Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-08-18
A CHAPTER ON CANES.
THE POPULAR DEMAND FOR MORE
 EXPENSIVE DECORATION.

The Various Kinds Of Wood Used-stisks
 Imported from Forsisa LAnds-Goia
 and Silver Headed o.nss-A Peep Inte
 the Melting Pot.
 There is great activity .meng the cane makers of this city. They work day and night to fill orders for the holiday trade. These orders are mostly for canes of the higher prices, with gold or silver heads. The popular demand for canes is not at present in the line of rare and curious woods, but rather for inferior material in the sticks and more expensive decoration The cheaper sticks, such as are sold on the sidewalks and at the summer resorts, are made of nanaberry wood, hickory, water beech and dogwood These sticks are grown in New Jersey and the north ern part of New York state. The process of getting these canes ready for the mar ket consists merely in straightening, sand paperfng and polishing. These cheap varieties are never ornamented with gold or silver, and they are sold for from i've to nfteeen cents apiece.
 Among the imported sticks are thoss made of olive wood, which is brought from Algeria through the London market. Another popular variety of wood s Eng fish hazel A very fine hazel wood stick is grown ia Germany. Hazel wood is chiefly priEsd for the beauty of its bark, which C particularly true of the English silver bark These sticks are brought ts this country with natural crook handles, and are orns- mented with gold, silver and buckhorn heads. Another variety of wood sought after by cane carriers n the French crab. These sticks are cultivated on cane farms in the vicinity of PariI They are used with and without the bark, and fetch higher prices than hazel
 AN EIPENsIvE STICK.
 A vsry sxpsnsive cane Is made from the Madagascar or Ceylon vtna This wood is wArty and knotty. Is is carried in its natural condition with a knob on each E1sk- A highly prized eAne is made from hslacea cana, of the rattan species. These st1cfs are largely used for mounting pur- poses. They are about equal in value to the hassl. Other beautiful eases are made from Enshsh ssf, prunsiis sod German cherry. A comparatively rare cane s msnufsctursd fron the hide of the sec COW. h Is sesi-trsnspsrent, like amber.
 But the woods which are always in de- mand, and which nons of the vagAries ef fashion have driven from their secure po- sition in public sssimAtion, are the rose wood, ebony and snRkswood These ya- risties have practically . monopoly sf ele- gant mountings- A solid gold head is seldom, if ever, put upon anything less rare than the three varietiss- Snakewood Is peculiarly striking in appearances, much resembling the mottled skia of c rattle snake.
 Among the names for the different kinds of canes are the Pistol Butt the Prince of Wales Knob, the Opsra Hook, Crutch Hook, the Mascot Hook and .ns Mascot crutch.
 Never before ir the history of cane making have there been % many gold and Glver headed canes carried e st present The majority of these mOuntings are not solid, asA Ecat many psrsons srroneonsly suppose. They are made sf . thin shell, which b usually one-siIth gold or silver and foureiXths hassr metal.
 The process of manufActurs of these metal hesds fs very interesting. An tn- quissstvs reporter climbed two dirgy dishtl of staiys In Fulto. street the other day to see how the heads were made. He vas first shswn a series of steel dies with which the cane heads vsTs pressed into the desired shapes The edges of the two pieces ware then joined together with gold solder, tust As the halves of . walnut shell might be welded. This shell WAS then filled with melted lead, 90 as to form c solid ground upon which the gold shAsers can work, to whom the cane head WAS then pAsssd for 0rnamentat.on- After the chassrs have cut the yielding metal into figured designs the head wss covered with whiting lnd submitted to the fierce heat ot gas jet, which caused the lesd to run out Then the cane head was polished and fastened upon the cane.
 AS INTERESTING PRoCEss
 A most interesting process WAS that by which the gold was separated from the baSer metals. All the odd pieces of metal which were left over, hke thosnnaksrs' parings, were thrown into c big sarthen preserve jar. Nitric scid was poured upon these scraps. A chemical action was then begun by which the gold vss separated from shs b&ssr mstsls. A white and ssfioeaung smoke arose which was stining. The liquid ln the Jar assumed deep blue color, and big golden bubbles ross to the surface. The contents of the jar sim mered and scet0eo, and All Lne 1hs tns .sid was getting in its work separating the purvr metal from the oassr compost ton. The liquid was constantly sssum- Inf varying changes in color, until 1t gradually settled down into . vivid green Then the gold shsvings were nshed out and dried In c copper dIppsr over . port able forge The gold shsvings were then placed in . little sAnd erucaols, which WAS wedssd between two glowing pieces of charcoal In the intense heat of the hre ths gold shsvings were soop reduced to . Houid state and east into bars to be used for soldering purposes. The place where this process is carried on employs only about a doren men, yet the propYietors sell all the water, which Is used for washing purposes, the ashes from the portable forge and the aprons, besides the sweepings from the floor, for tsOO year. The reporter heard all this in won der, and looked at the mysteries of the melting pot with amszemsnt. Then he went down on the sidewalk and shook himself, and dust hke that from butter dy's wing fell from bis clothing in rolden shover-New York Evening Sun