Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-05-06

p" Sie ph INC drblSt, 'DuC ONLY one VIII
DO, and even then the conditions must
be exactly so. The tree must grow in
a certain latitude and in a GER
tam soil, and the seasoning is
matter of the greatest Importance In
cutting the tree the axe must be laid in
the spring, when all the sap is at the
top, going to feed the young shoots at
the extreme end of the trunk. The
reasons for this are several, the main
ones being that the wood is left drier
and better seasoned, and the ascension
OF the sap carries with it all the i'm
purities in the fibers, such as grit, for
instance, leaving the wood at its clean
est. Mr.. Josephs exhibited a sample
OF wood from Cincinnati, which an
eminent Leipsic professor recently
claimed was the original wood used by
the old masters. 1t was said fine
Stradivari was taken to pieces by him
in order to make this discovery" and
quantities of the wood were sent to
Germany to be worked up. The wood
is species of balsam fir, and so soft as
to be totally unreliable, as it would
neither take fine varnish nor stand
the strain put on it by the tension of
the strings over the bridge. This
branch of the subject was left with the
assertion by the host that American
wood was the best in the world for
violin-making.
The varnish was the next branch Oh
the subject, and package of brilliant
red gum was exhibited as the coloring
matter for the finest instruments. 1t
was genuine dragons blood, now out
OF commerce, and the little package
was all that Mr.. Josephs was able to
procure in a years search of the shops
of Europe. When broken the gum
presents all the appearance of the
ruby, and the rays of the sun went
through it with beautiful effect. The
pure gem is the eXudation of the dragon
tree OF Central Africa, and was formerly
used as medicine. it is collected by
the natives in well-washed leaves,
which are inserted in incisions made in
the tree at certain stages of the moon.
AT such times the exudations are per-
fectly pure and free from any other
substances. During the collection
the leaves are carefully shaded,
as the suns rays on the liquid
gum have the effect of fading out the
color, and leaving the residuum cleal
and white. There is dragons blood
in commerce now, but it totally lacks
the richness of shade and the purity
of that in the little package possessed
by Mr.. Josephs, which, as far as can
be learned, is all that is in existence in
Europe or America. The color comes
out in the wood beautifully, and every
wave and shade is intensified with eX.
ceeding brilliancy. The making of the
famous Cremona varnish does not ap
pear to have been q secret, but the
knowledge of its manufacture appears
to have been lost for about a century
and the money that has been spent in
seeking to resurrect it would make sew
eral heavy fortunes. Chemists have
claimed to have found the ingredients
by analysis, but their claims have no
generally been allowed. The gums
that formed the basis melted atvariou.
degrees of heat-some probably at al
low as two hundred degrees, and Others
as high as five hundred degrees. l
these gums were reduced to prope
consistency before blending, and theI
put together as finely as they were
it must be very bold chemist VIII,
could scrape off bit of the varnisl
after century of service and claim
to tell the ingredients and thei
proportions. Coming down to tn,
finishing touches, Mr.. Josephs ex
hibited several pieces of ebony in pro
cess of being shaped into finger-boards
keys and tall pieces. The ribs were il
six pieces, joined at the end of ever,
curve by gluing them to little three
cornered pieces of wood, fitted to tn
angles of the outline. One common
error prevails in regard to the strings
usually termed "cat-gut" by the vul
gar. In reality they are made from
the entrails of Europe sheep, and tn
entrails of sheep over six months OLE
can not be converted into "E'' strings
The sheep in this country do not pro
duce good strings, and only certain
parts of Europe produce the very best
The bows were the last subjects o
consideration, and Pernambuco woo,
was their basis the world over. 1t
the toughest and stiffest wood of it
weight in the world, and is rather
valuable article. 1t is natural dye
wood, and requires no coloring. TIL
fine white hairs that enter into tn
composition come from France, tn
coarser black ones being fit for nothin
except bass bows.-Aha California,