The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-05-25
FACTS CONCERNING CANES.
HOW MANUFACTURED AND THE
MATERIALS USED.

The Changing Fashions in Walking Sticks--
Where the First Canes Came From--Nau-
neberry Sticks from New Jersey Swnmps'
The horrible habit of Americans of
putting their hands in their pockets
has led to the popularity of canes in
this country. The japanese gentle
man shows appreciation to the same
feeling when his costume is incom-
plete-without his shutting fan, which
he hangs at his belt, over his right
shoulder, or in the breast folds of his
slken gown.
The fashion of carrying canes, how
ever, among the swells AMI lah-de-dah
lads of New York has each season its
rules, which are observed with as
much exquisite ~punctilio as those
of ladies who wear a poke bonnet n
year and a 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 fishhook, and a Zulu crook, a
plain, curved handle. When our
fathers were lads the whalebone cane
was the proper thing. Now they are
so scarce that they are worth to the
dealer from SO to $3.50. Last year
the fashion was to carry a silver ball
cane Then there is a style in carry
ing a cane, and this varies each year.
One year it was to walk with a spring
gait. with lent 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 gracefully. 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 Ell
bows were still further forward, and
the shoulders, if possible, more round.
Then there was a fashion last year of
holding the ferule down. This year
it is to hold it in the middle, with the
ferule to the front.
The material is as various as can
well nigh be conceived OF. Many are
of imported woods some from the
tropics, China and the East Indies.
The celebrated Whongee canes are
from China, where they are well
known and celebrated for the regular
ity of their joints, which are the points
from which the leaves are given Off,
and the stems of a species of phyl-
lo~siachys, a gigantic grass, closely
allied to the bamboo. The orange and
lemon are highly priced, and are i'm
portel chiefly from the West Indies,
and perfect specimens command enc
nous prices. The orange stick is
known by its beautiful green bark,
with fine white longitudinal markings,
and the lemon by the symmetry of its
proportions and both prominence ano
regularity of it's knots. Myrtle sticks
possess also a value, since their appear
ance is 50 peculiar that their owner
would seldom fail to recognize them.
They are imported from Algeria.
The rajah stick is an i'm
pOrtation. 1t is the stam of a
palm and a species of calamus. 1t is
grown in Borneo, and takes its name
from the fact that the rajah will not
allow any to go out of the country
unless a heavy duty is paid. These
canes, known as palm canes, are dis
tinguished 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
celebrated of the foreign canes are the
Malacca, being the stems of the
calamus sceptonum, aslender climbing
palm, and not growing about Malacca,
as the name would seem to Indicate,
but imported from Stalk, IN the
opposite coast of Sumatra. Other
foreign ane are of ebony, rosewood,
partridge or HARDWOOD and cactus,
which, when the pith is cut out,
present a most novel appearance,
hollow and full of holes.
The manufacture of canes is by NJ
means the simple process of cutting
the sticks in the woods, peeling off the
bark, whiting down the knots, sand
papering the rough surface, and add
ing a touch of varnish, a curiOusly
carved handle or heal, and tipping
the end with u ferule. In the sand
flats of New Jersey whole families
support themselves by gathering nan
neberry sticks, which they gather in
WY ohohiIos iS NAhh va oit
wise, steam over an old kettle, and,
perhaps, scrape down or white into
size. These are packed in large bundles
to New York city and sold to the cane
factories. Many imported sticks, how
ever. have to go through a process of
Strengthening by mechanical means,
which are IA mystery to the uninitiated.
They are buried in hot sanl until tn Y
become pliable. In front of the heap
of hot sand in which the sticks are
plunged is a stout board from five
to six feet long, fixed at an
angle inclined to the workman,
and having two or more notches
cut in the edge. When the stick has
become perfectly pliable the workman
places it on one of the notches, and,
bending it in the opposite direction to
which it is naturally bent, Strengthens
it. Thus. sticks. apparently crooked,