The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-11-11
THE BLACKBURN FARMER

Boston Transcript
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THE BLACKBURN FARMER
About the middle of last centur,
there resided in the village of Black
burn, in Lancashire, u f;umerof small
means, but of good natural capacity
of reflective habit, and endowc,
with spirit Of persistent persever
ance rarely found in his walk Of life
He titled few acres of land, tn,
produce of which sulliced to support
his family, whom he accustomed Il
fare humbly and labor hard. AS fol
himself, he cared not how much h,
worked, nor to what employment h,
turned his hand. Any thing thai
promised Il remuneration for his in
dustry he would attempt; if ii pros
pered, and he obtained the proposed
remuneration, it was well; and if il
failed, and he got no remuneration
still he extracted experience out of j,
and was in condition to enter Oh q
new experiment with u better chance
of success. This patience and good
humored self-possessiOn, under AL
circumstances, was inherent in the
man, and it proved in the end u most
valuable quality, rs we shall see. Ill,
was naturally fond of experiment
and in the long evenings OF winter
when farming operations We're una
vOidably suspended, was accustomed
to exercise his ingenuity, of which
he possessed more than average
share, in mechanical contrivances
either for diminishing labor or fol
rendering its operations more salts
factory and complete.
At that period, all Lancashire and
the manufacturing districts Of the
north were more OF less excited on
the subject of the cotton manufac
turers, which the inventions OF Har
greayes and others had brought to q
state of perfection that promised t.
make Great Britain the commercial
centre of the world. 1t Is no won
der, therefore, that the farmer turned
his attention to this branch of manu-,
facture. Being struck with the
clumsy tediOusness of the process by
which the cotton wool was brought
into tit state for spinning, he SET
about cOntriving quicker and more
satisfactory method of doing the
work. Before long he was led to the
adoption of a cylinder, instead of the
common hand-cards then in use; and
in the end produced machines of sim,
pie construction, by which the work
Of carding was not only performed
more effectually, but at q much more
eXpidetious rate. The success of his
endeavOrs in this direction was SC
decided, that he now found it his
policy to relinquIsh his farm and de,
vote himself entirely to the new EN-
ployment which he had thus created
for himself.
The cotton fabrics which Were
produced at this period were ia,
different in appearance from those
with which the last three generations
have been familiar; they We're, il
fact, only cotton cloths, either indiff
erently weite, or dyed in such homelS
colors as the dyers of the time coult
impart to them. Though useful fol
| a variety of domestic purposes ant
for under-garments, the idea Of max
ing them the materials of persona
adOrnment and elegant attire seem!
as yet to have suggested itself to III
one. Bnt now the Blackburn farmer
conceived that idea, and, inspiritet
by his success in the wOol.cardin,
department, resolved to carry it on
with all the energy ut his command
To talking he was not much given
and to Boosting not ut all, and on thi
occasion, especially, he Shrewdly KEEP
his plans to himself. Procuring Il
stout block of wood, ten inches Ions
by five inches wide, and some tw,
inches thick, he drew with pencil
on the smooth side OF it, the exac
representation of Il parsley-leaf gath
cred from his garden. He then Sc
To work with penknife and small
| chisels, and such other tools as h,
could purchase, and with his owl
hands cut away all those parts of TIL,
wood not covered by the drawing
leaving the spray of parsley standin,
i'm relief; or, in other words, he mad
u wood.engraying of the leaf, differ
ing in no other respect from the Woo
engravings of the artist of tO'day bu
| i'm the rough cOarseness of the work
unavoidable in Il first attempt. Il
the back of the block he fixed u han
die, and ut each of the four corner
of it he inserted u little pin Of stou
wire. His next step was to mix
lively green color, well ground u
with alum, to u consistency tit fO
printing. The color was cOntaine
| In a tub, and upon its surface lay
thick wooden cloth, which, of course
became thoroughly saturated wit
the cOloring matter. Laying blanke
on u stout kitchen.table, and stretch
ing the white calico cloth on the to
of that, the ingenious farmer apple
his wooden block to the saturate
WOODEN cloth, dabbing it repeated
until it had taken up q sufficient quar-
tity Of the color. He then laid til
block squarely on the stretched clotl
and gave it a smart blow OH the baC
with a mallet. thus printing the IN
preston of the parsely.leaf. III
J four little pins, fixed at the corne
! of the block, served to guide him
applying it squarely at each consec
tive impression; and thus he work,
away, until the whole surface of Il
cloth was covered with the parsle
, leaves, and he had produced the fin
J piece Of printed cotton the world III
ever seen.
The parsley-leaf pattern succeed