Sticks are manufactured both from large timber of from two to six
feet girth, and from small underwood of about the thickness of a man's
thumb. The timber, which is chiefly beech, is first sawed into battens
of about three feet in length and as many inches in width; and
from each of these battens two square sticks, with square heads are
afterwards cut in opposite directions, so that the middle portion
is waste wood. The corners of each are afterwards rounded off by a
planing process called "trapping," and the square head is reduced, by
a small saw, to a curve or rectangular bend, so as to form a handle.
When the sticks are brought in this way to the exact size and pattern,
they are polished with great care, are finely varnished, and packed
in boxes or bundles for the market. Many sawn sticks, however, are
supplied with bone and horn handles, which are fastened on with glue;
and then of course there is less wood waste, as a larger number of
them may be cut from one batten.
A very different process takes place in the manufacture of sticks
from small underwood, in which there is no sawing required. The rough
unfashioned sticks, which are generally of hazel, ash, oak and thorn,
are cut with a bill in the same way as kidney bean sticks, and are
brought to the factory in large bavins or bundles, piled on a timber
tug. There must of course, be some little care in their selection, yet
it is evident that the woodmen are not very particular on this score,
for they have in general an ungainly appearance; and many are so
crooked and rough, that no drover or country boy would think it worth
while to polish the like of them with his knife. Having arrived at
this place, however, their numerous excrescences are soon pruned away,
and their ugliness converted into elegance. When sufficiently seasoned
and fit for working, they are first laid to soak in wet sand, and
rendered more tough and pliable; a workman then takes them one by one,
and securing them with an iron stock, bends them skillfully this way
and that, so as to bring out their natural crooks, and render them at
last all straight even rods. If they are not required to be knotted,
they next go to the "trapper," who puts them through a kind of
circular plane, which takes off knots, and renders them uniformly
smooth and round. The most important process of all is that of giving
them their elegantly curved handles, for which purpose they are passed
over to the "crooker." Every child knows that if we bend a tough stick
moderately when the pressure is discontinued, it will soon fly back,
more or less, to its former position; and if we bend it very much,
it will break. Now the crooker professes to accomplish the miracle of
bending a stick as it might be an iron wire, so that it shall neither
break nor "backen." To prevent the breaking, the wood is rendered
pliant by further soaking in wet sand; and a flexible band of metal
is clamped down firmly to that portion of the stick that will form the
outside of the curve; the top end is then fitted into a grooved iron
shoulder which determines the size of the crook, the other end being
brought round so as to point in the opposite direction; the metal
band during this process binding with increasing tightness against the
stretching fibers of the wood, so that they cannot snap or give way
under the strain. The crook having been made, the next thing is to fix
it, or remove from the fibers the reaction of elasticity, which would
otherwise, on the cessation of the bending force, cause it to backen
more or less, and undo the work. In the old process of crooking by
steam, as timber bending is effected, the stick was merely left till
it was cold to acquire a permanent set; but in the new process, a more
permanent set is given by turning the handle about briskly over a jet
of gas. The sticks being now fashioned, it only remains to polish
and stain or varnish them; and they are sometimes scorched or
burned brown, and carved with foliage, animal heads and other
devices.--_Chambers' Journal_.
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FLOWERING OF THE VICTORIA REGIA IN THE OPEN AIR.--Joseph Mager, Esq.,
has succeeded in flowering the Victoria lily, in his pond in England.
The pond is perfectly open, but the water is heated by hot water pipes
coming from a boiler near the pond, carefully concealed. The seeds
of the Victoria were planted in May last, and the first flower was
produced Sept. 10th. Afterwards seven other flowers opened. The plant
has eight leaves, of which the largest is five feet two inches in
diameter. Mr. Mager has also succeeded in flowering a large number of
other tropical lilies in his pond.
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JUTE, a material largely used in combination with hemp, for making
cordage, sacking, mats, and carpets, is produced in India to the
extent of 300,000 tuns per annum. The scarcity of fuel prevents its
manufacture on the spot, except by the rudest and most primitive
means, so that the bulk of the growth is sent to Great Britain.
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