Chapter II: Part 2

3. Those who are accustomed to enjoy all the advantages of the most useful inventions, without reflecting on the labour expended in their completion, may fancy that there is nothing more easy than to grind grain, to make it into paste, and to bake it in an oven; but it must have been a long time, before men discovered any better method of preparing their grain, than roasting it in the fire, or boiling it in water, and forming it into viscous cakes. Accident, probably, at length furnished some observing person a hint, by which good and wholesome bread could be made by means of fermentation.

4. Before the invention of the oven, bread was exclusively baked in the embers, or ashes, or before the fire. These methods, with sometimes a little variation, are still practised, more or less, in all parts of the world. In England, the poor class of people place the loaf on the heated hearth, and invert over it an iron pot or kettle, which they surround with embers or coals.

5. The invention of the oven must have added much to the conveniences and comforts of the ancients; but it cannot be determined, at what period, or by whom, it was contrived. During that period of remote antiquity, in which the people were generally erratic in their habits, the ovens were made of clay, and hardened by fire, like earthenware; and, being small, they could be easily transported from place to place, like our iron bake-ovens. Such ovens are still in use in some parts of Asia.

6. There are few nations that do not use bread, or a substitute for it. Its general use arises from a law of our economy, which requires a mixture of the animal fluids, in every stage of the process of digestion. The saliva is, therefore, essential; and the mastication of dry food is required, to bring it forth from the glands of the mouth.

7. The farinaceous grains most usually employed in making bread, are,--wheat, rye, barley, maize, and oats. The flour or meal of two of these are often mixed; and wheat flour is sometimes advantageously combined with rice, peas, beans, or potatoes.

8. The component parts of wheat, rye, and barley flour, are,--fecula, or starch, gluten, and saccharine mucilage. Fecula is the most nutritive part of grain. It is found in all seeds, and is especially abundant in the potato. Gluten is necessary to the production of light bread; and wheat flour, containing it in the greatest proportion, answers the purpose better than any other. The saccharine mucilage is equally necessary, as this is the substance on which yeast and leaven act, in producing the internal commotion in the particles of dough during fermentation.

9. There are three general methods of making bread; 1st. by mixing meal or flour with water, or with water and milk; 2d. by adding to the foregoing materials a small quantity of sour dough, or leaven, to serve as a fermenting agent; and, 3d. by using yeast, to produce the same general effect.

10. The theory of making light bread, is not difficult to be understood. The leaven or yeast acts upon the saccharine mucilage of the dough, and, by the aid of heat and moisture, disengages carbonaceous matter, which, uniting with oxygen, forms carbonic acid gas. This, being prevented from escaping by the gluten of the dough, causes the mass to become light and spongy. During the process of baking, the increased heat disengages more of the fixed air, which is further prevented from escaping by the formation of the crust. The superfluous moisture having been expelled, the substance becomes firm, and retains that spongy hollowness which distinguishes good bread.

11. Many other substances contain fermenting qualities, and are, therefore, sometimes used as substitutes for yeast and leaven. The waters of several mineral springs, both in Europe and America, being impregnated with carbonic acid gas, are occasionally employed in making light bread.

12. The three general methods of making bread, and the great number of materials employed, admit of a great variety in this essential article of food; so much so, that we cannot enter into details, as regards the particular modes of manufacture adopted by different nations, or people. There are, comparatively, but few people on the globe, among whom this art is not practised in some way or other.

13. It is impossible to ascertain, at what period of time the process of baking bread became a particular profession. It is supposed, that the first bakers in Rome came from Greece, about two hundred years before the Christian era; and that these, together with some freemen of the city, were incorporated into a college, or company, from which neither they nor their children were permitted to withdraw. They held their effects in common, without possessing any individual power of parting with them.

14. Each bake-house had a patron, or superintendent; and one of the patrons had the management of the rest, and the care of the college. So respectable was this class of men in Rome, that one of the body was occasionally admitted, as a member of the senate; and all, on account of their peculiar corporate association, and the public utility of their employment, were exempted from the performance of the civil duties to which other citizens were liable.

15. In many of the large cities of Europe, the price and weight of bread sold by bakers, are regulated by law. The weight of the loaves of different sizes must be always the same; but the price may vary, according to the current cost of the chief materials. The law was such in the city of London, a few years ago, that if a loaf fell short in weight a single ounce, the baker was liable to be put in the pillory; but now, he is subject only to a fine, varying from one to five shillings, according to the will of the magistrate before whom he may be indicted.

16. In this country, laws of a character somewhat similar have been enacted by the legislatures of several states, and by city authorities, with a view to protect the community against impositions; but whether there is a law or not, the bakers regulate the weight, price, and quality of their loaves by the general principles of trade.

17. There is, perhaps, no business more laborious than that of the baker of loaf bread, who has a regular set of customers to be supplied every morning. The twenty-four hours of the day are systematically appropriated to the performance of certain labours, and to rest.

18. After breakfast, the yeast is prepared, and the oven-wood provided: at two or three o'clock, the _sponge is set_: the hours from three to eight or nine o'clock, are appropriated to rest. The baking commences at nine or ten o'clock at night; and, in large bakeries, continues until five o'clock in the morning. From that time until the breakfast hour, the hands are engaged in distributing the bread to customers. For seven months in the year, and, in some cases, during the whole of it, part of the hands are employed, from eleven to one o'clock, in baking pies, puddings, and different kinds of meats, sent to them from neighboring families.

19. In large cities, the bakers usually confine their attention to particular branches of the business. Some bake light loaf bread only; others bake unleavened bread, such as crackers, sea-biscuit, and cakes for people of the Jewish faith. Some, again, unite several branches together; and this is especially the case in small cities and towns, where the demand for different kinds of bread is more limited.

THE CONFECTIONER.

1. The Confectioner makes liquid and dry confects, jellies, marmalades, pastes, conserves, sugar-plums, ice-creams, candies, and cakes of various kinds.

2. Many of the articles just enumerated, are prepared in families for domestic use; but, as their preparation requires skill and practice, and is likewise attended with some trouble, it is sometimes better to purchase them of the confectioner.

3. _Liquid_ and dry _confects_ are preserves made of various kinds of fruits and berries, the principal of which are,--peaches, apricots, pears, quinces, apples, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. The fruit, of whatever kind it may be, is confected by boiling it in a thick clarified syrup of sugar, until it is about half cooked. Dry confects are made by boiling the fruit a little in syrup, and then drying it with a moderate heat in an oven. The ancients confected with honey; but, at present, sugar is deemed more suitable for this purpose, and is almost exclusively employed.

4. _Jellies_ resemble a thin transparent glue, or size. They are made by mixing the juice of the fruits mentioned in the preceding paragraph, with a due proportion of sugar, and then boiling the composition down to a proper consistence. Jellies are also made of the flesh of animals; but such preparations cannot be long kept, as they soon become corrupt.

5. _Marmalades_ are thin pastes, usually made of the pulp of fruits that have some consistence, and about an equal weight of sugar. _Pastes_ are similar to marmalades, in their materials, and mode of preparation. The difference consists only in their being reduced by evaporation to a consistence, which renders them capable of retaining a form, when put into moulds, and dried in an oven.

6. _Conserves_ are a species of dry confects, compounded of sugar and flowers. The flowers usually employed, are,--roses, mallows, rosemary, orange, violets, jessamine, pistachoes, citrons, and sloes. Orange-peel is also used for the same purpose.

7. _Candies_ are made of clarified sugar, reduced by evaporation to a suitable degree of consistence. They receive their name from the essence, or substance, employed in giving them the required flavour.

8. _Sugar-plums_ are small fruits, seeds, little pieces of bark, or odoriferous and aromatic roots, incrusted with hard sugar. These trifles are variously denominated; but, in most cases, according to the name of the substance inclosed by the incrustation.

9. _Ice-cream_ is an article of agreeable refreshment in hot weather. It is sold in confectionary shops, as well as at the public gardens, and other places of temporary resort in cities. It is composed, chiefly, of milk or cream, fruit, and lemon-juice. It is prepared by beating the materials well together, and rubbing them through a fine hair sieve. The congelation is effected by placing the containing vessel in one which is somewhat larger, and filling the surrounding vacancy with a mixture of salt and fine ice.

10. _Cakes_ are made of a great variety of ingredients; the principal of which are, flour, butter, eggs, sugar, water, milk, cream, yeast, wine, brandy, raisins, currants, caraway, lemon, orange, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and ginger. The different combinations of these materials, produce so great a variety of cakes, that it would be tedious to detail even their names.

11. The confectioner, in addition to those articles which may be considered peculiar to his business, deals in various kinds of fruits and nuts, which grow in different climates. He also sells a variety of pickles, which he usually procures from those who make it a business to prepare them.

12. _Soda-water_ is likewise often sold by the confectioner. This agreeable drink is merely water, impregnated with carbonic acid gas, by means of a forcing-pump. The confectioners, however, in large cities, seldom prepare it themselves, as they can procure it at less expense, and with less trouble, ready made.

13. Sometimes, the business of the pastry-cook is united with that of the confectioner, especially with that branch of it which relates to making cakes. Pies and tarts consist of paste, which, in baking, becomes a crust, and some kind of fruit or meat, or both, with suitable seasoning. The art of making pies and tarts is practised, more or less, in every family: it is not, therefore, essential to be particular in naming the materials employed, or the manner in which they are combined.

THE BREWER, AND THE DISTILLER.

THE BREWER.

1. Brewing is the art of preparing a liquor, which has received the general denomination of beer. This beverage can be brewed from any kind of farinaceous grain; but, on various accounts, barley is usually preferred. It is prepared for the brewer's use by converting it into malt, which is effected by the following process.

2. The grain is soaked in a cistern of water about two days, or until it is completely saturated with that fluid. It is then taken out, and spread upon a floor in a layer nearly two feet thick. When the inside of this heap begins to grow warm, and the kernels to germinate, the maltster checks the rapid growth of the grain in that situation by changing it to the outside. This operation is continued, until the saccharine matter in the barley has been sufficiently evolved by the natural process of germination.

3. The grain is next transferred to the kiln, which is an iron or tile floor, perforated with small holes, and moderately heated beneath with a fire of coke or stone coal. Here, the grain is thoroughly dried, and the principle of germination completely destroyed. The malt thus made is prepared for being brewed, by crushing it in a common mill, or between rollers. Malting, in Great Britain, and in some other parts of Europe, is a business distinct from brewing; but, in the United States, the brewers generally make their own malt.

4. The first part of the process of brewing is called _mashing_. This is performed in a large tub, or _tun_, having two bottoms. The upper one, consisting of several moveable pieces, is perforated with a great number of small holes; the other, though tight and immoveable at the edges, has several large holes, furnished with ducts, which lead to a cistern beneath.

5. The malt, designed for one mashing, is spread in an even layer on the upper bottom, and thoroughly saturated and incorporated with water nearly boiling, by means of iron rakes, which are made to revolve and move round in the tub by the aid of machinery. The water, together with the soluble parts of the malt, at length passes off, through the holes before mentioned, into the reservoir beneath.

6. The malt requires to be mashed two or three times in succession with fresh quantities of water; and the product of each mashing is appropriated to making liquors of different degrees of strength.

7. The product of the _mashing-tun_ is called _wort_, which, being transferred to a large copper kettle, is boiled for a considerable time with a quantity of hops, and then drawn off into large shallow cisterns, called _coolers_. When the mixture has become cool enough to be submitted to fermentation, it is drawn off into the _working tun_.

8. The fermentation is effected with yeast, which, acting on the saccharine matter, disengages carbonic acid gas. This part of the process requires from eighteen to forty-eight hours, according to the degree of heat which may be in the atmosphere.

9. The beer is then drawn off into casks of different dimensions, in which it undergoes a still further fermentation, sometimes called the _brewer's cleansing_. During this fermentation, the froth, or yeast, works out at the bung-hole, and is received in a trough, on the edges of which the casks have been placed. The froth thus discharged from the beer, is the yeast used by the brewers.

10. The products of the brewery are denominated _beer_, _ale_, and _porter_. The difference between these liquors arises, chiefly, from the manner in which the malt has been prepared, the relative strength imparted to each, and the extent to which the fermentation has been carried.

11. There are several kinds of beer; such as table beer, half and half, and strong beer. They are adapted to use soon after being brewed, and differ from each other but little, except in the degree of their strength.

12. Ale and porter are called stock liquors; because, not being designed for immediate consumption, they are kept for a considerable time, that they may improve in quality. Porter is usually prepared for consumption by putting it into bottles. This is done either at the brewery, or in bottling establishments. In the latter case, the liquor is purchased in large quantities from the brewer by persons who make it their business to supply retailers and private families.

13. We have evidence that fermented liquor was in use three thousand years ago. It was first used in Egypt, whence it passed into adjacent countries, and afterward into Spain, France, and England. It was sometimes called the wine of barley; and one kind of it was denominated Pelusian drink, from the city Pelusium, where it was first made.

14. Among the nations of modern times, the English are the most celebrated for brewing good liquors. London porter is especially in great repute, not only in that city, but in distant countries. Much fermented liquor of the different kinds, is consumed in the United States, where it is also made in considerable perfection.

THE DISTILLER.

1. Although alcohol can be extracted from any substance containing saccharine matter, yet sugar-cane, grapes, apples, peaches, rye, corn, and rice, on account of their abundance, and superior adaptation to the purpose, are more commonly used than any other. As whiskey is the chief article of this kind, manufactured in the United States, it will be selected to illustrate the general principles of distillation.

2. Corn and rye are the materials from which this liquor is mostly extracted; and these are used either together or separately, at the option of the distiller. The meal is scalded and mashed in a large tub: it is then permitted to stand, until it has become a little sweet, when more water is poured upon it, and, at a suitable temperature, a quantity of yeast is added. To aid in producing rapid fermentation, a little malt is sprinkled on the top.

3. After an adequate fermentation has taken place, the _beer_, as it is called, is transferred to a large close tub, from the top of which leads a tube extending to the worm in another tub filled with cold water. The worm is a long pewter tube, twisted spirally, that it may occupy a small space.

4. The beer is heated in the close tub, by means of steam, which is conveyed to it, from a large kettle or boiler, by a copper or iron pipe. The heat causes the alcoholic particles to rise like vapour, and pass into the worm, where they are condensed into a watery fluid, which passes out into a receiver.

5. At first, pure alcohol distils from the worm; but the produce becomes gradually weaker, until, at length, the spirit in the beer being exhausted, it consists only of water condensed from steam. The remains of the beer are given as feed to hogs and cattle.

6. Brandy is distilled from grapes, rum from sugar-cane, arrack from rice, whiskey from various kinds of grain, peach-brandy from peaches, and cider-brandy from apples.

7. The great variety of articles employed in the productions of different kinds of ardent spirits, must necessarily vary the process of distillation in some particulars; but, in all cases, fermentation and heat are necessary to disengage the alcoholic properties of the saccharine matter, and also an apparatus for condensing the same from a gaseous to a liquid form. In some countries, the _alembic_ is used as a condenser, instead of a worm. The form of this instrument is much like that of the retort; and when applied, it is screwed upon the top of the boiler.

8. Spirits, which come to market in a crude state, are sometimes distilled for the purpose of improving their quality, or for disguising them with drugs and colouring substances, that they may resemble superior liquors. The process by which they are thus changed, or improved, is called rectification. Many distilleries in large cities, are employed in this branch of business.

9. There is, perhaps, no kind of merchandise in which the public is more deceived, than in the quality of ardent spirits and wines. To illustrate this, it is only necessary to observe, that Holland gin is made by distilling French brandy with juniper-berries; but most of the spirits which are vended under that name, consist only of rum or whiskey, flavoured with the oil of turpentine. Genuine French brandy is distilled from grapes; but the article usually sold under that denomination, is whiskey or rum coloured with treacle or scorched sugar, and flavoured with the oil of wine, or some kind of drug.

10. The ancient Greeks and Romans were acquainted with an instrument for distillation, which they denominated _ambix_. This was adopted, a long time afterward, by the Arabian alchemists, for making their chemical experiments; but they made some improvements in its construction, and changed its name to _alembic_.

11. The ancients, however, knew nothing of alcohol. The method of extracting this intoxicating substance, was probably discovered some time in the twelfth or thirteenth century; but, for many ages after the discovery, it was used only as a medicine, and was kept for sale exclusively in apothecary shops. It is now used as a common article of stimulation, in almost every quarter of the globe.

12. But the opinion is becoming general, among all civilized people, that the use of alcohol, for this purpose, is destructive of health, and the primary cause of most of the crimes and pauperism in all places, where its consumption is common. The formation of Temperance Societies, and the publication of their reports, together with the extensive circulation of periodical papers, devoted to the cause of temperance, have already diminished, to a very great extent, the use of spirituous liquors.

13. Although the ancients knew nothing of distilling alcohol, yet they were well versed in the art of making wine. We read of the vineyard, as far back as the time of Noah, the second father of nations; and, from that period to the present, the grape has been the object of careful cultivation, in all civilized nations, where the climate and soil were adapted to the purpose.

14. The general process of making wine from grapes, is as follows. The grapes, when gathered, are crushed by treading them with the feet, and rubbing them in the hands, or by some other means, with the view to press out the juice. The whole is then suffered to stand in the vat, until it has passed through what is termed the _vinous_ fermentation, when the juice, which, in this state, is termed _must_, is drawn off into open vessels, where it remains until the pressing of the husks is finished.

15. The husks are submitted, in hair bags, to the press; and the _must_ which is the result of this operation, is mixed with that drawn from the vat. The whole is then put into casks, where it undergoes another fermentation, called the _spirituous_, which occupies from six to twelve days. The casks are then bunged up, and suffered to stand a few weeks, when the wine is racked off from the _lees_, and again returned to the same casks, after they have been perfectly cleansed. Two such rackings generally render the wine clear and brilliant.

16. In many cases, sugar, brandy, and flavouring substances, are necessary, to render the wine palatable; but the best kinds of grapes seldom require any of these additions. Wine-merchants often adulterate their wines in various ways, and afterwards sell them for those which are genuine. To correct acidity, and some other unpleasant qualities, lead, copper, antimony, and corrosive sublimate, are often used by the dealers in wine; though the practice is attended with deleterious effects to the health of the consumers.

17. The wines most usually met with in this country, are known by the following denominations, viz., _Madeira_ and _Teneriffe_, from islands of the same names; _Port_, from Portugal; _Sherry_ and _Malaga_, from Spain; _Champagne_, _Burgundy_, and _Claret_, from France; and _Hock_, from Germany.

THE BUTCHER.

1. Man is designed by nature, to subsist on vegetable and animal food. This is obvious, from the structure of his organs of mastication and digestion. It does not follow, however, that animal food is, in all cases, positively required. In some countries, the mass of the people subsist chiefly or entirely on vegetables. This is especially the case in the East Indies, where rice and fruits are the chief articles of food.

2. On the other hand, the people who live in the higher latitudes subsist principally on the flesh of animals. This is preferred, not only because it is better suited to brace the system against the rigours of the climate, but because it is most easily provided. In temperate climates, a due proportion of both animal and vegetable substances is consumed.

3. Although the skins of beasts were used for the purpose of clothing, soon after the fall of man, we have no intimation from the Scriptures, that their flesh, or that of any other animal, was used, until after the flood. The Divine permission was then given to Noah and his posterity, to use, for this purpose, "every moving thing that liveth." But in the law of Moses, delivered several centuries after this period, many exceptions are to be found, which were intended to apply only to the Jewish people. These restrictions were removed, on the introduction of Christianity. The unbelieving Jews, however, still adhere to their ancient law.

4. The doctrine of transmigration has had a great influence in diminishing the consumption of animal food. This absurd notion arose somewhere in Central Asia, and, at a very early period, it spread into Egypt, Greece, Italy, and finally among the remote countries of the ancient world. It is still entertained by the heathen nations of Eastern Asia, by the tribes in the vicinity of Mount Caucasus, and by some of the American savages, and African negroes.

5. The leading feature of this doctrine is, that the souls of departed men reappear on earth in the bodies of animals, both as a punishment for crimes committed during life, and as a means of purification from sin. This dogma was adopted by the Pythagoreans, a sect of Grecian philosophers; and, as a natural consequence, it led them, as it has ever done the votaries of this opinion, to the veneration of animals, and to abstinence from their flesh, lest they might devour that of some of their deceased friends or relatives.

6. People who dwell thinly scattered in the country, rear and slaughter the animals for the supply of their own tables; but, in villages, large towns, and cities, the inhabitants depend chiefly on the butcher for their meat. The animals commonly slaughtered are, sheep, cattle, and hogs.

7. The butchers obtain their animals from the farmers, or from drovers, who make it a business to purchase them in the country, and drive them to market. The farmers near large cities, who have good grazing farms, are accustomed to buy lean cattle, brought from a distance, with a view to fatten them for sale. There are also persons in the cities, who might, with propriety, be called cattle brokers; since they supply the butchers of small capital with a single animal at a time, on a credit of a few days.

8. Every butcher who carries on the business, has a house in which he kills his animals, and prepares them for sale. When it is intended to slaughter an ox, a rope is thrown about his horns or neck, with which he is forced into the _slaughter-house_, and brought to the floor by the aid of a ring. The butcher then knocks him on the head, cuts his throat, deprives him of his hide, takes out his entrails, washes the inside of his body with water, and cuts him up into quarters. The beef is now ready to be conveyed to the market-house. The process of dressing other quadrupeds varies but little from this in its general details. The cellular substance of mutton, lamb and veal, is often inflated with air, that the meat may appear fat and plump.

9. In large cities and towns, the meat is chiefly sold in the market-house, where each butcher has a stall rented from the corporation. It is carried there in a cart, and cut into suitable pieces with a saw, knife, and a broad iron cleaver.

10. In some of the large cities, it is a practice among the butchers, to employ _runners_ to carry the meat to the houses, of those customers who may desire this accommodation. In villages, where there is no market-house, the butcher carries his meats from door to door in some kind of vehicle.

11. Those who follow this occupation usually enjoy good health, and, as they advance in years, in most cases, become corpulent. Their good health arises from exercise in the open air; and their corpulency, from subsisting principally on fresh meats. It is thought, however, that their longevity is not so great as that of men in many other employments.

THE TOBACCO PLANTER, AND THE TOBACCONIST

THE TOBACCO PLANTER.

1. Tobacco is a native production of America, which was in common use among nearly all of the Indian tribes, when this continent was discovered by Europeans. Its original name among the nations of the islands, was _yoli_; whilst, with those of the continent, it was termed _petum_. The Spaniards, however, chose to call it _tobacco_, a term in the Haytian language, which designated the instrument in which the herb was smoked.

2. This plant was first introduced into Spain, then into Portugal and France, and, at length, into other countries of the Eastern continent. Sir Walter Raleigh carried it from Virginia to England, and taught his countrymen the various methods of consuming it among the natives.

3. The introduction of this nauseous plant into Europe, was everywhere attended with ridicule and opposition. Hundreds of pamphlets were published, in various languages, dissuading from its use in the strongest terms. Even James the First, king of Great Britain, did not regard it as inconsistent with the royal dignity to take up his pen on the subject. In his "_Counterblast to Tobacco_," published in 1603, occurs the following remarkable passage: "It is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain; and, in the black fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."

4. Pope Urban VIII. excommunicated those who took tobacco in churches; and Queen Elizabeth also prohibited its use in houses of public worship. In 1689, an ordinance was published in Transylvania, threatening those who should plant tobacco with the confiscation of their estates. The grand-duke of Moscow, and the king of Persia, prohibited its use under the penalty of the loss of the nose, and even of life. At present, however, the consumption of tobacco is looked upon with so much greater indulgence, that all the sovereigns of Europe, and most of those of other nations, derive a considerable revenue from the trade in this article.

5. But it is truly astonishing, that a nauseous weed, of an acrid taste, disagreeable odour, and deleterious qualities, should have had so great an influence on the social condition of nations; that its culture should have spread more rapidly than that of the most useful plants; and that it should, consequently, have become an article of extensive commerce.

6. Of this plant there are several species, which differ from each other, in size, strength, and flavour. Some one or more of these varieties, are cultivated in various parts of the world: but especially in North and South America, and in the West Indies. It is one of the staple productions of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The whole value of the tobacco, exported annually from the United States, amounts to about five millions of dollars.

7. The following description of the mode of cultivating this plant, and preparing it for the tobacconist, is applicable to the state of Maryland. A little variation in some of the details, would render it applicable to other parts of the world.

8. A small piece of ground, say one-sixteenth of an acre, is prepared by burning a large quantity of brush upon it. The surface is rendered light and even, by means of a hoe and rake; and the seeds, mixed with ashes, are sown as equally as possible. After they have been covered with earth, the ground is trodden down with the bare feet. The tobacco beds are made in March, and the plants become fit for the field in eight or ten weeks.

9. The field, in which the cultivation of the crop is to be continued, is ploughed two or three times, and then cross-ploughed into equal checks, in each of which is made a hill. Immediately after a rain, the plants are transferred to these hills, in the same manner in which cabbages are transplanted. While the tobacco is growing, the ground is ploughed several times, in order to keep it light, and to aid in destroying the weeds. When the plants are nearly grown, the tops are lopped or cut off, to prevent them from running to seed, and to cause the leaves to grow larger and thicker.

10. In July or August, the tobacco-worms begin to make their appearance, and to threaten the whole crop with destruction. To arrest the ravages of these insidious enemies, all hands, both great and small, together with all the turkeys that can be mustered, are brought into the field. These worms are produced from the eggs of a large insect, called the horn-bug.

11. The tobacco, when ripe, is cut near the ground, and hung on small sticks about five feet in length, generally by pegs driven into the stalks. These sticks are then laid upon poles, arranged at proper distances from each other in the tobacco-house, shed, or hovel, as the case may be. It is then suffered to dry gradually in the atmosphere; or a large fire is made in the tobacco-house, to effect the drying more rapidly.

12. The leaves are next stripped from the stalks, and tied in small bunches according to their quality. This can only be done when _in order_, or rather, when the leaves are rendered tough by the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere. These bunches, when the leaves are so damp that they will not break, and so dry that they will not heat, are packed in hogs-heads by the aid of a large lever press. The tobacco is inspected in public warehouses, by men who have been appointed for the purpose by the public authorities.

THE TOBACCONIST.

1. It is the business of the tobacconist to convert the leaves of the tobacco plant into snuff, cigars, and smoking and chewing tobacco.

2. Although there may seem to be a great variety of snuffs, yet they may be all reduced to three kinds, viz., Scotch, rappee, and maccouba. These are variously modified by the quality of the tobacco, by some little variation in the manufacture, and by the articles employed in communicating the desired flavour.

3. In manufacturing snuff, the tobacco is ground in a mill of a peculiar construction. Before the weed is submitted to this operation, it is reduced to a certain degree of fineness, by means of a cutting machine; and then spread in a heap, one or two feet thick, and sprinkled with water, that it may _heat_ and _sweat_. The time required in this preparation depends upon the state of the weather, and the kind of snuff for which the tobacco is designed.

4. Scotch snuff is made of the strongest sort of tobacco, and is put up in bladders and bottles without being scented. Rappee and maccouba are put up in jars and bottles; and the former is generally scented with bergamot, and the latter with the ottar of roses. Sometimes, several ingredients, agreeable to the olfactory nerves, are employed.

5. Cigars are composed of two parts, called the _wrapper_ and the _filling_. The former is made of pieces of thin leaves, cut to a proper shape, and the latter of those which are more broken. In all cases, the leaves used in the manufacture of cigars are deprived of the stems, which are reserved, either to be converted into inferior kinds of snuff, or for exportation to Holland, where they are usually flattened between rollers, and afterwards cut fine for smoking tobacco, to be sold to the poorer class of people.

6. The value of cigars depends chiefly on the quality of the tobacco. The best kind for this purpose, grows on the island of Cuba, near Havana. Tobacco from this seed is raised in many other places; and such, among tobacconists, is called _seed_; but it passes, among smokers of limited experience, for the real Havana. A very fine silky tobacco of this sort, is cultivated in Connecticut, which is much esteemed.

7. An expert hand will make five or six hundred Spanish cigars in a day, or from one thousand to fifteen hundred of those composed of Maryland or Kentucky tobacco. Making cigars, being light work, is well adapted to females, of whom great numbers are regularly employed in this branch of business. Tobacco intended for the pipe, is cut in a machine; and, after having been properly dried, it is put up in papers of different sizes.

8. Chewing tobacco is almost exclusively prepared from the species of this plant which is cultivated in Virginia, chiefly in the vicinity of James river. It is better adapted to this purpose than any other, on account of its superior strength, and the great amount of resinous matter which it contains.

9. The first operation in preparing chewing tobacco, is that of depriving the leaves of the stems. The former are then twisted by hand into plugs of different sizes, or spun into a continued thread by the aid of the _tobacco-wheel_, which is a simple machine moved by a crank. The thread thus produced is formed into bunches, or twists, containing a definite amount of tobacco.

10. The tobacco, having been put into the form desired, is moistened with water, packed in strong kegs, and then pressed with powerful screw-presses. The whole process is completed by heating the kegs, with their contents, for several days, in an oven or a tight room made for the purpose. The same change in the quality of the tobacco is also produced by suffering it to stand nine or twelve months, before it is disposed of to the consumers.

11. Snuff is very commonly used in the Southern states, as a dentifrice; or, at least, it is applied to the teeth with this ostensible object. The application is made by means of a small stick, having the fibres minutely divided at one end. Although the tobacco seems to have the desired effect upon the teeth, so far as respects their appearance, yet its stimulating and narcotic powers are more to be dreaded in this mode of using it than in any other. Many females ruin their complexion and constitution, by _rubbing snuff_; and the deleterious effects of the practice are so well known, that few are willing to avow it.

12. Tobacco is used, in some one of its various forms, by a great majority of mankind; and, although it is generally acknowledged to be, in most cases, injurious to the constitution, and often destructive of health, yet its consumption seems to be on the increase. It is one of the objects of trade, even in the most obscure parts of the world; and its devotees must and will have a supply, even though they stint themselves in food and clothing.

13. As regards the influence which this plant assumes over its votaries, it may be classed with alcohol and opium; although its effects are not so destructive; nor is the expense so considerable; yet this is an item by no means unworthy of attention, as the aggregate sum annually expended for this useless narcotic in the United States, would be sufficient for the support of common schools in every part of the country.

14. The general use of tobacco is perpetuated from generation to generation, by the desire, common to children and young people, to act and appear like older persons. Few ever begin the use of this nauseous weed, because it is agreeable to the senses to which it is applied; but because they fancy, in their childish simplicity, that it confers upon them some additional importance.

THE MANUFACTURER OF CLOTH.

1. Men, in the primitive ages, were clad with the skins of animals, until they had acquired sufficient skill to employ a better material. It cannot be determined from history, at what time cloth began to be manufactured from animal or vegetable fibre; but it is evident, that it was done at a very early period, even long before the flood.

2. The fibres of the vegetable kind, most commonly applied to this purpose, are the bark of several kinds of trees, together with hemp, flax, and cotton; and those of the animal kingdom are, silk, the wool of the sheep and lama, and the hair, or wool, of the goat and camel.

3. That the general process of manufacturing cloth may be perfectly understood, the manner of performing several operations must be separately described. For the purpose of illustration, cotton, wool, and flax, will be selected; because these are the materials of which our clothing is principally fabricated. The operations of making cloth, may be comprised under _carding_ and _combing_, _spinning_, _weaving_, and _dressing_.

4. _Carding and Combing._--Wool and cotton are carded, with the view of disentangling the fibres, and arranging them longitudinally in small rolls. This is done by means of the teeth of two instruments, called cards, used by hand on the knee, or by the carding machine, which acts on the same principle, although far more expeditiously.

5. Machines for carding wool are to be found in every district of country in the United States, in which the people manufacture much of their woollen cloths in their own families. On account of the roughness of the fibres of wool, it is necessary to cover them well with grease or oil, that they may move freely on each other during the carding and spinning.

6. Long, coarse, or hard wools, used in the manufacture of camlets, bombazines, circassians, and other worsted fabrics, are not carded, but combed. In England, and in other countries where much of this kind of wool is used, wool-combing forms a distinct trade. The operation consists, chiefly, in drawing the locks through steel combs, the teeth of which are similar to our common flax-hatchel. The comb is heated to a certain temperature, to cause the fibres to straighten, and to remove from them the roughness which might otherwise cause the cloth made of them to thicken in washing, like flannel.

7. The old method of combing wool, however, has been in part superseded by the application of machines, the first of which was invented by Edmund Cartwright, of England, about the year 1790. The fibres of flax are arranged in a parallel direction, and freed from tow, by drawing them through a hatchel.

8. _Spinning._--The process of spinning consists in twisting the fibres into threads. The most simple method by which this is effected, is that by the common spinning-wheel. Of this well-known machine there are two kinds; one of which is applied to spinning wool, cotton, and tow, and the other, to spinning flax.

9. This operation is, in most cases, performed by females in the following manner. The roll of cotton or wool is attached to the spindle, which is put in rapid motion by a band passing over it from the rim, or periphery of the wheel. While the spinster is turning the wheel with the right hand, she brings back from the spindle her left, with which she has laid hold of the roll a few inches from the upper end. When the yarn thus produced has been sufficiently twisted, she turns it upon the spindle, and repeats the same operation, until it is full. This yarn is formed into skeins by winding it upon a reel.

10. The mode of spinning tow is a little different. The material having been formed into _bats_ by hand-cards, the fibres are drawn out from between the fingers and thumb by the twisted thread, while the spinster gradually moves backward. Worsted is spun from combed wool nearly in the same manner.

11. The _flax_ or _little wheel_ is moved by the foot, so that both hands of the spinster are used in supplying, disposing, and occasionally wetting the fibres, as they are drawn from the distaff. Two bands pass from the periphery of the wheel, each of which performs a distinct office: the one keeps in motion the spindle, which twists the thread; the other moves the fliers, which wind the thread upon a spool, as fast as it is produced.

12. Spinning was almost exclusively performed in the modes just described, until the year 1767, when Richard Heargreaves, of England, invented a machine for spinning cotton, which he called a _jenny_. This consisted, at first, of eight spindles, moved by a common wheel, or cylinder, which was turned by hand. The number of spindles was afterwards increased to eighty-four.

13. In 1769, Richard Arkwright, also an Englishman, invented the _water-spinning-frame_. The essential and most important feature of this invention, consists in drawing out the cotton, by causing it to pass between successive pairs of rollers, which revolve with different velocities, and which act as substitutes for the thumb and fingers, as applied in common spinning. These rollers are combined with the spindle and fliers of the common flax-wheel.

14. Another machine was invented by Samuel Crompton, in 1779. It is called a _mule_, because it combines the principles of the two preceding machines. It produces finer yarn than either of them, and has nearly superseded the jenny. Before the cotton is submitted to the spinning machine, it is prepared by several others, by which it is carded, extended, and partially twisted.

15. In the manufactories, the fine, short wools, used in the fabrication of broadcloths, flannels, and a variety of other cloths, are carded by machinery, and spun on a _slubbing_ or _roving-machine_, or on a _jenny_ or _mule_, in each of which the spindles are mounted on a carriage, which is moved backwards in stretching and twisting the material, and forwards in winding the thread upon the spindle.

16. Worsted still continues to be spun, in most cases, on the common spinning-wheel, as it can be done more perfectly in this way, than by any other machine which has hitherto been invented. Several machines have been constructed, which spin coarse threads of flax very well, and with great rapidity; but the materials for fine linen fabrics are still spun on the ancient flax-wheel.

17. _Weaving._--The first step preparatory to weaving, is to form a warp, consisting of a number of threads, which extend through the whole piece. To produce this parallel arrangement, the yarn is wound upon spools, which are afterwards placed in a frame perpendicularly by means of rods, on which they move as upon an axle. From these spools, the yarns are stretched upon pegs to the length of the proposed web, and are carried round or doubled a sufficient number of times to make it the proper width. The same object is more expeditiously effected, by winding the yarn spirally on a revolving frame.

18. The next step consists in winding the warp on a cylindrical beam, which is usually about ten inches in diameter. The threads, having been put through a harness, composed of moveable parts, called _heddles_, and also through a sley, or reed, are fastened on the other side to a large rod, from which three ropes extend to another cylinder, on which the cloth is wound, as fast as it is woven.

19. The heddles are suspended from cross-pieces, on the top of the loom, by means of cords and pulleys, and, during the operation of weaving, are moved up and down alternately by the aid of _treadles_. This reciprocal motion causes the web to open; and, while in this position, a shuttle, containing the _woof_, _weft_, or _filling_ on a quill or bobbin, is passed through from right to left, or from left to right, as often as the position of the warp is changed. The threads of the filling are beaten up by the reed, or sley, which is placed in the _lay_.

20. Weaving is a business extensive in its application, being divided into almost as many branches as there are woven fabrics. Plain cotton, linen, woollen, and twilled cloths, silks, satins, carpets, &c., are all woven in looms of some kind, constructed on the same general principles. Power-looms, driven by water or steam, are now generally introduced into the cotton and woollen manufactories, both in Europe and in this country. One person can attend to two of these looms at the same time, and each one will weave between twenty and forty yards in a day.

21. _Dressing._--Cotton fabrics, when the webs are taken from the loom, are covered with an irregular nap, or down, formed by the protruding ends of the fibres. From the finest cottons, this is removed, by drawing them rapidly over an iron cylinder, kept red-hot by a fire within. The flame of coal-gas has recently been applied, to effect the same object.

22. Common domestic fabrics are taken from the loom, and, without further preparation, are folded up into pieces for sale. Finer articles are usually whitened and calendered, before they pass from the hand of the manufacturer. Stuffs of all kinds, made of vegetable fibres, are now whitened by immersing them in a solution of oxymuriate of lime. Cotton and linen goods, with a view of making them smooth and glossy, are calendered, or pressed, between steel rollers.

23. Many of the fine cottons are converted into calicoes, by transferring to them various colors. The process by which this is done, is called calico-printing, which will be described in a separate article.

24. The texture of the fabrics made of worsted, or long wool, is completed, when issued from the loom. The pieces are subsequently dyed, and then pressed between heated metallic plates, to communicate to them the required gloss. But weaving does not always complete the texture of the stuffs made of the short wools. When taken from the loom, the web is too loose and open, to answer the purposes to which such cloths are usually applied. It is, therefore, submitted to another process, called _fulling_.

25. _Fulling_, in common with almost every other operation pertaining to the manufacture of cloth, constitutes a separate trade. The art is only applied to stuffs composed of wool, or hair, as these only possess the properties which render it applicable. The practicability of fulling cloth depends on a certain roughness of the fibres, which admits of motion in one way, and retards it in another. This may be more fully understood by consulting the article on making hats.

26. The cloth, having been prepared by a proper cleansing, is deposited in a strong box, with a quantity of water and fuller's earth or soap, and submitted to the action of the _pestles_, or _stampers_, which are moved in a horizontal direction, backwards and forwards, by means of appropriate machinery. This operation reduces the dimensions of the cloth, and greatly improves the beauty and stability of the texture. The cloth is afterwards dried in the open air on frames prepared for the purpose.

27. After the cloth has been dyed, a nap is raised on one side of it by means of the common teazle. The nap is next cut off to an even surface. This was formerly done with a huge pair of shears; but, within a few years, it has most commonly been effected by a machine, the essential part of which is a spiral blade, that revolves in contact with another blade, while the cloth is stretched over a bed, or support, just near enough for the projecting filaments to be cut off at a uniform length, without injuring the main texture. Pressing and folding the cloth complete the whole process.

28. A great proportion of the woollen fabrics worn in the United States, are manufactured in families, part of which is sent to the clothiers to be dressed. Much cotton yarn, spun at the manufactories, is purchased for domestic use. Formerly, the raw material was procured, and spun into yarn on the _big wheel_. Coarse linens are also extensively manufactured in families, especially among the German population.

29. The manufacture of cloth from wool was introduced into Britain by the Romans, some time in the Augustan age. At Winchester, they conducted the business on a scale sufficiently large to supply their army. After the Romans withdrew from the island, in the fifth century, the art was comparatively neglected, and gradually declined, until the reign of Edward III. This monarch invited into his dominions workmen from Flanders, in which country the manufacture had, for a long time, been in a flourishing condition.

30. Shortly after the first immigration of the Flemish manufacturers into England, an act was passed prohibiting the wearing of cloths made in any other country; and, in the time of Elizabeth, the manufacture had become so extensive, that the exportation of the raw material was forbidden by law.