Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-06-25
INDUSTRIAL.

The cane and rice crops OF Louisiana
are in an exceedingly promising condi-
ton, especially along the coast between
New Orleans and the Gulf.
THE Atlantic cotton mills, of Law
renee, Mass employing 1850 operatives,
and manufacturing 100000 yards per
week Wee viii shut down on account of The the
dull market on the 10th of July, and re-
main closed till Sept. 1.
THERE are five or six manufactures of
condensed milk in this country. There
is an extensive trade with Germany in
do large business with China and
Japan.
THE Minong (Mich.) Copper Mining
Company is about to inaugurate opera
tions on an extensive scale at Isle
Royale. There are some sixty ancient
pits on the company's property, and 1t is
estimated that with the tools then In use
it must have taken hundred thousand
men hundred years to perform the
work done by that ancient and unknown
race. Certain it is that copper exists
there in almost ineXhaustible quantities,
and no mine has yet been developed on
one of these ancient sites which has not
proved profitable.
THE substitution of machines for hand
labor in the feeding of furnaces is one.
of the advanced steps of practical en-
gineering now being adopted. The syss-
tenn, however, pursued by the expert
enced stoker and that involved in the
machine method are not very dissimilar
In both cases frequent charges, at short
intervals, are made, instead of heavy
charges at longer intervals; but in the
case of hand firing the incessant open
ing of doors and the Interruptions caused
by cleaning the bars are drawbacks
that are avoided in the machine. The
chief source of economy in the employ
ment of the latter is the facility it affords
for using the smallest ana cheapest
descriptions of fuel, much OF which
cannot be used at all in ordinary hand
fire furnaces. The saving from this cause
varies, of course, according to locality
and other circumstances, the difference
in this respect running all the way from
90 to 100 per cent. There is no doubt
that mechanical stocking will finally,
though gradually, supersede the hand
process.
A VERY important branch of industry,
in which England has become largely
concerned, is that furnished by the lac
insect of India. These insects are found
upon and supported by variety of trees,
all plants yielding a milky juice serving
them for food. The natives of India in
collecting the lac destroy the insect; but
the English, having found that its cells
only are valuable, have devised methods
for collecting the products without de-
stroying the producers. The lac is found
incrusted around branches or sticks, and
is therefore known as stick lac. In this
crude state it is sold for mere trif1e per
pound. When separated from the res
nous matter and pulverized it becomes
seed lac; other processes convert it into
lump, plate and shell lac. 1t is used as
a dye for producing permanent red
color and also as pigment and varnish
combined, which resists the effect of
cold water and does not wear off, When
colored with yellow orpiment it may be
made into bracelets, chains, and other
ornaments, scarcely distinguishable in
appearance from gold. As a dye it pro-
duces color equal to cochineal, and is
less liable to change from wet; it pro-
duces also the beautiful color called by
artists FAC lake. Shell lac, dissolved in
naphtha, has been largely employed by
hatterrin forming the frame or base of
the hat. 1t enters into almost all var
nishes and the glue which is made from
it in combination with other ingredients
is known and used everywhere.