Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-08-31
The London DuSt-ReapS.

MANY OF us WHO le63 lie pressure
of the coal-bill during the winter sea-
son have shrewdly suspected that there
must be great leakage of fuel
through the careleSSneSS of servants,
and that it finds it's way through the
dust-bin. This suspicion is more than
realized by the fact that the chief val
ue of the dust is to be found in the
Jumps of coal rescued by the hill-Wom-
en-. These poor creatureS-It is
shame women should be SO employed
sieve in hand, eliminate the coal
Jumps, while the cinders and half
burnt fuel are thrown aside for anoth-
. er purpOse-nO less than that Of re-
building London. The duSt-cOntract-
,ors may be considered to perform a
double duty to the commonwealth;
not ONLY through their agency is the
offensive matter Of our households
Withdrawn, but the houses themselves
are both built as well as preserved.
independently Of their duty as dust
contractors they are also brick-makerS,
and they utilize the half-burnt ashes
and cinders in baking these bricks. AS
we 90 by rail along the suburbs, we
see vast stacks of brick slowly cooking
in smOldering smoke The bricks
are, in fact, loosely built upon this
''breeze," as it is called, and by means
of a iudiciouS draft, caused by the care
full disposal Of netherlands, the
"breeZe" is fired and kept SmOlder-
ing with dead heat, which speedily
bakes the bricks. The coal itself is
sold to the poor, Indeed, poverty, with
her meager rags, warns herself on the
refuse that falls from the fires of the
rich men. It is quite sight to see
the scramble there is at the dust-yards
among these poor creatures for the
chance Of getting their mornings sup
ply. The hilI-Women are allowed to
take away with them all the old laths
and pieces of wood in the dust.
The value of the coal refuse in the
metropolis is the dust-cOntractor' S
chief profit, but there are a score of
other matters which his diligent agents
collect. The hill-women, with amaZ-
ing rapidity, collect these around them
III different heapS-ragS, old paper,
bones, crOckery, glass, old iron, and
other metal etc. The money they find
they are allowed to keep themselves.
the rags, of course, go to make paper !;
SO do the clean pieces of paper; but
our supply of this material is wholly
insufficient to meet even the demand
of the newspapers for their broad
sheets. Year by year the require
ments for the current publications have
become more eXacting, and other ma
terials are come, not only to exc out
the rags, but actually to supersede
them. For years eSpartO, grass
from Spain, has been the main source
of.supply for the Times Those who
travel by the South Western Railroad
must notice the huge piles of this ma
terial, which are daily unlOaded from
the barges at WadsWorth. These huge
piles, as big as four Of five cottages,
disappear in the course Of two or three
days, to supply the papermill, and are
as rapidly repleniShed. Straw is also
very largely used in the manufacture
of paper; and in France the grass
known as StipG te1l0cjSSinlG is very
largely used. Of this material vast
quantities grow on both sides of the
Mediterranean for about five degr ees
of longitude.
Even the old printed newspapers are
utilized, as they go to make pGpieY'
n10che ornaments. Bones re-enter So
ciety under score Of different address
es. Those which come from cooked
meat go Immediately to the boiling
houses, where any residual fat and
gelatine they can yield is extracted.
The fat, of course, goes to make soap,
and the gelatine, for making the trans
parent packets used for various chem
zeal preparations, and for COSMETICS
The bone itself -SubSerYeS a hundred
useful purposes. The turner's mainly
pieces; the smaller make the fine ami
NAL charcoal, and, lastly. it is ground
down, and, by the agency of sulphuric
acid, it is transp0sed into sUperphOs-
phate manure. Qnce having touched
the earth, like Ant2eus, it rebounds
with fresh vigor, and bears with all
the fruits Of a repleniShed soil.
Glass is carefully preserved for re-
melting. If, however, La Bastie' S
patent turns out to he workable, there
will be little of this in future dust
heaps. 1t is asserted that by temper
ing articles manufactured of this sub
stance in oil, it becomes mbreakable
and we have ourselves thrown tumb-
lers and other glasses en- the stone floor
without in the slightest degree damag-
ing them. Even fine WaJch-glasses
bear an iron-heeled boot to be turned