g MAKING- BIG GUNS, 1
|«| How the Government Hurry-Orders For Great War
|»| Weapons Are Being Executed.
Down on the meadows of tho Passaic,
on the shore of Newark Bay, and
within the bounds of the city of
Newark itself, says the New York
Herald, men are working day and
night on guns for the Government.
The complex and exquisitely adjusted
machines that turn and bore "jackets"
and "tubes" never stop, except for a
"rest" of an hour or so or the replac-,
ing of a cutter dulled by honrs of slow,
steady ploughing through the hardest
and finest steel.
Steel is everywhere, in almost shape
less, oblong ingots, fresh from the
casting room; in forged lengths, in
cylinders, now bearing some resem
blance to a "rapid fire," and in chips
and shavings. There are strange and
interesting scenes in these gun shops
and the pictures presented each hour
are dramatic in the extreme. Here in
these processes is to be seen the acme
of American manufacturing, the great
essential fact being the machinery,
that is almost automatic in its work,
and the few men needed to control and
guide it.
Except in the forging room scarcely
a blow of a hammer is heard. The
shops are almost as silent as the grave.
Wheels revolve, cutters turn, men
stand placidly by the side of machines,
moving softly here and there. All
this time, each second, the gun that
some day will belch forth fire and
steel of its own is coming nearer com
pletion. Chips fall as the bars re
volve, but the cutters are not heard.
The guns, it would appear to the
oulookers, are almost making them
selves.
Of the sturdiest type of American
mechanics nre the men employed.
They are workmen who think and who
know, men who can judge when a cer
tain instant has arrived, knowing its
approach by intuition, rather than
BORING MACHINE.
men of bra\ ik ud muscle. The latter
qualities so much needed in a
gun shop of tVlay. Should a partially
finished tubevor jacket have to be
moved there is) the electric traveling
crane overheat!, that, at the jerk of
a cord, swings Aver its grappling irons,
and these neell only to bo attached.
The gun man of to-day needs ouly to
guide and to kriow.
These works' are of the Benjamin
Atha & Illingworth Company, one of
the three concerns in this country
that have the Jlant and the skill to
turn out guns 7of size. Their main
shops are at Hairison, the next station
to Newark, anji their casting shops
across the Pa>saic, on the "Island."
Dozens of pieces for the navy and for
coast defence \re being made here.
)Worl. of Greiit Care.
Six weeks is practically the minimum
of time for the making of a modern
gun, and to finish one within that
space everything would have togo
marvellously well. The "treatment"
of the steel would have to be a success
at the very first attempt—something
that does not often happen—and the
hat the
been
these
.ugh
long since relegate J to the scrap
yards.
Here is the first stage of tlie modern
gun—ragged arid rusty metal that is
carted in wheelbarrows up to the fur
nace doors. The maws of blazing
heat, several thousands of degrees in
intensity, stand open to receive it. So
overwhelming is this beat that even
the master meltev has to put on blue
glasses to peer into the flames rising
ROUGH CASTS.
over the bubbling sea of metal when
the doors are open. When the doors
are dropped down—that is, shut
tliere is only revealed a single spot of
brightness, an eye that looks into the
furnace's flame, and even this cannot
be approached too closely with the
naked eye.
Beginning; tho Gun.
The gun is under way. Teu tons of
metal are already in the furnace—a
lake of molten, seething metal held in
by banks of sand. Other things of
steel are to be made of this mass, the
gun works being only a portion of the
Atha A- Illingworth plant. Whetliei
used for peace or war, steel is steel,
differing only in quality. It is all
"boiled down" in the same way.
Iu shadow is the casting shop, ex
cept when the doors are raised, when
a Hood of light, a wave of extreme
heat, is thrown out. In the dusk of
the shadows grimy men raise the sea
of metal with long bars. The master
melter, never still, steps now and then
to his wheels, set at one side of the
furnace and looking like the brake
wheels on a freight car, and gives one
or the other a sharp twist. By this
lie regulates his tire—five hundred de
grees at a twist. The silica "bricks
with which the furnace [is lined can
stand four thousand degrees of heat
and more before they commence to
melt. The master melter runs up the
heat to the extreme point and then
lets it down.
There are three "heats" a day in the
casting shop. Three times metal is
heated, three times it is let go with a
mighty rush into the casting pot. The
last few moments of each heat are the
dramatic instants. It is then, at the
judgment of the master melter, that
the furnace is fed with "medicine,"
shovelfuls and blocks of metal being
tossed in. On this depends the qual
ity, the strength, the elasticity of the
steol, essentials of the most vast im
portance of the gun of to-day.
Into tlie Casting Pot.
Two hours is usually sufficient for
the boiling of this steel in its cradle
of sand. At last the one moment ar
rives. The bar at the furnace's back
is worked through the sand to make
an opening. An instant, and into the
casting pot below the mass runs, scat
tering millions of sparks, a glowing,
golden torrent that foams and hisses
as it plunges down.
The picture of the gun's second
stage is superb. On every hand fly
these sparks, and the mass bubbles
and seethes in the casting pot. On
its top, through the glow, can bo seen
a dirty mass—the sfcg or the scum
that is of no use or value. But the
pictnresqueuess of the scene has not
ended. The casting process is only
half through. The liquid metal must
get into its moulds, aud that in short
order.
On a track the casting pot rests. It
is pushed along this track until a gi
gantic eraue overhead seizes it, swing
ing it aloft. Over mounds of sands it
is swung, and the metal, by the move
ment of a bar,is allowed to drop down
in a thin stream. Again shower upon
shower of sparks, surrounding the men
•ho, with chains and staves, control
e clumsy pot aud pull along the
me. The grim old shop, with its
floor of sand, its unrelenting dust and
and its dreariness, is made into 40
brilliant cavern for the
the toiling men are supernatural in tho
light.
In the Ronglt.
A prosaic time follows, when the
metal in the moulds must cool. When
the sand is finally knocked away the
gun that is to be is only a rough mass
of cast steel, indicating only to the ex
pert its fine quality, and not even to
him in any degree, for the tests must
come to prove that. In the forging
shop this mass is hammered and worked
until it becomes an octagonal ingot of
just twice the weight it will possess
when it is finally turned and bored in
to a "jacket" or a "tube." The hoops,
the third part of a gun, are cast and
forged hollow, not in solid cylinders,
as the jacket and tube are.
With the carrying away of the rough
ingot of steel from the forging shop
the special work of gun-making com
mences. The boring and turning
factory is the scene of the first step in
this process.
Completed guns, ready for mount
ing and for fire, are not turned out in
these gun shops. The finishing
touches, the actual puHing together
of the parts of the gun, the rifling it
self, are done at the ordnance works
in Washington. It is the business
alone of a gun shop to make the steel
and to hand over to the army and the
navy the three parts of a great gun—
the "tube," the "jacket" (which is
slipped on over the tube and then
"shrunk on" by contraction) and the
"hoops," two in number, which, for
the purpose of strengthening, are fit
ted on tightly over the muzzle end of
tho tubes. Once these three parts are
together the metal becomes, practical
ly, one piece and it would be very
nearly impossible, by any art or sci
ence known to experts, to get the
jacket oft'.
Finlnliotl I>y tho Government.
Only the "rough machining," in tech
nical phrase, is done on these guns,
this meaning that the final finish anil
the rilling is put on by tho Govern
ment itself. "Rough machining"
seems, however, a strange term, for if
delicate work requiring the utmost ac
curacy and preciseness is not done
hove it never was anywhere.
A Checkerboard Fiwli.
Joseph Evans, of Thirteenth street
and Snyder avenue, is the owner of a
very queer looking fish. It is four
feet long and has a tail two feet in
length, which is spotted and striped,
like a snake. Evans caught the fish
in an oyster dredger while at work on
the oyster boat Mary Colmau. It
lived nearly a day out of water and
caused 110 end of trouble before it fin
ally collapsed. The skin of the strange
inhabitant of the deep resembles a
checkerboard, being uuiformly colored
with black and blue squares. Mr.
Evans intends having a glass case
made for the pretty creature and will
exhibit it in his parlor. Several scien
tific men, who have seen the fish, are
at loss as to how to classify it, and all
of them agree that a "what-is-it" iish
would be the proper name for it.—
Philadelphia Record.
Water » Cure For InillgeMlon.
"We must give special attention to
the outside of Ihe body as well as the
inside," writes Mrs. S. T. Rorer on
"What to liat When You Have
gestion," in the Ladies' Home Jour
nal. "The skin must be bathed every
morning with tepid water, followed by
a brisk rub. This is equally as im
portant as correct diet. A good rule
is to use water freely inside and out.
At least two quarts of water daily
should be taken: half a pint the first
thing in the morning and the last at
night, a cupful of warm water before
each meal, and the remaining quan
tity divided and taken before meals."
Centennial Celebration*.
This year's crop of centennial cele
brations includes observations of the
four hundredth anniversaries of Vasco
de Gama's discovery of the way to
India by way of the Cape of Good
Hope, at Lisbon, in May: of the burn
ing of Savonarola at Florence, also in
May, and of the birth of Holbein at
Basil, in Switzerland. Montpellier
will celebrate the hundredth anniver
sary of the philosopher, Augnste
Comte; Ancona that of the poet Leo
pardi, who was born atßecanati, close
by, and Paris that of Michelet, the
historian.
01<1 Bank in'Mebraska.
The building in which tho oldest
bank in Omaha is located is in a very
dilapidated condition. Tho porches
• o°°
NEBRASKA'S OLDEST BANK.
are tumbling and its windows and
tops of the doorways have been taken
posession of by the sparrows.
Not only was this the first bank of
the town, but the first financial
institution under the charter of the
Territory of Nebraska. Its president
was Thomas H. Benton, son of the
Senator. Leroy Tuttle was cashier,
and A. N. Wyman teller. In the
panic of '57 the doors were closed.
The ancient structure is decidedly
picturesque in its dilapidation and has
frequently been put into pictures by
local artists.
piE.
Protecting: Tree» From Mice.
Mice are liable to do much damage
unless pretty close watch is kept.
Wherever a mouse has been working
set a trap and catch him when he
comes again. A bit of toasted cheese
will tempt him from apple bark every
time. If the tree is badly girdled cut
grafts from the limbs of the same
trees and insert them in both the
upper and lower portions of bark
around the cut so that a union may be
effected. Both will grow together
next season.—American Cultivator.
Mineral Manure# for Grape Vines.
Grape vines usually need very little
manure other than mineral, and that
chiefly potash. In European countries
it is the habit of vineyardists to burn
the pruniugs each year and apply the
ashes. No other fertilizer is used. In
fact, stable manures are objected to,
as they make the vines grow rank,and
the fruit will lack the flavor that be
longs to fruits whose vines are only
manured with the ashes. Much of
the excellence of French wines is pos
sibly due to this sparing use of man
urn.—Boston Cultivator.
New Varieties* of Potatoes,
In choosing varieties of potatoes for
spring planting it is advisable to se
lect those that have been recently pro
duced from see l, provided, of course,
that their quality and productiveness
have been tested and are generally
known. The variety that is newly
produced from seed is generally more
vigorous then than it is likely to be
after a few years contest with the po
tato bugs, and the blight and rots
which all help to decrease potato vigor
and productiveness. But it is not
advisable to plant potatoes, however
good, which are very unlike standard
sorts, and whose good qualities arc
not generally known. There is so
much difference in potatoes that the
mere fact that a potato is apn ati is
not enough with most consun ers to
secure a market for it until after they
have given it a trial.
Potato Planting,
It is said that two ounces corrosive
sublimate dissolved iu one gallon of
water in an earthen vessel of some
kind and this turned into a tight bar
rel with fifteen gallons of water will
make a preparation that will destroy
tho germs that produce the scab 011 tho
potato. Jf the seed potatoes are put
in sacks and one sack full at a time
be dipped iu this diluted solution un
til the potatoes are entirely covered
and allowed to remain one and one
half hours, the germs will be destroyed.
T.ie potatoes should be then removed,
drained and spread out to dry, and
when thoroughly dried they will be
ready to cut and plant at any time.
As the solution is very poisonous it
should be kept in earthen or wooden
vessels,as it will quickly corrode iron,
steel or tin. The amount named will
be sufficient to treat from five to eight
barrels.
Growing Caulillower.
Considerable effort has been put
forward by some writers to make it
appear that the successful growing of
cauliflower was a difficult operation,
but as a matter of fact any soil that
will grow good cabbages will grow
good cauliflower. If early crops are
wanted the seed must be sown in Feb
ruary and transplanted into shallow
flats as soon as the second leaf shows-,
the soil in the flat should be rich. Air,
water and keep at the same tempera
ture as for young cabbages. Plant in
the open ground as early as possible,
not later than the middle of April, if
it can be avoido i. The soil should be
rich and deep, using a handful of fine
boueineal mixed with the soil about
each plant as it is set. Cultivate care
fully each week. Hot weather injures
the crop greatly, so to be successful
with it one should grow only for an
early and a late crop, avoiding the
mid-season crop. For the late crop
the treatment is about the same as for
late cabbages. The main points to bo
observed in the culture of cauliflower
is to have the soil rich and to keep it
well cultivated during the season of
growth.
Bow to Prune Fruit Tree»,
It is a lamentable fact that not one
man in a hundred, fruitgrowers in
cluded, knows how to prune a fruit
tree properly. In the first place,
fruit trees re pure a very little prun
ing, aud the old idea that large quan
tities of the inside branches should bo
cut out "to let in the air and sun
shine" is nonsense. Tho pruning of
trees should be done oa a scientific
plan in so far that there should be a
good reason for every cut that is made.
Every lioeral bearing fruit tree sends
out little branches or spurs on the
sides of all limbs and small branches,
and these should never be cut off, uor
should they be injured when tho fruit
is being gathered or in any other way,
for these spores produce the fruit budß
for the coming season's crop. Every
tree which needs pruning should be
pruned when the superfluous branches
are small and the cut should be made
at the junction of the limb 3 with the
main stock. At this point in the
growth of the tree the intelligent ob
server will note a decided seam or
erease running around the base of
each branch, and if the cut is made at
that point it will heal more quickly
than if made at any other place.
When pruning have at hand a quan
tity of grafting wax to brush over the
raw cut as soon as it is made. Graft
ing wax is readily made at home by
melting a pound of rosin with a pound
of tallow, adding a small quantity of
linfised oil if the wax is too brittle or
more rosia if too soft.—Atlanta Jour
nal.
Improved Strawberry Culture.
As cnlturists become more familial
with the requirements of the straw
berry plant, and especially where it is
properly grown 011 small areas, they
learn that while moisture is essential
it does not of necessity mean the em
ployment of elaborate systems of irri
gation in order to make it successful.
The necessary moisture is most easily
secured and especially during the
first season, by attention to the proper
details in the preparation of the soil
and in cultivation. Early spring
planting for new beds and early spring
cultivation for beds already set are
important, for to allow the soil to be
come dry in the spring beyond the
point necessary to get it into good
workable condition is to take great
risks in strawberry culture. Early
and continuous cultivation saves the
moisture to a:i extent not appreciated,
for it has been in excess of that from
cultivated ground to an amount equal
to an inch and three quarters of rain
fall in one week. As a well-known
strawberry grower remarks: "A man
with a team and sprinkling cart would
not replace the water on an acre of
land as fast as it escapes by evapora
tion from the soil when it goes oft at
that rate, if he had to haul the water
one-fourth of a mile." Low prices are
likely to rule for the next season ot
two and yet there will be money in
strawberries if they are grown on the
intensive plan and the market sup
plied with the high grades of fruit in
fair quantities, rather than the in
ferior fruit in larger quantities.
Cure Found for Tick#.
The bureau of animal industry has
just made its annual report to the
House of Representatives. Some of
the points discussed are of particular
interest to stockmen. Part of the re
port reads as follows:
"Probably the most important work
of this bureau during the year has
been the experimental study of the
effect of different substances in de
stroying the ticks which spread the
infection of Texas fever. For a long
time it appeared as though 110 mixture
could be obtained which would kill
these parasites without severely injur
ing the cattle which were treated.
Recently it has been found that a
petroleum product known as pnraline
oil will destroy the ticks without
greatly irritating the skin of the ani
mal to which it is applied. It is
thought that by dipping the cattle
twice in this oil, with an interval of a
few days,all the ticks will be destroyed
and the animals, even from in
fected district, may thereafter be
shipped with safety to any part of the
country. If this hope is fill til led, the
dipping of cattle from the infected
districts soon must become general,
and will save millions of dollars to the
southern states. At present such cat
tle must be kept separate and in quar
antine pens, a'.id sold as quarantined
animals at a less price than they would
bring if they were free from such re
striction. • The general dipping of iu
fected cattle would prevent the infec
tion of cars and stockyards, and en
able this bureau to prevent the dis
semination of Texas fever with less
hardship to tho owners of cattle, and
with greater safety to the stock inter
est.
"An effort also is being made to
prevent the losses from disease
as 'blackleg,' by distributing to"the
owners of herds where such losses
occur a vaccine that will produce im
munity. The ravages of (he disease
in some of our slates have become
discouraging to the owners of cattle,
particularly to those who have en
deavored to grade up thoir herds and
breed the best beef-producing va
rieties. Many owners of large herds
have reported annual losses ranging
from eight to fourteen per cent. This
disease appears to be quite easily
prevented by vaccination. Hereto
fore, however, the methods used iu
this country have required two vac
cinations, with au interval of ten days
or more, and the trouble and iixpense
of double vaccination, added to the
cost of vaccine, have deterred many
sto-.ik owners from adopting this
method of prevention. This bureau
has experimented with a vaccine pre
pared by a special method, which pro
duces sufficient immunity to resist the
diseitso with one vaccination. This
bureau has prepared a large quantity
of this vaccine, and has distributed it
for experimental purposes. By se
curing this material free of charge and
obtaining immunity with a single
operation, the method has been so
simplified and cheapened that cattle
owners who have suffered loss from
the disease iu the past are anxious to
adopt it."
HOW DO THE FLOWERS CROW?
"Oil. Bage, in wondrous wi.-dom old,
Tell ine how tho flowers do grow—
Whence come tho colors, purple, gold,
Jn which they rise, and bloom aud glow?"
"My child, the flowers ure words of God
Mown in seeds of silent good.
They draw their strength from 'neath the
sod
But Heaven sends them daily food.
"The sun. the moon, the stars conspire
To make them live and hud and blow,
The breezes help them to aspire,
And dews perfume them as they grow
"But 'tis the rainbow from the skies,
Broken by the lla in King's blow,
That sprinkles them with Heavenly dyes
And makes them with such splendor
glow."
—Rev. S. W. Small,in llow to Grow Flowers.
HUMOROUS.
The Kindly Man—Why stand ye
idle here? The Other Man—lie
benches in de park's bein' painted—
see?
Hojack—Why are you consulting
the dictionary, Totudik? I thought
you knew how to spell. Tomdik—l
do. I am not looking for informa
tion, but for corroboration.
Teacher—You are painfully slow
with figures, Tommy. Come, now,
speak up quickly. If your father
gave your mother a s">o and a ;S2O bill,
•what would she have? Tommy—A
fit.
"Darling, please answer me," he
moaned as he stood in the centre of
the parlor. "I am on tho rack."
"So is your hat,"shouted the old gen
tleman, who had a gallery seat ou the
stairway.
Foxey—Did you sm- l the Borems
a card for your mils'. Mrs. Foxey
—Yes; how coub get out of it?
Foxey Well, \ 7 Bi/ctell Borem that
Smith is going to come. Borem owes
him money.
Billy Blink (boxing instructor)
Great Scott! That was an "outer"
you gave me. But what's that in your
glove, I say? Amateur (just learning)
Oh, that's a horseshoe—l put it
there for luck.
Judge—The officer says you were
drunk and disorderly. What have
you to say for yourself? The Culprit
—Drunk, perhaps, your honor, but
not disorderly. A drunk is always iu
order with me.
"Do you really mean to stand by
what you say about retiring from pub
lie life?" inquired the intimate friend
just before an election. "How do
I know?" responded the politician.
"I'm no prophet."
Ethel—lsn't it strange that Flossie
attracts such intellectual men? Maud
—Oh, no; she told me she always
planned her gowns when they talk to
her, and that gives her face that in
terested expression.
"I trust," she said, patronizingly,
"that you are a true artist—that you
contine your efforts to an elevated
plane." "Assuredly, I do, madam,"
was the reply. "I am a frescoer and
invariably work with a ladder."
Cholly—Maud has to wear glasses;
the oculist says she has been using
her eyes too much. Charley—l should
say so! You ought to have seen her
at the dance the other night; she was
jast surrounded by men all the time.
"Mamma," said the little girl, when
the steamer was three days out.
"Well, darling?" said the indulgent
mother. "Mamma, don't you think
we've sat in this place long enough?
Let's move round to the front porch."
Ethel—Why didn't you attend Pro
fessor Dump's lecture on the "Cycles
of time?" It was very interesting.
Maud—The subject of the lecture was
embarrassing to me. You know,dear,
I bought my wheel 011 the installment
plan.
She—Ah, count, you don't know
how my love for you distresses my
parents! I heard my father say this
morning that he would give $50,000
if I could never see you again. The
Count—Ees your fazaire in liees offees
now, you sink?
Mrs. Hussel (of Chicago)— Why,
there's another of those signs, "Tai
lor to H. K. H.,the Prince of Wales!"
Does it take all the tailors iu London
to keep him in clothes? Mr. Hussel
—Maybe he owes 'em all bills, and has
togo from one to another.
"My friends," said the minister,
earnestly, "let us beware of Satan.
We know that he scatters tacks along
tho narrow way in order that the just
may puncture their tires. And, as the
congregation jo.laled homeward,many
a member thought of the pastor's
words.
He—l wonder what the meaning of
that picture is? The youth aud the
maiden are in a tender attitude. She
—Oh, don't you see? He has just
asked her to marry him, and she is
accepting him. How sweet! What
does the artist call the picture? He
(looking about)— Oh,l see! It's writ
ten 011 a card at the bottom, "Sold."
A Kxperinnnl.
An interesting stock-raising experi
ment was inaugurated Tuesday when
C. S. Ouderdonkof Philadelphia took
a lease on the Canada de Los Alamos
(Xew Mexico) grant of 15,000 acres,
near Laray Junction, which he will at
once stock with goats. Five thou
sand goats will be placed on the land
at once and as many more in thespring,
and if the experiment j roves a suc
cess other grauts are to be leased and
stocked. The ob.eot is to produce
pelts to supply kid-glove manufac
turers. French experts say that north
ern New Mexico and southern Col
orado, owing to the dryness of the
atmosphere anil the constant sunshine,
produce tiner-grained and tougher
pelts ihau any other part of the world,
and for this reason goatskins from this
section command a high premium in
the Eastern aud foreign markets.—St.
Louis Globe-Democrat