Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1883-06-14
How Cares Are Manufactured.

The horrible habit of Americans Of
putting their hands in their pockets has
led to the popularity of canes in this
country. The Japanese gentleman
shows appreciation to the same feeling
when his costume is incomplete-with-
out his shutting fan, which he hangs al
his belt, over his right shoulder, or in
the breast folds of his silken gown. The
French or English gentleman for the
same reason never attends a full dress
party without his crush hat in his hand.
The fashion of carrying canes. how
ever. among the swells and lah-de-dah
lads of New York has each season it:
rules which are observed with as much
exquisite punctiliO as those of ladies
who wear poke bonnet one year and
scoop hat the next. Most OF these
fashions originate in Europe. A year
or two ago there were two styles-the
shepherds crook. shaped like a fish.
hook, and the Zulu crook, plain,
curved handle. The Zulu came from
Paris, the shepherd from London.
These styles in canes were introduced
in the spring, and were preceded by the
crutch. When our fathers were lads
the whalebone cane was the proper
thing. Now they are so scarce tina,
they are worth to the dealer from three
dollars to three and half. Last veal
the fashion was to carry a silver-ball
cane. Then there is style in carrying
a cane, and this varies each year. One
year it was to walk with a spring gait
with bent knees and arms akimbO as
far forward as possible, and the cane
was held between one finger and thumb,
correctly balanced so as to swing grace.
fully. Then came the aesthetic style.
The cane was held in front of the body
by the first and second fingers of both
hands, and was allowed to hang limp,
while the elbows were still further for.
ward, and the shoulders, if possible,
more round. Then there was fashiop
last year of holding the ferule down.
This year it is to hold it in the middle,
with the fcrule to the front, just rs Mr..
Spot cambridge does after his return
from the East. That's the proper I" ca
per-"
The material is as various as can well
nigga be conceived of. Many are of i'm
ported woods; some from the tropics,
China and the East Indies. The cele-
DRAFTED Whongec canes are from China,
where they are well known and cele-
brated for the regularity of their joints,
which are the points from which the
leaves are given off, and the stems of a
species of phyllosiachys, gigantic
grass, closely allied to the bamboo.
The orange and lemon are highly
priced. and are imported chiefly from
the West Indies, and perfect specimens
command enormous prices. The orange
stick is known by its beautiful green
bark, with fine white longitudinal mark
ings, and the lemon by the symmetry of
its proportions snd both prominence
and regularity of its knots. Myrtle
sticks possess also value, since their
appearance is so peculiar that their
owner would seldom fail to recognize
them. They are imported from Algeria.
The rajah stick is an importation. 1t
is the stem of a palm, and species of
calamus. 1t is grown in Bornco, and
takes its name from the fact that the
Rajah will not allow any to 90 out of the
country unless heavy duty is paid.
These canes, known as palm canes, are
distinguished by an angular and more
or less fiat appearance. Their color is
brownish. spotted, and they are quite
straight, with neither knob nor curl.
They are the petioles of leaf stalks of
the date palm. Perhaps the most celc-
brated of the foreign canes are the Ma
lacca, being the stems of the calamus
sceptpnum, a slender, climbing palm.
and not growing about Malacca, as the
name would seem to indicate. but i'm
ported from Stalk, on the opposite coast
of Sumatra. Other foreign canes are
of ebony, rosewood, partridge or hair
wood, and cactus, which. when the pith
is cut out, presents most novel APP
pcarancc, hollow and full of holes.
The manufacture of canes is by no
means the simple process of cutting the
sticks in the woods, peeling off the
bark, whiting down the knots, sand
papcring the rough surface, and adding
a touch of varnish. a curiouSly carved
handle or head, and tipping the end
with ferulc. In the sand flats of New
Jersey whole families support them
selves by gathering nanncberry sticks,
which they gather in the, swamps,
strai ghten with an old wise, steam over
an old kettle, or perhaps scrape down
or white into size. These are packed
in large bundles and sent to New York
City and sold to the cane factories.
Many imported sticks, however, have
to 90 through aprocess of STRENGTHENING
by mechanical means which are mys-
terry to the uninitiated. They are buried
in hot sand until they become pliabIc
In front of the heap of hot sand in which
the sticks are plunged is a stout board
from four to five feet long, fixed at an
angle inclined to the workman, and hav-
ing two or more nOtches cut in the edge
When the stick has become perfectly
pliable the workman places it in one of
the E:9tches, and bending it in the OPP
posite direction to which it is naturally
bent, stra;ghtens it. Thus, sticks ap-
parently crooked, bent, warped and
worthless are by this simple process
but the most curious part
of the work is observed in the forma-
ton of the crook or curl for the han
dies which are not naturally supplied
with hook or knob. The workman
places one end of the cane firmly in a
wise. and pours a continuous stream of
fire from gas-pipe on the part which
is to be bent. When sufficient heat has
been applied, the cane is pulled slowly
and gradually round until the hook is
completely formed. and then secured
with a string. An additional applica-
ton of heat serves to bake and perma-
nently fix the curl. The under part of
the handle is frequently charred by the
action of the gas, and this is rubbed
down with sandpaper until the requi-
site degree of smoothness is attained.
Chicago Times.