The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1893-03-17
MANUFACTURE OF GUN FulNTs.
1t Is One of the Oldest Trades, II. Not the
Very Oldest.

It Is One of the Oldest Trades, fsNot the
Very Oldest.
There are in all twenty-three differ
ent kinds of flint m ade but it requires
some ingenuity to stretch them out SO
far. For instance, to make up the list
you have gray muskets and block mus
kets, where difference is not at all in
the workmanship, but in the alleged
quality of the flint
Setting aside the minor kinds, the
main classes of flint are for the common
gun, the pocket and horse pistols. the
| musket, rifle and carbine.
From the narrow point of his flake
| the workman chips 4 diminutive Tint
for pocket pistol, though not so many
of these are required as of larger size
| for horse pistols But the flints most
in request are the neat and well-shaped
ones used for rifles, and the biggest OF
all are required for car5ines.
There is also continuous, though
| not a very conside ra BILE demand for
strike-a-lights, meant for the use OF
travellers and sportsmen who have hao
experience in damp matches AS each
of these has its own shape and size,
which must be accurat ely reproduced,
it will be seen that the knapper at the
anvil has task demanding both skill
and judgment Yet it's execution has
become so much habit with him that
he talks and chips away as If by
| instinct.
At every sharp pop down drops gun
! flint, which he takes in his hand and
lets the hammer play round till the
sharp edges are blunted and the size
made exactly what is required The
speed at which he works may be in
ferred from the fast that each msfn cal
J culateS to turn out on an average five
thousand a day.
In time of pressure knapper has
been known-by commencing very
early in the morning and working to
late hour at night-to make nine thou
sand. But that is deemed an eXtraor-
binary and prodigious days work.
The employers, as well as the men,
reckon that, taken all the year round, a
third of that number represents the
output of man.
This means about twelve thomson &
week, for it is an old. custom in the
trade to make Saturday and Monday
holidays-the former is devoted to play
and the latter is given up to tool sharp
ening.
| mapping cannot be done unless the
hammers are in perfect order, and it is
said that the only smiths that can put
them right are few in the ncighbor-
hood OF Brandon, who have done the
work from infancy and know to n
nicely the face and temper required.
1T is very difficult to calculate the
gross number of gun fints made an
nually, as the work is in more hands
than one, but in all England there are
certainly not thirty :aen who can shape
n flint Business used to huetuate very
much, ami in dull times some of the
operators were obliged to seek employ
ment elsewhere.
From half Il dozen to q dozen KNAPP
pers have constant work, however, and,
while they do not make fewer than four
million annually, they must be very
) busy to make eight million. Brandon
is the chief but nos the only seat'of the
manufacture.
Gun fints are still made in small
quantities at Malaga, for example, and
specimens are To be seen in the British
museum. Magazine.
THE STATION OF RESEARCH.
A New and Important Factor in American
Education.
The land grant industrial agricultural
colleges, some of them standing upon
the vantage ground of a successful
growth of a quarter of 4 century, can
not in themselves be considered new
| factor in our scheme of education. 1t
| is, however, on account of the ability
they have shown OF serving this people
| during their short existence, that spe-
| cial department has recently been es-
tablished in them and the primary de-
| sire of the writer has been to call the
attention. of the thoughtful student of
American progress to factor in our
education that has sprung naturally
and wisely from the colleges as now
strengthened by n special appropriation
by the government for a particular pur
| pose. 1t Is not some new method of
teaching old subjects il the class room
! and therefore it stands in that sense
outside of the large group of topics with
which the pedagogue is most interested.
| The educational element, foreshadowed
as it was to slight extent in this coun-
try by published results of tests and
trials on the farm, garden, or in the
laboratory of our agricultural colleges,
had it's national birth on March ., 1887,
when the act of congress was approved
appropriating the sum of fifteen thou
sand dollars annually to each agricul-
tural college for the establishment and
maintenance of an experiment station.
While governed by the agricultural col
| lege, the station of research is so dis
| tiuct that with its establishment there
has been realized Il new and potent fac
tor in American education. The college
at its best can give instruction to but a
farming classes, but, on the other hani,
the station through its bulletins is n
means of disseminating information
that effects instruction of the masses
generally.-Prof. Byron d. Halsted, in
| Chautauquan.
"How do you know he loves you?'
'He said he would die for me" as
that alp isn't that enough?" Ger.
tainly not. If he had said he would
| give up smoking for you, that would be
a real proof of love.".-N. Y. World.
Jenkins examining the pedigree
which Snobson had just manufactuccd)
so this is your family tree, is it?
And what is that big gap in the mfddle?"
Snobson-'That, er-well, er-oh! that
is the FlooI!-Rochester Talisnan.
THE GENERAL MARKETS.