The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-15
Richmond as a Manufacturing City.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
HALFA MILLION NDOLLARS WORTH
OF TRADE.
WHAT WE ARE DOING SOUTH.
SKETCHES OF LEADING MANUFAC-
.-.. 8. TURING FIRMS. ~

In the department Of agricultural imple-
ments the attention of the whole South
since the war has been particularly di-
rected to Richmond, and it will surprise
most persons to know how much the south
ern States now depend upon our city
for the labOr-saying machines neces-
sary under our present labor system
for the cultivation OF the soil and for har-
vesting its products. III 1861 the business
done under this head was mostly retail,
confined almost entirely to Virginia, and
could hardly have exceeded in all 800, 1000.
AS soon as the war closed it received an
impetus, and in the hands Of capable and
energetic business men has rapidly in
creased every year until now, when we con-
fine ourselves to low figures in saying that
the money flowing into our city this year
from this department of manufactures is
more than half million dollars.
Of course this large amount does not
come from Virginia alone. Neither the
boundaries of this State nor of North Caro-
lima are now the boundaries Of the country
whose trade we enjoy. Richmond-made
threshing- machines thresh wheat in Ala
bama kichmond-Inade ploughs turn up
the soil of Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas !;
Eichmond-made "pickers and separators !"
pick "peanuts " in North Carolina and
"goobers" in Georgia; Richmond-madc
well-tiXtures abound throughout the South
and Southwest and Old Dominion cider
presses are doing duty to perfect satsfac-
tion in every one of the southern States.
Every day seems to open a new field for our
manufactures, and it is pleasant to add that
we have men of enterprise and industry to
occupy them. .
For this state Of affairs, however, we are
not indebted alone to the energy Of the
manufacturers. If the lines of railway in
the South had not been of late years in the
hands of far-sighted and public-spirited
men we might have waited longer. A year
or two ago firm here shipped straw
cutter to Wadesboro', Il. G. 1t was eight
months getting to its destination. Not
many months before it cost Il plough TO get
a plough to Columbus, GA. Now the freight
is much cheaper, and the connections, il
not perfect, can be depended upon with q
considerable degree OF certainty. 1t is as
cheap now to send q plough from Richmond
to Charleston, S. G., as to Danyille, Va, and
there is every indication OH the part Of the
railroad officers to increase the facilities for
the prompt and cheap transmission OF
goods to all points South. A still greater
increase Of the business in the department
of manufacture to which we have referred
is anticipated upon the completion of the
for there is no reason Richmond should not
then compete with Baltimore for the supply
of the wants of the agricultural commune
ties of the West and Southwest.
We present this morning sketches of the
principal houses in this department OF
manufactures in our city.
H. NJ. SMITH co.
The house of Ii. NJ. Smith d Co. is one OF
the largest and most complete in the coun-
try. 1t was established in 1929 by JabeZ
Parker, Of this city, who, having failed in
the shoe business. commenced on small
scale the manufacture and sale Of agricul.
tural implements. Mr.. Parker, knowing
nothing OF the business, and finding il im-
possible to secure experts here, sent North
for Hiram Nj. Smith and Norman Stafford,
of Vermont, and with their assistance made
q beginnin" with success qnite equal to his
expectations. Nlr. Smith was foreman Of
the shops until Mr.. Parker's death, when
the concern of smith l. Parker was formed
About two years later he carried OH the
business under his own name, and CONT
nued to do so until 1866, when I. S. Tower
and l. r.. Smith, the junior partners of the
present firm, became associated with hin,
under the STYLE of H. NJ. Smith & Co. The
Messrs. Smith are shrewd men, of inventive
genius, while Mr. Tower is well known as
one of our most energetic, capable, and en-
terprising business men.
The Smith establishment comprises a
warehouse, machine, wood, and blacksmith
shops, built upon 4 most desirable lot,
fronting on Main street between Sixteenth
and Seventeenth, and extending through to
Franklin. 1t is proposed next year to build
q foundry, which is to front on franklin
street, and when that is completed the cast
ing, as we'll rs all the other work necessary
in the construction Of agricultural imple-
ments will be done on the premises. The
warehouse is five-story building, literally
packed with labor-savine machines of every
variety, and the workshops occupy three
story building of extensive dimensions in
the rear of the warehouse. On the ground
floor of the latter is the iron-working de-
partment, and upstairs will be found the
busy operators in wood, while in the rear
of this building is another, used as black
smith shop, and containing SIX forges. The
average force employed by the concern in
the manufactory is. about seventy men. At
present there are seventy-iyc, and when
the foundry is completed employment will
be given to twenty-five more. ...
Il. NJ. Smith & Co. supply anything in the
way of an agricultural implement that
farmer may need, and wherever manutac-
tured, or by whomsoeVer patented, they
will sell it as low as it can be bought any
rwhere-indeed, for less money than the
same article would cost if bought North ;
for if sorghum mill, for instance, cost
seventy-fve dollars in Cincinnati, where it is
made, this firm will sell it here at the same
price. Buving it here, the Virginia farmer
will save the heavy freight charged for its
TRANSFORMATION from Cincinnati to his near
est depot Throughout the South retail
dealers and planters are beginning to ap-
preciate this, and cease to 60 to New York
or Baltimore for what they will have to pay
less money for if bought in Richmond.
But while furnishing anything in their
line, Smith Il Co. have several speclaltles
which have made their firm name house
hold words throughout the South. One OF
these is Smiths straw-cutter. NotWltn-
standing it has been extensively initiated,
thirty thousand OF these machines, no"
In use. 1t was patented in 1874 by Mr. Ii.
M. Smith, and is still built under his lmme.
date supervision. Wherever tried, it is
pronounced the best ever seen. Smith
patent well-fxture and Old Dominion cider
mill have, though of more recent IN
yention, attained popularity second to
that of few inventions. The well-fixture i
now selling in every southern State, and
wherever introduced soon supplants the
Yankee pumps and complicated apparatus
The cider mill Is also working its way IN
every direction-North, South, East, and
West. Last year it took the first premium
at the Virginia State Fair, Richmond ; Au'
gllsta county Fair, StaInton Rockbridge
county Fair, Lexington; North Carolina
State Fair, Raleigh; Cherokee, Ga, Fair,
Rome, Ga. Indeed, it has been triumphant
over all competitors wherever exhibited.
Another speciality of this firm is the
Crocker peanut-picker and separator
which, patented only last year by Metho
dist clergyman of this state, is destined te
make q fortune for its inventor, and vii
copH annthprn nI8nferS