St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-01-28
THINK FOR Y0URSELF.
How Young Men CaM Achieve Saocooo -
Their Chosen Calling.

THINK FOR Y0URSELF.
How Young Aea CaM Achieve ssocoes u
Their Ch0ssa Calling.
Earnest, independent thought on tho
part Of any boy or young man who has
set out to make q mechanic Of himself
will certainly bring him both knowledge
and skill in his chosen calling.
We hear or see statements every little
while that as machine shops gradually
grow into manufacturing concerns tho
work is systematized until there is
nothing but routine in the different
classes Of work. and boy apprenticed
to one Of these establishments '.gets no
show" in the shop. and is mo good"
when his time is out.
That graduate from. say. steam
pump shop. going to any other shop
doing different class Of work. must
work for small wages. in oryler to ..hold
jOb." because !e can not take hold Of
work AS it comes along and do il in
telligently. He is pictured as being
sent out Of the shop to make repairs
upon steam engine. or line up shaft
in \ brewery. or to fix an hydraulic
elevator that is on strike.
After wasting an hour or two Of
time. he admits that he is stuck"
and1goes crcstfallen back to the shop.
taking this message to the foreman:
''Send up machinist next time" And
then tie parties get their work done at
some other shop. and refuse to pay for
what our pump man has done. because
ne did not know what he was about.
He actually caused damage by his
ignorance. Why is this? He might
have been good man in a pump shop.
but falls Immediately on attempting
printing press or sewing machine work.
De has learned to turn and bore. to
plane and slot, to chip. file and scrapc.
but he fails when asked to perform any
of these operations on any thing except
steam pump. Is it because he has
not learned to do these things well. or
because he did not use his brains while
learning to use his hands?
Machine shops arc always ovcrrun
with applicants for apprenticeship. But
nine-tenths Of the applicants for places
never think of any thing beyond get
ting into the shop. Oftheir own fitness
for the machinisfs' trade they never in
quire into. They expect 10 work threo
years for little less pay than they
could get shoveling. and then blossom
at once into q tirst-class. well-paid ma
chinist, with no particular mental effort
on their part. The result is easy to see.
We sec it every day in the army Of
workmen who can do only the COM
mOncst work. and oftentimes in only =
single branch Of the trade Of which they
call themselves masters.
This. claim. is from want Of thought
on the part Of the boy or man himself.
The steam-pump man. il he has mas
tered the trade as far as taught in the
stcam-pump shop. has mastered tho
principles upon which the steam pump
operates. and is a competent man to
send out 10 repair gas engine or
printing press. But this he can not
do without thought. and thought is but
another name for study. The study
that it takes to master the principles Of
the stean-pump will incidentally bring
knowledge Of other machinery that can
rot fail to be of use some time.
A boy once taught the habit Of indi-
vidual thinking about his work, place
in the front rank Of mechanics is sure
to be his. Thought will give him con-
fidencc and skill. and with these two
elements in his mechanical makeup
he will prove valuable man anywhere
he is employed. whether they build
saw-mill machinery or machine tools to
build saw-mill machinery with
american Adchinist.
evAPoRATiNc APPLES.
Informatiom Sent O1t by the National De-
| partnent Of Agriculture.
In reply to questions sent out by the
National Department Of Agriculture the
following items regariing dried OF
svaporated apples have been evolved;
Acid apples with white flesh make the
Dest product. In large establishments
he apples are prepared for the evap.
orator by machines which pare. core
and slice the apples in one operation.
Hand-prepared fruit is not divided into
such neat and uniform pieces or rings.
hence does not dry as uniformly ol
present IS attractive an appearance.
Some Of the manufacturers place the
apples when they come from the parer
INTO solution of salt and water. one
pint OF salt to ten gallons Of water.
This is thought to cut the gum on the
'ruit and clean 1t, also to prevent fer.
nentation and aid in bleaching.
Bleaching is done by exposing tho
'ruit in . wooden box or special ma.
.hine to the action Of sulphur fumes.
Apples when cut and exposed to the air
liscolor quickly. and this bleaching
,rings back the natural color. The
sooner. the bleaching is done after the
fruit is cut the better. Caution il given
against over-bleaching the fruit and
causing it both to taste and smell o1
sulphur.
From different drying establishments
come different reports as to the heat oi
the evaporator. Answers included from
.:n>tv. S;ve n 0ver fw0 hundred degrees