mankind at the present day with what it was two hundred years ago, and study the important part played by iron. Eminence and progress appear to have been immediately due far more to the generous use of this valuable metal than to the intelligence of the human race and the power of numbers. Steam could never have been made the obedient vassal of man, except for this tenacious metal to confine and direct its forces. Famines were never obviated until husbandry was made successful by iron implements, and iron railways were laid to insure the free distribution of crops ; and the fami ■\es of the present age occur only in those regions into which the railway and the liberal use of this noble metal have not penetrated. The people would still be living in hovels, except for iron to fashion the wood of the forests, and t)ind the framework of our homes. With a metal no more serviceable than t ojjper, the world would never have risen to the heights of comfort, intelligence, and civilization, it has now attained ; the brilliant conquests of the material universe which have characterized the present century could never have taken place. The variety of uses to which iron is now put is remarkable, and there seems to be no limit yet to its employment. Machinery has been invented which will fashion it for any end, in masses of any size, from the hair-spring of a 2l8 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ^ r V'- w;itch to tliose niagiiificent products of constructive art, the locomotive ami tlic iron slcaniship. Its use is now as boundless as man's desires, and alnio i Variety of as wiile as its own diffusion tlirougiiout nature. Iron is found in uses. every rex k : it blooms in tiie rose and in tlie maiilen's dicek, ami tlie spectroscope detects it in tlie light of the sun and stars. It may be said fainy to pervade nature, and now also to i)ervade every department of hunuin activity. It plays some jKirl in tlie simjjlest occupations of every-day life : it mints the coin of the people ; it steers our shi[)s ; drawn out into a wiiv, it sounds the deepest oceans, and carries our messages from continent to ((iini- nent ; it lights our battles, and wins our daily bread, and larves our gravestoiKs when we are gone ; it made England mistress of the seas and of comnierd- ; and it is one of the most efficient causes of the remarkable advance of ilie United States during the present century, whi( h is the conmient of the schoLirs and i)ublic men of the world. In the ai)plication of iron to the uses of humanity, no people have excelled our own countrymen in ingenuity and enterprise. 'The purpose ol this chapter is to describe the growth of some of the principal iron and steel industries which they ha\e established. ^/v- NAILS. facture of naili. Nail-making is purely an .'\merican art ; for, although nails were invented before the white man first cast anchor off these shores, the process of making Nail-making 'hem which has superseded all others was the ])roduct of the Yaii- an American kee's braiii, and the modern system was employed here long Ijefore it found its way into luirope. Iron nails were sparingly used in anticjuity, but they were to some extent in the middle ages ; and their use became general three or four hundred years Early manu- '^S"» wheii England devloped her iron-industries. ICngland was the great nail-making country of Europe. So large a part of her ]i()|ni- lation was employed in the art, that, in iater times, sixty thousand l)ersons were employed in nail-making at liirmingham alone. .All the nails were made by hand. The iron was drawn out into rods, the end was heated and formed by hammer on an anvil into a nail, when the rod was re-heated and again hammered. The business, not being so laborious as the majority of those in which men were engaged, was turned ov(;r largely to women and children ; ami. not being very remunerative to the workers themselves, the social condition nf the nail-makers of England was one of the dark pictures of her industries. ' ' the last century, several attempts were made to save a part of the Ial)or expem in nail-making by the use of machinery. William Finch of Wimboorne, Slal- fordshire, brought out one patent for the use of tilt-hammers, which, by rajiid striking, enabled several nails to be made from the rod in one heat. Thomas Clifford invented another plan in 1790, which aimed at squeezing a bar of imn TT into nails by ft tluir faces. T however, until laliorioiis work, i'lie first re< in ( 1 ingress in^ son had inserti in ihe bill. Mr a tax on the iiu] til i( great <|uani reimsylvania, ai .America. Fish( and accommoda it sells for, e.xcej :!■>. if not thus t hei (line usual foi |ie(.|ile to erect 111 iheir chimney- in the winter ev little other work Kreat (|uantities made, even 1 Tiiese j)eople t; lion of the m< return him nails seipience of thi>, "f liarter, the m prodigiously greai ■iilvantages are ik ill tlie hands of t Massachusetts, can be i)rosecute( manner by every I'he duty wa creased. liut, even at t tlie minds of our to make nails, an( 'Ircd patents whic nail-making, twen In 1.S10 the .secre " Twenty yean <'iitting slices out OF T]IE I'NlThl) SIATES. 219 !■ Ifi--- iiiio nails by feeding it in hctwrcn two heavy rollers with proper moulds on tin ir faces. 'I'he greater part of the nails used continued to he made i)y hand, hiiwcver, until Anieri< an genius released the women and children from su( h laliniious work. riie first record we have of nail-making in this country is found in a debate \^,^ 111 Congress i " 1 y.S^i- when the first tariff bill was imder discussion. Mr. MacH- /^\ sdii had inserted a duty of one cent a pound on nails ami spikes pirc,t naii- in llie bill. Mr. Lee tiioiight this was objectionable, as it might jje making in a t, IX on the improvement of estates. Mr (lu'jdhue assured him "'«'■"-''• th.il great (|uantities of nails were being manufactured in Massa( husetts and I'rnnsylvania, and in a little lime enough would l>e made to sujiply all North Aim riut these advantages are not exclusively ill the hands of the peojile of Massachusetts. The business ran be prosecuted in a similar manner by every State exerting similar industry." The duty was allowed to remain in the bill, and afterwards was in- creased. ]iut, even at the time that Fisher Ames described the chimney-corner forges, the minds of our countrymen were busy with the idea of jjerfecting a machine to make nails, and save all this labor by hand. Of the three hun- pa,ent«for ilre was first unrlertriken, wrought nails cost twenty-five cents a pound, and were largely imported. This made their use for fences and houses expensive ; and their cost, the abundance of timber in this country, and the desire of every man to have his own house and barn, proved powerful incentives to inventors to undertake the manufacture of them by machinery. The new machines did so well, that in ^'j^ 1 8 10 one was perfected which was able to make a hundred nails a minute ; and in 1828 the production was so brisk, that the price was reduced to eight cents a pound. It is now about two cents and a half a pound. In 1833 the duty on nails was five cents a pound : but the rapidity of manufacture here had brought prices down to five cents a pound, which was the same as the duty ; and in /V'1842 the price was two cents below the duty. The American nail-machine is a somewhat complicated afTair in detail, but simple in theory. The iron is rolled out into bars wide enough to make Description three 0" four strips, each one of which is as wide as the length of of machine, jj^g j^ail it is intended to make. The cutting of the bar into strips is done by the slitting-mill, and is done while the bar is hot, and thus more easily cut. The strips are then taken to the nail-machines, of which there are froiTi forty to a hundred in a factory ; in the Wheeling Nail- Works there being one hundred and six, and one hundred and ten in the Belmont Works, also at Wheeling. Each machine works upon one strip or nail-rod at a tinie, clipping Ou a piece from the end presented to it, and then another, as the strip is turned over and the end again presented. The strip must be turned over each time a nail is clipped off, because the nail is cut tapering. Each bit as it is cut nff is grasped by a powerful vice, which holds it, while an object called the " header " presses up the large end into a head : the nail then drops among its companions below. The process is a rapid one, and a good machine will make from half a ton to a ton and a half a day. Ua. OF THE UNITED STATES. 221 The variety of styles of nail made by marhinery now is very large, and it may almost be said that wrought nails are so made now : for manufac- tuiors have within twenty years begun to anneal cut nails, giving variout Ly^ them a m alleable quality ; and these have driveii the old style of kinds of '/ wrought nail out of use. The styles now made are cut, wrought, "" * "'"''''■ horseshoe, barbed, composition, button, railroad, carpet, coffin, sheathing, galvanized, harness, leatiier-work, picture, siding, slating, trunk, upholstery, weather-tiling, and screw nails, spikes, brads, and tacks being included in the above. The machine for making railroad-spikes was the invention of Mr. Henry Burden of Troy (who also invented the horseshoe-machine), and has proved both profitable to the inventor and his sons, and useful to the country. The yearly product of nails and spikes in the United States now amounts to over 4,900,000 kegs of one hundred pounds each. The magnificent factories employed in their manuflicture — ecjuipjicd with blast- •"urnaccs and puddling-ovens, and giving work often to several hundred men — excite the liveliest feelings of admiration when a comparison is made between them and the little chimney-corner forge of the olden times. Production. CUTLERY. Edge-tools were made in the United States as earl' ? the Revolutionary war ; it being at that time an absolute necessity for the people to provide themselves with such implements liy their own efforts. They g^^, „,,„„- were of a very clumsy character, however, and not very durable. («cture of How slow the progress was may be seen from the absurd daggers ' e*-*"" »• and swords which are preserved to us from the war of 181 2, which were almost as heavy as axes, and which often resembleil iron clubs with edges more than specimens of cutlery. Tiic swortls too, while frequently possessing the power of being bent double like Damascus blades, seldom possessed that of resuming their original shape upon the i)ressure being removed. For two hundred years after the first settlement of ' .e country the inhabitants were really dependent upon Europe for their cutlery. Our forests were felled prin- cipally with English axes, the crops cut with English scythes and sickles, the building-arts carried on with chisels and tools from Sheffield, and even the loaf of bread upon the table sliced with an English knife. The (luantity and variety of edge-tools madt; in the New World were extremely small. About forty-five years ago the attention of New- I^nglanders was di- rected to the manufacture, both by the great success of England, — which had made herself the chief source of supply of cutlery for the p world, — and by the growing demand in .America. Steel was against imported from Sheffield, and various mechanics began to fashion *'"="=■" . . , tools. It into the articles retpiirea by the wants of our population. The greatest obstacle to the success of these pioneers of the art was the prejudice 222 IND US TRIA L f/fS TOR Y in America against tlie products of American sliops. Our working-mon wi ru intelligent, and knew the value of a good tool, and preferred to get a good tool, even if the cost of it was high. It took many years to convince tlum that the Americans couUl make an article as true and serviceable as that wlii', h was produced at Sheffield. It was really not imtil the generation of men tlun living had passed off the stage that this prejudice was conejuered. The feelini,' of tliat day is well illustrated by an incident which Mr. (Ireeleyonce related in regard to some Connecticut fish-hooks. A manufacturer of that State tried to introduce some hooks of his own make to the New-York market, ami sent samples of them to the dealers tiiere for trial. 'I'hey were returned with thf KNIFE AND FllRK. discouraging statement that they were far inferior to British hooks. Tlu' manufacturer tried several times to get his hooks accepted ; and finally he took some I^nglish cards, removed the hooks, put American hooks on tlic cards, and sent them to a merchant for comjiarison along with another lot of the same hooks mounted on American cards. .Again word came back tiiat the hooks on the British cards were in every way superior to those on the American cards. And the worst of it was, that, when the little device of the manufacturer was explained to the merchant, the latter was still unconvinced that the Connecticut article could at all compare with the imported. 'I'his was exactly the case with early American edge-tools. The public knew the merit of the imported ware, and distrusted the home-m: 'e. American cutlery obtained a place at length, howt 'er ; and of late tlie industry has had a rapid growth. The early i)rejudice, doubtless, was tiie Rapid cause of this, in part ; for it led to the use of none except the best growth of metal, and made manufacturers pay the utmost attention to tlie excellence of the form and finish of their goods. American cut- lery is now finding its way all over the world ; and 'Sheffield is fairly staggered at the appearance of American knives, shears, scytties, and planes, in the ware- houses of every large English city. Sheffield is losing its trade in consequence. Canadian cutlery shares the same reputation as American. OF THE UNITED STATES. 333 Steel is the material used for all cutting-edges. The property of steel whi( li gives it value for this purpose is that of being hardened and tempered. It is heated to redness, and then suddenly cooletl. If the heat Edgr-toou is high, the steel is soft, but tenacious. If the heat is low, the steel made of is hard, but brittle. This is taken advantage of in the making of **""'' (liillrcnt classes of tools. Tluis 430 degrees give a pale yellow-color, suit- able for lancets, which reiiits of the sho .md tiie studio, the trade of the flight Mnnnents to recc iioiir> became usefi UM'd the sun-dial. water-glass, and tlu Allied the (Jreat c wliii h would Inirii I'inally a machine n »eij,'hts was eini)l( ■iii'i Italy invented. Northern luirope 'iiid solemn style ''"-•y init on the staircases and in t 'ithedrals. The p( •li'iiight of for the i'Lrping at I'aris in •T London in 16. 'li" ks were clumsy ^iliiiirs. Each was and l)ased upon a fi T fTi >■ Ot THE UNITED STATES. aa5 ancient State of ConnccticMt. ;hc birthplace of the wooden clock, where nearly all in use in the l-'nited Si.Uis iiave been made, — the land of Yankee notions, and of the (iri^iiial Brother Jonathan and Har- iiiiin. The sun was the time-piece of iiur forefathers, just as the sky was to tiKIll the signal-station Necessity of of the Weather Hureau ; time-pie«s- ,111(1 they were remarkably knowing ill n.,i;ard to what could be read in the sky as to the time of day and coining changes of the air. As long as the population of the wt)rld niwd in tlvj forests, and labored (iiiclly in the fields, time-keepers were unnecessary ; and it was only whiii peojile gathered in cities, anil found that in the engrossing |iiirMiits of the shop, the laboratory, ,iiiil the studio, they could not keep trai k of the flight of time, that in- -tniincnts to record the passing hours became useful. 'I'lie ancients tbc'il the sun-dial, the ( lepsydra, or water-glass, and the hour-glass ; and Alfred the (Ireat emjfloyeil landles wlii( li would burn an hour apiece. Finally a machine run by Different weights was employed ; kinds of and Italy invented, and "'°"='"'- Northern ICurope perfected, the tall and solemn style of clock which tiiey put on the landings of the staircases and in the towers of the (athedrals. The pendulum was first thought of for the purposes of time- keeping at Paris in 1639, and utilized at London in 1641. 'These old liocks were clumsy and ill-regulate HvhB UB^^B ) {«> E^B^ HI' Ml) ti Bi 336 /A'/? f '.V 7A7--/ A ///.V 7VA' V length of pendulmn and speed of wliecls, and rciniircd almost as many spLi ial <)l)servations of its motion by the maker, l)efore it would go right, as is ex- pended at the Naval ()l)servatory at Washington upon a special star before its position in tliL- heavens is fmally .iiid anthoritativch |iut down upon liie < lu .. ; and some of these stars are observed ^cvcnil iumdred times. TIr' early (locks in Aniorita were all imported from I'.iigland and tlic Nith- criands, and were < ONt- Iv pieces of furniture. Shortly after tlir i\e volul ion, ( bx k ui.iking was begun in tiiis coimtry at Plym- outh, Conn., by Kli Terry, one of tlic nM tyi)e of Yankees, who fashioned the wocilni Clock-mak- ^^''^'^-''^ "'■ ing began in liis ( !(]( ks Connecticut. ' . , .1 Wltll llu' aid of a jack-knife, and started out with a horse ALVAN CLAKK, MAKBK OF ASTRONOMICAL INSTKl'MKNTS. twlce a JX'ar tO lUlldlc them. The wheels were marked out on thin pieces of wood with scjuare and comi)ass, ami siia|)cd and toothed with saw and knife. Mr. Terry began in 1793, and prospered so, that in 1800 he was able to employ two young men to assist liim. Twice a year he started out towards the Hudson River and the north country. whither population was tending at that period, to sell his clocks ; and he disposed of them readily at twenty-five dollars apiece. In 1S07 a slock comiiany was formed at Waterbury to aid Mr. Terry ; and he then went into business on a large scale, buying an old mill, introducing machinery, and lay- ing out the works for five hundred (locks at once, — something which it is said had never before been done. In 18 10 Mr. Terry sold out to Thomas iS: Hoodley ; but he himself continued to make clocks. Others had by this time become established in clock-making ; and com])etition was so sharj), that the price of clocks dropped from twenty-five dollars to ten dollars, and finally to five dollars. 'I'he ijine t(j grief, am |iilkir scroll top ta >iy!c tli.iii its |)rc(!e and netted Mr. Tei The next stej) i of .Mr. Terry, and ; durac leristic of th( xliool. .Mr. Jerom a tirciilar-saw in gel dockri rapidly ami c Tile' clocks ran for o '•' ^^^7 Mr. Jeron 'li'ik with metal w "lii'le business. Mi ""■ked. Steel h.as " >lieets, and machii iin wheels recpiired ' '" "lit the works for and Ihe cost of the i ^'^ the wheels of eac "I' one could be intci '^Wf OF T//K VMTliJ) SIAI'ES. 337 m five dollars. The public was greatly benefited by this ; but the '"'".ifacturers I, line to grief, and many of tlain failetl. In 1S14 Mr. Terry invented the pillar s( roll top case dock, \vhi< h, being of a little different and more tasty ,ivlc tli.ui its prcilecessors, was popular for a while. It sold for filteen dollars, ,in(| lu lied Mr. Terry a fortune. Till' next step in advance was taken by (Miauncey Jerome, an apprentice ,if Mr. I'erry, and a very ingenious fellow, who, with the passion for whittling (Iwraiteristic of the Yankee, h.id begun to make wooden clocks before he left .ihoiil. Mr. Jerome, when fairly est.iblished in business. emi)loyetl chauncey ,1 (iri 111. ir-saw in gelling out his wood, and was able to jjroduce Jefo"""- clocks rapidly and cheaply, lie had a great sale all over the I 'niled States. ^'lic. ^ A\ m ■ \ y- \ Smil/S WMIMMANS 11 (KK. Tho dorks ran for one day, and are said to have been good time keepers. Ill iS;,7 Mr. Jerome proved his ingenuity by bringing out the one-day 'lo(k with metal wheels, — an event which completely revolutionized the whole business. He employed brass at first, because it could be easily « irkttl. Steel has been introduced only recently. The brass was obtained :n wheels, and machines were invented to stamp from the sheets the eight or kii wheels re(piired by each clock in a single operation. Three men could nit out the works for five hundred clocks in a single day with these machines, and ihe cost of the movements was soon reduced to about fifty cents apiece. A'i the wheels of each clock were exactly those of any other clock, the parts ol one could be interchanged at will with another, or taken from store ; which \ I i: ^■ij;!'(,.ff ! 338 INDUSTRIAL HISTOKY 1 49 was foiiml of vast utility. Wooden f locks were now promptly thrown over- board by all makers. They had been subject to disarrangement by moist weather, and could not be sent beyond seas to foreign countries with which the Unitctl States were engaged in commerce. The metal clocks defied moisture, and could be sent anywhere ; and the manufacture of them received an enormous expansion. They were sent all over the world, and were found by travellers ticking away on every coast and continent, and in nearly every language under the sun. Machinery was also invented to make the frames of the clocks, and stamp out the dials and hands. Mr. Jerome's business increased from the few hundred a year of his early days to four hundred and forty-four thousand a year in 1853, and the original cost of clocks was brought down to a dollar and twenty-five cents apiece. A good story is told of a shi|)nient of wooden clocks to F^ngland in 1841 hy Mr. Jerome, which may be jjlaced with the other Shipment of ^^o^'X o'" ^hc shipment of a cargo clocks to of warming-pans to the West "^ "" ■ Indies by an enterprising \'ankee, n.nd their sale there as sugar-scoops. The law of England permitted the customs-otiiiers to seize upon goods imported to the kingdom if they considered them to be undervalued, paying the importer the amount of his valuation, with ten per cent added. Mr. Jerome's first cargo was entered in F^ngland at regular prices ; hut the officer thought the valuation so low, that he seized the clocks, and paid Mr. Jerome his price and ten per cent advance. Not particularly afflicted tlurehy, Mr. Jerome sent over another cargo, which he sold to the customs-otVu er in the same way. He then sent a third cargo ; but tlie second one had been an eye-opener, and Mr. Jerome was permitted to import liis goods himself. The brass clocks had a great sale, and there were in 1854 thirty establish- ments in Connecticut making them. Harnum owned one of them, and used History of ^'^ ^^''' ^ '''^''S'-' P'T"' "^'^ '^'^ clocks in the old-fashioned way. In several clock 1855 he s()l(l his factory to the Jerome C'om])any ; and, owing to companies, ^j.^^, \7a^Q (lebts of the former, the Jerome Company broke down. The iNew-Haven Clock Company was formed to succeed it. The largest concerns in Connecticut are now the New-Haven, the Ansonia, and the Waterbury Companies, and Seth Thomas iV Companv. Steel clocks. „„ , , , , r ■ , ,-' , 1 Ihe use of steel works and of springs, and of fourteen and thirty day clocks, is now increasing, and the style of time-keeper is con- LOllSVII.I.E CLOCK. OF THE UNITED STATES. 229 stantly clianging and improving. Calendar clocks, to indicate ihe day and the miiiith; astronomical clocks, electric, burglar-alarms, peep-of-day, watch- man's detector, and tower clocks ; clocks to run a hundred years without wimiiiiL; ; illuminated clocks with phantasmagoria ; clocks which calendar consist only of a plate-glass dial and a jxiir of hands, the works <:'o<:'«s- being concealed in the hands, and working them simi)ly by shifting a weight ; and other styles, — are now made in great numbers. The latest is a nutmeg clu(k, wliich will run in any position, — standing up, or lying Nutmeg down. — winding up without a key, and good to travel wit'^ on '='<"=''s. the ( ars, which will keep good time under the most discouraging circumstances. In watch-making .\mcrica made no venture until 1850. Labor was too liiyii and too impatient here to attempt this art in competition with the Swiss and I'lench. Mechanical talent in this field was exclusively em- ^^^^^ ploved in repairing and regulating watches which were imported, making not In 184S, Aaron L. Dennison, a watch-repairer, and Edward How- begun until ard. a clock-maker, both of Hoston, consulted about the idea of makiiii,^ watches by machinery. They studied the matter for two years ; and Mr. 1 )ennison, the author of the project, travelled througii Switzerland, care- i;llv informing himself in regard to the methods and weak points of the iiidibtiy as practised there. F^xperiments were made at Roxbury, and in. 1850 lii;' two men went regularly into the business. After the first thousand watches were made, the Hoston Watch Company was formed, with its factory at Rox- liny. In the ])cginning tlie company made only the rough skele- Bogmn I'a movements, cutting tliem out by machinery, and finishing them Watch Com- largely by hand, and importing the jewels, trains, &C., from Swit- P""^' /irkmd. \. larger factory was built at Waltham, Mass., in 1854; but the (iiitkiy toi machinery and experiments proved too heavy for the company, and it tliileil. Mr. Robbins bouglit the factory for seventy-five thousand dollars, anil started the .American W'atc h Company, with a capital of two hundred tliousand doiiars, whicii has since made the \\'altham watches so famous. .Mr. Howard went back to Roxbury, ami resumed the manufac- Mr. How- ture of watches there. Little by lilUc the manufacturers imijroved-""*- tluir machinery, until at length they have ceased to import any of the parts oi tlie watcii, and tiiey make every thing under their own roof. prSgress in Tiie minute rubies, saijphiies, and chrysolites, as small as grains watch- 01 sand, are drilled with microscopic exactness by the diamond's '""'""b- point, and oi)ened out witii diamond-dust on a hair-like iron wire, the sizes of the jewels being graduated by a scale which indicates differences of a ten- thousandth part of an inc h. Screws so minute that it takes two .hundred thuusaiid to weigh a ])oun(l arc cut from a steel wire, tlircnded, and headed «itli surprising si)ecd ami accuracy. The wheels an I pinions arc cut and bored with the most minute exactness, and so completely alike, that the watch may he assembled from wheels antl parts taken at random from the respective heajjs. w ■■ir it ' 230 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY The late war gave a great impetus to watch-making. The United States put a million of men under arms, and every one wanted a watch. The Ameri- Effectofwar can Company at Waltham increased its plant in 1865, its capital upon this being $750,000 ; and new companies were formed in various parts n ustry. ^^ ^|^^^ country. The American Company has since then doubled its capital. To-day there are eleven factories making watches, the principal ones being the American Company at Waltham, which produces about four History of hundred and twenty-five movements a day, and the Elgin National Watch Company at Elgin, 111., which makes three hundred a day. The Empire City Watch Company at Jersey City, N.J., and Rob- bins, Clark, & Biddle of Philadelphia, are also prominent makers. other com- panies. Ill.l.lN WATCH CdMlANY. American watches, though discredited at first, have, of late years, produced a decided sensation in the world of industry. From the time when all the parts of the watch began to be made by the factories here, the companies have been turning out a better ordinary time-keeper than the Swiss watdi. Swiss watches held their own for a while, on account of their cheapness, in 1872 tWee hundred and sixty-six thousand of them were sent to the United States. In 1876 the Elgin Company announced a reduction of the i)riccs of their watches from forty to fifty per cent. Seven movements with visible pallets were sold at four dollais. That was a terrible blow to the imported time-piece ; but a still more staggering one was inflicted by the Waltham con- Swiss cern, which immediately announced a large reduction of prices watch. below those of their rivals. The Swiss watch could not stand that, and the imiiortation of them in 1876 was only seventy-five thousand. The Americans, on the other hand, are now beginning to export ; and they send from twenty thousand to thirty thousand to England alone, and are meiiaLJug the Swiss make in all the njarkets of the world. OF THE UNITED STATES. % IRON PIPES AND TUBES. 'I'liis important industry took its rise in the United States about 1835, and was essentially the outgrowth of the business of supplying cities and villages with water and gas. Many of the companies which now manufacture pipes were founded long before 1835, — as, for instance, the Bridgewater Iron Company in Massachusetts, which was started in 18 10 by I^zell Rise of pipe. iS: rerkins ; the great Pascal Iron- Works in Philadelphia, founded '""Ju'tfy- in I Si I by Stephen P. Morris ; and the Camden Iron- Works, in the city of that name in New Jersey, which began in 1824: but these works were originally devoted to the product of other varieties of iron-ware, stoves, &c., and took lip jiipe-making because of the new demand which sprang up about 1835. The number of pipe and tube establishments, which is seventy-seven, does not represent the magnitude of the industry, for some of the largest Magnitude works in the United States arc devoted to this specialty, and three of the busi- of tlicm claim to be the largest of their class in the world : "'**' namely, the Pascal Iron-Works at Philadelphia, covering twelve acres of ground, and employing two thousand hands ; the National Pipe and Tube Works at Pittsburgh, with a production of sixty thousand tons Principal of gas and water pipe annually ; and the Reading 'I'ube- Works works. at Reading, Penn.. emi)loying twenty-five hundred men. The factories are distributed as follows : — Massachusetts, eight ; New Ham[)shire, two ; Rhode Island, two ; Con- nc( ticut, one ; New York, twenty-one ; New Jersey, five ; Pennsylvania, twenty-six ; Ohio, seven ; Kentucky, two ; Michigan, one ; Missouri, one j \Vi^c()nsin, one. '['lie following is the character of the product of these works : cast-iron gas :id water mains, wrought-iron steam, gas, and water pipes and fittings, lap and butt welded boiler-tubes, artesian-well pipe, oil-well tubing, Product oi coil-pijx-. galvanized pipe, tuyere coils, lamp-posts, vulcanized works. riibher-cuated tube, greeniiouse-pipe, drain-pipe, railway water columns, fittings, and tools. At the flictory of Dennis Long & Coinpa.iy in Louisville — ■ one of the largest for cast-iron pipe in the country, which is equipped with three founderies — a large number of old cannon have been converted since the war into the innocent uses of gas antl water supply. Ihe making of cast-iron pipe is so simple as to need no description. Wrought-iron pipe-making is (luite a different afiiiir. In practice the operation is rapid and simple. The iron-plate heated to redness, and pardy bent by apparatus made for the purpose, is draggetl from the furnace, and the end presented to a ponderous matdiine. It goes making through the machine like a flash of lightning, emitting a series of wrought- 000 jjp^ pipe. sharp reports like a volley of musketry ; and as it is projected straight and glowing from the jaws that held it, the edges perfectly welded, it lk' SstV^i I ■ 232 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Strongly resejnbles a thunderbolt forged by Vulcan himself. The workmen have little to do except to take the plates from the furnace at the rij^ht moment, and feed them to the welding-machine. But the machine itself is not ;, simple, and is tiie product of a great deal of study and experiment. Two forms of weld are given, — the butt-weld, in which the edges of the licatcd plate are forced into contact under great pressure, and thus united ; and the lap-weld, in whicii the edges of the plate are made to lap, and are tiien jicr- fectly united by pressure. The former weld is suitable for gas and other pipes which are subjected to no special strain : the latter is essential for boiler and steam tubes, &C. The butt-weld is produced by first bending the i)lates until their edges nearly touch, and then, after heating, running tiiem through a set of iron jaws by means of cii)])aratus suited to tiie purpose. The opening in the jaws gradually contracts from a si^e adapted to the partially-bent plate, or " skelp," to a jjerfect cir( le the size of the finished tube ; and as the plate goes through this smaller ai)erture, a great pressure being exerted on all sides of the tube at once, the edges come into forcible contact, and unite perfecdy. The lap-welding process is similar in principle, but varies in detail. The edges of the plate are first shaved or "scarfed" by machinery, so that, when they lap, they will not form a double thickness of metal. It is recpiisite how in welding t*^ nnply pressure to the inside as well as the outside of the tube, in order that the edges shall not curl under : this is accomplished by means of a mandrel of slightly conical form, which is -arried at the end of an iron rod omewhat smaller than the diameter of the tube to ,be welded. As the heated i)late i^ forced into the jaws of the machine, the mandrel enters the tube ; and thus a powerful pressure is exerted both within and without, and the weld becomes jierfectly homogeneous. The mandrel is destroyed by the tremendous opera- tion to which it has been subjected, and a new one is ])ut on for the next tube. It is this process which creates the sound of musket-firing. The reader can imagine tiie interesting nature of it in a factory where eighteen or twenty furnaces are going at once. The i)anic of 1S73 put an end temporarily to the improvement of real estate and the enlargement of cities. Most of the pipe and tube companies have Effeet of accordingly shortened their production. Some of them stopped panic of 1873. ^ork. In an ordiiiary year the seventy-seven factories will con- sume about three hundred and fifty thousand tons of pig-iron, and manufac- ture a product worth o\er twelve millicMi dollars. The Pascal Works, whi( h adds the manufacture of gas-generating machinery and boilers for ranges to its uther business, has a yearly product of nearly five million dollars. LOCOMOTIVES. It is a trait of our countrymen that they have never been able to export in large quantities their raw materials and crude fabrications (cotton alone ex- OF THE UNITED STATES. 233 ceptcd), for the reason that the smaller wages and cheaper capital of Europe have prevented Americans from entering into competition. But, American when it comes to the exportation of objects requiring for their locomotive. production a constructive ability and a mechanical skill of the very highest orikr, our countrymen have shown themselves able to compete us superior- witli and surpass the world. The fact is exhibited in the history of '*y- till' locomotive in .America. Pig and bar iron and steel have been among the nu)~i insignificant of our exports. Manufacturers abroad have heard that the iron of the Continent rivals in (juality the famous ores of Sweden. Yet what tliev know about it is from books and travellers : they ha\ e scarce ever seen MOUBRN LOCOMOTIVE. any of it ; for it docs not enter into foreign rommcire. But that splendid creation, the American locomotive, into whicii this same iron is f;\shioned, is now known all over the globe, anil is freely emj)loycd in most of the civilized (ountries, as being the strongest, swiftest, and most enduring of these willing servants of man. In the calendar year of 1876 less than a tliousand tons of raw iron and steel were exported from the United Slates. But we have recently seen a single steamship loading at Philadelphia with thirty loco- motives, — containing nearly a thousand tons of finished iron, and Export of worth six Imnilred thousand dollars, — for transportation to Russia ti^*""- alone, on an order from the Imperial (lovernment. The American locomotive is used and admired in .Austria, Italy, (Ireece, Russia, Kgypt, Soutii .America, and .Australia, and even in (Jermany, the land where a single great master- workman — J\ru])p, the captain of modern industry, as Mr. Hewitt calls him — ?m]iloys ten thousand men largely in the production of this class of works. I'he orders sent to .America increase as time goes on ; and the new railways of the future, especially on the southern half of this continent, will be largely operated by the engines made by the workmen of the United States, — the smartest, liveliest, most mtelligent mechanics under the sun. X. % 234 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY 'Mfftl |7 s¥°"- As will be related in the chapter on Railroads in another part of tliis book, the locomotive is an afterthought of the men who attempted to build carriages to run on the ordinary wagon-roads by steam-power. The first su^'- pr. Robi- gestion was made by Dr. Robison, then a student in the Univer- sity at Glasgow, in 1759. Watt afterwards took uj. be idea, but accomplished nothing with it, because he was an opponent of the high-pressure |] system, and the low-pressure engines were too heavy to be successful in loco- Richard Ire- motion. Richard Irevittrick saw the trouble, and in 1802 took out vittrick. ^ patent for a steam road-carriage on the high-pressure principle, which attracted some attention. In 1804 he built the first railway locomotive, i which he worked at Merthyr-Tydvil, in South Wales, on a tram-road. In tiie next twenty-five years a number of patents for locomotives were taken out in England. Capitalists were slow to place confidence in the new idea, however ; for they feared, that, with a heavy train of cars, the wheels of the engine would ^ Early diffi- slip round on the rails, and the train would not start. Adhesion to 1^X7 =""'"• the rails by cogs or otherwise was thought necessary. This was ^4/ shown to be unnecessary in 1829 by experiments made upon the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, — the pioneer line in England, which was opened for travel that year. The directors had offered a premium of five hundred pounds for the best locomotive-engine, not to exceed six tons in weight, which should draw three times its own weight at a speed of ten miles an hour, and cost not over five iiundred and fifty pounds. Five engines were entered for the coui- petition. — " Th e R,o cket." "Novelty," "Perseverance," "Sans Pareii," and "Cyclopbde ; " and " Th e Rocket " demo nstrated its capacity to make twenty- four miles an h our, drawing a train three times its own weight. A few attempts to introclilce the cogged wheel and rail were made even after that : but they attracted little attention, and amounted to nothing. An era of locomotive-building now began. The first engines used in the United States were imported from England for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, the Mohawk and Hudson Rail- First eneinea way, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. The pioneer was an absurd little affair called " The Lion ." which in j 828 was placed on the Delaware and Hudson Company's road, on the banks of the Lackawaxen, and started on its first trip by Mr. Horatio Allen. Compared with the engines of to-day, it might better have been called " The Chipmuk ; " still it was rather an impressive affair then. There was some apprehension as to how the little monster would perform, and many diought that the trestle- work bridge across the creek would not sustain its weight. Mr. Allen found no one willing to make the first trip across the bridge : so he went out alone with the engine himself, in the presence of a great crowd of spectators, his own hair standing on end, however, as he rounded some of the curves, and flew over the bridge. The results of the trial were satisfactory. " The Lion " neither blew up, nor ran away, nor leaped into the creek, nor broke do\Mi 1\ used in Unit ed States OF THE UNITED STATES. 235 in United States. the bridge. It clung to the track, made very fair time, and was entirely tractable. Several other engines were bought abroad about this time for the purposes of experiment and study ; but the purchases continued for only a few years, and were very liinited in extent. The inventi\e genius of the Numerous United States was aroused, and a number of mechanics in diflorent American parts of the country determined to attempt the building of engines '"^'"* °""- here. The Patent Office was overwhelmed with applications for a patent for this and that device, and form of construction ; and in a very few years the demands of the railroads of the United States were fully met by the American shops. The fir st Inrnmn^ive made in the United States was the idea of Mr. K. L. Miller of Charleston, S. C, who came North in 1830 to arrange for the building of the machine for a railroad in which he was interested, . ^ ^.. , , . , ■ ^ E. L. Miller. running out of Charleston across the country, toward the city of Hamburg. Mr. Samuel Hall of the West-Point Foundery, New York, under- took to make the engine under his direction. It was comj^leted in 1830, sent South, and operated the same year on the railroad out of Charles- p.^^^ j^^^_ ton, of which eight miles had been built. Mr. H. Allen had been motive made secured as chief engineer, and the locomotive was first exhibited to the people of the South by him. It was appropriately called "The liest Friend." That particular engine did what a man's best friend never does, — promised much and performed little, and finally left the railroad entirely in tlie lurch by blowing up in a very short time after it was put into the service. Yet no better title was ever given to a locomotive in America ; for this princely invention has been indeed to the people of the United States since that early (lay their "best friend." A stimulus was given to the mechanical and inventive genius of the coun- try in 1 83 1 by an advertisement issued by the Ualtimore and Ohio Railroad Company, which had, since May, 1830, been operating twelve stimulus miles of road west from Baltimore by horse-power. The com- B'ven by pany offered rewarils of four thousand and thirty-five hundred dollars respectively for the locomotives, which, upon trial, should prove to be the first and second best in complying with the published requirements of the company. Three locomotives were l)uilt in answer to this liberal offer ; and the prize was awarded to " The York," an engine l)uilt at the city of that name in Pennsylvania by 'Davis & (Jurtner, which was found to be able to draw fifteen tons at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. Being employed on the road to Ellicott Mills, a distance of twelve miles, it generally made the trip with four cars in an hour. On a straight track it attained a velocity equal to thirty miles an hour. The success of "The York" was a great encouragement to American builders ; and rhapsodies of the most inflated description over the " march Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. 'The York.' .■i,/ 236 /JVD rs TRIA L ins TON Y n of steam " filled the newspapers of tliat day, elicited by the performances of "The York." The lialtiniore and Ohio Company held out every inductnieiil to mechanics from that time forward to imi)ri)ve upon "The York," and buiM a class of engines of great atlhesion to the track, and of better working-power. L In 1S31 "The De Witt Clinton " was built at the West-Hoint Foundery for "DeWitt the Mohawk anil Hudson Road. It weighed fi ur tons, ran on Clinton." f^J^,I. wheel;-, and made forty miles an hour without a load. In 1832 a locomotive was made by Matthias W. lialdwin of I'liiladtlpliia for the little six- mile railroad running out from that city to (Jermantown, \\\v Matthias w. cars of which were at that time being drawn by horses. Like all Baldwin. ^f qjj^ successful engiue-builders. Mr. Baldwin rose from the shop. He began life as a jeweller, learning his trade in 'die store of KletcluT tv (lardiner, and afterwards i...ving a little shop of his own. The demand for his jewelry not being very satisfactory, he went into a maclvne-shop in jiartner- ship with David Mason. .\ stationary steam-engine specially adajited to tlie needs of the shoj) having become desirable, Mr. lialdwin designed one himself. He was thus interested in steam-engineering ; and he found it easy to go one step farther, and attemj)t a locomotive, when the era of railway-building began in the I'nited States. His ])rimitive locomotive, bui't for the C'lermantowr. "Old Iron- Road, was named "( )ld Ironsides," and was tried on the line in sides." November, 1S32. It weighed five tons, and ran on four wheels, the forward pair being forty-five in( hes in diameter and the driving-wheels fifty-four inches, and the wnole four having wooden spokes. The cylinders were nine inches and a half in diameter, with eighteen inches stroke, 'i'he boiler had seventy-two c:opper flues. The smoke-stack was an absurdly tall affair, rising a great distance above the machine. — a f.ict, however, which did not prevent the sparks from burning the clothes of the engineer and the pas- sengers. There was n'> cabin for the engineer; and, it being inconvenient for that functionary to carry an umbrella when it rained, tlie engine was housed in wet weather, and the cars drawn by horses. It cost thirty-five hundred dollars. Mr. Baldwin got five hundred dollars less for it than he exjjccted ; and, havinu many other discouragements with it, he vowed thai he would never ouild another locomotive. But he did, for all tn.at ; and, his later attempts being extremely successful, the works founded by him are the foremost in the countr) "E. L. Mil- to-day. In 1.S34 he built a six- wheeled engine for Mr. Miller, for '"•" the South-Carolina Road, called "The V.. L. Miller," with wheels of solid bell-metal, the jjurpose of which ws to gain a better adhesion to the rails. It is hardly necessary to say that the experiment with that nieial was not repeated. The wheels wore out very (juickly, and had to be thrown aside. In June, 1834, Mr. Baldwin completed a successfiil locomotive, called "The Lan- caster," for the States Road, which ran out from Philadelphia to Columbia, and connected there with the canal to the western part of the State. 'J"he engine weighetl eight tons and a half, and was found to be able to haul nineteen ^:' ^ OF T/IK UNITED STATES. 237 loatled cars at twice the speed attained wilii horses. 'I'he Si.itr aiitliorities were ^ivatly pleased witli iw perfurmaiK'es, and (k( idcd to con\ert ihcir railroad at onee tVuin a liorse line to a steam line. Mr. Bald- win gained a great (leal of credit from '•The Lancaster;" and, receiving several oiders, he thencefor- ward devoted himself to the industry, and >. founded the works 5 uiii( ii have sin( e at- r tained to such magni- 3 liule of operation and 3 world-wide reputa- \ tion. Mr. Baldwin \ combined tiie best "^ (lualities of the .Ameri- r *''» •»^'- Baldwin's I chanic:, — improve- £ inventive """"• * geniiis of a high order and unflagging perse- verance, ([ualities not always imited in the same man. He was always impr-'ving his locomotives, and many of the most im- l)ortant inventions of the art were his own. In 1835 he bought one device from I',. L. .Miller, which after- wards he threw over- board. This was a ft] m I I 238 /.Vn us TR lA r riL-:TORV i plan for br^.ging part of the weib^hl of the tender upon ihe rear of the engine, th'is Increasing the pressure upon the driving-wheels, and conse- qi'ontly the adhesion of the engine. Mr. Ilaldwin adopted this device, and paid a hundred dollars per engine for it, and in 1839 Ljught the patent Ibr nine thous.ind dollars. H( afterwards perfected plans of his own for accom- pliohing the same jDject of greater adhesion in a better way. 'Ihe Baldwin engines gradually mproved in size and style from year to year. Cabins woru built upon them for the engineers and firemen. Tiie old style of a single pair of drivers was changed to two pairs, and in 1855 to three pairs; ten-wheeled / engines weighing twenty seven tons beir,^ built in that year for several of the leading roads. In 1S66 "The Consolidation," weighing f)rty-five tops, with twelve wheels, and carrying all except fiv tons of its wi^nt upon the driver^, was Iniilt, being the parent of a class of engines of enormous jjowcr of that name. Head-lights, variable cut-.^ffs, and other features of the modern lo- comotive, were siiccefisi\cly introduced l)y Mr. Baldwin ; and the works called by his name are now producing tyjjcs of engines which are not sur^jassed at the present day. After the origihal onerinients, shops for engine-building were opened in \arious parts of the country. In 1833 Long iS: Norris of I'hiladelphia buiii Recent rapid ''^" engine of Siich unusual tractive power, that it commanded growth of attention in England, and led to the first expo'tation of Ameriian ustry. loromotives. Several were orderc from the naker for employ- ment on the line between Birmingham and (lloucester. In 1835 engines were built at Lowell, Ma.-.s. In 1837 a firm at I'aterson, N.J., — Rogers, Keuh- um, & (jrosvenor, — began the business, and founded the works which are now known as the Rogers Locomotive Works. Mr. Rogers was (in 1849) the first to employ the link motion in locomotive praciice in this country ; and he liad to encounter the hearty opposition Oi Mr. Baldwin and others for several years before the utility of the idea was conceded. Mr. Baldwin, after a lorn,' fight against the innovation, yielded to it in 1854, and put it upon his engines, 'The Rogers Woiks are also to l)e credited with the fiill-stroke pump, and the effectual jacketing of the boiler_to prevent radiation. In 1847 the Taunton Locclmonve' factory was established by Wr\V. Fairbanks, a boiler-maker of Pro\idence, R.I. Shops were also started about that time at Boston, Law- ren the other hand, is scattered -along for a distance of six miles beyond the bu less part of the island, and -ndeed much farther: and a large share of the men who find employment in its stores, banks, and factories, raliier than live so far away from their work, now reside across the several rivers, in New Jersey and Connecticut, and on Long and Staten Islands ; l)ecause, though sometimes a greater number of miles away, they are nearer in point of time, because they have access to the city by steam-cars and steam- ferries. The inhabitants of the island have hitherto depended principally on horse-cars and stages j and it frequently takes an hour to go from one's home to his office, and vice 7>ersa. The same thing is true in principle of all the / \A :1-*- •' ^T,'T, ' l^ii l-'vi 140 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY other large cities of the country. Hy the natural expansion of the town, the population are compelled to reside at great ilistances from their places of employment. The horse-car nmning on a railway laid through the centre of the sirtet 8ubser\'es the purpose of expeditious transportation in cities of moderate si/e • AppiicaUon ^'"^ '" '* ''"'^''■' fade-ceutre of, say, five hundred thousand souls, it of itt.in 10 does not : and the people of such a town will, in the course of the w7yl'"' ^'^"'^''' '^^''^" '" ''^'-' ''KKregate from five thousand to eight thousand years of time simply in getting about from home to business, and vice versa, by this slow mode of locomotion ; which might be saved and util- ized, were travel on the street-railways et1e( ted by steam. In a larger rity more time is lost. Tlie growth of cities, therefore, has made necessary the application of steam to the purposes of local travel. Sl)ecial difticulties are encountered, however, in using steam on citv rail- roads. Sparks from the engine are likely to endanger the safety of property. 'I'he puffing and liie steam frigliten the carriage and dray horses of the street. The liability of collisions ami accidents is increased by the more rajiid style Difficuitiei °^ travelling. The problem is one which has taxed the inventive to be over- genius of the country; but it is one which inventors have not come. hesitated to try to solve. Newton used to say that he tlelighted to encoimter an obstacle, as it was always a proof to him that he was on the brink of an important iliscovery. It has been so with reference to steam on American street-railways. The special difliculties of the case only rendered the inventors doubly zealous, and have only led to a greater triumph. The problem has at length been successfully solved, and nothing now prevents the population of every large city from travelling from home to business by steam but the lack of enterprise and public sjnrit among them. The street-railway locomotives are of two sorts. The first is the duniniy- engine : it can be fitted to the ordinary street-car, and is so employed with Kinds of great success in the city of I'hiladelphia, which is the pioneer in •treet-raii- its practical use. The engine is a small one of the vertical way-iocomo- j^.p^. ^,^^1 Qccuijies a cabin at the front-end of the car. It burns coal, and consumes its own smoke, and runs as cjaietly as the ordinary horse-car. \'ery little steam escapes from it, and that little creates no alarm among the carriage and dray horses, which the car passes at a speed of ten miles an hour on the street. There is no doubt but this style of street-motor will eventually supersede horse-power. The existing horse-railway companies resist its introduction only because they would lose so mu< h capital by a cdiange. Elevated "^^' "dier sort of street-engine is applied to travel on tiie iron railway, elevated iron railways which have been building in the city of engines. j^t^^^ y^^^ during the last five years. These are genuine loco- motives, drawing a car or train of cars after them as on the great railways OF TIIK UNITED STATES. 241 riiiiiiiiiK through the open country from city to city. They are small, weighing J ' jroiii live to ten tons only, consiuning their own smoke, and making little noise ^ IrmiU's that produced by rattling over the rails. 'I'hey travel at great speed, ami ri'duce the hour's travel on the plodding horse-car to fifteen minutes and less. Their special peculiarity is, that the boiler and machinery hang low liitvvi.cn the wheels, so as to render them steadier ui)on the rails, and effectu- allv lo obviate the clanger of being upset. Travel behind one of these l)eauti- fiil iiigines on the elevated railw.iys, in a car fitted up as luxuriously as those oil the great railways of out-of-town travel, is as far in advance of transporta- tum in the noisy, Imnbering arks which the tired horses of the roadway lines .>iill drag after them, as the American mechanic is in the scale of civilization lic\nud the I'atagonian savage. Al the beginning of this < hapter allusion was made to the brilliant general- iz.ili()n of a recent writer, that the consumption of iron by a race of men now iiK'.isures their position in the scale of civilization. The facts in _ ■ Coniump- r^yiid to the locomotive throw a ray of light on the reason why. tion of iron • Tlic reason is this, — that the use of iron shows the extent to which B'^Beo'":'*- lliiation. .1 country employs time and labor saving inventions. M.ichinery 3.w\ ingenious tools relieve mankind from drudgery, and give the mind a Bachelder. (ire ular bastcr-plate in 1849; but John Hachelder of Boston did better than that the same year with an automatic arrangement ; and J. S. Con int of Dracut, Mass., invented still another feeding-device. Blodgett and Lerow of Boston, also in 1849, obtained a patent to make the lock-stitch by a method different from Howe's, but the same in priw^.ple, using a shuttle which described a circle, instead of moving l)aik and forth. That was a prolific year in sewing-machine inventions. Applications for patents for improvements and new rlevices began to pour into tlie Department at Washington from all parts of New England and the Ivist. Some of the devices were never used ; but now and then one would be brougiu out which was of material service. In iS;i) Allen B. \\ iison of Pittsfield, Mass., received a patent for a r , „ , • 1 • . , • r Wilson. " two-inolion feed, which was atterwards converted into a " four- motion feed ; " and also for a vibrating shuttle which was better than Howe's, liecause it made a stilt h at every movement, which Howe's did not. This ile\ ice was abandoned in 1851 for a rotating hook, which completely super- seded ilio shuttle in his machine. Mr. Isaac M. Singer of New York came into the field in 1850. He had been interested in lilodgett and Lerow's machine ; and he now offered to build one Ibr forty dollars which would work perfectly, and sew a good seam. His offer was accepted, and he made the machine in twelve days. It had a rigid overhanging arm, vertical needle, shuttle, and duul)le-acting treadle, and is saiil to have been the first machine satisfactory to manufacturers. The manufacture of this machine immediately began. It bore a close resemblance to the Howe machine, but did what Howe's had never done, — it worked we'l. Being the first in the market, and very popular, it look the lead in sales, and kept it until 1854. »' : 246 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Orover. of Howe's patent A new Style of machine was patented in 1851 by William O. Grovcr of Boston, in company with Mr. Baker, for making a double louj) by means of the use of a circular rotary needle. It used no shuttle, worked well, and became very popular from 1854 to 1S58, taking the lead in the market during that period. There were now three companies busily engaged in manufacturing sewing- machines for die general market, — Singer iS: ("ompany, (Jrover & Baker, r ml Utility of Wheeler & Wilson. Tlie utility of the new invention had been sewing- rccognized even by journeymen tailors, and the machine was the mac ine. sensation of the day. Weary women hailed its advent as a bless- ing, and the sewing-machine became the most charming of gifts. The three companies above named pressed their sales with great energy, and bee anie extremely prosperous. But these companies were all infringing u|)on tlie |iaient Infringement of Mr. Howe. It is true that they had first made ills idea useful to mankinil ; but the patent laws of the United States ha\e lieen wisely framed to protect intellectual property, and jirevent wialtliy men and corpoiations from taking advantage of the poverty of the inventive geniuses who fill our workshops, but who do not alwa\s possess the means to secure to themselves immediately tlie j)rolils of their own talents. Mr. Howe sued the several companies, and spent a great deal of money in enforcing his claims against them. Having won a test suit in the courts, tlie comimnics compromised with him, and entered into a compact, Oct. 10, 1S56, whidi is known as the '• Albany agreement." By tiie terms of this compact, it w.ns stipulated that each of the three companies should i)ay Mr. Howe five dollars for each machine made (lie had previously claimed twenty-five dollars), and that licensees might be permitted to manufacture the several machines in order to assist in supplying the country with them speedily, and that fifteen dollars should be exacted from the licensees for each machine. I'rom this latter roy- alty a ten-thousand-dollar fund for the ))urpose of enforcing the patents in the courts should be accumulated, and the surplus receipts be divided among the four contracting parties, Mr. Howe getting the largest sh.are. Under this ai;ree- Wheeierand ment operations were resumed, the Wheeler and Wilson machine Wilson. taking the lead in the sales from 1858 to 186S, and tiie Singer machine thereafter. The first agreement lasted until i860, uj) to which time over 130,000 machines had been sold under it, — 55,000 by V.}ieeleriS: Wilson, 40,000 by Singer iV Company, and 35,000 by (Irov.'jr iV Baker. The agreement was honorably executed : so Howe had no more reason for comi)laining of these com])anies. Mr. Howe securing an extension of his patent in 1860 for seven years, the Albany agreement was renewed for seven years ; but it w.as stipulated that Mr. Howe should receive only one dollar for every machine, and that licensees should pay seven dollars. Mr. Howe's inconit under tiiis arrangement was very large, amounting in one year (1866) to $ifvOOo; but the ex])cnses of his law.suits consumed his estate, and he died in corn[!.irative poverty. OF THE UNITED STATES. 247 Tlie number of applications for patents only seemed to increase as time rollcil on, and up to the present time more than twelve hundred Number of have been filed in the Patent Oftice at Washington. They have Patents- avx'iaged about fifty a year since 1S57. In 1857 the Weeil machine was invented. The same year James E. A. (iibbs of Millpoint, Va., devised an entirely new machine, whose object was to reduce the cost of these inventions by simiilifying the meciianism. Mr. (;il)lis had never seen a sewing- machine, but iiad heard of llicm through the newspai)ers. On read- ing,' about the use of two threads, it o(( Hired to him, that, if sewing (uuKl be effected by a single thread, much of the iron-work of the macliine could be dispensed with. He set his wits to work, and in the year named brougiif out iiis i)atent for a twisted loop- stittli, made with a single thread liy means of a rotating hook un- derneath the cloth. It was a step ill advance, and its value was pronipUy recognized. In 1859 James and Charles H. Willcox of Philadelphia obtained control of the patent, and began the manufacture of the Willcox and (libbs machine, other This is one of the most silent, swift, and easily run of machines, '"ventors. and has had a large and general sale. Since the date of that patent there have appeared — in 1858 the Empire, sin e joined with the Remington ; the Slote, or Elliptic, since bought by Wlieeler & Wilson; two Iluwe machines (Elias and Amasa B.) ; between i860 and 1864 the- American Button-Hole, the /ICtna, and the Domestic; the Beckwith in iiS65 ; and the Victor anil the Remington, both recent ma- thines. A notable event occurred on the 8th of May, 1877, in the history of the sewing-machine manufacture. At noon of that day the last important patents held l)y the manufacturer of sewing-machines expired, leaving the Expiration market open for all who wish to compete. The leading makers °' patent*' ininiediately j^ut down their prices from forty to fifty per cent, while others ex- jirossed the intention of speedily following suit ; sixty-dollar machines being fixed at thirty dollars, and seventy-dollar machines at forty dollars. A. B. Wilson's invention, used in the four-action, rough-surface feeder, was the most important of the expiring patents ; the others being the vibratory needle SINCEH SEWING-MACHINE. 'r f::i fU.'" ^ Jto..^fcjv,. \ 248 indu^ikjaj. history and reciprocating shuttle, and the rotating hook. There are, perhaps, ;i thousand patents in force, and now held by the various manufacturers; Imt the above were the last of the "foundation patents," — the patents needful in making a first-class machine. The Singer, Wheeler & Wilson, drover & Baker, and Howe companies, are said to have hold the monopoly of the Wilson invention ever since 1850, pooling the enormous profits of its luaini- facture. America, if not the birthplace of the sewing-. nachine, is, at any rate, now the workshop of its largest manufacture. No oth^.r country in the world lias Magnitude SO many and such large establishments devoted to this special iii- of industry, dustry. There are now twenty-five factories engaged in making sewing-machines, two of them having branches in Europe ; namely, the Singer and the Howe. The Singer factory at Elizabethport, N. J., is probably the largest of its class in the world. The immense sales of the Singer machine caused the company to outgrow its very spacious quarters in New- York City ; and it accordingly took its flight beyond the borders of the city. SINGF.K SKWING-.MAClllNE COMI'ANY. and erected the magnificent row of brick buildings by the side of the railroad- track running out of New York to Philadelphia, which are the wonder of every traveller who sees them. The Wheeler iV Wilson and the Howe estah- lishments at Bridgeport, Conn., are now both great concerns also. The \ i^cir which has been manifested upon this continent in the development of this important industry is not confined to the United States alone. Canada, too. has shown true Northern fire and intelligence in taking up this business. At the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in iS 76, Canada was represented there by eleven different manufacturers and some valuable machines, making a better display than any nation except the United States. The ( on( erns exhibiting were Thomas Piper of Hamilton, Mr. Raymond of (Juelph, the m OF THE JNITED STATES. 249 Gardner Sewing- Machine Compnn} of Hamilton, Wilkie ft Osborne of ('iiil1|»Ii, W'anzer & Company and I'le Canada Sewing-Machine Company of Hamilton, James Aurthors of Toronto, (^. St. Aniand of (Quebec, J. 1). Law- lor of Montreal, O. Morrill & Company of Rock Island, and the \Villianis Maiiutactiiring Company of Montreal. There is no record of the number of sewing-machines made and sold prior to the Albany agreement of 1.S56. Since that date the record has been preserved. The sales under the compact ai Albany, from 1856 j^y^^er f to 1 1^69, amounted to 1,500,000 machines, divided about as fol- machines lows : Wiiceler & Wilson, 450,000 ; Singer, 350,000 ; Grover & manufac- liaker, 235,000; Howe, 140,000; Willcox & Gibbs, 105,000; Wtrd, 70,000; Florence, 60,000; all others, 100,000. From 1869 to 1878 the sales have amounted to 4,800,000, making 6,300.000 machines sold by the niap.ufacturer'i of the United States, — a product worth $360,000,000 at a reasoi'.able estimate. Since 1869 the manufacture, year by year, has been as 1 )llo\vs : — 1S69 322,769 1870 464,254 1.S71 606,094 !872 «5'.236 >S73 667,506 1874 • 528,918 1875 528,755 1876 525,000 1877 400,000 (estimated.) Utility. The success which has attended the introduction of the sewing-machine has been due to the thorough, rapid, and easy manner in which it has iiccn made to perform its work. The machine has been im- jiroved in a thousand ways itself; and various attachments have been invented to l)c operated with it, by means of which a variety of special variety of things, such as basting, folding the cloth for hemming, button- work done. holiiit,', iir- chases. In order to effect sales, and to accommodate their custonicrh, ihu Modes of com])anies have ado ;ted vhat is called " the instalment jjlan," l)y •eiiinBthem. nieans of . 'cli ' ustomer takes a machine, and pays fur it in instalments from week ■ . or month to month, often ..irning with the machine itself the monc) ti' tkf: ■. the cost of its purciiase. In additijn to all thi> Ims i)ecn the fa.t of persistent ad- vertising of the different ma- ciiines. 'Die se\ving-nia( liinc companies have been the lie^t advertisers in the Advertising. country, excelling even the piano and stove makers in the imflaggin.:,' zeal with whieli their inventions have been brougiil lieloie tlie public eye. 'Die newspapeis, tiie old board fences, the direi - tories, the fiagstafls, 'the loiks of tlie field, the trees, .aid every other contrivance ui)()n which a description of the merits of a sewing-macliine i an be printed, pasted, or iiung, have been pressed into the service, and emblazoned by the manufacturers. 'Die county, state, and meciianic:d fairs in all parts of the country, and the World's Kxpositions here and in Europe, have been steadily fretiuented by the companies ; and their strifes and comi)etitive displays have now, for twenty years, t'ornied the steady reliance of managers for one of the attractions of these ba/aars of agriculture and industry. Some of the companies are able to show almost a basketful of bronze, silver, and goiil medals won at the different fairs of tliis and other countries. The world's fairs have been an important means of bringing the machines to the attention of people abroad. The fruit of tiie displays at those fairs is World's seen in the large export trade enjoyed by the companies. The '""■"• number of machines sent out annually now amoimts to from 40,000 to 55,000, the custom-house valuation ranging from $1,600,000 to ^2,400,000 annually. They go to England, France, and Germany principally. England distributes them to all the world. Many machines now go direct to South America and Australia. WARUWEUl. .SliWlNG-MACHINE. OF THE UNITED STATES. FIRE-ARMS. «5> It is one of the peculiar phenomena of American life that the manufacture of weapons siioiild reach such a remarkable proficiency in a country wliich nbluii-i war and armies ; wiiich is impatient if tlie government keeps Progress in mori' than twenty thousand men under arms in times of peace ; fife-a^ms. which once let the standing army run down to eighty-six men ; whicli never kiicvi's there is going to be a war, and never prepares for one until it comes ; mill whose ordinary current expenditures for all military purposes do not exixi-d thirty-five million dollars in any one year. It woukl be natural to look lor the highest development in this line in Kurope. Several countries there spLinl a hundred million dollars annually for army purposes. The best mechani- cal laKnt ill the army and in the private workshops is kept constantly employed devising new and destructive weapons. 'The rewards to the successful private inventor are great ; for he is certain of recognition from the government, and a l.rm- t)rd(;r for arms. In .America, however, the whole business of war is sc I'orcii^n to the ])urposes „. our i)eople and the genius of our institutions, that hale national encouragement is given to inventors. Congress begrudges tiie siiialicMt api)ropriation for military experiments ; and inventors must look to Ijirupc and .\sia, and the world at large generally, for the markets for the sales of tlic arms they make, if they bring out any worthy of particular notice. In sjiite of this lack of home-encouragement to the manullxcturers of fire-arms, .American weapons for the infantry service are the best that are made to-day. Tlic needle-gun of Prussia won a world-wide fame at Sadowa ; but the Ameri- can Remington is as much its superior as a Colt's revolver to a muzzle-loading hor^c-pistol. 'ihe chassepot of France has proved a weapon of deadly efti- cioiK y in recent European wars ; but the American Sjjcncer rifle, witii its manazine of cartridges in the stock, firing fifty balls a minute, would enable two companies of .American marksmen to annihilate a regiment armed with the chassepot in less than three minutes' fire at easy range. American small-arms have long been celebrated ; and there has not been an important war in Kurope, from the Crimea to tiie last bloody struggle between Russia and Turkey, in whicii they have not i)layctl a considerable part. .And then, in the line of heavy orilnance, tlie .Americans have not been a whit behind the rest of the world in a thorough ccmpreliension of the principles which should govern the manufacture and use of ordnance. We have not needed, and consecjuently have not made, such tremendous guns as Germany and England have produced ; but American inventors and artillerists have given to the wodd some of the most valuable ideas in ordnance, which have been utilized by military nations. The first use of fire-arms was at the batde of Crdcy in 1346, First use of where the French were routed in tremendous confusion by means <*«■«-«""»■ of the astonishment created by the English cannon. The cannon did little /6 !■: ill M 252 hXDUSTR/Al. Ill STORY of any consequence, cxrci)t to roar; but it brought a new element into the din of battle, and struck consternation into the ranks of the gallant kni'lits '^ of France. 'I'hese early guns were made of wooden staves^boundwiih wire and iron hoops, and using a stone or a leaden bullet, ^nctures of tliein may be seen in Froissart's " Chronicles of the Middle Ages," in which arc pre- served some rare old woodcuts of the olden time, representing battles in whidj wootien cannon bore a part. It is one of the thousand illustrations \vhi( h^ ' every art supplies of the fact tiiat progress moves in every age with slcnv ;ni(| ' measured pace from the old to the new, passing only from the crude to iln.- better by fme shades of variation, that the first iron cannon was made \i|i()n identically the same principles as the wooden ones. They were compo^^e(l ot' iron bars laid together like the staves of a barrel, and bound about with iruii wire and hoops. They were afterwards welded together; and then, tlv i^un being composed of a solid piece of iron, the idea seems to have occurred to \ military men for the first time to cast their cannon complete in one operation. | m ?j %ii'\f^ M O CANNON. 1390. It was the explosion of one of these early wrought-iron cannon which caused the death of James II. of Scotland in 1460. The fact is interesting, because it has a parallel in the history of the United States. The idea of making wrou^iit- / iron gups was never abandoned ; and in 1-845 Commodore Stockton of the j United States navy caused a gun of that material to be made under his supervision, hoping to produce one which would excel any cannon whicii iiad yet lieen made. The piece weighed seven tons, antl carried a ball wei,i;iiiii,L; two hundred and fifty pounds. It was a great gun for those days. It was called "The Peacemaker." After it had been fired three times, a brilliant company of people in official life at Washington were invited down to the war- ship " Princeton," lying in the Potomac River, to witness the firing of the gmi. Secretary Upshur, who feared the effects of the discharge of such a tremendous OF THE UNITED STATES. 253 \\ \ niece, got behind the mast for safety. The gtin blew up at the first discharge, killinu Mr- Upsiuir, Secretary (lihiier, Commodorn Kennan, Mr. Maxey, and \ Mr, (lanlner, ami injuring Col. IJenton and several otliers. In spite of this I uiitdward event, military men are still experimenting with wrought-iron guns; \ ami the conijiarative merits of cast and wrought iron may still be said to be an unsettled iiuestion. The first use of small-arms was at Arras in 14 14, when the Burgundians A^/^ (Icliiuicd their town, in part, with the aid of heavy guns, which they pointed r^ over tiie walls. The guns were provided with hooks near the pint use of inu//lts, to catch on the wall, and prevent recoil ; and were there- »»"■"•»"»'•. lore 1 ailed anjuebuses, or hook-guns. These weapons were used in the field somewhat after that, but not with great success at first, because they were too Ikmw. It took three men to serve them, and they could only be fired by re^iiiij; then) on trijKMls. Furthermore, they could not be fired rapidly, and were at the mercy of the archers. An luiglish archer of that day would discharge ts.'elve arrows a minute, piercing two inches of oak at a distance of two hundred and forty yards, and allowing only on^ arrow to miss tiie mark. It has taken four hundred years for mankind to perfect a fire-arm whii ii would allow of ecpial practical rapidity and accuracy of fire with that, and it was not until the United States produced the Spencer rifle that a more rai)iil effective discharge of missiles on the field of battle was attaine d. Fire- arms ilid not come into general use in war until after the battle of I'avia, in/»^^ 15J5. On that occasion Charles V. employed a large number of muskets (M) called from the name of the person who first attached the ramrod an9 liarrel to the wooden stock). His bullets ])ierced the best armir of the kiiii,'lits of France, which the arquebuse had not done ; and Francis I. sent olf iiis famous message, " .All lost, save honor." That battle revolutionized the art of war. The use of the lance, the bow and arrow, and of heavy armor, was discontinued after that in lOurope by successive decrees ; and in a iuindred years the ancient trappings of chivalry had passed off the stage forever. Ihe flint-lock musket was invented in France in 167 1 : it was called the ^,0- fusil, from the steel which struck down sparks into the priming-pan. The Knglish adopted this weapon in 1686. It weighed nine pounds runt-iock anil a half, and was fired from the shoulder. The bullet, which ">"»''«»• weighed three ounces in the arquebuse, was diminished now to an ounce. In the days of the early settlement of the United States the weapon in u>e in this country was the rifle. It had been invented for a long period, iiaving made its appearance in the target-matches at Leipsic as eady as 1498 ; but it had never been used in the armies, owing to Rifle. the length of time it took to load it. The rifle was the sportsmen's arm, and was their familiar weapon for three hundred years. America first brought the rifle into military use. The early colonists were all armed with the rifle. It'rr^ ^ 354 INDUSTRIAL ///STORY Colonliti. They were dependent, to a certain extent, upon their fire-arms for their sub- sistence. Ik'lore the land was brought under cultivation, their tablis were supplied chielly from the woods, whi( h swarmed witii game of all tlcscriiitimis' and, after the soil had been subdued and tilled, they still continued u> lumt both for pleasure and the benefit of their tables, and also from the absohiti' ne- cessity of diminishing the nimiber of squirrels, deer, raccoons, and bears, which depredateil upon their corn and wheat and other crops. Organized hiiiiting. expeditions, called " drives," to kill off all tlie game in some special tract of country, and to meet the armies of squirrels which migrated from plai c to place, were of constant occurrence. Now, powder and shot were cosily articles in those days, and the colonists coulil not afford to throw them aw.iy : they conse(iuently preferred the best and most accurate weapon, on tlijs account alone, if on no other ; and the rifle, accordingly, was their familiar and favorite fire-arm. They became as accustomed to it as to the axe. When inilcpendence was declared, the colonists were illy proviiled with military weapons ; but they had their rifles, and they used them in the battles of the Revolution with a deadly effect which has become historic. Some of the fields of that war were won by the use of the rill'.- alone. The slaughter inflictetl upon the soldiers of King (leorge in the Revolution was doubtless principally due to the marksmanship of the .American pioneers, and not so much to the weapon ; but the weapon got the credit of it chiefly ; and England, in 1 794, adopted it as a part of her national armament. In that respect Kngland went a step farther than the United States. The rifle was not the official arm here : the government preferred the smooth hore Napcieon '"'' ^'^'-' ^''"ly- Napolcon scoutcd the rifle, because he coiilil not icouted the obtain a rapid fire with it. 'I'he same idea prevailed here ; and, *' '' while the rifle remained the weapon of the people, it was not at once adopted by the government. The objection was this, — that, in order to make the bullet fit the rifling of the gun, it had to be forced into the gun under pressure, and time and labor were consumed in ramming the ball home. In HaU'iinven- 1813 Hall proposed a new idea. He suggested that the rifle be *'"'"• loaded at the breech ; so that the ball and powder, united in one cartridge, might be inserted without delay and trouble, and the jiiece loaded and fired as rapidly as the muzzle-loading smooth bore, and all the advantaj^es of the two styles of weapons be thus secured. Hall also proposed to nianufar- ture the locks and other pieces of the guns by machinery, so as to make the parts of the different guns interchangeable. He was employed at the govern- ment armory at Harper's Ferry to introduce the latter idea, anne at of Lake Erie am No long gur country : the she itzer. In 1814 e ed a long gun became a favorit duced to the fo imjiortant resourc to Irance, and The principle of nations. .'Uthough the lions or a navy ;'a\e slight encoi iiad i)een broug 1S61, which were use. One was t OF THE UNITED STATES. 263 Revolution were all of a small size, adapted for field-service and for use on ships. A number of fountleries were employed in casting them in different parts of the country, but ])rincipaily in New Knglanil, Pennsylvania, and Mary- land, whence the guns were distributed to the different parts of cannon o( the country. They ranged in size from four to thirty-two pounders. Revolution. liut were mostly of the smaller sizes. A few of then\ were cast hollow ; but the majority of factories cast them solid, and bored out the caliber by machinery. The factories were prolific ; and Washington had all the artillery he wanted durini; the Revolution, — more, at times, than he could profitably use, in fact, ronsiiiering the scarcity of powder. The guns were of very simple construc- tion, jilain and unornamentcd, and in this respect bore a marked contrast to the splendidly-decorated pieces employed by our French allies in that war. The gun presented by Lafayette, and long owned by a well-known family of Virginia, and now in the Metropolitan Museum at New York, inscribed humor- msly, " Ultima Ratio Regum," and otheruisc, is a .striking illustration of the perfection of the arts in France at that day, and the manner in which refi"x ment touched and glorified every thing used by the French people in w»ir a; well as in peace. One gun used in the Revolution was of wrought-iron staves bound with hoops ; but it attracted little attention. In the war of 181 2 the United States began to use a better style of cannon of native manufacture. The government jjermitted its private citizens to fit out ships to cruise against Phigland's conmierce, and th.erc was a great demand for long and efficient guns of all calibers for use on shijiboard. Some large founderies were started during this war. At Richmond three wen: estalflished, capable of boring the heaviest ordnance, and of making three hundred pieces a year. One at Pittsburgh, Joseph McClurg's, made the cannon for the battles of Lake Erie and New Orleans. No long guns for shells had been used until the war of 1812 in any country : the shell had only been discharged from the mortar and the how- itzer. In 1814 Col. IJomford of the Ordnance Department invent- „, * First manu- ed a long gun for shells, which he called " the Columbiad." It f«ctv«re of became a favorite gun with military men at once. It was intro- e""«'<" shells. duced to the fortifications and ships of the United States as an important resource for attack and defence ; antl (rtjn. Paixhans carried the idea to [■ ranee, and brought out the gim there uncu-r his own name. The principle Kii a long gun for shells wai adopted by ail military nations. .•\;though the Ussied States were at pearar. and cared nothing for fortifica- tions or a navy except to insure protection to commerce, arul consequently f;ave slight encouragement to the invention of new implemcDts of war, two guns had been brought out by federal officers, previous to the war of 186 1, which were decided improvements on all the cannon then in uic. One was the gun, invented by Capt. Dahlgren of the navy, for nine and Paixhans. Dahlgren. \ ii'i '%^ .2 264 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY eleven inch shells. It was cast solid, and bored out by machinery, and in shape was very much like a champagne-bottle, having a great weight and thickness of metal around the chamber of the gun, and then rapidly taptrini' away forward of the trunnions, exactly after the fashion of a champagne In Jiilc. The eleven-inch guns of this pattern are a hundred and seven inches luiii in th" bore. They were great flivorites during the late war, and were extensively enij>ioyed in the operations along the coast anil on the Western rivers. I'iitcen and twenty inch guns have latterly been made of Dahlgren's pattern, l)ut are cast hollow, and cooled from the interior. The idea of casting a gun IkjIIow, and cooling it by a current of water made to flow into and out of the bore, so as to gain density nf metal on the interior, is the invention of Capt. Rodman of the Ordnance Department. The pieces of heavy American ord- Rodman. , . , . ,, , , , nance made m this manner are called " Rodman guns." i'lie gun differs little from Dahlgren's in shape ; but it is generally considered mure beau- tiful on account of its more flowing lines. For the same size of ijore it is of smaller size and weight, owing to the strength gained by the peculiar uiutiuHl of cooling. The largest cannon ever made in any country, prior to 1861, was ■ a Rodman gun cast at the Fort-Pitt Foundery in Pittsburgh, and placed in ihc works at Fortress Monroe. It w as a sixteen-inch gun, with a bore fifteen feet jJeep, and weighed 45^999 jiooiaila. This style of gun has been greatly admired in Europe. A twenty-ton Rodman, fifteen-inch bore, with a shot of four inin- dred and fil'v pounds, was tried in ICngland shortly after our late war, ami produced an ur.wonted sensation there. England had long been exi)eriment- ing in the direction of seven and nine inch rifled cannon ; but the .Xmerican fifteen-inch smooth bore did what the best English guns did not, and it i)ro- duced such a terrible effect on the eight-inch Wamis target, that Kngiish military men candidly confessed that the American gun could certainly hull their best ships. The twenty-ton Rodman was compared at the exhibition of [■ 1867 at Paris with the forty-ton French smooth bore. That was the largest gun F"rance had ever made : its bore was sixteen inches and a half, and it carried a shot of six hundred and fifty jjounds. The comparison made was favorable to the Rodman gun. Making all allowances for differences in bore, &c., it was held that the Rodman gun would do the same work, with twenty thousand jrounds less of metal consumed in the construction of the gun. Rodmans have been made since the war for sea coast defence, and for iron- r j — clads of twenty-inch caliber. They weigh fifty-eight tons, and throw a shot i^ weighing 1,060 pounds. The first twenty-inch gun was made in 1863. The war gave an impetus to invention in the way of cannon as it did to the manufai ture of small-arms. A vast munber of guns were recjuired for the different purposes of the war. The most extensive set of fortifications known in history was thnnvn uj) around the city of Washington, and eight hundred and seven guns and ninety-eight mortars were reqi; d for its defence. There were employed War gave impetus to improve- ment of cannon. in the war, on th dred siege-^uns. OF THE UNITED STATES. J65 Parrott. in the war, on the part of the North, fifteen hundred field-guns and twelve hun- dred siege-guns. The government, being without the means to produce these rcailily, depended largely upon private makers ; and iron founders and in- ventors, in turn, stood ready to supply the government with a large number of new Ktins, which were conceived by them with the first alarm of war. Three of these new guns proved of service, and became i)rominent. One was the i'arrott, a cast-iron rifled gun, long, ami almost straight, but rccnt'orced at the breech by heavy coils of wrought iron wound arounil the piece. The first one was cast in 1861 at the West- Point Koundery. During the war they were made of ail sizes, from the three-inch ten-poundoi for t'leki-service to a ten-inch gun with a three-hundred-pound shot for ship-siege and ( oast-service. Another of the new guns was tiie Wiard, made wiard. at Trenton, N.J., of cast-steel. This metal, us is well known, is the favorite with the Germans, who employ it in small-arms as well as in artillery. Mr. Wiard made guns of this material for the first time in this country, and sjcured large orders from the government. He fitted out the Burnside expe- dition with very nearly its entire armament. The third gun referred to above was the Galling Battery, an automatic machine-gun. with six steel barrels. Cartridges are i^^K to the battery from a hopjjer, and are discharged l)y turning a crank. An incessant and steady fire <'an be kept up with this battery, and about a hundred cartridge s, containing a.iluiuaand riiissjjes, disch^rgej) per V minute. Its performance is equal to that of fifty good riflemen armed with hreedi-loaders. A hundred batteries of this gun were ordered by the govern- ment from the Colt's Fire-.Arms (/oini)any. One of them, sent to i'aris in 1 S67, was the sensation at the Workl's I'air. It has a large sale abroad since that time. The best material for large guns is iron ; though whether in the form of last-steel, cast-iron, or wrougiit-iion, or a combination of these several varieties, h not yet decided. Germany prefers cast-steel for breech-loaders : Best material all her guns are made on that metal. Krupp, the principal maker, 'or guns- has turned out several liiousand su( li field-guns, and two thousand of the six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, and fourteen incli guns. The latter are-fifty- ton guns, costing a hundred and teji thousand dollars each. Two only have been made. England employs cast-steel with wrought-iron re-enforcement at the l)reech, wrought-iron tubes with wrought-iron coils, and cast-iron ; and is going back to muzzle-loaders. France uses iron lubes, with steel rings at the ureech. The whole question of material may be said to be open at present, and can only be solved by years of further experiment. Possibly it may never l)e solved : that depends largely on the amount of war in the future of the world. For field-guns the best material is bronze : it is expensive ; but it is 1 l)eautiful metal, and very tenacious. I %t « 366 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY IRON-WORKING MACHINERY. There are those who consider tlie goUlen age of the world to lie in tlic future. They do not look for it in the simjjle times of the past, in the days Ooiden a e °*^ ^^^ shepherd's pipe, the stage-coach, the sun-dial, ami liic hand-loom ; for, with all their romance, those were ill-rcgulatcd times in many respects, tyrannical, disobedient to law, and ignorant, with poverty and deprivation among liic jno- pie. 'I'hey believe that the better times lie in the future, — in an age when man shall have been released from the greater part of the depressing muscular toil now imposed upon him ; when there is a more general diffusion of education, comfort, and content among the peoi)le ; wlieii the higher faculties and (|ualities tome more generally into play in even tiie humlilest occupations, and toil itself becomes a ])leasure. If ever there dawns for man a golden age of this description, (and who will deny its probability?) the change will come about, in i)art, through the larger employment of machinery, whereby man, Employ- instead of struggling with the ment of forces of Nature as of old, machinery, ^.j^^,, ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ,^j^ ^^^^.^^ use, and compel them to labor for him, and shall thus throw off a part of his burden of physical toil, and gain oppor- tunity for cherishing and employing the mind. The present century is already distinguished by the extent to whidi it has utilized machinery in all the indus- trial arts. It is already called the age of machinery ; and orators and writers have more than once called atten- tion to the additional comfort, luxury, and content it has brought to the people. There seems no limit, however, to the extent to which machinery can be employed. A thousand new uses are found for it every year, and its ameliorating influences are capable of being extended almost indefinitely in all departments of labor. Development has been the most remarkable in the field of machinery for the working of iron, and especially in the United States, where the progress BREAST DRILL. OF THE UNITED STATES. 2(fJ has I'ocn the most sweeping and electrifying. 'I'he high cost of labor hore, and die desirability of rendering this country independent of the Old World for its supplies of iron-manufactures, gave a powerful stimulus to American invention in this field of effort ; and, from the days of ^'^* °,^ mm- the niil-Miaking machine to the present, it has been busily em- chinery for liloyud in devising means for the fashioning of iron-manufactures l^pn"*'"' liy mac hinery, and dispensing with the old processes of doing ilu' work by hand. The success has been wontlerful. Our factories and shops arc lilli'd iu)\v with machinery, rather than with toiling human beings ; and nine- tenths i)f all the old operations which recjuircd any particular expenditure of liiiman toil are now jjcrformed by machinery, and better and faster jjerformed also. Tiie difference between an .American and a foreign factory in this aspcc t may be seen by comparing the Baldwin Locomotive Works with its three thousand men and the great locomotive works at Berlin with its ten thousand men, the latter turning out less work in the year than the former. The (lilTercnce is caused by the machinery of tlio Baldwin Works, 'i'he same (omiiarison could be made between an American and a British iron ship-yard. i'lic general application of machinery to the working of iron has called into existence a special class of establishments devoted to the making of iron-working tools and machinery, adding a re- ciifori ement of about fifteen hundred shops to jrgj.,o,jg, ,„, the thousands of those devoted to the manu- making iron- facture of iron and steel for the ordinary pur- ^"''•'"k |K)ses of life. These fifteen hundred shops em- ploy about a hundred thousand men. Many of them are, in part, founderies, and carry on the manufacture of general inadiinery ; but they all make iron-working tools and ma- ( hines as a regular feature of their business. In general, iron-working machinery may be classified iiniler the following heads, — turning-lathes, borers, drills, planes, shears, rolls, hammers, dies, punches for making lioles, screw and bolt cutters, riveting and welding machines, cranes, grooving, slotting, and milling machines, and polish- ers. I'he variety of forms under each of the above heads is infinite. Obviously, the metal parts which go to make up a watch, and those which enter into a locomotive, a steam- engine, or an iron ship, must differ in extraordinary re- spects ; and these differences in the size, purpose, and strength of the thou- sand objects into which iron and steel are fashioned, and the complexity of the i)arts which sometimes go to make up single inventions, give rise to an extraordinary variety of iron-working machines. Some of these machines attract attention from their size and power ; as, for instance, the planers, which have been made large enough to plane a horizontal iron plate forty-two feet HAND DRILL. ^. .«:^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 ttilM 12.5 itt 3ii 12.2 11.25 i 1.4 ■ L8 RRMH ^ /: ^ I^iotQgiBphic ScMices Carporation 23 WKT MAM STRIIT WIISTIi.N.Y. 14SM (716)l7a-4S03 *^% ^^> '^' ^ i 'f:«rT'T''' 268 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Planers. long by twenty-five wide, the plate being carried slowly backward and fonvard under a sharp chisel which cuts only one narrow paring at a time from its rough surface. Planers have been made to smooth vertical sur- faces twelve feet long and eight feet high. Lathes are made to turn a piece of work eight feet and a half in diameter, and boring-machines to smooth the interiors of steam cylinders of the same size. Drills are made to bore a hole twenty-two inches in diameter through solid iron. At the iron ship-yards, shears are used to cut up solid iron plates two inches tliick. Steam hammers are used which strike a fifty-ton blow, which could easily be increased to seventy-five tons ; while the hammers are so tractable, that they can be used to crack walnuts. Crai es easily handle whole boilers and pieces of machinery weighing twenty-five tons. Rolling-mills are made of such power, that at Chester, Penn., iron plates are made six inches thick for the armor of men-of-war. Squeezers are often employed in our rolling-mills capable of taking a thousand-pound bloom from the puddling-furnace, and squeezing it into a compact pig of wrought iron in less than a minute. The power and size of this variety of machinery appear to be limited only by the demands of the country for its employment. Other machines are noteworthy for their special adaptation to the perform- ance of some process and for their labor-saving qualities. Such are the small Trip- trip-hammers, striking from forty to a hundred blows a minute, for hammers. drawing out the tines of a pitchfork from the little chunk of metal two inches long from which the fork is made. Such are also the Invention* countless inventions for stamping, twisting, boring, and shaping of for borinK, the whcels, springs, and pieces of metal which enter into watches, twisting, Ac. j^jg_arms, tools, and small machines of all kinds. Others are the grooving and mortising machines, those for turning the rims of pulleys, for cutting the teeth of wheels, for paring and bevelling the edges of boiler-plates, for planing the edges of locomotive frames, for bending carriage-springs, for cutting the threads of screws and bolts, &c. The system prevalent in the best American shops leads to the multiplica- tion of this class of machines year by yeir. Invention is encouraged ; and the workman is given a part of the benefit of his invention, if he will suggest a machine which will save manual labor, and facilitate the operations of the shop. Still another class of machines is remarkable chiefly for accuracy of M hiner operation : these are the ones used in all fine machine-work. for making Before the general application of machinery to iron-working, inaccuracies of a hundredth part of an inch might be detected by a '. .ry experienced workman, but no smaller defects than that. Fine machine-work was almost impossible, because mechanism which was minute things. OF THE UNITED STATES. 2 69 below a certain size was sure to be full of inaccuracies, and work badly. All machinery was clumsy. American ingenuity first insured absolute accuracy by the general use of machinery in the making of the small parts of complicated mechanism, and thus made fine and delicate mechanism possible by supplying tiie means to detect and measure differences of a ten-thousandth of an inch. Tiie steam-riveting machine is one of the new inventions. It weighs eighteen tons, and con- tains one forging ot steam rivet- five tons. It rivets J^e-machine. the bolt with a single blow, and does its work so silently and rap- idly as to obviate the fearful din of boiler-shops in general, and greatly reduce the cost of opera- tion. Another late invention, and one which carriage-spring makers have been studying Machine for for twenty years how bending and to construct, is a ma- ^'n^P'rinK chine for bending and tempering springs at one opera- tion. It weighs less than a ton, and is a simple, straightforward device for performing a process until now always done by hand. Special machines are now made for most of the operations of locomotive and iron ship and engine building, for car-shops, rolling-mills, cloth and gun shops, the sewing-machine, tool, and other factories, in large numbers. A great many of these machines are sent abroad, where they give emphatic pleasure, and receive a great deal of praise on account of the originaUty of idea, and high constructive ability displayed in their manufacture. It has been pointed out that the construction of iron-working machinery and of machinists' tools underlies all other branches of manufac- utmty ^f ture. Take any finished product, whatever it may be, and trace »uch initru- backward the means by which it has been produced. We shall ""'"*•• inevitably reach at length the hammer and the cutting-tool of the lathp, plane, or borer. Upon the efficiency and accuracy of iron-working tools and m.achiius, therefore, depends a great deal more of human progress and comfort than one would imagine upon a superficial examination of what it is that pro- mot'is these things. MILLER S-FALLS VICE. Machines for making part* of locomo- tives, iron ships, &c. tio INDUSTRIAL HISTORY AXES AND SAWS. ;f -t-i Wood-axe and cross- cut saw. The broad-axe and the cross-cut saw are the typical agencies for the working of wood. The former lays low the great tree in the backwoods : the latter cuts it up into logs which can be rafted down stream to market. All the tools which touch it after that from the saw-mill to the last operation in the shop of the carpenter and joiner, are only modifications of the parent cutting and sawing edges. No implement has had such universal use as the axe : it was foremost in war and in peace from the beginning of history until gunpowder was invented. Universal Gunpowder swept the blood-stained battle-axe from the stage of use of axe. civilized warfare, and the implement became then devoted onlv to the purposes of peace ; but its use has only increased as time has rolled on. The axe is the indispensable adjunct of pioneer life in the woods : it deared the fields and built the houses of our forefathers. Wherever ])opulation crowds the plains, and the waste timber-lands must be reclaimed to make room for man, the broad-axe is found SAinging in thousands of hands for the cQjiversion of the wiklerness to a i)lace fit for the abode of humanity. I.ven in the United States, where there is plenty of room in the open country and to spare, the axe is still vigorously wiekled by thirty thousand lumbermen, who are Kent into the woods every year to get out the timber for which ship- ping, buiUling, and manufacture has created such an extraordinary demand. The axe plays a ])art on every farm. It lays low an oak or a big maple wlien- ever the farmer wants money, and it gathers the winter's stock of fire-wood when the labors of the harvest are over. It enters into the economy of the household under every roof in the whole wide land. Until within fifty years, the axes used in America were imported. .\ few rude blades were forged at the blacksmith-shops by village greens ; ported until but the busiuess was of so little account, that it was not thought within fifty worthy of protection by Congress. During the Revolution and the war of 1812, when the United States were cut off from their principal source of supply for manufactures of iron and steel, axes were hugely made by the American blacksmiths ; but the return of peace brought fresh importations, which checked the industry again. No tax was levied by Con- gress on an article of such extended use in the United States, and so indis- pensable to the development of the country. The first axe-slio]) in the country was started by Samuel W. and I). C. Collins of Hart- ford, Conn., in 1826. They thought that there was a field for the manufacture of axes here ; and they put up a little stone trip-hammer shop, with a capacity of eight axes a day, and began drawing patterns, and forging and tempering blades. In 1828 Congress levied a duty of thirty-five per cent on axes to assist the dawning industry. The Collinses moved to Collinsville, Conn., and opened a large factory, which after some years passed into the hands of a com- Collins. OF THE UNITED STATES. 271 WORKS OK nOi:GLASS AXK tOMI'ANV, EAST IX)I (iLAPS, MASS. pany, called Collins & Company. The business has since grown to gigantic proportions and world-wide celebrity. After the Collinses' shops were opened others were started, the principal ones of which are now the Douglati. Douglass Axe Company of East Douglass, Mass., and the con- cern at Cohoes, N.Y. A number of small factories are scattered through the country : two of them are in New- ark, N.J. The Collins Factory is the largest in the world : it em- ploys from four himdred and fifty to five lumdred and fifty men, pro- duces two thousand axes, sledge- hammers, and cast-steel tools a day, and consumes in the course of the year eighteen hundred tons of iron, three hundred and fifty of cast-steel, and seven thou- saml of coal. The process of axe-making is lull of interest ; indeed, is exciting during some stages of the manu- facture. The first operation con- >ists in clipping from long, flat bars a lialf-foot of American iron, which is cpuckly transformed into the poll of an axe, which is merely the head and eye, and about half the process of blade ; the balance, or cutting part of the blade, being composed Me-making. of nearly a pound of the best Jessop steel, so inlaid with the iron that tlie tool may endure years of grinding, and still retain its fine steel edge. Other kinds in the market can boast of a greater spread of steel surface ; but they are entirely innocent of that sort of " northern iron," as the Prophet Jeremiah' terms it, in the centre of the tool, which will enable it to stand the hard usage in store for it. The real difference between the two metals is finely brought out in the polishing process, in which no amount of furbishing can, leave that fine surface on the iron which the steel readily takes, and which forms a per- fect mirror in the finished implement. Passing over a variety of intermediate handlings, in which the essential objects obtained are complete welding of the two metals and perfect symmetry in the several patterns made (all of which are accomplished amid the distrac- tions of an army of large and small trip-hammers, whose din at times is well- nigh deafening to an outsider), we reach the tempering- room, where a score or so of men are occupied in bringing the steel to the proper degree of hardness, -a point requiring the utmost nicety of attention. Small furnaces are kept Iniriiing on the iron tables of the workmen (or watchmen, rather ; for about all the)' do is to keep a keen eye on the c;olor assumed by the iron) ; and, the ' ' ; I •. , 1 . ' . nil I I 272 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY instant the right hue is developed, the axe goes into a salt-water bath, which fixes the carbonized state of the iron forever, unless again put through the fiery torture. The next stage in the progress of the axe toward completion brings us to the grinding and polishing departments. Some idea of the relative importance of this branch of the manufacture may be had from the fact that it costs one hundred dollars' worth of grindstones daily to bring the axe to the ma'-kctable stage, to say nothing of the immense expenditure of emery in polishing after- ward. Huge stones from Nova Scotia and the West lie about the shop-yards full seven feet in diameter many of them ; and in no longer than three weeks' time they are used up. Many of the men ride on " horses " while grinding, thus enabling them to bring their whole bodily avoirdupois to aid the pro- cess of abrasion ; while the fine dust flies in clouds from the stones in cverv direction, notwithstandiiig the stones are all the time completely deluged with water. The men in this section are, from their peculiarly hazardous work, ruled out of all the life-insurance companies ; since the constant inhalation of the grit and bits of steel thrown off in the process induces the " grinders' consump- tion," as it is rightly termed, from which a premature death is rarely averted, It is said that Americans will not work in these rooms, which are filled i,y French Canadians, who stop a few years, and then go home to linger a wiiile and die. But sometimes the peril to life is of another kind altogether, arising from the rapidity with which the stones must be made to revolve. A flaw in the scone, or possibly a loosening in the clamp holding it upon the shaft, sends the flying fragments furiously hither and thither, — perhaps through the grinder's body, or throws him through the roof. It is but justice to add, however, that such casualties happen only at rare intervals. There yet remains the bevelling of the poll of the axe near the eye, which the trade insist upon in their orders, and which was formerly done by the slow process of grinding out on the stones. This is done by an iron wheel thirty inches in diameter, its periphery being an inch tire of softest iron. Revolving with great velocity, it does the bevelling almost instantly, literally melting that portion of the axe away. The American broad-axe is a handsome blade. It has a thick, flat, hroad iron head, with a cast-steel blade shghtly flaring as it approaches the edge, and American a crescent-shaped edge. The eye, or hole for the wooden handle, broad-axe. gQgg straight through the head. In this the axe differs from the less convenient Spanish implement, in which the handle is fitted into a loop ai the back of the blade, on the principle of a plantation hoe. Nearly all the processes of manufacture are carried on by machiner)'. The head is cut from a bar of iron, the eye punched out, and the head flattened and pressed into shape while hot, by machines made for the purpose. The edge of the OF THE UNITED STATED. ^n head is grooved, and a narrow piece of cast-steel welded to it at a heat, lilt: St'-"'-"' is drawn out to form the tion, the steel being thoroughly )lade in the welding white- opera- WORKS OP DOL'GLASS AXE COMPANV. sniitln-'d to condense the metal, and render it tough. The axe is tempered very hard ; and the hardness is then drawn down to what is called a blue temper, when it is ground, polished, the head painted red or black, antl the axe sent to the packing- room. In old times the axe was not sharpened at the fac- tory : every purchaser ga\e it an edge on his own grind- stone at home. Dif- Different erent styles of axes kinds of are made for differ- ent purposes and different tastes. Some are made for the foreign market exclusively. American heavy edge-tools have a great reputation abroad, and they form a prominent feature in the shipment of hardware to Ijigiand, Germany, Australia, Cuba, and South .America. Among the varieties made are hatchets, axes for turpentine-making, ad/cs, machetes, cleavers, broad square, and crescent blades, ivc. The consumption of axes is enormous. From thirty thousand to forty t.hoiisand men go out annually in the United States and Canada to cut lumber, the area cut off every season amounting to between three hundred and fifty and four hundred and fifty square miles. .\n axe seldom lasts a month. A handle lasts only three weeks. The axes are ground every day, consumption and the blade soon becomes so worn4hat it is thrown away. The *•' ■""• old axes are not utilized afterward. But,. besides the lumbermen of America, the United States now supply, in part, the pioneers of the vast forests of Soutli .\merica, where the harder woods — the mahogany, rosewood, and other cabinet timber — create a still more prodigious consumption of blades. Ther? is, besides, a constant demand for general purposes all through the populatiop of the countries, which the American makers supply. The style of axe preferred varies in different parts of America. The lum- bermen are the true connoisseurs of blades. A Maine backwoodsman selects a long, narrow head, the blade in crescent shape, the heaviest part of the axe being in the head above the eye. New- York cutters choose a broad, crescent blade, the head rather short, the weight evenly balanced about the eye. A Western lumberman selects a, long blade, the corners only rounded ?■•/ -7''?, «74 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY off, the eye holding the weight of the axe. The Canadian chopper pre- fers a broad, scpiare blade, with the weight largely in the blade, the handle being short and tliick. The difference in taste in regartl to the slia])e of the axe extends also to the manner in wiiich the cutter flings iiiniself at a tree. An expert in the woods can tell the state or the nationality of a man by glancing at his axe, and seeing him strike one blow. The swinging, graceful cut of the Down-easter, flung at the tree from over the left shoulder, with both hands at the extreme end of the handle, is the mode! blow. It is claimed that a Yankee cutter will do one-fifth more work in the same length of time than either the direct-hitting ^^^^m n "^j^^^S^H^^^^^ Westerner, or the Ca- ^^K^f^tBfk ^^ ^^^^P^^^^^^^Hi^^^H nuck (who strikes w^lBB^ W^^^^ ^■•♦^^Jjg^^^^B from over the head), and with less fatigue. The saw followed the early settlers cf .\nierica into the forest almost from the start. It was the hand or cross-cut s.a\v at first, Saw and — a long, Straight piece of flat steel toothed, fitted with a handle at ■awmin. e^j.]^ ejj(]^ jj^fj ^vorked back and forth by two persons, — or else a shorter, stiffer saw, designed to be used by one person by means of a handle at one end. But sawmills were in use extremely early. The first of which there is any record was put up at New York in^ids^, and, in the ahsemc of water-power, was driven by th vanes of a windmill. One was also l)uilt Bariy eitab- ' "'^ Governor's Island in the harbor, and in 1639 was loaned for lUhment of a Consideration of five hundred merchantable boards yearly, lialf ""■ oak, half pine. Another sawmill was in operation as eady as 1634, at the Falls of the Piscataqua at Berwick, Me., l)y English settlers. LESTER SAW. \ X. OF THE UNITED STATES. '75 Another was built at Scituate, Mass., in 1656", under a stipulation by the authorities that the owners should saw for the public before sawing for them- selvi and should have one half the lumber for sawing the other half. Others were l)iiilt on the Delaware, by the Dutch and Swedes, before Penn arrived. Amcric a was a hundred years in advance of Kngland in the employment of the sawmill. The liberal Dutchmen employed it in Holland, and introduced it loth to Kngland and America ; but there was so much opposition in England, that Parliament prohibited its use, and as late as 1760 a sawmill was de- stroyed by a mob. In America sawmills were a great boon, and were gladly welcomed. They soon came jnto general use throughout the colonies. I'hey followed the pioneer everywhere, and formed, with the gristmill, the nucleus of every settlement and neighborhood. The saw in these mills was a straight blade until about 1 790, when circular plates were invented. Tlie saws of early times were all imported, large and small. There was both a lack of capital and skill for making them here. The oldest instance of an attempt to make saws in the United States is the case of Fir»ti«w» Wilham Rowland of Philadelphia in 1802. Other attempts were wereim- made : they all failed. About forty years ago the manufacture was ''**'*' ' finally established by an English mechanic named Henry Disston, who had scr\c(l an apprenticeship in a shop in Philadelphia, and finally became foreman of it. He was ingenious, and resolved to try to make saws. His Henry early efforts were on a small scale. The plate steel had to be im- d'»»»<>"- ported from England, and was expensive ; and there was a prejudice against American work of this description. Disston managed to get his saws at length into the hands of rxierchants, and built up a considerable business. All his steel was imported, the precious scraps of it being saved, and sent back to Kngland to be rolled into plates again. In 1S61 Mr. Disston resolved to cut loose from iMiglish steel, if possible, and make his plates himself. The tariff of that year gave him protection, and he fitted up his shop for the experiment. He succeeded, and soon became an independent manufacturer. The estab- liiihment he built up is now the jirincipai factory of its class in America. Other s.w-factories have b^en started, however, and the industry is a large and rapidly-growing one. All sorts of saws are now made. They range in size and power, from the delicate watch-maker's and dentist's tool to Kind* of the heavy circular plates for wind and steam sawmills, and the ■■**•• still larger ones for working the gigantic trees of the Pacific coast. Chain saws for surgeons are also made. At the factory of R. Hoe & Company, in New V'ork, circular saws ^k produced eighty inches in diameter, and cross- cuts more than ten feet long. American saws are now regularly exported. Shetitield makers have lost several important markets on account of them within the last five years. Saws are made from ingots of steel, hammered to condense and toughen Oie metal, and then rolled out into plates. The sheets are slit up into the 2'jO INDUSTRIAL HISTORY proper sizes and shapes for the difTcrcnt saws. The cutting edges being Procettof ground true, tlie teeth arc punciied out by a fly-press : the rouirli making. cilges are then filed down, and the teeth siiarpened. 'i'iie blades heated to redness, are plunged into a trough of oil, mixed with tallow, beeswax and rosin, to iiarden them ; and then the hardness is drawn down to the rielu point by wiping off only a part of the composition from the blade, and setting' fire to the residue. This is called " i)lazing off: " it softens the blade to tlic right point, leaving it elastic, and the teeth hard. The saw is then well smithed on an anvil of jjolished steel to give tmiforin density to the plate ; and tln' blade is then ground away back of the teeth upon grindstones, this thinning,' of the plate being one of the means resorted to to prevent the saw, in operation from being clogged with sawdust. The teeth of the saw are generally pointed forward. In the cross-cut, which is designed to cut both ways, no piteli is given to them cither way. In the circular saw a tooth has been introduced by Mr. Disston, pointing about straight forward, the imder part l)eing wuil tut away, its outline strongly resembling that of a fish-hook. Its advantaj;es are facility of sharpening, and long wear, without diminishing the diameter ol the saw. In all small saws a set is given to the teeth ; that is, they are bent out- wards to right and left alternately. This causes the teeth to make a cut wider than the blade, and so gives the latter free play. \\\ : = ^i ill loned firC' place. STOVES. The old-fashioned fireplace will never cease to be loved for the beautiful atmosphere it imparts to a room, and the snug and cheerful effect of an open Old fa»h. wood-fire. When stoves were first introduced, a feeling of un- utterable repugnance was felt by all classes toward adopting them ; and they were used for a generation chiefly in schoolhouses, court- rooms, bar-rooms, shops, and other public and rough places. For the home, nothing except the fireplace would do. 'ITie open fire was the true centre of the home-life, and it seemed perfectly impossible to everybody to bring up a family around a stove. It was once thought that the fireplace was an insuffi- cient means of warming a house, and the impression had its influence in secur- ing the introduction of stoves. But it is now understood that the trouble in old times, which made it possible to see one'i breath upon the air sitting by the fireplace, and find apples frozen upon the lable in the centre of the room when the family were roasting in the blaze of the log-fire, was not due to the ineffi- ciency of the fireplace, but to the bad constructiojk of houses, which allowed the cold air to penetrate to the interior in gales. With better built houses the huge fireplace of colonial times became too large and too hot, and had to be reduced in size. The convenience of the stove for cooking had more influ ence on its eventual popularity than all other causes combined. Food was better cooked in the old-fashioned fireplace, but not so iconveniently : in fact, OF THE UNITED STATES. '4^^ the operation was a very slow and laborious one until the cooking-stove was invented. One of the first attempts at a stove or closed fireplace was made by Cardi- nal I'olignac in France al)out 1709. The cardinal's little treatise on the sub- ject shows I)y its title why Kuropcans could be easily interested Poiignac'* in every new style of heating-apparatus. It was called " La Mt'- •*'*^*' c:ini(|ue du Feu, ou I'Art d'cn augmenter les Effets, et d'en diminuer la Ik'peiise." Wood was becoming scarce in Europe, and fuel dear. Holland imented the plain box-stove, with a single door in front to intro- other Euro- (liire tlio fuel, a single hole in top, and a small smoke-pipe, peaninven- liodi the Holland and the I'olignac stoves saved fuel; but the *""*■ people (lid not take to them for the same reasons that retarded their intro- (lurtion in America. Franklin paid a great deal of attention to stoves. That philosopher made some very valuable suggestions. In 1745 he invented a fireplace, capable of being closed completely, in which the current of flame and air from the fire passed throii^ii air-boxes in the sides ; by which means nearly all the heat was saved, and radiated into the room. Tile stove had a damper, and would have t)een air-tight, except that cast- ings could not be made at that time to fit close enough to be air-tight. In 1 77 1 Franklin invented a stove for bituminous coal, with a down- ward draught, and consuming its own smoke. Count Rumforcl, an .American, devised many improve- ments from 1785 to 1795. He invented cooking-ranges, lined with fire-brick and soapstone, with ventilating-ovens, which were used in New York in 1798, and in Boston in 1800. The stoves made in Vermont and other places at that day were mainly of the Rumford patterns. Stoves made very little headway in popular estimation, however, for a long period. Up to 1835 stoves were made at the bog-iron and other blast-furnaces, the plates for them being cast directly from the iron in the smelting- g furnaces. The principal makers were in Salisbury and Canaan, facturein Conn., Rutland County, >% Cold Spring, N.Y., and in Pennsyl- s",*,","""* vania and New Jersey. The first furnace to cast stoves from pig-iron was built at New York in 1835 by Jordan L. Mott, who had been making self-feeding soft-coal stoves since 1827, and anthracite- First ca«t- coal stoves since 1833. In 1835 Mott bought some immense '«■»«» •tove«. refuse-heaps in the Schuylkill coal-yards, and screened them for nut and STOVB. Rumford. I I HB INDUSTRIAL II I STONY pea coal for his stoves, and sold it in New York to tlio owners of his stoves. Mott's success was so great, that, bctbre the end of 1X^5, other stove I'utdrii's • were started in New York and in Albany; Joel Kathlioiu: Imy. ing an old furnace in the latter place for the piirpo-ii', anil thus beginning the stove-business as a regular industry in that < iiy. Hie manufacture began in I'rovident e, K.I., at nearly the saun time. It was about this time that Dr. Kliphalet Nott of Union ('()ll(■Jr^. began experimenting with stoves. The talented president of ilu' rollejri; was a great me<:hanical genius ; and, like Franklin, he spent years ol l.ilior, and thousands of dollars, in perfecting the base-burner anil other Minis. The stove-trade is under a great weight of obligation to the old iloiior, who never himself reaped the harvest of what he had so laboriously ami wisely sown. Others made fortunes from his ideas. The opening of the Krie, the (hamplain, and other canals and routes of transportation, gave an immense impulse to the stove-business by cheapening the transjjortation both of the stoves and also that of coal. 'I'he jjatterns of stoves, too, were improving very fast, and the convenience of cookiiig-siovcs was beginning to be understood. The manufai ture of ( ooking-stoves esjn'- Cookine- cially increased with great rai)idity. The early patterns in Alluny •tove made were the ten-plate oval stines. with the oven above the fire, ami In Albany. ^ single hole in the top. 'Ihe saddle-bag pattern came next, the oven being in the middle, over the fire, and the stove-collar and pijjc over it; while on either side were oval projections, a boiler- hole in each, level with the stove-top. The next pattern was the horse-block stove, the rear i)art being a step higher than the front. A rotary stove was also made, with a movable top to bring any particular vessel directly over the fire. Then ( anie the parent of the modern cooking-stove, the Buck, for wood and coal, with the fire above the oven, which carried the flame around, behind, and below the oven, the opening into the stove-i)ipe being about on a level with the oven-floor. There have been several hundred modifications 6f this pattern of cooking-stove. In heating-stoves there have l)een many changes and improvements, the base-burning and self-feeding principle being applied to the greater number, but many popular heaters being the ordinary coal-burner, with the draught through the whole mass of coal. In all, tliere Number of ^^^^ \^tVi nearly a thousand patents issued in this country for patents stoves J and the manufacture has now become so skilful, and the Btued. stoves so tight, their conveniences for cooking so perfect, and the blaze of the fires of the parlor-stoves, shining ouPthrough mica windows, so chejsrful, that the fireplace has been practically superseded even in country houses, and the stove is in universal use. Magnitude There are now about 220 firms and companies engaged in of induitry. ^his industry in the country. They consume from 250,000 to 340,000 tons of pig-metal yearly, and employ about 28,000 men, producing The Buck. OF THE UNITED STATES. 279 from J, 1 00,000 to 3,686,000 stoves a year, worth about 150,000,000. The stovi's made vary in size, frum tlic minute gas and ]>etruleum burnin^j aflairs (with wliirli experiment is now making), ail tlie way tiiruugli tlie Jung list ol l.ir.iic and siuail cooking-stoves, — with two, four, six, and eight holes for licitics, and with (ixed iM)ilers and double ovens, — to the large ranges, capalilc of cooking for the thousand guests of a large hotel, and the furnaces for the basements of builtlings, capable of heating structures of every size, irom a dwelling to a court-house. The largest fimis are in Albany, Troy, I'hil.ulclphia, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Boston, Norwich, I'rovidencc, Portland, Manchester, and Wheeling. I'erhaps no persons have displayed greater energy in pushing the inaniii.icture and sale of their wares than the stove-makers. Of the superior- lu (if each new invention as it ai)peared the public has been (piickly and thuroughly informeil through the meilium of the press and in other ways. The nroduction in 1876 was distributed throughout the different States as fol- lows : — STATC. Maine New ILimpshirc . ViTiniint .... Massachusetts Rhode IsKind Connecticut . ... New York .... .Vcw Jersey .... Pennsylvania Maryland .... Virginia .... West Virginia Georgia .... Michigan .... Ohio Kentucky .... Missouri .... Illinois .... Indiana .... Wisconsin .... Iowa Kansas . . . , * California .... Total . HO. or FACTORIIS, NO. OF STOVES. 3 7.200 S 9,6c» 2 2,880 12 139.200 6 81,600 3 20,080 45 765,600 2 14,400 29 500,640 2 24,000 1 14,400 7 67,200 I 4,800 2 48,000 42 453.600 6 88,800 7 182,400 10 120,000 7 64,800 S 48,000 I 14.400 I 7,200 I 7,200 200 2,686,000 **»t**rTf^| '$• >»8o INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Like the sewing-machine-makers, the stove-makers are indebted for part of their popularity and large sales to the county fairs of the coun- try, where they have had numerous and sharp competitions, which advertised them extensively. K SAFES. The subject of strong-boxes to secure val::able articles and money against fire and theft attracted very little attention in this country until after the rise The strong, of the commercial cities upon the coast. The strong-box, prc- ^°*- vious to 1820, was nothing more than a heavy oaken clicst. Its contents were protected from robbery merely by a stout lock and the bhinder- buss of its owner. Its only security against fire was the address ami the strong muscles of the occupants of the building where a fire broke out. In Europe, where wealth abounded, and the industrial arts had been devcloiK'd. the people were scarcely any better off for strong-boxes. A few iron colTerj with complicated locks were in use ; but the great majority of those who iiad occasion to stow away valuables at all depended upon wooden chests and their own personal vigilance for their protection. These chests were often- times gilded over every inch of the visible surface, and decorated with paint- ings, being very showy and costly articles of furniture. They were no OF THE UNITED STATES. 281 indebted for part fairs of the coun- )mpetitions, which ind money against until after tlic rise iC strong-box, prc- oaken clicst. Its : and tlic blundcr- I address and the re broke out. In I been developed. \ few iron colTcrj of those who had ooden chests and bests were often- orated with paint- They were no protection against fire ; and in this respect the world was no better off than in the clays of King Priam of Troy, whose treasure, carried in a wooden box witii 1 copper key, was left on the walls of Troy at the fall of the city, and was dug from the calcined ruins by Dr. Schliemann in 1873, its contents half melted and distorted by fire. The earliest safes used in this country .vere imported from France about 1820 by Joseph Bouchaud, a merchant o. New York engaged in Earliest very extensive commercial transactions. They were called fire- '"'"■ proof, iiiey were simply boxes of hard wood plated on the outside with thick iron, and on the inside with sheet iron. Bands of iron two • , , < • , r 1 , 1 Bouchaud. inches wide covered the outside of the chests, crossing each other at right angles, and being secured in place by heavy wrought-iron nails, which penetrated through band, pla*e, and box, and were secured on the inside by clinching. These boxes were bought by merchants and bankers in large numbers for several years. James Conner, a type-founder of New- York City, invented a better safe than this for his own use about this time, but does not appear to have realized the value of the invention. Gypsum, or plaster of Paris, had long been used in France for building fire-proof houses. Con- ner was familiar with the qualities of this substance, plaster of Paris having been at that day extensively used in making the moulds for casting stereotype- plates ; and he applied it to the protection of an iron chest he had in his office, and which he continued to use thereafter for many years. Had Conner been visited with the calamity of a fire, he would have become aware of the properties of his safe. As it was, its value was not made known to the world : and the first manufacturer of safes of whom there is any ac- coinit, Jesse Deland of New York, began making fire-proof strong-boxes, in 1826, of the Paris pattern ; that is, of wood plated with iron. He patented one improvement upon this style of box, however, — the coating of the wood with a mixture of clay, lime, plumbago, and mica, to make it incombustible ; and he 'also thought of saturating the wood with potasli, lye, and alum, for the same purpose. In 1833 Charles J. (laylor patented the idea of using a lining of asbestos between the iron plating and the wooden box. His asbestos fire-proof safes had a large sale ; and one of them, preserving its contents in a fire at Thomaston, Me., was dubbed a salamaniicr by some admiring individual ; and the name has often been applied to safes since that date. Deland and Gaylor both sold large numbers of their strong-boxes ; but there were only sixty of the latter in use when the great fire of 1835 ^odk. place in New-York City, and very few of them proved serviceable in the intense heat of that great confla- gration. Something more efficient than that pattern was needed, and inventors and chemists began to think of the matter, John Scott invented another asbestos safe, and in 1837 Benjamin Sherwood got a patent for one with charcoal and plasler-of- Paris filling. Deland. Gaylor. Sherwood. m f- ' i'V 1 I; Wm i||!j? ^i^ It 1- 1^ ■* rin 282 INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Herring. It soon became evident that substances like fire-clay, asbestos, mica, iS:c which were absolutely indestructible themselves, were not, after all, the li^lu material for fire-proof safes. ' a hot fire they became heated to ludiiLss and even to a wiiiie-heat thenisiives, and accordingly destroyed the liooks jiapers, bank-notes, and other contents of the safes. Tiie need of the hour was for somethinL' which siiould not conduct heat. In iSi^ Fitzgerald. . ■ , ,. , ^^ Daniel l"it/i;eraid invented the safe with outer and inner hoses of iron, the space between being either vacant, or filled with plaster of i'aiis mixed with water, and ])oured in. The jjlaster. setting haril, and lakin- ihe water into combination, formed an excellent protecting material. When subjected to heat, it gave out its water as steam, which is itself a vahialile non-conductor ; and the contents of the safes were protecteil in a manner previously unknown. Fitzgerald had a contest over his invention with Mr. Conner, who now came forwartl to claim the merit of originating that hi\le of safe. The courts confirmed the patent to Mr. Fitzgerakl, however, mi the ground of equity and sound public policy, Mr. Conner not having made l)ublic his idea, and thus secured the right to it. Knos \\'il(ler heromiiii,' associated with Fitzgerald, the safes were introduced to the market a.-, the "Wilder Patent Salamander Fire-Proof Safes." The patent was transferred to ]}. G. Wilder in 1.S44. Mr. Silas C. Herring had jjetome interested in this i)atent in 1S41, and had obtained the right to make them ; which he still retained after 1844. Herring began in a small way in the cellar of a Water-street store in New Vork, but soon became the prin- cipal nianutacturer of safes in the I'niled States. Tiie business becoming profitable, Roberts & Rich began the manufacture of chests with the jilaster- of-I'aris filling also. This led to lawsuits and a compromise, by which both firms were to carry on the manufacture. In 1S54 Herring & Company virtu- ally abandoned the Wilder patent for one of their own. 'I'hey had advertised for a better filling than plaster, and j)romised a thousand tlollars' reward lor the discovery. Mr. Spear, a chemist of Philadelphia, found that chalk treated with sulphuric acid, washed and dried, and then rammed into a safe in a fine powder, had superior (pialities to plaster of Paris. It gave up its water of combination more slowly and in less