M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1857-02-26
Chnt About Cnrpcts.

they used to be called when we were
young, to distinguish them from rag
carpets, and other carpets of home
made manufacture. Most persons, at
least most women, can distinguish
the different varieties of carpet at
sight, and tell you which is ingram
and which is imperial, which Brus-
sells and which tapestry, which Will
ton and which Administer. Yet, VIC
venture to say, few, even Of the ladies',
understand how they are made to look
and wear so diferently-in word,
the process of their manufacture.
Carpets originated in Persia. That
country was long considered as pro.
ducing the finest carpets in the world.
Even to this day the Persian carpets
and the same may be said of the
Turkish-rival, if they do not excel,
the most famous carpets of Europe,
in the harmony Of their colors. The
patterns, indeed, are grotesque, as
may be seen at any carpet store, for
the English manufactures turn out q
very good imitation, which is much
used for dining rooms, or other apart
ments where it is desirable to have
the carpet well covered. But these
limitations hardly do justice to the
colors of the original. A real Per-
sian is as brilliant as it is harmonious.
At the great exhibition in London,
the superiority of the oriental carpets
in color, over those of Western Eu-
rope, was remarked by everybody.
If you look at an ordinary velvet
carpet, you find the back, instead of
presenting the same pattern as the
front, which the ingram does, to be
apparently, a web Of nothing but
hemp. The process of making vel
vet carpets in this way is Of compar-
atively new invention, and has contri.
buted more than anything else, to
that reduction in the price of such
fabrics which has been witnessed
within the past twenty yoars. In
these carpets the wool is all worked
up on the front, and the hempen
threads all thrown upon the back,
hence they can be manufactured at q
greater economy than Kidderminster
carpets, in which, although they have
q velvet surface, the thread is carried
through from back to front and from
front to back. The latter description
of carpets are necessarily made Of fine
wool, and consequently are much the
softest, wear longer and do not whiten
in tho seems. But, on the other hand
they cost considerably more, nor can
they be made with so many colors,
being woven on a jacquard loom.-
Partly from their real superiority, but
partly also from their cost rendering
them rarcr, they are more fashionable
than the ordinary velvet carpets. 1t
is doubtful, however, whether they
are intrinsically worth the difference
they cost. But, from the compara-
lively few colors employed in them,
they are less gaudy than their cheaper
rivals, and, therefore, more liked by
persons of subdued tastes and refined
culture.
The finest European carpets, accor.
ding to DR.. Ure, are made at the Co.
belins, Paris, to which the famous
factory of Savouniere has been trans
ported. The royal Wilton carpets are
also very beautiful. In these the pile
is raised higher than in the ordinary
Wilton. All Wilton, Kidderminster
and velvet carpets, have the pile cut.
In the imperial Brussels the figure is
raised above the ground, and the pile
of the figure cut. In the ordinary
Brussels the pile is left uncut both in
figure and ground. The costly rugs
exhibited at carpet stores, in which
the figures are delineated almost as
delicately as in painting, are not
woven, but the threads are laid hori-
zontally, one by one, as straw in an
ostler's cutting box, so that their ends
form the pattern; they arc then press
ed tightly, and the surface shcared
even, when the cloth which is to form
the back, is glued to it, the whole mass
of threads pushed out to the height of
the intended pile, and then sheared
off again: this process is repeated un-
til as many rugs are manufactured as
the length of the thread will permit.
People, when they admire these beau
tiful rugs, little think they are pushed
out one by one, back outward, like hay
in a straw. cutting machine.
The manufacture Of carpets in
America is already an extensive and
lucrative business. A great many
carpets sold as English are really A
merican; and some of them are not
inferior to the imported. But wo
are compelled to go abroad still for
our more elegant carpets, there being,
as yet, neither the skill to mako such
carpets here, nor the patronage to
warrant the employment Of capital in
their manufacture.
O At a late dance gentleman