San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-10-04
PRECIOUS HOG BRisrLEs.
...,,,r ...ut Drn,A.. ..d nr..A.m,llus.

"nIllbll N-N~ $3.50 - sea
last men in the trade to a Phila
ssInbia reporter, sis not as easy a
Yrsed to be when l went into
= .rtv wears ago. Then therequirement
- he public were simple and easil
sapulied, and it was comparativel
sssy TO keep q good stock. Now
Srush dealer must have an almos
snSless list of brushes, of all style
and all materials, and must lay on
ION times the capital he used to need
A. that time there were only tire,
kinds of scrubbing brushes; now
csp show you forty, and every yea
nav ones come into vogue and mus
he placed on my shelves. There il
scarcely any business where more
lead stock has to be carried thar
mrs. Still, we must be up with the
times, no matter what it costs.
"The old-time scrubbing brush was
made of strong American bristles,
and in three styles. They are still
n limited use, and other materials,
cheaper and equally enduring, are
used. The cocoa fibre is largely en-
Moved, and makes a good scrubber;
The palmetto fibre when we'll put into
The frame is also excellent, and many
brushes are made of Tampico hemp"
"Where do you get your bristles9"
"Most of them are imported. The
best bristles are white, and the breed
Of hogs that produces white bristles
is becoming rarer and rarer in this
country every day. In the South and
West the hogs are running largely
into dark colors, and that lessons the
value of their bristles. We get the
best from Russia and Germany, and
the trade is very large one. Prob
ably the best in use come from Kam-
schatka. They are called Okataka,
from the name of the province where
they are produced. They sometimes
reach the length of nine and a-half
inches. In price these bristles range
from 60 cents to $3.50 a pound.
There is a barrel of them which cost
me trife over 81, 1000. We also i'm
port bristles from Siberia and Ger
many. Those from Russia come in
black, gray and white. 1t is o singu-
lar fact that the American bristle,
while it has run down in quality, has
more than doubled in price. The
grade that used to sell for IS cents a
pound now brings 80 cents.
"Brushmakers generally work by
the piece and make from $S to $40 a
week. The frame having been pre-
pared, is bored by a machine that
works the holes to receive the bristles
at the rate of about 100 per minute.
Efforts have been made repeatedly to
get up a machine to insert and fasten
the bristles in the hole, but thus far
none have proved altogether success
full, and hand work is generally pre-
terred. The operator, fixing the
pierced wood frame in a wise, places a
tuft of the bristles in each hole and
secures it at the back with the wire.
The wire is continuous, and as the
pierced frame is always covered there
isno danger of it's breaking. A hair
brush passes through the hands of
six workmen before it is ready for the
market. Women are employed in
drawing the bristles quitting them
into the holes and securing them),
and a good hand can make from $3
to $40 a week. The same woman,
working twelve hours day and
hard, on shirts for the gene
ral trade, could hardly make SO q
week; so you see that if the pay be
small it is much better than that
given the mass of women workers.
Some operators become very rapid and
earn good wages"
Chow are other brushes made?"
"Wel, there's flesh brushes, and
toeth brushes, land whitewash brushes,
and paste brushes, and host of 9TH
ars. Here's some circus bill FASTING
brushes that / made for Barnum.
You see how large they are and what
Ong bristles they have. They cost
s40 a dozen, and will paste the whole
1de of fence in no time. Flesh
brushes are often ordered of pecu-
lar style, and we make 'scratcher'
With which you can reach any part of
four back. 1t has a little tuft of
White bristles on the end, that impart
lntold pleasure. For busters we use
lOrse hair imported from France.
dat brushes are also of horse hair,
u of goat hair, which is very fine"
- D.,f.al Tar,.r.loa