of machinery moved by steam almost revolu- the business in 1865 was about 11 millions. tionized the business of refining. An impor- The value refined in New York in 1865 was tant improvement that was made in substitu- $20,374,327, and the refineries of Philadelting aluminous finings for bullock's blood, phia have a capacity of over $12,000,000. which was always productive of injurious There are a number of refineries in the eastern consequences, greatly increased the produc- states, and some in Baltimore, St. Louis, tion and raised the quality of sugar. The Cincinnati, and New Orleans. These are raw sugar of the Spanish West Indies and sufficient to meet the demand for consumpBrazil comes mostly in cases and boxes; that tion, and the importation has become unimof New Orleans and the English islands in portant. One of the largest refineries is hogsheads; South America generally, Ma- Stuart's, the annual sales of which are over nilla, and the Mauritius send it in bags. $3,500,000. The concern works up over When the refiner gets possession of any of 45,000,000 lbs. of sugar per annum, employthese, he empties into a pan with a perforated ing some 321 men. The quantity of coal bottom; through these perforations comes a used is from 7,000 to 8,000 tons per annum, current of steam which dissolves the sugar. and the value of the bone charcoal used in Chemical application then bleaches the sugar the finery process is $30,000. A week's oper or takes all its color from it. It then passes ation requires a supply of 763 hogsheads of into the vacuum pans to be boiled by steam. sugar, or at 1,110 lbs. each, 840,000 lbs. This, The sugar in this process becomes so con- for the working time of six days, gives one centrated that it is held in solution only by hogshead for every 11 minutes. The sugar the high temperature. The moment it be- is by steam power hoisted to the top of the gins to cool, a rapid crystallization takes building, where it is emptied into an implace, producing the fine grain seen in loaf mense copper, when the steam soon converts sugar. When the syrup has boiled suffi- it into the fluid state. In its descent through ciently, it is poured into moulds which are the building by pipes and tanks it undergoes prepared in the loaf form, for the purpose of the various purifications to which it is subfacilitating the separation of the sugar. The jected. The flow of the vast quantity is liquor that runs from these moulds is sub-like an abundant supply of water, and the jected to a new boiling, when it yields lower rich product finds its way on the ground grades of sugar. The syrup that exudes from this second process is sold as molasses, and the proportion of this is about 20 per cent. of the original quantity. The art of refining has been carried to greater perfection in this country than in Europe, and so manifestly that no imported article can equal the fine granulated sugars of the domestic manufacturer. The business has spread with the demand for the improved sugars. The increase of the manufacture has also been aided by the federal government, which allows a drawback upon refined sugar exported equal to the duty on the equivalent raw sugar imported. The export of refined sugar in 1868 was 2,214,207 pounds, worth $313,378. The manufacture of sugar into candy and confectionery is carried on to the value of $8,000,000 per annum. Some years since, the bounty or drawback upon refined sugar amounted to more than the duty on the raw article, and was therefore equivalent to an additional bounty on the manufacture. It was not surprising that the business should spread under such circumstances, the more so that modern inventions contributed largely to its improvement. The capital invested in floor into barrels ready to meet the extensive demand that the high quality occasions. One large refinery was erected and furnished at an expense of $875,000. The growing luxury and refinement of the country is making refined sugar more of a necessity than formerly, and it is to be remarked that the use of refined sugar increases the demand for the raw material nearly 50 per cent., since 14 lbs. of cane sugar are required to make 1 lb. of white. The concentrated sugar undoubtedly contains greater strength, but the quantity used is but slightly decreased on that account. From 1850 to 1861, it was the custom of most housekeepers to "preserve" large quantities of fruit in its season, and usually they required a weight of sugar equal to that of the fruit; but the great advance in the price of sugar during the war, and the introduction of the practice of canning in air-tight jars, has made a great change, most fruits requiring only from four to six ounces of sugar to the pound. A basket of peaches in New York will weigh 50 lbs., and the fruit with the stones taken out, 25 lbs., requiring as much sugar. Some years the peaches are worth $5, of the preserving qual itv, which is a clear white, and in other years, one dollar. At the prices of sugar and fruit in 1870, by the canning process would require about four-fifths the value of the fruit in sugar, and perhaps not quite so much in other fruits. This demand takes place for all kinds of small fruits as well as peaches, and it grows in the double ratio of numbers and wealth. Strawberries may be preserved with granulated, but would hardly be palatable done up in "long" sugar. SILK. decided efforts in that direction. The New London Gazette of 1768 informs us that William Hanks of Mansfield, had "raised silk enough for three women's gowns." The gowns of "three women" at the present day would involve a formidable amount of silk, but we are to presume he meant three "dresses" simply. The term gown, like "vandyke," seems to have become somewhat obsolete. Mr. William Hanks also advertised in the Gazette, 3,000 mulberry trees, three years old, and of one inch diameter. The best time to set them out, he says, is at the new moon of April. They were to be sold cheap, in order to promote the culture of silk. Sundry gentlemen in THE culture and manufacture of silk are Windham had large mulberry orchards, inamong the oldest industries of the colo- tended to supply a silk factory erected at nies, and many efforts on the part of Con- Lebanon. While all manufactures were in gress and of enterprising men have been so depressed a state and struggling for life made to promote them, but the industry has under the disability of deficient capital, it not thriven in any degree to be compared was hardly to be expected that so hazardous with some of those that have grown steadily an undertaking as silk manufacture could under the intelligent perseverance of unob- make much progress. When, however, the trusive individuals. No branch of industry high tariff policy after the war gave the is ever planted, promoted, or perfected by spur to manufacturing of all kinds, that of means of government operations alone. It silk was revived, mostly in Connecticut must grow, if at all, out of the spontaneous promptings of individual genius, and live upon the necessities that give rise to it or the wants it of itself creates, to be healthily prosperous. Hence all the efforts that have been made to encourage the silk culture and manufacture have proved abortive, while individuals not encouraged have prosecuted branches of the trade not contemplated, with success. The southern colonies were early silk producers. So important had it become in 1753, that at a meeting of the imperial Board of Trade, Oct. 26, of that year, "the state of the colony of Georgia was taken into consideration, at a Board of Trade and Plantations, and it appeared that the colony produced upward of £17,000 [75,000 dollars] worth of raw silk, since January 1752, besides what is not yet come to the notice of the board." The other colonies of the South were also well engaged in it. Virginia in particular was largely interested in that industry. The culture of cotton and tobacco, however, in the early years of the Union, were so profitable as to absorb all other culture; and silk nearly disappeared, although numbers of farmers preserved their mulberry groves, and continue to make small quantities of raw silk. The state of Connecticut seems to have made the most and Pennsylvania This had so progressed that in five small towns of the first-mentioned state, there were raised in 1829, 24 tons of raw silk, valued at $21,188. In Washington, Pennsylvania, sewing silk was successfully produced, and some garments were made by individuals who performed the whole work, from the management of the worms to the weaving of the fabric. The town of Mansfield, Connecticut, was in that year the great seat of that industry. The population was 2,500, and produced as many pounds of silk. This silk was converted into the most beautiful sewing silk and some other manufactures by the skill and industry of that ingenious people. Thus prepared, the silk was at that time worth $8 per lb. This industry was carried on without interrupting the ordinary occupations of the people, and also employed the young and old not suited to the labors of the field. The mulberry trees are ornamental as shade trees, and do not impoverish the soil as much as fruit; and they will flourish in almost all latitudes, or wherever the apple will grow; and whereever they are present the silk-worm may be reared. The feeding of the worms commences with the first opening of the mulberry leaf, and continues for the period of 32 days, the growth per acre gave from three to five the country, to plant mulberry groves for the silk and goods. In 1836, the state of Massa- The excellence of the silk depends upon the properties of the mulberry leaf, and these are considerably diversified. The white mulberry is decidedly the best, and of this there are several varieties. The kind to be culti-culture retarded the manufacture of sewing vated and the mode of proceeding are to be learned from experience, which was very limited in the United States in 1829, when the attention of Congress was called to the silk culture by the petition of G. B. Clark, of the city of New York, for a grant of 262 acres of land owned by the United States, at Greenbush, New York, and used for military purposes, to aid him in rearing mulberry trees. The grant was made in the shape of a lease, on the condition that 100,000 mulberry trees should be planted, and that he should procure a sufficient number of worms to consume all the foliage that could be gathered from the trees. The culture never amounted to much, but the tax, 15 per cent., imposed upon imported raw silk in order to encourage the culture, was a great drawback upon the manufacture. Nevertheless, the excitement in relation to the mulberry trees progressed, and in the year 1831, the project of rearing silk-worms was renewed in various parts of the Union, with great vigor; and the subject not only attracted the attention of Congress, but bounties were offered by the legislatures of several States for all the raw silk produced within their limits for certain periods of time. The business soon began to be prosecuted with extreme ardor, and continued several years, resulting in the establishment of extensive nurseries of mulberry trees, but it ended with the downfall of the famous "Morus Multicaulis Speculation," in 1839. The rates of the mulberry cuttings were at 2 cents each in 1838. In that year, in the neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, many thousand trees were sold at 20 to 50 cents each. The trees were sent all over the country, and it was stated that In the year 1769, on the recommendation of Dr. Franklin through the American Philosophical Society, a filature of raw silk was established in Philadelphia, by private subscription, and placed under the direction of an intelligent and skillful Frenchman, who, it is said, produced samples of reeled silk not inferior in quality to the best from France and Italy. In 1771, the managers purchased 2,300 pounds of cocoons, all the product of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The enterprise was interrupted by the Revolution. În 1819, five tons of raw silk were produced in Mansfield, Conn. In 1830, M. Hornerque attempted the silk manufacture in Philadelphia, and large quantities of cocoons were brought to him for sale, but for want of capital the enterprise failed. The production of silk and silk goods has been continuous in Mansfield, Conn., for more than fifty years. In 1841, the convicts in Auburn prison, New York, were employed in the manufacture of silk The following figures show the rapid prog ress of the manufacture, now that the raw silk is free of duty. From 1830 to 1850, the import of raw silk increased 300 per cent. Holland... IMPORT OF RAW SILK. Raw. Raw. Sewing. .... Hanse Towns... Brit. N. A. Cols.. for a time, with much success. In the first Messrs. Cheney Brothers commenced the manufacture of silk goods at Manchester, and soon after at Hartford, Conn,, about 1840, and in 1870 were employing over 1,000 hands, and making 60,000 pounds of thrown silks, 60,000 pounds of "patent spun," 100,000 pieces of belt ribbons, and 600,000 yards of wide dress silks. They have also long held the highest rank as manufacturers of sewing silks. Paterson, N. J., is largely engaged in this manufacture, having 15 silk factories, some of them very large, and employing more than a thousand operatives. At Hoboken, N. J., Schenectady, Troy, Yonkers, and New York city, the business is extensively carried on. The state of New York reported in 1865 a production of over $1,600,000 worth of silk goods annually. Since that time the production has tripled. The value of the silk goods manufactured in the United States in 1860 was about $6,500,000. It is now not far from $18,000,000. The importation of silk goods in 1868 was about $23,200,000; it is steadily diminishing, as the American goods are found to be superior in quality and color, and equal in the tastefulness of their patterns. The silk manufacture has received a powerful impulse from the demonstration of the capacity of California to furnish an ample supply of the finest raw silk in the world. She produced over 12,000,000 cocoons in 1870, and so soon as a supply of mulberry and other trees for feeding silkworms can be grown, can double her production every year. The silkworm is perfectly healthy there, and three generations can be raised in a single season. France...... Italy.. Turkey. China.. Raw. Sewing. 1860. 1850. $7,635 $1,873 $6,716 $4,733 2.073 16 297 43 15,470 27,699 4,604 238 18,226 3,240 10,606 101,867 8,153 187,063 76,782 2,623 89,696 198,619 9,288 915,504 7,185 $119,074 $404,477 $489,487 $1,543,195 $111,912 The largest portion of the silk is derived directly from China and Japan. FIRE-PROOF SAFES AND SAFE-LOCKS, BUT a very few years have passed, since it was a matter of necessity for individuals to keep their valuables in their own houses, and to defend them from the attacks of burglars and the risks of fire, as they best could. For these purposes, strong boxes were in requisition. In modern times, paper promises have been substituted for the hard currency of former times, and banks become the depositories for that money, thus relieving individuals of the risk of keeping coin in their houses, to attract thieves. The banks are also depositories for plate and jewelry, and insurance companies guarantee from loss by fire. Under these circumstances, it was hardly to be anticipated that a demand for strong boxes should arise, when the use of them was apparently on the decline. Singularly enough, however, the art of making strong boxes has only been developed in the present century. It is to be considered, however, that with the progress of the credit system in the last 150 years, and the extension of commerce, paper securities and account-books of all kinds have multiplied, causing a greater demand than ever for iron chests. The manufacture of these, and of the locks to secure them, has taken great dimensions. It is obvious that, in the construction of a chest, designed to be not only burglar but fire-proof, iron, as a material, would naturally suggest itself. Neverthe plate iron, over which were hoops or bands of iron, about two inches wide, crossing each other at right angles, so forming squares on all sides of the chest. Holes were made in the bands and plates, through which wellmade wrought-iron nails or spikes, having into and through the wooden box, and then "clinched." The inside of the chest was then lined with a covering of sheet iron. These chests had a well-finished but very large lock, having from six to eight bolts; operated by one turn of the key. less, oak seems formerly to have been a grained wood, covered on the outside with favorite material, probably from the facility of working and ornamenting. An example of this kind of coffer is afforded in the chest in which the crown jewels of Scotland were deposited in 1707. The chest, beautifully ornamented, was secured with iron bands, hasps, and staples. There were three locks," hollow," half-spherical heads, were driven which then, no doubt, afforded security, but each of them could be opened in five minutes with a bit of crooked wire in our day. At the close of the last century there began to be made the iron chests, known as "foreign coffers." These were constructed of sheet iron, strongly riveted to hoop iron, crossed at right angles on the outside. A lock throwing eight bolts inside, and two bars and staples for padlocks outside, were employed to secure the lid. Over the door lock was a cap beautifully pierced and chased, and a secretly operated escutcheon concealed the key-hole. These were formidable to look at, and no doubt answered their purpose all the better, that the science of lock-picking was then not so advanced as in the present day. About the beginning of the present century, cast-iron chests began to be made for common purposes, and the manufacture flourished to a considerable extent. The idea of introducing non-conducting substances as a protection against fire, occurred but some years later. The favorite substance for this purpose is gypsum or plaster of Paris. This material was first used in Paris for the construction of fire-proof houses. The practice for more than fifty years had there been to erect hollow walls with spaces between them varying from five to nine inches in width. Plaster of Paris, mixed with water to a proper consistency, was poured into these spaces, where it set and became hard. After the beams and rafters were fixed in their places, boards were nailed to them, and the same material was spread thereon. The lower floors of the building were of plaster, over which tiles were laid. The same material was applied to fire-safes in Paris, and these were, to some extent, imported into New York about the year 1820. The first portable fire-proof chests introduced for sale in New York, were imported from France, by the late Joseph Boucheaud, Esq., about 1820, and no doubt many of our old merchants and bankers remember them, as many were sold for use in counting-houses and bank vaults. They were constructed of wood and iron; the foundation was a box of hard, close The first actual application of plaster of Paris to safes in this country seems to have been by James Conner, the type-founder, of New York. His business made him acquainted with the non-conducting qualities of plaster of Paris, and he applied it to an iron chest in his office, which chest has been in use ever since. Soon after, Jesse Delano, of New York, began making chests of the Paris pattern, substituting solid cast-iron heads, to secure the bands. In 1826, he patented an improvement, which consisted in coating the wooden foundation with a composition of equal parts, clay and lime, plumbago and mica, or saturating the wood in a solution of potash lye and alum, to render it incombustible. These were generally used in the country, and as a curious instance of the fire-proof qualities of these safes, we may state that one stood many years near the stove, in the counting-house of Lyman Stockbridge, of Hartford, until its fire-proof qualities seem to have been exhausted, since it spontaneously took fire and burnt up about three years since, without doing other injury on the premises. In this case, it would seem the fire-proof quality was inverted-viz., that the fire could not get out, instead of failing to get in. After Mr. Delano, C. J. Gayler began the safe manufacture, and in 1833 he patented his "double" fire-proof chest. This consisted of two chests, one so formed within the other as to have one or more spaces between them, to inclose air or any known nonconductors of heat. In the same year, one of these double chests was severely tested by being exposed in a large building in Thomaston, Maine, that was entirely destroyed by fire. The chest preserved its contents in good order. This excited the public admiration, and one enthusiastic writer described it as a "Salamander," which name has ever since been popularly applied to safes. |