markets, as being at once low in price and showy in character; and the colours are said to wear better than European opinions of such modes of production would give them credit for. The general make of goods by the Middlesex Company is illustrated in the Exhibition at New York.

chusetts.

The Bay State Mills, Lawrence, Massachusetts, may be said to offer the Bay State mills, best type of a large woollen establishment, manufacturing a great variety of Lawrence, Massafabrics. These mills form a model establishment, so to speak, of its class; alike as regards extent, construction, machinery, arrangement and internal economy. It has been therefore thought advisable to extract an illustrated description of it from the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, 1850, given in the Appendix. (See Appendix, No. 3.)

There are 1,000 males and 1,200 females employed at present in the Bay State Mills, working 98 sets (3 to a set) of carding engines, and 700 looms,

together with the dye works and printing shops for flannels and carpets. In Monthly production the week ending 7th May last, the production of this establishment amounted of the Bay State to 40,898 yards plain flannels, 3,962 yards twilled flannels, 10,159 yards mills. fancy cassimeres, 6,770 yards satinettes, 1,030 yards broadcloths, 568 yards beaver-cloths, 1,703 yards felted carpets, 2,752 yards felted beavers, 1,540 yards felted linings, 1,464 long shawls, all wool, and 5,970 square shawls.

Dyed and printe

The flannels are all either dyed in fancy colours or printed. The latter is chiefly block work, although cylinders are used for some styles. These fancy flannels. coloured flannels are extensively used in the United States for children's clothing, and make up into elegant-looking, yet low-priced, articles of dress. The cassimeres are of good make, and the pantaloon satinettes (cotton warp) Pantaloon are excellent of their kind in colour and finish.

satinettes.

The felted fabrics manufactured are noticeable as being produced by a Felted cloths. different method to that adopted by any other establishment.* These are excellent goods, both as regards the firmness and, to a certain extent, elasticity of their texture; and the imitation "petershams" are superior to even the general run of common cloths for overcoats. In England there still exists, and perhaps not without cause, a strong prejudice against all felted fabrics for clothing. It would appear, however, that they are largely used in the United States in making up cheap clothing. There are some peculiarities of the people, however, as affecting consumption, which will be considered in due course.

The felted lining cloth, composed of gauze and a comparitively small Felted lining-cloth. quantity of wool, is a new and useful fabric. The wool is felted down upon the gauze as a back, and the substance obtained by this means is much greater than the quantity of material employed would warrant any one to expect. When the back or gauze surface is concealed by the use of the fabric as a lining, the result, as regards appearance, is very satisfactory, and it is said to wear well, as the two materials are fairly united by the felting process.

The manufacture of woollen shawls was first commenced in the United Woollen shawls. States at this establishment, and is the only one in which they are yet manufactured, to any extent, at least. They consist of gala plaids, manufactured chiefly of American wools. The general styles are well selected, and the dyes and finish well managed. The fringing machine is a useful and ingenious Fringing machine contrivance, by which the threads constituting the fringe of each shawl are for shawls. twisted to a proper tension. It does the work usually performed by hand, and accomplishes as much as 10 females.

The printed shawls prepared at the Bay State Mills are of the usual Printed shawls. character as regards fabric; the patterns being chiefly oriental in style. They

are all printed, dyed, and finished before they leave the establishment.

There is an excellent display of the shawls manufactured by the Bay

State Mills in the Exhibition at New York.

The printed felted carpets or druggets made here will be duly noticed in

their proper class (XIX).

necticut.

On visiting the Manhan Manufacturing Company's Works, Waterbury, Manhan ManuConnecticut, I found the more general felting process at work for the pro- facturing Company, duction of felted cloths of good character, chiefly for overcoats. An excellent Waterbury, Conimitation of "petersham" is also made here, the curled surface being well wrought and finished. Felted carpet fabrics are also manufactured, but not printed, in this establishment.At Clinton, Massachusetts, the Clinton Company, in

*See Mr. Whitworth's Report.

Clinton company, Clinton, Massachusetts.

Pantaloon stuffs.

Fulled linseys.

addition to the manufacture of coach lace, to be hereafter noticed, employ 100 looms in making pantaloon stuffs, being mixtures of cotton and wool. The looms are similar to the gingham looms mentioned in Class XI, and the fabric produced is a well-looking and cheap article, for which there is a large sale.

Woollen manuIn Maryland there is a considerable development of the woollen manufactures of Mary- facture; and, in this State, the highest as well as the lowest class of goods land. manufactured may be said to be produced. Baltimore is the centre of this trade, and a coarse quality of fulled linseys, six quarters wide, form a species of domestic manufacture of the district 50 miles round that city. These linseys are chiefly manufactured for negro clothing, and are sold to the planters at the South for the use of their slaves. Considerable quantities, too, are sold in the West, as far as the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, being used there for the clothing of labourers and backwoodsmen.

Garment plaids. State Penitentiary of Maryland.

Wethered and
Brothers, Balti-

more.

Woollen goods in the Exhibition at New York.

Fancy cassimeres with Jacquard woven patterns.

In the State Penitentiary of Maryland, at Baltimore, coarse garment plaids, of good make, are woven by hand by the prisoners. The cotton and woollen yarns are also spun and dyed by them. The colours are generally clear and brilliant, being selected with more discrimination, as regards taste, than is generally found in the coarse class of goods either in America or in Europe. The fabric is an useful one, and is in such demand in the Southern and Western States, that manufacturers are induced to get up imitations in competition with the article as produced in the Penitentiary.

The produce of the Penitentiary looms is about 500 pieces per week. The return promised by the Warden, of the number of looms, carding engines, and spindles, together with the number of persons employed in this department, has not, however, reached me.*

At the establishment of Messrs. Wethered and Brothers, Baltimore, the manufacture of the higher qualities of doeskins and fancy cassimeres is very successfully carried on, and the examples contributed by them to the Exhibition at New York are a most satisfactory proof that, for all practical purposes, the American cloths are equal in quality and finish to similar goods produced in Europe. This is confirmed by the cassimeres, doeskins, and satinettes manufactured by Jacob T. Seagreave and Company, Burrellsville, Rhode Island; Platner and Smith, Lee, Massachusetts; Slater and Sons, and the Vassalboro' Manufacturing Company, Maine, exhibited at New York by their respective agents. The latter company exhibit three-quarter cassimeres, made of Silician wool (4,000 warp), of an exquisite texture and beauty of finish. In fact, the contributions to this department of the Exhibition at New York, though not very numerous or extensive, go to prove very distinctly that, in the production of the finer qualities of woollen goods, great advances have been made in the United States. The efforts after novelty, however, do not always lead to successful results in European eyes, and the fancy trouserings are often extremely outré in pattern.

The Jacquard has been lately introduced into use in the production of

* The profitable employment of prisoners is a rule in all the State penitentiaries of the United States.

The labour is farmed out to a contractor, who finds the proper tools, machinery, and materials of labour. In the Maryland Penitentiary, in addition to the spinning and dyeing of yarns, and weaving the fabrics named, rag carpets are woven in looms adapted to the purpose, the weft, or filling, being composed of white and coloured rags twisted or spun into a strong cord or yarn. There are also extensive workshops, in which wooden pails and buckets are made; chiefly by machinery directed by the prisoners, and the manufacture of corn brooms, so largely used for domestic purposes in the United States, is also extensively carried on. A large nail forge, chiefly for the manufacture of railway pins by a mechanical contrivance, is another branch of industry pursued by the prisoners; and the dressing of bristles, for the use of brush makers, is about to be added to the employments already followed.

The prison authorities have nothing to do with the direction of the labour, that being in the hands of the respective contractors. They enforce the discipline of the prison, and obedience to the direction of those employed by the contractors to superintend the work.

The earnings, or returns to the State, of even the lowest class of prisoners in the Maryland Penitentiary is 62 cents. (about 2s. 10d. sterling) per day. Each prisoner is tasked to earn a certain amount, according to his employment or presumed capacity. All above the amount is carried to his account, and paid to him when he leaves the prison, or he is permitted to purchase such books as the Warden approves of. This is the mode in which many prisoners for life prefer expending their surplus earnings, and many of them have excellent collections of books.

In the New York State Penitentiary at Sing-Sing, cutlery of a very superior quality is said to be manufactured, but time did not permit of an inspection of the industrial operations in that prison. G. W.

figure patterns in fancy cassimeres. There are good specimens of these manufactured by the Melville Manufacturing Company, Melville, Massachusetts. The pattern being woven, the goods are slightly fulled afterwards, and the result is satisfactory when too defined a figure has not been attempted. In small patterns the fulling process breaks down the forms, and thus gives, when finished, an agreeable variety to the surface.

The satinettes manufactured by the Perkins Company, Akron, Ohio, speak Satinettes. well for the progress of the woollen trade in the west.

The perfection of dying and finish to which felted fabrics have been brought is well illustrated by the goods manufactured by the Union Manufacturing Company, and Lonnsburg, Bissell, and Company, Connecticut, and the Winipank Mills, in the same State. It is scarcely possible to believe that so simple a process as that of laying sheets of wool in succession, and, by mere vibration, working them together, could produce such fabrics as the best kind of American felted cloths certainly are.

The blankets and flannels exhibited at New York are fairly illustrative of Blankets. the excellence which the manufacture of this class of goods has obtained in Flannels. various parts of the United States.

CLASS XIII.

SILK.

The manufacture of silks is comparatively exceptional in the United Silk manufactures. States, and notwithstanding many vigorous attempts, not only to establish the manufacture, but to raise the raw material on an extensive scale, little has resulted except in the production of sewing and fringe silks and twist.

The growth of silk in any considerable quantity never appears to have been Growth of raw fairly realised, although in the State of Connecticut, where the greatest number silk. of establishments are still carried on for the manufacture of sewing silks, it rose from 2,430 lbs. weight in 1827 to 176,210 lbs. in 1844, being an approach to one half of the whole amount produced in the United States in that year, viz., 396,790 lbs. The decrease since that date to 1850 has been so great, that it is quite evident comparitively little is now doing in the culture of silk, since only 10,843 lbs. is given as the production of the latter year.

Taking a deep interest in this department of industry, and the probable value of silk as a collateral crop to the farmer in a country in which there appeared no difficulty whatever in the raising of the silkworm, I prosecuted my inquiries as far as time would permit, hoping to be enabled to reconcile the very contradictory opinions abroad on this question. It is acknowledged on all hands that many portions of the United States are well adapted to the growth of the mulberry tree, and the healthy development of the silkworm; but it was also quite as evident that the active habits of the people were not adapted to the work of looking after the cocooneries, or managing filatures for reeling the silk. This work, however, was attempted to be carried out in large establishments during the period intervening between 1831 and 1845. The "Morus Multicaulis" speculations arising out of the mania for mulberry trees, and the failure of the cultivation of raw silk on a scale not at all suited to the peculiarities of its growth and culture, produced a reaction in the public mind in the latter year; and since that period the growth of silk has been comparitively neglected, even where it might be successfully carried on in the manner usual in France and Italy, if the habits of the agricultural classes were not, more or less, opposed to a somewhat sedentary occupation, requiring, for a certain period of the year, incessant attention. It was this which doubtlessly suggested large establishments for the care of the silkworm, but when disease attacked any portion, the whole perished. It was found too that the It was found too that the "morus multicaulis" was comparitively worthless, and that the native and best varieties of the white or Italian mulberry produced the only silk really worth growing.

The States of Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are generally acknowledged to be admirably adapted for the growth of silk, and excellent examples of the produce of each State have been, from time to time, brought forward, and there can be little doubt that, under a proper system of domestic culture, with suitable centres for receiving the cocoons and reeling the silk, an excellent material would be the result.

At Rapp's Colony, or "Community of Economy," on the Ohio river, Pennsylvania, the annual produce of cocoons was formerly 3,000 lbs. weight, which was reeled and partly manufactured on the spot. Mr. R. L. Baker, the present director of this establishment, now states, however, that the growth of silk has been abandoned, having ceased to be at all profitable.

At Wheeling, Virginia, Mr. J. W. Gill still continues to collect cocoons and reeled silk from the States above named, and this is manufactured, with the addition of foreign silk, into a variety of goods, but not to any extent.

American silk is also manufactured on a small scale, and, with the addition of the imported material, at Newport, Kentucky, on the opposite side of the Ohio to Cincinnati. Here are five or six looms, and a little throwing and winding machinery, the property of Messrs. Jones and Wilson. The manufacture is carried on by the latter, an English weaver from Macclesfield. Specimens of the goods produced are displayed in the Exhibition at New York, and consist chiefly of neck-ties, vestings, and dress fabrics of very fair quality and finish, and excellent grey goods for printing. Mr. Wilson, a practical weaver, understanding his business and desirous to improve it, is thoroughly impressed with the capabilities of the district around for the perfect growth of silk equal to the best Italian, but confesses that he sees little prospect of the culture being so managed as to be of much importance for many years to come. Native reeled silk costs $5 to $5 50c. per pound. Imported silk can, however, be purchased for much less, notwithstanding a duty of 15 per cent. Thus this latter fiscal restriction is of no practical value, but, on the contrary, adds to the difficulty of the manufacturer, the 25 per cent. duty on manufactured goods giving him little or no advantage, for the 7 per cent. waste, which he cannot work up in the United States, has to be sent to England at a great loss, and no drawback is allowed on the raw material thus exported by the original importer.

There are several manufactories of sewing silks at Mansfield, Connecticut, and a few other parts of New England. In 1845 there were four mills in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, consuming 12,900 lbs. of silk per annum; in Hampshire County three mills, consuming 6,100 lbs. ; and in Middlesex County one mill, consuming 3,505 lbs. Probably the largest establishment of the in the United States is that of Mr. John Ryle, Paterson, New Jersey. Sewing silks, floss silks, and silks for fringes and gimps, constitute the production of this mill, which is a well conducted and compact concern, near the Passaic Fall, on the river of that name. The consumption of material is from 1,000 lbs to 1,200 lbs. weight of silk per week. The articles manufactured are excellent of their kind.

At Philadelphia a branch of a firm at Macclesfield, Cheshire, is carried on for the manufacture also of sewing silks. Mr. B. Hooley, the proprietor, tried the production of ribbons, but did not succeed in making them at such a price as would command a market.

Ribbons, however, are manufactured by Messrs. Horstmann and Sons, of Philadelphia, but rather as a means of keeping their extensive establishment for the manufacture of silk braiding and fringes in full work, at periods when the latter are not in sufficient demand, and the braiding machines are so constructed that. by the substitution of the jacquard, ribbons can be woven upon them. This concern will be alluded to under another head (Class XX.).

At West Newton, Massachusetts, Messieurs Plymton, Stevenson and Company, of Boston, have a small establishment for the manufacture of silkbraid and ribbons. The braids are generally tasteful in design and well made; the ribbons, however, are deficient in surface and show a want of experience in the weavers. Here, also, the jacquard machine is applied to the braidlooms when required for ribbons. There are not more than twenty of these.

The most important enterprise in the silk trade now prosecuting in the United States is that of the application of the power loom to the weaving of brocatelles at the Eagle Mills, Seymour, Connecticut. This establishment has only recently commenced work. The machinery is beautifully constructed, and

works with great accuracy. The looms carry revolving shuttle-boxes, and are Power-looms for all made upon the premises. Ten looms are in full work, five preparing, and weaving ten more in the course of construction. The goods manufactured are 48 brocatelles. inches in width, of firm fabric, but defective in the surface. This arises more from the evident inexperience of the weavers, than any defect in the mode of production. These weavers are females, selected from carpet manufactories, and, of course, lack the practised eye of the silk weaver in detecting defects. Cotton is chiefly thrown in for the backs, though linen is sometimes used. The designs are French in character and superior to those generally produced in such fabrics. The price varies from $3 to $33-that is to say, from 14s. to 19s. sterling per yard; but it must be taken into account that the width is twice that of similar goods as generally manufactured in England.

A very excellent adaptation and improvement upon the French and Card-cutting English "reading off" and card-cutting keyboard machine is used in this machine. establishment, the invention of the superintendent.

This would appear to be the first attempt to fairly introduce the manufacture of the higher class of silk goods into the United States; and there is every probability that it will be a successful one, from the admirable character of the arrangements and accuracy of the machinery, when directed by increased experience.

Exhibition at New

The goods intended for exhibition by this Company had not been arranged Silk goods in the at the Exhibition at New York at the period of my departure, and the display York. in this class was very scanty.

Examples of upholstery silk damasks, brocades, and silks for ecclesiastical decorations, the production of European weavers, manufactured by the exhibitor, Mr. Jacob Neustader, of New York, presented some points of excellence, and a few examples of sewing-silk were illustrative of this branch of the silk trade.

From these remarks it will be readily understood that this department of industry is comparatively in its infancy, and that, in the growth and preparation of the raw material, the United States have receded, and not advanced, since 1844.

CLASS XIV.

FLAX AND HEMP.

The extensive use of cotton for many of those fabrics which in Europe are Manufactures in manufactured of flax, and even of hemp, such as sailcloth, sacking, twine and Flax and hemp. cord, has evidently not been favourable to the employment of the latter as materials. The manufactures of flax seem, at present to be altogether exceptional, whilst hemp is employed to a considerable extent in most of the large cities of the United States in the production of ropes and cables, tarred and untarred, and of these, together with a few specimens of sailcloth and hemp carpeting, there are some creditable examples in the New York Exibition. The growth of hemp in the United States, as shown by the census of 1850, is Growth of hemp. returned at 35,093 tons, but there is some doubt as to the accuracy of the return, and no means of comparison with former statements, as the gross produce of flax and hemp were given together in 1840. Manilla and Sisall hemps are imported, but the hemps of the States of Missouri and Virginia are largely used. Formerly New Jersey exported a considerable quantity of hemp.

The cables produced in the navy-yards of the several cities, where such Cables. establishments are kept up by the Government, are of a very high character.

In the manufacture of flax, improvements in the preparation of the fibre New flax machine. appears to engage more attention than any other point. A machine has been recently invented which seems likely to produce some satisfactory results as regards the preparation of flax-cotton, by mechanical rather than a chemical operation.