New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-11-10
SOITTHF.RN ENTER PRISE.


Several years since, the McsSrs. llebrard had, i'll
their store on Canal street. several bolts Of blue an
mel which they were unable to sell. This led one of
them to suggest that the flannel be made into negro
Shirts for plantation The suggestion was acted
upon: the stuff was taken to a downtown orphan
asylum, of which the elder Hcbrard was director at
the time and made into shirts by the Sisters of Chari
ty aud the orphans under their charge The shirts
were 10 sooner made than they were bought up by
planters, at price which afforded reasonable com
pcnsaton to the Orphan Asylum as well us profit to
the Messrs. Hcbrard There being a constant de
mand for such clothing, the firm bought more stuff,
kept the orphans employed, and furnished one of the
uptown Orphan Asylunls with as much Of the work
as they wanted besides which they employed seam
stress to take work at their homes in different parts
of the city. The manufactures now consisted not
ONLY of Shirts but pants and coats for men, and gowns
for the womc-lnadc of the different course materials
commonly used for plantation clothing.
The business increased at such rate that it was
found impossible to get seanStrcSscS enough and the
firm then laid in number Of the ordinary sewing ma
chimes. The difficulty Of teaching the women how to
work the machines and the fatigue of working them
all day with foot and hand, when they knew how,
prevented the firm from turning out much work as
INC machines and the aid Of seamstrcsses at the sy
luns and elsewhere they were enabled to turn out
considerable uuantios of clothing, always having or
lrrS in advance.
Recently the demand for clothing increased at such
rate rs to induce the elder ierard to consider the
project not only Of having the bulk OF bis work done
hy sewing machines, but Of having the machines pro
PEELED ly steam. After due investigation and expert
mcnt he succeeded in his design Mr.. F"unicr, the
wr-knnwn clock maker Of Royal street, who has 4
gcuins for machinery constructed shaft to run along
under Il range Of sewing machines with appliance:
for starting, stopping ana graduating their speed, 81
as to accommodate i'll the stoppagcS crooks and tiT
that are necessary in the making Of garment. The
result il manufacture vi plantation clothing with
speed that falls little short Of the miraculous an'
which, to he fully understood and appreciated. mus
/ he seen. Mr. irhrarl does not claim originality il
sewing by steam, but he does claim originality in hi
particular application OF steam to his machines, an
informs Us that lie neud- to take out patenttor it
We visited his establishment, at No. l75 Cana
street Il &W days since. and were not little surprise
at the nature and extent Of his business, Of whiC)
we had hitherto been unappCl>cd. On the first i!oo
We found a stnrcronm, cncumh"rcd with boxes helm
filled up with garments from the shelves around, am
nailed up and marked for different destinations il
the planting regions. We We're shown large book
filled up with the orders of the planters each plante
furnishing the name and size of each Of his slaves
and the description Of garment wanted. The dllieren
sizes of garments occupy different shelves 50 that il
filing ORDERS the book being referred to, the packe
makes mp for each slave bundle, consisting OF !
hickory shirt, 4 red flannel shirt and pair OF pant
and coat made either Of linsey, kerscy, or c"arI
wooden these bundles are tied up each being labele
viii. the name cr the particular slave mentioned