The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-08
OUR BOYS
Sticks and Canes-HoW to Cut and
Prepare Them.

In these days, now that the means of COM
munication have been SO much improved
and the world become one huge country, for.
eign sticks have lost much of their rarity.
They come to us in tons, and stick import
er's warehouse is sight to see. The goods
in the rough do not look inviting; in fact,
anything more resembling a lot of ire-syood
II would be difficult to imagine. There can
be seen canes Of all sort, roulh and rooty,
from the eastern and western tropics-rajahs
from BoIneo, malaccas from Sumatra,
whanghees from Hongkong, ratans and dra-
CONS from Calcutta; white bamboos, black
bamboos. fiuted bamboOs, from other sea-
ports on the great Bay of Bengal; partridge
canes. jambees and dog's-head canes; Span
ish reeds, jacks wine stems, cinnamons,
pimentos (the stem Of the allspice), cabbage
stalks and coffee branches from the West
Indies, with the green-backed orange and
kn0bby lemon sticks from the same place;
triangular leaf-stalks of the date palm from
Tunis; myrtle, pomegranate and olive sticks
from Algeria and Italy; blue gums from
Australia. mahoganies from Cuba; ebonies,
tulips and crocodiles; cabbage-stalks from
Guernsey, and perhaps tooroos from Guiana.
But American sticks are the fayorites.
after all, and it is them that we would ask
our readers to choose for their experiments.
The chief are oak, ash, beech, blackthorn,
cherry' maple. crab and hazel, all of them
within reach OF those that walk or dwell in
country places, and all easily dressed and
made presentable.
The best time for cutting is In the winter.
when the sap, is at stand still or, at least,
sluggish The leaves are also off at this
period of the year, so that we may more cas-
lily choose the most suitable sticks for our
purpose. In procuring these from trees Of
stout underwood, the only resource is. of
course, to cut them out in the best possible
way, taking care to have plenty of material
on the thick end for the purpose of forming
the handle when the stick is trimmed, But
IN selecting sticks from young shoots or sap
lings, they should invariably be pulled. The
best way to do this is to carefully dig away
right round the plant, so that one may see
more plainly the formation of the root. and
so be in better position to cut to the best
advantage as much root as is necessary for
forming the knod or head of the stick. In
the case OF punches of young underground,
when the root is, as rule, Of some size, it
Is Is proper. after the aforesaid digging, to chop
the stick away with small Ratchet
The sticks should be roughly trimmed and
hung away in dry cool place to season. A
piece of stout cord should be tied around the
tnlckeSt END, forming loop for hanging up
the stick. To the other end of the stick, at
tach heavy weight by means of another
cord and SUSPEND from the ceiling and leave
to get partly dry. The weight in the mean
time keeping the fibre Of the wood straight
during consequent shrinking.
Sticks are Strengthened by holding them
over steam, or better still, by burying them
IN hot, wet sand. The best way to do this is.
to get piece OF common h6useS-poutfng, a
little longer than the stick, and hopping up
both ends with wooden blocks. This is part
ly filled with sand, the stick placed there in.
and the gutter filled up, completely bury
ing the stick. Boiling water is now poured
on the sand every five minutes, for quarter
OF an hour or more, according to the thick
ness OF the stick, then it is taken out
steaming hot, and at once suspended i'm the
air again with the weight attached. To
hendtthe tons of sticks intn hnnkS shnnhnr6